The Story of Magic: The Gathering

Although Magic: The Gathering is essentially just a strategy game that uses decks of cards, an intricate storyline underlies the cards released in each expansion. This storyline is shown through flavor text on the bottom of most cards and in the novels published by HarperPrism and Wizards of the Coast. Players take on the role of a "planeswalker," a powerful magic-user that can summon up magical energies and creatures from different planes of existence. This multiverse is known as Dominia.

The Magic Timeline can be broken down into several distinct time periods each detailed in certain sets:

• The Thran Period: The Thran were a race of powerful beings who existed long before any other sentient race and were master artificiers. The Thran are only hinted at in the game.

• The Brothers' War: The brothers Urza and Mishra waged a vast war utilizing powerful constructs. The war devastated the land of Terisiare on the Plane of Dominaria and culminated in a world-destroying climax on the Island of Argoth. This story is the basis for Antiquities expansion and later the Urza's Saga Block.

• The Dark: The devastation wrought by the brothers war led to the fall of many civilizations and the beginning of a dark age in Dominaria. This story is portrayed in The Dark and Fallen Empires expansions.

• The Ice Age: The climate-altering effects of the devastation continued leading to a global ice age. Eventually this the cooling climate was reversed and life returned to Normal. This story is portraye in the Ice Age expansion

• The Invasion: After Millennia of Peace the Phyrexians invade the world of Dominaria from the alternate plane of Rath. War ensues and the Phyrexians are eventually overcome. The backstory is portrayed in the "Tempest" block and the Invasion itself occurs in the "Invasion" block.

There are numerous other smaller plots and subplots that take place in Dominaria and on the many planes of the multiverse of Dominia as well as events after the invasion of Dominaria by the Phyrexians.

For example:

• The sets from Weatherlight up to Apocalypse follow the epic story arc of the crew of the Weatherlight, a powerful airship, and their trek across several planes.
• The sets from Odyssey to Scourge involve the world of Otaria and the struggle for the powerful artifact known as the Mirari.
• The recently released set Mirrodin begins the story of the world of Mirrodin, where the artificial and the natural have evolved together.

External link

[Magic: the Gathering Story Summaries]