What ELSE Happens in The Brothers War?

[@MagicArcanum]

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[@dolando5031]

i felt so bad for urza when teferi was telling him "yeah you're not even close to being done with this". urza just wanted to rest lol

[@oom-3262]

imagine urza's face when he meets with a kid called "teferi" later in time lol

[@VoidArchon]

@@oom-3262 it's kinda implied that Urza won't remember their encounter when time snaps back to normal

[@austinnowak5414]

@@oom-3262 How old is Teferi? Wasn't the Brothers War thousands of years ago

[@VoidArchon]

@@austinnowak5414 he's around a thousand iirc. He was a student at the original Tolarian Academy (which was founded by Urza a couple millenia after the war) and his spark ignited after the phyrexians burned it down. He doesn't age (even after post-Mending) due to being exposed to some weird time magic on that occasion.

[@BensonMTG]

I don’t feel bad for Urza, he is a tragically and morally flawed character (it’s a good thing for story depth, basically an anti-hero).

[@prinnynaito]

I would like just to point out that before the destruction of Kroog there was a peace meating that was actually a trap from Kayla's father to try and kill the desert tribes leaders and that was what permitted Mishra to unify the desert tribes and build an army

[@MagicArcanum]

That's a good detail but in order to keep this video at a watchable length I had to leave it out. Thanks for sharing it here!

[@bouboulroz]

There are a few flavor wins in this set that I like, such as Tocasia having 3 toughness, meaning she dies on a Brotherhood's End. Also, the prototype version of the Fallaji Dragon Engine has the same P/T than the Dragon Engine from antiquities, but the full version is a 5/5, which makes it fully at the mercy of the "weakstone" (-5/-5) part of the powerstone. There's also a lot of symetry between the various effects of the multiple Urza and Mishra cards that I find really neat. There are also some big flavor fails. For example, the City Leveler specifically can't level cities, since it cannot target lands.

[@johnnyrivers8110]

Good call.

[@Kokonutzlz]

With the Portal to Phyrexia card, it has the opponent sacrifice 3 creatures. Could this somewhat be a reference that removing and breaking the powerstone keeping the portal closed eventually killed Tocasia, Mishra, and Urza (all in one way or another)?

[@MattyBremner]

I know that Brothers War already had its own set in a lot of ways from back when my knees didn't creak when I walked but this feels like a missed opportunity to me from a flavor perspective. The Urza/Weatherlight era was, to me, the peak of Magic storytelling. Going through Urza's block and having each colour tell a different part of the story of Urza's preparation for/recovery from his war was so inspired. I felt like it was a lot easier to grok the story from the cards when they were done that way. I'm old and will go back go guarding my lawn soon, but I just feel like there was more to be done here. They may go down this road again but just how much Mishra's death and his inability to heal the rift between them haunts Urza is the only thing that makes him human after his spark ignites. That said, your channel is amazing and I appreciate you making the Magic lore more digestable now that it's told in so many different mediums. Finally, there's no way they aren't going to try to bring Urza back or re-tell Urza's story in some kind of alternate history like Star Trek has been doing. I know this because I am exactly the kind of mark who will spend money on this.

[@franciscoteixeira174]

I really loved the scenes about the normal people during AND after the war. It grounded the universe where immortal demi-gods jump across a myriad of realities

[@Bobalini1]

To quote Karn's line from the Dominaria trailer: "How many times can you rebuild from apocalypse? On Dominaria, we've almost lost count." Being the center of the multiverse and being a normal creature is not fun lol

[@Methus3lah]

The best flavor win in this set: Brotherhood’s End deals just enough damage to kill Tocasia, Dig Site Mentor.

[@jadethethief]

Having just read the novel (for the first time) shortly before the set came out, this summary is making me realize how much the cards didn't show. Like, Urza's son (maybe, it's complicated), Harbin, is the one who discovered Argoth and all its resources, and his safety really drives a wedge between Urza and Kayla. Harbin really wants to be part of the war effort to impress his father, and Kayla wishes he wouldn't, and he ultimately dies in the Sylex blast. Also Mishra's whole arc with the Fallaji is largely left out, I assume because of potentially offensive stereotypes with them being a brutal, warlike, misogynist tribe that enslaved Mishra for a while, and how he had to form a friendship with the warlord's son (who became the warlord following his father's death, and quickly became an evil shithead like his dad), and then usurp the son by earning the trust of the rest of the tribe with his control over the dragon engines. And then there was the part where Mishra and Ashnod snuck into Phyrexia and stole dragon engines before Gix came after them, and Ashnod's creation of transmogrants is somewhat glossed over (they didn't start off as zombies; they were prisoners who she tortured past their mental breaking point so they became soldiers who couldn't feel pain). All that said, reading the web fiction was a delight, as the first two chapters of Teferi's observations was effectively an epilogue to the novel, which ended with Urza releasing Tawnos from the coffin and the ice age looming. I don't think the web fics did a great job of explaining the characters for people who hadn't read the novel, though.

[@Brubigo]

Brothers war is a great book, i tried reading the dominaria united story ,but i dont like it, so i am skipping on the new stuff.

