I know this Is a huge ask, and I mean huge. But your channel has so many viewers and you have such a great story telling style. Is there a way of telling all the main line stories from the original story of the brothers war and yawgmoth, the weather light saga through to magic origins through all the stories up until dominaria? Having a weekly or biweekly series that systematicly goes through the entire history of magic would be a giant project. But you would also be the first channel to do it successfully. It would take a fair amount of planning of the time line but it would be an incredible chronicle to tell and bring so many more people into the world of magic. You could even offer it as an audio book haha. Now I'm getting ahead of myself but yes please keep this series going.
I was just about to request the brothers war. Honestly though, I agree with you that getting a rundown of the lore from the beginning would be amazing. I would definitely watch.
@@tonywilson2723 it's just when I started playing mtg, I remember how many people I had to ask and how many terribly written articles and videos I had to read before I understood who yawgmoth was and what the big deal about him is! Let alone a whole story arc about him and phyrexia! Yeah a comprehensive story series would honestly change the way magic is consumed I believe. Its like the silmarrilion and the hobbit to the Lord of the rings :D
This series has been one of the best and clearest telling of MTG Lore. I would love more series like this, both for the future Ravnica story and for older lore. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEEEEASE keep doing them.
Huge fan of the Magic Arcanum series. If you continue it, I think a good place to go would be the earlier Ravnica stories, both due to the sheer popularity of that plane and the fact we're returning to it pretty soon.
I've spent almost no time on MTG's story in the 5 years since I started playing, but I've watched all of these as they came out and loved them. Please make more :)
The last part was such satisfying ending! i didn't finish reading the Ixalan Arc, so i didn't know about Azor's plans to trap Nicol Bolas. Keep doing this, i love it! Please do this with another episodes before Core Set 19
idk about anyone else, but i'm totally down to hear more of these stories. i'm kinda new to magic and the lore was one of the main things that brought me in.
a lot has happened especially in War of the Spark. And i am sad that you have never done any further videos covering Nicol Bolas or Ugin. Thanks for the history lesson and 2020 says hi.
I love how you cover stories and am a new subscriber and have NOT been disappointed at all with your story telling. I would like to point out how mysterious Sarkan actually is. He is an Agent of Bolas, however he also wants to protect Ugin and Dragons in general. I'm really into the lore of MTG and have a couple of the books, but am missing on of the three to be able to read the set. I also thought through reading the lore from before that Nicol Bolas acquired his spark after defeating a Leviathan Planeswalker on Dominaria that literally ripped open rifts on the plane itself during the battle and then feasted on its corpse and built the Talon Horns from its ribs. It also said that he destroyed the access to the realm on Dominaria and only he could now access the Mediation Realm through another means of access. I know this was specifically designated to retelling the story of Bolas and Ugin, however there are a lot of factors at play like how only Bolas can summon anything or anyone to the meditation realm, but by his will only. Still loved the videos on this particular story and am going to continue to watch them for sure. Keep up the good work.
You have received my like, my subscription (plus the bell), and now my thoughts. I love this! This series is replacing my weekly podcasts on the commute every day that videos are available. I want more of this ALL the time. As for suggestions: perhaps a meandering flow through the history of our favorite city-plane with City of Guilds and Return to Ravnica storylines that plops us in front our guildgates in time for September. Regardless, I look forward to whatever you pick. Good luck and cardboard on!
This was a intreging series but i was always under the impression that bolas got his spark from a apocalyptic fight with a giant leviathan which he won and then ate the Corps of said leviathan has the story changed or is that some other story?
Aw man i was really hoping for the fight club split personality direction. Could you imagine a two sided card with Bolas on one side and Ugin on the other? And they're both plainwalkers?!?!
