Urabrask, humorously enough might just be the greatest hero of the multiverse simply by being too useful for Norn to get rid of and too uncooperative for her to use. Basically he's the Phyrexian's own Starscream
Loyal out of fear anyway. He has his own aspirations to rule and often plots to overthrow Megatron. It's actually a pretty decent comparison. Not perfect of course, but the similarities are there
I think Urabrask's main goal is freedom from Elesh Norn's tyranny, which is why he leaves the Mirrans alone - purely because Norn wants them. He compleats to free people from their weakness, which is kinda at odds with my previous statement, but Urabrask is... fascinating to me for not falling in line
Well Urabrask embodies Red mana. Red mana stands for Chaos and Impulse. It's main theme is 'freedom through action' which you can also interpret as 'independent'. Independence directly contradicts the whole phyrexian mantra. And the Chaos aspect of Red mana is a direct counter to White Mana's 'Order' aspect. Which could explain why Urabrask wanted nothing to do with the other praetors from the start. All he wanted was to tend to the forges and keep them burning.
If anything, Urabask has the most faith in the Phyrexian cause of any of the praetors. They believe the multiverse will *choose* phyresis if shown its true potential. Are the others so shaky in their confidence in the superiority of the Phyrexian way that they must *force* it upon the multiverse?
The other four colors are different flavors of fascism. White is theocracy, black colonization, blue mad science, green social darwinism. Recombined, you have every element of the worst ideology to ever exist. But you're completely right. All four of those facets are ignoring vital pieces of reality. Theocrats lose when their people realize they have been lied to. Colonizers lose when the people they subjugated overthrow them. Mad scientists lose when the madness underlying their premises is exposed. Social darwinists lose when one realizes there is no such thing as objective strength. These ideologies fundamentally don't work. Urabrask's ideology is most similar to the real-world idea that "inferior" peoples will simply integrate into the "superior" culture willingly. But this idea was always a thinly-veiled lie to cover one of the others in reality, or an excuse to ghettoize people so their choices were starvation or supplication. So far as we can tell, Urabrask actually believes this, and isn't making any particular efforts to grind the Mirrans away through attrition. It probably happens anyway, as the Great Furnace isn't a terribly hospitable place for those of flesh and blood alone. You could argue Urabrask's injustice is in him being there and altering the landscape at all...but he didn't choose that. Urabrask, all the red Phyrexians, are as much natives of Old Mirrodin as Mirrans themselves. Unlike colonizers claiming indigenous people will see their ways as superior, Urabrask never made a choice to be there, and has no option to go back to where he is from. The shallow justifications American integrationists made for their unending campaign of cultural annihilation don't apply to him because he genuinely doesn't have anywhere else to go. Just like the Mirrans he now shelters through conscious inaction. Urabrask isn't just faithful. He's realistic. Pragmatic, as mono-red characters almost never are. He sees problems he can't solve, recognizes them, and chooses the third option of simply not acting until something meaningfully changes. It's an interesting twist on red, for sure, and I hope they can do it justice.
Tbf it's never been shown if there's actually any ill effects of phyresis that isn't added on top by others, it's just weird and also taboo because it's forced by oil and such
If the other praetors weren’t confident they wouldnt be waging war on the entire multiverse haha. Urabrask is an interesting character but I don’t think his viewpoint is that egotistical. He’s more on the side of those who seek power will CHOOSE phyresis, but willing it upon **everything** is not necessary.
The Phyrexians didn't twist the color pie, they're the ultimate expression of it. There's no alloy of other colors, no conflict of philosophy, each Praetor is an exemplar of their color, stripped bare and functional. We, humans and people, are a blend of emotions, with a spectrum of ideals and perceptions. The Phyrexians are, for the most part, the ideals of each color stripped free from cloying complexity and given true form and conviction, resulting in this absolutely beautiful expression of the ideals of each color. And Elesh Norn's my absolute favorite character, from my absolutely favorite plane, with my absolutely favorite art style. She's the tyranny of the commons, without the mask of morality. She's the chains of community without division, she's the shape of worship as a tool of control and unification. She's just this magnificent examination of the values of white, without the preconceptions we bring in of angels being good, demons being bad, and the sun being this source of life. And I'm a massive sucker for the "Light is not good" trope, especially when it's done well. If you want to look at WOTC examining white in a similar way, you have to look at the kithkin from Lorwyn.
I really want some Urabrask made Compleated hero. Someone who Chooses it, because they believe that becoming a cyborg is their only chance to defeat some terrible evil or protect something important to them. Perhaps they were dying, and through compleation, they can live on. And there's a lot of interesting story potential for if that person then has to stop the machinations of any of the other praetors. Or how people react to seeing some horrible amalgam of flesh and steel, before they realize it's there to Help them.
I think the idea that sheoldreds entire philosophy is pure domination over others is well represented by the way she is designed. A humanoid form that is able to attach to any large body she desires. Making the body hers, regardless of how powerful the being was before
I also recall Red being the 2nd most common color amongst old Phyrexia, it's interesting to see how Red has now become the most rebellious against it as well.
@@noisyash4234 They were mostly legendary characters that get mentioned in stories, such as Tasbo Tavoc, Greven, and with Mishra added he adds more Red to old Phyrexia and after some additional searching, there is one old non-legendary Phyrexian that is Red. the Shivan Zombie
I was just thinking recently how much scarier five colors of phyrexians are than just black artifacts. If an enemy is one color, you can hope to fight it, but if all five colors have their own corruption, then something is SURE to be able to get into you.
I feel like bringing Phyrexia to five colors was one of the best Magic Story decisions ever made. I just wish they’d bring back the old body horror elements.
There's definitely some body horror present in Dominaria United, Citizen's Arrest probably being the best showcasing of it. Benalish Sleeper has some too that might be missed at first glance. The horror present is just a bit more subtle, which to me makes it even more chilling. It leaves a lot to the imagination.
Body horror? You mean like (Dominaria United spoiler alert) Ajani getting captured, a bunch of machinery installed under his skin, his memory of the event erased, and running around unaware until the moment that machinery decided it was time to burst through his skin, reveal his new form, and betray his friends?
Urabrask is definitely the most interesting praetor to me; I like to interpret his vision of phyresis as perfection through individualism. There is no ego to it, almost leaning into a form of artistic interpretation what the nature of perfection and honing ones crafts and obsessions less so than their physical being.
urabrask is the only phyrexian (i can think of) who i wouldnt consider evil and i find that fascinating. whereas every other praetor is their own flavor of lawful evil, urabrask sits counter to each them in almost every aspect and has a very chaotic neutral feel. hes got his own goals in the great work, but more than that hes motivated largely by emotion - especially a mix of empathy and spite - which totally sets him apart from the other praetors in such a compelling way. i love him so much and i really hope to see more of him
Urabrask is the most electable phyrexian, I wouldn’t mind seeing him as a ruler of his own plain. Where he was forced to escape as the other predators decide to kill him for fear of him defecting (or smth idk the lore 2 much) so he runs to some sort of plain and makes his own rebel nation
Poor guy got tortured for treason during the end of the invasion unfortunately. The writing for it is, I'll be honest, pretty bad, so I'm not even sure if he's dead, only that Norn definitely is and Phyrexia is basically sealed away right now, phased out from the Multiverse. So the Phyrexians will come back someday, hopefully not for a while and hopefully along with Urbrask, but I wouldn't count on i
I kinda see the phyrexian peators as a very pure form of their color but as the reverse of the normal pure forms. Normally pure green is tradition and nature but here it's more animalistic, hunter and the hunted
Back when they were first releasing the Scars of Mirrordin block, the team at Wizards mentioned that one of the concepts they had in mind for Phyrexia was that they were very literal. And the creative and art team decided to play this for all the horror they could" White talks about discarding that which separates people? The White Phyrexians flay themselves and replace their faces with identical, blank porcelain masks. And the really crazy ones are sewing themselves together. The same literalness and extremity has been applied all over the colour pie: Vorinclex is a mindless brute who has turned the Tangle into a hell of endless, destructive predation. The Black Phyrexians are an absurd circular firing squad of manipulation that make Star Trek's Cardassians seem normal. It could have been funny by virtue of its absurdity, but instead it's a nightmare (And my favourite plane in the game by far!) as every colour runs rampant and uncontrolled, unrestrained by the others. And the Praetors look on, and think it perfect.
