NICOL BOLAS WON!! How he can come BACK after March of the Machine | Magic: The Gathering 

By any chance can you discuss the incredibly interesting fact that since the Omen paths now exist, Slivers from all over the multiverse are finally connected, the hive mind can truly be one again.

Bolas’ Spark was taken from him. But he still commanded a lot of power before becoming a Planeswalker. My belief is he isn’t gone forever.

Both ajani and liliana both still have their sparks. That doesn't feel like a coincidence. Almost like the universe still needs them for something related to them

I like the part when Bolas said " It's Bolin time!" And Bolas'd all over the place. Truly the most moment of all time

Bolas still has the Elder Spell, right? It would be awesome to have him out there hunting surviving planeswalkers to steal their sparks.

It's kind of funny that the more we dive into the after effects of MOM, the more we realize that things really have changed and not always for the better of the multiverse...

Ugin being desparked and somehow ending up on strixhaven after nicky B gets his powers back and opening the sixth school which would be colourless to prepare for his brothers return. Would be awesome to have more colourless instants and enchantments. Thered be some unique takes on what Ugin might teach

I was kind of mad we never saw anything referencing Nicol,Ugin or the meditation plane having been invaded

Tezzert made the best plays during the Phyrexian’s multi-planar crusade. Man played both sides and pulled one over on his handlers

We're primed for Sliver's to adapt and become an interplaner threat due to the omen paths. Also woth the insect planeswalker, we could see a sliver one which would be amazing

Bolas didn't create the meditation realm, it was ugins and bolas took it from him when he first defeated him and chased him out of it. Thats where bolas got the gem between his horns he found it there and ugin used it to spy on bolas

At some point they need to bring back, explain, and do a large story arc on Marit Lage.

In some weird way, I feel like Teferi came out on top here regardless of being desparked. He got exactly what he wanted. Not only did he successfully protect Zhalfir for all those years, its been restored and the phyrexian menace has been dealt with. On top of that, being desparked lets him live his life with the people he loved. Pretty solid ending for a planeswalker.

I'm excited to see a new creature bolas eventually.

I actually liked war of the spark, but your theories are truly inspiring, and if you're right this could actually revitalize the lore in ways we haven't seen since the mending.

Honestly I think this is more likely to lead into an Eldeazi arc, but it wouldn't surprise me if Nicol Bolas was used as a sort of bait and switch before that.

A question I have is if the compleated Jace ever visited the meditation realm during the invasion. We still don't know what Norn tasked him with and he is one of the few who knew of Bolas's fate (something he could've disclosed to Norn) so it makes me wonder

I hope they don't bring him back yet, I want wizards to get some competent writers to create the stories because the March of the Machines and Phyrexia all will be one were quite underwhelming storywise, but also because Bolas dominated the previous storylines so it would be cool if we get some other threat as well as some stories with a smaller scope, like an entire story set on a new plane that isn't connected to any of the previous plotlines.

It would have been something if phyrexianized Jace had coordinated with Nissa to direct the roots of the tree to the prison realm, as he seemed like one of the few who knew where Nicol was after WotS.

Im so glad you did this video, a little reminder that lore-wise, there is technically Dominaria's most ancient evil that still exists in the form of one of my three favorite characters/cards.

I think another candidate for biggest winner of the march of the machine is Emrakul, who was conspicuously unmentionned on the Innistrad part of the march story. With so many planeswalkers de-sparked or dead, its going to be much harder to put together a force who can follow Emrakul through planes and trap her again, consider that all of Nissa, Tamiyo, Nahiri, Gideon, and Ugin are either desparked, dead, or permanently occupied and Jace is MIA. Plus, I think the omenpaths tearing holes in the multiverse is something that would stir up and anger the eldrazi, as their home of the blind eternities was changed or damaged in some way. All the messing with Innistrad's moon during the midnight hunt story in combination with the phyrexians could easily have weakened her restraints, and there's no planeswalker watching her anymore.

With the invasion of planes I assumed Nicol Bolas was going to escape. But even if he didn't at the invasion, now with the spark rupture and the omenpaths is just a matter of time. I'm on board with you. Great video. Thanks!

