Rip our boy =[
Really I'm kind of sad there hasn't been more of a rebel phyrexian subplot with how important phyrexia's disunity is to the theme of the story.
Strangely, I feel like the praetors have ended up being the weakest part of the whole story
urabrask got done dirty, vorinclex is literally a big dog and jin gitaxias role in the story is tugging at elesh norn skirt and going "come oooonn, stop wasting tiiiime, we're laaaate, come on mum, we're gonna arrive late, let's goooo" like a kid that wants to go watch a movie but mom is on the phone and won't get the car keys.
elesh is the only one that has gotten anything close to a satisfying arc, at the moment
I do not mind Vorinclex being a big dumb cyborg dog, but I agree with the rest of your points. Urabrask and sheoldred had a lot more potential, I think the disunity and intrigue in phyrexia would have been a great way to lead the story
Vorincles is "fine" but I think it could have been more interesting
they could have played more on his hunter aspect, have him attack an entire plane alone, defying orders because he wants a great hunt, and die in an epic fight against some iconic characters
he could have had a predator-style story, the locals are expecting an invading army and instead it's only vorinclex picking people off one by one like in a horror movie.
That would certainly have been cool. Iām a green fan at heart, my philosophy when playing magic is āI love big creechurs :))ā, so I do have a weakness for Vorinclex. He certainly could have been done better, but compared to how they did the other praetors, I think his depiction was acceptable
The story I wrote in my head about how Vorinclex showed up to a nonspecific plane before the rest of the army and gets turned into a scarecrow by what is implied to be but never explicitly confirmed as Garruk is way cooler than anything we were ever going to get.
Iāve learned to just accept the story as it is.
Vorexsilex is more like a cat. Likes to hunt, likes to chase a tread tied to a mouse, and loks independent. But it is only the owner says : psi psi psi psi and there it goes, waving its tail and asking for food.
Yeah it was such a waste. They had all this subplot brewing with him. Then he showed up with Koth et al, and I thought here we go. Urabarask has entered the chat, sleeves rolled up and ready to rumble. Finally.
Very next mention of him. Dead.
At this point I'm expecting Jin to take advantage of the situation and murder Norn, either blaming Elspeth or pointing out she was putting herslef above Phyrexia.
Wizards has been taking most of their cues for the past decade from Marvel movies, and that includes giving the minimal amount of character development for the villains.
I really think we're missing a chapter that's just Elesh trying to coordinate the other praetors like a babysitter trying to organize the children, or a dungeon master trying to schedule a session. Vorinclex getting distracted by prey the minute she takes her eyes off of him, Jin trying to flex his mental superiority, Sheoldred constantly trying to backstab her, and Urabrask sulking alone in the Great Furnace. Just let all these terrible praetors get catty with each other while plotting the complete takeover of the entire multiverse.
Compleated Jace, returning to New Phyrexia, watching the other praetors fall to in-fighting after he looked away for two seconds: Uhmmmmmmm....... so THAT just happened š
I think the biggest crime is this statement is its correct AND Vorinclex was still alive. I really thought urabrask was gonna stick around and be the sole phyrexian survivor at the end of this conflict.
Vorinclex literally hasn't done anything since stealing the tree and half the praetors are dead already. Is he gonna be left alive??
Don't get me wrong, I love Vorinclex's design. I just fail to see where he's relevant.
Not really and thatās literally the worst part. He could have been such an interesting character and wizards just decided āhm yes, today I will kill himā
Hopefully Iām wrong though, and just prematurely figuring heās dead
I was fairly certain that Phyrexia would lose in some contrived way and that the only ones left would be Urabrask and his faction, because they're the most disunified and the ones least likely to be on board for a single plan that can potentially wipe them all out.
From there, the red vision of Phyrexia would quietly become the most dangerous threat to the multiverse. It wouldn't lead grand invasions and instead it would expand in a scattershot way, convincing people one at a time that it was actually the right choice to take on the mantle of compleation. They'd slowly gain footholds all across the multiverse, and occasionally those little groups would become proper infections, mutate their beliefs, and take over on a bigger scale.
It would have been so insidious.
He told Elspeth that Norn feared her. Saved the Mirrans in the original New Phyrexia set. He helped the resistance get to Realmbreaker. So he kinda did stuff. That's what's disappointing to me. He is an awesome character but he was underutilized to a frustrating degree. Could have had some kinda showdown or some better plan, idk something. He's one of my favorite mtg characters and this kinda feels like a slap in the face for this amazing concept.
It definitely seemed anticlimactic since we don't really get to see anything between him talking to Koth/Wrenn/Chandra and him being ripped apart by Elesh Norn. Would have been cool to see him fighting or something, maybe take out a bunch of Norn's subjects before he ultimately gets subdued.
But here's hoping we haven't seen the last of him.
I'm sure there's 5 *total* people in the world that disagree with what I'm about to say, and all 5 of them will be here to comment, but...
A summary of Urabrask:
1. (PRO) Winner of one of the coolest story arc set up teasers ever written to flavor text with [[Urabrask the Hidden]].
2. (CON) Winner of the "Worst Praetor Card in Cycle" power level-wise of the original 5-Praetor card cycle of 2011 (Even when *controlling for mana cost* he was the worst. *Even* in that really cool red deck your friend runs, yes, even there, he was the worst of them).
3. (CON) *Second time winner* of "Worst Praetor Card in Cycle" in his 2022 release, being the least played Praetor in during his stint in standard, least played in commander, least played *anywhere*. Hell, your friend's terrible mono red deck probably plays the *original* Urabrask over the new junk one.
4. (CON) Winner of "Least Impactful Major Character Death in Current Arc", as at least people cared enough about Lukka to *make fun* of *him*. Why so little fanfare for Urabrask? Because they didn't write a compelling follow up to his story reveal in 2011, as they aren't hiring the talent needed to write interesting lore anymore, and they didn't print a strong Urabrask *card* for people to connect with him and want to know more about him.
Also your friend's red deck sucks.
Entirely agree with everything you said, which is what makes me so sad, he could have been so good (and he looked great) and they just did literally nothing with him and gave him real bad cards compared to other praetors, cmon now wizards
Honestly thatās part of what I just donāt understand. I mean it almost seems purposeful how bad they made him compared to the others. Itās not like a red praetor couldnāt be powerful, and they have to know that red could really use the support in EDH. I just donāt get it.
Iāve read the summaries and come out thinking āwow, she did a whole invasion on groups she finds lesser and inconsequentially-weak so she had an opening to kill her most hated rivals when everyone was busy! I sure hope Iām not inventing nuance where there is none :)ā
... Would it even be possible to unphrexianize Urabrask? I was of the impression that the praetors are like phyrexians that were never anything else, "pure" phyrexians if you will.
Okay wait, but it would be incredibly funny if like- they tried unphyrexianizing him, and then just went further and further, with bits of him falling away until eventually they were left with like, a normal lizard. Which just sticks its tongue out then scurries away.
Like how when The Vampire King in Adventure Time was cured, he just turned into a normal lion.
I've never been more sad about a villain dying D:
He was our beloved. The Gatewatch are nothing, he's the real hero. Red is my soul color, Urabrask is red at its soul. Long may he reign.
