Eye Gouge

Eye Gouge Logic

Why doesn't Eye Gouge destroy Evil Eye of Orms-By-Gore or Evil Eye of Urborg? Are they too big to gouge?

Um, yeah. I mean, ask Doug.

Destroy Destroy Evil Evil Eye of Orms-by-Gore Evil Eye of Urborg Eye Eye Gouge

Delayed Card Release

I was originally going to be born on April 1 but the doctor who delivered me decided to push it back to April 2; what's a good story about a card designed for one set but only released in a later one?

Eye Gouge was designed for Theros but we had to kill it “for numbers” as we say in R&D. This means we just needed other cards more and it got forced out. We liked it a lot though so we made sure Ken put it into the design for Born of the Gods.

Born of the Gods Doctor Doctor Who Eye Eye Gouge God Story / Lore Theros

Eye Gouge Interaction

Shouldn't Eye Gouge kill instantly Evil Eye of Orms-by-Gore and Evil Eye of Urborg ? :-)

In a perfect world. : )

Evil Eye of Orms-by-Gore Evil Eye of Urborg Eye Eye Gouge Humor

Eye Gouge Mechanics

From a flavor standpoint. Wouldn't Eye Gouge make more sense if the creature then became a cyclops? Then you could cast two Eye Gouge's to kill a creature!

Very two-eyed centered of you. : )

Cast Creatures Cyclops Eye Eye Gouge Flavor

Favorite Card Choice

What's your favorite card from Born of the Gods?

Eye Gouge.

Born of the Gods Eye Eye Gouge God Mark's Favorites

Eye Gouge Interaction

I control a Jar of Eyeballs and a Cyclops. You cast Eye Gouge on my Cyclops. I get two eyeball counters on my Jar. Where do they come from? : )

The Blind Eternities. : ) Which, by the way, was previously known as the Seeing Eternities before you cast the Eye Gouge.

Cast Cyclops Eye Eye Gouge Jar of Eyeballs

Flavor in Design Process

Are flavour home runs like Eye Gouge impossible to get in bottom-up/mechanical designs?

They are a little harder to do but very possible.

Bottom Up Eye Eye Gouge Flavor

Eye Gouge Cyclops Humor

"Eye Gouge" should have turned any non-Cyclops into a Cyclops.

: )

Cyclops Eye Eye Gouge

Designing Eye Gouge

When you were designing Eye Gouge, did you think of Goatnapper? Did you make sure there would be at least one Cyclops in the set so people wouldn't get confused again?

There are cyclops (plural) in Born of the Gods.

Born of the Gods Cyclops Eye Eye Gouge Goatnapper God

Eye Gouge Odyssey Reference

I believe that the Nobody is playing Eye Gouge was a reference to the Odyssey, when Odysseus tells the cyclops that his name is Nobody.

Yeah, I missed that. : )

Cyclops Eye Eye Gouge Odyssey

Born of the Gods Availability

Look, I know you like to design cards for fringe parts of the audience, but Nobody is playing Eye Gouge.

Nobody seems to be playing any of the Born of the God cards. I wonder what’s going on? (Maro touches his ear as if someone is speaking to him through an ear phone) I’ve just been informed that the cards are not yet on sale. That was my best Jon Stewart impression. : )

Eye Eye Gouge God Mark Rosewater

Nerfing Cyclops Tribal

Is Eye Gouge your way of nerfing the insanely powerful Cyclops Tribal deck?

We had to find some way to keep it from dominating the tournament scene. : )

Cyclops Eye Eye Gouge Kindred / Typal

Favorite Born of Gods Card

So what was your favorite card in born of the gods?

Eye Gouge.

Born of the Gods Eye Eye Gouge God

Eye Gouge Cyclops Flavor

Eye gouge with only 2 cyclops on Theros and 2 cyclops in BNG (only 1 of the four competitive playable imo)... More cyclops coming on Journey Into Nyx? Or the card was purely designed for flavor?

The trinket text was more for flavor but we knew it would come up now and again. Also, remember that Mutavault is a cyclops.

Competitive Play Cyclops Eye Eye Gouge Flavor Journey into Nyx Mutavault Nyx Theros

Theros Block Favorites

Eye gouge or rescue from the underworld?

While I love Eye Gouge, it does not beat out Rescue from the Underworld for the top of my Theros block favorite list.

Eye Eye Gouge Rescue from the Underworld Theros

Eye Gouge Mechanic

Eye Gouge would have been a flavorful mechanic homerun if it also destroyed Eyes. Since it doesn't, it's only a flavorful mechanic double.

There are two eyes in all of Magic history (not counting Mistform Ultimus and changelings which are also cyclops) and none in Theros block. Adding text that will not matter in 99.999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999% of Magic games is poor design.

Cyclops Eye Eye Gouge Flavor Mechanics Mistform Ultimus Theros

Excitement for Eye Gouge

Which card *was* your preview card? I'm curious what you were so excited about, though I have some ideas!

My preview card was Eye Gouge. That is my pick for flavorful mechanic homerun of the set.

Eye Eye Gouge Flavor Mechanics Spoilers

Origin of Thunderous Might

If it makes you feel any better, MaRo: I loved Eye Gouge when I first saw it, and think it's an awesome top-down design--but Thunderous Might gets the Sligh player in me excited, so I actually ended up loving your new preview too! :-) Thanks for making us both of these awesome cards!

Both these cards interestingly had their origin in Theros design. Thunderous Might, by the way, was first designed as a creature with this as an attack trigger.

Creatures Eye Eye Gouge Humor Mark Rosewater Spoilers Theros Thunderous Might Top Down