Theros Beyond Death/Trivia

Cards throughout Theros Beyond Death heavily reference Greek mythology. There are also some throwbacks to the art and flavor of the Theros block.
==Greek mythology==
*<c>The Akroan War</c> is the equivalent of the ancient Greek Trojan War.
*<c>Alirios, Enraptured</c> is a reference to Narcissus.
*<c>Allure of the Unknown</c> is a gender-flipped version of Pandora's box, with the name Pantor bearing phonetic similarities to Pandora.
*<c>Athreos, Shroud-Veiled</c> uses coin counters, thematically representing the Ancient Greek practice of placing coins in with the deceased for payment to be carried to the afterlife.
*<c>Atris, Oracle of Half-Truths</c>, is likely a perversion of the oracle at Delphi.
*<c>The Binding of the Titans</c> mirrors a similar event in Greek mythology when the Olympian gods imprisoned the older Titans in Tartarus after the Titanomachy.
*<c>The Birth of Meletis</c> is a reference to the legendary birth of Athens founded by the goddess Athena.
*<c>Bronzehide Lion</c> is a reference to the Nemean lion. This is the second Nemean lion after <c>Fleecemane Lion</c> (and is also a 3/3), but this time taking on the aspect of the myth in which Heracles skinned it and gained an indestructible pelt.
*The Callapheia (found in flavor texts), recounting the adventures of Callaphe, is a take on the Odyssey.
*<c>Dalakos, Crafter of Wonders</c> is a reference to Daedalus. He grants flying and haste to the Icarus analog in <c>Impetuous Sunchaser</c>.
*The <c>Entrancing Lyre</c> is a common attribute of the Greek god Apollo.
*<c>The First Iroan Games</c> is a reference to the Ancient Olympic Games.
*The <c>Fruit of Tizerus</c> references the Pomegranate, which was known as the "fruit of the dead" in ancient Greece.
*The mono-colored gods are named with Homeric epithets.
*<c>Haktos the Unscarred</c> is a reference to Achilles.
*<c>Heliod's Punishment</c> alludes to Atlas securing the heavens.
*Ilysia (<c>Ilysian Caryatid</c>) mirrors Elysium or the Elysian Fields, the abode of the blessed in the lower world.
*<c>Impending Doom</c> is a reference to the Sword of Damocles
*Klothys, God of Destiny, is a take on Clotho, one of the Greek Fates.
*The art of <c>Klothys's Design</c> references the story of Orpheus and Eurydice.
*<c>Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger</c> is similar to the titan Cronus who devoured all his children.
*<c>Kunoros, Hound of Athreos</c> is a take on Cerberus, guardian of the Underworld. Mechanically, it prevents creatures from escaping the graveyard, nor players from casting spells from it, which mirrors the myth.
*The <c>Labyrinth of Skophos</c> is a play on the Labyrinth of Knossos.
**The <c>Skophos Maze-Warden</c> references the Minotaur in that labyrinth, the monster eventually killed by the hero Theseus.
*The <c>Mirror Shield</c> references the story of Perseus and the gorgon Medusa.
*The <c>Nessian Boar</c> is a reference to the Calydonian Boar. <c>Renata, Called to the Hunt</c> is a take on on the huntress Atalanta, who slew it, though the story slightly diverges as Artemis sent the boar as revenge and did not help the hunters.
*The <c>Ox of Agonas</c> is a reference to the Cretan Bull.
*Phylias (<c>Dreadful Apathy</c>) mirrors the Asphodel Meadows, a place for ordinary or indifferent souls who did not commit any significant crimes.
*Mount , where the forge of Purphoros burns, is similar to Greek accounts of Mount Etna.
*<c>Thaumaturge's Familiar</c> is likely a reference to the mechanical owl companion that Perseus acquires in the 1981 film Clash of the Titans. This is a mechanical version of the Owl of Athena.
*<c>Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath</c>'s name recalls Uranus, father of the titans. 
*<c>Voracious Typhon</c> references Typhon, a monstrous serpentine giant and one of the deadliest creatures in Greek mythology. 
*<c>Wings of Hubris</c> is an allusion to Icarus
*The ability of the <c>Woe Strider</c> to scry after sacrificing a goat is reminiscent to the ancient Greek practice of haruspicy.
==Throwbacks==
*<c>Daxos, Blessed by the Sun</c> wears the mask of <c>Daxos the Returned</c> on his arm
*<c>Grasping Giant</c> is a <c>Hundred-Handed One</c>
*<c>Rumbling Sentry</c> is an updated and improved <c>Silent Artisan</c>
*The flavor text of references .
*The art of <c>Taranika, Akroan Veteran</c> features the statue of Gideon Jura in the background. She creates an indestructible creature with base power and toughness 4/4, like <c>Gideon Blackblade</c> and <c>Gideon, Battle-Forged</c>.
*<c>Kiora Bests the Sea God</c> references the fight between Kiora and Thassa, with the summoning of krakens and the theft of the <c>Bident of Thassa</c>.
*The two printed titans have the "titan trigger" from M11.
*<c>Thundering Chariot</c> sums the casting and equip costs of <c>Chariot of Victory</c> and has all its granted abilities as a 3/3 Vehicle.
*<c>Bronzehide Lion</c> is similar to bestow but with a death trigger.
* depicts the end of the <c>Spear of Heliod</c> and mentions it in its' flavour text.
*<c>Shadowspear</c> seems to have a corrupted visual design of <c>Spear of Heliod</c>. Linked to the storyline, it makes it full of meanings.
* is a 3/5 Flying Sphinx with an attack trigger that can discard a card to gain Hexproof, like . Both were designed as control finishers, but the Prognostic Sphinx made less of an impact than desired.
*<c>Elspeth Conquers Death</c> shares many similarities to <c>The Eldest Reborn</c>, which had recently rotated from Standard.
*The eight extant Theros gods without a card in the set are all referred to at least once in flavor text or card titles.
==Miscellaneous==
*The name Tycthis in the flavor text of <c>Ichthyomorphosis</c> is a sort of anagram of the name card and the "flop" is a pun on the sound of something anticlimactically hitting the ground (such as a fish falling or trying to move after being transformed from an imposing human soldier).
*<c>Captivating Unicorn</c> is the fourth monowhite common creature ever to have more than three power, coming 9 years after New Phyrexia's <c>Loxodon Convert</c>, an explicit color pie bend; the other two were Lorwyn's <c>Lairwatch Giant</c> (needing a larger size for / Giant tribal design) and Shards of Alara's <c>Yoked Plowbeast</c> (to assist with 5-power matters). <c>Makindi Ox</c> and <c>Master Skald</c> seeing print over the next Standard cycle shows a more permanent change in philosophy.
==References==
Category:Magic set trivia