Phyrexia is by far one of the coolest elements of MTG worldbuilding. They totally could have played it safe and gone with classic sword and sorcery vibes for the game, but even from the early days they allowed the writers and artists to go wild
"One of the coolest elements"? PHYREXIA IS MAGIC THE GATHERING. Phyrexia was and is there, from the real beggining, Yawgmoth is Magic the Gathering just like Urza y Mishra, Just like Nicol Bolas, and The Tharn. It is a shame how WOTC and 99.99% of MTG gamers forgot those facts. And how WOTC sent to oblivion the real MTG lore core. All after that is just sugarcoat, a bad one. Bad stories about lame planeswalkers.
I feel like that will happen at some point Another hot take: If Urabrask does become the overall leader of Phyrexians, maybe some kind of peace can be made
@@bluefett1784 Figure we will get a major event where its a giant battle between Phyrexia, the Eldrazi and everyone caught in the crossfire. Just waiting for the Eldrazi to figure out how to make a planeswalker now that Phyrexians have them.
@@Plexiux coincidentally it was Tamiyo that was the first planeswalker to be compleated that was also the one being used by Emrakul to put herself inside the moon.
I had no idea about the whole detailed sphere structure of Phyrexia, but the whole 9 layered concept is a wonderful nod to Dante's version of hell in Inferno. The 9th spheres are both very similar, the final one in Dante's version being composed entirely of ice in which traitors are frozen in place forever as an ironic punishment for being manipulative (this is including big ol' lucifer) - they've replicated this idea in the lore with the crushing restriction of Yawgmoths movement in the final sphere, I'd wager
Things that are missing are the following: On the Carrier cards, the flavor text of each one of them shows notes on how the Phyresis affects its host: read on the following order Phyrexian Denouncer, Phyrexian Debaser, Phyrexian Defiler, Phyrexian Plaguelord and Plague Engineer. If you ever wondered why the Phyrexians, old and new, just happen to know how to make stuff that resemble each other and their fundamental ideals of perfection are so uniform on all their members, the Glistering Oil its not just a super overpowered magic nanovirus but also it contains blue prints on how to make stuff and preprogramed functions and orders on the infected, so no mather were they are stuck in a plane, they still follow orders. The reason why they fight each other currently its because they were programed to follow orders from Yawgmoth but because he is (most probably) dead in a plane out of their reach, they went for the 2nd best option: Karn (which is kinda funny because he basically killed Yawgmoth with the Legacy but at the same time give birth to them) but after Karn escaped their corruption, in fighting on pecking order was inevitable... not sure what would happen if they stumble upon Dominaria and find Urborg or if they are still trying to corrupt Karn. Planeswalking its borderline impossible for non walkers because crossing betwen the blind eternities would basically kill anyone without a spark, godlike powers or be an Eldrazi. But if you are undead or a machine, that is more of an inconvenience. That is why the forces of Yawgmoth were able to invade other planes with eace and the reason why Nicol Bolas had manufactured the ethernals to invade Ravnica. Only the Weatherlight has being the only transport known to date to be able to more living beings from plane to plane without issue and Urza might had taken the knowledge on how to make another to the grave. If you check the Kaldheim story, when Vorinclex arrived to the plane, he was extremely weak and famished by the trip, which implies that New Phyrexians are not entirely undead, a side effect of the Mycosinth. On the same note, because of their pure black mana nature, old Phyrexians were incapable birth to new life, which made the plane food chain a decending spiral where resorces would eventually end but they were struck with luck when Urza and Mishra unsealed them which allowed them to invade other planes to restock. Another side effect of this was that because they were incapable of making new life it was impossible for them to eventually get a natural planeswalker, which means that when Jin-Gitaxias compleated Tamiyo was a huge discovery for them. On the other hand, New Phyrexians have acces to the other soruces of mana which made them capable of giving birth which is shown on the card "Birthing Pod", in an unatural way to do it but new life non the less. In theory they would eventually get a planeswalker.
Don't forget about urabrask in the new Capenna story. It pretty much confirmed that the phyrexians (at least preators) can travel through the planar gate. But it really messes them up. As urabrask was severely weakened. As well as this, due to the mother of machines story, it is now confirmed that Ashiok does not want to work with the phyrexians, but rather wants to study them. As they were able to cause Elesh Norn fear. An emotion she had never experienced before in her life. But it was interesting as she and the other phyrexians in her dream was connected
how travel between planes work changed during the mending Bolas's zombie army was capable of it because they were completely covered with lazotep similarly Jin Gitaxias has a skin made of chrome that is why he is the only praetor who travelled between planes unaffected
I don't think the Carriers are describing phyresis, but rather an Engineered Plague (see also: the card Engineered Plague). I mean, the top of the cycle is called a "plaguelord", and the disease apparently ends in death. Also, the phyrexians think compleation is a process of perfecting, so they wouldn't call it a disease in their own notes.
@@lucasriddle3431 You gotta take on consideration that we are talking on old school Phyrexians writting, more than 10 years before the current ones, the ideas of "decease" and "blessing" were quite blurry and often used together. Plus, the Phyresis regadless of out come, death or corruption, would end up in making a new compleated member, in fact, death its usually part of the initiation quota. The difference just lies on how much free will the person is allowed to keep. That is usually granted on how valuable/powerfull they were before or if they gave themselves willingly. If they are worthless or very heretical, at best they end as a low rank ghoul and at worse recycled for parts.
Started the hobby during the last dominaria set, and have been bummed out I missed out the eldrazi, Phyrexians and the brothers war. When they begun making phyrexians again recently, I can't describe how pumped I've been
The "War of the Spark" storyline was decent. But I thought the "Eldrazi War" was kind of a letdown, in terms of story, though it did take sort of a fun "twist," in "Shadows over Innistrad's" block. Overall, though. It kinda/sorta ended with a whimper. I expected more from the Eldrazi, to be perfectly honest.
