Battle for Zendikar Preview - Day 1!

Hibernum_JC

Hi folks! Starting today, I’ll be putting up a post every day highlighting some of the new features, cards and Planeswalkers we’ll be releasing in Battle for Zendikar!

Let’s start off today with a big one - a brand new Planeswalker!



As some of you might have guessed, Ob Nixilis represents the Black color. He has a different focus than Liliana, however - his abilities are mostly centered around sacrificing his health pool to gain an advantage in combat.

His three abilities are:

Sacrifice of Knowledge: Lose life to draw card(s). Sacrifice of Destruction: Lose life to destroy target creature

At ranks 1 and 2, the creature must have 4 and 6 power or less, but at rank 3 it destroys any creature.

Ignite: Create a Support on the board that deals damage to your opponent every time a player draws a card

This ability has a big synergy with his first one!

The reasoning behind the design of the Planeswalker was both thematic and attempting a new direction for Black. We like trying out new ways for different colors to be played - cards that could be useless with certain Planeswalkers can be very strong with others, and so with this we’re really going for a different playstyle. You’ll find this way of designing them throughout the expansion!

Today I’m also revealing a new Mythic card!



Drana is a brand new Mythic creature for Black decks. As you can see, there’s quite a few things going on with her!

The combination of her card text and Unblockable makes her a total force to be reckoned with - as soon as she hits the board, she *must* be taken care of or things will snowball quickly in your favor. She’s similar in design to Relic Seeker, one of the MVPs of Origins, except she has no restrictions on her buffing abilities - you know she’s going to hit the opponent Planeswalker every turn she’s on the board! We also purposefully kept her starting stats low, both to ensure that she can be actually removed through direct damage, but also to ensure her casting cost is rather low so she can be played early.

Tomorrow, I’ll talk about some of the new mechanics we introduced in this set! Stay tuned!

I'll also stick around the forums for a bit to answer questions you guys might have!

Meto5000

In a recent update you gave creatures with Menace the same "Unblockable" icon. Previously Menace was described as the opponent needing two creatures with defender in order to be blocked, but I've absolutely had multiple reach creatures or multiple vigilance creatures on board and was still unable to block a creature with Menace. Does Menace not work as originally described and is now just a synonym for "unblockable" or is there something I am missing.

Also, why does there need to be descriptive text saying Unblockable when there is already an icon on the creature that says the same thing (unless the icon indicates that currently the creature cannot be blocked, but there are cases where it might lose its unblockable trait)?

Hibernum_JC

Meto5000 wrote:

In a recent update you gave creatures with Menace the same "Unblockable" icon. Previously Menace was described as the opponent needing two creatures with defender in order to be blocked, but I've absolutely had multiple reach creatures or multiple vigilance creatures on board and was still unable to block a creature with Menace. Does Menace not work as originally described and is now just a synonym for "unblockable" or is there something I am missing.

Also, why does there need to be descriptive text saying Unblockable when there is already an icon on the creature that says the same thing (unless the icon indicates that currently the creature cannot be blocked, but there are cases where it might lose its unblockable trait)?

Menace can only be blocked by multiple Defenders or Multiple Reach, but Vigilance cannot counter Menace (this was a deliberate design decision). For consistency's sake, since Vigilance only triggers when there are no other Defenders, 2 creatures with Vigilance can't trigger at the same time, so 2 Vigilance creatures cannot block at the same time, hence why Menace is immune from Vigilance. If there are cases where you had multiple creatures that can block and didn't, that is a bug, so please report it to us and we'll look into it.

As for the descriptive text, we could remove the text from the card, but in keeping with Magic's typical wording we liked to keep it on the card.

LordWill

Glad to see some news!

I have few questions...

Will our current Planeswalkers be able to use the new cards from the new set?

Will there be a new set (250 cards) that we can collect?

When purchasing booster packs or fat packs, do we decide what set we want purchase?

What if I didn't collect all the cards in the old set? Will I ever be able to get them?

I'm not a MTG player so I don't know how all of this works.

