Bummer. I really wanted some info on Ovika, Enigma Goliath (one of my favorite cards from the set art-wise) and they even had her (?) picture under "unaligned Phyrexians," but then ... nothing. I'm not getting my hopes up, but maybe we get a "Legends of ONE" article later? I remember there being articles like this for other sets.
They mentioned that the Domini "roam the spheres" - I wonder how Mondrak moves around. Does he float? Or does he roll? Also, things veer very close to the comical whenever Phyrexians are described doing rather mundane and human-like things, e.g. thinking of Urabrask as a "glorified factory manager" or "renovating" Mirran research facilities.
I didn't expect much but was still disappointed. There was no new information on the layers and only one or two sentences on the praetors.
That and the couple mistakes (it said Karn created Mirrodin with five suns which is false, because it wasn't until Memnarch had blocked Karn out that the core destabilized and ejected the suns) makes me wonder if anyone at WotC even cares anymore.
I mean, the fact that we get lore that the Surgical Bays and the Dross Pits started as Kraynox's and Roxith's layers respectively is kinda cool
Bummer. I really wanted some info on Ovika, Enigma Goliath (one of my favorite cards from the set art-wise) and they even had her (?) picture under "unaligned Phyrexians," but then ... nothing. I'm not getting my hopes up, but maybe we get a "Legends of ONE" article later? I remember there being articles like this for other sets.
I'm very sure we're getting that, yes. We got it for every recent set afaik.
I mean, the fact that we get lore that the Surgical Bays and the Dross Pits started as Kraynox's and Roxith's layers respectively is kinda cool
Yeah, but like... *gestures wildly* more of that?!
The guide leaves out some other interesting things, like the meldweb. There's some information in other materials that are not included like the fact that the Monumental Facade is fairly brittle, etc. I would hope/expect the planeswalkers guide to be a bit more detailed than just have three sentences on each layer.
What even are aspirants? What is the internal structure of each faction? How are the mirrans holding up and how are they surviving (look, I've given up on the "what do they eat" but is it too much to ask for to get some information over the biggest/most important resistance cells and how they deal with a world that is drenched in glistening oil?)? What happened to bladehold and the other mirran holdouts? The whole thing with the phoenixes is completely absent, even though that's such a cool detail. The list goes on.
Also, I'd love to see some concept art. I don't know why they completely stopped with that.
What even are aspirants? What is the internal structure of each faction? How are the mirrans holding up and how are they surviving (look, I've given up on the "what do they eat" but is it too much to ask for to get some information over the biggest/most important resistance cells and how they deal with a world that is drenched in glistening oil?)? What happened to bladehold and the other mirran holdouts? The whole thing with the phoenixes is completely absent, even though that's such a cool detail. The list goes on.
There are sooo many things like that. The Mirran faction feels left vague on purpose because it doesn't really make sense when you think about it. Yeah, there's Urabrask, but you tell me the the Phyrexians converted the complete world and yet can't deal with one village worth of leftover Mirrans? One reason I can imagine kind of making sense it that they're secretly left alone on purpose to serve as "crops" for more organic material to phyrexianize, Matrix-style.
I'd also really like to know why Elesh Norn has become so fond of mites, what they are used for and what makes Skrelv legendary.
Yawgmoth, a medical genius from Dominaria, planeswalked to Old Phyrexia
One of the items she destroyed was a device of mass destruction called the sylex.
The oil eventually replaces all vital liquids in the host body, which prepares it for compleation, a surgical process that swaps the body's organic matter with artificial machinery. The oil can corrupt artifacts as well as organic beings.
good grief the writer(s) didn't do research
pretty Much nahiri, Jace, vraska, lukka, and nissa got no surgery of any sort each got compleated by a scratch/stab for lukkas case getting a little to comfortable with a phyrexian beast. Tamiyo is the only one we recall being compleated like what this guide saids.
