First art is from Triumphant Reckoning, second seems to be promo art they have been using for a magic thing in Feb (which will be right after ONE comes out) and is indeed new. Guessing its more marketing art or Norns card art or something similar (like a command or something).
I'm curious to see what they mean when they said "Hazoret and the people of Amonkhet went into hiding". Hiding where? The rest of the plane is basically infested by undead anyways, the phyrexians are the least of their concerns right now.
I'd guess using the Hekma to hide Naktamun and hoping that when/if the phyrexia invade they just find undead and desert.
On topic from the reprint of Sphinx's Revelation it looks like Samut and Basri have met, was wondering if they had yet.
We don't get an article instead Mark Rosewater (head of all un-magic) and Ari Zirulnik (creative member who worked on Unfinity) did an episode of drive to work talking on the legends and made it canon to the un-verse;
I have written up a summary of what they said but I suggest listening to the podcast as I'm just kinda doing a wiki version of what was said. I did this also as with everything going on I thought this would be a fun set to look at and add too.
Myra the Magnificent's Intergalactic Astrotorium of Fun;
Myra the Magnificent and her Intergalactic Astrotorium of Fun
Myra's goal in life is to make the best park she can and entertain people. She loves and respects her employees who help her and always tries to find the perfect place for those she works for where their skills and passion can shine most, such as having the vampires run the midway. From a young age Myra inherited a huge falling apart space station and saw this as the chance to leave her mark on the world.
Myra's main goal is to entertain and make a fun time for people and kinda will do whatever she can to do it, often saying “Safety 12th”. Due to this a lot of the park’s technology is barely held together and is always needing repairs. Myra will often try to cut costs in any way she can, such as making the zoo a petting zoo to cut costs on cages or removing the backs of chairs since the crowds are on the edge of their seats anyways. The park is also infested with multiple types of vermin; squirrels, rats, beebles and gremlins. Each predates on each other (space squirrels can take down a beeble in a blink!) making a kinda stasis between them.
The three main creature types classes of the park are;
Guest - those who come to park to enjoy.
Performer- any of the people who are part of the acts in the park.
Employee - Everyone else who works at the park.
Truss, Chief Engineer
Truss was a hacker who once hacked the park for fun and when Myra found out she offed Tuss a job there. Much of her day is taken up by other employees calling about a problem happening or something going wrong. As this happens so often she just hacks something togethers to fix the problem for a moment instead of full fixing it. She has an assistant named Glaxxar who she sometimes mistreats out of neglect, lost in whatever other task she needs to do.
Pietra, Crafter of Clowns
Pietra Honkhonk McGiggles is the creator and builder (vai the Mirthing Pod) of all the robots in the park and is the only human clown. A brilliant artificer, goofball and someone who takes comedy and joke crafting very seriously, she found a way to mix her two passions by making robot clowns. She aims to make the best clown robot ever.
Captain Rex Nebula
Greatest pilot in the universe…oh so he says and more likely the cheapest one Myra could find. While he is great at flying smaller ships he isn't the best driver when it comes to bigger space ships, like the Astrotorium. In fact he was the one who destroyed the home planet of the Blorbians, Blorb-12 when he backed up into the planet.
Ambassador Blorpityblorpboop and Blorbs (Aliens)
The Blorbians now live at the park after Myra gave them lifetime passes after their planet was destroyed. As such they are the masters of the park games and you might as well give up if your going against one in the games.
They are led by Ambassador Blorpityblorpboop since the former rulers didn’t make it through the crash. Lacking anything official, he declared himself as the ambassador and to shut him up everyone went with it. He’s really not over the trauma crash but he has formed a friendship with Rex and the two will sometimes get dinner and have friendly trash talk. His ship is full of all his game prizes.
Devil K. Nevil
Devil Kdanger Nevil (the K is silent) is the star daredevil, and a literal devil, of the park. He's broken every bone multiple times, has been set on fire many times and nearly anything bad that might have happened has happened. Despite all of this he never wavered in his euphemism for performing. He feels the most alive and happy in the middle of his stunts and happy risks the many dangers that could (and have) happen.