For Vorin Clex, one could argue that "Hunt or Be Hunted" is the oldest tradition known on Earth. Thus, keeping true to the tenets of Green, but without the natural empathy found in organic life.
@@WarMonger_the-One-and-Only it fits well with how I see the Phyrexian colours: their normal principles unleashed, unrestrained and carried well beyond the point of madness.
Tbh I prefer Jin Gitaxias because he looks the scariest and most intrwdting character design. I will say that norn is amazing but I simply prefer the silent creepiness of gitaxis.
Hot take. Phyrexians were never black. They only appeared as black due to early color pie shenanigans and the fact that Yawgmoth is black aligned. Phyrexia has always been White and Blue. White because of their twisted sense of community and unity (all will be one) and Blue because of their obsession with progress. I think this is why Urza liked them. He's WU and so are they.
If I'm not mistaken, the original plane of Phyrexia only had access to black mana hence why Phrexians were Black aligned. New Phyrexia was therefore heavily influenced by having access to the four other colours
Yawgmoth should have been black/blue, admitely pure black once he transforms. He's driven by his desire for power and his idea "progress". But I totally agree that philosophically old Phrexians are white/blue. It's order and structure with one selfish prick at the top
0:03 The line "The most vile curse to plague the multiverse since the time of Urza" works on so many levels. We need the "I'm something of a (plague) myself" meme with Urza in it. Thanks for the video.
Awesome. What an absolutely, criminally underrated channel. That said the praetors themselves are absolutely amazing characters. The concept of atomization of factions within a seeming hive mind is some truly impressive world building. Obviously Phyrexia is not a hive mind in the same sense that you’d see in, say, the Slivers. I think it is fascinating that we have *never* seen a true 5 color phyrexian afaik and afaik the only multicolor phyrexians are the Compleated planeswalkers due to their soul/spark being so powerful.
@@matthewverma3291 aww shit I knew I was forgetting something. Though it does make me feel a little better knowing it was a one-of experiment/lore heavy character. That is a good point though I can’t believe I forgot Atraxa whom, in this video’s context especially, seems like a badass character
I fucking love Urabrask, he’s literally the best boy. He believes in consent, loves his culture but doesn’t push it on others, he loves creating things, and doesn’t fold to Elesh Norn like the other Praetors do. Honestly I wish that Urabrask didn’t “die” (it’s heavily implied) I think he could’ve created a paradise of New Phyrexia, and probably could’ve actually held peace with the other planes.
This is so cool. I've never cared about the phyrexians before but this really makes me want to build a phyrexian themed deck, incorporating all the themes you brought up
Another thing that makes Urabrask the most interesting of the Praetors is that his philosophy and what part of Red he embodies seem to be left ambiguous, from what I know. Does he embody freedom in its rawest form? Or merely chaos? Does he truly want the Mirrans to remain free? Or is it simply a spite move against the other Praetors, especially Elesh Norn? And with Red's ties to passion and relentless opposition, is there a chance he maintained part of his soul, even in Compleation?
I think it’s interesting mechanically as well with Urabrask. All copies of the other praetors are “I gain, you lose”, whether it’s you gain increased hand, I gain life for drawing cards, I get +2/+2 and the vice versa for the opponent. It is always a sense of balance, where whatever the praetor gains the opponent loses. Even old Urabrask did this giving all his creatures haste and tapping everything else. However new Urabrask, the heretic, the outcast, has the first level playing field ability where his ability to exile fits more in his mana color and game plan but still potentially benefits his opponent as well, giving them the freedom to cast the exiled card and feed into it. He does not take away in his new mechanics, simply offers a different way of playstyle which he sees as correct
what I find interesting is that the Phyrexians don't really need to be a plague on the multiverse, they *choose* to do so. Which means that somehow they could even be redeemed and become just another race of beings, the problem is that by their mere existence they run the risk of infecting others with their horror.
Nah they don't choose it at all. Their drive to compleat is a fundamental aspect of their core essence; the will of Yawgmoth propagated via the Oil. They behave how they do because it is an instinctual imperative that they do so.
@@adamplentl5588 Indeed. How phyrexia reemerged on mirrordin was a few drops of oil left by Karn. What followed was nature taking its course, as unnatural as it was.
@@adamplentl5588 yhea, the will of Yawgmoth to perfect the Multiverse is intrisic to them, what changes is how they view on what's the best course of action to achive it, even red phyrexians want to complete other beings, but they will only do so if said beings want it from their own free will.
Change the oil, change the Phyrexians. I'm sure I could find something which will pacify them. Halo perhaps? Or will that only intensify their need for Unity?
@@adamplentl5588your intrinsic nature compels you to live and breed, yet you can choose almost completely freely and even self terminate. Phyrexians are on same position of free will as we are
I've never bothered to take a close look as the Praetor cards and wow they are gruesome as hell. I always thought Elesh was looking to the west with a scythe blocking her face. Now I see that it is all just an amalgamation of her face.
I think it could be argued that the "stripping of the philosophy" of the color makes a ton of sense, considering a Phyrexian at its core is a machine without a soul. They are a twisted parody of the color pie because they have no mind or way to expand on their core beliefs to reach a more nuanced point of view. That is why a white machine will seek to unite, a blue machine will seek to perfect, a black machine to dominate, a green machine to fight, and a red one to express itself. In a sense, the Praetors are the essence of the color pie, but that's just what they are, a being that obeys the pure raw compulsory need to do what their code tells them to do, with the code being given by their color affinity. Unlike Planeswalkers, Phyrexians are defined by their colors, where a Planeswalker's colors would be defined by their actions and beliefs, this is subtle but I believe this nuance perfectly encapsulate what the Phyrexians are. Phyrexians are incredibely smart but they lack empathy and a way to question their own belief. A phyrexian truth is absolute, because there is no other way for them to look at life, which is what makes them extremely scary imo
I still can’t believe that Ajani and Tamayo got turned by the Phyrexians. Now that they’ve got their claws into Gatewatch planeswalkers, the multiverse really is up the creek. This might get worse than the Eldrazi wars on Zendikar and Innistrad.
Bet you all wish you still had Urza, Teferi, Freyalise, Windgrace. Hell, I bet you'd take Leshrac right about now. I was right all along, these "neowalkers" are useless.
I like Jin-Gitaxias & Urabrask the most, they both seem like they would be interesting characters to talk to. Well, and also because I think (out of the five) they're the hottest ones
i never thought about urabrask like that, now it makes som much sense... i love him now and i hope to see what hes up to now with the new phyrexian storyline.
