Ertai

Character

Name	Ertai
Birthplace	Tolaria, Dominaria
Lifetime	4186-4205 AR
Race	Human (altered)
Sources	Rath and Storm, Nemesis, Planeshift, Apocalypse

Ertai was a talented, arrogant young wizard from Tolaria who signed on to be the Skyship Weatherlight's mage. Following the kidnap of Captain Sisay, the Weatherlight Crew required a mage to fix the coordinates of Rath into the planeshifting powerstone. Hanna suggested that Barrin could fill the role, but when approached, he refused and instead provided Ertai, one of his top apprentices, who had just been granted full journeyman status. Dubious of His qualifications, Ertai challenged Hanna to a competition which he won easily.

After arriving in Rath, Weatherlight‘s planeshifting engine was damaged in battle with the Predator. Ertai therefore volunteered to keep the standing planar portal they found open as an escape route. While trying to open the portal, Ertai was contacted by Lyna, who offered to aid his rituals in exchange for letting the Soltari use the portal as well. Ertai agreed and they successfully opened the portal. However, the Weatherlight was being hotly pursued by Predator as it fled and so was forced to leave Ertai behind.

After Weatherlight abandoned him, Ertai was captured by Greven il-Vec and taken back to the Stronghold. He became an unexpected dark horse candidate in the contest to replace Volrath as Evincar, largely because of his romantic relationship with Belbe. However, he knew he was no real match for Crovax and so also spent much of his time trying to find a way to escape Rath. When Crovax and Volrath dueled for the throne, Ertai saw that Crovax would win regardless, but by aiding him, he could prevent the deaths of the bystanders to Crovax's ability to regenerate himself by killing them, so he used his magic to off-balance Volrath at a critical moment and thus give Crovax the victory. Soon after, Belbe was killed by Eladamri, who also used the last energy of Belbe's personal portal to flee to Dominaria. This gave Ertai no hope of escape, so he chose to submit to the new evincar and was thus transformed into Crovax's loyal lapdog as Ertai, the Corrupted.

Embittered by his abandonment by the Weatherlight crew and by Belbe's death, he regarded Gerrard and company as personal enemies. After the Rathi Overlay, Ertai accompanied Predator into battle with Weatherlight, where he captured Gerrard (and, accidentally, Squee) and teleported them into the Stronghold. After Squee was given the ability to resurrect, Ertai delighted in killing him over and over again, until finally Squee, quite by accident, overloaded the Phyrexian healing device he was using, killing him in the explosion.

[edit] In-Game References

Depicted on the Cards:

• Ertai, Wizard Adept
• Ertai, the Corrupted
• Ertai

Associated Artwork:

• Ancient Runes
• Ertai's Meddling
• Ertai's Trickery
• Meditate
• Reality Anchor
• Soltari Emissary

Associated Flavor Text:

• Abeyance
• Abjure
• Counterspell (Tempest)

The Weatherlight
Crew: Gerrard Capashen | Sisay | Hanna | Tahngarth | Orim | Ertai | Karn | Mirri | Crovax | Rofellos | Starke | Squee | Multani
Related Characters: Urza | Jhoira | Teferi | Selenia, Dark Angel | Volrath | Takara en-Dal | Cho-Manno | Serra | Rayne | Barrin | Gaea | Yawgmoth
Storyline: Dominaria | Bloodline Project | Rath | Stronghold | The Predator | Mercadia | Cho-Arrim | Serra's Realm | Phyrexian Invasion of Dominaria | Rathi Overlay | The Legacy
Expansions
Weatherlight | Tempest block: Tempest, Stronghold, Exodus | Masques block: Mercadian Masques, Nemesis, Prophecy | Invasion block: Invasion, Planeshift, Apocalypse | Scourge
Books
Rath Cycle: Rath and Storm | Masquerade Cycle: Mercadian Masques, Nemesis, Prophecy | Invasion Cycle: Invasion, Planeshift, Apocalypse | Onslaught Cycle Scourge