Werewolf

Transforming Werewolf Bases

New 05 Apr 2024 Asked by natew000 49 Comments

So far, all transforming werewolves have humans as their base race, which makes sense since Innistrad is very human focused. (Assuming that Eldrazi werewolves were human originally.)If/when for werewolves based on other humanoid races (elf, dwarf, etc)?


Probably when.

Day/Night Mechanic Future

New 04 Mar 2024 Asked by gevth 49 Comments

Do you think that the Day/Night mechanic is now forced to come back whenever we return to Innistrad?


I don’t think it’s forced, but there is a Werewolf issue we have deal with.

Werewolf Mechanic Preference

New 03 Mar 2024 Asked by spartacusreturned 41 Comments

Ignoring the logistics of tracking day/night for the rest of the game, which transformation mechanic for werewolves was more liked, the original one or the day/night one? What if you do account for the logistics?


The loudest voice from Werewolf players is they want all Werewolves working the same, which I am sympathetic with. With 20/20 hindsight, I wish we had stuck with building Werewolf states into the definition of day/night (aka Werewolves enter as Werewolves at night).

Werewolf Mechanics

New 12 Jan 2024 Asked by vanhawk 36 Comments

Hi Mark, could something like "non-horror, non-eldrazi double-faced werewolves you control have a timebound" work to unify the werewolves at least on commander? Timebound would function as daybound on the front face and nightbound on the back face.


If we want to align them, there are cleaner fixes.

Werewolf Errata Plans

New 07 Jan 2024 Asked by exalted-boda 34 Comments

Will old werewolves ever get an errata to the day and night ability?


There are no current plans up for do. I tried very hard in Midnight Hunt to do this, but was unsuccessful.

Were Type Discussion

New 03 Nov 2023 Asked by plumpikethorn 59 Comments

Hey Mark, with the upcoming type errata, any chance in the future to have "Were" split from "Werewolf" so the other were were species in the game like the werefoxes, werebears, wererat, etc can have a shared type?


We talked about it extensively in Innistrad. I don’t think anything has changed which would make us reconsider.

Daybound/Nightbound Reflections

New 02 Nov 2023 Asked by greatdinn 57 Comments

Now that it's been around for a while, any further reflections on Daybound/Nightbound?


I wish we made Werewolf/Human transformation built in to it and made it stop progressing when no card on the battlefield cared about it.

Werewolf Mechanic Focus

New 12 Sep 2023 Asked by watdattho 40 Comments

Do one-off werewolves even need a mechanical focus? Most creature types don't, or lost their original focus over time. Elves don't just tap for mana anymore (or even tap much in general like they used to. Big sea creatures care less about islands than they used to. Dragons rarely have firebreathing. I can't think of many creature types that have a singular mechanical focus, now I come to think of it?


Imagine Slivers that didn’t grant abilities to other Slivers. (The two artifacts aren’t actual Slivers and thus the lack that ability.)

Werewolf Mechanics

New 12 Sep 2023 Asked by cordiallupine 43 Comments

Re: werewolves, having had a Tovolar EDH deck since he came out, I've always found their day/night mechanic more a hindrance for playing them than a reason to. WOE featured werefoxes both in flavor and art as well as cards that didn't flip, and AFR featured a non-flipping werewolf. I personally don't think their previous mechanical identity needs to prevent them from appearing elsewhere or branching out in how their cards work, especially when they clearly have a fandom going.


My gut is we’ll find a world where they make sense and we’ll probably make them single-faced. Once we do that, we can give them another mechanical focus which will help us making one-ofs.

Werewolf Card Challenges

New 11 Sep 2023 Asked by storyofawerewolf 46 Comments

Mark, level with me, howcome werewolves keep drawing the short straw on other plains despite the lore? None were printed in the Dominaria sets. Then the phyrexian werewolves were mentioned in story and across multiple artworks but didn't even get a lame draft card. Then the biggest kick lately was not giving us a werewolf as the big bad wolf and instead making him a Knight whom only got a lame draft card anyway. Spread the howly love guys. Don't have to be double sided either, just werewolf Inc.


Werewolves are blessed/cursed with a strong mechanical identity which makes one-of cards trickier to do.

Double-faced Cards Theme

New 28 Aug 2023 Asked by blazinjsin 33 Comments

"Werewolves are particularly tricky as we usually make them double-faced." Lots of double faced MOM cards, I think most of us were expecting a single standalone werewolf to show up


All the double-faced March of the Machine cards were Phyrexian-themed.

