I've seen theories about the "big bad" being everything from slivers to Phyrexians to the moon of Majora's Mask already. Official spoiler season starts in a little over 24 hours, so share the craziest (and maybe a few sane) theories you heard or came up with.
Some of my favorites:
Raven Man was the Angel Avacyn destroyed.
Phyrexian oil corrupted the moon.
Nahiri is using the cryptoliths to bait Emrakul.
Dominating is being merged with Innistrad.
The moon is Emrakul.
Nahiri is using the cryptoliths to summon slivers to the plane.
The moon is 'eldritch' because it has to do with elves, which arrive in this new Innistrad block.
The way Avacyn was able to be corrupted was by presenting a situation outside of the context that Avacyn was designed for. Originally Avacyn was meant to maintain the balance, becoming stronger when humans are weaker and their need of her is greater, and becoming weaker to the point of nearly being impotent when the humans are ahead of the likes of the vampires/demons/werewolves/etc. although particularly the vampires. Humans got ahead after her long imprisonment taught them how to fight the dark again on their own, and then she suddenly was freed and fixed the problems while they were still armed up to fight on their own, allowing the humans to push ahead, so Avacyn's 'protect humans' programming started conflicting with her 'maintain the balance' programming.
Nahiri jump-started the chain veil to further it's corruption of Liliana when she encountered her on the plane so she could turn her into a tool of sorts to help devastate Sorin's home.
Tamiyo is actually the secret, if accidental, big-bad of the events on the plane, having accidentally inspired Nahiri to get revenge on Sorin rather than just yell at him, accidentally messed with things while studying the moon to furthur Lili's chain-veil corruption and screw up Avacyn's programming, and broken some moon-powered seals on ancient evils.
Sorin will be happy that Ulamog and Kozilek were destroyed and tell Jace that Ugin can screw himself, and join up with the Oath of the Gatewatch to hunt down Emrakul.
Crazy Theory 1: Emrakul is incubating a new Eldrazi Titan in Innistrad's moon to replace Ulamog and Kozilek. We don't see Emrakul this block, but according to Crazy Theory 1, we will see her/its possibly unborn child this block. (Emrakul was originally planning on having Kozilek help raise the child.)
Crazy Theory 2: The Raven Man is from Innistrad, and that screenshot of a raven-winged man in the Thraben Cathedral part of the Innistrad Map web page is related to him.
Crazy Theory 3: Avacyn's weapon warping is all Kozilek's fault, even though he/it should be dead and probably is. (Time and future manipulation, perhaps?)
Crazy Theory 4: Marycz (or whatever the name of the angel whose blood was used to create vampires is) is Sigarda/etc.'s BW sister, survived getting bled out, was the one who allied with a demon lord and got killed by Avacyn, and was the original leader of Flight Moonsilver. The angel statue in Markov Manor is of her.
Crazy Theory 5: Nahiri excavated the Helvault out of Innistrad's moon.
Crazy Theory 6: Sorin needed Nahiri's help to create Avacyn, so both Sorin and Nahiri can be treated as Avacyn's (brain-)parents. Being brain-parents allow both of them to manipulate Avacyn more strongly than anyone else can.
Not-Quite-Crazy Theory: Sorin only figured out the basics of creating angels, so he programmed Avacyn a bit primitively. Unlike Innistrad's more native angels, she has no built-in protection against going mad.
The fourth angel sister was never killed, but instead sealed within the Helvault. She is now free and will ally with Sigarda.
When everything is over, Sigarda and her dark sister bring Bruna and Gisela back to their senses by making sweet love to them. The four angels then go back to protecting the humans like they did before Avacyn.
1. The Moon is alive and screwing with Innistrad for the lulz.
2. Bolas is secretly manipulating everything in the hopes of killing the Stromkirk god to eliminate possible challengers to his power.
3. Kozilek actually survived and is exerting influence only passively because he's so weakened - but he wants the Stromkirk god summoned to consume it and regain strength.
4. The stromkirk god already got corrupted by Emrakul into looking like it, so while we won't get the real-deal, we'll get an impostor.
5. Nahiri's realized what's going on in Innistrad but can't stop it alone so she's using the mana beacon as a Batman spotlight to see who shows up to help. The wrecking of Markov Manor is just her way of saying "No Sorins allowed".
6. This is all actually one of Ugin's Eldrazi experiments.
7. Innistrad is being torn apart by the blind eternities and the madness is what happens when people start to be affected by them. Nahiri's mana is not actually a beacon, but a shield to try to block the Blind Eternities' advance.
