Ugin is currently dead. His skeletal remains are infused with either mana or a spell, and Sorin does not perceive any spirit attached to his remains. Ugin is a "spirit dragon" (possibly "the" spirit dragon; sources differ), and held that identifier before ending up dead. What exactly that means is unknown.
Ugin has demonstrated the capacity to manipulate or blind future sight. Combined with his recent card, and the known block structure, we can infer that Ugin is well-versed in time magic.
Ugin is also a dragon. While his motivations seem to differ from those of similar entities (see: Nicol Bolas), he appears to possess ambitions of a similar scale (see: imprisonment of the eldrazi). With his life span (millenia, at least), he can plan for the very long term.
Sarkhan hears voices in his head, presumably from Ugin. The origin of these voices is backed by card art depicting a spectral dragon that is clearly not Bolas whispering in Sarkhan's ear, and Sorin's description of Ugin's skull as "unmistakable". Sarkhan has stated that he "was never born at all."
Tarkir's dragons were once spawned in mighty elemental storms. These storms ceased without explanation more than one thousand years ago.
The creator and owner of Phyrexia, prior to Yawgmoth, was a human-born oldwalker who preferred the form of a dragon. When Dyfed introduced Yawgmoth to the plane, that creator was present only as decaying draconic remains. The creator of Phyrexia had populated the first (outermost) sphere with "mechanical parodies of life", especially draconic entities crafted in his own image. When Yawgmoth took control of Phyrexia, great storms tore across the surface as he flexed his influence. Yawgmoth transported countless biological lifeforms to Phyrexia to utilize as components in his creations. (Source: "The Thran", circa p. 199 and onward)
And now, into the madness. I assert the following:
<Ugin engages in serial reincarnation to escape bad situations, entrap his foes, and further his grand schemes.
Sarkhan may be an avatar or incarnation of Ugin, explaining both the quote regarding his birth and the absence of a spirit attached to Ugin's remains.
Ugin is the planeswalker responsible for the creation of Phyrexia.
Tarkir is, in fact, the outermost sphere of Phyrexia, reclaimed by its rightful owner and restored to its pre-Yawgmoth state. Ugin utilized Yawgmoth's cyborg approach to create more biological denizens for the repopulation.
The storms are an energistic side-effect of the manifestation of the planar controller's will. It is demonstrated that the controller of Phyrexia has nearly absolute control over physical reality within the plane. Ugin may have been using periodic spawns of dragons to drive artificial evolution of either humanoids or dragons, prior to his most recent death.
The third set will reveal more artifical constructs, linking to the artifact subtheme in M15.
This whole section (between the <>) isn't just speculation, it's Baseless Speculation™. You're making a lot of dubious baseless leaps about Ugin. Per the subforum rules, baseless speculation is not allowed in the Storyline subform. Just because you want something to be true, doesn't make it so.
This is a verbal warning. In the future, please try to keep your speculation to reasonable extrapolations of the cards and stories.
I can't really speak to the phyrexian stuff as I'm not knowledgeable enough about the lore in question, but I've been of the opinion that Sarkhan would eventually become Ugin for a while now. My original theory was that Sarkhan would go to Ravnica, join up with the Izzet cause he thought Niv Mizzet was rad, learn how to fiddle with time from Ral Zarek and other izzet chronomancers, and then go back in time and help Sorin seal away the Eldrazi, calling himself Ugin all the while.
Ugin is currently dead. His skeletal remains are infused with either mana or a spell, and Sorin does not perceive any spirit attached to his remains. Ugin is a "spirit dragon" (possibly "the" spirit dragon; sources differ), and held that identifier before ending up dead. What exactly that means is unknown.
Ugin has demonstrated the capacity to manipulate or blind future sight. Combined with his recent card, and the known block structure, we can infer that Ugin is well-versed in time magic.
Ugin is also a dragon. While his motivations seem to differ from those of similar entities (see: Nicol Bolas), he appears to possess ambitions of a similar scale (see: imprisonment of the eldrazi). With his life span (millenia, at least), he can plan for the very long term.
Sarkhan hears voices in his head, presumably from Ugin. The origin of these voices is backed by card art depicting a spectral dragon that is clearly not Bolas whispering in Sarkhan's ear, and Sorin's description of Ugin's skull as "unmistakable". Sarkhan has stated that he "was never born at all."
Tarkir's dragons were once spawned in mighty elemental storms. These storms ceased without explanation more than one thousand years ago.
The creator and owner of Phyrexia, prior to Yawgmoth, was a human-born oldwalker who preferred the form of a dragon. When Dyfed introduced Yawgmoth to the plane, that creator was present only as decaying draconic remains. The creator of Phyrexia had populated the first (outermost) sphere with "mechanical parodies of life", especially draconic entities crafted in his own image. When Yawgmoth took control of Phyrexia, great storms tore across the surface as he flexed his influence. Yawgmoth transported countless biological lifeforms to Phyrexia to utilize as components in his creations. (Source: "The Thran", circa p. 199 and onward)
And now, into the madness. I assert the following:
<Ugin engages in serial reincarnation to escape bad situations, entrap his foes, and further his grand schemes.
Sarkhan may be an avatar or incarnation of Ugin, explaining both the quote regarding his birth and the absence of a spirit attached to Ugin's remains.
Ugin is the planeswalker responsible for the creation of Phyrexia.
Tarkir is, in fact, the outermost sphere of Phyrexia, reclaimed by its rightful owner and restored to its pre-Yawgmoth state. Ugin utilized Yawgmoth's cyborg approach to create more biological denizens for the repopulation.
The storms are an energistic side-effect of the manifestation of the planar controller's will. It is demonstrated that the controller of Phyrexia has nearly absolute control over physical reality within the plane. Ugin may have been using periodic spawns of dragons to drive artificial evolution of either humanoids or dragons, prior to his most recent death.
The third set will reveal more artifical constructs, linking to the artifact subtheme in M15.
This story builds into a Phyrexia vs. Eldrazi confrontation, as teasingly mentioned several times on Blogatog.>
This whole section (between the <>) isn't just speculation, it's Baseless Speculation™. You're making a lot of dubious baseless leaps about Ugin. Per the subforum rules, baseless speculation is not allowed in the Storyline subform. Just because you want something to be true, doesn't make it so.
This is a verbal warning. In the future, please try to keep your speculation to reasonable extrapolations of the cards and stories.
~kaburi