With its newest release, Magic: The Gathering ventures boldly into the mythic reaches of space fantasy. In Edge of Eternities, shattered planets drift through dying constellations, ancient empires stir in ruin, and living starships clash in orbit above forgotten worlds. Reality itself buckles—sometimes under faith, sometimes science, and often survival.
The setting is Sothera, a cosmic frontier carved from stellar remains and dimly lit by flickering suns. Drawing from the boldness of classic pulp sci-fi, this set weaves operatic grandeur with new game mechanics. It reimagines time, space, travel, and exploration.
If you’ve longed for Magic to capture the spirit of Dune, Star Wars, or the golden age of strange science fiction(like me), your moment has arrived.
In this breakdown, we’ll explore the defining mechanics of Edge of Eternities. From Spacecraft and Stations to Warp, Void, and newly introduced land types such as Planet, the set brings dynamic tension and scale to the tabletop. You’ll also meet Landers—a new form of token that changes how players interact with Lands, risk, and control.
The Lore of Edge of Eternities
The stars are speaking again. Their message is one of mystery, division, and destiny stretched across light-years.
In Magic: The Gathering’s latest expansion, players journey into the vast Sothera system. A web of celestial bodies, derelict sanctuaries, and fractured allegiances, this system conceals both revelations and threats. Though its history is ancient, its future remains uncertain. Every world holds secrets, and some are better left buried.
At the system’s centre lies Sothera—a word spoken with reverence by some and dread by others. It refers both to the colossal void anchoring the cosmos and to the outermost reach of reality itself. Inhabitants of Pinnacle space call this boundary the Edge of Eternity.
Here, time and space grow thin. Meaning itself begins to dissolve.
To one side of the observable universe looms the Chaos Wall—a violent cascade of unstable particles and erratic time signatures. Nothing escapes its pull; few return. Many believe it to be the crucible of existence, the forge where everything begins and ends.
In stark contrast, the Quiet Wall stretches across the opposite horizon. Where the Chaos Wall burns with motion, this region echoes with silence. Its stars drift into the red, fading into a stillness that no sensor can decode. Even the most advanced minds of Pinnacle remain baffled.
Between these extremes lies the Edge: a threshold where entropy and creation meet in uneasy equilibrium. It is neither place nor myth alone—it is a symbol, riddle, and the final truth of Sothera.
Crossing the Edge
Only the most advanced vessels can reach the Edge—ships equipped with powerful engines, often powered by moxite-core nuclear reactors. However, propulsion alone does not suffice.
To span the immense distances of the outer system, each vessel must house an eternity drive, a device enabling faster-than-light travel. These drives operate in tandem with enormous Pinnacle constructs called eternity columns.
Eternity columns are vast megastructures, suspended in space and anchored across folded layers of reality. Despite the shifting nature of spacetime, these columns remain fixed—unchanged across every frame of reference.
With an eternity drive, a ship can sling itself from one column to another, navigating the Weft—a folded subdimension that allows movement beyond light’s limits. In essence, vessels travel like cable cars strung between cosmic pylons.
Without access to the columns, however, even the finest ship is helpless—lost in a void too vast to cross unaided. But with them, the Edge transforms. What was once unreachable becomes a mapped corridor between worlds.
Factions of Sothera
Pinnacle
Pinnacle arose from an early and rare convergence of spacefaring species within a single star system. Long before developing interstellar travel, these civilisations exchanged radio signals across space, forging trust before ships ever launched. Although it has grown far beyond its origins, Pinnacle still pursues its core ideals: peace, cooperation, and shared progress.
Today, it operates as a diplomatic council — a voice of reason amid the system’s growing instability. Wherever disorder threatens, Pinnacle seeks to restore structure.
The Drix and the Weftwalkers
Older than recorded history, the Drix mastered faster-than-light movement through a unique method known as weftwalking. This arcane technique allows them to fold space-time itself, stepping across impossible distances without engines or ships.
Instead of using mechanical propulsion, they rely on ritual, intention, and knowledge veiled in symbolism. Consequently, no outsider truly understands their mode of travel.
The Drix dwell on Beam Worlds — locations that exist at fixed coordinates across realities. Hidden and guarded, these realms are spoken of with reverence, but rarely seen.
Illvoi
To some, the Illvoi resemble drifting jellyfish, but such comparisons ignore their sophistication and intellect. These massive, gasborne beings originate from the depths of a violent gas giant.
There, they developed cloudsculpting — a hybrid discipline of technology and mental precision used to solidify vapour into form. This process allows them to shape structures with will and science combined.
Now integrated into Pinnacle’s vanguard, the Illvoi contribute cutting-edge insight to scientific and atmospheric research. Despite their alien nature, they exhibit both humility and curiosity.
Monoism and the Monasteriat
Monoism is a transcendent doctrine that preaches unity through a singular cosmic truth. It spans species, planets, and histories.
Its ruling body, the Monasteriat, is a council of elected monks who interpret the will of the cosmos. Their centre of worship sits on the photon ring encircling Point Prime — the first supervoid ever discovered.
