Sooo... "Good Old Saint NicolBolas" wants to destroy Ravnica, huh... I love him and all, but, I'm guessing that "I'm not letting that happen Ugin" has a plot of his own.
What I think is going on is that Bolas wants to invade Ravnica in order to zombify or awaken the Nephalim in an effort to discover the secrets behind undoing the events of the Great Mending, aside from the fact that it's an immense plane rich with mana. I predict we will be seeing Tri-Colored cards in the final Ravnica block. It would make perfect sense, because Nicol Bolas himself is Tri-Colored, the "Allegiance" gives us a clue that we are going to see guilds joining together to defeat the foreign army, with several culminations and synergies of the joined guilds (Personally, I can't wait to use Dimir's Surveil to mill Izzet's Jump-Start to Pop-Goes-the-Weasel all of my instants and sorceries. This is a perfect design in both gameplay and story, because what's a more perfect scenario than the dragon genius using spies to gather information, I mean come on (also bolas favorite colors)...
Anyhow, we all know Ral-Zarek is a double agent. Which side is he on though? Let's break down what we know. We know Niv-Mizzle thirsts for knowledge and wants to be a Planeswalkers more than anything (if he's not already). In previous blocks Ral tried to hide that he was a Planeswalker from Niv, probably because he was working for Bolas. We know Niv didn't trust him and chose Melek to run the Maze which ticked off Ral, ultimately leading to Ral killing Melek, but we also know that Niv and Ral worked on two projects together. One project was to syphon mana from the other guilds to empower Niv (probably to unlock enough power to ignite his Planeswalking spark), which was sabotaged, and we know that Ral worked on a project to create a device to detect Planeswalking. We also know that Niv and Ral were in a personal battle with one another which made Izzy "poof" disappear, leaving Ral Zarek running the Izzet show. Personally, I think you'd have to be a fool to think that he's dead, besides the fact that he's everybody's token favorite dragon. Although, having an undead UBR Niv learning about the underworld would be cool and play along nicely with the UBR concept mentioned before, but, ya right. Where's the corpse? Did Niv have Ral push himself to the limit to finally ignite his personal spark, or did Niv push Ral to the limit, syphoning Ral's PW spark? Dragons sure like to syphon mana. Why did Ral make a PW detector? I've read that some believe it's too know when Bolas arrives, but he works for Bolas. Wouldn't he just PW to wherever Bolas is to let him know he destroyed Niv. I think he can't, and he needs the machine to let him know when his master has returned. Also, Niv disappeared once before, several thousand years ago during a battle with the Nephalim.
Now, who knows, it's possible Niv is Bolas, it's possible that the Shapeshifter Lazav is Bolas, or both. We know Bolas has kept a watchful eye on Ravnica, but how? Well, maybe he is them. They both, being scientist and spies, would be the greatest source of info on Ravnica, and what better way to watch your PW spawns like Zarek, to make sure they're doing what they're told, and doing his dirty work.
Who else is watching Ravnica? I'm guessing Ugin, the meat gazer himself. We found out in Ixilan that Ugin supplanted himself in Jace's telepathic mind in order to detect and watch for Bolas (which reminds me, does anybody remember that old picture from Return to Ravnica of Jace and Niv-Mizzet, where Jace has that one glowing blue eye? Was that a secret clue given long ago that Ugin was watching us through The eye of Ugin and let us fans know by giving us a wink!?" I'm an artist, and I know there's no way that detail was added unintentionally). We found this out after Jace battled Bolas and pw to ixilan with his memory erased. Ugin made Jace PW to ixilan and temporarily wiped his memory so that Nicol Bolas wouldn't discover that Ugin was still alive. Also, we discovered that there is a machine, the Immortal Sun, that prevents Planeswalkers from Planeswalking. Ironically, an invention made long ago by Ugin and Azor, creator of the Guildpact and first Guildmaster of the Azorius. Now it's starting to come together. Is it going to end where it all began?
