Brothers’ War is shaping up to be a real blockbuster expansion and this weekend Wizards of the Coast revealed a few more exciting features of the set at Hasbro’s Pulse Con, a virtual marketing event that took place on Friday September 30th and Saturday October 1st and highlighted presentations from almost each and every one of Hasbro’s intellectual properties, including Magic the Gathering.
Gavin Verhey (Principal Game Designer) and Matt Danner (Senior Creative Lead) took us through the major announcement over the course of two sessions (one on Friday and one on Saturday). They revealed a bit about the plot and characters that will be featured in the Brothers’ War story, showed off a few more of the alternate art artifact schematics that were previously revealed on Weekly MTG, broke the news on a new limited-edition Secret Lair, and spent the majority of their time presenting the new Transformers Universes Beyond set.
This was an interesting event, and the timing of it is also very interesting. Hasbro has an investor day presentation coming up tomorrow as well as quarterly earnings reporting later this month on the 18th. Magic products had a bit of a slow third quarter this year. While Dominaria United technically came out in September, it was fairly late in the quarter to have a large impact on Hasbro’s earnings. Commander Legends: Baldur’s Gate and Streets of New Capenna came out in the second quarter. It wouldn’t be surprising to see that Magic didn’t have quite as strong a third quarter, and Hasbro with it.
There will be plenty of time in the coming weeks to talk about Hasbro’s difficult position coming out of the pandemic and right into the cusp of sky-high inflation, increasing interest rates, and a looming recession. But for now, Brothers’ War! Magic 30! Chibi Planeswalkers! Transformers! Let’s go!
The Brothers’ War
We got some new cool art from the upcoming expansion, though we did not get any previews for new cards unfortunately. The new art showed off Teferi and Saheeli, but we already knew they would be key parts of the story from the Weekly MTG stream. Matt and Gavin talked through the history of Phyrexia beginning in Antiquities and then jumping to Invasion, Mirrodin Besieged, and then the recent return in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty and Dominaria United.
It will be interesting to see how the stakes shake out in this story. I don’t expect this to be like Khans of Tarkir where Sarkhan was able to actually change the course of history through time travel. Teferi and Saheeli almost certainly won’t be able to affect the past, just observe it. Not only would the ramifications to thirty years of story be significant, but Teferi in his current incarnation just seems like someone who knows better than to try that.
Artifact Schematics
Another “cool thing” that was introduced in the Weekly MTG stream and has been expanded upon at Pulse Con is the alternate art iconic artifacts with schematic artwork. These are going to appear in the modern frame as well as the retro frame and the retro frame can feature alternate art. Matt and Gavin revealed three more cards from this group: Howling Mine, Lodestone Golem, and Phyrexian Revoker.
Chibi Planeswalkers
One of the main draws of Pulse Con is the convention exclusives. Most of these are special editions of toys, such as Transformers, My Little Ponies, Nerf Guns, or GI Joe figures. If you were at Hascon back in 2017, or remember of coverage there, Magic had some exclusive products available there as well, including a set of three convention-exclusive silver-bordered cards. This time around, Magic has a specific product for this kind of thing: Secret Lair.
Introducing Secret Lair: Chibi Planeswalkers, now on sale at Hasbro’s Pulse Con store for pre-order for $29.99 (or $39.99 for traditional foil).
Transformers
The real meat and potatoes of Pulse Con was the new Transformers Universes Beyond mini-set. This is a 15-card set which will appear in Brothers’ War products. This is a big change for Universes Beyond, which previously would have their own supplemental products. Transformers will be available in both Set Boosters and Collector Boosters as well as appearing as a guaranteed one-of in every Bundle.
Additionally these cards will be legal in Vintage, Legacy, and Commander. While I don’t expect them to have any impact in Vintage or Legacy, they should make a big splash in Commander, not only for their nostalgia value but also because they do make some pretty unique Commanders.
If you missed out on Pulse Con you can catch the replay videos on Hasbro’s YouTube channel. Brothers’ War arrives on MTG Arena on November 15th and in stores on November 18th.