Quick Links
Elspeth Tirelis one of the many Planeswalkers ofMagic: The Gathering. She has a long history, particularly with fighting Phyrexia and Gods themselves. Born on theplane of Capenna,Elspeth is attuned exclusively in white mana.
RELATED:Magic: The Gathering - Who Is Nissa Revane?
Elspeth is a woman who is constantly haunted by her past, suffering from deep trauma at losing all the places she once called home. She has made her home in multiple Planes, namelyTheros and Alarabefore leaving them behind. She became an important player in the war against New Phyrexia, from its inception on Mirrodin to itsinvasion of the Multiverse with the Realmbreaker.
Bant Knighthood
As a child, Elspeth wascaptured by Phyrexians on Capennaand held in prison. Here, she was tortured along with her fellow prisoners. She attempted to escape with another prisoner by hiding under corpses. This failed and she was captured once more. She was restrained and nearly experimented on, but was saved when herPlaneswalker spark ignitedand allowed her to Planeswalk away. She originally landed on thePlane of Therosbut did not stay there as she traveled through Planes until she could one she could call home.
This led Elspeth to thePlane of Alara, in theBant shardspecifically. It was here Elspeth felt a sense of community and peace. She trained to become a knight, succeeding and becoming one of the youngest of the Bant to ascend to knighthood. Despite growing close with her fellow knights, she kept her past and status as a Planeswalker hidden.
Two years later, Elspeth discovered the injured body offellowPlaneswalker Ajani Goldmane. She helped in nursing him back to health and offered him to stay on Bant. Ajani refused and left Elspeth with a warning their “worlds were closer than she thought” before Planeswalking away.
Concerned, Elspeth traveled to a monastery in search of answers with asquire named Aran. However, they had found theshard of Grixis had begun invading it, as theConflux of Alara— an event where all the shards merged into one Plane — had finally reached Bant. Aran was killed in the fight, and Elspeth threw aside everything she had learned under Bant and no longer held back her true powers as she decimated the Grixis forces and revived Aran. Elspeth felt shame for what she had done, disowning the sigils she was given from the Bant.
Despite this, she still fought with Bant during the Conflux. She led an assault to drive the invadingshard of Esperback, but was injured by one of their mages. She was forbidden to fight on the front lines after, but Elspeth refused to listen. Elspeth helped the Bant take down a dragon and end Bant’s part in the Conflux war.
Throughout all of this, Elspeth was reminded that Bant was not her true home and that it had been irreversibly changed. It was no longer the Plane she fell in love with, and sheplaneswalked away with sadness.
Old Enemies And New Allies
Elspeth traveled to theUrborg region of Dominariato fight in the pits for food and to help fight through her emotions. One of the opponents she was fighting was aPlaneswalker named Koth. During their fight,Ajani reappearedand distracted Koth enough for Elspeth to get a solid hit in, revealing themark of Phyrexia on his arm. This resurfaced the trauma of her childhood as she flew into a rage and assaulted Koth. It was stopped when Ajani intervened to stop her.
Ajani tried to convince Elspeth to return to Bantand told her the fighting in Urborg was dishonorable. However, Elspeth refused to listen and told him to leave her alone. Ajani did not press further, but left the armor Elspeth left on Bant before planeswalking away. Later, she confronted Koth who told her that he put the mark on his body as a reminder of his people who fell to Phyrexia.
The two briefly talked about their homes lost, and Koth convinced her to come with him as he searched for ways to save his home Plane of Mirrodin from the increasing Phyrexian threat. Along the way, they met aPlaneswalker named Venserwho was repairing a Phyrexian ship. Enraged, Koth encased Venser’s head in stone; an act that Elspeth found far too extreme. Koth did not care, and the three traveled to Mirrodin.
RELATED:Magic: The Gathering – Who Is The Wanderer?
Mirrodin was riddled with Phyrexians, and images of her past came back to haunt Elspeth’s mind. It became too much for her to bare, andElspeth told Koth and Venser she could not continue with themas she left them behind. She found herself meeting a Vulshok shaman whoshamed her for her cowardice and if her word was worth anything, she would not be wasting time with talking things out and would be fighting instead.
Elspeth took these words to heart and sought out Koth and Venser once more. They had been captured by Phyrexians but were saved by Elspeth’s timely reappearance. They eventually found themselves being guided by thePlaneswalker Tezzeretto a surgery bay. Seeing all the Phyrexians experimenting on people drove Elspeth into a rage and destroyed all the Phyrexians there.
It was here they met theMirran woman Melira, who was born without any metal and was capable of healingphyresis— the infection that turned people into Phyrexians — and was immune to it as well.