What do you mean by missed out? Cause I just bought new phyrexia, rise of eldrazi, and phyrexia all will be one, complete sets including every rare and mythic for around $600 on eBay. If mean missed out on owning them they are still out there
The only MTG lore channel I've found enjoyable! Been enjoying the quality stories over the past few weeks after finding your channel last month. I don't play magic but I like the new phyrexians much more than the old dated ones. Variety is the spice of life and seeing how the factions interact with one another is fascinating. Keep up the superb work!
Red is the mana color that freedom is often accosted with, but with the oil corruption of all, even that become sinister. To Urabrask, being Phyrexian is the first step on the path of becoming the perfect lifeform, and therefore cannot think of why would anyone with free will not choose it. And thefore, most likely think along the lines of "Do the other have such little faith that they must force it on people" when it comes to the Praetors actions. For even the Phyrexian who think they free is never truly free of the blight that threaten to consume the multiverse even if one drop of the oil survives.
Bless be those who speak the divine language Bless be those who give immortality to the weak mortals Remove the flesh from us and bless us with all the perfections of Phyrexia We will all lay upon the alter and be blessed with perfection, we will be compleated All will be one All hail her majesty Elesh Norn Great video!!! So glade I found more lore!!!
1 John 2:15-17 "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world-the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life-is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever." I'm not saying don't enjoy the game, just remember the true priorities and how much things of this world can take a hold of us.
Phenomenal video, easily one of your best ones yet. You always seem to go into just enough detail to keep things engaging, without feeling like you're just regurgitating card descriptions.
@@TheLorebrarians i've yet to come across an essay or piece of yours that gives me any sort of feeling that you're just regurgitating card descriptions... fwiw.
@@fireblade295 Actually got a version of that as the main baddies of my game! Wither Husks Lurking Infestors Oil Hags Plague Dragons Reverend Mother of Evolution Transhuman Magister
Damn, that's making me want to run a campaign where all the players are planeswalkers! I mean, we already have Ravnica, Theros, and Strixhaven, why not Dominaria, Phyrexia, Kaldheim, Zendikar, Kamigawa...
@@joelheinitz2139 Well... before they released their rulebook about Ravnica, WotC did release some pdf files called 'Plane Shift' : condensed rules for flavor and settings about planes that were recently released at that time, through 2016 to 2018. It had Dominaria and Zendikar, as well as Innistrad, Kaladesh, Amonkhet, and Ixilan. And more recently, WotC released a new 'Monster Manual' supplement about Eldraine, so there is still hope for more D&D in MTG settings in the future !
Back before New Phyrexia, white and red mana were the ones most resistant to rise of the Phrexians, even though New Phrexia has won this still seems to be true, as the Red Phrexians are helping the rebels, while halo beat them back. This is notable for me as the combination of White and Red is my favorite color pair, (followed closely by WRG) perhaps Elsepeth will find something she can be passionate about again and that will be the key to her success.
yet at the same time white is maybe THE color closest to heart to phyrexia as they aim to bring perfect order, to make all into one. Its no coincidence that the white aligned machine orthodoxy is the dominant power of new phyrexia.
one thing you haven't mentioned is that in the story of snc Urabrask is stating "Jin-Gitaxias, Vorinclex, and many of the Black Thanes have pledged themselves and their spheres" hinting that the plane of new phyrexia now has spheres each controlled by a high ranking phyrexian
True since years ago elesh norn had gain alliance of machine orthodoxy progress engine seven steel thanes vicious swarms and most of the quiet furnace. But urabrask and some of his fellow red phyrexian had oppose her rule.
1st sphere: The Glorious Facade. Filled with monuments to Phyrexia's victory over the Mirrans. 2nd sphere: The Mirrex. The old surface layer from Mirrodin. All usable resources have been stripped to construct the other spheres. 3rd sphere: the furnace layer. Self explanatory. 4th sphere: Hunter's Maze. A thick mess of transplanted copper forests. 5th sphere: Surgical Bays. A Myriad of Island Laboratories surrounded by quicksilver. 6th sphere: Dross Pits. Rivers of burning acid and vents spewing toxic smog. 7th sphere: Fair Basilica. Each cathedral is a testament to the greatness of Elesh Norn. 8th sphere: Mycosynth Gardens. The outer layer of the core has been permitted to have mycosynth grow unchecked. 9th sphere: Seedcore. The innermost part of the core incubates Realmbreaker, Phyrexia's invasion tree.
With our return to dominaria and the sudden rise of the phyrexians it’s only a matter of time before they find and resurrect the old god of machines who’s rotting corpse still festers and corrupts the land of urborg, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that his body was never truly destroyed. Maybe they could even use him as a power source? I really hope they do something with yawgmoth
I like the idea that, despite Yawgmoth being dead for so long, his actions, indirectly, still ripples in the multiverse. He was the one who played around with the glistening oil, eventually leading to Karn unintentionally creating a new phyrexia, and it trying to invade once again
If the players of magic are meant to be planeswalkers then mirrodin was the first plane I visited. I read all the books and played regionals states and nats in mirrodin block so its as close to a home plane in magic as I can get. Really sad to find out a decade later it turned into new phyrexia
My favorite Phyrexian (other than Human Yawgmoth) is definitely Revoker. Cool art, thought-provoking flavor text, and it works well with my previous favorite card Yisan.
Great pick, couldn't agree more with the text! Mine might be Phyrexian Ingester: love the art, love to see blue's effect on Phyrexia and definitely a pet card of mine
Mine is blightsteel colossus, mostly because it's the most expensive card I own with a Phyrexian watermark on it :3 I paid like 50 bucks for that MFer. It's worth like 70 now. Memes
Really hoping Koth shows up again, he's my best friends favorite Planeswalker and has such a good thing going for him. I kinda wonder if he and Nahiri would get along or have a rivalry
Nahiri is actually my "most likely" next candidate for "Planeswalker to get compleated." She has a thing for artifacts, and is kind of a mental case to begin with, which makes her a perfect potential villain, especially for Sorin/Innistrad, and the Gatewatch walkers.
