Phyrexians

[Malvastor]

Are they gone for good, or will Wizards think up some way to bring them back?

I lean slightly to the latter, just on the grounds that they were such a flagship villain for so long.

[Kurt]

Oh I hope they're not gone for good. Despite being a literal plague on the multiverse, there's something about the Phyrexian aesthetic that I really love. I suppose everyone is different when it comes to what evokes fear (clowns don't bother me one bit, I find them hilarious), and to me the Phyrexians are a near perfect representation of what tickles my terror-bone. Also on a more metaphorical level, the Phyrexians kind of represent the parasitic connection we've developed with technology, slowly allowing it to control every aspect of our lives until we're unrecognizable as humans. Also a parallel with a lot of cult behavior. They're an interesting race/plot-point, for a lot of reasons. I hope we see more in the future

[Argstein]

Phyrexians are alright despite their possible affiliation with Skynet
i've always thought of them as somewhat similar to Eldrazi in their weird alien-like appearances

[Malvastor]

Oh I hope they're not gone for good. Despite being a literal plague on the multiverse, there's something about the Phyrexian aesthetic that I really love. I suppose everyone is different when it comes to what evokes fear (clowns don't bother me one bit, I find them hilarious), and to me the Phyrexians are a near perfect representation of what tickles my terror-bone. Also on a more metaphorical level, the Phyrexians kind of represent the parasitic connection we've developed with technology, slowly allowing it to control every aspect of our lives until we're unrecognizable as humans. Also a parallel with a lot of cult behavior. They're an interesting race/plot-point, for a lot of reasons. I hope we see more in the future

Part of me agrees... part of me fear them getting run into the ground when Wizards realizes they don't have any better villains...

Phyrexians are alright despite their possible affiliation with Skynet
i've always thought of them as somewhat similar to Eldrazi in their weird alien-like appearances

They do hit some of those "eldritch and incomprehensible" visual notes.

[Winter.Wolf]

Call me a carebear timmy but I didn't love the whole Phyrexians take over the multiverse theme of the sets that year. I am glad those cards are rotating out of Standard and I hope they stay gone for a few years. Too much of a bad thing is still a bad thing imho. lol. I know that might offend some but I like sets like Bloomburrow and even Thunder Junction more than those sets.

[Malvastor]

Call me a carebear timmy but I didn't love the whole Phyrexians take over the multiverse theme of the sets that year. I am glad those cards are rotating out of Standard and I hope they stay gone for a few years. Too much of a bad thing is still a bad thing imho. lol. I know that might offend some but I like sets like Bloomburrow and even Thunder Junction more than those sets.

Ughhhh freakin' carebear timmy...

Was it the Phyrexians specifically you weren't into or the "massive threat threatens everything ever" premise in general?

[Winter.Wolf]

I mean I despise Phyrexians on principle but it was mostly the overarching plot that bothered me the most. Keep in mind I may have some oddly quaint notions about not repeating themes often and being internally consistent in logic even when on the outside looking in there are glaring plot holes.

I think the idea that the reason the Phyrexians failed (from what I can see anyway) was their inability to work together when it mattered most, is a super done trope in the over all "The good guys always win in the end because the bad guys are stupid/greedy/incapable of controlling themselves long enough" way of tropes. Sometimes it IS a good thing but too much and it because this bell ringing that you just want to stop.

That said mostly I disliked the Phyrexian themed sets because the cards were irksome. If the cards made me jump for joy, or even just remotely were pleasing (there are a couple, eg: Elesh for 5 mana because Panharmonicon effect while shutting down enemy Panharmonicons.) The art is imho the worst in the magic multiverse (on purpose -- there are some ridiculously ugly magic artworks out there but they are I assume just colossal mistakes whereas this was planned and executed with glee.)

[Malvastor]

I mean I despise Phyrexians on principle but it was mostly the overarching plot that bothered me the most. Keep in mind I may have some oddly quaint notions about not repeating themes often and being internally consistent in logic even when on the outside looking in there are glaring plot holes.

I think the idea that the reason the Phyrexians failed (from what I can see anyway) was their inability to work together when it mattered most, is a super done trope in the over all "The good guys always win in the end because the bad guys are stupid/greedy/incapable of controlling themselves long enough" way of tropes. Sometimes it IS a good thing but too much and it because this bell ringing that you just want to stop.

That said mostly I disliked the Phyrexian themed sets because the cards were irksome. If the cards made me jump for joy, or even just remotely were pleasing (there are a couple, eg: Elesh for 5 mana because Panharmonicon effect while shutting down enemy Panharmonicons.) The art is imho the worst in the magic multiverse (on purpose -- there are some ridiculously ugly magic artworks out there but they are I assume just colossal mistakes whereas this was planned and executed with glee.)

I disagree about the art personally, but fair enough.

I hadn't got started with Magic yet when most of their story was running, so I'm not super familiar with the details of it beyond the general outline. Personally if I were writing it I'd have their defeat come as a result of their long-disunited enemies realizing that they actually need to unity to win- seems poetic since, as I gather it, a lot of Phyrexia's victories came about due to bouts of staggering disunity and incompetence from their opposition.