The Rise and Fall of Nicol Bolas | Magic: The Gathering | MTG Lore
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- čas přidán 28. 06. 2024
- Learn the story of Nicol Bolas- one of Magic: The Gathering's most iconic and manipulative villains. From his beginnings on Dominaria to the time spiral crisis to the War of the Spark, Bolas's machinations have spread through countless planes in the MTG Multiverse. Let me know your thoughts on Nicol Bolas, if you like longer lore videos, and suggestions for future content in the comments. Until next time, go forth and explore the lore!
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
2:08 Beginnings
21:40 Planeswalker
47:33 Vile Machinations
1:16:01 War of the Spark
1:29:15 Outro
More lore videos
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References:
MTG Story Archive:
magic.wizards.com/en/story
Magic: Legends Cycle novels by Scott McGough
/ magic-the-gathering-le...
The Gathering Storm by Django Wexler
/ the-gathering-storm
War of the Spark: Ravnica & Forsaken by Greg Weisman
/ war-of-the-spark
Art of Magic: The Gathering series by James Wyatt
/ the-art-of-magic-the-g...
A Planeswalker's Guide to series: found on Wizards site
magic.wizards.com/en/articles...
Alara Unbroken by Doug Beyer:
/ alara-unbroken
Agents of Artifice by Ari Marmell
/ agents-of-artifice
Time Spiral by Scott McGough
/ 728046.time_spiral
Music Credits:
Intro/Outro by Alex Wakim | alexwakim.com/
Ascension by Scott Buckley | / scottbuckley
Filaments by Scott Buckley | / scottbuckley
Beautiful Oblivion by Scott Buckley | / scottbuckley
The Fury by Scott Buckley | / scottbuckley
Helios by Scott Buckley | / scottbuckley
Music promoted by www.free-stock-music.com
War of the Spark Trailer:
• War of the Spark Offic...
"In The End” written by Linkin Park
Performed by Jung Youth & Fleurie.
Produced by Tommee Profitt
Additional production and arrangement by Tom Salta
“This video is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.” - Hry
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The fact that you show cards with the story is honestly the best thing ever. Really paints the picture
Glad to hear it helps add to the narrative!
@@TheLorebrarians w😊.
20:47 I really love the flavor of their ults that I never noticed before :
- Ugin will make you gain 7 life, when Bolas will deal 7 dmg to an opponent
- Ugin will make you draw 7 cards, while Bolas will make an opponent discard 7 cards
- Ugin will make you put 7 permanents on the battlefield, while Bolas will destroy 7 of those
I love how opposite this is, and I never noticed that until today
Not sure how you couldn't have noticed, unless you've never seen both cards before.
@@kildotgaming Well I have Ugin, but not Nicol Bolas. I never really look at the storylines by myself so I cannot really see the connections between cards. Thats why I notices only really recently :)
@@RealCraftspirit that's fair enough. I had that bolas from the duel deck a decade or so ago, and was very familiar with his abilities and got the ugin spirit dragon in a more recent set, and liked they were a mirror image of each other. Both are in my dragon tribal deck. Not sure if you've seen it but there's a video on CZcams about the history of all the elder dragons, and what happened to them. it's very interesting and worth a watch/listen to.
czcams.com/video/ufrRjk3qBs8/video.html
Yeah… i notices the second I read ugin, but to each their own I guess
@@kildotgaming I've played magic consistently for years and never noticed either. Bolas is usually pretty bad so I've never really looked at him closely
Ugin: Man good thing you can’t planes walk, or you’d actually be a threat to me
Bolas: Oh yeah? Oh yeah?! Well I- oh hey I planes walked
Ugin: Bruh
Ugin: *goes super saiyan* Nicol Bolas: “I wanna be a super saiyan, I want it I want it I want it… oh hey… OOOH YEAH”
Nicol Bolas: Thanks to plot I can do anything better! 🎵 I can do anything better than yoooou! 🎶
@@rennac3152 ugin: “no you can’t!”
@@rennac3152 Ugins -X: I'm about to end this man's whole career.
