Saddle

Return of Saddle/Mount Creatures

Hi Mark! I know it'd be a fast return for a new mechanic, but can I get a "maybe" on Saddle/Mount creatures returning for the Death Race set?

Maybe. : )

Creatures Humor Mechanics Mounts Saddle

Mechanics vs Reality

If i kill a saddling creature in response to saddle, why is the mount still saddled? This flavor mismatch has led to misplays :(

Sometimes making a mechanic 100% match reality leads to worse gameplay. Also, sometimes doing so adds a lot of words, and it’s not worth it.

Creatures Flavor Game Play Mechanics Mount Saddle

Storm Scale Paradox

Is it too early to ask where plot, outlaws matter, and saddle seem to sit on the storm scale? If it’s not too early to ask, then I would like to ask

It’s a little early.

Paradox Plot Saddle Storm Scale

Strength of Green in Limited

Can I ask you to pass on feedback to the testing teams for limited to please stop giving Green such pushed removal? Green removal is almost always "Bite" rather than "Fight" effects now, often pumps the creature (sometimes permanently), usually for three and sometimes even two mana, and often at instant speed.

The trade-off for this used to be that Green's removal was vulnerable and conditional because it was reliant on creatures, but Green's creatures are so pushed these days and limited is so creature focused that cards like Throw from the Saddle and Clear Shot play just like Doom Blade and Murder, comparable or better to what Black (the "removal colour") gets.

I worry that it distorts the roles the colour pie plays in limited magic. It certainly detracts from my enjoyment of it.

Green historically has been the weakest limited color. We’re trying to help fix that.

Black Clear Shot Colors Creatures Doom Blade Fight / Bite Green Instants Limited Mana Saddle Throw from the Saddle

Crew and Saddle Idea

For the potential design idea of a card that could understandably have both Crew and Saddle, it wouldn't really work. In order to Saddle it, it has to be a creature and if it's a creature then it doesn't need Crew. And then going through the trouble to first Crew it and then to Saddle it also doesn't seem like it'd have a lot of design space for *why* you'd want to do it other than to simply say "We did it." And as the first Tibalt proved, doing something just to say you did is often bad design.

I agree I’m not sure it’s a hill worth climbing.

Creatures Crew Design Space Saddle

Vehicle Saddle Possibility

Could a vehicle have a Saddle ability on top of a Crew ability?

I’m not sure what the point of doing that would be.

Crew Saddle Vehicles

Mount Mechanic Dynamics

Mount/saddle has an “elephant in boots” situation, and in particular it feels like it would be optimal deck building to include as many mounts as possible in a deck focused on the mechanic, so you’d end up with a lot of mounts saddling other mounts. Was saddle ever restricted on what kind of creatures could do it? (For example, non-mount creatures.)

We talked about it, but didn’t feel we needed the restriction as it just didn’t happen enough to be worrisome. It’s similar with how we didn’t stop animated Vehicles from crewing other Vehicles.

Creatures Elephant Mechanics Mount Saddle Vehicles

Saddle Mechanic Potential

Will saddle be deciduous like how vehicles are?

It has that potential.

Deciduous Mechanics Saddle Vehicles

Saddle Mechanic Appreciation

I adored the saddle mechanic, love the option to make certain creatures more efficient at a cost that makes me think how to use my board. I only wish it had been made in time for the bat riders from the core of ixalan.

It’s a new tool in our toolbox.

Appreciation Bat Creatures Ixalan Mechanics Saddle

Sorcery Speed and Design

Are you concerned at all that limiting Saddle in OTJ to sorcery speed will reduce future design space? It seems the designs in OTJ are largely limited to things that are good on your turn, so for 90% of use cases they'll be activated at sorcery speed anyway. But now in the future if you wanted to make defensive Mounts for whatever reason, you'd have to come up with a new mechanic or change the rules.

Mounts are already creatures which can block. The sorcery speed was done very consciously.

Creatures Design Space Limited Mechanics Mount Outlaws of Thunder Junction Rules Saddle Sorceries

Saddle Mechanic Origins

Since almost all Saddle abilities only apply when the mount attacks, why wasn't it made into an attack trigger (whenever you attack, you may tap creatures you control with total power X or greater)?

We were trying to parallel crew as much as we could to help make it easier to learn.