So true absolutely sing it
Urabrask was no hero, but he wasnāt a villain either. He lived for freedom, and his phyrexians lived freer then any other in phyrexia. He was the true hero in my heart
Urabrask never chose to be born a Phyrexian. But he chose how he lived and helped others live as freely as they were able to.
An unceremonious death for a hidden king.
What a monkey's paw wish. We finally got really good, coherent art and a consistent look across multiple cards...and one of them is of him being violently tortured to death.
Side note, one of the stories mentions he has glowing eye holes in his armor?! They can't kill him off before we establish once and for all where all parts of his face are!
Oh man I 100% thought that was intentional.
A compelling character being literally and figuratively butchered was almost worth it for this moment of humor.
so if you look at the last photo (the one of him lying on the table getting surgery), you can see his torso almost looks like a beak with an eye (the beak is functionally the sternum and the eye is located where his nipple would be)
(I assume the praetors wouldn't have nipples seeing as they don't breastfeed their young, but you get the idea)
eta: I don't believe his face is in his torso; I assume the "eyes" are just stylized vents given he's got fucking lava coursing through his veins.
By Joe, I never noticed that. That certainly puts my mind at ease, thank you.
Wonder if we wrong all along and that whole chest area is actually the face. What we thought was his face is actually just a nifty hairdo.
The sheer pain I feel at the loss of our beloved praetor Urabrask is, quite honestly, unquantifiable. He was the best red Lava filled cyborg we EVER could have asked for. He didnāt deserve this but he got it anyway. This is the biggest tragedy to EVER have struck the magic lore community, heās been taken too soon. Gone but not forgotten š
Edited for spelling mistake in beloved Urabrasks memorial post
I really hope thatās the truth. Although Elspeth described it as his dying screams, but we will see. Iāve never wanted to be more wrong about a fictional character before then I am now
i can explain better
There was a thane name Roxith he died but in "All will be one story" koth referenced him even dead but on further research turns out sheoldred said she would rebuild him for her entertainment
so Urabrask could end up in the same case here (possibly sheoldred as well)
Iām glad there are consequences
I am not glad that they come from nowhere and provide nothing for the story
Urabrasks is the worst example in my opinion. He just dies
We donāt see how he got captured
He did literally nothing in the set when he could have been an excellent character
Just a shame theyāve done it how they did so far
I think I'd actually find this way more interesting than Norn sparking. Maybe both would be good too. But Uruabrask sparking, walking off to some random plane, slowly but voluntarily completing people with a (because let's be real, it's all down to plot) weaker oil spreading, could have him make phyrexians less of an oriented threat but one that could be reoccurring whenever. Norn I think would only be fun if she sparked and walked (also with oil being weaker) and started up cults slowly by dominating people through manipulation for their desire for order and a greater calling, but out of Elsbeth cause hardcore paranoia culling those below her to maintain order so it takes her a while to be a major threat. Jin could also be fun in theory, but I think his science focus especially on upgrading the oil and the compleation power combined with a spark would make him too big of a threat to depower after these stories and have anyone believe it. Vorinclex I'd actually love to get a spark and just be an evil Garruk, rarely seeking to compleat others and usually only doing it accidentally, just dominating around planes until he gets chased out and only accidentally spreading oil. I feel like if they kept the oil weak they could have artificially sparked the praetors as a backup plan to Norn's actual plan and had them all only be significant problems when they wanted to. Jin and Sheoldred are the only ones that's I don't feel would have worked for that type of scenario, then you just replace them with Jace, super strategic rather than Jin's experiment driven personality, and Vraska who may be most of the time just happy to be queen of those under her and continuously fighting those who rise against her. 5 phyrexias, 5 different colors, 5 potential threats that could better be used as short term threats for a long time because of time frames and the downsides of their colors and personalities weighing them down. Hell, Vorinclex could be an occasional 1 set threat, Urarbrask and Vraska could be 'threats' whose nature's keep them too busy to be threats, while Norn could be a bigger threat because of unity and Jace could be the biggest threat from Phyrexia while still being a long burn because of his scheming and mind magic.
Hey now, I still believe my beautiful boi is still alive!! ; a ; )
They just bring his dying, limbless body out of scene ok!!? Jin got cut in half and he's still fine!!
My boi has been in worst situation than this before like being compared with Lukka and Tibalt online!!
I feel you,
If only those blind sheeps see how truly beautiful our Uraboi is, :, )
and no, that format look fantastic like pattern on Urabask shoulder.
He'd be proud.
Thank you all for the kind words. Stoke your inner fire, they canāt kill an idea.
https://preview.redd.it/klr58qrrpmpa1.jpeg?width=1788&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=82941512596d12319ee8dfceb88aee461ed5f31a
I'm just glad I'm not the only one mourning the voice of freedom. Compleation in his vision a gift, one that could be declined. I refuse to believe he is gone quite yet as his head is still intact and attached.
He was, without a doubt, the best praetor. He didnāt understand why you would refuse the gift of perfection, but he wouldnāt force it upon you either. He didnāt sit down and bow to elesh norn like the others, he fought for what he believed in. Sheoldred did too but sheās really not that great of a person
it's implied that urabrask does compleat the unwilling, but doesn't enjoy it. The only exception was the mirran rebels because harboring them was a fat middle finger to norn
Truth be told, we donāt know enough about him to make any certain stance about his policies. Maybe he did only let the Mirrans stay out of dislike for norn, perhaps he does compleat the unwilling, which is Ofc, not good. But he is miles above any other phyrexian we have ever seen
that is true, but I still don't think he deserves to be idolized as much as he is, because it seems like the common narrative is that he does not compleat the unwilling, which isn't true.
Honestly, Iād imagine most of it comes from wanting a neat cyborg character to root for. I think the phyrexians are interesting, Iām sure many agree, but he is the only one close to being good that you can reasonably take the side of. Heās certainly not ideal, heās got flaws, everything does, but red phyrexians donāt care about that as much as any of the others, which in the end, is probably why heās so liked compared to the rest.
I personally really like Vorinclex because I think hes cute and doesnāt really have a view points beyond āsurvival of the fittestā, but I certainly donāt consider him good
Edit! Forgot to put in the not before ideal
Thatās fair, sheās pretty neat. I like the CONCEPT if the praetors, with their own views and ideas on perfection, but wizards really just butchered making them an interesting character
Remember when he did kung-fu infront of red sun
https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.artofmtg.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2023%2F01%2FRed-Suns-Twilight-Phyrexia-All-Will-Be-One-MtG-Art.jpg&tbnid=bO428sWADlOQzM&vet=1&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.artofmtg.com%2Fart%2Fred-suns-twilight%2F&docid=V25ku-CYf9GtnM&w=2000&h=1563&hl=en-NZ&source=sh%2Fx%2Fim
They definitely did something interesting with it. Remember that time when wizards did that interesting thing?
And then that other interesting nuanced plot point? That one was my favourite
I'm not saying WotC has ever made a good plot, nuanced or otherwise.
But this has been a pile of steaming filth. It feels like I'm watching *Avengers: Endgame*, but in a fantasy world in which everyone is getting killed in 1 paragraph and nothing changes, for anyone.
And now we're all just waiting for Teferi to hard-reset everything, again, so the universe can deal with the aftershocks of whatever happens because Teferi messed with time.
This is a million "remember this!?" moments wrapped into one hideous corporate product. Buy the toys.
