Magic: The Gathering
Magical Thinking: Journey into Nyx
Welcome back to Magical Thinking, a look back at the cards and art of Magic: the Gathering, set by set, from the beginning. All through the eyes of a casual fan. Today we finish our look at the Theros block with the third expansion, May of 2014’s Journey into Nyx.
Things are pretty bad on Theros right now. With Xenagos as a god, things have gone crazy. Monsters roaming the lands. Gods vs. mortals. Mortals vs each other. To end the madness, Elspeth, along with our old pal Ajani, go to defeat Xenagos. But when Elspeth successfully puts down the planeswalker-turned-god, Heliod kills her while she’s in a weakened state. Yeah, this ends with Elspeth dying, and Heliod gets away with it (at least until Theros Beyond Death, but that will be six years from now). In any case, let’s see how wild Elspeth’s last ride gets.
Anyone who currently plays Arena is very familiar with this card. It’s been the go-to White removal card since Theros Beyond Death. I’m surprised to find out it was a reprint. Also, I never realized what was going on in the card till seeing it just now; the banishing light is banishing that nyxborn hydra there.
Yes it is. Elspeth doesn’t waste any time. Seven cards in and we’re like “Okay Xenagos is dead, now what?”. Of course, then she gets done dirty by Heliod. But don’t worry, he’ll get his. Not in this set but eventually.
It occurs to me I haven’t covered what Eidolons are yet. In Theros when someone comes back from the dead as a returned, they lose their memories. Where do those memories go? They become Eidolons, which are pretty much ghosts. I have to assume he’s spending so much time talking that players only get enough time to cast one spell per turn.
Constellation is one of the new mechanics of the set. A creature with constellation does something whenever you get a new enchantment. This ability returns in Theros Beyond Death, which is more than I can say for a lot of these mechanics.
I think he has a shot. Look at the Castlevania series. If Simon Belmont can take out Death himself with a spike-chain-whip, why not this guy killing a cyclops? (BTW, the Belmonts have killed cyclops in those games).
I get the feeling Elspeth is 100% done with all the crap she’s had to put up with in Theros. Spoiler warning: she comes back from the dead in Theros Beyond Death, and once she gets her revenge she just planeswalks away cause she can’t deal with this drama anymore.
Now if you’re wondering how he eats and breathes, and other science facts, just repeat to yourself “Its just a game, I should really just relax.”
La la la.
I love how the giant there is like “Oh this is some bullshit!”
Anyway, new mechanic! Strive lets you target more creatures if you’re willing to pay more mana. In this case three mana for each target beyond the first. Strive was an eight on the Storm Scale. Not surprising. It doesn’t sound like a very good mechanic. Still makes for an interesting bit of card art.
This is why you don’t make a monster out of crystal. Godzilla would be a pretty bad movie if some kid chucked a rock at him five minutes in and shattered him to a billion pieces.
Yeah, Kiora! You go girl! Show Thassa who the real big boss of the sea is. You got this. #Fishgirlboss.
I bet you thought I was gonna lead up with a bit where Kiora gets beaten by Thassa right? I thought we were going that way too but SURPRISE SUDDEN FAKE OUT! KIORA WINS! We’ll even get that chronicled in Theros Beyond Death.
Well, it’s not Kiora getting pinned. Also, now you see why I root for Kiora over Thassa (or why I root for anyone over the Theros gods).
For anyone bemoaning the lack of starfish support in Magic, Journey into Nyx has you covered. Our last starfish was all the way in Alliances. But unlike Spiny Starfish, this little guy can scry for you. Scry is an awesome ability.
When they say “no fishing without a license” they mean it.
The secret origins of the Happy Mask Salesman from Legend of Zelda revealed.
I think this illustrates Erebos isn’t a bad guy. He’s actively trying to cut down on the number of returned. Of course at the same time he lets Tyramet go on with his killing, so…
Great. Now I have to go theory craft a Wrath of Khan themed deck. Excuse me.
This is a really cool piece. I really love giants. So much so I started running Storm King’s Thunder on PBP.
Now that’s a guy that exemplifies the ideas of “I still have one HP left.”
Of course we were setting up for this last time with that Gild card, but now we have our King Midas stand-in. I would have given him death touch too, but this works.
Oof, that’s what happens after you go to bed after eating five-day-old pizza and a bottle of Nyquil. Pleasant dreams indeed.
