Coat of Arms

Birthday Trivia About Slivers

Hey Mark, it’s my birthday today. Can I get a birthday trivia factoid concerning either: Sliver Legion, Sliver Hivelord, Sliver Overlord, or The First Sliver?

Normally, when we put Slivers in a block we put in one legendary five-color Sliver, so in Future Sight (the end of Time Spiral block), I made one based on a card I designed in Exodus that I really liked called Coat of Arms. That’s how Sliver Legion came to be. Happy Birthday!

Birthday Coat of Arms Exodus Future Sight Sliver Sliver Hivelord Sliver Legion Sliver Overlord The First Sliver Time Spiral

Viking vs Ninja Types

I think there's an important detail in the Viking/Warrior vs Ninja/Rogue discussion being overlooked. Prior to Ninjas being printed, Magic had zero Rogue-specific tribal (I checked gatherer.) Players weren't losing out on access to anything (other than Coat of Arms, etc, but that works with Ninjas too.) That wasn't true with Naga/Snakes, and it certainly wouldn't be true of Vikings/Warriors.

The decision of when to make a new creature type can’t just be the existence of tribal of the previous creature types. That’s a Mel focus. And yes, some of the time we should lean towards Mel. But making new and exciting creature types is a Vorthos focus and we also need to lean towards Vorthos some of the time.

Card Printing Coat of Arms Creatures Kindred / Typal Melvin / Mel Naga Ninjas Rogue Snake Vorthos Warrior

Werewolf Typing Reasoning

Was there ever a possibility of Werewolves just being Wolf type like the Leonin being Cat type? (I'm guessing the oomph of being able to play an actual WEREWOLF outweighed matching them for cards like Coat of Arms)

We discussed it but thought the word Werewolf had a lot of cache. Note that all things that boost Werewolves also boost Wolves.

Cat Coat of Arms Wolf

Thoughts on Coat of Arms

Just came across coat of arms. What are your feelings on this card? Seems very high maintenance.

I designed the card and a big fan. It does require some math but it helps make creature types with less support viable.

Coat of Arms Creatures Keyword Actions

Artifact-Enchantment Distinction

About artifacts and enchantments, I'm not sure I agree completely with the distinction. Heroes' Podium or Coat of Arms, for example, wouldn't exist in that scenario. I'm completely on the side that enchantments shouldn't have tap abilities, though.

If the two cards types had been defined as I laid out from the beginning, everyone would just assume that’s how they are and me suggesting the current way would feel strange.

Artifacts Coat of Arms Enchantments Heroes' Podium Tap / Untap

Squirrels in Magic

I love squirrels. My favorite deck in middle school was the squirrel deck my friends and I worked together to build. We took a bunch of squirrel-generation effects, threw in Coat of Arms and got to tell our opponents "Imagine you're being chased by thirty-three, 33/33 squirrels... Stupid, but SCARY!" I get that MTG wants to be badass, but there is so much badass out there. Can't we have goofy and powerful casual strats to go *nuts* with?

If it was up to me Magic would have lots of squirrels. In fact, I believe I am responsible for something like 75% of all the squirrel cards in Magic.

Casual Play Coat of Arms Rat Squirrel

Coat of Arms Impact

Earlier this year, my cousin finished his shield. Tell me something about Coat of Arms.

I designed Coat of Arms as a way to allow players to make their tribal decks stronger. This was pre-Onslaught so we hadn’t ever really pushed tribal as a theme. The success of this card was one of the things that helped me convince R&D that tribal would be a popular theme.

Coat of Arms Kindred / Typal Onslaught

Unmentioned Favorite Card

What's your favorite card which hasn't been mentioned yet on Blogatog?

I’ve mentioned a lot of cards on this site. Have I mentioned Coat of Arms yet? That was a card I designed because I thought it would let me (and others like me) have some fun with tribal decks. I had no idea how much love the card would get.

Coat of Arms Kindred / Typal Mark's Favorites

Designer's Signature Cards

I understand collaborative design and that the real beast being created begins with Garfield and stretches into some "Rosewaterian" 30 year plan, but there must be at least a few cards that designers could plant their design-flags into and claim as, "All me baby!" What cards have the Maro254 flag?

Doubling Season is all me. Coat of Arms is all me. Mindslaver is all me. I had a lot to do with Mirrodin and Ravnica and Zendikar and Innistrad. I did split cards and hybrid mana and flashback. I don’t know what exactly is supposed to be my great mark on the game.