Hibernum_JC

LordWill wrote:

Glad to see some news!

I have few questions...

Will our current Planeswalkers be able to use the new cards from the new set?

Will there be a new set (250 cards) that we can collect?

When purchasing booster packs or fat packs, do we decide what set we want purchase?

What if I didn't collect all the cards in the old set? Will I ever be able to get them?

I'm not a MTG player so I don't know how all of this works.

And here come answers!

The current Planeswalkers are able to use the new cards without issues. Keep in mind, however, that the new Planeswalkers and cards are designed around each other, so the new ones will work better with the new cards.

There is a whole new set of cards to collect - I don't have the exact number with me right now, but there's a lot of cards.

When you purchase packs (whether it's boosters, fat packs or boxes) you get to choose which set you buy from. So you can still buy cards from Origins, if you so choose. The free packs include cards from both sets. (I'm assuming this answers your question about getting the older cards)

Keep it coming!

loroku

Hibernum_JC wrote:

When you purchase packs (whether it's boosters, fat packs or boxes) you get to choose which set you buy from. So you can still buy cards from Origins, if you so choose. The free packs include cards from both sets. (I'm assuming this answers your question about getting the older cards)

So, to be specific: if we have boosters / fat packs / etc. from Origins these will not translate into Zendikar packs upon release? So there is no practical function of hording your Origins packs?

Rootbreaker

If we get reward boosters, like every 8 hours, or from quick battle, will we get to choose which type of pack?

loroku

Also, how much will the new PWs cost? Will the old ones remain 10 ?

Any plans to release the actual, specific data for things like: XP costs per level, what is gained at each PW level, power cost and description at level 1/2/3/4, etc.? We've cobbled together some information but it'd be great to have an official source.

Will your online card list be getting upgraded? Will it contain the new cards?

What bugs are getting fixed? (Looks like perhaps creature type?)

Irving

Thanks for the information, and excited to see that it's coming so soon! Interesting to think of how Converge might be implemented in a PQ context... how will you get across the multicolored theme?

Also interesting to think about how the different colors will be able to deal with Drana, just from the cards we have so far:

White: disable maybe? (The existing disable cards are fragile/inefficient but maybe better ones are coming...) Or Brawler's Plate - or using first strike/vigilance to control the *other* creatures and racing Drana.
Blue: Bounce her, reduce her power to zero with PW abilities, or turn her into a frog.
Black: Kill her with Unholy Hunger or Languish, or hurt her with Berserker + deathtouch.
Red: Burn, baby, burn...
Green: Hmm. Kill the opponent before they kill you, I guess? Or maybe Rhox Maulers, if Drana's the first creature. Or maybe there will be a fight card in the new set.

Finally, just two questions, both about hoping we get to see and play with the results of all your hard work...

How hard will it be to get Rares and Mythics in the new set - that is, how often will they appear in packs?
Will there be any way to buy/earn/trade for the cards we're missing from our collections?

Hibernum_JC

loroku wrote:

So, to be specific: if we have boosters / fat packs / etc. from Origins these will not translate into Zendikar packs upon release? So there is no practical function of hording your Origins packs?

There is absolutely no practical reason for hoarding your Origins packs, no.

Rootbreaker wrote:

If we get reward boosters, like every 8 hours, or from quick battle, will we get to choose which type of pack?

This is different. Here's the hard rule:

3-card booster packs (free every 8 hours): Cards from both sets
5-card booster packs: these are themed. You'll earn either Origins boosters or Battle for Zendikar boosters, but you can't choose: the event awards you a specific type of pack. So an event could grant you an Origins booster or a Battle for Zendikar booster.

loroku wrote:

Also, how much will the new PWs cost? Will the old ones remain 10 ?

Any plans to release the actual, specific data for things like: XP costs per level, what is gained at each PW level, power cost and description at level 1/2/3/4, etc.? We've cobbled together some information but it'd be great to have an official source.

Will your online card list be getting upgraded? Will it contain the new cards?

