That's the most disappointing part of this to me also. Creative didn't really use Ugin for all that much. This also greatly reduces the chances we will get a legendary creature version of a pre-sparked Ugin, since he's effectively being removed from the plot forever.
Yeah this would be disappointing but I'm hoping they still give him a card. It seems like a waste after all the build up in the M19 story.
Not at all! This is the payoff to all that buildup. Their destinies are entwined, and now Ugin has manipulated events and sacrificed himself to finally vanquish Bolas once and for all. How's that not "all that much"? That's huge, and indeed it's everything.
MVP title in this finale absolutely goes to Ugin. In the end, Liliana, Gideon, and the rest of the heroes turned out to be chess pieces in his game. Bolas, like the audience, mistook those game pieces for the actual players -- but Bolas true opponent on Ravnica turned out to be Ugin all along. Bolas could not have won because he didn't understand what game he was actually playing, and on what game board, until it was too late. That's Sun Tzu 101: Know yourself, and know your enemy. Bolas did not know his true enemy. He was gloating over Gideon even as Ugin moved to checkmate him.
I too would like to see more of Ugin, but this is really everything the story requires of him. This is his role, his destiny, his long journey fulfilled. I find it immensely satisfying. What could he possibly do, what ending could he have, that's greater or more significant than this?
I agree storywise it has a nice symmetry. That they both 'end' together as they were born together and finally join their actual dead siblings in obscurity. It reminds me of this great Tolkein quote. The elder dragons are finally done. But selfishly Ugin is one of my favorite MTG characters so I would like a playable commander card for him. And I always wondered if he was always colourless or if he had a colour identity that he lost upon death and resurrection.
So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their endings.
I don't understand why Ugin is forced to stay with Bolas forever. Isn't still he a planeswalker and could planeswalk away from the meditation realm in any moment? And if if is not a PW anymore, how did he lose the spark?
Ugin probably is watching him because he doesn't trust Bolas alone, even without a spark. Which makes sense.
If Bolas is sparkless and can't even use magic it doesn't make much sense at all actually.
Why would Bolas be unable to use magic? Losing his spark doesn't take away magic. It just takes away planeswalking. Doesn't mean he might not have some other sort of tricks up his sleeve, it's Bolas.
Why would Bolas be unable to use magic? Losing his spark doesn't take away magic. It just takes away planeswalking. Doesn't mean he might not have some other sort of tricks up his sleeve, it's Bolas.
The Spark granted additional powers , like an upgrade to all the abilities the wielder already had.
However, that was the case for the Old Walkers, the new ones its really just barely a drivers license to planeswalk (and with stuff like the Planar Portal / Gate its not the only means to travel the planes, given you have enough technological know-how).
Keeping Bolas "alive" is for sure a guarantee to be backstabed at any moment, its not like he will die of old age any time soon.
However, such a tremendous defeat is really really bad for the psychological sanity of a extremely selfish narcissist like Bolas , so chances are if he ever gets the chance for revenge, he wont mangle around for a greater plan anymore, but seek for all out annihilation.
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Keeping Bolas around however as a potential source of help even, is still a possible move ; so in case something even more crazy powerful pops up, they can join forces (which is silly, but a very common trope to increase the epicness of a power creep increasing beyond limits).
At this point the threats in Bolas and the Eldrazi pretty much tickled the upper limits of what is even remotely thinkable, as any other more powerful enemy would be quite outlandish (still have Phyrexia hanging around, but in the end, they are in general a much lesser threat than Bolas or the Eldrazi as they quite slowly work their way from plane to plane over time).
What is the natural lifespan of an elder dragon anyway? All of the dead elders died unnatural deaths (killed). I suppose Palladia-Mors is still slumbering on Dominaria somewhere? If they are immortal then Bolas really does have an eternity to contemplate his fate.
Ugin probably is watching him because he doesn't trust Bolas alone, even without a spark. Which makes sense.
If Bolas is sparkless and can't even use magic it doesn't make much sense at all actually.
