Grixis - The Stagnant Dregscape | Magic: The Gathering Lore

this video is sponsored by Dragon shield your destination for the best sleeves deck boxes and accessories in the Multiverse purchases through the affiliate link below help the channel grow and improve Alara once was whole but long ago the sundering shattered the plane into five shards that drifted just beyond each other's reach as the shards migrated they slowly took on new shape New Life New Order Mandalay lines were severed denying each Shard access to two colors of Mana which allowed those remaining to Surge unfettered one such charge severed its anchoring tethers to White Mana order dissolved unity and Community forgotten the healing balm of Life stifled The Shard was likewise stripped of its green Mandalay lines Vigor lost reverence for the natural faded the strong pulse of Vitality weakened here all in abundance are death and Decay here the landscape has eroded the natural life cycle has stagnated the invigorating surge of growth and light has been cast Over choked by sulfurous fumes of toxic waste here ancient necropolis crumble their extensive Crypts lie empty for those long dead have risen from Eternal Slumber here skeleton shamble vampires take to the skies and demons gather Souls corrupt by Promises of power here life has been Twisted into a gruesome Macabre mockery this is The Shard of grixes [Music] crixus is a Shard richly endowed with reserves of black mana and is thus strongly influenced by this color's ideals death Reigns Supreme Over the fetid swamps and still waterways of grixes so much so that most denizens lurking are not truly alive but rather creatures born from undeath powerful necromancers raise buried corpses and command skeletal Legions with which to wage war on another Afflicted vampires soar high above the mountains and Ashen clouds tracking what little life remains a sentiment of this plagued world is given to us in the flavor text of fleshbag marauder grixis is a world where the only things found in abundance are death and Decay corpses polar and part are the standard currency among necromancers and demons grixis is equally ruled by ambition as black Mana corrupts countless shapes dark desires and reveals a Cutthroat selfishness that dominates the land greed and personal gain are Monumental driving forces rendering The Shard incapable of a structured society as all seek only their own betterment black supported in its violence and Anarchy by the presence of red Mana hatred and Loathing are fueled by the passions of red as the undead recklessly Slaughter another and zealously hunt the few living that remain on crixus demonic overlords wield fire and death magic to melt foes which we see Illustrated in the card blightening while blood cultist highlights the significance of sangamancy or blood magic to reinvigorate bodies devoid of life red also lends individualism and freedom which only fuels the existing Anarchy that's a fuses krixus not bound by law the only hierarchy that exists is founded on strength cunning and self-preservation Red's hot tempers and raw emotions are cooled by the presence of blue Mana blue offers Insight calculus and prognostication to further the Ambitions of black Mana deceit and subterfuge are employed by Blue aligned Mages to realize their goals illusionists call on stagnant oceans to feel spells necromancers and liches divine portents through skeletal scrying and flesh is not all upon which the horrors of grix's feast the mind is a delicious morsel as thought is equally devoured this is beautifully Illustrated in the card Nemesis of Reason which shows an incomprehensible horror and whose flavor text reads words describing it fail Pages relating it shrivel Tales recounting it and when taken together these three colors result in a toxic realm devoid of life and largely denuded of Natural Resources It's A Shard gripped with anger and dark scheming where death is abundant civilization greatly lacking and Corruption seeps from landscape into Soul a truth displayed in the art and flavor text of grix's Panorama which reads there is no height above grixis that is free from the stench of death while the text of wretched banquet economically summarizes the reality of Life on The Shard in which the traitor King cedris remarks the meek inherit nothing but grixes is just as easily defined by what it lacks without the influence of white Mana ideas of order Authority and structure have dissolved into Lawless Anarchy ruled only through instinctual desires such faulted morals as honor and Duty have been supplanted by hubris and duplicity we hear this in the flavor text of grix's charm so many choices shall I choose loathing hate or malice today life and healing manifest in white are nowhere their influence absent the acute Pains of which are only exacerbated by the loss of green Manna both colors Foster growth preserve the living and inject Vitality into life's Circle to continue its natural cycling without green forests have withered Fields have long since fallowed and a cradling Embrace of verdant Essence has depleted what results is a Shard crippled by inertia where nothing new Grows Where what few shreds of life that remain are constantly and often gruesomely recycled Without End we hear this in the flavor text of Agony warp which reads life's Circle has become inverted in brixis the same energy is endlessly recycled and becomes more stagnant with each pass es is a foul Shard a husk that at its very core stands lifeless this is cleverly represented in the unearth mechanic present on several cards tied to it it portrays both the skill of the shard's necromancers to reanimate dead creatures and also the pained grotesque form of immortality and Nate in such Abominations this can be found on grixes and inherent in the land itself the landscape of grixis is filled with haunted Moors drag heaps of skeletal and rotten remains petrified by lava flows and Misty Waters whose murky depths are unknown it offers