Recover

Opinion on Toxic Mechanic

I tried my best to keep an open mind for the new set, but I hate toxic just as much as I hated infect. Having the life total be 10 in limited just causes so many steamroll games with little room to recover once you fall behind. Especially mixed with proliferate so even if I stabilize with creatures they just kill me with proliferate spells. I know you've said in the past that infect was one of the most disliked mechanics by some people and I don't think this fixed it.

How do others feel about toxic?

Creatures Infect Limited Mechanics Proliferate Recover Spells Toxic

Favorite Mechanics or Cards

I feel like a lot of people who say you’ve only done bad for the game don’t realize you’re probably behind some of their favorite mechanics or cards too. For a change of pace, can you list some beloved mechanics or cards you’re responsible for?

Here are the Magic mechanics I’ve had a hand in creating: Absorb, Addendum, Affinity, Aftermath, Aura Swap, Battle Cry, Bolster, Champion, Changeling, Cipher, Companion, Contraptions, Crew (Vehicles), Dash, Deathtouch, Delve, Dredge, Embalm, Energy, Entwine, Evoke, Exert, Exploit, Fabricate, Fateful Hour, Fateseal, Ferocious, Flashback, Flip, Forecast, Fortify, Frenzy, Gotcha, Graft, Gravestorm, Heroic, Hexproof, Host/Augment, Hybrid Mana, Imprint, Infect, Intimidate, Kicker, Landfall, Lifelink, Living Weapon, Madness, Manifest, Mentor, Modular, Monstrosity, Morbid, Morph, Multikicker, Mutate, Ninjitsu, Phyrexian Mana, Poisonous, Populate, Proliferate, Prowl, Raid, Rally, Reach, Recover, Reinforce, Retrace, Ripple, Shroud, Soulbond, Splice, Split Cards, Split Second, Suspend, Transfigure, Transform, Typecycling, Undying, Unearth, Vanishing and Wither.

Absorb Absorb Addendum Affinity Aftermath Aura Swap Battle Cry Battle Cry Bolster Champion Changeling Cipher Companion Contraptions Crew Dash Deathtouch Delve Dredge Dredge Embalm Entwine Evoke Exert Exploit Fabricate Fabricate Fateful hour Fateseal Ferocious Flashback Forecast Fortify Fortify Frenzy Graft Gravestorm Gravestorm Heroic Hexproof Hybrid Imprint Infect Intimidate Kicker Landfall Lifelink Lifelink Living Weapon Madness Mana Manifest Mechanics Mentor Modular Monstrosity Morbid Morph Morph Mutate Ninjitsu Phyrexian Poisonous Populate Proliferate Prowl Raid Rally Rally Recover Reinforce Retrace Ripple Shroud Soulbond Splice Split Cards Split Second Suspend Suspend Transfigure Transform Undying Unearth Unearth Vanishing Vanishing Vehicles Wither Your Hand

Act of Treason Mechanics

Hi Mark. What would happen if i play act of treason on a creature and then mutate it leaving my creature on the top? Would i keep it or my opponent would recover the creature?

Your opponent would get back control.

Act of Treason Creatures Mechanics Mutate Recover

White's Reanimation Capabilities

White seems to get full reanimation, just not as often as black, and slightly more often with restrictions. Defy Death, Miraculous Recovery, Mistmoon Griffin, Karmic Guide, Profound Journey, Pulsemage Advocate, Resurrection, and Reya Dawnbringer gave no restrictions on creature returns.

White gets general reanimation infrequently, but multicolor usually doesn’t get to tap into tertiary abilities.

Black Creatures Defy Death Griffin Karmic Guide Miraculous Recovery Mistmoon Griffin Profound Journey Pulsemage Advocate Reya Dawnbringer Tap / Untap Tertiary White

Recover Mechanic Rating

Was Recover considered for a spot in the bottom 10 mechanics? It has big time memory issues.

I had twenty or so mechanics that I had to narrow down to ten.

Mechanics Recover

White's Reanimation Limits

Mark, you said that white mostly brings back low costed creatures and, sometimes, angels from graveyard. So the chances for us to have new versions of Ressurrection, Miraculous Recovery, Marshal's Anthem, etc. are low? I think that if necromancers and demons can raise their greatest threats from the grave, angels and gods should be able to bring their greatest champions back too xD effects like Faith's Reward and Rally the Ancestors don't seem like a bend nor a break for me...

Whenever possible, we like to keep effects that we use at a lower frequency off of one another. Black has the wide sweeping reanimation so white has to focus.

Angel Bend / Break Black Creatures Demon Faith's Reward God Marshal's Anthem Miraculous Recovery Rally Rally the Ancestors The Graveyard White

Impact of Gatewatch Narrative

Does the Gatewatch's ongoing narrative make time more of a concern for the story? (as in, no more 500 year gaps for a plane to recover from the last block set on it?)