Monoxa, Midway Manager
While Truss helps Myra with all the technological needs, Monoxa was hired by Myra to be the people's person, though she can be a bit cold blooded as vampires tend to be. She is in charge of keeping track of other employees and helping guests with any issues. She is very good at the job (and knows it), having worked her way up to her current position. She will do what needs to get the job done, even secretly teaming up with the rats of the park
Roxi, Publicist to the Stars
Not saying which Stars, Roxi was brought in by Myra to help with PR such as dropping of flyers on planets to make sure everyone knows about the Astrotorium.
Tusk and Whiskers
Tusk and Whiskers were hired as separate acts but often Myra will toss multiple acts together when low on time or money. The two found that they worked together great and now the number one act of the park (barely edging out Harold and Devil). Tusk is the Elephant and dislikes peanuts (as well as the stereotype) but loves cashews and Whiskers is the mouse and has a normal sized pet dog.
Spinnerette, Arachnobat
The spinner of the safety nets at the park and she loves her job as it lets her always getting her food delivered. Like other animals and non-humanoids of the park, Spinnerette willingly works for Myra (who pays her in food) and only does things she is willing to do and never forced into anything she isn't willing to do.
Comet, Stellar Pup
Comet is a good boy!
Comet is just a dog, not a dog person, not an intelligent dog, just a dog who just happens to be a planeswalker after an unknown traumatic event. Despite this he enjoys life as a planeswalker, able to dig up bones on Innistrad to bury on Zendikar. Comet doesn't really keep a thought in his head for more than 10 seconds. His main goals are just to eat, dig up bones, chase squirrels and just have fun. He found the park one day and it has become his new home. Myra having grown found of Comet, built him a dog house ship to rest in in-between his multiverse adventures. He also never gets bored spending time in the park chasing squirrels as space squirrels are his favorite to chase.
Still, ignoring that context for a bit and judging the story purely as a stand-alone thing, it does seem a bit absurd that whole planes have been mobilized to fight in a war against some opponent that most people living there have never even seen.
I didn't really take it as whole planes being mobilized, just what the walkers involved in this can muster. Tyvar likely has his brother and the elves prepared, Kaya/Jace/Vraska getting ravnica guides ect.
It had a rocky start though. In the first side story (why are those the side stories and the fill-in-the-blanks of the war the main stories???) they talked about mobilizing the planes? Mobilizing for what? As far as anyone knows there is no possibility to move the fight to New Phyrexia except through planeswalkers. What exactly are they mobilizing? Warning of a coming threat, sure. Building up defenses, maybe. But mobilizing? It makes no sense.
I think they mean both raise defense and mobilize for war. Each planes is likely both getting ready in case they get invaded as well as forming their own version of the Coalition if there is already enough phyrexian discovered.
]But not only that but white phyrexians somehow made it there? After Sheoldred has left Dominaria no less?.
The New Capenna story has Tezzeret state he's been dropping troops off at certain planes as well as the praetors.
A few of my own speculations and thoughts to your post;
Well, with all the old-time references being thrown to us by armfuls, do anyone else has the feeling that Wizards want to kind of satisfy every last Vorthos who liked to see the old stories again, reimagined in modern coat?
Yes, there are still some leftovers, but with the Weatherlight crew almost redone, with Legends II in the boxtoppers, and now with Brothers' War, with Urza Friggin' Planeswalker in his full power in a flavor perfect solution (Not to mention Mishra), even with the Thran era adressed with Rebbec, Glacian and Yawgmoth, there is not much. It is a nice gift for the 30th anniversary
Yes, IIRC wizards has said its a goal for them to try to get all the old characters who never got cards (or those who got subpar cards) to get a new modern refresh and I feel like with the 30th anniversary they are taking a perfect chance to cram a lot of those legends in. The set "Brother's War" was gonna be a side set but I like how they worked it into the current story as a time travel story and let it get more focus.
but at the same time, I have a feeling of something like a big reboot coming with the "Infinity War/Endgame" climax of the Phyrexia arc... a definite farewell to the old history and its restrictions that the silly old geezers comment on.
