The Brothers' War
The Brothers' War is the ninety-fourth Magic expansion. It was released on November 18, 2022.
Set details
The Brothers' War was designed as an "event set", meaning that its mechanical structure was built around an event rather than a world. In this case, the set revolves around the story of the Brothers' War, a major event in Magic's timeline that was previously portrayed in the set Antiquities and various works of fiction such as the novel The Brothers' War by Jeff Grubb. The Vision Design team, working in conjunction with the Creative team, divided the story into three acts: Childhood – We see the brothers growing up together and making a huge discovery that creates a schism, Adulthood – We watch as things escalate into a war that lasts decades and Final Conflict – We observe the ultimate event that ends the war and changes Dominaria forever.
The Brothers' War contains 287 cards (101 commons, 80 uncommons, 63 rares, 23 mythic rares, 20 basic lands), and includes randomly inserted premium versions of all cards. Artifacts with color identity are now numbered with their color, a change from the previous where they were placed like other artifacts, after the multicolored cards. The regular cards include 10 full-art "mech" basic lands that showcase locations and the mechanical behemoths that battled in the war (#278-287). Alternate card frames have a different card number than the original version. The Standard legal Jumpstart rares are #288-293, borderless planeswalkers, legendaries and pain lands are numbered #294-301. Extended artwork cards are numbered #302-377. The Buy-a-Box card is #378 and the Bundle promo is #379. The dark frame treatment cards from the Universal promo pack are numbered #380-384.
Storyline
Returning to a pivotal story of Dominaria's — and Magic's — history, what started as a feud between Urza and Mishra erupted into an all-out war that set into motion the future of the plane and Multiverse itself. Through the lens of Dominaria's locations, characters, and victims of the conflict, we'll see a plane-spanning conflict escalate with artifacts, giant artifact creatures, and beyond.
This is the second part of the four-set Phyrexian story arc where the fate of Dominaria — and the Multiverse — is set to unravel. As we follow familiar Planeswalkers traveling to one of Dominaria's key historical moments, we'll learn more about the people and places of the time. The fate of the future might be rooted in the past.
The cards that represent the Story Spotlights in The Brothers' War are:
MagicStory
Marketing
The Brothers' War is sold in regular 16-card Draft Boosters (one card being a marketing card), Collector Boosters, Set Boosters, Jumpstart Boosters, the The Brothers' War Bundle (also in a Deluxe Edition), two Commander decks and a Land Station. The Draft Boosters feature artwork depicting a hulking artifact creature. The Set Boosters feature art depicting Urza, and the Collector Boosters feature a dragon engine. The Jumpstart Boosters feature art from Rescue Retriever. With the release of The Brothers' War, 75 cards were rotated into The List, many of which were thematically or mechanically linked to the set. These can be found in the Set Boosters.
There was no Welcome booster released with The Brothers' War. Stores received the Dominaria United one, instead.
Universes Beyond: Transformers
For the first time, some Universes Beyond cards are distributed through a premier set, advertising another Hasbro brand. Transformers cards can be found in Set Boosters, Collector Booster and Bundles. Note that these are original designs, and not skinned cards. Transformers cards appear in 10% of Set Boosters. Shattered Glass Transformers cards appear in approximately 12% of Collector Boosters.
Retro Artifacts
Retro frame artifacts feature a unique set symbol and can be found in Draft, Set, and Collector Boosters. They come in three versions: regular retro frame, "retro schematics" and serialized "retro schematics" with double-rainbow foiling. The serialized versions are numbered with their number out of 500, and they'll only be available in Collector Boosters. Each Set and Draft Booster contains a retro artifact. It's an uncommon approximately 66% of the time, a rare ~27% of the time, and a mythic rare ~7% of the time. One-in-six retro artifacts will be retro schematics. Approximately 24% of The Brothers' War Set Boosters contain an extra retro or schematic artifact in their wildcard slot. Serialized retro schematic cards can only be found in Collector Boosters. Serialized cards are always in English but can be opened in Collector Boosters of any language.
Events
- Prerelease: November 11-17, 2022
- At first sight, there are two different Prerelease Packs: Urza's Iron Alliance and Mishra's Burnished Banner. However, they have the same contents.
- Release on Magic: The Gathering Arena and Magic Online: November 15, 2022
- Launch party: November 18-20, 2022
- FNM: November 18, 2022–January 20, 2023
- Commander Nights: November 21, 2022–January 26, 2023
- Game Day: December 3-11, 2022
- WPN Premium-Exclusive Commander Party: December 16-18, 2022
Bundle
Promos
- Prerelease: a stamped card that can be any rare or mythic rare of The Brothers' War.
- Other events: cards from the The Brothers' War universal promo pack.
- The seasonal dark-frame promos are: Lay Down Arms, Flow of Knowledge, Corrupt, Sardian Cliffstomper and Blanchwood Armor.
- Buy-a-Box: alternate art Mishra's Foundry.
- Bundle: foil alternate art Queen Kayla bin-Kroog
- Game Day: full alternate art Recruitment Officer (participation), Braids, Arisen Nightmare (Top 8) and Surge Engine (winner)
- 30th Anniversary promos: Wall of Roots, Wood Elves, Windfall and Chinese (simplified) Loyal Retainers
- Commander Party: Phyrexian Language Psychosis Crawler
- Korea: for Korean Magic players, Wizards of the Coast has released a special double-sided token in collaboration with famous Korean cartoonist Seung hoon Na, featuring Constructs without predefined Power/Toughness.
Tokens and markers
The Brothers' War has 12 tokens and 1 emblem.
