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markrosewater · 4 months

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Maro’s Teaser for Murders at Karlov Manor

Before previews for Murders at Karlov Manor officially begin, I thought it would be fun to do another of my Duelist-style teasers where I give tiny hints of things to come. Note that I’m only giving you partial information.

First up, here are some things you can expect:

• white gets a card that lets you play a subset off the top of the deck

• a new enchantment subtype Case

• a card with four different hybrid symbols in its mana cost

• a popular mechanic returns tweaked with a new name

• a green sorcery that you can have any number of in your deck

• a keyword mechanic not printed in a premier set since 2008 returns on a single card

• a creature that allows you an alternate nonmana cost for all your spells

• some creature tokens in the set: (note that some have abilities) 0/0 green Ooze, 0/0 colorless Thopter (also artifact), 0/1 green Plant, 1/1 black Bat, 1/1 white Dog, 1/1 red Goblin, 1/1 white Human, 1/1 blue Merfolk, 1/1 white and black Spirit, 1/1 colorless Thopter (also artifact), 2/1 black Skeleton, 2/1 black and green Spider, 2/2 white and blue Detective, 2/2 red Imp, and 5/5 green and white Wolf

• And yes, Murder is in the set

Next, here are some rules text that will be showing up on cards:

• “Whenever a creature an opponent controls dies, if its toughness was less than 1, draw a card.”

• “Choose any number of target players.”

• “Creature cards in your graveyard gain ‘You may cast this card from your graveyard’ until end of turn.”

• “Then sacrifice it if it has five or more bloodstain counters on it.”

• “you may search your graveyard, hand, and/or library for a card named Magnifying Glass and/or a card named Thinking Cap and put them onto the battlefield.”

• “target opponent gains control of any number of target permanents you control.”

• “If an ability of a creature you control with power 2 or less triggers, that ability triggers an additional time.”

• “As long as there are no cards in your library,”

• “If one or more tokens would be created under your control, those tokens plus a Clue token are created instead.”

• “Whenever you sacrifice a Clue, target opponent gets two poison counters.”

Here are some creature type lines from the set:

• Creature – Vedalken Artificer Detective

• Creature – Ogre Cleric

• Artifact Creature – Insect Thopter

• Creature – Lammasu

• Creature – Weird Detective

• Creature – Goblin Bard

• Creature – Viashino Assassin

• Artifact Creature – Clue Fish

• Creature – Elf Crocodile Detective

• Legendary Creature – Mole God

Finally, here are some names in the set:

• Airtight Alibi

• Caught Red-Handed

• Deadly Cover-Up

• Eliminate the Impossible

• Homicide Investigator

• Innocent Bystander

• It Doesn’t Add Up

• Person of Interest

• Private Eye

• Scene of the Crime

Follow the story each day this week and tune into the debut at 9:00 am PT on Jan 16 on twitch.tv/magic or youtube.com/@mtg to learn whodunit! Can you solve the mystery before detective extraordinaire Alquist Proft?

#Magic The Gathering #MTG #Murders at Karlov Manor #WotCStaff

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markrosewater · 1 month

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Maro’s Teaser for Outlaws of Thunder Junction

Before previews for Outlaws of Thunder Junction officially begin, I thought it would be fun to do another of my Duelist-style teasers where I give tiny hints of things to come. Note that I’m only giving you partial information.

First up, here are some things you can expect:

• A new batch of five related creature types

• A card capable of returning three different card types from the graveyard to the battlefield

• A mechanic players have been asking us to do for many years gets made as the setting was the perfect place to finally do it

• Dual lands with a land subtype that has never been on dual lands before

• A new modal mechanic that introduces something different to think about

• A card that can swap/exchange control of up to three different card types

• A new creature token that has an ability no creature token has ever had before

• A typal card for Skeletons and Zombies

• Creature tokens in the set: (some might have abilities) 1/1 white Sheep, 1/1 blue Bird, 1/1 black Vampire Rogue, 1/1 red Mercenary, 2/1 green Varmint, 2/2 white Ox, 2/2 white Spirit, 2/2 blue and black Zombie, 3/1 red Dinosaur, 3/3 white Angel, 3/3 green Elk, 4/4 red Scorpion Dragon, X/X green Elemental, */* Blue Ox

• Some of the planes with legendary Villains in this set: Dominaria, Eldraine, Fiora, Innistrad, Ixalan, Kaladesh, Kaldheim, Kamigawa, New Capenna, and Ravnica

Next, here are some rules text that will be showing up on cards:

• “Then repeat this process X more times.”

• “if it wasn’t cast or no mana was spent to cast it.”

