Modern - Phyrexia: All Will Be One Spoilers Review

Modern is one of the most popular formats in Magic: The Gathering, offering players the opportunity to play with a wide range of cards without having to deal with issues such as the Reserved List. Introducing new cards is a key part of the format's development and can bring many benefits and improvements.

And “improvements” is a word really all about the new set. Phyrexia: All Will Be One, or just ONE, talks about the advances of the Phyrexians in their quest to try to “perfect” creatures with their nefarious machinery until they have full control of the multiverse.

My original plan was to divide the cards by color, but the large contingent of cards for a specific strategy made me change it a little, and therefore, I will discuss some groups of cards like the Fastlands and I will finish addressing Infect.

The Fastlands are a group of lands originally from the Scars of Mirrodin block that provide mana in two different colors. They are called "fastlands" because they allow the player to have quicker access to their colors', entering untapped on the first and second turns, but at a cost - they enter tapped on later turns.

In Modern, Fastlands are widely played in many multicolored decks, as they offer flexibility and stability in rapidly supplying mana. Furthermore, Fastlands are considered valuable cards for collectors due to their popularity and usefulness. That said, it's a good thing these reprints exist, as such cards once had high price tags.

In Modern, we already have Ratchet Bomb, which is like a remedy for a wide variety of threats on the board, including creatures, artifacts, enchantments, and planeswalkers. The player can adjust the level of damage the card will do by adjusting the number of counters on it, allowing the removal of the most considerable number of threats at once. Primarily ran against decks with small creatures, Ratchet Bomb is also a useful card for slow control decks that need to deal with threats without worrying about wasting too much mana or resources.

Thus, we have The Filigree Sylex, which is very similar to the bomb, except for two particularities. The first is that it's legendary, that is, it is unable to use multiples at the same time in the battlefield, which is possible with the Ratchet Bomb.

And the Sylex uses oil counters instead of charge counters, which despite being generic, are not directly supported. Oil counters, on the other hand, are the focus of the new set, and very likely the next two, which continue to speak of Phyrexian advances, so it might get better as the last sets of the current arc unfolds.

Grafdigger's Cage has always been a popular card in Modern for its ability to prevent graveyard-based strategies from being effective. When played, the artifact prevents creatures from being reanimated and graveyard cards from being cast, preventing certain archetypes such as Dredge or Reanimator from getting out of hand. Additionally, it also prevents the use of Graveyard-based abilities such as Flashback and Unearth.

The big thing here is that Soulless Jailer works similarly, on a good body that doesn't suffer against Lightning Bolt and can block a good number of threats. Preventing the entry of permanents as a whole and not just creatures from your graveyard, and of course, preventing Flashback, but with the added bonus of blocking non-creature cards from being cast from exile, such as Ephemerate and others with Rebound, in addition to cards with Suspend and the famous red effect of exiling cards to be cast.

Bitterblossom was a much played card in control decks in the past. The ability to create small 1/1 flying tokens and mitigate damage through blocks was very welcome in the strategy. Additionally, the presence of multiple creatures flying around the board can be difficult for some decks to deal with, making Bitterblossom a powerful choice for those looking to dominate the sky.

In this set, we had access to Skrelv's Hive, a different Bitterblossom. Instead of flying faeries, we now have Phyrexian Mites that can't block, which hurts the strategy of using them in defensive mode a bit. Still, its Corrupted ability becomes very interesting in more aggressive decks, and the synergy with artifacts that the tokens bring is very welcome. Maybe with a Tempered Steel, you can play around a bit.

With three different modes, capable of getting rid of token, non-token, and Planeswalkers at instant speed, we have Sheoldred’s Edict.

It is a very reliable removal here that bypasses protections from card effects and the practice of using tokens to protect against sacrifices. And of course, getting rid of planeswalkers.

Currently, Modern is very fast. Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, Lightning Bolt, Thoughtseize, Dragon's Rage Channeler, Fatal Push, Unholy Heat and sometimes a Path to Exile and other cards permeate the format. Already banned, we have a similar card, Mental Misstep, capable of countering anything that costs 1 for the price of two life, after all, using blue mana is the least of this banned card.

With the end of Phyrexian mana on the card, it becomes more centralized and starts to find a place only in decks with access to blue, taking away its versatility. So, we have a spell capable of dealing with most of the format's problems, at a low cost and without much appeal, with the promise of seeing play.

