Plane (Magic: The Gathering)

In Magic: The Gathering, planes are parallel universes in the Multiverse (which used to be referred to as Dominia.) Planes are often confused with planets by Magic players, because most planes are named after their primary planets. The two main categories of planes are natural planes and artificial planes.

The Multiverse

Dominia was the general name of the set of infinite planes that make up the Multiverse where the stories of the Magic: The Gathering occur. According to an "Ask Wizards" article from 2007, the term 'Dominia' is no longer being used to define the Magic: The Gathering Multiverse. Each plane is a universe. However, many gameplayers confuse the term 'plane' to a planet when, in fact, it is the entire universe where that certain planet is located. This is because the name of the universe/plane is similar to the name of the main/primary planet.

However, some planes aren't physically universes (per se) but, merely, single planets floating in the void. These planes aren't natural but artificial (i.e. Phyrexia, Serra's Realm, Rath, and Mirrodin). More often than not, artificial planes are planes that comprise the main/primary planet itself, a few satellites and little else (unlike natural planes which have galaxies and other planets). Artificial planes have limited lifespans. It may take thousands of years, but each will eventually break down.

Planeswalkers have a near-monopoly on travelling plane-to-plane. However, planeswalkers aren't invulnerable to events of cosmic-scale, such as the cosmic anomaly known as the The Shard of Twelve Worlds. Planeswalkers who were, at that time, venturing within the realms of the Twelve Worlds of the Shard (also known as Nexus of Dominaria) were trapped within the Shard for thousands of years.

The Æther

The Void between planes; also known as the Blind Eternities, it is the substance which fills the space between planes.

Natural Planes

Natural planes are not created and may be as old as the Multiverse itself. Natural planes are the only planes that can last forever; all other planes eventually collapse.

Natural planes are usually as large as our real life universe, but most are devoid of life except for one planet that has the highest concentration of mana in the plane. In some cases creatures from other planes may be summoned for planeswalker battles on this planet over sources of mana and left there, but there have also been cases of planeswalkers repopulating a dead plane. This planet is known as the plane's primary planet, and usually has the same name as the plane.

Known natural planes:

Alara

Alara, introduced in the Shards of Alara set, was once a single massive plane but was broken into five smaller planes called "Shards" separated by a powerful nexus of energy called the Maelstrom. Each Shard had only three of the five types of mana available and as a result each plane developed a very different culture and ecosystem from the others. Citizens of Bant, a serene plane of white, green, and blue mana, lived in a feudal system presided over by angels. All lifeforms on Esper, a metallic plane of blue, white, and black mana, have become artifact creatures through infusion with silvery etherium. Grixis, a grim hellscape of black, blue, and red mana, was dominated by demons and necromancers. Jund, a plane of red, black, and green mana, was ruled by the laws of predation, with dragons at the top of the food chain. The peoples of Naya, a jungle plane of green, red, and white mana, worshiped the gargantuans who flourish there. During the block's release, the storyline depicted the five shards converging in a colossal event known as the Conflux. Ultimately, the plane is reunited and the five Shards ceased to be, forcing the five disparate cultures into cataclysmic conflict.

The Shards of Alara were the home planes of planeswalkers Ajani Goldmane of Naya and Tezzeret of Esper.

Azoria

Homeworld of the planeswalker Ravidel, and one of the planes caught in the Shard of Twelve Worlds. It and Dominaria are the only two planes identified as being in the Shard. Despite the name, it has no known connection to the Azorius Senate of Ravnica.

Bolas' Meditation Realm

An astral world accessible from Dominaria by powerful mages. The Elder Dragon Nicol Bolas used this plane to contemplate and to hold private meetings with his advisors while he was emperor of the land of Madara on Dominaria.

Dominaria

Dominaria, "the song of Dominia", is the central plane of the multiverse and was the central stage for the majority of Magic: The Gathering's early sets, from the beginning through Scourge. It is the homeworld to a vast number of the game's greatest heroes and villains, such as the planeswalkers Urza and Venser, the maniacal Yawgmoth, and the Weatherlight Crew. It has survived enumerable catastrophes and even an Apocalypse, and it exists now as a bleak, harsh post-apocalyptic landscape.