Ugin: Boy am I glad he's stuck in that plane and I'm out here
The Dragon Formerly Known As Nicol Bolas would have loved your expose on his exploits.
gives me constellation vibes
For the longest time, I never really knew Nicol Bolas's story until War of the Spark. Until then he always just seemed to be this nebulous "bad guy" that couldn't be killed because he "planned for every eventuality" like some kind of evil Batman. Then I researched everything that was happening up to the War of the Spark and realized how long it was building to this moment. Ahmonket and the Eternals, Kaladesh and the bridge, Ixalan and the Immortal Sun, and realized he wasn't just some dragon who inexplicably had all the answers...he earned them over time and deft manipulations. Then I saw your video and learned about the early days of his life and his attempts at power in Alara and Zendikar and the like. I never knew he was so...widespread, that his claws touched on so many storylines attempting success in so many places only to be foiled, but with some successes that can build up to a future victory. Holy cow, what a video. Thank you for taking the time to make it!
I have always had a bit of a soft spot for Nicol Bolas, he was the smallest and weakest of his kin and despite his first memory being of his sister being murdered he strives to become so powerful that experiences like that cease to exist.
In most stories he'd be a protagonist but because he has such long reaching memory he doesn't see individuals of shortlived species as significant and that gets him slapped with the EVIL label.
Deep down he's a sad angry child lashing back at a world that took his loved ones from him without remorse and he is simply responding in kind but he plans on making sure that when he wins he will never have to fight again. Rejected and shunned by his brother alone and desperate with so many of his kin already dead, he is a being with nothing left to lose and everything to gain.
P.S. I hate how ignorant and short-sighted Ugin is but can't really fault the idiot's compassion for life in all it's forms. It's the only thing he got that Nicol Bolas doesn't have and it is indeed a powerful thing.
Then there's the Mending incidents, both the Venser one and the Leshrac one.
@@Ixidora Personally, I have always thought since reading his story that Bolas was an entity that subsumed the personality of Nicol in the latter's youth, even before learning that Bolas wasn't the personality of the leviathan Planeswalker that Nicol battled in the site of what would become the Madaran Rift.
I do still think that the subsequent consuming of the leviathan Planeswalker's body by the dragon cemented Bolas' control over the body, however.
lore is fun but your forgetting a key part, its fiction and the MTG spans many different writers. it was never always building to something particular.
@@Ixidora yep, genocidal maniacs are evil. is that really something you want to try and debate? his trauma cannot justify his actions. interesting character, still evil as fuck.
It's pretty amazing that almost every single plane from every Magic set over the past 15 years has been influenced by Nicol Bolas in some form or another. Even the ones in which his name was never really mentioned in the storyline.. well, he was there too. Always in the shadows.
It was always very fun to pronounce his name in my language, since in it "Bolas" basicaly mean "Balls"
tuga?
Nicol balls!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
Nicolas cojones!
Is it better or worse that he added that onto his name to compensate for his, *ahem* "Small Size".
@@chugiakjrtheplaywwright6461 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I went into this knowing Bolas’s story, but you still told it exceptionally well. Bravo!
Thank you! He's involved in so many plot lines it was a challenge to present in a non-confusing way, but happy to hear it turned out
I agree great job
Such an annoying planeswalker to go against lol
@@Banndit_Nation I have always loved Nicol Bolas so much. He and Ugin were the first planes walkers my dad gave to me, and I have since then absolutely loved them.
@@Suo_kongque oh I love them to until I have to go against them lol they can be so annoying but my frist plains walkers was liliana, nissa, veraska, and ob (I can't remember how to spell his name fully)
Haven't watched yet but an hour and a half long video?! I can't wait to dive into a video about my favorite mtg character
Hope I did him justice! Bolas is too big a character for anything shorter
A video like this, something big on the Eldrazi, would sound pretty cool. They've always been something in the lore that have fascinated me. Immensely powerful and wielding such power almost effortlessly.
Cryptic and intriguing beings, definitely want to cover them someday. Thanks for the suggestion!
@@TheLorebrarians I second that, I'd LOVE to see a video on the Eldrazi. Just found your channel and after this video I'm hooked!
Mama Emracool demands coverage, my son
You made the War of the Spark sound so much more epic than it actually was lol.