I'm relatively new to the MTG side of TH-cam; but this video gives me comfort and exudes hard work. Good job, and thanks for teaching me something new!
What I find interesting is how self-defeating many of these are in the long term. Or, if not self-defeating then at least incompatible. Red is incompatible from the start, with Red's love for freedom and emotion directly clashing with phyresis. Essentially, phyresis robs the soul but red replaces it with something similar. Black balks at the hivemind unity, making sentient Black Phyrexians more like demons than leaders of a hivemind. The only reason Black doesn't rebel against White yet is opportunism and the only reason Black goes along with the Great Synthesis philosophy is because each individual Black sentient imagines itself at the top of the hivemind, less of a synthesis and more as an individual with an infinite body. Green is Phyrexian horror as long as anything within reach stands in its way, but after that it's just a return to non-sentient nature, now with more metal and spikes. If Green Phyrexians were to "win" the multiverse, over time there would just be a normal ecosystem, which might very well evolve new sentients and build new civilizations within the next millions of years. Because, well, sentient community building creatures do have natural advantages after all. White is on top now, before perfection, but the closer White brings Phyrexia to the ideal end state the more irrelevant it will become. The more the hivemind becomes a true hivemind the less point there is to religion, hierarchy and dogma. Only Blue can remain true to both itself and Phyrexia in the very long term. A single multiversal AI undergoing endless singularity. But of course to get there faster, if at all, it needs the impetus the other four colors provide. Black, White and Green tools for a pure and horrific Blue goal.
From story, design and play perspectives, I love the Phyrexians. My favourite deck of recent times was orientated around New Capenna Urabrask. Thanks for making this video!
I can't help but find myself drawn to Phyrexians. They're the actual demons of MTG's multiverse. As they develop, they become more and more humanlike. Soon, I wonder if they will even have a set of goals that would almost seem more moral than those that would seek to utterly destroy them.
One to note: from a new capenna talk (the post spoiler stream) they said Urabrask doesn't believe in forceful compleation and everyone should pick to be compleated.
It's truly a shame we never got to know more about Karn's philosophy when he was the father of machine, with a bit of luck with how the story is going we'll get to see how colorless react and thinks after phyresis
What i found really cool is that urabrask helped the resistance, and its simply cause of his color identity he doesnt agree with norn cause he wants people to be independent which is a red trait he might want people to join him but out of their own choice, if he was real i would join him simply cause he values freedom.
I think blue can have a lot of soul. Blue is curious, and loves nothing more than finding something new (no better example than Ixalan Jace, who delights in inventing simple tools and painting the works around him with illusions). Being soulless is an individual thing, not a color thing. Any color can be kind, empathetic, ruthless, or evil. Even red can be heartless, as we see with Lukka.
I still wish Urabrask had survived. The red praetor having Phyrexia at least be a neutral presence in the multiverse would be a cool change, even if only temporarily.
I like how all phyrexian color philosophies on the surface looks as "oh, it's *color* but black!", but then you compare phyrexian blue to Dimirs, or phyrexian green with Golgari and no, they are different!
It is interesting, with the hindsight of March of the Machines, to see how each of these Praetors turned out. But I think, in a way that is even more indicative of Phyrexia, is Atraxa. Atraxa perhaps symbolizes Phyrexia best by being 4-Color Non-Red, called The Colors of Growth due to lacking Red's potentially self-destructive capability. Given the Phyrexian goal of Compleation of the Multiverse (and thus Growing Out), this feels more fitting to their philosophies as a whole than that of Domain, or all 5 Colors of Mana.
Vorinclex’s hands-off approach was summed up in Mycosynth Fiend - “I wish I could take credit for it, but nature progresses on its own”. He’s probably the most passive of the Praetors - not actively doing anything to make new phyrexian creatures or build up armies, nor interested in taking the credit for what is created.
Elesh Norm's cult has been described as a mockery of religion, in essence these guys are the very mockery of the colors themselves. Urabrask shows promise however, that good can stem from this evil. How fitting that it comes from the flames of the land's beating hearth. Now I hope he doesn't disappoint.
Urabrask is the side of red I really like, and want to see more from. Though for some reason I just never want to play red decks. It's all just damage and speed, meh.
think i saw a nim and dross related card somewhere saying the zombies were not really all that changed at all by phyresis since they were already soulless and evil minions for whatever had power
elish norn: all will be one under phyrexia jin-gitaxsis: there is always improvement in perfection sheoldred: you WILL submit to phyrexia vorinclex: only the apex predator will survive in the vicious swarm urabrask: idk man do what you want🗿
Your explanation of the praetors kinda makes me parallel their ideology to that of the chaos gods from warhammer. Twisted versions of that which they personify.
To me it feels like Elesh Norn is just heavy white mardu, Jin-Gitaxias is just heavy blue grixis, Shoeldred is just heavy black rakdos, Vorinclex is just heavy green jund, Urabrask is the exception by being mono red through and through.
Im relisteninf to this after we got the first “All Will Be One” stories, so I wonder what the Slices, Shards, and Dualities are like when Compleat, as we saw Ixhel, Daughter of Atraxa, begin to turn against the other Phyrexians, and she is Green White Black.
I find it interesting that if you look at it from the lens of "Eugenics," which is the foundation of Phyrexian philosophy, it's obvious why each color takes to it so strongly all except for red. From white's religious zealtory and xenophobia, to blue's obsession with the pursuit of perfection trying to rid the world of imperfection, Black's desire for total cutthroat domination, and green's devotion to the vague concept of "the social order" and Darwinism. However, when phyresis tries to corrupt Red mana, it falls apart because the core of Red is personal autonomy and unbridled emotion, something that does not integrate well into the Phyrexian way. Yes, Red can be dangerous in its own ways and MTG has countless Red villains within its narrative, but you cannot efficiently, deliberately, and systemically cull others when personal autonomy and emotion is all that matters. Maybe the drive of fear could compel the push for Compleation, when all you're looking out for is number 1 and are obsessed with others doing likewise, there's no way to integrate Phyrexia fully into it, which is hell bent entirely around a hive mind.
A parent not wanting to pass on bad genes and adopting is technically eugenics. That aspect of it could work with Red mana. Urabrask could care about the multiverse as lost children that need to be shown how much better phyresis is.
To be fair, Vorinclex isn't the apex of Green Phyrexia, that title belongs to Glissa, it's just that Vorinclex is the embodiment of pure wild bestial predation and Glissa is the embodiment of the hunter. I think it was even stated somewhere that Glissa isn't the green praetor not because she's unqualified but rather she doesn't want the title, content to lurk in the shadows keeping the Vicious Swarm from devolving into mindless animals. Especially fitting since Vorinclex (the card) can't take Glissa (the card) in a 1-on-1 battle, she is superior to him in the same way a hunter with an elephant gun is superior to a Lion. He's literally hands off, he just does his own thing and Glissa handles the rest.
I don't actually know where my convictions came from, but I know that I absolutely love the Phyrexians and am firmly on their side whenever I get the opportunity to play as them.
I recently discovered your channel, and I'm loving the color philosophy series. Watching I would really love to hear your ideas on the Glint (whiteless) color combination. It seems like it would be a pretty interesting mix philosophically since 4-color combinations seem easiest to immediately define by what they lack. White being law and order seems like it would imply that it should be extremely chaotic, but I think the green would keep things from getting too extreme. I think of Robinhood or Spartacus, but I also think of Dr. Doom or Tyler Durden. Rejection of created law Dedication to the mind and pursuit of perfection Dedication to ambition and power Dedication to desire and passion Dedication to the natural order of things "Destroy the world so that a better one can be built after."
