imagine urza's face when he meets with a kid called "teferi" later in time lol

@@oom-3262 it's kinda implied that Urza won't remember their encounter when time snaps back to normal

@@oom-3262 How old is Teferi? Wasn't the Brothers War thousands of years ago

@@austinnowak5414 he's around a thousand iirc. He was a student at the original Tolarian Academy (which was founded by Urza a couple millenia after the war) and his spark ignited after the phyrexians burned it down. He doesn't age (even after post-Mending) due to being exposed to some weird time magic on that occasion.

I don’t feel bad for Urza, he is a tragically and morally flawed character (it’s a good thing for story depth, basically an anti-hero).

That's a good detail but in order to keep this video at a watchable length I had to leave it out. Thanks for sharing it here!

Good call.

With the Portal to Phyrexia card, it has the opponent sacrifice 3 creatures. Could this somewhat be a reference that removing and breaking the powerstone keeping the portal closed eventually killed Tocasia, Mishra, and Urza (all in one way or another)?

Brothers war is a great book, i tried reading the dominaria united story ,but i dont like it, so i am skipping on the new stuff.

Isn't this going to be a 4 set story?

@@inferno1217 The whole Phyrexian Saga will be, I guess. But not in the usual format WotC used in the past. They will be 4 sets with tell a story, but not they are not exactly "a pack". Plus, Brother's War had a massive amount of lore to cover, so having only one set to cover that intere amount is the point.

@@anlize3422 I would have really loved a young Urza/Mishra block, lead up to the war block, and a block about the war. I know that I'm probably not the average player and this was probably exactly what Wizards wanted, a short retelling of Brothers War through the eyes of a popular character. A man can dream, though! That said, I really want to see Urza build Tolaria and then meet Teferi as a brilliant young boy who is a huge pain in the ass and have to wrestle with everything that this implies about his conversation during the Sylex explosion. It's borderline comedy.

There’s not technically anything stopping WoTC from doing that when it’s appropriate, they just aren’t committing to making blocks anymore. But Kaldheim had the same issue: they’ve said they’ll make however many sets a setting calls for, but they’ve been reluctantly actually do that due to the issues the block format had.

To quote Karn's line from the Dominaria trailer: "How many times can you rebuild from apocalypse? On Dominaria, we've almost lost count." Being the center of the multiverse and being a normal creature is not fun lol

Yeah it was interesting how much emphasis the story puts on Teferi thinking "this SHOULDN'T affect anything..." but you get the sense that it is still possible. We'll just have to wait and see!

Maybe Teferi telling Urza that the Phyrexians are still a threat is what sets him off in his path of vengeance

And after what urza eventually goes through, making karn, the school, obsessing over defeating them to not actually finish them off I think he will take that personal😂

@@KingOfDepravity It would also explain why he would not take Tefri's insistence to use phasing magic During the Apocalypse.

@@felipeguidolin1055 I’m with you - it feels like that scene was more about starting the inevitable rather than creating a separate timeline or some such nonsense.

Probably not the dumbest thing a war has been fought over, really. At least this rock DID something.

@@MagicArcanum Yeah, then much later we'll have magical artifacts that DO nothing 🤣

Tbh my interest in MTG was finding out there's a continuous story to a card game so I went as far back as I could and read the original book. They're very good imo, and I'm glad players who never knew the OG story are getting to experience it as well

It was written in the late 20th century, this is just a retelling of it

@@Bobalini1 what was the first book of you don’t mind me asking.

@@Jessthree the first of the books is "The thran". Depicts the story of the artifacts Urza and Mishra find out later and how Yawgmoth came to be.

This story is heavily inspired by the same one as Star Wars: Frank Herbert's Dune.

They already did something like that in Time Spiral

According to the story team, the story of the novel is still cannon. If something isn't mentioned in the current story but is in the novel, it still happened.

Yes Mishra's conditions were less ideal than Urza's as they grew up. I tried to allude to that when I described Mishra attacking the "haughty taughty city of Kroog" but in truth this video could have been 3x as long if I had tried to fit in all the little details that flesh out these characters. The goal with this series is to provide a general understanding of important characters, locations, and events for new/returning players, so unfortunately I don't have room to mention smaller details. I hope you enjoyed the video all the same!

@@MagicArcanum it wasn't a knock on you, I just didn't read the new story yet so I honestly thought they cut that out of continuity since it's not very savory.

That very question is what entertained Urza for so long! How could such a successful civilization just disappear and what other technology did they know? The answer is best given in the prequel book The Thran, but if you want a quick answer then the shorthand is this: Locking away the Phyrexians was a final act of desperation, and the Thran were already lost. What Urza and Mishra could not have known was that their own curiosity would doom not only themselves and their homes, but the multiverse as a whole

Basically the Phyrexians are the Thran after Yawgmoth obtained political power and caused massive wars

That was Rebbec, the wife of the ancient Thran artificer Glacian, a rival of Yawgmoth when he was still human. She placed it there to seal Phyrexia off from Dominaria. Look up some lore on the Mightstone to get a more detailed story and/or read the novel The Thran.

