MTG Lore Inches Closer to Revealing its Next Big Race of Villains

Last updated on January 31, 2026

Ruhan of the Fomori | Illustration by Raymond Swanland

Magic’s story loves a good recurring menace: Phyrexians, Eldrazi, Nicol Bolas. Adversaries that threaten Magic's whole multiverse, sometimes capable of attacking most planes at once.

WotC also likes planting very small seeds here and there, for when they need the next Big Bad. And from one of the latest reveals, the Fomori could be ripe for the role.

The Fomori Lore Thus Far

Ruhan of the Fomori | Illustration by Raymond Swanland

The Fomori were an ancient civilization of giants that spread all across the Multiverse. In Edge of Eternities we learned that, in some distant past, the Fomori joined forced with the Drix to fight against the Eldrazi (which would suggest they are some sort of “good guys”). But the Fomori have also invaded and conquered Ixalan's core, which would kinda mean they are not that good.

In the current Magic story, the current foremost expert on Fomori lore (that we know of) is Quintorius Kand, a loxodon historian and planeswalker that initially nicknamed them the “Coin Empire” since he was researching recurring coin-like symbols and artifacts he’d encountered across planes.

To date, there are two official depictions of Fomori, in Fomori Nomad and Ruhan of the Fomori, both of them giants:

They are also featured in a planechase card, the Ir plane, which WotC described as: 

On the obscure plane of Ir is the mysterious Turri Island, a rocky isle beaten by choppy ocean waves, topped by a mountainous, rough-hewn stone fortress. This is the home of the Fomori, barbaric giants like the one seen on the Future Sight card Fomori Nomad (also illustrated by artist Raymond Swanland). The hulking Fomori leer over their battlements, threatening a boulder barrage toward anyone who should attempt entry—but many planeswalkers try, as the island is said to be a mana haven for summoning not only giants, but other cloudscraping creatures as well.

The “barbaric” description from planechase, and above all boulder-throwing as their preferred long-range weaponry, is a bit at odds with a multi-plane race that could trade punches with Eldrazi, left a high-tech vault in the middle of Thunder Junction, and that flew massive semicircular ships shaped from a single piece of metal during their invasion of Ixalan’s Core.

Perhaps the planechase card shows them after their empire collapsed and their lost most of their advanced tech? The hints we have thus far point in that direction: It looks like that, at some point after the Oltec repelled the Fomori from Ixalan, the Fomori empire collapsed.

Tamiyo, Jace (through Tamiyo), and Quintorius are some of the known characters that know the most about them. And Loot, who Jace and Vraska rescued (or maybe kidnapped?) from the Fomori vault in Thunder Junction…

… may be a Fomori of some kind.

Strixhaven's Fomori Twist

What's new now, amidst the deluge of official spoilers and unofficial leaks we've seen these last couple of weeks, is the description of one of Secrets of Strixhaven‘s Commander precons…

Source: Reddit

… which not only directly mentions the Fomori, but specifically says that the Fomori trail that Quintorius is following has led the planeswalker right to Arcavios, the Magic plane where Strixhaven is located.

So what could be WotC planning for the Fomori for Secrets of Strixhaven, Reality Fracture, and following Magic sets?

The Big Bad of Reality Fracture

source: wizards.magic.com

“My hot take is they’re going to be central to Reality Fracture,” says u/EntertainmentVast401 in a recent reddit thread that got a lot of traction. “I have no concrete proof of this, but they have been showing up in a bunch of the recent sets’ flavor text, and it’s the natural place to bring in the vague probably-planeswalking giants.”

WotC did go with “SOS” as the set code for Secrets of Strixhaven, and Reality Fracture is the next in-universe set after said SOS.

Personally, I think it would be way too soon, though.

The Next Arc's Villains

Helga, Skittish Seer | Illustration by Andrea Piparo

“I think they are setting them up to be the villain of the next arch,” notes u/Clarknes, “not this one.”

A lot of redditors seem to agree, and that would fit Helga, Skittish Seer‘s prophecy from Bloomburrow:  

“The kings in the dark will return. The mage in blue will bring about the end.”

Reality Fracture will very likely be about whatever Jace is trying to do (or its unwanted consequences). It's impossible to get more blue mage than Jace in Magic, and the Fomori fit quite well the description of “Kings in the Dark.” So the theory is that Jace's plans go awry during Reality Fracture, and the consequences (as in, Fomori on the loose) are dealt with in Magic's next arc.

But what if they are not the bad guys?

The Next Arc's Cavalry / Deus Ex / McGuffin

Smuggler's Surprise | Illustration by Jonas De Ro

Another possibility is that Jace somehow brings back the Eldrazi, in full force and form, and so strong that this time around no team of planeswalkers can go Avengers on them.

But the Drix are still around, and they have remained consummate Eldrazi hunters… perhaps a brave Drix will team up with Quintorious and bring back the Fomori just in time to turn certain defeat into glowing victory, like Eomer and Gandalf against the orc tide at Helm's Deep?

Or perhaps a bit simpler: They need to find some piece of Fomori gizmo which is in the only thing that can stop the Eldrazi.

Or, Well…

Loot, Exuberant Explorer | Illustration Arif Wijaya

“They'll show up,” laments u/Chance_Active_8579, “and get an anticlimactic ending after being hyped up for so long.”

That's certainly a possibility, given how fast-paced Magic's story has been in some climatic points (looking at you, War of the Spark and March of the Machine!).

Whichever way WotC takes them, we should learn more about the Fomori soon enough!