The Worlds of Magic Origins
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Alara (Bant) | Dominaria | Innistrad | Kaladesh | Lorwyn
Ravnica | Regatha | Theros | Vryn | Zendikar
The Magic Multiverse is a boundless expanse of worlds, each different from the last. These worlds, called planes, differ as wildly as imagination allows. It is these many planes of existence that form the diverse settings of Magic's ongoing storyline. While average beings are unaware of worlds beyond their own, Planeswalkers know the greater truth: Each plane is but one of many, with unique mana and magic that could be theirs to control.
Expansion sets typically have a single setting; every card in a set—usually every card in a given block of sets—shows creatures, spells, and locations from a single plane of existence. Core sets like Magic 2015, on the other hand, embrace the diversity of Magic's history, showcasing cards set on many worlds.
Magic Origins is a core set, but it's built around the origin stories of five Planeswalkers: Gideon Jura (formerly Kytheon Iora), Jace Beleren, Liliana Vess, Chandra Nalaar, and Nissa Revane. Each of them has a home plane, and each of them unlocked their potential as a Planeswalker and traveled to a new plane.
Those ten worlds—five home planes, five destination planes—form the core of Magic Origins. In the set, each of those worlds is strongly associated with two colors. Cards in the set that are from that world are concentrated in those two colors, although not confined to them. For example, Chandra's home plane of Kaladesh is focused in blue and red in Origins, but the green card Caustic Caterpillar hails from Kaladesh as well.
Today, we'll take a stroll through the ten worlds of Magic Origins and show some of the cards that depict each one. Where available, we'll also point you toward further reading to learn more about each plane.
Alara (Bant)
An orderly paradise, one of the five shard-planes of Alara.
Role in Origins: Gideon Jura's destination plane
Associated colors in Origins: Green and white
The five shards of what was once the plane of Alara were separate worlds for centuries, each one flowing with only three colors of mana. Sundered by some unknown cataclysm, their environments and cultures evolved independently, completely unaware of one another's existence.
Bant was just one of these five shards. Imbued with green, white, and blue mana, it was completely devoid of black and red. Phenomena associated with those colors, like fire and death, still existed on Bant, but the magic and philosophy of red and black were almost entirely absent.
Gideon, Battle-Forged | Art by Willian Murai
Alara has since been reunited, and Bant is now one region on a larger plane. But at the time of Gideon's arrival, Bant was entirely isolated—a lush paradise whose hardships were few and minor.
Jhessian Thief | Art by Miles Johnston
The island nation of Jhess runs the eastern coast of Bant. Jhessians are famous navigators and have the finest navy in Bant.
Valeron Wardens | Art by Howard Lyon
Valeron stretches along the southern coast of Bant, a land of vast rolling plains dotted with copses of trees. Valeron is famed for the expertise of its cavalry and is home to the Sun-Dappled Court.
Topan Freeblade | Art by Johannes Voss
In Bant's central savannahs lie the Inner Three nations of Topa, Eos, and Akrasa.
Citadel Castellan | Art by Anastasia Ovchinnikova
Swift Reckoning | Art by Chris Rahn
The mount of choice for Bantian knights is the leotau, a huge hoofed cat.
Stalwart Aven | Art by Scott Murphy
Rhox Maulers | Art by Zoltan Boros
In addition to its human residents, Bant is home to aven and the rhino-like humanoids called rhox.
Sigil of Valor | Art by Dan Scott
Patron of the Valiant | Art by Steve Argyle
Acts of extraordinary nobility and courage are rewarded with sigils, bestowed upon worthy souls by Bant's serene, graceful angels.
To learn more about Bant, visit the Alara plane page.
Dominaria
A storied world filled with mysteries and secrets, the setting of many early Magic storylines.
Role in Origins: Liliana Vess's home plane
Associated colors in Origins: White and black
Magic's first established setting is a massive and highly varied world with a long, rich history. We last saw it in Time Spiral block, when it had been ravaged by temporal disaster and mana depletion.