Equilor

"The farthest plane" Equilor is an extremely old plane on the "edge of time." Everything on the plane feels like it's finished growing. The mountains are all worn down. Its inhabitants have hoarded knowledge for a hundred millennia, and know practically everything. Urza and Xantcha came here seeking knowledge about the looming enemy of Phyrexia. Urza believed the human elders knew things which could aid him in the coming conflict, but gave him only their perspective on Phyrexia - that it has small ambitions and is not a major threat. This leaves Urza very unsatisfied and he leaves the plane. For reference on distance, it takes Urza 100 Dominarian years to get back to Dominaria (arriving in the year 3210 A.R.)

Gastal

An abandoned plane. While traveling the multiverse, Urza and Xantcha stop here and meet six planeswalkers. They are attacked by a predatory planeswalker and Manatarqua, a newly sparked planeswalker who presented herself as a pavilion but dies by Urza's hand. The others are believed to have escaped.

Innistrad

Setting for the Innistrad block. A world of gothic horror, where humans are under continual threat by vampires, ghosts, zombies and werewolves. The world experiences three dark seasons based on moon cycles. An archangel named Avacyn had protected humanity from the creatures of the night, but mysteriously disappeared prior to the beginning of the block, leaving demons and devils to run amok and corrupt the citizenry. By the end of the block, Avacyn is released from a magical prison, ushering in a new era of hope for humankind. Home plane of the vampire planeswalker Sorin Markov and the half-devil planeswalker Tibalt

Kamigawa

The setting for Kamigawa (Japanese: 神河) block of expansions, this world incorporates the lore and aesthetics of feudal Japan and samurai culture. On Kamigawa, the powerful daimyo Konda conspired to steal the offspring of a powerful spirit, which sparked a war between mortals and the kami they once worshipped. Through the efforts of Konda's own child, Michiko and the crafty Toshiro Umezawa, the war is finally ended and the kami child is returned to the spirit world.

Notable for being a plane with a distinct, humanoid race for each color: the quiet, courtly fox-like kitsune (white); the wise, isolated rabbit-eared soratami, also known as moonfolk (blue); the cunning, craven rat-like nezumi (black); the crab-like goblins called akki (red); and the deadly, druidic snake-people, the orochi (green). It is home to the moonfolk planeswalker Tamiyo.

Lorwyn/Shadowmoor

Lorwyn is the setting of the Lorwyn and Morningtide card sets, its theme drawn from Celtic myths. It is a lush plane in a state of perpetual day and summer. Unlike most planes, Lorwyn does not have any native human inhabitants. The dominant races are elves, merrow (merfolk), boggarts (goblins), elementals (including the humanoid flamekin), kithkin, faeries, treefolk and giants. Lorwyn is also home to many changelings; inane jelly-like shapeshifters ignored by most as merely an annoyance.

Every several eons, a natural event called the Great Aurora changes Lorwyn into a plane of perpetual night and autumn called Shadowmoor. Shadowmoor is effectively a dark, sinister alternative reality to Lorwyn, where almost all of Lorwyn's creatures resume their lives as though nothing had happened and with no memory of their once-sunny homewold. The previously proud and friendly flamekin become smoldering husks bent on torturing everyone, whilst the elitist and cruel elves become one of Shadowmoor's only sources of compassion and hope. The faeries are the only ones to barely change at all, actually retaining their memories from Lorwyn along with their queen, Oona. After some time, a new Great Aurora reverts Shadowmoor back into Lorwyn, and the cycle continues.

The main story revolves around Oona, who desired to increase her influence and power by triggering the Aurora prematurely and keeping the world as Shadowmoor. A treefolk named Colfenor knew what she was up to and was able to manipulate events leading up to the Aurora, causing the change to have mixed results; a small few managed to retain their memories and eventually thwart her.

