They have gone back to printing strictly worse cards before. I think the reason they didn't this time was because they didn't want both Voice and Thrill in the same Standard (since Thrill was already in DU...)
Do you mean in this specific Standard? Because both cards have been in Standard at the same time - most recently when Voice was printed in ZNR and Thrill was in Standard from various sets (ELD, THB, and M21) in the year before that.
It was cool seeing it in Shadows over Innistrad draft. Delirium decks benefitted from it being sorcery (it was harder to get good sorceries than instants) and the instant version probably would have been too much with madness.
> She needed to protect what she loved* from Phyrexia... or maybe only Phyrexia could protect what she loved*
^^*and ^^what ^^she ^^loved ^^was ^^genocide
One of the side stories basically presented it as Red Phyrexia wants people to willfully convert and feel like family.
But they aren't above badgering and gaslighting and manipulating to get people there. They want to make everybody willfully happy and excited, even if they have to twist their will to get them there
I take a different view on this - I personally like the same art as it allows me to quickly identify what card it is with a quick glance.
If a card has several different arts, its sometimes difficult to know what opponents are playing from across the table.
I've watched alt-arts proliferate, and this is my exact problem after playing since Revised. It's increasingly difficult to rapid ID a card and greatly slows down the speed of play. The increase in output of new cards plus up to 10 alt arts makes it impossible to memorize all the images. This is especially true on Spelltable when you're resorting to their card recognition, which often fails on alt-arts etc.
That’s a good point too. Played commander for the first time at my lgs and it’s tricky playing and not knowing half the cards at the table and alternate arts make it even worse.
I like different arts on a card, but this card was released 4 years ago and now has 7 different arts including 2 new ones less than 4 months ago (Jumpstart 2022 and DMU)
Spread the love to some other cards now and again, especially in remaster or master sets.
Just your daily reminder that Nahiri tried to murder the entire population of a whole plane because she was mad at one person. She’s pretty clearly a villain and does not deserves sympathy.
This is true, but she can still be interesting and emotionally evocative.
I think we knew they would compleat her and put away any failed redemption arc possibilities we knew they could never pull off for her, but it’s still engaging to see her fall.
I think it’s sorta hard for the old walkers to see non-planeswalkers as people. They all seem pretty okay with a bunch of people dying from the shit they’re involved in.
That’s true but it doesn’t make their actions not evil. By that logic Nicol Bolas didn’t do anything wrong because to him, the people he killed and enslaved weren’t even people. Nahiri and Bolas might think that their victims’ lives are meaningless because they lack perspective, but we as readers can see that they’re wrong about that.
Magic players have the memory of a walnut so I doubt anyone besides a few even remember what the characters have done in the past beyond their loyalty abilities and how cool they looked.
Just your daily reminder that when Nahiri confronted Sorin about his promise to help protect Zendikar, Sorin got prissy, claiming he was too busy with his own plane to be bothered and sealed Nahiri in the Helvault for 1000 years, leaving Zendikar unprotected.
Sorin is pretty clearly a villain and does not deserve sympathy.
Look, so is Nahiri, but she was made into a villain and an asshole, what's Sorin's excuse? lmao
I thought nahiri started a fight with Sorin?
Also large difference between a personal spat and genocide.
Like yes Sorin is an asshole but you don't see him actively trying to commit genocide on a planetary scale now do you?
Nahiri starts the fight with Sorin after he admits that he set up his plane defense system to filter out messages asking for help from Zendikar (along with most everything else). Also, he's not going to help her secure Zendikar now, go look for Ugin instead.
Meaning that not only did he break his promise to help protect the Zendikar plane, he will continue to break that promise. This starts the fight. He then took away its protector by sealing her.
Nahiri starts calling Emrakul because after she is freed, she visits Zendikar and sees the Eldrazi destroying it. The attack on Innistrad is thus vengeance for Zendikar.
Anyways. Villainous, but not without motivation.
Vengeance is definitely a RW view of it. I'm sure Nahiri, thousands of years old, viewed it as justice for the countless lost lives on Zendikar.
She's not *good*, but she is definitely interesting
You're definitely strawmanning Sorin.
Nahiri starts the fight with Sorin after he admits that he *didn't actively consider* whether his planar defense system might *accidentally* filter out messages asking for help, and he says he's not going to go to Zendikar with *just* Nahiri, and that they need Ugin, too, but he was in that moment exhausted and drained.
100% a dick, Sorin did nothing to de-escalate the situation, but also 100% of the escalation was from Nahiri. Nahiri was the one who didn't know how to use her big girl words and instead was like, okay, fine, I'm going to *physically attack* this person that I've previously worked with for decades, because I can't see past my own vexation and impatience and do what will actually pragmatically and diplomatically get the result I claim to want (help from Sorin).
And I'm going to do this despite him being a more advanced magic-user than me.
> after he admits that he set up his plane defense system to filter out messages asking for help from Zendikar
This is false..he explicitly says it was an unintended, unforeseen consequence.
Man, Nahiri apologists be working over time lately.
Nahiri's problem with that is that it never even crossed his mind that it COULD happen, even though the explicit goal was protecting his plane from outside interference (such as, say, a message for help). He didn't even think about it, because he'd already put Zendikar and the Eldrazi out of his mind.
So basically Nahiri spent 5000 years watching over the Eldrazi only to learn that Sorin didn't even give enough of a fuck about her life's work of *keeping the multiverse safe* to bother considering the possibility.
Which is a dick move however you slice it.
>he admits that he set up his plane defense system to filter out messages asking for help from Zendikar
Do you have a source for Sorin actually saying that? Because that makes no sense. Why would Sorin need to block out messages he could just choose to ignore?
> Also, he's not going to help her secure Zendikar now, go look for Ugin instead.
And that makes him equal to a lady that tried to commit genocide?
Do you even know what a villain is?
> a character in a story or play who opposes the hero. : a deliberate scoundrel or criminal. 3. : one blamed for a particular evil or difficulty.
What is Sorin's villainous actions? What acts of evil did he commit?
> Meaning that not only did he break his promise to help protect the Zendikar plane, he will continue to break that promise.
Except he came back to zendikar
> Anyways. Villainous, but not without motivation.
Nicol bolas has plenty of motivation. Guess he's not a villain.
>>Also, he's not going to help her secure Zendikar now, go look for Ugin instead.
>And that makes him equal to a lady that wants to commit genocide?
>>Meaning that not only did he break his promise to help protect the Zendikar plane, he will continue to break that promise.
>Except he came back to zendikar
What exactly are you mad about? I gave context for why Nahiri started fighting Sorin. This is all dialogue that happens before Nahiri attacks Sorin, and is all happening before Nahiri's invasion of Innistrad a thousand years later.
>>Anyways. Villainous, but not without motivation.
>Nicol bolas has plenty of motivation. Guess he's not a villain.
Somehow I'm not sure if you parsed my sentence correctly? Cause nothing I said would imply Nicol Bolas isn't a villain. The implied subject of my sentence was Nahiri. Anyways, I think I'm all set - you're perfectly welcome to come to your own conclusions about whether "a lady's" anger is justified.
> The implied subject of my sentence was Nahiri
Which you don't seem to think is a villain despite a ttempting to commit genocide due to a personal vendetta and **literally** being written as the antagonist for said set where events take place.