[@furiouschicken1]

Ryan is back doing all of us Loremage adepts a favor. Man, I can't even put into words how much I appreciate these lore vids. The way you and Nicole weave the story articles with the card story spotlights is immaculate. There's not a lot of channels on KZbin that I often return to just to rewatch vids. Yours is certainly one of them. I look forward to more in the future. Thank you for your service.

[@anlize3422]

You know, this set is one of those that REAAAAAALY makes me wish WotC brought back the 3 sets format. This story is so big it would be able to fit the 3 sets and tell a very good and cohesive tale. First we would have a introduction, the caves of koilos, then a escalation of war and finally the last battles at Argoth. We would have more cards and more ways to play off the mechanics of this set. But well, that's all wishful thinking.

[@inferno1217]

Isn't this going to be a 4 set story?

[@anlize3422]

@@inferno1217 The whole Phyrexian Saga will be, I guess. But not in the usual format WotC used in the past. They will be 4 sets with tell a story, but not they are not exactly "a pack". Plus, Brother's War had a massive amount of lore to cover, so having only one set to cover that intere amount is the point.

[@MattyBremner]

@@anlize3422 I would have really loved a young Urza/Mishra block, lead up to the war block, and a block about the war. I know that I'm probably not the average player and this was probably exactly what Wizards wanted, a short retelling of Brothers War through the eyes of a popular character. A man can dream, though! That said, I really want to see Urza build Tolaria and then meet Teferi as a brilliant young boy who is a huge pain in the ass and have to wrestle with everything that this implies about his conversation during the Sylex explosion. It's borderline comedy.

[@jacobd1984]

There’s not technically anything stopping WoTC from doing that when it’s appropriate, they just aren’t committing to making blocks anymore. But Kaldheim had the same issue: they’ve said they’ll make however many sets a setting calls for, but they’ve been reluctantly actually do that due to the issues the block format had.

[@uselesscommon7761]

This story is really good. I've never heard it laid out sequentially and comprehensively before, and now I'm impressed. There's tragedy, foreshadowing, gradual escalation, various neutral sides caught in crossfire, rogue agents, and a unified theme of lost ancient technology that actively aids the story instead of just being there. Reminds me of The Clone Wars, but also, though it's hard to put a finger on it, it really feels like a fantasy story written in late 20th and not early 21st century. I'm not sure if it's a compliment or not, but it's very much there.

[@Bobalini1]

Tbh my interest in MTG was finding out there's a continuous story to a card game so I went as far back as I could and read the original book. They're very good imo, and I'm glad players who never knew the OG story are getting to experience it as well

[@Case2_0]

It was written in the late 20th century, this is just a retelling of it

[@Jessthree]

@@Bobalini1 what was the first book of you don’t mind me asking.

[@PedroAlmeida-dy2wr]

@@Jessthree the first of the books is "The thran". Depicts the story of the artifacts Urza and Mishra find out later and how Yawgmoth came to be.

[@veersstreams9065]

This story is heavily inspired by the same one as Star Wars: Frank Herbert's Dune.

[@Teifling]

In the Jeff Grubb book, Urza and Mishra orchestrated a peace meeting between the King of Kroog and the Fallaji Qadir, but the King of Kroog turned it into a Coup. Mishra blamed Urza for the event, and that ill fated choice of the Yotians is what sealed the fate of Terisiare. The brothers intended to mend their relationship along with the border disputes between Yotia and the Fallaji, but ended up gridlocked in their sibling rivalry.

[@zeusalternative1270]

Imagine that you and your brother find a cool rock and then destroy your world due to a war for that rock, truly a BRO moment.

[@MagicArcanum]

Probably not the dumbest thing a war has been fought over, really. At least this rock DID something.

[@SventFulgur]

@@MagicArcanum Yeah, then much later we'll have magical artifacts that DO nothing 🤣

[@MrZer093]

I appreciated how it started with the aftermath of the war. Shows where the priorities lie. They showed how devastated the continent was after the war and how the people reacted. I had to fight back tears when Kayla said goodbye to her grandson and only living relative. She lied when she said they would see each other again but she saw how he needed to live his own life especially now that their kingdom is no more. Hit me in a personal spot. I also appreciated how often she cursed Urza. He was a right bastard and I appreciate how often he got called on his crap.

[@marcusmeira5594]

Dude, do I LOVE Yawgmoth era mtg lore. Not that I dislike the current cast, I love them, but there's something special about the stories from the Thran up until Yawgmoth's fall.

[@KingOfDepravity]

So I think teferi interacting with urza will have an effect on the main timeline, and urza will either be there when teferi returns, or have left something to help again the battle in the future

[@MagicArcanum]

Yeah it was interesting how much emphasis the story puts on Teferi thinking "this SHOULDN'T affect anything..." but you get the sense that it is still possible. We'll just have to wait and see!

[@felipeguidolin1055]

Maybe Teferi telling Urza that the Phyrexians are still a threat is what sets him off in his path of vengeance

[@KingOfDepravity]

And after what urza eventually goes through, making karn, the school, obsessing over defeating them to not actually finish them off I think he will take that personal😂

[@sashmiel6566]

@@KingOfDepravity It would also explain why he would not take Tefri's insistence to use phasing magic During the Apocalypse.

