#Mirrodin Block

[beatsandskies]

Theme Deck Review Compendium: Fifth Dawn “Sunburst”

This is final Theme Deck of Fifth Dawn and is a pretty interesting way to see out the block. Is it any good as a deck though? Let's review the reviews.

So I accidentally posted the Stampede post which was meant to be today early. But I’ll probably just jam in an extra Compendium post on a Friday instead of a deePRECONnaisance one, and that’ll make things nice and tidy again. 🙂 Oh and apparently Internet Archives had been hacked and is completely down? I’m furious. I think I probably browse archived versions of webpages more than I do live ones…

[stupidstupidratcreatures]

i hate how cool the magic cards have been lately bc i quite frankly cannot stand the phyrexians and want them to go home

[dravidious]

#creative block is also cool #finally a power crept Override

Oh I've never heard of that card, let me see-

You're more amazing than a 1/1000 chance

Blue commons, and another rare I had an idea for

Blue and black together cover all 4 modification themes in the set, so a card that rewards you for using all the different themes is obvious! Unfortunately, treating +1/+1 counters and keyword counters as different kinds of modifications would be confusing, difficult to word, and wouldn't even match the usual reminder text for modified, so you don't technically need to use all 4 themes. But still, this is some great untapped design space, perfect for rare!

[littjara-mirrorlake]

D&D 5e Homebrew Lineage: Core-Born Phyrexian

This lineage is part of my in-progress homebrew supplement Plane Shift: Mirrodin/New Phyrexia for D&D 5e.

The core-born Phyrexian is the build-it-yourself choice out of the supplement's options, similarly to its fellow MtG crossover, the Simic hybrid. Included with this version are a short list of sample modifications, which will be expanded as time and playtesting go on. Many are duplicates of existing racials in 5e, but others will be original, such as PS:MNP's weirdest modification so far: Metamorph. Something to look forward to!

Though the stat block here states a set ASI (+2 Con/+1 any), I'm actually a strong proponent of rearranging ability scores as in Tasha's, and the pre-set ASI is really more flavor text than anything.

The text here alludes to the phyresis mechanic, which will be posted in the future. In short, taking necrotic damage from Phyrexians will cause a Con save with DC equal to the damage taken, and on a failed save, you will gain one phyresis level. Phyresis advances in ten stages, with compleation being the end result. The minimum DC of this save is 5. Uniquely, a natural 1 always fails, and a natural 20 always succeeds.

Text from the images under the cut. (It's quite a lot.)

Core-Born Phyrexian

Though Phyrexians’ most well-known method of reproduction is through the compleation of other creatures, fully Phyrexian offspring can also be grown in glistening oil, tended by vat-priests. Germs are most often born from the oil of a single Phyrexian parent and take after that parent’s morphological features, including the type and color of their metal plates. Such Phyrexians are known as “core-born”, even though the laboratories that create them have expanded all over the surface and interior of Mirrodin.

Type. You are a Humanoid. You are also considered a Phyrexian for any prerequisite or effect that requires you to be a Phyrexian.

Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2, and one other ability score of your choice increases by 1.

Age. Owing to your combined construction of flesh and metal, the Phyrexian definition of life is porous at best. Phyrexian beings have the potential to live indefinitely. You are immune to magical aging effects.

Size. As a player character, your size can be either Small or Medium. Either way, Phyrexians tend to be heavier than organic creatures of equivalent size.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Darkvision. Your constructed senses grant you superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Necrotic Resistance. The glistening oil flowing through your body protects you from the tainted attacks of your kind. You have resistance to necrotic damage.

Tainted Strike. Your claws are natural weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with them, you deal 1d4 + your Strength modifier of slashing damage, plus 1 additional necrotic damage, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.

Phyrexian Modification. You begin with one modification (presented later in this document) as a result of the Phyrexian work done on your body, and you gain an additional one at 5th level.

Languages. You can speak, read, and write Phyrexian and one other language of your choice.

Phyrexian Modifications

These modifications are presented in alphabetical order along with their prerequisites and associated factions. They are intended for use both as-is and as inspiration for individually customized features. Modifications are gained at 1st and 5th level by the core-born race, but are also obtainable by any character who has Phyrexian work done on their body or gains 8 or more levels of phyresis.

Unless stated otherwise in its description, each modification can only be taken once and has no prerequisites.

