Why Does Future Sight Have Weird Card Border Art

Three weeks ago and two weeks ago, I talked about the futureshifted cards from Future Sight, explaining how they got designed and how they may or may non have eventually establish their style into a future set. I went through and addressed whether they've already been reprinted or were about reprinted. And for those that haven't been reprinted, I predicted their chances of seeing a reprint in the future and will keep to do so today.

Click below to see a reminder of how I'm grading the cards.

Click here to see grading

For each bill of fare, I'thousand going to grade its chances of ever being reprinted, in a premier set or a supplemental set with new cards every bit a significant element of the product, with one of four grades: Likely, Unlikely, Very Unlikely, or Already Reprinted. Here's what each ways:

Likely – This is a card that I tin can encounter u.s. reprinting in the correct environment. It'south a reprint carte du jour that I have actual promise of us peradventure one day reprinting, although that day might not exist soon.

Unlikely – This is a card that I don't run into usa reprinting, but possibly under the right circumstances.

Very Unlikely – This is a menu I am skeptical will e'er get reprinted.

Already Reprinted – I'thou assuming y'all sympathise this 1.

Today should be the 3rd and terminal commodity on the futureshifted cards.

Legendary Monocolor Cycle

Ane of the common things that happens in design is that you get an idea simply don't know where exactly to use it, and so y'all let it sit around until it finds a habitation. That's exactly what happened with this cycle. Nib Rose, vice president of tabletop Magic, had come with a mechanic that helped offset the drawback that comes with the legendary supertype. I recollect he'd fatigued a 2nd copy of a legendary creature he had on the battlefield one too many times, so he did what Magic designers do and designed something you could apply in that situation.

The first mechanic he created let you stack copies of a legendary beast on top of itself, granting that beast additional abilities and stats. It tended to double things that could be doubled and added additional synergistic abilities. There were besides many rules issues, so he moved to a simpler idea—grandeur. It went on legendary creatures and allowed you to discard other copies of the brute for an effect. Whenever Neb comes up with a mechanic (or card or theme), he sends me an email. If I similar it, I put bated and look for a place to utilise it.

Flash forwards to Future Sight design (probably over a year after). We wanted to brand some futureshifted legendary creatures and came upward 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 way to make them mechanically from the time to come. That's when I remembered Bill'southward mechanic. Nosotros'd never washed anything like it, so it seemed like a cool futureshifted idea. Grandeur ended up being the new keyword printed on the most futureshifted cards, equally it was role of a bicycle of rare legendary monocolor creatures. Each grandeur ability was meant to be a splashy result that synergistically worked with the residuum of the carte du jour.

Let'southward talk almost how each card got fabricated:

Oriss, Samite Guardian – Oriss is an descendant of Orim, Samite Healer from the Weatherlight crew—her card appeared in Storm. Both Oriss and Orim are a beefed-upwardly versions of the card Samite Healer from Alpha which prevents damage. Her grandeur power as well protects you lot by preventing the opponent from casting spells or attacking.

Linessa, Zephyr Mage – Linessa is an descendant of Alexi, Zephyr Mage from Prophecy. Both permit you lot return multiple creatures to their owner's hand. Her grandeur ability lets you return a whole bunch 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 yous control. The grandeur power lets you become more swamps to brand you lot fifty-fifty 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 you 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 cake 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 power allows you to make a token that gets bigger the more than lands yous have (which ties into Baru'south 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, information technology'south catchy to make more grandeur cards because the format that about cares well-nigh legendary cards, Commander, can't use the mechanic due to its Singleton nature. While we're willing to print individual legendary beast cards that aren't playable or good in Commander, information technology's catchy to practise 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 unlike alternate cost that allow you cast the spell for free. Information technology's unsafe territory and probably something we wouldn't want to do in whatsoever volume. I don't recall it's likely we're reprinting this, but I could imagine that in the right environment, it'south possible. I practice recollect the creative hints at a cool world that'south unlike anything we've ever 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 well-nigh this, he managed to detect them, and so here are the bodily initial cards he designed:

Acidic Atmosphere
vi
Artifact
Each fauna gets -1/-1 for each colored mana symbol in its mana cost. (A creature that costs 1WW gets -two/-2.)

