Magic: The Gathering has gone to space, so we talked to an astrophysicist about the striking art in 'Edge of Eternities' (exclusive)

魔术：聚会已经进入太空，所以我们与一位天体物理学家谈论了《永恒边缘》中引人注目的艺术（独家）

Magic: The Gathering (MTG) has fascinated millions – us included – for decades now. On top of being a fantastic collectible card game that's always refreshing its mechanics, the dense multiverse-building and sprawling lore, the cards themselves are traditionally gorgeous to look at.

魔术：几十年来，《聚会》（MTG）吸引了包括我们在内的数百万人。除了是一个奇妙的收藏卡牌游戏，总是刷新它的机制，密集的多元宇宙建设和蔓延的知识，卡牌本身传统上看起来很华丽。

As both MTG and space nerds, the recently released Edge of Eternities set is right up our alley, and we had the opportunity to chat with an astrophysicist about the expansion's most striking vistas.

作为MTG和太空迷，最近发布的《永恒边缘》正合我们的胃口，我们有机会与一位天体物理学家谈论资料片最引人注目的前景。

But wait, isn't Magic: The Gathering meant to be a fantasy universe? Well, things have changed a lot over the years, and while traditional fantasy settings remain at the center of the franchise, its canon Multiverse opened up almost endless possibilities, including themed crossovers with properties like The Lord of the Rings, Final Fantasy, and even Marvel.

但是等等，《魔法：聚会》不就是一个幻想宇宙吗？嗯，这些年来事情发生了很大变化，虽然传统的幻想设定仍然是系列的中心，但它的佳能多元宇宙开辟了几乎无限的可能性，包括像指环王，最终幻想，甚至漫威这样的主题跨界。

Edge of Eternities isn't that. It's part of the core, 'actually canon' sets, and introduces 'the Edge', a region of space that exists outside the Multiverse where "forces vie for cosmic power."

永恒的边缘不是那样的。它是核心的一部分，“实际上是佳能”设置，并介绍了“边缘”，一个存在于多元宇宙之外的空间区域，在那里“力量争夺宇宙力量”。

Zoe Le Conte, astrophysicist at Durham University, was kind enough to answer our questions regarding some of Edge of Eternities' most fascinating art pieces, ranging from planet-killing super weapons to space whales and plenty of cosmic phenomena that look equal parts pretty and destructive.

杜伦大学（Durham University）的天体物理学家佐伊·勒·孔特（Zoe Le Conte）很友好地回答了我们关于《永恒边缘》（Edge of永恒边缘）一些最迷人的艺术作品的问题，从杀死行星的超级武器到太空鲸鱼，以及大量看起来既漂亮又具有破坏性的宇宙现象。

The following Q&A has been editorialized and lightly trimmed for better flow.

为了更好的流畅，下面的问答已经过编辑和轻微的修剪。

We started by looking at 'Beyond the Quiet' (art on the card by Yohann Schepacz & Serena Malyon), which depicts a 'supervoid' or black hole. In the alternate art, a god-like feminine figure holds what might be the universe itself. Both images are beautiful and scary in different ways.

我们从《超越宁静》（Yohann Schepacz和Serena Malyon的卡片艺术）开始，它描绘了一个“超级虚空”或黑洞。在另一种艺术中，一个神一样的女性形象拥有可能是宇宙本身的东西。这两个图像在不同的方面既美丽又恐怖。

Le Conte points out that black holes "are very common in our Universe, forming when the most massive stars die." However, it's worth asking what lies "beyond the horizon" or what they specifically do to "heavily influence the way the Universe evolves." She ties the nature of black holes and supernovas to the cycle of destruction and creation we’ve learned about over the decades.

勒孔特指出，黑洞“在我们的宇宙中非常常见，在质量最大的恒星死亡时形成。”然而，值得一问的是“地平线之外”有什么，或者它们具体做了什么来“严重影响宇宙演化的方式”。她将黑洞和超新星的本质与我们几十年来了解的毁灭和创造的循环联系起来。

Even in the ‘Edge’ region this MTG set focuses on, that balance is present, and the art represents events which are both terrifying and gorgeous. The astrophysicist adds that we currently know a supernova explosion "replenishes the space surrounding the resulting black hole." This allows all-new stars to be "formed while the dense star core collapses into a singularity – simultaneously death and rebirth."

