Warrant / Warden
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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Archenemy Legal
Arena Legal
Block Constructed Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Gladiator Legal
Highlander Legal
Historic Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Modern Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Pioneer Legal
Planechase Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Warrant / Warden

Instant

Warrant

Put target attacking or blocking creature on top of its owner's library.

Sorcery

Warden

Create a 4/4 white and blue Sphinx creature token with flying and vigilance.

legendofa on My cognitive dissonance around multicolor …

1 year ago

Daveslab2022 I mentioned Golgari Death Swarm because it was created as a deliberate reference to the Great Designer Search question. And, being a fake card, it's less legitimate than the real card Warrant / Warden, which the GDS presented as being a worse creative choice. So, we're left with the confusing position of a card that was described as an objectively better creative choice being less legitimate than one described as an objectively worse choice.

Is there a good way to ask the designers directly? I know Mark Rosewater is willing to answer questions on his blog, but I don't have a Tumblr account and I'm not interested in creating one.

Again, I'm not trying to be confrontational, or angry. I'm just very curious why the designers are making certain choices, and don't know the best way to get answers.

legendofa on My cognitive dissonance around multicolor …

1 year ago

wallisface Green is super-anti-flying, but cards with flying and a green ability keep being printed. Why is red first strike + green deathtouch a bend? As far as deathstrike goes, first strike is tertiary in black and a non-ability in green, and this only appears on Glissa, the Traitor and Glissa Sunslayer.

https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/making-magic/mechanical-color-pie-2021

Daveslab2022 Would you consider cards like Recoil, Lightning Helix, the guild charms like Selesnya Charm, or Putrefy bad design, boring, or unintuitive? I understand that + =/= . I'm wondering why that's the case.

I completely understand that there's an active effort to prevent color pairs from feeling too samey, and in interest of completion, I feel obligated to say that Voracious Cobra exists. But I still have some questions.

Is there an absolute prohibition on red-green deathstrike? If so, what distinguishes red-green deathstrike from black-green flying/vigilance?

Is there simply too much overlap between 's dedicated removal and deathstrike?

With Ambush Viper, Ice-Fang Coatl, Winged Coatl, and Fleetfeather Cockatrice, is instant-speed creature spot removal more acceptable in than in ?

What makes Golgari Death Swarm a better creative choice than Warrant / Warden, and why did that get printed if it's an inferior choice?

Is there any potential for a card like Warp World or The Great Aurora to be made in ? Why or why not?

legendofa on My cognitive dissonance around multicolor …

1 year ago

I believe that (effect in color A) + (effect in color B) should equal (combination of effects in multicolor AB). For example, deathtouch is a green-primary ability. First strike is a red- and white-primary ability. Therefore, a red-green or green-white creature with deathtouch and first strike is reasonable. This position is somewhat supported by a Great Designer Search test question, whose answer stated in part that a black-green creature with flying and vigilance is reasonable. The answer proved controversial, but was repeatedly and vigorously defended as officially correct. This position is also supported by cards such as Needlethorn Drake, Adult Gold Dragon, Kunoros, Hound of Athreos, and many, many others.

However.

There are no red-green or green-white (and no other color) creatures with deathtouch and first strike. Nor is there a (legal) black-green creature with vigilance and flying. The empirical evidence is completely missing. Also, the more complete GDS answer specifically states that a green-black creature with flying and vigilance (and no other abilities) is a better creative choice than a white-blue creature with flying and vigilance (and no other abilities). Before that question had been asked, answered, criticized, and defended, Tempest Drake was a card. Afterward, Warrant / Warden became a card. So not only is the empirical evidence missing in these cases, it seems to point in exactly the opposite direction as official philosophy, and my opinion that A + B should equal AB.

Instead, in practice, it seems that A + B is actually less than AB. There are ability combinations that do not exist in certain color pairs, even if each individual part of the ability combination is fairly represented by separate colors.

I see two resolutions. The first is that my belief, and the official position, is incorrect, and that a red-green "deathstriker" or a black-green vigilant flyer shouldn't exist. The second is that these ability combinations are feasible, and they simply haven't been printed yet for some reason.

