Will Wizards Ever Reprint World Permanents Again

Iii weeks ago and ii weeks ago, I talked nearly the futureshifted cards from Future Sight, explaining how they got designed and how they may or may not have somewhen found their mode into a hereafter gear up. I went through and addressed whether they've already been reprinted or were almost reprinted. And for those that haven't been reprinted, I predicted their chances of seeing a reprint in the future and volition go on to exercise so today.

Click below to come across a reminder of how I'yard grading the cards.

Click here to see grading

For each card, I'm going to grade its chances of ever beingness reprinted, in a premier set up or a supplemental set up with new cards as a meaning chemical element of the production, with one of 4 grades: Probable, Unlikely, Very Unlikely, or Already Reprinted. Here'south what each ways:

Likely – This is a menu that I can see united states reprinting in the right environment. It'south a reprint card that I take bodily promise of usa maybe one twenty-four hours reprinting, although that day might not be presently.

Unlikely – This is a menu that I don't see us reprinting, only possibly under the correct circumstances.

Very Unlikely – This is a card I am skeptical will always get reprinted.

Already Reprinted – I'm assuming yous understand this one.

Today should be the 3rd and concluding article on the futureshifted cards.

Legendary Monocolor Bike

One of the common things that happens in blueprint is that you become an thought but don't know where exactly to use it, so you let information technology sit around until it finds a home. That's exactly what happened with this bicycle. Bill Rose, vice president of tabletop Magic, had come upwardly with a mechanic that helped offset the drawback that comes with the legendary supertype. I call up he'd drawn a second copy of a legendary brute he had on the battlefield one too many times, so he did what Magic designers do and designed something you could use in that situation.

The start mechanic he created allow you stack copies of a legendary animate being on acme of itself, granting that creature additional abilities and stats. It tended to double things that could be doubled and added additional synergistic abilities. There were too many rules bug, so he moved to a simpler thought—grandeur. It went on legendary creatures and allowed y'all to discard other copies of the fauna for an effect. Whenever Neb comes up with a mechanic (or card or theme), he sends me an electronic mail. If I like it, I put aside and expect for a identify to utilise information technology.

Flash forrad to Future Sight blueprint (probably over a year later). We wanted to brand some futureshifted legendary creatures and came up with the idea of making creatures that were descendants of famous Magic characters. While that helped making them creatively from the future, I still needed a manner to brand them mechanically from the future. That'south when I remembered Beak's mechanic. We'd never done anything like it, and so information technology seemed like a cool futureshifted idea. Grandeur ended upwards being the new keyword printed on the most futureshifted cards, as information technology was office of a cycle of rare legendary monocolor creatures. Each grandeur power was meant to be a splashy issue that synergistically worked with the rest of the card.

Permit'south talk well-nigh how each card got fabricated:

Oriss, Samite Guardian – Oriss is an descendant of Orim, Samite Healer from the Weatherlight coiffure—her bill of fare appeared in Storm. Both Oriss and Orim are a beefed-up versions of the card Samite Healer from Alpha which prevents impairment. Her grandeur ability also protects you by preventing the opponent from casting spells or attacking.

Linessa, Zephyr Mage – Linessa is an descendant of Alexi, Zephyr Mage from Prophecy. Both allow you return multiple creatures to their owner's hand. Her grandeur ability lets yous return a whole agglomeration of permanents.

Korlash, Heir to Blackblade – Korlash is an descendant of Dakkon Blackblade from Legends. They both have their stats tied to the number of swamps you control. The grandeur ability lets you get more swamps to make you even bigger and get you lot more mana.

Tarox Bladewing – Tarox is an descendant of Rorix Bladewing from Onslaught. Both cards are big, aggressive Dragons with haste. The Grandeur power helps yous make Tarox temporarily bigger.

