Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast - #631: Morningtide, Part 1

Episode Date: April 26, 2019

This is part one of my three-part series on card-by-card design stories from Morningtide.

I'm pulling out of the parking lot. We all know what that means. It's time for another drive to work. At Conference MS Sun School today. Okay, so today we're going to start talking about Morning Tide. I did a series not so long ago about Lorwyn and we're going to continue talking about the block. So first let's talk a little bit about Morning Tide. So Morning Tide came out in February 1st of 2008. It was the second set in the Lorwyn block. So Butter was its codename. So Lorwyn was Peanut. So it was Peanut, Butter, and Jelly originally.

And then when we decided to make it two mini blocks, we turned it to Jelly Donut. So it's Peanut, Butter, and Jelly Donut. But for the audience, it sounded like peanut butter and jelly. It sounded like a three-step block. Because we have to be careful our codenames don't give away what we're doing. Anyway, the set had 150 cards, 60 commons, 40 uncommons, and 50 rares. This is prior to Mythic Rare existing.

There was no Mythic Rares at this point. The design team was led by Paul Sodasanti. It included Aaron Forsythe, Eric Lauer, Ken Nagel, and myself. And then the development was led by Mike Turian, and Eric Lauer, Henry Stern, and Noah Weil were on that team. So basically, I'm going to... The set had a bunch of mechanics. I'm going to walk through the mechanics as I'm talking about the cards.

Um, but it continues the mechanics from Lorwyn. Um, and then it added in some new mechanics. So, um, tribal as a card type and as a overall theme was here. Um, you know, evoke continued, Changeling continued, Clash continued, but we had Kinship and Prowl and Reinforce. There were three new mechanics. I'm going to get to the card-by-card stuff.

I'll get to the mechanics in card-by-card. The one big theme about what Morning Tide was doing was Lorwyn was a tribal set, and Lorwyn carried about eight tribes. But all the tribes that Lorwyn carried about were races. They were elves and goblins and such. The shtick of Morning Tide was we started caring about classes.

So there were five classes I actually didn't write this down. There were five classes we cared about. So they were stuff like wizard and warrior. Classes are roles you play. Races are what you are and classes are what you do. So this set had a class theme. So there were still cars that cared about the races, but layered into that was cars that cared about the classes. but layered into that was cars that cared about the classes.

That ended up being a very elaborate net of things. That having eight races and five classes all interwoven together got really, really complicated on the board. And in fact, it was, as the story goes, it was the employee pre-release of Morning Tide that we had the big epiphany that led to New World Order. What happened basically was we were watching people play and people just were dropping out way earlier than normal. And what we were finding was that a lot of the people,

like not at Wizards, most people who work at Wizards play Magic just because it's the game we make. But it has a spectrum. On one end is R&D or pro-tour Hall of Famers. But the other end are people who know how to play but are more casual players and not necessarily heavy-duty, old-school and franchise players.

And this set was just a little bit too much for them. And watching how they reacted to it really said, oh, wow, we've gone too far. Anyway, I've talked... If you want to hear more about that, I did a whole podcast on New World Order, and so we can talk about that. But I'm going to

jump in by start talking about cards. So what I find in these is that the card-by-card stories give me a better opportunity to talk mechanics. So I will talk about the mechanics as we get to them. But I'm just going to hop in and just start talking cards. So we begin with Ambassador Oak. So Ambassador Oak costs three and a green. So four mana total, one of which is green.

It's a 3-3 Treefolk Warrior creature. When Ambassador Oak enters the battlefield, create a 1-1 green elf warrior creature token. Okay, a lot packed in here. Okay, first off, this card was a card that I had tried to get into sets for years. I believe that when I originally made it, it was called

Moose and Squirrel. And I think the original idea was, right, it was this. It was a 3-3 creature with a 1-1 creature. And so it was called Moose and Squirrel. For many, many years, it was called Moose and Squirrel. And I kept trying to get Moose and Squirrel into this.

