Highlighting the war machines created by Urza and Mishra, The Brothers’ War is stacked with colorless and Prototype Magic: The Gathering Artifacts designed to dominate the Limited meta.
Artifacts were thematically designed to slot into every Limited archetype in The Brothers’ War. Similar to multicolor Rare and Mythic Rare cards in BRO, there are several colorless and Prototype Artifacts that will shape the Draft meta, as well as a couple of honorable mentions.
Costing only three colorless mana, Thran Spider has a decent stat line of 2/4 with Reach. The spider does have a downside of creating a Powerstone token for you and an opponent, but it can search for a bomb Artifact down the road for only seven mana—six if you don’t use the Powerstone. Autonomous Assembler has solid synergy with the assembly-worker tribal theme in BRO, costing only five mana at full value. The Artifact also has Vigilance and a cheap activated ability that puts +1/+1 counters on an assembly-worker creature you control.
From Thopters to reanimation, here are the seven best Mythic Rare and Rare colorless and Prototype Artifacts in The Brothers’ War Limited format.
Steel Seraph
The BRO Limited format is full of big Artifacts and cheap chump blockers, which is why Steel Seraph is a solid Draft pick. The Artifact angel offers flexibility that is able to impact board states with either its Prototype cost or regular mana cost paid. To help finish off games, Steel Seraph lets players give another creature one of three keywords. Lifelink can help a player stabilize, while Vigilance is important for powerful attackers, and Flying in conjunction with a 5/4 Steel Seraph can end games.
Liberator, Urza’s Battlethopter
Flash and Flying is a powerful combo within the BRO Limited format. Liberator, Urza’s Battlethopter has both, making it a solid creature without any abilities. The Thopters abilities are what make it stand out as a Rare. Liberator, Urza’s Battlethopter gives all colorless spells and Artifact spells Flash. And as a bonus, it scales in power when the mana spent to cast those spells is greater than the Thopter’s power. Liberator, Urza’s Battlethopter is great during the early game while still having value during the late-game stages as well.
Arcane Proxy
Instant and Sorcery spells play a major role in Limited formats. The Mythic Rare Artifact wizard with Prototype in Blue copies spells from its controller’s graveyard, then lets them cast it for free. On its own, Arcane Proxy’s value is above average in Limited. As a bonus, it also comes with a decent chump block body of either 2/1 or 4/3 baseline stats. Removal spells are great targets for Arcane Proxy, along with bounce or stall spells.
Phyrexian Fleshgorger
Casting a seven-drop colorless Wurm isn’t hard in the BRO Limited format thanks to Powerstones, which is why Phyrexian Fleshgorger can easily disrupt a board state with its 7/5 stats. Even at its Prototype cost, the Wurm still pulls its weight by having Menace and Lifelink. Phyrexian Fleshgorger is also really hard to remove from the battlefield, having Ward equal to its power.
Transmogrant’s Crown
Slotting into BRO Draft decks with the MTG color Black, Transmogrant’s Crown is decent two-drop Equipment that buffs a creature by +2/+0. The Artifact can get equipped at a cost of two, or for only one Black mana. When the creature that was equipped with Transmogrant’s Crown dies, the Artifact draws a card. Sacrifice decks in BR and WB can use this Rare equipment to generate serious card advantage.
Portal to Phyrexia
Portal to Phyrexia is a powerful Commander card that’s sure to see plenty of play. The Artifact is also good in the BRO Limited format. Opponents can sidestep the sacrificing creatures, especially through soldier tokens. But as long as you or your opponent has an above-average creature in the graveyard, Portal of Phyrexia can swing the game back in your favor. Portal of Phyrexia is best in control style Limited builds and shouldn’t get drafted if crafting an aggressive archetype.
Cityscape Leveler
Similar to paying mana for Phyrexian Fleshgorger, Cityscape Leveler in a ramp archetype like Blue and Green is one of the best finishers in the BRO Limited format. It only needs to attack once to impact a board state. And should it get removed, it has Unearth. The mechanic can’t get countered and the only way to keep it from resolving is to remove the Unearth permanent from the graveyard first. Players can even target their own nonland permanents, like tokens, creating a Powerstone if needed.
Bladecoil Serpent
Bladecoil Serpent is best in Blue and Red decks, although Blue and Black decks can take advantage of the serpent’s various mana abilities too upon entering the battlefield. Players only need six mana to cast Bladecoil Serpent but can use as much mana as they like through the “X.” Two Blue mana provides card draw, two Black mana forces an opponent to discard a card, while two Red mana provides Trample and Haste.
Surge Engine
Slotting into BRO Draft decks that use the color Blue, Surge Engine is a Mythic Rare bomb in the BRO Limited format. It only costs two mana to drop onto the battlefield and one additional Blue mana to remove Defender and give the Construct “This creature can’t be blocked.” An additional 2U activation cost increases Surge Engine’s power to 5/4 in addition to gains from previous activation costs.