• “Plotting cards from your hand costs {2} less.”

• “You can’t cast this spell during your first, second, or third turns of the game.”

• “That card gains flashback {0}”

• “Target creature becomes a white Rabbit with a base power and toughness 0/1.”

• “When you win that flip, copy that spell.”

• “If a triggered ability of a legendary creature you control triggers, that ability triggers an additional time.”

• “you get that many additional upkeep steps after this phase.”

• “Oxen you control have double strike.”

Here are some creature type lines from the set:

• Creature – Armadillo

• Creature – Shark Rogue

• Creature – Plant Bard

• Creature – Coyote

• Creature – Homarid Mercenary

• Creature – Rhino Brawler

• Creature – Ox Angel

• Creature – Porcupine Mount

• Legendary Creature – Kor Advisor

• Legendary Creature – Giant Scout

Finally, here are some names in the set:

• Claim Jumper

• Form a Posse

• Gold Rush

• Great Train Heist

• High Noon

• Quick Draw

• Reach for the Sky

• Resilient Roadrunner

• Shoot the Sheriff

• This Town Ain’t Big Enough

Tune-in to our official YouTube and Twitch channels on 3/26 to see Oko and the gang in action with new card reveals. In preparation, catch-up on Outlaws of Thunder Junction’s story (https://magic.wizards.com/en/story) to bring yourself into the world.

#Magic The Gathering #MTG #Outlaws of Thunder Junction #WotCStaff

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markrosewater · 1 month

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Happy Pi Day!

#Mark Rosewater #WotCStaff

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markrosewater · 13 days

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#Magic The Gathering #MTG #WotCStaff

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markrosewater · 3 months

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“Tales from the Pit” #2720

#Magic The Gathering #MTG #Tales from the Pit #WotCStaff

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markrosewater · 8 months

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I just wanted to acknowledge the passing of a former Magic designer. Teeuwynn Woodruff was on the design teams for Weatherlight, 7th Edition, & Apocalypse, and on the development teams for Nemesis, Prophecy, Planeshift, & 7th Edition. She was a passionate proponent of representation of women and minorities and helped push Magic to be more thoughtful in how we made cards. Tee sadly died of cardiac arrest this week, and will be missed.

#Magic The Gathering #MTG #WotCStaff

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markrosewater · 28 days

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#Magic The Gathering #MTG #WotCStaff

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markrosewater · 9 months

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Maro’s Teaser for Wilds of Eldraine

Before previews for Wilds of Eldraine officially begin, I thought it would be fun to do another of my Duelist-style teasers where I give tiny hints of things to come. Note that I’m only giving you partial information.

First up, here are some things you can expect:

• a new type of token (at least done as a cohesive theme)

• a card that can activate to copy enchantments

• Adventures on a new permanent type

• an artifact that has two different artifact subtypes normally associated with artifact tokens

• a creature type from Alpha gets a draft archetype

• fairy tale Sagas

• multiple legendary Foods

• a new card with a lobotomy effect

• a creature with two triggers, one for artifacts entering the battlefield and one for enchantments

• a new mechanic that batches together three items that have been in the game since Alpha but never batched before

Next, here are some rules text that will be showing up on cards:

• “If a permanent entering the battlefield causes a triggered ability of a permanent you control to trigger, that ability triggers an additional time.”

• “Look at the top twenty cards of your library.”

• “it produces three times as much of that mana instead.”

• “Sacrifice all Reflections you control.”

• “Creatures you control with +1/+1 counters on them have all activated abilities of all creature cards exiled with CARDNAME.”

• “have base power and toughness 4/4 and flying.”

• “exile up to one other non-Fox creature”

• “Land creatures you control”

• “Whenever you tap an untapped creature an opponent controls,”

• “X is 2 plus the number of cards in your graveyard that are instant cards, sorcery cards, and/or have an Adventure.”

Here are some creature type lines from the set:

• Creature – Mouse

• Creature – Rabbit Unicorn

• Creature – Faerie Shapeshifter

• Creature – Elf Fox Knight

• Creature – Giant Archer

• Creature – Plant Wurm

• Creature – Elemental Raccoon

• Legendary Creature – Rat Noble

• Legendary Creature – Vedalken Scout

• Legendary Creature – Human Warlock Bard

Finally, here are some names in the set:

• Candy Grapple

• Charming Scoundrel

• Food Fight

• Protective Parents

• Scream Puff

• Stroke of Midnight

• A Tale for the Ages

• Three Blind Mice

• Three Bowls of Porridge

• Up the Beanstalk

Kickoff the preview season for Wilds of Eldraine with the debut on August 15th, at 10:00 AM PT on twitch.tv/Magic and our official YouTube channel. Catch up with our web fiction before the debut August 8th – 14th.