The reason I like the card a lot is I like the idea of that green had a card that gave you two creatures for one card. In order to do that, it's like, oh, okay, well, you'll get the card, and then you'll get a token. And the token needed to be simple, and I like the idea of just a 1-1 creature. But it was interesting to me that, like, oh, well, it's a 3-3 creature and a 1-1 creature. That's an interesting combination of things. And I tried for a long time to get this in. And I tried for a long time to get this in.

The reason this eventually got here was we liked the idea of cards that because we cared about tribal, it was neat to make a card that could make more than one of the tribe. And we had done a bunch of stuff with tokens. This was something that was a little different from just make a bunch of tokens. Plus, because there was a card and a token, they didn't have to match. Like, normally, if we're making a bunch of tokens on the card, they're all the same token, usually. Beasts and Menace, you know, a few things like that aside. Normally, like, oh, make two 1-1s or make three 1-1s, but they're all the same thing.

This card allowed you to make different size things. The other thing that we did, notice that it makes an elf warrior token. So one of the things we normally do when we make creature tokens is the default is we give them one creature type. And usually that's what matters in the set. If elf tribal matters, there'll be an elf. If soldier tribal or warrior tribal matters, there'll be a warrior. That we tend to make it whatever the set more cares about. And if the set doesn't care,

we just pick whatever we think is most flavorful. But you'll notice here in Morning Tide, it's not an elf token. It's not a warrior token. It is both an elf and a warrior token. And the reason for that is there's this intricate network of things that care about both race and class in the set.

And so it's like, oh, well, there's cards that care about elves. Well, it's an elf. There's cards that care about warriors. It's a warrior. And so one of the things that we... Now, be aware, I was the one behind the idea of caring about races and caring about classes. Ended up being a bit complicated. It did give each of the sets identity.

Like, Morning Tide wasn't just more Lorwyn. It sort of had of the sets identity. Like, Mourningtide wasn't just more Lorwyn. It sort of had its own identity to it. And one of the interesting things about it, and the reason I went there in the first place, was ever since we had started doing Wraith's class in, I think it was Mirrodin, you had two creature types on mini cards. And the idea was, oh, it's kind of cool that some things care about this creature type and some care about that creature type. And I was really, I was intrigued by the idea that you would mix and match different things and weave them together, especially in limited. And while that did turn out to be true, it ended up being mentally a lot. But that's what I was going for here. And the reason this ended up here was that, like, made this card it was a cool card and everybody liked

it and it kept getting cut not because no one liked it but because it wasn't sort of contributing to what the set was that's a very common theme where you make something cool and new and you know what you tend to keep in the set is the things that are advancing what the set is doing uh and then the things you cut you sort of want want to, if you really like it, you have to wait and find a place for it. And that's a very common skill in design is figuring out when you have something that's good and understanding whether it serves the set it's in or not.

And if it doesn't, then what you want to do is get to a point where you can find a set that serves it. And Moose and Squirrel is a perfect example, or Besser Oak, is we tried it in many sets, it wasn't quite shining, and we finally got a set where it could shine. And that's where it ended up being printed. Sorry, taking a drink. Okay, next. Anti-Snitch. So this costs two and a black, so three men in total, one of which is black.

It's a 3-1 Goblin Rogue creature. Anti-Snitch can't block, and it's got the ability Prowl. So Prowl costs one and a black. You may cast this for its Prowl cost if you deal combat damage to a player this turn with a Goblin or a Rogue. Whenever a Goblin or Rogue you control deals combat damage to a player this turn with a Goblin or a Rogue. Whenever a Goblin or Rogue you control deals combat damage to a player, if Anti-Snitch is in your graveyard, you may return Anti-Snitch to your hand. Okay, there's a lot going on in this card, so let's talk a little bit about this. First, let's talk about Prowl.

So the way Prowl worked was Prowl was a mechanic that said, I can play this. You can cast it for the Prowl cost was traditionally cheaper than its normal cost. So the idea is if I hit my opponent with a creature that is of the creature type of the

Prowl creature and Prowl only went on rogues. But whatever it was. So if it was a goblin rogue then if a goblin or a rogue hit your opponent, if it was, you know, an elf rogue, or I'm not sure if there's an elf rogue, but if there's whatever it was, it had to match the creature type of this creature. But because it was always

on a rogue, in a rogue deck it always worked if you had your deck filled with rogues. Everything that had prowl was a rogue. And the flavor was like, one of the things we were trying to do is warriors was a thing, rogues was... One of the things we were trying to do is... Warriors was a thing.

