WMG / Magic: The Gathering

White and Black are the morally correct pair

Cause they are lawful and let people have ambition!

The Eldrazi are ancient Planeswalkers

It's mentioned that Nico bolas was so powerful that he warped Dominaria by his presence alone outside his nation of Madara. He could only live there because of the three powerful ley-lines of mana that intersected there. This was of course pre-mending. Ancient Planeswalkers basically had limitless power but still relied on mana. So if a Planeswalker, pre-mending, ever got beyond bolas level powerful. Say powerful like ugin combined with bolas they would have to stay in the blind eternities, planes wouldn't be able to handle their power. So then staying in the blind eternities with little company you probably get so advanced and ancient that things like planes being destroyed seem insignificant. You need to survive yourself. The theory is just Eldrazi are super ancient Planeswalkers that "ascended" to become something stronger and are so beyond everyone else that they can barely interact with them.Alternately they are ancient Planeswalkers who think they are doing the multiverse a service. It seems like there Eldrazi work in weird conjunction. Ulamog eats a planet dry, Kozalik warps the world, then Emrakul basically remakes it into a new plane.

The Planeswalker Spark is related to both the Metagene and the Speed Force of The DCU.

The planeswalker spark is a mystical quality within someone which, when activated (usually under periods of great stress) gives them fantastic magical powers and the ability to move between planes. The metagene is a genetic quality within someone which, when activated (usually under periods of great stress) gives them fantastic super-powers. The speed force is a mystical dimension which "chooses" people (usually under periods of great stress) and gives them fantastic super-speed powers, which can be used to move between universes. If The Flash ever visited Dominaria, he'd be recognized as a planeswalker — more specifically, one of the new, post-Time Spiral planeswalkers, who are more like superhumans than immortal gods.

• This would require both of the latter to be somehow magical. The Speed Force itself seems like it would be tied to red mana (which has most "speedy" mechanics); note that, as time goes on, the various Flashes have themselves been acting more red, with Bart the most so.
• This is not to be confused with Sparks from Europa, who can make fantastically-powered abilities while giving others stress.

Planeswalkers are Highlander Immortals.

They don't age (at least, they didn't used to) and are hard to kill, their abilities lay dormant for most of their mortal lives and activate only under great stress such as physical death, they are often driven at least partly mad by the transformation into an immortal, require no life support, and can sense things that mortals cannot. The Highlander immortals are trapped on a particularly sticky plane, and the only way to escape is to shed one's physical form and travel as a pure Spark, until such time as they can regain physical form. The Immortals are only subconsciously aware of this, and find excuses to "kill" each other by severing the brain from the life-supporting body. The illusion powers from the third film (assuming it ever happened) and various other supernatural feats were the latent magic of those Planeswalkers emerging, untrained and sporadically.

• This editor would like to point out that Urza survived being decapitated. He was alive long enough for the crew of the Weatherlight to activate the Legacy Weapon and shoot Phyrexia. Not sure what happened to him after that, but he was alive for at least that long after being diced up.
  • Urza wasn't a real Planeswalker though, he was just tapping into the power of Glacian, an actual Planeswalker, whose soul was trapped in Urza's eyes- he died when they were removed. The real question, then, is if Glacian would have died if his head had been chopped, an interesting prospect given that by the time his host Urza died, he didn't have an actual body.
    • Can you decapitate a gemstone?
    • Where do you get your Urza info? I was under the impression that he had his own spark.
    • The Thran, which established that Glacian's spark was in the crystal, and simple logic, given that the moment Urza's eyes were removed, he died, and the moment they were installed in Karn, Karn became a mechanical planeswalker.
    • I knew that he had the eye stuff. I just don't think that there is any reason to think that he didn't have his own spark.
    • He survived their brief removal by Radiant.
    • Urza did, indeed, have a spark of his own. However, he had Glacian's spark too, making him even more powerful than a normal planeswalker.
• Anyway, unlike a Highlander immortal, decapitating a pre-Time Spiral block planeswalker isn't necessarily fatal. As long as their brain (or equivalent) is intact, they can keep on regenerating the rest of their body until they run out of mana to do it with. (They're kind of like zombies; it takes a Boom, Headshot! to finish one off.)
  • Note that in Time Spiral, Teferi was cut apart into multiple separate pieces by Nicol Bolas and primarily took so long to regenerate because he was busy thinking. And Radha stabbed him directly in the head, but he was fine. So it's more like you have to just utterly destroy them on every level or they keep coming back. Like fighting a Q or something.

Pavi Largo is a Planeswalker siding with the Phyrexians.

Because look at him.

Kino is a Planeswalker.

It lines up with her restless nature and near pathologic wanderlust, it explains her immense combat and survival abilities, and it explains why all of the countries she visits are so eclectic (they aren't different nations but different planes). It also explains her disconnection with other people and her deep connection with Hermes, since only Planeswalkers, The Eldrazi, and constructs (like a sentient motorcycle) can cross The Blind Eternities. We also have a probable point of when her Spark ignited: her desperate flight from The Land of Adults. Possible Mana colors: Red (passion, freedom, creativity, destruction, fire), Green (life, survival, independence, tradition, nature), and/or Blue (intelligence, invention, engineering, stoicism, water).

Our universe is a plane of The Multiverse.

• After Hecatomb (set on Earth) was canceled, Wizards released the complete text of its never-produced Sangral City set. You can find it here. Now, scroll down to the very last card... We came SO CLOSE to finally seeing what he looks like (apart from the pre-cyborg grey-robed old guy with the Fu Manchu), but no...
  • there was an official picture in one of the fat packs he looked more like a proto-Eldrazi.
  • According to wizards.com, the Planeswalker Spark appears with a ratio of roughly one per one million intelligent beings. If our universe were part of The Multiverse, we should have about 6000 people with either a latent or an active Spark on Earth alone.
  • But of that one-in-a-million, only one-in-a-million ever have that spark ignite: most live their lives and never have it happen. So it's more like one in one trillion.
    • Never tell a potential Planeswalker the odds!
  • If Earth doesn't exist in the multiverse, then what the Hell was Arabian Nights?
    • Arabian Nights took place on Rabiah, not Earth. Rabian Nights.
    • That just means that someone from Rabiah went to Earth and told the stories to people in Arabia, and the rest of Earth's history just assumed that the stories originated in Arabia since they don't know about planeswalkers.

Austrian philosopher and architect Ludwig Wittgenstein was secretly Jace Beleren.

On the artwork of Jace, Architect of Thought, he looks surprisingly similar to Wittgenstein. Also, Architect of Thought.

The Eldrazi Titans are the Outer Gods.

Ulamog = Azathoth,Kozilek = Nyarlathotep,Emrakul = Yog-Sothoth or Shub-Niggurath

Marit Lage is Hastur.

Some tournament decks in the Legacy format abuse the interaction between Dark Depths and Thespian's Stage to get the One-Hit Killing Marit Lage token out without investing the huge amount of mana it normally requires. ^note Specifically, it involves getting both lands on the table, then activating Thespian's Stage's copying ability to turn it into a copy of Dark Depths. The legend rule forces you to get rid of one of them, so you get rid of the original; it has served its purpose. You now have a copy of Dark Depths, but without the "ice counters". This means that you can then sacrifice it right away for Marit Lage. So, think about it... what kind of stage play summons such a dangerous abomination?

Ravnica is Ankh-Morpork in the far future.

Magic: The Gathering takes place in the same multiverse as The Dark Tower.

A future season of Power Rangers will involve a red ranger (hotheaded leader), green ranger (weakest fighter technically, best pure athlete), a white ranger (best pure technical fighter and "moral compass"), blue ranger (intellectual and tech guy), and black ranger (dirty-fighting opportunist).

Because that would be hilariously awesome.

• And the silver ranger will be a construct.

The Slivers are Protoss-Zerg Hybrids.

Just look at the new Sliver card arts!

The Phyrexians really exist and are planning to invade this plane of existence. The sleepers are already here in our schools. This troper suspects many, even himself, of being a sleeper

The fact that they still exist means that they haven't invaded Dominaria yet. The fact that they don't read the Magic novels and prevent such disaster means that they are incredibly Genre Blind.

• Maybe they are planning to invade Earth first, get the MTG books and then invade Dominaria. In that case, see Nightmare Fuel.

The Phyrexians are real, working from behind the shadows, but have made their presence known many times before.

• Each time was when Magic has been severely broken. R&D never screws up, it's just the Phyrexians reasserting their control.
  • The first two times, NecroSummer & Combo Winter, the most dominant decks were base black & artifact. And where in the color pie did Phyrexia reside at that time? Seems pretty blatant, right?
• For the most part, each subsequent time they reared their metallorganic heads, the deck to beat seemed less like it was a tool of Phyrexian influence (up until Mirrodin's affinity deck archetype, which was about as blatant as we'd get, until NPH).
• Gleemax is the Phyrexians' agent.
• They've made their presence know outside of Magic as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUBQLnEGHNk

Hans is a planeswalker.

• Apparently, he ran into a revenant once, but that card was printed in Stronghold, and Stronghold takes place more than 2000 years after Ice Age. The only explanation for Hans to have lived so long, and gotten from Dominaria to Rath, would be that he's a planeswalker.
  • Saffi Eriksdotter sacrificed herself to save Hans from the Lhurgoyf. Seeing his friend being eaten alive must have been what caused his spark to ignite.
• Alternately, Hans just ran really, really fast. So fast that time began to move significantly slower for him than for the rest of the multiverse as per Relativity, and his great speed somehow enabled him to run between planes. That's just how scary the Lhurgoyf is.
  • Compare the WMG at top of page regarding the Speed Force.
• He's not a planeswalker. He's a planesrunner.

Grandmother Sengir is from Ravnica.

She is an ancient planeswalker, named, as far as we know, Ravi. The city at the heart of Ravnica which slowly grew across the entire world was called "Rav". Perhaps either Ulgrotha or Ravnica has the Middle Eastern practice of calling someone _____i after a place they have been or hail from (for example, "Hajji" for one who has been on the Hajj). Over the centuries, the "woman from Rav" simply became "Ravi," since nobody knew any other name for her. A Ravnican might be able to function pretty well on Ulgrotha - both have a vague Eastern Europe flavor - and she was able to avoid the various warring power blocs from trying to kill or recruit her all the time, but eventually, she underestimated Baron Sengir, and got driven mad and enslaved.

• Perhaps she went to Rabiah and got the title there. Rabiah seems to be more likely to give out -i titles, being a plane-wide Quarac.
• Jossed by "The Secrets of Magic" short story anthology. Ravi is from Ulgrotha. She and Baron Sengir were friends as children, even after - and maybe even BECAUSE - she killed his father.

Yawgmoth planned the collapse of Dominaria, and the destruction of traditional planeswalkers that was necessary to solve it

Think about it. What was Yawgmoth's desire? Power. However, he could only be a god in Phyrexia, in that small center. Meanwhile, planeswalkers were gods no matter where they went. He had his primary plan to conquer, but a secondary plan of, if he couldn't be a god, nobody else would. Note how most of the disasters that caused Rifts on Dominaria were caused attempting to combat Yawgmoth and his Phyrexians- The Plan, perhaps? Most likely, he had prepared something to eliminate the rifts, that he would only use if he won. If he lost, then he knew he would take all planeswalkers down with him- maybe not immediately, but eventually.

• That's actually not TOO far fetched, although pretty unlikely to be cannon. Yawgmoth is both increadibly powerful and somewhat insane, and so I wouldn't put it past him to plan to annihilate all the planeswalkers. Particularly, since the new breed of planeswalkers are so... inferior... to their forebears, should Yawgmoth return to power, would there be anyone left who could truely challenge him ?

The game exists in the Planescape setting

In Planar cant experienced travelers of the planes are called... "Planewalkers". Given Planescapes power setting, "experienced" would be epic level wizards with nothing better to do than to... play Magic.

Suntail Hawk is related to Aven and Griffins

The card Suntail Hawk seems to have a glaring art error that has survived several reprintings, but the original flavor text suggests an evolutionary relationship to Aven, who have six limbs(forelimbs, legs and wings). This could also tie into Griffins, who have the same body-shape.

