Best of the Best: Amazing Magic Card Mechanics That Were Only Used Once

[@TolarianCommunityCollege]

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[@Greg501-]

Undying is just better Persist, we don't need -1/-1 counters back in Standard

[@BlackQuest575]

the prof is selling out fr

[@larrinho3077]

Mark Rosewater actually mentioned hellbent in one of his Ravnica podcasts and said R&D liked the mechanic but didn't like how useless the player felt after getting it. He mentioned that if they where to try it they would do it so it activates with only one card in hand as opposed to an empty hand kind of how Hazoret works.

[@jjvh500]

I think there is plenty of room for Hellbent mechanics even without making "1 or less" rather than 0. While it's hard to draw perfect parallels between games, YuGiOh had an archetype known as Infernity that was designed around being empty-handed, that was rather fun and powerful. Legends of Runeterra has Jinx and her support cards that just want you to hit 0 in hand to get benefits. Rather than staying empty handed, it focuses more on rummage effects and even if you're in the middle of an effect, as long as you hit 0 cards in hand, it can benefit you. Both games could serve as good inspiration for future Hellbent mechanics!

[@ryanbarham8464]

I think Hellbent could work well with Impulse draw. Say, an enchantment that lets you replace your draw with an impulse draw, and does so two times if you're hellbent?

[@jjvh500]

@ryanbarham8464 Strictly thinking about Commander, cards like "Eruth, Tormented Prophet" and other "cast from Exile" commanders would combine with Hellbent in a fun way for sure!

[@TheSenorN]

i wonder if they're opinion on this changes now that there is so much more impulse draw. with impulse draw you still have options to do things but your hand can still go to zero while you have those options. they get together fairly well.

[@__-be1gk]

or maybe they could give hellbent cards activated abilities that use mana instead of all getting boosted stats and haste so you could do things with the creatures on your board

[@TolarianCommunityCollege]

RE: PLAY BOOSTERS -- I know this is the hot topic, but as you (hopefully) know, writing and producing a video is something that takes time and when big news stories like this drop, I like to sit and contemplate before writing a script rather than just shout out the first thing that runs through my head. In other words: please be patient. Yes, I will talk about this, but as always, I'll be later to the conversation than most.

[@marcususful]

A very good decision, my opinion to the topic already changed drastically after thinking about it for about a day, but i made that decision for myself and not for the whole community to see... I am very interested to see your thoughts, i was hopeful at first but am also afraid it's just another cashgrab

[@Wojtek36762]

We have a few months until they’re on the shelves, you’ve got time! Appreciate that you’re willing to sacrifice the algorithm a little to come out with something well-considered after the initial wave dies down.

[@DyrianLightbringer]

What I hate is when they introduce a new keyword, then bring back the ability in a later set, but don't reprint the keyword because the keyword was meant to be iconic to the previous set and not part of this set's identity.

[@Rukalin]

Morbid could also return in Murders at Karlov Manor. I don't know, something about it seems to indicate that death and murdering plays a big part there.

[@GCWeber]

Wait what? So it's not just about a dinner party? Aww man...

[@xekon14]

Now where have I heard that before 😂 Hearthstone wants their spooky murder mystery back :P

[@fiddlewheelx]

I mean... Undying was damned cool too! And... an honorable mention for me is... well, spore counters. I'd like to see a return to that design space, where there'd be thallids and enchantments that have alternative uses for spore counters, while also increasing the production. For instance, one thallid could have "XX, tap; remove a spore counter from X permanents you control; each non-fungus creature gets -X/-X until end of turn". something like that.

[@clownform]

Well oil counters are pretty much identical to spore counters fwiw

[@MCC17011]

I like undying, but there are pros/cons with it vs persist. Persist's biggest issue is that -1/-1 counters are difficult to include in the same environment as +1/+1 counters and the latter is generally more enjoyable and versatile. That said Persist lets you have a modest body at first with a smaller one later instead of nothing, while undying gives you a small body to start and incentivizes you to kill it for the bigger one.

[@benjaminlehman3221]

Flavorwise it would be weird but I’d love to see a card with undying AND persist!

[@justinanderson2631]

Undying was cool but never met the criteria of the list since it was introduced in Shards of alara and later reused in an Innistrad set.

[@MCC17011]

@@justinanderson2631 I think you are confusing it with Unearth.

[@JDonaldBin]

i know its a basic one but i LOVE raid, the mardu keyword from Khans. cards like raider's wake and mardu heartpiercer are just so so fun and i can't help but feel the simplicity of the card and it's limited application leaves it unexplored

[@ZakanaHachihaCBC]

It was in Ixilan so it is good enough to return

[@Kuehnpiano]

And dash was fun

[@Stinkoman87]

I like how it is an easy and versatile reward for something you want to do anyway. In that regard it's up there with landfall.

