[IDW] Comic Book -The Spell Thief #4

[perv90210]

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/idw-...citations.html

Nice cover.

Grixis! I love all this planes hopping.

Magic: The Gathering—The Spell Thief #4
Matt Forbeck (w) • Martín Cóccolo (a) • Alex Horley (c)
Dack Fayden’s quest to track down the villainous Sifa Grent has brought him to Grixis, a vast wasteland dominated by the undead and vicious demons—including the demon-dragon Malfegor. Imprisoned by the demon’s cult, Dack soon discovers the morbid origins of Sifa and her sinister ties to Malfegor... but will he be able to escape this undead plane in order to stop her plans?
FC • 32 pages • $4.99
*Variant covers:
Variant Tyler Walpole cover!
Bullet points:
• This issue includes an exclusive, alternate art playable Magic: The Gathering card!

[Hunter]

Hmm, maybe Malfegor is the third of Lili's demons ....

[Stardust]

Originally Posted by Hunter

Hmm, maybe Malfegor is the third of Lili's demons ....

What do Dack Fayden and Sifa Grent have to do with Liliana?

The Answer:

Nothing.

[Eldritchguy]

Malfegor wasn't killed by Rafiq in the novel Alara Unbroken? I think this is set aroubd the time of Innistrad soo... Well, Grixis was famous for its necromancers... And shouldn't be now refered as Alara?

[madhatter00o]

When does it come out?

[wadprime]

The link pegs its release to be sometime in August.

[Serpens]

Originally Posted by Eldritchguy

Malfegor wasn't killed by Rafiq in the novel Alara Unbroken? I think this is set aroubd the time of Innistrad soo... Well, Grixis was famous for its necromancers... And shouldn't be now refered as Alara?

Grixis still exists, it's just more like... a country in the plane of Alara, rather than a whole plane in and of itself.

[Barinellos]

Originally Posted by Eldritchguy

Malfegor wasn't killed by Rafiq in the novel Alara Unbroken? I think this is set aroubd the time of Innistrad soo... Well, Grixis was famous for its necromancers... And shouldn't be now refered as Alara?

Actually, since Avacyn was trapped in the Helvault for approximately a year, it's possible the comic series is happening pre-conflux.
Which admittedly changes a lot of the way we have to look at this series.

And no, Malfegor is NOT connected to Liliana.

[AEferyamma]

Wait... Avacyn was trapped for just a year???
I thought she was inside the Helvault for hundred of years, or at least a few decades...

[theMarc]

Originally Posted by Eldritchguy

Malfegor wasn't killed by Rafiq in the novel Alara Unbroken? I think this is set aroubd the time of Innistrad soo... Well, Grixis was famous for its necromancers... And shouldn't be now refered as Alara?

Yeah... I, too, am rather confused as to the chronology here.

Let's see... before this issue, Dack was on Innistrad with Sorin, meaning that this issue takes place, at the earliest, after Innistrad block starts. I'm pretty sure Innistrad block takes place after Zendikar block; it seems a safe bet that Sorin arrived on Innistrad shortly after leaving Zendikar. Zendikar block has to take place after Alara block, as Sarkhan is Nicol's pawn by Rise of the Eldrazi, and the two hadn't even met before Shards of Alara. The Alara block novel, Alara Unbroken, seems to end shortly after Alara Reborn begins, but Sarkhan was present for the entire novel. It was during the novel that Malfegor was killed by the combined efforts of Rafiq and Elspeth. This means that, even allowing for the absolute maximum amount of chronological overlap, Malfegor is still dead well before Sorin has left Zendikar for Innistrad, where he meets Dack.

...Whoo, I think I went cross-eyed for a minute there. Anyway, the only explanations I can think of are that Malfegor was reanimated, that Dack traveled back in time, or that Innistrad actually takes place before Zendikar. The first two theories involve storytelling cliches that carry a heavy risk of misuse. The last one has no evidence to support it, and a fair amount to refute it.

[Barinellos]

Originally Posted by theMarc

Yeah... I, too, am rather confused as to the chronology here.

