The World Tree

List of Green Cards

In case anyone was curious about how many Lay of the Land cards are in green:Mono-Green: 58
Analyze the Pollen
Attune with Aether
Borderland Ranger
Boseiju Reaching Skyward
Brave the Wilds
Bushwack
Caravan Vigil
Civic Wayfinder
Cultivate
District Guide
Druid of the Emerald Grove
Elfhame Sanctuary
Evolution Charm
Flare of Cultivation
Flourishing Bloom-Kin
Fork in the Road
Gaea's Bounty
Gatecreeper Vine
Greenseeker
Herd Migration
Horizon Seeker
hunting Cheetah
Journey for the Elixir
Journey of Discovery
Kodama's Reach
Krosan Tusker
Kura, the Boundless Sky
Land Grant
Lay of the Land
Many Partings
Nervous Gardener
Nissa's Encouragement
Nissa's Pilgrimage
Nissa's Triumph
Nissa, Vastwood Seer
Nylea's Intervention
Open the Gates
Outcaster Greenblade
Peregrination
Realm Seekers
Realms Uncharted
Reclaim the Wastes
Rites of Spring
Seek the Horizon
Shard Convergence
Spinewoods Armadillo
Spirit of the Aldergard
Sprouting Vines
Sylvan Ranger
Sylvan Scrying
The Huntsman's Redemption
Thirsting Roots
Trail of Mystery
Traverse the Ulvenwald
Verdant Mastery
Vorinclex
Yavimaya Elder
You Happen On a GladeGreen featuring another colour: 7
Dig Up
Flower // Flourish
Huatli, Poet of Unity
Invasion of Ergamon (flipped to Truga Cliffcharger)
Path to the World Tree
Safewright Quest
Yasharn, Implacable EarthUn-cards: 3
Selfie Preservation (Un-card)
Spirit of the Season (Un-card)
Wild Crocodile (Un-card)(everyone feel free to add any that I've missed!)

FYI

Analyze the Pollen Armadillo Attune with Aether Borderland Ranger Brave the Wilds Caravan Vigil Civic Wayfinder Colors Crocodile Cultivate Dig Up District Guide Druid Druid of the Emerald Grove Elder Elfhame Sanctuary Evolution Charm Flare Flare of Cultivation Flourishing Bloom-Kin Flower // Flourish Fork in the Road Gaea's Bounty Gatecreeper Vine Gates Green Greenseeker Herd Migration Horizon Seeker Hunting Cheetah Invasion Journey for the Elixir Journey of Discovery Kodama's Reach Krosan Tusker Kura, the Boundless Sky Land Grant Lands Lay of the Land Many Partings Nervous Gardener Nissa's Encouragement Nissa's Pilgrimage Nissa's Triumph Nylea's Intervention Open the Gates Outcaster Greenblade Path to the World Tree Peregrination Ranger Realm Seekers Realms Uncharted Reclaim the Wastes Rites of Spring Safewright Quest Seek the Horizon Seeker Selfie Preservation Shard Convergence Spinewoods Armadillo Spirit Spirit of the Aldergard Spirit of the Season Sprouting Vines Sylvan Ranger Sylvan Scrying The Huntsman's Redemption The Wilds The World Tree Thirsting Roots Trail of Mystery Traverse the Ulvenwald Un-sets Verdant Mastery Wild Crocodile Yasharn, Implacable Earth Yavimaya Elder You Happen On a Glade

Persist in Standard

Where's persist on the storm scale? It seems to me that would be a very hard card to mechanic to put into standard because +1/+1 counters are such a common theme. For example, Tribute to the World Tree is in standard right now and could easily be part of a combo with many persist creatures.

Persist needing -1/-1 counters makes it return, at least in a premier set, less likely, but not impossible. I’ll call it a 7.

Creatures Mechanics Persist Persist Premier Sets Standard Storm Scale The World Tree Tribute Tribute to the World Tree

Kaldheim's Multiverse Status

Since Kaldheim burned the World Tree and Omen-Paths go everywhere now, is Kaldheim now just 10 separate planes in the context of the greater multiverse?

Yes, although ones specifically connected by onenpaths to each other.

Kaldheim Planes The World Tree

Omenpaths and Sparks

Are omenpaths opened/are the lost sparks of planeswalkers?

No. Kaldheim had them. They got extended through the multiverse during the Phyrexian co-opting of the World Tree.

Kaldheim Omenpaths Phyrexian Planeswalkers The World Tree

Kaldheim's Lore Connections

Hi Mark, a funny thing I noticed about MOM is the way that quite a few parts of Kaldheim's lore that ended up being very plot relevant (The World Tree, Doomskars, Cosmos Elixir, etc) are the parts that come most directly from Norse Mythology.
Was this a case of "we built a Norse myth world and realized these ideas would work well the phyrexia arc", or was it "we were looking for ways to reintroduce planar travel and we discovered we wanted to draw from the way Norse Myth handles it"?

Kaldheim was designed in such a matter that it made the best Kaldheim set, and we saw the relevant pieces and realized they could help the Phyrexian story.