即使在这个MTG布景关注的“边缘”区域，这种平衡也是存在的，艺术表现了既可怕又华丽的事件。这位天体物理学家补充说，我们目前知道超新星爆炸“补充了由此产生的黑洞周围的空间”。这使得全新的恒星“在致密的恒星核心坍缩成奇点的同时形成——同时死亡和重生”。

It's safe to say Edge of Eternities packs plenty of black hole imagery. For example, the showcase art on 'Sothera, the Supervoid' (Mateusz Urbanowicz) "shows the black hole shadow, surrounded by matter slowly spiralling towards the black hole." This is called an "accretion disc."

可以肯定地说，《永恒的边缘》包含了大量的黑洞图像。例如，“Sothera，the Supervoid”（Mateusz Urbanowicz）上的展示艺术“展示了黑洞阴影，被慢慢螺旋向黑洞的物质包围。”这被称为“吸积盘”。

Usually, "the disc will keep accumulating more matter from nearby stars and planets and fuel the black hole." These discs have a very distinct glow because they're among "the most energetic places in the Universe."

通常情况下，“圆盘会不断积累更多来自附近恒星和行星的物质，为黑洞提供燃料。”这些圆盘有非常独特的光芒，因为它们是“宇宙中最有活力的地方”之一。

At the same time, cards like 'Singularity Rupture' (Néstor Ossandón Leal) present black holes as destructive forces. "Their power is mighty," Le Conte points out. But harnessing that kind of power would require extremely advanced technology.

与此同时，像“奇点破裂”（Néstor Ossandón Leal）这样的卡片将黑洞呈现为破坏性力量。“他们的力量是强大的，”勒孔特指出。但是利用这种力量需要极其先进的技术。

"It could be used as a slingshot," the astrophysicist says of their gravity, though you'd have to be very careful not to get too close. "All the light and matter that is sucked into the black hole cannot escape and will never be seen again. Black holes can be thought of as the time capsules of the Universe."

“它可以用作弹弓，”天体物理学家谈到它们的重力时说，尽管你必须非常小心不要靠得太近。“所有被吸进黑洞的光和物质都无法逃逸，再也见不到了。黑洞可以被认为是宇宙的时间胶囊。”

When it comes to massive structures created by advanced spacefaring civilizations, we have plenty of cards embracing classical sci-fi megastructures like Dyson spheres. The prime example in Edge of Eternities may be 'Pinnacle Starcage' (Leon Tukker), which literally shows a gorgeous Dyson sphere.

当谈到先进的太空文明创造的巨大结构时，我们有很多卡片包含经典的科幻巨型结构，如戴森球体。《永恒边缘》中最好的例子可能是“顶峰星笼”（利昂·图克饰），它展示了一个华丽的戴森球体。

Le Conte elaborates on this recurring concept: "The idea of humanity building a Dyson sphere comes with the scary thought that humanity will require so much energy that we would need to harvest power from the Sun. Even if civilisation had the technology, the concept of these megastructures would require more material than what is available in our Solar System. So for humanity, this will not be within our near future, but for other intelligent life, this could be a possibility."

Le Conte详细阐述了这个反复出现的概念：“人类建造戴森球体的想法伴随着一个可怕的想法，即人类将需要如此多的能量，以至于我们需要从太阳中获取能量。即使文明拥有这项技术，这些巨型结构的概念也需要比我们太阳系中可用的更多的材料。因此，对于人类来说，这不会在不久的将来发生，但对于其他智慧生命来说，这可能是一种可能性。”

This set also includes special cards that evoke the aesthetic of posters for early sci-fi B-movies and covers of pulp magazines. One of our favorites is 'Deafening Silence' (SkinnyElbows), which has an astronaut looking at large-scale destruction, which isn't producing any sounds. Despite Magic: The Gathering's focus on fantasy and the space opera orientation of Edge of Eternities, the creatives were leaning on a widely known fact about outer space with this one. "Outside of any planet's atmosphere, explosions are silent," Le Conte reminds readers. Sci-fi works that stick to this rule are infrequent, so it was a nice surprise to see MTG acknowledging it.

