What's Happening in War of the Spark? | Magic Arcanum 

(Ryan) Alright! Glad you are all enjoying the video. I do see a lot of the same comments coming up though so I want to answer some of these frequently asked questions: 1. On Domri (ok not a question but still) - in the video I say he went to attack Bolas, which is not entirely accurate. He technically said he wanted to join the Elder Dragon and was on his way to pledge loyalty when the Eternal took him out. For the sake of my own brain, I refuse to accept this as being what happened. It goes against Domri's character entirely. The whole point of him and the Gruul is that they don't really follow anyone. And even if they support total chaos, there is no way they are down with totally murdering every other living soul on Ravnica. Two pages before, Domri and the Gruul were fighting off Eternals and trying to save other citizens. So yeah. I'm really not happy with this part of the book and in my mind, Domri went out swinging, rather than trying to switch to the team that wouldn't even have him. 2. How did Karn, Samut, Dack, and Ob Nixilis get through the bridge? I mentioned the bridge only works on inorganic material, and everyone save Karn should have been obliterated when they entered the portal, right? Well it turns out, a planeswalker spark does offer protection here the same way it does in the Blind Eternities. However, it still isn't perfect. Dack does get minor injuries, but Samut runs through so fast she seems unharmed, and Ob Nixilis just kinda tanks the damage while laughing at how weak Dack is. Karn is of course unaffected. This is another part of the book that could have been avoided entirely by having the Immortal Sun shut down first - then just let this group planeswalk straight to Amonkhet. (Though I guess Ob would have no incentive to do so. Oh well.) 3. What about Sorin and Nahiri? The book barely mentions them. It does confirm they are present, and fighting at first, but both show up later at Jace's meeting and stand on opposite sides of the room to listen. It does not tell us who won, or if the fight resumed later. It also does not tell us how Sorin got out of the wall. This was another missed opportunity of the book. 4. What about (anyone else)? If I didn't mention them in this video, it's because they did nothing of note in the book, or don't have a card to discuss (looking at you, Rat.) Maybe some of these characters get more detail in the missing chapters or prequel book coming in November but until then, it's not worth hearing about their stories because they are trivial. 5. What about the Triumph cycle? Chandra's shows her killing or capturing Dovin Baan but this does not happen in the book. With such a wild discrepancy, I am not sure which version is "true" per the lore. I guess the book wins out over card art but I could see a case being made for it going the other way. For anything else, I'll try and post thoughts on Twitter as they come to me. Thank you so much for watching this video and I'm really proud of this community. Together we've reached over 2 million views on videos just about stories, and I have enjoyed every minute of it. Now let's get 3 million!

u know why Niv Mizzet couldn't fight at first and had to go rest for awhile? He had summoning sickness.

"I can't be a hero this time, Liliana. But you can." -Gideon to Liliana

"You thought it was Chandra, but it was ME! LAZAV!"

Literally the exact MTG video I've been waiting for since that trailer.

Lazav throwing ninja stars? Return to Kamigawa confirmed!!!!!

An indestructible Liliana with Chain Veil planeswalking around. What a great time to be alive.

Price of betrayal wouldn’t have killed Lilliana anyway, she starts with six loyalty...

"The beacons are lit, Ravnica calls for aid!"

Can we hear it for a Phyrexia episode???? Just me? Okay.... I still want it though.

Sooooooo Vraska is sent for Dovin, who is blind. Vraska, a person’s whose power is based off of a person seeing them, is being sent to kill a blind person. Slightly illogical but I suppose it can’t be THAT hard for a pirate to kill a blind engineer.

wait what? missing chapters released via email? Are you telling me that there's goddamn Book DLC?

I love this video, what a great way to save 30 dollars and hear Nichol Bolas react to your puns

So in short: Magic the Gathering Infinity War

11:47 Damn paladins and their Charisma-based spellcasting!

If Liliana doesnt kill Kaya with extreme violence I will riot And when I do I will pick the +1/+1 counter. Im a patient man

I get the sense that this set (aside from the Niv-Mizzet plot point) did an excellent job of telling a huge story, while the book was lacklustre at best. The cards showed enough snapshots to put everything together in a satisfying way, while the book had more details but was more poorly done.

Lazaav pulling a Naruto on Dovin with the Henge no Jutsu and Shuriken

I watched Tolarian community college's video about the WoTS book, so I'm glad you're going over the story! Also I didn't know that there were new chapters coming out later on, that's pretty cool

Lazaav confirmed best character

Nice summation! One point of clarification though, Domri was actually trying to betray everyone and JOIN Nicol Bolas in destroying Ravnica, when he was harvested by the Eternals for his spark under the Elder Spell

I will say Heartwarming Redemption is a tear jerker. Best/worst part of WAR

It won’t happen, but a Wonderland themed world where Lilliana and Kaya fight it out amongst warped creatures that judge their sins and egos would be cool.

26:15 'After Millenium Items to craft victory, Bolas had eternity to contemplate "but what does Pot of Greed do?" '

Awesome video. Lost myself in laughter at Niv-Mizzet dying almost twice

i'm still sad that Dack Fayden died and never got a standard legal card...

