the Abyss

Exactly What you’d think

First, some history

Early in Magic’s history, a lot of cards were designed and named not from world documents or deep-spanning lore, but simply by conceptualizing something from the culture around at the time. Much of the ‘nerd culture’ of the 80’s and 90’s had some element of the Christian Hell in them as a place of demons and damned souls, and Magic was no different. This was in the time before the concept of planes as we know them today were truly defined, and so when demons summoned by planeswalkers were pulled from Hell itself they were referred to as coming from ‘The Pit’ or ‘The Abyss’ as well as just ‘straight from Hell’, and that was all there was to it.

Fast-forward to the Satanic Panic of the 90’s, when Dungeons and Dragons and Magic the Gathering became associated with the occult and were deemed too dangerous for children to associate with. Wizards of the Coast pulled out demons and any references to Hell for over a decade, until the premier of Grinning Demon in Onslaught in 2002. Since then, The Abyss hasn’t been addressed much, as almost every plane in the Multiverse has its own demons, and many have their own underworlds. In 2023, Planechase finally cleared up the naming convention of the plane, however, and officially named it as “The Abyss”, with the other main name, “The Pit” being a location within it. Still, this is what is generally assumed to be known of the plane known as ‘The Abyss’ in Magic lore:

The Lore of THE ABYSS

The Abyss is a plane full of demons, fire, magma, devils, and all manner of dastardly and evil creatures. Primarily black and red-aligned, it is linked to multiple other planes (most notably Dominaria and possibly Innistrad) by either artificial or natural planar portals, and may be the source of Dominaria’s now-native demons in the same way that Rabiah and Wildfire are the sources of its Djinni. Throughout history, The Abyss has been visited by numerous planeswalkers, mot of which were looking to make pacts with demons for their service. Most notably, the mage Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar summoned a lord of the pit named Vincent from The Pit, but ran out of stuff to feed it, and was forced to serve him in the underworld as his personal chef for seven years and seven days. It is there she published The Underworld Cookbook.

The Abyss is home to a multitude of other demons, including The Wretched, demons who domineer the minds of enemies and force them into servitude for eternity; Belzenlok, an elder demon and master of deceit; and Boris Devilboon, a boogeyman and associate of devils. These creatures, along with their demonic brethren, fought in a gigantic battle known as ‘The War in the Abyss’ at some point in the past, and in doing so possibly sealed the plane off from the rest of the multiverse.

In the modern era, the Cabal of Otaria summoned forth the elder demon Belzenlok from The Abyss in an attempt to summon their dead god Kuberr.