Will WotC Ever Truly Kill Off Bolas and Phyrexia?
Lore forum
Posted on Oct. 29, 2016, 1:27 a.m. by DemonDragonJ
Phyrexia and Nicol Bolas are two of the most powerful, longest-lasting, and iconic villains in Magic: the Gathering. They have been around in the game for longer than any other villain and have threatened the multiverse more often and more severely than have any other villains. Although the Eldrazi were supposedly a massive threat, the fact that their role in the story was concluded rather abruptly shows that they do not have the staying power or iconic status of Bolas and Phyrexia.
Therefore, I wonder if WotC will ever truly eliminate Boals and Phyrexia from this game, permanently, or if they are so popular and iconic that they now have "Joker Immunity;" i.e., it would be unprofitable to kill them and remove them from the game.
I myself find it doubtful that Bolas and Phryexia shall ever truly be gone from the game, just as it is very unlikely that any of the planeswalker protagonists shall die at any time, which, unfortunately, does decrease the dramatic tension of the story, at times.
What does everyone else say about this? Will WotC ever truly kill off Bolas and Phyrexia?
I suspect that if Nicol Bolas dies, it will be at the hands of Our Heroes, the Gatewatch. If so, there needs to be some more or less permanent fatalities among the Gatewatch, not just the soft "casualties" where they get brought back to life twenty minutes later and everyone celebrates, and harmony reigns throughout the multiverse. As an aside, a Gatewatch schism would make an interesting storyline.
I would like to see Phyrexia and the Eldrazi come into conflict, and not just because it would make some great cards. To me, it's just how the story should naturally progress. Phyrexians: ruthlessly expansionist, have some ability to cross planar borders, actively attempting to assimilate everything. Eldrazi: mindlessly expansionist, have some ability to cross planar borders, annihilate and corrupt everything they come into contact with. Remember how well imprisoning an Eldrazi worked out last time? They got released from a complex binding ritual system completely by accident (well, some manipulation, but it was still hugely unlikely). Unless there's No Man's Sky levels of planes, and there doesn't seem to be, they're going to come into contact at some point. And for both, contact = conflict.
Anyway, to more directly answer the question, I suspect both will stick around for a long time, alternating the spotlight with each other and This Block's Villain.
October 29, 2016 1:56 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #4
This thread was moved to a more appropriate forum (auto-generated comment)
October 29, 2016 7:58 a.m.
Firstly, we're not done with the Eldrazi. Emrakul voluntarily encased herself in Innistrad's moon, waiting for the right time to do whatever it is she is supposed to do (another topic entirely).
Given that, I don't think any of these three primary threats will ever truly be killed off, at least not in whole. They will always find some way to return, because they're fan favorites; they generate money. Bolas was killed once before, but was then written to have become a spirit, and found a way to regain his corporeal form and power. Phyrexia was totally defeated, but with the smallest glint of oil accidentally transferred to an ideal plane by Karn, they were completely resuscitated.
People tend to love villains more than heroes, or at least, when heroes are omnipresent, people want villains that they know are powerful, that have faced them before, that have a history, to stand against them. It makes for a more impressive story. No villains have resonated more in magic than these three. That's why they keep coming back and presumably always will.
October 29, 2016 8:41 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #6
kanokarob, where was it stated that Emrakul allowed itself to be imprisoned? I do not recall that.
October 29, 2016 10:37 a.m.
In "The Promised End" Uncharted Realms.
Paraphrased, Tamiyo and Nissa were doing well tying the leylines to Emrakul, but Nissa started to falter under the Titan's madness. As they started losing control, Tamiyo pulled out one of her forbidden scrolls, which Jace recognized as the one Emeria, a mental manifestation of Emrakul, appeared to be writing - or rewriting - in his mind palace. The scroll imprisoned Emrakul in the moon, but after the battle, Jace found Tamiyo who, crying, revealed that the scroll was intended to destroy the entire plane, the only way she could think of to save the Multiverse from Emrakul. But she felt Emrakul invade her mind, and change the scroll so it instead sealed her in the moon, as if she were aware of what Tamiyo was trying to do.
October 29, 2016 12:29 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #8
kanokarob, yes, I forgot about that part; it would make sense that Emrakul would want to find a way to survive, even if by imprisonment, rather than being destroyed. I expect that, when the story again returns to Innistrad, which hopefully shall not happen too soon, Emrakul shall be mentioned, again.
October 29, 2016 3:25 p.m.
Dredge4life says... #9
If the Jacetice League kills Bolas, I'm quitting Magic.
October 30, 2016 3:24 p.m.
If Jace kills Nicol Bolas, I will heavily consider writing some strongly worded messages on several Magic message boards wherein I pretend I'll be so upset that I'd able to quit.
UrbanAnathema says... #2
I don't think they killed off the Eldrazi either. Maybe Ulamog and Kozilek, but certainly not Emrakul,and even those two are debatable. They occupy prime real estate of recurring villains and obstacles for protagonists to constantly bump heads with.
Why would they waste that? They are good villains. Bolas is the schemer and manipulator, Phyrexia is the army of evil anti-magic force (technology), and the Eldrazi are colossal elemental forces of destruction and entropy.
These are pretty necessary roles being filled as far as the big baddies required for an overarching narrative. They are always useful to the stories they are trying to tell.
October 29, 2016 1:38 a.m. Edited.