Had to do Nicol Bolas justice! Unfortunately for most his defeat felt a little anticlimactic
It was epic, it’s just they didn’t do a good job showing that it was in the lore
War of the spark was a nice highlight set but that bolas just got exiled is a little lame for what he has been through
He should have written it lol
@@TheLorebrarians If anything, I find that his defeat being anticlimactic to be a perfectly fitting irony. The worst way for such a powerful and terrifying Dragon like Nicol Bolas is to be taken out like a chump.
I'm saying it right now. Nicol Bolas is the greatest villain of all time. Multiverse stories are very popular right now and there are no villains who truly emerge across space and time like Nicol. Usually the multiverse stories have villains searching for some artifact or macguffin, and they are becoming boring. Not MTG. No villain encapsulates pure evil and the strive for power like Nicol. A completely irredeemable antagonist. Idc, he is the best villain in any story.
True that
What you just listed are just generic traits of most villains out there lol nothing too special
@@crismondragon6045 there are few villains that encapsulate the sheer magnitude of Bolas' plans and his ruthless evil. Palpatine from Star Wars, Khan from Star Trek, probably a few others are on the same level. Idk just my opinion I guess.
Nicol's plan is full of holes and only works because the writers say so. He lives and dies by plot convenience.
What about Phyrexia?
The music is perfect in this video. During the first battle between Ugin and Bolas, it hit fully, and remained epic for the rest of the video. Great job. Glad I voted for longer videos if this was the result. Looking forward to more.
Thank you, I was toying with new formatting and the like so I'm glad to hear it worked out
Ugin and Nicol Bolas is like Brother fight but in Multiverse scale…
Yooo, this is so fucking great man. I don’t know why more of the MtG community doesn’t follow you.
Very well done, this gave me lots of nostalgia and different feelings. I never noticed Archon of Cruelty's background until now. Curious :)
So glad you liked it! Yes, it's up in the air. We don't know at what point in time that archon was flying around
My goodness. A lore channel? That just covers lore?! Madness!
Seriously, I appreciate this channel. I've been indulged in the lore for almost 15 years, and already know alot of it, but to have a channel with a calm voice just repeat it is excellent. Also, I enjoy the minimalist style. Kind of reminds me of Rhystic Studies and Pretty Deece (R.I.P. my sweet segment.).
Thank you for all the work lad. I appreciate the effort and the videos.
Thanks for the kind words! The vision is to make engaging and informative content without being too obtrusive or over the top. I'm happy to hear that you enjoy it
@@TheLorebrarians This is amazing, but looking through the channel I see Ikoria, Zendikar, Ixalan, Kaladesh, but NO RAVNICA?! And in Planeswalker Lore I see Teferi and even some obscure planes walkers yet NO JACE?! Are these coming?
@@KingDeadpool3883 yes, more videos will be coming in both series! Ravnica will most likely wait until after content for the innistrad sets
I'm personally shocked that we never got much flavor in regards of Bolas, Urza, and Yag. There's no way they all didn't know about each other
While a massive plothole to say the least, my headcannon for the reason is bolas didn't pay much attention to domanaria as it is the plain of his birth
I watched this whole video despite knowing Bolas' entire history but there was one simple detail I did not know: That Ugin and Azor knew each other and it was their plan to construct the Immortal Sun originally to trap Bolas. I knew Azor created the immortal sun but I wasn't sure exactly why he did it at the time of Ixalan. Now I know. And Bolas selected Ravnica because Azor was a powerful enough planeswalker whose origins are from a plane with multiple known walkers aside from Dominaria.
This is why I have a Bolas commander deck. Awesome video for an incredible character, the one that turned me into an MTG fan a decade ago.
Well done! A tale grand and epic in scope, I would love to see an anime about this story line one day. Not sure if live action could do this justice. At least I got this awesome youtube video to demonstrate the sheer awesomeness that is NICOL BOLAS.
Yes, I think an anime for Bolas would be super cool. I would love to see this dragon in action
Anime would ruin this great story, but an animated story would be cool. Kinda like what they are going to be doing with the MTG Show
@@nicoperez8307 I don't get it? how would an anime ruined it but an animated story would be fine.
