The Brothers' War Card Stories, Part 2

Two weeks ago, I told the story of how Mishra's melded card came to be. Today, I'm going to do the same with Urza's.

Urza, Lord Protector; The Mightstone and Weakstone; and Urza, Planeswalker

As I mentioned last week, Alpha was the first to include Urza's name on cards (on Glasses of Urza and Sunglasses of Urza—apparently, he liked eyewear), but he didn't become a character until Antiquities, where references to the Brothers' War initially appeared. Urza continued to show up in card names until his first appearance in card art from the Urza's Saga block, where he was the protagonist of the story. He then returned in the Invasion block, where he appeared on a creature card for the first time but not with his name. Can you name that creature?

Urza finally got a card with his name on it in Unstable: Urza, Academy Headmaster. In Unhinged, Urza showed up as a head (making fun of a plot point from the Weatherlight Saga story—his head gets chopped off, but he keeps on living as a disembodied head). Unstable had the first-ever Un- planeswalker, a five-color Urza, as that had been a frequent request from the players, and everyone seemed to enjoy Urza's head as a character. (Quick little factoid: Urza's head is one of only a small handful of characters to show up in three different Un- sets.) Urza then showed up as a legendary creature called Urza, Lord High Artificer in Modern Horizons (this portrayed him prior to his spark igniting).

When Ari and I were making the demo decks, we knew that we were going to have a meld Urza where the melded version would be an Urza planeswalker card. One of the challenges of doing planeswalkers from prior to the Mending is capturing a sense of how powerful they were. Urza holds an important place in the story as a character, so we knew a planeswalker card of him had to be a big deal. The hoop to jump through, melding the card, seemed difficult enough that it allowed us the ability to make a very powerful planeswalker. Here's our first take on Urza (note that the young version of Urza would play out as its own card in The Brothers' War):

Urza, Young Artificer (rare)
2WU
Legendary Creature — Human Artificer
2/4
X, T: Return target artifact card with converted mana cost X from your graveyard to your hand.
At the beginning of combat on your turn, if you control an artifact named Raw Powerstone, you may exile it and CARDNAME and meld them into Urza, Planeswalker.

Urza was an artificer, so we wanted to play that up. A nice simple ability was to let him get artifacts from out of the graveyard, allowing you to cast them again. We wanted it to be harder to get expensive items out of the graveyard, so we put an X in the activation cost. Urza was 2/4 to mirror Mishra, who was 4/2. (Mishra felt like the more aggressive of the two.)

When Urza became a Planeswalker, the Mightstone and Weakstone became his eyes, so that seemed like another opportunity to choose an item that literally merged with the character. Just one small problem. Antiquities already had both the Mightstone and the Weakstone.

Sadly, neither card was particularly all that exciting, either from a design or power-level perspective. We talked about just making new ones and forgetting the old ones existed but decided against it. In the demo deck, Ari suggested we just make a mana stone and name it generically as a powerstone. We had the idea to show the Mightstone and Weakstone in the art on the cards. This was before powerstones existed as an artifact token.

Raw Powerstone (uncommon)
3
Artifact
When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, gain 2 life.
T: Add 1.

We wanted the melded version of Urza to be a planeswalker card to reflect his transformation at the end of the story. Also, players have been asking for an Eternal-legal Urza planeswalker card ever since we made a non-Eternal one in Unstable (and that was a result of players asking for an Urza planeswalker card for many years). The obvious choice was to make a planeswalker with a lot of loyalty abilities, more than any previous planeswalker card. I think we chose six, because that's how many could fit (by our best estimation). Here's what we made:

Urza, Planeswalker
Legendary Planeswalker
Loyalty – 7
+1 – Return up to one target artifact creature from the graveyard to the battlefield.
0 – Make a */* artifact creature token whose power and toughness are equal to the number of artifacts you control.
-1 – Return target noncreature artifact from your graveyard to the battlefield.
-3 – Make an artifact token with "If a source would deal damage to you, prevent 1 of that damage."
-X – Add X to your mana pool. Use this mana only to cast artifact spells or activate artifact abilities.
-10 – Destroy all permanents.

These abilities were a mixed bag. Let's walk through them:

+1 – Return up to one target artifact creature from the graveyard to the battlefield.
-1 – Return target noncreature artifact from your graveyard to the battlefield.

Urza was known for digging up ancient artifacts and figuring out how to make them work again. We split this into two abilities, as we wanted it to be easier to regrow artifact creatures than nonartifact creatures.

0 – Make a */* artifact creature token whose power and toughness are equal to the number of artifacts you control.

This is an ability used on multiple Urza-themed cards (Urza, Lord High Artificer and Urza's Saga).

-3 – Make an artifact token with "If a source would deal damage to you, prevent 1 of that damage."

