Best. Mechanics. Ever. | Magic: The Gathering's Forgotten And Overlooked Keywords

[@TolarianCommunityCollege]

New Shuffle Up & Play Alert! Crim from MTG Goldfish joins me for a game of casual Commander with Spice8Rack and Dark Pact Cosplay. Does Crim know what casual means in Commander? Watch here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mZvMoZeAebCDn8k

[@stuartmiller4363]

Boomber!

[@tiobridge841]

I'm kinda surprised that Emerge wasn't used for the sleeper agents from DMU, that would have been a lot of fun

[@thirdcoast6513]

Ok boomber.

[@slaytronic]

slivers

[@ghostguin1398]

Emerge seems decent for the tyranids if they do another precon

[@benjaminlehman3221]

I am very impressed with ward. great way of replacing hexproof and still helping interaction and gameplay.

[@derse1292]

Ward is one of those that just feels right. Simple and does exactly what you'd think it would.

[@sorry987654321]

i disagree. you never overlooked ward and had your spell getting countered?

[@fatefulwaffle]

Ward is one of those keywords where I love and hate it. It's not as backbreaking as hexproof, but man there are times where I'd rather deal with hexproof. I do love that ward is harder to remove, but has so many applicable costs. Discard a card and sac a permanent are among my favorite costs

[@1000Tomatoes]

Also, it's got a cool interaction with "cannot be countered" spells like was shown by Crim in the last SU&P video. Not obscure enough to go on the list, but definitely a cool mechanic.

[@mgerdes0331]

Agreed. Ward makes spell slingers play a little smarter without shutting down the entire strategy.

[@BigDumbMeRC]

Man when I first saw the enrage mechanic in ixalan I couldn't believe how cool it was. Made the dinosaurs very fun and interactive

[@ectopicEye]

madness is my absolute favourite. the mechanic, the thematic implications, the cards its printed on, the enablers. really enjoy this one furyblade vampire ❤ edit: emerge is also awesome. had a pretty nice mono green emerge deck

[@TolarianCommunityCollege]

I love madness!

[@Lycandros]

I also loved emerge.

[@Aigis31]

If you love madness, Pauper has a super fun madness deck!

[@hallaloth3112]

Madness is such a fun themed keyboard. I was always a little miffed I never pulled the cards for it, perhaps that's because Shadows over Innistrad was the first box I ever bought.

[@fredrikhenriksson1508]

Madness vampires are my favourite standard deck! I still keep my copy around and will probably never break it apart

[@Crunchatize_Me_Senpai]

Bloodrush, a Gruul mechanic from one of the older Ravnica sets, might be my absolute #1. For a mana cost, you could discard a creature with bloodrush to lend its stats and abilities to an attacking creature until end of turn. The cost to do this was usually lower than what the creature itself would cost to cast. Ravnica sets have had several cool mechanics. That could be its own video. I always liked Simic’s Evolve, Orzhov’s Extort, Azorius’s Foretell, Dimir’s Cipher and Transmute, Rakdos’s Hellbent and Unleash, Boros’s Battalion, and Izzet’s Overload. I think Selesnya also introduced Convoke, which I love.

[@654jimbob654]

Glad to see the raid mechanic getting some love! Curving a turn 4 Siege Rhino into a turn 5 Wingmate Roc with raid was such a backbreaking play in standard and helped to give Abzan some protection against those pesky Mantis Riders.

[@AbenZin1]

Glad to hear it being mentioined without being followed by "Shadow Legends"

[@DifunctedReble]

@@AbenZin1 Unless it is Pint doing the Raid spots. Overall though, yes.

[@guyinthecorner0]

​@@DifunctedRebleI really couldn't care less who does it, they're unbearable

[@CatSculptor]

I LOVE Raid, one of my all-time favorite Commander decks is Alesha, who makes great use of cycling creatures with Raid in and out of the graveyard

[@huntercarvey670]

😊😊

[@gleeman959]

I have an entire commander deck based around Suspend. I love the mechanic and the interactions that can be applied with it. I would love to see more cards with it.

[@Theaaaaaa.]

boy are you gonna be excited for the WHO set

[@456Tal]

jhoira of the ghitu is my favorite card of all time

[@mrosskne]

what is the point of suspend?

[@gleeman959]

@@mrosskne a much lower cost to cast a spell, but there's a delayed effect.

[@michael83479]

​@@456TalI built it at first as a joke "6 mana do nothing tribal" deck then actually really started to like the deck

[@peeporiot9948]

I've really liked how they've reintroduced amass recently. In war of the spark it felt clunky and awkward, there was really no payoff. In Lord of the rings not only did it feel more thematic but it felt more like a tempo play. I also like it on the new sliver in the commander precon because, again, it feels like a flavor win.

[@jeffchaffee1873]

During War, my kid and I talked about how flavoring an army in each color might be fun and even started a list of synonyms (the only one I remember was Marshall for the white Soldier Army idea). But I like Amass (Type) way better.

