Story and Lore Resources (Nov 2022 Update)

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Jay13x
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Post by Jay13x » 4 years ago

Jay's Official Story and Lore Resource Thread

This thread was originally transferred over from MTG Salvation as an easy place for critical lore resources, but this is now my official Resource Thread.

I would also recommend you check out the Wiki to help you find whatever you're looking for. It has a huge amount of information on most subjects, just be advised that it's created by users and not everything in there is going to be 100% correct. Please note that the following is not always as detailed as the List of Storyline Sources on the Wiki, but is organized to be more user-friendly.

Where to Start?

I go into detail on this in Magic Story 100: Where to Start?, but Magic's Story can best be divided up into three 'Eras' of storytelling, although I should be clear that there aren't any hard lines between each era, more like a gradual shift. Those eras are known as Pre-Revision, Pre-Mending, and Post-Mending. Post-Mending can be further divided into Pre-Magic Origins, Post-Magic Origins, and Post-War of the Spark. I've written two very high-level story summaries that cover Magic's story from the beginning through War of the Spark. You can find them below.

If you're brand new to Magic Story, I highly recommend starting with Magic Origins and then working your way forward. It was designed as an entry point for newcomers and there's very little time investment in getting caught up from there than diving headfirst into the novels of Magic's first 20 years.

High Level Story Summaries
Detailed Story Summaries
The Pre-Revision Story

The stories of the Pre-Revision era were largely handled externally from Wizards of the Coast. The two major sources of lore from this time period were the Harper Prism novels and the Armada Comics series. While many of these events were never referenced again or retconned to fit the new story direction in the Weatherlight Saga, the rule of thumb has been that these events are canon unless explicitly contradicted, and many characters made the jump to post-revision canon. Certain stories, like the Antiquities War and the Ice Age, were later retold in the novels.
Pre-Revision Story
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Early Story Sources From the Library of Leng (The Duelist) Greensleeves Cycle
  • Arena
  • Whispering Woods
  • Shattered Chains
  • Final Sacrifice
Stand Alone Novels
  • The Cursed Land
  • Prodigal Sorcerer
  • Ashes of the Sun
  • Song of Time
  • And Peace Shall Sleep
  • Dark Legacy
Anthologies
  • Tapestries
  • Distant Planes
Armada Comics
  • Elder Dragons #1-#2
  • Dakkon Blackblade #1
  • Arabian Nights #1-#2
  • Antiquities War #1-#4 (Part 1, Part 2)
  • The Urza-Mishra War #1-#2
  • Fallen Empires #1-#2
  • Ice Age #1-#4 (Parts 1 & 2)
  • Shandalar #1-#2
  • Magic: the Gathering - Shandalar (Microprose Video Game)
  • Homelands #1
  • The Shadow Mage #1-#4
  • Nightmare #1
  • Wayfarer #1-#5
  • Jedit Ojanen #1-#2
  • Fallen Angel #1
  • Serra Angel #1
  • The Story of Battlemage Ravidel (Summary of "Planeswalker War" story)
  • Magic: the Gathering - Battlemage (Battlemage's Lore)
Please note that the 'Planeswalker War' story set up in many of these comics (the history of which is summarized in The Story of Battlemage Ravidel) was never completed, as the last few comics were cancelled.
The Pre-Mending Story

The novels of the Post-Revision era, now known as the Pre-Mending story, are presented here in roughly chronological order. Most of the stories took place in novel series called cycles, but many short stories have since been made available online. An in-depth knowledge of this era is not required for understanding the modern story. They just add some fun background flavor for a few known planes. Only a single art book was created during this time: The Art of Magic: the Gathering - The Rath Cycle. Only a few comics were produced in this era, a comic from Dark Horse retelling the story of Tempest block, and a series of short 'intro' comics for TopDeck magazine as a teaser for certain novels.
List of Pre-Mending Sources
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The Artifacts Cycle The Ice Age Legends I Cycle
  • Johan
  • Jedit
  • Hazezon
The Artifacts Cycle (Continued) Legends II Cycle
  • Assassin's Blade
  • Emperor's Fist
  • Champion's Trial
Mirage The Weatherlight Saga
  • Tempest: Into the Storm (Currently Broken)
  • Maelstrom
  • Torrent
  • Rath and Storm (Ebook)
  • Gerrard's Quest #1-#4 (Dark Horse Comics)
  • Mercadian Masques
  • Mercadian Masques (TopDeck #1 Comic)
  • Nemesis
  • Nemesis (TopDeck #4 Comic)
  • Prophecy
  • Prophecy (TopDeck #8 Comic)
  • Invasion (Ebook)
  • Invasion (TopDeck #12 Comic)
  • Planeshift (Ebook)
  • Apocalypse (Ebook)
The Mirari Crisis
  • Family Man (Currently Broken)
  • Odyssey
  • Chainer's Torment
  • Judgment
  • Onslaught
  • Legions
  • Scourge
Anthologies
  • Colors of Magic
  • Myths of Magic
  • Dragons of Magic
  • Secrets of Magic
  • Monsters of Magic
From this point forward, most novels are available as ebooks. Before this point, as I mentioned, it's pretty hit or miss. The story goes from one long epic set on Dominaria to self-contained tales jumping between several planes before returning to Dominaria for the epic events of the Mending.

