Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast - Drive to Work #292 - Dragons of Tarkir, Part 4

Episode Date: January 1, 2016

Mark continues with part 4 of his six-part series on the design of Dragons of Tarkir.

I'm pulling up my driveway. We all know what that means. It's time for another drive to work. Okay, today I'm going to continue with my Dragons of Tarkir podcast, talking all about the design of Dragons of Tarkir. Last I left off, I had gotten to F4 Forest. So I realized I had not talked a lot about the basic lands, just a little bit. So one of the things is we were doing an alternate reality, right? We were doing a different timeline. And so one of the things that was really cute about the basic lands in general was that the art director went back to the artists that did the original ones in Khan's Tarkir and had them redo it with the same vantage point, but just subtle, slight differences. One of them had to do with the fact that the dragons,

in the timeline with the dragons, lots of destruction. The dragons kind of destroyed everything. So when you saw the Khan's timeline, there were structures and buildings and signs of, you know, human life. I mean, I guess there's still human life in the dragons, but not so civilized. And so when you get to the dragon timeline, the dragons, eh, they've destroyed a lot of stuff. So, A, you just see a lot more things kind of destroyed, and B, you just see a lot of dragons. One of the things that's pretty cool if you look at the art is, I actually haven't checked this completely, but I believe almost every art in the set, somewhere in the art is a dragon.

I mean, sometimes it's just backwards in the sky, you know, sometimes you can just peek around and go, oh, look in the sky, there's a dragon. But anyway, I, anyway, just a little nod to the basic lands. Okay, let's move on. We have to G. Okay, so Grace Blade Artisan. Two and a white for a 2-3 human monk. And it gets plus two, plus two for each aura attached to it. So one of the things that's kind of fun is when you're making a set, you want to both have things that are very internal to the set, meaning you want to have the set be all about whatever the set's about. And you also want to make sure that you have some nods or just fun things you can do. Because one of the things that's interesting is that the

Jeskai or Ojitai deck now really liked non-creature spells. So here's a cool card that was built around a non-creature spell type, auras. And this card says, hey, I want an aura deck. I want a deck in which you get me out, you just put a lot of auras on me. And anyway, it's just a different kind of deck. It's not the major theme that was going on. It's a little minor theme, but it's fun that you can put a single card. One of the things that's neat about magic is you don't need to put a lot into a set to really allow people to get excited and go build a deck. And this is a good example of a card that, like,

this is the only card really playing into this theme strongly, but it definitely encourages you. You see this card and go, oh, I know what to do, and encourage you to make a deck. And you want a mix of things, but every set you want to make sure, like, you definitely want interconnected things and you want synergy,

but you also want to just make random cool somebody opens up the pack, they see this card and they go, I got an idea for a deck I'm making a deck and Graceblade Artisan is a good example of that which is, it's supposed to inspire people it's not a major theme, it's not a theme that's something you're going to draft around most of the time

but it is something that you can have fun with and it's a good casual constructed sort of deck. Next, Great Teacher's Decree. It's a sorcery that costs three and a white, so four mana total, one white. Creatures you control get plus one, plus two until end of turn. Rebound. So this is an interesting card that...

One of the things you want to do with rebound is you want to find things where it's interesting to happen twice in a row. And this card is kind of cool. So it's plus two plus one. White normally grants plus one plus one or plus two plus two. It's a little more aggressive for white, plus two plus one. But it definitely sort of encourages you to be aggressive. It's the kind of card that, interestingly, I think this card is as much at home in a Mardu deck as it is in a Jeskai deck. Or once again, sorry, at home in a... Oh, actually, white isn't in the Mardu anymore.

So, I mean, if you made an actual Mardu deck with red, black, white, you could play this card. If you're playing this set, you're more likely playing white, green, or white, blue with it, obviously. You're not playing black, red if it's a one or white card. If you're playing this set, you're more likely playing white, green, or white, blue with it. Obviously, you're not playing black, red if it's a one or white card. But the neat thing about the rebound in this card is it's a sorcery, so it's not a surprise. A lot of the rebounds are, it's an instant, you surprise your opponent, they don't get it, and then you get a second thing that matters. This is more like, no, no, no, up front, I just get to do something, and I get to do it twice, and it goes in the kind of deck that, hey, once, you know, every turn, I'm going to attack for some, I'm going to be aggressive, and this allows me to do that.

