I can't say with any certainty there will be phyrexians. This is definitely speculation. But his presence opens unfortunate possibilities about the direction of the set. This is another one of those evidence things, like edritch moon.
We can say the following things are truths:
Tezzeret is a known agent of Bolas due to his personality being completely rewritten by bolas.
Tezzeret was last seen worming his way into the phyrexian power structure for bolas.
Tezzeret is now present at Kaladesh with no intervening story to distance these relations.
Kaladesh is a plane of wondrous artifacts.
Phyrexians are also artifacts.
Mitigating circumstances:
Tezzeret didn't like working for bolas.
While there are certainly lots of ways this can go, none of these points are false, and they create a likely connection. Tezzeret is an agent of bolas with known ties to an artifact race that could be slipped into the fair. His dislike of bolas might be how the oathwatch find out where bolas is after this block, but it doesn't mean he's not still a puppet of the lord of mind control.
All very circumstantial still, but none the less compelling.
Yeah, Jaysands. That's what I was thinking. Whatever happens on Kaladesh is likely Bolas related, and it leads the gatewatch to the next block, which is ruled by Bolas. It's a spillover like before.
With the addition of tezzeret, and his last known story arc being phyrexians, an artificial race, I think it's now highly likely that the artifact fair is going to be the facade for a phyrexian invasion. The judge(s) will plant germs into artifacts and vehicles to take them over. Some artifacts will be phyrexian sleepers (I'm looking at you Gearhulks. Last colored artifacts were Phyrexian, too). I suspect the play will be for Bolas to take a mana rich plane using Tezzeret's ties to the phyrexians, but the oathwatch will thwart it. I had hoped they wouldn't wreck such a pretty plane, but it's looking like phyrexians are a definite possibility.
Tezzeret is one of the judges according to the newly revealed green card Larger Than Life.
Soooo... Nicol Bolas is using Tezzeret still. The question is whether Tezzeret still has links to the Pyrexians or if he left phyrexia once Karn was disrupted from becoming the leader of New Phyrexia. That's two possibilities here. Tezzeret is a just a bolas agent again, or he's gained ties to the phyrexians.
Such a colorful and interesting looking plane, I hope it doesn't become a phyrexian invasion point, but gut says.. Tezzeret still has ties to phyrexia, and Bolas is going to use Tezzeret and his phyrexians to turn an invention fair into an incursion point. We could see the return of Germs (like Batterskull) that can become permanent pilots of these new vehicle artifact types. The phyrexians then ride the stolen artifacts to try to take the plane and its power for Bolas.
I have doubts we'll see Tezzeret for one big reason. Phyrexians. Last I know of Tezzeret was disillusioned with Bolas and intrigued by the phyrexians. He might still be an agent of Bolas, but kind of like Sarkhan, looking for a way out. Tezzeret was trying to take over Phyrexia, and with Karn liberated, he was the last known planeswalker embedded there. This could work out two ways. Tezzeret uses the phyrexians to "purify" his biological imperfections and free him from Bolas, or He remains an organic plant in the phyrexian machine so that Bolas can wield the phyrexians at some point as pawns.
But bottom line, the next time you see Tezzeret you're going to see phyrexians.
And here is why Phyrexians are likely a no go.
Kaladesh is one of the lored planes that has always been teased, but never visited before. If Phyrexians get involved the plane is dead, whether by invasion or that phyrexian corruption. While it's possible that WotC might wreck three planes in a row, I just don't think they'll do that to a whole new setting, especially one with so much hinted history. Maybe that will be the point of invasion, to see something long fabled go down quickly thereby increasing the scariness of the phyrexian forces, but it'd be kind of.. sad and also too soon. There is a distinct possibility that the revolt is fueled by phyrexian sleepers headed by Tezz and orchestrated by Bolas through his puppet, but this would be very similar to the Eldrazi surprise invasion on Innistrad. I just don't think it's likely.
My guess..
Bolas orchestrates a revolt to distract the defenses of Kaladesh and steals something very important (Aetherevolt). This theft leads the Oath Watch back to Amonkhet to Bolas himself in the next block. There we'll finally see whatever larger machination Bolas is working towards. The second set in Amonkhet will likely have huge consequences for the mtg universe.