Beast Coat of Arms Doubling Season Flashback Hybrid Innistrad Mana Mindslaver Mirrodin Plant Richard Garfield Split Cards Zendikar

Visions, 7th Edition Contributions

Is there anything I can credit you for doing in Visions or 7th Edition?

Cards I remember designing (or co-designing) in Visions: (note this is a long time ago so my memory might be faulty) Anvil of Bogardan Brood of Cockroaches Chronatog City of Solitude Eye of Singularity Helm of Awakening Juju Bubble Necrosavant Ovinomancer Quirion Ranger Rainbow Efreet Relentless Assault Rowen Squandered Resources Suq'Ata Assassin Talruum Champion Triangle of War Cards I remember making (or co-making) in Seventh Edition: (once again my memory is not perfect) Arcane Laboratory Archivist Coat of Arms Compost Confiscate Delusions of Mediocrity Elvish Lyrist Elvish Piper Engineered Plague Evacuation Fervor Grafted Skullcap Gravedigger Hibernation Lightning Blast Maro Mawcor Might of Oaks Nature’s Revolt Opportunity Opposition Persecute Pygmy Pyrosaur Reclaim Relentless Assault Revenant Rolling Stones Rowen Seeker of Skybreak Seismic Assault Serra’s Embrace Shock Spellbook Sudden Impact Telepathy Temporal Adept Thieving Magpie Tolarian Winds Yavimaya Enchantress

Anvil of Bogardan Arcane Laboratory Archivist Assassin Brood of Cockroaches Champion Chronatog City of Solitude Coat of Arms Delusions of Mediocrity Efreets Elvish Lyrist Elvish Piper Engineered Plague Eye Eye of Singularity Fervor Grafted Skullcap Gravedigger Helm of Awakening Juju Bubble Lightning Blast Mark Rosewater Mawcor Might of Oaks Necrosavant Ovinomancer Pygmy Pyrosaur Quirion Ranger Rainbow Efreet Ranger Relentless Assault Revenant Revolt Rolling Stones Rowen Seeker of Skybreak Seismic Assault Seventh Edition Spellbook Squandered Resources Sudden Impact Suq'Ata Assassin Talruum Champion Temporal Adept Thieving Magpie Tolarian Winds Triangle of War Visions Yavimaya Enchantress

Tribal Type Reflection

I've been reading old Making Magic articles, and I want to thank you for pushing the game towards so many of the things I love about it. Nothing makes me happier than having Doubling Season, Coat of Arms, and a token generator (most often making Soldiers, though any tribe will do). (At some point I'll part with my Coat of Arms long enough to send it to you to sign.) Were you disappointed to see the Tribal type go?

While I liked the concept, in practice it was causing more pain than it was worth.

Appreciation Coat of Arms Doubling Season Kindred / Typal Making Magic Soldier Tokens

One-Sided Card Design

One sided Coat of Arms, printable in modern Design?

The question to whether or not we can print it is how high of a mana cost would we have to give it and would players play it at that cost?

Card Printing Coat of Arms Mana Modern

Magic's Early Contributions

wait, kindle and coat of arms are yours? thanks. -sent from my iTimeMachine, 1999

I’ve been at this for a while. : )

Coat of Arms Kindle

Favorite Card Designs

Although you've designed thousands of cards, could we get a list of a few of your favorites?

Doubling Season Mindslaver Recoil Maro Kindle Sneak Attack Soul Foundry Endless Ranks of the Dead Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker Coat of Arms B.F.M.

Coat of Arms Doubling Season Endless Ranks of the Dead Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker Kindle Mark Rosewater Mindslaver Recoil Sneak Attack Soul Foundry

Dinosaur Type Request

Thanks for reading. I am a biologist first and a Magic player second (if those were the only two things), and it hurts me to see dinosaurs called lizards. I don't expect creature types to perfectly match biological understanding. I accept, for instance, that Thalia and Kird Ape together receive no boosts from a Coat of Arms. But dinosaurs and lizards are barely even related! You might as well call Sanctuary Cat a boar. What is the chance we see the return of the dinosaur creature type?

What you fail to realize is that in the Magic multiverse, dinosaurs are lizards.

Ape Boar Cat Coat of Arms Creatures Dinosaur Kird Ape Lizard Sanctuary Cat