In Alpha, protection was an exemption from everything, like, a Black Knight was immune to Wrath of God for a hot second there until they clarifed the rules. The more strict rules of Revised and on could not do that so they settled on the damaged, enchanted, blocked and targeted effects. Interestingly, with today's tech (like phasing's "Treat it as it doesn't exist") they could change the rules so it works like it did originally, if they wanted to. Not sure that would play well although it'd be easier to learn.

The original version of protection made sense from a general intuitive sense, but it didn’t actual work in the rules. It was very hands-wavey. The game can’t function like that. The rules need to be very exact. We have to be able to program them for digital versions, for example. So, I don’t think there is a viable way to return to the “old way”.

Hi Mark! I had a conversation with a friend about reflections in magic, like black knight and white knight. And we ended up wondering, are the Phyrexian Obliterator and Phyrexian Vindicator the phyrexian equivalent?

They are (loose) mirrors.

"Just as Sleight of Mind can’t turn a Black Knight into a Blue Knight, More or Less can’t turn Wrenn and Seven into Wrenn and Six. It only affects rules text." More or Less doesn't say "change the text" though, and this directly disagrees with one of the rulings which states "You can change power or toughness. If you change a toughness of 1 to 0, the creature will probably die." despite P/T not being part of a cards rules text.

One of my guidelines of being the Un-Rules Manager is I try very hard not to contradict black border rules when things line up. I want as much consistency between the Un and non-Un rules as possible. Sleight of Mind and Magical Hack clearly established that they can only affect rules text and not names (why you can’t Sleight a Black Knight into a Blue Knight). When changing power/toughness came up, it didn’t have a straight parallel, so I allowed it as it had a big rules application.

If you had made Green Knight in Eldraine, is it likely it would have been a 2/2 first strike for GG with protection from blue? That would be a way outside the modern colour pie since green hasn't had first strike for decades, but would be a satisfying callback.

If we did a green knight, it would have matched what the green knight was in Arthurian lore which wouldn’t just be a callback to White Knight and Black Knight.

Since protection is back were White Knight and Black Knight ever in the file for Eldraine?

I don’t believe so.

Forget about Black Knight and White Knight... if this is an Arthurian set, where's Green Knight? :)

We talked a bit about the green knight. I did a lot of polling people in the office to gauge general knowledge of Arthurian lore and boy, did people not know the green knight. We did design a green knight card in vision design.

Mark, is Oathsworn Knight a reference to the black knight from Monty Python? Seems too ccoincidental that he has 4 counters for 4 limbs, and can't stop attacking....

“Tis but a scratch.” : )

Isn't it strange that Allosaurus Rider isn't buffed by Dino Tribal, or that Black Knight isn't buffed by Horse Tribal? After all, a knight with an Indestructible Horse would be a force to be reckoned with...

Creature cards tend to focus on one creature (with the major exception being focusing on a group of all of the same type of creature). It’s partly a concentration issue and partly a “it has to fit on the typeline” issue.

Hi Mark! Today is my first birthday since following your blog. Would it be possible to get some trivia on the first rare I ever opened, Magistrate's Scepter? Failing that, trivia on Mercadian Masques in general? Thanks!

Mercadian Maques got its name because it was the name of the novel that went along with it (novels, at the time, had a longer lead time) and the brand team wanted the two to line up. R&D thought the spelling of Masques with a Q was going to confuse people so we tried to change it to Masks, but the book people refused to budge. In protest, R&D changed all the K’s in the card file to QU’s. So Black Knight became Blacqu Qunight. Happy Birthday!

Do you think its a flavor loss that Black Knight can't do battle with White Knight?

What’s the flavor supposed to be if they could fight?