8. Nahiri's realized that the moon is messed up and is going to use her mana channeling not as a beacon but as a giant cannon.
9. Mind control aliens live on the moon and have decided that it's time to go and conquer the surface. Runo stromkirk and co realize they can't fight lazorz and spaceships with knives and crossbows, so he's waking up his god to ask for help in the coming war.
10. Any combination of the above, preferably all of them at the same time. =D
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The Moon is made of silver, maybe Karn, the SILVER golem made the Moon out of the Mirrari. The Mutations on Innistrad are not unlike what we saw on Otaria.
The Stormkirk succeeded in summoning their Giant Toad God while Avaycn was still in the Helvault and put it in the water supply for the plane. No one's gone mad and none of this is actually happening, instead everyone is just high as balls on hallucinogenic toad poison.
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Cyme we inne frið, fram the grip of deaþ to lif inne ðis smylte land.
It was Mrs. White W with the candlestick 1C in the library. The 15 Clue tokens each have a slightly heightened letter spelling out Clue from Hasbro. The cross-over board game will be spoiled next friday.
I like the idea of Bolas manipulating things on Innistrad. But we don't really need an explanation why. It's just Bolas being Bolas, that wacky, crazy guy (cue studio laughter and cheesy Nicol Bolas sitcom theme).
At this point Bolas feels like Tzeentch from Warhammer 40,000 - scheming just for the purpose of scheming; plans within plans within plans just because he can make them.
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Vorthos-y Johnny. All will be One
Modern - Cheeri0s (building), Belcher (building), Lantern (building), UW Control (building)
RIP Magic Duels. Wizards will regret what they did to you.
Chuck Norris invaded the plane of Innistrad. Everybody is being driven mad by their impending doom. Emrakul will show up and Chuck Norris will deal with it too using just a simple punch. Innistrad and the last Eldrazi will be destroyed. A Storm Crow will then be seen perching on his shoulder elevating it to mythic rarity in the next set.
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All your base are belong to us!
RIP Batman guy. I hope somebody picks up the slack now that you are gone. Sick children need their Batman.
Sorin will be happy that Ulamog and Kozilek were destroyed and tell Jace that Ugin can screw himself, and join up with the Oath of the Gatewatch to hunt down Emrakul.
Oh please, I would love to see this UR, and have Ugin's sanctimonious ego knocked down a peg. Also, Sorin seems like a bro, if a somewhat moody one. I can totally see him being all "Ugin was such a pretentious ass, way to go dudes". The angst is strong in that one.
Sorin will be happy that Ulamog and Kozilek were destroyed and tell Jace that Ugin can screw himself, and join up with the Oath of the Gatewatch to hunt down Emrakul.
Oh please, I would love to see this UR, and have Ugin's sanctimonious ego knocked down a peg. Also, Sorin seems like a bro, if a somewhat moody one. I can totally see him being all "Ugin was such a pretentious ass, way to go dudes". The angst is strong in that one.
Sorin will not join the Gatewatch, he will at most cooperate for a while. Why would a millenia old badass vampire need a bunch of newbies around him? The destruction of the Eldrazi was bossible only because it took place specifically on Zendikar, other than that, Sorin is way out of their league.
Sorin will be happy that Ulamog and Kozilek were destroyed and tell Jace that Ugin can screw himself, and join up with the Oath of the Gatewatch to hunt down Emrakul.
Oh please, I would love to see this UR, and have Ugin's sanctimonious ego knocked down a peg. Also, Sorin seems like a bro, if a somewhat moody one. I can totally see him being all "Ugin was such a pretentious ass, way to go dudes". The angst is strong in that one.
Sorin will not join the Gatewatch, he will at most cooperate for a while. Why would a millenia old badass vampire need a bunch of newbies around him? The destruction of the Eldrazi was bossible only because it took place specifically on Zendikar, other than that, Sorin is way out of their league.
Digital art is easier to edit than a physical painting, and there's a lot of digital art in this set. So, along with the real artwork, Wizards told some artists to make small corruptions to the scene with those being the cards chosen to be released during spoiler season.
When we open the actual cards, there will be no corruption. No tentacles. No extra eyes/appendages.
Are we going mad along with the rest of Innistrad?
Nahiri is pissed at Sorin for reasons.
Altering the plane's mana to lure Emrakul.
Altering the mana is driving everyone mad, re-wolfing people, and making Avacyn flip out.
I have been trying to put together the pieces of the puzzle that has been revealed to us so far.
From what I gather, Nahiri is using the cryptoliths to focus Innistrad's mana to one point, hoping that the mana buildup will lure one or more eldrazi to the plane, however she manages to accidentally open a portal directly to The Abyss instead. I base this of the flavor text of Behold the Beyond. The real villain of the block is a native of that plane, and is the reason large parts of Innistrad's population, including Avacyn, are going insane.
There is power in the abyss, in blackness more profound than the darkest dreams.
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It's about time for the reserved list to die, for the sake of Vintage and Legacy (And Commander).
Digital art is easier to edit than a physical painting, and there's a lot of digital art in this set. So, along with the real artwork, Wizards told some artists to make small corruptions to the scene with those being the cards chosen to be released during spoiler season.
When we open the actual cards, there will be no corruption. No tentacles. No extra eyes/appendages.
Are we going mad along with the rest of Innistrad?
I hope this one turns out true. Those tentacles and extra eyes seemed somewhat random to me anyway, Avacyn doesn't have those despite going mad herself.
New Theory.
Nahiri uses lithomancy not to lure Emrakul but only the Moon itself.
The Moon being closer and closer to the plane:
-werewolves transformation restarts even with Avacyn's purification thing as its influence intensifies.
-the tides begin to gain in intensity, enough to cause various tsunamis and slowly drown the plane.
-creatures on the plane are beginning to adapt to the water rise, with mutations into amphibious beings with tentacles looking like Davy Jones in Pirates of the Carribbean.
In the second set we will see Innistrad completely flooded and become the "water world" in the shortlist.
Nice theory. Seems somewhat unlikely, but I prefer it to the Emrakul theory.
I'm more inclined to be believe that Nahiri is altering the flow of mana on Innistrad so that the tides are affected enough to not follow the moon as per Engulf the Shore. Attacking Markov manor is just a personal attack on his home and lineage.
The results of the altered tides may or may not be known by Nahiri, but Tamiyo should would. It may be the Drownyard is a very strong leyline point on Innistrad.
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Some of my favorites:
Raven Man was the Angel Avacyn destroyed.
Phyrexian oil corrupted the moon.
Nahiri is using the cryptoliths to bait Emrakul.
Dominating is being merged with Innistrad.
The moon is Emrakul.
The moon is 'eldritch' because it has to do with elves, which arrive in this new Innistrad block.
The way Avacyn was able to be corrupted was by presenting a situation outside of the context that Avacyn was designed for. Originally Avacyn was meant to maintain the balance, becoming stronger when humans are weaker and their need of her is greater, and becoming weaker to the point of nearly being impotent when the humans are ahead of the likes of the vampires/demons/werewolves/etc. although particularly the vampires. Humans got ahead after her long imprisonment taught them how to fight the dark again on their own, and then she suddenly was freed and fixed the problems while they were still armed up to fight on their own, allowing the humans to push ahead, so Avacyn's 'protect humans' programming started conflicting with her 'maintain the balance' programming.
Nahiri jump-started the chain veil to further it's corruption of Liliana when she encountered her on the plane so she could turn her into a tool of sorts to help devastate Sorin's home.
Tamiyo is actually the secret, if accidental, big-bad of the events on the plane, having accidentally inspired Nahiri to get revenge on Sorin rather than just yell at him, accidentally messed with things while studying the moon to furthur Lili's chain-veil corruption and screw up Avacyn's programming, and broken some moon-powered seals on ancient evils.
Sorin will be happy that Ulamog and Kozilek were destroyed and tell Jace that Ugin can screw himself, and join up with the Oath of the Gatewatch to hunt down Emrakul.
Crazy Theory 2: The Raven Man is from Innistrad, and that screenshot of a raven-winged man in the Thraben Cathedral part of the Innistrad Map web page is related to him.
Crazy Theory 3: Avacyn's weapon warping is all Kozilek's fault, even though he/it should be dead and probably is. (Time and future manipulation, perhaps?)
Crazy Theory 4: Marycz (or whatever the name of the angel whose blood was used to create vampires is) is Sigarda/etc.'s BW sister, survived getting bled out, was the one who allied with a demon lord and got killed by Avacyn, and was the original leader of Flight Moonsilver. The angel statue in Markov Manor is of her.
Crazy Theory 5: Nahiri excavated the Helvault out of Innistrad's moon.
Crazy Theory 6: Sorin needed Nahiri's help to create Avacyn, so both Sorin and Nahiri can be treated as Avacyn's (brain-)parents. Being brain-parents allow both of them to manipulate Avacyn more strongly than anyone else can.
