Magic: The Gathering is no stranger to crossovers. Through the “Universes Beyond” releases, MTG has melded with the world of The Walking Dead, Street Fighter, Godzilla, Warhammer 40k, and more. With that said, these have always been stand-alone releases. However, that’s all changing with the release of The Brothers’ War which will include Transformers cards in the set. Let’s take a look at what Transformers characters will be making an appearance.
The Brothers’ War will contain 15 well-known Transformers in MTG form. Each one is a Legendary Robot creature on one side and a Legendary Vehicle on the other. Each card is available in a regular and “Shattered Glass” alternate version. Here is a list of all the Transformers characters making an appearance:
- Optimus Prime
- Soundwave
- Ultra Magnus
- Megatron
- Goldbug
- Flamewar
- Cyclonus
- Blaster
- Arcee
- Slicer
- Starscream
- Blitzwing
- Jetfire
- Ratchet
- Prowl
MTG Transformer cards are a nostalgic surprise we didn’t see coming. However, The Brothers’ War Transformers cards just makes sense. After all, the set does feature quite a lot of giant, fighting robots as is.
So, I’m not shocked that the set took Hasbro’s mind to one of their most popular franchises. With that said, let’s take a look at the cards, then break down some of the abilities and other things that make this the most flavorful crossover to date.
Card Gallery
Let’s start with the most exciting part first – The cards. You’ll find all 15 Transformers cards (in vehicle and robot form) and their “Shattered Glass” alternate versions below. Afterward, we’ll go over some of the cool little things that really make it feel like the Autobots and Decepticons have come to the world of MTG.
The art on the standard versions will feel like a trip down memory lane for fans of the original series. To me, they look like they could be still images taken from unaired episodes of the show I used to watch as a kid.
Related: The Best Magic: The Gathering Art
Standard Versions
Shattered Glass Versions
Where Can You Get The Transformers Cards?
The Transformers cards are available in a few different products. You can pick up these epic crossover cards in The Brothers’ War Set and Collector Boosters. Additionally, there will be one Transformers card in the “Bundle” product as well.
What Formats Are Transformers Cards Legal In?
These cards are coming in a Standard-legal set – So, does that mean the Transformer cards are Standard legal? Unfortunately not. They will, however, be legal to play in Commander, Vintage, and Legacy.
Related: Draft Boosters Vs Set Boosters FAQ
Card Design, Concepts, And Mechanics
The Transformers team and the Magic: The Gathering team over at Hasbro directly collaborated to give the Transformers cards an authentic MTG feel. While at the same time remaining true to the classic Transformers franchise. As an avid player of Magic and having grown up watching Transformers let me just say, they blew this out of the water.
So, what exactly makes this the most flavorful crossover that MTG has done? Well, I’ll break everything down piece by piece below. With that said, if you’d like to hear the teams who worked on the cards go over them you can find the video here. If you want to get straight to the Transformers/MTG info, jump to the 2-hour and 29-minute mark.
Double-Sided Cards
Each card has two sides – A creature side and a vehicle side. The concept here is clear; The robots transform into their vehicle form. It’s not a stretch of the imagination that this is the direction the cards took. With that said, the design team tweaked a few things. This means there are a few key differences between these and the vehicles we’ve seen in the past. Let’s take a look.
More Than Meets The Eye
First, is the “more than meets the eye” ability. Transformers fans may recognize this iconic line from the 2012 Transformers comic series. The ability is an alternative casting cost that allows you to cast the “converted” or vehicle side of the cards straight from your hand.
Take Starscream, Power Hungry as an example. Instead of having to cast the creature side and wait until a creature deals you damage to “convert” to Starscream, Seeker Leader, you can simply pay the “More than meets the eye” cost and cast the vehicle side. This is not only very true to the Transformers brand but also makes the cards very versatile.
Living Metal
The next big thing that sets these apart from other vehicles is the “living metal” mechanic. It can be seen on the vehicle side of each card. It says “As long as it’s your turn, this vehicle is also a creature.”
What this means is that the Transformer cards don’t have to be “crewed” as other vehicles do. I love that they added this – I mean, no one is piloting Optimus Prime after all and I’m glad they kept it that way. Again, not only is this super flavorful but it’s quite interesting from a gameplay perspective.
It means that your Transformer cards will still dodge sorcery speed removal. However, they don’t have the downside of having to tap other creatures to man them. Basically, they have all the upsides of traditional vehicles with none of the downsides. You can really tell that the team wanted to make these cards highly playable.
The “Shattered Glass” Versions
The significance of the Shattered Glass versions of the cards may be a bit lost on those less familiar with the Transformers franchise. Transformers: Shattered Glass was a comic series from 2008 – 2011. The series is about an alternate universe or timeline where the roles of the Autobots and Decepticons are flipped.
So, Optimus Prime (the series protagonist) is the villain in the Shattered Glass comics. While Megatron (the antagonist of the original series) fights against him. The alternate art version of the cards is such a cool way to pay homage to the shattered glass world. With that said, there have been some very recent reboots to the shattered glass portion of the franchise and if this stuff interests you, you can find more info here.
End Step
There have been a lot of crazy things going down for Magic’s 30-year anniversary set. And yet, I don’t think anyone foresaw The Brothers’ War having Transformers cards come out with it being a thing. It appears that there really was “more than meets the eye” to the set even when we’ve become accustomed to curveballs. As an avid player of MTG and someone who grew up watching the Transformers series, I personally couldn’t be more excited for their inclusion.
