Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast - Drive to Work #241 - Avacyn Restored, Part 1

Episode Date: July 2, 2015

Mark begins a 4-part series on the design of Avacyn Restored.

I'm pulling on my driveway. We all know what that means. It's time for another drive to work. Okay, today's design day. I'm going to talk all about the design of Avacyn Restore. So recently I talked all about Innistrad, right? I went through a lot of cards. I'd done Innistrad once earlier before. And I have talked about Dark Ascension. So now we get to the third set in the Innistrad block. So let me recap a little bit to talk about how this came about. So in the beginning, the plan for this block was we would have a large and small set in its own world. And the last large set, which would be separated in a different world from the first set. In fact, the third set was originally slated to be Innistrad.

from the first set. In fact, the third set was originally slated to be Innistrad, because there wasn't a lot of faith that Innistrad would have enough, I don't know, weight to carry more than one large set. But, the powers that be changed their mind, and Innistrad got moved to the fall, the idea being maybe it would be cooler if the horror set was near to Halloween, and Bill had come to talk to me about was there enough to maybe do a large and a small set. I said there was. So the original plan was... So Brian Tinsman, by the way, led this design. The design team was Brian Tinsman, Mark Gottlieb, Dave Guskin, Ken Nagel, Bill Rose, and myself.

And the plan originally was Brian Tinsford was going to do a world completely different from this world. And Brian, I know, had some ideas what he wanted to do. But then the creative team came back and said, you know what? We think we have a way to not have to leave this world,

but radically change it enough that we can give a brand new set with new mechanics. And so they pitched the idea of the Hell Vault. So what had happened was we went to Innistrad, things were looking horrible for humans, and you learned part of the backstory was that there

was this angel named Avacyn that Sorin, the planeswalker Sorin had made. Why had Sorin made a planeswalker, why had the planeswalker Sorin made an angel? Well, he was looking out for the fellow vampires of his world because he knew that the vampires had no restraint and that if they ate all the humans, the food source would go away and they would die out because they have nothing to eat. Or at least they'd be miserable. I'm not sure if they'd die, but they'd be miserable. And so he wanted to make sure that the food chain

would stick around. So he made a savior to protect the humans, which was this angel named Avacyn. But something happened to Avacyn. She came and she had a lot of powerful magic and a lot of the weapons of the humans was powered by Avacyn's angel magic. But she disappeared one day, just went away. No one knew what happened to her. And we find out that she was trapped inside

something known as the Hell Vault. So the Hell Vault was this device that served a prison that I think Avacyn made. I think she made it or somebody made it. And the prison was where Avacyn was sticking all the demons and the prison was where Avacyn was sticking all the demons and the, and the, and the dangerous things. But things went badly and while trying to trap Grizzlebrand, he trapped her in it as

well. That she was trying to put him in and he grabbed her or something. Somehow both of them ended up inside. And then after that, I think demons started using it to put angels away or something. But anyway, a lot of angels and demons got trapped inside this thing. And so the angels, which were the saviors for the humans, and Avacyn especially, once they went away, the humans' fate was in bad shape.

And as we know from Innistrad and Dark Ascension, things were looking really bad for the humans. So it turns out that what they needed was somehow to free Abison. Now, let's flash to another part of the story. So, um, Liliana came to, um, Innistrad because she wanted to get her hands on something

known as the Chain Veil. Uh, the Chain Veil was a powerful, or actually, I don't know if the Chain Veil was here. She had the Chain Veil. I guess she actually, take that, she came to Innistrad to kill one of the four demons that she made the pact with. So, for those I don't know if the chain veil was here. She had the chain veil. I guess she actually, take that. She came to Innistrad to kill one of the four demons that she'd made the pact with. So for those who don't know Liliana's background, at one point in her life, she made a pact with four demons for, I guess, eternal youth and life. Anyway, and she was trying to, she didn't like the contract.

