The scars of the Phyrexian Invasion healed slowly, but the Multiverse entered a fragile era of peace. However, cosmic threats do not rest. This is the story of how the greatest Planeswalkers of the modern age realized they could no longer fight alone and formed the ultimate defense force of the Multiverse: the Gatewatch.
A Fragile Peace and New Horizons
Following the destruction of Yawgmoth and the close of the ancient era, Dominaria and the wider Multiverse spent centuries picking up the pieces. Planeswalkers were no longer the untouchable, godlike entities they once were; a massive cosmic event known as The Mending permanently altered the nature of the Spark, stripping Planeswalkers of their infinite godhood and reducing them to powerful mortals who could bleed, age, and die.
As the old guard faded, a new generation of heroes rose to prominence across the infinite planes. On Zendikar, a world of floating stone hedrons and untamed wild mana, explorers sought ancient treasures. On Innistrad, humans fought desperately against vampires, werewolves, and stitched horrors beneath a silver moon. On Ravnica, a massive planet-wide ecumenopolis governed by ten distinct guilds, a delicate political balance kept chaos at bay.
Yet, cosmic peace is always short-lived. Beneath the surface of reality, ancient, titanic entities known as the Eldrazi, godlike cosmic horrors of pure consumption, broke free from their multi-millennial prisons, threatening to devour Zendikar and turn their sights toward the rest of the Multiverse.
The Birth of the Gatewatch
When the Eldrazi titan Ulamog threatened to consume Zendikar, a handful of independent Planeswalkers found themselves fighting side by side in the dust and ruins. They realized a terrifying mathematical truth: isolated heroes, no matter how powerful, could not protect an infinite multiverse against world-ending catastrophes.
Standing amid the rubble of a dying world, four iconic heroes made a solemn vow and forged a permanent alliance:
-
Jace Beleren: The brilliant, telepathic master of mind magic and strategy from Ravnica.
-
Gideon Jura: The noble, unbreakable Invulnerable warrior from Theros who wielded a glowing sural and commanded absolute loyalty.
-
Chandra Nalaar: The fiery, passionate pyromancer from Kaladesh whose heart burned with relentless defiance.
-
Nissa Revane: The deeply spiritual animist and elf druid of Zendikar who shared a direct neural bond with the soul of her home world.
They called themselves The Gatewatch. They were a sworn oath-bound fellowship of Planeswalkers dedicated to a single, heavy purpose: if the Multiverse is threatened, we will stand together and protect it.
The Wars of Gods and Titans
The newly formed Gatewatch was tested almost immediately in brutal, earth-shattering campaigns across the planes:
-
The Battle for Zendikar: The Gatewatch successfully rallied the native forces of Zendikar and, in a daring, desperate maneuver, channeled the raw power of the plane to permanently destroy two of the Eldrazi titans, Ulamog and Kozilek, saving the world from absolute annihilation.
-
The Shadows over Innistrad: Following the victory on Zendikar, the team uncovered a sickening corruption on the gothic horror plane of Innistrad. The mad angel Emrakul (the final surviving Eldrazi titan) had warped the plane’s angels and populace. Rather than destroying her, Jace and the Gatewatch managed to lock Emrakul away inside Innistrad’s silver moon, narrowly averting total planetary collapse.
Each victory forged deeper bonds, but also exposed widening ideological cracks within the team. They were heroes, but they were deeply flawed mortals carrying the weight of infinite worlds on their shoulders.
War of the Spark: The Gathering at Ravnica
The ultimate test of the Gatewatch and the entire Multiverse, arrived on the plane of Ravnica.
The ancient, manipulative dragon Planeswalker Nicol Bolas, who had been pulling strings across history for millennia, enacted a master plan of apocalyptic proportions. Using an ancient artifact known as the Immortal Sun and the Prism Ring, Bolas lured dozens of Planeswalkers from across the Multiverse to Ravnica under false pretenses, trapping them within the city-planet’s borders.
His goal was staggering in its ambition: harvest the sparks of every trapped Planeswalker, sacrifice an army of immortal eternal zombie warriors, and ascend to become an absolute, unrivaled god of the entire Multiverse.
What followed was the largest and most destructive battle in modern history – The War of the Spark.
-
The Siege of Ravnica: Every guild, every faction, and every hero from across the Multiverse fought street-by-street against Bolas’s endless zombie horde.
-
The Ultimate Sacrifice: The cost of victory was devastating. Gideon Jura, the noble moral compass of the Gatewatch, gave his life in the final moments of the battle, using his invulnerable magic to shield Liliana Vess and absorb a fatal blow meant to destroy them all.
-
The Downfall of Bolas: Stripped of his army and outsmarted by Jace and his allies, Nicol Bolas was finally defeated—not killed, but stripped of his magic, his titles, and his freedom, banished into eternal exile by his own brother, Ugin.
Why Chapter 5 Set a Dangerous Precedent
The War of the Spark proved that the Gatewatch could stand against the most powerful beings in existence and win. They had saved the Multiverse from absolute tyranny.
However, the victory left deep, unhealed wounds. The Gatewatch was fractured, Gideon was gone, and deep in the dark corners of the cosmos, the silent, terrifying seeds of an ancient enemy were quietly beginning to sprout once more. The machine was waking up.
Ready for the darkest and most desperate chapter in Magic’s history? Continue reading with Chapter 6: The New Phyrexian Threat – All Will Be One and March of the Machine.
