Transformers Magic: The Gathering - Complete Guide to the Crossover Set

Set Overview: The Brothers' War Meets the Robots in Disguise

Release Details and Product Information

Where they came from (per Wizards' What's Inside The Brothers' War Boosters):

• Draft Boosters: none
• Set Boosters: a Transformers card in 10% of packs, foil or non-foil
• Collector Boosters: one Transformers card in every pack. It's foil in 21% of packs, Shattered Glass in 12%, and both in less than 1%

Format Legality and Competitive Context

Format	Legal?
Standard	❌ No
Pioneer	❌ No
Modern	❌ No
Pauper	❌ No
Commander (EDH)	✅ Yes
Legacy	✅ Yes
Vintage	✅ Yes
Duel Commander	✅ Yes
Oathbreaker	✅ Yes

Universes Beyond and the Crossover Initiative

The Transformers cards are part of Universes Beyond, Wizards' line of cards based on other franchises. They're normal black-bordered Magic cards, not joke cards, and they follow the normal rules.

The Complete Transformers Roster: 15 Iconic Characters

Every Transformers card has a legendary artifact creature (a Robot) on its front face. Thirteen have a legendary artifact Vehicle with living metal on the back. Two are different: Blaster and Soundwave flip into plain legendary artifacts that aren't Vehicles and never become creatures. All text below is from the cards' Oracle text on Scryfall.

Autobots

Optimus Prime, Hero // Optimus Prime, Autobot Leader ({3}{U}{R}{W}, Jeskai)

• Front: 4/8. At the beginning of each end step (yours and your opponents'), bolster 1. When Optimus Prime dies, it returns to the battlefield converted.
• Back: 6/8 Vehicle with living metal and trample. Whenever you attack, bolster 2 and the chosen creature gains trample. When that creature deals combat damage to a player, Optimus converts back.
• More Than Meets the Eye: {2}{U}{R}{W}
• Deck strategy: +1/+1 counters and going wide. Bolster always hits your creature with the lowest toughness, so it spreads counters around.

Ultra Magnus, Tactician // Ultra Magnus, Armored Carrier ({4}{R}{G}{W}, Naya)

• Front: 7/7 with ward {2}. Whenever it attacks, you may put an artifact creature card from your hand onto the battlefield tapped and attacking. If you do, it converts at end of combat.
• Back: 4/7 Vehicle with living metal and haste. Whenever it attacks, your attacking creatures gain indestructible until end of turn. If their total power is 8 or more, it converts.
• More Than Meets the Eye: {2}{R}{G}{W}
• Deck strategy: Big artifact creatures you'd rather cheat in than cast.

Jetfire, Ingenious Scientist // Jetfire, Air Guardian ({4}{U}, mono-blue)

• Front: 3/4 flier. Remove one or more +1/+1 counters from among artifacts you control: target player adds that much colourless mana, which can only be spent on artifact spells. Then Jetfire converts.
• Back: 3/4 flying Vehicle with living metal. {U}{U}{U}: convert Jetfire, then adapt 3.
• More Than Meets the Eye: {3}{U}
• Deck strategy: Artifacts with +1/+1 counters, such as modular creatures. The back face makes its own counters, which the front face then turns into mana.

Ratchet, Field Medic // Ratchet, Rescue Racer ({2}{W}, mono-white)

• Front: 2/4 with lifelink. Whenever you gain life, you may convert it. When you do, return an artifact card with mana value up to the life you gained this turn from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped.
• Back: 1/4 Vehicle with living metal and lifelink. Whenever one or more nontoken artifacts you control go to the graveyard from the battlefield, it converts (once each turn).
• More Than Meets the Eye: {1}{W}
• Deck strategy: Life gain plus artifact recursion.

Arcee, Sharpshooter // Arcee, Acrobatic Coupe ({1}{R}{W}, Boros)

• Front: 2/2 first strike. {1}, remove one or more +1/+1 counters from Arcee: it deals that much damage to target creature, then converts.
• Back: 2/2 Vehicle with living metal. Whenever you cast a spell that targets one or more creatures or Vehicles you control, put that many +1/+1 counters on Arcee, then it converts.
• More Than Meets the Eye: {R}{W}
• Deck strategy: Boros combat tricks and equipment-style spells that target your own creatures.

