Introduction
The Magic: the Gathering Multiverse contains worlds of many different shapes and sizes. From the bustling Ecumenopolis of Ravnica to the haunted Gothic Horror plane of Innistrad. The Phyrexian invasion of the multiverse, which forms the backbone of the plot of March of the Machine, is giving many of MTG’s lesser-known worlds a moment in the spotlight.
We’ve seen cards depicting the crystalline crags of Karsus, the windswept skies of Belenon, and the fertile forests of Moag. One of the most unique worlds invaded by Phyrexia is Segovia, better known as the smallest plane in the MTG multiverse. March of the Machine is not the first time that this teeny tiny world has appeared in MTG lore. Just what is Segovia’s backstory, and will we ever see a full set take place on this pint-sized plane?
The Story of Segovia
Segovia is first referenced in the set Legends, released all the way back in 1994, on the card Segovian Leviathan. Segovian Leviathan is a 3/3 Leviathan with Islandwalk for five mana. There is nothing to indicate that Segovian Leviathan is tiny, quite the opposite seems to be true. A few whales, that seem small relative to the leviathan, can be seen swimming in the background of the card’s art.
According to both Mark Rosewater and Gavin Verhey, Segovia’s status as a tiny world began because of a recurring joke amongst MTG players who would mock Segovian Leviathan for being a 3/3 even though it is a colossal sea monster. Magic’s designers decided to take this joke and run with it, explaining the leviathan’s low stats by saying that everything on Segovia was small and that the Leviathan is merely a big fish in a very small pond.
After Segovian Leviathan’s appearance in Legends, there was a 15-year-long break where no other cards from the world were seen. We returned briefly to the Plane in 2009 thanks to the Planechase card, The Hippodrome. The Hippodrome reduces the stats of all creatures in play by -5/-0, mechanically shrinking them down to the scale of the world. Creatures with a power of 0 can be killed when the chaos symbol is rolled on the planar die.
After appearing in Planechase, Segovia then vanished from Magic’s lore again for another 10 years before the printing of the card Segovian Angel in Modern Horizons in 2019. The Hippodrome can be seen in the background of Segovian Angel’s art, and the card itself is a reference to Serra Angel. The two cards have the same abilities but, compared to Serra Angel, Segovian Angel has been shrunk down it is only a 1/1 while Serra Angel is a 4/4.
Now in March of the Machines, Segovia has returned once again…
The Invasion of Segovia
In a, slightly peculiar, Tweet Wizards of the Coast invited players who wanted to be stepped on to visit the world of Segovia.
Comically, it seems that the Phyrexian invasion force attacking Segovia consists of only two soldiers. Only their legs are visible as they wade through the waters of the world, with one set of legs in the foreground and another in the background.
The Battle Card initially generates two 1/1 Trampling Kraken tokens. Naturally, the Krakens are 1/1 to show that the world is tiny, although the fact that they have Trample is unusual. Trample is not an ability that is frequently printed on Blue cards.
Once Invasion of Segovia has been flipped, it transforms into Caetus, Tyrant of Segovia. Caetus is a 3/3 sea serpent (referencing the statline of the original Segovian Leviathan) that grants its controller’s non-creature spells Convoke and enables them to untap up to four creatures during their end step.
Caetus, Tyrant of Segovia seems slightly peculiar as it is pulls players in two competing directions. On the one hand, it wants them to go-wide and have lots of creatures in play, but on the other hand, it rewards them by making their non-creature spells cheaper. The Krakens the card produces are useful in helping pay Convoke costs, and the fact that creatures are untapped during the end step means that players with lots of creatures in play will always have lots of resources to get up to some instant speed shenanigans on their opponent’s turns.
Will We Ever Have A Segovian Set?
Unfortunately, for players hoping to see more of Segovia’s sights a full set based there seems to be an unlikely prospect. The Rabiah Scale is a tool used by Magic’s designers to determine how likely it is for a Plane to have a future, Standard legal, set based around it. Planes that score a one on this scale, like Dominaria and Ravnica, will definitely be seen again. Conversely, higher-scoring planes are increasingly less and less likely to have a set occur on them. Segovia has consistently been an eight on the Rabiah scale, meaning that it is unlikely to have a set based around it unless “the stars align“.
So, while it is not impossible, we probably aren’t likely to be headed for a full-on Segovian set any time in the near future.
Conclusion
There we have the story of Segovia. Perhaps it’s a shame that we’re not likely to have a set there any time soon. Perhaps the gimmick of everything being small would become grating quickly, or else simply would not be apparent given that everything on the world would be on the same scale. Even if the world won’t get its own set, it’s possible that we will see more snapshots and cameos of life on Segovia going forward. We have a Segovian Serra Angel will we ever see a Segovian Shivan Dragon or a tiny Colossal Dreadmaw? Only time will tell.
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