Magic: The Gathering Designer Explains Why Gideon Shows Up in Magic: Manastrike

When Korean developer Netmarble launched Magic: ManaStrike on mobile devices last month, fans noticed one planeswalker who died in last year's War of the Spark storyline, Gideon Jura. The white-aligned planeswalker has an awesome never-before-seen armor, and fans are wondering if the character actually comes back from the dead, or if the story featured in the game is considered non-canon.

Credit: Netmarble

If you followed the storyline of Magic in the past year, you probably know that Gideon was killed in last year's War of the Spark storyline in his effort to save Liliana's life from Nicol Bolas.Now, Magic lead designer Mark Rosewater has explained why Gideon and his "Heart of the Aether" armor appears in Magic: Manastrike.

Firstly, Rosewater clarified on his Blogatog why he didn't talk much about Gideon's presence in the mobile game, saying, "It's not that I can't talk about it, there's just a lot going on with Magic at large and I didn't want to misspeak. I talked to our liaison with the game and here's what's going on."

He went on to explain that the Gideon we see in the game is one of the "what if" character skins: "Manastrike takes place in Bolas's Meditation Realm and is largely a simulation," Rosewater said. "That's why you can see Jace battling Jace, for example. This conceit allows the game to do some 'what if' character skins like Heart of the Aether Gideon skin. You'll see more 'what if' character skins in the future."

So now we know that Manastrike doesn't confirm or hint Gideon's future resurrection in the canon, but that doesn't mean that Wizards of the Coast won't find a way to bring the character back like how they did with Elspeth in Theros Beyond Death. Anything is possible in the multiverse of Magic, and who knows? Maybe we'll see Nicol Bolas eventually escape the Meditation Realm, and return more powerful than ever.

Magic: ManaStrike is now available on Android and iOS devices. You can watch the trailer above.

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