Shadowmoor also features a much wider variety of races, some of which remain entirely hidden during the Lorwyn phase like the duergars (dwarves), hags, gwyllions and noggles. There also appear to be more variations on each race; Lorwyn only features the curious and impulsive boggarts, but in Shadowmoor there appear civilized but murderous hobgoblins in addition to the now hungry and feral boggarts. Selkies appear in addition to the evil, piratical merrows.

Mercadia

Mercadia is the setting for the Mercadian Masques expansion. A small plane near Dominaria most notable for its unique mountain shaped as an inverted giant cone, growing wider as it gets higher, on the top resting a large city. The plane served as a refuge for the fleeing routed Thran at the time of Yawgmoth's rise to power. Since that time, it has come to be a relatively peaceful world ruled by commerce, mostly populated with humans, intelligent and crafty goblins, and humanoid merfolk.

During the Weatherlight Saga, the crew of the Weatherlight took a portal from the artificial plane of Rath and crash landed on Mercadia. After numerous scrapes with local authorities, joining up with a rebellion against the capitalistic government, uncovering a traitor in their midst, and managing to destroy a hidden Phyrexian armada, the crew finally planeshifts back to Dominaria in time to join the fight against the mounting Phyrexian Invasion.

Locations on Mercadia

• Mercadia City: is a large city built around and on top of the inverted mountain. This mountain is approximately 5 miles wide at the top, but space magically folds upon itself making the city even larger than that. The city's population relies on trading and bartering as a primary method of survival and scams are common. Garbage is dropped over the edges of the mountain and forms a giant wall around it. Most of the city is covered in markets, where anything can be bought or sold. (See High Market, Mercadia's Downfall)
• Rushwood: (SW) The Cho-Arrim resistance movement live in this forest. The Fountain of Cho, also known as the Navel of the World, is also here. It is inscribed with the history of the Cho-Arrim and Ramos.
• Rishada: (E) Port-city and marketplace. (See Rishadan Port)
• Saprazzo: (E) A city built out at sea, dominated by merfolk. It is in a half submerged volcanic caldera. The top of the city is dry, and the lower levels are below water. Here, the Shrine of the Matrix holds the Power Matrix. (Seen in the background of Cloud Sprite)
• Deepwood: (NW) Guarded by ghouls.
• Ouramos: Where Ramos fell, in Deepwood. Guarded by dryads. The Bones of Ramos are here, as is Ramos himself. (see Henge of Ramos)

Creatures and Tribes on Mercadia

• Cho-Arrim, rebels under leadership of Cho-Manno. They use water magic, and are blue and white in the colors of Magic.
• Caterans, mercenaries, which were black aligned monsters. Some were zombies.
• Kyren, a more intelligent subspecies of goblins, the opposite of Dominarian goblins, which are stupid, dimwitted, and reckless. They are rulers in Mercadia City and always speak in questions. They are direct descendents of the Goblins that used to work at the Halcyon Powerstone Manufacturing Facility under Glacian's direction.
• Saprazzans, merfolk who can breathe water and air and can use legs or transform them into a tail. They have light blue skin and thick blue hair.
• Dryads and ghouls guard Ouramos, a sacred altar made by Ramos, in Deepwood.
• Jhovalls are six-legged tiger creatures used for transportation.

Moag

A plane where Urza and Xantcha led a simple agrarian lifestyle for decades until the Phyrexians invaded. Urza destroyed the Phyrexian agents and then left with Xantcha. Moag is said to have a broad range of environments and cultures.

Ravnica

Ravnica is the setting for the sets Ravnica: City of Guilds, Guildpact, and Dissension (collectively known as the Ravnica block), as well as Return to Ravnica, Gatecrash, and Dragon's Maze (collectively known as the Return to Ravnica block). It is a large plane covered by a continuous, sprawling cityscape. Its flavor is based largely on 15th century Prague, as well as other East European cultures, myths, and folk tales. Before "The Mending" in which several planeswalkers gave up their power or lives to repair the space-time continuum of the Multiverse, this plane was separated from others, making it impossible for Planeswalkers and ghosts to enter or leave. Ravnica is also the name of the plane's largest city. The Ravnica storyline is centered around a power struggle between ten distinct guilds. Ravnica is home to the planeswalkers Ral Zarek (Izzet-aligned), Domri Rade (Gruul-aligned), Vraska (Golgari-aligned), and Jace.

