Saw in Half

Balancing Mechanics and Flavor Text

Why couldn’t you just add the unique interaction with meld that I mentioned to Saw in Half while keeping the flavor text?what’s stopping it from having both things?

Doing what you’re asking would take a bunch of words. Too many words and flavor text doesn’t fit.

Flavor Text Mechanics Meld Saw in Half

Consideration for Extra Flavor Text

Not making saw in half have a special interaction with meld to split the card into the ones that make it up is a missed opportunity

There’s always text we can add to a card to add an extra pinch of flavor. Our concern is is that extra text worth the words it takes? How often will it matter? How much confusion does it add? What does the card lose (like flavor text) if we add it?Is the concept cool as an idea? Sure. Would have been worth being on the card? I believe no.

Flavor Flavor Text Meld Saw in Half

Infinity Elemental and Saw in Half

Heya Mark! Some friends and I are planning to build Un-Commander decks, s I have a quick Un-Question for ya! If a player casts Saw in Half on an Infinity Elemental, does the controller get two Infinity/3 creatures? Or is there some other value for their power?

Half of inifinity is infinity.

Creatures Elemental Infinity Elemental Saw in Half Un-questions

Unfinity Cards Legality

I saw that Legacy and Vintage banned sticker and attraction cards. While I agree that the logistical reality of tournaments is not ideal, I just want to express that I really liked making (some) Un-set cards legal including very off-the-beat mechanics, and I hope that remains a possibility for the future (probably not with extra decks though). And I hope other Unfinity cards (Embiggen, Saw in Half, etc.) are not retroactively made illegal as well.

There are no current plans to ban any of the non-sticker/Attraction eternal-legal Unfinity cards.

Bannings Embiggen Format Legality Format Legality Legacy Mechanics Saw in Half Stickers Un-Magic / Silver Border / Acorn Un-sets Vintage

Saw in Half Evaluation

What makes saw in half a pie break? It seems at most like a bend to me. Black is allowed to save individual creatures, which saw in half does (albeit in a unique way). Black can get token copies of things that die, which saw in half does. None of it seems to be undermining any of black’s weaknesses; just doing black things in somewhat unusual ways

The issue is Black isn’t supposed to be copying creatures. It’s possible it’s more serious bend than break, but it’s not something we should be doing.

Bend / Break Black Creatures Saw in Half Tokens

Un-sets Reprints

Can there be reprint cards in un-sets?- Un-set card reprinted in other sets (e.g. "Saw in Half" reprinted in Innistrad or Ravnica(Rakdos) set)- a card reprinted into un-sets (e.g. a Streets of New Capenna card reprinted in a crime-themed new un-set)

Any eternal legal card from Unfinity could be reprinted in another set. Un-sets can reprint cards. (See Steamflogger Boss in Unstable), but we get Un-sets so infrequently, we’d usually rather make new cards.

Card Printing Eternal Innistrad Rakdos (B/R) Reprints Saw in Half Steamflogger Boss Streets of New Capenna Un-Magic / Silver Border / Acorn Un-sets

Black Creature Copying

Black doesn't really copy creatures, but the latest unset gave us 'Saw in half'. Are more cards like this possible? If or when?

The Council of Colors considers Saw in Half a mistake, colorpiewise.

Black Colors Council of colors Creatures If/When Saw in Half Un-Magic / Silver Border / Acorn Un-sets

Praise for Saw in Half

Hi Mark, I just got to Through the Breach an Archon of Cruelty on my opponent's end step and then Saw in Half it the same step to untap with two of them. Saw in Half is such a cool card, please give my applause to whoever designed it (especially if it's you)!

I think Chris Mooney designed it, but I’m not 100% sure. It wasn’t me.

Archon Archon of Cruelty Saw in Half Tap / Untap Through the Breach

Unfinity Development Changes

Hi Mark, You mentioned during Unfinity development when you were deciding which cards to make eternal legal and which one would be acorn legal that there were a few that you made minor changes to to make them legal in eternal. Can you give us any examples of a change that you made?

Saw in Half used to result in fractions for power and toughness.

Eternal Format Legality Saw in Half Un-Magic / Silver Border / Acorn Un-sets

Creature Copy Mechanics

If I Saw in Half a creature that is only a creature due to a sticker or aura - animate graveyard, the real life object made into a token that has a power/toughness sticker, or any number of legal magic cards I can’t think of right now - do those token copies continue being creatures once they’ve entered the battlefield, since the sticker or aura is no longer applying to them?

When you copy a creature, you get only the base qualities of the card (aka what’s printed on it), so you would get two copies of the card, but neither would be creatures, and thus half the size doesn’t mean anything.

Animate Graveyard Auras Card Printing Creatures Mechanics Saw in Half Stickers The Graveyard Tokens

Quirky Cards Wishlist

I was hoping to see more quirky, interesting eternal cards like Saw in Half. It feels like 90% of eternal cards care about stickers, attractions, and/or dice rolling. I hope in future unsets we can get more eternal cards that are just wacky, weird, fun cards that are generically playable, but have the werid quirkiness we expect from unsets and wouldn’t feel right in “normal” sets. Just my two cents.

At least you’ve defined a practical, easy to hit target. : )

Attractions Die Rolling Eternal Humor Saw in Half Stickers Un-sets

Card Rules Adjustments

You mentioned R&D did some editing to make some cards possible in the rules. Is there a card that's very different because of that or was it just stuff like making Saw in Half round?

