The Vorthos Cast

2025 was one of the best years for Magic story ever, with huge hits like Edge of Eternities and Tarkir: Dragonstorm alongside announcements for a new novel and comic book line. This week, we're go through everything Vorthos from last year and discuss the hits and misses for worldbuilding, narrative, and story releases. Where did Magic excel and where did it fall flat? And what the **** was that D&D supplement? For all our Patreon supporters, thank you all so much for another year of The Vorthos Cast! We wouldn't be able to do it without you! Even just $1 a month is enough to let us know you value our podcast in your lives and that keeps us going. You're the best! If you aren't a Patreon supporter, you can be! It's easy! Go to Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast and give us $1 a month to access our Discord server and listen to episodes early! That's only $12 in a year, which is less than the cost of one digital copy of Lorwyn: First Light! You could spend that money on us instead and get like 50 hours of podcast where we won't even tell you to go buy a second podcast to understand the first one. For $3 a week you can listen to us record live and hear our thoughts on the Justice League and baseball.

Welcome to 2026! We're starting the year by finishing the story of Lorwyn Eclipsed, wherein we learn the true identity of a mischievous blue and green faerie and say goodbye to an old friend. And, yes, we will briefly discuss that last scene of the story. You know the one. If you want to read the story, and you definitely do, go to MTGStory.com and read it! It's good! If you want to support the Vorthos Cast, you can! Go to Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast and contribute as little as $1 a month to get access to our Discord server, as well as early episode releases! And for $3 a month, you can listen to episodes recorded live on Thursday nights at 7pm Eastern time! We'd love to have you. Our Patreon supporters keep the podcast free and ad-free.

We return this week to the story of Lorwyn: Eclipsed! All episodes of the main story are out, but for part 2 of our discussion we'll be talking about episodes 4 and 5. A lot happens to our cast of characters in these two chapters, including the return of Ashling to the story and the introduction of a very mean elf! We'll be away for the holidays next weekend, so no regular episode until January 5th! If you want to read the story, and you definitely do, go to MTGStory.com and read it! It's good! If you want to support the Vorthos Cast, you can! Go to Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast and contribute as little as $1 a month to get access to our Discord server, as well as early episode releases! And for $3 a month, you can listen to episodes recorded live on Thursday nights at 7pm Eastern time! We'd love to have you. Our Patreon supporters keep the podcast free and ad-free.

Welcome to our first episode discussing the story of Lorwyn: Eclipsed! We're talking about episodes 1 through 3 this week. All parts of the main story of Lorwyn Eclipsed are written by the amazing returning author Seanan McGuire. They tell the story of four unfortunate students from Strixhaven who literally fall into Lorwyn thanks to a mischievous fae and accidentally disturb the cycle of Morningtide and Eventide that has kept the plane in balance since the fall of Oona. If you want to read the story, and you definitely do, go to MTGStory.com and read it! It's good! If you want to support the Vorthos Cast, you can! Go to Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast and contribute as little as $1 a month to get access to our Discord server, as well as early episode releases! And for $3 a month, you can listen to episodes recorded live on Thursday nights at 7pm Eastern time! We'd love to have you. Our Patreon supporters keep the podcast free and ad-free.

The story of Lorwyn: Eclipsed begins today on mtgstory.com! But before you go and read that, we're checking in with the Dark Horse Comics Untold Stories series with the first two issues of Untold Stories: Elspeth! This series tells the story of Theros Beyond Death with incredible art and writing. You can read issue #1 now, and issue #2... well, we'll talk about it! If you want to support the Vorthos Cast, you can! Go to Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast and contribute as little as $1 a month to get access to our Discord server, as well as early episode releases! And for $3 a month, you can listen to episodes recorded live on Thursday nights at 7pm Eastern time! We'd love to have you. Our Patreon supporters keep the podcast free and ad-free.

Last week, D&D and Magic smashed together to give us a setting supplemental for D&D that gives you tools to play a game in the world of Lorwyn-Shadowmoor. This $15 digital-only release on DNDBeyond has some new stat blocks, playable species, and backgrounds. Emphasis on the "some." For this week's episode, we're going to tell you what you can find in this little book and if we think you should buy it. If you want to support the Vorthos Cast, you can! Go to Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast and contribute as little as $1 a month to get access to our Discord server, as well as early episode releases! And for $3 a month, you can listen to episodes recorded live on Thursday nights at 7pm Eastern time! We'd love to have you. Our Patreon supporters keep the podcast free and ad-free.

