What Happens in Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths? 

Hello everyone, and thanks for stopping by to learn the story behind the cards in Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths! I just wanted to answer a few of the more commonly asked questions- 1. "It's clearly General Kudro in Heartless Act, look at the crystal on his shoulder!" Ok this isn't a question but it has come up several times now and I am personally not convinced it's the General because if you look at General's Enforcer and even Drannith Healer you'll see a lot of their uniforms have the same crystal in the same spot, so I don't think we can conclusively say Act shows Kudro. But even so, why not just...show his face? Why make it look like it could have been anyone instead of showing that it was definitely him rather than make it seem like he was there commentating on events? 2. "Could The Wanderer or Narset be the one messing with the Ozolith?" Highly unlikely. Neither would have much reason to antagonize the people of the plane. Narset was there to learn about the three color groupings of mana, which is similar to her home of Tarkir, and the Wanderer was just passing through which is why she only appears on a single card. The voice that comes from the Ozolith also speaks nothing like we've heard either of them talk in the past. It sounds closest to Oko but even that might be a stretch. I remain hopeful it is a new character, as nice as it would be to have a reason to explain the presence of Narset and Wanderer as cards in the set. 3. "Why is Lukka red? He seems more black." We've seen the curse of the Chain Veil add black to Garruk's identity, so it's not unreasonable that the Ozolith also acts as a dark influence on Lukka. As for why his card is only red, they have to balance the needs of the set (and standard as a whole) across the identity of the character. You could argue Lukka is full Mardu (that's red, black, and white) much like Jirina, but I am fine with them keeping his card just red if that's what works best in the overall design file. 3b. "Yeah but why is he RED?" Well, in some ways, Lukka is the most impulsive and action-oriented character in the story. He is easily influenced by events around him. He wants to chase down and kill a dinosaur without thinking about it, until the more calm and steady Vivien talks him out of it. Overall his tactics for fighting monsters are "ambush, then attack" which is almost an exclusively red way of fighting. He is also driven by passion (though you wouldn't see this in the cards) since most of his story is about getting home to the woman he loves, all of which give him big points for a red color identity, at least at his base. I suspect the next time we see him he'll be Red/Black though (even if that color space is overlapping with Angrath.) 4. "Did they really just copy How to Train your Dragon / Attack on Titan?" Well if you subscribe to the idea that there are only "so many different types of stories" then everything is a retelling of something else, but yes, this one does feel especially similar to two other somewhat popular franchises. This is extra odd to me because the source material was supposed to be Godzilla and monster films, and I see very little of those influences here at all. (Would expect something more like nature 'correcting' the mistakes of misguided scientists, for example.) 5. "Why has the Magic story gotten so dumb / Why would anyone follow this trainwreck / Magic has a story? LOL" Yeah it's cool to rip on something, I get it. But at the end of the day, I do think WotC and their story teams ARE trying. It is important that Magic have a story, because that helps people form connections between the cards, and flavor is a huge part of what makes this game WORK. "I move permanent 6178 to attack, it will reduce your point pool by 4 if you do not offer an intercept permanent" is boring compared to "I attack with my Glorybringer and he's going to deal four damage to your FACE if you don't BLOCK!" Overall I remain optimistic for the Magic story. I think they are venturing into new ground, with things like an MMO and Netflix show in the future. These are going to test the story in new and exciting ways, and while the comics have not turned out great (and the ebooks have been so-so, aside from Children of the Nameless) they haven't yet made any truly terrible missteps. This summer's Core Set should give us a bit of a breather, and then the return to Zendikar in the fall has a lot of opportunity to be the turning point for lore, once again. I can only tell you that in the mean time...you should "like" this video and subscribe to the channel so you don't miss the great stories that you'll only find here on Magic Arcanum! :-)

Ryan is escaping Covid-19 by recording in the Blind Eternities

i feel like the people designing the cards and the person writing the book never really communicated together much and i find that a bit irritating