I feel like this video is going to blow up in a year.
Ok 2 things: 1, this video needs more recognition cause damn this is fantastic, and 2, can we get a Netflix animated series where Nico Bolas is the main character and we see all of his events unfold.
Thanks! And I think an animated series about the older stories/walkers would be super cool
My favourite character, and my favourite colors. Grixis walkers forever!
Wow what a video
Amazing.
I would love a video dedicated to Ugin or Niv-Mizzet.
I do still plan on covering Niv Mizzet in the coming weeks, he is such an interesting character. Glad you enjoyed the vid!
@@TheLorebrarians would love one done on Niv Mizzet by you!
Wasn't too excited to watch since I thought I knew Bolas pretty well, but once I watched it all I learned a lot and the comprehensive arc was a pleasure. Please do more long form videos!
Awesome! The feedback has been great, so definitely some more big projects in the future with normal length content in between
Nicol Bolas is my favourite MTG character and this was absolutely splendid. Thank you :)
Love to hear it, he's also one of mine!
This is easily the best summary of Bolas I've ever seen, amazing work, amazing presentation, and amazing writing.
Absolutely great video, I was never bored at any point. I'd love to see a similar video on Urza as I think he is also a fantastic character as well.
Yes, Urza's saga will likely be the next feature-length video to tackle
@@TheLorebrarians yes please....love the Urza lore and want to hear your iteration of the story telling as u do an excellent job
This was amazing. Nicol Bolas is by far my favorite Magic character and I really hope to see him again in a few years.
1:03:32 I love how in deploy the gatewatch Gideon is on all around effort while Liliana is like how could these eldrazi guys live until today without knowing how fabulous i am
I was just going to watch a couple minutes of this and wound up staying riveted for the whole hour and a half such a cool story thank you
Happy to hear you enjoyed it
This video literally explains how Nicol Bolas is the greatest villan of all time.
I've heard the story of Nicol Bolas many times, but as a feature-length movie, this is new and epic!
Wow! This is a freaking masterpiece! Excellent job, your knowledge and retelling of mtg have no equal. Great job.
Thank you for the kind words, glad you enjoyed!
As a player who can summon Nicol Bolas to the battlefield in-game and in multiple different forms, I find myself wondering what I did to earn a favor.
Your spark of course.
Well, if you respect old canon, all players are pre mending Planeswalkers. We never felt the issue of the mending for [insert deux ex]. So we are simply the most powerful beings around; which I like to believe is validated by the fact we use spells in ways Nicol bolas would just be fucking shocked by.
Namely, the many ways we generate limitless mana in edh; or the storm of spells into a lethal one shot in legacy (or just storm itself). Like we would wreck any Planeswalker with little effort.
Might be the best character breakdown of any game character I've ever seen on one of the most interesting villains ever created
Very cool. I'd love to see a similarly detailed video about Urza's story.
Thanks for the suggestion, definitely one people are asking for
Could you cover the Mirari Saga in separate pieces to be able to cover each faction’s brush with power, obsession, and destruction? It’s such a good story of friends trying to save one another, wishes granted with devastating repercussions, and a list of many characters’ struggles to control their desires for the alluring power of the Mirari.
The mirari/onslaught time period is very cool and unique, I'd love to cover it someday. Thanks for the suggestion!
This was a fantastic video. A friend of mine just started Magic because of that DnD set. I was explaining to him Nicol Bolas but this video does a great job of capturing every aspect of his story. Kudos, well done.
Make sure your friend knows that his presence has been seen for a decade in card sets. Only in these recent few have it been fully realized.