I've been waiting for Magic Arcanum to explain the lore of WotS since the book is really bad Thank you for the story, the set is amazing

Farewell my favorite MTG character Gideon. You went out a true hero.

Really cool and all, but the real question we got to ask: *Where's Garruk?*

finally the arcanum episode about War of the Spark! :D you forgot how the god-eternals died tho :P correct me if I'm wrong but for anyone wondering: Kefnet got incinerated by niv-mizzet Rhonas got killed by Gideon and the Blackblade Oketra was killed by Bolas when she approached him alongside Bontu Bontu harvested all of Bolas' sparks and exploded while Niv-Mizzet rammed the spear into Bolas great video! looking forward to the next episode :3

Niv Mizzets death sounds like a lost chapter that’ll get released

8:04 all the proof we’ve ever needed to prove ral is just some sassy smart middleschooler

Now that War of the Spark has come to pass, I’m looking forward to a Sliver invasion story. Something along the lines of one sliver gaining the ability to planeswalk, and through hivemind shenanigans, the slivers as a group are now able to invade other planes.

On what happened with Domri was that he had been aiming to join the dragon in the destruction in the plane. Taken to the extreme, Grull anarchy becomes straight up nihilism.

The way the cards depict the story and yet create such fun and interesting gameplay is so impressive.

The sand reference is sooooooooo godly

The reason that Niv-Mizzet's death wasn't in the story is there was meant to be a card in RNA depicting his death but it got pulled... Whoops.

Been waiting for this! So stoked!

they way you tell the story with the cards showing up is very clear and entertaining, thank you for your well done work man !

This is my favorite series on the channel. Was looking forward to this video within the week. Thank you.

This is 1000x better than reading the book.

I wish the book actually talked about Sorin and Nahiri outside of "and they were fighting each other" and then latter "Now they fight together" ...I dunno, I guess Ugin must have grounded them or something.

Thank you so much for this video. I really loved it when they released the cards in a way that told a story. Thank you for joining it together in a beautifully told and succinct way.

Best lore content on RU-vid. I do have to say, good for Ral and Tomak. Tomak looks like a perfect boytoy

Still miffed that my boy Garruk didn't get to show up and start hacking away at all the planeswalkers he cold find.

Truly my favourite moment today was seeing another video released by my favourite lore boi😀

i think the one major thing you left out was that Ugin stripped Nicol Bolas of his name so that noone can summon him ever again

The fear that the people on Ravnica felt when the god eternals enter got me the chills

Huge fan Ryan. Really enjoy how you keep the lore relatable but true to the store. Keep up the good work.

I love the way you tell the stories. It's so easy to follow. And showing the cards on screen is a huge plus! I'm always putting new cards on my wishlist thanks to you :)

Meanwhile Sorin and Nahiri during the war: *autistically screaming at each other*

To be fair, I'd imagine being reborn as a 5 color dragon is probably a really tiring thing. Niv-Mizzet is would have to be a bit tired from all that.

I agree that they should've showed niv-mizzet dying in the book, but they do talk about it, and the opening of the book is the spirits of Ugin and Niv-Mizzet talking.

This channel has got to be the best at re-telling magic lore. It’s so interesting and thanks again for the eldrazi video. Really hope they make a comeback.

Absolutely love this video! Really hope we can get weekly videos for the summer chapters!

LOL! Nice call out to the Shadow Realm!

Ah, Gruulfriends reunited. Seeing their relationship crumble broke my heart appart.

This honestly is an incredible story. Really wish Wizards of the Coast would make movies for all these stories and maybe even their own MTG universe kind of like what Marvel did. I would definitely go watch them and buy the DVD’s.

So Sorin is the main character and Tibalt the villain? Woa what a twist xd

When was Niv-Mizzet killed? When was Teysa imprisoned? When did Kaya decide to switch allegiances? When were we introduced to Heketra? When and how did Dovin become guild leader of the Azorius? Finally, we have two major questions: 1) why introduce the reader to a new character that no-one cares about? We all bought it for the characters we already know and love so Teyo is completely forgettable. 29 Who is Rat? Why should I care? How does she know every important member of every guild on Ravnica? Whenever the author needs to find a solution to a problem all he needs to do is use her connections and everything works out. To be honest, I skimmed through every chapter focusing on her, Teyo and Kaya. The one I truly wanted to know more about was, ofc, Lili. She had been hyped up like crazy, and was a focal point. At least, that's what I thought. Sure, she gets to deliver the final blow (so to speak), but that's about it. I didn't expect the book to be anything special - but it was worse than imagined. The scope felt so small - I thought the invasion would last weeks and ravage large portions of Ravnica. You know, like a true apocalypse? Anyway, great video and you made it sound more interesting than it was. So many wasted opportunities..all I can hope is that we get new,great adventures with new planeswalkers. Like Ashiok, Kasmina and Kiyora.

I think either we go to that new plane mentioned from that new planeswalker, rebuild Amonkhet, or have Emrakul erupt from the eldritch moon. It did want to be trapped there, after-all. The last one would be the best imo kuz I’m an Eldrazi lover, but it is the most far-fetched.

