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Magic Story

The story of Magic: The Gathering has been told in many ways across the game’s 30 years. This quick guide helps you start with what interests you.

So what are you looking for?

The Basics of Magic’s Multiverse

The Multiverse of Magic is made up of individual worlds, called planes. These planes have a variety of different inhabitants, environments, creatures, and magics. Each plane is a different setting for the story.

The planes of the Multiverse are separated from each other by the Blind Eternities. If you imagine each plane as a floating bubble with a world inside, then the space left between those bubbles is a fine representation for what the Blind Eternities is. But most characters don’t have the ability (or luck) to leave their plane and travel to another at a moment’s notice.

That is where the Planeswalker Spark comes in! Some beings in the Multiverse are born with a magical gift called a Spark which can be “ignited”—usually by a major life event—to make them into a Planeswalker. Once they are a Planeswalker, they are able to planeswalk, transporting themselves across the Blind Eternities to reach different planes with convenience and ease.

In the card game, Planeswalkers are even represented by their own card type!

Those are the basics of the Multiverse, planes, and Planeswalkers of Magic’s story.

The Latest Story

The latest story is from the set Outlaws of Thunder Junction, the fourth set and finale of the Omenpath Arc as described in the Magic at 30 GenCon Panel. The Omenpath Arc kicks off a story that will be told across a full year of sets and will feed into a larger story arc continuing through 2026.

Thunder Junction is a new setting which features many of the Multiverse’s less reputable characters coming together on the plane via omenpaths. Kellan, who we have been following throughout the Omenpath Arc, has finally found his father keeping villainous company and planning a grand heist. Optional prior reading would include the Wilds of Eldraine story for the start of Kellan’s journey and Doing the Aftermath which details the changes to the Multiverse in the wake of the New Phyrexian Invasion.

You can find the latest stories from this set on the Home page.You can also find recent set stories by heading to the Home page, selecting the desired set name in the Associated Set field, and clicking Search.

Comics Featuring Relevant Planeswalkers

The current comic series from BOOM! Studios explores some of the most popular Planeswalkers in its own unique continuity. In the 25-issue main series, the core cast of Kaya Cassir, Ral Zarek, and Vraska face down interplanar threats old and new during the time following War of the Spark. However, if you’re looking for smaller comic stories, then the Ajani Goldmane, Nahiri the Lithomancer, and the Magic: Noble and Notorious spinoffs may be for you.

You can find a complete list of these comics in the Magic: The Gathering Comics Portal.

Magic Story From the Beginning

If you’re compelled to start your fiction experience in the order originally released, you’ve got quite the journey ahead! While the story is currently told through free web fiction, the first two decades was primarily books. Around half of the novels are only available in physical print, with varying pricing and story quality.

You can search for stories in year ranges that are easier to manage by heading to the Home page, entering a year, and clicking Search. You can also select only Stories (and deselect Other Lore/Worldbuilding) to focus the results further.

Planes and Worldbuilding

One of the game’s greatest strengths is the Multiverse and the planes that populate it. Most worlds that have been featured in Standard sets have either had a Planeswalker’s Guide article or a full art book delving into their geography, inhabitants, and cultures. These remain the premiere resources for fans who want the finest level of detail and seek a deeper understanding of Magic’s unique worlds.

You can find a (nearing) complete list of these materials in the Planeswalker’s Guide & Art Book Portal.

D&D Supplements

Wizards of the Coast’s Dungeons and Dragons has included Magic’s settings and characters in a number of crossovers since 2016. These started with shorter Plane Shift guides before developing into official D&D books.

You can find a (nearing) complete list of these materials in the Dungeons & Dragons Portal.

Stories of Your Favorite Planeswalker or Commander

Everybody has their favorites, be it your Commander, the first Planeswalker you opened, or a character you just vibe with. But with Magic boasting over a thousand legends across three decades, not every character has received a significant amount of time in the spotlight. Sets in the past few years have more reliably given lore to each carded legend, so the more recent the character the better likelihood they have some amount of backstory available. (Sorry, Riven Turnbull-heads.)

You can find stories featuring Planeswalker or Non-Planeswalker Characters by heading to the Home page, entering the character names in the respective fields, and clicking Search.

Fan Favorite Stories

Of course, there are stories that come highly recommended by many Magic story readers. To provide an easy starting point, the following list includes a majority of stories requiring very little additional context before diving in. Asterisks denote stories where additional character or set context is recommended.

Shorter Fiction

Longer Fiction