Magic: The Gathering has shared a first look at Phyrexia: All Will Be One, taking us back to a bleak and blighted plane this winter.
It’s been over ten years since the Phyrexians overtook and corrupted the plane of Mirrodin, but Magic: The Gathering is headed back there at last. Hot off the heels of Dominaria United and the flashback in The Brothers’ War, a coalition of protagonist planeswalkers is headed there to rescue Karn, the Silver Golem from the clutches of Elesh Norn and the Phyrexian Praetors, and the new set will be packed with thrilling cards and variants to convey the narrative’s high stakes.
As revealed today, Phyrexia: All Will Be One will feature 10 heroic Planeswalkers will be represented, as well as the horrors of the Phyrexian hordes and the horrific changes they’ve made to their new homeworld.
Who better to portray the twisted machinations of Magic: The Gathering‘s most powerful baddies than the master of body-horror himself, Junji Ito? Having recently provided artwork for a Secret Lair set, Ito’s work will be featured on borderless manga treatments of Phyrexian creatures (like Elesh Norn herself) and reimaginings of certain heroes.
Speaking of the Grand Cenobyte, the Phyrexia: All Will Be One iteration of this big bad was revealed—for five mana, she arrives as a 4/7 Mythic Rare creature with Vigilance, doubling triggered abilities of her controller’s cards while preventing the same effects from triggering for her opponents. Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines will have at least three versions: the standard printing, an “oil slick” variant with art by Pedro Potier, and the borderless manga treatment by Ito.
Norn’s other fellow praetors will be represented in Phyrexia: All Will Be One as well, in addition to “borderless concept” reprints. Jin-Gitaxias appears Blue Sun’s Twilight, apparently part of a new cycle of cards that alludes to the cycle of Sun’s Zenith cards from Mirrodin Besieged. The creature Magic‘s social team has been teasing was revealed to be Phyrexian Obliterator, a reprint that will surely cause waves through the competitive scene.
The iconic corrupted scenery of Phrexia will be represented in All Will Be One‘s various land styles. Standard full-art lands by Alayna Danner show some remaining elements of Mirrodin architecture, while Phyrexian-text variants portray the mana symbols alongside icons of their corresponding praetors. If that isn’t enough land variety, a fourth set of cards will feature the same “oil slick” treatment as Elesh Norn, illustrated by Danner, Dan Mumford, Evan Cagle, Indra Nugroho, and Daria Khlebnikova.
With the dark tone of the set, it might be easy to forget that the heroes are present too. One of those 10 heroic planeswalker cards will belong to Koth, last seen in the original Scars of Mirrodin block. He remained on Mirrodin/New Phyrexia to fight back against the oppressors, and thankfully has not yet been Compleated and turned to the dark side. He’ll be joined by a new version of legendary creature Jor Kadeen.
As for the other nine cards, we know most of the planeswalkers who are currently alive and able to fight are embarking to Phyrexia for the big showdown, and the following will receive new planeswalker cards: Jace, Kaito, Kaya, Lukka, Nahiri, Anissa, Tyvar, Vraska, and the Wandering Emperor. Elspeth can also be spotted reuniting with Koth in the art for a new card—which makes sense, given her layers of personal investment in this struggle.
The bigger question may be, who will be captured and turned to evil like Tamiyo and Ajani in previous sets? Wizards has made it clear that we won’t survive Phyrexia: All Will Be One without seeing another hero converted into a Phyrexian agent, but how many of those ten will fall, and is there any hope of restoration?
Prerelease events will begin February 3 on Magic Arena and in participating stores. Phyexia: All Will Be One will then officially launch on tabletops February 10 in all the usual booster pack varities. However, a few weeks later on March 3, a special “Compleat Edition” bundle will be available—per an Amazon preorder page, it will contain “a 12-card Compleat Edition booster with exclusive special treatments—2 special foil Mythic Rare cards and 10 special foil Land cards” in addition to “12 Phyrexia: All Will Be One Set Boosters, 1 Traditional Foil Rare promo card, 40 Traditional Foil land cards that celebrate the glory of Phyrexia, and 1 Compleat Edition-exclusive foil card storage box.”
Cross your fingers for the fate of the Multiverse and its protectors, and stay tuned to CGMagazine for more Magic: The Gathering coverage.
