Plinko
Of course, the much more enjoyable type of email that I get is the kind that has a combo or deck idea I’ve never seen before. Matt (last names, people, last names—you can’t get famous with just one name unless you’re a musician or a soccer player) suggested the combo of Aggravated Assault and Nature’s Will. As long as you can generate with your lands and you have a creature with at least 1 power that your opponent can’t block, you’ll win the game. In fact, you can do this if everything goes perfectly:

Turn 1: Land, Orochi Leafcaller
Turn 2: Land, Sakura-Tribe Elder
Turn 3: Land, Nature’s Will, sacrifice the Elder for another land
Turn 4: Land, Aggravated Assault, Shock your opponent’s untapped creature, attack with Orochi Leafcaller. When the Leafcaller hits, your five lands untap. Pay to activate Aggravated Assault. Infinite Leafcaller brutality!

That’s right—if your opponent doesn’t pay the Leafcaller enough respect, it’ll plink away for 20 damage in one turn. If you can’t find a Nature’s Will, then Sakiko, Mother of Summer, will do a similar thing. You’d have to have creatures totaling 5 power and you’d definitely need a Leafcaller to turn your green mana into red mana, but as long as your opponent had no available blockers or spot removal, you’d win that turn.

AGGRAVATED SNAKES
Creature (19)
3 Orochi Leafcaller
3 Orochi Ranger
1 Patron of the Orochi
1 Sakiko, Mother of Summer
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Seshiro the Anointed
4 Tangle Asp
2 Voracious Cobra

Sorcery (5)
2 Blaze
3 Time of Need

Instant (4)
4 Shock

Enchantment (8)
4 Aggravated Assault
4 Nature’s Will

Land (24)
5 Mountain
9 Forest
4 Karplusan Forest
2 Shivan Oasis
4 Wooded Foothills

60 Cards

MISTAKE IDENTITY Posted in Feature on February 10, 2005
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mistake-identity-2005-02-10

《自然の意志/Nature’s Will》を貼って対戦相手にダメージを通し、土地を全てアンタップして《追い討ち/Aggravated Assault》により追加の戦闘フェイズを得ます。これを好きなだけ繰り返して勝利するコンボデッキです。

クリーチャーの数は十分にあるので、コンボに頼らずとも普通にビートダウンができるのも魅力です。蛇の部族で固めているので、《清められし者、せし郎/Seshiro the Anointed》による打点向上は小さくありません。

なお、この他にも《山崎兄弟/Brothers Yamazaki》の家族（というこじつけ）を入れたデッキや、土地をクリーチャー化して《撲滅/Eradicate》で土地を全部吹っ飛ばすコンボを「自分に」打つことで《ゴブリンの放火砲/Goblin Charbelcher》コンボをスタンダードでも実現したデッキが紹介されています。

Welcome to another edition of Sketches! This time we take a behind the scenes look at the illustration of Betrayers of Kamigawa’s unpreventable burn spell Flames of the Blood Hand. But first, some background on the artist, Aleksi Briclot.

Artist Portfolio
Although Aleksi Briclot is new to Magic illustration, having debuted in Champions of Kamigawa with Oni Possession, he’s no newcomer to otherworldly illustration. He’s an established video game concept illustrator and comic artist (see his website). His other artist credits include Aura Barbs and the Limited powerhouse Horobi’s Whisper in Betrayers. Welcome aboard, Aleksi!

Art Description
The first step of the creation of a card’s art is its art description. The art description tells the artist what the card will do, what its flavor is, and what the mood of the illustration should be. Here were the instructions given to Aleksi for Flames of the Blood Hand:

Show a red-aligned ogre who knows how to use fire magic and is casting a powerful damage spell. From his hands or some magical object we see this brilliant white-hot fire attack of your design. This is supernatural fire that can’t be extinguished, so maybe the flames are a strange color, or seem stylized/otherworldly somehow.
Along with the art description, Aleksi would have had access to the Kamigawa style guide to see concept illustrations of what ogres look like in Kamigawa -- for an idea of what he might have seen, check out Sokenzan Bruiser, Villainous Ogre or Ogre Marauder, for example.

The next step is to submit sketches of his vision of the art description.

Sketches
Here’s Aleksi’s full-color initial sketch submitted for Flames of the Blood Hand:


Flames of the Blood Hand sketch 1 by Aleksi Briclot

There was some concern that the pose of the ogre looked as if he was being struck by a flame effect rather than producing one. But as you can see, there’s definite potential here for a mean, nasty fire-spell. Here’s Aleksi’s second submission.


