MTG Lore: Karn

SeibenLore takes a look at Magics very first, and so far only, artificial planeswalker. Needless to say, things get a little technical.
Become a Patron: / seibenmtg
Like us on Facebook: / mtglore
Follow on Twitter: / seibenmtg
You can also support this channel by visiting my sponsor at www.ABUGames.com
All credit for artwork and story used goes to WOTC, their original artists and writers!

[@TheBaconlaser]

The thought of Karn preserving his memories of Jhoira by holding up her picture every night and repeating "Jhoira is my friend", is surprisingly touching.

[@ASAP_Kenny]

I thought Karn would be an intimidating and brutal character from his card arts but he’s basically the iron giant

[@phoenixshadow4631]

Depressing fun fact during his time on Rath Karn was captured and tortured being placed into an endlessly tumbling room with an infinite supply of Moggs (Dominarian and Rathi goblins) which he would keep landing on. This is part of why he still continues to be a pacifist.

[@NeutralGuyDoubleZero]

@@phoenixshadow4631 That is almost hilariously tragic

[@JREG]

Awesome I think Karn has some of the coolest lore :D

[@AetherHub]

Agreed, he is pretty awesome

[@ryodemon2]

Karn was made by Urza, what's not to like?

[@erindonnelly8283]

The shitposter himself in the wild

[@philliparnesen4493]

The Weatherlight was BOTH SENTIENT AND ABLE TO TRAVEL PLANES. # True First Artifact Planeswalker. Wow. That has a weird symbolism. They are almost like Planeswalker Twins. Both born on the same day but one died.

[@Zerschnitzler77]

check out the new dominaria storyline, but dont expect too much ;) the weatherlight now travels across dominaria again and jhoira is the weatherlight´s captain

[@DaDunge]

Wasn't weatherlight part of the Legacy? In that case it too became part of Karn as the legacy was activated.

[@maxwedewferg]

the story of mirrodin just breaks my heart :(

[@pottertheavenger1363]

And yet people want the Eldrazi to win

[@jacfac9969]

Oh so Karn is a pacifist but has no problem with exiling every card in your deck?

[@sarkasm3056]

Jackson Wald I mean at least he’s not dealing damage directly

[@mindlessscientist3772]

I think the idea is that he's so kind and intelligent that he makes them change sides :P

[@draxthemsklonst]

Think of Swords to Plowshares. The creature exiled in that case, is removed from battle, but not dead - just a farmer.

[@chasegoestoheaven]

🤣🤣 👍

[@michaelkerr2194]

He isn’t really a pacifist anymore. He kind of shys away from violence but will throw hands when he needs to

[@MichaelJordan-xr5zl]

Good video, it's nice to see a lore that is this comprehensive. Just a tiny correction: Glissa did lose her spark, but it was transfered into Slobad as they were falling into the core. Slobad saved Glissa and they met Karn at the core. He appointed Glissa as a protector of Argentum, along with Geth and Slobad. Slobad could have just stayed with Karn to apprentice, but he decided against it and gave up his spark to revive all the people who had died on Mirroden, as well as "send them home". That then created the debacle which lead to Scars of Mirroden, where the inhabitants had no leaders, who had been teleported to their home plane. Other than that, awesome job. Subscribed for sure.

[@mtggeeksgaming5064]

Finally thanks I have wanted this, the pack for the contest I won came in today thanks again man love the channel and stuff like this keeps me coming back. Keep up the good work I love that you actually listen to your comments the community needed a good channel focusing a good amount on lore and here it is

[@jerrywhat4799]

The phyrexian war would be such a fucking sick movie

[@JackRabbit9181996]

I'm a new subscriber, but I already really enjoy your content. Your in-depth analysis of the lore is incredible. Great job!!! :)

[@AetherHub]

Thank you i really appreciate your support!

[@JackRabbit9181996]

Not a problem! Keep making the great content! :D

[@skiie]

oh my god thank you, all of the sets make sense to me now!

[@mtggeeksgaming5064]

Next could you do the story line of original ravanica and the guild pact? Like if you agree guys.

[@ernestocastelli9005]

I can't find a good story that easily explains it.

[@AetherHub]

Thats in the works right now :P

[@Tartar]

It just released :P

[@nosniboR_naI]

Tartar hi person from the past

[@EverflameArt]

This is one of, if not the only reason I get on youtube now, for your channel. :D

[@bobbytwoshades9986]

Yo Siben, this is the first video I ever saw on your Channel. Thanks, it's an awesome video.

