#mirrex

[littjara-mirrorlake]

Daily Life in the Phyrexian Spheres (Facade to Furnace)

Because we've heard about praetor politics and planeswalker battles, but tragically little about life for the average Phyrexian. What does that look like? Fantasy worldbuilding thrives on the mundane, and this series hopes to expand on that starting from the outermost three layers.

The Facade is largely uninhabited by humanoid Phyrexians, though creatures like Zenith Chroniclers benefit from consistent exposure to the suns and thrive plentifully. Phyrexian civilians or even praetors' agents may use it as a neutral ground for traveling, though Mirrans tend to avoid it for the unpredictable landscape and hidden pitfalls with deep oil pools. Occasionally, religiously inclined Phyrexians will embark on pilgrimages to monuments of spiritual significance before they crumble again, and researchers may chart the movements of the suns.

Mirrex, too, is sparsely populated save for wanderers, outcasts, and the occasional Mirran Resistance holdout. Phyrexians seeking to escape their roles without open rebellion often flee here. Some secondary bases of the Phyrexian rebellion are located here for their proximity to the Furnace. Occasionally praetors will send their enforcers here to sniff out rebel strongholds, but efficacy is generally low and it's rarely considered worth it. Mirrex, after all, is viewed by most Phyrexian authorities as an inconsequential wasteland, all but drained dry of its resources. The few who hide in Mirrex are more than happy to encourage that assumption.

The Autonomous Furnace is the outermost population center and the main home of the Phyrexian rebellion. Misfit Phyrexians from all spheres are drawn here as a result. Mirran refugees also cluster here, taking advantage of red Phyrexians' avoidance of or even sympathy to their cause. The rampant policing and surveillance of the other spheres only rarely reaches here, and when it does, it is swiftly thwarted.

The culture and attitude of the Furnace varies wildly by sector, as furnace bosses control large areas and go largely unchecked by Urabrask or other superiors. Working conditions range from surprisingly decent with a good amount of self-directed time to back-breakingly brutal with constant oversight. Commoners live in rickety habitations at or near their work areas.

Many sectors are openly rebellious, and a few remain vehemently loyalist, but the vast majority of Phyrexians here aim only to do their own work and stay out of any and all drama. (The work done, and who receives its final products, depends on the local boss's allegiances.) "None of my business" is the presiding mantra here, and residents are reluctant to either snitch on passing Mirrans or aid them too directly. Some, though, are driven by forbidden curiosity about humanoid ways of life and may furtively peek at Mirrans while working.

Generally, a red Phyrexian civilian's circle of concern is small; they care primarily about the quality of their own work, their creative pursuits, and their immediate social relations. Politics is often shunned, save for that which immediately threatens their livelihoods and homes--which increasingly translates to anti-praetor, anti-authoritarian, or even anti-Phyrexia stances (though the latter is rarely voiced even among dissidents).

As the Furnace steps further and further out of line with Phyrexian dogma, underground, creative subcultures have begun to form amongst artisans and rebels. Primarily working with metal and sculpture, such artists create statements about Phyrexian life, political commentaries, and calls to revolution. The population as a whole often appears too busy or apathetic to pay these artisans much regard, but their influence runs deeper than it seems at first glance, with increasing numbers of people choosing to redefine what being Phyrexian means to them. Self-modification serves as a tantalizing promise of a future Phyrexia without enforced hierarchies or roles. Urabrask actively encourages and supplies the artists of the Furnace, particularly appreciating displays of destruction that spawn new beginnings.

[ask-the-praetors]

What is stopping Elesh Norn and the others from defeating Urabrask? Are they focusing more on the invasion, does the Quiet Furnace have natural defenses, or is it something else?

Elesh Norn's front is not nearly as united as she claims. Even the other praetors under her thrall bicker constantly amongst themselves. They are tyrants still, but they have some semblance of independence, enough to divert their attentions from us. Even if she had the united force to stop us, Norn's ego prevents her from viewing the Furnace or Mirrex as anything but blasted wastelands beneath her attention, or our people as any more than short-sighted brutes. With any hope, this will grow to be the last mistake she ever makes.

Every passage into the Furnace, particularly the lacunae and service elevators which access the other layers, is amply guarded by fire, guardian beasts, trained sentries, automatons, or most commonly a mix of all four. Should an invader get past, there is no worker of the Furnace unwilling to take up arms to protect our home.

It helps that the fire of our home presents a hazard to every other Phyrexian lineage, with its ability to sterilize their oil. Not even Norn is foolish enough to send her elites here--should they die, their minds and bodies will be irrecoverable to her, and no Phyrexian can bear the thought of such waste. The Furnace is also magically warded. Besides the Seedcore, which is heavily screened by Norn's personal guard and a contingent of enslaved mages, mine is the only sphere of New Phyrexia guarded against incoming divination.