Liliana, Heretical Healer | Art by Karla Ortiz
Liliana hails from the Caligo Forest, a relative backwater. It's a bleak place, although Liliana's time on Dominaria predates the total depletion of the world's mana and the crisis of Time Spiral block.
Cleric of the Forward Order | Art by Chris Rallis
Healing Hands | Art by Josu Hernaiz
Liliana was a member of the Forward Order, a holy order of clerics devoted to the healing arts.
Aven Battle Priest | Art by John Severin Brassell
Goblin Piledriver | Art by Matt Cavotta
Blood-Cursed Knight | Art by Winona Nelson
Dominaria is home to a huge variety of sapient species, including humans, aven, goblins, orcs, elves, merfolk, vampires, and many more.
Shadows of the Past | Art by Ryan Yee
Dominaria's long history is marred by frequent conflict and devastation, and reminders of that troubled past still linger. Perhaps most prominently, the plane was invaded by the mechanical horrors of Phyrexia, long before that dark contagion rose again on the plane of Mirrodin.
Yavimaya Coast | Art by Anthony S. Waters
Llanowar Wastes | Art by Rob Alexander
Shivan Reef | Art by Rob Alexander
Dominaria is home to many famous locations from Magic's past, including the forests of Yavimaya and Llanowar, the mountainous island-continent of Shiv, the swamps of Urborg, and the rolling plains of Benalia.
To learn more about Dominaria, visit the Dominaria plane page.
Innistrad
A gloomy world, protected by angels but beset by monsters and necromancers.
Role in Origins: Liliana Vess's destination plane
Associated colors in Origins: Blue and black
Even when it was under the protection of the archangel Avacyn, Innistrad was a world where zombies, vampires, werewolves, and restless spirits called geists threatened to overrun humanity.
Liliana, Defiant Necromancer | Art by Karla Ortiz
Originally a healer by training, Liliana immersed herself in the art of necromancy during her time on Innistrad.
Possessed Skaab | Art by John Stanko
There are two distinct types of zombies on Innistrad. Skaabs are stitched together from multiple corpses by the mad experimenters called skaberen. Some skaberen even bind malevolent geists into their vile creations.
Cruel Revival | Art by Miles Johnston
The other type of Innistrad zombies, ghouls are more traditional zombies raised directly from the dead by ghoulcallers. Lacking the patience for stitching, Liliana prefers ghouls.
Consecrated by Blood | Art by John Stanko
Urbane but cruel, Innistrad's vampires rule as nobility in the province of Stensia.
Call of the Full Moon | Art by Nils Hamm
Somberwald Alpha | Art by Filip Burburan
In the hinterlands of Kessig, werewolves and more mundane threats render the roads unsafe.
To learn more about Innistrad, visit the Innistrad plane page.
Kaladesh
A world of intricate artifice where consuls control the flow of Aether.
Role in Origins: Chandra Nalaar's home plane
Associated colors in Origins: Blue and red
Chandra's home plane of Kaladesh makes its debut in Magic Origins.
Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh | Art by Eric Deschamps
On Kaladesh, natural mages like Chandra are rare. Work that would be done with magic on other planes is instead accomplished through devices that harness the power of raw Aether.
Ghirapur Gearcrafter | Art by Adame Minguez
Thopter Engineer | Art by Steve Prescott
Pia and Kiran Nalaar | Art by Eric Deschamps
Artifice is an enormously important part of life on Kaladesh, particularly in the city of Ghirapur. The free spirits among the artificers, however, sometimes run afoul of the law.
Consul's Lieutenant | Art by Daarken
Thopter Spy Network | Art by Jung Park
Thought usually not oppressive, the consul's forces and works are nearly omnipresent.
Bonded Construct | Art by Craig J Spearing
Guardian Automaton | Art by Vincent Proce
Chief of the Foundry | Art by Daniel Ljunggren
Artifacts on Kaladesh are built as much for beauty as for function.
Caustic Caterpillar | Art by Jack Wang
Mountain | Art by Noah Bradley
Mountain | Art by Noah Bradley
Artifice on Kaladesh exists in harmony with the environment, and the creatures of Kaladesh have adapted to its presence.