[@alvarosimoes1076]

In arena, old amass became "amass zombies". So, there's hope.

[@RisottoNero-z1w]

The only thing I dislike about it is an army not having trample.

[@gab1iy]

@@alvarosimoes1076 its already the case theres amass zombies, orcs and slivers now it has been oracle updated

[@macaliser9001]

I really miss Explore, I feel like it encapsulates Zendikar really well and deserves a revisit

[@ben_clifford]

Explore was from Ixalan block, but I can see how it would fit well in Zendikar

[@Lemon_Sage9999]

Fun fact, new ixilan includes it

[@JS-tl7jp]

Miss it? It’s central to my deck 😁

[@Fred03837trigga]

Nahhh Boringggggggggggggg

[@TheBaronDen]

I have to speak up for Enrage. It does such a great job on changing the utility of burns and pings, while also complicating combat math. It's simple and evocative and effective. Plus dinosaurs. Rar!

[@GothamKnight-hsw4vx526430]

Yeah Enrage rules

[@bulkbinexplorer]

Ixalan mechanics rule!

[@Alecations]

It makes sorrow’s path playable. Any mechanic that can do that is a slamdunk in my book

[@abouc]

Enrage is so much fun! "In your end step, I'll cast Shock, targeting my Polyraptor to make another Polyraptor. This will trigger Forerunner of the Empire and I'll choose to deal 1 damage to each creature, creating 2 more Polyraptors. Each of those will trigger Forerunner of the Empire, but I'll choose to have this effect happen only once, making 4 more Polyraptors." 7 new Polyraptors online and ready to swing for one just red mana. Yeah baby!

[@kevinwestermann1001]

Enrage is not a keyword ability, though.

[@tylerowens]

I think shadow is the best iteration of flying/horsemanship. It's like the flying creatures that say they can only block other creatures with flying without reach muddling the mixture. Committing shadow creatures to the board is sacrificing your non shadow board presence. It's a real risk reward type situation and I love it.

[@RafikiafReKo]

Prowess for me, loved it since it was announced as Jeskais key mechanic and was happy when I heard it became an evergreen

[@TheKeepon]

The fact that all the red prowess creatures have at least 2 toughness - Swiftspear is so good!

[@PsychoDiesel48]

As an aggro player, I agree 100%

[@coryheistad4935]

Swiftspear is my favorite

[@davidhower7095]

Fun fact! There's only like, 5 white cards with Prowess. Elsha of the Infinite being the sixth and multicolored.

[@coryheistad4935]

@@davidhower7095 also can't forget the new narset she gives your whole team prowess which I might run in my jeskai token deck

[@lucasbuchanan5244]

Yes, I love mechanics-talk! As someone who took a Magic hiatus thru the 00s and 10s, I never got to experience all these new-fangled mechanics in draft, and I love hearing what works and what doesn't!

[@androkguz]

Totally remember Emerge and totally loved it. It doesn't seem like a twist in ninjutsu. It seems like a twist on Offering

[@zacdredge3859]

Yeah, if anything Emerge is more like Mutate but it replaces the Creature rather than altering it.

[@espio87]

Flanking is my favorite overlooked keyword. Sidewinder Sliver reminds my opponents that it is a STACKABLE ability only when it is too late.

[@benink8658]

Prof you're young at heart! Being old isn't a mechanic....yet

[@ruairip7722]

Experience Counters

[@Sassaparilla]

@@ruairip7722 better yet. Age Counters.

[@xolotltolox7626]

Age counters literally exist

[@lirazel6414]

I saw original Sleeping Beauty in a theater, when it was first released and lines were around the block. All of y'all get off my lawn.

[@kitsovereign4127]

Okay but what about Granny's Payback from Unhinged

[@Arisorio]

I loved provoke, it is such an interesting way to use creatures as removal!

[@Vesdus]

Provoke is the best!

[@kevinwestermann1001]

I recently designed a Naya commander for our "build your own commander" night. It had provoke and "You can't cast noncreature spells". (:

[@skaespearesboys5999]

Emerge is actually analogous to the creature-type Offering mechanic from Kamigawa block

[@paulomandujano1912]

I really enjoyed bloodrush and battalion from Dragon Maze. Bloodrush in particular is a great way to meddle during combat; especially with goad becoming more prevalent.

[@iho356]

I love bloodrush because it lets me add an aggro angle to my discard archetype in cube

[@impp18]

Bloodthirst felt like a mechanic that could have been explored more, rather than just adding 1/1 counters

[@enricomassignani]

Spectacle?

[@Bearhuggerus]

One of the mechanics I like, that happens to be introduced recently is Prototype. I love how it changes the draft environment making the late game feel like battlecruiser duel. Another one is Reconfigure. Switching to building the board tall, as opposed to wide to play around the removal at the cost of blockers or attackers is so interesting. But my personal favorite is Cleave, it's such a clean, simple mechanic that allows for so much interesting design space.

