Gargoyle

MKM Style Appreciation

Just wanted to say I love the style/tone of MKM - it wouldn't fee like a fantasy murder mystery without hitting the tropes so hard, which includes gargoyles with detective hats, and there's nowhere I'd rather have a murder mystery than Ravnica

I am getting a lot of this kind of note. I just like to understand why people don’t like something, so that gets a little more screen time on the blog. I am happy many of you do like it.

Appreciation Blogatog / Tumblr Detective Gargoyle Murders at Karlov Manor

MKM Set Reception

MKM is a first time for me, first time completely skipping a premier set for flavor reasons, and I am worried that this might happen more often now. It feels like an un-set, honestly. And it's so weird that now everything on ravnica, even non-sapient being like zombies or gargoyles are detectives. And they all wear those stereotypical detective costumes. In general, ravnica suddenly got a much more modern sense of fashion. And trains. It's too goofy and too much real world at the same time.

Whenever we go to a world, we focus on the aspects of the world that play into that set’s themes. We could do a creepy take on Ravnica and focus on those aspects which would feel very different. But I think you’re saying there are elements that you don’t think belong on Ravnica. Do others share this belief? Do certain cards in the set not feel like Ravnican cards?

Detective Flavor Gargoyle Modern Murders at Karlov Manor Premier Sets Un-Magic / Silver Border / Acorn Un-sets Zombie

Penguin Tribal Potential

RE: Penguins - We have several types that usually want flying, but have exceptions. We have non-flying dragons, demons, angels, faeries, a gargoyle, a sphinx, and even several birds already! Give the people what they want. Give us a penguin! (Barring that, could you at least give us to a "Maybe :)")

I said “when”.EDIT: I actually said, “my gut is if”, so my bad. I do think it will probably happen, so maybe I should have said when.

Angel Bird Demon Dragon Faerie Flying Gargoyle Kindred / Typal Sphinx

Ravnica Aesthetic Concerns

I have to echo those that feel like the set is a bit off. Ravnica has an established high fantasy aestethic, and all these cards featuring people with clothes so close to being contemporary feels... off. Like they don't belong in the setting and were just hammered in. It's worsened when we have Ravnica Remastered so close to make a comparison. The fedoras on weirds and gargoyles dont make this any better. I get the idea you wanted to evoke, and that resonance is an important part of top down sets, but in this case it feels like it's coming at the cost of Ravnica's overall feel.

I can pass the note along. Howe do others feel about it?

Echo Evoke Gargoyle Top Down

Tone and Silliness

Can you explain the creative process than made Magic move from "squirrel tokens are too silly for the game" to "talking animals are too silly for Eldraine" to "this gargoyle with a fedora and a trenchcoat is just PERFECT!" ?

You are conflating a number of things. The brand team did believe for a while that Squirrels were inappropriate in tone for Magic. That has changed. We didn’t want talking animals in Eldrane because we were trying to match a certain tone and we felt we could use that elsewhere, not because it was too silly. Over time, we (as a company, I’ve been there all along - see the Un-sets) have come to realize that Magic sets want a certain amount of levity.

Gargoyle Squirrel Tokens Un-sets

Birthday Trivia Request

I invoke the right of birthday trivia! (Also congrats on 20 years as head designer) Can you tell me anything about the card "grey ogres"? Failing that, how about trivia on orcs and/or ogres in magic in general?

Grey Ogre has an interesting distinction. It’s a card in Alpha with three other cards that are “strictly better”: Granite Gargoyle, Sedge Troll, and Uthden Troll.Happy Birthday!

Appreciation Birthday Gargoyle Granite Gargoyle Head Designer Ogre Orc Power Level Rat Sedge Troll Troll Uthden Troll

Gargoyle Card Absence Explanation

Is the lack of a gargoyle card in the MID and VOW (our last two visits had one gargoyle each) sets exemplary of the struggle humans have been facing or was there simply no room for one?

Just not room. There are still Gargoyles on Innistrad.

Gargoyle Human Innistrad

Issues with Angel Tokens

RE: different Angel tokens- there's currently: 4/4 Angel Warrior, 4/4 Angel with Vigilance, 4/4 Angel, and 3/3 Angel. Apart from the 3/3 they all have minor differences that make it extremely difficult to keep track of what kind of Angel you have and from where. The plain 4/4 Angel tokens are also extremely common to come by, so if you're representing your 4/4 Angel Warrior with Vigilance with one of those, then you might not notice the tribal synergies or the additional keyword.