Flames of the Blood Hand sketch 2 by Aleksi Briclot

Here you can see much more clearly that the ogre is the agent here, in command and ready to blast the viewer. His claw radiates that supernatural, unavoidable heat from the art description.

Final Art
In the finished art, Briclot refines the flame effect with cool tracers and sparks, and the detail of the ogre’s armor becomes extremely polished.

Flames of the Blood Hand final art by Aleksi Briclot

Finished Card
And here’s how you’ll see the card in its final state, in booster packs of Betrayers of Kamigawa. Get ready to burn out your opponent (with a little help from Aleksi Briclot) with Flames of the Blood Hand!

引用元
SKETCHES: FLAMES OF THE BLOOD HAND Posted in Arcana on February 9, 2005
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/arcana/sketches-flames-blood-hand-2005-02-09

《血の手の炎/Flames of the Blood Hand》のイラストが出来上がるまでの様子を解説した記事です。

コンセプトは、強力な火力呪文を使っている赤のオーガ、と言うものでした。オーガのポーズや向きを変え、最終的に、私たちに向かって火力呪文を撃とうとしている構図になりました。また、カードの効果を反映してか、超自然的で避けられない炎というのもコンセプトにあったようです。

The Betrayers of Kamigawa card Final Judgment represents both a powerful effect in the game of Magic and a powerful moment in the story of Kamigawa. As a mass-removal spell that doesn’t trigger soulshift abilities, it’s a limited powerhouse. As a glimpse into the war between Kamigawa’s mortals and spirits, it’s a direct reference to the novels.

In this scene quoted from an early draft of Scott McGough’s Outlaw: Champions of Kamigawa, the enormous, eight-headed uber-kami O-Kagachi decimates a battlefield full of hapless mortal soldiers. Kev Walker’s art on Final Judgment, below, represents the fateful split-second just before this scene.

"The horses began to scream and rear, lashing out with their hooves. Dozens fell over on one side and were quickly trampled by their skittish peers. The company captains shouted and cursed at their units, struggling to be heard over the din of shattering earth and dying horses.

"Above the remains of the sundered hill, a huge yellow sphere ignited. The heat and the light were so intense that it boiled the closest retainers’ eyes in their sockets and burned their hard, lacquered armor to fine ash that clung to their bodies.

"Another fireball ignited across the road from the first. Trapped between two suns, the outermost columns of soldiers and their horses withered into charred, smoking skeletons of black ash and carbonized bone. Those that survived the inferno screamed with one agonized voice.

"A stentorian roar split the air, drawing blood from every human ear on the road. The two blazing orbs spun in place, and the outer layer of flames peeled back like the skin from an orange, revealing two sharp, black irises that widened vertically as they gazed down at the soldiers.

"The armed men of Hawaito fell quiet under the terrible gaze of those two great eyes. Their breath ceased in mid-prayer, mid-curse, or mid-dying moan. Every living thing below those eyes looked up into them in pure, devastating awe.

"The titanic spirit beast roared again. A great shadow rose up past the eyes, casting the area below into almost total darkness. Reptilian fangs as big as grain silos materialized as the shadow descended, simultaneously stretching down from above and erupting up from the soil below.

"The great jaws slammed shut, consuming the road, the valley, and everything in it. The entire kingdom of Hawaito felt the shock, as did every kitsune village and akki warren for a hundred leagues.

"The monstrous head, never fully formed, began to fade as the last of the bordering pave-stones along the road tumbled into the gaping wound it had torn in the world. The ground continue to rumble menacingly for a full day and night."

引用元
A "STENTORIAN ROAR" Posted in Arcana on February 8, 2005
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/arcana/stentorian-roar-2005-02-08

《最後の裁き/Final Judgment》のイラストが表しているシーンは、小説『無頼の徒/Outlaw: Champions of Kamigawa』における１シーンを表したものである、という解説記事です。その小説の一部が引用されています。

今であれば、「注目のストーリー/Story Spotlight」の１枚として採用されたことでしょう。

The Non-Tales From Betrayers
Since Betrayers of Kamigawa happens to be on many Magic players’ minds, I thought now would be a good time to bug (heh... I’m so punny) the Magic Online programmers for fun Betrayers developer stories. I e-mailed Alan Comer, Rachel Reynolds, and Elf (who’s Elf? find out in two weeks!) to be thinking about what stories they’d like to share. They didn’t answer right away, but I figured they were concocting something. Then the deadline for my article approached, so I pressed them a little. Still no answer. Finally, we ended up having a conversation that went something like this (okay, I’m embellishing) (okay, a lot):

JMS: Deadline’s here! What stories do you all have from Betrayers you can share?