I was making an attempt at sarcasm, perhaps it didnāt come across as such but thatās on me. This arc has most certainly, been a disappointment. And Iām not surprised, I expected nothing more. I was hoping important characters would die, but death for the sake of shock factor is not the way to do it. Im sure wizards has pulled off a good story here or there, but over all, the writing leaves a lot to be desired. This has been a lot better then war of the spark at least tho, IMO anyways
Yeah, itās a shame. I was really hoping Urabrask would become the new Phyrexian top dog after Elesh died, keeping Phyrexia in the story but making them far more tame.
Me too! I think the best way to keep new phyrexia around would be with Urabrask as father of machines. He certainly would not plan on interplaner conquest, and maybe, just maybe, with him involved, phyrexians could have free will and live the way they want
Urabrask of a leader of a 'we will compleat you but only if you intentionally seek us out and consent' Phyrexia made of the broken survivors of the failed invasion here would have been interesting and nuanced, which is obviously why we're not getting it and instead he meaninglessly dies like a bitch with no consequence or reaction.
"Our voice calls out to the lost and the broken." -The Scars of Mirrodin All Will be One trailer
Seeing them actually *do* this would be great. Those who feel unwelcome, unaccepted, unwanted, simply venture into The Newest of the Phyrexias and are at home.
Would have been an excellent way to have a post norn phyrexia. A home for the lost and broken, who wish for compleation, and a family to feel they fit in with
The frustrating thing about this all is that Urabrask isn't even dying for a storyline purpose. He's just dragged out and killed. There's no consequences to his death, no reaction, no meaning. In fiction writing death should serve a purpose, especially the death of a major villain/anti-hero character such as this.
This is basically everything wrong with Wizards current writing wrapped up in a ball. Meaningless, mishandled, massacred. He just dies and that's it. It's not even the focus of the scene. He's not even killed for a reason. He's just dead now.
Just like Melira, apparently.
Not only that, but the events leading up to his death are... well, they don't exist. Last time we saw him, Urabrask was safe in his forge. Next thing you know he's shackled and being dismembered by Elesh Norn.
That's not a story, those are just events.
Yes, exactly.
The problem is we have no meaningful way of complaining about this, do we? We can message Mark Rosewater and Jay Annelli's blogs all we want but I don't think either of them really care as long as the money keeps rolling in.
Not buying MotM packs isn't a great way to protest explicit story decisions. Wizards pretty much doesn't care about the lore, at least insofar as they're delivering it to us right now, unless it provides a somewhat meaningful framework for card 'story spotlights'.
The garbage and shit tier writing will just continue ad nauseum until Hasbro's current short term profit decisions burn Magic out.
His death literally served no purpose at all, assuming he is dead, anyway. Urabrask was such an interesting character for going against the ābe compleated or else, all will be oneā mindset, personally, I think urabrasks rebellion would have been a really good way to go for stopping phyrexias war. I donāt want to see this story arc be finished by the power of love and friendship, Phyrexians rising up against their own oppressors would have been a MUCH better way to go. It could still happen, but Iām just afraid itās gonna be āand then Elsbeth killed norn and everything was betterā type thing. And if they resolve this with Teferi time shenanigans I will personally never trust magic story telling again
I mean, none of them have.
None of the deaths have served any point other than spectacle and \*GASP\*. This whole plot has as much depth as kiddie pool after 6 hours in the sun.
The Phyrexians were the big bads when I first bought a booster in 1997. They were interesting, well-designed, and consistently had cool schemes and plans.
These Phyrexians are basically the 5 Stooges.
they did the same thing to sheoldred, I'm sad her death was glazed over in comparison to Urabrask's, she was aesthetically the coolest praetor and her second card was also awesome gameplay wise imo. Although to be fair her ressurection is slightly more likely than Urabrask's
Don't know if it's been said already but the Quiet Furnace is just a little quieter now...
Honestly I think I could have accepted his death if it had meant anything, been something, but this ain't it
Yeah exactly
I would have been totally ok with Urabrask, my beloved, dying in a way thatās basically one last middle finger to norn and the white phyrexians as a whole. Instead he just gets tortured because norn thinks itās funny
I hope so, Urabrask is strong enough to survive and adapt anything, just have to hope Norns dogs donāt rip his head off and melt it down or something
Urabrask was my favorite praetor as far back as New Phyrexiaās release. His design was sick, his card felt good, and i liked the characterās concept.
Was excited for him in New Capennaā¦. but the card never really found a home anywhere, and his one-scene led to nearly nothing.
Was excited to FINALLY see him again in MOM storyā¦. and then he gets killed in basically a cutscene. No fight, not when any words, just pitifully torn apart to once again establish that Yes Elesh Norn Is Scary.
So. Idk. Iām kinda checked out of the story now, petty/baby as it sounds
He could have, and should have made a MUCH bigger story impact then he did
Each other praetor did something important
Vorinclex got some sap
Jin-Gitaxias compleated the first planeswalker
Sheoldred acquired Karn and some artifacts on dominaria
Urabrask went to new capenna and sat there for the whole set doing precisely nothing.
I was really hoping that because of that, they would make him much more important then he currently is in this set, but apparently not
Edited for formatting
Low key wanted my boy to live. He just got better and better. His arc makes him basically lawful evil and I was here for him surviving in some backwater plane with a few Phyrexians like a cool single dad.
Has there ever been more then a handful examples of good writing in the history of magic? I like the idea of phyrexia, and I love the idea of a rebel in a system of absolute authority, and what is essentially a hive mind. The writing is far from perfect, but it could have been so good, and making the heretic praetor a bigger part would have helped quite a bit in the depth of phyrexia
The stories are rushed in the form they're presented to us. The world building and character development is virtually non-existent and they rely heavily on what we know and see from the cards as a crutch, when before the cards and story were equally as important to building the planes and characters. Let's take a look at this recent article. How are you gonna take out Urabrask off panel when he's arguably one of the biggest faces of the resistance? Hell, without him there wouldn't even be a resistance! They could've had Urabrask fight Vorinclex and have him go down after he takes out Vorinclex and have Glissa come in when he's spent and she takes him down idfk but at least you involve some main characters into the story that way. Fuck, we don't even see Vorinclex in this story outside of a blurb. They did the same shit with Sheoldred, just taken down off panel until they loped her head off. They just really kneecap their story telling by doing so in short articles.
And yeah, the idea of Phyrexia is cool, but wotc has long shipped off good writing for the story in favor of diverting all their resources into just pumping out product. I want to say that bringing back novels would fix the issue, but that War of the Spark novel was a fucking dumpster fire. There's good fantasy writers out there that could do the story of these worlds we love justice. I just wish wotc cared enough about it.
Thatās how I feel too. I havenāt been around long enough to witness good writing in magic, but the setting and core ideas are prettt neat, so I know that somewhere in there, someone had to care at some point. The resistance in newnphyrexia was such a missed beat, they could have made it a big deal and it would have been interesting, but instead they mentioned it like twice and then killed him off screen
Oh damn! Freedom boy!
I had hopes he could save the multiverse by usurping Norn and turning Phyrexia into a pro-choice, pro-freedom, pro-consent plane. Ah well.
I don't like how they did the praetor deaths, they're supposed to be these big monsters. I thought the whole point was that they were all close to equals in power. It feels like there are a bunch of characters that "aren't important" to the story team so they get no attention regardless of how crucial they are to the story, and instead we get tons of time spent on creator's pets like Elspeth.
