#jin gitaxis

[flabbergastedpigeon]

The gang's all here!!! Which Phyrexia Pal is your fave?

Planning on making these into a stickers (and maybe even a sticker sheet idk) to decorate my deck boxes with, so this is a lowkey interest check to see if anyone else would want these lil guys too!

[st-just]

Reverse unpopular opinion mtg

In their original appearances, Phrexia, Ravnica and (khans) Tarkir were all legitimately novel and incredibly compelling fantasy settings. Innistrad wasn't novel but I adore well-done gothic horror vibes I will slot it in here as well.

Bolas, Phyrexia and the Eldrazi are all conceptually amazing arc villains.

The way new Phyrexia's return was teased with Vorinclex and Jin-Gitaxis Termintor-ing themselves into different planes to as an increasingly terrifying subplot of looming doom was absolutely incredible.

I deeply appreciate the steady supply of workmanlike-to-actually-really-good fantasy art being commissioned and released on a quarterly basis.

[amber-gimlet]

jin-gitaxis is the most fuckable praetor

[sp1c3-r4ck-synd1c4t3]

Eldrazi will be the next major antagonist

This is just my own called shot. I will be looking back at this in ~a year and a half to see if I'm right, but I have evidence. I have. Some evidence.

Part 1: Data

I am going to use War of the Spark and March of the Machine as examples, and will assume their models are accurate to Ziplining, the climax event-set of the current arc.

Let's start with War of the Spark. This set had 31 months of "Foreshadow-time", which starts when the first Macguffin is loaded. Kaladesh set this in place with Tezzeret's presence, and the Planar Bridge he stole. I believe Tezzeret's presence was intentional, not just as "an" antagonist, but specifically Bolas' pawn. After that plot beat, it would take almost another year to see the true next step, in Bolas' army of Eternals. 31 months from first contact, 21 months from phase 2. Moving onto the Phyrexian arc, now that we know what we're looking for, we can find the first two teasers of Phyrexia's presence. The first is obvious, with Vorinclex on Kaldhiem, 27 months before MOM, similar to the number gained from the first examination. It would take a full year for this beat to be continued, with Jin-Gitaxis on Kamigawa, giving us 15 months pre-climax, which is definitely a much smaller time-frame, but hey, data is data.

With this information, we can make some reasonable estimations. Ziplining wants between 31-27 months of heads-up between its first foreshadow and its release. Its slotted to come out in Spring 2026, meaning that its first mention should have been during....... March of the Machine.

Hm. If we all rack our brains, maybe we can come up with something that happened in the Phyrexia arc that might've disturbed something that lives in the Blind Eternities...

Part 2: Story

This section starts my more outlandish speculations that will make me look truly foolish in 2 years time.

So, if we continue the pattern of first foreshadow->followup a year later, we would need something that tells the audience what's going on.

You remember Modern Horizons back in 2019? Well its funny, that set was built from the ground up! There was barely any thematic consistency between the cards except for draft archetypes. There were only a few premium Slivers, there just to spice up a limited deck. And the same holds true for Modern Horizons 2, there's even less consistency, each deck is going to feature cards with vastly different flavours!

And then came Modern Horizons 3, themed not around generically powerful cards, but around Eldrazi. Not new Eldrazi mind you, but

Time for crazy theory #1: What if the focus on Eldrazi in MH3 was in order to show the old kind of Eldrazi, so that we would be wowed by the new kind showing up 2 years later?

Now, this sets up some serious expectations! After the second story beat, every set had to do with Wank of the Spank or Mommy! Well that's what I'm predicting.

CRAZY THEORY #2 EVERY SET MENTIONED ALREADY RELATES TO THE ELDRAZI!!!

Part 3: Pepe Silvia

The Death Race set is... well I don't know what planes it takes place on yet, so I won't be making any specific claims. I like Corocojo's theory that it will be taking place on the wasteland plane of Gastal though, so... maybe it was razed by Eldrazi in the past? That one's weak but the next ones are a lot stronger.

Tarkir is pretty clear. Ugin spent a thousand years recovering on that plane, giving it... some connection to Colourless mana? Okay I'll be real this one also sucks

BUT THEN ITS SPACE OPERA TIME! People tend to view planes as one planet, with others just near enough to travel to, but with the deadly void of space/the Blind Eternities between them, and with horrible monsters potentially living Out There! Eldrazi have always been compared to aliens, so it'd make some sense to draw the distinction. Maybe in a plane all about outer space, we could learn more about the origin of Eldrazi. Maybe something that lives in the In-Betweens of reality started in the In-Betweens of planets!

Lorwyn is easily my weakest link. Nissa made contact with Emrakul on Zendikar, then planeswalked to Lorwyn? I'll be honest, not sure what I'm cooking with that one.

