Win the ‘Mirromancy’ Mirrodin Besieged Intro Pack!
In celebration of the prerelease this weekend, we’re giving away an intro pack from the new Mirrodin Besieged expansion to one lucky Lament reader! Mirromancy is one of the set’s two Mirran decks, and as you’ll see in the upcoming review this Wednesday, it’s a rather unusual departure from the norm!
To score a copy of Mirromancy, all you have to do is leave a comment below answering the following question: who will win the war on Mirrodin, and why?
It doesn’t need to be the Great American Novel, of course- but let us know where you think the block is going, and what clues you might have seen to support it. The winner will be chosen at random amongst all eligible comments on Friday, 04 February. One entry per person, please, though feel free to enjoy the discussion as well!
Ertai's Lament 
While I’m a mirran, I feel that phyrexia is probably going to win the war… Just looking at the way the watermarks are moving, the last set will probably be 80-20 in favor of phyrexia. In addition, it will allow WotC to continue this plotline through multiple blocks, just like what they did with the mirari originally. However, I still hope we will endure!
Heck, go further back from the Mirari and you had a multi-block storyline with the Weatherlight Saga. I don’t know if that’s the kind of direction Wizards would go in these days, but I loved the idea of an epic tale that spanned sets. Even if the ‘modern version’ means revisits, I’m all for it. A return to Zendikar would be something I’d really enjoy… a couple years from now, anyway.
Phyrexia will win the war. They are quite a bit stronger than Mirrans as MBS pre-releases have shown.
Concerning the watermarks … MaRo himself mentioned the enhanced presence of the Phyrexians being reflected by a shift in affiliation of the single cards.
And who will prevail? Although my sympathy is with the brave defenders, in my opinion it will be the Phyrexians.
Why will that be so? Because as opposed to the Mirrans, they do not play fair. Mirrans are eager to defend their home world, but, however, they know little about their enemy who has a history of infiltration, domination and plain sneaky evilness. What can even the sharpest blade and the most noble heart achieve against a slowly spreading sickness of corrosion and decay?
Plus from a mere design point of view – wouldn’t it be much more interesting and challenging to show a world so fundamentally transformed and corrupted in a way only the Phyrexians can arrange for than the same world recovering from battle?
Unfortunately, much as I’d like Mirrodin to win, it looks like Phyrexia has it in the bag. They have such an overwhelming advantage, both in story and out of it. They were able to build up their forces in the core, while the Mirran forces suffered huge losses when Memnarch’s soul traps triggered and sent a ton of the regular Mirrans back to their home planes. It also doesn’t help that the Phyrexians have “zombie powers” in that every Mirran that falls to the Phyrexian menace will most likely come back or be brought back as a Phyrexian soldier of some kind. In game, they’ve got poison, which is a ridiculous advantage on its own. Basically, your opponent starts the game at half life, which is such a huge advantage it’s hard to describe. It wasn’t that powerful in Scars because most infect guys could be dealt with with a simple pyroclasm or lightning bolt. But now, so many of the Phyrexians are much larger than that. Just look at the Vatmother, for instance. She’s a homewrecker, as is the Hydra, to a lesser extent. I think that with the advent of Besieged, poison might finally be a truly tournament worthy deck, if built right. Plus Maro himself is significantly Phyrexian biased, which definitely doesn’t help the Mirran cause.
However, I have no intention of giving up hope that Mirrodin will pull a comeback and take the third set home with Mirrodin Pure! WE! WILL! ENDURE!
I believe the Mirrans will win, with Karn pulling a Deus ex Machina (ha!) stunt on us. He is too beloved and iconic a character to leave him at the mercy of the Phyrexians. And once freed, his power (he was the creator of this plane after all) will turn the tide and force the Phyrexians out.
Which is not, however, to say that will be the last we see of them. Next stop on the oil tour – Kamigawa! 🙂
Don! It’s Steve Mock! I didn’t know you were read this blog! Good to see you on the site. I’ll be making an order from you in a couple days here. I promise.
