Not sure if real, but: SOI Poster! OMG THAT VILLAIN! FAKE
Spoilers, Rumors, and Speculation forum
Posted on Jan. 22, 2016, 8:45 p.m. by CheeseBro
Im not sure whether this is real or fake, but seriously if this is real HOLY SHIT!!
NICOL BOLAS!!!!
Is this real? Discuss!
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #3
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS!!!!!!!
January 22, 2016 8:49 p.m. Edited.
I would definitely be interested in a Nicol Bolas return
January 22, 2016 8:57 p.m.
Sorry guys, I was just as hyped as the rest of you.
January 22, 2016 8:59 p.m.
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #10
Well damn. Maybe wizards will now see how bad we want him back though? :)
January 22, 2016 9 p.m.
GoldGhost012 says... #11
Dammit! I want Bolas back! In an actual plot-related conniving villain role instead of a little cameo! :'(
January 22, 2016 9:01 p.m. Edited.
JohnnyBaggins says... #12
I really want a plot revolving around and climaxing in another confrontation of Bolas and Ugin. I was really hyped on this for a moment.
January 22, 2016 9:09 p.m. Edited.
TheHelvault says... #16
GoldGhost012 right, but then sarkhan went back in time and changes it so ugin survived, therefore, bolas never killed the elder Dragons (dromoka, Kolaghan, Ojutai, the lot) and so ugin could help capture the Eldrazi. So didn't ugin end up killing bolas?
January 22, 2016 9:41 p.m.
https://mobile.twitter.com/TheProxyGuy/status/689858444560592896 CheeseBro
January 22, 2016 9:45 p.m.
GoldGhost012 says... #18
TheHelvault: No. Ugin and Bolas still had their epic fight, Ugin was critically injured and left for dead, then Bolas planeswalked away. Then Sarkhan managed to heal Ugin. Ugin was then trapped in the healing cycle for 1280 years until recent times. They haven't (that we know of) met since.
Technically Bolas never killed the Dragonlords either (since they aren't the same Elder Dragons that fought the Elder Dragon War). The clans and the lack of dragon tempests that spawned new dragons killed the Dragonlords.
January 22, 2016 9:51 p.m.
RoarMaster says... #20
Bolas has died a couple times. Nobody stays dead anymore though it seems.
January 22, 2016 10:19 p.m.
Shame it was fake. i was looking forward to another nicol based story line
January 22, 2016 10:27 p.m.
Bolas showing up soon wouldn't be the most ridiculous thing lore-wise right now. Even though this poster ended up being fake, maybe he is still lurking just around the corner for us.
January 22, 2016 10:58 p.m.
I was so hype. I wanted to see Sorin&or Avacyn face off against bolas and completely own him. Hopefully the villain whoever or whatever it is is a decent follow up to the Kozilek Ulamog double header. I'm enjoying the faster plot :D
January 23, 2016 12:27 a.m.
and nobody noticed that the moon didn't match the style guide for old Innistrad... (it just looked kind of generic to me is all)
Innistrad's moon is important...
January 23, 2016 5:19 a.m. Edited.
There are several plot possibilities for the new expansion:
-Liliana (meh)
-A new Demon (booooring)
-Phyrexian invasion (cool)
-Emrakul (too soon?)
-Plane collapse/crash (Could be interesting, a natural phenomenon, unavoidable, everybody die a new plane is formed, the plot revolves around the last days of the survivors, people desperately trying to find a way to evacuate, people accepting their fate, people turning to faith, rampant chaos, cultists of the end of the world, people kill Sorin for his spark but it doesn't work).
-Civil war (meh)
-Ob-Nixilis (too soon)
-Slivers (Slivers always makes things better)
January 23, 2016 8:53 a.m.
I didn't think of ob nixilis but he would make sense since the plane was left without a head demon so he could slot right in. Instead though it would become demons vs vampires and humans. The vampires would not be happy that demons are going to slaughter their livestock.
Also Sorin va ob nixilis would be an awesome fight.
Side note: does ob nixilis have a relation with the chain veil?
January 23, 2016 9:06 a.m.
yes, Nixilis is veil cursed, he went to Zendikar hoping to exploit its mana to purge the curse.
January 23, 2016 9:12 a.m.
Well then ob nixilis now that he's truly demonic might go after Liliana to reclaim the veil?
January 23, 2016 1:58 p.m.
I want something new. Something we have never seen before.
January 23, 2016 2:11 p.m.
I want a 3 drop Emrakul, the Aeons Torn planeswalker haha
January 23, 2016 2:17 p.m. Edited.
I don't think wizards is gonna give us that yet. Maybe in the future but not yet.
