Magic: The Gathering (Unreleased Sets)

I think I get it.

Here's the thing about Bolas: everything serves a purpose. Every step is meant to benefit the endgame, which is that Bolas's Oldwalker power is restored. Nothing is without meaning.

So why is he sending a massive Eternal army to kill everyone on Ravnica while using the Immortal Sun to prevent planeswalkers from escaping? Well, that's a multifaceted question.

• Why does he need to kill everyone?
• Why does it need to be on Ravnica, specifically?
• Why stop planeswalkers from leaving?

I mentioned this before, but now I'm certain that the answer is Agyrem, the ghost district. Why does he need to kill everyone? To send them to Agyrem. Why Ravnica specifically? Because Agyrem is unique to Ravnica. Why stop planeswalkers from leaving?

Because he specifically wants to send planeswalkers to Agyrem.

It was speculated back on Amonkhet that his system there might be some kind of planeswalker factory, producing conditions that might lead to Sparks igniting. The idea was that maybe he's harvesting Sparks. That might still be true, but that would be a kinda shitty system. Why leave it to chance when you can harvest existing Sparks instead?

Bolas intends for the Gatewatch and every other planeswalker ally they can find to face him on Ravnica. He'll use the Immortal Sun to bind the plane so none of them can leave. Then he will kill them all and send their souls - and, more importantly, their Sparks - to Agyrem, a physical place that can be visited by planeswalkers unlike the afterlives outside Ravnica, where they can be collected.

Does that mean he could also use Theros as a backup? That has a visitable afterlife too.

"Kruphix, what's wrong? I didn't think gods could crap themselves."

edited 8th Feb '18 11:01:51 AM by Elfive

The problem with Theros is that we don't know if a dead Planeswalker would keep his Spark after reaching the Underworld (WB Returned Espeth when?). While the deads in Agyrem seem to keep everything, except their physicial body. (But we still don't know if the spark would stay in Agyrem or not)

Now, if I remember well, Agyrem can also be overloaded and explode Ravnica if enough people dies during a short time. It was the plan of one of the original Ravnica villain I think. If the rebirth of a world (Alara) gave back a fragment of Bolas original power, I think the death of one of the most populous plane + the harvest of all the planeswalker sparks could be enough to bring him back to his full glory.

While the setting has never had too many hard lines and caps for relative power, I would like to at least get a frame of reference for what the oldwalkers actually lost-we know about the basic changes-no more free immortality/shapeshifting, requiring rituals to enter the Blind Eternities, generic loss of power and knowledge, etc. But I would like to see at least a ballpark estimate of how much Bolas actually lost with the Mending, and what he regained with the Conflux.

I doubt you're going to get more than "he used to be able to reshape entire planes on a whim and now he's not", because Magic doesn't really go into DBZ power level counts.

Hence just a very rough estimate-is Bolas a tenth of what he was? A hundreth? There are a few beings on par with a planeswalker, that have survived from before the Mending-how do they regard the newer walkers? And Bolas' usual plan is the acquisition of more power-having even a little inkling might help us theorycraft better.

Bolas defeated Amonkhet's gods and corrupted the plane while he was bleeding out his Oldwalker power due to the mending. Absorbing the Conflux seems to have brought him back to that level at the very least, given how easily he defeated the Gatewatch.

He presumably is still far from Oldwalker status and can't, for example, make entire planes. Remember, Oldwalkers are supposed to be too powerful to be represented in card form.

edited 8th Feb '18 5:42:44 PM by M84

Well, I was just making a wistful comment-I never expect such things to be broken down mechanically. I was just musing if what we see Bolas doing these days is at or near his peak pre-Mending, since we get a lot of specifics for comparison, relative to the oldwalkers' feats that were very basic in description.

edited 8th Feb '18 5:57:28 PM by ViperMagnum357

Three Oldwalkers had to work together to bind the Eldrazi Titans when they were at their strongest. Though the only reason they didn't outright kill them was because Ugin thought they were too important to the multiverse to kill off.

