In the beginning of Magic
There was one color.
It was without color.
Then, there began the knowledge of words.
There were hateful words.
There were cruel words.
There were pure words.
There were intelligent words.
And there were gentle words.
It so turned to create the five colors
Of Magic.
Hateful words turned into the Red Manna,
And found power in the Mountains
Because the magma boiled underneath them.
Cruel words turned into the Black Manna
And found power in the Swamps
Because of the dead and gross things inhabiting them.
Pure words found power in the White Manna,
And found power in the Plains
Because men grew their corn on them.
Intelligent words found power in the Blue Manna
And found power in the Islands
Because the waters were reflective.
Gentle words found power in the Green Manna
And found power in the Forests
Because the forests were natural.
It soon came to be that the creatures
Started to draw forth from place to place.
Each according to their type,
What kinds of words they were most like.
The angry creatures dwelt among the mountains.
The cruel creatures dwelt among the swamps.
The pure creatures dwelt among the plains.
The intelligent creatures dwelt among the islands.
The gentle creatures dwelt among the forests.
It soon came to be that a Wizard of the Coast
Found how to harness words
And he used it to categorize every creature.
He studied them, and found some were small,
Some were large, some could do unique things
With words. It began to draw attention from other wizards
Who started to learn how to tap into the manna sources
Of the lands, and then draw forth the monsters,
Whom the Wizard of the Coast categorized.
That Wizard was Merlin, the Librarian,
Who meticulously categorized each creature
He studied, and wove them into a page.
Each page, was chronicled
And he cataloged what was possible with the words
And cataloged them also.
It soon came to be that Merlin had cataloged more than 30,000
Different spells, all that was possible with words
But a Gorgon found the books
And began to sell them to other Wizards
Who were soon to be called “Planeswalkers.”
These Planeswalkers would buy Merlin’s pages
Which were copied with perfect renderings—
Merlin was a great collector
But the Planeswalkers saw the Gorgon
Gogawroth’s pages, and began to buy them in bulk.
They could, in the beginning,
Play any spell they wished.
But, Merlin, seeing the realms were being destroyed
And men were losing their lives for nothing,
Took his unbeatable spells and bound Gogawroth’s spells
So that they would be bound into cards.
Gogawroth saw that now there was chance,
So Gogawroth, in one last act of defiance,
Made a Horocrux with his soul
And laid it in an artifact
To give him life again.
He died, but was found by a Goblin King,
A petulant warrior, who resurrected Gogawroth
Who, the newly resurrected Gorgon
Was now Sluks h’Tar The Gorgon of Chance.
The Gorgon of Chance, then,
Having half the power over all of the Planeswalker’s library
Had power to order the libraries howsoever he pleased.
Merlin had power over the spells, and their wordings.
Sluks h’Tar had power over their ordering in a Planeswalker’s library.
Thus, the two were drawn into never ending combat.
Merlin was White, Blue and Black.
Luks h’Tar was Red and Black.
Men tried to manipulate their libraries
To make the perfect draw every time,
But Sluks h’Tar would never let them.
Merlin sought to rebind his library
And therefore take it back from chaos,
So the two set forth to fight one another
In mortal combat.
The Goblin King,
However, was the foe whom Sluks h’Tar
Had used to keep Merlin away.
For the Goblin King was a formidable foe
Whom no Planeswalker would want to fight in combat;
For the Goblin King had mastered chance
And had made a pure library of wrath.
He was the gatekeeper to fighting Sluks h’Tar.
Only one Planeswalker had challenged Sluks h’Tar
And only once was Sluks h’Tar fought in a Magic War.
It was the Beast Master, whom Sluks had beaten
Because Sluks could, as it were,
Control the very order of his cards,
And change them at will, according to any of his desires.
The Beast Master was a legendary Planeswalker
Who defeated Sluks’ second in command,
The Dark One, who commanded death at his legions.
That battle was fierce,
And the Dark One was one of few Planeswalkers who had the advantage over
The Beastmaster;
Not even the Goblin King could fight him.
But, Sluks was Red and Black.
The Beast Master, however,
Offered a pretty opportunity for Sluks to gain control
Of the Forests, the missing manna
In his feud with Merlin.
And the battle commenced,
Where Sluks had drawn Time Vault, Black Lotus, Mox Ruby and Mox Onyx.
He used it to win on the first turn,
For he could, as it were, make himself draw each turn
Continuously,
And even decide who goes first in a match.
For, he was the power over chance,
And the Gorgon of Chance was his title.
Merlin would not fight him,
And Luks h’Tar had power over every
Library, to give advantage or disadvantage to any Planeswalker.
Those who tried to tap into Luks h’Tar’s power
Were swiftly destroyed and given the “Cheater’s Stone”.
So, none could harness Luks h’Tar’s power.
Thus, the realms were ordered
That there were those with Luks,
Who wanted to fight with no order,
And win many tokens of victory.
There were those with Merlin
Who wanted the game to be pure,
And thus, let collections stay with their masters.
For, Merlin wished that no man would lose his library
In battle, nor wager cards.
But Luks wanted that every person must
Wager their libraries in each contest.
For such, the two factions warred among one another…
Luks desiring that once a planeswalker fell,
Their libraries came under the victor’s control.
Merlin had mercy, and wanted the game to be pure
And without this.
Such was the next fight,
And the one you must wage
Planeswalkers.
B. K. Neifert 