I don't play the game, but I was drawn to the series initially by the awesome artwork and by the stories. And so to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the collectible card game, I've been reading through the main storyline of short stories set in the multiverse of 'Magic: The Gathering'.
Starting with the 'Origins' collected stories, where we get the back stories of the main characters, when they first 'sparked' and became planeswalkers, each of the stories were first serialised on their website and later collected into an ebook edition up until the 'Kaladesh' storyline. They can still be read online here, along with previous short stories.
As the title suggests, 'Origins' focuses on five planeswalkers from the CCG - Gideon Jura, Jace Beleren, Liliana Vess, Chandra Nalaar and Nissa Revane, each representing one of the in game colours (white, blue, black, red and green), before they became the planeswalkers we know today.
I love the world building and character development in each of the stories. As we learn more about each character and how they discover the spark to become a planeswalker and first travel to another plane, we also get a glimpse of each of the worlds that they came from. Each is vastly different from the next, which also helps to define their different characteristics and personalities.
The short stories are all an enjoyable read, I liked them all, as they were each very different and very compelling. They are a bit of a slow burn to begin with, but once it got going, I was drawn into the story and wanted to read more about these characters and the different planes.
As the Magic Stories will be featuring these principle characters in future stories that will be tied to each new expansion set, 'Magic Origins' is an ideal place to dive into the worlds and characters of 'Magic:The Gathering'.
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Where 'Origins', introduced us to the main heroes that these stories focus on, these prologue stories continue on with their journey (as such I would recommend reading that first, especially if you're unfamiliar with the cast of heroes as I was), as each of the characters still very much have their own back stories to tell despite the impending battle that is looming on the horizon.
The prologue also does an excellent job of world building and setting up the lore for the worlds, something that I find the Magic Stories does very well! From the worlds of Zendikar to Ravnica and Regatha, each is very different and have their own very distinct personalities, much like the characters that reside on these planes.
'Prologue To Battle For Zendikar' starts off 6000 years in the past with a brief look back at how the world devouring Eldrazi were imprisoned on Zendikar with magic by three Planeswalkers. But their imprisonment is somehow cut short, and the Eldrazi, who are revered as Gods by some, and reviled by others, begin their wave of destruction on Zendikar.
Planeswalker Gideon Jura witnesses this devastation first hand when he visits Zendikar, and has vowed to return with help, trying to convince the other Planeswalkers in to joining his cause. Another Planeswalker, the elf Nissa Revane, a native of Zendikar, has recently returned, and is desperate to save her world from the monstrosities.
The short stories are a very enjoyable read, and does a great job of setting up the 'Battle For Zendikar' storyline, which follows on next.
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The apocalypse of the plane of Zendikar by the monstrous Eldrazi continues. And as in the prologue, 'Battle For Zendikar' once more focuses on Planeswalkers Gideon, Jace, Nissa and Kiora, as they try to stem the death and destruction, but also try to take back the strategic city of Sea Gate. All would appear to be lost, but they're not ready to give up on this world just yet.
The main storyline was really engaging, wondering if our heroes would be able to stop the Eldrazi and save the world. The main cast of characters were really good too, some having their own individual chapters which helped in fleshing out their personalities and motivations within the narrative of the whole collection, making them much compelling, in particularly Nissa and Gideon.
As this is the second block of three in this story arc set on Zendikar, by the end of the collection, things are set up nicely for the next instalment, and a couple of variables are introduced at the end and we're left with a cliffhanger of sorts.
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'Oath Of The Gatewatch' continues where we left off previously, with things not ending well for our heroes, as they try to stand up against the Eldrazi titans in a battle to save the plane of Zendikar, as they have to now battle not one but two of the titans, as well as also having to deal with the Demon planeswalker Ob Nixilis.
The stories take different viewpoints of the climactic conclusion of the last book from different characters, before the Planewalkers rally and band together to form the Gatewatch, to watch over the Magic The Gathering Multiverse, Avengers style, before going back once more into the fray in a do or die battle against the two Eldrazi.
