Elders

Gleemax's Fate After Retirement of Forums

What happened to Gleemax when the Wizards forums were retired? Did the alien brain retire to its home planet? Is it still in the basement at Renton, endlessly playtesting eight draft seats in its mind? Is it depicted on the card Elder Brain? Are you its human avatar?

Eeway on’tday alktay outabay eemaxglay.

Aliens Avatars Draft Formats Elders Humans Playtesting Elder Brain Gleemax

Legendary Spells Popularity

If legendary spells had been more popular, would the Elderspell conceivably have been one?

Possibly, but unlikely.

Spells The Elderspell

Elderspell Concerns

The Elderspell has killed my enthusiasm for WAR. All these awesome Planeswalkers... and now they suck.

Do all creatures suck because mass destruction. spells exist?

Creatures Planeswalkers Spells The Elderspell

Elderspell Identity

Is that Ral we're seeing getting his spark sucked out in the Elderspell? Or is that someone else?

It isn’t Ral. I think it’s an unnamed planeswalker. There are a bunch of them in War of the Spark.

Planeswalkers The Elderspell War of the Spark

Elderspell's Spark Interaction

Does the Elderspell allow Bolas to steal sparks that have not ignited? Such as Random Ravnicans with latent sparks who would never have become planeswalkers during their lifetime?

I don’t believe so, but that’s just a guess.

Planeswalkers The Elderspell

Elderscale and Divinity

First off I wanted to say I'm a big fan of your work and I love reading your blogs and replies. It is so nice to see a developer that is so involved with the fans. Secondly I wanted to ask two questions. Would Elderscale Wurm's effect prevent a poison/commander damage game loss? And what is the color identity for a card Divinity of Pride? Is it a white or a black card or is it a white and black card?

Elderscale Wurm won’t stop a poison loss. Divinity of Pride is white and black colorwise, but can be played in a monowhite or monoblack deck. EDIT: Sorry, it can be played in a monowhite or monoblack deck in every format except Commander.

Black Color Identity Colors Commander Divinity of Pride Elderscale Wurm Poison White Wurm

Cardnames as Verbs

I have been known to Shock a creature. I have been known to Terror a creature. I've "Beast Within'd", I've "Polymorphed" and, most commonly for me over the years, I've Incinerated creatures. At FNM last night, however, was the first time in Magic I got to say "I Murder your elephant." And it managed to be even more pleasing than lethally volcanic geysering an elderscale wurm to win the game. Are instants and sorceries generally used as verbs, and how much does R+D think about this for cardnames?

The creative team, the one responsible for names, thinks about it a lot.

Beast Beast Within Creatures Elderscale Wurm Elephant Instants Sorceries Wurm

Green Haste Discussion

I guess my main issue is Green Haste. By my count there are 4 mythic rare Green creatures compared to the 7 at lower rarities. It seems that Green mythic creatures are just not good enough without some color-bleed. Many attempts at Hydras failed. Elderscale Wurm is just Worship. AvengerofZendikar, Omnath, and TreeofRedemption feel like Green Mythics, but they don't play like Baneslayer or Obliterator. Can't green be competitive alone? It seems that you're bending the color pie to compensate.

Green is tertiary at haste which means it gets it a little bit at high rarities. Development tends to use those slots because haste is very good for constructed green cards.

Color Pie Colors Competitive Play Constructed Creatures Elderscale Wurm Green Haste Hydra Mythic Rares Tertiary Wurm

Elderscale Wurm Fact

It's a shame about Elderscale Wurm. All these 7's, and it's going to very closely miss being the 77th Wurm printed....Hold on. *Adds in the six cards that make Wurm tokens* Holy crap. It will also be the 77th Wurm/Wurm-token-maker printed.

I never deny the cool stuff.

Card Printing Elderscale Wurm Tokens Wurm

Elderscale Wurm Intrigue

Regarding Elderscale Wurm: You're still forgetting that its name is 14 letters long which is divisible by 7, its artist's first name is 7 letters long, and the set it's printed in will be released in July which is the 7th month, with the pre-release on the 7th day.

I never deny cool things. : )

Art Card Printing Elderscale Wurm Limited Wurm

Elderscale Wurm

I know you were joking, but just to point out to "snailbyanyothername": Elderscale Wurm references the number seven TEN times, not eight. There are 5 sevens in the text, 2 in the P/T, one in the CMC, one for the number of scales on its face, and once in the collector number.

Ah, you forgot that the card has seven lines of rules text. Yes, there are a lot of sevens, but only seven 7’s on the card (okay, eight if you count the reminder text but I don’t think most players will even notice that).

Elderscale Wurm Mana Value Rules Wurm

Mythical Creatures

Whoa whoa whoa. I thought the new mythic Green creature is the hydra? What's up with Elderscale Wurm?

Just because we have iconics doesn’t mean the colors don’t get other awesome rare and mythic rare creatures.

Colors Creatures Elderscale Wurm Green Hydra Rares Wurm

Elderscale Wurm Design

Why does Elderscale Wurm have the number 7 referenced eight time within the card? (CMC, five times in the text, two for power and toughness) As someone with a slight case of OCD, you can't imagine how badly this irks me...

We felt having the number 7 only appear 6 times would bother people more.

Elderscale Wurm Mana Value Wurm

Pro-Wurm Stance

Elderscale Wurm: Can we now definitively say that you haven't forgotten about being pro-Wurm?

I never said I was anti-wurm.

Elderscale Wurm Wurm