This is neat to see. I was thinking either this set was going to be a bolas plot or phyrexian. All the artifacts, things that looked like etherium, which hearkens back to Tezzeret last seen on New Phyrexia, a vedalken judge that can see the flaws of any artifact design (vedalkens having been on New Phyrexia and seeing flaws in designs being kind of a phyrexian purifying thing), I thought it was leaning hard towards Phyrexians.
So.. Nahiri is dragging the whole body of Emrakul into orbit around innistrad, creating the eldritch moon. Liliana is being setup as an unwitting bystander being called into heroism to deal with the problem.
Either she's craaaaaaaaazy, which is always a terrible lazy plot point, or she's a massive jerk lashing out disproportionately at innocents. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
And considering the fact that OGW features some of the worst plot-by-committee writing in Magic history, it's not like there isn't a precedent for bad writing with this new team.
Thing is.. is she really crazy? The Eldrazi are loose. The containment failed twice. If she found some means of trapping a really horrible elder thing on a plane of bloodthirsty monsters that just happens to be the home of a planeswalker that ditched his responsibility to contain the thing in the first place because he cared more about his own plane.. is that really worse than leaving it loose on Zendikar which is now too destroyed to contain it?
I still think that if she found a way to contain the thing on Sorin's plane, making it Sorin's problem, it's poetic justice. The thing is going to corrupt whatever plane it's dumped on, like toxic waste, so why not put it into an existing toxic dump like Innistrad? There's still distinct possibility that Liliana is actually behind the angels and the corruption. If you remove those two things, what has she actually done? Inspired a cult to help draw the beast to Innistrad.. And that's it. Not a minor thing, I know, but she may not be responsible for the rest of the evil (besides killing a house of bloodthirsty vampires I suppose..)
Just really like the idea of Nahiri sealing Emrakul on Innistrad. It's not evil. The creature would be contained. It's retribution. And as the card Structural Distortion says, "As Zendikar has bled, so will Innistrad. As I have wept, so will Sorin." -Nahiri.
What a more perfect retribution than to Trap Emrakul on Innistrad and make Sorin tend to it like she had to tend to her plane all on her own?
As for the angels going mad and the odd corruption, there seems to now be a distinct possibility that that is Liliana. She was storied to have likely caused the angel madness as an opportunistic abuse of Nahiri's mana channeling. The corruption that's showing up on Innistrad is reminiscent of the Veil's curse, too. What we may be seeing is a bait and switch. Nahiri IS dragging Emrakul to Innistrad, but that's just the chaos catalyst that is allowing Liliana to maneuver for a power grab.
So it would seem that Nahiri's motivation is now clear. She had to save her own plane, and neither of her supposed allies came to the rescue. She couldn't find Ugin, but she did find Sorin. Sorin's explanation was weak, and she couldn't understand why he would create something that might interfere with containing arguably the largest threat to the multiverse known at the time. Sorin then did something to her as punishment, most likely. The theory I like is the helvault. She was caught within, and thereby released in the last Innistrad set. Explains her absence and explains her grudge.
I'd be pretty peeved if I was trapped for a thousand years after someone didn't like being called out for a failure.
I kind of feel she's justified. If she traps emrakul on Innistrad, rather than letting it loose, she'd have a really slick righteous revenge. She'll sidle Sorin with the same responsibility he left her with. That's very white mana.
I think the biggest piece of evidence against Emrakul is Nahiri's lack of motive to bring her to Innistrad. Sure, she's pissed. The thought process is that her anger is towards Sorin and that she's trying to wreak havoc on Innistrad as a means of vengeance. Mark Rosewater said on his Tumblr (a post which is conveniently missing) that Nahiri still has white in her color and is doing what she believes to be in the best interest of the plane. We have to remember that Nahiri is not going to act outside of the color pie she is representing. I'm not sure how wrecking it with Emrakul is in the best interest of the plane nor representative of her color pie.
Think a thing to keep in mind is that white doesn't equate to good, and black doesn't equate with evil. In New Phyrexia we had the praetors, which was an attempt by magic to define an evil corrupted version of each of the manas. The ideology taken too far. Zealotry. Righteous fury. These are things of white. Nahiri's white side may be to cast an entire plane into damnation. Remember.. Wrath of God was a white card.
There's also the possibility that Nahiri doesn't plan to let Emrakul live. She may be doing to the titan what happened on her world. She may draw Emrakul completely into existance so that it can be drowned and dissolved into Innistrad, or maybe bound to it. It would DOOM Innistrad, but an ultimate good would come from it. She'd be killing or imprisoning the thing, and also getting back at one that had ruined her world (which she may not realize Ugin is alive, so the motivation may be that she wants to take out the last of the Trio that destroyed her world).