It does.

Gates Recover Story / Lore

Keywords as Names

Here are some keywords and ability words that are also card names: Vigilance, Lifelink, Exile, Fear, Overload, Rally, Rebound, Channel, Unearth, Provoke, Vanishing, and Recover. I'm sure there are more, too.

FYI

Ability Words Card Names Channel Fear Keywords Lifelink Overload Provoke Rally Rebound Recover The Exile Zone Unearth Vanishing Vigilance

New Phyrexia Oil Theory

"Some physiology issue is my best guess." If I remember right, it's implied to be the oil in the New Phyrexia storyline; Karn's original spark gets corrupted by the Glistening Oil while sitting on the throne of Mirodin. He's only able to recover when Vensser gives him his spark.

Sounds right. This is more up Doug’s alley than mine.

Corrupted Glistening Oil New Phyrexia Recover

Indiana Jones Perception

Indiana Jones is much more a thief than an archaeologist. Archaeologists don't destroy temples to recover treasures, and taking an idol from the hands of a culture who still own and revere it is theft.

I’m not saying he couldn’t be perceived as a thief but I believe if you polled 100 random people a minority would label him a thief.

Destroy Recover Treasure

Green's Graveyard Mechanics

Is Green allowed to return cards from the graveyard to the battlefield, or is it only allowed to recover cards back to its hand?

Green regrows, it usually doesn’t reanimate.

Green Reanimate Recover The Graveyard Your Hand

Dominaria's Return Potential

Could we see a return to Dominaria? it's been far too long since we've seen it, and it has likely had time to recover from Time Spiral by now.

Okay, Question Marks, do you all want to return to Dominaria?

Dominaria Question Marks Recover Time Spiral

Counters Narrative Device

is it possible for a block to have -1/-1 and +1/+1 but in different sets? i would think it actually could be used as a story element for example: dominaria is, as far as i know a dying plane so the first set would have -1/-1 counters to represent almost a death consuming environment, second set dominaria begins to recover so no counters of either. and the final set could have dominaria roaring back to life and have +1/+1 counters represent growth. is that something feasible?

If you think of Lorwyn and Shadowmoor as two parts of a giant four-set block, then we’ve done it.

Dominaria Giant Lorwyn Recover Shadowmoor Story / Lore

Homelands Article Omission

Maro! I'm actually kind of shocked that you didn't put Homelands in your new article! I've been told that the damage it did was almost impossible to recover from. Why did you give it a free pass?

It was also on the short list.

Homelands Mark Rosewater Recover The short list

Standard Game Speed

"Standard games are much slower now than when the game first started with Alpha." Okay, what about when Standard was first invented as a format? Are things faster now? Is it harder to recover from mana screw/flood?

When Standard was first invented, there will still things like Dark Ritual that significantly sped up the game.

Alpha Dark Ritual Mana Mana Screw Recover Standard

Creature Power Impact

Do you feel that since creatures are more powerful now, it makes it harder to recover from mana screw/flood?

Standard games are much slower now than when the game first started with Alpha.

Alpha Creatures Mana Mana Screw Recover Standard

Recover Mechanic Potential

What are the chances of seeing the Recover mechanic return?

Could Recover get recovered? It’s possible but the mechanic is a little clunky as it was trying to mirror an Ice Age card. I’d say it’s a 7 on the Storm Scale.

Ice Age Keyword Abilities Mechanics Recover Storm Scale

Recover Mechanism Future

Hi Mark. Long time reader of your stuff (back to the old Puzzling days), first time pesterer. I wanted to say thank you for everything you do for the community. Anyway, on to my question: where is Recover on the Storm Scale? Thanks.

I think recover is a 6. We have to find the right set to use it in but it could come back.

Appreciation Keyword Abilities Recover Storm Scale

Surgery Recovery Wishes

I'm having back surgery on tuesday. Dunno why I wanted to tell you. Just wanted to let you know I'm looking forward to reading your posts on here while I'm laid up. Do you think you could do an article about building your deck for the Unified Ravnica Constructed event? Seems like that would be a neat look into deck-building.

Here’s the story: Gavin Verhey built the deck and gave it to me. The weakness of the deck was my play skill. The End. I’ll try to be extra pithy for the next few weeks as you recover. : )

Constructed Gavin Verhey Recover Story / Lore

Coldsnap Mechanic Future

As far as I can tell Coldsnap is viewed as somewhat of a failure around the Magic community. Are either of the mechanics designed specifically for Coldsnap (Ripple and Recover) something R&D feels have a possibility of reuse in the future, or do they fall into the same category as mechanics like Clash and Conspire that probably won't be used again?

Coldsnap and its mechanics all tested very poorly. As I just said below, I never say never, but I am not expecting their return any time soon.

Clash Coldsnap Conspire Game Design Mechanics Recover Ripple