Elvish Mystic

Elf Creature Redundancy

Given that we already have Llanowar Elves, Fyndhorn Elves, and Elvish Mystic, would you print a 4th 1-mana 1/1 green creature that taps for G, and if so would that be a good candidate for the "any number in your deck" mechanic?

Unlikely.

Card Printing Creatures Elf Elvish Mystic Fyndhorn Elves Green Llanowar Elves Mechanics Mystic

Card Names and Flavor

I have been searching to see if you have answered this question, because I am sure you have, but I can not find it. Why are identical cards printed with different names, like Terramorphic Expanse | Evolving Wilds, Mind Control | Persuasion, or Llanowar Elves | Fyndhorn Elves| Elvish Mystic?

If cards aren’t problematic in number, we will sometimes change the flavor to better match the creative of the set it’s in.

Card Names Card Printing Elf Elvish Mystic Evolving Wilds Flavor Fyndhorn Elves Llanowar Elves Mind Control Mystic Persuasion Terramorphic Expanse

Mystic as Supported Creature Type

Wait if Mystic is a supported creature type why is Elvish Mystic a Druid?

It’s supported more in that we haven’t changed the old cards with it than we’re actively making more,

Creatures Druid Elvish Mystic Mystic

Zegana Color Justification

I don't understand what's blue about Zegana. Elvish Mystic has an etb draw effect, so that's in green, the trample ability is from Tuskguard Captain, and +1/+1 counters are available to most colors and artifact creatures. It feels like it's only blue for flavor reasons.

ETB draw a card is primary blue, secondary green. Adapt is the Simic keyword. The abilities are mostly overlap in blue and green (save the trample which leans green), priced more aggressively because of the multicolor. Multicolor cards can do overlap, they don’t always have to be one from Coln A and one from Column B.

Adapt Artifacts Blue Card Draw Colors Creatures Elvish Mystic Enter The Battlefield Flavor Green Keywords Mystic Primary Secondary Simic (G/U) Trample Tuskguard Captain

GDS3 Feedback Reflections

After feedback, are there any questions or answers you would have changed from GDS3? Or do the main controversial places cover exactly the subtleties you were looking for? My personal most likely change would be Elvish Mystic over Llanowar Elves in the "least likely to reprint in standard" question, but I could also see that being intentional.

I would refine the wording of some questions but I wouldn’t change any of the answers.

Card Printing Controversies Elf Elvish Mystic Llanowar Mystic Reprints Standard

Core Sets Naming

Core sets take away the issue of plane restrictions, but what about the plural issue? Elvish Mystic was printed as a replacement for Llanowar Elves even in core sets, after all.

We do occasionally print plural names. Also, that’s much more of a creative team decision than a design one.

Card Printing Elf Elvish Mystic Llanowar Mystic

Reprint Comparisons

Which is more reprintable: Llanowar Elves, Elvish Mystic or Lightning Bolt?

Llanowar Elves and Elvish Mystic are identical from a design-standpoint. Creative would have less issues with Elvish Mystic.

Card Printing Elf Elvish Mystic Lightning Bolt Llanowar Mystic

Power Level Concerns

Hi Mark. First of all, thanks for all the answers you've been giving us through the years. I know you're not a developer, but why is it ok to print overpowered cards in Standard like CoCo, Gideon Ally, Emrakul and many others, but is it too dangerous to reprint easy to understand uncommons like Lightning Bolt, Counterspell or even Elvish Mystic? As a player, I can't see cleary why and what is the difference. Thanks!

This is a complex answer, but here is the most basic part. We would rather push power in the unknown rather than the known. A new powerful card takes time to discover and explore. It will inspire new decks that haven’t been created before. A known quantity gets exploited the second it’s released as the audience already knows its power and it leads to decks similar to how it was abused before.

Ally Card Printing Counterspell Elvish Mystic Lightning Bolt Mystic Not a developer Reprints Standard Uncommons

Trivia on Specific Cards

My birthday was earlier this week, but my trivia request seems to have been buried. Do you happen to have any trivia about Predator Ooze, Khalni Hydra, or Elvish Mystic, the three cards my very first deck was built around? PS: Thanks for all you do to talk about game design, you've definitely influenced my own games.

Predator Ooze was a top down design of the movie monster The Blob. It was originally designed for Innistrad and got pushed back to Dark Ascension. Happy Belated Birthday!

Birthday Dark Ascension Elvish Mystic Game Design Hydra Innistrad Khalni Hydra Mystic Ooze Pop Culture Predator Ooze Top Down

1 Mana Creatures Future

Will a 1 mana creature that produces mana (Elvish Mystic, etc) ever be in standard again, I miss them.