- 2/2 Spirit creature with vigilance and “Whenever you draw a card, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature”, for Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim.
- 2/2 Bear creature, for Argoth, Sanctum of Nature, Fade from History and Titania’s Command.
- 1/1 Forest Dryad land creature, for Awaken the Woods.
- 2/2 Construct artifact creature, for Kayla's Command.
- 0/0 Construct artifact creature with "This creature gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control", for Urza's Command.
- X/X Golem artifact creature, for Mask of the Jadecrafter and Rootwire Amalgam.
- Powerstone artifact, for Arbalest Engineers, Argothian Opportunist, Ashnod, Flesh Mechanist, Cityscape Leveler, Excavation Explosion, Fallaji Excavation, Geology Enthusiast, Gix's Caress, Great Desert Prospector, Hall of Tagsin, Horned Stoneseeker, Junkyard Genius, Koilos Roc, Mishra, Lost to Phyrexia, Powerstone Engineer, Repair and Recharge, Sarinth Greatwurm, Sibling Rivalry, Slagstone Refinery, Splitting the Powerstone, Static Net, Stern Lesson, Stone Retrieval Unit, Thran Spider, Urza, Powerstone Prodigy, Urza's Command and Visions of Phyrexia.
- 1/1 Soldier artifact creature, for Conscripted Infantry, Emergency Weld, Mass Production, Mishra's Onslaught, Myrel, Shield of Argive, Platoon Dispenser, Scrapwork Cohort, Siege Veteran, Skystrike Officer, Third Path Iconoclast and Urza, Planeswalker.
- 1/1 Soldier artifact creature.
- 1/1 Thopter artifact creature with flying, for Saheeli, Filigree Master and Thopter Mechanic.
- 3/3 Zombie artifact creature, for Ashnod, Flesh Mechanist and Transmogrant Altar.
- Emblem for Saheeli, Filigree Master.
The last token has The Brothers' War Commander expansion symbol and collector number.
- 5/3 Elemental creature, for Titania, Nature's Force.
Themes and mechanics
As could be expected, The Brothers' War has an artifact theme. Both of the main mechanics are exclusive to artifacts. The set lacks certain newer card types, such as Vehicles and colored artifacts to give it a "retro" feel, though many artifacts have color identities through ability costs.
Meld returns from Eldritch Moon with three meld pairs. Meld is a keyword action that changes the card with meld and one specific other cards into one oversized card. That single card only exists on the backs of the two other cards.
Unearth is another returning mechanic — “[Cost]: Return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield. It gains haste. Exile it at the beginning of the next end step or if it would leave the battlefield. Unearth only as a sorcery.”
Prototype is the set's new mechanic. Each prototype card includes two sets of characteristics: First, a larger default mana cost, power, and toughness. The second set of characteristics exists as part of the prototype ability. There, you'll find an alternate mana cost and an alternate power and toughness. As you cast a prototype card, you choose the characteristics you use.
Limited archetypes
- : Soldier Matters
- : Second Card Matters
- : Unearth Combined with Sacrificing
- : Midrange Ramp with Powerstones
- : Artifact Entering the Battlefield Matters
- : Mana Value 3 or Less Matters
- : Noncreature Spells Matter
- : Graveyard Matters
- : Unearth Aggro
- : Big Powerstone Ramp
Card types
The set prominently features the Powerstone artifact type, as introduced in Dominaria United. Powerstone appears on predefined tokens with the ability “
: Add 
. This mana can't be spent to cast a non-artifact spell.”
Urza appears as a planeswalker type for the first time in an eternal-legal set.
Cycles
The Brothers' War has seven cycles, including two vertical cycles and a mini-cycle.
Vertical cycles
Horizontal cycles
Mini-cycles
Double cycles
Pairs
The Brothers' War has two mirrored pairs and one matched pair.
Reprinted cards
- Blanchwood Armor, first printed in Urza's Saga, last seen in Mystery Booster.
- Blast Zone, first printed in War of the Spark, last seen in Secret Lair: Ultimate Edition.
- Corrupt, first printed in Urza's Saga, last seen in Duel Decks Anthology.
- Curate, first printed in Strixhaven: School of Mages.
- Diabolic Intent, first printed in Planeshift, last seen in Battlebond.
- Disenchant, first printed in Alpha, last seen in Commander Legends.
- Disfigure, first printed in Zendikar, last seen in Double Masters 2022.
- Epic Confrontation, first printed in Dragons of Tarkir, last seen in Mystery Booster.
- Evolving Wilds, first printed in Rise of the Eldrazi, last seen in Warhammer 40,000 Commander Decks.
- Fauna Shaman, first printed in Magic 2011, last seen in Ultimate Masters.
- Giant Growth, first printed in Alpha, last seen in Mystery Booster.
- Go for the Throat, first printed in Mirrodin Besieged, last seen in Warhammer 40,000 Commander Decks.
- Monastery Swiftspear, first printed in Khans of Tarkir, last seen in Double Masters 2022.
- Obstinate Baloth, first printed in Magic 2011, last seen in Iconic Masters.
- Painful Quandary, first printed in Scars of Mirrodin.
- Four Pain lands, first printed in Ice Age and Apocalypse. The other six were printed in Dominaria United.
Functional reprints
- Aeronaut's Wings is a functional reprint of Kitesail
- Wing Commando is a functional reprint of Mistral Singer, save for creature type.
Notable cards
- Hurkyl, Master Wizard has two versions — the main set version and an extended art version found in Collector Boosters — that have two different rarities (Rare and Mythic Rare, respectively).
Preconstructed decks
The Brothers' War features two Commander decks that are released as a regular part of a set's product line.