The Vorthos Cast

The Lost Caverns of Ixalan story is available to read in its entirety! But if you're a bit lost and need a refresh of what Ixalan was like the last time we visited the plane, we're taking this week to give background information through the lens of the four major factions of the plane. Who are the Dusk Legion, the Sun Empire, the Brazen Coalition, and the mysterious River Heralds? And how do their...

The Story Circle has turned its attention to the first fiction appearance of Ob Nixilis, the planeswalker turned demon turned demonic planeswalker, as he claws his way into the heart of Zendikar searching for a path back to power. Dreams of the Damned is the first of two stories by Nik Davidson that introduces us first to the present and then the past of a fan-favorite character. It's also the fir...

We're going beyond time and space and into the world of Doctor Who with this special Beyond the Multiverse episode! Friend of the show and long-time Resident Doctor Who Expert on our Discord, Evan (@heavenlyevan on most social media) joined us today to give us a beginner-friendly guide to this 60-year-old British TV show. If you've never seen an episode of Doctor Who and want to know what's up wit...

The Story Circle meets once again to discuss one of Magic's heaviest stories, Cowardice of the Hero by Matt Knicl. This story from 2014 tackles incredibly heavy themes of family abuse and trauma, while serving as a preview article for a forgotten rare from a small, middle set of the Theros block. We ask: What does this story want to tell us? Would this story be published today? This episode includ...

Our Story Circle continues as we discuss another long-lost piece of Magic web fiction: Eater of the Infinite, from the Encyclopedia Dominia. This piece of web fiction was shared online in 1996 and written by an unknown author. It tells the story of why the Serendib Efreet looks like that, and it stands as an example of some of the earliest worldbuilding done for a Magic setting outside of Dominari...

This week we're beginning our Story Circle, a series of episodes aimed at reading and discussing pre-Origins Magic fiction, including some pieces of what may be considered lost lore. For our first episode, we read and discuss War's Wage, a piece of web fiction released in the lead-up to Saviors of Kamigawa in 2005, written by famous early Magic author Jeff Grubb. This episode includes a full readi...

You might be shocked to learn that a set with a strong Food theme has a lot of Flavor Gems! We dive into this bounty of tasty cards and come out stuffed to the gills with gems to share with you. Hopefully you're satiated by this veritable feast of fairy-tale themed cards! If you enjoy our podcast, consider supporting us on Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast, where just $1 a month gets you acces...

Seanan McGuire joins us once again, but this time not as (Hugo Award Winning) author of (Hugo Award Nominated) Magic Story, but instead as a subject matter expert on Fairy Tales! Seanan has a degree in fairy tales and herpetology, or as she calls it, a "degree in dragons." We discuss some of the history behind the fairy tales represented in Eldraine, including a short aside about venomous snakes a...

We are joined once again by Magic author (and Star Wars author, and novelist, and all around very cool person) K Arsenault Rivera! Fresh off her incredible story for March of the Machine, Arsenault Rivera gave us yet another excellent installment of Magic fiction with Wilds of Eldraine. We discuss what it's like writing such different stories back to back, how she put some of herself into Kellan,...

Kellan must defeat the final two witches in order to save Eldraine from the Wicked Slumber, while Rowan comes face to face with her brother and all the mistakes she's made. The cast discusses the story, the implications of Kellan's birth father's identity, and possibilities for the future of Magic story with this first foray into the new world of Omenpaths. If you like our podcast and would like t...

The Kindly Lord Talion, High Lord of the Fae, has sent us on a quest to discuss the story of Wilds of Eldraine! This week we're discussing the first three episodes of the story as Kellan, half-fae adventurer from origins as mysterious as they are sheepish, takes on the task of defeating three witches who maintain a choking slumber on all the realms. Meanwhile, Rowan is having a very bad time. If y...

At GenCon, Wizards of the Coast announced Magic products going all the way out to 2026! There were so many exciting sets announced that we wanted to do an episode covering all of them, including some sets that don't even have names yet! Can we interest you in a Cowboy Oko? Maybe a Shilgengar? How about a Final Fantasy set for you Warriors of Light? Also, since the story for Wilds of Eldraine is on...

