By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:03 pm:| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:03 pm: |
Because it was requested. I've been thinking of doing the same thing for the Card of the Day, but probably not any time soon.
January 9, 2002
Q: I’ve noticed that Legend cards don’t always “fit” into the story … Their power/toughness, abilities, and creature types don’t always mesh from the novels to the cards. Why is that?
--Billy O’Reilly, Wheaton, MD
A: From Rei Nakazawa, Magic creative text writer:
Bet you’re thinking of the fact that the Tsabo Tavoc card could beat the Gerrard Capashen card in combat any day, while the opposite is true in the story, right? That’s probably the most stark example of the sort of discontinuity that you’re talking about, but those who work in Magic R&D and Continuity believe that we’ve done a fairly good job overall in keeping the link between cards and characters.
There are a few factors that come into play. The first is that R&D’s involvement with (and knowledge of the finer points of) the Magic backstory has fluctuated over the years. This was especially true with the Urza block, when Wizards’ book publishing department began contracting novelists to create Magic plots and characters. So that from that point on, R&D has depended on the story writers to communicate plot points. For example, Vhati il-Dal, a legend from Tempest, was reduced in power and toughness because Greven il-Vec kills him in the story. The aforementioned Tsabo Tavoc and Gerrard issue might have turned out differently if the outcome of the Tsabo/Gerrard battle had been communicated to the developers in time—which it wasn’t, due to the very different schedules R&D and novel writers have.
Another fairly obvious factor is that gameplay has to come first. If a story point makes a legend too powerful to be an accurate card, the card’s abilities have to be toned down, even if the character it represents is godlike. Finally, remember that R&D might just have different points of view than the players. Some players expected Gerrard to be a Soldier Legend, but many members of R&D just didn’t think of him as a Soldier, which is why he is just a Legend.
January 29, 2002
Q: We’ve had this discussion about this card. Is Nemata male or female, or neither? Since none of us knew much about treefolk reproduction (who does?), we turn to you. Please answer!
--Henrik Jonsson, Sweden
A: From Rei Nakazawa, Magic creative text writer:
Unfortunately, Magic flavor text is somewhat contradictory on the point of treefolk reproduction. On one hand, the flavor text originally used for Ironroot Treefolk reads: “The mating habits of Treefolk, particularly the stalwart Ironroot Treefolk, are truly absurd. Molasses comes to mind. It’s amazing the species can survive at all given such protracted periods of mate selection, conjugation, and gestation.” That obviously implies that there are different genders of treefolk. Under those criteria, we would guess that Nemata is probably female, given that a name ending in “a” is usually feminine.
On the other hand, the Urza’s Saga version of Treefolk Seedlings has flavor text that reads: “The year that the brothers landed on Argoth, the trees produced five times as many seeds as normal.” That implies that treefolk produce like normal trees, with seeds, and thus are genderless. Of course, the contradiction can be explained with the differing regions, times, and/or types of treefolk, but in Nemata’s case, since we don’t know which type of treefolk she/it is, there’s no definitive answer. So Nemata is either female or neuter; as for which it is, I’m afraid you’d have to ask her … or it.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:03 pm: |
January 31, 2002
Q: When will we see more elves?
--Brian Hughes, Vancouver, BC
A: Obsolete
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:04 pm: |
February 4, 2002
Q: Will the Odyssey story run through several blocks like Gerrard and the Weatherlight did?
--David Leung, Ontario, Canada
A: Obsolete
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:04 pm: |
February 6, 2002
Q: Magic has a number of cards with names that begin with “Ll.” In Spanish this is pronounced like a “y” (like tortilla), so Llanowar Elves would be pronounced “Yanowar Elves” and Llawan would be “Yawan.” How is a leading “Ll” pronounced in Magicese?
--David W. Burhans, Columbus OH
A: From Brandon Bozzi, creative administrator
Words in Magic that begin with “Ll” are pronounced like “Lloyd” or the English pronunciation of “llama”—just like a single “L.” For example, in the sentence, “Llawan told Lloyd to ride his llama through Llanowar,” all the “ll” words sound the same.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:08 pm: |
February 7, 2002
Q: Is there any particular reason to have a Masticore in the art of Deep Analysis? Does it have something to do with the Torment storyline, or is it just for the bad pun in the flavor text?
--Nathaniel Stevens, Philadelphia, PA
A: From Doug Beyer, web developer and Magic flavor text writer:
The bad pun is mine, but that text was based on the art concept, not the other way around. During a card’s development, the creative team decides the concept for the card art first, then sends the concept, along with the card’s tentative rules text, to a group of flavor writers. We, the flavor writers, offer several flavor text suggestions over a period of time, and the creative text team selects one to end up on the card. In this case, the art concept for Deep Analysis described scientists examining an ancient (read: no longer in Standard) artifact. When I read that it was going to be a Masticore on the scientists’ table (chosen simply because it’s so recognizable), I couldn’t resist poking a little fun. I was happy to find that the team liked my little joke.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:09 pm: |
February 15, 2002
Q: What is up with Tahngarth’s double pictures? On some cards, like Sleeping Potion and others, he’s brown with long horns, but on Tahngarth, Talruum Hero and others, eh has white and red patches of fur and wacky curved horns! Will the real Tahngarth please stand up?
--Andres Solano, Trenton, NJ
A: From Rei Nakazawa, Magic creative text writer:
Actually, there are two answers to your question! First of all, not all minotaurs are made equal. Some of them, like the one on Sleeping Potion, are not Tahngarth, but other members of his Talruum minotaur tribe (see Talruum Minotaur, Talruum Piper, and Talruum Champion for other examples). Secondly, as you probably already know, during the Tempest storyline, Tahngarth was captured and exposed to Phyrexian mutation rays that turned him into the form you see on his card (check out Tahngarth’s Rage for what he looked like before, and Torment—the card, not the expansion—to see his reaction). Volrath was planning to put a spinal graft on him, in order to control him and make him Greven il-Vec’s new first mate, but fortunately, Gerrard rescued Tahngarth before this plan could be put into affect.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:09 pm: |
March 4, 2002
Q: Why did you make cards for all the heroes from the books like Captain Sisay and Karn, Silver Golem but never an Urza card?
--Justin Sheppard, Pennsville, NJ
A: From Rei Nakazawa, Magic creative text writer:
Well, we have, in a way. Vanguard cards were oversized cards which started in play and gave you additional abilities, as well as hand size and starting life adjustments. These cards were used as part of the Arena League a few years ago. They were represented by a wide variety of characters, including Urza and Mishra. But the main reason why there were no actual Magic cards depicting Urza is that Urza was a planeswalker. Since players themselves have historically represented planeswalkers in this game, any Urza card in Magic would be way too powerful; it would basically have to represent another player. Of course, there was Blind Seer, who was Urza in disguise, but he powered himself way down in this form so no one would recognize him.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:09 pm: |
March 8, 2002
Q: I’ve been curious about this card ever since my brother stumbled across one in a Chronicles pack: Does the name Palladia-Mors derive from a phrase used by the Roman poet Horace (1st century BC) in his Odes I.4? He refers to Pallida Mors, or Pale Death in translation. If so, congrats to the R&D department on the reference.
--J.P. Spear, New York, NY
A: From Steve Conrad, Legends designer
The Elder Dragon names are a close approximation in “mortal speak” for their real names. Only dragons can understand their true names (Chromium is a nickname and is not his actual dragon name). Yes, we borrowed heavily from Latin sources but didn’t pull directly from any specific location. It’s not a surprise to find a near-match in some literary work. I once received a letter from a Latin expert who’d researched each name and was impressed with the scope of our knowledge (only one name befuddled him). I didn’t have the heart to write him back to tell him that all the names were just made up!
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:10 pm: |
April 10, 2002
Q: I recently bought a booster box of Torment and opened both Ambassador Laquatus and Laquatus’s Champion. Now, I knew what both cards were but never noticed the names. Other than the names, I don’t see how the champion is in any way related to Laquatus. Laquatus looks like a fish … what’s the deal?
--Landon Doane, Knoxville, TN
A: From Brandon Bozzi, creative administrator
In an effort to strengthen the alliance between the Cabal and the underwater empire, the Patriarch orders Chainer, his best dementia summoner, to create a new familiar for Ambassador Laquatus (the Ambassador’s original familiar, Turg, had died in a battle with a giant squid). Chainer reached into his nightmares and brought the champion to life. Laquatus was, of course, very pleased.
These events are referenced in the flavor text on Laquatus’s Champion, “Chainer’s dark gift to a darker soul.”
For more info, check out Scott McGough’s novel, Chainer’s Torment.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:11 pm: |
April 15, 2002
Q: Where did Serra go after the decaying process of the Sanctum? Did she die? Or she simply abandoned it? No one has answered this question to me yet … Maybe the answer is in a novel, but not in one I can find here in the Philippines! Lastly, why is there so Serra card when Radiant has one?
--Mervin Lat, Philippines
A: From Rei Nakazawa, Magic creative text writer:
The main reason you haven’t found the answer to your question is that it lies in the storyline of a set from long ago: Homelands. The backstory to that infamous expansion tells us what happens after she abandoned her Sanctum, due to the ever-increasing black mana corruption spreading over it. She found a home in the distant world of Ulgrotha, where she met a fellow planeswalker, Feroz. The two fell in love and married, living happily and protecting Ulgrotha natives from being whisked away by planeswalkers. Unfortunately, Feroz died in an accident; heartbroken, Serra eventually perished in a duel with another planeswalker, her will to live pretty much destroyed by Feroz’s death.
The reason why she doesn’t have a card is that she’s a planeswalker. See one of my previous Ask Wizards answers to see why this answers your question. Even though Radiant is an archangel, she’s still completely a creation of Serra, so she’s able to be represented by a card.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:11 pm: |
May 21, 2002
Q: I believe I heard somewhere that there was a card in Nemesis for Belbe, but it was pushed out for some other card(s). Is this true? If it is, would it be possible to know what she did?
--Cory Winnewisser, Cicero, NY
A: From Mike Elliot, R&D senior designer:
Good question. There was in fact a Belbe card. There were comments on whether or not its “stealing” effect could bleed to black. Some people also objected to having a black elf. In the end, the card ended up on the cutting room floor. Here was the original card I submitted for Belbe after reading the story notes along with the design flavor note, which apparently did not hold sway on the argument You be the judge.
Belbe, Phyrexian Ambassador
2BB
Creature—Elf Legend
2/2
T, Sacrifice a black creature: You gain control of target creature as long as CARDNAME remains in play.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:12 pm: |
May 29, 2002
Q: Why didn’t you name Anurid Brushhopper “Turg”? Except for the color difference, that’s basically Turg from the Odyssey novel.
--James Sheehan, Fresno, CA
A: From Rei Nakazawa, Magic creative text writer:
There are a few reasons: first, making the Brushhopper Turg in particular would force us to make a card a Legend, which we didn’t want to for gameplay purposes. Secondly, making Turg a Judgment card is impossible due to the storyline; the Odyssey novel explains why. Third, there are plenty of other creatures that look like Turg; take a look at Anurid Barkripper or Anurid Scavenger for other examples. Which one would be the best fit for Turg? Turg was merely one member of the Anurid species who was bent to sinister purposes by Ambassador Laquatus. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the chance to fit Turg himself into the Odyssey set, which was pretty much our last chance. We made up for it, and got some cool-looking creatures in the bargain, by sprinkling some of his fellow Anurids into subsequent sets.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:12 pm: |
June 26, 2002
Q: I just wanted to know why you guys felt you needed to completely wipe out the “old world” as my friends and I call it. We used to have Phyrexia and Dominaria and people like Reya and Gerrard. Now we have all the new places and legends here in the new sets and it feels like it happened in the blink of an eye. Why did it all change so quickly and why does the “new world” not have ties to the old?
--Katie M. Murphy, North Carolina
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
For every opinion a player has about Magic, there’s an equal and opposition opinion. The case for and against the Weatherlight story arc is a perfect example. Many, many players voiced everything from apathy to seething hatred for the characters and plot that began in the Weatherlight set and concluded with the Apocalypse set. But when that story was complete and we began to move on, plenty of players came out of the woodwork to say, “Hey! Why’d you take away my story?”
There are a few reasons. First, the market research and surveying we’ve done tell us that most players either disliked or didn’t care about the Weatherlight story (but of course there’s a minority of players who followed the story and enjoyed it a lot). Second, the story had gone on for more than four years, and we felt that it was time to move on; the plot had run its course. Third, we wanted to get closer to the early vision for Magic: a multiverse consisting of thousands of planes, each different from the last.
Our general understanding today is that players want each Magic set to be a kind of wizard’s toolbox—a bunch of monsters, spells, places, and objects from which they can pick and choose. So our focus now is to create cool, interesting worlds (and maybe a few cool characters, too). But we stop short of trying to tell a grand, sweeping story on cards. Cards are really bad for storytelling anyway. Once we create our world for a block, we hand it off to you, and you make your own stories using the cards that describe that world.
As for why things seemed to change so quickly, Dominaria and Phyrexia both got decimated in the Phyrexian Invasion. Only a few characters from the Weatherlight story survived the devastation. The Odyssey set takes place one hundred years after the Apocalypse set, on a remote continent called Otaria. Otaria is one of the only places on Dominaria that wasn’t completely wrecked by the Invasion. But it has problems of its own, thanks to a huge criminal organization called the Cabal and a mysterious artifact that everybody wants: the Mirari. We’re eager to know what you think of this new setting, and I promise that Magic sets will take place in some amazing new worlds in the future.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:13 pm: |
July 10, 2002
Q: What is up with the Northern Paladin’s left eye? It seems that several cards in Seventh Edition picturing the Northern Paladin, such as Glorious Anthem, Final Fortune, and Reprisal, all show the left eye as simply white. What happened to him? Or is this just a mistake?
A: From Brandon Bozzi, creative administrator
Actually, all four of the paladins have a missing eye. In the Seventh Edition backstory, when someone is “confirmed” as a paladin he trades one of his eyes for a magical gemstone which increases his spell casting ability. Take a look at Infernal Contract, Grapeshot Catapult, and Oppression for other examples of the replaced eye.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:13 pm: |
August 6, 2002
Q: What are Kavus?
--Matt Varan, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
A: From Rei Nakazawa, Magic creative text writer:
Kavu (which, like “sheep,” is both singular and plural), known as “dingo lizards” during Invasion set development, were nature’s (or Gaea’s) contribution to the anti-Phyrexian war effort. From what we know of them, they are an ancient species that at some point went into hibernation beneath Dominaria’s surface. During the Phyrexian Invasion, druidic magic revived them, and they were immediately went about fighting the war. Shiv and Yavimaya seemed to have the greatest concentration of powerful Kavu dormant beneath them. Flavor text like that on Coastal Drake and Raging Kavu hit at their ancient nature.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:13 pm: |
August 14, 2002
Q: I noticed a very distinctive character portrayed on the cards Justice and Surge of Strength. Not being too familiar with the Ice Age block storyline, I had no way of knowing who this guy was (or if he was just someone Ruth Thompson liked to draw). Is he part of the story and if so, who is he and what effect does he have on it?”
--Nick Bottomeley, Davis, CA
A: From Rei Nakazawa, Magic creative text writer:
Notice he also appears on Dystopia as well! This particular elf wasn’t meant to be anyone in particular; apparently, Ruth Thompson thought it would be interesting to show him in various stages of power, from strong (Justice and Surge) to weak (Dystopia). He doesn’t correspond to any currently known major figure in the Ice Age block storyline, so ably written by Jeff Grubb in a trilogy of novels. As far as we can tell, he just appealed to the artist as an interesting figure.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:14 pm: |
September 2, 2002
Q: What is the picture on Yawgmoth’s Will supposed to be? Is it a monster that was created out of corpses or is it Yawgmoth digging up a grave or is it something else entirely?
--Jim Hill, West Lafayette, IN
A: From Rei Nakazawa, Magic creative text writer:
Well, here’s what the original art description said: “Show a creature—half bone and half flesh, half machine, forcing its way up from the soil of an unmarked grave. The creature does this with speed and ferocity. It has only a few seconds of life energy and it intends to exact its revenge in that short time.”
So the monster is actually coming UP, not digging down, and shows the “bring back from the graveyard” effect of Yawgmoth’s Will. Note, by the way, that this is back from the days of showing story points on cards, and this is a LOT more detailed than what we’d give our artists these days.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:14 pm: |
September 24, 2002
Q: What’s up with the art on some of the gold creatures in Planeshift? Silver Drake, Cavern Harpy, and Marsh Crocodile look like they’re coming from somewhere (or somewhat). Is it some kind of coincidence or maybe it came from the original story of Planeshift?
--MJ Boon, Cougar, WA
A: From Rei Nakazawa, Magic creative text writer:
Good eye! Not many people noticed that. What you’re seeing is actually a visual cue to reflect the “gating” ability. For example, on Silver Drake, you see a bird vanishing into one side of the portal, and the Drake coming out the other. This is supposed to mirror what happens in the game when the Drake comes into play: in order to show up, another creature has to fold out of existence temporarily. In fact, even though you can’t see the “disappearing’ creature on some of the creatures with gating, you can still usually see the portal they appear from behind them.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:16 pm: |
October 7, 2002
Q: Why aren’t you printing cards of Phage, Akroma, and Nivea?
--Eric Chua, Singapore
A: Obsolete
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:17 pm: |
October 24, 2002
Q: Why didn’t you make Dream Chisel a legendary artifact? Since it seems to be Ixidor’s own unique tool, and its ability makes it even easier to play the morph ability, why not limit it to only one at a time?
--Scott Gasperino, Oregon, USA
A: From Mike Donais, Research & Development
Well, what happened was that the darker planeswalkers liked Ixidor’s Chisel, so they created what amounts to a blueprint basically, so that they can in fact replicate the Chisel. This is not done often because dealing with dreams is dangerous business, but it does mean that the Dream Chisel is no longer unique. As a show of respect to Ixidor, the people who duplicated the Dream Chisel retained the name.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:17 pm: |
November 13, 2002
Q: On the Attendant golems (Crosis’s Attendant, etc.) in Invasion, the flavor text talks about the “Ur-dragon.” In the Planeshift book, the five Dragons are described as members of race of ancient Dragons called the Primeval, and the “Ur-Dragon” isn’t mentioned at all. What is the connection between the two?