[@elbraymundo]

@@felipeguidolin1055 I’m with you - it feels like that scene was more about starting the inevitable rather than creating a separate timeline or some such nonsense.

[@WolfeOracle]

My reintroduction to MTG the game started in Mirrodin, where I learned to loathe Phyrexia for infect. Then my introduction to the lore happened years later with a video on the history of Yawgmoth, Gix, Mishra, and Urza. It's a little wild to see it coming full circle.

[@MidnaMistfire]

The flavor textof Painful Quandary is absolutely heart wrenching.

[@maksymb8498]

You are great at story telling. Please never stop doing that ! You are true lore-mage all we need !

[@oogaboogabe3464]

You know, with all of this multiverse stuff, i'm surprised we haven't seen alternate universe planeswalkers. Like what if Gideon became a servant of erebos after the irregulars failed attack? What if Liliana became a devoted healer? What if Jace never lost his memories? So much cool stuff could be done with the color pie and whatnot by following this concept

[@pippochiri4547]

They already did something like that in Time Spiral

[@chrisosborn3653]

To answer your questions, The only way I follow this convoluted story is through your videos! Thank you for bringing the story to life.

[@mrmeglomania]

There's a podcast that started doing a reading of the Brother's War, that's started way before the set was released, that goes a really good job of presenting this story of anyone wants to catch all the little details you can't get in the video (which is good; just mentioning it in case you wanna hear the whole story).

[@franbh94]

Imo, my only claim with the set so far is that Gix is a Phyrexian Praetor without a "fck you" effect for the enemy. I guess those are a New Phyrexia Praetors thing.

[@evilgibson]

I've wondered why all the different Mishras and Urzas were in the set until I saw your explanation of Tefari's time walking being as accurate as a Delorean being stuck all the time with lightning. Planeswalkers/players are Sports Almanac-ing them all across time .

[@Itachi45481]

This needed 2 sets for sure

[@BugioPimposo]

Man, this is such a great content, thank you for your work. I could spend hours listening to you talking about all those different characters, how Teferi bounced everywhere trying to get the timing right on the temporal anchor, Kayla's son, etc. If you do decide to make more videos on this arc, I'll watch them all! Also, what influenced Urza to spare Yawgmoth when he had everything needed to obliterate Phyrexia once and for all? I wish Teferi could just tell him to get his shit together and don't develop sympathy for a bunch of murderous robotic aberrations.

[@johanandersson8252]

”Sometimes i stare at a door or at a wall and i wonder what is this reality, why am i alive, and what is this all about?”

[@cavesofchaos123]

It certainly helps if you've read the Brothers' War novel. The actual bits of interest for me within the side stories is seeing the final fate of Kayla bin Kroog and Tawnos as the Ice Age looms. The Brotherhood of Gix and Gix himself seem a little sidelined with the cards, but there's only so much room. Of course this is all set up for the main event. Fingers crossed they don't War of the Spark the Phyrexians. Don't want them to Crimson Vow it either...

[@jacobchappius3230]

Thanks for the video! I always listen to them while working on my magic decks an such and hell it even lets me incorporate themes into some! Hope you continue to go strong because they are definitely a delight!

[@VexylObby]

The acoustics in your giant library are surprisingly not reverberant. Nice job with the sound treatment.

[@GreenDayFanMT]

Thanks so much for your great overview videos. The stories are always a great thing going for magic

[@MagicArcanum]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@kurosawa1120]

14:04 when Ryan says "my criticisms from the companion video", I thought he's referring to the companion mechanic. I think I have PTSD of Lurrus and Yorion now

[@ShawnSansonetti]

This story felt like it was put into a blender to me so thanks once again to Arcanum for untangling things! It felt like a different (and comprehensible) tale when it was told in chronological order.

[@dargoz8]

The sylex blast didn't just affect dominaria. I forget the name of this incident, but it locked multiple planes off from other planeswalkers. The sylex isn't planer wide, it alters the entire multiverse.

[@sandmanlives3]

😊 Thank you.

[@clasherking4528]

I do agree that a story this large should have been at least 2 sets The brothers war and the other could have been called teferi's travels (one set focuses on the events of the past while the other focuses on what teferi experienced when he went back in time)

[@kurowasanabe]

Wasn't Mishra held as a slave before taking the dragon engine and getting some respect anymore? It's kind of an important part that he went through hell while Urza sat in his comfy castle.

[@robhood356]

According to the story team, the story of the novel is still cannon. If something isn't mentioned in the current story but is in the novel, it still happened.

[@MagicArcanum]

Yes Mishra's conditions were less ideal than Urza's as they grew up. I tried to allude to that when I described Mishra attacking the "haughty taughty city of Kroog" but in truth this video could have been 3x as long if I had tried to fit in all the little details that flesh out these characters. The goal with this series is to provide a general understanding of important characters, locations, and events for new/returning players, so unfortunately I don't have room to mention smaller details. I hope you enjoyed the video all the same!

[@kurowasanabe]

@@MagicArcanum it wasn't a knock on you, I just didn't read the new story yet so I honestly thought they cut that out of continuity since it's not very savory.

