Design Files: Mirrodin, Part 4

Three weeks ago, I started a new installment of "Design Files" focusing on Mirrodin, looking back at the actual design file as handed off for development, and began with the white and blue cards. Two weeks ago, I looked at the black, red, and green cards. Last week, I looked at all the common and uncommon artifacts. For the final part of this series, I'll discuss all the rare artifacts and lands.

RA01_BCN

Triskelion

6

Artifact Creature

1/1

CARDNAME comes into play with three +1/+1 counters on it.

Remove a +1/+1 counter from CARDNAME: CARDNAME deals 1 damage to target creature or player.

I'll start with the rare artifacts. What do we find? Yet another Antiquities reprint, one of the most popular cards from Magic's second expansion.

RA02_BCN

Steam Punk

5

Artifact Creature

2/5

Energize — @@@@ (When this comes into play, you get @@@@. This energy does not go away until spent.)

2, @@: Exchange an artifact card in your hand with target artifact card you own and control.

Here's an example of me playing around with an idea that would lead to the creation of ninjutsu.

RA03_BCN

Clockwork Dragon

7

Artifact Creature — Dragon

0/0

Flying

CARDNAME comes into play with six +1/+1 counters on it.

2: CARDNAME gets +1/+0 until end of turn.

Whenever CARDNAME attacks or blocks, remove a +1/+1 counter at end of combat.

This card didn't change much in print. It even kept its name. We just turned the firebreathing into a method of adding +1/+1 counters.

RA04_BCN

Soren's Avenger

6

Artifact Creature

5/5

CARDNAME gets -2/-2 until end of turn: CARDNAME gains your choice of flying, first strike, haste or "2: Regenerate" until end of turn.

If you walk away from this series of articles having learned anything about Mirrodin's design, it should be this: we were really influenced by Antiquities design. Here's yet another card inspired by Antiquities. This time we're riffing on Urza's Avenger.

This would get cut from Mirrodin, but a sunburst version of the creature would show up later in the block during Fifth Dawn on the card Lunar Avenger.

RA05_BCN

Colossus Maximus

5

Artifact Creature

10/10

When CARDNAME comes into play, remove all the cards in your library from the game.

This became Leveler. There were zero changes from the handoff, other than the name.

RA06_BCN

Saucy Gnome

3

Artifact Creature

2/2

2, T: Target creature gains "You gain @ for each combat damage this creature deals to defending player" until end of turn. (This energy does not go away until spent.)

RA07_BCN

Iron Chief

7

Artifact Creature

6/6

Trample

Whenever CARDNAME blocks or is blocked, gain @. (This energy does not go away until spent.)

@: All golems get +1/+1 until end of turn.

@@: All artifact creatures get +1/+1 until end of turn.

RA08_BCN

Tetroid

6

Artifact Creature

0/0

As Tetroid comes into play, put four +1/+1 counters on CARDNAME.

2, Sacrifice an artifact creature: Put a +1/+1 counter on CARDNAME. This ability may only be used during upkeep.

2, Sacrifice a +1/+1 counter: Put a NAME counter in play. Treat this as a 1/1 artifact creature.

The Antiquities love continues. This card is a riff on Tetravus.

The handoff version was trying to make a Tetravus that could absorb any artifact creature into itself. What ended up in Mirrodin was basically a 5/5 non-flying Tetravus called Pentavus (as it entered with five counters).

RA09_BCN

Gnome Lord

4

Artifact Creature — Gnome

1/1

2, Sacrifice an artifact: Put a 1/1 artifact Gnome token into play.

Sacrifice two gnomes: Return target artifact card in your graveyard to your hand.

One of the themes we explored in the handoff was the ability to turn artifacts into different things. The idea was that you would get a lot of artifacts on the battlefield and have different ways to use them as a resource, often turning them into other artifacts.

RA10_BCN

Mesomorphic Goo

4

Artifact

As CARDNAME comes into play, you may choose an artifact in play. If you do, CARDNAME comes into play as a copy of that artifact.

This card became Sculpting Steel.

RA11_BCN

Time Crystal

3

Artifact — Equipment

Equip 1 (1: If this isn't on a creature, move it onto target creature. If that creature leaves play, this stays in play.)

If equipped creature deals combat damage to a player, remove CARDNAME from the game and take an extra turn after this one.

