Welcome to Terisiare, thousands of years ago. Join Teferi as he watches the Brothers' War unfold.
First off, the full-art basics of the set. While there are regular basics, we're still getting thee mech-covered full art basics.
What is the Brothers' War without the brothers? Today, we get Urza, the first of three meld cards in the set. We'll get Mishra on October 4.
Urza and Mishra get different versions in the Commander precons of the set... in the retro frame. Heck, their entire decks are in the retro frame.
Next up, promos. The following will be available during the Prerelease, but aren't going to be in the set itself.
Our first in-set promo is this Buy-a-Box promo land.
And our Bundle promo is a retro border version of Urza's wife and queen of Kroog, Kayla.
We have this pair as the Game Day promos.
The set has its own bonus sheet: artifacts in retro frame. They come in regular art and schematic versions... generally
There will also be serialized foil editions of these cards for the super collector, in double rainbow foil (whatever that means, we never got to see the physical card).
For more details, including important date and packaging, see here.
Please, mill me. Mill my important cards. Mill my lands. Mill it all. Because I will still deal 20 damage before you can mill 45 cards most every time.
63 distinct artifacts in the “archive”, huh… I dig it. (22 cards before normal ivory tower so subtract 22 from 86 for the schematic ivory tower and the schematics start at 64). I hope that wizards slipped in one or two stax pieces in there somewhere, if only because it’s so hard for wizards to find a place to reprint them.
I remember a long time ago someone saying that Planeswalker Urza would be unprintable as a "normal" card, that they would have to make him the MTG equivalent of Exodia to properly portray him in his entire oldwalker glory.
Well person I can't remember, you get brownie points. Urza Planeswalker is a beast and I wouldn't be surprised if "Urza.dek" became a real archetype.
Also, I really like Queen Kayla, she seems like a fun brew-around-me both in Commander and Standard. Not sure if "playing a three-drop and hoping it lives" is a strategy worth pursuing in 2022 Magic, but we do have Selfless Samurai to protect her and if there's one thing that I know for a fact is really really good, it's cards that accelerate and generate card advantage at the same time.
As an owner of an artifact cube this set has me hyped...
Full art lands... all lands should be like this!!
Urza - kinda predicted an “Origins” transform mechanic but Meld makes much sense. Especially with that tiny rules text.
He is really powerful though. I like doing +4, dump your hand, then ultimate next turn.
He also curves nicely into the Mightstone and Wakstone, and then meld on the 5th turn.
Mishra’s Foundry is a bit meh... is this a rare? I think it can pass off as an uncommon. Let’s see.. perhaps we will get a lot of Assembly worker tribal.
That Kayla is one value engine.
Recruitment officer is one great card for Cube.
Schematic showcase is nice, but we got borderless schematics in SL, so I was hoping for that.
Was expecting more new artifacts for an artifact set but I guess they reserved it for the main preview season...
Recruitment Officer has a sweet body and a sweet ability...that we'll activate as often as Spectral Sailor's ability. Will the increased card quality and fortunate creature types be enough for Modern?
Queen Kayla bin-Kroog's ability looks really sweet. Shame she's a 3-mana 2/3, so you probably have to put her in a deck full of removal magnets. Luckily, her ability encourages you to put her in a deck full of removal magnets.
So Kayla Bin-Kroog got race swapped, rings of power stlye? Seems unnecessary but ok I guess.
Not quite sure where the race swap assumption comes from - if you're assuming she's Thran, the Thran are/were humans, and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician was one of them. At any rate, she's held to be one of Jodah, Archmage Eternal's ancestors (Jodah apparently also being descended from one of Urza or Mishra through Kayla's son), and Jodah is talked about as being 100% human.
If her skin tone is inconsistent...yeah, blame a style guide changing somewhere.
Please, mill me. Mill my important cards. Mill my lands. Mill it all. Because I will still deal 20 damage before you can mill 45 cards most every time.
Recruitment Officer has a sweet body and a sweet ability...that we'll activate as often as Spectral Sailor's ability. Will the increased card quality and fortunate creature types be enough for Modern?
