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Glistener's Guide to New Phyrexia: Preview Edition is now LIVE!

The 43-page Preview includes:

New playable species including the 5 Mirran humans, Viridian elves, myr, and core-born Phyrexians

A modular Phyrexian modification system

Core rules for phyresis, compleation, and ichor magic (also known as "Phyrexian mana")

New feats, spells, and magic items inspired by the iconic mechanics and cards of Mirrodin/New Phyrexia

30+ monster and NPC stat blocks, largely concentrated at lower tiers of play, plus some named legendary hard-hitters

The goal of this preview is to allow for simple games to be run in the world of Mirrodin/New Phyrexia, introducing tables to core mechanics and gaining playtest data as I work toward releasing the full-length supplement. (Consider this its "Unearthed Arcana" stage of development.) I look forward to hearing your feedback and gameplay stories, and hope you enjoy bringing this setting to life as much as I have!

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What do you mean the villain of my campaign is just a traumatized man who grew up having nothing until someone took him in? What do you mean she gave him everything? An education, a home, love, a mother, a name.

What do you mean he is only on this path in desperation to protect the Material Plane from Planar interference? How could the gods be so cruel as to damn her soul? To let it be sundered and destroyed so she could never return. How could this happen?

What do you mean her soul is lost because she trained the man who would doom all the realms? What do you mean he’s the Herald of the Apocalypse, when he just wants his mom back?

Over thousands of years, he has been grieving and it’s all still so heavy. He can’t let go. Her face haunts him. The simulacrums she used to maintain her other homes still smile sweetly and hold him. But they’re too cold to be real. They’re not her. But it’s so hard to be haunted by someone who is still here. A rot festers in his heart.

She believed in him, that he could save the multiverse, if he needed to. But not like this. Not this path. Maybe he can still find the right way.

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The Color of Hope: Ambition, Necromancy, and Black Mana

Black is one of the most misunderstood colors in Magic: the Gathering, not least because it appears on the surface to be so straightforward. Look at the most iconic black cards of Magic and you'll see deals with demons, necromancy, mass destruction and cruelty and suffering–the trappings of classic fantasy evil. Even the color's symbol itself is a skull, a universal signifier of death and danger.

And in early Magic that seemed to be all it was. White was the color of Fantasy Good, black was the color of Fantasy Evil, and the rest of the colors were... fire magic? Elves? Whatever odd but intriguing skeleton affairs are implied by Time Walk?

Gradually, though, Magic deepened as both a game and a storytelling medium. The color pie grew into itself as a system of complementary philosophies, archetypes whose associated aesthetics were only part of the full picture. Their arrangement around the wheel, below, is highly deliberate; neighboring colors are said to be allies with a high degree of philosophical and mechanical overlap, while colors on opposite sides of the pie are known as enemies, more likely to disagree on fundamental levels.

Black stopped merely representing capital E Evil and became the color of striving for power; unlike its peers, black felt that nothing, least of all morality, could prevent it from seizing what it wanted. Mark Rosewater's 2015 article about black emphasized the color's focus on the self:

"Black's philosophy is very simple: There's no one better suited to look after your own interests than you... Many costs require the sacrifice of others for your own advancement. Because it puts itself first, black is always willing to make this trade. The weak must fall for the strong to thrive." -Mark Rosewater

At its worst, black is an exploitative, amoral color that prioritizes itself at the expense of all others, allowing the "weak" to fall and scorning the very idea of compassion. Rosewater writes that black is "always willing" to trade others for itself. And these can certainly be parts of black's philosophy, when taken to its worst possible extremes, but they're far from the entire story.

Over time, Magic's outlook on black gained nuance. Magic story introduced protagonists like the necromancer Liliana Vess, whose craving for immortality, seemingly exploitative nature, and demonic deals called back to the oldest portrayals of black–and yet she was not one-dimensionally evil. She underwent character development over the years, learning the value of reclaiming herself and standing beside others, and at no point did she become any less mono-black for it. Remember her; we will come back to Liliana and her story later.

In addition to the usual death and decay, black cards began to feature a theme of relentless devotion. On the plane of Eldraine where each color represents a virtue, black's is persistence, explicitly as important as any other color. On the plane of Ikoria, the love between bonder and beast pulls Winota back from the brink of death. Wherever this Oathsworn Vampire printing is set, its flavor text is quintessentially black. It's the same self-driven attitude as before, but cast in a different light: black is nothing if not persistent when it's got its heart set on something (or someone) it cares about. Nothing, least of all the grave, will keep it down. After all, black will always come back for its own.

