WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Empyre: X-Men #2 by Gerry Duggan, Ben Percy, Leah Williams, Lucas Werneck, Nolan Woodard and VC's Clayton Cowles, on sale now.
Since coming to Genosha, Black Tom Cassidy has seen his connection to plant-life become at times overwhelming and oddly comforting. He's become increasingly attuned to the island and its powers and has been rooted to the island in some way. He's still capable of using his powers to help his fellow mutants around the world -- especially with his newest skills.
Black Tom just came to the assistance of the X-Men on Genosha and showcased some extremely impressive new applications of his powers, such as his new, globally-available dirt avatars.
Black Tom Cassidy's ability to connect with plant-life has made him invaluable since the X-Men relocated to the island of Krakoa. While this has been shown to have had an effect on his general psychology and mental processes, his sheer power makes him vital to the continued survival and safety of the island.
It's also allowed him to utilize his powers in new ways, making him a massive tool for the X-Men as they uncover and discover more about his abilities. His newest trick doesn't even require him to leave Krakoa to have an effect on the rest of the world.
While a select group of X-Men are on Genosha and battling the Cotati forces, the roving mutant zombies and the mysterious Hordeculture, Black Tom is called for assistance with the blocked Krakoa Gate. With Hordeculture limiting the normal passage made possible by the Krakoa Gates, Black Tom decides to investigate the disturbance by connecting himself with minuscule pieces of Krakoan matter in Genosha.
Specifically, he uses the Krakoan pollen, dirt, fungus, mold and other fecundity of Krakoa that are on Angel -- all the microscopic earth that a person carries on them at a given time -- to create a small avatar of himself. This means any mutant coming from Krakoa is likely covered in enough of the dirt for Tom to create a small avatar of himself.
Appearing on Angel's shoulder, Tom is able to not only see through this minuscule version of himself but even communicate with the mutants on the battlefield through it. This way, he's able to speak with Magik and devise a plan to spread black walnut tree roots through the battlefield. As explained by Hordeculture, the toxic roots of that specific plant could disrupt the Cotati seed-pod that has grown around Monet, Madrox and the rest of Hordeculture.
Tom is even able to use the Krakoa Gate to send his intentions across the world, making the venomous roots spread through Genosha and bring down the Cotati on the other side of the planet. Black Tom seems to fuse somewhat with the Krakoa Gate when it's opened, with his distinct eyes appearing within the wooden frame of the gate. This allows a number of telepaths to make their way to Genosha to help save the other X-Men on the island, as well as prevent the spread of the mutant zombie or the Cotati influence.
It's a very impressive showing of power from Black Tom, with the former villain revealing that he can now technically appear anywhere to assist anyone from Krakoa. These little plant-life avatars could be the perfect spies for the mutant government, giving intel back or even potentially setting up the means to monitor any mutant who leaves Krakoa in case they're working against the X-Men. This also further solidifies his connection with Krakoa, with Tom's apparent fusion into the Krakoa Gate suggesting he could be becoming more and more a part of Krakoa itself.