Narratives and the People behind Decks

“You are a Planeswalker”

The core principle of Magic’s lore is that you, the player, are a Planeswalker. A powerful being wielding magic in its purest forms, casting spells from your own personal archive. Your deck represents your magical knowledge, your abilities and all the tricks you may have up your sleeve. You can travel between worlds, seeking allies, gather even more knowledge and craft your very toolbox of spells. All of this to battle against other, similarly powerful beings.

While this is a quite successful marketing gimmick, I have always been puzzled by the repercussions of this very idea. The concept feels extremely solid for new players, who enthusiastically assemble their very first deck with the best cards they can find, the most awesome spells they have access to and the Lands of their choice.

But what happens when that player, eventually, decides to build a new deck? Hopefully for Wizards, this is an event that is going to occur quite often as part of every player’s life. The adrenaline rush of building and tuning a new deck is something that many players still feel, despite the countless hours of games under their belt.

Who are these people, at this point?

Are they still the same Planeswalkers they were when they started? Have they now become more knowledgeable and powerful, wielding more and more spells with ease? And if so, have they chosen to segregate their vast knowledge into clusters, each disconnected from the others? Do they store their books in different libraries, each separated from the other? How can the lore explain the fact that these players own multiple decks in real life, but are unable to switch between them during a fight?

My very first serious Magic deck, back in 2003, was an Affinity deck. I was fourteen. So, back then, I would have been a fourteen-year-old Planeswalker, a prodigy in the creation of life from sheer metal.

Over the course of the following years, I explored so many other aspects of the game, building a Modern Mill deck between 2007 and 2009, followed by a Legacy Burn deck in 2010. In other words, my own journey was leading me to become a mind mage when I was almost twenty, only to then morph into a fiery Red mage a couple of month after my twenty-first birthday.

In the years that followed I discovered Commander, which is now my primary way of playing Magic. And even though, at first, I had forced myself to only build a single deck, the creative spark ignited again and again, pushing me to build more decks, to explore more playstyles, to indulge in new strategies. The very concept of Commander as a format was a continuous source of inspiration, leading me to build something new over and over again.

I just loved the very idea of a Legendary Creature at the helm of an entire deck, whether it was a general leading an army, a tyrant ruling countless minions, a mage and their followers. A part of me, however, kept asking itself who, if any, was behind those decks, from a lore standpoint.

If Grimgrin, Corpse-Born was leading my very first Commander deck, who was his master? Who had collected the Mirrodin swords for Grimgrin to wield in battle? Who had made a deal with Sheoldred, so that she would fight alongside a Glen Elendra Archmage from Lorwyn? Was it supposed to still be me, a powerful Planeswalker, scouring the Multiverse in search for loyal allies, ancient relics and powerful spells?

Search for Tomorrow, art by Randy Gallegos

Who was I, back then? And who am I now?

Am I still that young Planeswalker who loved shaping metal into Frogmites? I still own that deck, so I guess I could still be that person. But I have also expanded my horizons, I have discovered new spells and I have crafted new strategies, much like thousands of other players. I have built other decks and learned other tricks.

Have we, the players, become more powerful? Or do different versions of each of us exist, each with knowledge and skills uniquely tied to the decks we play?

You are you

If I haven’t lost you already, I want to thank you. If you are not a fan of Magic’s lore and you “only play the game”, you probably never asked yourself the same questions I am asking right now. And this is fine. I believe Magic is the best game in the world because everyone can enjoy different aspects of it.

The hardcore Spikes probably never read a single piece of Magic’s story in their life. And this has had absolutely no impact on their appreciation for the game. The casual folks may have read something here and there, but they have never questioned their own identity within the game’s lore. Again, this is absolutely great.

But I’d like to believe there is a small niche of players who love to ask themselves these questions. At least for the fun of it. Maybe, not unlike myself, they come from years of RPGs and they are used to playing a character. Maybe there is a fraction of their brains urging them to also play Magic in character, to live their decks as they play them. Beyond the physical act of shuffling, beyond the strategy and beyond the metagame around their card choices.

Beyond all of this, there are Planeswalkers and the spells they wield. There is each of us, asking ourselves who is behind each of our decks, imagining personalities, characters and stories.

We are us

The way I managed to answer these questions is not far from what happens with most roleplaying games. Like every other Dungeons & Dragons player, I have created and impersonated many different characters. And like many other players, I have one or two characters that truly defined my entire experience with RPGs.

There’s the brave Paladin from the North, secretive and inquisitive. There’s the wandering Bard, self-serving and sometimes a bit mischievous. But there is also a plethora of other characters I have impersonated and thoroughly enjoyed. And I think I have brought with me something from those characters, whenever I approached Magic.

The result is that I often find myself thinking about characters behind decks. Different individuals existing within and around the decks I have built, each of them possessing different skills, a different knowledge of magic and different capabilities, as part of the vast lore of Magic’s Multiverse.

Much like my most beloved Dungeons & Dragons characters, some of these are not far from hypothetical versions of myself within Magic’s lore. Having more or less subconsciously built some of my decks to represent my own approach to the game, the result is that I project a lot of my own identify within my deck choices.

This Johnny part of me uses deckbuilding as a form of self-expression. After all, decks are the primary ways many Magic players first meet and introduce each other, so I have always felt the need to feel adequately presented by my decks of choice.

Circular Logic, art by Anthony S. Waters

The result, in the end, is a self-fulfilling cycle: I put more and more of myself in my favourite decks, which progressively transform more and more into forms of self-expression and lead me to ask myself how they exist inside Magic’s lore.

This circular logic is likely fuelled by the fact that I primarily identify as a Johnny and a Vorthos. On one side, I seek self-expression within my decks. On the other, I care a lot about the lore and the aesthetics of the decks I build. So, while I end up pouring myself into my favourite decks, I also end wandering who, in the end, is really doing so.

He is him

Liam Veyrin was born on Ravnica in 4532 AR. The Guild system swallowed him whole and before his twentieth birthday he found himself in the clutches of House Dimir. A lowlife nobody like him was perfect cannon fodder for the House: he was enlisted as a Dimir Informant and trained in the basic arts of secrecy and deception. Much like the other pawns of the House, he was largely expendable: a Steal of Secrets to dispose of, were he ever to come across information too dangerous to be known by a commoner.

Risultati immagini per disinformation campaign mtg — Disinformation Campaign, art by Anthony Palumbo

Unfortunately for him, Liam was a very ambitious young man, often sticking his nose where he shouldn’t be. His hope was to one day come across something big, something that could prove him worthy of a higher rank within the House. He started spying on other Guilds, growing a peculiar interest in talents within opposing factions.

