Teyo Verada

Teyo Verada
[[File:{{#setmainimage:Teyo Verada.png}}|250px]]
Details
Race	Human Planeswalker
Birthplace	Gobakhan
Lifetime	~4544 AR -
Colors
Center:

Teyo Verada is a planeswalker shieldmage, or geometrist, from the plane Gobakhan.

Appearance and characteristics

At his introduction in the storyline, he is a nineteen years old orphan. He has a slender, Iberian-like appearance with short-cropped black hair. He is more a follower than a leader, and his magic used to be mostly defensive. He contemplated becoming a member of the Gatewatch, but decided against it.

Teyo Verada is centered in white mana. His magic shields manifest as geometric shapes of white light. A small circle of light at his ear appears when he creates his circles, triangles and four-points. He has also developed the ability to shoot solid spheres of white light, and to use his shields as a battering ram..

History

Origins

Teyo used to be the worst acolyte in the Order of the Shieldmage, which protects Gobakhan towns from diamondstorms. He sought to use his protective magic to shield his people against the storms, but Abbot Berriz, despaired of him ever raising a decent shield. During an exceptionally harsh tempest Teyo spark ignited, when the Interplanar Beacon called him to Ravnica. Distracted by the Beacon's call, he wound up buried alive in the sand of the desert, but planeswalked away to Ravnica before he would suffocate.

War of the Spark

Confused and disoriented, Teyo wandered the streets of Ravnica. A Gateless street urchin named Araithia Shokta (nicknamed Rat) acted as Teyo's guide to the plane, telling him about the city's neighborhoods and districts and ruling guilds. He was soon joined by Kaya and Ral Zarek, who explained to him that he was a planeswalker.

Teyo was extremely impressed by Ravnica (which was much larger and more advanced than any city on Gobakhan), but he didn't have much time to adjust to his new reality or enjoy the scenery: Bolas' invasion began shortly after Teyo's arrival, and the Eternals of the Dreadhorde marched forth from the dragon's Planar Bridge. Like the other planeswalkers who'd been lured to Ravnica by the Beacon, Teyo found himself trapped. Alongside many other planeswalkers and Ravnicans, he fought against Bolas' forces; while he had no combat skills or offensive magic, he used his shields to protect his allies and hinder Eternals.

Teyo and Rat accompanied Kaya on her mission to rally the Orzhov Syndicate against Bolas. They were present when Kaya met with the Syndicate's ruling triumvirate, consisting of the human pontiff Armin Morov, the vampire tithe-master Slavomir Zoltan, and the angel warrior-executioner Maladola. She faced resistance from them, but the Syndicate's chief enforcer – the giant Bilagru – convinced them that Bolas posed an existential threat to all of Ravnica and, by extension, to the Syndicate's economic interests. (Unbeknownst to Teyo, Bilagru had been persuaded to help Kaya by Orzhov representative Tomik Vrona.) Swayed by Bilagru's arguments, the triumvirate agreed to have the Orzhov Syndicate join the fight.

During the invasion, the trapped planeswalkers got together with Ravnican leaders to strategize. At Jace's recommendation, they decided to split up into teams to focus on specific tasks. Kaya, Teyo and Araithia were sent to persuade the guilds that still remained neutral (Selesnya, Gruul, Golgari and Rakdos) to join the fight against Bolas. They received an audience Emmara Tandris, acting guildmaster of the Selesnya Conclave, who initially refused their plea for help. However, her decision was overruled when Trostani awakened and ruled in favor of helping the Gatewatch. The group then went to speak with Borborygmos of the Gruul Clans, and Araithia convinced the cyclops to support their cause.

They were joined by Ral, who accompanied them to the Undercity. In Vraska's absence, the other leaders of the Golgari Swarm squabbled for control of her throne, but Vraska returned and united them. Despite Ral and Kaya's suspicion of the gorgon, Vraska pledged the Golgari to the fight against Bolas. With the help of Ajani and his team of planeswalkers, they were able to evacuate many civilians to the tunnels beneath the city, where they would be safe from the Dreadhorde.

After that, Vraska, Ral, Kaya, Teyo and Araithia journeyed to Rix Maadi to negotiate with Rakdos. The demon lord was initially hostile due to the death of his emissary Hekara, and the blood witch Exava ordered the group to leave. However, the Orzhov representative Tomik showed up with Hekara's corpse, and the Rakdos cultists resurrected Hekara as a blood witch. After defeating Exava in a fight, Hekara used her newfound authority as a blood witch to lead the Rakdos against Bolas.

Once all ten guilds were on board, Nissa performed a ritual at the ruins of the Guildpact Chamber: with the help of a representative from each guild, she was able to repair the leylines that empowered the Living Guildpact (which had been disrupted when Bolas destroyed the Guildpact Chamber by opening his portal there). Using a device that Niv-Mizzet had constructed before his death to preserve his consciousness, they were able to resurrect Niv and grant the power of the Living Guildpact to him. While all the guildmasters were in a trance, the ritual attracted the attention from the God-Eternal Kefnet. Teyo managed to create a mighty shield to stop the God-Eternal twice, saving just enough time for the ritual to get finished. Niv came back to life just in time to save the others. Using his newfound power, Niv was able to completely incinerate Kefnet in a torrent of flame, although the strain of channeling enough energy to kill a god caused him to fall unconscious.

Teyo was one of the few planeswalkers who chose to remain on Ravnica after Chandra disabled the Immortal Sun, helping the Gatewatch in their fight against Bolas. He survived the battle and was present during the Planewide Celebration that followed. In the course of the War, he had developed a crush on Rat, and had greatly expanded his powers.

Planes visited

• Gobakhan
• Ravnica

Planeswalkers met

• Kaya
• Ral Zarek
• Jace Beleren
• Chandra Nalaar
• Gideon Jura
• Teferi
• Jaya Ballard
• Ajani Goldmane
• Liliana Vess
• Kiora
• Samut
• Huatli
• Saheeli Rai
• Angrath
• Domri Rade
• Kasmina

In-game references

Represented in:

• Teyo, the Shieldmage

Associated cards:

• Teyo's Lightshield

Depicted in:

• Crush Dissent