Summary
The main characters inMagic: The Gatheringare beings who can jump from one plane or universe to another. These planeswalkers have adventures across the multiverse, gaining new allies and enemies alike. They are a diverse group, ranging from nature-loving druids to necromancers and even to angels and demons.
Some of the planes they visit are lush landscapes withbeautiful scenery and architecture. Others, however, are nightmarish hellscapes ruled by tyrants and monsters. At times, planeswalkers have been trapped in some of these terrible places and have been desperate to escape.
6Kaldheim
Nordic-Inspired Realms Where Violence Is Rewarded
Kaldheim is actually ten separate mini-planes called realms that are linked together by the World Tree. Each realm has a unique ecosystem and people. Active volcanoes tower over glaciers and frost giant palaces in Surtland, while the Immersturm is a fiery land of demons. The realms of Kaldheim areinspired by Norse mythology, including its afterlife. Everyone who does not die valiantly in battle is doomed to a dull afterlife in misty Istfell, so seeking a glorious death would be a priority for anyone trapped here.
After New Phyrexia’s invasion, the World Tree was destroyed, and now each realm floats entirely separately from the others. With travel between realms harder than ever before, being trapped in Kaldheim is as likely to mean freezing while searching for a glorious death worthy of this version of Valhalla.
5Zendikar
Even The Land Seems To Want Players Dead
Zendikar is a dangerous and untamed plane. The land itself violently changes in a process called The Roil, which causes natural disasters from floods and earthquakes to more unusual events like noxious gas geysers and “life blooms.” The Roil makes the plane so dangerous that few large cities exist there.
If the Roil wasn’t bad enough, the Eldrazi are trapped on Zendikar. They are beingsbeyond human comprehensionthat used to exist in the space between planes. A group of planeswalkers decided to use Zendikar’s unique mana to lure them into the plane and then trap them, essentially sacrificing the plane for the safety of the multiverse. Just by waking up, the Eldrazi have sparked apocalyptic horrors, with drones and cultists killing by the thousands. Zendikar is a dangerous plane that has only grown more treacherous over time.
4Shadowmoor
A 300-Year Cycle Of Death And Darkness
The plane called Lorwyn-Shadowmoor exists on a 300-year cycle. For three centuries, it is Lorwyn, a land ofeternal sunshine and pleasant summer, where its nine races coexist in relative harmony. After that, however, night falls for three long centuries of strife and wickedness.
Everything in Shadowmoor is a twisted, evil version of its former self. The friendly races of Lorwyn now hide from sight, and alliances break down because of mistrust. At the same time, horrific creatures, like kelpies, spirits, and living scarecrows that lie dormant in Lorwyn, wake up and thrive in Shadowmoor. Death and horror run rampant in Shadowmoor, and the one potential saving grace is that the 300-year cycle might be close to starting over.
3Capenna
A Corrupt City Run By Demons
At first glance, the art deco towers of New Capenna are beautiful. The glisteningtrains and high technologyon this plane would appeal to most people until the city is seen for what it truly is: a post-apocalyptic den of demons. During the war against the phyrexians, every other settlement on the plane was destroyed.
Angels once ruled over the plane of Capenna, but they could not fight the phyrexians alone. Out of desperation, the angels forged an uneasy alliance with demons in order to stop the phyrexian onslaught. Together, they won a pyrrhic victory for the plane’s survivors. While celebrating their hard-won battle, the demons of Capennabetrayed and murderedall the surviving angels so that they could use the angels' remains to ward off any potential phyrexian survivors. In doing so, they also became the ruling class of the sole settlement left there. Surviving the streets of New Capenna means wheeling and dealing with devils, but that is still better than the horrific wasteland that makes up the rest of the plane.
2Innistrad
Gothic Monsters And Lovecraftian Horrors
Innistrad isa plane of gothic horrors. Although humans dominate in terms of population, they live in constant fear of threats like werewolves, spirits, zombies, and demons. For centuries, Innistrad’s vampires gained more and more ground until they threatened to kill all humans and then inevitably turned to cannibalizing other vampires. Sorin Markov prevented this by creating an angel named Avacyn and founding a religion centered around her.
The peace that Avacyn and her Church brought about did not last long. Emrakul the Eldrazi titan was brought to Innistrad by a planeswalker seeking revenge on Sorin Markov. Emrakul’s presence disruptedthe plane’s day/night cycle, leading to a period called The Eternal Night in which vampires and werewolves ruled over the plane. An alliance of planeswalkers eventually returned Innistrad to normal, but the plane faced even more strife and chaos when New Phyrexia invaded in the years afterward. Innistrad stood firm against the phyrexians but at a great cost of lives. There has truly never been a period of time when this plane was a decent place to call home.
1New Phyrexia
A Plane With Danger Around Every Corner
New Phyrexia was originally created by the planeswalker, Karn, and called Argentum. It is a sphere with two smaller spheres inside of it, forming interior landscapes. The plane has since undergone multiple transformations. It was later known as Mirrodin after becoming inhabited by the Mirrans, but it is now home to devious half-flesh, half-machine monstrosities called phyrexians. They took over the plane, killing or driving all other beings into hiding, and then expanded the inner spheres to have nine distinct layers.
At the heart of New Phyrexia sits Realmbreaker, a warped sapling of Kaldheim’s World Tree that the phyrexians used to invade multiple planes of the multiverse. The plane is hostile to life, with grasslands made of deadly metal shards on the surface and layers of metallic fungi at its core. Living creatures found by the phyrexians are “compleated,” meaning they are corrupted and transformed into phyrexians themselves. After New Phyrexia’s invasion of the multiverse was thwarted, it was “phased out,” meaning that nobody could travel to or from this plane from the rest of the multiverse. For any unfortunate soul trapped here, there is no escape from the phyrexians' evil.