Prowl, Stoic Strategist // Prowl, Pursuit Vehicle ({3}{W}, mono-white)

• Front: 3/3. Whenever it attacks, exile up to one other target tapped creature or Vehicle. Its owner may play it for as long as it stays exiled. When a player plays a card exiled with Prowl, you draw a card and Prowl converts.
• Back: 2/3 Vehicle with living metal. Whenever another creature or Vehicle you control enters, put a +1/+1 counter on Prowl. The second time this resolves in a turn, it converts.
• More Than Meets the Eye: {2}{W}
• Deck strategy: Tempo. It removes a tapped blocker or attacker until its owner spends the mana to recast it.

Goldbug, Humanity's Ally // Goldbug, Scrappy Scout ({1}{W}{U}, Azorius)

• Front: 3/3. Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt to attacking Humans you control. Whenever you cast your second spell each turn, it converts.
• Back: 1/3 Vehicle with living metal. Human spells you control can't be countered. Whenever Goldbug and at least one Human attack, draw a card and convert Goldbug.
• More Than Meets the Eye: {W}{U}
• Deck strategy: Azorius Humans.

Decepticons

Megatron, Tyrant // Megatron, Destructive Force ({3}{R}{W}{B}, Mardu)

• Front: 7/5. Your opponents can't cast spells during combat. At the beginning of each of your postcombat main phases, you may convert Megatron. If you do, add {C} for each 1 life your opponents have lost this turn.
• Back: 4/5 Vehicle with living metal. Whenever it attacks, you may sacrifice another artifact. Megatron deals damage equal to that artifact's mana value to target creature. Excess damage goes to that creature's controller instead, and Megatron converts.
• More Than Meets the Eye: {1}{R}{W}{B}
• Deck strategy: Artifact sacrifice with high mana value artifacts. Treasures and other tokens have mana value 0, so they deal no damage.

Soundwave, Sonic Spy // Soundwave, Superior Captain ({1}{W}{U}{B}, Esper)

• Front: 5/4. Whenever one or more creature tokens you control deal combat damage to a player, exile an instant or sorcery card with mana value equal to that damage from that player's graveyard. Copy it, and you may cast the copy for free. If you do, Soundwave converts.
• Back: A legendary artifact (not a Vehicle, no power or toughness). Whenever you cast a spell with an odd mana value, convert it and create Ravage, a legendary 3/3 black Robot with menace and deathtouch. With an even mana value, convert it and create Laserbeak, a legendary 2/2 blue Robot with flying and hexproof.
• More Than Meets the Eye: {2}{W}{U}{B}
• Deck strategy: Tokens and spells. The back makes the tokens, the front rewards them for connecting.

Starscream, Power Hungry // Starscream, Seeker Leader ({3}{B}, mono-black)

• Front: 2/3 flier. Whenever you draw a card while you're the monarch, target opponent loses 2 life. Whenever one or more creatures deal combat damage to you, it converts.
• Back: 2/3 Vehicle with living metal, flying, menace and haste. Whenever it deals combat damage to a player and there's no monarch, that player becomes the monarch. Whenever you become the monarch, it converts.
• More Than Meets the Eye: {2}{B}
• Deck strategy: Monarch politics. You hand the crown to an opponent, then try to take it back.

Cyclonus, the Saboteur // Cyclonus, Cybertronian Fighter ({2}{U}{B}, Dimir)

• Front: 2/5 flier. Whenever it deals combat damage to a player, it connives. Then if its power is 5 or more, it converts.
• Back: 5/5 flying Vehicle with living metal. Whenever it deals combat damage to a player, it converts, and if it does, there's an additional beginning phase after combat. That's an extra untap step, upkeep and draw step, not an extra turn or an extra combat.
• More Than Meets the Eye: {5}{U}{B}
• Deck strategy: Card draw and upkeep triggers. The extra untap step also untaps your lands for your second main phase.