Rogues... I'll figure a Soldier was one. Pretty sure a Wizard was one. As we come across. So obviously Warrior was one. We saw Ambassador Oak was a Warrior. This is a rogue. Rogue were one.

Rogues were tied to Prowl. The other interesting thing about this card was that... This was a card that you could get back from your graveyard. And the reason that was important was that this had prowl and let you play it for cheaper. Oh, well, not only can you play it for cheaper, but because it can come back, so not only could a goblin or a creature dealing damage let you play this for cheaper, but it could also let you get it back from the graveyard. So this ability essentially is Prowl, and then kind of this bonus, I'm pretty sure this was a rare, Prowl from the graveyard.

And the reason it can't block is, normally when we have black creatures that come back from the graveyard, we don't like them being used. The whole point of Recursion is to be aggressive and not defensive. So usually, if it's of any size, this is a 3-1, we make it not block so that it's not used defensively. Because what we don't want is, oh, I have a 3-power creature that I can keep bringing back. Oh, I shut you down.

Now you just can't attack anything with toughness 3 or less. So that's why this has can't block on it. But anyway, this is a good example of also the crisscross. Because Prowl cared about the creature type, you could put this in a goblin deck or you could put this in a rogue deck, that it gave you choices. And one of the things I did like about what the set did is, because it sort of branched off both race and class,

it just gave you a lot of avenues and choices. Now those for inexperienced players ended up being a bit much, especially in Limited. But from a building standpoint, it gave you a lot of flexibility. One of the things we were trying to do with Lorwyn and Morning Tide is really give people in their deck building lots of options of how to build. It's why we put every race and class in two or more colors. It's why we did a lot of crisscrossing.

It's why stuff like Changeling exists. Changeling is a... If you have Changeling, you're every creature type. It's one of the things that we did to try to... We really wanted to enable you to give you a lot of options when building. That one of the problems we had in Odyssey, which was the first sort of block that was dedicated, I'm not Odyssey, sorry, Onslaught.

It's the first block that was dedicated to tribal. And that the decks were a bit narrow. It's like goblins are only red and there's only so many goblins. And so if you wanted to make a goblin deck, there just wasn't that much variance on what the goblin deck could be. And so with Lorwyn, we were trying to sort of solve that problem to really open up opportunities for what could be done. Next, Ballyrush Banneret. So one and a white for a 2-1 Kithkin soldier creature.

Kithkin spells and soldier spells cost you one less to cast. So this was a cycle. I think it was a cycle of five. And the idea was... So white, Kithkin were one of the creature types of white, centered in white, and soldiers were centered in white. So this is like, oh, one of the things we like to do in tribal sets is things that sort of enable you to

play the tribe. One of the things doing that is cost reduction. And so this card, it drops early. It's a two drop and says, okay, I help you play Kithkin or soldiers. And the thing that cards like this are supposed to do is say, if I'm building a constructed, I could play Kithkins. I could play soldiers. I could play Kithkin and soldiers. And likewise in Limited, it allows me to branch off and say, oh, I can care not just about Kithkin, but also care about soldiers. So let's say I take this early. It allows me to sort of say, oh, there's two different things I can care about. It lets you have a little bit of depth of how you build your deck.

