Mishra

Mishra was the brother of Urza. A cruel and ruthless Argivian artificer, he had the same humble origins as his brother, eventually coming to control the western half of Terisiare (i.e. Zegon). Mishra was able to confederate various Fallaji tribes of the Western Desert under his command. Eventually, he and Urza fought a long and bloody war that came to be known as the Brothers' War. Unlike his brother, he did not become a planeswalker.Jeff Grubb (1998). The Brothers' War. Wizards of the Coast.
==History==
===Early Years===
Mishra was born on the last day of the year 0 AR (Or 912 PF) to one of the noble families of Argive, one of the three coastal kingdoms of Terisiare. His older brother Urza was born on the first day of the same year.
Several years after the brothers' birth, their mother died. Afterward, their father married another member of the aristocracy, a woman who ignored the boys at best and showed them contempt at worst. In 10 AR, their father fell ill, and he arranged for them to travel to the excavation sites of Tocasia, to whom he had done a favor some years earlier. They were apprenticed to her, and unlike other children sent to her camps, they remained with her. Their father later died, leaving the boys orphaned.Jay Annelli (2022). Magic: The Gathering - The Visual Guide, DK. ISBN-13 978-0744061055.
===Apprenticeship to Tocasia===
Tocasia's camp was located in the desert, and was populated by the more modern desert tribesmen, called the Fallaji, and by young nobles who were sent there by their parents. Over the years, Mishra grew to be the polar opposite of his brother, for his brother was cold and favored the artifacts they excavated. Mishra instead enjoyed interacting with the people at the dig sites and participated in almost all of the digs, eventually overseeing all of the digging done at Tocasia's camp. 
While studying the Thran, an ancient race whose machines were the main reason for Tocasia's camp, Urza discovered that all of the sites where large amounts of Thran devices were found seemed to circle a central point. Tocasia, Urza, and Mishra flew to this place in an ornithopter, a Thran flying machine found by Mishra and his brother. Once there they found a large Thran city, which Urza named Koilos, the Argivian word for "secret". They landed and wandered among the ruins of the city, and when they finally got to the center of the city they found a great machine powered by a Thran powerstone. While inspecting the machine there was an explosion; when they awoke from the aftermath each brother was holding one-half of the great stone in his hand.
After the explosion, each brother became increasingly hostile toward the other. The stones seemed to have odd effects on both living and nonliving things. Urza's stone, which he named the Mightstone, seemed to make things stronger than normally possible, while Mishra's stone sapped the strength from both artifacts and living creatures. Urza named this the Weakstone. Another effect the visit to Koilos had was that Mishra had disturbing dreams about darkness, trying to lure him somewhere.
One night, an inebriated Mishra went to confront Urza and tried to take the stone from him. The fight was heard around the camp, and when Tocasia tried to stop the brothers she was caught between the powers surging from the two stones and died. This was the Brotherhood's End. Mishra, ashamed of what he had caused, fled into the desert amid the confusion that followed.
===Serving the Qadirs===
Mishra traveled through the desert, lured to Koilos by the darkness in his dreams. Before he could reach it, he was captured by the Suwwardi, a militant faction of the Fallaji, who enslaved him and took his Weakstone. As a rakiq (slave), he was forced to do all sorts of menial tasks until he was discovered by Hajar, a young Fallaji who had befriended Mishra at Tocasia's camp. Hajar convinced the Qadir (the all-powerful), leader of the Suwwardi, to set Mishra as tutor to his young son, teaching him the language of Argive, though he remained rakiq. Mishra's lot improved for a few years, but the Qadir began to worry about his son. In Fallaji culture, it was seen as a weakness to rely on others, so the Qadir began to consider having Mishra killed so his son would not rely on him.
That plan never developed, for one night, Mishra had another disturbing dream, of a mechanical parody of nature. He awoke screaming but had no time to dwell on his dream, for a giant mechanical beast in the shape of a dragon appeared from under the sands and started rampaging, slaying the Qadir and many others. Mishra and Hajar used this confusion to retrieve the Weakstone from the Qadir's corpse, hoping that Mishra could weaken the mak fawa, but to everyone's surprise, Mishra found he could directly control the dragon instead.
The Qadir's son became the new Qadir and promoted Mishra from rakiq to raki, or Wizard. The two set about using the dragon engine, or Mak Fawa, to unify the Fallaji people under the Suwwardi. Soon after this campaign of reunification began, Mishra encountered Ashnod, who apprenticed herself to him after he was impressed by her invention, the Staff of Zegon. Mishra eventually built a foundry from the trunk of a massive fallen tree in the Kher Ridges.