Each praetor is the color where its methods become the motivation, rather than using them for any objective, whether good or evil. Norn wants faith and order for their own sake. Jin learns just to learn. Sheoldred dominates because she wants to dominate. Urabrask rebels for the purpose of rebellion. Vorinclex seeks growth in order to grow. The process is the purpose for each of them. The only one that defies this is Atraxa. She is the only one with a greater goal, though this goal is serving the praetors, which makes the reasoning oddly circular.
I swear I'm gonna be mad as all hell if the art in the inevitable return to New Phyrexia isn't up to snuff with the old sets. I need more grit, dirt, profanity, and outright nightmare fuel to my card art and WotC has been getting real...real soft on me.
Elesh Norn’s vision of a multiverse United under perfection would actually sound quite good - if we didn’t know what her idea of “perfection” looked like.
I always wondered why people think that Urabrask was actually banished and not just sent to another plane on a mission; he literally had no way to make it to another plane except through Elesh Norn's wants. Jin-Gitaxis did not send him, and he did not have access to any other portal mechanics. Yet we have seen him on other planes.
i hope Urabrask wins so that phyrexian creature type becomes a staple in mtg lore like phyrexians are normal now in the game. i mean the idea of phyresis is so cool i want it to become like a normal phenomenon in the multiverse. if the heroes just won and obliterated all the phyrexians it would be corny
0:14 no Phyrexia is not evil they are the cure, thy are the freedom from flesh, they broth us Arena, Phyrexian Processor, Shieldred, Phyrexian Hulk, Gitaxian probe, and all the goodies :D Magic Black has to over :D they just want to hug us, they just want us to all be one, thy are perfection :D The next stem For Reya in the reanimate deck to make marriage whit Shieldred all will be revived :D Yawgmoth may had questionable means but he was of flash, no wonder he ended up misunderstood we have to agree "yawgmoth will" is the best card for any deck :D and just think about the good Planar Porta creates, and all the sweet life point discont spell:D It wont hurt like infest dos no :D Lets hug all in the point of happy rainbows :D and become one:D
Phyresis twists and pushes the Magic Colors to their finest, most 'pure' form; White's sense of Order, Blue's desire for Knowledge, Black's unrelenting hunger for Power, Red's disregard of virtually all but Self, and Green's belief in Survival of the Fittest. Urabrask was destined to be against his own people solely because Red's identity disagrees with Phyrexia's goal of Compleation.
Each color leans hardest into their what they represent to show how that works toward the idea of Phyrexia like the white faction using order and control to complete their idea of Phyrexian why urabrask being red the color of chaos breaks from that mold because it is chaotic not to want the other colors completion
I love the praetors and I’m so excited to see the phyrexia set in February! I’m curious to see what the new Elish Norn card is gonna be like, seeing how they changed shoeldred was amazing so it’s got me wondering how much stronger norn could be 👀. I’m also wondering if they’ll make Atraxia all color, 1 because the title, all will be one, and 2 because that means Urb re-joined the other praetors or that he was replaced or changed on some way which is even more interesting think another neat color-character thing would be the Archangels from innistrad. Avacyn, Bruna, Liesa, Gisela, and Sigardia. It probably wouldn’t be a very long video but considering that there’s one for each color (just with white paired on) and they all seem to have pretty distinct personalities, it might be an interesting color “study” Tbf- I’m kinda Liesa crazy right now because it’s the first commander deck I’ve made by myself that wasn’t just blatant tribal, also the lore for the innistrad archangels is actually really cool to me
Amazing video as always man. Awesome job 🎉
Faith without introspection, Dominance without humility, Progress without restraint, Freedom without direction, Strength without mercy
Sounds like America
Like if the colors existed in a vacuum…
id pick freedom without direction easy
what a simple, yet perfectly accurate reading, thank you
Ah ideology..
Urabrask, humorously enough might just be the greatest hero of the multiverse simply by being too useful for Norn to get rid of and too uncooperative for her to use. Basically he's the Phyrexian's own Starscream
I love this idea. Chad Urabrask is best praetor.
isn’t Starscream a lackey who listens to Megatrons every word?
Loyal out of fear anyway. He has his own aspirations to rule and often plots to overthrow Megatron. It's actually a pretty decent comparison. Not perfect of course, but the similarities are there
@@kperk1 doesn't Starscream also want to overthrow Megatron?
@@yusheitslv100 did you just rob schrab that poor guy?
I think Urabrask's main goal is freedom from Elesh Norn's tyranny, which is why he leaves the Mirrans alone - purely because Norn wants them. He compleats to free people from their weakness, which is kinda at odds with my previous statement, but Urabrask is... fascinating to me for not falling in line
I think Urabrask shows that there is a lot more depth behind the phyrexians than mindless evil
A funny way to see their relationship would be of younger brother who dose everything he dose because it's against what his older sister would want.
Elesh Norn: Why do you betray us?
Urabrask: Because fuck you in particular.
Urabrask is just Xancha's spirit reincarnated
Well Urabrask embodies Red mana. Red mana stands for Chaos and Impulse. It's main theme is 'freedom through action' which you can also interpret as 'independent'. Independence directly contradicts the whole phyrexian mantra. And the Chaos aspect of Red mana is a direct counter to White Mana's 'Order' aspect. Which could explain why Urabrask wanted nothing to do with the other praetors from the start. All he wanted was to tend to the forges and keep them burning.
If anything, Urabask has the most faith in the Phyrexian cause of any of the praetors. They believe the multiverse will *choose* phyresis if shown its true potential. Are the others so shaky in their confidence in the superiority of the Phyrexian way that they must *force* it upon the multiverse?
The other four colors are different flavors of fascism. White is theocracy, black colonization, blue mad science, green social darwinism. Recombined, you have every element of the worst ideology to ever exist.
But you're completely right. All four of those facets are ignoring vital pieces of reality. Theocrats lose when their people realize they have been lied to. Colonizers lose when the people they subjugated overthrow them. Mad scientists lose when the madness underlying their premises is exposed. Social darwinists lose when one realizes there is no such thing as objective strength. These ideologies fundamentally don't work.
Urabrask's ideology is most similar to the real-world idea that "inferior" peoples will simply integrate into the "superior" culture willingly. But this idea was always a thinly-veiled lie to cover one of the others in reality, or an excuse to ghettoize people so their choices were starvation or supplication. So far as we can tell, Urabrask actually believes this, and isn't making any particular efforts to grind the Mirrans away through attrition. It probably happens anyway, as the Great Furnace isn't a terribly hospitable place for those of flesh and blood alone. You could argue Urabrask's injustice is in him being there and altering the landscape at all...but he didn't choose that. Urabrask, all the red Phyrexians, are as much natives of Old Mirrodin as Mirrans themselves. Unlike colonizers claiming indigenous people will see their ways as superior, Urabrask never made a choice to be there, and has no option to go back to where he is from. The shallow justifications American integrationists made for their unending campaign of cultural annihilation don't apply to him because he genuinely doesn't have anywhere else to go. Just like the Mirrans he now shelters through conscious inaction.
Urabrask isn't just faithful. He's realistic. Pragmatic, as mono-red characters almost never are. He sees problems he can't solve, recognizes them, and chooses the third option of simply not acting until something meaningfully changes. It's an interesting twist on red, for sure, and I hope they can do it justice.