She was trying to get out of the contract. And so, I don't know whether she got the chain veil here or got the chain veil... Maybe she got it elsewhere, actually. But anyway, she came to Indusdra to find Gristlebrand, one of the demons, and deal with him. To kill him. The problem was Gristlebrand, like Avacyn, had disappeared. And what we learned was that Gristlebrand had been captured by Avacyn. Although, Gristlebrand had also like Avacyn, had disappeared. And what we learned was that Griselbrand had been

captured by Avacyn, although Griselbrand had also trapped Avacyn. So anyway, Griselbrand was trapped in the Hellvault. And Liliana needed Griselbrand out of the Hellvault in order to kill him. The problem was she didn't have the ability to destroy the Hellvault. So what she did

is she ended up blackmailing, or I'm not sure, blackmailing, threatening and getting Thalia to do it. Thalia to do her dirty work. And it turns out by breaking open the Hellvault, not only did she free Gristlebrand and a bunch of other demons, she freed Avacyn and a bunch of other

angels. And so Avacyn restored, it's all about the world, once Avacyn got removed from the Hellvault. And Avacyn andored is all about the world once Avacyn got removed from Hellvault. And Avacyn and her angels come back with a vengeance and start killing off monsters, because that's what they do. So, by the way, I talked about the design team led by Brian Tinsman. The development was led by Dave Humphreys and included Mark Globus, Dave Guskin, Eric Lauer, Billy Moreno, and Matt Cernan. Okay, so,

this is Brian's last design before he left the company to go on to do other things. So for those who know, Tinsman designed, decided to get Avacyn Restored, he designed Champions of Kamigawa, he designed Scourge, he designed Time Spiral,

he designed Rise of the Eldrazi, and he designed Avacyn Restored. I'm sure I'm missing one or two that he did. Oh, he also did Saviors of Kamigawa as well. Anyway, so Avacyn was Roll of Shake, Rattle, and Roll. Came out on May 4, 2012. And Brian is, as a designer, he loves to take flavor and just run with it. He was the one who did Rizzo e Odrazi that brought the Odrazi to life.

Well, he was going to bring Abyssin to life and Bristlebrand. And the idea was it was a brand new world. So Rizzo e Odrazi had been us doing a complete separation where there was no overlap between mechanics of rise of the drossy and um uh what's the set of rise of drossy was zendikar and world wake so this time around we decided we we do a little more overlap so the creature types all show up although the werewolf fundamentally changed because one of the things was there's a lot of concern about double-faced cards. I love double-faced cards. I believed in them. But there was a lot of, everyone knew it was a risky thing.

So we decided, look, we're going to restart, do something new. Let's not have double-faced cards. If they go badly, this won't have it. Ironically, the big complaint was they went, well, people were sad that this set, which was part of the block, although a different thing, didn't have double-faced cards. If I had to do it over again, I believe the set would have double face cards. But anyway, so Brian was really trying to find a cool way to sort of do this. We decided

that we'd have one pullover mechanic. So Undying, which showed up for the first time in Dark Ascension on the monsters. There's some monsters that have not a lot of dying, just a little bit for some continuity. And the creature types have continuity, although the werewolves change into the wolf fear, which is a one-sided werewolf thing. They kind of get locked in their werewolf state. So there were werewolves. So the idea was all

your tribal decks had more cards for it, and there was undying. But there's some brand new mechanics that Brian brought to the mix. So let's talk about those new mechanics. So the two named keyboard mechanics was Miracle and Soulbond. Okay, so Miracle, so flashback a little bit. When I first made my very first design ever, Tempest, I came up with this awesome idea that I was really excited by. What if there were cards that triggered when you drew them. You know, imagine having a lightning bolt that did four damage, but when you drew it, it shocked you. Just drawing the card would shock you.