At the DM’s discretion, a character may exchange one of their modifications for another by undergoing a surgical procedure. A character must still meet any prerequisites for a new modification they take this way.

Constructed Resilience Faction: Any Prerequisite: does not already have the Constructed Resilience feature

Even among Phyrexians, you are unusually mechanized, forfeiting the majority of your organic components for the resilience of a true machine. You have resistance to poison damage and immunity to disease, and you have advantage on saving throws against being poisoned. You don’t need to eat, drink, or breathe. You also don’t need to sleep, and magic can’t put you to sleep.

To gain the benefits of a long rest, you must spend all 8 hours staying still or doing light activity, such as keeping watch.

Extra Arms Faction: Any Prerequisite: does not already have the Extra Arms feature

You gain an extra pair of arms that function normally, with the following exceptions:

You can use a secondary arm to wield a weapon that has the light property, but you can’t use a secondary arm to wield other kinds of weapons.

You can’t wield a shield with a secondary arm.

Incendiary Breath Faction: Quiet Furnace

When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can replace one of your attacks with an exhalation of fire in a 15-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a Dexterity saving throw (DC = 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus). On a failed save, the creature takes 1d10 fire damage. On a successful save, it takes half as much damage. This damage increases by 1d10 when you reach 5th level (2d10), 11th level (3d10), and 17th level (4d10).

You can use this ability a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Necrogen Vents Faction: Steel Thanes Prerequisite: 5th level

As an action, you can release a poisonous aura of necrogen in a 10-foot-radius sphere centered on yourself. It lasts for 1 minute, moves with you, and ends early if you are incapacitated or die. Each other creature of your choice that starts its turn in the necrogen or enters it for the first time on its turn must succeed on a Constitution saving throw (DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier) or be poisoned until the beginning of its next turn. Creatures that don’t need to breathe automatically succeed on this saving throw.

Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Reactive Spines Faction: Any

As a reaction when a creature you can see within 5 feet of you hits you with a melee attack, you can make metallic spines erupt from your body in retaliation, causing the attacker to take 1d6 piercing damage. This damage increases by 1d6 when you reach 5th level (2d6), 11th level (3d6), and 17th level (4d6).

You can use this reaction a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, regaining all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Reinforced Carapace Faction: Any Prerequisite: does not already have a racial bonus to AC, such as Iron Skin or Natural Armor

The metal of your body grows tougher, deflecting mortal blows. You gain a +1 bonus to your AC when you aren’t wearing heavy armor.

Resistance Faction: Any

You gain resistance to one of the following damage types of your choice: acid, fire, poison, psychic, or radiant.

Though any Phyrexian may receive this modification, each damage resistance is most commonly associated with a specific faction (see “Phyrexian Factions” earlier in this document).

Spider Climb Faction: Any Prerequisite: does not already have the Spider Climb feature

You gain a climbing speed equal to your walking speed, and you can climb walls and other difficult surfaces without needing to make an ability check. In addition, at 3rd level, you can move up, down, and across vertical surfaces and upside down along ceilings, while leaving your hands free.

[markrosewater]

Can you do a set where they have to stop a spreading plague?

The was kind of Scars of Mirrodin block. It wasn’t stopped.

[corvidous]

I have one EDH deck and it's Anax & Cymede.

Boros EDH combat deck time: My Brain Small, My Meat Huge, My Pain Endless, I human soldier ever onward

So there are more tumblr mtg players than I anticipated, it turns out. What's everyone's favourite commander?

I'll go first, Juri of the Revue.

(Honourable mention to my meme deck where you have to get a date for Jenson Carthalion, Druid Exile by swiping left or right with his scry ability.)

[pikachugirltits]

One of the things I really dislike about the recent Universes Beyond discourse is that a lot of people (mostly on Reddit) are obsessed with creating these false dichotomies. Enfranchised players vs UB enjoyers, Vorthoses vs UB players...implying that these two things are naturally opposed and that players who like UB aren't the "real" fans.

I started playing Magic when I was 11 in 2001 with a 7th Edition Starter Kit. I discovered there was lore during Mirrodin block. My first Magic story I read was Outlaw, the Champions of Kamigawa novel. Honestly, the original Kamigawa block novels and original Ravnica block novels are still some of my favorite Magic stories of all time. I am very much an enfranchised player and a Vorthos. I have 30+ Commander decks, I maintain a comprehensive list of queer characters on Magic cards in both Google docs and Moxfield forms, I have a side project where I'm homebrewing Magic the Gathering elements like backgrounds and ancestries for Pathfinder 2E, and I'm working on rules for running a planeswalker themed game with the Storypath Ultra Core system. Like, I really can't stress enough that I am hardcore dedicated to the game and lore.