Why would Bolas be unable to use magic? Losing his spark doesn't take away magic. It just takes away planeswalking. Doesn't mean he might not have some other sort of tricks up his sleeve, it's Bolas.
I believe going by the still unconfirmed book leak. It stated that not only is Bolas without a spark, he is unable to use any magic.
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Been a member here for over a dozen years. Playing since '95 just got lost in the twitch shuffle.
That's the most disappointing part of this to me also. Creative didn't really use Ugin for all that much. This also greatly reduces the chances we will get a legendary creature version of a pre-sparked Ugin, since he's effectively being removed from the plot forever.
Yeah this would be disappointing but I'm hoping they still give him a card. It seems like a waste after all the build up in the M19 story.
Not at all! This is the payoff to all that buildup. Their destinies are entwined, and now Ugin has manipulated events and sacrificed himself to finally vanquish Bolas once and for all. How's that not "all that much"? That's huge, and indeed it's everything.
MVP title in this finale absolutely goes to Ugin. In the end, Liliana, Gideon, and the rest of the heroes turned out to be chess pieces in his game. Bolas, like the audience, mistook those game pieces for the actual players -- but Bolas true opponent on Ravnica turned out to be Ugin all along. Bolas could not have won because he didn't understand what game he was actually playing, and on what game board, until it was too late. That's Sun Tzu 101: Know yourself, and know your enemy. Bolas did not know his true enemy. He was gloating over Gideon even as Ugin moved to checkmate him.
I too would like to see more of Ugin, but this is really everything the story requires of him. This is his role, his destiny, his long journey fulfilled. I find it immensely satisfying. What could he possibly do, what ending could he have, that's greater or more significant than this?
I agree storywise it has a nice symmetry. That they both 'end' together as they were born together and finally join their actual dead siblings in obscurity. It reminds me of this great Tolkein quote. The elder dragons are finally done. But selfishly Ugin is one of my favorite MTG characters so I would like a playable commander card for him. And I always wondered if he was always colourless or if he had a colour identity that he lost upon death and resurrection.
So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their endings.
I don't understand why Ugin is forced to stay with Bolas forever. Isn't still he a planeswalker and could planeswalk away from the meditation realm in any moment? And if if is not a PW anymore, how did he lose the spark?
Bolas has planeswalkers that work for him, and Dominaria and Scars block both showed us that it is possible to respark someone who have lost their spark. Some of Bolas's minions are quite fanatic, and at least some of them know how to get to the Meditation Realm, as shown by Sarkhan going there to rage at the depowered Bolas. Ugin is guarding him to prevent him from becoming an issue down the line. Plus, you know, family ties.
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And who is still working for Bolas after all the mess he did in Ravnica? I'm sure everybody saw what he do to his pawns when he don't need them anymore? (like, Domri?)
I mean, who is willingly working for Bolas? Especially now that Bolas has no power and nothing to offer to anybody.
Who would be so stupid?
, and Dominaria and Scars block both showed us that it is possible to respark someone who have lost their spark. Some of Bolas's minions are quite fanatic, and at least some of them know how to get to the Meditation Realm
Ok, gaining the losted spark is possible, but you usually need somebody that got a spark in order to "steal" from it. Ironically, that's what Bolas could try to do with Ugin, because he's the only PW with a spark around him.
Also, wasn't impossibile for Planeswalkers to go to the Meditation Realm unless you were invited by Ugin or Bolas? (but I guess that for Bolas is impossible now since he's not a PW nor with magic anymore?)
And who is still working for Bolas after all the mess he did in Ravnica? I'm sure everybody saw what he do to his pawns when he don't need them anymore? (like, Domri?)
I mean, who is willingly working for Bolas? Especially now that Bolas has no power and nothing to offer to anybody.
Who would be so stupid?
I think the best option is if they make sure in the book that the war didn't had alot of planeswalkers (instead of all planeswalkers alive) if they made that the planar signaler just gave a signal (like the bat signal) and some walkers went to it while the majority didn't gave a f, then it is possible. And i think this is mostly likely what happened (explains why Tezzeret is on Amonkhet).
