Amber Prison - They Finally Let Me Out

Edit: I can’t find a good size art of Ghostly Prison, but I did have one of Amber Prison. So I changed it.

Has it really been that long since I last posted on here? Why, yes it has. After I posted my last post I got this e-mail from Wizards:

We have reason to believe that you have cards in your possession that are from the upcoming set of Shadowmoor. You have talked about the multi-color theme and have said one of the cards on your blog that is being reprinted. If you don’t stop writing, we will be forced to take action.

Remember that? I correctly guessed that it was going to be a multi-color theme and that Graven Cairns a reprinted card. So, Wizards thought that I had somehow found a leak and was going to spoil the list and of course they took action trying to protect their work. Luckily I live close to Wizards’ Headquarters, so I made my way down there to talk to MaRo to explain my situation. They had my picture on file and decided to do a little interrogation. That little faerie from the pic of Thoughtsieze? Completely real…

They were nice enough to let me out and attend the pre-release, since I apparently knew all of the cards. Sure, that did help going 4-0 and picking up one of those cool mats they were giving away. But after being locked away with no one to talk to but Orgg, I’m lucky I still can speak English, let alone be alive.

After MaRo - Just Follow the Clues

In today’s announcement, MaRo gave us a few hints on what Shadowmoor’s theme might be. Basically, it is something that has never been done in Magic before (Not Artifact based, or deals with creature types), yet there are two cards in Future Sight that will be reprinted in Shadowmoor. Interesting, yes? Before we look at what cards might those be, let’s see what he did (or didn’t say) about the new block.

- It’s like Lorwyn, only in darkness.
- While Tribal isn’t a theme, he didn’t say if more Tribal cards weren’t going to be printed (like Tarfire).
- Lorwyn block and Shadowmoor block fit with each other. It seems like the same creature (race/class) types will stay in play (important for what cards belong).
- And according to promotional material, a favorite mechanic returns, but it doesn’t say if it is a keyword mechanic (like Buyback) or a non-keyworded one (like the “pitch spells“).

Now comes the fun part, figuring out which cards are the hidden ones in Future Sight. Once I read that, I thought of a post title with a National Treasure parody, with all of the clues he gave us, but nothing that I deemed funny. But he’s basically saying: Look, here’s the Declaration of Independence, find the clues. And so we shall…

Here’s the list of the all the Future-shifted cards in Future Sight:

After MaRo - Why Can’t We All Just Get Along?

I love the fact that R&D is pushing the Race/Class model.

Quick aside: If you don’t know what the Race/Class model is, pick up a creature card, let’s say um, Coiling Oracle. Let’s take a look at it (Hint: it’s to the right). For the card type line we see: Creature - Snake Elf Druid. That creature is all of those types (A snake, an elf, and a druid) for every card that cares about creature types. Elvish Harbinger can search him up, can trigger Sosuke’s Summons, and can tap to Seton, Kroasn Protector. Its race (what the creature actually is) is a snake and an elf, and its class (what’s its role in its society is) is a druid. While not every creature has a class, every creature has a race (except Nameless Race, which was updated with the first creature type clean up). But remember, everything on the card type line is the creature type. Remember to check Gatherer for updates to old cards (Creature type update 1, update 2).

Why is this a good thing? Why do we need the Race/Class model in Magic? In the beginning there was “Summon X” and all was good. But over the past 15 years, Wizards have changed it, and some people think that it loses some flavor when it looks a little more structured. Sure, it’s much cleaner for rules, but it lost it’s fantasy flavor. But this is where it can make up with the fantasy fans. I’m not into D&D or WoW (don’t shoot me, I’ve got my one addiction), but I know that those fantasy games have the same race/class markup. Wizards pushed this so they could fit more with those fantasy games, something that Magic didn’t have at the beginning of the game. It added the flavor back into the game, which I love, as long as it doesn’t ruin mechanics (sorry, I’m more of a game interaction than flavor fan).

