History Recap / MagicTheGathering

We return to Theros, but mostly TheUnderworld there. Elspeth Tirel is caught there, being tortured by Ashiok. However, {{hubris}} gives her an opening: Heliod wants to erase all traces of the other gods, leading to an EnemyCivilWar that results in people being able to escape the Underworld. Elspeth, like many others, makes a play for freedom. Ashiok let this happen mostly because Elspeth was having dreams of encountering the Phyrexians as a child, and Ashiok, a NightmareFetishist to the core, buggered off to go find them. However, this also resulted in the return of Klothys, the Goddess of Fate. Formerly in self-imposed exile as gaoler to the Titans who preceded the gods, she got pissed off at all the mortals changing their own fates (cf the whole "BackFromTheDead" thing), and created an avatar named Calix who would chase them down, particularly Elspeth.

Elspeth manifests a shadowspear, "Khrusor," out of her dreams and leads the forces of the Underworld towards freedom; every time they win a battle, she shouts, "Behold, the real Khrusor! Heliod wields a fake!," and her followers ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve. This turns out to be the fatal blow: when Heliod comes to challenge her, her instance of Khrusor ''has become'' the real one, and Heliod is forced to surrender. Erebos, the god of the dead, imprisons Heliod under a giant boulder, and lets Elspeth go; she planeswalks away, much to the frustration of Calix... who then discovers he has the power to planeswalk after her, and does.

The setting is Ikoria, a plane of beasts and monsters, specifically inspired by kaiju and featuring tie-in cards that feature (Wizards-created) creatures but have images of Godzilla monsters. As the world of Ikoria developed, humans quickly realized what types of defenses were needed to stave off monsters. The humans were quick to become both militaristic and ingenious. Unfortunately for the humans, the monsters of Ikoria have begun to mutate and the fortresses that were previously successful at protecting humans have now become fodder for the monsters to annihilate. Featured planeswalkers are Vivien Reid, Lukka, and Narset as TheCameo.

Nahiri has returned to Zendikar, and is willing to do anything to get rid of the Roil. Nissa has also returned home, but for reasons of her own. The two come into conflict, with Nissa triumphing and managing to heal the plane of the scars that have been inflicted on it by the Eldrazi. Jace appears as Nissa's ally, his first appearance since the War of the Spark.

The so-called Innistrad Double Feature takes place a few years after The Travails.

Emrakul's presence in the moon is believed to be altering the world, as the nights are getting longer. The humans of Innistrad, led by Arlinn Kord the werewolf planeswalker, turn to an ancient ritual called the Harvesttide Festival to restore the balance. This leads to a FetchQuest: they need to use a device called the Celestus, which cannot be activated until someone finds the Moonsilver Key. Meanwhile, the werewolves, led by a fellow named Tovolor, are getting stronger. Arlinn grabs the Gatewatch, currently consisting of Teferi, Kaya the ghost whisperer, and Chandra, for help. The fetch quest leads them to cross paths with Sorin, who managed to un-rock himself a while ago (he was actually part of the War for the Spark).

The actual festival, however, goes pretty poorly. Obviously, Tovolor and his pack aren't much interested in letting things happen, and Arlinn has to fight him paw-to-paw. Then, when they get the Moonsilver Key to the witch Katilda, the only one who can complete the ritual, they're interrupted by Olivia Voldaren, one of the oldest vampires on the plane. They're forced to trade the Key for the Katilda's safety, and are unable to prevent the long night -- especially since Olivia traps Katilda's soul in the Key first.

After a several-month TimeSkip, we find the humans of Innistrad beset from peril from all sides (as usual). The Gatewatch turn to Sorin, who is willing to help this time: with night eternal, humans are dwindling, and his vampires are going to starve before long. He decides to turn to his grandfather, Edgar Markov, the original Innistrad vampire... only to find he has been kidnapped by Olivia Voldaren, who plans to marry him and consolidate control over the vampire clans of Innistrad.

Obviously, the Gatewatch plan to attack the Voldaren estate while the wedding is going on, but they discover it's been ensorceled, and only those who have been invited -- i.e. Sorin -- can enter. Within, he finds himself trapped and held hostage, and even worse, the strongest of Innistrad's angels -- Sigarda -- present. Olivia plans to control her with magic and thereby become undisputed master of the plane.

This set will be released in Q3 2023.

This set will be released in Q4 2023.

Kamigawa is a plane inspired by Japanese mythology, in which the spirits (Kami) are at war with the living, one of whom kidnapped the child of O-Kagachi, the God of Kami. The war is resolved by the safe return of That Which Was Taken, through the actions of a man named Toshiro Umizawa. In doing so, he pisses off the black-aligned Myojin of Night’s Reach, who banishes him to another plane -- Dominaria, but way in the past; it turns out that Toshiro was the ancestor of one of Nicol Bolas' mortal enemies way back in ''Legends''. Chronologically, that makes Kamigawa the earliest block in the timeline.

This block featured a variety of experiments with the ''Magic'' format: ''Time Spiral'' harkened back to old cards and mechanics by either reprinting them as "timeshifted", or with new cards that served as a CallBack in some way. ''Planar Chaos'' delved into alternate timelines with "planeshifted" cards that move one card's mechanics into another color, such as White getting a counterspell from Blue ([[https://scryfall.com/card/plc/25/mana-tithe Mana Tithe]]) or a burn spell from Red ([[https://scryfall.com/card/plc/31/sunlance Sunlance]]). ''Future Sight'' featured "futureshifted" cards that offered a glimpse at possible new mechanics, units, and settings, many of which have since been introduced into ''Magic'' proper.

The Fourth Age of ''Magic'' Storytelling was actually driven by the MinovskyPhysics of the TimeCrash in "Time Spiral." Specifically, it involved the {{nerf}}ing of planeswalkers. The planeswalkers of Urza's time were {{Physical God}}s, to the point where it was hard to conceive of a real threat to them: planeswalkers were about as vulnerable to harm as players are vulnerable to being hurt by RealLife ''Magic'' cards (that is, [[CaptainObvious not particularly]]). However, with the end of that block, planeswalkers (the ones which survived) were massively depowered. They still had superhuman abilities, but were much more susceptible to damage and weakness. They were weak enough to be represented by cards. So the focus of the stories changed: instead of just getting an entire new cast of characters every year, the plot begins to follow planeswalkers from block to block, set to set, plane to plane. So suddenly there were a bunch of new characters to follow, who get (and continue to get) lots of fiction and backstory not contained only in the cards but in spin-off fiction, but who are also represented ''in-game'' with cards of their own.

Elsewhere, the tides turn. Vraska leads an army to Ravnica but is defeated by Ral Zarek, and it's hinted that the mental defenses Jace implanted in her during ''War of the Spark'' may have protected some remnants of her original personality from compleation. Nahiri's plan to take control of one of Zendikar's skyclaves backfires. Atraxa meets her end on New Capenna -- not at the hands of angel nor demon, but the Capennans [[ColonyDrop collapsing an entire city district on top of her]] -- and with the Phyrexian forces scattered, the angels of New Capenna exploit Realmbreaker's portals to drive back the invaders on other worlds.

With Elesh Norn dead and New Phyrexia absent, [[KeystoneArmy the glistening oil goes inert, disabling the Phyrexian forces]] and rendering the compleated planeswalkers comatose. On Zhalfir, Teferi plants an acorn -- the last remnant of life he recovered from the ashes of Wrenn. Karn and Melira come up with a plan to put Venser's old theories into practice and use their abilities (along with Teferi's and Kaya's) to purge TheCorruption from Ajani and Nissa. They succeed, but ItOnlyWorksOnce: Melira was mortally wounded in the final battle and succumbs to her injuries soon after, while Karn [[BroughtDownToNormal uses up what remains of Venser's spark]] in the process. The Phyrexian invasion is over, and it is at last time to recover and rebuild, though with so many worlds devastated and multiple compleated planeswalkers [[NeverFoundTheBody unaccounted for]] (Jace and Vraska are the big ones), there's much work to be done.

!!! March of the Machine: Aftermath
This set has been described as a "coda" to the PlotArc. It will be the first "small set" since ''Amonkhet'''s followup ''Hour of Devastation'' in 2017; and, at 50 cards, is in fact the smallest Standard-legal set ever released (by a large margin). Serving as TheStinger to MOM, it also sets up what will almost certainly be the next age of ''Magic'' sets.