Creatures Crew Mechanics Mount Saddle Tap / Untap

Western vs Villain Themes

So OTJ feels like a very top down western plane to me, and the Villain aspect barely pings in my radar. This isn't a complaint, the western setting is much more interesting to me than the Villain theme. But aside from having a bunch of named characters, most of whomever have no lore to tell us if they are Villains or not, what aspects of the set are you guys seeing as Villainous? Mechanics wise, spree, deserts, outlaws, mercenary tokens, and mounts all feel westerm inspired, where plot is certainly named like its a villain mechanic, but doesn't particularly feel villanous. Leaving crime as the only thing that feels like a Villain mechanic, and even then, most westerns have the heros doing a crime. I think it might a case where the setting and theme weirdly had too much overlap.

Committing crimes, the outlaw batch, plotting, spree, the mercenary token - all villain themed. Only saddle/mount and “desert matters” is western themed (without a tie to villains).

Batches Mechanics Mercenary Mount Outlaws of Thunder Junction Plot Saddle Spree Story / Lore Tokens Top Down

Mount and Rider Mechanics

Mark, I might be alone in this, but why does saddle make the mount better instead of making the rider better? This feels backward to me, even if it's closer to how vehicles work.

The flavor is the rider is now on the mount, and the combination makes them better.

Flavor Mechanics Mount Saddle Vehicles

Saddle vs Crew

I was interested to see that Saddle can only be activated at ‘Sorcery Speed’. If you could go back, would you have made Crew function the same way? I would have expected the two to work similarly. I guess with how the mounts are functioning, being able to activate it at instant speed is kind of meaningless, except I suppose to Saddle in response to removal.

We need crew to function that way because we want Vehicles to be able to block. Saddled creatures can naturally do that, and the effects we want for saddle are more offensive in nature.

Activate Creatures Crew Instants Mount Saddle Sorceries Vehicles

Western Theme Feedback

Hi Mark. I'm a bit disappointed by the Western theme of OTJ. It really feels like an afterthought to the villains/heist portion of the set. Wild West Magic was a theme many of us have been wanting for a while, so I wonder why it was decided to sprinkle it over an unrelated heist/villain set instead of exploring it in depth with its own set?

We tried for years to make a set designed around the western genre. It has numerous issues (troublesome tropes, less popular to a non-US audience, etc.) that kept us from making it the core focus. Our solution was to take a theme we could build around that didn’t have the same issues, and then use the western genre for the setting and dressing. (I will note that saddle/mount and “deserts matter” were tied specifically to the western genre.)

Mount Outlaws of Thunder Junction Saddle

Saddle Mechanic Explanation

Another rules question for you. Unlike Crew, Saddle's reminder text doesn't specify that the creatures you tap must be untapped. Does this mean that you can pay a saddle cost with creatures that are already tapped?

No, you cannot. You can’t pay a cost with something you don’t have.

Creatures Crew Mechanics Rules Saddle Tap / Untap

Mount/Saddle Mechanic Future

Is Mount/Saddle going straight to evergreen/deciduous like vehicles or is it on a 2+ year wait and see how the players like it path before it makes it back into a set?

It’s not going straight to evergreen, but it is something we’re exploring how often we want to use.

Deciduous Evergreen Mechanics Mount Saddle Vehicles

Mount Type Reasoning

We've seen Mount is a new creature type to go alongside Saddle as an ability. My first thought on seeing this is to wonder why it's not the same problem as the Kindred card type? From now on, any creature that theoretically could be saddled/mounted, the question will be "why isn't this a Mount?"

Mount will be tied one-to-one with saddle. It’s not a flavor decision, solely a mechanical one.

Card Types Creatures Flavor Kindred / Typal Mount Saddle

Story vs Mechanics

Hey Maro,Super happy to see cool mechanics coming through in OOTJ. Very pumped for saddle!I’m going to hold out hope for some lore about OOTJ, but I feel like it’s going to bother me and others if there isn’t an explanation for certain characters showing up on the plane. I get that this is the villains set, so it makes sense to put them in, but I guess I thought it would be limited to Oko and his crew. For example, I wasn’t expecting to see the Gitrog out in the badlands and would really like to know if there’s an in universe explanation beyond “it’s cool and fits” That being said it looks like a slam dunk western execution on first glance! Thanks for all that you do.

When cool thing that players will adore pushes up against “it’s a bit of a stretch for this to have happened”, we err towards the former. Story serves the set more than the set serves story.

Badlands Crew Limited Mark Rosewater Mechanics Saddle Story / Lore