--Adam Deusien, Sydney, Australia
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
In the flavor text of the Attendants, “ur-dragon” is meant to be a symbolic or poetic concept, not an actual thing. The “ur-dragon” is the ultimate dragon, the ideal dragon. The flavor text means to say that the five Dragon Legends in the Invasion set can each be seen as an aspect of the ideal dragon.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:18 pm: |
November 18, 2002
Q: Why did you choose “Phage” as Jeska’s new name? The word denotes a virus that inhibits bacteria especially. Since Phage is clearly a non-virus person that spreads disease and rot wherever she goes, why was Phage considered a good name for this character?
--Jonathan Miles, New York, NY
A: From Brandon Bozzi, Magic creative coordinator:
Webster’s defines “phage” in two ways: The first references “bacteriophage,” a virus that attacks bacteria. The second describes a virus or cell that destroys cells, stemming from the Greek word phagos, one that eats. “Phage” is also used in conjunction with other words to mean devouring or consuming. It’s the second definition and the combined usages of the word that we had in mind when we renamed Jeska “Phage.” Her touch spreads rot which devours and consumes all flesh in its path.
We’ve used the base “Phage” in this way before, on the card Carnophage.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:18 pm: |
November 26, 2002
Q: I noticed from the pictures on the cards and the Tempest storyline that Oracle en-Vec was a specific person and actually an important character. I would think she should be a Legend, but on the card she is a Wizard. Why isn’t she a Legend?
--Kyle, New Jersey
A: From Mark Rosewater, R&D senior designer:
The reason is quite simple: Oracle en-Vec is not the name of a person, but a title like Chief of Police or Fire Chief. The Oracle en-Vec in the story was the current holder of the title. The reason we didn’t make the card a Legend is because it represented that position, not solely the person. All Oracles en-Vec have the fortune-telling ability of the card.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:18 pm: |
November 28, 2002
Q: Is there any chance of a crossover between the Weatherlight and the Odyssey storyline? I sure miss some characters from the previous expansions …
--Christiano
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director
Thanks for your question. The short answer is no. We fell that we’ve told the whoel story of the Weatherlight, and we’re ready for new people and places. Also, the Odyssey story takes place over a hundred years after the end of the Phyrexian Invasion. Even if the characters from the Weatherlight story had survived (some did, but I won’t spoil it for those of you who haven’t read the novels), some of them would have grown old and died.
The long answer to your question, however, is that all Magic stories intersect, even if it’s in very tangential ways. It’s likely that the Mirari story will somehow tie back into the Weatherlight story, just as the Weatherlight story eventually tied back into the Phyrexia story; I can’t be any more specific than that. Only time will tell—check out the Magic novels for in-depth details that tie all our settings and characters together.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:19 pm: |
December 20, 2002
Q: Why is it that Barrin was shown an old man with a white beard throughout the art of the Urza’s Saga block, but suddenly becomes a younger man with black hair and bushy mutton chop sideburns? None of this was explained (or mentioned) in the backstory novels. What gives?
--Christopher Hickman, Richmond, VA
A: From Brandon Bozzi, Magic creative director:
Barrin was drinking “slow time water” from the time rifts on Tolaria. There was an accident on Tolaria years before, when Urza was experimenting with time travel, that split the island into fast, slow, and normal time areas. Drinking water from those areas had an effect on aging. Water from the slow time areas slowed the speed aat which one aged, while water from the fast time areas sped it up. Barrin used the water early on to give himself an unnaturally long life, to keep up with his immortal companion, Urza. Then when the invasion became more imminent, he used even more of it, and in combination with some powerful magic, the water not only slowed his aging, but reversed it. Barrin knew that in the coming battle against the Phyrexians, he couldn’t let his age be a factor.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:20 pm: |
January 29, 2003
Q: Does the art description of “Creature—Angel” state “female,” the same way the art description for “Creature—Dragon” states “quadrupedal, reptilian, bat winged?” What exactly are the Angels of Magic: The Gathering? Are they a separate race, or are they very pious human warriors that continue fighting after they pass on to the afterlife (some “Creature—Spirit” related cards dissuade me from thinking the latter)? Are they mortal (I would assume so, since they can be killed, at least, in the game they can)? And if so, and if they are (as far as I can tell) all female, how do they keep their population from dwindling?
--AA3D
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Thanks for your question, “AA3D” (is that a new battery size or something?). It’s not a hard-and-fast rule that Angels are female, but it may as well be. Back in the days of Urza’s Saga world-building, I suggested a “matriarchal” model for Serra’s Realm in which minor Angels would be male and Archangels always female, but it didn’t fly, so to speak. So for the time being, Angels are exclusively female.
What are they? Angels are manifestations of pure white mana. They’re magically made, not born, and they don’t reproduce. They will only fight if they believe they’re on the side of justice and righteousness. They’re immortal in the sense that if they’re destroyed, their “energy” persists until another wizard summons them through the aether, after which they are whole again.
[[Eid’s Note: This is incorrect. There were male angels in Serra’s Realm—Mr. Dommermuth has apparently never read the Urza’s Saga novel Planeswalker by Lynn Abbey.]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:20 pm: |
February 12, 2003
Q: Why have most of the white Soldiers in Legions lost their mouths?
--Ryan Well, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Thanks for asking, Ryan. Here’s the deal with all the “mutations” in the Legions set: Deep in the Krosan Forest, the Mirari lies buried in the ground, still attached to the sword Kamahl used to slay Laquatus. The Mirari’s twisted magic is emanating from Krosa like radiation, causing everything on Otaria to become an amplified, exaggerated version of itself. Wizard begin to liquefy, Goblins grow feral and hunched, Clerics emanate light, and Soldiers become huge, speechless battle-tanks. And the freakification isn’t over, wait until you see the next step of magical evolution in the upcoming Scourge set.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:21 pm: |
February 25, 2003
Q: Why did the three expansion of the Mercadian Masques Block have nothing to do with each other? Why did you jump from Mercadia to Rath to Jamuraa? Was it because you didn’t have enough ideas for one country?
--Chris Hocker, Pennsylvania
A: From Brandon Bozzi, Magic Creative Coordinator:
Actually, Chris, the Masques Block expansions did have some things in common. First, they were all occurring at the same time. We see Gerrard and company turn Mercadia upside down, while Crovax is coming into power in Rath. Meanwhile, back on Dominaria, Barrin helps Jamuraa’s defense against the invading Keldon army. Three different planes, three different groups of characters, everything happening simultaneously.
Second, a large portion of what was happening on all three planes was due to the manipulation of Urza and Yawgmoth: two very powerful characters moving all their pieces into place in preparation for the coming invasion.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:21 pm: |
March 31, 2003
Q: In the Onslaught book, one of Ixidor’s disciples makes Phage cough up a thousand deathwurms. And it occurred to me that Drinker of Sorrow is a spitting image of one of those deathwurms, and its description fits too. So is it a deathwurm, or if not, what is it?
--Daniel Stern, Ontario, Canada
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Funny, Daniel, I thought Bane of the Living looked like a deathwurm. Neither creature is meant to be a deathwurm, however. Drinker of Sorrow was the result of Jeremy Cranford, the Magic art director, asking Carl Critchlow to pain whatever creature it was that he had nightmares about. Bane of the Living, which was called “Pain Elemental” in playtesting, had this description for the illustrator: “Show a horrible black creature somewhat snake/insect-like rearing up out of the swamp with imprints of its victims faces in agony clearly visible in its underbelly.” If you look closely, you can barely make out the faces. To clue in our players who don’t read the novels, the deathwurms are a deadly manifestation of Phage’s evil, and when she barfs them up (in the form of cockroaches, if I recall correctly, which then become deathwurms on the ground), she gets to be Jeska again—for a very short while. I’d tell you more, but (a) lots of players tell me they don’t care about the plot, and (b) I wouldn’t want to spoil it for those who do.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:22 pm: |
May 13, 2003
Q: Are you ever going to make cards based on people we see in flavor text, like “Matoc, Lavamancer” or “Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith”?
--Stas Nikiforov, Moscow, Russia
A: From Brian Tinsman, R&D game designer:
That would take away some of the charm and mystery. In past sets we’ve had plenty of flavor text that involved well-known characters from the storyline. Sometimes it’s great to have flavor text from obscure characters, too. There will always be names that show up in flavor text and aren’t explained too deeply anywhere else. Are these characters important individuals each with their own fascinating but untold histories, or are they just names a flavor text writer made up so they could attribute a clever quote? You decide.
[[Eid’s note—Actually, let’s not decide. Why they had a game designer answer this question is beyond me. Matoc appeared in the anthology The Secrets of Magic as the grandfather of Kamahl and best friend of Balthor. His sword is actually intrinsically important to the plot of the Otaria storyline—but subtly so.]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:23 pm: |
June 5, 2003
Q: How do you pronounce the first set of the next block, Mirrodin? My friends say it’s pronounced “mer-ih-dee-en,” but I think It sounds more like “meer-oh-deen.” Who is more right?
--Adam Kreger, San Diego, California
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Here at Wizards, we pronounce Mirrodin this way: “MEER-oh-din.” But you can pronounce it however you want.
[[Eid’s note—I think this is debatable. Mirrodin is, of course, named after the Mirari. If it was pronounced “MEER-oh-din,” that would lead me at least to believe the Mirari would be pronounced “MEER-arr-ee.” I’ve never heard anybody pronounce it thus, but I suppose it’s possible. I’ve always heard them pronounced “meh-RAR-ee” and “myr-O-dinn.” Trifling points, of course.]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:24 pm: |
June 11, 2003
Q: Would you ever consider making an expansion or block set in a more “modern” setting like the real world of today?
--Jeff Hangge, Webster, South Dakota
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Thanks for your question, Jeff. Nothing’s “off limits” in terms of what we might consider for a Magic setting. But we do believe that the game needs to stay true to the swords-and-sorcery genre. Any setting that could incorporate spellcasting and cool monsters is a possibility. Will we ever explore an Elizabethan setting? Victorian? Modern-day urban? Only time will tell.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:24 pm: |
June 17, 2003
Q: What are the weird swirly people on the Scourge cards meant to be? I’ve seen them on Scornful Egoist, Grip of Chaos, and Parallel Thoughts, but I’m sure they pop up more often. I thought they might be avatars of the mana in Otaria, but if so where are the green, white, and black ones?
--Hayden Neill, Halifax, NS
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
In a previous Ask Wizards response, I explained how the creatures on Otaria are being twisted and evolved by the Mirari’s sickly magic. The “liquid glass” creatures you see in the Scourge set are the final mutation/evolution step for Otaria’s wizards. Their corporeal forms are almost drifting away—they’re becoming creatures of pure thought. The one on Grip of Chaos has been turned from bluish to red by the strange power of the enchantment.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:25 pm: |
June 23, 2003
Q: In the pictures on Parallel Thoughts and Long-Term Plans, the two wizards are holding a jar. Are these jars meant to be the “library,” or something like a “Memory Jar”? Is it the same wizard in the picture and if so does he have a name?
--Richard Flint, Colorado Springs, CO
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
The wizard represented on those cards is a Riptide Project researcher. The glass containers aren’t meant to represent anything in particular. Perhaps the wizard is trying to find an elixir to help slow the effects of the Mirari’s magic, or even a poison to stop the rampaging slivers. In the abstract, the magical liquids represent the wizard’s arcane research. As for the wizard’s name, no, he doesn’t have one, although the infamous Pemmin would look quite similar to this guy at the point in the Otaria story at which the events of the Scourge set occur.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:26 pm: |
September 4, 2003
Q: How are the basic lands portrayed (flavor-wise) in a Magic duel? How do the wizards draw mana from a mountain range or a jungle when they are in the middle of a battle? Are the planeswalkers in the terrain that they play as land cards in a game? Why can they slowly build up different lands in one battle?
--Kyle Rainsford, Auckland, New Zealand
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Many of the most mundane functions of the Magic card game just don’t translate very well into the metaphor of a battle between two mages. For example, why can you play only four of a given spell? In some cases, Wizards has acknowledged that there’s just no reasonable way to make every aspect of the card game make sense in a magical duel context. We have thought about what land plays represent, however, and we’ve come up with a few possible answers, none of which we’ve really settled on, to be frank.
The basic idea is that a mage must first create a bond to the land through some kind of ritual. Whether the mage actually needs to visit the land is an open question. Maybe some lands are so mana-rich or renowned that mages can create a connection to them from across space, time, or even across planes. In any case, once a mage has established a bond to a given place, he or she can manifest that bond by concentrating on it, then channeling the mana from the land into himself or herself. The mana globe would then slowly regenerate until it was ready to be siphoned again. The bond could also be represented at the site of the land, such as with a totem or magical sigil that “marks” the mage’s bond to it.
One recent development in this area has to do with legendary lands. It used to be that any unique place would be considered legendary for card purposes, whether it was a single structure or an entire city. We decided recently that unique places should be able to accommodate more than one mage’s bond. Theoretically that means you could start seeing more unique places on nonlegendary land cards. This doesn’t mean we won’t print legendary lands anymore; such lands will simply be concepted as places that can support a bond with only one mage.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:26 pm: |
October 1, 2003
Q: Will the Odyssey and Onslaught block stories be necessary in understanding the plot and story of (or catching minor allusions in) the Mirrodin novels?
--Richard Jordan, Chesterfield, Virginia, USA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
No. There are ties to older stories for die-hard fans of the Magic novels, but you can read the Mirrodin-block novels without needing any prior Magic story knowledge.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:26 pm: |
November 20, 2003
Q: On the Seventh Edition version of Yawgmoth’s Edict there was a black book full of words in Phyrexian. I was wondering, have you developed a system of writing and lettering in Phryexian or have you just made up random ones? If you have developed a system of writing and lettering in Phyrexia could you please show me?
--Brian Johnson
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
There is a big ol’ Phyrexia style guide here at the Wizards office with tosn fo stuff in it that players have never seen. And yes, it even includes samples of Phyrexian script. Maybe you’ll see it someday, but we’re not ready to share it just yet. It’s not a fully fleshed out alphabet or anything, so we won’t be printing special cards in Phyrexian anytime soon. What you see on the Seventh Edition Yawgmoth’s Edict isn’t Phyrexian script, however, but simply the writing of a devotee. I want to take this opportunity to thank artists Dave Allsop and Chippy for their truly amazing Phyrexia concept illustrations.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:27 pm: |
January 12, 2004
Q: I was just reading through the storybook from Tempest. I think it came with a Starter Box. It’s great to know who the characters on the cards are without reading the entire novel. Why don’t you include storybooks in the more recent expansion? I feel that they give the game a more realistic feel.
--Stephen Livengood
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Glad you enjoyed the Tempest storybook, Stephen (that was my very first project when I began working at Wizards back in 1997!). We’ve discussed the possibility of revisiting booklets that would be included with theme decks. We don’t really want to include them with tournament packs; those are meant for Limited tournament play, and we believe the vast majority of those booklets would go straight from the pack into the trash. We haven’t reached a decision about the idea of booklets in theme-deck packs yet, but stay tuned.
[[Eid’s note—I’m not sure if this is still relevant or not. Have storyline booklets been included in theme decks since the beginning of 2004?]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:28 pm: |
January 13, 2004
Q: I’m collecting the Weatherlight crew and the Predator flagship crew. I asked on several forums but they can’t agree completely which characters where on it and who weren’t. I would appreciate it if you could answer my questions.
--Ronald Huveneers
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Ronald, what is this Weatherlight you speak of? Wait, I think I remember … yes, it’s all coming back now. The Weatherlight was a flying ship! Its crew sought the artifacts of the Legacy to combat the evils of Phyrexia! Boy, that’s ancient history, huh?
Which cards you’d need to complete a collection of the crew really depends on how far you want to go. For example, Master of Arms represents Gerrard, but it’s not his Legend card. And there are all the Vanguard cards to think of. Anyway, here’s what I’d collect if I were you.:
Weatherlight crew:
Skyship Weatherlight
Legacy Weapon
Gerrard Capashen
Captain Sisay
Orim, Samite Healer
Hanna, Ship’s Navigator
Tahngarth, Talruum Hero
Crovax the Cursed
(Ascendant Evincar?)
Starke of Rath
Squee, Goblin Nabob
Ertai, Wizard Adept
(Ertai, the Corrupted?)
Mirri, Cat Warrior
Karn, Silver Golem
Multani, Maro-Sorcerer
Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
And for you storyline gurus out there: Volrath the Fallen (disguised as Starke’s
daughter Takara)
Predator crew:
Predator, Flagship
Green il-Vec
Vhati il-Dal
[[Eid’s note: The Blind Seer could perhaps be added. Now that the Time Spiral Cycle is out, you could also add Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir and Jhoira of the Ghitu to the list, as they were crew members of the Weatherlight during the Urza’s Legacy set.]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:28 pm: |
January 16, 2004
Q: There are two cards that I’ve noticed in Mirrodin that have the name Chiss-Goria in the title, both of them seem to be from possibly a Dragon. Is there a story behind these artifacts or were they simply a nifty conceptual idea that R&D put in?”
--Spectere the Fool
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
We did create some backstory for the ancient furnace dragon Chiss-Goria. Will any of that backstory ever be told on cards or elsewhere? I’m afraid you’ll have to wait and see.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:30 pm: |
February 13, 2004
Q: What is with the Trolls? When I saw them in Mirrodin I was excited, I thought that a new green creature theme was born, but there are no Trolls in Darksteel! Why were there so many Trolls in Mirrodin, and none in Darksteel? If they’re the “sworn protectors of Tel-Jilad” shouldn’t we see more of them?
--Aus Anderson
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director
Thanks for your question, Aus. With only eleven green creatures in Darksteel, the opportunity for another troll simply didn’t arise. Of those creatures, most are in the wrong power and toughness range, none have regeneration, and only one has protection from artifacts. That card, Tel-Jilad Outrider, was almost concepted as a troll, but in the end I decided that its 3/1 stats made it more suitable for an agro but not-so-tough elf. But don’t worry—you haven’t seen the last Tel-Jilad troll just yet.
[[Eid’s note: Yes we have. That worked out about as well as the rest of the Mirrodin Cycle, didn’t it Brady?]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:33 pm: |
March 2, 2004
Q: I have recently begun to read the Magic: The Gathering books, however I am confused about the order that they are written and the order they should be read in. If you were going to read all the books to get the history of Magic from Chronicles to Mirrodin, which order would you read the books in? Thanks.
