What is THAT? Magic: The Guessening

In today's video, ‪@JoriamRamos‬ and I go on a tour of some of the worlds of Magic: The Gathering, and I attempt to answer the question: what are these people fighting?
Music:
Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 - Liszt
Brandenburg Concerto No4-1 BWV1049 - Classical Whimsical by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. creativecommon...
Source: incompetech.com...
Artist: incompetech.com/

[@JillBearup]

To see Joriam’s latest video (about the Discworld’s Luggage) go here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZeXg4OpZtGFoNU

[@pyeitme508]

WOW

[@narrowgroundentertainment]

Ooh, the Luggage, possibly the best character in the whole franchise. Which has many good characters.

[@thelifeoflil5892]

hey i would like to make a request that you do the little man and jinx fight scene from Arcadia.

[@simplegarak]

Ok you're card isn't bad... but really I think you would be a total fit for "Syr Gwyn, Hero of Ashvale." (3)RWB 5/5 Legendary Creature - Human Knight Vigilance, menace Whenever an equipped creature you control attacks, you draw a card and you lose 1 life. Equipment you control have equip Knight {0}.

[@simplegarak]

Oh yeah! Syr Gwyn's flavor text: "Squires throughout the realm aspire to her mix of panache and martial prowess." See? Totally Jill!

[@hlynkacg9529]

Mathematicians actively trying to hurt themselves is very on brand

[@aaronsirkman8375]

They're...certainly not the most safety concerned. Also, to the point of them collabing with the Bio students, they're actually specifically Math as language of nature students, so they are very concerned with both abstract quantification of numbers, and very direct applications relating to nature. Whereas the Bio students are more specifically focusing on the cycle of death and regrowth; also, they teach cooking!

[@dianesheldon2591]

As someone who has a daughter in her third year of a Stats degree, yup math students are almost as masochistic as engineering students. When she started all the upperclassman said if you do t want to die completely take at least 5 years to complete not 4.

[@clairethompson5549]

This does wonders for my argument that my middle school algebra teacher was a sadist.

[@madisongerber132]

Anyone else think the outfit looks like weed?

[@MrMartinSchou]

Mathematics doesn't try to be practical. It's just cool.

[@JohnNathanShopper]

“They’re also fighting this.” What the hell is the problem? Throw a huge ball of yarn at it.

[@San1984]

Giant squirt bottle? Giant pile of catnip?

[@arcticbanana66]

Oh, so _that's_ what the Biggest Ball Of Twine In Minnesota is for.

[@Frosty7575]

@@San1984 depending on the temperament of the cat that could either work very well or make the problem MUCH worse.

[@onandonitgoes5957]

It's a mountain cat.

[@ladyzapzap9514]

Meh, you might also try the worlds largest salmon.

[@ms.aelanwyr.ilaicos]

Technically, cathars (the first group) fight vampires, werewolves, wolves, _and_ zombies. When she noted the forearm protection, I thought she'd think of zombies, for sure. Dragons was a great guess, in the sense that, historically, "dragon" had a connotation similar to the modern usage of "chimera". The monsters of Ikoria are both very chimeric and very diverse, having bizarre descriptions such as "Nightmare Squirrel", "Fox Bird", "Elemental Otter", "Elk Unicorn", "Snake Leviathan", "Demon Kraken", and "Dinosaur Cat Nightmare".

[@BlaineTog]

Yeah I was gonna say, they probably fight werewolves more than they fight vampires since vamps tend to skulk through cities rather than trading blows with cathars in forests.

[@SirLimeyone]

I agree her colaber didn't do a great job explaining the worlds really, all her guesses were pretty on point and I think more detailed explanations of the worlds would have made for better conversation. but I know on projects like this time is limited so that is likely the reason why. it's not like you and you pals on discord chatting for five hours about stuff.

[@wazzledog1007]

I was disappointed when zombies were underplayed in relation to the cathars.

[@devin5201]

Dinosaur cat nightmare... I think I had one of those when I realized I forgot to feed Rico right as I fell asleep.

[@zig131]

@@wazzledog1007 Yeah that's probably who the spikes are for. An enemy stupid enough to impale themselves on you.

[@ceilinh6004]

For the Aztec inspired one, my first thought was, "Please tell me they ride giant feathered serpents!" Since there is a saddle on the feathered T-Rex, I'm calling that a win.

[@gamerbear84]

Yup, Ixalani dinosaurs have feathers, BUT there are ALSO very much feathered serpent inspired flying snakes.

