Usually, I manage to get an article written at least every four months as I have related the Magic storyline to the novels that are released with each set. However, those of you who look forward to my articles to get an update on the storyline without having to purchase and read the Magic novels may have noticed that I haven’t written about The Darksteel Eye or The Fifth Dawn (the books associated with the two most recent expansions). This is not for lack of interest and only partly for lack of time. No, the absence of these articles has been for lack of content.
When I first began my "Real Story Behind…" series way back in Planeshift, I related certain key flavor texts to the storyline. The Real Story Behind Apocalypse featured the flavor-rich set by relating every flavor text in the set to the storyline. However, Apocalypse was the high-water mark of cards relating to story post-Tempest. Since then, flavor texts have been brought further and further away from the stories related in the books, going so far in the Onslaught block as to present an entirely new plot to the world (the Riptide Project) that was never addressed in the novels. I was disappointed in this change because I always appreciated the ability to use the novels to see behind the cards and explore the world to which they were a window. Nevertheless, I appreciated the Riptide Project and was prepared to see storyline development occur in the cards as well as in the books. Also, since the flavor texts were incongruent with the novels, I began the "Behind the Scenes" series to show what happens in the novels without use of the flavor texts – this allowed me to keep up with what I considered to be the definitive storyline without relying on the spotty cards.
However, the Mirrodin cycle has been a tremendous disappointment in terms of story. Initially, I was very excited and proceeded with my Real Story Behind Mirrodin as planned. But that’s when things shut down. The Moons of Mirrodin wasn’t a particularly good book, but the new world in which the Magic storyline was set was exciting. The flavor texts sought to explore this world, and the book introduced the main characters. But as far as I’m concerned, the Mirrodin block could have ended with Mirrodin. The Darksteel Eye and Fifth Dawn were terrible books. I’ve heard of circular structure (and often appreciated it), but come on!
The progression of those two books is simply Glissa running around the world in literal circles, fighting, battling, dueling, and combating. Fight scene after fight scene is played out in tedious detail, and virtually no plot progression is made. The cheap trick of putting Glissa to sleep for five years is the only way to move the story along, and all it does is leave out some interim fighting so we can get to the concluding fighting. The most interesting characters (Bosh, Slobad, and Raksha Golden Cub) are killed, captured, and exiled – in other words, pretty well removed from the story. The vile maniac Geth, visited in Mirrodin, becomes comic relief. And the only major character development occurs when Glissa’s sister is replaced by an evil double. And what’s worse, Fifth Dawn’s laborious recounting of Glissa’s many battles is littered with grammatical and spelling errors. At least every other page had a typo, and some chapters were simply riddled with mistakes. Fifth Dawn was by far the poorest written (or worst edited) book in all the Magic line of novels.
This turn of events has added a new and disappointing downslide to the trend of the Magic storyline. To visualize this trend, observe the following timeline:
Tempest Block – Storyline very strong; influences the cards very much
Masques Block – Another strong story, furthers the Rath Cycle; cards fairly representative of the story
Invasion Block – Cap on the Rath Cycle story, very rich, very plot oriented; cards used to illustrate major players and places in the story
Odyssey Block – Story remains solid; cards move away from following the plot
Onslaught Block – Odyssey Block story weakens but concludes with strength; cards divergent from storyline
Mirrodin Block – Story plummets in quality and strength; cards used primarily to illustrate the general feel of this new world
Prior to the Rath Cycle, the Magic storyline was somewhat general, without recurring characters. Once Tempest came out and a cogent plot was added to the Mirage Block, the cards began to exhibit a symbiotic relationship with the story. Cards like Diabolic Edict, Abandon Hope, and Broken Fall all represented key plot points, and cards like Spinal Graft, Hatred, and Eladamri, Lord of Leaves fleshed out the characters. When reading the novel for the entire Rath Cycle (an anthology entitled Rath and Storm), one can easily see the connection between the storyline and the cards. From here, the story got stronger, and the cards were subordinated to it in terms of the story. The cards were no longer used to represent the story but only to give glimpses of it. After the Invasion Block, the cards themselves began to take on a more definitive role in the storyline, acting as the authority to which the novels have a responsibility to be true. Thus, the storyline-card interaction evolved from book-centric to card-centric.
Personally, I’m a fan of the novels defining the storyline and the cards serving as a window to what happens in the book. However, I understand that few Magic players read the books while they all interact with the cards; thus, giving the cards the final authority about the storyline is a decision I can understand and live with. But, as I said, even this method of storytelling broke down in the Mirrodin Block.