But then we get to the real reason I'm making this post. A return to Arcavios, the final plane before the climax. And let me ask you a question. Do we know of any colourless creatures that live on Arcavios?

That's right. Why else would they make the penultimate set a Strixhaven sequel? Because it's been the home of an entirely different kind of titan this whole time.

Part 4: A list of the many reasons I'm probably wrong

Here's a non-comprehensive list of the many reasons I'm probably wrong.

Loot is related to the Fomori, whom have nothing to do with Eldrazi

Kellan has nothing to do with Eldrazi

It probably has to do with dragons cause Tarkir and Arcavios both have extant Elder Dragons and Bolas' probably escaped his meditation realm in the Invasion

Jace already did the whole Eldrazi thing a decade prior why would he be showing up so much if they just want to make him Do It Again

Emrakul is still in the silver moon and its not very likely that she'll escape off-screen

MH3's Eldrazi could just be a way to appease fans who won't get another chance to see them in a long time

We JUST defeated Phyrexia forever, why on earth would the other big bad of the multiverse be next, instead of being saved for 2033 with a smaller big bad in-between

Tezerret has nothing to do with the Eldrazi

Why the fuck would the first "Macguffin foreshadow" be something that happened DURING the last climax

Why the fuck would the second story beat take place in a set WITHOUT A STORY

Mark Rosewater said about Ziplining "I can't even say who the antagonist is". If it was Eldrazi he might've said 'what the antagonist is'

You've never once made a correct magic theory

But hear me out on that last one. There's a first time for everything :)

[thought-knot]

Commander brackets and game changers thoughts

Wanted to get get out my thoughts on the announcement with of the brackets and the game changer list

Overall I don't really think the brackets are going to change much about peoples deckbuilding. Personally I have already been moving away from running a lot of the game changers in most of my decks so I can have some lower power decks that don't just take take over the game by drawing something like rhystic study and out valuing the table. One thing that I really like is the differentiation of high power and CEDH as those two have very different vibes.

Thoughts on game changers under the cut I will mainly be looking at them from a non CEDH perspective as I don't play CEDH but I wont disregard how important some of the cards are to the format

White Magistrate's fine to be here, no need to ban it and I feel enlightened's in the same boat

Serra's sanctum I could see getting banned, of the three lands that have this effect its the weakest but it is still rather strong

Smothering tithe can burn in hell and I hope it gets banned

I could see Trouble in pairs getting banned as well, its on a similar level to Rhystic study but I think its more annoying to play around

Blue

As much as Rift feels like an iconic part of the format like sol ring I would not be surprised if this is a prelude to banning it

I think expropriate is reasonable to stay unbanned but remain on the list

Force of will and Fierce guardianship both feel right to have here, could see guardianship getting banned in the future and force of negation getting on here to replace it

I go back and forth on if Rhystic study should be banned, it is certainly powerful but it can be played around more than something like smothering tithe and like rift it feels iconic to the format at this point, If it does get banned I don't think I will shed any tears for it though

Thoracle is mostly in the realm of CEDH, I've seen people talk about banning it before to shake up the format but I can't comment too much on that, right to have it on the list debatable if it should be banned

Urza is quite strong and an infinite mana outlet but I think he only get ridiculous when your breaking parity on stuff like winter orb which is mainly something you see in CEDH

Mystical tutor is similar to enlightened tutor, probably the strongest of the narrow tutors but mostly fine the stay on the list

Jin-gitaxis stands out a bit on this list, I dont think he ever needs to be banned but I think putting him on here is a good way to give people an idea how back breaking he is when cheated out

Black

I think citadel is fine to be on the list, its really powerful but sooner or later you will run out of gas

Long term I think banning vamp tutor and leaving the other two tutors on the list is the right call, being an instant makes it so much stronger than the others since it can be used more reactively

Opposition agent can be really frustrating to play against, people who I've talked to that play it in CEDH said that its healthy in the format, it seems like a card that's super frustrating if you just trying to play for fun and it stops you from ramping but necessary and interesting when people are trying to tutor out wincons.

