Cunning

Coyote and Roadrunner Mechanics

I love the little shoutout with Cunning Coyote and Resilient Roadrunner. Is there an internal codename keyword for the Roadrunner’s “can only be blocked by creatures with haste” activated ability?

Not really. It’s the “Gingerbrute ability”.

Coyote Creatures Cunning Cunning Coyote Gingerbrute Haste Keywords Mechanics Resilient Roadrunner

Inconsistency in Errata Philosophy

When the rules were updated it was decided that Mox Diamond should follow the intended function and was errated to not even enter the battlefield if a land was not discarded. But when the rules were updated it was decided that cunning wish should not be able to get cards that were exiled despite that being the original intention of the card. Why was there a difference in the errata philosophy here?

Cunning Wish getting exiled cards was *not* the original intent of the card. And this from part of the team that made them. That got added later. I tried to stop it (and failed).

Cunning Cunning Wish Enter The Battlefield Errata Lands Mox Diamond Rules The Exile Zone

Analyzing Electrolyze and Cunning Strike

Hey MaRo,Why are Electrolyze and Cunning Strike Blue? Neither has an ability that is uniquely Blue, as Red gets cantrips. Are they set filler cards for multicolored slots?

What blue is adding to both those cards is reducing the mana cost as blue gets card drawing much more efficiently than red.

Blue Card Draw Cunning Cunning Strike Electrolyze Mana Mark Rosewater Red

Duel Decks Revival

I learned to play Magic using the Speed vs Cunning duel deck, and many players I know miss those products. If there was enough popular support amongst the player base, is there a chance duel decks could ever come back?

They were discontinued because not enough players were interested in them. If we had evidence that has changed, I assume we’d consider bringing them back. I’m not sure what has changed though to make that now true when it formerly wasn’t.

Cunning Duel Decks

Zodiac Dragon Errata

Why is the functional errata on Zodiac Dragon, who worked with P3K cards like Control of the Court and Cunning Advisor when printed but does not now, an exception to the rule?

That change to Zodiac Dragon is just updating it to modern templating. It’s important that cards that work similarly have the same template and we use “when” now for it not “if”.

Advisor Card Printing Control of the Court Cunning Advisor Dragon Errata Functional Errata Modern Rules Templating Zodiac Dragon

Planeswalkers Mana Costs

Why do almost all (monocolored) planeswalkers have doube colored mana costs (i. e. Jace, Cunning Castaway costs 1UU, Nissa, Voice of Zendikar costs 1GG, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar costs 2WW)?

It lets us cost them cheaper.

Ally Gideon, Ally of Zendikar Jace, Cunning Castaway Mana Monocolor Nissa, Voice of Zendikar Planeswalkers Zendikar

Illusions Text Update

Hi Mark! Could you tell me a little about the upgrade on Illusions? Their texts usually stated they'd be sacrificed when targeted by spells OR abilities ("Skulking" was the slang for that). The latest, Labyrinth Guardian (AKH) and the token Jace, Cunning Castaway (XLN) creates (if there are previous ones I'm not aware of, would you please point them out?), care only for spells, so they're strict upgrades, right? How did that happen? Are we to expect this to be standard Illusion text from now on?

That’s the plan for the “illusion” text moving forward.

Illusion Jace, Cunning Castaway Labyrinth Guardian Spells Standard Tokens

Secret Lair Mechanics

If I have R&D's Secret Lair out and I play Isochron Scepter removing a Lightning Bolt from the game, would it still be able to find it if the secret lair got destroyed and it suddenly started looking for the exiled card? Could I Cunning Wish to get the bolt back?

That’s just a terminology change so it would work fine.

Cunning Wish Game Design Isochron Scepter Lightning Bolt R&D's Secret Lair Secret Lairs The Exile Zone The Secret Lair

Judgement Wish Cycle

How do you feel about the Judgement Wish Cycle? Did they bring a good amount of flexibility to magic sideboards that we might see in the future? Having last played when Cunning Wish was standard Legal, I am really itching to use it again

We considere the wish cycle to be a successful cycle. They were both liked by the players and some of them showed up in tournament play.

Cunning Wish Standard