...I'm not the type of cunt that goes looking for fuckin' bother, like, but at the end of the day, I'm the cunt with a pool cue and he can get the fat end in his puss any time he fucking wanted like.
Was I supposed to sit around while you screw this guy, and everything else that moves? What kind of man would I be, sitting around with my johnson in my hand?
Story Telling Time: Threatening Thursday- Ob Nixilis’ Powers, Personality, and Future
Hello everyone. It’s Threatening Thursday. Today we’re going to do the follow up article on Ob Nixilis. If you’d like, read up on Ob Nixilis’ history here! This time, I’ll delve into who Ob Nixlis is as a person. We’ll talk about his many powers. I’ll even talk about his potential future.
Gather `Round! It’s Story Telling Time!
Who Is Ob Nixilis
Patient
The man had his pre-mending spark buried by Zendikar’s wild magic. “Wild magic”. Huh. I’m guessing it had more to do with leftover Eldrazi magic and with the Roil than anything. There has been no incident with any other planeswalker that has stolen their spark. Nothing short of sealing a Time Rift, that is. That said, between the leftover Eldrazi magic and the Roil, he might not have been too bad off. Until Nahiri buried the remnants of the Curse of the Chain Veil in a hedron. Zendikar might have snuffed out his spark, but Nahiri was the one that buried the rest of his power. What did he do? He waited.
For thousands of years, Ob Nixlis patiently waited for an opportunity to to both get his revenge and reignite his spark. He can wait. Either he’s gonna outlive his enemies as a demon or he’ll destroy them outright during an opportune chance.
Power Hungry
This should not come as a surprise to anyone. Ob Nixilis cares only for himself. He was willing to kill Zendikar as a whole just to reignite his spark. When that failed, he was willing to release the Eldrazi just to ignite his spark. He sacrificed his soldiers to the demons of his home plane just to get their favor.
There is nothing I can think of that Ob Nixilis wouldn’t do if it granted him more power.
Charismatic Leader
We should not forget that Ob Nixilis was a leader. A military general back on his home plane. He was able to manipulate, with his charisma and his leadership, entire armies to fight each other and to fight for him. He knows how to keep his troops happy so they fight all the better. That doesn’t mean he wouldn’t sacrifice them in a heartbeat to gain more power. But he knows how to maintain a good army.
Back on his home world, we got to see him interact with and manipulate other heads of state and other generals. He made friends and enemies at his leisure. Despite being known for betraying other generals, he always managed to convince new generals that he wouldn’t betray them.
Vengeful
This should be mostly self explanatory. The man knows how to hold a grudge. Against Nahiri and all of Zendikar for thousands of years. Never once did his vengeance falter or thin. It burned as brightly as it did when it first happened as it did after he re-ignited. He woke Kozilek from his subterranean slumber just to spite the Gatewatch and all of Zendikar! The man doesn’t just know how to hold a grudge...he knows how to feed it and let it fester.
What Can He Do
Anti-Life Magic
It’s been described by someone in the Gatewatch, I don’t remember who, that Ob Nixilis’ powers were not necromantic. It was energy that killed life. Not vampiric either, if I understood correctly. So it didn’t exactly drain the life from one to another and it didn’t just kill. It kinda just leaked the life out of you. Liliana’s magic has been known to rot someone into mush in seconds. To blast them with a dark lightning of death. But Ob Nixilis isn’t quite like that. He’s more like...let me put it this way. If Liliana was a boss battle, her powers would be good at reducing your Current Hit Points. If Ob Nixilis was a boss battle, he’d be good at reducing your Maximum Hit Points. Eventually, your Maximum Hit Points would hit zero and you’d be dead by default.
Where Liliana is most skilled at summoning things to damage your Hit Points, Chandra is most skilled at damaging your Hit Points directly, Ob Nixilis would be best at reducing your maximum amount of Hit Points available. You can drink potions and stuff to heal damage from summoned monsters or fire. But you can’t heal Hit Points if your Hit Points are still at maximum. It’s just that your maximum is lower than it was before.
Mind Control
We’ve seen him be capable of mind control. Mind control isn’t outside of Black’s range of magic. It’s uncommon, but present. In Ob Nixilis’ case, he was able to mind control three powerful Eldrazi Spawn to serve him. When it comes to Eldrazi, even Ob Nixilis knows he doesn’t stand a chance. So, as long as he never told the Eldrazi to do something Kozilek would disagree with, he was able to tell them what to do. In Black, it is my opinion that mind control is more of a contest of wills. Whereas with Blue it’s more a physical cerebral manipulation. I’d even budge enough to say that Blue mind control would be about manipulating the frontal cortex. Either way, it’s biological and psychological. But Black’s mind control is more of an exertion of will. When mind controlled by Black, your existence is kinda shoved off to a small pocket and crushed up against the oppressive will of the mind controller. With Blue, it’s much more of a “No, stop it! Why can’t I control my own mind or body?” With Black it’s more of a “I don’t want to bother having control of my own body anymore. Clearly this other person is more than worthy enough to use it instead of me. Where Blue is like, “I am going to take this part of you and make you do what I want” where Black is “Step aside, pathetic mind. You longer own this body, I do.”
Flight
This one shouldn’t really come as a surprise. He’s a demon with wings. Woot. That’s really about it. He can fly. And, as with most humanoid entities in Magic, he doesn’t actually need to obey the laws of physics to fly. He can use magic to maintain himself in place.
