Dovin Baan

Dovin Baan
[[File:{{#setmainimage:Dovin Baan2.jpg}}|250px]]
Details
Race	Vedalken planeswalker
Birthplace	Kaladesh
Lifetime	Mending Era, died ~4561 AR
Colors
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lore:"Dovin"

Dovin Baan was a vedalken planeswalker from the plane of Kaladesh. He was an artificer and a system's mage.

Appearance and characteristics

Dovin Baan was a tall, thin, and always impeccably dressed vedalken who strove for perfection. His suit was partially encased in whorls and filigrees of brass, bits of which hissed and ticked faintly as he moved. Baan had an innate talent, heightened by magic, that allowed him to see the flaws in any system or machine. After mere moments of scrutiny, Dovin could provide a complete analysis, noting a particular machine's weaknesses, highlighting its shortcomings, and predicting with startling accuracy exactly how and when it will fail. He can do this for a machine, a bureaucracy, a dance — the form matters little, only the process. Consequently, he could perfect the thing, little by little, until it became a true exemplar of what it was meant to be.

Baan's favorite tools were thopters, small flying mechanical spy devices.

Dovin Baan was centered in both white and blue mana. When he planeswalked, he vanished in a sideways movement.

History

Kaladesh

Dovin Baan was the Minister of Inspections of the Consulate of Kaladesh. His admirable success made him serve as senior inspector of the Inventors' Fair.

When he came up against an unexpected and unpredictable renegade threat, he requested the aid of the Gatewatch. The Gatewatch had to refuse to assist Baan, considering his problems an internal affair and antithetical to the goals of their organization. However, his visit alerted Chandra Nalaar of the events happening on Kaladesh, her plane of birth, and she immediately planeswalked to Kaladesh with Liliana Vess. Baan returned to Kaladesh, Nissa in tow. He arrived next to Tezzeret, as he was arresting Renegade Prime, later to be revealed as Chandra's mother, Pia Nalaar. Recognizing Chandra in the crowd, Dovin Baan ordered gearhulks to be brought into a position to isolate and contain Chandra from Renegade Prime. Renegade Prime, however, relented and let herself be taken into custody. Baan was relieved, having arrested Renegade Prime, and serving a blow to the renegade threat he sought to quell.

Dovin Baan sabotages the Renegades' plan and is expelled by the flames of Chandra

During Tezzeret's coup, Dovin Baan hesitantly cooperated, although he disliked the draconian manner in which the inventions were taken from the inventors. Tezzeret assured him that this was solely done for protecting the inventions since he expected a major Renegade retaliation, and to develop them further to usher in a new era of innovation. Tezzeret then revealed that he intended to make Dovin the head of the institution that would manufacture these new, streamlined inventions and make them public among the population of Kaladesh. In exchange, Tezzeret demanded that Dovin Baan take care of the Gatewatch since it was due to his invitation that they were here. Baan immediately went to assemble a group of elite soldiers, intending to use the weaknesses and dysfunctions of the Gatewatch against them. After the Renegades had managed to conquer the central Aether Hub of the city, Tezzeret ordered Baan on the Skysovereign to help construct his battle plans. After examining the situation, Baan pointed out that the majority of the Renegades, under them Renegade Prime, had taken up residence in the hub and that a direct attack would inevitably fail. Instead, he advised to encircle the facility and draw out their commanders, including the planeswalkers, and then strike with aerial support and various armored inspectors. Listing the weaknesses of the Gatewatch, Baan stated that the weakest link of the group was Chandra Nalaar, due to her impulsiveness. Tezzeret then ordered Baral to distract Chandra, exploiting the hatred that existed between both. Baan was wary of this plan since he mistrusted Baral's soundness of mind.

Tezzeret ordered Baan to supervise the operation. Insisting that their confrontation would take place in one of the more dilapidated quarters of Ghirapur, he watched the battle between the Consulate officer and the planeswalkers. When Baral wanted more firepower against them, Baan refused, wanting to keep the citizenry safe from collateral damage. During the battle, Baan heard Baral provoking Chandra, admitting that Kiran and Pia Nalaar had not died in the fire, as he previously stated, but that Kiran had been murdered by Baral himself and Pia was taken into the Dhund without a trial. Charging the officer with murder, attempted murder, and multiple counts of falsification of the public record, Baan ordered Baral's imprisonment. The renegades escaped the encounter at the Aether Hub. As Baral protested and urged Baan to pursue the renegades, Baan informed him that the central Aether Hub was again under Consulate control.