--Dan, Newport Beach, CA
A: From Daniel Stahl, managing web producer:
The simple answer is, the page you seek is here: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=magic/products/storyline
However, with that said, I’d like to take the opportunity to provide a little foreshadowing on novel continuity.
Over the years, the Magic novels have entertained several different philosophies regarding how to treat continuity between the novels and the cards. At times the novels have been so integrated with the cards that one could actually read the novel prior to the expansion release and get spoiler clues as to what was going to be in the upcoming set.
One of the reasons we have temporarily removed the above link from magicthegathering.com is that we are in the process of changing the way we present Magic novel continuity in relationship to the expansions. Our goal is the redesign the “storyline” pages to reflect Wizards’ current philosophy that the novels are free to create a storyline within the environment defined by the expansion, but are not constrained by the cards (or vice-versa) nor the environment of previous books.
Thus, in the end, the grand continuity you seek might not be as easily defined as it moves more towards a block environment philosophy (much in the same way that not all Trek or Star Wars novels get along). I will suggest that when you are reading Magic novels, you treat each block (or “cycle” in novel-speak) as its own story and enjoy them as such.
[[Eid’s note: What the sweet is this moron talking about? First of all, don’t bother with that link. It has not been updated since Mirrodin, and doesn’t provide any answer whatsoever to what Dan was asking. Second, this is the most generic, BS-filled answered I’ve encountered on Ask Wizards.
Here’s a list of the Magic books as they appear in continuity—the SAME continuity, I might add!
-4795 AR – The Thran
64 AR – The Brothers’ War
430 AR – The Gathering Dark
2934 AR – The Eternal Ice
2954 AR – The Shattered Alliance
3000 AR – Johan
3000 AR – Jedit
3000 AR – Hazezon
3255 AR – Planeswalker
3360 AR – Time Streams
3750 AR – Outlaw: Champions of Kamigawa
3750 AR – Heretic: Betrayers of Kamigawa
3750 AR – Guardian: Saviors of Kamigawa
4150 AR – Assassin’s Blade
4150 AR – Emperor’s Fist
4150 AR – Champion’s Trial
4179 AR – Bloodlines
4205 AR – Rath and Storm
4205 AR – Mercadian Masques
4205 AR – Nemesis
4205 AR – Prophecy
4205 AR – Invasion
4205 AR – Planeshift
4205 AR – Apocalypse
4305 AR – Odyssey
4305 AR – Chainer’s Torment
4305 AR – Judgment
4305 AR – Onslaught
4306 AR – Legions
4306 AR – Scourge
~4505 AR – The Moons of Mirrodin
~4505 AR – The Darksteel Eye
~4505 AR – The Fifth Dawn
~4505 AR – Ravnica, City of Guilds
~4505 AR – Guildpact
~4505 AR – Dissension
4505 AR – Time Spiral
4505 AR – Planar Chaos
4505 AR – Future Sight
Unknown – Lorwyn
Unknown – Morningtide
Unknown – Shadowmoor
Please note that while these dates are certainly not concrete, this IS the order the books should be read in if you’re going for a chronological order. I wish Dan would’ve asked me, because Mr. Stahl evidently has never bothered to actually read these books.]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:35 pm: |
March 17, 2004
Q: As I was looking through some cards the other day I realized that Wizards never made an Urza or a Mishra card, except for in Vanguard. For a series of books that went on for about five years, just about them two, it is strange to see that they have no card. Why is that?
A: From Aaron Forsythe, Magic R&D:
A popular question, Julien. While many characters in books and storylines have been made into cards—Kamahl, Gerrard, and Glissa, for example—they are but pawns in the big picture, to be controlled by you, the player. As a player, you represent a “planeswalker”—a type of mighty being that commands a variety of creatures and magic to battle on his behalf. Urza is also a planeswalker, which means a card of him would need to be as powerful as a player in order to be considered accurate.
There are many planeswalkers besides the famous Brothers that have been written about in novels, appeared in card art, and have been referenced in flavor text, yet never made into cards. Some of them include Freyalise, Serra, Feroz, Teferi, Jaya Ballard, and Tevesh Szat. Some legend cards that weren’t planeswalkers became planeswalkers later in the storyline, for example Karn, Silver Golem.
[[Eid’s note: Of course Mishra is not a planeswalker, but this is an honest mistake. Mishra has also, of course, been printed as a card in Time Spiral.]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:36 pm: |
Marcy 19, 2004
Q: Whatever happened to the maps you mentioned on the storylines page? I would very much like to see all the worlds that are always being mentioned.
--Matthew Miles, Watson, New Zealand
A: From Daniel “Reepicheep” Stahl, managing web producer:
Once upon a time the continuity department commissioned (in true RPG cartographic glory) detailed maps that tried to sync up all the lands and locations mentioned within the various card expansions. The most infamous of these maps was a hand-drawn glove (by none other than Peter Veters) showing the land masses and island clumps that visualized the world of Dominaria—the setting (i.e. plane) for most of Magic’s history. This glove was the reference used to create the maps for the Invasion block, which to the best of my knowledge are the only maps we have officially published on the website (unless Aaron dug out an old map and made an Arcana out of it). You can find these maps at the old www.magicinvasion.com site which was devoted to the Invasion block environment. If you’re looking for more maps, you might want to go on a treasure hunt through the old Duelist magazine which at various times published smaller inserts and sketches of Dominaria.
Will we ever be able to provide maps of ALL the worlds of Magic? Unfortunately, I don’t think they ALL exist. However, if you do some searching you might be able to find small snippets (you’ll see one of Ice Age as an Arcana sometime soon). In the future we will be attempting to provide more block environment information so that you can fully investigate the multiverse of Magic. But keep in mind that our philosophy is to provide a snapshot of the environment, and then your imagination will be free to explore the rest.
By the way, if your imagination is lacking, you’ll just have to believe that the world is flat and thus if you explore too far—you’ll fall off the edges.
That is if you don’t run into one of the thousand islands first.
(Wait a minute … isn’t that a salad dressing?)
[[Eid’s note: My side hurts, I laughed so hard. Yeah, whatever. Just a quick note that magicinvasion.com does not work any longer. You can, of course, find a host of maps on the MTGsalvation Wiki page.]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:37 pm: |
April 14, 2004
Q: What is the Æther?
--Nate L.
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Æther is the stuff between planes. In the Magic multiverse, when a creature is summoned, it materializes from (is “pulled through” the Æther. Blue and red mages are best at manipulating the Æther—blue by returning summoned creatures to the Æther, red by “spiking” the Æther so that it hurts creatures that emerge from it.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:37 pm: |
May 5, 2004
Q: I was wondering through which blocks and expansions does the Phyrexian War go?
--Sean Sierra, Seven Oaks, MD
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
That depends on what you mean by the Phyrexian War, Sean. Phyrexia’s rise to power and eventual invasion of Dominaria is a long and complex plot. The easiest answer to your question is that the Phyrexian Invasion begins in the Invasion set and continues through the block (Planeshift and Apocalypse). But Phyrexia was involved in Magic storylines starting with the Antiquities set, and they were present either overtly or covertly in almost every expert-level expansion between Antiquities and Apocalypse (with a couple of exceptions, such as the Homelands set).
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:38 pm: |
May 28, 2004
Q: I know this may seem like an odd question, but on your cards, you reference many books, e.g. Sarpadian Empires Vol. III or other sources. I was wondering if these books actually exist?
--Anthony Gamble
A: From Doug Beyer, magicthegathering.com web developer and flavor text writer:
Thanks for your question, Anthony. For those of you who don’t know, Anthony is referring to flavor text in which a quote is attributed to a presumed outside source, like a book, poem, or song (quotes from the “Sarpadian Empires” in particular can be found on Fallen Empires cards like Aeolipile, Basal Thrull, and Fungal Bloom).
With the exceptions of the Love Song of Night and Day (which is a complete poem written for the purposes of being quoted on many Mirage and Visions cards) and real-world quotations (see for example the Eighth Edition versions of Cowardice and Naturalize), the books and other texts quoted in Magic flavor text are fictional.
Books, poems, songs, chants, scrolls, sayings, and other bits of written lore are made up by Magic world-builders and flavor text writers in the same way that characters, objects, and locations are. The History of the Goblin Wars, the Necromancer’s Handbook, and the Scroll of Beginnings are fictional elements of the Magic fantasy world in the same way that Akroma, the Mirari, and the Tel-Jilad are. In most cases it’s not necessary (or possible!) to create the entire text from which the flavor text is fictionally taken—it’s enough that their existence is implied, and the details are left to the imagination.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:38 pm: |
July 5, 2004
Q: In the book The Moons of Mirrodin, it is mentioned that the only reason that Geth is the ruler of the Mephidross is that he controls the vampire, and that there is only one. So why isn’t the card Mephidross Vampire a legend?
--Jon, Parris, Kentucky, USA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director
Jon, Geth’s hubrids leads him to wrongly believe that he controls the only vampire in the Mephidross. Simply put, he’s wrong. Although there are only a few, other vampires do prowl the ‘Dross; Geth simply believes the one he enslaves is the only one.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:39 pm: |
August 19, 2004
Q: I remember a question a while ago asking which cards represent the crews of the Weatherlight and Predator. Similarly, which cards represent the pieces of the Legacy?
--Aaron, London, Otario, Canada
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Considering how much people claimed to hate the Weatherlight Saga at the time, I sure get a lot of questions about it. ;) Anyway, the following artifact cards represent the known pieces of the Legacy: Chimeric Sphere; Juju Bubble; Karn, Silver Golem; Mind Stone; Null Rod; Skyshaper; Skyship Weatherlight; Squee’s Toy; Thran Forge; Thran Tome; Touchstone; and the Tooth, Eye, Skull, Heart, and Horn of Ramos. There are other Legacy artifacts identified in books we’ve published that never made it onto cards.
[[Eid’s note – Add the Mightstone and Weakstone to that list.]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:40 pm: |
August 27, 2004
Q: Was there ever a black legend planned for Mirrodin block? Artifacts have Bosh, Red had Slobad, Green has Glissa, White has Raksha, blue has Memnarch. Black was left without a legend. Was there a legend planned like Geth himself for black or is this just a coincidence?
--Skyler, Bismark, North Dakota, USA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Just coincidence, Skyler. We knew we would try to give Glissa, Memnarch, and Bosh their own cards when we started, but Slobad and Raksha both got cards based on how important and interesting they proved to be in the Magic novels, which aren’t completed until after the corresponding card set is pretty much done. As for Geth … well, if you haven’t read the novels, Geth’s card wouldn’t really make a lot of sense (I don’t want to spoil anything, but those of you who have read the novels know what I’m talking about).
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:41 pm: |
August 30, 2004
Q: I was wondering how Rorix Bladewing died. A friend of mine told me that Phage killed him. Is it true?
--Mike, California, USA
A: Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Sometimes a cool concept generates a cool card design, but sometimes it’s the card design that drives the concept. In the case of Bladewing the Risen, the card design came first. To reinforce the dragon theme of the Scourge set, the card designers had included a black/red “dracolich” who could strengthen other dragons. Then the developers discovered that the dracolich’s comes-into-play ability was too strong, because you could play Buried Alive to put three dracoliches in your graveyard, then play a fourth to get all four of them into play. The solution? Make a dracolich a legendary creature. From there, it’s pretty easy to see how things led to Rorix Bladewing. Given a choice between a new legendary dragon that no one had heard of and a revisitation of Rorix, we went for the latter. How did Rorix die? How was he reanimated, by whom, and why? Since Rorix doesn’t appear in the Onslaught-block novels, that’s up to you to imagine.
[[Eid’s note—Simple hypothesis here: Karona destroys the Grand Coliseum in Scourge. It could be likely that the “pit fighter legends”—i.e. Jareth, Arcanis, Visara, Rorix, and Silvos—died at that explosion, since they most likely would’ve been at the Grand Coliseum as the Cabal’s biggest tournament fighters. Rorix could’ve been revived after his death at Karona’s hands, or could’ve died at the hands of one of the other “pit fighter legends” and then died again at Karona’s hands. Just idle thoughts.]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:41 pm: |
September 1, 2004
Q: Would Wizards of the Coast ever consider making a block that was based on D&D?
--Alex, Petroskey, Michigan, USA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic R&D:
A lot of us here at Wizards play both Magic and D&D, so sure, we’ve talked about it. But D&D has its own look and feel, its own identity, and so does Magic. Also, most D&D players have made up their mind about whether to play Magic, and vice versa. For a bunch of different reasons, the basic view of the possibility can be summed up with a line from “Ghostbusters”: “Don’t cross the streams.” On the other hand, we love breaking rules, and we never (or hardly ever) say never. So maybe someday …
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:42 pm: |
September 7, 2004
Q: How do you pronounce “Auriok”? Many of my friends have Auriok cards, and they all want to know. Thanks.
Richard London, St. Albans, UK
A: From Brandon Bozzi, Magic R&D:
Thanks for the question, Richard. “Auriok” comes from the word “auric,” meaning “of or relating to gold.” This refers to the Auriok’s metal evolutions which are gold in color. “Auric” is pronounced “AW-rihk.” “Auriok” is pronounced “AW-reh-ahk.” Hope that helps.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:42 pm: |
September 8, 2004
Q: Who or what is an Abuna? Is “Abunas” singular or plural? I ask this because the picture on Leonin Anubas shows only one leonin, implying that “Abunas” is singular, bu the card name Abuna’s Chant implies that “Abunas” is plural.”
--Mark S.
A: From Brandon Bozzi, Magic R&D:
Thanks for your questions, Mark. In the real world, an abuna is a patriarch-priest in the Ethiopian Christian church. We have taken that word and redefined it to loosely mean, “a leonin cleric.” You may have noticed that we have done this in the past with other real world culture-specific terms, such as praetor, nabob, and caliph.
To answer your second question, “Abunas” is plural. If you look closely at the art on Leonin Abunas, you will see multiple abunas in the background.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:43 pm: |
October 22, 2004
Q: How do you pronounce “Krovikan” please?
--Darrel, Barrie, Ontario, Canada
A: From Brandon Bozzi, Magic R&D:
“KRO-vih-kan.”
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:43 pm: |
November 1, 2004
Q: Who is Jaya Ballard, and what is a task mage?
--Gabe, Biloxi, MS
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Jaya Ballard is the wisecracking mage featured in Ice Age-block flavor text and in the novels The Eternal Ice and The Shattered Alliance by Jeff Grubb. Although her story begins when she is only a skilled task mage, her path leads her to a much greater destiny. A task mage is a wizard for hire, a mercenary sorcerer.
[[Eid’s note: Jaya also appeared in the anthology The Monsters of Magic. At the end of the Ice Age Cycle, she became a planeswalker. The book Planar Chaos revealed that she has since died, but no information was given as to the cause of her death.]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:44 pm: |
November 3, 2004
Q: Are orcs being phased out in favor of goblins?
--Matt, Maine, USA
A: Obsolete
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:44 pm: |
November 10, 2004
Q: Recently you answered a question about the pronunciation of the word “Krovikan.” I’ve got a much tougher one I’ve always wondered about. How do you pronounce “Kjeldoran?”
--Daniel, Palm Bay, Florida, USA
A: From Brandon Bozzi, Magic R&D creative coordinator:
We’ve been told that in some Scandinavian languages, it’s “shel-DOR-uhn,” with the “shel” sound being weird and hard for the English-speaking tongue to duplicate. However, as far as Magic is concerned it’s “kyel-DOR-uhn,” where the first syllable rhymes with “yell”.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:45 pm: |
November 17, 2004
Q: I was looking at Ferocious Charge and saw in the bottom left corner two elves running away. Are those the elves Glissa and her friend at the beginning of the story The Moons of Mirrodin?
--Nick, Lelystad, Flevoland, Netherlands
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creator director:
I’d love to tell you they are, Nick, but the artist had no knowledge of the finer points of Will McDermott’s novel, The Moons of Mirrodin, and the art description didn’t contain any mention of Glissa or Kane. Any resemblance is unfortunately coincidental.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:45 pm: |
November 18, 2004
Q: Did you guys ever consider making an anthology of the stories from Champions? Because I’ve read the book (Outlaw) and all the website stories, but I was wondering if there was more?
--Patrick Perkins
A: From Brandon Bozzi, Magic R&D:
Patrick, thanks for the question. Besides the novel and the web stories, both of which you’ve read, the other place I can point you is to flavor text. We made a special effort this time to weave the stories of this world into the cards. Reading the flavor text will help you get a broader picture of the people and places in Kamigawa outside what is in the novel and web stories. Otherwise, you’ll have to wait for the Betrayers of Kamigawa novel, and if all goes well, the Betrayers web stories.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:46 pm: |
November 30, 2004
Q: I was wondering if the man in the artwork for Recoup was Kamahl with long black hair or is the guy just wearing Kamahl’s armor?
--Ron, Georgetown, IL, USA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic R&D:
No, Ron, that’s not Kamahl. But like Kamahl, the figure shown is a barbarian warrior from the Pardic Mountains, which is why the armor is similar. You can also see that characteristic Pardic armor on Break Open, Sandskin, Grand Melee, Barbarian Bully, Crazed Firecat, Hell-Bent Raider, Halbedier, Spellgorger Barbarian, Undead Gladiator, Infectious Rage, Toxic Stench, Barbarian Lunatic, and Crackling Club.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:46 pm: |
December 1, 2004
Q: I just noticed the “ears” of the moonfolk. They look like rabbit’s ears. Would it be possible that Kamigawa’s moonfolk are in fact the rabbits that live on the Moon according to the Japanese-Chinese legends?
--Mike, Bangkok
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Good catch, Match. For those of you who aren’t familiar with what Mike’s talking about: Whereas Westerners see a man’s face on the moon, the Japanese see a rabbit—the tsuki-usagi, or moon-hare. The moonfolk were concepted by Japanese artist Ittoku, who introduced the subtle rabbit-like elements (white hair, long ears, and so on). The ideas of the moonfolk came from a famous Japaense folktale about the mythical Lady Kaguya.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:47 pm: |
January 17, 2005
Q: What is the special connection between oni and ogres that makes them so beneficial to play together?