• Well, Avens are anthropomorphic birds, and Griffins are half bird half cat, so logically a hawk, which is a type of bird, is related to them.
• He means Avens / Griffins are more closely related to Suntail Hawk than to four-limbed birds.
  • On the original Judgment printing, Eesha is making a comment about the much lesser psychological needs of the aven's forbearers, of which the suntail is presumably one. Since the aven themselves are six-limbed, it makes sense that one of their ancestors was likewise. Suntail=still-extant example of just such an ancestor.

The next set will ruin the game. FOREVAR.

No seriously, any time anyone hears anything about the next set (or the current set. Or the last set.) people scream about how it ruined the game.

• Back in my day, we said the Urza Saga ruined the game, long before these kids and their Planeswalker and Eldrazi rabble even bought their first pack!
  • To be fair, Urza's Saga actually did ruin the game for a while.
• The symbol of the next set is Bolas's head. That's it. MTG is ruined forevah. ^note And Yawgmoth isn't making me write this.

The down-powering of Planeswalkers, the Planeswalker cards, and the Cthulhu-level threats from the Eldrazi, etc., are leading up to a gigantic Planeswalker War, which will be fought by thousands of new-generation Planeswalkers

Think about it: there have been sets focusing on Enchantments (Urza Block), Artifacts (Mirrodin), Creatures (Onslaught), and now even lands (Zendikar). The only permanent type left to cover is Planeswalkers, and given the name of the game is Magic the GATHERING, it seems all but set that there will be a multiverse-wide war between the Planeswalkers (possibly involving even some old ones like Serra, though not as actual cards, given their immense power), and a Planeswalker-heavy set depicting that war. The given implications of Common and Uncommon Planeswalkers also means that they would be far more accessible to the general playerbase, as opposed to the Mythic-Only rarity they currently have.

• So... cheaper Planeswalkers, Planeswalkers with less impressive, though still useful, abilities, Protection from planeswalkers, tribal planeswalkers, tutor for planeswalkers, abilities that specifically work against planeswalkers, enchant planeswalkers... did I miss anything?
  • Artifact Planeswalkers. (Scars of Mirrodin?)
    • Maybe only colorless Planeswalkers.
    • We do have Karn now.
• Mostly confirmed with the Spring 2019 set War of the Spark. Big Bad Nicol Bolas lures an untold number of Planeswalkers to Ravnica, attempting to use their Sparks to return himself to his god-like "Old Walker" power levels. The set has 36 Planeswalkers, including Rares and Uncommons, and have static or triggered effects in addition to loyalty abilities.

The Oracle en-Vec was Urza in disguise.

Hence why "she" knew so much about Gerrard—Urza used the Rathi tribes' legend of the Korvecdal to push Gerrard in the right direction. As soon as Gerrard left Rath, oops, turns out the Oracle was wrong, the Korvecdal was Eladamri the whole time. He could have spent decades hiding in this identity among the Vec. This also explains why the Oracle just up and disappeared after Rath was fused to Dominaria—Urza no longer had any work there, so he abandoned his disguise.

Zendikar is Australia.

They're both places of magic and wonder, that are also Death Worlds and full of wildlife that will murder you if given motive and means. The Eldrazi are either bunyips that have gained sentience and magic or mutated dingoes.

• Objection! Australia would never be so wimpy.

Yawgmoth is alive.

Possibly evidenced by Karona's encounter. The possibility of alternate timelines and such coming into play may be true, and Windgrace's certainty on the matter seems to seal it, but Windgrace may not be as omniscient or knowledgeable as he would try to show himself as.

Yawgmoth is dead, Long Live Yawgmoth.

Let's face it, the old Yawgmoth is boring at this point. The story is done to death and no one really wants to see him come back. But, he's a very interesting position. It seems far more likely that we'll see a walker either ascend and become the 'new Yawmgoth' in the 'Dark Ascension' set/book/whatever, or that we'll end up seeing a planeswalker ascend and end up resurrecting the old Yawgmoth.

• The New Phyrexia trailer suggests this one is true. And it's Karn.

Yawgmoth is physically dead

But still exists, in a sense, as an idea, much like any other summoned creature. AND HOW CAN YOU KILL AN IDEA?

Karn's coming back.

Fact 1: Karn was on the crew of the Weatherlight. Fact 2: the Weatherlight opposed the Phyrexians. Fact 3:Post Weatherlight Saga, Karn got a Planeswalker spark and created an artificial plane, Mirrodin. Fact 4: the Phyrexians are attacking Mirrodin.

Therefore, a semi-reasonable resolution to the Scars of Mirrodin block may involve Karn coming back (planeswalker card included) and kicking major ass, perhaps with the aid of the Legacy Weapon.

• If he comes back to kick ass, he'll be on the Phyrexian side. He was tainted by Phyrexia - that's where Mirrodin's taint came from, remember - and his spark was holding it back. When Time Spiral messed with that, he hurled himself into the void because it was consuming him. We're not going to see "Karn, Planeswalker"... but we might see "Karn, Father of Machines" ("Father of Machines" being Yawgmoth's title...)
• As of Mirrodin Besieged, he is back. And he's pretty damn Phyrexian.
  • Karn is really more of a Zombie Infectee trying to Fight Back The Phlebotinum. How that turns out is probably going to be a major point in the war.
  • It's worth noting that the Phyrexian taint, in the form of the transfiguring oil, was there from the very beginning, simply because Urza had used Phyrexian technology to create Karn. Either Yawgmoth or Phyrexia's creator must be the master of the Gambit Roulette (probably the latter). Which leads to...
  • Jossed. Karn's back, free from the Phyrexian taint, and kicking ass.

Nicol Bolas created Phyrexia.

This one is Jossed right out of the box, in The Thran when Yawgmoth is first brought there the corpse of the planeswalker that created what would become Phyrexia is in the 9th sphere.

• Then again, was that a corpse...or a dimensional chrysalis? Not that it's necessarily, or even ought to be, Bolas.
• This one might actually make sense if you think about it. In The Thran, Yawgmoth discovers the body of the planeswalker that presumably created the plane that would become Phyrexia, and it was a dragon. We don't know much about what happened to Bolas between his exile from Dominaria at the end of the Elder Dragon Wars (which took place before the Thran even existed), and his reappearance in the Time Spiral and Alara blocks and his plan to absorb the Maelstrom created by the fusing of the shards. It's entirely possible that the "corpse" Yawgmoth discovered was actually Bolas in a state of hibernation or stasis, and that Bolas built the plane that would become Phyrexia himself, it's certainly within his power. Even now, Bolas is likely the most powerful planeswalker in the Magic multiverse, and his plan in the Alara block implied that he was once even more powerful than he already is. Not only that, he seems to have an unusual interest in the forces of New Phyrexia on Mirrodin...

The Eldrazi aren't colorless; they rapidly shift between every color.

Compare an Eldrazi Spawn token to a Shapeshifter one. The card borders are different colors, despite both being colorless creature tokens. The Eldrazi cards have bits of many colors on the border, and being any color would work the same as being no color.

• Actually, shifting from color to color would NOT work the same way as being colorless—you've forgotten to account for "protection from all colors" effects. There aren't a lot of them, but there are a few.
• Then it also is colorless sometimes as well.

The Planeswalkers are actually Paradines.

Phyrexia was originally an attempt to create an Eldrazi-proof plane.

Given that the Eldrazi feed on planes, one wonders what would give them an upset stomach, or what would warn them about possibly getting one. Given its extremely bizarre-verging-on-mocking way of performing natural and geological processes, Phyrexia could very well have been just that kind of nastiness. Yawgmoth aside, it could perhaps be argued that even things associated with black mana only had tangential analogs in Phyrexia; nothing in there could hope to nourish an Eldrazi, everything would be toxic to one. (If anyone out there's read "The Thran", I'd appreciate your input) This also explains why the Phyrexians think all their assimilation is an improvement, even if, as Venser notes on Mitotic Manipulation, they can't even understand nature enough to know how to make it better. It's not nature et al. they're improving, but the plane. Nature? Death and rebirth? Community? Passion? Independent thought? You're just making the Eldrazi salivate. All that matters is that something is neither void nor potential Eldrazi chow. Of course, depending on just how evil Phyrexia's original creator was, one wonders if the plan was just eternal safety from Eldrazi, or assimilating them.

• To follow up, there's also the possibility that the Phyrexian oil predated Yawgmoth, a prototype way of further Eldrazi-proofing The Multiverse—he just refined it. It's also possible that Yawgmoth himself was "enslaved" (if that's even the right term, depending on how resonant his and Phyrexia's ideals were at the onset), and that, rather than him ruling over Phyrexia in whole, the plane's essence ruled him. Rather than Phyrexia's archon, Phyrexia's supreme prophet.
• And an even scarier thought has come to mind about what would animate an evil planeswalker to create an Eldrazi-proof plane. Step 1: Create that plane (or commandeer it, if Bolas didn't create the first one; he may just be taking notes from the actual creator). Step 2: Unleash the Eldrazi. Step 3: Hide in Phyrexia. Step 4: Wait for the Eldrazi to eat up every other part of The Multiverse, then die of starvation. Step 5: Step outside and rebuild The Multiverse in your image.
  • There will be nothing to rebuild after that.
• Even if it weren't the original intention, it's pretty clear that Bolas' involvement with both New Phyrexia (via Tezzeret)and unleashing the Eldrazi has some sort of connection. This troper's theory is that Bolas hopes to use the Eldrazi as a weapon against Phyrexia, rather than the other way around.

Elspeth will turn evil, but NOT black.

This is more of a reply to the incessant threads on the Mt G forums about Elspeth turning evil, and thus White/Black, which I find rather unlikely, considering Elspeth's obsession with finding a community to belong to, and Blacks rampant sense of individualistic "Me first, everyone else second" mentality. Rather, she'll turn either:

• White/Blue: Becoming an Orwellian dictator enforcing conformity to the community, or
• White/Green: Creating a form of Hivemind for everyone to be subsumed into.
  • She could become White/Black by becoming Fascist, submitting herself fanatically to one group while ignoring or even subverting the needs of everyone outside this group.
    • Fascism can also work as pure White, if the elitism aspect is very well justified [to her twisted mind]
• Or just stay white White is the color of dogma and Lawful Stupid, after all.
  • Yes, but Lawful Stupid is still not evil. Stupid, yes. But that's not the same as evil.
  • White can be completly evil. Communism is identified as the most White of all philosophies, and her turning into an Orwellian Big Brother can work very well as White.
    • Mark Rosewater confirmed that Urza was White/Blue. White can be a bastard.
    • Communism can be pure White. It can also be White/Red, White/Black, or even White/Green. Maybe even Green/Red. For example, Chavez' version of Communism seems to be dominantly Red at least until now (but YMMV here). But I agree with you, Elspeth turning into an Orwellian Big Brother (or rather Big Sister) could work.
    • Even better, this suddenly looks like a viable flaw in the system should the next set be Mirrodin Pure (well, with the recent revelation of New Phyrexia, more like "should the next set have been"), rather than New Phyrexia. With her mind shattered by Phyrexia's sheer relentlessness and ability to taint just about everything (not to mention that a Phyrexian irruption was the thing that wiped out her homeland before Bant), Elspeth takes the reins of finishing the abolition of the taint...and herself ceases to relent. In this scenario, she commandeers the purified Mirrodin, turning it into an anti-Phyrexia of sorts. As in, she binds it to never concern itself with anything but finding and destroying further Phyrexian intrusions in every last reach of Dominia. You want to worry about something else? RUN, INFIDEL.
    • I like that. I like that very much.
    • Something to note, There was a Pure White bad guy in Torment during Odyssey, named Kirtar, Also there was a Church in the Ice Age storyline that was also White.
    • Radiant was also a Pure White bad guy (sort of).
    • As was daimyo Konda.
    • Come to think of it, "Evil White Elspeth" could probably turn out very similar to the Phyrexian Flesh Singularity cult.
    • Your forgot Blue/Green - like Simic, only with sociology.
• Er... What about White/Red?
  • Easy. Mark Rosewater identifies V and The Punisher as W/R; all you have to do is imagine Elspeth as similar to them in methods.

Unlike energy in our world, Mana is not subject to a law of conservation.

