The Saga Continues: Edge of Eternities Teases the Return of Sagas (Again)

Last updated on June 24, 2025

Unnamed Edge of Eternities card art | Illustration by Daniel Ljunggren

Three words for ya: Vertical. Card. Frames.

Any time you see portrait-style art in MTG, it usually means you're getting some sort of vertically-oriented card. That could be a planeswalker, a class enchantment, or as seems to be the case with Edge of Eternities, another helping of sagas.

The Saga Continues

The Edge of Eternities story kicked off last week after players' first major look at the upcoming Standard set. Episode 1 was released on Friday, and a follow-up mini-story titled Grasp in the Darkness was published on Monday. There's plenty for lore buffs to get excited about, but these stories are also some of the earliest peeks players get at upcoming art for new sets. Within Monday's story, we got this image illustrated by Daniel Ljunggren.

Unnamed Edge of Eternities card art | Illustration by Daniel Ljunggren

Well that's saga art if ever we've seen it. It's got the usual saga aesthetic, it's got the vertical card frame, and Edge of Eternities is going to have to catch players up with all of outer space in the span of one set release, so sagas could be a great way to clue people in on the lore as well.

Also, it might not be a coincidence that the figures in this art kind of look like Chandra and Nissa? They're not mentioned in the story at all, but you can't deny that top figure is oriented exactly like Nissa, Who Shakes the World.

Sagas again, you say? It's true, sagas have been a part of the last two sets: Tarkir: Dragonstorm had 3-color sagas depicting stories associated with Tarkir's clans, and Final Fantasy used the saga template to create the all-new summon card type. Sagas are exceptionally cool, potentially powerful, and they perfectly mix flavor and function, so the more, the better. We're not quite at the point of “saga fatigue” like we were with “planeswalker fatigue” a few years back.

More Evidence of Sagas

Daniel Ljunggren's illustration isn't the only evidence of sagas in EOE though. The Planeswalker's Guide to Edge of Eternities is an expansive worldbuilding primer for the set, and includes tons of art from upcoming cards. Among those pieces are more vertical frames, mostly depicting galaxies and planets of sorts.

Eternities Columns & Susur Secundi | Illustrations by Victor Adame Minguez (left) and Adam Paquette (right)

These cards haven't been officially revealed, but there are lore tidbits describing what you're looking at. The Eternity Columns (above, left) are sort of beacons that help spacecrafts orient themselves in a setting which apparently fluctuates between different levels of reality. Susar Secundi (above, right) is a giant, dead planet populated by labyrinths, and some inhabitants of EOE's universe consider it a holy site.

Left to right: Kavaron, Uthros, Adagia, Evendo | Illustrations by Adam Paquette

And there's more planetary art to pair with Susur Secundi. They all feature vertical frames and depict the billion-year old Sothera, the Supervoid that rests at the center of this universe. Sidenote: Adam Paquette absolutely went off on this art.

Ok, so amazing art, but what about the cards? We don't know what these are showing us yet, but there's a good chance these are saga-like lands of some sort. EOE has a massive lands-matter theme, and there have been rumors circulating of a mythic rare land cycle coming to this set. In addition, it looks like the five planets align with all the different colors:

• Susar Secundi: Black
• Kavaron: Red
• Uthros: Blue
• Adagia: White
• Evendo: Green

Radiant Summit | Illustration by Marco Gorlei

That leaves the art for the Eternity Column, which could very well be a colorless land of some sort. Just to be clear, there's no indication that these are the only lands with this art orientation to expect, these were just what was shown in the Planeswalker's Guide. For example, this art for a card named Radiant Summit was revealed very early on, but has a normal landscape card frame. We also know that five of the shock lands are returning in EOE, so it seems there will be quite a few land cycles to be excited about.

Did You Say Saga-Like Lands?

It's purely speculation, but all of this information adds up to suggest that players will see sagas of some sort in this set, and the card type will be implemented on lands in some way. Urza's Saga is proof of concept, and a wildly popular (and powerful) card, so why not bring that same energy to Standard?

Alternatively, it's possible that the vertical frames aren't sagas at all, but some new portrait-oriented card type altogether. Class enchantments have used the same structure before, so there's precedent there as well. The Adam Paquette illustrations could even be meld pairs for all we know, showing vertical art you'd get by combining two art pieces on the back of separate cards. The same way Gisela, the Broken Blade and Bruna, the Fading Light combine to create the portrait-style Brisela, Voice of Nightmares, you might be looking at a “full-screen” melded pair created by two separate cards.

But sagas are slightly less complex, and have much more support in Standard, thanks to Final Fantasy specifically. There's also speculation that proliferate is making a return in the set. It's confirmed to be a major part of the Counter Intelligence Commander precon, though it's not confirmed for the main set yet. An early look at The Seriema showed us charge counters on a new spacecraft card type, so it'd make sense to have proliferation in a set featuring multiple counter types. Everything's up in space for now, but there's some pretty strong evidence in favor of sagas in EOE. Guess we'll find out when previews kick off in early July.