“Urabask was right!”
Tbf it's never been shown if there's actually any ill effects of phyresis that isn't added on top by others, it's just weird and also taboo because it's forced by oil and such
Does not esper not show it to be true?
If the other praetors weren’t confident they wouldnt be waging war on the entire multiverse haha. Urabrask is an interesting character but I don’t think his viewpoint is that egotistical. He’s more on the side of those who seek power will CHOOSE phyresis, but willing it upon **everything** is not necessary.
The Phyrexians didn't twist the color pie, they're the ultimate expression of it. There's no alloy of other colors, no conflict of philosophy, each Praetor is an exemplar of their color, stripped bare and functional.
We, humans and people, are a blend of emotions, with a spectrum of ideals and perceptions.
The Phyrexians are, for the most part, the ideals of each color stripped free from cloying complexity and given true form and conviction, resulting in this absolutely beautiful expression of the ideals of each color.
And Elesh Norn's my absolute favorite character, from my absolutely favorite plane, with my absolutely favorite art style.
She's the tyranny of the commons, without the mask of morality. She's the chains of community without division, she's the shape of worship as a tool of control and unification.
She's just this magnificent examination of the values of white, without the preconceptions we bring in of angels being good, demons being bad, and the sun being this source of life.
And I'm a massive sucker for the "Light is not good" trope, especially when it's done well.
If you want to look at WOTC examining white in a similar way, you have to look at the kithkin from Lorwyn.
This!
What about the others?
Based
That Glistening Phyrussy got me questioning my loyalty to Dominara
Realest TH-cam comment I’ve ever seen
Bro a sleeper agent fr
ayo??
bonk
Is this the weakness of flesh the phyrexians have been talking about?
Gotta give it to Urabrask he wants people to choose to be compleated if anyone wants to.
"I'm not like other Praetors Sis!!!"
-Urabrask, as he slamps the gates of the Quiet Furnace in Elesh Norn's face.
@@laszlokaszas1003 Machine Orthodoxy Rees in rage
@@tannermccollum7060 Urabrask then cranks up the volume to 11.
@@GM-lx7ji just to troll
I really want some Urabrask made Compleated hero.
Someone who Chooses it, because they believe that becoming a cyborg is their only chance to defeat some terrible evil or protect something important to them.
Perhaps they were dying, and through compleation, they can live on.
And there's a lot of interesting story potential for if that person then has to stop the machinations of any of the other praetors.
Or how people react to seeing some horrible amalgam of flesh and steel, before they realize it's there to Help them.
I think the idea that sheoldreds entire philosophy is pure domination over others is well represented by the way she is designed. A humanoid form that is able to attach to any large body she desires. Making the body hers, regardless of how powerful the being was before
I can 100% see myself getting lost in the forges of Urabrask and turning myself into a mad smith to create new creatures, tools, weapons and spells
Hey if it didn't yea know, remove my soul I'd consider it
I also recall Red being the 2nd most common color amongst old Phyrexia, it's interesting to see how Red has now become the most rebellious against it as well.
I thought old phyrexia was mono black, I don't remember seeing any non black old phyrexians
@@noisyash4234 They were mostly legendary characters that get mentioned in stories, such as Tasbo Tavoc, Greven, and with Mishra added he adds more Red to old Phyrexia and after some additional searching, there is one old non-legendary Phyrexian that is Red. the Shivan Zombie
I was just thinking recently how much scarier five colors of phyrexians are than just black artifacts. If an enemy is one color, you can hope to fight it, but if all five colors have their own corruption, then something is SURE to be able to get into you.
I feel like bringing Phyrexia to five colors was one of the best Magic Story decisions ever made. I just wish they’d bring back the old body horror elements.
I mean... have you *looked* at the average white-aligned Phyrexian? Imo, they are worse than the Old Phyrexians in most ways
they did in dominaria united, thing is body horror became more of eldrazi theme
There's definitely some body horror present in Dominaria United, Citizen's Arrest probably being the best showcasing of it. Benalish Sleeper has some too that might be missed at first glance. The horror present is just a bit more subtle, which to me makes it even more chilling. It leaves a lot to the imagination.
Body horror? You mean like (Dominaria United spoiler alert) Ajani getting captured, a bunch of machinery installed under his skin, his memory of the event erased, and running around unaware until the moment that machinery decided it was time to burst through his skin, reveal his new form, and betray his friends?
Phyrexian Unlife is literally the best body horror every to appear in MTG and it's from New Phyrexia
Urabrask is definitely the most interesting praetor to me; I like to interpret his vision of phyresis as perfection through individualism. There is no ego to it, almost leaning into a form of artistic interpretation what the nature of perfection and honing ones crafts and obsessions less so than their physical being.
Phyrexia really turns the magic multiverse inside out, literally and figuratively…
urabrask is the only phyrexian (i can think of) who i wouldnt consider evil and i find that fascinating. whereas every other praetor is their own flavor of lawful evil, urabrask sits counter to each them in almost every aspect and has a very chaotic neutral feel. hes got his own goals in the great work, but more than that hes motivated largely by emotion - especially a mix of empathy and spite - which totally sets him apart from the other praetors in such a compelling way. i love him so much and i really hope to see more of him
Urabrask is the most electable phyrexian, I wouldn’t mind seeing him as a ruler of his own plain. Where he was forced to escape as the other predators decide to kill him for fear of him defecting (or smth idk the lore 2 much) so he runs to some sort of plain and makes his own rebel nation
Poor guy got tortured for treason during the end of the invasion unfortunately. The writing for it is, I'll be honest, pretty bad, so I'm not even sure if he's dead, only that Norn definitely is and Phyrexia is basically sealed away right now, phased out from the Multiverse. So the Phyrexians will come back someday, hopefully not for a while and hopefully along with Urbrask, but I wouldn't count on i
I kinda see the phyrexian peators as a very pure form of their color but as the reverse of the normal pure forms. Normally pure green is tradition and nature but here it's more animalistic, hunter and the hunted
Back when they were first releasing the Scars of Mirrordin block, the team at Wizards mentioned that one of the concepts they had in mind for Phyrexia was that they were very literal. And the creative and art team decided to play this for all the horror they could" White talks about discarding that which separates people? The White Phyrexians flay themselves and replace their faces with identical, blank porcelain masks. And the really crazy ones are sewing themselves together.
The same literalness and extremity has been applied all over the colour pie: Vorinclex is a mindless brute who has turned the Tangle into a hell of endless, destructive predation. The Black Phyrexians are an absurd circular firing squad of manipulation that make Star Trek's Cardassians seem normal. It could have been funny by virtue of its absurdity, but instead it's a nightmare (And my favourite plane in the game by far!) as every colour runs rampant and uncontrolled, unrestrained by the others.
And the Praetors look on, and think it perfect.
For Vorin Clex, one could argue that "Hunt or Be Hunted" is the oldest tradition known on Earth. Thus, keeping true to the tenets of Green, but without the natural empathy found in organic life.
@@WarMonger_the-One-and-Only it fits well with how I see the Phyrexian colours: their normal principles unleashed, unrestrained and carried well beyond the point of madness.
The character design of Elesh Norn is just off the charts. Too. Phyxn. Epic.
Tbh I prefer Jin Gitaxias because he looks the scariest and most intrwdting character design. I will say that norn is amazing but I simply prefer the silent creepiness of gitaxis.
