Transmute Artifact

Fixing Until Broken

New • 04 Feb 2017 • Asked by kjwritingandarts • 44 Comments

Have you ever fixed something till you broke it?

Tinker (from Urza’s Legacy) was a “fixed” Transmute Artifact (from Antiquities).
Antiquities Artifacts Legacy Transmute Transmute Artifact Urza

Transmute Artifact Playability

New • 30 Oct 2015 • Asked by kafkanod • 28 Comments

Flashback: Transmute Artifact doesn't see enough play! How do you think it could be fixed?

1995 Mark: Oh, I love that card. Yeah, I have some ideas how to fix it so people might play it in tournaments.
Artifacts Flashback Transmute Transmute Artifact

Favorite Card Trivia

New • 05 Oct 2015 • Asked by comcast-official • 16 Comments

Hi Mark! It was my birthday on the 14th of September but I've forgotten to ask for trivia for the last two years. So, do you have any trivia on my favorite card: Master Transmuter? Or perhaps the creature type Spellshaper?

This card was made as a variant of Transmute Artifact (from Antiquities) but limited the change by forcing the end state artifact to be in your hand rather than your library. Happy Birthday!
Antiquities Artifacts Birthday Creatures Limited Master Transmuter Spellshaper The Library Transmute Transmute Artifact Your Hand

Master Transmuter Trivia

New • 26 Sep 2015 • Asked by aliendragon17-blog • 21 Comments

Mark! It's my birthday today! There are so many cards that I'd love to ask about, it's hard to narrow down to just one... How about, can you give me some trivia on Master Transmuter from Conflux? She's one of my favourite cards since I love artifacts, and I opened a foil one not long after I started playing Magic which I've still got. :)

When we were designing Esper, we designed a lot of cards that could do cool tricks with artifacts. Master Transmuter was inspired by the card Transmute Artifact (the same card that inspired Tinker). To keep the card more in check we limited the new artifact to the hand rather than the library. Happy Birthday!
Artifacts Birthday Conflux Esper Esper (W/U/B) Foils Limited Master Transmuter The Library Transmute Transmute Artifact Your Hand

Tinker vs Transmute

New • 08 Feb 2015 • Asked by mixingmetaphorsoup • 22 Comments

How was tinker meant to be a "fixed" transmute artifact? Looking at transmute earlier, tinker seems mostly better 'cept for the mana cost...

“Fixed” in this case meant make more powerful. Transmute Artifact was fun but didn’t see much tournament play.
Artifacts Mana Transmute Transmute Artifact

Designing Tinker

New • 05 Feb 2015 • Asked by erifthgin • 50 Comments

What was your thought process when designing Tinker?

I was trying to make a fixed Transmute Artifact from Antiquities. Oops.
Antiquities Artifacts Transmute Transmute Artifact

Vintage Tinker Reflections

New • 15 Dec 2014 • Asked by grownfrom16bit-deactivated20190 • 56 Comments

I lost badly to Tinker while playing Vintage today. Hope you're proud! =P

I didn’t create it to make people lose in Vintage. I was just trying to make a more playable version of Antiquities’ Transmute Artifact.  Mission accomplished.
Antiquities Artifacts Transmute Transmute Artifact Vintage

Card Design Faults

New • 10 Oct 2014 • Asked by mrpopogod • 41 Comments

"Also, we don’t go out of our way to make broken cards". Is there a rule in The Pit that whenever Maro says "we should make a fixed version of X" that they have to shoot you down? (Bargain, Tinker, etc)

The Yawgmoth’s Bargain I turned in was BBB, Pay 2 life: Draw a card. While still broken it’s less broken than the Yawgmoth’s Bargain that was printed. And yes, Tinker’s all my fault. I just wanted to make a Transmute Artifact that people might play. Mission accomplished, I guess. : )
Artifacts Bargain Card Draw Card Printing Mark Rosewater Rules The Pit Transmute Transmute Artifact

Jhoira Insights

New • 29 Jun 2014 • Asked by 35796532246809764-deactivated20 • 54 Comments

Mr. Rosewater, today is my birthday! Could you tell me something about Jhoira of the Ghitu?

Jhoira was a disciple of Teferi who was a Mage famous for messing with time, so making her card grant suspend to cards felt like a perfect fit. Little bit more of Jhoira trivia. I did the card concepting for Urza’s Legacy. I was very proud of Tinker (it was my reworking of a favorite Antiquities card called Transmute Artifact) and I liked Jhoira, who was a tinkerer, so I put her in the art of the card. Happy Birthday!
Antiquities Art Artifacts Birthday Jhoira of the Ghitu Legacy Mark Rosewater Suspend Transmute Transmute Artifact Urza

Tinker's Unintended Power

New • 01 Mar 2014 • Asked by taptowinthegame • 26 Comments

What card from your design turned out to be the most powerful in Constructed that you did not know would have such an impact ?

Tinker was just me trying to make a cleaned up Transmute Artifact which was one of my favorite cards. Accidentally took out the safety valve. Whoops. : )
Artifacts Constructed Transmute Transmute Artifact

Artifact Card Evolution

New • 17 Feb 2014 • Asked by mrstrothmann • 25 Comments

What can you tell me about Transmute Artifact, Tinker, and Reshape?

Transmute Artifact for a long time was one of my most favorite cards. I made Tinker as a “fixed” version of Transmute Artifact. Oops. Reshape was another attempt. 
Artifacts Reshape Transmute Transmute Artifact

Urza Saga's Legacy

New • 19 Mar 2013 • Asked by calamitiesofnature-blog • 6 Comments

I understand that sometimes broken cards get missed, but why are so many broken cards from the Urza Saga block tweaks of cards that were already known to be broken?

So many? Tinker was inspired by Transmute Artifact (from Antiquities) but that was actually a pretty weak card. I can’t even think of any other broken cards that were us riffing on a previously broken card. I’m sure there are a few but I can’t believe it’s all that many.
Antiquities Artifacts Sagas Transmute Transmute Artifact Urza

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