Just when the war between Dominaria and Phyrexia is heating up, fans are transported thousands of years into the past to relive The Brothers’ War, fronted by the rivalry between the siblings Urza and Mishra. Not only do both of them get new cards, there’s a whole bunch of new mech-like Artifacts that makes The Brothers’ War stand out from previous sets.
Thanks again to Wizards of the Coast, Geek Culture and Tap & Sac are honoured to reveal an exclusive preview card not seen anywhere else – the Terisian Mindbreaker!
Terisian Mindbreaker is a massive Mill machine, costing 7 colourless Mana for a 6/4 Creature that puts half of defending player’s Library into the Graveyard whenever it attacks. The gorgeous juggernaut art was done by long-time collaborator Steve Prescott, whose work has been seen on other cards like the recent Blue Dragon and Fauna Shaman.
How Good (or Bad) is Terisian Mindbreaker?
On the surface, Terisian Mindbreaker looks like a weaker version of the previous Mill monster – Fleet Swallower – with weaker base stats. But what Terisian Mindbreaker has going for it is its Unearth ability, which allows you to recast it from your Graveyard for 1 more attack before Exiling it.
At the very least, the Unearth ability serves as a potential 6 damage hit to the opponent, and also Milling yet another half of their deck. The triple blue Mana cost for Unearth does require you to pretty much run a mono-blue or 2-colour deck in order to reliably use it, but that’s okay because Mill strategies are almost exclusively tailored for blue.
In the Commander format, Terisian Mindbreaker will fit in nicely in Mill decks, such as those led by Bruvac, the Grandiloquent or Phenax, God of Deception. Bruvac specifically doubles the number of cards Milled, effectively annihilating the opponent’s entire Library. Now that Terisian Mindbreaker is a thing, you don’t have to rely on just Fleet Swallower showing up to pull off that combo.
While Milling an opponent can be a fun, alternative winning strategy, it can sometimes backfire against decks that like to manipulate the Graveyard. For example, with Unearth returning in force for Brothers War, you can expect more of such Creatures in upcoming games. Whatever Terisian Mindbreaker Mills, the opponent can subsequently recast anything with Unearth.
Another drawback to Terisian Mindbreaker is its high casting cost of 7 Mana. As it can only attack the next turn, you won’t be able to see any real benefit apart from being a fat blocker.
End Step
Terisian Mindbreaker is a worthy successor to Fleet Swallower, but it remains to be seen if it will see play in the Standard, where many of the key cards such Ruin Crab have already left the format. If The Brothers’ War (Amazon | Shopee) and subsequent expansions include good support cards for the Mill Strategy, we could be seeing more of the Mindbreaker very soon.
Ted Chen is the founder of Tap & Sac, a website with a dream of making Magic: the Gathering more accessible and inclusive to a whole generation of new players. It offers learning guides for beginners, all the way to advanced videos for seasoned spellcasters. Everyone can have fun in the gathering!