Commander Masters had everything a Vorthos could want: Exciting new art for our favorite legends, new flavor text with bits of lore, new cards for old characters, and also there's Commodore Guff. That's right, me, Commodore Guff, finally got my own card! How does that make you feel, Chris? You said it would never happen, and yet here I am, writing your episode description, pointing out how wrong y...

Two hosts, two topics! This week, Cary and Chris look back on the Boom! Studios run of Magic comics, what they believe made these comics great and what could have been done better. They also discuss Adrift, A Lost Planeswalker Zine, a project by Cary to showcase Magic fanworks about underserved planeswalkers. What makes exciting Magic fanfiction, and why is the Magic multiverse a perfect world for...

School's back in session and this week we're giving you what you need to know about Planeswalkers! What you'll need to know for the quiz: What is a planeswalker? How have planeswalkers changed over the years? Who are some of the major planeswalker characters? Does Ajani use a litter box? If you enjoy our podcast and want to support it, you can do that at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast where $1 a month...

Thank you to Wizards of the Coast for our preview cards for Commander Masters! Shelter, with new art from Alayna Danner, and Urza, Lord High Artificer, with a new borderless profile art by Grant Griffin!

This is one of our most exciting episodes yet! The cast chats with Story Lead for Magic the Gathering Roy Graham about how the story is made and the trials of March of the Machine and its Aftermath. We get answers to some of the most pressing community questions, including why the narrative was best served by the Great Desparkening and how the future of story opens up with the Omenpaths. We'll be...

Where exactly do you start reading Magic story? We're going to give you suggestions on where you should start your Vorthos journey and all the different paths you can take to enjoying the 30 year history of Magic's story! This is part 1 in a multi-part series covering the basics of Magic story! Look out for more episodes this summer as we cover the basic story facts you'll need to get into the sto...

The March of the Machine left holes in the very fabric of the multiverse, and the future looks uncertain in big and small ways. We're taking this week to discuss what these changes might mean for the future of the multiverse and its inhabitants. What does a future of Omenpaths look like? How does knowledge of a multiverse challenge the foundation of a plane's religions? We'll find out soon enough,...

We're not really qualified to give in-depth lore tidbits about Lord of the Rings cards. So we didn't. If you liked what this was, you can support us on Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast! $1 a month gives access to our Discord server, and $3 a month means you can listen to us record episodes of the podcast live.

We knew we had to have Don Marshall (@DonMarshall72 on TikTok and every other platform) on the show as soon as we knew we were going to be talking about Lord of the Rings! Don is an incredible source of Lord of the Rings lore facts on TikTok, and also just a delightful human being. In what turned into one of our longest episodes yet, we talk about Lord of the Rings, Magic: the Gathering, a little...

It's time to celebrate our 250th episode by taking questions from you, our listeners, once again! This episode has only the hottest takes and most scandalous Vorthos thoughts, such as which planeswalkers would cronch rocks. It's an incredible experience releasing our 250th episode of the Vorthos Cast and our eighth mailbag episode! And we've got so many more lore episodes planned and coming your w...

Archangel Elspeth Tirel, hero of March of the Machine, the nightmare of Phyrexia: how did she become the angel she is today? This week we cover the many lives and deaths of Elspeth and the hints laid forth from her very inception that she would one day wear the wings of an angel. Next week is our 250th episode! We'd love to answer questions from our listeners about all things Magic and Vorthos Cas...

It's time for the aftermath of our flavor gems! Or, wait, the flavor gems of the aftermath? March of the Machine: The Aftermath is a special, story-driven booster product with only 50 cards, and we're talking about each and every one of them. There are some real tasty gems in this set, giving us a vision of what the multiverse looks like immediately after the Phyrexian invasion, and what it might...

We are now in the Aftermath of March of the Machine, and we've got two incredible stories to discuss that hint at the major consequences of the Phyrexian invasion and the future of the multiverse as we know it. And, more importantly, a lot of yuri. If you enjoy our podcast, consider supporting us on Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast, where just $1 a month gets you access to our Discord channel...