Unsummon

White Unsummon Potential

Can white get Unsummon? It can bounce its own permanents and can exile-bounce enemy permanents (Invasion of Gobakhan/Soul Partition)

White can’t bounce other player’s creatures, so no.

Creatures Invasion Permanents Soul Partition Unsummon White

Countering Bounce Strategies

The recent unsummon question had me wondering if you think there is design space or need for anti bounce technology. Like how green is blue's enemy and has access to can't be countered. Are there any cards that can't be returned to the hand or design space for such an effect? Hope this question is okay, I appreciate all you do here on blogatog.

Hexproof/Ward does a lot of anti-bounce work.

Design Space Green Hexproof Unsummon Ward Your Hand

Unsummon Reprint Potential

Hi Mark! I hope you’re enjoying your weekend! I was wondering, would the card “Unsummon” be a possible reprint in the right set?

I think we consider it a bit weak.

Card Printing Reprints Unsummon

Sword Pair Challenges

It seems the Blue/Black sword has been pinned in a corner since most effects the swords generate are 1 mana effects in color so Blue has unsummon, scry, tap or stun left while Black has exirpate,-x/-x, sacrifice a creature left. And while there are other effects like tutoring, wishing, I do not think those would be put on a sword. It seems to me the Swords run into the same problem that Cipher did, do you agree? And was the Blue Black one left for last because these two colors have the least overlap or for some other reason?P.S. love the Red Green sword its nice that the effects have synergies with each other unlike the other swords.

Blue/black is probably the trickiest of the ten two-color pairs. 🐿️ - Dimir *is* tricky.

Black Blue Cipher Colors Creatures Dimir (U/B) Green Mana Red Sacrifice Scry Stun Tap / Untap Tutoring Tutoring Unsummon

Lapse of Certainty

Hi Mark! Regarding Lapse of Certainty. I've quickly searched and there aren't any mono white card that put permanents on top, bottom, n cards from the top of the library, at least since Ravnica Guilds. And I've read that it isn't something that white does anymore. So Lapse of Certainty actually seems out of the white slice of the pie, for me.

White can delay spells, not unsummon permanents (to the library).

Lapse of Certainty Permanents Spells The Library Two Color Unsummon White

Potential Keywording of Bounce

Do you think you would ever keyword "bounce" like you did mill? For example, Unsummon could just read "bounce target creature."

I don’t think keywording it helps us much.

Creatures Keywords Mill Unsummon

Limitations of Green

What can green not do even with a condition of having creatures

All sorts of things - counter spells, force discard, mill an opponent, steal a creature, unsummon an opponent’s permanent, reanimate another creature, copy an instant or sorcery, etc.

Creatures Discard Green Instants Mill Sorceries Spells Unsummon

Pongify for Planeswalkers

Could blue ever get a pongify variant that targets planeswalkers? It can already unsummon, bounce to library and counter planeswalkers so it doesn't seem like much of a stretch. Would help provide more options for interactivity with planeswalkers which has been a little bit of a problem in standard.

While I’m not sure Pongify is the correct answer, we are looking for more ways for each color to have answers for planeswalkers.

Blue Colors Planeswalkers Pongify Standard The Library Unsummon

Leadership Vacuum Logic

Leadership Vacuum seems like a break to me, it effectively reads “2u instant exile the creature or planeswalker of your choice and draw a card” with added upside if your opponent is using partner or stealing mechanics... this isn’t an unsummon effect, Commander tax is increased. What makes this blue?

People often ask me how often people read Blogatog. The answer is there are some dedicated readers that read every day, but many just pop in every once in a while. We had a giant discussion about this last weekend. The short version. This is a new ability, so we looked at what a similar spell would look like. Imagine an enchantment that read “Flash, When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, return target creature to its owner’s hand and draw a card. It costs that player 2 more to cast any card with that name.”The flash is blue, black or green. The bounce is blue. The cantrip can be any color, but it’s found most often in blue. The taxing is white or blue - primary white, secondary blue. What color is this effect? Pretty clearly blue.Hope you had a nice weekend. : )

Bend / Break Black Blue Card Draw Cast Colors Commander Creatures Enchantments Enter The Battlefield Flash Giant Green Instants Leadership Vacuum Mechanics Partner Planeswalkers Primary Secondary The Exile Zone Unsummon White Your Hand

Commander Rules Insight

"the Commander rules. That’s what’s making the two effects similar." I could understand the reasoning if this was a Standard card that happened to be really good in Commander, but this is a card in a product made specifically for the format where the rules are causing the issue. Functionally it ends up much close to Murder than Unsummon

The issue is that the Commander rules make destruction and exile of commanders act like a bounce spell (it returns it to a zone where it can be recast). That’s not a problem with bounce spells.