Not-Quite-Crazy Theory: Sorin only figured out the basics of creating angels, so he programmed Avacyn a bit primitively. Unlike Innistrad's more native angels, she has no built-in protection against going mad.
When everything is over, Sigarda and her dark sister bring Bruna and Gisela back to their senses by making sweet love to them. The four angels then go back to protecting the humans like they did before Avacyn.
1. The Moon is alive and screwing with Innistrad for the lulz.
2. Bolas is secretly manipulating everything in the hopes of killing the Stromkirk god to eliminate possible challengers to his power.
3. Kozilek actually survived and is exerting influence only passively because he's so weakened - but he wants the Stromkirk god summoned to consume it and regain strength.
4. The stromkirk god already got corrupted by Emrakul into looking like it, so while we won't get the real-deal, we'll get an impostor.
5. Nahiri's realized what's going on in Innistrad but can't stop it alone so she's using the mana beacon as a Batman spotlight to see who shows up to help. The wrecking of Markov Manor is just her way of saying "No Sorins allowed".
6. This is all actually one of Ugin's Eldrazi experiments.
7. Innistrad is being torn apart by the blind eternities and the madness is what happens when people start to be affected by them. Nahiri's mana is not actually a beacon, but a shield to try to block the Blind Eternities' advance.
8. Nahiri's realized that the moon is messed up and is going to use her mana channeling not as a beacon but as a giant cannon.
9. Mind control aliens live on the moon and have decided that it's time to go and conquer the surface. Runo stromkirk and co realize they can't fight lazorz and spaceships with knives and crossbows, so he's waking up his god to ask for help in the coming war.
10. Any combination of the above, preferably all of them at the same time. =D
Modern - Cheeri0s (building), Belcher (building), Lantern (building), UW Control (building)
RIP Magic Duels. Wizards will regret what they did to you.
There is only one real possible cause, Sorin has sealed THE SPANISH INQUISITION in the moon!
and the reason he doesn't remember doing it is because Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!
Dragons of Legend, Lead by Scion of the UR-Dragon
The Gitrog Monster
Gonti, Lord of Luxury
Shogun Saskia
Hive World
Atraxa hates fun
Abzan
The Moon is made of silver, maybe Karn, the SILVER golem made the Moon out of the Mirrari. The Mutations on Innistrad are not unlike what we saw on Otaria.
Click the pic for more info.
Modern - Cheeri0s (building), Belcher (building), Lantern (building), UW Control (building)
RIP Magic Duels. Wizards will regret what they did to you.
RIP Batman guy. I hope somebody picks up the slack now that you are gone. Sick children need their Batman.
Oh please, I would love to see this UR, and have Ugin's sanctimonious ego knocked down a peg. Also, Sorin seems like a bro, if a somewhat moody one. I can totally see him being all "Ugin was such a pretentious ass, way to go dudes". The angst is strong in that one.
Sorin will not join the Gatewatch, he will at most cooperate for a while. Why would a millenia old badass vampire need a bunch of newbies around him? The destruction of the Eldrazi was bossible only because it took place specifically on Zendikar, other than that, Sorin is way out of their league.
Probably not, but it would be awesome.
Everything that ever happens in the multiverse is a plot by Bolas...
Digital art is easier to edit than a physical painting, and there's a lot of digital art in this set. So, along with the real artwork, Wizards told some artists to make small corruptions to the scene with those being the cards chosen to be released during spoiler season.
When we open the actual cards, there will be no corruption. No tentacles. No extra eyes/appendages.
Are we going mad along with the rest of Innistrad?
Altering the plane's mana to lure Emrakul.
Altering the mana is driving everyone mad, re-wolfing people, and making Avacyn flip out.
From what I gather, Nahiri is using the cryptoliths to focus Innistrad's mana to one point, hoping that the mana buildup will lure one or more eldrazi to the plane, however she manages to accidentally open a portal directly to The Abyss instead. I base this of the flavor text of Behold the Beyond. The real villain of the block is a native of that plane, and is the reason large parts of Innistrad's population, including Avacyn, are going insane.
There is power in the abyss, in blackness more profound than the darkest dreams.
---
Numquam evolutioni obstes. Solum conculceris.
Pascite draconem, evolvite aut morimini.
I hope this one turns out true. Those tentacles and extra eyes seemed somewhat random to me anyway, Avacyn doesn't have those despite going mad herself.
Nice theory. Seems somewhat unlikely, but I prefer it to the Emrakul theory.
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The results of the altered tides may or may not be known by Nahiri, but Tamiyo should would. It may be the Drownyard is a very strong leyline point on Innistrad.
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