The Multiverse has changed dramatically. The Phyrexian invasion shook the entire continuity, and per WordOfGod ''every'' plane will now think about life "before the Phyriexians" and "after". Additionally, a number of planeswalkers have been de-sparked[[labelnote:They are...]]Calix, Kiora, Nahiri, Narset, Nissa Revane, Ob Nixilis, Samut, Sarkhan Vol and Tyvar Kvell, in addition to Karn who was already known to have lost his[[/labelnote]], with Nissa in particular feeling resentment over her more limited scope (especially since she and Chandra have finally had the BigDamnKiss the story has been working towards for years, only for Chandra to get back to Gatewatching with nary a blink) and Nahiri, suffering still from being freed from being compleated and a bad encounter with Ajani, decides that it's all Planeswalkers fault for everything and is trying to isolate Zendikar from the multiverse no matter what. That said, All Will Be One: Realmbreaker succeeded at fusing the planes of the Multiverse together, and there are now "[[PortalDoor omenpaths]]" all over creation linking one plane to another. The next sets, especially those of the remaining 2023 calendar year, will spend time investigating the fallout of these things. And hey: planeswalker sparks are ''supposed'' to be non-fungible, but Karn's gone through two, neither of which was ever his to begin with.

The Multiverse has changed dramatically. The Phyrexian invasion shook the entire continuity, and per WordOfGod ''every'' plane will now think about life "before the Phyriexians" and "after". Additionally, a number of planeswalkers have been de-sparked[[labelnote:They are...]]Calix, Kiora, Nahiri, Narset, Nissa Revane, Ob Nixilis, Samut, Sarkhan Vol and Tyvar Kvell, in addition to Karn who was already known to have lost his[[/labelnote]], with Nissa in particular feeling resentment over her more limited scope (especially since she and Chandra have finally had the BigDamnKiss the story has been working towards for years, only for Chandra to get back to Gatewatching with nary a blink). That said, All Will Be One: Realmbreaker succeeded at fusing the planes of the Multiverse together, and there are now "[[PortalDoor omenpaths]]" all over creation linking one plane to another. The next sets, especially those of the remaining 2023 calendar year, will spend time investigating the fallout of these things. And hey: planeswalker sparks are ''supposed'' to be non-fungible, but Karn's gone through two, neither of which was ever his to begin with.

The Multiverse has changed dramatically. A number of planeswalkers have been de-sparked[[labelnote:They are...]]Calix, Kiora, Nahiri, Narset, Nissa Revane, Ob Nixilis, Samut, Sarkhan Vol and Tyvar Kvell, in addition to Karn who was already known to have lost his[[/labelnote]], with Nissa in particular feeling resentment over her more limited scope (especially since she and Chandra have finally had the BigDamnKiss the story has been working towards for years). That said, All Will Be One: Realmbreaker succeeded at fusing the planes of the Multiverse together, and there are now "[[PortalDoor omenpaths]]" all over creation linking one plane to another. And hey: planeswalker sparks are ''supposed'' to be non-fungible, but Karn's gone through two, neither of which was ever his to begin with.

All paths converge on New Phyrexia. Vorinclex is slain by Teferi and Elspeth, while Elesh Norn and Jin-Gitaxias [[EnemyCivilWar turn on each other]], with the latter ending up destroyed by his own spawn. The last compleated planeswalkers, Ajani and Nissa, are captured. The remaining Mirrans are evacuated through the portal to Zhalfir, though Karn stays behind long enough to reconstruct his body and end the Phyrexian threat for good -- unmaking Elesh Norn by his own hand. New Phyrexia, Mirrodin, Argentum is at last consigned to the abyss with Zhalfir taking its place in the Multiverse.

With Elesh Norn dead and New Phyrexia absent, [[KeystoneArmy the glistening oil goes inert, disabling the Phyrexian forces]] and rendering the compleated planeswalkers comatose. On Zhalfir, Teferi plants an acorn -- the last remnant of life he recovered from the ashes of Wrenn. Karn and Melira come up with a plan to put Venser's old theories into practice and use their abilities (along with Teferi's and Kaya's) to purge TheCorruption from Ajani and Nissa. They succeed, but ItOnlyWorksOnce: Melira was mortally wounded in the final battle and succumbs to her injuries soon after, while Karn [[BroughtDownToNormal uses up what remains of Venser's spark]] in the process. The Phyrexian invasion is over, and it is at last time to recover and rebuild, though with so many worlds devastated and multiple compleated planeswalkers [[NeverFoundTheBody unaccounted for]] (Jace, Vraska, [[UncertainDoom possibly]] Nahiri), there's much work to be done.

This set has been described as a "coda" to the PlotArc. It will be the first "small set" (50 cards) since ''Amonkhet'''s followup ''Hour of Devastation'' in 2017, and WordOfGod is that this set will change the "nature" of the Multiverse.

Sorin Markov, the vampire planeswalker who helped trap the Eldrazi in Zendikar, is native to Innistrad, and he was the one who made Avacyn to watch over the human population. We also learn that there’s a Kamigawan planeswalker, Tamiyo, studying the unique properties of Innistrad’s moon, and a demonic planeswalker, Tibalt, who is, uh, here. Tibalt is a TierInducedScrappy, a failed experiment at making a planeswalker card who doesn't cost a lot of mana but is appropriately less powerful. (His other editions have been better received.)

This StoryArc was novelized as ''Literature/TheBrothersWar'', which told the ''actual'' story of the war, not just what Dominarian scholars were able to piece together. There is also a {{prequel}}, ''Literature/TheThran'', which serves as an OriginStory for Yawgmoth.

!The First Age: Pre-Revision

! The Second Age: Blocks

!The Third Age: The Planehopping Era

! The Fourth Age: Post-Mending

! The Fifth Age: The Decline of the Block, the Rise of the Gatewatch

! The Sixth Age: Return To Planehopping

This set will be released in Q4 2023.

Back on Dominaria, after his ill-fated jump in time, Teferi wakes up [[BroughtDownToNormal once again spark-less]]... on Zhalfir, his home, still waiting to re-unite with the rest of Dominaria and join the battle against Phyrexia. He takes up the CallToAgriculture for a time, but the past catches up with him -- he's soon summoned to answer for sealing Zhalfir away, and The Wanderer is able to planeswalk through the rift and briefly make contact.

[[BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind In the heart of Realmbreaker]], Wrenn finds what she's looking for: a small, lonely sapling, the last vestige of life within a vast sea of oil. She bonds with it, and helps it grow until it's strong enough to seize control. With "Eight"'s help, Wrenn reaches through the Blind Eternities, following traces left behind by Teferi until she at last finds him -- and Zhalfir. [[HeroicSacrifice Burning up what's left of Wrenn's life force]], Realmbreaker's tendrils drag Zhalfir out of its rift, [[ColonyDrop planeshifting it to the space occupied by New Phyrexia]] (a reversal of Rath being shifted onto Dominaria so many years ago), intending to push the latter into the Blind Eternities. And with it comes [[TheCavalry an army of Zhalfiri]], ready to strike.

With Elesh Norn dead and New Phyrexia absent, [[KeystoneArmy the glistening oil goes inert, disabling the Phyrexian forces]] and rendering the compleated planeswalkers comatose. On Zhalfir, Teferi plants an acorn -- the last remnant of life he recovered from the ashes of Wrenn. Karn and Melira come up with a plan to put Venser's old theories into practice and use their abilities (along with Teferi's and Kaya's) to purge TheCorruption from Ajani and Nissa. They succeed, but ItOnlyWorksOnce: Melira was mortally wounded in the final battle and doesn't survive the night, while Karn [[BroughtDownToNormal uses up what remains of Venser's spark]] in the process. The Phyrexian invasion is over, and it is at last time to recover and rebuild, though with so many worlds devastated and at least two compleated planeswalkers [[NeverFoundTheBody unaccounted for]] (Jace, Vraska, [[UncertainDoom possibly]] Nahiri), there's much work to be done.

All paths converge on New Phyrexia. Vorinclex is slain by the Zhalfiri warriors, while Elesh Norn and Jin-Gitaxias [[EnemyCivilWar turn on each other]], with the latter ending up destroyed by his own spawn. The last compleated planeswalkers, Ajani and Nissa, are captured. The remaining Mirrans are evacuated through the portal to Zhalfir, though Karn stays behind long enough to reconstruct his body and end the Phyrexian threat for good -- unmaking Elesh Norn by his own hand. New Phyrexia, Mirrodin, Argentum is at last consigned to the abyss with Zhalfir taking its place in the Multiverse.