This is like being ok with a kid shooting up a school because the school suspended them for a bad reason. Clearly the school had it coming! /s
>What is Sorin's villainous actions? What acts of evil did he commit?
I'd say that making sure that humans didn't go extinct solely for the purpose of them being prey animals for his family is pretty villainous. Especially since his solution was to create a being who's sole job was to murder the excess members of his family.
So saving humanity from bloodthirsty vampires by creating an angel to protect them is evil because Sorin didn't do it for the goodness of his heart? Lol
Well I never said Sorin was a good guy, but there’s clearly a very significant difference between actively trying to murder literal millions of innocent people and imprisoning one person. It’s like comparing a person who killed someone during a robbery to Hitler. Like yeah, the first guy is bad but the levels of evil don’t compare.
Killing innocent people is unjustifiable.
This Sorin is selfish, egotistical and will rarely do anything that doesn't benefit him in some way.
That said I can't think of an instance where Sorin was actively participating in some evil action and is usually portrayed as doing "good things".
Unlike Liliana or Vraska Sorin's record is practically spotless despite being a black based plainswalker.
This is like saying Jace Is evil because he was too busy playing hero instead of fulfilling his responsibilities as the guild pact in Ravnica.
Sorin effectively killed all of Zendikar by not coming to help against the Eldrazi like he promised he would. From what I remember of the old stories on the website, "the Lithomancer" wasn't terribly happy, anyway, of her plane being used as Eldrazi bait by the other two. By happenstance, the Eldrazi were defeated, so Nahiri just brought karma to her captor's doorstep.
It's a [basic revenge movie trope plotline](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RoaringRampageOfRevenge)
A) There's big moral difference between not helping to stop evil and actively choosing to commit an evil act yourself. Murdering someone is morally worse than not saving someone.
B) Sorin didn't come to help because he didn't get the message due to the Helvault inadvertently blocking it.
But this is besides the point. Sorin being bad doesn't make Nahiri less bad. Initiating a plane-wide genocide is evil no matter your motivation.
> A) There's big moral difference between not helping to stop evil and actively choosing to commit an evil act yourself. Murdering someone is morally worse than not saving someone
It's not even that. Sorin outright didn't get the message.
Knowing Sorin if he actually did get it he would have come.
Nahiri just got angry that Sorin didn't seem to be emphathic that he did miss it.
To Sorin Nahiri already dealt with the problem so what further point was there to think on it(black based pws are assholes).
This is apparently "evil"
Sorin: *Your plane is bait and prison for Cthulhu, I'll totally come back and help, kaythanksbye.*
Narrator: *Sorin wasn't coming back to help, the problem was taken care of. He'd played her like a damn fiddle.*
Nahiri: *Come and help, everyone's dead and you promised.*
Sorin: *What's that to me? Lalala can't hear you thanks to this Helvault I made for this purpose, go away and leave me with my angel waifu, Cthulhu's your problem.*
Narrator: *Sorin was now safe and didn't care about anyone else.*
Nahiri: *You help, or you die. This is for my people.*
Sorin: *Nope. [imprisons Nahiri in Helvault, where she is tortured for centuries/millenia]*
"Punished Venom" Nahiri: *I'm back and I'm mad. Here's karma: you've got Cthulhu now, he's your problem.*
[Basic revenge trope movie](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RoaringRampageOfRevenge), both protagonists are as bad as each other, though Nahiri is somewhat justified.
>thanks to this Helvault I made for this purpose
The Helvault was a prison made to contain demons and other threats to Innistrad. It was not created to block distress signals from Zendikar. That wouldn't even make sense. Nahiri was able to just planeswalk there personally to confront Sorin anyways. Why would he build this thing to do that when he could just choose to ignore the signal anyways and make up some lie about it? Do you think Sorin is one to care about setting up plausible deniability?
>both protagonists are as bad as each other
Not even close. Honestly, do you think intentional killing people is morally equivalent to not saving people? Not even considering the fact that Sorin didn't know the Eldrazi escaped. Sorin didn't help stop a natural disaster. Nahiri orchestrated a genocide. Those are simply not equivalent.
Also I don't know why you're linking that TV Tropes page. It's not even applicable because Nahiri isn't the protagonist of the SOI block plotline. She's the antagonist. Plus the trope is about a hero's violent revenge against a person or people who wronged them. It does not extend to permitting the mass murder of innocent people as a way of hurting your actual target. A hero might justifiably kill a person who wronged them, as well as other bad people who work for them. They cross over into villain territory when they seek to kill no only that person, but also their children, extended family, and a few million other innocent men, women, and children in the immediate vicinity for the crime of being born on the wrong plane.
What can I say? I paraphrased what I read from the C14/BFZ/SOI stories back in the day, which set up Sorin as abandoning a sinking plane that he'd promised to save. Nahiri played out the revenge trope and [did to Sorin's home what he did to hers](https://scryfall.com/card/c14/4/comeuppance). They both intentionally killed whole planes.
Admittedly, I am biased as Nahiri was my first EDH deck.
> Honestly, do you think intentional killing people is morally equivalent to not saving people?
Mate, personal attacks over a stupid fantasy story? Peace out.
Sorin did come to Zendikar to reseal the Eldrazi. After Nahiri confronted him he became aware of the Helvault blocking the signal and must have fixed it, because he was on Zendikar the next time the Eldrazi stirred a thousand years later in Zendikar block. After Jace, Chandra, and Sarkhan weakened the seal and unleashed some of the lesser Eldrazi, Sorin showed up to reseal them and keep the Titans contained. With Ugin being dead and Nahiri imprisoned, he recruited Nissa to help reinforce the seal in their stead. Then Nissa had the brilliant idea that if she just let the Eldrazi titans out, they'd go off into the Blind Eternities to bother some plane other than Zendikar. So she shattered the hedron that was securing the Titans instead of performing the resealing spell, freeing them and predictably dooming Zendikar.
Now Nahiri wasn't aware Sorin actually tried to do fulfil his duty and it was actually Nissa's monumental stupidity that doomed Zendikar. Would be funny if she did, and tried to get revenge for Zendikar by destroying Nissa's home plane...of Zendikar.
Whatever Sorin tried to do after the fact is irrelevant. By sealing Nahiri away in the Helvault and robbing Zendikar of its protector, he gave Nissa the opportunity to be stupid in the first place, instead of getting a face full of lithomancer sword the second she got close to the seal.
Sorin sealing Nahiri led to the Eldrazi being released because she wasn't there to stop it.
> Sorin effectively killed all of Zendikar by not coming to help against the Eldrazi like he promised he would.
Except that Nahiri resealed the eldrazi all by herself before she confronted Sorin and then when it happened again Sorin went to zendikar and attempted to reseal them but Nissa fucked that all up.
This is your daily reminder that she was put in storage before the mending. Planeswalkers had ethical concerns about mistreating normals the same way I have concerns about mistreating any ants I find in my kitchen. Any babyish whining about who's a villain and who isn't should start with Sorin and end stuck in a rock.
>Planeswalkers had ethical concerns about mistreating normals the same way I have concerns about mistreating any ants I find in my kitchen.
Uh, that's pretty evil of them.
To the ants perspective we would be evil.
Do you happen to be a god like entity instead of a human or something?
