Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

Rethinking Legend Supertype

What makes you want to get rid of the legend rule? I'm sure you have good reasons for it as someone who has lived and breathed magic design for so long, but I'm just really surprised to read that from you. Isn't it beneficial to have as a method of balancing cards? Especially now that so many cards have already been balanced around being legendary? (Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is the first one that comes to mind).

My suggestion is to create a mechanic that captures the baggage of legendary (something like “unique”), that can be used when needed, but it would be a tiny portion of the time. The biggest problem, for me at least, with the drawback is it causes numerous design issues. It’s a lot of work to design around it. It also forces us to maximize cards for one format at the sake of other formats.

Mechanics Rules Supertype Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

Taxing Artifacts in Color Pie

Are "taxing artifacts" still in the "generic" color pie? i.e., Sphere of Resistance, Trinisphere, and Chalice of the Void (although Chalice is a bit different). Those effects seem to be on White cards more often in recent history (Sphere of Resistance is Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, and Chalice of the Void is similar to Sanctum Prelate).

Taxing is primary white, secondary blue.

Artifacts Blue Chalice of the Void Color Pie Colorless Primary Sanctum Prelate Secondary Sphere of Resistance Thalia, Guardian of Thraben Trinisphere White

Negative Mana Cost in Splice Onto

While a negative mana value doesn't make sense in the rules, a negative mana cost could. However, it wouldn't add mana or do anything by itself. It'd just mean the discount is applied when the cost of the spell is raised (like with Thalia, Guardian of Thraben). It's just not really worth it. The most possibly grokkable situation would be on an Arcane spell, as the discount would apply to being spliced onto.

There bigger problem in the rules is there are cards that have effects based on a card’s mana value. What, for example, does draw -2 cards mean or how does a -2/-2 creature token function.

Creatures Mana Mana Value Rules Splice Thalia, Guardian of Thraben Tokens

Legendary Mechanic Evolution

If you changed the rules for legendary, cards like Isamaru, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Mox Opal would cease to be made. They only work because you are limited to one copy in play. I strongly believe that Legendary is a tool that lets you increase the power level of cards by restricting the number of copies that can be in play.

I would make a Unique keyword for cards that need the restriction, but it’s a tiny percentage of current Legendary cards.

Keywords Limited Mox Opal Power Level Rules Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

Thalia Trivia Share

Can I have some birthday trivia on my favorite Magic card, which is "Thalia, Guardian of Thraben"?

I believe the cards existed as a normal White card before it got turned into Thalia. It was problematic in multiples so making it legendary helped solve that problem. My memory is the card went from a 2W 2/2 to a 1W 2/1 when we switched it to legendary.Happy Birthday!

Birthday Thalia, Guardian of Thraben White

Legend Rule Impact

"There’s a debate in development if [the Legend rule] even lets us make cards more powerful. And if so, it’s a tiny difference." I doubt Thalia, Guardian of Thraben would exist if it were not for the Legend rule.

The biggest difference is on cheap aggressive creatures.

Creatures Rules Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

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