Like Sven mentioned, the story of the original stone are covered in the prequel book The Thran, though it's worth mentioning that it's suggested you read Brothers War first

isn't this technically a 4 set block?

Kinda agree for mechanics but right now we're literally in a multi set story block. Also, 3 set blocks were not really loves as the "minor" set was often not good and the same mechanics got stale after a while

Possibly a big expansion to show new mechanics and then two additional expansions to build up on that /j

This is less of a “we have cards to sell” and more of a “this story was written 20 years ago and the ending forms the foundation for the rest of magic story so it has to end this way”

@@apophis456 Agreed, and while it's nice to think of how Urza and Mishra *could have* reconciled, that's what makes tragedy a good ending. It's a lesson for the readers that the characters must endure

I think the most reasonable take is that Teferi ender up on the phased out Zhalfir

I would be willing to cover the time jumps if that is something people want to see, but as I stated in the companion video, the goal of this series is general education for new/returning players. Even though this story is almost 30 years old, it's not very accessible by modern standards (the original Brothers War novel is a book you must buy, rather than be made of freely available online chapters, for example.) That's why I focused on summarizing the events that make up the war itself, rather than the individual scenes Teferi visits, but like I said I'm happy to cover those in the near future too if it's something folks ask for.

Fair enough! I don't know how many specific timejump stories there are online, but if there's only a handful maybe you could link them below? That'd be wonderful.

There are five chapters of the story devoted to Teferi's time travel, and you can find them here: bit.ly/MTG_StoryPage

Glad you enjoy it!

Also, kind of meta, but do you thing Wizards(who is obviously aware of your videos), knows that you'll make a video to explain what's happening, so they feel confident tackling so much?

I don't think they take my channel into consideration at all when they craft their stories. They write them years in advance, and they can't be sure I'll still be making videos by the time any given set is released. Plus, I only do videos in English, but the story is translated into several other languages, which would make it harder for those folks to follow things if WotC is banking on me being the source of the explanation, no?

Yep, pretty much!

That, or they are the person who protects you from the evil schemes of a power-bent Elder dragon.

Having read the books years ago, I can tell you that the book does a better job of highlighting the significance of the Caves of Koilos. While Urza/Mishra found the power stone there, something was *off* that neither could understand. The cave felt neither natural nor manmand, but coated in metal and dryed oil. The stone appeared to be a control panel to underground door, yet had no way to open it. Upon touching and incidentally splitting the stone, both brothers had visions of a world they've never seen, and awoke with a piece of stone in their hands. Distracted by visions and stones, they neglected the cave and failed to notice the door open

Those events do all happen within the story but they were either minor enough that I couldn't justify including them or are covered by other other cards that I showed instead. Dig Site / Meticulous Excavation - that's where the brothers studied under Tocasia (and I put her actual card on screen rather than the land) and what they did there (which I just explained while talking about their bonding over history) Visions of Phyrexia - when the brothers touch the stone, they are each granted a vision of the future, but it ends up being different for each of them. They don't know what it means at the time, and not all of it comes true anyway, so I didn't feel it was worth including. Sibling Rivalry - the brothers battle back and forth with their halves of the stone (also seen with Brotherhood's End on screen) Bitter Reunion / Hostile Negotiations - this happens before Mishra attacks Kroog. They do meet for a peace talk but it is sabotaged by outsiders. For the sake of pacing I just cut this because the end result is the same (Mishra destroys the city) Raze to the Ground - I do use the phrase when describing Mishra's attack on Kroog, but I think the art from this actually shows him destroying another city later in the war, so I wasn't entirely sure where it goes in order. Since it's not a definitive moment and since I express how the war lasted a long time anyway, I didn't bother putting this on screen. Shoot Down - the brothers learn of Argoth because Urza's son, Harbin, gets his ornithopter shot down by an elf there. That's Gwenna (who has a card) and Gwenna decides to let Harbin live, which allows him to go report back on this island full of resources. It was a fateful moment, since it led to the destruction of Argoth, but I didn't have room to introduce more characters, and again, the final result is the same - the brothers come to the island and exploit it for the war effort.

@@MagicArcanum Thank you so much for the detailed explanation! That really helps piece together how it all fits. I really appreciate the time and effort you put into all this!

