The Gatewatch
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:
- Gideon Jura*, the battlefield commander
- Nissa Revane*
- Jace Beleren*, the administrator
- Chandra Nalaar*
- Liliana Vess
Founding members are marked with an asterisk (*)[4]
Additionally, Lavinia, Jace's assistant on Ravnica, is also in charge of maintaining the Gatewatch's headquarter on that plane and knows that they are planeswalkers.
Incomplete Founder Cycle
The founding members of the Gatewatch represent four of the five colors, lacking only black. This gives 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 has led to the humorous observation that Ob Nixilis was previously known as Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath, thus “completing” the cycle of oaths.[5][6][7]
Liliana is the first one who joined the Gatewatch after its formation. She and her oath are both black which completes the cycle. Note that the first five members of the Gatewatch are also the planeswalkers featured in Magic Origins.
Joining the Gatewatch
Any future members of the Gatewatch will have an “Oath” card printed to represent their induction to the group.[8][9]
History
The Gatewatch was formed after the founding members together defeated the demon planeswalker Ob Nixilis on Zendikar.[10] 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.[11] Helped by a massive fire spell of Chandra, they succeeded.[12]
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.[13] 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.
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.[14] 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.[15]
In the three months that followed, the Gatewatch made their headquarter 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.[16]
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.[17]
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 later 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, like harbouring pyromancers and asking for a plane's cooperation.
- 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
- Ajani Goldmane is an ally of the Gatewatch on Kaladesh, having come himself to deal with Tezzeret.
In-game references
- Oaths
- Associated cards
- Referred to
References
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