Last week, I started going through the design handoff file for of Mirrodin by walking through how the file looked before development. I talked about the white and blue cards last week. This week, I'm looking at all the black, red, and green cards.

CB01_BCN
Squire Minion
1B
Creature — Minion
2/1
CARDNAME gets +1/+1 and fear as long as it's equipped. (This creature can't be blocked except by artifact creatures and/or black creatures.)

This was part of the "enhanced when equipped" cycle.

CB02_BCN
Energy Broker
1B
Creature — Minion
1/1
Whenever an artifact comes into play, gain @. (This energy does not go away until spent.)

This is another card that tied artifacts to energy.

CB03_BCN
Dark Cleric
2B
Creature — Cleric
2/2
B, Sacrifice an artifact: Target player discards a card. You may only use this ability as a sorcery.

In the finished set, we chose to make sacrificing artifacts as a cost a red thing. The few black cards that sacrificed something were changed to sacrifice creatures.

CB04_BCN
Murk Shade
5B
Creature — Shade
2/2
Affinity for artifacts (For each artifact you have in play, CARDNAME costs 1 less.)
B: CARDNAME gets +1/+1 until end of turn.

We had a lot more cards with affinity for artifacts in the handoff.

CB05_BCN
Razortooth Zombies
2B
Creature — Zombie
2/1
Fear (This creature can't be blocked except by artifact creatures and/or black creatures.)

This became Dross Prowler.

CB06_BCN
Ungodly Creation
4B
Creature — Zombie
3/3
Energize — @@@ (When this comes into play, you get @@@. This energy does not go away until spent.)

Originally, we had a keyword for getting energy when a permanent entered: "energize."

CB07_BCN
Leprous Hound
1B
Creature — Hound
1/1
Whenever a creature blocks CARDNAME, destroy that creature at end of combat.
Sacrifice an artifact: Regenerate CARDNAME.

Elements of this card rolled into Nim Shambler, an uncommon.

CB08_BCN
Life Syphon
5B
Sorcery
Affinity for artifacts (For each artifact you have in play, CARDNAME costs 1 less.)
CARDNAME deals 3 damage to target creature or player. You gain 3 life.

CB09_BCN
Terror
1B
Instant
Destroy target nonartifact, nonblack creature. That creature cannot be regenerated.

One of my favorite things to do is bring back cards in an environment that makes them function very differently than when they originally appeared. Terror and Shatter were my two favorite examples from Mirrodin. Both appeared in Limited Edition (Alpha), where Terror was significantly stronger than Shatter. But in an artifact-heavy environment, Terror got much worse, as it couldn't destroy artifact creatures, and Shatter got much better. Learning that often you wanted to draft Shatter over Terror was a cool moment for enfranchised players.

CB10_BCN
Power Grab
1B
Sorcery
You gain @@@@@. (This energy does not go away until spent.)

Looking back at this file, I'm trying to remember how we differentiated the way each color got energy. I think black mostly just got it when casting spells.

CB11_BCN
Mind Tweak
BB
Sorcery
Target player discards two nonartifact cards or one artifact card.

This card became Wrench Mind. It was designed using the same mechanical technique that we used on Thirst for Knowledge.

UB01_BCN
Face Chewer
3B
Creature — Zombie Horror
5/1
Sacrifice an artifact: Return CARDNAME to your hand. You may only use this ability when CARDNAME is in your graveyard.

This card became Nim Devourer. Sacrificing an artifact became sacrificing a creature when we moved artifact sacrifice to red.

UB02_BCN
Marsh Fiend
1BB
Creature — Minion
2/2
Swampwalk
B, Sacrifice an artifact: CARDNAME gets +1/+1 and target land becomes a Swamp until end of turn.

Mirrodin ended up not having any landwalk.

UB03_BCN
Slim Shady
3BB
Creature — Zombie
4/3
CARDNAME cannot block.
Energize — @@@@ (When this comes into play, you get @@@@. This energy does not go away until spent.)