If the Invasion must happen at all, one can only hope it depletes the Orthodoxy's numbers beyond any realistic hope of recovery.

-U

[raakdos-battlemap]

Mirrodin #002 The Contested War Zone 32x56

During the Phyrexian takeover the Glimmervoid became a Contested War Zone. After the compleation of the plane, the previous surface of Mirrodin became the wasteland known as the Mirrex, coming to mostly consist of the Glimmervoid. However, Mirran survivors can harvest the plates to make hexgold, a substance that staves off phyresis.

More variations of this map:

[niuttuc]

Grix is this your deck?

One of the two decks I've been experimenting with in Standard. While the deck can win on its own (eventually), the main way this deck wins the game is by taking our opponent's cards and throwing them back at them.

Between Decadent Dragon's Adventure and Syphon Insight to steal any cards, Virtue of Persistence and Invasion of Amonkhet to steal creatures from their graveyard, See Double to copy whatever they've got going on, Blue Sun's Twilight to steal and double creatures on board, and Halo Forager stealing their spells from the graveyard, we'll be playing our opponent's deck as much as ours, maybe more!

We do have some control elements on there. We wouldn't want our opponent to be able to play with all their good cards as much as we do, that just wouldn't do. So a suite of removal and counterspells is à-propos.

Which leaves the last slot open, just a playset of Faerie Mastermind. They play well when our opponent do things and steal their extra card draw! More seriously, the deck really like its two-drops to be instant speed, because it allows to pass on turn 2 holding up Make Disappear and Syphon Insight, which are great at covering each other's weak points early in the game. Adding more options there means you'll have that kind of situation more often, with Go for the Throat and Faerie Mastermind adding to that dynamic. Faerie mastermind is by far the best flashy two-drop in standard, so we're using that. Though I'm intrigued at the possibility of Zephyr Sentinel bouncing our Dragon and Forager.

Match-up wise, we're pretty good against control and midrange decks. With a halfway decent draw, we can just do what they do, but better. If the opponent has no way to win through us and we have no way to get through our or their wincons to them, because they're a control deck with plenty of ways to stop us, we win. They're drawing from their deck, and so are we. They will always mill out first. The End is very good at picking apart the very few wincons of those decks, and then even if they stick it out, they've basically already lost.

The one wincon that you need to be careful about in those decks is Mirrex, but you can generally navigate around it. The deck could probably use some demolition fields, but I like having early mana that is actually colored.

For aggro, it really depends on the draws. If it's all out burn, we might struggle a bit, but we have game and a sideboard for that reason.

It takes a few reps to get a feel for the deck, when to hold mana and when to cast our stolen sorcery-speed spells, when to grab a land or a spell when offered, and how to pick from a Decadent Dragon or a flashback Syphon Insight when you have access to both, but it's not overly complicated. Just keep in mind that Dragon doesn't fix the mana cost of spells it steals, so you'll need a couple of their lands to fix that for you (or the dragon's treasure, but it's relatively rare to get those in practice).

Have fun doing crimes!

[lord-of-innistrad]

Shadows of the Multiverse

Chapter Four

Seth slammed his axe down on the table.

"Edgrigos, this is bigger than us. The Phyrexians are a real, credible threat."

"They won't be able to invade anything. Tezzeret's Planar Bridge can't even bring flesh through. It would take months to repair even a single Phyrexian."

"That doesn't matter! They've devestated your home Edgrigos. The Mana Rig had to be destroyed. The Weatherlight itself was compleated. Where are your stories going to leave you when the oil comes knocking?"

"I will not help you."

Savah barely restrained themself from attacking the thundermane. "You're a damned fool."

"Get out of my home."

Seth and Savah departed. They walked along a trail through the forest, dejected, and cursing every planeswalker that refused to help them.

Savah looked at Seth. "You know... if we could bring back evidence..."

"How?"

"Simple. Invade them back. I say we go into New Phyrexia itself."

***

"Why did I let you talk me into this Savah?"

The walkers were hiding behind a rock watching several Alabaster Host phyrexians running drills. Beyond them were the branches of Realmbreaker, currently inactive.

"Just... use that Ravnican.... thing you've got."

"Camera, Savah."

"Whatever. Just use it!"

Seth leaned up and took several pictures, first of the Phyrexians, then the Invasion Tree.

A metallic voice came from behind them. "Mirrans! Spys!"

Savah started cursing as both walkers spun around. A massive phyrexian angel stood behind them. On the other side of the rock, the training Phyrexians began running towards their location.

Seth unsheathed his sword and cut the angel's arm clean off. Glistening oil spewed from the wound and the angel screeched.

