Magic: The Gathering drops first details for 2023’s Phyrexia: All Will be One
Wait, wait! I haven't even drafted Unfinity, yet!
Buckle your seatbelts because Magic: The Gathering is already dribbling out information about the trading card game’s first set of 2023. Phyrexia: All Will be One takes players back to the oily, completed graveyard of Mirrodin for a showdown with the current Big Bad.
You might be feeling a little bit of whiplash, seeing as how the current set, Dominaria United only released last month, and we haven’t even entered spoiler season for The Brothers’ War. That set is due on November 18th, leaving just enough time to sneak in Jumpstart 2022 on December 2nd. The breakneck speed at which publisher Wizards of the Coast trucks out new cards won't slow anytime soon, so the least we can do is prepare you with everything we know about the Phyrexia-focused card set, which isn’t much.
According to a blog post on the official Magic: The Gathering website, Phyrexia: All Will be One will launch physical products on February 3rd - this is one of a few upcoming MTG sets that will favour tabletop over digital programs Magic Arena and MTG Online. Players can take part in prerelease events at local game stores from January 27th through February 2nd, 2023, and the publisher will start doling out card teasers on December 8th.
Like all premiere and core sets, Phyrexia: All Will be One will come in the standard array of randomised boosters: draft packs are designed to actually play the game in a limited format, set packs are more for cracking open and marvelling, and collectors packs are for burning through excess money – sorry, I mean collecting special foil and border treatments that differ from set to set. We don’t yet know what the snazzy cards from this upcoming set will showcase, but Wizards of the Coast has shown off some fairly impressive efforts throughout 2022.
There will also be the normal set booster bundle, colloquially called the “fat pack”, and the continuation of set-specific Jumpstart boosters meant for bashing together small, quick decks. This feature returned with Dominaria United but still has a ways to go before it captures the genuine fun and value of its original namesake.
The white Mana Praetor Elesh Norn features heavily on product artwork, heralding her portrayal on at least a few cards as befits her station as the ostensible leader of New Phyrexia’s praetor council. After taking over and corrupting the metallic plane of Mirrodin, Elesh Norn and her kin have spent the last two real-world years of MTG sets slowly creeping through different planes for some mysterious schemes, collecting knowledge and at least two completed Planeswalkers along the way.
Phyrexia: All Will be One will serve as a reintroduction to the plane, along with the scant few survivors still holding a resistance. Kemba, leader of the Leonin, can be seen, but so can the corrupted angel Atraxa - a fan-favourite card that will almost certainly reappear. The set will also serve as the foundation for a two-part set releasing directly after: March of the Machine and March of the Machine: Aftermath hints at a Marvel-esque culmination of characters, threats and plotlines apparently too big for a single release.