| Mairsil | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Details | |
| Race | Human |
| Birthplace | Terisiare, Dominaria |
| Lifetime | Dark Age |
| Born | c. 390 AR |
| Died | 430 AR (essence survived to 2954 AR) |
| Colors | |
   | |
| Sources | |
| The Gathering Dark, The Eternal Ice, The Shattered Alliance | |
Mairsil, known as the Pretender, was a power-hungry wizard, who was a member of the Conclave of Mages during the post-Brothers' War Dark Age of Dominaria.[1][2][3]
Description[ | ]
Mairsil wore fine clothes, usually a dark silk shirt and dark pants. He was festooned with a gold brocade vest with large crystalline buttons, a wide-brimmed hat with a golden feather, and a rapier at his side. He was calm and self-assured, with dark hair and a thin mustache. His mouth was hard and unyielding, and he wore a jeweled cuff in the right ear and a huge ruby-stoned ring on his right index finger. He had a golden capelet hanging halfway down his back and used a walking stick of dark russet wood with the polished white head of a carved skull on the end, although he did not need it.[3]
History[ | ]
Lord Ith was the ruler of the Conclave until Mairsil usurped his power and imprisoned him below the Conclave's citadel, installing himself as the First Among the Equals. Ith was imprisoned in Barl's Cage, an artifact created by the artificer Barl. It was made of watersilver and hung directly over a bottomless pit, siphoning off his mana and driving him mad. If Lord Ith hadn't managed to summon a Rag Man, the cage would have killed him. The Rag Man eventually led the powerful young wizard Jodah to Ith.[3]
Later, the conclave was attacked by a Church of Tal army led by Primata Delphine. Mairsil faced the Primata directly, and after draining away her magical defenses with the Wand of Ith, he stabbed her to death. However, in the chaos surrounding the assault, Jodah freed Ith, who was almost completely mad by that point. An enraged Ith destroyed Mairsil before Jodah cured his mind. Ith then went on to cause the Fall of the Conclave of Mages.[3]
However, Mairsil had imbued his life into a small ruby ring, and his essence survived for the next 2,000 years.[4] The artifact was found during the Ice Age by a soldier named Lim-Dûl, who gained vast necromantic abilities thanks to the power of the ring. In the service of Leshrac, he terrorized Ice Age Terisiare with undead hordes until being defeated by an alliance between Kjeldor and Balduvia.
Because Jodah was magically still alive, the spirit of Mairsil attempted to take control of Lim-Dul so that he could use the necromancer's powers against his archenemy. Before this was possible, Leshrac, seeking extra power himself, cut off the necromancer's hand with the ring. The Pretender was plunged into darkness once more.
The ring's next wearer was a task mage named Jaya Ballard — Jodah's trusted confidant. Mairsil spent the next decade poisoning her mind, eventually willing her to betray her master and slit his throat. But Jodah fought back, managing to ignite Jaya's planeswalker's spark with his magical mirror. Jaya's ascension, and the energies it released, eradicated all traces of Mairsil's soul within her.
Later, the ring found its way to an ancestor of Liliana Vess, who buried it under the family estate. From its position under Vess Manor, it corrupted Liliana in the form of the Raven Man, a fragment of Lim-Dûl's essence.[4] She later realized that she had been intended as one more link in a line stretching back to that first, now-nameless mage, her will subsumed to the remnants of his, her soul remade in the image of those who had come before her.
Story appearances[ | ]
| Title | Author | Publishing date | Set | Setting (plane) | Featuring |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Gathering Dark | Jeff Grubb | June 1999 | The Dark | Dominaria | Jodah, Voska, Tivadar, Delphine, Sima, Rag Man, Mairsil, Ith, Barl, Jarsyl (mentioned) |
| The Eternal Ice | Jeff Grubb | May 2000 | Ice Age | Dominaria | Lim-Dûl, Jodah, Márton Stromgald, Leshrac, Jaya Ballard, Freyalise, Gustha Ebbasdotter, Gerda Äagesdotter, Darien, Avram Garrison, Varchild, Arcum Dagsson, Chaeska, Mairsil |
| The Shattered Alliance | Jeff Grubb | December 2000 | Alliances | Dominaria | Jodah, Jaya Ballard, Lim-Dûl, Leshrac, Mairsil, Freyalise, Chaeska, Gerda Äagesdotter, Lovisa Coldeyes, Darien, Gustha Ebbasdotter, Varchild, Arcum Dagsson, Urza |
In-game references[ | ]
- Represented in:
- Quoted or referred to:
References[ | ]
- ↑ Commander 2017 Commanders
- ↑ Chas Andres (August 10, 2017). "Mairsil, The Pretender". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ a b c d Jeff Grubb (1999), "The Gathering Dark", Wizards of the Coast
- ↑ a b Seanan McGuire (August 12, 2022). "Homecoming". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.