Faerie

MH3 Eldrazi Faerie Origin

Re: The MH3 Eldrazi Faerie question

It seems like a lot of online discussion interpreted the answer as official confirmation that "Emrakul's Messenger" is from a plane in the past. I interpreted your answer as acknowledging that it was possible, not confirming it. Could you please clarify? :)

I wasn’t definitively saying from where it came, as I don’t know. I was pointing out that it could be from the past.

Blogatog / Tumblr Eldrazi Emrakul's Messenger Faerie Modern Horizons 3

Faeries on Zendikar or Innistrad

I want to object to the assertion that there's no faeries on Zendikar or Innistrad. Just because you don't see the fae doesn't mean that they're not there :)

A fair point.

Faerie Innistrad Zendikar

Eldrazi Faerie's Plane of Origin

With the full spoiler, there's now an Eldrazi Faerie that has been corrupted by Emrakul. There's no Faeries on Innistrad or Zendikar though, so do you know if this faerie is from another plane or is this more of a non-canon "this is cool so we did it" moment?

The Eldrazi did visit other planes before Zendikar.

Corrupted Eldrazi Faerie Innistrad Planes Spoilers Zendikar

Crib Swap Concerns

Hey- I saw this upcoming card called "Crib swap" and it's sincerely and undeniably based on an ableist myth about autistic people that resulted in years of abuse because people thought their children had been "replaced" by changelings. How does something like this get approved?

It’s based on many centuries old Celtic tales about Faeries. Its origins are many hundreds of years before modern science even identified autism. As with many old tropes, I’m sure people have adapted them for different purposes, but its origins are the same Celtic source material than most of Lorwyn’s world building was based on.

Crib Swap Faerie Modern

Faeries vs Merfolk

Other than flying and Island walk what would you identify as being the primary difference between faeries and merfolk? I often see designs for one of the creature types that would be easily justified as the other. Two big examples that come to mind are Vodalian Hexcatchet and Tishana's Tidebinder which to me almost feel more like faerie cards than merfolk, particularly because I felt faeries were "the flash typal archetype" that got more control and tempo elements

Faeries tend to be sneakier and more controlling.

Creatures Faerie Flash Flying Kindred / Typal Merfolk Primary Tishana's Tidebinder

Future of Faeries

Hi Mark, any chance faeries will appear in upcoming sets? Or if you guys would consider them…? Avid fan but never got to see them at their height in modern as I’m still new to the format. WOE was amazing, but the pieces still don’t seem to exist to bring tribal back.

We’re going to keep making Faeries in appropriate sets. Faeries have a lot of fans.

Faerie Kindred / Typal Modern Wilds of Eldraine

Unique Creature Type

Yuta Takahashi’s player spotlight card (Faerie Mastermind) is unique in the fact that it is the only non human creature. Was this done because Yuta requested to be depicted as a faerie or was there some game design reason that card couldn’t have been a human?

There were Invitational cards that weren’t Human.

Creatures Faerie Faerie Mastermind Game Design Human

Iconic Creature Types

So to continue with Signature racesWhite - AngelsBlue - Wizards/Krakens/FaeriesBlack - DemonsRed - DragonsGreen - Hydras/Elementals/Dinosaurs?

The iconic creatures:White - AngelBlue - SphinxBlack - DemonRed - DragonGreen - Hydra

Angel Black Blue Creatures Demon Dinosaur Dragon Elemental Faerie Green Hydra Kraken Red Sphinx White

Designing Flying Tribes

Are there challenges in set designs with a tribal component when said tribe near-unilaterally has flying, such as Birds or Faeries?

There are challenges. Every creature being evasive makes us structure it differently.

Bird Creatures Faerie Flying Kindred / Typal

Penguin Tribal Potential

RE: Penguins - We have several types that usually want flying, but have exceptions. We have non-flying dragons, demons, angels, faeries, a gargoyle, a sphinx, and even several birds already! Give the people what they want. Give us a penguin! (Barring that, could you at least give us to a "Maybe :)")

I said “when”.EDIT: I actually said, “my gut is if”, so my bad. I do think it will probably happen, so maybe I should have said when.

Angel Bird Demon Dragon Faerie Flying Gargoyle Kindred / Typal Sphinx

Choosing Set Themes

When you're planning a typal theme for a set, why do you sometimes choose types that are unlikely to see many future cards much less support (Citizens, Detectives) as opposed to more generic ones (Dinosaurs, Faeries)?

It’s a better fit for the set. We do plenty of generic ones.

