A new Magic the Gathering comic got announced so I thought it would be interesting to look at it and some of the background lore. From the Dark Horse press release:>Dark Horse Comics and Hasbro’s Wizards of the Coast division present MAGIC: THE GATHERING: Untold Stories—Liliana, a new series featuring the powerful necromancer Liliana Vess. The four-issue miniseries will be written by Torunn Grønbekk (Valkyrie: Jane Foster, Red Sonja), illustrated by Nataliia Rerekina (The Witcher), colored by Lauren Affe (Count Crowley, Assassin’s Creed Mirage: A Soar of Eagles), and lettered by Clayton Cowles (Helen of Wyndhorn, FML). Issue #1 arrives in October 2026 and will feature covers by Rerekina, Sibylline Meynet, and Abigail Larson.>Liliana Vess is the most powerful necromancer in the multiverse, but her power came at a cost. For her strength and her mastery of death, Liliana bargained her soul to four powerful demons: Kothophed, Razaketh, Belzenlok, and Griselbrand. But now, Liliana seeks to regain her freedom and destroy the pact she wears etched into her skin.>Liliana’s journey has brought her to Innistrad, the rumored location of Griselbrand, and a plane rife with corruption, chaos, and suffering. Determined to hunt the demon down and reclaim the piece of her soul he took, her task will not be an easy one—for Liliana Vess is not the only seeker of vengeance upon the plane of Innistrad.>https://www.darkhorse.com/newsfeed/vengeance-stalks-the-plane-of-innistrad-in-magic-the-gathering-untold-stories-liliana/
Alt cover art.
For some reason this other site has larger textless images of the covers.>https://www.thepopverse.com/comics-gaming-magic-the-gathering-untold-stories-liliana-announce
Let's look at some related cards from the set the comic is covering. Here's Liliana of the Veil from the gothic horror Innistrad set released in 2011. Very strong card at the time from what I remember.
Here's Garruk. He's not looking too hot after getting cursed by Liliana and is looking for revenge. This is probably the B plot while Liliana chases after the big demon.
This is the set that had the flip card mechanic mainly for werewolves but others like Garruk here.
Priest guy on the cover is likely Mikaeus, the head honcho of the church.
He does not have a good time in this block. Perhaps we'll see zombie Mikaeus in the comic too?
Fan favorites Gisa and Geralf are also on the cover. Two necromancer siblings. Gisa is more of a go wide type of necromancer aiming for quantity rather than quality.
Geralf is more about quality, making bigger single zombies.
Griselbrand is the big bad demon of this story and one of four demons Liliana has to track down. His card is still banned in many formats last I recall.
The plot looks to be a continuation of an old webcomic series WOTC released. It's been scrubbed from their main site but you can find it on the internet archive. mgtlore.com is a good place to track down all the stuff they purged.
This is in potato quality because that's all I could find. Keep in mind this was originally published in 2008.
>>154277073Just noticed the typo there. The site is:>https://mtglore.com/
>>154276878I'm surprised they're bothering with doing the OG Innistrad block storyline, this block did happen over 15 years ago now
>>154277050>His card is still banned in many formats last I recall.You know you can just look this up, right?Griselbrand is only banned in Commander, because the higher starting life total makes his ability drastically more efficient.(Also Oathbreaker but who gives a shit about Oathbreaker)
That's all for the hunter and the veil. The story continues in other comics with Garruk trying to track down Liliana.
There was a duel deck featuring Garruk and Liliana that was released in 2009. Product synergy I suppose.
Also noteworthy is how the story continued in card form though not without controversy. This was a card in the third set of the Innistrad block that ended up being the basis for a lot of bad faith out of context moral crusading.
Despite the fact that there's a follow up card showing what happens. Perhaps a pitfall in trying to tell a story through collectible cards?
Garruk does show up again a couple years later, still cursed.
Lastly a couple of cards depicting Liliana's demon pact.
This one came out a couple years later. Perhaps that FIRE design philosophy's influence? Basically no feel bad downside to work around. Anyway that's all I got for now.
>>154277442And then WotC didn't do anything with Garruk until the first set of Eldraine
>>154277608>get cursed in 2008>finally get cured in 2019
>>154277723Compared to the other Lorwyn five it is kinda surprising how rare Garruk shows up for Story events