The Font turns out to be [[PoweredByAForsakenChild a girl named Giada]], who can simply create Halo with a wave of her hand. At the new year's festival, the Adversary makes his move and tries to take the Font for himself. Elspeth and Vivien save her, and try to keep her out of the hands of demon and gangster alike. Giada, [[GodWasMyCopilot Capenna's last angel]] ([[ThereIsAnother except for, it's hinted, Elspeth herself]]) pulls a HeroicSacrifice and ascends to join her sisters, furnishing Elspeth with a new Halo-infused sword, "Luxior". This allows Elspeth and Vivien to come through, and Ob Nixilis planeswalks away to lick his wounds. Afterwards, the two go through Xander's archives and find some useful information: a history of how Capenna withstood the Phyrexians the first time around.

Karn decides to bait the Phyrexians out, by dangling the three things they want most: the Thran Mana Rig on the continent of Shiv; the Golgothian Sylex; and he himself. While Ajani and Jaya lead a joint Llanowar and Benalish attempt to rescue Aron Capashen, Jodah and Teferi head out to try and win more allies, with Teferi succeeding at getting the Shivan Dragons, not to mention the viashino, the ghitu and the goblins, to help. Jodah's attempt to convince the Yavimaya elves to help is... less successful. However, the Phyrexians have help: the resurrected Ertai is here to lead them. Fortunately, Radha, at the head of the Keldons, saves the day. Additionally, Jodah's lack of diplomacy is rendered moot when the Phyrexians attack, convincing Meria, the leader of the Yavimaya elves, of the truth of his words. However, Jodah is convinced, and tells Karn, that there is at least one more Phyrexian agent in the upper reaches of Karn's administration.

Karn's Coalition prepares to HoldTheLine atop the Mana Rig, but almost immediately things go wrong: the ''Weatherlight'' has been compleated and now acts as air cover for the Phyrexians (the crew managed to get away, {{Red Shirt}}s notwithstanding). Ertai descends to take the fight to Karn, the only remaining member of the original ''Weatherlight'' crew (Squee the Eternal notwithstanding -- and he actually does get a card in this set, so he's out there somewhere). Fortunately, Ajani arrives to BackStab Ertai. However, this is when Ajani discovers the identity of the last Phyrexian spy: himself. So subtle is Phyrexian brainwashing that it can be done without the subject even realizing it. He kills Jaya and captures Karn, and Sheoldred takes possession of the Sylex and the silver golem. She brings them, using the Planar Bridge, back to New Pyrexia -- to Mirrodin -- to Argentum, where Karn's children await him.

Teferi is still trying to travel back into the past with the help of [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=583667 the Temporal Anchor]]. He calls for Kaya to pull him back into the present so he and Saheeli Rai can keep tinkering with the device. In the ''Magic: the Gathering'' Multiverse, physical time travel is impossible unless you're made of silver -- hence the existence of Karn, Silver Golem -- but that's not what Teferi is doing. Half of the time machine is simply a metal coffin that Kaya converts into ghostform, separating Teferi's spark from his body to facilitate IntangibleTimeTravel. Teferi is, specifically, looking for the secret to activate the Golgothian Sylex, which Saheeli has apparently managed to produce a copy of. In the end, he's forced to pause time at the moment Urza activates it, and speaks directly to him -- TheMentor, the BigGood of the franchise, but also the architect of so much of its destruction and chaos. Teferi learns the secret from Urza... but as he does, the Temporal Anchor snaps. Teferi's body is rendered an EmptyShell, his spark lost to time. However, Kaya has been with him the entire time, and knows as much about operating the Sylex as he does.

In a place between places, Elspeth Tirel watches this all unfold. In the Sylex's wake, like Urza at the end of the Brothers' War, she has become [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence something else]], [[CameBackStrong something powerful]]. She sees herself as a child on Capenna with her mother, and her lover on Theros. She is not alone -- a familiar voice guides her through her past and present, and lays out the choice ahead of her. She sees Liliana's cabin on Dominaria, a fortress on Bant, desperate civilians fighting for survival on New Capenna. She sees Ajani in the temple of Heliod, corrupting the faithful ([[GodsNeedPrayerBadly and with them, the gods]]) of Theros. She sees New Phyrexia, where Elesh Norn and her minions celebrate victory as Urabrask is ripped apart for his treason. Karn, Koth, Chandra, and the last of the Mirrans awaiting their end. Nissa and Wrenn, the only beings capable of controlling Realmbreaker. She understands what has to be done. The guiding voice, the being who brought angels to Capenna and other realms, who died and transcended death -- ''Serra'' -- awakens Elspeth's power.

Elspeth emerges on New Phyrexia, not merely as a planeswalker, not just an angel, but an ''Archangel''. Her intervention saves her fellow planeswalkers, gives the surviving Mirrans an opening to fight back, and drives Elesh Norn into a full-blown VillainousBreakdown. She fights the praetors to a standstill, wounding Norn both physically and psychologically, but withdraws before landing the killing blow: ensuring Chandra and Wrenn survive to carry out their plan is priority number one, and they're running out of time.

This set has been described as a "coda" to the PlotArc. It will be the first "small set" (50 cards) since ''Amonkhet'''s followup ''Hour of Devastation'' in 2017. While WordOfGod is that this set will change the "nature" of the Multiverse, its existence seems to confirm that Dominaria, which fills the "[[TheEarthPrimeTheory Earth-Prime]]" role of the franchise and would take the whole Multiverse with it if destroyed, will survive. So, for that matter, does the existence of...

In a place between places, Elspeth Tirel watches this all unfold. In the Sylex's wake, like Urza at the end of the Brothers' War, she has become [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence something else]], [[CameBackStrong something powerful]]. She sees herself as a child on Capenna with her mother, and her lover on Theros. She is not alone -- a familiar voice guides her through her past and present, and lays out the choice ahead of her. She sees Liliana's cabin on Dominaria, a fortress on Bant, desperate civilians fighting for survival on New Capenna. She sees New Phyrexia, where Elesh Norn and her minions celebrate victory as Urabrask is ripped apart for his treason. Karn, Koth, Chandra, and the last of the Mirrans awaiting their end. Nissa and Wrenn, the only beings capable of controlling Realmbreaker. She understands what has to be done. The guiding voice, the being who brought angels to Capenna, who died and transcended death -- ''Serra'' -- awakens Elspeth's power.

As the Eldrazi emerge and begin to slaughter the world, Zendikar rises up to fight back. Three more planeswalkers all begin to work towards the defeat of the Eldrazi. The first, a merfolk named Kiora, attempts to make an army of the leviathan, kraken, and other deep sea creatures on Zendikar, only to find that they are not enough, and [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere departs the plane]]. An elf, Nissa Revane, born of Zendikar, returns from walking the planes (although, mostly Lorwyn) to hear the soul of her world, Ashaya, cry out, and ask for her help. She begins leading the elves and summoning elementals to fight off the Eldrazi. The last one, Gideon Jura, was trained by the Boros on Ravnica, although not native to there or Zendikar. He begins to rally the humans before departing the plane to seek more allies against the Eldrazi. One final character of note is Ob-Nixilis, a demon of Zendikar who used to be a human planeswalker, until he was bound to the plane by Nahiri, sealing away his power with a hedron similar to the ones that held the Eldrazi.

All three Eldrazi titans have awakened, wreaking havoc on the plane. However, Kozilek and Emrakul are nowhere to be seen, with only Ulamog and its brood savaging the landscape. Into this mess comes Jace, Gideon, Chandra, and Nissa, all together, all at once. After a particularly devastating massacre at the Sea Gate, they band together to come up with a plan to tackle the existing Eldrazi. At this moment, Kozilek returns, emerging from its sleep below Zendikar. (OhCrap.) It turns out that Ob-Nixilis, sick of being trapped on Zendikar, was searching for a way to reignite his spark and remove the hedron from his body. He tapped into the power of an active hedron network, siphoning all of it within himself, reigniting his spark, and awakening Kozilek. Ob nearly kills Jace and Gideon, before taking them and Nissa captive, only to be saved by Chandra. Ob finally flees into the multiverse.

Elspeth Tirel returns to Capenna, the plane of her birth, to seek answers about her past. Her planeswalker spark ignited when she was imprisoned by Phyrexians during their last invasion. She ends up working for the Maestros, where she meets Vivien Reid. Reid is here for the weirdest reasons: she has agreed to help Urabrask, the red Phyrexian Praetor, to get Elspeth to help him fight against Elesh Norn. Urabrask is also interested in getting his hands on the Cabaretti's recently-found and apparently infinite source of Halo, since all Phyrexians hate it. The new Halo source turns out to be a girl named Giada, the last angel, who can simply create Halo with a wave of her hand.