Second Yawgmoth isn't a planeswalker he got there by a planeswalker named dyfed
Nahiri and Jace got lightly mutated (metal scabs and sword arms for the former and wires for the latter) so they clearly need further surgery. Lukka was compleated essentially by fusing with an already metallic organism, and Ajani got further surgery. Only Vraska was drastically changed without surgery, but maybe she only got a tail and didn't get rid of the legs until a thane got hold of her or something.
What even are aspirants? What is the internal structure of each faction? How are the mirrans holding up and how are they surviving (look, I've given up on the "what do they eat" but is it too much to ask for to get some information over the biggest/most important resistance cells and how they deal with a world that is drenched in glistening oil?)? What happened to bladehold and the other mirran holdouts? The whole thing with the phoenixes is completely absent, even though that's such a cool detail. The list goes on.
There are sooo many things like that. The Mirran faction feels left vague on purpose because it doesn't really make sense when you think about it. Yeah, there's Urabrask, but you tell me the the Phyrexians converted the complete world and yet can't deal with one village worth of leftover Mirrans? One reason I can imagine kind of making sense it that they're secretly left alone on purpose to serve as "crops" for more organic material to phyrexianize, Matrix-style.
I'd also really like to know why Elesh Norn has become so fond of mites, what they are used for and what makes Skrelv legendary.
I doubt there's enough mirrans left to really amount to much. I like to think they just fly under the phyrexian's radar. The various factions and their praetors are probably a bigger threat to each other than the handful of mirrans.
What I would have liked to see is what the relationship is between Urabrask's forces and the mirrans. Originally I thought they would enter a shaky truce because Urabrask going after Norn is also in the mirrans interest and the mirrans leaving Urabrask alone while he's fighting Norn is in his best interest, but then we get cards that reference the mirrans fighting Urabrask during the rebellion, so like... Do they still hate each others guts? Does Urabrask attack the larger mirran settlements? There's just so many open questions.
I'm also really curious about Nissa's role in all this. The art of All will be one seems to be imply Nissa was used by Norn to help with the Realmbreaker? Which, you know, would make plenty of sense, given Nissa is an elementalist. What if Nissa was actually the reason why the planeswalkers were too late and the Realmbreaker was already connecting to other worlds, because Nissa helped its growth along?
pretty Much nahiri, Jace, vraska, lukka, and nissa got no surgery of any sort each got compleated by a scratch/stab for lukkas case getting a little to comfortable with a phyrexian beast. Tamiyo is the only one we recall being compleated like what this guide saids.
Phyrexia is one of the most consistently inconsistent things in MtG. sometimes they use surgery only, then comes the oil that infects but it requires surgery to add the mechanical elements and now the oil grows mechanical elements like the eye stalks on Jace all by itself. Then suddenly Gin-Gitaxias found a way to compleat planeswalkers and then suddenly the oil can compleat planeswalkers all by itself. Even Jace and Nahiri who were implied to have died have been phyrexianised which should strip them of their planeswalker status...
Just, don't think about it. MtG has decided against consistent story telling and worldbuilding a LONG time ago. They believe it's a feature rather than a bug, so I doubt it will change any time soon.
Second Yawgmoth isn't a planeswalker he got there by a planeswalker named dyfed
To be fair, saying he planeswalked there isn't technically wrong, although it does imply him doing the thing rather than being brought there. It's semantics more than a real mistake, imo.
Eh, it was Sheoldred's campaign. Ajani acted under her orders. Saying she destroyed the sylex to me is like saying Caesar conquered the gauls. Technically it was his armies, but everyone knows how it's supposed to be understood.
“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
into the core is kethek talking in the flavor text (which that now indicates it’s phyrexians being tricked into the core for flamethrower ammo) thought interesting to know she was created by both Urabrask and sheoldred
yea I’m doubling down that she joins team Urabrask/mirrodin/somewhat gatewatch as payback against atraxa/norn for rejecting vishgraz (basically she’s gonna be new phyrexias xantcha)
This stung Ixhel to the core. But as she has matured, so has her understanding of Phyrexia, and perhaps she has begun to call into question the doctrine that raised her.
I have read the story again and I cannot desribe how angry I am with the story being so idiotically rushed.
