How would Phyrexian fungus act?
Oooh a speculative Phyrexian biology question!! Thank you it's been a while since I got one of those!
Firstly, canonical mentions of fungus as it relates to Phyrexia (at least New Phyrexia):
The mycosynth is described as being fungus-like in its properties, and it grows out of glistening oil. How the oil "knows" whether to produce mycosynth, germs, or any of the other things it can make is a mystery, but mycosynth seems to have been instrumental in "laying the foundation" for Phyrexia in Mirrodin (note the ability of the mycosynth card, physically bringing you a basic land to fuel your expansion). As for how it acts, it seems to grow in vast lattices, needing little more than oil and (presumably) metal to break down and fuel itself.
Glissa and Vorinclex also, in the process of the experimentation they refuse to admit is science, produced "crotus blooms", described as fungus-flesh amalgams. I'll assume these are Phyrexian creations given life with oil. Some of them were made into Glissa's guard beasts. It's unclear where they could have gotten the fungus and flesh since that was the Deadlock and they were confined to the core, so maybe that was oil-grown as well? Leads us to the same question of how the oil knows what to make.
I wonder about mycosynth spores. Their omnipresence in the air that Mirrans breathe caused them to develop metallic mutations, but they're not phyretic. This means that glistening oil can "code for" a reproductive structure (the mycosynth fruiting body) that is not itself infectious, which is wild to think about. (Compare to the other notable reproductive structures that oil creates—Phyrexians—who are very much infectious.) It makes me wonder how they could be spores, then, if they don't carry the essential genetic information of glistening oil. Is mycosynth reproduction divorced from infection, or are all Mirrans infected with phyresis-lite? It’s notable that Melira, being immune to mycosynth, is immune to phyresis as well. Is phyresis resistance a side effect of not having metal in her body or a direct result of resisting their similar biological signatures?
The first line of text on Mycosynth Lattice is, flavorfully, straightforward—it induces metallic mutations. The second one is maybe an extension of that, though the third also makes me wonder if Phyrexian fungus somehow warps mana itself. How it would do this, I have no idea. It does remind me of how prone to mutation glistening oil itself is, having been diversified into five lineages from the high mana concentrations in the planar core.
Does mycosynth retain this essential mutability of glistening oil and/or amplify it somehow? Card mechanics point to yes.
Much to think about!
