Magic: The Gathering’s new set Phyrexia: All Wil Be One is heavily focused on Artifacts, including the continuation of a small cycle of spells, Wizards of the Coast revealed today.
The Filigree Sylex is the second sylex in Standard coming off Karn’s Sylex from Dominaria United. Both are legendary Artifacts that wipe the battlefield and offer additional value. Karn’s Sylex is a powerful sideboard piece in the format, able to shut down certain archetypes with its two static abilities. The Filigree Sylex has more potential as a main deck inclusion due to the game-winning potential of its activated ability.
The Filigree Sylex
- Mana value: Two
- Type: Legendary Artifact
- Rarity: Rare
- First ability: Tap: Put an oil counter on The Filigree Sylex
- Second ability: Tap, sacrifice The Filigree Sylex: Destroy each nonland permanent with mana value equal to the number of oil counters on The Filigree Sylex.
- Third ability: Tap, remove 10 oil counters from among the permanents you control, and sacrifice The Filigree Sylex: It deals 10 damage to any target.
This new Sylex supports a slower game plan but rewards the player by being able to deal damage to the opponent directly.
This two-mana Artifact can enter the battlefield on turn two and start accumulating oil counters throughout the game. During that time it represents a potential board wipe, which could delay the opponent from committing all of their resources until they can remove The Filigree Sylex. We’ve seen a similar impact with Karn’s Sylex in Standard.
If The Filigree Sylex is able to remain on the battlefield long enough, it can deal 10 damage to any target. In the late game, this is usually going to hit the opponent and likely finish the game. It’s a similarly potent effect to Bolas’ Citadel, another powerful legendary Artifact from War of the Spark. This effect could be online sooner when combined with Proliferate.
A useful application that will come up consistently in Standard is activating The Filigree Sylex immediately with no oil counters on it to clear the battlefield of tokens. There’s a ton of token generation in Standard from blood tokens to go-wide creature token decks that are receiving further support in ONE. This is a versatile Artifact that is excellent when played on turn two but still finds value when dropped on later turns.
Since The Filigree Sylex is a legendary spell, playing multiple copies is tricky because of the Legend Rule. This downside is mitigated because this spell wants to be sacrificed. It’s easy to aggressively cash in one copy and then follow that up by playing another.
Deckbuilders will be able to experiment with The Filigree Sylex at a ONE prerelease event starting Feb. 10 followed by a global release on Feb. 17.