--Brian, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Brian, those familiar with Japanese folklore will probably tell you there’s really no difference between ogres and demons in Japanese mythology.
“Oni” refers to lots of different mythical monsters, from little gremlins with bony bumps on their heads to towering monstrosities. Sometimes “o-bakemono” is used to mean “ogre,” but that word really just means “big monsters.”
During Kamigawa world-building, concept illustrator Hugh Jamieson sketched a mountain ogre that the creative team liked, but it wasn’t necessarily demonic. And we knew we wanted to give oni special attention. So we hatched the idea of creating blood-magic-wielding ogres who worshipped oni and sometimes even bound the oni to their service. If you were to “back-translate” this idea into Japanese folklore terms, you’d end up with minor oni (ogres) worshipping and serving major oni, albeit they have distinct creature types in Magic.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:47 pm: |
January 20, 2005
Q: Does the trident-shaped spear in the art of Pearlspear Courier have anything to do with Merfolk of the Pearl Trident (they’re both tridents and they look very similar in the pictures, and the Merfolk card references soldiers, which is the theme of the courier)?
--Matt Claremont, California, USA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Just a coincidence, Matt. Pearl and pearl-like stuff such as nacre comes from the see, and tridents have been associated with the sea since Poseidon was worshipped (it’s thought that the trident was a fishing spear before it was ever a weapon). So both elements were standard merfolk fare.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:48 pm: |
January 27, 2005
Q: As the only non-Mirrodin Leonin(e), is Jareth, Leonine Titan supposed to be a displaced member of Raksha’s tribe?
--James, Williamsburg, Virginia, USA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
In Jareth’s case, “leonine” is used the way you’ll find it in the dictionary: “of, relating to, or characteristic of a lion.” If you look closely, you’ll see that Jareth is a huge creature of living marble of alabaster, like a great statue come to life. He’s at least 10 feet tall, and is not made of flesh and fur. He’s definitely not a leonin.
“Leonin,” on the other hand, is a made-up word for the race of cat humanoids you saw on Mirrodin. The similarity between the two words did come up when we were naming the leonin, but I honestly didn’t think it would be a problem (maybe because of the difference in sound—“leonine” rhymes with “diamond mine,” whereas “leonin” rhymes with “bowling pin”). But given how often they’re confused, I guess it’s time for me to suck it up and admit that it was a mistake to choose terms so similar.
So needless to say, Jareth and the leonin aren’t related at all.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:48 pm: |
February 9, 2005
Q: When you design characters for the game (especially the legends such as Gerrard Capashen and Glissa Sunseeker), do you develop the cards first or the story behind them?
--Sara, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, USA
A: From Brian Tinsman, Magic R&D:
Sara,
We design the main characters first, then the card design team invents card abilities that match their story characteristics. Glissa Sunseeker is a great example. In the story she has the ability to eradicate artifacts in a strange and unpredictable manner. The design team tried several different anti-artifact abilities on her card until we settled on her distinctive design—a way to destroy artifacts that’s never been done before.
For most other cards in a set it’s the other way around. The card design team invents the card abilities, then the creative team “concepts” them. That is, they come up with a name, flavor text, and art to match the card ability. The concepts come first only with a handful of the most important story cards in each set.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:48 pm: |
February 28, 2005
Q: Why is the protagonist of the Kamigawa block books named Toshi Umezawa when the card based on him is named Toshiro Umezawa?
--Daniel, Columbia, South Carolina
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Toshi is short for Toshiro, Daniel. We wanted to use the full name on the card even though the novels use the shortened version.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:49 pm: |
March 3, 2005
Q: My question has to do with the flavor text behind the card Final Judgment. The card itself features O-Kagachi, the kami that all other kami came from. Because I don’t believe that R&D would have missed this, I ask what the reason behind keeping the card from being Arcane?
--Tony, Chandler, Arizona, USA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Tony, the Arcane subtype represents spirit-world spells—magic wielded by the kami. Final Judgment shows a great kami, but it’s not meant to represent spirit-world magic, but rather a spell that recreates a pivotal moment in the Kami War. O-Kagachi isn’t just the kami of all kami. It’s the very embodiment of the barrier between the utsushiyo and the kakuriyo, the living essence of the difference between the two worlds. So when the O-Kagachi is directly involved, distinctions between the material and spirit worlds blur almost to meaningless. And the more those distinctions blur, the more angry and unstable O-Kagachi becomes.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:49 pm: |
March 15, 2005
Q: I noticed that in the Betrayers of Kamigawa art there are a lot of creatures with “floating things” hovering above them, usually numbering in 3s. All of the Baku have them, but so does Gnarled Mass and Bile Urchin. What is the flavor behind these floating things hovering around all of these spirits?
--Tim
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic R&D:
Glad you noticed, Tim. Early in Kamigawa world design, we weren’t sure whether all the kami would end up looking bizarre enough—whether it would be clear that they’re otherworldly creatures. So we designed a “visual cue”—a common element that all kami would share. The floating objects are that visual clue. Where did they come from? Concept illustrator Ittoku produced a sketch that would eventually become the Myojin of Cleansing Fire, and it had floating, flaming heads around it. When a second concept illustration featured strange things floating around a central figure, we knew we had found our cue and ran with it.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:50 pm: |
March 21, 2005
Q: In the other sets all the goblins pretty much had the same look. Then Champions came out and the goblin race got a makeover! Why did you change the look of the goblins for the Kamigawa Block?
--Chris Morewood, Girard, Pennsylvania, USA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
All goblins look the same, Chris? Moggs are hulking, no-necked thugs. Kyren are practically aristocratic—they look almost like short elves with green skin. In our minds, goblins have varied pretty widely from setting to setting, so the akki didn’t seem like much of a stretch to us. But back to your question: Almost everything in Kamigawa has some connection to Japanese myth or folklore, and that folklore doesn’t really have any goblins, per se. In looking for a Japanese equivalent to goblins, concept illustrator Ittoku came up with an idea based on another mythological creature: the kappa. He drew a little, shell goblin-like thing and scrawled “FIRE KAPPA” next to it. We though it suited the goblin “ethos” quit well, and thus the akki were born.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:50 pm: |
March 26, 2005
Q: I was wondering what the Riptide Project was—I have seen it on so many cards but all I know is that they have something to do with the slivers. And what are the slivers?
--Hans, Hampton Park, Victoria, Australia
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic R&D:
The Riptide Project was a secret wizards’ school on the continent of Otaria, where the Odyssey and Onslaught blocks took place. It was a joint effort of human and cephalid wizards, who were cooperating for the purpose of learning more about magic and about each other. Things went terribly awry at the Riptide Project when its wizards recovered the remains of a sliver, a creature seen previously only on Rath. The wizards replicated slivers and in so doing unleashed a force that overwhelmed them and escaped the Project’s island sanctuary.
Slivers are creatures of mysterious origin. They were first encountered by the skyship Weatherlight as it passed through ventilation ducts in Volrath’s mountain Stronghold. Each sliver is specialized for a particular purpose, but each has the ability to share its specialized purpose with all others in the vicinity. Only by separating the creatures from each other could the crew of the Weatherlight defeat them and survive.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:52 pm: |
April 4, 2005
Q: In what order do the Magic novels take place chronologically?
--Brian, Marble Falls, Texas, USA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
That’s a sizable question, Brian. Here’s how I think the order goes:
The Thran
The Brothers’ War
Planeswalker
Time Streams
Bloodlines
The Gathering Dark
The Eternal Ice
The Shattered Alliance
Rath and Storm
Mercadian Masques
Nemesis
Prophecy
Invasion
Planeshift
Apocalypse
Odyssey
Torment
Judgment
Onslaught
Legions
Scourge
The Moons of Mirrodin
The Darksteel Eye
The Fifth Dawn
The place of the following books in the timeline is not known or has not (yet) been specified:
Arena
Whispering Woods
Shattered Chains
Final Sacrifice
The Cursed Land
The Prodigal Sorcerer
Ashes of the Sun
Song of Time
And Peace Shall Sleep
Dark Legacy
Tapestries
Distant Planes
Jedit
Johan
Hazezon
Outlaw: Champions of Kamigawa
Heretic: Betrayers of Kamigawa
Guardian: Saviors of Kamigawa
Assassin’s Blade
Emperor’s Fist
Champion’s Trial
The Colors of Magic
The Myths of Magic
The Dragons of Magic
The Monsters of Magic
[[Eid’s note: Incorrect. Big time incorrect. Deep breath. Planeswalker began immediately after The Brothers’ War, but ended long after The Shattered Alliance. Time Streams and Bloodlines both took place after The Shattered Alliance. Johan, Jedit, and Hazezon took place immediately after The Shattered Alliance, as evidence by Hazezon’s ramblings in the first few chapters of Johan about the end of the Flood Age and also because of the reference on the back of the Johan book about “a world separated from the rest of the cosmos by an ancient war.” The Kamigawa books took place sometime between Time Streams and Bloodlines. The rough date for Assassin’s Blade, Emperor’s Fist, and Champion’s Trial were given by the author of those books as placed sometime before the Mirage War, which would place after Guardian: Saviors of Kamigawa and before Bloodlines. For the correct timeline, check the list given above.]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:52 pm: |
April 11, 2005
Q: Flavor-wise, what are the Myojins? What makes them so different from the other spirits (like say, the Kodamas) that they have indestructibility (as long as they have a divinity counter) and really powerful abilities?
--Mark, Philippines
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
“Myojin” literally means “bright divinity.” It’s a Shinto word that denotes a kami of particular importance. In Champions of Kamigawa, the Myojin are special because they are the kami of the five colors of Magic. For example, the Myojin of Night’s Reach is black mana, and all black-aligned kami are aspects of her.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:53 pm: |
April 12, 2005
Q: Looking back at Mirrodin, the “plane of metal” theme made for a very interesting story, but I never understood how the Sliths fit, though they were certainly interesting creatures. What were the Sliths exactly?
--Benjamin, Lansing, Michigan, USA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director
Most of what we know about the Slith is in their flavor text, Benjamin. They incubate in the Great Furnace, and their form and function is determined by which sun is overhead when they’re born. Among all of Mirrodin’s denizens, the Slith were the first to fully adapt to life on the metal plane, and their adaptations were the most extreme. Also, like almost all beings on Mirrodin (with a few notable exceptions, such as the myr and the blinkmoths), Slith are not native to the plane but were brought there against their will.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:53 pm: |
April 20, 2005
Q: I was just looking over the sketches of Braids and Chainer and I noticed that they both had prominent tattoos on their arms. Was there some significance to either having them or the particular patterns?
--Gary, Hanover, NH
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
There’s no significance in the tattoos or their patterns, Gary. Braids and Chainer were both “dementia summoners,” black-mana-aligned wizards who could summon creatures directly from their nightmare. The graphical look of the dementia summoners was created by Matthew D. Wilson, who gave them lots of black leather, buckles, and tattoos to symbolize their mentality.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:54 pm: |
April 22, 2005
Q: In Hero’s Desmise, is that Sensei Golden-Tail in the picture?
--San Francisco, CA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director
Dear San Francisco,
No.
(We liked that answer. However, Brady also included this more informative answer.)
The short answer is no, that’s not Sensei Golden-Tail. The longer answer is that the challenge of this card’s illustration was to represent the death of a legendary-looking creature without implying that a particular character was actually dying. In other words, we wanted to show the death of a legend without it seeming like a story point. Your question tells me we didn’t succeed as much as we’d hoped.
Here’s the meat of the art description: “Show a white-aligned fox or human, samurai or noble, male or female, being ‘erased’ in whatever way you think is coolest—blowing away like ash, consumed by dark energy, pulled into the earth by little shadow creatures, whatever. The figure being affected should look legendary, one of a kind.”
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:55 pm: |
May 6, 2005
Q: What is the flavor behind the “Shade” mechanic? Or more specifically, why does black get the “B: +1/+1” mechanic?
--Alex, Columbus, OH
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Alex, shades are malevolent ghosts that consist of elemental shadow. When infused with black mana, their shadow substance grows larger and more powerful.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:55 pm: |
May 12, 2005
Q: Is there any significance to all the Oni having three eyes?
--Rodrigo, Washington
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
That detail comes straight from the folklore, Rodrigo. There’s actually a lot of variety in the way demons are represented in Japanese mythology, but they’re most often shown with three eyes and horns. For gameplay purposes, we like it when all cards of a particular kind have a common visual cue, so we made three eyes a rule for Kamigawa oni.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:56 pm: |
May 18, 2005
Q: We’ve been to Mirrodin, we’re on Kamigawa, and next we’ll be visiting Ravnica. Not counting the core sets, any idea how long before things go back to Dominaria where things all started with Magic? Or is Magic going to be plane-hopping for many years to come?
--Josh, Stuart, Florida
A: Obsolete
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:56 pm: |
May 23, 2005
Q: I was looking at the picture of Naturalize from the Onslaught block, and was wondering if the character is Kamahl, holding what I think is his old barbarian sword? And how did Kamahl switch to his new weapon, that magical staff?
--Luke K., Millburn, New Jersey, USA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
That is meant to be Kamahl in the Onslaught Naturalize, Luke. He’s shown destroying a Pardic sword by infusing it with green mana, thereby causing the Krosan Forest to subsume it. That sword does resemble his own sword, the one the Mirari was eventually attached to, but it’s not. It’s just a sword in the style of the Pardic tribes. As for the staff, Kamahl takes up a staff as a kind of symbol of his new dedication to the Krosan Forest and to green mana in general. What happened to Kamahl’s sword? To learn that you’ll have to read the Onslaught novel trilogy, written by J. Robert King.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:57 pm: |
May 27, 2005
Q: I was looking at the Genju of the Falls wallpaper and it was then that I noticed that it has three eyes. Two on the side and one in the center, which would seem to imply that it’s an oni. Is this in fact the case?
--David, Long Beach, CA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director
Genju of the Falls isn’t an oni, David, despite its third eye. It’s missing the horns, as well as the homicidal tendencies and lust for power.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:57 pm: |
May 31, 2005
Q: I know Memnarch is a powerful artifact wizard. But who is he flavor-wise? Why is he an artifact? And why has he created the myr (if that was him)?
--Pontus, St. Olof, Sweden
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
That’s a pretty big question, Pontus. Memnarch was originally created by Kanr to watch over the plane of Argentum, a metal plane of Karn’s creation.
But long after Karn left the plane to wander the multiverse, something happened to cause Memnarch’s sanity to erode. He began to reshape Argentum according to increasingly strange whims, renamed it Mirrodin, and created the myr as his servitors and agents (“myr” is a made-up word that comes from the word “myrmidon”).
For more about Memnarch’s origin and his descent into madness, check out the books The Moons of Mirrodin by Will McDermott, The Darksteel Eye by Jess Lebow, and The Fifth Dawn by Cory J. Herndon.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 08:59 pm: |
June 3, 2005
Q: I was recently looking through the Legends cards and I came across the card Tetsuo Umezawa. Of course, this surname is identical to the protagonist’s in Kamigawa, so I was wondering if this was merely coincidence, or if it’s a deliberate nod toward another expansion that, like Kamigawa, is legend based?
--Paul, Wales, United Kingdom
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Paul, I’m told that the novel Guardian: Saviors of Kamigawa by Scott McGough reveals whether or not there’s any possible connection between Toshiro and Tetsuo Umezawa.
[[Eid’s note: Toshiro is Tetsuo’s distant ancestor. He was brought to Dominaria at the end of Guardian: Saviors of Kamigawa.]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 09:00 pm: |
June 9, 2005
Q: I have noticed that for a lot of the books that Magic has, there is always a reference back to the old Magic days. Are all the planes of Magic connected in some way?
--Alex, Phoenix, Arizona, USA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director
The vast majority of Magic expansions have been set in one place, Alex: Dominaria. Dominaria has a rich history, one that we do our best not to ignore whenever our stories are set there. As for your question about planar connections, yes, all planes are connected by the Blind Eternities, the metaphysical “routes” that planeswalkers traverse when they move between planes.
[[Eid’s note: Another BS answer from the master of BS answers. Yes, there are connections between the planes. For example, the founders of Mercadia City originally were the leading governors of the Thran Empire on Dominaria. The only plane so far that has only a very minor connection with the rest of the multiverse is Ravnica, which has only loose ties with Dominaria.]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 09:00 pm: |
June 16, 2005
Q: I was looking at the snakes I have and I began to wonder what is the difference between the tribes (Sakura, Kashi, Matsu) of orochi, and which of the legendary snakes lives with which tribe?
--Michiel, Washington, USA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director
Michiel, here’s how it breaks down: The Sakura tribe consists of orochi shamans. The Kashi tribe are the warriors, and the Matsu tribe are the archers. The Sakura tribe is led by Sachi, Seshiro’s daughter. The Kashi tribe is led by Sosuke, his son. The leader of the Matsu tribe was never defined (also, each tribe is named after a kind of tree: sakura means “cherry,” kashi means “oak,” and matsu means “pine.”
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 09:01 pm: |
June 30, 2005
Q: Could you list all the planes that have been visited since Alpha, and which sets introduce them?
--Robert, Rochester, MN, USA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Big question, Robert. Many planes have been named in novels, comics, games, and so on without ever having appeared on cards, such as Shandalar and Moag. There are also several planes mentioned here and there on cards without being detailed, such as The Abyss and Segovia. For the sake of simplicity, I’ll list just the planes featured as settings for the card sets.
Dominaria (Alpha)
Rabiah (Arabian Nights)
Phyrexia (Antiquities)
Ulgrotha (Homelands)
Rath (Tempest)
Serra’s Realm (Urza’s Saga)
Mercadia (Mercadian Masques)
Mirrodin (Mirrodin)
Kamigawa (Champions of Kamigawa)
Ravnica (Ravnica, City of Guilds)
[[Eid’s note: I’d also throw Wildfire in there for Mirage, but that’s nitpicking.]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 09:01 pm: |
July 1, 2005
Q: Do the Magic: The Gathering cards fuel the novels, the novels fuel the cards, or are they independent groups that take on each other’s characters when desired? How does one influence the other?
--Preston, Dickenson, Texas, USA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Preston, The Story of the Story, a short article I wrote a couple of years ago, mostly answers your question. Generally the cards provide the world in which the novels are set, and the novels sometimes provide characters represented on cards. But cards also introduce their own characters that might not appear in the novels. In short, the Magic creative team and the novelists work largely in parallel and inform each other as much as possible.
