Notice: For legal reasons, this article is completely fan-made and unaffiliated with Wizards of the Coast or Hasbro, who own the rights to all images used. For non-legal reasons, this article is a follow-up to the previous Magic the Gathering article I’ve written, and I’d very much recommend you read that one first.
After Urza’s detonation of the Golgothian Sylex (detailed in the previous article), Dominaria underwent irreparable changes, including but not limited to: the destruction of a massive portion of Terisiare, tidal waves from the energy of the blast that would reach the shores of other continents and kill millions, the shifting of the entire planet of Dominaria off its axis, the merging of 12 different planes into one conglomerate called the Shard of the Twelve Worlds, keeping planeswalkers from entering or exiting (including Urza, now trapped outside his home plane). Furthermore, all these changes would bring about the horrible Dominarian Dark Age where magic was persecuted and the countries who didn’t fall to the Sylex blast turned to
religious zealotry, believing there was no other way out. However, the Dark Age was only the beginning, because after the dark age came the Ice Age, when the climatic effects of the Sylex truly came to light. Little is known about the events of the Ice Age besides its end, but we do know that it annihilated nearly every faction of Dominaria that hadn’t already fallen, with the few surviving nations like Zhalfir preserving themselves only through powerful magic. On Terisiare, the one continent we are given information about during this time, the prevailing factions are the nation of Kjeldor and the barbarians of Balduvia, both of which vie for power, yet set aside their differences to fight the powerful necromancer Lim-Dûl towards the end of the Ice Age.
This would change however, when the scheming planeswalkers Faralyn, Leshrac, and Tevesh Szat, discontent with wasting away in the Shard of the Twelve Worlds, would invite all other planeswalkers trapped in the Shard (as well as the powerful dragon Chromium Rhuell) to an event called the Summit of the Null Moon under the false pretence of a diplomatic discussion of how to leave the Shard. The Summit’s true purpose was actually that the three hoped that they could manipulate the other planeswalkers into killing each other, and that the resulting energy of the death of a god would give them the power they needed to finally escape the Shard. Their plan wasn’t entirely successful, as no planeswalkers were killed, but the previously mentioned dragon Chromium was, and this proved enough for the three to leave.
Before leaving though, Tevesh Szat, the most devious of the three, left a parting gift of sorts for the other planeswalkers–a blanket of snow and ice that would consume the entire planet if not stopped. The remaining planeswalkers at the Summit would manage to defeat Szat while he cast his final curse, but he managed to escape, and the damage had been done. In response, the elven druid Freyalise would use a ritual called The Worldspell–a massive font of magic with power equivalent to the Sylex blast that restored Dominaria’s natural climate–to clear not only Szat’s curse, but the entire Ice Age, and even the barrier of the Shard holding in the planeswalkers. Unfortunately, even the conclusion of the Ice Age was far from pleasant, as not only had the perpetrators escaped, but the melting of the tremendous ice sheets released so much water that it led to a period of times literally called The Flood Ages. Still, even this wouldn’t be the end of Dominaria’s suffering (not by a long shot). However, at least for a century or two, the conflict moved to other planes, most notably, Phyrexia.