We only include one extra-turn card per set (at most), and we ended up using it on Timesifter rather than this card.

RA12_BCN

Eladamri's Workshop

3

Artifact

At the beginning of each player's first main phase, add one colorless mana to that player's mana pool for each artifact they control in play.

The Antiquities callbacks continue, this time referencing a land from Antiquities, Mishra's Workshop.

This just created too much mana.

RA13_BCN

Frozen Orb

6

Artifact

Each player may choose not to untap permanents they control.

Whenever a permanent becomes untapped, that permanent's controller puts the top card of their library into their graveyard.

This would become Mesmeric Orb. We removed the ability to choose not to untap your permanents.

RA14_BCN

Village in a Bottle

5

Artifact

As CARDNAME comes into play, choose an expansion symbol.

5, Sacrifice CARDNAME: Destroy all nonland permanents with the chosen expansion symbol.

In development, I was told by the rules manager that we couldn't create this card because expansion symbols aren't something we're allowed to mechanically care about. Every card with the same English name has to be treated the same mechanically. We reprint cards, meaning there are versions of the same card with different expansion symbols, so expansion symbols can't be a quality we mechanically care about.

Well, we can't care about expansion symbols in black-border Magic. I would print this card in Unhinged with the name World-Bottling Kit. So, for future trivia, this is the card in Unhinged that was designed for Mirrodin.

RA15_BCN

Helm of Forethought

1

Artifact

1, T: Remove any number of cards in your hand from the game.

1, T: Return any number of cards removed from the game by CARDNAME to your hand.

RA16_BCN

Howling Chasm

5

Artifact

At the beginning of each player's turn, that player reveals the top card of their library. If it is an artifact, creature, enchantment, or land card, they may put it into play without paying its mana cost.

This would become Gate to the Aether.

RA17_BCN

Light Saber

1

Artifact — Equipment

Equip 1 (1: If this isn't on a creature, move it onto target creature. If that creature leaves play, this stays in play until spent.)

Energize — @@ (When this comes into play, you get @@. This energy does not go away until spent.)

@@: Equipped creature gets +4/+0 until end of turn. Use this ability once per turn per creature.

@@: Move CARDNAME to another creature.

RA18_BCN

Pit of Nothingness

5

Artifact

At the beginning of your turn, destroy target nonland permanent with the lowest converted mana cost. If there are multiple permanents with the same cost, you decide which one is destroyed.

This card became Culling Scales. Its mana cost dropped from to .

RA19_BCN

Masticore Armor

2

Artifact — Equipment

Equip 2 (2: If this isn't on a creature, move it onto target creature. If that creature leaves play, this stays in play.)

Equipped creature gains "At the beginning of your upkeep, discard a card or sacrifice equipped creature," "2: Equipped creature deals 1 damage to target creature," and "2: Regenerate equipped creature."

Discard a card: Return CARDNAME to its owner's hand.

I'm not sure why we thought an Equipment that turned your creature into a Masticore was a good idea.

RA20_BCN

Clone Machine

4

Artifact

As CARDNAME comes into play, remove a creature card in your hand from the game.

4, T: Put a NAME token into play. Treat this token as a copy of the removed creature card.

It's time to talk about something missing from this file: imprint. When Bill asked me to remove energy from the file, he said I needed to replace it with something. I knew we were a bit light on innovative new mechanics that we could make splashy cards out of, so I turned my attention to this card. I had tried to make a different version of "Clone Machine" in Tempest, but it had too many memory issues. My solution for that, which I used on this card, was to exile the card being copied so it could be a memory aid.

Could I use this technique to make more cards like it? Brian Tinsman made a card in one of his sets which I really liked, but it had the same issue as "Clone Machine" and ended up getting cut. Could the exile mechanic from "Clone Machine" turn into a whole mechanic? The answer was yes, it could.

RA21_BCN

Gleemax

5

Legendary Artifact

5, Sacrifice CARDNAME: During target player's next turn, you may make all decisions for that player (such as what spells are played and what creatures attack). You may see any hidden information that player is able to see during the turn. That player does not lose life from mana burn.

This design was inspired by Helm of Possession from Tempest. I had this idea of every set having what I called a "marquee card," which was a colorless card any deck could play that did something innovative that you'd never seen before.