[@ZakanaHachihaCBC]

Also just a slight nitpick, Raid (along with other mechanics that are in italics) aren’t Keywords but Ability Words. Slight rules difference.

[@hawkeye1131]

​@@KuehnpianoI believe dash was phased out and replaced by blitz

[@GoDzJtFr]

The number 1 mechanic i wanna see return is definitely Bloodrush. Having your efficient creatures also be combat tricks led to such great cards and fun combat for people that like attacking, and I'd love to see it explored again.

[@thelunchlady8276]

Yes! Love bloodrush.

[@markvanderwerf8592]

Pretty much all the mechanics that let you play cards in alternate ways tend to be popular. Extort, bloodrush, adventures, evoke or basically all variants of kicker, tend to be good. Heck I'd say the game needs that to have interesting play. The fundamental concept of 1 land per turn makes most games of magic just curve out too much with all choices obvious. The best ways to fight that are A) decks with a very low redundant curve and lots of card draw effects or B) cards that have choices in themselves.

[@irishrunner27]

i really enjoyed it, especially isnce it's an activated ability and not a spell, therefore harder to counter! and adds to the versatility of heavy creature decks

[@LokiHades]

​@@markvanderwerf8592You took the words out of my fingers

[@seandun7083]

I really love it too, I'm just not sure how much design space there is. Perhaps you could have a set where it is in black as well?

[@lukasbayer4996]

I miss the Devour Mechanic. I started playing Magic around the Alara block and completely fell in love with Jund and Devour. There is nothing like creating some small little Goblins just to have them be snacked by a big dragon that becomes even bigger. At least in LotR I got a Hobbit variant of it xD I guess if we ever revisit Alara, we might see it again. But it looks like this will take a while.

[@GrandDuchessTaco]

My first deck in Standard was during the first part of Alara! Themed it around Predator Dragon as my payoff, loved it so much.

[@bmalloy0]

To this day, Mycoloth is one of my favorite cards ever printed

[@zakouraa]

I know this is a 7-month old video and that this is only a minor detail, but i LOVED the transition from Ashling to Grief at 14:50!! Seriously, whoever made the mental connection that they were nearly the same pose and decided to put them together, I appreciate you

[@michael-luce]

I know it's basically brand new, but I'm really excited to see where they go with Backup in the future. It's such a flavorful and intuitive mechanic, and it seems to have a lot of cool design space for the future

[@MentalCrusader]

Hellbent should work nicely with typically red exile card draw

[@XaurielZ]

I feel like Hellbent could also play well with Madness

[@dudono1744]

easier to play on an empty hand when exile is your second hand.

[@shadowfox555]

I'm sad that Wither wasn't on the list. I loved the ability and it has no support.

[@JEL625]

Didn't wither basically become infect?

[@sarahbuck2506]

Kinda, but wither was cool because it made combat more interesting without introducing the threat of poison counters and having to balance creatures with poison in mind.

[@javierpatag3609]

@@JEL625Infect is OP, hence Toxic replacing it when Phyrexia recently came back. It was too easy to pump up and kill with in only a few swings. Wither lacking the poison component was really useful but still fair. I’d even say it’s in line with WotC’s current design philosophy of the game where Wither means creatures are worn away and eventually die; in a Wither-leas environment, once players set up their creatures and defenses they end up in stalemate-like situation where it’s hard to break through.

[@bricelory9534]

I find Wither fascinating but LOATHE anything to do with Poison Counters, especially Infect. I would be very happy if Wither came back.

[@ryanpeters3812]

I was about to say the same. I had a rakdos aggro as my first deck, with Everlasting Torment to prevent life gain or bulky creatures. It was my favorite early card and I still use it today.

[@phoenixantis6994]

I can't wait to see my favorite mechanic, banding, on this list. Surely prof talks about banding in this list. Surely.

[@justbank5007]

Banding is awesome!! Seriously

[@BLKCLVR]

As soon as I saw this I thought "we're gonna be seeing some RTR block mechanics on here." I was right, though not about which ones. Also, I'd really really like to see threshold come back, that's perhaps my all time fave mechanic.

[@joelucas4263]

One of my favourites is populate, don't think that's been in standard other than return to ravnica. Was disappointed it didn't feature in guilds of ravnica.