That also does add complexity, but on the plus side, it really did give you a lot of branching opportunities to do neat and interesting things. Okay, next, Bitter Blossom, one of the more famous cards from the set. Bitter Blossom costs one and a black, so two mana total, one of which is black. It's a tribal enchantment, fairy. So for those that don't remember, tribal means it's a card type. I know it looks like a super type, and probably it should have been a super type but technically it's a type

what it does is normally other than instants and sorcerers instants and sorcerers are allowed to share subtypes card types are not allowed to share subtypes fairy is a creature subtype so that means that only creatures can have the fairy subtype what we did in

Lorwyn block is we introduced tribal, and that allowed us to say, oh, well, this enchantment, it's a fairy enchantment. And what that meant is, whenever I cared about fairies, if it applied, I could have it care about Bitterblossom. So let's say, for example, I had a card that said, you may return a fairy card from your graveyard to your hand. Oh, well, Bitter Blossom is a fairy. It's not a fairy, but it's a fairy card. And so if it says get a fairy, you could put a fairy from your graveyard back in your hand, for example. Okay, what does Bitter Blossom do? So at the beginning of your upkeep, you lose one life and create a 1-1 black fairy rogue creature token with flying. So every turn, you're forced to lose a life, but you make a 1-1

flying black creature a fairy rope once again all the tokens in the set have both a class and a I'm sorry a race and a class because that matters in the set this card ended up being uber powerful I designed this card

this was inspired there's a card called Frexian Arena where every turn you pay a life and draw a card and I was inspired, there's a card called Frexian Arena, where every turn you pay a life and draw a card, and I was just interested, I just wanted to make another Frexian Arena, I'm like, okay, Frexian Arena was kind of a cool card, okay, well every turn you pay a life, what can you get? And I'm like, how about a fairy? And it turns out, paying a life to get a fairy is mighty strong, so this was a very, very

strong card, but a fun card and flavorful. Maybe the card was supposed to cost a little differently. I'm happy with the design. Maybe we made it too cheap. Okay, next. Blight Soil Druid. So one and a black. Two total. One of which is black. One, two Elf Druid creature. Tap

Pay One Life, add green. So what we were trying to do here was elves were a black-green thing in Lorwyn and Morning Tide, and I liked the idea that you had a black elf that helped you, that kind of helps you get green mana.

But the thing is, green can just tap for green. Black, when we get you mana for you, you usually have to pay something for it. Life being the most obvious thing you have to pay. We've done, like, Sacking Creatures and stuff as well. But usually, black to get mana has to... It requires something beyond...

You have to pay something. And so, life was the cleanest thing. So, the idea here is, it's a black elf. Now, if you're playing in a green elf deck, maybe just use your Llanowar elves or whatever you have available to tap for green. But, if you want to make a black elf deck, we want to be able to help you.

And obviously, this encourages you to play black green because it taps for green. But you also could just put it in your mono black elf deck as a means to get mana. Okay, next. Boldweir Intimidator. Five red red.

It's a giant warrior. I think, what size is it? I think it's a, oh, it's a 5-5. It's a 5-5 creature. It's a giant warrior. And it has the ability, Cowards can't block warriors. For one red mana, target creature becomes a coward to end of turn. And for two and a red, target creature becomes a warrior to end of turn.

So this card actually is a reprint. Well, not a reprint technically. It's a preprint, as we call it. This card first showed up in Future Sight where it was a future shifter card from a future set. So see, it was a reprint in Future Sight and this is where it originally originated from. So one of the things we always did after Future Sight was look to find places

where we could put cards. And Future Sight was the set right before Lorwyn and so we planned the year ahead. We actually made sure that we had a card. So Lorwyn, Morning Tide, Shadow Morn, Even Tide all had a card from the Future Shifted Sheet. Or, yeah.

Actually, I don't even think it was its own sheet. But anyway, it was the Future Shifted card. And so this card was something we just thought was fun. We stuck it here. Boldweir became a Lorwyn thing. Other cards actually use it. It became part of the creative so that we just thought was fun. We stuck it here. Bold Weir became a Lorwyn thing. Other cards actually use it. It became part of the creative so that we could put this in. In fact, I think Bold Weir shows up, I think, in Lorwyn.

The name shows up because we were, like, teasing that it was coming. But anyway, this card, I don't think Coward was a thing before this card existed. Because of this card, we now get asked to make things cowards all the time this card was designed in a vacuum we just thought it was kind of fun and interesting and then we ended up putting it on the set we were looking at what fit into Lorwyn

it just seemed like a natural fit, it was a giant and giants make a lot of sense in Lorwyn but anyway, this was people were really happy to see it and it is definitely one of those cards that make a lot of sense in Lorwyn. But anyway, this was, people were really happy to see it. And it is definitely one of those cards that has a lot of, it's not that the card is a particularly powerful card, it's just a very darling card. So people really seem to like it.

