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March Of The Machine is the finale of the second Phyrexian Invasion arc that started in the Kaldheim set, with every Plane across theMagic: The GatheringMultiverse being affected by the invasion. By utilizing the Phyrexian Realmbreaker, the New Phyrexians are capable of entering into other Planes in an attempt to indoctrinate them into Phyrexia.
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Every Plane is fighting back against New Phyrexia in their respective Planes, but there’s a war going on within New Phyrexia itself. The entire Multiverse is being affected by New Phyrexia, each one with its own unique tragedies and ways to fight back against the invading threat.
The Invasion Begins
Elesh Norn has just activated the Realmbreaker, with her Phyrexian forces being dispatched to the various Planes. Sheoffers the capturedPlaneswalkers Tyvar Kell, Kaya, and Kaito Shizukia place within the Phyrexianone final time, and when they all refuse she ultimately lets them escape, no longer caring for them as she turned her attention to dispatching her compleated Planeswalkers.
Elesh thenuses Nissa to control the Realmbreaker, steering it to open portals for the compleated to go through to start their attacks on the Planes.
Jace Beleren wanders off, not sharing any words with Elesh Norn while Lukka, Ajani, Nahiri, Vraska, Tamiyo, and the compleated angel Atraxa arrive shortly after. They bring along a capturedSheoldred, the black Praetorwho isexecuted by Ajani by order of Elesh Norn.
Elesh Norn begins dispatching the compleated Planeswalkers to their home Planes, with Nahiri being sent to Zendikar, Vraska being sent to Ravnica and Lukka to Ikoria. When the Realmbreaker opens up the portal to Kamigawa,Tamiyo becomes lost in her thoughtsbut shakes it off as she goes there.
Ajani is ordered to go to Theros to compleat the Gods that live there by converting their followers first, because in that plane the Gods' appearances and power are driven by belief. Lastly, Atraxa is sent to New Capenna to decimate the place and all the Halo there,as it is one of the weaknesses of Phyrexians.
The Planeswalkers that managed to escape New Phyrexia return to Dominaria to tell the other ones what happened and how they failed. Chandra Nalaar is shaken and refuses to believe it, and insists on travelling to New Phyrexia to continue the assault.
Every remaining Planeswalker disagrees, and they warn her about the dangers of going there. They all Planeswalk away back to their respective home Planesexcept for Chandra, who is joined by thePlaneswalker Wrenn, the only one on board with her plan, and they bothtravel to New Phyrexia to take the Realmbreaker down.
Fighting Back
On Kamigawa, Tamiyo arrives and starts to spread Glistening Oil, the substance that turns living beings into Phyrexians.The ancient tree Boseiju is destroyedand starts to drip oil as well as it becomes compleated, and part of Tamiyo is horrified by the sight, but the Phyrexian corruption shuts it down by telling her this is what Kamigawa had earned - peace.
Kaya arrives in Kamigawajust in time to save a small child that was escaping from a building plummeting down, and both are saved by the timelyarrival of Kaito.
They advance towards Tamiyo, but before they can engage her in combat they are found by Tamiyo’s adopted sonNashi, who asks if he can talk with her first, believing he can get through to her. They agree, but Nashi fails to break through the Phyerxian corruption and Kaito intervenes.
Tamiyo attacks Kaito and dangles him, but he cuts the rope and is saved by theWanderer, whoarrives riding on top of thespirit dragon Kyodai. Afterwards, she turns her attention to Tamiyo and with a strike, kills her.
The group all console Nashi, and hear Tamiyo’s voice call for him - her natural voice, not the metallic one the compleated one had.Tamiyo had created a scroll that would activate in the event of her death, one that would create a spirit of her memory. Nashi and the spirit of Tamiyo share a hug while Kaito looks on, taking the small victory where they could take it.
Invasion Of Ikoria
Jirina, Lukka’s ex-fianceand leader of Drannithleads her people out of their destroyed home in search of a new one, and thePlaneswalker Vivien Reid recruits the help of Chevill, a hunter that under normal circumstances she wouldn’t ally herself with. They are there totry and take the compleated Lukkadown who had begun sowing chaos across the Plane.
They encounter Lukka and briefly capture him before he is able to break free and all of Chevill’s men flee. Lukka escapes the scene as he tries to close the gap between him and the survivors of Drannith’s fall, and Vivien tries to keep Chevill’s assistance but he refuses, too afraid of being turned himself even after Vivien threatens him.
As Jirina and her people travel, they witness one of Ikoria’s monsters become exposed to Glistening Oil, only for it to dissipate thanks to crystals that became a part of its body, since they had evolved to form a natural resistance to it.