The guilds are:

• Azorius Senate (white/blue) (Dissension, Return to Ravnica)
• Boros Legion (red/white) (Ravnica: City of Guilds, Gatecrash)
• Golgari Swarm (green/black) (Ravnica: City of Guilds, Return to Ravnica)
• Gruul Clans (red/green) (Guildpact, Gatecrash)
• House Dimir (blue/black) (Ravnica: City of Guilds, Gatecrash)
• Izzet League (red/blue) (Guildpact, Return to Ravnica)
• Orzhov Syndicate (black/white) (Guildpact, Gatecrash)
• Cult of Rakdos (red/black) (Dissension, Return to Ravnica)
• Selesnya Conclave (green/white) (Ravnica: City of Guilds, Return to Ravnica)
• Simic Combine (green/blue) (Dissension, Gatecrash)

Rabiah

Known as Rabiah the Infinite, actually a pocket of 1,001 nearly identical planes, each covered in a vast desert dotted with oases, Rabiah is the setting of the Arabian Nights expansion. The world is essentially Persia from the time of the 1,001 Arabian Nights tales, and is home to several characters from it, such as Aladdin and Sinbad. In the Magic Multiverse, each of these 1,001 Tales happened on a different iteration of Rabiah.

Segovia

Segovia is a miniature plane, about a hundredth the scale of a regular plane of the Multiverse, and so its immense leviathans are merely the size of a Dominarian elephant. Here we have the Hippodrome, an arena for chariot races, where the tiny Segovians zoom around its tiny oval, occasionally losing their tiny lives in the surprisingly brutal spectator sport.. The humanoids of this plane appear to have an Hellenistic Greek or Ancient Roman culture including contests in arenas as seen on the Planechase card 'The Hippodrome'. The origins of this plane's design came from the early Segovian Leviathan whose stats were quite puny, but is pictured alongside several whales for size comparison, so the game's creators decided to make all of Segovia undersized.

Shandalar

The plane of Shandalar has no fixed location in the Multiverse, instead wandering an irregular course through the Blind Eternities. There was a time when the evil Arzakon attempted to use the five powerful guild masters of the plane to cast a spell of Dominion to break through the Shard of Twelve Worlds and allow his entrance into the shard. This plan was however thwarted. Shandalar was the setting of Magic the Gathering MicroProse game and its expansions.

Ulgrotha

Featured in the Homelands expansion, Ulgrotha was home to several planeswalkers for a time. A planeswalker named Ravi used an artifact called the Apocalypse Chime, given to her by her master, to destroy all life and mana on Ulgrotha. The plane became a prime battleground for wizards, until the planeswalker Feroz happened upon it. He wished to protect the plane, so he, along with his wife, the planeswalker Serra, created a ban to keep other planeswalkers out. Feroz died in the process, and Serra died soon afterwards. (Serra would appear briefly in the novelization of a later set, Urza's Saga, but that appearance occurred prior to her coming to Ulgrotha). The events surrounding the set begin many years after Feroz's death, when his ban begins to fade. The residents of Ulgrotha are at war with one another.

Wildfire

Wildfire is a realm of djinns and efreets neighboring Rabiah. The Mages of the Emberwilde, also known as Embermages, are dedicated to this realm. Several portals to the plane of Wildfire exist in the Dominarian country of Bogardan. Naar Isle is located on this plane.

Zendikar

Zendikar is the setting of the Zendikar block. It is famed among planeswalkers for the many hidden treasures left by its ancient civilizations and for its potent and unusual mana bonds. The plane is very dangerous, due in part to a natural phenomenon called the Roil that continually reshapes the landscape. Zendikar is inhabited by vampires, Kor, merfolk, goblins, elves, humans and minotaurs. The land was also the prison of the Eldrazi, mythical planeswalking beings of immense power. There are seven continents: Guul Draz, Tazeem, Akoum, Murasa, Ondu, Bala Ged and Sejiri.

