Been waiting for this since the cards dropped on Arena Ryan. Loving the series!

All the other Ravnica guilds and characters: *Plotting and scheming* * Rakdos cult: *Pizza time!*

*"Oh the Simic. They love to use the same knife for their Peanut butter AND their jelly"* This might be the best description I've ever heard for the Simic

"Nicol Bolas and the Eternals" kind of sounds like a band name.

I think you're way off about Nicol Bolas' goals on Ravnica. Bolas has stated his intentions multiple times already: He wants to reattain his near-godhood and old powers back from before the mending and the weakening of planeswalkers. He has now lured a lot of Planeswalkers to Ravnica and the Immortal Sun lets him TRAP planeswalkers on a plane, with his Planar Bridge being able to bring his armies to Ravnica. I believe his intent is to beat all the planeswalkers on Ravnica and then somehow use their Sparks to create himself a new, almost almighty spark to regain his old powers, or become even more powerful than before.

I, for one, welcome our God-Pig overlord.

If Bolas is already on the plane, it wouldn't surprise me if he's been holed up in the original Duskmantle all this time, the location of which was lost to House Dimir when Szadek was arrested and killed during the events of the Decamillennial. It would be the perfect place to hide and pull the puppet strings from while on Ravnica; it's likely the one blind spot in the entire plane from Lazav and his guild, which has eyes literally *everywhere else*.

I’m just imagining bolas with an Indiana Jones hat exploring underneath ravnica.

My boy Krenko, Mob Boss got flavor text on Spear Spewer goblin. He is also on ravnica. Hes coming back people.

I am almost certain Nicol Bolas is searching for Nephilim! I am pumped to see the Cult of Yore!

Dovin's Acuity really is one of the best flavour texts of the whole set, it shows us a lot of what Dovin knows. I really think that Bolas is hiding Tezzeret and Liliana from him because Bolas ALWAYS has something planned and a trick up his sleeve to get away with it. However... There is the flavour text off of Mechanized Production from AER: "Give me eight walkers, and I'll give you the city." Love the series, Ryan! Keep it up! Can't wait for more details :)

Old Gods is a reference to the Nephalim, MaRo has confirmed they won't be coming back. Nicol Bolas is already more than powerful enough to tangle with Erebos, his goal is bigger than that. Bolas has only ever been concerned with one thing since the mending, reclaiming his former godlike status - whatever the specifics of the Ravnican plan are - I am willing to bet good money that his desired end-goal will be to recapture that formerly held status. Possible forms that will take: - Consumption of a vast number of sparks (Tempt as many walkers as possible to the plane, lock 'em in and then capture/murder them with megazombies). - Mass sacrifice (Ravnica is heavily populated, seems hella sketchy this one though, if it was possible he surely would've done this on Amonkhet) - Assuming control of/suberting the purpose of the guildpact (I dunno, I'm still most sold on the first idea). #my2cents

My Wild theory is that Tezzeret is going to become the new Father of Machines and betray Bolas. Whether that's killing or bailing last minute I think it's going to happen. The Phyrexians always heavily emphasized the need for a planar Portal as they could not planeswalk on their own. Now Tezzeret has a bridge. He also has a way to lock Walkers out of walking. He also has hid from bolas that the bridge is part of him now. If you look at the flavor text of cards like One with the machine his comments are not unlike Yawgmoth's from the Thran when he first saw what would be Phyrexia. Structurally speaking as well it'd make sense as Karn is heading back to NPH to blow it up so it'd be a good idea to have Tezzeret be the new big bad. The much WILDER Theory I have is that Tezzeret WAS infected and his body is being used by Yawgmoth himself. Tezzeret is actually Yawgmoth one of the few antagonists wily and ballsy enough to out think and 'trick' Bolas as Tezzeret in the past has been shown to not get one past the Elder dragon. (Remember before Yawgmoth even ascended he managed to trick a Planeswalker named Dyfed for several years and managed to stab a knife into her head and scramble her brains, repeatedly, so she couldn't do anything to stop him) While theses may seem wild a lot of the pieces seem to click together to make me think that Tezzeret is going to come into his own as the next big bad. Hell we may even have an interplanar war where it bbecomes the Phyrexians vs. The Eternals vs. Emrakul's hordes of corrupted beings.