But again if that was the case they should have talked with the art department and the people making flavor text to include art featuring walkers dying in most of the interactive spells of the set with a flavor text stating "[random name][some background to the character][how he dies]" possible saying a plane that walkers visited.
The way the set presents the war it looks like it was just 36-37 walkers fighting and only 3 are dead after the "war", that is almost a joke, they tried to hard to make it a Marvel's Captain America: Civil War instead of a Marvel's Avengers 3: Infinity war.
, and Dominaria and Scars block both showed us that it is possible to respark someone who have lost their spark. Some of Bolas's minions are quite fanatic, and at least some of them know how to get to the Meditation Realm
Ok, gaining the losted spark is possible, but you usually need somebody that got a spark in order to "steal" from it. Ironically, that's what Bolas could try to do with Ugin, because he's the only PW with a spark around him.
Also, wasn't impossibile for Planeswalkers to go to the Meditation Realm unless you were invited by Ugin or Bolas? (but I guess that for Bolas is impossible now since he's not a PW nor with magic anymore?)
The end was made soo it was a cliffhanger. Whenever they run out of ideas for the big bad in the Gatewatchers franchise they can use Bolas and make it looks like a briliant storyline idea (just saying)
Isn’t it kind of assuming that people working for Bolas knew Domri was? I mean, given how unimportant Domri was it’s not like he would be seen as a big deal for loyal followers of Bolas. That Bolas lost would be a bigger one.
And they probably didn’t want to list walkers that would then have people wanting them to show up and be disappointed they didn’t.
Well, this just isn't true at all, and I wish people would stop saying it. At worst, we'd lose Planeswalkers unless they threw in with Bolas. But that wouldn't kill the game, just the Gatewatch.
Well, this just isn't true at all, and I wish people would stop saying it. At worst, we'd lose Planeswalkers unless they threw in with Bolas. But that wouldn't kill the game, just the Gatewatch.
Agree. Gaining the power of an oldwalker is far from being an omnipotent/omniscient being.
Yawgmoth was much more powerful than Bolas in his godhood status and was still beatable somehow.
Given that people are complaining about Bolas being beaten currently I somehow doubt the complaints would be less if Bolas was given time to consolidate his power.
And who is still working for Bolas after all the mess he did in Ravnica? I'm sure everybody saw what he do to his pawns when he don't need them anymore? (like, Domri?)
I mean, who is willingly working for Bolas? Especially now that Bolas has no power and nothing to offer to anybody.
Who would be so stupid?
, and Dominaria and Scars block both showed us that it is possible to respark someone who have lost their spark. Some of Bolas's minions are quite fanatic, and at least some of them know how to get to the Meditation Realm
Ok, gaining the losted spark is possible, but you usually need somebody that got a spark in order to "steal" from it. Ironically, that's what Bolas could try to do with Ugin, because he's the only PW with a spark around him.
Also, wasn't impossibile for Planeswalkers to go to the Meditation Realm unless you were invited by Ugin or Bolas? (but I guess that for Bolas is impossible now since he's not a PW nor with magic anymore?)
Name a tyrant, any tyrant, and you will find people not only willing to work for them, but people who will try and reinstate them if they get toppled. Bolas has the cult of personality.
And no, it is not impossible to go to the Meditation Realm without an invitation. Sarkhan went to the meditation realm after Bolas's defeat to rage at the deposed dragon-god. Anyone can get to the meditation realm as long as they know where it is, and Bolas has many minions besides the ones we saw in WAR.
As for walkers that we know of that work for Bolas that weren't in WAR, Ramaz comes to mind, and it is doubtful he is the only one.
Well, this just isn't true at all, and I wish people would stop saying it. At worst, we'd lose Planeswalkers unless they threw in with Bolas. But that wouldn't kill the game, just the Gatewatch.
Agree. Gaining the power of an oldwalker is far from being an omnipotent/omniscient being.
Yawgmoth was much more powerful than Bolas in his godhood status and was still beatable somehow.