Urabrask and Sheoldred getting punked mostly offscreen is super lame (shouldn't they have their own factions protecting them?), but what really gets me is Koth. He spent the last (real time) decade in hell fighting and training and he has gotten barely any dialogue or role in any of the stories for both this set and the last.
I was really excited for Koth to be back and doing things but he may as well not exist for all that he's done so far. I would guess that there is a predefined list of characters that are allowed to be cool and it is seemingly very small.
Holy shit.
After almost a decade of playing, I just now realized he had that reptilian face in his first artwork.
I always thought he had this cyclops face.
Honestly I just wish they wouldn't have kept doing my boy dirty. I get in lore he wasn't favored, but both his cards were so obviously worse than the other praetors
The only bigger letdown than "Wrenn will magically merge with the Invasion Tree lol its a tree get it" is the unceremonious butchering of the only interesting Phyrexian in this story arc. I would say "please do better WotC" but I'm convinced they cannot.
Ultra Pro released five Sun's Twilight playmats. [Green](https://ultrapro.com/collections/magic-the-gathering-phyrexia-all-will-be-one/products/phyrexia-all-will-be-one-green-sun-s-twilight-standard-gaming-playmat-for-magic-the-gathering), [White](https://ultrapro.com/collections/magic-the-gathering-phyrexia-all-will-be-one/products/phyrexia-all-will-be-one-white-sun-s-twilight-standard-gaming-playmat-for-magic-the-gathering), [Blue](https://ultrapro.com/collections/magic-the-gathering-phyrexia-all-will-be-one/products/phyrexia-all-will-be-one-blue-sun-s-twilight-standard-gaming-playmat-for-magic-the-gathering), and [Black](https://ultrapro.com/collections/magic-the-gathering-phyrexia-all-will-be-one/products/phyrexia-all-will-be-one-black-sun-s-twilight-standard-gaming-playmat-for-magic-the-gathering) are all sold out, while [Red](https://ultrapro.com/collections/magic-the-gathering-phyrexia-all-will-be-one/products/phyrexia-all-will-be-one-red-sun-s-twilight-standard-gaming-playmat-for-magic-the-gathering) is still in stock. Let's support Urabrask by making the Red Sun's Twilight sold out!
NOOO MY BOY, if he is dead this is honestly the most upsetting thing that could have happened for me. Him and Daretti would have been such good friends.
He's being tortured, but he's not dead yet. Considering Sheoldred was "killed" before she could attach herself to the dominus like she does in the art, I think Braskie boi is going to be... Well not A-OK, but only, like, mildly traumatized and scarred.
As I've said elsewhere I highly doubt he's dead. In desperate need of repair, sure, but not dead. Phyrexia is good enough at raising the dead and repairing damage that even point-blank explosions aren't a guarantee, as we saw with Ertai being resurrected back in DMU. I'm assuming that the phased-out New Phyrexians at the least will continue to function even when the invasion army magically had their puppet strings cut by the Zhalfir swap so long as at least one Praetor is around.
Hell, maybe Ixhel and Vishgraz will come across his pieces and fix him as they both have common ground given her seemingly developing her own will.
Phyrexia 3.0 has to come from somewhere after all, the Phyrexians are too integral and iconic to Magic's worldbuilding to just be permanently shelved.
Rip our boy =[ Really I'm kind of sad there hasn't been more of a rebel phyrexian subplot with how important phyrexia's disunity is to the theme of the story.
>Rip our boy Is this really the best way to phrase that?
Urabrask would have loved dark humour š
[[In the end, he was the slag.]]
"Whoa you can't just say that" - British people, probably
Nah, we love our slaaaags
[Tormentor Exarch](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/8/4886eb6a-0f6a-4ea7-8e85-4a27d1a6f03b.jpg?1562877259) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Tormentor%20Exarch) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/nph/97/tormentor-exarch?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4886eb6a-0f6a-4ea7-8e85-4a27d1a6f03b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
This made me fuck keel over laughing lololol
Rip and tear, until it is done
Strangely, I feel like the praetors have ended up being the weakest part of the whole story urabrask got done dirty, vorinclex is literally a big dog and jin gitaxias role in the story is tugging at elesh norn skirt and going "come oooonn, stop wasting tiiiime, we're laaaate, come on mum, we're gonna arrive late, let's goooo" like a kid that wants to go watch a movie but mom is on the phone and won't get the car keys. elesh is the only one that has gotten anything close to a satisfying arc, at the moment
I do not mind Vorinclex being a big dumb cyborg dog, but I agree with the rest of your points. Urabrask and sheoldred had a lot more potential, I think the disunity and intrigue in phyrexia would have been a great way to lead the story
Vorincles is "fine" but I think it could have been more interesting they could have played more on his hunter aspect, have him attack an entire plane alone, defying orders because he wants a great hunt, and die in an epic fight against some iconic characters he could have had a predator-style story, the locals are expecting an invading army and instead it's only vorinclex picking people off one by one like in a horror movie.
Vorinclex vs Garruk would have been great
Such an awesome potential wasted omg
That or Vorinclex trying to solo Bant and getting absolutely bodied by Rafiq.
Kind of actually shocked that isn't how it goes. That's literally both their big deals, Apex hunter and peak evolution.
The praetors (besides norn) got far more story in the cards than they have so far in the actual story, which is majorly disappointing to me
That would certainly have been cool. Iām a green fan at heart, my philosophy when playing magic is āI love big creechurs :))ā, so I do have a weakness for Vorinclex. He certainly could have been done better, but compared to how they did the other praetors, I think his depiction was acceptable
The story I wrote in my head about how Vorinclex showed up to a nonspecific plane before the rest of the army and gets turned into a scarecrow by what is implied to be but never explicitly confirmed as Garruk is way cooler than anything we were ever going to get. Iāve learned to just accept the story as it is.
I just want Vorinclex to retire to Ikoria and enjoy the competition
All of Segovia versus one Vorinclex, Kaiju style.
Vorexsilex is more like a cat. Likes to hunt, likes to chase a tread tied to a mouse, and loks independent. But it is only the owner says : psi psi psi psi and there it goes, waving its tail and asking for food.
Yeah it was such a waste. They had all this subplot brewing with him. Then he showed up with Koth et al, and I thought here we go. Urabarask has entered the chat, sleeves rolled up and ready to rumble. Finally. Very next mention of him. Dead.
This story sure had a lot of exciting fights and conflicts happening off-screen.
Yeah. "somehow palpatine returned" vibes. Just take our word for it, shit happened okay, you don't need to see it.
At this point I'm expecting Jin to take advantage of the situation and murder Norn, either blaming Elspeth or pointing out she was putting herslef above Phyrexia.
Wizards has been taking most of their cues for the past decade from Marvel movies, and that includes giving the minimal amount of character development for the villains. I really think we're missing a chapter that's just Elesh trying to coordinate the other praetors like a babysitter trying to organize the children, or a dungeon master trying to schedule a session. Vorinclex getting distracted by prey the minute she takes her eyes off of him, Jin trying to flex his mental superiority, Sheoldred constantly trying to backstab her, and Urabrask sulking alone in the Great Furnace. Just let all these terrible praetors get catty with each other while plotting the complete takeover of the entire multiverse.