And so maybe you're a two-life. If you're a two-life and draw this card, you lose the game because it shocks you when you draw it. Now, there was some problems figuring out how to make that happen. How do I have triggered effects? Because wouldn't I just not show my opponent if it was going to kill me? Why would I show my opponent, you know? And so we goofed with like different backs, because sleeves weren't real popular way,

way back when. And anyway, in the end, I tried a lot of ways to make it work, and I couldn't make it work. So when Brian said that he had an idea to have cards that when you drew them did something, I was like, okay, Brian, I've been here. But Brian was excited and said, let's figure out how to do it. So the story I always tell when I tell about this is there's a famous story of the Gordian Knot. So the Gordian Knot is, there's this place, I think this is a Greek myth, I think,

or it has to do with Alexander, actually, Alexander the Great, that he comes somewhere and there's this ornate knot. And supposedly, whoever could untie the Gordian knot would rule that city or something. And so Alexander takes the sword and chops it in half and is able to untie the knot. And the idea is sometimes the solution is just the straight, you know, go right forward. And Brian said, you know what, Let's just assume you can do it. So clearly miracles had to be positive

because if they were negative, right, there's reason not to show your opponent. So the idea was if it was positive, you had to show it when you drew it. And the idea was you would have a reduced cost. All the effects were things that could get you out of trouble and that you'd be happy to play when you drew them in certain situations. So the idea was when you draw, you had to show it.

Now, there's a lot of controversy around Miracle because it really requires you to draw your cards slightly differently if you believe Miracles exist, because you can't just take it to your hand. You have to look at it while it's on top of your library before bringing it to your hand. And so there's a lot of debate at the time about, will this mechanic work? And Brian took the guardian knot strategy and said, let's make it work. Let's assume it works. And Miracle was very controversial.

It had its fans. There were people that loved Miracle. I mean, Miracle's fun. You know, because one of the things is, I'm in trouble. Come on, I need a miracle. Flam, flam. There you go. Oh, by the way,

my contribution to the mechanic, Brian's very gung-ho in doing it. My contribution to the mechanic was we had this angel theme because the set was all about Avacyn and her angels. And so at the time, I felt like having a, you know,

the mechanic didn't necessarily dictate angelness to me. So I was trying to come up with a name that did. So I come up with a name that did. So I came up with the name of Miracles. You've got to hope for miracles. Like, oh, I need a miracle. Flam!

And that helped tie it into the angel theme. So anyway, I helped name the mechanic. But anyway, it is controversial. It had a lot of fans that really loved it. There's a lot of fun moments that come from it. But also, probably the most famous is the U.S. team with Brian Kibler lost at

Worlds because of that card where they were, I think, about to win but their opponent at the last possible moment drew a oh, the what's the red one called? Bonfire of the Damned. Drew a Bonfire of the Damned and won it.

And there's a little, what do you call it, a little movie of that moment that you can go on the internet probably right now and see and watch Brian Stace's opponent draw his Bonfire of the Damned.

Anyway, Soulbond was a mechanic on a creature that whenever this enters or another creature enters, you can bond creatures to it. One creature. And the bonded creature then gets an ability.

Both it and the bonded creature gain the ability if they're bonded together. It's kind of a banding-ish kind of mechanic of people coming together. We really wanted the idea of the angels come to save the day, but everybody bands together to get rid of the monsters. And so there's a lot of teamwork going on. bands together to get rid of the monsters and so there's a lot of teamwork going on. Now, by the way, the real interesting story is there was actually a mechanic that we really wanted to use called

Forbidden. Now, I can't give too much to you about Forbidden because I believe one day we'll crack Forbidden. But there's a mechanic that was called, the playtest name was called Forbidden and we liked it. The design team really liked it. The development team was scared of it. They thought that it had a lot of developmental issues which I'm sure it did, if they believed

that. And so they were really scared of it. And when we got to Divine, development basically put their foot down and said, there's no way to make this work. We can't make this work. And so we switched, and Miracles got added in. And I think that Miracles, Brian, Forbidden was very splashy, and Brian

likes splashy. Brian wants to make sure he said it's something splashy. And so when we took away Forbidden, he splashy and Brian likes splashy. Brian wants to make sure his set is something splashy. And so when we took away Forbidden, he really was looking for a mechanic that was splashy and that's how we got to Miracles. I think it's something that he had thought about before

and hadn't found a way to do it. Anyway, the set also, beside Miracle and Soban, had a dying, as I said. And it had two other not named mechanics. One was, there was what we call

a loner mechanic, which was something the monsters had, which was like, if I'm alone. And one of the things we did in this set is, in the first two sets, we isolated the humans by having all the monsters in the four colors, and the humans mostly in white.