[@ameliaclark1917]

I'm probably one of like 3 people out there who dearly loved Modular and Arcbound, I'd love to see more cards, if for no other reason than to help me fill out my Arcbound/Modular deck without having to take every single one thats available

[@liveanotheranime3526]

Bless the Darksteel set and the Transference precon back in 2004. Was one of my favorite precons from back then along with Sacrificial Bam from Mirrodin.

[@ameliaclark1917]

@parasocialanxiety4994 Yeah, already added them to the deck and made Zabaz the commander.

[@ameliaclark1917]

@@liveanotheranime3526 I loved that precon!

[@bricelory9534]

Modular is very cool when in a non-busted context, which I think soured a lot of people's feelings toward the mechanic. I do love high synergy and non-linear mechanics, so I'd be happy to see it come back, as long as Arcbound Ravager is absent - I want the artifact sacrifice outlet, but it needs a cost to limit it.

[@joeferreti9442]

The mechanic is called Modular, not Arcbound. :/

[@Lliam82]

I really wish Grandeur would come back to standard! I love the ability to turn extra legendries into spell effects. I haven't seen the mechanic outside of a couple of cards, but I thought it was brilliant. With so many legendary creatures out there, it'd make a lot of sense.

[@JasonOshinko]

A strike against grandeur is that it's unplayable in commander.

[@ZakanaHachihaCBC]

@@JasonOshinkoAnd? I think that’s just an even bigger push for it because not everything has to be for commander.

[@GoDzJtFr]

​@@ZakanaHachihaCBCunfortunately that's exactly what MaRo has said about it and has told everyone not to hold their breath for its return

[@jemolk8945]

@@JasonOshinko It's not, though. You have to jump through a bunch of hoops with clones to make it work in commander, but that just adds to the fun of actually doing it. There are things that legit cannot work period in commander, but grandeur is merely complicated, and thus way more interesting than the boring old made for commander auto staples that get churned out every damn set.

[@knic918]

I'd love to see Grandeur come back in a current Dominaria set. It is essentially a variant of Channel and pairs really well with historic. The ability could be tweaked so that some cards care about the number of legendary copies in the graveyard. Maybe some weird cards that let you turn cards in your hand or graveyard into a copy of a Grandeur creature on the battlefield? I could see this in a Dominaria set themed around archaeological excavation and reclaiming ancient glory.

[@raizx155]

Its a good day when the prof uploads

[@theamericanwordsmith2670]

These are some of my favorite videos you do, Prof! These are exactly the kinds of cards I look for when digging through my or my friends' bulk/chaff boxes!

[@Aarongeddon]

return of arcane and splice was all i wanted from neon dynasty and i got totally let down on that lol. so much design space still available for it, and combining spells together is such a cool thing to do

[@olafthemoose9413]

Problem is that it's super hard to get right. It's a thin line between unplayable and potentially gamebreaking.

[@bricelory9534]

I agree ..Splice was really interesting, but so hard to interact with. I would have loved to see a new working of the mechanic that keeps the "build a spell" feel but isn't so hard to interact with. No idea what that looks like, maybe permanents that added effects to Arcane spells or something.

[@fbussier80]

They did do Splicer's skill and Everdream in Modern Horizon, maybe they wanted to test the waters for some future plans.

[@matshbocks]

Hellbent could be great for impulse draw decks which exile cards to use later

[@charajeux]

I've always like Provoke as a way to mess with the combat phase. Being able to force a block from a specific creature is a new way to play the combat part of Magic. Unfortunately, it has never been printed on a good creature, and was printed before the 8th edition, that means no Modern playability... So it was long forgotten. But it was good! And I'd love to see more printed in the future.

[@mr.mammuthusafricanavus8299]

Whoa, someone else mentioning Provoke, besides myself, High Five! :p

[@chronostrafe]

The most useful card it was on that I can think of is Goblin Grappler, and that's only because it's a 1/1 for 1 red, and in a set that focused on tribal synergy, and Goblins were the red tribal type. The rest of the provoke cards I think were white, and way too costly for it to be of any use. It's a shame, because like you said, it was a fun mechanic to force how battles played out into your favour basically. On the note of Onslaught era mechanics, I wouldn't mind seeing a return of the Gustcloak mechanic, it was never keyworded, but all the Gustcloak creatures had the same ability to untap if they were blocked and pull them from combat, meaning you could get a lot of cool triggers off cards that care about untapping.