What's the best way out of this? Which resolution is better, or is there a third option I'm not seeing?

Reference:

https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/making-magic/make-choice-part-1-2018-02-12

Question #28

legendofa on What is Gruul to you?

1 year ago

I think I'm not explaining myself well.

My central thought is that + does not equal . Red might not get deathtouch, but green has full access to it. Why should a red/green card not get deathtouch simply because red doesn't get deathtouch?

White doesn't get deathtouch either, but Arvad the Cursed, Spiteful Squad, Wintermoor Commander, and others have deathtouch. This can only be provided by the requirement.

doesn't get first strike. Sky Spirit, Leap of Flame, Deft Duelist, and others all have first strike provided by their other colors.

Ergo, a color can provide one of its abilities to a card, even if another color can't.

can provide first strike to a card, even a card, with Neheb, the Worthy, Stromkirk Captain, and Halana and Alena, Partners.

can provide deathtouch to a card, as shown by Needlethorn Drake, Winged Coatl, and Venomthrope.

So why is unable to provide deathtouch to (and ) cards? Is somehow better at removal than these colors?

I promise I'm not asking these questions rhetorically, or in anger. I genuinely don't fully understand. And as I was writing this response, I realize my position hearkens back to GDS3 and the infamous flying vigilance question. To which I respond that since that question was asked, Warrant / Warden was printed, and still no vigilant flyer.

And I think I've derailed this enough. If anyone wants to help me out, start another thread and I'll respond. With my apologies, let's get this back to the many faces of Gruul in Commander.

legendofa on How is Camaraderie a Bend?

1 year ago

Mark Rosewater also considers Smothering Tithe a bad break, and I agree with him on this one.

https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/667294450431705088/it-can-with-the-following-restriction-white (outside links not enabled, apologies)

Yeah, the blue examples I used earlier are old, but they very clearly demonstrate what happens when flavor takes precedence. And while there might not have been any breaks quite that bad for a long time, breaks still happen with some regularity.

So while they might try to avoid letting flavor dictate mechanics, it still happens.

vigilant fliers ever made: zero (maybe Golgari Death Swarm, but that's a meme card referring to this incident). vigilant fliers (with no other abilities) before Grand Designer Search 3: Tempest Drake. vigilant fliers (with no other abilities) since GDS3: Warrant / Warden. I'm not trying to hijack the thread with this note, just demonstrate how the color pie and it's intended use is frequently up for interpretation, and even the official color pie manager doesn't always seems to get it right.

9-lives on Sadomasochistic Thirst of Libraries: Self …

4 years ago

deck chart

Sadomasochistic Thirst of Libraries

Pioneer* 9-lives

SCORE: 3 | 22 COMMENTS | 195 VIEWS | IN 2 FOLDERS

Is there any good blue or black mana ramp?

Do you think this deck is competitive? I don't trust the casual/competitive meter on the deck page.

elkion on

4 years ago

I don't think Sage's Row Savant is worth a slot in really any deck, and especially not this one as you are not beating down and you have the opportunity to basically blank your opponent's removal without it. I think one or two Perilous Vault is a fantastic idea, really completes the deck IMO and it does have a pedigree in control decks. Radiant Fountain is also a great idea if you aren't going to lean into the Mystic Sanctuary package and the ability to cast Warden if you're playing it.

I think this is deck is really shaping up into something uniquely powerful!

If you're not into Quench, Censor or Warrant / Warden (just ignore the Warden side) might fill the 2 drop hole. Or it might even be worth slotting Golden Egg back in for the great Disappearing Act combo.

RZKS on Monoblue Flash/Tempo

4 years ago

I think I've got to a point where I'm satisfied with how the deck plays. Warrant / Warden is a very good tempo spell, and it definitely works well. Also, I've completely removed both Faerie Vandal and Pteramander from the deck. While playtesting, I felt like I was holding Winged Words in my hand without really wanting to cast it unless my opponent managed to stall me and force the long game, at the point that I would be able to cast a sorcery without worrying about leaving Mana open to work on their turn.

But probably the best addition I've made was Hallowed Fountain as having just 2 of them is enough for me to be able to use the other side of the split cards, giving me more versatility if the game drags on.

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