So it's a rebound card also that your opponent gets some knowledge of what's going on. That, you know, when your opponent's trying to figure out whether to block or not, whether to chump, you know, they know that this is coming again next turn. And so it might make them be more aggressive with stopping things, because if I stop something now, I know next turn I don't have to deal with it again. So, anyway, it's an interesting rebound card, and it definitely... One of the neat things, if you look at different cards that use a mechanic, is there's a lot of subtle different ways you can make use of a mechanic.

So, like, rebound's the kind of thing where, you know, this is... On some level, this is just saying, hey, target creatures get plus two, plus one for two turns. It's kind of what it's doing, which is a little bit different from other cards in which, you know, that's the neat thing about design, is that you can take a mechanic and find subtle different ways to use it. And one of the neat things about rebound is

that it does allow you, on some level, to have sort of, okay, I have an effect that lasts for two turns, sort of. I mean, it doesn't last in the opponent's turn, but if you're worrying about attacking, for all intents and purposes, it makes you aggressive for two turns in a row. Okay, next, Guardian Shieldbearer. Costs two mana, one and a green. It's a 2-1 human soldier. It's got Megamorph for three and a green, so for four mana, one of which is green.

And when it's turned face up, you put a plus one plus one counter on another creature. So this thing's kind of cute. So it's a 1G2 one, so you can get in underneath if you want to. But the cool thing about this card is when it turns face up, not only does it get bigger, because it's a Megamorph, but it makes something else bigger as well. And so, it's kind of cute.

I like the idea that it gets a counter, and it gives something else a counter. It also allows you to do some fun math, you know, that when people are blocking, they never quite know what's going to happen. And so this really lets you mess up math because this thing can end up becoming, instead of a 2-2 creature, become a 3-2 and something else can get bigger. Remember, though, it's another creature, so it can't put it on itself.

Okay, next. Harbinger of the Hunt. Three red green, so five mana. One of which is red, one of which is green. It's a five, three dragon. It's got flying. For two and a red, it deals one damage to each creature without flying. And for two and a green, it deals one damage to each creature with flying.

So this one's quirky. It's making reference to Earthquake and Hurricane, which were two cards that showed up in early Magic in Alpha. Hurricane was an expel that did damage to all the non-flying creatures, and Hurricane was an expel that did damage to all the flying creatures.

Now we've really moved away from Earthquake and Hurricane, although technically, Red still does direct damage, so clearly it can hit non-flyers if it wants to. Green is still allowed to do damage to flyers. It can't damage creatures normally, but it is allowed to hit flyers. So each of these effects is something that Red and Green can do.

It's kind of calling back to olden days. It's definitely one of those cards that's sort of like, if you were around an Alpha, this card is a little more, it's definitely sort of talking about, here's the dragon, it's causing earthquakes and hurricanes. It's sort of the feel I think we were going for. Okay, next. Hardened Berserker.

It's two and a red for a 3-2 Human Berserker. And whenever you attack, your next spell costs one less. So this is definitely... One of the things that red does is instant mana. But we often get into trouble with instant mana, so this is trying it a little bit different.

The idea here is, essentially, for all intents and purposes, if I attack, I kind of get a red mana, not red mana, colorless mana, to use in the turn.

It's kind of like I'm adding that to my mana pool. But in a way, it's a little cleaner. Making the next spell one less is a little easier. The problem, if you put mana in your mana pool, is things clear during combat. And so, it's just, this was a cleaner way

of kind of adding one mana without having to say you add one mana and then telling you it doesn't clear from combat and stuff. Okay, next. Haven of the Spirit Dragon. This is a land. Okay, first of all, you tap to add a colorless mana. You then can tap to add one mana

of any color, but you can only use it to cast dragons. You can spend two mana, tap, sac, you can reanimate, you can take a dragon or oogen, and put it from the graveyard onto the battlefield. So the Haven of the Spirit Dragon, the idea was Ugin was injured. So for those who don't

know the story too well, Ugin had a giant battle with Nicol Bolas and he ended up dying in the original version of the timeline. But, realizing he was in deep trouble, he sort of telepathically sent a message to the future and lured back Sarkhan, who managed to come back and save him. Now, what happened was Sarkhan didn't stop the fight. Ugin was still injured in the fight, but he managed to get him into a protective cocoon. So the idea is he stayed in that cocoon until present day. So when we come back to

the modern timeline, Ugin actually breaks out of the cocoon after having rested for 1300 years. And that protective cocoon was right here. It is the haven of the spirit dragon. We actually saw the same place three different times. There was a land representing this area in each of the sets. Obviously he was dead, you know, he was gone. There was a land representing this area in each of the sets. Obviously, he was gone. It's the place that Ugin went originally when he was called by Ugin to go back in time. And then it's the place where

Ugin falls and Sarkhan has to save him. And now it's the place where he comes out of his cocoon, or whatever we want to call it, his protective thing that healed him. So the interesting thing about this was, we really wanted to make it a dragon-specific card. It's like, okay, you know, Ugin is the protector of the dragons. Okay, well, here's a land that you can use to play dragons.

