Super-Duper Death Ray

Perspective on Un-Cards in Commander

"The Un-sets are a very weird product" Some feedback you might find interesting. I'm a casual Commander player but I'm against silver bordered cards in the format. I would be fine with playing cards like Super-Duper Death Ray or Surgeon Commander but I have no desire to play with cards like Mother of Goons, Frankie Peanuts or Cheatyface. Commander is already complicated and the last thing I want are additional cards that add extreme ambiguity and unsolvable rules questions into the game.

It’s not all or nothing. You can play with the Un-cards you enjoy and not play with ones you don’t. If your group is okay with it, a few Un-cards can be very fun.

Casual Play Cheatyface Commander Frankie Peanuts Mother of Goons Rules Super-Duper Death Ray Un-sets

Silver and Black Border Explanation

So mark people keep saying to you UB Should be silver borderAnd you say silver border cards can't be made into black border.I think they refuse to believe because of cards like “Target Minotaur” with “Lightning Visionary” pretty much exactly the sameAnd “Super-duper death ray” to “Flame spill” which is the same but trample part is removed.Can you explain your statement with these cards in mind?

The purpose of silver border is that it’s for cards that can’t work in black border. To help simplify Unstable limited we made a few simple creatures that we loosely justified with an art variance. Super-Duper Death Ray didn’t work in black border at the time Unstable was made by a Rules Manager figured out how to do it afterwards. Silver border was never intended as a way to take cards that work perfectly in black-border Magic and make them off limits. It was a border to allow us to print cards that otherwise couldn’t be made. I will note as Magic evolves some things we formerly couldn’t do in black border become doable as with Super-Duper Death Ray,

Art Black Border Card Printing Creatures Flame Spill Lightning Visionary Limited Minotaur Rules Manager Super-Duper Death Ray Target Minotaur Trample Un-Magic / Silver Border / Acorn Un-sets

Silver Border Reasoning

Looking at the decklists I noticed Super-Duper Death Ray is getting reprinted in the red deck. I always loved that card, but I wonder why it's silver border. It seems to me that it should work in black border, thought perhaps without the keyword, or maybe a different keyword.

Look at Liquid Fire from Odyssey. That was my first attempt to get this into black border.

Black Black Border Blogatog / Tumblr Card Printing Keywords Liquid Fire Odyssey Red Reprints Super-Duper Death Ray Un-Magic / Silver Border / Acorn Un-sets

Flash and Trample Rules

“Un-sets don’t change how mechanics work. Flash only goes on permanents.” What about super-duper death ray?

Trample not working on direct damage spells was an example where everyone understood what it did even though the rules technically didn’t allow it. Flash on an instant would just cause confusion because it’s unclear what in the world it means.

Flash Instants Mechanics Permanents Rules Spells Super-Duper Death Ray Trample Un-Magic / Silver Border / Acorn Un-sets

Super-Duper Death Ray Mechanics

Looks like my birthday ask got missed (again). PLEASE can you tell us what is supposed to happen if you bounce a creature in response to it being targeted by Super-Duper Death Ray? (Should the damage trample over like in combat, or should the spell fizzle like normal?)

It fizzles and no trample damage happens. Happy Belated Birthday!

Birthday Creatures Super-Duper Death Ray Trample

Super-Duper Death Ray

If Super-Duper Death Ray deals enough damage to kill a creature, does the remaining damage have to "trample over" to the player? Or can it trample over to a planeswalker instead?

As planeswalker redirection went away, the damage just goes to the creature’s controller,

Creatures Planeswalkers Super-Duper Death Ray Trample

Trample Damage Rules

I have an un-rules question! After the rules change around damage to Planeswalkers, how does Super-Duper Death Ray work? Can i choose to assign the trample damage to a planeswalker, or does it have to be assigned to the creature's controller?

As there is no more planeswalker redirection, you can just hit the player with the trample damage.

Creatures Planeswalkers Rules Super-Duper Death Ray Trample Un-sets

Standard Trample Spell

How likely is a card similar to Super-Duper Death Ray to appear in standard?

Not likely. The black border rules only let you put trample on a creature. Go look at the card Liquid Fire from Odyssey to see what happened when I tried to make a direct damage spell with trample.

Black Black Border Creatures Liquid Fire Odyssey Rules Standard Super-Duper Death Ray Trample

Hope for Black Border

Kudos on Super-Duper Death Ray's design. It's very clever and intuitive, which gives me hope of one day seeing it in black border. Do you think that's possible?

Being that I’ve tried for almost twenty years to get it in black border, I’m not so hopeful.

Appreciation Black Black Border Super-Duper Death Ray