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The Brothers' War Instant-Speed Tricks

by Sameer Merchant // Nov 9, 2022

This is a list of all the instant-speed tricks in The Brothers' War. Each color is sorted by converted mana cost.

There are three cheap instant-speed tricks that protect a creature: Loran's Escape for W, Ashnod's Intervention for B, and Gaea's Gift for 1G. In addition, green also has Giant Growth for G, and blue players can return their own creatures to their hand using Machine Over Matter for U/1U or Zephyr Sentinel for 1U. All but Zephyr Sentinel are commons. This is likely to reduce the effectiveness of removal in Limited formats, especially draft.
There are two cheap pump spells that give a creature first strike: Military Discipline for W and Whirling Strike for 1R. They are both commons so you should keep them in mind during combat.
There are only six cards in the set that produce creatures at instant speed without having to already be in play. Half of them are in blue, and the non-blue cards only produce 1/1's or 1/2's, so you don't have to worry much about non-blue opponents having surprise blockers.

Color	Mana Cost	Card	Type	Oracle Text	Notes
Colorless		Goblin Firebomb	Artifact	Flash {7}, {T}, Sacrifice Goblin Firebomb: Destroy target permanent.
		Supply Drop	Artifact	Flash When Supply Drop enters the battlefield, target creature you control gets +2/+2 until end of turn. {4}, {T}, Sacrifice Supply Drop: Draw a card.
		Liberator, Urza's Battlethopter	Artifact Creature	Flash Flying You may cast colorless spells and artifact spells as though they had flash. Whenever you cast a spell, if the amount of mana spent to cast that spell is greater than Liberator, Urza's Battlethopter's power, put a +1/+1 counter on Liberator.	1/2
White		Loran's Escape	Instant	Target artifact or creature gains hexproof and indestructible until end of turn. Scry 1.
		Military Discipline	Enchantment	Flash Enchant creature When Military Discipline enters the battlefield, enchanted creature gains first strike until end of turn. Enchanted creature gets +1/+0.
		Ambush Paratrooper	Creature	Flash Flying {5}: Creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn.	1/2
		Deadly Riposte	Instant	Deadly Riposte deals 3 damage to target tapped creature and you gain 2 life.
		Disenchant	Instant	Destroy target artifact or enchantment.
		Calamity's Wake	Instant	Exile all graveyards. Players can't cast noncreature spells this turn. Exile Calamity's Wake.
		Soul Partition	Instant	Exile target nonland permanent. For as long as that card remains exiled, its owner may play it. A spell cast by an opponent this way costs {2} more to cast.
		Union of the Third Path	Instant	Draw a card, then you gain life equal to the number of cards in your hand.
Blue	/	Machine Over Matter	Instant	This spell costs {1} less to cast if you control an artifact creature. Return target nonland permanent to its owner's hand.
		Curate	Instant	Surveil 2. (Look at the top two cards of your library, then put any number of them into your graveyard and the rest on top of your library in any order.) Draw a card.
		Scatter Ray	Instant	Counter target artifact or creature spell unless its controller pays {4}.
		Defabricate	Instant	Choose one — • Counter target artifact or enchantment spell. If a spell is countered this way, exile it instead of putting it into its owner's graveyard. • Counter target activated or triggered ability.
		Zephyr Sentinel	Creature	Flash Flying When Zephyr Sentinel enters the battlefield, return up to one other target creature you control to its owner's hand. If it was a Soldier, put a +1/+1 counter on Zephyr Sentinel.	2/1
		Stern Lesson	Instant	Draw two cards, then discard a card. Create a tapped Powerstone token. (It's an artifact with "{T}: Add {C}. This mana can't be spent to cast a nonartifact spell.")
		Urza's Rebuff	Instant	Choose one — • Counter target spell. • Tap up to two target creatures.
		Urza's Command	Instant	Choose two — • Creatures you don't control get -2/-0 until end of turn. • Create a tapped Powerstone token. • Create a tapped 0/0 colorless Construct artifact creature token with "This creature gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control." • Scry 1, then draw a card.	X/X
		Desynchronize	Instant	Target nonland permanent's owner puts it on the top or bottom of their library. Scry 2.
		Koilos Roc	Creature	Flash Flying When Koilos Roc enters the battlefield, create a tapped Powerstone token. (It's an artifact with "{T}: Add {C}. This mana can't be spent to cast a nonartifact spell.")	3/3
		Flow of Knowledge	Instant	Draw a card for each Island you control, then discard two cards.
		Hurkyl's Final Meditation	Instant	As long as it's not your turn, this spell costs {3} more to cast. Return all nonland permanents to their owner's hands. End the turn. (Exile all spells and abilities from the stack, including this card. The player whose turn it is discards down to their maximum hand size. Damage wears off, and "this turn" and "until end of turn" effects end.)
Black		Ashnod's Intervention	Instant	Until end of turn, target creature gets +2/+0 and gains "When this creature dies or is put into exile from the battlefield, return it to its owner's hand."
		Disfigure	Instant	Target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
	-	Overwhelming Remorse	Instant	This spell costs {1} less to cast for each creature card in your graveyard. Exile target creature or planeswalker.
		Go for the Throat	Instant	Destroy target nonartifact creature.
		Moment of Defiance	Instant	Target creature gets +2/+1 and gains lifelink until end of turn. Draw a card.
		Hostile Negotiations	Instant	Exile the top three cards of your library in a face-down pile, then exile the next top three cards of your library in another face-down pile. Look at the cards in each pile, then turn a pile of your choice face up. An opponent chooses one of those piles. Put all cards in the chosen pile into your hand and the rest into your graveyard. You lose 3 life.
Red		Whirling Strike	Instant	Target creature gets +2/+0 and gains first strike and trample until end of turn.
		Mishra's Onslaught	Instant	Choose one — • Create two 1/1 colorless Soldier artifact creature tokens. • Creatures you control get +2/+0 until end of turn.	Two 1/1s
		Pyrrhic Blast	Instant	As an additional cost to cast this spell, sacrifice a creature. Pyrrhic Blast deals damage equal to the sacrificed creature's power to any target. Draw a card.
		Unleash Shell	Instant	Unleash Shell deals 5 damage to target creature or planeswalker and 2 damage to that permanent's controller.
Green		Giant Growth	Instant	Target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn.
		Gaea's Gift	Instant	Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control. It gains reach, trample, hexproof, and indestructible until end of turn. (It can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control. Damage and effects that say "destroy" don't destroy it.)
		Fog of War	Instant	You gain 1 life for each creature on the battlefield. Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt this turn by creatures with power 3 or less.
		Wasteful Harvest	Instant	Mill five cards. You may put a permanent card from among the cards milled this way into your hand. (To mill a card, put the top card of your library into your graveyard.)
		Tawnos's Tinkering	Instant	Put two +1/+1 counters on target artifact, creature, or land you control. Untap that permanent. If it isn't a creature, it becomes a 0/0 creature in addition to its other types.	2/2