Baru, Fist of Krosa – Baru is an descendant of Kamahl, Fist of Krosa, the protagonist of the Odyssey block and Onslaught block stories. His two cards appeared in the sets Odyssey and Onslaught. Both Fist of Krosa cards boost your creatures and grant them trample. The grandeur ability allows you lot to brand a token that gets bigger the more than lands yous have (which ties into Baru's trigger).

These cards are very hard to reprint for two reasons. One, they're tied to characters that I believe are all on Dominaria. Two, it's tricky to make more than grandeur cards considering the format that almost cares about legendary cards, Commander, can't employ the mechanic due to its Singleton nature. While nosotros're willing to print private legendary creature cards that aren't playable or skillful in Commander, it's tricky to do that with a whole mechanic.

Reprint Chances: Very Unlikely (Oriss, Samite Guardian; Linessa, Zephyr Mage; Korlash, Heir to Blackblade; Tarox Bladewing; and Baru, Fist of Krosa)

Patrician's Contemptuousness

This spell experimented with a different alternate cost that let y'all bandage the spell for costless. It'due south unsafe territory and probably something we wouldn't want to do in any book. I don't recall it'due south likely we're reprinting this, but I could imagine that in the right environment, information technology's possible. I exercise think the artistic hints at a absurd earth that's unlike annihilation we've always done.

Reprint Chances: Unlikely

Phosphorescent Feast

In Fifth Dawn design, Aaron Forsythe designed a bunch of cards that counted mana symbols. When I talked with Aaron nearly this, he managed to find them, and so here are the bodily initial cards he designed:

Acidic Atmosphere
6
Artifact
Each animate being gets -1/-1 for each colored mana symbol in its mana cost. (A creature that costs 1WW gets -two/-two.)

Cherry-red Blast
ane{R}{R}
Instant
Target creature gets +10/+0 until end of plough, where X is the number of red mana symbols in the mana costs of all creatures in play.

Keep It Low-cal
three{W}
Enchantment
Spells with more than two colored mana symbols in their mana costs cannot exist played.

Undead Bean-Counter
1{B}{B}
Brute — Zombie
CARDNAME has power and toughness equal to the number of black mana symbols in the mana costs of all cards in your graveyard.
*/*

True to Course
{G}
Enchant Beast
Enchanted creature gets +i/+1 for each greenish mana symbol it its mana cost.

Lilliputian White Collywobbles
2{West}{W}
Sorcery
Reveal your hand. Then put a i/1 white Spirit brute token with flying into play for each white mana symbol in the mana costs of the cards in your hand.

I told Aaron that I thought the cards could exist a whole mechanic and we should concord onto them until we notice them a meliorate home. A few years later, I put Phosphorescent Banquet on the futureshifted sheet considering I knew we were going to do the mechanic when we got to the hybrid mana-heavy block I was planning for the next yr. A year later on in Eventide, we reprinted Phosphorescent Feast with an ability word we named chroma.

The mechanic came out to kind of a thud. I was very disappointed because I had loftier hopes for the mechanic. Luckily, a number of years later, in original Theros, nosotros were able to give it a makeover and turn it into the mechanic devotion which was a big hit. A great lesson in the importance of execution.

Reprint Chances: Already Reprinted

Quagnoth

One of the things I was concerned about at the time of Future Sight was that there weren't enough evergreen keywords. Evergreen keywords are important considering we oftentimes have to build cycles with them, and if there aren't enough, every bike starts looking the same. Also, every bit long equally there aren't too many keywords (you tin can create vocabulary overload for new players), they help add together flavor and cohesion to the mechanics we utilize a lot. I thought information technology would be fun to introduce the new keywords on futureshifted cards and so beginning using them shortly after. I say all this because the main bespeak of this card'southward pattern was to innovate the shroud mechanic.

Quagnoth has two big bug returning. Offset is divide 2d. Information technology was in Fourth dimension Screw considering information technology was a time-themed block and was a practiced fit thematically. Essentially bringing dorsum interrupts somehow wasn't a big oversupply pleaser, and then I'1000 skeptical of its return. Second, we've retired the shroud keyword. It was replaced with hexproof because likewise many players intuitively thought that'southward how it was played. Suffice to say, I don't have high hopes for a Quagnoth reprint.