AC/RR/Elf: (silence)

JMS: You guys mad at me or something? On strike?

RR: Um, no. It’s just that...

JMS: What?

AC: Ah, see. There are no Betrayers stories.

JMS: (silence) You’re kidding me.

AC: Nope.

JMS: None at all? Nothing unexpectedly challenging? Nothing like the flip cards from Champions you had to get creative on?

AC: Nope.

JMS: Come on! There has to be something!

Elf: Well...

JMS: Yes, speak up you in the back there.

Elf: Well, something happened with Sway of the Stars. It was working great, but seemingly randomly you would sometimes draw less than the seven cards. Turns out that if there were tokens in the game it was shuffling them into your deck. If it did that and then tried to deal a token to you it would of course just poof, so you’d end up with less than seven cards. We noticed that pretty quickly and fixed it, though.

JMS: Okay, that’s a good start. What else?

AC/RR/Elf: (silence)

Elf: Oo! Oo! I know! Takeno’s Cavalry worked at first to deal damage to “attacking creatures” and “blocking spirits” instead of “attacking spirits” and “blocking spirits.” We fixed that quickly too, though.

JMS: That’s it!?!

AC: We sort of noticed everything quickly and fixed it. Sorry Jay. Betrayers was easy.

JMS: (sighs) Alright. Thanks for trying. Try to mess something up in Saviors, though, alright? I can’t make up another dialogue like this.

AC: Will do.

引用元
INTOTHEAETHER IS PRISMATASTIC Posted in Feature on February 8, 2005
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/intotheaether-prismatastic-2005-02-08

『神河謀叛』をMOに実装するにあたって苦労したエピソード、を語ろうとしたのですが、思ったよりもネタがないようです。些細なバグはいくらかあったのですが、すぐに直っています。『神河物語』の時（※１）には、反転の実装で１つのエピソードができたのですが。

もちろん、プログラマーにとってはスムーズにいくに越したことはありません。ただ、コラムニストとしては、ネタにならないので困りものです。



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神河当時 - 反転のMO実装
https://researchofkamigawa.diarynote.jp/202012252214503175/

Last week I tackled the overview of the white, blue and black cards and today I’ll be dealing with the rest. As I said last week, I don’t believe it’s possible to give out strict pick orders within colours simply because a lot of the time your optimum choice will be decided as much by mana curve, card type, and the needs of your deck as by the actual quality of the cards in question. This is even truer when you get to the third pack of the draft, which is when you’ll be seeing your first Betrayers cards of the draft for the next four months.

So, continuing our trek around the colour wheel, we move from black onwards into red.

引用元
WRAPPING UP BETRAYERS Posted in Limited Information on February 14, 2005
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/limited-information/wrapping-betrayers-2005-02-14

昨日の記事の１週間後に、残りの色についての評価が出ました。

赤は《凍らし/Frostling》《岩石流/Torrent of Stone》などの除去、《ゴブリンの群勢/Goblin Cohort》《霜の大峨/Frost Ogre》などのクリーチャーが及第点であり、悪くありません。それ以外に、《禍御鳴の激憤/Ire of Kaminari》は特殊なデッキを組むきっかけになる、ユニークなカードです。

緑は、一般的には評価が高いものの、筆者にとってはそうではなかった、とのことです。《節くれ塊/Gnarled Mass》が最高のコモンであることは同意するものの、その他のコモンのパワーに不満げでした。一方で、アンコモンは《香杉の源獣/Genju of the Cedars》《そう介の召喚術/Sosuke’s Summons》《野放しの成長/Unchecked Growth》《武道家の学徒/Budoka Pupil》《別れ枝絡み/Forked-Branch Garami》と、高評価のカードが少なくありません。それらをどれだけ集められるか次第、と言うところでしょうか。

無色（土地、アーティファクト）ですが、やはりと言うべきか、《梅澤の十手/Umezawa’s Jitte》の強さが絶賛されています。それ以外でも装備品は全て十分なパワーとの評価です。登場したばかりの装備品メカニズムのパワー調整がまだまだうまくいっていないとも取れますが。

After last week’s brief look at some of the successful and not so successful themes within Betrayers of Kamigawa I’m going to spend a couple of articles going through the set with a little more depth. What you won’t find is strict pick orders as they aren’t usually much use for what will be the third pack of a booster draft. By the time you get to the third pack many of your picks will depend upon your mana curve, what cards you already have and the overriding theme of your deck. I will be discussing the top commons for each colour though and where and when you’ll want to draft them. I think it’s worth reviewing each colour at this early stage but I also don’t want to drag out a long series of such articles so I’ll go through half the set this week, and the remainder in next week’s article.

