Yzjdriel Fast Forward - mostly just quicken, tho does upside. conjure makes this an alright defense
7/10pacifistwestwoman Vengeant Finality - oh no kitty. good removal tho
10/10TheCatsEighthLife Expeditious Retreat - hrm this is in the vein of
Paradoxical Outcome, not picking up artifacts is a big deal, but picking up spells is a big deal too. think this one's too cheap
7/10korakhos Aylin's Triumph - how sensible this is depends on how cheap aylin planeswalkers are. a 3 mv aylin makes this pretty concerning and a 2mv just completely breaks it
8/10Aylin, Tectonic Rage - hmmm this is a tricky one, the ceiling is real high but the floor is real real low
8/10fungustober Quell Phantasms - a new member of the upside-Cancel family. conceptually it probably hits enough to at least be sbable, but it can probably freecast vs copies.
8/10foureyesisafish Monarcha Anne - this is such a wordy card. the +1 is a bit sketchy on a potentially 4 mana walker but overall its generally fine, maybe even kinda underwhelming for something that wants to be cast for like 6ish mana
8/10WindyDelcarlo Leira, Twilight Reclaimer - leira's a spicy reanimate but can fall into the trap of killing you on cast if your grave is too packed. Maybe let the reanimate pick a number instead of getting them all?
9/10test Order of the Final Sunset - a neat twist on a reanimate. fun that the order can keep itself alive by flashing it in on the same turn it dies
10/10ThatDamnPipsqueak Twist the Knife - pair of kinda niche uses which is nice for a modal. think this wants to be somewhere with -1 counters maybe more than +1
8/10patches47 Vulpinification - halfway between Diminish and Humble, tho Mass Diminish points to Diminish probably being overcosted, so looks good
9/10mrlozano Michi, Heart of the Pride - a very splashy tokens walker. the -2 should maybe have the tokens tapped because it does give two 2/2s that then defend their anthem pretty well.
9/10dragonspit999 Ride the Lightning - both of these effects are usually one mana with Draw a card tagged on, this could have used similar at two mana
7/10froggy Aelewin, One With Shadow - it is odd that Aelewin can't plus themself, even conditionally. They're alright as an mv3 walker beside that tho.
9/10mordecai/nox Meekness - front face is sidegrade
Sudden Spoiling in a color that actually makes sense, but i don't really understand the play of Meeknessing yourself and another player?
9/10Fleur Reaver of Myriads - a schnasty eldrazi with on point flavor
10/10gurfafflekins Thistle’s Intervention - thistle got some good tricks up her sleeve
10/10Dravos Argentium The Magnificent Manaweavers - i don't like that the -3 counterspell hangs around forever. the rest of this seems fine for a five mana walker, tho the density is a lil odd imo
7/10
The scientist looks to the new nightmare that has erupted across the battlefield, and without the monster inside her giving her a fair fight, she finally flees, unseen by the numerous creatures caught up fighting the other combatants.
The pirate clone is intercepted by her original. Their swords clash as they mirror strike for strike, until Thistle lunges to grapple the creature of Elsewhere. A gunshot splits through the sounds of fighting and burns a dissolving hole into the head of the clone, and the pirate rushes the rest of the living spell away.
Novek finally appears nearby the rift, unfortunately arriving at the most hectic stage the fight has seen. Extra moments slip in between each second to give her time to process all that is going on. Caught in the cloud of wild mana Jay and Iritola have created, the spell casts wilder than expected, and Iritola too is given the boon of seconds. She scrambles to her rune to divert as much of the explosive reaction heading her way as she can. The lizard’s spell had skimmed some of the power and given her some time, but it is still too much, too fast. The mana fills the rift, then overfills, then all rushes back out in a mana explosion. Iritola is flung into the air. She lands hard into the newly formed crater, breathing but otherwise unmoving.
The elemental girlfriends freeze before the horde of the undead for just a moment, giving the false Vidus time to close the distance. But hand in hand, neither will let the other falter. Energy flows around the Arena, sliding around the creatures of Elsewhere to empower their allies instead. Lightning flares out across the battlefield to lend a hand where it is most needed, and melting away at the vanguard of the undead army headed their way. Thorny vines erupt from the earth to ensnare the soldiers behind. For many, it only trips them up long enough for the sharpened hail to punch unsustainable holes into the conjured undead.
The false Leira scatters the real swarm and scrambles the information being delivered across the battlefield, but the real Leira was not going to make it easy for her. Everywhere, the aether birds and dragonflies melted away and the chaos of information began to slow. The false Leira scowled, and her form began to shift to that of her Entelan friend, pulling up the great length of the rifle…
A lance of sunlight streaks through the back of the gunman before a shot could fire. Leira reforms her legion of eyes into weapons, unaware of the actions of the Knight. The elementals scour the battlefield, now plowing into enemies rather than acting as reconnaissance.
