Dryads

Templating Mana Creation Cards

any idea why cards that can make colorless OR colored mana (like nightshade dryad) are templated with one ability for colorless, and one for colored?

The other way to write it would be “T: Add W, U, B, R, G or C” which would make give it a five-color color identity and make the card very hard to play in Commander.

Color Identity Colorless Commander Dryads Mana Templating Nightshade Dryad

Transforming Creatures Convention

Assuming Song of the Dryads is a break, what colors would be able to transform a creature into a land (to remove most of its usefulness)?

That’s probably green/white.

Bend / Break Colors Creatures Dryad Lands Pop Culture Selesnya (G/W) Song of the Dryads Transform White

Rarity Discrepancies in Packs

On Rarity: Why does it seem that junk rares show up FAR more frequently when opening packs than top tier rares? No matter what set, every time I open a couple boxes I end up with multiples of the junk rares and very, very few of the top tier ones. Why is there always a pile of Eijango Uprising and never a pile of Boseiju, Who Endures after opening several boxes? Never a pile of Dryad of the Illusion Grove, always a pile of Nessian Boar? Do all Rares actually show up at the same Rarity?

All rares are at the exact same rarity (aka they appear the same number of times on the sheets).

Boars Boseiju, Who Endures Dryads Illusions Junk Nessian Boar Rares Rarity

Banning Colour Pie Breaks

Is it possible to ban colour pie breaks (such as Beast Within and Song of the Dryads) in eternal formats? You've said that your mistakes will live forever, but you could always just ban the cards and end these issues.

I believe I would be getting a lot of angry letters if we did that.

Bannings Beast Beast Within Colors Dryad Eternal Format Legality Pop Culture Song of the Dryads

Green's Removal Capabilities

You seem to be under the impression that green has some kind of issue with non-creature based removal, but you printed Beast Within, Lignify, and Song of the Dryads in monogreen, and 2 of those are some of the best commander removal in the game for difficult-to-handle Commanders.

All three of those cards are color pie breaks that never should have been printed in green. That’s one of the biggest challenges of eternal formats - mistakes live forever.

Beast Beast Within Color Pie Commander Dryad Eternal Green Lignify Non-creatures Pop Culture Song of the Dryads

Blue's Ability Spectrum

With every kind of ability being something Blue has access to, do you see the other colors as kind of 'testing grounds' for new Blue cards? Song of the Dryads, after all, is a 'mistake' in Green, but 'fine' in Blue, what's the reasoning there?

There are many things blue does not have access to. : )

Blue Colors Dryad Green Pop Culture Song of the Dryads

Shared Humor

Happy birthday Mark! :D We share a love for puns, so you often make me laugh a lot ^_^ and your discussions about the color pie made me understand the importance of it (however I'll still keep Song of the Dryads in my green deck XD)!

: )

Birthday Color Pie Colors Dryad Green Humor Pop Culture Song of the Dryads

Color Pie Principles

I feel your points on mr-obliterator's ask are valid, but doesn't having overcosted/bad downside enable colors to still have their weaknesses and bended color pie cards? I'd posit that Desert Twister is fine but Song of the Dryads isn't since DT is prohibitively expensive, or Gamble not breaking red since it's downside doesn't make it Demonic tutor but in red.

Dessert Twister is out of color pie. If you want a weak way to do something in a monocolor deck, go to artifacts. That’s part of why they exist.

Artifacts Color Pie Colors Demonic Tutor Desert Twister Dryad Monocolor Pop Culture Red Song of the Dryads Tutoring

Council of Colors Disputes

Does the council of colors ever disagree with you about an effect? Like with Imprisoned in the Moon or Song of the Dryads? Is that how those cats made it to print? If there is a disagreement, is there a procedure for who has final say?

There are disagreements, but we have a system to resolve issues.

Card Printing Cat Colors Council of colors Dryad Imprisoned in the Moon Pop Culture Song of the Dryads

Color Misalignment

What color Should Imprisoned in the Moon have been in? Would it have been Green a la Song of the Dryads?

