Best. Mechanics. Ever. | Magic: The Gathering's Forgotten And Overlooked Keywords

[Music] foreign a few weeks ago I covered some of Magic the gathering's biggest mechanical Duds and oh wow did people have a lot of opinions about me based on my picks in the comments I am not a boomer okay stop calling me a magic the Gathering Boomer and that's script for your information was written by a Zoomer at least I I think she's a Zoomer she's probably a Zoomer but for every Magic the Gathering card that whiffed Wizards of the Coast has knocked many more designs out of the park many of these such as convoke and flashback are deservedly known as among magic the gathering's finest but others for one reason or another aren't quite as ubiquitous despite being a ton of fun to play with so in this video I'll be breaking down my top five favorite Magic the Gathering mechanics that are more obscure than the ones you can expect to see come back every couple of years in fact I'm willing to bet that you haven't heard of or maybe just forgot the majority of these excellent amazing magic the Gathering mechanics obviously this video will not be covering Evergreen keywords like vigilance and haste if you have forgotten about vigilance and haste well you might want to get that checked but we're also not discussing deciduous fan favorites that everyone knows such as landfall and the aforementioned convoke and flashback those are also some of the best magic mechanics but we are looking under the radar for the best mechanics that maybe you don't quite recall these are mechanics that we've only seen a couple of times that maybe you've played with once but it doesn't come to mind right away when you think about your favorites however I think they're mechanics that probably should so without further Ado let's Dive Right In but first are you sick of paying outrageously high prices for food that has delivered lukewarm full of junk ingredients and maybe doesn't even get dropped off at the right house but you're also too busy to regularly go down and shop for fresh ingredients to 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block the common Quest cycle Expeditions all have the popular landfall keyword giving them Quest counters whenever a land enters play they also have an activated ability to remove a certain number of quest counters and sacrifice themselves in order to give you some beneficial Effect The Uncommon quests also have the remove X counters and sacrifice it ability but gain Quest counters through meeting criteria that is unique to each Quest the rare ascensions a crew counters similarly to uncommon quests but don't sacrifice themselves once they reach their Quest counter threshold instead they gain a beneficial static ability that persists as long as the enchantment remains in play with the requisite Quest counters worldwake quests are of a mixed Rarity two uncommons and two rares and don't feature a white version of the quest preventing them from being considered a true cycle these worldwake quests operate the same as the zendikar ascensions really differing only in their naming convention quests were a popular mechanic though Mark rosewater has said their limited design space has prevented research and design from returning to the well in the years since barring a significant change in their design philosophy quests must appear on enchantments there are only so many permutations of do X thing to eventually get y bonus that are the right combination of fun evocative and straightforward enough to succeed that said players loved playing quests across multiple formats from limited when the cards were first printed to standard modern and even Commander the ascensions in particular are beloved guards hyromancer Ascension is many players favorite card from old modern while blood Chief Beastmaster and luminar Ascension are all beloved and see a lot of play in Commander truly a mechanic worthy of inclusion at least at the honorable mention slot but what about our real list starting at number five on the list is a very fun mechanic that r d has been reluctant to bring back in recent sets buyback aside from a single exception on a mystery booster test card buyback only appears on instance and sorceries the keyword is one of the many varieties of the kicker mechanic where spell does one thing but if you pay extra Mana you get an additional effect in the case of buyback that additional effect is always put this card back into your hand after it resolves meaning you can cast it over and over and over again Ad nauseam if you have the resources necessary to do so and of course if the spell never gets countered buyback cards are built in end game engines that are almost always better to hold on to until you can cast them for their buyback cost cards like cap size and forbid are devastating interaction spells when you cast them over and over again in the late game while reiterate and Haze of rage are phenomenal payoffs for Red Storm decks constant Mists is an awesome repeatable protection spell when combined with The Crucible of worlds in a commander land's matter deck walk the eons also loves getting paired with a crucible effect and even grants you infinite turns if you have an Azusa lost but seeking on the battlefield there is one blight on the good name of buyback a cautionary tale for any new card designer at Wizards of the Coast Sprout swarm is an unassuming common from future sight that is widely known as one of the most broken limited cards of all time Sprout swarm costs two Mana up front to make a 1-1 separalling token at instant speed it also had buyback of course at the Steep price of three extra generic Mana all of that alone though isn't enough to make this card broken Sprout swarm had an additional keyword convoke invoke meant that you could not only use the separeling tokens you make to help pay for future Sprout swarms that you would cast but you could also use them to pay for the card's buy back cost that meant once you've compiled enough separalling tokens you can make an endless army of One one plants that grows