Would've loved to see Bolas try to go toe to toe with Emrakul and how that would've gone down, especially a pre-mending Bolas. Great video, I've missed the amazing stories that he was a part of - the new single set format does not lend itself to good storytelling by any means. Hope they go back to releasing sets in Blocks worldbuilding
I completely agree, I think a block design allows for more world building and story development. As for a pre-mending bolas v eldrazi fight I could see him coming up with a devious way to defeat them
@@TheLorebrarians The best parts from Magic's story are when you feel inconsequentially small compared to the vast deities and powers that are present on the Plane, beings that our powerful Planeswalkers and spells wouldn't dare to challenge. I read in one of Bolas' stories that the blind eternies "flowed around" his essence or something, which always made me think that Bolas was on par with the Eldrazi, who are sort of also cosmic gargantuans. I always liked to believe that the Elder spell he used in WotS was learned/mindflayed somehow from the Eldrazi or their acolytes, and that he had begun the ascension to an Eldrazi level being before he was brought down by the Gatewatch at his cosmic coronation. Would also be cool to imagine the three Eldrazi as former immensely powerful planeswalkers (I'm talking more powerful than Urza here, only Ugin -Taysir-Bolas types) who ascended into a higher level of existence; Wandering Archaic might be another of these "ascended", albeit benevolent or neutral. All speculation though, and probably will never be more than that lol
I’m hoping that the story building around Khasmina and this great threat she seems to be planning for will lead to the creation of a few more block based stories.
I'd strongly believe pre-mending Bolas would've kinda bodied any single Eldrazi
Funny, since neither of them have toes
This would make one hell of a movie series.
I love magic lore, im so happy to see a lore video like this for the most notorious elder dragon in magic! PLEASE do something like this for Phyrexian lore!
Great, glad it could deliver! And phyrexia will be sure to make an appearance in another feature-length style video in the future
My favorite character in the entire franchise. I was devastated at the conclusion of War of the Spark. I hope he is brought back.
As someone who's mostly only familiar with the cards themselves and their flavour text, not having read the stories posted on the MtG-site, it's really grand to see everything put together in a cohesive way like this!
While the War of the Spark novel was a letdown and killed off my favorite planeswalker, (Gideon) I was enjoying the story up to that point, so it was nice to see a video pulling all of the plot together. Having gone through your channel, you make real quality content and so I have subscribed. To answer your questions left at the end of this video, I do like seeing longer content. As for what to come next, a companion piece on Gideon would be nice since his story is probably over, I also really the Study series. Thank you for your hard work!
Thank you for the support and suggestions! The Study in series will likely be back in the next month or so, after content about the upcoming Innistrad sets is finished
@@TheLorebrarians I also appreciated this long piece about my favorite MTG-character. There are several stories I would gladly listen to in the same manner, specifically:
eldrazi, phyrexia/new phyrexia, karn, urza, niv mizzet, garruk
Besides that interesting sidestories might be: Arcanis the omnipotent (one of my favorite cards of all time with hardly any lore) and Nissa the elf-nazi (:
as noted with Elspeth dying on Theros, you dont actually die on Theros. Gideon can always find a way back if Wotc needs him too
Would to see a video like this on the Phrexians! Awesome video! I love Nicol Bolas as a villain and seeing how widespread he truly was it was epic!
This was amazing! The lore, your voice and the incredible music was everything that I could want and more.
I love long videos that can listen to while driving.
Absolutely fantastic. This is so well done. It’s truly astonishing to hear this whole story at once. Thank you for your dedication!
Of course, so glad you enjoyed it!
I just found this channel and i can´t wait to look for some Phyrexian lore. This vid was awsome, you did the epic tale of Nicol Bolas justice!
Great video! Being relatively new to MTG lore I really appreciated seeing the cards as well. 👍🏾👍🏾
Nice touch integrating the War of the Spark trailer into this video. It gave me chills.
Brilliant work all round. Thanks man 😎
Wow, just wow, it takes a lot of sets in MTG to explain a story, and you nailed gathering this knowledge into a video. Great job and I look forward to more.
I absolutely love this story. Great content! Could Bolas's original bones be the bones left in Phyrexia, when and if they were thrown through time? Similar to Ugin's? I've always pondered the idea. Bolas will find a way out while his brother deals with rements of his past actions. Emerkul loves things that she can play with and Bolas has left a lot of toys in his wake. Besides, the silver moon has been gathering mana for a long time, Phyrexia is ripe, Lilliana is looking for a way to bring Gideon back, Karn is a time traveler, Terfiri manipulate time... it's time answers are questioned! No?
What a totally cool character.