Okay, but imagine you are right & actually Nicol & Ugin travelling through plains in the chase is actually them constantly switching who's in control & rushing to different places. Followed by Nicol "killing" Ugin in the meditation realm by using the water & mind control on his own mind, which in turn expels Ugin from him. He thinks he is dead, but in reality Ugin forms his own body this way & lives on. Both dragons now independently alive. Through some residual connection or so, Nicol feels Ugin being alive & is why he chases after him which then leads to the cacoon/trap events. Ugin being close to death, Nicol stops feeling their connection content with the win. Yet, as Ugin is healing, his life gets stronger once more causing those feelings in Nicol reemerge. Originally considering this as Ugin's memory weighing on his mind, Nicol ignores it until years later when the feelings have become almost as strong as they used to be thus convincing Nicol that Ugin tricked him & survived once more. I also feel this is supported by the fact that considering heavily that Nicol lied about his take on becoming a planeswalker & how Ugin avoided being mindcontrolled by Nicol right before his planeswalker realization... perhaps Nicol tried controlling himself to shut up Ugin, but failed thus emotionally affecting Ugin from this display enough to unlock planeswalker abilities-- Nicol then also became one as a result, but Ugin's rise to greater power may have allowed him to become the dominant personality & explore the planes until Nicol came back into spotlight. Afterall, twins? Both having a spark even though the chances are astronomically rare? Both being present & *conflicting* during major events, but not in non-major ones? Both developing powerful psychic abilities(maybe from fighting each other in their minds & strengthening their psyche was the only way to become dominant & awakening those mind powers that way). It sounds like a game of mind-tug-o-war.
Matt Man don’t do reverse effects of each other anyway? Like Nicol person discards cards , loses life and loses permanents. Ugin gives draw , gains life and puts into play?
I really like the way you tell the story of MTG. Thank you very much. Hope that you make the story about gatewatch plainswalkers, which I think thay have a lot of influence in MTG story.
You did an amazing job wiyh this series, ive done some reading through the comments and for those of you seeking more lore content, Wedge from the Mana Source covers alot of the Brothers War and Yawgmoths Conquest, and Seiben Lore now known as The Aether Hub covers an extensive period of the story, though a prefer Seiben Lore over the Aether Hub, he went more in depth into the lore back then
I know a friend who plays magic and he acts exactly like Nicol Bolas.... Thinks he should win every time and if he loses it's the gravest insult anyone has done onto his life.
I like the fact that the lore gets mind control right. Because mind control is OP, most stories and comics forget it's possible (like with the Xman Karma and Shadow King) Nicol Bolas and The Mule from Foundation show how to write mind control right.
I like your idea for the "fight club" ending. Consider that this has all just been an internal conflict for Nicol bolas and we later get a Planeswalker called "Nicol Ugin", which was his original name
Ugin's Bizarre Adventure! Nicol Bolas Vs. Ugin scene. Nicol Bolas: You're next Ugin! Ugin: You Bastard. Nicol! Nicol Bolas: Oh, your approaching me? Instead of running away your coming right to me? Ugin: I can't beat you up without getting any closer. Nicol Bolas: Oh, ho, then come as close as you like.
I've been playing for 10 years and I still have trouble understanding the Brothers War/The Yawgma Conflict. would love to see that one explained. I would also love to hear the Alara lore and anything that is known about Merit Lage
Long story short: In Ancient Dominaria the Thran suffered a sickness called phthisis and a brilliant doctor/artificer named yawgmoth found the cure which is essentially replacing body parts with artifice, the process called phyresis and the product being the phyrexians. He then decided he wanted to make everything into phyrexians. He was eventually defeated and sent trapped into another plane and the portal to that plane locked with the powerstone which is 2 halves fused. Fast forward 5000 years and 2 young brothers studying archeology discover the powerstone and took half of each, these are Urza and Mishra. This of course opened the portal to the plane which is now called Phyrexia and Yawgmoth starts to send out scouts and spies to prepare for his invasion. Urza and Mishra of become rival artificers and eventually fought each other in what is called the brothers war, each one trying to one up the other by creating more powerful war machines. During this time the phyrexians begin a machine worshipping cult and secretly contact Mishra, giving him phyrexian war machines and eventually compleating him into another phyrexian. Urza eventually won but at great cost, he activated an ancient weapon called the "golgothian sylex" which just utterly destroyed everything except for Urza who had become a planeswalker, his eyes replaced by the 2 halves of the powerstone. This also created the "shard of twelve worlds" a sort of countermeasure which prevented phyrexia by preventing planar travel to Dominaria and a few other worlds. The next few centuries is the "Ice Age" saga but we don't care about that. Eventually the shard is destroyed and phyrexians can travel back