Hah, Maro's last tweet confirms that someone has guessed correctly. Big surprise... folks have guessed pretty much every mechanic ever printed at this point.
Entwine seems really unlikely to me. Doug Beyer's article this week was about how a sequel should bring back the parts that evoke the best memories and nostalgia of the past, both in flavor and mechanics. Entwine, while a solid spell mechanic, was not really relevant to what Mirrodin was really about and certainly isn't in the first 5 things I think of when I think of Mirrodin.
I agree that modular is out. Maro's line about no +1/+1 counters on the returning mechanic pretty much kills this. -1/-1 modular would be super weak.
I'm kind of skeptical about affinity as well after Doug's article. He talks about leaving the worst memories of the past in the past, which when it comes to mechanics I think would include affinity.
So that leaves imprint or a new keyword? Imprint seems plenty likely. The only non-keyworded mechanic from Mirrodin I can think of was the Slith ability, which is possible. This would make infect creatures pretty fearsome. Still, since even Maro usually plays along with using "mechanic" to mean "keyword" these days, I'm banking on imprint.
I think Future Sight was really just a big FU to the people saying that R&D was running out of ideas. It was a showcase of how much more the game can do, and they also slid in some hints and cards from the next block to provide that feeling that you're seeing the future. I don't think it has any relevance at all going forward, which is evidenced by the use of infect as opposed to poisonous. The sets we're seeing today just weren't even on the radar when FS was developed.
This is an interesting quote. If he already had 4 poison counters, why would he suddenly "panicked" by a 1/1 infect creature? It would seem that this paltry 1/1 hasn't been attacking him for 4 turns, but rather he had poison counters from another source....himself. I think this line of thought lends credence to the idea that there are going to be spells that do beneficial things at a low cost but also add poison counters, like:
Sign in Poison - 1B
Sorcery
Draw two cards. ~ gives you 2 poison counters.
Personally, not sure how I feel about these. We can get some potentially really good spells in formats without poison (i.e. Legacy) as a defining mechanic, which would be cool.
Right, the problem would be how these spells play outside the context of the set. The only way I could see these realistically being made is with very large quantities of poison counters, effectively making the spells "legendary." Example:
PoisonnihilationBBB
Sorcery
Destroy all creatures. You gain 5 poison counters.
Alternatively, they could use this effect in ways that are only appealing in limited and casual constructed. Such as:
Rod of Poison4
Artifact T: ~ deals 2 damage to target creature or player. You gain 1 poison counter.
Also, cards that double things are almost always rare. This doesn't technically double power and toughness, but it has a pretty similar end result for the average Timmy.
People are always complaining that something doesn't "feel mythic." Can't a card be rare because it feels rare?
Sounds like it gets bigger based on swamps if you ask me.
It's a weird way that he's phrased this. If it's just variable based on swamps or black permanents, why did he say 18/18 as opposed to 19/19 or 17/17?
Considering it's a vampire too, maybe it's something crazy like:
Bloodhulk Vampire
5BB
Creature - Vampire
When ~ comes into play, choose target opponent.
~ has power and toughness equal to the chosen opponent's life total minus 2.
*-2/*-2
Remember that he clarified in a second tweet that the card has the sentence "Draw 3 cards." This means it's not kicker, or any other conditional sentence that includes that phrase. You draw the cards for casting the spell, period.
That said, I'm sure there's a crazy twist on it. Maybe:
U
Instant
Draw 3 cards. You lose the game if you have fewer cards in your library than any opponent.
Just to clear up a point made earlier in the thread regarding the comparison to game consoles:
It is NOT illegal for stores to sell game consoles at prices other than MSRP. However, the console companies make it very clear that business caught selling the consoles at other prices will have their supplies terminated and won't be able to sell that product in the future, which is enough to keep the stores in line. This is why it is not illegal to sell consoles at a premium or discount on ebay, and why if you looked hard enough you could find small private game stores selling Wiis for $500+ the year they came out. This is also why stores never have sales or temporary price cuts on consoles at holidays etc, other than the worldwide price cuts set by the console companies.
To our knowledge, WotC makes no such attempts to regulate the price. Due to the nature of the marketplace for these cards, it would be next to impossible anyway. Magic isn't primarily sold by the big chains that would really take a hit by having their supplies cut off, but rather by individual stores that are hardly worth WotC's time to micromanage. Thus, prices can climb and lower with supply and demand, and can be drastically different from MSRP.