Yawgmoth was only beatable due to a literal Deus ex Author. WotC had made Yawgmoth so unbeatable that not even a coalition of the god-like oldwalkers, including two of the most powerful planeswalkers ever, could stand a chance against him, so the author literally had to intervene to save them and the game. They fortunately did not make Bolas that powerful, and made him beatable. But there wouldn't have been any planeswalkers left after Bolas was done. After he had killed off the planeswalkers on Ravnica he'd have started to hunt down and harvest the remaining planeswalkers because characters like Bolas aren't just interested in power, they want all the power.
Finally, I would just like to point out that there were a lot of planeswalkers on Ravnica besides the ones who got cards in WAR, many of which died to the eternals (thus the large number of sparks flying around), the only noteworthy of them who died however was Dack Fayden.
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I like how people are bringing up Invasion in comparison to War of the Spark.
What I would like to point out here is that storywise Invasion block had three sets while War of the Spark has one set and utilized its spoiler season.
Time will tell if limiting a battle with these stakes to a single set was a wise idea (to move on to the next place) or could they have milked more sets out of it.
I like how people are comparing Yawgmoth to Nicol Bolas. "Deus Ex Author" is a false claim. Owning the Invasion Block books, J. Robert King says multiple times that Yawgmoth is his favorite character and if he had his way, would have had Yawgmoth win. "Deus Ex Game-Designers/CEO/PR/Shareholders/Storyboard" is more like it. Back in those days, much like artists were given the name of the card and what it did in order to draw a picture (as well as a general sense of what was going on in the plane/set) the writers were hired to write a story about the set/expansion/block with a list of key points that had to be conveyed and a list of things that had to occur.
I had a point here. The threat of Yawgmoth, immediately, was that he was going to wipe out Dominaria. He was then going to "Compleat" the rest of the multiverse. The threat of Nicol Bolas was that he was going to get all this power and...you know, I'm not really sure. Did/was he doing RIDICULOUSLY EVIL things on his way? Yes. Was his goal selfish and having nothing to do with the greater good? As far as we have been told.
My question is, pre-mending, aside from Umezawa, was Nicol Bolas really acting worse than a typical dragon (not evil planeswalker) would? I don't think so. Would he totally mess with civilizations from the shadows? Yeah. But I don't think he would do it from a multiplanar scale (pitting planes against planes) due to the fact he would have to let these planes have planar bridges in order to do battle. Everyone in Magic's history that has seen a planar portal work knows it gives acces to PLANES not just A single plane. Giving lowly mortals the ability to planeswalk, even for the lolz of pitting two planes against each other, seems unlikely.
Now what I have not seen yet is comparing Ugin and Nicol Bolas to Urza and Mishra.
These two are brothers, that fought, and at one point one even killed the other. Technically this lines up for both pairs, Urza by more indirect means killed Mishra, sure, but it still stands.
This time, Ugin (read as Urza's second chance) STOPPED his brother, ended the war without devastating a continent, and will spend the rest of eternity (foreseeably) with his brother. Nicol Bolas, the runt of the pack, that everyone picked on, required 36 or so Planeswalkers, his brother included, to stop him. The real battle is going to be raged in the meditation plane: to see if Ugin can convince Nicol Bolas that he has proven his might and that Ugin has always known about it and still accepts his brother. It sounds MLP, sure, but psychologically, Nicol Bolas started off weak and wanted to be the strongest, did that from his pack, but was so scared the issue kept on escalating as it became his reason for life. Once he lost his pre-mending powers, it was as if he had a midlife crisis and fought desperately to get back to the pinnacle of where he once was. Lessons learned = dragon midlife crises are way more intense than human midlife crises. However, he is still not a child, not a runt. If Nicol Bolas accepts it and works on it for the eternity he has stuck in the meditation plane, he may actually win back something he has not had for millennia: a friend.
Then they can spend the rest of eternity playing dragon-sized M:tG.