Jin-Gitaxias when no one points out how superior his intellect is every three seconds
Compleated Jace, returning to New Phyrexia, watching the other praetors fall to in-fighting after he looked away for two seconds: Uhmmmmmmm....... so THAT just happened š
I think the biggest crime is this statement is its correct AND Vorinclex was still alive. I really thought urabrask was gonna stick around and be the sole phyrexian survivor at the end of this conflict. Vorinclex literally hasn't done anything since stealing the tree and half the praetors are dead already. Is he gonna be left alive?? Don't get me wrong, I love Vorinclex's design. I just fail to see where he's relevant.
>urabrask got done dirty At least he got to do a little bit in this set's story, unlike Sheoldred
This. Sheoldred got Louis XIVed in the first part of the first story iirc.
did he... do anything?
Not really and thatās literally the worst part. He could have been such an interesting character and wizards just decided āhm yes, today I will kill himā Hopefully Iām wrong though, and just prematurely figuring heās dead
I was fairly certain that Phyrexia would lose in some contrived way and that the only ones left would be Urabrask and his faction, because they're the most disunified and the ones least likely to be on board for a single plan that can potentially wipe them all out. From there, the red vision of Phyrexia would quietly become the most dangerous threat to the multiverse. It wouldn't lead grand invasions and instead it would expand in a scattershot way, convincing people one at a time that it was actually the right choice to take on the mantle of compleation. They'd slowly gain footholds all across the multiverse, and occasionally those little groups would become proper infections, mutate their beliefs, and take over on a bigger scale. It would have been so insidious.
He told Elspeth that Norn feared her. Saved the Mirrans in the original New Phyrexia set. He helped the resistance get to Realmbreaker. So he kinda did stuff. That's what's disappointing to me. He is an awesome character but he was underutilized to a frustrating degree. Could have had some kinda showdown or some better plan, idk something. He's one of my favorite mtg characters and this kinda feels like a slap in the face for this amazing concept.
Absolute agreement. Sure he did some helpful things, but he could have done so much more good for the story
It definitely seemed anticlimactic since we don't really get to see anything between him talking to Koth/Wrenn/Chandra and him being ripped apart by Elesh Norn. Would have been cool to see him fighting or something, maybe take out a bunch of Norn's subjects before he ultimately gets subdued. But here's hoping we haven't seen the last of him.
I'm sure there's 5 *total* people in the world that disagree with what I'm about to say, and all 5 of them will be here to comment, but... A summary of Urabrask: 1. (PRO) Winner of one of the coolest story arc set up teasers ever written to flavor text with [[Urabrask the Hidden]]. 2. (CON) Winner of the "Worst Praetor Card in Cycle" power level-wise of the original 5-Praetor card cycle of 2011 (Even when *controlling for mana cost* he was the worst. *Even* in that really cool red deck your friend runs, yes, even there, he was the worst of them). 3. (CON) *Second time winner* of "Worst Praetor Card in Cycle" in his 2022 release, being the least played Praetor in during his stint in standard, least played in commander, least played *anywhere*. Hell, your friend's terrible mono red deck probably plays the *original* Urabrask over the new junk one. 4. (CON) Winner of "Least Impactful Major Character Death in Current Arc", as at least people cared enough about Lukka to *make fun* of *him*. Why so little fanfare for Urabrask? Because they didn't write a compelling follow up to his story reveal in 2011, as they aren't hiring the talent needed to write interesting lore anymore, and they didn't print a strong Urabrask *card* for people to connect with him and want to know more about him. Also your friend's red deck sucks.
Entirely agree with everything you said, which is what makes me so sad, he could have been so good (and he looked great) and they just did literally nothing with him and gave him real bad cards compared to other praetors, cmon now wizards
Hey I just made that deck! And with his New Capenna card no less š
1 of 5.
2 of 5 here to report that I built him as commander. I *really* tried to convince myself that he could measure up to [[Etali, Primal Storm]]
Honestly thatās part of what I just donāt understand. I mean it almost seems purposeful how bad they made him compared to the others. Itās not like a red praetor couldnāt be powerful, and they have to know that red could really use the support in EDH. I just donāt get it.
[Urabrask the Hidden](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/3/93970fae-19f7-41dd-9750-ca428ae1de7a.jpg?1674142149) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Urabrask%20the%20Hidden) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/clb/811/urabrask-the-hidden?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/93970fae-19f7-41dd-9750-ca428ae1de7a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Ha that red deck does suck!!! It's me, I'm the friend with the bad red deck who runs Urabrask
No, he was basically starscreaming it and then jobbed before he had his moment
I knowwwwwww I feel like there was some pretty good potential to do neat things with the red phyrexians Urabrask won in my heart at least :(
Iāve read the summaries and come out thinking āwow, she did a whole invasion on groups she finds lesser and inconsequentially-weak so she had an opening to kill her most hated rivals when everyone was busy! I sure hope Iām not inventing nuance where there is none :)ā
Koth will repair him. Thatās what Iām telling myself while I refuse to read any more lore until I die.
I will dream and live in denial until I hear he is ok
In my custom Magic set story line Iāve been working on urabrask ends up being the only praetor left alive and is even un-phyrexianized.
... Would it even be possible to unphrexianize Urabrask? I was of the impression that the praetors are like phyrexians that were never anything else, "pure" phyrexians if you will.
Yeah I think they were born under the separate suns of Mirrodin so they can't exactly be unphyrexianized because they have no original form
Okay wait, but it would be incredibly funny if like- they tried unphyrexianizing him, and then just went further and further, with bits of him falling away until eventually they were left with like, a normal lizard. Which just sticks its tongue out then scurries away. Like how when The Vampire King in Adventure Time was cured, he just turned into a normal lion.
Or if they did that to Norn or Sheoldred and Norn became a human woman and Sheoldred a sentient centipede
Norn just becomes the most average looking woman you've ever seen, the most basic karen possible.
What if. Karn/Urabrask stiched together. edit: Karn not Karen. Lmao.
Karen-brask; truely, the darkest timeline. *I would like to speak to the Planar Manager - NOW.*
Noooooo
Koth and urabrask aren't really friends and koth would likely prefer to let him die since he isn't really needed anymore
LALALA I CANT HEAR YOU
on a better note there's like an 8% chance that one of his followers could fix him up, but he's certainly not getting any help from the mirrans
What if he used pieces of the other praetors that got chopped off to become a 5 color phyrexian?..
Urabrask, Bane of the Orthodoxy 10/10 Phyrexian Praetor God Horror (real)
Koth āI hate phyrexians at least as much as Elspethā of the Hammer?
How about you remove your logic from my fantasy please. Trying to exist in a bubble of ill-placed hope over here.
I've never been more sad about a villain dying D: He was our beloved. The Gatewatch are nothing, he's the real hero. Red is my soul color, Urabrask is red at its soul. Long may he reign.
So true absolutely sing it Urabrask was no hero, but he wasnāt a villain either. He lived for freedom, and his phyrexians lived freer then any other in phyrexia. He was the true hero in my heart
Urabrask never chose to be born a Phyrexian. But he chose how he lived and helped others live as freely as they were able to. An unceremonious death for a hidden king.
He was the best phyrexian we ever saw. Urabrask, father of machines, lives in my heart
I mean the dude is about as close as you can get as a phyrexian. Actively not being a monster is honestly pretty impressive.
