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Azurium, Bane of Machines

And of course, I enjoyed the YCH pose from that last work so much that I needed to get two slots for it. Once again, this too came from balalaevGod back in April of 2023.

At the time, March of the Machines was the hot new set for Magic: The Gathering, and I couldn’t help but wonder how the Phyrexian Invasion would have been fought of had they invaded the plane of Crossroads. The title “Bane of Machines” was a play on the title “Mother of Machines” that Elesh Norn takes on.

The following is an excerpt from that post, presented with that context.

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In my head, I imagine Volpes and his titans, due to the mutations they underwent to transform into what they are today, would be immune, or at least highly resistant, to Phyresis. And in order to preserve the plane, they and other major powers on the plane would work together to confront the threat.

So here we have Azurium, doubtless one of the plane’s most capable warriors, outfitted with a new weapon the artificer’s guild at the Magistrum reverse-engineered from old war machines. Though complete, the resulting prototype was too heavy for anyone but Edmund to properly wield, and the storm mage had no use for just weaponry.

But mutual threats make for unlikely allies, and though its inventors were incapable of wielding it, Volpes’s second-in-command is under no such restrictions. These Phyrexian invaders are in for a rude awakening if they believe Crossroads will bend the knee.

Their ancestors survived the Planeswalker Wars, and this is their turn to step up to the plate.

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Additionally, I built a custom card using this concept, focusing heavily on artifact hate. I would regale you with the story of how it changed over time, but it never did. Not because it doesn’t need tuning (it does), but because I wasn’t interesting enough in playing with the card to refine it. I mostly just needed to get the idea out of my head.

If you think the Emperor was sexy in that pose, then good ol’ Captain Azurium fits even better.