[@John_Doe974]

"Its like Sharknado" there is a literal Sharknado card in that set and it was insane

[@ADruid25]

Humanoid and teethy is a great description for all of the things that hunt humans on Innastrad

[@dragonboyjgh]

Yeah it's crazy, Innistrad is like a whole ecosystem of monsters that used to be human that prey on humans.

[@Dovorans]

The fun thing about the Innistrad Cathars (the first group) and even just Innistrad civilians is that they're so used to fighting vampires, werewolves, and zombies that when the unfathomable extradimensional eldritch titans know as the Eldrazi invaded their world their collective reaction was pretty much just "Mildred, fetch me the *big* axe" Oh also you are exactly right that the Innistrad vampires would refuse to wear a helmet because they wouldn't look cool enough. The last time we visited Innistrad the story was entirely set around the wedding of the two most politically powerful vampires, and the outfits were ✨ fabulous ✨!

[@shuboy05]

The extended art of Chandra, Dressed to Kill is currently my favorite version of her. I absolutely love her dress in the art.

[@Dragonshade64]

If you're not going to have high fashion and high drama at a vampire wedding then what is the point, really.

[@abigailwoodhead1322]

This is exactly why I love Innistrad

[@F14thunderhawk]

And when literal extradimensionall Scifi Demons invaded, For every other plane it was the appocalypse. For Innistrad it was tuesday

[@rogueashes8272]

Fun fact about the badass older pirate captain lady card: the model for the design was the artist's mom, who had either just died or died a little after he painted the card (cant remember for sure). He wanted to honor her by making her a badass pirate captain.

[@hadorstapa]

I love the comment about killing vampires by taking their heads off, and it reminded me of a Terry Pratchett discussion about killing vampires, where everything you do to kill vampires kills everyone, just with added garlic.

[@elenalizabeth]

I can’t remember what show/book it was from, but they were talking with a vampire and discussing things myths like: “Garlic?” - “Hate the smell/taste” (and something about Italians being an acquired taste) “Wooden stake to the heart?” - “Who wouldn’t die from being stabbed in the chest!”

[@aaronsirkman8375]

@@elenalizabeth Sounds like What We Do In The Shadows, maybe?

[@Ellanion]

Buffy the vampire slayer. Buffy: How do we kill him? Faith: Stake through the heart. Buffy: He's not a vampire. Faith: Lots of things die from a stake through the heart.

[@jamespeake4883]

@@elenalizabeth I think I remember something similar in the first Hotel Transylvania movie

[@lewisirwin5363]

He only slightly undercut his point (heh) by including a vampire that sued his workplace (A PENCIL FACTORY) for unsafe working conditions

[@mewr11]

The emerald-looking gems from the second series are actually monster detectors - the crystals change to yellow, then orange, then red as monsters get closer. The city, Drannith, is built upon the largest natural cluster of these detector crystals. Also if I wanted to be excessively pedantic (who am I kidding, I'm a magic player; of *course* I want to be excessively pedantic) the dinosaurs showed off are Regisaurs, not T-Rexes, since Wizards can't copyright 'T-Rex'. (To be clear: This is not a criticism of the video. I am not suggesting calling them Regisaurs instead of T-Rexes would have made the content better in any way. I'm just taking a potshot at myself and other fans of this game I love because holy cow are we ever collectively way too obsessed with being pedantic) EDIT: I apparently typed this too quickly to remember 'to' vs 'too'

[@scottbrown411]

If you're not a rules-lawyer, are you *really* playing Magic? ;)

[@Taylors_Ghost]

Looking at the actual rules to mtg... being pedantic is necessary for survival.

[@09419]

@@Taylors_Ghost there are rules for the rules too. Specifically the underlying base rules that cards can't interact and alter. (Called layers).

[@ServantofBaal]

To be fair, regisaur sounds smoother than t-rex

[@mikaylaeager7942]

#1: Human sized creature / wolves - Nailed it! #2: Something enormous! - Nailed it! #3: Something incorporeal - There ain’t nothing more incorporeal than academia and daddy issues! #4: The wildest answer you could come up with… - Somehow even wilder than what you said.

[@Artaimus]

She got the wolves from Innistrad. That's a victory in her favor as far as I'm concerned.

[@hamstermk4]

I would give Jill Bearup's magic card the ability to sprain the ankle of an enemy combatant in high heals/combat wedges and to decapitate an enemy combatant in self decapitating pauldrons.

