The Vorthos Cast

We're back! After a long holiday break, the cast is back together with a very special author interview: Jay Annelli, author of Magic the Gathering: The Visual Guide, an in-depth exploration of Magic's lore full of character details, gorgeous art, and even some hints at the upcoming return to New Phyrexia. If you want to support the podcast, you can join our Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast! You could also support Jay's book by ordering it from your local bookstore. You can also buy it on some big websites but, like, don't you want to support your local bookstores, especially comic and gaming shops? It's not like you need this book today. You can wait a little while, it's okay.

The year of 2022 comes to a close! With some of the greatest Magic story content in recent history, 2022 was an incredible year for Vorthoses around the world. We get the whole cast together before our mandated two-week paid holiday vacation time. We discuss our thoughts on all the juicy story content that started with Kamigawa and ended with a sibling rivalry for the ages. If you enjoy our show, thank you! We really do deeply appreciate it when you tell us you like the show or show it to your friends. If you wanna give us a gift, you could subscribe to our Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast, where $1/month gets you on our Discord server to talk about compleated planeswalkers or Boom! comics or the newest story releases. But since it's a traditional time of year to give gifts to people you love, consider maybe tossing $12 at someone and telling them to sub to us for a whole year. That's some free gift advice from your ol' pal, editor Chris. It's a real cheap and easy way to give two gifts at once. Anyway

The second major arc of the Boom! Studios Magic comics has come to its close, and we're covering issues 16 through 20! Chandra, Garruk, and Niko must gather allies and return to Ravnica to save their friends and the multiverse from Tezzeret's (somewhat familiar) diabolic plans to become a god once more! How good are these comics, though? They're really incredible work. If you enjoy the Boom! comics, go buy them from your local comic book shop! If you enjoy our podcast, go buy our love by giving us between $1 and $3 a month on Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast! We won't love you, but you can pretend we do!

It's time for our flavor gems of The Brothers' War! This set, and it's accompanying Commander release, is so full of flavor that it's truly a triumph of storytelling through the cards alone. We cover as many important characters and their cards as we can and traipse through all 40 of the Story Spotlights in their chronological order. If you think we missed out on any of your favorite flavor gems of the set, let us know which cards you think were the most delicious! If you want to support the Vorthos Cast, you can just give us a five-star review on your app of choice, share our podcast with a friend, or just tell some stranger you meet on the street how cool you think we are. You can also give us some money, the highest form of flattery, at www.Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast!

The story of the Antiquities War, the war between Urza and Mishra, between the two brothers whose conflict shaped the future of Dominaria and the multiverse as we know it, is well documented. Records of their battles and the machinations have been held close for millennia. But this story, the five episodes written by Miguel Lopez, tell the story of the war outside of the lives of the two brothers, the war that ravaged the land of Terisiare and its people for decades. This is what happens in those stories, though you should read them yourselves. If you want to support the podcast, consider joining our Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast. If you want to find us on social media, well, listen to the end of the episode! We're still on Twitter, for now, at twitter.com/TheVorthosCast.

We're joined this week by the author Reinhardt Suarez, writer of the stories set in the present of the Magic story! He shares with us the experience of bringing these characters together, working with the story team at Magic, and how he got ready to write monumentally important characters for such a pivotal story. If you want to keep up with Reinhardt's writing, check out his website, www.thereinhardtexperience.com. If you want to support the podcast, you can find us on Patreon at www.Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast, where $1 a month gets you access to our Discord community, and $3 a month gets you on our live listen tier where you can listen to the show recorded live, and sometimes extra content that's cut from the final release!

The story of The Brothers' War echoes through time as the past confronts the present and the present slips back into the past. This week we're covering the present day stories by Reinhardt Suarez. While Teferi grapples with the past, Elspeth must battle with the present as the Coalition's planeswalkers must defend their bastion of hope. If you enjoy our podcast, please consider supporting us at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast! You can also follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/TheVorthosCast!

As the story of the Brother's War set has wrapped up, we look at the legends of the time period, from the warring brothers themselves to their loved ones and those few brave souls who tried to stand between them. Learn of the origins of the Golgothian Sylex, the first spellcasters of Terisiare, and the greatest artificers, and toymakers, of all Dominarian history. If you would like to support the podcast, follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/TheVorthosCast! You can also join our Patreon at www.Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast, where just $1 a month gets you access to our Discord server!

We sent a message out through the galaxy and our psionic trail has lead Ethan Fleischer, designer for Magic: the Gathering and long-time fan of Warhammer 40k, to our podcast. But we're not hear to discuss power-levels, color identity, or card designs. We need to take in all the lore possible to learn about the world of Warhammer, before the Tyranids absorb our biomass. If you'd like to support The Vorthos Cast, follow us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/TheVorthosCast! If you're looking to throw a few bones our way and fund our intergalactic empire, check out our Patreon at www.Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast.