I think it would have been neat if Nicol Bolas had won and the story turned into scattered remenants of survivers and pockets of hopeless resistance against the only god planeswalker. It would be like the empire vs rebels with the empire having all the power.
That would have been very interesting, and a really cool vibe. Rebel planeswalkers trying to come together and overthrow while hiding from his supreme power.
The longer videos are absolutely amazing! Please do more.
Wonderful video! Loved the detail, music, everything, this long video format was AWESOME
Awesome video! Mtg story can seem funky sometimes, but you managed to make it simple and cohesive throughout the video. So glad I saw this recommendation ^^
The only parts that I don't really understand/like from Bolas' story are his death at the hands of Umezawa (c'mon, he's just a powerful human) and the whole Niv-Mizzet dying and being reborn who knows how or why at the end of war of the spark
Yeah, it's hard to imagine a supreme elder dragon premending planeswalker being defeated by his imperial champion. But I guess umezawa is a cunning and clever man
Back in the day, planeswalkers can survive decapitation (one of the old novels even mentions it) but if you stick a knife in their brain, they still ive, but cease to function till it's removed. However, Umezawa dropped a whole freaking meteor on bolas's body. The only reason Bolas was defeated was because of his ego and rash temperament which is his red side.
This is an awesome video!! As a newbie to MTG, I really appecriate the explanation and stories behind the characters! :)
This is awesome! Thank you so much for putting in the time and effort for this video! You have the best lore videos on YT!
Thanks! I had a lot of fun with this one, hope you enjoy
Love the longer format. You did an excellent job going over the history in a very clear manner. As someone new to Magic, I never felt lost and was able to follow along. Would really like to see more longer videos.
Love to hear it and I will be working on some larger projects in the near future!
This is basically one brothers war less from the entire history of MTG, amazing
Haha you're right. I guess I'll just have to cover that next
This is precisely the kind of MTG lore channel that I've been searching for! This video earned you another subscriber!
I was just looking through the video's description and I've noticed that there was no link to a Patreon account. It's not much but I would really like to share a dollar or two to support the channel. As this channel has been around for a year, I'm sure you have your own reasons for not including a Patreon link so I'll respect that if it is your decision not to do so.
Anyways, as someone who is newer to the lore and interested in the MTG Universe, I am looking forward to seeing what other MTG topics you will be covering on this channel. Keep up the good work! :)
Wow, thank you so much for the kind words! I have actually been thinking about launching a Patreon but wasn't sure how much support it would get. But I may consider putting one up!
I would absolutely love a longform video on each of the gatewatch!
Wow. Really well done video. There were parts of the history I thought I knew, but this has enlightened me quite a bit. Thank you.
Amazing narrating, you really pieced together Bolas' story perfectly. As a huge fan of the Dragon God, will we see him again? Absolutely. On Zendikar, Jace was even seen looking to gather weapons to fight him when he eventually breaks out, so he will be back. Hopefully it won't be for a long time, I want that to marinate a while. And if the Phyrexians are any clue, Wizards is willing to play the long game.
Appreciate it. And I think you're right; this isn't the end for Bolas but I don't imagine seeing him again for several years
Thanks for the video. I built a deck a year or so ago in EDH using almost exclusively cards that are to do with bolas's story, or that reference or depict him. Was fun to see much of them appear through out the video, and actually even gave me some ideas of a few things to add that I hand't remembered were bolas related.
I bet it was a super fun deck to pilot
@@TheLorebrarians It is. Despite the heavy restriction for how big the card pool is only Using bolas related cards it does punch at a fairly high level as far as battle cruiser edh concerned just because of all the powerful cards associated with him over the years. So it feels like a strong deep rooted grixis control deck which is definitely what Bolas should feel like.
It’s great to finally have a video detailing bolas’ journey. I read up on it, but I never really had all the details. Thanks for the great video
Awesome, glad it could deliver
I really wish I could like this video twice. It was an absolute case study in how lore videos should be presented! I am now happily subscribed to your channel, and look forward to many, many more videos of this caliber. Thank you!
So glad you liked it and I really appreciate the support!
