With the impending release of The Brothers' War next month, fans of Magic: The Gathering are excited to see what the new set will hold. While Wizards of the Coast have released official card names as well as story details about the set, there is still the matter of mechanics and card effects. Thankfully, Head Designer Mark Rosewater continued his own established tradition with a shared The Brothers' War teaser.
The Brothers' War teaser
As he has done in the past, Rosewater shared The Brothers' War teaser in an official blog post. The post contains rules text of various cards throughout The Brothers' War set, completely separated from context. First, Rosewater teased a few specifics with the following:
- over ten legendary Human Artificers
- another card with “end the turn”
- a command with X in its mana cost
- a spell that mimics the effect of a creature that was originally printed with the picture of a World Champion on it
- a Teferi with a new way to gain loyalty counters
- equipment with “Equip Soldier”
- a new Onulet
- protection from everything returns
- a white creature that taps to let you and an opponent draw a card
- one colored artifact
This part of The Brothers' War teaser does hold some intrigue. Since the very war itself is between two talented artificers and their war machines, having over ten of them in the set makes sense. The introduction of a new Onulet card also warrants interest since they were last seen in the Masters Edition IV. As for judges and trolls, it looks like protection from everything is coming back. Rosewater continues with some more explicit rules text:
- “create a tapped Powerstone token for each other creature you control.”
- "Put a +1/+1 counter on target Assembly-Worker you control.”
- “Whenever one or more creatures with mana value 3 or less enter the battlefield under your control,”
- “Permanents you control have ‘Ward – Sacrifice a permanent.’”
- “Whenever you cast an artifact spell with mana value 6 or greater,”
- “For each card type among noncreature spells you’ve cast this turn,”
- “Create a tapped 3/3 colorless Zombie artifact creature token.”
- “Look at the cards in each pile, then turn a pile of your choice face up.”
- “gains your choice of flying, vigilance, deathtouch, or haste.”
- “Whenever you cast a Beast or Bird creature spell,”
There is some more speculation to be made here. First, it looks like War, first introduced in Strixhaven: School of Mages and Powerstone tokens from Dominaria United will be getting further use. The latter makes sense thematically given that this set is continuing the story set-up in Dominaria. The former is curious but not exactly unheard of since Ward is an evergreen keyword. As for effects that activate whenever a creature with 3 or less mana enter the battlefield, that could lead to some deadly swarm tactics.
The final part of Rosewater's The Brothers' War teaser are creature types. They are as follows:
- Artifact Creature – Ape
- Creature – Mole Horror
- Artifact Creature – Phyrexian Wurm
- Creature – Phyrexian Human Assassin
- Creature – Minotaur Barbarian
- Creature – Elf Druid Soldier
- Creature – Human Artificer Scout
- Legendary Creature – Human Wizard Advisor
- Legendary Creature – Elf Druid Scout
- Legendary Creature – Human Artificer Advisor
The first thing that jumps out is Artifact Creature – Ape. For a set that is about one of the most pivotal wars in the world of Magic: The Gathering, this is a sign that the set will have a bit of a sense of humor. Alternatively, The mention of Phyrexian enemies holds some sinister connotations given their importance in the story as well as their actions throughout sets going as far back as Kamigawa Neon Dynasty.
The Brothers' War prerelease begins November 11.