I meant “you read.”
And if Kamigawa comes back, I will have to take a break from Magic for a block. Either that, or if Phyrexia really does goes there, I will only play as Phyrexia. Personal opinion, of course. No offense intended.
Scars of Kamigawa … sounds nice, doesn’t it? 😉
Now THAT sounds great. I would love to carve scars into Kamigawa as a Phyrexian war machine.
I think that the Phyrexians will win for several reasons:
– Infect is a popular mechanic, making the Phyrexian cards more popular for players.
– The storyline seems to show Karn as infected. If he is, what could stop the Phyrexians?
– Phyrexia got more colors in Besieged, but they got somewhat shortchanged on the actual numbers.
Whichever side wins the war, it should at least prove interesting. My vote is Phyrexia, though.
I think the Phyrexians will win. They assimilate the fallen opposition, and with no cure, antidote, or way to get rid of the oil, as well as the Vedalkin’s experimentation with it, this is a very uphill battle for the Mirrans.
Phyrexians will win.
In previous WotC comments, they’ve served as the quintessential bad guys and need a plot device to strengthen their hold in the storyline. They’ve inadvertantly woven too much of their presence into past sets and cannot ill afford to de-escalate their threat.
From a design aspect, this means the next block they design can be fresh but always bring the threat of Phyrexia to another plane to introduce existing game mechanics (infect for instance).
Mirrans will win – Phyrexians have way too strong a mechanical identity now for Wizards to want to design another block about them.
I will argue that Phyrexians are going to win this war.
Aside from their apparent lack of moral, or conscience, and from their virus-like spread, I believe that their real advantage in the war on Mirrodin is that their base is the plane’s core.
As seen on Into the Core (http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=114445&stc=1&d=1295617453), Phyrexians need just open a hole under the plane’s defenders to eliminate them. Those holes can also be used to move troupes faster, thus gaining an edge over the opponent.
Ignoring the set mechanics for a second, from the online comics and the general feel from the flavor text, it feels like heavily that Phyrexia is winning and will win since they’ve already become entrenched within Mirrodin for such a long time that they’re like a tumor that can’t be removed without killing the entire world.
Regarding the planeswalkers, it seems interesting though if they let Phyrexia win since that’ll be another failure Elspeth will have to live through and she’s already shattered from losing her home plane. Of course on the other hand, a shattered Elspeth could lead the story into interesting directions. So yes, my vote’s on Phyrexia.
Phyrexia will win, because they won’t give up. It’s Phyrexia; heartless, cruel, and unstoppable.
(I wish Mirrodin would win, though…)
I think the Phyrexians will win. The sets have so far demonstrated their ability to adapt and integrate their foes into their collective corruption. The one wild card, Karn…lets just say I’d hate to see him turn into a big deux ex machina.
We’ve seen that Phyrexia isn’t entirely united…their adaptations have introduced strife to the mix, as the praetors vie for superiority. I’d like to see that play out over the next few years. Of course, I feel sorry for the Mirran’s…but I haven’t seen anything from their side that convinces me they’re going to pull it out.
Great point about the praetors… that’s a wrinkle that’s only just starting to come to light, and I’m expecting big things ahead for that part of the lore.
Just a few random thoughts:
Who will win will come down to one factor: Karn.
Phyrexia is far from a united power. Karn’s “choice” decides it all. Rise up and unite the factions or by forsaking them cause the Praetors to squabble over who’s in charge. Divide and conquer. Tezzy playing both sides could only help.
Now, there’s another X factor here too. Bolas. I doubt he put all his eggs in his Tezzy basket. It could come back eventually to why did Bolas want the eldrazi loose? With a bolas duel deck coming, I wonder if we’ll get a Bolas 2.0 in the next block.
Thinking about a storyline, the fall of a hero and his eventual salvation is popular. I think they’ll do that with Karn. It may not be in this block.
It will be called New Phyrexia, but I’m betting the Mirrans will win. Mirrodin will be forever changed. Phyrexia won’t be defeated completely. Wizard’ll keep them around.