I've always loved the Phyrexians as villains since I started playing Magic back in the 90s. They are basically a fantasy version of the Borg, and it's just fantastic.
Watch The Raven Man be the shade of Yawgmoth. He needs a powerful necromancer to bring back his body so that’s why he attached himself to Liliana. Or, some time magic crap is going to bring back a bunch of old villains and heroes who are long dead. The art of Braids on the Dominaria United collector packs suggests something like that considering she had been dead for 255-256 years
Phyrexian Civil War has to be a new set in the future. What I really want is for the Phyrexians to become aware of the Eldrazi so that we may discover new Titans. That is definitely a war I would love to see.
i honestly wonder what the reaction would be. As equal a threat to other planes as they both are, the eldrazi exists beyond planes while the phyrexians still exist in planes. Theyre on a different level of life form from one another.
One of the best lore videos on one of the few true villains of MTG. I personally prefer the New Phyrexians, because they were my introduction to Phyrexia.
In case anyone forgot, the oil never did this to another plane, just mirrodin. And it was karn carrying the oil in his heart made from the other parts of the superweapon known as "the Legacy" which was karn and 6 other artifacts, which the crew of the weatherlight traveled through the planes to recover. My working theory is that Yawgmoth foresaw his defeat, and made the oil glisten as it does now in new phyrexia to carry the ancient designs and plans of yawgmoth
I'm sure that this is 100% intentional, but I do appreciate that the order and function of the spheres of Phyrexia mirrors somewhat that of New Phyrexia.
This was a GREAT video... Behold Blessed Perfection 🤘 Yawgmoth/Phyrexians, and Ugin the Spirit Dragon are TIED for my favorite characters in MTG. I can't wait to see how Urabrask uses his newly gained knowledge against Norn, or how the sad to say Tamiyo compleated will be used. P.S. I would love a lore video on my favorite Planeswalker Ugin... of course I love, and will support all of your videos regardless. Thank you for everything you do Erek, keep up the amazing work. Others and myself appreciate all you do very much... Go Lorebrarians 😎🤘
Thanks again for a fantastic video and summary. Phyrexians reminds me to the borg from star trek. Personally, I'd love to see a Completed Eldrazi... or a corrupted Phyrexian (much like what happened to the denizens of Innistrad). Maybe they can release Emrakul from the moon and send it towards Mirrodin... now that's stuff of nightmares!
Imagine dropping a whole Emrakul on Elesh. Oops... I seemed to have misplaced my walking apocalypse. I wonder how she'd deal with it. Can eldrazi be diplomatic? Lol
Hey!! just going through the planechase planar deck, and maybe ypu could do a series on the planes and how they merge with the story explaining the effects an why the chaos rolls!!! hope this helps!!!
My hot take: The presence of the different colors of mana have fundamentally changed Phyrexians and compleation so much that they are essentially alien from their forebears and Yawgmoth's praetors. Red mana through Urabrask, White through Norn, and Blue through Gitaxias in particular. Urabrask retained a stance of individualism and has shown to still be alive. Norn may desire all to be One with the Machine, but at the same time White mana wants Peace. Blue's natural inquisitiveness and seeking of perfection mesh perfectly with the modern goal of New Phyrexia, but at the same time anything less than the most ideal states of ideals simply won't be acceptable. Green even adds a bizarre sense of naturalism and the implicit need to seek harmony with the world. I have a feeling that New Phyrexia has evolved more than what people anticipate. I have a feeling that New Phyrexia will feel more akin to a morally gray setting. The new goal, perhaps, to outright perfect compleation itself (as we have seen with compleated planeswalkers) and a glimpse at seeing it as more of a spiritual fruition.
AWESOME video! I'm new to MTG and your videos are very helpful for understanding the story and the factions within! (Now I'm building a deck for each Phyrexiqn faction lmao)
Is anything known about a) where exactly the first Phyrexians of Mirrodin came from, where they got their philosophy/religion from and who the Preators were before they became Preators? Several of them have female sexual characteristics, so they can't have spawned as featureless Newts, Old Phyrexia style, right?
You know, if the lore is accurate - that the compleation process only replaces your body and doesn't touch your soul, I think I'd be fine with it. After all, beauty is: only skin deep. or in the eye of the beholder
@@dacksonflux I mean, eh, pain is only temporary. In return for that and a bit of forced loyalty you get: Immortality, the ability to choose and enhance your body, unconditional acceptance to and from everyone around you, and a unified group purpose for you all to work towards. In all honestly I'd probably take the deal.
You didn't talk about this, but I believe it was memnarch in his madness brought inhabitants to Argentum somehow? It's not exactly stated how he did it, but after that the inhabitants molded the plane around them and then it became mirrodin. Memnarch prevented the mycosynth from releasing the oil, but after he died, that's when it began to spread.
After Yawgmoth's defeat, what happened to "Old Phyrexia"? Is it still there but sealed off? If so, that means Yawmoth's physical remains might still be there in the final sphere. Hopefully no one finds them and casts a resurrection spell...
What about tezzeret betraying the preators and uniting phyrexia in his comand ? He Is now helping urabrask ando also the other ones, maybe he looks to fight each others AND dominaria to ascend when all parts are weak enough? Great vid by the way
Obviously I don't know what they might have planned for the MTG story of the future of the multiverse and all but I'm getting the feeling that somehow the entire plane of new phryexia is going to become time shifted and be sent back in time to the start of the phryexia saga. If I'm correct about what I know about the lore and if my assumptions are correct elspeth is important because she provides the energy to shift the entire plane through the cylex. It may get a little more complicated because the only way to remove the phryexian threat would be through the eldrazi that consume and reshape the planes which the shifting of an entire plane can allow to come into existence. Basically the best way to say it is that the fallen phryexia that yaggmoth encountered might have been time shifted at least once and possibly even more than once because it might have been this strange case of it getting shifted to the time of the brothers war then again to the time of the phryexian war when yaggmoth was shown it and the Planeswalker that showed it to him might have been elspeth from the start or just a victim of circumstance.