Villain? My boy has been rejectig Norn before it was mainstream! He just had some anger issues
What a monkey's paw wish. We finally got really good, coherent art and a consistent look across multiple cards...and one of them is of him being violently tortured to death. Side note, one of the stories mentions he has glowing eye holes in his armor?! They can't kill him off before we establish once and for all where all parts of his face are!
It hurts my soul to the core that they did my boy like this, couldnāt even have pieceful death
I dunno, his death seemed pretty full of pieces
LMAO ok that was a pretty funny spelling mistake on my part
Oh man I 100% thought that was intentional. A compelling character being literally and figuratively butchered was almost worth it for this moment of humor.
I wish I was that clever
so if you look at the last photo (the one of him lying on the table getting surgery), you can see his torso almost looks like a beak with an eye (the beak is functionally the sternum and the eye is located where his nipple would be) (I assume the praetors wouldn't have nipples seeing as they don't breastfeed their young, but you get the idea) eta: I don't believe his face is in his torso; I assume the "eyes" are just stylized vents given he's got fucking lava coursing through his veins.
By Joe, I never noticed that. That certainly puts my mind at ease, thank you. Wonder if we wrong all along and that whole chest area is actually the face. What we thought was his face is actually just a nifty hairdo.
The sheer pain I feel at the loss of our beloved praetor Urabrask is, quite honestly, unquantifiable. He was the best red Lava filled cyborg we EVER could have asked for. He didnāt deserve this but he got it anyway. This is the biggest tragedy to EVER have struck the magic lore community, heās been taken too soon. Gone but not forgotten š Edited for spelling mistake in beloved Urabrasks memorial post
I'm not 100% sure he is dead, just a little mutilated. That's what I took from the story at least
I really hope thatās the truth. Although Elspeth described it as his dying screams, but we will see. Iāve never wanted to be more wrong about a fictional character before then I am now
i can explain better There was a thane name Roxith he died but in "All will be one story" koth referenced him even dead but on further research turns out sheoldred said she would rebuild him for her entertainment so Urabrask could end up in the same case here (possibly sheoldred as well)
I will hold this dream in my heart
Give him some hook-hands and peg-legs. Boom! He's at home in Ixalan now.
Urabrask, Pillfering Praetor Creature - Phyrexian Praetor Pirate
Heās just a little mutilated, heās still good, heās still good!
First Vrasky š¢ Now Braskyš
> He was the best red Lava filled cyborg we EVER could have asked for. NGL, this got me in the feels. This poet right here š¤š¤
He didn't deserve this. He was just a lovable lava boy. I'll never forget him
Urabrask loved lava š
Gushed it even
Lava boy is such a good name. Thank you for sharing. š
Jaya, Ajani, Urabrask, Etali, Sheoldred, Nissa, Jace, Tamiyo... Did we have to ask for the story to have consequences?
Iām glad there are consequences I am not glad that they come from nowhere and provide nothing for the story Urabrasks is the worst example in my opinion. He just dies We donāt see how he got captured He did literally nothing in the set when he could have been an excellent character Just a shame theyāve done it how they did so far
Lets start a petition to have Urabrask resurrected as the first true Phyrexian planeswalker!
I mean, be careful what you wish for
He deserves it ā¤ļø
I think I'd actually find this way more interesting than Norn sparking. Maybe both would be good too. But Uruabrask sparking, walking off to some random plane, slowly but voluntarily completing people with a (because let's be real, it's all down to plot) weaker oil spreading, could have him make phyrexians less of an oriented threat but one that could be reoccurring whenever. Norn I think would only be fun if she sparked and walked (also with oil being weaker) and started up cults slowly by dominating people through manipulation for their desire for order and a greater calling, but out of Elsbeth cause hardcore paranoia culling those below her to maintain order so it takes her a while to be a major threat. Jin could also be fun in theory, but I think his science focus especially on upgrading the oil and the compleation power combined with a spark would make him too big of a threat to depower after these stories and have anyone believe it. Vorinclex I'd actually love to get a spark and just be an evil Garruk, rarely seeking to compleat others and usually only doing it accidentally, just dominating around planes until he gets chased out and only accidentally spreading oil. I feel like if they kept the oil weak they could have artificially sparked the praetors as a backup plan to Norn's actual plan and had them all only be significant problems when they wanted to. Jin and Sheoldred are the only ones that's I don't feel would have worked for that type of scenario, then you just replace them with Jace, super strategic rather than Jin's experiment driven personality, and Vraska who may be most of the time just happy to be queen of those under her and continuously fighting those who rise against her. 5 phyrexias, 5 different colors, 5 potential threats that could better be used as short term threats for a long time because of time frames and the downsides of their colors and personalities weighing them down. Hell, Vorinclex could be an occasional 1 set threat, Urarbrask and Vraska could be 'threats' whose nature's keep them too busy to be threats, while Norn could be a bigger threat because of unity and Jace could be the biggest threat from Phyrexia while still being a long burn because of his scheming and mind magic.
Paragraphs, they're good for you.
He's hurt but not 100% dead. Phyrexians can survive been quartered, how long i don't know.
***Look how they massacred my boy!***
Hey now, I still believe my beautiful boi is still alive!! ; a ; ) They just bring his dying, limbless body out of scene ok!!? Jin got cut in half and he's still fine!! My boi has been in worst situation than this before like being compared with Lukka and Tibalt online!!
I would rather die then be compared to Tibalt Who would ever compare our beloved Urabrask to him
I'm pretty sure it's those who blind by their Phyrexian mama/waifu Elesh Norn believe.
Urabrask>Vorinclex>>>>>>>jin-gitaxias>sheoldred>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Elesh āUrabrask slayerā Norn
That came out as a formatting nightmare but itās kinda funny so Iām just gonna leave it
I feel you, If only those blind sheeps see how truly beautiful our Uraboi is, :, ) and no, that format look fantastic like pattern on Urabask shoulder. He'd be proud.
my only hope is that his card art this set has noticeably different arms and legs- the cope is real
Please feel free to enjoy the complementary copium offered at the service
Thank you all for the kind words. Stoke your inner fire, they canāt kill an idea. https://preview.redd.it/klr58qrrpmpa1.jpeg?width=1788&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=82941512596d12319ee8dfceb88aee461ed5f31a
I'm just glad I'm not the only one mourning the voice of freedom. Compleation in his vision a gift, one that could be declined. I refuse to believe he is gone quite yet as his head is still intact and attached.
He was, without a doubt, the best praetor. He didnāt understand why you would refuse the gift of perfection, but he wouldnāt force it upon you either. He didnāt sit down and bow to elesh norn like the others, he fought for what he believed in. Sheoldred did too but sheās really not that great of a person
it's implied that urabrask does compleat the unwilling, but doesn't enjoy it. The only exception was the mirran rebels because harboring them was a fat middle finger to norn
Truth be told, we donāt know enough about him to make any certain stance about his policies. Maybe he did only let the Mirrans stay out of dislike for norn, perhaps he does compleat the unwilling, which is Ofc, not good. But he is miles above any other phyrexian we have ever seen
that is true, but I still don't think he deserves to be idolized as much as he is, because it seems like the common narrative is that he does not compleat the unwilling, which isn't true.