Hot take. Phyrexians were never black. They only appeared as black due to early color pie shenanigans and the fact that Yawgmoth is black aligned. Phyrexia has always been White and Blue. White because of their twisted sense of community and unity (all will be one) and Blue because of their obsession with progress. I think this is why Urza liked them. He's WU and so are they.
If I'm not mistaken, the original plane of Phyrexia only had access to black mana hence why Phrexians were Black aligned.
New Phyrexia was therefore heavily influenced by having access to the four other colours
Yawgmoth should have been black/blue, admitely pure black once he transforms. He's driven by his desire for power and his idea "progress". But I totally agree that philosophically old Phrexians are white/blue. It's order and structure with one selfish prick at the top
@@DakovaL correct but that was, again, due to early color pie shenanigans and lore, not what I think makes sense within the modern color pie.
@@AbsolXGuardian Philosophy is not 100% of what encompasses a color identity
Me: yeah but what about Vorinclex?
Also me: Bant Phyrexians???
"Jin-Gitaxias is blue if the soul of the color were to be removed". Implying that blue has a soul to begin with.
Its REDheads that have no soul. We Bluefolk simply choose to ignore it.
Blue is evil, and never has had a soul because countering is so lame.😒
@@escapegrassthere's nothing less fun to play against than a counter deck
The good of blue: Merfolk and flying decks.
That's it. Mill and counter decks are what's left. I hate to live in a world like that.
@@ninjashoe2158 counterspells are anoying. What is bad about mill? Is it worse than red direct damage and green poison counters?
0:03 The line "The most vile curse to plague the multiverse since the time of Urza" works on so many levels. We need the "I'm something of a (plague) myself" meme with Urza in it.
Thanks for the video.
"in consuming our world, the infectors have become infected."
"Beneath Phyrexian skin, the heart of Mirrodin burns!"
The Mirari is still out there.
What was this from?
Awesome. What an absolutely, criminally underrated channel. That said the praetors themselves are absolutely amazing characters. The concept of atomization of factions within a seeming hive mind is some truly impressive world building. Obviously Phyrexia is not a hive mind in the same sense that you’d see in, say, the Slivers.
I think it is fascinating that we have *never* seen a true 5 color phyrexian afaik and afaik the only multicolor phyrexians are the Compleated planeswalkers due to their soul/spark being so powerful.
Atraxa is also a multicolored Phyrexian, having been compleated through the combined efforts of the current Phyrexian Praetors minus Urabrask.
@@matthewverma3291 aww shit I knew I was forgetting something. Though it does make me feel a little better knowing it was a one-of experiment/lore heavy character. That is a good point though I can’t believe I forgot Atraxa whom, in this video’s context especially, seems like a badass character
I have a feeling the new Atraxa will be 5C
This has changed, we have Ezuri, Malcator, and a few others.
I fucking love Urabrask, he’s literally the best boy. He believes in consent, loves his culture but doesn’t push it on others, he loves creating things, and doesn’t fold to Elesh Norn like the other Praetors do. Honestly I wish that Urabrask didn’t “die” (it’s heavily implied) I think he could’ve created a paradise of New Phyrexia, and probably could’ve actually held peace with the other planes.
This is so cool. I've never cared about the phyrexians before but this really makes me want to build a phyrexian themed deck, incorporating all the themes you brought up
Another thing that makes Urabrask the most interesting of the Praetors is that his philosophy and what part of Red he embodies seem to be left ambiguous, from what I know. Does he embody freedom in its rawest form? Or merely chaos? Does he truly want the Mirrans to remain free? Or is it simply a spite move against the other Praetors, especially Elesh Norn? And with Red's ties to passion and relentless opposition, is there a chance he maintained part of his soul, even in Compleation?
I think it’s interesting mechanically as well with Urabrask.
All copies of the other praetors are “I gain, you lose”, whether it’s you gain increased hand, I gain life for drawing cards, I get +2/+2 and the vice versa for the opponent.
It is always a sense of balance, where whatever the praetor gains the opponent loses. Even old Urabrask did this giving all his creatures haste and tapping everything else.
However new Urabrask, the heretic, the outcast, has the first level playing field ability where his ability to exile fits more in his mana color and game plan but still potentially benefits his opponent as well, giving them the freedom to cast the exiled card and feed into it. He does not take away in his new mechanics, simply offers a different way of playstyle which he sees as correct
what I find interesting is that the Phyrexians don't really need to be a plague on the multiverse, they *choose* to do so. Which means that somehow they could even be redeemed and become just another race of beings, the problem is that by their mere existence they run the risk of infecting others with their horror.
Nah they don't choose it at all. Their drive to compleat is a fundamental aspect of their core essence; the will of Yawgmoth propagated via the Oil. They behave how they do because it is an instinctual imperative that they do so.
@@adamplentl5588 Indeed. How phyrexia reemerged on mirrordin was a few drops of oil left by Karn. What followed was nature taking its course, as unnatural as it was.
@@adamplentl5588 yhea, the will of Yawgmoth to perfect the Multiverse is intrisic to them, what changes is how they view on what's the best course of action to achive it, even red phyrexians want to complete other beings, but they will only do so if said beings want it from their own free will.
Change the oil, change the Phyrexians. I'm sure I could find something which will pacify them. Halo perhaps? Or will that only intensify their need for Unity?
@@adamplentl5588your intrinsic nature compels you to live and breed, yet you can choose almost completely freely and even self terminate. Phyrexians are on same position of free will as we are
I've never bothered to take a close look as the Praetor cards and wow they are gruesome as hell.
I always thought Elesh was looking to the west with a scythe blocking her face. Now I see that it is all just an amalgamation of her face.
I think it could be argued that the "stripping of the philosophy" of the color makes a ton of sense, considering a Phyrexian at its core is a machine without a soul. They are a twisted parody of the color pie because they have no mind or way to expand on their core beliefs to reach a more nuanced point of view. That is why a white machine will seek to unite, a blue machine will seek to perfect, a black machine to dominate, a green machine to fight, and a red one to express itself.
In a sense, the Praetors are the essence of the color pie, but that's just what they are, a being that obeys the pure raw compulsory need to do what their code tells them to do, with the code being given by their color affinity. Unlike Planeswalkers, Phyrexians are defined by their colors, where a Planeswalker's colors would be defined by their actions and beliefs, this is subtle but I believe this nuance perfectly encapsulate what the Phyrexians are.
Phyrexians are incredibely smart but they lack empathy and a way to question their own belief. A phyrexian truth is absolute, because there is no other way for them to look at life, which is what makes them extremely scary imo
I still can’t believe that Ajani and Tamayo got turned by the Phyrexians. Now that they’ve got their claws into Gatewatch planeswalkers, the multiverse really is up the creek. This might get worse than the Eldrazi wars on Zendikar and Innistrad.
It's hard to fight an enemy that can be anyone
Might?
It always has been.
Bet you all wish you still had Urza, Teferi, Freyalise, Windgrace. Hell, I bet you'd take Leshrac right about now. I was right all along, these "neowalkers" are useless.
@@JackSilver1410 Hell, I’d take Nico Bolas at this point.
doubt it would happen but I would love to see the eldrazi return to invade phyrexia
I like Jin-Gitaxias & Urabrask the most, they both seem like they would be interesting characters to talk to. Well, and also because I think (out of the five) they're the hottest ones
i never thought about urabrask like that, now it makes som much sense... i love him now and i hope to see what hes up to now with the new phyrexian storyline.
I'm relatively new to the MTG side of TH-cam; but this video gives me comfort and exudes hard work. Good job, and thanks for teaching me something new!