At the new-year's festival, things go sideways: The Adversary makes his move. He's been planning to take over the plane and has been subverting all five crime families this entire time. He is otherwise known as Ob Nixilis. He, like everyone else, wants Giada, and Elspeth and Vivien save her. Ob follows them, and Giada pulls a HeroicSacrifice to save them, and furnishing Elspeth with a new Halo-infused sword, "Luxior." This allows the two women to come through, and Ob Nixilis planeswalks away to lick his wounds. Afterwards, Elspeth and Vivien go through Xander's archives and get a complete history of how Capenna withstood the Phyrexians the first time. They planeswalk to Dominaria to update the Gatewatch. Meanwhile, unlocked by Giada's sacrifice, angels begin to return to Capenna.

The initial insertion goes poorly: a Phyrexian force field splits the strike team into multiple locations. Nahiri and Kaito end up alone, with The Wanderer unable to maintain resolution and planeswalking away inevitably, though they also rescue Kyvar from a Phyrexian trap; meanwhile, Elspeth and Kaya also link up. They meet with the Mirran Resistance, where they additionally find Jace... and no one else: Nissa also got deflected by a Phyrexian defense, and Vraska and Lukka are nowhere to be found. However, there's one new and helpful ally: Koth of the Hammer, not seen since Elspeth first visited Mirrodin at the beginning of the Fourth Age. He agrees to help Melira, the leader of the Mirran resistance -- because she and Elspeth are the only two sentient beings in the multiverse who are immune to glistening oil -- execute the Gatewatch's plan: to travel down through the nine different levels of New Phyrexia and reach the Seedcore, at the very center of the plane, where Elesh Norn has planted her "Realmbreaker", a modified WorldTree grown with the material stolen from Kaldheim. There, they plan to activate Saheeli Rai's Filligree Sylex and destroy Realmbreaker. There is a chance that the entirety of New Phyrexia will be destroyed in the blast: Jace originally calculated that it would not, but this was before he learned just how much WorldSundering had already gone on. And, of course, there is always the risk of compleation: Nahiri, the most powerful planeswalker in the Gatewatch, the one with MagnetismManipulation powers off the charts ''on a plane made of metal''... is scratched upon arrival. Unless Melira and the others can do anything to prevent it, TheBigGuy ''will'' perform a FaceHeelTurn.

Outside the Seedcore, Ajani and Tibalt, both compleated, stand guard, and Elspeth and Tyvar break off on account of ItsPersonal. (Karn is there too, but by now dismembered and completely helpess to assist.) Jace, Kaito and Kyra make the final descent into the Seedcore... where they witness Realmbreaker come to life, linking all the planes as one. The Phyrexians can now invade at will. Jace persists in activating the Sylex, even though his calculations were based on the assumption that they would arrive ''before'' Realmbreaker activates. If it goes off now, it could result in a ApocalypseHow/ClassX5 ApocalypseHow that wipes out the Multiverse entirely... But Jace believes this a ''better'' ending than the Phyrexians simply conquering the entire Multiverse -- especially since he, with his prodigious telepathic powers, with his ability to potentially brainwash entire continents at once, will be joining their efforts. Kaya and Kaito disagree, and the answer comes by when Elspeth, assessing the entire situation in an instant, grabs the Sylex and planeswalks away with it in the moment before it can go off. The Multiverse is saved... But only for certain definitions of "saved". And now Kaito, Kaya and Tyvar are trapped at the bottom of New Phyrexia, with Elesh Norn's invasion force -- not to mention the compleated planeswalkers Jace, Ajani[[note]]Tibalt is out of the picture, at least for now -- Tvyar impaled him on his own spear-tails and threw him off a bridge[[/note]], Nissa, Lukka[[note]]The two had a SideQuest where Lukka attempted to mindlink with a Phyrexian animal, resulting in both him and Nissa compleated[[/note]], Nahiri[[note]]Kaito was clearly TemptingFate there[[/note]] and Tamiyo by her side -- ready to begin the...

With the New Phyrexian invasion of the Multiverse beginning in earnest, Norn no longer has use for insubordinate praetors: on her orders, Sheoldred is captured by the compleated planeswalkers and [[OffWithHisHead executed]] by Ajani, though not before spiting the Mother of Machines for her [[ItsAllAboutMe self-centered vision]] of Phyrexian purity. As for the three planeswalkers who refuse compleation, Elesh Norn is perfectly happy to let them leave New Phyrexia unharmed... as long as they inform their other comrades of the coming invasion -- it's only fair that the other planes know that their own compleation is imminent, and it would save her a lot of trouble if they just surrendered ahead of time. With Nissa controlling the roots of Realmbreaker, the Phyrexian champions depart for other worlds; Nahiri to Zendikar, Lukka to Ikoria, Tamiyo to Kamigawa, Ajani to Theros, and Atraxa to Capenna. The latter two are of particular import to Norn, considering gods, angels, and Halo too big a threat to ignore.

The survivors regroup on Dominaria, and tell their fellow planeswalkers what happened. The group is despondent about losing so many of their own, tensions flare up, and the planeswalkers part ways on less-than-amicable terms to carry out the next goal -- warn as many as possible about what's coming, try to save who they can. Kaito and Tyvar leave for their respective home planes, while Liliana heads for Strixhaven. Chandra, still reeling from losing Nissa and ignoring the warnings of the survivors, instead plans to go to New Phyrexia herself and take her own shot at Realmbreaker, consequences be damned. Wrenn wants to accompany her, hearing the voice of Realmbreaker and realizing that, while warped and pained, it is ''alive'' and in need of help. Further, Wrenn has figured out where to find Teferi, but will need help reaching him...

Unseen, ''something'' watches them. Multiple somethings, talking among themselves, waiting for the end of all things.

War rages across the Multiverse. As the glistening oil seeps into Kamigawa, Kaito and Kaya race to help whoever they can, including Tamiyo's adopted son Nashi, who [[IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight tries to reason with his mother]] unsuccessfully, and is saved by some timely intervention from the Wanderer. The fight ends when Tamiyo cannot bring herself to harm her beloved son nor her former friends, and [[RedemptionEqualsDeath holds back long enough for the Wanderer to strike her down]]. The battles rage on -- Tyvar reunites with his brother, and bears witness to the surviving clans of Kaldheim [[EnemyMine temporarily putting aside their differences]] to fight the insurmountable hordes. Kaladesh's defenses are put to the test, and Pia Nalaar is caught in an airship battle in the skies above Ghirapur. Atraxa lays waste to the monuments of New Capenna...

The unseen forces continue to observe, waiting for the right time.

!!! Innistrad: Midnight Hunt and Innistrad: Crimson Vow

* The '''Brokers''' (GWU) are a group of demonic lawyers, led by Falco Spara the Pactweaver. Their mechanic lets them put a SingleUseShield on creatures they want to protect.
* The '''Obscura''' (WUB) are information brokers, led by Raffine, Scheming Seer. Their mechanic, "Connive," lets them draw cards, but also forces them to discard an equal number of cards -- but wait, the creature that "Connived" gets a [=+1/+1=] counter for each spell you discarded this way.
* The '''Maestros''' (UBR) are vampire hedonists who specialize in assassination. They are led by Lord Xander, the Collector. Their mechanic, "Casualty," requires a creature you control to perform a HeroicSuicide, but if they do, you get to copy the spell.
* The '''Riveteers''' (BRG) are both construction workers and skilled demolitionists, focusing more on acts of passion than some of their brethren. Their leader is Ziatora, the Incinerator. Their mechanic, "Blitz," allows you to cast a creature for a cheaper cost and with Haste, but it commits HeroicSuicide at the end of turn -- but wait, you get to draw a card when it does!
* The '''Cabaretti''' (RGW) are fun-loving druids who run the city's nightclubs under the supervision of Jetmir, Lord of Revels. Their mechanic, "Alliance," causes individual creatures to become temporarily stronger whenever you play a new creature.

This set, releasing in Q2 2023, concludes the Phyrexian Invasion arc.

This set, also releasing in Q2 2023, has been described as a "coda" to the PlotArc. It will be the first "small set" (150-200 cards) since Amonkhet's followup "Hour of Devastation" in 2017. While WordOfGod is that this set will change the "nature" of the Multiverse, its existence seems to confirm that Dominaria, which fills the "[[TheEarthPrimeTheory Earth-Prime]]" role of the franchise and would take the whole Multiverse with it if destroyed, will survive. So, for that matter, does the existence of...

* The '''Brokers''' (GWU) are a group of demonic lawyers, led by Falco Spara the Pactweaver.
* The '''Obscura''' (WUB) are information brokers, led by Raffine, Scheming Seer.
* The '''Maestros''' (UBR) are vampire hedonists who specialize in assassination. They are led by Lord Xander, the Collector.
* The '''Riveteers''' (BRG) are both construction workers and skilled demolitionists, focusing more on acts of passion than some of their brethren. Their leader is Ziatora, the Incinerator.
* The '''Cabaretti''' (RGW) are fun-loving druids who run the city's nightclubs under the supervision of Jetmir, Lord of Revels.