Queen Kayla bin-Kroog's ability looks really sweet. Shame she's a 3-mana 2/3, so you probably have to put her in a deck full of removal magnets. Luckily, her ability encourages you to put her in a deck full of removal magnets.
So Kayla Bin-Kroog got race swapped, rings of power stlye? Seems unnecessary but ok I guess.
Not quite sure where the race swap assumption comes from - if you're assuming she's Thran, the Thran are/were humans, and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician was one of them. At any rate, she's held to be one of Jodah, Archmage Eternal's ancestors (Jodah apparently also being descended from one of Urza or Mishra through Kayla's son), and Jodah is talked about as being 100% human.
If her skin tone is inconsistent...yeah, blame a style guide changing somewhere.
There's a depiction of her in the link I provided. Not an assumption.
Does anybody even like the old gold border? Blake keeps hyping them up, but I just can't get excited about them.
Quite frankly, I've always hated the old border, and I say that as someone who's played Magic for over 20 years. I fully don't understand the obsession with them other than some kind of rose-colored-glasses, back-in-my-day nostalgia.
It may be shocking to hear someone with my reputation agree that the old frames are average at best (and that the gold frames are the worst of them), but I'd take anything - literally anything - over the eyeblights that are the modern frames.
But anyway - sure wasn't expecting meld in this set. I approve.
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Thou shalt not have others of the same Legendary before me Thou shalt not frame images with the modern card face Thou shalt not change rules in vain Remember the Reserved List to keep it holy Honor thy Slivers and the symmetry of their abilities Thou shalt not kill mana burn Thou shalt not sacrifice depth for accessibility Thou shalt not steal combat damage from the stack Thou shalt tell a story through thy cards All must be one
So Kayla Bin-Kroog got race swapped, rings of power stlye? Seems unnecessary but ok I guess.
Well, Jodah is her great-grandson. Looks like the comics version is more...well...accurate.
This was quite unnecessary, but I guess I can live with it.
Regarding the cards, this is both a flavor and gameplay win. Urza is immensely powerful, cannot be cheated so easily to play, and using MELD mechanic is an absolutely perfect and storywise accurate way.
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100% Vorthos Spike and Storyline Expert
Former Fact Prospector of the Greek Alliance.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
Does anybody even like the old gold border? Blake keeps hyping them up, but I just can't get excited about them.
Wow. I was so confused about this talk about gold borders, when I realized, you probably refer to gold frames. Easily the worst of the old-style frames IMO. But still a better look than gold borders.
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Planar Chaos was not a mistake neither was it random. You might want to look at it again.
[thread=239793][Game] Level Up - Creature[/thread]
Urza is great I would do something like run 1 maindeck copy of the rock and a sideboard copy to get with Granted so you could technically have 5 copies of it main deck with only 1 actually gunking it up.
63 distinct artifacts in the “archive”, huh… I dig it. (22 cards before normal ivory tower so subtract 22 from 86 for the schematic ivory tower and the schematics start at 64). I hope that wizards slipped in one or two stax pieces in there somewhere, if only because it’s so hard for wizards to find a place to reprint them.
I bet we'll get at least Smokestack, which is an Urza's Saga throwback anyway. I could see Winter Orb too since it is so old school.
I like that they made Urza really nuts but also difficult and costly to build, I don't think it's going to break any formats (unless there is a way to cheat on the meld ability) but it is a fun achievement to go for.
edit: I am thinking that Mishra will be a meld too, his meld piece will be either an artifact representing Phyrexian technology or a black enchantment representing corruption, and his melded form will be a human/dragon-engine hybrid monstrosity (non-PW).
Recruitment Officer has a sweet body and a sweet ability...that we'll activate as often as Spectral Sailor's ability. Will the increased card quality and fortunate creature types be enough for Modern?
Queen Kayla bin-Kroog's ability looks really sweet. Shame she's a 3-mana 2/3, so you probably have to put her in a deck full of removal magnets. Luckily, her ability encourages you to put her in a deck full of removal magnets.
So Kayla Bin-Kroog got race swapped, rings of power stlye? Seems unnecessary but ok I guess.