Citizen Colorless Detective Dinosaur Faerie Kindred / Typal

Legendary Clique Card

There are 6 faerie “clique” cards, of which 5 are from Lorwyn block. Do you know why Vendilion Clique is the only one that is legendary?

My guess is it’s small and just includes a specific group of Faeries.

Faerie Lorwyn Vendilion Clique

Naming Mix-up

"Lorwyn had race typal and Morningtide had class typal. Iona’s Blackguard would have referenced Faeries had in been in Lorwyn, but referenced Rogues because that was the class most associated with Faeries."
Iona's Blackguard? Did an omenpath open between Zendikar and Lorwyn?

I miswrote Oona’s as Iona’s. Sorry.

Faerie Kindred / Typal Lorwyn Morningtide Morningtide Omenpaths Rogue Zendikar

Oona's Blackguard Insight

Mark, I invoke the ancient ritual of birthday facts to ask about the first ever alt art I got: Oona's Blackguard from Morningtide

Lorwyn had race typal and Morningtide had class typal. Iona’s Blackguard would have referenced Faeries had in been in Lorwyn, but referenced Rogues because that was the class most associated with Faeries. Happy Birthday!

Art Birthday Faerie Kindred / Typal Lorwyn Morningtide Morningtide Oona's Blackguard Rogue

Typal Themes Support

I assume sets with a larger typal focus, like Kaldheim or Lorwyn, need some amount of mechanical support to make them work and be fun.But what about one-off typal themes, like Faeries in WOE or Knights in MOM? Can they be added to pretty much any set so long as there's creative justification?

Most sets have at least one creature type that set cares about, usually for an archetype.

Creatures Faerie Kaldheim Kindred / Typal Knight Lorwyn Wilds of Eldraine

Faeries Public Perception

Hi Mark. Keeping in mind your latest DtW episodes. How do Faeries test with the public? I can see them as Blue's iconic race if Leaning the flavor towards their tricksier side. Maybe is just me though.To which conclution did you guys get to with Faeries. I get that they don't appear in many planes. But they seem well-liked enough.

Iconics want to be bigger creatures we do at higher rarities. Faeries are smaller creatures we want to do a lot at lower rarities and let people build typal decks around.

Creatures Drive to Work Faerie Flavor Kindred / Typal Planes

Multicolored Tokens

Hey Mark I lately revisted some decks I planned in the past looking at the old Ravnica Legends that grant one effect for color A and one for color B.
And looking at Lyzolda I realized there are hardly any rakdos colored tokens that reappear. Spirits, Faeries, Elves and Birds occasionally appear in two colors and sometimes not. And then there are tokens like Citizens who are always multicolor.I understand e.g. Rats in Eldrain feel better as mono black but why are multicolored tokens so rare. I really liked the two colored tokens of Strixhaven (Savra loves those little pests).Question: What metrics do you use to decide when a token should be multicolored and when to make them mono colored?

Our rule is that tokens are monocolor by default. We will make them multicolored if it is either relevant mechanically or has a strong creative reason.

Bird Black Citizen Colors Elf Faerie Legendary Creatures Monocolor Pest Rakdos (B/R) Rares Rat Rat Rules Spirit Tokens

Faerie Schemes Feedback

I just wanted to leave a note on Faerie Schemes. I’m a primarily cEDH player, but bought it because I wanted a casual deck with a fun theme. It’s by far the best experience I’ve had with a Magic product in the past five years. The typal synergies were nice, but what was really cool was figuring out all the subtle interactions with Hullbreaker Horror and Malleable Impostor. When y’all are making precons, please don’t stop putting in layers of discovery. It makes the experience so much more enjoyable than just playing the obvious strategy (and it makes the decks more powerful too).

Glad you enjoyed it. I’ll pass along the kind words to the team that designed it.

Casual Play cEDH Faerie Horror Hullbreaker Horror Kindred / Typal Malleable Impostor Schemes

Artist Exclusive Archetypes

Has there even been an idea of giving one artist the "exclusive" archetype of one set? Like one artist has Faeries for that set, one artist has Angels for another, etc.

I think it would be too many pieces for one person.

Angel Art Faerie

Praise for Eldraine

You know you made a good set when as a Spike I went 0-4 in my first prerelease and still enjoyed the games and felt like decisions mattered. I can’t wait to figure out the correct way to draft this set and will continue going to my local game store events. And thank you for bringing Faeries back. Good job on Wilds of Eldraine!

Happy you’re enjoying it.

Appreciation Competitive Play Draft Formats Faerie Game Stores Prerelease Sealed Format Spike Wilds of Eldraine