I mean, Bolas tried to blow up Alara as a way to test his power. I'm fairly sure something along those lines would happen if Bolas had succeeded here, except on a larger scale. More directly as well it's generally not a good idea to let someone with zero morals have a bunch of power. While it may not be literally the end of everything it would still be really bad. Probably more LE than a more Neutral or Chaotic Yawgmoth victory.
I like how people are bringing up Invasion in comparison to War of the Spark.
What I would like to point out here is that storywise Invasion block had three sets while War of the Spark has one set and utilized its spoiler season.
Time will tell if limiting a battle with these stakes to a single set was a wise idea (to move on to the next place) or could they have milked more sets out of it.
What ended up happening in the development schedule is the equivalent of pushing the whole invasion block into the last set as Guilds, Allegiances, and War are tied closely together for story beats in the novel.
You are fine otherwise, this is just the one area I wanted to touch on.
I see where you are going Thalassoporos, but if I had to compare, I would say (strictly by storyline) Guilds and Allegiances where more like Nemesis and possibly parts of Urza's Saga. We had known all the way back in Tempest that about the plane of Rath that they were going to use to invade Dominaria, much like we learned in Amonkhet/Hour that Nicol Bolas was building an invading force [did we know what the Planar bridge was going to do back in Aether Revolt?].
If I had to place Prophecy in against anything current I'd say it would be Ixalan. Unlike Prophecy, the results of Ixalan were actually poignant to the story later (aside from Rayne dying and thus giving reason for Barrin to snap and wipe Tolaria off the map after his daughter also died).
Wait hold up, that means since Hanna died, Gerrard got with someone else post Apocalypse. I just realized that.
I see where you are going Thalassoporos, but if I had to compare, I would say (strictly by storyline) Guilds and Allegiances where more like Nemesis and possibly parts of Urza's Saga. We had known all the way back in Tempest that about the plane of Rath that they were going to use to invade Dominaria, much like we learned in Amonkhet/Hour that Nicol Bolas was building an invading force [did we know what the Planar bridge was going to do back in Aether Revolt?].
If I had to place Prophecy in against anything current I'd say it would be Ixalan. Unlike Prophecy, the results of Ixalan were actually poignant to the story later (aside from Rayne dying and thus giving reason for Barrin to snap and wipe Tolaria off the map after his daughter also died).
Wait hold up, that means since Hanna died, Gerrard got with someone else post Apocalypse. I just realized that.
We know that Bolas wanted the Planar Bridge and that Tezz had been sent to Kaladesh to secure it. We learned that in Aether Revolt. However, we did not learn why he wanted it until all his pieces had been put into place.
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I don't understand why Ugin is forced to stay with Bolas forever. Isn't still he a planeswalker and could planeswalk away from the meditation realm in any moment? And if if is not a PW anymore, how did he lose the spark?
Why would Bolas be unable to use magic? Losing his spark doesn't take away magic. It just takes away planeswalking. Doesn't mean he might not have some other sort of tricks up his sleeve, it's Bolas.
The Spark granted additional powers , like an upgrade to all the abilities the wielder already had.
However, that was the case for the Old Walkers, the new ones its really just barely a drivers license to planeswalk (and with stuff like the Planar Portal / Gate its not the only means to travel the planes, given you have enough technological know-how).
Keeping Bolas "alive" is for sure a guarantee to be backstabed at any moment, its not like he will die of old age any time soon.
However, such a tremendous defeat is really really bad for the psychological sanity of a extremely selfish narcissist like Bolas , so chances are if he ever gets the chance for revenge, he wont mangle around for a greater plan anymore, but seek for all out annihilation.
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Keeping Bolas around however as a potential source of help even, is still a possible move ; so in case something even more crazy powerful pops up, they can join forces (which is silly, but a very common trope to increase the epicness of a power creep increasing beyond limits).
At this point the threats in Bolas and the Eldrazi pretty much tickled the upper limits of what is even remotely thinkable, as any other more powerful enemy would be quite outlandish (still have Phyrexia hanging around, but in the end, they are in general a much lesser threat than Bolas or the Eldrazi as they quite slowly work their way from plane to plane over time).
