Last December, I started doing a new series called "Design Files" where I show off cards as they were handed off at the end of design and talk about them.

Last time, I showed cards from Tempest (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3), the first set I was lead designer on. Today, I'll be talking about Urza's Destiny, the second Standard-legal set I led. Today's article will be about the cards that made it to print, albeit with many changes. The second section will include cards that didn't make it, well, at least in Urza's Destiny.

A quick history lesson first: When I was originally hired to work on Magic, it was as a developer and not as a designer. Eventually, I managed to convince then head designer Joel Mick to let me lead the design of a set: Tempest. It went well, so I got to lead more design teams. The second set I led was Urza's Destiny. Not only that, R&D was a bit short-handed at the time, so I was the only designer for Urza's Destiny.

Goblin Marshall

RR01
Goblin General
3RR
Summon Goblin
Red
2/2
Echo
When CARDNAME comes into play, put four goblin tokens into play. Treat these as 1/1 red creatures.

Urza's Destiny is from the era of blocks, which were collections of sets with a unified theme and/or setting. At the time, the rule was that the first set in a block would introduce exactly two named mechanics. Then, the second and third sets of the block would merely evolve those mechanics without introducing new ones. Urza's Destiny was the last set in the block and a lot of design space had already been used up, so I had to get creative.

One of the two named mechanics was echo. Echo is a mechanic where you have to pay a cost when you cast the creature and another cost on the next turn. If you don't, you have to sacrifice the creature. In the Urza's Saga block, the cost you paid on the second turn was always the same as the spell's mana cost. We would change that when we brought the mechanic back in the Time Spiral block.

Echo is a tricky mechanic to design for since it feels like a drawback. You get a better rate on your card, usually a creature, than normal, but most players aren't good at evaluating card power, so it just feels like downside. In Urza's Saga, we played around with combining echo creatures with enters effects. That way, you basically get a spell out of it even if you don't end up paying the echo cost.

The concept of combining echo cards with death triggers interested me. That way, not paying the echo cost could be beneficial. Goblin Marshall was one of those experiments. One of my favorite cards from before I came to Wizards was Sengir Autocrat from Homelands because it made three creature tokens when it entered. Getting four creatures for just one card was fun to build around. Goblin Marshall was inspired by Sengir Autocrat.

There are a couple of differences between the Autocrat and Goblin Marshall. Namely, Goblin Marshall made four 1/1 tokens instead of three 0/1 tokens. As an additional benefit, Goblin Marshall cared about the number of Goblins you controlled when it died. The idea behind the design was that for , you could make four 1/1 Goblins and 4 damage to a creature or player on the next turn. If you chose to pay the echo cost, you'd get to keep your 2/2.

It turned out that my card was a bit too strong. We tweaked it to no longer deal damage when it died. Additionally, it now made two tokens when it entered and two when it died. We still had to raise the cost to , but that allowed us to make the creature a 3/3.

Heart Warden

CG02
Cycling Elf
1G
Summon Elf
Green
1/1
T: Add G to your mana pool.
2, Sacrifice CARDNAME: Draw a card.

Once I realized that death triggers would work well with echo, I started to explore using them elsewhere. I'll come back to this on the next card, but I have to tell another story first. I promise this will all connect.

The other named mechanic in the Urza's Saga block was cycling. Cycling allows you to spend mana to discard a card from your hand and draw a card. In the Urza's Saga block, all cycling costs were . We would later bring it back and start exploring other costs, but that wasn't until years after Urza's Destiny.

As a quick aside for those who enjoy Magic history, both echo and cycling were originally in the design handoff file for Tempest. Echo was designed by Mike Elliot in his "Astral Ways" set before coming to Wizards, and cycling was an idea Richard had been noodling on during his hiatus from Magic design. Tempest had too much going on, so both echo and cycling were pulled from the set late in design, right before the set went into development. Mike Elliott, who led the design for Urza's Saga and had been on the Tempest design team, used them as his two named mechanics.

I tried a bunch of different things in my quest to evolve cycling (as you'll see next week), but one idea stood out. Cycling allowed you to exchange cards in your hand for a new card. What about exchanging cards on the battlefield? I informally called the ability "cycling from play." Just like cycling the cost to use it was always .

Heart Warden is a great example of the philosophy behind that style of design. Mana generation is good in the early to mid-game, but eventually as you get enough land, you have no use for it in the late game. Cycling from play allows you to turn the now "mostly dead" resource into a new card. It's interesting to note that nothing changed between handoff and print. This is what we in R&D refer to as a "brain to print" card.

With 20/20 hindsight, I wish I'd labelled this ability cycling from play. Almost nobody made the connection. Also, we went on to make cards that care about cycling, I wish they could care about these cards.

Plague Dogs

UB01
Phyrexian Sporespitter
2BB
Summon Horror
Black
3/3
When CARDNAME is put into any graveyard from play, all creatures in play get -1/-1 until end of turn. 2, Sacrifice CARDNAME: Draw a card.