[@thepudgyninja]

I love the Silverquill/Strixhaven. I immediately connected with a group of kids who are obsessed with language and literally argue people to death. Also, they aren't doing shadow magic - it's all ink based. The little creatures they create are called inklings, which I think is a fun pun.

[@twarnold14]

Yes! Thanks for sharing that bit! It adds to the whole ink pen motif, and I wish it got brought up in the end.

[@CourtOfWinter]

...I never noticed that pun before.

[@omnitroph1501]

Credit to Tolkien, Lewis, and co. for the pun.

[@gustavoaraujopenha8463]

If I got one coin for each ink based creature called inkling in recent fiction... I would have 2 coins

[@rbencez]

That isn't a lot. But it is wierd that it happened twice.

[@tzxazrael]

lmao, that was great fun! for the "edgy goths" section, i jokingly thought to myself... "maybe they're fighting against 'stodgy old men', or 'the establisment' etc ?" which was... surprisingly close xD

[@aaronsirkman8375]

I thought the "fighting" was going to be about the school's interhouse sportsball game, which involves people running/flying/locomoting however around a field with "towers" carrying a weird little reptile thing. It's all basically interdimensional Hogwarts.

[@persiswynter6357]

I was thinking of the Shadows book by Robin McKinley!

[@danielrazo450]

They also have a "debate club": The ghostly things are ink spirits they can summon by writing words, so they battle each others with poetry spells.

[@Midknight0122]

As an MTG fan i can say this is brilliant. Jill: Sharknado MTG: done that. Jill: you enjoy Kiss music videos don't you Killian: *sobbing into a hankie* Embrose: I am so dissapointed Jill: fighting our own daddy issues Jill:Like really millitant greenpeace Admiral Becket Brass: write that down i want it for my CV I would love to see what Jill makes of Theros, Tarkir or Dominaria.

[@JoriamRamos]

This is not a competition, but your comment wins.

[@theCityBear]

Yes, would be awesome to see her take on the Tarkir armor and weapons.

[@marcoottina654]

what about the old Darksteel? :D

[@dominicmarucci7642]

I was a little disappointed that when she said Sharknado he didn't pull up the image of Shark Typhoon since its from the same set.

[@BlueTemplar15]

@@dominicmarucci7642 And Offspring's Revenge for "also having to fight little things sometimes" !

[@seanheath4492]

To be fair, this is Magic. A perfectly accurate answer to "what are these guys meant to fight?" would be "whatever the other player summons."

[@janmelantu7490]

Sometimes you have to have your dinosaurs fight a helicopter crewed by a ancient Egyptian peasant.

[@seanheath4492]

@@janmelantu7490 I'm more a fan of sending my swarm of assorted pixies, sprites, and other faeries over to shred the other player. Or just making them run out of cards.

[@maximilianschug6271]

@@janmelantu7490 I personaly am particularly fond of stopping the devourer ov worlds with an army of baby squirrels. or having ninja's go 'You thought this was a harmnless lil bird, but it was me ~~Dio~~ Yuriko'

[@dragonstryk7280]

know joy, jill. One of the most powerful artifacts in the game is, in fact, a helm. The Helm of the Host, and it gets equipped on creatures. It power is that ability to create duplicates of whatever creature it is attached to, even legendary creatures who are supposed to be unique.

[@glorysky1998]

17:17 "what are we fighting? Our own daddy issues" has to be one of my favorite lines ever

[@chaostear13]

What do they fight? *See artworks of Cathar from Innistrad* Well. They fight vampires, werewolves, ghosts, zombies, devils, demons, mad angels, eldritch abominations from outer space ... Oh and, other human too.

[@JillBearup]

What DON’T they fight? 😁

[@Arohan71]

@@JillBearup Well they're a church, so doctrine and dogma probably.

[@EricChoiniere]

@@Arohan71 Thalia (and Odric, a bit later) would like a word

[@chaostear13]

@@JillBearup Technically they don't fight dragon. Innistrad's dragon mostly eats vampires and werewolves for food.😅

[@cinderheart2720]

@@JillBearup goblins...but only because that plane doesn't have any. And there's very few dragons and occasionally they help the humans out, so them too.

[@davidlyford-tilley1598]

Can't believe we missed my favourite world building armour detail from one of Magic's worlds: in the hyper-chivalrous sub plane of Bant, the knights' armour doesn't cover their backs, because no one can conceive of somebody that would attack them from behind.