I have had a similar thought. The fact they said MoM and Aftermath will shake up the multiverse like the mending did makes me wonder if we won't see a soft reboot of the story. We will have followed the "gatewatch cast"* since 2007/2008 (depends on if you count Lorwyn or Alara as the start), so 16/17 years in 2023 when MoM hits. I don't think we will see as huge of a change as they said how they regret somewhat not carrying over some characters and stories from pre-mending sooner, but with likely the multiverse somewhat connected after MoM that might change what characters they focus on as planeswalkers might not be the only planar travelers or have some of the major characters "retire" and we only see them here and there.
Gatewatch cast= the post mending characters as most of if not all of the story involved a gatewatch member or story touched on the gatewatch members.
March of the Machine shows he makes it back, but this keep him from going to New Phyrexia which is a huge lost
-Jace, Nissa, Kaya, Elspeth, Vraska, Wanderer, Kaito, Tyvar, Nahiri and Lukka are going to Phyrexia to try and stop the world tree. IMO and from the hints in the All will be one product page likely one if not more, will not make out un-oiled.
-Chandra, Wrenn and Liliana are staying behind as back up and are also helping Jodah.
-Sorin and Arlinn are setting up defenses on Innistrad
-Samut, Hazoret and the people of Amonkhet have gone into hiding.
-Bolas aways feared Ajani since Alara and it seems until War of the Spark he purposely did things to keep Ajani away.
-Tezzeret is dying from the planar bridge in him and made a deal with Phyrexia for a new Darksteel body. He is also hearing the whispers of being compleated.
-Tezzeret seems to think the true-self hood of completed planeswalkers is still there.
-Tezzeret was the one to hire Kaya and sent her to Kaldheim hoping she see/stop Vorniclex and was the one sending info to Jace about Koth.
-Bolas feared Phyrexia and his first act as a reborn god was gonna destroy them.
Elite Spellbinder was also something they had said they wanted to test out for white and far as I'm aware people seem to like the idea of white having "delayed discard" effects.
The "one colored artifact" likely can be explained by having them have effects that you need to pay colored mana for like Surge Engine is just a 2 mana 3/2 with defender unless you have blue.
We've seen a similar thing happen with "die" and "create" and those have worked out great imo and help the game be a bit less wordy. Maybe not keyword it "Arrive- ~effect~" but more like "when this creature arrives -effect-", "whenever a creature arrives ~effect~". Maybe to call back it to older magic can be "Summoned".
For the record the Captain cycle in Dark Ascension was considered a tad too pushed and they felt the lords should have been at rare.
I'd guess using the Hekma to hide Naktamun and hoping that when/if the phyrexia invade they just find undead and desert.
On topic from the reprint of Sphinx's Revelation it looks like Samut and Basri have met, was wondering if they had yet.
https://cdn.transistor.fm/file/transistor/m/shows/21454/37658c4dded0a5b03cae34583d221bd7.mp3
(Part 2 coming soon;
https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/699644155307196416/can-i-request-some-lore-on-the-most-dangerous )
I have written up a summary of what they said but I suggest listening to the podcast as I'm just kinda doing a wiki version of what was said. I did this also as with everything going on I thought this would be a fun set to look at and add too.
Myra the Magnificent's Intergalactic Astrotorium of Fun;
Myra the Magnificent and her Intergalactic Astrotorium of Fun
Myra's goal in life is to make the best park she can and entertain people. She loves and respects her employees who help her and always tries to find the perfect place for those she works for where their skills and passion can shine most, such as having the vampires run the midway. From a young age Myra inherited a huge falling apart space station and saw this as the chance to leave her mark on the world.
