The Game Design GENIUS of Un-Sets & the Silver Border | Magic: the Gathering

[@Spice8Rack]

Hey folks! 1st off, a massive thank you to Dwüdles aka MTG Explainers for making the intro, it looks very swish doesn't it? 2nd, it feels weird to be releasing a silly haha video right now, so any ad-revenue from the 1st month this video's up for will be donated 50/50 to the RMT's strike fund (look up the rail strikes happening in the UK) and to Fund Texas Choice. Look after eachother, and get organised

[@dreamsalongthepath7377]

I love that Slobad is part of the intro!

[@brunosassonetorcello444]

Will do, you magnificent commie comrad

[@mtgexplainers]

The only thing I love more than when you use the nfl theme song is when the ad-revenue goes towards a worth cause

[@ChiefLibrarianAhriman]

Spice... is that The Internationale playing in your intro? You bloody legend!

[@thoop6795]

Altetnate title: getting to hear spice say squirrel for and hour and half Also everything about this video is perfect. Thank you.

[@GulliasTurtle]

Years ago my LGS installed an automatic card reader for pricing cards quickly. We were messing around with it one day and learned that if we put our driver's license under it it would return a card. Everyone went around seeing what they got and when it got to me the machine said my license was Assquatch. Needless to say I had a nickname for life.

[@PanAndScanBuddy]

Smooth move, Assquatch, now everyone knows.

[@ourdorkyfamily523]

This is such an awesome story. Literally made my day, thank you

[@klashslash6919]

Oof

[@oafkad]

The Blacker Lotus is a reference to an urban myth from back in the day. When I was a kid a lot of people said you had to rip up a black lotus when you sacrificed it.

[@Spice8Rack]

Oooh! I didn't know that!!!

[@FishMr3]

@@Spice8Rack similarly (and I think more well known due to the flavour text) there was a legend that people would tear up chaos orb to essentially use it like chaos confetti, allowing them to hit more targets than intended.

[@oafkad]

@@FishMr3 Ah yeah, I remember that too. It was wild how far these spread before the internet. Was like that weird S we all drew.

[@blightyfrogs]

The superman S? ^ / \ / \ / \ | | | | | | \ \ / \ \/ /\ \ / \ \ | | | | | | \ / \ / \ / v

[@calenhoover1124]

@@oafkad There is a really fascinating video about that "S" youre talking about by the creator LEMMiNO. Heres a link for anyone that is interested. kzbin.info/www/bejne/iILHqXufacSDrMU

[@flyinmehkite384]

This has given me a lot more respect for Rosewater. I am honestly looking forward to Unfinity now instead of just writing it off. Which is hard for me to look forward to because I am really starting to hit product burnout hard. Alas I shall continue to be guilt-free for putting Sword of Dungeons and Dragons into the Party commander deck.

[@Spice8Rack]

I'm the same. I'm gonna pick MAXIMUM 2 products a year I'm gonna allow myself to get excited about and that'll be IT. Mark was an actual champ for agreeing to do this

[@flyinmehkite384]

@@Spice8RackI should do the same. I also look forward to the hour long video based solely on The Space Family Goblinson and what they mean for goblins in non-fantasy genres!

[@cutecommie]

Tbh I've just realized that Unfinity has the name that it does because of SEO. It being a word that's not in the dictionary already helps it stand out.

[@joakimandersson7769]

@@cutecommie This guy gets it

[@GraemeGunn]

What I don't understand is why most people don't give Mark Rosewater any credit to begin with. Most people I talk to in real life who play Magic seem to absolutely hate Magic. They'll say things about Mark that sound like insults from a school playground, it's really weird.

[@Rukavizin]

Lost it at "Mark Rosewater, former stage magician." I hope that's how he regularly introduces himself.

[@QuantumJump451]

Gives me big "Sir Tim Berners-Lee - Web Designer" vibes

[@andrewamann2821]

He also did a stint writing on "Rosanne"

[@Lotuco2000]

I can't believe that you would mention Denimwalk and not say that removing your pants is officially a special action in Magic The Gathering

[@Spice8Rack]

Every day God gives me the gift of new knowledge. Praise Him.

[@tomneilson9501]

@@Spice8Rack its faster than tapping for mana!

[@malcomchase9777]

@@Spice8Rack The quote is "In response, I remove my pants" to be able to block the creature.

[@schnoz2372]

@@malcomchase9777 so it’s instant speed?

[@ThisIsACommanderChannel]

They did have to release an update for this card at the time. The ruling was that the laws/rules of the place you were playing at overruled the rules of Magic. If you were in an environment that was okay for you to not wear pants, like at your own house, then you could remove them, but if you were in a more public place like an LGS, school, library, etc... then you couldn't remove your pants mid-game.

