I just come to a revelation the other day. I came to discover that Mana is an ever-present phenomena that interacts with reality in a potentially infinite number ways. The physics in throughout the MTG verse would work a bit differently than it would normally, at the same time though, Mana can be studied and experimented with. It is a science in of itself. What does this all mean? Well, it means we cannot look at MTG verse as we do our world but more like the Nasuverse in ancient times.



For those who are not in the know, the world of the Fate series in ancient times (e.g. 3000 B.C.) operated with "Mystery" as it's center instead of Physics. This made the world very, very weird compared to later ages.

Technically, mana doesn't power spells. It's the release of mana that does.
Mana works similarly to hydraulics, but instead of newtonian force, it replaces reality with the imagination.
Barrin went into the actual mechanics of spellcasting way back when. This is what we learned.

Interesting. I would need to modify my theory, but not by much. From what I have observed and discussed here, the MTG verse does act like how I imagine it. I was right but for the wrong reasons you could say. Mana is still in the center of things for all intents and purposes.

That does actually still pass by one factor that you have to address.
The folks that actually know and interact with mana are a minority on a massive scale, and unlike physics, which we all passively interact with, the only time mana comes into play as a phenomenon is when acted upon by an outside force.

The amount of people that, thereby experience, some of these supposed constants are (generously) about .001% of the population while the rest experience reality pretty much as we do.

It's not a refutation of your thesis, but does require an answer.

It's changed over time of course, though neatly enough most new writers refuse to dwell on the mechanics of spellcasting

Which I disapprove of. I'm not saying they have to go into detail and explain the same stuff again every time someone casts a spell, but most of the time the magic in the stories we get these days hardly feels like Magic anymore. The way in which spellcasters and magic are portrayed has moved away quite a bit from Magic's core. That's probably a topic for a whole new thread, though.

To be fair, we know mana has nuances from plane to plane, so its fair that we don't get into too much detail. Spellcasting varies from world to world in some regards.

However, they could stand to have the planeswalkers do what planeswalkers do best and draw mana from planes they've been on.

People do actually interact with mana. All life absorbs mana, but those that utilize that mana as spells are indeed less than .001% of the population. Furthermore, angels, demons, elementals, and horrors are generated-most of them spontaneously-through ambient mana. While it is true the grand majority of any species do not interact with mana as much as physics, the mana present on any plane does have a cause and effect on reality that most people do not see or care about for that matter. Just as a kid wouldn't care why the sky is blue, people in the MTG verse wouldn't care why elementals are created.