(If you want to cut to the chase then read paragraph #3 and on wards.)
Okay so Nicol bolas one of the big threats in mtg. However I heard that he was afraid of the phyrexians and so sent tezzeret to go and stop the five tribes from uniting. Who could blame him I mean yawgmoth was a powerful character himself and the phyrexians themselves invaded then sorta died then came back to take back.
Okay so he's scared but that also explains a lot. So what are the biggest threats in the mtg universe well the eldrazi and the phyrexians. Nicol bolas is scared of phyrexians and needs to find a way to stop them since he knows tezzeret won't hold. Now go to tarkir he goes finds rumors if ancient powerful beings and the only one who knew of them the most was ugin. And learns about the eldrazi.
Now we're on zendikar and Nicol bolas makes the whole thing happen and the eldrazi rize. His plan was to get the eldrazi to new phyrexia and to two of the biggest threats clash. The phyrexians are strong that they make Nicol afraid but now he's released the eldrazi gods and they far surpass phyrexian power since mana flows through almost everything and the eldrazi eat mana makes it pretty safe to say that they were suppose kill the phyrexians for good.
Now you could say well why don't Nicol just control the eldrazi to go to new phyrexia. Well its because the eldrazi have no mind and that they far surpass Nicol bolas's power since they lived before mana.
The nature of artifacts is that they lack colored mana, so they would not be the most appetizing plane. The Phyrexians seek to make everything a varient of colorless (making them mechanical). If these two were to clash it would be when the Eldrazi have devoured every other plane where Colors are the majority (theres a reason The Three chose Zendikar, although the next plane being Ravnica would be interesting as it has much more color then zendikar).
I mentioned this before, but here is my theory of why he did it:
1. Nicol Bolas lost most of his power in the Mending and he wants it back.
2. The Mending was performed to close the time rifts that endangered the whole multiverse. If it was simply reversed, the rifts would come back.
3. The rifts were on Dominaria.
So, what would happen if the Eldrazi were unleashed on Dominaria? If the Eldrazi completely devoured Dominaria, maybe NOTHING would be left of it, not even the damaged spacetime.
And in that case, Nicol Bolas could safely undo the Mending and regain his former power without any negative consequences.
Except all the inhabitants of Dominaria who would die, but why would he care about those?
My understanding was that Bolas sent Tezzy to New Phyrexia to keep an eye on them. Not because he was afraid of them. Let's face it. Bolas is the champion of the Dominian Dragon was. He was king of the Madaran empire. There is very little he is afraid of.
Other problems with your theory are:
-Even if Bolas could somehow force the titans to ggo to NP aand wipe them out there Karn spread the glistening Oil to many planes. We've only seen one because it was Mirrodan. If he's trying to use the Eldrazi to destroy Phyrexia he's got a long way to go and there are probably more efficient routes.
-What makes you think Bolas could control the titans? It's not that they sont have minds but that they have 5 Dimensional minds that can't be comprehended by us 4 dimensional beings. If Bolas tried to do like Ob did this week and try to push his will on the titans I think it would go poorly for him.
-If Bolas was trying to learn about the Eldrazi why would he kill the multiverses foremost scholar on them?
The most likely scenario is that Bolas has some Nixilis-ian scheme to use the Eldrazi to regain his premending powers.
Also: The Mending effected the entire Multiverse so destroying Dominaria would not change anything.
Also the second: yes Dominaria is still there. It is recovering from the catastrophe of the time spiral block. Shandalar never replaced it.
The most likely scenario is that Bolas has some Nixilis-ian scheme to use the Eldrazi to regain his premending powers.
Also: The Mending effected the entire Multiverse so destroying Dominaria would not change anything.
Also the second: yes Dominaria is still there. It is recovering from the catastrophe of the time spiral block. Shandalar never replaced it.
This doesn't necessarily follow. Yes, Mending affected the entire multiverse. But all the work that brought it was done on Dominaria only. So why couldn't it be undone from there as well?