When the Renegades attacked the Consulate's Spire, Baan boarded the Heart of Kiran and sabotaged the Hope of Ghirapur, which was an essential part of their strategy. He then planeswalked away before Chandra could stop him.

Ravnica

Guildmaster.

After realizing that Tezzeret was not the true mastermind behind the Planar Bridge, Baan decided to look for Tezzeret's master. Walking right into Bolas claws, he was taken in by the dragon's intelligence and "flawless planning". Bolas then offered Dovin something Dovin couldn't turn down, the chance to reshape a plane into flawless and ordered efficiency. Since his first visit to Ravnica to recruit the Gatewatch, Dovin had itched to improve the guild system, so he willingly jumped at the chance to take over the Azorius Senate on Ravnica. Manipulating the system from the inside, he exploited one loophole after another to disrupt the chain of command. Occupying judges and senators with often overlooked (but technically required by law) paperwork, rescheduling key meetings, and arranging the ousting of people in key positions of power, Dovin emerged as the new head of the Lyev Column, replacing the unpopular hussar Agmand Sarv. When Isperia was killed by Vraska, Dovin took over as guildmaster and showed the guild how to make spy thopters and to use precognitive mages to arrest people before crimes would be committed.

When Ral Zarek altered the Implicit Maze to fulfill Niv-Mizzet's plan of stealing the power of the Guildpact, Dovin found out and played along until right before Bolas's arrival on the plane and then sabotaged the device, leaving Jace as the Living Guildpact.

War of the Spark

Lazav, in disguise as Chandra Nalaar, blinds Dovin.

In the War of the Spark, Dovin guarded the Immortal Sun for Bolas. During a fight, he was overpowered by Chandra Nalaar, who turned out to be the Dimir guildmaster Lazav in disguise, using an Izzet League flamethrower. Lazav threw throwing stars that hit Dovin in the eyes and blinded him. This seriously affected his ability to detect weakness in others. Bleeding, he planeswalked away shortly afterward.

The new Living Guildpact, Niv-Mizzet, later hired Vraska to track Baan down.

Death

After being blinded by Lazav, Dovin Baan planeswalked to his home on Kaladesh but soon returned to his safe house on Ravnica. There he managed to lead a fairly regular life thanks to his eidetic memory and started to manufacture appliances to replace his lost eyes. On Ravnica, he was discovered by Vraska, and in exchange for his life, Baan offered to help her retain control over the Golgari. Vraska accepted the offer and together they plotted to fake Baan's death. Using a statue replica of himself, a fight was staged in Zinara on Regatha with Chandra Nalaar being an unsuspecting accomplice. During the fight, Vraska severed Baan’s right hand to use as proof of a kill while Chandra believed she had delivered the killing blow. The plan succeeded and Baan returned to Ravnica, only to be assassinated by Atkos Tarr who had been sent by Lazav in his plans to blackmail Vraska. After his death, Atkos removed Baan’s left hand and secretly passed it on to Lazav.

Trivia

• In the video game Magic: The Gathering Arena, Dovin is voiced by Robin Atkin Downes.

Gallery

• 

  Supreme Judge.

• 

  “If the populace fears our authority, then I’d say we have an appropriately sensible populace.”

• 

  Dovin's Veto.

• 

  Keeping the Immortal Sun.

• 

  Minion of Nicol Bolas.

• 

  Dovin in the Ravnica Allegiance manga.

• 

  Magic: The Gathering Arena avatar.

