Magic: The Gathering Phyrexia All Will Be One expansion review - The most powerful expansion since Eldraine?

As someone who has been playing Magic: The Gathering since the mid-90s, I was very excited to sit down and really sink my teeth into Phyrexia: All Will Be One. One of my favorite factions in the card game has another starring role, and there’s never been so much body horror in one set for the MTG!

Magic: The Gathering’s Phyrexia: All Will Be One expansion will release on February 10, 2023, and bring a wealth of powerful new cards to the game, alongside some classic reprints. While I was going through the set, I pulled in the boxes and packs that Wizards of the Coast provided. As such, I noticed a trend in powerful cards.

There are so many of them! I think there are some truly amazing offerings in this expansion. I don’t think Phyrexia: All Will Be One is stronger than Throne of Eldraine, but I think the power gap isn’t terribly wide. There are one or two cards that could be banned in Standard, so not as bad as Throne.

So how does Magic: The Gathering’s latest expansion hold up?

What is the story of Phryexia: All Will Be One in Magic: The Gathering?

Phyrexia: All Will Be One is the third part of the current Phyrexian Saga in Magic: The Gathering. Elesh Norn’s plan to conquer the Multiverse appears to be going well, now that the Phyrexians have Compleated some truly powerful Planeswalkers. So far, anyone who has come up with them has been defeated, but all hope isn’t lost.

A rebel force is preparing to lay siege to New Phyrexia. That the Phyrexians aren’t truly united could be what helps the heroes break through and overcome Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines, once and for all. It’s likely that some heroes will fall in the siege, but that’s the task they signed up for.

What products were reviewed for this Magic: The Gathering expansion? How did it feel?

Wizards of the Coast sent me several Magic: The Gathering products for the purposes of this review. I opened a booster box, the Phyrexia: All Will Be One Bundle: Compleat Edition, both of the Commander decks, a few Collector Boosters, and Draft Boosters.

Like all Magic: The Gathering packs, what I pulled was random. There are only a few things quite like cracking a bunch of MTG packs, and it felt like being back at my old regular local game store (LGS). I opened all the packs and boxes while streaming on Twitch, so it was all of my unfiltered thoughts. Having people around to talk about the cards was also quite nice.

As far as the average pack’s power? I got some truly fantastic cards. Sure, I didn’t get that one card I wanted, but that’s the nature of Magic: The Gathering! There’s a variety of power levels, but overall, I feel very positive about the direction of Standard.

There are also some very interesting cards for Commander and I could even see a few spread out towards other Eternal formats. There are quite a few that I can see being splashed into Legacy decks, like Minor Misstep, or Sheoldred’s Edict. I’m also a big fan of the potential The Mycosynth Gardens has.

Pair it with Urza’s Saga to grab a combo piece and use the Gardens to copy another artifact. While it’s not game-breaking, it’s an example of how you can use the card outside of the Standard meta.

New mechanics in Magic: The Gathering’s Phyrexia: All Will Be One

There are a few interesting new mechanics in this expansion. Some I think have the possibility for use again, and others that I’m not so sure about. Toxic as a replacement for Infect could be a far more balanced move on cards in the future. I’m not saying “remove Infect,” just, use it less, and use Toxic more.

Toxic (number) allows the attacking creature to give several poison counters based on its Toxic Rating, in addition to dealing combat damage. It has to cause damage to a player, though. Infect uses the creature’s current attack rating, so it’s easy to one-shot someone with it.

For Mirrodin! is an ability that I think could be renamed, or else it likely won’t be used again soon, except perhaps in March of the Machines.

You’ll find this on equipment, and when said gear comes into play, create a 2/2 red Rebel creature token, and attach this to it. Think of the classic Living Weapon ability — it functions the same way in Magic: The Gathering. It will probably just be renamed in the future and given a different token creature to equip it to.

Finally, there’s Corrupted, which I think could definitely continue to make appearances. It’s similar to Threshold, for those who are familiar with it. When you use an ability or spell that has Corrupted, it will trigger an additional effect if the target has at least three poison counters.

It rewards poison counter gameplay without requiring you to obliterate players in a few turns with poison. I think it’s a really interesting mechanic and hope it comes back in another set.

While not new, Proliferate, Flashback, and Affinity all return, as does Phyrexian Mana. A new type of counter was created in this set, oil counters. They are used in a wide variety of ways, from buffing a creature to closing out games with pure damage. I’m a fan, but I don’t see them going past the Phyrexians soon.

Strength of the Color Wheel

So, how about the actual colors in Magic: The Gathering? While I think that this is a powerful set as a whole, not all the colors feel especially great. Even with that in mind, I think even weak variants can have powerful decks.

For example, Red doesn’t feel so hot right now. There aren’t many cards in Phyrexia: All Will Be One that feel especially “must have.” The only amazing card that genuinely comes to mind is Urabasks’ Forge, which can set up some great stuff in aggro decks.

However, Green and Black are going really great right now. The former has a wide range of incredible cards across mana values, the Venerated Rotpriest, the Tyrannax Rex, the Bloated Contaminator, and the new Nissa. Green very well could be the strongest color in the set, but it’s really hard to say.