Artificial Planes

Artificial planes are created by planeswalkers or other similarly-powerful forces. Any artificial plane will eventually collapse, and all matter in the plane will be converted to energy.

An artificial plane usually contains only one planet or solar system, but some planes, such as Serra's Realm, don't contain planets at all. Artificial planes are usually inhabited by creatures created by the planeswalker who created the plane or by creatures 'borrowed' from other planes.

Mirrodin/New Phyrexia

The setting for the Mirrodin and Scars of Mirrodin expansion blocks, Mirrodin is a hollow planet created by Karn the silver golem planeswalker as an attempt at building a perfect world, and is the only artificial plane known to still exist in the Multiverse. Mirrodin was crafted by Karn and was dubbed Argentum by its creator. After populating the plane, Karn left it in the care of a golem warden named Memnarch crafted from the Mirari (a powerful artifact from the Dominarian planes) . After thousands of years alone, Memnarch went insane and began stealing creatures like humans, elves, goblins, and leonin from other worlds to populate it. It is revealed that Memnarch's insanity was the result of exposure to 'Phyrexian Oil' a black substance that Phyrexia uses to spread its influence across many planes. The substance converts Mishra in the novelization, 'The Brothers War', and is known to have infected Karn during his travel of the multiverse, leading to the eventual Phyrexian invasion of his plane of Mirrodin. Over time, the mana-rich core of Mirrodin expelled four massive orbs of energy that then orbited the plane and were called moons or suns by the inhabitants. After the eruption of the fifth and final green sun during the events of Fifth Dawn, Memnarch was thwarted by Slobad and Bosh and repurposed by a returned Karn.

Years later, the corruption which drove Memnarch mad revealed itself to be a reborn Phyrexia, which had grown powerful by absorbing mana from the core of Mirrodin. During the events of Scars of Mirrodin block, Phyrexia wages a relentless war against the stranded Mirran forces, eventually overwhelming the plane and dubbing it New Phyrexia. During this time, a previously captured and tortured Karn is released by Koth of the Hammer, Elspeth Tirel, and Venser the Sojouner (who died in the rescue) and they prepared to purify the worlds tainted by Phyrexia.

Phyrexia

Phyrexia was an artificial plane of entirely mechanical "life" created by an ancient deceased planeswalker. Little is known of this planeswalker, other than he was originally a human that resembled the latent Thran planeswalker, Glacian, but preferred to assume the form of a dragon. The Glacian planeswalker spark was first transferred into Urza, then Karn, and could have played a larger role in the creation of all Phyrexian existence throughout all time and planes. This world was not so different from Mirrodin, which was also a complete artificial ecosystem, but lacked a directing will. Until, however, the planeswalker Dyfed delivered it to Yawgmoth. He joined his mind to the living form of the artificial plane, sensing the life moving throughout the surface and existing throughout every sphere. Yawgmoth later brought the remnants and descendants of the phthisis-afflicted Thran to Phyrexia to become his first "children." Yawgmoth reconstructed these refugees through the process he called "Phyresis" - the replacement of weak organs with more efficiently engineered body parts, creating a legion of creatures whose form was a complete reflection of its function. The ensuing war destroyed the nation of the Thran, but not before Yawgmoth and his armies were trapped on Phyrexia by Glacian's planeswalker spark, which now resided inside a powerstone that later became the Mightstone and Weakstone. Phyrexia was locked from Dominaria until the Brothers cracked the powerstone containing Glacian's spark, unlocking the portal.

This plane became a base from which a millennia-long secret war was waged against Dominaria and its eventual champion, Urza. Constructed as a series of nine nested spheres, Phyrexia consists of specialized levels for the creation and training of a vast, hellish army, with Yawgmoth taking up residence in the center sphere. This model is meant to reflect the tiered Hell as presented in Dante's Inferno, and is counter-pointed by the heavenly Serra's Realm.