Planeswalkers met

• Chandra Nalaar
• Domri Rade
• Gideon Jura
• Jace Beleren
• Liliana Vess
• Nicol Bolas
• Nissa Revane
• Ral Zarek
• Saheeli Rai
• Tezzeret
• Vraska

Planes visited

• Kaladesh
• Ravnica
• Regatha

Story appearances

Title	Author	Publishing date	Set	Setting (plane)	Featuring
Homesick	Chris L'Etoile	2016-08-29	Kaladesh	Ravnica	The Gatewatch (Jace Beleren, Nissa Revane, Chandra Nalaar, Gideon Jura and Liliana Vess), Lavinia, Dovin
Renegade Prime	Mel Li	2016-09-14	Kaladesh	Kaladesh	Pia Nalaar, Dhiren Baral, Tamni, Venkat Dasai, Nadya, Kari Zev, Viprikti, Dovin, Chandra Nalaar, Liliana Vess, Nissa Revane, Tezzeret, Oviya Pashiri
A Grateful Consulat	James Wyatt	2016-10-19	Kaladesh	Kaladesh	Dovin, Ranaj, Tezzeret, Dujari
Burn	Chris L'Etoile	2017-01-04	Aether Revolt	Kaladesh	Dovin, Tezzeret, Dhiren Baral, The Gatewatch, Oviya Pashiri, Ajani Goldmane, Vatti, Dayal, Pia Nalaar, Kari Zev
Breaking Points	Doug Beyer	2017-01-18	Aether Revolt	Kaladesh	The Gatewatch, Pia Nalaar, Hope of Ghirapur, Saheeli Rai, Rashmi, Ajani Goldmane, Oviya Pashiri, Vatti, Dovin
The Illusions of Child's Play	Nicky Drayden	2019-01-23	Ravnica Allegiance	Ravnica	Kodolaag, Olrich, Zita, Lucinka, Jitka Wothis, Grimbly Wothis (mentioned), Dovin
The Gathering Storm: Chapter Three	Django Wexler	2019-06-19	Guilds of Ravnica / Ravnica Allegiance	Ravnica	Ral, Pytr Liosh, Ferzhin, Aurelia, Isperia, Dovin, Lavinia, Tomik Vrona, Elias, Gunther, Varo, Nicol Bolas
The Gathering Storm: Chapter Eight	Django Wexler	2019-07-31	Guilds of Ravnica / Ravnica Allegiance	Ravnica	Ral, Dovin, Varryvort, Kaya, Teysa Karlov, Nicol Bolas, Elias, Villiers, Anne Hannover, Venati, Sal, Nak
The Gathering Storm: Chapter Ten	Django Wexler	2019-08-14	Guilds of Ravnica / Ravnica Allegiance	Ravnica	Ral, Isperia, Dovin, Hekara, Borborygmos, Aurelia, Ferzhin, Lazav, Emmara Tandris, Kaya, Teysa Karlov, Vraska, Niv-Mizzet
The Gathering Storm: Chapter Eleven	Django Wexler	2019-08-21	Guilds of Ravnica / Ravnica Allegiance	Ravnica, Unknown plane	Ral, Ghazz, Hekara, Brevia, Harith, Niv-Mizzet, Aurelia, Ferzhin, Dovin, Vell, Kaya
The Gathering Storm: Chapter Thirteen	Django Wexler	2019-09-04	Guilds of Ravnica / Ravnica Allegiance	Ravnica	Vraska, Xeddick, Hekara, Kaya, Tomik Vrona, Teysa Karlov, Ral, Aurelia, Dovin

In-game references

Represented in:

• Dovin Baan
• Dovin, Grand Arbiter
• Dovin, Architect of Law
• Dovin, Hand of Control

Associated cards:

• Dovin's Acuity
• Dovin's Automaton
• Dovin's Dismissal
• Dovin's Veto

Depicted in:

• Chandra's Triumph
• Emergency Powers
• Hungry Flames
• Vedalken Orrery (Double Masters 2022, #399)
• War of the Spark
• Warden

Quoted or referred to:

• Azorius Guildgate (Ravnica Allegiance, #243)
• Azorius Locket
• Chandra's Pyrohelix (War of the Spark)
• Concession Stand (Unfinity, #205c)
• Elite Guardmage
• Fragmentize
• Hungry Flames
• Justiciar's Portal
• Law-Rune Enforcer
• Mechanized Production
• Orderly Plaza
• Senate Courier
• Sphinx's Insight
• Thundering Ceratok
• Tome of the Guildpact