A Study in Compleation: Phyrexia and the Glistening Oil | Magic: The Gathering Lore 

I’m OBSESSED with Phyrexian lore It’s so cryptic and evil

My hot take: Urabrask will be key in defeating new phyrexians and will rise to become the new father of machines

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.

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

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.

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

Now that we have Spelljammer, I want a Phrexian setting and Monster Manual

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.

With all the sneaky praetor action we've been seeing lately I wouldn't be surprised if dominaria united is code for dominaria compleated.

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

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!

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

Very informative: from the history of its glistening oil to the different Phyrexian factions and its characteristics. Love it! ❤️

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

God, finally someone who is doing lore videos that knows how to read and has a voice for radio. Great work.

The level of detail in your narration was apparent. But with details such as mentioning the pluripotent organisms… this is amazing thanks for this

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!!!

Glad to see this faction covered. Hope to see more factions like the Guilds of Ravnica.

Another great video on lore there really isn't as many in-depth videos as you'd think. Thanks again for the great content!

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

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.

The flesh is weak. Who are you to reject the gifts of the Omnissiah?

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.

Phyrexia is an enticing idea for an antagonist. I wonder who coined it on the writing table?

Dude your videos are so well made

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

Awesome. Just the video I was waiting for

Urza Planeswalker has some serious Steve Minecraft vibes.

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

bout time! ive been looking forward to this all day

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

I really love these videos, 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.

Increadible video, thanks a lot to you !

Fantastic work as always

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.

How can we get the soundtrack you use for this and The Fall of Nicol Bolas

Interestingly, "phyresis" seems to come from the greek word for "forging"

of all the dedicated asimilator races from sci fi and fantasy the phyrexians are still my favorite. Magic Borg lol

This is a beautiful video, thank you!

The layers in Phyrexia remind me of the layers in hell from dantes inferno

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!!!

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)

Great video! I love the Phyrexians. I have to say I am a fan of New Phyrexia more than old though!

Amazing video. Where is the animation from in the intro of Jin-Gitaxias fighting Kaito(?)? Never seen that before.

Best channel for lore!!!

Thanks again

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

Urabrask will turn New Phyrexia into a thriving, libertarian paradise and the sweetest holiday destination in the multiverse

This is the coolest MTG lore

I love all of phyrexia!

I think it is interesting that so much knowledge survived when they were almost destroyed.

original, pure black phyrexia > modern shiny nonsense phyrexia sadly, you can't change my mind banger of a vid tho, 10/10

What's the origina source for those two videos in the intro?

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...

dude, thank you.

Jace, Tamiyo, Nissa, Nahiri... they left behind something on Innistrad which requires compleation

Awesome video…what anime were you showing?

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.

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

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.

I have a phyrexian poison deck and wanted to learn more about the awesome and horrific cards in my deck

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 😎🤘

I’d love to be able to listen to these stories in the form of a podcast

My only fear is that Phyrexia will be destroyed before I can achieve Perfection. All will be one

Karn will be used to reprogram phyrexian nanites- perhaps sacrificing him. Urabrask, Espeth, a World tree expert, and Tafiri will be all be needed

How crazy would it be of karn made old phyrexia in the past via time travel not knowing what it would become.

0:42 and 31"34 Where is that from?

How is called card from which is pulled art work at 7:10

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?

Question, were does atraxa fit in this, she was created by the leaders correct?

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?

This feels very reminiscent of how Vasto Lordes from bleach are formed

From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh, it disgusted me. I will make a Phyrexian Commander Deck soon.

Some kind of five colour yawgmoth reborn planeswalker, calling it now

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.

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.

Will you do an eldrazi vid soon pls?

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

This was my phavorite block.

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

Interesting choice in Dark Ritual art, there is one relatable to the topic.

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

Where are the animated clips from?

I for one welcome perfection and our Phyrexiian overlords. May we all reach conpleation!

I thought og phyrexia was mostly black mana. Or does the black show up after Yawgmoths take over?

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!

Ironic the white aligned praetor is the one in charge

so phyrexia is like turbo charged fascism?

Whats that anime he plays in between the clips

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.

0:36 anyone know what show this is

I know it won’t happen, but I would love to yawgmoth return.

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!

Was that an MTG anime scene I saw? Where do I watch that lol

Who is the character at the beginning of the video

❤cool I like lore stuff. 🙋🏾‍♀️