A half hour video from Ryan? Yes please!

17:45 Love the double meaning in telling Nicol no one is keeping score :D

The best part of this massively long story? When Liliana saves the day (again) and is supported by Gideon.

I want to see more of Nissa, if she'll keep using blue mana as she did on Amonkhet and if she really have a connection to Emrakul

best sound effects with the best timing are a really fun thing. nice one!

1st time on this channel and I'm loving it! Great story telling and I enjoy it a lot. Keep it up! and see you on the next expansion.

For Dack, they had the PERFECT opportunity to give his character the best death, all they had to do was use the trailer (again 11 Million views), and just build on it. Dack arrives and tried to convince Liliana that she should stop this. He's heard from Jace that she isn't a terrible person and this drives her more and more to the edge. They're so caught up in their argument that Dack doesn't see the Eternal that kills him until it's too late. His last word being 'Please...' as he is killed. For a moment, as he's being drained, Liliana would almost see an outline of her brother over the dying body of Dack. This would be the final straw as she's spurned into action. There, Dack get's a better end, and it would give Liliana's decision more weight.

Davriel's got a whole novella about him from Brandon Sanderson! It's pretty deece.

Oh man, the Magic Arcanum video is my favorite MTG moment of the week (along with MaRo's Drive to Work Podcast).

Fantastic video! I've been waiting eagerly for this one.

"Dovin getting SHROOKENED to the face"

Karn made a pact with the Gatewatch to clean up Phyrexia when and if they lived through this Bolas battle. Maybe a return to New Phyrexia?

Love this video. Please do more. Would totally love more from the past like the Urza story line. Plus whatever would be best. This was great

"Nissa fudging the leylines" is the best joke on this channel. Thanks for that

Lemme tell you. When magic is confused on who can be the most OP planeswalker that can stand the same ground as JTMS, who stepped up with an army of zombies and became, literally, a black white indestructible creature on your turn? Liliana.

HA! I knew Ral was gonna double cross Bolas. Let's say something about Ral, if he looks like he is fighting for one side, he is actually fighting for the other one. Great video btw

Just wanna say out of all the mtg channels this guy knows how to cover a story so well!! Great content

Thank you so much for making this. Missed the book and Release (60-hour work weeks do that) for the time being but this helps.

1) Heliod bless those natural 20 rolls. 2) Promise (the Pegasus) never should have said he was retiring next week and living on his boat named "Forever".

In the end (sorry for the little pun here), they didn´t get rid of jace. But at least He-Man died and my Lili is alive. I´m partialy happy. Great video as always. Thx Ryan and the team!

Dude this is a great summary of the lore! Keep up the good work!

I haven't play magic in a long time and still bought the book. Some names were unfamiliar to me but I really enjoyed the book. Your video was the thing I needed to relate it to the cards! 😁 Thanks a lot for making this! 😀

Wow , just Amazing .

“What’s happening in war of the spark” Mismanagement

This is a Great channel. Have to say that i'm sad to see Domri die as he has always been my favorite plainswalker, i love the Gruul clan too.

thanks for the history! When you said Bolas Scheme in place... i was expecting a tangent about archenemy ;)

Domri wasn't going to fight nicol when he gets harvested. He was going to join nicol at the time. Also the early start talks about vraskas betrayal and niv dieing.

Thanks for this super video! Does the book mention something aboute the fight between Sorin and Nahiri?

Wow. Thanks so much for telling the whole story of War of the Spark. Before this video, I've only known bits and pieces of what exactly is happening through the cards and the artworks and flavor text. To me, the whole story reminds me SO MUCH of Marvel's Endgame. I would LOVE to see a movie of this epic story line.

I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS!!!!!! YOU ARE AWESOME!

Niv-Mizzet died in the expansion/explosion card

This video has better storytelling than the official book by a celebrated author smh

Super cool video and a great way to take in the story in a more condensed way. I do wonder how the story will continue after this and I hope they go to new plains or older ones we havent seen in a while

These episodes are so far apart, i can't wait this long for the next one! :D

I'm hoping for either new villains (because two of the big three have been dealt with already), or some new stuff with New Phyrexia.

I think Garruk is going to reenter the story sense lilianna is being hunted. Maybe Kaya and Garuk will team up?

Not even sure how I stumbled upon this, but as someone who is only a few months into Magic for the first time, this was incredibly satisfying. I love the storyline behind the cards, it creates even more depth and interest for me in the game!

If we're still following the stories of the Gatewatch, I think the next most likely step is dealing with New Phyrexia. We already know Karn refused to join the Gatewatch because he stated that needed to be dealt with first. and as an organization that wants to stop interplanar threats, the Phyrexians are definitely the oldest threat still out there. But.... I do think we're going to get a few more years of set up before that. Possibly involving the revival of Elspeth. Also before all that happens, it would be nice to have another "vacation plane" where things aren't dire, at least for one set. Kind of like how Kaladesh was when we first went there.

You won't hear anything about Fblthp as he got lost.. during everything.