And I love Universes Beyond!

Two of my commander decks are built around UB commanders, a Rose Noble/14th Doctor deck and an Arcee deck. I'm not even a Transformers fan, I just built Arcee as part of my "build a deck for every canon trans woman who gets a Magic card" challenge because Arcee is apparently a trans woman in the IDW comics. I'm in the process of building an all UB Commander deck that I've named Ultimate Showdown. Most of my Commander decks have at least one UB card in them mixed in with the Magic multiverse cards. I'm eagerly looking forward to the Final Fantasy and Spider-Man sets.

So I really wish people would stop treating "enfranchised players" and/or Vorthoses as some kind of monolith that all uniformly hate UB. Because they don't speak for me. Quite frankly I'm getting really sick of them acting like how I enjoy Magic and the cards I want to play with are bad or wrong or "not real Magic." I'm getting really sick of the way they talk trying to invalidate my identity as a "true Magic fan" by insinuating "true Magic fans" all hate UB. It sucks. I already face a feeling of alienation at times from the larger Magic community for being a trans girl. I don't enjoy feeling further alienated by this.

[sylvan-librarian]

Nissa's Pilgrimage Part I: Worldwaker

Preface: 

Hi there! My name is Steven; I recently wrapped up a master’s degree in library science and am doing my best to segue careers. Since my terminally long job hunt has left me with more down time than I ever wanted to have, I decided to put my English degree to good(?🤷) use by writing a bunch of personal essays on Magic the Gathering, as it is a topic I have been obsessed with for around a decade now. I didn’t intend to share these ramblings at first, and I began this whole project for my own edification, to keep my brain active, and to prevent myself going insane from boredom. However, I thought it couldn’t hurt to throw these online and see what comes of it.

This particular piece is part 1 of ???. I have a lot of notes in my drafts and even more thoughts in my head, so it may just go on indefinitely until someone (finally) gives me a dang job.

TLDR: I’m a deranged MTG Vorthos and former English major with a lot of thoughts and even more time on my hands, so I began a handful of English major-y essays on my pet topics. I’m posting them here for now.

Introduction:

Almost every Magic player who began learning the game after the planeswalker card type was introduced in the Lorwyn expansion in October, 2007 can tell you a story about the first planeswalker card they fell in love with. It might have been because the mechanics on the card melded perfectly with their preferred strategy of play, it might have been because they kept up with the story and were invested in the represented character’s journey, or it might have simply been because they thought the art looked cool.

For whatever reason under Mirrodin’s five suns a Magic player first became attached to a planeswalker and their cards, the character often become symbolic for our love of the game itself. These symbols grow beyond simple loyalty abilities on a piece of cardboard and become inexorably intertwined with our own personal Magic experience.

For me, this planeswalker was Nissa Revane.

You see, in March of 2014, I started working at The Game Closet in Waco, Texas. I had just finished getting a master’s degree in English, so of course, my first job out in the real world was to become a clerk at my local game store (really putting my humanities education to work). Having grown up in a small Louisiana town, I never had a chance to play Magic. I entered the tabletop gaming world through my obsession with Dungeons & Dragons, Shadowrun, and sundry other RPG’s. 

Nevertheless, as Magic players made up the majority of the store’s customer base, I took it upon myself to learn the game. The Theros block was wrapping up at the time with its third set, Journey into Nyx, and a bunch of friendly players were more than happy to unload all of their bulk commons and uncommons to me (Journey into Nyx was famously underpowered, after all), so I tried to make a standard deck out of all this draft chaff and run it at Friday Night Magic. 

It didn’t go too well.

However, I was happy with the overall direction of the deck, and I immediately discovered that I loved green decks, specifically green ramp strategies.

I was enthralled with the idea of accelerating mana so that you can play flashy, intimidating creatures and cool, game warping spells far earlier than you have any right to, so I continued to tweak the deck until I made a functioning version of the Theros Standard Mono Green Devotion deck. Even though I wasn’t good enough at the game in my early days to consistently win (even at the local level), I had a lot of fun with it! It was fast and explosive, but for some reason, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was missing something.

