Board and Card Games

1:20 AM

I was checking through the block list just now - it looks like Mirrodin or Kamigawa might be the time when MTG became less "let's print cards around a theme!" and more "let's tell a sort-of-epic story about some planes and their struggles, and print cards reflecting that!". Is that sort of accurate?

or was it like that all along?

(I'm under the impression that at least in the Masques block around 2000, cards were just themed, but blocks didn't have stories behind them)

murgatroid99

So, because of that question earlier, I was looking through the Urza block, because it was from 1999

And it really seemed to have some continuity

doppelgreener

Right, the Urza block itself might be a case of an actual story-driven set

... I might ask this on main site.

murgatroid99

That was just an example. The Mirage block has books set in it. I'm pretty sure the Invasion block is the story of the invasion of Dominaria by Phyrexia

doppelgreener

@Rainbolt: Please do not use this chat for complaining about or belittling other site members. It is distinctly unpleasant, and not in compliance with our Be Nice policy.

murgatroid99

If you just go and read the names of sets, it feels like there is some continuity

Like Invasion->Planeshift->Apocalypse or Odyssey->Torment->Judgement

doppelgreener

1:33 AM

@murgatroid99 Yeah, but then I visit the Masques block, and the salvation wiki page includes a quote saying they just chose a greek theme plus names people would have trouble spelling for laffs.

murgatroid99

@doppelgreener I suspect that the truth is that sets like Arabian Nights and Mercadian Masques are the exceptions, and that most other blocks really do have a story

doppelgreener

@murgatroid99 hm, ok.

I guess nowadays we're actually also in an age they can readily publish and share that story.

murgatroid99

To be clear, I'm not discouraging you from asking about this on the main site

doppelgreener

Their ability to actually convey the story in previous years would've been limited.

murgatroid99

@doppelgreener there are novels from the old sets

doppelgreener

1:35 AM

@murgatroid99 Right, it's good to be aware of the complexity of the situation at least.

murgatroid99

List of Magic: The Gathering novels

The following is a list of novels based in the setting of the collectible card game Magic: The Gathering. When Wizards of the Coast was asked how the novels and cards influence each other, Brady Dommermuth, Magic's Creative Director, responded by saying "generally the cards provide the world in which the novels are set, and the novels sometimes provide characters represented on cards. But cards also introduce their own characters that might not appear in the novels. In short, the Magic creative team and the novelists work largely in parallel and inform each other as much as possible." All of novels...

That's actually more than I would have guessed

Note the 3 novels in the Masquerade Cycle

doppelgreener

Wow. So for loads of these blocks, they were releasing one novel per set.

murgatroid99

The lore of Magic is large and fascinating, and you'd probably be surprised by how big a part Phyrexia played in it

doppelgreener

@murgatroid99 I would. I thought they were only present in the Scars of Mirrodin block, so you saying that Invasion was about Phyrexia is pretty surprising.

murgatroid99

Even Urza's block was about Dominaria and Phyrexia

And I think original Mirrodin involved Phyrexia

Actually, the summary of the book Odyssey says that the sets Weatherlight through Apocalypse were about Dominaria fighting Phyrexia

Just the Phyrexia wiki article is fascinating. Interestingly, it's also a mechanical world, like Mirrodin

Anyway, I have to go for now

doppelgreener

1:52 AM

@murgatroid99 [READ READ READ]

this is excellent

murgatroid99

2:14 AM

It's somewhat comparable to the newer sets, where the release of the Eldrazi on Zendikar were a major driving force for multiple recent blocks

Well, "driving force" may be a bit of an exaggeration, but it was relevant

doppelgreener

@murgatroid99 Multiple!? I thought it was just about Zendikar and now the new Battle for Zendikar. Did it relate to something else too? (Was it related to Alara?)

murgatroid99

Sorin Markov was lord of Innistrad (Innistrad block) and traveled to Tarkir to get Ugin's help sealing the Eldrazi

Gideon Jura traveled to Ravnica (RTR block) to get other help fighting the Eldrazi

The thing with Sorin was particularly important, because he caused a timeline shift, which caused FRF and DTK, which also caused Ugin to be alive to help with Zendikar

Storywise, I think that's why we're going back to Zendikar next: those who went off to get help against the Eldrazi have gotten it

Wizards frequently posts short stories related to the current block on their website (that's how I know the stuff about Sorin).

doppelgreener

2:40 AM

just finished going through the Phyrexia article. That is a lot of stuff those folks got involved in.

@murgatroid99 Oh right, I totally mindblanked on this. Of course. The entire plot of Khans of Tarkir revolves around Sorin and Surrak getting in touch with Ugin in the lead-up to the Battle for Zendikar.

@murgatroid99 I have gone through some of these.

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