UB04_BCN
Double Dealer
4B
Creature — Horror
3/3
Whenever a creature is put into the graveyard from play the turn CARDNAME damaged it, destroy target nonblack, nonartifact creature.

Playtesting showed that "Double Dealer" was essentially unblockable and no one would attack into it if it was untapped. It gummed up the board and never actually used its ability.

UB05_BCN
Tainted One
BB
Creature — Zombie
1/1
Whenever CARDNAME deals combat damage to a creature, that creature's controller loses life equal to the damage dealt.
Sacrifice an artifact: Regenerate CARDNAME.

I had forgotten how much artifact sacrifice was in the handoff, and so much of it was in black.

UB06_BCN
Reanimator
6B
Creature — Cleric
1/1
Affinity for artifacts (For each artifact you have in play, CARDNAME costs 1 less.)
4, T: Return an artifact creature in your graveyard to your hand.

We allowed black to Regrow artifacts, but only as a one-shot ability.

UB07_BCN
Short Circuit
3B
Sorcery
Target player reveals their hand and discards all artifact cards.

UB08_BCN
Feast of the Bat
4BB
Sorcery
Affinity for artifacts (For each artifact you have in play, CARDNAME costs 1 less.)
Destroy target nonblack creature. Gain @ equal to target creature's toughness. (This energy does not go away until spent.)

Because the cards with energy activations (mostly) were artifacts, we decided we were okay with energy-producing cards having affinity for artifacts.

UB09_BCN
Dark Research
2B
Sorcery
Draw three cards. Reveal them to all players. For each nonartifact card revealed, lose 2 life.

This proved to be too efficient in artifact-heavy black decks.

RB01_BCN
Necroposeur
2BB
Creature — Zombie
2/1
Fear (This creature can't be blocked except by artifact creatures and/or black creatures.)
When CARDNAME deals combat damage to defending player, you may pay X. Lose X life, draw X cards.

We often name cards after their design inspirations. This card was inspired by and named after Ice Age's Necropotence.

Base image Overlay image

RB02_BCN
Xenic Powermonger
3BB
Creature — Minion
3/3
Pay 2 life: Target noncreature non-Equipment artifact becomes an artifact creature with power and toughness each equal to its total casting cost until end of turn.

Xenic Poltergeist from Antiquities was another of my favorite older cards, so I made a card inspired by it. We eventually decided that animating artifacts wasn't in black's section of the color pie.

RB03_BCN
Scary Specter
5BB
Creature — Specter
2/3
Flying
Whenever CARDNAME deals combat damage to defending player, that player discards a random card. If the discarded card is a nonland card, search that player's library and graveyard and remove all copies of that card from the game, then that player shuffles their library.

I made the card Lobotomy in Tempest.

Base image Overlay image

I was looking for a new tweak on it. This was not super fun.

RB04_BCN
Oppressor
1BB
Creature — Minion
2/2
Each player's maximum hand size is equal to the number of cards in your hand.

I had played with cards that changed players' hand size in Odyssey, and this was me looking for a new tweak on it.

RB05_BCN
You Don't Recall
7B
Sorcery
Affinity for Swamps (For each Swamp you have in play, CARDNAME costs 1 less.)
Name a card. Search target player's hand, library, and graveyard and remove all copies of the named card from the game.

A second take on a Lobotomy spell. Yeah, I should have just picked one. Neither made it to print.

RB06_BCN
Pact with the Devil
B
Instant
Name a card. Reveal cards from the top of your library until you reach the named card. Put the named card in your hand. Lose 1 life for each card revealed in this way. The revealed cards are removed from the game.

Another "brain to print" card. This became Spoils from the Vault.

RB07_BCN
Spirit Syphon
3B
Enchantment
Whenever any player plays a spell, that player loses 1 life for every "soul-sucking" counter on CARDNAME then adds a "soul-sucking" counter to CARDNAME.

RB08_BCN
Accursed Ownership
3B
Enchantment
All artifacts gain "At the beginning of your upkeep, pay 1 life or sacrifice this artifact."

This was a tweak on The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale from Legends.