I came up with this card while designing Tempest. I had always liked the card Word of Command from Limited Edition (Alpha) but wanted a version that played more cleanly. You could often respond to Word of Command by doing the thing they were about to do, letting you make the decision. My solution was to create a card that let you control an opponent for their next turn. The rules manager at the time said it couldn't work, so we changed the card, very late in the process, to Helm of Possession.

While working on Mirrodin, I was trying to find cool innovative artifacts, so I went back and looked at old designs. I found the original Helm of Possession design and went to the new rules manager and asked if we could do it. To my surprise, they said yes, so I put it into the file. Gleemax is a running joke about an alien brain that controls R&D. I would later make a Gleemax card in Unhinged.

This card obviously became Mindslaver. We ended up making the much cooler template of "You control target player's next turn."

RA22_BCN

Wand of Wonder

4

Artifact

T: Reveal your library to target opponent. That opponent chooses a sorcery or instant card. You may play that card this turn without paying its mana cost. If you do not, discard it.

RA23_BCN

Radiant Collar

3

Artifact — Equipment

Equip 1 (1: If this isn't on a creature, move it onto target creature. If that creature leaves play, this stays in play.)

All creatures controlled by equipped creature's controller gain all activated abilities of equipped creature.

RA24_BCN

Truth Crystal

3

Artifact

At the beginning of each player's turn, that player names three cards. Only the named cards may be played by that player until the start of their next turn.

RA25_BCN

Icy Manipulator

4

Artifact

1, T: Tap target artifact, creature, or land.

Icy Manipulator was an all-star artifact from Alpha. We brought it back in the file but moved it from uncommon to rare as we wanted less of it in Limited. Icy Manipulator is an uncommon in the final version of Mirrodin.

RA26_BCN

Sword of Jayd

3

Legendary Artifact — Equipment

Equip 3 (3: If this isn't on a creature, move it onto target creature. If that creature leaves play, this stays in play.)

Equipped creature gets +6/+0 and gains trample.

Any creature dealt damage by CARDNAME is removed from the game.

5: Move CARDNAME to target creature.

RA27_BCN

Shield of Jayd

3

Legendary Artifact — Equipment

Equip 3 (3: If this isn't on a creature, move it onto target creature. If that creature leaves play, this stays in play.)

Equipped creature gets +0/+6 and does not tap to attack.

Equipped creature and legendary artifacts cannot be the target of spells or abilities.

5: Return CARDNAME to its owner's hand.

RA28_BCN

Ring of Jayd

3

Legendary Artifact — Equipment

Equip 3 (3: If this isn't on a creature, move it onto target creature. If that creature leaves play, this stays in play.)

Equipped creature gains first strike, flying, and haste.

At the beginning of your turn, if you control Sword, Shield, and Ring of Jayd and not Jayd, put a 4/4 artifact Jayd token into play and move all three artifacts to it.

These three cards led to the three Kaldra artifacts. We would decide in development to spread these out to all three sets in the block, one per set. The second card we printed, Shield of Kaldra from Darksteel, referenced all three cards, making it the first time a card referenced a card that did not exist yet. All the cards were tweaked in development, but the core concept made it to print.

RA29_BCN

Barrel of Monkeys

6

Artifact

6, Sacrifice CARDNAME: Reveal your library to all players. Remove any number of artifact cards in your library from the game. For each artifact removed in this manner, put a 1/1 artifact Gnome token into play. Afterwards, shuffle your library.

This would become Myr Incubator. It wasn't changed other than the Gnome tokens becoming Myr tokens.

RA30_BCN

Bluffing Book

2

Artifact

2, T: Name a card. An opponent chooses true or false. If the opponent chose true and the named card is not in your hand, or if the opponent chose false and the card is in your hand, you may reveal your hand and draw a card.

I'm a big fan of minigames and thought it would be fun to have a card that got stronger the better you were at lying. This would become Liar's Pendulum.

RA31_BCN

Sphere of Confusion

3

Artifact

4, T: Name a card. The named card cannot be played for the remainder of the turn.

Sacrifice an artifact: Untap CARDNAME.

RA32_BCN

Essence Crystal

6

Artifact

@@@@@@@@: Gain control of target permanent.

If we had kept energy in the set, there's no way this card would have remained as shown here.

RA33_BCN

Pumpkin Bomb

2

Artifact

4, T: Gain @. (This energy does not go away until spent.)