This is somewhat obvious. While in our world, energy can neither be created nor destroyed, in the MTG multiverse, mana is produced from lands all the time, which some time later just untap to produce Mana again. Not only that, but also Mana can be used to produce more Mana. Examples here would be Dark Ritual. Sometimes Mana is even produced seemingly out of nowhere, for example Black Lotus. Also, Mana can even vanish if it remains unused. Plus, there are even card combinations that produce infinite mana (like Tidewater Minion + Freed from the Real + Izzet Boilerworks). (Note that while Mana isn't subject to a law of conservation, this doesn't mean that it behaves completely random.)

• There are analogues to most of these in terms of energy: the ecosystem receives constant energy from the sun, we have ways to invest a small amount of energy to receive a larger amount of energy (like lighting a coal fire with a spark, or splitting atoms for nuclear energy), and if energy isn't put to use or stored, it goes to waste. This doesn't violate the law of conservation, as the energy doesn't actually get created or destroyed; however, its accessibility and usefulness change. The only missing analogy is infinite mana combos...)

Reasons for Action to be Mirrodin Pure

• Generally, Magic: The Gathering has happy endings
• Phyrexia getting such a strong foothold again has terrible implications for the whole multiverse.
• Phyrexia winning would be the third time the bad guy's have won since the reforms of the Time Spiral block.

Reasons for Action to be New Phyrexia

• To be symmetrical: Scars of Mirrodin had a 80:20 Mirrodin:Phyrexian ratio, Mirrodin Besieged was 50:50, so New Phyrexia could be 20:80, with Mirrodin Overrun.
• As such major adverasries, allowing Mirrodin to serve as their base would allow Phyrexia to be threatening again.
  • Confirmed: "Action" is New Phyrexia.

Action will be New Phyrexia and Mirrodin Pure

• In a last desperate act of survival to hold the line, the Mirrin's tear their remaining area away to form a separate plane, a 'Pure Mirrodin'. With the majority of old Mirrodin controlled by Phyrexia, it forms the New Phyrexia, where each color fights to see its own way of advancing the goal win primacy, while the unlucky left behind can not hope to survive.
• This allows Wizards to avoid picking a side, while letting both sides claim to have won. Mirrodin supporters claim the victory of survival, while Phyrexia supporters point out they overran the plane.
  • But didn't they say it will be one or the other but not both?
• Shot down. It'll be New Phyrexia.

They will be a New Kamigawa setting.

• Scars of Mirrodin is more of a Remake of Mirrodin set. So it be fiting by have New Kamigawa Setting.
  • Please, no. But I could see a New Ravnica setting... with each of the guilds getting into a third color. It would also fit my WMG above about Enemy Color Triples.
    • I like to Point that Commander Series have all the Enemy Color Triples in them.
    • You Know...
• Actually, I can see the potential plot for returning to Kamigawa. It would have to involve the return of Myojin of Night's Reach and her return to kamigawa and adapting to life there after so long.
  • Two other Ideas I just though up for bringing back Myojin of Night's Reach: 1. the have a plot for a block which includes her finding her mask and/or beating the shit out of Bolas and 2. In a future plot line, we find out she is a planeswalker.
• Newest blue Planeswalker from Avacyn Restored is a Soratami, so WotC haven't forgotten about Kamigawa, maybe after Return to Ravnica block there will be a set featuring her returning to Kamigawa after solving the mystery of Innistrad's moon. Nichol Bolas will probably be the Big Bad as he has a grudge against the place and once ruled it, Phyrexia and Eldrazi don't feel as "right" as antagonists for the set.
  • Nicol Bolas ruled Madara, an island or archipelago (don't remember which) on Dominaria, not Kamigawa. That was always its separate plane, under the purview of O-Kagachi and friends.

They will also be a New Ravnica setting.

• It would be Nice the see the Guilds again.
  • And Maybe With each of the guilds getting into a third color.
    • That would shift the number of guilds to 8, if my very poor grasp of math is right.
    • There are ten possible Three-Mana-Combinations. Five with three neighbouring colors (like the five Shards of Alara) and five with two neigbouring and one opposing color (like in the five Commander sets).
  • Oh Yes. It's called Return to Ravnica.
  • Ral Zarek from the 2012 Duels of the Planeswalkers game may get printed.
    • Confirmed, Ral Zarek will be printed in Dragon's Maze.

Otaria used to be part of Rath.

• Think about it. Despite being a continent the size of Australia, it was never even mentioned until after the Invasion, and the only major non-Barbarian Tribe human civilization is Black-aligned. It's not naturally part of Dominaria; it was a continent on Rath that became part of Dominaria after the Overlay, much like Skyshroud Forest and the Stronghold.

2016 will have another UN-Set.

You just know it well have another UN-Set.

• Nope, 2017 did.

Venser is a Timelord.

I'm Sorry, It just isn't WMG without One.

• Well, he does look like the Tenth Doctor...
  • Mark Rosewater confirms that that's a coincidence.
  • Even the fact that Venser's power involves time and space?
  • There is NO WAY the parallels between Venser and the Tenth Doctor could be mere coincidence. Just look at their respective deaths. Tenth Doctor: Sacrifices himself to save a friend, subsequently dies of radiation. Venser: Gets sick of Phtisis, which is essentially the Magic: The Gathering equivalent of radiation, then sacrifices himself to save a friend (Karn).
  • Nope, it's Jossed as Jossed can be.

Karn is a Timelord

Seeing as, you know, he's actually traveled through time and all.

Kamigawa will be invaded by the Phyrexians

You know you want it.

• So, Ninjas vs. Phyrexians?...that's AWESOME!
  • How about Samurai, Ninjas and Kami Vs. Phyrexians?
  • And then, guess who shows up? Toshiro Umezawa. No, wait, he's now going by the name Toshiro the Blind!
    • Toshiro is long dead by the current time period since the night that Konda took Kyodai(the real name of that which was taken) was the same night as Urza setting of the Sylex and becoming a planeswalker at the end of the brothers war which is 3300+ (3300 as of time spiral) years ago.
  • Either way, Kamigawa might be facing millions upon untold millions of monsters, but those monsters will be facing the gods.

Ravnica will be invaded by the Phyrexians

And you so know you want this too.

• Wouldn't be hard either. The plane is tiny and a dollop of glistening oil in the Undercity water supply will turn Golgari, Dimir, and the Gateless into oily thralls overnight.

A third option: Zenkidar will be invaded by the Phyrexians.

• That's where we get the big one: The Phyrexians vs. the Eldrazi.
  • What would be more plausible is if one of the Eldrazi Titans stumbled into New Phyrexia, being attracted to the five suns of course.

Tarkir will be invaded by the Phyrexians

• Very little on Tarkir is automated; the five dragonlords prize strength and survival, and have no idea of machines. Thus begins one of the greatest Flesh Versus Steel wars the Multiverse will see.

The Mirran resistance is going to invade other planes

Because they want to remake the mirrodin by conquering other plane, and turn it like Mirrodin was before Phyrexians.

The Mirran Resistance is going to take refuge on Alara.

Esper would welcome them with open hands. Of course, that could mean if one of them is infected, they could be sowing the seeds of Esper's downfall...

Urabrask will turn on the rest of New Phyrexia.

He resents the monolithic and repressive structure of New Phyrexia, and lets the Mirran resistance take up residence in the Furnace Layer, so long as they don't get too uppity. Eventually, one of the other Praetors (possibly Jin-Gitaxias or Sheoldred) is going to call him out on his negligence and non-cooperation, causing Urabrask to turn the wrath of the Quiet Furnace on the other four, ushering in a Phyrexian Civil War.

• I see Jin-Gitaxias and Elesh Norn turning on him, what with being enemy colours to Urabrask's red.
• This suggests that Norn took down him and Sheoldred on her own.

A Planeswalker is going to breed a specialized strain of Slivers to wrench Elesh Norn's plans of invading other planes.

Slivers are very adaptive and naturally resistant to being controlled, as was discovered by the (promptly murdered and eaten) Wizards in the Riptide Project. They are even harder to control when guided by a hive mind, as Volrath discovered. A planeswalker could essentially breed a strain of slivers that are uncontrollable, virulent, resilient, hyper-aggressive, and mana-starved. Drop them off in a region Elesh Norn has tenuous control in, and point them in the right direction. She'd have to spend a lot of resources stopping them, which would delay her obsession with spreading phyresis across the multiverse.

Urza is going to be resurrected.

By Mirrans and Karn (who can save Urza with his time-traveling) to fight Phyrexians. And it will be awesome.

• By extension, the Phyrexians will bring back Mishra who was the only person to fight Urza on even terms for a long period, giving us a brother's war on a multiversal scale.

Ravnica-related guess: Svogthir is still around.

His apparent destruction in the Dissension novel is strangely "off-screen". And he has managed to escape death before.

• As of now, Jarad is in command of the Golgari, and he doesn't seem controlled by anybody. If Svogthir is really still there, he doesn't seem to do much.

The Slivers will conquer a world.

Then, if the Phyrexians find out how to planeswalk, they'll try to conquer the Hiveworld similar to the way they did Mirrodin. And it will be a catastrophic failure.

• Maybe the slivers would like to take Sarpadia from the thrulls first...?
  • Last thing the Phyrexians need is a hivemind that brings Urabrask back into line and compels Vorinclex to think about strategy instead of frolicking in the woods.

The Slivers of Shandalar are connected to the Phyrexians in some way

The unusual change in appearance of the Skep hive slivers look frighteningly similar to many well known Phyrexians, with the Hive Lord looking very similar to the praetors. Unlike their primal ancestors, they appear to be intelligent. Considering just how bonkers Shandalar can get, it is possible that the slivers are being influenced by phyresis or completion. So far the slivers do not appear to be rearing to devastate the plane like their post-queen forefathers.

• Alternatively, they have some kind of connection with the Eldrazi. Shandalar drifts through the Blind Eternities and occasionally "bumps" into other planes, as what happened in the Time set. Some wandering Slivers of Dominaria may have slipped into Shandalar, drawn to its rich mana. Notice that there are Slivers manifested from pure Ghost Flame, rendering the swarm to colorless mana. The legendary Hive-Lord of the Skep currently has an affinity for the entire color wheel, though bears resemblance to Ulamog and grants a similar ability.

Lunarch Mikaeus knows where the Archangel Avacyn went.

He's the one who made her "disappear" to pave the way for the demon Griselbrand's return.

• Jossed, we know how she disappeared, he's a not in a state to give a damn and Avacyn is coming back with Griselbrand, hence the whole Avacyn Restored set.

Avacyn is neither an angel nor a demon.

She's actually a completely different kind of supernal being. The closest analogy for my hypothesis is a...whatever the singular for Grigori is (Grigorus?). She'll be both white AND black, and arranged for Innistrad to be a kind of factory for agonized spirits. She needs the geists and demons for the purpose of creating nephilim, like the ones that were stuck on Ravnica. On top of that, Griselbrand is just her simulacrum for the purpose of manipulating the demons and devils...And yes, the angels too are manipulated. Only the most luckless of geists and her freshly-forged nephilim know the truth of her grigorus nature...

• Jossed, in that she's actually an angel...albeit one that Sorin created with his magic!
• Grigori/Watchers are a type of angel. Specifically, they are a group of angels tasked with protecting humanity, but most of whom end up procreating with human women, siring the Nephilim... Other than Avacyn being female, it's not inconceivable that she is an unfallen Watcher, and that in future sets, she will be printed in WB. And, for good measure, she'll have a child with Sorin.
  • Except for the whole "angels are made of mana and can't reproduce" and the "Sorin created her" things. Is it that hard to research before posting'

Garruk will be cured, be killed, or permanently become a monster.

Because next time he shows up, there won't be double-faced cards to represent the dual nature.

• Or he becomes the first G/B planeswalker?
  • Confirmed, Garruk, Apex Predator was released as a G/B planeswalker in M15.

If Garruk is cured, he will make a deadly enemy of Sorin Marakov before he leaves.

If he beats Liliana and breaks her curse, Lil still has way bigger fish to fry than the big galoot with an axe, so the rivalry would seem fairly one-sided there. But it's likely not coincidence that Garruk, the hater of civilized deceit, is in the stomping grounds of vampire nobles, who'd represent everything he hates in one convenient package; if Garruk makes good on his intent to help the humans once he's cured of his own curse, he could end up SEVERELY pissing off the Vampire clans, including the planeswalker that had just returned home from a rather trying encounter with another green 'walker to find some asshole trying to burn his house down.

