Gruul (R/G)

Typal Archetype Swap

Could a return to Bloomburrow swap the typal archetypes like RG be Badgers and RB be Weasels or do you think the current ones are kind of locked in?

Let’s ask.
If we returned to Bloomburrow, what would you expect? The same ten animals Ten new animals A mix of old and new animals No preference

Badgers Blogatog / Tumblr Bloomburrow Gruul (R/G) Kindred / Typal Rakdos (B/R)

Animal Colors Representation

On the topic of animal colors, why do we keep getting creatures of the night in Gruul colors? Most recently we had werewolves and raccoons show up in RG. Which one of these colors is supposed to be resonating with their affinity amongst the darkness? Red? Because it's closest to black? I feel like it's having a plant show up in Blue/White

Nocturnal animals don’t have to show up in black. Raccoons got red for their trickster nature.

Affinity Black Blue Colors Creatures Gruul (R/G) Plants Raccoons Red Werewolves White

Animal Appearance in Duos

From what I can gather all the duos, like Bakersbane Duo are in shards: Bakersbane duo is green but fits in a squirrel (bg) or raccoon deck (rg), making it a basically a Jund card. The black cards are an exception: Glivedive duo is in a wedge, Mardu (bat wb and lizard rb). Presumably the other black one will be squirrel (bg) and rat (ub)My question is: why? Is the pattern of shards intentional? Is the deviation to one color having wedges intentional?

The only guideline was each animal appeared in just two duos.

Bats Battle for Zendikar Black Colors Golgari (B/G) Green Gruul (R/G) Jund (B/R/G) Lizards Mardu (R/W/B) Orzhov (W/B) Raccoons Rakdos (B/R) Rats Squirrels Three Color Bakersbane Duo

Cut Animals in Bloomburrow

When you do articles/DTWs on Bloomburrow: Can you list some more animals that you guys considered for the set but got cut and if you had any planned colors/mechanics for them? We know about Badgers and such, but would love to hear if there were more :)

The two that existed as two-color archetypes was Weasels in black/red and Badgers in red/green. In early vision design, for a short moment, we had fifteen animals as we gave one to each monocolor. It became clear quickly it was just too many animals. There were many ones we talked about that never made the cut. Turtles and Frogs, for example, were fighting for the green/blue slot.

Badgers Bloomburrow Blue Colors Frogs Green Gruul (R/G) Mechanics Monocolor Rakdos (B/R) Red Simic (G/U) Turtles Vision Design

Choosing Creature Types

Your article a couple days ago goes through the reasons why you chose specific creature types for each color pair, but you didn't talk about any types you considered, but didn't end up choosing. Can you talk about a couple types that didn't make the cut as being a focus?

The two big ones, meaning the existed in the file for a while, was Badgers for red/green and Weasels for black/red.

Badgers Colors Creatures Green Gruul (R/G) Making Magic Rakdos (B/R) Red

Raccoons over Badgers in Bloomburrow

Mark, I am a huge fan of the animal fantasy genre stories (Redwall was a favorite growing up) and particularly of Badgers, and I got really excited when Hugs was shown in the first batch of previews. I was somewhat heartbroken to find out that the Red-Green tribe was Raccoons rather than Badgers. I understand that Raccoons are likely a more popular creature, but I wanted to both express my love for Hugs specifically and a desire to give him more friends.

Badgers started as our choice for red/green. Part of our research was to look into market research on other animal choices and Raccoons scored very high, so we made the swap.

Badgers Batches Bloomburrow Creatures Green Gruul (R/G) Raccoons Spoilers

Raccoon, Rat and Lizard Coloration

Did you consider racoon u/b (sly raccoon) rat r/b lizard r/g?

No. Lizard and Raccoon happen long after Rat was cemented in blue/black. Also, Raccoons are core green, so blue/black is odd for them.

Black Dimir (U/B) Green Gruul (R/G) Lizard Raccoon Rat

Red/Green Color Pie Ability

Would be in the red/green color pie to destroy all creatures that are not a specific creature type?

No.

Color Pie Creatures Destroy Green Gruul (R/G)

Advice On Deck Building

To the Johnny who says best-in-slot commanders make deck building too easy: If you still want that challenge, try building your deck in the wrong colors. Mono-white landfall, boros graveyard, gruul artifacts, and such are all very fun and challenging to build, and they have more potential than one would expect in the hands of an experienced player.

A fine piece of advice.