[@jeromezp]

The "offering" mechanic works the same as the emerge mechanic but requires a specific permanent and works at flash speed, which imo makes it really neat and very thematic

[@janmelantu7490]

Offering also can reduce the Colored mana requirements.

[@christopherb501]

No it doesn't. You could just tack "offering" onto something and then it would have flash with ANY permanent ditched. It just wouldn't be a good idea.

[@AlluMan96]

Not sure if this is necessarily forgotten or overlooked, but I have always enjoyed the Foretell mechanic. I would also say Suspend, but I think Foretell ended up being better for being less abusable, but for my money Suspend is just as exciting for the same reasons. I just enjoy the added tension of knowing something is happening, but having time to prepare for it on every side. The slow, ticking time bomb cards with suspend in particular can have creates the kind of excitement that I enjoy in TCGs. Foretell creates a different kind of excitement, because you don't know what's under there, which can lead to a nervous tension building up as you wonder whether it's just a bluff or a serious threat. They're enjoyable mechanics to me, because they are mechanics that I love no matter if I'm playing with or against the mechanic.

[@jmeind]

its coming back in doctor who precon i believe, it has this whole time travel and time counter shenanigans

[@AlluMan96]

@@jmeind That's cool. I haven't really looked into much of the Doctor Who stuff, because I simply don't have the same attachment to it the way I did LoTR or Warhammer, but if it means getting more Foretell and/or suspend, I'm at least excited for them mechanically speaking. After having taken a look, it seems to be filled with alot of things I like or interest me. Not only did it have Foretell and Suspend, but also some Cascade shenanigans (Another favorite mechanic of mine) and also support for Planechase, a format I've never played, but would be a good time to take a look at. I expected to skip this the whole Dr. Who thing, but it looks too fun to actually pass on. Based on preorders, they look to thankfully be priced more around the Warhammer range and not Commander Masters range.

[@jmeind]

@@AlluMan96 oh boy I hope they will stay away from commander masters price point for a long time. It sure seems interesting, enough to get me who doesn't even know that much about Dr. Who to be interested in playing the decks. The artwork is lovely too.

[@AdeptArcanist]

Suspend is my single favorite mechanic in magic, honestly - it's just so fun to cheat out something for a lower cost than its actual cost, and then mess with the time counters on it. Plus, there are the refrain spells, which are just *so* fun.

[@AlluMan96]

@@AdeptArcanist Very fair and I whole-heartedly agree that the refrain cycle is an amazing set of spells. Over time since writing this though, I think I prefer Foretell just for the excitement of it. Like I originally stated, my favourite thing about these two mechanics is the loaded gun they represent on the battlefield and while the threat of the known that is suspend is indeed exciting, nothing to me beats how Foretell works. It's face-down, so you don't really have any idea what's coming and because you trigger Foretell on command, you never know when it's happening either or when you are or aren't safe from it.

[@Baex21]

Now I want Serge&Nelson explaining the Surge Mechanic. (and a Shuffle Up & Play Canlander Episode wouldn´t be too bad either)

[@pytawidmo]

I'm almost sure they did it as a part of the pre-prerelease judge rules videos before. Definitely +1 on the Canlander SuaP!

[@justapersonontheinternet]

yess please

[@ettasoeur84]

Two mechanics I really enjoyed despite them not showing up much are Fabricate and Riot, both of those having some common +1/+1 theme. The choice between "go tall" or "go wide" for the former, and "go big" or "go fast" for the latter is simple but effective in providing flexibility and very satisfying when used correctly

[@AncientJerks]

When I first got into Magic my uncle gave me some of his old cards to build my first deck with and I immediately loved the few cards he had with Provoke. It made my unga bunga playstyle feel like it could actually deal with opponents who were trying to keep their creatures safe from me

[@CrowsofAcheron]

Provoke had a lot of issues. You couldn't use it on a creature with a tap ability, because they could just tap their creature and then they wouldn't have to block. Also, they could just multi-block your creatures anyway. Still I think there should be more ways for creatures to interact with each other.

[@jaredwonnacott9732]

I was hoping Provoke would make the list, too. One of my favorites.

[@nivE3066]

This is only due to my pod being very counter heavy but I'm a huge fan of "split second". Knowing i have a card i can cast that avoids the vast majority of counters or most other instant speed tricks really makes it worth in my deck every time. Want to kill a creature without them using ephemerate? Sudden death/Sudden spoiling. Want to have one of the best combat tricks in black ? Use Sudden spoiling to get rid of their base power and any abilities like indestructible.

[@GoldStorm07]

Surge is easily my favorite mechanic that has yet to be brought back, it could be a great deciduous keyword like Surveil ended up working as.