Ever since the "New Phyrexia" block ended, I have been DREAMING of New Phyrexia becoming the next big threat to the multiverse! This dreaming has endured a decade and a half of "other stuff," such as the Eldrazi hordes, and Nicol Bolas. But now that those... annoyances, are out of the picture, New Phyrexia is poised to take center stage, at long last!! And from what I've seen, of Dominaria United's storyline, the invasion of the multiverse is finally due to begin! May this conflict last for years to come, as the last war against "Old" Phyrexia did!!
Awesome video! new fan here! i love Phyrexia and how these guys keep breaking ballz to the universe aha! and i hope someday Mirrodin will be saved in some way :D
I still wonder what Phryrexia has done to the rest of OLD Capenna not protected inside the Halo shield of New Capenna? Is there an independent Second Phyrexia out there? Are there others as well such as Mercadia a plane that had both Karn, Urza, & possibly Yawgmoth visit. We certainly know Yawgmoth's agents were on that Plane, so what has become of that world?
@@jarltryggvi Do you think the Brothers War set will literally be a throwback lore wise? I hope so too but I'm hesitant to believe it will be that simple. It is strange that arguably the most influential villain in MTG has never had a standard legal card though..
Hey guys ! I love the New Phyrexia setting, but being a complete novice about mtg publications I was wondering : what is the source lore for all this ? Is there novels ? Thanks!
The Thran novel tells about Phyrexia's origins, there is a series of novels around weatherlight and then the artifacts cycle of books discusses Urza's fight with phyrexia. A lot of material to dig through though!
I had to look up what Glistening Oil was. It didnt sound like a Magic card. Imagine an equipment called Hardened Wand; because clearly that is Magic card name….
I am confused with how Phryexians were able to survive after the death of Yawgmoth. I thought the plain along with it's inhabitants would eventually die, since Yawgmoth can no long maintain his plain.
always a fan of Phyrexian lore videos and still waiting and hoping that urabrask finds a way to over stick it to elesh norn but then again I'm sure she'll see it coming.
Wouldn't he be the father of bio-machines? I mean, he didn't create machines, mechanical constructs existed long before him. What made him unique was his merger of organic material and mechanical material, and what makes Phyrexians creepy is that they have an organic half.
Well living organisms are also machines, and Phyrexia is unique in its merging of organic and metallic life. Plus, Yawgmoth probably wants you to believe that he did create all machines.
I’m OBSESSED with Phyrexian lore
It’s so cryptic and evil
Phyrexia is by far one of the coolest elements of MTG worldbuilding. They totally could have played it safe and gone with classic sword and sorcery vibes for the game, but even from the early days they allowed the writers and artists to go wild
"One of the coolest elements"? PHYREXIA IS MAGIC THE GATHERING. Phyrexia was and is there, from the real beggining, Yawgmoth is Magic the Gathering just like Urza y Mishra, Just like Nicol Bolas, and The Tharn. It is a shame how WOTC and 99.99% of MTG gamers forgot those facts. And how WOTC sent to oblivion the real MTG lore core. All after that is just sugarcoat, a bad one. Bad stories about lame planeswalkers.
My hot take: Urabrask will be key in defeating new phyrexians and will rise to become the new father of machines
I feel like that will happen at some point
Another hot take: If Urabrask does become the overall leader of Phyrexians, maybe some kind of peace can be made
@@Blu_Moon_Owl cue the eldrazi phyrexian war.
Mine...Yawgmoth will return
@@bluefett1784 Figure we will get a major event where its a giant battle between Phyrexia, the Eldrazi and everyone caught in the crossfire. Just waiting for the Eldrazi to figure out how to make a planeswalker now that Phyrexians have them.
@@Plexiux coincidentally it was Tamiyo that was the first planeswalker to be compleated that was also the one being used by Emrakul to put herself inside the moon.
God, finally someone who is doing lore videos that knows how to read and has a voice for radio. Great work.
Appreciate it and glad you enjoyed the video
I had no idea about the whole detailed sphere structure of Phyrexia, but the whole 9 layered concept is a wonderful nod to Dante's version of hell in Inferno. The 9th spheres are both very similar, the final one in Dante's version being composed entirely of ice in which traitors are frozen in place forever as an ironic punishment for being manipulative (this is including big ol' lucifer) - they've replicated this idea in the lore with the crushing restriction of Yawgmoths movement in the final sphere, I'd wager
Things that are missing are the following:
On the Carrier cards, the flavor text of each one of them shows notes on how the Phyresis affects its host: read on the following order Phyrexian Denouncer, Phyrexian Debaser, Phyrexian Defiler, Phyrexian Plaguelord and Plague Engineer.
If you ever wondered why the Phyrexians, old and new, just happen to know how to make stuff that resemble each other and their fundamental ideals of perfection are so uniform on all their members, the Glistering Oil its not just a super overpowered magic nanovirus but also it contains blue prints on how to make stuff and preprogramed functions and orders on the infected, so no mather were they are stuck in a plane, they still follow orders. The reason why they fight each other currently its because they were programed to follow orders from Yawgmoth but because he is (most probably) dead in a plane out of their reach, they went for the 2nd best option: Karn (which is kinda funny because he basically killed Yawgmoth with the Legacy but at the same time give birth to them) but after Karn escaped their corruption, in fighting on pecking order was inevitable... not sure what would happen if they stumble upon Dominaria and find Urborg or if they are still trying to corrupt Karn.
Planeswalking its borderline impossible for non walkers because crossing betwen the blind eternities would basically kill anyone without a spark, godlike powers or be an Eldrazi. But if you are undead or a machine, that is more of an inconvenience. That is why the forces of Yawgmoth were able to invade other planes with eace and the reason why Nicol Bolas had manufactured the ethernals to invade Ravnica. Only the Weatherlight has being the only transport known to date to be able to more living beings from plane to plane without issue and Urza might had taken the knowledge on how to make another to the grave. If you check the Kaldheim story, when Vorinclex arrived to the plane, he was extremely weak and famished by the trip, which implies that New Phyrexians are not entirely undead, a side effect of the Mycosinth.
