Wizards revealed Surgical Extraction this afternoon (in the time of writing), confirming the existence of Phyrexian mana (or "phybrid mana," as I like to call it) and largely proving the Japanese spoilers to be legitimate. This is the second part of a two part article. You can find the first here.

Adam Spain has already written about the value of phybrid mana. He focused on the fact that it allows mana discounts in return for life payments. Incindentally, phybrid mana also allows cards to be played in off-color decks. This has very interesting implications for Constructed and Limited alike, making any given phybrid card function very differently depending on whether you're running its colors or not. Our first example even changes greatly depending on your opponent's colors:

Norn's Annex - 3{PW}{PW}
Artifact (R)
({PW} may be paid for with either or 2 life.)
Creatures can't attack you or Planeswalkers you control unless their controller pays {PW} for each attacking creature.

The Card: This is one of my favorite designs of the set so far. Phybrid mana is already interesting for the choices it provides and forcing your opponent to make those choices presents an even more fascinating dynamic. This is also yet another cool way of making a traditionally white effect seems very dark and Phyrexian. (Also, it's nice to see a defensive card that protects your Planeswalkers.)

Applications: Many people misunderstand this card based on its apparent similarity to Ghostly Prison. Ghostly Prison was a great card for control decks because you could play it on turn three, then your aggro opponent could attack with at most two creatures, and that would set them back on development. If you try that with Norn's Annex, you'll watch your opponent happily pay ten life and swing his entire team into the red zone. Norn's Annex is best when used in aggressive decks as a mirror-breaker: You drop it turn three and there's no way your opponent can race you. Attacking with even three creatures puts them at lethal risk. Annex should be played alongside Lightning Bolts and Koth of the Hammers; not Mana Leaks and Jace, the Mind Sculpters.

Spawning Shell - 3{PG}
Artifact (R)
({PG} may be paid for with either or 2 life.)
{PG}, T, sacrifice a creature: Search your library for a creature with convered mana cost equal to the sacrificed creature's, plus one. Put that creature into play, then shuffle your library. Play this ability only when you can play a Sorcery.

The Card: The more I think about this card, the more I like it. It's potentially powerful, able to be cast and activated immediately for four mana if you're willing to soak up a bit of damage. It allows for a tricky toolbox-style deck with a smattering silver bullets and rewards creative deck-building.

Applications: This will be a casual favorite and totally awesome in Commander and will see Constructed play. It seems better than Fauna Shaman a substantial amount of the time. Though I'm not sure what a Standard Spawning Shell deck looks like I can imagine Viridian Emissary - Viridian Corrupter - Vengevine - Acidic Slime - Primeval Titan - Avenger of Zendikar and we haven't even stepped into a second color. I am fascinated by the idea of building around this in Limited--another reason I'm glad for the change in pack order.

Screamwhip - 4
Artifact - Equipment (R)
Living Weapon
Equip {PB}{PB} ({PB} may be paid for with either or 2 life.)
Equipped creature has +1/+1 for each Swamp you control.

The Card: An obvious homage to Nightmare Lash, Screamwhip is almost strictly better now that it comes with its own body and has a much more flexible equip cost.

Applications: My first thought upon seeing this card was that Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon just got even scarier as a Commander. Outside of casual formats, this card is a sizable threat on its own and makes every subsequent creature you play into a monster. Between this and the Phyrexian Canceler, we may finally see Mono-Black return as a competitive deck.

Spellskitter - 2
Artifact Creature (R)
{PU}: Change a target of target spell or ability to Spellskitter.
{PU} may be paid for with either or 2 life.)
"I'll show Vorinclex that for progress you require more than just teeth and nails." - Malcator, Unifier
0/4

The Card: A creepy little wall who can mess with your opponent's removal and pump spells. It helps that you can use him while tapped out.

Applications: This isn't something you can just throw into a deck and assume he'll do his job--most of the time, you'd rather run another threat rather a conditional protector. However, between the early blocking and defense, I can see using this guy in synergy-heavy decks to protect key threats and combo-pieces. I'm not sure I'd pick him highly in draft, but if he made it into my pile he'd almost always make the cut.

Hex Parasite - 1
Artifact Creature - Insect (R)
X{PB}: Target a permanent. Remove up to X counters from that permanent. ~ gains +1/+0 until end of turn for each counter removed this way.
({PB} may be paid for with either or 2 life.)
1/1

The Card: The last of our phybrid cards, we have this guy. A very unusual take on Black's ongoing "counter removal theme," we have a weird Firebreathing X-Spell.