to Dominaria. Urza then begins a Millenia long plan to defeat them, this included eugenics to produce the best genetic offsprings (Gerrard Capashen hero of the "weatherlight saga"), creation of the Tolarian academy and producing many artifacts and mages, the creation of the Metathran army which are phyrexia-like humanoid/artifice, Karn the silver golem and a collection of artifacts and people which together is called "The Legacy", and the "Null Moon" an artificial satellite whose main purpose is to store white mana, oh and there's also huge Titan machines powered and piloted by planeswalkers. And a lot of characters are involved like lots lots. A lot of stuff and fighting and betrayal and tragedies happen etc. etc. Eventually Yawgmoth succeeds in reentering Dominaria, but he's now a giant black cloud of death that kills anything it touches and transforms it into a phyrexian zombie. It all ends with the Legacy Weapon firing an incredibly huge and powerful blast of White Mana from the Null Moon directly to Yawgmoth finally killing him, also killing Urza as the powerstone was the final catalyst to power up the weapon. However Karn lives on and by fusing with the powerstone he gaines Urza's planeswalker spark being the first and so far only artifical planeswalker in existence. Phyrexia loses and without it's god it eventually goes into extinction. End of story. EXCEPT... You see Urza once met and allied with Xantcha a phyrexian defect because she was not under Yawgmoth's will, she eventually died and Urza decided to honour her by using her phyrexian heart as Karn's heart making sure that she would also be part of the final weapon that would kill Yawgmoth. However this backfires since even though she's not under Yawgmoth's control she's still phyrexian. And of course we know what happens then, the heart bleeds phyrexian oil over the metallic plane of Mirrodin, eventually corrupting it into New Phyrexia and now it no longer relies solely on 1 being to exist so it's harder to kill. YAY!!!
Hmmm. I wonder. If Bolas's plan goes off for the most part, I imagine he will steal the sparks from many planeswalkers and use the lawmagic of Ravnica's authority system to bind those to himself. So I wonder if Ugin will sieze this opportunity to fix the mistake of their birth, and become Nicol Ugin as they were intended to be.
Sooo Nicol and Ugin are the only two dragons with single names. They also always seem to be at odds due to fundamental differences. Is it possible that they are two aspects of the same dragon? "Nicol Ugin, The Torn Asunder"
What I think will happen: Bolas is "defeated" or gets what he needs on Ravnica, goes to Theros, enlists the help of Ashiok.... Ugin returns after Ravnica. But would a possible alliance between Ashiok, Nicol Bolas, and Phenax be too strong? The Returned and The Eternals with Ashiok as a agent would probably end everything.
I find these videos to be of a very high quality. They are easy to watch, and are a clear distillation of the Magic story line. Unfortunately, when listening to the videos back-to-back, the background music becomes repetitive to the point of aggravation; a surprising feat given the peaceful nature of the music! I agree with your choice to use music, but please try cycling between four (or more) different musical selections for ambience over a given block's story. Overall, good work!
I haven't been keeping up with the story. Do they explain why in Ugin's version he still has a Spark even though he died and got a new body? If planeswalker dies and then comes back to life, they don't have their spark. My understanding is Elspeth is an exception because Theros (the plane where she died) has an afterlife. In the Khans block story Ugin was an exception because his death got time travel retconned.
They do not explain this in the story, no. It seems that by dying on the Meditation Realm, Ugin was able to have some influence on what would happen after his own death. Perhaps he even found a way to store his spark in the waters before Nicol killed him, so that when that water became his new body, it already had the spark in it.
I am really hoping the new set finds Jace regrowing his anime hair and planeswalking away to the plane of Yugioh, never to been seen or heard from again.
Okay, so Nicol Bolas runs away from Yasova because he thinks the Immortal Sun is there waiting to trap him. Yet he then travels to Ravnica to carry out his plan. But didn't Nicol Bolas have Tezzeret and Vraska steal the Immortal Sun before this, or have I mixed up the timeline?
(Ryan) The events in this story takes place a thousand years before what's happening now on Ravnica. It took Bolas this long to realize the Immortal Sun wasn't on Tarkir, and wasn't a threat once he also controlled the Planar Bridge.
Great series! I've been wanting to hear the story of Bolas (or Nicol as is his name) and this is perfect! I don't even play Commander, but I've been wanting to build a Nicol Bolas lore deck for a while. I don't know much of the story but this is definitely helpful! Any advice on sets, articles, or anything that could be of help? Thanks again, y'all are awesome!
(Ryan) Well, War of the Spark is going to have some great cards that reference Nicol Bolas directly. Dominaria gave us "In Bolas's Clutches," and M19 had Nicol Bolas, the Ravager. Amonkhet and Hour of Devastation also provide a lot of cards that show him or mention him in the flavor text. There was also a Bolas planeswalker deck from that set which would be a good starting point for your new deck. Hope that helps!