Phyrexia is infectious, but it has trouble moving on its own. Even with a bunch of planes being infected with oil, New Phyrexia still isn't mobile. The Eldrazi can simply drift to another plane once their brunch is over. Due to that one distinction, the threat level difference between the two seems huge. Yeah, Phyrexia is efficient, but they can't move. Yeah the Eldrazi aren't super efficient, but they're hard to deal with and can move to another plane. In ultimate eventuality, the Eldrazi threaten the entire multiverse. Phyrexia only threatens where planeswalkers take their oil. (I would like to note that a single Phyrexian planeswalker would change all this. Buckle up Koth, you might be destroying the multiverse.)
I think Nicol Bolas' aspirations are likely far greater than neutralizing a single somewhat aggressive threat. Even with New Phyrexia being ebil as all hell and such, I'm sure there are many other planes out there that would be just as problematic as New Phyrexia would be if they got the chance to operate in any way on a multiversal scale. I mean, Phyrexia would assimilate the planes they touched, but without a way to move from THAT plane to the next one, they might as well have just blown the thing up or started a really nasty war. Until something changes or is unveiled, it seems silly to me to think snuffing out New Phyrexia is worth 1000 years of planning to Nicol Bolas.
Maybe he just finds them that annoying. They keep coming back, like cockroaches. He's sick of it. He was only gone for the weekend, and yet here they are.
It seems to me that all of this is likely an extension of the Conflux storyline. He wants his old spark back, and has a lot of different experiments he can attempt to decipher the mystery of exactly why/how it was lost/gained in the first place or how he could forge another one. Adding C to his understanding of magic seems to me like it would be in line with what he was attempting by absorbing the conflux. (I know very little about this storyline, just that he fought with boros cat over it.)
I would love it if the mending was undone. Planeswalkers too powerful to print into cards? That's at least a flavorful win, and maybe a mechanical one too. (It wouldn't be. Not at all. I know why they exist, I'm just salty about what their presence has done to how they treat legendary creatures and block specific characters.)
I wouldn't even dream to speculate on how changing Dominaria would effect the mending. Ultimately, it works the way they say it works, just like it worked how they said it worked back in Time Spiral.
All in all, my sniffer is getting the most hints at Bolas' motives being aligned towards the mending in some way, shape or form. Perhaps this is all a lead up to Time Spiral block 2: The Time Spiralening. Man, I hope so.
Another second path that I foresee being possible is that New Phyrexia re-surges on many other planes at the same time, making an eldritch extermination team necessary (Who ya gonna call? Ul-la-mog!). MaeRo has brought up the potential for multi-plane sets consistently for quite a while on his dumblr, so it seems more than feasible. I would hate this. No more cockroach sets plis.
We'll see. I look forward to finding out what the deal is in 10 years.
It is said that Dominaria is at the center of the multiverse but I don't think it means that much. I mean they were thinking of the outcome of the Implicit Maze in RTR block move Ravnica such that it would be at the center. I don't think it's position means all that much. It could be feasible to weave a spell that, radiating outward from Dominaria, could reverse the mending but it doesn't make the least bit of sense that destroying a single plane would effect something that changed the entire multiverse, including those not even born yet. No to mention all the storytelling reasons they don't want to do it.
Spoiler alert: the original emrakul, kozilek and ulamog will appear in new phyrexia. And they will be compleated. And the compleated titans will be the same cost and abilities + infect. Jenius
It is said that Dominaria is at the center of the multiverse but I don't think it means that much. I mean they were thinking of the outcome of the Implicit Maze in RTR block move Ravnica such that it would be at the center. I don't think it's position means all that much. It could be feasible to weave a spell that, radiating outward from Dominaria, could reverse the mending but it doesn't make the least bit of sense that destroying a single plane would effect something that changed the entire multiverse, including those not even born yet. No to mention all the storytelling reasons they don't want to do it.