[@AuraSight24]

I was truly surprised and delighted by how emphatic Rosewater was about encouraging players to use Silver-Borded Cards in Casual formats if they think they're fun "We made them to be played with, so please, play with them!" That's such a nice sentiment, especially nowadays when Magic keeps leaning more and more towards being Collectibles first and a Game second

[@chandlerpearce6213]

The difference is that Mark Rosewater is a dude who wants to make card games and also make money, whereas Wizards of the Coast wants to make money and also make a card game.

[@DimT670]

Magic isn't leaning towards collectible first game second. Its literally the opposite. More sets for people who like different parts of the game to play with, more formats, more focus on different ways of playing magic. The collectible aspect simply has been catered to and codified same as commander play has

[@Trogdorbad]

This rings especially true when it comes to Unfinity; the amount of people I've seen cry out "IF I SEE AN UNFINITY CARD IN YOUR DECK I'M LEAVING THE TABLE EVEN IF IT'S NOT AN ACORN CARD" is astounding

[@PhoenicopterusR]

​@@Trogdorbadon the bright side, you've dodged a bullet. What are the chances that someone who can't see the fun in an Un card would be enjoyable to play against in general?

[@Trogdorbad]

@@PhoenicopterusR Not IRL, but there was so much of it online at time of release I've now finally determined what I wanna do for an Atraxa1 deck: stickers. You can proliferate tickets, so that's the plan.

[@loadingerror2975]

As someone with a contraptions edh deck, I felt I needed to point out that reassembling a contraption does not return it from the scrapyard, but instead moves it from one sprocket to another. There is currently no way in the game to bring back contraptions in the scrapyard.

[@RhysticSyphon]

Glad I wasn’t the only one! Had to go back and reread the two cards that reassemble contraptions to make sure I hadn’t been playing them incorrectly.

[@sammin101]

Loving the optimism in “currently”

[@DimT670]

Doesn't artifact reanimation return em?

[@rueggy6427]

@@RhysticSyphon me too.

[@loadingerror2975]

@@DimT670 Sadly no. Since they go to the scrapyard, not the graveyard. Anything that brings artifacts back can only hit the graveyard.

[@ScornfulEg0tist]

The closing statement from Maro (1:31:21) about "just put the card in your deck if you like it, don't wait for me to put a black border on it" is absolutely true I've been playing with Booster Tutor in commander for several years now along with a selection of other pet silver border cards, and it's really helped me to continue loving and enjoying the game Recently I built a deck around dice rolling and honestly I'm in love with how nice it is to get to see cards from throughout silver border history working together with the new black bordered dice rolling stuff. It's just a complete blast

[@Case2_0]

As a woodworker, I’ve taken to building tokens to make myself stand out. I built a solid mahogany shrine for the shrine commander because it was cheaper than the token and I’m currently working on a castle door for The Initiative mechanic.

[@revenantproxy9100]

Getting Inscryption-y with it, I dig it

[@KingBobXVI]

For the note on Unfinity being the first Un-set since the popularization of borderless full-art cards, it's worth noting that this is another example of something pioneered _in_ an Un-set, since the first use of the borderless treatment was in Unstable with the contraptions, which was more or less a test run for the technology to cut those kinds of cards off the sheet.

[@pyroxx462]

"Much like Gothic Horror, everyone has been to an amusement park or a circus or a carnival" -MaRo, 2022

[@kmb1800]

i'd definitely say growth charm is way more represented by garth one eye than flavor words

[@Spice8Rack]

OH! You're VERY right I didn't even think about that!

[@piguy5684]

Unstable is and always will be my favorite Magic set of all time. I vividly remember walking to class while watching the Magic announcements of the day, only to see Mark barge into the frame raving about the new Unset. I also remember being late to class because I had to literally stop take in my excitement for a moment. To me, Unstable is the peak of Magic, period. The cards are genuinely funny, the cards are wacky, and, most importantly, the gameplay was phenomenal. Every time I sat down to draft I would find something new to laugh at. Maybe it was searching for the ninja in Masterful Ninja, my friend trying to kill my Skull Saucer by making me laugh my way off the table, or rolling a nat 20 with Sword of D&D. It may be small, but this set has left a lasting impact on me and will always make me smile. So thank you Spice for making this video and reminding me of how much joy Magic can bring people. Thank you Mark Rosewater (and the rest of the team behind the set; you all don’t get enough credit) for bringing this set and game to life. And thank you, the person reading this, for taking the time from your day to read my silly little comment.

[@Spice8Rack]

What an utterly lovely comment :) Unstable was phenomenal, and the fact that Mark considers Unfinity to be his FAVOURITE set really does give me a LOT of hope!

[@tortle1055]

Well said, well said

[@breawycker]

Mark Rosewater says the success of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty is good news for Lorwyn

[@tyson263]

The next un-set will be Un-Derappreciated. I'm so excited for the return even after the delay (more contraptions please and thank you maro)

[@breawycker]

Maro, please don't get hit by a bus so we can get contraptions in black border

[@Master00Ra]

I'd like a product called "Unparalleled" or "Unadulterated".

[@202mc4]

@@Master00Ra "Unbridled"

[@eduardoherrera2368]

@@202mc4 Un-ique.

