First of all, Journey into Nyx is the third set of Theros, and it’s one that has a few things going on in the storyline. Xenagos, a Planeswalker, has ascended to godhood, Elspeth was exiled for “causing it,” and Ajani is now there to help her fight back. There’s a dream world, Nyx, and an underworld.

Additionally, Erebos has a larger role in this set.

This descent is redeeming to Elspeth, the hero, who needs redemption. Since all great glory will end eventually, it gives Erebos popcorn for the show. What is confusing is that Erebos, the god of the underworld, is so closely integrated into the storyline at this point considering creative made it a point to say that he is “notable for not being connected to the realm of Nyx, in spite of black's association with darkness.” Technically, he shouldn’t care.

The Rivers That Ring the World: the five rivers that form a boundary between Theros and its underworld

Explaining Death in MTG

I have seen plenty of depictions of death—or of death about to happen—but very few of people in their final resting places. The game is one that shows the action—rarely the aftermath.

Religious imagery often depicts heaven, purgatory, and hell, and it provides a pretty strong set of tropes that most of the world can instantly understand. The two images below quickly use those tropes. The boatman Charon/Phlegyas, similar to what’s shown above, is an easy trope to depict and literally copy from antiquity. Magic hasn’t covered a world-building effort of reality/immaterial-like reality and the afterlife until the last few sets. They have absolutely given us a deeper view into the afterlife. Journey into Nyx talks about a third dimension as well: our dreams.

This could devolve into a terrible dream-world set with Lisa Frank pink unicorns but only using a visual cue of a starry background with rough constellations as representative of dreams, and a world that inhabits them is quite brilliant. We haven’t gotten to see the underworld, but I would bet ten American dollars that we will be able to soon. The issue I have currently is how a nonphysical, unreal place has Nyxborn creatures and gods living in it. So, if I’m a human, I dream up a stegosaurus attacking a giant walking pineapple, and they’re also there? Or nah? It’s all too early to tell until Jenna Helland’s e-book has fully released all three parts.

Let’s look back at the last few sets to see how our Creative Team has handled these world-building questions:

In the Innistrad block, dreams are covered simply as being fitful and anything but restful. Death was a transition from living a virtuous life to entering the “blessed sleep,” one of quiet oblivion. Obviously, if you were brought back as a spirit, geist, or zombie, you weren’t exactly having a restful sleep.

In the Return to Ravnica block, lacking sleep is mentioned as tortuous punishment. I assume Ravnicans sleep, and the Rakdos, after bloody revelry, probably sleep the best. You see, if you're guilty, you know you're caught, you get some rest, and you let your guard down. In death, the Orzhov probably are still collecting debts from you as a ghost. Additionally, some guilds have oaths that still need fulfilling. Do the Gruul and the Boros eternally sleep? God knows the Golgari live an undeath forever.

A “day in the life” of each guild would make for a fantastic fan-fiction article. I would read that if it had pictures.

In the Theros block, sleep is a journey into Nyx temporarily for the evening. Dreams are made real, and the gestalt, well, makes things real . . . I guess. Is it like Warhammer 40k Orks? (Does red make it faster?) Are gods really just manifestations of people or are attributes that people subconsciously and consciously conduct overseen by beings who crossed the fold into Nyx?

A Journey

Something that has to be made very clear is that the passage into Nyx is a journey to hell and back, but it is not literally a journey to the underworld.

Lord of the Rings also has this. Aragorn “visited” hell by gathering dead soldiers and emerged, though he never left his physical state.

Gustave Dore, illustrating Dante’s Inferno’s scene of Phlegyas guiding Dante and Virgil across the river Styx

Black, Good Guys

Elspeth’s journey into Nyx has nothing to do with Erebos and his entourage. They don’t sleep because there is no day or night. They’re out there hustling all the time, Rick Ross style. The death trio has no skin in the game over Nyx. Write that down. They get dead folks either way, so why the hell should they care who wins?

The fact that he has Mastix is notable: “[Its] more frequent function is as a snare to pull the reluctant dead into—or back into—his realm.” People can try to leave the underworld. It is not a supernatural feat to leave the underworld. They just happened to always get caught. Is Nyx the same way? If so, who polices folks jumping back and forth? The Nyxborn aren’t exactly needing passports to kick it with the humans.

Also notable is that “[Erebos] is not without compassion, but his compassion is limited to feeling on behalf of others what he himself feels.” While he is the speaker of the Journey into Nyx video and it appears that he is or will try to kill Elspeth, black is self-serving. Is it in the best interests of Erebos to help Elspeth annihilate Xenagos? Are these three black-aligned gods really the bad guys here? Is Erebos talking about Elspeth or Ajani?

Could Elspeth go to Nyx and Ajani to the underworld?

Flight of the White Cat III

I could easily see the lion cat passing on. He’s fighting for space against Ajani and Gideon. Also, being nonhuman really hurts his broad appeal. Unrelatable? You bet. Should he die? Well, we could use some new Planeswalkers, and his Caller of the Pride version never took off.

Elspeth needs to visit Nyx, kill all the bad things, and then head to the underworld to find peace for herself and for Ajani. It is kind of her thing to need closure for everything.

Look for the art in the next set that summarizes the block and shows the transition for Elspeth like the above. A transcended moment could find its role in this set. We will have to see if it’s in Nyx or in the underworld, as both are fighting for mental space in our exploration of Theros.

- Mike