So now, we’re left without any answers to guide us in our view of the Kamigawa Block. Do we refer to the novels or the cards to ground ourselves in the storyline? I read that the main character of the Kamigawa Block joins us from the Legends set – do we need to be familiar with those cards to get the most out of the story? Should we read the Legends books (which incidentally begin with Champion’s Trial)? The failure of the Mirrodin block to tell us a strong story has removed my confidence the Magic storyline, and I hope that Kamigawa can restore it.
Be sure, though, that this is not a bleak hope. I feel that Champions of Kamigawa has great potential to be very strong in terms of story. I heard that CoK will have more legends cards in it than the Legends set did – and wherever there are legends, there’s story. Furthermore, the oriental setting reminds me of Legends of the Five Rings. I never played that game, but I understand that it had a great story component that was so strongly represented in the cards that major tournament results actually affected the story, and that, in turn, affected what cards would be printed in the future. I found that to be most impressive.
So, as L5R has shown, a remarkable potential exists in tying story to the cards. I certainly don’t think that Magic is going to grow as storyline-dependent as L5R since Magic players have generally proven to be not as interested in the italicized text as they are in what’s above it. Still, I feel that there’s room for growth, especially after the Mirrodin block.
Thus, I see several possibilities. The first, and the one I fear the most, is that the storyline will remain card-centric in an environment full of disconnected legends. I predict that such conditions would produce another Legends-quality storyline – that is, not much of one at all. So much emphasis would be placed on such a variety of characters that no cohesion would exist, and, though the cards would be cool, the storyline would be a wreck.
Within this scenario, the books could either try to rescue or further wreck the situation. I believe that, one way or another, we’re going to have one main character in the books for the Kamigawa Block. So, this main character could masterfully come across all or most of the legends in the set (a la Mirage/Weatherlight-Apocalypse), or they could be largely ignored. The former, obviously, is what I would prefer, while the latter would begin the burial process of the Magic storyline as we know it.
Now, another scenario within the card-centric storyline is that all the legends’ interactions are represented on the cards themselves through flavor texts and card interactions. A good example of this can be found in Mirrodin (which was much better on story than Darksteel or Fifth Dawn). Check out Glissa, Bosh, and Slobad:
Glissa Sunseeker: There’s a secret at the heart of this world, and I will unlock it.
Bosh, Iron Golem: As Glissa searches for the truth about Memnarch, Bosh searches to unearth the secrets of his past.
Slobad, Goblin Tinkerer: "I used to joke that he had been exiled for being too smart. Now I know why he never laughed." —Glissa Sunseeker
Both of the flavor texts of the non-Glissa cards refer to Glissa but do so in a way that illuminates the cards they’re on. If the main legends in Champions of Kamigawa refer to the main character in similar ways, showing us how the characters interact and populate a story we can believe in, then having the card-centric storyline will work out just fine. Of course, the books could then influence the quality of the characters one way or another.
So, to recap, the card-centric possibilities are:
1. Too many legends trip over themselves, and the books fail to improve the situation by only focusing on the one main character and ignoring the rest (worst cast scenario).
2. Too many legends trip over themselves, but the books are able to clean up the situation by tying them together (though this may be defined as a book-centric situation).
3. The legends are appropriately interactive in the cards, and the books strengthen this bond (best-case scenario for card-centric models).
4. The legends are appropriately interactive in the cards, and the books ignore this bond, instead focusing on the main character or on other elements altogether (e.g., Legions).
However, if once again authority is given back to the books (by not presenting contradictory information in the cards (e.g., Bringers of the various Dawn) and having the cards accurately reflect what happens in the story (e.g., Sword, Shield, and Helm of Kaldra)), many of the pitfalls outlined above can be avoided – provided, of course, the books are written well! With a strong story in place in the novels, the cards can be free to explore the generalities of the new world as well as to give us glimpses of the story. Even with a proliferation of legends, and even if the important ones are not linked to the main character on the card (instead having the mechanics and flavor text be specific only to that legend), we can be sure that we can find the real story in the novels.
So, that’s where we sit as we wait for the release of Champions of Kamigawa and its associated novel. After a couple years of a wonderful marriage between the storyline and the cards, a separation occurred. Here’s hoping that instead of a messy divorce, we can look forward to a happy reunification of story and card flavor once again! In other words, let’s hope that I’ll have something to say when the time rolls around to write The Real Story Behind Champions of Kamigawa.