The Brothers' War as Told by Flavor Text

"The ground is where wars are waged, but the air is where they are won." ~ Harbin, vanguard aviator

"It would be folly to fight a dragon engine head-on. Let's hit it from above."

The sylex's blast had razed the land, leaving behind only snow and sorrow. Urza stood alone in the sudden silence.

"Automatons are fast, precise, and tireless, but they all share one weakness: predictability. Learn their patterns. Strike when they're vulnerable." ~ Horance, Urzan general

"One down, several thousand more to go."

"Hello, beautiful."

The battlefield became so pockmarked with craters and trenches that casualties were regularly attributed to "fell in a hole."

Anyone can destroy a continent. Few have the vision to rebuild one.

She'll swing a blade all her life, but never again for war.

As a scholar, she saw the sylex not as a weapon, but as a key to the past.

Urza and Mishra may have been Tocasia's most famous students, but Loran was the true heir to her legacy.

As Terisia City burned, Feldon pressed the sylex into Loran's hands and urged her to run. Hope ran with her.

"I need an army, not a masterpiece. Accelerate output, whatever it takes." ~ Urza, notes to his engineers

"Remember, students, if it's glowing, humming, or whirring, don't touch it!"

The cool, sleek automatons beside her mirrored her own iron resolve.

"Well there's your problem—resonance leak lowering output by thirty percent. I can patch that up."

War prisoners were ineffective political pawns, as neither brother cared enough to trade for them.

"Put your backs into it! If we don't lay claim to it, the Fallaji will!"

"Every name on this list is already a hero! Will you add your own to it?"

"Throw the bodies out. They'll just weigh down the frame." ~ Rolf, Argivian mechanic

"Steady, recruit. We fight in the light of justice. We cast no shadow."

Teferi's body couldn't travel through time far enough, but with Kaya's help, his spirit could.

At first, the merchant state of Korlis saw no need to involve itself in the conflict between Yotia and the Fallaji. Mishra's dragon engines changed that.

"She'll only fly once. Make it count!"

"Your father was a dear friend to whom I owe much. He wanted me to look after you, to care for you should something happen to him."

Terisia City at last opened its ivory towers to all who sought respite from the endless war.

"The Warlord thinks we've gone soft, does he? The Fist of Progress will prove him wrong!"

"Go, save as many as you can! The city walls may be rubble, but Kroog will live on in its people." ~ Queen Kayla bin-Kroog

"Hear that thud-clank, thud-clank? We're saved." ~ Ani, Urzan soldier

"Today our blades remember Kroog! May the seven brass gods be with us!"

"Aha! This must be one of the ancient keys to... No, wait. It's just another puzzle toy."

Before Kaya could pull Teferi's spirit back, the overloaded temporal anchor failed, and he was set adrift in the currents of time.

Alongside his wife, Hurkyl, Drafna built a legacy of scholarship that endured for millennia.

"Focus your mind. Do you hold a piece of the ocean or a thousand drops of rain?" ~ Hurkyl

The metal turned and blossomed with Saheeli's will, each filigreed twist bringing the temporal anchor closer to completion.

"Back to the ivory towers! This won't hold for long!" ~ Vayor, Third Path cryomancer

"What you call magic, I call the power of memory."

"Every book is a doorway to enlightenment. Curiosity is your key."

The Warlord decreed that only someone who could move the statue would be strong enough to marry the princess. So Urza moved it.

The humming tome burned his leather glove, nearly taking his hand along with it. Then a strange power coursed through him.

Mishra's army demanded the secrets of the Third Path. Hurkyl's followers graciously showed them.

"Landing zone is clear. Activate and deploy!"

As the glowing stone broke apart, so too did the last shred of the brothers' bond.

"The brothers are brilliant, but their quarreling will be the death of me." ~ Tocasia, journal entry

Though neither brother cared to admit it, flying the ancient thopter was their last happy moment together.

As Mishra's army bore down on Terisia City, Corlo felt his focus, his patience, and his willpower twine together. With a deep breath, he plucked answers from the air.

"You want me to install a seat belt? Please. You're lucky to get a seat!"

"As usual, my brother's maneuvers are brash and impulsive." ~ Urza

"The welds are weaker at the top."

"Listen, Duck. Gix is everywhere, playing every side. Mishra won't listen . . . but perhaps Urza will."

"Any more giant metal monsters want to try their luck? I'm just getting warmed up!"

No honor. No glory. No leftovers.

"Most wise, most thoughtful, most powerful qadir," said the Gixian, "we offer whatever help we may give in your illustrious name."

Gix pierced his disciples' minds and savored their experiences as he took in their knowledge.

"Machines feel no fear, no sorrow, no hunger—only glorious purpose, true and pure."

With a snap of metal like a strike of lightning, the tide of war shifted in Mishra's favor.