However, not a few months later, the Magic 2015 Core Set gets released, and the chase mythic rare in the set’s early days was exactly the kind of card I was looking for: Nissa, Worldwaker. I had no idea who this Nissa character was supposed to be — though I did think the art looked pretty cool — but I was in awe of the card’s abilities! It was precisely the kind of fuel I felt my standard deck needed at the time, and it turns out I was right! My Magic the Gathering “competitive” “career” begins and ends with a handful of first place rankings at my local game store’s standard FNM events, but as small a victory as those are, nearly all of these top rankings were due to Nissa, Worldwaker. 

Needless to say, I became devoted to the character overnight.

Exploration:

But who is Nissa, really? Let’s start with the basics. Nissa is an elf planeswalker from the plane of Zendikar, a largely untamed wilderness where the land itself has a will of its own, causing unforeseeable (un)natural disasters called “the roil” by Zendikari locals. According to the recently-released Magic The Gathering: The Visual Guide by Jay Annelli, Nissa is in her 60s and she is 5 feet, 2 inches tall, making her the smallest of the original four members of the Gatewatch (five if you count Liliana). Nissa has a mystical connection to the land and can sense a plane’s leylines, giving her a measure of control over the ground she walks on; this allows her to animate the very land itself to fight her enemies, a narrative element that has been expressed mechanically time and time again on Nissa’s cards throughout the years. 

Ostracized from the elven clan she was born in, the Joraga, for the crime of having this connection to the land (a rare brand of sorcery called “animism” in the lore of Magic), Nissa spent large stretches of years alone with only the spirits of the natural world as companions. This has made her socially awkward to a fault, and the issues she has in communicating with her friends (and later, lovers) has been a fairly consistent plot point throughout all of the (canon) story arcs she has played a part in. 

In a fictional universe that contains ageless elder dragons, a man-eating toad, a sentient robot who literally created a planet from scratch, and a wizard who once phased an entire continent out of the time stream, Nissa Revane’s eternal struggle to express simple feelings to people she shares a bond with always seemed to me the most human element in the Magic canon. Additionally (big surprise), that’s something I have in common with her. While other Vorthoses have made the argument that Nissa is on the autism spectrum, that is something I have neither the personal experience with nor the education of to speak about. That is certainly a valid lens to view this character through, however, so if that interests you, I’d encourage you to search up these pieces on your own.

What I can speak on with a certain level of expertise, however, is the personal struggle of being a shy, withdrawn introvert in an extroverted world. As a lifelong wallflower with a vivid imagination and a rich inner world, I can deeply relate to a character who doesn’t know how to put her intense feelings to words. For example, in the final story of the Kaladesh arc, Renewal, Nissa tries to express to her companion Chandra just how deeply she wants to be “friends” with her:

Nissa swallowed past the desert in her throat. "I don't speak often. I lived alone for...decades. Zendikar was my companion. We understood each other at a level deeper than words. I...I don't know how to talk to you. I'm trying to learn." Chandra looked up, eyes wide and startled. "You don't know how to talk to me?" "I will make mistakes," Nissa said. "Pick the wrong words. Misunderstand yours. I'll act strange and won't know that I am. But if you can be patient with me, I would like to be..." Waves of sky-song memory welled upward, symphonies of color and warmth, resonant movement and shared breath. She stilled them, reduced them, and forced out angular words shaped in a pallid shadow of acceptable truth. "...your friend." Chandra's hands leapt out to enfold hers, warm as a bird's nest. "I dunno," she sniffled, one corner of her mouth quivering upward. "I think you're pretty good at picking words." "It took all afternoon to decide how to say this."

While this section of Renewal is a cornerstone of Nissa’s and Chandra’s future romantic relationship, that is a topic big enough to warrant its own essay in order to do it justice. For now, though, let’s focus on this bit: “‘I would like to be…’ Waves of sky-song memory welled upward, symphonies of color and warmth, resonant movement and shared breath. She stilled them, reduced them, and forced out angular words shaped in a pallid shadow of acceptable truth. ‘...your friend.’” Nissa’s never ending struggle to use words grand enough to communicate the intensity of the feelings in her heart has stuck with me since Renewal was posted on Magic’s website in 2017. I doubt I’m the only one, either.

