#mdfcs

[magicjudge]

If I control the gitrog monster and I have the land side of bala ged recovery (mdfc) in play. Gitrog triggers and I sacrifice the mdfc land, does gitrog trigger to draw a card since mdfc are only their front side in all zones except hand?

No, it won't trigger and you won't draw a card.

This is because of how Gitrog's card draw trigger is worded. Abilities that look for cards to go to the graveyard "from anywhere" look at those cards as they appear in the graveyard. They don't look back in time like "from the battlefield" triggers do and so your MDFC is back to being a sorcery card once it's in the graveyard.

[aethernalstars]

I spent more time on this than i should have, but here, an image to summon Apollo's dodgeball upon myself!

Viz has Destroy All Humans licensed, and in the past also published the MtG art books. They also published the physical homestuck comics.

You see my vision, I needn't say more.

[markrosewater]

Is there a reason why there has been no Legendary Creature that is also an MDFC Land? Would that cause too large of an issue in Commander?

There are lots of things we could do, that we haven't. I do think the flavor for such a thing is tricky.

[dailymtgflavortext]

I had to search stores all over the country, but I completed my set of Modern Horizons 3 MDFC lands!

Look, I love the idea of MDFC lands. I think they're really cool, and having a slightly sub-par spell on one side of a slightly sub-par land leads to some interesting deck decisions. But some of these ones seem a little too good. Especially since the mono-colored ones can come in untapped by paying life (previously a feature of the mythic rare cycle). There's not a whole lot of reason not to play these.

Like, a lot of these are removal. Or card-draw. Or recursion. Really good effects! Why wouldn't you want them stapled to a land just in case?

Maybe worth noting, I'm speaking purely from the perspective of someone who plays Commander. Y'know, the target audience of Modern Horizons 3.

[goqmir]

(trying to explain plurality to a magic player) okay so like if i was a card i'd be a MDFC

have we ever explored the idea that these two bitches inhabit the same body ...

[fnord888]

I mean, I wasn't literally claiming that spree is least "kicker" mechanic it's possible for someone to memeingly call kicker. If someone, somewhere claims "Adventures are just kicker because you can pay additional mana for an additional effect" I'm not going to stand here and say adventures are more like kicker than spree is.

But the point is, while some mechanics, like bargain, really are just kicker in the sense that you could cleanly replace them with just kicker*, spree really isn't. Even though you technically could implement it with kicker, you'd need to do add stuff like "CARDNAME must be kicked at least once" (because, as I noted, it's not optional).

*Which is, to be clear, not a criticism of the decision to keyword them separately.

so did wizards just like. flat run out of new mechanics or like. what's going on with thunder junction and all the keywords being reheated lasagna.

[niuttuc]

Do you have an cool tech for The War Doctor + Clara Oswald? I want to run Mardu, and the goal is to use Cascade and Discover type effects to put a bunch of time counters on The War Doctor. Exile synergy in general is gonna be a big theme

If you're planning on using Cascade and Discover like that, and your plan is to exile as many cards as possible, while also having some cast from exile synergy and impulse draw, I'll focus down on one specific type of cards: Split cards!

It is a known trick that Split Cards while cascading have the combined mana value of both halves, which allows you to keep going when you don't want to hit them. This is good enough on its own, but in your specific case, this also means something else: they'll actually be affordable to cast when you exile them and have a time limit to do so! To get a specific example, I'll bring up Insult to Injury, which works particularly well with the War Doctor when you do cast the front half.

Similarly, some Adventures or MDFCs cost quite a few mana on the "front" side that is seen while cascading, but are affordable on the other half, and can as such be included as castable spells from impulse draw while not tripping cascade as fast. The virtues are great for this, and there's a few more options.

[danco110]

“Needledeep! What are you doing!”

“Just giving a practical demonstration of my final project, Dean Imbraham!”

“On the QUAD?”

“On the…oh.”

The treefolk student looked around sheepishly at the trampled turf of the once-pristine field. Turning back, he glanced past his towering fractal in the shape of a boar, and gave the owlin Quandrix dean an apologetic grin.

“Ah, sir, I can explain.”

“There’s nothing to explain,” Imbraham hooted furiously. “Dispel it at once.”

“Not so fast!”

