Vanishing

Time Spiral Lands Info

Hi Mark,Cashing in my Birthday Trivia to find out more about my favourite cycle of lands; The Time Spiral Storage Lands. What can you tell me about them?

The Time Spiral storage lands were an attempt to give players access to colored mana, but at a rate that was slower than traditional dual land. That allows us to let it enter the battlefield untapped. We did try vanishing lands before that (aka dual lands that enter the battlefield untapped but only stick around for three turns), but they didn’t play well.Happy Birthday!

Birthday Dual Lands Dual Lands Enter The Battlefield Lands Mana Time Spiral Vanishing

Saga Creatures Complexity

How would R&D feel about saga creatures? I know sagas are very popular, but I also see how it would end up functioning similar to fading/vanishing, which were unpopular mechanics

Sagas also being creatures cause a bunch of issues, designwise. I think they’d be very hard to cost and balance properly.

Creatures Fading Game Design Mechanics Sagas Sagas Vanishing

Aetherborn Mechanic Fit

Do you think in a return to Kaladesh we might see Aetherborn with the fading/vanishing mechanic? To me it feels like a nice place flavour-wise for both the mechanic and the creature type. Also some synergy with proliferating and maybe gaining counters when killing or damaging units

It’s a great flavor fit in a vacuum.

Aetherborn Creatures Fading Flavor Kaladesh Mechanics Vanishing

Sets with Grouped Abilities

A set about time effects could draw from Suspend, Phasing, Exert and Vanishing while a set of mystery/suprise could use Morph, Dash, Ninjitsu. Will we ever see a Standars set with grouped focused abilites and keywords?

Tine Spiral *was* a set built around time mechanics, so yes, we do that.

Dash Exert Keywords Mechanics Morph Morph Ninjitsu Phasing Suspend Suspend Vanishing Vanishing

Mechanics for Aetherborn Tribe

Aetherborn have this cool concept of live fast die young, but only some of them reflect this mechanically. It makes sense that they'd be living off of borrowed time and some sort of vanishing/fading like mechanic. My question is, how would you design a mechanic to unify the tribe more? Elves love making mana, hydras love them some +1/+1 counters, and Aetherborn _______

The perfect mechanic for them would probably be Vanishing. They’re only on the battlefield for a limited amount of time.

_____ Aetherborn Borrowed Time Die Young Elf Fading Hydra Limited Live Fast Mana Mechanics Vanishing Vanishing

Increasing Non-Evergreen Keywords

We are getting 10-20 new non-evergreen keywords every year? And we all hope the game will live for another 28 years at least. And even today you can see players, not only beginners, mix up fading and vanishing, forgetting that the opposing gargadon gets hast after the last time counter. When a card has no space issues (Chatterstorm?), the potential downsides of not having that little italic line of text become huge. And with every year it's more of a mental burden, for enfranchised players too.

The main versions - which accounts for 98+% of all copies of the card - have the reminder text. We’re talking about the booster fun versions that will be seen by a tiny portion of the audience, mostly enfranchised people.

Beginners Boosters Chatterstorm Experienced / Enfranchised Players Fading Gargadon Keywords Vanishing Vanishing

Discussion about Printed Cards

Some of the cards you say in your column today didn't make it to print did, in fact, make it to print! Butterfly became Whip-Spine Drake; Spellwild Dog became Spellwild Ouphe; Boss Scragnoth became Quagnoth. Also, Sneaky Goblin seems a lot like Street Wraith, and Veiled Clone like Shapeshifter's Marrow. Also the green common kicker/convoke creature did make it, as Kavu Primarch; Sprout Swarm was in addition. Also, one of the vanishing cycle you say got cut did stay, as Lost Auramancers.

FYI

Card Printing Clone Convoke Creatures Dog Drake Goblin Green Kavu Kavu Primarch Kicker Lost Auramancers Ouphe Primarch Quagnoth Scragnoth Shapeshifter's Marrow Spellwild Ouphe Sprout Swarm Street Wraith Vanishing Vanishing Whip-Spine Drake Wraith

Ashiok's Erasure in White

Would ashiok's erasure be white if it had vanishing/ fading?

It moves it closer to white.

Ashiok's Erasure Fading Vanishing Vanishing White

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

Teasing Future Mechanics

Today's article explains that you've never teased a future mechanic, but I would argue that Jhoira's Timebug did that. As of Time Spiral, time counters only went on exiled cards and you wanted to remove them, while the bug allowed you to target permanents and add them (hinting at vanishing).

We’ve teased mechanics, but this is us teasing the name of an unknown mechanic in an upcoming set.

Jhoira's Timebug Mechanics Permanents The Exile Zone Time Spiral Vanishing

Fading/Vanishing Popularity

Was Fading/Vanishing popular for a negative ability?

Not so much.

Fading Vanishing

Ninjas with Vanishing

May I request something even more flavorful and ask for ninjas with vanishing?

: )

Flavor Ninjas Vanishing

Aetherborn Lifespan Mechanic

Ever had the idea to include an aetherborns short life span into the creature types mechanical identity?

We talked about a world where all the Aetherborn had Vanishing.

Aetherborn Creatures Vanishing

Mechanic Development Insight

Did GO TO JAIL ever have Vanishing 3?

It did not.

GO TO JAIL Vanishing

Aetherborn Mechanic Decision

Hey Mark, I just wanna say I am very excited for unstable! But on another note, I thought of a question the other day and it's been bothering me ever since: was vanishing ever considered as a mechanic for the aetherborn?

It was not. We were trying to stick to three mechanics and the others were more important to the overall feel and gameplay of Kaladesh.

Aetherborn Game Play Kaladesh Mechanics Unstable Vanishing

Mechanics Confusion

You've often talked about Vanishing being a fixed Fading. Now that both exist, though, do you consider it a mistake since more casual players now can run into either mechanic? Doesn't adding Fading cause more confusion in a world where Vanishing could be just as prevelent?

We design for the future more than for the past.

Casual Play Fading Mechanics Vanishing

Vanishing vs Fading

Just saw the posts saying Vanishing was a fix for Fading. What was broken on it? I played Nemesis when released and the local players in my city (which I know, it's just anecdotical) never had issues to understand how it worked.

Many players thought that the Fading cards left when you removed the last counter rather than when you couldn’t remove a counter. The former is a lot more intuitive.

Fading Nemesis Vanishing

Suspend vs Fading

Was Suspend an attempt to "fix" Fading?

No, Vanishing was an attempt to fix Fading.

Fading Suspend Vanishing

Fading Mechanic in Kaladesh

Was there any consideration given to bringing back Fading/Vanishing on Kaladesh? It seems like a good fit for the Aetherborn.

No space.

Aetherborn Fading Kaladesh Vanishing

Name vs Mechanic Changes

There are minor changes between Fear and Intimidate/Chroma and Devotion/Fading and Vanishing. Have we had a name change without a mechanical change?

I don’t think so.Anyone?

Chroma Fading Fear Intimidate Vanishing