Heroic Intervention

Nissa was already the character I was most invested in back in 2017, but observing her deep well of emotions she didn’t know to express and her entire lifetime's worth of interests and experiences she didn’t know how to talk about helped me, I think, come to terms the previous two-and-a-half decades of my own life that I spent cowering in corners at parties, being as unobtrusive as possible in the lives of my friends and family, and holding myself back because I didn’t think anyone would ever want me around - as a friend, as a lover, or even as a coworker. This section, from later on in Renewal, really gutted me at the time: 

What would she do, if she had the time again? If she didn't flinch at light, noise, and touch, or speak in gestures and movements strange and off-putting to others? How could she tell this new life to laugh and weep without reservation or regret; to sing to the stars and waters, or to nothing at all; to love unreserved and unguarded; to treasure every moment with those beloved; to forgive any regretted trespass; to dance when moved to; to savor long silences in warm company; to greet each dawn, each face with the thought, this will be an adventure; to be brave, and kind, and trusting, and... ...like Chandra. The aetherborn waited, flickering. But why would anyone find her thoughts on the matter of value, anyway? Don't be afraid to follow your heart, Nissa told them. ...Why would that be scary? Halfway across Ghirapur, her body exhaled a laugh into the deepening twilight. May it ever puzzle you.

It wasn’t too long after this story was published that I began my own journey from hiding in the shadows to living my life in a way I was proud of. I moved away with the woman I was dating at the time, and even though that relationship ended up not working out, I spent five long, fun, life-altering years learning to

laugh and weep without reservation or regret; to sing to the stars and waters, or to nothing at all; to love unreserved and unguarded; to treasure every moment with those beloved; to forgive any regretted trespass; to dance when moved to; to savor long silences in warm company; to greet each dawn, each face with the thought, this will be an adventure.

I wonder to this day if the courage Nissa displayed during her own pilgrimage helped nurture in me the courage I needed in my own…

Conclusion

If you made this far, thanks! I’m not sure who, if any, will be interested in these endless ramblings, but if you're here, I hope you found something in it to enjoy!

Further entries in this little series will cover who Nissa is as a character, how she has been treated by various writers in Magic's various seasons, and why that matters (to me at least). The next longform piece I post will go over Nissa’s dual origins, why she was retconned from an incompetent xenophobe into the cinnamon roll with baggage we know today, and what both the Magic Story Team and its fans have made of this shift over the years.

References

Annelli, J. Magic The Gathering The Visual Guide. DK Publishing

Li, M., Digges, K., Luhrs, A., Beyer D., & L'Etoile, C. (2017). Renewal

[overgrown-estate]

After Mirrodin became New Phyrexia, "Magic the Gathering" gave players their first taste of Innistrad, the plane filled with Gothic Horror tropes. Innistrad was a plane of vampires and werewolves, the latter using a new card technique to create cards that 'transform' when flipped over. There were also spirits and zombies along with the humans who had to fight to survive all of these things.

And what would the original Innistrad block add to a collection of cards whose number matched the set number they were printed in? Let's take a look.

Set #56 is the original 'Innistrad' set and it's 56th card is Fortress Crab, a 1/6 blue vanilla crab for four mana. A nice big blocker.

Set #57 is 'Dark Ascension' and card #57 for this set is Curse of Thirst". Curses were also a new card type introduced throughout the original Innistrad block. Curses were attached to players with effects that hindered the player they were attached to.

Set #58 was 'Avacyn Restored' with the 58th card of that set being Ghostly Touch, a nice aura which granted a tapping ability to the enchanted creature whenever it attacked.

My favorite card overall from this block was Garruk Relentless/Veil-Cursed. I became a big fan of Garruk at this time, still am, and really want to see more of him.

What did you think of the original Innistrad block and the cards above?

[beatsandskies]

Theme Deck Review Compendium: Fifth Dawn “Stampede”

[soylent-crocodile]

Cystbearer (Monster)

(art by Kev Walker)

(So I ended up statting up a LOT of Phyrexian monsters back before their arc reached its climax. I'll be posting them under #phyrexia project, with the hope that once I'm done you'll have a robust monster list for a Phyrexian invasion campaign.

My phyrexia is mostly a blend of old Phyrexia and Phyrexia as depicted in Scars of Mirrodin block, as that's how I was first introduced to them. We'll be seeing a lot more of them as this blog continues. I haven't statted up the Praetors yet, but I'm imagining them as CR21-25 range monsters who grant divine spells and have Mythic ranks.

Cystbearers are, to me, an iconic creature of Scars of Mirrodin, being decently costed common infect creatures with no other ability. They also look nasty as hell, in a good way.)