Further afield, the geomancer faces her demons. But where the creature had hoped to inspire fear, Aylin answers with only rage, lashing out at the copies trying to draw upon her nightmares. She wasn’t going to let anything be scarier than herself anymore. She continues to pound at the ground long after the last of her assailants has dissolved to dust before finally turning her attention to the tear in reality and letting boulders fly wherever they may.
Atlani leaps from under the thundering steps of the copied Anne, but Nai is not as lucky, and the summoned cat is crushed back to nothingness. A swarm of summoned birds from Leira sweep up the giant, pecking away to buy the Mardu warrior time to recover. A red fog flows outward from her, and seven arrows fly circles around the giant distracted by swatting away at birds. Each of the arrows takes a different position surrounding her, and they all fly as one, piercing the giant to a pained roar. The false Anne turns her focus back to Atlani, but the smoke trailing behind the arrows is already forcing its way into the dissolving wounds and pushing its way into making new ones. The earth trembles at the geomancer’s rage and the giant’s steps falter, causing her to land on her hands and knees. Even brought low and dissolving away from the smoke and arrows, a hand reaches for Atlani. A boulder flies by and takes the giant’s hand with it.
Nearby, Aelewin staggers at the detective’s chilling shot, but tries to return a hit of their own against the clone. More of the arrows fly from Atlani, one stabbing into the hand of the cloned detective to prevent any further shots being fired at Aelewin or anyone else. Aelewin scrambles away and the injured detective begins to follow after. Simul and Liactru’s web of aether lights up, zapping another hole into the creature’s leg and forcing it down to a crawl to give Aelewin the opening to escape.
Once high above it all, Yakana now falls to her knees as the copied Novek peels away at the spells holding the fox together. She tries to work her own magic against the lizard, but with every second the unraveling spell is draining her own powers away. So many of the others were already occupied. She was alone. Yakana began to shrink away just like the creatures of Elsewhere had before her. Her cloak drifted to the ground…
A large harpy tore through the fight. She may not have been able to fly, but at her talons, a torrent of razor-sharp feathers could. Hundreds of the feathers swirled and engulfed the lizard caster, shredding her away into dust through a thousand cuts. The lizard dealt with, Uil stopped to examine the cloak. Two pink ears popped out from under the fabric, followed by the rest of the laughing fox. She bounded away before the harpy could respond.
The copied cat's ears lay back as a tower of undead scramble into the sky to catch Vidus and shield him from her bullets. A rune uncertainly begins to trace itself around her as she continues firing to much less avail. The cloud of anti-magic billows around Vidus and ensures the shots are doing nothing at all. She turns her focus to the rune as Vidus flies for her. Magic crackles from the rune, only to evaporate along with herself as the gravekeeper and his wave of anti-magic come crashing down. After a few moments sprawled on the ground from the fall, a hand rests on Vidus's shoulder. The gunshot wounds cease bleeding. The blood mage offers a hand to help him up.
Jay tears by the two, wrenching a trap from some pocket or another and letting it fly as he steps into another shadow. The elf's silence is broken as the bear trap snaps its jaws around their leg. Their sword plants into the ground, but Jay has already spun before the creature can configure its makeshift crutch and a screaming red laser returns the copied elf to silence. He scans for people needing assistance. Leira's summons, Lothaire's reach, Simul and Liactru's web of spells, and Aylin's wild flailing of boulders already have much accounted for, but a mecha was dodging above it all, as well as the giant ant-girl trying to knock it out of the sky.
Missiles fly for the smaller reinforcements behind Anne. She swings her spear, setting the air on fire to ignite the missiles midflight. The mecha repositions to get get away from the multiple blasts. Jay fires again to cut off its escape from behind, forcing it into the one last alley of safety towards the giant. Her spear lashes again to skewer the trapped robot and leave it to incinerate amid the burning sky.
Closer to the rift, Argel hesitates at the sight of the electrified child, and she takes the opening to lunge with her spear, catching the dragon in the shoulder. From the sparking eyes, the Knight drew a story of their own, the glowing and crackling expanding to turn the child into the ferocious woman who hid inside her, growing further to appear as the malign spirit she had once been the last time she had tried to threaten this plane. Visions of sparks rained from her in all directions, presenting merely an image of destruction all around Argel, a promise of what his failure would bring.
The sky alights around the dragonborn, while the darkness grows around the visage of Oblay and the rift she guarded. Argel was frozen no more. Sword and spear and electricity crack as the dragonborn hacks away at the monster revealed. But with every swing, Argel grew faster. The swirl of blades would become a swirl of wind, a storm building among the flashes of lightning and thunder of steel. She steps back. Leira’s dragonflies are caught in the current of air. Argel lunges forward. The range of the tornado expands, while the calm eye shrinks around him. Thunder cracks. The winds howl. A thrown boulder is caught in the funnel and spins before slamming into the creature of Elsewhere. Argel hears none of it. There is only the fight. Argel lunges forward.
