We’ve had two more draft playtests since December’s patch notes, which featured some brand new players and some fantastic games! White/Green equipment with a splash of Red won the day in the first draft, and a spicy Red/White/Black deck took the second. This is great news for White, which seems to finally be finding its footing in this set… although a few standouts need to be reined in. And while Blue didn’t come out on top, it also had some strong showings in Red/Blue Wizards and Blue/Black Hoard control. The set is feeling really cohesive, with only minor tweaks left before it’s ready to go to print!
This time around, some rarely-picked cards proved that they’d been buffed a bit too much, while others are receiving minor tweaks to improve play patterns. No massive reworks here, just polish.
Here are the patch notes for this month:
(REWORK) Mesmir, the Magnificent
Replaced “shuffle matters” triggered ability with a tap ability
Mesmir was the last piece of an old, experimental “shuffling matters” package. I’ve learned that shuffling your library isn’t something to encourage, especially in person. It’s annoying and time-consuming, and so should only be done when necessary to maintain the randomness of upcoming cards. As cute as it was for Mesmir to reduce the randomness of those shuffles by letting you scry 3 each time, this wasn’t easy to trigger in practice outside of generic cards like Illusory Palace. By changing this effect to a simple tap ability, it’s much easier to use and still maintains his divination identity, while helping you dig to find any cards that were shuffled back in by his ETB.
(REWORK) Confounded Chimera
Only triggers on attack, replaced haste with first strike
Confounded Chimera has been a solid curve-topper for red, but something felt off about its ability to choose one of three keywords each combat. Haste only ever mattered the turn it was played, and if it was blocking, flying became the only relevant option. Additionally, the fact that the ability technically triggers even if the Chimera is already tapped feels awkward.
To streamline this, and to ensure that there are always three meaningful choices, I’m going to switch it up. Now it only triggers on attack, and offers flying, first strike, or trample. My hope is this will help the card feel more proactive and flavorful, but I’m curious to see if cutting haste as an option will feel too much like a nerf.
(REWORK) Eldoran Leviathan
Added flying, 7/7 → 6/6
Ever since Eldoran Leviathan got its art and players saw its majestic wings, they all had one question: why doesn’t it have flying? I was stubborn for years, insisting that the ability to fly over most blockers would undermine its other effect—wouldn’t it be cooler to draw lots of cards and tap down those potential blockers instead?
But people know a flavor fail when they see one. I’m finally giving in and letting this winged serpent soar. As a small compromise, I’m bumping its stats down to a 6/6, leaving Byss, Indigo Tyrant as the largest creature in the set.
(BUFF) Nature’s Course
Sorcery →Instant, Plant token enters tapped
Nature’s Course is a gorgeous card, but hasn’t quite found its niche as removal. It can destroy nearly anything (and gain some life to boot), but the tradeoff of replacing it with a Plant token made it too awkward to use most of the time. In practice, this meant it was only really good at removing something with a powerful ability, and in some cases players even pointed it at their own understatted permanents to “trade up” into a larger board presence.
In order to give it clearer windows of opportunity, I’m changing it from a sorcery into an instant and making the Plant token enter tapped. This should provide much more flexibility. Now it can remove a blocker without immediately sticking another body in the way, or relieve pressure from an incoming attacker for at least a turn. The tapped token is key to finding the perfect time to cast this spell, and I look forward to seeing if players can maximize the tempo swing in their favor! Of course, the option still remains to blowing up your own permanent to create a Plant, and even there, instant speed should allow for sneakier tricks!
(BUFF) Berserker’s Wake
“Destroy target nonbasic land” → “Destroy target land”
I never gave much thought to the land destruction aspect of Berserker’s Wake, since in my mind the artifact/enchantment hate would almost always be more relevant. However, during one test, a player pointed out a problem: it was very easy for this card to get stuck in hand because it didn’t have two valid targets, even if there was a problem artifact or enchantment in play! By letting it target any land, this will almost never be the case when it matters most, while still letting it blow up a Tower of Secrets or tri-land now and then.
As a minor bonus, it may now make sense to occasionally blow up your own land for color fixing, like a clunky Crop Rotation that only grabs basics.
