Efreets

Efreets as Djinns Transition

Hello Mark!

Sorry if this already got answered, Pinnacle Monk in Modern Horizons 3 seems to be an efreet from Tarkir, but in its typeline it's noted as a djinn. Is it the sign that efreet might come to have the same treatment as viashinos, nagas and cephalid in the future? (for thos who dont know, now with MH3 they are respectively lizards, snakes and octopuses)

We are no longer supporting the Efreet creature type. New “Efreets” will be Djinns.

Cephalid Creatures Djinns Efreets Lizard Modern Horizons 3 Monk Naga Octopus Snake Viashino

Ownership Change in Gameplay

While most ante cards are "built around ante", Bronze Tablet and Tempest Efreet don't mention ante outside of the restriction text. They simply swap ownership of themselves with an opponent's card. Given the low power level of these two cards and the clause which allows the opponent to pay life to prevent the ownership change, they aren't really unreasonable for casual play.

They *are* unreasonable. Players strongly dislike change of ownership. These cards have the potential to change ownership. Having an expensive buyout doesn’t lessen the feel bad. For example, sometimes you have the choice of losing the game or permanently losing ownership of your card. That’s not a fun decision to make.

Bronze Tablet Casual Play Efreets Game Play Power Level Tempest Tempest Efreet

Changing Creature Types

Hi Mark! About creature types. You’ve said before R&D is skittish about errataing creature types, but there’s been a lot of doing that anyway lately. Apart from changing the types of animal-people like viashino and cephalid to better synergize with their non-anthropomorphic counterparts, sloth was added to a few cards with Fallout, and now dragons from Kaladesh received the cat type. Efreet was phased out in favor of djinn, but not retroactively like naga - all the efreet cards are still efreet, but there won’t be new ones anymore. And lastly, despite both types entering the game around the same time, sloth gets added, detective doesn’t. Arboreal Grazer went from beast to sloth beast, but Dogged Detective stays merely a human rogue. I’m fully in favor of the general direction that’s taken with creature types, and I also understand the risk of doing a lot of this in a game with paper cards. But the way it’s currently being handled feels extremely inconsistent, and the categorizer in me feels upset!
So, my question is: could you, or someone who is in charge of this, elaborate on the seemingly complex reasonings as to which creature type gets added, added but not errata’d, replaced, or phased out (perhaps in an article)? You’ve said before it’s not, but it really does seem scattershot, and I want to understand.Thank you!

Here’s the problem. It’s mostly done piecemeal which creates the inconsistency you’re talking about. Let me bring it up with the relevant people.

Appreciation Arboreal Grazer Beast Cat Cephalid Creatures Detective Djinns Dogged Detective Dragon Efreets Game Design Human Kaladesh Naga Rogue Scattershot Sloth Viashino

Ownership Mechanic's Future

The recent pauper 'pre-ban' of Cranial Ram got me thinking about some of the older pre-bans because of Ante that happened in the 90's (RIP Rebirth, Tempest Efreet, and Timmerian Fiends. You will not be missed). Has there ever been any serious discussion about making a newer mechanic that manipulated card 'Ownership'? Where would that sort of effect be on the Storm Scale? (I assume a 12, if it went that high)

I think we’re out of the business of changing ownership. It was the most disliked thing mechanically we’ve ever done.

Cranial Ram Efreets Mechanics Pauper Rebirth Storm Scale Tempest Tempest Efreet Timmerian Fiends

Efreets to Djinn Errata

If Efreets are going to be Djinn moving forward, will old Efreets be errata'd into Djinns?

There are no current plans for errata.

Djinns Efreets Errata

Djinn and Efreet Consolidation

Sorry for nitpicking, but I think the Pinnacle Monk creature depicts an efreet and not a djinn like the type line and flavor text say, is that a mistake or are Djinns and Efreets being fused into a single creature type? Thanks.

We’re no longer going to be using Efreet, so cards like Pinnacle Monk are likely to show up as Djinn’s going forward.

Creatures Djinns Efreets Flavor Text Monk

Card Confusion

A bit of a weird question for you: Did the revised printing of Serendib Efreet cause much confusion among players? I know it's before your time at WotC, and I'm not asking for anecdotal "data" as I was playing at the time. Maybe this before WotC started gathering data of this type?

Yes, it caused a lot of confusion.

