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Jul 23, 2012 -- 12:30PM, Deaderpool wrote:

Hello sir,
Are tutor effects in black because they fit best flavorwise or is it just a mechanics thing? Thanks.

That's obviously one of those stare decisis things.

This is more to just know your personal prefferences, but what character in all the MTG media do you consider to be the most abhorrently evil?

I've noticed the similarities over the years and have recently been wondering where to point them out to someone. I figured here would be a good place.

In Future Sight, the card Sarcomite Myr was created. As a future-shifted card, it represented possible avenues of design space Magic could go down in the future. A key trait I want to focus on is that it was a unique artifact creature.

A year later, the first colored artifacts came from esper (a unique trait to Sarcomite Myr in the Future Sight set).

In Rise of the Eldrazi, the first non-artifact colorless creatures were created (not that I'm saying they took artifact creature's place, but as a by-the-numbers comparison, they were essentially artifact creatures that weren't artifacts).

Then came the entire block of returning to Mirrodin and the invasion of Phyrexia ( it was myr and vaguely Phyrexian-like , not to mention the flavor text mentions the mixing of flesh and mechanics; then there's the fact that colored artifacts were brought back).

My question is thus: Were these similarities planned in any way, or are they coincidental (and only noticeable only by the that aspect of the human mind that always wants to find connections between two objects or events)? Essentially, was the "Artifact Design Space" intentionally explored?

@Its_Always_42

What had happened was that Sacromite Myr was made as a plant for Scars block, knowing full well that Phyrexia was coming back, and that a major mechanic would be colored artifacts to reinforce Phyrexia's theme of blurring the line between organic and artifice to the point of irrelevance.

And then the Esper design team realized that colored artifacts were the perfect thing for the world they were making.

R&D has a rule that if two blocks are competing for a mechanical theme, the earlier block gets it because the later block has more time to think of something better, and that's what happened here. I think it was for the best, because Phybrid is so dang cool.

Jul 31, 2012 -- 10:39PM, Yxoque wrote:

Doug once said that Creative wants to avoid handling languages, because they pose more problems than would be interesting to explore. Why, then, did you put so much effort in creating a Phyrexian language? Aren't you afraid that those questions will pop up?

I'd wager that was deliberate. Everything about the Phyrexians is supposed to feel alien and unfamiliar in unsettling ways. Making them look like Xenomorphic monstrosities is one way of accomplishing that; having a freaky otherworldly language is another.

Aug 2, 2012 -- 9:17PM, Brady_Dommermuth wrote:

"Kiora Atua is Simic!"  -- Everyone

Nah. Mana-color association does not equate to guild allegiance. The five colors of mana are more multifaceted than that. Kiora's motivations overlap with Simic goals barely at all.

Also, why aren't you asking me more Ravnica questions?!

Pardon me, I must go shout this to the heavens.

And.... umm, honestly we aren't sure what is likely to be answered at this moment. Some of us are probably scared of what answers we'll get too.

Uhh... Cloud Winged Guard, from Agents of Artifice, defectors from the Boros Legion and security for hire, are they still a thing?