We might as well follow the colour wheel so let’s kick things off with white.

引用元
ADDING BETRAYERS TO THE MIX Posted in Limited Information on February 7, 2005
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/limited-information/adding-betrayers-mix-2005-02-07

プレリリース後にもカードの評価がありました（※１）が、しばらく経ってから改めての評価です。今回はその前半戦です。

白は、プレイアブルなカードが多く、評価が高いところで安定しています。一方で、青と黒は、一部のカードが強い以外は、評価がイマイチです。

もっとも、このような色の格差があるからこそ、あえて人気のないところへ行く戦略も生まれるのも一理あるでしょう。バランス調整は難しいところです。

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神河当時 - 『神河謀叛』プレリリース後のカード評価
https://researchofkamigawa.diarynote.jp/202103242357259751/

Wizards of the Coast is teaming up with First 4 Figures to bring you high-quality, collectible Magic: The Gathering figurines based on creatures from the world of Kamigawa.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the goods. You’ll recognize Kodama of the North Tree and Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni.

Kodama of the North Tree

Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni

Head to the First 4 Figures website to see the other three creatures that will be available. Stay tuned to magicthegathering.com in the coming weeks for release date and other product information.

引用元
KAMIGAWA FIGURES Posted in Arcana on February 7, 2005
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/arcana/kamigawa-figures-2005-02-07

神河のキャラクターがフィギュア化した、という記事です。

元のリンクは切れていたので、これらのフィギュアを取り扱っていたサイトから画像を拝借しました。

《鬼の下僕、墨目/Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni》は人気キャラなので選ばれるのは分かるのですが、《北の樹の木霊/Kodama of the North Tree》が選ばれた理由はなんとも謎です。神河なのでスピリットからもフィギュア化するのは良いとして、明神とかドラゴン・スピリットとか、もっと重要なキャラクターはいそうなものですが。

Goryo’s Vengeance + Iname, Death Aspect
Reanimation strategies are the perfect balance between Timmy and Spike: you get to smash with humongous beasties and actually be competitive about it. Since Odyssey and Onslaught rotated out of Standard reanimation strategies have largely been the exclusive province of other formats, but Goryo changes things... with a vengeance! Okay, sorry, I couldn’t help myself. Goryo’s Vengeance has a lot going for it: it’s cheap at just two mana, it’s Arcane with a reasonably costed Splice ability, it’s an instant and it brings back one of your creatures and gives it haste. The drawbacks aren’t insignificant: the creature is removed from the game at the end of the turn, and the target has to be legendary.

Iname, Death Aspect answers these drawbacks pretty well, by letting you fill your graveyard with any number of legendary spirits, all ready to punish in the name of Goryo. Beatsticks like Kuro, Pitlord... Kodama of the North Tree... Horobi, Death’s Wail...

You can even make it tricky with Hikari, Twilight Guardian and play an Arcane spell to phase him out so that when he comes back it’s to stay. The Unspeakable will get back your Vengence when he tramples over. He Who Hungers sacrifices spirits for re-reanimation while peeling away your opponent’s hand.

引用元
MAGICTHEGATHERING. COMBOS - BETRAYERS OF KAMIGAWA EDITION Posted in Feature on February 7, 2005
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/magicthegathering-combos-betrayers-kamigawa-edition-2005-02-07

『神河謀反』のカードを使ったコンボ特集記事です。

個人的には、神河のカード同士でコンボするものを探してしまいます。この記事では、《御霊の復讐/Goryo’s Vengeance》+《死相の否命/Iname, Death Aspect》がありました。繰り返し使えるリアニメイトと、大量に墓地を肥やせるカードの組み合わせです。

他、《あざみの使い魔、明日歌/Tomorrow, Azami’s Familiar》+《森の知恵/Sylvan Library》が、目に止まりました。この記事の時点では神河同士ではないのですが、『COMMANDER COLLECTION: GREEN』において《森の知恵/Sylvan Library》が神河のイラストでリメイクされた（※１）ので、神河のコンボと言えないこともありません。時代を経てこのような変化が出るのも面白いところです。



※１
神河資料 - 『COMMANDER COLLECTION: GREEN』のカードリスト
https://researchofkamigawa.diarynote.jp/202008242116136988/

昨日の記事の続きです。

And now it’s time for the latest installment of “Ninjas and the Color Wheel”:

It’s ironical that ninjas should be restricted to only black and blue, since ninja strategies are based on five different element, which include certain characteristics which could be related to the colors in Magic.

