Magic: The Gathering The Brothers' War spoilers begin - New Teferi, Prototype keyword, and more

Spoiler season has begun for Magic: The Gathering! With The Brothers’ War kicking off on November 18, Wizards of the Coast revealed several powerful cards that will be featured in the expansion. Multiple versions of Urza and Mishra will be available in the set, highlighting the brothers’ growth in power throughout the war they fought.

That wasn’t all I got to get a peek at. A powerful new Teferi, a new game mechanic in Prototype, and much more. The Brothers’ War appears to feature no shortage of powerful cards - legends, artifacts, planeswalkers, and much more. Here’s what was shown off in the presentation.

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Magic: The Gathering preview reveals several cards from The Brothers’ War

In The Brothers’ War story, Teferi, the legendary time-controlling planeswalker, looks back in time to The Brothers’ War. Can he alter the flow of time and prevent a tragedy? This means we get a powerful new mono-blue Teferi to look forward to! This card is surely going to divide the fanbase.

Some will adore this Magic: The Gathering card, while others will be infuriated by the amount of potential power he's going to have. Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim is the new, 5-cost Teferi, and here’s what he can do.

Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim (Image via Sportskeeda)

Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim:

• Mana Type: 3UU
• Type: Legendary Planeswalker - Teferi
• Rarity: Mythic Rare
• Loyalty: 4
• First Ability: Whenever you draw a card, put a loyalty counter on Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim
• First Loyalty Ability: 0: Draw a card.
• Second Loyalty Ability: -2: Create a 2/2 blue Spirit creature token with vigilance and “Whenever you draw a card, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature”.
• Third Loyalty Ability: -12: Target opponent chooses a permanent they control and returns it to its owner’s hand. Then they shuffle each nonland permanent they control into its owner’s library.

What a bonkers card! This is going to potentially push the aggro and midrange decks into hysterics. You won’t likely pop his -12 the moment he comes into play or anything, but with mono-blue, it’s not going to be hard to get there.

The Phyrexian Fleshgorger also revealed a brand new mechanic - Prototype. Normally, the Phyrexian Fleshgorger is a 7-cost artifact with a 7 power and 5 toughness. However, you can choose to cast it for its Prototype cost, which gives it 3 power and 3 toughness. However, it’s also a much cheaper mana value.

Phyrexian Fleshgorger (Image via Sportskeeda)

Prototype creatures in Magic: The Gathering retain their abilities and types but have an alternate casting cost and stats. It’s a fascinating way to put a creature into play either early or late, depending on what you need. They’re very flexible creatures for a variety of Magic: The Gathering decks.

Phyrexian Fleshgorger:

• Mana Type: 7
• Type: Artifact Creature - Phyrexian Wurm
• Mechanic: Prototype cost: 1BB, Prototype stats: 3 power, 3 toughness
• Keyword: Menace, Lifelink
• Rarity: Mythic Rare
• Stats: 7 power, 7 toughness
• First Ability: Ward - Pay life equal to Phyrexian Fleshgorger’s power

This is the only Prototype card revealed so far, but there will no doubt be more. I love the idea of this card style, making powerful, late-game cards also viable in the early stages of the game. In addition, Powerstone tokens were introduced.

These Magic: The Gathering tokens are artifacts with Tap: Add 1 colorless mana. This mana can’t be spent on a non-artifact spell. It’s worth noting that you can use it on card abilities. You just can’t spend it on non-artifact spells.

Splitting the Powerstone in MTG (Image via Sportskeeda)

A Magic: The Gathering card was revealed that creates 2 of these, Splitting the Powerstone. A 3-cost Sorcery, you sacrifice an artifact in addition to its casting cost. But it creates 2 untapped Powerstone tokens, which is incredible.

One classic Magic: The Gathering mechanic is also coming back, Unearth. If you pay the Unearth Cost while the creature is in the graveyard, you can return it to play and give it haste for the turn. However, it gets exiled at the end of the turn.

Ashnod’s Harvester is one of those cards. A 3 power, 1 toughness artifact creature, it exiles a card from a graveyard whenever it attacks. It’s definitely going to be used in Unearth decks to do some serious graveyard hate.

However, the stars of this Magic: The Gathering expansion are Urza and Mishra. In addition to the versions in Commander decks and the Meld cards, there are other forms for these legendary characters. In this presentation, the Uncommon and Rare forms were revealed.

Two faces of Urza (Image via Sportskeeda)

Urza, Powerstone Prodigy:

• Mana Type: 2U
• Type: Legendary Creature - Human Artificer
• Keyword: Vigilance
• Rarity: Uncommon
• Stats: 1 power, 3 toughness
• First Ability: 1, tap: Draw a card, then discard a card.
• Second Ability: Whenever you discard one or more artifact cards, create a tapped Powerstone token. This only triggers once each turn.

Urza, Prince of Kroog:

• Mana Type: 2WU
• Type: Legendary Creature - Human Artificer
• Rarity: Rare
• Stats: 2 power, 3 toughness
• First Ability: Artifact creatures you control get +2/+2
• Second Ability: 6: Create a token that’s a copy of target artifact you control, except it’s a 1/1 Soldier creature in addition to its other types.

Urza’s design is all about creating an army of artifacts to go into battle in Magic: The Gathering and making certain they’re strong enough to stand on their own. Mishra’s strategy lies in another direction. His artificer style is a bit more sinister and grants his allies Unearth.

The two faces of Mishra (Image via Sportskeeda)

Mishra, Excavation Prodigy:

• Mana Type: 2R
• Type: Legendary Creature - Human Artificer
• Keyword: Haste
• Rarity: Uncommon
• Stats: 2 power, 1 toughness
• First Ability: 1, tap, Discard a card: Draw a card.
• Second Ability: Whenever you discard one or more artifact cards, add RR to your mana pool. This ability triggers only once each turn.

Mishra, Tamer of Mak Fawa:

• Mana Type: 3BR
• Type: Legendary Creature - Human Artificer
• Rarity: Rare
• Stats: 4 power, 4 toughness
• First Ability: Permanents you control have “Ward - sacrifice a permanent”.
• Second Ability: Each artifact card in your graveyard has Unearth 1BR.

As the weeks go on for Magic: The Gathering’s The Brothers’ War expansion, more reveals are coming. The set will release on November 18, with Phyrexia: All Will Be One coming in 2023.