[@lydiax6527]

I really love the part where rosewater basically yells at us for not playing un cards in commander. I actually have a Surgeon Commander EDH Deck that is all silver bordered cards (exept lands, duh) and it's always fun and I still felt called out. Like, you are sitting at the same table as some guy playing goat Tribal, but casting animate library is to far?

[@stevenyukabacera160]

I like the status quo. Default not legal, but talk to your friends and be cool about it. Some 80% of Un-cards are perfectly fine for EDH, after all (but some 20% are not, so).

[@lydiax6527]

@@stevenyukabacera160 fair, I would argue that there is a barrier to putting silver border cards into your deck that is greater then necessary. To put it short I would like more players to have the attitude, that if they see a fun silver bored card they jus throw it in there. You know? Just mash it in, it'll be fine. And even if it isnt, just cut it afterwards, basically all un-cards have a monetary value of about 2 cents so just throw it in and give it a vibe check.

[@CourtOfWinter]

I wonder how that interacts with, e.g., Entrancing Melody. It doesn't leave the battlefield, so the second effect of Animate Library doesn't trigger, but it's no longer a valid target for it, so the enchantment should to to the graveyard and the library is no longer a creature. Do I now have two libraries and you none?

[@PhoenicopterusR]

Unstable inspired me to build a Mary O' Kill EDH deck, intentionally hampered by the fact that you can only have 1 of each killbot in the deck rather than 4. Boy is that deck kinda janky but fun to run.

[@Bluecho4]

Are they full art lands, tho?

[@jonasp.1830]

Another Banger, Spice8rack just doesnt miss, it baffels me how you make me watch 1h42min without a break, with me being less then 5% of it in other tabs of my browser.

[@Skios]

Unhinged will always have a special place in my heart. Mostly because a local toy store dumped their stock for €1 per booster at some point, and I bought it all, two and a half booster boxes worth. I ended up with a lot of fancy lands, and a copy of Super-Secret Tech that has since been signed by the artist and framed.

[@brromo]

I believe Contraptions were at least part of the inspiration behind Enter the Dungeon, both mechanics have a keyword action that moves you along a path with a different helpful effect every time

[@_Max_Fan]

This video really explains a lot of what I've thought about Unsets for years in a concise way I would not be able to. (Yes, this is the "concise" length)

[@alanpep]

That was one of the best magic the gathering "deep dives" I've ever seen. Thank you so much for reigniting my absolute love of silver boardered cards. Time to bust out that silver bordered cube again to tweak.

[@johnjessop9456]

Sophie as Gwendolyn De Corci was fantastic!

[@LizaPlz]

Would've been neat to hear mark talk about the thought process of goblin game being reprinted in black border

[@Spice8Rack]

HOLY SHIT I FORGOT ABOUT GOBLIN GAME

[@LizaPlz]

@@Spice8Rack I'm ready for fUN video part 2

[@rossamundbrennan7248]

Goblin game was always black bordered. On blogatog he has simply stated that they printed it black border because it worked in the rules.

[@robertolukas3minutos]

@@rossamundbrennan7248 Missed the joke

[@StephenPaulRamsey]

Well this is delightful! Perfect amount of analysis and nuance

[@Spice8Rack]

Bless you ;)

[@VCV95]

Do you not know the old urban legend about the guy at a tournament verifying the rules of chaos orb, and then tearing it up into pieces and tossing it all over the board, resulting in an almost one sided Armageddon? that's literally what the rip up effects are a tribute to.

[@Spice8Rack]

No i did not! I'm learning so much!!

[@DanielFarnitano]

There’s also a version of it where the opponent then calls a judge and gets the player disqualified for changing his deck mid-match.

[@Veelofar]

“Much like gothic horror, everyone’s been to a carnival” MARK?! Have you been attacked by vampires before? ARE YOU A VAMPIRE?!

[@Casi_Here]

"DOES THAT MAKE SENSE TO YOU?" "Of course I understand it, I designed it." Poetry.

[@SunroseStudios]

yeah that bit was great lol

[@techattack6803]

52:13 It may be worth noting that the 'polymorph' effect of Fowl Play also became a staple for other card games, especially digital ones, where creatures can be more definitively transformed. I myself had no idea that this trend came from one of Magic's Un-sets. I'm just that used to it now.

[@campfartingrocks9403]

Ovinomancer had a 'polymorph' effect and was released the year before Unglued in Visions.

[@dr_volberg]

50:52 - Very Cryptic Command is also a reference to the textless players' rewards version of Cryptic Command which turned out to be a mistake given the rules text of the card.

