Noble Hierarch

Design vs Competitive Power

Hey Mark, does it ever bum you out when a certain card doesn't make the cut in the competitive scene, or doesn't show up in a deck that it was clearly designed for? Thinking of things like Ignoble Hierarch not appearing in Jund, for example.

Power level of individual cards is far outside the realm of my responsibilities. I focus much more on if players like the larger themes, mechanics, and structure of a set.

Competitive Play Ignoble Hierarch Jund (B/R/G) Mechanics Power Level

Noble Errata Discussion

Are Goblin King, Brimaz, Grunn, Marchesa, Darien, and Noble Hierarch not errata’d to Nobles?

I believe Noble is being used to refer to being of noble birth and not just being in the position of leadership.

Errata Goblin Goblin King Noble Noble Hierarch

Green's Color Tapping

There is already a 1 mana green creature that taps for black (Elves of Deep Shadow) and blue (Noble Hierarch). I was really surprised that there wasn't already one for red. What makes it so much more tricky than that the others? Also I found Wild Cantor while doing a little research, how do you feel about that design now?

Green can tap for any color, so it can tap for red. It’s just an issue of flavor and whether or not it’s a one-drop 1/1.

Black Blue Colors Creatures Elf Elves of Deep Shadow Flavor Green Mana Noble Noble Hierarch Red Shadow Tap / Untap Wild Cantor

Color Identity Issues

Re: Transguild Courier, For a better example of color identity rules being dumb, you can't use Noble Hierarch in an monogreen deck, but Birds of Paradise, which taps for two more colors, is a-ok. Or how creatures with extort are fine in monoblack or monowhite, but if you printed a card that functionally had extort, but spelled it out instead of being a keyword, it suddenly becomes WB.

Thanks for the examples.

Bird Birds of Paradise Card Printing Color Identity Colors Creatures Extort Keywords Noble Noble Hierarch Orzhov (W/B) Rules Transguild Courier

Card Cost Differences

Why did Druid of the Anima cost 1G while Noble Hierarch cost G?

Not all cards that do similar things are at the same power level.

Druid Druid of the Anima Noble Noble Hierarch Power Level

Commander Deck Rules

If you could change the commander deck construction rules to ignore color identity and simply have the rule be that you can't generate mana outside of your commander's color identity, would you? This has some advantages (Noble Hierarch or Boros Reckoner in a GW deck, for example) and some disadvantages (flavor mostly).

You have to take all my suggestions about Commander with a grain of salt. I do not play the format. I just make suggestions about how it could be a bit more intuitive to learn and play.

Boros (R/W) Boros Reckoner Color Identity Colors Commander Flavor Mana Noble Noble Hierarch Rules Selesnya (G/W)

Judge Foil Typography

why was hierarch in noble hierarch not capitalized in the judge foil? it is for the normal one. my friend just pointed this out and now I dislike the judge foil a lot...

The capital H in the old Magic font was stylized. That *is* what the capital H looks like.

Foils Noble Noble Hierarch

Commander Color Identity

Forget about the reanimation example and focus on Noble Hierarch. Any green deck can run that card in limited, standard, modern, etc. but it can't in Commander because of color identity, even though the deck could cast that card with its lands. That isn't a bug, it's a purposeful design decision to make Commander care about something that doesn't matter in other formats. Which sounds suspiciously like something you've talked about in some of your articles. :P

I would prefer the rule that you could only add mana to your mana pool that is colorless or the color of your color identity. That is just a cleaner rule. It would allow you to play Noble Hierarch without it giving you access to colors you are not supposed to have access to.

Cast Color Identity Colorless Colors Commander Green Lands Limited Making Magic Mana Modern Noble Noble Hierarch Rules Standard

Hybrid Commander Question

Why draw the line at hybrid (in commander)? After all, in "the rest of magic" I can put Noble Hierarch in my monogreen decks, or Akroma in monoblack (to be reanimated). I have some nongreen token decks that would love Gaea's Cradle, or self-milling U/B decks that would use Golgari Grave-Troll. Would you allow these too? If not, why should hybrid be excepted from color identity, but not these other cases?

You can’t see the difference between a card I can cast with the lands I have in my deck and something like reanimation?

Cast Color Identity Colors Commander Dimir (U/B) Gaea's Cradle Golgari (B/G) Golgari Grave-Troll Hybrid Lands Mill Noble Noble Hierarch Tokens Troll

Modern Masters Selection

Why no Toughtseize and Noble Hierarch in Modern Masters (honest question, no hatred) ? These are pretty obvious Modern staples, so if those are not reprinted - can we expect them in upcoming sets?

There is no card list for Modern Masters where someone isn’t upset something isn’t included.

Card Printing Modern Modern Masters Noble Noble Hierarch Reprints

Mana Accelerators Design

Green has several different flavors of 1 drop mana accelerators, some can even produce non-green mana.,Elves of deep shadow, noble hierarch,tap for green's enemies blue and black. but the only one that taps for red is birds of paradise. Why is there no avacyn's pilgrim for red?

We’re conserving future design space. : )

Avacyn's Pilgrim Bird Birds of Paradise Black Blue Design Space Elf Elves of Deep Shadow Green Mana Noble Noble Hierarch Red Shadow Tap / Untap

No WB Noble Hierarch

Why didn't you design a WB Noble Hierarch? Are creatures that tap for any sort of mana exclusive to green? It does appear most often there, of course, but...

I think the complaint about Noble Hierarch is not wanting a card of that functionality but actually wanting us to reprint Noble Hierarch to make it easier to get for Modern.

Card Printing Creatures Green Mana Modern Noble Noble Hierarch Orzhov (W/B) Reprints Tap / Untap

M13 Hierarch Absence

Can you get the R&D members who worked on M13 to give an official statement on the lack of noble hierarch? Its the only card I wanted to see in the set. It makes it a depressing set to not have it.

An official answer. What am I, chopped liver? : ) (For the youngin’s, that’s an expression from back when the Internet didn’t exist.) The design team wanted exalted to be white and black because they liked it having a religious feel and those are the two colors that most strongly uses religion. The development team supported the vision of the design team. Noble Hierarch isn’t white or black. That’s really all there is to the story.

Black Colors Exalted Game Design Noble Noble Hierarch Story / Lore White

Exalted Mechanic Decisions

You say that Noble Hierarch wasn't in M13 because it was exclusively W/B, but Black got a single Scry card in M11 and Green got only 2 Bloodthirst cards in M12. It just seems strange to me to have an opportunity to print a relatively expensive card for modern when one of the major design goals of modern was to have the ability to reprint expensive cards.

Some mechanics are tighter controlled and some are looser. The design team wanted to keep exalted strictly to the two “religious” colors, white and black. We are looking for spots to reprint Modern cards but we aren’t asking the designers to compromise their vision to do so.

Black Blood Bloodthirst Card Printing Colors Exalted Green Mechanics Modern Noble Noble Hierarch Orzhov (W/B) Reprints Scry White

Noble Hierarch Reprint

Now that we've got the entire M13 spoiler, would you mind if I asked why Noble Hierarch wasn't reprinted? It's a well-loved Modern staple, which re-uses the returning mechanic of the set. Was it considered for reprinting? If so, why not?

Exalted was only put in white and black. Noble Hierarch is green. It was really that simple.

Black Card Printing Exalted Green Mechanics Modern Noble Noble Hierarch Reprints Spoilers White