These newer cards uncovered the true face of black as a color capable of both great love and harm (sometimes even the latter for the sake of the former), and suggested a tantalizing new thread: perhaps putting yourself and yours first isn't all that bad, necessarily. Black is a deeply protective color; it says you don't just have to accept what you're handed, it's okay even to be furious about it (hello, ally color red), but let that galvanize you to do something about it. 

Vraska, a gorgon who faces extreme discrimination on her home plane of Ravnica, triumphs by reclaiming herself, gorgon powers and all–and even more radically, loving herself. She displays traits often considered the purview of white and green, such as a love of home and a drive to elevate the oppressed, but they are all filtered through the lens of her black alignment. Vraska staunchly refuses to deny herself or her people, the Golgari Swarm, of their value. Nor does she allow law or propriety to prevent her from championing them by any means necessary–even if that means cold-blooded murder, or aligning herself with a villain like the Planeswalker Nicol Bolas.

"[Vraska] thought of Mazirek, of the kraul, of the rest of the Ochran assassins and the malignant Jarad who reigned with casual ruin over the most downtrodden of the downtrodden. She remembered her years of isolation, and the heinous cruelty of the Azorius, and how no group deserved to suffer as much as those who would subjugate her own. Eliminating that hell was all she ever wanted." -The Talented Captain Vraska, Alison Luhrs

Like Vraska, black loves fierce and hard, willing to break any taboo for the sake of those it cares about. And it whispers, the entire way through, you are enough. You deserve better. No matter what others may say or do, you are enough.

"If I am to be met with disrespect, then I must first love myself with a fierceness no fool can take away." -Vraska in Pride of the Kraul, Alison Luhrs

Even black's "ruthlessness" isn't as fundamentally cruel as it appears, centering a passion for problem-solving (shared by its other ally blue) instead of a blunt disregard for others.

"People don’t understand the word ruthless. They think it means 'mean.' It’s not about being mean. It’s about seeing the bright, clear line that leads from A to B. The line that goes from motive to means. Beginning to end. It’s about seeing that bright, clear line and not caring about anything but the beautiful fact that you can see the solution. Not caring about anything else but the perfection of it." -K. A. Applegate

All of this comes together to make a black a color not of evil but of strength, integrity, and persistence. And that's all well and good, but I'm going to take it even further and put forward a new proposition: that black is the color of hope.

Of the nine mono-black Magic cards with "hope" in their names, all but Liliana portray black as an instrument of hope's destruction. This is, once again, black's flaw taken to its extreme–crushing others to achieve its own ends–but neglects black's own relationship with hope.

Black, more than any other color, requires hope to stay alive.

For black to persist, it must believe in a light at the end of the tunnel, a future in which its goals are realized. As long as it does, it will endure any hardship, walk through fire, and turn reality itself upside down on its way there. Primal, desperate ambition is the engine of hope that burns at the heart of black, keeping it always one step ahead of stagnation. Bitter and stubborn, black believes tomorrow will come because there is no other choice. After all, for black to relinquish hope is to let itself wither, regress, and die–an unacceptable outcome. 

Thus, it is monumentally difficult to strip black of hope. That only makes it all the more crushing when it happens, when black contends with the idea that there is nothing it can do.

Black's deepest, darkest fear is helplessness.

Like any mono-black character, Liliana Vess is driven at her core by a seething, desperate hope. When Liliana first unlocks her necromantic power, it is out of a sheer refusal to allow her ill brother Josu to die, even when the esis root that would cure him is destroyed by enemy witches in an undead-raising ritual. She defies her previous training as a healer, which taught her only to take the safe path, in favor of a higher-risk and higher-reward approach: stealing life from the witches themselves to restore power to the esis root she needs. It is her knowledge that her brother needs her, and her sheer stubborn will to succeed, which allows her to defeat the witches against steep odds.

"Six foes, and Liliana stood alone. But Josu's life depended on her, and the power blossoming within her was more than enough." -Liliana's Origin: The Fourth Pact, James Wyatt

Tragically, however, Liliana's attempted cure goes horrifically wrong, transforming Josu into an undead being plagued by eternal suffering. In his pain, Josu attacks Liliana. For a while Liliana holds out hope, finding the power to fight back while she determinedly searches for a spell to reverse the harm she's done. It is when she realizes this isn't possible that her strength falters.

"All this time, she had believed… that she could turn the power of death to the service of life and health. That a healer should use every tool at her disposal. But Josu was the result, a horrible fusion of life and death, and all her spells meant to manipulate the life force of the living could do nothing to harm the dead." -The Fourth Pact

Liliana learns that even her own dark magic, fueled by determination, cannot solve the problem she's created. She discovers the hard limit of her willpower, and the despair of this discovery is what causes her Planeswalker spark to ignite.

