After it was pushed back an additional week to make way for Dominaria Remastered, anticipation has been higher than ever for Phyrexia: All Will Be One. Providing a return trip of New Phyrexia and continuing the Phyrexian story arc, Phyrexia: All Will Be One delivers what many players have long been asking for. Alongside returning to a fan-favorite plane, Phyrexia: All Will Be One also promises to have some genuinely devastating mechanics. For better or worse, Infect may be a remnant of the past. However, it may be getting a suitable replacement. First leaked earlier in October, the compelling Phyrexia: All Will Be One mechanic of Toxic has been leaked once more.
Don’t You Know That You’re Toxic?
Even before The Brothers’ War’s spoiler season officially started, MTG players were already looking forward to the next extensive set. Being spoiled in mid-October, leaks by Reddit user u/PeterboroughPro whipped the MTG community up into a flurry of speculation. Supposedly providing a look at Phyrexia: All Will Be One four months early, u/PeterboroughPro’s leaks understandably excited players. Especially since the leaked cards that u/PeterboroughPro showed off revealed the mysterious Toxic mechanic. At the time, many players were hesitant to believe in the authenticity of these cards. After all, it’s not uncommon for players to concoct fakes to fool and tease the community. Miraculously, while initially trusted, u/PeterboroughPro’s leaks would go on to essentially be confirmed by Wizards.
Following a detail-rich announcement from Wizards, several parts of u/PeterboroughPro’s leaks were shown to be accurate. This confirmed that Toxic would be a major mechanic in Phyrexia: All Will Be One. However, as exciting as this unexpectedly early reveal was, there was one little problem. While we knew that Toxic (appearing as Toxic 1) was real, there wasn’t actually any information on what it did. Thankfully, given its name and the fact that it appeared in the Phyrexian-focused Phyrexia: All Will Be One, we had a few ideas. Specifically, Toxic was assumed to be the new and improved version of Infect from Scars of Mirrodin. Instead of being problematically stronger than Infect, Toxic was considered a more balanced interpretation of the mechanic. Upon its confirmation, we assumed that a Toxic 1 creature would give a player 1 poison counter upon dealing damage.
New Leaks, New Information
While our initial guesses were ultimately just that, new leaks have confirmed our suspicions about Toxic. Revealed via a “Phyrexian Token” found in a Jumpstart 2022 pack, we now finally have Toxic’s rules text. As expected, Toxic 1 is a new Infect-Esque mechanic that dishes out poison counters. Here’s the rules text for Toxic, as seen on the Phyrexian Mite token, which was spoiled by u/TheWizardOfFoz. “Toxic 1 (Players dealt combat damage by this creature also get a poison counter.).”
As the quintessential Phyrexian mechanic, it was only a matter of time before an Infect adjacent mechanic appeared during the Phyerxian Arc. Subsequently, many players ultimately weren’t too surprised by this tantalizing reveal, especially after the prior leaks from u/PeterboroughPro. On Reddit, for instance, u/EmTeeEm simply stated, “Well that explains that. Toxic was on a couple of the leaked cards, but without reminder text.” Similarly, u/JuuzoLenz asserted, “I knew it had to be replacing infect, and this confirms it.”
Unlike the previous leaks from u/PeterboroughPro that were a little suspect, players aren’t as suspect of this token’s authenticity. After Reddit user u/photonicDog questioned “ how a ‘random card/token from the next set randomly dropping in 1/10000 set boosters as list slot cards and aren’t legal until that set releases’ would work as a preview mechanic,” other players pointed out that Wizards has seemingly been doing this for some time. Reddit user u/Swarm_Queen, for instance, pointed out, “they’ve been doing this since at least the first conspiracy set, IIRC.” Further confirming this theory, u/Salchicha stated, “the first time I recall this happening was a few people opening Magister of Worth in a set before Conspiracy, I just don’t remember which set.”
Not Long to Wait
Thankfully, while it looks like the Phyrexian Token being shown off by u/TheWizardOfFoz is genuine, players don’t have long to wait to find out the truth. While it was delayed a week to make room for Dominaria Remastered, the first look at Phyrexia: All Will Be One is now only a day away. Taking place on the 13th of December, this first look should provide a glimpse at critical mechanics and card styles. Hopefully, this should mean that we finally hear about Toxic from Wizards themselves at long last. If not, players will have to wait a little longer until Phyrexia: All Will Be One’s spoiler season starts properly. Mercifully that’s not too far away, as the spoiler season is scheduled to begin on January 17th, 2023.