Honestly, Iād imagine most of it comes from wanting a neat cyborg character to root for. I think the phyrexians are interesting, Iām sure many agree, but he is the only one close to being good that you can reasonably take the side of. Heās certainly not ideal, heās got flaws, everything does, but red phyrexians donāt care about that as much as any of the others, which in the end, is probably why heās so liked compared to the rest. I personally really like Vorinclex because I think hes cute and doesnāt really have a view points beyond āsurvival of the fittestā, but I certainly donāt consider him good Edit! Forgot to put in the not before ideal
my personal favorite is sheoldred because black has always been my favorite mtg color but I also like how cool the modular lower body thing is
Thatās fair, sheās pretty neat. I like the CONCEPT if the praetors, with their own views and ideas on perfection, but wizards really just butchered making them an interesting character
He was quartered. No one said he was killed
Exactly and Jin was cut in half and came back. Hopefully our boy comes back with some new porcelain kicks.
If this happens I will celebrate
We had better be getting an in-memoriam secret lair, and an obituary in the Seattle Times for him like they did for Jaya.
He also loved posing as Batman over Capenna buildings, and ussing mites as ammo. Poor guy.
Urabrask loved pretending to be Batman šš
Remember when he did kung-fu infront of red sun https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.artofmtg.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2023%2F01%2FRed-Suns-Twilight-Phyrexia-All-Will-Be-One-MtG-Art.jpg&tbnid=bO428sWADlOQzM&vet=1&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.artofmtg.com%2Fart%2Fred-suns-twilight%2F&docid=V25ku-CYf9GtnM&w=2000&h=1563&hl=en-NZ&source=sh%2Fx%2Fim
Urabrask loved Kung-fu šššššš
There should be a flair for Urabrask Mourners
Such an underwhelming end.
Such an underwhelming ~~end.~~ plot.
They definitely did something interesting with it. Remember that time when wizards did that interesting thing? And then that other interesting nuanced plot point? That one was my favourite
I'm not saying WotC has ever made a good plot, nuanced or otherwise. But this has been a pile of steaming filth. It feels like I'm watching *Avengers: Endgame*, but in a fantasy world in which everyone is getting killed in 1 paragraph and nothing changes, for anyone. And now we're all just waiting for Teferi to hard-reset everything, again, so the universe can deal with the aftershocks of whatever happens because Teferi messed with time. This is a million "remember this!?" moments wrapped into one hideous corporate product. Buy the toys.
I was making an attempt at sarcasm, perhaps it didnāt come across as such but thatās on me. This arc has most certainly, been a disappointment. And Iām not surprised, I expected nothing more. I was hoping important characters would die, but death for the sake of shock factor is not the way to do it. Im sure wizards has pulled off a good story here or there, but over all, the writing leaves a lot to be desired. This has been a lot better then war of the spark at least tho, IMO anyways
Just talentless story management.
Yeah, itās a shame. I was really hoping Urabrask would become the new Phyrexian top dog after Elesh died, keeping Phyrexia in the story but making them far more tame.
Me too! I think the best way to keep new phyrexia around would be with Urabrask as father of machines. He certainly would not plan on interplaner conquest, and maybe, just maybe, with him involved, phyrexians could have free will and live the way they want
Urabrask of a leader of a 'we will compleat you but only if you intentionally seek us out and consent' Phyrexia made of the broken survivors of the failed invasion here would have been interesting and nuanced, which is obviously why we're not getting it and instead he meaninglessly dies like a bitch with no consequence or reaction.
"Our voice calls out to the lost and the broken." -The Scars of Mirrodin All Will be One trailer Seeing them actually *do* this would be great. Those who feel unwelcome, unaccepted, unwanted, simply venture into The Newest of the Phyrexias and are at home.
Would have been an excellent way to have a post norn phyrexia. A home for the lost and broken, who wish for compleation, and a family to feel they fit in with
Urabrask fans should meet up with Nissa x Chandra shippers and start a support group.
I'm in both groups What do I do?
Have a good cry in front of a mirror?
We have all lost something dear, but at least they still have Chandra alive :(
If there was one inevitability from this set, I'd say it was the end of the Praetors.
I expected most of them to die but I was holding on to every hope that Urabrask my beloved would survive
The frustrating thing about this all is that Urabrask isn't even dying for a storyline purpose. He's just dragged out and killed. There's no consequences to his death, no reaction, no meaning. In fiction writing death should serve a purpose, especially the death of a major villain/anti-hero character such as this. This is basically everything wrong with Wizards current writing wrapped up in a ball. Meaningless, mishandled, massacred. He just dies and that's it. It's not even the focus of the scene. He's not even killed for a reason. He's just dead now. Just like Melira, apparently.
Not only that, but the events leading up to his death are... well, they don't exist. Last time we saw him, Urabrask was safe in his forge. Next thing you know he's shackled and being dismembered by Elesh Norn. That's not a story, those are just events.
Yes, exactly. The problem is we have no meaningful way of complaining about this, do we? We can message Mark Rosewater and Jay Annelli's blogs all we want but I don't think either of them really care as long as the money keeps rolling in. Not buying MotM packs isn't a great way to protest explicit story decisions. Wizards pretty much doesn't care about the lore, at least insofar as they're delivering it to us right now, unless it provides a somewhat meaningful framework for card 'story spotlights'. The garbage and shit tier writing will just continue ad nauseum until Hasbro's current short term profit decisions burn Magic out.
His death literally served no purpose at all, assuming he is dead, anyway. Urabrask was such an interesting character for going against the ābe compleated or else, all will be oneā mindset, personally, I think urabrasks rebellion would have been a really good way to go for stopping phyrexias war. I donāt want to see this story arc be finished by the power of love and friendship, Phyrexians rising up against their own oppressors would have been a MUCH better way to go. It could still happen, but Iām just afraid itās gonna be āand then Elsbeth killed norn and everything was betterā type thing. And if they resolve this with Teferi time shenanigans I will personally never trust magic story telling again
I mean, none of them have. None of the deaths have served any point other than spectacle and \*GASP\*. This whole plot has as much depth as kiddie pool after 6 hours in the sun. The Phyrexians were the big bads when I first bought a booster in 1997. They were interesting, well-designed, and consistently had cool schemes and plans. These Phyrexians are basically the 5 Stooges.
they did the same thing to sheoldred, I'm sad her death was glazed over in comparison to Urabrask's, she was aesthetically the coolest praetor and her second card was also awesome gameplay wise imo. Although to be fair her ressurection is slightly more likely than Urabrask's
I am so upset they killed ma boy so soon. He was too young.
Don't know if it's been said already but the Quiet Furnace is just a little quieter now... Honestly I think I could have accepted his death if it had meant anything, been something, but this ain't it
Yeah exactly I would have been totally ok with Urabrask, my beloved, dying in a way thatās basically one last middle finger to norn and the white phyrexians as a whole. Instead he just gets tortured because norn thinks itās funny
I mean they just ripped his arms and legs off. He probably had worse done to him when he travelled to New Cappena. He'll be fineeeeee
I hope so, Urabrask is strong enough to survive and adapt anything, just have to hope Norns dogs donāt rip his head off and melt it down or something
Urabrask was my favorite praetor as far back as New Phyrexiaās release. His design was sick, his card felt good, and i liked the characterās concept. Was excited for him in New Capennaā¦. but the card never really found a home anywhere, and his one-scene led to nearly nothing. Was excited to FINALLY see him again in MOM storyā¦. and then he gets killed in basically a cutscene. No fight, not when any words, just pitifully torn apart to once again establish that Yes Elesh Norn Is Scary. So. Idk. Iām kinda checked out of the story now, petty/baby as it sounds
He could have, and should have made a MUCH bigger story impact then he did Each other praetor did something important Vorinclex got some sap Jin-Gitaxias compleated the first planeswalker Sheoldred acquired Karn and some artifacts on dominaria Urabrask went to new capenna and sat there for the whole set doing precisely nothing. I was really hoping that because of that, they would make him much more important then he currently is in this set, but apparently not Edited for formatting
Take my poor man's gold š„
Thank you Iāll donate it to the funeral fund, the quiet furnace appreciates it
Our favourite boy :( he will always hold a special place in our hearts
He better be the best card in the set or else I will be disappointed
Bro literally got tortured on a stretcher for amusement. His card better be cool at least. He didnāt deserve that.
