White Knight

Phyrexian Mirrors

Hi Mark! I had a conversation with a friend about reflections in magic, like black knight and white knight. And we ended up wondering, are the Phyrexian Obliterator and Phyrexian Vindicator the phyrexian equivalent?

They are (loose) mirrors.

Black Black Knight Knight Phyrexian Phyrexian Obliterator Phyrexian Vindicator Reflection White White Knight

Color Pairs with Most Mirrors

What color pairs have the most mirrored pairs (ex. White Knight, Black Knight)?

Probably white/black followed by blue/red.

Black Black Knight Colors Izzet (U/R) Knight Orzhov (W/B) Red White White Knight

Green Knight Speculation

If you had made Green Knight in Eldraine, is it likely it would have been a 2/2 first strike for GG with protection from blue? That would be a way outside the modern colour pie since green hasn't had first strike for decades, but would be a satisfying callback.

If we did a green knight, it would have matched what the green knight was in Arthurian lore which wouldn’t just be a callback to White Knight and Black Knight.

Black Black Knight Blue Colors First Strike Green Knight Modern Protection Story / Lore White White Knight

Knights in Eldraine?

Since protection is back were White Knight and Black Knight ever in the file for Eldraine?

I don’t believe so.

Black Black Knight Knight Protection White White Knight

Arthurian Lore Representation

Forget about Black Knight and White Knight... if this is an Arthurian set, where's Green Knight? :)

We talked a bit about the green knight. I did a lot of polling people in the office to gauge general knowledge of Arthurian lore and boy, did people not know the green knight. We did design a green knight card in vision design.

Black Black Knight Green Knight Story / Lore White White Knight

Knights in Eldraine

With Eldraine being so strongly themed around Knights, did you consider bringing back the iconic Black Knight and White Knight?

Protection wasn’t evergreen when we were in vision design. I’m not sure if set design considered it.

Black Black Knight Evergreen Knight Protection White White Knight

Color Adventures Query

Are there off-color adventures? A white knight going on a red quest for their true love (for example)?

The set is monocolor focused, so no off-color adventures.

Colors Knight Monocolor Red White White Knight

Enemy Mirrors Possibility

Lifeforce / Deathgrip, White Knight / Black Knight, Blue Elemental Blast / Red Elemental Blast. These mirror images were nice ways of showing the colours in opposition without it being mistaken for a cycle. Would you do such things again (without colour pie violation or as severe hosing) as a way to show enemy colours?

We do enemy mirrors from time to time.

Black Black Knight Blue Blue Elemental Blast Colors Cycles Deathgrip Elemental Knight Lifeforce Red Red Elemental Blast White White Knight

Black vs White Knight

Do you think its a flavor loss that Black Knight can't do battle with White Knight?

What’s the flavor supposed to be if they could fight?

Battles Black Black Knight Fight / Bite Flavor Knight White White Knight

Knights' Gameplay Primacy

Isn't it sort of a flavor fail that White Knight and Black Knight can't directly interact with each other?

Gameplay trumps flavor when in conflict.

Black Black Knight Flavor Game Play Knight White White Knight

Knights in High Fantasy

Do you think the audience would expect/want white knight and black knight reprinted in "high fantasy" world?

I think they’d expect the tropes.

Black Black Knight Card Printing Knight Reprints White White Knight

High Fantasy World

When/if you make "high fantasy" world would you include black knight and white knight even though protection from x has fallen greatly out of favor?

We can hit the tropes without having to reprint that specific cards.

Black Black Knight Card Printing Knight Protection Reprints White White Knight

White Knight Strategy

Regarding White Knight in Legions: is it possible that it was put in because White had fewer morph creatures, and the card was great at killing face-down morphs?

I’m pretty sure it was put there because development wanted the card in Standard, but it did have plenty of use in limited.

Creatures Knight Legions Limited Morph Standard White White Knight

Optimus Prime's Color

Which colors is Optimus Prime? I'm thinking White but like porcelain legionnaire rather than White like White Knight

I’m not super up on Transformers but I believe he is white.

Colors Knight Porcelain Legionnaire Transformers White White Knight

Knight Combat Irony

Something that has bugged me ever since I started playing this game all the way back in Revised. Black Knight and White Knight can never fight each other.

It’s kind of a poetic tragedy.

Black Black Knight Fight / Bite Knight White White Knight

Favorite WW Creature

What is your favorite creature with a WW mana cost?

Probably White Knight. It’s a classic.

Creatures Knight Mana Mark's Favorites Mark's Favorites White White Knight

Knight Combat Limitation

Am I the only one that is disappointed that White Knight and Black Knight can never do battle? That Mirran Crusader and Phyrexian Crusader can never do battle?

It’s been brought up but it’s not an easy problem to rectify.

Battles Black Black Knight Knight Mirran Crusader Phyrexian Phyrexian Crusader White White Knight

Protection Rule Effects

First, I recognize that this will never happen. Still, I'm curious. What would be the real effects of changing to protection to include "destroyed" by that color. Now Black Knight can't be destroyed by Wrath of God and White Knight can't be destroyed by Damnation. It seems like it fixes an understanding issue, and it fixes the flavor. Does it break cards? Does it make the game less fun? Does having way more creatures that survive Wraths change the way control is played?

It’s not that simple. Cards can be indestructible but often the thing that destroys creatures isn’t the cards themselves so color based destruction protection gets messy.

Black Black Knight Colors Creatures Flavor God Indestructible Knight Protection White White Knight Wrath of God

Mirrored Creatures Dynamic

Why are white and black the most likely to get opposed pairs of creatures (all the way from White Knight/Black Knight in Alpha all the way to the recently spoiled Knight of Glory/Knight of Infamy)? Don't other enemy colors deserve mirrored creatures?

Other colors can and do get pairs but black and white is about as iconic as opposites get. The expression for opposites is even “it’s black and white”.

Alpha Black Black Knight Colors Creatures Knight Knight of Glory Knight of Infamy White White Knight

Creature Power Revision

"If we had it all to do over again, we might have made that White Knight a 4/4 and Hill Giant a 6/6, so that you could have a 2/2 Average Joe that certainly dies to the Knight but also a 1/1 Mundane Rat that gets stomped flat even by the most average of Joes, and a 1/2 Cat between them, and so on." (Doug Beyer, "The Feedbackening 2011", August 17, 2011) Would you like that?

I agree that if we could start all over we’d rethink how creatures match up to power and toughness a little more.

Cat Creatures Doug Beyer Giant Hill Giant Knight Rat White White Knight