The Multiverse is a backdrop for Magic: The Gathering, but also more than that. It is a living structure filled with infinite realities that are defined by a range of unique rules and cosmic trauma. Once godlike beings, Planeswalkers are now primary agents of change. The old boundaries between planes have fractured, and worlds once thought distant now stand entangled in a single, widening struggle.
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The great shifts – how the multiverse changed forever
The lore of Magic: The Gathering is split by two significant events that redefine power, mortality and travel.
For thousands of years, Planeswalkers were considered to be gods with the ability to wield magic of world-shaping proportions. This era ended fully with The Mending. Triggered as a result of many temporal rifts that threatened to end life on Dominaria, the epicentre of mana in the multiverse, and later, the entire Multiverse, this crisis pushed some significant change. The Mending responded to the instability, permanently altered the Planeswalker spark, and transformed Planeswalkers from almost-immortal, godlike beings into their modern, mortal forms. This deliberate weakening meant the narrative could explore other planes.
The second great shift was a much more recent one. The Great Pruning involved the combined trauma of the Phyrexian invasion, the presence of Realmbreaker, and the ignition of the Filigree Sylex in the Blind Eternities, all of which resulted in the Multiverse attempting to heal itself. This process led to the mass desparking of many Planeswalkers, including Nissa Revane, Teferi, Karn and Nahiri. The Omenpaths, the massive planar connections of the Realmbreakers, created permanent portals spanning reality and permitting travel between planes for non-Planeswalkers. This removed the need for Planeswalkers to transport threats or armies, thus altering the dynamics that had existed around planar security.
The anchors of reality: Nexus worlds and shifting fates
Some planes work as foundational or structural centres for the overreaching story of the Multiverse and as such are often the site of its most significant conflicts.
Dominaria is the ground zero of history and cataclysm
Dominaria is the typical High Fantasy setting and also the historical, metaphysical anchor for the Multiverse. It is recognised as the epicentre for all mana. The history of Dominaria is outlined by the Golgothian Sylex. Used by the Planeswalker Urza, this ancient superweapon, was fuelled by its user’s emotional input. When used by Urza it was filled with regret, and an immediate Ice Age was triggered by its resulting detonation. This severed Dominaria and eleven other planes from the rest of existence. The power this artifact has was recently re-examined when a copy, the Filigree Sylex, was exploded in the Blind Eternities to demolish Realmbreaker, resulting in a multiversal shockwave that culminated in the Great Pruning.
Dominaria remains a stage for conflict, having recently seen the dangerous spread of Phyrexia through figures such as Elas il-Kor, and the restoration and completion of ancient figures like the Wizard Ertai.
Ravnica is the unbroken city of guilds
Ravnica is an Ecumenopolis (a world city) and it is defined by its strict structure of the Ten Guilds, which each embody a two-colour combination of mana.
Under the magically binding Guildpact, these guilds created a treaty that prevented any individual faction from gaining dominance for 10,000 years. The purpose of this magical enforcement mechanism is a mystery that is continually tested by the leaders of the guild. The plane houses a number of clandestine organisations such as House Dimir (Blue/Black), which specialises in the brokering of information and espionage. They are led by the shapeshifter Lazav.
Nicol Bolas chose Ravnica as the central location for the War of the Spark, where he hoped to trap Planeswalkers using the Immortal Sun to harvest their sparks with the Elderspell and deploy his army of Eternals from Amonkhet. Ravnica’s strength and highly organised Guild armies were vital in deterring the invasion.
Tarkir is the shifting sands of fate
Tarkir is a world of strong draconic energy and dragonstorms, with two alternate realities, making it entirely unique. The Khan’s original Timeline showed five clans at war hunting dragons to extinction.
The Dragonlords Timeline, the current reality, was shaped when Planeswalker Sarkhan Vol journeyed back in time to protect the spirit dragon Ugin. He survived, and his draconic essence increased the dragonstorms, allowing dragons to overwhelm the clans. They were replaced with five oppressive Dragon Broods. This Planeswalker intervention completely rewrote the plane’s history. Tarkir was further destabilised during the Phyrexian invasion.
The threat worlds – cosmic horror and engineered perfection
These are the planes that are fundamentally linked to the most significant cosmic threats that have ever threatened the Multiverse.
New Phyrexia (formerly Mirrodin)
An artificial metallic world created by the Planeswalker Karn, and originally referred to as Argentum, this world was ruined when Karn and Jeska introduced the Glistening Oil, a substance capable of turning flesh to metal. This infection corrupted Memnarch, the plane’s artifact caretaker, and the biomechanical horror that is New Phyrexia was created. It was ruled by five Praetors under Elesh Norn.
New Phyrexia was soon the strongest threat in the Multiverse. It served as the launching pad for the multiversal invasion through Realmbreaker, a huge organic tree-like structure that ripped a hole in reality. When the Praetors were defeated and Realmbreaker destroyed, Karn phased the plane away from the Multiverse, and placed the world and its inhabitants into an exile which also included races like the Myr.
Zendikar
“The Roil”, an untamed, savage wilderness and geological upheaval, explains the primary significance of Zendikar’s history as a prison world for the reality-devouring Eldrazi Titans: Ulamog, Kozilek, and Emrakul. They were imprisoned using huge, engineered artifacts, Hedrons, which harness the volatile mana of the plane. The Eldrazi were released eventually, however they were destroyed on Zendikar (Ulamog and Kozilek) or in the case of Emrakul sealed on Innistrad. The plane remains a daunting frontier despite its recovery.
Innistrad
The very definition of a Gothic Horror plane. To begin with, Innistrad’s humanity was protected by the archangel Avacyn, creation of the Planeswalker Sorin Markov. But the plane was susceptible to cosmic interference. The Eldrazi Titan Emrakul arrived, debasing the plane, and sending Avacyn mad, with Sorin forced to destroy her. Emrakul sealed herself in the moon. Avacyn was gone and with only Sigarda’s angelic host there, the structure of the plane became fragile. Innistrad later withstood the Phyrexian invasion.
Amonkhet
An Egyptian-inspired plane dominated by monuments and protected by Hekma, a magical barrier from the surrounding desert, the inhabitants live a structured life focusing on five trials of perfection. They believe they are preparing for the glorious afterlife their God-Pharaoh has promised them.
The unfortunate truth is that the God-Pharaoh is Nicol Bolas; he has stage-managed their culture for millennia. The trials were a process in order to create disciplined, highly skilled soldiers. When they died their corpses were embalmed with Lazotep, becoming the Eternals, Bolas’s army deployed against Ravnica in the War of the Spark.
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