这一套还包括特殊的卡片，唤起早期科幻B级电影海报和低俗杂志封面的美感。我们最喜欢的电影之一是《震耳欲聋的寂静》（SkinnyElbows），它有一名宇航员看着大规模的破坏，但没有产生任何声音。尽管《魔法：聚会》的重点是幻想和《永恒边缘》的太空歌剧方向，但创意人员在这部电影中依赖于一个广为人知的关于外太空的事实。“在任何行星的大气层之外，爆炸都是无声的，”勒孔特提醒读者。坚持这一规则的科幻作品并不常见，所以看到MTG承认这一点是一个惊喜。

Another common element in sci-fi tales across all media is the breathtaking vistas seen from the surfaces of moons and planets. If you're going otherworldly, you might as well have fun with the alien skies. In 'Lost in Space' (Allen Panakal), an extraterrestrial is stranded on what we must assume is a moon, with a ringed planet seen in the blue and pink background.

所有媒体的科幻故事中的另一个共同元素是从月球和行星表面看到的令人惊叹的景色。如果你要去另一个世界，你也可以享受外星天空的乐趣。在《迷失太空》（艾伦·帕纳卡尔）中，一个外星人被困在我们必须假设是一颗卫星的地方，在蓝色和粉色的背景中可以看到一颗环形行星。

Of course, getting such views would depend on the atmosphere of the celestial body, the light it receives, etc. Le Conte adds that many planets are surrounded by large numbers of moons: "Planets often have many moons (the Earth is special in having just one), such as Jupiter having 97 confirmed at the moment. These moons can range from rocky and dusty to ice moons, and orbit closer to the planet."

当然，获得这样的视图将取决于天体的大气层、它接收的光线等。Le Conte补充说，许多行星都被大量的卫星包围着：“行星通常有许多卫星（地球的特殊之处在于只有一个），例如木星目前有97个已确认的卫星。这些卫星的范围从岩石和尘埃卫星到冰卫星，并且轨道离行星更近。”

On the more fantastical front, sci-fi often depicts creatures that can survive in the depths of space. Even Star Wars has the purrgil, so it doesn't come as a surprise that Edge of Eternities followed suit and gave us space-roaming animals the 'Starbreach Whale' (Sam Burley).

在更奇幻的方面，科幻小说经常描绘可以在太空深处生存的生物。甚至《星球大战》也有咕噜声，所以《永恒边缘》紧随其后，给了我们这些太空漫游动物“星际鲸鱼”（山姆·伯利饰）也就不足为奇了。

"We have only explored about 5% of both the ocean floor and space," Le Conte reminds us. "The alien-like nature of some of our deep-sea creatures inspires the concepts of alien life surviving in different atmospheres." In fact, there are animals like the "water bear", which survived the vacuum and radiation of space." Earth is plenty weird, so it's not a stretch to think of even weirder creatures living elsewhere!

“我们只探索了大约5%的海底和太空，”Le Conte提醒我们。“我们的一些深海生物的类外星性质激发了外星生命在不同大气中生存的概念。”事实上，还有像‘水熊’这样的动物，它们在太空的真空和辐射中幸存了下来。”地球很奇怪，所以不难想象生活在其他地方的更奇怪的生物！

If we continue following the trail of Star Wars references in the expansion, we quickly find 'Planetary Annihilation' (Cristi Balanescu), which shows a smaller version of a Death Star unmaking a planet far bigger in size. Outside the realm of sci-fi stories, are planet-killing weapons even possible with the right technology?

如果我们继续沿着资料片中《星球大战》的线索，我们很快就会找到“行星毁灭”（克里斯蒂·巴拉内斯库），它展示了一颗较小版本的死星摧毁了一颗大得多的行星。在科幻故事的领域之外，如果有正确的技术，杀死行星的武器是否可能？

"To blow a planet, the force would need to overcome the gravity holding the planet together. For something Earth-like, the laser's energy would need to come from a powerful source like the Sun. Harnessing star power could be the answer," Le Conte answers. This would point any nefarious civilization in the direction of the aforementioned Dyson spheres, probably. Or maybe they could just find the closest thing to kyber crystals in our/their galaxy.

