#vishgraz

Principles of Asexual Heredity in the Phyrexian Organism

We know these things for sure about Phyrexian reproductive biology:

Phyrexians reproduce asexually; it is well known that one drop of oil, from one individual, is enough to birth a population of offspring (such as all of New Phyrexia) or convert a non-Phyrexian organism.

Phyrexians natively born of the oil ("core-born") inherit mnemonic and phenotypic (appearance) information from the oil that created them. For example, core-born Phyrexians of the Orthodoxy naturally develop porcelain metal; it is an inherited, lineage-specific trait. The oil also carries ancestral knowledge such as the Phyrexian language and echoes of history.

The five suns of Mirrodin somehow caused the originally mono-black lineage of Phyrexian oil to splinter into five colored lineages. They may have all arisen from one drop of oil, but they are phenotypically diverse.

(Little canon data is given about the genealogies of core-born newts, but it would most logically follow that Phyrexians descend from single-parent lines, a family tree with continually forking branches and no unions of mating as with sexually reproducing organisms.)

The mechanism I propose for the diversification of Phyrexians on Mirrodin is mana-induced mutagenesis. As a deeply magical material, it follows that Phyrexian oil is prone to being influenced by concentrated sources of mana, such as the suns of Mirrodin (which were trapped in the core, in close proximity to the progenitor oil, during the birth of New Phyrexia). Exposure to mana can thus cause de novo mutation in glistening oil that manifests as novel phenotypic traits in resulting Phyrexians. These mutations are not random, guiding phenotypes to align with the color causing the mutation.

Then there is the issue of inheritance via phyresis, or compleating another organism which was not originally Phyrexian by introducing Phyrexian genetic material into its body. To keep it simple I will begin with mono-color infections: an organism is infected with oil from a Phyrexian whose lineage traits (i.e. white-aligned Orthodoxy lineage, porcelain) may not match their own color identity.

Hypothesis: Phenotype (what color/type of Phyrexian an infected individual becomes) is determined solely by the color of infection, not the subject's own colors. Crucially this isn't the same as color identity; i.e. one can be a porcelain Phyrexian and still have a Boros identity by gaining red-aligned values or retaining them from a pre-compleation life, even though their phenotype is white only. (Much like how elves are associated with green mana, but Simic-identity elves exist.) This phenotype color, in turn, is also what would be passed down to any newts the turned individual creates, or subjects they themselves infect.

MOM corroborates this hypothesis. A mono-black-aligned human, upon exposure to Progress Engine oil, becomes a Phyrexian with a pure blue-aligned phenotype. The changes to their color identity are additive--they retain black alignment--but their phenotype is blue only. All the transforming creatures of MOM follow this pattern.

However, Planeswalkers in ONE did not. For example, Jace was infected by Vraska, who had both black color identity and a black/Thanes-aligned phenotype, but spontaneously developed eyestalks and other traits characteristic of blue Phyrexians from the Progress Engine.

New hypothesis: Individuals with a strong enough internal concentration of mana, i.e. Planeswalkers, cause oil to mutate in vivo to align with their own color, much like how the suns mutated oil in Mirrodin's core. This further shows that mana-induced mutagenesis is color-specific. This should however create a new blue lineage, independent of the Progress Engine, also spawned of blue mana but not necessarily identical. I do not have an explanation for Jace's resemblance to the Progress Engine besides convergent "evolution."

Proposed further study (not ethics-approved): Infect a colorless Planeswalker, i.e. Ugin, with colored oil to test whether a null color identity still has mutagenic effects.

To complicate this, though, we also have examples of Phyrexians who are chimeras of multiple colors, combining traits of different lineages. Vishgraz was assembled with material (genetic and otherwise) from a white, a green, and a black Phyrexian. It makes sense that Phyrexians put together in this patchwork way could have a combination phenotype. Atraxa was not assembled from scratch, but infected with four separate colors at once. Maybe there are just four types of oil circulating in her body?

I am, of course, interested in inheritance. If these Phyrexians show combined phenotypes, what colored trait(s) do they actually pass down? Do they have individual "cells" that are still only white, only green, only black, etc., or did the colors somehow combine on the most basic hereditary unit level? Thankfully, we actually do have an example of a "chimera" Phyrexian asexually producing core-born offspring: Ixhel.

Ixhel shares multiple colors with Atraxa, not only in her color identity but also apparent phenotype (she has both Orthodoxy porcelain and Swarm copper). Two possibilities here: 1) She truly inherited both genetically; Atraxa passes down multiple colors when she reproduces. 2) Her "core" physiology is still rooted in one color, i.e. white porcelain, and the green parts were added after the fact. I don't have an answer for this, but it's intriguing to consider.

Proposed further study: Attempt to isolate the smallest "unit" of Phyrexian heredity (one single nanobot of the oil) and test if it can only store information about one color, or multiple. See if a germ is formed from only one of these units, as with eukaryotic zygotes, or from multiple.