Now, if you want to get into some really wild speculation..
Anyone else curious how Bolas knew how to release the Eldrazi AND went out of his way to kill Ugin? There's nothing explicit yet, but there could be a pact between Nahiri and Bolas. Nahiri is getting revenge against the planeswalkers that scarred her world, and Bolas is getting chaos to mask whatever he is doing. And we KNOW he's doing something. He is the one that set this all up after all.
Reading through the last few pages, I think there's a vast misunderstanding of what the word evidence means. Evidence is an irrefutable truth. Ex: So and so was at place at time corroborated by video footage from adjacent place. That's evidence. Anything that comes back to feelings or sensibilities is not evidence. Ex1: Not liking Eldrazi is not evidence. Ex2: Not thinking WotC would continue the cycle is not evidence. These are not truths. To build a case you line up the evidence you have to create a plausible narrative. That is what evidence does. Crafting a case on feelings is not logic and not evident.
So here's my challenge. Take evidence, things that cannot be refuted and are not subjective, and lay them out in order and by themselves. If your case is logical, no point can be debated, and the implied result should be obvious. See if you can make a more compelling case than the following.
1. Nahiri is involved with the set.
2. Nahiri is the architect of the devices that have manipulated the eldrazi.
3. Nahiri has created devices on Innistrad to manipulate the planes mana towards an unknown purpose.
4. Nahiri is seeking revenge against Sorin.
5. She has been quoted as saying, "As Zendikar has bled, so will Innistrad. As I have wept, so will Sorin." -Reality Distortion.
6. Zendikar was devastated by the Eldrazi
7. Nahiri and Sorin worked together against the Eldrazi.
8. Nahiri is titled the harbinger, which means = A person or thing that announces or signals the approach of another.
9. Emrakul, one of the Eldrazi on Zendikar, is missing.
These are known and irrefutable truths. That is evidence. We lack an understanding of the motives, and we don't know what the act will be, but all the evidence suggests a pretty straight forward conclusion. The evidence may be circumstantial in the end, but these are known things, and it creates a solid case.
See if you can do better.
Just have to resurface this for people saying Emrakul doesn't make sense. Again, take known information and create a better case. If you can come up with something that's based off of evidence then your point of view has merit. Like it or not, there is significant evidence that it's going to be Emrakul. Tamiyo's journal and aspects of the stories create no concrete contrary evidence, and arguably corroborate aspects of Emrakul narrative. Literally, of all the cases that can be built, Emrakul is the ONLY one that is based off of evidence. The rest are based off of dislike for Eldrazi. That's bias, not evidence.
As for an earlier Marit Lage comment, I don't think Marit Lage is an Eldrazi. I think she is a creature of the blind eternity like the Eldrazi. The Endless Eternity is possibly host to many tentacled horribly powerful things that navigate in weird not understood ways.
She didn't like the angels. She was being an opportunist and used the cryptoliths to drive them insane. No major plot there, I don't think. She just hated them. At least that's what Jace's hallucination inferred.
I think the madness from innistrad is affecting some of the people posting here.
Because those theories are becoming more and more nonsense. People are really forcing the bar to fit Emrakul on it at any cost.
Even though everything is leaning toward to something ancient from innistrad, not something outside of it.
And that's my point from earlier. Emrakul and the rest of the eldrazi didn't originate on Zendikar. They were attacking other worlds before they were lured to Zendikar. Innistrad could very likely be one of those worlds they were draining. Sorin's involvement in the Eldrazi trap may have been motivated by his world being destroyed by the Eldrazi. The old sea god, like zendikar's old gods, very well could have been one of the titans, and Emrakul isn't just appearing on Innistrad. He's returning. Nahiri is bringing back the old god of Innistrad, Emrakul.
Reading the latest journal, I'd say it's a mix of hints and misdirects, and there's no way to tell one from the other yet. My general feeling is that the illusions hint to it being something that Jace knows, and frankly there are very few things big enough to fit that bill. This level of manipulation is either Bolas or Emrakul. Otherwise it is an unknown agent that's being retconned in. I frankly lean towards Emrakul.