Red Boom
1{R}{R}
Instant
Target animal gets +X/+0 until stop of plough, where X is the number of red mana symbols in the mana costs of all creatures in play.

Continue It Light
3{Due west}
Enchantment
Spells with more than 2 colored mana symbols in their mana costs cannot exist played.

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

True to Course
{G}
Enchant Creature
Enchanted animal gets +ane/+one for each green mana symbol it its mana cost.

Little White Butterflies
2{Westward}{W}
Sorcery
Reveal your paw. Then put a 1/1 white Spirit creature 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 be a whole mechanic and nosotros should concur onto them until we notice them a amend abode. A few years afterwards, I put Phosphorescent Feast on the futureshifted sheet because I knew we were going to practice the mechanic when we got to the hybrid mana-heavy block I was planning for the next yr. A year later in Eventide, nosotros reprinted Phosphorescent Banquet with an ability word we named chroma.

The mechanic came out to kind of a thud. I was very disappointed because I had high hopes for the mechanic. Luckily, a number of years subsequently, in original Theros, we were able to give it a makeover and plough information technology 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 well-nigh at the time of Future Sight was that there weren't enough evergreen keywords. Evergreen keywords are important because nosotros often have to build cycles with them, and if there aren't enough, every bike starts looking the same. Also, as long as in that location aren't besides many keywords (you 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 innovate the new keywords on futureshifted cards and then start using them shortly after. I say all this because the main point of this menu's design was to introduce the shroud mechanic.

Quagnoth has two big problems returning. Commencement is divide second. It was in Time Spiral because information technology was a time-themed block and was a good fit thematically. Essentially bringing back interrupts somehow wasn't a big crowd pleaser, so I'thousand skeptical of its return. Second, we've retired the shroud keyword. It was replaced with hexproof because also many players intuitively thought that's how it was played. Suffice to say, I don't have high hopes for a Quagnoth reprint.

Reprint Chances: Very Unlikely

Ramosian Revivalist

This carte is a tweak on the Insubordinate mechanic from Mercadian Masques. Instead of putting a Rebel card from your library onto the battlefield, Ramosian Revivalist puts it from the graveyard onto the battlefield. I believe it was made to work with Bound in Silence, which was a Rebel (the carte introduced the tribal supertype). Rebels was very unpopular (and a bit overpowered) the first time we did them, and so I'yard 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 lot call up how I said nosotros'd placed subtle clues that the Phyrexians were already in that location back in original Mirrodin? This is one of those clues. It's a Phyrexianized Myr, a brute (so far) found only on Mirrodin. Yous come across, I knew we had plans to become back to Mirrodin, and I'd been wanting to discover a place to do colored artifacts. It seemed like the perfect wedlock of mechanics and artistic. Unfortunately, in between Time to come Sight and Scars of Mirrodin, we made Shards of Alara and realized that the colored artifacts idea solved our trouble of how to design the Esper shard. Significant that when we finally got to Scars of Mirrodin, we ended upwards solving the Phyrexian design issue with other tools. In that location were a small number of colored artifact creatures in New Phyrexia, but all of them had Phyrexian mana costs. Every bit we've leaned into colored artifacts as being an evergreen affair, I practise think at that place'due south a decent hazard of seeing this little guy if we e'er go back to New Phyrexia.

Reprint Chances: Likely

Seht'due south Tiger

This card grants protection from a color to you, the pulley. Gasp! Okay, not all the futureshifted cards were as innovative equally others. I'yard actually surprised this menu hasn't had a reprint yet. Maybe it's the proper noun. I do think we tried to get this bill of fare in Amonkhet block, only two things prevented it. First, Ethan Fleischer really wanted to go Avon Mindcaster in and there wasn't much desire for 2 timeshifted cards in one gear up. 2d, this was during the flow where protection stopped beingness evergreen.

