The History of the Eldrazi in Magic the Gathering

The Eldrazi are some of the biggest (both literally and figuratively) villains in the lore of Magic: the Gathering. They are massively powerful colorless-aligned eldritch beings that hale from the unlivable space between planes known as the Blind Eternities. 

In the lore of Magic, the last time we saw these creatures was way back in 2016’s Shadows over Innistrad. At least, that was true until the release of Edge of Eternities. As this set’s name implies, the space-like plane of “The Edge,” borders with the Blind Eternities, the place that the Eldrazi call home.

So it wasn’t a huge surprise when we learned about the Eldrazi’s ancient history. They even made a significant cameo in the set’s main story, and we even got a new Eldrazi card – Anitcausal Vestige.

Since Eldrazi now seem primed to return to the Magic story in a big way, I thought it would be a good time to recount their history.  

THE ELDRAZI-FOMORI WAR

The earliest record of the Eldrazi in the multiverse is their incursion into The Edge many millenia ago. Our information about this era is sparse. But we know they emerged from the Blind Eternities, and began wreaking havoc in The Edge, to the point that many civilizations were annihilated by The Eldrazi.

However, two races of The Edge entered into an alliance – the Drix and the Fomori. Working together, they used a powerful object called “The Fabric of All Being,” to seal the Eldrazi away. While the Fomori have disappeared from The Edge for reasons unknown, the Drix remain there and are steadfast in their attempts to keep the Eldrazi in check. They use their mastery of time and space to wipe out any potential of the Eldrazi ever returning.

We know very little about the Fomori, or what happened to them – but we know that Loot is one of them. That probably means that he’s going to be key in any future stories about those people and their struggles with the Eldrazi.

THE SEALING OF THE ELDRAZI

The Eldrazi weren’t only wreaking havoc in The Edge, they were also a threat to the rest of the multiverse. So much so that three powerful planeswalkers – Sorin, Ugin, and Nahiri – resolved to imprison them.

Ugin is one of the oldest planeswalkers in the multiverse, and he had encountered them in his travels and learned all about them. He explained to his fellow planeswalkers that the Eldrazi had no real physical form, and what we see of them on individual planes is akin to a person reaching their hand into a pool of water. 

In other words, what we call the Eldrazi are just a small part of three powerful beings with no physical form. However, Eldrazi do need to feed on mana, and that’s why they physically manifest avatars of themselves. Once manifested, they begin influencing the plane and spawning smaller (but generally still massive) Eldrazi children.

Ugin hatched a plan where they would lure the physical forms of the Eldrazi onto Nahiri’s plane of Zendikar, and trap them there. Zendikar was a plane with tons of mana, so getting the Eldrazi to come there was fairly easy.

All three Eldrazi titans manifested themselves on the plane – Emrakul, Ulamog, and Kozilek. Three Eldrazi of that magnitude would be impossible for most planes to stop, but Sorin, Ugin, and Nahiri had an excellent plan. 

Nahiri used her lithomancy magic to sculpt a network of stones called hedrons that would bind the Eldrazi. Sorin was a vampire who specialized in life-leeching magic, and as soon as the Eldrazi arrived on the plane he began sapping their strength. And Ugin was one of the few other colorless-aligned beings in the multiverse, and his magic – called Ghostfire – was effective in combatting the Eldrazi.

This all resulted in the Eldrazi being sealed in the Eye of Ugin. The only thing that can possibly release them is Ugin’s magic, and he has no intention of doing so. For many millennia, the Eldrazi were kept in check.

THE RISE OF THE ELDRAZI (AGAIN)

However, the Eldrazi would eventually break free – largely as the result of the machinations of Nicol Bolas, Ugin’s brother and a being intent on being the strongest in the multiverse. He even murdered his own brother in his quest for power. But it still wasn’t enough.

To attain the power he wanted, he needed to harvest the sparks of many planeswalkers, and he reasoned that setting the Eldrazi free would lure enough of them to Zendikar for him to enjoy a planeswalker buffet. However, even Nicol Bolas couldn’t free the Eldrazi from The Eye.

However, he manipulated several planeswalkers who collectively could set them free. Because so much time had passed since the sealing, no one even remembered the Eldrazi. Bolas used these planeswalkers like chess pieces, to unlock the endgame he wanted.