Tergrid super power and frustrating, but mainly as a commander and if you see it in the command zone you know what your getting into

Ad naus lives in CEDH where it basically wins you the game if you resolve it, perhaps its too overcentralizing but I think its fine to live there

Red

I don't think Jeska's needs to get the axe, but I would not be too upset if it did

Breach is mainly a CEDH and I think its fine to exist there as a wincon, and if your not comboing off with it I think it can be an interesting card to play with

Green

Survival of the fittest is kinda crazy, letting you find any creature in you deck while setting up you graveyard for the low cost of one mana on a two mana enchantment, don't think it will ever get banned but this is the type of card that can drag games out with continuous tutoring always allowing for the right answer

Vorinclex is in the same boat as Jin gitaxis, not quite as backbreaking, but also more feasible to ramp into

Gaea's cradle is almost as good as tolarian academy, would not be surprised to see it get banned

Multicolor

all these are here for CEDH as far as I can tell (less sure about grand arbiter) I dont think any of them need to be banned as seeing them as a commander is usually enough to have a conversation. Commander ninjutsu was a big design mistake that I would not mind them requiring commander tax but I think yuriko is a cool commander if you are not super abusing her

Colorless

Glacial chasm seems a bit strange on here compared to the rest, I can kinda see where they are coming from but not sure I agree that it should be here

I would personally be sad if LED got banned since I lucked into one that perfectly fit into my Kozilek deck but it is mainly used for combos so it should at least be on the list

I literally just picked up the one ring but it deserves to be on here and I would not be too upset if it got banned

Tabernacle is not a card I have any experience with but just reading it makes me want it banned

I'm going to cover all the fast mana at once, I could see ancient tomb and mana vault getting banned, neither are quite as good as mana crypt but they still offer really fast acceleration. The rest of them deserve to be on the list for the purposes of setting a standard but there is more of a cost to playing them that I feel keeps them from being banned

Notable missing cards

Worldly tutor seems like a notable exclude considering that the other one mana instant speed tutors are on the list

I could see an argument for heroic intervention either being on or off the list but I am surprised that teferi's protection was not on here

Mana drain seems like it would have been a shoe in on this list too

This one is personal bias because I have faced them a lot with decks that get hard countered by them, but I could see the first two elesh norns being here too

In general cards that outright stop people from playing the game like torpor orb seem like they would be good to put here

By that logic Narset and Notion thief might be good includes too

I could see an argument for all but the green Ikoria free spells to be on here

Overall it feels like there is a bit of a split going on in the list, most of the cards are big in CEDH but some of the cards are only really frustrating at lower power levels and I wonder how the list is going to evolve from these two separate categories.

[onion-souls]

So heard about a potential replacement for the Yuuzhan Vong in New Star Wars Canon and went over to the Wookiepedia to read the article

So Timothy Zahn's a good sign, but the rest of that description reads as "Jin-Gitaxis and the Floob fought the Buznaz alongside Jizmon Holtz at Nifgaribulous Grog."

Ooh, massive threat out of nowhere, and soul-slavers. Interesting. Are souls distinct from force ghosts, or the same thing?

Though points off for using the name Hegemony for your space state. It's like, the most fictional sounding word for a state.

And more off for calling your soul slaves "clients," yeah there's the creepy factor of innocuous euphemisms but you sound like an injury lawyer

The conspicuous mention that they have a neck is so funny to me for some reason.

Lightning gun, cool. Pellet gun, not cool.

Don't give your allegedly badass alien empires pellet guns. Call it a fucking bullet

Actually that sounds goofy as hell and makes Thrawn sounds really stupid for liking it

Also, am I supposed to be impressed that they know about the most prominent ship of an empire that ruled an entire galaxy?

Oh yes, America, the North Korean military is well aware of your hamburger and aircraft carrier

Alright, I'll let Timothy Zahn do what he wants with Thrawn but don't try to tie this lame cyberdenture slaver species to Darth Vader's legacy

[oursparkspod]

WE'RE BACK BABY! Today, join us as we dive into the undercity of Towashi in Monster of the Week!

[thekoboldyipper]

To the MTG vorthosheads (I know you're there), whats your views on how understanding languages (ESPECIALLY the Phyrexian language) works?

I'll start: touching the Blind Eternities in any way (including Omenpaths) alters your mind and gives you two-way babel fish. But Phyrexian is such a different language that Jin-Gitaxis configured nanomachines into the oil that lets phyrexians toggle if there's translating, making it more of a true second language

[flabbergastedpigeon]

for christmas i designed some praetor keychains for my commander pod and im pretty pleased with how they turned out :>

the sheoldred one is mine and is still a wip!

[almostlookedhuman]

[overgrown-estate]

It looks those rumors/leaks were true. Jin-Gitaxis is on Kamigawa in Neon Dynasty.

[themorrignasystem]

Even tho i love azoaris, and white is fun

JIN GITAXIS FOREVER!!!!!

The differences between the Nornian and Gitaxian recruitment drives.

[emerald-observance]

I suppose that I shouldn't have expected it to end any other way but I gotta say I'm... just super disappointed on a lot of levels.

First and foremost, the trend of important characters having unimportant deaths continues with Heliod, Vorinclex, and Jin-Gitaxis. Like, their deaths were barely relevant, one or two line affairs, which is especially bad after Jin got to lay into Norn.