It would be awesome if you guys can make story time videos based on each guild’s history through all three Ravnica blocks!!! 🙏

Aren't the forgotten God's the Nephelim from OG Ravnica block?

I like your theory, but idea that Bolas wants to regain his pre-mending powerlevel through siphoning the powers away from other planeswalkers using a variation on Project Lightning Bug seems...a bit more likely, I guess ? Also - yeah, Bolas is on Ravnica. Ral detected him.

And then WHAM! Out of nowhere Tibalt shows up......I miss Tibalt....😔

Gideon will visit theros to gain another Godly weapon (since his whip broke), and that visitation will unlock elspeth and she'll be the 7th planeswalker of the gatewatch 💕💕💕 Would really love to see a card "Nicol Bolas, the Guildpact" tho

This is the perfect magic content that is extremely underrepresented and rare in such a concise form here on KZfaq. Keep it up y'all.

I’ve been waiting for this! Thank you so much for these accessible recaps - makes playing with the new cards more fun

It would be awesome if in the final set nicol bolas arrived with the gods from amonkhet as eternals

I literally just now got into the lore today even though I’ve been playing for about a year... started watching your videos and NOW I CANT STOP

Garruk to show up and hunt down the majority of planeswalkers on Ravnica as they are all gathering to face each other.

I think Nico Bolas is looking to break the Guildpact, and use the energy released to empower himself, like he tried to do when Alara went through it's mending. They're both multi-color planes, that were divided into strong factions in their prehistory, and last time he tried he nearly succeeded. I think this time he's decided to speed up his timeline, and just conquer the plane instead of trying to manipulate it into his command. Amenkhet is kinda dead or dying, so even though he controls it, he can't use it to get back to his own pre Mending power. His meditation realm is basically a pocket dimension, so that won't do it either. But Ravnica is an old and rich world, and might suite his needs, if he's got a plan. Sure, there's the Gatewatch to stop him, but he's kinda got his own Gatewatch, so who knows.

Hey Ryan, you should attempt a refresher for the original Ravnica story. I think there may be a few details involved there that are important for the current story line!

The guldmaster's guide also mentions that the druids of the old ways worship another god called Kashath the Stalker. It does not explain or qualify that in any way. But that's another god to slap onto the list.

Got the notification for this video last night at FNM. By far one of my favourite series on KZfaq. Keep it up brother!

I’ve never heard the lore of Magic, this is awesome!

I'm loving these lore videos. Cool summary of the story!

I thought the closest things to gods on Ravnica were the Nephelim, which were defeated (one handily by Rakdos) in the first Ravnica block.

Recently discovered your channel, and I absolutely love these lore videos. Great work!

Fantastic as always Ryan!

I absolutely freaking love these! Keep it up!

Please refer Borborygmos as BoBo in the next video.

Fantastic video. Keep this type of material up!

Oh yes and we know that Bolas can Phase himself so that he is partially in reality and partially not there by how he entered and arrived on Amonkhet so he could also be using that technique to search Ravnica from his meditation realm as well as get information from his agents and guilds working under him. I think you have a pretty good idea about what's going on. I have always thought Bolas was extremely upset that Planewalkers were being created without proving their worth and if they were not Godlike as he considers himself or as close to it as possible they might night be worthy of a Spark in his mind and eyes.

This video is a delight! I wish to watch more vídeos about lore, explaining old stories from legendary blocks, like Invasion, Oddissey, Mirrodin and Kamigawa (which is the one plane that I wish they'ld bring back asap). Thanks for these amazing videos! :D

Ryan, I absolutely love your storytelling. This series is my only choice for getting the lore!

6:35 , ok the knife is a perfect way to describe sismic

You and your team should write the story for Magic. You always have great ideas and theory's! I like that ya'll point out the stories on the cards of things that I have missed. Great work!

Big fan of this serie, I would love to see you make more

That's not quite the idea I had, but it's not bad at all. I'm considering what's been going on since 2006. The mending. Bolas lost a lot of power and it lead to the rise of the new walkers. Bolas collected some power during conflux, but not quite enough as he told Liliana that he had lost more power than she could imagine. It's quite possible that the center of the multiverse shifted from Dominaria to Ravnica. It would make sense from a business and Narrative perspective. And if this is the case, Bolas would be aware of it and be able to take advantage of it to undo the mending to restore his power, and possibly revert the nature of a spark, or even cause a new mutation of the spark. But I'm probably wrong.