Urza ultimately won the war, but at a horrific price: he used an artifact called the Golgothian Sylex to trigger TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, plunging Dominaria into an ice age via [[EndlessWinter nuclear winter]], the actual shroud of debris being called "The Dark." This traumatic event also resulted in Urza becoming something called a "planeswalker," which is a word you'll hear over and over again in ''Magic'': namely, an extremely powerful DimensionalTraveler (IE someone who can "walk" "planes"). Very few sentient beings have the necessary "planeswalker spark," and even fewer of them have their spark "ignited"; it almost always requires either extreme emotional trauma or imminent death. Urza was the first, though by no means the last: players are considered to be planeswalkers as well.

The Second Age of ''Magic'' storytelling introduced the idea of the "Block," which was also a new age in gameplay design. Prior expansions were all basically stand-alone, in terms of both gameplay and story. Starting from "Ice Age," sets were now organized in Blocks, a group of three sets which were released over the course of a scholastic year (the first set in the fall, the second in winter and the third in spring), attempted to tell one centralized StoryArc concerning specific characters on a specific plane, and used the same set of game mechanics to do so. The Block is intended to be played as a cohesive unit, using cards from all three sets, and are drafted together over the course of a year in competitive play. The first set of the block typically consisted of 250-300 cards, and set the stage for the year's contents; the following sets would be 150-200 cards, continuing gameplay themes and story arcs. Since Blocks only cover three of the four seasons, Summer was reserved for "Core Sets," semi-simplified sets which were intended to be introductory products for newer players.

Teferi returns from his magic safe space, in preparation for his homeland returning from the safe pocket he put it in to keep it safe from the Phyrexian invasion. However, he learns that Dominaria is now shot through with deadly time rifts, unmooring whole continents and cities from the fabric of reality. Given how Teferi constructed his magic, another territory, Shiv, begins to phase in before Zhafir. As Shiv phases in, it is the straw that breaks the camel’s back, tearing open all of the rifts and beginning to blow up the whole plane. Teferi, along with Karn, Jhoria (an artificer from Tolaria) and Venser (a temporal mage), begin to work on sealing the rifts. They discover that the rifts will close with the sacrifice of a planeswalker spark. The first rift, in Tolaria, is so severe in the present that it cannot be closed, and Karn chooses to time travel into the past and sacrifice his spark to close the rift. At this point, Jeska returns from planeswalking, and, manipulated by an old black planeswalker named Leshrac, begins to work with an elf named Radha to close various time rifts without losing her spark. They successfully close a few of the rifts, but in the process destroy the pocket protecting Teferi’s homeland, as well as the forest spirit Multani. Leshrac manipulates Jeska to give him access to Phage, whose power he takes and uses it to challenge Nicol Bolas (remember him, the dragon from "Legends"? It turns out he’s also a planeswalker and super-powerful). Bolas defeats him, and uses his spark to close another rift. Jeska, no longer manipulated, performs a HeroicSacrifice to close the final rift, and in doing so also awakens Venser's spark.

"Magic Origins" was, at least as intended, the final Core set. Wizards made the decision to discontinue them (they've since been restored), and used Origins to tell the back stories of five planeswalkers who would become important moving forward.

And so we follow memory-less Jace to Ixalan, where he finds himself, missing his memories and his powers, unable to planeswalk and thus unable to leave. Ixalan is dominated by a massive set of unexplored jungles, supposedly containing Orazca, the lost city of gold. Searching for this city are four different factions – the River Heralds, the merfolk with power over the rivers of Ixalan; the Legion of Dusk, a nation of vampires from across the ocean, who believe that the city might contain the cure for their vampirism; The Sun Empire, a nation of humans who tame the plane’s wild dinosaurs and ride them, who believe the city might contain the mightiest dinosaurs and would enable them to fight off the various invaders; and finally the Brazen Coalition, pirates who want the city because, well, treasure. These four factions are particularly interesting because the magic number of ''Magic'' is five. The divisions are accomplished by having the Merfolk and Vampire Conquistadors be two-color factions (green-blue and white-black respectively), while the Dinosaurs and Pirates are three-color factions (WRG and BUR, respectively). Every color appears in two factions, but Red only appears in 3-color factions.

Jace, stranded on a useless island, manages to build a raft and escape, and drifts for several days before he is fished up by a pirate ship crewed by Vraska, who was sent to the plane to retrieve something by Nicol Bolas. She, knowing who Jace is, and Jace, minus all of his memories, begin to track down the golden city, throwing ShipTease all the way. As the city reveals itself to them, deep in the center of Ixalan, Jace falls into the waters of the city, and regains all of his lost memories, including those that were stripped of him early in life by his teacher. Jace, remembering Vraska, forgives her for past misdeeds.

As the two of them explore the city, they come upon a sealed vault marked with the symbol of the Azorius guild of Ravnica. Upon opening it, they come upon Azor, the sphinx Paruun of the Azorious and the author of the original Guildpact. They learn that the Immortal Sun, a device built from Azor’s planeswalker spark, creates a NoWarpingZone that prevents planeswalkers from leaving the plane naturally, and Azor has been trapped there since the Sun was built. Jace, invoking his powers as the Guildpact, banishes Azor to the useless island, and, after talking with Vraska, erases her memories of the two of them, and hides while Tezzeret arrives via planar portal to take the Immortal Sun and leaves the plane, enabling the rest of the planeswalkers to leave.

Complicating matters is the presence of two additional planeswalkers, each dealing with recent tribulations: Liliana Vess has taken up a pseudonym (Serafina Oryx) and a teaching job at her old alma mater, but is still burdened by guilt over Gideon's death during the War of the Spark and hopes that Strixhaven's vast archives contain the knowledge she needs to resurrect him. "Professor Oryx" soon catches wind of the Kendrith twins' presence at the school, and starts keeping an eye on them. Meanwhile, Lukka is laying low after leaving his home plane, but finds the society on Arcavios -- a strict hierarchy and a penchant for shunning outsiders -- uncomfortably similar to the one he left behind on Ikoria. He falls in with the Oriq, a group of mages exiled for practicing forbidden BloodMagic and who dislike Strixhaven's political dominance over the plane.

With Lukka's assistance, the Oriq launch an attack on the Strixhaven campus. Kasmina confronts him, but he's not interested in sticking around on Arcavios [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere and planeswalks away once his work is done]]. During the battle, the Oriq leader is able to reach the college's innermost sanctum and release its SealedEvilInACan, the Blood Avatar. Will, Rowan, and Liliana help to fight off the invasion, and with Will's knowledge and Rowan's raw power the twins triumph over the Blood Avatar. Strixhaven slowly returns to normal, the Kendriths continuing to attend with newfound purpose and sibling bonds rebuilt, and Liliana ditching the Oryx pseudonym and planning to take up a long-term position at the university.

After a several-month TimeSkip, we find the humans of Innistrad beset from peril from all sides (as usual). The Gatewatch turn to Sorin, who is willing to help this time: with night eternal, humans are dwindling, and his vampires are going to starve before long. He decides to turn to his grandfather, Edgar Markov, the original Innistrad vampire... only to find he has been kidnapped by Olivia Voldaren, who plans to marry him.

Obviously, the Gatewatch plan to attack the Voldaren estate while the wedding is going on, but they discover it's been ensorceled, and only those who have been invited -- IE Sorin -- can enter. Within, he finds himself trapped and held hostage, and even worse, the strongest of Innistrad's angels -- Sigarda -- present. Olivia plans to control her with magic and thereby become undisputed master of the plane.

Sorin makes his move, and in the ensuing chaos, the spirit of Katilda emerges from the Moonsilver Key. She frees Sigarda, whose power destroys the spell keeping everyone else out, allowing the Gatewatch to carry the day. Katilda's spirit is reunited with her body, and the dawn comes for the first time in months.

The story focuses on Kaito Shizuki, a planeswalker ninja, who used to be friends with the Emperor of Kamigawa. The Emperor went missing a while ago -- it turns out she's The Wanderer, a planeswalker [[EarlyBirdCameo who showed up during the War of the Spark]] and until now had no involvement in the larger storyline. Kaito is one of those modernists who wants to push Kamigawa's technology, which puts him in contact with Tezzeret, as well as Jin-Gitaxias, another Phyrexian Praetor. With the power of Tezzeret's stolen Planar Bridge, the Phyrexians have been able to escape their home plane and send their operatives to other realms (Vorinclex to Kaldheim, Jin-Gitaxias to Kamigawa, and later Urabask to Capenna). Tezzeret also turns out to be the one responsible for the Wanderer's unstable spark, from an incident several years prior involving a prototype [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=548372 Reality Chip]].

