Wizards of the Coast revealed today that “there are currently no plans for an ebook” to accompany Theros Beyond Death, Magic: the Gathering’s next expansion, which is due out on January 24, 2020.
The announcement that there will not be an ebook for Theros Beyond Death comes at the end of a year in which Magic’s story moved entirely to long-form fiction. 2019 saw the publication of three Magic novels: two physical book telling the story of War of the Spark by Greg Weisman—War of the Spark: Ravnica and War of the Spark: Forsaken—and an ebook by Kate Elliot, The Wildered Quest, that introduced the world of Eldraine. While Weisman’s War of the Spark novels were part of a much larger storytelling effort that included web fiction written by Weisman and a serialized novel by Django Walker, Throne of Eldraine’s story was limited to an introductory ebook, and Wizards said at the time that there weren’t any immediate plans for episodic stories to return to the Magic Story website.
But Wizards seems to be taking a different direction with the story of Theros Beyond Death. In addition to the lack of an ebook, Hipsters of the Coast has confirmed that there will not be any web fiction for Theros Beyond Death.
A story blurb from Theros Beyond Death.
The story of the previous block set on Theros was told through the well-received, two-part ebook Godsend written by Jenna Helland. Theros Beyond Death’s story picks up where Godsend left off, marking the return of Elspeth Tirel, one of Magic’s most beloved Planeswalkers. So far, the only storytelling device that we know will be used for Theros Beyond Death are informational graphics that add context to some of the cards that have already been previewed.
UPDATE: Included confirmation from Wizards of the Coast.
This post contains referral links from which Hipsters of the Coast may make a small commission.