I really don't like that they managed to just uncompleate Nissa and Ajani. I'm somewhat hopeful that there'll be a lasting impact on the both of them and the fact that the metal doesn't seem to be gone (though the art suggests it's going to disappear).

I'm also... just impossibly disappointed that the ultimate resolution was literally just to kill Norn. That somehow the oil was rendered "inert" without her. Remember when Elspeth literally didn't kill her because she knew that wouldn't fix the problem. And then it did.

Like, seriously, New Phyrexia being phased out of the multiverse shouldn't fix the problem. Norn dying shouldn't just fix the problem. The oil shouldn't be a thing where if the source disappears it's all fine and dandy, their organs produce more of the stuff!

(Also, I would have preferred literally anyone but Karn finishing Norn off. Literally anyone.)

Anyway, yay for Chandra and Nissa getting to stay together, go Gruulfriends, where the fuck is Jace.

[markrosewater]

Hi Mark! Loving all the different Brother's War spoilers (and excited to see Saheeli's!) Quick question though: Why doesn't Gix, a Phyrexian Praetor, have a Praetor-like effect (compared to Elesh Norn, Jin-Gitaxis, Sheoldred, Urabrask, and Vorinclex)?

That’s unique to those five, not all Phyrexisn Praetors.

[alcinasflusteredpet]

You know, the progress engine is a weird one. There is obvious friction between Elesh Norn and Jin Gitaxis in the stories. Her unyielding faith in her own divinity and what is 'the right thing to do' have led Jin to various plans and thoughts of betrayal or subversion to gain control of New Phyrexia himself so I wonder if he would have less strictness on re-compleation providing it serves his own agenda. However we do obviously see sanctioned collaboration between the two, particularly in panopticon style creatures like these two, keeping an eye to make sure every "Deviation" still follows their rules. The Deviants are literally policing not only "normal" one colour phyrexians but also themselves. Recouped and adapted back into their systems, their deviancy put to work for the state/orthodoxy.

We see little collaboration between black and blue, only 2 cards I found being a mindless puppet that either side can manipulate to their own ends, something both leaders would find useful, and a bat which I suppose works for Gin as an airborne spy? Nothing super of note here between the two sides.

Then there is black/red. Oddly, most of these are beasts who don't seem to have much higher conscious thought on the surface. Same again with Red/Green. Seems like it's mostly been tools either side could make use of for war.

Black/white. Not much deviance, but a definite theme of sadism and breaking of wills with Ria Ivor turning on her own people after being captured and broken, previously being a hero to them, and the vivisector which... well, that artwork speaks for itself. Deviance? No. Hot? Undeniably

Black green, mostly people who are then made cruel and work well in both the dross pits and the hunting grounds. They overlap enough in philosophy and practice that there isn't much deviance seen there.

But anyway, back to blue and red! This nightmare is depicted in the furnace level and makes me wonder, seeing as it spawns goblins, if it too has broken from Jin and joined the furnace for the sake of it's own freedom of expression. It's described as a nightmare so it was probably quite important and only seems to have modded itself a little, with the end of it's staff and it's leg things being furnacy like. Heck the white covering screams orthodoxy more than anything. But there is is. Another oddity, and described as nightmarish.

And again we have a red/blue but in the white alighted sphere. Possibly stealing oil to use as a weapon again others based on the abilities it has? Also described specifically as a Chimera, a mixture of species. Again, given they seem misplaced in the white environment we could perhaps assume they defected to the furnace. Theming! *Waves jazz hands*

I went through all the phyrexian cards I could find of 2 colors or more. The last type I checked was land cards. There are various combo land type phyrexian cards, even white and red representing their direct conflict. But which type combo did I find nothing for? Blue/Red. They're homeless. There is no phyrexian plane combo where the two spheres themselves meet and fight. All we have is a Kaladesh invaded land card from March Of The Machines. So honestly I agree with you in that I don't know what is going on with Red/Blue either, but it's certainly something happening under the surface with their creatures being represented as outcast or obviously different in some way in a lot of their own cards.

My possibly-controversial opinion is that I don't think Phyrexians are actually that into compleation like, as a kink, on a population-wide scale

It's definitely recognized as potentially kinkable but for most of them it's just the thing they got done to get through puberty

[vorthosjay]

Why is Jin-Gitaxis wearing a kimono if it doesn't disguise him? Does he just like the fashion (This is a serious question.)

I have a few equally likely thoughts on that, none of which are mutually exclusive:

1. He thinks it DOES disguise him.

2. The planar bridge opened in a laundromat and he just kind of fell into it.

3. Someone from the futurists was just messing with him.