So in all probability Ral Zerek is building a planer bridge to Ravnica. After all we know Bolas has the designs for a planer portal and almost certaintly plans to use one to move his army. But why Ravnica? Is their something their to help him reclaim his power or does he just need a planar portal for him to attack the rest of the multiverse with? I'm open to opinions. Could this maybe a sign of a secound return to Ravnica?
Ravnica is a big ol' multiversal hub and always has been, which means it's a good staging ground. Bolas wants to make it his home base to attack other planes with Eternals from.
There's no indication Ral is working on another Planar Bridge; that was Tezz's job. If anything, it means that Bolas has been acting as a benefactor in developing Project Lightning Bug, and has plans for a perfected Planeswalker location device, either to keep tabs on his chess pieces or because he's looking for someone.
I get the feeling he's headed for Domonaria as it's the center of the multiverse. I'm unfamiliar with Ral's connection to Bolas. So I'm unsure what this is all about.
I think Vraska has something to do with it his plans. That explains our moving to Ixilan. Something in the hidden city he needs to plan and she's there to retrieve it. Potentially something to help run the portal that Tezz was working on. And with that he's ready to move to Domonaria.
Well it just seems like natural progression for Bolas to me you build a nearly unstoppable army of undead that are stuck in a plane your not interested, your natural next step is to build a planar bridge. Besides Bolas was already doing a pretty bang up job keeping tabs on his pawns.
The only thing about going to Dominaria is he requires a lot of energy to run the planar bridge and probably some advanced technology, which are both things the Izzit have but yes as the Nexus of the Multiverse Dominara makes much more sense to conquer then Ravnica.
Although honestly hasn't Dominara been through enough? Oh right it's a generic fantasy world and the only way to make it Intresting is to throw something explosive at it. You know a Dominarian invasion really does make more sense.
1. Gatewatch spreads news of LOD, putting Planeswalkers on high alert
2. LOD uses eternals to draw out Planeswalkers by attacking home planes
3. LOD captures as many Planeswalkers as they need
4. LOD uses Ral's new machine (spark engine?) on Dominaria to reverse the Mending changes by draining sparks
I think it matches up with Bolas' goals and sets up the kind of Avengers-style confrontation that creative seems to like.
I sort of wonder when Ral and Bolas started working together, before or after the events of Return to Ravnica, because that could change a lot about Ral's motivations in that storyline.
Also, was it ever mentioned where Ral's first planesswalk was to?
There's no indication Ral is working on another Planar Bridge; that was Tezz's job. If anything, it means that Bolas has been acting as a benefactor in developing Project Lightning Bug, and has plans for a perfected Planeswalker location device, either to keep tabs on his chess pieces or because he's looking for someone.
Project Lightning Bug? I'd not heard of this before; though in fairness, I was out of the MtG story loop back during RTR.
Yeah Dominaria seems more likely, it's where his power started and where it was stolen from him.
Yes, this does seem probable, primarily for the reason that Bolas seems to have a sense of flair to his actions, and reclaiming his power on Dominaria is definitely poetic, in a sense.
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I sort of wonder when Ral and Bolas started working together, before or after the events of Return to Ravnica, because that could change a lot about Ral's motivations in that storyline.
Also, was it ever mentioned where Ral's first planesswalk was to?
There are a number of possible reasons Ral is working for Bolas, and I think he could have been an agent even before he was officially introduced into the story, but after RTR is another possibility.
For the sake of speculation though, I'd wager it was after the events of the RTR. Maybe he was so bitter about Niv not giving him enough respect or attention (Melek was supposed to be the maze runner, and Niv was paying close attention to Jace), and bitter about Jace becoming the Living Guildpact, that Bolas saw an opening and tempted him with offers of power or something.
Ral Zarek cerainly is an interesting piece of the puzzle. He is working on the "lightning bug", a way of tracking planeswalkers, and recently took time to inform Jace that Vraska planeswalked with "no destination". Now we know that she ended up on Ixalan, which is also where Jace will show up next. If he got there directly after planeswalking blindly from Amonkhlet, it is very interesting indeed. There is absolutely no way it could be a coincidence, now that we know Bolas is involved. That would imply that the lightning bug not only tracks planeswalkers, but also messes with their destination (Vraska might have been a test run). And the Gatewatch - based on Ravnica - could be excellent vectors for spreading it among other planeswalkers.
Ral Zarek cerainly is an interesting piece of the puzzle. He is working on the "lightning bug", a way of tracking planeswalkers, and recently took time to inform Jace that Vraska planeswalked with "no destination". Now we know that she ended up on Ixalan, which is also where Jace will show up next. If he got there directly after planeswalking blindly from Amonkhlet, it is very interesting indeed. There is absolutely no way it could be a coincidence, now that we know Bolas is involved. That would imply that the lightning bug not only tracks planeswalkers, but also messes with their destination (Vraska might have been a test run). And the Gatewatch - based on Ravnica - could be excellent vectors for spreading it among other planeswalkers.
And if we were to assume there is any truth to this speculation, then the larger implication would be that Bolas can funnel planeswalkers to wherever he wants, which is obviously a terrifying development.