I love the story and character of Nicol Bolas he's hands down my favourite MTG villain. But despite me love for Bolas. I'm thinking the next big multiverse dangers is going to be the Eldrazi again. I've seen a small pattern to 'ultimate' villains it's usually Nicol Bolas, Phyrexians and the Eldrazi. It like a spinning wheel of villains, with small gaps for less planer villains in between. But in saying that what are the possibility that there Eldrazi creatures (lesser kind) infect with the Glistening Oil and what horror could be created from such an union?

It's also important to note that since Jace was compleated, he would surely have provided the information of Bolas's existence to Norn. That might be related to the mission she sent him on. Possibly to compleat a powerful ally?

Okay, so interesting piece. The meditation realm was never mentioned in the story. However, of the planes that we got for the new commander decks that re-released plain Chase, the meditation realm was one of them.

I love your content!!!

I just assumed our next bad guy was the Elderazi since the Blind Eternities act as the body while the big Elderazi act as fingers, so we'd inevitably see them again but maybe with diffrent names and forms. Having said that, i think Bolas will play a big part in the story again soon after another Elderazi run-in.

I would love to see the Nicol Bolas return and honestly hadn’t thought of this at all! Cool theory!!

The demise of Bolas is a testiment to how the current writters don't understand the past lore. There are no true heros or villians in MTG only characters acting in there own interest.

Jace and Vraska MIA, emrakul in Innistrad's moon, Slivers across the multiverse can unite, Ikoria's "exclusives" are released on other planes, Tezzeret is on an unknown plane, Bolas, and Ashiok is taking advantage of the nightmares a multiversal war causes with death and ptsd

So here's the thing. I can't remember the flavor text but on one card it covered how once he was completed, Jace informed Jin Gitaxias of one of the multiverses "biggest secrets". I believe that could have to do with Bolas still being alive. And if Bolas knew about the phyrexians and was able to immunize himself and Tezzeret, its likely the phyrexians also knew about them. Now what that could mean for events during the March, Im not entirely sure, but a completed bolas could feasibly overpower Ugin. Failing that, who knows what the phyrexians could have learned in that realm. All the same, there's any number of ways for Bolas to escape, but what would his next move be? Atop that, keep in mind, the last mending event ignited the sparks of many new planeswalkers. My question is, with so many desparked, who will take their place, and more than that, is it possible for one who lost their spark to regain it? And not just Bolas, Azor.

I think the silver moon on Indestrad, the one with Emrakul in it, might also become important. Something is going to happen in the story that make Teferi 'go back in time" and reset the whole time line. Maybe as far back so Urza and Mishra dont go to war on Dominaria. Wotc will want a full reboot at somepoint.

there an interesting theory from March of The Machines, to this day we have no information about Jace's secret mission, we know Norn send him away in some mission, but nobody know the location or nature of the mission, things become extra interesting once we remember that Jace was the only person in the whole multiverse that know about Ugin and Bolas and the meditation realm. Once he was compleated, Norn probable get hold of that information too, Sowhat if Norn send Jace to invade the meditation realm?

Bolas was actually mentioned during the MOTM story arc. He’s mentioned in the flavor text of a creature card, Gitaxian Spellstalker which is the backside of the card Khenra Spellspear. WOTC loves to drop little hints on cards thatching at the future direction of storylines and sets. They’ve been doing it for years and years. Whenever a new set comes out, you can probably find a hint to it in an older set that’s a year or two old.

also, I hope Ugin did not lost his spark, he is my Favorite Planeswalker, and I hope he still has his

You know what would be cool; Have the Eldrazi come back, and because of the Omen Paths they have access to many planes instead of just one. They spread and bring the Multiverse to the brink of extinction. The only solution is for Teferi to go back in time to the War of the Spark and manipulate events so Bolas wins.

Love bolas. Need him back. My bolas tribal deck is aching for a new edition

Don't know if you have a theory for her too, but Emrakul is another one thing I'm curious. She's lock herself out because it wasn't the "time"

Personally, I'd love some new baddies at this point, save it just becoming the Dalek Problem and have the same three rotating endlessly.