[@jacepark4809]

Also don't forget the biggest betrayal from Mishra to Urza was convincing Kayla to lay with him behind Urza's back and that was like the Big No in Urza's eyes, if I stand correct I believe that happened in the book. Man if only the two of them stopped fighting and stood together to take down Gix and Yawgmoth man that would of been a hell of team up 🤙.

[@Jaebird88]

I can believe that with all the manipulations, Mishra thought he could become more powerful by allowing Gix to compleat him until realizing too late that he'd no longer be himself. Not that it would absolve him of past actions which he ultimately face the consequences for as a result of feuding with his brother. The same can be said about Urza; both brothers could have found ways to reconcile, but we can't have that when there are cards to sell.

[@apophis456]

This is less of a “we have cards to sell” and more of a “this story was written 20 years ago and the ending forms the foundation for the rest of magic story so it has to end this way”

[@Bobalini1]

@@apophis456 Agreed, and while it's nice to think of how Urza and Mishra *could have* reconciled, that's what makes tragedy a good ending. It's a lesson for the readers that the characters must endure

[@Robert-vk7je]

I was very interested and your introduction was helpful. Thank you!

[@svendejong8110]

Aw, I was hoping for more details on Teferi's different timejumps. I mean, this video is a great recap of the BW, but that story is almost 30 years old, and has been covered plenty of times. Any chance on some more info linked to Teferi's specific timehops? Especially since you mention him going to moments after the Sylex blast and meeting characters not mentioned elsewhere. What happened there and who were they?

[@MagicArcanum]

I would be willing to cover the time jumps if that is something people want to see, but as I stated in the companion video, the goal of this series is general education for new/returning players. Even though this story is almost 30 years old, it's not very accessible by modern standards (the original Brothers War novel is a book you must buy, rather than be made of freely available online chapters, for example.) That's why I focused on summarizing the events that make up the war itself, rather than the individual scenes Teferi visits, but like I said I'm happy to cover those in the near future too if it's something folks ask for.

[@svendejong8110]

Fair enough! I don't know how many specific timejump stories there are online, but if there's only a handful maybe you could link them below? That'd be wonderful.

[@MagicArcanum]

There are five chapters of the story devoted to Teferi's time travel, and you can find them here: bit.ly/MTG_StoryPage

[@LurkingVoltage]

When looking at Hajar, Loyal Bodyguard. Could it be that Mishra survived the blast, faked his death, replaced him missing parts with metal, and now walks around under the name... Tezzeret :O

[@graysonchristian2668]

I’ve personally always preferred the theory that Mishra willingly succumbs to Gix. He’s done so much wrong and was willing to do anything to win. I think it just makes more sense that way. Though I also think it’s tragic we see Mishra again. When Urza eventually meets him on Phyrexia and see’s that Mishra’s been tortured.

[@SeanteBrown]

Already watched it on my TV. Had to come back and watch it on the phone. Gotta get the view count up by any means, ya feel me? 💪🏾✊🏾

[@batatac4mil86]

Wizards: let's make 2 poopy sets for innistrad to tell a bad story no one cares about Also wizards: yeah I'm sure the entirety of magics lore up until Ice age can fit in one set + modern story

[@avengercannon]

Right? The plot in Midnight Hunt wasn't terrible but it didn't feel like it connected with anything else that's going on either. Maybe some more Moon foreshadowing or something signifying some sort of build up idk

[@franbh94]

Ikr? I was hoping that, with the day/night cycle going nuts, we were going to see some sort of Emrakul thingy being in the silvery moon. But no, we just had some random werewolf dude that just appeared havinh beef with Airlin and then Olivia saying "This is my story now" Which led to... Nothing? I mean, no Phyrexian Praetor, no new Planeswalker, no nothing.

[@francesca3386]

I am so glad you made this video.

[@blackhowling1524]

Great video thanks, But I need to know how come might stone and weak stone ends up in Urza's eyes. Did Tefari put in in his broken body?

[@pippochiri4547]

They just fused with him as he ascendes. Teferi didn't have anything to do with that

[@PedonculeDeGzor]

To be honest I think I had a pretty good understanding of the story with only the spotlight cards, just didn't realize that Tef was doing it in the wrong order.

[@davideleidi9361]

The ink of the empires Is probably One of the best mtg stories i've ever read

[@psyko2666]

This just shows that WotC should bring back blocks, give time to each story and mechanics.

[@inferno1217]

isn't this technically a 4 set block?

[@pippochiri4547]

Kinda agree for mechanics but right now we're literally in a multi set story block. Also, 3 set blocks were not really loves as the "minor" set was often not good and the same mechanics got stale after a while

[@RoastedPheasant]

I think having a density of story spotlight cards is VERY important with a set like this. Dominaria is a plane we've seen time and time again, so we don't NEED a bunch of cards to explore the world building.

[@carlosmiguelteixeiraott3643]

I mean, since we're dealing with time travels shenanigans. I fell like the only reasonable path, given this set ends with Teferi waking up on a beach, is: The next set being some kind of "New Phryrexia Wins" bad future, and the tale being how Teferi, and maybe some others, have to get back to the 'present' war to try and fix things, Avengers Endgame style, with the war itself being the last set on this cycle.

