The next MTG set release is nearly on us, as The Brothers' War continues a jam-packed autumn calendar of Magic releases. The Brothers' War may not be released until November 18th, but today Wizard's hosted a new video called Building Worlds that showcased the world that The Brothers' War is taking place, and revealed the names of many cards in it.
You can watch all of it in 20 minutes right below, and it goes into the history of the war, and its place in Magic's history. It shows how they decided to make each brother's army look and how they are depicting the set's story and art. It features Taylor Ingvarsson, Emily Teng, and Miguel Lopez, who all worked on the worldbuilding for The Brothers' War , along with Magic personalities Ladee Danger and Sam from Rhystic Studies. However, if you don't want to watch it all, or only want the names of all the cards teased in the trailer, we're here for you with a quick run down and that all-important list.
The cards in Brothers' War will be broken up into three separate time periods. The first will be relatively early in Urza and Mishra's life, showing when they were together, their early mentors, and their excavations into finding the Mightstone and the Weakstone. This leads to a dispute, that Tocsin is unable to stop and them fighting in some art that looks like it could have come out of a Harry Potter wizard duel (see header image for what I mean).
The second act features the meat of the war. This is where you have the giant robots and mechs of Mishra and Urza fighting, and them encroaching on Argoth as well. While the titular brother's factions are apparently set to UW (Urza) and RB (Mishra), Argoth looks to be the primary green faction in the set. Here, the forest has raised its might against the mechanized monstrosities they are using and is fighting back against them both. Elves, Treefolk, and the very soul of the forest itself resist attempts to stripmine and harvest all the resources, not knowing the tragic fate that awaits them (spoilers, for a 25-year-old plot point I guess.)
The final act depicted in the art of the set is that of the end of the war, when the apocalypse is about to, or has come. Here, even before Urza unleashes the Sylax, the world is devastated from 60 years of war, with much of it destroyed and left in ruin before the final confrontation and the Ice Age that will follow Urza's desperate act of mass destruction.
One way the set takes advantage of this structure is to show characters at different points in their lives. Beyond the two already revealed Mishra and Urza cards, two more for each were shown today. Urza, Powerstone Prodigy, and Mishra, Excavation Prodigy show them as boys, during the first act of the story. Meanwhile, at the height of war, they are depicted in Urza, Prince of Kroog, and Mishra, Tamer of Mak Fawa. It is possible, that given the set already has double-faced cards in it for the meld cards that these cards may share each other in some way, such as the younger prodigies transforming into their older selves.
While we can't confirm it, the listing of two separate Titania cards, and mention of Titania's 'final form' during the video seem to indicate that she will be the third meld card. If so, Titania, Voice of Gaea, is likely to be her base creature form, while Titania's Avenger would be the meld card. Given that name, it seems likely she would be melding with Argoth, Sanctum of Nature as the voice of the world soul melds with the local forest to fight off the giant mechanized units that the brothers deploy.
Exciting The Brothers' War Reprints
While we don't know if these cards are in the main set, commander, or a jumpstart, we did see them mentioned in the video and provided art. A few, like the Painlands, we already knew were coming, but others were a surprise. Some of them are quite exciting to see get reprints, and go alongside a few that were previously revealed.
- Urza's Factory
- Urza's Mine
- Urza's Tower
- Fauna Shaman
- Llanowar Wastes
- Battlefield Forge
- Brushlands
- Ornithopter
- Evolving Wilds
Other New The Brothers' War Card Names
Before we get to a list, let's go through a couple areas that I have some thoughts, and then I'll post the rest.
- Mishra's Command
- Titania's Command
These are interesting as the Commands have usually been good in multiple formats. The two of them would imply either a full cycle, or perhaps merely a three card one to line up with the three meld creatures.
- Urza's Workshop
Likely to be a riff or counterpart to Mishra's Workshop, but one imagines designed to be far more balanced than his brother's broken card. Urza already had his chance to break Magic, and spent a whole block doing so.
- Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim
- Ashnod, Flesh Mechanist
- Tawnos, The Toymaker
- Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor
This would seem to confirm we will be getting a new Teferi card, showing him observing the events from afar. While Tawnos had previously gotten a card, this seems to be likely to depict him at a younger stage of life. This will be the first time that Ashnod gets a card, however, and she has been famous for cards like Ashnod's Altar in the past. It also marks Gix's first card, and he's also been known by artifacts in the past.
Magic The Gathering The Brothers' War Revealed Cards
Here are the rest of the cards shown during the stream, by order of which they were shown:
- Grusome Realization
- Visions of Phyrexia
- The Fall of Kroog
- Epic Confrontation
- Reconstructed Thopter
- Lat-Nam Adept
- Tocasia’s Dig Site
- Great Desert Prospector
- Tocasia, Dig Site Mentor
- Stern Lesson
- Tocasia’s Welcome
- Splitting the Powerstone
- Mishra’s Onslaught
- Blitz Automaton
- Coastal Bulwark
- Mishra’s Juggernaut
- Depth Charge Colossus
- Tawnos’s Tinkering
- Clay Champion
- Razorlash Transmogrant
- Transmogrant’s Crown
- Thopter Mechanic
- Demolition Field
- Scrapwork Cohort
- Harbin, Vanguard Aviator
- Loran of the Third Path
- Urza’s Sylex
- Forging the Anchor
- The Temporal Anchor
- Aeronaut’s Wings
- Sibling Rivalry
- Simian Simulacrum
- Cradle Clearcutter
- Hulking Metamorph
- Skitterbeam Battalion
- Aeronaut Cavalry
- Scrapwork Rager
- Ambush Paratrooper
- Blitz Automaton
- Yotian Tactician
- Warlord’s Elite
- Argoth, Sanctum of Nature
- Urza, Powerstone Prodigy
- Mishra, Excavation Prodigy
- Tocasia’s Welcome
- Meticulous Excavation
- Hall of Tagsin
- Brotherhood’s End
- Platoon Dispenser
- Over the Top
- Autonomous Assembler
- Demolition Field
- Mishra, Tamer of Mak Fawa
- Mass Production
- Ahsnod’s Harvester
- Urza, Prince of Kroog
- Audacity
- In the Trenches
- Mechanized Warfare
- Kill-Zone Acrobat
- Drafna, Foudner of Lat-Nam
- Titania’s Command
- Myrel, Shield of Argave
- Titania, Voice of Gaea
- Teething Wurmlet
- Argothian Sprite
- Gwenna, Eyes of Gaea
- Bushwhack
- Gaea’s Gift
- Titania, Avenger of Argoth
- Awaken the Woods
- Argothian Opportunist
- Bitter Reunion
- Airlift Chaplain
- Moment of Defiance
- Scrpawork Mutt
- Powerstone Fracture
- Wasteful Harvest
- Aeronaut’s Wings
- Aeronaut Cavalry
- Asnod’s Harvester
- Combat Thresher
- Iron-Craw Crusher
- Static Net
- Mechanized Warfare
- Over the Top
- Machine over Matter
- Fallaji Dragon Engine
- Fog of War
- Hostile Negotiations
- Trench Stalker
- No One Left Behind
- Legions of Ashes
- Gurgling Anointer
- Siege Veteran
- Survivor of Korlis
- Unleash Shell
- Calamity’s Wake
If you want to learn more about The Brothers' War story, the first two chapters were also released today on Wizard's website and you can read them here and here while waiting for more previews to be shared.
