For Gold & Glory: Card of the Week: Land's Edge

The rift behind that guy's head makes him look like he has antlers. Or maybe he does have antlers and that isn't a rift...I'm not entirely sure.

The End of the World

When my sister and I were children, our mother and father would tell us stories to lull us to sleep at night. Whether about faraway lands, fantastic journeys, and fearsome beasts, we would hang on every word...until we could no longer when sleep finally dragged us down. Many of these stories lost their potency as I grew older and more jaded, and our parents stopped telling us stories after some time anyway. But one of them still fascinated me long after the others became mundane: the edge of the world.

It wasn’t the silver horses that brought us to the edge of the multiverse, or the portal through which we could see eternity that fascinated me, though those words were powerful all on their own. Rather, it was the idea of the very end of the land beyond which was nothing that captured my imagination—or rather lack thereof. For in all my mind, I could not picture what lay beyond the land. I could imagine the end: a place where the seas spilled over the edge of the land, perhaps, but beyond? No matter what I thought—endless skies, countless stars—I could not conceive of nothing, for even skies and stars are something.

After I grew to manhood, I realized that there was no end to the land. While the seas stretched out beyond Alsoor’s eastern horizon and the lands beyond the west, there was always more land or sea to cross until a traveler might come back to where he or she started. But even later—after discovering other planes—I learned that that while there may be no edge of Dominaria, there were some planes that did just end.

I made a point to visit the edge of the world on the first of these planes that I visited. I am sure that the sailors that I hired thought me insane. Indeed, they feared for their lives: the waters near the edge of the world were dangerous and fickle, they said. Out there, the currents of the water spilling over the edge were so strong that no ship could escape should they be caught in them. A skilled crew might be able to avoid them, but still, the risk was great. But ever are people willing to risk their lives for treasure, and my gold was enough to hire a crew.

We sailed for days, and the sailors became ever more nervous as the shore fell farther and farther behind. In front of us, the sky grew dark even in the middle of the day. A great sound arose, first so low and deep that I could scarcely hear it over the wind and waves. But it soon strengthened until nothing else could be heard—the roar of a thousand waterfalls as the sea crashed over the edge.

And then, the edge came into view. It terrified even me: on one side the ocean, turbulent and wild but still real, and on the other nothing. The sky tapered off above the edge, too: the sun still shone far behind us, the sky above us was dark, but again there was nothing over the edge. I heard the sailors behind me, crying out orders to turn the ship around, and indeed the ship began to swing away from the doom in front of me. But as it did, I caught sight of a rocky island at the very edge, the waters of the ocean rushing around it as they tumbled into the void.

Sadak in Search of the Waters of Oblivion by John Martin, 1812. While the story that inspired the painting doesn't involve the edge of the world, the painting certainly looks like it fits the theme.

I left the ship then, bending blue ley lines to whisk myself from the deck to the island at Land’s Edge. I found myself clinging to a rock precariously close to the waters—would I fall in, I would have no hope of pulling myself back out before the undertow dragged me over the edge. I climbed up the crag until I reached the summit, then looked out before me. I cannot describe in words the emptiness I saw before me, for language fails in the face of unbeing. It was not sky, it was not the space between the stars, it was not even emptiness. It had no color—not even the black one sees when they close their eyes. I could not look upon it for long, so I turned my eyes to the waters. As they fell, they dissipated first into rain, into mist, into cloud, and finally into the same nothingness. And it was not just the waters: from time to time, they would sweep a great piece of the seabed along with them, and these too would dissipate into the void.

I watched for as long as my mind could stand, then...left. I do not know which world I arrived on, but I had never been so grateful to have solid land around me as far as I could see. And when I left that plane too, I made sure to return to Dominaria, for I knew that its land has no end.

Believing in the Edge

Even in planes where the land is shaped into a sphere, there are people who believe in the edge of the world. Most planes are so vast that a person standing on it sees it as flat, as the curve of the earth is so subtle as to be almost unnoticeable. But signs of the curvature are there if one knows where to look. The fact that one can see much farther from the top of a mountain than from the lowlands below—and yet still see a horizon—is but one way to disprove those who believe that the world is flat.

But such thoughts are not always obvious, and it is the nature of mortals to assume that the truth is only what is obvious to them. Without any reason to believe that the world is not flat, without proof to the contrary, the assumption that the world is flat becomes unchallenged. Indeed, the oldest myths and legends from cultures across the world often portray it as such. As cultures advance most learn that this is false, but myths are powerful and still resonate long past the times that they are superseded by learning. Indeed, there are strange people to this day who stubbornly choose to believe in myth in the face of evidence to the contrary, and even seek to “prove” that it is indeed correct all along.

Living on the Edge

Though my first encounter with Land’s Edge was unsettling, I have since learned of its use in battle. Like any other, those who fight here are at risk of plummeting over the edge...but the clever can use the edge to their advantage as well. By flinging the crumbling land at an opponent, a wizard can wreak serious havoc.

Ahh, a classic!

Perhaps the most effective way to take advantage of Land’s Edge is to combine it with Land Tax. Through clever manipulation of the tax loopholes, a mage may gather enough lands to fling at a foe that he or she may gain victory in one fell swoop. Other spells and artifacts may assist in this endeavor, such as the Library of Leng to ensure that enough lands are available.

While the employment of Land Tax upon it is among the most powerful use of Land’s Edge, one often overlooked use is worth noting. Since using the Land’s Edge spell physically moves the battle to the edge of a plane, it is useful in moving said battle away from an even more dangerous location. A mage who finds herself battling in the Abyss, for example, may find it advantageous to cast Land’s Edge just to escape.