And it's sort of a land of any colors, but only for dragons. Otherwise, it's just a colorless land. But the interesting thing was, this is Ugin's land, right? Well, clearly it has to interact with Ugin. The problem is, Ugin is a planeswalker, and when you get to be a planeswalker, you override creature types.

So Ajani is a cat warrior, but he's not a cat. Karn is not an artifact. You kind of transcend your card type slash creature type when you become a planeswalker. So the problem was, we wanted to reference Ugin, who is a dragon, but he's not actually game-wise a dragon. The solution was to say, okay, you can reanimate any dragon, and we'll call it Ugin by name,

because clearly the flavor here is we want you to be able to get Ugin. So we'll just say, okay, any dragon, and we'll call it Ugin by name, because clearly the flavor here is we want you to be able to get Ugin, so we'll just say, okay, any dragon or Ugin, who's not technically a dragon card-wise, but is a dragon flavor-wise. It is true you cannot get Nicol Bolas, who's also a dragon and a planeswalker, but not technically a dragon, but you know what? The cocoon isn't for him. You can't help Nicol Bolas. Okay, next.

Hedonist Trove. It's a black enchantment. It costs five black, black, seven mana, five witches black. When it enters the battlefield, you exile all cards from target opponent's graveyard. You can play any land that's exiled, although you follow the same rules of the land, so you can only play one land a turn.

And you may cast cards that are exiled, but you can only cast one a turn. So this is kind of a cool thing. What I'm doing is I'm essentially stealing my opponent's graveyard, and then the reason you can play land is, hopefully you can use some of the land to get the colors you need to play their stuff. And then, if you're able to, you can play the things that are their graveyard. So this is definitely one of those cards that requires a little bit of support. Either you need to have access to different colors,

or you need to destroy some of their land before you cast a spell so that the land's in their graveyard so that you can then get access to it. But this is definitely a cool card. Black does not do as much stealing as blue and red do, but I definitely like the idea of black stealing stuff out of the opponent's graveyard. That's pretty black, and black definitely has cast spells out of the graveyard before, so this is in black territory, but just a little bit different. I think it's a cool card. Okay, next, Hidden Dragonslayer. I already

did one Dragonslayer, but there's more slayers. White likes to slay dragons. So it's one and a white, so two mana, one white, two mana, one of which is white, for two, one human warrior. It's got lifelink. It's got megamorph, two and a white, so three mana, one of which is white. And when it turns face up, you get to destroy target creature with power, target creature and opponent controls with power four or greater. Okay, so we clearly wanted to get,

like, we liked the idea of a dragon slayer, the archetype, we obviously, I previously talked about one of the cards, we did multiples of them,

you know, the dragon slayer is pretty iconic. So this card is a 2-1, so you can, you can duck in underneath the morph if you want, and it's got lifelink,

so you can, for two mana, you can get a 2-1 lifelinker, that's fine especially in an aggressive deck but and this is the cool part is

you know at turn 3 you can put it face down turn 4 you can turn it face up instead of 2-1 you get a megamorphid so it gets to be a 3-2 and it's got lifelink

so that extra power means something the other cool thing about wanting to use megamorphids when you turn it face up it gets to destroy a big creature

what will it destroy? a dragon! now it doesn't gets to destroy a big creature. What will it destroy? A dragon! Now, it doesn't have to destroy a dragon to destroy any creature with power four or greater, but one of the things we did is all our dragons basically had the ability to be four power or greater. We had the cycle of three threes with Megamorph, so not every dragon necessarily has four power, but pretty much this can kill most of the dragons in play, and most of the big things in the set, most of them are dragons.

So this card both has flexibility that you can use it in other places and kill other things. It's not, well, it says dragon slayer on it. It will kill other big things. But it definitely has the flavor we want to capture of this, you know, human creature that's a slayer of dragons.