It makes sense if you think of it like this:
1. The rifts were on Dominaria.
2. The rifts endangered the Multiverse.
3. The purpose of Mending was to close the rifts. The change to planeswalker spark was a side effect.
4. The rifts still exist; they are closed, but if Mending was ever reversed, they would re-open.
5. This would be bad.
6. If Eldrazi erase Dominaria, it will cease to exist.
7. The rifts will be erased together with Dominaria.
8. If, after this, the Mending will be reversed, through whatever means, the rifts won't re-open as they will no longer exist.
9. Therefore, unleashing Eldrazi on Dominaria might not reverse Mending by itself, but it is a necessary step for a successful un-Mending.
It is said that Dominaria is at the center of the multiverse but I don't think it means that much. I mean they were thinking of the outcome of the Implicit Maze in RTR block move Ravnica such that it would be at the center. I don't think it's position means all that much. It could be feasible to weave a spell that, radiating outward from Dominaria, could reverse the mending but it doesn't make the least bit of sense that destroying a single plane would effect something that changed the entire multiverse, including those not even born yet. No to mention all the storytelling reasons they don't want to do it.
It makes sense if you think of it like this:
1. The rifts were on Dominaria.
2. The rifts endangered the Multiverse.
3. The purpose of Mending was to close the rifts. The change to planeswalker spark was a side effect.
4. The rifts still exist; they are closed, but if Mending was ever reversed, they would re-open.
5. This would be bad.
6. If Eldrazi erase Dominaria, it will cease to exist.
7. The rifts will be erased together with Dominaria.
8. If, after this, the Mending will be reversed, through whatever means, the rifts won't re-open as they will no longer exist.
9. Therefore, unleashing Eldrazi on Dominaria might not reverse Mending by itself, but it is a necessary step for a successful un-Mending.
That actually makes sense, thank you. But was it the rifts endangering the multiverse a property of the rifts, or was it because it endangered Dominaria? Or was that never specified?
Even if they affected the multiverse, erasing Dominaria might not fix it. It might even reopen them. Cause if the rifts are in the multiverse itself, they might be scattered to other planes.
Actually thinking about it, don't ELdrazi just consume Mana? Wouldn't there still be a plane, albeit devoid of life and man?
It is said that Dominaria is at the center of the multiverse but I don't think it means that much. I mean they were thinking of the outcome of the Implicit Maze in RTR block move Ravnica such that it would be at the center. I don't think it's position means all that much. It could be feasible to weave a spell that, radiating outward from Dominaria, could reverse the mending but it doesn't make the least bit of sense that destroying a single plane would effect something that changed the entire multiverse, including those not even born yet. No to mention all the storytelling reasons they don't want to do it.
It makes sense if you think of it like this:
1. The rifts were on Dominaria.
2. The rifts endangered the Multiverse.
3. The purpose of Mending was to close the rifts. The change to planeswalker spark was a side effect.
4. The rifts still exist; they are closed, but if Mending was ever reversed, they would re-open.
5. This would be bad.
6. If Eldrazi erase Dominaria, it will cease to exist.
7. The rifts will be erased together with Dominaria.
8. If, after this, the Mending will be reversed, through whatever means, the rifts won't re-open as they will no longer exist.
9. Therefore, unleashing Eldrazi on Dominaria might not reverse Mending by itself, but it is a necessary step for a successful un-Mending.
That actually makes sense, thank you. But was it the rifts endangering the multiverse a property of the rifts, or was it because it endangered Dominaria? Or was that never specified?
Even if they affected the multiverse, erasing Dominaria might not fix it. It might even reopen them. Cause if the rifts are in the multiverse itself, they might be scattered to other planes.
Actually thinking about it, don't ELdrazi just consume Mana? Wouldn't there still be a plane, albeit devoid of life and man?