When they make it to their destination, Lukka appears and tells them he is there with a gift to unite them all. However,it was all a part of Jirina’s plan, she hadn’t taken their people to a new home, but to the nest of the dragon Vadrok.
Vadrok attacks Lukka, tearing him out of the centaur he was bonded with and capturing him in his mouth. With Vadrok’s help,Vivienshoots multiple arrows into Lukka’s chest to take him down, and Vadrok drops Lukka, engulfing him with his flame - capable of erasing the very memory of someone from everyone’s minds.
Jirina’s people realize what she had done to them - use them as bait. Though Vadrok leaves them be, there was no guarantee it wouldn’t. The people are enraged at her, but Vivien tells them to deal with the politics after the Phyrexians are taken care of.
Invasion Of Arcavios
OnArcavios, home of Strixhaven,the five main students of each school Killian, Dina, Rootha, Zimone, and Quintoriusare all travelling through the Biblioplexso they can activate the Invocation of the Foundersthat can save the school from the Phyrexians, sent there by the teacher and Planeswalker Liliana Vess.
Nearly all the teachers and deans were compleated during the invasion, and inside the Biblioplex, they encounter a compleated Dean Shalie,who attacks Killian and captures him within a cage over his head. She was seeking his father Dean Embrose, who had avoided compleation.
Killian is saved when Dean Embrose reveals himself by attacking Shaile. He tells the students to leave and that he’ll hold back Shaile, something Killian refuses before being convinced by the other students to let Embrose do it.
The students manage to find the spell, withDina and Zimone working together to create a platform above the Bilbioplex to activate the spell away from the Phyrexians. They make their way to the top where they begin the invocation but areinterrupted by acompleated Dean Nassari, who attacks Roothaand causes her part of the spell to weaken.
Quintorius notices this andgrabs hold of Rootha’s part of the spell, powering two parts of it as the spell succeeds, but he feels an immense energy within him ashis Planeswalker spark ignites,and he planeswalks away.
The four remaining students return to Strixhaven’s medical bay, where the wounded were being healed sincethe Invocation of the Founders worked, and the Phyerxians were pushed back. Dean Embrose is among those in the bay,having held Shalie back while keeping himself from being compleated.
Liliana notices that Quintorius was gone, and when they explain what happened, she realizes that his spark likely ignited.Liliana summons an army of the undeadto act as a defence to keep Strixhaven safe from Phyrexia, vowing to keep it up as long as she still has air in her body.
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Invasion Of New Capenna
TheMaestros family of New Capenna has fallen, most either killed or compleated, including the head of the family Anhelo.Errant and her wife Parnesse are running away, but Parnesse is injured and slowing them down.
She tells Errant to go on without her, something she reluctantly does before Parnesse activates an explosive that knocks them both out, and they are saved by an angel named Della. Both are taken back to a safe house where they are healed, and Della tells Errant thatHalo is not capable of undoing compleation, but only prevents it from converting someone in the first place.
Errant is recruited by the enforcers of the other familiesPerrie, Kamiz, and Henzie todrop part of New Capenna on Atraxa and kill her, something she refuses to do until Parnesse tells her it is what Errant needs, and only she is acrobatic enough to plant the explosives. All the families work together to hold back New Phyrexia, a unity not seen for some time.
While planting the explosives, Errant is ambushed by the compleated Anhelo, her father, who tries to bring her into Phyrexia. Errant refuses and evades him, telling him goodbye as she jumps from the building,activating the bombs and making Park Heights fall from the sky.
Errant is freefalling down to the ground and is caught by Della, who tells her that the plan succeeded and the rest were alright.Atraxa is impaled and killed by the city falling on top of her, and the angels of New Capenna go through the portals the Realmbreaker opened to assist the other Planes with fighting back.
Invasion Of Zendikar
Nahiri arrives on Zendikar and decides to find a place to channel her network of hedrons, originally meant for the Eldrazi, to power herself to spread Phyrexian perfection. She finally finds this location at the Skyclave in Emeria, where she could make the Phyrexian invasion amplified to be more efficient.
A small party consisting ofAkiri, Tazri, Linvala, Erem, Kaza, and Orah are the main defence against her,and they all perform scouting missions to try and figure out her plan without endangering themselves.Erem is captured in a Phyrexian pod and compleatedas the rest of the party is forced to abandon him.
While travelling, the Roil - the living nature of Zendikar - tries to attack Nahiri, but the lithomancer is able to beat it and she revels in glee at this, knowing that before her compleation she would never be able to accomplish this. She makes it to the Skyclave where she merges herself into the keystone at its heart, to pour her essence into the hedron network.