CR4 NE Large Aberration

Cystbearers are early vanguards of Phyrexian invasion, virulent and resilient beings grown in massive Phyrexian breeding pools. They are remarkably fast to grow, with a new cystbear going from single celled germ to fully developed Phyrexian beast in the course of about a week in the noxious pools. They are then released into the world, typically with orders to kill and infect indiscriminately- orders they perform with gusto.

Cystbearers have barely enough intelligence for sadism and an understanding of the harm they're causing. For all intents and purposes, a cystbearer acts more like an unusually aggressive animal, rather than an intelligent being who can formulate plans in combat or be negotiated with.

A large-mouthed beast the size of a bear shambles forward, its back covered in tubular cysts leaking green fluid.

Misc- CR4 NE Large Aberration (Phyrexian) HD5 Init:+1 Senses: Perception:+7, Darkvision 60ft All-around vision

Stats- Str:21(+5) Dex:12(+1) Con:18(+4) Int:3(-4) Wis:12(+1) Cha:6(-2) BAB:+3 Space:10ft Reach:5ft

Defense- HP:42(5d8+20) AC:16(-1 Size, +1 Dex, +6 Natural) Fort:+7 Ref:+2 Will:+5 CMD:20 Immunity: Acid, Exhausted, Fatigued, Paralyzed, Staggered Special Defenses: Explosive Cysts, Ferocity

Offense- Bite +7(1d8+5 plus disease) CMB:+9 Speed:30ft Special Attacks: Cyst Phyresis

Feats- Great Fortitude, Power Attack (-2/+4), Improved Sunder

Skills- Perception +7, Survival +5, Swim +9

Special Qualities- Ferocity

Ecology- Environment- Swamps, Forests Languages- Necril (Can’t speak) Organization- Solitary, Shamble (3) Treasure- None

Special Abilities- Disease (Ex)- Cyst Phyresis Type: Disease, wound  Save: Fort DC16, Onset: 1 day Effect: 1d4 Wis damage, victim is sickened. Explosive Cysts (Ex)- When a cystbearer takes slashing or piecring damage, some of the bubbling cysts on its back burst, spraying corrosive, diseased fluid everywhere. Creatures within 10ft of the cystbearer when this happens must make a DC11 Reflex save or take 2d6 Acid damage and be exposed to the cystbearer's disease.

[dravidious]

Actually hang on I just saw this card and it made me so angry that I needed to make a version that isn't completely terrible

This version is still terrible, to be clear. For context on just how terrible it is, here are two cards that always destroy the creature AND have an extra bonus

You're more amazing than Branches

Quick card design in text form

Parry

UR

Instant

Gain control of target spell that targets you or a permanent you control. You may choose new targets for it.

[wind-to-your-sails]

The Domini of New Phyrexia: An Elaborate Headcanon of my Own Design

The wounding of a world-soul is not an easy thing. It is a dark and awful deed, and cannot be done the same way that one might wipe away a continent. To scar the soul of a world is to change its very nature, to rewrite laws so fundamental that they are scarcely thought of as laws. In the past, such monstrosity was considered the realm of gods alone; Amonkhet, Lorwyn and Zendikar stand as testament to the consequences of such a deed, and the weakest of those who dealt the scars was still a planeswalker of the ancient tradition.

But now, we know better. We have beheld Phyrexia, and the march of the Domini. The worlds of which I have spoken, they bore their wounds and retained much of what they had been. But Phyrexia did not simply wound their world-soul, they broke it.

Their hideous works reforged the world, tearing the domains apart and sequestering them to separate spheres of existence while they erased all knowledge of the rituals that had kept the land hale and hearty. And then, as if to prove that the arrogance of Norn did not know limits, they covered the ruin of the old world with a hideous porcelain shell that blocked out all light of the world-shaping five suns of Mirrodin.

And so the world-soul of Phyrexia emerged, split into five parts and scattered across five spheres. These are the Domini, the mutilated voices of a vivisected planet.

Mondrak is the Dominus of Glory and resides within the Fair Basilica, the Seventh Sphere of Phyrexia. Born with seven mouths and no ears, Mondrak wails an unceasing hymn in praise of the majesty and supremacy of the Machine Orthodoxy. It is said that to hear her song is to understand Phyrexia, and perhaps even worse, to believe in it. The truth of this superstition is difficult to verify, as the volume and tone of Mondrak’s voice induces paralysis and disorientation even at distances where the words cannot be recognized.