Okay, next. Borderland Behemoth. Five red red, so seven mana total, two witches red, for a 4-4 giant warrior as trample, and borderland behemoth gets plus four, plus four, for each other giant you control. So one of the things that's tricky

is giant tribal is hard, mostly because there's not small giants. Like, giants, by the definition of what a giant is, has to be a certain size. I think 3-3 is the smallest we made a giant so a 3-3 creature you're not going to get much

I mean maybe you can get 3 mana as a downside to get a 3-3 or these days green can do that but back then I don't think we were doing that 2-G-3-3 but anyway like giants are bigger so they have to be more expensive so it's a challenge getting a lot of giants out.

And so what we did, now given there's stuff like changelings and things, like you sneak out, there are cheap changelings. But this allowed you to say, okay, well, if you're going to do giant tribal, we have to give you giant rewards. So I like a lot of this idea that every giant you get out, this thing just gets bigger. It's got trample, right? So it's a 4-4.

So 7 for 4-4, not particularly good. But if you have one other giant, all of a sudden it's an 8-8 trampler. That's very good. And if you have two giants out, oh boy. So this card was definitely something that people would sometimes play in limited. It's kind of their finisher card. Besides other giants and some changeling creatures, usually you can get

this thing to be stuff like, you know, 12-12 or something, which is very hard to deal with. Okay, next. Bramblewood Paragon. So one and a green. So two total, one which is green. For a 2-2 elf warrior creature, each other warrior creatures you control, I'm sorry, each other warrior creature you control enters the battlefield with an additional plus one plus one counter on it. warrior creature you control enters the battlefield with an additional plus one plus one counter on it. Each creature you control with a plus one plus one counter on it has trample. So this is playing into a couple different themes.

One is we are trying to make class matter. So this, I believe green was the color that cared about warriors. So the idea here is I just make every warrior bigger. Often the way we reward classes, we do what we call lords. And a lord is a creature that grants something to all creatures. And the typical lords grant plus one, plus one.

So this was trying to do a riff on that. And the idea is normally it just globally enchants it. This card sort of says, okay, I'm going to come out pretty early, and then everything's going to come out bigger after me. Now, the downside is it doesn't make things already out bigger,

but the upside is if you somehow kill this creature, if you kill the Bremel of Paragon, well, the plus and minus counters stay. So you don't need the creature to have the bonus. One other advantage is one of the themes in the set was plus one, plus one counters matter.

One of the mechanics dealt with plus one, plus one counters. We'll get to that soon. But anyway, so by granting plus one, plus one counters, you have a marker on things. And that allows us to care. And so most sets in Magic have plus one, plus one counters, but this is a set where we ramped it up, and plus one, plus one counters care more than normal. And so that is definitely

one of the themes, and it's a good example where that theme plays out. Okay, next. Sensed Tactician. So it costs one white mana. It's a one white Kithkin Soldier, its creature. White and tap. Put a plus one's a one white Kithkin Soldier. It's a creature. White and tap. Put a plus one, plus one counter on target Soldier creature. Each creature you control with a plus one, plus one counter on it can block an additional creature each combat. Okay. So this is another example of plus one, plus one counter matters.

It's doing it in a different color. So green and white are the two colors that tend to put plus one counter on other creatures. Every color can put plus one counters on themselves. And in narrow circumstances, other colors can do stuff. But white and green are the ones that naturally do it. So I just gave you the green one. Here's the white one.

