Magic: The Gathering is a wildly complex game, but the scary thing is that we only see a fraction of it. For every new mechanic that makes it into a printed set, countless others are consigned to the scrapheap. What the products on the shelves represent is the tip of the MTG iceberg; the shiny, polished section that’s allowed to break the surface. Many of these abandoned MTG mechanics return later on in some shape or form, but some are so radical that they prove unprintable. Responding to a question about mechanics that Wizards “just couldn’t make work” at PAX Unplugged over the weekend, Gavin Verhey broke down three such mechanics.
Gunk Cards
The first of these mechanics that Verhey covered on the PAX panel was Gunk. This is a mechanic wherein useless cards are shuffled into your opponent’s deck, in order to “Gunk up” their draws and slow them down. The devoted fans among you will recognize this one from several Mystery Booster Playtest cards in the past. As Verhey himself put it during the panel:
“The great news is, as the lead designer of both Mystery Booster sets, I get to make them all weird Playtest cards!”
Gavin Verhey
“Them” here being, of course, unprintable MTG mechanics in general. Gunk is actually a mechanic we’ve seen multiple times. It appeared on Gunk Slug in the original Mystery Booster Playtest lineup, then again on Fludge, Gunk Guardian in Mystery Booster 2 Playtest earlier this year. It even has its own Unknown Event card in The Gunky Runner. Clearly Verhey is a fan of this mechanic in particular. He even said as much during the PAX panel, noting that he “really enjoys them.”
Unfortunately, in Verhey’s words, Gunk is also “logistically unfeasible for any kind of Magic really.” Shuffling cards into your opponents deck requires a lot of extra tokens, and causes other issues with sleeving etc. In Limited, new players could easily forget to remove the Gunk from their deck post-game, too.
Interestingly, Gunk is very similar to multiple mechanics that have seen success in digital card games over the years. Hearthstone has multiple variants of this effect, with cards shuffling bombs and other objects into both players’ decks regularly. Slay the Spire also achieves something similar with its Status cards, giving the player dead or harmful draws.
MTG Arena hasn’t experimented with this idea yet, but I could easily see it working out. The logistical issues around Gunk wouldn’t really apply in a digital setting. Conjuring dead draws into your opponent’s deck would also be quite satisfying.
Booster Tutor: The Mechanic
Next on Verhey’s list was what he called “Booster Tutor: the Mechanic.” For those unaware, Booster Tutor (pictured above) is a card from Unhinged, the second-ever Un set after Unglued. It lets you open a sealed Magic pack and add one of the cards to your hand, creating a mini-Draft experience during a Constructed game.
This mechanic was originally designed for Ixalan, specifically the Pirate faction on that plane. Wizards wanted a mechanic that represented finding treasure, and briefly considered a mechanic that let you open a mini “Treasure Booster” and take one of the cards from it. Verhey notes that these packs were conceptualized as includes with Draft Booster Boxes, but the mechanic proved “unfeasible for a bunch of reasons.”
Of the three unprintable MTG mechanics that Verhey covered during the panel, this is the one that feels the least likely to ever make it into mainline Magic. Opening mini-packs during gameplay would be very fun to be sure, but would also ramp up the complexity and cost of Booster Boxes a ton. Magic is already a prohibitively expensive game for many, so a mechanic that makes it more so is unlikely to break out of development.
Again, this is an idea that we’ve seen in other digital card games. Hearthstone has multiple cards that let you effectively open sealed packs and add their contents to your hand. One recent card, the Avatar of Hearthstone, even opens a pack of the game’s original set and plays it immediately as a nostalgic tribute. A similar idea could definitely work in MTG Arena, as evidenced by the Spellbooks mechanic. I think this one is a hard no for physical play, however.
Competitive Side Decks
Verhey’s last unprintable mechanic was also the most vague of the bunch: competitive side decks. These are not to be confused with sideboards; as Verhey put it during the panel, side decks are “something you could bring to the table along with the rest of your stuff,” in the vein of Contraptions or Attractions.
This mechanic is interesting in that we actually have seen it in physical Magic. The two examples above are evidence of that. During the panel Verhey noted specifically that he had something “more competitively-focused” in mind, however. Both Contraptions and Attractions were printed in Un-sets, clearly geared more towards humor than high-level gameplay.
The potential for a mechanic like this is endless. It actually wouldn’t be too difficult to implement in physical Magic, either, let alone digital. Verhey noted that he’s “cooled on the idea” over time during the panel, but that could well be clever subterfuge. Of the three mechanics he mentioned, this one seems the most likely to see real print.
In terms of examples from other card games, Yu-Gi-Oh! is the big one here. Modern Yu-Gi-Oh! revolves around the Extra Deck, a side-deck of 15 cards, in a huge way. In that game it’s very easy to access the cards you include in it, making it a kind of active sideboard in many ways (though the game also has a separate sideboard). I could definitely see Magic trying something with a side deck in the next few years.
All three of these mechanics are interesting, and give an idea of how Magic design works behind the scenes. Verhey notes that he’s “sure he could think of hundreds more,” too. Clearly the MTG iceberg goes deeper than most of us will ever know.