They just fused with him as he ascendes. Teferi didn't have anything to do with that

To keep this video at a watchable length I had to make tough choices about what got included, and what got cut. While the history of Yotia and the desert factions is interesting and adds some texture to the conflict, it was not crucial in understanding the key characters and events that make up the Brothers War. Thanks for sharing that detail here though, where other story fans can find it - maybe it will spark someone's curiosity enough that they pick up a copy of the original book 😁

Teferi didn't really mess with time, though. He was there only as an observer, except for when he revealed himself to just Urza, right at his own moment of 'rebirth.' Urza is also wise enough to know the dangers of messing with time, so I don't think we'll see any lasting impact from their conversation...certainly nothing that would alight a spark in Mishra, since he was already dead by that point.

The brothers are only about a year apart in age, but very different in personality. Urza is very bookish, and cares about history and artifacts, while Mishra was very outgoing and popular with the people around him. When they found the stone, they were granted a vision of what life would be like with it - how much good they could do, or how much harm they could stop. Each of them felt the other was unworthy of its power, and that drove them to war with each other. Each side was able to recruit allies by playing to their strengths. Mishra's charisma helped him unify the desert tribes into one massive force, and Urza's skill with artifacts and knowledge of history let him marry into a royal family and gain access to their armies and treasuries. From there, things continued to snowball, until a huge portion of the plane was caught up in the war.

@@MagicArcanum , thank you. But I just can't put myself in their mindset and I don't really see how it escalates to war and from the summary. Do novels bridge that gap? It doesn't seem belivable still. Like "You are unworthy to keep your powerstone, I gonna kill you". They don't waste time and get right to it after the finding the powerstone, as it is shown on the card "Brotherhood Ends", right? Differences or not, it's kind of drastic and sudden. And they are not content to wield their share of the power and they saw destruction across the plane with their war. I mean there got to be more context to this right? At least a feeling of looming threat presented by other power if left unchecked?

@@EvGamerBETA To add to the prior context, the envy and distrust towards each other would sever their brotherhood, and Tocasia's death would cause them to split ways. Growing now separate from each other, they would find themselves in positions of power, yet simultaneously reined by those above them to power and create deadly machinations. It was only upon running into each other later in life by sheer coincidence that they realized a victor would also be able to claim the other's stone, and as their respective countries moved to war with each other and leaders died off, Urza and Mishra once again found themselves in positions of power they never intended, but would utilize nonetheless as a series of a "paybacks for prior crimes" led to a war that never ended. Tl;Dr The stone envy started their fight, but coincidental promotions and responsibility to their people started their war

@@Bobalini1 , thanks. That makes more sense

There was a peace summit, arranged by the King of Kroog, but it was a trap to destroy the desert tribes. The King lured them in (which brought Urza and Mishra back together, as seen on their reunion card) but then things got hostile. So in a way there was never going to be peace, and I'm not sure if we can count Mishra destroying the city as payback or if it's something he would have done anyway as he sought the Mightstone, but either way, the end result was the same, with Kroog being destroyed.

@@MagicArcanum thanks for the clarification! I'm not well versed in older magic lore so this was an exciting time to return to. Love your videos, keep it up!

I think it happens like 3000 years after the Brothers War. It's unclear if that Mishra was real of just a construct created bu Yawgmoth

During Planeshift when Urza and the Titans are invading Phyrexia in their suits, Urza is shown Mishra and is told that he has been there being tortured since the Brothers War. I vaguely recall the novel suggesting that maybe it was Yawgmoth testing Urza to see if he really wanted to join Phyrexia. Urza declares he does indeed still want to join Phyrexia and then just leaves Mishra behind and then no one ever speaks of it again. (I just realized that I have always usedthe headcanon that it was a trick because of all the Phyrexians that Urza meets, no one else ever mentions Mishra being alive but it occurs to me that maybe my brain filled that part in and it was really Mishra, though that wouldn't really explain how his face got on a Phyrexian.)

Yes, Jodah is descendant of Harbin (who has a card in the set) but the story makes it unclear if Harbin is Urza's kid or Mishra's. (Both sleep with Kayla around the same time. It's messy and that's why I didn't cover it in the video.) But Harbin gets raised by Urza, and so we consider Jodah to be related to him.

i really hoped for this too

And undo 30 years of Magic lore? 😱

The whole point of Teferi's time travel is to learn how the sylex works to kill present time phyrexians. Trying to save Mishra/end the borthers' war/reunite Urza & Mishra would have colossal and incredibly unpredictable consequences to literally everyone existing in the present.

@@svendejong8110 Make it a reason for ascension of bolas or flip character's morals around. Maybe bring back venser, it could have allowed for retconning of a lot of BAD BAD story writng from the war of the spark arc.

Nothing in the story was shown to have changed in the present

Couldn't even die right, smh

Who's Urza?

@@genzo454 Sylex deez nuts

We did have other phyrexians 'randomly' show up. We had Urabrask in New Capenna, Jin Gitaxias in Kamigawa, and Sheoldred in Dominaria United. Those all came after Kaldheim.