[@joystickgenie]

Provoke is always my go to keyword on this kind of question. It in essence allows creatures to do what you would expect them to do when you first start playing, i.e. having this creature attack that creature. Unfortunately I don’t think we will actually see it again because of the adoption of the fight mechanic. The two fill similar roles in giving creature removal via creatures (that green needed but now seems to have in over abundance). I have always and still do like provoke better for this than fight and much better than "Ram Through" effect as it feel more natural to me for fighting to be part of combat rather than a spell ability. It was incredibly hindered by poor application though. Almost all the provoke creatures simply cost to much for their ability. That isn’t a fault of the ability, just bad balancing.

[@MageMinionsOP]

Id love to see mutate return with anything other than "when this creature mutates" triggers. Keywords, static abilities, etc. I understand that ut us definitely a difficukt design space with a lot of potential to break games, but I think the mechanic is a lot of fun and finding ways for it to work outside if only working with itself would be a lot of fun.

[@mysteriousanonymous7992]

Yeah! I wish mutate was just slightly better than it is

[@karolstopinski8350]

The coolest interaction i found is mutating creatures that can fight/deal damage like Porcuparrot with deathtouch creatures like Hemophage.

[@TheMartianGeek]

There are a lot of things they could put on a mutate creature in something like a Modern Horizons set. I'm hoping for split second, ward, and hexproof, for starters, but I could come up with quite a few other mechanics.

[@bricknolty5478]

I really hate Mutate tbh

[@joshenigma4318]

I know most are talking about old mechanics, but I thought demonstrate was a really cool mechanic that I would love to see again.

[@StrawhatRye]

RTR block was when I started playing, Gatecrash was the first set to come out when I was playing and I loved extort so much as a newbie.

[@themantyf1116]

I would just put Morbid first because I love the mechanic. It's just great value and fun. And I would argue that it's not color restricted (every color can deal with death: red through grief and blood, white through tested resolve and contacts with the other planes, blue through risky studies and learning from failures) Plus, it doesn't actually need a horror plane to come back if you sprinkle it around instead of making a big return. I mean, we are going back to Ixalan, there you can easily find a reason to put it on a vampire, dinosaur or pirate. Fierce worlds like Ikoria were also a great chance, and any plane with a cleric or a demon offers a chance. Not to mention how, like landfall, we also had some functional morbid cards without the name. Hellbent has a balancing issue, which is that the cost is really massive, but I think that a way to deal with it could be gathered by watching at a similar mechanic from another cardgame: Brave. It was slightly less restrictive (three cards in hand rather than zero), but still a steep cost, yet it became very strong both by being pushed and by having cards that rewarded you with card advantage at the end of your turn. Drawing after taking a risk is very flavorful for red and black, so I think that permanent supporting hellbent by making you recover hand after would go a long way to help.

[@vaderwashere365]

The card that got me into MTG was when a fellow Boy Scout played a Beta Dark Ritual when I was watching other Scouts play MTG for my 1st time. The coloring and art is just so amazing on it. The 1st keyword I fell in love with was Trample... Ball Lightning was one of my favorite cards when I started for the art and the ruthless 6 power with Trample.

[@MCC17011]

I loved extort due to how efficient it made your curves, allowing it to overperform in casual environments. I also like how with it being loaded on creatures it encourages you to stall out the board rather than wiping it.

[@ladykaiserin5003]

I was always a big fan of exalted, it let you swing big by going wide and left several options for blockers of your side of the field

[@jjvh500]

Exalted was the first keyword I fell in love with!! Having a supporting cast able to send one key player to combat was such a cool concept and I would definitely agree it needs to come back! I wouldn't mind seeing it on a variety of colors. It doesn't need to be just within Bant. The few Red and Black exalted cards we have are very cool and changing the color changes the flavor of the mechanic in such a cool way!

[@SonyaOutNProud]

Morbid is my #1 fave mechanic, with Tragic Slip being one of my fave cards of all time! Hoping for a return in Duskmourn. Also got SUCH nostalgia hearing you talk about Goblin Grenading your Arsonist to Brimstone for 5! that was me too back in the day!!!

[@leevinen3]

The card that made me fall in love with Magic was og Emrakul, and after the Prof started hyping up the keywords all I could think of in my smol head is Annihilator, only showed up once, over 10 years old, "loved by everyone"...

[@joshuadempsey5281]

For Evoke, dont forget that its also crazy synergistic with decks that care about death or sacrifice triggers. You don't need flicker or undying to get amazing value out of it in Korvold for example.

[@Cable313]

Fateful Hour from Dark Ascension is a mechanic I’d love to see return. Love the flavor of making desperate plays when you’re on the brink of death.

[@TheCloudyoshi]

I always loved the potential for that mechanic! They'd need to make the cards stronger I think, or make a fixed version of the mechanic that says 10 or less life, though.