Not quite sure where the race swap assumption comes from - if you're assuming she's Thran, the Thran are/were humans, and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician was one of them. At any rate, she's held to be one of Jodah, Archmage Eternal's ancestors (Jodah apparently also being descended from one of Urza or Mishra through Kayla's son), and Jodah is talked about as being 100% human.
If her skin tone is inconsistent...yeah, blame a style guide changing somewhere.
Maybe this is the comic book depiction of her will explain it better
I love the old border on a case by case basis. It looks a lot better than the modern one for all artifacts, all green, most red, and some blue. Old art helps, TSR was hit or miss because old school border did not work for some of the new art. Old border feels too dark for black cards, boring on white, and the mustard 'gold' is ugly as sin. But green and colorless it's vastly superior.
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Project Booster Fun makes it less fun to open a booster.
Recruitment Officer has a sweet body and a sweet ability...that we'll activate as often as Spectral Sailor's ability. Will the increased card quality and fortunate creature types be enough for Modern?
Queen Kayla bin-Kroog's ability looks really sweet. Shame she's a 3-mana 2/3, so you probably have to put her in a deck full of removal magnets. Luckily, her ability encourages you to put her in a deck full of removal magnets.
So Kayla Bin-Kroog got race swapped, rings of power stlye? Seems unnecessary but ok I guess.
Not quite sure where the race swap assumption comes from - if you're assuming she's Thran, the Thran are/were humans, and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician was one of them. At any rate, she's held to be one of Jodah, Archmage Eternal's ancestors (Jodah apparently also being descended from one of Urza or Mishra through Kayla's son), and Jodah is talked about as being 100% human.
If her skin tone is inconsistent...yeah, blame a style guide changing somewhere.
Maybe this is the comic book depiction of her will explain it better
Those comics were published by a third party and heavily retconned by The Brothers' War novel.
Recruitment Officer has a sweet body and a sweet ability...that we'll activate as often as Spectral Sailor's ability. Will the increased card quality and fortunate creature types be enough for Modern?
Queen Kayla bin-Kroog's ability looks really sweet. Shame she's a 3-mana 2/3, so you probably have to put her in a deck full of removal magnets. Luckily, her ability encourages you to put her in a deck full of removal magnets.
So Kayla Bin-Kroog got race swapped, rings of power stlye? Seems unnecessary but ok I guess.
Not quite sure where the race swap assumption comes from - if you're assuming she's Thran, the Thran are/were humans, and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician was one of them. At any rate, she's held to be one of Jodah, Archmage Eternal's ancestors (Jodah apparently also being descended from one of Urza or Mishra through Kayla's son), and Jodah is talked about as being 100% human.
If her skin tone is inconsistent...yeah, blame a style guide changing somewhere.
Maybe this is the comic book depiction of her will explain it better
Those comics were published by a third party and heavily retconned by The Brothers' War novel.
oh the comics weren't canon ok that makes a little bit more sense
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Spoiler EditorFirst off, the full-art basics of the set. While there are regular basics, we're still getting thee mech-covered full art basics.
What is the Brothers' War without the brothers? Today, we get Urza, the first of three meld cards in the set. We'll get Mishra on October 4.
Urza and Mishra get different versions in the Commander precons of the set... in the retro frame. Heck, their entire decks are in the retro frame.
Next up, promos. The following will be available during the Prerelease, but aren't going to be in the set itself.
Our first in-set promo is this Buy-a-Box promo land.
And our Bundle promo is a retro border version of Urza's wife and queen of Kroog, Kayla.
We have this pair as the Game Day promos.
The set has its own bonus sheet: artifacts in retro frame. They come in regular art and schematic versions... generally
There will also be serialized foil editions of these cards for the super collector, in double rainbow foil (whatever that means, we never got to see the physical card).
For more details, including important date and packaging, see here.
Source: Weekly MTG
Well person I can't remember, you get brownie points. Urza Planeswalker is a beast and I wouldn't be surprised if "Urza.dek" became a real archetype.
