Deflecting Palm

Non-Magical Sorceries Concept

Hello. How do you feel about sorceries (or instants) that don't actually represent any kind of sorcery or magic? For example, I'm a big fan of spells flavored as martial art techniques, like Deflecting Palm or Spinning Wheel Kick.With UB sets being more common, and Magic expanding in new directions like the Wild West and Space Opera sets, I feel like non-magic sorceries and instants are going to become more common as well. Which is cool for me, but I'm not sure how popular or unpopular an opinion that is.Is this an issue you guys think about at all?

We’ve made a *lot* of them over the years, so it’s not a new thing.

Art Deflecting Palm Instants Sorceries Spells Spinning Wheel Kick

Request for More Redirect Effects

May I request more redirecting effects a la Deflecting Palm, Deflecting Swat, Comeuppance, et al?

It’s something we purposefully chose to dial down.

Comeuppance Deflecting Palm Deflecting Swat Swat

Request for Aikido Support

In the color pie article, you mentioned that damage redirection isn't something that is done that often anymore. However, I find that cards like Deflecting Palm, Backlash, and (possibly my favorite Magic card ever) Reflect Damage support an interesting style of gameplay, nicknamed "aikido" since it's all about turning attacks on you back onto the opponent. Would I be able to ask you (and by extension R&D) for a legendary creature that would explicitly support such a style in the future?

Any effect can be built around. When we stop or greater lower the occurrence of an effect, it means we’re preventing players from accessing a certain strategy or strategies. So a strategy existing isn’t unto itself a reason to start doing something we’ve stopped. And for what it’s worth, back in the day, I made a pretty potent white/blue aikido deck.

Azorius (W/U) Backlash Blue Color Pie Creatures Deflecting Palm Game Design Game Play Reflect Damage

Card Text Nuances

What is the reasoning for some cards avoiding the use of the word "target" i.e. Deflecting Palm and other cards that do target. In other words, why do some cards target when others don't in regards to certain effects, and is there a set of hard and fast rules where x effect "chooses", and y effect "targets"?

It’s done very deliberately, but I’m not knowledgeable of all the nuances to it.

Deflecting Palm Rules

Damage Redirection in White

Are damage redirection effects still in white's section of the color pie without requiring another color (usually red, as in Deflecting Palm and Boros Fury-Shield)? Could something like Harm's Way still be printed?

It’s still in white’s part of the color pie.

Boros (R/W) Boros Fury-Shield Card Printing Color Pie Colors Deflecting Palm Harm's Way Red White

Khans Watermark Rationale

Mark, I don't understand the rationale behind the Khans watermarking. All other things being equal, why would Death Frenzy get one when Deflecting Palm does not? Or Glacial Stalker receive one but then Monastery Flock not receive one?

We left them off cards that might go into multiple intro decks.

Death Frenzy Deflecting Palm Frenzy Glacial Stalker Monastery Flock

Jeskai's Humble Strength

Why are the Jeskai so weak? You can perform a Singing Bell Strike, have your Dragons Eye Savants use the Flying Crane Technique, and finish up with a Deflecting Palm — and that still won't be enough to destroy a Little Girl.

Little Girl’s are tough. : )

Deflecting Palm Destroy Dragon Eye Flying Flying Crane Technique Jeskai (U/R/W) Little Girl Singing Bell Strike

Portions of Marodigest are unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Wizards of the Coast Fan Content Policy. The literal and graphical information presented on this site about Magic: The Gathering, including card images and mana symbols, is copyright Wizards of the Coast, LLC. Marodigest is not produced by or endorsed by Wizards of the Coast. All other content © 2024 Webscape Internet Engineers. All rights reserved.