It seems obvious to me that phyrexia must win. There has already been a whole mirrodin block, now plus Scars, whereas phyrexia has really only been represented by Torment. I think it’s time for some more phyrexia, rather than just further rehashings.
I believe that thenPhyrexians will win. Good villains are hard to find, and Magic needs as many good villains as it can get! I can’t imagine that WotC will want to “return to Mirrodin” for a third go-round, but I think that future Phyrexian shenanigans are in the cards.
I believe that the Mirrans will ultimately win. Elspeth, Koth, Venser, and the angels are coming to the rescue, as Victory’s Herald foreshadows. They will find a way to purge the taint from Karn and defeat Phyrexia once and for all.
Karn will win. He is the creator!
I have a couple thoughts on the current situation between Phyrexia and Mirrodin. I thought perhaps that WotC would determine whether the new set would be Mirrodin Pure or New Phyrexia based on how many players were reported to side with each faction during the pre-release. I mean, if they’re going to produce faction boosters and make players decide, then perhaps it is who the vast multitude of planeswalkers who decide the outcome. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to make it to the pre-release because they changed the times, but I would have picked Mirrodin. I’m an underdog type of guy and Phyrexia always seems like an overhwelming, ever-compleating tide of destruction.
However, I read an article from the “mothership” that mentioned that Phyrexia’s greatest strength and weakness would be its diversity. Phyrexia is now represented in all 5 colors since it can now draw upon all forms of mana in mirrodin. If one drop of Phyrexian oil can respawn an eventual revolution then Phyrexia’s compleation seems inevitable. That being said, being Phyrexian does NOT mean that everything is lost nor that all Phyrexians are evil. Take for instance, Urza’s apprentice, Xantcha, from the Planeswalker novel. She was compleated, but still retained her free will and independence and actually revolted against Phyrexia. Karn, being who he is, could easily influence New Phyrexia in ways that we have never imagined.
For the sake of Planeswalkers across our world, I hope Mirrodin prevails in the apocalypse, but I think they will instead have to adapt to an evolving world where they are the newest face of Phyrexia.
I think the Phyrexians will win. Mirrodin Pure=probably no more Phyrexians. New Phyrexia=Probably some more Mirrans. It would be nice to have some of both groups for the last set. I just can’t see a way that Mirrodin could win at this point…
Phyrexia will win, because wizards have spent more time thinking on a cool name like “new phyrexia” that sounds much better than the crappy “Mirrodin pure”.
Also the normal mirrodin was already visited once, and they aren’t going to revisit it again to show it “normal” again.
So I think that phyrexia will win due to market demands of it winning (also they had lost the first time they got presented and repeating that is bad)
I think that the Mirrans will win (even though the Phyrexians have dominated many of the Prereleases). I feel this way because WotC loves cycles and they have started a cycle in Besieged that, if completed, will point to a Mirran victory. I am refering to the “Hero of…” cycle. So far we have the Hero of Bladehold (in White) and the Hero of Oxid Ridge (in Red). These are the two primarily Mirran colors, so these Heroes could step forward and lead the charge early in the battle, because they already have many Mirrans (in Red and White) fighting for them. The Blue, Black, and Green Heroes would have to rally the Mirran faithful (for the third set in the block).
I would be surprised that if WotC does complete the cycle that any of the “Hero of…” cycle would be Phyrexian or that they would be weak heroes. So I feel that the final three (or four, if there is an artifact hero) will turn the seemingly overwhelming tide and turn away the Phyrexians.
I’d point out that as far as cycles are concerned, Mirrodin has always kind of been a “screw you” plane. Uncompleted cycles off the top of my head are the Locusposts, the swords, and the Towers for a long time–although the towers weren’t actually conceived as a cycle.
