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An exclusive look at Nicol Bolas, Dragon God and two more cards of MTG’s War of the Spark set.
By Tom Marks
IGN is excited to officially reveal three new cards from Magic: The Gathering’s upcoming War of the Spark set, all centered around the imposing and notorious Nicol Bolas.
Watch the exclusive video from Wizards of the Coast at the top of the page to get a first glimpse at “Deliver Unto Evil, “The Elderspell,” and the planeswalker “Nicol Bolas, Dragon God” himself, hosted by The Command Zone’s Jimmy Wong and Josh Lee Kwai as well as Kyle Hill from Because Science.
I also spoke to Dave Humpherys, MTG’s Principal Game Designer, about why they decided to go with this card design for War of the Spark’s Nicol Bolas. Humpherys said they liked this iteration because it “felt true to Bolas and the story here.”
The video above will give you more insight into Nicol Bolas and his plans!
“The static ability felt like it was connected to trying to harvest all the planeswalker sparks which I felt one could translate to gaining their powers,” Humpherys said. “That line of text felt super fun in the context of the set themes.”
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“What I liked about this design was that it felt true to Bolas and the story here.” – Dave Humpherys, MTG’s Principal Game Designer
He also explained how activatable abilities tied gameplay to lore as well: “I liked the plus ability as a means to gain knowledge at an opponent’s expense which feels very blue-black and Bolas-y. The minus ability highlights killing other planeswalkers which is a major part of his plan here. Creature kill is just icing for more functionality.”
“I liked that the ultimate ability translated to the story in that he wins if there’s no hero left to stand in his way.” That ultimate paints a grim picture, but you can’t say it’s not full of flavor, and Humpherys said he’s “very happy with where we landed on this suite of abilities.”
“We also thought it would be fun if he could be curved after the Core Set 2019 card Nicol Bolas, the Ravager,” Humpherys told me. “Perhaps even the transformed Nicol Bolas, the Arisen could bring him back on occasion with his -4 ability.” But it wasn’t all about flavor, as he also said that they “generally saw this as an opportunity to help the Grixis (blue, black, and red) colored decks in the environment.”
With such a flexible static ability, the potential for some crazy combinations of planeswalkers is pretty high here, so I asked Humpherys what combos scared him the most: “One of the most exciting—and maybe scary—interactions is with Jace, Cunning Castaway (a planeswalker from the Ixalan card set) creating two copies of himself using Jace’s -5 ability. And for anyone able to pull of the color considerations (maybe via Interplanar Beacon) we also think Huatli, Radiant Champion’s (from Rivals of Ixalan) +1 ability to rapidly up his loyalty could get scary with his or other planeswalker ultimates.”
MTG’s War of the Spark set will be coming to Magic: The Gathering Arena on April 25, and physical pre-release events kick off on April 27 and 28. You can also find more of Jimmy Wong and Josh Lee Kwai over at The Command Zone, and Kyle Hill at Because Science.
Tom Marks is IGN’s Deputy Reviews Editor and resident pie maker, and he really loves big dragons. Who doesn’t? You can follow him on Twitter.