The third Ravnica 'block' returned for three sets, to conclude the final battle with Nicol Bolas, taking place as the War of the Spark, on the plane of Ravnica. This article encompassed the sets Guilds of Ravnica, Ravnica Allegiance, and War of the Spark, to form a pseudo-block, showcasing this story across three sets of Magic.
The stories of this block were muddled, released in confusing order, and culminated in a novel which received heavy criticism.
We have published the emailed stories of The Gathering Storm, by Django Wexler, which kick off the main story.
The Gathering Storm, by Django Wexler
The opening main story for the War of the Spark
One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten,
Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen, Twenty
Guild of Ravnica Trailer:
Guild of Ravnica and Ravnica Allegiance Side Stories:
These stories were short tales of the lives of various characters living their lives in Ravnica. They often interact with the guilds, and represent different perspectives than those characters facing the highest challenges with the world and plane. This all occurs simultaneously or before the Gathering Storm.
Guilds of Ravnica:
Ravnica Allegiance:
1. The Illusion of Child's Play
3. The Principles of Unnatural Selection
4. The Ledgers of Hidden Fortunes
Ravnica Allegiance Trailer:
War of the Spark Synopsis:
With the stage set from The Gathering Storm, the plot for the main war mainly took place in the War of the Spark novel. The novel showed how the planar beacon was turned on and drew hundreds of planeswalkers to the plane. The plan involved multiple portions: Tezzeret used the planar bridge to transport the Lazotep zombie army to Ravnica to kill planeswalkers, with Liliana controlling them as Zombies. Dovin Baan maintained the Immortal Sun artifact taken from Ixalan, which prevents planeswalkers from leaving the world. Domri Rade was tasked with disrupting the guilds, something he desired anyway through the Gruul Clan. Nicol Bolas had also found "The Elder Spell" on Dominaria, which could harvest a planeswalker's spark, the goal was to gain as many planeswalker sparks as possible, and re-ascend with enough power of an old-walker, godlike in power.
The walkers and guilds of Ravnica joined together with the Gatewatch to subdue each of the elements, from Beacon, to Sun, to Bridge. Then they found that Liliana could not bear that she had betrayed the Gatewatch, and sent the zombie army after Bolas himself. Breaking her contract meant her death, but Gideon stood with her and absorbed her contract energy, dying in her place. Meanwhile, a plan by Ugin (possibly using the powers of Ashiok and Narset), found the Meditation Realm plane, and once Nicol Bolas' spark was removed, Ugin transported both body and spark to the Meditation Realm, erasing Bolas' memory, trapping him there indefinitely, thus ending the War of the Spark.
War of the Spark Trailer:
There is also an aftermath novel: War of the Spark: Forsaken. However, much of the book's content has been retconned, and the book was terribly received. Wizards even put out a statement about a character's portrayal, apologizing. This caused even this author to stop reading Magic lore for some time.
Finally, there are side stories from the character, Rat, in War of the Spark, that weave through the first novel.
War of the Spark Side Stories:
As this was a low point in Magic story, not for amount of content, but for quality, we may have missed some things. Let us know in the comments what might be missing.