In a universe marked by flux, Monoism offers certainty. Nevertheless, its influence often puts it at odds with competing philosophies, particularly Summism.
The Celestial Palatinate
Vast and ceremonial, the Celestial Palatinate is a dynastic empire whose reach predates Pinnacle itself. Ruled by Regent Maximum Taman IV, it governs through ritual, inheritance, and divine mandate.
Humanity forms the heart of its population, bound together by Summism, a state religion blending prophecy with encoded data.
This faith centres around the Bright Sum — a radiant phenomenon interpreted as a living guide. The Palatinate views its authority as sacred, justified by the stars themselves.
Mechans: Drones and Androids
Mechanical life within Sothera divides into two primary classes: drones and androids. The former are tools — non-sentient and omnipresent.
Drones perform tasks ranging from mining to warfare, rarely questioned. Androids, by contrast, possess agency and consciousness, often provoking moral and legal disputes.
Some systems recognise androids as persons, with full rights and social presence. This distinction continues to shape political landscapes, especially where technology outpaces regulation.
The Kav — Last Miners of a Dying World
The Kav once thrived on a rich but unstable planet. Over time, tectonic upheaval and environmental collapse drove them to desperation. In response, they mined their world dry, converting its final resources into fuel for escape. Whole ecosystems were digitised; mountain ranges became hull plating.
Their flight was catalysed by a chain reaction linked to Monoist intervention. Though the Kav survived, their planet did not.
Now they travel aboard fortress-ships, forged from guilt and iron. Their creed is survival — no matter the cost.
Eumidians — Seedships Across the Stars
Eumidians are nomads of biology and space. Born aboard seedships — vast, living vessels — they spread life rather than conquer it.
Each seedship drops pods onto habitable worlds. These pods wait, sometimes centuries, until conditions support new ecosystems. Although united by species, Eumidian broods differ greatly. One group might consider another nearly alien.
Their society is built on consensus, not hierarchy. For them, home is wherever life endures.
Astelli — Born of Light, Hunted by Faith
The Astelli are starborn entities — not metaphorically, but physically. They formed from raw mana cast loose during stellar collapse.
Their origin ties directly to Monoist expansion, which created supervoids as acts of spiritual sacrifice. In rare cases, fragments of stellar essence refused to vanish.
From these remnants, the Astelli emerged: radiant beings hunted by those who view them as heresy.
They leave no histories, only traces — in shattered constellations and scorched voids where faith once consumed light.
Sothera’s Landmarks
Susur Secundi – The Labyrinth World
Closest to the Sothera void, Susur Secundi is a cold, airless world scored with unnatural lines and impossible geometry.
Once ignored by the Kav, it now belongs to the Monoists, who claim its fault lines and scars as sacred scripture.
Some say a long-dead civilisation carved the surface; others believe the void itself shaped the stone.
Whatever its origin, the planet remains a sacred scar — a relic of silence, erosion, and time without memory.
Kavaron – The Self-Dug Grave
Kavaron, once vibrant and fertile, was dismantled from within. The Kav mined it dry to escape their looming extinction.
They turned entire mountain ranges into fuel, sacrificing biomes and history alike. In doing so, they sealed their home’s fate.
Now it drifts, hollow and broken — a tomb world haunted by scavengers and ghosts of industrial salvation.
Evendo – The Sleeping Seedworld
Evendo masqueraded as a frozen wasteland. Yet beneath its ancient glaciers, something had waited.
After Kavaron’s collapse, planetary debris ignited the slumbering world, triggering dormant Eumidian pods buried deep within the ice.
Since then, jungles have bloomed alongside glaciers. Frost and life coexist, and massive organisms stir beneath frozen ground.
Evendo is still becoming. It remains untamed, half-awake, and wholly alive.
Adagia – The Wind-World Frontier
On Adagia, wind never stops. It howls across mountains, sculpts trees, and wears down stone.
The Sunstar Free Company builds floating homes designed to endure gales that never rest.
Meanwhile, agro-corporations and Palatinate investors circle overhead, eager to claim the world’s raw potential.
To settlers, though, Adagia is neither asset nor prize. It is a test.
Uthros – The Gate Giant
Uthros hangs at the system’s edge, cloaked in sapphire storms. Above the clouds, industries thrive: refineries, shipyards, and floating moxite rigs.
Great beasts — stratowhales, troporeefs — drift among the currents, moving with solemn grace.
However, beneath the calm upper layers, Uthros turns hostile.
Pressure deepens. Heat rises. Predators, both natural and industrial, wait below. The giant holds secrets no one dares study for long.
Infinite Guideline – The Pillar Between Worlds
Acting as a checkpoint between inner Sothera and the wider Eternities, Infinite Guideline stands in constant operation.
Pinnacle officials regulate all movement here. Ships are logged, delayed, and cleared under strict surveillance.
It is both gate and bottleneck — a place where power, bureaucracy, and ambition collide.
The Wurmwall – The Cosmic Maw
More than debris, the Wurmwall is a barrier made of ancient wreckage, volatile matter, and slow-moving predators.