It’s entirely possible that the Hero cards you refer to are actually just a mirrored pair, like the Couriers, the Crusaders, and the Black and White Knights. =/
I think that Mirrans will win. Karn is only partially Phyrexian at this point, and I think that he will take advantage of the praetors internal conflict to destroy Phyrexia from the inside. However, Phyrexia won’t be completely gone, and Mirrodin won’t completely free of the oil for a while. Potentially, Karn will sacrifice himself and cause the core to self-destruct, eliminating the head of the Phyrexians, allowing the Mirrans to push Phyrexia back.
So many everywhere say Phyrexia will win that I’m starting to think Wizard figured that would happen when they designed the block, so Mirrans will win. Just watch out for those Mytic Rare Power Rangers in the last set.
I think Mirrans will win out, but we will obviously not see the end of Phyrexia. And I have three reasons for this.
1.) Nomenclature: We have Scars of Mirrodin and Mirrodin Besieged as set names in this block. Mirrodin Pure just fits the pattern better. If they’d called the second set “Mirrodin vs. Phyrexia,” an argument could be made that New Phyrexia fits better.
2.) Flavor: Magic’s stories tends to be about heroes beating villains in the end. Unless they’re planning on doing a multiple-block story, possibly dealing with the planeswalkers, the story reaches a conclusion with Mirrodin Pure.
3.) I lied about there being three reasons. One thing I did want to say, though, is that I doubt the prerelease numbers made any difference at all in the outcome of the story. Wizards made these sets, what, two years ago? They already know who’s winning, unless they made an extra set to not be used.
Designer dude said on twitter a few days ago or something that it’s been said and the players make no difference. I’d quote it exactly but forget what it was.
Check out Gathering Magic’s site for the exact quote.
The end of this block has been preordained. It’s been foreseen. They decided how this chapter will play out long ago in a plane far far away.
I think that WotC is probably gonna release 2 more sets. One where the Phyrexians win, but instead, Venser does his stufff and the Mirrans win instead. Kind of like parallel dimensions.
This whole discussion is what makes this website awesome.
A comment on Morn’s comment number 3. You bring up a valid point, it would probably be very unlikely to have another set made just not to be used. It was the use of faction boosters that made me wonder. As others have said though, it’s probably just to give an added sense of “joining the fight” during the pre-release.
Found the link.
The faction packs are a way to make it more exciting and in a way boost sales. What pack does better or who wins more at the event deck days doesn’t matter to be blunt.
I hate WotC. Those guys have no sense of customer loyalty or even of customer courtesy. Thanks for the clarification, Icehawk.
I call it a lack of common sense. It’s obvious they planned it ahead of time. They know how they want teh story to go, but if you’re going to create this illusion that picking a side matters, keep your mouth shut.
Easy now, fellas, let’s keep this civil! 😀 I too was initially excited at the prospect that player actions would have an impact on the story/set for the third release. L5R used to do this all the time as I understand, with the Clan the year’s champion played gaining some prominent story arc in next year’s set. That sort of interactivity is phenomenal, and there were many who speculated that it might be so with Magic.
MaRo eventually did confirm that there was going to be absolutely zero impact from the player base on the third set, and while disappointing it’s understandable. It takes quite awhile to design and develop a set. Remember that Wizards doesn’t always jump right in to new things- for all we know, this could be a ‘trial balloon’ for other such things to come in the future.
Here’s to hoping!
Oh how funny… when I read this earlier on the dashboard screen, it looked like you were telling Steve to keep his mouth shut. Browsing through it on the nested thread level, thoutgh, it’s obvious you were referring to WotC. Mea culpa!
This long chain of replies and smaller and smaller reply boxes really really play tricks on your eyes!
It’s ok. I know Icehawk better than that.
I understand the frustration behind it, though I think such sentiments are maybe a touch unfair. Like any company, Wizards makes good decisions and bad ones. Check out the podcast at deckconstruct.com to see some of the impacts that the WPN decision has had on the UK Magic scene, it’s truly saddening.
