Glistening oil

Glistening oil
[[File:{{#setmainimage:Glistening oil.jpg}}|250px]]
Characteristics
Origin	Phyrexia
Status	Inert

Glistening oil, also known as Phyrexian oil or Ichor, is a viral substance engineered by the Phyrexians to spread corruption wherever it travels. It is both a contagion and a means of colonization, used to compleat creatures into Phyrexians and power Phyrexian machines as well. After the death of Elesh Norn, the oil was rendered inert and harmless.

Description

The glistening oil is composed of two main elements - oil and powerstone nanites. It is normally black but can also be of other colors like green and gold. These components can be forced apart under specific sound frequencies, something Urza, Xantcha and Ratepe exploit; Ral Zarek later rediscovered this method. In New Phyrexia the oil was further mixed with other fluids such as the liquid metal of the Quicksilver Sea and the necrogen gas of the dross swamps, so in art in Phyrexia: All Will Be One it is sometimes depicted as silver or green.

The oil imparts a genetic memory of Yawgmoth, Phyrexia, and the Phyrexian language, creating a throughline for the Phyrexian culture.

History

On Phyrexia

Oil was present on the plane that would become Phyrexia when Dyfed brought Yawgmoth there. As Phyrexia as a concept and civilization is Yawgmoth's creation and Dyfed claims that the metal creatures of the world could be consumed it seems likely this oil was once innocuous but later modified into a corruptive agent, and indeed once Yawgmoth's will becomes one with Phyrexia the oil is first seen having mutagenic properties it previously did not have. Still, the oil was not refined as a fully infectious agent by the time of the Phyrexian invasion of Dominaria, though the new infectious variant did make it to Mirrodin.

The Fifth Sphere of Phyrexia, called the Boiling Sea, was an ocean of glistening oil used by Vat Priests of the Fourth Sphere to breed newts.

On Dominaria

In post-apocalyptic Dominaria, black-aligned knights and wizards were tainted by the lands where Yawgmoth and his minions had been defeated. You could see evidence of this corruption in the black ichor that ran out of their eyes. In the Mending Era a sample of live, glistening oil recovered from Koilos is rumored to be preserved in the labs of the Academy of Tolaria West.

The Infection of Karn

Without knowing it, Karn carried a trace of the Phyrexian oil within him, inside the Phyrexian heartstone granted to him long ago by Urza. Karn left traces of the oil in his travels from plane to plane, including the artificial world that he created: Mirrodin.

The Infection of Mirrodin

The glistening oil planted a virus on Mirrodin that slowly spread. The first to be infected was Mirrodin's keeper, Memnarch. Unbeknownst to most Mirrans, Phyrexia was rebuilding itself, using their world as its host substrate. Mirrodin's metal structures and metal-infused inhabitants were a perfect breeding ground for the spread of Phyrexian corruption. As the nascent civilization of Phyrexia expanded in secret, it struggled to evolve a unified purpose, and the danger for the plane of Mirrodin grew until it evolved into New Phyrexia.

The glistening oil was the catalyst for the evolution of Mycosynth and was found in large quantities in the corrupted Quicksilver Sea. Kraynox, the Deep Thane, created a layer of glistening oil below Mirrodin's surface known as the Fourth Sphere (in addition to the Surface, Core, and Furnace). It was later taken over by the praetor Jin-Gitaxias, who drained the Quicksilver Sea above into it, creating a massive reservoir of glistening oil.

Jin-Gitaxias and his faction used the vedalken's blinkmoth serum to enhance the glistening oil, making it more virulent and able to proliferate through organic material at record speeds. The praetor also discovered how to compleat planeswalkers with the oil through research on Kamigawa's kami spirits and experimentation with the Reality Chip. These enhancements have made the oil harder for other mortals to resist, weakening Melira's healing abilities.

As New Phyrexia phased out of existence, glistening oil all across the Multiverse was cut off from its source. The compleated invaders ceased to function and crumpled to the ground.

In-game references

Represented in:

• Glistening Oil

Associated cards:

• Dreams of Steel and Oil
• Drown in Ichor
• Glistening Dawn
• Glistening Deluge
• Glistening Extractor
• Ichor Aberration
• Ichor Drinker
• Ichor Elixir
• Ichor Explosion
• Ichor Rats
• Ichor Shade
• Ichor Slick
• Ichor Synthesizer
• Ichor Wellspring
• Ichorclaw Myr
• Ichormoon Gauntlet
• Ichorplate Golem
• Ichorspit Basilisk
• More of That Strange Oil...
• Oil-Gorger Troll
• Oilskelion

Referred to:

• Befoul (Urza's Saga)
• Blackcleave Cliffs (Scars of Mirrodin)
• Blightreaper Thallid
• Converter Beast
• Ebony Treefolk
• Evangel of Synthesis
• Gixian Infiltrator
• Glistener Seer
• Gnathosaur
• Inexorable Tide
• Instill Infection
• Jungle Hollow (March of the Machine)
• Loxodon Convert
• Mirran Safehouse
• Mycosynth Wellspring
• Order of the Mirror
• Pestilent Syphoner
• Phyrexian Hulk (New Phyrexia)
• Phyrexian Rebirth
• Render Inert
• Rotted Hystrix
• Schema Thief
• Scoured Barrens (March of the Machine)
• Seraph of New Phyrexia
• Skyclave Invader
• Spread the Sickness
• Steady Progress
• Stormclaw Rager
• Toxic Deluge
• Tranquil Cove (March of the Machine)
• Unnatural Predation