[[Eid’s note: Unless the radical card mechanic is introduced that completely hoses the novels. Then the novels get shafted.]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 09:02 pm: |
July 26, 2005
Q: Who is Gatha, the Tolarian renegade? He seems to be some kind of Frankenstein-ish mad professor (okay, magician), but what’s the story?
--Andreas, Denmark
A: From Scott McGough, Magic novelist:
Gatha was a gifted wizard/instructor/researcher at the Tolarian Academy and a key figure from Urza’s Bloodlines project. As part of Urza’s plan to defeat the Phyrexian Invasion, the Bloodlines project’s goal was the genetically engineer warriors and leaders for the coming conflict. Gatha proved most effective at getting the results Urza wanted, but his methods were brutal and he showed no compassion or concern for his test subjects. His reckless disregard for others eventually led to his dismissal from the Tolarian Academy, but he went on to continue his experiments in the violent warrior nation of Keld (and it has been suggested that he did so with Urza’s secret approval). Many Keldons were willing to take the risks associated with Gatha’s treatments in order to become stronger, faster, and more savage on the battlefield. Hundreds of Keldons died and many more became twisted monstrosities, but Gatha’s work eventually produced Kreig, one of the most powerful Keldon warlords in history.
Gatha died honorably (he fell in combat against an advance force of Phyrexians, battling alongside Kreig), but his life’s work completely destabilized Keldon society and threw the warrior nation into a decades-long period of chaos. Though Keld eventually reestablished its traditional hierarchy, the long-term effects of Gatha’s tampering with Keldon bloodlines have never fully been revealed.
Gatha is mentioned in the flavor text of several Urza’s Destiny cards.
[[Eid’s note – PLEASE allow McGough to answer more questions. This is the level of detail that it the original inquirers would most likely prefer. One nitpick, though: Gatha was most certainly not kicked out of the Tolarian Academy. He left voluntarily, fearing that his research was being hampered by the ethical concerns of his peers. Barrin in particular urged Urza on numerous occasions to restrict Gatha’s progress at every turn.]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 09:03 pm: |
August 1, 2005
Q: Since a Nekratal is a sheitan, a type of djinn, I was wondering what influenced the decision to change Nekrataal to human?
--David, Highland Park, Illinois, USA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic R&D:
David, your question took me a while to understand and an even longer while to answer. As most of you know, as of Ninth Edition, Nekrataal is a Human Assassin. We didn’t make this change lightly. To us, the illustration shows a gaunt, sinister-looking human with a magical brooch. I did some research to try to make sure that the word “nekrataal” have a real-world meaning, and then we went ahead with the change. After all, if you have a bunch of creatures in play that all look human, we want them all to have the Human type if possible (without retroactively issuing creature-type errata to thousands of cards).
As for the sheitan reference … that took some digging. Here’s an excerpt from The Duelist #15 (Vol. 4, issue 1), February 1997, just one month before I started work here at Wizards:
“We had to change Sheitan to Nekrataal,” [Bill] Rose points out. “Sheitan means ‘Satan’ to Muslims, and it has never been our intent to offend anyone.”
When Nekrataal’s name was changed, so was its concept. The commissioned illustration wasn’t of a sheitan, or evil spirit, but of an Arabic-looking human.
Some players’ reaction to Nekrataal’s sudden humanity is “Huh?,” and I think that’s due to (a) the impression the art makes at card size, as oppose to how it looks at its full size, and (b) Adrian Smith’s unique art style, which exaggerates facial features. You can see this on Aysen Bureaucrats, the horseman on Fallen Askari, Grave Servitude, the Fifth Edition Black Knight, and on Portal’s Mercenary Knight and Cruel Bargain.
[[Eid’s note – According to the ancient Jeff Lee storyline site, Nekrataal is a form of djinn. This is probably more in line with what David was asking.]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 09:03 pm: |
September 15, 2005
Q: How precisely do you pronounce “Ravnica?”
--Stewart, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director
“RAV-nih-kuh.” We’re told that “ravnica” is a Croatian word pronounced “rav-NEETS-uh,” but in Magic’s case, “Ravnica” is “RAV-nih-kuh.” In fact, you can hear Michael Dorn’s mellifluous voice pronounce “Ravnica” in the animated teaser for the set.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 09:04 pm: |
September 29, 2005
Q: Can you give us some more information on the vedalken? They appeared in Mirrodin and now again in Ravnica. They all seem to have four arms, wear helmets, and tend to be blue wizards. More information about them and their race would be appreciated …”
--Josh, Stuart, FL
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creator director:
I think you’ll be a little surprised by what vedalken look like without generations of magic and blinkmoth serum shaping their physiognomy, Josh. The vedalken of Lumengrid were quite different when they first arrived on Mirrodin. Only after a century of arcane manipulations and serum use did they come to look as you saw them. As for vedalken elsewhere, they are defined by their political nature, their aloofness, their air of superiority, and their mysteriousness. A vedalken sage always knows more than he or she is willing to tell.
[[Eid’s note – Right. But how about answering the actual question?]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 09:05 pm: |
November 11, 2005
Q: So if Ravnica is one big city with no agrarian land, what do all those millions of people eat?
--Luchae, Aarhus, Denmark
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director
In a world where magic is commonplace, some simply conjure their food. There are also vast indoor farms in the undercity, as well as smaller, private ones in greenhouses and the like. For those too poor to provide for themselves, however, the Golgari are more than happy to provide a bland, lumpy gruel of unknown origin.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 09:06 pm: |
December 2, 2005
Q: I was wondering what influenced the decision to bring back creatures from old sets such as the loxodon, the vedalken, and the viashino?
--Dyaln, Grass Valley, California
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic R&D:
We wanted Ravnica to seem like a world that contained a wider-than-normal variety of humanoids, Dylan, so we went looking for humanoids that we thought players would enjoy seeing again, or that we want to explore in more depth. We also like giving players cards that they can put in older decks. Sure, there may not have been many players running loxodon decks in September … but there are certainly more now!
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 09:06 pm: |
December 5, 2005
Q: In Magic, what is the difference between a Sphinx and a Lammasu?
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
The difference is pretty much the same as the one in real-world folklore. A sphinx is a winged lion with the head of a man or woman, based on a unique creature from Greek myth known for its famous riddle. A lammasu is a protective creature from Mesopotamian myth. It’s a winged bull with the head of a man, thought to ward off evil spirits and such.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 09:07 pm: |
December 15h, 2005
Q: Szadek appears in a lot of Dimir flavor text, but do the forces of Dimir even know who their leader is?
--Cody, Campbellton, Canada
A: From Matt Cavotta, Magic R&D:
Cody,
Szadek is like the Wizard of Oz. The people of the Emerald City sing about the wizard, and they are pretty sure he exists, but they don’t get to have him over for dinner and they don’t get to talk to him. Szadek’s minions know enough to be afraid and to respect his power, but they don’t see him or communicate with him. If they are lucky tey know a specter who knows a guildmage who knows one of the Necrosages—and the Necrosages get to talk to Szadek and hear his evil commands.
[[Eid’s note – Can’t remember if there were Necrosages in the books. Pretty sure there weren’t, unless Savra would be considered a Necrosage.]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 09:07 pm: |
January 16, 2006
Q: Regarding the Dimir, if the guild is so secret, how can people actually recruit to the guild? Or are people simply being recruited without being asked?
--Uria, Amstelveen, Netherlands
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director
Uria, is “Dimir” some kind of nickname for one of Ravnica’s nine guilds? I’m not sure how to answer yoru question because I don’t know what you’re talking about (if there were a guild called “Dimir,” it probably wouldn’t accept applicants).
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 09:08 pm: |
February 10, 2006
Q: Who or what is that fat creature visible in the art of Dark Confidant and Lurking Informant? My first thought was he is an Orzhov, but that doesn’t really match with the appearance of other Orzhov. So what gives?
--Ted, Saugus, MA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Both figures are, in fact, Orzhov participants, Ted. You’re right that they don’t look quite the same as others. Part of that is simply Ron Spears’s art style, but there’s something else at work. It was always my thoughts that the Orzhov aristocrats move very slowly from magically prolonged life to semi-undeath to ghosthood. But Magic’s creature types don’t do transitional phases—a creature is simply a Human or a Zombie or a Spirit, and can’t be somewhere in between. The figures in the cards you mention represent a patriarch who’s well on his way to undeath.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 09:08 pm: |
February 14, 2006
Q: I have noticed that there are several different Gruul clans mentioned in Guildpact (the Burning-Tree clan, the Ghor clan, the Scab clan, and the Skarrgan). But which clan is Borborygmos’s? Also, doe Ulasht belong to a specific clan? And are there any unmentioned clans?
--Caz, Ontario, Canada
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Caz, we purposely didn’t identify ‘Rygmos’s clan. His is the most powerful in terms of brute force and cloud among the Clans, but it’s never specified or described in the Ravnica-block cards or novels. When we return to Ravnica, as we undoubtedly will, we want to have details to fill in and explore, and perhaps who Borborygmos runs with with be among those details. As for Ulasht … crazy hellion-hydra abominations aren’t generally interested in guild membership. Ulasht is like a mascot for the Gruul, a kind of living totem that represents the guild’s values and passions. And are there unmentioned clans? Yes, countless ones. The clans mentioned on cards are just some that have influence in the Tenth, the core, “downtown” district of Ravnica. And “Skarrgan” isn’t a clan per se, but the adjective that refers to all those who reside in Skarrg. That includes more than one clan, as well as other denizens and creatures not part of the Gruul Clans.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 09:09 pm: |
February 20, 2006
Q: When creating the card Tibor and Lumia, how did you decide that two wizards, each with a presumably different ability given what the card can do, could be represented as a singular Legendary creature?
--Al, Washington, USA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
It’s always tough to concept cards that do two or more unconnected things, Al. The Mirage block cycle of Charms, for example, are pretty flavorless mainly because they do three totally different things. I considered concepting the Tibor and Lumia card as a single figure who had both flight and “earthquake” magic, but I couldn’t think of a compelling way to represent such a figure visually. So that led to the idea of the card representing two figures, one for the flight magic, one for the blasty magic. After that the characters kind of suggested themselves. Here’s the original art description I wrote:
“Show a husband-and-wife team of Izzet archmages. Tibor, the man, is a master of the air and can grant both of them magical flight. Lumia is a master of earth magic and can bring magma to the surface, scorching enemies on the ground. Tibor is wise, noble, head in the clouds. Lumia is fiery and wild-eyed. Both should have the Izzet look/feel in costuming, hair, etc.”
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 09:09 pm: |
February 23, 2006
Q: Ravnica is full of cards that create saprolings, the Selenya guild in particular. Some fo the flavor text implies that the Conclave considers these new members. How intelligent are saprolings actually supposed to be in this setting? Are they just sort of minions, like zombies only using green and white mana? Or are they actually living things that can communicate?
--Jonathan, Boston, MA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
The Selesnya treat all living things with respect and love, Jonathan—provided those things are favorably disposed toward the guild. So to some extent, the level of self-determination of the saprolings doesn’t matter much to the Conclave. That said, the saprolings range in intelligence from antlike to dog-like, depending on the magic used to create them. The dryads of the Conclave can communicate with the saprolings telepathically, although the saprolings aren’t capable of complex thought.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 09:10 pm: |
March 1, 2006
Q: What do you do when you get a concept that goes against the established design molds for reasons such as the storyline? In other words, and as an example, if the ongoing storyline provided for the opportunity to have an elf character who is almost entirely blue in terms of the characteristics that define each color in Magic, what would you do?
--Antonio, Mexico City, Mexico
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Good question, Antonio. Generally speaking, I think it’s good to have the occasional character (or other element) that “plays against type,” such as the brilliant goblin engineer (Slobad), for example. But too many of those get old pretty quickly. In other words, for characters to be more interesting by defying expectations, you need plenty of characters that fulfill expectations.
To answer your question, though, one of the perks of my job is that I can always negotiate and work with the other creative professionals who work on Magic to come up with solutions. If, say, the author of one of our Magic novels wanted a blue-aligned elf character, maybe that would be fine (depending on the context, the character’s importance, whether or not he or she was slated to appear on cards). Maybe the elf’s blue qualities could be adapted to green. For example, blue is intelligent, generally, whereas green is wise. Or maybe the character should be changed from an elf to some other, more blue-friendly race. As with almost everything related to Magic, the decision would be made collaboratively.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 09:12 pm: |
March 2, 2006
Q: I love the idea of Coldsnap, but I’m confused about how the books are going to work. The Gathering Dark was already portrayed as the first Ice Age book. Are you going to break the trilogy pattern for the first time in Coldsnap?
--Tom, West Milford, New Jersey, USA
A: From Alex Tinsman, associate brand manager, Magic: The Gathering:
We joke around here that Coldsnap has more ice than Ice Age. And, well, it does. The epic of Ice Age begins once more and lucky for you, we went ahead and reprinted The Gathering Dark, by the talented Mr. Jeff Grubb. So, no, we’re not breaking the trilogy but instead we’re taking you back to the desolate Terisiare and Jodah’s battle against Lim-Dûl (think Phyrexians, smashing mirrors, and sparks galore). The Archmage-Eternal finds a way to end the Ice Age and naturally, we find a way to bring it back to you. We like The Gathering Dark so much, we’ve even included it in the Coldsnap Fat Pack where it can live right next to the new pitch cards and snow-covered lands!
[[Eid’s note – Evidently you liked it so much that you never bothered to read it. The only part Mr. Tinsman got right was the “desolated Terisiare” bit. There are no Phyrexians, no smashed mirrors, and no sparks. Jodah is not the Archmage-Eternal yet, and he doesn’t figure out how to stop the Ice Age. None of these events happen in The Gathering Dark. All of them happen in previous installments of the Ice Age Cycle. Also, for Mr. Milford, the “trilogy pattern” was broken with the very first cycle of Magic books printed by WotC. The Artifacts Cycle was a four-parter.]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 09:13 pm: |
March 8, 2006
Q: Who, exactly, is Zur the Enchanter? I’ve noticed his name in several Ice Age cards’ flavor text and am familiar with his Weirding. But I’ve never seen him on a card. Perhaps he’s a planeswalker? Did he have anything to do with the Brothers’ War? Thanks for shedding some light!
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Zur the Enchanter, also called Zur the Mad, was a rival of the famous Gustha Ebbasdotter, the founder of the School of the Unseen. Whereas Gustha espoused illusion magic and was an ally of the nation of Kjeldor, Zur used more manipulative magic and considered Kjeldor to be a corrupt culture and a lost cause. Zur had a small following of likeminded mages. Although he tangled with Gustha more than once, Zur’s eventual fate is unknown. Some believe him dead, others believe he found the immortality he so desperately sought and became a hermit.
[[Eid’s note – For further clarification, Zur was neither a planeswalker nor had he anything to do with the Brothers’ War.]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 09:14 pm: |
March 22, 2006
Q: Why is it that Crovax the Cursed is a Vampire, but his future form, Ascendant Evincar, is not? How did Crovax rid himself of that vampiric curse? On a similar note, what is the reason that Baron Sengir was denied the “Counts as a Vampire” text?
--Daniel, Jacksonville, Arkansas, USA
A: Obsolete, as both Ascendant Evincar and Baron Sengir have been given the creature type Vampire.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 09:14 pm: |
April 4, 2006
Q: I have noticed that numerous flavor texts reveal the names of the guildmages. Do all the guildmages printed so far now have names?
--John, Adelaide, SA, Australia
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
All of Ravnica’s guilds have far more than one guildmage, John. Each guildmage named in flavor text is just one of many of that guild’s mages, and there isn’t a piece of flavor text attributed to a guildmage for each of the ten guilds.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 09:15 pm: |
April 27, 2006
Q: I was just wondering what the definition of a “plane” was. For example, is Ravnica a big round planet, or does it have edges like Earth did before Columbus errata’ed it?
--Ryan, Manchester, UK
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
The only consistency across all planes is their infinite variety, Ryan. Some planes are entire, boundless universes containing multiple worlds. Others are simply one world and its sky, with the planar matter simply ending at some altitude above the surface. Planes can be of any shape or size, and they follow their own rules of physics. Mirrodin, for example, is an artificial plan of the planeswalker Karn’s creation. It’s a hollow metal world with an internal “sun” of pure mana. Rath was another artificial plane (before it was laid over the world of Dominaria like a skin), formed from a combination of the Phyrexian mimetic metal flowstone and pieces taken from other planes. In contrast, the plane of Kamigawa is a natural plane but has two interdependent realities: the kakuriyo and utsushiyo (the realm of the kami and the realm of mortals). The possibilities for planar structures are endless … and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 09:15 pm: |
May 3, 2006
Q: It seems that some of the guilds in Ravnica have specific allied guilds and enemy guilds, such as Orzhov being allied with the Golgari for business reasons as shown in the flavor text of Streetbreaker Wurm. If this is so could you tell us which guilds have deals or enmities with each other?
--Travis, Omaha, NE
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Those guild relationships are fluid and changeable based on context and circumstances, Travis. For example, the Azorious, Boros, and Selesnya generally cooperate when it comes to upholding the law of the land. But when the Azorious get too caught up in pontification and bureaucracy, the Boros will often “go rogue” and act on their own, and the Selenya tend to keep their affairs to themselves whenever possible. Similarly, the Rakdos and Gruul might join in each other’s havoc-wreaking sessions, but there’s no meaningful attachment before or after the fun. There are lots of other natural guild ties and enmities too numerous to itemize here, and there are also some guilds that have trouble relating to anyone else (the Simic come to mind, for example).
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 09:16 pm: |
May 5, 2006
Q: Although it is clear that the Orzhov worship money during the time period that Guildpact takes place in, there must have been an actual belief system in the mix at some time. Is there anything you can tell us about what the basic principles, gods, etc. of the Orzhov religion were before its corruption?
--Alex, San Diego, CA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
The origins of the Orzhov “faith” are shrouded in mystery, Alex. The only hint in cards is Godless Shrine, and that card shows a crumbled temple in which the central symbol fo worship has long since been removed. Given the length of Ravnica’s history, it’s possible that the Orzhov faith was concocted as a means of control from the very beginning. More likely, however, the Orzhov appropriated an existing religion and adapted it to their purposes. Little is known about such ancient religions, although it’s known tha the Nephilim were somehow relevant.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 09:55 pm: |
May 12, 2006
Q: In the art for Dream Lash, I know that the mage is Dimir, but is the dragon Niv-Mizzet? He seems to have the same skin and face structure.