Also, I really like Queen Kayla, she seems like a fun brew-around-me both in Commander and Standard. Not sure if "playing a three-drop and hoping it lives" is a strategy worth pursuing in 2022 Magic, but we do have Selfless Samurai to protect her and if there's one thing that I know for a fact is really really good, it's cards that accelerate and generate card advantage at the same time.
Us old farts love it. It harkens back to a more civilized era.
I do.
HR Analyst. Gamer. Activist | Fearless, and forthright | Aggro-control is a mindset.
Elspeth and Jhoira rock my world.
So Kayla Bin-Kroog got race swapped, rings of power stlye? Seems unnecessary but ok I guess.
As an owner of an artifact cube this set has me hyped...
Full art lands... all lands should be like this!!
Urza - kinda predicted an “Origins” transform mechanic but Meld makes much sense. Especially with that tiny rules text.
He is really powerful though. I like doing +4, dump your hand, then ultimate next turn.
He also curves nicely into the Mightstone and Wakstone, and then meld on the 5th turn.
Mishra’s Foundry is a bit meh... is this a rare? I think it can pass off as an uncommon. Let’s see.. perhaps we will get a lot of Assembly worker tribal.
That Kayla is one value engine.
Recruitment officer is one great card for Cube.
Schematic showcase is nice, but we got borderless schematics in SL, so I was hoping for that.
Was expecting more new artifacts for an artifact set but I guess they reserved it for the main preview season...
Queen Kayla bin-Kroog's ability looks really sweet. Shame she's a 3-mana 2/3, so you probably have to put her in a deck full of removal magnets. Luckily, her ability encourages you to put her in a deck full of removal magnets.
Not quite sure where the race swap assumption comes from - if you're assuming she's Thran, the Thran are/were humans, and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician was one of them. At any rate, she's held to be one of Jodah, Archmage Eternal's ancestors (Jodah apparently also being descended from one of Urza or Mishra through Kayla's son), and Jodah is talked about as being 100% human.
If her skin tone is inconsistent...yeah, blame a style guide changing somewhere.
There's a depiction of her in the link I provided. Not an assumption.
Low-power cube enthusiast!
My 1570 card cube (no longer updated)
My 415 Peasant+ Artifact and Enchantment Cube
Ever-Expanding "Just throw it in" cube.
But anyway - sure wasn't expecting meld in this set. I approve.
Thou shalt not frame images with the modern card face
Thou shalt not change rules in vain
Remember the Reserved List to keep it holy
Honor thy Slivers and the symmetry of their abilities
Thou shalt not kill mana burn
Thou shalt not sacrifice depth for accessibility
Thou shalt not steal combat damage from the stack
Thou shalt tell a story through thy cards
All must be one
Well, Jodah is her great-grandson. Looks like the comics version is more...well...accurate.
This was quite unnecessary, but I guess I can live with it.
Regarding the cards, this is both a flavor and gameplay win. Urza is immensely powerful, cannot be cheated so easily to play, and using MELD mechanic is an absolutely perfect and storywise accurate way.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
Wow. I was so confused about this talk about gold borders, when I realized, you probably refer to gold frames. Easily the worst of the old-style frames IMO. But still a better look than gold borders.
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
Factions: Sleeping
Remnants: Valheim
Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO
I bet we'll get at least Smokestack, which is an Urza's Saga throwback anyway. I could see Winter Orb too since it is so old school.
I like that they made Urza really nuts but also difficult and costly to build, I don't think it's going to break any formats (unless there is a way to cheat on the meld ability) but it is a fun achievement to go for.
edit: I am thinking that Mishra will be a meld too, his meld piece will be either an artifact representing Phyrexian technology or a black enchantment representing corruption, and his melded form will be a human/dragon-engine hybrid monstrosity (non-PW).
Maybe this is the comic book depiction of her will explain it better
Low-power cube enthusiast!
My 1570 card cube (no longer updated)
My 415 Peasant+ Artifact and Enchantment Cube
Ever-Expanding "Just throw it in" cube.
Those comics were published by a third party and heavily retconned by The Brothers' War novel.
oh the comics weren't canon ok that makes a little bit more sense
but However I did hear that Jodah, Archmage Eternal is a descendant of kayla