Awesome / Magic: The Gathering

Bolas cared little when his statue fell, thinking it a useful distraction, underestimating the surge of resolve it gave his opponents.

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

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Storyline

Artifacts Cycle

• Urza Planeswalking K'rrik to death. One could refer to that moment as "Urza getting rid of a nasty K'rrik in his neck."
• At the end of the Ice Age novels, Archmage Jodah becomes one of the few people who gets away with telling Urza to sit down, shut up, and listen to him, as a result of a boon given to him by Jaya Ballard when her Spark ignited.

Weatherlight Saga

• For awesome quotes:
  '''Volrath:''' I stepped out. I did ''not'' step down.
• "Your attack has been rendered harmless. It is, however, quite pretty."
• The end of the millennia-old original Magic arc, where Gerrard and Urza sacrifice themselves to finally kill Yawgmoth, considering that Urza spent millennia preparing his world for an invasion only to get seduced by Yawgmoth after coming so close to destroying his world and having it all be for nothing. Then having to fight Gerrard to the death several times to please Yawgmoth before realising he was wrong.
  • Immortalized in the Saga card Triumph of Gerrard, depicting the hero battling the black tendrils of Yawgmoth.

Mirari Saga

• In the novel of 'Fifth Dawn', Glissa Sunseeker is faced with a desperate situation. Yert, a powerful vampire with an artifact that allows him to control any and all nonsentient life on Mirrodin, has his Nim hold a lot of leonin and goblin children hostage, with a mind-link to the zombies that allows him to give the order to kill instantly. Glissa has one trick up her sleeve, however. With a one-use teleport stone that she was saving for later, she rapidly yells "Yertyertyert!", and promptly teleports inside of Yert, punches his head off, explodetonates his body, and snatches the artifact out of mid-air to stop the Nim.

Ravnica Cycle

• At the climax of the first Ravnica novel, Savra the Golgari Queen is taking control of Mat'Selesnya, and the city is careening into chaos and violence. Agrus Kos, Feather, and their remaining allies are stuck at the Wojek headquarters while the city bursts into chaos around them. They have to get to the Selesnya Conclave fast and all they have to them is a critically injured and barely floating zeppelid that can't fly under its own power. Desperate, Feather allows Kos to break the bonds on her wings. The next chapter opens with Feather smashing through the Conclave's walls, hurling the explosive remains of the zeppelid into Savra's army and then taking on Savra's entire air force by herself.

Time Spiral Block

• Nicol Bolas vs. Leshrac in Future Sight:
  • This is a fight between two of the most evil and ancient entities in the Multiverse. The prototypical Black planeswalker (Leshrac) versus the Elder Dragon (Bolas). Anyone who is touched by Nicol Bolas has their mind destroyed. At this point, Leshrac has obtained the power of Phage, the Untouchable, whose touch reduces mortals and planeswalkers to black goo. Leshrac also has Night's Mask, an artifact that traps the soul of the one who wears it. The two fight as Kaiju near the site of the time rift created by Bolas becoming the most powerful being in existence 25,000 years ago.
  • A lot of the fight is Bolas and Leshrac exchanging spells, but then Bolas slips up and Leshrac stabs a hand into Bolas. As Phage's corruption begins to eat away at Bolas, the Elder Dragon planeswalks away, and the Walker of the Night gives chase across the multiverse. Cue one of the most awesome, fanservice-filled chase scenes ever. The two walkers visit the City-Plane of Ravnica, the oceans of Mercadia, the mountains of the Sengir domain, and Leshrac attempts to enter Kamigawa, and is barred entrance by two female guardians (i.e. Michiko and Kyodai).
  • The two walkers end up back on Dominaria, with Phage's corruption having consumed most of Bolas's body. As Leshrac closes in for the killing blow, suddenly Nicol Bolas's body seemingly regenerates, he plucks the Mask of Night from Leshrac, and places it on his head, trapping him in it. Bolas explains that he was never actually hit by Leshrac. He twisted himself out of the way at the last second, and cast an illusion that he was being corrupted as he fled from plane to plane. With Leshrac trapped in the mask, Bolas uses the Walker of the Night's spark to mend the rift at Leviathan's Gate, and returns to his machinations.

Zendikar Block

• One simple line from Gideon Jura, concerning the near-unstoppable Eldrazi:
  "'Invincible' is just a word."
  • Gideon and the Eldrazi are a really sweet conflict. Near Death Experience depicts him at the Battle of Fort Keff, where he tears apart the absolute sea of Eldrazi shown in the card single-handed, deliberately using his magic to have them all try to kill him. Mind you, Emrakul then shows up, and Gideon promptly rethinks his defiance, fleeing Zendikar for help as fast as his magic can carry him. The brood lineages are one thing, the Titans themselves quite another.

Innistrad Block

• Avacyn Restored, while it wouldn't last, is filled with cards showing the hope and valor that once again fills Innistrad with her return, crossing over with heartwarming.
  I cultivated my faith in Avacyn despite meager returns. Now my faith is returned.
  Cower, fiend! The night is yours no longer!
  One faith, but many hands in victory!
  After the destruction of the Helvault, fearful mobs soon became fearless battallions.

