Of all the creature types in Magic’s long history, God may be the one that comes with the most design baggage. How do you even settle on what a God should be in the context of the Multiverse, never mind convey its power adequately within a tiny text box? These are challenges the Designers at Wizards have tackled multiple times now, across multiple sets. Naturally, the process isn’t perfect. According to Mark Rosewater’s Blogatog, the Gods of MTG share a common problem that makes them difficult to design.
The Difficulty With Divinity
This problem was first mentioned in a Blogatog post on January 1st, where Rosewater responded to a question from exalted-boda.
“exalted-boda: Do you like gods having indestructible?
Mark Rosewater: No, as it causes play balance issues, and limits design space.”
This makes a lot of sense. While players often joke about how common Indestructible has become in modern Magic, it’s still a relatively rare mechanic overall. In current Standard, only six cards have Indestructible as a permanent keyword. Plenty of others can gain it temporarily through different means, but straight-up Indestructible is much rarer.
In a later Blogatog post Rosewater did acknowledge that this issue wasn’t specific to Gods, but rather to the Indestructible mechanic as a whole.
“theuninivitedghost: “No, as it causes play balance issues, and limits design space.” Is that an issue with Gods having it, or Indestructible in general?
Mark Rosewater: Indestructible in general. We can only use it in small amounts (as an ability, single-turn grants is much easier to use).”
This is a pretty logical argument. Indestructible creatures are difficult to deal with, and can lead to very one-sided games if they’re overtuned. In turn, they impose unhealthy demands on the removal of a given format. More exile and sacrifice-based removal can address the issue, but those hurt ramp decks and graveyard strategies in turn, so there are multiple elements to consider.
The problem with Gods, of course, is the weight of expectations that they carry. In most world mythologies, Gods are immortal, unkillable beings. They shouldn’t be vulnerable to the same kinds of things as mere mortals, or regular creatures in Magic terms. Indestructible is one of the best ways to convey that within the rules of the game. Unfortunately, it also comes with the extra gameplay baggage that Rosewater decries above.
There are other ways to get this idea across, however. Gods have existed in Magic since Theros back in 2013. That means Wizards has had 12 years to iterate and refine the idea since its inception. Looking back over their history, it’s done an admirable job.
God Complex
The original Theros Gods were, arguably, one of the most effective portrayals of godhood the game has seen. All 15 were Indestructible, and only became creatures if you amassed enough Devotion on board. This was an interesting way to balance the cycle. They were all way above-rate as creatures, but below-rate as enchantments. Overall they felt pretty balanced, and none were particularly egregious in Standard at the time.
After Theros, Gods returned four years later in Amonkhet. Putting Yu-Gi-Oh! to shame, these Egyptian-inspired Gods also had Indestructible built in. They were always creatures, but they had conditions attached if you wanted to attack or block with them. Again, all five were fairly well-balanced, but Hazoret saw significant play in Aggro decks.
After this second cycle, it appears Indestructible fatigue began to set in. We got one more cycle of Indestructible Gods in Theros: Beyond Death, but for the most part, Gods after this didn’t have it. The Hour of Devastation/War of the Spark Gods lacked it, as did all of the double-faced Kaldheim Gods. This was also true of many of the one-off Gods in sets, like Anzrag and The Ancient One.
To date, the most interesting iteration of the God creature type is almost certainly the Ixalan Gods cycle. All five of these lacked Indestructible, too, as is the norm by this point. Instead, they had a mechanic where they flipped into lands on death and flipped back by fulfilling a specific condition.
In this sense, they ‘live forever’ mechanically without being too difficult to remove from the board. They also kept that idea of ‘worship by fulfilling conditions’ that the original Theros and Amonkhet Gods did so well. Nice work, indeed.
Hope For Redemption?
With Rosewater’s statements on Gods and Indestructible, the future of the creature type is unclear. In another Blogatog post, he drilled down on this further in response to a question about Gods in MTG.
“brendo: Could we expect situational indestructible for future gods, such as how it worked on ephara from march of the machine?
Mark Rosewater: Gods might have indestructible, but it’s not considered a requirement for all Gods.”
This much was already clear based on the many non-Indestructible Gods we’ve seen in recent years, but it’s still interesting to see it confirmed. It throws the doors wide open to a range of design possibilities for future Gods. As luck would have it, we actually have some coming up very soon.
In part two of the Planeswalker’s Guide to Aetherdrift, two new Amonkhet Gods are mentioned. These are Sab-Sunen, a God of life and fertility, and Ketramose, a God of determination and martial spirit. Both showed up after the Phyrexian Invasion, and both will, presumably, get their first cards in Aetherdrift come February. These new Gods will be joined by retrains of Hazoret and the Locust and Scarab Gods. That’s three opportunities for Wizards to put its non-Indestructible God design skills to use.
There are multiple interesting routes to take here. As the new Gods are the first true Gods on Amonkhet not manufactured by Nicol Bolas, they have the chance to develop a new mechanical identity for them. Something tied to other creatures on board would make sense, but it could equally be something totally new. Maybe artifact synergy, to line up with the Vehicle-heavy nature of Aetherdrift as a set?
However they turn out, new Gods in Magic are always exciting to see. They’re difficult to design, certainly, but they’re also often incredibly evocative and powerful. Based on the type’s long history, I have every faith the new Aetherdrift Gods will knock it out of the park, with or without Indestructible.