RB09_BCN
Infected Wound
2BB
Enchantment
As CARDNAME comes into play, choose a player who has been dealt damage this turn.
At the beginning of that player's turn, they lose life equal to the amount of damage they took the turn CARDNAME was played.

RB10_BCN
Superstupor
1BB
Sorcery
For each card in target player's hand, that player either pays 2 life or discards it.

We were experimenting with discard cards that had a buyout.

CR01_BCN
Squire Goblin
2R
Creature — Goblin
2/2
CARDNAME gets +2/+0 and has haste as long as it's equipped.

This is another card in the "enhanced when equipped" cycle. Only the white and red ones gained a keyword ability in the finished set. This is a subtle nod to the fact that these were the two colors that had it originally in the handoff.

CR02_BCN
Gung-Ho Orc
2R
Creature — Orc
2/2
Sacrifice an artifact: CARDNAME gets +1/+0 and has first strike until end of turn.

This became a Goblin and printed as Krark-Clan Grunt.

CR03_BCN
Crazed Giant
3R
Creature — Giant
3/3
CARDNAME cannot be blocked by artifact creatures.

This became Ogre Leadfoot. Instead of being unblockable by artifact creatures, it destroys any creature that blocks it.

CR04_BCN
Goblin Repairman
1R
Creature — Goblin
1/1
R, Sacrifice an artifact: CARDNAME deals 1 damage to target creature.

This became Krak-Clan Shaman. For some reason, we restricted the damage to creatures without flying.

CR05_BCN
Vita Minotaur
4R
Creature — Minotaur
4/2
Whenever CARDNAME deals combat damage to defending player, you gain @@. (This energy does not go away until spent.)

This is one of a few cards capable of repeatedly producing energy.

CR06_BCN
Spitfire Goblin
1R
Creature — Goblin
1/1
First strike, haste

This became Goblin Striker.

CR07_BCN
Added Insult
1R
Instant
Gain @ equal to the amount of damage dealt to target player this turn by creatures you control. (This energy does not go away until spent.)

We made a lot of energy-producing cards that produce a flexible amount of energy based on what you did that turn. If energy hadn't been removed, that would have proven very hard to balance. In general, the handoff's energy economy was broken. It wasn't something we had spent much time on, as we assumed it would happen in development.

CR08_BCN
Enrage
R
Instant
Target creature attacks this turn if able.

CR09_BCN
Shatter
1R
Instant
Destroy target artifact.

There's not a lot of sets where you main deck Shatter in Limited, but this was one of them.

CR10_BCN
Hot Lava Rain
1RR
Sorcery
Destroy target land. If that land is an artifact, CARDNAME deals 2 damage to that land's controller.

This became Molten Rain, which cares about all nonbasic lands rather than artifact lands.

CR11_BCN
Ba-Boom!
6R
Instant
Affinity for artifacts (For each artifact you have in play, CARDNAME costs 1 less.)
CARDNAME deals 4 damage to target creature or player.

There are a lot more removal spells with affinity for artifacts than I remember.

UR01_BCN
Mad Monkey
4RR
Creature — Ape
2/2
Affinity for artifacts (For each artifact you have in play, CARDNAME costs 1 less.)
3, T, Sacrifice artifact: CARDNAME deals X damage to target creature where X is the converted mana cost of the sacrificed artifact.

In Alliances, there was a story about some apes that hated technology, so there were a bunch of cards depicting apes destroying artifacts. It became a running joke in R&D for many years, so many of our artifact-destruction creatures were Apes or Monkeys.

UR02_BCN
Angry Dervish
1RR
Creature — Dervish
0/0
Haste
CARDNAME comes into play with one +1/+1 counter.
Whenever CARDNAME deals damage to another player, put a +1/+1 counter on it.

This is the red "Dervish." It got printed as Slith Firewalker.

UR03_BCN
Rogue Flamespitter
2R
Creature — Wizard
1/1
R, T: CARDNAME deals damage equal to CARDNAME's power to target creature or player.

This became Spikeshot Goblin.