Cosmos Elixir Humor Kaldheim Phyrexian Plot Story / Lore The World Tree

Story Pacing Feedback

I think one of the elements that causes the Phyrexian arc to feel more rushed than the Bolas arc is that in between the first 'phase' of the Phyrexian plan (sap from the World Tree on Kaldheim) and the start of Phyrexians being the main focus (Kamigawa) we had four sets where the main story revolved around things not related to the Phyrexian plan (Strix-DND-Innistrad). Compared to the Bolas arc where the first 'phase' is retreiving the Planar Bridge from Kaladesh, and every set after that builds on the impending threat of Bolas, either directly in Amonkhet block or just as the background element driving the plot (Ixalan, Dominaria, Ravnica). I think the Phyrexians having no bearing on the plot for so much of the middle of the arc is what contributes to feeling like the story feeling like its been condensed down even if that isn't technically the case.

Interestingly, during the Bolas Arc, a common comment were “does everything have to be about Bolas?” We’re trying to find the right balance between sets that are core to the larger story line and sets that are a breather away from it.

Amonkhet Dominaria Ixalan Kaladesh Kaldheim Phyrexian Planar Bridge Plot Story / Lore The World Tree

Renaming Lands to Solve Problems

Would it be possible to circumvent the issue some players are having with lands by just tweaking the card names a little so they didn’t sound legendary to begin with?

I’m not sure Branch of the World Tree sounds as exciting.

Card Names Lands The World Tree

Legendary Land Supertype Rules

I would simply like to repeat the point that The Biblioplex, much like the World Tree, should be a legendary land. I understand the flavour explanation about mana bonds, but I don't think it works very well- why can I form multiple mana bonds to the Biblioplex, but not, say, to Nykthos Shrine to Nyx?

I agree that the past legendary lands have poor flavor as you can have multiple bonds. : )If supertype lost its rules baggage, we’d be much more willing to apply the legendary label more freely.

Flavor Humor Lands Mana Rules Supertype The Biblioplex The World Tree

World Tree's Development

In Kaldheim part 2 article when you get to the world tree you just to reiterate/defend your/magics position on legendary land printing. Was there nothing else about the world trees development you could have shared? Was there any previous concepts or required changes made or even the thought because it wasn't going to get legendary changing the land all together?

Not everyone who reads my column reads this blog. For most, it was new information. That was the number one question (by far) I got about the tree, so that’s what I wrote about.

Blogatog / Tumblr Kaldheim Lands Reiterate The World Tree

Non-Legendary World Tree

I don't know if this has been answered already, but why isn't the World Tree legendary? I mean it is THE WORLD TREE, does it not deserve it's legendary status? Was it another missed opportunity? (I say another because I remember when M20 came out there was some talk about field of the dead should've being a desert)

Legendary lands don’t play well. Also, technically from a Vorthos perspective, lands represent not the land, but a mana bond to the land and most places can support many mana bonds.

Core Set 2020 Field of the Dead Lands Mana The World Tree Vorthos

Absence of MDFC Legendary Lands

While I disagree with the reasoning behind lands not being legendary, I can respect why you don't like them. However, why didn't the team create MDFC legendary lands? One side could have been "World Tree surroundings" and the other "The World Tree". You had the perfect mechanic to fix the "dead legendary land on hand" and it feels like a missing opportunity

MDFCs with lands on both sides (other the Pandemic cycle we were finishing) are a Zendikar Rising thing.

Lands Mechanics Modal Dual Faced Cards The World Tree Your Hand Zendikar Rising

Legendary Land Considerations

With the most popular format being singleton (Commander) and my love for legendary lands, words cannot express my disappointment that I can’t tutor for The World Tree with Captain Sisay. Instead of removing legendary from lands, would you please consider “the legend rule doesn’t apply to this card” added as rules text? Being legendary is important for those vorthos players who have a special love/connection to unique things.

Longtime readers know I’ve wanted to strip mechanical definition of legendary for years. That would allow us to let flavor dictate when legendary gets used.

Captain Sisay Commander Flavor Lands Rules Singleton Sisay The World Tree Tutoring Vorthos

About the World Tree

Would the world tree be a land? Its a tree so would it be alignes with green or all 5 colors?

We’ll have to wait and see. : )

Colors Green Humor Lands The World Tree

Squirrels in Standard

Are Squirrels absolutely 100% nixed from Standard? Say if you made a set based on Norse mythology, could you or couldn't you make a legendary Squirrel based on Ratatosk (the squirrel living in the world tree)?

I swear I haven’t given up the fight to get Squirrels in black border. I’ll use whatever tools necessary in my quest. : )

Black Black Border Fight / Bite Squirrel Standard The World Tree

Squirrel Thematics Idea

Maro! I've figured out how to get squirrels back into magic! Norse mythology set! Nobody can deny the thematics of squirrels when faced with the mighty ratatoskr, squirrel lord of the world tree!

That plan’s so crazy it just might work.

Mark Rosewater Squirrel The World Tree

Norse Mythology Squirrels

Squirrels are definitely part of Norse mythology. There's at least one famous enough to get a name. Ratatoskr is a mythic squirrel who runs up and down the world tree carrying messages.

I’ll save the info for the day we do Norse inspired world.

Squirrel The World Tree