I don't think it'd be that interesting though, and it might just be limited to Bolas being able to track planeswalkers on a large scale, which allows him to monitor them and where they go.
Ral Zarek cerainly is an interesting piece of the puzzle. He is working on the "lightning bug", a way of tracking planeswalkers, and recently took time to inform Jace that Vraska planeswalked with "no destination". Now we know that she ended up on Ixalan, which is also where Jace will show up next. If he got there directly after planeswalking blindly from Amonkhlet, it is very interesting indeed. There is absolutely no way it could be a coincidence, now that we know Bolas is involved. That would imply that the lightning bug not only tracks planeswalkers, but also messes with their destination (Vraska might have been a test run). And the Gatewatch - based on Ravnica - could be excellent vectors for spreading it among other planeswalkers.
And if we were to assume there is any truth to this speculation, then the larger implication would be that Bolas can funnel planeswalkers to wherever he wants, which is obviously a terrifying development.
I don't think it'd be that interesting though, and it might just be limited to Bolas being able to track planeswalkers on a large scale, which allows him to monitor them and where they go.
Of course, there are less sinister explanations of Vraska and Jace both on Ixalan. The plane could "suck in" planeswalkers with no set destination (not sure how that would mesh with first planeswalks, which are mostly uncontrolled) or Jace went elsewhere now and simply figured out where Vraska went. But I like crazy speculation...
If nothing else, the next thing Bolas will do is to take over the power of Guildpact now that Jace is gone and likely not going to recover soon enough to do his Guildpact duties. In other words, gain control of Ravnica one way or another. As to why, I don't want to speculate; it could be anything.
Ral Zarek cerainly is an interesting piece of the puzzle. He is working on the "lightning bug", a way of tracking planeswalkers, and recently took time to inform Jace that Vraska planeswalked with "no destination". Now we know that she ended up on Ixalan, which is also where Jace will show up next. If he got there directly after planeswalking blindly from Amonkhlet, it is very interesting indeed. There is absolutely no way it could be a coincidence, now that we know Bolas is involved. That would imply that the lightning bug not only tracks planeswalkers, but also messes with their destination (Vraska might have been a test run). And the Gatewatch - based on Ravnica - could be excellent vectors for spreading it among other planeswalkers.
And if we were to assume there is any truth to this speculation, then the larger implication would be that Bolas can funnel planeswalkers to wherever he wants, which is obviously a terrifying development.
I don't think it'd be that interesting though, and it might just be limited to Bolas being able to track planeswalkers on a large scale, which allows him to monitor them and where they go.
Of course, there are less sinister explanations of Vraska and Jace both on Ixalan. The plane could "suck in" planeswalkers with no set destination (not sure how that would mesh with first planeswalks, which are mostly uncontrolled) or Jace went elsewhere now and simply figured out where Vraska went. But I like crazy speculation...
Nah, I think your explanation is more viable, as after reading the story with Jace and Vraska earlier today, that was also the conclusion I deemed most likely.
Also, I think Lightning Bug is defunct ever since Niv-Mizzet turned his nose up at it.
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He is clearly building a Planar bridge and if Tezzeret is building one it would definitely be priority one, I can't see why Bolas would wasting his time making sure he building a plainswalker monitor which well useful would hardly be something that Bolas wanted created as quickly as possible. Most of his plans take centuries after all. Of course it would work if it could be used to find a plainswalker vital to Bolas's plans.
When Rashmi was finishing the Planar Bridge, she experienced a moment when she bore witness to a multitude of planes when she was making adjustments to the Bridge's core. As such, it doesn't appear that the Planar Bridge has a viable targeting system when it comes to interplanar transport. Perhaps Project Lightning Bug could be used to fill this apparent functional gap (somebody pointed this out on another thread, but I can't find the post).
As for what Bolas is planning, I don't think he's out for planar conquest. Amonkhet only had about 60 years to produce worthy candidates for eternalizing, so his new army isn't likely be that large. Beyond that, the process of producing eternals isn't very conducive to the creation of a substantial army in the first place (only taking the best of the best of the best doesn't get you many candidates). The particular traits the trials were meant to filter for (tactical, adaptable, resilient, ruthless, and fanatical according to the art book) and the extreme focus on the quality of the eternals over quantity leads me to believe that the eternals are meant to function more as special operations forces rather than general conquest.
That, of course, begs the question as to what objectives Bolas has that require something other than conventional force and need to be done in a shorter time frame than his subtler machinations normally take.
Edit: One of the leaked Ixalan cards (River's Rebuke) apparently has flavor text mentioning a compass Vraska received from Bolas, so I feel its pretty safe to assume the plane's got something he's interested in (and considering the apparent focus on the hunt for Orazca, it's probably in that city of gold).
Edit2: According to the Kaladesh artbook, Tezzeret hid the planar bridge's core in his etherium arm (the story Puppets supports this with the mention of his arm glowing with the same light as the portal prior to him covering it with his robe), so I doubt he has Ral working toward producing his own portal.
