MTG The Brothers’ War fills in gaps from Dominaria’s epic battle

Wizards of the Coast expanded upon The Brothers’ War today through Building Worlds, an introduction to why the age-old Magic: The Gathering Dominaria war is getting revisited and the characters involved. 

Scheduled to release in November, The Brothers’ War is based on events from a novel of the same name and the Antiquities set, which was released in 1994. The two main characters of the war are Urza and Mishra, brothers who discovered a power stone that led to an Artifact war of epic proportions. The tale of The Brothers’ War isn’t just a rehashing of the past, according to WotC Building Worlds, as the team focused more on the citizens of Dominaria that ended up getting caught in the crossfire of the war between Urza and Mishra. 

There are a total of 287 regular cards within The Brothers’ War set. Much of the main storyline is based on the novel, written by Jeff Grubb and published in 1998. A total of 51 cards are directly from the novel, according to WotC, while the remaining cards fill in the gaps.

Related: Every new MTG Brothers’ War card revealed during Weekly MTG monthly announcement

Minor characters that were either mentioned through flavor text in Antiquities or in The Brothers’ War novel, have been brought to light in the upcoming MTG Standard-legal set. Treefolk like Titania, Protector of Argoth are getting their stories fleshed out. Human soldiers who were forced into the trenches among the powerful mech Artifacts will shed light on the war, along with other creatures who had no part in either side’s conflict. 

Revisiting events of The Brothers’ War came about by the heroes who suffered a major defeat within the events of Dominaria United. A Multiverse war is coming, led by the Phyrexians, and the planeswalkers who stand in their way are seeking answers from the past. This leads to Teferi traveling back in time, according to WotC, to inspect all the events of The Brothers’ War while gaining intel on the Silex. 

Players and lore fans can dive into The Brothers’ War stories starting today on the WotC website. Dropping today were episodes one and two, written by Miguel Lopez, two tales that begin to flesh out the great Dominaria War while introducing old and new characters. 

The official release of The Brothers’ War is scheduled to take place on Nov. 18. Prerelease events will kick off on Nov. 11, followed by the digital release of the MTG Standard-legal set on Nov. 15.