[@Triceratopping]

blows my mind that surge wasn't used in Battlebond

[@moominfin]

I really like Backup and hope we'll get more in the next set. Simple, versatile, fun to play

[@phatnana2379]

Seriously! I'm too lazy to look up the Red/White Soldier that allowed you to Backup twice each time (as long as it was still on the field). With Voldaren Thrillseeker and some Flicker Spells, you could spam Counters pretty fast

[@mr.mammuthusafricanavus8299]

I'd like to see Provoke (When this creature attacks, you may choose an opponents target creature to block your creature) come back. I think this ability would have been cool to see on Dinosaurs in Ixalan and Monsters in Ikoria ;p

[@Vesdus]

Provoke is my absolute favourite mechanic and I feel like it hasn't been explored nearly as much as it should be. It also untaps the creature as well as forcing it to block so that it HAS to block.

[@crazygermn]

​@@Vesdusprovoke is really strong on creatures with decent stats. Enough density of it just lets you control combat.

[@madisonking8057]

​@@crazygermnyeah pretty much repeatable fight target creature, I think it could work if they added a cost to activate or if it had specific activation requirements like you must be attacking with 2 other dinosuars etc.

[@roxannekrogh4228]

Sadly, because it's *so* similar to Fight they've said it's extremely unlikely to ever come back when they could just design a fight card instead.

[@ShaqPlaque]

Provoke works great in multiplayer formats, but it can be extremely frustrating in 1-on-1. For this reason, I wouldn't expect Provoke to show up in a typical standard legal set. I do think they'll use it again though.

[@LunarWingCloud]

I like the Retrace mechanic. Being able to turn what could be mana flooding jnto something to do with your mana is just wonderful

[@MaKs2K5]

One mechanic I found out recently is Retrace. They are generally overpriced cards, but whenever you're left with no cards in hand and you draw a land. You have additional choices from the graveyard !

[@PopeGoliath]

The problem with retrace is that it leads to repetitive gameplay. It can be fun to Worm Harvest every turn for one or two games, but then it starts to lose its appeal.

[@professeurgideere5856]

@@PopeGoliath For some effects, it's also way too good, like the discard one.

[@RealClassixX]

Throes of Chaos is the greatest Magic card of all time. This is not up for debate.

[@IlGreven]

Generally overcosted...and then there's Raven's Crime...

[@IlGreven]

@@professeurgideere5856 One-mana discard in general should not exist (No Duress, no Thoughtsieze, no Inquisition). Doing it over and over again is just...ugh...

[@minervadetauro7646]

I honestly really like amass even if most people seem to hate it. I think it’s really great because it works as a token making mechanic that is designed to be more aggressive with the token rather than causing the “gum up the board and stall until you get a critical mass of tokens” most token making stuff has. Replicate is another personal favorite, it’s really cool at giving your spells a ton of modularity while being relatively simple. Finally suspend is another mechanic I really like (except the ones that have no mana cost and you can cascade into like hyper genesis), it’s a mechanic that makes you think turns ahead without feeling overwhelmingly complex

[@dragonfire72]

Hey Prof, Emerge always felt more like a rework of the Offering mechanic from Original Kamigawa block.

[@TheeGoodSir]

and i for one really like the offering mechanic

[@martl8615]

Eh, they need so many strong abilities to offset card disadvantage

[@Nanook128]

​@@martl8615You're trading card advantage for mana, pretty similar to the value proposition of a ritual card. Offering also let you cast the creatures that have it with flash when you sacrifice a creature.

[@martinahl844]

Just what I thought

[@JacintoVG]

Rebound is one of my favorites, my pet edh deck is a UW taigam build, also kind of gives raid to all my spells! I started really getting into magic around BFZ and oath was probably my first prerelease, I played a surge deck and It’s always had a special place in my heart. Emerge was one of those mechanics I always wanted to make interesting builds around, I wish there were more and the Alien idea is so cool!

[@skylarken1184]

Personally, one of my favourite ones is Tribute. It provides some fun player interaction and puts the choice into your opponents hands as to what buff they want to give you. It may not be the best mechanic since it allows your opponent to essentially decide what would be better for them but I just enjoy saying "Will you pay me my Tribute?"

[@mattm7798]

yeah, the problem is it's a punisher mechanic and WotC has generally been terrible at making those good. That and the fact that almost none of the tribute cards were good at all.

[@eucoliptus]

Emerge reminds me of an older obscure Kamigawa mechanic that I love: offerings. Only the Patron spirits cycle from Kamigawa had that mechanic until they printed "Artifact offering" in Brother's War on Blast-Furnace Hellkite

[@rajamicitrenti1374]

Could just be because I started in Alara block, and maybe it's a bit too well-known, since a couple of cards with it see play in 60-card formats, but I have fond memories of Exalted. If you build around it, you get to create alternate modes of attack for your team.

[@Andtherewasguitar]

Actually had a sultai emerge deck during Eldritch Moon standard. Elder Deep-Fiend is brutal both offensively and defensively. So much fun, and I like how flexible it is in including the sacrificed creature's cmc as cost reduction.