What I find interesting is how self-defeating many of these are in the long term. Or, if not self-defeating then at least incompatible.
Red is incompatible from the start, with Red's love for freedom and emotion directly clashing with phyresis. Essentially, phyresis robs the soul but red replaces it with something similar.
Black balks at the hivemind unity, making sentient Black Phyrexians more like demons than leaders of a hivemind. The only reason Black doesn't rebel against White yet is opportunism and the only reason Black goes along with the Great Synthesis philosophy is because each individual Black sentient imagines itself at the top of the hivemind, less of a synthesis and more as an individual with an infinite body.
Green is Phyrexian horror as long as anything within reach stands in its way, but after that it's just a return to non-sentient nature, now with more metal and spikes. If Green Phyrexians were to "win" the multiverse, over time there would just be a normal ecosystem, which might very well evolve new sentients and build new civilizations within the next millions of years. Because, well, sentient community building creatures do have natural advantages after all.
White is on top now, before perfection, but the closer White brings Phyrexia to the ideal end state the more irrelevant it will become. The more the hivemind becomes a true hivemind the less point there is to religion, hierarchy and dogma.
Only Blue can remain true to both itself and Phyrexia in the very long term. A single multiversal AI undergoing endless singularity. But of course to get there faster, if at all, it needs the impetus the other four colors provide. Black, White and Green tools for a pure and horrific Blue goal.
Jin-gitaxias, is that you?
From story, design and play perspectives, I love the Phyrexians. My favourite deck of recent times was orientated around New Capenna Urabrask. Thanks for making this video!
"A twisted color pie... except black. Black is just doing regular black things because wotc struggles to portray them neutrally at all."
I can't help but find myself drawn to Phyrexians.
They're the actual demons of MTG's multiverse. As they develop, they become more and more humanlike. Soon, I wonder if they will even have a set of goals that would almost seem more moral than those that would seek to utterly destroy them.
In time being compleat will be the most rational thing you could do.
One to note: from a new capenna talk (the post spoiler stream) they said Urabrask doesn't believe in forceful compleation and everyone should pick to be compleated.
It's truly a shame we never got to know more about Karn's philosophy when he was the father of machine, with a bit of luck with how the story is going we'll get to see how colorless react and thinks after phyresis
What i found really cool is that urabrask helped the resistance, and its simply cause of his color identity he doesnt agree with norn cause he wants people to be independent which is a red trait he might want people to join him but out of their own choice, if he was real i would join him simply cause he values freedom.
Praise be Yawgmoth, father of machines; glory to Phyrexia, and all hail blessed perfection!
All shall be Complete
@@DiceTry , yes; all shall be compleated, yes indeed! HA HA HA! 😈
Not if Teferi or the Gatewatch can stop you first!
@@DJROCKSTAZ , that's a big if my friend; and even then, as history has shown, for Phyrexia; death is only temporary! 😈
Blue is the color with the least soul in it to begin with, I think. It's no wonder why Jin Gitaxias is the way it is.
Blue is the color with the least soul in it to begin with, I think. It's no wonder why Jace Beleren is the way it is.
@@livanbard It's no wonder why mono blue control is the way it is
I think blue can have a lot of soul. Blue is curious, and loves nothing more than finding something new (no better example than Ixalan Jace, who delights in inventing simple tools and painting the works around him with illusions).
Being soulless is an individual thing, not a color thing. Any color can be kind, empathetic, ruthless, or evil. Even red can be heartless, as we see with Lukka.
VERY rare to see MTG content that was put effort into these days! great video
wtf have you been watching? lol
I still wish Urabrask had survived. The red praetor having Phyrexia at least be a neutral presence in the multiverse would be a cool change, even if only temporarily.
They made an entire card about Norn *not* killing him. He's definitely alive
Unironacly the color that is most likely to want to cause chaos is the one that wants to stop the stripping of freedom of others
In a way Urabrask reminds me of Damasen from "The Hero's of Olympus" series. Their reason for being against the norm is different but similar.
He’s not original to the book, but I agree
I also love Darth Revan. Great choice on a profile picture.@@RevanReborn3950BBY
Ngl I love this concept and what it shows and how every color can become vile and twisted without certain limits in place to keep them in check.
wow. this was good. pulling the lore out of both the art and text from the cards. Amazing.
I like how all phyrexian color philosophies on the surface looks as "oh, it's *color* but black!", but then you compare phyrexian blue to Dimirs, or phyrexian green with Golgari and no, they are different!
It is interesting, with the hindsight of March of the Machines, to see how each of these Praetors turned out. But I think, in a way that is even more indicative of Phyrexia, is Atraxa. Atraxa perhaps symbolizes Phyrexia best by being 4-Color Non-Red, called The Colors of Growth due to lacking Red's potentially self-destructive capability. Given the Phyrexian goal of Compleation of the Multiverse (and thus Growing Out), this feels more fitting to their philosophies as a whole than that of Domain, or all 5 Colors of Mana.
Vorinclex’s hands-off approach was summed up in Mycosynth Fiend - “I wish I could take credit for it, but nature progresses on its own”.
He’s probably the most passive of the Praetors - not actively doing anything to make new phyrexian creatures or build up armies, nor interested in taking the credit for what is created.
Elesh Norm's cult has been described as a mockery of religion, in essence these guys are the very mockery of the colors themselves.
Urabrask shows promise however, that good can stem from this evil. How fitting that it comes from the flames of the land's beating hearth. Now I hope he doesn't disappoint.
Great writing in this piece man. Really brought to life the video.
Urabrask is the side of red I really like, and want to see more from. Though for some reason I just never want to play red decks. It's all just damage and speed, meh.
think i saw a nim and dross related card somewhere saying the zombies were not really all that changed at all by phyresis since they were already soulless and evil minions for whatever had power
Hah thanks for the call out, caught me by surprise
I got ya
Really cool analysis, going to look at the Mirrodin video now!
This video kept on popping up on my home page and suggestions video. I kept on ignoring it until now.
I am Now I’m subbed to this channel.
This video was very entertaining and now I want to see more from ya. Keep up the work
elish norn: all will be one under phyrexia
jin-gitaxsis: there is always improvement in perfection
sheoldred: you WILL submit to phyrexia
vorinclex: only the apex predator will survive in the vicious swarm
urabrask: idk man do what you want🗿
Vorinclex entertains me endlessly. His philosophy is just so *simple,* on a basic level.
He really is just an angry, evil bear.
You put a lot more thought into this then Wizards did when they were actually writing the Preators during the last sets lol
Your explanation of the praetors kinda makes me parallel their ideology to that of the chaos gods from warhammer. Twisted versions of that which they personify.
New video and improved quality. Good video as always though.
In always looking to improve so that's nice to hear.
So much amazing art.
Team Urabrask!
To me it feels like Elesh Norn is just heavy white mardu, Jin-Gitaxias is just heavy blue grixis, Shoeldred is just heavy black rakdos, Vorinclex is just heavy green jund, Urabrask is the exception by being mono red through and through.
Im relisteninf to this after we got the first “All Will Be One” stories, so I wonder what the Slices, Shards, and Dualities are like when Compleat, as we saw Ixhel, Daughter of Atraxa, begin to turn against the other Phyrexians, and she is Green White Black.