*Dresses as a teacher and starts lecturing*

The escape strategies utilized by ninjas are traditionally called Gotonpo (five elements conceaing and escaping methods). These five elements included fire, wood, water, metal, and earth.

Wood represents rising, growing, swelling energy. This element can be expressed by the statement "my forces marshal more troops and move against you with growing intensity as your forces attempt to hold onto your own territory". (green)

Earth represents gathering, condensing and stabilizing energy, represented by the statement "my forces draw together and intensify their hold on the territory as your forces attempt to slip in easily and surreptitiously" (white)

Metal represents hard, edged, unbreakable energy, represented by the statement "My forces launch an immediate and decisive attack against your forces as they attempt to build strength and move into an advantegous position" (red)

It would’ve been nice to have green, white, and red ninjas. It would have been great to have a gold ninja with all colors! Maybe some ninjas will have slightly off color abilities, but probably not.

This makes you wonder: did Wizards perform any research for Kamigawa, involving ninjas, samurai and the sort?

-Velessar

I thought part of red’s new image was "the trickster". Ninja don’t fall too far from that: Ninja make traps for people to fall into, and do all kinds of unsavory things that more noble people wouldn’t consider.

Ninja seemed to work in red; sure, not green or white, but in red it works.

Any small wonder that if being smart and tricky are black and blue traits, that only black and blue are going to get more of the pie? (Oh, starting a riot, mentioning the color pie again). Red isn’t stupid, just straitfoward.... normally. The whole "temporary stealing" and "redirection" add tricky to it’s character.

I wanna know why Ninja aren’t red! (Red has a serious shortage of mechanics too; this one seemed to fit).

- Dragon Bloodthirsty

Velessar & Dragon Bloodthirsty,

Could we have put Ninjas in all five colors? Possibly. Could they have been in red? Almost certainly. Should we have? This goes to the root of another big R&D conundrum – how much access should each color have to a mechanic? If we always segregate mechanics (meaning we specifically do not put them in every color) we miss interesting opportunities to make cool cards. If we never segregate then we start nibbling away at the unique feel we’ve established for each color. The answer is that R&D tries to strike a balance. Sometimes we limit a mechanic and sometimes we spread it across all five colors.

With Ninjas in particular I think we made the right choice. Kamigawa block has a flavor theme that the designers tried hard to imbue throughout the design. Ninjas were designed to be as cool and flavorful as possible. Inventing reasons to have white, green and red Ninjas seemed to take away from the core of what the Ninjas wanted. Our Ninjas aren’t tricksters. They’re mean, sneaky underhanded assassins and spies. And to us, that was black and blue. To quote The Incredibles: “If everyone’s special then no one’s special.”

引用元
THREAD ROVER Posted in Making Magic on February 7, 2005
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/thread-rover-2005-02-07

どの記事への反応という訳ではありませんが、以前（※１）取り上げた、忍者が赤で作られたという嘘エピソードに関係のある話です。忍者の色を拡張できないか？という声を紹介しています。１人は五行思想（木・火・土・金・水）に絡めて５色すべてに、もう１人は赤を加えた３色に、という要望です。

マロー曰く、５色全てに忍者を作ることは可能だし、特に赤にも作れる可能性は高い、とのことです。これは中々興味深い言及ではないでしょうか。

一方で、結局そうしなかった理由も述べています。まず、メカニズムを５色すべてに作ることのメリットは、カードデザインの幅を広げることです。デメリットは各色や勢力の特徴づけがしにくくなることです。また、神河における忍者に求められていたものは、トリックスターではなく、暗殺者やスパイだということです。それに相応しいのは、青と黒以外にはありません。

こうしたことを踏まえると、神河とは別の次元、あるいは変化の起きた神河で忍者を作る場合に、青黒以外の忍者を作る可能性は決してゼロではないと考えています。

オリジナルエキスパンションを作るときの参考になる、面白い話でした。


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神河当時 - おまけのエピソード
https://researchofkamigawa.diarynote.jp/202102082019017422/
神河当時 - おまけのエピソードの真偽
https://researchofkamigawa.diarynote.jp/202103182134409876/

昨日の記事の続きです。

But wait, the Ninja talk isn’t over yet. Here’s a few letters in response to “When Ninjas Attack”:

Anyone else notice how similar Ninjutsu is to Super Haste?