little respite and much Danger the dominant land mass of The Shard is known as the dragscape a putrid amalgamation of boneyards necromantic dumping grounds ruins of ancient eroded cities still bogs and Meandering rivulets of magma its foulness seeps into everything and instills those dwelling within with gruesome intimations the dragscape is a temporary resting place for grixes Dead who are both willing and unwillingly stirred from their Slumber to return as reanimated Corpses it's a horrid fate but keeps the unnatural cycle of death on grix's churning we see it Illustrated in the shard's planar card and the Abominations found underneath the refuse in cards like Drake breather and dregscape zombie whose flavor text reads the undead of grixes are fueled by their hatred of the living it's no wonder this landscape attracts all manner of liches and wizards who summon Undead to realize their ambition several Stony skeletons dot the dregscape remnants of cities lost after the sundering that have now become necropolises in Havens for the most ambitious on grixis the most notable is hydraxis Fortress of Lich Lord cedris the traitor King long ago sidraxis was the kingdom of vithia's beating heart but the sundering shattered order and allowed evil purchase Vivia couldn't stop the Relentless March of demons and Undead but they refused to submit cedris realizing his people couldn't claim victory betrayed his station and made a pact with demons for immortality he opened sardaxis's Gates allowing ruthless Slaughter and blood spilling to flood into a city and devastate his people in want and Massacre earning himself the moniker of Traitor King in the process this tale is related in the art and text of crumbling necropolis they say the ruins of sidraxis were once a shining capital and vithya now it's a blight a place to be avoided by the living unks is another Bastion of undeath notable for its zombie Wizards and the demons who rule it which we can see in archdemon of unks whose text reads the necropolis Adams was once a living City its streets untrodden by Death the half-sunken ruin of cataract lies at the boundary of the dregscape where rotten land gives way to an equally festering ocean Horrors like the Cataract creeper and parasite lurk in its shattered labyrinthine passageways awaiting an opportunity to devour stray thoughts and unsuspecting prey the water surrounding the necropolis are patrolled by benthic behemoths as is the case in Cataract Leviathan while the shoreline is home to all manner of rancid beasts hoping to snatch tasty morsels of still living flesh we see this in the card's sure Snapper whose flavor text reads cathari the sickly Avon of grixis have learned that the corpses by the shoreline are more trap than treat Beyond the Horizon lies in archipelago of refuse or the cathari roost Adept scavengers cathari flit along toxic clouds to scrape what little flesh remains on Rotten bones then dump them as the flavor text to Bone Shard states in the bone heaps their emaciated figures are seen in cathari's creature and bomber On A Shard like grixes where pestilence Reigns and stagnation permeates life force is a precious ever dwindling commodity its Essence called this acts as currency between all manner of Undead who use its Vitality to invoke Arcane incantations and extend their own miserable immortality we see the capture of this in the illustration of absorb this while the flavor texts of bone splinters highlights its import witches of the split eye coven speak of the future where grixes will overflow with life energy for now they must Harvest this from the living to fuel their dark magics broadly grixis can be divided into two groups the few creatures that possess this and still live called vitals and the overwhelming majority of Undead that shamble and scheme for its acquisition the aforementioned cathar a number among vitals as dugrixus's ogre populations who due to their toxic environs have grown bizarre mutations as seen in incurable ogre and fire field ogre the former flavor text grants insight to their nature each mutation causes the incurables to look vastly different from one another they are left with only one thing in common their insatiable lust for the slaughter the largest contingent of vitals are the human bands of Nomads called vithians their name hearkens to the ancient Kingdom of luthia whose lineage they can trace but has long since died out even in memory vithians are Mobile by necessity their holdouts in shelters called hermitages are incessantly under Threat by roving demons or Undead Legions to whom the scent of this is an irresistible Allure they must make haste to avoid a ghastly demise the vitals fight a losing battle on grixes death can be delayed but never denied to ensure survival vithians are practiced in the Arts of Illusion in misdirection their very lives dependent on cunning we see this in cards like brixis Illusionist in battle mage the flavor text of swerve highlights vidya's desperation we can't beat the necromancers in number or raw power we must beat them with Ingenuity and timing while the vitals eke out a paltry existence in fear of predation Christmas is Undead lock another in battles of will an ambition to extend their personal influence the most powerful of Undead are winged horned domineering demons vile manifestations of black Manna their desires unbounded their schemes unfathomable demons represent a Darkness few can oppose they use fists to cast spells that enhance their power they use lies and deceit to draw in ambitious supplicants with false promise and they vehemently attack all who challenge their Authority we see their cruel Visage on display and extractor demon and defiler of Souls the flavor text meanwhile of Prince of thralls highlights a demon's ruthlessness there are none alive that I cannot Crush there are none dead that I do not command all manner of creatures Bend knees before their demonic overlords and seek to Curry favor but a demon's