A number of people have complained about the Angel token issue. I will pass along the note to the set design teams to think about how many versions exist at one time, but it’s not as easy to solve as it might appear at first blush. Because sets rotate, the only simple way to keep one Angel creature token in Standard is to lock into one thing and only ever make the Angel creature token that thing (say 4/4 flying) in new sets.What that means though is sets can’t adjust the token for the needs of that set. The Angel couldn’t gain Warrior to work with party, for example. The other fix is to just make more different kinds of tokens, the 3/3 flyer is a Gargoyle, the 4/4 with flying and vigilance is an Archon, for example, but then we get the Angel fans sad that we’re just making a lot less Angels. For people that care about this, would you prefer different creatures types if the stats/abilities are different?

Angels Archons Creatures Flying Gargoyles Keywords Kindred / Typal Set Design Standard Tokens Vigilance Warriors

Gargoyles as School Mascots

"We liked the idea of one of the schools having a Gargoyle as their mascot as it matched the school setting so well," could you elaborate on this? I don't understand the connection.

Many universities are made up of old stone buildings. In a fantasy setting, gargoyles would feel very at home.

Gargoyle

Gargoyles Trivia Request

Hey Mark! Today is my 27th birthday and I've been playing Magic since Mirrodin! For some reason I love Gargoyles. Do you have any trivia on Gargoyles?? Thank you for all you do!!

We’ve had a lot of internal conversations about whether gargoyles are supposed to be base white or base artifact. We’ve yet to come to agreement, but the existence of white artifacts might help solve the issue.Happy Birthday!

Appreciation Artifacts Birthday Gargoyle Mirrodin White

Artifacts and Gargoyles

Now that coloured artifact creatures can always appear, do you think white gargoyles will always be artifacts?

The chances go up.

Artifacts Creatures Gargoyle White

Requests For Strange Tribals

Can I request more strange tribals cards, such as cards that care about Trilobites, Advisors, Gargoyles, and/or Turtles in upcoming sets?

Tribal cards work best when there’s enough of a base of that creature type. We’re much more likely to fill in gaps for creature types that show up in 100+ cards than 5.

Advisor Creatures Gargoyle Kindred / Typal Trilobite Turtle

Card Design Evolution

I may be misremembering, but it seems like in Magic's earlier days, there was a tendency not to print a card that was a strictly better version of another card in the same set. Lately, this happens pretty routinely, especially with removal (e.g., Price of Fame >> Deadly Visit in GRN). Has there been a philosophical shift on this and what were the reasons for the change? I get the need to limit premium removal in limited, but it seems like a deeper philosophical change.

Alpha Common: Grey Ogre 2R 2/2 Uncommon: Uthden Troll 2R 2/2 R: Regenerate Rare: Grey Gargoyle 2R 2/2 Flying R: +0/+1 ueot
&
Sedge Troll 2R 2/2 +1/+1 if swamp, B: Regenerate

Alpha Card Printing Deadly Visit Flying Gargoyle Limited Ogre Power Level Price of Fame Rares Regenerate Sedge Troll Troll Uncommons Uthden Troll

Request for Gargoyles

Can I request more gargoyles please? Maybe a Legendary Gargoyle even? Please and thanks

You may.

Gargoyle

Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdicar Origin

Where does the name Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdicar came from?

She appears in the flavor text of Granite Gargoyle in Alpha, Lightning Axe in Time Spiral and Sauté in Unhinged.

Alpha Flavor Gargoyle Granite Gargoyle Lightning Axe Sauté Time Spiral Unhinged

Missing Legends

Some creature types I'm surprised don't have legends yet: Wurm, Phoenix, Unicorn, Drake, Spider, and Gargoyle.

Anyone want to add to this list?

Creatures Drake Gargoyle Legendary Creatures Phoenix Spider Unicorn Wurm

Theros Opal Enchantments

Were enchantments like Opal Gargoyle, Opal Guardian and the like considered for Theros?

No.

Enchantments Gargoyle Opal Gargoyle Opal Guardian Theros

Gargoyles and Grotesques

Gargoyles weren't even the winged statues on buildings. Those are called grotesques or chimeras. Gargoyles were statues used as drainpipes.

Tell that to Disney. : )

Chimera Gargoyle

Non-Flying Gargoyles

While fantasy gargoyles almost always fly, traditionally wings were not always present. I for one would not mind seeing you print non-flying gargoyles, am I in the minority?

We wouldn’t do it for the same reasons our Birds all fly (nowadays) - matching player intuition.

Bird Card Printing Flying Gargoyle

Gargoyle Wing Assumption

Not all gargoyles have wings...

But many players would assume they would.

Gargoyle