Return to Ravnica Block

• The new Dragon's Maze trailer. It's narrated by Ral Zarek, the Izzet Planeswalker. He describes how Niv-Mizzet is "inviting" the other guilds to join in the Izzet's grand experiment. A hidden ancient maze has been found, and each guild can send a single champion through it to claim the prize. The entire time the other guilds (and Zarek) will be trying to interfere with each other's champion. Whoever reaches the Maze's End will rule Ravnica, forever. The entire time this is explained, we pan across amazing artwork, showing the dangers ahead of the champions. Oh, and was it mentioned that Zarek is voiced by Yuri Lowenthal? This is gonna rock.

Theros Block

• Again with the Theros trailer, this time narrated by Heliod, God of the Sun, who describes the gods, the heroes, then the monsters, finally leading up to him describing his plan to call for Elspeth's help. The introduction of Elspeth is accompanied by a brilliant crescendo in the already epic music.
  • And, of course, the Born Of The Gods trailer, which features smooth and beautiful animation (aside perhaps from Xenagos' apotheosis) and one hell of an awesome voice acting for Xenagos.
  • To top all of them, there's something of the classically-awesome in the Journey Into Nyx trailer, with Erebos almost lovingly musing on the path of a hero and plainly regarding Elspeth with the respect and compassion she deserved.
• In the digital novel "Godsend", Elspeth fights Polukranos, a monstrously big Hydra that is called The World Eater for a good reason. Elspeth, being a badass and armed with the Godsend, quickly runs into the Hydra Problem; every chopped off head results in two more. So what does she do? Chop the heads off halfway, so they still die, but can't be replaced.
  • Elspeth goes through hell and back, sees herself denounced despite saving Akros, receives the ire of Heliod, and still journeys to the edge of the world. In the end, she ends up killing Xenagos with the Godsend..
    • After that, Heliod decides that the existence of Planeswalkers, and thus worlds beyond his control, is an affront, and moves to kill Elspeth. He does so, but in death, Elspeth trades her life with Erebos for that of her friend Daxos in one final act of defiance.
• After Elspeth's death, Ajani is left in Oreskos, unsure of himself and what to do. After he is challenged by Brimaz, he travels to Meletis, walks into Heliod's temple, and tells the truth about Heliod and the gods. Here he is in Heliod's greatest temple, actively insulting the god and challenging his authority. He's pretty much asking for a Bolt of Divine Retribution. Not only does he walk away untouched (save for Heliod possessing a child to try and Break Them by Talking to no avail), but his arguments encourage the people of Theros to begin questioning their cruel pantheon. It's at this point that Ajani decides what battle he wants to fight: a Rage Against the Heavens to topple the gods.

Khans of Tarkir Block

• Just to show that Wizards has fallen in love with one-upping themselves, we have the Dragons of Tarkir trailer, which ups the animation quality to an absurd degree and shows off the glory of the Dragon-filled new world of Tarkir, complete with Sarkhan narrating to a revived Ugin.
• The story of how Sorin, Ugin, and Nahiri seal away the Eldrazi in The Lithomancer. Nahiri slaves away for forty years to make the hedrons which can seal the titans, and their plan succeeds despite the odds.
  • Before Ugin arrives, Nahiri and Sorin are protecting a camp of refugees, and Sorin suggests leaving them in order to focus on the Eldrazi. Nahiri not only refuses, but she uses her magic to make a sword for one of the refugees. In the bigger picture, these people are meaningless, but Nahriri refuses to abandon them even though they're not even from her home plane. In spite of Sorin's scorn, she's determined to do what she can to help them.
  • A villainous one ensues as we finally get to see what the Eldrazi are fully capable of. We've been told they can obliterate planes, but here we see it, and it's just as terrifying as it sounds.

Battle for Zendikar Block

• The Battle for Zendikar trailer. Specifically at the end with Gideon defiantly facing off against Ulamog. you can almost hear him telling the titan to "bring it on".
• Kiora gets into a fight with Thassa. Although she can't match the God of the Sea in raw power or command over the beasts of the ocean, she can do one thing Thassa can't: Planeswalk. So with her sea creatures turned against her, and held helpless at the mercy of an angry, vengeful God, she cuts her losses and departs, but not before she steals Thassa's bident.
  • This later got made into an actual and awesome card for Theros: Beyond Death!
• Oath of the Gatewatch previews have revealed a pair of cards: Bonds of Mortality can be used to strip an opponent's creatures of hexproof and indestructible, while Fall of the Titans deals a huge amount of damage to two targets, as much as you have the mana to pay for. But the real awesome is in their flavor texts, which confirms that those cards mean exactly what it sounds like they mean.
  Bonds of Mortality: Jace discovered the leyline pattern needed to anchor Ulamog and Kozilek to reality, but it was Nissa who could trace it on her world.
  Fall of the Titans: As Gideon kept the brood lineages at bay, Chandra incinerated the bound Eldrazi titans.
• The Call the Gatewatch card.

