The narrative that flows through Magic: The Gathering isn’t good. It’s more or less generic hero mythology. The characters and settings are uh-mazing and the story lines never do them justice. Arena is the only book related to M:TG I’ve ever read and it was horrifying. The publisher summarizes it thusly: “As the fighter-mages of the four great Houses prepare for their annual battle, a powerful stranger arrives and he is interested in the fifth House, destroyed a generation ago–but why is the Grand Master afraid of him?” I remember thinking that these “houses” had nothing to do with M:TG, the characters, or the world they in habit. There’s some magic and dueling and all that, sure, but really the book had little to nothing to do with the Multiverse.
“I read this book several years ago when it first came out, and I have to admit that it is truely one of the absolute best books I’ve ever read.” Kory Sutherland
14 year old Matt Jones and Kory Sutherland do not agree.
I maintain and explore an imaginary version of the M:TG narrative that is mostly informed by my obsessive reading of M:TG wiki pages (mtgsalvation and wikipedia). I create that which isn’t there using the raw materials Wizards of the Coast provides me (characters, spells, artifacts, and locations).
Lord of the Void is inspiring. I opened this card in my prerelease pool at Twenty Sided. Having chosen to be Boros I couldn’t support the three black mana required to play Lord of the Void but boy oh boy I wanted to! Luis agreed that he didn’t make the cut in the Boros splash Gruul deck I had to put together. A few times during the sealed tournament I pulled Lord out and stared into his beautiful soulless eyes and wished I’d chosen Dimir or Orzhov. Placing him back inside my deck box I knew I’d come back to him and that time is now.
Who does he lord over? He’s a demon so he must lord over other demons. He’s Lord of the Void, so he must rule over the Void, right? Where and what is the Void?
The Æther is the Void between planes; also known as the Blind Eternities, it is the substance which fills the space between planes. Dark Matter and Dark Energy, from real life, come to mind in regards to this Magic: The Gathering Multiverse concept—the unknown space between known things. 73% of the mass-energy of our universe is hypothesized to be made up of dark energy and one could speculate that the majority of the Multiverse is The Æther (the Void). This could make Lord of the Void the most powerful of all lords in Magic.
Are there secrets to the Void in other cards?
These 22 sets contain cards with “void” in their title:
Seven are blue, seven are black, two are gold, one artifact, one white, and one land. Let’s explore:
The void is a place cards go when they can’t be part of the game anymore. It’s an unknown region, mostly unreachable, save for the travels of the Misthollow Griffin. All non-Lord void related cards counter spells, discard cards (really another form of a counterspell), or exile permanents. They’re all about control. My interest is waining. This is the worst. The Void is a horrible place where you don’t get to play with your cards. Is there a secret of the Void offered these cards? Yeah, the Void sucks!
Lord of the Void is so totally stoked to get out of the Void, a horribly boring place where permission rules. He’s so handsome and aggressive and filled with the anticipatory joy of smashing! Go get ’em, Lord!
Chris Rahn interprets a humanoid demon form and his minions taking advantage of the infighting of the guilds to enter Ravnica from their homeland, an unknown and misunderstood place called the Void. They look like the creature form of dark matter and clearly eminate a dark energy from their orbits (anywhere from one to six it seams). If mythology exists to put imagery to and explain the unknown then Rahn’s rendering of the good Lord and his minions is perfection. The unknown can be scary. Rahn’s illustration is a fantasy pop participant in a long line of fear-painting throughout art history.
I’m still terribly excited by this card. I doubt I’d ever be able to play it in a constructed match. I’m sure Kadar will force it into a five color limited deck filled with Gates and Verdant Havens (note to Kadar – please do this).
If anyone feels like buying the actual painting for me please do so ASAP. Here’s Chris Rahn’s website: http://chrisrahnart.blogspot.com. Thanks in advance!
Lots of love,
Matt
MTGO: The_Obliterator