As a designer, I like when pieces work with one another. One of the reasons I liked death triggers was that they work with cycling from play and echo. One of the tricky things about death triggers is it can be hard to trigger them. Your creature has to die before it happens. Usually, we'll combine this with sacrifice effects and/or use it in aggressive decks where the opponent is forced to block. Echo worked well because it had a set time for the creature to die if you allowed it. Cycling from play was nice because you had total control. The sacrifice was built into the creature.

Plague Dogs was the cycling from play card with a death trigger that changed the least during development. The only change involved swapping a mana cost of to and changing its subtype from Horror to Hound.

Illuminated Wings, Slinking Skirge, Marker Beetles, and Brass Secretary

Cloak of Invisibility
1UU
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature may not be the target of spells or abilities and cannot be blocked by any creature.
2, Sacrifice CARDNAME: Draw a card.

CB06
Zombie Horde
2B
Summon Zombies
Black
2/1
Pay 2 life: CARDNAME gains flying until end of turn.
2, Sacrifice CARDNAME: Draw a card.

CG04
Booster Bear
2G
Summon Bear
Green
2/2
When CARDNAME is put into any graveyard from play, target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
2, Sacrifice CARDNAME: Draw a card.

UA01
Lucky Gnomes
3
Artifact
2/2
2, Sacrifice CARDNAME: Draw a card.

Urza's Destiny ended up having eight cycling from play cards, over half of which changed following this handoff. Illuminated Wings was simplified and made cheaper. Slinking Skirge gained flying. Market Beetles was made to cost more, had its power and toughness lowered, and had its death trigger weakened. Brass Secretary simply lost a toughness.

Reliquary Monk and Kingfisher

CW04
Disenchanto
2W
Summon Cleric
White
2/2
When CARDNAME is put into any graveyard from play, destroy target artifact or enchantment.

CU03
Free Bird
3U
Summon Bird
Blue
2/2
Flying
When CARDNAME is put into any graveyard, draw a card.

Death triggers weren't limited to echo and cycling from play cards. I liked it as a theme, so I put it on a number of other cards. Reliquary Monk and Kingfisher are two more brain-to-print cards.

Yavimaya Elder

CG07
Druid of the Spirit
2G
Summon Druid
Green
2/1
When CARDNAME is put into the graveyard, go through your library and remove a basic land. Put into play tapped. Afterwards, shuffle your library.

During development, we realized that this card would be a great card if we gave it cycling from play. To offset the loss of the card when you sacrifice it, we decided it should get you two basic lands instead of one. We then changed the mana cost to .

Chime of Night

CB10
Death by Association
B
Enchant Creature
Black
When enchanted creature is put into any graveyard from play, destroy target non-black card.

The next evolution of death triggers was making Auras that gave a death trigger to the creature it enchanted. We're always looking for ways to tweak basic effects, and Chime of Night made for a novel removal spell. Design's Chime of Night made it to print unscathed, save for getting added to its cost.

Archery Training, Private Research, Festering Wound, Incendiary, and Momentum

UW05
Growing Grace
W
Enchant Creature
White
During your upkeep put a growth counter on CARDNAME.
All damage to enchanted creature is reduced by 1 for each growth counter on CARDNAME.

UU05
Growing Wisdom
U
Enchant Creature
Blue
During your upkeep put a growth counter on CARDNAME.
When enchanted creature is put into any graveyard, draw one card for each growth counter on CARDNAME.

UB05
Growing Dread
B
Enchant Creature
Black
During your upkeep put a growth counter on CARDNAME.
Destroy any blocking creature with power equal to or less than the number of growth counters on CARDNAME.

UR07
Growing Nitro-Potion
R
Enchant Creature
Red
During your upkeep put a growth counter on CARDNAME.
When enchanted creature is put into any graveyard, CARDNAME deals 1 damage to target creature or player for each growth counter on CARDNAME.

UG06
Growing Formula
G
Enchant Creature
Green
During your upkeep put a growth counter on CARDNAME.
For each growth counter on CARDNAME enchanted creature gets +1/+1.

Urza's Saga had an uncommon cycle and a rare cycle of verse enchantment. These got a counter each turn and could be sacrificed for a scaling benefit. For Urza's Destiny, I tweaked that template to apply it to Auras.

Because Auras already have enough card disadvantage built into them, I decided to do away with the need to sacrifice the card. Instead, each Aura gives a benefit that scales over time. Some of these designs were spot on, and some changed radically.

Private Research, Incendiary, and Momentum were straightforward. There are only so many scalable effects in each color. Card draw in blue, direct damage in red, and creature pumping in green are all go-to effects.

Archery Training pivoted, moving away from preventing damage to dealing damage, albeit in a mono-white way. Festering Wound acted mostly as evasion and would rarely trigger. Development's version was meant to go on your opponent's creatures. Whenever we make Auras, we like to see if there's space for Auras you can put on your opponent's creatures.

