I'll never forget just how excited I was when they announced that we would be getting a set based around The Brothers' War. I practically leapt out of my seat because it came as such a surprise. When we finally got the set, it felt like a minor letdown in some ways, boasting a fairly underwhelming Limited environment. Despite this, it boasted 22 fantastic mythic rares - many of which went on to be Constructed powerhouses. Today, I'm going to rank every one of them!

There's a ton to talk about, so let's hop into a time portal and get ranking!

• 22. Draconic Destiny
• 21. Clay Champion
• 20. Urza's Sylex
• 19. Sarinth Greatwurm
• 18. Bladecoil Serpent
• 17. Saheeli, Filigree Master
• 16. Rootwire Amalgam
• 15. Platoon Dispenser
• 14. In the Trenches
• 13. Awaken the Woods
• 12. Arcane Proxy
• 11. One with the Multiverse

10. Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim

Many players were a bit underwhelmed by Teferi when it was first previewed. The card didn't seem like it did a whole ton, often just drawing you cards and occasionally using another ability. Players quickly learned that it was still a valuable player for Control decks in Standard, and though it was certainly the least utilized planeswalker of its time, it was still excellent when it made an appearance.

9. Titania, Voice of Gaea (and Titania, Gaea Incarnate)

Titania, Voice of Gaea is a pretty fun legend to do stuff with, though she didn't make too big of a splash throughout the majority of her time in Standard. However, she did have one particularly major showing shortly before the 2024 rotation thanks to the powerful Slogurk Legends deck. Slogurk, the Overslime allowed for the deck to repeatedly discard the Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty channel lands. As a result, players would gain tons of life with Titania while simultaneously offering a cheap yet beefy creature, making for a potent threat.

8. Surge Engine

I admittedly almost forgot about Surge Engine before making this list. It seems like a somewhat lackluster card, until your opponent starts beating you to death with it, that is. Thanks to the Simic Cookies deck, a lower tier Standard offering, players got the opportunity to do just that, making it an unsung powerhouse of the time.

7. Mishra, Claimed by Gix (and Mishra, Lost to Phyrexia)

Mishra didn't see a ton of play during his time in Standard, but when he did it was some of the best gameplay around. While he's - spoiler - in the middle of the pack when it comes to the set's meld cards, he arguably saw the highest amount of real play, even if that wasn't much in the long run. Despite this, it continues to make for extremely flashy gameplay and is all the more epic when someone pulls it off - especially in a singleton format like Commander.

6. Phyrexian Fleshgorger

Phyrexian Fleshgorger was one many thought would be far more busted than it ended up being. Three mana provided a strong body and you could flicker it or reanimate it out of the graveyard to get a cheap 7/7 lifelinker that would prove difficult to deal with. It saw quite a bit of Standard play out of the gate, earning it a strong showing on this list. However, that strong showing died off rather quickly as it was outclassed by other, better threats later and the likes of Invoke Despair and Reckoner Bankbuster got banned.

5. Myrel, Shield of Argive

Myrel reads like the kind of card that should be poised to take Standard by storm. Unfortunately, her showing was fairly modest, showing up in some builds of the Azorius Soldiers decks of the era. Commander is an entirely different story, though. Myrel is beloved for her ability to stop opponents from doing anything on your turn, all while you spit out absurd amounts of tokens to dominate games with. This has led to Myrel being extremely popular and boasting a tremendous price to match.

4. Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor

Of all the characters players were excited to see get cards at last, Gix was perhaps one of the most desired. His grotesque appearance and notoriety as a high-ranking official of Yawgmoth made him somewhat of a fan favorite. Thankfully, his card didn't disappoint either, with it going on to see tons of Standard play and being great in Commander decks.

3. Cityscape Leveler

With Cityscape Leveler, all you need is one. Just about any deck that has run Karn, the Great Creator can often be found boasting a single copy in their sideboards to wish up at a moment's notice. Despite the small numbers, if you ever saw Cityscape Leveler hit the battlefield, chances are it's game over. The card quickly became a Constructed powerhouse while also offering plenty of powerful play in Commander as well.

2. Portal to Phyrexia

Portal to Phyrexia had Commander bait on it from the start. Not only does it wipe the board for each opponent, but it also revives a creature every turn onto your side of the battlefield. The high mana cost is something most could ignore as well, owing to the numerous ways by which players could simply cheat it out. This aspect not only made it great for Commander, but provided several Constructed players to mess around with it in formats like Standard and even Pioneer thanks to Karn, the Great Creator in Nykthos Ramp. It's a powerful card that's earned an equally strong amount of popularity.

1. Urza, Lord Protector (and Urza, Planeswalker)

This is one of the few times where I'm not going to let results or numbers get in the way of my rankings. Typically, I like to reserve the top spots of these lists for cards with high tournament or Commander pedigrees that shine high above the rest. Here, though, we got something truly special.

Urza was - and is - perhaps the most famous character in all of Magic. Yet despite him being well known as a planeswalker, he never got one outside of a silly card in Unstable. The thought was that he was simply too epic of a character to be able to do justice to a card, and so Wizards never made it despite returning to pre-Mending walkers over the years. So to finally see Urza, Planeswalker with his mighty five abilities and the capability of using them twice a turn... it was just as epic as Urza deserved.

The card may not have seen a ton of play, but I'll be damned if I don't put a card as special as this one in the top spot for a release like this.

Paige Smith

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