The party arrives andengages in combat with Nahiri, and the halo belonging to Tazri talks to her, telling her when to attack and when to use it to attack. She throws the halo at Nahiri and a flash of light removes Nahiri from her encasement.
Before she could fight back, the Skyclave begins to fall down, and the party escapes butNahiri fails to do so as she plummets down to the ground, stuck inside.
Invasion Of Ravnica
Vraska arrives on Ravnica and starts compleating the Golgari, whilethere is an internal fight within her head between the normal Vraska and the one that was corrupted by Phyrexia. She winds up in her old apartment, from the time before she became the Golgari Guildmaster, and she reminisces about the artifacts she acquired from the various Planes she visited.
The most important to her is thethaumatic compass, which is what had originally led her to Jace Beleren on Ixalan where she fell in love with him. She hides it on her person before the Phyrexian part of her head takes over, and she leaves the apartment and travels back up to the main area of Ravnica.
Here, the Planeswalker Ral Zerek shows up, shielding his eyes from her to avoid petrification.Before Vraska can attack him, he implants a device into Vraska’s chestthat causes her to spasm down to the ground, vomiting oil and blood as she starts dying.
Inside her head, she sees Jace Beleren there. She tells him how ashamed she is of herself, and Jace tells her all the evil he had done in the past, and the two share a kiss before the vision stops.
The Ravnicas had successfully held back the Phyrexians, and Ral Zarek and his husband Tomik Vrona are working on cleaning up Ravnica in its recovery efforts. An Izzet officer arrives who was instructed to find Vraska’s body, only to tell Ral Zarek thatno body was found, and there were no signs of Vraska’s body at all.
Invasion Of New Phyrexia
Chandra and Wrenn enter New Phyrexia, making it to the Mirran safe zone.
They meet up with the Planeswalker Koth and tell them about Wrenn’splan to merge with the Realmbreakeritself. With no other options, Koth agrees that the Mirran Resistance will help them in their plan. The Phyrexian Praetor Urabrask tells them how to get to the Realmbreaker, and while they’re on their way,Chandra meets face to face with the compleated Nissafor the first time, horrified at the sight.
They have a conversation, and Nissa tells Chandra that Phyrexia isn’t something to fear, going as far as toask Elesh Norn for the opportunity to talk with Chandra personally. Nissa then turns to Wrenn, tearing her out from the tree she’s merged with Seven, completely destroying it.
The Planeswalker Elspeth Tirelhad previously grabbed hold of the Sylex - the device meant to be used to destroy New Phyrexia - andplaneswalked away with it during the events of Phyrexia: All Will Be One.She now awakens in a strange Plane, where a woman’s voice tells her that she has the option to enter back into the fight on any Plane.
As the voice takes the form of her mother,she is given the option of going to New Capenna, and Elspeth refuses knowing that they could handle the Phyrexians themselves. The form then becomes her old lover Daxos,asshe is shown Therosand Ajani compleating its denizens.
Though it hurts, she knows saving Theros won’t help in the grand scheme of things, and it settles on New Phyrexia, where Urabrask has been captured and his limbs are being torn off. More importantly, shesees Chandra and Wrenn and knows they are the key to victory.
Elspeth decides that New Phyrexia is where she is most needed, and the only way they can win the war. The voice is revealed to be theancient angel Serra, who opens the gateway for Elspeth to go to New Phyrexia andElspeth is reborn as an archangel,as she arrives on the Plane.
On New Phyrexia,the creator of Mirrodin(that eventually became New Phyrexia)Karnwas captured by Elesh Norn, and forced to watch as Elesh Norn’s invasion threatened the whole Multiverse. He was about to be executed, but suddenly Elspeth arrives and saves him. Elesh Norn orders Jin-Gitaxias to attend to the others as she focuses her energy on Elspeth.
Thefear that she felt for New Phyrexia is gonefrom Elspethnow, remaining calm as she and Elesh Norn fight, the Praetor raging against her. Jin-Gitaxias insists on Elesh Norn stop the bickering which is meant with rage by Elesh Norn.
While distracted, Elspeth takes the opportunity to strike Elesh Norn in her exposed shoulder. Though Elspeth does not kill Elesh Norn with her strike, she knows she’s more needed in the fight to get Wrenn to the Realmbreaker. She notices that the Mirran womanMelira,immune to the Glistening Oil had been severely injured. She leaves Elesh Norn despite her protests to stay and fight to assist them.