Tezzeret and the Praetor have come to Kamigawa to experiment with both its technology and its kami. Kaito joins up with fellow Kamigawan planeswalker Tamiyo, infiltrates Jin-Gitaxias' laboratory and steals the Reality Chip, and finally reunites with the Wanderer. Their reunion is short-lived, as a rebel uprising attacks the imperial palace. Kaito and Tamiyo return to the laboratory so they can destroy it, while the Wanderer initially stays behind but rushes to save the ninja and sage when they fall victim to Jin-Gitaxias' trap and discover the truth: the Phyrexians were never interested in ''kami'' as test subjects, but ''planeswalkers''. The three of them are able to defeat Tezzeret, but he escapes during their return to Eiganjo -- and takes Tamiyo and the Reality Chip with him. The Wanderer is able to defeat the uprising, but her unstable spark sends her back into the multiverse once more. Kaito follows, vowing to find a way to bring her home again.

The plot concerns Will and Rowan Kenrith, who have come to the university to get some learnin' on. Lukka has also come to visit from Ikoria and falls in with the Oriq, a group of exiled mages who dislike Strixhaven's political dominance over Arcavios. And the whole mess is decided by one of the teachers, Serafina Onyx -- a pseudonym taken up by none other than Liliana Vess. An alumnus of the university, she has returned under a massive burden of guilt concerning Gideon's death, and currently searches for a way to revive him.

We return to Kamigawa a good thousand years after the previous set. The plane which once replicated Feudal Japan now looks much more like modern-day Japan with a cyberpunk twist; there are cards for things like HumongousMecha. The plane is split down the middle: conservatives embody the older ways, focusing on samurai and enchantments, while liberals push for the future, focusing on ninja and artifacts. This encapsulates one of the age-old conflicts in Japanese culture: modernity versus tradition.

The story focuses on Kaito Shizuki, a planeswalker ninja, who used to be friends with the Emperor of Kamigawa. The Emperor went missing a while ago -- it turns out she's The Wanderer, a planeswalker [[EarlyBirdCameo who showed up during the War of the Spark]] and until now had no involvement in the larger storyline. Kaito is one of those modernists who wants to push Kamigawa's technology, which puts him in contact with Tezzeret, as well as Jin-Gitaxias, another Phyrexian Praetor. With the power of Tezzeret's planar bridge, the Phyrexians have been able to escape their home plane (Vorinclex to Kaldheim, Jin-Gitaxias to Kamigawa, and later Urabask to Capenna).

The Praetor has come to Kamigawa to acquire its advanced technology, in particular [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=548372 the Reality Chip]], a device that can bind a planeswalker spark (for instance, allowing The Wanderer's unstable spark to remain stable on Kamigawa). Kaito and The Wanderer join up with fellow Kamigawan planeswalker Tamiyo to fight off the Phyrexians, but Tamiyo and the Reality Chip are both captured. With the power of the Chip, Jin-Gitaxias compleats Tamiyo and achieves something the Phyrexians have never managed before: assimilating a planeswalker ''without'' destroying the planeswalker spark.

''Scars of Mirrodin'', released October 2010, was a watershed moment for ''Magic'': it was the first time the story had ever come back to a plane that wasn't Dominaria. Keep in mind that some planes, as of 2022, still haven't had this happen to them: we've never gone back to Lorwyn or Alara, and the return to Kamigawa happened only this year.

That's the story of the Innistrad block. Here's a SubPlot that's more important.

None of the Gatewatch knows quite what to do here, especially with Sorin trapped in a rock. However, Tamiyo, the moon sage, is still on the plane, as is the necromancer Liliana. Using Tamiyo’s research and arcane knowledge, all the planeswalkers decide on a plan to try to trap Emrakul in the moon, given it’s helvault-ish properties. Liliana then raises an army of zombies to fight against Emrakul, as they are unaffected by its corruption, and as the zombies overwhelm Emrakul, it retreats moonward where it is imprisoned by Tamiyo’s magic. In the moments before, though, Emrakul reaches out to Nissa, and communicates that the plane is not ripe, and the Emrakul is choosing to go into the moon to sleep and wait.

As mentioned above, the decision was made at the start of the Fifth Age of ''Magic'' Storytelling to change blocks from three sets to two. As of "Ixalan," the creative team actually abandoned blocks entirely. The plot would stay in a certain place until it was done telling the story it was meant to, but sets were no longer meant to be drafted together; "Ixalan" and "Rivals of Ixalan", despite being continuous story, are stand-alone sets that are meant to be played in isolation.

Other planeswalkers we meet on Ixalan include: Huatli, a dinosaur rider whose first experiences of planeswalking involve flickering to other worlds but being unable to stay; and Angrath, a minotaur planeswalker who had been trapped on Ixalan for many years, mostly angry and desperate to get home to his daughters. He is the one who first taught Huatli to planeswalk.

The setting is Ikoria, a plane of beasts and monsters, specifically inspired by kaiju and featuring tie-in cards that feature (Wizards-created) creatures but have images of Godzilla monsters. As the world of Ikoria developed, humans quickly realized what types of defenses were needed to stave off monsters. The humans were quick to become both militaristic and ingenious. Unfortunately for the humans, the monsters of Ikoria have begun to mutate and the fortresses that were previously successful at protecting humans have now become fodder for the monsters to annihilate. Featured planeswalkers are Vivien Reid, Lukka and Narset as TheCameo.

Nahiri has returned to Zendikar, and is willing to do anything to get rid of the Roil. Nissa has also returned home, but for reasons of her own. The two come into conflict, with Nissa triumphing and managing to heal the plane of the scars that have been inflicted on it by the Eldrazi. (Also, Jace appears as Nissa's ally, his first -- and, as of 2022, only -- appearance since the War of the Spark.)

The planeswalker Kaya, a ghost whisperer, visits a world inspired by Myth/NorseMythology. She encounters a planeswalker, Tyvar, who is wearing something from Zendikar, but doesn't know he's a planeswalker: he thinks he's just traveling between the Ten Realms of Kaldheim, all of which are constantly shifting around and can even crash into each other.

Kaya has been assigned to hunt a very large monster. This turns out to be none other than Vorinclex, one of the Phyrexian Praetors -- the first appearance of the franchise's BigBads in a decade. Remember how we said they were trapped on Phyrexia, but wouldn't be for long? [[OhCrap Yeah...]]

* Lorehold is the college of history, anthropology and archaeology -- the study of societies, and of the rules communities create to (try to) prevent passion from overwhelming order.

We return to Kamigawa a good thousand years after the previous set. The plane which once replicated Feudal Japan now looks much more like modern-day Japan with a cyberpunk twist; there are cards for things like Voltron. The plane is split down the middle: conservatives embody the older ways, focusing on samurai and enchantments, while liberals push for the future, focusing on ninja and artifacts. This encapsulates one of the age-old conflicts in Japanese culture: modernity versus tradition.

The story focuses on Kaito Shizuki, a planeswalker ninja, who used to be friends with the Emperor of Kamigawa. The Emperor went missing a while ago -- it turns out she's The Wanderer, a planeswalker of no particular import who showed up at Uncommon rarity during ''War of the Spark''. Kaito is one of those modernists who wants to push Kamigawa's technology, which puts him in contact with Tezzeret, as well as Jin-Gitaxias, another Phyrexian Praetor. Jin-Gitaxias has already managed to compleat Tamiyo, achieving something the Phyrexians have never managed before: assimilating a planeswalker ''without'' destroying the planeswalker spark.

The initial insertion goes poorly: the Phyrexians have SomeSortOfForceField that splits the strike team into multiple locations. Nahiri and Kaito end up alone, with The Wanderer unable to maintain resolution and planeswalking away inevitably, though they also rescue Kyvar from a Phyrexian trap; meanwhile, Elspeth and Kaya also link up. They meet with the Mirran Resistance, where they additionally find Jace... and no one else: Nissa also got deflected by a Phyrexian defense, and Vraska and Lukka are nowhere to be found. However, there's one new and helpful ally: Koth of the Hammer, not seen since Elspeth first visited Mirrodin at the beginning of the Fourth Age. He agrees to help Melira, the leader of the Mirran resistance -- because she and Elspeth are the only two sentient beings in the multiverse who are immune to glistening oil -- execute the Gatewatch's plan: to travel down through the nine different levels of New Phyrexia and reach the Seedcore, at the very center of the plane, where Elesh Norn has planted her "Realmbreaker" modified World Tree. There, they plan to activate Saheeli Rai's Filligree Sylex and destroy Realmbreaker. There is a chance that the entirety of New Phyrexia will be destroyed in the blast: Jace originally calculated that it would not, but this was before he learned just how much WorldSundering had already gone on. And, of course, there is always the risk of compleation: Nahiri, the most powerful planeswalker in the Gatewatch, the one with MagnetismManipulation powers off the charts ''on a plane made of metal''... is scratched upon arrival. Unless Melira and the others can do anything to prevent it, TheBigGuy '''''will''''' perform a FaceHeelTurn.

