Six-Sided Die

Rolling Dice Terminology

New 14 Nov 2022 Asked by tanz423 32 Comments

Is there a mechanical difference between "roll a d6" and "roll a six-sided die"?


No. The former is what we do in a D&D-branded set (as that’s their terminology) and the later is the normal template.

Unfinity Draft Joy

New 31 Oct 2022 Asked by decynicalrevolt 38 Comments

I just wanna say how awesome your Unfinity draft is. I got the pleasure of flipping Devil k. Nevil over 10 creatures and onto the next table over in the same game where my Beebled Six-sided Die rolled double 1s, and my opponent achieved the first 8 hats. Thank you for the wonderful night.


Happy to hear you enjoyed it.

Die Rolling Terminology

New 13 Oct 2022 Asked by lowbatteries68 38 Comments

Hi Mark! Is there a reason "roll a d6" and its variations was used in the sets for D&D and "roll a six-sided die" was used in Unfinity?


“D<number>” is the notation used in Dungeons & Dragons, so it was used in the D&D sets. The Magic default, since 1998, is “roll a <number>-sided due” as it’s clearer that you roll a die.

Feedback on Unfinity Launch

New 10 Oct 2022 Asked by thatguyovertherewiththething 75 Comments

I judged my Unfinity launch this weekend. Wanted to send some feedback here:- Players seemed really frustrated that stickers were pretty one use. Stickers never went back properly on the sheet after use. - General Positive reaction to Attractions. Players did seem frustrated with the dexterity ones, mainly due to difficulty. Lots of talk about using them in Commander.- Humor of the set landed okay but when it landed, it landed very well. Lots of love from the enfranchised players on the in-jokes and references.- "What constitutes a hat?" Is now a philosophical question. Highly recommend some reminder text when "hats matters" returns as a theme.- Some complicated black border rules questions actually came up more often than normal. One that stuck out was the interaction between Monitor Monitor, Drop Tower, and how the rules see dice results.- Embiggen, Animate Object, and A Real Handful were definite bombs that took over games. Six-Sided Die as well but I think that breaks even due to the variance.All in all, everyone left happy over 3 events in 2 days (minus one vocal player who was upset with stickers.) I personally loved the set and plan on building around some cards in commander. Hope this helps! :)


Thanks for the feedback.

Dice Rolling Terminology

New 23 Sep 2022 Asked by spiritkhan 27 Comments

Why do cards in Unfinity say "roll a six-sided die" instead of "roll a d6"?


That’s always been the template. Adventures in the Forgotten used “d20” because that’s how D&D says it.

Tabulating Dice Roll

New 27 Jun 2022 Asked by livefromtheloam 43 Comments

Hi Mark. If a card in a theoretical upcoming non-D&D, non-acorn/silver set were to use dice rolling, would it be templated as "d6," or "six-sided die"? Thanks!


“Six sided-die”. “D6” is just a D&D thing.

UN Cards and Planar Dice Interaction

New 26 Jan 2022 Asked by archangelalchemist 32 Comments

My playgroup loves Planechase and weird decks. I was looking at Pippa, Duchess of Dice from the UN-sets but does The Big Idea or any other UN card interact with the planar die?


If a card just cares about a die being rolled, it will care about the planar die. If it specifically calls out what kind of die, it does not. And “six-sided die” refers to a normal die and not a Planar die even though it does have six sides.

Storm Scale on Dice Rolling

New 29 Dec 2021 Asked by admiralmemo 43 Comments

So in February 2020, you mentioned that die rolling was a 10 on the Storm Scale because it was not allowed in black border. Well, as of July 2021, we have AFR with die rolling in black border. Were you only considering D6s then? Basically, what's the update on the Storm Scale on die rolling, and if D6 and D20 have separate Storm Scale ratings?


Twenty-sided die rolling is a 5. Six-sided die rolling is a 7. Twenty-sided die rolling is lower because there is inertia for future D&D sets to consider it.

Explaining Dice Terminology

New 25 Jul 2021 Asked by theblocknessmonster 35 Comments

Hi, Mark! You've said "'d#' is only for d&d stuff, the Magic templating is '#-sided die". Why not just use the shorter term? '#-sided die' might be easier to grok, but I feel like if 'd#' is recognized as a valid option and the most efficient use of text space, why not make it the default now that the template exists?