This is a nod to an ability on the card Urza's Armor.

-X – Add X to your mana pool. Use this mana only to cast artifact spells or activate artifact abilities.

This is the earliest version of the ability that would eventually become what the powerstone artifact tokens do.

-10 – Destroy all permanents.

At the end of the story, Urza used the Golgothian Sylex to blow everything up. This can be seen on cards like Urza's Ruinous Blast. We felt obligated to hit this story point on Urza's card.

The Urza melded planeswalker was probably the biggest hit of the demo decks (although the decks as a whole were well received) and helped green-light The Brothers' War as a premier set.

Now we get to vision design. Here's our first take on Urza, the legendary creature version on the front of one meld card:

Urza, Lord Protector (version #1)
1WU
Legendary Creature — Human Artificer
2/2
Noncreature spells you cast cost 1 less to cast.
7: If you both own and control CARDNAME and an artifact named OTHERNAME, then first exile them, then meld them into OTHEROTHERNAME.

Interestingly, it's close to the printed version. Noncreature spells were limited a bit, turning into "artifact, instant, and sorcery spells." I believe that change was part power, part flavor. Other than that and a shift from 2/2 to 2/4, the Set Design and Play Design teams were happy with the card as is.

Here's the art description:

Setting: The Brothers' War
Color: White and blue LEGENDARY creature
Location: Atop a RUINED STONE COLOSSUS (inspired by the silhouettes on p.9, the size of an aircraft carrier) on the shore of Argoth (p. 93–95) during Act III (p. 122–125 for guidance).
Intent: Urza is the main character of The Brothers' War novel, and one of Magic: The Gathering's most storied Planeswalkers. This image will show him at the height of his mortal power, prior to his ascendancy; at this moment, he is fighting his brother Mishra at the climax of the novel.
Action: Show us URZA (p. 5d for direct reference) FIRING a BEAM OF RED ENERGY from his MIGHTSTONE (p. 5a and 133d for reference) at an enemy off-screen. Urza holds the SYLEX (p. 133a) under his arm, protecting it. We might see a stormy ocean behind him and the spray of waves crashing on the colossus. We might see the sparks of raging forest fires drifting in from off-screen, where he is firing his beam. It looks like the end of the world.
Focus: Urza
Mood: The final battle, the end of the story

The Vision Design team came up with a solution to the Mightstone and Weakstone problem. While there were cards that represented each of them, there wasn't a card yet that represented the two of them together. Urza did get both powerstones as eyes. Here's where we started:

The Mightstone and Weakstone (version #1)
4
Legendary Artifact — Powerstone
T: Add CC. You can't spend this mana to cast spells.
3: Target noncreature artifact becomes a 3/3 artifact creature until end of turn.
3: Target creature gets -3/-0 until end of turn.

The basic structure was here from the beginning. It had three abilities. One that matched whatever the powerstone tokens did. One that captured the Mightstone. One that captured the Weakstone. Let's walk through them.

T: Add CC. You can't spend this mana to cast spells.

The reason this taps for CC rather than C is because it's not one but two powerstones. At this point in time, the powerstones didn't let you use the mana to cast spells.

3: Target noncreature artifact becomes a 3/3 artifact creature until end of turn.

This activation represents the Mightstone. It's generating resources, in this case a creature. I'm guessing it was a 3/3 to match the activation costs of three. Aesthetics are a powerful thing.

3: Target creature gets -3/-0 until end of turn.

This activation represents the Weakstone, which makes things weaker. This first version just shrank power.

The Mightstone and Weakstone (version #2)
4
Legendary Artifact — Powerstone
When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, choose one —
• Create two 1/1 colorless Soldier artifact creature tokens.
• Target creature gets -4/-4 until end of turn.
T: Add CC. This mana can't be spent to cast colored spells. (Melds with Urza, Lord Protector) [Urza, Planeswalker]

The next version had a few small tweaks and one big change. It rearranged the order to have the Mightstone and Weakstone effects come first. It changed the Mightstone effect to making multiple small creatures instead of one bigger creature; it significantly strengthened the Weakstone effect (going from -3/-0 to -4/-4), allowing it to kill creatures; and it changed the powerstone ability to match what the powerstone artifact tokens were doing at that time. The printed version went from 4 to 5 and made the effects even stronger. The Mightstone effect would move away from creating creature tokens and instead draw cards, which is useful for more decks. The Weakstone ability was made to kill more creatures by changing from -4/-4 to -5/-5. The powerstone ability changed again as the powerstone artifact tokens changed.