Applications: He's being seen primarily as a Planeswalker-killer with some utility against Tumble Magnets and Everflowing Chalices of the Standard world. You can search out with Trinket Mage. He has the advantage of re-usability, but if Vampire Hexmage isn't seeing play as an answer, I doubt that this guy will either. Hex Parasite has a ton of interactions, though, so I look forward to playing him in casual and Limited.

Invasion Parasite - 3RR
Creature - Insect (R)
Imprint - When Invasion Parasite enters the battlefield, exile target a land. Whenever a land with the same name as the exiled card enters the battlefield under an opponent's control, Invasion Parasite deals 2 damage to that opponent.
3/2

The Card: It's land destruction plus a strange basic land-hate function all on a random 3/2 body makes Invasion Parasite a deceptively deep card.

Applications: Sure, it does a lot of different things, but what do you use it for? Five mana is a bit of a steal for straight land destruction, he's usually not going to get much damage out of his Imprint ability, and 3/2 isn't large enough to be terribly relevant. He's definitely a beating in Limited, though, and I could see using him in Commander to exile dangerous lands beyond the reach of Crucible of Worlds.

Scrapmetal Fiend - R
Creature - Construct (R)
Scrapmetal Fiend's power and toughness are each equal to the number of artifact cards in all graveyards.
*/*

The Card: I am saddened by the fact that artifact Lhurgoyf is not, in fact, a Lhurgoyf. That said, this guy is aggressively costed and could see Standard play.

Applications: On the other hand, this guy might head for thedollar-bin. Maybe it could work in a modified Kuldotha Red deck? I don't know.

Fresh Meat - 3G
Instant (R)
Put a 3/3 green Beast creature token onto the battlefield for each creature that went to your graveyard from the battlefield this turn.
"Death is a scavenger's favorite appetizer."

The Card: An updated Caller of the Claw. I love the name and elegance of the wording.

Applications: I don't really see this working in constructed formats. Even if it resets your board after a sweeper, there are plenty of cards that do that without being dead top-decks in a subsequent turn. In Limited, this could easily be a blowout where you make a few trades while blocking, and then drop in a pile of beasts at end of turn.

Glistening Oil - BB
Enchantment - Aura (R)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has Infect.
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a -1/-1 counter on enchanted creature.When Glistening Oil goes to the graveyard from the battlefield, return ~ to its owner's hand.

The Card: Glistening Oil is... kinda weird; everything from the creepy and flavorful name, to the strange combination of three abilities. Put this on your opponent's creatures to slowly kill them while nerfing damage, put it on your own creatures to slowly kill them while buffing damage, or maybe even use it for some combination of the two.

Applications: This will see play in Commander, where infect is doubly scary and most creatures are big enough to handle a few -1/-1 counters. It's playable in many Limited decks for its ability to repeatedly kill 1/1s. Otherwise, I can't really imagine this being of use in Standard or other constructed formats.

Species Transplantation - 4U
Enchantment (R)
When Species Transplantation enters the battlefield, choose a creature type.
Creatures you control are the chosen type in addition to their other creature types.
"There is no word more worthless than "evolution" from the mouth of Vorinclex. The only one who knows true Progress is me." -Jin-Gitaxis, Core Augur.

The Card: Conspiracy never made much sense as a Black card -- Blue has always been the color of transformations and altering creature types. This version doesn't affect the cards in your library or graveyard, however it does add the chosen type without removing existing ones, which could be helpful.

Applications: This will see play in all sorts of silly casual decks.I can also see one awesome use in Standard: Choos "Ally" and Turntimber Ranger becomes an infinitely large beater with an endless army of Wolf Allies! Certainly not a tier-one tournament deck, still a fun thing to surprise people with at FNM.

That's it for this batch. I'll be keeping up with New Phyrexia spoilers and letting you know what I think!

---

Are you an MTG Fanboy? Then why not be like Jake and our other MTG guys and Write for Eye of the Vortex?

We are looking for a few good men with a strong voice to speak to the masses about Standard and Limited Formats of Magic. If you are a regular to the FNM scene or simply enjoy the theory behind the game and its meta, then join our staff and help make Eye of the Vortex The place to go to ease your MTG Cravings.

Spoiler Season is just around the corner. Get involved in the chase!

Email the Editor if you are interested!

---

---