Myra's main goal is to entertain and make a fun time for people and kinda will do whatever she can to do it, often saying “Safety 12th”. Due to this a lot of the park’s technology is barely held together and is always needing repairs. Myra will often try to cut costs in any way she can, such as making the zoo a petting zoo to cut costs on cages or removing the backs of chairs since the crowds are on the edge of their seats anyways. The park is also infested with multiple types of vermin; squirrels, rats, beebles and gremlins. Each predates on each other (space squirrels can take down a beeble in a blink!) making a kinda stasis between them.
The three main creature types classes of the park are;
Guest - those who come to park to enjoy.
Performer- any of the people who are part of the acts in the park.
Employee - Everyone else who works at the park.
Truss, Chief Engineer
Truss was a hacker who once hacked the park for fun and when Myra found out she offed Tuss a job there. Much of her day is taken up by other employees calling about a problem happening or something going wrong. As this happens so often she just hacks something togethers to fix the problem for a moment instead of full fixing it. She has an assistant named Glaxxar who she sometimes mistreats out of neglect, lost in whatever other task she needs to do.
Pietra, Crafter of Clowns
Pietra Honkhonk McGiggles is the creator and builder (vai the Mirthing Pod) of all the robots in the park and is the only human clown. A brilliant artificer, goofball and someone who takes comedy and joke crafting very seriously, she found a way to mix her two passions by making robot clowns. She aims to make the best clown robot ever.
Captain Rex Nebula
Greatest pilot in the universe…oh so he says and more likely the cheapest one Myra could find. While he is great at flying smaller ships he isn't the best driver when it comes to bigger space ships, like the Astrotorium. In fact he was the one who destroyed the home planet of the Blorbians, Blorb-12 when he backed up into the planet.
Ambassador Blorpityblorpboop and Blorbs (Aliens)
The Blorbians now live at the park after Myra gave them lifetime passes after their planet was destroyed. As such they are the masters of the park games and you might as well give up if your going against one in the games.
They are led by Ambassador Blorpityblorpboop since the former rulers didn’t make it through the crash. Lacking anything official, he declared himself as the ambassador and to shut him up everyone went with it. He’s really not over the trauma crash but he has formed a friendship with Rex and the two will sometimes get dinner and have friendly trash talk. His ship is full of all his game prizes.
Devil K. Nevil
Devil Kdanger Nevil (the K is silent) is the star daredevil, and a literal devil, of the park. He's broken every bone multiple times, has been set on fire many times and nearly anything bad that might have happened has happened. Despite all of this he never wavered in his euphemism for performing. He feels the most alive and happy in the middle of his stunts and happy risks the many dangers that could (and have) happen.
Monoxa, Midway Manager
While Truss helps Myra with all the technological needs, Monoxa was hired by Myra to be the people's person, though she can be a bit cold blooded as vampires tend to be. She is in charge of keeping track of other employees and helping guests with any issues. She is very good at the job (and knows it), having worked her way up to her current position. She will do what needs to get the job done, even secretly teaming up with the rats of the park
Roxi, Publicist to the Stars
Not saying which Stars, Roxi was brought in by Myra to help with PR such as dropping of flyers on planets to make sure everyone knows about the Astrotorium.
Tusk and Whiskers
Tusk and Whiskers were hired as separate acts but often Myra will toss multiple acts together when low on time or money. The two found that they worked together great and now the number one act of the park (barely edging out Harold and Devil). Tusk is the Elephant and dislikes peanuts (as well as the stereotype) but loves cashews and Whiskers is the mouse and has a normal sized pet dog.
Spinnerette, Arachnobat
The spinner of the safety nets at the park and she loves her job as it lets her always getting her food delivered. Like other animals and non-humanoids of the park, Spinnerette willingly works for Myra (who pays her in food) and only does things she is willing to do and never forced into anything she isn't willing to do.
Comet, Stellar Pup
Comet is a good boy!