“要炸毁一颗行星，力需要克服将行星结合在一起的重力。对于类似地球的物体，激光的能量需要来自像太阳这样强大的来源。利用恒星的力量可能是答案，”勒孔特回答道。这可能会将任何邪恶的文明指向前面提到的戴森球体的方向。或者也许他们可以在我们/他们的星系中找到最接近凯伯水晶的东西。

Circling back to stunning space vistas, we couldn't resist asking about 'Uthros, Titanic Godcore' (Adam Paquette); it presents what we can only describe as a gigantic 'space hurricane' happening around a hidden planet. Le Conte had a nearby example to share after seeing this image: "This reminds me of the big red dot on Jupiter, which is a giant hurricane storm lasting almost 200 years. Bigger planets are known as gas giants and do not have a rocky surface... But their atmospheres can be like Earth's and have giant storms."

回到令人惊叹的太空远景，我们忍不住问了“乌瑟罗斯，泰坦尼克号神核”（亚当·帕盖特）；它呈现了我们只能描述为发生在一个隐藏星球周围的巨大“太空飓风”。Le Conte在看到这张图像后有一个附近的例子可以分享：“这让我想起了木星上的大红点，这是一场持续了近200年的巨大飓风风暴。更大的行星被称为气态巨行星，没有岩石表面……但它们的大气层可以像地球一样，有巨大的风暴。”

The 'Cosmogoyf' (Chris Rahn) – also seen above – turns the beauty of space (a nebula in this case) into something monstrous… something alive. This one's completely rooted in the realm of space fantasy, but we shouldn't forget "new life is created" thanks to "the most diverse collection of metals and materials" found in nebulae. Le Conte describes them as "star nurseries formed from the supernova explosions of dying stars." If you ask us, we think it's fun to play with their nature to create a mind-bendingly massive cosmic menace.

“Cosmogoyf”（克里斯·拉恩饰）——也见上图——将太空的美丽（在这种情况下是星云）变成了某种怪物……某种有生命的东西。这完全植根于太空幻想领域，但我们不应该忘记“新生命被创造”，这要归功于在星云中发现的“最多样的金属和材料集合”。勒孔特将它们描述为“由垂死恒星的超新星爆炸形成的恒星托儿所”。如果你问我们，我们认为玩弄它们的本性来创造一个令人难以置信的巨大宇宙威胁很有趣。

Last but not least, recurring sci-fi megastructures like 'The Eternity Elevator' (Josu Solano) make us dream of what we could achieve in the future right here on Earth. A way to go up to space without flying a rocket ship would be useful, but getting there is tricky. Le Conte doesn't shoot down their viability, but says they're obviously "beyond our current technology."

最后但同样重要的是，像“永恒电梯”（乔苏·索拉诺饰）这样反复出现的科幻巨型建筑让我们梦想着未来在地球上可以实现的目标。一种不驾驶火箭飞船进入太空的方法会很有用，但到达那里很棘手。勒孔特并没有否定它们的可行性，但表示它们显然“超出了我们当前的技术”。

Artistic licenses aside, the astrophysicist admits that she enjoys "the complexity and marvel of the Universe" these images capture. She adds they "also depict the broad and most extreme phenomena that occur in the furthest parts of space," which isn't the kind of stuff you normally see printed on Magic: The Gathering cards.

撇开艺术许可不谈，这位天体物理学家承认她喜欢这些图像捕捉到的“宇宙的复杂性和奇迹”。她补充说，它们“还描绘了发生在太空最遥远地方的广泛和最极端的现象”，这不是你通常在《魔法：收集卡》上看到的那种东西。

Magic the Gathering – Edge of Eternities was released on July 29, 2025, on MTG Arena (the full digital version of the card game) and on August 1, 2025, for the physical card game. It's the game's 106th expansion.

Magic The Gathering-Edge of Eternities于2025年7月29日在MTG Arena（卡牌游戏的完整数字版）发布，并于2025年8月1日在实体卡牌游戏上发布。这是游戏的第106次资料片。