The third chapter of Magic: The Gathering’s multi-set arc sees the biomechanical Phyrexian spread to take over the multiverse! And I was invited to a media event to experience in all its biomechanical glory!

Phyrexia has a special place in my heart, mainly because Foodtime Gaming has a special place in my heart. And his obsession & love for Phyrexia was infectious…. or should I say poisonous? It will make more sense as you find out a little more about this set.

I was lucky enough to do a podcast called Rather Be Draftin’ with the MTG encyclopedia, commander loving, pizza face himself, Foodtime (& MPNumbers, I better add him or the siblings will fight over my love 🙂 ). He had a passion & love for Phyrexia that I had never seen before. He spoke with such passion & love for the design, the gameplay & just the overall aesthetic of the theme. As soon as I heard about this set coming out, you can imagine how excited he was & the explosion of messages in our almost-dead discord group chat.

So this event was a long time coming & Double Jump Communications didn’t disappoint (not that they ever have, but this one was especially important for me). The event was hosted at Poodle Fitzroy, an amazing little restaurant & bar tucked behind a pub on Gertrude street. We were ushered upstairs & taking to our own private dining room under the watchful eye of Elesh Norn herself. With Mitch & Claire welcoming us & going over the set; Phyrexia: All Will Be One Jumpstart begins with excitement & a few Oil Slicks (the Poodles Custom Cocktail for the night)

As you can see, that Elesh Norn statue was amazing. I feel like everyone at the event was thinking, I WANT ONE! & of course, that is exactly what Double Jump did. They got the amazing team at Halzyrs’s 3d Emporium to make us one… it wasn’t this 4-foot beauty, yet it was awesome. Head over to the DezDoes Instagram to see it in all its a beauty!

I opened my first two back & after a quick read of the cards…. ok, let’s be real, I was looking at the amazing art of all the cards & quickly understood Foodtime’s love for Phyrexia in all its horror stylised glory. As we played, you could just tell there was something special about this set. As someone that has never before experienced Phyrexia; I think this could be my favorite set/theme or plane.

Phyrexia: All Will Be One Set

As you can see from the pictures, this looks like it has come from the mind of Guillermo del Toro. It is scary, yet inventive with monsters that look so unique & farfetched but just fit together. And yet, it isn’t the best part. There are 2 new Phyrexian-themed mechanics in this set with 2 more fan favorites returning:

The two new ones are:

• Corrupted – which rewards players who have opponents with three or more poison counters
• Oil Counters – which show the spread of Phyrexia throughout the planes of the Multiverse.

Returning

• Proliferate – with heavy synergy with both sets’ new mechanics.
• Poison Counters – make their return via the Toxic mechanic as a way for players to kill their opponents even faster than usual as they turn them to the side of Phyrexia.

The synergy of these mechanics together makes for some awesome gameplay & those poison counters add up quickly, especially when you add in Proliferate. Then when you finally think the worst is over, you have corruption coming in to boost a number of creatures, it makes for fast, thought-provoking games that can turn on a dime. I’ve been to heaps of these events over the years & seen so many sets, yet this has to be my favorite set & I already have several ideas for commander decks & to just buy packs to crack.

I can’t wait to play more of this & see how it affects the current standard. Not that I play, but I love watching how the new set changes the landscape & there are a number of cards I can see doing that!