(BUFF) Shield of Faith
Tap a Cleric to keep it in play
Several times, I’ve gotten feedback from people that they want Shield of Faith to stick around longer, either by letting you pay 
to keep it each turn or at least letting it last a full round. I’d prefer to keep it as a cheap, instant-speed combat trick than something that sticks around all game, but I saw an opportunity to add a bit of flavor… Now, you can tap a Cleric instead of sacrificing it on each upkeep!
This likely won’t happen often, but it opens the door for a Cleric-heavy White deck to enable the permanent Shield of Faith dream. By devoting two Clerics to tap each turn, it can stick around indefinitely, and I could see this being worthwhile in a “toughness matters” deck built around Zaba Ditka!
(BUFF) To Distant Shores
“Target creature with mana value 3 or less” → “Target nonland permanent with mana value 3 or less”
One thing players felt across recent drafts was that it was surprisingly difficult to remove artifacts and enchantments. And sure enough, most of the removal in this set only targets creatures. To Distant Shores felt like a good candidate to remove any nonland permanent with mana value three or less. It can now answer some problematic Equipment or Sagas if needed.
(NERF) Giants’ Day Festival
Mill 5 cards → Mill 4 cards
Another sleeper hit of the UWK, Giants’ Day Festival bundles card advantage and mana acceleration all in one. However, after putting together a grave-themed cube of real MtG cards (https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/boguckibog, if you’re curious!), I’ve learned that I was underestimating the power of self-mill. Bumping this one down slightly so it only mills four at the start, giving you slightly less choice of what to return to hand. I still expect this Saga to be a reason to play Blue/Green, and a premium ramp option.
(NERF) Lord Barrow // Waif
Must tap to activate ability, exiles when transforming
Last August, I removed the tap requirement from Lord Barrow and Linda, Witch’s Apprentice. I said I’d keep an eye on Linda, but Lord Barrow turned out to be the problem! All he needed was the right deck to prove that 2 mana for an immediate 3/2 body AND a tutor effect is too generous, and our most recent winner found some fantastic targets in Thrashalla, The Queensguard Oath, and Fall of the Fell King. This meant Lord Barrow felt strong at any point in the game, whether he needed board presence, removal, or an anthem to help his creatures push over the top. The 3/2 shroud body was nothing to scoff at either, and Waif managed to punch through some good damage.
I’m changing him back to needing to tap for his effect, slowing the whole thing down by a turn and giving opponents a window to respond. In addition, he now exiles himself and returns transformed, at least letting him block that turn. But more importantly, it removes any Equipment or Auras he might have attached to him before he gets permanent shroud. This never came up in testing, but it should remove a potential angle of cheese when paired with something like Unbreakable Bolt.
(NERF) Queen Lyndette
Now only triggers on nontoken enchantments leaving
The latest draft was the moment I’d been waiting for: Queen Lyndette got a chance to shine, and she was an absolute terror! I’ve said before that I’ve always believed her to be powerful despite almost never seeing play, and I was finally proven a little too right. It’s now clear that she doesn’t need the flexibility of triggering her effect from cracking Inspiration tokens. Moving forward, she’ll be limited to nontoken enchantments, but between enchantment creatures blinking or dying, Sagas completing, and Concentration Auras falling off, that should leave plenty of opportunities.
(NEW ART) Crit Disintegrate
Crit Disintegrate feels perfect as removal that can double as a late-game burn spell, but I felt the art didn’t live up to the hype. I drew a new piece for it, depicting a moment from our D&D campaign’s final boss battle against Byss! Olly and his simulacrum, along with Fable and her trickster copies all cast Disintegrate at the same time, vaporizing Byss down to a very angry skeleton!
(RARITY) Acid Spray and Mirror Maiden
Acid Spray got some gripes for being too swingy, thanks to its flexibility and the permanence of -1/-1 counters. However, after exploring potential nerfs, I found that any changes would either remove its identity in the set, or make it too weak. Ultimately, I think it’s important to have a strong removal option that can take out one mid-sized threat or keep this set’s many small token creatures in check. As a compromise, it will now become an Uncommon spell so it doesn’t show up as often in limited. In its place, Mirror Maiden can return to the Common slot! A few testers said they were excited to see more Blood tokens in future games.
Common → Uncommon
Uncommon → Common
There are only 4(!!!) cards left that need art. Once those are complete, I plan to do a final playtest, and that will be the final window for balancing this project. Hopefully there are even fewer changes next time around. Stay tuned!