Hellbent

Heckbent Mechanic Discussion

Hey MaRo! Long time reader, first time poster and I would like to invoke the birthday question!

If/when a return/rework of hellbent? It's top 5 favorite mechanics throughout the game and I'm wondering if it'll make a return as a featured mechanic. Thank you!

R&D talks about using heckbent (hellbent but you can have one card). That’s R&D lingo and not an actual keyword name.

Appreciation Birthday Hellbent If/When Keywords Mark Rosewater Mechanics

Hellbent Mechanic's Return

Could red's playing with cards-in-exile-as-card-draw-ish make the return of Hellbent (or heckbent) more possible?

It could.

Hellbent

Mutate in Modified Action

Any chance mutate gets in on that modified action? If keywords, rules text, etc are trending toward more easily comprehensible at face value, it makes sense to allow keywords like modified to be inclusive to mutate, which could use the support.

Why don’t we just include every old mechanic that flavorfully could make sense with modified? We could include mutate. And threshold. And amplify. And exalted. And augment. And embalm. And haunt. And emerge. And transform. And soulbond. And hellbent. That’s the problem. The game’s almost thirty years old. We’ve made a lot of mechanics. If every new mechanic tried to include every old mechanic that possibly could apply, we couldn’t fit the reminder text on the card (and it starts getting a lot more complicated).What we do is pick the most common and available mechanics (ideally ones in the set) and count those. Every aura, equipment or card that adds counters to creatures is a lot of backward compatibility.

Amplify Auras Creatures Embalm Emerge Equipment Exalted Haunt Hellbent Keywords Mechanics Mutate Rules Soulbond Threshold Transform

Trivia on Hazoret Card

Hey Mark! It's my birthday today, so could I please request some trivia on my favourite card, Hazoret the Fervent?

Hazoret uses an ability R&D calls “heckbent”. Rakdos had a mechanic back in Dissension called hellbent which rewarded you for having an empty hand. R&D later realized it should have been one or less. That’s why we named it.Happy Birthday!

Birthday Dissension Hazoret the Fervent Hellbent Mechanics Rakdos (B/R) Your Hand

Kamigawa Set Complexity

Reading your complexity article, as a relatively new player during Kamigawa you're right, I thought I must be misunderstanding One With Nothing. I can think of various uses for it now, but none from Kamigawa itself. How did it end up in the set? Seems it would've been more at home in Dissension to fuel Hellbent.

It was a Brian Tinsman specisl that he kept in the set through pure force of will.

Beginners Dissension Force of Will Hellbent One with Nothing

Rakdos Guild Trivia Inquiry

Hey mark! Can I get some birthday trivia on the Rakdos guild?

The Rakdos was the last guild in original Ravnica block to get a guild mechanic. We went through a number of options before settling on hellbent. Happy Birthday!

Birthday Hellbent Mechanics Rakdos (B/R) Two Color

Hellbent Mechanic Future

Will we ever see Hellbent again?

We’re more likely to see “heckbent” (one or less cards) than hellbent.

Hellbent

Rakdos Cult Trivia

Finally it is time Maro... My birthday! :D Can i have some new Trivia about the Cult of Rakdos please? I already know about Paincast so some other new Trivia about the Rakdos would be apreciated. If there is none, then any Trivia about Curses will do :)

Hellbent, the simplest of the three mechanics in Dissension, was actually the one that took us the longest to create. Happy Birthday!

Birthday Dissension Hellbent Mark Rosewater Mechanics Rakdos (B/R)

Lightning Bolt Variant

What's this I hear about a Lightning Bolt variant that deals 6 damage if you're hellbent? Seems insane.

It’s superhellbent. You have to have negative cards in hand.

Hellbent Lightning Bolt Your Hand

Red Looting Mechanics

Was it ever considered to have red looting have the discard as an effect instead of a cost, to give it an advantage over blue looting? (So that it would essentially say hellbent - draw a card?)

We talked about it but development was concerned that it would force us to price it higher.

Blue Card Draw Discard Hellbent Red

Hellbent Mechanic Return

How likely is a return of Hellbent?

Chances are decent. It has plenty of design space left and it was liked enough for a return.

Design Space Hellbent

Chandra's Ability

On the subject of Chandra's zero cost loyalty ability. You compared it to Hellbent, but surely Chandra's ability allows net card draw no matter your card size.

I was misremembering it. You’re correct. It is a little more card advantage than I like to see in Red. It does require you to be constantly switching out your hand, so it at least has a bit of a reckless feel.

Card Draw Hellbent Red Your Hand

Chandra's Zero Ability

What's going on with Chandra's 0 ability? Strict card advantage for mono-red?

We’ve played in this space before with Hellbent. Card advantage that only works if you’ve used up all your cards. It requires being very aggressive with casting your spells.

Hellbent Red Spells

Phasing and Hellbent

My turn for birthday trivia! Just had mine yesterday but I didn't have internet access due to real life. Can you give me some information about either or both my favorite mechanics, phasing or hellbent?

Phasing was created by the Mirage design team as a way to have a big creature cheaply. The story of Teferi and his experiments phasing pieces of Jamuraa came out of the design of phasing. Happy Birthday!

Birthday Creatures Hellbent Mechanics Mirage Phasing Story / Lore

Hellbent or Unleash Return

What's more likely to return first? Hellbent or Unleash?

Unleash.

Hellbent Unleash

Rakdos Guild Trivia

Hi Mark! Today's my birthday, so I was hoping I could get some trivia on my favorite guild, the Rakdos. Thanks!

Rakdos’ hellbent mechanic was the last mechanic we finalized in Dissension design.Happy Birthday!

Birthday Dissension Hellbent Mechanics Rakdos (B/R) Two Color

Hellbent Mechanic Origin

Sorry if I ask too many questions! One more and then feel free to block me. Why is hellbent black/red?

It did a good job at matching the recklessness of the Rakdos.

Black Hellbent Rakdos (B/R) Red

Red versus Blue Looting

Hi Mark, Red looting is a cool thing, but it seems to be objectively worse than Blue's (see Merfolk Looter and Goblin Looter). How would you feel about making the discard part of the effect rather than the cost? This would reward players for using all their cards and becoming hellbent, and give red a much needed source of flavourful card advantage.

You’re are overlooking that red’s weakness is running out of steam which makes the ability have more power in a red deck. Also, we try hard not to allow red to have card advantage through drawing.

Blue Discard Flavor Goblin Hellbent Merfolk Merfolk Looter Red

Synergistic Keywords Potential

I think that there's a lot of potential fun in cards with two synergistic keywords, like hellbent and madness or something. Will we ever see that again? (time spiral was great, but a bit much)

That’s something I doubt we’d see in a normal expansion but maybe a supplemental set.

Hellbent Keywords Madness Time Spiral

Favorite Mechanic: Landfall

Battalion, bloodrush, channel, chroma, constellation, domain, fateful hour, grandeur, hellbent, heroic, imprint, inspired, join forces, kinship, landfall, metalcraft, morbid, radiance, strive, sweep, tempting offer, or threshold?

Landfall.

Battalion Blood Bloodrush Card Printing Channel Chroma Constellation Domain Fateful hour Grandeur Hellbent Heroic Imprint Join forces Join Forces Kinship Landfall Metalcraft Morbid Radiance Strive Sweep Tempting offer Threshold