Soulbond

Soulbond Mechanic Complexity

Soulbond has moved from a 5 to a 9 on the storm scale over the last 10 years. Why is the return of my favorite mechanic getting less and less likely? I thought it was well liked.

It confused a lot of players.

Mechanics Soulbond Storm Scale

Soulbond Mechanic Insights

Hey Mark, as a Valentines Day question can you tell us more about Soul Bond? Avacyn Restored is one of my favorite sets of all time and I love soul bond. I was super happy when it was reused in some more recent commander products,

Soulbond has the honor of generating the most questions at a prerelease (sent in to us by judges).

Avacyn Restored Commander Mechanics Prerelease Sealed Format Soulbond

Teamwork Mechanics Considered

March of the Machine is the most excited I've been for a set since Unfinity! I love the return of Convoke for the heroes. Are you free to share any other preexisting mechanics that were considered to represent Teamwork?

We had a long list, but I don’t remember much of them off the top of my head. Soulbond, Mentor, and Training were there.

Convoke March of the Machine Mechanics Mentor Soulbond Training

Commander Cards Availability

For SNC, are there commander cards that can only be found in set/collector boosters? Like the soulbond cards in Crimson Vow?

Yes, there are new cards made for Commander not found in draft boosters.

Boosters Collector Boosters Commander Draft Boosters Soulbond Streets of New Capenna

Podcast on Crimson Vow

It might be a little late but may I request a podcast episode about Crimson Vow commander product. There is a lot of cool things going on that I would love to hear about. Stuff like the soulbond cycle, making blood tokens playable, the partners , ect.

I did a podcast episode with Chris Mooney about the Crimson Vow commander decks.

Blood Commander Commander Decks Drive to Work Soulbond Tokens

Mutate in Modified Action

Any chance mutate gets in on that modified action? If keywords, rules text, etc are trending toward more easily comprehensible at face value, it makes sense to allow keywords like modified to be inclusive to mutate, which could use the support.

Why don’t we just include every old mechanic that flavorfully could make sense with modified? We could include mutate. And threshold. And amplify. And exalted. And augment. And embalm. And haunt. And emerge. And transform. And soulbond. And hellbent. That’s the problem. The game’s almost thirty years old. We’ve made a lot of mechanics. If every new mechanic tried to include every old mechanic that possibly could apply, we couldn’t fit the reminder text on the card (and it starts getting a lot more complicated).What we do is pick the most common and available mechanics (ideally ones in the set) and count those. Every aura, equipment or card that adds counters to creatures is a lot of backward compatibility.

Amplify Auras Creatures Embalm Emerge Equipment Exalted Haunt Hellbent Keywords Mechanics Mutate Rules Soulbond Threshold Transform

Absence of Soulbond in Wedding Set

Really disappointed that a set about a wedding didn’t have Soulbond.

The mechanic is both not that popular and confuses a lot of players. In fact, we track through the judges what mechanics cause the most questions at prereleases and soulbond is in the number one spot.It was brought up though because it’s a great flavor fit.

Flavor Mechanics Prerelease Soulbond

Success of Soulbond Mechanic

"And a final note - soulbond wasn’t all that popular." You did say it was very popular in your Innistrad storm scale article. You also did mention in the same article it was one your memory of the popularity was a bit off, so that might be it?

I went back and put a note on that. Since some of you might have read it before I did, here’s the note:EDIT: Let me dig a little deeper on soulbond. It was generally well liked by players that understood how it played and disliked by players who didn’t. Our data skews towards enfranchised players, so on the surface, it looked pretty popular, but as we dug deeper and started getting outside the enfranchised players, its popularity took a nose dive. So, it is well liked among a certain population of the players, but also strongly disliked by another. Normally,I’m fine with things that are polarizing, but not usually because one part of the audience just doesn’t understand it.

Experienced / Enfranchised Players Innistrad Mechanics Soulbond Storm Scale

Narrowing vs Expanding Options

I feel like R&D is constantly narrowing the potential options instead of expanding them. We heard Soulbond was popular, but they’re apparently too complicated. -1/-1 counters were a major potential theme but are now off the table. Does R&D simply not think players are up to more complexity?

We have added way more to our toolbox than we’ve taken out. Also, I don’t think “not complicated enough” has been a problem in any recent set. And a final note - soulbond wasn’t all that popular. EDIT: Let me dig a little deeper on soulbond. It was generally well liked by players that understood how it played and disliked by players who didn’t. Our data skews towards enfranchised players, so on the surface, it looked pretty popular, but as we dug deeper and started getting outside the enfranchised players, its popularity took a nose dive. So, it is well liked among a certain population of the players, but also strongly disliked by another. Normally,I’m fine with things that are polarizing, but not usually because one part of the audience just doesn’t understand it.

Experienced / Enfranchised Players Game Design Soulbond

The Storm Scale's Soulbond Score

What's the storm scale rating for Soulbond?