UR04_BCN
Crazed Barbarian
3RR
Creature — Barbarian
3/2
First strike
R, Sacrifice an artifact: You gain @@. (This energy does not go away until spent.)

UR05_BCN
Goblin Thief
R
Creature — Goblin
1/1
Whenever CARDNAME deals combat damage to defending player, untap and gain control of target artifact until end of turn.

Here, we tried a new take on red temporarily stealing permanents, tying it to artifacts since Mirrodin was an "artifacts matter" set.

UR06_BCN
Atog
1R
Creature — Atog
1/2
Sacrifice an artifact: CARDNAME gets +2/+2 until end of turn.

Before coming to Wizards, Atog was my all-time favorite creature, so how could I not bring it to a world where everything was made of metal? I believe Atog was in the very first playtest for Mirrodin.

UR07_BCN
Soldering Fun
2R
Sorcery
As an additional cost to play CARDNAME, sacrifice an artifact. Put +1/+1 counters on target artifact creature equal to the converted mana cost of the sacrificed artifact.

This became Forge Armor. Development turned it into an instant and added to the mana cost.

UR08_BCN
Eat Hot Lead
3R
Sorcery
CARDNAME deals an amount of damage equal to the number of artifacts you control to target creature.

UR09_BCN
Detonate
XR
Sorcery
Destroy target artifact with a converted mana cost of X. That artifact may not be regenerated. CARDNAME deals X damage to that artifact's controller.

This is another reprint from Antiquities. My love for that set pours through this design.

RR01_BCN
Ambidextrous Knight
4R
Creature — Soldier
3/3
CARDNAME gets +4/+4 if it is equipped with exactly two Equipment cards.

RR02_BCN
Dervish Dragon
3RRR
Creature — Dragon
0/0
Flying
RR CARDNAME gets +2/+0 until end of turn.
CARDNAME comes into play with four +1/+1 counters on it.
Whenever CARDNAME deals damage to a player, put a +1/+1 counter on it.

The finished set had a cycle of common Sliths. In the original design handoff file, we made a Dragon. The printed set has one Dragon, a colorless artifact creature named Clockwork Dragon.

RR03_BCN
Giantog
5RR
Creature — Atog Giant
3/4
Sacrifice an artifact: CARDNAME gets +3/+3 and trample until end of turn.

It wasn't enough to just bring back Atog. I wanted to make a giant Atog which ended up becoming Megatog.

RR04_BCN
Magma Elemental
3RR
Creature — Elemental
3/3
RR: CARDNAME deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
RR: Until end of turn, all red sources deal an additional damage.

This is an example of a cool card in a vacuum that didn't have much to do with the rest of the set.

RR05_BCN
Blood Elemental
RRR
Creature — Elemental
1/1
When CARDNAME comes into play, sacrifice it unless an opponent was dealt damage this turn.
Whenever an opponent is dealt damage, put that many +1/+1 counters on CARDNAME.

RR06_BCN
Static Shock
2R
Enchantment
Whenever a player plays an activated ability of an artifact, CARDNAME deals 1 damage to that artifact's controller.
This card ended up being a bit narrow.

RR07_BCN
Tear Asunder
5RRR
Sorcery
Destroy all artifacts, creatures, and lands in play. Players may then put any artifacts, creatures, or lands in their hands into play under their control.

This is another attempt at a chaotic red rare card.

RR08_BCN
Blindness
4RR
Enchantment
Whenever a player plays a spell or ability that requires them to choose a target, that spell or ability targets a legal target at random instead.

This card started in another file and got moved to Mirrodin. It proved to be a little too unpredictable.

RR09_BCN
No Guts, No Glory
3RR
Enchantment
During your upkeep choose a creature you control. That creature gets +X/+0, where X is the number of creatures in play. At the end of turn sacrifice that creature.

RR10_BCN
Weld
3R
Instant
As an additional cost to play CARDNAME, sacrifice an artifact. Put an artifact card from your graveyard into play under your control.

In Urza's Legacy, I designed a card named Goblin Welder.

This card was just me trying the same effect as a one-shot spell. It became Trash for Treasure.