Now this one obviously cares about soldiers rather than cares about warriors, so it's helping a different deck and using plus or minus counters in a different deck, and it's in a different color, obviously. But the one thing they both do is they grant an ability, so the idea is, oh, I get counters on things, and then

the fact that they're marked, now I can care about them. We try to on a lot of the cards that cared about counters also gave you a way to get counters so that you in order to keep them

from being AB AB mechanic is where A lets you do something that B cares about what A does now A being plus one plus one counters they work in a vacuum

plus one counters have their own value even if you don't have a card that cares about them they still do something and so we try to make sure the cards that were the B cards, the cards that cared about them, often could generate them so that

at bare minimum, if this is the only card you had in your deck, well, it still mattered. Interestingly, this card grants can block an additional creature. That's an ability that we had in white for a long time. Then we moved it to green. And currently, we're sort of souring on a little bit

because it has a lot of problems in digital, and there's some ways to do very, very similar stuff that's a little bit different, but it's not quite as problematic. So I don't know. You'll see a lot of block additional creature stuff just because it's... One of the things, real quickly, aside, is... I guess it's really not on Morning Tide, but...

One of the things of Magic Gaming Arena and Magic Gaming Online is when we're making cards now, we're making cards for many different formats. Some of which are digital. And so we're definitely more conscious of thinking about how we're doing and how does it work in each of the formats. So that's something we have to be conscious of. Okay, Chameleon Colossus. An awesome card.

So it's two green and green for a 4-4 Shapeshifter. It has Changeling. So Changeling means that it has all the creature types. It's got protection from black. And for two green greens, so four mana, two witches green, Chameleon Colossus gets plus X, plus X, until end of turn, where X is its power, meaning it can double itself. And it's a repeatable ability.

So the story about this is, and I've told this story before, but I'll do the quick version, is I was in, I want to say Memphis? I was at a World Championship. I think it was Memphis. I was at a World Championship, and we were showing off, oh, Morning Tide had not yet come out, but the championship was in December, and Morning Tide was coming out early the next year. So we came up with this cool idea where R&D was playing in an event. It was a multiplayer event.

And then each one of us had a card in our deck that was a preview card that no one had ever seen. And the idea was we were supposed to just play and just play the card and then create all the hubba-bubba. What's that? And then, you know, we obviously, the social media showed people the cards.

So I had this card. I was playing in a multiplayer game. There were a whole bunch of, like, what's the green version of Mana Flare? Harbinger? Not Harbinger. I'm blanking on it.

It was a green version. So the idea, essentially, is when you tap land, you tap for additional mana. In fact, I think there might have also been the artifact that does... Anyway, there was a whole bunch of ways to produce a lot of mana. Because a lot of times in multiplayer play,

you do things that help everybody, so people are less encouraged to hurt you. And so I had the ability to activate this some crazy number of times. I don't remember the exact number. But I do know that I... Oh, and I had double lifelink on. And at the time, lifelink stacked.

But I managed to... I did like 26 damage... I did 26,000 damage with it and gained like 52,000 life. It was one of the most glorious things I've ever done.

Maybe my shining moment of magic, right, is did something crazy cool. And so I showed the card off. I got infinite, did crazy amounts of damage and gained all this life. And anyway, it's a really fun card. It definitely is an exciting card. I think it saw a little bit of tournament play.

But not tons. But anyway, a card near and dear to my heart. Okay, next. Cloak and Dagger. So Cloak and Dagger is a tribal artifact. Rogue equipment. Costs two. Equipped creature gets plus

two plus oh and has Shroud. So Shroud was before we had Hexproof. Shroud was like Hexproof except nobody could target it. Where Hexproof is nobody but you could target it. Everybody played, or enough people played Shroud as if it were Hexproof that we changed over to Hexproof. Whenever a rogue creature enters a battlefield, you may attach Cloak and Dagger to it.