Blitzwing, Cruel Tormentor // Blitzwing, Adaptive Assailant ({5}{B}, mono-black)

• Front: 6/5. At the beginning of your end step, target opponent loses life equal to the life they already lost this turn. If no life is lost this way, it converts.
• Back: 3/5 Vehicle with living metal. At the beginning of combat on your turn, it gains flying or indestructible at random until end of turn. Whenever it deals combat damage to a player, it converts.
• More Than Meets the Eye: {3}{B}
• Deck strategy: Doubling the life loss of a big turn.

Flamewar, Brash Veteran // Flamewar, Streetwise Operative ({1}{B}{R}, Rakdos)

• Front: 3/2. Sacrifice another artifact: put a +1/+1 counter on Flamewar and convert it (sorcery speed only). {1}, discard your hand: put all exiled cards you own with intel counters into your hand.
• Back: 2/1 Vehicle with living metal, menace and deathtouch. Whenever it deals combat damage to a player, exile that many cards from the top of your library face down with intel counters, then convert it.
• More Than Meets the Eye: {B}{R}
• Deck strategy: Rakdos artifacts. The back face banks cards that the front face later cashes in.

Slicer, Hired Muscle // Slicer, High-Speed Antagonist ({4}{R}, mono-red)

• Front: 3/4 with double strike and haste. At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, you may let that player control Slicer until end of turn. If you do, it untaps, is goaded and can't be sacrificed that turn. If you don't, it converts.
• Back: 3/2 Vehicle with living metal, first strike and haste. Whenever it deals combat damage to a player, it converts at end of combat.
• More Than Meets the Eye: {2}{R}
• Deck strategy: Goad and political red decks. It's the second most expensive regular copy, about $7.23 on Scryfall in October 2026.

Blaster, Combat DJ // Blaster, Morale Booster ({3}{R}{G}, Gruul)

• Front: 3/3. Other nontoken artifact creatures and Vehicles you control have modular 1. Whenever you put one or more +1/+1 counters on Blaster, it converts.
• Back: A legendary artifact (not a Vehicle) with modular 3. {X}, {T}: move X +1/+1 counters from Blaster onto another target artifact, which gains haste. If Blaster has no counters left, it converts. Sorcery speed only.
• More Than Meets the Eye: {1}{R}{G}
• Deck strategy: Gruul artifact creatures and +1/+1 counters.

Unique Mechanics: How Transformers Work in Magic

More Than Meets the Eye: The Alternate Casting Cost

Convert: The Double-Faced Card Transform

The keyword action convert means turning a permanent to its other face. Under rule 701.28a it follows the same rules as transform.

Key Rules:

• Converting isn't entering the battlefield, so enter-the-battlefield abilities don't trigger again.
• Counters stay on it, and it stays tapped or untapped.
• Equipment and creature Auras fall off if it becomes a noncreature: on an opponent's turn for a living metal Vehicle, or at any time for Blaster's and Soundwave's back faces.
• Each card has its own convert trigger, printed on each face.

For example, Optimus Prime's back face converts when the creature it bolstered deals combat damage to a player. Ratchet's back face converts when one or more of your nontoken artifacts go to the graveyard from the battlefield.

Living Metal: Vehicles That Act as Creatures

Thirteen of the back faces are Vehicles with living metal: "During your turn, this Vehicle is also a creature."

The Absence of Crew

None of the Transformers Vehicles have a crew cost. Living metal replaces it.

The Shattered Glass Variants: Collecting and Value

What Are Shattered Glass Cards?

There are 14 Shattered Glass variants, one for every Transformers character except Arcee. Goldbug does have one. Per Wizards, they're only in Collector Boosters, and roughly 12% of Collector Boosters contain one. With 12 packs per box, that works out to about one or two per box on average.

Shattered Glass is an alternate Transformers universe where, in Wizards' words, "heroic Decepticons battle evil Autobots." The cards have the same rules text as the regular versions, with new art.