It's a fun and exciting read that made me want more of the Planewalkers and of the MTG Multiverse.
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'Shadows Over Innistrad' jumps planes from the now saved Zendikar to the world of Innistrad. It's a world of gothic horror, with werewolves, vampires, necromancers and zombies. And protecting the innocent from the monstrosities is the guardian of Innistrad, the Angel Avacyn. Or at least she would be protecting if it wasn't for the fact that she has somehow become corrupted and is now slaughtering anything that she deems impure; werewolves, vampires and even humans are now all the same to her!
Planeswalker Jace Beleren has also arrived on Innistrad in search of Sorin Markov for help in tracking down the last of the Eldrazi, and after coming across an old journal in his search, he gets drawn into the mysteries of Innistrad.
'Shadows Of Innistrad' is definitely a departure from the previous collection of short stories. Here, it definitely has a very gothic feel to it, with much more horror elements as well. I enjoyed the stories. The first few stories set up the world as we are introduced to this plane, and then Jace arrives and instead of just being a collection of different stories, the collection now has some kind of overarching plot and everything feels more connected.
Aside from Jace and Sorin Markov, there are other recognisable characters for regular players on this plane. Liliana Vess, of course, but also Thalia, Tamiyo and Arlinn Kord.
Its a good read, that adds a few more layers to the Magic multiverse, and I'm looking forward to the next set of stories, 'Eldritch Moon', to see what other mysteries of Innistrad are revealed.
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'Eldritch Moon' continues on from where 'Shadows Over Innistrad' left off and draws heavily upon the Cthulhu works of HP Lovecraft and gothic horror.
A spat between Nahiri and Sorin Markov, two of the three planeswalkers that originally trapped the monstrous Eldrazi on Nahiri's home plane of Zendikar, escalates to a duel which ultimately ended up leading to the fall of Innistrad's protector, and left the plane wide open to attack from the last of the escaped Eldrazi titans, Emrakul. With Emrakul taking full advantage of the disappearance of the protector, its corruption descends Innistrad into a madness of horror and enslavement. It's up Jace, Tamiyo and the rest of the Gatewatch, to stave off the apocalypse.
Its a very enjoyable read, and a much more tighter narrative as we explore more of this plane in the Magic multiverse. We reunite with some of the characters that had minor roles from the last collection, like Thalia and Arlinn Kord, as well as more from Jace, Liliana Vess, Tamiyo, Nahiri and Sorin Markov. I also liked that Emrakul actually had some sort of personality, rather than just being a titan of death and destruction like the Eldrazi were characterized with in the Zendikar stories.
The Magic Stories series have been an excellent and entertaining read, so far and 'Eldritch Moon' is another good entry in the series.
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Following on from the apocalyptic stories of Zendikar and Innistrad, 'Kaladesh' changes tact and instead of encompassing the whole of the plane, is focused mostly in the city of Ghirapur, a city of wonder that is alive with the power of aether. It feels less sprawling and more tightly plotted and faster paced as a result.
When a representative of the Consulate of Kaladesh arrives to speak to the Gatewatch about a renegade that could disrupt the recently announced Inventors' Fair there, it sets off Chandra Nalaar, who is originally from Kaladesh but hasn't returned since she sparked and became a Planeswalker (read her story in the 'Origins' collection for more), to planeswalk back in the hope of helping the renegade against the Consulate. But once back, old memories resurface and old wounds reopen but she also discovers something that she long thought lost.
I enjoyed visiting this plane in these stories, a definite change from the previous planes. A unique world that is (literally) full of energy. And where on the surface there's the optimism and apparent utopia, bubbling underneath lies a totalitarian regime and a renegade rebellion that's waiting for the spark to start a revolt against the Consulate. And with the next story block in the series, the appropriately named 'Aether Revolt', I'm looking forward to seeing the story continue and the rebellion in full flow.