[@pippochiri4547]

I think the most reasonable take is that Teferi ender up on the phased out Zhalfir

[@coryirvin6651]

Does Mishra being found by Urza through his trip into phyrexia during the Invasion story mean this is actually Mishra in the brother's war?

[@vampirica11]

I would like to know who placed the original power stone in the cave!

[@svendejong8110]

That was Rebbec, the wife of the ancient Thran artificer Glacian, a rival of Yawgmoth when he was still human. She placed it there to seal Phyrexia off from Dominaria. Look up some lore on the Mightstone to get a more detailed story and/or read the novel The Thran.

[@Bobalini1]

Like Sven mentioned, the story of the original stone are covered in the prequel book The Thran, though it's worth mentioning that it's suggested you read Brothers War first

[@andynelson952]

Awesome video. Great work to all parties.

[@andynelson952]

Also, kind of meta, but do you thing Wizards(who is obviously aware of your videos), knows that you'll make a video to explain what's happening, so they feel confident tackling so much?

[@MagicArcanum]

I don't think they take my channel into consideration at all when they craft their stories. They write them years in advance, and they can't be sure I'll still be making videos by the time any given set is released. Plus, I only do videos in English, but the story is translated into several other languages, which would make it harder for those folks to follow things if WotC is banking on me being the source of the explanation, no?

[@brianseiler9750]

In fairness, this is the second time Wizards has told the story of the war in a single set. The first was Antiquities, and I'm pretty sure that nobody cared whether there was a story or not at that point, given that it was only the second expansion. It might have been nice if, instead of focusing on the war so much, the set tried to follow the sylex around (so you get to see a lot of relevant parts of the war, but also some glimpses of the Thran Empire), but I get it - you wanna draw big robots, you gotta draw big robots. Ultimately, though, my guess is that nobody uses Karn's Sylex, unless it's on Mirrodin. Just like with the Eldrazi, some enterprising individual will decide that maybe the way the first time ended up working out turned out to be unbelievably stupid and comes up with an alternative. Which, ten years from now, can also turn out to have been unbelievably stupid, but in a different way, so the Phyrexians can come back. What? This is a comic book. You like the villains, so you want the villains to come back.

[@marcelbehncke900]

And a great video for a great set , from a great man 😄

[@mana191god]

I read and owned the original novels from the early 2000s that accompanied or the saga and before. There was a golden age of storytelling in my opinion. Even still I haven't read those stories in a long long time and this recap although abridged is still welcome because I thought I knew a lot and I read a wiki before watching this and there was still some detail that I learned. Also I have that same green cup

[@capeciucc5268]

Great recap :+) From the spotlight cards I've missed some details, like the death of theyr mentor and the fact that Gix came out from the stone's break. I'd like to know what Urza did after. During the next set there will be the fight against the phyrexians on theyr plane. If they will be defeated i think the story can only S-L-O-W-L-Y return on the last great mystery and treat remained in the multiverse: the Eldrazi.

[@Bobalini1]

Having read the books years ago, I can tell you that the book does a better job of highlighting the significance of the Caves of Koilos. While Urza/Mishra found the power stone there, something was *off* that neither could understand. The cave felt neither natural nor manmand, but coated in metal and dryed oil. The stone appeared to be a control panel to underground door, yet had no way to open it. Upon touching and incidentally splitting the stone, both brothers had visions of a world they've never seen, and awoke with a piece of stone in their hands. Distracted by visions and stones, they neglected the cave and failed to notice the door open

[@anthonywolf943]

So the Thran not only could lock the phyrexians and deal with them with sylex of mass destruction, but they also suddenly went just missing to time?? who are these ancient people and what can ruins tell us....

[@Bobalini1]

That very question is what entertained Urza for so long! How could such a successful civilization just disappear and what other technology did they know? The answer is best given in the prequel book The Thran, but if you want a quick answer then the shorthand is this: Locking away the Phyrexians was a final act of desperation, and the Thran were already lost. What Urza and Mishra could not have known was that their own curiosity would doom not only themselves and their homes, but the multiverse as a whole

[@pippochiri4547]

Basically the Phyrexians are the Thran after Yawgmoth obtained political power and caused massive wars

[@usmansabir3897]

Always felt Mishra got the short end of the stick at each turn. Wish the time travel story had been about saving Mishra and letting brothers unite against gix before fall of kroog.

[@dozi3r]

i really hoped for this too

[@svendejong8110]

And undo 30 years of Magic lore? 😱

[@kylesavage4525]

The whole point of Teferi's time travel is to learn how the sylex works to kill present time phyrexians. Trying to save Mishra/end the borthers' war/reunite Urza & Mishra would have colossal and incredibly unpredictable consequences to literally everyone existing in the present.

[@usmansabir3897]

@@svendejong8110 Make it a reason for ascension of bolas or flip character's morals around. Maybe bring back venser, it could have allowed for retconning of a lot of BAD BAD story writng from the war of the spark arc.

[@BetterCallKahl]

Ah so this set is the entire lore for Urza's Ruinous Blast

[@MagicArcanum]

Yep, pretty much!

