Phyrexia: All Will Be One is a return to one ofMagic: The Gathering’s bleakest settings: the metal hellscape that is New Phyrexia. Built on the bones of Mirrodin, and Argentum before that, the entire Plane is a shrine to suffering ruled over byfive ruthless Praetors, one for each of the five suns.
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It’s been a while since our last visit, however, and things have changed on New Phyrexia. Internal conflicts between the five colored factions have intensified, and the landscape of the Plane itself has been altered to further their diabolical ends. Nowhere are these changes better reflected than in the land cards in the set. These may be few in number, but they’re large in impact, presenting interesting new options across multiple formats. We’ve broken them down for you here, so you can decide which ones are worthy of landing a spot in your deck.
6The Draw Sphere Cycle
A new cycle of five common lands, each representing the lair of one of the five Praetors, the Draw Sphere cycle is an interesting addition to the game. They each enter play tapped and produce a single color of mana, but they can also be tapped and sacrificed for two mana to draw a card. At first glance, these appear to be mega-budget alternatives to lands like Horizon Canopy, giving you additional draw power in drawn-out games. The functionality is certainly similar, if admittedly much slower due to entering tapped and costing more mana to ‘cycle.’
The key differences that make these lands stand out, however, are their rarity and land type. Being common, these landscould see play in Pauper, where a lack of comparable options could make them attractive in Control decks. It’s also worth noting that they, along with most of the lands on this list, all have the land type ‘Sphere.’ While this doesn’t mean much yet, other than that they can be searched up by Monument to Perfection, it’s likely that this will change in the sets to come, making all the Sphere lands worth keeping an eye on.
5The Monumental Facade
Oil counters are a big part of Phyrexia: All Will Be One, and The Monumental Facade lets you tap into this powerful resource at virtually no opportunity cost. This land comes in with two oil counters of its own, which you can redistribute at sorcery speed just by tapping it. This may not sound groundbreaking, but it starts looking very attractive when you consider the strong suite of aggressive early oil creatures available.
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Evolving Adaptive, Exuberant Fuseling, Sawblade Scamp; these are just a few creatures that can gain a crucial edge from the extra oil The Monumental Facade can provide. Beyond early-game aggression, extra oil counters can also help you build up to huge damaging plays with the likes of Urabrask’s Anointer and The Filigree Sylex. It may only tap for colorless mana, but the huge range of things the counters it places can achieve will guarantee The Monumental Facade a slot in any oil-based deck.
4Mirrex
This is a very interesting land for a number of reasons. Firstly, because of its unique color-fixing style, Mirrex taps for mana of any color, but only if it entered the battlefield this turn. This makes it an effective multi-land in the crucial early game, where you really need a particular color on a particular turn.
Its other ability is even more interesting, however. For just three mana, at instant speed, Mirrex can create a 1/1 Phyrexian Mite token with toxic 1. The token can’t block, so it’s no good on defense, but it can attack in a large group and apply incremental poison to your opponent over time. The poison decks that are possible in All Will Be One tend to be quite aggressive, so the grindier playstyle that Mirrex offers is a welcome addition, giving you inevitability against low-creature Control decks and Midrange builds.
3The Seedcore
One of the fiercest fixing lands Magic has ever seen, The Seedcore is an attractive option for a wide range of decks. Naturally, since it can tap for mana of any color for Phyrexian creatures, it’s an auto-include in any deck playing a critical mass of those. All Will Be One has a ton of these, of course; but there are also plenty in past sets too, which could open up some funky builds in older formats.
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On top of this, The Seedcore also has a very powerful inverted Pendelhaven ability, letting you grant a 1/1 creature you control +2/+1 for a turn. This can only be activated if your opponent has three or more poison counters, which limits the decks that can make the most use of it. But in aggressive Phyrexian toxic decks, it’s a deadly tool that can let your many Mite tokens trade up into actual cards or just get through for triple damage. Bringing early-game fixing and mid-game buffs, this Seed may just end up being a Core part of your next aggro deck.
2The Allied Fast Land cycle
Remnants of the Plane that once was, the Allied Fast Lands were last seen in Scars of Mirrodin, the set that proved to be the calm before the Phyrexian storm. They’ve proven their power many times over in the intervening years, but it’s worth singing their praises once again for those who may not have been playing back then.
Effectively serving as untapped dual lands in the first few turns of the game, these lands guarantee your mana is perfect when it matters most. Their aggressive nature has made them popular inclusions inspeedy formats like Modern, and even good budget options in Legacy and Vintage, if you don’t have a second mortgage ready to pick up some original dual lands. As they return to Standard, their influence will undoubtedly be felt across a range of decks, particularly more aggressive ones. For this reason, Copperline Gorge and Blackcleave Cliffs should be the ones to watch, though all five have a great deal of potential.
1The Mycosynth Gardens
The Mycosynth Gardens has the potential to be one of the most impactful land cards ever printed. Hyperbolic as that statement sounds, it sounds downright reasonable once you consider the dizzying array of things this card is capable of. To push through the boring part, its actual mana generation abilities are nothing to write home about, either producing colorless mana or filtering your mana into a specific color for a cost. Once you read beyond that, however, things get really exciting.
The Mycosynth Gardens can become a copy of any nontoken artifact you control in exchange for mana equal to the original cost of said artifact. This includes artifact creatures, giving the card utility in Aggro and Midrange decks. The most common use cases for this card -will likely involveduplicating combo piecesfor a faster win. There are applications for this in Standard, Modern, Commander, and every format beyond as well, solidifying The Mycosynth Gardens’ place as the most exciting land in Phyrexia: All Will Be One.