Reprint Chances: Very Unlikely

Ramosian Revivalist

This card is a tweak on the Rebel mechanic from Mercadian Masques. Instead of putting a Insubordinate carte du jour from your library onto the battlefield, Ramosian Revivalist puts it from the graveyard onto the battleground. I believe it was made to work with Bound in Silence, which was a Rebel (the menu introduced the tribal supertype). Rebels was very unpopular (and a bit overpowered) the first time we did them, so I'm not optimistic of their return, even this new graveyard version.

Reprint Chances: Very Unlikely

Sarcomite Myr

For those who were around when Scars of Mirrodin came out, do you retrieve how I said we'd placed subtle clues that the Phyrexians were already there back in original Mirrodin? This is one of those clues. Information technology'due south a Phyrexianized Myr, a creature (so far) found only on Mirrodin. You come across, I knew nosotros had plans to become dorsum to Mirrodin, and I'd been wanting to notice a place to do colored artifacts. It seemed similar the perfect marriage of mechanics and creative. Unfortunately, in between Future Sight and Scars of Mirrodin, we fabricated Shards of Alara and realized that the colored artifacts idea solved our problem of how to design the Esper shard. Significant that when we finally got to Scars of Mirrodin, nosotros ended up solving the Phyrexian pattern issue with other tools. There were a small-scale number of colored artifact creatures in New Phyrexia, simply all of them had Phyrexian mana costs. As we've leaned into colored artifacts every bit being an evergreen thing, I do remember at that place'south a decent chance of seeing this little guy if we e'er get back to New Phyrexia.

Reprint Chances: Likely

Seht's Tiger

This carte du jour grants protection from a color to yous, the caster. Gasp! Okay, not all the futureshifted cards were as innovative as others. I'm actually surprised this card hasn't had a reprint yet. Possibly it's the name. I do think we tried to go this card in Amonkhet block, but two things prevented it. Kickoff, Ethan Fleischer really wanted to get Avon Mindcaster in and there wasn't much want for two timeshifted cards in one set. Second, this was during the period where protection stopped being evergreen.

Reprint Chances: Likely

Shah of Naar Isle and Skizzik Surger

Both of these cards are messing around with not-mana echo costs. I think the beginning version of Shah of Naar Isle had a template like "Echo Opponent draws iii cards," but the rules and templating didn't similar it that way, so they changed it to a 0 echo cost with a trigger. Skizzik Surger can exercise it because sacrificing something is a cost. Equally both cards are dependent on repeat coming back, and fifty-fifty then, it would be a word most not-mana costs—I'd call both a longshot.

Reprint Chances: Very Unlikely

Shapeshifter's Marrow

This is some other design that could accept just as easily been non-futureshifted, and no one would have batted an heart. I'one thousand non certain what's kept this card from getting reprinted. I think in the right set, this could be an like shooting fish in a barrel include.

Reprint Chances: Probable

Snake Cult Initiation

This card and Virulent Sliver were the ii cards to have poisonous. Every bit I said when I talked about Virulent Sliver, I had every intention of using poisonous when poisonous substance returned but ended upwardly liking infect better when I got into Scars of Mirrodin pattern. I don't recollect it's out of the realm of possibility that poisonous could return, but I wouldn't call it likely.

Reprint Chances: Unlikely

Spellweaver Volute

I would now similar to nowadays a short play entitled Volute of the Spellweaver.

Me: Tin can I enquire y'all a question?
Rules Manager: Sure. That's kind of my job.
Me: Do the rules permit the states to enchant things other than permanents?
Rules Director: Like what? Players?
Me: No, I already did that in Unglued.
Rules Manager: Then what?
Me: Cards in a graveyard.
Rules Manager: Are y'all making some other argent-bordered gear up?
Me: No, this is for a blackness-bordered set.
Rules Manager: *Shakes head*
Me: Is it possible?
Rules Manager: Theoretically yeah, just . . .
Me: Close enough. Thanks!

