The planes of Magic: The Gathering‘s Multiverse are incredibly diverse. Each has its own set of physical laws that govern how any given world’s mana flows. One of these planes, Alara, was once a peaceful place without major conflict, but nowhere in the Multiverse is free from violence forever.
Over the years, Alara has been split to the point of destruction and has been reformed. Throughout this and many other occurrences, the plane has seen quite a few fascinating events. Separation and then recombination of its parts led to unique situations that piqued the interest of a few renowned Planeswalkers.
10 Ancient Times
Long ago, the united Alara was an expansive realm filled with humans, elves, leonin, vedalkin, and many more who lived in harmony. These races, as well as the land itself, was watched over by benevolent angels who defended it from foul demons that sought to plunder and plague the world. Though, this all changed when an unknown Planeswalker arrived and drained much of the plane’s mana for their own mysterious purposes.
9 Imprisonment Of A Demon
The archangel Asha, leader of Alara’s choir of angels, had sacrificed herself to banish and imprison the demonic dragon Malfegor in a part of Alara that became known as Grixis. This caused the angels to go without a leader for a very long time, though with the biggest demonic threat held at bay, there was little reason for the angels and people of Alara to be concerned. At least, for the time being.
8 The Sundering
After Malfegor’s imprisonment, Alara’s mana was consumed by a mysterious and greedy Planeswalker until the physical laws of the realm began to bend and break along the leylines of the world, segregating it not only by geography but by ecology and mana type as well. The various separations were known as the shards of Alara which were named Bant, Esper, Grixis, Jund, and Naya. With a tremendous amount of mana missing from the world, each of the shards struggled to survive for centuries until the world’s supply of magic began to return naturally.
7 The Conflux
As the shards of Alara rejoined, the seams between them faded and the plane became whole once more in a process known as the Conflux, though was vastly different from the unified world of ancient times.
Due to the great differences that arose between the races and magics of different shards, there was much hostility between them. This aggression was further fueled by the elder dragon Planeswalker Nicol Bolas, who sought to divide and conquer.
6 Merging Of Magics
Nicol Bolas’ attempt to cause strife between the adjacent shards caused the magic of the world to begin combining in unpredicted ways. To defend against the spells and creatures of their foes, each shard began learning and reverse-engineering much of their adversaries’ magic. This resulted in defensive measures echoing the offensive of other shards, which ended up merging certain colors and forming new, mixed-color spells and creatures. Following this paradigm shift, some groups even decided to put hostilities aside and join together for the greater good of the plane.
5 A Demon’s Ire
After the Conflux, the demon Malfegor awoke and desired to ravage Alara once more. He was still bound to Grixis, though his armies of demons, necromancers, and undead were not as they invaded the angel-revering shard of Bant. Seeing their goals as aligned, Nicol Bolas recruited the ancient demon as his general and together they waged a vicious war.
4 The Maelstrom
The merging of magics occurred more and more until it manifested in a localized natural disaster. Swirling energy began to gather at the point where all the shards connected. It grew increasingly violent until it became a raging storm of the magic of all five colors.
This combination of all kinds of magic resulted in the birth of many complex spells and powerful creatures possessing every type of mana.
3 Planeswalker Confrontation
The elder dragon Nicol Bolas saw the Maelstrom swelling with mana and he hungrily began to consume it for power. Though, he was interrupted by Ajani Goldmane, a leonin Planeswalker from the Naya shard of Alara. Before Bolas could fully consume all of the Maelstrom’s energy, Ajani severed the links feeding the storm and absorbed the last remaining bit of mana into himself. Following this, the leonin warrior used this five-colored power to force Nicol Bolas off of the plane of Alara, ending the dragon’s warmongering.
2 The Expansion
With the expansion release tied to the story of Alara, Wizards of the Coast decided to make this entire section of their media as immersive as possible. Each shard of Alara was assigned a different team of artists in order to make each area of this plane feel like a unique locale. When the various factions clashed, this difference in art direction made the collision of colors much more vibrant and defined, allowing those experiencing the story via the card art and descriptions of this set to truly feel the impact of the war on Alara.
1 Return To Alara
The part of MTG‘s story when Alara was the focus occurred during a time when Wizards had a very particular writing strategy. The writers would focus on a plane, have something incredible happen, and then undo this happening so that everything returned to normal. The most interesting part of these arcs is the section when conflict is at the highest, so after writing a conclusion to said conflicts, it can be difficult to find an intriguing enough reason to return. Furthermore, with the variety of colors apparent on Alara, coming up with new cards and sets is more of a challenge for designers. Despite these two factors, fans the world over still love this setting, which means that another Alara-focused expansion may not be out of the question in the near future.
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