Yeah, we can assume that Teferi pulls some deus-ex-timetravel shenanigans, but boy, so many years of wasted development of characters.
Two appaling examples.
Nissa, who started as a shy and withdrawn character, then went through the Chandra friendshup turned romance, became the "hand that moves" after meeting Kefnet, went through the "Broken Bond" time just to rejoin Chandra for War of the Spark, then defended Zendikar from its previous guardian, communed with Gaea on Dominaria....all this for a ****ing OFFSCREEN compleation after being stuck with that idiot Lukka and turned into a toy for Elesh Norn to activate the Realmbreaker?
And the another - Elspeth. All the buildup, tragic childhood, Phyrexian enslavement, finding new home on Bant and losing it, first Phyrexia sortie with Venser and Koth, losing Venser, the whole Theros ordeal and coming back from the dead, Capenna, Giada, the secrets of Halo.... hints of Ashiok haunting Elesh ****ing Norn so that the Mother of Machines has NIGHTMARES about Elspeth...and what? All she does is that she basically plays the brave soldier who snatches an exploding bomb and jumps off a cliff to save others?
I just hope that Teferi partially reverses time so that these last events play differently, but the bad taste will remain. Just knowing that if not for this, the whole story of these characters would end in stinking dumpster fire.
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100% Vorthos Spike and Storyline Expert
Former Fact Prospector of the Greek Alliance.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
....all this for a ****ing OFFSCREEN compleation after being stuck with that idiot Lukka and turned into a toy for Elesh Norn to activate the Realmbreaker?
What makes this even funnier is that the story doesn't even describe a scene like the one shown on the card All Will be One (the art of which the story ends on). Nissa just appears alongside the other goons and doesn't seem to play any special role in the "Realmbreaker ritual."
Real Vorthoses are truly doomed to suffer. I count myself lucky that I'm not that big of a lorehead.
....all this for a ****ing OFFSCREEN compleation after being stuck with that idiot Lukka and turned into a toy for Elesh Norn to activate the Realmbreaker?
What makes this even funnier is that the story doesn't even describe a scene like the one shown on the card All Will be One (the art of which the story ends on). Nissa just appears alongside the other goons and doesn't seem to play any special role in the "Realmbreaker ritual."
Real Vorthoses are truly doomed to suffer. I count myself lucky that I'm not that big of a lorehead.
Well, to be honest, I was gradually losing general interest in the story ever since they cancelled the e-books and started the 5-chapters-of-a-rushed story model. Eldraine e-book was nice reading. For Theros Beyond Death, we were so disappointed with the lack of an official story that we wrote our own (in seven chapters). Let's face it, nobody cares anymore. I am kinda glad they thrown us a bucket of bones by finally bringing SO MANY old characters in Commander Legends, Modern Horizons, Dominaria United boxtoppers, and the whole Brothers' War set. But well, it is like they are demolishing your chíldhood house and you are given a huge sack of sweets. Makes you happy for a while, but something is lost forever.
I seriously consider fully retiring from Magic after MoM: Aftermath altogether. It was great 27 years, but I had scarcely any time even for prereleases, and my "pet" part of Magic, story and flavor, is being dissolved into generic soup before my eyes. Even writing articles about it brings me little joy recently...
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100% Vorthos Spike and Storyline Expert
Former Fact Prospector of the Greek Alliance.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
Let's be honest, Magic story was never great. Enjoyable, sure, but not great.
What I did find great was the world building though. Sure, the worlds weren't as deep as singular settings, because it's pretty much impossible given the scope, but they were at least fun and interesting. There were multiple things going on, factions, locations, all of that. Especially with Zendikar when they started to do away with "this is the blue location, this is the red location, this is the green lcoation, ...) which really plagued early Magic, worlds became so much more enjoyable.
And then they switched to the one-set-per-world model and I was sceptical at first if their creative team can create worlds as interesting as they used to when they had only two or three months for each world, as opposed to a whole year.
