Undying

Rating Undying on Storm Scale

Hey Mark, where does Undying currently sit on the Storm Scale?

I’d call it a 7. Hard to balance.

Storm Scale Undying

Flicker vs Phasing

A brief run down of the differences between flicker and phasing. Flicker protects against all targeted removal and delayed flicker from all removal. It nombos with Voltron strategies and tokens but has bonus synergy with leave/ETB triggers plus resets cards (say an undying creature). Phasing meanwhile offers no synergies positive or negative but AFAIK all phasing is long term so will protect against anything. When coupled with hexproof and Indes I enjoy the range of protection options we have.

Each has its positives and negatives, and we want access to both.

Creatures Enter The Battlefield Hexproof Phasing Protection Tokens Triggered Abilities Undying

Mechanics and Intended Features

Changing exert to stun counters would be a large change since it stops working with untap effects and being able to use those, such as Vizier of Tumbling Sands, is an intended feature of the mechanic. Same is true of persist/undying using finality. It is a feature, not a bug, that you can sac a persist/undying creature twice, reanimate it, then do it twice more. Also, changing old effects to use scry or surveil was largely a buff and these changes would be nerfs which generally upsets players.

Fine points.

Creatures Exert Mechanics Persist Persist Reanimate Sand Scry Stun Surveil Tap / Untap Undying Vizier of Tumbling Sands

Token Mechanic Changes

What are the chances of changing older mechanics to include the new types of tokens, such as putting stun counters on exerted creatures or finality counters on undying or persisting creatures?

It’s introducing errata, as those swaps aren’t exactly the same, so I don’t think the chances are high.

Creatures Errata Mechanics Stun Tokens Undying

DFC Abilities

Are abilities like Undying, Persist and others with effects like "when this creature dies, return it to the battlefield" possible on the back side of DFCs? And if so, which side would the card be returned on? BTW, Drive to Work is the best! It makes me feel like I've got a pal commuting with me every day. Thank you for letting us listeners hitchike with you on your way to work! :)

Without the card stating otherwise, it would return to the battlefield on the front face. Glad you enjoy the podcast.

Appreciation Creatures Drive to Work Dual Faced Cards Persist Persist Undying

Mechanics Combination

Can similar mechanics be put into a card (or a set) together?(e.g. "first strike and double strike", "flying and reach", "hexproof and ward", "undying and persist", or "infect, poisonous, and toxic")

We tend not to include them on the same card, but definitely will use them in the same set.

Double Strike First Strike Flying Hexproof Infect Mechanics Persist Persist Poisonous Toxic Undying Ward

Seeing Game Mechanics

For cards that count how many things you can see from your seat, can you choose to fail to find or are you required to see things your opponents point out?
For instance, can you use Now You See Me to flicker something with Undying, and fail to find that one mirror in the back in order to not put a +1/+1 counter on?

You can fail to “see” things.

Mechanics Undying

Haktos Deck Gratitude

I run a Haktos deck that I absolutely love, and watch vigilantly for any spell I can play to protect him that doesn't target. Surge of Salvation is incredible and feels like a card made precisely for me in every respect. Please let whoever is behind it know they have my undying gratitude.

Will do.

Surge Surge of Salvation Undying

Gratitude for Urtet

Mark, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for Urtet. A perfect fellow to lead the Myr to a brighter tomorrow. Whoever designed them, please, give them my undying gratitude... or maybe just a high-five.

Will do.

Appreciation Myr Undying

Undying Mechanic's Return

One of my favorite mechanics in magic is undying, will we ever see it back? it doesn't have to be in standard, I just want to make a commander deck around it

It’s a hard mechanic to balance, so its return is unclear.

Commander Decks Mechanics Standard Undying

Persist vs. Undying

You answered earlier that Persist is a better mechanic than Undying. How come? Does the growth in Undying make it tougher to cost? Does the shrinking factor of Persist make it better in play design, even though -1/-1 counters arent favored anymore?

The creature shrinking plays better than growing. Undying creatures are very hard to cost.

Creatures Mechanics Persist Play Design Undying

Persist vs Undying

Which do you prefer: Persist or Undying?

Persist is the better mechanic, but harder to reuse as R&D is soured on environments with -1/-1 counters.

Mechanics Persist Undying

Trivia: Undying Mechanic

Hey Mark, it's my birthday today, and I was hoping for some trivia about the Undying mechanic. I started playing during the original Innistrad Block and it's always held a special place in my heart.

Sometimes I’ll bounce ideas off my wife. She’s played Magic, but isn’t super well versed in all the finer details. I told her I was trying to find a mechanic that represented a monster seeming like it dies and then returning not dead.She asked if there was any mechanic that Magic had done that captured that feeling. I said yes, there was a mechanic called persist that captured it perfectly. Then just use that she said.I said I couldn’t because the set wasn’t using -1/-1 counters and persist used those counters. What counters did the set have? +1/+1 I said. And then it hit me. Just do persist with +1/+1 counters. I thanked my wife for helping me, and she was like “How did I help you? I didn’t suggest anything.” : )Happy Birthday!

