Bringing a new Elesh Norn to life and evolving New Phyrexia: How MTG set the stage for All Will Be One

Elesh Norn, the Mother of Machines is finally back at the forefront of Magic: The Gathering villainy, as she unleashes her machines in an attempt to rule over the multiverse in Phyrexia: All Will Be One.

Yahoo Gaming Southeast Asia talked to Mike Turian, Game Architect, and Mary Kathryn Amiotte, Phyrexian Linguist, from Wizards of the Coast to find out more about the background processes that went into designing and bringing back Elesh Norn as well as the plane New Phyrexia.

Magic: The Gathering is finally back in New Phyrexia, and the last of five Praetors Elesh Norn is finally revealed in Phyrexia: All Will Be One, after she was first released in the set New Phyrexia 12 years ago. What was the thought process behind the card evolution from Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite to her current form Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines?

Mike Turian: With Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite we wanted to introduce her to Magic players showing how powerful and important she was to the Phyrexian cause of spreading their glory to the Multiverse.

When we resume her story in Phyrexia, Elesh Norn continues her quest to take over the multiverse. With the continued success of the Phyrexians, we see Elesh Norn really take control both of the multiverse and also dominate among the Praetors.

Poison counters are also back as a key mechanic in Standard, and it’s apt that they are returning after last making a splash in the Scars of Mirrodin block. However, Infect, which incorporated poison counters and first appeared in Scars of Mirrodin block, is still a polarising mechanic today. Do you anticipate that the new mechanic Toxic will be less polarising, and how do you think players in Magic: The Gathering will eventually react to it?

Mike Turian: One great thing about bringing back poison is that it lets players who embraced an Infect deck with Scars of Mirrodin, add to and further flesh out those decks. We added the Corrupted mechanic to reward the times you get some poison onto a player, but not enough to kill them.

That makes games a bit more dynamic, now you have to be even more concerned about getting a few early poison. Additionally, the Commander format has really grown in popularity in the last decade and while players get increased life totals while playing Commander, you still only need 10 poison counters to eliminate a player.

Scars of Mirrodin block introduced Blightsteel, with Blightsteel Colossus being one of the most famous Magic: The Gathering cards printed in recent history. Is there a reason why we do not get to see any presence of Blightsteel in the new set, or even Darksteel considering the fact that the Vulshoks are still resisting the Phyrexians in New Phyrexia?

Mike Turian: I connected with Ovidio Cartagena, our Art Director for Phyrexia: All Will Be One, here is what he shared. “On the Mirran side, Vulshoks and Mirrans in general are itinerant and that movement hasn't allowed for the process of forging Darksteel to be a widespread practice. Different parts of the tradition of manipulating Darksteel might be held by different Vulshok resistance fighters, but they have yet to come together to revive it... if they survive the fight against Phyrexians. On the Phyrexian side. Darksteel and Blightsteel are very valuable, the scarcity and difficulty of working it have made them reserve it for a future tactic. Right now their current resources are effective, and it would be a waste of the material besides small experiments that we are yet to see.”

What is one card the team is especially proud of from this new set, and why?

Mike Turian: Bringing a new Elesh Norn to life brings the teams a lot of pride. Phyrexia: All Will Be One is really a celebration of all things Phyrexian and especially a celebration of Elesh Norn. In addition to a sweet card design, offering Elesh Norn in a variety of incredible treatments brings me and the team a lot of joy. Especially having the opportunity to partner with the beloved artist, Junji Ito and bringing his amazing style to Elesh Norn, that is a lot to love!

It’s been a long time since the death of Yawgmoth up till the current state of New Phyrexia. The Phyrexian language would possibly have undergone some changes over such a long period of time, and if so, what are they?

Mary Kathryn Amiotte: It certainly has! Drivers in this change have primarily to do with the loosening of the strict formality that was present in the language of the old Phyrexians. There was a time that there was a very formal distinction in Phyrexian society between vat grown Phyrexians and those that were born to other cultures and assimilated, however that divide isn't as prevalent in New Phyrexian culture.

We see this in how many New Phyrexians - especially the red ones - have dropped some pieces of formal Phyrexian language, while others - especially the black Phyrexians - have intentionally kept it as a callback.

You can see this on the card Ambulatory Edifice. Very small on the banner to the right of the construct you can see that rather than a hook to close the sentence there is what looks a little bit like a half-circle. This is a more formal way to close a sentence, similar to how English illuminated manuscripts used to embellish the first letter of the sentence.

Jay Chan plays a lot of Dota 2 and MTG. He's terrible in Dota 2 and a scrub in MTG, and maybe spends too much money on both games.

For more gaming news updates, visit https://yhoo.it/YahooGamingSEA. Also follow us on Twitter, as well as our Gaming channel on YouTube, and check out Yahoo Esports Southeast Asia’s Facebook page!