I find it interesting that if you look at it from the lens of "Eugenics," which is the foundation of Phyrexian philosophy, it's obvious why each color takes to it so strongly all except for red. From white's religious zealtory and xenophobia, to blue's obsession with the pursuit of perfection trying to rid the world of imperfection, Black's desire for total cutthroat domination, and green's devotion to the vague concept of "the social order" and Darwinism. However, when phyresis tries to corrupt Red mana, it falls apart because the core of Red is personal autonomy and unbridled emotion, something that does not integrate well into the Phyrexian way. Yes, Red can be dangerous in its own ways and MTG has countless Red villains within its narrative, but you cannot efficiently, deliberately, and systemically cull others when personal autonomy and emotion is all that matters. Maybe the drive of fear could compel the push for Compleation, when all you're looking out for is number 1 and are obsessed with others doing likewise, there's no way to integrate Phyrexia fully into it, which is hell bent entirely around a hive mind.
A parent not wanting to pass on bad genes and adopting is technically eugenics. That aspect of it could work with Red mana.
Urabrask could care about the multiverse as lost children that need to be shown how much better phyresis is.
Awesome vid Dice
Can I ask whats the name of the music during the Elesh Norn segment?
Does anybody knows?
Thats why Urabrask Card cost less than All other Phyrexian Praetor... Cause he doesnt want to controlled by All Father
To be fair, Vorinclex isn't the apex of Green Phyrexia, that title belongs to Glissa, it's just that Vorinclex is the embodiment of pure wild bestial predation and Glissa is the embodiment of the hunter. I think it was even stated somewhere that Glissa isn't the green praetor not because she's unqualified but rather she doesn't want the title, content to lurk in the shadows keeping the Vicious Swarm from devolving into mindless animals.
Especially fitting since Vorinclex (the card) can't take Glissa (the card) in a 1-on-1 battle, she is superior to him in the same way a hunter with an elephant gun is superior to a Lion.
He's literally hands off, he just does his own thing and Glissa handles the rest.
I don't actually know where my convictions came from, but I know that I absolutely love the Phyrexians and am firmly on their side whenever I get the opportunity to play as them.
Amazing. Thank you very much.
I recently discovered your channel, and I'm loving the color philosophy series. Watching I would really love to hear your ideas on the Glint (whiteless) color combination. It seems like it would be a pretty interesting mix philosophically since 4-color combinations seem easiest to immediately define by what they lack. White being law and order seems like it would imply that it should be extremely chaotic, but I think the green would keep things from getting too extreme. I think of Robinhood or Spartacus, but I also think of Dr. Doom or Tyler Durden.
Rejection of created law
Dedication to the mind and pursuit of perfection
Dedication to ambition and power
Dedication to desire and passion
Dedication to the natural order of things
"Destroy the world so that a better one can be built after."
Now I remember where I heard this music! It's the one that Horror Review channel uses all the time
Urabrask really said "my oppositional defiance disorder is going to take down this entire multiversal empire"
My friend and I made a D&D state block for Vorinclex. He is dangerous and will likely turn you into a Phyrexian after the fight.
Each praetor is the color where its methods become the motivation, rather than using them for any objective, whether good or evil. Norn wants faith and order for their own sake. Jin learns just to learn. Sheoldred dominates because she wants to dominate. Urabrask rebels for the purpose of rebellion. Vorinclex seeks growth in order to grow.
The process is the purpose for each of them. The only one that defies this is Atraxa. She is the only one with a greater goal, though this goal is serving the praetors, which makes the reasoning oddly circular.
“The most vile curse to plague the multiverse”
*sad eldrazi noises*
Whered you find the art at 8:38? Its so pretty
A Completed Sliver Hive would be... Interesting.
Great video! I'll have to subscribe. :)
Norn: We need to take over everything and I'm top dog.
Urabrask: No, f*** you.
I swear I'm gonna be mad as all hell if the art in the inevitable return to New Phyrexia isn't up to snuff with the old sets.
I need more grit, dirt, profanity, and outright nightmare fuel to my card art and WotC has been getting real...real soft on me.
Elesh Norn’s vision of a multiverse United under perfection would actually sound quite good - if we didn’t know what her idea of “perfection” looked like.
I always wondered why people think that Urabrask was actually banished and not just sent to another plane on a mission; he literally had no way to make it to another plane except through Elesh Norn's wants. Jin-Gitaxis did not send him, and he did not have access to any other portal mechanics.
Yet we have seen him on other planes.
This just makes me wanna speculate about how Phyresis would enmesh with the pairs of colors?
“The phyrexians are the most evil race in mtg”
Ulamog would like to know what plane your on so he can warp to it creative mode style and absorb you
i hope Urabrask wins so that phyrexian creature type becomes a staple in mtg lore like phyrexians are normal now in the game. i mean the idea of phyresis is so cool i want it to become like a normal phenomenon in the multiverse. if the heroes just won and obliterated all the phyrexians it would be corny
0:14 no Phyrexia is not evil they are the cure, thy are the freedom from flesh, they broth us Arena, Phyrexian Processor, Shieldred, Phyrexian Hulk, Gitaxian probe, and all the goodies :D Magic Black has to over :D they just want to hug us, they just want us to all be one, thy are perfection :D The next stem For Reya in the reanimate deck to make marriage whit Shieldred all will be revived :D Yawgmoth may had questionable means but he was of flash, no wonder he ended up misunderstood we have to agree "yawgmoth will" is the best card for any deck :D and just think about the good Planar Porta creates, and all the sweet life point discont spell:D It wont hurt like infest dos no :D Lets hug all in the point of happy rainbows :D and become one:D
"One of us, come & evolve..."
In the Machine Father's name.
Phyresis twists and pushes the Magic Colors to their finest, most 'pure' form; White's sense of Order, Blue's desire for Knowledge, Black's unrelenting hunger for Power, Red's disregard of virtually all but Self, and Green's belief in Survival of the Fittest.
Urabrask was destined to be against his own people solely because Red's identity disagrees with Phyrexia's goal of Compleation.
Each color leans hardest into their what they represent to show how that works toward the idea of Phyrexia like the white faction using order and control to complete their idea of Phyrexian why urabrask being red the color of chaos breaks from that mold because it is chaotic not to want the other colors completion
I was hooping for a video on the preators and how fiting for you to release it on Halloween
I love the praetors and I’m so excited to see the phyrexia set in February! I’m curious to see what the new Elish Norn card is gonna be like, seeing how they changed shoeldred was amazing so it’s got me wondering how much stronger norn could be 👀. I’m also wondering if they’ll make Atraxia all color, 1 because the title, all will be one, and 2 because that means Urb re-joined the other praetors or that he was replaced or changed on some way which is even more interesting
think another neat color-character thing would be the Archangels from innistrad. Avacyn, Bruna, Liesa, Gisela, and Sigardia. It probably wouldn’t be a very long video but considering that there’s one for each color (just with white paired on) and they all seem to have pretty distinct personalities, it might be an interesting color “study”
Tbf- I’m kinda Liesa crazy right now because it’s the first commander deck I’ve made by myself that wasn’t just blatant tribal, also the lore for the innistrad archangels is actually really cool to me
WHAT WAS THE MUSIC YOU WERE PLAYING WHEN YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT THE WHITE PHYREXIANS PLS TELL ME!!!
This is why Red mana is the best.
Sobriety tip: take a shot whenever dice try uses "that of" *correctly* in a video.
Phyresis is perfectioning therefore phyresised colours are the perfect versions of themselves. Kinda teaches how it would suck to be perfect.
It would be interesting to see a colorless Phyrexia
Boy did we get shafted on the story huh