What bugs are getting fixed? (Looks like perhaps creature type?)

As far as I'm aware, the old Planeswalkers should remain at their current cost. I'm not privy to the details of the cost of the new Planeswalkers, so I can't exactly say here.

As for XP costs per level, level gains, etc. It's an information I'd love to divulge to you guys, and it's something that I'll bring up again during our meetings, see if everybody's in agreement. I'm not the only one with a say in that so I can't just make a decision.

The online card list will be updated for sure, and it will contain the new cards. I don't have an exact ETA but it shouldn't take too long.

As for the bugs getting fixed, the list is very big. Obviously if we went and listed every single bug in the Q&A or the patch notes it would just overwhelm everything. If there's anything specific you'd like to know, you can ask me, but I can't just list off-hand every single bug!

Creature type is in, however. As you can see on the Drana picture, you can see her Card Type (Creature) and her subtypes (Vampire and Ally). These subtypes should really help determining what can have an effect on what, especially for all these cards that effect Zombies, Goblins, etc.

Irving wrote:

Thanks for the information, and excited to see that it's coming so soon! Interesting to think of how Converge might be implemented in a PQ context... how will you get across the multicolored theme?

Information specific to Converge will come later this week - I'll cover it in one of my posts.

Irving wrote:

Also interesting to think about how the different colors will be able to deal with Drana, just from the cards we have so far:

White: disable maybe? (The existing disable cards are fragile/inefficient but maybe better ones are coming...) Or Brawler's Plate - or using first strike/vigilance to control the *other* creatures and racing Drana.
Blue: Bounce her, reduce her power to zero with PW abilities, or turn her into a frog.
Black: Kill her with Unholy Hunger or Languish, or hurt her with Berserker + deathtouch.
Red: Burn, baby, burn...
Green: Hmm. Kill the opponent before they kill you, I guess? Or maybe Rhox Maulers, if Drana's the first creature. Or maybe there will be a fight card in the new set.

There's multiple ways to deal with Drana, but the fact of the matter is you will need to be prepared. It should be hard to just react to her being on the board, so being a bit more proactive will be a necessity. By then the damage might be done.

Irving wrote:

Finally, just two questions, both about hoping we get to see and play with the results of all your hard work...

How hard will it be to get Rares and Mythics in the new set - that is, how often will they appear in packs?
Will there be any way to buy/earn/trade for the cards we're missing from our collections?

I'm not responsible for setting the content of the packs, so I unfortunately cannot answer that. As for buy/earn/trade cards, there's currently no plans for that - we're working on the next update already that is more about features than content, but there are other features we want to get in, like events, before that. This is not to say it'll never happen, but it isn't in this update.

ChrisTot

Just want to say you guys are doing awesome for responding to these in a fast manner.

My question would be, do you foresee the future of the game being "time based" where people are rewarded for playing the fastest / surviving more or do you see the game being more based on results?

For instance, with this new Planeswalker, life is a resource. But if i win the game with 23 health left, and a match that took 5 minutes instead of 3, this new planes walker isn't that useful under the current "finish as fast as possible" gameplan people have to aim for.

Flaricus

Awesome! Excited for the update, it looks like things are going in the right direction!

Irving

Irving wrote:

Finally, just two questions, both about hoping we get to see and play with the results of all your hard work...

How hard will it be to get Rares and Mythics in the new set - that is, how often will they appear in packs?
Will there be any way to buy/earn/trade for the cards we're missing from our collections?

" wrote:

I'm not responsible for setting the content of the packs, so I unfortunately cannot answer that. As for buy/earn/trade cards, there's currently no plans for that - we're working on the next update already that is more about features than content, but there are other features we want to get in, like events, before that. This is not to say it'll never happen, but it isn't in this update.

Thanks very much for the responses. Didn't even think to ask about events - cool to hear they're on the table too!

Will there be anybody who will be able to answer that first question about pack contents? Would be happy to sink some cash in when the new cards hit, but want to do it responsibly and know what to expect.