[@MayBeSomething]

One way to make things less crowded would be to release the set in groups, let's say - I don't know - maybe 3 sets total?

[@Bobalini1]

Possibly a big expansion to show new mechanics and then two additional expansions to build up on that /j

[@philzan3627]

Nope, I couldn't gather that from the cards. I had to go read the wiki. And then I stumbled across Yawgmoth and that has got to be the most interesting story out there.

[@NikitaGrygoryev]

"For a planeswalker in your life"? You imply we treat our partners as a resource, repeatedly using them for favours until their loyalty is over and they leave?

[@MagicArcanum]

That, or they are the person who protects you from the evil schemes of a power-bent Elder dragon.

[@7Alberto7]

😭i want a good MTG TV show so badly.....god the MTG lore is just the best...thanks Ryan!!!!!

[@Itatchi1771]

One thing that I don't think you addressed in this video that I'm still somewhat confused about is the fall of Kroog. In the card, it references that Mishra is retaliating over an ambush at a peace summit, but it sounded like you were saying Mishra provoked the war. What was the peace summit about? Was it between Mishra's Tribe and Urza's Kingdom, rather than between the two brothers themselves? Did Mishra stumble into a war with Urza, or did he declare war upon him by razing Kroog?

[@MagicArcanum]

There was a peace summit, arranged by the King of Kroog, but it was a trap to destroy the desert tribes. The King lured them in (which brought Urza and Mishra back together, as seen on their reunion card) but then things got hostile. So in a way there was never going to be peace, and I'm not sure if we can count Mishra destroying the city as payback or if it's something he would have done anyway as he sought the Mightstone, but either way, the end result was the same, with Kroog being destroyed.

[@Itatchi1771]

@@MagicArcanum thanks for the clarification! I'm not well versed in older magic lore so this was an exciting time to return to. Love your videos, keep it up!

[@hesperosshamshael2873]

Funny how stasis chamber doesn't save you from the sylex, mechanically

[@nicktaylor3245]

This was fascinating! I love these stories, especially with how they're portrayed through the cards. With that said, I'd like to ask about the remaining Story Spotlights from this set that weren't covered. I think there's eight: Bitter Reunion, Hostile Negotiations, Meticulous Excavation, Raze to the Ground, Shoot Down, Sibling Rivalry, Tocasia's Dig Site, and Visions of Phyrexia. Do these still occur in the story, and just weren't covered in the video, or are they conflicts like in some of the previous sets where their events are never explicitly covered in the written story?

[@MagicArcanum]

Those events do all happen within the story but they were either minor enough that I couldn't justify including them or are covered by other other cards that I showed instead. Dig Site / Meticulous Excavation - that's where the brothers studied under Tocasia (and I put her actual card on screen rather than the land) and what they did there (which I just explained while talking about their bonding over history) Visions of Phyrexia - when the brothers touch the stone, they are each granted a vision of the future, but it ends up being different for each of them. They don't know what it means at the time, and not all of it comes true anyway, so I didn't feel it was worth including. Sibling Rivalry - the brothers battle back and forth with their halves of the stone (also seen with Brotherhood's End on screen) Bitter Reunion / Hostile Negotiations - this happens before Mishra attacks Kroog. They do meet for a peace talk but it is sabotaged by outsiders. For the sake of pacing I just cut this because the end result is the same (Mishra destroys the city) Raze to the Ground - I do use the phrase when describing Mishra's attack on Kroog, but I think the art from this actually shows him destroying another city later in the war, so I wasn't entirely sure where it goes in order. Since it's not a definitive moment and since I express how the war lasted a long time anyway, I didn't bother putting this on screen. Shoot Down - the brothers learn of Argoth because Urza's son, Harbin, gets his ornithopter shot down by an elf there. That's Gwenna (who has a card) and Gwenna decides to let Harbin live, which allows him to go report back on this island full of resources. It was a fateful moment, since it led to the destruction of Argoth, but I didn't have room to introduce more characters, and again, the final result is the same - the brothers come to the island and exploit it for the war effort.

[@nicktaylor3245]

@@MagicArcanum Thank you so much for the detailed explanation! That really helps piece together how it all fits. I really appreciate the time and effort you put into all this!

[@wowomah6194]

Harbin, Vanguard Aviator is the kewlest :(

[@Wolfsspinne]

I feel like the original story of the brothers war is from an age long past... and if the story was written nowadays it would be Mishra to become the hero, after releasing the Phyrexians and seeing his brother getting compleated he'd set out on a remorseful journey trying to right his wrongs. The story of a perfect hero who marries the princes is very 90's. I think that's the reason why they didn't dive deeper into it.

[@Christoldmeoastop]

Hopefully the Phyrexians will conquer the multiverse.

[@Sackclothman7679]

Who put the stone in place to hold the portal closed?