Getting some Dr. Doom vibes from this one, not gonna lie. Hey dude, maybe wait till that mask cools down before putting it on? I know you’re dead an all but…okay I guess you know what you’re doing. Don’t mind me.
Probably not a big glowing fist. Although that’s probably what it does look like when you block a 1/1 with one of your big 5/5 minions.
This guy is the worst, especially at theme parks or the movies where he just keeps cutting in line. And no one can stop him because he’s got those big honking axes. I get a real action figure vibe off this guys. Those are some real He-man toy axes right there. You know the ones.
If I saw that guy right behind me I’d be in a hurry too. Holy crap that guy is scary.
When gods fight over the last Mountain Dew in the fridge. IT’S NOT WORTH IT, GUYS. WE GOT A WHOLE COOLER OF BAJA BLAST RIGHT HERE.
That cyclops eats sheep like I eat…pretty much anything really.
I really hope that guy is housebroken. Otherwise it’s gonna burn your house down (of course it might do that anyway).
Here’s a riddle for you. What happens to a toad when you strike it with lightning?
…No one gets that reference? Come on! That movie wasn’t that long ago, was it?
I guess Xenagos’ new promotion didn’t go over well with the other Satyrs. Not surprising. Xenagos always struck me as a jerk.
Maybe it’s just me, but creating a copy of your army that’s made entirely out of fire seems like an overly complicated use of fire. Whatever happened to fireballs? Fireballs work. Fireballs are time tested. Just throw fireballs.
Another Greek myth deep cut! Remember when Hercules spent like an entire year hunting down a deer as one of his labors (and remember the TV show where they made the Hind his girlfriend? That was weird).
I approve of this big guy with the silly face and the Loki horns. Goodness knows there’s a lot of mortals who could use humbling at the moment.
Aw, it’s a mama. look at the little baby. Also I love how freaking huge that nest is. Theros hydra are badass.
Yep, the gods may be warring with mortals and chaos is rampant, but that’s no reason to miss out on these deals! The gods have gone crazy and so have we! WITH SAVINGS!
So they’re a nymph and a dryad. I know the difference in DnD terms, but I’m not sure how you can be both.
So resurrection magic works in Theros. Erebos must get really annoyed by that. Also, Orpheus reference.
Ajani and Elspeth: Epic bros for life.
Ajani doesn’t take Elspeth’s death well, encouraging the Leonine of this plane to continue their snubbing of the Gods in hopes of weakening them enough to beat one day.
Here is Ajani himself. And wow, that -8. Just gain 100 life. Game’s pretty much over at that point. Just keep him alive until you hit 8.
Now we get into the enemy color gods. Athreos is the Orzhov god. Ge does his job ferrying your creatures back to your hand when they die, unless your opponent pays the ferryman (But don’t pay the ferryman, don’t even fix a price, not until he gets you to the other side. Heh heh, music reference).
Here we have Iroas, the Boros god and brother of Mogis. He’s a big bad dude. He makes your attacking minions pretty much unbeatable and nearly unblockable. With him on the scene there’s no excuse not to just attack over and over.
It’s weird that Keranos, the Izzet god, is a god of storms and thunder, but he isn’t the Zeus analog. Heliod is. He’s got a neat ability. Reveal a card, and either draw a card or lightning bolt something. Keranos has those bolts ready to go.
Kruphix is the Simic god, and is the most enigmatic of the gods. He’s also the god that bosses all the other gods around. His ability is the most appropriate to Simic aesthetic: Infinite cards and infinite mana. Just stockpile both until you can play those big beasties at will.
Last but not least we have Pharika, the Golgari god of both medicines and poisons. (And even Pharika is like “Stop taking horse dewormer and get vaccinated, you morons). Her thing is destroying graveyard creatures to make snakes. Either take out your opponent’s graveyard, or give yourself an army of snakes. Always have a chump blocker at the ready.
With Xenagos dead, the party is officially over. You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here (because you BURNED THE BAR DOWN, YOU ASSHOLES).
Cowardly Akrorians will go in the bull of shame until morale improves.
And with that, I think our journey into the Nyx has reached it’s conclusion. We leave Theros on a bittersweet note. A lot of heavy stuff happened here, but it was quite a ride. Next time we begin a brand new block, actually the last of the three-set blocks. So where are we going next time again?
…Oh. Tarkir. For Tarkir block.
*Turns red* Sarkhan.
Until next time, friends. Stay Magical.