To learn more about Kaladesh, read Chandra's Origin: Fire Logic.
Lorwyn
An idyllic, sunlit storybook world that harbors a hidden dark side.
Role in Origins: Nissa Revane's destination plane
Associated colors in Origins: Green and black
By the standards of the Multiverse at large, the plane of Lorwyn is serene and quiet. But every world harbors conflict, and Lorwyn is no exception. Nissa Revane's time on the plane took a dark turn in short order as she learned more about the Lorwyn elves' beliefs—but that's not the only nasty surprise the plane had in store for her.
Forest | Art by Jonas De Ro
Forest | Art by Jonas De Ro
The beautiful forests of Lorwyn are home to elves and treefolk, as well as the enigmatic changelings.
Gnarlroot Trapper | Art by Christopher Moeller
The elves of Lorwyn are horned and hooved. Like their cousins on other planes, they are associated with green mana and tend to the forest. Moreso than other elves, however, they have an affinity for black mana as well.
Boggart Brute | Art by Igor Kieryluk
Lorwyn's goblins, known at boggarts, are innocent tricksters. They value new sensations above all else. Boggart leaders, regardless of gender, are known as aunties.
Dwynen's Elite | Art by Lius Lasahido
Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen | Art by Johannes Voss
Lorwyn elves prize beauty above all else. Within elf society, social rank is based on beauty.
Gather the Pack | Art by Igor Kieryluk
Eyeblight Assassin | Art by Dan Scott
Elves refer to non-elves as "eyeblights." Boggarts are especially hated, and are massacred in organized hunts.
The Great Aurora | Art by Sam Burley
Lorwyn's darkest secret, unknown even to its inhabitants, was its periodic transition to the dark fairytale world of Shadowmoor. Constant sunlight was replaced by endless night, and all of Lorwyn's inhabitants became dark mirrors of themselves with no memory of their lives on the other side of the Aurora. Only the elves—cruel and vain in Lorwyn—were less sinister in Shadowmoor, becoming noble protectors of that shadowy world's few remaining beautiful things.
To learn more about Lorwyn and its dark counterpart, visit the Lorwyn / Shadowmoor plane page.
Ravnica
A cosmopolitan city-world ruled by ten ancient guilds.
Role in Origins: Jace Beleren's destination plane
Associated colors in Origins: Green and blue
For over ten thousand years, civilization on Ravnica thrived under the auspices of ten guilds. Each was aligned with two colors of mana, bound by a magically enforced governing contract known as the Guildpact.
Later, the Guildpact would be broken, the guilds would be thrown into turmoil, and Jace Beleren would be empowered as the Living Guildpact—the arbiter of the ten guilds' conflicts. At the time of his first visit, however, all of that was still years in the future.
Knightly Valor | Art by Matt Stewart
The Azorius Senate, aligned with white and blue mana and led by the sphinx Isperia, creates and enforces law on Ravnica with an eye toward fairness and structure. Their counterparts, the red and white Boros Legion, are also empowered to enforce the law; they choose to do so from a more practical, street-level perspective.
Nightsnare | Art by Min Yum
House Dimir, aligned with blue and black mana, is a highly secretive group of infiltrators, assassins, and information brokers. At the time of Jace's arrival, it was widely believed that House Dimir had long ago ceased to exist. In fact, its agents were still very much active. Here, you can see one of them stealing the memories of a priest of the Orzhov Syndicate, a group aligned with white and black mana that's somewhere between a church, a bank, and a crime ring.
Infectious Bloodlust | Art by Zoltan Boros
The Cult of Rakdos, aligned with black and red mana, is an endless carnival of depraved revelry. Their leader is an ancient demon named Rakdos, who slumbers much of the time but occasionally awakens to wreak havoc.
Scab-Clan Berserker | Art by Dave Kendall
The Gruul Clans are aligned with red and green mana. Alone on an entirely urban plane, they abhor civilization and seek to overthrow the established order.
Conclave Naturalists | Art by Howard Lyon
Members of the Selesnya Conclave, aligned with green and white mana, are collectivist protectors of the carefully tended natural areas that remain on Ravnica.