The interesting bit I read from here was actually Tamiyo's entry about the cryptoliths. She hinted at an ancient crystalline structure from deep within the planet. I've held a theory that Innistrad is one of the worlds that Emrakul had visited before Zendikar, and that she was the cause of the ancient famine that caused the vampire syrum to be created. If Emrakul has the same reality distortion ability that warps landscapes like the other eldrazi, this buried substance might be a hint of Emrakul having warped the landscape previously to suck out the lifeforce.
We can say the following things are truths:
Tezzeret is a known agent of Bolas due to his personality being completely rewritten by bolas.
Tezzeret was last seen worming his way into the phyrexian power structure for bolas.
Tezzeret is now present at Kaladesh with no intervening story to distance these relations.
Kaladesh is a plane of wondrous artifacts.
Phyrexians are also artifacts.
Mitigating circumstances:
Tezzeret didn't like working for bolas.
While there are certainly lots of ways this can go, none of these points are false, and they create a likely connection. Tezzeret is an agent of bolas with known ties to an artifact race that could be slipped into the fair. His dislike of bolas might be how the oathwatch find out where bolas is after this block, but it doesn't mean he's not still a puppet of the lord of mind control.
All very circumstantial still, but none the less compelling.
With the addition of tezzeret, and his last known story arc being phyrexians, an artificial race, I think it's now highly likely that the artifact fair is going to be the facade for a phyrexian invasion. The judge(s) will plant germs into artifacts and vehicles to take them over. Some artifacts will be phyrexian sleepers (I'm looking at you Gearhulks. Last colored artifacts were Phyrexian, too). I suspect the play will be for Bolas to take a mana rich plane using Tezzeret's ties to the phyrexians, but the oathwatch will thwart it. I had hoped they wouldn't wreck such a pretty plane, but it's looking like phyrexians are a definite possibility.
Soooo... Nicol Bolas is using Tezzeret still. The question is whether Tezzeret still has links to the Pyrexians or if he left phyrexia once Karn was disrupted from becoming the leader of New Phyrexia. That's two possibilities here. Tezzeret is a just a bolas agent again, or he's gained ties to the phyrexians.
Such a colorful and interesting looking plane, I hope it doesn't become a phyrexian invasion point, but gut says.. Tezzeret still has ties to phyrexia, and Bolas is going to use Tezzeret and his phyrexians to turn an invention fair into an incursion point. We could see the return of Germs (like Batterskull) that can become permanent pilots of these new vehicle artifact types. The phyrexians then ride the stolen artifacts to try to take the plane and its power for Bolas.
But bottom line, the next time you see Tezzeret you're going to see phyrexians.
And here is why Phyrexians are likely a no go.
Kaladesh is one of the lored planes that has always been teased, but never visited before. If Phyrexians get involved the plane is dead, whether by invasion or that phyrexian corruption. While it's possible that WotC might wreck three planes in a row, I just don't think they'll do that to a whole new setting, especially one with so much hinted history. Maybe that will be the point of invasion, to see something long fabled go down quickly thereby increasing the scariness of the phyrexian forces, but it'd be kind of.. sad and also too soon. There is a distinct possibility that the revolt is fueled by phyrexian sleepers headed by Tezz and orchestrated by Bolas through his puppet, but this would be very similar to the Eldrazi surprise invasion on Innistrad. I just don't think it's likely.
My guess..
Bolas orchestrates a revolt to distract the defenses of Kaladesh and steals something very important (Aetherevolt). This theft leads the Oath Watch back to Amonkhet to Bolas himself in the next block. There we'll finally see whatever larger machination Bolas is working towards. The second set in Amonkhet will likely have huge consequences for the mtg universe.
What do you all think?
Thing is.. is she really crazy? The Eldrazi are loose. The containment failed twice. If she found some means of trapping a really horrible elder thing on a plane of bloodthirsty monsters that just happens to be the home of a planeswalker that ditched his responsibility to contain the thing in the first place because he cared more about his own plane.. is that really worse than leaving it loose on Zendikar which is now too destroyed to contain it?
I still think that if she found a way to contain the thing on Sorin's plane, making it Sorin's problem, it's poetic justice. The thing is going to corrupt whatever plane it's dumped on, like toxic waste, so why not put it into an existing toxic dump like Innistrad? There's still distinct possibility that Liliana is actually behind the angels and the corruption. If you remove those two things, what has she actually done? Inspired a cult to help draw the beast to Innistrad.. And that's it. Not a minor thing, I know, but she may not be responsible for the rest of the evil (besides killing a house of bloodthirsty vampires I suppose..)