[@maximilianschug6271]

Well until suddenly there were Esper and Grixis appeared. At Least the beasts of Naya And Jund were nice enough to trample on the knights from the front/top.

[@tallyprestin1881]

School curriculum and daddy issues are incorporeal... So I think you got that one right.

[@Torchyc]

Yay a video, and it's over 30 minutes, what a treat.

[@lodepeeters4134]

The thing about the pictures of the Ixalan pirates is that they are each from a different faction of the pirate coalition. The first one was of the Deadeye Fleet, who use discontinued naval uniforms. The lady running on water was from the Storm Fleet, where they use ship's parts to decorate their outfits and weapons (the weapon is indeed a bludgeoning one, I think it's just a piece of a boat). The picture with the aronist pirates was from one particular crew, that of the Devil's Chains (captained by Angrath, who is a minotaur from another world). They destroy everything in their path instead of stealing it. The middle-aged lady pirate was Admiral Beckett Brass, leader of the whole Brazen Coalition, but she specifically leads her Fathom Fleet, who use rope as their decorative motive. And lastly there's the Dire Fleet, and they feature a lot of belts and buckles! No picture of them here though.

[@WhiteWizard42]

the "ghosts" with the Silverquill college (the edgy debate/lit group) are the college mascots: Inklings! They're made out of ink, to go with the pen-nib logo. and the mathematician mascot is a "Fractal" so they love their geometric shapes. This was fun and I'd be happy to watch you discovering more MtG lore in this sideways fashion.

[@twarnold14]

I love this, but I’m also a massive Magic fan. I will add that the two “horns” on the vampire conquistador helmets are meant to resemble fangs. It’s an aesthetic decision by the world team so that, even if you can’t see their fangs in all of the art, it’s a little nod to the fact that they are vampires.

[@Omega_Orion]

Ixalan is such a funny plane. I often forget about the merfolk entirely because of how hilarious the idea of pirates fighting vampires fighting dinosaurs is.

[@annbrookens945]

So. Good! Just a fun look at several groups of warriors in Magic the Gathering. I have as little knowledge of the game as Jill, so this was fun and very interesting! So enjoyable to hear Jill analyzing the weapons and armor shown on each card and extrapolating the foe they were guarding against! So much fun!

[@iabervon]

"Cannot be blocked by creatures with impractical armor" is totally an ability that could now appear in not-for-competitive-play Magic, provided players could be expected to have access to someone who could rate armor in art.

[@Wyzai]

Decapitation Pauldrons - destroy target impractical armor and the creature its attached to.

[@jacobd1984]

She’s just designed the first card for “UNwieldy”

[@diverlawn3491]

It would be great for an unset

[@nikmenn2751]

@@Wyzai reminds me of fullplates where designer mistook gorget and garotte.

[@thetux459]

You were correct about the math majors also borrowing from the biology majors. Its actually more fitting to call them computational biology majors and the forcefully-applied ecology majors, respectively. The others not touched on in the video are the perfomative material arts majors and the spiritualist archeology majors.

[@Nerdnumberone]

For the behemoth set, I literally thought "kaiju" (or similarly large creatures). Looks like I hit the nail on the head there.

[@RoseKindred]

As a child and now an adult I appreciate "Fantasy" armour. Not because I think it would be effective (at all) but for the visual look. I have always seemed to connect with the Fantasy aspect. Sure, it would not work now, but then again, I cannot sling fireballs or stop time to drink a coffee in the middle of a battle. I think I also learned the term "Peacocking" in like 2nd-3rd grade, so it always worked for me. "Check out my BIG spikes, wink-wink."

[@evillyn7895]

This was quite entertaining despite my lack of knowledge of the MTG universe. Your dissection of the armour and your deductions about the foes each face was fun to watch. The Magic card was the perfect ending!

[@Keovar]

There’s a sort of multi-artist poem about the wizard college groups: Silverquill, Witherbloom, Lorehold, Quandrix, & Prismari. Look up “Strixhaven Colleges” to see it. It does seem to heavily favor Silverquill, in the sense that they got the most writing and development time, but they’re the literature kids, so what did you expect?

[@Tacticslion]

The Strixhaven book his hilarious in that it has several Quandrix students... none of whom have *any* traits that "synch up" with math/physics/Quandrix stuff with a mild exception of one of them is an artist, which... it's just hilarious that a bunch of writers couldn't figure out how to make cool versions of math and science folk (which makes sense, and makes my wife - a lit nerd - just laugh consistently when we play as her character often jokes, "Why aren't you Silverquill, again?").