[@BusinessSkrub]

I love Emerge! I use Decimator of the Provinces and Distended Mindbender in my eldrazi deck, and they're awesome. Definitely didn't expect to see it on a list of bests, but it's totally one of the most underrated abilities. You can cast huge creatures for free if you just sacrifice some big dumb you cheated out, or cast stuff several turns early because of the reduction. Definitely a great one Prof!

[@MTGBlockConstructed]

I really liked the mechanics from Streets of New Capenna, especially Alliance and Shield Counters. The cool thing about Alliance was, that all my creatures triggered something whenever my creature entered the battlefield like create treasure tokens, distribute counters, scry etc. Also I like the Devotion mechanic from Theros because it fits so perfectly to those mighty gods. Also one of my favourites from a long long long time ago is Outlast from the Set Tarkir. I loved to play with my Abzan Counter Deck. It allows you to pay mana and tap the creature and you put one counter on this creature. And if there is a counter it will get either flying, first strike, lifelink, deathtouch from the other creatures, as long it has a counter on it :D

[@LadyTsunade777]

As much as I like Emerge, I've always liked Offering more. Offering is much the same as Emerge, but instead of an alternate cost that adds colored pips that cannot be reduced, Offering reduces the total cost by whatever you sacrificed. So if you cast Patron of the Kitsune by sacrificing an Eight-and-a-Half-Tails then you only have to pay 4 generic. Offering also gives the spell flash when you cast it using Offering, adding more flexibility. Lastly, it's "Elder Deep-Fried" and nobody can change my mind.

[@ayamamotohaha5235]

Banding is probably gonna be on this list

[@evilmonkey2184]

That's my favorite, it's so comprehensive and easy to play

[@JohnDoe-kh3rc]

I never understood why people thought banding would be complicated. Combine any number of creatures with banding plus one without, add their power and toughness values together and treat them as one creature consisting of various "limbs". For this creature, you control the damage assignment instead of your opponent. If a "limb" reaches 0 toughness, it gets destroyed.

[@Alastores]

@@JohnDoe-kh3rc Banding's not complicated intuitively. It's very complicated mechanically. (IE - we all 'got' it really easily on the playground without needing a paragraph of rules, but the rules themselves need so many words that people think it's complicated).

[@FearOgre]

It should be on this list.

[@jaywinner328]

I love banding but it is a little complicated.

[@jushthehermit]

Remember the Level Up mechanic from Worldwake? Easily one of my favorites. Guul Draz Assassin and Kazandu Tuskcaller I used a lot.

[@HollowLily]

I mainly played magic consistently from about Khans to Eldritch Moon and this was a fun time remembering all the best mechanics from that era.

[@CodyEIIXXII]

Prof, of Tolarian Boomer College. I really enjoyed the Mentor mechanic from Guilds of Ravnica, it was a neat way to pump up smaller creatures during attacks. It was flavorful as well, as the creature with Mentor was mentoring the smaller creaure. Which was vary fitting as I was just getting into Magic at that time, learning what I could through Arena and KZbinrs such as yourself.

[@jaydenzanner9173]

Mentor also has great synergy with Battalion. I love using them together

[@gonbat8539]

Emerge sounds a lot like a version of the Snake offering of Kamigawa cards like Patron of Orochi and similar for other offerings of other colors

[@xana3961]

Emerge could be put on a sliver card where the emerge cost is equal to the sliver's mana cost. However you can still reduce that cost by sacrificing something. Personally, a sorely missed mechanic to me was Battalion. Battalion was a keyword that showed up on Boros cards that gave you beneficial effects when you attacked with 3 or more creatures including the card with Battalion. Super fun mechanic that encourages swinging with your entire board for things like first strike, double strike, +5/+5, indestructible, and so on. And it made sense for the Boros Legion.

[@ben070289]

It was also great with Assemble the Legion getting exponential tokens with indestructible each attack was great, my first ever booster packs were three Gatecrash packs with 2 Assemble the Legions in them.

[@User5770]

If we ever end up on Ikoria again, I could see Emerge finding a home there as another way to represent crazy hyper-mutation of the life there. I'm sure you could also find another way to justify it on Innistrad again without it being Eldrazi mutations this time. I'd love to see it come back, it really was a good one. It helps that Shadows Over Innistrad is on my shortlist for favorite set.

[@Zarren_Redacted]

I really liked how Allies worked in the Zendikar block, and then the keyword of Rally in the revisit. Having a tribal deck that has nearly creature interact with one another is always nice, and while there may be some flavor limitations to what other creature types that could use rally, its still generic enough to put on almost anything

[@Blu_Moon_Owl]

I love to play Foretell, basically have a dash of YuGiOh in Magic and play cards for cheap and get extra value.

[@CYCO1631]

Had a friend once tell me... "Pick a mechanic or two that nobody uses, and build the crap out of it." I took his advice, and modified my Konrad deck to include both extort & shadow creatures to fun results.

