Last updated on December 10, 2025
Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh | Illustration by Raymond Swanland
One of the well-documented downsides of introducing so many Universes Beyond products to Magic is that the Magic: The Gathering story gets put on hold for large chunks of time. The lore of Edge of Eternities was mostly a side-story, and the last two sets were Marvel's Spider-Man and Avatar: The Last Airbender, which are clearly not associated.
Lorwyn Eclipsed marks the return to Magic's current storyline, which has really only been expanded with Aetherdrift and Tarkir: Dragonstorm this year. The first few chapters have already been released, following a new band of characters and checking in on some fan-favorite planeswalkers. Remember planeswalkers? Another casualty of Universes Beyond….
Who Shows Up In Lorwyn?
Professor Onyx | Illustration by Kieran Yanner
Funnily enough, the Lorwyn Eclipsed story has thus far mostly followed characters on Arcavios, the plane that houses Strixhaven. Without spoiling the whole affair, a group of Strixhaven students stumble through an Omenpath and end up in Lorwyn, which is now a hybrid of Lorwyn and Shadowmoor. You can read (or listen to) the stories for yourself:
Part of the appeal of Lorwyn Eclipsed, both the lore and the set proper, is that it checks back in on a bunch of characters that people are familiar with from the original Lorwyn block so many years ago. There's been looks at Ashling, Brigid, Sygg, and others, not to mention characters like Dina that debuted in OG Strixhaven half a decade ago. But the second episode of the new story also name-drops a number of familiar planeswalkers.
Most prominent are Liliana (known as Professor Onyx on Strixhaven) and Ajani, who appeared earlier this year in the Tarkir: Dragonstorm story, though without a card to represent him in that set. They discuss the events of DFT and TDM, in which dumbass Jace flounders some master plan to reset the multiverse and essentially cracks reality wide open (hence the upcoming Reality Fracture set in 2026). According to Episode 6 of the Tarkir: Dragonstorm story, Jace simply “shattered like glass” after messing with the Meditation Realm. However, Liliana subtly hints that there's no way Jace is gone:
“He …” She stopped and shook her head. “There was no body. He's not dead. Jace Beleren wouldn't die without leaving a body.”
Ajani also relays the info to Liliana that big bad Nicol Bolas is free, with a nod to Ugin as well. That's a big deal for Liliana, given her history with the dragon-god. You remember that awesome War of the Spark trailer, right? The one with Linkin Park music? Yeah, Nicol Bolas roaming the multiverse again is bad news for Professor Onyx Lili.
Elspeth and Narset get a proper shoutout from Ajani as well, though only in passing, since they were both relevant parts of the TDM story, Elspeth becoming an archangel planeswalker and Narset being desparked post-March of the Machine.
The Big Picture
Prison Realm | Illustration by Daarken
Of course, all of this planeswalker and reality-breaking conversation is in the midst of a more whimsical story about Strixhaven students lost on Lorwyn, so it's not the major focus of the story right now. It's clearly all adding up to Reality Fracture, but with only Lorwyn Eclipsed and Secrets of Strixhaven happening between now and that big event set next year, there's not much time to get the ball rolling on whatever big story beat is going to happen.
Maybe Reality Fracture will end up being one big way to make all the Universes Beyond sets canon in the MTG universe, and Spock, Master Splinter, Bilbo Baggins, and Tony Stark will all team up with the Gatewatch to take down Nicol Bolas and Thanos. Or maybe Jace's factory reset of the multiverse actually worked and Magic's found a way to CTRL+Z a bunch of character deaths to make some oldies relevant once again. And don't forget that Kasmina's lurking around Strixhaven with a shadow cabal of sorts too, which will likely play into the whole story somehow.
Stay tuned to the Lorwyn story for more, and don't miss Reality Fracture in October 2026 to see how it all adds up.
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