In his investigations, he found himself involved in a scuffle with a young and fierce shaman from the Gruul Clan, one of the protégés of Borborygmos himself. His audacious attempt at infiltrating the Clan did not go unnoticed to the defiant girl, who, at the time, was surveilling the territories controlled by her master, aided by her unnaturally keen sense.

Caught red handed, Liam retreated and turned his attentions elsewhere. He would have loved to keep investigating on the unnatural sixth sense of the Gruul shaman, but chose the safe rout and moved on with his search. He soon came across another interesting target: a talented diviner from the Izzet League, which displayed the gift of precognition, but was unable to control his visions.

Erratic Visionary (WAR) — Erratic Visionary, art by Randy Vargas

Liam befriended the man and employed his deceitful techniques to gather as much information as possible about the inner workings of the League. He spent months growing familiar with the man, exploiting his erratic mind and learning the most interesting techniques the Izzet mages prided themselves with.

When he reported his findings to his superiors, he was met with an alarmed and overwhelmingly negative response: he had breached the House’s protocols, exposed himself to two other Guilds with no prior authorization and potentially compromised his position as a Dimir Informant.

The punishment was beyond severe: a team of Dimir Guildmages apprehended him and began a deadly procedure that would culminate in Liam’s complete undoing. Moments before his consciousness was shattered, the sheer fear caused him to black out. His Spark ignited in that very moment. It was 4559 AR.

Liam’s first, unwilling journey across the Multiverse took him to Innistrad, in the province of Nephalia. Still shaken from the near death experience, but imbued with a new an unexpected power, he spent the following weeks recovering in relative confinement. Once he felt ready to explore the new surroundings, he began meeting with the local stitchers and studied their arts. He made sure to keep himself apart from the conflict that ignited with the liberation of Avacyn and Griselbrand from the Helvault.

Liam found himself partially involved in the battle between the army of Thraben, led by Thalia, and Geralf’s Zombies. While he made sure not to take and active role in the fight itself, he quickly discovered the advantages of simply scavenging what would be left on the battlefield in the aftermath of the conflict. The world of Innistrad was teaching him a valuable lesson: that sifting through battlegrounds and collecting the spoils of war would be more rewarding than getting himself involved in sticky situations.

In the following months, his connection to the sticher community of Nephalia kept strengthening, and he became a quasi-famous figure in the local scene. He had taken under his own protection some of the Zombies that had survived the battle of Thraben and soon he was regarded as a quite proficient scavenger and a cunning collector of remainders from the Planes’ major conflicts.

A little under a year after his first journey through the Multiverse, his new home on Innistrad was starting to feel too small for his ambition and his desire for more power and knowledge to seize.

The experience on Innistrad had opened his eyes to how the Multiverse was indeed a treasure trove of possibilities, only waiting for people smart enough to seize such a vast pool of opportunities. While the following years saw the establishment of the Gatewatch and the sparking of conflicts among the major players of the Multiverse, Liam would rather scour through the Multiverse to seize new forms of power, rather than finding himself tied to any major party.

On New Phyrexia, he collected the remnants of the Mirran civilizations and made deals with one of the Praetors. On Dominaria, he studied the history of the Plane and attempted to gather some of its long-lost knowledge. He infiltrated the schools of Kamigawa and paid homage to the powerful entities of Tarkir and Theros, learning spells from the local mages.

He expanded on what the stitchers from Innistrad had thought him, fascinated by the concepts of death and undeath. Whenever he had a chance to return to Innistrad, he took the opportunity to perfect his craft, becoming more and more proficient in the signature arts of Nephalia and making a name for himself as a respectable stitcher.

Liam, the Seizer

Liam is the person I imagined being behind my Grimgrin, Corpse-Born deck. His journey across the Multiverse ties together the main themes of the deck, most of the card choices and the overall feeling the deck incorporates. It’s a deck that doesn’t take place on a single Plane or with a specific set of limitations. Mostly, it gathers some of the most powerful spells it can, in order to support its main strategy. Much like Liam himself, the deck seizes power from the Multiverse.

Having a character behind the deck always provides me with an additional layer of enjoyment whenever I play the it or make any update. Each new card coming in the deck is, potentially, a new experience for Liam, a new Plane he visited, a new person he met. Last year, for example, he visited Valor’s Reach to scout out the most proficient mages of Kylem.

And as an additional layer of enjoyment, I could potentially entwine the lives of Liam and the other characters I imagined, linking together all my Commander decks into a single, larger story. Do you remember the Gruul Shaman and the Izzet visionary I mentioned?

Risultati immagini per parallel lives — Parallel Lives, art by Steve Prescott

Naal was later buried alive as part of a Gruul rite of passage. Her Spark ignited when her fear of death was replaced by a sudden instance of higher consciousness the moment she realized she could somehow perceive the very life-force of Nature itself. This later filled her with an unexpected urge to explore the Multiverse, seeking new worlds and finding a new purpose in the pursue of harmony with Nature. Her brutal upbringing was still a key part o her own identity, but she progressively discovered the pleasures of growing and building, instead of destroying.

The diviner’s visions became more and more erratic and violent, leading him to progressively lose his very self-consciousness, his mind blurred by visions he could not comprehend. Some of which seemed to even originate from other worlds. He distanced himself from the rest of the League, his family and friends. For months he kept shifting in and out of dreams, until what was left of his mind gave way. Giving himself fully to his visions, his Spark ignited and he was flung across the Multiverse, jumping from one Plane to another, his memory vanished. After years of erratic journeys, he finally reached a place where he made a name for himself as a vizier, until the return of an ancient god finally provided him with a sense of purpose. Servitude, in the end, was better than constant and painful confusion.

Risultati immagini per hieroglyphic illumination — Hieroglyphic Illumination, art by Raoul Vitale

Naal and the visionary are the characters behind my Borborygmos Enraged and my Locust God decks. Their respective journeys through the Multiverse brought them to many different worlds, discovering knowledge in different forms. And sometimes their paths kept crossing.

You are them

This article is something I have wanted to write for quite a while, now. It is a quite challenging topic, as I expect the audience for this to be quite small. Many Vorthos players usually work the opposite way around, building a deck around a theme and selecting their cards based on the overall flavour behind it.

This approach actually works the other way around: the story of each deck is warped by the card choices, to the point of warping the narrative behind each deck to accommodate for specific card choices. To me, it felt like and extremely organic and spontaneous approach, but I can fully understand how anyone wanting to build a themed deck would prefer the traditional Vorthos experience.

If, on the other hand, you already have established a deck list and you’re curious about how it could exist in the context of Magic’s lore, you could really build on your very card choices and shape an entire story behind it. It is not unlike building a Dungeons & Dragons character’s background starting from the class, race and characteristics you have on your sheet.

