We had our first glance of New Phyrexians in the story since they took over Mirrodin back in Kaldheim. That appearance wasn’t inconsequential. The Phyrexians, under the command of Elesh Norn, were carrying out a massive plan that would allow them to travel through the Blind Eternities and bring compleation and perfection to other planes.
Phyrexia: All Will Be One is the third part of a four-part story arc centered around New Phyrexia’s invasion of the Multiverse. It started with Dominaria United and will end with March of the Machine. Other sets (like Kaldheim, Streets of New Capenna, and Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty) served as a sort of setup for this storyline while March of the Machine: The Aftermath will act as an epilogue to it.
Phyrexia: All Will Be One follows a team of ten planeswalkers, introduced at the end of The Brothers’ War secondary stories, as they carry out a special mission to stop the Phyrexians. Their plan consists of activating a replica of the Golgothian Sylex at the base of the fake World Tree, called Realmbreaker, to prevent the Phyrexians from traveling into other planes
Phyrexia: All Will Be One Setting
This set takes place immediately after the second Phyrexian Invasion of Dominaria begins, which is the game’s present day. The story starts in New Phyrexia as the team of planeswalkers arrives on the plane to carry out their mission. They arrive on the plane’s outermost layer and must make their way down to the core of the plane and the roots of the Realmbreaker.
New Phyrexia is a very Dante’s Inferno kind of place in that it’s divided into nine spheres, or layers. This reflects the original Phyrexia’s geography which was based on Dante’s portrayal of hell as divided into nine different layers with specific purposes.
The Nine Spheres of New Phyrexia are:
The Monumental Façade: A completely artificial layer built upon Mirrodin’s original surface that acts as a barrier between the old surface and the plane’s Five Suns. This layer is adorned with monuments and temples glorifying the Praetors and Phyrexia in general.
Mirrex: Mirrodin’s original surface. Between the brutal harvesting of resources carried out by the Phyrexians and its forceful isolation from the plane’s Five Suns, this sphere was left a withering wasteland. Most of the Mirran Resistance resides here as nomadic groups.
The Autonomous Furnace: The first of the Praetor-ruled spheres. This layer is red-aligned and under the rule of Urabrask. It’s full of molten-metal rivers, and it’s where new machines are built. Resistance members can pass through the Furnace Sphere with relative safety thanks to Urabrask’s decree to let them be.
The Hunter Maze: These green-aligned metal forests ruled by Vorinclex are a massive hunting ground where the only real law is survival of the fittest.
The Surgical Bays: This layer is blue-aligned, and it works under Jin-Gitaxias’s orders. It’s home to massive laboratories where inhumane acts of torture and experimentation are carried out. Eyes are prevalent on this sphere as its inhabitants wish to observe, understand, and study everything and anything, leaving nothing undetected.
The Dross Pits: The acidic fumes and pools of the Dross were extremely hostile to any form of life even before Phyrexia turned it into its black-aligned sphere. Those lucky to survive within the most toxic and infectious of the spheres are taken to Sheoldred’s arena to fight. Those who win are rewarded with the possibility to take their opponents apart and graft their parts onto themselves. Sheoldred rules this sphere along with the other six Steel Thanes.
The Fair Basilica: The white-aligned layer of New Phyrexia isn’t only governed by Elesh Norn, it’s also designed in her image. Marble-like materials, metallic porcelain, and exposed muscle and flesh make up the layer’s building materials. The sphere is full of monuments and statues in honor of its Praetor, and columns of the ossified bodies of those she considers perfect adorn the place.
The Mycosynth Gardens: Previously the core of what was once Mirrodin, this layer is now covered in columns of Mycosynth, a fungal-like material that’s a byproduct of the glistening oil’s corruption of Mirrodin. Elesh Norn is highly protective of this and the final layer, forbidding even other Praetors to enter without her consent.
The Seedcore: The very center and innermost layer of New Phyrexia. This sphere serves as the incubation chamber for the Realmbreaker, and it’s where its roots take hold
Now that I’ve set up our setting stay tuned to our site to get the rest in a part two next weekend