On the same note, because of their pure black mana nature, old Phyrexians were incapable birth to new life, which made the plane food chain a decending spiral where resorces would eventually end but they were struck with luck when Urza and Mishra unsealed them which allowed them to invade other planes to restock. Another side effect of this was that because they were incapable of making new life it was impossible for them to eventually get a natural planeswalker, which means that when Jin-Gitaxias compleated Tamiyo was a huge discovery for them. On the other hand, New Phyrexians have acces to the other soruces of mana which made them capable of giving birth which is shown on the card "Birthing Pod", in an unatural way to do it but new life non the less. In theory they would eventually get a planeswalker.
Dang that's a lot of words I'm gonna take your word for it. If a magic card has too many words sometimes for me I def can't handle that lol
Don't forget about urabrask in the new Capenna story.
It pretty much confirmed that the phyrexians (at least preators) can travel through the planar gate.
But it really messes them up. As urabrask was severely weakened.
As well as this, due to the mother of machines story, it is now confirmed that Ashiok does not want to work with the phyrexians, but rather wants to study them. As they were able to cause Elesh Norn fear. An emotion she had never experienced before in her life. But it was interesting as she and the other phyrexians in her dream was connected
how travel between planes work changed during the mending Bolas's zombie army was capable of it because they were completely covered with lazotep similarly Jin Gitaxias has a skin made of chrome that is why he is the only praetor who travelled between planes unaffected
I don't think the Carriers are describing phyresis, but rather an Engineered Plague (see also: the card Engineered Plague). I mean, the top of the cycle is called a "plaguelord", and the disease apparently ends in death. Also, the phyrexians think compleation is a process of perfecting, so they wouldn't call it a disease in their own notes.
@@lucasriddle3431 You gotta take on consideration that we are talking on old school Phyrexians writting, more than 10 years before the current ones, the ideas of "decease" and "blessing" were quite blurry and often used together. Plus, the Phyresis regadless of out come, death or corruption, would end up in making a new compleated member, in fact, death its usually part of the initiation quota. The difference just lies on how much free will the person is allowed to keep. That is usually granted on how valuable/powerfull they were before or if they gave themselves willingly. If they are worthless or very heretical, at best they end as a low rank ghoul and at worse recycled for parts.
Started the hobby during the last dominaria set, and have been bummed out I missed out the eldrazi, Phyrexians and the brothers war.
When they begun making phyrexians again recently, I can't describe how pumped I've been
The "War of the Spark" storyline was decent. But I thought the "Eldrazi War" was kind of a letdown, in terms of story, though it did take sort of a fun "twist," in "Shadows over Innistrad's" block. Overall, though. It kinda/sorta ended with a whimper. I expected more from the Eldrazi, to be perfectly honest.
Mad at how they ended it because march was real bad
What do you mean by missed out? Cause I just bought new phyrexia, rise of eldrazi, and phyrexia all will be one, complete sets including every rare and mythic for around $600 on eBay. If mean missed out on owning them they are still out there
The only MTG lore channel I've found enjoyable! Been enjoying the quality stories over the past few weeks after finding your channel last month. I don't play magic but I like the new phyrexians much more than the old dated ones. Variety is the spice of life and seeing how the factions interact with one another is fascinating. Keep up the superb work!
Thanks so much and I'm glad you enjoy the content! It seems New Phyrexia is the favorite, especially with some people newer to MTG
Red is the mana color that freedom is often accosted with, but with the oil corruption of all, even that become sinister. To Urabrask, being Phyrexian is the first step on the path of becoming the perfect lifeform, and therefore cannot think of why would anyone with free will not choose it. And thefore, most likely think along the lines of "Do the other have such little faith that they must force it on people" when it comes to the Praetors actions. For even the Phyrexian who think they free is never truly free of the blight that threaten to consume the multiverse even if one drop of the oil survives.
Bless be those who speak the divine language
Bless be those who give immortality to the weak mortals
Remove the flesh from us and bless us with all the perfections of Phyrexia
We will all lay upon the alter and be blessed with perfection, we will be compleated
All will be one
All hail her majesty
Elesh Norn
Great video!!! So glade I found more lore!!!
1 John 2:15-17
"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world-the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life-is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever."
I'm not saying don't enjoy the game, just remember the true priorities and how much things of this world can take a hold of us.
@@burritoboyeeoh shut up its a quote from a game
And not everyone is chiristain you cannot enforce your god on others :))
Phenomenal video, easily one of your best ones yet. You always seem to go into just enough detail to keep things engaging, without feeling like you're just regurgitating card descriptions.
Thanks, I really appreciate it! Continually trying to improve the writing and storytelling, happy to hear it's noticed
@@TheLorebrarians i've yet to come across an essay or piece of yours that gives me any sort of feeling that you're just regurgitating card descriptions... fwiw.
Very informative: from the history of its glistening oil to the different Phyrexian factions and its characteristics. Love it! ❤️
Glad to see this faction covered. Hope to see more factions like the Guilds of Ravnica.
The level of detail in your narration was apparent. But with details such as mentioning the pluripotent organisms… this is amazing thanks for this
Now that we have Spelljammer, I want a Phrexian setting and Monster Manual
Dnd?
Oh, yes, please.
Play a Compleated character or a dark Dn setting where you become Compleation, but your journey just changes.
All will be One.
@@fireblade295 Actually got a version of that as the main baddies of my game!
Wither Husks
Lurking Infestors
Oil Hags
Plague Dragons
Reverend Mother of Evolution
Transhuman Magister
Damn, that's making me want to run a campaign where all the players are planeswalkers! I mean, we already have Ravnica, Theros, and Strixhaven, why not Dominaria, Phyrexia, Kaldheim, Zendikar, Kamigawa...
