Next villains are definitly the Phyrexians and i don't doubt Tezzeret will be involved. Almsot bet that he will go for the title of father of machines. Hyped for the Phyrexians return has the big baddies. Need the cyborg zombies to comeback.
I really like this idea and I'm assuming the reason he doesn't get a card in War is because he traps everyone including Bolas on Ravnica by dumping the Sun and then leaving with the bridge. He has the one thing the Phyrexians want and at least two worlds he's been to that he could pretty easily conquer with the help of the Phyrexians (Esper and Kaladesh). In fact Esper wouldn't even really need to be conquered, their philosophy is close enough to that of the Phyrexians that he could subvert it.
Just my two cents but it seems kinda weird that they'd conclude Liliana's arc with "the Raven Man" and it not be Lim-dul since at the exact same time they're reintroducing Jodah and Jaya to the story. Those two were not only his archenemies but he also managed to preserve his spirit in Mairsil's ring and use it to possess Jaya. If it is him, this is an exact parallel to what he's doing with the Chain Veil and Liliana.
We can probably look to Future Sight for what the future holds for Dominaria since there's a number of characters from that set that haven't made their debut yet: Baru, Fist of Krosa, Linessa, Zephyr Mage, Korlash, Heir to Blackblade, Oriss, Samite Guardian, and Tarox Bladewing. Apart from that, Jhoira's inclusion in the recent Duel Deck is a strong indication she'll be back and involved with the newly built Tolaria West. Finally, there's the photo WotC posted on Twitter of the globe of Dominaria. Not sure if the specific position the globe is rotated to is a hint but the part visible contains the following notable islands: Urborg (tomb of Yawgmoth), Madara (Bolas' old hangout), the Tolarian ruins, Bogardan, Zalfir, and Aerona.
So why did Bolas set up the whole religion to be a one time return? Why not be like "Hey every 50 years I'll pick up the worthy and bless yall, good luck in the trials" and grab a fresh batch of Eternals whenever?
Yeah this part seems short-sighted unless it's just him covering up his tracks. Maybe he didn't want others (like a certain lithomancer) to learn how to manipulate lazotep? It's a pretty useful substance capable of mind control, necromancy, and if the name "Eternal" implies anything, could be what allows non-planeswalkers to survive the Blind Eternities.
Maybe Bolas is the "hero" here and the only reason he's doing any of this, including trying to restore his pre-mending powers, is to stop the Phyrexians. I mean, yes he's a selfish dick that wants every world to bow down to him, but that also means he cares about larger existential threats like he did during Time Spiral. Even if he can save himself from phyresis, he wouldn't be able to stop the Phyrexians on his own from invading and corrupting the countless worlds he worked so hard to conquer. So my guess is he needs an army that's immune to phyresis and coating the undead in lazotep accomplishes that. Why no army of planeswalkers instead? Because the Eternals are mindless slaves and just about every planeswalker we've seen work for Bolas has betrayed him at one point or another. Planeswalkers are also quite rare and not easy to mass produce.
So awhile back on the podcast Mark was talking about the different story ideas they were throwing around to explain the way Tarkir drafted. One such idea was doing a new world that's set in the past, then goes to the future, and then the third set would be the reveal that we were on Dominaria the whole time. Last we saw Ajani he was talking about going to Dominaria to recruit planeswalkers...but here he is on Ixalan. What if the Dominaria set in April is just the third act of the Ixalan story and Ixalan is just a continent? The test name for this world, Atlazan, seems to be a reference to Atlantis and would explain why we've never heard of this Dominarian continent until now. The continent resurfacing would also explain all the merefolk that populate it.
Stirring from Slumber is set about 1000 years before the "present day." We know this because the opening lines of the story state:
The Eldrazi stirred. Nahiri woke.
This was not the great reawakening of the Eldrazi seen in the storyline of Rise of the Eldrazi—the titans themselves remained imprisoned, even as their lineages ravaged Zendikar. This was around a thousand years earlier, and it might have led to a great rising…were it not for Nahiri standing in the way.
Also creating an angel as powerful as Avacyn seems like a huge feat even for a pre-mending planeswalker, so it wouldn't surprise me if Sorin didn't have the knowledge and power necessary to do it until that time.