The Gatewatch by contrast were only able to kill off Ulamog and Kozilek because they were still shadows of what they once were. And they had to borrow the plane's power to do it. They had no chance against Emrakul who more or less sealed herself because she felt it wasn't the right time for her debut. And the only reason they even lasted long enough until then was because of Leliana's Chain Veil empowered necromancy.

Going even further back into the lore, there was Urza. As the strongest Oldwalker ever thanks in part to replacing his eyes with the Mightstone and Weakstone (the two halves of a Thran powerstone) on top of being a master artificer, his crowning achievement was the Legacy Weapon. A weapon so powerful it could erase anything from existence.

edited 8th Feb '18 6:20:34 PM by M84

FYI-I have been following the story since I started playing in '96, and have read all but a few of the books-no need to take me to class.

And there was quite a range even back then-like Manatarqua turned herself into a tent to hide from a gathering of her fellows because she feared them so-then died immediately.

I guess the issue is that back then the people behind the game weren't all that interested in going into detail about just how powerful Oldwalkers actually were.

An update about the Vote for Control of the Golden City

Also, A very short story about Captivating Crew

edited 8th Feb '18 7:16:48 PM by Lightblade

New story.

I really like Huatli. I know it wouldn't drive the story of a battle card game very effectively, but I would read a novel or short story collection of story circle members (and Huatli and Saheeli) happily exploring new planes and learning about them. Helping out with problems that don't shake the planes. Offering insight that their broader perspective of the multiverse allows them. That kind of thing.

It's an aspect that Magic that I feel is easy to lose track of, since they seem to be convinced that every plane the story visits should be in the act of blowing up in some way. The fantasy of the game is, "you are a planeswalker," but if we didn't get moments like this epilogue, they'd run the risk of making being a planeswalker look like a constant conga line of horror and trauma until one of your enemies gets lucky and kills you.

Valentine's Day Mini-Announcement Day

Guess who's appearing in Core Set 2019?

The Challenger Decks are a nice way of getting competitive Standard decks quickly.

And weeks ago The Command Zone (unitentionally?) spoiled Murder from the Masters 25 set.

Masters 25 Previews have begun!

Masters 25 Card Image Gallery

Nostalgia

Every Card Has A Story

Dominaria's release document has been leaked on a Chinese website. Wizards have responded by releasing the official translation in other languages and altering their prerelease plans accordingly.

Interesting to see that they're moving to singular they on cards instead of "he or she", at least according to the stuff that's been doing the rounds on tumblr. Probably overdue, really.

edited 8th Mar '18 8:07:53 PM by CountDorku

I like the new format for legendary creature tokens.

Not exactly. The Legacy was, effectively, an abstract purpose given shape, form, and power, and that purpose was the eradication of Phyrexia.

In-game it can exile anything, but in-lore the Legacy was built for the single purpose of wiping out Yawgmoth and his army, and most of the artifacts used to build it was either related to Phyrexia or the Thran in some way, or otherwise uniquely well-suited to shutting down Phyrexian artifacts. Once its singular purpose was fulfilled, the Legacy lost its power.

edited 18th Mar '18 3:51:28 PM by Zennistrad

I got the impression that it was a bunch of random crap Urza had made over the years that somehow, collectively, became a manifestation of his wish for Phyrexia's destruction. Like he was building a superweapon without realizing it. Heck, maybe Glacian was guiding him from within; Urza's eyes contained Glacian's spirit.

edited 18th Mar '18 4:28:06 PM by Anura

The Legacy was something even Urza didn't fully understand. It even included artifacts that he himself did not create or intend to be part of it. What made it even weirder was that it wasn't something he himself could operate — that's why he started that messed up Bloodline Project that resulted in Gerrard Capashen.

I mean, if you heard "Urza's Legacy" in a context other than knowing it existed, then you'd immediately think of a giant, moderately radioactive crater. It merely being a weird weapon is pretty impressive given that this is Urza we're talking about.