"The ground lurched. Nahiri's hair began to stand on end. The setting sun silhouetted the monster before them—no, more than the sun. Light, a terrible light, like nothing any world should ever see. A chasm opened, splitting Nahiri's wall, glowing with the same otherworldly light. Nahiri willed it shut, but nothing happened.
It wasn't a crack in the ground. It was a crack in the world.
The plane was coming apart."
"She thought of those cracks in the world, of white light spilling out of nowhere and nothing to draw all of this into the void."
This suggests that even the empty plane is eventually destroyed. I would speculate that since we've seen what Kozilek and Ulamog do, THIS might be Emrakul's doing.
The Eldrazi are the closest thing to the old planeswalkers now. Bolas released them so that he could study them. He's looking for a way to restore his former glory, remember his "We were once gods" lines from one of the Uncharted Realms...Liliana's from Origins.
I think I figured out why Bolas wanted the Eldrazis released.
Alara was broken after a PW absorbed all of its mana, but what if it was the Eldrazis who did it and not a PW.
By releasing them, Bolas would hope for them to drain more world and he would seek the ones breaking off for sings of converging.
He was thwarted the first time but with multiple possible planes, he might be able to absorb more energy. Time is pretty much irrelevant to him anyway, unlike other PW.
"The Oath of the Gatewatch" would be engineered by Ugin who would have deduced Bolas plans, to make sure that doesn't happen.
Early stories frequently revolved around Bolas' search to regain lost power. I imagine there was SOME reason behind the Eldrazi's release, but I doubt it's a plot thread that will be followed-up on considering he hasn't appeared in the story since sending Tezzeret to Mirrodin.
Early stories frequently revolved around Bolas' search to regain lost power. I imagine there was SOME reason behind the Eldrazi's release, but I doubt it's a plot thread that will be followed-up on considering he hasn't appeared in the story since sending Tezzeret to Mirrodin.
Hopefully the whole "Lets have Bolas have his claws in every cookie jar" style of flavor is out the window. Maybe he'll have a decent story arc.
Yeah his lurking in the shadows crap got tiring after three straight blocks of it.
Well his involvement in Mirrodin was very little, so I'm guessing maybe he was only mentioned to get Tezzeret in the set cardwise.
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While I do think the most likely reason Bolas freed the titans was to have them destroy any plane Karn spread the oil to, his lack of involvement in this block has me considering another possibility. I believe Bolas was counting on some group of planeswalkers to come along and destroy the titans once he freed them. Ugin warns several times that destroying these things could lead to a far worst situation given we understand very little about how they operate. What we do understand however is that sometimes when incredibly powerful beings are destroyed the fabric of the universe is damaged resulting in a time rift. We've seen this with the Madaran rift when Bolas destroyed that planeswalking Leviathan and we've seen this with Otaria when Karona was killed. What if he's trying to trigger another Time Spiral event to undo the effects the last one had on him? What's the Phyrexian plague to him if he's able to restore his spark to it's former glory?
I honestly don't think Bolas is so worried about Phyrexia that he would loose the Eldrazi. However your idea made one pop in for me. What if Bolas does want the Eldrazi destroyed because of the potential catastrophic effects? What if he's had a Dr. Doom, Secret Wara, idea and is out to use the collapse of the multiverse to create a new world in which he is God and its up to the Gatewatch to stop him.
Because of how hard it is to use the Eldrazi as real villains they may want to let the string puller take the limelight and get rid of the Eldrazi in one fell swoop.
I was MIA from Magic during Alara, so perhaps someone can clarify things for me: what exactly was Bolas trying to achieve? My vague understanding goes something like 'maelstrom and mending of Alara released a whole ton of mana and Bolas wanted to tap into it to regain his godlikeness'. Just wondering if there is any conceivable way he could be planning to use the Eldrazi and/or their effects on planes as an alternative source?
