A return to the past in The Brothers’ War showcases Urza as a unique Magic: The Gathering planeswalker, along with Teferi and Saheeli.
Planeswalkers typically play a major role within the MTG story for each Standard-legal set release. But The Brothers’ War is different, showcasing an epic battle between Urza and Mishra that involved the entire plane of Dominaria. Giant mechs and Artifacts are the focus of the BRO set, along with a soldier tribal theme in the Magic colors White and Blue. Teferi and Saheeli join Urza as the planeswalkers within The Brothers’ War, with two out of the three supporting Artifact synergies.
Here are the three MTG planeswalkers within The Brothers’ War.
How Urza, Planeswalker works
Unlike any MTG planeswalkers throughout the history of Magic, Urza, Planeswalker is a combination of two cards Melding together. The Meld mechanic was introduced to MTG through the Eldritch Moon set, creating giant Eldrazi creatures. Within BRO, there are a total of three Meld pairs, featuring Urza, Planeswalker as one of those pairs.
To form Urza, Planeswalker, players need two cards: Urza, Lord Protector, and The Mightstone and Weakstone. Both cards contain half of the Urza, Planeswalker card on their backside. To Meld them together, a player must pay seven mana and control both cards on the battlefield.
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Urza, Planeswalker
Upon Melding together, Urza, Planeswalker takes shape with a starting loyalty of seven. He has five loyalty ability options, synergizing with Instant and Sorcery spells, along with Artifacts. Melding Urza won’t happen every game, but when it does, the legendary planeswalker can end games quickly with his ultimate minus-10.
The plus-two ability not only gets Urza, Planeswalker closer to his ultimate but also has its controller gain two life while reducing the cost of all Artifacts, along with Instant and Sorcery spells. And the minus-three ability is strong, exiling a nonland permanent.
How Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim works
The BRO story features Teferi as he travels back in time in hopes of discovering how to beat the Phyrexians in the Multiverse war that is coming. Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim is a Mono-Blue MTG planeswalker that costs 3UU to cast. The color Blue within BRO has a sub-theme of drawing cards, synergizing with Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim.
Upon drawing a card, Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim gains a loyalty counter, of which he starts with four. He also has a zero-cost ability that draws a card, increasing his loyalty count by one. There’s no limit to the number of loyalty counters that can get added to Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim per turn.
Unlike most planeswalkers in Magic, Teferi’s, Temporal Pilgrim’s ultimate is a minus-12. It seems daunting but can quickly be achieved in the right build. The ultimate is essentially a board wipe, returning a permanent to the opponent’s hand while shuffling all other permanents that the opponent controlled on the battlefield back into the opponent’s library.
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Teferi can also provide protection for himself with his minus-two, creating a 2/2 Blue spirit creature token with Vigilance. What’s unique about his second ability is that the spirit token scales in power each time a card is drawn by his controller, gaining a +1/+1 counter.
How Saheeli, Filigree Master works
Saheeli is the planeswalker who puts together the time machine in BRO that Teferi uses. Designed within the Magic colors of Blue and Red, she costs 2UR to cast and has a starting loyalty of three. And all three of her loyalty abilities synergize with Artifacts, though nothing stands out as overly powerful.
Saheeli, Filigree Master protects herself with her minus-two ability, creating two 1/1 colorless Thopter Artifacts that have Flying and Haste upon being created that turn. The Thopters can come in handy but it’s her ultimate that players will want to activate.
At only minus-four, Saheeli, Filigree Master creates an emblem that gives all Artifact creatures +1/+1 while reducing the cost of Artifact spells by one. The BRO set is packed with powerful Artifact creatures that Saheeli can help cheat out early in conjunction with Powerstones.
Saheeli, Filigree Master also has an ability that some players may sleep on but shouldn’t. Her plus-one will Scry one and then have her untap an Artifact if possible. If an Artifact is untapped, she draws a card. This ability synergies with Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim and works well with Artifacts in Standard like Reckoner Bankbuster, The Celestus, Geistflame Reservoir, and even Dollhouse of Horrors.