As they descend further, things get worse. Curing Nahiri of her pending compleation would take days; the Gatewatch estimate they have hours. So Nahiri presses onwards with the team. However, Jace catches a psychic wail of distress: it's Vraska, caught in a Phyrexian arena, fighting for her life, already scratched and partially assimilated. She knows she's going to die, and she knows nobody can do anything to stop it; Jace brings her into a MentalWorld so the StarCrossedLovers can at least say goodbye in peace... and Vraska takes the opportunity to inject him. Now Jace, toting the Filligree Sylex with him, is falling to TheCorruption too. Finally, Nahiri, seeing things go FromBadToWorse, performs a HeroicSacrifice to fling the remaining members of the Gatewatch -- Jace, Elspeth, Tyvar, Kaito, Kaya and Melira -- down further into the realm's core. Kaito hopes it was a complete HeroicSacrifice, as opposed to a compleated one, and that she won't [[CameBackWrong Come Back Wrong]].

Outside the Seedcore, Ajani and Tibalt, both compleated, stand guard, and Elspeth and Tyvar break off on account of ItsPersonal. (Karn is there too, but by now dismembered and completely helpess to assist.) Jace, Kaito and Kyra make the final descent into the Seedcore... where they witness Realmbreaker come to life, linking all the planes as one. The Phyrexians can now invade at will. Jace persists in activating the Sylex, even though his calculations were based on the assumption that they would arrive ''before'' Realmbreaker activates. If it goes off now, it could result in a ApocalypseHow/ClassX5 ApocalypseHow that wipes out the Multiverse entirely... But Jace believes this a ''better'' ending than the Phyrexians simply conquering the entire Multiverse -- especially since he, with his prodigious telepathic powers, with his ability to potentially brainwash entire continents at once, will be joining their efforts. Kaya and Kaito disagree, and the answer comes by when Elspeth, assessing the entire situation in an instant, grabs the Sylex and planeswalks away with it in the moment before it can go off. The Multiverse is saved... But only for certain definitions of "saved". And now Kaito, Kaya and Tyvar are trapped at the bottom of New Phyrexia, with Elesh Norn's invasion force -- not to mention the compleated planeswalkers Jace, Ajani (Tyvar threw Tybalt off a bridge), Nissa, Lukka[[note]]The two had a SideQuest where Lukka attempted to mindlink with a Phyrexian animal, resulting in both of them getting compleated[[/note]], Nahiri (Kaito was clearly TemptingFate there) and Tamiyo by her side -- ready to begin the...

* The Cult of Rakdos front themselves as food, entertainment and service industries. In practice they're demon-worshippers and engage in civil disorder and human trafficking.

The initial insertion goes poorly: Nahiri and Kaito are split off, with The Wanderer unable to maintain resolution and planeswalking away inevitably, though they also rescue Kyvar from a Phyrexian trap; meanwhile, Elspeth and Kaya also link up. They meet with the Mirran Resistance, where they additionally find Jace... and no one else: Nissa also got deflected by a Phyrexian defense, and Vraska and Lukka are nowhere to be found. However, there's one new and helpful ally: Koth of the Hammer, not seen since Elspeth first visited Mirrodin at the beginning of the Fourth Age. He agrees to help Melira, the leader of the Mirran resistance -- because she and Elspeth are the only two sentient beings in the multiverse who are immune to glistening oil -- execute the Gatewatch's plan: to travel down through the nine different levels of New Phyrexia and reach the Seedcore, at the very center of the plane, where Elesh Norn has planted her "Realmbreaker" modified World Tree. There, they plan to activate Saheeli Rai's Filligree Sylex and destroy Realmbreaker. There is a chance that the entirety of New Phyrexia will be destroyed in the blast: Jace originally calculated that it would not, but this was before he learned just how much WorldSundering had already gone on. And, of course, there is always the risk of compleation: Nahiri, the most powerful planeswalker in the Gatewatch, the one with MagnetismManipulation powers off the charts ''on a plane made of metal''... is scratched upon arrival. Unless Melira and the others can do anything to prevent it, TheBigGuy '''''will''''' perform a FaceHeelTurn.

Outside the Seedcore, Ajani and Tibalt, both compleated, stand guard, and Elspeth and Tyvar break off on account of ItsPersonal. (Karn is there too, but by now dismembered and completely helpess to assist.) Jace, Kaito and Kyra make the final descent into the Seedcore... where they witness Realmbreaker come to life, linking all the planes as one. The Phyrexians can now invade at will. Jace persists in activating the Sylex, even though his calculations were based on the assumption that they would arrive ''before'' Realmbreaker activates. If it goes off now, it could result in a ApocalypseHow/ClassX5 ApocalypseHow that wipes out the Multiverse entirely... But Jace believes this a ''better'' ending than the Phyrexians simply conquering the entire Multiverse -- especially since he, with his prodigious telepathic powers, with his ability to potentially brainwash entire continents at once, will be joining their efforts. Kaya and Kaito disagree, and the answer comes by when Elspeth, assessing the entire situation in an instant, grabs the Sylex and planeswalks away with it in the moment before it can go off. The Multiverse is saved... But only for certain definitions of "saved". And now Kaito, Kaya and Tyvar are trapped at the bottom of New Phyrexia, with Elesh Norn's invasion force -- not to mention the compleated planeswalkers Jace, Ajani (Tyvar killed Tybalt), Nissa, Nahiri (Kaito was clearly TemptingFate there) and Tamiyo by her side -- ready to begin the...

The true start of the storyline, released in 1994, ''Antiquities'' told the story of "The Brothers' War." Told by archaeologists on the world of "Dominaria" who were looking into (by now) an event from ancient history, ''Antiquities'' was a somewhat fragmentary record of the time. The eponymous brothers were Urza and Mishra, a pair of [[TheEngineer artificers]] who liked building things. They were apprenticed to Tocasia, an archaeologist who was digging up technology left by a race of {{Precursors}} called the Thran. The two were [[ConvenientlyAnOrphan Conveniently Orphans]] and only had each other, though they were also DifferentAsNightAndDay. In addition to a RedOniBlueOni split where Mishra liked the archaeology whereas Urza preferred tinkering with the finds, Urza was born on New Year's Day, and Mishra on New Year's Eve of that same year. Eventually, the two fought, and Tocasia was [[MentorOccupationalHazard caught in the middle]], after which both Urza and Mishra went their own ways. Mishra ended up the Royal Wizard to the ruler of the Fallaji Empire, while Urza won a "TheWorldsStrongestMan" contest and got married to the princess of Yotia... though he was more interested in the Thran book that was part of her dowry. In this way, both brothers were in control of different halves of the continent of Terisiare.

This StoryArc was novelized as ''Literature/TheBrothersWar'', which told the ''actual'' story of the war, not just what Dominarian investigators were able to piece together. There is also a {{prequel}}, ''Literature/TheThran'', which serves as an OriginStory for Yawgmoth.

The initial insertion goes poorly: Nahiri and Kaito are split off, with The Wanderer unable to maintain resolution and planeswalking away inevitably, though they also rescue Kyvar from a Phyrexian trap; meanwhile, Elspeth and Kaya also link up. They meet with the Mirran Resistance, where they additionally find Jace... and no one else: Nissa also got deflected by a Phyrexian defense, and Vraska and Lukka are nowhere to be found. However, there's one new and helpful ally: Koth of the Hammer, not seen since Elspeth first visited Mirrodin at the beginning of the Fourth Age. He agrees to help Melira, the leader of the Mirran resistance -- because she and Elspeth are the only two sentient beings in the multiverse who are immune to glistening oil -- execute the Gatewatch's plan: to travel down through the nine different levels of New Phyrexia and reach the Seedcore, at the very center of the plane, where Elesh Norn has planted her "Realmbreaker" modified World Tree. There, they plan to activate Saheeli Rai's Filligree Sylex and destroy Realmbreaker. There is a chance that the entirety of New Phyrexia will be destroyed in the blast: Jace originally calculated that it would not, but this was before he learned just how much WorldSundering had already gone on. And, of course, there is always the risk of compleation: Nahiri, the most powerful planeswalker in the Gatewatch, the one with MagnetismManipulation powers off the charts... is scratched upon arrival. Unless Melira and the others can do anything to prevent it, TheBigGuy '''''will''''' perform a FaceHeelTurn.

