Who would win in a fight?
Lore forum
Posted on July 13, 2013, 2:27 a.m. by Krayhaft
Phyrexians, Eldrazi, or Nicol Bolas?
Judging purely from their strengths as portrayed in the story (so not card power wise), if it came down to an all-in cosmic encounter, who would come out on top?
Post-mending Bolas right now, in this point in time.
I feel like Bolas would have the upper hand. Both the phyrexians and eldrazi have advantages in raw strength and numbers, but Bolas has that patient, scheming, surgical precision planning that none of the others have. Given enough time, he will (and has) try to undermine the others to bend them to his will.
July 13, 2013 2:47 a.m.
10vernothin says... #5
Which is more powerful, Mono-colour strategy, multi-colour strategy or colourless strategy?
My bet is that Phyrexians will fight the Eldrazis and win, dissect the eldrazis, integrate them into themselves and be corrupted and die off. Then the big reveal: apparently this was all Nicol Bolas' plan in the making.
July 13, 2013 2:51 a.m.
I think he'd win. Now if he were ever to join forces with the phyrexians...
July 13, 2013 2:51 a.m.
Formortiis says... #7
It should still be noted that there was a point in time that the most powerful entity in the multiverse was the creator of Phyrexia: Yawgmoth. Even with Yawgmoth dead, though, who's to say that whoever the Phyrexians choose to be the Father of Machines in place of Karn won't have that same sort of power?
July 13, 2013 2:51 a.m.
Formortiis says... #8
Then the big reveal: apparently this was all Nicol Bolas' plan in the making.
I don't think so. Bolas sent Tezzeret to try and stop the Phyrexians.
July 13, 2013 2:52 a.m.
They shall choose bolas, and eliminate GW from the multiverse
July 13, 2013 2:53 a.m.
10vernothin says... #10
That's what he TOLD Tezzeret to do. ;)
Once a dimir, always a dimir , no matter how much red you splash.
July 13, 2013 2:55 a.m.
Formortiis says... #11
Unless Nicol Bolas can pull of a Xanatos Roulette on a planar scale, then it's probably safe to assume that he sent Tezzeret to stop the Phyrexians because he really wanted the Phyrexians to be stopped.
...Then again, this IS Bolas we're talking about, but Wizards couldn't possibly do something that stretches willing suspension of disbelief that much, can they?
July 13, 2013 2:58 a.m.
Golden_Ladybug says... #13
Actually, in point of fact, Nicol Bolas never instructed Tezzeret to stop the Phyrexians.
Tezzeret was sent to stop them from uniting behind a leader. Bolas's game is unclear right now, but he's clearly got something in the works. He's behind the release of the Eldrazi, he's keeping tabs on Liliana's usage of the Chain Veil and he's placed Tezzeret into a position of power amongst Phyrexia.
If I was going to back anyone in the ongoing MtG storyline, it would be Lord Bolas.
July 13, 2013 5:22 a.m.
KrazyCaley says... #15
"Unless Nicol Bolas can pull of a Xanatos Roulette on a planar scale...."
That is literally all he does, ever.
Bolas, like Batman, wins if he has time to prepare.
July 13, 2013 7:39 a.m.
KrazyCaley says... #16
I'm on whoever's side that turned The Eon Fog into The Eon Fog. Someone counterspelled that whole plane.
Chances are above 90% that Bolas is somehow responsible, so there you go.
July 13, 2013 7:41 a.m.
Formortiis says... #17
There's a difference between a Batman Gambit and a Xanatos Roulette. Batman Gambits, while still reliant on how a person acts, takes a person's general personality into account and accounts for them simply acting the way they always do. It's something that can actually reasonably be predicted most of the time without breaking willing suspension of disbelief. Roulettes, however, predict everything a person will do down to where they are, what time they are there, and why. Usually they rely on factors that no sane person would actually account for at any given time. Bolas may be a Chessmaster, but even he, in the grand scheme of things, must adhere to the power of The Plot.
July 13, 2013 7:45 a.m.
Golden_Ladybug says... #18
Bolas spends all his time directing an interplanar network of agents, a fleet of teleporting imps that serve as messengers and a small number of Planeswalkers devoted to him. From his own private plane. While possessing more knowledge of the multiverse and magic than potentially any other being.
When we consider Nicol Bolas, I'd say that having knowledge of factors that no sane person would be able to account for seems right up his alley.