4, X, T: Spend only @ on X. CARDNAME deals X damage divided any way you choose among any number of target creatures or players.

RA34_BCN

Cursed Wand

5

Artifact

3, T: Choose even or odd. Remove the top card of your library from the game. If the converted mana cost of the removed card is of the chosen parity, you may play the card as though it were in your hand without paying its casting cost. (If the spell has X in its casting cost, X is 0.) If not, any opponent may play the card instead.

Other than Ice Age's Chaos Moon, there weren't any cards that cared about parity, so we played around with it. This didn't end up in Mirrodin, but we revisited this idea in later sets.

RA35_BCN

Political Idol

5

Artifact

Whenever a spell is played, any player may sacrifice three lands to counter that spell.

RA36_BCN

Pearl Sapphire Painstone

2

Artifact

T: Add one colorless mana to your mana pool.

T, Pay 1 life: Add W or U to your mana pool.

RA37_BCN

Sapphire Jet Painstone

2

Artifact

T: Add one colorless mana to your mana pool.

T, Pay 1 life: Add U or B to your mana pool.

RA38_BCN

Jet Ruby Painstone

2

Artifact

T: Add one colorless mana to your mana pool.

T, Pay 1 life: Add B or R to your mana pool.

RA39_BCN

Ruby Emerald Painstone

2

Artifact

T: Add one colorless mana to your mana pool.

T, Pay 1 life: Add R or G to your mana pool.

RA40_BCN

Emerald Pearl Painstone

2

Artifact

T: Add one colorless mana to your mana pool.

T, Pay 1 life: Add G or W to your mana pool.

This cycle became the Talismans. It was our attempt at turning the pain lands from Ice Age into mana rocks.

RA41_BCN

Rod of Disruption

5

Artifact

Whenever a player is the target of an opponent's spell or ability, they take an additional turn after the current turn.

RA42_BCN

Wisdom Locket

2

Artifact

2, Sacrifice CARDNAME: Choose a number. All players may search their libraries for a spell with a converted mana cost of the chosen number. All cards are then revealed to all players. Afterwards, all libraries are shuffled.

The idea behind this card's design is that it would encourage you to play higher-cost cards that your opponent didn't have. In the end, it just encouraged combo decks.

RA43_BCN

Family Crest

2

Artifact

As CARDNAME comes into play, choose a creature type. All creature cards in your hand of the chosen type gain "Affinity for artifacts (For each artifact you have in play, CARDNAME costs 1 less.)."

RA44_BCN

Transporter

3

Artifact

Energize — @@ (When this comes into play, you get @@. This energy does not go away until spent.)

3, @: Exchange control of CARDNAME and target nonland permanent.

I do enjoy exchanging control of things.

RA45_BCN

Evolving Cube

3

Artifact

Sacrifice an artifact: Gain @ equal to the converted mana cost of the sacrificed artifact. (This energy does not go away until spent.)

Sacrifice CARDNAME, X: Spend only @ on X. Search your library for an artifact with a converted mana cost of X. Reveal that card to all players and put it into play. Afterwards, shuffle your library.

RA46_BCN

Banner of Hope

3

Artifact — Equipment

Equip 1 (1: If this isn't on a creature, move it onto target creature. If that creature leaves play, this stays in play.)

Equipped creature gains +1/+1.

If equipped creature is white, all other white creatures gain +1/+1.

This would evolve into Leonin Sun Standard.

RA47_BCN

Tolarian Compass

4

Artifact

6, T or 2WW, T: Put target enchantment card in any graveyard into play under your control.

Another favorite artifact of mine was Skull of Orm from The Dark. See, not everything was inspired by Antiquities.

Most of the recursion effects were cut in development.

RA48_BCN

Summer Orb

5

Artifact

During each player's upkeep, that player returns a permanent they control to its owner's hand.

You may spend 2UU during your upkeep to ignore this effect.

RA49_BCN

Wand of Polymorph

3

Artifact

6, T or 2UU, T: Remove target creature from the game. Put a 3/3 artifact NAME token into play under the control of that player.

In the design handoff file, we had two rare artifacts that were tied to each color. I believe the printed set had one. "Wand of Polymorph" would Polymorph itself into Proteus Staff.

RA50_BCN

Cursed Talisman

3

Artifact

At the beginning of your turn, lose one life for every pain counter on CARDNAME.