Commander Rules Spells Standard The Exile Zone Unsummon

Leadership Vacuum Explanation

Regarding Leadership Vacuum, I think the concern is that in Commander, "bounce commander to the command zone" is mechanically identical to "exile target commander", because the latter always results in the commander being put in the zone. The former feels Blue, but the latter does not, and unlike Unsummon effects, you have to pay the tax when you recast your Commander, which makes Vacuuming a commander just as good as Pathing or Swordsing it, for example.

If blue sent something to a zone that it could never return from, that would be a problem. It doesn’t do that. It sends it to a zone that it can then be recast from. That feels very blue.

Blue Commander Leadership Vacuum The Command Zone The Exile Zone Unsummon

Blue Command Removal

is leadership vacuum a break in blue? on commander creatures it is effectively an exile effect that doesn't even leave behind a polymorphed creature. It acts like a black/white exile/forced sacrifice effect and not an unsummon effect, which they flavoured it as

Returning a commander to the command zone is far more similar to returning a creature to the hand than exiling a creature. The commander’s owner can cast it again.

Bend / Break Black Blue Cast Commander Creatures Leadership Vacuum Sacrifice The Command Zone The Exile Zone Unsummon White Your Hand

Spell Efficiency Debate

"Having to have both a bounce spell and a counterspell with the mana to cast both is a lot more than just having a kill spell." While having both a bounce spell and counter spell in hand is a large ask, the mana needed isn't that bad compared to what you print kill spells at these days. Unsummon was just printed so that plus Cancel means Blue can "kill" a creature at the same rate Black can at common.

So blue with two cards can do what black can do with one card at the same mana rate… in limited.

Black Blue Card Printing Cast Counterspell Creatures Limited Mana Spells Unsummon Your Hand

Un-FAQ Inconsistency

I think there is an inconsistency in your Un-FAQ. If I Unsummon a Masterful Ninja that's both in hand and battlefield it doesn't do anything but if I Murder a creature both in graveyard and battlefield thanks to Over My Dead Bodies it removes it from combat? Why???

The creature isn’t in both zones with Over My Dead Bodies. It gets treated as if it’s on the battlefield while attacking or blocking (meaning that certain effects can interact with it), but that’s different than Masterful Ninja which coexists in both zones.

Attacking Blocking Creatures Masterful Ninja Ninjas Over My Dead Bodies The FAQ The Graveyard Unsummon Your Hand

Returning to Standard

Lightning Strike, duress, unsummon and opt in standard. Thanks Maro!! After many years I am back in standard :)

Happy to hear that.

Lightning Strike Mark Rosewater Standard Unsummon

White Bounce Mechanic

If white can straight up destroy a creature with power 4 or greater, how much of a bend is it for white to unsummon a creature with power 4 or greater?

Those two things aren’t connected. Black’s good at killing creatures. That doesn’t mean it gets bounce effects.wotcy

Bend / Break Black Creatures Destroy Unsummon White

Rephrasing Card Effects

In the same vein of replacing "[creature] is put in a graveyard from play/the battlefield" to simply "[creature] die(s)" for both the flavor and the cleanness of design, do you think about replacing "return X to its owner's hand" to a something like "unsummon X"

I’m not sure “unsummon” would be as intuitive to new players as “dies”. A big reason is the game doesn’t really use the word “summon” any more.

Beginners Creatures Flavor The Graveyard Unsummon Your Hand

Romance-Themed Cards

"Take a core set and rename all the common cards to have a romance flavor". Discard=Divorce, Murder=Crime of Passion, Mind Control=Affair, Counterspell=Cold Shoulder, Oblivion Ring=Marriage (and you can make it an artifact), Shock=I'm Pregnant, Type A hero=RG Legend, Unsummon=Honeymoon, Cougar (aka type Mountain Lion, the long awaited red Dryad Arbor), Disguise=Manifest like mechanic, Fling=sounds like a reprint. I don't get how you see the problems with this.

Take all those names and pretend that you’re doing coverage at a Pro Tour. It’s a comedy skit. The Romance Pro Tour sketch practically writes itself. : )

Artifacts Card Printing Competitive Play Counterspell Discard Disguise Dryad Dryad Arbor Flavor Gruul (R/G) Humor Manifest Mechanics Mind Control Oblivion Ring Red Reprints Unsummon

Blue's Creature Handling

Isn't permanently answering creatures in play one of blue's inherent weaknesses?

No. It can’t destroy them but it can unsummon them, lock them down, steal them, copy them and yes, even transform them.

Blue Creatures Destroy Transform Unsummon

Gating Mechanic

What is 'gating'?

It is the nickname for a creature that you have to unsummon one of your creatures when it enters the battlefield.

Creatures Enter The Battlefield Unsummon