Ancestral Vision

Suspend Cards with Garfield PhD

Can you suspend cards with Richard Garfield, Ph.D.? For example, could you suspend Act of Treason as Rift Bolt? How about a land as Ancestral Vision?

You can cast a card as a spell with suspend. Again, lands fo not work with Richard Garfield PhD.

Act of Treason Ancestral Vision Lands Richard Garfield Richard Garfield, Ph.D. Rift Rift Bolt Suspend Suspend

Dislike of Suspend Mechanic

Why was suspend disliked anyway? It seems like a supercool unique mechanic. I could see how stuff like ancestral vision despite being an awesome card wouldn't be too fun for timmy. Its a blast in cube at least

It requires a lot of “bookkeeping”. You have to exile it with counters and then remember every turn to remove a counter.

Ancestral Vision Draft Formats Mechanics Suspend Suspend The Exile Zone Timmy / Tammy

Suspend Mechanic Limits

Wait so you've said forever you can't use a land to play something like Ancestral Vision, but you've also said you can play a Force of Will as a Riftwing Skate through the Suspend cost... Soo could you suspend a land as an Ancestral Vision? It's not casting the card, you're playing it via the activated ability : )

One last Richard Garfield PhD question and I’m putting them on hiatus for a little while. Richard Garfield PhD lets you play cards as if it were a card that shares the mana cost with that card. Lands, while having a converted mana cost of 0, do not have a mana cost. That means it is impossible for a land to share a mana cost which in turn means Richard Garfield PhD can neither “turn” a land into something or “turn” something into a land.

Ancestral Vision Force of Will Lands Mana Richard Garfield Suspend

Mana Cost vs CMC

So, the reminder text of Evermind implies that nonexistent mana costs are just that: nonexistent. Un-rules and Richard Garfield aside, don't Evermind, Ancestral Vision, and a basic land have the same mana cost?

No. A converted mana cost of 0 and no mana cost are not the same thing.

Ancestral Vision Evermind Lands Mana Richard Garfield Rules Un-sets

Playing Lands as Spells

If I have Richard Garfield, Phd in play, and an effect lets me cast a spell without paying its mana cost (like say Omniscience), can I play a land as Ancestral Vision?

No.

Ancestral Vision Cast Lands Mana Omniscience Richard Garfield

Mana Costs Clarification

So I can't use a land to cast Ancestral Vision with Richard Garfield, PhD? Is this the same thing as colorless is not a color?

No, you cannot. A zero mana cost and no mana cost are not the same thing.

Ancestral Vision Cast Colorless Colors Lands Mana Richard Garfield

Cost and Color Comparison

I think the most easily understood explanation to the Richard Garfield / Land / Ancestral Vision question is to draw a parallel to the "colorless / share a color" explanation people have become familiar with - things with no color don't share a color, and things with no mana cost don't share a mana cost (though they do share a CONVERTED mana cost, that's not the attribute in question).

A fine comparison.

Ancestral Vision Colorless Colors Lands Mana Richard Garfield

Casting Lands Rules

"No. If we had an Oracle update [for Richard Garfield, Ph.D.], it would say “cast”." - Would I still be able to cast a Dryad Arbor as though it were Ancestral Vision by discarding a green card if I controlled both Richard Garfield and Dream Halls?

Lands do not have mana costs.

Ancestral Vision Cast Dream Halls Dryad Dryad Arbor Green Lands Mana Richard Garfield Richard Garfield, Ph.D.

Devoid's Design Rule

I guess a simple way to put it is that I think if a card has a mana cost (as opposed to cards like Ancestral Vision and DFC back faces), it should match the colors of that mana cost with very rare exceptions like Ghostfire and Transguild Courier, not anything on the scale of Devoid. It's something the game normally holds to, and it seems like an important rule, right?

Magic is a game that breaks it’s own rules when it makes sense. And it did both mechanically and flavorfully make sense. No one seemed to have major issues when we made colored artifacts. I just don’t get why this is a line that is so important to some of you. From a design side, it was a very elegant solution to a very thorny problem.

Ancestral Vision Artifacts Colors Devoid Dual Faced Cards Ghostfire Mana Rares Rules Transguild Courier

Suspending Lands Query

With Richard Garfield, Ph.D. in play, could you suspend an Island as if it were Ancestral Vision or Living End? (Technically, suspending a card isn't casting it...)

No, you can’t.

Ancestral Vision Living End Richard Garfield Richard Garfield, Ph.D. Suspend

Cascade Interaction Oversight

Was R&D aware of the interaction between Cascade and the no-CMC cards from Time Spiral like Ancestral Vision and Hypergenesis?

We were aware but they didn’t overlap in Standard and older formats have other crazy stuff going on.

Ancestral Vision Cascade Game Design Hypergenesis Mana Value Standard Time Spiral

Modern Banning Philosophy

I know banning's not in your jurisdiction, but... the modern playerbase as whole feels that Development is going about balancing the format the wrong way. Nobody wants to play an eternal format where you're not allowed to play the powerful, iconic cards - such as Bloodbraid Elf, that was in no way broken. The format would've been better served by unbanning cards necessary to other archetypes, like mental misstep or ancestral vision.

The people who make the banning decisions do not make this decision casually or without a great deal of thought. Banning a card is the last thing we want to do. We want people to be able to play with their cards, but even worse is an environment which is unfun and players don’t want to play.

Ancestral Vision Bannings Blood Bloodbraid Elf Elf Eternal Format Legality Format Legality Mental Misstep Modern

Ban/Restrict Record

"I currently hold the record for the designer who has the most banned/restricted cards" Got a quick list of what those cards are?

The following are banned or restricted cards that I had a hand in the design: (note in numerous cases multiple people designed the cards in question; also I may have missed one or two) Ancestral Vision Ancient Den Arcbound Ravager Bitterblossom Chrome Mox Cloudpost Darksteel Citadel Dread Return Earthcraft Frantic Search Gifts Ungiven Golgari Grave-Troll Great Furnace Gush Hypergenesis Lion’s Eye Diamond Lotus Petal Memory jar Seat of the Synod Skullclamp Squandered Resources Survival of the Fittest Thirst for Knowledge Time Spiral Tinker Tree of Tales Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle Vault of Whispers Voltaic Key Windfall Yawgmoth’s Bargain Yawgmoth’s Will

Ancestral Vision Ancient Den Arcbound Ravager Bannings Bargain Bitterblossom Chrome Mox Cloudpost Darksteel Darksteel Citadel Dread Return Earthcraft Eye Format Legality Frantic Search Gifts Ungiven Golgari (B/G) Golgari Grave-Troll Great Furnace Hypergenesis Lotus Petal Memory Jar Search Seat of the Synod Skullclamp Squandered Resources Survival of the Fittest Thirst for Knowledge Time Spiral Tree of Tales Troll Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle Vault of Whispers Voltaic Key Windfall Your Hand

Miracle Cost Discussions

Did you ever consider making a miracle card without a mana cost (kinda like ancestral vision et all with suspend)? Seems like that would be pretty cool... but maybe a little too johnny.

We spent a lot of time in design and development talking about a 0 cost miracle.

Ancestral Vision Johnny / Jenny Mana Miracle Suspend