The first two chapters in the Assault on New Phyrexia story begin by detailing the arrival of the Gatewatch on the plane. Despite being the best at what they do, the journey to New Phyrexia was anything but easy for the planeswalkers, as the Phyrexians had erected barriers, traps, and other hazards in preparation for the assault.
The story starts from Kaito’s perspective, who narrowly escapes a Phyrexian illusion trap, thanks to a wake-up punch from his childhood friend, the Wanderer. Now back to normal, Kaito finds himself in a party with the Wanderer and Nahiri, who just finished a brief skirmish with some of the robotic locals. In this battle, Nahiri would suffer a small cut, which she shrugs off initially, but unbeknownst to her and her comrades, would be enough for her to get infected.
Due to her unstable spark, the Wanderer struggles to stay on the plane. To conserve strength, she exists ethereally, but finds herself inevitably being dragged back in the Blind Eternity.
Despite temporarily losing the Wanderer, her place in the party would be replaced by the prince of Kaldheim — Tyvar Kell. Together, the new trio makes their way across the desolate plane, searching for the rest of their team. Their efforts would eventually pay off, as they come upon Melira, a fierce fighter, healer, and one of the few remaining humans of Mirrodin.
As Melira familiarizes the trio with the intricacies of the plane and what they’re up against, another planeswalker arrives — Elspeth. After a rough entry knocks her unconscious, Elspeth awakens just in time to prepare for a six-on-one fight against Phyrexian sentries. Despite felling three, she realizes the battle is not going in her favor, until Kaya comes to her aid, and the together the duo easily dispatches the remaining enemies.
Shortly after, Elspeth and Kaya come upon a Mirran camp – conveniently the same one housing Kaito, Nahiri, and Tyvar. Upon entering the camp, Elspeth is reunited with Koth – the man who helped her escape the clutches of the Phyrexians years prior.
The appearance of Koth isn’t the only surprise, as Jace would join the party shortly after. Jace reveals to the other planeswalkers that upon arriving on the plane, Vraska was no where to be found, and Nissa had fallen into some sort of Phyrexian trap and had been whisked away to somewhere unknown. Neither group knew what had become of Lukka either.
With as much of the party gathered as possible, Jace explains their plan to use the sylex to destroy the root of the Phyrexian infection, hopefully without collapsing the plane.
During the meeting, Nahiri subtly inspects her neck wound, only to find it has healed and been replaced with some sort of metal bump under the skin. Melira notices Nahiri’s infection and quietly assures her that they will be able to heal her once the mission is done and before it’s too late.
The episode ends with the team preparing to descend into the plane, planning to bypass the Hunter’s Maze and Surgical Bay cores and land directly in the Dross Pits above Elesh Norn’s throne room.