MTG Salvation

In today's article, Mark Rosewater spoke a bit about Convertible Turtle (a creature card that costs UUU that was supposed to be in Zendikar). He mentions that it was taken out of Zendikar at the last minute, but was saved and will appear at common in Worldwake (and apparently actually got a slight power boost from the Worldwake team). He states that it has a neat Landfall ability. He also heavily implies that it's creature type is, indeed, Turtle. Images are attached.

It sounds like a Horned Turtle that flips it's P/T whenever a land comes into play.

Quote from Kirblar

It sounds like a Horned Turtle that flips it's P/T whenever a land comes into play.

I agree with Kirblar.

It could also be quirkier in that it's "you may have CARDNAME get +X/-X". In the vein of Talonrend and Morphling for example.

It looks to me like the bottom 3 lines of text (from the little bit visible) are not in italics.

Maro is sadistic. He is lurking here just waiting to see us hyperanalyze those pixels peeking out from the left of that post-it.

This same article cracks me up because he says that he designed Journey to Nowhere because they didn't want to have Oblivion Ring in the large set for three years in a row, while Cancel is three for four when it comes to its printings. Perhaps this means that we should look forward to not seeing Cancel in the next large set, then.

Quote from Namida

Perhaps this means that we should look forward to not seeing Cancel in the next large set, then.

That seems quite likely. Judging from this, I'd say we could expect a slightly cheaper and weaker "Cancel" in RotE or Lights.

Quote from Kirblar

It sounds like a Horned Turtle that flips it's P/T whenever a land comes into play.

I thought it'd be like the Turtleshell Changeling as well. But then I realized Maro just said "slight problem with the rules".

Unless that slight problem is simply "can't be done at instant speed (easily) with regular landfall, making it easy to kill before blockers are declared", I think it has to be more complicated than that.

Quote from KitsuneWarlock

I thought it'd be like the Turtleshell Changeling as well. But then I realized Maro just said "slight problem with the rules".

Unless that slight problem is simply "can't be done at instant speed (easily) with regular landfall, making it easy to kill before blockers are declared", I think it has to be more complicated than that.

Sometimes slight means slight, and not complicated.

Quote from Metallix87

That seems quite likely. Judging from this, I'd say we could expect a slightly cheaper and weaker "Cancel" in RotE or Lights.

Except it's already called negate / essence scatter. Albeit the latter would be more limited playable.

I also have to wonder if they didn't want to make it too easy to kill off quests with those o-rings.

Whatever the slight change was, MaRo states that it made the card better / stronger.

Quote from Sher

Sometimes slight means slight, and not complicated.

It is hard to imagine an uncomplicated problem with the rules.

Quote from FoxBat

Except it's already called negate / essence scatter. Albeit the latter would be more limited playable.

You're thinking in the wrong direction. I was thinking Mana Leak or something similar.

First word of the last line starts with "G." Presumably, it's "get," or "gets."

Maybe it's a 1/4 that gets +3/-3 whenever a land comes into play, but like the old card Bloodlust, it can't reduce its toughness below zero with the ability.

Quote from Metallix87

You're thinking in the wrong direction. I was thinking Mana Leak or something similar.

Yeah I knew that, but that isn't really cancel anymore. My feeling is they are going to want a common hard counter in every large set too.

i dont understand the point of this?

does Maro think that that's all people have to do? Guess his annoying riddles?

Quote from Shinny Shinny

i dont understand the point of this?

does Maro think that that's all people have to do? Guess his annoying riddles?

Obviously it's all we have to do. We got the page 2 in less than an hour half an hour, so it's got to be accomplishing something

Stared at it for a few minutes, then it hurted(?) my eyes. So I stopped, and I'm going to let someone else hurt their eyes.

I really dislike the expansion symbol. It'll be hard to discern different rarities from a distance.

Quote from Shinny Shinny

i dont understand the point of this?

does Maro think that that's all people have to do? Guess his annoying riddles?

Yes he does. And he's not wrong.

My first thought of the landfall ability was something like this:

Convertible Turtle UUU

Defender, Shroud

Landfall-Convertible Turtle loses defender and shroud status until you play another land.

3/4
--------
This way, it switches to a permanent attacker when you need it, conversely, could switch back to a blocker if your strategy calls for it and awards you for switching back to defender status by also giving shroud back.

I think, like a lot of other people have already mentioned, that it's going to be a 1/4 with the Landfall ability to switch ANY creature's p/t; not just itself. This will be a real nice card to build a deck around for casual players.

Quote from Team-Hero

I think, like a lot of other people have already mentioned, that it's going to be a 1/4 with the Landfall ability to switch ANY creature's p/t; not just itself. This will be a real nice card to build a deck around for casual players.

I think it could even be a 1/5...

Quote from Metallix87

That seems quite likely. Judging from this, I'd say we could expect a slightly cheaper and weaker "Cancel" in RotE or Lights.

Journey to Nowehere is the cheaper and can only hit creatures version of Oblivion Ring.
Guess which card is the cheaper and can only hit creatures version of Cancel?

I don't get the minor rule issue with convertible turtle and how is it suppose to make control better?

Quote from Kirblar

Maybe it's a 1/4 that gets +3/-3 whenever a land comes into play, but like the old card Bloodlust, it can't reduce its toughness below zero with the ability.

I was thinking the same thing, but that would be pretty bad with the amount of lands we can pump per turn. I think its more like "~'s power and toughness switches until end of turn" Insuring fun game states, and awesome combat tricks. Or "~ becomes a 5/3 turtle until end of turn"

Remember they said the card was fun, +3/-3 isn't exactly "fun". Its pretty generic. And this is an 'expert' set, meaning more rules fun. If this was M11, I'd say sure, but... =)