The Brothers' War is a new Magic: The Gathering expansion set to release on November 18, but among its booster box Amazon listing is an unusual rarity breakdown form Draft Boosters: "1 card of rarity Uncommon or higher", sparking speculation that it'll feature something like Strixhaven's Mystical Archive, a popular subset of instants and sorceries not found in Strixhaven itself.
Every Draft Booster and Set Booster for Strixhaven: School of Mages had a card from the Mystical Archive – a subset of 63 cards and 63 Japanese variants that featured reprints of various instants and sorceries not found in Strixhaven itself. These include the likes of Approach of the Second Sun, Time Warp, and Blue Sun's Zenith. Now's the perfect time to bring the idea back, especially given its popularity, so the Amazon listing could be hiding the obvious in plain sight.
While we're used to one card being rarity rare or higher in Draft Boosters, another slot lists one card uncommon or higher, distinct from the usual three uncommons per pack. Thus, the theory is that something similar to Strixhaven is happening again in Brother's War, potentially with reprints of artifacts from across the game's history to fit the set's theme of two powerful artificers at war.
If this proves to be true, we could get an even stronger reprint set than the previous Mystical Archive, with everything from Thran Dynamo and Sol Ring through to Winter Orb and Sensei's Divining Top potentially on the table.
The Brothers' War for context is a continuation of the four-set Phyrexian invasion arc, flashing back to the original confrontation between the Planeswalker Urza and his brother Mishra that marked one of the Phyrexians' first roles in the Magic story. After The Brothers' War, there are two parts left to tie up the Phyrexian story arc: Phyrexia: All Will Be One, and March of the Machine.
And when The Brothers' War is finally out, Wizards of the Coast has another deep-dive into Dominaria ready to go with MTG Dominaria Remastered, letting us time travel through its history ourselves. The first set launches in 2023 as a celebration of Magic's first-ever setting, bringing in cards from various Dominarian sets like 2018's Dominaria , Odyssey, Apocalypse, and Alliances.
Cards that have never been reprinted such as Odyssey's Divine Sacrament will be brought back with new art, and we've had glimpses at returning 1996's Alliances cards such as Force of Will, a popular counterspell.