And in this set, we had the good guys in all four colors, with the monsters, it's not that there weren't monsters in other colors, it's just that there weren't humans in other colors, but the humans were centered in white. And this set, the monsters were centered in black, and the humans were in the other colors.

There were no humans in black, but there were humans in the other four colors. And so black was definitely the bad guys, just like white was the good guys. There were no bad guys in white. There were some spirits, but they were benevolent. And so the idea was we flipped Flots. We flipped sort of the structure of it.

And the loan mechanic said, hey, if I'm all alone, if I have only one creature, there's a benefit. So the strategy on the monster side was you didn't want to work together. There's a loaner strategy. But on the human side, the soul bond and a bunch of other things, you really wanted to work together. The set also had a flickering mechanic. So flickering is something I introduced in Urza's Destiny. So Mirage had something called phasing,

where things went away every other turn and they'd be gone for a turn. Now phasing didn't trigger enter the battlefield effects. But I liked the idea of something that I was making vertical cycles

in Heroes of Destiny and I wanted something in white that I could do that I could do a common, uncommon, and rare. And I came up with the idea of what if you could blink slate things?

What if you could take them take them away and bring them back? And by bringing them back you refresh them. So anything that was negative on them got wiped away and if they had

enter the battlefield effects, or if they had leave battlefield effects, that you could do things where... It was just a neat little mechanic. And I ended up making three of them, a common, uncommon, and rare. But in development, they knocked it down to just one. They got rid of the cycle.

But there was one called Flicker, and that's why the mechanic's called Flicker. Now, there's two types of Flicker, by the way. There's what we call instant Flickr and delayed Flickr. So instant Flickr means you go away and you come back right away. Delayed Flickr means you go away and you come back later. Now, there's some people that use two different terms. I know there's like blinking and flickering, but I find it confusing when they're so close to use different terms. So I just say instant flickering and delayed flickering.

In my mind, they're both flickering. So anyway, if you hear other people, sometimes people will refer to blinking. There's other names that people use. I refer to it as flickering because that's the first card that did it. So anyway, this set has instant flicker. Things go away and come back immediately.

And the reason for that is that that's what combos with a lot of the stuff we have in the set. Especially like Soulbond. You can do some neat things with Soulbond. And you could flicker something so you could, like, allow you to change what Soulbond did. So something with Soulbond, you can move it to something else. And, you know, you can do that instant speed. So in combat, you can change things around.

Okay, so another big thing about the set was um we decided to do something pretty cool for the pre-release which was we decided that the audience at the pre-release were going to open the hell vault so what we did is we uh created that we had caps make a three-dimensional hell vault um out of out of sort of cardboard and stuff. And then inside it were stuff that the audience, you know, the players got if they could earn it and open the hell vault. And so while you were playing, as people did things, it would tick off and slowly

you would notch it until you get to open the hell vault and free Avacyn. And then inside, there were a bunch of things like Angel and Demon tokens and a bunch of different things. The Hell Vault drew a lot of people. It was a very successful pre-release in the sense that

a lot of people came out. There were mixed reactions about it for a couple things. One is, some people had different expectations inside the Hell Vault. I think we did a poor job of setting expectations. So some people thought there was grander things in it than there were. And we

had picked out some stores. Some stores had gotten upgraded stuff. There's a random bunch of stores that got we sort of mixed it up. But anyway, there's a chance for you to get better stuff. And when people found out that some people got better stuff and they didn't get that better stuff, there's a lot of unhappiness.