Mizzium Meddler | Art by Johann Bodin
The Izzet League, led by the vain and ingenious dragon Niv-Mizzet, is a guild of wild experimenters aligned with blue and red mana. Their signature creation is mizzium, a magical metal with extraordinary properties.
Deadbridge Shaman | Art by Nils Hamm
Undercity Troll | Art by Jason Felix
The Golgari Swarm, aligned with green and black mana, is utterly committed to the cycle of life and death. They reuse and recycle everything from nutrients to corpses, performing a vital function that no one in the city wants to think too hard about.
Battering Krasis | Art by Jack Wang
The blue-green Simic Combine is a guild of bio-magical experimenters, creating ever more bizarre new life in their quest for biological perfection.
To learn more about Ravnica, visit the Ravnica plane page.
Regatha
A rugged world where a monastery of fire-mages hone their craft.
Role in Origins: Chandra Nalaar's destination plane
Associated colors in Origins: Black and red
Relatively little is known about Regatha, Chandra Nalaar's adopted plane. Notably, it's home to Keral Keep, a monastery of fire-monks where Chandra trained as a pyromancer. Other prominent locations include the Great Western Wood, home to reclusive elves, and the city of Zinara, ruled by a religious faction known as the Order of Heliud. Planeswalkers who are aware of both the Order of Heliud on Regatha and the sun god Heliod on Theros, such as Gideon, speculate that there may be some connection between the two—but no concrete association has so far presented itself.
Mountain | Art by Sam Burley
Mountain | Art by Sam Burley
Not all of Regatha is mountainous, but the highlands surrounding Keral Keep are extremely rugged.
Embermaw Hellion | Art by James Paick
Blazing Hellhound | Art by Eric Velhagen
The wildlife that lives near Keral Keep is extremely dangerous, infused with the fiery power of the volcanically active mountains.
Acolyte of the Inferno | Art by Joseph Meehan
Abbot of Keral Keep | Art by Deruchenko Alexander
The residents of Keral Keep take a monastic approach to the study of fire magic, rendering them unusually serene and cerebral for practitioners of the volatile art. Like other pyromancers, however, they are unpredictable and extremely dangerous.
Pyromancer's Goggles | Art by James Paick
The founding of Keral Keep was inspired by a long-ago visit from another planeswalking pyromancer, the now-legendary Jaya Ballard. Jaya herself lacked the patience to found or maintain a monastery, but the monks well remember her "teachings"—mere sayings, really, and in fact much more like quips. Though she left Regatha long ago and didn't return, her trademark goggles wound up as one of the monastery's sacred relics—a fact that, if she knew about it, Jaya would find either hilarious or infuriating.
Theros
A plane steeped in myth, menaced by monsters, and watched over by gods.
Role in Origins: Gideon Jura's home plane
Associated colors in Origins: Red and white
Home to gods, heroes, and monsters, the world of Theros has a unique cosmology and a pantheon of deities who intervene regularly in mortal life. Although many of the Multiverse's "gods" prove to be misunderstandings or deceptions, it is difficult to argue that the gods of Theros are anything other than truly divine.
Kytheon, Hero of Akros | Art by Willian Murai
Gideon Jura—then called Kytheon Iora—grew up on Theros, raised on tales of the gods and their champions.
Starfield of Nyx | Art by Tyler Jacobson
Above Theros, rather than stars, lies Nyx, the night sky. Its ever-shifting constellations display the myths and legends of the past—sometimes the very recent past—and it is home to the gods, truly divine beings who thrive on the belief of mortals.
Erebos's Titan | Art by Peter Mohnbacher
Beneath Theros is the Underworld, where the souls of mortals go when they die. Those few who return do so by giving up their faces and their memories, hidden behind golden masks. Even then, Erebos, the god of the dead, is jealous, and sends his servants out into the world to retrieve those who escape his grasp.