At this time Planeswalkers are as gods, immortal and near-omnipotent. Liliana spends decades enjoying this affirmation of her capability before the Mending strips her and all her peers of their power, reducing them once again to mortal mages.

"Then the Multiverse reshaped itself, robbing her—and every other Planeswalker—of the godlike power they once had wielded. Some called it the Mending, as if something broken had been repaired, but to Liliana, it seemed the opposite. It broke her beyond any hope of repair." -The Fourth Pact

Once again, it is Liliana's fear of helplessness and her refusal to accept it that drives her to push beyond the bounds of propriety–this time, to make a pact with Nicol Bolas and four demons to maintain her immortality. It is not enough for her merely to delay death; she requires the security of knowing she is fully beyond its reach, that she will never be helpless before it again as she was with Josu.

"Holding death at arm's length for whatever years are left to me? No, that's not enough. I want to be free of its shadow." -Liliana in The Fourth Pact

Black isn't like its enemy colors white and green, which are superficially associated far more often with hope. Unlike white, it doesn't believe that conviction, justice, and community will bring about rightness. Unlike green, it doesn't trust in the wisdom of the world or the natural order. Black believes that nothing will change unless you make it change; ultimately, black's self is the only one it can trust to bring about the world it needs. In addition, black lacks its enemies' idealism. Instead, it strives to be a pragmatic realist, making a final assessment of defeat all the more definite and crushing.

While white and green are more amenable to finding hope and holding it aloft as a banner, black claws hope desperately to its chest with shredded, bloody fingernails. Every ounce of hope black has, it tore by itself from the clutches of an uncaring world.

Ironically for such a self-driven color, black's fierce hope is the greatest asset it can provide to others–on its own terms, of course. It was Liliana who turned the tide of battle against the Eldrazi titan Emrakul, defiant in the face of cosmic despair. And when Nicol Bolas made his bid to return to godhood, using Liliana's necromancy to command his undead hordes, Liliana finally turned against him. In reclaiming her power, so too did she use it to free her fellow Planeswalkers from Bolas' assault. Her fear of helplessness no longer shackled her to him; agency and autonomy were hers at last.

The triumph of black, its moment of ultimate victory, is the hard-won fulfillment of its hope.

"Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light." -Dylan Thomas

An aetherborn, railing against the shortness of their natural lifespan, constructs a new body for themself with their own bare hands. An artificer's grief over her lost companion causes her to push invention to its limits. A young girl who loves her brother calls on the darkest of powers to save him. As it turns out, necromancy–that original thematic keystone of black–is only one of black's many, many refusals to let go of love and hope once it has them, even in the face of the ultimate end.

Time and time again, black–in love with life, ablaze with hope–looks the Grim Reaper in the eye and tells it: "Not today."

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Creating a D&D setting and Villain are some of my favourite things to do but stringing it all together into a coherent plot is such an awful chore.

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tragedy enjoyers when even good intentions lead to ruin

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Brennan Lee Mulligan is, based on his number of trans friends and coworkers, unlikely to be an egg and based on his supportive environment and audience, even less likely to be closeted so I'm pretty sure he's just a cis guy. But the degree to which he understands what it's like to be a woman and how well he portrays women in a way that is so natural and convincing without even changing the pitch of his voice... I'm not the arbiter of this since I'm transmasc and can't speak for women but it kinda feels like he should get to be an honorary woman. Like he's (probably) not actually a woman, but he understands womanhood probably about as well as many women and definitely better than I ever did, including back when I thought I was one

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Man, come on, an almost perfect finale. I’m sorry but I just really think Kristen and Tracker aren’t a good match and the idea that Naradriel’s support came with the strings that her and Tracker would continue to date feels gross to me.

Nara was clearly depicted as Kristen but with support for her ADHD, and to spin her as manipulative like that feels weird. Especially because Gertie was genuinely interested in Kristen, who seemed to reciprocate at first.

I will also take this time to complain that I really do not feel like Kristen learned “Chaos isn’t cute,” though that may be more just the insane energy that was coming from the last three episodes.