January 23, 2016 2:32 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #33
If that poster is real, it is a very awesome one, and I would like to see Bolas have direct involvement in the storyline, again, since he has not played a direct role in it since the Alara block, which was eight years ago, now. However, a colossal elder dragon with godly, world-shattering power does not really fit into the gothic horror world of Innistrad, instead being more suited to an Arthurian/Tolkienian high fantasy setting, so, if Bolas is involved with this block, he shall not directly appear, instead being indirectly referenced and influencing events from the shadows, as is his normal style of operation.
January 23, 2016 5:55 p.m.
I could see bolas fitting into the theme. The story of Beowulf ends with a dragon killing him so I can see bolas fitting into the setting. I mean yes his power level is a thousand times greater but there are dragons on inistrad and I can see one or two possible situations of him directly influencing without disrupting the theme.
Or the we could see a clash between gothic and high fantasy which would lead to an epic showdown between him and the hero(Sorin Avacyn or even Thalia) that would end with the hero perishing.
January 23, 2016 10:55 p.m.
RoarMaster How has Nicol Bolas died? To my knowledge he hasn't been killed yet. Yes Wizards likes to bring characters back but I don't know of a time that Bolas has ever actually been killed.
January 24, 2016 2:47 p.m.
GoldGhost012 says... #36
"Madaran Emperor
On Madara [part of Dominaria], three mana lines, blue, black, and red, intersected at a single point that was ideal for Bolas's purposes. His presence had grown so powerful that he required those three lines to anchor himself, lest his presence overwhelm the plane and crack its foundation. Bolas slew the then Empress of Madara and erected his Imperial Shrine on the focal point. From there, he reigned for 400 years as god-emperor of Madara.
Unfortunately, Bolas created his own worst enemy in the form of his Imperial Champion, Tetsuo Umezawa. After several trials, Tetsuo renounced his title and declared his intention to slay Bolas. Using the Meteor Hammer spell, Tetsuo destroyed Bolas's Imperial Shrine, while Bolas's body was inside, severing the elder dragon's anchor to Dominaria completely. The dragon had abandoned his body, unaware of the trap, and followed Tetsuo to the Meditation Plane, where he was killed by Umezawa in this weakened state.
However a ghostly remnant of his life force still lingered in the rift by the coast connected to the Meditation Realm.
Time rifts
Bolas remained present in his land as the time rifts became dire, presenting himself under the alias of Sensei Ryu. His lands were overrun by the nekoru descendants of Wasitora and their followers. When he sensed that Teferi, Temporal Archmage was lost in a rift and had become separated from his companions he arranged for them to arrive on the Madaran beach near the Talon Gates. Using Venser, Shaper Savant's latent planeswalker spark he was able to escape his prison and was reborn into the physical world."
All this ripped from Bolas's MTGSalvation article, with a couple edits.
January 24, 2016 3:24 p.m.
I could see bolas being killed on innistrad since Thalia would be a fitting hero.
@Goldghost does it say what happened to Tetsuo?
January 24, 2016 4:33 p.m.
GoldGhost012 Ah, I was under the impression that it was only his body that was killed. I guess in a way that's still true as his spirit continued to linger, was able to plot and be reborn.
Still only once, not the multiple that was stated.
January 24, 2016 4:51 p.m.
GoldGhost012 says... #39
Ej1997: With Bolas's death, the empire erupted into chaos and he swore to restore it. Since as of the Time Spiral block (roughly 355 years later), Madara is ruled by the Nekoru (cat-dragons) and humans are nothing more than "...servants, clerics, and slaves." So yeah, we don't really know what went down in the meantime.
January 24, 2016 8:55 p.m.
That would be interesting if we got another two block for time spiral that would tell that story.
January 24, 2016 9:41 p.m.
RoarMaster says... #41
iAzire So my rememberances of ancient mtg fluff is a little sketchy at this point, and I cant say for sure it was a different time than the one gold was mentioning, but at one point bolas was ina battle with some dude, who used bolas's own magic spell against him, and bolas was "anihilated", and he was gone from the mtg universe, both in lore, and in practice for a long time. When he finally resurfaced, they gleaned over hos utter "anihilation" saying that that meant they never found his body, not that he was actually removed from existance or killed. It was a really weak backpeddaling at the time, I remember that.
January 26, 2016 3:06 a.m. Edited.
Perhaps when Ajani attempted to fight Bolas? Ajani used a spell that created a perfect copy of Bolas and had it fight Bolas. They were a perfect match for each other, they bit each other and disappeared.
The story with that is that after they disappeared nobody knows how damaged Bolas was.
I believe Tezzeret also attempted to kill Bolas and after it seemed like Tezzeret had won the battle it was revealed that Tezzeret had only been fighting a construction (like a golem of Bolas) that was created by Bolas.
Those are the only two other possibilities I can think of. I know for sure that Bolas survived both fights with Ugin. Bolas won the first fight and killed Ugin. After Sarkahn changed the time line, Bolas and Ugin fought again, both dragons survived.
GoldGhost012 says... #2
Hell yes! Time to integrate Bolas back into the current storyline! I am excite.
January 22, 2016 8:46 p.m.