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I'd also hazard a guess that Ugin wants to reform his brother because he does care about him. Killing him kind of throws a wrench in that.
I believe going by the still unconfirmed book leak. It stated that not only is Bolas without a spark, he is unable to use any magic.
Bolas has planeswalkers that work for him, and Dominaria and Scars block both showed us that it is possible to respark someone who have lost their spark. Some of Bolas's minions are quite fanatic, and at least some of them know how to get to the Meditation Realm, as shown by Sarkhan going there to rage at the depowered Bolas. Ugin is guarding him to prevent him from becoming an issue down the line. Plus, you know, family ties.
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And who is still working for Bolas after all the mess he did in Ravnica? I'm sure everybody saw what he do to his pawns when he don't need them anymore? (like, Domri?)
I mean, who is willingly working for Bolas? Especially now that Bolas has no power and nothing to offer to anybody.
Who would be so stupid?
Ok, gaining the losted spark is possible, but you usually need somebody that got a spark in order to "steal" from it. Ironically, that's what Bolas could try to do with Ugin, because he's the only PW with a spark around him.
Also, wasn't impossibile for Planeswalkers to go to the Meditation Realm unless you were invited by Ugin or Bolas? (but I guess that for Bolas is impossible now since he's not a PW nor with magic anymore?)
I think the best option is if they make sure in the book that the war didn't had alot of planeswalkers (instead of all planeswalkers alive) if they made that the planar signaler just gave a signal (like the bat signal) and some walkers went to it while the majority didn't gave a f, then it is possible. And i think this is mostly likely what happened (explains why Tezzeret is on Amonkhet).
But again if that was the case they should have talked with the art department and the people making flavor text to include art featuring walkers dying in most of the interactive spells of the set with a flavor text stating "[random name][some background to the character][how he dies]" possible saying a plane that walkers visited.
The way the set presents the war it looks like it was just 36-37 walkers fighting and only 3 are dead after the "war", that is almost a joke, they tried to hard to make it a Marvel's Captain America: Civil War instead of a Marvel's Avengers 3: Infinity war.
The end was made soo it was a cliffhanger. Whenever they run out of ideas for the big bad in the Gatewatchers franchise they can use Bolas and make it looks like a briliant storyline idea (just saying)
And they probably didn’t want to list walkers that would then have people wanting them to show up and be disappointed they didn’t.
Well, this just isn't true at all, and I wish people would stop saying it. At worst, we'd lose Planeswalkers unless they threw in with Bolas. But that wouldn't kill the game, just the Gatewatch.
Agree. Gaining the power of an oldwalker is far from being an omnipotent/omniscient being.
Yawgmoth was much more powerful than Bolas in his godhood status and was still beatable somehow.
Name a tyrant, any tyrant, and you will find people not only willing to work for them, but people who will try and reinstate them if they get toppled. Bolas has the cult of personality.
And no, it is not impossible to go to the Meditation Realm without an invitation. Sarkhan went to the meditation realm after Bolas's defeat to rage at the deposed dragon-god. Anyone can get to the meditation realm as long as they know where it is, and Bolas has many minions besides the ones we saw in WAR.
As for walkers that we know of that work for Bolas that weren't in WAR, Ramaz comes to mind, and it is doubtful he is the only one.
Yawgmoth was only beatable due to a literal Deus ex Author. WotC had made Yawgmoth so unbeatable that not even a coalition of the god-like oldwalkers, including two of the most powerful planeswalkers ever, could stand a chance against him, so the author literally had to intervene to save them and the game. They fortunately did not make Bolas that powerful, and made him beatable. But there wouldn't have been any planeswalkers left after Bolas was done. After he had killed off the planeswalkers on Ravnica he'd have started to hunt down and harvest the remaining planeswalkers because characters like Bolas aren't just interested in power, they want all the power.