My boy still is an Elder Dragon, who were supposed to be (kinda) as strong as premending walkers. So with all those sparks gone, they stand no match against him. I also have the idea that March of the machines was Bolas' back-up plan if he failed. Tezzeret is a slave of Bolas after all and he gave phyrexia the planner bridge tech. Would be a big coincidence if not right.

This is a great idea. However, it would require the Magic story team to be competent in their jobs

It’s a little close to Liliana’s story but I like the idea of the desparked characters making a deal with a Bolas, or one of the kamigawan kami or something to get their sparks back and the ways they go about it. That or the aforementioned return of the slivers would be awesome or seeing how the eldrazi react to the changes to planes and blind eternities

With everything that has happened it would be interesting if Bolas did get out of the meditation realm. Honestly I think that him and Ugin have had many conversations about everything. Also remember that only Jace knows where Ugin and Bolas are. So Jace could have telepathically contacted Ugin and told him everything that was going on or he could have went to Ugin to explain it. What would be even more interesting is if Bolas has seen the error of his ways from the conversations with Ugin. It would awesome if Bolas decides to turn into a protector and join his brother in doing for the greater good. With so many planes walkers losing their sparks it would make sense for Ugin and Bolas' help to be needed. Also even though all the phyrexians are dead except for maybe a few that didn't die and Vorinclex because remember he can revive himself from death. He did it when he went to Kaldheim.

Ultimately, he could scheme all he wants to, but would be practically impossible for him to leave unnoticed

Hoping someone like Lim-Dûl gets the spotlight. I'm also very much hoping Davriel Cane show up more as well, either as an antagonist or anti-hero.

Where are these cinematics at? Also where can you read the story as a whole?

Something I thought about, 2 things specifically, first, the omen paths opening up on many worlds, what would happen if one opened on the home world of the slivers, second, the blind eternities being damaged, how did that effect the eldrazi?!? 😮

Surprise that you didn't post pictures of the Walmart Secret Lair with Bolas God, in completed art with his brother. The art of 4 cards looks awesome.

I've been preaching the idea of Bolas's return ever since Realmbreaker punched holes into The Blind Eternities and I can't wait to see his inevitable return :D

I had on multiple videos since it was announced, mentioned that the climax of the pherexians would be an all out war between plainswalkers, slivers, pherexians and eldrazi. Wizards had every story beat opportunity to make it happen. They had every opportunity to also blend each side. We saw PHerexian planeswalkers, we already had a pherexian sliver, sorta. WE had a planeswalker who had knowledge of both pherexia and eldrazi to link the two together. The set would have been a crescendo to introduce a sliver planeswalker, an eldrazi planeswalker, an eldrazi sliver that gives slivers annihilator 1. The omen paths and invation could have been that moment where you access all the planes of existence accidently freeing bolas, causing the slivers to come back and create a new hive mind behind a planewalker that was rainbow colored that coud create slivers at will. You could have had an amazing artwork of two cards "freed from the moon" and a planewalker Emrukul, the one freed from the moon. The horrors on that plane could evolve further when Emrukul gets freed, and he would say in the minds of the inhabiants. "I was never trapped, simply home. a threat so great, we must protect." then you have a monocolored eldrazi horror that creates horrors that turn into baby eldrazi. As a planeswalker they would have the ability to summon eldrazi spawns. In other sets, that are "noncanon" we do have a sliver eldrazi. gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=slivdrazi%20monstrosity wizards could have made it cannon despite the "over powered" ability. However despite a looming climax that could have given us basicly 4 commander decks worth of rainbow support, and tying up a lot of loose threads, wizards didn't give us this amazing end. the winner btw would be planewalkers becuase they are the main characters. Non sliver, non eldrazi, non pherexian planewalkers would have been the victors, and if you have to go so far as to get rid of planewalkers, you can still do so. people you could have desparked include nico bolas, all the pherexian planewalkers, and also many of the main characters including the original 5, jace, garruk, liliana, chandra, and ajani. not sure if garruk was dead before these events so he is still lumped in here.

I can see Bolas using an omen path for the first time, once he has lost Ugin he will attempt to study the open paths in order to manipulate them to his own will allowing him to become a planeswalker once more just not officially.

minor correction: Bolas was mentioned on a flavor text in MoM by Gitaxis for the uncommon flip card

Planeswalker or not, I really do hope we see Bolas in some kind of story soon.