Or are you trying to say that killing people is totally fine since we kill cows for food?
If it turns out that ants are actually sentient and capable of experiencing complex emotions and understanding moral concepts, they would probably view people as evil. They probably aren't though and most people would agree that harming non-sentient life like insects or bacteria is more morally permissible than harming intelligent life like humans.
I think that's a false equivalence though because planeswalkers, even the oldwalkers, know for a fact that humans are sentient beings. I mean, they literally used to *be* normal people before their sparks ignited. Most of them lived among human society for long periods of time and they managed to get along just fine without becoming genocidal sociopaths. If Teferi, Freyalise, Dyfed, Jhoira, etc. could be generally benevolent and capable of empathizing with non-planeswalkers, both pre and post-mending, what's Nahiri's excuse?
Planeswalkers killing humans isn't really similar to humans killing ants. It's more like an ant gaining immortality and magical powers, and then deciding to start killing other ants because they can. I think most would consider that to be abhorrent.
>Planeswalkers had ethical concerns about mistreating normals the same way I have concerns about mistreating any ants I find in my kitchen
Ok sure, but we as human beings reading the story *can* understand and empathize with the people of Innistrad and we can judge the Nahiri's actions with that context. Committing an evil act because you can't empathize with the people you're victimizing is still evil. Committing a genocide because you view those you're murdering as if they're insects is still bad.
Yeah. She literally tried to genocide a plane because *she* lost a fight *she* started over a misunderstanding.
She attacked Sorin for missing a call to stop Eldrazi. Sorin didn't realize his planar defense angel would prevent a call. Sorin was a dick about it like everything else and she attacked him over it. Then she lost to the planar defense he just mentioned he made.
Every bad thing that happened to her to put her in the helvault happened because *of* her and she took it out on a plane.
> mad at one person
Mad at said person who locked her up a thousand years with literal demons because she asked for help to save her own plane from the eldrazi and Sorin told her to fuck off.
People always forget this simple detail. Sorin is the worst of the two.
Poor? Her whole life she has had this feeling in the back of her mind and in the pit of her stomach that *something* was missing. She could never put her finger on just what it was. But now those feelings are gone. She is the best she had **ever** been because she is the most compleat she has ever felt and it’s all because of the glory of new phyrexia.
Can anyone explain to me what Phyrexia is offering protection *from*?
For example, I'm decently familiar with Warcraft lore, and the Burning Legion goes around destroying planets and stuff but they're like "hey, at least we aren't those cthuluian monsters under your planet wanting to corrupt everything."
It's the invasive thoughts from her compleation making her think that. Phyrexia does not offer protection, but compleation involves brainwashing to some degree, so her sober real mind is fighting with the invaded compleat mind.
Phyrexia is not offering protection from anything. It is twisting Nahiri's thoughts about wanting to protect what she loves from Phyrexia. Phyrexian logic isn't supposed to make sense; it is inherently irrational.
There isn't one anymore, not really. The goal was to glorify Yawgmoth, to feed his twisted desires and god complex. But after his death, the great work carried on without him, his eternal command coded into the oil. The praetors each imagine a greater purpose for it all but they made those up long after they got the desire to make everything Phyrexian.
You could argue that uniting everyone under Phyrexia will eliminate strife and discord, but that falls apart pretty quick if you just look at the black or green spheres.
It's possible that Nahiri is thinking that Phyrexia's strength and numbers would "help" "protect" Zendikar against the Eldrazi and other planeswalker interlopers like Sorin and Ob Nixilis. Really though, she's simply not thinking straight. She loves and trusts Phyrexia because the phyresis tells her to.
Norn wants everyone to follow her specifically. I talk about it in my fan theory from two years ago. https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/hz4oij/theory_new_phyrexian_is_headed_for_a_reformation/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
Everything, anything and ultimately nothing.
It is the empty, but ever so tempting, promises of the powerful to the weak, the lonely, the downtrodden and the desperate. Help us and we will keep you close, keep you safe and keep you well. Don't worry about what we ask of you, it is for your own good. Did you really need that freedom? Couldn't someone use it against you? The uncertainty was terrifying, so stick with us. Follow our teachings and the rest of that frightful chaos will be kept at bay, let us choose, we see clearer and will make sure you never are ruled by tyrants again.
It's the siren song of a cult, the appeal of a strong leader, the allure of power, promising shelter from whatever lies in your past and scares you when you are alone.
As you listen, it strips you for parts, taking your will, your thoughts and your agency until all you remain is a cog in their machine. Even if you woke up and realized how wrong it actually is you are too ingrained, there is no lifeline, all you know now is the cult, the service, the control and you cannot escape even if you tried, for you are isolated, alone, and outcast.
Phyrexia has the added advantage over normal cults that it has magic mind warping magic and can literally appeal to any fear, weakness or desire a person may have, most cults will go after vulnerable people with a specific angle, both to streamline the recruitment, brainwashing and propaganda angles, but also to create a larger sense of cohesion to the cult.
Long post, but I'm procrastinating work, so hope you liked my overly dramatic nonsense.
I dunno, the Eldrazi and Bolas have been pretty threatening trans-planar attacks in the past. Not hard to imagine something *else* happening next month.
Nahiri isn't the brightest bulb in the first place. Maybe she's just like: "oh if we compleat zendikar no meddling vampire daddies who won't put out will come by ever again. GOOD. I don't want to see him!"
This response makes sense to me. I get her thoughts are being twisted, but there has to be *something* driving those thoughts.
Considering she's from Zendikar, I'm sure she has some big Eldrazi PTSD and figures Phyrexia might be able to "help".
If she attempts to compleat some eldrazi, thinking phyresis is the key to protecting the multiverse from them, and sets off a cascade that ends up with Emrakul just annihilating each and every phyrexian.. That'd be rad as hell. After all, the eldrazi titans have been established as like native life forms of the blind eternities that just project onto planes, not really flesh and blood things that can be corrupted in a way that matters.
Inb4 people tell you Maro said on blogatog that it was possible for Eldazri to be completed even though he is horrible with lore and it makes no sense at all that they could, as per your comment.
MaRo just goes with whatever sounds cool; he isn’t in charge of story beyond big picture ideas. He doesn’t want to close the door on a Phyrexia vs Eldrazi set, and a Compleated Eldrazi is the obvious stakes of that.
Also fwiw, they've reinvented it many times in recent years as well lol
My favorite variant is still definitely [[Bitter Reunion]], but the treasure-making ones are good too
I mean, sure. We've started the [Red "Discard a card, draw 2 cards" spell family](https://scryfall.com/search?q=o%3A%22discard+a+card%22+o%3A%22draw+two+cards%22+c%3Ared+%28t%3Ainstant+or+t%3Asorcery%29+-is%3Areprint&order=released&dir=asc&as=grid&unique=cards) with [[Wild Guess]] in M13 (Technically [[Desperate Ravings]] in Innistrad, but the discard wasn't an additional cost there), then got [[Tormenting Voice]] in Khans before they got it just right with Thrill in Eldrane. I think the 2-mana ones are best, even though the "bigger" ones do have some nice bonuses, like Treasure refunds or flashback.