[@arcticbanana66]

It probably heavily favors Silverquill because they're probably the ones who wrote it.

[@Keovar]

@@arcticbanana66 - I'm pretty sure it was written by non-magical Earthlings, but I'm also sure the Silverquills would have you believe they've written everything.

[@Keovar]

I'm not a Silverquill because I'm not so damned sure that my every thought is gold (or silver, for that matter). At Quandrix, math makes mysteries beyond the boring numbers. A fractal is fundamentally formulaic, yet It's beautiful in its infinite intricacy.

[@Tacticslion]

@@Keovar Spoken like a true Quandrix. *fist-pound*

[@kapitankapital6580]

This is great! I'd love to see a series where you try to guess the backstory/character of a character or world based on their visual design.

[@graywolfdracon]

Haven't played Magic in nearly a decade. Glad to see their art is still amazing.

[@tezlaactual6582]

Nice thing is it also hasn't changed much mechanic wise, kinda the opposite with Yu-Gi-Oh, I haven't played that since fusion summons were like brand new

[@graywolfdracon]

@@tezlaactual6582 I'm gonna have to disagree with you there. Rules changes are why I quit playing. Seems like with every new expansion they introduced a new game mechanic/status effect that was completely impossible to defend against unless you had the newest cards. I know they want you to buy more cards and that you can't use older cards in tournaments but when my custom fine tuned deck becomes useless the next year against all of the new pre-made decks simply because of a newly introduced status effect, that's game breaking and frankly ridiculous.

[@astra1653]

Dammit, Jill, do you know exactly how hard it is to NOT laugh at this only Three days after surgery?

[@linkmaxwell]

How fun! You were spot on with Ikoria, by the way. With Silverquill (the goth writers), they're not really the bad guys of the school. They tend to be the most popular students , but Stryxhaven (the magic school) doesn't have a good or evil "house", and students freely associate with others in different schools (more like majors in college). They didn't show off Lorehold, which is sad because they're the combat archeologists (think Indiana Jones) and actually do need to train in physical combat to go exploring tombs.

[@archonambroseus]

You totally nailed the Sharknado vibe btw. In that set there was a card called Shark Typhoon that spit out sharks of all sizes and it was quite good.

[@aradraugfea6755]

I love how strong Silverquill's "Drama Kid" energy is.

[@Tribble314]

This was fun! I think both parts of this ("What do they fight" and "Jill reacts to MtG armor") are each winners, but they don't go together all that well. Most Magic worlds have several factions and a broad range of creature sizes, so there's usually not ONE thing to focus on fighting. I think a more general "Armor Rating" or "What is this world like" might work better. I saw someone else suggest "What do these people do" for MtG's Ravnica setting, and I'd like to second that idea! Not all of the 10 factions are armor-heavy, but there are so many cards that Joriam could find something for each of them.

[@studioyokai]

Agreed on the "guess the theme of this Ravnica Guild", that would be fun!

[@fryeday]

I can handle the vampires, werewolves, pirates, a shark that looks to be little more than a marketing team's idea of self delivering fish and chips, goth students, and armored dinosaurs, all of it's fine. But no way in hell am I scooping that cat's litter box, I mean how do think the mountains behind it formed?!

[@Danka42]

You had me at self-decapitation 😁

[@TobiasBroad]

This is a fantastic fresh take on the “ask person about Mtg who doesn’t know about Mtg” trend. And you did better than you have yourself credit for. However I’ve got to take issue with that card at the end, equipment abilities are not in Temur colours.

[@beksfreeman1315]

"The I-beam equivalent of a sword:" one of my favorite quotes today 😂

[@PureSolace]

It's the Jill Bearup x Magic: The Gathering Crossover I always wanted! Today, my life is complete!

[@seangoldman6833]

12:18 Magic: the Gathering designers have a lot of fun slipping in pop culture references. In a world where there are flying winged sharks they couldn't resist the sharknado reference (Shark Typhoon). Another fun one is a black knight that is compelled to attack and loses pieces of himself as he takes damage in the Arthurian legend set (Oathsworn Knight).

