Will There Ever Again Be a Threat to the Multiverse as Great as Old Phyrexia?
Lore forum
Posted on May 30, 2016, 9:41 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
The original Phyrexia was, with very little doubt, the greatest threat that the multiverse ever experienced: every known plane at that time was threatened by it, in some way, numerous powerful characters had to put aside old differences and join forces, and, even with all their efforts, countless lives were lost and Dominaria was forever affected by the battle.
However, since that time, the multiverse has been relatively safe; while each planes has been threatened by various dangers, the multiverse as a whole has not experienced anything on the scale of the original Phyrexia for a long time.
However, I am certain that that situation shall eventually change, especially with WotC not having a central story to the game, again, but the question is what, exactly, will be the next great threat to the multiverse. From my perspective, there are three potential candidates at the present time.
First, WotC seemed to be greatly building the eldrazi as a major threat to the multiverse, especially during the Battle for Zendikar block, but two of the three legendary eldrazi have already been defeated, and the third, no matter how powerful it is, cannot be as great a threat as the other two combined. I am absolutely certain that WotC is waiting to have the final battle with Emrakul, to maintain suspense and make it seem to be a deadly foe, so I do not believe that it shall appear on Innistrad.
Second, there is Nicol Bolas, a master manipulator who has been plotting diabolical schemes across various planes for centuries, but he has not had a direct role in the story since the Alara block, so players are wondering when he shall once again be the focus of the story.
Third, there is New Phyrexia, which currently is not nearly as powerful as was the original Phyrexia and also has not yet found a way to travel to other planes from Mirrodin, but I am certain that it is only a matter of time before they construct planar portals and invade other planes,a nd there is also the fact that Karn may have spread the Phyrexian oil to other planes, as well; WotC would not bring back the greatest antagonists in the game for them to be defeated too quickly and easily.
There is also the possibility that a completely new and heretofore unknown threat to the multiverse may emerge; I do not believe that Ob-Nixilis will ever be as powerful or dangerous as the other three whom I mentioned, but he shall definitely be a recurring villain, and I am certain that WotC shall eventually devise another great menace. I have seen some users suggest that a number of evil planeswalkers may form an alliance, an evil counterpart to the Gatewatch, which I believe would be an interesting idea.
What does everyone else say about this? Will there ever again be a threat to the multiverse as great as the original Phyrexia, and what form may it take? I look forward to hearing any ideas that you may have on this subejct.
DemonDragonJ says... #3
Mj3913: to me, the chain veil is more of an evil "Chekov's gun" (or perhaps "Chekov's boomerang" would be more appropriate) than an actual threat to the multiverse. It is a danger to Liliana alone, and thus is a major driving factor in her story, but I fail to see how it could be a threat to the multiverse as a whole. The same is also true for Garruk; he does not have any grand schemes or far-reaching plans; he currently is a savage hunter, akin to the various killers of various slasher films, so he certainly is not likely to become a threat to the entire multiverse.
May 30, 2016 10:32 p.m.
I would love to see see Nicol Bolas assume the role and for what it's worth he's 25,000+ years old so he's far more established than you give him credit for.
May 30, 2016 11:58 p.m.
Nittykitty says... #5
You should phrase it as "will there ever again be a threat as great as Yawgmoth?" rather than old Phyrexia. Man got things done: Phyrexia, Yawgmoth's Will, Yawgmoth's Bargain...
Elesh Norn is the new Mother of Machines for what it's worth, and I'd rather have a Mardu-colored Norn over Bolas. I feel like the whole presence of the Gatewatch makes it hard to make a real villain, and I'm sad they haven't stripped Sorin of his white alignment after deeging Avacyn.
May 31, 2016 12:39 a.m.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #7
"The Chain Veil was created to turn someone into a vessel for the resurrection of that long-dead race."
What I meant is could this 'Long-dead Race' be considered a future opponent of greater magnitude akin to Phyrexia/Eldrazi.
May 31, 2016 2:31 a.m.
I believe the eldrazi are simply the locks binding away a greater millennia old monstrosity possibly dating back to during or pre yawgmoth. My other thing is maybe the reason the reprinted tomb of yawgmoth so recently was that they're planning for someone to raid the tomb?
May 31, 2016 10:36 p.m.
asasinater13 says... #9
I think the next major threat is going to be whatever happens when all three eldrazi are eliminated. Bolas arranged for this to happen, he knows something we don't (as usual) and thinks it will help him become a pre-mending power-level walker again. and a singel pre-mending walker could take on basically anything else known in the multiverse, eldrazi and phyrexia aside.
June 1, 2016 12:32 a.m.
genericaura says... #10
For what it's worth, Phyrexia was only as big of a threat as it was because it was Pre-Mending. It's been stated in lore that interplanar portals can't work anymore or are too unpredictable. The only non-walker I've heard of traveling between planes is a Spirit from Kamigawa went somewhere then got killed. If anything is going to present a threat, it'll have to be very clever to get the portals working again. I think a whole plane of Phyrexians might be able to manage it.
June 1, 2016 8:48 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #12
genericaura, it is only a matter of time before someone builds a stable planar portal; either the Phyrexians shall do it to invade another plane, or someone else shall do it, and inadvertently allow Phryexia to leave Mirrodin. I still am holding to my theory that Niv-Mizzet shall somehow use Ral Zarek's spark to build a working planar portal, as that would be an awesome twist, in my mind.
June 4, 2016 4:09 p.m.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #13
DemonDragonJ I'd put money on the "Oops, opened a portal to Oblivion and screwed the Multiverse" theory.
June 4, 2016 5:49 p.m.
DarkMagician says... #14
Who needs a planar-portal? Marit Lage is a being of immense power capable of traveling between planes on her own. When we last heard of Lage she lay dormant, frozen in a block of ice on Dominaria during the ice age. After the ice age Lage disappeared with no word of where she went or if she even still lives. What if she was severely weakened by her stay in the ice so she created the Eldrazi to go out and consume mana and channel it back to her (would explain their appearance AS WELL AS their ability to traverse the blind eternities) to aid her in recovering? Or what if someone saw her as a serious threat to the multiverse so they found a way to put her to sleep (would explain how she came to be frozen)? Such a spell would require a ton of power to continue to function on such a powerful being so the Eldrazi were created to gather mana in order to feed the spell. Perhaps it was Bolas who cast the spell and brought forth the Eldrazi but the Eldrazi grew to powerful to control once they started to feed upon the various planes. Would explain Bolases interest in the Eldrazi.
June 5, 2016 6:54 p.m.
genericaura says... #15
DemonDragonJ I know they'll figure out a way across planes sooner rather than later. Saying it's impossible to cross over is like saying a comic book character is dead. Sure, Superman's dead. wink wink I do think New Phyrexia is the most likely to be the first.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #2
Could be a Phyrexian thing, its been long enough I think. Maybe they'll find a way to spread again. However you are forgetting the Chain Veil and Garruks curse. His new prey is now Planeswalkers, and if I recall he was last on Shandalar? If that's relevant at all. Also The Gatewatch was formed kinda painting a target on them for Garruk I think. I think Jace and Lily are the only ones to have negative interactions with him (not sure). Whether the Veil or curse will have a multiversal effect... Again, not sure.
Lily wants to be rid of the Veil, but in the UR continues to use the thing. This could be bad news because apparently it'll release something like 'Legion' if I understand it correctly. Anyway, that's my $0.02
May 30, 2016 10:02 p.m.