Phoenix

Phoenix
Creature Type
	(Subtype for creature/kindred cards)
Introduced	Legends
Last used	Final Fantasy
Scryfall Statistics
	cards
	token creation cards
	artworks

Phoenix is a mythical fire bird that turns to ash when it dies but can be reborn from them. Because of their association with fire, Phoenixes are red aligned creatures, and are the major source of flying in red, second to Dragons.

Description

Phoenixes in Magic: The Gathering have the ability to return themselves from the graveyard to reflect their reincarnation ability. In early cases, after a phoenix has been sent to the graveyard from the battlefield, the phoenix can be sent to the owner's hand or back to the battlefield, with a hefty combined cost to put it back into action. Screeching Phoenix is the only phoenix that does not, for reasons listed below.

Recent designs use unusual triggered abilities to return it at lower mana costs, and many also now have haste. To avoid players using them as "infinite blockers", they either require things other than mana, enter tapped, have a vulnerable state, are forced to attack, or outright can't block.

Due to their recursive mechanical theme, Phoenixes are typically printed at rare, though some have had their rarity shifted to uncommon in reprint sets. Warcry Phoenix was the first phoenix printed at uncommon on the first printing.

Firestorm Phoenix from Legends was the first phoenix ever printed.

Storyline

Alara

Phoenixes are rare on Alara. One known exemplar was the Worldheart Phoenix who manifested during the events of the Conflux.

Arcavios

Retriever Phoenixs appear to be fueled by study magic.

Capenna

Syrix, Carrier of the Flame is a Legendary Phoenix from Capenna. Little is known about them, not even their sentience or whether they're organic, as they are visibly covered in metallic plating.

Dominaria

Phoenixes in Dominaria are found on Shiv (Shivan Phoenix), Jamuura (Bogardan Phoenix) and Keld (Firewing Phoenix). The Keldons believe the phoenix to be an omen of war, and when they nest in a volcano, it means a hundred years of war.

Ikoria

Everquill Phoenixes exist on Ikoria. Unlike the lore for many phoenixes, they appear to be reborn from feathers rather than eggs or live rebirth.

Innistrad

A single phoenix has shown up in Innistrad, Sunstreak Phoenix. No lore for it has been revealed, but it resembles a heron, which is a sacred bird in the human religions of the plane, possibly a solar counterpart to Moon Heron and on the side of humanity against the darkness.

Ixalan

Phoenixes live on the continent of Ixalan on the plane of the same name.^[1] They resemble owls instead of the eagles common on other planes. The people of the Sun Empire call them sunbirds and believe them to be messengers of Tilonalli, embodying the destructive aspect of the sun but also the rebirth that follows. Legends hold that somewhere within the mountains sleeps Xuatl — a scaled bird formed from the sun's fire. Xuatl molts its skin and feathers during the summer months, often setting the trees and slopes ablaze.

Kamigawa

Phoenixes are introduced in the card Forgeborn Phoenix. Unlike the Fenghuang-inspired phoenixes of Shenmeng, these can still be reborn. They appear to instead resemble cranes and draw on Japanese crane symbolism. It is unclear if they are kami like dragons or kirin, although the only known Kamigawan phoenix is an artifact creature that appears to have been built by the artisans of Sokenzanshi.

Mirrodin/New Phyrexia

Phoenixes made entirely out of the fire with very few hints of any biological remnant lived at Kuldotha.

After the Phyrexianisation of the plane, the Mirrans saw the fire-birds as a symbol of hope, and the Phyrexians saw phoenixes as an omen of death.^[2]

Shenmeng

Phoenixes are fire-elemental birds similar to the mythological Fenghuang, co-existing with actual red-aligned bird spirits (probably an allusion to the distinction between the Fenghuang and Vermillion Bird). They were born from the Ancestor Dragon Yinglong, and although they are more graceful and elegant than the phoenixes of other planes, they have been seen just as prone to senseless violence. The Fenghuang are known as birds of fire and the sun, like Western Phoenixes, but the association with rebirth is not present, and so the Screeching Phoenix does not recur itself.

Rath

Shard Phoenixes who appeared to be partially made out of flowstone existed on Rath before the Rathi overlay. It is unknown if any survive in Dominaria.

Ravnica

The only known phoenix of natural origin in Ravnica was the Skarrgan Firebird, who lived in the Gruul Clans territory of Skarrg.

Arclight Phoenix

An Arclight Phoenix is variously said to be a byproduct of a lightning strike on an aviary, a mishap to create a translocation device, or a successful attempt to create an elemental creature in the form of a majestic bird.

Whatever its origin, an arclight phoenix looks like a bird of prey formed entirely of electrical energy. Lightning fans out behind it as it bolts from place to place through the sky, making up in speed what it lacks in grace and majesty. It seems happiest during natural thunderstorms, as it darts among the clouds, gliding alongside thunderbolts.^[3]

Another such phoenix on Ravnica is a Lamplight Phoenix; as arc lights are lamps that generate plasma in their function, it appears to be a phoenix of the same origin.

Tarkir

Tarkiran Phoenixes are among the creatures that live in the mountains near the lands of the Jeskai and Temur. Adept at using morph magic to disguise themselves in swirls of draconic magic, they ambush their prey when they do not expect it. Their wings are fiery, and they leave trails of flame behind them. When they die, they are reborn stronger and without previous injuries.^[4]

In the original timeline, the mantis rider Kuhnde managed to defeat a phoenix and hoped to train it as a mount. In the current timeline, no phoenixes have been observed.

Theros

Theran Phoenixes make their nests within the craters of volcanoes and are therefore associated with Purphoros. A phoenix lays just one egg during its centuries-long life, at the end of which it plunges itself into the volcano near which it lives. On that day, the egg hatches, and a new phoenix is born.^[5]