Okay so Nicol bolas one of the big threats in mtg. However I heard that he was afraid of the phyrexians and so sent tezzeret to go and stop the five tribes from uniting. Who could blame him I mean yawgmoth was a powerful character himself and the phyrexians themselves invaded then sorta died then came back to take back.
Okay so he's scared but that also explains a lot. So what are the biggest threats in the mtg universe well the eldrazi and the phyrexians. Nicol bolas is scared of phyrexians and needs to find a way to stop them since he knows tezzeret won't hold. Now go to tarkir he goes finds rumors if ancient powerful beings and the only one who knew of them the most was ugin. And learns about the eldrazi.
Now we're on zendikar and Nicol bolas makes the whole thing happen and the eldrazi rize. His plan was to get the eldrazi to new phyrexia and to two of the biggest threats clash. The phyrexians are strong that they make Nicol afraid but now he's released the eldrazi gods and they far surpass phyrexian power since mana flows through almost everything and the eldrazi eat mana makes it pretty safe to say that they were suppose kill the phyrexians for good.
Now you could say well why don't Nicol just control the eldrazi to go to new phyrexia. Well its because the eldrazi have no mind and that they far surpass Nicol bolas's power since they lived before mana.
1. Nicol Bolas lost most of his power in the Mending and he wants it back.
2. The Mending was performed to close the time rifts that endangered the whole multiverse. If it was simply reversed, the rifts would come back.
3. The rifts were on Dominaria.
So, what would happen if the Eldrazi were unleashed on Dominaria? If the Eldrazi completely devoured Dominaria, maybe NOTHING would be left of it, not even the damaged spacetime.
And in that case, Nicol Bolas could safely undo the Mending and regain his former power without any negative consequences.
Except all the inhabitants of Dominaria who would die, but why would he care about those?
Other problems with your theory are:
-Even if Bolas could somehow force the titans to ggo to NP aand wipe them out there Karn spread the glistening Oil to many planes. We've only seen one because it was Mirrodan. If he's trying to use the Eldrazi to destroy Phyrexia he's got a long way to go and there are probably more efficient routes.
-What makes you think Bolas could control the titans? It's not that they sont have minds but that they have 5 Dimensional minds that can't be comprehended by us 4 dimensional beings. If Bolas tried to do like Ob did this week and try to push his will on the titans I think it would go poorly for him.
-If Bolas was trying to learn about the Eldrazi why would he kill the multiverses foremost scholar on them?
The most likely scenario is that Bolas has some Nixilis-ian scheme to use the Eldrazi to regain his premending powers.
Also: The Mending effected the entire Multiverse so destroying Dominaria would not change anything.
Also the second: yes Dominaria is still there. It is recovering from the catastrophe of the time spiral block. Shandalar never replaced it.
This doesn't necessarily follow. Yes, Mending affected the entire multiverse. But all the work that brought it was done on Dominaria only. So why couldn't it be undone from there as well?
I think Nicol Bolas' aspirations are likely far greater than neutralizing a single somewhat aggressive threat. Even with New Phyrexia being ebil as all hell and such, I'm sure there are many other planes out there that would be just as problematic as New Phyrexia would be if they got the chance to operate in any way on a multiversal scale. I mean, Phyrexia would assimilate the planes they touched, but without a way to move from THAT plane to the next one, they might as well have just blown the thing up or started a really nasty war. Until something changes or is unveiled, it seems silly to me to think snuffing out New Phyrexia is worth 1000 years of planning to Nicol Bolas.
Maybe he just finds them that annoying. They keep coming back, like cockroaches. He's sick of it. He was only gone for the weekend, and yet here they are.
It seems to me that all of this is likely an extension of the Conflux storyline. He wants his old spark back, and has a lot of different experiments he can attempt to decipher the mystery of exactly why/how it was lost/gained in the first place or how he could forge another one. Adding C to his understanding of magic seems to me like it would be in line with what he was attempting by absorbing the conflux. (I know very little about this storyline, just that he fought with boros cat over it.)