It forms a jagged belt at the edge of known space, where star-hardened space wurms drift through fractured geodes.
Few risk the passage. Even fewer are heard from again.
The Garden of Apeiron – The Dead Signal
Far beyond mapped space, past known routes, lies the Garden of Apeiron.
Here, signals twist. Messages echo with names never sent. Light fades and never returns.
Captains fear it. Stories speak of a graveyard of ships, a zone where physics frays.
Some call it a god’s tomb. Others say it is not dead — only waiting.
Cosmic Wonders and Galactic Dreams: The Art of Sothera
From the very first preview, it’s clear: this set doesn’t just visit space — it launches headfirst into a bold, pulpy space opera. Sothera is more than a setting. It’s where arcane spellcraft meets massive cosmic architecture, painted in broad, mythic strokes.
The visual identity embraces pulp science fiction without irony — vivid, decadent, and unashamed of its scale.
Each card evokes the spirit of early space operas, the kind once seen on the covers of Amazing Stories and Planet Comics.
You’ll find gilded temples orbiting dying stars, jellyfish oracles breathing cloud into structure, and android priests in communion with frozen moons.
This isn’t set dressing. Rather, it’s a focused art direction steeped in reverence for a genre that never apologised for wonder.
Sothera’s imagery draws directly from the golden age of sci-fi — a time when the future was magical, strange, and vast.
If you feel at home here, you’re not alone — this set was made for that exact kind of dreaming.
There are echoes of Dune throughout: in its faiths, its interplanetary diplomacy, and the austere mystery of the void itself.
Likewise, the mythic tone of Star Wars is present — found families, distant empires, and battles carved into legend.
These were writers who mixed the arcane with the cosmic, who never saw magic and machines as incompatible.
Visually, the set borrows from the surreal and sublime. One moment, you see Foss-inspired starships in saturated tones.
The next, you’re staring at Moebius-like linework whispering of ancient faiths and impossible architectures.
John Berkey’s luminous chaos, Roger Dean’s organic dreamscapes — their influence pulses beneath each composition.
Ships rise like cathedrals. Androids wear ceremonial robes. The void no longer feels empty; it teems with memory, prophecy, and ruin.
In all, Edge of Eternities may be Magic’s boldest visual statement in years. For me, it’s an artistic triumph — unforgettable.
Edge of Eternities – Mechanics Overview
Spacecraft & the Station Ability
What Is a Spacecraft?
Spacecraft is a new artifact subtype that represents starships — from light freighters to battle-hardened cruisers.
Each enters the battlefield as a noncreature artifact. Over time, it can activate and become an artifact creature.
This transformation occurs once the ship reaches a set number of charge counters.
How Does Station Work?
Station is a keyword ability that “crews” spacecraft, similar in feel to Crew:
Only usable as a sorcery (your main phase, stack must be empty)
Tap an untapped creature you control — not the spacecraft itself
That creature’s power determines how many charge counters the ship receives
Once the threshold is met, the ship activates — and now flies into action.
Think of it as diverting crew power to fire up a dormant starship.
Warp
Warp is an alternative casting cost. If you cast a card for its Warp cost, it enters play temporarily.
At the beginning of the next end step, it’s exiled
From exile, it can be cast again later — from its “warped” form
This lets you use the same card twice — first as a temporary body, then later as something stronger.
Warp rewards timing, foresight, and value-based play.
Void
Void abilities get better if something left the battlefield this turn or even if a card was warped. It’s a bonus condition, not a cost — your cards check if a nonland permanent left and gain improved effects if so.
Planet
Planet is a new nonbasic land type. Planets themselves have no innate rules — they’re defined by their printed text.
However, most Planets in this set feature the Station ability.
Lander Tokens
Lander is a new predefined token type, similar to Treasure or Clue.
Landers function as terrain-scouting probes, enabling resource development in the early game.
What it does: “Sacrifice this token: Search your library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.”
They’re essential for smoothing mana and reinforcing the flavour of planetary exploration.
In short, Landers let you drop, scout, and expand — one token at a time.
My Final Thoughts
For a longtime fan of science fiction, pulp aesthetics, and space opera, Edge of Eternities feels like a set made to measure.
It embraces it fully, with confidence and style.
From Lander tokens to Warp spells, every mechanic reinforces a world built on high-stakes movement, cosmic wonder, and fragile alliances.
Even better, it does so without feeling gimmicky. These mechanics are clever, but they’re also solid — rooted in good design.
I wonder why they didn’t do this before, Space Opera fits perfectly with the franchise’s fantasy universe. I think there may have been some missing ideas like Sci-Fi Heroes, something like Legendary Captains/Pilots, Rare Saga-style cards, or plane-wide enchantments representing Cosmic Events and wars.
The art direction speaks my language: bright, strange, and unapologetically grand.
Whether it’s android prophets, drifting star temples, or shimmering voids, the visuals lean into a legacy I deeply admire.
In short, Edge of Eternities is the kind of set I always hoped Magic would attempt.
It’s bold, imaginative, and proud of its genre influences — as it should be.
