And the Nominees are...

In the beginning, the Core sets were formless and empty, and Forsythe said “Let there be Lightning Bolt!” And Forsythe saw that the Lightning Bolt was good, and he separated Magic 2010 from the Nth editions. And since then, each core set has had at least one classic common or uncommon reprint that was constructed worthy and selected to appeal to a wide range of players. Lightning Bolt was re-reprinted along with Mana Leak in M11, Mana Leak came back again for M12, and Rancor was reprinted for M13. Since core staples seem to stick around for two years at a time, it's probably safe to assume that Rancor will be back for M14. But could we get an additional staple reprint?

At this point, M14 is off to the printers already, so my opinion counts for even less than usual. But I hope Wizards keeps up with the reprints. Getting to play with Bolt was a big factor in me getting back into Magic after a long hiatus, and I know I’m not the only player that was lured back with the classic reprints. It doesn’t hurt either that the reprints have been simple cards that new players can pick up and cram in any deck in those colors and be successful with them. And wondering about the possibilities got me thinking about what card I would nominate for a reprint if I were working on a core set.

Since Red, Blue, and Green have all gotten a reprint, I think it’s fair that either black or white get their turn next, and given the choice between the two, I choose black. In general, I think Black is the easiest color for amateurs like us to work with. It has a relatively deep pool of effects to choose from, it has a wide variety of creatures to work with, and personally, I enjoy playing black decks. In real life I don’t have many black tendencies, so it’s a fun change to indulge my devious and calculating side, which made it was easy to brainstorm a quick list of core-worthy cards.

The first card that popped into mind was Dark Ritual, which I immediately dismissed. It fits the “classic” part of the requirement, but it doesn’t fit the way the game is played any more. Dark Ritual was at its best when it fed a powerful spell that could quickly take over the game, and in R&D’s new world order concept, there haven’t been many spells that mesh with ritual mana. Ritual powered creatures have never had quite the same allure, partly because the threat of losing two cards to a basic removal spell is a serious problem. Even the old-school turn one ritual into Hypnotic Specter met with a Shock or Lightning Bolt half the time; what you really wanted was a ritual into Necropotence, which is simply not going to happen again.

The next card I thought about was Hymn to Tourach. I don’t think powerful discard effects are inherently taboo, (Mind Rot is almost always limited playable and shows up regularly, and Blightning and Inquisition of Kozilek saw print) so there’s a possibility that we could see more powerhouse discard in the future. But the “at random” rider on Hymn becomes a problem if you pull two lands out of your opponents hand before their second turn and they get land screwed for the rest of the game. At this point, almost everyone is on board with R&D’s “let-everyone-play” philosophy, and if your opponent gets lucky with Hymn, you are basically out of the game. And on top of that, “at random” has issues by itself. So Hymn gets crossed off the list.

Thinking about rituals and discards led me to consider Hypnotic Specter. Could it be demoted to uncommon and serve the classic reprint role? A 3cc, 2/2 flier is hardly the kind of body to inspire terror now-a-days, and while the discard effect is painful, it’s not as brutal as Hymn to Tourach. So the good ol’ Hyppie seemed plausible... until I checked it on Gatherer, and realized it had already been reprinted as a rare in M10. Did it flop as a reprint? I played a fair amount of limited and Standard with M10, and it obviously it didn’t make an impression on me, so it doesn’t seem like it’ll accomplish the classic reprint mission. And, on top of that, it wouldn’t seem new for players who learned the game recently if it was just reprinted three years ago.

What about Diabolic Edict? It seems to fit the requirement for a popular classic (incidentally, it’s one of the highest rated black commons on Gatherer), and (if it’s good enough for Eternal play, it must have something going for it). Straightforward Edict effects disappeared for a while after Ravnica, appearing only on multi-effect rare cards, and a couple oddball tribal cards (Mercy Killing and Warren Weirding, which I consider bad designs for the number of choices they impose on a player). An ordinary Edict wasn’t printed after 10th edition until Zendikar, when it was attached to Gatekeeper of Malakir. Since then, each expert block has had an Edict effect, albeit one with a rider of some sort attached. And this makes me wonder: if a more complex version of an effect is fine for an expansion, shouldn’t the simplest version of the effect be ideal for core?

So Diabolic Edict. M15. Make it happen please!

P.S. I’m stumped on what White would get for a reprint, since it tends to have solid but unexciting effects that are efficient at combat. If anyone has any thoughts, I’d be interested in reading them. Or if you were going to pick a different card or different color entirely, what would you nominate for a reprint?