The Brothers' War for Magic: The Gathering brings in a slew of new spells that tells the story of Mishra and Urza. This is a tale from Magic's distant past, where Teferi travels to save the present. The brothers both have blue in their color identity, making it a highly anticipated color in the set.
Mishra and Urza were both cunning and intelligent, reflected not just in their cards but in the cards they share a color with. Since The Brothers' War is an artifact-heavy set, there is plenty of interaction with constructs in one way or another.
10 Defabricate Deals With Unearthed Monstrosities
If there's one thing blue does well, it's counterspells. Defabricate will see a lot of play in Standard with all the artifacts running rampant, and those constructs need to be regulated. If unearth seems especially annoying, Defabricate will take care of that by exiling a countered artifact or stifling an activated ability.
Two mana is ideal on a counterspell for Control players, even if it has limited use. It may be relegated as a sideboard card for that reason.
9 One With The Multiverse Isn't Quite Being Omniscient
Many players might scoff at the sight of an eight-mana enchantment, but some will find a way to build a deck around it (looking at you, Ali Aintrazi). Not only that, they'll get it onto the battlefield earlier than turn eight. This enchantment is a variation of Omniscience, which allows you to play spells without paying their mana cost.
One with the Multiverse takes it a bit further by letting you cast spells from the top of your library or hand. Luckily, it's limited to once per turn. Otherwise, that would be too powerful.
8 Skystrike Officer Overwhelms The Battlefield
Creatures that generate tokens are always efficient spells. Monastery Mentor, for example, overwhelms the battlefield quickly. Skystrike Officer will overrun the battlefield simply by attacking, giving you a nice defense in case your opponent gets the wise idea to counter-attack.
Go ahead and tap three of these Soldier tokens if you're getting low on answers in your hand. Skystrike Officer goes over the top of your opponent with its flight. Just watch out for that Wandering Emperor.
7 Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim Is Fair
Ever since his Azorius variations were introduced, there's a fear that Teferi will be overpowered. Luckily, his Mono-Blue iterations seem fair, and Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim is no excuse.
Its mana value of five means it won't hit the battlefield too early, but it will be able to protect itself by creating a vigilant spirit that gets bigger every time you draw a card. Not only will the spirits' power and toughness increase each time you draw a card, Teferi's loyalty will, too. It's a good Planeswalker to add to your deck.
6 Stern Lesson Gives You Cards And Mana
Stern Lesson is an instant speed variation of Divination with the drawback of having to discard a card. It will find itself in many Standard decks, especially as an enabler for Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim's static ability, which lets him add a loyalty every time you draw a card.
Gaining a Powerstone is no small feature, either. Powerstones play a big role in The Brothers' War with all the artifacts, and unlike a Treasure token, they don't get sacrificed. So, while you lose a card, you gain mana.
5 Urza's Command Challenges Mishra's
The commands are back, and this time they're based on the two brothers who started the war on Dominaria. Not quite as powerful as Cryptic Command, but it'll fit nicely in a blue deck for standard.
Choose two of the modes which vary in effect. Urza's Command is blue, making it a more defensive spell, such as weakening your opponents' creatures and letting you draw a card. Urza's Command would fit nicely if you're playing an artifact-heavy deck.
4 Hulking Metamorph Is A Phyrexian Memory
You've heard of Phyrexian Metamorph; now get a load of his cousin: Hulking Metamorph. If you're willing to pay the full mana value, you'll get a large clone of an artifact or creature. However, that costs nine mana, which is challenging to get to in a blue deck.
However, for the low cost of two blue and two generic mana, you get a 3/3 with the same ability. It's not as good as previous clones that can copy opponent creatures/artifacts, but making a copy of yours is just as good.
3 Surge Engine Goes From Zero To Unblockable In No Time
A lot of the artifacts and artifact creatures in The Brothers' War have a color identity. Surge Engine is just one, and it's a doozy. By turn three, Surge Engine is an unblockable 3/2. By turn four, it can become an unblockable 5/4. As soon as you have six mana to spare, Surge Engine draws you three cards.
This artifact creature will find its way into formats other than Standard because a few cards enable and improve on it. Throw Surge Engine into a Simic deck, and you're doing some real damage with it.
2 The Temporal Anchor Improves Scrying
Ever scry away a card you wanted to keep but knew you needed a better one at the time? The Temporal Anchor allows you to put a spell on the bottom of your library while granting the option of still casting it that turn. An artifact that improves on the scry ability is quite a deal for only six mana.
Play Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim into The Temporal Anchor, and you'll have a steady means of drawing answers.
1 Terisian Mindbreaker
Having to mill some cards isn't necessarily scary to most players. Mill is a strategy that requires more effort than it's worth a lot of the time. Enter Terisian Mindbreaker. If you manage to get this thing to attack, your opponent will mill half their library, putting them down to 20-something cards (by the time this can hit the battlefield).
If it's destroyed, that's not the end of Terisian Mindbreaker's existence because it's coming back from the grave thanks to unearth. You wouldn't want to copy this Juggernaut with Hulking Metamorph. That's a terrible idea *wink*