Collector Prices in October 2026

Scryfall prices on 8 October 2026:

Card	Regular non-foil	Shattered Glass non-foil	Shattered Glass foil
Optimus Prime, Hero	$8.44	$89.29	$461.45
Starscream, Power Hungry	$3.93	$23.97	$469.99
Slicer, Hired Muscle	$7.23	$33.51	$381.50
Megatron, Tyrant	$1.83	$22.79	$351.47
Blaster, Combat DJ	$0.83	$7.19	$213.04
Prowl, Stoic Strategist	$1.44	$8.01	$78.08

Shattered Glass foils are by far the most expensive versions, which fits with being foil and Shattered Glass at once in less than 1% of Collector Boosters.

Collecting Strategy

If you want to collect the full set:

• Budget approach: All 15 regular non-foils came to about $37 on Scryfall in October 2026.
• Mid-range: Add Shattered Glass non-foils. Most were $7-$34, with Optimus Prime the outlier at about $89.
• Completionist: The 14 Shattered Glass foils ran from about $78 (Prowl) to about $470 (Starscream).

Most players just buy the characters they want to build around.

Deck Building: Strategies and Archetypes

Top Transformers Commanders

Every Transformers card is legendary, so all 15 can be commanders. Colour identity covers both faces, and the multicoloured ones set the deck's colours. These are the four most distinctive builds.

Commander Deck Frameworks

Optimus Prime Bolster Deck (Jeskai)

Commander: Optimus Prime, Hero

Core Strategy: Spread +1/+1 counters. Optimus bolsters at every end step, so it adds a counter during each opponent's turn too. When you attack with the vehicle side, it bolsters 2 and gives that creature trample.

Key Support Cards:

• Cathars' Crusade - Whenever a creature you control enters, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control
• The Ozolith - Keeps the counters from creatures that leave the battlefield and moves them onto a creature at the start of your combat
• Collective Effort - Escalate sorcery that can put a +1/+1 counter on each creature a player controls
• Felidar Retreat - Landfall: make a 2/2 Cat Beast or put a counter on each of your creatures
• Hero of Bladehold - Makes two attacking Soldier tokens each attack, which bolster can then pick

Mana Base: Three colours is manageable. Use:

• Raugrin Triome and Mystic Monastery
• Talisman of Conviction, Talisman of Creativity and Talisman of Progress
• Arcane Signet and Sol Ring

Megatron Sacrifice Deck (Mardu)

Commander: Megatron, Tyrant

Core Strategy: Megatron's back face sacrifices an artifact when it attacks and deals damage equal to that artifact's mana value. Big artifacts that leave something behind work best.

Key Support Cards:

• Wurmcoil Engine - Mana value 6, and it leaves two 3/3 Wurm tokens when it dies
• Myr Battlesphere - Mana value 7, with four Myr tokens left over after you sacrifice it
• Solemn Simulacrum - Mana value 4, ramps when it enters and draws a card when it dies
• Goblin Welder - Swaps an artifact on the battlefield for one in your graveyard
• Sun Titan - Returns permanents with mana value 3 or less from your graveyard when it enters or attacks
• Ashnod's Altar - Turns spare artifact creatures into mana

Note: Treasure, Clue and other tokens have mana value 0, so they're poor fodder for Megatron's attack trigger.

Cyclonus Draw Deck (Blue/Black)

Commander: Cyclonus, the Saboteur

Core Strategy: Hit with the 2/5 flier to connive. Once a counter or two pushes its power to 5, it converts. The 5/5 vehicle side then gives you an extra untap, upkeep and draw step whenever it connects, and flips back.

Key Support Cards:

• Phyrexian Arena - Its upkeep trigger fires again in the extra beginning phase
• Sword of Feast and Famine - Pumps Cyclonus toward 5 power and untaps your lands
• Rhystic Study - More cards to discard when Cyclonus connives
• Dimir Signet and Arcane Signet - Fixing that the extra untap step untaps again

Human Tribal with Goldbug (Azorius)

Commander: Goldbug, Humanity's Ally

Core Strategy: Attack with Humans. The front face prevents combat damage to your attacking Humans. The back face makes your Human spells uncounterable and draws a card when Goldbug attacks with a Human.

