Behold Nicol Bolas, Elder Dragon God-King of Madara
This one time, I ate a demon.
Long-time Magic: the Gathering players were excited to see that one of the original Elder Dragon Legends would be returning in the new Conflux set. But when this image of the new Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker was leaked last month, it became clear that old sitting-in-a-chair-reading-a-book Nicol Bolas was long gone. This Nicol Bolas? He’s a baaaad mutha-[shut your mouth!]-I’m just talkin’ ’bout Nicol Bolas!
Where's my jello?!
Seriously, what was up with the old Nicol Bolas card art? It’s not that it was a bad painting (by Ed Beard, Jr. – the “remastered” Time Spiral version looks amazing with the more vivid colors), but he’s a 7/7 flier that makes your opponent discard her entire hand when he damages her. He’s a serious bad-ass dragon, a game-changer if you ever actually manage to get him in play. Yet we’re shown Nicol Bolas apparently relaxing in the Elder Dragons’ retirement home, gumming his dinner while checking TV Guide to see when Matlock comes on.
Since the bygone days of Legends, old Bolas has gone through a lot. Built a huge temple/palace, got assassinated, got reborn, and so forth. Now he reappears as an actual Planeswalker. His card’s stats haven’t been released yet, but he will most likely be one of the new “Mythic Rares.” He’ll almost certainly be a multi-colored Planeswalker, blue, black and red, and will almost certainly cost a pile of mana to play. Still, he’ll be more resilient to creature destruction, and there’s always the possibility that, in some strange homebrew format you only play in your basement, he could be in play simultaneously with his former geriatric self.
Oh, it's on. Click for full size.
So here’s the full-size version of the new Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. No matter how hard I try, I just can’t fit that name into the lyrics of the Theme from Shaft.
Related posts:
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- Rise of the Eldrazi Puzzle Contest — Part 3
- Planechase Puts You on the Vanguard of Chaotic Casual Play
- Why Haven’t Planeswalkers Visited the Forgotten Realms?
January 14th, 2009 3:11 PM
I love the big guy, very cool art.
January 14th, 2009 4:04 PM
See, this is awesome. I want more of this.n I want more of everything. Bring it on Ed!
January 15th, 2009 12:12 AM
The card art caught my eye, but your caption had me totally hooked! Very excited to see where this blog goes.