Game designer Mark Rosewater dropped a villainous Magic: The Gathering teaser at MagicCon Barcelona to Dexerto, eluding that the infamous Nicol Bolas won’t stay confined to the Meditation Realm forever.
The MTG Multiverse is packed with villains and events from the Phyrexian war, which has left the Multiverse vulnerable to even more threats. Many in the Magic community speculated that Realmbreaker would bust open the Meditation Realm where Nicol Bolas is detained under the watchful eye of his brother Ugin. It’s also possible that the Sylex may have damaged the Meditation Realm when Elspeth entered the Blind Eternities with an ancient explosive.
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Villains have a way of returning from the beyond in MTG. The Phyrexians returned to almost take over the entire Magic Multiverse. And Bolas living out his next thousand years in magical prison is unlikely, even to Rosewater, who sarcastically remarked that “He’s locked away, what could possibly happen?,” at MagicCon Barcelona Pro Tour Lord of the Rings.
A new era is taking place within the MTG Multiverse and the release of Wilds of Eldraine this fall is just the start. The release of Commander Masters featured popular Eldrazi reprints, potentially setting up a return for the evilest MTG villains. Planeswalkers throughout the Multiverse have lost their Spark, and it was confirmed by Rosewater that future Standard-legal MTG set releases would include one Planeswalker as opposed to multiple like in the past.
A reduction of Planeswalkers in the Multiverse could open the door for major villains like Nicol Bolas or the Eldrazi to return or even small-time villains who were locked to a specific plane but can now travel the Multiverse through Omenpaths.
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Players and fans will have to wait for now to see who the next big baddie is following the launch of Wilds of Eldranine in Sept. and Lost Caverns of Ixalan in Nov.