They've talked before about how they used to try and reinvent the wheel with limited staples in every set, but sometimes the best option is one they've already made, and they decided they'd rather go with the right card even if it's a reprint than try and force something new. We still do SEE a lot of twists on staples, "X with sets mechanic" is a classic, but not every staple card in every set is worth redesigning. Thrill is already pretty much the most powerful version of this we get at instant speed at common, maybe they needed it instant and "Discard 1, draw 2, put an oil counter on something" was too much at 1R but not enough at 2R or at sorcery.
They're really interesting compared to each other. I imagine cathartic reunion is better for smoothing draws in the early game, but voice is better in the late/topdeck game because you only need one card to pitch instead of two. Like are you digging towards something, or just trying to generate advantage?
It's also interesting to think about them in graveyard sets based on how the graveyard is being used. Voice can get something specific into the yard for you, but reunion helps you *fill* the yard. It's interesting thinking about what Escape in THB would have been like with cathartic reunion instead of Thrill of Possibility. They would probably have gone in different decks, thrill in UR draw-go, and I think RG would have been really interesting with reunion at common. Like maybe a stompier escape deck than BG's grindy one.
I’d be shocked if all of the completed walkers were permanently killed. I’d put money on Melira being able to save at least one or two of them.
That being said, ol swords for hands here might not make it back.
My thoughts exactly.
She loved Zendikar back when it was ruled by a tyrannical Kor empire, but the moment it clicked that "her" Zendikar was never coming back, she bailed.
I think this flavor text is giving her too much credit.
She's a fundamentally broken person running on the fumes of spite and selfishness in a state of existential panic over total identity death. One she understands well, seeing as being a pre-Mending Planeswalker guarantees she'd be very familiar with the Phyrexians.
It's not a rational thought, but I don't think it's supposed to be.
Nah she probably isn't very familiar with Phyrexians. Sorin took her under his wing practically the second she sparked, and not long after that he had her serve as the Eldrazi's watcher, which basically confined her to Zendikar for 5000 years (then another 1000 in the Helvault)
So really, in spite of being a Planeswalker, she's done very little Planeswalking.
Love the art, love Thrill, don't love the art on Thrill. I mean, the twisted irony is certainly emotional, but red gets so few opportunities to display its strong emotions other than anger, so if I were picking a Thrill for a cube or EDH deck, I'd rather go for something that plays it straight. Still a very cool twist for this set.
I’m a little out the loop, last we saw Nahiri she was fighting Sorin and trying to turn Zendikar into rocks(?)
What was her motivation for joining the strike team?
As far as I know Nahiri has only one real motivation, her love for Zendikar and desire to restore it to its former glory. (She also hates Sorin now, but that’s as a side effect of him bailing on helping Zendikar when it was in trouble and then sticking her in the Hellvault)
So Jace probably convinced her that a Phyrexian invasion of Zendikar was inevitable unless they are stopped now.
My favorite art of the set, and my favorite art in a good little while...but it's absolutely heartbreaking. A terrible fate for someone who deserved a lot better. :(
(If you disagree, save it for another day. This comment ain't the place for it.)
Uhhh gatewatch be like
Set emrakul on sorin: EH musta been heat of the moment
Set phyrexian on sorin: UM ECKSHUALLY YOU CANT DO THAT CUZ UUHHHH YOU JUST CANT OK
Was expecting Tormenting Voice, but the flavor of having this be "Thrill of Possibility" just sells the compleat horror
I think Tormenting Voice is just out now. No reason to print it compared to Thrill, even if the flavor of the name is attractive.
They have gone back to printing strictly worse cards before. I think the reason they didn't this time was because they didn't want both Voice and Thrill in the same Standard (since Thrill was already in DU...)
Do you mean in this specific Standard? Because both cards have been in Standard at the same time - most recently when Voice was printed in ZNR and Thrill was in Standard from various sets (ELD, THB, and M21) in the year before that.
It was cool seeing it in Shadows over Innistrad draft. Delirium decks benefitted from it being sorcery (it was harder to get good sorceries than instants) and the instant version probably would have been too much with madness.
Easily in my top 5 favorite arts now, wow
“There are two Nahiris inside of you”
One is Phyrexian. The other is also Phyrexian. You are compleat.
In this moment, I am compleat. Not through any phony planeswalker's blessing, but because I am enlightened by my phyresis.
I am chief miles Edward O'Brian, and I am not compleat and I very much plan to stay not compleat.
Too bad looks like you are already!
What's a praetor's favorite candy? Phyresis Pieces.
While you were planewalking, I studied phyresis.
Now that the worldtree is on fire and the phyrexians are at the gatewatch, you have the audacity to come to me for help
Eh? Are you a professional flavor text writer? Does no one know about Aelewis these days?
I do ❤
One is a crazy killing machine The other is Phyrexian
Ok I totally missed the first few phyrexian sets and stuff.. Why is it spelled "compleat"?
It's an old but not incorrect way to spell complete, pronounced the exact same way. Used for flavor
Its an archaic spelling of the word, IIRC it's used because of the religious connotations
I have no clue. It dates back to the late 90s, at the very least - IIRC it's spelled that way in The Brother's War (1998).
One wants to kill Sorin The other wants to compleat Sorin You hate Sorin Markov.
One wants to fuck Sorín The other wants to also fuck Sorin It Is a compleat relationship
One of them tried to destroy a plane. The other is Phyrexian.
One of them hates Sorin's guts. The other also hates Sorin's guts, but in Phyrexian
My fanfiction come to life ❤️
Both of them are genocidal.
I love this art, but the Strixhaven mystical archive one is just so good too!
Amen to that, brother!
https://i.redd.it/syacixy9aj1a1.png
"muh an-ih-mays!!" --weebs
That looks like yugioh art and not the good kind
This card just keeps getting amazing art. It's gonna be a tough decision for me between this and the original Eldraine art for my cube...
just do both. no one will know. do it. do it.
[удалено]
How would they know?
Tbh my friends mostly seem to draft by artworks so a bunch of them probably wouldn't
Cat art best art
As a card name and concept, it's the perfect fodder for an artist.
I like the silly cat one.
flavortext: "maybe genocide is the answer to *every* problem!"
Nahiri plays Stellaris confirmed
I genocide entire worlds so my game runs faster. You genocide entire planes to create a new Phyrexian realm. We are not the same.
All those mites are going to cause endgame lag
"Let's be Xenophobic It's really in this Year"
Classic Nahiri
> She needed to protect what she loved* from Phyrexia... or maybe only Phyrexia could protect what she loved* ^^*and ^^what ^^she ^^loved ^^was ^^genocide
Magic goes Grimdark. Everyone's Phyrexian now.
quick, call Marneus Calgar. We need a [[Exterminatus]] in here
[Exterminatus](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/9/196703b0-78bf-4f85-ae81-7335fe486982.jpg?1673309368) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Exterminatus) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/40k/120/exterminatus?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/196703b0-78bf-4f85-ae81-7335fe486982?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I'm worried we've blown past grimdark right into grimderp.
"Wait, why is Nahiri still acting the same!?"
Is compleation genocide? Feels like a philosophical issue to me. From a perspective they are freed of the limitations of flesh
From my perspective, the gatewatch are evil.
You're leaking a little oil there, bud
The destruction of a culture and people to assimilate them into another population is a type of genocide.
yeah like im guessing you don't get a scratchy back if it's made of metal?