I’d call it an 9. It really confused players.

Soulbond Storm Scale

Soulbond's Reception and Future

For no reason in particular, how well was Soulbond received? Do you think there's any chance of it coming back, or was the design space too limited?

The design space wasn’t the biggest problem. The average player was just confused by it. It’s the one mechanic the judges told us they got the most questions about ever at a prerelease.

Design Space Limited Mechanics Prerelease Sealed Format Soulbond

Trivia about Soulbond

My Birthday was Monday can I get some trivia on Soulbond.

Soulbond has the record for the most judging questions at a prerelease (and by a lot). Happy Birthday!

Birthday Prerelease Sealed Format Soulbond

Favorite Mechanics or Cards

I feel like a lot of people who say you’ve only done bad for the game don’t realize you’re probably behind some of their favorite mechanics or cards too. For a change of pace, can you list some beloved mechanics or cards you’re responsible for?

Here are the Magic mechanics I’ve had a hand in creating: Absorb, Addendum, Affinity, Aftermath, Aura Swap, Battle Cry, Bolster, Champion, Changeling, Cipher, Companion, Contraptions, Crew (Vehicles), Dash, Deathtouch, Delve, Dredge, Embalm, Energy, Entwine, Evoke, Exert, Exploit, Fabricate, Fateful Hour, Fateseal, Ferocious, Flashback, Flip, Forecast, Fortify, Frenzy, Gotcha, Graft, Gravestorm, Heroic, Hexproof, Host/Augment, Hybrid Mana, Imprint, Infect, Intimidate, Kicker, Landfall, Lifelink, Living Weapon, Madness, Manifest, Mentor, Modular, Monstrosity, Morbid, Morph, Multikicker, Mutate, Ninjitsu, Phyrexian Mana, Poisonous, Populate, Proliferate, Prowl, Raid, Rally, Reach, Recover, Reinforce, Retrace, Ripple, Shroud, Soulbond, Splice, Split Cards, Split Second, Suspend, Transfigure, Transform, Typecycling, Undying, Unearth, Vanishing and Wither.

Absorb Absorb Addendum Affinity Aftermath Aura Swap Battle Cry Battle Cry Bolster Champion Changeling Cipher Companion Contraptions Crew Dash Deathtouch Delve Dredge Dredge Embalm Entwine Evoke Exert Exploit Fabricate Fabricate Fateful hour Fateseal Ferocious Flashback Forecast Fortify Fortify Frenzy Graft Gravestorm Gravestorm Heroic Hexproof Hybrid Imprint Infect Intimidate Kicker Landfall Lifelink Lifelink Living Weapon Madness Mana Manifest Mechanics Mentor Modular Monstrosity Morbid Morph Morph Mutate Ninjitsu Phyrexian Poisonous Populate Proliferate Prowl Raid Rally Rally Recover Reinforce Retrace Ripple Shroud Soulbond Splice Split Cards Split Second Suspend Suspend Transfigure Transform Undying Unearth Unearth Vanishing Vanishing Vehicles Wither Your Hand

Understanding Soulbond

Why was Soulbond so confusing to players? It seems pretty straightforward to me

The biggest stumbling block was the ability to bond when it entered or when another creature enters.

Creatures Soulbond

On Ikoria and Soul Bond

Was soul bond ever considered for Ikoria?

No. Mutate was there early and complex. It ruled out adding other complex mechanics and soulbond has the distinction of being the mechanic they caused the most questions ever at prereleases (as recorded by the judges).

Mechanics Mutate Prerelease Soulbond

Is Soulbond New Banding?

Is Soulbond an updated version of Banding?

Maybe, in spirit.

Banding Soulbond Spirit

Soulbond and Bonders Correlation

Was Soulbond ever considered to represent the Bonders in Ikoria? If it was can you tell us a little about that?

It was not. Mutate ate up a lot of the complexity points and soulbond is a confusing mechanic to many payers.

Mechanics Mutate Soulbond

Potential Soulbond Variants for Ikoria

Was a soulbond variant ever considered for Ikoria where a human could bond with a non-human or vice-versa to give the paired creatures a benefit? (Follow-up, where is soulbond on the storm scale?)

No, and Soulbond is an 8. It both confused players and wasn’t all that well liked. I assume those two things are correlated.

Creatures Human Soulbond Storm Scale

Complex Mechanic Examples

Has there been a mechanic other than Banding where design seems to think it makes sense but players seemed to have a hard time grasping it/ playing with it correctly?

There’s been plenty of mechanics. Soulbond, suspend, and the untap symbol - are the ones that first come to mind.

Banding Mechanics Soulbond Suspend Tap / Untap

Banding Mechanic Insight

Soulbond was a niffty way of reimagining the offensive side of Banding, was there ever a push to create a mechanic from the defensive side of Banding?

I think the defensive side of banding was problematic. It just made players never attack,

Banding Mechanics Soulbond