I don’t think the question was ever asked. What was Ugins original colors before he died? Since he cherish life, for sure he has some white and/or green, plus he’s able to recreate himself using water, BANT color is my guess. What about you?
(Ryan) His colors are never officially stated, but it's likely either Bant or just Green-White. If he's just GW, that means between him and Nicol Bolas they cover all five colors exactly once, which seems appropriate.
The events in this story take place roughly 980 years before Ixalan. Azor and Ugin conspired to trap Nicol Bolas there, but Ugin was defeated before they could spring the trap. Ugin's body stayed on Tarkir for 20 years, then Nicol Bolas came back and encountered Yasova and the twins. They told him the trap was still active, so he left again. Meanwhile, Azor is on Ixalan waiting for a signal that never came. He spent 980 years there, slowly going insane, until Jace and Vraska showed up in our "present day." It took Nicol Bolas 980 years to realize what the Immortal Sun was, and where it was really located.
A spark is something innately present within oneself - he had it all from his birth in the wake of the Ur-Dragon. It was only a matter of time for it to ignite, which the Chronicle places at sometime after Ugin returns to Dominaria after the Elder Dragon War.
So how did Nicol Bolas actually got is spark ignited? Thanks for the explanation. I seem the trailer for War of Sparks a few days ago and now I want to gewt to know more of the lore of MTG. Also, which story or playlist of videos should I watch now so I can learn more of it?
Great story, but super shitty ending lol. Can't wait for the story to end in ravnica. But please, if you are going to keep doing magic arcanum, you have to do the story of Urza, The brothers war, Yawgmoth and Teferi/Barrin/Khamal /Jeska/Balthor /Tahngarth and the weatherlight saga.
@@kyoken8691 it has a huge effect, it explains Bolas's entire motivation, and the story is a fundamental call back to the Brothers War between Mishra and Urza, and many other siblings through out the series, the two tribal girls in this one are the ONLY ones to avoid the conflict that happens between the others.
@@keithfilibeck2390 what i meant is that nothing changed with the plot. What we got was back story and character motivation, but it did not move the plot forward. We the readers now understand why ugin and bolas fought, why bolas is such a jerk and why ugin is a spirit. Did it introduce a possibly important future plotline? Or move the current plot forward? No, therefore it's a transitionary story to help us the readers understand the characters better.
I know this Is a huge ask, and I mean huge. But your channel has so many viewers and you have such a great story telling style. Is there a way of telling all the main line stories from the original story of the brothers war and yawgmoth, the weather light saga through to magic origins through all the stories up until dominaria? Having a weekly or biweekly series that systematicly goes through the entire history of magic would be a giant project. But you would also be the first channel to do it successfully. It would take a fair amount of planning of the time line but it would be an incredible chronicle to tell and bring so many more people into the world of magic. You could even offer it as an audio book haha. Now I'm getting ahead of myself but yes please keep this series going.
StudentEternal pretty much this. I have enjoyed these stories so much.
I was just about to request the brothers war. Honestly though, I agree with you that getting a rundown of the lore from the beginning would be amazing. I would definitely watch.
@@tonywilson2723 it's just when I started playing mtg, I remember how many people I had to ask and how many terribly written articles and videos I had to read before I understood who yawgmoth was and what the big deal about him is! Let alone a whole story arc about him and phyrexia! Yeah a comprehensive story series would honestly change the way magic is consumed I believe. Its like the silmarrilion and the hobbit to the Lord of the rings :D
Same here. I wish they still put the novels in the fat packs. I missed a lot of the earlier lore, and only started reading around mercadian masques
I support this
I love Magic Arcanum. Please keep doing this with all future lore publications from Wizards
This series has been one of the best and clearest telling of MTG Lore. I would love more series like this, both for the future Ravnica story and for older lore. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEEEEASE keep doing them.
Three words: CONTINUE MAGIC ARCANUM
You should cover the various stories from Lorwyn. I'd love to hear you retell the story about the Divinity of Pride!
Huge fan of the Magic Arcanum series. If you continue it, I think a good place to go would be the earlier Ravnica stories, both due to the sheer popularity of that plane and the fact we're returning to it pretty soon.
I think this is a great series. 10/10 will continue watching if this continues to be a thing.
