Angels

Appreciation for Salvation Swan

Restoration Angel is one of, if not my favorite Magic card, so can you give high fives to the people involved in making Salvation Swan.

Can do.

Angels Appreciation High Fives Restoration Angel Salvation Swan

On 5-color Legendary Angel

Hi Mark! Curious as a huge angel fan: If/When 5-color legendary angel?Also All my thanks and many high-fives to the team for mh3, I've gotten so many friends into magic because of it!

I assume when. We make a lot of Angels. I’m glad you and your friends like it.

Angels Appreciation If/When Modern Horizons 3

Avacyn Birthday Trivia

I would like to invoke the rite of birthday trivia to request something about my favorite character, Avacyn!

From time to time we have what we call “brain to print” cards where a cards gets to print in the exact form it was designed. Avacyn, Angel of Hope was one such card. I made it in early vision design, and it never changed (I think they tried different mana costs, but ended back at where I started).Happy Birthday!

Angels Birthday Blogatog / Tumblr Card Printing Mana Vision Design Avacyn, Angel of Hope

Blue Serra Angel Reprint

Hey Maro,If/when functional reprint of Serra angel into blue with a relevant creature type. Just realized now that blue has vigilance and flying.

Been there done that. (Okay, it was Planar Chaos, but we could reprint it.)

Angels Blogatog / Tumblr Blue Creatures Flying If/When Mark Rosewater Planar Chaos Reprints Vigilance Serra Angel

Black Angels vs White Demons

Wizards has introduced almost 30 black angels, even though they're usually described as manifestations of white mana. I don't have a problem with this except yall have only made 5 white demons, 3 of which are from New Capenna! Any thoughts on why, and can I get a maybe on more white angels in the future?

I can promise more white Angels.

Angels Black Demons Mana White

Request for Good Demon Cards

Hey Mark! We've seen evil angels in Magic many, many times, but not really the opposite counterpart. Can I request unambiguously heroic/good demons for a change? At least one? As a treat?

Angels Blogatog / Tumblr Demons Heroic

Flying Angels Flavor Necessity

If/when Angels without flying?

If. It needs a strong flavor reason.
Apparently losing your wings wasn’t enough. : )

Angels Blogatog / Tumblr Flavor Flying Humor If/When

Possibility of Terrifying Angel Art

If/when: Angels that are terrifying in their art

Probably when.

Angels Art If/When

Power Creep and Format Change

Concerning power creep, there may be a comparison and distinction to be made between distorting a format and adding relevant cards to a format. If a card is relevant, it shows up in decks, right? Maybe even a lot of decks. That's good for a format-relevant product. Otherwise, why even make the product?But then what is the delineating mark between format change (good) and format distortion (bad)?One could argue that Serra Angel is an example of format change. Arguably obsolete, nobody is really objecting to the card's irrelevance in eternal formats.So. What is that dividing line? Is formst chsnge just 'distortion over time'? I would argue that healthful change is oft misperceived as power creep, but it took a lot of cards in Commander before we figured out that '2 MV ramp and repeating value' were the prime culprits in accelerating the casual format beyond its 'battlecruiser Magic' roots.I'm not making a big argument one way or another, just trying to stimulate a brain or two..

For starters you’re not using “power creep” as I use it on this blog, but for the sake of saying the same thing for the tenth time, I understand you mean the increase of cards impacting older environments. You bring up the other thing we haven’t been talking about. Card influx talks in neutral terms. Add N relevant cards and impact the environment a particular amount. The faster you add N, the quicker it changes. The sets designed for older formats aren’t adding in cards neutrally though. They are adding in suites of cards built around particular mechanical themes. Adding in whole suites of cards changes environments more quickly as the threshold to make a deck theme relevant gets hit more quickly. That’s the other big impact of designing for a format. It causes you to impact it faster as you are designing whole swaths of mechanical pieces, not just cards. That’s very relevant to the topic at hand.

Angels Blogatog / Tumblr Casual Play Commander Eternal Mana Value Power Level Threshold Your Hand Serra Angel

Appreciating the Otters in Magic

Please pass my thanks to whomever decided otters should be a thing in Magic.I've carried an otter plushie around with me to events through my entire Magic playing career, so almost 15 years. Ive had an otter along for the ride from pretty much every FNM to PTQs to traveling everywhere I could drive within 8 hours to play Legacy for several years or even trips to the other side of the US for large events a couple of times.I was screeching and immediately tried building an otter deck when Lutri and Theving Otter came out with Ikoria. I was literally babbling with joy at the otters in Wilds of Eldraine for MONTHS. To say I'm beside myself with excitement for Bloomburrow would almost be an understatement.My favorite thing to build or play in Magic are tribal-based decks. I built an angel one as my second ever deck (Shards of Alara/Zendikar standard) so I could teach my mom to play before she passed. I was known for a knight/Sword of _____ and _____ deck for years. I've even played Merfolk and Tribal Lightning Bolt (burn) decks a time or two. But I can now have my beloved otters as a theme for my deck.Literally the only way that it could be more perfect for me would have been if there was an Otter Knight named Rora for my little tournament companion.So thank you for making my love for Magic even stronger by adding otters.