Shadows Over Innistrad Block

• Spare from Evil from the original Innistrad block: "As long as we can utter a prayer or lift a weapon, we have the power to fight back".
• Merciless Resolve makes one thing perfectly clear: Sorin is done with Nahiri's shit.
• In the Eldritch Moon trailer, Liliana Vess steps up to bat. As Innistrad becomes an absolute mess around her, she calls forth a legion of zombies... which then break into mad dashes toward Emrakul!
  • This is further elaborated in Innistrad's Last Hope. Liliana, with the Chain Veil at her hip rather than on her face, marches away from Olivia's manor as the departing vampires, Sorin with them, go to combat Nahiri. As she walks, she waves her hand over graves, willing the dead to rise, and speaks to her attendant Gerad as she observes how Emrakul's influence holds no sway over the dead.
  Liliana: "Well, Gared, it appears that I am this world's last hope."
• Sorin Markov's fight against Nahiri in Campaign of Vengeance is one of the most epic planeswalker confrontations after the mending.
  • Sorin amassed an army of vampire knights by making an Enemy Mine alliance with Olivia Voldaren, a rival of House Markov. Nahiri's forces on the other hand are a large group of cultists who were drawn to her work in Innistrad and gave her the title of The Harbinger. As the armies clash, Nahiri manipulates the battlefield so she could face Sorin in one-on-one combat.
  • Sorin attempts to use death magic on Nahiri but it backfires when Nahiri manipulates the leylines in the surrounding rocks to turn Sorin's magic against him.
  • Olivia's vampires intervene but Nahiri reveals and unleashes a hidden swarm of Eldrazified creatures to rout the vampires.
  • Despite Nahiri's obvious terrain advantage, Sorin's speed allows him to break through Nahiri's stone defenses, stab her with his sword and disarm her.
  • As Nahiri bleeds out, Sorin tries to dispatch her the traditional vampire way- by biting her. Nahiri responds by encasing Sorin in a cocoon of stone with spikes that impale him so he is unable to focus on planeswalking away. Nahiri gives Sorin a Bond One-Liner that's an Ironic Echo of what Sorin did to her and planewalks away.
  • Crossing over with Tear Jerker, the battle as a whole is very different from other battles in the lore. At its core, it's about two former friends who had a falling out and crossed the line to get revenge on one another- Nahiri by condemning an entire plane to an Eldrazi apocalypse and Sorin by leaving his plane to die so he could carry out his vendetta on his old student.
• The card called Imprisoned In The Moon: Only one vault was great enough to hold Emrakul. The card does exactly what it sounds like: it can enchant any creature, land or Planeswalker and make them into a colorless land, stripping them of all other card types and abilities. The card drawing shows exactly how far this extends: Nissa and Tamiyo turning the Moon into a giant Helvault (the original was made from just a fragment of the Moon) to imprison Emrakul forever.
  • Turns out that the Gatewatch were not the ones to seal Emrakul in Innistrad's moon. '''''EMRAKUL HERSELF''''' did it. As she tells Jace, "They are all my pieces, Jace Beleren. They always were. I just no longer want to play." Yes, The Bad Guy Wins and we cannot comprehend why.

Kaladesh Block

• In This Very Arena, Tezzeret has just pulled a Curb-Stomp Battle on Pia Nalaar (via blatant cheating) and is about to deal the finishing blow... only for his automaton to get reduced to a smoking pile of scrap by a firebolt. Cue Chandra jumping in the arena to rescue her dear old mom. Tezzeret gloats a bit and taunts her that she versus him is hardly a fair fight. Chandra's response?
  Chandra: Nobody said anything about a fair fight.
  A host of illusions dissolved behind Chandra, and one by one, a team of Planeswalkers emerged.
  • Bonus point for Tezzeret having a slight Oh, Crap! moment as he recognizes them and takes a step back. He may be strong, but he is also alone against an entire team of Planeswalkers, two of whom (Jace and Liliana) already have a personal beef against him. And he'd just added a third with Chandra.
• Burn: a small one for Dovin Baan. Despite being Tezzeret's Dragon, the man still has morals, and gives us a particularly satifying moment when he arrests Baral for Kiran's murder, Chandra's - attempted - execution, Pia's imprisonment, and falsifying the records to hide his crimes. Not only that, he proceeds to counter every single argument used by Baral and reveal how despicable the man is.
  Dovin: Chief Inspector Dhiren Baral, I charge you with one count of murder—possibly with more yet to be uncovered—and one count of attempted murder. I charge you with one count of extrajudicial incarceration—again, possibly with more to be revealed. Finally, I charge you with multiple counts of falsification of the public record, with the express intention of obscuring your crimes. You are a disgrace to your uniform, and a disquieting aberration to the ideals the Consulate espouses. Though I personally find your offenses...vexing in the extreme, the law requires that even you must be judged in court. Be aware that your every statement from this point forward shall be entered into the official record as evidence.
  • Baral says his actions won't be forgotten?
  Dovin: Excellent. I don't care to repeat myself.
  • Also, when Baral tries to goad Chandra into punching him, he is slugged- by Nissa's elemental that is.
• The Aether Revolt trailer. Featuring Chandra as the Voice of the Resistance.
  Chandra: People of Kaladesh! My name is Chandra Nalaar, and I am one of you. We trusted the consulate once, but they betrayed us. Don't be blinded by Tezzeret's lies. The Consulate sends peacemakers to arrest you and calls that safety? They steal your inventions and deny you Aether access, and call that freedom? Do you feel safe?! Do you feel free?!
• The Skies over Ghirapur: Jace creates an illusion of Kari's old fleet (which was sunk by the Skysovereign) so real it leaves her breathless... then the skypirate lures an Aether Whale toward the airship - which is basically the Consulate's mothership - and it effortlessly demolishes it by simply flying into it.
• Breaking Points: Dovin Baan has sabotaged the Hope of Ghirapur, destroying the aether disruptor that was the Gatewatch's only hope of destroying the Planar Bridge. Chandra's response? Climb into the payload compartment.
  Chandra: "From close range, I could be the disruptor. When I fought Baral, before Nissa pulled me out of it, I was just about to complete a spell...Little thing. Big boom."