I've spent almost no time on MTG's story in the 5 years since I started playing, but I've watched all of these as they came out and loved them. Please make more :)
Oh my god this has been such a great series. So much better when the person doing it can pronounce names and be more engaging - thanks guys!
Are there stories from previous expansions? If so, could you please recap them.
I am new to MtG. I would love to know more of the lore.
There are books for the older ones, but a lot is still on the MTG website.
The last part was such satisfying ending! i didn't finish reading the Ixalan Arc, so i didn't know about Azor's plans to trap Nicol Bolas. Keep doing this, i love it! Please do this with another episodes before Core Set 19
idk about anyone else, but i'm totally down to hear more of these stories. i'm kinda new to magic and the lore was one of the main things that brought me in.
I really enjoyed this series. I'd love to hear more!
a lot has happened especially in War of the Spark. And i am sad that you have never done any further videos covering Nicol Bolas or Ugin. Thanks for the history lesson and 2020 says hi.
Captions never fail to disappoint. A captivating tale of Nickel Balls and Googan.
And here I am waiting for the the lore vids to continue... Don't let me down man!
Keep more stories coming, you have done an amazing job.
I love how you cover stories and am a new subscriber and have NOT been disappointed at all with your story telling. I would like to point out how mysterious Sarkan actually is. He is an Agent of Bolas, however he also wants to protect Ugin and Dragons in general. I'm really into the lore of MTG and have a couple of the books, but am missing on of the three to be able to read the set. I also thought through reading the lore from before that Nicol Bolas acquired his spark after defeating a Leviathan Planeswalker on Dominaria that literally ripped open rifts on the plane itself during the battle and then feasted on its corpse and built the Talon Horns from its ribs. It also said that he destroyed the access to the realm on Dominaria and only he could now access the Mediation Realm through another means of access. I know this was specifically designated to retelling the story of Bolas and Ugin, however there are a lot of factors at play like how only Bolas can summon anything or anyone to the meditation realm, but by his will only. Still loved the videos on this particular story and am going to continue to watch them for sure. Keep up the good work.
This was a great series, looking forward to more!
really looking forward to a new season of this for the next chunk of story!
Hmmm... So Ugin's body is still made of meditation realm liquid. That's really interesting!
I recently discovered your channel, good stuff!
You have received my like, my subscription (plus the bell), and now my thoughts.
I love this! This series is replacing my weekly podcasts on the commute every day that videos are available. I want more of this ALL the time. As for suggestions: perhaps a meandering flow through the history of our favorite city-plane with City of Guilds and Return to Ravnica storylines that plops us in front our guildgates in time for September. Regardless, I look forward to whatever you pick. Good luck and cardboard on!
This was a intreging series but i was always under the impression that bolas got his spark from a apocalyptic fight with a giant leviathan which he won and then ate the Corps of said leviathan has the story changed or is that some other story?
Aw man i was really hoping for the fight club split personality direction. Could you imagine a two sided card with Bolas on one side and Ugin on the other? And they're both plainwalkers?!?!
Okay, but imagine you are right & actually Nicol & Ugin travelling through plains in the chase is actually them constantly switching who's in control & rushing to different places. Followed by Nicol "killing" Ugin in the meditation realm by using the water & mind control on his own mind, which in turn expels Ugin from him. He thinks he is dead, but in reality Ugin forms his own body this way & lives on. Both dragons now independently alive. Through some residual connection or so, Nicol feels Ugin being alive & is why he chases after him which then leads to the cacoon/trap events. Ugin being close to death, Nicol stops feeling their connection content with the win. Yet, as Ugin is healing, his life gets stronger once more causing those feelings in Nicol reemerge. Originally considering this as Ugin's memory weighing on his mind, Nicol ignores it until years later when the feelings have become almost as strong as they used to be thus convincing Nicol that Ugin tricked him & survived once more.
I also feel this is supported by the fact that considering heavily that Nicol lied about his take on becoming a planeswalker & how Ugin avoided being mindcontrolled by Nicol right before his planeswalker realization... perhaps Nicol tried controlling himself to shut up Ugin, but failed thus emotionally affecting Ugin from this display enough to unlock planeswalker abilities-- Nicol then also became one as a result, but Ugin's rise to greater power may have allowed him to become the dominant personality & explore the planes until Nicol came back into spotlight. Afterall, twins? Both having a spark even though the chances are astronomically rare? Both being present & *conflicting* during major events, but not in non-major ones? Both developing powerful psychic abilities(maybe from fighting each other in their minds & strengthening their psyche was the only way to become dominant & awakening those mind powers that way). It sounds like a game of mind-tug-o-war.
