Phyrexians Breaking the Rules

 Been a while since we've really done much MTG lore discussion.

So, the Phyrexians are starting to show up, and not only that, they're showing up on other planes, with some big and terrible developments for the folks in the Magic multiverse who aren't really into body horror as a lifestyle.

About a year ago, Vorinclex showed up on Kaldheim, but how they got there was a pretty big mystery.

After the Time Spiral block in 2006/2007, the Mending changed the rules of the multiverse. Planeswalkers prior to that time were godlike in power, capable of creating whole new planes with that power. But they also weren't the only ones who could travel between planes. The Weatherlight was introduced back in Mirage block as a magical airship that could journey between planes, taking non-planeswalkers with them. Likewise, the Phyrexians had been able to invade other worlds through the creation of portals.

But the Mending not only severely limited the power of Planeswalkers, it also shut off the old magic and technology that would allow individuals to travel between the planes. As such, for a long time now, the planes have been kept severely isolated except for the rare individuals who can planeswalk.

That changed with the War of the Spark, or, more specifically, when Tezzeret secured the Planar Bridge, built on Kaladesh. Taking the bridge to Amonkhet, Nicol Bolas' forces used it to transport his undead Dreadhorde from Amonkhet to Ravnica in an effort to draw planeswalkers from across the multiverse for spark-harvesting.

This meant, though, that a big post-Mending rule had finally been broken. Non-planeswalkers could finally, once again, travel between the planes.

But there's another thing:

During the Scars of Mirrodin block, the Phyrexians had captured Karn, the creator of the world that had originally been called Argentum, would become Mirrodin, and later New Phyrexia. They attempted to transform him into some sort of new Father of Machines - a second Yawgmoth, even. But Karn was ultimately freed when his planeswalker spark was restored - the spark apparently granting immunity to Phyrexian corruption.

But it looks like they might have worked out a way past that as well.

In previews for Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, not only do we have the second praetor on a different plane - Jin-Gitaxias shows up in Kamigawa, but we also have seen that Tamiyo, the moonfolk planeswalker who has helped the heroes of the Gatewatch in the past, become the first "compleated" planeswalker.

That's... a problem.

As someone currently running a D&D campaign that is built around an attempt by Phyrexia to corrupt Ravnica, this does really throw a lot of conceits I had been working with into doubt. On the other hand, my story is sort of set before this point in the official timeline, so maybe the Phyrexians just haven't figured it out (indeed, the Golgari praetor that the party is currently going after is experimenting with alternate means to open a portal, rather than relying on a misguided planeswalker whose proximity to the glistening oil she ferries from New Phyrexia has rendered it far less potent.)

It is very clear to me that MTG is building up to a new climactic event, similar to how the War of the Spark had years of foreshadowing, but this time, it'll be the Phyrexians. It has been over twenty years since Invasion block, after all.