Reprint Chances: Very Unlikely

Spellwild Ouphe

This is another random one-of design, making a tweak on cost reduction. This is another card that I'one thousand kind of surprised hasn't been reprinted. I guess at that place aren't a lot of worlds with Ouphes.

Reprint Chances: Likely

Spin into Myth

Reverse scry seemed like the kind of thing we would probably exercise one day, so nosotros fabricated it into one of our futureshifted mechanics. Having created this card, we know now that this mechanic is horribly unfun. Making sure your opponent only draws their worst cards is not the recipe for an enjoyable experience. I'thousand non very optimistic of this menu getting reprinted. (Although, I should point out that it did get reprinted in one case in Archenemy as information technology was just and then on-theme.)

Reprint Chances: Unlikely or Already Reprinted (if we want to count Archenemy)

Sporoloth Ancient

This card was hinting at a return to Fallen Empires. The unique part of this design is that the power to remove counters from this brute sits not on the brute but is granted to every other creature. Other than non being able to work if it's your only animal on the battleground, I'thou non sure I even understand the practical awarding of this. (I'grand sure I knew it at the time we designed it.) The flavour and quirkiness of the mechanic brand this an odd fit for almost sets.

Reprint Chances: Unlikely

Steamflogger Boss

One of the things I wanted among the futureshifted cards was 1 carte du jour that used terminology that nosotros'd never used before and didn't bother explaining it. I also wanted the carte du jour to be a little giddy, as the whole indicate was to express joy at how we didn't know what the card meant. My first stab at it was this:

Goblin Splorg
2{R}{R}
Fauna — Goblin Splorg Warrior
3/3
R, Sacrifice a Goblin: All Splorgs gain double strike until finish of turn.
R, Cede a Splorg: All Goblins gain +2/+0 until end of turn.

Aaron Forsythe pointed out that it didn't quite capture what we wanted, as we make new animate being types all the fourth dimension. We needed the new word to be weirder and more oblique. This was the next endeavour:

[Goblin Flogpincher]**
two{R}{R}
Animate being — Goblin Rigger
3/iii
If a Rigger yous command would erect a Monument, information technology erects two Monuments instead.
All other Riggers get +i/+0 and haste.

The editing team suggested that perhaps "erecting a Monument" would get more snickers than we wanted, so information technology was changed to assembling a Contraption. When the card came out, we got the kind of response nosotros wanted. People made fun of the mystery of what exactly the bill of fare was referring to. If nosotros had merely stopped at that place, all would accept been well, but Aaron had a column at the fourth dimension and, in information technology, he revealed that we had no intention of ever making Contraptions. Information technology was but a joke.

Life lesson—don't tell Magic players that nosotros have no intention of doing something. It only encourages them to desire it. For years, players demanded we make Contraptions. I tried, simply capturing the flavor of it while making viable mechanics just never worked out. I couldn't get information technology to feel similar a Contraption while making the mechanic viable. I had a few tedious answers, but that wasn't what the Magic audition wanted. If I was going to make Contraptions, it needed to be a dwelling house run, not a single.

The salvation of Contraptions turned out to be Unstable. It was a steampunk-inspired set focused on invention. (No, that one came later. Well, designed after.) Contraptions were a perfect fit, and the freedom argent edge gave me mechanically allowed me to make something that captured the feel the mechanic needed. It became a 2nd deck with cards that you literally assembled into a giant machine. The audience loved information technology so much, now I become players begging me to bring it to black border.

Reprint Chances: Already Reprinted

Street Wraith

We experimented with non-mana repeat costs, why not exercise the same with cycling costs? Life turned out to be quite efficient. In fact, probably a little as well efficient for Standard, but the menu has found a home in lots of reprint sets (Modern Masters, Masters 25, Mystery Booster). While I don't think a reprint is going to end upwards in Standard, I could imagine it maybe finding a home in a supplemental ready. It's a scrap of a longshot, but possible.