Iroas's Champion | Art by Marco Nelor
War Oracle | Art by Steve Prescott
The humans of Theros mostly live in city-states, or polises. There are three major polises: Akros, associated with red and white mana and home to fierce-hearted soldiers; Meletis, a coastal city of white and blue mana famed for its philosophers and mages; and Setessa, a green- and white-aligned forest settlement of warriors and mystics.
Enlightened Ascetic | Art by James Zapata
Pharika's Disciple | Art by Karl Kopinski
Kytheon's Tactics | Art by Raymond Swanland
Lightning Javelin | Art by Seb McKinnon
In addition to humans, Theros is home to leonin, centaurs, satyrs, merfolk (called tritons), minotaurs, harpies, sirens, cyclopes, giants, kraken, and the masked zombies known as the Returned.
Magmatic Insight | Art by Ryan Barger
Empowered by the gods, the mages of Theros are capable of astonishing works of spellcraft.
To learn more about Theros, visit the Theros plane page.
Vryn
An embattled plane where rival factions fight for control of the enormous, mana-channeling mage rings.
Role in Origins: Jace Beleren's home plane
Associated colors in Origins: White and blue
Mage-Ring Network | Art by Jung Park
Ringwarden Owl | Art by Titus Lunter
Mage-Ring Responder | Art by Adam Paquette
Vryn's most salient feature is its network of mage-rings, enormous structures that channel mana from the outlying areas to the politically powerful Core States. The age and origin of the plane's mage-rings are unknown, and many are in disrepair.
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy | Art by Jaime Jones
Jace grew up as a "ringer," one of the inhabitants of the mage-rings. Large numbers of ring-mages are required to manage incoming mana pulses, which can arrive at any hour of the day or night. Jace's father was a ring-mage, and his mother was a healer whose skills were put to heavy use in the dangerous environment of the ring.
Ampryn Tactician | Art by Cynthia Sheppard
The Ampryn League, also called the Ampryn Core or the Core States, is the ascendant faction on Vryn. Situated at the nexus of the mage-ring network, they have access to a continent's worth of mana and bountiful mundane resources.
Separatist Voidmage | Art by Jason Rainville
Graveblade Marauder | Art by Jason Rainville
The Trovian Separatists are the rebel faction on Vryn. In theory, they fight for political independence from the Ampryn League. In practice, the fight largely revolves around who can seize control of contested strings of mage-rings.
To learn more about Vryn, read Jace's Origin: Absent Minds.
Zendikar
A world of dangerous terrain and wild mana, the prison of the monstrous Eldrazi.
Role in Origins: Nissa Revane's home plane
Associated colors in Origins: Red and green
Six thousand years ago, three Planeswalkers lured the three Eldrazi titans—horrific, world-devouring entities—to Zendikar, and trapped them there. Although its inhabitants forgot the Eldrazi, remembering them only in muddled legends and tales of three ancient gods, Zendikar never did. What was once a lush world became violent and unpredictable.
Recently, the Eldrazi reawakened, throwing the entire plane into turmoil and threatening it with complete destruction. Origins shows Zendikar as it was prior to the rise of the Eldrazi.
Nissa, Vastwood Seer | Art by Wesley Burt
Nissa was born into the Joraga nation, a fierce and practical tribe of elves.
Joraga Invocation | Art by Kieran Yanner
The Joraga saw themselves not as stewards of nature, but as survivors.
Animist's Awakening | Art by Chris Rahn
Nissa's Pilgrimage | Art by Matt Stewart
Vast and wild, Zendikar is as beautiful as it is deadly.
Zendikar Incarnate | Art by Lucas Graciano
In addition to unpredictable weather and sudden geological upheaval, Zendikar's restlessness manifests in the formation of powerful elementals as the land itself wakes to fury.
Runed Servitor | Art by Mike Bierek
Zendikar is home to countless ancient relics. Some, like the multifaceted stone "hedrons," are integral to the magic that bound the Eldrazi; others are more mysterious in purpose.
Nissa's Revelation | Art by Izzy
While most of Zendikar was completely unaware of the danger posed by the Eldrazi, Nissa experienced dire visions warning of their presence.
To learn more about Zendikar, visit the Zendikar plane page.