I would love another story around bolas. And him winning. Maybe a flip planeswalker again, then another flip walker that turns Eldrazzi. Since it would be intersting for there to be a villain arc mostly devoid of the traditional heros of the story that results in him losing/being corrupted by the eldrazzi and then them creeping through to new plains.

I mean, Bolas needed to be nerfed. That said, his end is not an end at all and given the fact that he can recover his dragon powers and has as much knowledge as Ugin or even more, I think he will return.

Nicol Bolas is like Sauron. I'm excited for his return

New Phyrexia did not get a fraction of the screen time as Bolas, after a decade of him outsmarting everyone and being behind almost every plot point I have enjoyed his absence. That being said, incredible video! Kudos to you if your prediction is accurate.

Tezzert having a weird memory regain might be related too.

Not sure how Bolas would hear about what happened to new phyrexia but I imagine what he would probably do is attempt to force himself into becoming a praetor once he learns there's no leadership. Like, he suspected that they would find a way to branch out across the multiverse, just didn't know how they would go about it. With the omen paths, I can totally see a moment where one would just open up right next to Bolas or whatever it is his name would now be and just leave.

Bringing Bolas back would be interesting. I do believe we will see him again but like how we saw the Praetors just randomly appearing. Remmeber how Kaldheim was spoiled and Vorniclex was just hanging out in the spoiler list and we all thought "what is he doing here?" I think the same will happen with Bolas. I'm not sure if he'll be able to become the full-time big bad villian this time around but he will for sure try to. Don't forget, Tezzerret is still out roaming the multiverse. We don't know if he has a spark atm but I think he pulled a victory too. We know he is evil. He made out of there ALIVE and NOT COMPLEATED. It's going to be interesting to see what they do with him. Let not forget he also got his candy bag from Elesh Norn being the new Darksteel body so he is now a threat for sure. It's going to be a wild ride but for funzies it'd be hilarious to see Tezz have power over Bolas.

You've left out the fact that Jace knew where Bolas hasn't been seen since the first act. Bolas was also flashed in the march of the machines trailer.

I think Ugin still has his spark. Would love to see a lore video on what os known about Serra. Now that's an OG character.....

What if the spread of Phyrexia was another contingency plan of his? We assumed he didn't expect to be imprisoned, but killed. But if he had planned on leaving the Phyrexians alone knowing their eventual plans, it sure seems like not attacking them earlier was intentional and knowing they'd wreak havoc and inflict heavy losses across the multiverse while also giving him a door out of the meditation realm would be pretty beneficial considering he would have a weaker resistance to overcome after Phyrexia did the initial hard work.

only catch with the omen paths, he'd have to probably finds one large enough, since from my understanding he is about as large as an ancient dragon in dnd terms

I wonder in the subplot around Kasmina introduced in Strixhaven will ever pay off.

You forgot about the last Titan eldrazi Emrukal who was trapped in a moon by planes Walkers in innistrad

Would love to see bolas come back wanted to have my kids play a dnd story helping defeat him in the war never got around to it they know about the story would be cool to have him come back and finish the fight and do a story with my kids doing something to “help” beat him

I honestly believe that Elish Norns actions, the desparking of planeswalkers in general would be a good story on how Nicol Bolas broke free (and no one would notice but Ugin). Question is, do you reinstate him as the big bad guy again or do you shift his actions and intentions into something else?

if i had a dollar for every god-Emperor in fiction, i would have three dollars.

Since the phyrexian invasion of the multiverse with ONE and MOM started, I've wondered if there would be an alliance beetween Bolas and the heroes against them. Another terrifying idea I've gave some thought was how it would be even more disturbing if Elesh tried, in her hubris, to assimilate Enrakul from her prision in the moon, and phyrexia got devastated and devoured by a host of even more dangerous Eldrazi.

Bolas is going to come back just like how eventually the phyrexians will come back

In b4 Liliana and Tezzerat team up, breach the meditation plain, and give Bolas the ass kicking of a lifetime.

I INSTANTLY made the conection that only Jace knows where bolas is, and he's evil now.

So speaking of jace did he lose his spark or did he die?