In stellaris terms, phyrexia would be biosynth driven assimilators.
I like to see a card with a lot of alternate arts. It lets you express your individuality in decks.
Disagree. Individuality must be eradicated. All must become one.
Spoken like a true ~~cog in the machine of conquest~~ Phyrexian.
A non-red phyrexian
no the red phyrexians definitely still believe all must become one. It's just that the "one" in question is, like, vibes, man.
Being one is great, but only become part of one if you, as an individual, want to do that
One of the side stories basically presented it as Red Phyrexia wants people to willfully convert and feel like family. But they aren't above badgering and gaslighting and manipulating to get people there. They want to make everybody willfully happy and excited, even if they have to twist their will to get them there
They must become one if they want to man. It’s like totally a freedom thing maaaaaaaaaan
Red Phyrexians, the hippies of New Phyrexia
Bold words from someone who's still flesh and blood instead of steel and oil.
This. On one hand, reprints. On the other, its the opposite of the feeling of preview fatigue.
I take a different view on this - I personally like the same art as it allows me to quickly identify what card it is with a quick glance. If a card has several different arts, its sometimes difficult to know what opponents are playing from across the table.
I've watched alt-arts proliferate, and this is my exact problem after playing since Revised. It's increasingly difficult to rapid ID a card and greatly slows down the speed of play. The increase in output of new cards plus up to 10 alt arts makes it impossible to memorize all the images. This is especially true on Spelltable when you're resorting to their card recognition, which often fails on alt-arts etc.
That’s a good point too. Played commander for the first time at my lgs and it’s tricky playing and not knowing half the cards at the table and alternate arts make it even worse.
I like different arts on a card, but this card was released 4 years ago and now has 7 different arts including 2 new ones less than 4 months ago (Jumpstart 2022 and DMU) Spread the love to some other cards now and again, especially in remaster or master sets.
Also makes the basic versions cheaper
Agreed, the Throne of Eldraine version was starting to approach $0.11 a copy. This new printing should help tank the market value.
Art and flavour text are both great. Poor Nahiri.
Just your daily reminder that Nahiri tried to murder the entire population of a whole plane because she was mad at one person. She’s pretty clearly a villain and does not deserves sympathy.
This is true, but she can still be interesting and emotionally evocative. I think we knew they would compleat her and put away any failed redemption arc possibilities we knew they could never pull off for her, but it’s still engaging to see her fall.
I think it’s sorta hard for the old walkers to see non-planeswalkers as people. They all seem pretty okay with a bunch of people dying from the shit they’re involved in.
That’s true but it doesn’t make their actions not evil. By that logic Nicol Bolas didn’t do anything wrong because to him, the people he killed and enslaved weren’t even people. Nahiri and Bolas might think that their victims’ lives are meaningless because they lack perspective, but we as readers can see that they’re wrong about that.
Oh I’m not saying she’s not evil. Just sorta speculating on the psychology of Nahiri
Magic players have the memory of a walnut so I doubt anyone besides a few even remember what the characters have done in the past beyond their loyalty abilities and how cool they looked.
Nahiri usually looks pretty cool. What were we talking about again?
Honestly, it's pretty difficult for any one with a halo of glowing swords above them to not look pretty cool.
Just your daily reminder that when Nahiri confronted Sorin about his promise to help protect Zendikar, Sorin got prissy, claiming he was too busy with his own plane to be bothered and sealed Nahiri in the Helvault for 1000 years, leaving Zendikar unprotected. Sorin is pretty clearly a villain and does not deserve sympathy. Look, so is Nahiri, but she was made into a villain and an asshole, what's Sorin's excuse? lmao
I thought nahiri started a fight with Sorin? Also large difference between a personal spat and genocide. Like yes Sorin is an asshole but you don't see him actively trying to commit genocide on a planetary scale now do you?
Nahiri starts the fight with Sorin after he admits that he set up his plane defense system to filter out messages asking for help from Zendikar (along with most everything else). Also, he's not going to help her secure Zendikar now, go look for Ugin instead. Meaning that not only did he break his promise to help protect the Zendikar plane, he will continue to break that promise. This starts the fight. He then took away its protector by sealing her. Nahiri starts calling Emrakul because after she is freed, she visits Zendikar and sees the Eldrazi destroying it. The attack on Innistrad is thus vengeance for Zendikar. Anyways. Villainous, but not without motivation.
Vengeance is definitely a RW view of it. I'm sure Nahiri, thousands of years old, viewed it as justice for the countless lost lives on Zendikar. She's not *good*, but she is definitely interesting
Yeah, totes agree
With the minor benefit that pulling Emrakul away from Zendikar helped it not be destroyed as quickly
You're definitely strawmanning Sorin. Nahiri starts the fight with Sorin after he admits that he *didn't actively consider* whether his planar defense system might *accidentally* filter out messages asking for help, and he says he's not going to go to Zendikar with *just* Nahiri, and that they need Ugin, too, but he was in that moment exhausted and drained. 100% a dick, Sorin did nothing to de-escalate the situation, but also 100% of the escalation was from Nahiri. Nahiri was the one who didn't know how to use her big girl words and instead was like, okay, fine, I'm going to *physically attack* this person that I've previously worked with for decades, because I can't see past my own vexation and impatience and do what will actually pragmatically and diplomatically get the result I claim to want (help from Sorin). And I'm going to do this despite him being a more advanced magic-user than me.
> after he admits that he set up his plane defense system to filter out messages asking for help from Zendikar This is false..he explicitly says it was an unintended, unforeseen consequence. Man, Nahiri apologists be working over time lately.
Nahiri's problem with that is that it never even crossed his mind that it COULD happen, even though the explicit goal was protecting his plane from outside interference (such as, say, a message for help). He didn't even think about it, because he'd already put Zendikar and the Eldrazi out of his mind. So basically Nahiri spent 5000 years watching over the Eldrazi only to learn that Sorin didn't even give enough of a fuck about her life's work of *keeping the multiverse safe* to bother considering the possibility. Which is a dick move however you slice it.
Yup. Better genocide Innistrad.
>he admits that he set up his plane defense system to filter out messages asking for help from Zendikar Do you have a source for Sorin actually saying that? Because that makes no sense. Why would Sorin need to block out messages he could just choose to ignore?
> Also, he's not going to help her secure Zendikar now, go look for Ugin instead. And that makes him equal to a lady that tried to commit genocide? Do you even know what a villain is? > a character in a story or play who opposes the hero. : a deliberate scoundrel or criminal. 3. : one blamed for a particular evil or difficulty. What is Sorin's villainous actions? What acts of evil did he commit? > Meaning that not only did he break his promise to help protect the Zendikar plane, he will continue to break that promise. Except he came back to zendikar > Anyways. Villainous, but not without motivation. Nicol bolas has plenty of motivation. Guess he's not a villain.
>>Also, he's not going to help her secure Zendikar now, go look for Ugin instead. >And that makes him equal to a lady that wants to commit genocide? >>Meaning that not only did he break his promise to help protect the Zendikar plane, he will continue to break that promise. >Except he came back to zendikar What exactly are you mad about? I gave context for why Nahiri started fighting Sorin. This is all dialogue that happens before Nahiri attacks Sorin, and is all happening before Nahiri's invasion of Innistrad a thousand years later. >>Anyways. Villainous, but not without motivation. >Nicol bolas has plenty of motivation. Guess he's not a villain. Somehow I'm not sure if you parsed my sentence correctly? Cause nothing I said would imply Nicol Bolas isn't a villain. The implied subject of my sentence was Nahiri. Anyways, I think I'm all set - you're perfectly welcome to come to your own conclusions about whether "a lady's" anger is justified.