Key Support Cards:

• Thalia, Guardian of Thraben - Legendary Human with first strike that taxes noncreature spells
• Meddling Mage - Human that names a card so it can't be cast
• Cathar Commando - Flash Human that sacrifices to destroy an artifact or enchantment
• Intrepid Adversary - Human that pumps all your creatures for each valor counter

Artifact Synergy and Vehicle Support

Every Transformers card is an artifact on both faces. Useful support, by colour:

Artifact Synergies:

• Sram, Senior Edificer (white) - Draws a card whenever you cast a Vehicle spell, which includes a white Transformer like Prowl or Ratchet cast with More Than Meets the Eye
• Emry, Lurker of the Loch (blue) - Lets you cast an artifact card from your graveyard each turn
• Inspiring Statuary (colourless) - Your artifacts help pay for nonartifact spells
• One with the Machine (blue) - Draws cards equal to the highest mana value among your artifacts

Vehicle Support:

• Astor, Bearer of Blades (Boros) - Finds an Equipment or Vehicle when it enters and makes equipping cheaper

+1/+1 Counter Synergies:

• Doubling Season (green) - Doubles counters and tokens
• Hardened Scales (green) - One extra +1/+1 counter each time
• The Ozolith (colourless) - Saves counters when creatures leave

Check colour identity before you add any of these: Doubling Season and Hardened Scales only fit Ultra Magnus and Blaster.

Building on a Budget

Most of the Transformers themselves are cheap. In October 2026 Optimus Prime, Hero was about $8.44 and Slicer about $7.23 on Scryfall, and the other 13 regular copies were under $4 each. What a deck costs depends mostly on the mana base and staples you add.

Competitive Analysis: Power Level and Tournament Viability

Format Playability Assessment

• Commander: Where they see play. They're casual to mid-power commanders.
• Legacy and Vintage: Legal but not played. Those formats have stronger options.
• Casual/Kitchen Table: A good fit. The flipping is fun to play with.

Power Level: Our Take

This is our opinion, not a measured ranking:

• Stronger: Megatron (shuts off combat tricks and removes blockers), Optimus Prime (hard to remove for good, spreads counters), Cyclonus (cheap flier that draws cards)
• Solid: Soundwave, Ultra Magnus, Starscream, Slicer
• Niche: Goldbug, Ratchet, Prowl, Flamewar, Blaster, Arcee, Jetfire, Blitzwing

Art, Design, and Collectibility

Artwork and Visual Design

On Scryfall, the regular versions are credited to Volta Creation, with the robot on the front face and the vehicle on the back.

Versions:

• Regular: in Set and Collector Boosters, foil or non-foil
• Shattered Glass: alternate art from the Shattered Glass universe, Collector Boosters only, foil or non-foil

Flavor and Thematic Accuracy

The mechanics match the characters fairly well:

• Optimus Prime builds up his whole team with bolster
• Megatron stops opponents fighting back during combat
• Soundwave releases Ravage and Laserbeak, his cassette minions
• Starscream gives away the crown, then schemes to take it back

Collectibility Factor

What makes them collectible:

• Shattered Glass rarity: about 12% of Collector Boosters, foil in less than 1%
• Two fanbases: Magic players and Transformers collectors
• No reprints so far: The Brothers' War boosters are the only source as of October 2026

Current Market Status (October 2026)

Pricing

Regular versions (Scryfall, 8 October 2026):

• Non-foil: about $0.73 to $8.44
• All 15 non-foils: about $37

Shattered Glass variants:

• Non-foil: about $7 to $89
• Foil: about $78 to $470

Collector Booster Box:

• About $839 on TCGplayer (market price, 7 October 2026)
• 12 packs, each with one Transformers card

Where to Buy

Best Sources:

• TCGPlayer - Singles and sealed boxes
• Scryfall - Complete set gallery and price lookups
• CardKingdom - Singles
• Local Game Stores
• eBay - Graded and high-end Shattered Glass foils

Common Questions and Player Pain Points

"Are Transformers cards legal in my format?"

