Jump to content

[MtG] Origins and Evergreens


Recommended Posts

Source: http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/evergreen-eggs-ham-2015-06-08

 

Essentially, if a keyword is evergreen, it will become increasingly common and appear on cards much more often.

 

"Cannot be blocked except by 2 or more creatures" is becoming an evergreen keyword, Menace.

Prowess is becoming an evergreen keyword.

Scry is becoming an evergreen keyword action.

 

Intimidate and landwalk are being retired, with Menace taking their place.

Protection is just no longer evergreen, but it will still appear - just less frequently.

 

en_2USs5xllTD.pngen_Kmykw4Amhj.pngen_9zWHiaYn8E.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Genuinely surprised about Prowess myself. I was one of those who thought it was too specific for an evergreen. Other changes are fairly expected and good.

But look at the pretty cards. It hadn't occurred to me that we get to see planes illustrated by artists that have never done the plane before. Lorwyn looks properly funky, in Kierylek's style.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm actually not at ALL surprised by prowess getting evergreened. I'm pretty sure its come up on Maro's blog before and I know I just wrote him saying exactly what he said in the article, that its the perfect fit for Blue combat mechanic and U/R crossover keyword.
 
War Drums getting keyworded also isn't that shocking since they've been using it more as of late.
 
Scry is the mechanic that shocked me. The function of it is kind of catch all and mechanics like cycling can also fill that space. Going to assume Scry 1 will be the norm.
 
 
Interesting thing I found was the bit about "untargetable" since it seems like had that been used both Shroud and Hexproof could exist at the same time. Since "untargetable by spells controlled by you or your opponent" and "untargetable by spells controlled by your opponent" being spells out should prevent the confuse. But, I could be wrong.

Also found it funny how Maro gave away Menace and Prowess by listing it early.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

While Prowess does need some work to be really good, it plays into the major themes of Blue and Red, that they are easily the most spell based. Honestly, the way I evaluate Prowess is as not being their, but still threatening to possibly make something happen. The burden is on your opponent to decide if they should try to play around the possibility of you having something. Though I could be overvaluing the simple threat of activation. Though I do think Jhessian Thief is a great example of how Prowess can be used since the question of, do you block it with a 2/2 seems like a really interesting one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, now we have a better explanation for why Serum Visions wasn't included in MM2.

I'm pretty pleased with these changes overall. Bit sad that landwalk's getting the axe, because imho it's such a flavorful ability, but I can see why: it makes the game too swingy if you chose the wrong color to draft. Same with intimidate, although that has its own barrel of worms with which to contend. (For example, morphed creatures can't block a creature with intimidate, which is counterintuitive.) The replacements all make sense - I've noticed more and more War Drum-abilitied creatures popping up in recent sets, so it's obvious Wizards likes the idea, and prowess has been hinted at for a while now.

(Also, dat Jhessian Thief art. So pretty.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...