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Traveling through Planes inMagic: The Gatheringis something that is impossible for anyone but Planeswalkers. Though non-Planeswalkers have previously been able to travel without a Planeswalker spark through immense magical abilities, an event known as the Mending put a stop to this, and caused the powers of Planeswalker to dull significantly.
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Despite this, the Phyrexians have managed to infiltrate Planes across the Multiverse. None of them are Planeswalkers, but thanks to advancements in their technology and help from other artifacts, they are able to travel without ever possessing a spark. Though interplanar travel for them was difficult at the start, they can now invade every corner of the Multiverse easily.
The Planar Bridge
During the start of the Phyrexian invasion, the main way the Phyrexians were able to travel was throughthe Planar Bridge. Created by an elf namedRashmi on the Plane of Kaladesh, the Planar Bridge was stolenby thePlaneswalker Tezzeret. Tezzeret incorporated the Planar Bridge into his body under the orders of Nicol Bolas, allowing him to easily transport it and use it to transport the Eternal armies of Amonkhet to Ravnica in the War of the Spark.
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However, after the War of the Spark, the Planar Bridge wasslowly poisoning Tezzeret,but he was unable to remove it from his body on his own. He traveled to thePlane of New Phyrexiato make a deal with thePhyrexian Praetor Elesh Norn. In exchange for assisting Elesh Norn, she would gift Tezzeret a body of Darksteel metal to cure him of his poisoning.
Elesh Norn hadTezzeret use the Planar Bridge totransport other Praetors across Planesto plant the seeds of invasion. The most important mission was sending thePraetor Vorinclex to the Plane of Kaldheim, where he acquired a sample oftyrite from the World Tree. This was something Elesh Norn needed for her plan of compleating the Multiverse.
He also sent thePraetor Jin-Gitaxias to Kamigawawhere he was able to learnhow to compleat Planeswalkersby studying the Kami.
Tezzeret then helped therebel Praetor Urabrask by taking him to New Capenna,for him to study the substancehalo that once held back a Phyrexian invasion.
The last use of Tezzeret and the Planar Bridge was him directing thePraetor Sheoldred to Dominariato capture thecreator of Mirrodin (the Plane that became New Phyrexia) - Karn.
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The use of the Planar Bridge not only was slowly killing Tezzeret, butinjured the Praetors as they traveled. It destroyed the Praetor’s organic parts, and often required them to wait to heal before moving forward with their missions. They were oftenoverseen and protected by Tezzerethimself while they healed, with theexception of Sheoldred, who instead waswatched over by a woman named Rona.
Tezzeret held up his end of the bargain with Elesh Norn, who followed through with her word. He was sent to Jin-Gitaxias for surgery to give him a body of Darksteel – one that was successful. Since the Phyrexians did not need the Planar Bridge anymore thanks to the growth of the Realmbreaker, it was set aside and Tezzeret was free from it, no longer on the verge of death. Jin-Gitaxiasattempted to compleat Tezzeret by exposing him to glistening oil, but Tezzeret was able to escape,
The Realmbreaker
The reason for Vorinclex’s mission to reclaim tyrite from Kaldheim’s World Tree was for it to be used byPhyrexia tocreate its own World Tree. The tyrite was planted in the lowest sphere of New Phyrexia -the Seedcore. The tree was nurtured by Elesh Norn to grow into what was dubbedthe Realmbreaker, also known as theInvasion Tree.
Kaldheim is a unique plane, in that it is in fact acollection of mini-planes all connected by the World Tree. By growing their own tree on New Phyrexia, Norn hoped toconnect every plane in the multiverse togetherin the same way, and use its properties to stage her invasion.
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The Gatewatch- a group of Planeswalkers who vowed to protect the Multiverseled a strike team to New Phyrexia in an effort to destroy the Realmbreakerbefore it could be activated. However, the plan backfired horrendously, and they failed in their mission.
One of the Planeswalkers on the team -Nissa Revane - was compleated and used to activate the Realmbreakerthanks to her link with nature.
The Realmbreaker wasvery efficient and allowed Phyrexia to invade multiple Planessuch as Amonkhet, Ikoria, and Alara.
No longer were the Phyrexians bound to the assistance of Tezzeret, as they could use the Realmbreaker to transfer their troops. The Realmbreaker wasmuch smoother travel asopposed to the Planar Bridge too, as itdid not strip the Phyrexians of their organic parts in the same way as the Planar Bridge.