Strength
Another obvious one. He’s a demon. And look at his chest and shoulder and back. The man is probably twice as wide as Gideon. And we all know that Gideon’s body is the standard of measurement in the MTG universe.
Fighting Prowess
The man is a warrior. Even as a human, Ob Nixilis was a skilled fighter. Armed or unarmed, Ob Nixilis was skilled at the art of combat and murder. During his fight with Gideon, we saw that his skills remain, if a bit rusty. But he was able to recognize how the battle was going and what it would take to win. It came at a sacrifice, but he was able to defeat Gideon that way.
Tactical Genius
I’ll say it again. Ob Nixilis was a military general, a warrior. He was a commander of armies and an excellent negotiator. Shake a stick at it however you want, but you can’t hide the fact that he knows his way around a fight. Had he armies at his command, I doubt anyone other than Bolas could compete with him.
Artificer
Ob Nixilis was studied the hedrons. Learning everything there was to learn of them. It’s uncommon for Black Mana Oriented characters to be artificers, but not unheard of. Over time, Ob Nixlis began to have an understanding of the hedrons that rivals, if not surpasses, Ugin’s and Sorin’s. No where near Nahiri, of course. But certainly more than just about anyone else in the multiverse.
He was eventually knowledgeable enough to be able to remove his hedron and transfer it to Garruk, to contain Garruk’s Curse of the Chain Veil.
We see his understanding of the hedrons in how he is able to set up a power draining hedron network that would transfer all of Zendikar’s life essence (the Khalni Heart) into his spark, forcefully igniting it.
We later see his skill with the hedrons when he manages to perfectly disrupt the hedrons meant to lock away Ulamog in such a way that he is able to channel their power into himself- igniting his spark again.
The man is good with hedrons. I’ve no doubt he managed to extrapolate their power for his own uses elsewhere. I don’t think artifice is his “style” though. But Ob Nixlis could not care less about that. If artifice offers him more power, I’m certain he’d take the chance.
Where Is He Going
Nissa. Nahiri. Probably the Chain Veil.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Ob Nixilis is an incredibly powerful, incredibly dangerous enemy. Even for the Gatewatch, Ob Nixilis is a threat. He managed to fight all 4 of them AT ONCE! Granted. The Gatewatch was exhausted and worn out from being tortured so much. But I think that fact is made up by him just having reignited and having awakened Kozilek from slumber. He was also on the defensive. Ob Nixilis wasn’t expecting Chandra.
Next time will be different. He won’t be caught off guard. You can bet he’ll have a trap set to defeat them all. Tactical genius and artificer and schemer and with patient, I have little doubt that the next time they meet, Ob Nixilis will have the Gatewatch in a hard place. The ONLY thing he won’t be ready for is Liliana. Especially Liliana with the Chain Veil.
Let’s talk about that for a moment. The Chain Veil is what turned him into a demon. At first, he didn’t want it and managed to put it away. But now, he’s embraced his demon self. It is by far the most powerful artifact Ob Nixilis has ever seen. What more could it do to him than it has already done? He is going to get that Chain Veil. Or at least, he’s going to try. The only person who has the same kind of lust for power would be Bolas.
Speaking of ex-Old `Walkers. Nahiri. Ob Nixilis has a grudge he must settle with her. She hurt him like no one else ever has. Well, that may not be exactly true, but to Ob Nixilis it is. Zendikar, as far as he knows, is already dead. His vengeance there is complete. But Nahiri needs to pay now. For Zendikar is Nahiri’s home. Destroying her would be a final insult to Zendikar and a vengeance against her for trapping away his power.
Last time we saw planeswalkers duel, Innistrad nearly died. When, not if, when Ob Nixilis makes an attack on Nahiri, the world they are on will suffer immensely. There is not doubt of this.
Ob Nixilis is absolutely not a small bad guy. He is a major threat. Back before The Mending he was known for being the destroyer of worlds. His power may be lessened, but I doubt he’ll be any less dangerous now. A major independent villain, the Gatewatch will need to be careful with him. As in independent villain, I would even claim that he is their greatest. Bolas is clearly their archenemy, but he is kind of an organized crime boss. If somehow you manage to take down his lackeys, then you deal with the big guns. But Ob Nixilis, while a leader for certain, will never have the ability to develop multi-planar eon spanning schemes. That’s not much his style anyways. I’m sure he’ll find himself some lackey (cough cough *tibalt* cough cough). But he’s not like Bolas.
For example. Bolas is the equivalent of Ra`s Al Gul. Bolas’ schemes and planeswalker lackeys are the equivalent of The League of Assassins. Ob Nixilis is the equivalent of The Joker. Big differences. Ra`s is no small enemy at all. And when Batman has to fight him, it’s a huge challenge, even for him. But for the most part, Batman deals with the League of Assassins. While Joker is a constant. Yes, a schemer, but he’s there. Always there. Not looming in the back.
That’s why I feel comfortable saying that Ob Nixilis is easily going to be one of the Gatewatch’s recurring archenemies.
Conclusion
That’s all the time we have for today. Thanks for reading, everyone. If you liked what you read, please hit the “reblog” button below. For more Story Telling Time, hit “Follow”. If you have any comments or questions, feel free to message me or reblog with your comments. Always happy to chat. This has been @the-foxwolf . Until next time!
(All the art contained in this article is property of WoTc. I only present artwork presented on Magic’s official website. The characters and stories involved in this article are the property of WoTc. I lay no claim to any of their property.)