Why is that? Serra created an entire plane full of them and Ixidor (not even a planeswalker) created Akroma.
Before Avacyn had first appeared, a thousand years ago, there had been four sisters, one the eldest and most powerful of the angels. Bruna. Gisela. Sigarda. And the one they would no longer name.
This line is pretty huge, Avacyn has only been around for a thousand years which means Sorin didn't create her before the titans were initially trapped. Seen a lot of arguments about this in the past. It could very well stand to reason that Nahiri did play a role in helping Sorin create Avacyn, hence the similarities and why she knows how to influence her.
I like the idea that Nahiri is basically Neltharion, it makes perfect sense.
For those unfamiliar with WoW lore: the Old Gods were trapped underground and Neltharion being the aspect of the earth was the closest to their prison. After hundred of years of them whispering to him while he hibernated he went crazy, turned on the other aspects, and changed his name to Deathwing.
I think I understand what's going on here. Nahiri's redirecting the plane's mana to power up and free whatever deity is stuck in the moon (Shilgengar?) and much like with the titans, the weaker the prison the stronger it's influence. I doubt Ugin taught her how to use hedrons to straight up mind control people, especially when that would have been useless against titans. I say Shilgengar since the last time we ever hear about him is during the creation of the vampires and that would be reason enough for a faction of them, the Stromkirk, to worship him. It's possible he was defeated and sealed away in a similar fashion to Griselbrand and that's why something powerful enough to spread famine across an entire plane is suddenly nowhere to be found.
Here's how I understand it: As seen on Warped Landscape and in the trailer, Nahiri is clearly manipulating the leylines on Innistrad to summon the sea god the Stromkirk worship. This is an ironic form of revenge since she's under the impression Sorin is behind the appearance of vampires on Zendikar and their manipulating of leylines to free the titans. "You free world ending gods on my plane then I'll do the same to you!" This god, much like the titans, seems to have a corrupting presence that causes people to grow disfigurements such as extra eyes and fingers. The corruption starts off small a subtle (Magnifying Glass) and many people aren't fully aware of it (hence the skin crawling in Under the Silver Moon). If we think of Avacyn the plane's immune system it's pretty understandable why she's "gone crazy" and is killing innocent people. The outward signs are not completely visible, but Avacyn's nature senses something has nonetheless infected humanity and they must be put down. Seeing as Arlinn has drawn attention to the importance of werewolves in the upcoming conflict I'll assume that being infected with Lycanthropy prevents you from being infected by this god and it will probably be the thing that saves humanity in the end. My guess is SoI will be about stopping Avacyn and will conclude with this image and then EMN will be about the larger threat of Nahiri and this god.
It's possible gathering a lot of the plane's mana in one spot will inadvertently draw Emrakul but I think the similarities between her form of corruption and the sea god's is meant to be a red herring. I doubt she'll show up in this block.
I really like this idea and I'm assuming the reason he doesn't get a card in War is because he traps everyone including Bolas on Ravnica by dumping the Sun and then leaving with the bridge. He has the one thing the Phyrexians want and at least two worlds he's been to that he could pretty easily conquer with the help of the Phyrexians (Esper and Kaladesh). In fact Esper wouldn't even really need to be conquered, their philosophy is close enough to that of the Phyrexians that he could subvert it.
Yeah this part seems short-sighted unless it's just him covering up his tracks. Maybe he didn't want others (like a certain lithomancer) to learn how to manipulate lazotep? It's a pretty useful substance capable of mind control, necromancy, and if the name "Eternal" implies anything, could be what allows non-planeswalkers to survive the Blind Eternities.
Good thing is WotC can probably identify the sheet and where it came from now that they have a full picture of it.
For those unfamiliar with WoW lore: the Old Gods were trapped underground and Neltharion being the aspect of the earth was the closest to their prison. After hundred of years of them whispering to him while he hibernated he went crazy, turned on the other aspects, and changed his name to Deathwing.
It's possible gathering a lot of the plane's mana in one spot will inadvertently draw Emrakul but I think the similarities between her form of corruption and the sea god's is meant to be a red herring. I doubt she'll show up in this block.