[@cheapmagic5898]

I enjoy mechanics where you enchant a creature with a creature. Bestow, mutate, and reconfigure come to mind.

[@pytawidmo]

The prototype of those mechanics (especially Reconfigure) were Licid creatures, back in the ol'times.

[@TheSpiritombsableye]

Imagine Reconfigure being on enchantments.😏

[@zeo4481]

I don't have a single idea about Magic , I'm from the Yu-Gi-Oh community and I'm interesting to see the game Yu-Gi-Oh is based on. ❤️

[@HybridAngelZero]

I've always been a fan of Kickers. I like modular spells, and I especially like when they do a kicker with a different mana color or a non-mana costs.

[@abdullasarwani4358]

As a newer magic player (started 2019) it’s cool to see how magic played with some of these older mechanics

[@ThisAreOr]

Much like Emerge I'd really like to see Offering return in a real way, Blast-Furnace Hellkite was a breadth of fresh air for my old foggy bones.

[@RazgrizAce67]

Level up should be on this list! Had so much fun with that mechanic and have been patiently waiting for it to come back despite multiple sets where it didn't show up despite being a perfect flavorful fit.

[@rajamicitrenti1374]

It really should have returned in the D&D sets. But it's probably won't come back. It's really hard to design a creature that isn't completely useless at low level, becomes enough more powerful to make it worth the mana sink, and doesn't come with major feels-bad moments when someone hits it with a Doom Blade right after you activate the Level Up for the time where it will really matter to you.

[@kingry3]

I thought all the mechanics we needed to know were these 3 things: 1. Horsemanship 2. Kicker 3. That reading the card explains the card.

[@FearOgre]

1. Horsemanship is Flying 2. Kicker is Buyback

[@joshuahadams]

@@FearOgrehow is Kicker Buyback? Kicker is an extra cost to buff something as you cast it and Buyback is an extra cost to return the spell to your hand once it’s resolved.

[@FearOgre]

@@joshuahadams Kicker is an optional cost when casting a spell to achieve an additional effect. Buyback is an optional cost when casting a spell to achieve an additional effect, which happens to be returning the card to your hand once resolved.

[@PreyofBird]

I’m sad extort didn’t get a mention. It’s been my current my favorite deck and mechanic to build around. It’s a shame there’s only 12 or so cards with extort, although the new Sorin from MH3 has it.

[@chitwn9891]

I would love to see Bestow come back. Relatively straightforward, and it comes with the considerable (and common) risk of getting 2-for-1'd by a removal spell.

[@mutantcube1737]

Actually, when a bestowed creature dies, it doesn't get rid of the enchantment creatures, it just turns them into normal creatures, so no 2 for 1 removal spell

[@chitwn9891]

@mutantcube1737 Wow. I've even forgot how it works. Clearly it's been away too long.

[@hoodiegal]

I had no memory of Surge, but it looks cool! Raid is def a favorite of mine, I had lots of fun with a Mardu Raid deck back in Tarkir days. Emerge is another mechanic I wouldn't mind seeing again, it's a lot of fun playing a creature with low stats and a strong ETB/LTB ability, and then sacrificing it for a big beatstick.

[@jasonferguson9052]

I think the untap ability printed on creatures was great and under appreciated

[@Goldy01]

I loved it too, but I think it would be too gamebreaking if they reintroduced it, or super bad when the effects cost too much mana additionally.

[@darthinfimus4450]

Hell yeah. My favorite repeatable phrase: "Sprout swarm with buyback"

[@LampreyKisses]

content starts at 3:38.

[@LampreyKisses]

kinda surprised you chose emerge instead of ninjutsu for #1, but I generally agree with the rest.. except surge. I'd put flashback there instead.

[@ribbontoast]

I typed Tolarian Random Words into the search bar and this is the video it gave me.

[@PeterIsATeacher]

eeeeey we're "youtube search buddies"!

[@seisner6655]

Decayed has somehow become one of my favorite keywords in the entire game. I love downside mechanics, and the way decayed was utilized led to such fun gameplay and card design. I would very much love to see it again someday.

[@LithmusEarth]

8:52 It's in the most recent set (foundations) so you're good. It's a well loved mechanic. 12:39 My local meta held some Standard Constructed 2HG events at the time because Oath of the Gatewatch helped out so much to that end. Just remember maximum of 4 copies of any card except basic lands between your two decks.

[@edrickrisson147]

Madness is making me mad that it doesn't have sufficient support

[@funTimesInTheSun]

We need more madness.

[@ronmcguire9045]

Big ups for the honorable mention of quests and the design breakdown. I hadn’t realized that each of the rarities are each functionally similar in how they trigger and I’ve been using almost all of these since they got printed.

[@Blackdare]

Youve made me feel old talking about emerge, Eldrich Moon was one of the first sets where i actually was into magic and not just collecting, when you showed elder deep-fiend I was struck with memories of my friends casting it and blowing me out at my college lunch table

[@jshaffer3370]

One of my favorite mechanics out there is Crew. Such a unique and thematic mechanic. I remember limited being absolutely insane during Kaladesh and AEther Revolt.

