There’s a time machine in MTG The Brothers’ War, and it’s also the only coloured artifact in this entire artifact-stuffed set.
Coloured artifacts are a relatively recent innovation in Magic: The Gathering, as initially all artifacts could be paid for without coloured mana. Wizards of the Coast has, for the most part, left coloured artifacts out of its latest set, The Brothers’ War, in an attempt to foster a historical, retro vibe.
As Gavin Verhey told us, there are no Vehicles in The Brothers’ War for this very reason. At the time, he mentioned there were also no coloured artifacts, but soon corrected himself – clarifying that there was one, but only one. That matches what head designer Mark Rosewater shared in his Brothers’ War teaser too.
“There’s a good reason why it’s coloured,” Verhey said. “And you’ll have to wait until we show it off for me to tell you why… Though maybe some clever folks could figure it out.”
Now that artifact has been revealed: The Temporal Anchor, the machine that Teferi uses in The Brothers’ War’s plot to look back in time to the war between bros Urza and Mishra. The good reason this artifact gets a colour identity, when all the others do not, is that it’s from the present, while the rest are from the past.
As for what the recently-spoiled card does, it’s a card draw engine built around Scry. When you scry a card to the bottom of your library, The Temporal Anchor lets you play it instead. Those cards stick around too, so it basically turns scrying into drawing.
Check out our MTG The Brothers’ War guide for the latest news and spoilers. Or look to the future with our MTG 2023 release schedule guide, or the past – with this timeline of every MTG set in the game’s history.