Over the course of Magic the Gathering‘s 30-year-long history, heroes have risen and villains have fallen. There have been countless wars and conflicts across the game’s vast multiverse, but one of the first, and arguably still the most notable, was the Brothers’ War. It was a massive world-spanning battle between artificer siblings Urza and Mishra, and introduced the threat of Phyrexia to the Multiverse while catapulting Dominaria, the siblings’ home, into a dark age. And now, with Phyrexia on the rise once more, Magic‘s modern day heroes are travelling into the past to unlock the secrets to defeat the Phyrexians once more.

The Progenitors of Conflict

In the new Brothers’ War expansion, Magic players will get their first opportunity to take part in a conflict that, up until now, was only seen in novels and flavor text. In Brothers’ War, we will see multiple versions of Urza and Mishra across different periods of their lives. Over the course of several cards, fans will see Urza grow from an inquisitive young boy into a calculating and terrifying planeswalker. And on the opposing side, players will get to see Mishra go from being a sibling tired of living in his brother’s shadow into a distorted cybernetic monster, consumed by anger and Phyrexian technology.

Beyond the versions of each brother featured in the main expansion, each of the Brothers’ War Commander decks will each feature a unique version of one of the siblings.

A Trip Through Time

Connecting the Brothers’ War to Magic‘s present day fight against the latest incarnation of Phyrexia is Teferi, a time-bending Planeswalker who is desperate to find the secret to using the Sylex, an ancient artifact technology that destroyed the Phyrexian incursion into Dominaria during Urza’s and Mishra’s time.

The Rise of Titans

The Brothers’ War expansion will see the return of Meld, a mechanic designed to tickle the fancy of anyone who has wanted to see massive oversized monsters smash together on the battlefield. Cards with Meld are fully functional on their own, but when you have two particular cards on the battlefield together, you can flip them both over and form a single super-card!

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Unearthing History

The Brothers’ War also sees the return of Unearth, a mechanic originally from the Alara block of Magic expansions. Cards with Unearth can be played normally, but once they’re in your graveyard, they get a second chance at life– albeit for only one turn.

Not only is Unearth back, but Brothers’ War is unearthing a treasure trove of artifacts from Magic’s past. Much like 2021’s Strixhaven: School of Mages expansion reprinted a mystical archive of instants and sorceries, every pack of Brother’s War will contain a retro artifact card, chosen from artifacts throughout Magic’s long history.

These reprints will come in two different possible flavors: one will feature artwork previously used on the card, and the other will feature a brand new “Schematic” treatment that is meant to evoke the feeling of looking at an ancient blueprint.

Finally, for players who buy Collector Boosters, there will be a rare opportunity to open a serialized version of the Schematic artifacts. An example of a serialized Wurmcoil Engine can be seen below.

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Powerstones

In Dominaria United, the expansion released prior to Brothers’ War, a small subset of cards produced Powerstone tokens– artifacts that could be used to generate small amounts of mana to power specific subsets of cards. These Powerstone Tokens are back in Brothers’ War, and now we get to see their properties maximized to power all kinds of spells and abilities.

Iteration, Iteration

While the Brothers’ War features a variety of returning cards and mechanics from Magic’s past, the set does feature a few brand new tricks. The biggest one is Prototype, a new ability that allows you to cast cards for alternative mana costs, giving them different colors, stat lines, and other attributes. This ability will give you more flexibility in deciding how to build your mechanical army– should you summon a prototype Fleshgorger now to lead the vanguard, or wait until you can summon it at full strength to crush your enemies?

Collecting Brothers’ War

For those interested in navigating the complexities of Magic‘s current roster of products, here’s a rundown of what you’ll find in each type of Brothers’ War booster pack:

Set Boosters

Every The Brothers’ War Set Booster contains:

  • At least 1 rare or mythic rare card (approximately 42% to have 2, 13% to have 3, 1% to have 4, and < 1% to have 5)
  • 1 Retro artifact or retro schematic card from the retro artifact bonus sheet
  • 1 Traditional foil card of any rarity, including borderless rares, Transformers cards, retro artifacts, retro schematics, Jumpstart cards, or Commander cards
  • 2 Wildcards of any rarity, including an opportunity to open The Brothers’ War Commander cards, Jumpstart Booster rares, Transformers cards, or retro artifacts and retro schematics
  • 3 Connected uncommons
  • 3 Connected commons
  • 1 Basic land or mech basic land that could come in foil or non-foil
  • 1 Art card
  • 1 Card from The List or a token, DFC helper card, punch-out counter card, or ad card

Draft Boosters

The Brothers’ War Draft Boosters contain:

  • 1 Rare or mythic rare, that can potentially be in the borderless frame
  • In a third of boosters replacing a common, 1 traditional foil card that can be a basic land, common, uncommon, rare, or mythic rare, or a retro artifact or retro schematic card
  • 1 Retro artifact or retro schematic card
  • 1 Basic land or mech land card
  • 3 Non-foil uncommons
  • 10 Non-foil commons, unless one is replaced by a traditional foil card of any rarity

Collector Boosters

Each Collector Booster contains:

  • 1 Foil alternate-frame rare or mythic rare that could be an extended-art, Commander extended-art, borderless, retro artifact, or retro schematic card, or serialized retro schematic card (in less than 1% of boosters)
  • 2 Non-foil retro or schematic artifacts: Each Collector Booster contains 1 retro artifact and 1 schematic artifact, one of which will be rare or mythic rare.
  • 1 Additional foil uncommon retro or schematic artifact
  • 1 Transformers series card, which might be foil (in 21% of boosters) or Shattered Glass (in 12% of boosters) or both (in less than 1% of boosters)
  • 1 Traditional foil rare or mythic rare
  • 1 Non-foil borderless or extended-art rare or mythic rare
  • 1 Non-foil extended-art Commander rare or mythic rare or Jumpstart rare
  • 1 Traditional foil mech land
  • 2 Traditional foil uncommons
  • 4 Traditional foil commons
  • 1 Traditional foil double-sided token

The Future is in the Past

The Brothers’ War expansion looks to be an exciting addition to Magic‘s ever-growing universe of cards. Featuring cards with epic new abilities and characters that longtime fans are going to be overjoyed to see, there’s a little something for everyone here. The Brothers’ War hits store shelves on November 18, 2022.