Mishra's nightmares of Phyrexia rang with screams of agony and groans of twisted metal. The sounds stayed with him long after he awoke.

Scurrying repair bots quietly turned the tide of many battles, patching damaged automatons back into fighting form.

"Get the sylex to Urza at any cost. Tell him to fill it with memories of the land." ~ Ashnod, to Tawnos

"Show me all the delicious misery you've sown."

"Terisia City's fall is inevitable. My master's plan runs as sure and steady as the oil in my veins."

To some, desecration. To Gix, decoration.

"With every culling, we bring this world closer to *compleation*."

"Everyone warns about the sand and the food, but the rats are worse than both put together!" ~ Sanwell, letter to his family

When Titania offered peace, Urza merely turned her down. Mishra made her people pay for the insult.

Mishra was gone—all that remained was a machine wearing his face.

Her circus training proved surprisingly valuable on the battlefield.

In the ruins of Kroog, only anguish thrived.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Let's not keep the buzzards waiting."

Dying for the cause is overrated.

Tocasia's face haunted his vision. The explosion still rung in his ears. Mishra kept running and never once looked back.

In Mishra's desperation to destroy his brother, he allowed Gix to destroy him instead.

"Move! When the powerstone blows, that behemoth will be nothing but a hole in the ground." ~ Ashnod, to Hajar

Glacian built his automatons to last, and last they did, beyond even the Thran themselves.

Urza and Mishra weren't the only denizens of Terisiare to covet the powerstones' energy.

It can hear a panicked heartbeat from a thousand paces away.

Tawnos built his clay statues for durability, not knowing they'd keep fighting long after the war.

Built to crush walls and wills in equal measure.

"The human body—like any other machine—can be stripped for parts." ~ Ashnod

Fallaji soldiers hated seeing loved ones' faces among the transmogrants. Ashnod devised a solution.

"You want it good, fast, or cheap? You can't have all three."

The peace summit proved the grudge between Urza and Mishra could end only in blood.

The brothers' rivalry escalated into all-out enmity, and Tocasia paid the price.

"Funny," remarked Laga to his squad. "Mishra's lackeys wear luxurious silks in their gilded palaces, while we toil in the trenches eating stale bread."

Urza's engineers could take weeks to dig out a powerstone. The goblins weren't so painstaking.

As retaliation for the Warlord's ambush at the peace summit, Mishra leveled Yotia's capital city.

She was eager to show the invading Yotians how she earned her nickname, "The Sandstorm of Tomakul."

"Don't excavate too far into those canyons. I promised your parents I'd return you in one piece." ~ Tocasia

Most goblins can light a fuse and run, but only the cleverest remember to drop the bomb.

First the automatons reinforced depleted squads. Then they replaced them entirely.

While Urza read books, Mishra learned to read the desert itself.

Power radiated from the Weakstone, binding the dragon engine to Mishra's command.

"Hah. Urza has underestimated my strength yet again." ~ Mishra

She focused her mind on the volcano's fury, and hers erupted in kind.

In desperation, Pero called on his memory of a lightning storm that nearly killed his family. When he opened his eyes, only smoke and dust remained.

His child-lifting act was second only to his cauldron-punting routine.

Only the quartermaster wept for their loss.

First one, then a second, then a third of the ivory towers fell to the invaders, who moved in a circle around the city like an apocalyptic clock.

"Never track the roc itself with your eyes, for it will swoop with the sun at its back and blind you. Instead, track its shadow and, when it's almost upon you, heave your javelin upward with all your might."

When Urza betrayed the Sardian dwarves, they called upon the might of their neighbors for aid.

In war, dragons don't see sides, just side dishes.

The new cannon's destructive power more than made up for its unpredictable blast radius.

"I will trust desert steel in Fallaji hands over a soulless machine any day." ~ Hajar, Mishra's bodyguard

While Urza's machines favored defense, Mishra built his to end the war quickly.

"This metal belonged to Argoth before it was ripped from the ground. Now it belongs to Argoth again."

"Nature adapts. So should we."

"Make the exhaust vents smaller next time!" ~ Urza, notes to his engineers

Bravery outlives the brave.

"We expected the Argothians to stand their ground. We didn't expect the ground itself to stand." ~ Myrel, Shield of Argive

Some armor is forged, some is forested.

"That's odd. I don't remember seeing plans to dig a trench near here." ~ Lognell, Argivian scout

The endless grind of the Brothers' War had fouled Terisiare's land and blackened its skies. Argoth's defenders were determined to protect their isle from the same fate.

"You've let yourself grow old, and your light is dimming. Shall we talk one last time, or must I slay you now?" ~ Mishra, to Urza

After a long hibernation, Argoth began slowly recovering from the ravages of war.

Few relics excited Fallaji archaeologists more than Thran powerstones, which they called "eyes of the Old Ones."

"I call on both predators and protectors, for now is a season of war."