Diving between her legs, and dragging the Myr planeswalker behind him, Seth ran through the landscape of the Mirrex. Light from the black sun shone through the gaps in the higher spheres. The angel pursued, slowly with her arm missing, and a javelin thudded into the ground next to them.

Klaxons began going off and in front of them mites began swarming.

Savah and Seth were preparing to planeswalk.

And then in front of them appeared another planeswalker. She had a pair of curled horns almost forming a circle, and white porcelain plates surrounding red flesh. A pair of wings swept from her back. Her "hair" was made of more flesh, with blue robotic eyes capping the ends. A plate formed almost a mask, with a glowing blue phyrexian symbol in the center

The plates of her body formed... a long coat-like shape... a warped symbol of Avacyn at her waist... and fused to one hand was a silvery blade while the other hand bore long dark claws.

"T-Tessa?"

"Join us Seth!" Her voice was duplicated with a deeper metallic tone. "In Phyrexia I've found a family! One that won't judge us for our standards of birth."

"Tessa. You've become a monster!"

"I thought I would too. But they've shown me the error of my ways. Come with me, old friend."

"No!"

Tessa stood up straighter. "Then perish."

A swarm of ghosts swirled around her, dripping with oil. They blasted towards Seth.

Crying, he slipped into the Blind Eternities.

[tumblhurgoyf]

Sultai Poison Spells

New list. Still a little janky but definitely more consistent and robust.

4x Whisper of the Dross 3x Thirsting Roots 3x Bring the Ending 4x Prologue to Phyresis 3x Drown in Ichor 3x Mesmerizing Dose 2x Hero’s Downfall 3x Infectious Inquiry 3x Malicious Malfunction 3x Vraska’s Fall 4x Viral Spawning 2x Vraska, Betrayal’s Sting 2x Island 3x Swamp 2x Forest 4x Dismal Backwater 2x Shipwreck Marsh 2x Deathcap Glade 2x Jungle Hollow 1x Dreamroot Cascade 3x Thornwood Falls 2x Mirrex

[vorthosjay]

Hey Jay! How did New Phyrexia create the Nine Spheres? I'm curious whether the original Mirrodin had spherical layers, and how Phyrexia managed to transplant what seem to be whole continents to the center of the plane, like the Dross Pits and the Tangle and such. Given that the Mirrex is supposed to be the 'old surface', how much of the Tangle, the Mephidross, etc is still there? Or did it all move?

They did it very carefully

Mirrodin was hollow, with the Furnace Layer hollowed out of the crust between the core and the surface. The Phyrexians built on the scaffolding crated by the mycosynth in the core - Look at "Mirrodin's Core" versus "New Phyrexia's Core".

We actually saw some of it being done in a side story during SOM block. One of the steel thanes was creating a fourth layer of glistening oil (what becomes the Dross Pits).

As for moving stuff, Mirrodin was just metal. they cut it down, moved it in, and welded it back together. Or just used it as raw material for the new stuff they built.

[socialpoison]

Ellidus as of ONE, with the incredible card design by @niuttuc .

The Order of Heliud hired @niuttuc 's Alamir to disable the Listening Post, and in the confines of the tunnels under Mirrex, Ellidus could only watch through dozens of eyes as the main tool of their duty as Phyrexia's new sentry was disabled.

Jin-Gitaxias and Norn were most displeased. Ellidus was stripped of their status, their resources, everything. In their need to make up for the loss of the Listening Post, they volunteered their knowledge studying the Immortal Sun to augment Phyrexia's latest project - A barrier around New Phyrexia, meant to impede planeswalking.

They bound themself to a mycosynth pillar that Realmbreaker was coiled around, impaled themself on Realmbreaker's tendrils. They coursed Realmbreaker through their spark, out through the Mycosynth and around the plane, subjecting themself to constant agony, in exchange for the proof of their worth, of their right to exist in their own eyes. They would still watch over New Phyrexia, and bring doom to those who would try to harm their homewold.

[mirrex-store]

Both men and women can use this Mirrex™ Vanity selfie mirror with lights for morning shaving, brushing your teeth, meticulous cleaning, makeup and more.

[gadgetflow]

Mirrex Smart Portable Personal Mirror lets you master on-the-go selfies - https://gdfl.us/mirrex

[veloelo]

Standard is really good right now! Control is totally viable right now (and with mirrex in the format most control decks already have poison as a win con).

There is also a Selesnya infect deck which I've played against a couple of times which seems pretty good if you're looking for another thing to try.

Been thinking of trying MtGA. How would Esper control infect be in Standard?