That’s a development question. They accelerate the speed of the game in a way that makes certain other strategies a lot more difficult to make viable.

Creatures Elvish Mystic Mana Mystic Standard

Mana Production Potential

We have Elvish Mystic/Llanowar Elves for green, Avacyn's Pilgrim for white, Boreal Druid for colorless and (more or less) Elves of Deep Shadow for black. There is any possibility for a green one drop that create red or blue mana? Which color have more chance?

Neither have a good chance but Red has a better chance than Blue because Red is an ally of Green.

Ally Avacyn's Pilgrim Black Blue Boreal Druid Colorless Colors Druid Elf Elves of Deep Shadow Elvish Mystic Green Llanowar Mana More or Less Mystic Red Shadow White

Flavor Neutrality

It helps that Elvish Mystic is a lot more flavor neutral than Llanowar Elves. The Vorthos in me has a easier time putting the former in, say, an Ezuri deck.

Llanowar Elves being named after a place on Dominaria is also a bit limiting.

Dominaria Elf Elvish Mystic Flavor Llanowar Mystic Vorthos

Creation Changes

Why did Grizzly Bears turn into Runeclaw Bear, and Llanowar Elves into Elvish Mystic?

Creative decisions. The first because we’re trying to do more things that seem magical and less mundane. The second because the art is better if there is a singular image and thus they prefer singular creatures to plural creatures. Llanowar Elves has always really felt like Llanowar Elf.

Art Bear Creatures Elf Elvish Mystic Grizzly Bears Llanowar Mystic Runeclaw Bear

Mana Dork CMC Insight

Why are recent manadorks more than 1-cmc? The only exception is Elvish Mystic.

Development has come to the realization that they are little too strong at one mana.

Elvish Mystic Mana Value Mystic Power Level

Counter Removal Logic

After scavaging both two little girls for two +½/+½ couters and an elvish mystic for a single +1/+1 counter, my creature blocks a 1/3 first strike, wither creature. Who gets to choose which counters are eliminated? Me or my opponent

I’ll say the controller of the creature with the counters.

Creatures Elvish Mystic First Strike Mystic Wither

Overlap Checks

Is there someone on the design or development team whose job is to check new card ideas against already printed cards to see if there is overlap? I imagine it is not normally too much of an issue (such as Elvish Mystic being essentially a Llanowar Elf), but it is something I can see being problematic if a card is too close to one on the Reserved List. How do you handle it if a card that is needed for a set is too similar to one on the RL?

If Design and Development miss it, Editing is the third and final line if defense.

Card Printing Elf Elvish Mystic Llanowar Mystic The Reserved List

Runeclaw vs Grizzly Bear

While I understand the reasoning behind printing the functional reprints Lightning Strike and Elvish Mystic, why did you choose to print Runeclaw Bear in M10 over the classic Grizzly Bear? Was it to emphasise the printing of new cards in the M1X Core Sets? To meet a quota? To make a Time Spiiral-esque reference?

The creative team has been trying to do less mundane cards and more things that fit in fantasy.

Bear Card Printing Elvish Mystic Lightning Strike Mystic Reprints Runeclaw Bear

Player Personality Insight

I find it humorous that everyone is so angry over Lightning Strike, yet the exact same thing happened with Llanowar Elves and Elvish Mystic. I guess that's the difference between green and red players! The color pie strikes again!

I did get comments on Elvish Mystic as well just not quite as loudly. Red players are louder.

Color Pie Colors Elf Elvish Mystic Green Lightning Strike Llanowar Mystic Red

Teaching Magic Observations

I experienced teaching magic to some friends recently, and i am amazed at the conveyance of the game. They got a lot of things i tought would be hard (first strike, haste, flash, ETB triggers...) intuitively. But every time they played an elvish mystic they assumed tapping it let them put a forest from their hand into play. Is this common?

It is. But we’ve also found that the current basic land design helps them get basic lands faster. So we’ve chosen to take the trade-off of all players learn basic lands faster knowing that this one interaction has a better chance of confusing them. It’s possible in the core set, Elvish Mystic is supposed to have reminder text about this.

Elvish Mystic Enter The Battlefield First Strike Flash Haste Lands Mystic Triggered Abilities Your Hand

Basic Lands Text Idea

Would it be possible to place reminder text on the basic lands for the mana-adding ability? Keep the giant mana symbol, it definitely helps, but add some text to explain it. I'm pretty sure a single line of text can fit in the text box along with the giant symbol. It's been really annoying explaining how Elvish Mystic and the like work.

You lose a lot of the simplicity and the elegance of the basic lands if the giant mana symbol has to also make room for text.

Elvish Mystic Giant Lands Mana Mystic