Speculation aside... dual card Nicol/Ugin Bolas would be amazing.
Matt Man don’t do reverse effects of each other anyway? Like Nicol person discards cards , loses life and loses permanents. Ugin gives draw , gains life and puts into play?
I really like the way you tell the story of MTG. Thank you very much.
Hope that you make the story about gatewatch plainswalkers, which I think thay have a lot of influence in MTG story.
You did an amazing job wiyh this series, ive done some reading through the comments and for those of you seeking more lore content, Wedge from the Mana Source covers alot of the Brothers War and Yawgmoths Conquest, and Seiben Lore now known as The Aether Hub covers an extensive period of the story, though a prefer Seiben Lore over the Aether Hub, he went more in depth into the lore back then
I know a friend who plays magic and he acts exactly like Nicol Bolas.... Thinks he should win every time and if he loses it's the gravest insult anyone has done onto his life.
The Best Show Ever!!!!!!!!!
I like the fact that the lore gets mind control right. Because mind control is OP, most stories and comics forget it's possible (like with the Xman Karma and Shadow King) Nicol Bolas and The Mule from Foundation show how to write mind control right.
I like your idea for the "fight club" ending. Consider that this has all just been an internal conflict for Nicol bolas and we later get a Planeswalker called "Nicol Ugin", which was his original name
Ugin's Bizarre Adventure! Nicol Bolas Vs. Ugin scene.
Nicol Bolas: You're next Ugin!
Ugin: You Bastard. Nicol!
Nicol Bolas: Oh, your approaching me? Instead of running away your coming right to me?
Ugin: I can't beat you up without getting any closer.
Nicol Bolas: Oh, ho, then come as close as you like.
Fantastic recap. Bolas/Ugin OTP.
I can just see a comical encounter between Ugin, Bolas and the Eldrazi
I've been playing for 10 years and I still have trouble understanding the Brothers War/The Yawgma Conflict. would love to see that one explained. I would also love to hear the Alara lore and anything that is known about Merit Lage
Long story short: In Ancient Dominaria the Thran suffered a sickness called phthisis and a brilliant doctor/artificer named yawgmoth found the cure which is essentially replacing body parts with artifice, the process called phyresis and the product being the phyrexians. He then decided he wanted to make everything into phyrexians. He was eventually defeated and sent trapped into another plane and the portal to that plane locked with the powerstone which is 2 halves fused.
Fast forward 5000 years and 2 young brothers studying archeology discover the powerstone and took half of each, these are Urza and Mishra. This of course opened the portal to the plane which is now called Phyrexia and Yawgmoth starts to send out scouts and spies to prepare for his invasion.
Urza and Mishra of become rival artificers and eventually fought each other in what is called the brothers war, each one trying to one up the other by creating more powerful war machines. During this time the phyrexians begin a machine worshipping cult and secretly contact Mishra, giving him phyrexian war machines and eventually compleating him into another phyrexian. Urza eventually won but at great cost, he activated an ancient weapon called the "golgothian sylex" which just utterly destroyed everything except for Urza who had become a planeswalker, his eyes replaced by the 2 halves of the powerstone. This also created the "shard of twelve worlds" a sort of countermeasure which prevented phyrexia by preventing planar travel to Dominaria and a few other worlds.
The next few centuries is the "Ice Age" saga but we don't care about that. Eventually the shard is destroyed and phyrexians can travel back to Dominaria. Urza then begins a Millenia long plan to defeat them, this included eugenics to produce the best genetic offsprings (Gerrard Capashen hero of the "weatherlight saga"), creation of the Tolarian academy and producing many artifacts and mages, the creation of the Metathran army which are phyrexia-like humanoid/artifice, Karn the silver golem and a collection of artifacts and people which together is called "The Legacy", and the "Null Moon" an artificial satellite whose main purpose is to store white mana, oh and there's also huge Titan machines powered and piloted by planeswalkers. And a lot of characters are involved like lots lots.
