Mystery Booster 2 creates MTG’s most punishing new ability 

Mystery Booster 2 – Magic: The Gathering’s surprise convention-exclusive set – is packing both valuable reprints and boundary-pushing playtest cards. Kozilek, Compleated is the latter, and it comes with a devastating new ability that merges two of Magic’s most punishing mechanics.

Kozliek, Compleated combines the villainous threats of the Eldrazi and Phyrexians – as well as their signature abilities – into one nightmarish package.

The contents of these Boosters have been shared by fans who were in attendance at GenCon and, as of yet, no official confirmation on the cards in the set has been given by Wizards of the Coast. We’ll keep you updated on the veracity of these cards’ inclusion as we learn more. 

Kozilek, Compleated envisions a world where the Phyrexian invasion goes much worse for the assembled heroes of Magic’s multiverse. Kozilek, Eldrazi Titan of Distortion was originally dealt with by the members of MTG’s Gatewatch on the plane of Zendikar.

However, this card sees Kozilek corrupted and controlled by the forces of Phyrexia instead, suffering a similar fate to the gods of Theros and many other powerful figures during March of the Machine.

Kozilek, Compleated packages together some of the biggest strengths of the Eldrazi and the Phyrexians. This card comes with the typically steep mana value associated with Eldrazi, but with a subset of Phyrexian mana to potentially alleviate some of that cost.

Additionally, Kozilek, Compleated wreaks havoc on opponents when the card is cast, forcing them to discard down to two cards and gain 2 Poison counters.

Poison adds a ticking clock to the game that ratchets up the tension, and this discard effect is among the most punishing in the whole game, bringing to mind the hand-limiting of fellow Phyrexian Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur.

While its other abilities are unquestionably powerful, the real draw of Kozilek, Compleated, is its new mechanic: Annihinfect. The Phyrexians and Eldrazi are both horrifying for the denizens of Magic’s many planes, but Annihilator and Infect bring the terror to MTG’s real-world players, too.

The Phyrexians’ Infect hands out Poison counters, which cause an immediate game loss if they tick up to a total of ten, regardless of your current life total.

Meanwhile, Modern Horizons 3 players have witnessed first-hand how soul-crushing it can be to be hit with Annhilator, being forced to sacrifice most of your permanents, and reducing your board to a fraction of its previous power.

Annihinfect combines the very best (or many would argue the worst) abilities of these two archetypes, forcing opponents to sacrifice a number of permanents equal to the total number of Poison counters they have whenever Kozilek, Compleated attacks.

While Modern Horizons 3’s souped-up Eldrazi proved to be agonizing for many players to come up against, that hasn’t stopped the enthusiastic reaction to Kozilek, Compleated, and its overwhelming destructive abilities. As said by one Reddit user: “Annihinfect is awesome.”

Another commenter hoped to see Annihinfect crop up in further Magic releases: ” No lies, I kinda love that last ability. Come on Gavin make it real.”

The Eldrazi have been on the rise again ever since Modern Horizons 3, and this card shows that MTG’s designers are nowhere near done with the Eldritch archetype yet.

While Magic: The Gathering may have seen the last of the Phyrexian threat for the foreseeable future, longtime MTG fans will know that it’s hard to keep the threat of this corruptive plane down forever.

Even following March of the Machine’s finale, new Phyrexian support has cropped up in Modern Horizons 3, and now Mystery Booster 2 carries on that torch, even with a semi-serious tone.