Will Colored Artifacts Displace Colorless Artifacts?

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Posted on April 8, 2019, 8:35 p.m. by DemonDragonJ

Mark Rosewater has stated that colored artifacts shall be more prominent in the future, but I am not certain that I like that idea. I have no problem with colored artifacts on occasion, but they are simply too similar to enchantments, and they undermine the entire point of artifacts; the fact that most artifacts are colorless allows them to be put into any deck, which is an obvious benefit, and I really hope that WotC does not forget that.

What does everyone else say about this? Will colorless artifacts still remain prominent as colored artifacts become more numerous?

shadow63 says... #2

As long as the majority of them are still colorless im fine with it

April 8, 2019 9:33 p.m.

PlatinumOne says... #3

can you please show us where wotc stated that the "entire point" of artifacts is that they can go into any deck?

the current colorless artifacts will still see use unless a colored one can do the same effect but better.

April 9, 2019 12:45 a.m.

PlatinumOne says... #4

TypicalTimmy: i wouldn't exactly call this new. the game already has colored artifacts.

April 9, 2019 12:47 a.m.

Caerwyn says... #5

TypicalTimmy - Coloured artifacts were recently given a two on the storm scale: Link.

A two indicates: Will definitely see again, but not necessarily right away.

Two is my least favourite number on the Storm Scale, as it has such a range as to be useless for predicting how often we will see a certain mechanic. The reason--it is mechanics Wizards will "definitely see again" but provides no real indication of when they might return. Personally, I think they need to rework two to read "will definitely see again, likely imminently" (taken to mean within this or the next rotation) and three to read "will definitely see again, but not necessarily right away." The rest of the storm scale ratings are generally fine.

To illustrate the issue I have with the rating, here are mechanics that are both rated two, but stand on opposite ends of that rating's usage:

On one end of two we have equipment - a mechanic which, in effect has been a one, as we have, to my knowledge, not had a set without their inclusion since their inception.

On the other side of the spectrum are New Slivers. Putting aside my own feelings that Old Slivers were much more fun, New Slivers have not been printed in aeons; in fact, MaRo specifically said they require a "significant commitment of space" limiting R&D's ability to put them into sets.


Back on topic, saying coloured artifacts will be a two is not particularly helpful. I predict they'll be somewhere between vehicles (which are fairly deciduous right now) and -1/-1 counters (which have some design issues in that Wizards does not like printing sets with both +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters) in use.

I don't have a problem with their implementation per se, and think Wizards has generally done a pretty good job with coloured artifacts. I also disagree that they infringe upon enchantment design space--mostly because artifacts can have tap activated abilities, which enchantments cannot, and are far more frequently seen as creatures.

April 9, 2019 9:09 a.m.

Flooremoji says... #6

cdkime: Just a little nitpick, Enchantments have been printed with tap activated abillities before :)

April 9, 2019 12:09 p.m.

Caerwyn says... #7

Flooremoji - I will admit my above was a bit of an oversimplification born of quick writing. However, it got me curious, so I looked into how many enchantments actually had activated abilities that either require the symbol, or require an enchantment or any permanent (since such would also allow enchantments be tapped) be tapped as part of the activation.

The answer: There are seven such cards in the game. Five of these cards are the Legendary Enchantment Artifact cycle from Theros--so they hardly count; the activated ability can easily be justified by the artifact portion of the card.

The other two are Second Wind and Witch's Mist , both timeshifted cards from Future Sight. I would argue these cards do not really count as proof enchantments can't tap. After all, part of the point of Time Spiral was to do strange things that may or may not happen in Magic's future (remember, one of their "future" mechanics was introduced in an Un-set).

So, until enchantments that tap are actualized in a normal manner, I think it is fair to say the general rule is that enchantments do not tap themselves or other enchantments.

April 9, 2019 4:26 p.m.

Flooremoji says... #8

cdkime: A fair argument :)

Yhea, Taping enchantments really aren't somthing that WoTC wants to bring back I think. :)

April 9, 2019 4:28 p.m.

DemonDragonJ says... #9

TypicalTimmy, I believe that Mark Rosewater mentioned it on Blogatog, but I cannot find the exact post.

shadow63, I agree with that; colored artifacts are acceptable on occasion, but the majority of artifacts should remain colorless.

April 9, 2019 10:21 p.m.

DemonDragonJ says... #10

Here is a post from Mark Rosewater's Tumblr account about the subject, which is one of the posts that has me worried about this subject.

April 11, 2019 9:14 p.m.

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