[herrprofessor]

Mirrex — Visualising dreams in mixed reality http://bit.ly/2O8XkQz #hotproduct

Mirrex — Visualising dreams in mixed reality https://t.co/mfpw3ukh2X #hotproduct

— herrprofessor (@ilprofessoredi) January 29, 2020

from Twitter https://twitter.com/ilprofessoredi January 29, 2020 at 11:10AM via IFTTT

[lord-of-innistrad]

Shadows of the Multiverse

Chapter Twelve

Why did she even agree to this? Tessa flew over the terrain of New Phyrexia, headed for the Quiet Furnace. How did Eratelse talk her into betraying everything she knew?

His final words to her rang in her head. "That's the Tessa I've studied!" What the in the Nine Spheres did that mean?

She landed at one of the entrances from the Mirrex to the Quiet Furnace. Sweltering heat bubbled up from the gaping hole, reminding her so much of the openings into places where demons dwell from her original home of Innistrad.

Why did she still think of Innistrad as a former home? It had nothing for her besides the incompleat. Yet she still felt an attachment to the plane.

She breathed in the hot, sediment filled air seeping out from the Furnace and dove in. Her wings would not serve her here, due to the hot winds sweeping across the sphere.

Clambering down rocks, she cursed the fact that her sword was part of her hand. She needed more than one hand to find purchase on these surfaces and she could hardly stick her blade into the rock to aid her.

After much twisting, cursing, and more than one triggered rock slide she reached the bottom, only to be confronted with a very long spear held by... was that a Mirran?

He spoke in the Mirran common tongue, luckily the same as basic Innistradi, although with a far different accent.

"Planeswalker. You are not welcome in the Furnace." His voice lacked the metallic tone of a Phyrexian, further confirming his status as one of the few incompleat denizens of the plane.

Tessa had heard of these people, the original Mirrans. Elesh Norn taught that they were all either compleat or wiped out.

"Leave or die."

"Hold on! I was sent by Eratelse to see Urabrask." Tessa snapped back, realizing what this incompleat man was saying.

"He is not here at present. But I know that name. I will bring you to his new bride."

Bride? Tessa was confused. As far as she knew, Urabrask did not want a bride.

The Mirran raised his spear and led Tessa across the wasteland of the Furnace Layer. Machines lay twisted and destroyed by Elesh Norn's wrath.

The unlikely pair went at a quick pace along the layer. Tessa could feel her old human impatience rising within her and used her taught techniques to squash it.

They reached the foothills of a tall mountain and began going up a winding path. Very soon, signs of civilization appeared.

A small camp, Mirrans going about their day to day lives, some forging, some eating, some playing games. Oily tears began to run down Tessa's face, though she couldn't say why.

A throne, familiar in shape, sat in the middle of the camp. Tessa craned her neck upward to see...

"Ayara?"

"Tessa. I see you have also accepted a Phyrexian form."

"How did they get to you?" She marveled.

"The furnace host came and was destroying everything I held dear. And then up the steps came the largest creature I had yet seen."

"Urabrask?"

"Yes. And he offered me power beyond my wildest dreams. I told him what I told all my knights. If they could find the Cauldron of Eternity I would wed him. And it was the easiest thing for him to locate."

She sounded ridiculously happy.

"So I wed him, and the Phyrexians began to leave, but as they did so, that brat of a fae, Rankle, pushed me off a cliff. Luckily the fall wasn't deadly to my new form, and now I rule as Queen of the Furnace. But tell me of your compleation."

Tessa sighed. "I was... wandering the Multiverse. Alone. Scorned. Then I found New Phyrexia. I wanted to belong, but not here. I attempted to resist capture, but there are no ghosts that a non-Phyrexian can use. I was compleated, shown what Phyrexia could be. Shown lies."

"I am sorry."

"I would like to rip Elesh Norn apart myself."

"So would all of us. Luckily for you, Tessa, I'm feeling merciful, so I shall give you a chance to prove that you are what you say."

"What do I have to do?"

[tumblhurgoyf]

4C Toxic Control

4x Whisper of the Dross 4x Thirsting Roots 3x Bring the Ending 4x Prologue to Phyresis 4x Drown in Ichor 2x Mesmerizing Dose 3x Infectious Inquiry 4x Vraska’s Fall 2x Volt Charge 4x Viral Spawning 2x Goliath Hatchery

1x Island 1x Swamp 1x Mountain 2x Shipwreck Marsh 2x Underground River 2x Stormcarved Coast 3x Haunted Ridge 1x Sulfurous Springs 3x Deathcap Glade 2x Llanowar Wastes 1x Dreamroot Cascade 2x Yavimaya Coast 2x Mirrex

Having fun with this and my opponents definitely aren’t. Mana base isn’t ideal but that’s basically all I’ve got without spending rare wildcards on dual lands. Really should cut Volt Charge. And instead of Goliath Hatchery I’d probably be better off with more card draw or more Mirrex lands. Really debating cutting this down to common/uncommon lands so it’s a full pauper build as well.

[hottestproducts]

Visualising dreams in mixed reality