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Black in Magic: The Gathering features so many amazing traps and removal spells! Mono-black Aggro is one of the strongest decks I ran in the Early Access event. The Archfiend of the Dross carried games effortlessly.

For White cards, I’m a big fan of what dropped in this Magic: The Gathering expansion. Mondrak, Glory Dominus + White Sun’s Twilight is a brutal late-game bomb to win with. You clear the board, create a bunch of creature tokens, and double the number, because Mondrak. By then, he will already be indestructible, so he'll live through the boardwipe.

Blue is solid all around in Magic: The Gathering, with some amazing proliferation options. Tekuthal is a card I’ve already highlighted, and the same goes for the artifact, Ichormoon Gauntlets. You can run powerful proliferate Superfriends decks right now that can completely lock the other player out of making responses.

It’s very satisfying to take extra turns, after all. There are also plenty of amazing multi-color legendary cards, for Commander and otherwise. I think Venser, Corpse Puppet could do a lot in the coming meta. Even weak colors in this expansion can be useful in decks and there’s none that I think shouldn’t be run at all.

How are lands in Phyrexia: All Will Be One?

There are some fantastic lands in this Magic: The Gathering expansion. The “Allied Fast Lands” are back - Darkslick Shores, Seachrome Coast, etc. I also pulled at least one of each, so they don’t feel especially hard to get.

While Magic: The Gathering has several interesting, useful lands, the one that has the potential to be the most game-changing across most formats and decks is The Mycosynth Garden.

It can become a copy of any non-token artifact you have in play. All you have to do is pay the mana value of that card. Do you need another copy to make a combo pop off? It’s going to be easier than ever. This land is going to see play in basically every format - mark my words on that one.

The Seedcore is another fantastic land in this Magic: The Gathering set. It can tap for any color, only for Phyrexian creature spells, but that’s not the best part. If an opponent has at least three or more poison counters, you can tap it to make a 1/1 creature gain +2/+1 until the end of turn. Suddenly, those annoying Mite creatures are a bit more dangerous.

What are the strongest cards in Phyrexia: All Will Be One?

There are some truly bafflingly powerful cards in this expansion, and some of them are obvious, others, not so much. For example, Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines. She duplicates your ETB effects but stops your opponent from getting any.

Phyrexian Vindicator is the new Stuffy Doll! Any damage it takes is prevented, and that prevented number is dealt to any target (like another player). In sets where you can bomb the field with Star of Extinction, it’s going to be a one-hit kill in so many situations.

With as many artifacts as there are in this expansion, you’ll want to look at Gleeful Demolition. A great Red sorcery, it destroys an artifact, and if you controlled the target beforehand, you will also receive three 1/1 red Phyrexian Goblin creature tokens. What’s not to love?

And of course, there’s Venerated Rotpriest, a card I’m becoming convinced could be banned in short order. It’s ability to win games on turn 3 or 4, consistently, is horrifying. We’ve discussed it several times here on Sportskeeda, and it’s easily my favorite card in the set.

Fun combo pieces for Phyrexia: All Will Be One

There are also cards that, while powerful, also make other decks or combos kick-off. So, I wanted to highlight some of my favorite combo pieces that are in Phyrexia: All Will Be One. A great example is All Will Be One. While yes, I said Red isn’t that strong, this card is.

Whenever one or more counters is put onto a permanent or player, this card deals damage equal to that number. You can easily set up many infinite damage combos to win the game, especially in Eternal formats.

Tekuthal and Ichormoon Gauntlets are key to success in Superfriends decks too. Ichormoon lets your planeswalkers use +0 Proliferate, and -12: Take another turn. Then, Tekuthal duplicates all of your proliferate triggers. Any flavor of the Superfriends deck in Magic: The Gathering that uses Blue will use at least one, probably both of these.

Mondrak, Glory Dominus will be great in Commander and Standard. Anytime you create tokens, double that amount instead. You can also make him indestructible, so he just sticks around and makes things more annoying for your opponents.

In Conclusion

I love Phyrexia: All Will Be One, and its power level. It feels stronger than the previous sets, without feeling like it’s going to have five or six cards that will get banned in the future. However, there are a few minor complaints. The new foil types are gorgeous. But some of mine are already curving a bit, which should not be happening.

Sure, I can put them in sleeves, and that’s what I’ve done, but that doesn’t stop how quickly they curved. I also sort of wonder if there are too many “Chase” versions of cards. There are simply so many alternate art styles in this Magic: The Gathering set. I love the visual designs, though.

I also want to say I love the Commander decks. Both felt strong, and have the potential to be expanded upon. The mini Collector Boosters were neat, too. It came with two cards, and one of my pulls was Jace, the Perfected Mind (alternate art) so you can get good stuff in them.

They fit the aesthetic of the set, but there are so many. That said, I enjoyed the set, I love the alternate arts, even if I think there are perhaps too many. The power level feels solid, and I pulled cards across all the rarities that I absolutely loved. I feel good about Phyrexia: All Will Be One overall, and recommend it if you’re looking for body horror, horrifying demons, and powerful MTG cards.