We have a culmination of many PW traveling to the same plane, for what should be an all out war. Let's not forget, Liliana is now a Pawn of Bolas, but is she really. I'm guessing the "Raven Man" is probably Bolas, and has been guiding her to give in to her urges to use the veil to fulfill his dirty wishes. She's always hesitated using the veil because she knows the darkness would overtake and possess her, but we also know how badly Liliana hates being controlled, not unlike most women, which led her on a quest to destroy the four demons that had control over her soul. I think it's possible that this idea of Bolas' backfires, and she ends up using the veil to destroy him, breaking her free from her contract, but the amount of dark energy needed to do so overwhelms and corrupts her, leaving her to be MTG's new token villain. Perhaps that's what happens.
Maybe Niv-Mizzet steals Bolas spark, Liliana uses the power of the veil to weaken him while Gideon and his girl friend Aurelia (she better not die) uses the Blackblade to piece his heart, while Vraska turns his corpse to stone, (she's one of Bolas'pawns, but she has a grudge against Bolas too), there's no way this final battle is going down without Ajani or Teferi (who just got teased to join the show when asked to help destroy Bolas by the Gatewatch, and was offered the return of his old spark by the Weather light Captain) so he Azor (previously thought to be trapped on ixilan by Jace, but probably rescued), and Ugin arrive to finish the deal. Ajani uses his shamanic powers to bind Bolas spirit, Ugin exiles what's left of him into a rubics cube (hedron), then everybody (whoever is still alive) decides who's staying or going. I'm sure all of the multi-colored Planeswalkers, "especially" the original "Gatewatch" become the new guild leaders, then Azor creates a new Guildpact called "Oath of the Guildgatewatch" binding them to Ravnica with the immortal sun, to babysit and guard Bolas' tomb for the rest of eternity as Teferi traps them all in a time Continuum, preventing Bolas from ever escaping again, also, ending The saga of both Bolas and the Gatewatch, knocking out two birds with one stone, something some fans have wished to happen for quite some time.
IDK, maybe this is what they are leading me to believe. If it is, what will happen next? Will Liliana become the new token villainess since the veil now has control over her? A truly evil, super veil powered dark black witch as MTG's new main protagonists. This could lead us into new, and discover old prospects and stories, such as the Annaki, Equilor, etc.
But, what about Ugin? Is he the charmer we all take him for? He is a dragon after all, and he just so happens to loooove his Eldrazi. He's also colorless, which means he's attune to magic of every color. Shouldn't the role of the leading villain be a master of ALL magics?
Who knows, if like to read some other theories, opinions, and details...
What I think is going on is that Bolas wants to invade Ravnica in order to zombify or awaken the Nephalim in an effort to discover the secrets behind undoing the events of the Great Mending, aside from the fact that it's an immense plane rich with mana. I predict we will be seeing Tri-Colored cards in the final Ravnica block. It would make perfect sense, because Nicol Bolas himself is Tri-Colored, the "Allegiance" gives us a clue that we are going to see guilds joining together to defeat the foreign army, with several culminations and synergies of the joined guilds (Personally, I can't wait to use Dimir's Surveil to mill Izzet's Jump-Start to Pop-Goes-the-Weasel all of my instants and sorceries. This is a perfect design in both gameplay and story, because what's a more perfect scenario than the dragon genius using spies to gather information, I mean come on (also bolas favorite colors)...
Anyhow, we all know Ral-Zarek is a double agent. Which side is he on though? Let's break down what we know. We know Niv-Mizzle thirsts for knowledge and wants to be a Planeswalkers more than anything (if he's not already). In previous blocks Ral tried to hide that he was a Planeswalker from Niv, probably because he was working for Bolas. We know Niv didn't trust him and chose Melek to run the Maze which ticked off Ral, ultimately leading to Ral killing Melek, but we also know that Niv and Ral worked on two projects together. One project was to syphon mana from the other guilds to empower Niv (probably to unlock enough power to ignite his Planeswalking spark), which was sabotaged, and we know that Ral worked on a project to create a device to detect Planeswalking. We also know that Niv and Ral were in a personal battle with one another which made Izzy "poof" disappear, leaving Ral Zarek running the Izzet show. Personally, I think you'd have to be a fool to think that he's dead, besides the fact that he's everybody's token favorite dragon. Although, having an undead UBR Niv learning about the underworld would be cool and play along nicely with the UBR concept mentioned before, but, ya right. Where's the corpse? Did Niv have Ral push himself to the limit to finally ignite his personal spark, or did Niv push Ral to the limit, syphoning Ral's PW spark? Dragons sure like to syphon mana. Why did Ral make a PW detector? I've read that some believe it's too know when Bolas arrives, but he works for Bolas. Wouldn't he just PW to wherever Bolas is to let him know he destroyed Niv. I think he can't, and he needs the machine to let him know when his master has returned. Also, Niv disappeared once before, several thousand years ago during a battle with the Nephalim.