Turns out they couldn't. So the worlds we got so far, even the interesting ones like Kaldheim are utterly flat. Many creative elements are so disjointed and in conflict with each other that it just becomes a weird slurry. (Monsters and their bonders are hated on Ikoria but apparently there's """poachers""" and people hate those too???) There is no substance and what little substance there is is completely and utterly glossed over in planeswalkers guides like "Eh, who cares".
I have to admit, ONE is a set that actually made me excited for Magic again, because the phyrexians are inherently cool. I actually was on the verge of losing interest in Magic myself, because yeah, there's so little interesting stuff going on in Magic as a Vorthos currently.
I also want to end this post by saying that I don't particularly blame the creative team. They're probably under a lot of time and resource pressure. I have no doubt that they are passionate about what they're doing. Still a lot of the things that come out (like the planeswalkers guide to New Phyrexia) come across as "we can't be bothered" which may (or may not) come as a result of an understaffed creative team.
Yeah, my main Vorthos area of interest has always been art and worldbuilding, and it's the main thing that keeps me coming back to online communities and keeps me low-key engaged with MtG even though I've stopped playing the game after the whole UB nonsense started.
I've read some of the stories and books, and sure, some of them are fine ... but especially with the modern story, you're simply setting yourself up for disappointment if you're expecting genuinely good fantasy stories. Wizards have said themselves that what they're aiming for is Marvel comics level storytelling, so that's the best you're going to get.
I really wish they'd step up their worldbuilding game though. New planes in 202X aren't being allowed to develop complexities, because "the average person wouldn't get it" or "why go into this much detail when it could make it difficult to revisit the plane later." There's too much marketing, risk-hedging and trope-flinging and not enough interesting substance/texture.
Still a lot of the things that come out (like the planeswalkers guide to New Phyrexia) come across as "we can't be bothered" which may (or may not) come as a result of an understaffed creative team.
Yesterday, I read through some of the old Planeswalker's Guide to Innistrad because of a Reddit thread I saw ... and I was really taken aback by how much material there was. All this info on random locations and people, lots of concept art, explanations of concepts and local culture that show up on 1-2 cards from the sets at best... And there's multiple parts, one for each major region on the plane, each at least as long as the recent PW guide on ONE. When people talk about the old lore being better, they usually refer to the Brother's War and other stuff mostly from the 90's - but OG Innistrad was 2011. It's painfully clear that the concepting/worldbuilding time new planes get nowadays has gone down significantly, and it shows.
Save for Aranzhur, that was mentioned only in Agents of Artifice, all others are from the prerevisionist works... Mezlok's Challegne, Roreca's Tale short stories and The Cursed Land book.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
100% Vorthos Spike and Storyline Expert
Former Fact Prospector of the Greek Alliance.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
They mentioned that the Domini "roam the spheres" - I wonder how Mondrak moves around. Does he float? Or does he roll? Also, things veer very close to the comical whenever Phyrexians are described doing rather mundane and human-like things, e.g. thinking of Urabrask as a "glorified factory manager" or "renovating" Mirran research facilities.
I mean, the fact that we get lore that the Surgical Bays and the Dross Pits started as Kraynox's and Roxith's layers respectively is kinda cool
I'm very sure we're getting that, yes. We got it for every recent set afaik.
Yeah, but like... *gestures wildly* more of that?!
The guide leaves out some other interesting things, like the meldweb. There's some information in other materials that are not included like the fact that the Monumental Facade is fairly brittle, etc. I would hope/expect the planeswalkers guide to be a bit more detailed than just have three sentences on each layer.
What even are aspirants? What is the internal structure of each faction? How are the mirrans holding up and how are they surviving (look, I've given up on the "what do they eat" but is it too much to ask for to get some information over the biggest/most important resistance cells and how they deal with a world that is drenched in glistening oil?)? What happened to bladehold and the other mirran holdouts? The whole thing with the phoenixes is completely absent, even though that's such a cool detail. The list goes on.
Also, I'd love to see some concept art. I don't know why they completely stopped with that.