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'Aether Revolt' continues and concludes the 'Kaladesh' story block. Grand Consul Tezzeret is detaining the inventors who entered the Kaladesh Inventors' Fair and commandeering their inventions for his own nefarious, but yet unknown, needs and bringing oppression to the city. But with the help of Pia Nalaar, mother to Planeswalker Chandra, and the rest of the Gatewatch, even the necromancer Liliana, they inspire the city of Ghirapur and the other renegade inventors to revolt and turn on Tezzeret and the Consulate, with the aim of returning the city to a place of innovation, ingenuity and optimism it once was before Tezzeret arrived.
I found 'Aether Revolt' to be an exciting read. It does start off slowly with a story about Yahenni, an aetherborn on the verge of the end of their short lived life, then as if waiting for the spark of rebellion to light the revolution, the Gatewatch discover the real purpose of Tezzeret's presence, and the touch paper is lit. It's then full of exciting action packed goings on, as the revolution begins and the Renegades begin to take back their city.
All set in the city Ghirapur, I liked the less epic nature of this collection of stories. A few character focused stories peppered in amongst the revolt, admittedly slowed the overall pacing down, but it didn't detract too much from the flow of the stories. If anything, it added more to the world building and character development of the plane of Kaladesh. As the block is mostly focused on Chandra, it was also great to see her kind of come of age, reconnect with her mother, and recognise the friendships she has with the other members of the Gatewatch, with Gideon and Nissa in particular.
The final story in the collection, 'Renewal', is a feel good story featuring Nissa sitting down with Yahenni and Chandra. To me it ends the story block with a smile.
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The collection of Magic The Gathering short stories following the Gatewatch continues with 'Amonkhet', a plane inspired by ancient Egypt, where Gods walk amongst and inspire the mortals who live among them, all of whom worship the God-Pharoah, whose prophesized return to the plane is imminent.
As the Gatewatch - Gideon Jura, Jace Beleren, Liliana Vess, Chandra Nalaar and Nissa Revane - explore the city of Naktamun, observing the customs and traditions of the city, beneath the surface of what appears to be a utopian oasis, they soon realise all is not what is seems. That there is a horrifying truth about the history of the plane that is buried in the sands of Amonkhet.
Another enjoyable read in the Magic Story series. I liked that it was inspired by ancient Egypt, giving it a bit of a sense of myth and real world history amongst the usual fantasy elements. And as the mysteries of the city and plane are slowly revealed through either stories featuring the Gatewatch or through the eyes of Samut and Djeru, two young initiates of Naktamun, it's definitely a more slower paced collection of stories, that builds things up for the conclusion in the next collection.
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The Amonkhet block concludes with 'Hour Of Devastation'.
As the title suggests, this isn't a storyline where it ends happily ever after. Far from it! When the Gates to the Afterlife are finally opened, instead of a benevolent God-Pharoah that was supposed to welcome them to paradise, there is death, destruction and Nicol Bolas, the Elder Dragon Planeswalker, waiting for them.
The majority of the stories don't feature the Gatewatch Planeswalkers, but focus on the inhabitants of the city of Naktamun, in their battle against the invasion of evil and struggle to survive the destruction of their world. I liked some of these stories. The way some of the characters struggle to come to terms with the false prophecies that they've grown up with all their lives, and yet continue to fight for their lives were well written, exciting and enthralling stuff! It's only in a couple of the stories do the Gatewatch come to the fore, first battling the Demon Razaketh and then facing down the powerful Nicol Bolas. But they were equally good too.
Its definitely a lot more darker and intense than some of the previous Magic stories, and considering the events of this story block, it's no surprise. It made for an engrossing and great read. One of the best Magic Story collections yet.
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Next it's a visit to the plane of 'Ixalan'; a world inspired by the ancient Aztecs, Incan and Mayans of Mexico, and home to pirates, Planeswalkers, vampires, dinosaurs and several native tribes searching for the fabled lost city of Orazca, the city of gold where the Immortal Sun, an immensely powerful artifact that is said command over nature and eternal life, is rumoured to be hidden in the lost city.