[@drop0ut606]

Everyone always talks about the Eldrazi and Nicol Bolas as being the overall threats, but as long as any Phyrexians exist they will be the biggest threat to the multiverse. Even if Bolas and the Eldrazi became benevolent forces and combined their efforts with all the known new walkers, I don't think they would be able to stop the overwhelming swarm of a full powered Phyrexian army with Yawgmoth at the throne.

[@AetherHub]

They are a big threat but many have not been seen for a very long time. The eldrazi are currently on the march and seemingly unstoppable. Sometimes a threat in front of you needs to take priority.

[@ryodemon2]

Yawgmoth's dead (unless we get more time travel shenanigans) and the Eldrazi EAT PLANES. Yeah. The Eldrazi would wreck Phyrexia. (Hi Emrakul).

[@drop0ut606]

Even without Yawgmoth, I see no reason why the Phyrexians couldn't produce dreadnaughts (and mass produce them at that) which are colorless and easily big enough to stand up to any eldrazi one on one except Emrakul it's self. and we also don't know if the black oil of Phyrexia has any effect on the Eldrazi, if they were to consume the plane it may actually turn them Phyrexian if it doesn't outright kill them. And on top of THAT, we don't even know how the Eldrazi would react to an artificial plane.

[@ryodemon2]

Well, the original plane of Phyrexia wasn't built by Yawgmoth, though it was built by some mysterious evil planeswalker. And, well, the Eldrazi existed before colored mana, so the black oil may have no effect on them. As well as (iirc) the oil has diminished effect on non-artificial life.

[@LadyTakanashi]

well in some of the new phyrexia cards, it has a few creatures that are lore'd to eat the phyrexians, and were organic and could withstand the black oil unphased, so its safe to bet the elderazi, so long as they aren't a from of artifact, would be unaffected by the oil, and thus be able to consume phyrexia unharmed save for attacks my phyrexians themselves

[@mindlessscientist3772]

5:30 ah of course, the obvious solution is eugenics! -Urza

[@Atogatog-j9v]

Karn is my most favorite planeswalker, I just wish he was more involved in the lore. I hope he makes some kind of return to the main stage in later sets.

[@jhozthron4415]

Nice video, so much interesting lore to be gained from the mtg world!

[@JSTama]

Being 10 when I started playing magic, I always pictured Urza as a black woman. I was wrong I see

[@Tartar]

Great as always. But for each video you make we are introduced to 2-3 new characters which needs seperate videos to explain them >_

[@AetherHub]

I noticed this was an issue, im thinking of ideas that could help with it though.

[@Daggerdan78]

+seibenlore I can't see that being an issue though, it just means more interesting videos!

[@monkeyishi]

+Daniel Wilmot and more combos to explore

[@LordZylok]

Do a lore video on Squee.

[@benash463]

Glissa's spark never ingnited. Karn wasn't aware of the corruption until planar chaos when he gave his spark to seal a rift. His spark was what was protecting him from the oil. He literally gave his spark, realized he had corruption in himself due to the oil and flung himself back to mirrodin to quarantine himself.

[@ty_sylicus]

It feels to me as if Wizards has forgotten about Karn and Phyrexia....but what do I know, I've only been into Magic for a few years.

[@AetherHub]

They have been out of the spot light, but rest a sure they will come back.

[@Eggyyolks]

seibenlore rest assured.

[@vennominon22]

***** dominaria was destroyed long ago and alara is currently the home of bolas after he succeeded of merging the planet.

[@4lifejackhammer]

matthew price Umm...the story for new phyrexia began with Elspeth, Koth, and Venser in Uborg, a swampland in Dominaria.

[@Hepsewind]

matthew price dominaria is recuperating dammaged but not jet destroyed

[@Haannibal777]

Great stuff. Love your work!

[@arminengaming]

Karn has got to be one of the sweetest planeswalkers, as in he is so innocent and kind to others. And god do I love his relationship with Jhoira.

[@sarahmiller4980]

Awww... Karn is such a sweetheart! I always thought he was just a grumpy artifact guy. Go Karn!

[@snwblnd3390]

That was really good thanks for the entertainment man

[@rossf8616]

Thank you for bridging the stories of the invasion to the scars block... All the other lore videos out there stop at Masques and don't pick back up until Khans skipping all the stuff in between. Thank you very much for being the first to bridge the gap in video form!