Of course, none of these imaginary aspects of deckbuilding and lore shaping made me a better player. I did not improve my playstyle in any shape or form, nor I have sharpened my metagaming abilities. But I learned to enjoy a new aspect of my own decks and, to be quite honest, I think this is always a good thing.

So, if this is anything you would be interested in trying, go for it! The more fun you have with your characters, the easier it is to build entire narratives around them. And, once you have imagined one or two characters, you can start intertwine their lives into a bigger story.

Thoughts on War of the Spark and Character’s Death

Previewing War of the Spark

The much-anticipated War of the Spark set has been rolled out with what I think was one of the most successful preview seasons in recent history. Knowing full well the Community was going to be extremely invested in this story, Wizards of the Coast decided to reveal the cards from the set as part of three main narrative acts, each depicting the build-up, the culmination and the final moments of the much-anticipated showdown between Nicol Bolas, the Gatewatch and their respective allies.

This was quite possibly one of the best ideas for a preview season Wizards of the Coast has had in years. By adhering to a strict three-week preview season, most of the cards were revealed in a very organic way, which made it easy for players to follow-up with what was happening. This is even more impressive if you consider that no Magic Story article was published alongside the cards’ reveals.

Dreadhorde Invasion, art by Stanton Feng

Long gone were the days of Shadows Over Innistrad, when Anguished Unmaking was revealed way before the Story had time to catch up with Avacyn’s tragic demise. With War of the Spark, the cards themselves were telling the Story.

Blake Rasmussen surely wasn’t lying when he announced that War of the Spark preview season itself was going to tell us the most of the story for the set. In this context, Greg Weisman’s novel was intended to be a complementary and more in-depth narration of the events depicted on the cards themselves.

Put it simply, War of the Spark preview season worked extremely well. Keeping up with the narrative flow was easy, even for players who do not habitually read Magic Story contents. At the same time, the set was filled to the brim with pivotal moments, so even the simplest of commons could bear the weight of an instantly iconic moment.

The problem, to me, came not in the way the story was presented, but in some of its contents. More specifically, in how its resolution took away the gravitas this set was supposed to be imbued with. In this article I am not going in the details of Greg Weisman’s novel, as many other content creators have already expressed their opinions on the book. Instead, I want to briefly touch on some of the story aspects that, personally, I was not happy with.

Please bear in mind that what follows is just a summary of my personal opinions and, in this sense, the following paragraphs are but a personal critique of War of the Spark’s narrative arc.

The weight of death

It is not secret that many long-lasting franchises try to use death as least as possible. Killing off an important character can result in many fans feeling alienated or losing interest in the media, so many writers prefer to avoid permanent deaths.

Major comic publishers, such as Marvel Comics and DC Comics are famous for having killed major characters multiple times across the decades, only to bring them back in a few months. While not all characters have had the luxury of a trip to a Lazarus Pit, most of the fans quickly become aware that major superheroes rarely stay dead for more than a couple of years. Resurrections, doppelgangers, twins and clones are narrative devices that can have their convincing role in decade-long franchises, but the result is that, in the end, nothing really feels permanent.

On the other hand, some franchises have proven that death can be used to keep the fans interested, especially when the story is meant to be finite and not a continuous, decades-long franchise. A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin and its HBO adaptation Game of Thrones are excellent examples. The trick, here, is that the story is meant to end at some point, so there is no interest in continuously killing and resurrecting the same characters over and over, just to sell a periodic comic book. Seven books, eight seasons and that’s it.

Hopefully, Magic is currently not meant to have an ending. As a result, there is often no real push towards killing major characters. And when that happens, we are often given clues that those deaths are not necessarily permanent.

This however poses a different challenge: in a game that is mostly based on conflicts and battles, having all major characters systematically survive every fight leads to the feeling that nothing is ever really at stake. Before War of the Spark, the last permanent death of a Planeswalker happened in Scars of Mirrodin, more than eight years ago. Sure, a lot of villains died and notable non-Planeswalker characters were also killed, but the core characters mostly left every battle unscathed.

Survive the Night, art by Svetlin Velinov

While never stated officially by Wizards of the Coast, many players, myself included, started speculating on who was going to bite the bullet in War of the Spark. With an unprecedented number of Planeswalkers involved and a much-anticipated climatic battle on the horizon, it felt natural to expect some major characters’ deaths.

Unfortunately, we overestimated the amount of deaths we were supposed to expect. By a lot.

The Casualties of War

Three named Planeswalkers died as part of the War of the Spark story. Domri was killed when his Spark was harvested, as depicted in the namesake card. Dack Fayden was then taken down by an unspecified Eternal, as revealed in the trailer, which takes place almost at the end of the battle itself. Finally, as the name suggests, Gideon’s Sacrifice showcases the demise of Gideon, which saved Liliana’s life, only moments after the trailer ends.

Nicol Bolas was apprehended by Bontu and confined by Ugin within the newly renamed Prison Realm.

Three deaths and one exile. That’s mostly what we got.

On one hand, Magic’s nature as an ongoing franchise does not necessarily require major characters’ deaths to keep the player’s attention. On the other, the unique nature of War of the Spark was setting it up to be a pivotal moment in the overall narrative. Many players were speculating on multiple major casualties, others were predicting a new Mending, with multiple Planeswalkers losing their Sparks and the survivors strongly re-defining their role in the Multiverse.

While we surely lost some major characters, it is my belief that the impact of the set’s story on the overall narrative was not nearly enough.

An inconsequential victory?

Most of the main characters in War of the Spark left the battlefield unchanged, with little to no character progression or evolution. Sure, we had one major death among the ranks of the Gatewatch and two secondary characters falling victim to the conflict.

Liliana is now free of her contract, while Jace and Vraska reconnected after the Ixalan arc. Kaya is now at the helm of the Orzhov Syndicate. So, yes, something did happen.

On the other hand, a lot of fan-favourite characters had little to impact on the story. At the same time, the story had little to no impact on them. Chandra was involved in a very personal fight with Dovin, but has she progressed as a character?

I fully understand how juggling more than 30 Planeswalkers can be a narrative nightmare, but what did Karn really do, aside for bashing skulls? What evenrole did Sarkhan really play? Was Kiora even involved in the fight? She was apparently leading one or more leviathans into battle, but what is up with her, now?

To me, the problem boils down to the fact that it feels like most of the Planeswalkers were introduced in the set more for marketing purposes, rather than for story reasons. Sure, having 36 new Planeswalker cards was an unprecedented event, but I personally felt like the story was not able to keep up with this ambitious design idea.

