Modern Horizons

Otherwise, I don't expect this to really be a vintage cube card, though you can kind of permeate that space.

Stuff like the Modern Horizons 3 Sorin has made that a little bit of a thing in the digital cubes.

They've experimented with that, and I think it can be quite powerful if you really push it.

So high-ish power level life gain is absolutely viable these days.

I don't anticipate it being an aspect of cube very much at all.

Like, truthfully, the cube cards that I see Samut playing the best with are, like, Blossoming Defense, and so you can give your creatures Hexproof without your opponent being able to respond at all, which, at that point, a 2-mana blue 2-1, how impactful is that card? Honestly, that's more cool than anything, so...

you are excited about this card i think it could do some cool unique things awesome do you think this card is tremendously powerful you might be in for a rude awakening when you try casting it that brings us to seasoned cryomancer one blue blue for a 2-2 human wizard when this creature enters draw two cards and discard two cards when you discard one or more non-land cards this way tap up to that many target creatures and put a stun counter on each of them and then three blue blue exile this card from your graveyard draw two cards So sort of a riff on Seasoned Pyromancer, the red analog from Modern Horizons.

The strength of Seasoned Pyromancer, at least part of what makes that card very strong, is that when you are out of cards in hand, that one rummages, but you don't have to discard the cards to draw cards.

Tireless Tracker is wildly unplayable, so yeah.

Well, yeah, but this is like the Modern Horizons version of that, the Standard Horizons.

This is like a Standard Horizons set.

They just took the stuff you already know.

You could cast this split-second spell.

I think it's like a split-second pump spell from Modern Horizons or something.

Siege Smash.

You could play it, and with that on the stack, you could start doing your infinite mana combo, because that is a mana ability.

I wasn't playing the game.

I just assumed it was immediately, you know, sent to like Modern Horizons or something.

No.

No, that was a standard card.

I just mentioned this card because it is a two mana planeswalker, and that used to mean something.

Dude, it would be so cool if Modern Horizons-

[laughs]

... didn't exist to obsolete all of these cards that are otherwise really interesting to think about building around.

Uh, that makes this tough.

Like, it lines up well against Murktide, but, like, you know, this...

By the time you cast this, they've already ultimated their Tamiyo, so- Just, it's, it's tough to, it's tough to spend three nano when Modern Horizons exists, and that's kind of where I fall on this.

Like, when this card was first spoiled, I was like, "Holy shit, I am going to brew with this." And then every single build I'd come around to, I'd be like, "Why would you ever do this instead of any of the Modern Horizon stuff that's available to you?"

It's pretty sweet.

And then we had Storming Entity was a card that once upon a time, pre-Modern Horizons saw play in Modern.

And I think that was a while ago, but I think a 1-5 Flying Vigilance prowess compared to a 3-3 prowess is not necessarily a worse stat line.

yeah it's honestly like really bulky and

All the cards that got Shattered Treat- Mirrors treatment were in some way, you know, iconic, well-remembered cards.

Some of them were specifically remembered for being very powerful, like Dark Confidant and Snapcaster Mage, and Seasoned Pyromancer was even from a Modern Horizons set, which are known for being particularly powerful.

Um, and I directly wanted to allude to that power, but also these had to go through our normal process for standard, where we make sure we're comfortable with everything that's hitting standard.

So it's a lot of work to coordinate with play design, get the designs to them ahead of time, making sure that they both feel, uh, appropriate in terms of matching the original card, and that they were something we could balance for standard while maintaining that feel.