List of storyline sources

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Revision as of 08:01, 8 May 2021 by >Hunterofsalvation (→‎Ambiguous canon)
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This article contains a list of sources about the Magic: The Gathering storyline.[1]

Canon

In Magic, canon is the material accepted as officially part of the story taking part in the Multiverse. The alternative terms mythology, storyline and timeline are also often used, with the first of these being used especially to refer to the richly detailed imaginary worlds and history, while the latter typically refer to the single arc where all events are directly connected chronologically. Other times, the word can mean "to be acknowledged by the creator(s)".

Prerevisionist

The first books were printed by Harper Prism. These are part of prerevisionist continuity, although most fit in the post-revisionist continuity quite easily as well. On this page, sources released before the revision are marked with an asterisk (*).

Revisionist

When Tempest was released, Wizards of the Coast started to get more involved with the story than they had been before, and declared that from that moment on there was a new continuity: older books were still canon as long as newer books didn't contradict them.

Non-canon

The silver-bordered Multiverse is known as the Un-iverse.[2] This is a separate entity[3][4][5], a parallel universe.[6]

Characters, in slightly different forms, can exist in both the Multiverse and the Un-iverse at the same time.[7][8]

The events depicted in the Magic Boom comics are officially declared to be non-canon. They are based on the familiar characters and locations, but have their own continuity.[9]

Since 2020, there is also a series of black-bordered non-canon cards.

The storyline of Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms and the Universes Beyond series are declared non-canon.[10][11]

Ambiguous canon

According to Jay Annelli (who is associated with Wizards of the Coast), the storyline of the Magic: Legends videogame is intended to fit inside existing continuity, even if by its nature as a game there are going to be some dubious elements things (like everyone's player character isn't canon).[12] However, no public statement has been made by R&D on whether this will be recognized as canon.

Books

The novels are the main source of storyline knowledge.

Harper Prism

Wizards of the Coast

From Tempest onward, Wizards of the Coast has been publishing its own novels, most of which have been structured in cycles of 3 or 4 books.

Comics

Another media that contributed much to the Magic storyline in prerevision days were comics printed by ARMADA (an imprint of Acclaim Comics).[13] Many plotlines of these comics were supposed to come together in a series called about the Planeswalker War of Corondor, but that series was canceled in favor of the Weatherlight Saga. Despite the cancellation, information that would have been in these comics has been provided by Jeff Gómez, the editor of the Magic line at Armada. Following that, 4 comics were printed by Dark Horse Comics.

In the meantime, promotional comics appeared in TopDeck Magazine and a short online comic was released on magicthegathering.com (see below).

In January 2012, the comic company IDW Publishing began printing the first official Magic comics produced outside of the company in over a decade.[14] The series follows the exploits of the thief Dack Fayden. The series ended in 2014.

As of December 2017, new comics were expected, as part of Chris Cocks' effort to continue the expansion of the intellectual property.[15] Again published by IDW Publishing, the first of these was published in 2018 and featured Chandra Nalaar.

ARMADA Comics

Dark Horse

Gotta Comics

IDW Publishing

BOOM! Studios

Magazines

Back in the days, before there was widely available internet, people read about Magic in magazines like Scry and InQuest. The most famous of these would be the Duelist, which was the 'official' magic magazine and thus also contained tidbits about the storyline, or even some short stories.

The Duelist

Main article: The Duelist#Issues

Top Deck

  • #1 Mercadian Masques
  • #4 The Dark Ambassador, Nemesis
  • #8 Prophecy
  • #12 Invasion

Scans have been posted here

Digital

Wizards of the Coast sites

The Multiverse

Lore on the Cards

Main article: Lore on the Cards

Webcomics

Between 2007 and 2011, Wizards of the Coast published a series of webcomics on their website.

Main article: Webcomics

Savor the Flavor short stories

Savor the Flavor was a column that appeared on DailyMTG.com. Written by members of the Magic: The Gathering Creative Team, it explored the creative process behind the flavor, including card art, flavor text, card names, world-building, books, comics, and the foundations of Magic: The Gathering on fantasy. It was replaced then by the Uncharted Realms column.

