Tap / Untap

Determining Limited Archetypes Numbers

New 26 Jul 2024 Asked by su92 3 Comments

I don't know if this is fit for a regular article, a podcast or a Nuts and Bolts, but I'm very curious to know about how you determine numbers/as-fan for Limited archetypes, especially A+B stuff. Like, why did WOE's WU have many tap triggers while OTJ's GU only had one explicit plot-matters card? Why did the tap triggers were all at uncommon but other themes usually have at least one common trigger? I understand it's a feel and testing thing mostly, but any effort to put it into words would be appreciated. :)


The short version is every theme is different and we endlessly playtest to get a sense of the appropriate as-fan. Maybe I can turn that into a whole column or podcast. Not sure.

Untap Symbol and Q

New 24 Jul 2024 Asked by thoughts-of-the-transience 18 Comments

Hi Mark, I was listening to your podcast episode on the alphabet in magic, and you say something along the lines of "I can't quite remember why we used Q for the untap symbol". If you still don't know, could it be that Q in English is almost guaranteed to be followed by a U, which is what you most likely would have used if it was not already used by Uncommon and Blue?


I think it most looked like the circle of the tap symbol.

About Thunder Junction Mercenaries

New 21 Jul 2024 Asked by flakmaniak 3 Comments

Did you contemplate at some point giving the Thunder Junction Mercenaries... Exalted? I mean the name of the ability is wrong for the flavor, but mechanically it's driving at a similar thing to the tap ability you ended up giving them.


The first version we tried for Mercenary tokens is what we printed.

Untap Symbol Usage Issues

New 19 Jul 2024 Asked by theuninvitedghost 4 Comments

The main issue with the untap symbol was that players would mistake it for the tap symbol, correct?


That was one big issue. The other was it was hard to grok, so players constantly walked into on the board traps.

Untap symbol revisit

New 19 Jul 2024 Asked by theuninvitedghost 0 Comments

If/when: a new/updated untap symbol?


If. The untap symbol didn’t go over well in Shadowmoor.

Comparison of Game Mechanics

New 19 Jul 2024 Asked by bardakus 9 Comments

Hey Mark. I was just thinking, lots of players complain about the "once per turn effect", but at least I very rarely hear players complain about the very similar "tap as a cost to activate ability". Of course, there is a very teal functional difference; plenty of cards untap other permanents, yet nothing (that i know of) overrides the "once per turn" effect. Do you think untap effects were a mistake? In the same vein as reclaiming arbitrary cards from exile.


I do not consider that a mistake.

Indestructibility as Substitute for Regeneration

New 18 Jul 2024 Asked by renalcul 6 Comments

I noticed that "tap this creature, It gains indestructible until end of turn." Seems to be used occasionally as psuedo regeneration. Since regenerate target creature exists mainly as reminder text anyway, has there been any thoughts about just functionally errataing regeneration into the new tap+indestructible combo that we see lately?


It’s a bit more functional errata than we tend to do.

Land Basic Type Future Plan

New 14 Jul 2024 Asked by theuninvitedghost 0 Comments

If or when: land that has one or more basic land types that can also tap for {c}?


My gut is when.

Strixhaven College for Creative Writing Major

New 06 Jul 2024 Asked by iheartmeganekko 29 Comments

Hello Mr. Rosewater!It's my birthday today, and I'm hoping you may answer something for me. Which college of Strixhaven would be the home for a creative writing major?I love being creative, so I feel like Prismari might be the right place for me, especially since I mainly tap into red mana. I actually have a Bachelor of Arts in English though, so Silverquill might be more appropriate.What do you think? Would I be able to flex my creativeness with writing in Prismari, or would everything under that specialty go with Silverquill?Thank you, and I hope you're have a nice and festive weekend!


I think creative writing is based in Silverquill with some classes in Prismari.

Using Sole Performer Mechanic

New 05 Jul 2024 Asked by aalgot 2 Comments

When we add {T} using sole performer, where do we add it? I mean, it can’t be to our mana pool because it isn’t mana.


The tap pool. : )

Appreciation for Bloomburrow Theme

New 05 Jul 2024 Asked by ishouldgetatumbler 5 Comments

PLEASE give a high five to anyone and everyone involved with bloomburrow being about small animals. I love little fuzzy creatures going on adventures and I especially love the only tap for creature lands.


Will do.

More Clowns in Magic

New 29 Jun 2024 Asked by blazinjsin 2 Comments

"Duskmourn is trying to tap into a lot of more modern fears." Does that mean we might finally see more clowns?