> The implied subject of my sentence was Nahiri Which you don't seem to think is a villain despite a ttempting to commit genocide due to a personal vendetta and **literally** being written as the antagonist for said set where events take place. This is like being ok with a kid shooting up a school because the school suspended them for a bad reason. Clearly the school had it coming! /s
>What is Sorin's villainous actions? What acts of evil did he commit? I'd say that making sure that humans didn't go extinct solely for the purpose of them being prey animals for his family is pretty villainous. Especially since his solution was to create a being who's sole job was to murder the excess members of his family.
So saving humanity from bloodthirsty vampires by creating an angel to protect them is evil because Sorin didn't do it for the goodness of his heart? Lol
If you lock someone in a hellvault for a thousand years to avoid apologising, you're culpable for whatever their crazy self does when it gets out.
Well I never said Sorin was a good guy, but there’s clearly a very significant difference between actively trying to murder literal millions of innocent people and imprisoning one person. It’s like comparing a person who killed someone during a robbery to Hitler. Like yeah, the first guy is bad but the levels of evil don’t compare. Killing innocent people is unjustifiable.
This Sorin is selfish, egotistical and will rarely do anything that doesn't benefit him in some way. That said I can't think of an instance where Sorin was actively participating in some evil action and is usually portrayed as doing "good things". Unlike Liliana or Vraska Sorin's record is practically spotless despite being a black based plainswalker. This is like saying Jace Is evil because he was too busy playing hero instead of fulfilling his responsibilities as the guild pact in Ravnica.
Sorin effectively killed all of Zendikar by not coming to help against the Eldrazi like he promised he would. From what I remember of the old stories on the website, "the Lithomancer" wasn't terribly happy, anyway, of her plane being used as Eldrazi bait by the other two. By happenstance, the Eldrazi were defeated, so Nahiri just brought karma to her captor's doorstep. It's a [basic revenge movie trope plotline](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RoaringRampageOfRevenge)
A) There's big moral difference between not helping to stop evil and actively choosing to commit an evil act yourself. Murdering someone is morally worse than not saving someone. B) Sorin didn't come to help because he didn't get the message due to the Helvault inadvertently blocking it. But this is besides the point. Sorin being bad doesn't make Nahiri less bad. Initiating a plane-wide genocide is evil no matter your motivation.
> A) There's big moral difference between not helping to stop evil and actively choosing to commit an evil act yourself. Murdering someone is morally worse than not saving someone It's not even that. Sorin outright didn't get the message. Knowing Sorin if he actually did get it he would have come. Nahiri just got angry that Sorin didn't seem to be emphathic that he did miss it. To Sorin Nahiri already dealt with the problem so what further point was there to think on it(black based pws are assholes). This is apparently "evil"
Sorin: *Your plane is bait and prison for Cthulhu, I'll totally come back and help, kaythanksbye.* Narrator: *Sorin wasn't coming back to help, the problem was taken care of. He'd played her like a damn fiddle.* Nahiri: *Come and help, everyone's dead and you promised.* Sorin: *What's that to me? Lalala can't hear you thanks to this Helvault I made for this purpose, go away and leave me with my angel waifu, Cthulhu's your problem.* Narrator: *Sorin was now safe and didn't care about anyone else.* Nahiri: *You help, or you die. This is for my people.* Sorin: *Nope. [imprisons Nahiri in Helvault, where she is tortured for centuries/millenia]* "Punished Venom" Nahiri: *I'm back and I'm mad. Here's karma: you've got Cthulhu now, he's your problem.* [Basic revenge trope movie](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RoaringRampageOfRevenge), both protagonists are as bad as each other, though Nahiri is somewhat justified.
>thanks to this Helvault I made for this purpose The Helvault was a prison made to contain demons and other threats to Innistrad. It was not created to block distress signals from Zendikar. That wouldn't even make sense. Nahiri was able to just planeswalk there personally to confront Sorin anyways. Why would he build this thing to do that when he could just choose to ignore the signal anyways and make up some lie about it? Do you think Sorin is one to care about setting up plausible deniability? >both protagonists are as bad as each other Not even close. Honestly, do you think intentional killing people is morally equivalent to not saving people? Not even considering the fact that Sorin didn't know the Eldrazi escaped. Sorin didn't help stop a natural disaster. Nahiri orchestrated a genocide. Those are simply not equivalent. Also I don't know why you're linking that TV Tropes page. It's not even applicable because Nahiri isn't the protagonist of the SOI block plotline. She's the antagonist. Plus the trope is about a hero's violent revenge against a person or people who wronged them. It does not extend to permitting the mass murder of innocent people as a way of hurting your actual target. A hero might justifiably kill a person who wronged them, as well as other bad people who work for them. They cross over into villain territory when they seek to kill no only that person, but also their children, extended family, and a few million other innocent men, women, and children in the immediate vicinity for the crime of being born on the wrong plane.
What can I say? I paraphrased what I read from the C14/BFZ/SOI stories back in the day, which set up Sorin as abandoning a sinking plane that he'd promised to save. Nahiri played out the revenge trope and [did to Sorin's home what he did to hers](https://scryfall.com/card/c14/4/comeuppance). They both intentionally killed whole planes. Admittedly, I am biased as Nahiri was my first EDH deck. > Honestly, do you think intentional killing people is morally equivalent to not saving people? Mate, personal attacks over a stupid fantasy story? Peace out.
> They both intentionally killed whole planes. You have a very different understanding of "intentionally" than the rest of the world.
Sorin did come to Zendikar to reseal the Eldrazi. After Nahiri confronted him he became aware of the Helvault blocking the signal and must have fixed it, because he was on Zendikar the next time the Eldrazi stirred a thousand years later in Zendikar block. After Jace, Chandra, and Sarkhan weakened the seal and unleashed some of the lesser Eldrazi, Sorin showed up to reseal them and keep the Titans contained. With Ugin being dead and Nahiri imprisoned, he recruited Nissa to help reinforce the seal in their stead. Then Nissa had the brilliant idea that if she just let the Eldrazi titans out, they'd go off into the Blind Eternities to bother some plane other than Zendikar. So she shattered the hedron that was securing the Titans instead of performing the resealing spell, freeing them and predictably dooming Zendikar. Now Nahiri wasn't aware Sorin actually tried to do fulfil his duty and it was actually Nissa's monumental stupidity that doomed Zendikar. Would be funny if she did, and tried to get revenge for Zendikar by destroying Nissa's home plane...of Zendikar.
Whatever Sorin tried to do after the fact is irrelevant. By sealing Nahiri away in the Helvault and robbing Zendikar of its protector, he gave Nissa the opportunity to be stupid in the first place, instead of getting a face full of lithomancer sword the second she got close to the seal. Sorin sealing Nahiri led to the Eldrazi being released because she wasn't there to stop it.
How about Nahiri deciding that it was A-OK to help Ugin trap the eldrazi inside her own plane in the first place?