Main article: Savor the Flavor

Uncharted Realms short stories

Uncharted Realms was a column that appeared weekly on DailyMTG.com. Written by members of the Magic: The Gathering Creative Team, it is a series of short stories providing a deeper look into the world, lore, and characters of Magic: The Gathering. The column was initially focused on telling stories about specific cards but later expanded to more general stories.

Main article: Magic Story

Magic Story

Magic Story is the successor to Uncharted Realms. It is the same concept, but features more writers from outside of Wizards of the Coast.

Main article: Magic Story

Feature Articles short stories

Feature Articles was a column that appeared irregularly on DailyMTG.com. Occasionally, these features would be used to help tell the story of the current block. Written by members of the Magic: The Gathering Creative Team, it is a series of short stories providing a deeper look into the world, lore, and characters of Magic: The Gathering. The column was initially focused on telling stories about specific cards but has since expanded to more general stories.

Magic Story Podcasts

Magic Story Podcasts have appeared occasionally on DailyMTG.com, and have occasionally included new story information.

Other online stories

Reposts of older stories

Older articles

These pages were launched in the days of the Weatherlight Saga, and thus post-revisionist, but they have not been updated anymore and are often down.

Third Party Sites

Archived sites

The Duelist is not being printed anymore. The Internet has taken the place of many magazines, also on storyline territory. But even before the decline of printed magazines, there was information about the magic storyline to be found on the World Wide Web.

Acclaim

Acclaim produced a computer game called Battlemage that centered around the Planeswalker War. On its site, Acclaim posted a long history of the conflict. Most of it is a recap of the ARMADA comics, although it does include some stuff not mentioned anywhere else.

Computer games

There are also some computer games based on Magic that reveal parts of the storyline. The Battlegrounds game did have a storyline, but it was never in-continuity.

Acclaim

Microprose

Sega

Cryptic Studios

See also

References

  1. ↑ Brady Dommermuth (May 27, 2003). "The Story of the Story". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  2. ↑ Mark Rosewater (November 16, 2017). "So, when can we expect a set called Bablovia?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  3. ↑ Mark Rosewater (November 08, 2017). "So the Domina Multiverse, Un-Multiverse, and Sparks Multiverse are all separate, right?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  4. ↑ Mark Rosewater (November 09, 2017). "Are you worried about Multiverse creep?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  5. ↑ Mark Rosewater (November 17, 2017). "Why is the Un-iverse separated from the multiverse?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  6. ↑ Mark Rosewater (October 12, 2019). "How the heck did Urza (or just his head) get there?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  7. ↑ Mark Rosewater (April 11, 2018). "“Bablovia is in the wrong multiverse”". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  8. ↑ Mark Rosewater (August 11, 2019). "are planeswalkers limited to their own multiverse?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  9. ↑ Magic Comes Back to Comics (Video). Weekly MTG. YouTube (March 12, 2021).
  10. ↑ Wizards of the Coast (February 25, 2021). "Magic's Voyages to the Universes Beyond". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  11. ↑ Mark Rosewater (May 7, 2021). "Where does Adventures in the Forgotten realms fit in with the current lore?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  12. ↑ Jay Annelli (May 1, 2021). "Is there a 'dubious' canon disclaimer?". MTG Gamepdia Discord.
  13. ↑ Michael G. Ryan (June 01, 2009). "A Magic History of Time". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  14. ↑ Monty Ashley (September 08, 2011). "Magic Comic Book". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  15. ↑ Brian Crecente (December 27, 2017), "Chasing Innovation Inside the Company Behind D&D, Magic and Avalon Hill", Rollingstone.com
  16. ↑ Amazon.jp page
  17. ↑ Manga Magic? — MTG Salvation
  18. ↑ Monty Ashley (October 27, 2011). "Comic Book Previews!". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  19. ↑ Monty Ashley (February 21, 2013). "Path of Vengeance #3". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  20. ↑ IDW Publishing (Aug 8, 2018). New Magic: The Gathering Comic Celebrates The Franchise's 25th Anniversary
  21. ↑ Jesse Schedeen (January 21, 2021). "Magic: The Gathering Returns to Comics in April 2021". Ign.com.
  22. ↑ Alison Luhrs (May 31, 2016). "Hanweir Chronicle Recap". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
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