[@AGuyWhoPunkUMama]

i didnt even know magic had a story. i just play the game lol

[@BeholdTruthsSecretTV]

I really would have loved to see Urza as a planeswalker.

[@jacobtherat5390]

That would be so overpowered

[@jacobtherat5390]

Plus he's dead

[@ryodemon2]

jay storm Time travel shenanigans though. Plus, I feel like MTG dead is about at reliable as comic book dead.

[@Panquernic]

The last expansion of magic, whenever that comes, should have an Urza planeswalker somehow

[@Hepsewind]

AngryMidgetProd or in the next commander set like they did with teferi or something like conspiracy. Sets outside of standard don't have to be about the now

[@jeff30458]

Didn't realize the video was from 2014 I was wondering where the new lore about Scion of Urza was lol

[@treedome25]

I would love a lore video on my favorite planeswalker Elspeth.

[@RealParadoxBlues]

Worth noting is that while Karn retreated of his own will, Elspeth refused. Koth used his magic to sink her into the ground right before the spellbomb went off, forcing her to planeswalk away. (She did so, but before she could a Phyrexian Obliterator grievously injured her, causing her to land near-dead on the next plane she reached. This was where the Theros block started.)

[@MageSkeleton]

SeibentLore? not Aether Hub? Seems you were able to tell the more "relevant" parts of Karn's history opposed to some other people who actually tell the "full" story in episodes providing more details that ultimately don't really matter. So thank you for being able to do that so we know more about the "main" things Karn did without redundant details.

[@8bitrandomencounter]

Urza lore would be AWESOME!

[@cameronoyola6793]

I miss xantcha, she traveled the multiverse with urza, xantcha chan deserved better.

[@ehallam08]

Watching this made me wonder if they already have/will create highly detailed figures of magic characters.

[@childeroland1142]

can you do the lore that surrounds Yawgmoth?

[@raze956]

i know its been 3 years since you wrote that comment, but maybe you still care about good stories. There is actually a novel out there about yawgmoth, its quite a read as well. He started out as a normal, but ruthless human doctor that thirsted for knowledge on how flesh works, how its flawed, how it can be made sick, how it can be made better and so on. Then got some opportunities to get political power, which he used to increase his own positions and with that, the ability to do experiments more undetected and on a much bigger scale than ever before. This resulted in a civil war among the Thran (a long lost technological advanced society, from whom Urza and Mishra dug up artifacts in their youth). This war evnetually led to the discovery of the metallic, empty plane that would later be called Phyrexia, which at that time was uninhabitated. thanks to the help of another planeswalker, yawgmoth was ultimately able to fuse with its core, granting him full control over that plane and getting him godlike powers on that plane. The plane of the newly called Phyrexia was connected to Dominaria trough a Portal, which got eventually closed down at the end of the civil war. In turn, Yawgmoth and the new, first phyrexians got isolated on their new home, and evolved to the point where they were able to come back to dominaria again during the invasion cycle, i believe. its quite some time since i read it and the novel was pretty thick, but it was a very interesting read. Yawgmoth was, in his life as an ordinary human doctor, nothing but ruthless. But he was also very clever and understood how to cover his tracks and provide good, reasonable explanations on why he often did things the way he choose to. Reading about the creation of the first iterations of Phyrexians, who were just sick ppl from dominaria to which Yawgmoth promised a cure, was one of the most horrifying things i`ve ever read.

[@alexostin2944]

@@raze956 yawgmoth's story is surprisingly similar to ob-nixilis

[@raze956]

@@alexostin2944 is it? i never read about ob-nixilis, this might change now :D

[@ikward2217]

Karn and Liliana are my favorites

[@RavenThryfe]

Elspeth for the next one would be great! Especially with all that happened in Theros.

[@ACIDITYFORGES]

I just listened to Iron Man by Sabbath and I realized that Karn may have been inspired by this song. It fits so perfect I'm gonna have to say it's Karns theme song

[@mwo79]

The spark was from the Power and Meak stones, which was Glacian from the Thrane. In the end Glacian was the one through Urza defeated Yagmath.

[@eusouonumero232]

i wuold love an video for the mirrodin/new Phyrexia/old Phyrexia.

[@abbyshore9953]

Story of every planeswalker: bad childhood leads to the character causing some traumatic experience that ignites spark. Use planeswalking abilities to try to make up for mistakes.