[@macmusial3644]

This is a great video because on top of being a really interesting look into the history and importance of radical change and experimentation in games, Mark Rosewater looked me personally in the eye and said that I'm supposed to use Giant Fan to cheat indestructible counters onto Myojin of Cryptic Dreams and make infinite Kiora's Dambreakers with it

[@dahuntre]

Love it as always. I must say, the fact that you never explicitly tell us whether the Airplane-Squashies Incident was fictional or not really elevates the joke. I’ll remember that joke for a long long time:P

[@Spice8Rack]

Bless you, and I will never tell x

[@CanuckMonkey13]

I have no idea what the Airplane-Squashies incident is and NOW I am wondering if I have been blacking out (from sheer joy) while watching these videos and hence missing fascinating details. On the plus side, this comment reminded me to go read the latest tag-Timmy story and it did not disappoint, even if it didn't reveal to me anything about Airplane-Squashies and incidents relating thereto.

[@JeremyHoffman]

Take MaRo's admonishment to heart! Don't wait until the Airplane-Squashies Incident is reprinted in black-border to treat the story as legitimate! Spice8Rack told the story for you to enjoy it!

[@blazingvacuum1025]

My funniest story about un cards was the time I convinced a group of friends to let me put Entirely Normal Armchair in a cube that we later drafted. The card made it into my friend's deck and managed to kill a creature against every single opponent he played.

[@milohobo9186]

Unsanctioned was okay, it gave me access to some of the stuff I missed in earlier unsets. I wish it would have been full decks. Unstable is my ideal set.

[@Stinkoman87]

Yeah, the only problem with Unsactioned is its small footprint.

[@ComfyDents]

Stet, Bureaucrat Dragon, fits great for my 95% unstable cube. Reprints like "when what where why who", infernal spawn of evil and a few others allowed me to get them in fitting mint condition for a fair price.

[@ToxinBoy]

Unhinged was the first silver bordered set I came across and I drafted the hell out of it. We had so much fun with at the time, it haven't ever occured to me that it was the weakest of the un- sets. My favorite card is Carnivorous Death-Parrot, saying it's flavor text on every upkeep and watching the opponent not listening to the advice and dying to a 2/2 flyer for two was the best thing ever.

[@loveslug]

We’re in Hell collaborating with Spice is the best crossover I’ve ever seen please do more of this!!!

[@charlotte-hanson]

Spice did voiceover in We're in Hell's last vid and I honestly did the Leonardo Dicaprio pointing meme

[@loveslug]

@@charlotte-hanson the lore deepens. Yeah I saw that too. I think all leftist video essayists are part of a secret society

[@Tur713]

Perfect explanation of Contraptions! I played my Explosioneer commander deck against a friend last night and used Slobad to make Pet Project indestructible against his total board wipe. Good dumb fun interaction!

[@kristopherwatts9466]

I had to stop the video when I saw that glorious edit of the Terf that doesn't deserve name recognition.. well done mate, well done

[@kittylynne592]

Holy cow that's an amazing intro!

[@Spice8Rack]

Oh thank you! I really hope it's grabbing!

[@pkphyre8920]

Woah, super cool getting Maro for interview! Regardless of how I might feel about magic at the moment, still have a bunch of respect for that guy.

[@danielshaw8648]

This is a masterpiece. The writing is spectacular, the humour is bang on and the actual content is very interesting. Definitely worth the time you put into it.

[@MrShinyObject]

58:20 I was very confident you were going to bring up Garth One-eye here, who works almost identically to growth charm in casting spells by name only, but you went the other route of being "inspired by" instead.

[@harutakami1313]

loved this video, and it raises some really good points about the "legitimacy" of silver-bordered/Un cards. My only, Only! issue with it is during the rather exasperated explanation of how Contraptions work. "Reassemble" doesn't mean "return a Contraption from your Scrapyard to your battlefield, Put it onto one of your sprockets." it means "move a contraption from one sprocket to another sprocket." There's only two cards that do this, and one of them steals the contraption so you need to reassemble it to *your* sprocket so that a contraption you control doesn't trigger on an opponent's upkeep.

[@ΜάριοςΚαπα-σ8ο]

For those that might wonder, the music playing from 46:15 to 46:36 is from the band SepticFlesh!

[@3d0St]

I was in high school when the first un-set was released... and I was MESMERIZED! The puns, the meta, the boundary-pushing. Everything could change, from rules to the card design and It was amazing. When I started college I sold all my magic cards and I was fine being a non-magic player... till I saw unhinged.... and I wanted to play again. And played for a little time. I started to play again for return of ravnica... mostly draft because i didn't want to play any other format.I bought some commander decks... but I didn't have a "format"... till I saw the release of Unstable. I bought two boxes (I drafted one with my friends...) but the main thing that made me play more stable magic was the rule to make the un cards legal in Commander (for 3 months) Your video made me remember nice times with my school friends who laughed with me doing the Hockey Pokey (that we had to search how to do it because we weren't americans), college friends who were shy saying "Thank you sir, may I have another" and with my actual magic group (one of them dying for touching a Used Hazmat Suit) I love the un-sets (even the oddly one Unsanctioned) and watching your video made me feel safe about the next one, Unfinity. Thanks for that

[@meevs]

Hello, this is the first video of yours I've watched and I just came here to say that when the credits started rolling I saw the "1234 I declared a class war" thought I was reading some sort of cohesive rhyme that was meant to tie into the video, and grew increasingly confused until a good half a dozen lines in when I finally realized I was looking at a patron list. Also, great video! Thanks for making it, and I will definitely be back for more.

