Magical Hack

Sticker Mechanic Patience

For the record, I think I’m on your side when it comes to stickers. Nobody has played with them yet, so this might be a lot of air about nothing…. But the idea that stickers are too wacky…. I don’t see them doing much beyond what has already been done in magic. Magical Hack/Sleight of Mind effects are pretty similar and lacked a sticker reminder. “Hacking” names is interesting and maybe a bit weird, but I think we should wait and see.

Waiting to actually see a mechanic in its entirety before judging it? <sigh> That would be nice.

Magical Hack Mechanics Sleight of Mind Stickers

About Slight Hack Mechanism

Magical Hack and Slight of Mind edited spells and cards, any chance this mechanic was called Slight Hack in testing?

Those were replacement and cleave is removal.

Cleave Magical Hack Mechanics Spells

Inconsistency in Change of Rules

"Just as Sleight of Mind can’t turn a Black Knight into a Blue Knight, More or Less can’t turn Wrenn and Seven into Wrenn and Six. It only affects rules text." More or Less doesn't say "change the text" though, and this directly disagrees with one of the rulings which states "You can change power or toughness. If you change a toughness of 1 to 0, the creature will probably die." despite P/T not being part of a cards rules text.

One of my guidelines of being the Un-Rules Manager is I try very hard not to contradict black border rules when things line up. I want as much consistency between the Un and non-Un rules as possible. Sleight of Mind and Magical Hack clearly established that they can only affect rules text and not names (why you can’t Sleight a Black Knight into a Blue Knight). When changing power/toughness came up, it didn’t have a straight parallel, so I allowed it as it had a big rules application.

Black Black Border Black Knight Blue Creatures Knight Magical Hack Rules Sleight of Mind Un-sets Wrenn and Seven Wrenn and Six

Silver-Border Cards' Text Redaction

Theoretically, could a Silver-Border card ask you to redact the text of your own cards to change what they do *permanently*?

Black border cards can do that, rules wise. See Sleight of Mind or Magical Hack from Alpha. We do less if it nowadays for memory reasons.

Black Border Magical Hack Rules Sleight of Mind Un-sets

Magical Hacker's Effects

Hello! Does Magical Hacker cause infect creatures to deal damage in the form of +1/+1 counters?

Yes, it can do that.

Creatures Deal Damage Infect Magical Hacker

Future of Hack Cards

Can we get a new hack card that changes one permanent type with another or are hack cards out of the picture in general?

It’s not something we do much of these days.“Hack” cards is referring to cards like Magical Hack or Sleight of Mind that permanently alter a trait.

Magical Hack Sleight of Mind

Card Text Manipulation

Would you ever consider making an un- card that can manipulate the specific words of cards (within the boundaries of ‘this can’t break the game’)

Black border has Sleight of Mind and Magical Hack. It’s tricky to make rules that let you mess with words if it’s not a direct substitution of a similar word. Silver bordered has tried, but cards just become indecipherable.

Black Black Border Magical Hack Rules Sleight of Mind Un-Magic / Silver Border / Acorn

Permanent Text Alteration Cards

Magical Hack has been around since Alpha, while Sleight of Mind saw the light of day in Ice Age. Over the years more of these 'alteration' cards have been printed, yet they are all Instants or Sorceries (not counting Balduvian Shaman). Will we ever see an actual (Legendary?) wizard creature with those abilities?

We don’t do a lot of permanent text changing these days.

Alpha Balduvian Shaman Card Printing Creatures Ice Age Instants Light of Day Magical Hack Shaman Sleight of Mind Sorceries

War of the Spark Thanks

Thank you for working on War of the Spark. And, also thank you for Magical Hacker. : )

You’re welcome.

Appreciation Magical Hacker War of the Spark

Blue's Meta Magic

Does blue still have meta magic like slight of hand or magical hack? Since there haven't been effects recently.

It does, but we just don’t do much permanent text splicing.

Blue Magical Hack Your Hand

Card Mechanic Future

Looking through old cards earlier and came across Magical Hack (change the color of something). In current Magic design, is there any chance of similar mechanics being of use, especially with terror / circle of protection effects being sidelined?

We’ve moved away from permanent “text hacking”, so its return is unlikely.

Colors Magical Hack Mechanics Protection

Magic Hack Query

If I use magical hacker to change "six-sided die" to "six+sided die", what do I do?

That’s a hyphen and not a minus sign. Sorry.

Magical Hacker Six-Sided Die

Blue Word Changing

Hi Mark! I was looking at your Mechanical Color Pie 2017 article and noticed that blue gets "word changing"...but being a relatively new player, I don't know any cards off the top of my head that I've seen with that, and I'm not sure how to search that mechanic in gatherer. Could you give an example, please?

Check out Sleight of Mind or Magical Hack.

Beginners Blue Color Pie Colors Magical Hack Mechanics Search Sleight of Mind

Magical Hacker Black Border

Is solving Magical Hacker for black border something R&D is actively keen on doing? That card is my favorite combo piece that has never been printed.