Comet is just a dog, not a dog person, not an intelligent dog, just a dog who just happens to be a planeswalker after an unknown traumatic event. Despite this he enjoys life as a planeswalker, able to dig up bones on Innistrad to bury on Zendikar. Comet doesn't really keep a thought in his head for more than 10 seconds. His main goals are just to eat, dig up bones, chase squirrels and just have fun. He found the park one day and it has become his new home. Myra having grown found of Comet, built him a dog house ship to rest in in-between his multiverse adventures. He also never gets bored spending time in the park chasing squirrels as space squirrels are his favorite to chase.
I didn't really take it as whole planes being mobilized, just what the walkers involved in this can muster. Tyvar likely has his brother and the elves prepared, Kaya/Jace/Vraska getting ravnica guides ect.
I think they mean both raise defense and mobilize for war. Each planes is likely both getting ready in case they get invaded as well as forming their own version of the Coalition if there is already enough phyrexian discovered.
The New Capenna story has Tezzeret state he's been dropping troops off at certain planes as well as the praetors.
A few of my own speculations and thoughts to your post;
Yes, IIRC wizards has said its a goal for them to try to get all the old characters who never got cards (or those who got subpar cards) to get a new modern refresh and I feel like with the 30th anniversary they are taking a perfect chance to cram a lot of those legends in. The set "Brother's War" was gonna be a side set but I like how they worked it into the current story as a time travel story and let it get more focus.
I have had a similar thought. The fact they said MoM and Aftermath will shake up the multiverse like the mending did makes me wonder if we won't see a soft reboot of the story. We will have followed the "gatewatch cast"* since 2007/2008 (depends on if you count Lorwyn or Alara as the start), so 16/17 years in 2023 when MoM hits. I don't think we will see as huge of a change as they said how they regret somewhat not carrying over some characters and stories from pre-mending sooner, but with likely the multiverse somewhat connected after MoM that might change what characters they focus on as planeswalkers might not be the only planar travelers or have some of the major characters "retire" and we only see them here and there.
Gatewatch cast= the post mending characters as most of if not all of the story involved a gatewatch member or story touched on the gatewatch members.
That is apparently the intention, this happens between DU and BRO.
-Teferi is lost in time
-Jace, Nissa, Kaya, Elspeth, Vraska, Wanderer, Kaito, Tyvar, Nahiri and Lukka are going to Phyrexia to try and stop the world tree. IMO and from the hints in the All will be one product page likely one if not more, will not make out un-oiled.
-Chandra, Wrenn and Liliana are staying behind as back up and are also helping Jodah.
-Sorin and Arlinn are setting up defenses on Innistrad
-Samut, Hazoret and the people of Amonkhet have gone into hiding.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/the-brothers-war-episode-5-as-cruel-as-necessary?utm_campaign=MTG---BRO---The-Brother's-War&utm_source=TWITTER&utm_medium=social&utm_content=8001168328
THE BROTHERS' WAR | CHAPTER 5: EXODUS by Reinhardt Suarez
https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/the-brothers-war-chapter-5-exodus?utm_campaign=MTG---BRO---The-Brother's-War&utm_source=TWITTER&utm_medium=social&utm_content=8001168328
-Tezzeret is dying from the planar bridge in him and made a deal with Phyrexia for a new Darksteel body. He is also hearing the whispers of being compleated.
-Tezzeret seems to think the true-self hood of completed planeswalkers is still there.
-Tezzeret was the one to hire Kaya and sent her to Kaldheim hoping she see/stop Vorniclex and was the one sending info to Jace about Koth.
-Bolas feared Phyrexia and his first act as a reborn god was gonna destroy them.
-Chandra got Nissa to come help.
-The Chandra and Jodah talk was sweet
https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/the-brothers-war-chapter-3-nemesis?utm_campaign=MTG---BRO---The-Brother's-War&utm_source=TWITTER&utm_medium=social&utm_content=7996686398
https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/the-brothers-war-chapter-4-the-dark?utm_campaign=MTG---BRO---The-Brother's-War&utm_source=TWITTER&utm_medium=social&utm_content=7996686398