In this article, we’ll talk about everything you need to know about the Brothers’ War Commander decks. We’ll answer every question you might have about them, and provide all currently available spoilers and information about these new precons.
The Brothers’ War set will focus on the battle between Urza and Mishra, and so will the two Brothers’ War Commander decks. One deck will represent the strength of Urza, while the second will be led by his brother, Mishra.
Both brothers have something in common, which can be seen from the decks’ colors. Both decks will be in three colors: Blue, Black and White or Red. This color imbalance is quite unusual for regular Commander precons, although it does make sense story wise.
Another interesting thing about these decks is that all cards are going to be in old border!
| Deck name | Colors | |
|---|---|---|
 | Urza's Iron Alliance | |
 | Mishra's Burnished Banner |
Urza’s Iron Alliance
- Theme: Artifacts go-wide
- Colors: White, Blue, Black
- Main Commander: Urza, Chief Artificer
- Urza’s Iron Alliance Upgrade Guide
When the names of both commanders were spoiled, it was pretty obvious that both decks will feature artifact theme. The question was only how will Wizards make them feel different. One option, which looks like it’ll come true, was to make two mirrored decks. So, while both decks could focus on artifacts, they use them in completely different ways.
Urza’s Iron Alliance focuses on going-wide with artifacts, preferably creature artifacts. This means that it wants to spawn a lot of smaller artifact creatures, preferably with cards that can make multiples of them. That would make a lot of sense due to the word “alliance” being in the name, and the Urza’s card. Speaking of which, let’s take a closer look.
Urza, Chief Artificer Review
Urza is a 4/5, but costs six mana total, which isn’t the best rate, but you know how it is with commanders – you care more about what’s inside the text box.
The first line is very good, and explains the high casting cost. Affinity for artifacts creatures means that Urza is going to cast 1 mana less for each artifact creature you control. You can use this ability to reduce its cost down to three mana, provided you have enough artifact creatures. This can also help you get around the Commander tax, which is great.
The second ability gives your artifact creatures menace. That’s a handy effect, but nothing groundbreaking.
The third effect is truly quite powerful. At the beginning of your end step, you get a Construct token, which is as big as the number of your artifact creatures.
All of these things together make for a really powerful Commander. On top of that, it’s a really cool build around, especially if you lean hard on the affinity ability. There wasn’t a great commander for this theme in Esper colors so far. If you were looking for a Myr tribal commander, Urza will do great.
Even if your playgroup is competitive, you can expect Urza to hold its own – cost reduction is always amazing.
Urza’s Iron Alliance Decklist
*These are the cards that were printed for the first time in this product.
Urza’s Iron Alliance – New Cards
Currnetly, there’s been two cards previewed for each deck. One is the face Commander and the other is the secondary commander, which you can swap the main one with. For Urza’s Iron Alliance, the secondary commander is Tawnos, Solemn Survivor.
At first look, Tawnos might look like a Blue commander, bot don’t forget the activation cost for his second ability, which makes him eligible for the helm of an Esper deck.
Anyway, Tawnos cares about artifact tokens. It can be powerful, but you’ll definitely need to build around it. It looks like one of those commanders that won’t get hated on, but will still offer you a very interesting deckbuilding puzzle.
Mishra’s Burnished Banner
- Theme: Copying noncreature artifacts
- Colors: Blue, Black, Red
- Main Commander: Mishra, Eminent One
- Mishra’s Burnished Banner Upgrade Guide
As we’ve said before, the deck look like they’re going to be mirrored versions of one another. Where Urza’s deck cares about creature artifacts, Mishra’s rewards you for playing good noncreature artifacts, preferably with enter-the-battlefield effects.
Why? Well, to copy them with Mishra. Let’s see how this brother holds up.
Mishra, Eminent One Review
Mishra. Eminent one is a mana cheaper, and has mirrored stats compared to Urza. Mishra is a 5/4, while Urza is a 4/5. Sadly, Mishra doesn’t have a built-in cost reduction.
Furthermore, even though its text box is completely full of text, Mishra only has the one ability. At the beginning of your combat, you get a hasty 4/4 creature copy of one of your noncreature artifacts. At the beginning of your end step, you have to sacrifice it.
While that doesn’t seem like much at first sight, you shouldn’t dismiss it too quickly. You can quickly get a three card infinite combo with this ability.
The other two cards are Voltaic Construct, and any mana rock that makes three or more mana. (For example, Gilded Lotus.) You make a creature copy of a mana rock with Mishra’s ability, which allows Voltaic Construct to untap it. You tap it for three mana, and repeat the process, gaining one extra mana every time you do so. Once you have infinite mana it should be pretty easy to win.
That’s why we think Mishra could also be a pretty bonkers commander. Of course, the combo isn’t that easy to set up, but you can also use Mishra fairly and generate various forms of advantage. All things considered, both face commanders look pretty amazing this time around.
Mishra’s Burnished Banner Decklist
*These are the cards that were printed for the first time in this product.
Mishra’s Burnished Banner – New Cards
The secondary commander for the Burnished Banner deck is Ashnod the Uncaring.
Ashnod certainly looks quite powerful, and will enable lots of sweet combos. If you need some suggestions, you could pair it with Mindslaver to control your opponent for two turns, or choose two opponents. Add Academy Ruins to the mix, and you can just take everyone’s turns with up to two opponents.
Furtheremore, you can turn Mishra’s Bauble and Urza’s Bauble into a superb draw spell. Of course, you could also do mildly fair value stuff with cards like Burnished Hart. All in all, it looks like there will be a lot of interesting deckbuilding choices with Ashnod.
Brothers’ War Commander Decks – FAQ
In this section, we’ll try to answer your most commonly asked questions about the Brothers’ War Commander precons.
There are two different decks.
These will be regular Commander decks, so fully powered with multiple new cards.
Both decks contain Blue and Black. One deck also has White, while the other has Red.
Yes, each deck contains a 2-card sample Collector booster pack.
There are two card. One will be a rare or mythic rare with special art treatment (foil, borderless, or extended-art card). The second card will be a Retro frame artifact (regular or schematic version).
Yes, they are relatively balanced against each other.
All cards in these two decks are in old border.
No you can’t. The decks will only contain cards in old border.
Conclusion
That’s everything about the Brothers’ War Commander decks. Make sure to check back soon, when we’ll have more information to share with you. You can follow us on Facebook, or Instagram, so you won’t miss any important MTG news.
If you want to find out more about the new Magic cards, you can check the following articles:
Until next time, have fun, and may these Commander decks contain all the reprints that you wish for.