[@Lcngopher]

And now we have the second creation that became a planeswalker in calix

[@aurious5821]

wait I thought the moon cracked and spilled white mana it had been storing for eons and whats what destroyed yawgmoth??

[@Treebeardbratac39]

Weatherlight broke through the null moon and used the stored white mana to pierce Yawgmoth and sear him from existence

[@phazing9]

I just love Karn's story.

[@SylviaMoonbeam1127]

Could you do lores either on the clans (Simic, Gruul, etc) or maybe a lore on Dragon's Maze?

[@AetherHub]

Im actually working on a video which covers the lore of the original Ravnica set, it goes over all of the guilds lore. It should be up this weekend!

[@gydrah4244]

Do Nicol Bolas, please stop teasing me. XD

[@RC-go2kl]

Slobad is such a cool goblin. He should be a planeswalker.

[@forkpapi]

Leone Kaiser he is!

[@SamundraDarion]

Tef*E*ri - it does not contain an "A"

[@stupidityevolved7513]

Just pulled Karn, easily my favorite card

[@DarthSironos]

I want to see more Venser planeswalker cards. We have enough Teferi and Dovin cards, let's give Venser the blue white Planeswalker spot in an upcoming set. Lorewise it could be something something timerift, timelines, here is Venser from another timeline ready to battle New Phyrexia.

[@JackCabbit20]

7:32 (Im sorry to do this but) GO GO POWER RANGERS

[@chinchillord]

Grate job! but you missed some thing, 1)you forgot about barren Urzas assistant in the academy and the first to call Karn a "him" 2)the fact that Urza went by Malzura because Urza is a cursed name on Dominaria because of the brothers war 3)Glissa THE TRADER

[@chinchillord]

if you need to know stuff about Urza talk to me cuz I fangirl him

[@levithegreat8318]

Jhoira lore? She is by far one of my favorite characters, Please?

[@The_Watcher734]

I fully support this idea

[@chrisd9656]

So Serra, where the power Stone was born from, could have some influence on the weatherlights sentience?

[@keojin2208]

I love Karn (my fav planeswalker) and the story of the slivers break my heart. which was your other video.

[@silviofirmino6047]

I think Capashen was adopted when he was a baby. The beings created by Urza was the Metathran (or new Thran)

[@Ryadriz]

Not a planeswalker but Gerrard Capashen and/or Urza would be awesome!

[@kami12kaze87]

My god, Karn just can't catch a break!

[@Nicholasmower12]

I believe the fans, including myself. would love to see a lore video on the Mac Daddy himself Nicol Bolas!

[@Butterworthy]

I would LOVE to see a Memnarch Planeswalker card happen! I bet that would be some serious fun if done right.

[@greedaboveeverything5984]

Memnarch didnt become a planeswalker

[@wolves600]

great video

[@jonofh]

urza is in my mind the coolest character in mtg!

[@AetherHub]

That statement is not wrong :) I was thinking of doing Urza's lore soon :P

[@garysharkey17]

So I thought Gerred decapitated Urza? He said the blast from the stones from his eyes killed both Gerred and Urza but I'm pretty sure Gerred cut Urza's head off like shown in Yagmoth's Vile Offering.

[@ryanpiercy1807]

Nicol Bolas needs a video.

[@RyanDanielG]

Gerrard is not pronounced 'Jerod'. Otherwise GREAT! Was a fun watch! Cheers!

[@AetherHub]

Thank you so much. Sorry I do very much suck at pronunciations.

[@LaffyWaffy89]

Karn wanna my favorite planeswalkers. In your opinion would he be one top most powerful walkers during pre and post mending not counting two elder dragon one's or is other walkers that are more powerful than him

[@transhumanhivemind3048]

This unit has a soul.

[@TheAnimeMegaFreak]

beware his deck in duels of the planeswalker 2012, i find him more threatening than nicol bolas

[@snowcoveredplainswalker442]

Are we gonna see a Nicol Bolas lore video?

[@wolfsack1064]

Hi Seiben! Do you think we will get a Karn lore refresher since his story still going? :D

[@AetherHub]

Sure I can do that :)

[@wolfsack1064]

@@AetherHub Thank you!

[@sweetkicksvideos7566]

I liked Venser so much. I'm really sad that he is gone... :(

[@philllllllll]

Love this video. But wth is up with the pronunciation of some character names. Teferi-> Tafari? Jhoira - > johora?

