#red phyrexians

[definitelynotarabbit]

GUYS I MADE MORE

[edspear]

Trinkets of the Furnace

Another grouping of trinkets from the Witchlight campaign.

Furnace Dollbomb, has been hanging around for a while, just waiting to use her on something worthwhile.

Decima has finally regained her moral compass, and rather than it being the solution to her uncertainty, she now knows how bad of a phyrexian she's being when she doesn't compleat people and cull the weak. She also knows she doesn't feel too bad about being bad at being a phyrexian.... That feels worse.

The compass was found within the Obsidian Steed, a phyrexianized nightmare warhorse that was no help in a fight with a lady named Fistiana, at least until Decima got really mad at it/Urabrask/Argyle and took that anger out on the aforementioned Fistiana.

The Twicewrit Missive has been something Decima has had in her back pocket for a while... She's worried about sending it. And what sort of answer it will bring, with "No response" being her worst case scenario.

[babiguroart]

Phyrexian Creature

My interpretation of a Phyrexian Creature from MTG.

[ask-the-praetors]

Question to the white aligned phyrexians:

How do you keep your red guts from staining the white porcelain?

They do not stain. We are clean, orderly, precise. And it is both inaccurate and disrespectful to refer to the optimized muscle tissue of myself and my centurions as mere guts, like entrails pulled from a fleshling. They are no more of the flesh than the rest of us. -E

[eldritchexploited]

Thinking about how even the least sapient of the Red Phyrexians will hesitate for a moment before moving to violence because the small spark of empathy inside them literally holds them back. Quotes from The Planeswalker’s Guide to New Phyrexia (2011)

The mana from the red sun gave rise to Phyrexians who had just a glimmer of concern for other lifeforms—not full-blown compassion, but enough empathy to cause hesitation, a phenomenon more or less alien to Phyrexia. Beings of varying levels of sentience reacted to this impulse differently. Among nonsentient creatures, this primitive empathy simply caused moments of confusion before action

"The fiend had me in its grasp, and I could feel the heat of the furnaces. I was resigned to meet my death, but then something strange happened. It paused for a moment and then unclasped its pincers, releasing me. I slumped to the ground, exhausted, too wounded to run. It regarded me for a time, and although it had no features familiar to our world, I felt as if it was confused. Then it turned and left me there. I'll never understand why."

Fucking beautiful how the most impulsive color creates a reaction of Hesitation of all things when presented with a possibility for compassion. 

[ashensamurai]

I tried out pioneer last night and I bought a pre-con called Gruul Stompy I think? Its red and green and has elves and a lovestruck beast and its so fucking funny to me. Like yeah I'm sure fucking stompying

ah very nice! first off nice with the lovestruck beast it's a good card, got one myself and first printed in 2019's throne of eldraine. Gruul is the name for the red and green color combination, as we take all two-color combination names from the Guilds of Ravnica (there have been many, many sets there but I won't go into that), and Stompy is an archetype with big, aggressive creatures normally with trample, low mana costs, haste, and yeah elves for ramping normally. the deck list for that precon is pretty good actually, you've got some good cards for pioneer and any other formats you choose (questing beast is just good). hope you did well in your pioneer matches!

[totallyjazzed]

I’ve been doing some Fayinn writing (not for a project or anything, just for my own enjoyment) and I figured I’d share a couple things as like, insights into her personality and philosophies pre-, post-, and post-post-compleation.

[dravidious]

Based on my "competitive multiplayer should have aftercare" post, I had the idea to make a bad commander deck for a silly casual game, so I made a Skrelv, Defector Mite deck, and I decided to try it out. Now, Brawl matchmaking has a thing where it tries to match together commanders that have similar power levels, and I got matched against an Amalia deck, which... I'm not sure whether that's actually a bad commander, or if the matchmaking just tried its best, or if Skrelv is actually a good commander, but that doesn't seem like a fair matchup. I won anyway. I'm now making another brawl deck because apparently Skrelv is too good

[zoanzon]

Azor and Ugin; and Ugin and Sorin and Nahiri; and Ugin and Sarkhan; and Ugin and Chandra and Jace.

A mentor and the 'chosen ones of the[ir] generation[s]', and the [brother/great villain] being [warred/played chess] with.

I really wish we got a bit more exploration into those who've "been allies" with Ugin getting to interact with awareness of this shared history. By which I mean...

Azor was trapped, and Ugin didn't come. Nahiri was trapped, and Ugin didn't come. And I bet there'd be some fascinating spats to witness if we ever actually saw any larger configurations of people who've had context with Ugin all simultaneously in the same space with him.

[beatsandskies]

Theme Deck Review Compendium: Urza’s Legacy “Phyrexian Assault”

A mate definitely had this back in the day, though whether I’d have played with it (before I brought my own cards) or against it in stock form I couldn’t say. I certainly did play with many of these cards myself though: red and black were my favourite colours and Urza’s Legacy was the booster pack I’d usually crack. Phyrexian Assault An aggressive black red deck which combines cheap creatures…

[markrosewater]

Maro’s Foundations Teaser

Before previews for Foundations officially begin, I thought it would be fun to do another of my Duelist-style teasers where I give tiny hints of things to come. Note that I’m only giving you partial information.  