Okay, next. Icefall Regent. So this is one of the cycle of rare monocolored dragons. It's three blue blue for, so five mana, two of which is blue, for a four three dragon, and it's flying. When you enter the battlefield, you tap

target creature, and it stays tapped, and it doesn't untap, for as long as it comes into play. And it also has spells of the opponents that target this creature cost two more to cast. So we were trying to make an ice dragon for those. I mean, you look at the picture. Clearly the ability is you are using your ice breath to lock it down.

One of the things that's very cool is that there's a lot of different kinds of dragons in Dungeons & Dragons. And I assume from mythology before that. So one of the neat things is us, as we were trying to do a variety of dragons, we definitely were looking at different breath weapons and stuff. So one of the breath weapons of this dragon is an ice weapon. Ice dragons are a cool thing. I actually think they're blue in color in Dungeons & Dragons. So anyway, this is definitely us doing an

ice breath weapon. One of the cool things we did at the pre-release is instead of doing the normal color dyes like we normally do, we did them tied to the breath weapon of the dragon. So for example, the blue, if you chose the blue deck or sorry, you chose the

I think Ochotai, I think the white blue deck was the one that had the breath weapon, the ice weapon. But anyway, its die was like an ice the die looked like a piece of ice because it was an ice breath. And it was interesting, just a very different take on it. There's a little game you played when you went to the pre-release of Dragon's Ark here where you were, you set up these

little plastic pieces and you used the breath weapon to try to knock them down. So I did very well at our employee pre-release. I set the record and then it was was, like, beaten, like, it was beaten a few minutes later by somebody who asked me for my advice how to do it. So, anyway. I helped somebody, I taught them my trick, and then they did better than me. Okay, next.

Illusionary games. So this is an enchantment, an aura, enchant creature. It costs three blue blue, so five mana, two witches blue. It says you control enchanted creatures, so it's like you control magic. But every time your opponent has a creature enter the battlefield, this moves to that creature. So the cool thing in this spell is you get to start by controlling anything you want. But then, really what this does is you get to control the latest thing they play. Now the interesting thing about that is your opponent kind of has to cast the things they want to cast

because otherwise they'll never get them into play. But the trick is what they want to do is cast something and then quickly cast the next thing, especially if it's a big thing. But what that means is you always get at least, I mean, unless they happen to get a lot in one turn, you often get at least a turn with their creature. So it's kind of neat in that you're always stealing the latest creature. We do a lot of, you know, stealing creatures and stuff, and one of the things that's neat on effects that we do all the time

is just finding little tweaks to do that's just a little bit different. I like how this card just has a different feel to it. I mean, it's definitely a control magic, but it does it in a... It's just the gameplay's a little bit different, how it plays out, what it makes your opponent do. It just forces your opponent to play in a very different way than they normally do against this kind of spell, which I

think is cool. Okay, next, Inspiring Call. It's an instant. A green instant. Two and a green. Three mana. One of which is green. Draw a card for each creature you control with a plus one plus one counter, and then those creatures gain indestructible. So this is a cool thing in that it has two purposes.

One is it obviously can protect your creatures, you can give them indestructible, although it can only protect your creatures that have plus one plus one counters on them. And it also, off those same creatures, it draws you cards. So sometimes you want to use a card more aggressively, you know, drawing cards to sort of get the things you want to be aggressive. Sometimes you want to be more defensive with it, which cards to sort of get the things you want to be aggressive. Sometimes you want to be more defensive with it, which is, I'm going to hold back, I'm going to use it to protect my creatures, and as a side benefit, I'll get to draw cards. But it really lets you be both.

You can lean more toward the first building and be offensive, or the second building and be defensive. You have the choice which way you want to go. Okay, next. Keeper of the Lens. One mana, it's an artifact creature, Gollum, for a 1-2,

and you may look at the face down, you may look at face down creatures you don't control. So one of the things is in Contra Terk here, we had a lens that lets you look

at face down creatures, and we're like, okay, we're going to change it up a little bit, but this time, instead of being just an artifact,

it's, you know, there's a Gollum that keeps the artifact. Something happened to the Gollum last time, alternate timeline, I don't know if a cons killed him or something, but this time, instead of being just an artifact, it's, you know, there's a golem that keeps the artifact. Something happened to the golem last time, alternate timeline, I don't know if a cons killed him or something, but this time, he's still around. Maybe the dragons like him, I'm not sure. But it's another little subtle thing where like, okay, we have a card that's similar

to what we did before. That card was an artifact, this is an artifact, but this time, there's a creature. So it's just a little bit different. So it's not exactly the same. When you change the timeline, things are similar but they're not identical. Okay, next. Caligon Forerunners. Okay, so this is

two and a red. So three mana, one of which is red for a star three creature. It's a human berserker. It's got trample. Its power is equal to the number of creatures you control. And it's got dash two R, two and a red. So first off, this is nodding back to a card called Keldon Warlord from Alpha.

