I believe we know how this set is going to end. Ulamog is gonna escape and the Planeswalker Avengers are gonna deal with it. Right?

In before mending 2.0

Honestly? I think the Eldrazi are going to be destroyed, or at least driven out of Zendikar and into the Æther. I really can't see Wizards completely destroying yet another plane especially one that seemed so generally well-received as Zendikar.

At the same time, I really doubt they'd want to do away with the Eldrazi as a thing, either, so I imagine they're going to move into the Blind Eternities somehow, so that they can make a plane alter...ing...appearance... laaaaaaaater

Oh my god they're setting up an Eldrazi vs. Phyrexia story.

Too many people have asked for it to not happen. I just hope it doesn't completely suck.

It will completely suck. There is no way it can be done without it sucking.
Just because a number of people ask for something doesn't mean they have any clue what actually makes a good story.

Perhaps they will go that route. I'm getting more an Urza v Yawgmoth 2.0 feel from Ugin and Bolas.

Any confrontations between Phyrexia and the Eldrazi would be pointless. The Eldrazi are creatures above the very existence of planes, the Phyrexians are mere creatures + metal. As Barinellos once put it, all the Eldrazi would have to do was to suck the mana out of the oil and it'd be over for Phyrexia.

Eldrazi vs. Phyrexians sounds like the cheesiest thing ever. And like too many porcelaine plated, faceless monstrosities with unhealthy looking flesh in one place.

I'd be down honestly. Magic hasn't really jumped the shark even once yet and I'd be down. It would be refreshing.

On Eldrazi v. Phyrexia

1) They could kinda fight, but honestly Phyrexia would be on the back foot. I'm not totally sure wizards wouldn't decide that the True Form of the Eldrazi could be infected with the Brood Lineage as vectors for Phyrexian corruption, but if they did that would be stupid. As an absurdly efficent, militaristic force, Phyrexia has a better chance than, say, the Zendikari to violently convince the Eldrazi to shove off and go eat something easier.

2) I counter magic not jumping the shark with Karona, the Mending, and our recent time travel plot. It's got a good habit of jumping back, though, because if one plot arc jumps the shark they just move on to the next one.

3) More interesting than having the Eldrazi invade Phyrexia or Phyrexia somehow infect the Eldrazi would be PWs (through Tezz? I guess that would make sense as to why Bolas has irons in both fires.) bankrolling Phyrexia as the lesser evil, assuming Phyrexian magitech can sub for the lack of Nahiri in sealing schemes. Of course, then what do you do with the Phyrexians? (Support Urabrask to topple Norn and create a Phyrexia with a heart?)

I think a Phyrexia-Eldrazi war would be pretty awful. It'd be the Alien vs. Predator of Magic but without the horror that makes both sides so grabbing. Seeing the horror of the Phyrexians on Mirrodin struck home how cruel and alien they were to the Mirrans. We saw very familiar places and creatures horribly corrupted into twisted reflections of themselves. The Eldrazi offer something similar in that their cruel, alien nature shows in how they crush everything before them, mindlessly consuming. There'd be a huge lack of emotional attachment if we saw a corrupted Eldrazi drone or watched a Phyrexian horror getting drained into a lifeless husk.

Phyrexians invade a new plan, we find out they are fleeing the Eldrazi. Only way I want that encounter to happen.

I would once against like to take a moment to mention how I LOVED The Onslaught block books, even if the very ending made no sense after I learned more about the Magic lore. If you ignore everything after Karn and Karona leave on their tour it isn't bad. It just goes super left field there.

I'm starting to get the feeling that a major missing contributor to this block is the exact reason the first block was successful.
Chiefly, the first Zendikar was a huge expansive world with a mystery. There were obvious problems with the believability of how life got along, and naturally, the mystery was solved, but there was an immense sense of scope that really offered ago much potential.
Flash forward to now and this relatively tiny crowd on whom we are focused. They are so glued to the sea gate plot that the rest of Zendikar is pointless... And that is fatal when the success of the world was predicated on immensity. Their attempts to focus on such a small group has ruined the flavor of the world rather than reinforce the "stand as one" theme they were hoping for.

Add in pointless redesigns like the goblins and kor and you consequently alienate the damn people you're trying to lure back.

Hilariously, I think they over corrected the problems they had with return to ravnica by changing too much while ravnica changed too little.

I'm actually didn't mind them much either. I really like the Odyssey books from the previous block, especially Chainer's Torment, but there was "some" good stuff in the Onslaught books, too. I think Ixidor is a great character, and I loved all of his stuff, with the probably exception of the portal men. The stuff about the Numena was interesting, and I basically loved all the stuff with the Cabal Patriarch and Phage the Untouchable. But yeah, the Karona stuff sort of ruins it all...

Oh, and Braids was a great character. I'm glad they brought her back from the Odyssey books into the Onslaught ones.

Where I stand on this is similar. Though it was a different time of Creative direction and Zendikar was the adventure world, few mysteries were even answered. I certainly hope we'll get tons of answers with the lore book, but the time between starting the story and releasing that information is painfully long. It's an intentional gap to keep focus on the Sea Gate storyline, seemingly effective in accomplishing that.

Honestly, if they can get semi-regular UR readers to say "Yes, this conflict is centered around Sea Gate," then I'm fine with how repetitive and singular the conflict is. Limiting it to one location and focusing on a small group of known characters is how newer Vorthos are able to jump into the story without too much research. Just like some sets don't have the depth I'd prefer, some block stories will not be "for me". I'll be upset if this is story depth is a baseline for the future, but that seems unlikely.

Since it really doesn't fit in the UR thread and not worthy of new thread, BFZ general discussion is where I'm putting this. Short article mostly looking at Ayli's journey from original Zendikar, the trope behind the Eternal Pilgrims, and why her leaked OGW card is likely real.

Rotten to the Kor

The Ulamog headdress is a really cute touch.