On the other hand, Wizards just sent me a ‘preview package’ with some MBS product last week, which was really validating. The cards were nice, but the fact that this site has ‘arrived’ and recognised as a legitimate fansite to get such a parcel was pretty awesome. There have also been at least two members of the Wizards establishment (that I know of) that have been really encouraging here and been longtime readers (though, of course, never comment 😀 ).
Add to that the fact that high-level Wizards staff are a tweet or email away- and they actually read them- and that has me draw a somewhat different conclusion than you, Steve. I’m sorry you’ve had disappointments and bad experiences!
Aye. They’ve got great customer interactivity. Far less debate about what they’re saying than the last Steve Jobs email saying “Sure.”
Thank you for your insight Ertai. It’s not that I dislike the people who design the game, I think they do a fantastic job. I also LOVE the game of Magic. More so than 15 years ago. There are so many more interesting mechanics and dynamics. I do disagree with some of the decisions they make (i.e. Magic Player Rewards) and how they make them (the unannounced announcement concerning said program). Or, for instance, that tweet by Rosewater. He could have clarified in a polite manner since he knows fans and players are reading. My intent was not to start bashing WotC or Magic. It was the mood of the Tweet that upset me. Enough about that though! I’m loving reading all these opinions about Phyrexia vs. Mirrodin. I rarely see such a discussion on any of the sites! Way to turn a contest into a full-fledged debate on the storyline in Magic. I don’t think anyone is even commenting because of the contest anymore. That’s how Magic should be played, with flavor!
Wow. Look at everything that popped up because I had to remind people that Wizards designs their blocks way ahead of time. I didn’t mean to stir up such a ruckus, but it’s fun to see it play out.
On another note, it’s kind of interesting how this block is bringing out the Vorthos types. Flavor seems to be more relevant to this set than the past ones I’ve played, though admittedly I play infrequently and tend to miss multiple sets at a time.
I think it’s going to be Mirrodin. If you look at the block from a story-telling perspective, for the good guys to “just not get there”, for Karn to not be able to break free of his bondage and continue to lose his mind and for the other planeswalkers to simply become corrupted and everyone to lose then wizards is telling “a really bad story”.
Granted, sometimes bad guys do overpower the good guys – but if the 3rd block is supposed to end with a “clear winner” that wipes out the other, I think it’ll be Mirrans.
At the end of the day, we simply don’t “need” Phyrexia to win. We have other bad guys to keep us entertained.
Either way, it’ll be interesting.
I feel like phyrexia will win. The watermarks will have to be more phryrexian than mirran to make the block draft format work. It’d be weird for them to do that and not have phyrexia be the winner.
Phyrexia Wins.
Not close.
The strongest pieces of evidence I would site are the balance of cards between factions and the corruption of white.
Scars of Mirrodin is stastically approsimately 80/20 in favor of Mirran. Mirroding Besieged is approximately 50/50. In order to make the block feel balanced, the next set needs to be at least 80/20 but since we know it’s a small set, it should probably be more like 90/10. That might make for a terrible Limited format though, so maybe Nicol Bolas is going to send in some reinforcements once Tezzeret gets the downlow on what the Phyrexians are up to. We’ll see.
White symobolizes purity and loyalty. Yet in Mirrodin Besieged there are 2 creatures with Infect, the perfect antithesis of purity. The way I see it, once white is infected (and we know that there’s no cure) then you can pretty much guarantee that the forces of good won’t survive.
In a total head fake Slivers take the day!
Okay, honestly I think Mirran will win, if Bolas takes an interest the battle is far from decided and I think the possibility of him aiding the Mirrans at a cost (gaining a foothold in white) and also ensuring that some phyrexians survive to serve him, heck they’re just darn useful little dodgers, make this too good an opportunity for him to pass up.
Phyrexia is going to win. It simply seems like a natural evolution of the block to go from 80%/ Mirran 20% Phyrexian to 50/50 to 20/80. Then, Phyrexia seemes to be more popular with players. And they got the Colossus, Glissa, and other assorted Mirrans. New Phyrexia seems inevitable.
