I'm currently building a custom draft set with 4-color factions named "Alliances of Kalmarine" that focuses on central allied color pairs in the early game and payoff cards in the adjacent enemy color pair. This is a basically a mechanics demo for a limited set (But if a fully constructed deck doesn't fit the flair I'd like for a mod to change it please).

This is a playtest ready sample deck that I've been building to get a feel for the Neralyx faction, their mechanics and general strategy, as well as how some standout cards slot into that strategy. A complete proxy sheet is here: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NbNz5g0XqIrnQQCDn82sOqhxwQZVSfVt/view?usp=sharing](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NbNz5g0XqIrnQQCDn82sOqhxwQZVSfVt/view?usp=sharing)

Don't forget to add some Ravnica or New Capenna Basic lands.

As a new development, I've decided to make some Spectacle and payoff cards in the deck's main allied color instead of putting them exclusively on cards of the payoff enemy color pair. They are not designed to win games by themselves though.

Creator Note: I've created the mechanics except for "Light up the stage" which is an official card. All the Card images are completely done by ChatGPT again this time. I might make some doodles (not promising anything), but it's rather time consuming and right now I gotta take care of some real world stuff. For those who detest AI I have...

**Exactly one thousand human words on the Neralyx:**

The Cyraneth didn’t take over with a bang, but the change grew more apparent day by day. The Kalmarine city theatre that had been previously praised for its thought provoking avant garde pieces slowly turned into a heavily governed and supervised propaganda machine with the mission to strengthen contentment and good moral values. Intendant Aurith Varyl did what she could to keep the people’s interest in the theatre alive, but anything too exciting or thrilling was quickly censored or removed from her stages. At her lowest point she turned to the collegium of the university of natural sciences to propose a collaboration. Aurith planned to create a new kind of performance, one completely removed of moral value, violence or provocation, where the fury of elements and chemical concoctions would draw the audience once more. If the Cyraneth were to shut down these performances they’d have put themselves at war with the very laws of the universe.

The collegium or natural sciences meanwhile had its own problems. Under the new supervision of the Cyraneth, any research that was too groundbreaking quickly lost its funding and some of the darker projects that most of the collegium tolerated were quickly brought to light and terminated. Frustrated some of these disgruntled scientists responded the call of the city theatre’s intendant and joined the collaboration. There, in the cellar of the oldest opera building, in a dark storage hall filled with ancient props and stage sets they stumbled over it: There was a door that had been locked for as long as Aurith could remember, one that nobody had ever been able to open despite some effort. Measuring strange electrical fields, they took notice of it and with electric coils and suspicious fluids the scientists opened the door. And before anyone could stop her or make sure the area beyond was safe, Aurith stepped through it.

The Neralyx Enclave is a loose collective of scientists and show people that control a vast network of extradimensional spaces. Portals to their realms can open anywhere in the city and what just appeared to be a normal doorway could lead to a fully occupied, gilded performance room hung with velvet curtains and something moving beyond. Many have tried to infiltrate the organization, but few have returned from the attempt. In these rooms the Neralyx research the effects of so called “Entities”, creatures that live in the space between spaces and the uncomfortable truths they reveal about the universe. One creature, a harmless seeming jellyfish-like thing named “Entity 2”, creates a force field, the “Entity 2 Pattern” around itself which destabilizes bodies in a way where they can be rotated around more than just the known three dimensions. This way the Neralyx have revealed that almost all known things extend into previously unknown dimensions and that those parts can be rotated into our perceived reality (as seen on the card Shardskin Prodigy). It is possibly these projected Patterns that help the Entities exist in the impossible spaces beyond.

Entity 2 can be lured into the rooms of the Neralyx with only a bit of amniotic fluid and some noise. Even more, Entity 2 can be captured. But Entity 2 is still a rather harmless example of what drifts in the spaces between. Creatures that can be contained by the Neralyx are classified as Class I Entities. Class II Entities can’t be easily contained. They usually also require more effort to attract. The walls around the spaces of the Neralyx are thin and their shows and the emotions of the audience is exactly what gets the attention of these more complex creatures. Entity 11, also known as the Magnificent Spiralmaw is such a creature (as seen on the card “Magnificent Spiralmaw”). Part of what makes these creatures hard to contain is their Entity Patterns. Entity 11 turns everything around it brittle in a way that is difficult to understand and research (whilst running away). Materials that have been weakened in this way can be seemingly taken apart and melded back together again even if it’s made of solid eternite. The damage only becomes permanent when an object leaves Entity Pattern 11. The unsettling part is that the same goes for living things.

But despite its danger and wonder, Entity 11 can be summoned by consistent rules and its low intelligence makes it easy to direct it at something using artifice or magic. Class III entities are different. They are intelligent in a way the Neralyx researchers don’t understand. They are called by accidential occurrences and the quietest of dreams held by someone in the audience, nothing the Neralyx can control at this point. When Aurith stepped through that portal she encountered something old, something that she called “The Neralyx”. According to Aurith it revealed to her a path that would allow her and all the Kalmarinians to see themselves as they really are and offer them a path to escape their dying world. Aurith was almost manic in these days as “Revealing to people who they really are.” was at the core of a lot of her own writing. After Aurith’s return most people didn’t believe in her tale and most were confused what “dying world” she was talking about. But when the city started sinking into the ocean they all came back. They all came back and joined the Neralyx for good – The Neralyx, the spectacle at the edge of the abyss.

Joining a Neralyx show is many things to many people. Some come for the notoriety and allure of the forbidden, some come to learn, to come up with their own theories and join the aftermath debates. Some though come to be changed. Those who have dug deeper into the circles of the Neralyx have seen the transformations of others. They know of the dangers and possibilities and the seek to be freed of the shackles of reality and maybe leave this world forever to chase the wonders beyond the stars (as seen on the card “Narelyx Transcendent”).

Thanks for reading. Next up are the Anovai, the non-black faction.

Also, in the newest version of Cyraneth lore, they no longer seek to keep the city as it is and hide information on its sinking, but try to have it transition peacefully into a state of pacified undeath at the bottom of the ocean.

Neralyx Incursion: A custom deck showcasing one faction of a future four color draft set.