Now, who knows, it's possible Niv is Bolas, it's possible that the Shapeshifter Lazav is Bolas, or both. We know Bolas has kept a watchful eye on Ravnica, but how? Well, maybe he is them. They both, being scientist and spies, would be the greatest source of info on Ravnica, and what better way to watch your PW spawns like Zarek, to make sure they're doing what they're told, and doing his dirty work.
Who else is watching Ravnica? I'm guessing Ugin, the meat gazer himself. We found out in Ixilan that Ugin supplanted himself in Jace's telepathic mind in order to detect and watch for Bolas (which reminds me, does anybody remember that old picture from Return to Ravnica of Jace and Niv-Mizzet, where Jace has that one glowing blue eye? Was that a secret clue given long ago that Ugin was watching us through The eye of Ugin and let us fans know by giving us a wink!?" I'm an artist, and I know there's no way that detail was added unintentionally). We found this out after Jace battled Bolas and pw to ixilan with his memory erased. Ugin made Jace PW to ixilan and temporarily wiped his memory so that Nicol Bolas wouldn't discover that Ugin was still alive. Also, we discovered that there is a machine, the Immortal Sun, that prevents Planeswalkers from Planeswalking. Ironically, an invention made long ago by Ugin and Azor, creator of the Guildpact and first Guildmaster of the Azorius. Now it's starting to come together. Is it going to end where it all began?
We have a culmination of many PW traveling to the same plane, for what should be an all out war. Let's not forget, Liliana is now a Pawn of Bolas, but is she really. I'm guessing the "Raven Man" is probably Bolas, and has been guiding her to give in to her urges to use the veil to fulfill his dirty wishes. She's always hesitated using the veil because she knows the darkness would overtake and possess her, but we also know how badly Liliana hates being controlled, not unlike most women, which led her on a quest to destroy the four demons that had control over her soul. I think it's possible that this idea of Bolas' backfires, and she ends up using the veil to destroy him, breaking her free from her contract, but the amount of dark energy needed to do so overwhelms and corrupts her, leaving her to be MTG's new token villain. Perhaps that's what happens.
Maybe Niv-Mizzet steals Bolas spark, Liliana uses the power of the veil to weaken him while Gideon and his girl friend Aurelia (she better not die) uses the Blackblade to piece his heart, while Vraska turns his corpse to stone, (she's one of Bolas'pawns, but she has a grudge against Bolas too), there's no way this final battle is going down without Ajani or Teferi (who just got teased to join the show when asked to help destroy Bolas by the Gatewatch, and was offered the return of his old spark by the Weather light Captain) so he Azor (previously thought to be trapped on ixilan by Jace, but probably rescued), and Ugin arrive to finish the deal. Ajani uses his shamanic powers to bind Bolas spirit, Ugin exiles what's left of him into a rubics cube (hedron), then everybody (whoever is still alive) decides who's staying or going. I'm sure all of the multi-colored Planeswalkers, "especially" the original "Gatewatch" become the new guild leaders, then Azor creates a new Guildpact called "Oath of the Guildgatewatch" binding them to Ravnica with the immortal sun, to babysit and guard Bolas' tomb for the rest of eternity as Teferi traps them all in a time Continuum, preventing Bolas from ever escaping again, also, ending The saga of both Bolas and the Gatewatch, knocking out two birds with one stone, something some fans have wished to happen for quite some time.
IDK, maybe this is what they are leading me to believe. If it is, what will happen next? Will Liliana become the new token villainess since the veil now has control over her? A truly evil, super veil powered dark black witch as MTG's new main protagonists. This could lead us into new, and discover old prospects and stories, such as the Annaki, Equilor, etc.
But, what about Ugin? Is he the charmer we all take him for? He is a dragon after all, and he just so happens to loooove his Eldrazi. He's also colorless, which means he's attune to magic of every color. Shouldn't the role of the leading villain be a master of ALL magics?
Who knows, if like to read some other theories, opinions, and details...