And so, anyway, I think it did a lot of good. It definitely showed some stuff we could do for pre-releases. I think people got pretty excited and enjoyed what was going on. I think the poor thing was having two different types or three different types of Hell Vaults ended up being problematic, and we oversold a little bit what was in it, meaning people had expectations that were higher than what was actually in most of them. The set, obviously I said before, had an angel theme. Angels have always been pretty popular.

So one of the things we did is we didn't take the angels out of white. Some of the angels are more than just white, but the angels are all at least white. And I'll talk about that as we go through card by card of some of the dealing with angels and making it feel like an angel set. Set had two planeswalkers, Tamiyo the Moon Sage, mono blue, and Tibalt the Fiend-Blooded, which was mono-red. So Tamiyo's actually from Kamigawa. She is a

moon folk who studies the moon and she came to this world because it has a very unique moon. Made of metal, I believe. Anyway, Helvalth, I believe, was a slice of the moon, I think. And Tybalt was a native.

He was a devil, and he was a native. I think he wasn't always a devil. I think he had started as a human and became a devil, I think. Not 100% sure. The other high profile, there's some legendary angels, Bruna, Gisela, and Sigarda. They were all white and either red, green, or blue because there was no black

because angels couldn't be in black because the demons weren't black. This wasn't angel and demon set. There also was a demon theme as well. But anyway, those three angels got nicknamed the Powerpuff Girls because in the Powerpuff Girls, which is a comic, is a cartoon

about three little superhero girls, the colors they have are red, blue, and green. And so since these angels are signified by red, blue, and green, they were affectionately called the Powerpuff Girls. Also in the set was Avacyn and Grizzlebrand, the angel and demon in question. This set is interesting in that it was named after a character that was not a planeswalker, but another character.

So oftentimes the face of the set is a planeswalker, but when your set is called Avacyn Restored, perhaps Avacyn needs to be the face of your set. So she was. And there's a lot of, one that can be, we'll talk about Avacyn when we get to her. Grizzleband, likewise. We did make some intro packs. There was Angelic Might, which was white-green. Solitary Fiends was blue-black. Slaughter House was black-red. Fiery Dawn was red-white.

And Bound by Strength was green-blue. And then two event decks. This might have even been the first event deck. This is very early, if not the first one. So they had Death's Encroach, which was mono-black.

And Humanity's Vengeance, which was white-blue. Okay, there's a lot going on. So let me hop into the cards and talk about this. Oh, so one of the little stories I was going to tell before I get into the cards was something that I never, here's a story I never told about the set. So Brian is definitely, Brian likes shaking things up and trying new things. So one of the experiments Brian did during Heavensend Restored is

one meeting a week, we would not meet inside the building. We would drive someplace, and we would have a walking meeting. We would have a meeting while walking through a nearby park. And we sometimes would shake it up where we go, I guess. Usually it's one park, but there's a bunch of places we go. But we would have walking meetings. We would design and talk while walking, which was very different. That's the only design team.

I take that back. I've had one or two other walking development meetings, but that was the only team that regularly did it. And so it was definitely an interesting experience. I think I kept wanting to tell that story in my column, and somehow I never found a space to do it. So I think you guys are the first time, I think, the first people to hear about the walking design of Evercenter Short.

Okay, let's hop into the cards. So the first card is Aggravate. So it's a red card. Three red reds, so five mana instant. Deal one damage to all creatures controlled by target player. And then all those creatures must attack if able. So this is one of those things that's fun to do sometimes, where you take two different abilities and you connect them.