This is my favorite lore channel and it is so underrated the only reason Magic Arcanum is bigger is because its apart of TCGPlayer..
hope you grow even more you're amazing
Thank you so much! It definitely is fortunate to network, but I feel like the channel is gaining some steam
Thanks for the video, love how you manage to weave the cards throughout the various sets to the overall story. You've really did a better job of conveying the story than Wizards did. Do you think you could put together a similar storytelling video about the other Brother's War (Urza and Mishra)? That would be awesome, you are the best kept secret about MTG on CZcams, no lie. Here's hoping for more subs and recognition!
You bet, glad you enjoyed it and I'm hoping the word will continue to spread! Thanks for the suggestion, when I do get around to Urza's Saga it will probably be a longer one like this
I love how long Bolas was around and hope that even though he’s defeated, he will return someday. I joined the game as early as his time on Grixis (still own that deck from back in the day), and was in and out over the years (a stop on Ravnica during the Dragon Maze story, a trip to Mirrodin when the Coalition fought against Phyrexian forces, a visit during the Eldritch Moon to Innistrad, and I had a trip on Dominaria and briefly with Amonkhet). The moment I truly joined the game was, in fact, The War of the Spark, as I built an Amass deck with Bolas in it. One I plan to break down and reconstruct into a Commander deck.
Seeing the Archon display the Meditation Realm gives me some hope to see ine of the 3 largest scale villains of the entire franchise return.
This was amazing. Thank you. I haven't played magic for over 10 years. this reminds how much I loved the story and lore.
You bet, glad you liked the video!
Great video! I'd love a video on the elf tribes!
Thanks for watching??? Thanks for the incredible story!!! I can't wait to watch more this was so amazing!!!
Lol happy to hear you enjoyed it!
Absolutely insanely well done production! I'm new to Magic and it's lore, so thank you for this.
I love the legthy video, man! I also love the exceptional storytelling about Bolas' rise and fall.
...and his tail nearly spans the known timeline. :DDD
This was such an incredible listen! Your formatting and storytelling style was enthralling!
I loved Bolas since I saw his first Planeswalker card, I love his character. There was so much I didn't know about him until now, awesome video!
Thanks, so glad to hear you enjoyed it!
I have never known any lore behind magic. I absolutely loved this video and you did such an incredible job! Thankful to have found it!
This was my introduction to mtg lore as someone who started playing in the last month, and on god this was more than anything I could've asked for, you did an amazing job
So glad you liked it and welcome to the Multiverse! Plenty of other lore content for you to check out on the channel
Great video, while war of the spark seems to have ended his story, you can never be sure with this guy.
He's definitely a slippery one
So Tetsuo Umezawa is the true GOAT of the multiverse.
Amazing content. Audio is soothing and fitting. Story is told at a great pace and with superb diction
Love that you show the cards, love reading the flavor!!!
A bit late to the party, however I just wanted to point out that in the art of Ahsiok, Dream Render (The one from War), Ashiok is depicted in the Meditation Realm and they arn't actually mentioned in any of War's stories.
So my fan theory is that; because Ashiok is currently looking for the Phyrexians (Due to seeing them in Elspeth's nightmares) and due to having been there before Ashiok also has a connection to the Meditation Realm this would allow Nicol Bolas to interact with the Phyrexians in some way. This would also explain why Vorinclex went to Kaldhiem to get some Tyrite, Bolas could be manipulating the Phyrexians through Ashiok to gain access to Tyrite (Tyrite is a magical substance that comes from/is the sap of the World Tree, that can be made into an elixir that gives the ability to slow ageing and maintain _god_ like powers). If Nicol could harness the power of Tyrite he may be able to regain some powers and potentially break out of the Meditation Realm. Vorinklex also lost all of his organic mass upon arriving in Kaldhiem, which hasn't been explained, however it could be because he used a Planar Portal, or some from of it, which does not allow organic mass to travel through it.