[@braindedpanda]

dredge is probably my favorite mechanic missed by this list.

[@pygar256]

Dredge is on the "Storm List"...which is the list of mechanics that R&D has said they will never use again. (Don't worry, the list is real but the threat of "never" is more like just really unlikely...stuff from the storm list has been revisited in recent years.)

[@brynt91]

I love "ingest". Ingest makes it so when you do combat damage to a player, they exile a card from hand. It was printed on eldrazi drones. Now it as an ability is not why I love it, but, instead, I love what it allows and implies. When you have a mechanic that is based on exiling thing then you need something to mess with exile. In the same set as ingest, there was an unnamed eldrazi mechanic that required you to put cards from your opponent's exile into their graveyard for an additional ability. This was printed on eldrazi processors and is the actual mechanic I want to see more. The problem is that since it doesn't have a name I just always go with ingest. But the thought of utilizing a zone that is often not touched, messing with adventures and suspended cards, or giving someone a flashback card back, makes me so happy

[@Pfootball79]

I came into magic around ixalan/guilds of ravnica on arena. I loved the Enrage mechanic with the Dinosaurs. Like many, I do love me some dinosaurs, but the thing I love about the mechanic is how creature centric is. It was also fun seeing what option I had to deal damage to my own creatures to create an advantage. Ranging Raptors + Forerunner of the Empire helped me out on mana fixing. Also Temple Altisaur was a must have for me in my Enrage Decks.

[@MrZigzag170]

Love the vid concept been wanting one like this since I discovered this channel 💯🙏🏼

[@trunkulent]

I started playing Magic basically during Avacyn Restored, and absolutely loved the soulbond mechanic. It felt clever to work with and had neat interactions. Even with a somewhat niche flavor and only moderate design space, I'd love to see it again.

[@jenniferwilliams9612]

Thank you for listing my favorite card in Magic history, Tolarian Academy, as a great mechanic! I love that card! It is part of my favorite deck in all of Magic history!

[@omegamkx588]

I really hope that we get more foretell cards, I love that mechanic!

[@themagicofmtg]

This was a great video! As a Commander player, I'm fortunate that I get to see all those mechanics a lot of the time, but yeah, it would be nice to see them reintroduced into a Standard Set to give us even more options, rather than just the one or two we get in Commander Precons. Also, it's awesome seeing my name in the credits! Proud to be a Patreon sponsor!

[@hanschristopherson8056]

I real hope they give us more evoke creatures (that aren’t free spells)

[@oblivion45602]

Sunburst. SUNBURST!!! And Converge, I guess, very similar. Absolutely wonderful, beautiful, perfect mechanics. If you apply shower thoughts to the idea of Sunburst/Converge, you see that it intrinsically shows a property of MTG. If you play fewer colors in your deck, you are going to be somewhat restricted on card quality and strength. If you play more colors, you are going to have access to stronger cards, but you'll notice it'll be more difficult to make sure you have access to all of your colors on time. Cards like Engineered Explosives and Pentad Prism are perfectly serviceable if you only have two colors, but they scale in value the more colors you have (EE can hit a wider range of CMC; you can reap the benefits of the "any color" clause of PP). So, it doesn't completely punish a player for not having lots of colors, but it showcases the power of lots of colors. This deck building restriction trade-off is probably what makes deck building so much fun.

[@byrontheusurper6505]

Oh yeah overload RULES! I didn't know it was in baldurs gate, that's so cool

[@JEL625]

I think there is more you can do with morbid outside of 2nd main. Firstly you have sacrifice decks that can trigger morbid at instant speed, removal spells such as lightning bolt or doom blade can do the same. Then you can combine it with other keywords like devour and causualty in a plane focused on survival and Exploitation of weaker beings. The addition of more evoke cards would also make morbid more viable on 1st main.

[@LadyTsunade777]

Hellbent could certainly show up again in that villains focused set Thunder Junction coming up.

[@IamSuperDuck]

I'd never really thought about it, as it hasnt come up in any games I can remember, but I didnt know that +1/+1 counters and -1/-1 counters canceled each other out. I thought they were seperate entities on a permanent. Interesting.

[@normanreviewsgames698]

Yup. I love to make undying creatures even more busted by doing so.

[@weeb5516]

this is why yawgmoth is a thing :)

[@Grimlock1979]

That used to be the case. You could have both on the same permanent. They are the only counters that cancel each other. If you were to have a +2/+2 and a -2/-2 counter, they will both remain.