The Mirrodin Cycle
  • Moons of Mirrodin (Ebook)
  • The Darksteel Eye (Ebook)
  • The Fifth Dawn (Ebook)
The Kamigawa Cycle The Ravnica Cycle The Time Spiral Cycle
The Post-Mending Story

The current story for Magic takes place after the Mending, in a time when planeswalkers no longer have god-like power or immortality. Plots to regain that lost power or the consequences of its loss are major themes in the post-mending multiverse, as old threats barely contained by what are now known as 'oldwalkers' are now the problem of these weaker 'neowalkers'.

Worldbuilding

One of the great resources made available to readers post-mending is the advent of the Planeswalker's Guides, a series of articles talking about the flavor and worldbuilding of the planes visited in each block. These are great resources for getting the feel of a plane that the story or cards don't necessarily convey. It took a while for these articles to cement, so earlier blocks have some worldbuilding articles I've included that aren't necessarily called planeswalker guides.
List of Planeswalker's Guide
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Lorwyn/Shadowmoor Alara Zendikar Mirrodin New Phyrexia Innistrad Ravnica Theros Tarkir Kaladesh Amonkhet
  • No Planeswalker's Guide was created for Amonkhet.
Ixalan Kylem Eldraine Ikoria Kaldheim Arcavios Kamigawa New Capenna
Online Articles

Much of Magic's flavor and story in recent years has been told through online articles.
  • Savor the Flavor, originally a series called Taste the Magic, was a series of articles that focused on flavorful aspects of Magic: the Gathering. It tended to vary a lot in the type of content it provided and was eventually scrapped in 2012 in favor of Uncharted Realms. All the short stories have been collected on our wiki, which also helpfully divides them by plane and main character.
  • Magic Story, originally titled Uncharted Realms, replaced Savor the Flavor in 2012, around the same time the Magic Novels were cancelled. Unlike Savor the Flavor, this series focused entirely on short stories and story-related information, with a new article coming out every Wednesday. Many of these stories flesh out the worlds that each block takes place on, but they also advance the overall plot. A recent shift in creative direction has serialized these short stories into longer ongoing story arcs.
  • Planeswalker Webcomics were an early post-mending attempt at making the Magic story more accessible for players. The webcomics were the beginning of many of the story's elements and are a must-read for any story fan.
The early Post-Mending stories were told through a series of planeswalker-centric novels and block novels. Even though Lorwyn was the first set where the neowalkers appeared, their story didn't actually begin until Shards of Alara. Lorwyn, while technically Post-Mending, takes place about 40 years before anything else, as indicated in Nissa's story from Magic Origins.

Art Books

Alongside the Post-Origins Era, lines of new art books were launched. Viz Media's art books were essentially extended Planeswalker's Guides, with a wealth of worldbuilding. Abrams Comic Arts also released a line of smaller format, more traditional art books.
Magic in Dungeons & Dragons

After decades of not wanting to cross the streams, Magic: the Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons have begun to intersect. These are the official resources for playing D&D in Magic worlds.
List of Magic/D&D Crossovers
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D&D Sourcebooks
Plane Shift

As a companion to the Viz Media Art Books, James Wyatt and Wizards of the Coast released a series of D&D conversions for Magic planes called Plane Shift. Dungeons & Dragons in Magic
The Post-Mending Chronology

The story is presented here in roughly the order it was published. For the most part, that also means that it is in chronological order, but that won't always be the case, such as with Magic Origins or various background stories.

