Hey mark, I wanted to understand the hang ups with the design team not doing more pyroblast/ hydroblast effects. Allowing non blue colors the ability to counter an “opposite” in the color pie seems like a fitting mechanic to allow every color to interact on the stack. Can you do some clarifying on why that isn’t a thing?

Blue can’t destroy permanents, red or not, and red can’t counter spells, blue or not.Having a color be an enemy doesn’t mean you get resources you normally don’t.

Regarding the red vs enchantments discussion, does that make red cards that can destroy “target blue permanent” (ie Pyroblast or Jaya Ballard, Task Mage) color pie breaks since they can destroy enchantments as long as the enchantments are blue? Or does red “hating” on blue override the intended weakness?

Yes, those are color pie breaks.

The problem with color pie break intransigence is that the color pie itself evolves. What used to be canon is now a break. For people who are not interested in Standard or Limited and only play Eternal (i.e. Commander, Legacy, Vintage etc.), fast mana IS part of black's slice of the pie simply because Dark Ritual exists and gets competitive play. Same for Pyroblast, Sylvan Library, etc. People won't just stop playing Magic with these cards because R&D changed their minds about them.

Magic’s past is littered with mistakes especially from its early years where we were still figuring a lot of things out from power level to rules to color pie. We can’t erase the mistakes of the past, but we can keep from replicating them for the future. Plus every year we tow the line and keep Magic in the confines of modern design and development, we lessen the number of players playing with cards outside of it.#WotCStaff

There were a whole bunch of cards in Eternal Master's the break the color pie. What do you think of such inclusions such Xathrid Swarm, Pyroblast, and even Prodigal Sorcerer?

A set that reprints old cards that only impacts old formats where those cards already exist is where we can show off history.

Long time reader; first time asker: Was it a joke to put Red Elemental Blast against Pyroblast. Are they not the same? Or is there some subtle difference between them? I feel like I missed something.

There’s long been a debate which was better. Ethan (who compiled Head-to-Head: Counterspells) wanted to finally settle the issue. Pyroblast appears to be winning.

Does it bother you that a serious color pie violator like Pyroblast is such an important card in eternal formats? There are several nonblue decks that would be nearly unplayable without it.

I can’t change the past so I work hard on changing the present.

So Legacy may be drifting away from Magic, but I'd argue it's drifting in a way that makes it a more skilful game. Consider Show and Tell: against an opponent with red mana up and cards in hand, the Show and Tell player has to worry about Red Elemental Blast/Pyroblast. Conversely, the red player has to worry about tapping out for fear of a Show and Tell. If one/two of those cards didn't exist, the format would be rather less skill-intensive. (I'm assuming at least some of these break the pie.)

Don’t confuse options with skill. The pros have stated how skill testing Khans of Tarkir draft is and that has 12,000+ less cards than Legacy.

I just realized that the three spells Jaya Ballard, Task Mage uses (Pyroblast, Incinerate, Inferno) are all cards that were in 5th ed, with a quote from Jaya Ballard in the flavour text.

How did that happen? : )