Eldritch Moon

[The Martini]

...is not Innistrad's silvery moon.

Taken in total, the findings presented in this work support the presence of an object of significant mass. Most likely a new astral body, an eldritch moon of sufficient size as to provide a gravitational pull able to disrupt the normal patterns of both the tides and magical energy.

They've not released the set symbol, which means that it might be something of a spoiler. So, what is the new Eldritch Moon (given that it may be spooky, but probably not an actual moon) that's so large it's messing with the tides?

Is it more or less interesting if it's Emrakul?

[demiteddybear]

If I were a betting man (which I'm not, I'm pretty boring) I'd be putting money down on it being emrakul. For me as long as the eldrazi are represented as "horrors" or demons then I'm happy. Basically, I'd be happy with this mystery being the big huge horror from beyond the stars and appearing in a different form, so that mechanically and flavor wise it is lovecraftian horror (more of the stuff we have in SoI) then I'm fine with knowing that that we the players with our knowledge of other planes know them by another name.

[square1]

Between the Nahiri connection, the gathered mana, and the weird tentacle-ly stuff showing up in some cards, it's almost certainly Emrakul. That said, I'm hoping my friend is right and Nahiri's summoning Marit Lage. That'd be delightful.

Also, for a "mind mage extraordinaire" Jace is sure getting his head turned around a lot lately.

[Booster]

I want it to be Marit Lage, but I think its Emrakul.

[Lycodrake]

I think Liliana is being pushed forward as a Red Herring. Marit Lage is who I hope for, but Emrakul is certainly looking more likely by the second.

Or a new Titan.

[GlibReaper]

Here's a thought: I think Eldrazi is 90% likely here, but what if there's a connection we're missing.

Tamiyo is involved, and think about why she of all people is interested:
What if her discovery isn't that the Eldrazi are coming to Innistrad, what if it's that they've always been there? What if the death of Kozilek and Ulamog has for some reason caused an awakening, like alpha predators leaving a hunting people. Now, the Eldrazi latent in the plane are becoming more active, and aligning it to the powerful presence of Emrakul.

Why Tamiyo then: Here's my speculation bomb:

The Kami are Eldrazi. Think about it: their warped appearance and energy objects aren't dissimilar to the appearance of the Eldrazi. What if in some forgotten ancient time, the Eldrazi which reached or are latent to Kamigawa somehow adapted to the plane rather than nomming it. They took on the colors of its inherent mana and became its spiritual presence.

This is combining a lot of seperate speculations, but take that, and the aforementioned awakening of the dormant Eldrazi... What if Tamiyo is seeking out an answer because the Kami (Kamigawan Eldrazi) are going nuts and she's searching for the answer why.

Anyway, that's my insane theory. It's probably wrong, but if I called it I'll feel like I hit the moon with a pistol.

[Booster]

GlibReaper that would be interesting, but it doesn't seem consistent with what we know about the Eldrazi

[theycallmejokke]

*carefully adjusts tinfoil hat*
Marit Lage would be a super cool nod to the old scholl, but personally I'm in the Eldritch Moon will turn out to be Emrakul camp.
When the Gatewatch ended Ulamog and Kozilek on Zendikar they had to pull them fully into reality which made to grow to there full MEGA size, afterworth Ugin admonishmed them for not knowing the more fare reaching consequences of there actions.
What if all the Eldrazi titans are somehow linked just like thier broods are linked to them, and Emrakul, the by fare largest of the three, also was sucked fully into reality by the actions of the Gatewatch?
Emrakul now being the size of a small moon doesn't seem to fare of, and we know that Innistrad's original moon have a profound effect on the plane so a new "moon" could course all sorts of problem.
From a story point perspective it would also give Jace, and the Gatewatch as a whole I guess, but we're following Jace, the classic Gothic Horror moment of "My god! I'm the course of all this evil... W-what have I done!?" which would be very much in flavor with this blok.

[Booster]

I just feel like its so obviously Emerkul that it cant possibly be Emerkul. this whole block seems to be about a mystery. And if the answer to the mystery is the most obvious possible answer then that seems kind of boring. At least to me. Emerkul showing up on Innistrad would be shocking to the characters I'm sure, but it wouldn't be surprising for the players, so I am really hoping its ANYTHING besides Emerkul.

[theycallmejokke]

Oh I absolutely agree that if this whole mess on Innistrad do indeed turn out to "just" be Emrakul's influence, it will be abit of let down mystery-wise.
However from a meta perspective after BFZ and OGW the magic team sort have to answer the big question of where the heck every one's favored flying spaghetti monster is.
Also in that last couple of years Wizards of the Coast really seems to have been making moves to include a much larger audience in there stories, some of which I'm sure probably doesn't read every Uncharted Realms article, studies every card in Gathered, or have even ever heard of Marit Lage.
I think it is a mistake to believe that just becourse the "hardcore" fans of magic thinks Innistrad's mystery seems obvious, magic's fanbase as whole does so to.

[demiteddybear]

I think the main problem with trying to do any sort of real big surprise in mtg is that there is a span of 3 months between sets and a big lead up to each one. Not to mention it's then talked about it on the Internet by everyone.
It's telling a story in slow motion, we can see it coming because we have time to speculate and talk about it. Now the reveal that the moon is Emrakul might feel less mysterious simply because very been able to piece together the puzzle and we're right.
I think it's nearly impossible for wotc to have a true surprise without leading us down one way and then throwing out something completely from left field, and how difficult would that be to hide, and I feel that would just lead to some shyamalan type twist.
Maybe if this story was being told in a book and we were all reading it to ourselves it might be more of a revelation if in fact it does turn out to be emrakul

[Randus2003]

So I want to ask a few stupid questions that have yet to be addressed and may shine some light on this:
What is the life span of a Kor? My guess not much more than a human. So then why is Nahiri not old (Lili needed a pact with demons to stay young after the mending)? Which leads us to what is her issue with Sorin (it is clearly older than the destruction of Zendikar at the hands of the Titans or else Chad and/or Nissa would have knowledge of her)? Did he refuse to turn her after the mending per haps forcing her to make a deal of her own? Which is really the root of this logic because if someone or something is giving her her youth they could vary well be pulling all the strings.

side note: to my knowledge eldrazi can't talk so how would they be able to communicate with those that are being driven man?

[Antitonic]

Didn't Nahiri seal herself in stone until just recently? She's not old because she didn't age.

[Randus2003]

Didn't Nahiri seal herself in stone until just recently? She's not old because she didn't age.

nice try but...she left Zendikar long ago, possibly even before the Bolas Ugin fight (Sorin has implied that she might have instigated it). See the end of this story:
http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/stirring-slumber-2015-05-13

Edit:


Just finished today's story and a new thought hit me...did Sorin lock her in the hellvault for a thousand plus years. Cuz I know that would piss me off enough to want to completely ruin someone.