After MaRo - Rejected Lorwyn Promos

A funny thing happened yesterday: it snowed in the Seattle area. Drivers who aren’t used to the snow (you know the kind, the ones with the four wheel drive SUVs that think they can handle everything and goes 90 down the unplowed highway) seem to have it out for people who drive carefully. The smart people who didn’t have to be anywhere yesterday, telecommuted from home.

Why do bring this up? When I called Wizards yesterday to talk to MaRo about his Warriors column, they told me he stayed home because of the weather. I said yeah right, there’s no snow, it never snows in Seattle. That’s when I looked outside. Sigh, fine. And, of course they wouldn’t give me his home phone number; something about privacy and harassment, whatever, I wasn’t paying attention. But I wasn’t going to let some frozen water get in my way.

As I was sitting on my couch last night watching TV when I saw one of those Morningtide Promos on Adult Swim for the release event happening this weekend. If you haven’t seen them, here’s one they had for Chanrda Nalaar (I can’t find any Morningtide ones on YouTube yet).

This made me sad, as I had produced those type of ads for Wizards before. Yes, I did ads in that very same style for the Lorywn release dates. Wizards asked me to make some “Adult Swim” type promos, and after the snafo they had with the Time Spiral ones (Scroll down to the Akroma picture to get that story), they wanted something more edgy. After showing them mine, they rejected them as they thought it was too “Pop-culturey” and “Made Wizards look bad” and “We’re a family company.” Whatever. You guys decide for yourselves. My last one is my personal favorite.

This first one is the card Hurly-Burly:

Phasing Back Into Play - Did I Miss Anything?

Hello everyone. Yes, it’s been a long while since I’ve posted anything on this blog, but after this tale of events you’re going to be caught up.

1. After States, I was burned out on Magic. There was nothing else going on in my life except Magic, and with writing this blog almost every other day and testing for States and creating cards, my mind phased out at the end of that stretch (if you don’t know what Phasing is, ask your friendly judge and watch him/her beat their head against the wall).

2. I got engaged. Yes, after 4 1/2 years of dating, I finally asked the question and she accepted. Naturally, after that happened, I’ve been looking at wedding stuff almost on stop trying to make her (and by proxy me) happy. And no, I didn’t do anything geeky to ask her, it was actually sweet and romantic (if you really want to know, I’ll tell you some other time).

3. Work. I got to pay the bills somehow, and at the moment, I don’t have a job designing cards for Wizards, so that had to be put by the wayside. Thanks to a little time management (and some begging from the better half) I went to the pre-release and got myself back into the Magic mindset.

I understand somethings have happened while I was gone: Plasewalker(s) are good, Doran beats face, and still no one plays with Pale Moon. But that’s not why I’m writing this today. I’ve got the itch to write about Magic again and I need to scratch it. Things will change a little around here, but I think everyone will enjoy them. You’ll now start with two articles a week (the response to MaRo’s column, and another one about design), instead of three. Hey, I’m only one guy writing here. That being said, if you want to write for this blog, I would love your help.

Alright, the change in number of posts will be the only real big change around place. There will be some different looking things (such as a card of the moment along the right sidebar), and the banner will change from time to time, like it always did. I hope you guys will come back like you did before, and please feel free to comment on these posts. I’ve got exciting things planned for the months ahead, including my idea of my own base set. There’s some long lost fan favorite cards in there you never would thought would be printed again. And I’ll fight for them, believe me, I will.

Join me Tuesday when I finally get back in touch with MaRo. Boy, will he get a surprise Monday morning when I call him after that long break.

Tom Sawyer Visted these Cards - “White” Planar Chaos Timeshifted Cards

Welcome to the last(?) Planar Chaos review article. Sigh. It brings a tear to my eye. If you read the title and don’t know what I’m talking about, Read a Book (This is a link to the CNN story, not the video. You can find the video from there, but it’s NSFW. This is not the time nor the place for social commentary, but if you want to talk about it with me, e-mail me: mtgcolorpie@gmail).