So the idea is this card both forces things to attack and can deal damage um and so the thing that's kind of cute and this is where you can use flavor take abilities and really it's like the idea is i'm going to irritate all these things i'm going to damage these things and make them come at me but the thing i'm doing the little little you know fire whatever i'm throwing at them that's going to aggravate them you know what is enough that it might actually get rid of some of the weaker things so the idea is i'm trying to The thing I'm doing, the little fire or whatever I'm throwing at them that's going to aggravate them, you know what? It's enough that it might actually get rid of some of the weaker things. So the idea is I'm trying to sort of stir you up and make you attack,

but the means that I'm doing it actually will kill some of the smaller creatures. And so it's kind of a cool little spell. I like spells that have two different effects that work interestingly together and that the flavor makes them feel very organic. Next, Angel of Glory's Rise. Five white, white. So seven mana for four, six angel with flying. When it enters the battlefield, you exile all zombies. Then you return all human cards from the graveyard to the battlefield. Okay, can anybody name what this card is? It is the mirror of a card in Dark Ascension.

Give me a second. It is a mirror of Zombie Apocalypse, which is kind of funny that it goes from Z to A. But Zombie Apocalypse was a card I talked about that destroyed all humans and animated all zombies. I talked about this in Dark Ascension that the reason those were two cards and the development team morphed them into one card, which ended up being a pretty cool card.

So this card is like, well, we're trying to undo the damage done, and so we're going to flip the script. Instead of killing all humans and animating all zombies, why don't we kill all zombies and animate all humans? So one of the things that's going on in the set is black is number one in reanimation, white is number two. Normally, in a normal set, white animates small things. But in this set, to try to sort of make it feel more like the angel set, we upped that a little bit.

And white has a little bit more reanimation than normal. Because reanimation we felt very much in white's, I don't know, flavor space. And so, anyway, you'll see there's a little bit more reanimation going on in white. Definitely more than normal. I mean, white can do reanimation. We tend to keep it small, but we felt like, okay, for this set, we could bend it a little bit. It's not quite breaking. A little more bend to the color pie. Okay, next, Angel of Jubilation. There's a lot of angels in the set. Not all of them have angel in their name, but a bunch do. So Angel of Jubilation is one white, white, white,

so four mana, three of which are white, for a 3-3 angel. It is flying, so one of our rules is all angels have flying. They don't all have vigilance, although a lot have vigilance, but they all have flying. All your non-black creatures get plus one, plus one, and players can't pay life

or sacrifice creatures to cast spell or activate abilities. So this does two things. So one of the things we wanted in general with our angels was, we wanted our angels to feel protected in some way. So Angel of Glory's Rise, for example, brought things back from the dead.

First of all, it killed zombies, and then it brought things back from the dead. So it definitely was there as a protector. Angel jubilation, you know, boosts all your creatures, you know, so it both helps your creatures, and it stops shenanigans from going on. So we like the idea of angels are protective in this nature. So this is protective because it's making all your creatures stronger, and it's also making sure that, I mean,

who is sacrificing creatures and paying life for things? Black is. That's dark evil magic. White's not doing that or rarely does that. Doesn't do it in this set. So the angel's like, I'm not going to let you do dark things. I'm stopping the demonic things. That's very demonic in nature and flavor. So Angel Jubilation is definitely

we were trying hard on all our angels to make them both something people would be excited by and feel angel-y, you know. I mean, we always want the angel legacy to be angel-y, but when you're making a lot of angels, you have to be extra careful. Okay, Angelic Armaments is an artifact that costs three. It's equipment. Equipped creature

gets plus two, plus two in flying, and is a white angel in addition, equipped for four. So the reason this card is important is, if you're going to have a theme of angels, that means you're going to have cards that care about angels, and if you have cards that care about angels, and angels can only be in white, is there ways to

help other people maybe play in that space a little bit? And the answer to it was, well, here's an artifact that turns things into an angel when you equip it. And so that way you kind of can make your own angels with this artifact. So even if I don't have a lot of angels in my deck, if I have a few cards that care about angels,

this card helps me get more angels. It's a way to make angels without inherently being an angel. Okay, another thing we did, because it was an angel theme, is we had some fun with our reprints. So the next two cards are actually both reprints. Angel's Wall, which is a 1w04 wall with Defender and Flying, and Angelic Mercy, which is 2ww instant, and you gain 7 life.