It's 50/50 with kaya. She is guildleader yes, but Teysa pulls all the strings for the guild. All kaya has is the title with no actual involvement. I believe thats what it says on one of the cards. Teysas i think?

Wow, this is an incredible video Im going to go watch the others in this series now. Make more plz!

Man, you are so good at this!

I really like your theory on bolas's plans, but I have another theory. I think he is trying to undo the Mending. We got the saga card of the Mending in Dominaria, and in M19 we saw Bolas's whole history, and his cycle of grixis cards (apex of power, fraying omnipotence, and patient rebuilding) show his anger at loosing his near-godliness, and patient rebuilding shows the assembly of pyramids. I think that by assembling a ton of planeswalkers in one place, locking them with the immortal sun, and corralling them with his lazotep army, he intends to use their collective sparks to undo the Mending and restore himself to his former power. That's why the set is called "War of the Spark". It's not "war of the sparks", so it's not referencing the fact that it's a planeswalker war. It's the war over Bolas's spark, and stopping it from being restored to its prior power

Thanks this series is really useful.

I’m loving this new gods theory, not just for cards but also story. Raze boar definitely sounds god-like and maybe there is other unknown gods lurking in the shadows. Also I loved this episode. Keep the vids coming!

Your pet theory actually makes sense within the actual game. Both sets have creatures with 4 color mana which could matter if devotion the mechanic from theros comes back

Loved it as always!

I am beyond impressed, keep it up.

Great video, please keep doing them!

It does make you people wonder about the story....what's beneath the city of Ravinca. Is that why Lazav is currently collaborating with Tezert in order to discover the secrets buried in the depths of Ravinca. A terrifying possibility is the Phyrexians buried in the depths of Ravinca to be accidentally released to "rebuild" Ravinca in their own twisted way.

I simply love these

Really cool predictions near the end

What do you mean "we know nothing about."? We are perfectly aware of the 'old gods' of Ravnica, the Nephilim. Maybe we'll finally get some Legendary Nephilim for EDH.

I like the idea of digging for old gods. Especially with the what looks to me like the Altar of Phyrexian Scriptures in the Priest of the Forgotten Gods Artwork. If Nicol doesn’t burn his fingers waking thoseXD Love the Video. Keep them coming Ryan

Bet - Bolas tried to infiltrate the Rakdos, but five seconds later he went "Oh *fuck* these lads are crazy" and stopped

I think your on the right track, I cant wait for war of the sparks!

do more of these videos, best thing on your channel!

Love this series

I think you were close with the Erebos thing. So look at it this way, where have we visited recently. We've been to Zendikar home of Nissa, Kaladesh home of Chandra, Dominaria home of Lilliana, and now were in Ravnica the psuedohome of Jace. I think it only makes sense that we will go to Theros, the home of Gideon, and mess stuff up there, maybe create three colored and four colored gods. Once he jacks stuff up there i think there will be one final plane in the Bolas arch where it will all wrap up.

Man, I could listen to you telling me everything about Magic lore.

It's interesting how you touched upon the internal struggles in the Gatewatch guilds whereas what I noticed was mostly the turmoil in Bolas's squad. As you mentioned, Orzhov looks like it's building up to some sort of civil war between the dead and the living (also from cards like Vizkopa Vampire's flavour text), Azorius has plenty of members wily to Dovin's intentions and none to pleased with it, then there's Ral who most likely has Niv-Mizzet still plotting against him, and Vraska who still has some key memories locked away by Jace. As for the Gruul, I don't think it's a simple mess-up or flavour statement that Ruric Thar's flavour text is on the second guildgate, especially since he also received the alt-art reprint on the Gruul guild kit. I expect he'll have a role to play in the third set, perhaps he's still loyal to Borborygmos and seeks to challenge Domri. Either way it's going to be really awesome, but I do feel Bolas's guilds are perhaps a bit more shaky than the Gatewatch ones (especially since some of them had to have their leaders forcibly removed to make place for Bolas's superfriends).

Sweet, story time!~ Oh my gosh, super interesting theories! A return to Theros could be in order in the future...

Just discovered your channel... amazing work dude

Can’t wait for your war of the spark video

it's so good when they create intricate setups for the history, this decision on do how many collections they want on the same plane truly is paying off. someone pointed out that the old gods card has a face makeup similar to the phyrexian symbol, what makes things even more interesting.