[@drexciya8083]

14:57 Just look at that mythic cycle lined up. A thing of beauty

[@ltjgambrose]

Brimstone Volley is super underrated. In that standard format I won multiple games by just sacrificing my Geralf's Messenger, ETB lose 2 life, cast Brimstone Volley. 7 damage out of nowhere, instant speed and just 3 mana. MaRo has also mentioned that it was a fantastic flavor mechanic, because what happened was that it made creatures dying inherently suspenseful. If your opponent suddenly sacrificed their own creature it meant a demon might be coming! That's literally straight out of a horror film.

[@FamousCoozie]

Watching these videos in the morning is the best. Reminds me of watching the actually fun educational shows mixed in with cartoons on Saturdays as a kid.

[@kcrad1527]

Wither is a simple one that I rather favor. Nice simple sidegrade to damage that discourages people swinging into your creatures that have wither and works against +1/+1 counter decks. I understand why its been left behind, but I cant help but feel as if it only failed by being printed on poor cards, or perhaps wasnt taken as far as it could have reached.

[@lordvaust5830]

I appreciate that they are bringing some of these keywords back. I am a big fan of Sorin’s Planeswalker origin card in commander because both sides of the card have extort.

[@evelmichael]

Innastrad was the first set that came out after I started playing. I'm very nostalgic about that set (well block) and all the mechanics were so good.

[@Psychonautical89]

The card that made me fall in love with the game was Geralf's Messenger. It was such a horse in Innistrad standard. I had been aware of the game for maybe seven or so years prior and played a few games from some early 00's, but it wasnt until that set and the zombies that made me sink my teeth (and money) into. Love that battery-chested doofus. Outclassed nowadays for the cost, but still very powerful in the right deck.

[@Earthboundmike]

Grove of the burnwillows comes to mind for me. I'd have thought they'd have shown up just because of commander. Giving one player instead of all would be another cycle of them too.

[@TheMartianGeek]

I'd really like to play populate and evolve in Arena. Echo is mostly a lousy mechanic, but it could have some interesting potential with low echo costs, essentially giving a permanent two ETB abilities. Amplify could be interesting, maybe. Affinity for other things could work. Splice was cool, and it would be nice to see again. Cipher and radiance could have fixed versions, and strive (among others) could be buffed in a repeat appearance. I'd also like to see entwine, imprint, ripple, suspend, split second, conspire, multikicker, soulbond, fuse, heroic, escalate, aftermath, and mentor again, and maybe spell mastery, surge, and emerge. I hope to see proliferate, mutate, and backup show up again, too.

[@marmaladd1906]

It may not be a specific mechanic, but your intro made realize the first card interaction that made me love magic was sacrificing Torch Courier to give my Ghalta haste.

[@jakobmoiirers_jmoii]

17:53 Prof just casually droping this HUGE BOMB!! 😍

[@WarWolfen]

Ah yes the Lorwyn block was my first encounter with MTG, truly a blessed time to start playing.

[@byrontheusurper6505]

I rlly wanna get me a mulldrifter, it'd be so cool for my flicker deck. I love playing flicker, it makes so many mechanics work differently, like, if I cast my overlord of the mistmoors for its impending cost on turn 4 and then my yorion on turn 5 I get 4 2/1 fliers and a 6/6 body for basically 4 mana!

[@AlienValkyrie]

I really wish they'd put Overload on spells with two targets. Either spells with two separate effects, where maybe one of them doesn't have the "you control"/"an opponent controls" restriction, i.e. scales up symmetrically to make for a double-edged sword, in line with reckless Izzet mad science; or even spells with one effect connecting two targets for quadratic blow-up - imagine overloading a "target creature you control fights target creature you don't control" spell. There's a lot of interesting design space to explore.

[@tja4379]

how would that work though? replacing all instances of "target" with "each" makes the effect "each creature you control fights each creature you don't control." so what fights what now?

[@AlienValkyrie]

@@tja4379 Every creature fights every creature, all at the same time. So each of your creatures deals damage equal to its power to not just a single, but *every* creature your opponent has (and vice versa). A lot of times, this would probably just be a board wipe, but it will interact with abilities that care about the creatures themselves dealing damage, such as deathtouch, lifelink, protection, or "whenever this creature deals damage" triggers.

[@tja4379]

@@AlienValkyrie i see. this is prevented by a ruling that "No more than two creatures can fight" though. and in this scenario every creature simultaneously fights every creature your opponent controls. i am not sure why the ruling exists but i can very well imagine this could lead to problematic situations.