We continue to delve into the past of Lorwyn-Shadowmoor in preparation for Lorwyn Eclipsed, and this week we decided to take a look at the flavor gems of a block (or two, depending on who you ask) that came long before the Vorthos Cast existed! We talk about the cycles, standout cards, and our cast favorites from Lorwyn, Morningtide, Shadowmoor, and Eventide! And, of course, a little speculation on what might return in Lorwyn Eclipsed.

How has Lorwyn-Shadowmoor changed since our first visit? We're digging in on major highlights from the Planeswalker's Guide to understand how the world has fared, and what aurora-evading trickery awaits on the twinned plane. To close our discussion, we indulge in a healthy dose of story speculation for Lorwyn Eclipsed and the finale year of this arc. If you want to support the Vorthos Cast, you can! Go to Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast and contribute as little as $1 a month to get access to our Discord server, as well as early episode releases! And for $3 a month, you can listen to episodes recorded live on Thursday nights at 7pm Eastern time! We'd love to have you. Our Patreon supporters keep the podcast free and ad-free.

With the story for Lorwyn Eclipsed only a month away, we're taking our dear listeners into the past to tell the story of our first (and only) trip to the plane of Lorwyn. We follow Rhys, Ashling, Maralen, Brigid, the sapling of Colfenor, and nearly every other named legendary creature from original Lorwyn-Shadowmoor block on their adventure to stop Oona and end the Great Aurora's influence over the plane. If you want to support the Vorthos Cast, you can! Go to Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast and contribute as little as $1 a month to get access to our Discord server, as well as early episode releases! And for $3 a month, you can listen to episodes recorded live on Thursday nights at 7pm Eastern time! We'd love to have you. Our Patreon supporters keep the podcast free and ad-free.

With Lorwyn Eclipsed on the horizon, we turn our attention to the plane of faeries and boggarts, elves and kithkin, and its shadowy second self, Shadowmoor. To get everyone prepared for this field trip, we've put together an overview of the worldbuilding of the plane as it was, before the end of Oona's reign and the invasion of Phyrexia. Next week, we'll tell you all about that quest to unseat the faerie queen... If you want to support the Vorthos Cast, you can! Go to Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast and contribute as little as $1 a month to get access to our Discord server, as well as early episode releases! And for $3 a month, you can listen to episodes recorded live on Thursday nights at 7pm Eastern time! We'd love to have you. Our Patreon supporters keep the podcast free and ad-free.

It's Halloween season, so the podcast has decided it's the perfect time to share our thoughts on horror in Magic story, as well as some of our favorite scary stories that you can read for free on the Magic Story website. Read these: "His Eyes, All of Them" by Margaret Killjoy: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/his-eyes-all-them-2021-09-17 "Sacrifice" by Michael Yichao: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/sacrifice-2016-03-23 "The Blight We Were Born For" by Ken Troop: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/blight-we-were-born-2016-01-13 "Grasp in the Dark" by RJ Taylor: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/edge-of-eternities-grasp-in-the-dark "Children of the Carnival" by Mira Grant: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/side-two-children-of-the-carnival-part-1 and https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/side-three-children-of-the-carnival-part-2

This is an unusual Flavor Gems episode for us, as this is an unusual set for Magic! We're exploring the planes (and the Edge of those planes) this week to talk about the online exclusive Through the Omenpaths set! This set is a reskin of the Marvel's Spider-Man set, presenting a challenge to the creative team behind it to somehow make 25 unique representations of the "human spider" creature type line. Did they succeed? Well, it's complicated! If you want to support the Vorthos Cast, you can! Go to Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast and contribute as little as $1 a month to get access to our Discord server, as well as early episode releases! And for $3 a month, you can listen to episodes recorded live on Thursday nights at 7pm Eastern time! We'd love to have you. Our Patreon supporters keep the podcast free and ad-free.

