Magic: The Gathering reveals Phyrexia will all new cards and exciting mechanics
Magic: The Gathering (known to most as just "Magic" or "MTG") is a collectable card game from Wizards of the Coast that can be played physically as a tabletop game, or digitally online.
It tends to release in sets, with each telling a new story or adding to an existing one. The latest set, Phyrexia: All Will Be One, focuses on the Phyrexians, mechanical and bio-mechanical creatures striving for domination of the multiverse, and the Mirran Resistance - what remains of the previous inhabitants of the plane the Phyrexians have now taken over.
This isn't the first time we've seen the Phyrexians in Magic, but since we checked in with them last they've been hard at work adding a new Layer to their plane. The set uses the same Praetors (rulers) as the previous Phyrexian expansion, however, they've been renamed to reflect the progress they've made - Elesh Norn for example is now known as "Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines" (previously "Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite").
The set features a strong horror theme, with characters based on Biblically accurate angels and a hell-ish setting. (Wizards of the Coast)The set contains Panoramic Full-Art basic lands, but they're in a different order from usual. This is intentional - they're ordered based on their allegiance to Elish Norn, with her in the centre, and Vorinclex and Jin-Gitaxias (green and blue) on either side of her. On the edges are Sheoldred (black) who considers herself Elesh Norn's rival, and Urabrask (red) who is rebelling against her.
The areas of Phyrexia seep into each other, which results in the dual lands. These lands are born from conflict, and also feature borderless artwork.
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Each Preator beings their personality to a sphere, with the whole system being modelled on the Divine Comedy. Each Praetor has a monument made in their own image, which features as a card of their colour, and really helps to set the scene and tell the story of who these characters truly are.
In a huge twist to the tale, Jin-Gitaxias has compleated planeswalkers. This results in 6 Legendary Planeswalkers, compleated by the Phyrexians to become faithful servants to their cause.
Fan favorite Jace has been compleated by the Phyrexian, and now wields nothing short of pure perfection in his hands. (Wizards of the Coast)The artwork is really designed to pull at the fans heartstrings, with some of the Planeswalkers carrying huge fanbases.
To make matters worse, the Phyrexians have kept aspects of the heroes that are useful to them - the thing that made them powerful heroes now makes them even more powerful servants to New Phyrexia, free from things like morales and allegiances that would have held them back before.
Phyrexia: All Will Be One, new and returning mechanics
There are a few mechanics that show up in the new set. Poison counters make a return in the form of "Toxic", a new mechanic a little bit like infect.
When Toxic creatures deal damage to a player, they add the number of poison counters specified on the card to that player. If you reach ten poison counters, you lose the game.
Creatures with Toxic add poison counters to a player they deal damage to, but it can't be changed - adding a +1/+1 counter to a card doesn't change the Toxic damage. (Wizards of the Coast)To add a little bit more fun to Toxic, the expansion also adds a "Corrupted" mechanic. Once you get to three poison counters, some cards will unlock powerful new abilities. This has been designed to make Toxic a little more fun to play around with while you stack it up, rather than it just being a "10 or 0" style.
This set dispenses with +1/+1 counters as well as -1/-1 counters, and in place are "Oil Counters". Phyrexians use their oil to operate their society, and this is reflected in some cards which gain effects that grow in power as more Oil Counters are added.
The hugely popular Proliferate mechanic makes a return in Phyrexia: All Will Be One, and it's been designed to work with Toxic and Oil Counters. In case you need a reminder, the proliferate keyword allows you to “Choose any number of permanents and/or players that have a counter, then give each one additional counter of each kind that permanent or player already has."
The Phyrexians don't get all the fun though - the Mirrans have a new mechanic of their own, called "For Mirrodin". It's a bit like the Living Weapon mechanic from the previous set, only you get a 2/2 counter instead of 0/0 counter. These are mostly found in red and white decks
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For Mirrodin is a mechanic which creates a 2/2 token when it enters the battlefield. (Wizards of the Coast)Phyrexia: All Will Be One - Commander Decks
The set sees the addition of two commander decks, designed to show the conflict at play in New Phyrexia.
The Phyrexian deck is Green/Black/White, and is commanded by Ixhel. It features Toxic and Corrupted cards and plays around with those mechanics pretty heavily.
On the other side of the conflict is the Mirran Resistance deck, which is Red/White. It's commanded by Neyali, leader of the Mirran Resistance. This deck is an aggressive token deck, making strong use of the For Mirrodin mechanic to hit hard and often.
Phyrexia: All Will Be One - Card Treatments
The card treatments are a real labour of love in this set. Firstly, you have Phyrexianised basic lands, which are lands written in Phyrexian script with their own artwork by death-metal artist Mark Riddick.
It's not just isolated to lands though - other cards get the Phyrexianised treatment too. You'll get one basic Phyrexian land with each draft, set, and collector booster, with other Phyrexian cards, sometimes popping up there too.
Some cards have been entirely translated into Phyrexian Script (Wizards of the Coast)Phyrexians have a worldview based on "compleation", and they use ichor to spread their contagion. This leads to Borderless Ichor Showcase cards, awesome ink wash style artwork with a beautiful simplicity that even the Phyrexians would appreciate. All Rares and Mythics will be Ichor Showcase cards.
As if that wasn't enough, we also get Borderless Manga cards, which can be found in the set, draft, and collection boosters, and Borderless Concept Praetors, featuring original concept art dredged up from the vaults.
Finally comes the step-and-compleat foil cards, which are foil laminate cards with the Phyrexian Logo stamped on in different colours. The Showcase Ichor, Phyrexian, Borderless Concept and Manga cards all have a chance to get the step-and-compleat treatment, however, they are a collector booster exclusive.
This set also ships in a "compleat edition", which comes with its own exclusive treatment - Oil-Slick Raised Foils.
Wizards of the Coast will be trickling out more lore and previews over the next few weeks, so strap in - it's going to be a bumpy ride through New Phyrexia.
Phyrexia: All Will Be One releases on February 10 2023, and is available for preorder now
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