Elspeth bonded with Melira and became very protective of her. They arrived at a Mirran camp in the furnace layer; a sector that the Phryexians allowed the Mirrans to remain. Elspeth oversaw Melira as she healed all the ones at the camp that were infected with phyresis. The group of Planeswalkers along with Melira all left on a quest to find thePlaneswalker and creator of Mirrodin Karn.
However, Koth was angry at the losing battle on the surface and left with Melira. Elspeth and Venser tried to chase after them before being intercepted by Tezzeret and his Phyrexians, double-crossing them. Elspeth was able to defeat them but she and Venser were captured when a larger group of them arrived.
Koth and Melira arrived once more to save the two, and they all found Karn in the core of Mirrodin. They saw that he had becomecorrupted by glistening oil- the substance used to induce phyresis. The infection had spread too much that Melira could not save him, andVenser sacrificed his spark and life to heal Karn. Now thinking clearly, Karn talked directly to Elspeth, and told her that he could not stop Phyrexia alone and needed their help to create a resistance to fight back, never giving up no matter the cost.
With a new quest, Elspeth, Koth, and Melira all left back to the surface. Phyerxia was triumphant in taking over Mirrodin, fully converting the Plane into New Phyrexia. Koth and Elspeth went on a mission to plant a spellbomb at a gathering all the Praetors were attending. The plan went terribly, and they were discovered as the Praetor’s forces attacked them. Koth demanded Elseth leave but she refused. Koth used his powers to sink Elspeth into the ground to force her to Planeswalk away. The spellbomb detonated, leaving Elspeth unaware of the ultimate fate of Koth.
Elspeth Conquers Death
Elspeth awoke on thePlane of Theros. The fight on New Phyrexia had done a toll on her body, and she wrote a letter to Ajani. She sought to learn about the Gods, and wound up at thecity of Akros. Elspeth found theGod Heliodwho attempted to kill her but she was able to negate the attack with her magic.Heliod transformed Elspeth’s sword which was now named the Godsend. Heliod told Elspeth to go to his temple inMeletis.
The journey was rigorous as every God on Theros wished to possess the weapon due to being manipulated bythe God Xenagos. Along the way, Elspeth along withher friend Daxosthat she traveled with ran into thehydra Polukranosand were able to slay it, something no one had done before. This allowedElspeth to be dubbed Heliod’s championupon arrival at Meletis.
Elspeth lived among the priests of Heliod for months,growing closer to Daxos as romantic feelings began to formbetween the two. Elspeth was summoned by a satyr that was captured that demanded to talk to her. Elspeth agreed and was led to animprisoned Xenagos. He told her that they could destroy the invading army without ever needing to fight them by raising a river to hit the invading forces and sail them away. They listened to Xenagos' plan and it had succeeded.
RELATED:Magic: The Gathering – Who Is Teferi?
After celebrating, Elspeth and Daxos returned to their tent where they confessed their love for each other.Xenagos entered Elspeth’s mind and brought a vision of a Phyrexian Obliterator,causing her to strike it only to realize it was a vision and thatshe had killed Daxos. Everyone had turned on Elspeth as she fled back into the words, even cast out by her God Heliod.
She ran into aleonin named Brimaz, who led her to Ajani who was on Theros. She kept everything that had happened to her a secret, but Ajani insisted he help her set things right. Together, they traveled to theshrine of Nykthos, which would let them travel into Nyx.To gain entry, they had to go through an ordeal from the Gods. Ajani tried to convince Elspeth to take on fromThassa, a God they had a run-in with but Elspeth decided to gain entry fromErebosinstead.
This sent her into a vision of life on Bant where she lived with a husband and two children. Elspeth was asked to drink from a cup by her daughter, and she knew it was al fake. Elspeth smashed the cup andsucceeded in passing Erebos’s ordeal. Despite never living the life, Elspeth was still haunted by its memories as they entered Nyx. Elspeth battled with Xenagos, defeating him. Elspeth and Ajani were warned to flee, butHeliod arrived and killed Elspeth with her own weapon.
Ajani carried Elspeth’s body back to Theros but was taken away by Brimaz as Elspeth fully succumbed to her wounds. However, her life wasn’t over as her spirit enteredTheros' Underworld. She was tortured by the nightmares thePlaneswalker Ashiokwas making her live, reliving all of her traumatic events from her childhood to her death at the hands of Heliod. During one of the nightmares, Elspeth took Heliod’s spear and brought it into the real world, a weapondubbed the Shadowspear.
RELATED:Magic: The Gathering – Who Is Liliana Vess?