 First up, here are some things you can expect:  

• The five iconic creatures each show up on multiple cards

• Two monocolor reprints, each of a different color, that together win you the game.

• Some creature tokens in this set: 1/1 white Rabbit, 2/1 blue Ninja, 3/3 Green Raccoon, 4/4 red Dragon, and a copy that’s a Nightmare

• A character from one of our most popular online Magic stories returns

• An 8/12 creature with ward 4

• A creature with seven evergreen keywords

• A Magic Invitational winner’s card gets reprinted (and no, not the most powerful one)

• Counters in the set: +1/+1, bait, fellowship, incubation, loyalty, revival, soul, stash, and stun

• A card that’s in the top 10 cards I sign gets reprinted

• More deciduous mechanics get used in this set than any previous (non-Time Spiral block) premier set

 Next, here are some rules text that will be showing up on cards:  

• “This spell costs {1} less to cast for each Cat you control.”

• “You can’t lose the game and your opponents can’t win the game.”

• “target instant or sorcery card in your graveyard gains flashback until end of turn.”

• “Creatures you control get +10/+10”

• “A deck can have any number of cards named”

• “Then exile all other Nightmare tokens you control.”

• “Whenever you draw your second card each turn, create a token that’s a copy of this creature.”

• “Double the number of each kind of counter”

• “You may pay {B} rather than pay this spell’s mana cost if there are thirteen or more creatures on the battlefield.”

• “Draw a card for each different mana value among nonland permanents you control.”

 Here are some creature type lines from the set: 

• Creature – Rabbit Noble

• Creature – Demon Warlock

• Creature – Shark Pirate

• Creature – Eldrazi

• Creature – Hyena Rogue

• Creature – Spider Spirit

• Creature – Elemental Hydra

• Creature – Bear Demon

• Artifact Creature – Phyrexian Construct

• Legendary Creature – Zombie Warlock

 Finally, here are some names in the set: 

• Boltwave

• Electroduplicate

• Fishing Pole

• Goblin Negotiation

• Hare Apparent

• Homunculus Horde

• Midnight Snack

• Perforating Artist

• Refute

• Stab

 The Foundations debut will be live at MagicCon Vegas on October 25th at 2:30 PM Pacific, right after our “The Foundations of Magic’s Next Era” panel, where you'll get a sneak peek at the 2025 sets. You can follow along on social media or watch the full VOD of the debut panel on our official YouTube channel after it airs.

[littjara-mirrorlake]

Principles of Asexual Heredity in the Phyrexian Organism

We know these things for sure about Phyrexian reproductive biology:

Phyrexians reproduce asexually; it is well known that one drop of oil, from one individual, is enough to birth a population of offspring (such as all of New Phyrexia) or convert a non-Phyrexian organism.

Phyrexians natively born of the oil ("core-born") inherit mnemonic and phenotypic (appearance) information from the oil that created them. For example, core-born Phyrexians of the Orthodoxy naturally develop porcelain metal; it is an inherited, lineage-specific trait. The oil also carries ancestral knowledge such as the Phyrexian language and echoes of history.

The five suns of Mirrodin somehow caused the originally mono-black lineage of Phyrexian oil to splinter into five colored lineages. They may have all arisen from one drop of oil, but they are phenotypically diverse.

(Little canon data is given about the genealogies of core-born newts, but it would most logically follow that Phyrexians descend from single-parent lines, a family tree with continually forking branches and no unions of mating as with sexually reproducing organisms.)

The mechanism I propose for the diversification of Phyrexians on Mirrodin is mana-induced mutagenesis. As a deeply magical material, it follows that Phyrexian oil is prone to being influenced by concentrated sources of mana, such as the suns of Mirrodin (which were trapped in the core, in close proximity to the progenitor oil, during the birth of New Phyrexia). Exposure to mana can thus cause de novo mutation in glistening oil that manifests as novel phenotypic traits in resulting Phyrexians. These mutations are not random, guiding phenotypes to align with the color causing the mutation.

Then there is the issue of inheritance via phyresis, or compleating another organism which was not originally Phyrexian by introducing Phyrexian genetic material into its body. To keep it simple I will begin with mono-color infections: an organism is infected with oil from a Phyrexian whose lineage traits (i.e. white-aligned Orthodoxy lineage, porcelain) may not match their own color identity.

Hypothesis: Phenotype (what color/type of Phyrexian an infected individual becomes) is determined solely by the color of infection, not the subject's own colors. Crucially this isn't the same as color identity; i.e. one can be a porcelain Phyrexian and still have a Boros identity by gaining red-aligned values or retaining them from a pre-compleation life, even though their phenotype is white only. (Much like how elves are associated with green mana, but Simic-identity elves exist.) This phenotype color, in turn, is also what would be passed down to any newts the turned individual creates, or subjects they themselves infect.