'Ixalan' follows the race to finding the Immortal Sun mostly through three viewpoints; Huatli, Warrior-Poet from the Sun Empire, Vraska the Gorgon, a Planeswalker last seen on Ravnica and now pirate captain of The Belligerent, and Jace Beleren, Planeswalker and member of the Gatewatch, who finds himself on Ixalan with no memory of how he got there or who he is.
I liked the camaraderie between Vraska and Jace. Despite there being history between them (as read in the Magic short story, 'The Gorgon and the Guildpact' by Doug Beyer), due to Jace's memory loss, they effectively start fresh and a friendship blossoms as result.
I also liked Huatli's perspective in the story, one of the native tribes on Ixalan. Her ambition is to become the Warrior-Poet of her people, the Sun Empire, plus it's pretty cool that she can summon dinosaurs from the jungles of Ixalan too.
It's another fun read from Magic The Gathering that drops more hints about the evil Planeswalker Nicol Bolas' plans. As such, I'd say it's beneficial to have read the previous stories in this long storyline, at least the more recent Kaladesh and Amonkhet stories anyway. The fact that it's got pirates, vampires and dinosaurs in it, gives it an added bonus. Looking forward to seeing how this story is wrapped up with the concluding collection.
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The lost city of Orazca has been found and the various factions race against each other to be the first to take control of the Immortal Sun artifact and the golden city. Meanwhile Jace Beleren's memories come back in a flood, including details of his past that were hidden away and he thought lost forever, as well as the history between Jace and Vraska is also revealed. Much to Vraska's fear.
'Rivals Of Ixalan' is another great read in the Magic The Gathering short stories series. I liked the different perspectives from the characters throughout the stories, as we follow the drama and action. It added to the narrative giving the characters and world a bit more depth, building on the events of the previous stories. And I also found myself liking Vraska a whole lot too, my favourite character in the Ixalan story block. I liked how her character developed over the course of the story, especially when she was with Jace as his memories returned and how she reacted, considering their previous history. Totally unexpected after seeing how she first appeared at the beginning of the story block.
As the story moved forward, a few more breadcrumbs were dropped in the set up of the Nicol Bolas storyline and more was revealed about his motives too. I can't wait to see how it all unfolds in future stories.
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Set immediately after the disastrous events of 'Hour Of Devastation', 'Return To Dominaria' is a fun and really enjoyable story set on the plane of Dominaria, the home plane of Planeswalker Liliana Vess.
Liliana and Gideon Jura have arrived straight from Amonkhet together and after clearing up the familial troubles that Liliana left behind when she first sparked and involuntarily planeswalked away, they both begin plans to take down Belzenlok, the last of the demons holding the contract to Liliana's pact.
Meanwhile, Jhoira, a former captain of the Weatherlight, has found and salvaged the skyship's remains and has rebuilt it with the aim of fighting the Cabal, a death Cult focused on gaining control of Dominaria.
As Jhoira travels around Dominaria recruiting the crew for her skyship, her path crosses with the Gatewatch planeswalkers, and they join forces to take down the Cabal and Belzenlok.
I really enjoyed this collection. Written by Martha Wells, author of the award winning, and awesome, 'Murderbot Diaries' series, this was a really fun read. Fun, exciting and quite a bit of humour too. I liked the motley crew that Jhoira assembled as her crew; an angel, a vampire and a mage amongst others. As such there were plenty of characters involved in the storyline too, but it didn't clog up the story much at all. A quick revisit, establishing some of their backgrounds, which was particularly helpful to someone who doesn't play Magic The Gathering and therefore unaware of who they were, like myself, and its back into the main story again.
I think getting one author to write the whole story, instead of several contributing different stories / episodes / chapters into a collection that covers a storyline, had improved things, making it a bit more smooth and consistent and read just like a single story. I hope the Magic The Gathering short stories continue in this form.
Overall, it's a very enjoyable read with a great ensemble of characters, that, aside from the members of the Gatewatch, hope we get to read about again!
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Set 18 years after the events of the 'Fate Reforged' expansion from the 'Khans of Tarkir' story block, 'Chronicles Of Bolas' sees Yasova (formerly Yasova Dragonclaw) leading her grand daughters, Baishya and Naiva, and a hunting party across the wilderness after Baishya is visited by a vision telling her the very beginnings of Ugin the Spirit Dragon and Nicol Bolas. Things take a turn when their journey is interrupted by Tae Jin, a member of the Ojutai clan, with a special message for Yasova - more of Ugin's and Nicol's early days on Dominaria, which he retells along the way.
Told in the style of the Arabian Nights, a story within a story, we get to see the origins of both Ugin and Nicol Bolas, their sibling rivalry, and when they both sparked becoming the first Planeswalkers.
As with the previous story in the series, 'Return To Dominaria', there is just a single author on writing duties, a different author this time - Kate Elliott, and it works wonders once again. The story feels more structured and flows together instead of feeling broken down into separate episodes. I was so engrossed in the story as a whole, both enjoying the 'current' storyline of Yasova and her grand daughters travelling to Ugin's grave, as well as the 'flashbacks' to the Elder Dragons' past, it's one of the best Magic Stories yet.
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'Unbowed' by Cassandra Khaw introduces Vivien Reid, a new Planeswalker from the plane of Skalla, as she escorts a dinosaur, a Brontodon, back to the Vampire city of Luneau, on the plane of Ixalan, for the Royal Menagerie there. But when she sees what the Royal Menagerie is doing with the specimens, she decides to do something about the horrors she sees and takes revenge, with a little help, against the city.
We're also introduced to Vivien's weapon of choice, the Arkbow. A unique artifact of Skalla, which contains the spirit forms of creatures, which was originally planned to be used in a last stand against Nicol Bolas before he destroyed the plane. Vivien definitely gets to show off the awesomeness of the Arkbow throughout the story!
'Unbowed' is a really good read with a really strong main character that I loved. Her determination and resolve, despite the hostilities and cruelties made against her, were very admirable, and I'd love to see a lot more of her in the future.
We already got a taste of the more pirate and ancient Mexican influenced side of Ixalan in the two previous stories set there, and here we see another side. The world building of the city of the Vampire domain of Luneau, resembles a city during the times of France in the 1700s before the French Revolution, adding another flavour to an already diverse plane. It works really well, with the grandeur of its vampire inhabitants and the downtrodden humans that also live there or pass through the port.
It's a great introduction to a new character in the Magic The Gathering multiverse!
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I really enjoyed these stories. Over the course of reading them, especially after reading their back stories in 'Origins', the character development of the Gatewatch Planeswalkers was built up really well, shaping them into very distinct and very individual personalities with all their idiocyncracies. And by the time I finished reading 'Return To Domiaria', it was like I'd known these characters for a long while, and I liked that feeling.
The big bad of the series, Nicol Bolas, is mostly only ever hinted at. Even though he does reveal himself in the latter stages of the 'Amonkhet' story block, it's only in the Kaladesh and Ixalan storylines does the bigger picture of his plans start to reveal itself. And the 'Chronicles Of Bolas' collection is a good look into his motivations and personality.
Another plus with reading through the 'Magic Stories' was that the world building of the various planes in the Magic Multiverse was handled really well too. Despite visiting several different worlds, no one felt the same as the last. And just like the main characters in the stories, each plane / world had its own personality, its own individual look, feel and setting. The stories really felt a part of each plane, rather than the planes being conjured up to fit around the story. As a result the multiverse felt like it had depth, as well as a sense of being inspired by real world myth and history with fantasy elements.
If you enjoy a sprawling epic fantasy adventure with a great set of characters and some in depth world building, I would definitely recommend reading the Magic: The Gathering stories.
Happy 25th Anniversary Magic: The Gathering!
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