Amonkhet Block

• In The Hand That Moves, Nissa makes her way into Kefnet's Trial, which is an illusory labyrinth full of terrifying visions. While she's trying to figure out what's going on, and read the world's leylines to learn how Amonkhet got broken, she's visited by a vestige/echo of Emrakul who asks her "Are you a pawn? Or a queen?" After a moment of confusion, the vestige snaps at her "No! It is the wrong question! Pawns, queens, they're all still pieces! All still pieces, waiting to be moved. Stop being a piece, Nissa. Be the hand that moves."
  • Unfortunately, her presence summons Kefnet himself, who confronts Nissa for corrupting his Trial. While Kefnet's blasting her with pure mana to dissolve her body and soul, Nissa uses the insight Emrakul's echo showed her to twist the leylines of Amonkhet in such a way as to make Kefnet (who, as a god, is inextricably part of the plane) think she instead passed his trial.
• If the Hour of Devastation card preview is to be believed, Samut, the only native in Amonkhet who rose and questioned the trials, becomes a Planeswalker!. No one can say she didn't deserve it.
• In The Hour of Revelation, the fall of Amonkhet and how Nicol Bolas became the God-Pharaoh is revealed. We get to see the power of one of the most powerful pre-Mending planeswalkers, as Nicol Bolas defeats an entire plane in a single day.
  • Highlights include Nicol Bolas in a battle of minds against the God of Knowledge, Kefnet, that is finished with a single gesture of the dragon.
  Kefnet, caretaker of the Hekma, was straining to keep the magical barrier together. The dragon tipped his chin and fractured Kefnet's mind in two.
  • And with a single spell killing every sapient thing able to walk on the entire plane.
  The gods felt a surge of mana weave around the dragon as a tangle of malevolence. They grasped desperately for spells to protect and defend. But they were too slow. The dragon opened his eyes and every mortal old enough to walk dissipated into the sky.
• From Hour of Glory, Rhonas's Dying Moment of Awesome. Rising to his feet with the last of his strength, remembering the truth about Amonkhet and Bolas in his dying moments, and transforming his staff into a giant serpent to try and kill the Scorpion God one final time while cursing Bolas for what he did to their world.
  "Death to the God-Pharaoh, foul trespasser and destroyer!"
• Endure: Samut and Djeru's rescue of Hazoret. First, the pair kill Neheb the Worthy, a minotaur Eternal said to be one of the greatest fighters of Amonkhet, thanks to Gideon tanking his attacks and Samut backstabbing him. Then they find Hazoret fighting the Scorpion God. Hazoret is on her last leg, badly injured from her fight with it and Bontu. Samut proceeds to wound the god through its weakened chitin while Djeru prepares a trap to impale it on obelisks. When it looks like the Scorpion God won't fall, a khenra swings Rhonas's reforged staff to knock it down while Djeru and other fighters trip it in the obelisks. The god won't fall right? Samut kicks him in it. Finally, Hazoret gives it the final blow along with a goodbye, remembering that the Scorpion God was once her brother, and incinerates it from the inside out. At long last, a god that killed three of the five gods, including the God of Strength, lies dead. And it was mostly done by mortal hands.
• Hour of Devastation is one for Nicol Bolas. He breaks Jace's mind with what seems like a mere touch, convinces Liliana to retreat without a fight, Chandra's flames merely offend him, turns the land against Nissa and pierces Gideon's invulnerability with a single talon. His opening speech is a wonderful, talking about how much he expects to be disappointed by the heroes. They only escape because he knows they can't defeat him and lets them leave.

Ixalan Block

• Jace, Alone The fact that Jace, of all people, stranded on a desert island, managed to survive and even sail away. Keep in mind Jace is a mentalist. Doing menial and otherwise physical tasks is not his schtick. He does it nonetheless, all the while hallucinating about his former allies his illusion magic makes real. Oh, and being amnesiac on top of that.
• In Glimpse the Far Side of the Sun, this exchange between Jace and Azor the Lawbringer:
  Jace: You will refer to her as Captain.
  Azor:: And what does that make you?
  Jace: I am Jace Beleren, the Living Guildpact.
  Azor: The fail-safe?!
  Jace: The pirate.
  • The next chapter, The Arbiter of Law Left Chaos in his Wake, Jace and Vraska confront Azor over the mess he made with the Immortal Sun. It ends with Jace using his power as the Living Guildpact to condemn Azor for ruining Ravnica, Ixalan and every other plane he visited. The magic makes Azor utterly powerless thanks to being the parun of Azorius, and thus a part of Ravnica. Jace condemns him to be the guardian of Useless Island (the island from "Jace, Alone") and never meddle in mortals' affairs again. Despite all his might, Azor is forced to comply.
• Sabotage makes Jace's attempted mind-reading of Nicol Bolas back on Amonkhet one of these retroactively as it gave him insight into Bolas's plans to attack Ravnica. The fact that he managed to read the mind of the most powerful and dangerous planeswalker ever to live is amazing in itself, but to get useful information out of it that he and Vraska can now plan around...
• Who tells the Stories: After her family decides her being a Planeswalker means Huatli simply cannot stay in Ixalan - she has to visit all the planes and gather their stories - her family helps her pack. Cue a good deal of her family sneaking into the Temple of the Burning Sun to retrieve the helm of the Warrior-Poet. Because this is who Huatli is, and there's no way she's leaving without it. They succeed.

