Origins
Phoenixes were introduced as part of the 2019 Operation Audacious Phoenix Bake Sale Fundraiser. They came back in a limited quantity as part of the Operation Terra Incognita Lemonade Stand Fundraiser. It is unknown when or if they will be available again.Variations
Each phoenix started as a yellow phoenix. However, if fed a cinnamon stick (also purchasable as part of the Operation Audacious Phoenix Bake Sale Fundraiser) the phoenix would build a cinnamon-scented pyre, go up in flames inside it, then re-emerge as another color of phoenix. You could continue to feed the same phoenix cinnamon sticks to reroll its color, though it was possible it might go back to being a yellow phoenix. By popular demand, the rainbow phoenix was added (at a fairly high price as part of the fundraiser) to the bake sale as a purchasable item for those that did not want to try their luck with the cinnamon sticks to get this extremely popular phoenix variant..


Exclusive Variant
Those who contributed $45 or more during the Lemonade Stand Fundraiser for Operation Terra Incognita received a super exclusive Golden Phoenix variant that cannot be obtained through cinnamon sticks.
Usage
When they were first introduced, phoenixes were an "infinite use item" and using them would just cause a random description of the phoenix doing something to appear, such as hyping up its owner or posing. They were rarely played with, and primarily used as a display-case item.In Epic Week 2020 - the first Epic Week after their introduction - they were discovered to randomly help their owners in combat by dealing additional fire damage randomly when a user lands a hit on a monster. Kim has stated the chance for this to happen is about 3%, and owning multiple phoenixes does not increase the chance to receive help from a phoenix. This has held true every Epic Week since.
In April 2023, the "walragotchi" pet care simulator was introduced, allowing for more interaction with owned phoenixes. Activating the system for a given pet merely requires giving it a name and selecting pronouns.