Want to know more about the world of Magic: The Gathering? Are you what Wizards of the Coast calls ‘a Vorthos’, drawn to MTG flavour, artwork, and worldbuilding? Then you’ll probably be interested to learn that Wizards is bringing back its official story podcast, which delves into the stories told by (and behind) Magic cards.
A revived version of a podcast Wizards stopped making in 2018, the new iteration of The Magic Story Podcast will first delve into the Phyrexia Arc storyline, which runs from Dominaria United to MTG March of the Machine. After a four year hiatus, Wizards has suddenly dropped 10 episodes in one go, bringing us up to The Brothers’ War. Each of the four sets in the Phyrexia arc will have five episodes dedicated to its lore – each one counting as a complete ‘season’.
The new hosts of the Magic Story Podcast are Harless Snyder (product marketing manager) and Natalie Kreider (game producer). They describe the podcast as “a quick way to catch up on the latest plot” providing “insights into the backstories of key characters so that you don’t have to catch up on the past 30 years of Magic.”
According to the Wizard’s website, it was the right time to bring the show back because Magic is now “‘compleating’” rich story arcs”. This might indicate an ongoing greater commitment to storytelling in Magic. Certainly, plot has been more of a focus of late – since the return of story articles. Magic’s story has been told pretty well for a while – since Kamigawa Neon Dynasty, we would say.