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emily the muppet

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This is probably a very niche reference but. A straight, british, possibly pregnant 3-day-old clone walking on to the deck of a flying ship, seeing the giant face of a corrupted goddess made out of storm clouds, and saying "blimey" with the flattest most American accent imaginable before being promptly vaporized and in doing so quite possibly saving the world is extremely hitchhikers guide to the galaxy core

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I saw you again in a dream, or maybe it was a nightmare

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All over Spyre, couples are shaking each other awake, talking in excited but hushed voices about the meteor shower that just started. As Ayda writes her love letter to Fig, couples all over the world are sitting on rooftops or front porches, snuggling close to prevent the cold, watching the beauty of somebody else's love play out and feeling stronger in their own

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another Kipperlilly apologist post:

(spoilers for ep 17)

Porter needed the Champion of the former God (Ankarna) to sign his paper in order to be able to take her place and ascend

Kipperlilly, in her chats with Lucy, are excited about her becoming the champion of the god.

I don’t think that KLCK is talking about Porter’s new war god. I get the feeling that the Ratgrinders were recruited to follow Ankarna, but left in the dark about Porter’s plan, at least at first

I think Porter’s plan was to have the scion of the Frostblades become the last champion of Ankarna and pull the same kind of mess that got pulled with Fig and trick her into signing the paper. Fig was a last minute stroke of luck when the original plan fell through.

But someone found out. Maybe KLCK. Maybe Lucy. But maybe that’s why Lucy withdrew her god change request.

Lucy’s body bore the marks of multiple weapons. Spells. Maybe Porter convinced the Ratgrinders to kill her in order to turn her to Ankarna. But maybe Porter and Jace just staged it to look like that and then told the kids with Devil’s Honeyed tongues that they killed her.

But Kipperlilly has been Porter’s go between on all the supplies. She got the ambrosia. She got the nectar. She worked with Gertie to get that nectar made into honey.

Brennan’s dropped a lot of hints that, platonically or romantically, reciprocated or not, Kipperlilly loved Lucy. Possibly the only person in Elmville that KLCK gave a damn about.

Did she need to find the rogue teacher for Porter’s plan? All she had to do was get elected.

Would Porter know enough about the honey making process to know if KLCK was skimming a little off the top, for herself only?

Porter’s stomp wasn’t to kill Fig. I think he needs her alive for the signature to be valid. Maybe he was checking for other Bad Kids around. But maybe he was checking for the invisible Mastermind that has too much time on her hands

I don’t know if she’d be an ally, but I still don’t think that KLCK is following Porter’s plan unquestioningly since the end of sophomore year.

My hope is that she ends up helping the Bad Kids in the final battle against Porter, a restored Ankarna removes the rez block on Lucy, and Kristen (or anyone) brings Lucy back, and Kipperlilly becomes Alewyn only with Lucy instead of cats.

My fear is that KLCK has been grifting the Ambrosia too. And that her plan is to kill Ankarna (break the name block) and then kill Porter (because fuck that guy) and become a god herself and raise Lucy. Bc if she’s been taking Ambrosia too, she *will* die sometime after the Bad Kids save the day, and I’m not ready to cry that much over four dogs in a trenchcoat

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Look. I’m a Kipperlily defender, part of me was desperately hoping she would drop invisibility in Porter’s office and offer to work with Riz upon realizing the world was ending, that she has been lying to Porter and Jace about working with them.

Because I can just never get past the part where two teachers take advantage of a young, mentally ill girl and get her to go along with a plot, not just to destroy a god, but the very school she was hoping to succeed in.

The Rat Grinders have been given no motivations, no reason for hating the bad kids beyond KLCK wanting Riz’s interesting life. While they are the bad guys, they are victims. There’s a timeline where Gorgug and Kristen, in freshman year, are raised by Porter. Maybe in that timeline, it’s the High Five Heroes who stop Kalvaxus. Maybe in that timeline, Lucy Frostblade dies to bring back Cassandra and finds her a new follower. Maybe Lucy, in her sacrifice, converts Buddy Dawn to be a cleric of Cassandra, and he is the light in the darkness guiding others. Maybe one by one, the Bad Kids become rageful and hate the High Five Heroes for having normal lives, normal adventures instead of being forced to rage for an unborn war god.

Maybe Ruben reaches out to Fig and finds a connection in their music. Maybe Oisin shows the Oracle a better path to walk. Maybe Ivy shows Fabian Seacaster that it’s not about his father’s legacy. Maybe Buddy holds Kristen in her sorrow of never learning who she is. Maybe MaryAnn gives Gorgug some mango soda in exchange for a tin flower. Maybe Kipperlily sees how barely together Riz is, and finds common ground with them.

I want to believe the Bad Kids could reach the High Five Heros, because thats always been my favorite part of Fantasy High, is the unending compassion for others they have, and it makes me a little sad that they don’t even consider it for the Rat Grinders.

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Minor thoughts on Oisin and how he seems primed to fuck over Adaine specifically. The flustered ping-pong balls that were a plan all along. The quoting her own words on the previous Elven Oracle back at her in regards to the storm.