Both those cards are in the set because it's an angel set, and we liked the idea of finding cards that thematically fit. One of the things we did in development, not development, in design, is we made a list of all the cards that had angel flavor when we were looking for reprints, because we wanted as much angel flavor as possible, and one way to do that is, even in our reprints,

we definitely could steer toward angelic and angel-like things. Okay, next, Angel's Tomb. It's an artifact for three. Whenever a creature enters a battlefield, you animate it, and it becomes a 3-3 white angel with flying. So this is another way to get an angel in a deck that does not have white. So this is an artifact that represents the tomb of an angel, but, you know, whenever a creature enters the battlefield, it illuminates, it

becomes a creature, it becomes an angel, or it animates, I guess, and it can fly and attack. Okay, next, Arcane Melee. Four and a blue, so five mana, it's an enchantment. Instants and sorceries cost two less to cast. So one of the things that's definitely going on is there are a bunch of different themes going on in the set.

One of the themes that Red and Blue often likes to do is messing around with spells. And so this is designed for a deck that's a spell-oriented deck. Note, by the way, I think it doesn't say your Instants and Sorceries. I thought it did, and I looked it up, and I think it just says all Instants and Sorceries. So I think it helps everybody. It's good for multiplayer play. In two-player play, you help your opponent a little bit. The idea, hopefully, is your deck's more focused on instant sorceries than your opponent.

Okay, speaking of other reprints that are angel-themed, Archangel, all the way back from Visions, I believe. So it's 5-5 angel, 5-W-W, 7-mana 5-5 Angel with Flying and Vigilance. It's funny. Sarah Angel, which was the very first Angel in the very first Magic set, had Flying Vigilance, although Vigilance was written out at the time. It wasn't keyworded back then. And ever since then, Vigilance has been very much an Angel thing. So you'll notice in the set that a lot of the Angels have Vigilance

just because Vigilance has come to be flavored very much Angely. And so there that a lot of the angels have vigilance, just because vigilance has come to be flavored very much angely, and so there's a lot of vigilance there. Okay, we're going to end today with my final A. Avacyn, Angel of Hope. 5 www, so 8 mana, 3 of which are white, for an 8-8

legendary angel with flying vigilance, and Avacyn and all other permanents are indestructible. So the cool thing with this card was we knew when you have a cycle of Avacyn restored, and the story is about Avacyn comes and saves the day, well, your card better save the day. You better

have a card. So we knew we needed to have a splashy thing. And so the idea we toyed around with is, what if so, I think I made this card. I'm pretty sure I made this card. So my idea was, what can I do to be the ultimate protector? You know, Avacyn's there. I know I'm going to be okay. And I said, okay, this is going to be the face of the set.

We want something as splashy as splashy can be. And so I'm like, well, what if just everything's indestructible, including her. Everything's indestructible. Your partner's like, uh-oh, everything is indestructible. Nothing can be destroyed. That is pretty daunting. And I was worried when I made it that development would never let that fly.

But I'm like, well, it's splashy. You know, my job in design is to make good splashy cards. If development needs to weaken it or, you know, the fallback was, well, maybe she has to make herself indestructible. But no, no, development was on board. And the card, I mean, maybe the cost changed, but the basic abilities never changed. What the, being an 8-8-0 thing changed. All her abilities, I mean, when I created the card, everything was the same. The mana cost maybe, maybe changed in development, I don't remember.

But anyway, I was real happy. That's one of the things where you make the card and it just zooms all the way through to the process to print. And so that was a brain print card, where what I made is what actually got printed. And she was very popular, and I mean, she's a good card, because she does in fact protect your board. Okay guys, I'm now at work. And I got through A, but obviously I'm not quite done. I got 25 more letters to get to. So I'll continue, and I'll keep doing podcasts until we get through all.

I'm not doing every single card, but I'll do a bunch of cards. And I'll talk to you all about Avacyn Assured. But for today, as I'm parked in my parking space, we all know what that means. 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 next time. Bye-bye.