A lot of stuff and fighting and betrayal and tragedies happen etc. etc. Eventually Yawgmoth succeeds in reentering Dominaria, but he's now a giant black cloud of death that kills anything it touches and transforms it into a phyrexian zombie. It all ends with the Legacy Weapon firing an incredibly huge and powerful blast of White Mana from the Null Moon directly to Yawgmoth finally killing him, also killing Urza as the powerstone was the final catalyst to power up the weapon. However Karn lives on and by fusing with the powerstone he gaines Urza's planeswalker spark being the first and so far only artifical planeswalker in existence. Phyrexia loses and without it's god it eventually goes into extinction. End of story.
EXCEPT... You see Urza once met and allied with Xantcha a phyrexian defect because she was not under Yawgmoth's will, she eventually died and Urza decided to honour her by using her phyrexian heart as Karn's heart making sure that she would also be part of the final weapon that would kill Yawgmoth. However this backfires since even though she's not under Yawgmoth's control she's still phyrexian. And of course we know what happens then, the heart bleeds phyrexian oil over the metallic plane of Mirrodin, eventually corrupting it into New Phyrexia and now it no longer relies solely on 1 being to exist so it's harder to kill. YAY!!!
Please sir, more magic stories please
Love the video's. Really hope you're able to stick with them with RTRTR incoming
Definitely wish there was a fight club style twist of there was no ugan but the broken mind of a shape-shifter who swaps between the 2 forms
Thing is sarkhan vol the planeswalker had quite a bit of involvement in the resurrection of Ugin, and sarkhan had encounters with Nicol Bolas.
Can we get a story about the gods of the Theros block??😁
Hmmm. I wonder. If Bolas's plan goes off for the most part, I imagine he will steal the sparks from many planeswalkers and use the lawmagic of Ravnica's authority system to bind those to himself. So I wonder if Ugin will sieze this opportunity to fix the mistake of their birth, and become Nicol Ugin as they were intended to be.
"The adventures of Squee the Immortal"XD. A Goblin's tale. Would be a funny piece. Like Lord of the Rings or soXD.
Sooo Nicol and Ugin are the only two dragons with single names. They also always seem to be at odds due to fundamental differences. Is it possible that they are two aspects of the same dragon? "Nicol Ugin, The Torn Asunder"
0:23 don'y you mean "cut to ribbons", please tell me someone got that!?
What I think will happen:
Bolas is "defeated" or gets what he needs on Ravnica, goes to Theros, enlists the help of Ashiok.... Ugin returns after Ravnica.
But would a possible alliance between Ashiok, Nicol Bolas, and Phenax be too strong? The Returned and The Eternals with Ashiok as a agent would probably end everything.
I can see Ashiok agreeing to work with Bolas, but I do not want Ravinica to fall :(
I find these videos to be of a very high quality. They are easy to watch, and are a clear distillation of the Magic story line. Unfortunately, when listening to the videos back-to-back, the background music becomes repetitive to the point of aggravation; a surprising feat given the peaceful nature of the music! I agree with your choice to use music, but please try cycling between four (or more) different musical selections for ambience over a given block's story.
Overall, good work!
Why couldn't the other dragons on Dominaria not see Ugin tho?
I haven't been keeping up with the story. Do they explain why in Ugin's version he still has a Spark even though he died and got a new body?
If planeswalker dies and then comes back to life, they don't have their spark. My understanding is Elspeth is an exception because Theros (the plane where she died) has an afterlife. In the Khans block story Ugin was an exception because his death got time travel retconned.
They do not explain this in the story, no. It seems that by dying on the Meditation Realm, Ugin was able to have some influence on what would happen after his own death. Perhaps he even found a way to store his spark in the waters before Nicol killed him, so that when that water became his new body, it already had the spark in it.
I am really hoping the new set finds Jace regrowing his anime hair and planeswalking away to the plane of Yugioh, never to been seen or heard from again.
I know bolas is bad but I'm loving him rn
Okay, so Nicol Bolas runs away from Yasova because he thinks the Immortal Sun is there waiting to trap him. Yet he then travels to Ravnica to carry out his plan. But didn't Nicol Bolas have Tezzeret and Vraska steal the Immortal Sun before this, or have I mixed up the timeline?
(Ryan) The events in this story takes place a thousand years before what's happening now on Ravnica. It took Bolas this long to realize the Immortal Sun wasn't on Tarkir, and wasn't a threat once he also controlled the Planar Bridge.
@@tcgplayercom Thank you for clearing that up.