I mean...imagine you're a skinny little dragonborn wizard, in a class with a cute elven girl. You don't talk to her, but one of your adventuring party members is pissing thinking that party is getting preferential treatment, so you KNOW about her. You watch from the corner of your eye or from a spot on the back of the class whenever she's actually there. Partway through the year she goes to jail, and when she comes back she and her adventuring party save the world from a dragon. (A dragon of whom your Grandmother had been fond. ((Also, coincidentally, the Vice Principal.))) One of them created a god.

(Your entire party is being groomed into rage by two of your teachers.)

You're in her class again. She is the Elven Oracle, already an accomplished adventurer. She and her friends are popular. She's very pretty. She does not know your name. She does not know who you are, just a skinny dragonborn a few seats back.

You go on your Sophomores Year Spring Break Adventure and don't bother to think about her party at all.

(You and your party are going to kill a god. Your teacher is going to ascend to godhood in their place and you and your party will have Made That Happen. You are angry and determined with each final blow you deal.)

You return from Spring Break angry and with a sore chest.

You find out the elven girl's party has resurrected a dead god and the live streamed the entire fight. They must think they're so much better than you and your party. You'll show them.

(Your friend refuses to change her faith. She cancels the paperwork. The rest of you kill her, confident she will make the right choice and join you again as a proper Champion for your new god. You help kill her. She does not get back up. You hide the body and none of you can say anything. You're so so angry.)

The world descended into darkness and you can do nothing. The sun finally breaks across the sky again right before Junior year. You and your party have made plans and are on the cusp of greatness. You've gained muscles to spare and ink on your scales in carefully selected runes, no longer just a skinny little dragonborn.

(You have a new cleric. He's not your friend. He's a haystack hick from that cult-church from Freshman year, and he's here because the god you're going to kill needs a Champion and he fits the bill, nothing more.)

The first day of school the plan starts to be put in motion. Immediately that party of kids is interfering, in your way. It rackles. You push on anyway, seething inside even as you act the part of being reasonable.

You go to a party at the houses of one of her friends. You've been practicing making spell runes on the inside of ping-pong balls. You're ready.

The pretty Elven girl in your class finally looks at you. She approaches you, gives you a drink, and chills it in your hand. She has to ask your name. You have shared certain wizarding classes with her since Freshman year, tho she was barely there. You have to tell her that.

You chat. She clearly gets flustered, calls you great, and flees back into the house. Your friend teases you for others to overhear. It's a convenient excuse to use your geometry and apply physics to miss every single shot and lay your trap. The drink isn't so perfectly chilled in your hand anymore.

(You talk to her. Play nice. She isn't smooth, but she smiled at you and maybe a part of you is vindictive in seeing her flustered. It's a shame she turned down the diamonds, as dragon madness would have been so poetic. You steal her summons to steal something from the house. She didn't know your name. Didn't remember you. You feel justified. Your anger burns cold like frostbite, like static in the air. You purposely don't wonder if that first miss was intentional or genuine.)

You see each other in class sometimes.

You plot and kill monsters the woods. You will win the battle. You will win the war.

Your parties have a standoff in the cafeteria. You play your part to diffuse the situation, your teacher has been harping on your friends to stop antagonizing the other party. You feel her mind touch yours gentle probing of intentions, her friends all around her as you lock eyes.

(The devil's honey your group gets from that bee girl all goes to your teacher. He is preparing himself to ascend to godhood, and he needs it for his prayers.)

She is searching for your intentions and feelings. You tell her only 'Sorry'. She believes you. You are not entirely sure why. She and her party will hopefully die during their Last Stand exam, and have no way to revive themselves in time, be trapped there until after elections.

Maybe she just wasn't perceptive enough to see the deception.

(You hate her and all her friends. You have had no devil's honey. She believes you. Briefly, you wonder if it was a lie at all.)

They catch you. They know. Your team goes to ground and waits out the remaining days 'til elections and the culmination of everything you've been working for.

It rains at the party, and you have no more masks. You are angry. She must never have been that good of an Oracle at all, and you take joy in mocking her with her own words from long ago.

She's nothing more than an elven girl in your class who was full of herself to remember your name.

(There is nothing left now to stop you from being as openly angry as you like.)

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I don't think DNI banners work particularly well, but I decided to make these for giggles anyway. You can feel free to use them if you wish.

+ a bonus

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Every single Dimension 20 episode gives me more and more evidence to my conspiracy theory that Brennan did not inform Sarah Barrios how much Junior Year is very much Not The Bad Kid's Year because the song feels like a cruel irony now