The legendary cats of Nine Lives

Core Set 2021 brought Nine Lives, a rather interesting card with a cute kitten surrounded by spirits that represent legendary Magic cats, which I'm going to show you now. Pay attention to the image below, where the spirits are numbered, it is from them that we will talk about the legends of this card.

The first cat in the image is Marisi, Breaker of the Coil, Marisi led his fellow Leonins in a riot against the Cloud Empire and the Spiral's restrictions, an outdated set of laws written on an ancient stone. And then, a great civil has began. The white wall that housed the spiral was broken and the Nacalt were divided into two tribes. The proud ones who followed Marisi's beliefs were called the Wild Nacatl and the other tribe, the descendants of the Cloud Empire, were called the Cloud Nacatl.

The second cat is also from Alara, Jazal Goldmane. He was a great leader known for his morality and character. He had a keen interest in history and prophecy, and sought to understand the nature of Alara's fractured plane. With the help of his brother, Jazal brought his pride to prosperity and peace. In contrast to the rest of the Wild Nacatl, he questioned the separation of his people since the Breaking of the Spiral and even tried to reach the Cloud Nacatl, those who chose to remain in the mountains after this event. Because of his political beliefs, he was killed by zombies that the shaman Zaliki summoned.

The Third Cat is actually a Dragon Cat, Wasitora, Nekoru Queen. After mating with Mayonako, the alpha male of the group, Wasitora decided to have her young in Madara, chosen because she liked the fish from that place. Wasitora settled down near the village of Sekana. The villagers did not like to constantly pay fish tributes, so they called Tetsuo Umezawa, the imperial champion to destroy the dragon cat. Nekoru and the champion fought, but the duel was interrupted by an Ancient Wurm. Wasitora helped Tetsuo to defeat the monster and the samurai decided that she didn't need to be killed to free Sekana, he named her with his imperial representative and defender of the port city, his payment, of course, would be in fish. Wasitora had her young in Madara and years later during the Amendment it was shown that they control the entire island.

Our fourth legend is Jedit Ojanen of Efrava who was a tiger warrior from Dominaria. Jedit was very adventurous in nature and instead of staying in Efrava, he traveled the world, looking for his father who was also an adventurer. This eventually led him to conflict with the magician Johan who was responsible for the death of his father. In the final battle between the two, Jedit sacrificed himself to send Johan into a desert, where he was killed just as Jedit's father, devoured by Sandworm.

Our fifth cat is one that recently came to us, Jaheera, the Orphanguard. In Ikoria, when a human hunter kills a monster, he usually leaves the monster's offspring to fend for itself in the wild. Kaheera is driven by maternal instinct and protects any young creature she encounters, creating in that way her diverse litter of monsters from all the dominant clades of Ikoria.

The sixth legendary creature represented in Nine Lives is Arahbo, Roar of the World, an avatar cat from an unknown plane. Just as a lion's roar spread across the savannah, Arahbo's voice resonates through the Multiverse, stirring the hearts of all cats and awakening their spirits at his call. As a primordial being, Arahbo represents the ideal feline: intelligent, perceptive, assertive, balanced and a cruel hunter. He climbs the mountains of his world and lives on its snowy peaks, which offer camouflage to increase his sneak attacks. Although independent by nature, he learned to tolerate the presence of other respectful cats, accepting his offers while enjoying his inspiring presence.

Our seventh feline soul, Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist, is a warrior cat member of the Weatherlight crew, which was best friends with Gerrard Capashen with whom she trained with Multani. When Mirri and Gerrard became members of the crew, they were instrumental in the search for their captain Sisay who had been kidnapped and taken to the plane of Rath, one of the worlds controlled by the Phyrexians. When Selenia attacked her fellow Crovax, Mirri dived in front of him to deflect one of the dark angel's attacks. Mirri was seriously injured in the chest and was taken back to the Weatherlight to be treated. Crovax was also knocked unconscious after he killed Selenia thanks to Mirri's sacrifice, however by killing the angel he was contaminated. Mirri and Crovax recovered, but remained under observation. Mirri was curious when Crovax woke up stunned and staggered out. She followed him to the deck and saw her trying to sabotage the Weatherlight candles. It attacked Crovax, causing both to fall from the ship. Crovax tried to use his new hypnotic powers to subdue her, meanwhile Gerrard, managed to rescue Sisay and during the escape, he saw Mirri and Crovax battling, he tried to rescue her, however he was confronted by Greven il-Vec, and was forced to fight with him while Mirri fought alone. Realising that Gerrard could not save her, Mirri let Crovax kill her so that Gerrard could save himself and flee.

The eighth cat of nine lives is Kemba, Kha Regent. She is a relative of the Golden Puppy Raksha and the regent Kha, which means the leader and ruler of the remaining Leonins who live in the Razor fields of Mirrodin. She tries to unite the Leonins who divided into two groups: one supported the kha regent, while the other furiously rebelled, now they have a common enemy, the Phyrexians.

And the ninth and most important life is that of the kitten in the art of Paul Scott Canavan. He twitted that he was asked to draw a perfectly ordinary domestic cat surrounded by the ghostly spiritual avatars of his past lives, the eight legendary and important ancestors’ legends of magic.