Necropotence

Nostalgic Complaints

It feels strange to see so many complaints about the block model, when the exact same point of complaints from the block model are now seen as desirable? What happened?

The past is nostalgic. I remember a pro player came up to me at an event and said, “Why can’t we have cards like Necropotence any more?” I had to remind him that he came up to me at an event many years before yelling at me about why Nectopotence wasn’t banned.

Bannings Format Legality Necropotence

Plane Agnostic Cards Request

Can we please have more plane agnostic cards with unique game-changer effects and simple yet iconic, unique names like Aluren? In case you couldn't tell, I'm a fan of Aluren lol. Everything about the card is [chef's kiss]. It really plays into the mystical fantasy of discovering powerful or ancient magics. Necropotence is another good example. I don't feel the same when spells are specific to characters or events.

We still make those. Probably in higher numbers than the time frame you’re referencing, although admittedly probably smaller in percentage.

Aluren Card Frames Chef's Kiss Necropotence Spells

Block Structure Vs. Different Plane

It's really strange seeing all the requests to go back to the block structure, when for years we'd see people begging to go to another plane in the middle of the second set.

There’s a great story about how a pro player came up to me at a pro tour and complained why we didn’t make cards like Necropotence any more. I reminded him that five years earlier at a different pro tour, he’d yelled at me, at length, for making Necropotence. He said, “good point”.

Competitive Play Necropotence Story / Lore

Trivia on Fifth Edition

Hi Mark!! Can I invoke birthday trivia for something about the first set I ever played: fifth edition?

Fifth Edition and Core Set 2010 were the only two core sets I was on the design team for. My greatest failure on the Fifth Edition design team was being unable to talk Skaff out of putting Necropotence in the set. : )Happy Birthday!

Birthday Humor Necropotence

Interaction with Necropotence

I also love more or less! Though I will guiltily admit that's mostly due to its interaction with Necropotence. Still, lots of fun!

The card should have prevented you from turning 1 into 0. It causes a bunch of rules issues, even for the Un-rules.

Necropotence Rules Un-sets

Comparing Removal Efficacy

In a world where ETB habilities are all over the place, counterspells are much better than spot removal. In addition, blue has arguably the best boardwipe in multiplayer (Cyclonic Rift) and black has probably better creature removal: demon or non-demon one, Decree or Pain, Black Sun's Zenith... There's little white can do to stop Necropotence giving a full new hand etc. You can't be consistent if you deal with threats but don't have the means to refill your hand and put some of your own.

Your example is the best enchantment and one of the best cards of all time? Yeah, it’s hard for most colors to deal with Necropotence. It’s why we had the broken Necro Summer. Note that counterspells are reactive meaning you need the card and mana at the exact moment Necro is cast.That’s a big limitation.

Black Black Sun's Zenith Blue Cast Colors Commander Creatures Cyclonic Rift Demon Enchantments Enter The Battlefield Mana Necropotence White Your Hand

Necropotence Trivia

I lost a very good friend of mine recently to his struggle with depression. We played commander pretty much every day and he was always building some crazy new brew. It would almost always end up with Necropotence somewhere in it. Can I possibly get some fairly obscure trivia about it for the next time I go visit him? He loved wacky trivia about cards.

When Ice Age premiered, Inquest Magazine rated Necropotence one star (out of five) for power. Condolences on your loss.

Birthday Commander Ice Age Necropotence

InQuest Scrye Anecdote

tell me a small story about InQuest or Scrye magazines?

Inquest and Scry were contemporary magazines of The Duelist all of which had a lot of Magic content. My favorite story is about Inquest. Whenever a set came out, they would write about it, grading each card (Necropotence famously was first graded with one star), and pick the worst card in the set. The goal was to stir up conversation, so they liked picking bold choices. When Stronghold came out, the chose Dream Halls as the worst card. A few years later we had to ban it. : )

Bannings Dream Halls Necropotence Scry Story / Lore Stronghold

Necropotence Designer

Who designed necropotence?

My educated guess is Skaff Elias.

Necropotence Skaff Elias

Balance Card Mystery

Hey Mark. It was my birthday on the 26th and I was wondering if I could get some trivia on my favourite card of all time, Balance.

One of the great Magic mysteries was how Balance got into Fourth Edition. (Note this was before I got into R&D.) R&D knew the card was a problem, it was restricted! My guess is it was a pet favorite of one of the designers and he talked the others into including it. It’s how Necropotence ended up in Fifth Edition. Happy Belated Birthday!

Birthday Fifth Edition Fourth Edition Necropotence

Pronunciation Guide

Random question, but how do you actually pronounce Necropotence? We were playing EDH and its just something that came up

NECK - row - Po (as in Kung Fu Panda) - tents.

Commander Necropotence

Necropotence Opinion

Flashback: What's your opinion on Necropotence?

1995 Mark: I think it’s underrated.

Flashback Necropotence

Blue Necropotence Hypothesis

Would Necropotence still have been too good is it had cost UUU instead of BBB, and then couldn't take advantage of Dark Ritual and black weenies?

I’m not sure making a card Blue back in the day made it weaker. : )

Black Blue Dark Ritual Necropotence

Black Enchantments in Theros

Why did black get so many enchantments goodies in theros? it was ahead of green and white, is this the new status quo?

Black has always enjoyed enchantments (think back to things like Necropotence). It’s just bad a destroying them.

Black Enchantments Green Necropotence Theros White

Necropotence in Red?

Have you ever considered a Necropotence style card in Red? With red moving into a tertiary card drawing color, it could be an unexpected twist. No one would ever expect the Red Skull

Red doesn’t trade resources for cards. That’s black’s schtick.

Black Card Draw Colors Necropotence Red Tertiary

Necropotence in Standard

Is there any chance we could see Necropotence in Standard again without breaking the format in half?

Let me pretend to be a developer for a second. Hold on, I’m getting into character. I’m a developer, I’m a developer, I’m a developer. Okay, I’m ready. No.

Necropotence Standard

Slow Cantrip Reasoning

Re: slow cantrips. What was the reasoning for delayed card draw like that and the wording on Necropotence? Was immediate card draw deemed too powerful?

The concern at the time was yes, it would be too powerful. The card, in particular, which caused worry was Urza’s Bauble.

Card Draw Necropotence Urza

Necropotence Reprint Viability

Do you think a functional reprint of necropotence could be printed with a high enough cmc?

There are some spells that the cost to keep them safe makes the card not worth printing.

Card Printing Mana Value Necropotence Reprints Spells

Necropotence Standard Return

Do you see Necropotence ever returning to standard?

No, that card is way over the current power level. I’m not even going to explain I’m not a developer because frankly I don’t need to be to know this one’s over the line.

Necropotence Not a developer Power Level Standard

Top 7 YMTC Designs

For YMTC, if there were so many Necropotence variants submitted, why did none make it to the top 7? (Overall, I've very disappointed by the designs that did make it.)

Because there were 8 better designs.

Necropotence