So Keldon Warlord, I think with star star equals the number of creatures you have. We've since moved that ability off. We moved it to green for a while and now it's in white. White and green mean the creature color is more, had a thing about going wide, so that's where you see the ability. This ability is kind of a little bit of a throwback. It doesn't make its toughness bigger. It's just its power.

So it's definitely trying to go into deck with wanting to get a lot of weenies out. It also has dash, which is really interesting, which is this is an example of a card with dash in which the dash cost is the same as the casting cost. It's not cheaper. And so the idea is, well, why would I want a dash? It's like, I want a dash solely because I can get a lot in.

Late in the game, I could have a lot of creatures in play, and you don't know necessarily the first time I play this that I have it, so I can get in unawares. And the haste is pretty, when there's a lot of creatures in play, and this creature does a lot of damage, and it's got trample, it definitely can be something that your opponent can't plan for, and, you know, you can use the dash as a means to surprise them. The other cool thing about it is, if you want, you can surprise them, and then, you know, you have the ability to keep paying the mana every turn to attack with it every turn.

then you have the ability to keep paying the mana every turn to attack with it every turn. So Dash is an interesting decision of, because you can't attack the turn, you don't Dash it, either you want to continually Dash it using a mana every turn, or you want to wait a turn, not attack for one turn, to allow you to permanently attack without having to pay the Dash cost each turn. So I like that. Dash is one of those mechanics that I know we will see again. It's a pretty cool mechanic and it has a lot of flexibility. Okay, next.

Kolaghan's Command. So every dragon gets a command, including Kolaghan. One black, red, instant. So three mana, one black, including one black and one red. Okay, choose two. You can take a creature card

from your graveyard and put it in your hand. Target player can discard a card. You can take a creature card from your graveyard and put it in your hand. Target player can discard a card. You can destroy target artifact, or you can deal two damage to target creature or player. So once again, it has two block abilities and two red abilities. It's got a raise dead and a discard effect, and it's got a shatter, and it's got a shock for all intents and purposes. So the thing that's neat is you kind of can pick and choose what you want to do. You notice it's pretty aggressive in nature.

You know, the deck wants to be attacking and it wants to get things out of the way. So, okay, it can shock things, it can destroy artifacts, it can discard cards. Pretty aggressive against the opponent. But also it can bring back creatures to help you sort of keep up with your attack. So each of the commands is chosen to sort of have effects that both make flavor, fit in the colors they need to fit in, and fit the strategy of that archetype. And so this, the Kolaghan deck,

aka the old-school Mardu deck, wants to be pretty aggressive. Okay, next, Lightning Berserker. This is a 1-1, costs a single red mana. It's a human berserker. It's got fire breathing, meaning for one red mana, you can get plus 1, plus 0 until end of turn. And it's got dash for a single red mana. It's a human berserker. It's got fire breathing, meaning for one red mana, you can get plus 1, plus 0 until end of turn. And it's got dash for a single red mana.

So this is another good example of a dash creature that costs the same as its casting costs. But, like the berserkers I just talked about, this card, late game, has the ability to be pretty potent. Because for every red mana you have, you can pump this thing up. So late game, let's say I'm playing a deck, either a mono red deck or a heavy red deck,

and I have eight or nine or ten mountains out late in the game. All of a sudden, bam! I can hit you out of the blue for ten mana or ten damage or nine damage, whatever I have enough red mana. But on the same sense, this is also the kind of card that maybe on turn one you just want to play it.