July 13, 2013 8:53 a.m.
Formortiis says... #19
That would be a good basis for him being good at setting up Xanatos Gambits or playing Xanatos Speed Chess, but Xanatos Roulettes are completely different. This is the TVTropes article for reference.
July 13, 2013 12:27 p.m.
Now, what if all these entities were suddenly thrown into a cramped battlefield and only one group could leave?
July 13, 2013 2:28 p.m.
lord_of_the_snakes says... #21
bolas would back away from them both then when they killled each other he would blow them away with his planeswalker powers, duh
July 13, 2013 3:01 p.m.
In all of the afformentioned cases i feel the need to pointnout one thing.....Planeswalkers are A) immortal B) possess god level power and C) as long as they have access to the mana can produce near limitless effects. So all bolad has to do is produce a damnation like effect and he wins.
July 13, 2013 3:06 p.m.
Formortiis says... #23
Planeswalkers are A) immortal B) possess god level power and C) as long as they have access to the mana can produce near limitless effects.
Post-Mending none of these are still true. This is why Bolas was so pissed.
July 13, 2013 4:11 p.m.
Hmmmmmm good point. Think I probably blocked that out due to it being too traumatic to deal with. Thanks for ruining my fantasy land.......and my line of thinking. Lol. Someone refresh my memory. What specifically was it that caused the mending?
July 13, 2013 4:33 p.m.
Formortiis says... #25
A bunch of planeswalkers giving up their sparks to heal the time rifts in Dominara to the best of my knowledge. I didn't actually read the Time Spiral story, so I don't actually know.
July 13, 2013 5:07 p.m.
TheSeventhNinja says... #26
Lets face it, Slivers win. You show Slivers the Phyxerians, you get Phyxerian Slivers. You show Slivers the Eldrazi, you get Eldrazi Slivers.
July 14, 2013 7:38 p.m.
10vernothin says... #27
waiting for Planeswalker Slivers
Oh god, if Slivers share one soul... does that mean ALL slivers planeswalk if the Sliver queen has the PW spark?
July 14, 2013 8:08 p.m.
Theoretically a sliver can be planeswalkers. The more advanced, sentient ones fit the criteria for having a spark.
July 14, 2013 8:36 p.m.
sabrepaisan says... #29
Bellock86 This is the rough break down-During the invasion, Teferi didn't want to see his whole home and world destroyed and phased Shiv and Zalfir out of the time stream. A long time later he came back to Dominaria and realized that he screwed up huge and tried to phase them back in. But in doing so created paradox and paradox. People from the past came back but from alternate timelines where the events we know as cannon occured differently such as mirri becoming Rath's evincar instead of crovax (Mirri the Cursed
) and Kamahl becoming a druid instead of a barbarian (Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
). And other people just kept showing up and the phasing out of existence (hence lots of legends becoming time shifted).Anyway, this was creating a catastrophic event that was threatening to quite literally destroy the multiverse so Teferi recruited as many planeswalkers as he could to seal the time rifts above different areas of dominaria, although in doing so, lot's of them had to sacrifice themselves. The "mending" worked but it altered the state of the planeswalker spark and diminished their powers to only a fraction of what they once were. This is why Bolas became obsessed with the conflux on alara, trying to suck out as much pure mana as he could to try to regain as much of his lost power as he was able. It's also one of the reasons Liliana made her demon deals (as she gained her spark before the mending).
Extremely complicated story as it pulls from almost every expansion since the begining, but hopefully that helped you out a little bit. Sorry for the length here guys. :)
July 14, 2013 11:19 p.m.
Hey no problem and thanks. And of course now I feel dumb cuz I read one of the books for when that was all happening. I think I read the one that talked about karn.
July 14, 2013 11:26 p.m.
sabrepaisan says... #31
karn was there. I think he sealed the Tolarian rift. And definitely no reason to feel dumb at all. I've always been really into the lore for Magic.
July 14, 2013 11:30 p.m.
I cast my vote with Bolas. The Eldrazi are far and away the most powerful beings in this epic battle and the Phyrexian Swarm will have a vast numbers advantage but Bolas has something the other two lack, cunning and vast knowledge. Assuming Bolas has not organized this fight himself to weaken what are potentially the two biggest hurtles in his quest to control the entire multiverse and finish off the drastically reduced survivor he would undoubtedly see such an opportunity and take it. A big few big factors here is A) Preparation time B) Phyrexias disorganization (there's actually a chance they would turn on each other and quickly eliminate themselves fom the equation) and C) Which Eldrazi show up for the battle. Assuming the big Eldrazi are all together in this and the Phyrexian hoard turn on each other then (and only then in my opinion) does Bolas lose.