Dominaria

• Return To Dominaria's first chapter contains one for any fans of the old lore. We get a scene with Jhoira, back in the main story for the first time in years, and you wanna know what she's doing? She is raising The Weatherlight . Hell. Yes.
• The Legendary Sorcery cycle, depicting pivotal moments of Dominaria's, and by extension, Magic as a whole's, history. Just looking at the pictures or reading the flavor text will give magic fans, new and old alike, a sense of pride and nostalgia.
  Primeval's Glorious Rebirth: Centuries ago, five dragons conquered death to rule the living.
  Kamahl's Druidic Vow: Centuries ago, a barbarian laid his rage to rest.
  Jaya's Immolating Inferno: Centuries ago, a pyromancer's spark ignited a fiery conflagration.
  Karn's Temporal Sundering: Centuries ago, a quest to harness time became a spiral into chaos.
  Yawgmoth's Vile Offering: Centuries ago, a mad god offered a simple trade.
  Urza's Ruinous Blast: Centuries ago, a man's vengeance plunged the world into ice and darkness.

Guilds of Ravnica Block^note Not an official block since Wizards moved to the "three-and-one model" for expansions, but since they're all part of the same storyline and set on the same plane, the Guilds of Ravnica, Ravnica Allegiance, and War of the Spark expansions are unofficially considered a block.

• The trailer for War of the Spark has dropped and it looks like a trailer for a movie, set to a haunting rendition of Linkin Park's "In the End." The trailer-makers have come a long way from the first one.
  • All hope seems lost. Dack Fayden is cut down by an Eternal. Gideon is being overwhelmed by Bolas's forces and Liliana marches at their head. But as she witnesses a brother and sister being slain by the Eternals' rampage, Liliana hesitates, clenches her fist and turns back to Bolas. As one, the Eternals stop their assault on Gideon and charge at their God-Pharaoh. And even when Bolas uses his mastery of her contract to start killing Liliana, causing her body to burn up and disintegrate, she still roars in defiance and sends a tide of Eternals up his citadel to slay him.
• War Of The Spark in general. Most sets have a decent portion of cards dedicated to the storyline surrounding it, with the rest showing off aspects of the plane. War of the Spark meanwhile has virtually every card be dedicated to the Planeswalkers summoning forth their own armies and techniques or the entire plane of Ravnica fighting against Bolas's army. The sheer scale of the war is truly something to behold.
  • And Gideon takes a flying leap at the would-be dragon god Nicol Bolas, ready to stab him directly in the face with Blackblade. Even Bolas' expression makes it seem like the elder dragon can't quite parse whether what he's seeing or not is really happening.
    • Even the way Gideon gets into position for the leap is awesome: he rides Rakdos the Defiler!
    • Bolas then reverses this, shattering the Blackblade in the process.
• Vitu-Ghazi, the World Tree awakens!
• NIV-MIZZET, REBORN AS THE GUILDPACT INCARNATE!
  • What is the very first thing Niv-Mizzet does upon his resurrection? Kill a god-eternal single handedly. He later goes on to stab Bolas through the back with the spear of a god.
  • Notice Niv-Mizzet's new type: Dragon Avatar. Even as the living Guildpact, Jace was still a mere human. Niv-Mizzet isn't simply a dragon with a fancy title, he is the Guildpact.
• Liliana finally working up the strength to turn on Nicol Bolas, sicking his own army on him an then insulting him. Even better Gideon's heroic sacrifice ensures she survives, which in turn leads to...
  • Liliana draining him of his spark by using the God Eternals (granted Niv Mizzet helped create an opening by impaling Bolas), stripping Bolas of his godhood and sending his plans crashing into ruin.

Throne of Eldraine

• The trailer for Throne of Eldraine follows a freshly baked Gingerbread couple as they try to escape Garruk and the guards fighting. Things go bad as the Gingerbread man loses his wife to a pot of boiling soup and is Eaten Alive by Garruk. The trailer ends with the Not Quite Dead Gingerbread woman leaping through the air, holding a fork that's just as big as her, and ready to fight Garruk.
• Return of the Wildspeaker. Garruk's curse is finally lifted.

