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Brother's War Sealed Guide and best tips & tricks by color

Jaime Lara - JimmyTo
11/11/2022 · 6 min read
limited

This weekend we will be celebrating the release of a new edition of Magic the Gathering: THE BROTHERS' WAR. This November 11, 12 and 13 we will be transported to the original plane of Magic where the classic struggle between brothers Urza and Mishra is unleashed.

This edition invites you to take part in this war by offering two different prerelease packs: URZA's IRON ALLIANCE and MISHRA's BURNISHED BANNER, they have no differences, the randomness in both is the same. So encourage yourself to choose the color of your favorite brother without any bias.

New mechanics

This release offers three distinct mechanics, all of which are very important in the format. The versatility of PROTOTYPE, the acceleration of POWERSTONES, and the recursion of UNEARTH will all see play. In addition, we have cards with familiar abilities from previous sets such as WARD, PROWESS, and SURVEIL.

Powerstones

Repair and Recharge is amazing in white, and the Powerstone token feels like a fair reward at the cost. In blue, we find several spells which put a Powerstone in play that work really well in combination with artifacts that have Unearth, such as Stern Lesson and Urza, Powerstone Prodigy.

Prototype

Artifacts have their own mechanic in this edition, appearing as an effective way to curve out while also being able to drop a powerful artifact in the later turns. This mechanics is very well distributed among the colors, so be aware that an artifact with PROTOTYPE could enter your main deck.

Meld

There is also a synergy between rare and mythic cards that consists of melding two copies of a card to transform one of them. This ability is not so relevant in sealed given the difficulty of being able to find in your packs the two specific pieces to meld, but there is always someone lucky!. Remember that in this interaction the melded cards are exiled and then returned to the battlefield transformed.

Retro Artifacts

One thing you should keep in mind is the presence of some iconic artifacts from Magic's history in each pack-- it shouldn't be surprising if each player has one, since it's an important feature of the format. So be careful of that WURMCOIL ENGINE in your opponent's hand-- don't say we didn't warn you.

Best Commons & Tricks

First of all, let's take a look at the best two-for-ones in the set. They are going to be key in Limited as they provide twice the reward for the mana you spend.

White Commons

Airlift Chaplain will give you two bodies for three mana. Prison Sentence is an important removal card and is always necessary in a deck, and it also gives you a Scry 2. Recommission will give you the ability to play a spell with cmc 3 for just two mana, and also add a +1/+1 counter, which works great with Airlift Chaplain. Powerstone Engineer is a weak creature in an aggressive strategy, but it gives you the ability to do a good block that leaves a reward.

Blue commons

Weakstone's Subjugation is a very flexible removal spell that is cheap against creatures that are already tapped and allows you to tap them for 3 additional mana.

Mightstone's Animation allows you to turn any enchantment into a powerful creature, and also rewards you with a card.

Fallaji Archaeologist will give you the time you need in the first few turns by finding a spell from your graveyard or by improving its ability to block.

Stern Lesson can be one of my favorite commons, the ability to draw on your opponent's end and then ramping you to 5 mana seems more than enough for the cost.

Wing Commando is an excellent creature with evasion for three mana, which I would pay for without thinking even if it didn't have prowess, which, surrounded by so many non-creature spells among the best commons, makes it a card to be respected.

Black commons

Overwhelming remorse is a great removal spell. Just 5 mana is a fair price, and the ability to reduce its cost makes it versatile.

Disfigure is a classic that cannot be missed.

Scrapwork Rager is a very good creature. For 4 mana, 2/2 card draw is a fair price, and bringing it back from the graveyard adds a lot of late game power.

Emergency Weld will bring back a bomb from the graveyard and also give you an artifact soldier that can have interactions with other cards from the set given its type.

Other great black commons that we need to mention are Moment of Defiance and Ashnod’s Intervention.

Red common

EXCAVATION EXPLOSION is not one of the best burn spells, neither by cost nor by speed, but in this format it will do well and the extra Powerstone it puts into play is a fair reward for its cost.

UNLEASH SHELL is fair, 5 damage for 5 mana and 2 to the face averages 1.4 points of damage per mana invested.

TOMAKUL SCRAPSMITH is part of the series of cards of equal cost that are present in the 5 colors and that I would not hesitate to incorporate.

BLITZ AUTOMATON and SCRAPWORK MUTT are good additions and good representatives of their respective mechanics.

Other relevant commons are Whirling Strike and Mishra’s Onslaught

Green commons

Argothian Opportunist is a good body for 3 mana that gives you a Powerstone. What more could we ask for? Epic Confrontation is the typical removal spell in this color and, like all the others, its performance is excellent. Argothian Sprite is an important creature in an artifact format and its ability, even though it may seem excessive in cost, could give you an opportunity in the late game and a way to use your Powerstones without actually “using” them.

Powerlevel by color

Green is one of the strongest colors in the game. It has better support than the other colors, and the creation of Powerstones helps to cast more costly spells, which is the spirit of green - to ramp up and/or accelerate to get big creatures into play. If I had to order the colors by power level, it would look something like this:

Nice Combos

In this last part, I'm sharing some combos or card combinations that could generate some advantage or cool interactions.

Combo 1: Steal a creature from your opponent with SIBLING RIVALRY and sacrifice it with Kill-Zone-Acrobat while keeping the Powerstones for the next turns.

Combo 2: In this case, I imagine an attack with Fallaji Chaindancer which is not blocked due to the threat of possible double strike, before assigning damage, you pay the ability and play Giant Growth to deal 10 points of damage, enough to close the game or put your opponent in a difficult position.

Final Words

I really hope that you found it useful and good luck in your pre-release! See you in the  next article!

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Jaime Lara - JimmyTo
Experienced Magic the Gathering player and mathematician
A passionate and experienced Magic the Gathering player and mathematician, JimmyTo uses his discipline for data collection and statistics in the game; he is better known as JimmyTo and is constantly present among the top rankings of his country. He is currently a co-founder of Five Color Hub, a Chilean organization that has given 3 slots to a World Pro Tour.

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Published: 2022-11-11 00:00:00
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