Wizards of the Coast has included a cycle of five Magic: The Gathering cards in The Brothers’ War, featuring spells that offer players two out of four options to choose from when cast.
Modal spells have become increasingly popular within MTG, and The Brothers’ War (BRO) contains a cycle of Rare Modal spells at Instant and Sorcery speed. The spells offer players a total of four choices, allowing them to pick two upon casting the spell.
Each of the five colors in the BRO set has a Command spell, headlined by the set’s main characters: Urza, Mishra, Gix, Titania, and Kayla
The five modal options on each Command card lean into strategies often found in that MTG color, while also capturing the flavor of each character who headlines the Command spell. All Command spells have a rarity of Rare, while each has a different casting cost.
From Artifact synergy to anthems and sacrifice themes, here are the Command spells in The Brothers’ War, ranked for the Standard format.
Gix’s Command
The Gix’s Command isn’t a weak Magic card but it does slot in as the least impressive of the BRO Command cycle. Its mana cost of five (double Black) in conjunction with Sorcery speed makes it a late-game spell. And the modal options within Grix’s Command are fairly vanilla.
Grix’s Command options
- Put two +1/+1 counters on up to one creature. It gains Lifelink until end of turn.
- Destroy each creature with power two or less.
- Return up to two creature cards from your graveyard to hand.
- Each opponent sacrifices a creature with the highest power among creatures they control.
It’s likely Grix’s Command will find a home in Commander. It may slot in some Standard Constructed sideboards as a means to deal with go-wide tokens.
Kayla’s Command
Kayla’s Command showcases strength and endurance through abilities typically found in the MTG color White. Similar to Gix’s Command, the options are somewhat vanilla but offer better value within what White decks want to do.
Kayla’s Command options
- Create a 2/2 colorless Construct Artifact creature token.
- Put a +1/+1 counter on a creature you control, it gains Double Strike until the end of the turn.
- Search your library for a basic Plains card.
- You gain two life and Scry two.
The casting cost for Kayla’s Command lines up nicely with the modal options. It also slots into multiple archetypes, from BW and WU to WG. The only thing holding Kayla’s Command back slightly is it can only get played at Sorcery speed.
Titania’s Command
Titania’s Command is the most expensive of all the Command spells at 4GG. And it can only get played at Sorcery speed. But it is a bomb in the Limited Draft format and will likely see a good amount of gameplay within the Commander format as well.
Titania’s Command options
- Exile target player’s graveyard. You gain one life for each card exiled this way.
- Search your library for up to two land cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.
- Create two 2/2 Green bear creature tokens.
- Put two +1/+1 counters on each creature you control.
Players shouldn’t overlook Titania’s Command because of its cost. Six mana is expensive in a Constructed format but not in the color Green, where players can cheat out spells earlier. And her ability to exile any player’s graveyard while gaining one life for each card is game-changing.
Mishra’s Command
Mishra’s Command contains options every MTG player wants when crafting a Red deck. The Sorcery speed spell has a unique casting option, allowing its controller to determine the mana invested. The more mana invested, the more powerful Mishra’s Command becomes.
Mishra’s Command options
- Choose target player. They may discard up to “X” cards. Then they draw a card for each card discarded this way.
- This spell deals “X” damage to target creature.
- This spell deals “X” damage to target planeswalker.
- Target creature gets +X/+0 and gains Haste until end of the turn.
It’s likely Mishra’s Command will find a home within aggressive Red builds, along with UR spells matter decks like Izzet Tempo. And it might even get slotted in as removal and card advantage within BR decks.
Urza’s Command
Urza’s Command stands out from the other cards in the cycle in that it can get cast at Instant speed. The spell also synergizes with the Artifact theme found within the BRO set.
Urza’s Command options
- Creatures you don’t control get -2/-0 until the end of turn.
- Create a tapped Powerstone token.
- Create a tapped 0/0 colorless Construct Artifact creature token with “This creature gets +1/+1 for each Artifact you control.”
- Scry one, then draw a card.
Powerstone tokens will likely play a major role in the Standard meta. And having card advantage slots nicely into most Control decks using the MTG color Blue. Urza’s Command plays better on an opponent’s turn, hence the Instant speed, reducing the power level of attacking creatures while also creating a potentially giant-size Artifact token.
Update Nov. 3 3:30pm CT: Added Titania’s Command once it was revealed in The Brothers’ War spoilers.
All images via WotC.