Called the Breathless Choir by her fellow zealots, Mondrak is seen as a pinnacle of inspiration and living proof of the infallibility of Norn’s teachings. Despite her voice often proving destructive to the nearby architecture, Mondrak is frequently surrounded by aspirants eager to receive the gospel of the Argent Etchings. As for the Mother of Machines herself, Elesh Norn regards Mondrak as a curious setpiece and a useful resource, a rallying standard that can bring even the mites out in force.

Tekuthal is the Dominus of Inquiry and can be found in the Surgical Bay, the Fifth Sphere of Phyrexia. Having emerged from the oceans of quicksilver with countless eyes and no mouth, Tekuthal poses an endless series of silent and inscrutable questions of the Progress Engine. He communicates with and mimics those around him by shaping the quicksilver into facsimiles, and should they displease him (which they frequently do) he will accentuate the imitation with exaggerated features. Once left alone, these caricatures frequently disintegrate along fault lines that are invariably found to be present in the beings they were mocking.

The Gitaxians derisively refer to Tekuthal as the Prince of Mockery, ridiculing him for his behaviour because his design is beyond reproach. Observation suggests that Tekuthal’s presence invites scrutiny among the ‘scientists’ who are already obsessed with eliminating imperfections, as the idea that there is something to mock suggests that there is something to fix. Jin-Gitaxias has meanwhile drawn inspiration from Tekuthal’s many eyes to create his new surveillance system, and regards the Dominus as a rival who would be much more interesting as a partner.

Drivnod is the Dominus of Carnage and haunts the Dross Pits, the Sixth Sphere of Phyrexia. Born with no flesh of his own and a single eye of baleful fire, Drivnod ravages and flays any servant of the Steel Thanes that wanders too far from the pack. The towering monolith of destruction and slaughter garbs himself in great tapestries woven from his victims, and seems to delight in every scream he creates. Strangely enough, Drivnod appears to be repulsed by worship, shirking away from the adulation he receives in the more populated areas of the Pits.

As in all other things, the Steel Thanes are divided on how to deal with Drivnod. While some are content to leave him to his own devices, others like Azax-Azog and Geth see an opportunity in the Dominus, a potent weapon that could stamp out all opposition to their reign. The rank and file of the Dross Pits are far more united in their perspective, worshipping Drivnod as an idealized manifestation of the proverb that strength is the only power worthy of praise. Some even whisper that he is the Second Coming of Yawgmoth, the true Father of Machines... though none dare say it where a Thane might hear them.

Solphim is the Dominus of Mayhem and dwells in the Autonomous Furnace, the Third Sphere of Phyrexia. Born in a molten body clad in a gown of spears, Solphim is a beast of rabid freedom that embodies the ideals of the Quiet Furnace so completely that she rejects all responsibility for her actions. As though making a parody of the Furnace’s enemies, Solphim inscribes the deep canyons of her territory with draconian and contradictory laws and seems to decide which are worth enforcing on nothing but a whim. The only consistency in her behaviour is a swift and merciless vengeance against any who trespass against the Great Work, most commonly the sycophants of Atraxa.

Declared the Great Mother of Chaos by adherents of the Quiet Furnace, Solphim is openly venerated as a goddess. Her own apparent disregard for this adulation hardly matters, as Dominus worship exists most principally as a rejection of the Argent Etchings and the growing idea of the Flesh Singularity. Urabrask alone regards Solphim as an equal, a deft hand at defence and hopefully an ally in the war to come.

Zopandrel is the Dominus of Hunger and inhabits the Hunter Maze, the Fourth Sphere of Phyrexia. Born with piercing claws at her sides and spitting infectious spores from her face, Zopandrel is an anomaly among the Vicious Swarm in that she hunts with a pack. Unlike the sea of aspiring apex predators that infest the Maze, Zopandrel radiates power outward into her fellow beasts and girds them for battle as not even the magic of Glissa Sunslayer can do. As if to promote this warped idea of community, Zopandrel’s spores impart degenerative phyresis at a staggering rate that can reduce even the most fortified soldier to a ravenous beast in hours.

