Ravnica and Phyrexians.
Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2021 3:38 pm
It's been blatantly obvious for a while now that Old Phyrexia had contact with Ravnica in some way, lots of little things in the cards that seem to hint at it, but there is one glaring piece of evidence that has been staring us in the face since the first Ravnica block:
There are Thrulls on Ravnica.
I'll break it down chronologically:
Thrulls were originally created (as far as we know) by the Ebon Hand, a religious cult in Sarpadia that had frequent contact with Phyrexia (Tourach's gate, Ebon Praetor), they were created by a combination of alchemy and necromancy to create something that was neither alive, dead, or undead, and that could serve as sacrifices in their their ceremonies.
Thrull's later appeared on Phyrexia when Urza visited the plane (Blood Vassal), which was *after* the Ice Age. This is significant because Urza was literally frozen for the entire thing, only remaining alive due to his spark(s). The Urza block story goes out of its way to mention this so as to explain his absence during the Ice Age.
Then later, the Thrulls again reappear on Rath during tempest block (Blood Pet, Morgue Thrull, and Thrull Surgeon). Chronologically this is a fair bit after their previous appearance. Rath was an artificial plane created by the Phyrexian's as a staging ground for their upcoming invasion of Dominaria, and while they weren't present during the Invasion itself, it is pretty safe to say that they were by this point intrinsically linked to Phyrexia.
Jump forward a couple of hundred years to our first visit to Ravnica, surprise, several new thrulls made their appearance. One in the Rakdos guild (Rakdos Ickspitter), and four in the Orzhov guild (Ostiary Thrull, Mourning Thrull, Exhumer Thrull, and Absolver Thrull), they have absolutely zero reason to be on the plane. They are an artificial species created by the Order of the Ebon hand with input from Phyrexia. There is at the time no reason given to why they are suddenly there and in numbers. Not only that, several of them have several visual cues that connect them to the Morgue Thrull in appearance. Coincidence? I think not.
Then when we get back to Ravnica it gets even more blatant, we get five more Thrulls in the set, all associated with the Orzhov. (Thrull Parasite, Treasury Thrull, Dutiful Thrull, Kingpin's Pet, and Maw of the Obzedat). Other than the Treasury Thrull they all look a lot like the Morgue Thrull as mentioned above.
Then in our final visit to Ravnica we get another two Thrulls, Deptors' Transport and Grasping Thrull. Again associated with the Orzhov.
This alone makes me think that at least the Orzhov have had contact with Old Phyrexia, and learned how to create Thrulls from them, with Rakdos somehow either stealing the knowledge, or somehow corrupting some of the Thrulls for their own entertainment (explaining why there is only one Thrull in the Guild so far.)
But wait there is more, there are several unaligned cards in the various Ravnica blocks that reference to darker secrets, Priest of Forgotten Gods is one such card. It specifically mentions that there are older religions at work in Ravnica than the Orzhov guild, and the card itself shows that these traditions are very dark indeed. Now what other religious organization we know of was actively into sacrificing living creatures? The Ebon Hand of course, who worshiped Phyrexia (Well Tourach did anyway). There is also a Praetor lose on Ravnica (Sanguine Praetor), the flavor text of which makes my skin crawl. And then there is the art for Strands of Undeath, that looks a lot more like old style Phyrexia than necromancy to me.
I don't believe in coincidences when it comes to MTG design, the Thrulls where a conscious choice on WotC's part.
My theory is this, before the Invasion, the Phyrexians had contact and influence on many worlds, such as Mercadia (canon, btw), and Ravnica. Which they subtly influenced, the Religious/Familia structure of the Orzhov made them prime targets for infiltration, either by sleeper agents, or with the full knowledge and consent of the Guild's leadership. The Phyrexians taught the Orzhov how to create and breed thrulls, to give the Guild loyal servants. There are still Old Phyrexians on Ravnica, waiting and biding their time for orders that will never come.
And until WotC specifically tells us otherwise, that is what I will continue to believe. It doesn't really change anything, for now...
There are Thrulls on Ravnica.
I'll break it down chronologically:
Thrulls were originally created (as far as we know) by the Ebon Hand, a religious cult in Sarpadia that had frequent contact with Phyrexia (Tourach's gate, Ebon Praetor), they were created by a combination of alchemy and necromancy to create something that was neither alive, dead, or undead, and that could serve as sacrifices in their their ceremonies.
Thrull's later appeared on Phyrexia when Urza visited the plane (Blood Vassal), which was *after* the Ice Age. This is significant because Urza was literally frozen for the entire thing, only remaining alive due to his spark(s). The Urza block story goes out of its way to mention this so as to explain his absence during the Ice Age.
Then later, the Thrulls again reappear on Rath during tempest block (Blood Pet, Morgue Thrull, and Thrull Surgeon). Chronologically this is a fair bit after their previous appearance. Rath was an artificial plane created by the Phyrexian's as a staging ground for their upcoming invasion of Dominaria, and while they weren't present during the Invasion itself, it is pretty safe to say that they were by this point intrinsically linked to Phyrexia.
Jump forward a couple of hundred years to our first visit to Ravnica, surprise, several new thrulls made their appearance. One in the Rakdos guild (Rakdos Ickspitter), and four in the Orzhov guild (Ostiary Thrull, Mourning Thrull, Exhumer Thrull, and Absolver Thrull), they have absolutely zero reason to be on the plane. They are an artificial species created by the Order of the Ebon hand with input from Phyrexia. There is at the time no reason given to why they are suddenly there and in numbers. Not only that, several of them have several visual cues that connect them to the Morgue Thrull in appearance. Coincidence? I think not.
Then when we get back to Ravnica it gets even more blatant, we get five more Thrulls in the set, all associated with the Orzhov. (Thrull Parasite, Treasury Thrull, Dutiful Thrull, Kingpin's Pet, and Maw of the Obzedat). Other than the Treasury Thrull they all look a lot like the Morgue Thrull as mentioned above.
Then in our final visit to Ravnica we get another two Thrulls, Deptors' Transport and Grasping Thrull. Again associated with the Orzhov.
This alone makes me think that at least the Orzhov have had contact with Old Phyrexia, and learned how to create Thrulls from them, with Rakdos somehow either stealing the knowledge, or somehow corrupting some of the Thrulls for their own entertainment (explaining why there is only one Thrull in the Guild so far.)
But wait there is more, there are several unaligned cards in the various Ravnica blocks that reference to darker secrets, Priest of Forgotten Gods is one such card. It specifically mentions that there are older religions at work in Ravnica than the Orzhov guild, and the card itself shows that these traditions are very dark indeed. Now what other religious organization we know of was actively into sacrificing living creatures? The Ebon Hand of course, who worshiped Phyrexia (Well Tourach did anyway). There is also a Praetor lose on Ravnica (Sanguine Praetor), the flavor text of which makes my skin crawl. And then there is the art for Strands of Undeath, that looks a lot more like old style Phyrexia than necromancy to me.
I don't believe in coincidences when it comes to MTG design, the Thrulls where a conscious choice on WotC's part.
My theory is this, before the Invasion, the Phyrexians had contact and influence on many worlds, such as Mercadia (canon, btw), and Ravnica. Which they subtly influenced, the Religious/Familia structure of the Orzhov made them prime targets for infiltration, either by sleeper agents, or with the full knowledge and consent of the Guild's leadership. The Phyrexians taught the Orzhov how to create and breed thrulls, to give the Guild loyal servants. There are still Old Phyrexians on Ravnica, waiting and biding their time for orders that will never come.
And until WotC specifically tells us otherwise, that is what I will continue to believe. It doesn't really change anything, for now...