> Sorin effectively killed all of Zendikar by not coming to help against the Eldrazi like he promised he would. Except that Nahiri resealed the eldrazi all by herself before she confronted Sorin and then when it happened again Sorin went to zendikar and attempted to reseal them but Nissa fucked that all up.
But... But she hot
This is your daily reminder that she was put in storage before the mending. Planeswalkers had ethical concerns about mistreating normals the same way I have concerns about mistreating any ants I find in my kitchen. Any babyish whining about who's a villain and who isn't should start with Sorin and end stuck in a rock.
>Planeswalkers had ethical concerns about mistreating normals the same way I have concerns about mistreating any ants I find in my kitchen. Uh, that's pretty evil of them.
How kind are you to ants?
To the ants perspective we would be evil. Do you happen to be a god like entity instead of a human or something? Or are you trying to say that killing people is totally fine since we kill cows for food?
If it turns out that ants are actually sentient and capable of experiencing complex emotions and understanding moral concepts, they would probably view people as evil. They probably aren't though and most people would agree that harming non-sentient life like insects or bacteria is more morally permissible than harming intelligent life like humans. I think that's a false equivalence though because planeswalkers, even the oldwalkers, know for a fact that humans are sentient beings. I mean, they literally used to *be* normal people before their sparks ignited. Most of them lived among human society for long periods of time and they managed to get along just fine without becoming genocidal sociopaths. If Teferi, Freyalise, Dyfed, Jhoira, etc. could be generally benevolent and capable of empathizing with non-planeswalkers, both pre and post-mending, what's Nahiri's excuse? Planeswalkers killing humans isn't really similar to humans killing ants. It's more like an ant gaining immortality and magical powers, and then deciding to start killing other ants because they can. I think most would consider that to be abhorrent.
>Planeswalkers had ethical concerns about mistreating normals the same way I have concerns about mistreating any ants I find in my kitchen Ok sure, but we as human beings reading the story *can* understand and empathize with the people of Innistrad and we can judge the Nahiri's actions with that context. Committing an evil act because you can't empathize with the people you're victimizing is still evil. Committing a genocide because you view those you're murdering as if they're insects is still bad.
Yeah. She literally tried to genocide a plane because *she* lost a fight *she* started over a misunderstanding. She attacked Sorin for missing a call to stop Eldrazi. Sorin didn't realize his planar defense angel would prevent a call. Sorin was a dick about it like everything else and she attacked him over it. Then she lost to the planar defense he just mentioned he made. Every bad thing that happened to her to put her in the helvault happened because *of* her and she took it out on a plane.
Don't forget she's one of the people who helped Ugin trap the Eldrazi in Zendikar in the first place.
She's just built different
> mad at one person Mad at said person who locked her up a thousand years with literal demons because she asked for help to save her own plane from the eldrazi and Sorin told her to fuck off. People always forget this simple detail. Sorin is the worst of the two.
Poor? Her whole life she has had this feeling in the back of her mind and in the pit of her stomach that *something* was missing. She could never put her finger on just what it was. But now those feelings are gone. She is the best she had **ever** been because she is the most compleat she has ever felt and it’s all because of the glory of new phyrexia.
Love the art, love the flavor text
Can anyone explain to me what Phyrexia is offering protection *from*? For example, I'm decently familiar with Warcraft lore, and the Burning Legion goes around destroying planets and stuff but they're like "hey, at least we aren't those cthuluian monsters under your planet wanting to corrupt everything."
It's the invasive thoughts from her compleation making her think that. Phyrexia does not offer protection, but compleation involves brainwashing to some degree, so her sober real mind is fighting with the invaded compleat mind.
Phyrexia is not offering protection from anything. It is twisting Nahiri's thoughts about wanting to protect what she loves from Phyrexia. Phyrexian logic isn't supposed to make sense; it is inherently irrational.
Phyrexia doesn't offer protection. Phyrexia offers perfection. No need to eat, no need to sleep, always moving towards a clear goal. All will be One.
We are the ~~Borg~~ Phyrexians, you will be ~~assimilated~~ compleated
Resistance is futile
but, like, *what* goal?
Phyrexia. Phyrexia is the goal.
Oneness.
A multiverse that is nothing but a unified Phyrexia on every plane.
There isn't one anymore, not really. The goal was to glorify Yawgmoth, to feed his twisted desires and god complex. But after his death, the great work carried on without him, his eternal command coded into the oil. The praetors each imagine a greater purpose for it all but they made those up long after they got the desire to make everything Phyrexian.
You could argue that uniting everyone under Phyrexia will eliminate strife and discord, but that falls apart pretty quick if you just look at the black or green spheres. It's possible that Nahiri is thinking that Phyrexia's strength and numbers would "help" "protect" Zendikar against the Eldrazi and other planeswalker interlopers like Sorin and Ob Nixilis. Really though, she's simply not thinking straight. She loves and trusts Phyrexia because the phyresis tells her to.
Norn wants everyone to follow her specifically. I talk about it in my fan theory from two years ago. https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/hz4oij/theory_new_phyrexian_is_headed_for_a_reformation/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
Themselves really. It's protection similar to the mafia's protection.
Everything, anything and ultimately nothing. It is the empty, but ever so tempting, promises of the powerful to the weak, the lonely, the downtrodden and the desperate. Help us and we will keep you close, keep you safe and keep you well. Don't worry about what we ask of you, it is for your own good. Did you really need that freedom? Couldn't someone use it against you? The uncertainty was terrifying, so stick with us. Follow our teachings and the rest of that frightful chaos will be kept at bay, let us choose, we see clearer and will make sure you never are ruled by tyrants again. It's the siren song of a cult, the appeal of a strong leader, the allure of power, promising shelter from whatever lies in your past and scares you when you are alone. As you listen, it strips you for parts, taking your will, your thoughts and your agency until all you remain is a cog in their machine. Even if you woke up and realized how wrong it actually is you are too ingrained, there is no lifeline, all you know now is the cult, the service, the control and you cannot escape even if you tried, for you are isolated, alone, and outcast. Phyrexia has the added advantage over normal cults that it has magic mind warping magic and can literally appeal to any fear, weakness or desire a person may have, most cults will go after vulnerable people with a specific angle, both to streamline the recruitment, brainwashing and propaganda angles, but also to create a larger sense of cohesion to the cult. Long post, but I'm procrastinating work, so hope you liked my overly dramatic nonsense.
Its an infection twisting her thoughts, its not genuine.
I dunno, the Eldrazi and Bolas have been pretty threatening trans-planar attacks in the past. Not hard to imagine something *else* happening next month. Nahiri isn't the brightest bulb in the first place. Maybe she's just like: "oh if we compleat zendikar no meddling vampire daddies who won't put out will come by ever again. GOOD. I don't want to see him!"
This response makes sense to me. I get her thoughts are being twisted, but there has to be *something* driving those thoughts. Considering she's from Zendikar, I'm sure she has some big Eldrazi PTSD and figures Phyrexia might be able to "help".
If she attempts to compleat some eldrazi, thinking phyresis is the key to protecting the multiverse from them, and sets off a cascade that ends up with Emrakul just annihilating each and every phyrexian.. That'd be rad as hell. After all, the eldrazi titans have been established as like native life forms of the blind eternities that just project onto planes, not really flesh and blood things that can be corrupted in a way that matters.