Reprint Chances: Probable

Shah of Naar Island and Skizzik Surger

Both of these cards are messing around with non-mana repeat costs. I call up the first version of Shah of Naar Isle had a template similar "Echo Opponent draws iii cards," but the rules and templating didn't like it that way, so they changed it to a 0 echo cost with a trigger. Skizzik Surger tin can do it because sacrificing something is a toll. Every bit both cards are dependent on echo coming dorsum, and even and so, it would be a give-and-take near not-mana costs—I'd call both a longshot.

Reprint Chances: Very Unlikely

Shapeshifter'due south Marrow

This is some other design that could take just equally hands been non-futureshifted, and no one would accept batted an center. I'grand not sure what's kept this card from getting reprinted. I recall in the right set, this could be an like shooting fish in a barrel include.

Reprint Chances: Likely

Snake Cult Initiation

This card and Virulent Sliver were the two cards to have poisonous. As I said when I talked about Virulent Sliver, I had every intention of using poisonous when poisonous substance returned but concluded upwards liking infect better when I got into Scars of Mirrodin design. I don't think it'due south out of the realm of possibility that poisonous could return, but I wouldn't call it likely.

Reprint Chances: Unlikely

Spellweaver Volute

I would at present like to present a brusque play entitled Volute of the Spellweaver.

Me: Tin can I inquire y'all a question?
Rules Manager: Certain. That's kind of my job.
Me: Exercise the rules let u.s.a. to enchant things other than permanents?
Rules Manager: Like what? Players?
Me: No, I already did that in Unglued.
Rules Manager: Then what?
Me: Cards in a graveyard.
Rules Managing director: Are you lot making some other silver-bordered set?
Me: No, this is for a black-bordered ready.
Rules Manager: *Shakes caput*
Me: Is it possible?
Rules Director: Theoretically yes, but . . .
Me: Shut enough. Thanks!

Reprint Chances: Very Unlikely

Spellwild Ouphe

This is some other random one-of design, making a tweak on cost reduction. This is another card that I'm kind of surprised hasn't been reprinted. I guess there 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 do ane day, so we made it into one of our futureshifted mechanics. Having created this menu, nosotros know now that this mechanic is horribly unfun. Making sure your opponent just draws their worst cards is not the recipe for an enjoyable experience. I'm not very optimistic of this card getting reprinted. (Although, I should point out that it did become reprinted once in Archenemy as it was just then on-theme.)

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

Sporoloth Aboriginal

This carte du jour was hinting at a return to Fallen Empires. The unique part of this blueprint is that the ability to remove counters from this creature sits not on the creature but is granted to every other creature. Other than non being able to piece of work if it's your simply creature on the battlefield, I'm non sure I even empathize the practical application of this. (I'g sure I knew information technology at the time we designed it.) The flavour and quirkiness of the mechanic make this an odd fit for most sets.

Reprint Chances: Unlikely

Steamflogger Boss

1 of the things I wanted among the futureshifted cards was one bill of fare that used terminology that we'd never used before and didn't carp explaining it. I also wanted the menu to exist a petty silly, every bit the whole point was to laugh at how we didn't know what the menu meant. My kickoff stab at it was this:

Goblin Splorg
two{R}{R}
Creature — Goblin Splorg Warrior
3/three
R, Cede a Goblin: All Splorgs proceeds double strike until end of plow.
R, Sacrifice a Splorg: All Goblins gain +2/+0 until cease of plough.

Aaron Forsythe pointed out that information technology didn't quite capture what we wanted, equally we make new creature types all the time. We needed the new word to exist weirder and more oblique. This was the side by side attempt:

[Goblin Flogpincher]**
2{R}{R}
Creature — Goblin Rigger
three/3
If a Rigger you control would erect a Monument, it erects 2 Monuments instead.
All other Riggers become +ane/+0 and haste.

The editing team suggested that maybe "erecting a Monument" would become more snickers than we wanted, so it was inverse to assembling a Contraption. When the card came out, we got the kind of response we wanted. People made fun of the mystery of what exactly the bill of fare was referring to. If we had just stopped at that place, all would have been well, but Aaron had a column at the time and, in it, he revealed that nosotros had no intention of e'er making Contraptions. It was just a joke.

