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Traveling through Planes in Magic: The Gathering is 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

man standing in front of large portal
Planar Bridge by Chase Stone

During the start of the Phyrexian invasion, the main way the Phyrexians were able to travel was through the Planar Bridge. Created by an elf named Rashmi on the Plane of Kaladesh, the Planar Bridge was stolen by the Planeswalker 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 was slowly poisoning Tezzeret, but he was unable to remove it from his body on his own. He traveled to the Plane of New Phyrexia to make a deal with the Phyrexian Praetor Elesh Norn. In exchange for assisting Elesh Norn, she would gift Tezzeret a body of Darksteel metal to cure him of his poisoning.

Tezzeret, Betrayer of Flesh by Bryan Sola
Tezzeret, Betrayer of Flesh by Bryan Sola

Elesh Norn had Tezzeret use the Planar Bridge to transport other Praetors across Planes to plant the seeds of invasion. The most important mission was sending the Praetor Vorinclex to the Plane of Kaldheim, where he acquired a sample of tyrite from the World Tree. This was something Elesh Norn needed for her plan of compleating the Multiverse.

He also sent the Praetor Jin-Gitaxias to Kamigawa where he was able to learn how to compleat Planeswalkers by studying the Kami.

Tezzeret then helped the rebel Praetor Urabrask by taking him to New Capenna, for him to study the substance halo that once held back a Phyrexian invasion.

The last use of Tezzeret and the Planar Bridge was him directing the Praetor Sheoldred to Dominaria to capture the creator 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, but injured 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 often overseen and protected by Tezzeret himself while they healed, with the exception of Sheoldred, who instead was watched 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-Gitaxias attempted to compleat Tezzeret by exposing him to glistening oil, but Tezzeret was able to escape,

The Realmbreaker

multiple layers of a world
Phyrexian Atlas by Illustranesia

The reason for Vorinclex's mission to reclaim tyrite from Kaldheim's World Tree was for it to be used by Phyrexia to create 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 dubbed the Realmbreaker, also known as the Invasion Tree.

Kaldheim is a unique plane, in that it is in fact a collection of mini-planes all connected by the World Tree. By growing their own tree on New Phyrexia, Norn hoped to connect every plane in the multiverse together in 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 Multiverse led a strike team to New Phyrexia in an effort to destroy the Realmbreaker before 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 Realmbreaker thanks to her link with nature.

mechanical and organic armies fighting a war
Invasion Of Alara by Mathias Kollros

The Realmbreaker was very efficient and allowed Phyrexia to invade multiple Planes such 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 was much smoother travel as opposed to the Planar Bridge too, as it did not strip the Phyrexians of their organic parts in the same way as the Planar Bridge.

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