CG01_BCN
Squire Elf
1G
Creature — Elf
1/2
CARDNAME gets +2/+1 as long as it's equipped.

This was green's part of the "enhanced when equipped" cycle.

CG02_BCN
Elven Fanaticist
1G
Creature — Elf
2/1
Protection from artifacts

My love of Antiquities continues to inspire designs. At the 1994 World Championships, I played a green-blue deck with a lot of small creatures and ways to pump them up. Because Mishra's Factory was so popular, I had a couple Argothian Pixies in the main deck and more to sideboard in.

It always bugged me that Argothian Pixies didn't just have protection from artifacts. When we were designing Mirrodin, I made a version that did. This card became Tel-Jilad Chosen.

CG03_BCN
Fanatic Spider
4G
Creature — Spider
2/4
Protection from artifacts
CARDNAME may block as though it had flying.

One protection from artifacts creature wasn't enough. I thought it would be cool to make the set's "Giant Spider" have protection from artifacts. This card became Tel-Jilad Archers.

CG04_BCN
Glade Walker
3G
Creature — Elf
1/3
Whenever an artifact is put into the graveyard from play, gain @. (This energy does not go away until spent.)

Now we get to the green energy-producing cards.

CG05_BCN
Wee Troll
2G
Creature — Troll
2/2
Trample
2G: Regenerate CARDNAME.

This card became Troll Ascetic. Trample turned into hexproof.

CG06_BCN
Rustmaker
1GG
Creature — Elf Wizard
3/2
T, Sacrifice CARDNAME: Destroy target artifact.

I assume it was decided the set didn't need this and Viridian Shaman.

CG07_BCN
Citanul Boar
2G
Creature — Beast
2/2
Whenever CARDNAME blocks or becomes blocked by an artifact creature, it gets +3/+3 until end of turn.

Green dislikes artifacts the most, so we were trying to find novel ways to punish artifacts.

CG08_BCN
Sporegrazer
4G
Creature — Beast
4/5
When CARDNAME comes into play, target player loses @@.

Mirrodin was much more willing to mess with the opponent's energy than Kaladesh. Looking back on Kaladesh, I feel not letting the player's interact with their opponents' energy was a mistake.

CG09_BCN
Brown Ouphe
G
Creature — Ouphe
1/1
1G, T: Counter target artifact activation.

I think this is the first card printed exactly as it was handed off, including the name.

CG10_BCN
Energy Growth
G
Instant
Target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn. You gain @ for each damage dealt by that creature. (This energy does not go away until spent.)

There are lots of variable energy-producing cards in this handoff.

CG11_BCN
Oxidize
G
Instant
Destroy target artifact. That artifact cannot be regenerated.

This was just us trying to make a cleaner version of Crumble from Antiquities.

UG01_BCN
Elven Baptist
1G
Creature — Elf
1/1
T: Target creature cannot be the target of spells or abilities.

Mirrodin is the first set to mess around with hexproof (which was unnamed at the time) in a bigger way, mostly in green.

UG02_BCN
Keeper of the Beat-Down
4G
Creature — Beast
3/3
Whenever you play a creature, target creature gets +1/+1 and gains trample until end of turn.

This is an early unnamed version of alliance from Streets of New Capenna.

UG03_BCN
Llanowar Next of Kin
1G
Creature — Elf
1/1
T: Add G to your mana pool equal to the power of CARDNAME.

This card became Viridian Joiner. It was designed as a companion card to Spikeshot Goblin.

UG04_BCN
Rude Hermit
3G
Creature — Troll
2/4
3G, T: Target player loses @.

Blue steals energy. Green can just take it away.

UG05_BCN
Fanatic Beast
4GG
Creature — Beast
5/6
Protection from artifacts

UG06_BCN
Spuzzy Bugger
1GG
Creature — Bear
2/3
Whenever CARDNAME deals damage to an opponent, destroy target artifact.

This card was inspired by the card Floral Spuzzem from Legends.

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Floral Spuzzem is famous for its rules text, which says the creature gets to make the decision, not the player.