Cards and Website: Lukka is a guard turned bonder that makes a close bond with a tiger that gets outcast and then leads the bonders in vengeance when the tiger is executed by the general he formerly followed and respected. Vivien supports him throughout. Book: Lukka is a power hungry psychopath that views monsters/animals only as tools to be used for the benefit of city/himself and ends up leading an attack on the city with a bunch of enslaved monsters being mainly stopped by Vivien and other bonders who for some reason side with the side that banished them. Lukka has no connection with the tiger to the point of his fiancé caring more about the tiger's death. Trailer: Vivien picks a fight with Obosh, the Preypiercer along with Lukka's tiger (maybe it's a different one?) and after killing Obosh some crystals glow red and Obosh rises up again. Also an out of place pop song plays and maybe Godzilla planeswalked to Ikoria near end of the trailer. Conclusion: Communication is key to a group project.

Ryan Gomez as General Kudro for MTG live action movie

Really missing the days when the story was handled in-house by people who could cross-reference the story with the cards and vice versa Mutate not being a part of the story is a massive, disappointing (but unfortunately not surprising) failure in the story-card cohesion

The fact they left the apex monster off the story is distressing. You have MYTHS about those suckers and they don't get even a passing glance? If I could put my own twist on this, I would link all the crystals with an apex and then with the Ozolith to make the story reach all of Ikoria.

I saw some suggestions for The Wanderer where she appears on a single card each set as a Where’s Waldo style thing for fun, and you know she’s in the story if she gets a planeswalker card.

The fact that Lukka sees his tiger as a friend in the cards and as a tool in the book is one of the weirder things for me. When I was looking at the preview cards, I thought Lukka was fighting Drannith in order to avenge the tiger and protect the other monsters, which is nowhere near what happens in the book.

i love how Jirina shares colors with his father but adds red, denoting passion and love where kudro is just white and black, cruelty and law.

It really feels like they had some plot points printed on the cards that got cut from the book. Like Lukka's bonding with the winged cat. In most cards that show them together you can see that Lukka has painted stripes on his face, mimicking those of the cat, the same way all bonders do with their monsters. I was really disapointed when Jirina had a more emotional response to the cat's death than Lukka did.

I wish you and Spice 8 Rack were in charge of the magic story.

No one: Lukka: I should rally a giant force of monsters to impress General Kudro despite the fact that he hates bonders, thinks they’re evil and more dangerous then monsters by themselves.

I think it’s really interesting that the past 3 sets have been centered around developing a planeswalker and having them planeswalk away, lukka, will and rowen, calix, I feel like that isn’t just a coincidence.

A problem that has been highlighted in recent sets is that the departments at WOTC seem to have a huge problem in communicating with each other. I couldn't explain these discrepancies between the cards and the stories any other way.

to me it kinda feels like the cards tell the story from the point of view of someone that wasn't there and heard the story later, and now is retelling it, I mean the fact that bonders are everywhere kinda makes it look like it, at the end of the story they are permitted into parts of the city and it's like if someone telling that Lukka really liked the cat and was actually a traitor (in their point of view you know that he really wanted to be with the monsters, he even gas markings showing the cats pattern on his face) also, on merciless act it is the general, see the crystals on the clothes are insignias, look at the crystal on the shoulder in merciless act and on General Kudro's card

The fact that the story is so disjointed in various mediums and they mostly conflict is not what I wanted after children of the nameless. I was hoping that they learned from the Greg Weissman fiasco. I had high hopes that were mostly dashed. My hypothesis is that the abolition of the block format forced them to rush the stories

Dude, your ikoria sounds dope. Like a full-on godzilla boss battle

the art and flavor text from tentative bond makes me feel like lukka is a nice guy. heck, look at the story summary at 5:13. it makes it sound like they care for each other. does the book really not have any of that? what a disconnect. thx for the video btw! p.s. i wish i had a giant flying cat. i'd name him Batcat, and we would fly around during the day and cuddle at night because he would be a good boy.

When he posts about an upcoming post and posts the post. What a provider. Keep up the good work of making a notoriously inaccessible product more available to the proles like me.