@@tcgplayercom its still a Risky devise, if Tezzeret gets Merc'd that Immortal Sun isn't going anywhere.
That beat is nice
Whats its name?
Great series! I've been wanting to hear the story of Bolas (or Nicol as is his name) and this is perfect!
I don't even play Commander, but I've been wanting to build a Nicol Bolas lore deck for a while. I don't know much of the story but this is definitely helpful! Any advice on sets, articles, or anything that could be of help? Thanks again, y'all are awesome!
(Ryan) Well, War of the Spark is going to have some great cards that reference Nicol Bolas directly. Dominaria gave us "In Bolas's Clutches," and M19 had Nicol Bolas, the Ravager. Amonkhet and Hour of Devastation also provide a lot of cards that show him or mention him in the flavor text. There was also a Bolas planeswalker deck from that set which would be a good starting point for your new deck. Hope that helps!
We need more ugin stories about his angry self centered golden twin
Soooo why not go over the leviathan planeswalker battle that creates the Talon Gates and smashed nearly an entire part of Dominaria
?
I don’t think the question was ever asked. What was Ugins original colors before he died? Since he cherish life, for sure he has some white and/or green, plus he’s able to recreate himself using water, BANT color is my guess. What about you?
(Ryan) His colors are never officially stated, but it's likely either Bant or just Green-White. If he's just GW, that means between him and Nicol Bolas they cover all five colors exactly once, which seems appropriate.
Hard to believe he was fired shortly after this.
Wasn't bolas getting the immortal sun from ixalan already. So why would he think the artifice is it on tarkiya?
The events in this story take place roughly 980 years before Ixalan. Azor and Ugin conspired to trap Nicol Bolas there, but Ugin was defeated before they could spring the trap. Ugin's body stayed on Tarkir for 20 years, then Nicol Bolas came back and encountered Yasova and the twins. They told him the trap was still active, so he left again. Meanwhile, Azor is on Ixalan waiting for a signal that never came. He spent 980 years there, slowly going insane, until Jace and Vraska showed up in our "present day." It took Nicol Bolas 980 years to realize what the Immortal Sun was, and where it was really located.
MAGIC STORY OMEGALUL
Sweet
How did Bolas get his spark
A spark is something innately present within oneself - he had it all from his birth in the wake of the Ur-Dragon.
It was only a matter of time for it to ignite, which the Chronicle places at sometime after Ugin returns to Dominaria after the Elder Dragon War.
So how did Nicol Bolas actually got is spark ignited?
Thanks for the explanation. I seem the trailer for War of Sparks a few days ago and now I want to gewt to know more of the lore of MTG. Also, which story or playlist of videos should I watch now so I can learn more of it?
(Ryan) The best place to catch up on the lore is actually the official story page: magic.wizards.com/en/story
azor is / was a planeswalker?!?!? wow wow wow
It was confirmed in rivals of Ixalan. pretty big piece of the story of that block tbh did you not play with that set? how did you miss it?
he lost his spark when he created the immortal sun. it's what stops planeswalkers on Ixalan from walking away.
Great story, but super shitty ending lol. Can't wait for the story to end in ravnica. But please, if you are going to keep doing magic arcanum, you have to do the story of Urza, The brothers war, Yawgmoth and Teferi/Barrin/Khamal /Jeska/Balthor /Tahngarth and the weatherlight saga.
What's the next story?
And then the monetization of Magic lore attacked
last set of cards ugen comes back and kills nick forever
go gerard and the weatherlight series
playns of ravnika? more like playns of blue control with white
What a terrible ending :(
all that hype for nothing
@@nathanrobb2936 At least we now know Ugin's backstory. But yeah this is at best a filler side story which has no real effect on the plot.
@@kyoken8691 it has a huge effect, it explains Bolas's entire motivation, and the story is a fundamental call back to the Brothers War between Mishra and Urza, and many other siblings through out the series, the two tribal girls in this one are the ONLY ones to avoid the conflict that happens between the others.
@@keithfilibeck2390 what i meant is that nothing changed with the plot. What we got was back story and character motivation, but it did not move the plot forward. We the readers now understand why ugin and bolas fought, why bolas is such a jerk and why ugin is a spirit.
Did it introduce a possibly important future plotline? Or move the current plot forward? No, therefore it's a transitionary story to help us the readers understand the characters better.
The end of this story... and this beard.
Nice vid, very entretaining. Keep it up!