It's comics week, again! This week we're talking about the first two issues of Dark Horse Comics' Untold Stories: Jace. Elspeth's story was untold yet familiar, being the story for the card set Theros: Beyond Death. But Jace's story is new to us, and even new to Jace himself, as the mind mage is delving into memories which had been locked away from even himself until now. These memories concern his time working for Tezzeret as an interplanar thief and smuggler, and their mission to Shiv on Dominaria, where things went very wrong.

If you want to support the Vorthos Cast, you can! Go to Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast and contribute as little as $1 a month to get access to our Discord server, as well as early episode releases! And for $3 a month, you can listen to episodes recorded live on Thursday nights at 7pm Eastern time! We'd love to have you. Our Patreon supporters keep the podcast free and ad-free.

The Untold Stories comic series from Dark Horse finished their first four-issue run with Untold Stories: Elspeth this month! These comics tell untold stories from Magic's past—stories that didn't quite make it to the page before now. Elspeth's untold story is the story of Theros: Beyond Death, a set that released in a very inopportune time (early 2020) and had an unfortunate cancellation of the planned novella to tell its story. These comics rectify that, giving us the story of Elspeth's escape from the underworld, and issues #3 and #4 conclude the story in exciting fashion. We're here to tell you all about it, and also share our thoughts on the series as a whole.

If you'd like a refresher of what happened in issues #1 and #2, listen to episode #367 from December of last year: https://soundcloud.com/user-345643028/367-untold-stories-elspeth-1-and-2

If you want to support the Vorthos Cast, you can! Go to Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast and contribute as little as $1 a month to get access to our Discord server, as well as early episode releases! And for $3 a month, you can listen to episodes recorded live on Thursday nights at 7pm Eastern time! We'd love to have you. Our Patreon supporters keep the podcast free and ad-free.

That's right! This week's the last week of our five part series book club for Omens of Chaos! We're talking about the climax of the novel, where all the pieces fall into place and the villain's grand scheme is revealed. While every episode of the book club has contained spoilers, this is the most spoilery of all spoiler episodes, so if you haven't finished the book, you should do that first! Then you should come back and listen to our thoughts on the highlights of the last few chapters of the book, which we all thoroughly enjoyed.

If you want to go back and listen to previous book club episodes, this is the page breakdown for the novel:

Part 1: Pg.1-125

Part 2: Pg.126-167

Part 3: Pg.168-253

Part 4: Pg.254-306

Part 5: Pg.307- 413

If you'd like to support the show, you can find us on Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast! All supporters get access to our Discord server, where Vorthoses around the world are telling stories and discussing Magic with each other! All patrons get access to early episode releases, and patrons at our $3/month tier can listen to us record episodes live!

Omens of Chaos is heating up in this week's Book Club episode as Eula makes some questionable decisions about her own safety and Segante has to come to the rescue. We're starting with the third Interlude, which shows us how Segante has been adjusting to the student life on Arcavios, and then continuing through Eula's ill-advised trip to the Harrier's Wood, her subsequent attempted murder, and Segante's gallant heroism that leaves the two of them "breaking bread" back at the dorm.

To follow along with the book club, this is the page breakdown for the novel:

Part 1: Pg.1-125

Part 2: Pg.126-167

Part 3: Pg.168-253

Part 4: Pg.254-306

Part 5: Pg.307- 413

If you'd like to support the show, you can find us on Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast! All supporters get access to our Discord server, where Vorthoses around the world are telling stories and discussing Magic with each other! All patrons get access to early episode releases, and patrons at our $3/month tier can listen to us record episodes live!

Book Club continues with the second Interlude chapter, this time through the point of view of Alandra of Shandalar, through Chapter 17. The students open up about what's keeping them on Arcavios during the upcoming holiday break, then attend a fantastical masquerade, where Eula has a mysterious and unnerving encounter with an upperclassman who gives her either advice or a threat. Afterwards, a trip to the swamp turns into a fight with masked students and tea time with Liliana Vess! A lot happens in these chapters as the novel takes off.