I like making otter people happy. : )

Angels Appreciation Bloomburrow Companion Humor Kindred / Typal Knights Legacy Merfolk Otters Shards of Alara Standard Wilds of Eldraine Zendikar Lightning Bolt

Iconic Rarity

As a follow-up to my previous question, you said Dinosaurs can't be "iconic" because they are too popular to use at common. Currently there are, not counting transforms: 6 Uncommon Angels, 3 Common Angels, 3 Uncommon Demons, 2 Common Demons, 3 Uncommon Dragons, 1 Common Dragon, 5 Uncommon Dinosaurs, 2 Common Dinosaurs. There are more lower rarity angels than Dinosaurs, and Dragons/Demons aren't far off.

You need to look at current data (last ten years) and we make the one exception for a set with that creature type as the theme, which happens very infrequently.

Angels Creatures Demons Dinosaurs Dragons Rarity Uncommons

Request for Specific Angel Card

Please print a non-legendary 1BWU (Esper) 3/4 female Angel with Flying, Vigilance and another black ability preferably Deathtouch for Modern. We already have the 1GWU Stoic Angel and 1RWU Lightning Angel. 1BWU is still missing in modern. Thanks :)

One day, every card will be part of a cycle. : )

Angels Black Card Printing Cycles Deathtouch Esper (W/U/B) Flying Humor Lightning Angel Modern Stoic Angel Vigilance

Understanding Role of Primacy

What exactly does it mean for a color to be "primary in a mechanic?"Your last Color Pie article said that Blue was primary in Fliers, Card Draw, and Hexproof. But......the only competitive fliers designed in Standard are White Angels and Red Dragons (sometimes Black Demons, or a multicolored-U card). The best card draw (that's repeatable) is found in BRG. Unconditional Hexproof is only found in Green; Blue has to jump through hoops to get Ward, let alone Hexproof.

Primary is more about as-fan (how often and at what rarity) than anything else. Usually showing up more overall will lead a quality to showing up more in a competitive format, but not always.

Angels As-fan Black Blue Card Draw Color Pie Colors Competitive Play Demons Dragons Green Hexproof Jund (B/R/G) Mechanics Primary Rarity Red Standard Ward White

Issues with Angel Tokens

RE: different Angel tokens- there's currently: 4/4 Angel Warrior, 4/4 Angel with Vigilance, 4/4 Angel, and 3/3 Angel. Apart from the 3/3 they all have minor differences that make it extremely difficult to keep track of what kind of Angel you have and from where. The plain 4/4 Angel tokens are also extremely common to come by, so if you're representing your 4/4 Angel Warrior with Vigilance with one of those, then you might not notice the tribal synergies or the additional keyword.

A number of people have complained about the Angel token issue. I will pass along the note to the set design teams to think about how many versions exist at one time, but it’s not as easy to solve as it might appear at first blush. Because sets rotate, the only simple way to keep one Angel creature token in Standard is to lock into one thing and only ever make the Angel creature token that thing (say 4/4 flying) in new sets.What that means though is sets can’t adjust the token for the needs of that set. The Angel couldn’t gain Warrior to work with party, for example. The other fix is to just make more different kinds of tokens, the 3/3 flyer is a Gargoyle, the 4/4 with flying and vigilance is an Archon, for example, but then we get the Angel fans sad that we’re just making a lot less Angels. For people that care about this, would you prefer different creatures types if the stats/abilities are different?

Angels Archons Creatures Flying Gargoyles Keywords Kindred / Typal Set Design Standard Tokens Vigilance Warriors

Angels Becoming Planeswalkers

As Angels seem to be artificially created on several planes, are they unable to become planeswalkers? (unless given a spark similar to Karn), or are there naturally occurring angels somewhere that could be born with a spark?

So far, the Angels we’ve seen have been created.

Angels Planes Planeswalkers

Angel and Dinosaur Rarity

"I’m skeptical that experiment is going to work. I think Dinosaurs work better showing up at all rarities. " - you on dinosaurs replacing hydras as green's iconic.What about angels appearing at every rarity despite being white's iconic? Why are they so different?

We occasionally do lower rarity iconics when there is a tribal focus, but it’s a infrequent thing and not a default.

Angels Dinosaurs Hydras Kindred / Typal Rarity

Angel of Invention Rarity

Why was Angel of Invention a mythic? Rare seems fine for power level and complexity.

Rarity is not just about what something might feel in isolation but how it feels in contrast to the other rares and mythic rares around it.

Angel of Invention Angels Mythic Rares Power Level Rares Rarity

Angel Planeswalker Possibility

You've said previously that angels, being artificial beings, can't hold a spark. Karn is artificial, yet holds a spark from someone else, and Nixilis has a spark, but wasn't born as a demon. Does this mean that the limitation comes from angels not being able to be born with a spark? If so, could an angel have a spark transferred to them, like Karn, in order to create an angel planeswalker?

Every time someone asks about an angel planeswalker, I bring up Karn as an example of how exceptions can happen.

Angels Demons Planeswalkers

Unique Planeswalker Possibilities

Couldn't a certain plane have an angel or even zombie planeswalker if the rules for them worked differently on that plane (like Sorin)? Or if it got a spark from someone else (like Karn)?

It’s definitely possible.

Angels Planeswalkers Rules Zombies

Angels and Planeswalkers

I was beyond excited when I saw the release of Serra the Benevolent. Angels are my favorite type and it got me to thinking: is it possible for an angel to become a planeswalker? I would think no for created angels, but maybe for souls who have arisen as Serra Angels?

Technically created beings can’t have a spark, but as Karn demonstrates, there are work arounds.

Angels Planeswalkers Serra the Benevolent