Told you we’d be back here. It’s time to take another look at how Magic: the Gathering uses the entire trading card to tell a story. This time, we’ll be looking at two (or more) cards that together tell a single part of a story.
For my introduction to the game of Magic and the parts of a card, you can check out Storytelling with Cardstock 1.
I was reminded of this topic from a Magic podcast that ended up on the topic of the card Grapple with the Past. I’m not linking that card yet, because to truly understand the story, you have to start with Make a Wish. The story of this single card is that wishes are frowned upon, but still happen. The card itself allows you to gain back cards that were once discarded, so the function matches the flavor.
If you read Part 1, you know that I looked exclusively at the world of Innistrad. Make a Wish is from that world, at a time when, creatively, the Magic team didn’t know there would be a return. But return they did, and that’s when some genius decided to make Grapple with the Past. For full effect, I’ll put the two images next to each other.
The same artist drew both cards. Years apart, a story once thought over is continued. And that wouldn’t be the last example of past-and-present storytelling in Innistrad.
First, the zombies were encroaching on the church. Now, the zombies are in, and they aren’t going to go away. (The same artist drew these two cards. Different than the last artist.)
Moving away from Innistrad, let’s take a journey over to Tarkir. Tarkir was inspired by Asian cultures: nomadic Monguls, Tibetan monks, etc. It is also a land of dragons, but not at first. The dragons have all gone, and Sarkhan, a hometown boy finally returned home, doesn’t like the lack of dragons. He goes back in time and changes the timeline so that dragons are alive in the present. There’s a lot of timeline-vs-timeline storytelling here, but the best example is Summit Prowler, the monster that’s the same in both timelines.
The dragons are back, and with them, a change in perception for the poor summit prowler. In the first timeline, they were feared. In the second, they are a tasty snack.
Here’s one more, and it’s a doozy. Magic’s favorite villain currently is Nicol Bolas, and I’ll do a full work-up of his story one day. Recently, a group of main characters ignored good advice and confronted him. The end of that story is a series of five cards named So-and-So’s Defeat.
Clearly, the five of them didn’t do very well. But if you look carefully, one of them is different. Can you spot it? Scroll down for the answer.
The third one, Liliana, is different. Of all five, she still holds her purple energy power in her hand, and she’s not being actively defeated. In the story, her defeat is not physical or emotional, but transitional. Nicol Bolas, instead of destroying her, basically says, “Remember how I kicked your butt before? How about you owe me a favor” and lets her leave. He hasn’t called in that favor yet, but I don’t think it will go well.
There’s more storytelling in the cards, but not as much multi-card storytelling. Usually, it’s just pieces of a big story, not interconnected pieces. I think the next Storytelling in Cardstock will have to be single cards with my favorite art.
That's Pretty NEET 