[@EvGamerBETA]

I don't have understanding of motivations for rivalry beween Urza and Mishra. Why they are fighting? Why everyone else care? What's the end goal? I can't believe that just because they can't share a toy, or something

[@MagicArcanum]

The brothers are only about a year apart in age, but very different in personality. Urza is very bookish, and cares about history and artifacts, while Mishra was very outgoing and popular with the people around him. When they found the stone, they were granted a vision of what life would be like with it - how much good they could do, or how much harm they could stop. Each of them felt the other was unworthy of its power, and that drove them to war with each other. Each side was able to recruit allies by playing to their strengths. Mishra's charisma helped him unify the desert tribes into one massive force, and Urza's skill with artifacts and knowledge of history let him marry into a royal family and gain access to their armies and treasuries. From there, things continued to snowball, until a huge portion of the plane was caught up in the war.

[@EvGamerBETA]

@@MagicArcanum , thank you. But I just can't put myself in their mindset and I don't really see how it escalates to war and from the summary. Do novels bridge that gap? It doesn't seem belivable still. Like "You are unworthy to keep your powerstone, I gonna kill you". They don't waste time and get right to it after the finding the powerstone, as it is shown on the card "Brotherhood Ends", right? Differences or not, it's kind of drastic and sudden. And they are not content to wield their share of the power and they saw destruction across the plane with their war. I mean there got to be more context to this right? At least a feeling of looming threat presented by other power if left unchecked?

[@Bobalini1]

@@EvGamerBETA To add to the prior context, the envy and distrust towards each other would sever their brotherhood, and Tocasia's death would cause them to split ways. Growing now separate from each other, they would find themselves in positions of power, yet simultaneously reined by those above them to power and create deadly machinations. It was only upon running into each other later in life by sheer coincidence that they realized a victor would also be able to claim the other's stone, and as their respective countries moved to war with each other and leaders died off, Urza and Mishra once again found themselves in positions of power they never intended, but would utilize nonetheless as a series of a "paybacks for prior crimes" led to a war that never ended. Tl;Dr The stone envy started their fight, but coincidental promotions and responsibility to their people started their war

[@EvGamerBETA]

@@Bobalini1 , thanks. That makes more sense

[@AutkastKain]

I can't believe Urza died of Sylex

[@Bobalini1]

Couldn't even die right, smh

[@genzo454]

Who's Urza?

[@AutkastKain]

@@genzo454 Sylex deez nuts

[@ginnfreecs2994]

the present will be different when teferi came back from the past. bolas is back again. urza is still alive but not affected by the mending but recovering and is hiding somewhere else same with teferi. lets hope.

[@andrewwilson7317]

Mishra isn’t dead, he was revived and took on the name Tezzeret. Look at the schematic mishra card and tell me that is not Tezzeret

[@xiaoxinghuli]

Finally Magic has its doctor Strange moment

[@mattcurrin493]

I think the set actually does a really good job of telling the story of the brothers war, but I think it definitely fails in tying it in to the “present.” Hearing the story from the last video was jarring for me cuz there’s so many planeswalkers gathering and having showdowns with phyrexian armies and that’s just never represented.

[@theyuuzhantar]

I do wish WOTC would take their time. I liked when each Plane would get 3 sets, helped flesh things out and invest you more in the story

[@diegoardgperpetua]

As I said on your previous video, Urza will cause a new mending, and also take advance to return (at least that's what I'd do on his place, and given the circumstances)... Just speculation anyways

Doesnt Urza finds Mishra in Weatherlight saga? In Urza's Guilt? I know is left open maybe as a vision but... what if that was the real Mishra. And the one compleated is just a drone?

[@XerroMedia]

Two things: One, didn't Urza end up finding Mishra being tortured in Phyrexia when he invaded it during the Invasion block? (I know the flavor text for Urza's Guilt mentioned something about it.) And two, I somehow get the feeling that it's going to be revealed that Urza somehow remembers meeting Teferi and have some kind of counter-measure set up to help the gatewatch in some way.

[@MattyBremner]

During Planeshift when Urza and the Titans are invading Phyrexia in their suits, Urza is shown Mishra and is told that he has been there being tortured since the Brothers War. I vaguely recall the novel suggesting that maybe it was Yawgmoth testing Urza to see if he really wanted to join Phyrexia. Urza declares he does indeed still want to join Phyrexia and then just leaves Mishra behind and then no one ever speaks of it again. (I just realized that I have always usedthe headcanon that it was a trick because of all the Phyrexians that Urza meets, no one else ever mentions Mishra being alive but it occurs to me that maybe my brain filled that part in and it was really Mishra, though that wouldn't really explain how his face got on a Phyrexian.)

[@rick8216]

Call me crazy but I have a feeling we'll be seeing at least one face from this period return. With Ertai coming back I cannot help but wonder if it isn't theorhetically possible for Elesh Norn's God-Eternal style masterstroke being Mishra or Gix. Then again I could also see Urza proving Teferi wrong and somehow doing something because of him but that would take a huge retcon Also I love that we have Urza on multiple cards I've wanted to be able to plop him down at a commander table without selling my entire bloodline's estate and I can now. I hope we can get more flashback sets like this in the future. Imagine if we got a "The First Gate" set or arc featuring Sorin, Ugin, and Nahiri's sealing of the titans.