[@TheGloriousLobsterEmperor]

Silver bordered cards are great. There's something that makes perfect sense as a parody of the game and they are something that is amazingly unique to MTG. No other card game I know of besides a few obscure Imakuni themed Pokemon cards so elegantly parodies itself like the un-sets. I wish I wasn't a poor bastard living in a rental, because I would buy them.

[@akirachisaka9997]

40:38 I think for Watermark Matters, it's an interesting foray into the idea of "Tribal" matters again. Like, remember the old "Tribal" stuffs? Non-creature stuff with the "Tribal" super type? It didn't really workout, since it would require retcon and errata way too many old card to function. But what about "Factions" instead? If it's a "Faction Matters" mechanic, it will always be self contained to the local plane that the set happened on. Which means there won't be the problem of needing to errata everything we had. Still, I'm not sure if this mechanic will make Magic a better game, but it was really worth thinking about.

[@sharakolunarwolf]

Thank You for making this video. Acornelia and my planechase commander decks thank you! Also Granny's Payback is probably the the silverborder card I've had the most fun with.

[@yellowpie]

I’ve been rewatching some old spice8rack videos and it’s funny to find out that I recently developed the same music taste it had a few years ago. (I also think it’s very on-brand for this channel to make the background music of a video be the instrumental to a song with the chorus “Welcome to the United Snakes / land of the thief, home of the slave / the grand imperial guard where the dollar is sacred, and power is god”.)

[@pgp1558]

It was fun rewatching this video after the sticker and attraction bans. Not only was wizard's view of the line between black and silver border clearly different than yours (you said contraptions wouldn't work in black border any time soon, but every potentially problematic aspect of them was shared with attractions, so if contraptions were in unfinity instead of unstable they would have been eternal legal) but also that they chose the wrong place to put that line in (just because something works with the black border rules, that doesn't mean they should work with tournament rules). Part of the blame for this is on the commander RC, but the real problem was looking at whether the card worked with the rules without consulting any tournament organizer, and then hope nothing too powerful slips though the cracks (like for example one of the strongest rituals, that just so happens to use stickers and care about properties of words; that was only alowed because "we aren't going to translate sticker sheets, so it doesn't matter"). Even if ______ Goblin didn't exist, it would just be a matter of time until an interaction with an extra deck card would make them worth it, so the bans would have happened sooner or later anyways.

[@leadpaintchips9461]

I don't think that part of the problem was the commander RC, it's was fully and completely on the mandate "This set needs to be as successful as 'mainline' sets, meaning it has to sell better then before.". The only way that they're going to do so is if there's cards that are legal in common sanctioned events that players are going to chase. I mean, stickers and attractions seem (I haven't played with/against any Unfinity, so this is just me having a feeling reading about them) in line with any of the other slightly unwieldly mechanics introduced in other Un sets.

[@elsesome2707]

I called that you'd talk about Playtest cards from Mystery Booster when you brought up Furureshift border cards! The thoughtline of experimentation and innovation in Magic is honestly endlessly fascinating and I am incredibly happy you made the video. While I knew the deep lore, it's really nice to hear someone else explain it neatly to everyone else and provide some insightful analysis and opinion. We all need some levity right now.

[@nathanfike4001]

I love the Un-sets. Unstable was my favorite set since the RTR block. I really appreciate this video, it was able to put words to what I feel towards these cards. I have been looking forward to Unfinity since it was announced. Great work!

[@Bob-fe8qn]

For about two years now I’ve been wanting to make a tube with every uncard, this inspired me

[@FrostiKing]

Honestly I always liked Unhinged this was the first I ever heard of it being bad. Though it was kinda touched at the end, I think Unhinged, works best sprinkled into other decks rather than trying to draft an unset. I always saw Un-cards as that sprinkle of spice for really fun kitchen table magic. I could really see how trying to build an Un-deck would be... painful, and in that perspective yeah, unhinged was bad, but when you sprinkle it in with a real deck I think Unhinged was the strongest of the released Un-sets. With Unstable it tried to be an actual set, it felt more structured and draftable, like, it lost alot for structure, and it was the most adapted into actual cards. I think the removal of the silver boarder is a massive mistake, a silver boarder is easy to see and distnguise, a tiny sticker is easy to miss and is just going to have people scratching their heads, also space vacation carnival kinda breaks the flavor of magic, so... People are probably going to want the older reprints of the shocklands, I am guessing.

[@oscarmarshall7992]

Unstable was the first ever booster box of magic cards i bought and i have loved the set since

[@qchtohere8636]

44:15 - To be fair, it was a lot more straightforward explanation than Yu-Gi-Oh MR4 Pendulum-Link interaction (that may also apply for (but will definitely interfere with spaces occupied by) any other Extra Deck monsters).