Always thought there would be some connections with Bolas and the plane Yagmoth found and made Phyrexia because of all the dragon essence

Meanwhile, Emrakul is just chillin

I wouldn't mind, Nicky B is my 3rd favourite after Niv Mizzet and my all time favourite Sengir himself. I still live in hope that the Baron will either develop a spark or consume a poor random planeswalker foolish enough to blunder into his domain through a ritual and steal the spark from them.

I understood from the story/cards that Bolas succeeded in becoming a god, he just had his spark torn away

I've always had an interest in Nicol Bolas rerurning

heres how i could see bolas returning into the storyline, it would start off with him escaping the meditation realm not through an omen path because I think ugin would notice it and start a man hunt for him. he would probably fly through a portal opened from realm breaker while ugin fights phyrexia, he would probably then make his way through phyrexia avoiding oil and battle. after the march of machines he would come to find an omen path and begin his scheming. as he searches for omenpaths and memorizing where they lead, he would find either ob nixilis, nahari, or calix. he would probably promise them a way to regain their sparks with the promise of their loyalty. and then one thing leads to another he's the bbeg once more

It's faaar from as out there as it seems. We'll see Nicky again, for sure.

Jace being compleated, he knew where Bolas was, what if he was Compleated, and could be used as a way to bring himself as well as the Phyrexians back one final time in the future ?

Did MOM end with the phrase "a greater threat awaits"? I do believe that greater threat is Bolas returning but more powerful and with something more devastating

Oh yay, we can go from the most stereotypical MTG villain to the second-most one.

If Bolas were to escape the prison realm, then his primary goal would be to get his spark back. If this return is only possible because of Nugin losing his spark than he of course can't take Nugin's. The Omenpaths are pretty much random so if Bolas can't capture a planeswalker and steal their spark he would want to try and control the Omenpaths. His first step would be to conquer whatever plane he is dropped off on, that seems obvious. From there he would try to monitor any planeswalkers that either arrive or have their spark awakened or try to monitor the appearance of more Omenpaths. Is Realmbreaker on Zhalfir or is it somehow opening these paths from the phased out New Phyrexia? If he can't get to Realmbreaker then he would need to get to the still regrowing new World Tree on Kheldheim. Wtih the Omenpaths being random the only clue we would have is what would make the most narrative sense (without being too forced by dropping him off at the perfect plane for his plans to work such as Zhalfir(?) or Kheldheim) and that it most likely won't be in the next few sets to be released since it was stated that they want to focus on stories that step away from the greater multiverse conflicts for a bit. So that would eliminate Eldraine (although the civil war for succession would be a good opportunity for a power grab) and Ixalan. Then there is the chance that they would put him in a new plane that hasn't been created/revealed yet, like they did for Vorenclex. Putting him in Innistrad would be interesting. If he learns or already knows about the secret of it's moon than he may try to find a way to make use of the Eldrazi.

Where did bolas’ spark go after it was taken from him as well as all the other planeswalkers from war of the spark that lost theirs?

While I hope Bolas makes an eventual comeback, I don’t want that story for a few more years. The Praetors story is over…now for something new…or maybe back around to Emmy in the moon…(but wouldn’t that start with Innistrad, which we just left…) so maybe something totally new would be refreshing.

I reckon Bolas comes back as a 5 colour "recovered" character, who claims to have learnt from his mistakes and initally starts to repair the chaos of the phyrexian invasion along with some sort of new gatewatch type band of planeswalkers. I reckon we are due some return of eldrazi soon, so maybe he comes back and helps win some battle over Emrekul and it appears that all is forgiven. However, given time he see's the chance for power and screws everyone over in some way as he tries to take over again.

I hope that the MTG Lore has another major timeskip so that we can get a new set of protagonist

I don’t believe it’s possible. Bolas’s memories where taken away from him by Jace, and right now he’s MIA

The first thing i thought when MoM story ended was: "Wait. If Jace can still be Phyrexified, that means that A PHYREXIAN KNOWS ABOUT BOLAS." Because, if some can record, there were only two in the whole multiverse that knew Bolas name after War of the Spark and the whole multiverse mind wipe of Nico Bolas name was made to prevent someone summoning him back. Which means that if Jace is still out there, if he's still compleated, the multiverse is still fucked and the Writer's team has no need to create another threat or even bring back old ones because Bolas is just RIGHT THERE.