 First, he instructed the dragon-loving Sarkhan to protect The Eye. Next, he tricked the pyromancer planeswalker Chandra Nalaar into investigating the Eye, by telling her about a magic scroll that will teach her a new spell called Ghostfire. Chandra steals the scroll from a group called the Consortium, and this leads to the mind mage planeswalker Jace Beleren pursuing her to get it back.

In the end, all three of these planeswalkers arrive on the plane and fight one another in the Eye. Their raw magical energy, and especially Chandra’s mastery of Ghostfire resulted in the Eye shattering, and the Eldrazi were free once more.

THE BATTLE FOR ZENDIKAR

As the Eldrazi ravaged Zendikar, many planeswalkers did indeed arrive to combat them. However, much to his brother’s surprise, Ugin was among them. This is because Sarkhan Vol went back in time to change the outcome of the battle between the two brothers, resulting in Ugin’s survival.

Ugin’s presence was critical, as he was able to utilize the hedrons to weaken the Eldrazi. In an all out fight against many of the multiverse’s strongest planeswalkers, the titans were defeated, with Chandra dealing the fatal blow.

However, while Kozilek and Ulamog were ultimately defeated, Emrakul – arguably the most powerful of the three titans – managed to escape.

SHADOWS OVER INNISTRAD

As with the unsealing of the Eldrazi on Zendikar, an Eldrazi incursion of the gothic horror plane of Innistrad was also the result of a conflict between two planeswalkers. 

When the Eldrazi were freed from the Eye of Ugin on Zendikar, Nahiri went to Innistrad to recruit Sorin to help seal away the Eldrazi again. However, he refused to help because he had his own problems, and he even imprisoned Nahiri.

When she breaks free, she’s absolutely livid, especially when she sees the destruction wrought on her home plane during the battle. She saw the situation as Sorin murdering and destroying the people and plane that she loved, so she resolved to do the same thing to him.

She began constructing hedrons on Innistrad. But it turns out they’re not only capable of sealing the Eldrazi away – they can also act as a beacon. Emrakul, the one Eldrazi titan to survive the Battle for Zendikar, arrives on the plane and begins converting its residents into Eldrazi – even the plane’s guardian angels.

Ultimately, it takes the intervention of several planeswalkers to stop Emrakul. In addition to Sorin, Gideon, Chandra, Jace, Liliana, Nissa, and Tamiyo all work together to defeat her. In the end, Tamiyo imprisons Emrakul in the plane’s moon.

THE ELDRAZI RETURN TO THE EDGE

While the Eldrazi are not the focus of the Edge of Eternities story, they do show up in the story’s climax, during a battle at Infinite Guideline Station between the set’s two main factions – the Monoists and the Summists. 

While Tannuk, one of the main characters, is fighting for his life against an Eldrazi, a Drix appears and effectively erases the Eldrazi from existence. When he asks what’s going on, and why these creatures are attacking them, the Drix responds cryptically, saying that “They attack beings dusted in potential matter.”

As the Eldrazi continue to wreak havoc on the station, it becomes clear that there is one group they have no interest in at all – the Monoists. These are people who believe in allowing the Sothera system to be absorbed into the Supervoid, and they believe eternal life awaits them should they be sucked up by a black hole.

So, it can be inferred that the Monoists themselves are not “dusted in potential matter.” Perhaps that means that people intent on killing themselves don’t really have any “potential matter,” since they only have one potential future – suicide by supervoid.  

But what makes these Eldrazi behave so peculiarly? In the past, they didn’t seem to make any distinction between various living things, simply annihilating or converting all of them.

That’s an answer we’ll have to wait for.

WHEN WILL WE SEE MORE ELDRAZI?

In the relatively near future. While The Drix are doing a good job so far at sealing the Eldrazi away, the fact such a large incursion of them occurred at the Infinite Guideline indicates that they aren’t doing as good of a job as they used to. It’s unclear what has led to the increased Eldrazi activity, but it’s worth remembering that Emrakul isn’t destroyed – she’s just imprisoned. So it’s very possible she’s pulling the strings.

There’s also a lot we don’t know about the Eldrazi and their distant past. After all, the most recent set is the first time we’ve ever heard of the Fomori-Eldrazi war. There may have been completely different Eldrazi titans who were behind those events. I have a feeling we’ll be returning to The Edge in the future and we’ll have these many questions answered.

END STEP

So, that’s a brief history of the Eldrazi. When do you think we’ll see them return in a big way? Let me know over on X or Bluesky.