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@zorroaburrito The problem with Dack's death was the fact that they killed off a fan favourite character without giving him a proper send-off in card form. Yes, that sucks, but the death itself was actually fine. Not great (I mean, can anything from that story be called great?), but perfectly fine. Gideon's death though, had so many problems I legit don't know where to begin. I guess I'll start with his arc - which, as I perceived it (I acknowledge that this is the sort of thing that everyone can have a different interpretation of), was about how his martyr complex was a bad thing. It wasn't this great virtue to be admired, it was a flaw which was causing him problems, that he needed to overcome - or at the very least, learn to manage better. So the fact that it's exactly what ends up saving the day, and then being praised by everyone as actually really great and heroic, is incredibly jarring, at odds with what was previously established, and pretty unsatisfying. Then there's Liliana. Her arc (again, as I saw it) was about how she can't keep running from her (metaphorical) demons; at some point, the consequences of her actions will catch up to her and she'll have to face them head on. That starts to happen when she defies Bolas, but the fact that Gids then takes the bullet for her robs that arc of any satisfaction. She doesn't have to deal with the consequences of jack. Once again, she does the Bad Thing and gets away scot free while someone else suffers for it. Then there's Bolas himself. He's supposed to be this diabolical, millennia-old mastermind, with plots upon plots and schemes within schemes (whether or not he actually comes off that way is irrelevant, point is that's what the story wants us to think he is). He spent decades planning this thing, had a contingency in place for any potential hitch...but he somehow didn't foresee the guy known almost exclusively for his martyr complex sacrificing himself to stop him. Even if we charitably assume that Bolas wouldn't understand WHY someone would sacrifice themselves, he should 100% be aware that there are people out there who would, and that Gideon was one of those people. The fact that THAT was what blindsided him just serves to make him look even more idiotic than he already did. But you know, maybe it's unfair to blame Bolas for not seeing that coming, considering it made no sense at all. Gids saves Lili by...transferring his indestructibility to her? Is that a thing that can happen now? Since when could planeswalkers just give their powers to each other like, fittingly enough I guess, trading cards? If Jace ever gets sick of being a telepath, can he just slap Ajani in the face and say "You read minds now", and then in the next set we'll get Ajani the Mind Sculptor? Is that a thing that can happen? Because I don't recall that ever being a thing that can happen, which means the fact that that's exactly what this whole turning point hinges upon feels incredibly contrived. And for that matter, why does doing that kill him? Does Lili's contract just somehow sense that it isn't killing her, so it just decides that Gids is the next best thing? Or did Bolas, in all his infinite diabolical genius, write a clause into the contract that says it's totally cool if someone else takes the bullet for her? How does any of this add up? The whole thing feels like the thought process started and ended with "These types of stories typically have a heroic sacrifice involved, we're out of potential designs for Gideon so chuck him in there".

@arixordragc So first of all, thanks for sharing your thoughts; that was a fun read. Right away I have to admit that I don't read the novels; what I know comes from the official story articles, youtube summaries, and the cards themselves, so my lore knowledge definitely has some holes in it. That aside, I fully agree about the oddness of Gideon transferring his invulnerability and being killed by the contract. Has he always been able to do that? If so, you would think a guy who's so quick to throw himself in front of others would have used it before at some point. And if someone can just take the contract at will, wouldn't she have manipulated someone into taking it from her by now? How did all of that go down? It's more than a bit hand-wavey. I feels like if we asked, someone would say "It's magic. Don't think about it too much." Well, even in a world of magic, they can't just do anything. Internal consistency matters. (Don't get me started on the myriad utterly nonrelated things people have used planeswalker sparks for. If you ever don't have an answer for something, duct tape a spark to it, and it'll probably fix itself.) I also agree about Bolas. His knowledge was supposed to be several steps ahead of everyone around him. Bolas not expecting Marty R. McSavespeople to save people is utterly indefensible writing. Of course he did. It's quite literally his entire personality. Your take on Liliana's arc was particularly eye-opening. I hadn't thought of it before, but I agree that her finally coming to terms with the fact that her actions have caught up with her, and then immediately getting a Get-Outta-Jail-Free does feel less than satisfying. However, I do think part of the intent was for her guilt (a lesser consequence, but a consequence nonetheless) to be an impetus towards slowing down on the manipulation and self-centeredness (which is somewhat shown by her more reserved demeanor in STX). As far as Gideon's arc, this is the only part where I have a slightly different read. Self-sacrifice is a consistent virtue for W; not just Gideon. It shows up often on white cards/characters and is often praised as an honorable deed, especially in death. So having that martyr complex be a specifically negative thing, so much so that it's the exemplar W character's main flaw... feels slightly off to me. To me, it always felt like he was almost 'supposed' to die that way, but his invulnerability made it impossible until that moment. The whole situation felt like a contrivance to make an inevitable martyrdom possible for an un-killable man. Don't get me wrong, the inconsistencies we just talked about still make it not the best way to do it... but the fact that he did it is less of an affront to me. Having said all that, I do have to give the writers a touch of grace, as they often have their hands tied by the wants/needs of the game. If the game wants less Gids cards, or more future Lili cards, that IS, in my opinion, a good reason to have something happen to Gids or to have Lili be saved. But if it's at all unclear, I do agree that they still could have written a better story while achieving those goals.