Theros Beyond Death/Trivia

Theros Beyond Death/Trivia

 

Card comparisons

 

Deck Builder's Toolkit

 

Planeswalker decks

 

Trivia

 

Cards throughout Theros Beyond Death heavily reference Greek mythology. There are also some throwbacks to the art and flavor of the Theros block.

Greek mythology

• The Akroan War is the equivalent of the ancient Greek Trojan War.
• Alirios, Enraptured is a reference to Narcissus.
• Allure of the Unknown is a gender-flipped version of Pandora's box, with the name Pantor bearing similarities to Pandora.
• Athreos, Shroud-Veiled uses coin counters, thematically representing the Ancient Greek practice of placing coins in with the deceased for payment to be carried to the afterlife.
• Atris, Oracle of Half-Truths, is likely a perversion of the oracle at Delphi.
• The Binding of the Titans mirrors a similar event in Greek mythology, when the Olympian gods imprisoned the older Titans in Tartarus at the conclusion of the Titanomachy.
• The Birth of Meletis is a reference to the legendary birth of Athens founded by the goddess Athena.
• Bronzehide Lion is a reference to the Nemean lion.
• The Callapheia (found in flavor texts), recounting the adventures of Callaphe, is a take on the Odyssey.
• Dalakos, Crafter of Wonders is a reference to Daedalus.
• The Entrancing Lyre is a common attribute of the Greek god Apollo.
• The First Iroan Games is a reference to the Ancient Olympic Games.
• The Fruit of Tizerus references the Pomegranate, which was known as the "fruit of the dead" in ancient Greece.
• The mono-colored gods are named with Homeric epithets.
• Haktos the Unscarred is a reference to Achilles.
• Heliod's Punishment alludes to Hyperion's imprisonment in Tartarus, as well as Atlas securing the heavens and Sisyphus carrying a rock for all eternity.
• Ilysia (Ilysian Caryatid) mirrors Elysium or the Elysian Fields, the abode of the blessed in the lower world.
• Impending Doom is a reference to the Sword of Damocles
• Klothys, God of Destiny, is a take on Clotho, one of the Greek Fates.
• The art of Klothys's Design references the story of Orpheus and Eurydice.
• Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger is similar to the titan Cronus who devoured all his children.
• Kunoros, Hound of Athreos is a take on Cerberus, guardian of the Underworld. Mechanically, it prevents creatures from escaping the graveyard, nor players from casting spells from it, which mirrors the myth.
• The Labyrinth of Skophos is a play on the Labyrinth of Knossos.
  • The Skophos Maze-Warden references the Minotaur in that labyrinth, the monster eventually killed by the hero Theseus.
• The Mirror Shield references the story of Perseus and the gorgon Medusa.
• The Nessian Boar is a reference to the Calydonian Boar.
• The Ox of Agonas is a reference to the Cretan Bull.
• Phylias (Dreadful Apathy) mirrors the Asphodel Meadows, a place for ordinary or indifferent souls who did not commit any significant crimes.
• Renata, Called to the Hunt is a take on on the virgin huntress Atalanta.
• Mount Velus, where the forge of Purphoros burns, is similar to Greek accounts of Mount Etna.
• Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath's name recalls Uranus, father of the titans.
• Voracious Typhon references Typhon, a monstrous serpentine giant and one of the deadliest creatures in Greek mythology.
• Wings of Hubris is an allusion to Icarus
• The ability of the Woe Strider to scry after sacrificing a goat is reminiscent to the ancient Greek practice of haruspicy.

Throwbacks

• Daxos, Blessed by the Sun wears the mask of Daxos the Returned on his arm
• Grasping Giant is a Hundred-Handed One
• Rumbling Sentry is an updated and improved Silent Artisan
• The flavor text of Revoke Existence (Theros Beyond Death) references Revoke Existence (Born of the Gods).
• The art of Taranika, Akroan Veteran features the statue of Gideon Jura in the background. She creates an indestructible creature with base power and toughness 4/4, like Gideon Blackblade.
• Kiora Bests the Sea God references the fight between Kiora and Thassa, with the summoning of krakens and the theft of the Bident of Thassa.
• The two printed titans have the "titan trigger" from M11.
• Dalakos, Crafter of Wonders grants flying and haste to the Icarus analogue in Impetuous Sunchaser.
• Thundering Chariot sums the casting and equip costs of Chariot of Victory and has all its granted abilities as a 3/3 Vehicle.
• Bronzehide Lion is similar to bestow but with a death trigger.
• Return to Nature depicts the end of the Spear of Heliod and mentions it in its' flavour text.
• Shadowspear seems to have a corrupted visual design of Spear of Heliod. Linked to the storyline, it makes it full of meanings.
• Dream Trawleris a 3/5 Flying Sphinx with an attack trigger that can discard a card to gain Hexproof, like Prognostic Sphinx. Both were control finisher designs, but the Prognostic Sphinx made less of an impact than desired.
• The eight extant Theros gods without a card in the set are all referred to at least once in flavor text or card titles.

Miscellaneous

• The name Tycthis in flavour text of Ichthyomorphosis is a sort of anagram of the name card and the "flop" is a pun on the sound of something anticlimactically hitting the ground (such as a fish falling or trying to move after being transformed from an imposing human soldier). Some people add that "Tycthis" can be understood as "Did You See This?" (T-Y-C-this).
• Captivating Unicorn is the fourth monowhite common creature ever to have more than three power, coming 9 years after New Phyrexia's Loxodon Convert, an explicit color pie bend; the other two were Lorwyn's Lairwatch Giant (needing a larger size for / Giant tribal design) and Shards of Alara's Yoked Plowbeast (to assist with 5-power matters). Makindi Ox and Master Skald seeing print over next Standard cycle shows a more permanent change in philosophy.