Last weekend we went down to Georgia (or, well, were already in Georgia) to attend MagicCon Atlanta! A lot of exciting news was announced, including upcoming sets and the upcoming novel by Seanan McGuire! Listen along as our hosts (including new co-host Henn!) talk about their weekend of fun and games in Atlanta and tell you what you need to know about 2026 in Magic. Preorder Strixhaven: Omens of Chaos at your favorite bookstore: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/747400/strixhaven-omens-of-chaos-magic-the-gathering-by-seanan-mcguire/ If you want to support the podcast and help us get to more Magic events, you can join our Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast! Every member gets access to early episode releases and our Discord server for as low as $1 a month, and for $3 a month you can listen as we record our episodes live at 7pm EST on Thursday evenings!

This week we're joined by the incredible Seth Dickinson, author of Exordia, The Traitor Baru Cormorant, and most notably for us, the story for Edge of Eternities. We talk about the process of writing a brand new universe for Magic, the genesis of the End Stone's narration, and how Mallowmass became the economic structure of Pinnacle. Seth also shared with us some really incredibly cool designs commissioned as inspiration for the Seriema, which look very different from the art direction of the set. You can see an example in this episode's art. If you want to support the Vorthos Cast, you can! Go to Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast and contribute as little as $1 a month to get access to our Discord server, as well as early episode releases! And for $3 a month, you can listen to episodes recorded live on Thursday nights at 7pm Eastern time! We'd love to have you. Our Patreon supporters keep the podcast free and ad-free.

This week's episode is a special panel discussion! We have guests Henn (@iwriterobots) and Valerie Valdes (author of the Lost Caverns of Ixalan and Bloomburrow stories) alongside host Loreley as panelists to discuss the act of writing personal fiction, fanfiction, and even paid IP work, including the importance of a writing community. Want to find the MTG Writer's Discord? Go follow Henn on Bluesky at @iwriterobots.com. And you can follow Valerie's blog at https://candleinsunshine.com where you can learn all about Witch You Would and Valerie's Chilling Effect Sci-Fi series! There are some audio errors in this episode, but that's what happens when you record four people across the internet. If you want to support the Vorthos Cast, you can! Go to Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast and contribute as little as $1 a month to get access to our Discord server, as well as early episode releases! And for $3 a month, you can listen to episodes recorded live on Thursday nights at 7pm Eastern time! We'd love to have you. Our Patreon supporters keep the podcast free and ad-free.

This week, we're delving deeper into the Edge and talking about the metacosmology of this universe outside of the multiverse. How does the Edge exist in relationship to the Multiverse? What makes a star? How does faster than light travel work within Magic's outer-outer space? These are just some questions we answer in this episode. To support the Vorthos Cast on future missions in the Edge, please consider joining our Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast, where members get access to the podcast Discord channel and early episode releases.

We're putting a spotlight on a member of the greater Vorthosium this week with special guest Henn (@iwriterobots) to talk about robots in Magic! The Edge was full of delightful mechans, so we asked friend of the show Henn on to talk about what it means to be a robot, why robots in the Edge are so cool, and if you should be kissing them (yes). To support the Vorthos Cast on future missions in the Edge, please consider joining our Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast, where members get access to the podcast Discord channel and early episode releases.

Our expedition through the Edge has brought us to Sothera, where we have conducted extensive research into the planets and peoples that make up this supervoid system. Last week, we explored the different lifeforms in all their complexity, and this week we are delving into the depths of the planets themselves to learn about the secrets they hold and the organizations that vie for control of them. To support the Vorthos Cast on future missions in the Edge, please consider joining our Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast, where members get access to the podcast Discord channel and early episode releases.

With the stories behind us, we may now confidently embark on our mission of mapping the world(s) of the Edge, starting with an overview of the lifeforms we may find out in the exoverse. From Astelli to Vaar, the space outside of the multiverse is full of diverse life, and we're covering all the ones encountered within the Sothera system. To support the Vorthos Cast on future missions in the Edge, please consider joining our Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast, where members get access to the podcast Discord channel and early episode releases.

It's time for your routine sustenance break! Nutrients will be delivered via audio signals. Yum! It's our regular Flavor Gems episode, but now in space! Edge of Eternities provided us with so many incredible cards telling their stories through mechanics and art. We covered as many as we could, but there are still so many discoveries to be made. To support the Vorthos Cast on future missions in the Edge, please consider joining our Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast, where members get access to the podcast Discord channel and early episode releases.