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After The Brothers’ War raged back in November, Magic: The Gathering’s next set focuses on the defiled world of Mirrodin and the mechanical monstrosities called Phyrexians as Phyrexia: All Will Be One is due to launch February 7.
For the Magic lore enthusiasts, Phyrexia: All Will Be One follows Elesh Norn and her Phyrexian hordes as they try to take over the different planes of existence within Magic’s universe. The Planeswalkers–as well as a small resistance from Mirrodin trapped within New Phyrexia–must defeat the Phyrexian onslaught or lose everything.
The new cards coming in the set will reflect the results of that endeavor, which includes the introduction of Planeswalkers who have been “Compleated”–the in-universe term for “converted to a Phyrexian.” Notable Planeswalkers shown to have been Compleated include Jace, Nahiri, Nissa, and Vraska. The set also introduces a new version of a non-Compleated Planeswalker, Koth, who fights for the Mirrodin resistance.
Two new mechanics will be introduced in the Phyrexia: All Will Be One set, with each of them centering around existing poison counters. First is the Toxic mechanic, where any creature with “Toxic X” in its flavor text that deals damage to a player also deals X number of poison counters. The other new mechanic, Corrupted, unlocks additional abilities on certain cards if any opposing player has three or more poison counters.
A new type of counters will also debut: Oil counters, which feature on multiple cards including Urabrask’s Forge, where an oil counter is added to the artifact each turn, and then a X/1 red Phyrexian Horror creature token with trample and haste enters the battlefield, with X being the number of counters on the card.
Phyrexia: All Will Be One will also continue the trend of showcase cards that will be found in both normal and collector’s booster packs. Showcase cards will include normal cards written in Phyrexian font, a special Ichor subset of cards with an oil-based theme, and a special version of Elesh Norn drawn by legendary manga artist Junji Ito. A set of basic land cards drawn by Matt Riddick–an artist known for works involving death metal bands including Dethklok, Arch Enemy, and The Black Dahlia Murder–will also be included as showcase cards.
Phyrexia: All Will Be One will launch February 7 on digital platforms–both Magic: The Gathering Arena and MTG Online–and February 10 via physical cards. Prerelease events for the new set will run February 3-9 at local game stores.
