The most powerful Artifacts in Magic's Lore

Magic presented to us another artifact capable of destroying (or rebuilding) an entire plane. Nahiri believes that the power of the Lithoform Core can end Zendikar's Roil forever and, thus, allow the world to prosper. However, Nissa believes that this could be the end of everything Zendikar represents. Indeed, this is another item with enough power to cause great problems through the Multiverse, Wizards of the Coast really likes powerful artifacts and in this article we will remember the most important artifacts in Magic's story.

During the time of 'Antiquities', the Golgothian Sylex was accidentally found by fishermen and sent to Feldon of the Third Path for study purposes. The strange chalice was made with a metal that looked like copper, with around 30 cm of diameter, its interior sculpted with glyphs of many ancient languages. These glyphs named the item as "Sylex" and its origin as "Golgothia". Without more information, Feldon was incapable of determining if Golgothia was a place or the person responsible of creating the item. He translated the glyphs as:

"Wipe the land clear. Bring the ending. Topple the empires to bring a fresh start. Call the end, fill with memories of the land."

During the final battle of the Brothers' War between Urza and Mishra in Argoth, Ashnod delivered the Sylex to Tawnos, Urza's Apprentice, who in turn gave it to Urza. When he realized that his brother Mishra had become a phyrexian, Urza activated the artifact. The explosion of the Sylex destroyed both armies and the island of Argoth, changed the climate of Dominaria, initiating the Ice Age, and caused the fall of most civilizations in the plane.

In Dominaria's folklore, Karn found the Cylex (with a "C", instead of an "S"). He described it as a creation of Urza to fight against the phyrexians and planned to use it to destroy New Phyrexia. So, it seems that this isn't the same artifact that Urza used on Argoth, but it has a similar power. This artifact is currently in Karn's possession.

The Sylex makes so that each nontoken permanent with a name originally printed on the Antiquities set is sacrificed, showing its great power. A similar ability is seen in our next artifact, the Apocalypse Chime, which destroys all cards of the 'Homelands' set and, in the Lore, Ravi received this artifact from Tolgath, her planeswalker master, telling her that she should use it only during the war darkest moments, as it would cleanse the world. While Tolgath and the ancient mages fought in the Great War of Ulgrotha, Ravi rang the bell in hope of preventing the massacre, which end up destroying both sides, resulting in the massive explosion that formed the Dead Zone, interrupting the mana channels of the world and killing almost all creatures in the plane.

Urza was a great artificer. Influenced by the Thran, he created many artifacts to fight against Phyrexia and, among them, the most important was surely the Skyship Weatherlight, built on the Tolarian Academy, the flying ship was made with Thran metal forged by the viashinos on Shiv, its wood came from the seed of the most ancient trees of Magnigoth of Yavimaya and its main energy source came from an energy stone which was infused with white mana from Serra's Realm before it collapsed. The Weatherlight was capable of reaching speeds next to 180 km/h in a straight line and 64 km/h flying backwards. The ship had a tempest shield created by its engine, generating magic lights which protected the ship's deck, although this area wasn't safe when highest speeds were used. Its energy power plant, which had a giant crystal as its core, which transformed mana into fuel, created the levitation field and allowed the Weatherlight to travel between existence planes, and it was this the ship which the heroes of Dominaria used to travel through the Multiverse to collect the Legacy of which it was also part of.

Recently, Jhoira lead an expedition on the Urborg's coast to find the Weatherlight's remains, with the help of Tiana, Ship's Caretaker. She managed to activate the flying ship and Molimo offered to Jhoira a seed to restore the ship's hull and deck. However, the new version of the Weatherlight can't travel between planes, as all the technologies that allowed this stopped working with the Mending of Dominaria.

Urza's Legacy was more than a collection of artifacts. It is a construction of thoughts with purpose. During the history of the Weatherlight, it became evident that there is a magical force guiding the building of this Legacy. It evolves, incorporating artifacts and beings not originally planned as a part of it. In this way, the Legacy represented an intangible guiding force. The Weatherlight managed to reunite all the Legacy's artifacts, the weapon that destroyed Yawgmoth during the final battle for the future of Phyrexia.