MOM corroborates this hypothesis. A mono-black-aligned human, upon exposure to Progress Engine oil, becomes a Phyrexian with a pure blue-aligned phenotype. The changes to their color identity are additive--they retain black alignment--but their phenotype is blue only. All the transforming creatures of MOM follow this pattern.

However, Planeswalkers in ONE did not. For example, Jace was infected by Vraska, who had both black color identity and a black/Thanes-aligned phenotype, but spontaneously developed eyestalks and other traits characteristic of blue Phyrexians from the Progress Engine.

New hypothesis: Individuals with a strong enough internal concentration of mana, i.e. Planeswalkers, cause oil to mutate in vivo to align with their own color, much like how the suns mutated oil in Mirrodin's core. This further shows that mana-induced mutagenesis is color-specific. This should however create a new blue lineage, independent of the Progress Engine, also spawned of blue mana but not necessarily identical. I do not have an explanation for Jace's resemblance to the Progress Engine besides convergent "evolution."

Proposed further study (not ethics-approved): Infect a colorless Planeswalker, i.e. Ugin, with colored oil to test whether a null color identity still has mutagenic effects.

To complicate this, though, we also have examples of Phyrexians who are chimeras of multiple colors, combining traits of different lineages. Vishgraz was assembled with material (genetic and otherwise) from a white, a green, and a black Phyrexian. It makes sense that Phyrexians put together in this patchwork way could have a combination phenotype. Atraxa was not assembled from scratch, but infected with four separate colors at once. Maybe there are just four types of oil circulating in her body?

I am, of course, interested in inheritance. If these Phyrexians show combined phenotypes, what colored trait(s) do they actually pass down? Do they have individual "cells" that are still only white, only green, only black, etc., or did the colors somehow combine on the most basic hereditary unit level? Thankfully, we actually do have an example of a "chimera" Phyrexian asexually producing core-born offspring: Ixhel.

Ixhel shares multiple colors with Atraxa, not only in her color identity but also apparent phenotype (she has both Orthodoxy porcelain and Swarm copper). Two possibilities here: 1) She truly inherited both genetically; Atraxa passes down multiple colors when she reproduces. 2) Her "core" physiology is still rooted in one color, i.e. white porcelain, and the green parts were added after the fact. I don't have an answer for this, but it's intriguing to consider.

Proposed further study: Attempt to isolate the smallest "unit" of Phyrexian heredity (one single nanobot of the oil) and test if it can only store information about one color, or multiple. See if a germ is formed from only one of these units, as with eukaryotic zygotes, or from multiple.

My theories of Phyrexian reproductive biology remain highly speculative, but every new piece of data adds fuel to this fire, and I have plenty to elaborate on in later posts. If only the interplanar ethics committee would stop delaying my research.

[planeswalker-umbral]

Something that rustles my jimmies is that in the Novel Planeswalker, we get a history of rhe early life of Xantcha, the Phyrexian Sleeper Agent turned traitor and companion to a very insane Urza.

And a scene early in her life is meeting another Sleeper Agent Identical to her. Now all the Sleeper Agents were based of a set amount of people and didnt really age (hence how mortals would eventually catch on). In order to tell each other apart, Xantcha changes her hair while the other Agent dyes hers Red. This act of rebellion sees both of them punished, but eventually the gate to Dominaria in Koilos reopens and a bunch of Sleeper Agents are sent out, including the red headed one. Years later as Xantcha is about to be sent out, the gate closes and the Dominarian Sleeper Agent program is abandoned. Gix, head of this plan and Praetor ruling over Xantcha is punished.

But in The Brother's War there is a red haired girl, with no morals that comes out of nowhere and is skilled in artifice. A girl who does not age no matter how long the war goes on.

Ashnod. Who was not printed as a Phyrexian on either card. Is this a retcon, red herring, coincidence or oversight?

[gay-little-izzet]

Me, lying in bed, trying to go to sleep:

My brain: ... compleated Saheeli. Compleated Saheeli! Oh my god, compleated Saheeli!!!

Here’s my vision:

I think she’s better suited to the creative energy of the forge, but her metal would be a lot brighter and more burnished than your typical red phyrexian. Also, some filagree for flavor!

For some reason I’m never quite satisfied with my izzet designs, I might have to have another go at her and Ral.

[raakdos-battlemap]

Phyrexia encounter #004 Path to the Norn's Palace

The Fair Basilica, a white-aligned sphere built in the image of Elesh Norn, decorated with statues and monuments to her. It contains Norn's throne room, though she now resides in the plane's second layer and designates the unification of the plane to Atraxa in her stead. Though no light from the plane's suns can reach this layer, its structures generate their light; the layer's walls, composed of ossified Phyrexian corpses of those Norn deemed perfect, glow white, while crimson capillaries etched into its marble-esque floor glow blood-red.

More variations of this map: