Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

Valakut's Non-Legendary Status Explained

why isn't "Valakut, the molten Pinnacle" legendary?

Flavor reason: Lands represent connections to mana. Single locations can have many connections.Mechanical reason: Legendary lands don’t play great in 4 of formats.

Flavor Lands Mana Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

Specifying Valakut's Traits

Always wondered why Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle doesn’t have the mountain subtype. Why not? Also, why isn’t it a legendary permanent?

It’s neither a mountain nor a legendary land for play concerns not flavor. Also, technically, lands represents veins of mana, so a singular place can have multiple ley lines.

Flavor Lands Mana Subtype Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

Valakut's Legendary Status

Shouldn't Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle be legendary?

We didn’t like how the legendary rules at the time worked with lands so we weren’t making legendary lands.

Lands Rules Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

Valakut's Legendary Status

Was Valakut, The Molten Pinnacle ever legendary during development? It seems like it has all the hallmarks of a legendary card.

No, because st the time we avoided making legendary lands because of how the supertype worked at the time.

Lands Supertype Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

Valakut Non-Legendary Reason

Was there reasoning for why Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle wasn’t printed as Legendary?

At the time we were avoiding legendary lands because the gameplay, based on the rules for legendary back then, was so bad.

Card Printing Game Play Lands Rules Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

Valakut's Status

What made Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle be nonLegendary?

Because of how the rules worked, we avoided making lands legendary for many years.

Lands Rules Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

Legendary Card Names

Do whomever names the cards have a say in which cards are Legendary (or not)? I mean, it feels weird that Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle and Skarrg, the Rage Pits aren't Legendary.

For a while, we weren’t making very many legendary lands so we just named them after specific places with the idea that any one location could have multiple lye lines.

Lands Skarrg, the Rage Pits Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

Valakut Trivia

It's my birthday. Can I please have some trivia on my favorite card, Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle.

Valakut started design as a top-down volcano. Happy Birthday!

Birthday Top Down Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

Valakut Birthday Trivia

So after a long time following you, finally today is my birthday. Can I please get some trivia on Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle? :)

That card started with is thinking of a top-down volcano. Happy birthday!

Birthday Top Down Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

Legend Status for Lands

Why aren't Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle and Emeria, the Sky Ruin legendary? Same goes for the original Ravnica cycle of lands that included Vitu-Ghazi, the City Tree? It seems that anything that has its own name, and is known as the one and only should always be Legendary.

We very seldom do legendary lands leaving them as an extra special flavor thing like Maze’s End. The reason for this is legendary lands have horrible game play. Note that lands represent the ability to tap mana from that land and any one physical space can have many mana taps in it.

Emeria, the Sky Ruin Flavor Game Play Lands Mana Tap / Untap Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

Zendikar Lands Query

Why were the named lands from Zendikar, not legendary? I feel like there cannot be two Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle in the same place.

We learned long ago that legendary lands lead to unfun game play. The creative explanation is that lands actually represent mana ties to the land and any one location can support many mana connections.

Game Play Keyword Actions Lands Mana Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle Zendikar

Banned Cards List

Wich cards that you have designed had been banned?

Banned & restricted cards that I had a hand in designing: Ancient Den
Arcbound Ravager
Bitterblossom
Chrome Mox
Cloudpost
Darksteel Citadel
Dread Return
Earthcraft
Frantic Search
Gifts Ungiven
Golgari Grave-Troll
Great Furnace
Gush
Lion’s Eye Diamond
Lotus Petal
Memory Jar
Rishadan Port
Seat of the Synod
Skullclamp
Survival of the Fittest
Thirst for Knowledge
Time Spiral
Tinker
Tree of Tales
Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
Vault of Whispers
Voltaic Key
Yawgmoth’s Bargain
Yawgmoth’s Will

Ancient Den Arcbound Ravager Bannings Bargain Bitterblossom Chrome Mox Cloudpost Darksteel Darksteel Citadel Dread Return Earthcraft Eye Format Legality Frantic Search Gifts Ungiven Golgari (B/G) Golgari Grave-Troll Great Furnace Lotus Petal Memory Jar Rishadan Port Search Seat of the Synod Skullclamp Survival of the Fittest Thirst for Knowledge Time Spiral Tree of Tales Troll Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle Vault of Whispers Voltaic Key Your Hand

Ban/Restrict Record

"I currently hold the record for the designer who has the most banned/restricted cards" Got a quick list of what those cards are?

The following are banned or restricted cards that I had a hand in the design: (note in numerous cases multiple people designed the cards in question; also I may have missed one or two) Ancestral Vision Ancient Den Arcbound Ravager Bitterblossom Chrome Mox Cloudpost Darksteel Citadel Dread Return Earthcraft Frantic Search Gifts Ungiven Golgari Grave-Troll Great Furnace Gush Hypergenesis Lion’s Eye Diamond Lotus Petal Memory jar Seat of the Synod Skullclamp Squandered Resources Survival of the Fittest Thirst for Knowledge Time Spiral Tinker Tree of Tales Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle Vault of Whispers Voltaic Key Windfall Yawgmoth’s Bargain Yawgmoth’s Will

Ancestral Vision Ancient Den Arcbound Ravager Bannings Bargain Bitterblossom Chrome Mox Cloudpost Darksteel Darksteel Citadel Dread Return Earthcraft Eye Format Legality Frantic Search Gifts Ungiven Golgari (B/G) Golgari Grave-Troll Great Furnace Hypergenesis Lotus Petal Memory Jar Search Seat of the Synod Skullclamp Squandered Resources Survival of the Fittest Thirst for Knowledge Time Spiral Tree of Tales Troll Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle Vault of Whispers Voltaic Key Windfall Your Hand

Legendary Land Design

Why wasn't Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle Legendary? It looked exactly like a card that flavored uniqueness and would have made sense in a balancing issue.

We strongly try to avoid making lands legendary as we don’t like the game play.

Game Play Lands Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle