Stickers

Building an Unstable-Based Uncube

Hi Mark, I'm actually trying to build an uncube with Unstable as a base, but I'm running into an issue. I don't think there's enough contraption assemblers in the set for the size of cube I want to build. I've been thinking of possibly adjusting some of the overcosted assembling cards to be more in line with the power level, or editing some of the unfinity cards that open attractions to make contraptions instead. It seems a bit extreme to go and edit cards with stickers to suit a cube, but I want to avoid having to run multiple of a card or making the cube smaller. What do you think would be the most in-spirit solution for a cube centered on Unstable?

I would run duplicates, but if that is untenable to you, you could run clones, flickering effects, etc. which allow you to reuse the assemblers you have.

Attractions Contraptions Draft Formats Power Level Stickers

Play Test Card Tips

Do you have any tips on making play test cards for a card game? My inclination is to use playing cards but magic sleeves don't fit

Use stickers on common Magic cards.

Stickers

Simic Guild Symbol Story

the simic guild symbol sticker from the Return to Ravnica prerelease guild kit has been on my family's sliding glass door for over a decade now, serving as a way to make it obvious whether it is open or closed to birds and humans alikei just though maybe you'd get a kick out of hearing that : )

I do.

Birds Humans Humor Prerelease Return to Ravnica Sealed Format Simic (G/U) Stickers Story / Lore Two Color

Amonket Flamingo Request and Birthday

Hello Mark! I would like to invoke the rite of Birthday Trivia (a day late) with a request for Amonket, since I was an Ancient Egyptian Mythology kid growing up.

I'd also like to make an animal request... my partners' favorite animals (a duck and ferret respectively) have appeared on cards (Decoy Duck playtest card and Joven's Ferrets), but my favorite animal, the noble flamingo, has to make do with only a sticker as far as I can tell. Can there be a card with a flamingo someday? Even just a reprint of "Uncage the Menagerie" or similar? Or a variety of Aven?

Thank you for all the work you do for us, both on the cards themselves and demystifying and discussing the hobby.

Amonket and a flamingo, got it. They probably won’t be in the same set. : )Happy Birthday!

Appreciation Birthday Ferret Humor Joven's Ferrets Noble Playtesting Reprints Stickers Uncage the Menagerie

Gotcha Scale Placement for Stickers

Where are stickers on the Gotcha scale?

Let’s call them a 9.

Gotcha Scale Stickers

Stickers' Return Prospects

Could stickers return in a hypothetical future unset?

Let’s call it unlikely.

Stickers Un-Magic / Silver Border / Acorn Un-sets

Stickers in Cube Usage

While I get why it's unlikely, my preferred use of stickers in Magic would be as permanent alterations to cards intended for use in a cube or some sort of other legacy (game content, not the format) product. Just hoping that idea can at least stay on the radar.

We do have a Hackathon where we designed a Magic Legacy product. The big stumbling block is the data says the vast majority of players don’t want to permanently sticker their cards. It’s why we made sure in Unfinity that they came off easily and didn’t harm them.

Draft Formats Legacy Stickers

Wish Deck Mechanics

If you play with Wish effects in a tournament setting, you have to use an existing resource (sideboard space); you don't get to bring a separate Wish Deck. Do you think it was a mistake that stickers and attractions did not work similarly?

No. The intent was for the stickers and Attractions to not be good enough to play in Legacy tournaments.

Attractions Legacy Mechanics Stickers

Stickers Future Potential

Given the recent banning of stickers, I've just put a bunch in my cube to power up some cards, kinda ignoring their original intended purpose. What are the chances of getting new stickers in a Secret Lair? Perhaps with effects that work on instants or sorceries, for example an "Arcane" or "Flash" sticker?

New stickers seem a longshot.

Bannings Draft Formats Flash Format Legality Instants Secret Lairs Sorceries Stickers

Extra Deck Mechanic Odds

With the recent banning of stickers and attractions, do you think there will ever be an extra deck mechanic targeted at competitive constructed?

Anytime in the near future, unlikely.

Attractions Bannings Competitive Play Constructed Format Legality Mechanics Stickers

Stickers and Attractions

"Stickers have a lot of logistical issues, but yes, I thought both were mechanically very fun." I'm not personally a fan of stickers, but I have no problem with other people using them. I do however love attractions, and I would love to see more support (contraptions too)

I think there’s a lot of fun design space in extra decks, but I get why it’s a step too far for some players.

Attractions Contraptions Design Space Stickers

Stickers and Attractions

FWIW I liked stickers and attractions, and don't really get why so many people are so angry about them

Stickers have a lot of logistical issues, but yes, I thought both were mechanically very fun.

Attractions Stickers

Unfinity Sales Impact

Do you think the sales of unfinity would have been better if the attraction and sticker cards would have been pre banned from tournament play? Or was the amount of players soured by them being tournament legal not a factor in the sales of the product?

