Your Hand

Sharing Design on Tumblr

If we want to try our hand at Magic design and share it on tumblr, is there a way we can make sure you don't accidentally see it? Like, maybe tagging it with a tag that you have blocked? I also don't want to get you in trouble because of my hobbies.

If you’re not posting it to my asks, it’s unlikely I’ll see it.

Blogatog / Tumblr Your Hand

Feasibility of Unexileable Status

Does the rules support "Unexileable"? As in, A permanent just cannot be exiled, but still can be destroyed, targeted, bounced back to hand, etc.

There’s no clean way to template it, and it doesn’t happen enough that we need a whole keyword.

Keywords Rules Templating The Exile Zone Your Hand

Grand Calcutron Play Query

Asking for a friend:If The Grand Calcutron is in play, can foretell and plot abilities be activated from the program?

The Grand Calcutron only affects how you cast spells from your hand, so no.

Foretell Plot Spells Your Hand The Grand Calcutron

Green's Monopoly on Ramp

I was just talking with a friend about how card draw, despite being "Blue's thing", all colors need it because having cards in hand is a resource that all decks need, and thus Blue card draw is the only unconditional one, but every color has been getting some form of conditional card draw that ties it to its color philosophies.This begs the question, why does Green have such a monopoly on ramp? Can't the same thing be done for that? The closest thing is White's catch up mechanics

All colors get the ability to fetch their own basic land type. Red has some ramp, but more one-shot than repeatable. And white does some catch-up ramp. In addition, we make a bunch of colorless cards that can help.

Blue Card Draw Colorless Colors Green Lands Mechanics Red White Your Hand

Hand Matters Theme Podcast

Do you think you would have enough material for a Drive to Work on "hand matters" themes like amplify, Saviours of Kamigawa, and reveal from hand effects? It feels like a subject similar to four-colour factions or vanilla-matters that would be interesting to explore its pitfalls and problems.

Let me think about it.

Amplify Drive to Work Factions Your Hand

Vocabulary Differences between Designers and Players

I think the issue on the power creep discussion is that you're using vocab from a game designer pov. Whereas players are talking about a practical pov. Overall power level might not increase when we look at eash standard release. But it obviously impacts eternal formats much diffrently. In those formats, the ebb and flow of power level from each standard release makes the top end in each release last forever. Because there are more realeases, obsolecense is becomming a real issue.

I’m not trying to ignore the larger issue being discussed. The choice to make sets that are designed for higher power level formats increases the influx of relevant cards for the format which speeds up the format churn. That churn is a real issue, and I’m happy to talk about things that can and can’t be done to address it. (For example, the data shows that’s it’s a polarizing issue - some enjoy the churn, so it’s a complex issue.)As this is my blog to discuss design issues, I’m using designer language and am going to refer to the problem as “format churn” and “relevant card influx” as those are the actual issues at hand. External to my blog, players can refer to things as whatever they like. Call TDFCs “flip cards”. On this blog, that causes confusion, so I’m calling them TDFCs.Design blog -> designer language.

Blogatog / Tumblr Eternal Flip Cards Power Level Standard Your Hand

Power Creep and Format Change

Concerning power creep, there may be a comparison and distinction to be made between distorting a format and adding relevant cards to a format. If a card is relevant, it shows up in decks, right? Maybe even a lot of decks. That's good for a format-relevant product. Otherwise, why even make the product?But then what is the delineating mark between format change (good) and format distortion (bad)?One could argue that Serra Angel is an example of format change. Arguably obsolete, nobody is really objecting to the card's irrelevance in eternal formats.So. What is that dividing line? Is formst chsnge just 'distortion over time'? I would argue that healthful change is oft misperceived as power creep, but it took a lot of cards in Commander before we figured out that '2 MV ramp and repeating value' were the prime culprits in accelerating the casual format beyond its 'battlecruiser Magic' roots.I'm not making a big argument one way or another, just trying to stimulate a brain or two..

For starters you’re not using “power creep” as I use it on this blog, but for the sake of saying the same thing for the tenth time, I understand you mean the increase of cards impacting older environments. You bring up the other thing we haven’t been talking about. Card influx talks in neutral terms. Add N relevant cards and impact the environment a particular amount. The faster you add N, the quicker it changes. The sets designed for older formats aren’t adding in cards neutrally though. They are adding in suites of cards built around particular mechanical themes. Adding in whole suites of cards changes environments more quickly as the threshold to make a deck theme relevant gets hit more quickly. That’s the other big impact of designing for a format. It causes you to impact it faster as you are designing whole swaths of mechanical pieces, not just cards. That’s very relevant to the topic at hand.

Angels Blogatog / Tumblr Casual Play Commander Eternal Mana Value Power Level Threshold Your Hand Serra Angel

Theme Differences in Cards

Do you know why Maevolent Rumble reveals the top 4 cards, you choose a permanent, and put the rest in the graveyard, whereas Cache Grab mills 4, then returns a permanent to hand?