Here's the art description:

Setting: The Brothers' War
Color: Colorless artifact
Location: On a beach battlefield during Act III
Action: Show us the MIGHTSTONE (p. 133d) and the WEAKSTONE (p.133b) SMOKING in a crater of GLASSED DARK SAND. The Mightstone should have a dim, ruby-red glow; the Weakstone should have a dim, emerald-green glow.
Focus: The Mightstone and the Weakstone
Mood: Artifacts of great power

All that was left was to make the meld planeswalker version of Urza. Because the promo version had gone over so well, we started from there. The first vision design version had six loyalty abilities:

Urza, Planeswalker (version #1)
Legendary Planeswalker — Urza
Loyalty – 4
+2: Scry 2, then draw a card.
+1: Create a 1/4 colorless Soldier artifact creature token with vigilance.
-2: You get an emblem with "Artifact creatures you control get +1/+1."
-4: Return target artifact card from your graveyard to the battlefield.
-6: Shuffle your library, then exile the top four cards. Until end of turn, you may play those cards without paying their mana costs.
-9: Artifacts you control gain indestructible until end of turn. Destroy all other nonland permanents.

While the structure stayed similar, the effects changed significantly. There was still an artifact creature token maker, but now a 1/4 rather than a */*. The two effects that returned artifacts from the graveyard were combined into a single ability. And the ultimate that destroyed all permanents instead spared all of your artifacts. One of the added abilities was artifact creature focused (granting +1/+1), but the other two were just generally useful abilities that would help you smooth your draw and cast extra cards.

Urza, Planeswalker (version #2)
Legendary Planeswalker — Urza
Loyalty – 6
+2: Draw two cards, then discard a card.
+1: Create three 1/1 colorless Soldier artifact creature tokens.
-2: You get an emblem with "Artifact creatures you control get +1/+1."
-4: Exile target creature. You gain life equal to its power.
-7: Shuffle your library, then exile the top four cards from it. Until end of turn, you may play lands and cast spells from among those cards without paying their mana costs.
-9: Artifacts and planeswalkers you control gain indestructible until end of turn. Destroy all nonland permanents.

Planeswalkers are normally tricky to design. Double the number of loyalty abilities, and it gets significantly trickier. But everyone knew that the meld cards, especially Urza, were going to be a major focus of the set, so we had to get it right. There was a lot of playtesting with a lot of tweaking. Each slot had basically the same function even if the execution was a little different (scrying and drawing becomes draw and discard, for example). The one big change was the fourth ability going from artifact reanimation to creature destruction. This was done because Urza needed more answers to creatures attacking it. Also, the set was a little high on artifact reanimation due to the theme being so central. For flavor, we changed the ultimate so that Urza will survive his destructive blast (provided you have 10 or more loyalty).

Urza, Planeswalker (version #3)
Legendary Planeswalker — Urza
Loyalty – 6
You may activate Urza's loyalty abilities an additional time during each of your turns.
+2: Draw two cards, then discard a card.
+1: Create two 1/1 colorless Soldier artifact creature tokens.
-0: Artifact, instant, and sorcery spells cost you 2 less to cast this turn.
-4: Exile target creature. You gain 4 life.
-9: Artifacts and planeswalkers you control gain indestructible until end of turn. Destroy all nonland permanents.

This was the biggest change to the card. To make the card feel grander, the design traded in an activated ability (the impulsive draw) for a static one. How do we make Urza feel powerful? Let him use two loyalty abilities a turn. This is closer to print, with just a few tiny tweaks. I'm happy with how it ended up, and I think it does a great job of capturing the moment of Urza's spark igniting for the first time.

Here's the art description:

Setting: The Brothers' War
Color: LEGENDARY planeswalker
Location: On the coast of Argoth (p. 93–95 for reference) after Act III (p. 122–125 for environmental notes)
Action: Show us URZA (p. 5d) walking across a landscape TURNED TO DARK GLASS by a massive explosion. We can see Urza's eyes have been cleanly replaced by the MIGHTSTONE (p. 133d) and WEAKSTONE (p. 133b), lit from within by a dim glow. Maybe we may see a slice of blinding white light closing behind Urza, as if he has just stepped out of a rip in reality. It could be snowing or raining, or there could be a strong wind blowing across the landscape.
Focus: Urza
Mood: Ultimate power, apotheosis
Notes: This card is a meld card, which means it can be played after two other cards [(430164) and (430180)] have been played. You may want to combine elements of those images in the composition of this image.

Urza's Saga

I hope you enjoyed today's story of how melded Urza came to be. As always, I'm eager to hear your feedback on today's column, on Urza, or on The Brothers' War. You can email me or contact me through my social media accounts (Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and TikTok).

Join me next week when I preview Dominaria Remastered.

Until then, may you go through your own awesome transformation.

• Episode 986 Costing Cards
• Episode 985 The Brothers' War Art with Taylor
• Episode 984 The Brothers' War Design