Geth's memories move within me like the bad taste that lingers in one's mouth after a rotten meal. They belong to one who saw in this world a web of deals, made and yet to be made, and little more--a view nearly pitiful in its smallness. Sometimes I can still feel something of him fighting within me, threatening to tear this new body apart. For now, however, it holds.

I may have been made from Geth's broken pieces, but I am not him, and never shall be again. Ixhel made that clear to me, and for that I have come to be quite grateful.

Story

We reach out to the world, blind yet knowing. The cool touch of copper and the sponge-like feel of the overgrowth flood the sensations of our hands. Visibility slowly becomes under our possession. We see now. It has become one of our strengths.

Art by Brian Valeza

We are of the Vicious Swarm, and we are hungry. We see now the pools of oil that surround us. We must get to them. We can feel the growth around us. It is under our command. It has become one of our strengths. We drift across it towards the oil, and we can feel the world itself shape to our needs.

We put our hand to the oil, and then we lift it to our face. We pour it inside. We are rejuvenated. The oil sustains us. Unlike all else, it has always been one of our strengths. A movement above catches our eye, and its source notices our shift of attention. It descends.

“Interesting. The Hunter Maze forms its denizens much differently than The Dross Pits.”

Art by Andrew Mar

We see that it is large. We speak.

“What is this intrusion upon our awakening?”

“It is no intrusion. You are birthed of my own desire. The Multiverse screams, and much must be done.”

We have no desire for this noisemaker’s desires. We shall move away.

“Not so fast.”

The noisemaker skitters in front of us.

“Much must be do-“

As it speaks, a terrible… or perhaps wonderful noise echoes throughout the world. A large appendage bursts through the ground between the noisemaker and us. The noisemaker quickly skitters backwards.

“It has begun. The Realmbreaker has begun its invasion. We must see that the tyrant does not rend us all asunder with its power.”

It speaks like a schemer. We go forward and touch the large, branch-like appendage sprouting from the ground.

“Do not!”

We can feel its power. Its strength. It shall be ours as well. We press down on it and attempt to absorb the energy within it. It does not notice us.

“You are attempting to tame a giant, don’t you see?”

We press harder on it. It takes notice. The palms of our hands are suddenly pierced through by various roots.

“Unsurprising…”

The roots are flowing into our body. We can feel it inside us. Is this… pain? This is new to us. We screech out, and the Hunter Maze responds with a hundred more screeches. This is our time. We can hear it now. The Multiverse that the noisemaker spoke of screams into our ears. We can feel it. It draws closer. We shall make it one of our strengths.

We vanish.

Character

Name: Kalraz

Colors: Abzan (White/Black/Green)

Species: Phyrexian

My own Abzan infect deck is Ixhel, not Vishgraz, and I admit for that reason I haven't really focused on him before (though I adore him as a character). This is my decklist. I know it's not Vishgraz, but at least it could give some direction for Abzan infect in general. It's aggressive and Phyrexian typal oriented. I do have a bad habit of including too few lands, so you probably want more.

As a non-Vishgraz but experienced EDH infect player, here are my free-flowing thoughts:

All the themes you mention are viable potential directions to go in, and they will all involve poison one way or another, so you can take that for granted to an extent.

That said, one of the reasons I find Vishgraz himself so strange to assess is that he gets larger and larger as you progress your infect gameplan but only ever has toxic 1. It starts to bifuricate your plan--are you shooting to kill with infect, or commander damage? (Luckily, you're in the colors of Phyresis, Tainted Strike, and Glistening Oil, so sometimes this will not be quite a conflict. Grafted Exoskeleton is nice, too.)

In my personal experience, tiny toxic creatures like mites are good on turns 1-3 and quickly drop off from there as opponents gain any blockers at all. That's why I'd been hesitant about Vishgraz who comes down around turn 4-5, even though 3 tokens is nothing to sneeze at.

When you go really wide you can overpower opponent blockers with numbers, but I've never been fond of small non-evasive tokens in EDH. (Then again, maybe I've just never gone wide enough to see the light, who knows.) There's enough go-wide support in the colors that you can find broad buffs to mitigate this a bit, but whether allocating deck space to those enablers (as opposed to infect support) is worth it is a hard question. In situations like these, I almost always pick the infect support.

Voltron and flicker feel at odds, as flickering would cause auras and equipments to fall off, and there's also the tall/wide conflict.

Aristocrats is the most interesting direction to me personally (and you'd want a flicker subtheme in this deck, to generate fodder with your commander repeatably and maximize value out of cards like Metastatic Evangel). MOM commander is a nice source of Phyrexian/artifact aristocrats proliferate support. My immediate thought for Vishgraz aristocrats is: place the first poison counter on turns 1-3 with small 1-2 drops or Ichor Rats, and then sit back for a grindier defensive game as you repeatedly churn out mites by flickering your commander and sacrifice them to proliferate outlets. Take advantage of incidental proliferate on cards like Unnatural Restoration that also increase your resilience. TBH, I might try this myself and find those MOC cards a home. NOT THAT I NEED ANOTHER ABZAN DECK.