Esper Sentinel

White's Card Draw Mechanics

I gotta say, I am not a fan of the "once per turn" draw in White. It just doesn't have the same mechanical bite that other colors have like Red's impulse draw/rummaging or Black's sacrifice for power. Can we see more of a push in forms of White card draw that thematically fit, like charity (Secret Rendez-Vous), compensation (Discerning Financier), and retribution (Esper Sentinel) with less ETB card draw and "draw a card because you did something" (Wedding Announcement, Welcoming Vampire)?

The flavor is white draws long, that is it sets up the proper condition and then gets rewarded with card draw over time. It’s slow, methodical card draw.

Card Draw Colors Discerning Financier Enter The Battlefield Esper (W/U/B) Esper Sentinel Fight / Bite Flavor Mechanics Once Per Turn Retribution Sacrifice Sentinel Vampire Welcoming Vampire White

Color Pie Outputs

You’ve said how with white ramp & card draw, it’s essentially “the more white the input is, the less white the output has to be”. Taxing Noncreature spells is very white, so the payoff being card draw (like Esper sentinel) is a-okay. Is this the case with other effects too? As in, could a black card make treasures off of a zombie entering the field? Could a blue card gain life when you scry? Could a green card destroy creatures when it deals a bunch of combat damage? Stuff like that

The output still has to be something the color does. My point was that the closer to the core the input is, the less close to the core, the output can be. If you want an output that the color is tertiary in, the input should ideally be primary. The input being primary is not an excuse to be out of color.

Black Blue Card Draw Color Pie Colors Creatures Destroy Esper (W/U/B) Esper Sentinel Green Lifegain Non-creatures Primary Scry Sentinel Spells Tertiary Treasure White Zombie

Comparing Card Drawing Abilities

Even White is getting better at Card Draw than Blue. Esper Sentinel? Blue can't even get a color-shifted Elvish Visionary, let alone a card that starts drawing cards from Turn 1, or get card draw engines like Green.

A color being better at a tiny sliver of something is not it being overall better. Blue is the best overall color at card drawing, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best at every different execution of it.

Blue Card Draw Colors Elvish Visionary Esper (W/U/B) Esper Sentinel Green Sentinel Sliver White

White Card Draw Solution

You've said R&D has figured out a solution to white card draw for Commander, but it hasn't made it to print yet. So far, the response to many public attempts to give white draw have mostly been met with a resounding "This doesn't quite meet the mark," although there have been some exceptions like Esper Sentinel. Are you confident EDH players with mono-white decks will be pleased with your solution?

Whether players play with an effect or not has a lot to do with power level. We’re figuring out execution. Once that is settled, we can raise the power level to the appropriate level.

Card Draw Card Printing Commander Esper (W/U/B) Esper Sentinel Game Design Power Level Sentinel White

White's try at treasure creation

Can you explain why treasure creation isn't in white's color pie? If white can draw cards when its rules are broken, (Mangara, Esper Sentinel) then why can't it ramp when those rules are broken too?

White isn’t supposed to be good at generating other colors of mana. We’ve adapted white to allow it to draw cards. That’s no longer off limits to white because it was so important to balancing Commander.

Card Draw Color Pie Colors Commander Esper (W/U/B) Esper Sentinel Mana Rules Sentinel Treasure White

Applause for Esper Sentinel Design

Please apply all the high fives to whoever designed Esper Sentinel. This is exactly the kind of white card people have been yearning for, and the design is beautifully elegant.

Glad you like it.

Esper (W/U/B) Esper Sentinel High Fives Sentinel White

Excitement for Revealed MH2 Cards

Aaaaaaah Mark!! A Hundred-Handed One's worth of hi-fives for everyone involved with the revealed MH2 white cards! I love them and am SO excited at the possibility of trying them out... Props especially for Esper Sentinel and the plethora of ways it supports various White strategies!

Happy you’re enjoying the new white cards.

Esper (W/U/B) Esper Sentinel Modern Horizons 2 Sentinel White

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