''To be continued...''

This set, also releasing in Q2 2023, has been described as a "coda" to the PlotArc. It will be the first "small set" (150-200 cards) since Amonkhet's followup "Hour of Devastation" in 2017. While WordOfGod is that this set will change the "nature" of the Multiverse, its existence seems to confirm that Dominaria, which fills the "[[TheEarthPrimeTheory Earth-Prime]]" role of the franchise and would take the whole Multiverse with it if destroyed, will not be destroyed. So, for that matter, does the existence of...

Elspeth Tirel is distraught to learn the fate of her friend Ajani Goldmane -- the two have been close since both were introduced on Alara -- but she agrees to lead the defense of Dominaria. She is present when Nissa and Chandra check in, with Chandra stopping to mourn the loss of Jaya Ballard with Jodah. Urza's Tower, where Teferi has based his operations, of course comes under attack, and Elspeth and Jodah destroy a giant Phyrexian with a radiant spell... but this turns out to have been a distraction, and counter-attacks result in Jodah getting stabbed and Elspeth exhausted, as the spell was CastFromStamina. Curiously, though, Tezzeret lets her live. Meanwhile, Nissa, Chandra and Wrenn & Seven hold the defense, augmented eventually by Jace, Nahiri, Vraska, The Wanderer and Kaito Shizuki, Tyvar, and Lukka. The bulk of them will head to New Phyrexia, where Urabrask and the Mirran Resistance are planning to make their move; only Wrenn, Jodah and Liliana (when she arrives) will stay to guard Teferi and restore him if possible. The Gatewatch, re-united -- such as it is -- sets out for New Phyrexia to make their stand.

This set, releasing Q1 2023, doesn't bode well for Dominaria.

Urza ultimately won the war, but at a horrific price: he detonated a massive bomb, plunging Dominaria into an ice age via [[EndlessWinter nuclear winter]], the actual shroud of debris being called "The Dark." This traumatic event also resulted in Urza becoming something called a "planeswalker," which is a word you'll hear over and over again in ''Magic'': namely, an extremely powerful DimensionalTraveler (IE someone who can "walk" "planes"). Very few sentient beings have the necessary "planeswalker spark," and even fewer of them have their spark "ignited"; it almost always requires either extreme emotional trauma or imminent death. Urza was the first, though by no means the last: players are considered to be planeswalkers as well.

This set, releasing in Q4 2022, focused on the war between Urza and Mishra that players first learned of on August 5th, 1993. Unlike ''Antiquities'', which -- again -- presented a version of events distorted by the passage of time, this set actually takes place during, and accurately depicts, the events which birthed a planeswalker, a game, and an entire genre.

Five years AfterTheEnd of the war, Queen Kayla ''bin'' Kroog of Argive tries to hold the city of Penregon together. The continent of Argoth, on which the final act of the Brothers' War played out, is [[WorldSundering gone]], and her late husband Urza has not been seen since. However, one relic of the past shambles in: Tawnos, Urza's apprentice. Tawnos claims Urza saved the world from the Phyrexians, but Kayla doesn't care, still bitter over the loss of their son Harbin during the war. He brings news that he has found a cache of Thran powerstones -- the battery-like objects that both Urza and Mishra used to power their creations -- and also that Urza, though gone, is not dead, having become something else. Tawnos helps in the reconstruction of the city, but Penregon quickly runs afoul of the Church of Tal, a LuddWasRight movement aiming to free Dominaria of any advanced technology. Penregon resists TheSiege, but Tawnos, moved by his conscience, destroys his office, all the plans kept thereby, and, apparently, [[HeroicSucide himself]] -- depriving Penregon of its last link to the automated technology that could have kept it alive. Ten years later, as the Ice Age begins to set in, Kayla and her people are forced to abandon the city. Kayla, TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask, has gone almost insane from the burden, and feels the humiliation of failing to keep her people safe. However, there is but one thing she has gained from the travails: Kayla ''bin'' Kroog has discovered TheGift of magic within her, and begins studying the writings of Hurkyl of the Third Path to learn its use. After the citizens of Penregon settle in New Yotia, Kayla learns, from her grandson Jarsyl, that there is news of a school of mages at Ronom Lake. This is of course a source of consternation to the Talites, who also hate magic, but news of excitement to Kayla. She sets out to join them.

A new warlord has taken over Kroog, but he is awakened one evening by a specter who apparently drives him mad. This is Teferi, who is still trying to travel back into the past with the help of [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=583667 the Temporal Anchor]]. He calls for Kaya to pull him back into the present so he and Saheeli Rai can keep tinkering with the device.

The true start of the storyline, released in 1994, ''Antiquities'' told the story of "The Brothers' War." The eponymous brothers were Urza and Mishra, a pair of [[TheEngineer artificers]] who liked building things. They were apprenticed to Tocasia, an archaeologist who was digging up technology left by a race of {{Precursors}} called the Thran. The two were [[ConvenientlyAnOrphan Conveniently Orphans]] and only had each other, though they were also DifferentAsNightAndDay. In addition to a RedOniBlueOni split where Mishra liked the archaeology whereas Urza preferred tinkering with the finds, Urza was born on New Year's Day, and Mishra on New Year's Eve of that same year. Eventually, the two fought, and Tocasia was [[MentorOccupationalHazard caught in the middle]], after which both Urza and Mishra went their own ways. Mishra ended up the Royal Wizard to the ruler of the Fallaji Empire, while Urza won a "TheWorldsStrongestMan" contest and got married to the princess of Yotia... though he was more interested in the Thran book that was part of her dowry. In this way, both brothers were in control of different halves of the continent of Terisiare.

This StoryArc was novelized as ''Literature/TheBrothersWar''. There is also a {{prequel}}, ''Literature/TheThran'', which serves as an OriginStory for Yawgmoth.

Teferi steels himself for TimeTravel. With Johah and Saheeli Rai wishing him luck, he prepares to head back to where it all began...

This set, releasing in Q4 2022, will focus on the war between Urza and Mishra that players first learned of on August 5th, 1993 -- the birth of a planeswalker, a game, and an entire genre.

The Fourth Age of ''Magic'' Storytelling was actually driven by the MinovskyPhysics of the TimeCrash in "Time Spiral." Specifically, it involved the {{nerf}}ing of planeswalkers. The planeswalkers of Urza's time were {{Physical God}}s, to the point where it was hard to conceive of a real threat to them: planeswalkers were about as vulnerable to harm as players are vulnerable to being hurt by RealLife ''Magic'' cards (that is, [[CaptainObvious not particularly]]). However, with the end of that block, planeswalkers ([[KillEmAll the ones which survived]]) were massively depowered. They still had superhuman abilities, but were much more susceptible to damage and weakness. They were weak enough to be represented by cards. So the focus of the stories changed: instead of just getting an entire new cast of characters every year, the plot begins to follow planeswalkers from block to block, set to set, plane to plane. So suddenly there were a bunch of new characters to follow, who get (and continue to get) lots of fiction and backstory not contained only in the cards but in spin-off fiction, but who are also represented ''in-game'' with cards of their own.

Freyalise, a Dominarian planeswalker, is able to use magic to lift the ice age; the plot of the first set concerns her travailas in doing so. ''Alliances'' depicts the inhabitants of Dominaria starting to sort themselves out now that they can have any sort of meaningful society again. ''Coldsnap'' details the adventures of a wizard named Heidar who accidentally stumbles upon some Phyrexian ruins and becomes indoctrinated into using them to start a second ice age. The results of this desire are LeftHanging.

On the plane of Tarkir, we come again to five factions. Unlike Alara, where the five shards were totally separate, here, the various clans are all in active and passive conflict, each of them worshiping one aspect of dragonhood. Also unlike Alara, they are made up of wedges, not shards. (A "shard," like the ones found in Alara, is one color and its two allies -- White with Green and Blue to either side would be Bant. They are also called "arcs" by ''Magic'' R&D because they represent three colors in a crescent. A "wedge," so named because it forms a triangle on the color wheel, is one color, one of its allies and one of its enemies; therefore, you get Abzan as White, Green and ''Black'' instead. The reason it isn't White, Green and Red is that WGR is an arc, Naya, just with Green in the center. And while, obviously, there are philosophical differences between "WGR" and "GRW," the real problem was that WGR / GRW cards have ever been printed before; WGB hasn't.)