| “ | The Cabal mocks the natural order. For its minions, death is just a pause between duties. | „ |
| ~ Kamahl, druid acolyte |
The Cabal is a major criminal organization turned demonic cult in Magic: the Gathering. While under the leadership of the Cabal Patriarch (Virot Maglan), the Cabal's main goal was to achieve wealth and power by any means. But, after his death and Belzonlok took control, the organization's motives changed to rewriting Dominaria's history to allow Belzonlok to take the blame for every negative event in the plane's history. It was run like an extended family with all of the Cabal's members given secret names. These names (when said) can be used to control its members. This group is filled with clerics, wizards, and minions as well as controlling a mass of zombies, slaves, and nightmare creatures.
History[]
Odyssey and Onslaught Blocks[]
The Cabal was founded by Virot Maglan and its main service was selling goods. The organization was successful because it manipulated the greed and fear within its patrons. Its most notorious business however was pit fighting. The Cabal would gather people and monsters from throughout the plane to fight to the death in the pits and eventually in the Grand Coliseum. Anyone can enter the pits for money, fame, service to the Cabal, and just to settle debates. It became very popular after the "Phyrexian Invasion" due to the lower standard of living at the time. Virot Maglan had ruled the Cabal for a long time due to his immortality as well as his ability to kill anyone he touches. During the Odyssey block, he sought the Mirari, an artifact of great magical powers and can grant its users desires at the cost of their sanity. His minion, Braids, found it with the cephalids(a race of intelligent octopus people) and their Ambassador Laquatus and brought it back. The Patriarch kept it in his vault and forced the dementia mage Chainer to use it when he or his allies needed it. This lasted until Chainer usurped Maglan and became the new leader of the Cabal.
During Chainer's rule, he used his position to create numerous nightmare beasts. His overuse of the Mirari would get the best of him when his nightmares turned on him and led to his demise and the Mirari was taken.
During the Onslaught block, Braids brought Maglan to Aphetto to return him to power and to aid in the construction of the Grand Coliseum. Braids brought the Patriarch a wounded warrior named Jeska that she found in the woods. He attempted to use his killing touch to kill Jeska, but accidentally created Phage in the process when his death magic interacted with her latent planeswalker Spark. The Patriarch fell in love with Phage and gave her a lot of power in the Cabal. He eventually found Phage as a threat and attempted to kill her on numerous occasions. He thought he would finally slay her after rearing their son, but Braid's killed him with a nightmare monster. Now that Phage is in charge, she sought to kill the Illusionist, Ixidor, who sent an army to kill her because she murdered his lover. She sent a death wurm to eat the mage and believed him dead. Ixidor's creation, Akroma, Angel of Wrath, formed a religion to combat Phage and the forces of the Cabal and the two groups squared off. Phage and Akroma fought each other until Phage's brother, Kamahl, used a scythe to try to kill Akroma, but killed both Phage and Akroma and a third woman named Zagorka. Now, Braids is the leader of the Cabal and Karona was born from the three deceased women. The Cabal wanted Karona as an attraction that people would pay to see. But many of its members became insane due to the Mirari and were either killed or trapped in a dementia mage's mental space.
Dominaria[]
After many years, the Cabal attempted a ritual to summon Kuberr, but accidentally summoned the demon Belzonlok instead. With his arrival, the Cabal transformed from a crime syndicate to a demon cult. Belzonlok's goal was to rewrite the history of Dominaria and name himself as the perpetrator of all negative events on the plane. One of the group's missions was to retrieve the Blackblade Reforged, but it was stolen by the crew of the Weatherlight. Later on, the Weatherlight Crew and the Cabal clashed for a final time in the organization's stronghold. It was revealed that the Cabal conscripted Yargle, a giant ghost frog, and Urgoros, a shade, to aid them, but they were defeated. Eventually, the Gatewatch infiltrated the Cabal's base and killed Belzonlok with the Blackblade. The Cabal remains intact.
Dominaria United[]
After Belzonlok's demise, the Cabal was set to be destroyed if not for Lagomos. He managed to survive the assault from the Gatewatch and Weatherlight Crew and single-handedly(so he says) prevented the organization's collapse after the demon's death. The threat of the Cabal was slightly mitigated due to the New Phyrexian invasion. During this time, the organization performed a desperate ritual to free Braids from her dementia space(at the cost of blowing up their heads). Once she returned, it was revealed she became a nightmare and was more dangerous than before. She now sought to lead her new followers into a golden age assuming she could get them to lighten up a bit first. Though Lagomos believes Braids is a worse leader than those who came before her, he obeys his orders for now and plots to become the organization's rightful leader. Somehow, Braid's personality was split into a shard and she needed it destroyed to become whole. She managed to get some reluctant help from some of the crew of the Skyship Weatherlight who came looking for parts to repair the ship. After Shanna, Tiana, and Raff passed through the nightmare space of shard Braids and killed her, Braids accompanied them back to their ship only to find it was corrupted by the Phyrexians.
Other Operatives[]
- Skellum is a dementia mage who taught Chainer how to fight and about being a dementia mage. He was a skilled pitfighter, but was killed in battle.
- Josu Vess is the undead brother of Liliana Vess. Belzonlok reanimated him to distract Liliana so she couldn't kill him with the Chained Veil. His plan worked.
- Whisper is a cultist and one of Belzonlok's top minions. She got her name because she speaks softly and people have to lean in to hear her. She was killed in the Cabal Stronghold.
- Lagamos is a cultist and was one of the few who survived the assault on the Stronghold. He credits himself as the one solely responsible for keeping the organization together as its temporary leader. Though he now has to take orders from Braids who was resurrected as a nightmare, he's content to bide his time until the Cabal is under his rule again.
Quotes[]
| “ | Their blood is the nectar that nourishes the Cabal. | „ |
| ~ Phage, the Untouchable |
| “ | Twisted magic, twisted fate, Force the land to ooze with hate. | „ |
| ~ Cabal Chant |
| “ | Cabal Clerics serve two masters: their patriarch and their god. | „ |
| ~ Unknown |
| “ | Pain is both a tool and a craft. Like any tool, it must be sharpened. Like any craft, it must be practiced. | „ |
| ~ Hooks, Cabal Torturer |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Belzonlok was a demonlord to Lilana Vess because of the machinations of Nicol Bolas. Liliana's other demonlords are Kothophed, Griselbrand, and Razaketh.
- Virot Maglan also goes by the names "The Cabal Patriarch" and "The First of the Cabal".
- The Cabal lead by Belzonlok used Volrath's Stronghold as their base. In his quest to rewrite history, Belzonlok took credit for being the phyrexian Evincar.
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 Villains
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Planeswalkers Phyrexians Multiversal Threats Villains by Plane Mirrodin/New Phyrexia Kamigawa Ravnica Lorwyn/Shadowmoor Alara Zendikar Innistrad Theros Tarkir Kaladesh Amonkhet Kaldheim Ikoria Arcavios Unknown | ||