Now that Bolas has been defeated and the majority of the Gatewatch has left the battlefield victorious, what does this victory lead to?

A future too bright?

If I could summarize my problem with War of the Spark’s storyline I would put it as follows: most of the survivors are now free to leave with little to no repercussion. For most of the 36 Planeswalkers in the set, nothing has changed during the war. Sure, they may have taken part in a huge fight, but what has really changed for them?

I guess Karn still wants to go and defeat the Phyrexians on what was once Mirrodin. Ajani is probably looking forward to returning to Theros to rescue Elspeth. Teferi will probably return to Dominaria to see if he can ever reconnect to the long-lost home he himself phased out of existence.

Sure, we will mourn the death of Gideon for some time. And maybe Liliana will have some kind of tonal shift in her character towards a more selfless behaviour, now that she is free of her contract.

That said, with the main villain having survived the conflict, the door is always open for a potential return. Meaning that even the few things that have been accomplished in this story could be later rectified, to a certain extent. Sure, one could argue that, to Bolas, losing the Spark is even worse than death. But we have already seen characters lose and regain a Spark.

Knowing Bolas, there is a solid chance his new plan will now revolve around acquiring a new Spark and regaining his former powers. After all, he has shown to be capable of influencing countless Planeswalkers across the Multiverse. How soon before any of them provides him with a chance at revenge?

All things considered

While War of the Spark showcased one of the best preview seasons in the history of Magic, it pains to say that this amazing build-up, to me, did not end up living to the intended hype. I firmly believe the way the story was presented was astounding, but its content was not as convincing.

I really hope the upcoming preview seasons keep this story-based approach alive, as it really provides an amazing way to convey the story. At the same time, I really wish for the story to take more risks and, maybe, shake things up a bit more.

I know it’s not easy, but it surely feels a bit disheartening to approach the final showdown of a multi-year conflict with a death bingo card and end up with just this.

Pop Culture and How to Manage the Blind Eternities

The Blind Eternities

The Blind Eternities are among the most interesting and fascinating “locations” within Magic’s Multiverse. As part of the game’s lore, the term Blind Eternities commonly refers to the space between Planes, a sort of chaotic zone existing between one world and another.

The Blind Eternities are universally described as dangerous, filled with powerful magic, aether and Mana that cannot be tamed by common wizards. This perilous area serves as a sort of connecting tissue between worlds and Planeswalkers are forced to traverse it to move between Planes.

As human being residing on Earth, we could be tempted to approach the concept of the Blind Eternities as our current understanding of outer space, though that would actually take us in the wrong direction. While outer space is largely devoid of life and almost completely empty, the Blind Eternities are full of energy and mysterious native beings of unconceivable nature.

Moreover, the twisted nature of the Blind Eternities makes it impossible to map them. While we, as a species, have spent a good portion of the past centuries mapping the known Universe, the Blind Eternities do not possess fixed points and coordinates to refer to. As a result, Planeswalkers can get lost in this unconceivable maze of pure chaos and most of them tend to remain in this space as least as possible.

On top of all this, common living beings are unable to access this well of chaos. And if they were, they would likely be distorted and annihilated by the unimaginable forces of this hostile environment. So, no attempt has ever been made to establish a permanent outpost, thus far.

The result feels somehow similar to Star Wars’ hyperspace, albeit with less known routes and way more chaotic entities residing within it. Think of Solo: A Star Wars Story’s depiction of the Kessel Run, but instead of a spaceship, you need a Spark to traverse it.

Risultati immagini per solo kessel run — Summa Verminoth and the Kessel Run from Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)

Not much else is known about the Blind Eternities, aside for the fact that the Eldrazi are native of this space, although we don’t know if they were spontaneously born here, if somebody created them or if they evolved to survive in this environment. It has however been confirmed that the Eldrazi Titans we have seen in card form on Zendikar and Innistrad are but manifestations of the true entities residing in the Blind Eternities. So, when you look at the card Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, you are actually looking at the entity’s presence on Zendikar and not at her true self.

The Eldrazi

Much like their presumed home, the Eldrazi are still largely a mystery. We do not know what they really want, why they consume and process worlds and what their role in the Multiverse is. Since their inception within Magic’s lore, they have been compared to similar beings within other fantasy and science fiction canons, although we don’t know enough of them to find a clear match.

For instance, the very title of Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger echoes Marvel’s Galactus and its constant need to consume worlds, while Kozilek, the Great Distortion’s mind-bending powers seem to call back to H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu. Add to this the fact that we know Emrakul is aware of her own existence and nature and she has proven to have a plan when she was imprisoned in the moon of Innistrad. So, they are anything but mindless monsters, although, again, we do not know what their ultimate goal is.

Truth been told, we do not even know if the three Eldrazi Titans are indeed separate entities or manifestations of the same collective being. Some have theorized that they could serve as forces of coerced evolution, consuming and reshaping worlds to propagate life throughout the Multiverse. According to this hypothesis, their version of life would be simply different from our understanding of it. Wastes, in the end, are not barren environments devoid of energy. They simply generate a form of Mana that is different than the one Planeswalkers are more familiar with.

Nevertheless, the Eldrazi are among the most fascinating entities in Magic’s lore, as they truly set themselves apart from the plethora of evil masterminds, brutal oppressors and “bad guys behind everything“, all too common tropes in modern fantasy and science fiction.

“Five requests I often have to ignore”

Despite many players’ fascination and curiosity towards the Blind Eternities and the Eldrazi, Mark Rosewater has recently ruled out the possibility of a Magic set taking place within the Blind Eternities themselves. More specifically, his explanation came as a direct response to Maria Bartholdi’s suggestion to explore more of this yet unseen environment.

Risultati immagini per coax from the blind eternities — Coax from the Blind Eternities, art by Jaime Jones

Most of Rosewater’s reasoning behind this stance revolves around the fact that the Blind Eternities would feel too alien both for Wizards of the Coast’s Design Team and for the players themselves. The Design Team would be forced to play without core elements of Magic, such as the availability of five Basic Lands. Player’s expectations could also fail to be met, due to the lack of resonant elements most players are accustomed to in a Magic set. The Blind Eternities would shake the very fundamentals of players’ understanding of Magic and many would likely feel alienated by the end product.

The key aspect to remember, here, is that the Blind Eternities are not an environment like any other we have seen in the past. To put things into perspective: Phyrexia is a hostile environment of biomechanical abominations, but key elements like space, time, directions still exist. On the other hand, it is very likely that the very concept of above or after do not necessarily apply within the Blind Eternities, resulting in a chaotic and largely unrelateable setting.