@@joelheinitz2139 Well... before they released their rulebook about Ravnica, WotC did release some pdf files called 'Plane Shift' : condensed rules for flavor and settings about planes that were recently released at that time, through 2016 to 2018. It had Dominaria and Zendikar, as well as Innistrad, Kaladesh, Amonkhet, and Ixilan. And more recently, WotC released a new 'Monster Manual' supplement about Eldraine, so there is still hope for more D&D in MTG settings in the future !
With all the sneaky praetor action we've been seeing lately I wouldn't be surprised if dominaria united is code for dominaria compleated.
Back before New Phyrexia, white and red mana were the ones most resistant to rise of the Phrexians, even though New Phrexia has won this still seems to be true, as the Red Phrexians are helping the rebels, while halo beat them back. This is notable for me as the combination of White and Red is my favorite color pair, (followed closely by WRG) perhaps Elsepeth will find something she can be passionate about again and that will be the key to her success.
yet at the same time white is maybe THE color closest to heart to phyrexia as they aim to bring perfect order, to make all into one. Its no coincidence that the white aligned machine orthodoxy is the dominant power of new phyrexia.
one thing you haven't mentioned is that in the story of snc Urabrask is stating "Jin-Gitaxias, Vorinclex, and many of the Black Thanes have pledged themselves and their spheres" hinting that the plane of new phyrexia now has spheres each controlled by a high ranking phyrexian
i think it means sphere as in like sphere of influence
True since years ago elesh norn had gain alliance of machine orthodoxy progress engine seven steel thanes vicious swarms and most of the quiet furnace.
But urabrask and some of his fellow red phyrexian had oppose her rule.
1st sphere: The Glorious Facade. Filled with monuments to Phyrexia's victory over the Mirrans.
2nd sphere: The Mirrex. The old surface layer from Mirrodin. All usable resources have been stripped to construct the other spheres.
3rd sphere: the furnace layer. Self explanatory.
4th sphere: Hunter's Maze. A thick mess of transplanted copper forests.
5th sphere: Surgical Bays. A Myriad of Island Laboratories surrounded by quicksilver.
6th sphere: Dross Pits. Rivers of burning acid and vents spewing toxic smog.
7th sphere: Fair Basilica. Each cathedral is a testament to the greatness of Elesh Norn.
8th sphere: Mycosynth Gardens. The outer layer of the core has been permitted to have mycosynth grow unchecked.
9th sphere: Seedcore. The innermost part of the core incubates Realmbreaker, Phyrexia's invasion tree.
With our return to dominaria and the sudden rise of the phyrexians it’s only a matter of time before they find and resurrect the old god of machines who’s rotting corpse still festers and corrupts the land of urborg, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that his body was never truly destroyed. Maybe they could even use him as a power source? I really hope they do something with yawgmoth
They can do whatever they want but Yawgg is very very dead. His name taken off the book of Destiny and whatnot
I like the idea that, despite Yawgmoth being dead for so long, his actions, indirectly, still ripples in the multiverse. He was the one who played around with the glistening oil, eventually leading to Karn unintentionally creating a new phyrexia, and it trying to invade once again
If the players of magic are meant to be planeswalkers then mirrodin was the first plane I visited. I read all the books and played regionals states and nats in mirrodin block so its as close to a home plane in magic as I can get. Really sad to find out a decade later it turned into new phyrexia
My favorite Phyrexian (other than Human Yawgmoth) is definitely Revoker. Cool art, thought-provoking flavor text, and it works well with my previous favorite card Yisan.
Great pick, couldn't agree more with the text! Mine might be Phyrexian Ingester: love the art, love to see blue's effect on Phyrexia and definitely a pet card of mine
Mine is blightsteel colossus, mostly because it's the most expensive card I own with a Phyrexian watermark on it :3
I paid like 50 bucks for that MFer. It's worth like 70 now. Memes
Mine is Gitaxias themself, the embodiment of development
Another great video on lore there really isn't as many in-depth videos as you'd think. Thanks again for the great content!
Really hoping Koth shows up again, he's my best friends favorite Planeswalker and has such a good thing going for him. I kinda wonder if he and Nahiri would get along or have a rivalry
Nahiri is actually my "most likely" next candidate for "Planeswalker to get compleated." She has a thing for artifacts, and is kind of a mental case to begin with, which makes her a perfect potential villain, especially for Sorin/Innistrad, and the Gatewatch walkers.
@@jacob4920 ngl, after ajani nahiri, tibalt, or Karn would be a great compleated character
@@jacob4920 dang you nailed that prediction!!!
The flesh is weak. Who are you to reject the gifts of the Omnissiah?
As soon as you started talking about sleeper agents my ajani depression sprouted up again...
I've always loved the Phyrexians as villains since I started playing Magic back in the 90s. They are basically a fantasy version of the Borg, and it's just fantastic.
Or the russians...
@@hamaja18Politics pollute your mind.
Phyrexia is an enticing idea for an antagonist. I wonder who coined it on the writing table?
Phyrexians are like the Warhammer 40k fusion of Chaos (corrupt everything), Necrons (flesh is weakness) and Tyranids (constant evolving).
Watch The Raven Man be the shade of Yawgmoth. He needs a powerful necromancer to bring back his body so that’s why he attached himself to Liliana. Or, some time magic crap is going to bring back a bunch of old villains and heroes who are long dead. The art of Braids on the Dominaria United collector packs suggests something like that considering she had been dead for 255-256 years
The loxodon part gave me a wonderful idea for a dnd character of mine. Thank you
Phyrexian Civil War has to be a new set in the future. What I really want is for the Phyrexians to become aware of the Eldrazi so that we may discover new Titans. That is definitely a war I would love to see.
Would love see a compleated eldrazi
i honestly wonder what the reaction would be. As equal a threat to other planes as they both are, the eldrazi exists beyond planes while the phyrexians still exist in planes. Theyre on a different level of life form from one another.
One of the best lore videos on one of the few true villains of MTG.
I personally prefer the New Phyrexians, because they were my introduction to Phyrexia.
Appreciate it! I like the variety of New Phyrexia but the "horror" of Old Phyrexia is quite chilling
@@TheLorebrarians Oh yes, especially considering their origins and the Invasion.
bout time! ive been looking forward to this all day
Hope it met expectation!