Luka should be black/red or a spilt red and black. He wants power. He gets it by any means necessary. This dude is bad.

To me looks like Wizards gave some writer the basic concepts like: "We want Luka, Vivian and this cat. And that's it." and some view of cards art. That's how this story was made. Ah, and some months later, after the book was ended, they get back with: "also, we need Narset, please"

The conflict was WEDGED in there. Boom. Wedge theme explained. Ryan 1-0 Wizards

Good old Narset, following Ojutai's teachings by...buying books xD

WELCOME TO MAGIC ARCANUM! I’M SO FREAKING PUMPED!

The story is told by the cards, the book, the notes on the website, and the trailer... and somehow none of them match at all. Theros didn't have a book but at least the trailer matched the cards. I feel like they don't even care about there being a story at all. Edit: Seriously, what was going on in the trailer, with the crystals glowing red and bringing monsters back to life while mutating them?

For this channel, I always like before watching. I already know that I'll like it. Why wait?

I would just like to take a moment to recognize the unofficial Magic card version of Ryan in Chevill, Bane of Monsters. That man hands out some mustache minutes.

To me Ikoria is the perfect example of what the removal of Cycles from MTG is doing to their world building. One uppon a time each set had a base edition that helped to establish the setting, than 2 expansion to flesh out both its gameplay and narrative. Ikoria needed that. A base set focused on exploring the setting, and then a couple of expansion focused on Luka's quest for power.

I really miss 3-set blocks. They gave us Vorthos's a healthy amount of story to digest. Single set blocks have to condense so much, and it never feels very appetizing.

Lukka wouldn't get hish wish from Snapdax, he's just the vicious hunter. He'd get it from Illuna the one that grants wishes

STORY TIME!!!!!!!! The audio is greatly improved. The cuts to cards and text is super helpful as well. You should be proud of the overall quality, it only improves the story telling and that is the main reason for me being here - I'd be watching even if you were still recording in the storage unit. Glad you aren't though. (:

i feel like tezzeret is the one messing with the thing. i mean the wanderer was hunting him but idk if she knows hes alive or thinks hes dead. Tbh im just trying to think of a way the wanderer was on a card

Honestly, I'd prefer if they did a bit more with Vivien, she seems a very standard good green planeswalker in this. Maybe Vivien was a corrupting influence on Lukka, causing him to hate Drannith. Or maybe she sees how far Lukka goes on his quest for revenge and that convinces her into giving up her own quest for revenge - which she definitely has and hasn't just... forgotten? Maybe she wants to rebuild Skalla on Ikoria, using the mutative powers of the Ozalith and the spirits in her bow, Idk. I think there's a lot of great set up for Vivien, and she could be the next Vraska if some of her plotlines are properly explored... buuuut WOTC doesn't seem interested in doing that.

"I can't wait to play Companion and break everyone of those suckers." -Me, a year later: O O F

So we got a new three-color walker, which is an incredibly rare and exciting thing, because she was buying her self-quarantine timesink? Beautiful ludonarration, WotC, beautiful

I thank you for giving the summary of this big story because as I was too lazy to read it myself.

I feel like magic story has been slightly bored since it stopped being on the mothership

And no mention of the mighty new Almighty Brushwagg ?? I'm disappointed :'(

I really loved the cards from this set and they make me feel like I know the plane already... So I prefer to just keep with the idea they created in my mind of the plane than reading the story, now that I know they differ this way from the cards. Like I am just a visitor planeswalker who managed to see the plane and its elements but not any major event that happened in it.

I had to like this just on the mustache minute. There were a couple zingers in there. Honestly I don't know how you can keep these stories straight but you do a fantastic job. Keep doing what you're doing!

Ryan kind of looks like General Kudro...

I was hyped for this video! Thank you for making this content! :)

YO. The audio and video for this are on point!!! This is so exciting!

