Black Cloud of Death

[["Event Information",[{"data":"[[War with Phyrexia]]","label":"Era"},{"data":"4206 [[AR]]","label":"Date"},{"data":"[[Dominaria (plane)|Dominaria]]","label":"Location"},{"data":"''[[Apocalypse]]''","label":"Sets"},{"data":"[[Bo Levar]], [[Eladamri]], [[Freyalise]], [[Gerrard Capashen]], [[Guff]], [[Nadeen Dormet]], [[Orim]], [[Sisay]], [[Sivvi en-Vec]], [[Squee]], [[Tahngarth]], [[Urza]], [[Windgrace]], [[Yawgmoth]], and everyone else on [[Dominaria (plane)|Dominaria]]","label":"Characters"},{"data":"*Billions of deaths, including [[Bo Levar]], [[Eladamri]], [[Gerrard Capashen]], [[Guff]], [[Sivvi en-Vec]], [[Urza]], and [[Yawgmoth]]\n*Dominaria is largely left a post-apocalyptic wasteland struggling to recover\n*The ''[[Skyship Weatherlight]]'' is destroyed\n*[[The Legacy]] is completed and absorbed into [[Karn]], who ascends as a [[planeswalker]]\n*The [[Phyrexians]] are left catatonic and leaderless, and don't threaten the [[Multiverse]] again for centuries\n*The [[Null Moon]] is damaged, leaving it broken in the skies of Dominaria\n*[[The Stronghold]] is consumed by lava, sealing the last major portal between Phyrexia and Dominaria.","label":"Outcome"}]],["[[Timeline]]",[{"data":"[[Gutting of Phyrexia]]\n\n[[Black Cloud of Death|Black Cloud of Death]]\n[[Battle for the Mirari]]"}]]]

Black Cloud of Death
Event Information
Era	War with Phyrexia
Date	4206 AR
Location	Dominaria
Sets	Apocalypse
Characters	Bo Levar, Eladamri, Freyalise, Gerrard Capashen, Guff, Nadeen Dormet, Orim, Sisay, Sivvi en-Vec, Squee, Tahngarth, Urza, Windgrace, Yawgmoth, and everyone else on Dominaria
Outcome	Billions of deaths, including Bo Levar, Eladamri, Gerrard Capashen, Guff, Sivvi en-Vec, Urza, and Yawgmoth Dominaria is largely left a post-apocalyptic wasteland struggling to recover The Skyship Weatherlight is destroyed The Legacy is completed and absorbed into Karn, who ascends as a planeswalker The Phyrexians are left catatonic and leaderless, and don't threaten the Multiverse again for centuries The Null Moon is damaged, leaving it broken in the skies of Dominaria The Stronghold is consumed by lava, sealing the last major portal between Phyrexia and Dominaria.
Timeline
Gutting of Phyrexia Black Cloud of Death Battle for the Mirari

The Black Cloud of Death was an event on Dominaria during the Phyrexian Invasion of Dominaria.

Description

In the final, harrowing hours of the Phyrexian Invasion of Dominaria, the godlike entity Yawgmoth himself crossed the threshold between realms. For nine millennia, the Father of Machines had remained within Phyrexia, manipulating events from afar through his champions and generals. But when his invasion stalled against Dominarian resistance, Yawgmoth chose to manifest in person — not as flesh and bone, but as a vast, world-spanning black cloud of death.

This monstrous manifestation emerged through a portal located deep within the Stronghold in Urborg. Moments before the surrounding volcano consumed the fortress in molten rock, Yawgmoth’s essence took the form of an immense, oily, black cloud. It drifted across Dominaria, blotting out the sun, killing anything it touched, and reanimating the fallen as mindless servants of Phyrexia. Forests withered, cities died silent deaths, and entire armies were transformed into legions of undead warriors.

The cloud was not mere vapor but an extension of Yawgmoth’s will — suffocating, corrupting, and unrelenting. It was said that the cloud moved with eerie sentience, reacting to threats and seeking out Dominarian strongholds.

As Dominaria's last defenders faltered under the deathly shroud, multiple plans were devised to halt the god of Phyrexia. The Weatherlight crew, led by Urza and Gerrard, attempted to crash a captured Phyrexian plague ship into the Stronghold’s volcano, hoping to trap Yawgmoth inside. Though the volcano destroyed the Citadel and the portal was buried in lava, Yawgmoth rose effortlessly up around the plug, unhindered.

Urza's preconceived plan to kill Yawgmoth involved shattering the Legacy artifacts and Gerrard himself, whom Urza claimed contained countless heroic souls, to release their combined force upon the plane. This would leave an entire hemisphere of the plane uninhabitable. Captain Sisay rejected this, declaring it madness and comparing it to the destructive Sylex Blast of old.

The defenders then pursued a new plan, breaking open the Null Moon, actually an ancient relic of Thran origin that had, for millennia, gathered pure white mana — the antithesis of Phyrexian corruption. Sacrificing the Weatherlight to channel this immense energy, they struck Yawgmoth’s form. Yet even this ancient power, strong though it was, was not enough to kill Yawgmoth, as he hid his form in the cracks of the Urborg Volcano.

With hope all but lost, Gerrard and Urza conceived one final sacrificial act. Gerrard removed Urza’s Powerstone eyes — the same paired stones that had once sealed Phyrexia from Dominaria — and placed them within Karn’s chest, completing the Legacy Weapon. This would kill all three but would also hopefully empower the Legacy to kill Yawgmoth. As Karn, now the living vessel of the Legacy, activated this power, a sentient, radiant light erupted from him and the remnants of the Weatherlight.

The light expanded, filling the skies and piercing the heart of Yawgmoth’s death-cloud form. In that moment, Yawgmoth, in his madness, saw the light not as an artifact but as the soul of Rebbec, the ancient matriarch of Halcyon and embodiment of Dominaria’s spirit Gaea — the very force that had once defied him. His attempt to crush this light with colossal tendrils failed as the light intensified, destroying his black essence utterly and finally ending his millennia-long reign of terror.

With Yawgmoth’s death, the vast Phyrexian war machine collapsed. Across Dominaria, the once-relentless Phyrexian forces fell into catatonia, severed from their god. Survivors, armed with whatever they could find, dispatched the mindless husks. Even children were able to slay the fallen giants, their dominion broken.

Dominaria was left scarred, its landscape forever changed, but alive. The legacy of that final battle became a warning across the multiverse: even the mightiest tyrant can fall when met with unity, sacrifice, and the spark of hope.

In-game references

Represented in:

• Toxic Deluge (Commander Collection: Black)

Depicted in:

• Legacy Weapon (Dominaria Remastered, #229)
• Legacy Weapon (Dominaria Remastered, #450)