Birthday Humor Innistrad Mechanics Persist Persist Undying

Existence of Persist's Opposite

Do you think the opposite of persists could exist?

Isn’t that undying?

Undying

On Standard Card Repetition

I am curious about your thoughts of Undying Malice (VOW) and Feign Death (AFR), being functionally identical. The only difference is the name. I’m not criticizing the repeated card, I’m just wondering about the behind the scenes discussions about these two cards both being in Standard at the same time. Is there some benefit to doing it this way, besides being able to play 8 of them?

Sometimes a certain card has the right rules text but the wrong creative, so we give it a new name and art concept. Unless having eight is an issue for play design, we don’t worry about it.

Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Art Feign Death Play Design Rules Standard Undying Undying Malice

Storm Scale Rating for Undying

Hey mark, can I get a storm scale rating for Undying?

I’ll call it a 6. Popular, but tricky to design and balance.

Storm Scale Undying

-1/-1 and +1/+1 cause problems only when undying and persist are around, right? So what's keeping you from printing both counters on a Premier Set? It's not like Undying or Persist are ever coming back to Standard, right? And for eternal formats... well they already live with -1/-1 and +1/+1 counters.

We don’t mix them in premier sets because we want players in limited environments, where they’re less familiar with all the cards, to be able to see a creature with counters on it and know how big it is.

Creatures Eternal Limited Persist Persist Standard Undying

Trivia about Dark Ascension

Yesterday was my birthday! Can I get some trivia about my favorite set, Dark Ascension?

I’ve led forty something sets and the only small winter set I ever led was Dark Ascension. I did it because I want Ken Nagle to lead his first large set and a return to a known world (Ravnica) seemed like the right spot. My favorite design story from the set was I was trying to find a cool monster mechanic and was talking with my wife about it, venting my frustration. I really wanted to use persist because monsters have a whole trope of coming back after you think they’re dead, but the set used +1/+1 counters instead of -1/-1 counters. My wife said, “Why can’t you use +1/+1 counters?” And I’m like, “I can!” and undying was born.Happy Birthday!

Birthday Dark Ascension Ken Nagle Mechanics Persist Persist Story / Lore Undying

Favorite Mechanics or Cards

I feel like a lot of people who say you’ve only done bad for the game don’t realize you’re probably behind some of their favorite mechanics or cards too. For a change of pace, can you list some beloved mechanics or cards you’re responsible for?

Here are the Magic mechanics I’ve had a hand in creating: Absorb, Addendum, Affinity, Aftermath, Aura Swap, Battle Cry, Bolster, Champion, Changeling, Cipher, Companion, Contraptions, Crew (Vehicles), Dash, Deathtouch, Delve, Dredge, Embalm, Energy, Entwine, Evoke, Exert, Exploit, Fabricate, Fateful Hour, Fateseal, Ferocious, Flashback, Flip, Forecast, Fortify, Frenzy, Gotcha, Graft, Gravestorm, Heroic, Hexproof, Host/Augment, Hybrid Mana, Imprint, Infect, Intimidate, Kicker, Landfall, Lifelink, Living Weapon, Madness, Manifest, Mentor, Modular, Monstrosity, Morbid, Morph, Multikicker, Mutate, Ninjitsu, Phyrexian Mana, Poisonous, Populate, Proliferate, Prowl, Raid, Rally, Reach, Recover, Reinforce, Retrace, Ripple, Shroud, Soulbond, Splice, Split Cards, Split Second, Suspend, Transfigure, Transform, Typecycling, Undying, Unearth, Vanishing and Wither.

Absorb Absorb Addendum Affinity Aftermath Aura Swap Battle Cry Battle Cry Bolster Champion Changeling Cipher Companion Contraptions Crew Dash Deathtouch Delve Dredge Dredge Embalm Entwine Evoke Exert Exploit Fabricate Fabricate Fateful hour Fateseal Ferocious Flashback Forecast Fortify Fortify Frenzy Graft Gravestorm Gravestorm Heroic Hexproof Hybrid Imprint Infect Intimidate Kicker Landfall Lifelink Lifelink Living Weapon Madness Mana Manifest Mechanics Mentor Modular Monstrosity Morbid Morph Morph Mutate Ninjitsu Phyrexian Poisonous Populate Proliferate Prowl Raid Rally Rally Recover Reinforce Retrace Ripple Shroud Soulbond Splice Split Cards Split Second Suspend Suspend Transfigure Transform Undying Unearth Unearth Vanishing Vanishing Vehicles Wither Your Hand

+1/+1 Counters and Ability Counters

Could you rework most mechanics that care about +1/+1 counters to care about ability counters, like how Luminous Broodmoth grants flying undying.

We wouldn’t do that unless it was relevant to the printed card in the environment it came from.

Flying Luminous Broodmoth Mechanics Undying