UG07_BCN
Uktabi Elves
2G
Creature — Elf
2/2
When CARDNAME comes into play, destroy target artifact.

This card became Viridian Shaman.

UG08_BCN
Rage Against the Machines
G
Instant
Any number of target creatures you control gain protection from artifacts until the end of the turn.

This card became Razor Barrier, a white card. Razor Barrier also lets you chose a color to gain protection from in addition to artifacts.

UG09_BCN
Control Controller
1G
Instant
Instants can't be played this turn.
CARDNAME can't be countered.

Sometimes we experiment with the color pie. We eventually decided stopping instants was not in green's part of the color pie.

Da Beast
5GGG
Creature — Beast
10/10
CARDNAME cannot be the target of spells or abilities.

This became Plated Slagwurm, an 8/8 for .

RG02_BCN
Nature Spirit
4G
Creature — Spirit
2/2
At the end of each player's turn, an opponent chooses a creature card in that player's graveyard which is returned to its owner's hand.
Creatures put into the graveyard from play are instead removed from the game.

I believe nothing stayed dead for long, and this card drew out games during playtests.

RG03_BCN
Hordebringer
6GG
Creature — Beast
6/6
Trample
Whenever CARDNAME deals combat damage to defending player, put a 1/1 green NAME token into play for each damage dealt.

This became Living Hive. This is the first card that converts each point of damage into a token creature. It's a design vein we would return to often.

RG04_BCN
Regrowther
2GG
Creature — Spike
2/2
Whenever an artifact is put into the graveyard from play, return target nonartifact card in your graveyard to your hand.

Looking back, I'm seeing another theme: way too much card advantage. That happens a lot in design handoff files.

RG05_BCN
Elven Broker
3G
Creature — Elf
1/2
Whenever an artifact is tapped or activated by an opponent, gain @. (This energy does not go away until spent.)
T: Add two mana of any color to your mana pool.

We've moved away from effects that discourage the opponents from doing things.

RG06_BCN
Growing Boy
3GG
Creature — Elemental
2/2
CARNAME gets +1/+1 for each tapped permanent controlled by any opponent.

This card ended up being printed as Copperhoof Vorrac.

Interestingly, this card was changed to get +1/+1 for each untapped permanent an opponent controls. Instead of punishing the opponent for doing something, it punishes them for not doing something, which is the right call. It gives you the inertia you need to make games end.

RG07_BCN
Verdant Flare
2G
Enchantment
Whenever any player taps a land for mana, it produces one additional mana of the same type.

I spent many years trying to get a green Mana Flare (what we now know as Heartbeat of Spring) into the game. No one in R&D was against it. It just kept getting knocked out because other things were needed for the set, and this was the kind of card that could go anywhere. Here's me trying and failing to get it into Mirrodin.

RG08_BCN
Someone Else's Song
3G
Enchantment
Each noncreature artifact is an artifact creature with power and toughness each equal to its total casting cost.

Here's yet another Antiquities-inspired design. This time, I was trying to fix up Titania's Song.

Base image Overlay image

The last line, "If Titania's Song leaves the battlefield, this effect continues until end of turn," caused rules problems, so we were trying to make a version with basically the same effect that didn't mess with the rules.

RG09_BCN
Super Fastbond
G
Enchantment
Whenever a player plays a land, all other players may put a land into play.
(This does not negate the "one land per turn" rule.)

This was designed years before Commander was a thing.

RG10_BCN
Calm Before the Swarm
5GG
Sorcery
All players may search their library for any number of creature cards that are a copy of a creature in play. Put all those cards into play under that player's control.

I love Clone effects, so I was trying to find a way to do some in green. Green is allowed to copy creatures you control.

The People in the Mirrodin

That's all the black, red, and green cards from the Mirrodin design handoff. As always, I'm eager for any feedback, be it on today's article, any of the cards I talked about, or Mirrodin itself. You can email me with feedback or contact me through social media (Bluesky, Tumblr, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter).

Join me next week for the common and uncommon artifacts.

Until then, may you take a second look at Mirrodin.