What is Toxic in Magic: The Gathering? New keyword revealed and explained

One of the least popular keywords in Magic: The Gathering is Infect, and now, we have something similar but more balanced with Toxic. According to many sources across Reddit, there have been leaks of cards that feature the Toxic keyword.

Primarily, it’s been found in Magic: The Gathering Jumpstart packs. These cards even include the new logo for Phyrexia: All Will Be One expansion. Predicting and faking a perfect logo would be incredibly difficult, so these are likely real.

As with all leaks, they can be fakes, so take them with a grain of salt. That said, let’s talk about this fun new mechanic.

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Toxic is a new keyword for Magic: The Gathering, but what does it mean?

One keyword associated with the Phyrexians in Magic: The Gathering has always been Infect. Many find it frustrating because of how it works. When a creature with Infect damages something, it deals them -1/-1 tokens, depending on how much power it has. If it damages your opponent, it also inflicts the corresponding amount of Poison Counters.

If you have 10 Poison Counters in Magic: The Gathering, you immediately lose. In Legacy formats, it’s incredibly easy to hit someone with 10+ Poison Counters in one attack, thanks to the raw power of Infect. But now we have a new version that’s a bit more balanced.

As shown by u/TheWizardofFoz a few days ago on Reddit, we saw a token Artifact Creature known as the Phyrexian Mite. It’s a 1/1 creature that can’t block and has Toxic 1. Some of the other leaked cards lacked an explanation of their ability, but this one has adequate text:

“Players dealt combat damage by this creature also get a poison counter.”

The Phyrexian Mite has Toxic 1, so even if you increase its Power stat, it won't deal out more Poison Counters. We can infer from this text that there will be other creatures with higher Toxic ratings.

That means if you have a creature with 5 power and Toxic 3, even if it hits the opponent for 5 damage, they also get 3 Poison Counters. Infect didn’t deal player damage normally. It would only grant Poison Counters, but this ability does both. It will be interesting to see if it’s a balanced power or winds up being just as overpowered as Infect was.

Toxic is a more balanced version of Infect, which debuted in Scars of Mirrodin. While it’s not a confirmed replacement for Infect, it appears to be the keyword/mechanic players will have to deal with in Phyrexia: All Will Be One in Magic: The Gathering in the future.

Later today, a preview will arrive from the Wizards of the Coast developers concerning what players can expect in this new expansion. It will probably confirm the existence of Toxic and exactly what it means.

Phyrexia: All Will Be One will launch on January 17, 2022, and become the next major expansion for Magic: The Gathering. It won’t be long before we see official spoilers for this expansion.