Pulling threads from different sources...sounds like usual MTG story. Thanks for setting us straight, this was a ridiculous indifference between the two, more so than other stories. Many wasted opportunities to the point that I can't enjoy the story anymore and this was WAY too far gone to grab my lore love. The worst part of this set is that we never got a card for Lukka's beautiful and awesome cat, she was so amazing, even had an amazing design...Kudro deserved death for killing her and it showed his daughter as the true good guy of the story. Too bad she didn't get much

soo wizard watched AOT and said YEAHHHHH and thats ikoria well kinda

Hey Ryan! just wanted to mention that if you look at the full art of the card Heartless act, it is General Kudro wielding the sword. that kills the flying cat. It is really difficult to see his face on the card but the full art reveals it. Hope this helps a bit!

Some of your Best work so far Ryan, and the baseline was already set quite high. Props!

I wished the used Lukka and Jirina as protagonists. His story being the same, but in the second half focusing on Jirina realizing both her father's and Lukka's way are wrong and allying with Vivien and the bonders to defend the city from Lukka, while her father just want to kill every monster... As for the thing I'm most eager to play is a rUG Voltron with mutate...

STory time finally!!

Love these types of videos. Thank you so much.

Awesome vid! Keep that quality content coming!

TLDR: Wizards story department needs to get their shit together.

So why even watermark the so called "story cards" if the two sides won't even collaborate with each other? Plus I'm glad to see the virus hasn't claimed the manliest of moustaches.

Honestly, I care more about the setting than the story itself. The setting is super cool and fleshed out, with the different triomes and the types of monsters that live in them, as well as the different human strongholds in each and the unique cultures they produce. I really hope WotC turns Ikoria into a D&D setting with a full book like they did with Ravnica and Theros, with the core focus being the behemoths. Then we could make any story we want out of this awesome setting.

Freakin love you and this channel. Keep up the fantastic work!

The trailer didnt do this set justice at all. Also I wish it had more dragons but I guess big apex dragons are more of Tarkir’s thing

Both the Story and Set of this era of magic, feel incredibly rushed. It's shame really I fell in love with MTG just recently (Amonkhet), because of it's lore, good game design. And now I'm full of doubt.

The way you take a story and making a video out of it is truly amazing! Thank you for the amazing video!

Amazing video mate! Keep up the good work!

I actually liked the book, and thought it was a lot more interesting than the sappy stuff they showed on the cards. I do agree that Lukka's personality could have used a bit more development, and his train of logic was just so...idiotic. I'm fine with the Apex creatures not being in the book. They are after all, legends, Monsters people talk about existing, but rarely if ever see.

Dope ass shirt!!

and here I was, about to start my school work. Thanks as always for uploading such long content and for being you! Guess I can spend a little time with the loremage to start my day!

Dude I love your STorytimes! Thanks for making these!

This story feels so disjointed. I’m amazed that the book and the cards are so misaligned, even more than War of the Spark, and I have to wonder if the shift from in-house articles to external writers is to blame. I loved the magic story prior to War of the Spark but since then it seems to have been going downhill.

Every time a new set comes out I want to read the book and then I watch these videos and find out that they are not that good for one reason or another... *sigh

They really should of made some kind of energy “collar” or some aesthetic connection to lukka on the cards bonding/controlling monsters. It would set up this idea of him making slaves of the animals and the villain aspect of the character. I’m interested to see Garruks reaction to Lukas method of utilizing animals as weapons. I’m suspecting some kind of connection to Arlan cord. Specifically him controlling her while she is in wolf form/ having a greater sway over her mind.

Something to watch during the lock down! Thanks Ryan!

Vivien Reid is a Michelle Rodriguez role if I ever saw one in my life.

So we don’t even find out why Narset was even on the plain? Also I speculate that maybe there is a slight chance it was Kiora messing with the ozilith to try and control an army of sea creatures but somehow messed up, just a theory.

It is very good to hear stories from you to understand what happened during this set ;) Thank you a lot.

Keep up the good work! Love this content!

I find absolutly insane that the guys who write the story and the authors of the books almost never communicate. It was the same thing with War of the Spark, and it really makes me want to stop playing Magic. When I see how much effort is put into the story and its accessibility in League of Legends for example, I can't help but feel deeply disappointed. We know it's possible to make good and consistent story, yet we just don't get it.