In the wake of the failed Peace Summit at Korlinda and Mishra's acquisition of several new dragon engines, Mishra proposed a second summit, the Peace Talks at Kroog. Amid these negotiations, he convinced Kayla to sleep with him and steal Urza's Mightstone. After Urza discovered them and reclaimed his stone, Mishra fled the summit. Urza spent the next few months attempting to hunt Mishra down, but Mishra had planned for this — Urza's absence left Yotia undefended, allowing Mishra to launch an all-out attack on its capital, Kroog. During the Fall of Kroog, Ashnod killed the Qadir, leading to Mishra succeeding him as leader of the Fallaji. After this battle, Mishra became known among the Yotians as the "Butcher of Kroog".
===Pawn of Gix===
Around 36 AR, the Phyrexian demon Gix was summoned by the Brotherhood of Gix to Mishra's Fortress. In an attempt to murder Mishra and steal the Weakstone, Gix learned that the stone defended both itself and its master, pushing the demon away and burning his hand. This forced Gix to change his plans, seeking instead to corrupt Mishra and bring him over to the side of Phyrexia.
Though they largely had to work from the shadows within Urza's domain, the Brotherhood of Gix was openly accepted within Mishra's, and formed the bulk of his artificer forces, subsuming Mishra's attempts at discovering and educating promising artificers. They also created a wedge in the relationship that was already shaky between Mishra and Ashnod, and before too long, they became Mishra's council. The Brotherhood was instrumental in banising Ashnod from Mishra's court, and for the Fall of Terisia City, leading to a victory for Mishra, as the priests opened the gates for his army after months of siege.
Around 55 AR, Mishra's body had started to weaken with a lung disease that left him continually coughing up slime. The Brotherhood, known for the body modifications and replacing whole limbs and organs with mechanical versions, introduced Mishra to their practices, and he listened attentively, going so far as dismissing loyal Hajar from the room to speak with the priests privately.
It is unknown exactly when, but at some point after this, Mishra was turned over to Gix and Compleated. Based on hints of Ashnod's last talk with Tawnos, it was likely before he arrived on Argoth, the island he and Urza were fighting over in the last part of the war.
===Final Punishment===
In the Battle at Argoth, Urza revealed Mishra to be a construct of flesh and Phyrexian metal. When Mishra completely abandoned his humanity to attack his brother, Urza released an enormous burst of power that destroyed both Mishra and the sentient forest they were fighting over.
 
During the events of Apocalypse, Urza, mesmerized by the sights of Phyrexia, abandoned his fight and descended deep into the core of the world of glistening oil to bow before Yawgmoth. On his way, he met the body of Mishra deep in the Center of Phyrexia, wrecked with fresh pain and torments day in, and day out, asking his brother to help him out. However, as the entirety of Phyrexia is the direct product of Yawgmoth, and adding to that the somewhat unstable state of Urza's mind at the moment (or rather one could say it was never stable, especially about his brother's demise), we can not be sure if it was Mishra, who somehow survived the Sylex Blast; an apparition presented by Yawgmoth to further stress and confuse the great planeswalker; or merely Urza's hallucination.
===Simulacrum===
In 4562 AR, Jodah opened the Starfield Orb left by Urza. This orb contained a pocket dimension of the cabin Urza had stayed in on Gulmany. It contained numerous plans of Urza's, a myriad of copies of The Antiquities War, and constructs of Mishra and Xantcha, who greeted Jodah.
