Bushido

Bushido Mechanics Explained

If a creature has multiple instances of Bushido with different numbers (such as one instance of “bushido 1” one instance of “bushido two” and one instance of “bushido X where X is the number of attacking creatures”) how does that resolve?

Bushido stacks. Bushido 1 plus Bushido 2 is Bushido 3.

Attacking Bushido Creatures Mechanics

Bushido Mechanic Reception

I thought Bushido played okay? Wasn't that part of why it was the prime example of a decent mechanic with a name that was way too specific to reprint in most sets?

When I was working on Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty vision design, I went to the play design team and asked them if they liked the game play of bushido. They said no.

Bushido Card Printing Game Play Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Mechanics Play Design Reprints Vision Design

Samurai Mechanics Change

What was biggest reason to change samurai from Bushido to attacking alone from og kamigawa to new kamigawa?

It played better.

Attacking Bushido Mechanics Samurais

Bushido on Storm Scale

Mark, where does Bushido (or a renamed version) sits on the Storm Scale?

I’d call it a 8. It just doesn’t play well in volume and has a name that’s hard to use in most worlds.

Bushido Storm Scale

Samurai Critique in NEO

I understand that people like a lot of things, but I'm shocked to read that people disliked the samurai in NEO. They were my favorite archetype by far, very flavorful for my understanding of samurai, and I found their implementation (providing a diversity of effects to the single attacker) a lot more interesting than Exalted.

I am curious how high the expectations were. Would Design have had to found a way to make Bushido or Exalted work better in modern-day Standard to satisfy those disappointed with NEO's samurai?

I think the criticism was more that they didn’t work well with the previous Samurai more so than they didn’t work together in limited.

Bushido Exalted Flavor Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Limited Samurais Standard

Samurai without Bushido

Why did Neon Dynasty have Samurai but not Bushido? Flavorwise they feel like the Yakuza and will we see them in the future?

We don’t feel bushido plays well in large numbers.

Bushido Samurais

Issues with Returning Flanking

Flanking seems like it has a similar problem to Bushido: fine text for a card to have, but troublesome for a Limited environment to have on too many creatures. Is that not an obstacle to its return?

That’s part of it. In retrospect, we also wouldn’t make it not affect other flankers.

Bushido Creatures Flanking Limited

Possible Bushido Mechanic Adjustments

It seems to me that Bushido has play design problems when it comes the issue that its hard to attack into. If a new Bushido like mechanic only cared if an attacking creature became blocked would that be more fun and lead to better gameplay?

I believe so.

Attacking Bushido Creatures Game Play Mechanics Play Design

Issues with Bushido Mechanic

Could you speak more for the specific problems that bushido raises? It seems like this has come up before (I noticed 'chivalry', a Bushido-like mechanic in Eldraine's vision document which was dropped for being 'too strong on defense')...

We have to be careful with mechanics that discourage attacking as it tends to stall out the game. The game naturally makes it easier to be defensive than offensive.

Attacking Bushido Mechanics

Bushido's Absence from Sets

Why no bushido? You've mentioned in a lot of your drives to work how hard you've fought to try and get it into other sets, but it never fit the flavor because of the name. Now we're back to kamigawa and the samurai have a pseudo-exalted mechanic instead, what gives lol?

I’ve always liked bushido because it’s simple and flavorful on the right world. It turns out is has play design issues in volume, and it’s important that we design sets that can be properly adjusted downstream.

Bushido Flavor Mechanics Play Design Samurais

Warriors/Ninjas Keywording Approach

If you were designing Kamigawa again (and not just redoing everything), would you make samurai as warriors/ninjas as rogues with the Bushido/ninjutsu keywords? Or do those creature types carry enough weight to justify being separate, even though Magic doesn't usually make culturally unique "job" types? (I.e. no Hoplites in Theros, no conquistadors in Ixalan)

I’m a big believer in the power of words to excite.

Bushido Creatures Ixalan Keywords Ninjas Ninjutsu Rogue Samurais Theros Warrior

No Bushido in Neon Dynasty

You were so bullish on Bushido for so long - why do we not see it in Neon Dynasty, the easiest place to include it, thematically?

There just wasn’t a lot of support for it. It doesn’t play great in volume.

Bushido

Absence of Bushido Mechanic

With bushido not being in the NEO mechanics article, is that confirmation it isn't in the set? It's my favorite mechanic from the original Kamigawa block, and I thought the biggest hurdle for it returning was the name. It also seems odd that samurai don't have a distinct mechanic for themselves in NEO.

Bushido is not returning. I talk about it a bit in next week’s article. The short version is we didn’t want a lot of creatures with bushido, playwise. Samurai do have a mechanical theme that connects a bunch of them, but it isn’t named.

Bushido Creatures Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Mechanics Samurais

Least Iterated Game Mechanic

What mechanic do you think went through the fewest iterations from design to release?

My guess is something like bushido that’s pretty short and simple.

Bushido Mechanics

Possible Reuse of Bushido or Ninjutsu

Would it be possible for something like bushido or ninjutsu to be used again in another plane with a different name and flavor?

It’s possible.

Bushido Flavor Ninjutsu

Kamigawa's Future Keyword Mechanics

Now that Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty has been announced, where would you put all the original block's keyword mechanics on the Storm Scale for this set? Those mechanics being: Bushido, Soulshift, Splice, Ninjutsu (My Favorite), Offering, Channel, Sweep, and Epic.

I’m not saying nothing is returning, but be aware that the greatest weakness of original Kamigawa was it’s mechanical components. As I’ve talked about on this blog many times (reinforced from feedback from many of you), a return is not leaning heavily on the named keywords/ability words of the original visit.

Ability Words Blogatog / Tumblr Bushido Epic Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Keywords Mechanics Ninjutsu Offering Soulshift Splice Storm Scale Sweep

Future of Reprinting Bushido

If you do end up reprinting Bushido with a different, flavor-neutral name, will it work exactly the same as Bushido? Or will it have to work slightly differently?

It could be the same, or tweaked depending on our future intent with it.

Bushido Reprints

Commander Product Viability

Mark, a commander product based on a non-revisited plane, being on plan or tribal mechanics, could it not be good enough to be viable? (Example: Commander Kamigawa; Deck Samurai or Bushido, Ninja or Ninjitsu, Spirit or Soulshift and Orochis Token)

It depends on how many new cards the deck has and whether enough cards pre-exist to make sense with that theme in the right colors for the deck. There are also larger questions about the product line as a whole.

Bushido Colors Commander Kindred / Typal Mechanics Ninja Ninjas Ninjitsu Samurais Soulshift Spirit Tokens

Bushido name appropriateness

Whats wrong with the name for Bushido?

It’s a little too specific. Bushido is a Samurai code of honor. It only makes sense on a world with Samurai.

Bushido Samurais

Likelihood of Bushido's return

Which would you say is more likely: Bushido returns, or a mechanic identical to Bushido but with a different name appears?

The latter is more likely.

Bushido Mechanics