The changes were pretty minimal. Stickers returning to the sticker sheet when going to hand or library was probably the biggest change, and that forced us to tweak two cards I think.

Game Design Rules Saw in Half Stickers The Library Your Hand

Mechanic Questions

Is Saw in Half a color pie break? It functions very similar to "put a token onto the battlefield that's a copy of target creature you control" which is in blue.

It’s a strong bend.

Bend / Break Blue Color Pie Creatures Mechanics Saw in Half Tokens

Understanding Saw In Half

Question about an upcoming Unfinity card- if One were to Saw In Half a creature with P/T defined by another ability (*/*, for example, my mate’s Consuming Aberration), would the resulting copies still have */*? Or does the word “base” in Saw in Half imply that the old P/T effect is overridden with a static P/T equal to half what it was at the moment Saw in Half resolved? It’s very possible I just answered my own question but I’m asking anyway :)

I enjoy when posters do the work for me. : )

Consuming Aberration Creatures Humor Saw in Half

Format Card Usage

"My issue is players feel that can’t use cards already printed that they want to play with." This isn't a new problem or issue and I don't understand your hang up. When people play a specific format, even if they play in a non competitive, non tournament environment or meta, many people still want to play with cards that are within the bounds of the rules of that format (i.e. many players don't want to play Commander with cards that the rules say you can't play Commander with).

Commander isn’t a format like Standard or Pioneer where the absence of cards is an important part of its definition. Commander, like all eternal formats, is about playing (almost) all of the cards. I get why cards that break the normal bounds of gameplay should be excluded, by why cards that would be playable if printed in another set? As an example, Saw in Half, is a black card with a unique effect that works completely in the rules. It shouldn’t be allowed in Commander because it’s magician themed?

Black Card Printing Commander Competitive Play Eternal Game Play Pioneer Rules Saw in Half Standard

Redefining Unset Card Playability

“Why is “I don’t wish to play with acorn cards” any harder to say? “ The asker didn’t say acorn cards, because they meant (and said) uncards, meaning cards printed in an unset. Now that you are making some cards that are black-border legal, it makes it a lot more difficult to say “I don’t want to play with any cards printed in an unset” than “no silver-border”.

The reason for the acorn is because cards have a problem being playable in competitive tournament play. We want to mark those so that they aren’t played in formats they either might want to be in competitive tournament play or want to use the card list from the formats that do. If a card doesn’t have that problem, we want it to be playable in eternal formats. Let’s take the card Saw in Half. Why shouldn’t that card be playable? The rules can handle it. It’s not even sillier than lots and lots of cards we’ve made in premier sets. It shoudn’t be playable in eternal formats because it hangs out in booster packs with cards that can’t? A big part of this change comes from the stigma of Un-sets that’s kept casual players from playing with cards made specifically for casual players. So, yes, we’re making it harder to say “I won’t play with Un-cards”, because we don’t want you to. Players can say “I won’t play with acorn cards” if those aren’t their cup of tea, but cards that don’t have acorn issues that work in the rules, just like most other Magic cards, should be playable in formats that play “all the cards”.

Boosters Casual Play Competitive Play Eternal Premier Sets Premier Sets Question Marks Rules Saw in Half Un-Magic / Silver Border / Acorn Un-sets

Reason for Eternal Unfinity Cards

Is there a reason so many cards in Unfinity are eternal, or, to put it another way, would you be interested in making a more acorn-y set? Or is there a reason a more acorn-y set would be impractical? (Too hard to make a good draft environment, maybe.)

The set was 100% acorn up until late in the process. With the sole exception of a few minor tweaks to cards (Saw in Half not using fractions as an example), nothing was changed to make the set half eternal. What changed was we moved where the line was that separated acorn from eternal (formerly silver border from black border). There are things that were acorn/silver border solely because they were in any Un-set not because the larger Magic rules couldn’t handle it. If the same thing had happened late in Unstable’s life, most the Host/Augment, Contraption/assemblers, die rolling cards, and a few random other cards would have been eternal. Nothing important was sacrificed from making Unfinity have eternal cards in it. It’s a very Un-set.

Black Border Contraptions Die Rolling Draft Formats Eternal Rules Saw in Half Un-Magic / Silver Border / Acorn Un-sets

Appreciation for Design Work

I am catching up on the past month or so of blogatog. Sounds like your doing a great job. Black border un set sounds awesome. You can bet if I ever build a commander deck it will contain both saw in half and doubling season. Can't wait for alchemy. I also really want another origins set as my #1 return request but this time i think it should be 2 color plainswalkers. And I want to second the request for a named legendary house cat. That would be amazing. Just give everyone a high five. You rock.

Thank you. Glad you could catch up. : )

Appreciation Black Border Cat Colors Commander Decks Doubling Season High Fives Humor Saw in Half Two Color Un-Magic / Silver Border / Acorn Un-sets

Unfinity Release Notes Inquiry

I hope a lot of the Saw in Half questions you've been receiving are going to be answered in the Unfinity release notes, too.

As always, an FAQ for Unfinity will accompany the release of the set.

Saw in Half The FAQ

Saw in Half Mechanic Explanation

If I were to use saw in half on a creature whose power and toughness are (X), would the resulting copies have (1/2*X) or would it just create two copies of the original creature?

The power and toughness are whatever the creature has at resolution of Saw in Half.

Creatures Mechanics Saw in Half