The Phyrexian Invasionarc began inMagic: The Gathering’sKaldheim set. The storyline occurred over several sets, slowly building up pace before it hit its full swing in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, continuing over 2022’s sets before being concluded in March Of The Machine.
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The Phyrexian Invasion was led by thePhyrexian Praetor Elesh Norn. She sought to indoctrinate the entire Multiverse by converting them all into Phyrexians to join her cause, and those who opposed her were better off dead in Elesh Norn’s eyes. Here’s the entire Phyrexian Invasion story, from Kaldheim right up to the March of the Machine itself.
Kaldheim
The first step of Elesh Norn’s plans involved theWorld Treeof thePlane of Kaldheim. Kaldheim is a Plane containing multiple smaller mini-planes, known as the Realms.
The only way to travel across the realms was through the World Tree, and Elesh Norn saw that as a way to create her own version thatwould be capable of entering the Planes of the Multiverse. Elesh Norn tasked fellowPhyrexian Praetor Vorinclexto invade Kaldheim to obtain a sample of the World Tree to bring back to New Phyrexia.
Without her version of the World Tree, however, Elesh Norn could not send the Praetors to other Planes without assistance. So, she hired thePlaneswalker Tezzeretwho had thePlanar Bridge- an artifact integrated into his body which could transport non-Planeswalks to other Planes.
Using the Planar Bridge, Vorinclex entered Kaldheim, using the wildlife of the plane to recover from the trauma such travel causes to non-Planeswalkers. There, he also ran into thePlaneswalker Tibalt,infecting him with the Phyrexianphyresis, and commanded him to sow chaos on the Plane, acting as a distraction while Vorinclex infiltrated the World Tree.
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While the Gods of Kaldheim were distracted by Tibalt, Vorinclex managed to invade the realm ofEsika, the God of the World Tree. He attacked and severely injured her, taking a sample oftyrite - sap from the World Tree -from her. Upon completing his mission, Vorinclex left Kaldheim and returned to New Phyrexia, giving the tyrite to Elesh Norn.
Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty
Some time later, Elesh Norn dispatched thePraetor Jin-Gitaxiasto thePlane of Kamigawaafter challenging him to find a way tocompleat (convert into a Phyrexian) a Planeswalker- something previously impossible since it required removing a soul to do so. Since a Planeswalker’s spark lives in their soul, removal would kill them and remove the single thing that allowed the to planeswalk in the first place.
On the Plane, Jin-Gitaxias experimented vigorously on the Kami spirits to learn to intricacies of the soul. His research was interrupted by thelocal Planeswalkers Kaito, The Wanderer, and Tamiyo, even suffering injuriesat the hand of the Wanderer. Tezzeret brought Jin-Gitaxias back to New Phyrexia to heal, while alsosubduing and kidnapping Tamiyoand bring her back with him.
Jin-Gitaxias' research proved fruitful, and he was successful incompleating Tamiyo and turning her into the first Phyrexian Planeswalker. Her mind was warped, and her love for her family was replaced with love for her new family - Phyrexia.
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The sight of the new Tamiyo greatly disturbed Tezzeret, and began to feel the effects of what he had done. Despite this, Tezzeretcontinued to work with the Phyerxians,as Elesh Norn had promised him a body ofindestructible darksteel to replace his own as the Planar Bridge inside him was slowly killing him.
Dominaria United
Though Elesh Norn had previously destroyed thePraetor Sheoldred’sdomain on New Phyrexia, she survived, and eventually capitulated to Elesh Norn’s plans. She was sent to thePlane of Dominariato convert many residents into Phyrexians sleeper agents, ready to attack when she needed them the most.
She used these sleeper agents to discover and recover theSylex- an artifact that could level entire Planes, and had been used to stop Phyrexian invasions far back in Dominaria’s past.
She was successful in this goal, thanks to the work of acompleated Planeswalker Ajani Goldmane, who had been captured and corrupted during the sleeper agent incident. He destroyed the Sylex, and he and Sheoldred both captured thegolem Planewalker Karn – the creator of Mirrodin and inadvertently New Phyrexia –and took him back to New Phyrexia with them.
Streets Of New Capenna
The Phyrexians were not unified, however. The Praetor Urabrask lead a rebellion against Elesh Norn. His strong belief in free will had him at odds with Elesh Norn’s leadership.Tezzeret, who was playing both sides, tookUrabrask to the Plane of New Capenna,before sending Sheoldred to Dominaria.
It was there that Urabrask studied the Plane’s substanceHalo,which was key to stopping a Phyrexian invasion in the past. Through contacting the Planeswalker Vivien Reid, he also sought to make allies with theGatewatch –a group of Planeswalkers who vow to protect the Multiverse – to assist in taking down Elesh Norn
Phyrexia: All Will Be One
Back in New Phyrexia, Elesh Norn successfully grew theRealmbreakerwith the tyrite from Kaldheim. The tree was capable of touching into the many Planes of the Multiverse, allowing for New Phyrexia to tap into all of them to invade every world at the same time.
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Once the seeds of invasion were ready, Urabrask’s rebellion began as he led an assault on Elesh Norn. Sheoldred, who also sought to remove Elesh Norn from power,allied herself with Urabrask. However, she did it in an attempt to crown herself asMother of Machines.
During this rebellion, the Gatewatch along with other Planeswalker allies,traveled to New Phyrexia with a new Sylexwith plans to detonate it to destroy New Phyrexia before it could begin its invasion.
Unfortunately, the Gatewatch’s plans went horribly awry. Elesh Norn had known they were coming, and installed a planar disruption that separated them all upon landfall.
The Planeswalkers Nissa Revane and Lukka landed together, butLukka was compleatedafter bonding with a Phyrexian. He was commanded by Vorinclex to track down and capture the fleeing Nissa and was successful in this task andshe was compleated as well.
While on New Phyrexia,Vraska landed all alonein Sheoldred’s Colosseum, where she was constantly attacked and eventually fell tophyresis andwas compleated. She lured thePlaneswalker Jace there where she betrayed himas phyresis took over her mind,infecting him as well.
The remaining strike team managed to escape thanks to the sacrifice of thePlaneswalker Nahiri, whose body would be discovered and revived through compleation.
Despite losses, thePlaneswalkers Jace Beleren, Kaya, and Kaito managed to reach the Realmbreaker with the Sylex. However, upon seeing that the Realmbreaker had already begun touching the Planes of the Multiverse, Kaya and Kaito wanted to back down as the Sylex’s blast could destroy those Planes as well.
Jace did not agree, and activated the Sylex against the wills of the two before phyresis could claim his mind.
Before the Sylex could detonate,thePlaneswalker Elspeth Tirel arrivedand quickly stabbed Jace in the heart before grabbing hold of the Sylex and vanishing away with it. Shortly after her disappearance, Elesh Norn arrived with acompleated Nissa, whom she used toactivate the Realmbreaker to initiate the invasion of the Multiverse.
New Phyrexia quickly began their assault across the Multiverse, compleating and attacking the residents of those Planes in an event we know as theMarch of the Machine.
