Magic: The Gathering has had its fair share of diabolical villains over its three decade run. These include the Yawgmoths and Volraths of the early years, to the Phyrexian Praetors and Valgavoths of more recent sets. Standing horned head and winged shoulders above all of these ne’er-do-wells, however, is the Elder Dragon Nicol Bolas. Since Legends, this big bad has been lurking in the background, and he totally dominated the MTG story during the long-running War of the Spark arc. Now, in an unexpected twist, Nicol Bolas is making his long-awaited return in Tarkir: Dragonstorm.
This was confirmed in the latest Magic Story article How Wretched Love, published today on the Wizards website. While many suspected that this was the direction the story was going, it’s still exciting to see it fully confirmed. The return of Bolas has big implications, too. Not just for future story events, but for possible future card designs as well.
Nicol Bolas Returns In Tarkir: Dragonstorm!
“”Bolas?” said the dragon in question, named at last, a sickly light irradiating his eyes. He turned to Ugin, his grin feline and ravenous. “Is that my name? And what did they say yours is? Ugin, was it? Ugin and Bolas. Oh, those names have such a mythic quality to them. Such stories they must have told about us. Yes, I think I’m beginning to remember now—””
Cassandra Khaw, How Wretched Love
Nicol Bolas’ reintroduction has been a long time coming. The last time we saw him was at the end of 2019’s War of the Spark, where he was finally defeated thanks to a plane-wide effort from the citizens of Ravnica. Following this, Ugin trapped him in the Meditation Realm and robbed him of all his memories. Besides Ugin and Jace, no one else in the Multiverse knew Bolas was still alive.
Until now, that is. How Wretched Love follows Jace’s efforts to undo the damage caused by the Phyrexian Invasion. By probing Loot’s mind, he eventually finds his way to Tarkir, where Narset helps him access the Meditation Realm. The group stumbles upon Ugin and Nicol Bolas, and Jace immediately tries to harness the duo’s power to rewrite the Multiverse. His makeshift “plan” fails, and everything spins off into a reality-dissolving cliffhanger.
Nicol Bolas doesn’t get a huge amount of ‘screen time’ in this story, but it’s still exciting to see him back in Tarkir: Dragonstorm. The moment where he remembers his name, quoted above, is significant too. This could be the trigger that restores the rest of Bolas’ memories. The story’s dramatic conclusion also very much leaves the door open for a ‘Bolas has escaped’ narrative, which could see him becoming a major threat again.
Naturally, a lot of MTG players are excited about this development. In the comments of the r/MagicTCG thread discussing the story, many expressed their approval of his return. Infinite_Bananas said “Bolas gang we’re so fucking back,” while willweaverrva added “Well then, I sure as hell wasn’t expecting that. This story has been so freaking good. I can’t wait for the finale.”
A New Player At The Table
The story possibilities available now that Nicol Bolas is back in the Tarkir: Dragonstorm narrative are endless. While the set’s story so far has largely been concerned with stopping the titular Dragonstorms, Bolas could now step in and fill a more traditional antagonist role.
On the other hand, his appearance in this story could simply be setup for future events. A surprising number of players in the comments shared this theory.
“I don’t think Bolas will come into play heavily here… more than likely this will end with him simply escaping to be an active problem in future sets. This is still going to be the Jace show i think.”
LordMordor
“I’m not really worried about Bolas as a villain here, I’d strongly suspect that in addition to being incidental to Jace’s plan that he’s also incidental to Metronome as a whole. This releases him into the wild for future plotlines, sure, but I don’t think it would make much sense to have him be the focus of the third year – especially since he’s not fully empowered either.”
mweepinc
These theories make a lot of sense. As exciting as it is to see Bolas again, we’re also at a point in the MTG story with a lot of other things going on right now. Duskmourn introduced Valgavoth, a new Multiverse-level threat, just a few sets ago. Shifting focus to Nicol Bolas at this point would feel a bit anticlimactic. Valgavoth needs more time to breathe and establish itself as a major Magic: The Gathering villain, which it won’t get if Bolas waltzes in and takes over at this point.
The fact that Tarkir: Dragonstorm is the last set in the Dragonstorm Arc is another point in this theory’s favor. Bolas is best known for his long-running plans and schemes, and we’ve seen that he’s only just ‘waking up’ at this point in the narrative.
What we’re shown in How Wretched Love is more than likely a teaser of things to come, rather than confirmation that Bolas is going to play a big role in Tarkir: Dragonstorm itself. Between this and the clear ‘Evil Jace’ arc that seems to be developing here, Dragonstorm is looking like a set full of setup story-wise.
Evil In Cardboard Form
The narrative implications of Nicol Bolas’ return in Tarkir: Dragonstorm are big, but so are its gameplay implications. Bolas returning to the story means we’ll more than likely be seeing a new Bolas card, or cards, very soon.
There may even be a Bolas card in Tarkir: Dragonstorm itself. While the planeswalker slots for the set are pretty much confirmed to be filled by Ugin and Elspeth, Bolas actually isn’t a planeswalker at this point in the story. He lost his spark along with his memories at the end of War of the Spark, which means he’s very much a valid inclusion in this set.
Seeing a desparked Bolas card would be interesting to say the least. We’ve seen creature takes on the villain before, including his original Legends appearance and his Magic Origins flip walker version. Both Bolas as a character, and Magic: The Gathering card design as a whole, have come a long way since then, however.
A new creature take on Bolas would likely push the envelope in terms of power level. It also makes a ton of sense as an inclusion here. It’s been confirmed that Tarkir: Dragonstorm will feature a major Dragon theme, so a big new Elder Dragon card would be right at home. Tarkir is also a famously multicolored plane, so Bolas’ tricky Grixis requirement would be easier to meet. None of the Tarkir clans use blue/black/red exactly, but we’ll almost certainly be getting strong mana-fixing tools here that would support it regardless.
That said, just as Bolas’ appearance here could just be a tease story-wise, we may also not get a new Bolas card for a few sets yet. We’ll find out for sure when Tarkir: Dragonstorm previews start in earnest next Tuesday.