[@jonathankkennedy]

Haha. I made a red/white dwarf pilot deck stacked with consulate dreadnoughts. 7/11 vehicle with crew 6 for 1. Absolutely hysterical. Only a small handful of cards in that deck cost more than 3 mana.

[@jshaffer3370]

@@jonathankkennedy I made a Depala deck in commander. Fun to play but the deck is absolute ass. Lol

[@tarmadillotamer3430]

Haven’t watched the list yet, but wanted to say that I greatly enjoy the mutate mechanic and I hope to see more of it at some point

[@brandongriest44]

I actually use buyback in a couple of my decks! I love that mechanic. Flanking, and split second are also super amazing. in commander I feel like split second really shines as a "end this complex combo" and flanking is only useful against defenders but wipes out small fodder blockers which is incredibly useful too

[@GoDzJtFr]

Happy to see our boomer grandpa acknowledge these great newer mechanics ❤

[@Cascade_Failure]

I got in Magic at the end of Return to Ravnica/start of Khans of Tarkir, and played limited and standard pretty heavily until after Aether Revolt. No wonder that time period sticks out in my mind as the best time I had playing Magic for the cards when this video just confirms that. 'Emerge' WAS an awesome mechanic.

[@ConManAU]

My takeaway from the video is that good mechanics: 1. Are easy to understand 2. Trick players into interacting with the core game more 3. Teach players key concepts 4. Make you feel like less of a boomer

[@rmichael5696]

One of my first decks that wasn't just a pile of cards was Kithkin in Lorwyn. I remember when Figure of Destiny was printed and loved the way it became stronger as you dumped mana into it making it feel relevant no matter when you drew it because it could get stronger. Because of how much I loved Figure Level UP became one of my all time favorite mechanics.

[@DrunkenSpartanProd]

Great video, emerge is a strong choice. My favorite old mechanic I wanna see again is Bloodrush. Loved the modality of a creature who can be a pump spell or a threat. Ghor Clan Rampager remains a favorite card of mine.

[@Zgubixus]

After watching this chanel for some time below is my tier list of all mechanics in mtg. 1. kicker 2. horsemanship

[@FearOgre]

1. Kicker is buyback 2. Horsemanship is Flying

[@Grzegorz01K]

Kicker > buyback :)

[@grotzielony]

👍

[@FearOgre]

@@Grzegorz01K But kicker is buyback.

[@Grzegorz01K]

@@FearOgre Buyback is kicker, kicker dont have to be buyback.

[@joshuawoodring1697]

Glad to see you did the video! As well as devour that I mentioned before I'm also a fan of exalted. Not enough love for those two.

[@Boi_Of_Da_Snow]

I know not many people would agree, but I like two different key words, landfall and surveil. This is because of you use a deck revolves around mana ramp/graveyards both can help get you a great start on the creatures and lands you need

[@adriansennett2861]

First two love 'em. I love this show because. I almost always go make a new deck, the second I finish watching. I love it. I have over 100 main standard build decks and about 70 commander decks. I like Magic the Gathering. I'm 42 and still playing and loving it.

[@Vesdus]

My favourite Magic mechanic is definitely Provoke. I think it's a really well-developed mechanic that hasn't been explored nearly enough. There's potential for some really cool cards there.

[@TheIlike2playminecra]

I'm very happy to see Raid! Out of all the mechanics, that's the one I was most familiar with... A few months ago, I built a new commander deck based on the concept of "Orc Tribal" and geez... There are a ton of orcs with Raid abilities! (One that just straight up feeds you mana...)

[@DerangedDurain]

I love the disturb keyword in theory, even if it wound up being lacking in execution. Spirits were always my favorite part of Innistrad, but they lacked solid idenity until Midnight Hunt, and disturb is a really cool way of giving spirits more flavor. Unfortunately, it was hampered by two major reasons. 1. The front side of creature cards with disturb were humans, not spirits. They only got the spirit typing after they were cast with disturb. They changed this in Crimson Vow so that the front sides of disturb cards were spirits and the reverse side were auras, but it was only a marginal improvement. 2. Most of the cards with disturb were not good on either side. They were pretty overcosted and aside from Katilda, Malevolent Hermit, Brine Comber, and Mirrorhall Mimic, none of the cards are worth playing. Maybe you could play Twinblade Geist in a white aura deck.

[@flyingalienqueen]

Man, I love Buyback so much. I was a brand new player when Tempest came out, and it was just the most natural, intuitive, cool thing for a card to have. I used Capsize all the time! And then when you had the alternate Buyback costs in Exodus like Forbid, just forget it. Forever awesome.