So thick was the fog on Argoth's shores that the brothers' forces passed within shouting distance of each other without realizing it.

"Even the leaves oppose your being here. What hope have you against nature's might?"

When it came to fighting an army of trees, even Mishra's best generals were stumped.

"Imagine being scared of pixies. Just smoosh them under your boot!" ~ Kerish, Urzan mechanist

The flames of war consumed most of Argoth's treefolk. Vengeance consumed the rest.

To the spiders of Argoth, thopters were just bigger, crunchier flies.

The Fallaji quickly learned that the Kher Ridges held too many caves and valleys to be surveyed from the air alone.

"This metal junk is ugly, but it's got its uses."

Gwenna stayed her hand only once, to save young Harbin's life—a mistake she would never repeat.

While his master tried to surpass nature, Tawnos aimed to capture its beauty.

In the Great Desert, one law is enforced over all others: water belongs to all.

Once the brothers discovered the pristine island of Argoth, the war came down to who could plunder it faster.

"Artifice is not the only form of creation." ~ Titania

A thousand years of growth, harvested in minutes.

"They're easy enough to squish, but they're a pain to wash out of a workbench." ~ Tergel, goblin explosioneer

"You know those seedpods cluttering the eastern approach? I've got an idea . . . ." ~ Calle, Urzan sergeant

She always leads the charge.

Each fallen friend was a seed of regret, eager to blossom again in Gaea's name.

"Forge the future in metal and oil!"

"The Burnished Banner will show the Warlord that the Suwwardi Marches belong to the Fallaji!"

"I've stood by Mishra's side from the beginning. I will not abandon him now."

"Yotia is my birthright, father. Let me fight for it."

History forgot her name but not her victories.

"For the love of the seven brass gods, it's a city of academics! How are they doing this?" ~ Sharaman, Urzan lieutenant

It felt the rumblings of war and uncoiled itself from the depths of the world.

"Don't thank me. Thank nature for its wondrous designs!"

"When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. I merely propose expanding our toolbox."

The prince consort was happy to let Yotia's coffers fund his extravagant research.

"I joined this war to protect my homeland, not to destroy someone else's."

"Time for the Iron Alliance to remind the qadir's army how inhospitable the Sword Marches can be."

Volunteers rarely questioned why the airborne battalion always seemed to be recruiting.

Unable to settle on just one versatile being, Urza decided to create myriad adaptable machines.

"Raw energy contains infinite possibility." ~ Urza

"And if this works, Tawnos is gonna let us build the full-sized version!" ~ Tergel, goblin explosioneer

Following his hunger for knowledge and power from the past, Urza starved Dominaria's future.

After five thousand years, the nightmare returned.

Mechanical workers toiled away, tirelessly fueling the impossible.

From above, the brothers noticed strange glyphs etched into the desert sand.

Tawnos built it to be absolutely impermeable to any force inside. Luckily it worked for any force outside as well.

Reports differed on whether the figure was an automaton or a mage, mostly because few who saw it survived.

Automatons could be rebuilt. Powerstones could not.

New armaments, fresh provisions, and best of all, dry socks.

Inspired by fishing raptors, Tawnos designed the drake's talons to seize prey with overwhelming speed and precision.

"Achieving perfection is simple. Watch, I'll do it twice." ~ Mishra

Even Urza's most mundane creations shared his obsession with perfection.

"As Terisiare's mines ran dry, scrap metal became increasingly plentiful." ~ *The Antiquities War*

"Urza fortified every thirty miles on the path to Tomakul, creating a network of trenches the brothers would trade for decades." ~ *The Antiquities War*

"There's a certain beauty in destruction. Some will consider this war a masterpiece." ~ Ashnod

The Thran's machines were not dead after all, merely dormant . . . and waiting.

"The sylex blast marked not only the end of the war, but the end of Dominaria as most knew it." ~ *The Antiquities War*

Sent by their noble parents to toughen up and learn something of the world's past, Urza and Mishra instead uncovered Terisiare's future.

"The war polluted the land, turning what had once been fruitful fields into fetid morasses of mud and rusted corpses." ~ *The Antiquities War*

"With the Brotherhood of Gix whispering in his ear, Mishra's drive to prove himself was slowly twisted into an insatiable hunger for power."n-*The Antiquities War*

"At heart, Urza was an inventor, not a warlord. Over time, the burdens of leadership left him as cold and calculating as his mechanical creations." ~ *The Antiquities War*

It brings the two things weary soldiers need most: medicine and morale.

She'll swing a blade all her life, but never again for war.

"Focus your mind. Do you hold a piece of the ocean or a thousand drops of rain?" ~ Hurkyl

"Most wise, most thoughtful, most powerful qadir," said the Gixian, "we offer whatever help we may give in your illustrious name."

When Urza betrayed the Sardian dwarves, they called upon the might of their neighbors for aid.

Some armor is forged, some is forested.