Mark Rosewater’s reasoning is sound and understandable, but we may be missing a big opportunity, here.

The new big baddy

War of the Spark will likely culminate in the downfall of Nicol Bolas. I have shared my detailed predictions in a past article, but I think the majority of players would agree that the Elder Dragon’s downfall is now imminent. After years of scheming and plotting, players are justifiably lamenting some form of Bolas fatigue, so the time is probably ripe to pull the trigger on the character, whether permanently or not.

The obvious question, here, is: what’s next?

Risultati immagini per future sight mtg — Future Sight, art by Dan Scott

At the time of writing, we do not know what will come after War of the Spark and Magic’ Summer 2019 Core Set. A lot can be said about the need for a palate cleanser set, much like Kaladesh followed the full year of Eldrazi overdose we had with Battle for Zendikar and Shadows Over Innistrad. And then what?

Nicol Bolas has been presented as one of the most imposing and important characters in the Multiverse. With him out of the way, what would be a compelling new villain to propel future conflicts?

We already have a number of existing and known threats our main characters still need to deal with across the Multiverse. Heliod is still on Theros, alongside his unresolved business with Gideon Jura. The Raven Man is still shrouded in mystery and not much is known about its true identity and its goals, other than they somehow include Liliana Vess. Phyrexia as a faction is definitely on top of many players’ minds when it comes to iconic villains and unresolved narrative arcs. And at least one key character has expressed interest in returning to New Phyrexia to deal with the invaders.

The problem Magic is facing after Bolas’ defeat is how to follow up on his demise with a realistic, compelling and believable new threat. Interestingly, Magic is currently not alone in this.

Options from the Marvel Cinematic Universe

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is going to face a similar problem in the very near future, with Thanos, “the bad guy behind everything”, likely to face his defeat in the upcoming Avengers: Endgame. And then what? How do you top a now iconic villain? How do you build from there?

Risultati immagini per avengers infinity war thanos — Thanos from Marvel: Infinity War (2018)

Introducing another arbitrarily powerful villain would likely result in most fans quickly losing interest. The Monster of the Week trope can work as an occasional divertissement, but having a powerful and iconic villain followed by a nearly identical powerful and iconic villain leads to a quick loss of interest among the fanbase.

One easy solution is to completely shift the paradigm. For the purposes of the MCU, instead of replacing Thanos with a new, equally imposing, equally powerful, equally cosmic villain, the story could now have our heroes face off against something completely different. So, no Annihilus and no Galactus.

Instead, I would expect the MCU to look elsewhere. The Skrull have been established as a unique faction and I would expect one of the upcoming sagas to revolve around the Secret Invasion arc. Or, with the likely introduction of time travel in Avengers: Endgame, the door could be open for Kang the Conqueror to make his debut in the MCU. The important thing is that the new villain or villains need to feel different and not a just rehashing of the same principle.

To provide an example of what I think you should try and not do, think about the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). Man of Steel introduce us to General Zod and, although the movie was far from good, the main villain had something interesting going on. Then almost all the following films had just nearly-identical undeveloped monstrosities as their main antagonists, from the incredibly powerful CGI monster that was Doomsday in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, to the incredibly powerful CGI monster that was Incubus in Suicide Squad, from the incredibly powerful CGI monster that was Ares in Wonder Woman to the incredibly powerful CGI monster that was Steppenwolf in Justice League.

Risultati immagini per steppenwolf justice league — Steppenwolf from Justice League (2018)

When all villains feel somehow interchangeable, the stories blur together and the resulting experience feels very forgettable. If villains do not feel new, compelling and real, the entire story suffers. To quote Stephen King: “Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win“.

Fortunately for them, Marvel and DC have decades of materials to pull from for their future cinematic endeavours. Magic, on the other hand, does not currently have such a long history of characters. Although the game is not without its iconic villains, it certainly does not have Marvel’s or DC’s plethora or characters. And many of the iconic villains established so far do not distance themselves enough from Bolas himself, in my opinion. The trope of “powerful and cunning bad guy with a mischievous plan” unfortunately applies to many Magic villains and most of them would not be able to fill Bolas’ shoes.

Much like the MCU, Magic is on the verge of dealing with one of its most iconic villains. So, if the MCU can easily turn to a very different type of new villain for its upcoming stories, Magic could take steps in the same direction.

For example, Wizards of the Coast could consider introducing internal conflicts within the roster of main characters, with or without an external force infiltrating the main team of heroes. For instance, we could envision an equivalent of Marvel’s Avengers Disassembled narrative arc, with the story focusing on the disbanding of the Gatewatch and the resulting conflicts between former allies.

Risultati immagini per avengers disassembled 1 — Avengers Disassembled, Chaos (Part I of IV), cover art by David Finch

Another option would be to revisit the concept of time travel in Magic, as the last iteration of this concept came with the Tarkir block. Oddly enough, despite this being an almost unprecedented feat in Magic’s story, the repercussions of Sarkhan‘s time travel have limited effects on the Multiverse. Sure, the timeline of the Plane was drastically altered, affecting most Tarkir-bound characters, but most of the other Planeswalkers seemed to hardly notice the change.

Revisiting time travel would pose an interesting challenge to Magic’s heroes, as the Gatewatch has not dealt with time travellers, yet. And let’s not forget Emrakul is still trapped in the moon of Innistrad. A moon conspicuously made of silver, the only material in Magic’s lore that can travel through time.

A Blind Eternities proposal

Taking into consideration Mark Rosewater’s comment on the unlikeliness of a Magic set taking place within the Blind Eternities, I think we can still work towards a compromise. Let’s keep in mind that:

The Emrakul storyline still needs to find some kind of resolution
We need something new and different to come after Bolas’ long arc
The Blind Eternities are a still unexplored setting that fans have often asked about

What if one of the upcoming stories revolved around a Plane breaking into the Blind Eternities? We are no strangers to world-ending threats in the Multiverse, but what if, this time, it was not happening at the hands of a powerful villain, but simply as an occurring phenomenon?

Or, if Wizards wanted to provide a single source of this event, what if this was the by-product of Emrakul being trapped into Innistrad’s moon? What if she was calling upon the Blind Eternities themselves onto Innistrad, from within her cage? And what if she was also doing so across time, ideally summoning towards herself even the other two Eldrazi Titans, which the Gatewatch thought defeated?

