With each new Magic: The Gathering Un-set, Wizards of the Coast finds new ways to push the mechanical envelope. From fractional stats back in Unglued, to Stickers and Attractions in Unfinity, these ideas have always been great for players and a nightmare for hypothetical judges. In 2017’s Unstable, one of the most audacious additions by an Un-set, Host/Augment, made its MTG debut.
The idea of mashing two creatures’ text boxes together was pretty radical at the time. Today, in a post-Mutate world, the goalposts have shifted. So much so that Head Designer Mark Rosewater seems to think the mechanic could make the jump over to real, black-bordered Magic sets. This wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen an Un-set idea cross the gap, but it would certainly be the flashiest yet.
Host/Augment In Mainline MTG?
“doopboopdoop: What silver bordered design or mechanic do you feel is the closest to making it into black border?
Mark Rosewater: Host/Augment is pretty close.”
Via Blogatog
Host/Augment, at first glance, is a pretty interesting pick for a silver border to black border MTG transition. Given how Steamflogger Boss, the first Contraption card, actually debuted in a black border set, that would probably be most players’ first guess. When you give it more thought, however, it does start to make sense.
For those unfamiliar with the mechanic, the above cards tell you all you need to know. With a Host creature in play, you can attach an Augment creature from your hand to it by paying a cost. The new combination has the stats of both halves and an interesting combination of their abilities and triggers. The key appeal here is the flexibility. Combining different Hosts with different Augment cards can result in a huge number of interesting combos.
As raytyger points out in the comments, this is very similar to the Mutate mechanic from Ikoria. The main difference is the card layout and the fact that Mutate cards, unlike Augment cards, can be cast on their own without needing a Host. With this existing mechanical infrastructure in place, it’s not unreasonable that Host/Augment could come to black border.
Of course, it’s worth noting that Rosewater says the ability is “pretty close” to black border suitability, not that it’s actually there. There are definitely some issues here, similar to those faced by Mutate. Rosewater has spoken at length about the complexity of the mechanic and the difficulty in bringing it back. Adding a new mechanic in a similar space, with more restrictions and complexity, is a tough sell no matter how you pitch it. Porting it over as-is would likely cause issues in Limited, too, given the useless-on-their-own nature of Augment cards.
Opening The Un-Set Floodgates
That said, there’s plenty of precedent for Un-set design creeping over into the main game. In fact, this is something we’re seeing more and more of in Magic: The Gathering with each passing year.
Take dice rolling, for example. This originally appeared as a joke mechanic in Unglued, but later made the jump to “real” Magic in Adventures in the Forgotten Realms. Granted, it was in the form of D20 rolling rather than D6, but we saw the latter later on in the Fallout Commander decks. Clearly, Un-set mechanics can assimilate into mainline MTG given the right thematic setting.
Deadpool, Trading card is another great example. Stealing/swapping text boxes is an idea we’ve seen multiple times in Un-sets, on Phoebe, Head of S.N.E.A.K. and Exchange of Words. Seeing it on a real, playable-in-eternal-formats Magic card is a big step. Deadpool feels like a bit of a gray area since it’s a Secret Lair card, but it is undeniably a black border card using Un-set mechanics.
It’s not just 1:1 mechanical transfer, either. The soul of Un-sets has started to bleed over, too. Tonally, this is very obvious in the last year’s worth of sets. Expansions like Outlaws of Thunder Junction, Bloomburrow, and Aetherdrift present plenty of examples. Players made a fuss over Holy Cow, but Gas Guzzler and Sword of the Squeak are just as egregious. Magic is getting far more comfortable with puns and self-referential jokes, which were previously the domain of Un-sets.
With all of that in mind, Host/Augment has a real shot at making it into a black border MTG set at some point. Perhaps that “pretty close” will get even closer post-Edge of Eternities.