Were foil basics ever all that common in boosters? I'm wondering if the perceived rarity of these is actually because of the removal of tournament packs, which used to automatically include one.
dunno 'bout any of you others, but i don't really feel the mythicness in the mythic Obsidian Fireheart spoiled either...allthough i do think it's kinda cool
Obsidian Fireheart
:1mana::symr::symr::symr:Creature - Elemental:1mana::symr::symr:: Put a blaze counter on target land without a blaze counter on it. Lands with blaze counters on them have "At the beginning of your upkeep, this land deals 1 damage to you". (The land continues to burn even after Obsidian Fireheart leaves the battlefield.)4/4
That ability essentially translates to:
1RR: Target player takes 1 damage on each of his/her upkeeps for the rest of the game.
You don't think that feels pretty frickin' awesome?
I think the more people insist on this "mythic feel" with every spoiled card, the more they are going to be disappointed. Not every card strikes each individual as awesome... everyone has different tastes.
I agree that modular is out. Maro's line about no +1/+1 counters on the returning mechanic pretty much kills this. -1/-1 modular would be super weak.
I'm kind of skeptical about affinity as well after Doug's article. He talks about leaving the worst memories of the past in the past, which when it comes to mechanics I think would include affinity.
So that leaves imprint or a new keyword? Imprint seems plenty likely. The only non-keyworded mechanic from Mirrodin I can think of was the Slith ability, which is possible. This would make infect creatures pretty fearsome. Still, since even Maro usually plays along with using "mechanic" to mean "keyword" these days, I'm banking on imprint.
Right, the problem would be how these spells play outside the context of the set. The only way I could see these realistically being made is with very large quantities of poison counters, effectively making the spells "legendary." Example:
Poisonnihilation BBB
Sorcery
Destroy all creatures. You gain 5 poison counters.
Alternatively, they could use this effect in ways that are only appealing in limited and casual constructed. Such as:
Rod of Poison 4
Artifact
T: ~ deals 2 damage to target creature or player. You gain 1 poison counter.
People are always complaining that something doesn't "feel mythic." Can't a card be rare because it feels rare?
Vampire's Bite doesn't actually pump toughness.
It's a weird way that he's phrased this. If it's just variable based on swamps or black permanents, why did he say 18/18 as opposed to 19/19 or 17/17?
Considering it's a vampire too, maybe it's something crazy like:
Bloodhulk Vampire
5BB
Creature - Vampire
When ~ comes into play, choose target opponent.
~ has power and toughness equal to the chosen opponent's life total minus 2.
*-2/*-2
I just can't believe it took 160 posts for someone to suggest this. I'd say this is pretty likely.
But Brainstorm nets no card advantage. This nets +2 card advantage for U. Pretty big difference.
That said, I'm sure there's a crazy twist on it. Maybe:
U
Instant
Draw 3 cards. You lose the game if you have fewer cards in your library than any opponent.
It is NOT illegal for stores to sell game consoles at prices other than MSRP. However, the console companies make it very clear that business caught selling the consoles at other prices will have their supplies terminated and won't be able to sell that product in the future, which is enough to keep the stores in line. This is why it is not illegal to sell consoles at a premium or discount on ebay, and why if you looked hard enough you could find small private game stores selling Wiis for $500+ the year they came out. This is also why stores never have sales or temporary price cuts on consoles at holidays etc, other than the worldwide price cuts set by the console companies.
To our knowledge, WotC makes no such attempts to regulate the price. Due to the nature of the marketplace for these cards, it would be next to impossible anyway. Magic isn't primarily sold by the big chains that would really take a hit by having their supplies cut off, but rather by individual stores that are hardly worth WotC's time to micromanage. Thus, prices can climb and lower with supply and demand, and can be drastically different from MSRP.
That ability essentially translates to:
1RR: Target player takes 1 damage on each of his/her upkeeps for the rest of the game.
You don't think that feels pretty frickin' awesome?
I think the more people insist on this "mythic feel" with every spoiled card, the more they are going to be disappointed. Not every card strikes each individual as awesome... everyone has different tastes.