Please note that I'm ONLY including stories that are either relevant to the plane they take place on, the overall plot, or to one of the main characters. In general, this means that only characters who appear more than once in the story will appear here, and then only if they have bearing on the overall story. You can find a full list of the short stories in the links I provided earlier to Savor the Flavor and Uncharted Realms articles.
List of Post-Mending Story Sources
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Lorwyn/Shadowmoor Cycle (Stand-alone series)
  • Lorywn
  • Morningtide
  • Shadowmoor
  • Eventide
Web Comics (These all take place prior to the events of Shards of Alara) A Planeswalker Novel Shards of Alara The Cursed Veil Zendikar Scars of Mirrodin Innistrad Magic 2013 Return to Ravnica Theros Magic 2015 Conspiracy Khans of Tarkir Commander 2014 Magic: Origins (Ebook Compilation)
These stories tell the origin of the core five planeswalkers, in some cases retconning established details of the existing story. At this point in the story, the direction shifts completely from a vaguely connected series of events starring a rotating cast to a more tightly plotted serialized narrative told entirely through online stories. Prologue to Battle for Zendikar (Ebook Compilation) Prelude to Battle for Zendikar Battle for Zendikar Commander 2015 Shadows Over Innistrad Conspiracy: Take the Crown Kaladesh Amonkhet Ixalan Dominaria Core 2019 - Chronicle of Bolas & Vivien Reid Children of the Nameless Guilds of Ravnica & Ravnica Allegiance Slice of Life Stories Guilds of Ravnica & Ravnica Allegiance (The Gathering Storm Main Story) War of the Spark Magic: the Gathering - Chandra (IDW Comic) Throne of Eldraine
  • The Wildered Quest (Ebook)
Theros: Beyond Death Ikoria: Lair of the Behemoths Zendikar Rising Kaldheim Strixhaven: School of Mages Modern Horizons 2 Magic: Legends (Defunct Online-only Video Game) Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Innistrad: Crimson Vow Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Streets of New Capenna Miscellaneous 2022 Stories Dominaria United The Brothers' War
  • No non-story content
Please let me know below if you think I missed something. I know there are a lot of short stories not included here, but there are hundreds of stories that ultimately don't matter to the overall plot.

Alternate Continuities
Beginning in 2021, new story expressions have been released that don't fit into the continuity of the Trading Card Game. I'm listing these independently here.
Boom! Comics
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In 2021 Boom! Comics launched a new Magic: the Gathering series. Unlike previous comic adaptations, this series did not take place in the TCG continuity, but instead in a version of continuity that diverges from War of the Spark. While it's not explained what exactly happened differently in War of the Spark in this continuity, we know that Niv-Mizzet is in a mechanical body in this version of events, among other small differences. The series is currently ongoing.

Boom! Reading Order
  • Magic #1
  • Magic #2
  • Magic #3
  • Magic #4
  • Magic #5
  • Magic #6
  • Magic #7
  • Magic #8
  • Magic: Master of Metal #1
  • Magic #8
  • Magic #9
  • Magic #10
  • Magic #11
  • Magic #12
  • Magic #13
  • Magic #14
  • Magic #15
  • Magic: The Hidden Planeswalker #1
  • Magic: The Hidden Planeswalker #2
  • Magic: The Hidden Planeswalker #3
  • Magic: The Hidden Planeswalker #4
  • Magic #16
  • Magic #17
  • Magic #18
  • Magic: Ajani Goldmane #1
  • Magic #19
  • Magic #20
  • Magic: Nahiri #1
Boom! Collected Editions
Netflix TV Series
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The Magic Netflix series is currently scheduled to air it's first season in 2022.

Netflix Continuity
  • Untitled Prequel Novel
  • Magic Netflix Season One
Please note that some links may be broken due to Wizards closing out the old site's archive. I've fixed what I can, but if you encounter more please post about it here. In addition, some links to the wiki redirect back to this post, if that happens just go to the wiki manually and type in the name.
Last edited by Jay13x 1 year ago, edited 27 times in total.

User avatar
Jay13x
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Location: Baltimore, Maryland
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Post by Jay13x » 4 years ago

Hey Everyone! I've updated the Resource Guide, and done a bit of an overhaul on the formatting and some of the sections to make the overall guide a little more streamlined. I'll be updating this one pretty exclusively, and abandoning the one on MTGS.

Gallibond
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Post by Gallibond » 2 years ago

Jay,

As the DM of a long-running Planeswalking D&D campaign, I just want to say what a lifesaver your story and lore resources page has become. Every level we travel to a different plane, and as I plan out our campaign plot, I always want to know a little about what the lore of the plane is (officially) so I can see if there's a way to tie my PCs into an existing story or if I need to make up something completely different. Of course, players sometimes bypass a plot point entirely (they opted to not follow the breadcrumb that would have led to resurrecting/restoring a purified Avacyn on Innistrad, for instance). But they did help to end the War of the Kami in Kamigawa. Great job! Thank you, and I hope you keep up the excellent work.

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