Werewolf Mechanic Diversity

New 27 Aug 2023 Asked by theothin 48 Comments

A lot of creature types have been associated with pretty specific mechanical baggage, then broadened outside of those mechanics and gotten more chances to shine. Is there a reason Wizards seems hesitant to do this with werewolves?


There are a handful of creature types, we hold a tight mechanical leash on. Slivers is another example.

Support for Werewolf Decks

New 27 Aug 2023 Asked by b4ym4n 76 Comments

In my last post, a lot of people were confused about the intent of my post. I apologize for being redundant but here goes...If one builds a werewolf deck, they are forced to play with the same cards (that aren't very good) for three years. Meanwhile, vampires get cards in every set. Some are even legendary. 6 legendary in VOW, werewolves got zero btw.There have been multiple sets the past two years where wolves and werewolves exists on that plane. Dominaria. Eldraine. MOM. Yet, they get nothing. What is the point of making Midnight Hunt/Vow if the tribe would not be supported even by an extra card or two during standard rotation? (Especially after the blunders in dark ascension and eldritch moon, you would think treating them better would be a priority). Wicked Wolf, Nightpack ambusher, werewolf packleader...these cards exist...outside of innistrad. There is literally no excuse to not throw in a single card for this tribe every once in a while. So again, if someone builds a werewolf deck and receives no new cards that help them, what do you say to them playing the same weak cards for three years straight?


I understand when you are focused on a single theme that it’s frustrating because there are many potential opportunities for us to make cards. From our perspective though, there are a lot of themes in Standard. We try to hit upon as many as we can, but it’s just hard to hit them all. Werewolves are particularly tricky as we usually make them double-faced.

Lack of Werewolves

New 25 Aug 2023 Asked by b4ym4n 64 Comments

It's been two years since a single wolf or werewolf has been printed. A "werefox" and two common wolves were printed in Eldraine. Why do you guys hate werewolves and wolves so much? Zero support for them in two years...


There are a lot of creature types in Magic. Not all of them see support in any one two-year span of time.

Werewolves Transformation Rules

New 18 Jul 2023 Asked by raytyger 45 Comments

With omenpaths, could we see werewolfs stuck on werewolf form in planes other than innistrad?


It’s a possibility.

Werewolves Transformation

New 07 Jul 2023 Asked by theverdantchef 39 Comments

Was there a conscious decision not to have the Midnight Hunt / Crimson Vow werewolves work in the same way as the older werewolves? I find it odd how the older ones do not turn into werewolves automatically when it is night time.


Originally, night turned everyone into a Werewolf that was a double-faced card with a Werewolf on the back. That changed during set design to match other goals.

Were Type Consideration

New 22 Jun 2023 Asked by elvennoble 52 Comments

Has there ever been any discussion about making "were" its own type? Like "Creature - Were Wolf". A lot of werewolf cards benefit both wolves and werewolves already, and it would let you create more non wolf lycanthropes like werebears or werejaguars.


It was suggested during Innistrad design. Playtesting showed it confused a significant amount of players. One of the players said, “They were a wolf? What are they now.”

Werewolf Cards Errata

New 27 May 2023 Asked by derelictdimir 44 Comments

Has there been any more consideration on errataing the old Werewolf cards to support Daybound/Nightbound mechanic? I enjoy playing the theme kitchen-table, but the divide in their design feels like it discourages co-mingling the old and the new cards.


It was my intention that they be lined up when we made day/night, but I have so far been unsuccessful in that quest.

Werewolf References in MOM

New 22 May 2023 Asked by vanhawk 29 Comments

Hi mark, how're you doing? I get why MOM dont have any werewolves, but what about few effects like arlinn, voice of pack and nightpack ambusher (effects that care about werewolves, despite the set have none of them, just because they sinergize with wolves in general)?


March of the Machine referenced the entire multiverse (well, at least a lot of it). Almost anything we’d ever done could have fit, but we only had so much space.

Were Creature Challenges

New 20 May 2023 Asked by stormtide-leviathan 56 Comments

if wotc wants to do other were creatures (wererats, werebears, etc) is the lack of of a "were" creature type a problem since it means you can't do were tribal synergies and you'd either have to do a new creature type for each species or do it inconsistently?


So one of the things we tried we we experimented with the idea of Were as a creature type was to mock up cards and show them around. We made a few cards where the art was clearly a werewolf, but the word “Werewolf” wasn’t in the name. The test didn’t go well. You’d think the space between Were and Wolf wouldn’t matter, but it did. My favorite response was on a card showing a bunch of Werewolves: “Okay, there were wolves. What are they now?”The point of this story is if players don’t get the basic concept, it doesn’t matter what you could do with the design technology *if* they did get it.


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