Menace

Menace Against Certain Types

if or when: Menace against certain creature types? As in, "Spooky Scarecrow can't be blocked by only one Human."

If. It’s pretty narrow.

Creatures Human If/When Menace Scarecrow Scarecrow

Mechanic Design Philosophy

About the menace question and re wording it, i think the asker was asking if you would do something LIKE that and just gave that as an example.

When we make mechanics, we do think about whether or not it wants a number embedded in it.

Mechanics Menace Question Marks

Altering Mechanics

Would you ever be willing to alter the way a mechanic works afterwards to expand the design space? For example, one thing I’ve seen discussed a good bit online would be replacing Menace with Menace 2 so you could expand it to higher numbers.

When we introduced menace, we talked about whether it wanted a number. We liked how the base version played, so we decided we didn’t need the number.

Design Space Mechanics Menace

Keywording and Deviation

"Indestructible was used consistently in its template, while unblockability was not." What's wrong with keywording Unblockable and just spelling out anything different like "can't be blocked by green creatures"? Menace is a keyword, but you don't say "menace for 3 creatures", you just spell it out if isn't exactly the same "can't be blocked by less than 3 creatures". Trample is a keyword, but you don't say "trample over planeswalkers".

It was a matter of how often we deviated from the default.

Creatures Green Indestructible Keywords Menace Planeswalkers Templating Trample

Return of Fear Mechanic

Do you think we could see a one-of return of fear or intimidate if the flavor calls for it, or would you just use menace instead?

I’ll just say it’s a very high bar.

Fear Flavor Intimidate Mechanics Menace

Menace and Fear

If a card was really REALLY scary (and in a supplemental set) could it get menace AND fear?

We don’t really use fear any more.

Fear Menace

Mechanic Evolution

Hi Mark! We've seen a lot of mechanics in the recent times sort of "replace" other older mechanics; Morph -> Disguise, Cascade -> Discover, even further back with Chroma -> Devotion or Fear -> Intimidate -> Menace.How often does R&D like/want to do this, and whenever one of these "replacement" mechanics is designed and confirmed, how does that impact the status of the older mechanic and its future in the game? Does the older mechanic just go away forever, like with Chroma and Fear/Intimidate, or are those exceptions and not the norm?

When we upgrade a mechanic, we seldom return to the original version.

Cascade Chroma Disguise Fear Game Design Intimidate Mechanics Menace Morph Morph

Intimidate Vs Menace

Why doesn't Nuka-Nuke Launcher just give menace, instead of the largely deprecated intimidate? Is there some Fallout reference I'm missing?

Can any Fallout fans answer this?

Intimidate Menace Nuka-Nuke Launcher

Flavorful Mechanics

Mornin', Mark! What's the rationale behind having Barbed Servitor become suspect upon etb rather than just having it have menace and "can't block"?

Flavor.

Barbed Servitor Enter The Battlefield Flavor Mechanics Menace Suspect

Memory Mechanics Commentary

I would like to note that I find it strange that it's been reiterated that design avoids mechanics that rely on memory and prefer to use counters and having new mechanics like "suspect" and "solve" release that require you to remember that the creature permanently has menace and can't block or that the enchantment is permanently "solved". It's very confusing to get information that this kind of design is bad and to be avoided and then to have it show up in a premier set twice.

When we have a set that has punch out counters as a memory aide, we allow some stuff we don’t in sets that don’t.

Creatures Enchantments Mechanics Menace Premier Sets Solved Suspect

Card Design Flavor

I have a few questions about this. Was there some sort of game of telephone or something here? This card has nothing to do with artifacts but is an artificer, it deals with instants and sorceries like a wizard, and it sac creatures and has menace like black. It seems obvious to me this card should have a been a BR wizard or even a R wizard. The only blue thing seems to be Ward 2? I get that blue cares about instants and sorceries but not in any capacity that isn't covered by red here

The thing you’re missing is the Izzet flavor which ties to both the artificer flavor and the connection to instants and sorceries.

Artifacts Artificer Black Blogatog / Tumblr Blue Creatures Flavor Instants Izzet (U/R) Menace Red Sorceries Ward

New Evasion Ability

Hey Mark,Would a new evasion ability be fair game for red/blue evergreen if it's properly balanced?

Red doesn’t do a lot of evasion. It’s secondary in menace and tertiary in flying.

Blue Evasion Evergreen Flying Menace Red Secondary Tertiary

Blue Menace Rejection

re: menace in blue, I didn't mean to imply that blue should take menace away from black, I just think that menace could fit pretty well in blue.

Blue doesn’t really need more evasion, and as I say in another post, I don’t think evasion is the key to solving the blue/red keyword overlap issue.

Black Blue Evasion Izzet (U/R) Keywords Menace Red

Blue and Menace

re: If/when new blue/red evergreen keyword to replace prowess

How about just giving menace to blue?

Black needs menace more than blue.

Black Blue Evergreen If/When Izzet (U/R) Keywords Menace Prowess Red

Menace Mechanic

You've probably gotten asked this before, but have you guys thought about changing menace so something like menace X can be used for "this creature can't be blocked except for by X or more creatures."

We seldom want to use menace 3+, so we’d rather write it out the few times we need it.

Creatures Mechanics Menace

Evergreen Keywords Removal

When we see an evergreen keyword stop being printed, we normally have a replacement (hexproof instead of shroud) or at least something that fills the gap (menace giving evasion to black/red instead of fear, activated indestructible for regeneration). Would you ever just remove something evergreen? Like, something that isn't worth doing anymore, without need for a replacement.

We have in the past. Banding went away and nothing like it became evergreen. I think us doing something today is a little less likely, but not impossible.

Banding Card Printing Evasion Evergreen Fear Hexproof Indestructible Keywords Menace Rakdos (B/R) Red Regeneration Shroud

Red Creature Abilities

Would flying and menace be acceptable on a mono-red creature if it were a dragon or phoenix?

Sure. We don’t mix two evasive abilities often though.

Creatures Dragon Flying Menace Phoenix Red

Mechanic Reward Rarity

There are a lot of cards that reward you playing creatures with Flying, or creatures with Defender. Not so much, say, Reach or Menace or Vigilance or whatever. (Although a few do exist). Is there a particular reason for that, or is it just how things worked out?

It’s hard to make those cards relevant in limited due to the as-fan of those mechanics. We could look to do some at higher rarities if we can find the right designs.

As-fan Creatures Defender Flying Limited Mechanics Menace Rarity Vigilance Vigilance

Edgewall Pack Kudos

Could you please high five the creative team and basically everyone who worked on Edgewall Pack? This is exactly the kind of card that makes me love Limited, common cards, and just Magic in general. If I looked at Edgewall Pack in a complete out-of-context vacuum I'd go, "Huh? Okay. I don't get why this is a Dog with Menace that makes a rat token, but sure." But within Eldraine's world & tone, WOE's mechanical structure, and this card's creative execution, this card just perfectly fits its slot.

Glad you like it.

Appreciation Dog Edgewall Pack High Fives Limited Menace Rat Tokens

Blue Card Token Bend

Ixalan had a 2/2 black Pirate with menace as a “standard” token for that faction. It didn’t appear on any blue pirate faction cards, but would that have been a bend or break for a blue card to make a 2/2 menace token?

A bend.

Bend / Break Bend or Break Black Blue Factions Ixalan Menace Pirate Standard Tokens