To follow along with the book club, this is the page breakdown for the novel:

Part 1: Pg.1-125

Part 2: Pg.126-167

Part 3: Pg.168-253

Part 4: Pg.254-306

Part 5: Pg.307- 413

If you'd like to support the show, you can find us on Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast! All supporters get access to our Discord server, where Vorthoses around the world are telling stories and discussing Magic with each other! All patrons get access to early episode releases, and patrons at our $3/month tier can listen to us record episodes live!

Our book club for Omens of Chaos continues this week with the first interlude, which gives us Jamira's point of view as well as the first concrete signs of a sinister Kasmina, through to Chapter 11! We see the exciting life of students, from laundry to study halls to office hours with a professor who is just a hoot. There's a lot of slices of life happening in this section, and we talk about how we feel about the novel's ability to give us everything we want and need from Magic's first novel in so many years.

To follow along with the book club, this is the page breakdown for the novel:

Part 1: Pg.1-125

Part 2: Pg.126-167

Part 3: Pg.168-253

Part 4: Pg.254-306

Part 5: Pg.307- 413

If you'd like to support the show, you can find us on Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast! All supporters get access to our Discord server, where Vorthoses around the world are telling stories and discussing Magic with each other! All patrons get access to early episode releases, and patrons at our $3/month tier can listen to us record episodes live!

This week begins our chapter-by-chapter breakdown of Strixhaven: Omens of Chaos, where we go through the novel and provide quick summaries of the events and discussions about the characters, plot, and fun lore drops we get along the way! Spoiler Alert! We will discuss everything that happens in these chapters, as well as how it connects to later events in the novel. If you haven't read the entire book, this is your spoiler warning!

We're starting with the prologue and going through to the end of chapter 8 this week, pages 1-125 in the print edition. A lot happens!

To follow along with the book club, this is the page breakdown for the novel:

Part 1: Pg.1-125

Part 2: Pg.126-167

Part 3: Pg.168-253

Part 4: Pg.254-306

Part 5: Pg.307- 413

If you'd like to support the show, you can find us on Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast! All supporters get access to our Discord server, where Vorthoses around the world are telling stories and discussing Magic with each other! All patrons get access to early episode releases, and patrons at our $3/month tier can listen to us record episodes live!

We're kicking off our month (and a half) of Omens of Chaos this week with a special guest, Kathleen De Vere of LoadingReadyRun! If you haven't read Strixhaven: Omens of Chaos by Seanan McGuire, you should do that now, because this episode is spoilers all the way down. We're talking about structure, plot, tone, themes, characterization, and all the ways this book succeeded (and some of the ways we think it could have gone further) as both a Magic novel and a novel in its own right.

Starting next week, we'll be doing a deep-dive into the novel chapter by chapter, giving summaries as well as more specific thoughts about the details of the book. Want to read along? Here's how we're breaking down the book:

Part 1: Pg.1-125

Part 2: Pg.126-167

Part 3: Pg.168-253

Part 4: Pg.254-306

Part 5: Pg.307- 413

If you'd like to support the show, you can find us on Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast! All supporters get access to our Discord server, where Vorthoses around the world are telling stories and discussing Magic with each other! All patrons get access to early episode releases, and patrons at our $3/month tier can listen to us record episodes live!

First of all, the name is Loreley's responsibility.

After the preview panel at MC Vegas, we thought now would be a good time to revisit the story of Jace Beleren since the events of Phyrexia: All Will be One. The last few years of story have all been leading to this moment, as Jace has worked covertly (and somewhat overtly) to enact his plan for planar engineering. What led him from hero to villain, and what exactly has led up to Reality Fracture? Chris and Cary also get to do a little speculation as to what's going to happen, and who we might see writing the story.

If you'd like to support the show, you can find us on Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast! All supporters get access to our Discord server, where Vorthoses around the world are telling stories and discussing Magic with each other! All patrons get access to early episode releases, and patrons at our $3/month tier can listen to us record episodes live!

It's time for the flavor gems of Secrets of Strixhaven, a show where we look at all the most flavorful cards of the set and talk about art, callbacks, and lore you may have missed! This set is full of callbacks to the first time we were on Arcavios and new mini-stories hidden in the card art and mechanics! There's also Noxious Newt!

If you'd like to support the show, you can find us on Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast! All supporters get access to our Discord server, where Vorthoses around the world are telling stories and discussing Magic with each other! All patrons get access to early episode releases, and patrons at our $3/month tier can listen to us record episodes live!