Theros Beyond Death

• After enduring all the suffering the Underworld and Ashiok had to offer, Elspeth conquers her fears and escapes the underworld, returning as the Sun's Nemesis, wielding a weapon forged from her own nightmares.
• Elspeth, upon her return, spreads the story that her weapon, Shadowspear, is actually Khrusor, signature weapon of the sun god, and that the one wielded by Heliod is a fake. Because Clap Your Hands If You Believe is in effect on Theros, the result is that Khrusor weakens, while Shadowspear strengthens. When the two battle at the edge of the afterlife, Khrusor shatters in Heliod's hands. Elspeth's legend has surpassed that of a god.
• The Intervention cycle. The gods may not be what they once were, but they sure as hell are still a force to be reckoned with.
  Heliod's Intervention: "I bring a dawn that no night can follow."
  Erebos' Intervention: "I bring a death none can escape."
  Purphoros' Intervention: "I bring a fire to recast the world."
  Nylea's Intervention: "I bring a wilderness no law can tame."
  Thassa's Intervention: "I bring a flood that nothing can withstand."
• Kiora has gotten herself immortalized as a legend on Theros. Not bad for someone who's the epitome of hubris.

Zendikar Rising

• A Kor adventuring party challenges Nahiri to a card game where each draw a card with a virtue on it and tries to tell of a situation where they showed the virtue on the card, though it has to be true. Nahiri humors them for a while by telling of how she battled Sorin on Innistrad, though the Kor doubt its validity. She wins by drawing the card "Power" and turning every card into stone.
• "The Two Guardians", Nissa vs. Nahiri and Jace.
  • Nissa demonstrates that she is the true guardian of Zendikar's life, as she summons endless hordes of elementals. Unlike other summoners, she fights with the elementals, rather than letting them fight for her. Nahiri even admits defeat and pulls back.
  • Nahiri is no slouch either. She may not have infinite elementals on her side, but she does have Nissa beat in experience. Nahiri is ancient. She is the Lithomancer, elementals that would've been considered great threats even to most planeswalkers are insects before her. Even without her oldwalker powers, she can still create at least 50 swords at a moment's notice. When she admits defeat and pulls back, she's able to conjure a stone structure that's completely impenetrable.
  • Credits to Jace for his quick thinking. He's not an offensive mage, and Nahiri knows his powers enough to resist it, so he breaks her focus with an illusion of the one person that will make her too angry to resist him: Sorin Markov.

Kaldheim

• After a epic battle between the humans of Bretagard, the elves, the valkyries, the gods and the Planeswalkers and the demons, fire and ice giants, draugr and trolls, Halvar, the God of Battle, finally receives his Sword of the Realms, and uses it to close all the cracks between the Realms created by Tibalt, ending the Doomskar.
  • Special mention must be made to Kaya, who manages to kill Varragoth, one of the most feared demons of Immersturm and patron of the murderous Skelle, after a prolongued duel.
• Ranar the Ever-Watchful is a legendary figure in-universe, and it's easy to see why. During a doomskar, his clan's men and women went out to drive back the invaders, leaving Ranar behind to guard the children alone. When the doomskar ended, the warriors were trapped in another realm. Rather than despair, Ranar stayed at his guard, single-handedly raising the children to adulthood, fending off raiders, monsters, and beasts and keeping himself and the children fed and clothed for at least a decade. Only when the children were old enough to fend for themselves did Ranar allow the valkyries to take him, and they were so impressed by his vigilance and loyalty that they named him guardian of Istfell.

Strixhaven

• At the climax, the dark mage Extus summons the Blood Avatar, an apocalyptic being of destruction, powered by a magical nexus under Strixhaven. Rowan manages to foil his plan by tapping into the nexus herself, draining it to the point where it can't sustain the Avatar at its full power anymore.

Midnight Hunt & Crimson Vow

• The cards Ambitious Farmhand and Bereaved Survivor depict normal people who suffer the hardships of Innistrad. Both have transform, and when you flip them around you see that these struggling innocents have become Seasoned Cathar and Dauntless Avenger.
  The cathars have taught me many things, but I will never forget the hard, honest work that first callused my hands.
  
  It was Sigarda who lifted me from despair and gave me the strength to fight on.
• At the climax of the Midnight Hunt story, with time running out for the ritual which needs to be performed before sunset, Teferi casts a spell that delays the sunset. Master of time indeed. It also brings context to the name of his card, Teferi, Who Slows The Sunset
• The card Drogskol Infantry depicts the geist of a cathar who has remained at his post even after death. Not out of ignorance either, he's fully aware of his death and remains anyway. And when he finally passes on, he entrusts his power to the living.
  He swore to protect the Moorlands. A little thing like death was no excuse to break his oath.
  
  When he could no longer carry on, he imparted his strength to the one who took up his duty.

Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty

• While it's a rather dark moment for the planes as a whole, one has to admire how far compleation has come. New Phyrexia has figured out something even Yawgmoth couldn't do - how to compleat a Planeswalker without snuffing out their Spark.
• The entirety of the trailer, animated by the same studio behind the first 3 seasons of Attack on Titan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdXwsqmVoUI&ab_channel=Magic%3ATheGathering.