They’re in different sets where each execution plays into the themes of that set.

Cache Grab The Graveyard Your Hand

Non-player Appreciation

saw the other nice ask from a non magic player and wanted to join! my friends LOVE magic and spend so much time creating and learning and playing! I'm slowly picking up a few things, as I don't play TGCs often. it makes me so happy to see them passionate about something and I love hearing them talk about it! thank you for the second hand joy of seeing my friends get excited about new releases and pulling cards!

Thanks for responding. I don’t often get to hear from non-Magic players.

Appreciation Your Hand

Questions Regarding Offspring Tokens

As the authority on un-rules, I must ask you: Since Offspring tokens are described as copies of the original card, if you use Claire D'Loon to return one to your hand, can you cast it as though it were the original, and, being a copy, does it also have Offspring?

It can be cast from your hand as it has a mana cost. My gut is it must have offspring, but not 100% sure on that.

Mana Tokens Un-sets Your Hand

Winter Lands and Snow Type

In regards to the winter basic lands not being Snow type: I like to think that it’s just regular snow, not *magic* snow. Does snow mechanically fall under the same umbrella as kindred? Where is you started using it everywhere it would get out of hand?

Yes. Showing snow in the art shouldn’t automatically mean the card has the snow supertype.

Art Kindred / Typal Lands Supertypes Your Hand

Viashino's Type Change Impact

In your Bloomburrow article, you mentioned that there are over 140 lizards in Magic. However, I'm pretty sure that number is including Viashinos. Does that mean the decision to change Viashino's type line was made before you decided to make Lizards one of the 10 animals?

We’ve been talking about making the Viashino change for years. Adding Lizards just forced our hand to do it before the set came out.

Bloomburrow Lizards Viashino Your Hand

Bloomburrow Mechanics Impressions

I wasn't too interested in Bloomburrow, but honestly, the mechanical identity of the set looks stellar so far! I love the gameplay patterns of all ten color pairs, maybe with the exception of Otters being pretty standard for UR, but other than that, I'm officially hooked now! The frogs literally leaping to your hand and back might be my favorites so far!

Glad you like it.

Bloomburrow Colors Frog Game Play Izzet (U/R) Mechanics Otter Standard Your Hand

Future of Hyena Cards

Hello Mark!! Hope you are having a good day, today I decided to make a collection of hyena cards and realized "huh, that is not many hyenas" which in one hand is nice because it means my collection is almost complete! But was wondering, will we see any more hyenas in the near future?
They are neat!

I assume we’ll make more Hyenas.

Hyena Your Hand

Unfavorable Mechanics

Why hasn't "reveal a card in hand" mechanics such as forecast gone over well? Are you allowed to use the attributes of the revealed cards as a cost (mana value, color) in non-digital?

It both isn’t much of a cost and it undoes hidden information which is important.

Colors Forecast Mana Value Mechanics Your Hand

Usage of Emblems

Is there a reason cards that prevent cause an effect on a player for the rest of the game don’t use emblems as a memory aid? You have stared using emblems for effects like “you have no maximum hand size for the rest of the game,” but not for “you can’t gain life for the rest of the game” which seems like it could benefit from the memory aid.

It’s just not how we currently choose to use emblems.

Emblems Lifegain Your Hand

Modern Themes and Omenpaths

I'm all for the modern themes and general aesthetic of Duskmourn. It's the only set this year I've personally been excited for. Honestly the only part that still doesn't feel right to me is random non-planeswalker characters being able to show up anywhere now. I'm fine with the lack of planeswalkers in the story now, but I wish it didn't come hand in hand with omenpaths.

The goal of desparking planeswalkers, and omen paths, was to allow us to have more “planeswalker” characters with less planeswalker cards.

Modern Omenpaths Planeswalkers Story / Lore Your Hand

Game Tracking Revealed Cards

Can the game keep track of what cards have been revealed in paper? Example: “as an additional cost to cast this spell, reveal 2 cards from your hand you have not already revealed”The issue comes with stuff like brainstorm, etc. and tracking which cards have been revealed among other things

I don’t believe the game can track stuff that’s not observable by the opponent.

Brainstorm Your Hand

Reveal Your Hand Mechanic

If/when more "reveal your hand" as a cost/additional cost like Land Grant? It feels like a neat design space . (All for it being used as additional cost over more free spells though)

Probably when, but it has issues. We generally like hidden information and it isn’t that much of a cost to pay.

Design Space Free Spells If/When Land Grant Lands Mechanics Spells Your Hand

Rulings on Cloning Device Usage

Why are the rulings on the handy dandy humoncolous cloning device designed in such a way that if Nissa was to go to our world through an omenpath (which she probably can’t but you don’t have the ability to prove that) and try to use it she can’t because she is an elf and therefore her hands aren’t human hands.

We are very human-centric in our templating. I would rule if you’re able to play Magic, your hand works.

Elf Human Omenpaths Rules Templating Your Hand