It's a good one drop, and then you have a Fire Breather that you can early on do some damage in an early game. So it both works as a nice early card and as a later card. Okay, Living Lore. Three and a blue for a star star creature. It's an avatar. When it enters,

you exile an instant or a sorcery from your graveyard, and then it has power and toughness equal to the converted mana cost of the exiled instant or sorcery, and then whenever it deals combat damage, you have an option. You may choose to sacrifice it, and if you do,

you get to have the effect of that instant or sorcery happen without having to pay its mana cost. So, this is the kind of card, by the way, that I think I made this card in the past, but what I did was I made a card, I tried to make a card where you take an instant or sorcery

and you make it into a creature. But I never quite got the right way. I kept wanting to just make it into a creature. But the problem is you can't put an instant or sorcery onto the battlefield. You can't make a permanent out of a non-permanent. The rules really don't like that. And so every time I try to do that, I try to do this card, I kept wanting to sort of put the instant or sorcery onto the battlefield, which you can't. And this card does a nice job of, it uses the enchantmentment but it exiles it so it can use that

as reference so technically the enchantment's in play not this but it has it essentially does what I wanted the spell to do

but in a way that's doable in Black Border so that's that's one of the cool things like for example I made this spell

I tried it a couple times and I was destined for like oh maybe this needs to go in some unset someday because like I didn't know how to do it. I didn't know, like, I didn't know how to get an instant resorcer on the battlefield. Um, but they

figured it out. I remember they, I was on the design team, but I didn't make this card. But, but, uh, I don't think I made this card. Actually, it's very funny. Did I somehow not thinking about making this card? I don't remember making this card. So I, I mean, I, I made this card as a instant resorcer, you know, to put an instant resorcer on the battlefield, but I don't think I made this card in this version.

The funny thing is I make so many cards. And this is a fact I kept thinking of making. So maybe I did. Maybe I somehow came across this. I don't remember making this card. It must have been somebody else. Although, like I said, this is the kind of card I kept trying to make. Okay, Lose Calm.

Lose Calm is a sorcery. A red sorcery for three and a red, so it costs four mana total. So you gain control of target creature until end of turn, it gains haste, and then it can only be blocked by two or more creatures. So let me tell you an interesting little story. So if you notice in Dragon's Shark here, there are four different cards that write out that a creature can't be blocked except by two or more creatures. You all might know that ability as Menace. So here's the interesting thing. The original plan was to introduce Menace during Dragon's Arc here.

We decided we wanted to introduce it to the game. We had already realized we didn't like Intimidate, and so this was a replacement for Intimidate, and we figured that out. So the plan was, okay, it was hard to use Intimidate during Dragon's Tarkir because of all the gold cards. A lot of people don't quite get how Intimidate works with gold cards, and it confuses people. So we were mostly avoiding Intimidate. We actually might have completely avoided Intimidate.

Anyway, so we had realized we liked Menace. So Menace was a card originally called Goblin Wardrums. It was way back in Fallen Empires, I think. And we had used it all the time. We called it the Wardrum ability. We used it all the time. We mostly used it in red, although we realized that if we wanted to replace

Intimidate, we could put it in black and red. It fit very well. And it had the same basic flavor we liked in black and red, which is the idea of I'm kind of scary, that you don't want to block me alone because you're like, I'm afraid of you, that I need a buddy before I'm brave enough to block you.

So anyway, the plan was, Dragon's Tarkir put five, or I'm not sure whether, I think Development actually put them in, not Design. But Development put in a bunch of Menace cards and the plan was, okay, there's four Menace cards, this is going to be the introduction of menace cards, and the plan was, okay, there's four menace cards. This is an introduction to menace. But then we realized that Magic Origins was going to introduce both scry and prowess as evergreen keywords. And we said, you know what?

It's kind of weird to have an evergreen keyword show up in the third set of a block. The very next set, we're going to be introducing two new keywords. Why don't we just introduce three keywords there? But we said, you don't have to get rid of the cards, just write them out, you know. And so, the funny thing is, we knew these cards had Menace. I think they got Oracle to Menace as soon as Magic Origins

came out, I think. But we just, we wanted to introduce it together. One of the things you have to think about is it's a lot easier to present things grouped together and kind of bundling a bunch of new creature keywords all at one time just wasn't easier messaging to do. And so, I mean, one of the things we're constantly thinking about is when we want to do things and make messages

that we are clear about when we do it. And so having things work together, having a bunch of things at the same time, just it's a louder message. And so Magic Origins was like, okay, we're revamping the creature keywords. we actually took away three creature keywords, which is, we took away, I think, remember, we took away Landwalk, we took away Intimidate, and we downgraded Protection from Evergreen to Deciduous, meaning we use it every once in a while, but

it won't be in every set anymore. But anyway, that's, so, that's lose calm. Okay, next, Minister of Pain. Two and a block for two, three human shaman. It has exploit, which means when it enters the battlefield, you may choose to sacrifice a creature, your choice.