largest is fickle and inflicting as the text of yoke of the damn reads the Demon's yoke is part leash partners perhaps the most powerful of demonic entities is a peculiar mixed with a dragon mouthful Gore is possessed of demonic knowledge and draconic spite beneath demons sit the levitating host of vampires who Dart across the skies and descend on unsuspecting prey full of both nourishing this and electable blood they're a rare sight only referenced in blood Tyrant and vein drinker but as with most vampires they grow stronger with each corpse drain Undead Barons Warlords and necromantic wizards known as liches are common across grixes and command a great deal of power they carve up the landscape into Petty kingdoms necropolis city-states and when not promoting their own machinations often attend to the schemes of demons their ability to summon and Lead Legions of the undead is highlighted in the abilities of Lich Lord of unks while death Baron's flavor text reads for The Necromancer Barons killing and recruitment are one and the same the most infamous of Lich Lords is the aforementioned traitor King cedris who rules a vasfoth of territory from within his Undead Bastion of sidraxis the most abundant Undead are the thousands of poor souls that have been magically reanimated time and again as zombies to unthinkingly carry out the whims of their masters bones skeletons heaps of putrid flesh are all reborn denied the satisfaction of peaceful Oblivion they're killed reconstituted and revived in an endless cycle of undeath we see their nightmarish appearance Illustrated in shambling remains an infectious horror zombies have little faculty no concern for their own preservation and no will they're creatures of deplorable Instinct noted in the flavor text of zombie Outlander The Ripe smell of Life drifted Into grixes the Dead cut the scent and with Reckless hunger followed it back into John with the coming of the conflicts Alaris shards so long isolated merge again in a tempestuous Maelstrom that roils the landscape that redefines reality grixis is buffeted by waves of vital growth and vigorous life force as green and White Manna surge across the dragscape the reconnection to these colors of Mana breaks crixus free from the degenerative stagnation of death as life once again offers renewal green Mana invigorates the land as powerful forces of nature till depleted soils mitigate blight and cultivate growth we see the blooming of A Shard largely withered in the art of trace of abundance where both green and white Mana work to reclaim a skeletal necropolis white Mana supplements Green in establishing a new life cycle to grixes but it also brings order and stability to A Shard dominated by chaotic ambition through swordpoint diplomacy banned Scouts and soldiers sojourn into the putrid swamps of The Shard Benton zealous Crusade against un death they viewed the Abominations of grixes as anathema to their own existence and fervently strike against demon and Lich Lord alike which we see in cards like ban sureblade while the flavor text of zealous persecution sheds light on band's war with grixes and reads jiarik returned from grix's changed a haunted look in her eyes she destroyed them with an Unholy Glee that made me shudder but the conflux is not a unidirectional exchange and just as grixis is molded by intake of new Mana so too does it export death ambition and toxic pestilence to the other shards the sweet nectar of this runs rampant through Naya Banton peaking voracious appetites and the desire to feed within all Undead on grixes they leave The Shard by thousands to slaughter feed terrorize corruptance like their thirst which we see in the zombie Outlander while the card voices from the void illustrates the painful tumult Unleashed when millions of the Damned pour forth with such swirlings of new energies and revitalized life the vithians and other survivors once more have hope of Escape or victory over on death while scheming Lich Lords tap into surges of Mana to fuel new devastating spells as seen in flesh former whose text reads necromancers who discovered the news sources of Mana were quick to dream up new nightmares with them an in Idris Maelstrom wielder an ogre wizard forced into the chaotic Maelstrom who became a conduit of its raw volatile Energies A Shard of rot and Decay it's a land ripe with pestilent stagnation a land dominated by ambition its preserves loathing selfishness and misery it's a land crippled by undeath imprisoned by greed all across demons strike infernal contracts necromancers raise armies of zombies and Untold Horrors lurk in fetid Marshland few living fear constantly for their lives as they are surrounded by the consequences of death will grixes be reclaimed and renewed with the conflicts will the soldiers and angels of band say vithia from demise or will the cold grip of undeath remain and even infect Lands Beyond with vile sickness that is characteristic of grixes thanks so much for watching and listening to The Shard of grixis explained and that wraps up our series exploring the shards of the Lara now I want to hear from you let me know your thoughts on grixis's Undead hordes which Shard is your favorite as well as suggestions for future videos in the comments below and if you're a fan of lore and storytelling be sure to subscribe to the channel check out the podcast or the blog where content is uploaded frequently again a huge shout out to all of my patreon supporters over on patreon your patronage means the world to me and helps the channel grow and improve if you're interested in becoming a lore luminary for access to me a great Community written scripts and early video drops check out patreon.com until next time go forth and explore the lore [Music] thank you foreign foreign [Music]

Channel: The Lorebrarians

Views: 12,653

Keywords: Grixis, Lorebrarians, Magic: The Gathering

Id: MI6CONLkl2E

Length: 19min 49sec (1189 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 24 2023