[@phil8910]

when i started playing i absolutely LOVED emerge cards. there was something magical about the mechanic to me, it just *worked*. would kill to see wotc bring it back

[@DevStarkiller]

Amplify from Legions was one of my favorites. It would have to be in a tribal heavy set, but I'd love to see it again.

[@flamestunts]

Favorite mechanic of all time is exalted and while I don't think we will get it back Neon Dynasty showed us that it can be so much more when you change the wording a bit. Plus i've been trying to make a renowned commander deck which is a mechanic that has a ton of room to use and Mark even said that he was surprised the mechanic hasn’t been used more.

[@joshuaeverett9887]

A little more mid-tier than obscure, but I tend to like surveil when it comes around. I'd like to see other color pairs get a scry variant, like Rakdos could have the option to either put the card on top or exile it to ping an opponent for 1 dmg. Orzhov scry could involve your opponent deciding whether the cards go into your hand, or you get X treasures and treat it as a normal scry. Boros scry triggers only on attack/block, and would let you reveal and pitch a nonland for +1/+0. Golgari scry gives you the option to put a card from your graveyard third from the top instead of scrying. Izzet lets you reveal until you hit an instant/sorcery, then shuffle and put it on top. Selesnya might have the option to exile the top card face down to populate. Simic might let you scry then reveal a creature card, then exile it face up to give all of your creatures that card's creature types while exiled, with an option to play on later turns. Azorius lets you scry your opponent's library instead of your own. Gruul could be like the Izzet one, but for creatures.

[@midnightbard3935]

Surge is really fun and has you make some interesting choices. It would also go really well with the Kaldheim cards that care about casting a second spell a turn, if that was explored more. Also I need to flex, I knew all the mechanics very well :D

[@EnjinSosei]

I recently built an Elminster deck and one of my pet cards for it is the Buyback card Mystic Speculation. It's a very fun card for that commander, since it will basically pay for its own buyback cost on every cast beyond the first each turn, allowing you to recast it as many times as you have Blue mana if Elminster is on the board at that point.

[@LordHyren]

As a janklord I like more awkward mechanics like madness, dredge, coin flipping, and retrace. There has been quite a few other interesting ones as well that feel mostly underwhelming like threshold, bestow, reconfigure, and conspire. Rampage, aborb, banding, and flanking are also very cool combat keywords. And then the OP ones like storm, infect, proliferate, and imprint. Transfigure and transmute are niche but can be quite good. Extort can do a lot of work in commander.

[@Mr_Woof_Panini]

I've been playing since highscool and Shards of Alara was the most recent set. I've never felt like I've been playing this game for that long. I just recently realized that there are now MTG content creators that haven't been playing as long as I have. It's the first time Magic has ever made me feel old.

[@ralphthegnome]

Rampage would be nice. (I think it capped at a natural +4/+4) Rework it so it not only adds per creature but scaled up per creature, and it might actually be a formidable mechanic. On the newer side of things, I'd like to see backgrounds become more of a thing in commander. On the weird side of things... wasn't there some play style where you were under additional "rules" based on what plane you were battling in? That could be fun.

[@DaveRice-n6l]

Professor I’m thrilled that you brought up emerge as a mechanic again! In the future I always pictured it being used to sacrifice cultists or summon demonic beings. Great vid as always.

[@electronsympathy]

My favorites were Morph and Ninjutsu when I used to be really into MtG. Morph was really cool because of the potential mind games you could play with it, and all the effects that could be tied to the instant reveal of the morphed creature. Granted, it took a hard backseat to the card effects generally being mediocre at best, and to the simultaneous existence of Astral Slide making Morph costs irrelevant and instead making it about just dumping bombs like Exalted Angel onto the field for cheap. But if we also include themed cycles, I'd want to include Phantoms from the Judgement block. Phantoms were X/0 creatures that came onto the field with a handful of +1/+1 tokens. When a Phantom was dealt damage, you would instead remove one of their +1/+1 counters. Where it got funny was when you had a way to buff their toughness, because if you got a Phantom to even 0/1 base stats, the way the ability was worded meant that you prevented the damage, *then* removed a counter. So if you had no counters, you prevented the damage anyway, making the Phantom effectively immortal to damage-based removal.

[@Kleion_RFB]

Hard to call it a "forgotten" mechanic since it did just get featured in a set within the last year, but Meld really is a neat mechanic. Yes, it's a fair amount of work to assemble just to have a fragile, removal-susceptible result, flavour-wise I love being able to assemble Brisela or Hanweir, the Writhing Township

[@hallaloth3112]

I've always been mad they've never really doubled down on Meld and have relegated it's few pairings as Mythic/Mythic or Mythic/Rare. Yes, I know there's like ONE lesser pairing. . .but its barely worth mentioning.

[@seraphroy]

I'm a simple man: Someone shouts out the best guy in Magic, Serge? I smile and give a like. I consume LRRMtG content and Serge is always just a happy presence that makes me feel like I'm at the kitchen table jamming a session with him and whoever he's facing. (I also love the Professor)