--Evan, Franklin, Indiana, USA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Evan, the Player’s Guide included with the Guildpact Fat Pack contains the answer to your question:
“Another Izzet cameo might be misleading if you know the Izzet’s great draconic leader, Niv-Mizzet. Dream Lash depicts a sleeping dragon under the spell of a Dimir wizard. Though the dragon looks like Niv-Mizzet, it’s actually one of his many cloned dragon underlings. Niv-Mizzet likes his dragons to look like him, but the giveway is in the scale—Niv-Mizzet himself would be at least three to four times bigger than this dragon.”
[[Eid’s note – No, no, no. There is one dragon alive and well on Ravnica: Niv-Mizzet. The novel Guildpact is very particular on this aspect. Two other dragons were born during the course of that novel, but were killed before its conclusion. This is a clear dissimilarity between the books and the cards.]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 09:56 pm: |
May 24, 2006
Q: Which is the most destructive guild: the Cult of Rakdos or the Gruul clans? The Cult normally focus on bloodshed but the clans destroy anything (including people) that shows anything civilized. Which guild is the most destructive?
--Patrick, Phoenix, Arizona, USA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Interesting question, Patrick. I’d say the Gruul are more destructive, but perhaps only because the guild opposes civilization in an almost entirely civilized world. In other words, if Ravnica were a world covered in wilderness rather than in streets and buildings, I think the Rakdos would outdo the Gruul in destructiveness.
[[Eid’s note – Big time disagree here. The Rakdos guild master went loco in the middle of Ravnica City, destroying things left and right. The Gruul on their best day are unorganized and leaderless. There’s no way they could ever hope to accomplish that level of destruction.]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 09:56 pm: |
June 21, 2006
Q: Just lately I was browsing an online store, and I searched for “Magic the Gathering.” Unfortunately, I messed up and searched the comics section instead of the entire site.
To my surprise, I found a ton of old Magic comics, based on storylines such as Ice Age or Antiquities.
I’ve never heard of these before. Could you please explain what they are?
--Charlie, Pacific Palisades, CA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director
Over a decade ago, in 1995, Armada, a division of Acclaim Comics, released a series of Magic comics.
Arabian Nights (2 issues)
Antiquities War (4 issues)
Fallen Empires (4 issues)
Ice Age (4 issues)
Homelands (1 issue)
The Shadow Mage (4 issues)
Wayfarer (5 issues)
Elder Dragons (2 issues)
Shandalar (2 issues)
Legend of Jedit Ojanen (2 issues)
Convocations—A Magic: The Gathering Gallery
Dakkon Blackblade (1 issue)
Serra Angel (1 issue)
Fallen Angel (1 issue)
Nightmare (1 issue)
Some of these comics came bagged with a booster pack or a sheet of punch-out cardboard chits to be used as counters.
In 1996, Calliope Comics produced Musings Magic Special, which was a black-and-white volume that consisted mainly of interviews with artists. A little later, in 1998, Dark Horse Comics produced a 4-volume series collectively called Gerrard’s Quest that told the story of the Rath Cycle. None of the comics above are in print anymore, but the Coldsnap minisite that just launched has the Ice Age comics as part of its story section if you’re looking for a fun walk down nostalgia lane. I think the list above is a complete list of all the comics ever produced for Magic. If I’m wrong, let me know!
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 09:57 pm: |
July 5, 2006
Q: What exactly is a Nephilim? All five of them look different and I cannot decide what one actually looks like.
--Brian, Littleton, MA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Hi Brian,
The nephilim are unfathomably ancient Ravnican creatures that predate the Guildpact—in fact, they existed before Ravnica’s first building was constructed. Their origins are unknown, and they have little in common with each other besides their strangeness and inscrutability. It’s unknown how many nephilim remain on Ravnica (the word “nephilim means “fallen one” or “giants” in Hebriew; in the Magic context, however, we played a little fast and loose with the language; technically, “nephilim” is plural; the singular version of the word would be “naphil” or “naphal.”
[[Eid’s note – In the books, a singular “naphil” is referred to as a nephilim.]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 09:58 pm: |
July 14, 2006
Q: Are there any design qualities that are used to distinguish the “Hellkite” dragons from the regular dragons?
--AJ, Lynchburg, VA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director
“Hellkite” is simply a word we use for really powerful, really angry dragons, AJ. There’s no hard rule for what qualifies a dragon to be a hellkite, although so far all of them are either 6/6 or cost 7 mana or more to play.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 09:58 pm: |
July 28, 2006
Q: In the art for Mishra’s Bauble there appears to be a familiar mask in the bauble’s center, like the one used as the Apocalypse expansion symbol (also found on Ascendant Evincar as kneeguards). Was this done on purpose to hint at the fact that Mishra was backed by Phyrexia?
--Jeff, Renton, WA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
That’s no hint, Jeff! Readers of the Magic novels can tell you that Phyrexia was lurking behind the scenes from the earliest stages of the Brothers’ War, particularly the priests of Gix. From the beginning Mishra used Phyrexian machines to wage war against his brother Urza. But slowly, over time, Phyrexia exerted influence over Mishra, quietly machinating. In the end, Urza faced not his brother, but a Phyrexian construct made to look like Mishra. Later, Phyrexia taunted the planeswalker Urza with imitations and visions of his lost brother, and in fact Mishra’s final fate is unknown.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 09:59 pm: |
August 11, 2006
Q: For the last few blocks, blue has been more evil than normal. Just look, vedalken in Mirrodin were tyrants, the moonfolk in Kamigawa were secretly trying to destroy everything, and the Izzet/Simic/Dimir were all to a certain extent evil. Why is this?
--Mike, Loves Park, IL
A: From Brady Dommermuth, magic creative director:
It’s true that blue-aligned characters and factions are often morally sketchy, Mike, but I wouldn’t use the word “evil” in all the cases you’ve listed above. Here’s my own theory about why it’s easy to vilify blue, as well as why it’s hard to make green evil: It’s all about intention. If a person kills someone accidentally or in a “moment of passion,” that’s fundamentally different than if he or she plans to kill someone in advance. And blue is all about premeditation. Blue is calculating, analytical, and full of forethought. Blue doesn’t like to do anything spontaneously or accidentally.
When a green-aligned beast kills, it’s simply the law of the jungle, survival of the fittest, etc. Green doesn’t consider its actions; the killer was just hungry or maybe startled. But when a blue-aligned figure kills, it was almost certainly intended. Think of it in these terms: in a way, one of green’s values is innocence, because its needs and drives are so basic and unconsidered. So if green is innocent, and blue is green’s opposite … That said, I do believe there have been a few too many blue villains (or at least antagonists) over the last several years. As with everything in Magic, you can expect the color of villainy to change as time goes on.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:00 pm: |
August 14, 2006
Q: Hello! Is there a link that explains who/what Marit Lage is? I was under the impression that she was a powerful planeswalker. However, the token art makes “her” appear as a large Hypnox type of a creature? Thanks!
--Justin, Lancaster, OH
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
The Argivian scholar Arkol thought Marit Lage was a planeswalker, but he was wrong. What’s known about Marit Lage is that she is a being of immense power, able to move across the planes but not by the same means planeswalkers can. She is not native to Dominaria, and could justifiably be called a demigod. She is mentioned in passing a couple of times in The Eternal Ice, a Magic novel by Jeff Grubb. It’s implied that she wreaked havoc on Dominaria at some point, and it’s clear that she had a human following (see the flavor text of Brine Shaman, Curse of Marit Lage, Wrath of Marit Lage, and Dehydration). One interesting footnote about Marit Lage is that the cards that bear her name penalize black’s allied colors rather than its enemy colors.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:00 pm: |
August 30, 2006
Q: I’ve noticed a couple of characters with sz in their names such as Tevesh Szat and Szadek. How do you pronounce “sz”?
--Teddy, MA
A: From Doug Beyer, flavor text writer:
Although “sz” is pronounced “shh” in many Slavic languages, in Magic it’s very close to the strait-up English Z. Try pronouncing “Zah-dek” or “Zot” with a slight hiss before you start the “z” sound, with your tongue close to the back of your teeth. It’s not the “zh” sound like in “azure,” that’s too buzzy an dairy—it’s more like the sound you make when you say “Minneapolis Zoo.” You’re on the right track if you can say confidently:
Kneel before Szadek!
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:01 pm: |
September 15, 2006
Q: Is there any one place that lists what each of the guilds do for Ravnican society?
--Anonymous, USA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Azorious Senate: Ravnica’s ostensible government, particularly its legislative and higher judicial functions.
House Dimir: No known function beyond subversion of other guilds and maintenance of a thieves’ guild.
Cult of Rakdos: Parties, festivals, demolition, murders for hire, and all manner of hedonistic diversions.
Gruul Clans: No known function beyond destruction of abandoned areas and maintenance of a beggars’ guild.
Selesnya Conclave: Spiritual refuge and communion, although it is viewed by some simply as a very large cult.
Boros Legion: Enforcement of Ravnica’s laws.
Izzet League: Design and maintenance of Ravnica’s infrastructure, such as heating and water distribution.
Simic Combine: Caretakers of what’s left of the natural world.
Golgari [Swarm]: Custodians of the dead and providers of food for Ravnica’s poor.
Orzhov [Syndicate]: Stewardship of Ravnica’s economies and money, although the methods are usually in their interests.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:02 pm: |
September 21, 2006
Q: I was reading “Time (Spiral) is On My Side,” and I wanted to know what books I would need to read the full storyline of Dominaria?
--Vinny, Beaver Dam, WI
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Hi Vinny,
Unfortunately there’s no “full” storyline of Dominaria. For example, the events of Mirage, Visions, and Weatherlight stories were never novelized. However, there are lots of Magic novels dealing with Dominaria’s sordid, cataclysmic history. Here they are in chronological order:
The Thran by J. Robert King
The Brothers’ War by Jeff Grubb
The Gathering Dark by Jeff Grubb
The Eternal Ice by Jeff Grubb
The Shattered Alliance by Jeff Grubb
Planeswalker by Lynn Abbey
Time Streams by J. Robert King
Bloodlines by Loren L. Coleman
Rath and Storm by various, ed. Peter Archer
Mercadian Masques by Francis Lebaron
Nemesis by Paul Thompson
Prophecy by Vance Moore
Invasion by J. Robert King
Planeshift by J. Robert King
Apocalypse by J. Robert King
Odyssey by Vance Moore
Chainer’s Torment by Scott McGough
Judgment by Will McDermott
Onslaught by J. Robert King
Legions by J. Robert King
Scourge by J. Robert King
There are many other Magic novels, including trilogies about Mirrodin, Kamigawa, and Ravnica. Each has some connection to Dominaria (even if that connection isn’t yet apparent), but they aren’t about Dominaria per se. Additionally there are several anthologies that deal with people, places, and things on Dominaria, but are largely unconnected to larger storylines:
The Colors of Magic by various, ed. Jess Lebow
The Myths of Magic by various, ed. Jess Lebow
The Dragons of Magic by various, ed. J. Robert King
The Secrets of Magic by various, ed. Jess Lebow
The Monsters of Magic by various, ed. J. Robert King
Happy reading!
[[Eid’s note – Happy reading, Brady! Best of luck with that. Mountains of mistakes here. First, the storyline from the Weatherlight set did appear in a novel—the first third of Rath and Storm. Mercadian Masques and Nemesis never took place on Dominaria at all. There are also six books that weren’t on the list that all take place on Dominaria: Johan, Jedit, Hazezon, Assassin’s Blade, Emperor’s Fist, and Champion’s Trial. Then of course there’s the prerevision books, but even I’m lost when it comes to those. Now that the Time Spiral trilogy is out, all of those books take place on Dominaria: Time Spireal, Planar Chaos, and Future Sight.]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:03 pm: |
October 12, 2006
Q: Was there a flavor reason for Lin Sivvi, or was she just a combination of mechanics and abilities?
--Jaja, Chonburi, Thailand
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
It was a match made in heaven, Jaja. The card-design team had a “Rebel lord” card and the Nemesis story had a young female Vec who led a group of rebels against Volrath’s Stronghold. Naturally, the character made it onto the card smoothly. It’s worth noting, though, that whereas the Ramosian rebels call Mercadia home, Lin Sivvi is no Ramosian. Her home was the bleak plane of Rath.
[[Eid’s note – It’s also worth nothing—well, maybe not really—that there are some discrepancies between the novels and the cards here. The novels name Lin Sivvi as Liin Sivi, using the Vec word for “commander” or “leader,” liin. Also, in the books, it’s Ramosan instead of Ramosian. Impress your friends are parties with this useless information.]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:04 pm: |
October 13, 2006
Q: I remember a prior question from Ask Wizards about printing cards with Mishra, Urza, etc. on them. In particular, the response was that: “We don’t print cards with planeswalkers on them, since you are a planeswalker and telling a story.”
I noticed recently you printed a Jaya Ballard card pre-planeswalker ascension. I’m curious about the Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir card. From the flavor text, it seems that he has the power to shift planes, so wouldn’t he be in his planeswalker-powered form?
--William, British Columbia, Canada
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
WARNING: PARTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD.
I suppose we’ve waited long enough to answer this very commonly asked question. Is it true that planeswalkers are too powerful to represent on normal cards? Yes, that’s true. But if that’s true, why do Jaya and Teferi both have cards in the Time Spiral set? Here’s the explanation: Jaya’s card (which you figured out but many others have misunderstood) represents her being displaced in time, existing in “present-day Dominaria” and in her own time (millennia ago) simultaneously, like a kind of temporal mirage. The card represents a young taskmage Jaya, before she realizes her planeswalking ability. Teferi’s card, on the other hand, represents his current state. That’s right—by the time the curtain closes on the story of Time Spiral, Teferi has lost his ability to planeswalk. How does this happen? Check out the Time Spiral novel by Scott McGough to find out. I don’t want to explain everything, but I will say that Teferi’s sacrifice enables most of the entire continent of Shiv to phase back into its rightful place on Dominaria, after being phased out for the centuries since the Phyrexian Invasion (for you storyline gurus, Blind Seer represents the persona of Urza’s disguise, not Urza; cheaty, I know).
[[Eid’s note – “I don’t want to explain everything, but I just did.”]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:05 pm: |
October 25, 2006
Q: I was reading the Time Spiral novel last night and an interesting question popped into my mind. Does anyone over at WotC have some kind of map of Dominaria?
--Seth, Destin, FL
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Yes we do, Seth. In fact, we have multiple maps, some hand-drawn, and a globe lovingly made years ago by Pete Venters, illustrator and former Magic continuity manager. But Dominaria is enormous—roughly three times the size of Earth—and its history on cards spans many thousands of years. Most of those maps are wrong in some minor way, and some aspect of Dominarian continuity require tectonic shift to be taken into account before they line up. That means in order for Dominarian maps to make sense of story, we’d have to produce a series of different ones, each representing a different geological era.
Storyline gurus have put together some pretty awesome Wikipedia entries for Magic storyline and continuity details. Check out the Dominaria entry, which is pretty dang comprehensive, even if it doesn’t satisfy every cartographical desire: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominaria
[[Eid’s note – And yet you guys still don’t know where Yavimaya is. And the Wikipedia entry on Dominaria pales in comparison to the MTGSWiki one.]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:06 pm: |
December 1, 2006
Q: How do counterspells work in the flavor world of Magic? Please use excruciating detail.
--Victor, New York, NY
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
There isn’t just one way in which spells are countered in Magic (mainly because that would get stale and would prevent variety in card concepts). Here are some examples of how countering can work:
Counterspells are like the resonating frequencies of other spells, causing them to collapse under their own metaphysical “vibrations.”
Mages can set up ablative counterspell membranes that dissipate an incoming spell and are destroyed in the process.
Some countering magic acts as a mana vacuum, depriving the spell of its “fuel” before it can come to fruition.
Other counterspells can create small, localized “stutters” in time. The target spell fails when its casting attempts to bridge one of these minor temporal wrinkles.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:06 pm: |
January 3, 2007
Q: It can mutate and rift, it can surge and become tainted, it can snap and storm, and you can even pack it into a spellbomb. So I guess my question is: What exactly is “Æther” (and what is its correct pronunciation)?
--Derrick, Grundy, VA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
As I said in an earlier Ask Wizards response, “Æther is the stuff between planes. In the Magic multiverse, when a creature is summoned, it materializes from (is “pulled through”) the Æther.” Here’s a little more information about this extraplanar stuff:
Æther is Latin for the modern word “ether,” whose cosmological (rather than chemical) meaning is the basis for Magic’s Æther.
The word “ethereal” is the adjectival form of “ether,” but whereas we use “Æther” to refer to the stuff between planes, we use “ethereal” to mean simply “intangible” or “celestial” (its standard English meanings).
Older planeswalkers like Teferi refer to the Æther somewhat poetically as “the Blind Eternities.” Only planeswalkers and beings of godlike power can enter this “space.” Little is known about its physics, including whether it has any.
“Æther” is pronounced “EE-ther,” with a long “e” and an unvoiced “th” sound (like the one in “lethal,” not the voiced sound in “whether”).
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:07 pm: |
January 16, 2007
Q: How intelligent are the dragons of the Magic world? I mean, the legendary ones all seem pretty intelligent (or the most intelligent thing in the world, as one case may be). But with the non-legendary ones, you very rarely get a sense that they’re anything other than huge, slavering beasts. The only non-legendary dragon that has his own quote is the Dragon Mage, and he’s also the only one with an occupation (Wizard), so he’s obviously one of the bright ones. Exalted Dragon seems intelligent enough to revel in/capitalize on the worship of his followers. But are the smart ones considered aberrant? Are dragons particularly smart in some places and downright mindless in others?
--Paul, Philadelphia, PA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
It’s really hard to generalize about dragons in Magic, Paul, because over Magic’s 13+ year history, we’ve been a little undisciplined about what dragons are, what colors they belong in, and so on. Here’s what I’d like to be true, and what we currently aim for.