Great video! I love the Phyrexians. I have to say I am a fan of New Phyrexia more than old though!
Glad you enjoyed! Yes, I like the variability New Phyrexia represents and the influence of all 5 colors
Phyrexia is so crazy!!! I love the lore and its one of the scariest things...
In case anyone forgot, the oil never did this to another plane, just mirrodin. And it was karn carrying the oil in his heart made from the other parts of the superweapon known as "the Legacy" which was karn and 6 other artifacts, which the crew of the weatherlight traveled through the planes to recover. My working theory is that Yawgmoth foresaw his defeat, and made the oil glisten as it does now in new phyrexia to carry the ancient designs and plans of yawgmoth
99 io 99 ooo 99 io 999i9 op 999 ooo
I 9
No there was another plane that got changed. Karn was able to destroy it though
I'm sure that this is 100% intentional, but I do appreciate that the order and function of the spheres of Phyrexia mirrors somewhat that of New Phyrexia.
Dude your videos are so well made
I think it is interesting that so much knowledge survived when they were almost destroyed.
Urza Planeswalker has some serious Steve Minecraft vibes.
Interestingly, "phyresis" seems to come from the greek word for "forging"
This was a GREAT video... Behold Blessed Perfection 🤘 Yawgmoth/Phyrexians, and Ugin the Spirit Dragon are TIED for my favorite characters in MTG. I can't wait to see how Urabrask uses his newly gained knowledge against Norn, or how the sad to say Tamiyo compleated will be used.
P.S. I would love a lore video on my favorite Planeswalker Ugin... of course I love, and will support all of your videos regardless. Thank you for everything you do Erek, keep up the amazing work. Others and myself appreciate all you do very much... Go Lorebrarians 😎🤘
Um, how did you post this 22 hours before the video was released?
@@calebwolfenden8061 I saw the video yesterday in his video library under a study in lore, went for the goal 🖖
Awesome. Just the video I was waiting for
of all the dedicated asimilator races from sci fi and fantasy the phyrexians are still my favorite. Magic Borg lol
Thanks again for a fantastic video and summary. Phyrexians reminds me to the borg from star trek.
Personally, I'd love to see a Completed Eldrazi... or a corrupted Phyrexian (much like what happened to the denizens of Innistrad). Maybe they can release Emrakul from the moon and send it towards Mirrodin... now that's stuff of nightmares!
Imagine dropping a whole Emrakul on Elesh. Oops... I seemed to have misplaced my walking apocalypse.
I wonder how she'd deal with it. Can eldrazi be diplomatic? Lol
My only fear is that Phyrexia will be destroyed before I can achieve Perfection. All will be one
Hey!! just going through the planechase planar deck, and maybe ypu could do a series on the planes and how they merge with the story explaining the effects an why the chaos rolls!!! hope this helps!!!
That's a great suggestion, appreciate it!
My hot take:
The presence of the different colors of mana have fundamentally changed Phyrexians and compleation so much that they are essentially alien from their forebears and Yawgmoth's praetors. Red mana through Urabrask, White through Norn, and Blue through Gitaxias in particular. Urabrask retained a stance of individualism and has shown to still be alive. Norn may desire all to be One with the Machine, but at the same time White mana wants Peace. Blue's natural inquisitiveness and seeking of perfection mesh perfectly with the modern goal of New Phyrexia, but at the same time anything less than the most ideal states of ideals simply won't be acceptable. Green even adds a bizarre sense of naturalism and the implicit need to seek harmony with the world.
I have a feeling that New Phyrexia has evolved more than what people anticipate. I have a feeling that New Phyrexia will feel more akin to a morally gray setting. The new goal, perhaps, to outright perfect compleation itself (as we have seen with compleated planeswalkers) and a glimpse at seeing it as more of a spiritual fruition.
How crazy would it be of karn made old phyrexia in the past via time travel not knowing what it would become.
AWESOME video! I'm new to MTG and your videos are very helpful for understanding the story and the factions within! (Now I'm building a deck for each Phyrexiqn faction lmao)
Thanks so much, and glad the video could help orient you!
Is anything known about a) where exactly the first Phyrexians of Mirrodin came from, where they got their philosophy/religion from and who the Preators were before they became Preators? Several of them have female sexual characteristics, so they can't have spawned as featureless Newts, Old Phyrexia style, right?
You know, if the lore is accurate - that the compleation process only replaces your body and doesn't touch your soul, I think I'd be fine with it.
After all, beauty is:
only skin deep.
or
in the eye of the beholder
I mean, it also brainwashes you into loyalty for phyrexia
And makes you a bio-mechanical abomination
Pretty sure that's how they get ya.
Also, compleation is apparently very painful. They don't really anesthetize you before removing your fleshy bits.
@@dacksonflux I mean, eh, pain is only temporary. In return for that and a bit of forced loyalty you get: Immortality, the ability to choose and enhance your body, unconditional acceptance to and from everyone around you, and a unified group purpose for you all to work towards. In all honestly I'd probably take the deal.
You didn't talk about this, but I believe it was memnarch in his madness brought inhabitants to Argentum somehow? It's not exactly stated how he did it, but after that the inhabitants molded the plane around them and then it became mirrodin. Memnarch prevented the mycosynth from releasing the oil, but after he died, that's when it began to spread.
Best channel for lore!!!
Appreciate it!
I for one welcome perfection and our Phyrexiian overlords. May we all reach conpleation!
After Yawgmoth's defeat, what happened to "Old Phyrexia"? Is it still there but sealed off? If so, that means Yawmoth's physical remains might still be there in the final sphere. Hopefully no one finds them and casts a resurrection spell...
What about tezzeret betraying the preators and uniting phyrexia in his comand ? He Is now helping urabrask ando also the other ones, maybe he looks to fight each others AND dominaria to ascend when all parts are weak enough? Great vid by the way
The layers in Phyrexia remind me of the layers in hell from dantes inferno
Definitely can see some inspiration from Inferno in it
The art for Phyrexian Atlas is based off the layers of hell
I really love these videos, thank you!