I'd also really like to know why Elesh Norn has become so fond of mites, what they are used for and what makes Skrelv legendary.
good grief the writer(s) didn't do research
pretty Much nahiri, Jace, vraska, lukka, and nissa got no surgery of any sort each got compleated by a scratch/stab for lukkas case getting a little to comfortable with a phyrexian beast. Tamiyo is the only one we recall being compleated like what this guide saids.
Second Yawgmoth isn't a planeswalker he got there by a planeswalker named dyfed
Third ajani destroyed the sylex not sheoldred
I doubt there's enough mirrans left to really amount to much. I like to think they just fly under the phyrexian's radar. The various factions and their praetors are probably a bigger threat to each other than the handful of mirrans.
What I would have liked to see is what the relationship is between Urabrask's forces and the mirrans. Originally I thought they would enter a shaky truce because Urabrask going after Norn is also in the mirrans interest and the mirrans leaving Urabrask alone while he's fighting Norn is in his best interest, but then we get cards that reference the mirrans fighting Urabrask during the rebellion, so like... Do they still hate each others guts? Does Urabrask attack the larger mirran settlements? There's just so many open questions.
I'm also really curious about Nissa's role in all this. The art of All will be one seems to be imply Nissa was used by Norn to help with the Realmbreaker? Which, you know, would make plenty of sense, given Nissa is an elementalist. What if Nissa was actually the reason why the planeswalkers were too late and the Realmbreaker was already connecting to other worlds, because Nissa helped its growth along?
Phyrexia is one of the most consistently inconsistent things in MtG. sometimes they use surgery only, then comes the oil that infects but it requires surgery to add the mechanical elements and now the oil grows mechanical elements like the eye stalks on Jace all by itself. Then suddenly Gin-Gitaxias found a way to compleat planeswalkers and then suddenly the oil can compleat planeswalkers all by itself. Even Jace and Nahiri who were implied to have died have been phyrexianised which should strip them of their planeswalker status...
Just, don't think about it. MtG has decided against consistent story telling and worldbuilding a LONG time ago. They believe it's a feature rather than a bug, so I doubt it will change any time soon.
To be fair, saying he planeswalked there isn't technically wrong, although it does imply him doing the thing rather than being brought there. It's semantics more than a real mistake, imo.
Eh, it was Sheoldred's campaign. Ajani acted under her orders. Saying she destroyed the sylex to me is like saying Caesar conquered the gauls. Technically it was his armies, but everyone knows how it's supposed to be understood.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/the-legends-of-phyrexia-all-will-be-one
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
into the core is kethek talking in the flavor text (which that now indicates it’s phyrexians being tricked into the core for flamethrower ammo) thought interesting to know she was created by both Urabrask and sheoldred
yea I’m doubling down that she joins team Urabrask/mirrodin/somewhat gatewatch as payback against atraxa/norn for rejecting vishgraz (basically she’s gonna be new phyrexias xantcha)
Yeah, we can assume that Teferi pulls some deus-ex-timetravel shenanigans, but boy, so many years of wasted development of characters.
Two appaling examples.
Nissa, who started as a shy and withdrawn character, then went through the Chandra friendshup turned romance, became the "hand that moves" after meeting Kefnet, went through the "Broken Bond" time just to rejoin Chandra for War of the Spark, then defended Zendikar from its previous guardian, communed with Gaea on Dominaria....all this for a ****ing OFFSCREEN compleation after being stuck with that idiot Lukka and turned into a toy for Elesh Norn to activate the Realmbreaker?
And the another - Elspeth. All the buildup, tragic childhood, Phyrexian enslavement, finding new home on Bant and losing it, first Phyrexia sortie with Venser and Koth, losing Venser, the whole Theros ordeal and coming back from the dead, Capenna, Giada, the secrets of Halo.... hints of Ashiok haunting Elesh ****ing Norn so that the Mother of Machines has NIGHTMARES about Elspeth...and what? All she does is that she basically plays the brave soldier who snatches an exploding bomb and jumps off a cliff to save others?
I just hope that Teferi partially reverses time so that these last events play differently, but the bad taste will remain. Just knowing that if not for this, the whole story of these characters would end in stinking dumpster fire.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
Real Vorthoses are truly doomed to suffer. I count myself lucky that I'm not that big of a lorehead.