This week, we discuss The Brothers' War that was, the 1998 novel by Jeff Grubb and the surrounding card sets and stories that told aspects of this monumental moment in Magic history, both in the story and outside of it. To know what to expect in the upcoming Magic set, you should know what's already been scribed into the annals of history. If you too want to be scribed into the annals of history, consider supporting us on Patreon at www.Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast!

As if reliving some ancestral memory, Beyond the Multiverse returns! In this episode, we have special guest Jay Annelli on to talk all about the lore of the Assassin's Creed just after Magic the Gathering announced that they'll have a special partnership with the long-running game series next year! Learn all about jumping from tall buildings, communing with alien spirits, and fist-fighting the pope! If you enjoy our show, join our Patreon at www.Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast where you can get access to our Discord server and give us suggestions for future Beyond the Multiverse episodes!

This week we're wrapping up all the stories from Dominaria United by discussing the three remaining side stories! We talk all about Squee's long relationship with death, the fall of the Weatherlight, and Niambi's work for peace. If you want to support the podcast and get access to our Discord server and more, join us at www.Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast!

It's time for the traditional Flavor Gems episode! This time we're going over our favorite gems from Dominaria United, a set with so many legends that we couldn't possibly cover them all, so we have to do our best to get as many delicious gems as we could into one episode. These gems have so much flavor. You should try some. Just take a bite. It's okay*. If you want to support the podcast and get access to our Discord server and more, join us at www.Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast! *Our lawyers want us to mention that you should not eat the delicious gems, regardless of how many planeswalker sparks they may or may not contain.

We're taking a quick detour away from the world of Dominaria and Magic's main canon storyline to cover the full miniseries of The Hidden Planeswalker from Boom! Studios Comics! Liliana and Tezzeret fight over the future of a planeswalker with a mysterious past, and we learn what it means to be a villain, and what it takes to be a hero. If you enjoy our podcast, consider supporting us on Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast where $1 a month gets you access to our very cool Discord server where Vorthoses from around the world are talking Magic story and comics!

Brian, Cary, and Chris join forces and tackle the final two episodes of the Dominaria United main story, "A Brutal Blow" and "A Whisper in the Wind," then share their honest opinions about the story, including how they felt about certain deaths and resurrections. But first, unhinged speculation! If you want to support Jin Gitaxias' wedding registry, go to https://www.patreon.com/thevorthoscast and pledge a dollar a month to get access to our discord!

This week we continue our summaries of the stories of Dominaria United with episodes 2 and 3, "Sand in the Hourglass" and "The Locked Tower" by Langley Hyde! We establish the major players of the story, see Karn's planeswalking prowess, and see Magic's take on John Carpenter's The Thing. The Phyrexians are here, and they're coming in force! If you enjoy our show, consider supporting us at https://www.patreon.com/thevorthoscast/ where all patrons will get access to our Discord server!

The cast sits down to talk about the first episode of Dominaria United and the Raven Man reveal in Homecoming. With Chris and Loreley away, the cast has on special guest VorthosNick!

One of our most exciting episodes yet, this week we're talking with Jeff Gomez, CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment, and one of the most influential writers of early Magic lore. Jared Carthalion, the Shard of Twelve Worlds, Tevesh Szat, and more: all iconic elements of Magic lore as important today as they were almost 30 years ago, and all brought to us by Jeff Gomez. We discuss what it was like writing for Magic in its early days, creating the Armada Comics stories, and how important transmedia storytelling has become to media of all kinds today. We also talk, briefly, about the side story "The Education of Ulf" by Brian Evenson, which features Jared Carthalion and Geyadrone Dihada, both first seen in the Armada comics line, You can follow Jeff Gomez on Twitter @Jeff_Gomez. If you enjoy our show and want to support us, you can become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/thevorthoscast! Everyone who supports gets access to our Discord server.

We have a special free preview for Dominaria United, provided to us by Wizards of the Coast, who wanted to watch us, specifically, suffer. We are sadly introducing everyone to the terror that is the Sheoldred's Restoration and the heartbreak of Extinguish the Light. Check out our Twitter at twitter.com/TheVorthosCast for full card images and art! If you want to support the cast, you can join us at www.patreon.com/thevorthoscast! We won't be compleat without your support!

The last part of our Dominaria retrospective series. This week we're looking at the Great Mending and the first time we returned to Dominaria after a long time away, the 2018 Dominaria set with story by Martha Wells. If you've appreciated our series on the history of Dominaria and want to support the show, you can join us on Patreon at www.patreon.com/thevorthoscast!