Return Of Zhalfir
Wrenn can not move without a tree,so she is carried by the Mirran Resistance, all of them doing everything in their power to get her to the Realmbreaker. They are able to get her there, andWrenn connects herself with the Realmbreaker.
Inside, she sees the scared seed that was once the World Tree. The Realmbreaker tries to convert her but Wrenn ignores its voice, instructing the seed to grow. With it, she has a new tree she bonds with, theRealmbreaker becoming Eight.
Wrenn channels as much energy as she can toreach out tofind the Planeswalker Teferi, who is in the Plane of Zhalfir, which had been phased out for years. It takes effort, but Wrenn manages to find Zhalfir and gets in contact with Teferi, who tells her that Zhalfir is ready for war.
Wrenn didn’t just find Zhalfir, she also begins to pull it back into the Multiverse and the Zhalfir warriors charge in, turning the tide against the war on New Phyrexia.
This wasn’t all Wrenn was doing, because as she brought Zhalfir back she waspushing New Phyrexia back into the space where Zhalfir was once banished to. It wasn’t just the Zhalfir people who came to help but angels from across the Multiverse as well, and the angel Giada has a reunion with Elspeth.
The Phyerxians attempt to fight back, and Teferi uses his time magic to slow them down. The Phyrexian Praetor Vorinclex charges at him but is dispatched by a Zhalfir warrior who slays him. During the scuffle,Jin-Gitaxias turns on Elesh Norn, believing her to be a weak, selfish leader.
Ajani returns to New Phyrexiato condemn Jin-Gitaxias, but he is captured and taken away by the Zhalfir forces after Teferi instructs them to keep him alive. Though theprocess had led to Wrenn’s death, an acorn that fell from the tree that Teferi knew was Wrenn’s soul was quickly grabbed by Teferi.
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Jin-Gitaxias' vat of Phyrexian newts is destroyedand he falls into it, with the newts eating Jin-Gitaxias alive. The offensive notices that the portal between worlds was starting to close, and it was time to escape to Zhalfir as New Phyrexia was being phased out of the Multiverse.
Teferi uses his magic to slow time down for them to escape and for the last of the Planeswalkers to finish their business.
Chandra refuses to leave without Nissa, who attempts to attack them in anger for destroying New Phyrexia’s plans. She is saved by a shield created by Koth, and Elspeth arrives and hits Nissa on the back of her head with her blade to knock her out cold.
Karn goes to Elesh Norn, grabs hold of her and unmakes her,breaking his vow of pacifismafter everything that had happened and forcing himself to watch the destroyed Elesh Norn as penance for the pain he had unintentionally brought throughout the Multiverse. With that,Karn steps through the portal along with the rest, New Phyrexia phasing out as Zhalfir takes its place.
Victory
With New Phyrexia phased out, the link to Glistening Oil cuts off, andeveryone who was compleated suddenly starts crumbling to the groundwith no more energy keeping them going. The oil was linked to New Phyrexia and Elesh Norn, and with Elesh Norn gone, it ceased being effective.
On Zhalfir, everyone is celebrating the victory, and the Mirrans are welcomed with open arms to join their community.
While everyone celebrates,Teferi wanders off with the acorn, stopping at a patch of grass and planting it. He says a few words before joining the rest back at the base camp where he walks into the medical tent where the injured are being tended to, and allthe Planeswalkers are talking about what to do with Ajani and Nissa, who have become comatose.
Melira has survived her injuries up to this point but knows she is on borrowed time, soshe offers the last of her life force to heal Ajani and Nissa. The Planeswalkers agree,but Koth is uncertainand leaves the tent where he encounters Elspeth.
She explains to him that Melira is getting to choose how she dies, the same way that Koth chose to fight New Phyrexia until they either won or he was killed. Though Koth is still uncertain, he agrees, looking to thefive suns of Mirrodin that are still on Zhalfir, which make him feel like a little bit of his home is still here.
Inside the tent, the Planeswalkers start the healing process. Teferi creates a time bubble around them so they have more time to work.
Karn extracts the sparks of Ajani and Nissa, and Melira uses her powers to cleanse them as Karn uses Venser’s spark within him to give them a new life, the very same way that Venser had done to him.Ajani’s spark is fully healed, but Nissa’s appears to be chipping awayand flicking on and off, so they hurry and complete the process as Melira dies.
Ajani briefly wakes up confused, asking where he is, and despite the healing, his body is still wounded and he passes out again. Nissa takes longer to wake up and Chandra worries that her spark was damaged beyond repair, butNissa wakes up and they share a kiss.
Teferi smiles at the scene, looking out towards Zhalfir, excited for the brighter future ahead of them.