• For some reason, this makes me think Sorin will turn into a Captain Planet villain.
• Partly Jossed as Sorin is in bad terms with the other vampires and so if Garruk pisses them off he will probably not care much. However, the possibility of Garruk pissing Sorin off in some other way is still open.

Griselbrand is one of the demons Liliana owes her soul.

Why else would she show up in Innistrad with the veil?

• See [1].
  • I Knew It!!!!

There will be two new Phyrexian factions.

Both will seek to end the divisiveness of New Phyrexia by combining the five suns but one will want to make the new son colorless while the other will want to make it combine all the colors.

Wizards of the Coast will release a block focusing on the Mons genre.

It will include:

• A new plane (obviously).
  • Or Dominaria, we haven't been back there for a while.
    • True, But this troper doesn't think Dominaria would be suited for it, they'll probably return to that plane in another block.
• Old species/subtypes being interpreted as mons.
  • As opposed to how players currently interpret and play all creatures as if they were mons?
    • I was thinking more of a slavery angle, where one of the races have enslaved all the other races and treats them as mons.
• Each mana color acting as an elemental type.
  • Doesn't this already exist to some extent?
    • True, this point is redundant, unless they make it to a certain extreme.
• The return of some older, long forgotton creature subtypes.
  • Such as Riggers and Kobolds?
    • yes, but mostly species tyes.
• Possible references from Monster Ranchers, Pokemon and Digimon.
  • No Monster Hunter?
    • There could be a reference if they wanted it.
• You mean Onslaught?
  • He meant Monslaught.

Elesh Norn and Jin-Gitaxias are victims of UST

They probably spend a lot of time discussing about what approach is best for the realization of Yawgmoth's dream, but deep down they're actually lusting after each other. But she's too Tsundere and he's too stoic and focused on science to realize it.

• That's so cute!
• So they're Mirrodin's version of Leonard and Penny?

Liliana's demon hunting is going to backfire on her

Once the last one dies, the deal will be void and she'll lose her youth and power. They're demons, after all. They've been at this a lot longer than Liliana has. She's probably not the first person to try to get out of a deal.

• Confirmed. By killing the demons, she causes her contract to fall under the control of Nicol Bolas.

The Slivers will return in a future set centered around them

Because the Slivers are awesome.

• The Slivers are back in Magic 2014! ...and thus far the only spoiled ones are in green, red, and white...
• Oh look! Blue and black ones. Sweet. They're not the center of the set, but huzzah for returning slivers!

Nicol Bolas is planning another invasion of Dominaria.

He freed the Eldrazi, plotted Alara's shards against each other, and supported New Phyrexia in its takeover of Mirrodin. Why? Because he's gathering forces and allies. The Eldrazi are probably out of his control, so maybe he'll keep them as a last resort weapon should things go wrong. He still has his forces from Grixis, allies in at least Jund and Esper, and New Phyrexia is probably interested in Dominaria anyway. That's already a pretty impressive force. Also, remember that Dominaria is still at the planar Nexus and therefore a strategically important plane.

Ravnica is an analogy to school life.

Each of the guilds represent a facet of stereotypical school cliques:

• The Boros are the likeable sports guys standing up for what's right, with occasionally destructive results.
  • More like jerk jocks. These are the guys that, among other things, beat the crap out of bystanders on a whim and want to turn Ravnica into a police state.
    • The Boros are really a two-edged sword. On the one hand, there are the constant battles with Rakdos and Gruul where you can easily get the impression that the Boros really are not so different from their enemy (especially with battle-crazed Aurelia now being in charge). On the other hand, there are some true heroes among the Boros ranks, like Agrus Kos and Pierakor. Also, the whole police-state is more of an Azorius thing, apparently now even more so than in the original block and trilogy.
    • Actually, it seems to be the other way around now. The Azorius, aside from Vraska's backstory, seem to have mellowed out, while the Boros are in full Knight Templar mode.
    • While I agree on Boros, I fail to see how Azorius has "mellowed out". Cards like Martial Law point to the opposite, and cards like Azorius Arrester or Hussar Patrol even imply a militarization.
• The Dimir are the gossips and rumor mongers, constantly digging up their fellow students dirty secrets for gits and shiggles.
• The Golgari are the creepy bug collectors who everyone else tries to avoid being seen with.
• The Selesnya are wannabe hippies.
• The Orzhov are the snotty rich kids, possibly with mob connections.
• The Gruul are the rough kids with a grudge against society, possibly due to crappy parents.
• The Izzet are the crazy science kids, prone to causing explosions in the science lab.
• The Azorius are the student council desperately trying to maintain some semblance of order on campus.
• The Rakdos are the mean spirited, self-destructive fratboys.
  • They're less "popular" and less established though. Also, the typical Rakdos member seems to be from the lower strata of society (mine workers and so on) while the guys you're talking about mostly come from the rich families (at least in the US, it's a bit different in European schools).
  • Or, you know, they're the goths, since it's supposedly all about individual self-expression. Enoby Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way just doesn't join the Rakdos because she probably thinks they're all posers, since they don't know about Hot Topic or Shark Attack 3.
  • Or they might be the Metal guys.
• The Simic are the highly competitive students who view school as a chance to prove themselves better than everyone else. Possibly with some "Darwinistic" leanings.

Adressed now. Among other things, the Rakdos are the theater geeks.

New Phyrexians and Old Phyrexians will meet.

Although Old Phyrexia was destroyed or sealed in the last Phyrexian war, there are still those worlds that have seen invasions of old Phyrexians (e.g. Moag). There is a good chance that some of them are still around on some of these planes. If the New Phyrexians (or some of them) will become able to travel planes, maybe they'll encounter some of those remnants.

Karn and Elspeth will lead the surviving Mirrans to Ravnica.

They will appear exactly at the moment when the struggle between the guilds is about to turn into all-out war. This event is what will become known as the Gatecrash.

• And Vedalkens and Loxodons will meet their ancestors. The idea is neat, but WotC will unlikely do a major use of a plane which was central only two blocks/years ago.
  • This seems to be Jossed anyway. With the third set revealed to be Dragon's Maze, the whole story of the block seems to be about Niv-Mizzet's labyrinth below Ravnica. However, Wizards might still bring the Mirran refugees back later, on a different plane. Ravnica does not really make sense as a destination for the refugees anyway, I guess Elspeth would want to lead them to Alara and Karn might consider Dominaria.
    • Looks like that'll never happen. As of this article Mirrodin appears to be completely lost.

Chandra will appear either in Gatecrash or in Dragon's Maze.

Both Jace and Gideon are on Ravnica right now (Jace appears in Return to Ravnica and Gideon will appear in Gatecrash) and it would suit Chandra if she payed her two most beloved enemies a little visit, at least to see what they're up to. Since Gideon seems to be Boros (white-red) now and another planeswalker in Gatecrash is confirmed to be from Gruul (red-green), I guess Chandra will more likely be in Dragon's Maze than Gatecrash though.

• Gideon is with Boros, but he's still mono-white. So there's still a possibility that Chandra might be in Gatecrash.
  • Jossed. Gatecrash introduces Domri Rade, and Dragon's Maze will feature Ral Zarek.
    • While not likely, Dragon's Maze could still feature two red planeswalkers.
    • And now it's confirmed that Chandra will be the focus of the M14/Theros storyline.

Urabrask was secretly pro-Mirran.

Okay, not that much of a wild guess, but anyway.

Archons are male Angels.

Angels are explicitly always female. Archons seem to be always male. Both are embodiments of white mana. So Archons are essentially Magic's version of male Angels.

• There have been male or at least sexless angels (Gabriel Angelfire and Malach of the Dawn aren't female, sexless angels have been mentioned in the lore), and now there are female archons, so this doesn't hold up.

Revisiting an old plane and introducing a new one, in turn, is the new two-years routine.

Two years ago, Magic revisited Mirrodin. One year ago, Innistrad was introduced. September last year, we returned to Ravnica. September this year, Theros will be introduced. So in September 2014, we might see a return of another old plane.

• Even before Scars we had Time Spiral block, a return to Dominaria, then the intro to Lorwyn/Shadowmoor. And of course, every new plane gives us a new candidate for a revisit. (This might also be the perfect chance to re-do all the black sheep planes (Ulgrotha, Mercadia, Kamigawa) in a more quality fashion)
  • Jossed, in September 2014 we head to Tarkir, an entirely new plane.

Theros will contain different legends with the same name.

The M14 rules changes to legendary permanents (allowing both players to keep one legend with the same name) hints at a possibility of legendary permanents with the same name, or a mechanic that makes the game recognize that two different legendary permanents are iterations of the same thing, like the planeswalker type is for planeswalkers.

• As of Born of the Gods, Xenagos is both a Planeswalker and a creature.

Gix will return.

The last we saw of him was him vanishing into his own time rift, if that's not leaving the possibility of his return open I don't know what is. And when he returns and sees the squabbling Praetors of New Phyrexia, he might just decide to step in and become the new Father of Machines (after all, he was the Ineffable's original Praetor and powerful enough to take on Urza himself in the past).

Elspeth will become a God of Theros.

One of the white Gods (probably either Ephara or Iroas, or even Heliod) will die during Journey into Nyx, forcing Elspeth to go on said journey and take that God's place.

• Theros's pantheon is not dertemined by color. She could very well become another White aligned god without anyone needing to die.
  • Although given how Heliod's proven to think, one could anticipate Elspeth ultimately deciding that it's not Xenagos who needs to go, but Heliod. One dispatched Heliod later, Elspeth finds herself promoted to god of justice by having delivered proper justice to her less-than-worthy predecessor.
  • The preview of Deicide definitely shows Elspeth putting a stop to Xenagos, so she still thinks he needs to go. But this doesn't mean Heliod is safe...
  • Unfortunately, Heliod gets away scottfree at the end of the second part of Godsend. To add insult to injury, he kills Elspeth and mocks her.
• As of the Ajani's Vengeance story in the Uncharted Realms column, Ajani has been roaming the streets of Meletis preaching to the people to abandon their gods. And it seems to be working. He's also been telling the story of Elspeth's journey into Nyx and her betrayal by Heliod. The door is still open, if and when they make another Theros block, for Elspeth's spirit to return as an eidolon and to possibly ascend to godhood. This would be a logical progression both for Elspeth as a character and for Theros as a setting, turning its hero into a Crystal Dragon Jesus to challenge its pseudo-Greco-Roman pantheon of Jerkass Gods.

Garruk will be cleansed of the Chain Veil's taint by Avacyn and will become a G/W planeswalker.

• Jossed: The Cursemute suppressed the taint but did not remove it, and Garruk is currently descending further into predation and barbarism.

Phyrexian Metamorph is the Cryptoplasm

Both creatures are blue shapeshifters that appear to at least partially be made of quicksilver. While that doesn't mean much on it's own, The flavor text of Cryptoplasm states that "If left in the enemy's shape too long, it might be lost to them." When combined with the fact that Phyrexian Metamorph is in the set immediately after Cryptoplasm.

Times passes faster on Mirrodin/New Phyrexia

Mirrodin first shows up in Scourge (the book, not the set), about a hundred years after the invasion. The Mirrodin cycle then takes place somewhere between then and Time Spiral, which takes place about three hundred years after the invasion. So somewhere in that timeframe, Memnarch manages to completely populate Mirrodin, which then evolves its own ecosystem, and its inhbitants completely forget that they're from another world, all within a couple hundred years? No, I can't see that happening. The only possible explanation is that time passes much faster on Mirrodin than on the rest of the multiverse. This would also give the New Phyrexians ample time to prepare invasions of other worlds.

• A mana bond with Mirrodin's core gets you access to every color of mana, allowing you to set up further spells that get you lands. As for the timeframe, Memnarch appears to favor blue, (both his abilities require blue mana to cast) which just so happens to be the color of telepathy and mind magic. All he needs to do is set up a few stable-breeding populations, and then wipe their mental histories such that they forget their homelands. Also, he's the Mirari, and his delusions set up a defacto planar ban. He definitely has the power to do this. How fast may be a different story.

Elspeth will return

Not sure how, but of all the places for Elspeth to die, it's a plane where the afterlife is a tangible, visitable place.

• Pretty much outright stated here and via Word of God at the end of this video. The first link even implies that she'll Come Back Strong:

"If there are more obstacles waiting for Elspeth, she will face them unhindered by mundane cares and concerns, more powerful than ever before."

