To be clear, Lightning does request transactions on-blockchain to open a channel and to close a channel. The magic is what happens in between those two events.

To be clear, Lightning does request transactions on-blockchain to open a channel and to close a channel. The magic is what happens in between those two events. As such, it is not a gateway to infinite scalability, but it does offer the potential to greatly amplify the number of transactions on the network and having them consolidate down into occasional on-blockchain settlements.