[@isaiahsmith7123]

The problems , lore wise, on this set are also some of the criticisms I have of the original novel. While in the book we get to spend more time with Urza and Mishra we still don't really connect with them and really get as sense of their drives and motivations, at least not exactly articulated from their mouths, and we also, it feels like, are getting the survey course overview of what really was a supremely tragic and almost world ending conflict whose effects tore into the fabric of the multiverse itself. I know they really wanted to keep on flavor, but had this been spread over Brothers war as the intro and start of the conflict, with emphasis on the early belligerents, and the next set finishing and also dipping more into the Phyrexians, I personally think it would have let the story breathe.

[@MrJTGarner]

I kept thinking that Teferi was going to go back and witness Yawgmoth himself(itself?) invading Dominaria and possibly screwing things up so bad that Yawgmoth was still around for the second invasion.

[@Bobalini1]

Thanks for the summary Arcanum, I really enjoyed the OG books and it's what got me into MTG so I've been very tense with how WotC have been treating the game and worried they might ruin the original story. While I certainly have design disagreements with how it's played out, I think overall I'm happy players that never knew or experienced the story are getting exposed to MTG's greatest tragedy that set the whole game in motion! If there's anything specific I'd like to add that you didn't touch on, it's that Urza and Mishra's halves of the stone were reunited in the Sylex Blast, becoming Urza's eyes and being partially responsible for Urza's spark igniting, as well as part of the reason Urza was so powerful. (Also, Urza may possibly have 3 Planeswalker sparks, meaning Karn now has 4)

[@ToadimusPrime]

Didn't some events change when Teferi talked to Urza? I remember some things in the present did change. As for the future of the story based on the last few sets, it seems Elspeth is gonna have a beatdown with Elesh Norn. And I imagine some planeswalkers are gonna give up their spark to at least save Ajani, if not Tamiyo too.

[@pippochiri4547]

Nothing in the story was shown to have changed in the present

[@GladiusM]

I think this set is fantastic, with the stories told and, as a competitive player myself, a lot of new toys for deck building. However, I have to agree with Ryan that the set feels SO crowded and I think this is where the loss of the block format really shows (for anyone newer to Magic, we used to get three sets on a single plane, telling a story as the sets went on. The best example of this is probably the Khans block: Khans of Tarkir, Fate Reforged, and Dragons of Tarkir). The Brothers War really could have been showed to its full potential with a block instead of one release. We even get three versions of Urza and Mishra, which seems like a total waste of time unless you split them up between releases in my opinion. Overall I love this set, as a former affinity player I love artifacts and I love the aesthetic of the whole world of Dominaría in a major mechanical era, I just wish we had more time with it.

[@admiralcasperr]

So basically the brothers play a commander game. neat.

[@Sackclothman7679]

We need a magic the movie for the big screen

[@lisaparker271]

I honestly thought this was the main story of Brother's war :P

[@billygregory1547]

Hey Ryan a thought just occurred to me. What happened to Lord Windgrace because we’ve seen him as a planswalker but now he’s a spirit called Soul of Windgrace like did he die and his spirit lives on or something I’m very confused

[@MagicArcanum]

Lord Windgrace was a planeswalker from a long time ago. He was one of the Nine Titans Urza assembled to fight the phyrexians, and then many years later, he was present during the events of Planar Chaos, where he sacrificed himself to seal up a destructive time rift. Before doing that, he bonded part of his spirit to the swamps of Urborg, his home, which is what you see on the Soul of Windgrace legendary creature card.

[@ClexYoshi]

wow, you really smoothed over the Yotian Empire's opression of the Fallaji and various other small factions that all banded together against Yotian opression, huh? Like, peace talks were gonna happen between the Yotians and the Fallaji until Mishra found out that Urza was the prince of Kroog, I'm pretty sure.

[@MagicArcanum]

To keep this video at a watchable length I had to make tough choices about what got included, and what got cut. While the history of Yotia and the desert factions is interesting and adds some texture to the conflict, it was not crucial in understanding the key characters and events that make up the Brothers War. Thanks for sharing that detail here though, where other story fans can find it - maybe it will spark someone's curiosity enough that they pick up a copy of the original book 😁

[@yamibakura1337]

Personal opinion considering how important Yawgmoth was during the brothers war we should have got a new yawgmoth as well specifially his god version.

[@jacobrider9743]

My favorite part of the Brother's War is when Urza says "It's Urzin' time" and commits war crimes

[@arkanixarcmage]

I was hoping for other details regarding the lore. I've read the Brothers War so many times, the book isn't completely intact anymore. I think with Teferi messing with time, Mishra's Spark should ignite as well as Urza's. They travel to the future with Teferi. Combined efforts will be needed to defend against New Phyrexian threat! What do u think? Arcmage

[@MagicArcanum]

Teferi didn't really mess with time, though. He was there only as an observer, except for when he revealed himself to just Urza, right at his own moment of 'rebirth.' Urza is also wise enough to know the dangers of messing with time, so I don't think we'll see any lasting impact from their conversation...certainly nothing that would alight a spark in Mishra, since he was already dead by that point.

[@sashmiel6566]

"The rest of the story" is rather hashed out during Antiquities and The Dark

[@Pistolsatsean]

We need 2 set blocks back! One cheer for March of the Machines!

[@matteorossi1172]

I get the story because I watched a 2 hour documentary on urza’s life