Green shouldn’t have had Song of the Dryads. It’s a break in green.

Bend / Break Colors Dryad Green Imprisoned in the Moon Pop Culture Song of the Dryads

Color Weakness Philosophy

In my opinion lignify and song of the dryads are a green way to solve greens weaknesses. I'm personally an advocate for letting colors shore up their weaknesses if they do it in a way that is flavorful to their color.

Letting colors “shore up their weaknesses” is removing their weaknesses. It’s bad for the game for colors not to have weaknesses.

Colors Dryad Flavor Green Lignify Pop Culture Shore Up Song of the Dryads

Color Pie Violations

is lingify and other such effects (like song of the dryads) a color pie break?

Absolutely.

Color Pie Colors Dryad Pop Culture Song of the Dryads

Color Identity Discussion

Imprisoned in the moon actually is a colour-shifted version of a green card, Song of the Dryads from a recent Commander product. How is it that this card is considered in-colour if Lignify (which I presume inspired it) is now a break?

Green likes things as they are.Blue likes to transform things into what it wants them to be.Thus, artificial transformation is blue not green.Red, as part of its flavor of chaos, changes either temporarily or “randomly” (aka in a means it can’t control).

Bend / Break Blue Colors Commander Dryad Flavor Green Imprisoned in the Moon Lignify Pop Culture Red Song of the Dryads Transform

Design Choice Explained

Given the existence of Song of the Dryads, the presence of Nissa on the art, and the new Tamiyo's green splash, why was Imprisoned in the Moon made blue? The article for it made it seem like it was primarily a development / meta decision. Back to cards such as Phantasmal Terrain and the Laces, I've enjoyed effects that modify the fundamental characteristics of objects. So, I'm interested in understanding where design places "turns things into lands" in the color pie?

Song of the Dryads was a color pie break. Nissa’s presence in the art is inconsequential. And Tamiyo is primarily Blue. that’s why not Green. Note the card is a color pie bend in Blue but it would be an outright break in Green.

Art Bend / Break Blue Color Pie Colors Dryad Green Imprisoned in the Moon Lands Phantasmal Terrain Pop Culture Song of the Dryads

Song of the Dryads

Bend/Break/?: Song of the Dryads (2G - Aura - Enchanted permanent is a colorless Forest land.)

Break.

Auras Bend / Break Colorless Dryad Lands Pop Culture Song of the Dryads

Snide Comments Request

Could I ask you to sign Lignify, Hornet Sting, Beast Within, Chaos Warp, and Song of the Dryads... AND write little snide comments on them? : )

I’m always happy to write snide comments. You have to remember to remind me to do so.

Beast Beast Within Chaos Warp Dryad Hornet Hornet Sting Lignify Pop Culture Song of the Dryads

Signing Request Acceptance

If I sent you a Chaos Warp, Beast Within, Song of the Dryads, Lignify, and Hornet Sting, would you sign them? How would you react?

I’ll sign any Magic cards. And yes, I’ve signed many copies of the ones you’ve listed.

Beast Beast Within Chaos Warp Dryad Hornet Hornet Sting Lignify Pop Culture Song of the Dryads

Enchantment Creature Type

You said that you wish that Theros block would've introduced an enchantment-exclusive creature type. It did: Nymphs. (Well, there was Shanodin Dryads from 7th Edition.)

The problem is nymphs only make sense as enchantment creatures in the context of Theros. Imagine if we had never done illusions before and they were introduced as enchantment creatures. That’s what I was talking about.

Creatures Dryad Enchantments Illusion Nymph Shanodin Dryads Theros

Green Commander 2014 Impact

If the Green Commander 2014 deck sells well, will that increase the chance of more cards like Song of the Dryads?

No.

Commander Commander 2014 Dryad Green Pop Culture Song of the Dryads

Song of the Dryads

How do you feel about the *name* of "Song of the Dryads"? Personally, I think they missed a great opportunity to name it "Turn to Log".

: )

Dryad Pop Culture Song of the Dryads