Finally, the Mother of Machines, Elesh Norn. We have a very specific use for it: getting the highest possible value from Modern Horizons 2's Evoke elemental cycle.

With it, Solitude and Fury deal massive damage and make other half-bomb cards like Charming Prince a lot more usable, too. It is worth remembering that control decks with these usually run Stoneforge Mystic, which would allow tutoring two finishers.

And of course, this praetor also has a Torpor Orb stapled to it, but between us, if you want to use battlefield entry hate, you're very obviously going to prefer a copy of the artifact, which costs less, protects you better and is harder to deal with than Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines.

Despite this, in current Modern, many of the removals depend on an effect that comes into play (MH2 elementals) or only affects CMC 4 or less like Fatal Push, plus Elesh Norn's high toughness protects her from generic burn. Add it all up, and your opponent will be forced to use unconventional removals like Terminate.

Given her ability to defend herself and give extreme value to creatures that are already part of the most plays in Modern, I imagine Elesh can see play, especially in a Good-Stuff deck with Omnath, Locus of Creation.

Colossus Hammer, Spellskite, Chalice of the Void and especially Amulet of Vigor are all interesting choices to copy with this land.

With The Mycosynth Gardens, Amulet Titan gains access to an extra amulet, easy to enter the battlefield and pay for itself, helping a lot in the ramp. It is worth remembering that this change is not until the end of the turn, but permanent, making the land worth using before the combo happens and generating much more aggressive results. Additionally, more niche decks also benefit from the card. Imagine being able to play your Lantern Control with more copies of Codex Shredder or protect yourself better with another Ensnaring Bridge or maybe your 8-Rack really has 8 The Rack?

We have a lot to explore with this card and how much value it can bring to Modern. And discovering new cards and uses for old ones, my friends, is the best part of the game.

The Infect deck is a strategy that aims to win the game quickly by infecting the opponent with creatures enhanced with spells that grant power and toughness boosts. This deck is known to be an aggressive option and combined with the ability to play cards that affect the opponent's defense, it becomes a constant threat.

Currently, Infect is seen as an interesting option in the format, but its popularity varies by Metagame. Many players have a huge affection for the deck, including myself, who started my career here on the site talking about many different builds of Infect in many formats.

Venerated Rotpriest

As the first, and incredibly powerful card to be talked about here is Venerated Rotpriest. In a recent live with the R&D folks, it was confessed that this creature was designed with Infect in mind.

Its effect is that whenever one of your creatures is targeted by a spell, a targeted opponent gains a poison counter. Obviously, this already makes you think that the opponent's Fatal Push will be less effective, since they will still give poison counters to the other player.

But, the most interesting part of the druid is the fact that your spells also poisons opponents, making the lethal damage more consistent and with less effort.

The Seedcore

The Seedcore is another card with great synergy with Infect. Being a more contemporary version of Pendelhaven, not only does the card help grow your 1/1 creatures, which make up the majority of your deck, with the focus on attack, rather than defense as with legendary land, but also generates mana for Phyrexian-type creatures, which are the most present in this deck, such as Glistener Elf, for example.

Also, unlike Pendelhaven, this isn't a legendary card, allowing you to use multiple copies of this land on multiple creatures, better diversifying your threats.

Skrelv, Defector Mite

Skrelv, Defector Mite fits very well into Infect as well because it behaves like a Giver of Runes that can also deal poison damage if needed, the only negative is that we have to pay mana to protect our creatures, something that Kor didn't do, but at least it's Phyrexian mana, which can be exchanged for life.

Prologue to Phyresis and Distorted Curiosity

I would like to mention Prologue to Phyresis. Among the ones already mentioned, it's the one I'm least excited about, but maybe it's worth the test, since it's able to replace itself in the hand and close some lethal damage.

But it could see play in an infect control deck if any Timmy decides to do it. Another spell that could see play in the theme is Distorted Curiosity.

Of all the cards in the set, the one I most wanted to see play was Mondrak, Glory Dominus. Not only do I have a lot of fun with decks that double tokens and counters, I also love the card art, being one of my favorites.

Otherwise, this was a strong set. Many cards had to be quoted, and yet there is room for some of them to surprise us.