At the culmination of the events of the Weatherlight saga, Phyrexia launched a full-scale Invasion of Dominaria, during which, the Phyrexian-built artificial plane of Rath partially overlayed Dominaria. Ultimately Urza, his band of planeswalkers, and the Weatherlight crew were able to obliterate Phyrexia and trigger an Apocalypse on Dominaria itself. For hundreds of years in the world of Magic: The Gathering (and nine years in reality) the threat of Phyrexia seemed gone forever until it reemerged on Mirrodin in the Scars of Mirrodin expansion.

Rath

An artificial plane created by the Phyrexians to help in their invasion of Dominaria and was the setting of the Tempest block expansion and Nemesis and Planeshift expansions. This plane's creation seems the most mechanical of any artificial plane, having been "built" slowly by syphoning mana from a core of energy through a Stronghold that acts as a factory and turning the energy into flowstone (tiny nanobots) which spreads like lava outward from the stronghold, slowly forming a planet.

Rath is ruled over by a Phyrexian lord called an evincar, the most famous being Davool, Volrath, and finally Crovax. During the events of Tempest, the Weatherlight crew venture to Rath to rescue their captain, Sisay, who had been captured by the sitting evincar, Volrath. After many trials, the crew managed to rescue her and another prisoner Takara before planeshifting away, leaving a few crew members behind, including the now-cursed vampire, Crovax. After a tournament held by Belbe, a Phyrexian ambassador, Crovax is selected as the new evincar, slaying Volrath and leading the invasion of Rathi forces upon Dominaria.

During the planar overlay during the Planeshift expansion, Rath ceased to be, becoming one with Dominaria.

Serra's Realm

Created by the planeswalker Serra, her Realm consists of drifting meadows, floating castles, and clouds. It is an expanse of white mana and populated by angels, spirits, and a loyal human contingent, all of whom worship Serra as a god.

Urza blindly planeswalks to this world after facing near-death in his first direct assault on the hellish world of Phyrexia, and Serra agrees to allow him to convalesce there. Seeing what power she wields, Urza begs her to join with him in opposing Phyrexia, yet she refuses. After his departure, Phyrexians follow Urza to Serra's Realm and begin to slowly destroy it. Serra abandons the world and the archangel Radiant assumes command. Urza returns too late to save the world, and so after rescuing the few inhabitants he could, he collapses the entire plane into a powerstone which would power his greatest weapon, the Weatherlight.

Planechase

As well as featuring several known planes, 2009 casual multiplayer set Planechase introduced several new planes, many of which were hinted at in the preview set Future Sight. The nature of these planes is, for the time being, fully known only to the developers.