And then equip three. So one of the things we did is we made a bunch of class equipment, and the idea being that anybody can use the equipment, but if you're of the proper class, then it's better. And so this was a cloak and dagger. Who better for cloak and dagger than the rogues? And so the idea here is that it boosts you and makes it hard for you to be targeted. But if you're a rogue, boom, you just pop in and you get it. Where if you're not, then you have to equip it across more. So the idea is anybody can use it, but rogues, and rogues tend to like having the boost in power and protection because they tend to have invasion abilities

because that's kind of a rogue thing to do. So the idea, if I have a creature that you have trouble blocking and I make it bigger and you now can't target it, wow, it really starts to be something you have trouble with. So Cloak and Dagger worked really well with rogues. That's why it was the rogue equipment. Okay, Daily Regiment. It costs a single white. It's an enchantment

in aura. So it's an enchant creature. And then for one and a white mana, so two mana, one of which is white, put a plus one plus one counter on enchanted creature. So the idea essentially is if you sort of make this creature have this daily regimen, if he exercises,

then he can get stronger. Like I said, this fits into our plus one, plus one, plus one counter theme. Also, it's an interesting way. Normally, white can't get auras that are particularly big. White normally gets like

plus one, plus one, plus two, plus two. Maybe the rare plus two, plus three that you're an angel sort of thing. But this was a way to sort of do something that white could do, which is put plus one, plus one counters on things. And sort of like, well, plus two, plus three, and you're an angel sort of thing. But this was a way to sort of do something that white could do, which is put plus and plus counters on things, and sort of like,

well, you know, it doesn't start big and requires mana, and you have to put energy into it, but it does allow white to have an aura that, over time, can get pretty big, bigger than white normally gets. And so it's fun sometimes to find themes that weave into the set, to let colors kind of, in color, do something

that kind of, in a bigger picture, is not something they normally do. So this was an ore that could get really big. Now, once again, it required a lot of mana. You had to pay one to cast it. For example, to get to plus four, plus four, you're spending nine mana. So it's not easy to do. The good news is you can do it over time. But it was something that sort of gave white access to something

that white doesn't normally have access to exactly. Okay, Declaration of Nought. Blue, blue enchantment. As Declaration of Nought enters the battlefield, choose a card name for a single blue mana, counter-target spell with a chosen name. So this is an ability normally seen in white. Meddling Mage is probably the first card to do this,

although Meddling Mage was a white-blue card. But the proactive ability, normally the way it works is, name a card, no one can cast that card. The idea is you just preemptively stop it. And that's a very white thing because it's proactive. The way we make it blue is, well, it's still reactive in that you have to pay the mana cost. Now, it's cheap, it's only a single blue mana,

but if I'm worried about something, not only do I have to name this and put it out, but then I have to put up mana cost. Now, it's cheap. It's only a single blue mana. But if I'm worried about something, not only do I have to name this and put it out, but then I have to put up mana to protect it. And so, that's what makes this blue, this version blue, is that because it requires you to actually be there actively.

Now, once again, low bar, it's only one blue mana, but often when we're trying to differentiate between colors, the little nuance is important. The fact that white is proactive and blue reactive is a big identity between the two colors and one of the important

separations between them. That white can say I'm going to stop you from doing something but I tell you ahead of time and then that thing isn't going to happen. Where blue is like I'm more flexible, I can respond to anything but I need to sort of time and then that thing isn't going to happen. Where blue is like, I'm more flexible, I can respond to anything, but I need to sort of react to it. I have to have man, it's more work to be able to do it. So white can make stricter rules, but more narrow,

but white is less flexibility in that I can preemptively do something, but I'm not good on the fly. One of white's weaknesses is that it lacks flexibility. White is the color that has the most tools, that can do the most things, but it has the least card drawing and card flow. And so the idea is that if white knows what's coming, white's prepared, white can deal with anything. But if white doesn't know, it has the least amount of flexibility,

and so it doesn't adapt well, and so white really wants to sort of understand what's coming, that white is much, much better prepared when it knows what is coming. Let's see how we're doing. Okay, so, I just got to work. Anyway,

how are we doing on, so I got up to D, I got some more Ds. Next time, I did pretty well. I made good time. Okay, so the plan here is I'm going to do as many podcasts as I need to sort of get through Morning Ties. I hope you guys are enjoying it. Like I said, I'm trying to dig in. I haven't got to all the mechanics yet, but I will. I promise over the course of the series. But anyway, I'm now at work. So we all know what that means. It's the end of my drive to work.

So instead of talking magic, it's time for me to be making magic. I'll see you guys next time.