Golgothian Sylex
The Golgothian Sylex was a massively destructive artifact created by an unknown Dominarian civilization. Urza used it to unleash the Sylex Blast and end the Brothers' War.
Discovery and use
The Sylex was accidentally netted by Yumok fishermen in 34 AR, and sent to Feldon in Terisia City for study. It was made of an unknown copper-like metal, roughly one foot in diameter, and described as a cross between a bowl mounted on a thick pedestal and a squat, wide-rimmed goblet. Its interior was carved with glyphs in several languages, including Thran, Fallaji, and Sumifan, making it a Rosetta Stone for the others.
Those glyphs named the item "sylex" and its origin "Golgoth". Without sufficient context, Feldon was unable to determine whether Golgoth was a location or a person responsible for the item's creation. He translated the Fallaji glyphs as:
| “ | Wipe the land clear. Bring the ending. Topple the empires to bring a fresh start. Call the end, fill with memories of the land. |
” |
Shortly before Terisia City fell to siege by Mishra's forces, some of its population escaped under cover of a sandstorm. Among them, Loran fled the city with the sylex, with the intent of keeping it away from either of the warring brothers, or anyone else that might be able to use it. She was later wounded, captured, and relieved of the sylex by Ashnod. During the final battle of the Brothers' War on Argoth, Ashnod passed the sylex to Tawnos, who conveyed it to Urza. Immediately prior, Urza had sparked during a face-to-face duel with his brother, and had become acutely aware of the scope of the damage the war had done to the land itself. In remorse, he activated the sylex.
The ensuing Sylex Blast destroyed both armies and the island of Argoth, altered Dominaria's climate to begin the Ice Age, and caused the downfall of most of Dominaria's then-extant major civilizations.[1]
Destruction?
It is said that long after the Brothers' War, the planeswalker Ravidel obtained the Golgothian Sylex through a bargain after a duel with Ash Warlord Embereck in a sunken city of Terisiare after the Ice Age. In Year One by the Reckoning of the Sages of Minorad, Ravidel appeared at Minorad and threatened to use the Sylex unless the five planeswalkers present — Liana of Minorad, Ash Warlord Embereck, Kristina of the Woods, Grenfell Mor of Golthonor and Altair of Coloni – promised not to interfere with his actions on Dominaria, to which they agreed. In the year 1281 by the Reckoning of the Sages of Minorad, Ravidel threatened to use it again, so Jared Carthalion and Kristina found the long-daggers that would destroy the Sylex. Jared used the daggers to make the Sylex vulnerable to a shatter spell, which finally destroyed the artifact.
The Cylix
In the Dominaria storyline, Karn found the "Cylix" in Yavimaya, sixty years after the Mending. He described it as a creation of Urza to fight the Phyrexians and planned to use it to destroy New Phyrexia.[2]
It is unknown if the "Cylix" in this story is the same as the Golgothian Sylex, but it is unlikely since its origin and survival contradict the known story.
Rules
Golgothian Sylex is one of the three "expansion hoser" cards, which originally affected cards printed with a specific expansion symbol. However, modern rules policy states that all cards are sharing a name are identical. These three cards have received errata to avoid referencing the expansion symbol, and use the names of cards originally printed in those sets instead.
From the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)
- 700.8b If a creature has multiple creature types for which it could be the party member, it is counted as the party member for only one of those types. If there are different ways to count such a creature that results in different numbers of creatures in a player’s party, it is counted in such a way to get the highest result.