Artifacts Boros (R/W) Colors Experienced / Enfranchised Players Gruul (R/G) Johnny / Jenny Landfall The Graveyard

BR Card's Permanent Destruction

Can a BR card have “destroy target permanent”? I know BG and BW can do it but I’m unsure what holds back BR. Per the 2021 color pie articleCreature - B primary W secondaryEnchantment - W/G primary B secondary Artifact - R/G Primary W secondary Planeswalker - B primary G tertiaryLand - R primary B/G tertiaryBattle - unknownUsing the above BR is the only color combo that doesn’t use a tertiary ability

We like to focus effects in a small number of colors, so just because two colors can destroy any permanent doesn’t necessarily mean we want to make cards in that color combination that do so.

Artifacts Battles Color Pie Colors Creatures Destroy Enchantments Golgari (B/G) Gruul (R/G) Lands Planeswalkers Primary Secondary Tertiary

Possibility of Krosan Variants

Could we ever see variants of Krosan verge in simic, gruul, and golgari?

It’s possible.

Golgari (B/G) Gruul (R/G) Krosan Verge Simic (G/U)

Beast Boy’s Colors

Is Beast Boy monoGreen or Gruul?

It depends what storyline, and how many colors you want. I think Gar is primary green, secondary red.

Beast Colors Green Gruul (R/G) Primary Red Secondary

Hulk's Color Identity

Hello Mark. I've very hyped about the Marvel sets. Especially hulk for whom I just finished his Immortal Hulk run and I loved it. Sadly, I know you can't talk about the sets yet. However, in a vacuum, would you say Hulk is more Red, Green, or Red Green ? Also, have you read Immortal Hulk ?

I think Hulk is red/green in his base portrayal, but there are a lot of different takes on Hulk over the years.

Color Identity Green Gruul (R/G) Marvel Red

Draft Archetypes Podcast

Can I request a podcast about how the draft archetypes in a set fit together. Like how in OTJ mercenaries for the RW archetype can help buff power for thr RG archetype, or how plot cards for the GU archetype make it easy to cast two spells for the RU archetype.

I’ll add it to the list.

Boros (R/W) Draft Formats Drive to Work Gruul (R/G) Mercenaries Outlaws of Thunder Junction Plot Simic (G/U) Spells

Arena Draft Success

Hi, Mark! I just had surgery, so I couldn't go to any events at my game store, but I just drafted on arena for the first time and went 7-1 with a super fun gruul big creature smashy deck. My MVP card was snakeskin veil- the biggest of high fives to the designer of that card! It's something I could see myself using in a lot of my constructed decks

I also got some cards delivered and got the signed oko art card, so I've been blessed with mtg luck today :)

Sorry you weren’t able to attend the prerelease, but happy you had a good time on Arena.

Art Constructed Creatures Draft Formats Game Stores Gruul (R/G) High Fives Magic Arena Prerelease Sealed Format

Color Pairs Poll

Did the color pairs poll turn out basically how you expected? I'm kinda surprised that Golgari is #1 and that Boros and Gruul are so far down.

Not surprised.

Boros (R/W) Colors Golgari (B/G) Gruul (R/G)

Equipment-Focused Units

if/when a gruul or selesnya future unit that care about equipment ?

If, but the right set could sway us.

Equipment Gruul (R/G) If/When Selesnya (G/W)

Wulfgar and Isshin Colors

Why is Wulfgar gruul and Isshin mardu?

Wulfgar was matching the character, and Isshin was made to play with three colors of Samurai.

Colors Gruul (R/G) Mardu (R/W/B) Samurais

Origami Mechanic Expansion

As much as I love the new 'Origami' mechanic, limited really gets to feel samey when every-other game ends when somebody folds their whole board into cranes to swing in. I know you cant say much... But with the keyword officially being evergreen moving forward, is there anything in the pipeline to encourage other play patterns?

Crane is just the white/blue archetype.Other options:Blue/black - Fortune TellerBlack/red - HatRed/green - SwanGreen/white - Lotus flowerWhite/black - ButterflyBlue/red - Water balloonBlack/green - Masu boxRed/white - HeartGreen/blue - Jumping frog

Azorius (W/U) Balloon Black Blue Boros (R/W) Dimir (U/B) Evergreen Fortune Teller Frog Golgari (B/G) Green Gruul (R/G) Izzet (U/R) Keywords Limited Mechanics Orzhov (W/B) Rakdos (B/R) Red Selesnya (G/W) Simic (G/U) White

Color of Hedonism

Could you explain why you see hedonism as more Rakdos than Gruul?

It’s more Rakdos.

Colors Gruul (R/G) Rakdos (B/R)