Editors cost money, man, and the story doesn't help sell cards.

I wonder if seeing the Wanderer in a single card each set to show her method of Planeswalking will become a regular occurrence.

Thanks Loremage. Your frustrations are justified. I appreciate the effort of your team.

I appreciate all of you for the research and time you put in for us. Thank you.

Wow! the video quality improved so much!

The new set up looks so much better Ryan!

Great job as always!! One of my favorite creators

"If it was oko messing with the plane, all of the monsters would be 3/3 elk by now". That was savage.

Did not see this in my subs box... very glad i checked the channel!

Your vids are such good quality in every way I can think of👍👍 nice ‘stache👌

Love the channel! I never read the books i just watch your videos

You two are the best! Objective storytelling is not as easy as you make it sound.

thanks for the video!

Heartless Act is showing Kudro himself. Look at the pauldron, it matches his pauldron from his own card.

Thanks for doing these Ryan! Top 3 I found that I could potentially use: Vivien, Monsters' Advocate Narset of the Ancient Way Winota, Joiner of Forces I am also going to get Jirina's commander deck

When they started talking about bonders in Ikoria it gave me a Pokemon vibe and now that you explained the story, holy cow this is Pokemon: The Set

i'm well aware i'm almost two years late, but i still wanted to leave a comment, first to thank you for all these videos, they are such a nice way to share all this information about the story, that sometimes is hard to process in other means, i'm horrible at reading, and having a friendly figure like you explain the story and nitpick it when it calls for it, makes it so much more enjoyable to me than reading a book could ever be! i've been trying to get back into mtg (mostly for cedh) but of course, the worldbuilding of the planes and all that is always interesting, and so is the story to a lesser extent, i thought eldraine would be a good starting point seeing it was after the war of the spark, but theros beyond death, well... yeah, and after watching your videos on ikoria and eldraine i've been incredibly underwhelmed by the lack of cohesion between the cards and the story, as well as the shallow worldbuilding, and the thousands of missed worldbuilding opportunities in either set. not to mention theros beyond death, theros is my favorite plane, as it came out right after i started playing, and the full pantheon of 15 gods and the greek mythology inspiration made me absolutely fall in love with it, but seeing the return to theros be a failure in so many aspects but especially so in the almost absolute lack of worldbuilding and story, that stung a lot. so i'm really happy i decided to pick kaldheim as my entry point, and watch your videos for these three sets (and i'll do so for zendikar rising next, as well, of course!). fingers crossed the story is compelling enough to keep my goldfish attention span interesting (i've heard the kaldheim story is much more interesting than that of the previous 4 sets, and the norse inspiration absolutely does help!) and if it isn't for me still, i'd be very glad to watch your videos instead (and of course, if i do enjoy it all and am able to survive reading kaldheim and the next sets' stories, i will absolutely check out the videos still, so see if i missed something and hear your thoughts!). all in all, thank you so much for doing these, and doing so very entertainingly! cheers :)

I like how you included the movie character casting picks

Trying to Piece that story together would drive me nuts the same story story three different versions from the cards and websites. Props to you sir for being able to handle that kind of tomfoolery.

I am engaging with this video to help the algorithm! I enjoy your videos! Yay new content to enjoy!

I've been rolling a good Blue/White Yorion, Sky Nomad control/mill deck w/ Teferi, MoT + Tutelage, Ominous Seas and some other good draw/mill mechanics. So far so good.

Love these videos so much

Amazing i was so impatience to see your Lore video about Ikoria,best 27 minute of the day Also i'll try to look out for all mtg books here in Italy if they are available,never look for those before,also in english will be fine,i really hope to be able to get some Thank you!!!!!

You make the Story way more interesting and well written then it actually is. I appreciate that you have the patience to summarize it.

Your edit already sounds way better than the “official” story. I want to see that kaiju-like fight go down so much

Yess I am very excited for this set. Plus you make it super fun and exciting. Thanks Ryan and Nicole Bolas 😅

I’m so glad you mentioned the wanderer