Obviously I don't know what they might have planned for the MTG story of the future of the multiverse and all but I'm getting the feeling that somehow the entire plane of new phryexia is going to become time shifted and be sent back in time to the start of the phryexia saga. If I'm correct about what I know about the lore and if my assumptions are correct elspeth is important because she provides the energy to shift the entire plane through the cylex. It may get a little more complicated because the only way to remove the phryexian threat would be through the eldrazi that consume and reshape the planes which the shifting of an entire plane can allow to come into existence. Basically the best way to say it is that the fallen phryexia that yaggmoth encountered might have been time shifted at least once and possibly even more than once because it might have been this strange case of it getting shifted to the time of the brothers war then again to the time of the phryexian war when yaggmoth was shown it and the Planeswalker that showed it to him might have been elspeth from the start or just a victim of circumstance.
Fantastic work as always
Glad you enjoyed
Jace, Tamiyo, Nissa, Nahiri... they left behind something on Innistrad which requires compleation
Ever since the "New Phyrexia" block ended, I have been DREAMING of New Phyrexia becoming the next big threat to the multiverse! This dreaming has endured a decade and a half of "other stuff," such as the Eldrazi hordes, and Nicol Bolas. But now that those... annoyances, are out of the picture, New Phyrexia is poised to take center stage, at long last!! And from what I've seen, of Dominaria United's storyline, the invasion of the multiverse is finally due to begin! May this conflict last for years to come, as the last war against "Old" Phyrexia did!!
This is a beautiful video, thank you!
Glad you liked it!
Interesting choice in Dark Ritual art, there is one relatable to the topic.
From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh, it disgusted me.
I will make a Phyrexian Commander Deck soon.
Karn will be used to reprogram phyrexian nanites- perhaps sacrificing him.
Urabrask, Espeth, a World tree expert, and Tafiri will be all be needed
Awesome video! new fan here! i love Phyrexia and how these guys keep breaking ballz to the universe aha! and i hope someday Mirrodin will be saved in some way :D
Welcome to the channel, glad you enjoy the content! I too hope mirrodin will one day be restored
Increadible video, thanks a lot to you !
I have a phyrexian poison deck and wanted to learn more about the awesome and horrific cards in my deck
0:42 and 31"34 Where is that from?
I love all of phyrexia!
I still wonder what Phryrexia has done to the rest of OLD Capenna not protected inside the Halo shield of New Capenna? Is there an independent Second Phyrexia out there? Are there others as well such as Mercadia a plane that had both Karn, Urza, & possibly Yawgmoth visit. We certainly know Yawgmoth's agents were on that Plane, so what has become of that world?
I’d love to be able to listen to these stories in the form of a podcast
Uhmm... What would be the diff though? Its fully listenable here
@@kyddkreature9801 I can download podcasts and listen to them without wifi, and it takes up much less data and battery life from my crappy phone
@@calebwolfenden8061 see podcast link in description. Could be delayed a bit as it was just released but my catalog is there
Some kind of five colour yawgmoth reborn planeswalker, calling it now
I know it won’t happen, but I would love to yawgmoth return.
either red helps/leads a rebillion against New Phyrexia or we get somekind of a "child of the machine" situation and get an all color unifier
This was my phavorite block.
I'm calling it. One day we'll see eldrazi vs phyrexi.
Emrakul could destroy the entire Phyrexia though
A phyrexian eldrazi would be crazy
WOTC really should bring back yawgmoth in lore, Such an awesome villain.
Expect him to be part of the Brothers’ War set later this year
@@jarltryggvi Do you think the Brothers War set will literally be a throwback lore wise? I hope so too but I'm hesitant to believe it will be that simple. It is strange that arguably the most influential villain in MTG has never had a standard legal card though..
@@TJE.13 they literally said it's a throwback
Hey guys ! I love the New Phyrexia setting, but being a complete novice about mtg publications I was wondering : what is the source lore for all this ? Is there novels ? Thanks!
The Thran novel tells about Phyrexia's origins, there is a series of novels around weatherlight and then the artifacts cycle of books discusses Urza's fight with phyrexia. A lot of material to dig through though!
Ironic the white aligned praetor is the one in charge
dude, thank you.
How can we get the soundtrack you use for this and The Fall of Nicol Bolas
original, pure black phyrexia > modern shiny nonsense phyrexia
sadly, you can't change my mind
banger of a vid tho, 10/10
Thanks again
I had to look up what Glistening Oil was. It didnt sound like a Magic card. Imagine an equipment called Hardened Wand; because clearly that is Magic card name….
I know it’d be extra work, but I wish they had the name of the card they take the art from in the corner for each art
I am confused with how Phryexians were able to survive after the death of Yawgmoth. I thought the plain along with it's inhabitants would eventually die, since Yawgmoth can no long maintain his plain.
Through Karn it was made into something independent...
This feels very reminiscent of how Vasto Lordes from bleach are formed
when the eldrazi invade phyrexia that sets finna be lit
Question, were does atraxa fit in this, she was created by the leaders correct?
I thought og phyrexia was mostly black mana. Or does the black show up after Yawgmoths take over?
Amazing video. Where is the animation from in the intro of Jin-Gitaxias fighting Kaito(?)? Never seen that before.
It's from WotC official Kamigawa Neon Dynasty release videos
Awesome video…what anime were you showing?
always a fan of Phyrexian lore videos and still waiting and hoping that urabrask finds a way to over stick it to elesh norn but then again I'm sure she'll see it coming.
Wouldn't he be the father of bio-machines?
I mean, he didn't create machines, mechanical constructs existed long before him. What made him unique was his merger of organic material and mechanical material, and what makes Phyrexians creepy is that they have an organic half.
Well living organisms are also machines, and Phyrexia is unique in its merging of organic and metallic life. Plus, Yawgmoth probably wants you to believe that he did create all machines.
Where are the animated clips from?