Nissa Revane helped the Thalmor at one point

Considering Nissa's general attitude about elves, she probably tripped over Mundus while hopping about the planes in her search to make friends with every damn elf in existence. Perhaps the Oblivion Crisis caused a planar blip that caught her attention. She was probably annoyed by the thought of a bunch of damn dirty Imperials and Nords lording it over Tamriel like they owned the place, and worked with the Altmer and Bosmer to take the reins since the race of man just didn't cut it to run the place as well the race of mer could. It would explain why the Aldmeri Dominion was able to quickly pound the rest of Tamriel into submission despite having a smaller force to work with. After Nissa moved on to more important things (like stopping the Eldrazi from gobbling the multiverse), the Redguards revolted and the civil war in Skyrim broke out. Without a Planeswalker the Thalmor have receded to a puppetmaster position because they don't have the power to tackle the situation head-on.

Elesh Norn is Radiant reincarnated

The archangel Radiant, Serra's lieutenant, was an immensely powerful white-aligned being (she fought Urza, and won) who fell victim to the Phyrexian corruption spread by her War Minister Gorig and launched a genocidal campaign against anyone considered impure, before being destroyed when she tried to combine the Mightstone and the Weakstone. Elesh Norn is the head of white-aligned Phyrexia, using her Religion of Evil and broken, nightmarish angels as weapons. Other curious parallels include Radiant having her eyes seared out before disintegrating completely and Elesh Norn having no visible eyes, and Radiant deciding shortly before she died that she liked having her hand transformed into a monstrous claw while Norn... well, just look at her. How did it happen, though? Possibly through Karn, who fused with the two stones as he became a planeswalker. He might have inadvertently carried Radiant's angelic spirit with him to what would become New Phyrexia, somehow. Given that the Phyrexians apparently cannot comprehend the nature of souls the Grand Cenobite probably has no idea of any of this herself. Are the other four Praetors also formed from the trapped souls of older beings? Maybe, maybe not.

Sorin will head a new trio of planeswalkers to try and re-seal the Eldrazi.

It'll include him, the only extant alumnus of the original trio, Sarkhan (who manages to divine the secret of Ugin's ghostfire), and Nissa (who's gotten over her vampire racism and has gained considerable power over shaping the land much like Nahiri).

• Or instead of Sarkhan, it could be Chandra who already knows how to use the Ghostfire. She was also one of the three who unleashed the Eldrazi in the first place, so if she learns about what she did, she might decide to help.
• As of Fate Reforged we met the Lithomancer and Ugin comes back to life, so the original trio will be back together. They might get new allies, though (Nissa is looking for Sorin to bring him back against the Eldrazi, and Gideon is looking for a way to defeat them too).

The Magic: The Gathering Movie will be a High Fantasy epic

Both the main protagonist and main antagonist will be Planeswalkers; however, The Dragon will not be, but will have made a name for themselves (and will be referred to as the Commander of the evil army). The climactic fight will involve repeatedly Walking to different planes, so that all of the most popular planes will get at least a little screentime.

The Magic movie will play out more akin to a sports movie.

As a contrast to the above. No supernatural stuff, just people playing cards. It would follow a person or a group of friends from locals to the Pro Tour, culminating with a match at Worlds.

• There's already two czech movies that depict exactly that.

Taigan will be Khan (or sort of)

The new factions in Dragons of Tarkir will be under the five two-colored dragons, every clan getting the one with their two allied colors (their center was always confirmed to be one of them, and not the enemy one). What we were told about Narset made her look very like a planeswalker who didn't ignite her spark, but in the new world under the dragons she will have become (thank to an even more dangerous life) a full-fledged planeswalker, so Taigan (who was originally a Jeskai, before leaving them for the Sultai) will replace her as Khan (or whatever will be its equivalent).

• Confirmed. In direct contrast to the other khans of the original timeline, who are now The Dragon (figuratively speaking, of course) to each brood's leader, Narset is instead branded as a heretic by her faction, and is presumed dead. In her place, it is Taigan who holds the position of second-in-command under Ojutai instead. Whether or not Narset is actually dead as he says or alive despite this remains to be seen (it should be noted that Taigam says she was persecuted, but never outright states her to be dead but only "long gone" and "no more", it has to be seen if it's because she actually planeswalked away and he doesn't want to admit his failure and/or ignorance or just an instance of Never Say "Die").
  • And now a story has confirmed that she's a planeswalker who ignited her spark.

There will be another elder dragon war on Tarkir

Eventually Nicol Bolas will return to Tarkir with a planswalker's spark up for grabs among the 5 new elder dragons and they all start a war for it. The dragons already had there own quarrels with each other anyway so they would be willing to cooperate. Ugin and Sarkan Vol (and maybe Narsit)also step in to stop it but the elders are too power hungry to negotiate.

Nicol Bolas is planning to ascend to colorless

And Eldrazi colorless.He manipulated other planeswalkers to release them, after all, and his reason to kill Ugin are not yet specified, so it might as well have been just the first part of that plan (or because Ugin refused to tell him the secret of its magic, which was based on Eldrazi's powers, or both), and it's well aware of their activity. It has been stated that, while artifacts are colorless because not aligned to any particular color, the Eldrazi where colorless because they transcended colors, and Bolas plans to add this power to its own (and since we saw they were a threat to pre-mending powerful planeswalkers, he planned it a long while ago).Also, another WMG is Bolas creating Phyrexia: he would have created it as a first attempt to create a kind of above-colors-perfection, and developing the oil as a way to enslave/replicate the Eldrazi, until Yawgmoth took control of it and almost caused it's destruction, and that's why Bolas is looking also over Phyrexian activities, now he's only waiting for the right time to claim back his creation, face the Eldrazi and reach his final goal, becaming far more powerful than he (or everyone in the multiverse) has ever been.

• Bolas did not create Phyrexia. Its creator was a (now very dead) human planeswalker that liked to assume a draconic form. See The Thran for more details.

The Phyrexians will discover a way to travel the planes without a spark.

With not much else to do besides occasionally deal with resistors like Karn and Koth, Elesh Norn has been focusing her efforts on spreading Phyresis to the Multiverse. Considering how utterly obsessed the Praetors are with brainwashing anything that moves, chances are they are willing to devote a lot of time and effort to figure out a way to spread the glory of Phyrexia to everything ever.

• Umm... They already have that technology; it was used as recently as the invasion of Dominaria. Now, the trick may since have been lost to the ages, but it's not impossible to believe that they still have it, as well.
• Mark Rosewater has stated numerous times that Phyrexians don't have the means to travel between planes. The devices they used have also been stated to be Lost Technology in the Kaladesh story.

We'll be returning to Alara in an upcoming block.

And we'll see the remains of the previous shards now years in the future.

Bant: Bant, due to the influence of Red and Black Mana, will have degenerated into a kingdom of Knight Templars, hunting the dragons of Jund out of sport and prejudice (as the shards were nearly destroyed by a dragon previously) and will issue orders banning the practice of Red and Black magics within their areas, beginning a crusade against the remnants of Grixis out of fear of another Nicol Bolas rising.

Esper: The new emotions brought on by Green and Red Mana will bring one new emotion with it: fear. In order to preserve their way of life, the Esper will begin to expose members of other shards to the etherium in order to begin controlling and brainwashing them ala Phyrexia. They will invade Jund territories in order to obtain sangrite, and begin creating ether-dragons to combat the attacks of Jund.

Grixis: Grixis will be positively influenced by the Green and White Mana, although they will be splintered, divided into factions by the attacks of Bant and the disdain from the other shards due to the chaos created by Nicol Bolas. The most powerful faction will still be the Cult of Nefarox, but splinter factions will be attempting to create their own plans and goals, attempting to bring chaos to the shards.

Jund: While more educated thanks to Blue and White Mana, Jund will become Chaotic Neutral, becoming a danger to the four other shards, but moreso to the Esper above all. Out of hatred of the dragons, the Esper and Bant will begin hunting them down. The shaman of Jund will institute churches to worship the beasts, and use fear of their power to gather people to their survival of the fittest goals.

Naya: With the intelligence of Blue comes the selfishness of Black, with Naya taking on a darker role of protectors of the wilderness, seeking to claim the wilds of Alara for themselves and driving out any of the occupying Jund. They will be opposed to all the other shards, out of fear of oppression from the Bant and Esper, and attempting to reclaim the wilds from the cults of the Jund and Grixis.

There will also be new "Shardless" creatures, formed from the remnants of all five shards trying to form new lives, who will be forced to pick sides in an upcoming conflict.

There will also be new three colored Planeswalkers like Nicol Bolas, for the four other shards (and possibly another one for Grixis)Elspeth may become the Planeswalker for Bant, having been brought back to life from the underworld, but in doing so has been revived without a soul, becoming full on Light Is Not Good territory.Tezzeret may return as Esper's Planeswalker again, although there might be a new one as well, possibly originating from Mirrodin and influenced by Phyrexia.There will be a new Planeswalker for Jund, probably originating from Jund itself.Ajani will return to Alara once again as the Naya Planeswalker, and become horrified at what his home has become. He will attempt to return Elspeth's soul back to her, probably through a "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight.

Narset took Sarkhan's place in the timeline

There were a number of events outside of Tarkir that Sarkhan was involved with in the main timeline. But since he no longer exists in the new timeline, that could conceivably mean that he could not take part in those events either. As a result, Narset could have taken Sarkhan's place in these events, for both better or for worse...

• Jossed. The time travel only affected Tarkir. However, a new theory rises:

In the new timeline, Sarkhan was born a dragon

Exactly What It Says on the Tin. In the new version of Tarkir, Sarkhan was born a dragon from the dragon tempest, and instead of learning how to turn into a dragon, he learned how to become a human. He still did everything the original timeline's did up until the time travel, which over-wrote the new version of Sarkhan with the original one. This is also why it's easier for Sarkhan to now turn into a dragon.

• Jossed. In new timeline, he wasn't born at all and became a living paradox.

If Garruk succeeds in killing all other Planeswalkers...

He'll end up committing suicide. After all, he's a Planewaslker too. If he was still alive, the job wouldn't be done.

Nahiri, the Lithomancer, is now a vampire.

In a conversation with Ugin, Sorin reveals that he knows where Nahiri is, that she's alive, and that something vague has happened to her. Ugin tells Sorin to get over whatever bad blood is between them so they can stop the Eldrazi. This tells us that Sorin caused the something vague. So, the theory is thus:

• When the Mending happened, Sorin briefly panicked about the fact that Nahiri would be mortal and therefore able to die from old age when they might need her to help keep the Eldrazi sealed (Ugin, being an ancient dragon, was less of a worry for Sorin, who didn't know that he was dead at the time). So, he sought out Nahiri and turned her into an Innistradi vampire, thereby making her as immortal as himself and, by not killing her, letting her keep her Spark. Nahiri could not forgive this moment of panic and has estranged herself from both Zendikar (where vampires are hated) and Sorin.
  • Jossed. Nahiri wasn't vampirized. However, this does create a new theory:

Nahiri was sealed in the Helvault

• Sorin and Nahiri fought at the Helvault not long after the first loosening of the Eldrazi's chains, something Nahiri was unable to manipulate with her lithomancy, and Sorin was assisted by Avacyn, whom he had just created. It's possible that Nahiri was, accidentally or purposefully, sealed in the Helvault, and was released at the same time as Avacyn. She would have felt the Eldrazi's seal was broken once freed, and so believes Zendikar is lost.
• Confirmed.

Nicol Bolas's ultimate plan is...

...to destroy Dominaria.He wants to sic the Eldrazi on Dominaria and obliterate it. This is why he orchestrated their release. Now, why would he want to obliterate Dominaria? Because he wants to undo Mending and regain his original power. Maybe he knows of a method how to do this. But if he simply undid it, the time rifts on Dominaria would return and destroy the multiverse. But if Dominaria ITSELF was gone, and the time rifts with it... then Mending could be undone without any negative effects at all!

Ob Nixilis will fuse with Ulamog.

He wants to become a planeswalker again. Eldrazi titans are not exactly planeswalkers, but they have the ability to travel between planes, and this might be good enough. They are also quite mindless. Everyone concentrates on how to destroy or seal them, but only someone like Nixilis might find a way to CONTROL them. I can see Battle for Zendikar block ending by Nixilis absorbing Ulamog. For a while, he will have Ulamog's powers, but then the Eldrazi prevails, bending Nixilis's intellect to its own purpose.