In this final(?) look at timeshifted cards, we finally get 2 cards that I’ve been waiting for years in White. Not because I love White cards, it’s the fact that they should get those cards. What we see is the other Core Set plant (The first being Prodigal Pyromancer), and an area that I wish White would venture into, but I don’t really see it happening, and that makes me a Sad Panda.

Calciderm - Blastoderm

Design Class - What Happens when Wizards “Steals” your Keyword

Surprise! There’s no After MaRo today. Ask me why? Because, it actually deals with what he was talking about with a new keyword ability: Evoke.

Here is what MaRo first came up with when he (so he claims) came with up with the idea of Evoke (called animate). After rules problems, it was changed to what it looks like today.

When we (as non-Wizards employees) create sets, we like to come up with keywords, because as research shows, players love keywords. About 5 years ago, I was working on cards when I was sitting bored in class and at work, like I always do. I came across a cool idea for a keyword that would mostly be used on creatures, but it could be seen on artifacts, enchantments and lands. It plays out like this:

Aggression [cost] (As an additional cost to play this, you may pay the aggression cost. If you don’t, sacrifice ~this~ at the end of the turn.)

After I saw Evoke, I knew that there was similarities, but it wasn’t until yesterday when I saw how close Evoke was/is to Aggression. There are differences (as mine were still creatures, but acted like spells) but it begs the question: can I still develop Aggression as a keyword since Wizards (Offically) put out Evoke?

Editor’s Note: Yes, I know that Wizards didn’t steal my idea. It’s just how a person feels after they see something like what they’ve been working on gets made for real. Plus, it makes for an interesting title.

The Color Pie Identity Project - White

Editor’s Note: Yes, the prerelease set me back some time. Don’t worry, the posts will be shorter for the first day of the week, so they will be on time.

Welcome to the final color in my grand Color Pie Identity Project. By no means, is White the weakest color. In fact, over all, it can be the most powerful. The problem is the past is that even though White has had great cards, they have just been over matched at by other cards at that time.

Today, we look at the color as a whole and try and decide what White means, since it’s constantly viewed as the “lost child” where Wizards try to throw things to make them stick.

Red Sky in the Morning, Player’s Warning - “Red” Planar Chaos Timeshifted Cards

Living up here in the Pacific Northwest, I get the enjoy the beauty of the San Juan Islands. If you ever come up here, I highly recommend it. You could be on a boat, take a ferry or even fly over the islands in a seaplane.

Why am I talking about islands when today’s topic is Red, like mountains. The real saying of this title, “Red Sky at night, sailor’s delight; red sky in morning, sailor’s warning” is a old sea tale, right? Well, it’s mostly true. Having been boating in the area, we can decide whether we should stay out of the weather or go to a new place.

What does this have to do with Planar Chaos? Well, I needed a Red pun, and I already used Communism last week. Plus, I like to show off my home state. It’s Washington. Just helping you out Tourist board.

Blood Knight - Black Knight/White Knight/Silver Knight

After MaRo - The Definition of a “MaRo” Lie

It’s time for my weekly call to Wizard’s Headquarters to talk to Mark Rosewater (MaRo). Good thing it’s a local call, or my phone bill would be pretty bad. As always, this is a parody. Or a good ribbing; I guess you could call it that.

 

Mark Rosewater speaking.

Hi Mr. Rosewater, this is Robby…

Yeah I know who you are. You call every Monday now. I know your voice. What is it this time?

You like movies, right?

You bet I do. You know I worked in Hollywood writing for Roseanne, right?

Yeah, I almost forgot since you haven’t mentioned it since the beginning of April (Tropical Blend 3 voting doesn’t count (and yes, I searched that fact up)). That’s pretty cool. I’ve got a ton of ideas that I want to make either as TV shows or movies, so I’m wicked jealous that you had the chance.

Since April, hunh? I’ll get right on that. But I love my job now, it’s one of the best jobs ever.

I can imagine.

So, yeah, I like movies. Why do you ask?

Did you see the card that you previewed today? I mean really look at it?

Why, is there something obscene in it?

No, they look like E.T..