==Story appearances==
Title 	Author 	Publishing date 	Set 	Setting (plane) 	Featuring
Antiquities War 	Kathy Ice 	May 1994 	Antiquities 	Dominaria 	Ildria Caldos, Farsa Tashiir, Urza, Mishra, Tocasia, Tawnos, Qadir, Ashnod, Drafna, Hurkyl
Antiquities War #1-4 	Jerry Prosser 	Nov 1995 - Feb 1996	Antiquities 	Dominaria 	Tocasia, Urza, Mishra, Warlord of Kroog, Kayla bin-Kroog, Rusko, Tawnos, Ashnod
Song of Time 	Teri McLaren 	June 1996 	Antiquities 	Dominaria 	Samor, Porros, Caelus Nin, Mishra, Beast of the Hours, Lesta, Aswi, Praden, Claria, Urza, Sh'Daran, Charga, Cheyne, Thedeso, Javin, Muni, Rij, Hadi, Zu (mentioned), Kalkuk, Riolla Hifrata, Maceo, Doulos, Ogwater Rifkin, Vinzo, Saelin, Drufalden, Kifran, Vashki, Kirmah (mentioned), Claria, Yob, Bandro (mentioned), Shalikre (mentioned), Rotapan, Womba, Naruq, Gahzi, Rafek, Krota, Chelydrus, Glom, Puffer, Wiggulf, Rasper, Clutch, Sawsa, Frijan, Dunsan, Jepli, Carsh, Q'Tarin, Salmak, Silufe, Luquin
Urza–Mishra War #1-2 	Jerry Prosser 	Sep - Oct 1996 	Antiquities 	Dominaria 	Kayla bin-Kroog, Urza, Tawnos, Mishra, Harbin, Jarsyl (mentioned), Ashnod, The Archimandrite, Balthus, Hurkyl, Chayum-Icha, Kathwar
Dominian Chronicles* 	Pete Venters, Kij Johnson & Scott Hungerford	April 1997 	Fifth Edition 	Dominaria, Rabiah, Phyrexia 	Urza, Mishra, Teeka, Kaervek
(Dominian) Continuity FAQ, part 1 	Pete Venters & Scott Hungerford 	October 1997 	Weatherlight 	Dominaria 	Urza, Mishra
The Brothers' War 	Jeff Grubb 	May 1998 	Antiquities 	Dominaria 	Urza, Mishra, Tawnos, Ashnod, Tocasia, Loran, Bly, Ahmahl, Richlau, Havack, Rahud, Hajar, Kantar, Kayla bin-Kroog, Rusko, Warlord of Kroog, Maurik, Gix, Sharaman, Rendall, Sanwell, Harbin, Jarin, Feldon, the Archimandrite, Drafna, Hurkyl, Martyrs of Korlis, Gwenna, Melana, Doril, Thaxus, Titania, Jarsyl
From the Ground Up & Postcards From Urza	Scott McGough 	December 1998 	Urza's Saga 	Dominaria, Phyrexia, Serra's Realm	Urza, Mishra, Titania, Xantcha, Serra
Inside Dominaria 	Daneen McDermott & Scott McGough 	June 1999 	Urza's Legacy 	Dominaria 	Teferi, Jhoira, Ertai, Barrin, Rayne, Tocasia, Urza, Mishra, Sisay, Hanna
Planeshift 	J. Robert King 	February 2001 	Planeshift 	Rath, Dominaria, Phyrexia 	Urza, Taysir, Freyalise, Tevesh Szat, Windgrace, Guff, Bo Levar, Daria, Kristina of the Woods, Crovax, Tsabo Tavoc, Eladamri, Lin Sivvi, Astor, Darigaaz, Agnate, Dralnu, Tahngarth, Grizzlegom, Greven il-Vec, Sisay, Ertai, Gerrard, Squee, Yawgmoth, Hanna, Rith, Dromar, Treva, Crosis, Karn, Mishra, Nemata
 	Miguel Lopez 	2022-10-21 	The Brothers' War	Dominaria 	Sanwell, Llora, Rica, Rendall (mentioned), Tawnos, Carlo, Markos, Mishra, Traxos, Aiman, Teferi
==Artifacts acquired==
*The Weakstone powerstone.
*The 
==Trivia==
*In early sources, Urza and Mishra were described as twin brothers.
*In an alternate reality, Urza and Mishra were elementalists rather than artificers.
==Gallery==
File:Stern Lesson.jpg|Tocasia was the brothers' first mentor, teaching them about Thran artifacts.
File:Mishra, Artificer Prodigy.jpg|Young Mishra.
File:Mishra and Ashnod.jpg|Mishra and Ashnod use a portal to Phyrexia he opened in the Caves of Koilos.
File:Mishra lg.jpg
File:Mishra comic.jpg|Mishra with the Weakstone during the Antiquities War.
File:Epic Confrontation Lucas Graciano.jpg|The brothers' final confrontation took place on Argoth.
File:Endoskeleton.jpg|Mishra "improves" his body with Phyrexian technology.
File:Painful Quandary.jpg|"In Mishra’s desperation to destroy his brother, he allowed Gix to destroy him instead."
File:Mishra art.jpg|Mishra during the Brothers' War.
File:Retaliation.jpg|The brothers Urza and Mishra battle during the event known as Brothers' War.
File:Mishra Automaton MTGA avatar BRO.png|Artifact Soldier of Mishra's design, used during the Brothers' War.
File:Urza's Guilt.jpg|Urza finds the body of his brother Mishra in Phyrexia.
File:MishraBattlegrounds.png|Mishra in Battlegrounds.
File:Mishra MTGA avatar BRO.png|Magic: The Gathering Arena avatar.
File:MishraConceptJehanChoo.png|Concept art of Mishra from The Brothers' War
==In-game references==
: Scryfall does not record flavor text for digital cards. See Alchemy: The Brothers' War/Flavor text
==References==
Category:Humans
Category:Phyrexians
Category:Artificers
Category:Nobles
Category:Deceased