If you do, if you do exploit, your opponent's creatures get minus one, minus one until end of turn. One of the cool things about exploit was, like I said, is we liked the idea that you had a spell that the exploit creature could always exploit itself, it could always sacrifice itself. So in a pinch, this card kind of exists as a card

that could be a creature or a spell. But the cool thing is, you could sacrifice something else. So if you sacrifice another creature, then you get this creature and you get the spell. And so the question is, do you have something less valuable than the effect? And the idea essentially is, I could give all my opponent's creatures minus one, minus one. Do I have a creature I care less than having that ability? Could be this creature, could be another smaller creature. And one of the things that's nice is,

there's a lot of smaller creatures that can come up that early game maybe have value, but late game don't. And this allows you to turn cards that, while they maybe matter early in the game, later in the game, when there's more creatures, especially Unlimited, they don't have value anymore. You can turn them into value. Like I said, exploit was one of the things.

The weird thing about exploit was we kind of keyworded this weird ability, which is when it enters the battlefield, it's that creature. Which isn't really something you would keyword, per se, but it tied into a larger thing, which is that, you know, so... You do a lot of quirky things templating when you're trying to make new mechanics. Next, Mere Mockery. I know I'm going to like this card, I like the name already.

One and a blue, it's an enchant creature. Whenever enchanted creature attacks, you make a copy token creature of it until end of combat. So this is definitely a Johnny card in the sense that the creature that you make, unless the creature has haste, can't attack. Although there's some nice combinations with dash, for example. But the cool thing about it is that you... Actually, it doesn't work well with dash, because if you dash the creature, it's going to go into turn. So that's a bad combo.

Don't do that combo, or only in a pinch. The neat thing about this is, why would you want a creature for combat? Now, maybe you have a way to give it haste or something so it can attack, or maybe it has an enter the battlefield effect, maybe it has a death trigger. There's a bunch of ways you can do something in which there's value

every turn that you're copying this thing and it's a neat kind of card that definitely says hey what do you do with me you know we want to have we call them Johnny cards because Johnny's the

psychographic the most gets interested in trying to figure out what to do not that Spike or Timmy can't they do as well but definitely the kind of card we like the exploration card that says okay hey what do you do with this card?

Okay, next. Myth Realized. It's an enchantment. It costs a single white mana. Whenever you cast a non-creature spell, you can put a lore counter on this card. For two and a white, three mana, one of which is white, you could put a lore counter on this card. And then for one white mana, until end of turn, you animate it, in which its power toughness is equal to the number a lore counter on this card. And then for one white mana, until end of turn, you animate it, in which

its power toughness is equal to the number of lore counters on it. So this is kind of a cool card. It's doing something neat with the non-creature space. And what it does, which is kind of cool, is it allows you to have a creature in a deck without actually having any card state creature on it.

So if you want to have a prowess deck, and you want to use these in your deck, this could be the creature, well, I mean, I take it back. If you have a prowess deck, you're going to have creatures with prowess. But this does allow you to have a non-creature deck in which you can attack with creatures being rewarded for having a lot of non-creatures

in your deck. So I guess, in a prowess deck, yeah, you can have a lot of creatures, because prowess is mostly on creatures. But you can do some fun non-creature stuff with this card. Okay, next. Nurse it transcendent. Okay, so, I talked about how we had a weird cycle in the set, and this is

the weird one. So we had five returning cons, four of which were legendary creatures, but one of which, in this alternate timeline, dun-da-da-dun-dun-dun, became a planeswalker. I forgot to write down her loyalty. I don't remember her loyalty.

My guess is it's three or four. I didn't write it down. But anyway, she costs two white-blue, so four mana, one of which is white, one of which is blue. She's got three abilities, like most planeswalkers. Okay, so first she has a plus one ability, plus one loyalty.

You look at the top card of your library and if it's a non-creature, non-land, you may reveal it and put it into your hand. So it's sort of, you've got to draw a card

some of the time. She has minus two, minus two loyalty. Instants and sorcery cards that you cast this turn gain rebound. And for minus nine, so her ultimate, you can create an emblem that the opponents can't cast non-creature spells.

