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Magic: The Gathering’s first major release of 2023 takes us straight to hell. Machine Hell, to be precise, as we explore the horrific and twisted landscapes of New Phyrexia for the first time in over a decade in Phyrexia: All Will Be One.
With Elesh Norn gearing up her invasion of the multiverse, and a band of Planeswalkers sent there to recover Karn, what can we expect when All Will Be One launches in February? Here’s everything you need to know about the set.
What Formats Is Phyrexia: All Will Be One Legal In?
Phyrexia is one of the four major ‘premiere’ sets of the year, meaning it is legal in Standard, and any formats based off of it, such as Alchemy and Brawl.
It is also legal in non-rotating formats, such as Modern and Pioneer, and in eternal formats like Commander, Vintage, Legacy, and, as long as the card is a common rarity, Pauper.
In Standard, All Will Be One will be legal until the Standard rotation in Autumn 2024, when Dominaria United, The Brothers War, Phyrexia: All Will Be One, and March of the Machine all leave the Standard format. After this, they will still be legal to be played in others, like Commander, Pioneer, or Legacy.
When Does Phyrexia: All Will Be One Launch?
Phyrexia: All Will Be One’s formal launch is February 7, 2023 for digital play through MTG Arena and MTG Online, and February 10 for tabletop play.
Originally, All Will Be One was to launch on February 3, however, in order to give Dominaria Remastered – which launched just two weeks earlier – some space, it was decided that Phyrexia would be pushed back by one week.
Like most sets, Phyrexia will have a full prerelease, where you can play with the set in draft and sealed events a week ahead of the official tabletop launch. Prerelease events will be running from February 3 to February 9.
What Products Will There Be For Phyrexia: All Will Be One?
As the first ‘premier’ set of the year, Phyrexia is receiving the full range of products that accompany a set. Alongside Draft, Set, Jumpstart, and Collector boosters, it will also receive at least two Commander preconstructed decks, a booster bundle box, and at least one pre-release kit.
Phyrexia is also receiving a new kind of product – a Compleat Edition of the booster bundle. This contains welve boosters, 40 foil Lands, a foil rare promo card, and a Compleat Edition Booster, which guarantees two foil mythic r4ares and ten ‘special foil’ land cards.
When Do Phyrexia: All Will Be One Previews Start?
Our first look at Phyrexia: All Will Be One comes on December 13, 2022, with a ‘pre-beat’ stream on MTG weekly. While this stream is intended for retailers to plan out their stock purchases, Wizards chooses to also use it to reveal the first cards from the set to the public.
The formal preview season for Phyrexia begins on January 17, the same day the set was originally meant to launch. This makes the start of the full reveal, where the entire set will be shown off following a debut stream that unveils the set’s mechanics, big story beats, and any surprises not previously announced.
What Mechanics Will Phyrexia: All Will Be One Have?
Until the full debut on January 17, we won’t know about any of the central mechanics of the set, nor its draft archetypes.
However, we can make two easy predictions: the first is that the set will likely include Phyrexian mana, which has been seen recently on cards like Tamiyo, Compleated Sage, and Ajani, Sleeper Agent. We also saw a similar mechanic on the five Defiler cards in Dominaria United, as paying life to reduce mana costs is a very Phyrexian mechanic.
We could also see a return of poison counters. Poison is an alternate win condition that makes your opponent lose once they have ten counters on them, and is thematically linked with the Phyrexians. Although poison itself is likely, we probably won’t see the return of the infect as a mechanic due to how powerful it is, we saw a different kind of poison counter-giving card in Kaldheim on Fynn, the Fangbearer, which opens up room for it to return in other ways.
What Is The Phyrexia: All Will Be One Story?
Phyrexia’s story continues the ongoing ‘Phyrexian Invasion’ arc that began way back in 2021’s Kaldheim, but really kicked off in a big way with 2022’s Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty.
Following Dominaria United and The Brothers’ War, the artificial Planeswalker Karn – the one best-positioned to defeat the Phyrexians – has been deconstructed and kidnapped by the Phrexian Praetor Elesh Norn, only to be (somewhat) rescued by Tezzeret, whose motivations we still don’t fully understand.
Saving Karn is the top priority, though, and so a team of Planeswalkers known as The Gatewatch were joined by Lukka, Niko Aris, Tyvar Kell, Elspeth Tirel, Kaito Shizuki, The Wanderer, Nahiri, and Vraska, who staged a mission to New Phyrexia to rescue him.
It is also worth remembering that Elesh Norn, the current leader of the Phyrexians, has had contact with another Planeswalker, Ashiok. Ashiok may be playing a larger role in the story than we currently know, having tormented Norn with visions of Elspeth Tirel – a long-time enemy of the Phyrexians.
All Will Be One follows on immediately from The Brothers’ War, and its story will come to a conclusion in the next major sets, March of the Machine and March of the Machine: Aftermath.
The full story of Phyrexia: All Will Be One will begin on January 12, the same day as the Building Worlds panel hosted by Wizards, which gives us an insight into the lore and visual design of the set.