Life lesson—don't tell Magic players that we have no intention of doing something. It but encourages them to want information technology. For years, players demanded we make Contraptions. I tried, but capturing the flavor of information technology while making feasible mechanics just never worked out. I couldn't get it to feel like a Contraption while making the mechanic viable. I had a few dull answers, just that wasn't what the Magic audience wanted. If I was going to brand Contraptions, it needed to exist a home run, non a single.

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

Reprint Chances: Already Reprinted

Street Wraith

We experimented with non-mana echo 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, only the card has found a abode in lots of reprint sets (Modernistic Masters, Masters 25, Mystery Booster). While I don't think a reprint is going to end up in Standard, I could imagine information technology maybe finding a dwelling house in a supplemental set. It's a bit of a longshot, but possible.

Reprint Chances: Unlikely

Tempest Entity

This card started as a creature with storm. It was then explained to us that the rules don't let that, so we did the best we could to make a animate being that feels like information technology has storm. How successful were we? Bold there aren't play design bug, I think this card might 1 day get reprinted.

Reprint Chances: Likely

Tarmogoyf

This card was on the futureshifted sheet for one purpose. Information technology needed to accept reminder text that listed all the card types, every bit we were going to add ane that didn't exist yet. I chose to brand a Lhurgoyf variant that looked at how many carte du jour types you lot had in your graveyard instead of creatures. The original plan was to add only "planeswalker" to the reminder text. And so the menu got pulled from the set because we needed to make infinite for a green planeswalker bill of fare. We were going to premiere the planeswalkers on futureshifted cards. Then that plan fell through every bit nosotros needed more than time to perfect the planeswalker card design. Interestingly, when Mike Turian, the ready's lead developer, put Tarmogoyf back in the file, he did it from memory, and instead of putting in the */* stats I'd called when I made the card, he made it */*+1 every bit that's 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, equally the card was however in development. The biggest obstruction in this card getting reprinted is its power level.

Reprint Chances: Unlikely

Thornweald Archer

Quagnoth introduced shroud. Thornweald Archer introduced attain and deathtouch. I missed it last week, merely Mistmeadow Skulk introduced lifelink. Those were the four new keywords. Equally reach and deathtouch are evergreen abilities now, I'm kind of surprised this card has never been reprinted. It'due south just a matter of finding a globe where the proper noun fits.

Reprint Chances: Likely

Thunderblade Charge

This card is sort of a flashback/buyback variant. The twist is it'southward tied to combat damage. I'm surprised we didn't keyword or ability word this, as information technology seems to imply something larger. I'm non sure with evasive creatures if this falls into the trouble space of buyback where the thespian just keeps repeating the aforementioned spell. I could come across united states tweaking this mechanic merely am skeptical we'd do information technology equally is. Maybe as a unmarried card reprint?

Reprint Chances: Unlikely

Vedalken Aethermage

This menu, along with Homing Sliver, introduces [blazon]cycling, a variant on basic land cycling where instead of getting a basic land, you get a creature of a certain creature type. With our crackdown on tutoring mechanics (we still do individual cards) to lessen repetitive play issues, I don't think we're going to see [type]cycling return, but maybe someone will surprise me.

Reprint Chances: Unlikely

Yixlid Jailer

This is another futureshifted card that could easily accept been non-futureshifted. The carte is very niche, so information technology's not going to fit into a lot of sets, but information technology seems like one day we'll observe the one that it clicks with. I practice know numerous sets have experimented with including this card, but for various reasons, information technology hasn't made information technology to print yet.

Reprint Chances: Likely

Days of Future Past

Whew! Subsequently iii weeks. I'm finally done. I hope you enjoyed my expect dorsum at one of the odder subsets of cards I've ever been responsible for. As always, I'g eager to hear whatever feedback on this cavalcade or whatsoever of the cards I talked about. You tin can electronic mail me or contact me through any of my social media accounts (Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and TikTok).

Join me side by side week for the start of Zendikar Rising previews.

Until and then, may your future include some of your by.

#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's led or co-led the design for.

#768: Ikoria, Function one

#768: Ikoria, Office 1

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In this podcast, I begin telling the in-depth story of Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths'due south pattern.

• Episode 766 Black-Dark-green
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• Episode 764 Brian Schneider

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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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