#Magic The Gathering #MTG #Wilds of Eldraine #WotCStaff

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markrosewater · 7 months

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The Rules for Mana Maze Solitaire

by Mark Rosewater (with help from Gene Rosewater)

NOTE: This is a reprint of an article from long ago, so there are outdated things in the article and stuff not referenced because it happened after this article was published.

Two people can play a traditional Magic duel, and three or more can play any number of multi-player variants, but what do you do if your only company is your Magic cards? People unable to find competitors have refused to let this stop them from playing. Creative inspiration has led to the evolution of solitaire Magic.

Most solitaire variants mimic a two-player duel, with one player playing both sides. Other versions pit the player against a pre-set, standing "phantom" opponent. These types are interesting, but the solitaire version offered here is a bit different. To mix the essence of traditional solitaire with a flavor of Magic, the "Mana Maze" solitaire variant requires a slightly different set of rules.

The object of the game is variable. As described below, you might have to destroy a particular card in play, or remove all the cards in the layout from play without running out of life points.

Mana Maze alters the following basic game concepts:

In Play: In normal Magic, a card is considered "in play" as soon as its casting is resolved. In Mana Maze, cards are stacked as in traditional solitaire, and are brought into play by being exposed. That is, if a card is in the game and is not covered by any other card, it is considered in play. Cards in play are "active" or "inactive".

Active: Active cards are all permanents that can exist independently of other cards: creatures, artifacts, land, and general enchantments (that is, any enchantment can stand alone and need not be cast on something else). An active card is considered to enter play "pre-cast" - its abilities can be used freely without paying the casting cost. Treat active cards like any cast permanent in a normal Magic game. Any activation costs must still be paid. A newly exposed Prodigal Sorcerer, for example, may immediately poke for its one point of damage, but you must tap it to do so.

Passive: Passive cards include the following: sorceries, instants, and interrupts, as well as enchantments that must be cast on creatures, artifacts, land or enchantments. A passive card comes into play uncast; you still must cast it in order to use it. However, passive cards are still in play and may be targeted by spells. For instance, this allows a Northern Paladin to destroy a passive Terror. The casting of passive cards follows all normal Magic rules, requiring appropriate mana and an available target in play. You may be a target yourself if the spell can target players. Also, for game purposes, when an enchantment is placed on another card, both cards are still considered exposed and in play. Either card may be the target of a spell.

Out of Play: The graveyard starts the game empty. All cards that leave play, as explained below, are considered to have gone to the graveyard unless otherwise specified. You may re-cast any card returned to your "hand" if you have the appropriate mana (and a target for targeted spells), but it is out of play for game purposes until re-cast. If a card is brought back into play by recasting or by another card (such as Animate Dead or Regrowth), place it on top of any exposed card, putting the newly covered card out of play.

Owner/Controller/Caster: Cards that use any of these terms refer to you, the player.

Opponent: Effects that target an "opponent" have no effect in Mana Maze.

Life Points: In Mana Maze you start with only one life point. If at any time your life point total falls to zero or below you die instantly and lose the game.

Mana Burn: The final step before the game ends is clearing the mana pool. If you have any mana remaining in your mana pool, you suffer one point of mana burn for every leftover point of mana. If mana burn reduces you to zero life points, you lose the game.

Getting Rid of Cards In Play

In Mana Maze, cards can be removed in five different ways:

Tapping A Card: Whenever a card is tapped, it is destroyed and sent to the graveyard. Any effect from tapping occurs before the card is removed from play. For instance, tapping a Mountain would add one red mana to your mana pool and would remove the Mountain from play.

Casting A Spell: If a spell is cast (with a proper target and a paid cost), it is removed from play and put into the graveyard unless otherwise specified. The effect of the spell occurs before the card leaves play. Casting a Healing Salve, for instance, would give you 3 life and remove the Healing Salve from play.

Destroying A Card: The destruction of a card removes it from play and puts it in the graveyard unless otherwise specified. For instance, casting Disenchant on an Iron Star would remove both the Disenchant and the Iron Star from play.

Killing A Creature: If a creature is destroyed by any means normally available in Magic, it is removed from play and sent to the graveyard unless otherwise specified. For instance, casting a Lightning Bolt on a Hill Giant wuold remove both the Hill Giant (having taken 3 damage) and the Lightning Bolt from play.

Sacrificing A Card: Whenever a card is sacrificed, it goes to the graveyard unless the card says otherwise. Any effect from the sacrifice occurs before the card is removed from play. For example, sacrificing Gaea's Touch would add two green mana to your mana pool and would remove the Gaea's Touch from play.