Well, to be honest, I was gradually losing general interest in the story ever since they cancelled the e-books and started the 5-chapters-of-a-rushed story model. Eldraine e-book was nice reading. For Theros Beyond Death, we were so disappointed with the lack of an official story that we wrote our own (in seven chapters). Let's face it, nobody cares anymore. I am kinda glad they thrown us a bucket of bones by finally bringing SO MANY old characters in Commander Legends, Modern Horizons, Dominaria United boxtoppers, and the whole Brothers' War set. But well, it is like they are demolishing your chíldhood house and you are given a huge sack of sweets. Makes you happy for a while, but something is lost forever.
I seriously consider fully retiring from Magic after MoM: Aftermath altogether. It was great 27 years, but I had scarcely any time even for prereleases, and my "pet" part of Magic, story and flavor, is being dissolved into generic soup before my eyes. Even writing articles about it brings me little joy recently...
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
What I did find great was the world building though. Sure, the worlds weren't as deep as singular settings, because it's pretty much impossible given the scope, but they were at least fun and interesting. There were multiple things going on, factions, locations, all of that. Especially with Zendikar when they started to do away with "this is the blue location, this is the red location, this is the green lcoation, ...) which really plagued early Magic, worlds became so much more enjoyable.
And then they switched to the one-set-per-world model and I was sceptical at first if their creative team can create worlds as interesting as they used to when they had only two or three months for each world, as opposed to a whole year.
Turns out they couldn't. So the worlds we got so far, even the interesting ones like Kaldheim are utterly flat. Many creative elements are so disjointed and in conflict with each other that it just becomes a weird slurry. (Monsters and their bonders are hated on Ikoria but apparently there's """poachers""" and people hate those too???) There is no substance and what little substance there is is completely and utterly glossed over in planeswalkers guides like "Eh, who cares".
I have to admit, ONE is a set that actually made me excited for Magic again, because the phyrexians are inherently cool. I actually was on the verge of losing interest in Magic myself, because yeah, there's so little interesting stuff going on in Magic as a Vorthos currently.
I also want to end this post by saying that I don't particularly blame the creative team. They're probably under a lot of time and resource pressure. I have no doubt that they are passionate about what they're doing. Still a lot of the things that come out (like the planeswalkers guide to New Phyrexia) come across as "we can't be bothered" which may (or may not) come as a result of an understaffed creative team.
I've read some of the stories and books, and sure, some of them are fine ... but especially with the modern story, you're simply setting yourself up for disappointment if you're expecting genuinely good fantasy stories. Wizards have said themselves that what they're aiming for is Marvel comics level storytelling, so that's the best you're going to get.
I really wish they'd step up their worldbuilding game though. New planes in 202X aren't being allowed to develop complexities, because "the average person wouldn't get it" or "why go into this much detail when it could make it difficult to revisit the plane later." There's too much marketing, risk-hedging and trope-flinging and not enough interesting substance/texture.
Yesterday, I read through some of the old Planeswalker's Guide to Innistrad because of a Reddit thread I saw ... and I was really taken aback by how much material there was. All this info on random locations and people, lots of concept art, explanations of concepts and local culture that show up on 1-2 cards from the sets at best... And there's multiple parts, one for each major region on the plane, each at least as long as the recent PW guide on ONE. When people talk about the old lore being better, they usually refer to the Brother's War and other stuff mostly from the 90's - but OG Innistrad was 2011. It's painfully clear that the concepting/worldbuilding time new planes get nowadays has gone down significantly, and it shows.
alara Is a hit so that plane likely to be referenced in March of the machines. plus these planes were also mentioned the story
Aranzhur.
Ilcae.
Obsidias.
Mirrankkar.
Cabralin.
Save for Aranzhur, that was mentioned only in Agents of Artifice, all others are from the prerevisionist works... Mezlok's Challegne, Roreca's Tale short stories and The Cursed Land book.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
Full expose on phyrexian linguistics