2BB: Add a pain counter to CARDNAME.

At the end of your turn, put a pain counter on CARDNAME and give it to target player.

RA51_BCN

Helm of Lobotomy

6

Artifact

8, Sacrifice CARDNAME or BBBB, Sacrifice CARDNAME: Target player removes all the cards in their hand from the game. Search that player's library and graveyard for all copies of the removed cards. Remove all copies from the game. Afterwards, those players shuffle their library.

I really liked the card Lobotomy from Tempest, so I was trying to make a new version of it.

RA52_BCN

Tablet of the Magus

4

Artifact

4, T: Untap and gain control of target artifact until end of turn.

R: Target artifact creature gains haste until end of turn.

RA53_BCN

Staff of Action

3

Artifact

5, T or RR, T: Target opponent plays a spell this turn if they are able. If they can't play a spell, that player shows you their hand at end of turn.

RA54_BCN

Brass Dolmen

6

Artifact

T, @: Spend only @ on X. All creatures get +X/+X until end of turn.

G: All creatures you control gain trample until end of turn.

RA55_BCN

Glowing Acorn

4

Artifact

5, T or 1GG, T: You may redistribute any number of +1/+1 counters on creatures you control to any number of creatures.

CL01_BCN

Farmhouse

Artifact Land

T: Add W to your mana pool.

CL02_BCN

Windmill

Artifact Land

T: Add U to your mana pool.

CL03_BCN

Shanty

Artifact Land

T: Add B to your mana pool.

CL04_BCN

Factory

Artifact Land

T: Add R to your mana pool.

CL05_BCN

Observatory

Artifact Land

T: Add G to your mana pool.

If you want to blame anybody for the artifact lands, blame me. I not only made them but fought really hard to keep them in the set. Development was unsure about them and saw them as dangerous, but I managed to convince them that they were novel and would lead to cool gameplay. And they did, but they also led to a lot of unsavory gameplay, especially with affinity for artifacts. I think all the artifact lands getting banned is the thing that pushed me ahead of Richard Garfield to take the infamous record of having designed the most banned cards.

RL01_BCN

Energy Tundra

Artifact Land

Energize — @@@ (When this comes into play, you get @@@. This energy does not go away until spent.)

@, T: Add W or U to your mana pool.

RL02_BCN

Energy Underground Sea

Artifact Land

Energize — @@@ (When this comes into play, you get @@@. This energy does not go away until spent.)

@, T: Add U or B to your mana pool.

RL03_BCN

Energy Badlands

Artifact Land

Energize — @@@ (When this comes into play, you get @@@. This energy does not go away until spent.)

@, T: Add B or R to your mana pool.

RL04_BCN

Energy Taiga

Artifact Land

Energize — @@@ (When this comes into play, you get @@@. This energy does not go away until spent.)

@, T: Add R or G to your mana pool.

RL05_BCN

Energy Savannah

Artifact Land

Energize — @@@ (When this comes into play, you get @@@. This energy does not go away until spent.)

@, T: Add G or W to your mana pool.

This cycle of dual lands was inspired by a card I designed called Gemstone Mine. Its playtest name was "Three-Shot City of Brass." I liked the idea that each land came with three uses, but you could spread those uses between them. Yes, I also made them artifact lands which would have caused additional issues. Mirrodin ended up not having any dual lands, although it had the Talismans.

Finally, I want to discuss the other mechanic not in the handoff: entwine. After energy was pulled and I added imprint, it was clear there was still something missing. Everything we had revolved around artifacts, so we were interested in something for the monocolor cards, especially the instants and sorceries. Once we decided what we wanted, I spent days thinking about it until one night in my dreams, I came up with entwine. I somehow figured out I was dreaming, woke up, and wrote it down. That's another fine trivia question: What mechanic did Mark create in a dream? Entwine!

Looking in the Mirrodin

That brings us to the end of my "Design Files" series for Mirrodin. I hope you enjoyed the look at the actual design vision file handed off. I'm curious for any feedback, especially if you like this new system of showing you the entire handoff file rather than me hand-picking certain cards to talk about. You can email me with feedback or contact me through social media (Bluesky, Tumblr, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter).

Join me next week as I go back and tell the design story of Strixhaven: School of Mages with five years of hindsight.

Until then, may you look back at Mirrodin with fondness (and gloss over that whole "it broke Magic" thing).