exponentially faster and faster over the course of the game and because Sprout swarm was a common it wasn't hard to find copies of the card going around the table to snag a couple for your own deck I guess it's no wonder Gavin decided not to reprint this card in time spiral remastered plus five points to verhe while Sprout swarm may have led to miserable gameplay in future site drafts let it not tarnish the Buy-Back mechanic which Still Remains one of Magic the gathering's all-time bests next on the list is raid a very fun mechanic originally printed in the Beloved cons of tarkir block and that actually returned relatively recently in the ixalan mini block as ixalan recent it came out over half a decade ago so it's half a decade ago recent am I old are you old anyway raid is a mechanic that gives you a bonus for engaging with one of Magic's core gameplay features attacking with creatures some cards with raid give you payoffs if you cast them after you've attacked while others have activated or triggered abilities that repeat every turn that you attack with a creature raid is great for many reasons any mechanic that encourages you to get into the trenches of combat is going to lead to fun gameplay but raid does so especially well with clear rules text and evocative flavor who doesn't love Pirates and other Marauders raid also teaches players a subtle but important tip about how to sequence your spells it's almost always better to attack first before you play the cards in your hand raid teaches this principle without explicitly explaining it if your raid cards are better if you cast them after you attack then you're likely going to figure out that you should cast them post Combat on your own even if you're a new player unfamiliar with intermediate strategy raid is at its best and limited the format where games are most often about creature combat but some raid cards saw constructed play as well such as blood-soaked champion and the dearly beloved wingmate Rock while I feel that raid has been overlooked and forgotten by many this Sublime and educational mechanic is absolutely one of the best number three on the list is another limited All-Star that leads to fun gameplay and also features a few standouts that broke into constructed play surge not to be confused with surge one of the co-hosts of North 100 the awesome Canadian Highlander gameplay show that you should absolutely go watch Link in the description but rather surge the mechanic surge is a mechanic from oath of the gatewatch that rewards you for for casting two or more spells in the same turn if the surge card is not the first spell you played this turn you can cast the spell for its reduced surge cost few cards with surge also give you an additional bonus effect if they're cast for their surge cost further incentivizing you to sequence these cards in the correct order surge is especially fun in formats where you have a teammate specifically Two-Headed Giant because it counts whether or not it is the first spell you or your teammate played this turn making it extra spicy there so why are surge cards so much fun the simple reason that casting multiple spells in a turn is fun Reckless Bushwacker is a Pioneer staple a devastating follow-up to a few Burning Tree emissaries cast in a row if you cast four Burning Tree emissaries in the same turn then cast Reckless Bushwacker for its surge costs you can attack for a whopping 14 damages early as turned two and I don't care what they say Pioneer is a fun format Crush of tentacles hasn't seen much play since standard but the card remains an exciting and Powerful board wipe in the right shell combine it with tamio collector of tails for a repeatable way to reset to the board with nine Mana in play simply cast tamio activate her negative 3 ability to pick up Crush of tentacles from your graveyard then cast Crush for its surge cost to reset the board again bouncing tamio back to your hand to repeat the process again whenever you need to handle your opponent's Battlefield when first printed The Surge mechanic was restricted to is it colors but there's no inherent mechanical reason why that would need to be true for future instances of the key word The Surge design space is quite large as the keyword can go on cards of all types and the potential payoffs are virtually Limitless Mark rosewater has said that we're likely to see the mechanic again perhaps multiple times I wish there was more to say about surge but very few surge cards actually exist only 11 cards with the keyword have ever been printed despite the mechanic being more than seven years old now oh my God seven years ago was oath of the gate watch seven that was a video about the best magic the Gathering mechanics making me feel so old anyway aren't D hasn't Revisited the mechanics since its first appearance all those years ago but given that it's a keyword that's both fun and easy to reprint I would not be surprised to see surge show up again within the next year or two again I'm talking about the mechanic surge of loading ready run shows up every other week on North 100 the Canadian Highlander gameplay show you should absolutely go watch I think he also shows up whenever there's good coffee brewing all right we're down to the top two best mechanics that are under the radar and maybe that you've forgotten about and so I just have to ask at this point in the video how many of these did you remember don't tell me if you agree with me or not I don't care stop calling me a magic Boomer I'm not a magic Boomer but what is the second best mechanic on this list well [Music] the second best under the radar keyword of all time is rebound first introduced in Rise of the eldrazi rebound is a keyword that appears on instance and sorceries when you cast a spell with rebound from your hand you Exile the spell as it resolves then at the beginning of your next upkeep you may cast it a second time from exile for free rebound was one of the most popular mechanics in original zendikar block alongside landfall and it was no surprise that it was brought back for Dragons of