Because “six-sided die” is understandable by more than “d6”.

Concerns over Die Rolling

New 25 Jul 2021 Asked by nav566 41 Comments

Mark, I'm worried about the future of die rolling. I feel like now that d20 are a common die, the potential for designs like Steel Squirrel has evaporated. If you go back to using d6, you can no longer do a scaling payoff on the result, since d20 will break the cards. I feel like backwards compatibility was damaged because of the decision to use d20 here.


The biggest impact is we’re less likely to say “whenever you roll a die” than “whenever you roll a six-sided die”.

Template Use for d20 Rolls

New 05 Jul 2021 Asked by inkubatorpl 26 Comments

Hi! With the new template for outcomes after rolling a d20, will old cards like Jack-in-the-Mox with rolling a six-sided die get updated in case of a reprint in a product similar to Unsanctioned?


That template is in the D&D set because it’s how D&D does die roll tables. I don’t expect us to use it outside of a D&D set.

D20 Mechanic and Card Interaction

New 30 Jun 2021 Asked by spaceyjdjames 38 Comments

Do cards like Krark's Other Thumb, Chittering Doom, and As Luck Would Have It interact with the D20 mechanic in AFR?


Some do and some don’t. It depends whether it says “die” or “six-sided die”. If it says “die”, it works with twenty-sided dice.

Understanding Reroll Mechanics

New 14 Mar 2021 Asked by pololokka15 24 Comments

Hello MaRo! Sorry to bother again but, Clam-I-Am lets you reroll whenever you get a 3 on a six-sided die. Do I get to reroll any result from Krark's Other Thumb, os just the one I don't ignore?


Here’s how Krark’s Thumb works with Clam-I-Am. Roll two dice for an effect requiring one die roll. Choose which die to count as your roll. Then if the chosen die is a 3, you can reroll it.

Dice Rolls in Unstable

New 22 Sep 2018 Asked by beowuuf 32 Comments

How did using the difference between two dice rolls go over in Unstable? Is that something that might ever cross over in to black border?


If you can’t roll a six-sided die, it’s hard to roll two. It worked great in silver border.

Unstable Card Legality

New 22 Sep 2018 Asked by hudson4351 26 Comments

Could the Unstable card “Time Out” (or a functionally equivalent card) be printed in black border? If not, why not?


Blue can put cards so many from the top in black border. It just can’t roll a six-sided die.

Coin Flip Technique

New 25 Feb 2018 Asked by lgosvse 83 Comments

FYI, you absolutely CAN use a coin as a six-sided die. Just flip it three times. HHH = 6, HHT = 5, HTH = 4, HTT = 3, THH = 2, THT = 1, TTH or TTT = Re-roll.


I said easily.

Die Alteration Rule

New 01 Jan 2018 Asked by daracaex 21 Comments

Can I use More or Less to make "six-sided die" into "seven-" or "five-sided die" as long as I also have the appropriate dice to use?


Sure. You can only use a larger sided die and reroll results that “don’t exist” (they’re not counted for anything).

Magic Hack Query

New 01 Jan 2018 Asked by pot-of-8-os 44 Comments

If I use magical hacker to change "six-sided die" to "six+sided die", what do I do?


That’s a hyphen and not a minus sign. Sorry.

Six-Sided Die Rules

New 21 Dec 2017 Asked by grumpycathappychap-blog 46 Comments

I've noticed that silver-boarded cards say "roll a six-sided die". I have a wacky 6 sided die I made with the number ranges from 1000-6000. Currently there is nothing to stop me from using this die, which is pretty nice with something like "The Big Idea". I'm guessing a new rule about specifically what "die" can be used?


A six-sided die is defined in the FAQ. No shenanigans. : )

Silver to Black Transition

New 14 Dec 2017 Asked by protectionfrominstants-blog 24 Comments

Hi Mark. Suppose six-sided die rolling one day made it to black border. How hard would it be to change the rules to allow a black border reprint of Krark's Other Thumb? It would be great if there was a way to port silver border cards directly to black border without a name change.


We can’t do it unless we change one of the following rules: Silver border cards aren’t legal in tournaments. All cards with the same name act the same.


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