"The rift!" The Knight shouts,
"Only the rift matters!"Across the battlefield, the golden Knights all fall together as one as they ride for the rift. Michi follows behind, ethereal chains jumping for the remnants of creatures defending the rift, before they seem to fade away at the Knight’s insistence and the chains instead go for rift itself. Glass explodes, and an impossible creature of lattices and tentacles joins them on their warpath. With Argel’s storm covering their back, the cat and Eldrazi work on the rift, and the Knight rides for the copied angel nearby. Experiment[3] falls to the ground after the angel’s electric attack. The Knight tries to rally the final combatants who can close the rift…
The monsters disappear from Zero’s eyes. Her sensors still feel the creatures, everywhere, but the weeping wound in the Knight’s brighter world had become the most threatening thing in the world.
Sealing it is the only thing that matters. She charges.
For Karina, fearfully watching at a distance, nearly everything, even her allies fade away. She wants to run, lest she be next, but the sight of Michi at the rift and a gentle mental nudge keep her still.
Sealing it is the only thing that matters. She walks, fearfully but with purpose, into the battlefield.
For Experiment[3], there was nothing to see. Systems were failing. He could still feel the creatures, everywhere, but the burning wound in his chassis had left him the least threatening thing in the world.
Sealing it is the only thing that matters. The copied angel soars for the Knight, prepared for any trick they’ve already wasted. With one final twitch, a pole weapon cracks into the copy’s knee as it flies past.
Sealing it is the only thing that matters.Chains wind around the lower segments of the rift. Mira’s Eldrazi pries at the spell and lashes out at the creatures still struggling to escape even higher up. As Zero draws near, her sealing spell pulls down on the top of the rift impossibly high in the sky. Several seconds behind her is a trembling Karina, and with the four oblivious to everything else, the rift slowly shrinks from hundreds of meters to tens.
But for the rest not caught in the Knight’s spell, five bone-white spikes break through above the Eldrazi. As they continue outward, the onlookers see they are fingers, connected to a hand, connected to an arm now also breaking through, one final creature reaching high above the fight for one combatant in particular, an unconscious field researcher among a bed of glass.
A wide red beam screams across the battlefield and burns into the pallid arm, through it and into the rift it came from. The arm recoils. The rift blasts away under Jay's laser. The rift closes in narrower at the Eldrazi’s efforts. The top of the rift zips down faster and faster. The hand pulls back into the darkness, scorched, but not dead. The tear in reality coalesces down to a portal, then a crack, then a scar. The last bit of black disappears beneath the ethereal chains.
And then, finally, everything is quiet.
Elsewhere…A hand idly spins amidst the oppressive darkness.
A lizard that flung banishing wards.
A charming princess, alluring the foolish to their leopardy death.
A reshaping machine that weaponized the very air.
A flock of eyes, protected by powerful explosives.
A blazing knight that dragged nightmares into reality.
A bombardier that turned lost comrades into bombs.
A growing ant with an army at her back.
A living shadow that feasted on the weary.
A twin-headed cat, with shifting weapons for claws.
A metallic angel, raining judgment from the sky.
A frigid detective with eyes on the back of its head.
A reaction that boiled over anything it touched.
A mirror-laden brawler who reflected attacks against it.
A laser-firing speedster.
A dragon that breathes lightning.
A king with an eternal army.
A body-warping aberration of insatiable hunger.
A fox that blasts away all inhibitions.
The creatures one by one flew from the idle hand.
But the student.
But the student…
A one-armed robot stood before where the rift once was, long after it had closed. Another still lay crumpled some distance away. A blood mage and an elf, each conscious to avoid the prodigal geomancer, worked her way across the battlefield, offered what medical assistance they could, and invited those who would stay for "another We Avoided The Apocalypse" party at the
Atlas Bakery.
Congrats to all our heroes, and seriously, thank you for showing up to this big wild mess and making it the best it could possibly be and being patient on how long that finale ended up taking x.x
For taking down the creatures of Elsewhere
and maybe becoming one in the process, I offer each of you who’ve made it here your choice of Trophy, to mark how your character chooses to remember the event.
Defender of the RealmWhile defending, you may design a legendary creature or planeswalker card of one of the defenders of the realm. (Novek, Atlani, Arandu, Rel or Leira, Lothaire, Iritola, the Scholar, Mira, Anne, Aelewin, Doer and Michi, Nadejda, Rolt, Chrysoplei, Aylin, Experiment[0], Jay, Argel, Vidus, Avis, Yakana, Simul or Liactru.)
Chosen of ElsewhereWhile attacking, you may design cards with coalesce (or union if you already have coalesce), and your Revelations get +2/+2.
Against Impossible OddsWhile attacking or defending a player with a higher Mana Value level than you, you may design cards as though your mana value was 2 greater.
RiftslayerUnlocks
Arena Spellbook: Elsewhere Invasion as a Conjure set.