Will WotC Permanently Destroy Phyrexia?
General forum
Posted on Aug. 21, 2022, 6:56 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
It is clear that WotC is building toward a massive battle between Phyrexia and the defenders of the multiverse, so I am wondering if WotC shall permanently destroy Phyrexia in the battle.
In the previous invasion of Dominaria, it seemed that Phyrexia was well and truly defeated, but they did return, eventually, and, since they are the most iconic villains in the game, it may not be a wise decision, from a real-world perspective, to permanently remove them, from the game.
However, if Phyrexia does survive this battle, I hope that WotC can continue to portray them as a true threat, without them degrading into villains akin to those from a Saturday morning cartoon; i.e., where they form a dastardly plan to wreak havoc, are defeated by the heroes, and then retreat, only to repeat the process several dozen sets later. I actually have the same concerns regarding Nicol Boals and the eldrazi, as well; both Bolas and Emrakul are currently imprisoned, but, if either of them were to escape, would the story writers be able to show them as credible threats without repeating their previous invasions?
What does everyone else say about this? Will WotC permanently kill off Phyrexia, and, if not, how can the Phyrexians remain a credible threat without becoming too repetitive?
Great topic : ) I'd be very into phyrexia coming to an end, not that I don't like it, but I feel like it's really run it's course and then some.
Part of the problem that hurts phyrexian longevity in the main story is how one-note their core concept is. By establishing them as a villain driven to do one thing at all costs, phyrexia becomes really hard pressed to pull a story because if you try to develop them into a more rounded and interesting concept, they stop feeling like phyrexia. It's similar to zombies of course, but also like orcs in Lord of the Rings. They make a good tool in a hero's story, it's just that they can in no way stand on their own, and the more massive stories that they are in, the more it creeps in how one dimensional they are. Taking them into the long term is a lose/lose, pretty much. You can disinterest fans as they get bored with how many ways you can shine phyrexia back up, and you can also distance people who like them as a concept if you try to flesh out their concept. I just don't see how you keep the ball rolling with these guys.
I'd really like to see a return of a high fantasy baddie in mtg lore. Something like Tiamat escaping from the DnD storyline and wrecking the place. Recent sets have really moved away from the fantasy base of older magic and I'd love to see it come back with a big dragony splash.
And, as much as I do like the HR Geiger inspired art for phyrexia, we are definitely getting to a point where the, strange life form who converts other life forms, is kind of played. It's better in mtg because it's been in the lore for so long, but you have to imagine that new readers and players who don't know the history of phyrexia see it and thing, oh they are ripping off any number of sci fi villains.
August 21, 2022 8:32 p.m.
The Phyrexians are the big threat right now. I expect that in the long term, they'll go away for one reason or another, but my guess is that's not in the foreseeable future.
If they got rid of the Phyrexians in the next couple years, they would need to either bring in a new bad guy or release Emrakul or Nicol Bolas.
Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing what's going on in a corner of the multiverse we haven't seen yet that doesn't have any connection to current characters. If there's an infinite, or even reasonably large, number of planes, there's got to be a region where nobody's heard of Jace Beleren, or Teferi, or Yawgmoth, or anyone else. That region has its own threats, and its own heroes, and its own story, and I'd like to see some of that.
No hard reset needed. Just "Meanwhile, on a far away plane..."
But I expect the Phyrexians to stick around for a while. They have a solid base of operations and the ability to move around more or less undetected, both within planes and between planes.
August 21, 2022 9:47 p.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #5
A single drop of Glistening Oil can return them all. It'd be a hard sell to convince us all that 1 drop didn't survive.
August 22, 2022 12:58 a.m.
Koth of the Hammer wouldn't mind the permanent victory over the phyrexians
August 22, 2022 10:43 p.m.
ad12341987 says... #7
So urza once went to a plane known as equilor- where a great and ancient peoples resided, this was during his search for answers concerning phyrexia- the inhabitants there explained that phyrexia was but one of many threats to the order of things within the multiverse, but inevitably, as with most of the other “threats” would eventually cease to be a concern- on what level these things mattered to the people of equilor with their understanding of things I cannot say for certain, but for an elder race who exist on the far fringe of Dominia, the multiverse, so far removed from the nexus and leylines of Dominaria, it didn’t seem to matter much. The plane of equilor is faded and seemingly “devoid” of (colored)mana, covered in a fog that prohibits it from being discovered it also exhibits many strange and peculiar traits, such as a portion of “living” flesh based land- akin to that of phyrexia, albeit seemingly not machine. I may be incorrect on some of these notes but for those concerned with the lore involved I highly recommend reading up on the mtg wiki site- phyrexia, the thran, new phyrexia, etc-
wallisface says... #2
There’s no reason for the company to completely remove such a strong plot-element from their story. It’s likely that Phyrexia will just be beaten back to a subdued state to be reused as a villain arch many years later. Kindof how the Bolas arc ended
August 21, 2022 8:27 p.m.