Mark Rosewater's Comment on Blue Creature Removal
General forum
Posted on Sept. 1, 2024, 9:12 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
A fan recently asked Mark Rosewater about creature removal in blue, and Rosewatwer responded that blue no longer destroys or exiles creatures, it instead either temporarily changes them or uses an aura to change them. Most players likely already ascertained that this is WotC's official stance on this matter, but it is very good to hear confirmation of it, since difficulty in dealing with creatures is one of blue's deliberate weaknesses.
What does everyone else say about this matter? Are you glad to hear an employee of WotC confirm that blue shall no longer destroy or exile creatures?
wallisface Not that I really disagree, but I have to poke at your wording there. The Phasing of Zhalfir is recent enough to still be in Standard, so is that long enough of a while to be obvious?
September 1, 2024 9:41 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #4
wallisface, I was simply bored, and wished to start a new thread, plus, I felt that it would be good to share this information with the forum.
September 1, 2024 9:43 p.m.
wallisface says... #5
legendofa I believe when it was revealed as a card it was already said to be a design break. Mistakes slip through the gaps - especially with how many cards Wotc creates.
September 1, 2024 9:44 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #6
wallisface, I regard that as a strong argument in favor of producing fewer products each year, to focus more on quality than on quantity.
September 1, 2024 9:49 p.m.
wallisface says... #7
DemonDragonJ its a different conversation entirely, although if for some reason Wotc did reduce their quantity of product-rollout, they likely also reduce their workforce to match, and these colour-breaks still slip through the gaps.
In any case it’s an impossible-sell to get Wotc to change their current trajectory, especially with how easily-milkable the market is.
September 1, 2024 9:58 p.m.
wallisface I'm not discounting the possibility of mistakes, and that was confirmed to be one, but (to me, at least) it suggests that the old policy wasn't enforced that well, and it's only in the last couple of years that it's really tightened down.
It's clearly not on the same level as Psychic Venom or whatever, but for card design, a policy is only as good as its enforcement, and MaRo tries to emphasize zero tolerance on color pie breaks.
I guess my main point is that it's not as obvious as you suggest that the policy has been in place for as long as it has, when something slipped through the cracks that recently. It's only really obvious if you're as knowledgeable about the game as many of the people here; it might not be obvious at all to someone who started in Dominaria United. Mostly curious about the choice of wording. It's an opinion, I get it, but I've learned the hard way, way too many times, that what's obvious to one person can be completely opaque to someone else.
September 1, 2024 10 p.m.
wallisface says... #9
legendofa yeah entirely fair. I’d just be very surprised if anyone thought permanent-destruction was allowed in blue - but I get everyone has a different understanding of the game.
wallisface says... #2
I feel like this has obviously been the case for a long while, so personally it really doesn’t feel even remotely newsworthy.
September 1, 2024 9:19 p.m.