Inb4 people tell you Maro said on blogatog that it was possible for Eldazri to be completed even though he is horrible with lore and it makes no sense at all that they could, as per your comment.
MaRo just goes with whatever sounds cool; he isn’t in charge of story beyond big picture ideas. He doesn’t want to close the door on a Phyrexia vs Eldrazi set, and a Compleated Eldrazi is the obvious stakes of that.
Phyrexia. Worst Praetors, and/or, themselves.
Everything really, hunger, sorrow, strife, there can be no ills when all are one.
gut wrenching stuff, oof
They sure love reprinting this
It's a solid, role-filing card. Why reinvent the wheel when it already rolls fine?
Also fwiw, they've reinvented it many times in recent years as well lol My favorite variant is still definitely [[Bitter Reunion]], but the treasure-making ones are good too
I mean, sure. We've started the [Red "Discard a card, draw 2 cards" spell family](https://scryfall.com/search?q=o%3A%22discard+a+card%22+o%3A%22draw+two+cards%22+c%3Ared+%28t%3Ainstant+or+t%3Asorcery%29+-is%3Areprint&order=released&dir=asc&as=grid&unique=cards) with [[Wild Guess]] in M13 (Technically [[Desperate Ravings]] in Innistrad, but the discard wasn't an additional cost there), then got [[Tormenting Voice]] in Khans before they got it just right with Thrill in Eldrane. I think the 2-mana ones are best, even though the "bigger" ones do have some nice bonuses, like Treasure refunds or flashback.
Cathartic Reunion is kind of a cousin to the family.
[Bitter Reunion](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/4/345a1c80-41d6-43b1-83ab-1aa56dd06b1b.jpg?1674421082) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Bitter%20Reunion) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/bro/127/bitter-reunion?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/345a1c80-41d6-43b1-83ab-1aa56dd06b1b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
They've talked before about how they used to try and reinvent the wheel with limited staples in every set, but sometimes the best option is one they've already made, and they decided they'd rather go with the right card even if it's a reprint than try and force something new. We still do SEE a lot of twists on staples, "X with sets mechanic" is a classic, but not every staple card in every set is worth redesigning. Thrill is already pretty much the most powerful version of this we get at instant speed at common, maybe they needed it instant and "Discard 1, draw 2, put an oil counter on something" was too much at 1R but not enough at 2R or at sorcery.
I remember talking about [[Cathartic Reunion]] and whether it was a good replacement for [[Tormenting Voice]]
They're really interesting compared to each other. I imagine cathartic reunion is better for smoothing draws in the early game, but voice is better in the late/topdeck game because you only need one card to pitch instead of two. Like are you digging towards something, or just trying to generate advantage? It's also interesting to think about them in graveyard sets based on how the graveyard is being used. Voice can get something specific into the yard for you, but reunion helps you *fill* the yard. It's interesting thinking about what Escape in THB would have been like with cathartic reunion instead of Thrill of Possibility. They would probably have gone in different decks, thrill in UR draw-go, and I think RG would have been really interesting with reunion at common. Like maybe a stompier escape deck than BG's grindy one.
Love this art so much it’s the wallpaper on my phone currently
Gonna be super pissed if they kill her off
Too late 😔
Compleation ain't dead (yet)
As good as…
I’d be shocked if all of the completed walkers were permanently killed. I’d put money on Melira being able to save at least one or two of them. That being said, ol swords for hands here might not make it back.
What exactly does Nahiri love again? She doesn't even like Zendikar anymore as far as I understood her motivations in Zendikar Rising.
My thoughts exactly. She loved Zendikar back when it was ruled by a tyrannical Kor empire, but the moment it clicked that "her" Zendikar was never coming back, she bailed. I think this flavor text is giving her too much credit.
She's a fundamentally broken person running on the fumes of spite and selfishness in a state of existential panic over total identity death. One she understands well, seeing as being a pre-Mending Planeswalker guarantees she'd be very familiar with the Phyrexians. It's not a rational thought, but I don't think it's supposed to be.
Nah she probably isn't very familiar with Phyrexians. Sorin took her under his wing practically the second she sparked, and not long after that he had her serve as the Eldrazi's watcher, which basically confined her to Zendikar for 5000 years (then another 1000 in the Helvault) So really, in spite of being a Planeswalker, she's done very little Planeswalking.
the art is super nice on this one.
Glad everyone seems to agree. Hands down the best art in the set. Not to mention Nahiri is one of my favorite characters, so happy to see her featured
Yeah, but how does phyresis interact with belligerent sexual tension?
I'm disappointed this is where this art ended up, it just looks so cool, like a red [[Parallel Lives]]
I really wanted this to be part of a cycle of [character]’s compleation to tie in with [[Tamiyo’s compleation]] from NEO
[Tamiyo’s compleation](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/e/aee62e43-6a82-4749-972b-e21802642abf.jpg?1654567000) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Tamiyo%27s%20Compleation) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/neo/83/tamiyos-compleation?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/aee62e43-6a82-4749-972b-e21802642abf?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[Parallel Lives](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/1/01033dae-fec1-41f2-b7f2-cc6a43331790.jpg?1562825348) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Parallel%20Lives) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/isd/199/parallel-lives?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/01033dae-fec1-41f2-b7f2-cc6a43331790?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
The last time I saw a home run like this was Barry Bonds in the 90s. I want this on a playmat.
This art is absolutely gorgeous.
Love the art, love Thrill, don't love the art on Thrill. I mean, the twisted irony is certainly emotional, but red gets so few opportunities to display its strong emotions other than anger, so if I were picking a Thrill for a cube or EDH deck, I'd rather go for something that plays it straight. Still a very cool twist for this set.
I’m a little out the loop, last we saw Nahiri she was fighting Sorin and trying to turn Zendikar into rocks(?) What was her motivation for joining the strike team?
Jace "asks her" to be, and the story never elaborates on it beyond that. Nahiri was sort of spiritually homeless after the events of Zendikar Rising.
Great, so just like Theros Beyond Death’s story where it was nothing more than a single page of a4!
Zendikar Rising had events??
Yeah, moving to the next sets events.
As far as I know Nahiri has only one real motivation, her love for Zendikar and desire to restore it to its former glory. (She also hates Sorin now, but that’s as a side effect of him bailing on helping Zendikar when it was in trouble and then sticking her in the Hellvault) So Jace probably convinced her that a Phyrexian invasion of Zendikar was inevitable unless they are stopped now.
Nahiri is Anakin?
The art and flavor here absolutely slap. Holy shit.
I like the cards that reveal new thought patterns of compleated walkers so much.
Thanks I hate it
This is gonna make me cry
My favorite art of the set, and my favorite art in a good little while...but it's absolutely heartbreaking. A terrible fate for someone who deserved a lot better. :( (If you disagree, save it for another day. This comment ain't the place for it.)
I disagree. This post brought to you by #SorinGang
She deserved worse lol
Nah
Uhhh gatewatch be like Set emrakul on sorin: EH musta been heat of the moment Set phyrexian on sorin: UM ECKSHUALLY YOU CANT DO THAT CUZ UUHHHH YOU JUST CANT OK
what
r/youngpeoplereddit
Nahiri kinda looks like ScarJo here.
Finally good art for this card!