The Gatewatch

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The Gatewatch
[[File:{{#setmainimage:Gatewatch cropped.png}}|250px]]
Details
Race Planeswalkers.
Birthplace Zendikar
Lifetime Actuality
Sources
See references

The Gatewatch is a group of planeswalkers initially allied together to fight the Eldrazi on Zendikar. Their commitment is to protect the people of the Multiverse from threats that no one else can handle.[1][2] The Gatewatch is going to be the center of Magic's storyline moving forward.[3]

Membership

Current members

In order of the oaths they took:

Founding members are marked with an asterisk (*)[4]

Additionally, Lavinia, Jace's assistant on Ravnica, is in charge of maintaining the Gatewatch's headquarters on that plane and knows that they are planeswalkers.

History

Zendikar

The Gatewatch was formed after the founding members together defeated the demon planeswalker Ob Nixilis on Zendikar.[5] The four planeswalkers realized that they were helpless against large threats on their own, but that they could stand against just about any force in the Multiverse by working together. Thus they swore an oath to stand together and the Gatewatch was created.[2] Jace devised a plan to bind the Eldrazi Titans Kozilek and Ulamog to Zendikar, drawing the bulk of the Titans into the plane so that their energy could be dispersed into Zendikar, killing them in the process.[6] Helped by a massive fire spell of Chandra, they succeeded.[7]

After the defeat of the Eldrazi titans, Jace and his friends were berated by Ugin for killing the ancient creatures. Ugin implied there could be consequences for the multiverse and that Sorin Markov (one of the other original Eldrazi planeswalker opponents) would be less forgiving.[8] After consultation with his friends, Jace decided to investigate Sorin's whereabouts on his homeplane Innistrad, and recruit him as an ally against Nicol Bolas and other interplanar threats.

Innistrad

On Innistrad, Jace found only madness that affected the entire plane that soon proved to be the influence of the last Eldrazi Titan Emrakul. Aided by the planeswalker Tamiyo, he returned to Zendikar to bring the rest of the Gatewatch to fight Emrakul. When Liliana Vess came to their aid with a Zombie army, her reception by the Gatewatch was poor, especially since Nissa felt the dark magic radiating from the Chain Veil.[9] While that power protected her against Emrakul's insidious influence and allowed her to attack the Titan directly, it also took a great toll on her body, leaving her near death.

When she reawakened, Emrakul had been sealed in Innistrad's moon by the Gatewatch and Tamiyo, and her wounds had been healed by the other planeswalkers. Seeing that a group of allies could be useful for her long-time plans, she decided to join the Gatewatch, albeit with the intention of directing them for her own plans.[10]

Ravnica

In the three months that followed, the Gatewatch made their headquarters on Ravnica. Thanks to the aid of Tamiyo, they received an emissary from the Consulate of Kaladesh, the Vedalken Dovin Baan. The Vedalken wanted to hire the Gatewatch to provide protection for an Inventor's fair that would take place in Ghirapur. Liliana, however, quickly made clear that the Gatewatch's intention was to combat other planeswalkers and similar extraplanar threats, not local unrest. Additionally, several influential members of the Azorius Senate of Ravnica had been petrified, leaving Jace to believe that Vraska, a rival planeswalker, could have returned. When they discovered that Chandra and Liliana had vanished, they suspected that she might have planeswalked to Kaladesh. Nissa volunteered to find them.[11]

Kaladesh

After Liliana discovered that Tezzeret was active on the plane, she alerted Jace and Gideon, who traveled to Kaladesh and met with Nissa and Chandra, as well as their new ally Ajani Goldmane. Together, the group went into the arena where Tezzeret was about to execute Renegade Prime Pia Nalaar in a quicksmithing match. When the planeswalkers confronted him, Tezzeret announced the end of the Inventor's Fair and retreated to a skyship. Discovering that their presence had been used as a distraction to confiscate the inventions displayed at the Fair and to take the inventors prisoner, the Gatewatch swore to uncover what Tezzeret had planned.[12]

The Gatewatch aided the Renegades in their rebellion against the Consulate. They were helped by Ajani Goldmane, who afterwards joined the team. Despite Ajani's plea that they should further amass allies before confronting Tezzeret and his master Nicol Bolas, the rest of the group decided to follow the artificer to Amonkhet.[13]

Amonkhet

On Amonkhet, the Gatewatch discovered that Bolas was creating an army of Eternals; highly trained fighting specialists which had been zombified while keeping their skills intact. When they confronted the dragon, they were soundly defeated. Each one fled away on his or her own.[14] Most of them managed to retreat to Dominaria, which Ajani had suggested as a gathering point. However Jace became trapped on Ixalan by the power of the immortal sun.