[@lostmarble540]

I love effects that give you card advantage when you're hellbent, stuff like Asylum Visitor and Mindstorm Crown and Ghirapur Orrery, it's like you're playing slay the spire dumping your hand and filling up again every turn

[@wverms]

One of my favorite keywords in general is Offering (even if the cards it is on aren't my favorite), but they did return to it for one card recently!

[@DreamingOfAuroras]

Handsdown one if my favorite content creators for Magic even if I'm not a huge Commander player. Keep up the good work, Prof. c:

[@OGNoNameNobody]

My fave use of persist was on the Hybrid W/B instant *Cauldron Haze* Its a unique feeling when your opponent goes "Wrath", and you go "response: *Cauldron Haze* , I pick all my creatures and none of yours." Heh.

[@williamenciso9198]

I really liked the flavor of the Emerge mechanic. The idea of something bursting out like an Alien is so on point. I love that they finally returned to the mechanic with the Dr. Who set.

[@flyingalienqueen]

What makes all of these and most other well-designed mechanics great is that they’re grokkable and super flavorful every time.

[@Orion-fj2kr]

Im so happy to see extort on a list like this, ive loved extort for so long and since i started playing mtg for the very first time. This was so vindicating to me

[@Jachidos]

Rakdos and the hellbent mecanic was my first introduction to MtG before actually playing with 1st Theros. It will always have a special place in my heart. I made a Grenzo Dungeon Warden deck because the bottom mill gives card advantage without ruining the Hellbent :3

[@cyrus1380]

My first precon deck was a white/blue aven soldiers banding deck. I won so many games cause no one really understood how banding worked. It's my fav mech and god damn it, *I* want it back!

[@1notdeadfred]

TBH at 18:20 I was sure you were going to say wither. I hate poison counters but I love wither so much (go away, infect). It's such a great answer to indestructible in commander, but there just aren't enough ways to make it happen that can mesh with many deck types. You need to be playing mostly or monoblack to run Corrosive mentor and you need to be able to equip a Blight sickle :(

[@mage189]

I look forward to your video on bands, hoping it explaining how it's very easy to understand mechanic now that damage is off the stack and how it's an excellent counter to trample. I really want bands back in new sets! No, seriously it's actually pretty good now.

[@fdtori]

No mention of Undying along with Persist? It functions almost exactly the same, albeit with less "loopy" support.

[@mattm7798]

Agreed, plus undying can be put on smaller creatures as well as bigger creatures, and IMO carries more flavor. Maybe the fact that persist combos more than undying(how many cards say you can't gain counters or +1/+1 counters?) made it better for the prof. On the other hand, in standard, If I kill something, and it comes back bigger, that more of a feel bad than if it comes back smaller.

[@usagi2988]

AB-solutely love that you included Indestructible Aura in your cold open card gallery... that art is très'mazing (I love it So. Much.)

[@bruisedfrog]

Provoke is one I'd like to see return. I understand that it has essentially been replaced with fight spells, but i like having the ability on a creature!

[@bobsteave1236]

Great video , good energy. You get better at this every year my dude! GG

[@CyberBuster93]

I like the Ashling background when you introduced Grief! Similar posing, it definitely had to have been intentional xD

[@marcusramirez8181]

Didn't realize Return to Ravnica is already 10 years old. Making me feel old, prof

[@KomradeKrisis1701]

Modular. As someone who got into MtG around Kaladesh, I’ve always been an artifact player at heart, and the interesting play patterns you get with modular creatures have had me hooked ever since I first saw a friend playing them. I would LOVE to see them explore the space a bit more, especially now that they’re more comfortable printing colour artifacts.

[@andrewwang7699]

I mean, ~half of the modular cards were printed in the last 5 years (MH2 mostly) Like, it was the R/W draft archetype for that set

[@alexquinn9627]

I really enjoyed Ingest and the accompanying eldrazi that got extra effects for putting exiled cards back into graveyards.

[@Post_war_designs]

Indestructible Aura is the greatest card art of all time. Thank you for putting it in the intro

[@jacobbrj]

Wither. I like wither. I know infect does wither damage to creatures, but wither was such a cool idea. You can kill indestructible creatures, but not necessarily the first time the wither creature dies damage. You can proliferate also.

[@EffinChat]

Emerge is was a really cool mechanic that can definitely be twisted away from Eldrazi if they ever want to revisit it. Simic mages accidentally creating body-bursting parasites, twisted occult worshippers succumbing to demonic possessions, Ikoria's monsters... There's a lot of space to play with

[@technoisthegoat223]

Sad not to see Ingest. Makes sense why it isn't more popular, but is a favorite keyword of mine, along with annihilator.