I would love it if the mending was undone. Planeswalkers too powerful to print into cards? That's at least a flavorful win, and maybe a mechanical one too. (It wouldn't be. Not at all. I know why they exist, I'm just salty about what their presence has done to how they treat legendary creatures and block specific characters.)
I wouldn't even dream to speculate on how changing Dominaria would effect the mending. Ultimately, it works the way they say it works, just like it worked how they said it worked back in Time Spiral.
All in all, my sniffer is getting the most hints at Bolas' motives being aligned towards the mending in some way, shape or form. Perhaps this is all a lead up to Time Spiral block 2: The Time Spiralening. Man, I hope so.
Another second path that I foresee being possible is that New Phyrexia re-surges on many other planes at the same time, making an eldritch extermination team necessary (Who ya gonna call? Ul-la-mog!). MaeRo has brought up the potential for multi-plane sets consistently for quite a while on his dumblr, so it seems more than feasible. I would hate this. No more cockroach sets plis.
We'll see. I look forward to finding out what the deal is in 10 years.
Not sure multiverse has anything like "center".
It makes sense if you think of it like this:
1. The rifts were on Dominaria.
2. The rifts endangered the Multiverse.
3. The purpose of Mending was to close the rifts. The change to planeswalker spark was a side effect.
4. The rifts still exist; they are closed, but if Mending was ever reversed, they would re-open.
5. This would be bad.
6. If Eldrazi erase Dominaria, it will cease to exist.
7. The rifts will be erased together with Dominaria.
8. If, after this, the Mending will be reversed, through whatever means, the rifts won't re-open as they will no longer exist.
9. Therefore, unleashing Eldrazi on Dominaria might not reverse Mending by itself, but it is a necessary step for a successful un-Mending.
That actually makes sense, thank you. But was it the rifts endangering the multiverse a property of the rifts, or was it because it endangered Dominaria? Or was that never specified?
Even if they affected the multiverse, erasing Dominaria might not fix it. It might even reopen them. Cause if the rifts are in the multiverse itself, they might be scattered to other planes.
Actually thinking about it, don't ELdrazi just consume Mana? Wouldn't there still be a plane, albeit devoid of life and man?
See this article (http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/ur/lithomancer-2014-10-29) which describes how a plane meets its end through Eldrazi:
"The ground lurched. Nahiri's hair began to stand on end. The setting sun silhouetted the monster before them—no, more than the sun. Light, a terrible light, like nothing any world should ever see. A chasm opened, splitting Nahiri's wall, glowing with the same otherworldly light. Nahiri willed it shut, but nothing happened.
It wasn't a crack in the ground. It was a crack in the world.
The plane was coming apart."
"She thought of those cracks in the world, of white light spilling out of nowhere and nothing to draw all of this into the void."
This suggests that even the empty plane is eventually destroyed. I would speculate that since we've seen what Kozilek and Ulamog do, THIS might be Emrakul's doing.
Alara was broken after a PW absorbed all of its mana, but what if it was the Eldrazis who did it and not a PW.
By releasing them, Bolas would hope for them to drain more world and he would seek the ones breaking off for sings of converging.
He was thwarted the first time but with multiple possible planes, he might be able to absorb more energy. Time is pretty much irrelevant to him anyway, unlike other PW.
"The Oath of the Gatewatch" would be engineered by Ugin who would have deduced Bolas plans, to make sure that doesn't happen.
and I would of gotten away with it to.. if it were for those meddling planeswalkers.
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GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
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UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
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Hopefully the whole "Lets have Bolas have his claws in every cookie jar" style of flavor is out the window. Maybe he'll have a decent story arc.
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Well his involvement in Mirrodin was very little, so I'm guessing maybe he was only mentioned to get Tezzeret in the set cardwise.
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Because of how hard it is to use the Eldrazi as real villains they may want to let the string puller take the limelight and get rid of the Eldrazi in one fell swoop.