Sentinel

White's Card Draw Mechanics

I gotta say, I am not a fan of the "once per turn" draw in White. It just doesn't have the same mechanical bite that other colors have like Red's impulse draw/rummaging or Black's sacrifice for power. Can we see more of a push in forms of White card draw that thematically fit, like charity (Secret Rendez-Vous), compensation (Discerning Financier), and retribution (Esper Sentinel) with less ETB card draw and "draw a card because you did something" (Wedding Announcement, Welcoming Vampire)?

The flavor is white draws long, that is it sets up the proper condition and then gets rewarded with card draw over time. It’s slow, methodical card draw.

Card Draw Colors Discerning Financier Enter The Battlefield Esper (W/U/B) Esper Sentinel Fight / Bite Flavor Mechanics Once Per Turn Retribution Sacrifice Sentinel Vampire Welcoming Vampire White

Color Pie Outputs

You’ve said how with white ramp & card draw, it’s essentially “the more white the input is, the less white the output has to be”. Taxing Noncreature spells is very white, so the payoff being card draw (like Esper sentinel) is a-okay. Is this the case with other effects too? As in, could a black card make treasures off of a zombie entering the field? Could a blue card gain life when you scry? Could a green card destroy creatures when it deals a bunch of combat damage? Stuff like that

The output still has to be something the color does. My point was that the closer to the core the input is, the less close to the core, the output can be. If you want an output that the color is tertiary in, the input should ideally be primary. The input being primary is not an excuse to be out of color.

Black Blue Card Draw Color Pie Colors Creatures Destroy Esper (W/U/B) Esper Sentinel Green Lifegain Non-creatures Primary Scry Sentinel Spells Tertiary Treasure White Zombie

Defender Slotting in Sets

Do defenders/zero power creatures that can deal direct damage like Brimstone Trebuchet, Archer's Parapet, and Vent Sentinel count as creature slots in terms of set skeletons?

Usually, no.

Brimstone Trebuchet Creatures Defender Parapet Sentinel Skeleton Vent Sentinel

Making WU Soldiers Viable

I'm extremely late but please say thanks to anyone responsible for making WU Soldiers viable in Standard, especially Zephyr Sentinel.

Will do!

Appreciation Azorius (W/U) Sentinel Soldier Standard Zephyr Sentinel

Comparing Card Drawing Abilities

Even White is getting better at Card Draw than Blue. Esper Sentinel? Blue can't even get a color-shifted Elvish Visionary, let alone a card that starts drawing cards from Turn 1, or get card draw engines like Green.

A color being better at a tiny sliver of something is not it being overall better. Blue is the best overall color at card drawing, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best at every different execution of it.

Blue Card Draw Colors Elvish Visionary Esper (W/U/B) Esper Sentinel Green Sentinel Sliver White

White Card Draw Solution

You've said R&D has figured out a solution to white card draw for Commander, but it hasn't made it to print yet. So far, the response to many public attempts to give white draw have mostly been met with a resounding "This doesn't quite meet the mark," although there have been some exceptions like Esper Sentinel. Are you confident EDH players with mono-white decks will be pleased with your solution?

Whether players play with an effect or not has a lot to do with power level. We’re figuring out execution. Once that is settled, we can raise the power level to the appropriate level.

Card Draw Card Printing Commander Esper (W/U/B) Esper Sentinel Game Design Power Level Sentinel White

White's try at treasure creation

Can you explain why treasure creation isn't in white's color pie? If white can draw cards when its rules are broken, (Mangara, Esper Sentinel) then why can't it ramp when those rules are broken too?

White isn’t supposed to be good at generating other colors of mana. We’ve adapted white to allow it to draw cards. That’s no longer off limits to white because it was so important to balancing Commander.

Card Draw Color Pie Colors Commander Esper (W/U/B) Esper Sentinel Mana Rules Sentinel Treasure White

Sungold Sentinel Protection Query

Hey Mark, I can't help but notice Sungold Sentinel kinda wanted to have "Coven - 1W: Sungold Sentinel gains protection from a color of your choice" but the design team opted for something slightly less powerful. Is Magic moving away from Protection again or this was some kind of test/balancing issue?

We didn’t want the card to have protection.

Colors Coven Protection Sentinel Sungold Sentinel

Sungold Sentinel's Protection Feature

Sungold Sentinel is *very* close to protection, why not just make it protection? Too much downside for the person playing it?