So she definitely rewards you for playing a lot of non-creature spells because you want to use her ability to draw them. So she kind of wants to go in a deck that doesn't have a lot of creatures, mostly non-creatures. And once you get to play your second ability, you can start rebounding. So she does something pretty cool. Garak, the one from Innistrad, actually transforms. So technically, he used the

he was the first to use a, Planeswalker used a keyword from the set a keyword that's from that set. Nursed is the second. It's not something we do a lot. We do it every once in a while. And she actually uses Rebound. That's an ability that's the Ojitai keyword. And so, really, she's all about...

The neat thing about her was, originally, obviously, she was the Khan of the Jeskai. And she was killed in that storyline. It ended badly, if you read Unshattered Realms. But in this timeline, she found a different path, and the clans fell in the past of this timeline, but they existed, and Nerset is the one that sort of starts discovering about them, and so

when we leave Shards here, Sarkhan obviously knows about it, but Narset's been discovering about it, starting to learn about that there were clans, and what the clans were, and so that, even though the clans kind of aren't in the same form, the clans did exist,

the clans of the Northern Khans were proto-versions of themselves back in Thaper Forge, and Narset is learning about that. So for those that are worried about the clans, there's a little hint maybe that there's some hope for the clans. In general, Narset is

definitely doing something where she is, she has a nice strong theme. It's one of the things I like in Planeswalkers. Uh, she really is all about sort of instants and sorceries. Um, her, her ultimate's kind of cute in that, uh, the thing she obsesses on, she can stop with the opponent when she gets at her emblem. So I think that's kind of cute. Okay, next.

Um, Necomaster Dragon. Three blue, black, five mana, one of which is blue, one of which is black, four, four dragon, flying. Whenever you deal combat damage, you may pay two mana. Hold on a second. You may pay two mana, and if you do, you get to put a 2-2 black zombie token onto the battlefield, and each opponent has to take the top two cards of their library and put it into their graveyard. So it makes a 2-2 zombie, and it mills all opponents for two.

So it definitely is playing around. Blue-Black still has because, I mean, it's no longer Silumgar, but it's formerly Sultai, and they still mess with the graveyard a bit, so getting stuff in your opponent's graveyard is good. It lets you animate stuff, and it gets you zombies, because they still mess with the graveyard a bit, so getting stuff in your opponent's graveyard is good, lets you animate stuff,

and it gets you zombies, because he still likes zombies. Okay, Obscuring Aether costs green mana for an enchantment, face-down creature spells cost one less, and for one green, one and a green, two mana, one which is green, you can turn this face-down. So this

is a creature, a non-creature that can become a creature. So this is interesting, most morph cards or megamorph cards, you can turn this face down. So this is a creature, a non-creature that can become a creature. So this is interesting. Most morph cards or megamorph cards, you can only start face down and they just become face up. This card starts face up and it can become face down. So you can turn it into a 2-2 creature. Also, it's a card that you want to play with other morph and megamorphs because face down creatures cost one less to cast. So this allows you to cast morph creatures and megamorph creatures for two mana

instead of three mana. Like I said, the green-blue deck had the... The archetype in Limited was about messing around with megamorph and morph and manifest. Okay, my last card of the day. Ojitai Exemplars. Two white-white for four-four human monk.

Whenever you play a non-creature spell, you get to choose one of three things. You could tap target creature. Ojitai Exemplars could gain first strike and lifelink until end of turn. Or you can instantly flicker Ojitai, which means that you can remove from the game and bring it back.

So essentially, the first ability gets things out of the way so you can attack. The second ability beefs up your creature. It can help you win combats because it gives first strike, or it can help you get extra lifelink. Or, if you want to protect your creature, you can use your instance and sorceries as a means to protect it. Because if, let's say, someone's trying to do a kill spell on it,

I can flicker it to save it. Because the way flicker works, it leaves the game and comes back and forgets anything attached to it from before. So if your opponent tries to use some sort of kill effect and you Flicker it, it won't die to the kill effect. So the idea here is you can use your instant sources to do all sorts of cool combat

tricks. So this is really playing in the sneaky space that you saw Prowess play into. Okay, I got all these. Oh, I'm not quite done yet. So next time I'll have one or two more podcasts, I think.. Okay, I got all these. Oh, I'm not quite done yet. So next time, I have one or two more podcasts, I think. But anyway,

I will continue on thread and thread here until we are done. I can see we had a little extra traffic today. So you guys got a little extra content. Not as great as last time,

but anyway, I am now in my parking space. We all know what that means. Instead of talking magic, it's time for me to be making magic. I'll see you guys soon. Bye-bye.