Eternal Analysis 012—Renown

Eternal just previewed a new keyword from the impending 5th set: Renown. It has nothing to do with Magic's renown, because it's too busy being Magic's heroic.

CCDD 051916—Primed

Cool Card Design of the Day
5/19/2016 - Traveling today and tomorrow. Here's a bunch more cards designed around a mechanical theme. Sort of heroic from the other direction.

CCDD 042716—Brave Fool

Cool Card Design of the Day
4/27/2016 - I wanted to figure out a mechanic for this art that would encourage your tiny human to tangle with a real monster. It needed a chance to defeat that creature. But it's clearly white, and white doesn't do random like red does, which is why looking at the CMC of the top card felt wrong. If only there were a class of cards that could boost a creature…

CCDD 092314—Setessan Stalwart & Lady of Fangs and Arrows

Cool Card Design of the Day
9/23/2014 - I liked the heroic mechanic from Theros a lot. There's so much right with it. I would never go back and change it. Even so, I was thinking about other mechanical possibilities to express the same thematic concept. If I wouldn't replace heroic, why would I bother thinking of mechanics to replace it? Because designers are explorers, and explorers don't stop exploring just because they've found Atlantis.

Deconstructing Theros: Heroic

Theros is focused on three major groups from classical mythology: gods, monsters, and heroes. We've already discussed enchantment creatures and Monstrosity; today, I'd like to talk about Heroic. All cards in this post have been officially previewed by Wizards.