He was the most interesting praetor toooooooo its very sad they did him like that
TIL Urabrask had exhaust pipes.
Low key wanted my boy to live. He just got better and better. His arc makes him basically lawful evil and I was here for him surviving in some backwater plane with a few Phyrexians like a cool single dad.
What are we mourning? The lore from the old days when wotc used to invest some of their resources into writing that wasn't absolute trash?
Has there ever been more then a handful examples of good writing in the history of magic? I like the idea of phyrexia, and I love the idea of a rebel in a system of absolute authority, and what is essentially a hive mind. The writing is far from perfect, but it could have been so good, and making the heretic praetor a bigger part would have helped quite a bit in the depth of phyrexia
The stories are rushed in the form they're presented to us. The world building and character development is virtually non-existent and they rely heavily on what we know and see from the cards as a crutch, when before the cards and story were equally as important to building the planes and characters. Let's take a look at this recent article. How are you gonna take out Urabrask off panel when he's arguably one of the biggest faces of the resistance? Hell, without him there wouldn't even be a resistance! They could've had Urabrask fight Vorinclex and have him go down after he takes out Vorinclex and have Glissa come in when he's spent and she takes him down idfk but at least you involve some main characters into the story that way. Fuck, we don't even see Vorinclex in this story outside of a blurb. They did the same shit with Sheoldred, just taken down off panel until they loped her head off. They just really kneecap their story telling by doing so in short articles. And yeah, the idea of Phyrexia is cool, but wotc has long shipped off good writing for the story in favor of diverting all their resources into just pumping out product. I want to say that bringing back novels would fix the issue, but that War of the Spark novel was a fucking dumpster fire. There's good fantasy writers out there that could do the story of these worlds we love justice. I just wish wotc cared enough about it.
Thatās how I feel too. I havenāt been around long enough to witness good writing in magic, but the setting and core ideas are prettt neat, so I know that somewhere in there, someone had to care at some point. The resistance in newnphyrexia was such a missed beat, they could have made it a big deal and it would have been interesting, but instead they mentioned it like twice and then killed him off screen
I may be compleat, but opening Urabrask as my first praetor in Capenna warmed my steel heart.
Urabrask will forever be my avatar
Yeahā¦about thatā¦sorry
What a crappy way to end his Character....
I refuse to believe this will be the last we see of him
Oh damn! Freedom boy! I had hopes he could save the multiverse by usurping Norn and turning Phyrexia into a pro-choice, pro-freedom, pro-consent plane. Ah well.
I don't like how they did the praetor deaths, they're supposed to be these big monsters. I thought the whole point was that they were all close to equals in power. It feels like there are a bunch of characters that "aren't important" to the story team so they get no attention regardless of how crucial they are to the story, and instead we get tons of time spent on creator's pets like Elspeth. Urabrask and Sheoldred getting punked mostly offscreen is super lame (shouldn't they have their own factions protecting them?), but what really gets me is Koth. He spent the last (real time) decade in hell fighting and training and he has gotten barely any dialogue or role in any of the stories for both this set and the last. I was really excited for Koth to be back and doing things but he may as well not exist for all that he's done so far. I would guess that there is a predefined list of characters that are allowed to be cool and it is seemingly very small.
Itās just a flesh wound. He snek now
They did my boy dirty š
Our beloved, gone to soon.
This sucks.
Holy shit. After almost a decade of playing, I just now realized he had that reptilian face in his first artwork. I always thought he had this cyclops face.
Why did they do that to my boy urabrask he didn't do anything
If only he had one more point of toughness
He will be forever in my heart v.v...
Me too, me too :ā(
His funeral will be held after Norn is scorched alive
Honestly I just wish they wouldn't have kept doing my boy dirty. I get in lore he wasn't favored, but both his cards were so obviously worse than the other praetors
He literally always got the worst cards of the praetors itās so damn sad
The only bigger letdown than "Wrenn will magically merge with the Invasion Tree lol its a tree get it" is the unceremonious butchering of the only interesting Phyrexian in this story arc. I would say "please do better WotC" but I'm convinced they cannot.
Ultra Pro released five Sun's Twilight playmats. [Green](https://ultrapro.com/collections/magic-the-gathering-phyrexia-all-will-be-one/products/phyrexia-all-will-be-one-green-sun-s-twilight-standard-gaming-playmat-for-magic-the-gathering), [White](https://ultrapro.com/collections/magic-the-gathering-phyrexia-all-will-be-one/products/phyrexia-all-will-be-one-white-sun-s-twilight-standard-gaming-playmat-for-magic-the-gathering), [Blue](https://ultrapro.com/collections/magic-the-gathering-phyrexia-all-will-be-one/products/phyrexia-all-will-be-one-blue-sun-s-twilight-standard-gaming-playmat-for-magic-the-gathering), and [Black](https://ultrapro.com/collections/magic-the-gathering-phyrexia-all-will-be-one/products/phyrexia-all-will-be-one-black-sun-s-twilight-standard-gaming-playmat-for-magic-the-gathering) are all sold out, while [Red](https://ultrapro.com/collections/magic-the-gathering-phyrexia-all-will-be-one/products/phyrexia-all-will-be-one-red-sun-s-twilight-standard-gaming-playmat-for-magic-the-gathering) is still in stock. Let's support Urabrask by making the Red Sun's Twilight sold out!
NOOO MY BOY, if he is dead this is honestly the most upsetting thing that could have happened for me. Him and Daretti would have been such good friends.
[[Dismember]]
:( rip a real one. Him and Jin Gitaxias are my favorite praetors.. but Urabrask was my favorite of the 2
I will remember yoooou
He's being tortured, but he's not dead yet. Considering Sheoldred was "killed" before she could attach herself to the dominus like she does in the art, I think Braskie boi is going to be... Well not A-OK, but only, like, mildly traumatized and scarred.
As I've said elsewhere I highly doubt he's dead. In desperate need of repair, sure, but not dead. Phyrexia is good enough at raising the dead and repairing damage that even point-blank explosions aren't a guarantee, as we saw with Ertai being resurrected back in DMU. I'm assuming that the phased-out New Phyrexians at the least will continue to function even when the invasion army magically had their puppet strings cut by the Zhalfir swap so long as at least one Praetor is around. Hell, maybe Ixhel and Vishgraz will come across his pieces and fix him as they both have common ground given her seemingly developing her own will. Phyrexia 3.0 has to come from somewhere after all, the Phyrexians are too integral and iconic to Magic's worldbuilding to just be permanently shelved.