tarkir much like buyback rebound is a fan favorite because players love getting to cast their spells additional times the timing restriction on rebound makes for an interesting design Quirk as the Spells have to be good when cast at the beginning of your upkeep this Quirk can make the same card do very different things depending on whether it's the first instance of the spell or the rebound version a card like virulent swipe for instance is a lot of fun to play with cast it the first time as a combat trick to surprise your opponent with a suddenly dangerous death touch blocker then untap and cast it again on another creature to turn it into a more powerful attacker for a turn that your opponent will be reluctant to block stagger shock is another popular example of this flexibility the three Mana removal spell can clear two two toughness creatures over two turn Cycles kill a creature and then go upstairs for two bonus damage or even surprise your opponent at the end of turn for a total of four damage to the face one of the most successful examples of rebound is ephemerate a one Mana white instant from Modern Horizons ephemerate is awesome for one Mana you may flicker a creature you control at instant speed saving it from a removal spell or triggering its enter the battlefield effect again and of course on your next upkeep do it again triggering an additional enters the battlefield effect pair ephemerate with a creature that draws a card on entering the battlefield to draw two cards for just one Mana or Loop it with eternal witness archiomancer or any other creature that can return an instant from your graveyard to your hand ephemerate is also an excellent way to abuse the evoke mechanic best demonstrated by the instance interaction with the modern Horizons II Elemental incarnations evoke a grief for zero Mana take a card out of your opponent's hand then ephemerate your grief before the evoked self-sacrifice trigger resolves taking another card out of their hand on your upkeep cast ephemerate on your grief again stripping a third card from their hand ephemerate is one of the most universally enjoyed cards to have come out of the otherwise highly polarizing modern Horizon sets and is a prime example of the rebound mechanic at its absolute best but above all of these stands one mechanic that you probably don't recall that I think is incredible and I hope very much comes back someday that number one mechanic the number one best under-appreciated mechanic is emerge do you remember what it does willing to bet the majority of you do not well emerge is a cost reduction mechanic that has only been printed in one set Eldritch Moon you may cast a creature with a merge for its alternate emerge cost by sacrificing a creature and then reducing the emerge cost by the Mana value of the sacrificed creature so for example if you sacrifice a wind Drake to a distended mindbenders emerge costs the Mind Bender costs two generic and two black Mana to cast you can therefore only reduce the generic Mana requirement on emerge cards you'll always have to pay at least the colored Mana in the creatures emerge cost that said you don't have to cast emerge creatures for their emerge cost you are more than welcome to pay the full retail for the creature and you'll still get whatever abilities the creature has emerge was initially designed as a Twist on the incredibly popular Ninjutsu mechanic and it's easy to see the similarity the creature you return to your hand to Ninjutsu your ninja into play serves a similar function to the creature you sacrifice to emerge however unlike with Ninjutsu which isn't a casting cost when you play a creature for its emerge cost you are still casting it by and large players love to merge sacrificing your own creatures is a popular gameplay feature among many players and it's especially exciting when r d is able to pull that off outside of a more traditional Aristocrats theme the most popular emerge card is Elder deep fiend a big eldrazi octopus with flash that Taps down four of your opponent's permanence for a turn if you cast it on your opponent's upkeep and tap down their lands you've effectively timewalked them while putting a newly 5-6 into play when it was introduced the emerged mechanic only appeared on part eldrazi hybrids and given that eldrazi are apparently no more it would certainly be a challenge to reintroduce a merge into a standard set there's actually no flavor reason why the keyword can't be put on a different creature type maybe it can feature on spirits that are leaving the bodies of the creatures they haunted or perhaps the keyword can return in a set featuring parasites that burst from their hosts chests say are we getting an alien universes Beyond set anytime soon do you kids remember that movie Alien it came out in 1979. did you see it in the theaters if so then you're older than I am cause I was born in 1979. ah I feel young again this video left me feeling young so there you have it the top five lesser-known mechanics in Magic the Gathering that are excellent and that hopefully r d will bring back but you know r d has also designed far more bangers than I could ever cover in a single video so now I do want to hear from you not whether you agree with me or not stop calling me a boomer I am not a magic the Gathering Boomer I am Magic the Gathering Gen X I'm the MTV generation I watched Pop-Up Video ask your parents but what are some of your favorite keywords from Magic the Gathering history let me know in the comments below and hey thanks once again to hellofresh for sponsoring this video Save hours upon hours when you no longer have to go down to the grocery store to pick out the wrong ingredients for a recipe you don't even know how to make and say hello to hellofresh delivered fresh right to your door use my link or go to hellofresh.com and 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Channel: Tolarian Community College

Views: 265,184

Keywords: magic: the gathering

Id: nwrc5mOM6ko

Length: 19min 32sec (1172 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 19 2023