Ertai, the Corrupted

Ertai, the Corrupted was originally released in the 2000 Planeshift expansion for Magic: The Gathering, marking a pivotal moment in the game's ongoing Phyrexian invasion narrative. The card depicts the character Ertai, a former student of the Tolarian Academy who was captured and transformed into a phyrexianized agent by Greven il-Vec. Its mechanical design, which focuses on sacrificing permanents to counter spells, reflects the character's corrupted nature and his role as a high-ranking enforcer for the Phyrexians during the Invasion block storyline.

The artwork was created by Greg Staples, who captured Ertai’s tragic evolution from an ambitious mage into a grotesque, mutated minion. Staples utilized a dark, visceral aesthetic to convey the horror of the Phyrexians' biomechanical aesthetic, distinguishing this version of the character from his previous, younger incarnations. The card has remained a notable example of late-90s and early-2000s card design, and its inclusion in The List—a curated selection of reprints integrated into modern booster packs—serves to reintroduce classic lore characters to a new generation of players.