We now have at least 3 cards in standard -- SunCleanser, Nahiri, & Price of Betrayal, that have irrelevant text on them compared to the set they were released in. I appreciate that you attempt to branch out and design cards in a larger context, and I understand it's just free power on top of what the cards already do, but I think I'm of the opinion now that it's just too weird. I would have vetoed these cards were I on the team and suggested to wait until the whole text were relevant.

Constructed is a very popular way to play Magic. : )

RE: Does Suncleanser (and cards like it potentially in the future) create space for using poison counters as a high risk thing a player would want, and that opponents would want to remove? We tried it in Scars of Mirrodin and it created too much tension. How so? Isn't high risk, needle's tip play supposed to create tension?

Having players sometimes want poison counters made attacking with poison more confusing than we wanted. Getting a poison win in limited was tough enough.

Does Suncleanser (and cards like it potentially in the future) create space for using poison counters as a high risk thing a player would want, and that opponents would want to remove?

We tried it in Scars of Mirrodin and it created too much tension.

Hi Mark! I'm really stoked for M19, I was curious if Suncleanser's second option was ever target player instead of target opponent to offer up a protection against poison counters, I love the design of the card and how it works with energy and experience counters on players but it's interesting to see that it can't act as a "cleanser" for its controller

That card targets an opponent specifically to prevent you from removing your own poison counters. An important quality of poison counters is you can’t remove them. It makes them function differently than life.