Did you know that Wrenn would be an important character in the Phyrexian story when we got Wrenn and Six in Modern Horizons?

We liked the character, so we put her into Modern Horizons to see what the audience thought of her. Once we knew the fans liked her, we found an opportunity to use her in the story.

You’ve mentioned in the past that Will and Rowan were created for Eldraine, then seeded in battlebond. Can I ask if the same thing happened to Wrenn and Six/Seven in modern horizons 1?

The Midnight Hunt story did not yet exist when Wrenn was first designed in Modern Horizons.

I know that Wrenn and Six was the last incarnation seen, but since we're on Innistrad, why not Wrenn and 13?

How much time do you think has passed? Wrenn lost seven treefolk?

Un-rules question: Can I use More or Less on Wrenn and Six/seven to change that number? And if so, can I use it against an opponent with both wrenns out to make them sacrifice one due to the legend rule?

Just as Sleight of Mind can’t turn a Black Knight into a Blue Knight, More or Less can’t turn Wrenn and Seven into Wrenn and Six. It only affects rules text.

Hello Mark! I was wondering, what is the thought process behind which PWs will be on non standard sets? Im asking this because of Serra and Wrenn and Six on Modern Horizons, don´t you think another oldwalker would have been better in Wrenn and six´s spot since that one can be printed in standard sets?

Modern Horizons was a chance to do more untraditional planeswalkers. Wren and Six is an example of that from a different category. It’s not that easy to fit Wrenn in a normal set with various story needs. And as regular readers know, there’s an audience that wants more untraditional plsneswalkers. In short, planeswalkers of the past aren’t the only Planeswalker desire Modern Horizon was delivering on.

Can cards from Modern Horizons be reprinted standard legal? Obviously, Wrenn and Six or Goblin Engineer ever won't be, but are things like Defile off-limits?

If we were willing to put them in Standard, odds are they wouldn’t be in Modern Horizons. That was one of the design parameters - don’t make cards we could use in Standard sets.

Don't get me wrong: I love it when you do less-human walkers like Wrenn and Six, Ugin, and Karn, and I also personally don't care if we get a non-humanoid walker or not (I agree it would be mostly unpopular). But for the purposes of the discussion, it should be made very clear that Wrenn and Six, Ugin, Karn, Xenagos, Bolas, Ajani, etc. ARE humanoid. They all have roughly-human posture, features, and intelligence. Citing them as examples of non-humanoid walkers seems to misunderstand the request.

I’m not saying they’re humanoid. I’m saying nonhuman humanoids *is* the compromise we’re making to have more “less human” planeswalkers. For nonhumanoids, there are two dragons and a promise that one day we might get things like a Centaur or Sphinx. That’s the best I got for the nonhumanoid planeswalker crowd.

Hey, so I am a huge fan of Wrenn and Six. I know it’s a bit early to tell how successful Modern Horizons was, but how do you think Wrenn has been received so far?

I haven’t seen data yet, but anecdotally very well.

Hi Mark! So we now have Wrenn and Six, but they came from Modern Horizons along with several long gone characters. Is Wrenn currently alive? Or is she another long gone character, like Serra? Additionally, is Wrenn related in any way to Wren's Run on Lorwyn?

I believe Wrenn is currently alive.

I've seen you field the question a fair amount of times recently and you state market research supports the that most players like humanoid PW characters more. I don't doubt the notion, but isn't it an unnecessary slight to a seemingly-vocal subset of fans to not make a crazier, fantasy-monster PW once in a while? Throw us a bone (please)! I know these things take time and you might already be on it, but I also know some fans would be over the moon for an odd monster smart enough to be a PW.

We make crazy fantasy monsters all the time and occasionally even make them legendary creatures so they can be things like commanders. If players want to bond with crazy fantasy monsters, we have you covered.Planeswalkers are our story conduit. Things that we can make main characters in our stories, not just in the trading card game, but through other expressions like the Netflix series. We have a limited number of slots, so we need to be careful with how we use that resource. And note we have two Dragon planeswalkers, a hybrid Dryad/Treefolk planeswalker, a Golem planeswalker, a Demon planeswalker, a Minotaur planeswalker, a Merfolk planeswalker, a Goblin planeswalker, a Gorgon planeswalker, an Elf planeswalker, a Vampire planeswalker, a Werewolf planeswalker, a Leonin planeswalker, a Vedalken planeswalker, a Kor planeswalker, a Moonfolk planeswalker, a Cyborg planeswalker, a Satyr planeswalker, a Devil planeswalker and whatever the hell Ashiok is. We’re not shying away from doing crazy fantasy things, but yes we lean towards humanoids because that’s what best fills the function of what we need planeswalkers to do.And while I respond to questions like this all the time making it seem like a large pool of players wants non-humanoid planeswalkers, our data actually shows it’s a very tiny percentage. So they don’t work all that well for how we need to use them and statistically speaking they’re unpopular. We still just made Wrenn and Six. We’re not saying we’ll never do weirder stuff, but it’s something that has to come organically out of a need we have rather than just doing something to say we did it. And trust me, I know the message that most people don’t want the thing you want is frustrating to hear, but I’m trying to use this blog to be honest with all of you and explain business realities. Most players want something, we’ll make it. Some players want something, we’ll do it where we can. A few players want something, we’ll fit it in if we find a place where it makes sense, but we’re not going to force it. That’s how a multi-million dollar brand works. I’m just being brutally straight-forward.