• Jossed. Ob Nixilis used the Aligned Hedron Network to reignite his Spark.

Shadows Over Innistrad's story...

...involves Emrakul attacking Innistrad.

• My logic behind this is as follows:
  • Shadows of Innistrad is named after Shadow Over Innsmouth, which was written by H. P. Lovecraft.
  • Lovecraft is well known to have written about Eldritch Abominations, which the Eldrazi are.
• AND
  • The trailer ends with a statue of Avacyn's crest being warped.
  • Of the Eldrazi, Emrakul's passive aura warps the environment.
    • As well, maybe Emrakul somehow remembers Sorin's role in sealing her away six thousand years ago, and is seeking revenge by attacking his home plane.
  • Judging from the leaks, It seems Nahiri is the one responsible.
    • But the two views aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. Nahiri wants revenge on Sorin for leaving her homeworld to be ravaged by the Eldrazi, so it would make a lot of sense for her to be trying to summon the Eldrazi to ravage Sorin's homeworld.

• As Chas Andres points out, three of the primary visual motifs in Shadows Over Innistrad art are tentacles, a sort of spongy latticework, and odd pink-and-purple colors: the same three things that the original Rise of the Eldrazi style guide confirmed were the visual hallmarks of Emrakul and its brood lineages.

• But a lot of the cards and themes have 'Marit Lage' written all over them. The ocean is acting strangely, complete with kraken-like tentacles. Marit Lage is a kraken. She's also one of the few non-Planeswalkers that can move between planes. Not to mention that Thing In The Ice/Awoken Horror is basically mini-Lage, as Marit Lage uses ice magic and also is a giant sea creature frozen in ice.

• Yes, it's Emrakul. Garfield help Innistrad.

By the end of the Shadows Over Innistrad block, Sorin will join the Gatewatch.

He sealed the Eldrazi away the first time, he wants to keep them from getting out. Plus, there is an incomplete cycle of Planeswalker oaths; Sorin could provide the black one.

• Jossed. By the end of the Shadows Over Innistrad block, Sorin is stuck in the rock.

Nissa is gay.

This theory is based primarily on her early interactions with Chandra being a bit... physical. Chandra offers a handshake, and Nissa uses both hands. Chandra takes the Oath of the Gatewatch, and Nissa gives her a hug, and only her. And when the group heads out to find Tazri, Nissa stays closest to Chandra, leaving Jace and Gideon to follow behind.

• Chandra might be too, since during her POV, she mentioned how soft Nissa's skin is.

Liliana will make a Heel–Face Turn in Eldritch Moon and join the Gatewatch

• As many people have noted, the Gatewatch is currently missing a black-aligned walker. Given that Wizards has been very careful over the years to show that black is as capable as any other color of goodness and heroism, it seems very unlikely that this will be permitted to persist. Moreover, Liliana is one of the Origins 5, and it was stated that those five were to be the primary protagonists of Magic for the time being. Since the Gatewatch was created to act as the unifying thread for Magic's storylines in the immediate future, Lili will either have to join the Gatewatch or become one of their recurring enemies if she is to be involved in the plot from here on out.
  • Confirmed◊.

The next time we return to Innistrad, there will be a mythic rare blue creature similar to Final Iteration, with the drawback that under the right/wrong conditions, an opponent can cause it to transform into a vanilla 1/1 blue Human Wizard with no way to change it back.

• Just to really complete the cycle.

At some point, Jace will hire Kaya on Teysa's behalf

• Kaya makes a living of sending ghosts to their proper rest. Teysa wants to overthrow the Obzedat, Orzhov's Ghost Council. As Kaya is a Planeswalker, it would only take her running into someone who knows of the issue (as Jace would, having been in Teysa's head during the event that made him the Guildpact) for her to be hired to take down the Obzedat.

Emrakul is playing the long game

• While trying to understand something as alien as an Eldrazi is, at best, pointless, essentially sealing oneself away is a particularly baffling move. This leads to one of two or a combination of both, as her motives.
  • She was aware of the demise of her fellow Titans, but Ugin is correct, and they aren't truly gone, just forced to regenerate. She finds sealing away preferable to having to also regenerate, knowing they will be along soon (in a timeless entity's time frame, anyways) to spring her.
  • She needs more time in Innistrad. Her comment about finding a barren field when expecting her corruption to have taken full root may be her hinting that she just needs more time to exert influence...influence she may still be able to use from within the moon.
  • Or Emrakul wants to be able to move through the planes without leaving a trail of lattices and tentacles behind her.

Pyrexians are about to make a major move.

(UNMARKED SPOILERS)]Tezzeret is now on Kaladesh. In addition to working for Nicol Bolas, he has spent time on New Phyrexia, and Word of God states that now he's a member of their hierarchy. If he brought the oil with him, then he'll infect Kaladesh, giving them another world under their control. Worse, someone there has been working on a device that lets you transport inorganic object through the Blind Eternities. They may go back to conquering other worlds before long.

Tezzeret is trying to recreate the Legacy Weapon.

Tezzeret has been on New Phyrexia for some time now, and at the end of In This Very Arena, Ajani remarks that Tezzeret is building something using the stolen inventions and his airship. It's possible he learned about Yawgmoth and how he was defeated by Urza, and thinks he can create a similar weapon. He has the skyship and a way to transport inorganic matter, just like the Weatherlight with its ability to planeshift. He might have also confiscated other inventions that can replicate parts of the Weapon. Either he plans to use this new Legacy Weapon to destroy Nicol Bolas, or he's been ordered to create the weapon for Bolas.

Blocks we may be seeing in the near future.

• Return to Theros:
  • Ajani, whom we last saw attempting to start a religious revolution against the gods of Theros, has now been sighted on Kaladesh and has bumped into the Gatewatch.
  • Moreover, just as Chandra needed to return to Kaladesh to confront her inner demons, Gideon may need to return to Theros to resolve some of his own baggage.
• Return to Kamigawa:
  • It's been noted repeatedly that though Kamigawa's mechanics were a colossal failure, its flavor was surprisingly popular. A new Kamigawa set might offer a chance to build a block worthy of the plane's flavor.
• A block set on Vryn:
  • Of the ten worlds featured in Origins, Vryn is the only one that we haven't yet had a block set on. And like Gideon and Chandra, Jace has certain issues to resolve that can best be dealt with by returning to his home plane.
    • It should probably be mentioned that Jace no longer remembers that he came from Vryn. His mental duel with Alhammarret either destroyed or buried all his memories of that time. Still, that could certainly be an interesting story.

Amonkhet is going to be the Gatewatch's first major failure.

• And on a colossal scale. Two points Ajani hammered on were that Amonkhet is Bolas' own artificial plane and that "people will die." A defeat against the Gatewatch is one thing, but with a name of a second Block like Hour of Devastation, one has to wonder...what if Bolas, either as an act of spite or in being cornered, pulls the thread on his plane, leading to it unmaking? Such an act would be more of a shake to the Gatewatch than simply being defeated.
• Considering spoilers for Hour of Devastation reveal defeats of each member of the Gatewatch and many cards showing how Bolas slowly destroys the world, we can consider this very much confirmed.

Innistrad's moon has been corrupted by Phyrexian oil, and that's why Emrakul wanted to be imprisoned in it.

• Innistrad's moon is made entirely out of silver, so if Karn got just a drop of oil on it it wouldn't take long to be compleated. When Avacyn went crazy, she heard the moon talking to her, and her eyes turned black. She was saying things like "Are you pure?" that could just as easily come from New Phyrexians, and the black eyes were reminiscent of the way an infected person looks. When the oil corrupted Mirrodin, it started with Memnarch, who was the guardian of the plane just like Avacyn was to Innistrad. The moon also, according to Tamiyo, affects the ferocity of werewolf and vampire feeding frenzies. Since the moon was just one solid block of silver it probably wasn't intelligent, even with the oil, but now that Emrakul is in it she's probably taken control of the whole thing. At some point she'll cause it to rain oil (tempered with eldrazi essence so that it looks like blood) on the plane below, turning everyone into monstrous eldrazi/phyrexian hybrids. Once Emrakul escapes from the moon, probably by controlling Tamiyo again, she could travel to multiple planes, spray them with blood, and turn the whole population into phydrazi much faster than she corrupted Innistrad, probably too quickly for the Gatewatch to save a given plane. They'd have to predict her next destination and try to stop her there.

The Weatherlight is a Spelljammer.

• Just look at it.

There will be an Amonkhet return block focused on exploring pre-Bolas ruins.

• Ma Ro keeps mentioning that they mostly avoided the "Dry Dead" side of Ancient Egypt when making Amonkhet in favor of focusing on the "Sunny Living" side, but what if they're just saving it for a future block?
  • And the storyline of Amonhkhet very conspicuously ended with Hazoret and a chunk of Nakhutam's population escaping into the deserts. Moreover, the last paragraph of the story sounded like a quote from a far-future legend, implying that these refugees will survive and rebuild their civilization. Perhaps the return block will revolve around them attempting to find a new home for themselves?

Samut will ignite her spark during the events of Hour of Devastation.

• She has received a great deal of focus in the Amonkhet storyline, more than quite makes sense for a one-off character. Moreover, she has exactly the kind of personality you'd expect from a nascent 'walker: a drive to explore and the courage to break free of the culture in which she grew up. And finally, Ma Ro has confirmed that there's an Amonkhet-native 'walker who will be showing up in Hour of Devastation.
  • Confirmed, spoilers for Hour of Devastation revealed a Planeswalker card Samut the Tested.

Unstable will have a cycle of Planeswalkers based on prominent real people associated with the game.

Like when they made Richard Garfield, PHD, but even more so. There will be a Planeswalker version of Richard Garfield that Lets you make cards, a Mark Rosewater that gives you more information about the game, and at least one Pro player that improves your board state.

Sarkhan and Koth of the Hammer will join The Gatewatch.

If Gatewatch will be able to reasemble, they will decide that more members is required. Sarkhan, as a Dragon-themed Planeswalker would fit perfectly, and perhaps Gatewatch will find a way to convince Koth hat his crusade is pointless, but there is a way to beat Phyrexians.

• Sarkhan would probably join just to get a chance at Bolas. O

Bolas will make a Planeswalker Legion of Doom.

With other Planeswalkers starting to organize, Bolas might start thinking to recruit more minions. Aside from himself and Tezzeret, who already works for him, the group could include:

• Dovin Baan: Tezzeret was able to win him over before, and now he almost certainly hates the Gatewatch after they overthrew the consulate.
• Garruk Wildspeaker: Probably the least likely to join other Planeswalkers, since he has plans to kill everyone, but he probably hates Lilliana more than most because she cursed him.
• Nahiri: Bolas can recruit her by telling her that two of the Gatewatch was two of the ones that released the Eldrazi from their prison, without letting her know that he was the one that tricked them into doing so.
• Sorin Markov: While he couldn't have both him and Nahiri, Sorin might go along with Bolas' plans to get the pre-mending power back so he can restore Avacyn, and bring some order back to Innistrad.
• Ral Zarek: Bolas has namedropped him, implying he is already being involved with Tezzeret or Bolas himself somehow.
  • Even better would be if the Gatewatch's Final Battle with Bolas has each member getting into a 1v1 duel with a member of Bolas' team.

Each of the Origins 5 will have at least one set in which they're the only member of the Gatewatch before they reunite from their defeat.

Jace will regain all his memories during his time on Ixalan.

• Jace has now barely escaped two Mind Rape attacks, each at the cost of leaving him totally amnesiac. It's all but certain that he will regain the memories he lost to Bolas's attack; WOTC has put too much effort into integrating him into the story to just throw that away now, but what if whatever restores his more recent set of memories also restores the memories he lost to Alhammaret's attack?
  • Confirmed.

The Immortal Sun is connected to planeswalking.

• Alright, Bolas told Vraska that she could only leave Ixalan once she'd retrieved the Immortal Sun, implying that it's what is powering the planar binding on Ixalan. Additionally, the aetheric compass seems to be sensitized to planeswalking, since it guided Vraska to Jace. (This also explains why it's giving such inconsistent readings: Even if Bolas set it up to ignore Vraska, there's at least three other walkers on Ixalan plus the Sun, so it's trying to track four things at once).
  • Even if Bolas plans to leave Vraska there, whoever he has pick up the sun for him has to leave the plane themself, so it's possible whichever planeswalker holds the sun is the only one able to planeswalk away.

Bolas is going to use the Immortal Sun as a power source for a gigantic, long-lasting Planar Bridge.

The creative team mentioned that Bolas wants the Sun for "a very specific purpose." Since he forces are now stuck on Amonkhet, he'll need a Planar Bridge capable of bringing the three Gods and the Eternal army elsewhere if he's going to do anything with them. Going from that, the Immortal Sun's card could produce 8 mana, enough to turn the bridge on (and, appropriately enough, act as a massive Sol Ring).

We will see multicolored Liliana

Now that she is forced to work for Bolas it would fit the theme of his corruptive influence on other Planeswalkers, dragging them towards his own color combination. While Liliana is already mono-Black, she might also pick up Red, to emphasize her hedonistic qualities escalating, or Blue, to show her becoming more cold and calculating.

• Red would be the most appropriate. Not only would it represent her yearning for freedom, but with it, Bolas would have three two-color Planeswalker servants, each with a different combination of his three colors, like with the Gods.

There will be an Evil Versus Evil fight between Bolas and Ob Nixilis

Because out of all evil Planeswalkers he is the one least likely to bow to Bolas and has his own plans for Multiversal conquest and is arrogant enough to challenge the dragon.

Chandra will make a cameo in Unstable

• Going off the above WMG that we will be seeing each member of the Gatewatch separately before they reunite, a steampunk world is a logical place to encounter Chandra.
• Mark is on record as trying to integrate some of Magic's newer developments into Unstable, possibly including Planeswalkers.
• Given that Unstable seems to have a coherent (if silly) world, having a coherent story connected to the main storyline would not be that big a stretch.
• The Un-sets are all about breaking rules. What about breaking the rule that black and silver borders aren't supposed to mix?
  • If each of the Gatewatch is getting the spotlight for a couple of sets following the Hour of Devestation, we could caannonically pass over Chandra, since she had the Kaladesh block. But maybe some time in a unofficial set could happen. But I was hoping for Tezzeret to show up as the Comically Serious on a world too crazy to control and too powerful to destroy.

Nissa will encounter Nahiri on Zendikar

So we know that Nissa opted to quit the Gatewatch and return to Zendikar after the disaster on Amonkhet, but it seems very likely this will be a case of Achilles in His Tent. So what would drive her to go back after such a crushing moral blow? Seeing what she might become like.

In a lot of ways, Nahiri is a Shadow Archetype for Nissa, even if neither of them have met yet. Both are Zendikar natives who fought against the Eldrazi. Both care about Zendikar more than anything. Both wield magic that directly interacts with the land and its influence on mana. Both made an alliance with, and were abandoned by Sorin Markov. Both went Knight Templar for a while. Both had very lonely pasts.

The only difference is that Nissa found friends like the Gatewatch and Yahenni, whereas Nahiri remained alone. Nahiri is a very dark example of what Nissa could've been like under other circumstances, and encountering her, seeing how deranged she's become and learning about her part on Innistrad? That would be the perfect catalyst to make Nissa rethink her decision to leave the Gatewatch.

And if we get some new Duel Decks out of the deal, well that's just icing on the cake, isn't it?

• Confirmed! In fact, their differing ideologies in what Zendikar should be is the driving conflict of the story of Zendikar Resurgent.

Teferi, Jhoira, and the Gatewatch will repair the Weatherlight so it can Planeshift again and help battle Bolas

We know that Ajani went to Dominaria to get help for the battle against Nicol Bolas, and after the Gatewatch got its collective butt kicked it's unlikely that he only came to Dominaria just for Teferi and Karn. Jhoira isn't a Planeswalker so she couldn't follow to help without bringing the Weatherlight and its crew, and there is also Tetsuko Umezawa, descendant of the only being to successfully "kill" Bolas.

'The Gathering' refers to the process of collecting cards.

Post Dominaria Story

So we know the next set, coming out in Fall, is yet another Ravnica set, and that that's where the next (and possibly final) step in Bolas' Evil Plan will happen. My guess is, it'll succeed. After that, we'll get one more set where the Gatewatch have their Final Battle with Bolas in the aftermath of whatever that plan is. Then, there'll be a Time Skip for them to recover, before we kick off the next major arc in MTG: The New Phyrexians.

Because let's face it, as great a villain as Bolas is, he's been Big Bad for a while now, and Arc Fatigue is gonna set in pretty soon. The New Phyexians have been playing Orcus on His Throne for years.

Bolas will end up fighting the Eldrazi at some point.

Emrakul told Tamiyo that she "didn't want to play anymore," before trapping herself in the moon, so it's possible that she has the power to break herself out and will will do so in order to "play" against a more powerful opponent. Also, it would be flat-out awesome to see a showdown between the Eldrazi and Bolas's forces.

Lilliana will make a Heroic Sacrifice and strike a major blow against Bolas.

• If Lilliana acts against Bolas's interests, it will break the contract that keeps her young and she will age to dust. But that might still let her get in one blow before the contract takes effect, and one blow in the right place and time could be enough to tip the scales of a great war. It would fit nicely in both as the culmination of Lilli's Character Development for her to reach the point where she is willing to die to save her friends. Furthermore, Bolas's Fatal Flaw is supposed to be his fear of death and powerlessness, and it would fit that flaw for him to not see a Heroic Sacrifice coming from Lilli.
  • Seems to be confirmed by the War of the Spark trailer, though the outcome is anyone's guess.

A Planeswalker will be head of each Guild by the end of War of the Spark

• There are enough Planeswalkers in enough color combinations Planeswalking to Ravnica that, should the Gatewatch prevail, they'll each find themselves at the head of a Guild. Contenders?
  • Teferi = Azorius
  • Dack Fayden = Dimir
  • Saheeli Rai = Izzet
  • Nissa = Simic
  • Huatli = Boros
  • Kaya = Orzhov
  • Ajani = Selesnya
  • Vivien Reed = Gruul
  • Vraska = Golgari
  • And of course, Tibalt = Rakdos

• Two of those are on the mark.

There are 36 confirmed Planeswalkers in War of the Spark. Who lives? Who dies? Who tells their story?

• Samut: Dies/Tied to Bolas' fate. Samut's story is tied directly to that of Bolas. Once Bolas is dealt with, there's nowhere for her to go but back to Amonkhet.
• Nicol Bolas: Dies/Imprisoned. Nicol has been the big bad or The Man Behind the Man for the past 10 years in Magic's history. His arc is finished. All that's left to decide is who get's the final blow.
• Ashiok: Lives or Dies, it doesn't change much about them...
• Kasmina: Lives. Kasmina is a new Planeswalker, probably just beginning her narrative arc.
• Domri: Dies. His narrative is tied to Bolas' as one of his willing minions, and Ruric Thaur does want vengeance for losing the duel they fought.
• Teyo the Shield Mage: Lives. Teyo is a new Planeswalker, probably just beginning his narrative arc.
• Ral Zarek: Dies. Even if he turns on Bolas, Niv-Mizzet isn't likely to forgive Ral for supplanting the Dracogenius...
• Tamiyo the Moon Sage: Tells the story.
• Karn: Toss up. If Karn dies, it will likely be part of Narratively Passing the Torch to the new 'walkers, and they'll carry on his mission to destroy New Phyrexia. If he lives, he'll still go to New Phyrexia and blow it up with a magical bowl.
• Jaya: Dies. She's an old and beloved 'walker, but in the narrative there's not much left for her to do except go and be worshiped at her monastary, but that's not really her cup of tea. Plus she's the Luke Skywalker to Chandra's Rey.
• Tibalt: Lives. Unfortunately. He's been seen in Chandra's comic book series which canonically takes place after the War.
• Mystery Woman/The Wanderer(?): Lives. Whether this is an entirely new 'walker or someone in disguise, they'd both be at the beginning of their narrative arc.
• Kiora: Lives. If the game is returning to Theros, then Kiora will likely be in that story, as she was a major player last time.
• Sorin: Dies. Likely at the hands of Nahiri.
• Teferi: Lives/Tied to Bolas' fate. Whatever happens to the Old Walkers (Karn, Jaya, Bolas, etc.) Teferi will likely be caught up in it, but his story is still tied to Jamuraa and he still plans to undo what he did.
• Angrath: Dies. We just met him and he was reunited with his family, seemingly bringing his character arc to a close. It'd be cruel for Wizards to kill him after his happy ending, but the playerbase also said Mirrodin wouldn't lose to the Phyrexians, look how that turned out...
• Dovin Baan: Dies. Kaladesh is free and not going back to the rule of the Consulate anytime soon. Ravnica is likely the last safe place for Dovin in the multiverse with this many Planeswalkers showing up to fight Bolas.
• Ajani Goldmane: Toss Up. The defeat of Bolas is the end of his character arc, started so long ago in Shards of Alara. But then again, Heliod is still on his Shit List...
• Arlinn Kord: Lives. Innistrad is too popular a plane in the Magic Community, and Sorin has become something of joke for being an all-powerful ancient vampire that's been stuck in a rock. Arlinn was barely introduced in the metaplot, and may be a key element in a post-Eldrazi Innistrad visit.
• Demonic Walker/Ob Nixilis(?): Lives. Ob was barely introduced into the setting and has evil plans of his own. And if this is a new 'walker, that would mean their story is just beginning.
• Jiang Yanggu: Lives/Tied to Mu Yanling. Jiang is a pretty new 'walker created to appeal to the Chinese player base. Whether for narrative or business reasons, Wizards isn't likely to let either of these characters die. Plus he brought his dog!
• Huatli: Lives. If we go back to Ixalan, Huatli is our ticket there. Plus she'll likely have a mecha-dinosaur watching her back, courtesy of her new best friend Saheeli.
• Sarkhan: Dies/Tied to Ugin's fate. Sarkhan's story is wrapped up in that of Bolas and Ugin. Used by Bolas, redeemed by Ugin, all that's left for Sarkhan is to join in the battle royale to bring down Bolas.
• Saheeli Rai: Lives/Tied to Huatli's Fate. Saheeli is an optimistic, hopeful force in the Mt G narrative. If we ever go back to Kaladesh, she'd be the one to take us there. Plus she's got Huatli watching her back...
• Narset: Lives. Narset is much beloved by the Mt G community for being someone many can relate to on the Autism Spectrum. Plus, if we were to ever return to Tarkir, she'd likely be the narrative tour guide.
• Nahiri: Dies. Likely at the hands of Sorin for corrupting Avacyn, unleashing the Emrakul on Innistrad, and trapping him in a rock.
• Ugin: Fate Tied to Bolas. The two elder dragons came into this world together, they'll likely die/be sealed away together.
• Shadowy Masked Planeswalker: Lives. Whoever this is, they'll likely survive if only to be a storyteller in Magic's next grand arc.
• Vraska: Opposite fate of Liliana. If Vraska betrays Bolas and lives, she'll likely take Liliana's place as Jace's significant other and the two will live happily ever after on Ravnica, with Jace taking his Guildpact duties seriously. If she betrays Bolas and dies, it'll be to give Jace the extra emotional push to take his Guildpact duties seriously and finish off Bolas.
• Kaya: Dies. Whether she'll be betrayed by Teysa for releasing the Orzhov Syndicate's indebted ghosts, by Bolas because he's a Bad Boss, or by the Gatewatch because she's working for Bolas, Kaya isn't likely to survive this one.
• Jace: Lives. Jace is likely to survive, look at what has happened to Ravnica because he couldn't take his duties as Guildpact seriously, and finally put down roots. Also would allow Wizards to pass the narrative torch to a new Gatewatch after 10 years with the current characters.
• Gideon: Lives. Gideon has unfinished narrative business on Theros. Plus he has the Blackblade on Dominaria, a weapon capable of killing an Elder Dragon- like, say, one Nicol Bolas.
• Liliana: Opposite fate of Vraska. Either Liliana betrays Bolas and dies, giving the Gatewatch an opening to destroy Bolas, or she betrays Bolas and lives, and learns the value of friendship when the Gatewatch saves her from Bolas.
• Nissa: Lives. There's a bit of Ho Yay brewing between Chandra and Nissa ever since Kaladesh, and Chandra doesn't seem too upset in her post-War comic series.
• Chandra: Lives. She's in a comic that takes place post-War so... duh.
• Vivien Reid: Dies/Fate Tied to Bolas'. Vivien's home plane is a desolate wasteland thanks to Bolas, and her entire personal mission is tied to his destruction. If she doesn't land the killing blow on Bolas, she'll be instrumental in creating that opening. But after that... maybe she can take up gardening to pass her time?