Answer: Legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, Oathbreaker and Duel Commander. Not legal in Standard, Pioneer, Modern or Pauper.

"Which Transformers commander should I build?"

Answer: Depends on your playstyle:

• +1/+1 counters: Optimus Prime (Jeskai)
• Artifact sacrifice: Megatron (Mardu)
• Card draw: Cyclonus (Dimir)
• Tokens and spells: Soundwave (Esper)

"How much do Transformers cards cost?"

Answer: Regular non-foils were about $0.73 to $8.44 on Scryfall in October 2026. Shattered Glass non-foils were about $7 to $89 and Shattered Glass foils about $78 to $470.

"Are Transformers cards good in Commander?"

Answer: They're fine at casual and mid-power tables. None of them is a competitive cEDH commander.

"What's the difference between regular and Shattered Glass versions?"

Answer: Same rules text, different art. Shattered Glass is only in Collector Boosters (about 12% of packs) and costs far more.

"Do Transformers cards work with artifact decks?"

Answer: Yes. They're artifacts on both faces, so they count for artifact synergies, and several (Ratchet, Megatron, Flamewar, Blaster, Jetfire) are built around artifacts.

"Can I play Transformers in Standard?"

Answer: No. They're a separate set (BOT) that was never Standard legal, even though they came in The Brothers' War boosters.

Building Your First Transformers Deck: A Practical Example

Here's a starting shell for an Optimus Prime, Hero counters deck. Every card below is in Optimus's Jeskai colour identity.

Main Strategy: Make creatures, spread +1/+1 counters, attack with the vehicle side.

The Core:

• Optimus Prime, Hero
• Cathars' Crusade
• The Ozolith
• Felidar Retreat
• Collective Effort

Mana:

• Sol Ring
• Arcane Signet
• Talisman of Conviction, Talisman of Creativity, Talisman of Progress
• Raugrin Triome, Mystic Monastery
• Basic Islands, Mountains and Plains

Card Draw:

• One with the Machine
• Inspiring Statuary

Creatures:

• Hero of Bladehold
• Blade Splicer
• Intrepid Adversary

Removal:

• Path to Exile
• Swords to Plowshares

Fill the rest with creatures that make tokens, since more bodies give bolster and Cathars' Crusade more to work with.

Conclusion: Why Transformers Matter to Modern Magic

For collectors, the Shattered Glass variants are the chase: rare in packs, never reprinted, and priced well above the regular versions.

Quick Reference Guide

• Legal Formats: Commander, Legacy, Vintage, Oathbreaker, Duel Commander
• Set Details: Transformers (BOT), in The Brothers' War boosters, released November 18, 2022; 15 cards plus 14 Shattered Glass variants
• Top Commanders: Optimus Prime (counters), Megatron (artifact sacrifice), Cyclonus (card draw), Soundwave (tokens)
• Card Pricing (Oct 2026): Regular $0.73-$8.44; Shattered Glass non-foil $7-$89; Shattered Glass foil $78-$470
• Where to Buy: TCGPlayer, CardKingdom, local game stores
• Best For: Commander, casual play, collectors, Transformers fans

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External References

• Transformers Arrives in The Brothers' War - Official Announcement
• What's Inside The Brothers' War Boosters
• The Brothers' War Release Notes
• Complete Transformers Set Gallery - Scryfall
• TCGPlayer - Buy Transformers MTG Cards
• CardKingdom - Transformers Cards
• eBay - High-End Transformers Collectibles

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Related Guides

• Best MTG Commander Decks 2025 — where Transformers decks land against the field
• MTG x Lord of the Rings — the crossover that came after
• Marvel MTG Crossover Guide — a much bigger Universes Beyond crossover
• Complete Guide to MTG Formats — what Commander-and-Eternal-only legality means
• Every Universes Beyond Set — the full crossover catalogue and where each is legal