Having read a bit that Ixalan is some kind of "planeswalker black hole" which forbids them from ever leaving, I'm now more convinced than ever that Bolas' next plan definitely will involve Ravnica, again due to the Guildpact position being currently vacant (for a veeeeery long time)
Wasn't Ral extremely eager to win the Maze race? How much did he know about the Guildpact position, and how badly did he want that position?
Bolas is probably looking for someone, maybe another planeswalker in hiding. Or maybe he's trying to find a way to break into a plane. I remember reading something back during Alara(?) when Bolas was in the Blind Eternities and came upon a plane that had these two ladies that appeared to be sisters or something. Anyway, they bar Nicol Bolas from entering the plane. I could be just imagining this because I didn't find anything on the wiki.
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Plus I'd imagine he likes Ravnica just the way it is, continously evolving him new toys to skim off the top.
I think Vraska has something to do with it his plans. That explains our moving to Ixilan. Something in the hidden city he needs to plan and she's there to retrieve it. Potentially something to help run the portal that Tezz was working on. And with that he's ready to move to Domonaria.
Pure speculation, but it seems plausible.
The only thing about going to Dominaria is he requires a lot of energy to run the planar bridge and probably some advanced technology, which are both things the Izzit have but yes as the Nexus of the Multiverse Dominara makes much more sense to conquer then Ravnica.
Although honestly hasn't Dominara been through enough? Oh right it's a generic fantasy world and the only way to make it Intresting is to throw something explosive at it. You know a Dominarian invasion really does make more sense.
1. Gatewatch spreads news of LOD, putting Planeswalkers on high alert
2. LOD uses eternals to draw out Planeswalkers by attacking home planes
3. LOD captures as many Planeswalkers as they need
4. LOD uses Ral's new machine (spark engine?) on Dominaria to reverse the Mending changes by draining sparks
I think it matches up with Bolas' goals and sets up the kind of Avengers-style confrontation that creative seems to like.
Also, was it ever mentioned where Ral's first planesswalk was to?
What's so ironic about that? Not that I think it wouldn't be rad as hell.
Project Lightning Bug? I'd not heard of this before; though in fairness, I was out of the MtG story loop back during RTR.
Yes, this does seem probable, primarily for the reason that Bolas seems to have a sense of flair to his actions, and reclaiming his power on Dominaria is definitely poetic, in a sense.
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There are a number of possible reasons Ral is working for Bolas, and I think he could have been an agent even before he was officially introduced into the story, but after RTR is another possibility.
For the sake of speculation though, I'd wager it was after the events of the RTR. Maybe he was so bitter about Niv not giving him enough respect or attention (Melek was supposed to be the maze runner, and Niv was paying close attention to Jace), and bitter about Jace becoming the Living Guildpact, that Bolas saw an opening and tempted him with offers of power or something.
And if we were to assume there is any truth to this speculation, then the larger implication would be that Bolas can funnel planeswalkers to wherever he wants, which is obviously a terrifying development.
I don't think it'd be that interesting though, and it might just be limited to Bolas being able to track planeswalkers on a large scale, which allows him to monitor them and where they go.
Of course, there are less sinister explanations of Vraska and Jace both on Ixalan. The plane could "suck in" planeswalkers with no set destination (not sure how that would mesh with first planeswalks, which are mostly uncontrolled) or Jace went elsewhere now and simply figured out where Vraska went. But I like crazy speculation...
Nah, I think your explanation is more viable, as after reading the story with Jace and Vraska earlier today, that was also the conclusion I deemed most likely.
Also, I think Lightning Bug is defunct ever since Niv-Mizzet turned his nose up at it.
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As for what Bolas is planning, I don't think he's out for planar conquest. Amonkhet only had about 60 years to produce worthy candidates for eternalizing, so his new army isn't likely be that large. Beyond that, the process of producing eternals isn't very conducive to the creation of a substantial army in the first place (only taking the best of the best of the best doesn't get you many candidates). The particular traits the trials were meant to filter for (tactical, adaptable, resilient, ruthless, and fanatical according to the art book) and the extreme focus on the quality of the eternals over quantity leads me to believe that the eternals are meant to function more as special operations forces rather than general conquest.
That, of course, begs the question as to what objectives Bolas has that require something other than conventional force and need to be done in a shorter time frame than his subtler machinations normally take.
Edit: One of the leaked Ixalan cards (River's Rebuke) apparently has flavor text mentioning a compass Vraska received from Bolas, so I feel its pretty safe to assume the plane's got something he's interested in (and considering the apparent focus on the hunt for Orazca, it's probably in that city of gold).
Edit2: According to the Kaladesh artbook, Tezzeret hid the planar bridge's core in his etherium arm (the story Puppets supports this with the mention of his arm glowing with the same light as the portal prior to him covering it with his robe), so I doubt he has Ral working toward producing his own portal.
Wasn't Ral extremely eager to win the Maze race? How much did he know about the Guildpact position, and how badly did he want that position?
If Bolas gets his
handsclaws on it...... coupled with his Planar Bridge...
... plus his army of eternals...
***** is about to hit the fan in the multiverse.