What a more perfect retribution than to Trap Emrakul on Innistrad and make Sorin tend to it like she had to tend to her plane all on her own?
As for the angels going mad and the odd corruption, there seems to now be a distinct possibility that that is Liliana. She was storied to have likely caused the angel madness as an opportunistic abuse of Nahiri's mana channeling. The corruption that's showing up on Innistrad is reminiscent of the Veil's curse, too. What we may be seeing is a bait and switch. Nahiri IS dragging Emrakul to Innistrad, but that's just the chaos catalyst that is allowing Liliana to maneuver for a power grab.
I'd be pretty peeved if I was trapped for a thousand years after someone didn't like being called out for a failure.
I kind of feel she's justified. If she traps emrakul on Innistrad, rather than letting it loose, she'd have a really slick righteous revenge. She'll sidle Sorin with the same responsibility he left her with. That's very white mana.
Think a thing to keep in mind is that white doesn't equate to good, and black doesn't equate with evil. In New Phyrexia we had the praetors, which was an attempt by magic to define an evil corrupted version of each of the manas. The ideology taken too far. Zealotry. Righteous fury. These are things of white. Nahiri's white side may be to cast an entire plane into damnation. Remember.. Wrath of God was a white card.
There's also the possibility that Nahiri doesn't plan to let Emrakul live. She may be doing to the titan what happened on her world. She may draw Emrakul completely into existance so that it can be drowned and dissolved into Innistrad, or maybe bound to it. It would DOOM Innistrad, but an ultimate good would come from it. She'd be killing or imprisoning the thing, and also getting back at one that had ruined her world (which she may not realize Ugin is alive, so the motivation may be that she wants to take out the last of the Trio that destroyed her world).
Now, if you want to get into some really wild speculation..
Anyone else curious how Bolas knew how to release the Eldrazi AND went out of his way to kill Ugin? There's nothing explicit yet, but there could be a pact between Nahiri and Bolas. Nahiri is getting revenge against the planeswalkers that scarred her world, and Bolas is getting chaos to mask whatever he is doing. And we KNOW he's doing something. He is the one that set this all up after all.
Just have to resurface this for people saying Emrakul doesn't make sense. Again, take known information and create a better case. If you can come up with something that's based off of evidence then your point of view has merit. Like it or not, there is significant evidence that it's going to be Emrakul. Tamiyo's journal and aspects of the stories create no concrete contrary evidence, and arguably corroborate aspects of Emrakul narrative. Literally, of all the cases that can be built, Emrakul is the ONLY one that is based off of evidence. The rest are based off of dislike for Eldrazi. That's bias, not evidence.
As for an earlier Marit Lage comment, I don't think Marit Lage is an Eldrazi. I think she is a creature of the blind eternity like the Eldrazi. The Endless Eternity is possibly host to many tentacled horribly powerful things that navigate in weird not understood ways.
And that's my point from earlier. Emrakul and the rest of the eldrazi didn't originate on Zendikar. They were attacking other worlds before they were lured to Zendikar. Innistrad could very likely be one of those worlds they were draining. Sorin's involvement in the Eldrazi trap may have been motivated by his world being destroyed by the Eldrazi. The old sea god, like zendikar's old gods, very well could have been one of the titans, and Emrakul isn't just appearing on Innistrad. He's returning. Nahiri is bringing back the old god of Innistrad, Emrakul.
Reading the latest journal, I'd say it's a mix of hints and misdirects, and there's no way to tell one from the other yet. My general feeling is that the illusions hint to it being something that Jace knows, and frankly there are very few things big enough to fit that bill. This level of manipulation is either Bolas or Emrakul. Otherwise it is an unknown agent that's being retconned in. I frankly lean towards Emrakul.
The interesting bit I read from here was actually Tamiyo's entry about the cryptoliths. She hinted at an ancient crystalline structure from deep within the planet. I've held a theory that Innistrad is one of the worlds that Emrakul had visited before Zendikar, and that she was the cause of the ancient famine that caused the vampire syrum to be created. If Emrakul has the same reality distortion ability that warps landscapes like the other eldrazi, this buried substance might be a hint of Emrakul having warped the landscape previously to suck out the lifeforce.