New mechanics?

[Jaapmans]

Hi,

Equipment was prety brilliant. I wonder how long they can keep going on. Do any of you have an idea of what might me next?

Jaap

[Bram]

You should have a better idea of that then we do, mr. level 4 man.

In the card creation forums, we predicted the eventual coming of Equipment cards that can target your opponent's creatures (like an artifact Pacifism or Control Magic). Also, we predicted instant-speed equipping but that already seems to be in Darksteel.

[Dr. Sylvan]

Even after two blocks they haven't worn out Cycling (just think how many cycling triggers there were and how many there could potentially be). It'll be several years before they come back to that, but it's such a rich concept that you can be sure there's a lot more there to find. Buyback is another one that they haven't come close to exploring. Madness is a dangerous thing to play with, but there's obviously a thousand things they could do with it. Threshold has only been explored at the seven-card level; what about variable-size thresholds, or multiple different thresholds on the same card.

I could go on (Flashback, sleeping enchantments, Rhystic effects, Fading...). The mechanics that already exist make me confident there will be new cards for at least another decade and likely much longer. I'm sure R&D has an insane amount of stuff they haven't released yet, since they're paid to be creative all the time, and the people there are smarter than we are.

It's impossible to predict what's next, because there's so much out there. However, I'll hazard a guess about the next block. Since they've just done multi-color, graveyards, tribes, and artifacts, they may be on their way back to enchantments. Or maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part.

[CF]

I want more cards that manipulate the stack - or somehow treats it differently.

I can see instants like "2UU : Clear the stack" or "RRR: Reverse the stack order", or "If you paid the Lightning cost, playing this spell does not use the stack". etc. That'd be neat ;o)

--
Chris

[MuzzonoAmi]

Dr. Sylvan - Do you think that since White is 'the enchantment color', we'll finally be seeing good white cards again by the time 'Control' rolls out?

I'd personally love to see Buyback brought back. If they reprinted some old buyback favorites (like Whispers of the Muse) I'd play Type 2 in an instant.

[Dr. Sylvan]

If all that MaRo suspense-building talk about "soon the color wheel will be back in balance" was hinting at white getting a ton of good enchantments... That would make me so happy. I actually think white should have the enchantress mechanic, personally, and green should go ahead and have all the good creatures it wants. I sincerely hope that the next time they do enchantments, white gets some bombs. That could actually make *me* play T2...wow.

[CF]

Why are you lamenting over white? It got -tons- of cards in Onslaught block and was by far the strongest color. In OnBC we had RW, UW and even monowhite control! Exalted Angel, Decree of Justice, Eternal Dragon... Immensly powerful cards.

--
Chris

[Dr. Sylvan]

I know. And yet it's still crap in Vintage. I would hope that that would change if it got a real "specialty" like enchantments, and some cards that made that specialty relevant. Right now a ton of good enchantments are green, so obviously R&D hasn't been giving white what should be one of its strongest portions of the color pie.

[rvs]

It's crap in vintage because it doesn't serve a purpose. Every control and combo deck packs black and blue because they have the most powerful tools to play it effectively. Aggro plays green and red because it has the most efficient creatures and most effecient burn/whatever. White is simple shafted since although it has powerful cards and effects (maybe even THE most powerful, like Decree, Moat, Balance, STP, etc) it has absolutely no backup like Blue or Black do in forms of Discard and Card-Drawing.

I have to agree with CF on this one.

What MaRo means is probably that the "new" color-wheel while be settling down soon and it will be clear again what belongs to what. Ever since Naturalize it's clear that they are shifting it around.

[jpmeyer]

White has three cards: Balance, StP, and Decree of Justice.  That's it.

[Matt]

What happened to Humility and Exalted Angel?

[Dr. Sylvan]

What happened to Humility and Exalted Angel?

Neither of them saw play in the last part of 2003. Though so far I've seen four Exalteds in January's results, so technically it does exist.

[leviat]

I would hope that [card]Disenchant[/card] did though.

[Dr. Sylvan]

Yep. 15 Disenchant and 24 Naturalize. That's why Disenchant doesn't really count anymore. :'(

[kirdape3]

In formats that matter, White has been making a comeback.  Extended has WW making a few appearances in PTQ Top 8s, and the best decks in Standard almost universally have a White base.

In formats with an abundance of design mistakes, like Type One, White doesn't matter much since the number of true mistakes in that color are limited.