Oehler

Hibernum_JC wrote:

loroku wrote:

So, to be specific: if we have boosters / fat packs / etc. from Origins these will not translate into Zendikar packs upon release? So there is no practical function of hording your Origins packs?

There is absolutely no practical reason for hoarding your Origins packs, no.

Then I call your last event "fraud". You asked players to buy just a few crystals + a big box + a fat pack to "prepare" for the upcomming upgrade. So did I. And now you tell me with those big box and the fat pack I can just get the old cardset, which I almost have completed? Fraud in my eyes, that was the last time I will ever spend anyting on this game.

Thats how you get negative advertisement... With the same money I could've gotten a similar amount of crystals to get more cards from the new pack. Yup, thats fraud.

*sarcasmus on* Great job, really customer friendly *sarcasmus off*

Hibernum_JC

ChrisTot wrote:

Just want to say you guys are doing awesome for responding to these in a fast manner.

My question would be, do you foresee the future of the game being "time based" where people are rewarded for playing the fastest / surviving more or do you see the game being more based on results?

For instance, with this new Planeswalker, life is a resource. But if i win the game with 23 health left, and a match that took 5 minutes instead of 3, this new planes walker isn't that useful under the current "finish as fast as possible" gameplan people have to aim for.

It really depends, honestly. Quick Battle being Quick Battle, you by default need to finish as quickly as possible to rise up in the ranks. That's the nature of these types of PvP game modes.

The story mode is much more about results than speed - the important thing is you win the encounter, no matter the cost to you. Finishing quickly or slowly doesn't matter; you're not ranked, you're not compared to other players, nothing. It's a different type of test. PvE events should be similar also, with the focus being on the result rather than the time it took you to beat it.

I purposefully didn't list values for Ob Nixilis' 3rd ability, but believe me when I say that when you do fire it off, it puts your opponent on a huge counter. Every time you draw a card, they take damage. Every time they draw a card, they take damage. Your opponent casts Day's Undoing while this is on the board? They take damage 12 times. That is a LOT of damage here, and I'm not talking 1 damage every time. You can sacrifice your life to hit them hard too, which is incredibly strong, AND gain a resource. So yeah, he might trade his life as a resource, but as is a common theme in Black, if you play smart, that tradeoff is turned into an advantage.

loroku

Hibernum_JC wrote:

It really depends, honestly. Quick Battle being Quick Battle, you by default need to finish as quickly as possible to rise up in the ranks. That's the nature of these types of PvP game modes.

The story mode is much more about results than speed - the important thing is you win the encounter, no matter the cost to you. Finishing quickly or slowly doesn't matter; you're not ranked, you're not compared to other players, nothing. It's a different type of test. PvE events should be similar also, with the focus being on the result rather than the time it took you to beat it.

This is not a fair equivalency, though, because QB are not equal to story mode. Story mode has almost no usefulness because it awards runes which also have finite usefulness and only rewards crystals once. QBs reward crystals, card packs, and higher rarity cards, AND there are multiple opportunities for all of these multiple times a week. So QB >>>>>>>>>> story mode, so that means quick >>>>>>>>>> results 99% of the time. If a PW cannot be quick then it isn't as useful.

It's possible Events mode will change this (based on guesses about Events mode from MPQ) but then again maybe not; MPQ Events are also really just PvP in another guise, so quick would still be better.

loroku

Hibernum_JC wrote:

As for the bugs getting fixed, the list is very big. Obviously if we went and listed every single bug in the Q&A or the patch notes it would just overwhelm everything. If there's anything specific you'd like to know, you can ask me, but I can't just list off-hand every single bug!

The main bugs that are concerns to this forum would be a great place to start. For example: the level 50 vs. level 1 bug.

majincob

Hibernum_JC wrote:

As for the bugs getting fixed, the list is very big. Obviously if we went and listed every single bug in the Q&A or the patch notes it would just overwhelm everything. If there's anything specific you'd like to know, you can ask me, but I can't just list off-hand every single bug!

