The Genius Behind MTG's First New Card Type in 15 Years - Extra Credits

Looking across the last 15 years of Magic the Gathering, we noticed the genius game design of their newest card, Battles! A card that gives players, the ability to have all their turn one fun and their big monsters too! Will this card forever change the dynamics of MTG?

Artist: David Hueso I Writer: James Portnow I Showrunner & Narrator: Matthew Krol I Editor: Aidan Strite & Mac Owens

#ExtraCredits #Gaming #GameDesign

[ChroniclerC]

I actually wonder if this isn't just a lesson learned from more powerful low-cost play, but also from their previous new card type, Planeswalkers. Playing a Planeswalker card effectively gives *yourself* more health, as they are threatening cards that have to be dealt damage (usually in the form of combat damage) to remove from the board.

[ursulcx]

There's a problem with this: battles ended having basically little to no impact outside of their ETB effect, even in limitted.

[JonjonJonjon]

The "Corpo overkill" card sent me to the stratosphere.

[danilooliveira]

surprising you didn't mention planeswalkers with good effects that can be used after casting and a strong passive. they are basically decent sorceries that your enemy is forced to kill, basically giving you more HP. but most players only find them frustrating to deal with.

[Dramatic_Gaming]

If you want to *really* sink your teeth into a 'First Turn is OP' connundrum, try tackling the vertical wall of power creep that is Modern Yu-Gi-Oh, where decks have reached the point they can win on the first turn *when going second.*

[spellbreakerunbound]

This video, while the topics and research were generally accurate, made it sound like battles were introduced specifically to counteract speedy limited formats and turn 1 being relevant. That’s not really how limited formats work though, once a limited format is made, its set in stone as cards from a set. Different limited formats also have different speeds, ONE had a blazingly fast format, but BRO was grindy as hell. On top of that, battles as a card type were introduced not to slow limited down, but as a top down representation of a big event happening in the story.

[wariodude]

One of the players shown in the video was clearly someone with vitiligo. That is almost never seen in anything, let alone a video talking about WotC adding cards which changed MTG. I fully approve of seeing this player and hope they appear in the future as well.

[tipulsar]

The last new card type before Battles? Planeswalkers in 2007 which were delayed a whole set. They were first made to be in the final set of Time Spiral block, Future Sight, but it was a sub 200 card small set, so that initial cycle of 5 was instead put into the fall set Lorwyn. Core sets at the time were 100% reprints and had the summer slot. Planewalkers were originally meant to be not appearing in every set. They also had their own pseudo legendary rule based on not having more than one of the same subtype in play.

[jkattack]

I'm not so sure I agree here. The front half of battles tend to be just a bit below the power curve so they're unlikely to catch you up if you're behind, the main thing required to slow down games.
And if you're already ahead, they're easy to flip and can often speed up games (as flipped battles tend to be well above the power curve)

[EyalBrown]

I'm just here for David's amazing mtg art

[MAlanThomasII]

Interesting. I have watched a number of high level games that use Battles, but I always see them played only when the player knows that they will be able to immediately flip them. That does serve the purpose of delaying attacks by a turn, but it doesn't require anything of the player on defense because they're always going to be in a position where they can't or won't do anything in the brief time the Battle is on the field before being flipped.

As other people have pointed out, Planeswalkers have had more of a need to attack / need to defend / make my opponent need to attack sort of thoughtful dynamic.

[KingfYou]

Correction, your description of Battles actually applies to the subtype Siege. By default, Battles are yours to defend like Planeswalkers. Sieges change that rule making you determine an opponent to defend it. Of course, all Battles we currently have are Sieges, but it's an important distinction to make for when we start getting non-Siege Battles.

[MTGUnpacked]

Nice idea, in theory. In practice, it doesn't seem like they've had much impact in constructed formats, though it's still early days yet. I'd expect more of an impact from this card type in future sets.

[bluepomegranate]

I think one of the smartest things about battles from a design standpoint is that they gave them a subtype, “siege”. This leaves plenty of room for them to explore the design space of battles and tweak their mechanics. I could see them making battles that you put on your own side and your opponents have to attack them, or battles that both players can attack and whoever flips the battle gets the prize. Regardless, I’m very intrigued to see how they handle battles in the future.

[IceBloo]

If battles are such a success story for game design, why haven't they printed more battles since MotM?

[WilliQ_JeT]

As a magic superfan, I really appreciate all the visual references in this episode!

[foobarjackson]

the problem with battles in limited is the same problem that planeswalkers have in limited. yes, you can attack your battles and get your bonus etc etc, but often times the best strategies are to either counter the effect, or just ignore them altogether. oh you attacked your battle and got a 4/4 creature or a cool enchantment? cool, I have a 1-2 mana response to make all that effort worthless

[danielweber]

Covered here are the positive effects for limited and constructed, and I would also add that Battles provide a new dynamic to Commander, where choosing the defending player is a meaningful decision and their low HP makes low damage combats fun and relevant to the game (again?)! 😊

[dojopar]

Love the video very interesting dive into the design of magic and battles but I wanted to add fun fact "dungeon" is actually it's own card type despite the fact that you can not put dungeons into your deck only ways to "venture into the dungeon" which will allow you to create a dungeon in your command zone just and interesting tid bit of rules nuance some cards that let you name a card type such as serra's emissary can name dungeon since it is a card type.

[FoldingScreenMonkey]

They really nailed battles on all fronts. I think on the majority of printed battles so far the ETB effect is incentive enough to cast and the backside is powerful enough to justify attacking it, which was probably a really hard line to walk. I'm just bummed they won't be showing up in every set