The Unknown Staff Wielder is...

• Elspeth, resurrected as per Mythic Edition suggestion? Has a similar costume to what Elspeth used to wear but has the wrong hair colour.
• A resurrected Serra? OK, so we're seeing Serra in Modern Horizons, so it's not necessarily likely they'll bring her back but hasn't stopped some people from suggesting it.
• Someone totally new? Perhaps most likely, but...
  • This last one appears to be confirmed: her name is Kasmina.

Liliana won't die after the attempted Face–Heel Turn and Heroic Sacrifice attempted by the War of the Spark trailer.

It's far too obvious to put that in, plus we can see time running backwards which may suggest someone like Teferi is altering the course of events. Not sure how powerful that could be but what if it ends up they do the time warp again and she ends up hever having made her contract in the first place, letting her live but ageing and dying like everybody else? Either that, or she ends up a lich.

• Confirmed. Gideon sacrifices himself to save her life.

The uncommon 'walkers with only down abilities are the ones that will die in the lore.

Which may not guarantee the others won't. But may give credence to the above Liliana theory...

• Jossed by the Chandra comic though, in which Tibalt appears and yet his card only has down abilities.
• Plus of course the fact that what you have on a planeswalker card is called 'loyalty counters' not 'life'- when they reach zero it's probably less "dead" as much as Screw This, I'm Outta Here

Mowu and Huatli's raptor are planeswalkers.

We know that planeswalkers can't bring any organic matter with them when they planeswalk, and yet here Mowu and the dinosaurs are.

• Jossed by Mark Rosewater here.

Planeswalkers who will appear in the Netflix show

• Jace Belern. Very popular and powerful.
• Nicol Bolas. An excellent villain.
• Liliana Vess, as a mildly sympathetic villain.
• Sorin Markov. A very complex character tragic story.
• Elspeth Tirel. Another tragic story.
• Tezzeret, bringing in a Phyrexian storyline.
• Tibalt, our faithful Chew Toy.

Jace is a wanted fugitive on his home-plane

Only we know what actually happened between Alhammarret and Jace after Jace ignited. All any investigators would find is dead sphinx, and a missing apprentice. Further investigation would find the exact same thing Jace himself found: soldier's on both sides of a war who will testify to meeting him and trading information on the other side. Add in the fact that Jace did not come from a good neighbourhood, and that he was accused of cheating with his powers, they'd come to the most logical conclusion: a highly-respected mind mage discovered his apprentice, who already had a reputation as a delinquent, was using his magic to sell secrets, and said apprentice murdered him via Mind Rape and fled. Jace will not be in for a good time when he returns to Vryn.

What Emrakul is doing inside the moon

Emrakul is The Assimilator of the Elrazi. However, like the other Titans, Emrakul was severly weaked by her imprisonment on Zendikar, and when she started assimilating Innistrad, something unexpected happened: the things she started assimilating, in particular the angels, started to change her. Emrakul became curious, and decided that going into the moon, which is connected to holy magic on Innistrad, would speed the process along. She'll eventually emerge as Emeria, a white-alighned Eldrazi Angel who has no understanding of what would be truly beneficial for people. In the worst way possible.

The Upcoming Innistrad sets will focus on a conflict between Sorin and Arlin

We know that the upcoming Innistrad releases in 2021 will feature not one, but two sets, currently named "Innistrad: Vampires" and "Innistrad: Werewolves." Factor in that two of the three living Innistrad-born Planeswalkers are a vampire and a werewolf respectively, and the rather tattered state of affairs Innistrad was in after Emrakul, and you could have a story about them both wanting to begin rebuilding the Plane, but coming into conflict over how best to do it. Meanwhile, Davriel and Tibalt coudl come into play as the Wild Card.

Innistrad is a Domain of Dread

Innistrad is a gothic horror plane where everything sucks, demons and vampires abound, and no one ever seems to speak of the world beyond the small provinces we've seen. Mist is also a central motif, so I propose that Innistrad is actually a small domain encircled by the mystical mists of Ravenloft. As for who's the darklord? Well, a couple candidates fit, but the one I think is the best candidate; Edgar Markov committed vile atrocities for the sake of himself and his grandson. His grandson later betrayed him and fathered the only being that prevents Edgar from conquering the world. That seems like the kind of ironic hell that the Dark Powers appreciate.

Emrakul foresaw Tamiyo's compleation

It seems a little suspicious that Tamiyo has now been mind-controlled by two of the biggest villains in the multiverse. Many people have been speculating about the relationship between the Eldrazi and the Phyrexians, so maybe Emrakul wanted to make sure they got Tamiyo rather than kill her now. This could be the start of an alliance, or it could be a Batman Gambit to take down the Phyrexians.

Ashnod will spark and be accidentally pulled to the present by Teferi before the Sylex Explosion

It's rather unlikely that a completely new character who happens to be a planeswalker will be vectored into The Brothers' War set, but there's also no clear candidates for non-blue known planeswalkers. Urza is confirmed as WU, and Teferi and Bo Levar (the latter sparked during the Sylex Explosion) are themselves definitely blue. Having only Ux planeswalkers in a set would be an odd move. However, Ashnod is a candidate on account of how we never saw the end of her duel with Gix to protect Tawnos, and not her remains, either. She's also easily black and at least one of red and green, so she'd fill the non-blue "requisite".

What's more, Teferi has very good reason to seek her out during his recon operation, as she and Loran are the two resident experts on the Sylex, with Ashnod having had even more time to analyze it after dispensing her decoys. While there's a question of how he would know Ashnod had it for so long (chancing to hear Urza grumbling about the decoy he received while at the Tolarian Academy?), it's not out of the realm of possibility that he'd be looking for her one last time for a few details, only to not only walk in on her fight with Gix, but be targeted by Gix himself as a threat. However Ashnod sparks during the two-on-one fight, she doesn't get the chance for an initial walk before Teferi returns to the present and inadvertantly drags her with him, potentially from Saheeli's system unable to tell that two sparks so close together aren't actually one, or him returning right as Ashnod sparks and she's basically caught in the temporal flow.

• Jossed: Canonically, Ashnod survives and founds the Conclave of Mages with Tawnos after the war's end.

Urabrask will work to expand Phyrexian influence peacefully

Assuming that his faction of red Phyrexians survive March of the Machines, Urabrask and the red Phyrexians will be free to hunt for creative ways to expand the Phyrexian influence that drives them. Even something as simple as a prosthetic limb that responds like a biological limb would be seen as attractive to many, and that's to say nothing of how the ingenuity of Phyrexian devices—if turned to a non-conquest related end—could fascinate the people of Kaladesh.

Those, plus plenty of other possible directions, will keep Phyrexia alive as a faction. It will remain alien to many, but will offer at least the potential for peaceful coexistence for some, but still leave the potential for the villianous nature we all know and love.

• Related: Karn will eventually claim the title of Father of Machines in order to keep the other Phyrexian factions in line.

Compleated planeswalkers can be saved by the Elderspell

It is established that the Elderspell can be used to rip a planeswalker's spark out of their body en masse. If there are any Eternals left, a sufficiently powerful necromancer could use an adapted version of the Elderspell to extract the spark from the control device used to keep a planeswalker's spark intact and destroy the body without snuffing the spark.

Phyrexia will lose its Hive Mind, but the survivors will stay Compleated

It would be rather underwhelming if there was a massive Reset Button at the end of the Phyrexian Invasion storyline. However, considering how many major and beloved characters have already been confirmed Compleated, it would make sense if there was some way to free them from their corruption. The solution will be finding a way to stop Phyrexia's hold on everyone they've converted - while it would be horrific to be trapped in a body of their making, at the very least it would give many more people the chance to surive and heal (and coordinating such healing efforts would occupy the next several years of the Gatewatch's time).

There will be a major Time Skip between March of the Machine and Wilds of Eldraine

However Phyrexia is defeated, the cleanup effort afterwards will be massive — to the point that, should upcoming sets be set immediately after it, many would get repetitive while they all go through similar storylines of healing the plane and its inhabitants. As such, Aftermath will take viewers through however many years (or even decades) are being passed by while the multiverse pulls itself back together, and the standard sets will resume after many things have changed.

Amonkhet will return as an Afrofuturism plane

When last we saw them, the plane was pretty wasted but there was a glimmer of hope thanks to Hazoret and the survivors escaping into the desert. March of the Machine shows it's one of the targets of the Phyrexian invasion; specifically, Blossoming Sands. While obviously that card is representative of a negative impact, the fact is that such an invasion might supply the plane with much needed mana resources that Bolas destroyed over its history, and a sudden influx of raw technology and fresh mana could help them rebuild (assuming all risks of corruption are negated by the end of March). By the time we return they could demonstrate their ability to use everything the trials once called for and the powers of their would-be destroyers to create something incredibly advanced, and represent a synthesis of tradition and innovation as opposed to Kamigawa's struggle between the two.

Any return to Amonkhet will bring new gods

If the plane is to be revisited, it will need to be after it's healed enough - specifically, its leylines put back in order. We know the gods were essentially personifications of those leylines, and we know that once there were more than just the main five. There's a possibility that there were more gods that Bolas outright killed instead of just twisting into his minions (representing the seven color pairs outside his purview), and a rejuvenation of the plane could see them return.

Jin-Gitaxias isn't dead

While the story last speaks of him being eaten by his creations, it's in the present tense; there's no actual declaration in there afterwards of his being dead. Whether just in a badly mauled state akin to when he would have first appeared on Kamigawa or using what he learned about minds there to shuttle his mind into one of the creatures devouring him without damage, there's a chance that he's in the drastically slowed New Phyrexia in an at-least-somewhat-live state. Even with the Domini to contend with, he could potentially start work on making a New New Phyrexia, such as with regrowing the other three praetors from their heads (not Elesh Norn on account of her now being nothing more than a red paste, not that Gitaxias would want to regrow her) and getting New Phyrexia's timeflow to speed up relative to the rest of the Multiverse.

Permanently denaturing the Phyrexian oil will require desparking all Planeswalkers.

It's already been leaked that many known planeswalkers will have lost their sparks in March of the Machine: the Aftermath. It's also confirmed that the sacrifice of a Planeswalker spark—along with other factors—can purge the effects of the oil from a compleated individual. Even though the Phyrexian forces are defunct, there's still a great deal of oil left in the invaded planes, which could eventually grow a new-new Phyrexia. Therefore, Karn and company will enact a massed ritual (possibly involving a retooled Elderspell) that will strip the sparks out of all planeswalkers and use the power granted to erase or denature the oil across all the invaded planes.

Possible future planes:

• A prehistoric plane — Muraganda, most likely — of cavemen, dinosaurs, and untamted primordial nature.
• An oceanic plane.
• A plane in the sky, with floating landforms and massive weather phenomena serving as lands.
• A space fantasy plane similar to Spelljammer or Treasure Planet, with Space Sailing, star dragons, robot monsters, Wizards from Outer Space, and of course lots of prairie, ocean, swamp, volcanic and forest planets.
• A plane based on Slavic/Russian myth and folklore.
• A plane set inside a larger organism. While it will still feature fantasy staple races like humans, elves, etc, there will also be non-token Germ creatures, new Cell types, and mites representing parasites.

—15/Dec/2023

A return to Theros will have a more Roman-inspired feel

With at least their five most notable gods having been corrupted and summarily destroyed, as well as much of their civilization needing to be rebuilt, one could say this era of Theros has ended and a new one is beginning. Said new beginning could resemble the founding of Rome - a reinvention of culture that still takes mass inspiration from the culture that came before. It could also be a combination of early Roman polytheism and the later mass-Christianization of the empire, especially since Magic's resident Joan of Arc expy seems to be getting quite popular over there. Finally, since Rome was an expansionist empire, and the new omenpaths offer travel to various other planes, Theros could become a new threat as they send forces to other worlds in order to increase their resources and spread their influence.

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