These were the artifacts of the Legacy: the bones of Ramos, Dragon Engine, Chimeric Sphere, Juju Bubble, Mightstone, Weakstone, Mind Stone, Null Rod, Power Matrix, Salvation Sphere, Skyshaper, Touchstone, Thran Turbine, Thran Forge, Thran Tome,Karn, Silver Golem itself and, to active this powerful weapon, Urza's chosen, Gerrard, Weatherlight Hero.

Karn learned a lot with his mentor Urza, as he created an artifact so powerful that it would certainly make his master and creator proud. The Mirari was an artifact of unimaginable power which appeared in Otaria around one century after the phyrexian invasion. The word "mirari" was an ancient word for a fantastic artifact which granted wishes and the Mirari could certainly be described like that, causing the wishes of their bearer to become reality. However, the Mirari was also responsible for many disasters to its bearer, usually leading to their death. Its power also whispered to those who wished it, and, even if heard by a brief moment, caused them to become obsessed by the artifact, doing everything they could to possess it. The Mirari initiated a devastating cycle of war and magical disasters in Otaria, until Karn intervened. The artifact was supposed to be a probe collecting information from Dominaria while he was away, but the men transformed it into a weapon. He brought it to his artificial plane, Argentum, where he used it as the core of a golem he created to become the guardian of his plane, Memnarch. He was left in Argentum under the care of Glissa, Slobad and Geth, but we never had more information about it.

In Kamigawa, That Which Was Taken was the son of the supreme Kami O-Kagashi, imprisoned by the daimyo Konda in a stone disc with the sculpture of a dragon. Trying to remover That Which Was Taken, the inhabitants of the spiritual world attacked the physical world and, thus, started the Kami war. Their spiritual powers made Konda indestructible and gave him divination powers. Years later, the artifact came into possession of Toshiro Umezawa, who finally performed a ritual to free the spirit trapped inside it. The spirit assumed a draconic/humanoid appearance, like Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker, and received the name Kyodai. With Michiko, they defeated Konda and O-Kagachi and worked together to finally stop the war and bring a new era to Kamigawa.

Our next artifact is ancient and powerful, which was hidden inside the old catacombs of the Onakke on Shandalar for a long time. It kills its users if they aren't strong enough. Others, like Ob Nixilis, are transformed into demons. It is called a curse. The Chain Veil seemed destined to Liliana Vess, who managed to acquire the artifact in the catacombs, instructed by the demon Kothophed. Using it on her face, she was capable of increasing her power, destroying Kothophed and Griselbrand. She also cast a terrible curse on Garruk. However, the Veil has its price, which is really high, and she realized she was being possessed by its supernatural spirits. The spirits continue to beg to Liliana to surrender to them.

Now, here's a spoiler from Forsaken:

After the War of the Spark, Liliana used the Veil to defeat Zahid, Djinn of the Lamp, and this was the last time she used it. Liliana gave the Veil to Kaya, so she could bring it to Ravnica to prove Liliana's death. The artifact that she loved so much during all these years was simply left on the ground, abandoned without too much explanation. I still don't accept this, and I hope they revise Forsaken. However, for now, this is canon, so it is in Ravnica, guarded by Niv Mizzet.

And, to end our adventure through the story of the most powerful artifacts in Magic's lore, we have the Planar Bridge, created by Rashmi on Kaladesh. It is an artifact of unimaginable power for the time it was created and, as I have said before, after the Mending all technologies that allowed for interplanar travel stopped working. However, Rashmi, Eternities Crafter managed to recreate this technology.

However, the Planar Bridge was stolen by Tezzeret, by order of Nicol Bolas, and he incorporated it into his body. Bolas' plan was fulfilled when Tezzeret opened the Planar Bridge inside the Guildpact Chamber in Ravnica, allowing the Eternals to invade the plane. Even with the fall of Nicol Bolas, Tezzeret still has the Planar Bridge in his body still working, and that makes him the greatest planeswalker threat, as he could transport an entire army if he wishes to. Remember that Tezzeret admires Phyrexia!

And that's it for now! Like I said, Wizards really like to include powerful artifacts in the game's story, so it is worth to mention The Immortal Sun, The Ozolith and many others. Leave your comment below and tell me which is your favorite and which is the most powerful artifact in your opinion!