It’s natural but that just says the state at the start of the each set. It will be New Phyrexia, but that doesn’t mean Phyrexia will win. It just means, to me, that at teh start Phyrexia will be winning. It’s a matter of where Koth and crew are heading and what happens with Karn that may bring a mirran victory or not.
Though, the mirrans won’t be the ones who win it. It’ll be a victory by Phyrexia losing from within basically.
I think Mirrans will win, but some Phyrexian will still be around. For now, Magic has already enough active villains. The Eldrazi are free, and for me they are a much bigger threat that some ‘borgs’. There is Nicol Bolas, an active master villain since Time Spiral block and his puppet Tezzeret.
Phyrexia will still be around but the great part of Mirrodin will remain Mirran. They also got 3 planeswalkers fighting for them (even if they’re not of the omnipotent variety :D)
Doesn’t your reasoning also speak for Phyrexia? If they find a new home plane – which will be the case if they win the war – they are likely to sit back and enjoy their achievement, at least for a while. This, in turn, would give WotC the freedom to elaborate the Eldrazi and Bolas storyline further.
Plus … this option would make the remnants of the Mirrans a desperate group of corrupted and crippled outlaws in search of a new home, thus being a new villain race …
Alright, I’ll be honest here. I don’t know any of the lore/story going on behind the cards and releases, but it would be awesome to win a free intro pack, so…
Phyrexia will win. If only because they’re mean people and are probably rude and are similar to trolls on the internet. And they probably sleep with unicorn stuff toys, but don’t want anyone to know about it.
I just made all that up.
The Mirrans. Phyrexia has claimed a lot of territory (planes) so far and they’re long overdue for a beating. I think the story will take a very desperate turn before Karn finds his spark and helps beat Phyrexia out of Mirrodin.
So, does anyone know what happened to Bolas after he caused the Shards of Alara to collide again? I know he was “cloned” by Ajani, but I don’t know what happened between then and when he released the Eldrazi. Did he ever regain his immortal spark? What book am I missing?
Mirrans win because of the narrative imperative: the Good Guys always win. That’s the rule.
Although in Magic tradition, it’s always a Pyrrhic victory. Seems like nobody can win a war these days without causing an apocalypse of some sort. I blame Urza.
Whoops, hit the wrong Reply button.
Check .
Weren’t all the “original” Mirrans, the leaders and elders of the various groups, sucked back to their own planes or something (I’m looking at you, Raksha Golden Cub)… could they make a surprise comeback and turn the tides against Phyrexia? Some of them even as planeswalkers maybe?
Gameplay-wise, my guess is Phyrexia wins. That Infect mechanic is just plain nasty. I do like the new cards that are built to punish infect-users, though (ie “Burn the Impure,” deal damage to a creature, if it has infect, deal double that to it’s controller). Could it be a sign of more of those effects to come? And could it be evidence of the Mirrans adapting to counter the adaptable? Only the Shadow– Er, WotC knows…
In a real world, Phyrexia. In a world of stories and underdogs and inspiration, Mirran. ‘Nuff said.
Phyrexia, for numerous reasons story-wise. First, the original inhabitants were taken away at the end of the original Mirrodin block leaving only the ones born of the plane to carry on. This point enables the bringing of Venser,a teleportation specialist,to the plane. He will more than likely be used as an instrument to return the current residents to the home planes of their ancestors. Second, Phyrexia hasn’t had much use since Invasion block and they are in need of a new artificial plane to call their own, hence the arrival on Mirrodin. This will likely be the reason for the mark of New Phyrexia. The corruption of Karn is the third reason for this assumption. His creation has turned against him and is siding with the Phyrexians. Phyrexia will rise again to plague the multiverse from a new home plane and from the looks of things be a stronger force than before.
I love the Mirran, I played them at the prerelease, and I hope that they win… but cancer is cancer and unless the plane goes through chemo, or is destroyed for whatever reason, I’m thinking Phyrexia has won this battle.