[@ryodemon2]

Personally, I go with Teferi -> Tehfairy and Jhoira ->Joyra

[@AetherHub]

Some names are harder to say than others :p

[@S0L1nv1ctus]

Kaaaaaaaarn!

[@l3gendarylycan916]

Always thought he was like the iron giant. Lol.

[@moosewerk356]

Why did you use a picture of the Predator ship while talking about the Weatherlight at 8:50? Seems a bit confusing.

[@otherhandgames8832]

If you're looking for favorite characters, Jeska.

[@wastelander28]

Tezzeret

[@The2noobs1pro]

Love this lore :D

[@xombiemike]

With the sacrifice, is Karn's heart now clean or still corrupted? We can't really have him running around leaking stuff from his heart, eh?

[@EHShinobi]

I want to know more about the wars of Kamigawa

[@scholarofthelosttrove]

Wtf? I didn't come here to cry.

[@Crimea_River]

ok I know it's petty but I started playing MTG during the Tempest block and Gerrard was my favorite character. His name is Gerrard, that's pronounced Gerr-ard, not Jared! ugh.

[@jayp4687]

so did Koth survive? didn't catch that

[@AetherHub]

That is for another tale ;)

[@nemesisfaust]

geth was part of the demonica forces, and galissa was traitor to the cause and also part of the phrexian rise. also the wizard tower more known as the wizards acadamy... the explosions were because urza had over filled the devise he was working on to make temporal time rifts, where he went to the mountians after to learn more about the theran, the urza turbine... meanwhile teferi was lost from his magical studies and the constant temporal rifts that would take place at the wizards acadamy... so it wasnt karn's fault... and a lot of his story is a bit off.

[@nemesisfaust]

also, memnarch isnt just the infused oils of the phraxians, but hes the reanamated body of urza... and that is a whole other story... and yes, part of urza's spirit was transferred to karn. where long story short.... everything wrong in magic the gathering is broken and messed up because of repeated failures and rebirths and temporal travels by urza, his simbiant, and his reanimated body. where if you look at homelands. barron singir had a pretty good peace in the first world till he was reincarnated as an evil essensing spirit which became known as yawgmoth, where how is that known... well order of yawgmoth is the same as sarra's paladin find who was made into a vampire to serve barron. where everywhere barrons goes there is a harsh decree of order and peace. even till his death, in which case yes there was bubbling muck for oils, but it was more than just phraxian oil... yawgmoth (aka barron's) essence and spirit was infused with the mechanical pieces of the marri orb with the brain and body peaces of urza... and you wonder why memnarch was going crazy? he ushered in phrexia, divided them, and created mechanical defectivness across the entire planatary structer as urza awlays does... hice they say, they dont know if he knows more than just the future or if he is crazy and was asked once, but you cant determine crazy with a planeswalkers...

[@Halsfield]

Is it just me or does karn's story in some ways parallel the movie Interstellar? Like how they went through the wormhole, you'll have no communication back here, etc. There's even the somewhat sentient AI they take with them.

[@fireyfeather]

Can you do two lore videos one on Elspeth Tirel and Dack Fayden please

[@ares6037]

I want to make a artifact deck, and put Karn in it.

[@ColinoDeani]

Yep.. that time travel stuff never works out for the time traveler.. death will have its day.

[@danielk3832]

8:26 Is the predator, Volrath's ship. And it's Gerrard. Not Jeared That being said thank you for taking time for the lore that has been lost. John C. Wintermute is a shit author and completely ruined what could have been one of the best novels in the MTG lore with the awful Return to Mirrodin book. The block novels ended after his abomination. Coincidence? I think not. Cheers. RIP Venser.

[@robynmaag1266]

pre-2000 Karn: I will not take another life! 2018 Karn: Hey, I'm gonna take this big bomb and blow up New Phyrexia. K bye

[@ConnorRunda]

Gonna be truthful, I had NO idea you weren't a native English speaker until I read a comment you wrote about it. Do you plan on doing a Nicol Bolas Lore video?

[@culturalliberator9425]

There's never have been a colorless plains wa... (Ugin) Oh

[@EndsonLawrence]

Please do Nicol Bolas next!

[@rulerofrandomness2794]

Could you do one on the original innistrad story?

[@Lag-Lord]

I’ve been playing mtg for years and had no idea karn was on the good side lol

[@clayp6415]

it kills me everytime he says jarad... GER RARD

[@genesislucero3268]

Please make some lore for Lorwyn and Shadowmoor. :)