Risultati immagini per emrakul the promised end — Emrakul, the Promised End, art by Jaime Jones

This would result in an admittedly challenging storyline to pull off, but it would allow to:

Complete or at least progress the Emrakul storyline – ideally with the main characters forced to release her from her prison and set her free again throughout the Blind Eternities, potentially accompanied by the time-shifted Eldrazi Titans
Introduce a narrative arc where the main opposing force is a slumbering, almost unwilling entity and not a present evil mastermind – again, carrying a strong Cthulhu vibe and not simply reiterating the concept of a mastermind villain setting a complex plan in motion
Depict the Blind Eternities as a portion of the whole worldbuilding – most notably the portion of Innistrad shifting into the space between worlds, while the remainder of the set still features typical Magic elements

The (colourless) opportunity

Setting aside Magic’s lore, I think it is worth mentioning that colourless Mana as a concept has recently seen a resurgence in popularity, especially in an open-ended and casual format like Commander. At the time of writing, the latest episode of Game Knights by the Commander Zone has marked the first appearance on the show of a fully colourless deck, piloted by Ashlen Rose. Her deck was also the subject of a dedicated episode of the same podcast, which helped popularizing colourless as a valid deckbuilding option for Commander players.

On top of that, we have never had a single colourless preconstructed deck in any of the Commander supplementary products. As I have already mentioned, I fully expect this year’s Commander supplementary product to mark the first time a colourless preconstructed deck is presented to the players.

The sensibility of casual players towards colourless is recently increasing, while support towards this archetype is still minimal. While it certainly wouldn’t make sense for Wizards of the Coast to cobble together a set just to ride a fairly localized trend, there is a number of elements pointing towards the big opportunity that a Blind Eternities set would present.

Moreover, if the four consecutive sets of Battle for Zendikar and Shadows Over Innistrad led to a justifiable Eldrazi fatigue, having a single episodic set taking place between Innistrad and the Blind Eternities would probably be an interesting divertissement before or after a larger storyline.

Migratory Route (CM2) — Migratory Route, art by Winona Nelson

Considering War of the Spark is likely going to close Nicol Bolas‘ narrative arc and assuming this summer’s Magic Core Set is not going to introduce major shakeups in the current storyline, I would expect the following set to take us somewhere new, after a full year of Ravnica-bound storylines. Then we may be off to New Phyrexia or Theros, where unresolved plots still demand our heroes’ attention, or we may be taking a much-anticipated detour to Lorwyn.

Between these future – and yet pre-established – plots, I strongly believe we have the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone: advancing or resolving Emrakul‘s storyline and introduce Magic players to the unfathomable well of creativity that are the Blind Eternities.

War of the Spark Predictions and Death Bingo

The War of the Spark

The upcoming War of the Spark set, scheduled for release on May 3^rd, 2019, will be the culmination of years of Magic storylines, narrative arcs, plots and conflicts. The story is expected to take place entirely on Ravnica, with a large ensemble of Planeswalkers converging on the City of Guilds. Based on everything we know so far, the story’s climax will depict the final showdown between Nicol Bolas, accompanied by his pawns and his Amonkhet undead army, and the Gatewatch, joined by a number of interplanar allies.

The Magic community is dead set on the idea that the body count of this battle will be at least remarkable. While we can probably rule out a complete genocide of all known Planeswalkers, many tried to predict the most notable deaths we will witness in the set.

Of course, as a fan of speculations, I wanted to throw my hat in the prediction ring. So, let’s dive head first in a rundown of all Magic Planeswalkers and their presumed fate after the War of the Spark! But before we do, let’s set a couple of ground rules:

For the purposes of this list, I will be only focusing on Planeswalkers that have appeared at least once in printed card form before War of the Spark; so, no Davriel Cane in this list, although there is indeed a good chance he is indeed getting a card as part of the upcoming set
Only Planeswalkers will be eligible for the list; while I would love to see Prime Speaker Vannifar go, she is not a contender, here
I will then try and set my predictions into a bingo card, picking the twenty-four Planeswalkers I think are more likely to die
For the purposes of this list, characters fleeing, missing in actions or whose fate remains uncertain will not be counted as dead; however, characters turned into Zombies will or transcending into a different state of being will

And finally, a quick disclaimer. I know we have been recently confirmed that thirty-six Planeswalkers will get a card in War of the Spark. However, it is my belief that not all of them will actually be present on Ravnica at the time of the battle with Nicol Bolas and the Gatewatch. So, yes, many of these characters will indeed have cards in the set, but they will not necessarily be in the story, in my opinion.

Ok, with that out of the way, let’s go!

Collective Voyage, art by Charles Urbach

Not on the board

Let’s get this out of the way immediately. I personally do not think we are going to return to Theros to rescue Elspeth soon. Instead, I do believe she will appear as a surprise deus ex machina on a different Plane, having already escaped Theros’ Underworld on her own or with someone else’s aid. But with everything happening in War of the Spark, I do not think this is when we’re going to get her surprise return. She’s absolutely coming back, but not now.

Jiang Yanggu and Mu Yanling are not going to be involved in the War of the Spark. And if they are, they are definitely not going to die. We simply do not know enough about them at the moment, so their potential demise would not resonate with players. What I really hope to see, instead, is a new version of these two characters in one of the upcoming sets, so that we get to know them a little more.

If he hasn’t perished already, Koth is still punching Phyrexians on what was once Mirrodin. There is no way he is leaving that battlefield for Ravnica’s. He is a hero defending his home and, for all intent and purposes, he is going to keep defending it.

Like Jiang Yanggu and Mu Yanling, Rowan and Will Kenrith need way more build-up before their death gains any emotional relevance. They are certainly an amazing pair of characters and I look forward to seeing them again, but, at best, they will only have a cameo in War of the Spark. And it will not be their last stand.

Sorin is stuck inside a stone on Innistrad. An unlikely escape, only to have him immediately killed on Ravnica, would be the most Edgar Wright thing I can imagine from the upcoming set. So, no, it’s not happening. Sorin is very safe.

Tibalt is absolutely safe. And I’m saying this simply because, given the odd reputation of the character, his death would be taken mostly as a joke, with little impact on the whole story. He is probably going to show up at a later stage, hopefully redesigned into the evil and powerful villain he deserves to be.

For the sake of completion, I do not think Aminatou and Estrid are going to join the fight at all. So, for me, they’re out of the death ballot.

Safe and sound

If Angrath dies, I riot. He just escaped his long captivity on Ixalan and he just reunited with his two daughters. I cannot imagine him wanting to immediately set course towards a world of war and struggle, only to die fighting people he does not even know. Angrath is going to be fine.

Arlinn Kord has no direct connection to the War of the Spark. She has not pledged any form of interplanar allegiance to the Gatewatch and, as far as we know, she is not going to be involved in the conflict. While I would love to see her again, now is not the time.