Finally, I would just like to point out that there were a lot of planeswalkers on Ravnica besides the ones who got cards in WAR, many of which died to the eternals (thus the large number of sparks flying around), the only noteworthy of them who died however was Dack Fayden.
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Numquam evolutioni obstes. Solum conculceris.
Pascite draconem, evolvite aut morimini.
What I would like to point out here is that storywise Invasion block had three sets while War of the Spark has one set and utilized its spoiler season.
Time will tell if limiting a battle with these stakes to a single set was a wise idea (to move on to the next place) or could they have milked more sets out of it.
I like how people are comparing Yawgmoth to Nicol Bolas. "Deus Ex Author" is a false claim. Owning the Invasion Block books, J. Robert King says multiple times that Yawgmoth is his favorite character and if he had his way, would have had Yawgmoth win. "Deus Ex Game-Designers/CEO/PR/Shareholders/Storyboard" is more like it. Back in those days, much like artists were given the name of the card and what it did in order to draw a picture (as well as a general sense of what was going on in the plane/set) the writers were hired to write a story about the set/expansion/block with a list of key points that had to be conveyed and a list of things that had to occur.
I had a point here. The threat of Yawgmoth, immediately, was that he was going to wipe out Dominaria. He was then going to "Compleat" the rest of the multiverse. The threat of Nicol Bolas was that he was going to get all this power and...you know, I'm not really sure. Did/was he doing RIDICULOUSLY EVIL things on his way? Yes. Was his goal selfish and having nothing to do with the greater good? As far as we have been told.
My question is, pre-mending, aside from Umezawa, was Nicol Bolas really acting worse than a typical dragon (not evil planeswalker) would? I don't think so. Would he totally mess with civilizations from the shadows? Yeah. But I don't think he would do it from a multiplanar scale (pitting planes against planes) due to the fact he would have to let these planes have planar bridges in order to do battle. Everyone in Magic's history that has seen a planar portal work knows it gives acces to PLANES not just A single plane. Giving lowly mortals the ability to planeswalk, even for the lolz of pitting two planes against each other, seems unlikely.
Now what I have not seen yet is comparing Ugin and Nicol Bolas to Urza and Mishra.
These two are brothers, that fought, and at one point one even killed the other. Technically this lines up for both pairs, Urza by more indirect means killed Mishra, sure, but it still stands.
This time, Ugin (read as Urza's second chance) STOPPED his brother, ended the war without devastating a continent, and will spend the rest of eternity (foreseeably) with his brother. Nicol Bolas, the runt of the pack, that everyone picked on, required 36 or so Planeswalkers, his brother included, to stop him. The real battle is going to be raged in the meditation plane: to see if Ugin can convince Nicol Bolas that he has proven his might and that Ugin has always known about it and still accepts his brother. It sounds MLP, sure, but psychologically, Nicol Bolas started off weak and wanted to be the strongest, did that from his pack, but was so scared the issue kept on escalating as it became his reason for life. Once he lost his pre-mending powers, it was as if he had a midlife crisis and fought desperately to get back to the pinnacle of where he once was. Lessons learned = dragon midlife crises are way more intense than human midlife crises. However, he is still not a child, not a runt. If Nicol Bolas accepts it and works on it for the eternity he has stuck in the meditation plane, he may actually win back something he has not had for millennia: a friend.
Then they can spend the rest of eternity playing dragon-sized M:tG.
You are fine otherwise, this is just the one area I wanted to touch on.
If I had to place Prophecy in against anything current I'd say it would be Ixalan. Unlike Prophecy, the results of Ixalan were actually poignant to the story later (aside from Rayne dying and thus giving reason for Barrin to snap and wipe Tolaria off the map after his daughter also died).
Wait hold up, that means since Hanna died, Gerrard got with someone else post Apocalypse. I just realized that.
We know that Bolas wanted the Planar Bridge and that Tezz had been sent to Kaladesh to secure it. We learned that in Aether Revolt. However, we did not learn why he wanted it until all his pieces had been put into place.
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Numquam evolutioni obstes. Solum conculceris.
Pascite draconem, evolvite aut morimini.