Tezzeret won motm in my opinion, he's free from phyrexia with a darksteel body, along with the planar Bridge. Yeah he's been captive of phyrexia and Bolas but surely he's going to be the next big thing before long. He's now got time to plot and with less and less people to stop him and he's only getting stronger and stronger. Maybe it's time he went back to kaladesh or a major artifice plane to take over and seek rule for himself

If Ob Nixillus regains his spark again, imagine a three way alliance between Ashiok, Nixilus, and Darksteel Tezzeret. All 3 have been minor annoyances to the planes they controlled, or they have been in service of other villains. It's a shaky alliance, but it's deadly for most walkersto deal with. Demon walker who regained his spark and effortlessly defeated Jace, Nissa, and Gideon; Ashiokis on another level of power with the nightmares and ptsd of a multiversal war; and Tezzeret is a scheming individual with an indestructibe body.

I was just thinking about this earlier this morning. I was musing in the bath, like most mortals do, when it came upon me that now, there could possibly be a small tear in Ugin's impermeable prison for his brother. I find the possibility that the whole phyrexian ordeal was, after all, the elder dragon's backup plan funny. It is not beneath Bolas to plan that far ahead and even utilize some gooey tools to break his prison but that wouldn't pass as a creative writing on the part of WotC. Nevertheless, I await my God-Pharoah's return. Another thing that made me wonder: Will the Sword of the Realm from Kaldheim now work in the multiverse: opening and closing multiversal omenpaths?

Bolas probably learned a lot more than we realize from Tezzeret after he was deployed to Mirrodin by him. I don’t think it’s as simple as Bolas learning how avoid being compleated; I think he learned how to retain agency if he was. What better army to have than Phyrexians who’d worship him as a god? I think he found a way to subjugate compleated people. If my own theory is right, using this power he summoned Jace to him and harvested his spark, then defeated Ugin to escape. It’s possible he allowed himself to be compleated and retained his agency, and with this seeming power-up he could travel the Multiverse and begin conquering planes.

they made a comic series about what happened after war of the spark...16 comics later they say they killed Nicol bolas

I’m not 100 versed in the lore but what was jace doing before they decided to try and blow up the tree themselves. I feel like since the last visit to zendikar he’s been rather absent from the story until he showed up in dominaria for the start of the war. Jace being infected and also being minimal in the story I feel like just leaves a lot open to theory and it’s not a satisfying end as lilliana had mentioned that the man with back up plans for his back up plans just willing turned himself over for love like it just feels very dr strange in infinity war giving up the time stone

Yeah Omen Bridges or Omen Paths definitely a good name when there is a vindictive ex plainswalker stuck in a realm where nothing exists but him almost like the multiverse welcoming a punisher to those that nearly killed reality and even messed with the natural things by killing Eldrazi Titans that as far as we know the Multiverse needed so it can regulate the plains Though i can see Bolas willfully becoming a Phyrexian just to get out of the Prison Realm. I could also see this all as a set up by Bolas to get rid of the competition early as in Phyrexians as the guy was so strong there was no way he would have lost unintentionally just like Emrakul in fact the Multiverse just to spite the Gatewatch might turn Bolas into a Eldrazi Titan a being that far surpasses that of a plainswalker and far surpasses Bolas's prime I don't know as Bolas is a smart creature so i am sure he would have planned for his brother to imprison him if it looks like he was about to die as then he could just wait for the March of the Machine to poke holes in the multiverse and escape then steal a spark from a plainswalker thus becoming one once more and no gatewatch to stop him

I do think we will see Bolas again, but i dont think worldbreaker breached the his prison. It seems pretty clear that it needed some guidance to reach destinations, and given that only jace and ugin know, and Jace wasnt steering the tree, i dont think it would have targeted the meditation realm. That being said, maybe some twigs branched off and poked a hole? Course, if there is no breach, ugin getting desparked isn't that bad of an outcome since Bolas would still be trapped, for now.

I always had the impression that Bolas did not loose his godhood when he lost his spark. It is a far more satisfying ending to his story IMO if he had reclaimed the power he dreamed of, but lost his freedom in the process.