[@Nick-dc6ix]

I'm honestly impressed for both Magic and you You correctly deduced that the students weren't fighting physical threats That the first group cared about bites That the big bow folks fought big things The details were missing, but big picture was spot on

[@Witchtheif89]

I just realized that it's not Ghostly Whisps for the third, edgy ones. It's ink. They are making their own ink. That's why there whispy flowing spookey things. It's ink in water, and light to read. Of course all they do is debate. I would bet that they use their little ink wishps as story telling devices and punctuation. The story litterally coming to life from ink before your eyes as you tell it, or write it. And you can use a "Light of Critisism"(Sounds about edgy enough) to banish that darkness. Oh yeah... It's all coming together. And I don't even play MTG. I'm here from the weirdo armor/weapon and ancient history group.

[@olivierfortin8504]

I think the Jill card is perfect!

[@Crossark1]

Joriam is 100% correct about MTG's art direction team being in contention for one of the best AD teams in history. I only started playing in 2013, and fell off for a period between 2017 and this year -- but just thru passive osmosis from people/channels I knew who played (and about two months of being sorta a bit back into the game) I could identify the planes the characters in this video belonged to extremely accurately. You really don't need to know very much about each plane's setting to be able to match any given card artwork with that plane's sets -- even ones released when I wasn't playing/paying attention to MTG. They're geniuses of worldbuilding.

[@Aeysir]

Can’t believe you’ve never played Tragic! oh such innocence 😁

[@johanneswerner1140]

Ha! Magic the Collecting. I have a deck, got it as a present from some guys from my role playing group. We used to play when waiting for the rest to turn up.

[@thetalantonx]

Jill, you did incredibly well and were very close in some aspects. Like for the last one, with the Deadeye Plunderers (the three pirates with the fishy harpoon gun), they were definitely going to be engaging the Merfolk. Ixalan is a *weird* set.

[@RPGRelicHunter]

Watching you guess things about the Spiteful Squad was so good. The eyebrow notch, height of... something.

[@hollamonm]

I would love to see a part 2 that includes (possibly Neo) Kamigawa, Ravnica and Zendikar (with the last two being the "not the latest sets"). Alternatively, Planeswalkers being covered and what happened to send them on their journeys with multiple choice. I feel like it's a little too difficult to ask MTG questions with only pictures without it being multiple choice.

[@PhantasmalBlast]

I loved this! I do wish the focus had been not just on what they fight but also anything else you could glean about their world. In the article about Innistrads design I remember reading that the plane is constantly chilly, so most of the costume design focused on heavy coats and things like that. Or on zendikar how all the weapons have loops for tying them onto packs and hooks on them for climbing and multipurpose use.

[@MissingNovice]

"I feel like she's doing some kind of collaboration with the biologists." You're actually not wrong! Quandrix, the math school, does overlap with Witherbloom - the more traditional biology school - in that both of them share green - the color of nature - as one of their two focus magic colors. The big driving question of Quandrix college is "Is Math something we invented to understand the world, or is math naturally occurring within nature?" and as a result the scholars who lean twords the latter conclusion have a lot more emphasis on nature in their aesthetics and flavor. Its actually something I love about the design of this set. Magic The Gathering is divided into 5 different colors of magic, which each have their own philosophy, and the colleges of Strixhaven are all factions based on two traditionally opposed colors. Silverquill, the ones with the daddy issues, are based out of White and Black mana - the color of selflessness and community and the color of selfishness and pragmatism, respectively. When they come together you get these public speakers, with the driving question of the college being if language is something meant to uplift others, or to manipulate them into agreeing with you - which is why some of them are in all white outfits and conjuring lights, and others are all broody edgelords summoning those inkling shadow guys.

[@Ellanion]

I would like to point out that the vampistadors are fanatically religious sun worshippers whose ships are literally floating cathedrals. Also the Silverquill, the goth debate club, do fight. The school has a capture the flag/mascot style violent sport. The little ''ghosts'' and magical tendrils are in fact ink. They use ink magic and ink elementals. The Silverquill take their branding enormously seriously :D

[@jerrihadding2534]

Damn! Apparently all that I can contribute is gratitude and awe. Please be so gracious as to accept these humble offerings.

[@IceMetalPunk]

I saw the pirates and thought, "Oh, right, Ixalan; she's never guessing dinosaurs!" But I totally forgot about the vampires and merfolk in that set.

[@pokemon1895]

Well, this was a lot of fun. Didn't expect a MtG crossover. Thank you!

[@choczynski]

The eyebrow notch has never gone out of fashion in the punk/alternative scene It regularly comes in and out of fashion in hip hop about every 8 years.

