Mercenaries

About Thunder Junction Mercenaries

Did you contemplate at some point giving the Thunder Junction Mercenaries... Exalted? I mean the name of the ability is wrong for the flavor, but mechanically it's driving at a similar thing to the tap ability you ended up giving them.

The first version we tried for Mercenary tokens is what we printed.

Exalted Flavor Mercenaries Tap / Untap Tokens Mercenaries

Ubiquitous Tokens Expectation

Is the Ubiquitous Token of a plane something we should expect from visit to visit? Like, how Capenna has its gw citizens, Innistrad has black decayed zombies, LTR had orc armies [applicable to some silmarillion-based visit, I guess]I was looking at the Fish tokens in Bloomburrow and Mercenaries in otj and wondering if those were also more Worldbuilding statements or not.

It’s a mechanical tool that adds flavor, and something we definitely use when shaping a set.

Army Black Bloomburrow Citizens Decayed Fish Flavor Innistrad Mercenaries Orcs Outlaws of Thunder Junction Selesnya (G/W) The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Tokens Zombies Mercenaries

Concept Behind Mari's Text

Was the text on Mari, the Killing Quill an early attempt/concept of the Outlaw batching?

Assassians, Mercenaries, and Rogues you control have deathtouch...

It was a design hitting at the same flavor.

Batches Deathtouch Flavor Mari, the Killing Quill Mercenaries Rogue

Minions Not Made

You've said the OTJ Mercenaries weren't Minions because you don't make Minions any more. Are you able to say why not? Does it have anything to do with a certain group of yellow, overall-wearing, pop-culture characters?

We chose to stop doing Minion as a creature type decades before the yellow fellows existed, so I don’t think they’re the cause.

Creatures Mercenaries Minion Outlaws of Thunder Junction Pop Culture

List Style Nuance

Hi Mark!I noticed that when listing things in your podcast, you often put "and" in between each item of the list, instead of just between the last two. For instance you'll say outlaws are "Assassins AND rogues AND pirates AND warlocks AND mercenaries".Is that a regionalism, or a MaRo special thing?

No, idea. Probably me being dramatic. : )

Assassin Drive to Work Humor Mark Rosewater Mercenaries Pirate Rogue Warlock

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

Mercenary Type Timing

Hi Mark, once you decide to use Mercenary in creature cards in OTJ, was it too late to add some Mercenaries to other sets in standard?

There were enough Rogues, Warlocks, Assassins, and Pirates that it wasn’t an issue. Future sets can make use of the Mercenary creature type.

Assassin Creatures Mercenaries Mercenary Outlaws of Thunder Junction Pirate Rogue Standard Warlock

Mercenaries vs Minions

You say you went with Mercenaries over Minions for the henchpeople in ITJ because you stopped making new minions outside of EDH throwbacks, with the last standard legal card original printed as a Minion in 2003, but the last standard legal Mercenary was printed in 2005. Mercenaries are a *bit* more used than Minions but was the difference seen as that significant?

We chose to stop making Minions. We never made that decision for Mercenaries.

Card Printing Commander Mercenaries Mercenary Minion Standard

Mercenary Support Future

So now that Mercenaries have gotten some much needed love after 20 years, will we be seeing them semi-regularly going forward (more than we saw from Masques block to OTJ) or no? As someone who is excited to be able to actually jam Cateran Overlord, I hope the answer is yes.

The Outlaw batch existing will definitely help, especially in the short term.

Batches Cateran Overlord Mercenaries Mercenary Outlaws of Thunder Junction

Casual Rules Text

Is flavor rule’s text going to be a thing now? The phrasing on Shoot the Sheriff seems oddly casual for rules text.

Shoot the Sheriff {1}{B}Instant Destroy target non-outlaw creature. (Assassins, Mercenaries, Pirates, Rogues, and Warlocks are outlaws. Everyone else is fair game.)

It’s reminder text. Reminder text is looser than rules text.

Assassin Blogatog / Tumblr Casual Play Creatures Destroy Flavor Instants Mercenaries Pirate Rogue Rules Shoot the Sheriff Warlock

Revisiting Rebels and Mercenaries

Will we ever see a redux of the Rebel and Mercenary mechanics? There seems really deep design space not used there, is there fear of not doing it right; like how the second appearance of Landfall was a bust due to player expectations not matching the current power structure of Standard?

Rebels were broken and mercenaries were significantly underpowered. They also weren’t all that popular.

Design Space Fear Landfall Mechanics Mercenaries Mercenary Power Level Rebel Standard

Strategy for Supporting New Tribes

Since creature types have been coming up recently, how do you guys decide where and when to support new tribes for EDH? It has obviously been something you guys have thought about with the big expansion of Squirrel and Werewolf support this year. What is the next underserved tribe to get some love? (Mardu Minotaurs, Dimir Mercenaries, Gruul Satyrs come to mind as tribes that could use some help)

Let me turn this to all of you. What creature type needs more love for Commander?

Commander Creatures Dimir (U/B) Gruul (R/G) Mardu (R/W/B) Mercenaries Minotaur Satyr Squirrel Werewolf

Prospects of Future Rebels and Mercenaries

Could we see rebels and/or mercenaries in a future set? Either with or without the gimmick

We could possibly see the creature type, but it’s highly unlikely it would have the Mercadian Masques abilities.

Creatures Mercadian Masques Mercenaries Rebel