Getting Started

Now it's time to start a game. First, build a Mana Maze solitaire deck, then decide what kind of Mana Maze game to play, as follows:

Layout: As in traditional solitaire, the cards are laid out in a pattern. With sixty cards, there are several layouts to choose from.

Six piles (ten cards each), no hand

Seven piles (seven cards each), eleven-card hand

Eight piles (six cards each), twelve-card hand

Eight piles (half seven cards, half eight), no hand

Nine piles (five cards each), fifteen-card hand

Ten piles (six cards each), no hand

Pyramid style (with base of eight exposed cards), twenty-four card hand

When a layout includes a "hand", that simply means that you have extra cards left over to thumb through, one or three cards at a time, to break logjams. This Mana Maze "hand" is not to be confused with the Magic "hand" that a card goes to if Unsummoned.

Open Or Closed: In an open game, all cards are laid out face-up at the start. The open game is less prone to luck and therefore requires more thought. In a closed game, only the top card of each pile is visible. This takes a lot of pressure off, because you don't have to take all the extra data into account.

Goal: Many goals are possible. The following are just a few potential goals.

Destroying A Particular Card: This is the simplest goal. Put one or more cards in your deck and then find and remove them. The more targets you have, the harder the game will be. If you use multiple targets, it's fun to pick cards that fit a particular theme.

Destroy All The Cards: Simply put, win by destroying everything. This is the hardest variation, as it requires the careful matching of all your resources so as not to strand yourself with a card that you have no way to get rid of. You should play this variation open-handed, because you will need all the information you can get.

Get To A Particular Life Total: This variation requires that you pepper the deck with lots of cards that give and take life. The goal is to get to the life-givers and reach a certain life total.

Any goal is fine, as long as it requires you to work through the cards to accomplish it. You can define any objective, such as getting seven blue cards in your hand, but remember to build your deck to make such a goal possible.

One Final Word

If you're winning too easily, throw a few curves into your game: Add some big creatures to your deck, play a closed hand, or make the goal destroying all the cards. If you're getting frustrated, check your deck. It is possible to create an unwinnable game.

The fun of Mana Maze depends on you. A Mana Maze game will only be as challenging as the deck you construct, the layout you choose, and the goal you define.

Building a Mana Maze Solitaire Deck

Just as in the basic Magic game, the key to success in Mana Maze is deck construction. You want to create a deck that is challenging, yet not so much that winning becomes impossible. Because the rules work differently, several cards have altered functions (a Paralyze destroys creatures) whereas others become pointless (a Royal Assassin's power is redundant). Always keep possible card interactions in mind.

When creating a deck, here are some factors to think about:

Colors: As you begin playing Mana Maze, try using all five colors. A five-color deck is the easiest type of deck to build and the most varied in play.

Mana: The mana mix is roughly the same as in a normal game (30% to 40%). The balance for each color should be determined by how many passive cards and cards with colored activation costs you have in each color. If you find yourself always short or flush with mana, change the mix accordingly.

Creatures: Creatures are an important part of Mana Maze and will typically make up at least a quarter of your deck. Remember to add a significant number of creatures with special abilities, as they tend to make the game more fun.

Artifacts: These add some spice to the game but are not needed in quantity.

General Enchantments: These don't tap and aren't cast, so they are the hardest cards to get rid of. Use enchantments that have an impact, and keep them down to a handful.

Passive Cards: Active cards (permanents) tend to be the obstacles in the puzzle, and passive cards provide most of the house-cleaning needed. This means that your passive cards should be close in number to your active cards. Also, try to include a lot of other passive cards that destroy a lot of other types of cards, because these provide the nuts and bolts of Mana Maze.

Healing/Damaging Cards: These cards can be left out entirely, but if you do use them, try to balance the deck with an equal number of healing and damaging cards.

Other Tips: Make sure every card can be destroyed by at least two other cards in the deck. Also, throw in three or four spells that provide mana in some way, such as Llanowar Elves or Sacrifice.

When creating your first deck, here is a good checklist to follow:

Four of each type of basic land (twenty cards)

Three creatures from each color. One creature should have a toughness of 3 or greater, and the other two should have a toughness of 1 or 2. Make sure at least one of these creatures has a special ability, such as the "poke" of the Prodigal Sorcerer (fifteen cards).

Four spells of each color. Make sure at least two of each color can be used to destroy another type of card (twenty cards).

Five artifacts. Make at least two of them creatures, and throw in at least one artifact that provides mana (five cards).

#Magic The Gathering #MTG #Mana Maze Solitaire #WotCStaff

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