Elspeth managed to escape the Underworld and return to the land above. This angered theGod of Destiny Klothys who sent her champion Calixto bring Elspeth back into the Underworld. Calix and Elspeth fought on multiple occasions, but Elspeth was always able to defeat him.
Elspeth took the Shadowspear and claimed it to be the true weapon of the Gods and that Heliod’s was fake. She fought her former God, with theGodsend shattering against the Shadowspear. Elspeth bested Heliod who was imprisoned under a rock in the Underworld to stay there for eternity. As thanks for defeating Heliod,Erebos allowed Elspeth to be fully revived from death. With life returned to her, she planeswalked away.
Return To War
Elspethreturned to Dominaria where she reunited with Ajani, relieved to see his friend once more. He told her that he haddiscovered her birth Plane, something that even she did not know. It was the Plane ofCapenna that had become New Capenna— one that hadsuccessfully held back a Phyrexian invasion. Ajani requested Elspeth go to New Capenna to find out how they did so to help in the ongoing conflict with New Phyrexia.
Elspeth ultimately ended up meeting theleader of the Maestros Xanderwho had knowledge of New Capenna’s past. He offered her information in exchange for doing work for the family - an offer she agreed to. Xander showed herHalo, a magical substance that was as good as gold on the Plane. TheCabaretti family had discovered a way to produce Halo, which was shown off at an event calledthe Crescendo. Elspeth witnessed it being created bya girl named Giada.
The Crescendo was attacked by thePlaneswalker Ob Nixilis. Elspeth grabbed Giada and helped her to flee. They were cut off by Ob Nixilis who engaged in combat with Elspeth. He was almost victorious untilGiada sacrificed herself by turning herself into Haloand ascending into an angel that healed Elspeth’s wounds and powered a new weapon Elspeth possessed -the Luxior.
Elspeth was able todefeat Ob Nixiliswho was forced to planeswalk away. After the fighting, Elspeth was allowed entry to the late Xander’s documents where she discoveredCapenna held back Phyrexia with Halo, and how it was the key to defeating Phyerxia.
Elspeth returned to Dominaria and was told thatAjani had been compleated by Phyrexia, news that Elspeth did not take well. Elspeth protected theTemporal Anchorfrom attacking Phyrexian forces, leading mechanical soldierscreated bythe Planeswalker Saheeli. She was successful in holding the forces back and told her fellow Planeswalkers what to expect on New Phyerxia when they led their assault.
She traveled to New Phyrexia along with nine other Planeswalkers with a strike team intending to use a device calledthe Sylex to destroy New Phyrexiabefore it could invade more Planes. Their plan was known, however, as they wereall split up upon arrival. Elspeth regrouped with some of the strike team and made their way to a Mirran resistance camp where she was reunited with Koth for the first time since she was last on New Phyrexia.
Elspeth provided the party with Halo to prevent falling under the effects of necrogen in theDross Pits. They are forced to take a detour to Sheoldred’s Coliseum whenJace, a member of the strike teamrushed there upon hearing the cries ofVraska — a goron Planeswalkerwhom he loved. They could not continue their plan without Jace as he held the Sylex. Jace was infected with phyresis by the now-compleated Vraska but they were all able to escape thanks to thesacrifice of the Planeswalker Nahiri.
The remaining members of the strike team were dropped into theFair Basilica. This allowed them to travel towards theSeedcore where the Realmbreaker was- the tree that Phyrexia was planning on using to enter the Planes of the Multiverse.
At the entrance though, the group was stopped by thecompleated Planeswalkers Ajani and Tibalt. Elspeth along withfellow strike team member Tyvartold the others to go ahead as they would fight the two compleated Planeswalkers. Elspeth engaged in combat with her old friend while Tyvar attacked Tibalt. Tibalt was able to use his magic to cast doubt on Elspeth, which caused her to feel the weight of her failed missions on her shoulders. It was almost enough for Ajani to strike her down.
However, Tyvar was able to suppress Tibalt’s powers which allowed Elspeth to rise above it. This allowed Elspeth tostrike a debilitating blow on Ajaniand beat him. Tyvar told Elspeth to join the others and he would be fine as he defeated Tibalt.
When Elspeth arrived in the Seedcore, she saw thatJace had activated the Sylexwhile thePlaneswalkers Kayaand Kaito were helpless to stop himfrom using it to destroy New Phyrexia and any Plane the Realmbreaker had already broken into. Thinking quickly, Elspeth took her sword andstabbed Jace in the heart with it, allowing her to take the Sylex from him. With the Sylex in hand,Elspeth pulled it away into the Blind Eternitiesto save the Planes and the cost of the Phyrexian invasion of the Multiverse.