Streets of New Capenna

• Lord Xander outwitting Ob Nixilis. He uses himself as bait for both traitorous assassins within his family as well as the demonic planeswalker himself, and even fights off enough of the assassins that Ob Nixilis has to kill him himself. Meanwhile, Xander had smuggled his chosen heir to safety and gave Elspeth time to infiltrate the Crescendo and, in doing so, save the Halo source (in the form of a young girl) from Nixilis' minions. Though it cost him his life, he still saved the city and his family.
• "The Side Of Freedom" features the return, at long last, of Urabrask the Hidden, and it confirms what many fans have been hoping for since the character's introduction back in New Phyrexia: he has fully rebelled against Elesh Norn, in true Red fashion, and is leading his faction of New Phyrexians in a revolution against her tyranny. The first Phyrexian since Xantcha to do so.
  Urabrask: Norn wants the Multiverse to be one singularity, for all life to be Phyrexian, and all Phyrexians to be under Norn. We do not consider that progress. I will not give her the Quiet Furnace.

Other

• In Garden of Flesh Ashiok gives Elesh Norn herself nightmares. The sheer audacity of this, combined with the fact that they win (albeit narrowly) and crack the praetor's confidence, makes them truly an MVP.

The Brother's War

• Kayla bin-Kroog, Urza's wife, manages to keep one of the few remaining cities in Argive alive for 15 years, despite the bottomless well of pain, anger and grief she carries with her. Eventually, she goes to a cold, abandoned manor and screams herself hoarse, expecting to die from the cold... only to unlock her latent potential as a pyromancer instead. She proceeds to dedicate herself to mastering her newly discovered magic, using it as an outlet for her trauma.

Phyrexia - All Will Be One

• With Vraska succumbed to the infection, Jace and Nahiri infected, and the planeswalkers cornered by an entire army of Phyrexians in the Dross Pits layer, Nahiri shows exactly why she is the powerhouse of the strike team; Using her lithomancy on the entire colosseum they're in, she shoves it through the earth and down to the next layer! There are hundreds of meters of rocks and metal between each layer, and Nahiri the Lithomancer rips it apart like paper.
• Trying to rendezvous with the rest of the strike team, Elspeth and Tyvar are confronted by the Compleated Ajani and Tibalt. During the fight, Elsepth finds herself overwhelmed by Tibalt's doubt magic and Ajani's Breaking Speech, making her almost unable to fight back. So what does Tyvar do? Grab one of Tibalt's tails and reverse one of Phyrexia's favorite tricks by covering him in Phyresis-resistant Glimmervoid metal, completely negating his magic and letting Elspeth get the Heroic Second Wind she needs to defeat Ajani. Tyvar then follows this up by stabbing Tibalt in the heart with his own tail before tossing him off the bridge, finally killing the bastard.
  "When they write songs about this battle, I will make sure your name is forgotten, devil."

March of the Machine

• With the Phyrexian invasion underway, there were going to be bouts of badassery abound as everyone mobilized for war:
  • On Kamigawa, the Wandering Emperor deals the first blow to Norn's forces as she comes in and strikes down a compleated Tamiyo with a single blow. This is after she save Kaito's life after he falls off a branch of Boseiju trying to attack Tamiyo.
    • Tamiyo had a trump card the entire time. One of her scrolls was a literal backup of herself so in case she ever died, her stories could live on. The compleated Tamiyo still had enough of her humanity left to activate the scroll right before being killed.
  • Beneath Eyes Unblinking is an anthology of three different battles.
    • Tyvar returns to Kaldheim and jumps right into the fray back on his homeplane and with his brother, King Harald, they lead a force consisting of every living being on the plane. Many were rivals who cast aside their differences to fight back a common enemy.
    • On Kaladesh, Pia and Saheeli leading the counterattack from everyone to the inventors of Ghirapur to the renegades and their illegally modified weaponry. Even Saheeli gets to show her defense plans, which are giant robotic dinosaurs modelled after the ones on Ixalan.
  • The Last to Leave and Divine Intervention show Elspeth's transformation into an Archangel after venturing into eternity and being shown the battles unfolding by an unknown voice that actually reveals itself to be Serra herself. Afterward, Elspeth leaps directly into battle on New Phyrexia, taking it directly to Norn's forces and even healing up the remainder of the Mirran resistance and Chandra. Any fear she had about the Phyrexians are gone and when Norn tries to give her the "Not So Different" Remark, her response boils down to,"You're right; we're not so different. Neither of us are Phyrexian." Having her hypocrisy rubbed in her face makes Norn completely snap.
  • Wrenn and Eight: Wrenn, despite losing Seven and her legs, is able to bond with the Invasion Tree/Realmbreaker. Despite the oil's attempts at Mind Rape—not just on her, but on the part of Realmbreaker that is terrified of what he is—she is able to encourage Realmbreaker/Eight to grow out and displace the phyretic influence. Not only that, but they then proceed to seek out Zhalfir and Teferi. Once they're found, Wrenn proceeds to bring a telling blow on Elesh Norn's campaign by re-enacting the Rathi Overlay with Zhalfir binding to New Phyrexia.
  • The Old Sins of New Phyrexia opens with the Angels of New Cepenna spreading far out across the multiverse to fight back the corruption.
    • Kaya joins Elspeth in slaying a Therian God when she takes down the compleated Heliod.
    • Zhalfir's entry into the battle on New Phyrexia is the final telling blow of Norn's grand invasion, Vorinclex is killed and Jin-Gitaxias betrays Norn and attempts to depose her. The battle ends with all Praetors dead, Ajani and Nissa incapacitated, and the Mirrans escaping to find a new home on Zhalfir...which, after spending countless years in an extraplanar void thanks to Teferi's meddling, has taken New Phyrexia's place, becoming a plane unto itself, while condemning New Phyrexia to oblivion.
  • The Rhythms of Life Opens with the results of the war on multiple planes. When it gets to Kaldheim, we see Tyvar returning to his brother with the head of a compleated sea serpent that dragged him underwater for five minutes.
    • In a mix of awesome with Tear Jerker, we have a dying Melira giving her life and Karn, his spark, to cleanse both Ajani and Nissa, freeing them from Phyrexia's influence.
  • She Who Breaks the World shows that, even after losing their sparks, Teferi, Karn, and Koth are still ready for a fight when they save Nissa from an interplanar lightning beast.
    • Nissa herself manages to overcome her own trauma from serving New Phyrexia and tap into her full Animist powers once again, allowing her to connect to Zhalfir and channel its power to Chandra to help free the lightning beast, which was a trapped storm elemental.