The Seer Cycle

CW05
Salve Mage
3W
Summon Wizard
White
1/1
2W, T: Gain X life for each white card you have in your hand.

CU04
Thought Mage
3U
Summon Wizard
Blue
1/1
2U, T: Counter target spell unless that spell's caster pays one additional colorless mana for each blue card in your hand.

CB05
Death Mage
3B
Summon Wizard
Black
1/1
2B, T: Destroy target non-black creature whose power is equal to or less than the number of black cards in your hand.

CR06
Fire Mage
3R
Summon Wizard
Red
1/1
2R, T: CARDNAME deals 1 damage to target creature or player for each red card you have in your hand.

CG06
Growth Mage
3G
Summon Wizard
Green
1/1
2G, T: Target creature gains +X/+X until end of turn where X is the number of green cards in your hand.

While working on Urza's Destiny, I was intrigued by the idea of finding new resources. What was a cost that could be paid using components players were already using? On a separate note, I wanted to encourage monocolor decks. These two ideas collided with the idea of using the contents of your hand. You have cards in your hand. What if they could be used as a type of resource? To bolster monocolor decks, what if that resource included cards of a given color?

In design, the Seers were called "Mages," and I only made one cycle. They each cost and a mana of their color. They were 1/1 creatures with scaling abilities that cared about the number of cards of a color in your hand. That core design held all the way to print, but something big happened in development. They were moved to uncommon, and a new cycle of one-shot spells took their place at common. The common spells had the same scalable effect as their respective Seer.

Jasmine Seer was changed to give you 2 life for each white card in your hand, making it the only Seer where the scalable effect wasn't one for one. Nightshade Seer was the only other Seer to change. Rather than destroying the creature based on its power, it was changed to a -X/-X effect that essentially cares about toughness. This was a cleaner template and more in line with how black normally kills creatures when scaling.

Flicker

CW08
Refresh
W
Sorcery
White
Treat target permanent as though it has just come into play.

UW03
Serra Hypnotist
3W
Summon Cleric
White
2/3
When Serra Hypnotist comes into play, treat target permanent as though it has just come into play.

RW03
Master Hypnotist
2W
Summon Wizard
White
1W, T: Treat target permanent as though it was just cast.

While working on the Development team for Mirage, I started experimenting with different effects using the phasing mechanic. My favorite execution involved using phasing as a means for a creature to protect itself from harm. However, it didn't trigger enters effects, which bothered me. It felt like it should, but that's not the way the rules worked. I thought about how we could make an effect that triggered enters effects. That was the origin of the Flicker.

When I designed Urza's Destiny, I had this idea for a vertical cycle (a common, uncommon, and rare card) in each color. I was so enamored by this enters effect that I used it as my white vertical cycle. The common card did it once. The uncommon card was a creature that had it as an enters effect. The rare was a creature that had it as a reusable activated ability.

During development, the rules manager decided the easiest way to do this was to have the permanent reenter the battlefield. The simplest way to do this was to exile the permanent and then return it to the battlefield. Then, Development decided it wasn't the kind of effect we wanted to do on three cards. So, they took my common, added a to its cost and the nontoken restriction, and moved the card to rare.

"Flickering" has gone on to be a staple Magic effect that we do at all rarities.

Scour, Quash, Eradicate, Sowing Salt, and Splinter

UW04
Enchantment Lobotomy
2W
Instant
White
Remove target enchantment from the game. Remove all copies of that enchantment in controller's library and graveyard from the game. Afterwards, shuffle the library.

UB07
Creature Lobotomy
3B
Sorcery
Black
Remove target creature from the game. Also remove all copies of that creature from controller's library and graveyard. Afterwards, shuffle the library.

UR04
Artifact Lobotomy
2R
Sorcery
Red
Remove target artifact from the game. Also remove all copies of that card from controller's library and graveyard. Afterwards, shuffle that player's library.

I designed a card called Lobotomy for Tempest.

I really liked the design and it was popular with the players, so I thought it would be fun to make more. I wanted to make a version of Lobotomy for each nonland permanent type. As there were only three, I just put it into three colors: creatures for black, enchantments for white, and artifacts for red. I thought about making green the color of the artifact Lobotomy but decided against it.

The Development team liked the idea so much that they decided they wanted to do a whole cycle with it. They added a Lobotomy for nonbasic lands as a red card, moving artifacts to green. But that left blue without a card type. I believe it was Mike Elliott who suggested blue should Lobotomy instants and sorceries.

Each card's cost lines up with Lobotomy. The cards went on to see a lot of play, including in tournaments.

Your Urza's Destiny Awaits

I've run out of time for today, so I'll have to continue next week. As always, I'm eager for any feedback on today's column, any of the cards I talked about, or Urza's Destiny. You can email me or contact me through social media accounts (X, Tumblr, Instagram, Bluesky, and TikTok).

Join me next week for part two.

Until then, may you find your favorite database and revisit Urza's Destiny.