[@zerospaceca3376]

Just caught your comment on the belts on lantern-lass at 4:20. If you're curious about unusual belts, Jill, you should check out the character Hennet from Dungeons and Dragons 3rd edition. He has what I'll call an *obsession* with belts. From his waist to below the ribcage, and all up and down one (1) leg. *Fashion!*

[@PobortzaPl]

My guesses were: 1. Goblins or kobolds so small humanoid 2. Big, probably flying lizards because land sharks and cats size of a mountain just didn't spring to my mind 3. Humans - just basing on a smirk front character does in first picture but I was expecting them to be just high on magic so much they don't need physical armour 4. Merfolk (sirens, tritons and the like) because I have forgotten that pirates and "mayaintec" settings has one thing in common - evil Spaniards in cool dresses and armour

[@lorrainemunoa791]

Speaking as someone whose family is smaller than it ought to be *because* of Spanish Conquistadors, vampires is a lovely and apt role there. Stake em all.

[@margothutton]

Fantasy artists are correct: My character looks too cool for a helmet. But every animal needs one BECAUSE IT'S TOO C UUUUTE!!

loved it, great job. I never expected an MTG crossover but it was a lot of fun

[@Pluto137]

... I am currently playing MTG arena while watching this 😅 Jill mentioning the spikes for armor that tells the enemy 'dont bite me big thing' is great Also this was a great idea. The art draws us in and stay for the game

[@spacecaptain9188]

"And she's going to have to find out **whispers inaudibly** LETS DO IT!" I have no idea what this game is.

[@PortCharmers]

A while ago I was working in New Zealand, and one of the team was taking Magic (the Gathering) very seriously and got a few of us into it. At some point we started to design or team as Magic-cards. The team as creatures, science equipment as artifacts, the Kauru River as our source of mana. And there was even the Mana Transport (an actual Kiwi trucking company), to whom we gave the power of transforming mana into mana of any other colour.

[@MayBeSomething]

"It's like Sharknado." There is literally a card called "Shark Typhoon."

[@WhammeWhamme]

Inklings are helpful! Have you ever lost a pen? Imagine a pen that follows you around! :) (they're the Silverquill little ink blob mascots). Anyway, this was great, Jill should do another at some point, there's more planes to get her hot take on. :)

[@KingOfGames2491]

Notes: On Innistrad, in addition to werewolves and Vampires, the humans also defend against Zombies, wolves, birds, bears, and general beasts. There are also ghosts but those are generally helpful to people. The militia is devoted to a church lead by magical Angels. On Ikoria the energy from the crystals cause beasts to grow based on how much magical energy they absorb from the crystals and sometimes causing them to mutate, hence the sharks with human arms. The human cities use Crystal to generate energy shields. The larger the Crystal the more magical energy is contains. Strixhaven is a University to learn Magic, very Hogwarts but Uni years. The houses are lead by dragons. Each house has a mascot themed after their focus of study. The Silverquill students infuse Ink with magical energy and their mascot familiars are Inklings. On Ixalan the Pirates mostly focus on avoiding combat with monsters and focus on theft and exploration. The world is very Amazon rainforest with Dinosaurs, humans that worship the dinosaurs, Merfolk that protect the forest and the rivers, and Vampire Conquistador’s on a holy conquest from their church. The focus is acquiring treasure and fleeing dinosaurs. Most combat is had between human sized creatures so mostly knives, swords, guns, and cannons.

[@lasselen9448]

Great video, I just loved the Green Peace Pirate concept^^ Your analysis of equipment is on point, it's too bad artists often value cool over consistency when trying to guess what the character does. I love the dino lady's armour, helmet (or lack thereof) aside. It's probably a bit too heavy, but otherwise a good protection versus mobility compromise (mail may have been more effective than scale, but scale works much better with the theme so I prefer it this way). On top of that, it looks really cool and functional. One thing I thought you'd mention about the pirate's harpoon thrower: the bolt's head seems to have its blades in the horizontal plane. This implies the intended target has horizontal ribs, which means it's bipedal; most likely humanoid. It's also a broadhead, meant for unarmoured targets (this, unfortunately, doesn't match most of what she's fighting). My take on art and helmet is to either make the helmet look cool (and functional), show the character holding the helmet in a battlefield situation but not in immediate danger, or show the character with no helmet in a peaceful situation. There's a reason why saluting a superior officer by removing your head cover was replaced by simply touching said cover.

[@BlueTemplar15]

Humanoid, mostly (?) unarmored target does match merfolk well ! (Also other pirates ?) Cannons for bigger targets, and I assume the harpoon would be more for utility when boarding vampirestador ships, directly fighting them with melee weapons instead ?