While i no longer play mtg it is interesting for me to keep tabs on its lore. It makes me giggle how the Gate Watch are MTG's version of the Avengers, and how NB is Thanos. As always the artwork for the cards are simply fantastic!

Yay, been waiting for this

awesome story telling!

Please tell us the storyline of mirrodin, and new phyrexia. Mirrodin was my first experience with MTG.

Love your videos!

I feel like there was some information from the Ravnica Art Book that you should use to combine the two videos and explain a bit more about the events of current Ravnica Block. Edit: Actually yeah, there’s definitely some info in the book that isn’t listed/contradicts info in the video.

Wait Erebos only acts as 'death' on Theros right? Surely he has no effect over other planes

you pretty much hit the nail on the head

i'd really hope to see Samut coming back, since Nicol Bolas destroyed her Plane she'd probably come back for revenge. Maybe she would come to ravnica during the events of War of The Spark and team up The Gatewatch and the Gruul by leading the End-Raze towards Nicol Bolas instead of the city.

I was legit just thinking about this video today wondering when it was going to come out.

Love the content of the lore.

Love these videos

1. Aren't "The Old Gods" the Nephilhim? And I'm pretty sure they've been confirmed as not returning. 2. Pretty sure I also read somewhere that the Theros gods only hold dominion over that specific plane. So really, killing Erebos would be pointless for Bolas, unless he just decides to shack up on that plane forever.

Your lore videos rock!!!

I think Roalesk, Apex Hybrid was the end goal of the Simic’s Guardian Project, cause the word hybrid is in his name, and because his body shaper seems similar to the test subject in the art of Guardian Project. Plus all the weird limbs attached to his body kinda fit in with the flavor text too.

The Liliana and Jace walk is not an alternate reality but a memory. That happened at the beginning of the Battle For Zendikar story.

Loved the video and just subscribed to the page. I would like to throw out my pet therory as well because of how close it is to yours. I think that Bolas has been going between several planes for a very long time while misdirecting others to make him think he was elsewhere. We also know that only he can access his meditation realm and destroyed the only way for others to get to it also it hasn't been disclosed where he moved it to or possibly when he moved it to. He also has already told several Planeswalkers in the lore that he has figured out a way to survive death even if the multiverse itself were to be destroyed. I believe that he wants God like Planeswalkers such as himself and possibly like the first Leviathan Planeswalker he fought and won on Dominaria when he first ignited his spark. I think that his plan with Ravnica is nothing more than another distraction while he gathers something from the plane itself that he needs. Personally I could see him trying to create another Conflux situation because of the flow of Mana on Ravnica like he did with Alara. Again great video and I loved the details that you could provide at the time.

It’s a crazy but fascinating idea

I feel like this series would benefit greatly from some light background music just to fill some of the dead air. Other than that, as a fellow lore nut, love what you're doing here! Keep it up!

Jace and Lili picture was from a while back before Zendikar 2, from a uncharted realms.

I always love these videos. Thanks again for an awesome wrap up. I do kinda hope your theory is wrong though. I love gods, but I do not want to see Bolas killing more gods.

Thing is, Bolas doesnt even fear the Theros Gods. Kruphix himself says if Bolas ever arrived on Theros, the gods wouldnt stand a chance. So I doubt Bolas even cares about Theros at all.

The third set is called War of The Spark

I think it makes sense for Bolas to try to go to Theros. Having said that, Erebos’ power is only localized to Theros.

Looking back at these cards, I really do feel that War of the Spark was going, at one point, to be really different to what we got story-wise for War of the Spark.

I once heard Orzhav described as a Vampire Medici Papacy. Don't know enough to dispute it, but I like the image.

Would love to know the story of Garruk, has always been one of my favourites :D Eldrazi would be dope as well!

awesome video

I honestly think it would be really cool to have a Theros tie in at some point, but War of the Spark comes in April, so we'll see

There's supposed to be 'dozens' of planeswalkers on the side of the gatewatch alone if what we know of the book coming out is true. I'd expect a few more familiar faces than just tezz and Lily to show up. Perhaps Geyadrone Dihada, since they just made the blackblade as a card, and the red cloth depicted on the card's art might be a reference to her.

Damn, teysa envoy of ghosts is fine af!

In mtg stories in wotc website, Selesnya has been absorbing land's fertility from Gruul in Ravnica Allegiance.