Let's see... before this issue, Dack was on Innistrad with Sorin, meaning that this issue takes place, at the earliest, after Innistrad block starts. I'm pretty sure Innistrad block takes place after Zendikar block; it seems a safe bet that Sorin arrived on Innistrad shortly after leaving Zendikar. Zendikar block has to take place after Alara block, as Sarkhan is Nicol's pawn by Rise of the Eldrazi, and the two hadn't even met before Shards of Alara. The Alara block novel, Alara Unbroken, seems to end shortly after Alara Reborn begins, but Sarkhan was present for the entire novel. It was during the novel that Malfegor was killed by the combined efforts of Rafiq and Elspeth. This means that, even allowing for the absolute maximum amount of chronological overlap, Malfegor is still dead well before Sorin has left Zendikar for Innistrad, where he meets Dack.

...Whoo, I think I went cross-eyed for a minute there. Anyway, the only explanations I can think of are that Malfegor was reanimated, that Dack traveled back in time, or that Innistrad actually takes place before Zendikar. The first two theories involve storytelling cliches that carry a heavy risk of misuse. The last one has no evidence to support it, and a fair amount to refute it.

No, it could also be explained by the fact that the walkers don't appear chronologically on the cards. (see: Jace appearing in Worldwake, Sarkhan in Rise, and Sorin in Zendikar. Totally out of order.)
Tamiyo had been there since Innistrad began, Tibalt was a native, it's possible Sorin arrived before Liliana and in fact had to leave before he could solve the issue of Avacyn being gone.
It's entirely possible Sorin, Lord of Innistrad appeared very shortly after Avacyn was locked away and had to leave to deal with Zendikar, as there is nothing that chronologically ties him to the sets.

All the events since the Conflux have taken place approximately in the same year, with about six months being the largest gap between what transpired (between The Brood being freed and the Titans being freed.)

Alternatively, IDW didn't double check with creative since creative declared hands off to keep from micro-managing.

[theMarc]

Originally Posted by Barinellos

No, it could also be explained by the fact that the walkers don't appear chronologically on the cards. (see: Jace appearing in Worldwake, Sarkhan in Rise, and Sorin in Zendikar. Totally out of order.)
Tamiyo had been there since Innistrad began, Tibalt was a native, it's possible Sorin arrived before Liliana and in fact had to leave before he could solve the issue of Avacyn being gone.
It's entirely possible Sorin, Lord of Innistrad appeared very shortly after Avacyn was locked away and had to leave to deal with Zendikar, as there is nothing that chronologically ties him to the sets.

I had kinda considered that, especially the part about how the timing of the printing of a planeswalker's card within a block doesn't always translate to when they showed up in the story, but I decided to lump that and any related theories together under the "ZEN is after INN" umbrella.

And anyway, it still means that the timeline is wacky as all hell. I really wish that someone over at WotC would straighten this stuff out ahead of time. Like, I dunno, write up a plotline cheat-sheet that IDW (or authors, if they were still doing books) can refer to.

[Barinellos]

Originally Posted by theMarc

I had kinda considered that, especially the part about how the timing of the printing of a planeswalker's card within a block doesn't always translate to when they showed up in the story, but I decided to lump that and any related theories together under the "ZEN is after INN" umbrella.

And anyway, it still means that the timeline is wacky as all hell. I really wish that someone over at WotC would straighten this stuff out ahead of time. Like, I dunno, write up a plotline cheat-sheet that IDW (or authors, if they were still doing books) can refer to.

Well, part of the problem is that the Innistrad plotline spans a great amount of time, which isn't exactly anomalous, but still throws calculations off.
I'd say it's much more likely that Zendikar and Innistrad are concurrent since Innistrad starts so much earlier than most of the blocks we've taken a look at these days.

So, the way I'm seeing it play out is:
*Alara begins to come together.
*Innistrad begins. (Including Dack and Sorin's sojourns)
*Conflux happens.
*Zendikar then takes place.
*Scars of Mirrodin takes place.
*Avacyn is Restored, perhaps simultaneously with Scars.

[hamberglar]

Anyone have word on what the promo card is?

Also, I can't seem to find a release date. Can anyone estimate? October? November?

[Dr. Jeebus]

Should be approximately 4 weeks after the previous issue. How long ago was that?