The only flaws I can think of with this theory is that, where would the Phyrexians get a new Planar Portal from and why would they help Ashiok or Nicol Bolas? Tezzeret had the only one in existence inside him and it was damaged or destroyed during War, but maybe Nicol has a way to make a new one back on Kaladesh? And I have no clue as to why the Phyrexians would help out Ashiok without some good mind games involved, but then again, mind games is Bolas' middle name. And at least Ashiok helping Bolas makes sense as, what else would give everyone nightmares more than the most tyrannical dragon being brought back to power?
Thank you for listening to my TED talk.
Gets even wierder when you read one of Tezzerets quotes "I only tolerate the phyrexians because the dragon requires it"
@@natedanforth9652 It seems to be more than that, actually. Tezzeret has been among the Phyrexians, known to them to be a Planeswalker, for quite some time. And yet we have no evidence that they ever tried to Compleat him. More over, as an artificer of Etherium, he would share a close kinship with the life of Mirrodin prior to the rebirth of Phyrexia. Instead, they did Tamiyo. There's a well supported theory that Bolas, in some way, made Tezzeret immune to Completion. This is suggestive that Bolas determined countermeasures against the Phyrexians were necessary as a potential threat to his power, and through those countermeasures the counter to Completion.
@PhailRaptor This then begs the question: how far will they take that idea? Are we going to see the coalition free Bolas from the prison realm to fight against new phyrexia? What if that too was a safeguard Bolas had put in place? Or will we see the phyrexians break into the prison realm and attempt to compleat the two elder dragons?
I loved the video! And I'm sure the developers won't just 'end' bolas journey. It would be like removing Bowser from Super Mario.
Bolas is much more evil than Bowser. Would Bowser kill a human baby and laugh?
@@cameronmcewen9666 yes. Baby Toad
@@sparkyanimations213 Is Toad a human, or even a baby?
One thing I've always wanted to see, but yet to have seen, is a detailed list of different types of magic. There are about a million different magic types, for example: telepathy, pyromancy, etc. Maybe focus on some of the lesser known ones. Like Pearl bending on Tarkir
Thanks for the suggestion! Could be an interesting topic, maybe for my "study in" series
just rewatched again. This is so amazing!
Anyone else spent the entire 1.5 hrs cheering for Nicol Bolas?
Other than using the word 'machinations' too often, very well done!
man, this was a really great video. Enjoyed it a lot! War of the Spark, as usually, I watched with tears - so much epicness and awesomeness in it! Thank you very much, this was a blast
Great, so glad you enjoyed!
I had very little idea of the entirety of Nicol Bolas' story. Thank you for what feels like a series' worth of lore summed up into this one video. Very informational.
I appreciate it! A good deal went into making it and I'm glad you enjoyed
The story of War of the Spark would have been more interesting if Bolas would have won.
I don't know, but it should be no more than just repeling Bolas. Ajani, Ugin and some other planeswalker had a lot more beef with Nico than gate watch. I kinda like how on spot they are with Liliana growing spin would be the most unpredictable thing.
Only recently got into magic but your video gripped me watching it from start to finish. I'll be watching through your other videos as well, so all i have left to say is thank you for making it. Truly a work of art.
Welcome to the Multiverse and to the channel! Its a great game with even better stories, hope you enjoy your time here
Deffinatly love longer videos, please yes
it's so dumb to see this as a brazilian, "saga of balls"
I mean the real reason Bolas was defeated in the end was just the horrible writers.
Even he isn't powerful enough to escape WotC creative team
@@TheLorebrarians Eh, more just Greg Weisman lol
@@Mustakrakish16 Weisman gets a lot of flak for the book, but ultimately, he didn't write the story, he was just charged with putting it onto paper. Yes, the book was written poorly and that's Weisman's fault (although I can't imagine WotC were easy to work for), but the blame for the terrible story lies squarely on the creative team.
I have watched this video at least once a month and i can say that there is always something new to notice. The whole lore makes me wish we would get a sequel to Bolas's story, a resurgence or even a redemption arc.
His is truly a marathon of a story with so many intricacies. I hope his and Ugin's tale isn't yet over
Man, I’m really enjoying your vids. I think I found my new favourite MTG lore channel. :) Great presentation, and your hour plus videos feel interesting the whole way through (which is a huge compliment to your pacing, tone, narration ability, and more). :)
Welcome to the channel and thanks for the support!