Welcome back to Archive Trap, the unofficial guide to Magic: the Gathering. Today we turn to Kaladesh, the world of invention! Kaladesh is our third ‘artifacts matter’ world. Throughout the block, Kaladesh establishes itself as very different from its predecessors Mirrodin and Esper. On the face of things, Kaladesh is a world of invention and optimism, all powered by refined aether. The aether supply is strictly controlled by the Consulate, a relatively benign organization, but a planeswalker with dark designs has infiltrated the Consulate for his own nefarious purposes. To understand Tezzeret’s conflict with the Gatewatch, read Jace, Tezzeret, and the Infinite Consortium. The story of Kaladesh relies on lot on their history, so if you have not read up, you might be confused about a few things. The story of Kaladesh begins with the seemingly innocuous Inventors' Fair, an opportunity for Kaladesh's best and brightest to compete for Consulate support and funding. One inventor in particular has made a breakthrough that could change the multiverse.
Welcome back to Archive Trap, the unofficial guide to Magic: the Gathering. Today we continue our discussion of the Ice Age, the period of time that began when Urza caused the Sylex Blast at the end of The Brothers' War which led to huge ecological upheaval on Dominaria. It also created the Shard of Twelve Worlds, a magical barrier that prevented travel — by planeswalking or portal — in or out. The Ice Age ended with Freyalise's casting of the World Spell, bringing down the magical barrier. In Part I, we talked about the period known as The Dark, and a very brief overview of the Fallen Empires. In Part II, we talked about the end of the Ice Age, ending with the World Spell and the beginning of the Thaw. Today we take you to the middle of that Thaw, to a time of great upheaval. Soon, Urza's private war with Phyrexia will reignite on Dominaria, but we are not quite there yet.
Welcome back to Archive Trap, the unofficial guide to Magic: the Gathering. Today we continue our discussion of The Ice Age, the period of time that began when Urza caused the Sylex Blast at the end of The Brothers’ War which caused huge ecological upheaval on Dominaria. It also created the Shard of Twelve Worlds, a magical barrier that prevented travel - by planeswalking or portal - in or out of the shard. The Ice Age ends with Freyalise’s casting of the World Spell, bringing down the magical barrier and thawing out the world. In Part I, we talked about the Fallen Empires and the Dark, both of which took place before the cold truly settled in. In Part II, we are going to dig into the Ice Age proper, with a lengthy summary of The Eternal Ice and the old Armada Comics. I have to say, before delving into this topic, the Ice Age was a period I knew the least about, and once I dug in I'm finding it's my favorite era of Dominarian history.
Welcome back to Archive Trap, the unofficial guide to Magic: the Gathering. Today we start our discussion of The Ice Age, the period of time that began when Urza caused the Sylex Blast at the end of The Brothers' War which resulted in huge ecological upheaval on Dominaria. It also created the Shard of Twelve Worlds, a magical barrier that prevented travel - by planeswalk or portal - in or out. The Ice Age ends with Freyalise's casting of the World Spell, bringing down that magical barrier. For today, we will focus on the period between the Sylex Blast and the Ice Age proper, a time known as The Dark.
Welcome back to Archive Trap, the unofficial guide to Magic: the Gathering. Today we will take one more look at the plane of Alara, a world that was once sundered into five shards but has now violently merged back together. Cultures that have been divided for longer than recorded memory now clash in a battle for survival. In Part I we looked at the world building of each plane. In Part II we talked about the characters and the backstory of the plane itself. In Part III, we followed Ajani's story right up until the Conflux. Today: Can Ajani stop Bolas? No, probably not. Good luck, Alara!
Welcome back to Archive Trap, the unofficial guide to Magic: the Gathering. Today we are going to talk about Alara, a plane most of you know and fondly remember as the home of the Shards - both the sundered pieces of an ancient plane and the name for their respective tri-color combinations. In Part I, we talked about the nature of each Shard. It is quite a lot to get through! The Shards are so well defined they could each be an article unto themselves. Today we will talk about the characters of Alara (of which there are many) and the basic backstory of the plane.
The Vorthos Guide to Magic: The Gathering
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Welcome back to Archive Trap! Today we're going to talk about the first major post-Mending story: Agents of Artifice. To do that, we'll need to dive into the origins of three Planeswalkers: Tezzeret, Jace Beleren, and Liliana Vess. I've already covered Liliana's story pretty extensively in Liliana, Garruk, and the Veil, but three paragraphs on Agents of Artifice from Liliana's perspective doesn't do a lot to capture the full scope of the story. Because Tezzeret has just re-entered the story after an extended absence, I thought it was high time for a full summary of events that most storyline fans might not be aware of. Agents of Artifice was an interesting book because it doesn't really show our heroes in a flattering light. They all belong to an interplanar organization called the Infinite Consortium, which is exactly as shady as it sounds. While it's not just a criminal organization, the organization is ruthless in the pursuit of it's goals.