Fallen Empires, like The Dark, takes place after the Brothers War of the Antiquities expansion. However, the Fallen Empires theme takes place in a far different part of Dominaria than The Dark did. There are five empires (one for each color), all trying to survive the severe climate changes that were caused by the war.

Fallen Empires, like many sets before it, was a limited edition set. Only enough cards were printed to fill pre-orders that had been placed during the time that Legends was in print. However, at that time, the Magic phenomenon was going strong and store-owners could barely keep the cards on their shelves, so many of them ordered insane amounts of Fallen Empires cards thinking that the craze would continue. But, by the time Fallen Empires released, much of the Magic craze had subsided, and stores found themselves stuck with cases of cards that they couldn't sell... even at incredibly low prices. While this made it easy for players to get the cards they wanted, it severely de-valued the set.

Fallen Empires holds the record for several Magic firsts. It was the first set to feature multiple card arts for every common in the set (until then, the only cards that had more than one card art were lands). This was also the first set to extensively use cards that created tokens and counters. It was also the first set to really introduce creature races to Magic (goblins, zombies, merfolk, elves, etc.)