Part of what makes Ashiok amazing is that we know almost nothing about them. We know they are somehow entangled in a larger scheme, possibly involving Dack Fayden. But provided any connection exists with the Multiverse’s ongoing conflict, we do not really know how Ashiok factors in. Most likely, they will appear again as a surprise villain in a future set.

Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver, art by Karla Ortiz

Chandra is going to live. She is hands down among the best characters we have right now. She is strong, charming, awesome. She just reconnected with her mother on Kaladesh. And she recently discovered a deep connection to Jaya Ballard. Not only is Chandra going to be fine, but she is also going to be among the best characters in future narrative arcs.

Dack Fayden was last seen on Theros. His reputation as the greatest thief in the Multiverse does not really place him at the centre of the upcoming fight. Could he be a nice surprise character to join the fight? Probably. Will he die there? Not likely.

Now, Daretti is awesome. That said, he is either on Fiora or on Kaladesh, according to his Mythic Edition art. And while I would love to see him teaming up with or facing off against Saheeli, I don’t think he has any reason to join the battle on Ravnica. He’s awesome and he is going to live.

I also love Garruk as the Boba Fett of Magic. He shows up occasionally, he does something awesome and he leaves. As a character, Garruk is great at small doses. While it would be great to have him appear out of the blue in the middle of the conflict on Ravnica, I find it very unlikely that he’s going to die right away. But seriously, how awesome would it be to have him delivering the actual death blow to Nicol Bolas, only to scoff off and leave? I know it’s not going to happen, but how awesome would that be?

Much like Angrath, Huatli has almost no reason to be on Ravnica. Unless she is suddenly missing the trapping embrace of The Immortal Sun, she is probably going to stay away from the powerful Artifact and from whoever is carrying it. She is going to be fine.

We also know Jace is not going to die. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it. He is the face of the game and his demise, were it ever to happen, would be the key aspect of a future set. He is definitely not going to die in a grand melee of twenty Planeswalkers. But I really, really want to see him go, at some point. So I’ll leave him in the safe category, for now.

Kiora has almost no connection to the War of the Spark and her signature powers do not really lend themselves to a good use on Ravnica. There is a very loose connection between her, Zendikar, the Eldrazi and Nicol Bolas, but I find it hard to believe that she will join the brawl on Ravnica.

Like Kiora, Nahiri has a relatively loose connection to Nicol Bolas. While she is a very proactive character and she has proven to be quite effective in exacting revenge, she is not really out for the Elder Dragon’s blood. I think she is not going to be on Ravnica, but, considering most of her narrative arc is finished, her death during the war could be quite fitting. Again, I don’t think it’s likely, so I’m counting her as safe, for the moment.

Nahiri, the Harbinger, art by Aleksi Briclot

Speaking of people with loose connections to Nicol Bolas, Narset could join the fight on Ravnica only if all the Planeswalkers from Tarkir collectively decided to take part in the War of the Spark. There is a good chance Ugin is joining the fight on Ravnica, but I am not sure he would bring Narset along. And if he did, I do not think she would be the one dying in the fight.

Ob Nixilis has an ongoing feud with the Gatewatch. He may be willing to come to Ravnica, lured by the presence of many Planeswalkers, to seek revenge. Should he choose to do so, I find it hard to believe he would actually be able to kill anyone. Nor I think he would get himself killed in the process. Ob Nixilis is currently one of the only two Black-aligned Planeswalkers we have in card form and the fate of Liliana is way more at risk than his. So, let’s give Ob Nixilis a pass, for now. Wizards of the Coast may be wanting to save him for a later role in the story.

Saheeli is on Kaladesh, she is fine and she will be fine. I don’t think she is even going to join the War of the Spark. Most likely, we will see her again in a future set. Personally, I would love to see her interacting with the hostile environment of New Phyrexia, were Artifacts are very, very different than the ones she knows from Kaladesh.

Tamiyo is an amazing character, but she has also been established as not really a first line fighter. She is a researcher, a scholar and an academic. She may have a role in the upcoming war, but she is not going to be involved on the frontline. She is fine.

Risky business

I think Ajani is relatively safe. However, his mentor for all role and heroic statue kind of paint a big target on his forehead, so I cannot completely rule out the possibility of a death at the hands of Nicol Bolas, considering the Leonin has unfinished business with the Elder Dragon himself.

During his adventures on Amonkhet, Hazoret foretold Gideon‘s fate. The prophecy stated that the White aligned Planeswalker was going to die at the hands of an immortal. While we don’t know for certain if this refers to a god, an Eldrazi or an elder being, the top contenders are probably Heliod and Nicol Bolas himself. On top of that, Gideon is currently wielding the Blackblade, possibly telegraphing the very cliché good guy with cursed weapon death in the very near future. I think there is a chance Gideon is going to die on Ravnica, but, personally, I view the odds in the 60% range.

Kaya is awesome. She is an amazing character, but she is so deeply involved in Nicol Bolas’ machinations that I think there is a strong chance she may be dying on Ravnica. Or, and this is also a very strong possibility, she is going to flee the scene when things go bad, becoming a Garruk–esque character, popping up occasionally, but otherwise keeping a relatively low profile in the economy of the Multiverse. Of all the Elder Dragon’s minions, I would say she is the safer one.

Kaya, Orzhov Usurper, art by Yongjae Choi

Nissa is currently in a very weird spot. On one hand, she is the first member of the Gatewatch to willingly break her vow. After her departure during the Dominaria storyline, she has completely left the picture. As far as we know, she has no intention to join the fight on Ravnica, despite her defeat at the hands of Nicol Bolas on Amonkhet. On the other hand, she doesn’t really have anything interesting to do on an interplanar level. Sure, taking care of her own world of Zendikar is a noble task, but she doesn’t really have any major conflict to be involved in, at the moment. Where she to appear on Ravnica, we could be looking at her final outing as a major player in the Multiverse, although we may need a bit more preparatory build-up, to make sure her demise resonates with players, after a year of absence from the main storyline.

Samut, on the other hand has a lot of unfinished business with Nicol Bolas. We left her on Amonkhet, but I fully expect her to be seeking revenge against the God-Pharaoh. She is definitely showing up on Ravnica and she is also likely to be contributing in a significant way to the Gatewatch’s cause. She is not going to be the one delivering the killing blow against Nicol Bolas, but her sheer involvement in the war and her very personal and heartfelt motivations put her at risk of getting killed.

Sarkhan has proven to also be very committed towards Nicol Bolas-related matters, to the point of traveling back in time to prevent the Elder Dragon from killing Ugin. Sarkhan is a man of action and I fully expect him to show up on Ravnica. His personal ties with Nicol Bolas may lead him to even have a central role in the fight and, should this be the case, I would expect the Elder Dragon to manifest all of his resentment towards the Planeswalker who brought Ugin back into the picture.