Dominaria

The shock of losing Jace as well as the anger towards Liliana's actions caused Nissa to leave the Gatewatch. Chandra, realizing the Gatewatch was not strong enough, also quickly left Dominaria.[15] Thus, only Gideon and Liliana were left to confront the demon Belzenlok on their own. Belzenlok had to be defeated to free Liania's potential that would be needed in their fight against Bolas. Meanwhile, Ajani had joined the new Weatherlight crew.

Relations with other Planeswalkers

  • Kiora was part of the team that fought Kozilek and Ulamog on Zendikar, but left afterwards in shame after nearly stopping their plan.
  • Ob Nixilis is an enemy of the Gatewatch.
  • The spirit dragon Ugin looks disfavourably on the Gatewatch, regarding them as reckless children and not considering the consequences of their actions.
  • Tamiyo is an ally of the Gatewatch on Innistrad. She refused to join formally, but went on to pass the word of the Gatewatch's existence to other planeswalkers.
  • Sorin Markov rescued Jace and Tamiyo from a maddened Avacyn but considered them unimportant.
  • Dovin Baan approached the Gatewatch under the orders of the Consulate, but was wary of them and several of their methods. He later fought them because he was loyal to the Consulate.
  • Tezzeret is classified as an enemy of the Gatewatch, due to a past involvement with Jace and Liliana as well as his actions against the family of Chandra.
  • Saheeli Rai is an ally of the Gatewatch on Kaladesh, joining forces with them to free her friend Rashmi from Tezzeret.
  • Samut fought with the Gatewatch prior to her ascension, but had no contact to them afterwards.
  • Nicol Bolas is the enemy of the Gatewatch. He managed to defeat them effortlessly on Amonkhet and convinced Liliana to turn against the team to work for him instead.
  • Vraska was an enemy of Jace. She turned as ally after realizing Jace's past and Bolas' plan on attacking Ranvica, she returned to Bolas' side as a part of the plan sabotaging Bolas.

In the cards

Incomplete Founder Cycle

The founding members of the Gatewatch represented four of the five colors, lacking only black. This gave the impression of an incomplete cycle, although the Gatewatch is a set of thematically-linked characters, rather than a mechanically-linked set. Additionally, the only black planeswalker present, Ob Nixilis, directly opposed the group. That circumstance led to the humorous observation that Ob Nixilis was previously known as Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath, thus “completing” the cycle of oaths.[16][17][18]

Joining the Gatewatch

Any future members of the Gatewatch will have an “Oath” card printed to represent their induction to the group.[19][20]

Liliana was the first one who joined the Gatewatch after its formation. She and her oath are both black which completed the cycle. Note that the first five members of the Gatewatch are also the planeswalkers featured in Magic Origins.

Ajani was the first multicolored member of the Gatewatch. His oath was also multicolored.

In Standard

When the Gatewatch storyline was started, R&D began with the assumption that the members of the Gatewatch should always be represented on planeswalker cards in Standard. Starting with Hour of Devastation they will pull back significantly on how often Gatewatch planeswalkers appear. They’ll appear when it’s important but at a much slower rate.[21]

In-game references

Oaths
Associated cards
Referred to

References

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  3. ↑ Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (January 09, 2016). "". Tumblr.
  4. ↑ Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (January 09, 2016). "". Tumblr.
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  16. ↑ Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (December 28, 2015). "". Tumblr.
  17. ↑ Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (January 6, 2016). "". Tumblr.
  18. ↑ Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (January 09, 2016). "". Tumblr.
  19. ↑ Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (January 09, 2016). "". Tumblr.
  20. ↑ Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (January 09, 2016). "". Tumblr.
  21. ↑ Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (April 07, 2017). "". Tumblr.
 
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