[@XragebootsX]

MR4 interaction with Pendulums and Links was really straight forward, and then with MR 4 revisions the other extra deck mechanics are great for older archetypes

[@qchtohere8636]

@@XragebootsX Of course it is, if explained as clearly as in this video. But let me honest, a wipe on a board filled with pendulums is a nightmare for newcomers playing alone by themselves (especially if you have a Macro Cosmos active in field).

[@Stinkoman87]

The tricky thing with Pendulums is when you negate their summon. Since they were not technically 'on the field' when they died they go straight to the graveyard.

[@XragebootsX]

@@Stinkoman87 I try to stay away from pendulums as much as possu

[@qchtohere8636]

@@XragebootsX imo, you're missing out if you don't at least try a deck with some pendulums... But granted, this is coming from the guy who found contraptions a little too straightforward.

[@nosrin1988]

That cheaty face bit, and anytime where he just comments on an annoying part of making the video, the quirkyness of it, the adding in details to a conversation that aren't necessary. it's so REAL. And it's why I love spice8rack so dang much!

[@fennecfawx973]

My expectations for Unfinity were already high. It's literally the only set I'm waiting for. Maro, don't disappoint.

[@twarnold14]

I’m glad you got to have MaRo on here. And I appreciate the time and spotlight (and, uhh, cheatyface) that are all full display here. I remember someone in my old commander group asked if they could run a silver-boarder card. We asked what it was. Water balloon game. We all went hell yeah. Don’t think it actually came up, but I’m forever excited by the idea. Also, the automaton that gains keywords? I played it in one Unstable draft. Shadow and horsemanship were great different choices that are effectively unblockable.

[@lamronjr8785]

My favorite point of pointless humor in all of the game is that booster tutor has multiple 'pet pets' from neopets in the background. This fills me with joy.

[@makingnoises2327]

You still consistently impress me with your in-depth videos! So glad you're part of the community, you make such great contributions to the discussions and culture, and Magic is better for you sharing your voice 💗

[@benionin7260]

When I built my Conspiracy Cube, which I call the Cube of St. Draft, I combined the two conspiracy sets with all the contraption elements of Unstable. It's a wild ride and is always loads of fun to play. That "pick two" land is basically Paliano. (print Conspiracy 3, you cowards!). And I think the designers were right to include some less wacky or intense cards in Unstable to reduce mental load and ensure that the set would be limited playable. Last time I played my Cube one of my players commented that there was information overload because everything was doing something and there was practically too much to keep track of during the draft and the game. With that said, I've been thinking about making an Acornelia commander deck since Unsanctioned came out and now Maro's directly challenging me to make it. Silver-borders are legitimate Magic and anyone who says otherwise needs to let themselves have some fun. Also, PRINT CONSPIRACY 3, YOU COWARDS

[@hyshade5132]

It's been such a long time since I've seen your video I forgot how much I genuinely like you. Keep up the amazing vids

[@AeonHero64]

This video was wonderful. I’ve always found the un-set cards incredibly interesting, but I still haven’t ever played with any. That might change now…

[@AStandsForFrench]

this is genuinely one of my favorite videos I've seen in YEARS on youtube, bra-fucking-vo. man, of ALL the damn cards I kept from when I was a kid, it wasn't the dualies, it wasn't the mox diamonds or the gaea's cradles or the sliver queens, no, it was the near-complete set of unglued cards and small stack of tokens and full art lands from when I got an unglued booster box as a birthday present. ...mostly because those were the ones I wasn't able to even sell because until recently basically every silver-bordered card was monetarily worthless, but still, I'm glad I held onto them!!!!

[@dahuntre]

1:06:18 Hey! Speaking of cards that work in any deck (aka lacking parasitic mechanics), Lightning Visionary is almost exactly Target Minotaur, who was in Unstable, the Un-set that successfully balanced regular and kooky cards in a limited environment! Bang-on!

[@nocabgamedesign4832]

30:18 This is a good point that I haven't considered before. Creativity is inherently risky, and if a mechanic or set or design doesn't flop every once in a while then you're not being creative enough. But when you're exploring new design territory for the first time there is a certain amount of "leeway" which is the word Gavin uses. In order to make a masterpiece game, you for sure need to take some creative risks. Because ultimately those explorations of the design space can result in novel, genre defining affordances and mechanics that players recognize. And as an added side effect, allowing the mind to experiment with rule breaking creativity allows for a safe game space for designers to try out new ideas. Ideas that might ultimately be good enough for a future product. Great video! A masterful case study of creativity in game design.

[@Pistolsatsean]

I bought two boxes of Mystery Booster, and it was the second best mtg experience for me. The best being Jumpstart.

[@Spice8Rack]

JUMPSTART CREWWWW!!