Did they fix Day's Undoing so it draws off the top of the deck as well as correctly put the cards into the players hand so they can be seen and interacted with (in the case of an extra match)?

As an aside, I think you *could* list all the bug fixes in its own post, that way people would know if something that was supposed to be fixed is actually newly broken (for them) so they can submit new bugs.

Hibernum_JC

loroku wrote:

This is not a fair equivalency, though, because QB are not equal to story mode. Story mode has almost no usefulness because it awards runes which also have finite usefulness and only rewards crystals once. QBs reward crystals, card packs, and higher rarity cards, AND there are multiple opportunities for all of these multiple times a week. So QB >>>>>>>>>> story mode, so that means quick >>>>>>>>>> results 99% of the time. If a PW cannot be quick then it isn't as useful.

It's possible Events mode will change this (based on guesses about Events mode from MPQ) but then again maybe not; MPQ Events are also really just PvP in another guise, so quick would still be better.

Events will change that - PvE events are much more about completion than speed, and the rewards will be very different.

I also have to reiterate - Ob Nixilis *will* kill your opponents in PvP quickly. Once his 3rd ability is on the board, there's a very large chance you'll win within very few turns. It's not because he looks slow that he is slow - he definitely is not slow! If you even just look at the effectiveness of Relic Seeker, Drana costs the same, but instead of giving +1/+1 to one creature after he's dealt damage to the enemy once, she does a potential +3/+3 in stats every single turn. She's much. much faster than Relic Seeker.

As for the level 50 against level 1 bug, this is fixed on our servers - it was an issue with matchmaking, and I just confirmed it with our server guys that it is indeed fixed.

Hibernum_JC

majincob wrote:

Did they fix Day's Undoing so it draws off the top of the deck as well as correctly put the cards into the players hand so they can be seen and interacted with (in the case of an extra match)?

As an aside, I think you *could* list all the bug fixes in its own post, that way people would know if something that was supposed to be fixed is actually newly broken (for them) so they can submit new bugs.

I've just tried to specifically reproduce the bug you were talking about with Day's Undoing, and it works exactly as intended - it drew cards from the top of my Library, gave them mana, I was able to interact with them and cast it through a match-5. I'm guessing it's been fixed, although I've never seen that bug pop up through in our internal database.

And believe me, we have so many bug fixes that it would really be way too much. There's a LOT of them.

ChrisTot

Hibernum_JC wrote:

Events will change that - PvE events are much more about completion than speed, and the rewards will be very different.

I also have to reiterate - Ob Nixilis *will* kill your opponents in PvP quickly. Once his 3rd ability is on the board, there's a very large chance you'll win within very few turns. It's not because he looks slow that he is slow - he definitely is not slow! If you even just look at the effectiveness of Relic Seeker, Drana costs the same, but instead of giving +1/+1 to one creature after he's dealt damage to the enemy once, she does a potential +3/+3 in stats every single turn. She's much. much faster than Relic Seeker.

Man, loroku and I are on the same wavelength this morning. That's good stuff making the quick battle events about speed and the pve events about results, I can dig that if the PVE events have comparable prizes.

One thing to think about as data from the perspective of a competitive player of this game is even though that black card is nice for sure (awesome job on it, it made me stoked!) and I'm sure opponents end up on a fast clock (not doubting how long a match takes), Nissa can win quick battles in 3-5 minutes still at max health. She also has life gain stacked into her deck by default with Herald. Chandra can kill people in a reasonable amount of time and take no damage from dealing with everything when it comes out (which will be similar to Ob, except for the taking damage part, Ob is maybe faster but taking damage matters). Not sure if Ob will have life gain or a different resource regen system, so it's unfair to really say anything. And the mechanics he's bringing to the table are definitely sweet. But in paper magic, if this was a deck, you'd always start at 20 life. In this game, your life has to carry over to the next game. It's possible you guys want us switching between the different planeswalkers more too though, so if that's part of the plan someone could always play with Ob and then swap him out for him to regen, we shall see

Can't wait for the next round of previews and thanks for answering extra questions!