“Out of pie” just means it’s something that the color isn’t supposed to do anymore, so more effects like that probably won’t be made. But how much does this affect reprints? For example, Reality shift and Pongify are no longer in pie for blue, does this mean they are less likely to be reprinted? Or just less likely to be brought into formats that don’t already have them (I.e. standard)

Our policy is we don’t reprint breaks that introduce them to tabletop formats that don’t have them.

“Creatures are important so blue is allowed to answer them”. That’s fine, but as a color (in commander), blue now has reality shift, pongify, hybridization, and nownpower vacuum, where as white has only swords and path (anything that costs more is too inefficient). Blue is better at killing singular commanders than white now, I think that is the issue...

“If you ignore every white way to deal with commanders except the two I’ve named, white has less ways to deal with commanders than blue.” In debate, this is called a “false premise”. : )

Pongify, Rapid Hybridization, Reality Shift are not big concerns in EDH games. The environment has tons of removal and even “free” steal effects like Treachery. This likely only impacts budget edh decks. That said I believe you’ve talked before about how Blue shouldn’t be destroying any creature even if it replaces it with another. It should be exiled so that same creature doesn’t come back as the flavor is that the creature was turned into the new one, not destroyed and player compensated.

Ideally it would be “exiled”, but there are times where other demands require it be “destroy” instead.

Afterlife is a removal spell. Giving the opponent something as part of its resolution doesn't change the fact that the target is GONE (see Swords to Plowshares/Path to Exile/Beast Within/Chaos Warp/Assasin's Trophy). Polymorph/Pongify/Reality Shift et al are breaks for Blue. They are permanent removal in the color supposedly designated the worst at doing so and your willfull support for them makes this game we all love worse.

Blue is allowed to remove a creature if it replaces it with another creature. That’s not a break. Blue is allowed to do that. If you like, you can think of the rule as “Blue can’t remove creatures unless it then replaces them with another creature”.

Mark, if I may- if Pongify was a mistake, why were two similar removal spells (Rapid Hybridization and Reality Shift) printed afterwards? Is this just a pattern of b×ttles you lost?

I’m not anti-Pongify. It’s in Blue’s color pie. Turning a creature into a 3/3 is not flavorwise killing it.

Hi Mark! Would it be possible to introduce a UG creature removal that actually results in a 1-for 1? No bounce. Destroy or exile with a negative effect attached to it, that doesn't give a creature back. I really like the Idea of giving your opponent the creature's cmc in mana back next turn. Like a negative Plasm Capture as payment. Reality Shift and Rapid Hybridization are just not fit to deal with cheap creatures.

The problem is neither Blue nor Green can destroy creatures. The closest you get is Blue destroying as a technical means to then replace it with another creature.

Maybe it's just me, but don't cards that say "exile target creature" (like Reality Shift) go against Blue's weakness of creature removal?

No, cards like Reality Shift aren’t destroying a creature, they’re transforming it into a different creature.

It's kind of funny how people are complaining about Reality Shift exiling when just two years ago people were complaining about Rapid Hybridization not exiling.

The through line is people enjoy complaining. : )

I think what's upsetting people about Reality Shift is that exile with compensation has always been a white thing (Swords and Path come to mind), and that blue getting exile removal (despite the flavor), is a sign that blue is coming back to being "the best color". I myself am in the camp that polymorph would make more sense as an enchantment ala Darksteel Mutation, but that's just me. However, I won't pretend that I know the inner workings of R&D and will trust your judgement on the matter.

Here’s the real problem. The issue at hand isn’t a design one or a color pie one. Blue’s had this effect and done it continually since 1996. The issue at hand is the power level of the effect and that is a development issue. As Head Designer and Keeper of the Color Pie, I have a huge impact on the first two and very little impact on the latter. There’s not a lot of point arguing with me about a development issue so you argue in the areas I do have lots of control. The problem is in those areas, you don’t have winning argument. In the development argument, I feel you have a much stronger case, but arguing with me about it doesn’t do much. I agree with you that I wish development pushed less in this area. Note that the manifest card really isn’t a great example of this as the downside is potentially pretty big.

So a friend and i had an argument the other day about Reality Shift (and rapid hybridization/Pongify) being a color pie violation. are they? Is blue allowed to remove a creature from the battlefield and leave something behind like a 2/2?

Yes, blue is allowed to do this and has a long history of doing it. Note that the 2/2 has the potential to turn into another possibly more dangerous creature.