[@azraelvrykolakas157]

So the thing is bloodsuckers have been synonymous with wolves for a very long time. Aswang can turn into dogs, vrukodlak can turn into wolves, ghouls can turn into hyenas. Even bella lagosi's Dracula could turn into a wolf. And this was normal... until we forgot the old ways of telling the story. So I'm counting that guess as spot on

[@spinebustertee]

Fabulous video! Fun little bit: those aren't ghosts the goth debate club kids are summoning. They're creatures made of ink!

[@DrDeFord]

I love your giggle at the shark-bear reveal! 😂

[@davidgood1318]

Before Jill Bearup can wield her (teleported to her) weapon, she has to use the invocation phrase: "That's not a knife, *this* is a knife"

[@rootyful]

6:00 Honestly, human-sized with lots of teeth was a great guess. Vampires are the biggest threat, but wolves (were and not) and zombies are also a big staple of Innistrad, and all of these would want to bite arms or neck. Jill didn't point out that all three of these characters got their necks covered, but I'm glad Joriam did. 12:00 Spot-on, honestly. Ikoria is known for giant monstrosities, but also tiny specialized mutated creatures, as well as weird horrors. The green crystal glasses are probably less for protection, and more for spotting these creatures, since in the universe, these crystals on people's armor starts to glow when monsters are nearby (thus, you also see the commander having a giant gem on his shoulder). 17:00 Obviously, they're protecting their own clothes from ink stains with these black clothes!!

[@knightofthewind1000]

Oh my gosh, Jill covering Magic content, worldbuilding , and especially the art, armour and weaponry of it's many planes? I need more of this!!!

[@rainb214]

Oh I'd love another video like this, especially to see Kill get to react and judge the Angels' armor! It's often got some of the same technical issues the Vampires, especially the Conquistadors, have, but it is somewhat balanced to the fact the angels probably don't have to breathe either and generally aren't using their legs as they are flying in battle.

[@lukeman9851]

Honestly, I did guess the first one as "Werewolves and/or Vampires" not so much because the armor and equipment seemed appropriate for it, but because of the art style overall. The crowded town with seemingly improvised wooden spikes atop the wall, the gloomy atmosphere especially in the second one in the woods, holding the lantern up at night, and the tricorner hats. That aesthetic says to me vampires/werewolves/frankenstein more than elves/goblins/dragons. Never would have guessed the second one though. Not in a hundred tries. Thought it was big stony giants and the daggers might be for climbing like in Shadow of the Colossus.

[@siliciaveerah9327]

now that would be a fun thing, people reimanging Shadow of the Colossus for a beautiful world

[@TheEmeraldElf]

I like this “What’s this fantasy armor for?” Query. Just good fun.

[@dangerouscool]

This was honestly a great video. Part two please.

[@euansmith3699]

Joriam's accent is lovely.

[@Emthe30something]

That was fun!

[@emperormegaman3856]

The armored thick T-Rex are the most wonderful thing in this. i can see why he was eager to show it.

[@mumblbeebee6546]

The Brandenburg Concerto in the background made it all much funnier :)

[@suzt7076]

This was a very unique approach fir a video and quite fun, especially as a MTG player from way back.

[@SignumInterriti]

You still want armor when kaijus attack, it doesn't protect you from the monster itself, but a creature this big causes lots of collateral. You're more likely hit by debris than eaten by a behemoth, so a helmet would help survivability significantly.

[@archnebulawordsmith458]

I am the head of my towns magic society, just want to say huge fan :-) loving this!

[@megamancards]

Fantastic (friendship) chemistry between you both.

[@hebl47]

The militant greenpeace was an amazing idea! Far better than any of the correct answers.

[@Tacticslion]

24:49 - NO ONE expected the Conquistador'quisition! (Unless they'd already seen these cards. But *I* hadn't!)

[@kabobawsome]

"Wonder why the village had the wooden spikes" Maybe they're just up there in case the vampires feel like a call of the void situation and decide to spontaneously stake themselves.

[@1UkuleleDude]

This was very cool! I really liked the concept and the discussion!

[@Neophoia]

even though I for about 6 years went to a school where i spent every break between class hanging out next to people playing mtg... i was lost during most of this. the only ones I recognised was the silverquill/quandrix students, and that is because of dnd and having the Strixhaven book.

[@mayalynn]

She got one of the major non-human groups from Innistrad, and that's impressive.

[@ElPanadero18]

As an MTG player, this was delightful.