We just don’t pre-ban cards, especially a giant list of them.The intent was Unfinity would never be relevant in Legacy. The sticker rules were purposefully high in variance to avoid them being relevant. The fact that the problemsome card was a common should make it clear we weren’t trying to sell Unfinity packs to Legacy players (except those who also have fun with casual play elsewhere).

Bannings Casual Play Format Legality Giant Legacy Rules Stickers

Commander-Only Cards Issue

Can you elaborate on why you can't make commander-only cards? While Wizards doesn't have explicit control over Commander legality, it seems like you ought to have de facto control by virtue of the fact that you can dictate legality for most non-commander formats.If, for example, you had pre-emptively banned sticker cards from Legacy and Vintage, the end result would be that the cards would be only legal in Commander and Limited. Is there a reason you don't consider doing something like that a viable option?

We don’t like pre-banning cards. It also just adds a lot of card names to the banned list which makes it harder to process.Commander is in an odd place as there’s a separate group that determines legality. We’re trying to not overstep our bounds.

Bannings Card Names Commander Format Legality Format Legality Format Legality Legacy Limited Stickers Vintage

Unfinity Card Legality

Regarding sticker/attraction: wouldn't it have been best to keep all the cards from Unfinity silver border/acorn so they don't affect legacy/vintage/pauper and allow the Commander rules committee to decide which if any of these cards to become legal in their format? Or would that have put an undue burden on that rules committee to go through all the cards and figure out which ones would be acceptable and which are not?

If they were silver border they wouldn’t be playable. That rule already existed.

Commander Format Legality Legacy Pauper Rules Stickers Un-Magic / Silver Border / Acorn Un-sets Vintage

Legacy Mechanics Concerns

The problems with sticker and attractions were extremely predictable and were pointed out by many people as soon as it was announced that they were legacy legal and I hope in future more thought will be put into the logistics of any similar mechanics that may appear in the future

The motive behind the decision was simple. Commander is a casual format, and Un-sets are our most casual product. We wanted players to have access to the cards that worked within the rules. All the wacky stuff was kept opt-in only. The only reason the cards were legal in eternal constructed formats is that’s the legality rule as set up by the people that run Commander. It was never our intent for the cards to be relevant in high-end tournament play. The deck construction rules for stickers and Attractions were designed to be high variance specifically to keep them out of tournaments. At every step in design, we changed mana costs to keep them from being high powered cards. If a card was questionable, we made it acorn. Obviously, we missed on one card. It was a common aimed at limited. That was our mistake. We missed on one card.I would love for there to be a way to have cards legal in Commander without having them be legal in eternal formats. We just aren’t the body that determines Commander legality.

Attractions Casual Play Commander Constructed Eternal Format Legality Legacy Limited Mana Mechanics Rules Stickers Un-Magic / Silver Border / Acorn Un-sets

Sticker Cards Feedback

I don't think the stickers themselves are the problem, I think they would have been more acceptable if they were stronger with more interesting behavior.Goblin's only job is to look at the name and count the number of vowels.It's not worth the fun of having 10 stickers and having to choose 3 of them before the game starts.If it were worth the fun, it would be a trivial matter to have to provide stickers even for decks you don't use... there might have been a world where that was the case.

I take it you haven’t played with sticker cards outside of ______ Goblin. It was a common designed for limited formats where it was interacting with a host of other sticker cards.

_____ _____ Goblin Goblin Limited Stickers

Acorn Cards Stance

Mark, is the banning of acorn cards today finally a concession that acorn/un/silver border cards are a mistake?

No. I think it’s important for Magic to keep pushing boundaries and trying new things. Stickers and Attractions were a problem in Legacy constructed events, so we removed them from those events. I have gotten a lot of positive feedback from players who are enjoying the cards in Commander.

Attractions Bannings Commander Constructed Format Legality Legacy Stickers Un-Magic / Silver Border / Acorn Un-sets

Sticker Appreciation

This one probably won’t make the blog, but let WoTC management know that not everyone hates stickers and bonus decks. I liked brewing with them, and even had a pretty good pauper deck that used stickers.
Today’s ban makes me really sad, and I hope the commander rules committee doesn’t follow suit.

I’ll pass the note along.

Appreciation Bannings Blogatog / Tumblr Commander Pauper Rules Stickers Wizards of the Coast

Unfinity Cards Legality

I saw that Legacy and Vintage banned sticker and attraction cards. While I agree that the logistical reality of tournaments is not ideal, I just want to express that I really liked making (some) Un-set cards legal including very off-the-beat mechanics, and I hope that remains a possibility for the future (probably not with extra decks though). And I hope other Unfinity cards (Embiggen, Saw in Half, etc.) are not retroactively made illegal as well.

There are no current plans to ban any of the non-sticker/Attraction eternal-legal Unfinity cards.

Bannings Embiggen Format Legality Format Legality Legacy Mechanics Saw in Half Stickers Un-Magic / Silver Border / Acorn Un-sets Vintage