Reprint Chances: Unlikely

Storm Entity

This card started every bit a creature with tempest. It was and then explained to us that the rules don't allow that, and so we did the best we could to make a animate being that feels like it has storm. How successful were we? Bold there aren't play pattern bug, I remember this card might one twenty-four hour period get reprinted.

Reprint Chances: Probable

Tarmogoyf

This card was on the futureshifted sheet for one purpose. It needed to accept reminder text that listed all the card types, as we were going to add together one that didn't be still. I chose to make a Lhurgoyf variant that looked at how many card types yous had in your graveyard instead of creatures. The original plan was to add together just "planeswalker" to the reminder text. And so the card got pulled from the set considering we needed to brand space for a green planeswalker menu. We were going to premiere the planeswalkers on futureshifted cards. Then that programme barbarous through as nosotros needed more time to perfect the planeswalker card design. Interestingly, when Mike Turian, the set's lead programmer, put Tarmogoyf dorsum in the file, he did information technology from retention, and instead of putting in the */* stats I'd chosen when I made the bill of fare, he made it */*+1 as that'south how it worked on Lhurgoyf. While working on Lorwyn design, we realized we wanted to use the tribal keyword, so we added it to Tarmogoyf, as the bill of fare was still in development. The biggest obstacle in this card getting reprinted is its ability level.

Reprint Chances: Unlikely

Thornweald Archer

Quagnoth introduced shroud. Thornweald Archer introduced reach and deathtouch. I missed it last week, but Mistmeadow Skulk introduced lifelink. Those were the four new keywords. Equally reach and deathtouch are evergreen abilities now, I'm kind of surprised this menu has never been reprinted. Information technology'southward just a matter of finding a world where the name fits.

Reprint Chances: Likely

Thunderblade Charge

This bill of fare is sort of a flashback/buyback variant. The twist is it'southward tied to combat damage. I'm surprised nosotros didn't keyword or ability word this, every bit it seems to imply something larger. I'm not sure with evasive creatures if this falls into the trouble space of buyback where the actor but keeps repeating the same spell. I could see usa tweaking this mechanic but am skeptical we'd practise information technology as is. Maybe as a single card reprint?

Reprint Chances: Unlikely

Vedalken Aethermage

This card, along with Homing Sliver, introduces [type]cycling, a variant on bones state cycling where instead of getting a basic land, you get a creature of a certain animate being type. With our crackdown on tutoring mechanics (we notwithstanding practice individual cards) to lessen repetitive play issues, I don't call up we're going to encounter [type]cycling return, but maybe someone will surprise me.

Reprint Chances: Unlikely

Yixlid Jailer

This is another futureshifted card that could easily have been not-futureshifted. The card is very niche, so it's not going to fit into a lot of sets, just it seems similar ane day we'll find the one that it clicks with. I do know numerous sets have experimented with including this bill of fare, just for diverse reasons, information technology hasn't fabricated it to print even so.

Reprint Chances: Probable

Days of Time to come Past

Whew! After iii weeks. I'g finally done. I hope you enjoyed my look dorsum at one of the odder subsets of cards I've ever been responsible for. Equally always, I'm eager to hear any feedback on this column or any of the cards I talked most. Y'all can email me or contact me through any of my social media accounts (Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and TikTok).

Join me next week for the offset of Zendikar Rising previews.

Until then, may your future include some of your past.

#767: Ethan Fleischer

#767: Ethan Fleischer

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In this podcast, I talk with designer Ethan Fleischer about all the premier sets he'south led or co-led the design for.

#768: Ikoria, Part ane

#768: Ikoria, Role one

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In this podcast, I brainstorm telling the in-depth story of Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths'south design.

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Source: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/back-future-sight-part-3-2020-08-24

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