Moving on, I do not think Teferi is necessarily going to die, but I would really appreciate it if Wizards of the Coast decided to send all the older heroes of Dominaria out in a blaze of glory. Teferi is a great character with a very peculiar set of skills, so his only odds of dying lies in the story team deciding to explicitly kill off all the old guard to pass the torch to the new generation of heroes. Possible, but not probable.

Vivien is weird. So far she has existed only to seek revenge against Nicol Bolas. This puts her very close to Samut in terms of motivations and role in the entire ecosystem of Magic. Practically, I think either Vivien or Samut is going to die and my money is more on the former, than the latter.

The next one is a bit controversial. I don’t think Vraska is going to die. We all know she is going to meet Jace, she is going to have her memory restored and she is going to turn against Nicol Bolas. This is when, I think, everyone expects her to die. On the other hand, I would really love to then see a Golgari character surviving the war and possibly becoming a key public figure on Ravnica. What if she became the new Living Guildpact? What an amazing turn of events would that be?

Dead meat

Domri could be a good candidate for a surprise death midway through the story. There is a good chance Borborygmos wants him dead and Domri himself is not famous for his calm and cautious temperament. I think there is a good chance he is going to bite the bullet, but his death will not be the big emotional moment of the story.

Dovin, on the other hand, is pretty much already dead. Dovin is going to die in the most satisfying way possible. You would expect him to be killed by Chandra in an act of revenge, but I think this will actually play out as a growth moment for the fire-based Planeswalkers. I think Chandra will have a confrontation with Dovin, she will prevail, but she will also spare his life, proving she has matured as a characters. Nicol Bolas will be the one actually pulling the trigger on the Vedalken, muttering something awesome and evil like “your servitude is no longer required”.

Another notable death: Jaya is going to die in the most dramatic and awesome way you can think of. She is going to die in epic fashion and it will be an emotional punch in everyone’s guts. In her final moments, she is going to hand her goggles to Chandra and she is going to whisper something impactful, like “there is another Skywalker”.

I also think Karn is likely to die. Not because his arc is finished, but because his intention to use the Sylex to destroy New Phyrexia is a bit too extreme for a self-proclaimed pacifist. So instead of sitting down and having a heartfelt conversation with the rest of the Gatewatch on how to approach the Phyrexian menace, I believe he could be dying during the War of the Spark, forcing the survivors to find a less Plane-destroying approach to address the issue.

Liliana is a very tough one. I could be completely off on this one, but I think she is going to die during the War of the Spark. But, in a surprising turn of events, we are going to meet her again in the very near future, brought back to life by the Raven Man himself. Maybe she will be resurrected without her Spark, maybe she will now be old and weak. But she is going to die on Ravnica first and her death will be among the most jaw dropping moments of the story.

Ral is going to die brutally. Either the Gatewatch takes him down for luring dozens of Planeswalkers on the Plane. Or Niv-Mizzet takes him down to reclaim the title of leader of the Izzet League. Or Nicol Bolas takes him down for messing around with Project Lightning Bug. Ral is so dead, it’s not even funny.

Of all the bad guys converging on Ravnica, Tezzeret is the one I like the most. He is cool, charming and menacing, but he still retains a lot of personality, despite being just a pawn of Nicol Bolas. That said, I am fully prepared to seeing him fall victim of this war, possibly consumed by all the powerful Artifacts he is carrying. Or, and this is what I really hope for, he could turn against his master at the very last second, engaging Nicol Bolas in a deadly duel, only to succumb at the hands of his enslaver.

Tezzeret the Schemer — Tezzeret, the Schemer, art by Ryan Alexander Lee

Nicol Bolas and Ugin

So, the whole conflict revolves around Nicol Bolas. He has a plan, he has schemed for years, he has plotted and deceived. He has played a major role in almost the entire history of Magic and he hasn’t lost a major battle in ages. He has come fully prepared to this war on Ravnica. But I really believe he is going to lose this fight. And, with that, he is going to die. Not because he is weak, foolish or not fully equipped for this fight. But simply because having him survive this fight would resonate very poorly with the audience. An inconsequential victory, with Nicol Bolas surviving the fight, escaping and swearing revenge would feel like a waste of everyone’s time. This is going to be the ultimate fight, with casualties on all sides. And Nicol Bolas, the one and only, the Elder Dragon, is going to succumb, purely out of players’ fatigue towards him.

How is this going to happen? Well, theories abound. Impaled on Gideon‘s Blackblade? His heart pierced by Vivien’s bow? Betrayed by Tezzeret? These are all good theories, but I really hope for something truly unexpected.

What I would really love to see is a surprise act of aggression by Niv-Mizzet. In the midst of the conflict, when violence is at its peak and heroes fall like leaves in autumn, I would love to see the Dracogenius reveal his own plan, taking Nicol Bolas‘ life and stealing his Spark. Not only would this be a surprise ending, but it would leave a sour taste in every hero’s mouth.

What now? Is Niv-Mizzet going to rise as a new interplanar threat? Is he going to use this power to rise as the new Living Guildpact or Ravnica? Is he going to instead disappear in the Multiverse, seemingly exiting the picture, only to reappear years later, even more powerful than before? Only time will tell.

Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh, art by Raimond Swanland

Ugin‘s fate, to be honest, is also very hard to predict. He has all the reasons to come to Ravnica and join the fight. He also has all the reasons to die in a battle against his own twin brother. That said, Ugin‘s status as a spirit is in and on itself quite puzzling. What I think is going to happen is a sort of transcendence of the character into a different state of being, like a Jedi becoming one with the Force, I think Ugin is going to be presumed dead, only to soon be revealed to have become a fully ethereal being. So, yes, he dies, but it’s not goint o be a full death. But I’m still going to count it as a death.

The bingo card

Having gone through all these Planeswalkers, I loved the idea of setting up a bingo card to try and see if I could score a line of five deaths. Just for fun, here is what I’m picking.

Of course, I strongly encourage anyone who is interested in joining the speculation to setup their own card. It’s just the icing on the speculation cake.

More predictions

If you want to check out more predictions on who is going to die in War of the Spark, you probably already know the Internet is getting filled to the brim with speculations, theories, ideas and guesses. I cannot list them all, so I’d just like to point you towards two YouTube videos I found really well done and entertaining.

Ryan Gomez is surely to entertain you in this Magic Arcanum video for TCGPlayer. Most of his predictions are very, very good and he is just an amazing guy to listen to.

And do not miss Connor Macleod’s video. His channel is fairly new, but the quality of the content he is putting out is really amazing.