Usually cards are in silver border because we can’t do them in black border.

Black Black Border Card Printing Game Design Magical Hacker Un-Magic / Silver Border / Acorn Un-sets

Teenagers in Un-set

You could do teenagers in the next un-set : )

Magical Hacker was designed as a Teenage Human Gamer but, at the time, the one impact silver border had on black border was the creature types so I limited how many silly ones I made. Shortly after Unhinged came out, they changed the rules so silver border-only creature types no longer can be chosen in black border when choosing a creature type. So close.

Black Black Border Creatures Gamer Human Limited Magical Hacker Rules Unhinged Un-Magic / Silver Border / Acorn Un-Magic / Silver Border / Acorn Un-sets

Plainswalker Trivia

The day has come bday trivia. Trivia on 5 color plainswalker or my commander child of alara.

Here’s some five color plainswalking trivia. There are actually cards in every color (and artifact and multicolor) that can have or grant plainswalk:White Aysen Highway (Homelands)Concerted Effort (Ravnica) - must have other plainswalkerGraceful Antelope (Odyssey)Great Wall (Legends)Righteous Avengers (Legends)Blue (okay, other than Greater Morphing, Illusionary Presence or Traveler’s Cloak, you have to already have a land walker to pull this off)Crystal Spray (Invasion)Greater Morphling (Unhinged)Illusionary Presence (Ice Age)Magical Hack (Alpha)Mind Bend (Mirage)Spectral Shift (Fifth Dawn)Trait Doctoring (Dragon’s Maze)Traveler’s Cloak (Invasion)While of Vorrath (Tempest)BlackCairn Wanderer (Lorwyn) - ,must have plainswalker in graveGiant Slug (Legends)RedBarbarian Guides (Ice Age) - can grant snow-covered plainswalkBeggars Arsonists (Shadowmoor)GreenMagnigoth Treefolk (Planeshift) - must have PlainsOld Fogey (Unhinged)Zodiac Rooster (Portal: Three Kingdoms)ArtifactDeath-Mask Duplicate (Darksteel) - must exile plainswalkerExcavator (Tempest) - must sacrifice PlainsMulticolorLord Magnus (Legends) - Green/WhiteThis is the most I’ve ever written about plainswalk on Blogatog. : )Happy Birthday!

Alpha Antelope Artifacts Aysen Highway Barbarian Barbarian Guides Bend / Break Birthday Black Blue Cairn Wanderer Child of Alara Cloak Colors Commander Concerted Effort Crystal Spray Darksteel Dragon Excavator Fifth Dawn Giant Giant Slug Graceful Antelope Great Wall Greater Morphling Green Homelands Ice Age Illusionary Presence Lands Legendary Creatures Lord Magnus Lorwyn Magical Hack Magnigoth Treefolk Mind Bend Mirage Odyssey Old Fogey Planeshift Portal Red Righteous Avengers Sacrifice Selesnya (G/W) Shadowmoor Slug Spectral Shift Tempest The Exile Zone Trait Doctoring Treefolk Unhinged Wall White Zodiac Rooster

Magical Hacker Limitations

Dear Maro, since you are the official rules manager of the un-sets, I have a question for you about Magical Hacker and levelers. I know that "3+" on Skywatcher Adept means "As long as this creature has 3 or more level counters on it, it's 4/2 and has flying", so what happens if I change "3+" to "3-" with Magical Hacker?

Magical Hacker can only mess with rules text and not frame elements so it cannot change the level-up numbers or planeswalker loyalty costs.

Card Frames Creatures Flying Magical Hacker Mark Rosewater Planeswalkers Rules Skywatcher Adept Un-Magic / Silver Border / Acorn Un-sets

Teenager Creature Type

You really have to make teenager a creature type so that Mistform Ultimus is finally a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

I almost did it in Unhinged with Magical Hacker, but at the time Un-creature types were active in black border so I was keeping new ones to a minimum. Then after it came out, they stopped making Un-ones black border relevant.

Black Black Border Creatures Magical Hacker Mistform Ultimus Mutant Ninjas Turtle Unhinged

Magical Hacker's Border

Magical Hacker has an odd ability, but is it doable in black-border? If so, is it still blue? It seems blue, but I could also imagine it on one of red's weird enchantments. It would need a new flavor in red, though.

Usually a card that seems close to a black border but is in a silver border is because I tried and failed to do it in a black border. Magical Hacker is one such card.

Black Black Border Blue Enchantments Flavor Magical Hacker Red Un-Magic / Silver Border / Acorn Un-sets

Teenage Subtype Request

Please make sure a card with the creature subtype, "teenage" or "teenager."

Magical Hacker was almost a Teenage Gamer but at the time the Un-creature types were actually used in black border so I tried hard not to make too many crazy ones. They late excised all un-creature types from the official list so I should have just used Teenage. The reason players want “teenage” for those that are puzzled is so that changelings would be Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Black Black Border Creatures Gamer Magical Hacker Mutant Ninjas Subtype Turtle