[@TortaEnthusiast]

I really dig Threshhold, mill could always use some more support especially in green and white!!

[@matthewmiller257]

I would love to see Madness come back and was so excited when it had made a return in Modern Horizons 2. The idea of a cost of a spell, that being a discarding of a card in hand, being turned into a benefit is always so much fun especially if the card gains an additional or slightly altered effect when cast this way! Maybe having lands that can enter tapped if discarded, or evoke-like cards that are sacrificed if cast with their madness cost. It's a fun mechanic and I hope someday we will be able to go mad with the mechanic again.

[@snakeman830]

I don't think it can work with lands, as Madness specifies the card may be cast, but otherwise, you're correct. There's so much that can be done with it, but it really demands a particular world for it.

[@jjvh500]

Madness is such a fun keyword! It's a shame that one of the biggest uses of the keyword is for Anje Falkenrath in Commander. She hardly cares to even use the alternate casting cost, rather just caring that the keyword is present, so she card untap and rummage again

[@matthewmiller257]

@@snakeman830 For the lands, I figured it wouldn't have the EXACT keyword of madness, but rather rules that would be madness-like. Something like "if this card is discarded, exile it instead. You may then play it from exile until the end of turn." It would then depend on overall power level if you want it to be your single land drop for turn, if it enters in tapped, if it would be a a duel land, ECT.

[@matthewmiller257]

@@jjvh500 Yeah, I hate that if I want to play the best Madness commander, it is usually Anje. I was so hoping on our return to Innistrad that we would see a return to Madness with a new Anje card. And while we got a new Anje card, it instead focused on blood tokens.

[@jjvh500]

@matthewmiller257 Blood tokens are actually a pretty solid way to enable madness in my experience. Either you mitigate the discard of Blood or you are adding 1 generic to a madness cost which is fine due to how madness gets around normal timing restrictions and are usually at least 1 less than the regular casting cost.

[@okeytay4]

I pulled out my thousands of magic cards for the first time in years and started looking at them at the beginning of this video. In a random pile, the 4th card I looked at was the basilica screecher that he mentioned for extort. I literally did a double take when I realized it.

[@imbecillicusrex2117]

Future Sight had a bunch that haven't been printed since- Fateseal, Fortify, and Gravestorm come to mind immediately as examples.

[@sarahbuck2506]

Also aura swap! Been having lots of fun with that one

[@vantharion]

Hellbent also shows up as 'heckbent' of 'one or fewer cards in hand' - Djeru and Hazoret, Neheb, the Worthy, Dread Wanderer.

[@AzureKite360LP]

Cascade. Yeah, I'm that kind of player. Standard legal Bloodbraid Elf was, as the Prof would say, my jam.

[@drewforchic9083]

Extort actually just returned in Modern Horizons 3, on Sorin of House Markov! I run an orzhov vampire lifedrain deck, and I was so excited to see a new extort card to add to it.

[@danielgoldberg2129]

On the topic of Overload, WotC did use almost the same design space with Prototype. You can use the card early game for a cheaper cost, and late game as a more powerful card.😊

[@Stinkoman87]

I'm always going to have a soft spot for modular. I love both having a bunch of small things, and building one big thing over time, so this is a perfect mechanic for me. Sadly, the infamy of Arcbound Ravager means I don't think we'll be seeing it in standard after Mirrodin block, but at least it reappeared in modern horizons 2.

[@zachmcnabb5995]

My favorite 60 card deck is my heroic deck where everything plays for 3 or less, just a bunch of cheap protection and other instants that buff my peeps.

[@pytawidmo]

I miss _regenerate_ , it was very on point flavor wise and not really that complicated.

[@aeonstasis]

Shield counters were mentioned as a modern way to provide a similar effect while being easier for players to understand.

[@TheFogVelour]

is an ability

[@krios7299]

Shield counters & instants/abilities that give indestructible until end of turn was supposedly the replacement for regenerate. I find that such a shame.

[@anthonydelfino6171]

Hellbent feels like it could fit very at home on Innistrad as it’s a plane which now features madness as a returning mechanic, and self-discard is great with the eventual no hand payoff, and could be a fitting keyword for devils of the plane

[@Silly_Goose12]

I just wanna say that clash is a really fun mechanic when they do it right (ex: Marvo). Marvo is the only clash card in a LONG time and Marvo is from mkm commander

[@camoyuki]

I really like cards that give you casting options, like with Evoke, Overload, and the new Spree cards

[@telamyr73]

I really appreciate how positive and constructive this one is. Though I can't help but notice that Elite Inquisitor has protection from zombies, haha.