Card Printing Efreets Serendib Efreet Wizards of the Coast

Djinn Efreet Combine

Has it ever been considered to combine Djinn and Efreet into Genie?

Not that I’m aware of.

Djinns Efreets

Serendib Efreet Mix-up

This one is a huge throwback. Do you have any idea why the reprint of Serendib Efreet in Revised Edition got botched so thoroughly? Was Ifh-Biff Efreet intended to be the reprint, but things got switched around at the last moment? I'm asking because a Revised Serendib was in my very first Starter Deck, and it confused me no end :)

It was supposed to be Serendib Efreet. It was just early days where there were less systems to catch mistakes.

Card Printing Efreets Reprints Serendib Efreet

Rabiah Trivia Gift

I was born this day 44 years ago, and I would like to invoke the ancient rite of birthday trivia 🙂 What is something I might not know about the 1001 planes of Rabiah, or the Djinn or Efreet creature types?

Djinn and Efreets had a weird “cycle” in Arabian Nights. Richard made a Djinn and an Efreet in each color save white, each with an upkeep drawback, and then made King Suleiman in white which could tap to kill a Djinn or Efreet.Happy Birthday!

Birthday Colors Creatures Djinns Efreets King Suleiman Planes Tap / Untap White

Cards without Activation Costs

Hey Mark, why don’t we get new cards with zero-mana activation costs?For example, see Frenetic Efreet

T&D has soured on 0 cost activations. They’re both a little confusing and have play design issues.

Efreets Frenetic Efreet Play Design

Classification of Emberwilde Captain

Shouldn't Emberwilde Captain have been an Efreet since it has fire powers?

Blogatog / Tumblr Efreets Emberwilde Captain

Chance of Reprinting Tempest Efreet

is it possible to reprint tempest efreet since its not reserve list?

I’m very skeptical we’d reprint it. We haven’t printed ante/ownership changing cards in many years.

Efreets Reprints Tempest Tempest Efreet

Inspiration Behind Arabian Nights

With all this talk of revisiting Rabiah or making a new Persian-inspired plane, just to be clear on how much Arabian Nights was inspired by the stories, how many cards in ARN are unique to Magic and how many are taken from/directly reference the stories?

The vast majority of it was based on actual stories. There’s a little of Richard extrapolating from the source material like with the Djinns and Efreets.

Djinns Efreets

Showcase Frames and Misprints

Hi Mark. Regarding the existence of showcase frames prior to Planar Chaos/Future Sight, I remember the Revised version of Serendib Efreet had a pretty cool color-shift frame ;)

: )For those that don’t know their misprint history. Serendib Efreet was a blue card that accidentally got printed with a green frame and art from a green card.

Art Blue Card Frames Efreets Future Sight Green Humor Planar Chaos Serendib Efreet

First Djinn Wedding Influence

Hi Mark, acording to your podcast the first wedding to impact MTG was one between two Djinn instead of two Vampires :)

Yes, Mijae Djinn and Ydwen Efreet were anagrams celebrating two of Richard’s friends getting married.

Djinns Drive to Work Efreets Mijae Djinn Vampire Ydwen Efreet

Strixhaven Creature Type Diversity

Really loving the creature type diversity on Strixhaven! Efreets? Kor? Djinns? Orcs? Loxodon? <3

I like it too. : )

Creatures Djinns Efreets Humor Kor Orc

Efreet on the Beeble Scale

Where are Efreet on the Beeble scale?

I’d say a 7. It takes the right world.

Beeble Scale Efreets

Genie Tribal Deck

Why are Djinn and Efreet separate creature types? I've always wanted to make a genie tribal deck and was wishing Efreets were Djinns.

Arabian Niggts was designed before 4-card restrictions, so creature type issues were less of a thing.

Creatures Djinns Efreets Kindred / Typal

Randomness in Red

Hello Mark. I have always found to fun the concept of the random on the red (Capricious Efreet, Grip of Chaos, Scrambleverse). When will we see more of that type of cards in Magic, do you know any deck that is like that in some format? (commander, standard, etc)

True randomness can often lead to cards that aren’t consistent enough to work in play. As such, we can make the occasional goofy red card, but it’s not a meaty design space.

Capricious Efreet Commander Design Space Efreets Grip of Chaos Red Scrambleverse Standard