Of course Im also thinking that Mirriden might get split into a Phyrexian and Mirran plane due to Karn for whatever reasons, that would explain the 2 names for the set. As for Bolas, well if he’s interested in the energy’s formed when planes fuse together, perhaps there be energy when they split apart?
Who will win the war? Isn’t it obvious? Charlie Sheen. Need proof? Can Pherexians survive a 2 day rehabilitation clinic? Charlie Sheen can. He’s been to rehab 14 times since 1995. Imagine the endless nights locked up with Lindsay Lohan; listening to her complain about her twitter account and her “Planet of the Apes” trading card collection. If that doesn’t make you one tough bastard, I don’t know what does.
Still not convinced? Let’s look at his card: Charlie Sheen is a Legendary Human Creature. His stats are 1 / Infinity. (Because Charlie Sheen doesn’t know when to quit.) When tapped, Charlie goes on a week-long bender with some hookers and deals 3 direct party foul puke damage to every other creature on the board. All other creatures must remain tapped the rest of the game as they experience the joys of Quaaludes and late night trips to the local Waffle House. Then, all players must take a shot of scotch each time a player draws a card.
And if that doesn’t convince you, know that Charlie Sheen has complete control over the Artifact “Zombie Patrick Swayze.” Zombie Swayze has the ability to look better than you and steal your girlfriend. You will swear your allegiance to the Sheen/Swayze onslaught or you will surely perish.
Charlie Sheen > Pherexian >= Mirran
New Phyrexia is going to win.
Scars of Mirrodin – 80% Mirran/20% Phyrexian
Mirrodin Besieged – 50% Mirran/50% Phyrexian
New Phyrexia???? – Probably 80% Phyrexian/20% Mirran to balance it all out.
🙂
😦
New Phyrexia will be the 3rd set of the block for SO many reasons. Another commentor already mentioned how balanced the 80:20 Mir:Phy mix in SOM and 50:50 in MBS means that 20:80 in favor of Phyrexia in the last set is inevitable.
Flavorwise, change drives narratives and there would really be nothing exciting about starting and ending the block in the same place. It would basically render the block pointless.
From a design standpoint, WotC has been building up “meta-villians” for the last few blocks now. Meta-villians being multi-block, cross-planar threats to the multiverse. First, Nicol Bolas from the Shards block, then the Eldrazi from the Zendikar block, and now they’ll “reveal” that the Phyrexians as yet another inter-planar villian.
I feel like they are setting up a ton of planeswalkers from these planes for a battle royale against these meta-villians. I’m guessing that a “Planeswalker block” is inevitable. I don’t know how WotC will design it, but they will probably reprint the Power Nine, destroying the game of MTG and causing all of us to quit playing. (j/k)
I believe that the Phyrexians will be posed to win the war, but, then the Eldrazi will swoop in and destroy the whole plane. Or Nicol Bolas will try to be Yawgmoth 2.0
All told I think the Mirran will win the war as they seem to be getting dug in now with the new Battle cry keyword. However, I think that there is a bigger picture than just Mirran vs Phyrexia. I think that its reasonable that the Mirran’s will win but that the Phyrexia, in figuring out how to adapt will somehow capture a device that will allow them to planeswalk to other dimensions thus making them more of a threat in the multiverse.
They didn’t show Venser or whatever developing a planeship or whatever for nothing. This is going somewhere. Then the events of Zen. block. Bolas has a plan too.
I’d bet that if Phyrexia starts to lose, one of those Preators is going to take his forces and run. It may not be a large force, but enough so he can hide say in the core till things calm down or he finds a way off the plane.
Even though the contest is over, some more evidence for Phyrexia to prevail is the MBS logo: Consisting of a combination of the Mirran and Phyrexian watermark, it’s the latter that is positioned on top, thereby overlaying it’s counterpart.
Funny thing- I’ve been pulling for Phyrexia all along, and do hope they win. But credit Wizards for making an increasingly compelling side of the Mirrans- reading the Player’s Guide in the Fat Pack, I actually started to feel some sympathy for them.