((If it's antimatter-like, it's absurdly inefficient...unless it's absorbing the energy contained in the matter to charge a sort of cosmic battery that powers magic?))
Its not Magic, its Arcane Energy. They re different materials unless Toaster fused them onto one, which seems unlikely. Bigfoot has the answers for this if hes willing to share, considering the word for Magic is the one used to allow creatures use spells and he made the replicator menace.
I'm pretty sure you're misunderstanding my point, and certainly my terminology.
1. "Arcane Energy" causes explosions and destroys stuff. If the destruction causes the expplosion, we would expect more energy to be released; thus, some energy is being lost.
2. Magic inherently violates physics by creating matter and energy from nothing...
3. ...unless there is a sort of "cosmic battery" that powers magic.
4. Thus, the arcane energy might transform matter into energy for this "cosmic battery".