Hill Giant

Dealing with Fizzled Spells

New 11 Dec 2021 Asked by ajanicomelately 65 Comments

In the things you’d change article, you mention: “ I wouldn't have the rule that spells fizzle if the target is removed.” What would happen instead? If I cast Murder and target your Hill Giant… and in response the Hill Giant gets sac’d… what would then occur with the Murder? New target? Back to your hand? Would targeting not occur until the spell had its chance to resolve on the stack?


I was talking about effects that had multiple parts. Let’s say I had a Murder cantrip. If you target a creature that gets sacced, I want you to still get to draw the card. Fizzling a single target would work the same as now.

Doubling Season Reprint Query

New 23 Nov 2016 Asked by strawberry-crocodile 61 Comments

"squidmoon asked: What about a functional Doubling Season reprint that excludes planeswalkers? : )" "That’s not how reprints work." "Functional reprint" is slang for a card that is generally the same as a previous card without being the previous card. For example, Lagac Lizard is a fuctional reprint of Hill Giant.


No, a “functional reprint” is a card that is mechanically identical but has different flavoring (name, art, flavor text, etc.).

Vanilla Creatures Poll

New 23 Jul 2016 Asked by crimsoniterebellion-blog 49 Comments

When I was looking at your twitter, instead of Villains for the head-to-head, I misread Vanillas. Would you ever do a head-to-head of favorite vanilla creatures?


Is voting Grizzly Bear vs. Hill Giant interesting? My guy says no. #WotCStaff

Mana Cost Terminology

New 21 Aug 2014 Asked by bachtigh 70 Comments

I've always thought that the phrase "Converted Mana Cost" is awkward and doesn't really communicate the concept it's trying to represent. Has anyone in R&D pushed to find a better way of saying it? Are there reasons why you can't just say "mana cost" on cards like Blast of Genius?


The mana cost of Hill Giant is 3R. The converted mana cost is 4. They mean different things. We’ve searched for a more intuitive name for converted mana cost but have yet to find one. Suggestions welcome.

Tragic Tale Tease

New 22 Mar 2014 Asked by tnessfftto 36 Comments

When will Magic tell the tragic tale of the Theran philosopher and her beloved Innistrad cat who fought a hill giant together, knowing only one could come away from the battle alive?


Maybe in “Uncommon Knowledge” one day: “Splat Went The Cat in the Spat with the Fat Brat”. : )

Human Power/Toughness

New 24 Mar 2013 Asked by time-elemental 13 Comments

Hi Mark, Could you explain why some (puny) humans have P/T scores of 3/3? In them olden days, an Hill Giant was 3/3 and a valliant knight with a lifetime of training was 2/2. Now we have medics (!) that out-prowess them. I think that development is souring the creative flavor in favor of balance. Can we please have p/t scores in the future that feel right?


We’ve realized over the years that humans need to have a little more breadth than 1/1 to 2/2. They are the creature type we do more than any other and we need more room to play with. 

Fan Made Mechanics

New 19 Oct 2012 Asked by tshawnytscha 2 Comments

You're not supposed to look at fan made cards. Does that also apply to fan made mechanics? For example, is it okay to suggest a keyword, but not a hill giant with that keyword?


I can’t see new mechanics either. 

Rarity vs. Power

New 10 May 2012 Asked by m-edgeworth-deactivated20181217 13 Comments

"Rarity isn’t really about power." Your words. My response: Baneslayer Angel. Rarity has been more and more about power since the day Mythic Rare was invented.


I think you need to take a look at Alpha. Common - Grey Ogre 2R 2/2 Uncommon - Uthden Troll 2R 2/2 R: Regenerate Rare - Sedge Troll 2R 2/2 +1/+1 if you control a swamp, B: Regenerate Common - Hill Giant 3R 3/3 Uncommon - Roc of Kher Ridges 3R 3/3 Flying Common - Mons’s Goblin Raiders R 1/1 Uncommon - Goblin Baloon Brigade R 1/1 R: Gains flying The reality is that we’ve gotten a lot better over the years of not defining power by rarity. Yes, there are exceptions but you won’t see a modern set that has four strictly betters based on rarity in one color like I listed above.

Creature Power Revision

New 13 Mar 2012 Asked by fangfabio 3 Comments

"If we had it all to do over again, we might have made that White Knight a 4/4 and Hill Giant a 6/6, so that you could have a 2/2 Average Joe that certainly dies to the Knight but also a 1/1 Mundane Rat that gets stomped flat even by the most average of Joes, and a 1/2 Cat between them, and so on." (Doug Beyer, "The Feedbackening 2011", August 17, 2011) Would you like that?


I agree that if we could start all over we’d rethink how creatures match up to power and toughness a little more.

Understanding Vanilla Creatures

New 17 Jan 2012 Asked by nutellakingdom-blog 3 Comments

What is a vanilla creature ?


“Vanilla creature” is R&D slang for a creature that has no abilities. Examples of vanilla creatures are Runeclaw Bears and Hill Giant.

Curse of Fire Penguin

New 07 Aug 2011 Asked by confessionsofapuzzledwizard-blog 1 Comments

Seeing as you're the Un-rules Manager: What does Curse of the Fire Penguin do?


Curse of the Fire Penguin is an enchant creature spell. When you enchant the creature you turn Curse of the Penguin upside down and repalce the bottom of the enchanted creature’s text box with the text box on Curse of the Penguin. As an example, let’s say I put it on a Llanowar Elves. The Hill Giant keeps its name, mana cost (which also means it keeps its color) and art, but everything else on the card is now overwritten by the Curse. Llanowar Elves is no longer a 1/1 that taps for G. Instead it is a 6/5 trampler that tells you that this text will move to another creature if the enchanted creature dies.


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