The Gathering Storm

The Gathering Storm is a 20 chapter ‘prequel novel’ to War of the Spark: Ravnica written by Django Wexler.

Publishing
In March 2019, it was revealed at the Emerald City Comic-Con (ECCC) that the prequel novel would become available through the website of publisher Del Rey (part of Random House) instead of at Magicthegathering.com. The prequel story was released on a weekly basis by way of a newsletter, starting in June 2019. The final chapter was released on October 23, 2019.

Although billed as a prequel novel, readers of War of the Spark noted that some essential details were missing from the story of Greg Weisman's novel. Because these events (most notably Niv-Mizzet's death) were also taken for granted in the depiction of the cards from War of the Spark, it has been speculated that The Gathering Storm was originally intended to be released along with Guilds of Ravnica and Ravnica Allegiance.

Story
Wexler's stories are mostly written from Ral Zarek's point of view, but some sections are written from Vraska's, Kaya's, and a Dimir thoughtstealer named Millena's point of view. Additional characters include Tomik Vrona, Teysa Karlov, Lavinia, and Niv-Mizzet. The Gathering Storm is set during the time period that the Gatewatch is away from Ravnica. The stories featured the new character Hekara, a cheerful Rakdos emissary.