Imbraham and Needledeep looked over to see a smirking elf in teacher’s robes sauntering towards them. Imbraham’s expression brightened immediately, while Needledeep’s soured.

“Ah, Dean Kianne!” Imbraham grinned. “Glad you’re here to assist me. Needledeep here has just-”

“That was quite an impressive display!” Kianne chimed to the treefolk. Needledeep and Imbraham quickly swapped expressions.

“Well, yeah! I told you my final project would be my biggest one yet!”

“That you did…” Kianne’s smirk grew conspiratorial, and she leaned in to whisper. “Say, how would you like to test its combat capabilities, for some bonus points?”

“Yeah, count me in!” Needledeep nodded. Meanwhile, Imbraham, who had overheard the whispering with his sharp senses, gasped in horror and protest.

“Kianne! You’re a nature mage!”

“The grass will grow back!” laughed the other dean. “Besides, the field’s already torn to shreds. What’s a few more divots?”

Though grumbling, Imbraham reluctantly flew off to the side.

“All right,” Kianne nodded. “Now, like I said, prove your project can fight.”

“Sure…! Against who?”

“Why, my summon, of course!”

Kianne waved her hand, raising a second mana construct across the quad from Needledeep’s fractal. Papers and scrolls swirled around the new arrival as it flourished its many arms at the fractal.

“Ready?”

“Yeah, for sure!”

The sound of the constructs’ clashing, and the cheers from the students that had gathered to watch, easily drowned out Imbraham’s disgruntled muttering.

[Headcanon: being both flipsides of MDFC’s and enemy colors, the two deans of each Strixhaven college butt heads all the time. Embrose and Shaile are almost certainly the worst offenders, but they all still manage to keep Strixhaven running.]

[sombramainexe]

Woe, custom magic cards be upon ye. Im not sure how much I'll do this, or how much I'll show of the custom frames I've developed (I actually made stuff like MDFC Frames and Adventure frames for when I use those.)

As for the card, it basically says symmetrically no instant speed interaction, unless you have basics. Probably too strong at one mana, but for a playtest card I thought the idea was interesting enough to write out.

Let me know your thoughts, I'm a massive nerd about this stuff so I'd love to hear about how this accidentally goes infinite in commander with 7 other cards.

[theunwellkingdom]

Design Deep-Dive #6: Lands Week - Discard/Sac Lands

I'll be the first to admit I'm playing with fire with this one. I've designed several cards in this set with "Discard or Sacrifice" activated abilities, including today's cycle of mono-colored lands! Most real Magic cards stick to one or the other, but these have the versatility to do both. They can be played out as (slow) lands and later cashed in if the game goes late enough that land count matters less than some action, or they can be discarded straight from hand as pseudo-sorceries!

To account for this flexibility, I aimed for lands with 3-mana effects that would feel about right if they were standalone 2-mana sorcery-speed cards... Time and testing will tell if this is a fair tradeoff. The abilities themselves should be fairly familiar for each color, so let's dive into how I landed on the current text for each one.

White - Eldoris

Eldoris is a simple blink effect a la Flickerwisp. While the set doesn't have a ton of "enters the battlefield" triggers in white to double up, there are several synergistic cards that care about, say, other enchantments entering or leaving. Beyond that, it can also disrupt an opponent's board by removing a key blocker for the turn or making quick work of a token.

Blue - Loam

Loam is a blue, single-use Rogue's Passage, inviting you to either find that perfect moment to strike, or find ways to get lands back from your graveyard to do it turn after turn.

Black - The Indigo

The Indigo is a reanimate effect with a fun condition: instead of limiting a creature based on mana cost, this one only cares about its power! (Can you tell my first-ever commander deck was Nethroi?) This meant I could print some key signpost cards in Black/Red and Black/White with high costs, low power, and strong effects. This particularly synergizes well with many of Red's Inspire cards, as they quickly offset natural low stats with Inspiration buffs.

Red - Frosttip Peaks

The distant northern mountains known as the Frosttip Peaks are rumored to contain untold treasures, guarded by fierce and powerful monsters! Here, you can ramp the way Red knows best: impulsively, making as many Treasure tokens as possible!