• Arkhos - a plane where day and night intermingle according to something resembling dream logic, represented in Planeschase on Lethe Lake and in Future Sight by River of Tears
• Iquatana - represented on The Æther Flues; home of the Narcomoeba from Future Sight and the Iquati, who created Narcomoebas as a replacement for their geneaological memory banks; this plane's atmosphere is full of Æther and its creatures tend to mutate into new forms
• Ir - represented on Turri Island; home of the Fomori Nomad from Future Sight and Ruhan of the Fomori from Magic: Commander. The mana is said to be particularly efficient in summoning creatures.
• Kaldheim - Featured on the Planechase card Skybreen.
• Karsus - Featured on the Planechase card Mirrored Depths
• Kinshala - Featured on the Planechase card Tember City
• Luvion - Featured on the Planechase card Celestine Reef
• Muraganda - Featured on the "Planechase" card Feeding Grounds; a prehistoric world with tropical jungles; first mentioned on the Future Sight cards Muraganda Petroglyphs and Imperiosaur, and The Mimeoplasm from Magic: The Gathering: Commander.
• Pyrulea - Featured on the Planeschase card Horizon Boughs and the Future Sight card Horizon Canopy, Pyrulea seems covered in a massive forest whose canopy of vast leaves create a surface that other creatures live upon (both cards feature these leaves stretching off to the horizon with tiny humanoid figures standing on the massive leaves.) Note: This plane was featured in the novel: The Thran by J. Robert King. The planeswalker Dyfed brought Yawgmoth to Pyrulea as an example of other worlds and her power as a planeswalker.
• Valla - a plane of perpetual war covered by a phenomenon called the Immersturm, featured most recently on the card Warstorm Surge from Magic: 2012.
• Regatha - Featured on the Planechase (2012 Edition) card Mount Keralia. Regatha appears to be a vast desert.
• Vryn - Featured on the Planechase (2012 Edition) card Trail of the Mage-Rings. Vryn appears to be covered in mountains, with a slight industrial air to it.
• Ergamon - Featured on the Planechase (2012 Edition) card Truga Jungle.
• Belenon - Featured on the Planechase (2012 Edition) card Windriddle Palaces and Edge of Malacol.
• Equilor - Featured on the Planechase (2012 Edition) card Bloodhill Bastion
• Mongseng - Featured on the Planechase (2012 Edition) card Kharasha Foothills
• Kyneth - Featured on the Planechase (2012 Edition) card The Zephyr Maze
• Azgol - Featured on the Planechase (2012 Edition) card Lair of the Ashen Idol. Azgol appears to be a harsh, post-apocalyptic world.
• Kephailia - Featured on the Planechase (2012 Edition) card Aretopolis. Kephailia appears to be similar to Ravnica.
• Kolbahan - Featured on the Planechase (2012 Edition) card Astral Arena. Kolbahan is a tangle of floating islands.
• Fabacin - Featured on the Planechase (2012 Edition) card Grove of the Dreampods. Fabacin appears to be covered in forest.

The Shard of Twelve Worlds

The Shard is a bubble of universes, centered around Dominaria. Of these twelve worlds only two are known by name: Dominaria and Azoria. The Shard broke off from the main continuum after the Brothers' War. Planeswalkers were unable to leave or enter the Shard, trapping several planeswalkers within twelve planes of the multiverse. Shandalar was a rogue plane that was the center of a plan to shatter the Shard of Twelve Worlds when it would briefly enter the Shard. Freyalise ultimately healed the rift separating the Shard from the rest of the multiverse, allowing planeswalkers to enter and exit once more.

Covenant of the Shard

Peace Treaty between the planeswalkers Faralyn, Freyalise, Taysir, Kristina of the Woods, Tevesh Szat and Leshrac. Also present were the elder chromium dragon Rhuell, and its friend Ravidel. Its purpose was to find a way to end the Ice Age and break the restrictions of the Shard. Faralyn betrayed his companions to create a way out for himself.

Gates and Portals

On some planes there are artificial gates and portals which make artificial planeswalking possible. On Rath there used to be a portal leading to Mercadia. In the Dwarven City beneath Castle Sengir is a gate leading from Ulgrotha to Dominaria.

On Dominaria the Thran knew how to make planar gates. During the Golden Age someone named Nireya once found one. Jarsyll did find one as well, leading to Phyrexia.

On Phyrexia existed warped versions of the Thran Portals. Phyrexian Portals are opened through the sacrifice of creatures, artifacts or a great deal of magical energy. They lead all across the multiverse.

Rabiah has portals to Wildfire, and had, in ancient times, portals to equatorial continents on Dominaria.

Yawgmoth used a portal linking Phyrexia and Dominaria in Koilos during the Invasion. It was closed by the Weatherlight-crew.

Planar overlay

After years of preparation Yawgmoth used a large magical burst to cause the Phyrexian-infested plane of Rath to overlap Dominaria, infusing the plane with its own energies, and causing the Phyrexians to magically appear on Dominaria. Rath ceased to exist as an independent plane. Rathi locations and creatures all transposed themselves on Dominaria, sometimes resulting in bizarre hybrids such as Gaea's Skyfolk (elf/merfolk) and Razorfin Hunter (merfolk/goblin).