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Hello reddit! I'm Ben Finkel, a software developer who's been working on the MTG Arena Rules Engine for over five years. This is a card that I designed! It'll be in the Alchemy Horizons: Baldur's Gate (HBG) release.
I designed this card in my favorite weekly meeting, the Card Design Workshop. This is a sort of "club" that any WotC employee who is interested in MTG card design may attend to flex their creative muscles.
Each week we get a prompt for some design hole that needs new ideas. On August 13, 2021, the workshop got this prompt:
Card details: A blue rare enchantment, instant, or sorcery. Its name is “Signature Spells.” We’re looking for a top-down design of a Wizard ability in D&D. From the D&D manual: “You gain mastery over two powerful Spells and can cast them with little effort. Choose two 3rd-level Wizard Spells as your signature Spells.”
(Plus that the card is intended to be a digital design)
This was my original proposal, which is nearly the same as the card we're releasing:
Signature Spells
Enchantment
4UU
When Signature Spells enters the battlefield, seek two instant or sorcery cards with mana value 3, then exile them. At the beginning of your upkeep copy one of the exiled cards. You may cast the copy without paying its mana cost.
My intention was to capture the spell mastery by letting you cast them each of your turns, which strikes me as the equivalent of D&D's cantrips. Mana value 3 of course reflects 3rd level spells. Also I think Isochron Scepter is pretty cool, and thought that a similar play pattern is probably pretty fun. I hope you enjoy finding out what your signature spells will be! #wotc_staff
Signature Spells
Enchantment
4UU
When Signature Spells enters the battlefield, seek two instant and/or sorcery cards with mana value 3, then exile them. At the beginning of your upkeep, you may copy a card exiled with Signature Spells. You may cast the copy without paying its mana cost.
the set code is YCLB not HBG
I'm really not sure where YCLB came from. HBG is what the set is called in Arena, i.e. how you can search for it in the deck builder. #wotc_staff
Hello reddit! I'm Ben Finkel, a software developer who's been working on the MTG Arena Rules Engine for over five years. This is a card that I designed! It'll be in the Alchemy Horizons: Baldur's Gate (HBG) release.
I designed this card in my favorite weekly meeting, the Card Design Workshop. This is a sort of "club" that any WotC employee who is interested in MTG card design may attend to flex their creative muscles.
Each week we get a prompt for some design hole that needs new ideas. On August 13, 2021, the workshop got this prompt:
Card details: A blue rare enchantment, instant, or sorcery. Its name is “Signature Spells.” We’re looking for a top-down design of a Wizard ability in D&D. From the D&D manual: “You gain mastery over two powerful Spells and can cast them with little effort. Choose two 3rd-level Wizard Spells as your signature Spells.”
(Plus that the card is intended to be a digital design)
This was my original proposal, which is nearly the same as the card we're releasing:
Signature Spells
Enchantment
4UU
When Signature Spells enters the battlefield, seek two instant or sorcery cards with mana value 3, then exile them. At the beginning of your upkeep copy one of the exiled cards. You may cast the copy without paying its mana cost.
My intention was to capture the spell mastery by letting you cast them each of your turns, which strikes me as the equivalent of D&D's cantrips. Mana value 3 of course reflects 3rd level spells. Also I think Isochron Scepter is pretty cool, and thought that a similar play pattern is probably pretty fun. I hope you enjoy finding out what your signature spells will be!
Signature Spells
Enchantment
4UU
When Signature Spells enters the battlefield, seek two instant and/or sorcery cards with mana value 3, then exile them. At the beginning of your upkeep, you may copy a card exiled with Signature Spells. You may cast the copy without paying its mana cost.
By the way I'm on vacation this week in Iceland so my responses may not be punctual.
If i somehow manage to exile a permanent card with signature spells i still won't be able to cast a copy every upkeep right? I assume this is one of those "linked" abilities?
Correct. "Exiled with" is pretty strong evidence of a linked ability. #wotc_staff
Is seek random?
As the reminder text reads:
To seek a card, put one at random from your library into your hand.
Does it seek two spells that each have a mana value of three or two spells with a total mana value of three?
Good thing I get pings for replies, haha!
It seeks two spell cards with with mana value 3 (for a total of 6 mana value assuming you hit for both). #wotc_staff