Green - Memnos, the Giantwood

Lastly, I expect Memnos, the Giantwood is the strongest of this batch. While cards like Atraxa's Fall have proven that this is a 2-mana effect at sorcery speed, it's some powerful conditional removal. Beyond that, Green naturally has the most ways to take advantage of a land, either through graveyard recursion or simply by ramping enough that sacrificing a land won't really set you back. I first tested this one at instant speed and it immediately stood out as an oppressive card!

Final Considerations

These lands are difficult to assess. They behave almost like MDFCs that don't ask you to choose up front between land or effect, so I'm curious to see how players work them into their mana bases when deckbuilding.

Also, alarm bells may have been ringing when I compared these to sorcery spells -- "Hold on! It's much easier to interact with a sorcery than an ability!" Fret not, there are enough abilities like this in the set that the Unwell Kingdom has several counterspells and other effects which can target activated abilities as well... Players won't get to fire these off risk-free.

Tomorrow on Lands Week: Utility Lands

UWK Lands Week Designing the Illusory Palace The Tri-Lands >Discard/Sac Lands Utility Lands Back to Basics

[jasper-the-menace]

I feel like, from a mechanical perspective, Jaren and Ritter would be MDFCs.

Ritter's two sides would be "Ritter, Skyknight of Aurelia" [Red White] and "Ritter, Son of Rakdos" [Black Red].

Jaren's sides would be "Jaren the Geomancer" [Red Green White] and "Jaren the Guildless" [Colorless] or "Jaren of the Found" [Green White] at this point in his character arc.

Mathias would have to have several cards. The first would be "Mathias the Songbird" [Green White Blue] for the first chunk of his arc, and then when he's later compleated he would be "Mathias, Orthodoxy Soloist" [mono White] as a second card. As of this point in Blood and Songbirds, his new card would be "Mathias, Fallen Silent" and probably still be mono White or White-Blue.

[littjara-mirrorlake]

7, 8, and 85?

7. Most underrated card(s)?

Maybe it's just the MtG players I hang out with, but people tend to sleep on MDFC lands (both land-land and spell-land). I can believe that maybe they're not the best for every deck, but I love them and run them in every deck I own.

8. Best mechanic?

Proliferate, hands down. It is so versatile, both offensive and defensive, value-building, and applicable to pretty much every strategy I could dream of playing since I love counters. Bonus: it's affiliated with both my favorite tribe (Phyrexians) and guild (Simic)!

[markrosewater]

Hi Mark! If/When an MDFC where only one side is a creature but the creature is on the back side?

Probably when. Unlikely for it to be with a land though, as we tend to put lands on back for play design reasons.

[the-absolute-worst]

Dear WotC,

When do I get to play a land as my commander? When will you print an MDFC that is a legendary creature on one side and a land on the other? It doesn't even have to be good. I just want a full 100 card deck where every card is a land. Right now I have to settle for 99.

[goqmir]

now that the signetlands are done and have been getting so much love the top 1 land cycle i want them to complete is the time spiral storage lands. even though its impossible to top calciform pools' art and vibe. i still want the simic one rly bad.

same for the amonket cycling duals im gonna need those pretty soon too. they have a lot better chance of getting filled out than the freaking storage lands which is nice like i truly believe we'll get these one day :)

i rock with the fact that common land cycles have been getting filled out all the way. mh2 bridges, cluelands, ping deserts are all accounted for and it feels great! (plus the 2-color mdfcs from mh3 are sooo badass...) could u imagine if they didnt put out the simic ping desert after printing doppelgang in the previous set? would be pretty hater

the horizon lands are pretty nice too. im in no rush to complete that cycle cuz the enemy pairs deserve a treat but they are played in like all my decks teehee

[niuttuc]

(The deck has a ridiculous gimmick where every word in every card title appears in the Bible, but don’t feel bound to that.)

...Is there a Doctor's companion to go along and add a color? Surely one of them has a name of only words that appears in a bible or another. Anyway, every word means no made up thing anywhere, so that narrows things down quite a bit. Do you work from any specific translation or in latin, because finding latin in card names is trickier.

Anyway, suspending cards with three time counters means you'll want expensive cards to suspend to get bang for your buck... But you don't want them stuck in your hand when you draw them! Which means alternate costs and cycling are your friends.

If you want to be mean and also flavorful...

You know what else you can do from Suspend? Split cards! Adventures! MDFCs! Lots of things, really.