"Dyfed: The Original Phyrexian Tour Guide"

 "Dyfed: The Original Phyrexian Tour Guide"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Before the Brothers' War, Dyfed had a chance encounter with Yawgmoth, who at the time was still a Thran physician. Yawgmoth claimed that he wanted to find a paradise for the Thran, and it was Dyfed who ultimately led him to Phyrexia.

Not Mirrodin after it had been converted into a Phyrexian world, but the original Phyrexia—the plane that would eventually become the foundation of Yawgmoth's greatest ambitions.

Dyfed was also instrumental in opening a permanent portal to Phyrexia, allowing Yawgmoth to enter the plane and eventually fuse with its core.

Thanks, Dyfed!

You probably don't really want to know what happened to her afterward. Just know that her fate was about as Phyrexian as you could possibly imagine.

So, on to the card!

Dyfed, the Guiding Hand is another five-mana planeswalker commander, this time in the mono-blue variety.

And this is one I am actually excited about adding to my Atraxa Superfriends EDH deck.

Her +1 ability creates two tapped Powerstone tokens. That's pretty useful for powering out even bigger things, particularly artifacts. More mana is always welcome, especially when your deck is already planning to cast some very expensive toys.

Her second ability is a -X that untaps X target artifacts.

Now this is where things start getting interesting.

Imagine a whole collection of mana rocks waiting to be untapped. Or perhaps an Isochron Scepter with Dramatic Reversal imprinted on it.

There are plenty of possibilities here, and suddenly Dyfed starts looking less like a simple value planeswalker and more like someone who can enable some very explosive turns.

And then we get to the wonderful -6 ultimate.

You get to search your library for an artifact card, put it directly onto the battlefield, and then shuffle your library.

That is a very open-ended ability.

Portal to Phyrexia seems particularly fitting, considering Dyfed's history, but the best choice really depends on what you need at the time.

Mindslaver would certainly be high on the list.

A Blightsteel Colossus is another possibility.

Even something like Planar Bridge could be an interesting choice if you're looking toward the long game.

That's what makes this ultimate particularly appealing. You're not locked into one particular artifact. You get to find the tool that best fits the situation—and you get to put it directly onto the battlefield.

Dyfed is pretty high on my list.

Sorry about what Yawgmoth eventually did to Phyrexia.

But hey...

Thanks for showing him the way!