[@Pistolsatsean]

@@Spice8Rack Super hyped for jumpstart with standard sets. This is something that will definitely get me back into LGS's. (as long as I can afford the fing cards 🙂)

[@ich3730]

Jumpstart aka "only draftable for rich kids" xD

[@Pistolsatsean]

@@ich3730 I've only drafted it on Arena and in a custom cube. Is it more expensive then standard draft?

[@brendaneichler5480]

@@Pistolsatsean The initial run was hit hard by COVID-induced production troubles, so it was hard to get for the longest time. Thankfully, starting later this year (I *think* it's starting with Dominaria United, but I could be mistaken), they're becoming a recurring booster type, replacing Theme Boosters.

[@ScornfulEg0tist]

The closing statement from Maro about "just put the card in your deck if you like it, don't wait for me to put a black border on it" is absolutely true I've been playing with Booster Tutor in commander for several years now along with a selection of other pet silver border cards, and it's really helped me to continue loving and enjoying the game Recently I built a deck around dice rolling and honestly I'm in love with how nice it is to get to see cards from throughout silver border history working together with the new black bordered dice rolling stuff. It's just a complete blast

[@larhyperhair]

I need "stop that" for Yu-Gi-Oh oh my God I hate it when my opponents flick their cards around in their hand like chill out

[@dawildbear]

Pretty sure Game Night Magic did the "30 cards to mix and match" deck thing first. So now I've got my nitpick in I can comfortably and safely discard everything else in the video. Or mill. Discard v Mill. My hunger grows unabated.

[@Spotifist]

Thanks for the video, very interesting and thorough analysis of a bizzare part of MTG. Well done!

[@adrienlingua3507]

Imo this is one of your best videos. i had no idea of the depth and the importance of un set, looking forward to unfinity now! Hope It Is good

[@Lykrast]

I don't know how Mark's ethusiasm here made me even more hyped for Unfinity than I already was, given that it's the first set ever where I actually wanted to go draft it, but he did and I'm sooo hyped for it I even forgot about Dominaria United and Jumpstart 2022 that'll come out a month before/after (not confirmed for Jumpstart but the most likely place). Also I bought X (fun fact: he's a huge fucking pain to find on card ordering and deck list websites) to put in a thief Tasha commander deck that I still haven't built, so maybe I'll slap him in Nine-Fingers Keene cause that deck is a mess already and also it ramps a lot. Also I want to get Stet for when I build Scion of the Ur-Dragon.

[@llamarama6976]

I made a silver border jund deck called "league of future evil" and its entire purpose is to use the "double" cards and time machine to win fhe next game your in not the game your currently in with the player. The main combo uses skullbriar the walking grave with time machine to enter the next game with all the counters on it still ready to smash face with haste on turn 2. (It also uses Gus and baron von count as a secondary win condition, however i may remove the secondary win condition stuff to streamline the deck potentially)

[@MuteSpectre]

I absolutely love that "how to keep an Izzet Mage Busy" would be absolutely busted out the ass in constructed lmao

[@The_f.ART.y_Shed]

I am happy with Mark's comment on playing silver boarders in casual. I spent ages building a Gelatinous Cube deck box to house an Ooze tribal Commander deck. After playing the other week seeing the bristles coming up on my opponents back when I revealed Vile Bile. They had no objection for me losing the two like for each touch. Even one player picking up the card to rub against my hairy arm. I was so disappointed to then go home later a take out Vile Bile and S.N.O.T. from the deck =[ I might just put them back in because I really enjoy them and remind me of when played magic as a teenager. I do enjoy your shows by the way, thank you. =]

[@TriangleChloros]

I'd like to completely miss the point of your heartfelt comment by pointing out that there is an Unhinged FAQ with rulings, and one of them is that touching someone with Vile Bile is not allowed. They have to touch it themselves. So the player touching it against your arm shouldn't affect your life total. It was also a bit of a dick move, obviously.

[@Cromulorf]

Slobad intro is fantastic!

[@Spice8Rack]

RIGHT!? You can thank MTGExplainers for that, he did a PHENOMENAL job!

[@morgandubs7083]

So glad you mentioned the Cheatyface effect, everytime the screen went black I saw something faintly there but couldn't figure it out. Great touch!

[@PommyDragon2525]

Your Mark Rosewater somehow became Phineas from Phineas and Ferb by the end. “Gavin, I know what we’re gonna print today!”

[@specul8online]

Great video - came here after seeing you play on TCC, and liked the humour and energy you brought to Prof's video. Did not disappoint, glad I dropped by for a visit.

[@eberron_arch]

As fun and informative this video was, I do wish you had spent a few minutes on the unreleased Unglued 2 which was fully designed and even had art before it got cancelled. it gave us split cards and atogatog, and some designs that made it into unhinged.

[@Gemini476]

It's also where the poisonous dual land is from! The theme for Unglued 2 was vegetable people because, apparently, the designers considered them to be "inherently funny", and part of that was rotten zombie vegetables that would give poison counters.