Wilds of Eldraine

• This trailer showed that Wizards really pulled out all the stops to promote this set. Featuring animation from Pierrot^note (Studio that animated shows such as Tokyo Mew Mew, Naruto, and Tokyo Ghoul), Yui Ishikawa^note (Mikasa from Attack on Titan and 2B from Nier Automata) and Yuichiro Umehara^note (Goblin Salyer himself) to play Rowan and Will respectively, and music from Hiroyuki Sawano^note (Attack on Titan, Kill La Kill, and many other series).

Outlaws of Thunder Junction

• The final chapter of the main story shows just what Jace Beleren can do when allowed to flex. To wit: He completely outmaneuvers Oko, a noted trickster, manages to make off with the main treasure of the Vault everybody's after, gets away before most people even realise he's there, and his teamwork with Vraska has upped significantly. From the reveal of 'Ashiok' being Jace in disguise to his exit, he quickly establishes WHY he's such a notable powerhouse.
  • And then the epilogue of Thunder Junction's story, retroactively makes Jace's desperate determination during All Will Be One all the more impressive. He manages to shit-talk Elesh Norn in his head before succumbing properly to compleation. Except it didn't get all of his mind as getting stabbed by Luxior also infused him with enough Halo to seperate himself from his compleated part enough to knock himself out, and then when the oil goes inert and regains control he functionally turbocharges his own body to force the oil out of it when he wakes up after the invasion is over. Still wounded, he makes the time and effort to save Vraska's life too before going to the one healer he's known the longest in his life: His mother, only finally collapsing when he's right in front of her.

Tournaments and Play

Magic: The Gathering tournaments, especially the Pro Tour, are a source of many epic events.

• Among all the players to have ever played on the Pro Tour, two of them stand head and shoulders above all the rest: Jon Finkel, and Kai Budde.
  • Among Kai Budde's Crowning Moments Of Awesome was when he made Eric Taylor eat his hat by winning Pro Tour New Orleans in 2001.
  • Another Kai Budde moment: his victory in the 2000 Pro Tour Chicago, in which he made a topdecked Armageddon even more awesome by dramatically announcing the card by its German name: Götterdämmerung!
• 2006 Pro Tour-Honolulu. Craig Jones vs. Olivier Ruel, game 5 of a best-of-5 match. Jones has to draw something that deals 3 damage to Ruel while not dealing him any (no Char). He does. Hilarity Ensues.
• Topped in 2009 at Pro Tour: Kyoto, when Gabriel Nassif calls his shot.
• To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the game Wizards released ''Twenty Years'' ''Along the Rail'', which is basically a list of Magic's greatest moments, includes both topdecks mentioned above... and much more.
• On December 7, 2014, Israeli pro Shahar Shenhar accomplished what no other player, not even Finkel or Budde, had pulled off: a successful title defense and becoming the first back-to-back World Champion, defeating Patrick Chapin 3-0 in the finals.
• In Pro Tour Eldrich Moon, two events stand out:
  • Luis Scott-Vargis having Emrakul played against him three times in the same match... and winning
  • The winner of the tournament winning his last 9 games in a row.

• Any time that a player pulls off a good combo deck, it can be this. With the Grab For Power pre-con deck, one can pull off the ultimate combo in the deck, deploying the Crown Of Empires, Scepter Of Empires, and Throne Of Empires. Within three turns, it's possible to have fifteen soldiers on the field, throw nine unblockable damage at your opponent, and take an enemy creature generator and the beast that boosted said generated creatures.
• Just about any victory against Faeries back in Lorwyn/Morningtide mini-block which didn't involve Faeries of its own.
• There is a card called Chaos Orb, where you flip it into the air and it destroys whatever it lands on. According to popular rumor, a player ripped a copy of the card into pieces and spread it around the board during a tournament game, destroying pretty much everything. As a result of this tale, the joke set Unglued featured a card called Chaos Confetti, a version of Chaos Orb where you have to rip it up in order to play it.
  • One version of the legend has a Crowning Moment of Funny when the opponent gets a judge to disqualify him for this because his deck is one card short.

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