The denizens of the Vicious Swarm call Zopandrel the Maw of Progress, a slant against Jin-Gitaxias’ failed efforts to present a compleated Ezuri as his answer to Glissa Sunslayer. To these consummate predators, the Dominus’ ability to avoid falling into either their role or that of prey is an intriguing gesture at an infinitely more complex ecosystem. Vorinclex sees in Zopandrel a worthy general that can join him on the front lines, with a strength nearly equal to his own.

[littjara-mirrorlake]

NPC Stat Block: Glissa Sunslayer (D&D 5e)

The elven warrior Glissa Sunseeker was once an exemplar of her people, named by Mirrodin's creator as a guardian of the plane. She defeated Memnarch but returned to a people that scorned her, believing she had betrayed them and caused the vanishing of their elders. Short of options, Glissa retreated into Mirrodin's core and was compleated by the praetor Vorinclex, who would become her closest companion. In the years before Phyrexia's emergence, Glissa founded the Vicious Swarm and covertly established a foothold in the Tangle. She is praetor of the Swarm in everything but name, and brutally drives forward its ideal of survival of the fittest.

Glissa's Traits

Ideal: "To forget thought and obey one's instincts is the only true way to live."

Bond: "Together with Vorinclex, I will bring about a new Phyrexia where strength is all that matters."

Flaw: "I scorn the nurturing of the weak. Anything less than savage predation is soft-hearted coddling."

One of Glissa's spells, corrosive gale, is new in Plane Shift: Mirrodin/New Phyrexia.

This is the first of the NPC stat blocks in my homebrew D&D 5e supplement, Plane Shift: Mirrodin/New Phyrexia, that I'm willing to call finished--though as with everything PS:MNP that I post, no wording is final and it is all subject to adjustment.

[markrosewater]

"The design for Scars of Mirrodin was my most stressful point in my career." Can you elaborate?

The short version. Scars of Mirrodin was originally New Phyrexia. We would visit New Phyrexia for the block and only at the very end would we learn it was Mirrodin.

I had real trouble making the original New Phyrexia. Bill was so unhappy with the progress that he threatened to take me off the design. I had a month to fix it.

I eventually had the realization that we needed to end on New Phyrexia. The block wanted to tell the story of Mirrodin falling to the Phyrexians.

Bill came up with the idea that we wouldn’t announce who won the war in the middle set until the third set came out. We advertised it as Mirrodin Pure or New Phyrexia.

[zwoelffarben]

Ya know, I've been thinking about it, and I think the main problems I have wit the phyrexian invasion plan is that Phyrexia straight up ignored it's biggest strength in favor of a hyper-miltaristic show of force.

Like, the thing that caused the fall of Mirrodin was given the Oil an uninterrupted decade to worm its way through the local ecosystem and power structures until it reached a critical mass and was able to overwhelm the singular plane's ability to resist.

Engaging in open warfare on infinite fronts flies in the face of the far superior strategy of just, send several hundred oil probes to then nearest dozen or so planes in the multiverse and letting the oil cook. Then once the oil has got a plane well and truly phyrxiafucked, repeat.

How much neater would that have been as a saga? Watching as planes at various stages of phyrexianization fall, the oils changing slightly to adapt to the planes. I cringe at the mechanics a phyrexian kaladesh would present to the game, but I'd love to see what Kaladesh's aether, energy that is not mana, would do to the oil story-wise. Similarly, seeing the way color combinations of the guilds of ravnica or shards of alara react to and shape the oil in unique ways. Hell, take us to a plane we've never seen that's already fallen, and we have to piece together what the plan was like pre-phyrexia through the fromsoftian flavortext and environmental storytelling.

All of that, told over several years and dozens of sets, the heros eeking out minor wins against a slew of losses until they find a solution, a vaccine for compleation. Have a block where the vaccine is tested out, and the phyrexians experience their first loss, because they can't subterfuge properly against an opposition they cannot corrupt from within. Then they lose again and again, and as their planar terratory starts to shrink to these mounting victories, it puts Norn in the position where, we'll never be as powerful as we are now: it's time for a hail mary. And that's when the events of All Will Be One happen.

As is, the story we got, being the war of infinite fronts was an unforced error, which is in line with historic and contemporary fascist states, see WW2 era Germany and Japan as well as modern day Israel; but is, from a storyteller's perspective, a really unsatisfying as part of a narrative. Like, girl wasn't even backed into a corner when she made an objectively bad decision: She was just that stupid.

But wotc-hasbro doesn't have the paitence to do subtle years long storytelling anymore. It's all tentpole blockbusters and UB now. Sigh.