[@Shark-Fist]

Thanks for this amazing look at the past (and future) of silver bordered Magic! I fell in love with the Un-sets shortly after I started playing when one of the guys at my LGS gave me a box of bulk from Unhinged, and I've always felt they were severely underappreciated. This reminds me, I've really gotta finish my Un-cube one of these days...

[@VCV95]

as soon as I saw your channel post I got PUMPED. always great videos!

[@Spice8Rack]

Oh you're too kind, thank you!

[@VCV95]

​@@Spice8Rack No, thank you for being yourself, supporting good causes, and making great videos EDIT: and supporting all kinds of creators through collabs! I really want to see You, Prof, Kyle Hill, and PleasantKenobi play edh one day, if it is ever feasible, even online or something. That would make my year!

[@0Enigmatic0]

Best video you've made since "bad cards are good," absolutely loved it. Clearly a ton of work went into the making, bravo

[@Nocturne989]

Anyone coming back after WotC literally had to ban every single sticker or attraction card from Legacy and Vintage?

[@rosa28373]

Also pauper.

[@CoreysCards]

[The Cheese Stands Alone] has some of the best flavor text I've ever seen.

[@SandsBuisle]

I'm mentioned in a Spice8Rack video, and he misreads my name. Wow.

[@Spice8Rack]

Oh I'm so sorry! How do I pronounce Buisle properly?

[@coruscanta]

I’m so glad I stuck around for the cheatyface bit because I thought I was going crazy seeing it every time the screen went black for a transition or something.

[@TangledLion]

Sticking a trans flag over Team Spirit Force of Will and other such cards would surely make the artist of that card LIVID if she saw this... 11/10 decision, give me more terf tears.

[@RevanReborn3950BBY]

So the artist is homophonic or whatever the word for not liking trans people is? That makes the flag replacing the art make way more sense

[@sophieprime4669]

​@@RevanReborn3950BBYYeah, blatant Qanon cultist and Trump supporter. Has upvoted several degenerate hateful posts

[@BlphBain]

@@RevanReborn3950BBYtransphobic

[@RevanReborn3950BBY]

@@BlphBain thx

[@zacyquack]

What did that artist say/do??

[@breathinginsilence]

love that so many of the planned videos have come out! mill and discard was the first video I saw on this channel, and the horror board games was so interesting. both terrific videos that I've been sharing with friends

[@AuraSight24]

Initial interaction to appease the Unholy Algorithm So glad to see a new video! Really excited for this

[@ahsleywithabeard]

This UN-documentary was very well done! I express My sincerest thanks, and ask that you please continue to “keep up the good work”!

[@lamronjr8785]

any jab at terese nielson fills me with joy.

[@hungryhedgehog4201]

The augment mechanic looks so cool, such a clever design

[@WBenIB]

The experimental design space that was once exclusive to the silver border has largely shifted to Arena's Alchemy format. This is reasonable at first glance. The trouble is, Alchemy does not benefit from the same casual safety net that silver-bordered cards enjoy. This has caused no shortage of ill-will among players, especially since Alchemy cards run into the same "legitimacy" question that have haunted the silver-border but don't offer player a chance to opt out in the same way.

[@Owesomasaurus]

Alchemy better keep Silver Border's name out of its fucking mouth. More seriously though, Alchemy isn't an experimental space for paper mechanics... because so much of its bullshit requires digital back-end to make it work. Yes there are cards in Alchemy that could work in Paper with minor tweaks (a lot of its perpetual cost changes could be downgraded to a once- off exile ala Elite Spellbinder for eg) but its inherently tied to having a computer manage resolution.

[@rudymartin8583]

@@Owesomasaurus I would argue Alchemy is to digital what Silver Border is to paper. Digital opens up a huge design space that is not accessible to paper, and it's not an inherently bad idea to explore that design space. What IS a bad idea is publishing those cards directly to every single constructed format in digital, regardless of casual or competitive, completely destroying the ecosystem of cards and formats that are fundamentally designed for paper. Imagine how much you and everybody else would have loathed Silver Border if Unhinged, for example, had been printed directly into competitive formats. This is the problem with Alchemy. Quarantined, it could have been a fun format/ experience. As it is currently, it's a detestable invasive species.

[@wydx120]

@@rudymartin8583 I don't understand what you mean when you say that Alchemy cards have been "published to every single constructed format in digital". I couldn't care less about Alchemy (really happy for the design space it explores, I'm just not drawn to playing it alongside paper-like Magic), so I have just been playing in the usual pre-Alchemy formats in Arena (and new ones like Explorer Ranked), and have never encountered an Alchemy card in game, as they're not legal in those - not even the rebalanced Arena versions of paper cards

[@silverknight6831]

That was great. Thank you for all the work you do and entertainment you provide.

[@ccstrate5485]

Who dropped the marxian analysis in my silly mtg video?

[@Spice8Rack]

IT WAS ME AH HAA!!

[@ccstrate5485]

You sneaky great ytber....

[@DreamPurpleFloyd]

The fact that you chose a song from Deconstruction as background music for the contraption part is very pleasing