The Loremaster: Freyalise and the Ice Age

When it was revealed that Commander 2014 would include older planeswalkers like Teferi, I said something a bit silly. 'If they don't make Freyalise,' I said, 'I will quit Magic.'

Fortunately, they did make Freyalise and I did not have to make good on my threat. But it did open a can of worms. Because Freyalise died during the events of the Time Spiral block. And part of the justification for her death was that Wizards wanted planeswalkers to have cards - she belonged to the older generation of near-omnipotent planeswalkers, and therefore was too powerful to have a card.

And yet here we stand with a Freyalise planeswalker card.

It is somewhat difficult to relate the early part of Freyalise's life. The comics that tell of it were written before the concept of a planeswalker 'spark' existed, and...well, frankly, they are a mess that makes very little sense. But I will try regardless.

Freyalise was a pyromancer living in Storgard, on the plane of Dominaria, during the Ice Age. Storgard was the last of the Fallen Empires, located in the terminal morraine of a vast glacier, and therefore constantly under threat of the growing ice. Freyalise was a bit of an oddity - she was a half-elf, something seen very rarely in the lore of Magic.

The Loremaster: Nicol Bolos, Elder Dragon

MtG: Commander was originally called Elder Dragon Highlander. Highlander, because there can be only one. Elder Dragon, after a cycle of cards printed in Magic's third expansion set, Legends. They were dragons. They were big. They were splashy. They were three colours. They were...mostly not very good. But in Commander, it's ok to be bad if you're a powerful dragon from the dawn of Magic.

In the beginning were the Elder Dragons, who ruled the plane of Dominaria 25 000 years ago. Being dragons, they made war upon each other, until only five were left - Nicol Bolas, his brothers Arcades and Chromium, his sister Palladia-Mors, and their cousin, Vaevictis Asmadi. The other Elders were slain, or cast down and stripped of their power.

The children of Bolas and his relatives were also considered to be elders, though lesser in power. It is said these lesser elders gave rise to all the dragons of Dominaria. The cast down Elders were no longer even called dragons, and their children became the drakes and wurms.

Because scarves are cool.