July 15, 2013 12:25 p.m.
I think the problem is that we don't know enough about the Eldrazi. We know that they're intelligent, but their sentience is on a level that's far different from a mortal mind's, even Bolas. He did try to undermine the Eldrazi during zendi block but we're not sure if that actually did anything.
It may turn out that the Eldrazi are so calculating and so mentally different that not even Bolas can manipulate them.
July 15, 2013 12:30 p.m.
They all three lose, Liliana uses her exceptional powers of necromancy (now boosted by the Chain Vail) to resurrect Yawgmoth who proceeds to destroy the Multiverse and build it anew in his own image. Yawgmoth, the MtG equivalent of Chuck Norris.
July 15, 2013 12:48 p.m.
Formortiis says... #35
and Kamahl becoming a druid instead of a barbarian (Kamahl, Fist of Krosa ).
Actually that happened in canon. The whole point of the Onslaught block was that Kamahl was tired of being a barbarian after realizing he killed his sister and retired to become a druid.
July 15, 2013 2:47 p.m.
sabrepaisan says... #36
I was not aware of this. I thought it was a personality chance in the time streams. Thank you for the correction.
July 15, 2013 5:53 p.m.
Formortiis says... #38
I would agree with Psyren only because Nicol Bolas had the Eldrazi released for a reason.
July 17, 2013 9:07 p.m.
harrydemon117 says... #39
Nicol bolas has over 25,000 years of experiences and I would imagine enough intellect to know how to handle both of these foes.
He was smart enough in fact that he sent a copy of himself to "lure out Tezzeret's" plot.
He knows how the Eldrazi AND the phyrexians work and thus would be able to manipulate them both. It is only a matter of time before his true intentions are revealed, however I think it is something to do with him wanting to absorb a few of the Planeswalkers to enchance his powers again after the Mending (similar to the Highlander storyline). He needs them in a weakened state so he is releasing HUGE threats that will have to be dealt with on different planes and thus Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker can swoop in after the planeswalker is exhausted, easily overwhelm him/her, and steal his/her powers
Here's where I got my info from: http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Nicol_Bolas
July 18, 2013 9:29 a.m.
WanderingSpirit says... #40
Bolas is easily the Batman of the multiverse. I'm pretty sure everyone has touched on this lol.
He would never fight the Eldrazi in a direct conflict. Emrakul would just eat him or cast all is dust or something.
However, the Phyrexians do have enough force to contend with the Eldrazi.
It's well known that Bolas was looking into Phyrexia's activities through Tezzeret, and that he played a hand in releasing the Eldrazi. He could influence events in a way that lead to the destruction of both factions.
I think if they were thrown into a cramped arena, my bet is with the Eldrazi... they eat words lol...
August 15, 2013 5:07 p.m.
I don't think Bolas would win. I don't know, there are just so many planeswalkers that are trying to stop him, and he has been beaten. I don't remember how, but I was told once was by Ajani, and the other by someone in the past. I think They all lose in the end. But i could be wrong.
August 16, 2013 12:41 a.m.
lord_of_the_snakes says... #42
he used a spell to copy nicol bolas and have that fight him, ajani didn't win, it was a tie, and ajani didn't fight, like i said, he had a copy of bolas fight
August 16, 2013 7:01 a.m.
Bolas would win. I also think that somehow he is entirely behind phyrexia.
June 20, 2014 5:05 p.m.
biggestmtgnerd says... #44
Bolas would planeswalk away, let the phyrexians and eldrazi fight each other, find a shandalarian sliver planeswalker, have him share his spark with both the dominarian hive and the Shandalarian hive. The shandalarian hive charges in riding dominarian slivers, before both hives become phyrexian-eldrazi-sliver hybrids and crush both teams before blowing-up because of some bombs he planted on them.
Formortiis says... #2
I would say the Phyrexians as I'm more scared of them than the other 2 (even if the Eldrazi would unquestionably kill me whereas the other two might keep me alive). It should also be said that Bolas wanted the Eldrazi free, but was also scared enough by the Phyrexians that he sent Tezzeret to try and stop them.
July 13, 2013 2:36 a.m.