Art by Dominik Mayer
Table of Contents:
This is a remastered set cube for The Brothers' War designed to replicate the draft environment, but with a few changes to hopefully improve upon the experience, using the incredible power of hindsight. The Brother's War excelled in several areas, from interesting gameplay with many decisions to a wide variety of possible decks (in part due to build around retro artifacts). However, the set also had a relatively high number of nigh unplayable cards and a higher level of aggression than anticipated, leading to some disappointment from players wanting to draft and play giant mechs.
The two main goals of this remaster are to reduce the number of atrocious cards, increasing options during drafting, and to slightly power up the slower strategies, helping to deliver the promise of ramping out giant robots.
The card breakdown in this cube is 4 of each Common, 2 of each Uncommon, and 1 of each Mythic/Rare in the cube overall. I might fiddle with the number of cards for balance purposes, or if certain build around cards rarely come together.
When drafting using the default custom mode the packs will contain the following cards.
- 1 Mythic/Rare, at a 1-3 ratio (may change to a 1-4, unsure)
- 1 Retro Artifact, at a 1-3-5 Mythic-Rare-Uncommon ratio
- 3 Uncommons
- 10 Commons
Retro Artifacts: Many of these cards provide a great experience in draft and can lead to some unique drafts, but not all of them are playable in a format this quick. I intend on replacing some of the Retro Artifacts based on data, and then perhaps others based on feedback from playtesting.
The mix of retro artifacts in draft boosters is 66% Uncommon, 27% Rare, 7% Mythic. Many of the uncommon retros have good synergy with some of the best archetypes, so I don't want to fiddle with the ratio too much while I'm still preserving the draft environment.
Drafting this cube should be fairly similar to the original set as none of the main archetypes have been changed. That being said, I would not be surprised if this cube is a little slower and some of the big ramp archetypes are slightly more viable. Also, some of the Retro Artifact additions may enable new build-around strategies.
Mechanics
Ah, don't you love that fresh new set smell? And look, a brand new mechanic. Wait, isn't this just yet another variant of kicker? King of... If you copy a prototyped creature on the stack or battlefield the copy will be the prototyped version, not the full version. However, if you flicker or reanimate one it will enter as the giant mech.
Unearth is an ability that can only be used from the graveyard, returning the permanent to the battlefield for one last chance at glory before it gets exiled forever. As it is not an alternate casting cost, unearthing cannot be counterspelled, although it could be stifled.
While technically not a new token type (being featured on Karn from DMU), powerstones essentially make their debut in BRO. Unlike similar past effects, the mana from powerstones is only restricted to casting artifact spells, but it can be spent on other costs and abilities without issue.
I felt I needed to mention this mechanic for completeness but it is only featured on 3 Rare/Mythic Rare pairs in the set.
Here is a quick breakdown of each color pair.
Soldier Tribal
Draw-Two Control
Artifact Sacrifice
Powerstone Midrange
Artifact ETB
Recursive Aggro
Graveyard
Powerstone Ramp
Prowess
Unearth Aggro
Red decks tend to be aggresive, as does UW Soldiers.