It does one and a half of the four things protection does. I say a half for targeting as you can still target it.

Protection Sentinel Sungold Sentinel

Future of Archer Class

Are there any plans to discontinue Archer as a supported class? We have Rangers now, and we were already seeing bow-wielding creatures that weren't Archers in previous sets, such as Jaspera Sentinel.

Not every person with a bow is a Ranger.

Archer Creatures Jaspera Sentinel Ranger Sentinel

Applause for Esper Sentinel Design

Please apply all the high fives to whoever designed Esper Sentinel. This is exactly the kind of white card people have been yearning for, and the design is beautifully elegant.

Glad you like it.

Esper (W/U/B) Esper Sentinel High Fives Sentinel White

Excitement for Revealed MH2 Cards

Aaaaaaah Mark!! A Hundred-Handed One's worth of hi-fives for everyone involved with the revealed MH2 white cards! I love them and am SO excited at the possibility of trying them out... Props especially for Esper Sentinel and the plethora of ways it supports various White strategies!

Happy you’re enjoying the new white cards.

Esper (W/U/B) Esper Sentinel Modern Horizons 2 Sentinel White

Rogue vs Druid Classification

Hey Mark,I know creative isn't your thing, but Sculptor of Winter and Jaspera Sentinel feel weird as Rogues rather than as Druids. Do you know what's up with that/know who might?

My guess is to help with the party mechanic.

Druid Jaspera Sentinel Mechanics Rogue Sculptor of Winter Sentinel

Defender-Based Generals

Hi Mark. I love seeing defender/toughness based generals like Doran and now Arcades, the Strategist, but I am a bit sad that neither are red, the colour which has a fairly big defenders-matter creature (Vent Sentinel). Could I add the request for a red-containing commander?

Red has the lowest overall toughness so it’s an odd fit for red.

Arcades, the Strategist Colors Commander Creatures Defender Red Vent Sentinel

Skeletons' Mechanical Identity

I'm guessing another problem with Skeletons in large numbers is their mechanical identity. They're suppose to have "regenerate" or newly favored regenerate like on reassembling skeleton or drudge sentinel. Right?

We’re looking to branch out a little bit with Skeleton flavor.

Drudge Sentinel Flavor Reassembling Skeleton Regenerate Skeleton

Drudge Sentinel Mechanics

Is drudge sentinel an attempted fix of regeneration?

It’s a fix of Drudge Skeletons.

Drudge Sentinel Drudge Skeletons Skeleton

Defender Mechanics Request

If R/W can do other things other than combat can I request a R/W Legendary that cares about defender so that it works with things like Vent Sentinel and Flamewright?

Red is supposed to be number one on offense and number five on defense. Red isn’t suppose to be a “Walls/Defender matters” color.

Boros (R/W) Colors Defender Flamewright Red Vent Sentinel Wall

Green Flying Artifact?

Since artifact creatures can have flying, could a mono-green artifact creature have flying? Basically, could a card like Gold-Forged Sentinel be printed at 5G instead of 6? Or does the inclusion of green make it a color-pie violation?

I’d rather do it as a straight-up artifact creature.

Artifacts Card Printing Colors Creatures Flying Gold-Forged Sentinel Green

Card Play Value

Just did the Origins survey on the Wizards website, and as always, I'm confused by the category play value. Play value varies wildly depending on the format, so its difficult for me to judge how a card like Sentinel of the Eternal Watch, which is crazy good in Limited but fairly mediocre otherwise, should rate.

It’s asking how much you personally enjoy it. If you’re main way of playing is Limited you might enjoy it greatly. If you mostly play a format where it’s useless, maybe you enjoy it less.

Eternal Limited Sentinel of the Eternal Watch

Squadron Hawk's Color Identity

Sans the fact they're flying birds, Squadron Hawk feels very green to me. I mean, Green straight up did it in the past with Howling Wolf, Nesting Wurm, Pack Hunt, and Skyshroud Sentinel (granted, all within the same block). Is this something we'll see in green again, perhaps more aggressively costed along the lines of the modern Squadron Hawk?

It’s something white and green can do as the two group-oriented colors.

Bird Colors Flying Green Howling Wolf Modern Nesting Wurm Pack Hunt Skyshroud Sentinel Squadron Hawk White Wolf Wurm