Maybe : )

Duskmourn's Modern Fears

New 28 Jun 2024 Asked by jozogozo 7 Comments

I'm torn on how modern Duskmourne is, but I can definitely say that I do not like having a card called "Fear of Missing Out."


Duskmourn is trying to tap into a lot of more modern fears.

Deck Clinic Story

New 27 May 2024 Asked by nothingbutland-blog 31 Comments

Here is a story.For a while I was the only level 2 judge in central Connecticut and I would at a local store occasional run deck clinics that included how to play for newer players/ less experienced players usually one or two players would show up unless there was a qualifying tournament comming up. I remember having to explain to one person that Llanowar Elves do not tap to fetch Forests out of your deck or Dark Ritual gets three Swamps. They said its how they played at school. So long story short, I got them down on the rules, and helped with deck construction (it was an elf deck so I helped. The next weekend I had 11 people all from the school show up wanting help with their decks. As it turns out cutting a deck from 100 cards and 20 lands to 60 with 23 and giving a deck some focus made his deck unbeatable lol... and this continued for nearly a month. There were like locust abd bought out nearly every card from the stores binders all trying to one up eachother. A few years later I was judging side events at Protour Boston and one of those kids, was playing in the Protour and found me and thanked me it turned out he was really bad a math but when teaching him about his deck I helped him find the fun in it. A couple decades later I meet him again as he is now a doctor in the Emergency room (I was visiting my aunt who worked there). Its amazing how little things, like effort, spending some time, mentoring or even just listening can ripple out to be big things that help many other people. And Magic was a catalyst for it.


Thanks for sharing that story.

Green Flying Query

New 27 May 2024 Asked by unmagica 2 Comments

Would you consider "this creature has flying as long as it's untapped" to be a bend or break in green? It's effectively reach unless you have a way to untap it.


Flying isn’t a break in green, but I’m skeptical we’d use that text.

Funny Gameplay Moment

New 25 May 2024 Asked by rclijsters 12 Comments

Happy birthday, Mark. My story just happened a few weeks ago. I convinced some friends to play PleasantKenobi’s party-in-a-box. I’ve put the power9 in as proxies. So, we start and player 3 casts pearl mox on his first turn. No land drop yet. Player 1 says: I’ve got a response. P3: oh? P1: yeah. Mana tithe. Do you pay 1? Now, the disbelief on his face was hilarious. He looks at his board to tap his land, only to realize he hadn’t dropped his land yet. The rest of us start laughing. He starts negotiating. P3: come on, i’ve never played a mox before. Please, don’t. P1 just deadpanned : do you pay the one? Nothing but laughter and heckling the next 10 minutes before we let P3 proceed to his land drop and finish his turn. But he did win the game in the end.


: )

Unfinity Sticker Update

New 14 Apr 2024 Asked by nootnooter34 26 Comments

Hey Mark, i'm not sure if you're the right person to contact, but something's been bugging me for a while now.The Unfinity sticker sheet "Happy Dead Squirrel" was printed with an ability sticker incliding the text "{T}: add {2}" and has the updated oracle text "{T}: add {C}{C}", in line with other cards that previously added generic mana.In contrast, the Unfinity sticker sheet "Unglued Pea-Brained Dinosaur" was likewise printed with an ability sticker incliding the text "{T}: add {2}" but has not received the updated oracle text.Is there some reason for this? I know rule 106.10 makes this irrelevant for gameplay, but I still think it would be nice to have consistency.Kind regards, A concerned player


It’s just an oversight. Both should tap for CC.

Raggadragga's Unique Mechanic

New 10 Apr 2024 Asked by jirachibi2550 43 Comments

Is there a reason Raggadragga says "If a creature you control with a mana ability attacks, untap it" and not "Creatures with mana abilities you control have vigilance"?


If you grant vigilance as an attack trigger, it doesn’t functionally do anything. You just have a tapped creature with vigilance as the creature had to tap to attack (before that vigilance granting happens).

Saddle Mechanic Origins

New 03 Apr 2024 Asked by drchipmunk 38 Comments

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.

Trigger Limit Methods

New 30 Mar 2024 Asked by ultra-chocolatebouquetkid 11 Comments

I'm seeing a lot of "This ability triggers only once each turn" effects on OTJ. Regardless of of the reason behind it, why is tapping not used to represent this instead? It seems like it would save a lot of words on cards.


In this set, it’s being used mostly on triggers which can’t use a tap symbol.


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