There are basically two kinds of dragons: the ones that are sentient and self-willed, and the ones that aren’t. The former are almost always legendary and often multicolored (and usually in cycles of five). They represent ancient beings of immense power and complex motivations. The latter, the nonsentient kind, are the utmost embodiments of red mana—they are capricious, impulsive, and relentlessly destructive. There are several dragons outside of this model: Quicksilver Dragon, Exalted Dragon, Alabaster Dragon, the cycle of Mirage dragons, and a handful of artifact dragons (plus Eternal Dragon, which was concepted as the repentant ghost of a dragon). But going forward I’m hoping we can make more sense of dragons and their role in Magic—while leaving room for the occasional exception, of course.
[[Eid’s note – Every dragon that has appeared in the novels was the former kind: “sentient and self-willed.”]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:07 pm: |
February 15, 2007
Q: When did “Dominia” become “Dominaria?” When I started playing with Revised edition the land Magic took place in was called “Dominia” (check the flavor text on revised edition Grizzly Bears) … now it’s “Dominaria.” What happened?
--Juno, Napa, CA, USA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director
Juno,
Despite the belief that the Dominia/Dominaria distinction is a retconned typo, my best efforts at researching the origins of these two terms indicate that they were distinct from the beginning (they were certainly distinct by early 1995; prior to that things get difficult to confirm). In other words, “Dominia” never became “Dominaria.” “Dominia” was the name of Magic’s multiverse, and Dominaria is an important plane at its heart. Because of the confusion caused by use of both terms, we’ve largely retired Dominia, instead simply calling Magic’s mutliverse “the multiverse.”
[[Eid’s note – I think this is incorrect. It was brought up on several forums, but I’m not sure if it was ever resolved.]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:08 pm: |
March 7, 2007
Q: With most of the legendary cards, it’s easy to tell the gender of the character from the art and name; not so easy with the Planar Chaos legendary dragons. We assume most dragons to be male, so which ones (if any) are female? Are the dragon “characters” even created with any particular gender in mind at all?
--Thomas, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
A: From Doug Beyer, Magic creative team:
Hi Thomas,
To answer your question, I referred to the very handy Planar Chaos Translation Guide. A Translation Guide is a document created by the creative and editing teams for each set. It contains notes on unusual words and proper nouns that appear in that set’s card names and flavor text, so that the cards can be accurately translated for Magic’s printings in other languages. It contains entries like this:
Jodah: Proper name of a powerful archmage from Terisiare.
Or this:
Timbermare: Made up word from “timber” (wood) and “mare” (horse), meaning a wood elemental creature shaped like a horse. Intended to reflect the names of Nightmare (9E) and Thundermare (9E).
Or this:
Numot: Proper name of a fierce, legendary dragon.
Another function of the Translation Guide is to specify genders. English does not have a lot of strong gender cues built into its grammar, but many other languages do, so it’s important that we make clear the genders of the creatures and flavor text characters in a set in case it comes up for translation. Hence there is a “creature genders” tab in the Translation Guide. Yes, we keep track of all this stuff!
As it turns out, Intet, the Dreamer is female, and the other Planar Chaos dragon legends are male. Thanks for your question!
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:10 pm: |
March 8, 2007
Q: There aren’t many of them, and so far their only two jobs are scouts and seekers. They’re kithkins, and I would like to know exactly what they are. The word “kithkin” appears in the same spot on the creature type line that Human or Elf would. What differentiates them from other Magic “races” and exactly who ARE they?
--Brian, Owensboro, KY, USA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
We haven’t told any Big Origin Story for the kithkin, Brian, just as we haven’t told an origin story for most of Magic’s races of creatures. The kithkin are a “near-human” white-aligned race who tend to have a strong sense of community, simplicity, and forthrightness. They are quick, agile, and highly cooperative in battle. Also, they’re short, topping out at about four-and-a-half feet tall. I tmight be easier to talk about what the kithkin are not: They’re not dwarves or hobbits. They don’t have an unusual fondness for “pipe-wood” or ale, they don’t go barefoot or burst into song more than other races, and they don’t take particular pride in their beards or gardens.
[[Eid’s note: They do, however, have hair on the top of their feet. They’re hobbits, Magic-style. Everybody rips off Tolkien, it’s no big deal.]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:11 pm: |
April 2, 2007
Q: I’m wondering why—from a flavor perspective—Konda, Lord of Eiganjo is indestructible. I know that the respective artifacts are indestructible because of the unusual resistance of Darksteel and the Myojins are hard to kill because of their divine nature but none of those fits Konda.
--Fabian, Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative coordinator:
The main plotline of the Kamigawa block, the war between the kami and the material world, starts with a single act. With the help of moonfolk collaborators, the daimyo Konda kidnaps and imprisons an aspect of O-Kagachi, the kami of all things. He does so because he truly believes that his own immortality and invulnerability will ensure lasting peace and happiness for his lands. It’s the power of That Which Was Taken that grants Konda indestructibility.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:12 pm: |
April 5, 2007
Q: What is the relation between Toshiro Umezawa of the Kamigawa Block and Tetsuo Umezawa of the Legends set?
--Sebastian, Medellin, Antioquia, Columbia
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director
In the Kamigawa storyline, the Myojin of Night’s Reach aids Toshiro in return for his fealty. Toshiro agrees but takes some liberties with the power Night’s Reach grants him. At the end of the story, as punishment for abusing her gifts, Night’s Reach banishes Toshiro from Kamigawa—she sends him to Dominaria. The Umezawa line continues there for an unknown number of generations. In other words, Tetsuo is a descendent of Toshiro.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:13 pm: |
April 27, 2007
Q: We’ve heard a lot about the mistakes that R&D has made over the years, and also about cards or sets they take particular pride in. What are the biggest successes or failures that creative feels it has made?
--Nick, New York, NY, USA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Thanks for your question, Nick, although it’s really difficult to answer. One of the factors that makes working on Magic so difficult is that it has a lot of “moving parts,” so when a card or expansion totally rocks or, um, fails to rock, it’s nearly impossible to pin down why it did or didn’t work. Creative quality is even more elusive than most elements, because people tend to like the creative elements on mechanically strong cards regardless of their quality, and they tend to dislike the creative elements on weaker cards, no matter how good they might be.
To complicate matters, the creative elements of Magic are so collaborative that I doubt there’s consensus about success or failure even among those who directly contributed. For example, I might believe that a particular world design I lead was a bit limp, but that card-by-card creative process really shored up its weaknesses. Or I might have had a really strong vision to a set that simply couldn’t translate well onto cards or into a novel.
So rather than talk about Magic creative work generally, I’ll stick to my own little sandbox: world design. First, the darts. I think Mercadia was an interesting and complex world design, but not right for Magic. Likewise, I’m very proud of the Kamigawa world design—it’s a Japan-inspired setting unlike any other—but it makes sense to me that fewer players would really get into it. Lastly, there’s Odyssey, which I believe was a huge missed opportunity for world design. Odyssey came right after the Invasion block, which was the conclusion of a plot arc that spanned several years. The creative team at the time was eager to jumpstart a new story, one they believed was more resonant for Magic’s audience. But in the meantime, R&D was designing a block with a very tight thematic infrastructure (flashback, threshold, madness, etc.). The story of Kamahl and the Mirari was a perfectly good story. But in hindsight the Odyssey world design should have been all about the graveyard. All the set’s major mechanics centered on the graveyard. If only the word “graveyard” had been used as a guiding force of worldbuilding for Odyssey, we would have produced a creepy horror-themed world perfect for the set’s mechanical themes. I believe the whole block would have been twice as popular had we gone this way (imagine Torment in this world!). Ah well, hindsight is always 20/20.
Now for the world-design laurels. I believe Ravnica is the gold standard. It has unprecedented synergy between set design an world design; the two were totally interdependent. The world’s identity drove the set structures, and those structure enriched and reinforced the world. The whole was greater than the sum of its parts. I also think the folks responsible for Mirage should be extremely proud of their work. Mirage broke new ground in the fantasy genre—no mean feat. It was the first fully realized African fantasy setting. My bronze medal goes to the Tempest block. The world of Rath contained such a wealth of cool new concepts, all of which hung together amazingly well. Its visual style was dark, compelling, and tight without risking monotony.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:13 pm: |
July 10, 2007
Q: I keep seeing cards ending in things like “il-Dal,” “en-Vec” and “il-Kor.” I was wondering: what do the “il-“ and “en-“ mean?
--Anh Vu Doan, Berkeley, CA, USA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
On the artificial plane of Rath, the Kor, the Vec, and the Dal were three humanoid races who resisted the tyranny of the evincar, an overlord appointed by Phyrexia (Volrath, Davvol, and Crovax all served as evincar of Rath at various times). The “en-“ and il-“ prefixes designate status. The designations originated with the Vec but came to be used by others in Rath as well. Those who are “en-Vec” are in favor with and accepted by the Vec, and the “il-Vec” are out of favor with, cast out of, or enemies of the Vec. The same goes for “en-Dal,” “il-Kor,” and other such usages of the “en-“ and “il-“ designations.
The “il-“ designation was most commonly used for those who had betrayed their people by serving the evincar, and sometimes for those who had been pressed into the evincar’s service against their will. Many such individuals lived in the so-called “City of Traitors,” a settlement inside the mountain that housed Volrath’s Stronghold.
Despite the resemblance to French words, “en-“ and “il-“ are pronounced “en” and “ill,” not “ahn” and “eel.” The term “en-Kor,” for example, does not sound like “encore.”
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:14 pm: |
August 2, 2007
Q: In most fantasy worlds I’ve seen, elements are usually living manifestations of the four basic magical elements—so there are Fire, Water, Air, and Earth elementals, and sometimes a Lightning one, all of which Magic has covered. But, in Magic, elementals can also be based on everything from substances to time periods. What exactly are elementals in the Magic universe?
--Andre, Brazil
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director
Your initial definition of elementals holds true for all elementals: They are living manifestations of elements. But Magic uses “element” much more loosely than other fantasy worlds do. We use “element” to refer to not just one of the four classical elements. We use its secondary definition instead: “a constituent part.” With this usage you can envision an element of joy, an element of pond scum, or an element of cashews, for example.
One reason for this is because Magic has an ongoing need to create countless creatures—many more than almost any other fantasy property—and using a wider definition of “element” enables their creation. Another reason is that some nontraditional elementals are just too cool not to do, such as an element of shadow or blood. A final reason is that things work in threes and therefore I need a third person, or if you prefer, because cashews are delicious.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:15 pm: |
August 15, 2007
Q: Who is Ramos (I’ll bet he is related to Urza in a long complicated way, like the rest of the multiverse; Six Degrees of Urza?)?
--Eric, Baytown, TX, USA
A: From Doug Beyer, Magic creative team:
The faith of the Cho-Arrim people of Mercadia revolved around worship of the being Ramos. According to their beliefs, Ramos was a god who gathered races from a broken world and brought them all to Mercadia. Five parts of Ramos’s body were believed to have fallen away from the god as he entered Mercadia, and became venerated sacred relics, the Bones of Ramos (the Tooth of Ramos, Eye of Ramos, Skull of Ramos, Heart of Ramos, and Horn of Ramos).
That Cho-Arrim creation myth is based on fact, but the mystery of Ramos goes deeper than the beliefs of Ramosians. The best way to delve into the mystery is to check out the Magic novels (in this case the Masquerade Cycle). But if you’d prefer to be spoiled now:
The crew of the Weatherlight later discovered that the Bones of Ramos were actually powerful artifacts and part of the Legacy. This does, in fact, connect Ramos to Urza. The Weatherlight crew meets Ramos himself, who explains that he was a Phyrexian dragon engine once used as part of Mishra’s artifact army. Urza transformed Ramos into a weapon against his brother Mishra, and Ramos became a defender of innocents. When the Golgothian Sylex was detonated, ending the Brothers’ War, Ramos raced to save as many people of various races as he could from the blast and planeshifted them to Mercadia. Tragically, there were only few survivors of the trip, and the damaged dragon engine offered five pieces of his core as an apologetic offering to the fledgling tribes of Mercadia. Centuries later, a religion sprang up around the legend of Ramos, and the Cho-Arrim and others worshipped him as a god.
[[Eid’s note: Incorrect on a few aspects. Ramos did not give away five pieces of himself to the scattered tribes of Mercadia. He “gave” his core, the Power Matrix, to the merfolk of Saprazzo while he was flaming through the skies. The Bones of Ramos ended up in Deepwood, a forested area that eventually became the final resting place of Ramos. These five artifacts were watched over by the dryads of Deepwood, and also by Ramos himself. Ramos is kind of a continuity nightmare. Many have questioned how a Phyrexian dragon engine could’ve achieved sentience and then planeswalked away before the Sylex detonated—both feats that dragon engines did not exhibit in The Brothers’ War.]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:16 pm: |
September 4, 2007
Q: Who is Chiss-Goria and how does this relate to his/her/its Tooth and Scale cards having affinity for artifacts?
--Geoff, Regina, SK, Canada
A: From Doug Beyer, Magic creative team:
The answer is actually pretty cool. Chiss-Goria was an ancient [[dragon]].
The body of a Mirrodin furnace dragon is merged with metal components, augmenting its offensive power and mobility (and explaining Furnace Dragon’s affinity for artifacts mechanic). A furnace dragon has a literal furnace inside its chest, which generates both its breath weapon and bursts of fire from “exhaust vents” in its wings. Note that a furnace dragon’s wings have no fleshy membranes—there would be no need. Furnace Dragon doesn’t glide on wind currents; it jets through Mirrodin’s skies on pure explosive power.
These dragons’ metallic modifications leave them inherently unstable. Overloading their furnaces for particularly large gouts of flame-production can have explosive repercussions.
Chiss-Goria was a particularly nasty furnace dragon of Mirrodin’s early days. Its Tooth and Scale are artifacts that are literally pieces shed from its body, and they have affinity for artifacts just like the dragon did. It’s not known whether Chiss-Goria still lives to this day—I wouldn’t be surprised if he died long ago from a core-furnace explosion!
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:17 pm: |
September 28, 2007
Q: I can see how the flavor text and artwork on Warped Devotion (the Planeshift version) work together. I can see Urza and Gerrard kneeling before the mighty Yawgmoth. But what I don’t get is why would these do-gooders be bowing down to someone of the dark side? What am I not getting here?
--Bret, Great Lakes, IL, USA
A: From Doug Beyer, Magic Creative Team:
The scene shown on Warped Devotion is indeed a dark time for the heroes.
Toward the end of the Planeshift novel, Yawgmoth’s power is vast, and his influence has spread, finally, to Urza and Gerrard. Yawgmoth tempts Urza with a vision of his brother Mishra, promising to release Mishra from his suffering in Phyrexia if Urza will only submit to Yawgmoth’s will. Urza so submits, prostrating himself on Yawgmoth’s black dais.
[[Eid’s note: Very incorrect. Urza could care less about Mishra—indeed, it might not have been the real Mishra, but an illusion created by Yawgmoth to try to tempt Urza into proving his disloyalty. In fact, Urza had already joined Yawgmoth before he even saw “Mishra.” He joined him because he came to realize that Yawgmoth’s vision and Urza’s vision were one and the same—both used artifice in an effort to create a better world.]]
Soon after, Yawgmoth tempts Gerrard with a vision of Hanna, promising that she and Gerrard can be together again only if he, too, becomes Yawgmoth’s servant. Gerrard acquiesces, and pledges himself to the Dark Lord, kneeling on the dais right next to Urza.
Meanwhile, Crovax has become evincar of Rath, Ertai has become “completed” (invasively modified by the Phyrexians), and Squee is dead (again). Bad times. In the Apocalypse novel, it falls to Sisay, Karn, and the shattered remains of the Weatherlight crew to save Urza and Gerrard, and all of Dominaria.
[[Eid’s note: The term is “compleated”, not “completed.”]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:18 pm: |
October 3, 2007
Q: How does planeswalker loyalty fit into the color pie? So far it looks like red and black are more loyal than green. Why is that? Why does the black planeswalker have high loyalty at all? It seems at odds with the “me first” attitude of black.
--Ira, Renton, WA, USA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic Creative Director:
As an abstract concept, loyalty exists in different ways across all the colors. Which color helps determine the source of the loyalty—whether it’s a result of a friendship, a debt, a common cause, or an alliance of convenience, for example. In the same way that first strike can be represented by a creature outmaneuvering or outreaching an enemy in a variety of ways, loyalty can stand in for whatever relationship with the planeswalker you’re imagining when you play.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:18 pm: |
October 16, 2007
Q: If boggart society requires its members to share experiences and sensations with everyone, and selfishness is the only real transgression, why are boggarts primarily black-aligned?
--Wes, Berea, KY, USA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic Creative Director:
Boggarts are innately covetous, selfish, and hedonistic, but some begrudging allowances have to be made so they don’t completely destroy themselves and each other. The sharing requirement is so explicit precisely because no boggrat would share anything if given a choice, and in fact many boggarts have risked everything to have something to themselves, something about which no one else knows. Some are caught and ostracized; many aren’t.
The larger issue is that most black-aligned beings aren’t so completely selfish that they must make every decision with only their own interests in mind (especially on Lorwyn). Even someone extremely selfish will make decisions that seem to consider the needs and desires of others, often so the selfish one can serve their own interests further in the long term. In the case of boggarts, begrudgingly sharing one thing means getting to have lots of other things later.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:19 pm: |
October 24, 2007
Q: Is the Lorwyn card Imperius Perfect actually supposed to be Imperious Prefect?
--Joe, Bremerton, WA, USA
A: From Doug Beyer, Magic creative team:
Nope, “Perfect” is perfectly right. Elf society on Lorwyn is tiered according to physical beauty—the more attractive you are, the higher you rank. Elves of the lower ranks are called “faultless,” “immaculate,” or “exquisite,” while the highest rank is called “perfect.” Perfects are the equivalent of elvish kings or queens on Lorwyn, and rule other, lesser elves with an air of imperious grace.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:20 pm: |
November 21, 2007
Q: I see that Wydwen, the Biting Gale is the legendary card for the fae, but why isn’t it Oona? She’s the queen of the fae, according to the flavor text of Secluded Glen. Thanks.
--Thonzi, Laguna, Philippines
A: From Doug Beyer, Magic creative team:
Thanks for you question, Thonzi. Oona is a mysterious, elusive character, so her conspicuous absence from the set is actually well-suited to her nature. She shows up in card names and flavor text, as you’ve observed, so she clearly has far-reaching influence beyond her secretive Glen Elendra. We do have plans for Oona, but it’s not yet time for her to take center stage.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:20 pm: |
November 28, 2007
Q: What would you say is white’s most representative race? The vague humans? The aven? The leonin (including Ajani)? Or the newly central kithkin?
--Andres, Renton, WA, USA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
Although perhaps white was “the human color” way, way back in the game’s early years, it’s been a long while now since we decided that humans shouldn’t belong to any one color—they’re versatile enough that they belong to all colors equally. Whereas the black has the undead, red has goblins, and green has elves, white and blue don’t have super-iconic “main races” that stand out from all others. The race that best embodies blue these days is the vedalken, in my opinion, although over the years we’ve seen plenty of other options such as merfolk and metathran. For white, I think the best current representation of the color’s values is the leonin race, although like blue, I don’t think there’s one clear answer.
I know Magic players are pattern completers, so for many the initial thought is that if one color has a main race, all five should have one. In reality, though, it’s more complex than that—the races on any given plane are determined by overlaying the setting’s needs with the five colors and seeing what races fit best, and some colors have more versatility and changeability than others.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:21 pm: |
December 20, 2007
Q: What does it take for a boggart to become an Auntie, and what privilege does that actually give you?
--Bjorn, Copenhagen, Denmark
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic Creative Director:
Bjorn, your question implies that there’s some kind of rhyme or reason to boggart “society!” Aunties are so called after the famous Auntie Grubb, a famous, wise, and clever boggart from their folklore. But each individual warren has its own, mostly random means of choosing an auntie. Auntie Flint of the Stinkdrinker Warren, for example, was simply the toughest and meanest. Auntie Jowl became the leader of the Squeaking Pie Warren through his “delicious” cooking. As for Wort, it’s unclear how she became Auntie of the Mudbutton Warren. It might be that at some point the warren consisted mostly of her own offspring.
Here’s a short bit from the Lorwyn style guide that might shed some light:
“Boggart social structure is fairly simple. Members of a warren are usually out exploring or gathering food, or else communicating their discoveries to the rest. A warren has a nominal leader, usually the oldest. This leader is always called “Auntie,” whether male or female (though usually female), and she interprets the meanings of new and confusing experiences brought by the others. The leader usually knows many tales and is expected to recite them at feasts. The role is otherwise largely ceremonial. There is rarely need to resolve conflicts—boggarts fight among themselves all the time, and whoever comes out on top is automatically right. Only in times of war must a leader direct the swarm, and such leadership is rarely more than “kill them and take their stuff.”
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:21 pm: |
January 31, 2008
Q: Why do Lorwyn’s elves have horns?
--David, Lynchburg, VA, USA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative director:
As part of Lorwyn’s “storybook” identity, David, we wanted the elves to personify the beauty and majesty of nature. We thought that by incorporating some kind of animalistic elements into the elves’ morphology—preferably one that symbolizes dominion over the forest, like the stag often does—we would reinforce their connection to nature and natural systems as well as visually distinguishing them both from other Lorwyn races and from other planes’ elves. My famously bad memory can’t recall how the horns and “cleft foot” first appeared on the elves. I think it was the idea of Steve Prescott, one of Lorwyn’s concept-illustration superstars, but it might have been a suggestion from then-art-director Jeremy Cranford that got the ball rolling. From the early horned-elf concepts, we pulled back slightly from satyr territory before finding a look that we felt communicated that the elves were the paragons of the natural kingdom.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:22 pm: |
February 8, 2008
Q: Is there a name for the creature Nath of the Gilt-Leaf is riding, or is it just a random steed?
--Doma, Crest Hill, IL, USA
A: From Jenna Helland, Magic creative designer:
Hi Doma,
That’s a cervin—an elf’s first choice in transportation. Prized for their beauty and gentle temperament, cervins are graceful deer-like animals that remain calm during combat. Cervins roam wild in the Gilt-Leaf and are easily trained, but elves prefer to ride a pure-bred domestic over a wild-born animal. When breeding cervins, the elves track bloodlines, and the most perfect mounts are gifts to the most perfect elves.
Some elves who are lower in the social hierarchy ride vinebred cervins because they’re deemed more acceptable than riding a flawed cervin.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:23 pm: |
April 2, 2008
Q: What is Knight of Meadowgrain riding? Why is he/she riding it? Thanks!
--Levi
A: From Jenna Helland, Magic creative designer
Hi Levi,
That’s a springjack—a kithkin’s primary source of milk, mutton, and wool. Kithkin ride springjacks to visit kin in far-flung places or to guard their villages against bands of boggart thieves. Those who watch over flocks of springjacks are called jackherds.
In addition to Knight of Meadowgrain, Order of the Golden Cricket, and Springjack Knight, you can see another springjack rider pictured on Morningtide’s Kinsbaile Cavalier.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:24 pm: |
April 3, 2008
Q: My brother’s favorite block is Kamigawa. When I saw your (excellent) recent Taste the Magic article on all the planes, it brought up an old question: Who the heck WON that war between men and spirits, anyhow?
--Chrisopher, Menart, USA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative manager:
Christopher, I’m glad you liked the article! You can probably predict my answer to your question: Read the books to find out! All three are written by Scott McGough, and I think they’re pretty damn captivating. [[Eid’s note: He also thinks Radiohead is pretty damn captivating. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.]] They are: Outlaw: Champions of Kamigawa, Heretic: Betrayers of Kamigawa, and Guardian: Saviors of Kamigawa. Sample chapters are available on our site at those links. Here’s a slightly longer answer: When a plane goes to war against its own gods, no one wins. The novels do, however, tell the story of how the war actually began as well as how denizens of the utsushiyo and kakuriyo brought it to an end.
[[Eid’s note: I love how his answer is “go spend money.” The war was brought to an end when Michiko Konda and Kyodai (better known as That Which Was Taken) united and destroyed the old kami of all kamis, O-Kagachi. They took his place and brought both sides—mortal and spiritual—into a new era of peace.]]
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:24 pm: |
April 16, 2008
Q: For everyone working on Lorwyn and Shadowmoor, it must have felt bad corrupting the beautiful world you created, right? Seeing its most honored races fall and its deviants rising to prominence, the staff must have some regrets.
--Marty, Imperial Beach, CA, USA
A: From Jeremy Jarvis, Magic art director:
Hey Mart,
No and nope. 
I love Lorwyn. I can’t tell you how proud I am of the work we did to give you guys such an immersive setting. To deliver “storybook” without aging down to “children’s book.” To really swing for the fences on “fun” but without being patronizing or juvenile [[Eid’s note: “or arrogant!”]]. I’m not sure people really appreciate how difficult that was. Magic, with all its conflict, but with brighter colors and more pleasing shapes.
We knew from day one that the block(s) known as “Peanut”/”Butter”/”Jelly”/”Sandwich” (later “Peanut”/”Butter” and “Jelly”/”Doughnut”) would be creatively and thematically divided in half. We settled on day/night roughly the same time we settled on the Lorwyn tribes. That informed what kind of day/night setting it would be. Unending day, always saturated, in which even the shadows are rich with hue … and it would be followed by unnatural night, with mists and fog and phantom lights casting shadows within the shadows.
It’s not about “corrupting” anything. It’s about playing to the dualities of a “storybook” setting, creating a world canvas that best and most fully resonates with the upbeat side of fairytales and folklore, and then re-imagining that world canvas in a way that best and most fully supports the dark side of cautionary lore and “morality tales” (the Brothers Grimm, etc).
I can tell you love Lorwyn. I’m glad. I love it too. The creative team took serious risks and really busted ass to give you that setting.
The same team that brought you Lorwyn worked just as hard on Shadowmoor, and I love it just as much. It wasn’t hijacked, or taken over and “corrupted” by some third party … It’s an immersive look at the other aspect of that bright place.
Regrets? No way.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:25 pm: |
April 18, 2008
Q: What exactly is an Ouphe? They don’t seem to have any real definable characteristics, and no real “archetype.” They’re kinda like a bunny, but not … right?
--Kevin, Charlotte, NC, USA
A: From Jenna Helland, Magic creative designer:
Hi Kevin,
Yeah, they’re not bunnies, although “ouphe” is a cute word. Pronounced “oof,” it means “elf child” or “one left by the fairies” and probably originated from Icelandic and/or Old English.
Magic uses “ouphe” to refer to little nonflying creatures that are connected to the fae in common folklore. You’re right—ouphes vary from place to place: Look at the Spellwild Ouphe in Future Sight compared to the Dusk Urchins in Shadowmoor.
Watch for more Ouphes to appear now that the sky has darkened over sunny Lorwyn.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:26 pm: |
April 23, 2008
Q: You people at Magic build new worlds every year. It must be easier with all those people helping; can you sum it up in a simple maxim? What is the key to building an original fantasy setting?
--Eric, Baytown, TX, USA
A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic creative manager:
Wow, that’s quite a question. If I could sum it up in a simple maxim, my job would be a whole lot easier! I guess I’d start by asking you what you meant by “original”. In some ways “original” and “fantasy” are at odds, because for many fantasy fans, what they expect from a fantasy setting and what they want are one and the same (not all fans of the genre, just many of them). Being totally original would mean intentionally avoiding the known elements: dragons, knights, swords, wizards, elves, trolls, and so on. But assuming you’d reply with, “whoa, whoa, not that original,” I’d say that finding a precept—a guiding principle—is the first big step. For example, what would a fantasy world look like if it were built around the concept of a guilded cage (Mirrodin)? Classism and commerce (Mercadia)? African/Caribbean swords-and-sorcery (Jamuraa)? Once you have your precept, you’ll find that lots of other decisions sort of make themselves.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 10:28 pm: |
And done. That took forever, yes, but I got paid for doing it so it's okay. That's your tax money at work, US citizens!
| By Puschkin (Puschkin) on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 - 07:46 am: |
Quote:March 4, 2002
Q: Why did you make cards for all the heroes from the books like Captain Sisay and Karn, Silver Golem but never an Urza card?
--Justin Sheppard, Pennsville, NJ
A: From Rei Nakazawa, Magic creative text writer:
Well, we have, in a way. Vanguard cards were oversized cards which started in play and gave you additional abilities, as well as hand size and starting life adjustments. These cards were used as part of the Arena League a few years ago. They were represented by a wide variety of characters, including Urza and Mishra. But the main reason why there were no actual Magic cards depicting Urza is that Urza was a planeswalker. Since players themselves have historically represented planeswalkers in this game, any Urza card in Magic would be way too powerful; it would basically have to represent another player. Of course, there was Blind Seer, who was Urza in disguise, but he powered himself way down in this form so no one would recognize him.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 - 04:15 pm: |
Why? They still haven't made an Urza card, and they had to neuter the planeswalkers to make bradywalker cards.. They still can't make an Urza card without making it too powerful.
| By Puschkin (Puschkin) on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 - 03:42 am: |
But they stopped the entire "players are supposed to be planeswalkers" thingy, for example we don't summon creatures anymore, everything has gone from flavour to technical things.
| By Ineffable's Son (Eidtelnvil) on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 - 11:15 pm: |
Ah. Well, I think they still pretend that players are planeswalkers, and you're just calling in a buddy "planeswalker" to help you out. But, yeah, that's a ****ing stupid idea. If we as players and they as "'walkers" are both (this hurts to type) planeswalkers, then why the hell am I so much more ridiculously powerful than Jareth-clone or Ixidor-clone or whatever the other ones names are? So, yeah, I agree that the whole "players are 'walkers" thing is pretty much obsolete.
| By Squeeman (Squeeman) on Thursday, May 01, 2008 - 05:44 am: |
Yeah, the flavor aspects of gameplay itself have pretty much been neutered. You don't "cast" spells, you "play" them (and consequently "casting cost" becomes "converted mana cost"). Cards - especially legendary - are no longer referred to as "him"/"her" (e.g. Halfdane). Interrupts - which have a certain amount of flavor if you imagine a spell duel - are now instants (which have less). Special card effects are streamlined as keywords (some good, some excessive). And Takklemaggot will probably not be reprinted anytime soon.
In short, Magic has changed from being very much a semi-roleplaying game (with rules, obviously) that is expressed on cards, to a card game with a(n arguably expendable) fantasy theme . I.e. from "fantasy with rules" to "rules with fantasy."
Is this good or bad? Personally, it annoys me (on the other hand, my understanding is that sales have gone up).
Perhaps, then, a better (though less answerable) question is to ask whether the changing game was responsive to players' desires, or whether different kinds of people become interested in the game as the changes take place. Chicken or egg.
| By Puschkin (Puschkin) on Thursday, May 01, 2008 - 06:06 am: |
I fear that's just the normal way how things go, especial if something goes mainstream. It's a game after all, a game that has a vivid tournament scene. It's hard to streamline the rules without harming the flavour.
But I still think they could have done better. But I won't repeat all the things that we all have complained about here anyway. Just wanted to point out that the question I quoted is kindof obsolete now. But don't delete it, it really shows how things have changed.
| By Squeeman (Squeeman) on Thursday, May 01, 2008 - 07:08 am: |
Yeah. One good example is Odyssey. Creatively, it's a break from some of Magic's staples. No goblins, elves, or merfolk. But that proved unpopular, and the setting was completely revamped for Onslaught to make a tribe-heavy block based on mechanically prevalent creature types that weren't present in Odyssey's card/flavor base (elves, slivers) or that existed in the flavor but were not considered an important part of it (goblins).
The effect, from the point of view of someone who is following the flavor of the card sets, is something totally disjointed.
| By Puschkin (Puschkin) on Friday, May 02, 2008 - 08:43 am: |
Do your really think that this was the reason for Onsluaght's tribal mania? R&D desings 2 or 3 sets in advance. By the time when they realized that people missed goblins and elves and merfolk in Odyssey block the general concept of Onslaught was already decided upon. At least I think so. When they printed almost no artifact in Odyssey on Onslaught they knew already that they would create a block that contains tons of artifacts ( Mirrodin) soon ("Magic is like a Pendulum and will swing in the other direction soon").
| By Squeeman (Squeeman) on Friday, May 02, 2008 - 12:30 pm: |
Point made. I'm thinking more in terms of setting, though. By Onslaught, Otaria was a mess. Onslaught pretty much coincides with Creative's new (at the time) line of thinking that a connection between story and cardset is optional at best. If all the stuff that happens in the Onslaught block (books) happened on a different world, then the plot might actually make some sense (and be a possibly decent standalone).
That's a separate (though related) point, though. When you separate story from cards, you get really strange, nonsensical developments. Do you know, the Onslaught books mention nothing of the Riptide Project, slivers, Rorix Bladewing or his undead form (or Jareth, Silvos, Arcanis, Visara, Mistform Ultimus). Many of Brady Dommermuth's answers talk about the separation of story and set.
Many of his answers also mention his absolute surprise upon hearing how much people liked the Weatherlight/Urza/Phyrexia story arc. I guess the vast majority of people who liked it didn't show up on WotC's market research.
| By Squeeman (Squeeman) on Sunday, May 04, 2008 - 06:43 am: |
Kudos, A1withnoname, on the Arcana stuff. I'm saying this here instead of in the main thread, because it looks like there are about five more years of Arcana things to go through, and it'd probably be awkward to have comments right in the middle of the pieces.
Out of curiosity, I wonder how copyright/similar laws cover websites. Would there be legal trouble with reproducing this stuff in a format that more closely resembles the original site (i.e. including the images, etc, so that we don't have to follow a link to see each example)?
| By Sam KoMN (A1withnoname) on Sunday, May 04, 2008 - 08:00 am: |
Thanks, Squeeman. Yeah, it's slow going, and a lot of the articles are tough to call whether or not they really count as "storyline" or not. I'll try to do another year or so today, probably.
I was wondering about that too. Are Eid and I even really allowed to post what we have posted on here? I'm really not sure even that is legal under current laws.
It's very weird to me that he would be surprised at the enjoyment of the Weatherlight saga. People that I talk to that don't even know Magic are intrigued by that storyline! [Well, the fantasy buffs at least.]
There was an interesting arcana about the Pit Fighter Legends, actually. It seems like a lot of thought went into their personalities and characters.
| By Squeeman (Squeeman) on Sunday, May 04, 2008 - 08:19 am: |
A decent amount, yeah. Although to be honest, while it's fine that Arcanis is mysterious, I think that some of the descriptions sound more like an attempt NOT to describe him/her/it/whatever.
I'm pretty sure that copy-pasting the arcana text is legal. It'd probably be legal to copy the images too. Websites that don't want you reproducing images, copying text (without permission), source code, etc, usually either have a notice requesting people to ask, or have systems (like flash) that prevent non-advanced users from getting desired results by clicking mouse buttons. A whole web page might be a different issue, though. That, and I have absolutely no legal expertise, which effectively makes this paragraph a load of crap.
| By Lord Priest (Xdritex) on Sunday, May 04, 2008 - 12:33 pm: |
I'm under the thought that as long as you give credit where credit is due, you're set.
| By Homelands Bookie (Psycho) on Sunday, May 04, 2008 - 02:08 pm: |
Holy Postcount, Eidman!
| By Squeeman (Squeeman) on Sunday, May 04, 2008 - 04:04 pm: |
Useless trivia fact about the Lorwyn Cycle: the authors use assorted variations on the expression "in for a penny, in for a pound." I idly wonder if there's a currency for each tribe.
| By Sam KoMN (A1withnoname) on Sunday, May 04, 2008 - 06:18 pm: |
The elves might have a separate currency, if only to be elitist.
I don't know, a lot of copyright stuff seems fairly strict [which is why my support for it is draining rapidly away the more I learn], so I'm a bit wary. Plus, posting images, if I'm understanding how this site works, would require moving all the images from the arcanas onto my computer then uploading them here. That would be reeeeally inefficient.
That's true about Arcanis. But still there are articles in Arcana and Ask Wizards that definitely point out how many interesting things never got into the books over the years.
| By Sam KoMN (A1withnoname) on Wednesday, May 07, 2008 - 07:53 pm: |
Oh, just a heads up, I don't know when I'll finish the whole collection of Arcanas. I'll do a smattering of additions here and there in the next week, but I'm going to be really busy. Just thought I should let everyone know that I haven't decided to shirk off or anything. It will get done, I promise.