-homestar

Homestar,

This might sound odd, but I didn’t think of the similarity until it was pointed out in the thread. I created both mechanics. In each case, I came at the problem from a very different direction. For ninjutsu, I was trying to find a flavorful ability that mimicked the sneakiness of a ninja. For super haste, I was trying to find a mechanic that made sense being called “super haste”. I think the interesting part though is what this says about the creative process. Obviously, deep in my head was this idea about different ways to play a card than we previously had done. Both creative exercises led me to the same section in my head but because I got there from different directions I never noticed the similarity. Very interesting.
引用元
THREAD ROVER Posted in Making Magic on February 7, 2005
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/thread-rover-2005-02-07

以前の記事、忍者のプレビュー（※１）に対する反応です。忍術と超速攻が似ているのでは？という指摘です。

マローは指摘されるまで気付かなかったそうです。私もそうですが。忍術がフレイバー的な理由からデザインされたのに対して、超速攻がメカニズム的な理由からデザインされました。それらが結果的に類似しているというのは、中々面白いことです。

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神河当時 - 忍者が登場した理由としなかった理由
https://researchofkamigawa.diarynote.jp/202101202208598713/
神河当時 - 忍術のデザイン
https://researchofkamigawa.diarynote.jp/202101212116385974/

One of the interesting things about the threads is that certain voices are heard again and again. My next post comes from last week’s column “Ninja & Pirates & Myrs… Oh My!” And once again, we have our friend, Boris the Dwarf:

I am so tired of hearing this argument. It’s a freakin fantasy game! It doesn’t have to make sense. If it did, then a Cinder Wall could never hold a Bonesplitter or wear Lightning Greaves. But no one ever questions that when it happens.

But if you’re looking for some justification, there’s plenty of canon out there about how Merfolk can take human form and walk on land. Look no further than the classic movie "Splash."

More to the point of what I really wanted to say, I laughed out loud when I saw Maro’s theme: "Do Ninjas Belong in Magic?"

Not because it was a bad topic, but because it is so out of character for him to pull such an obvious PR "Love Magic, Love Ninjas" stunt.

What the heck did you think his answer was going to be?

"So, at the end of this hypothetical argument played out through the non-sensical visualization, we can conclude Ninjas don’t really belong in Magic after all."

That would never have happened.

C’mon Mark, resist Randy Buehler’s call for you to turn to the dark side and stay honest with your readers. You’ve written some great pieces, and a handful of bad ones, but this one is the most dismal article yet. Please don’t do it again. It’s okay to say why you think Ninjas belong in Magic, but please don’t ask what is nothing more than a rhetorical question with an answer that doesn’t play out one way or the other toward that response.

- Boris the Dwarf

Boris,

While the dark side does have pretty things like anger and hatred, I’ve made a conscious effort to stay on the jedi side of Magic writing. It was never my intent to present the “Do Ninjas Belong In Magic?” as anything more than a rhetorical question. (It was Ninja Week after all.) It was supposed to represent a larger issue, which is Magic’s ongoing struggle to maintain an identity while ever increasing the types of creatures it represents. I felt that it was an interesting conflict that most of my readers might not have been aware of. My answer wasn’t so much about explaining why we do it as it was to explain the ramifications on the Creative Team for deciding to do it. If the game needs Ninjas, how does the Creative Team make them Magic Ninjas?

As far as the Cinder Wall holding the Bonesplitter, the Creative Team has long ago abandoned the idea that every single thing in the game makes creative sense. Most equipment, for instance, creatively speaking is designed for humanoids, but Magic doesn’t mechanically make separations between creature types when spelling out what a creature can do. I believe this is the right call, that this is a place where mechanics needs to trump flavor because the game is more interesting if the elephant can wear greaves. That said, there are places where flavor should trump mechanics. Just because the designers can think it up, doesn’t mean that it’s the best thing for Magic to have. There are numerous things that kill designs: rules, layout issues, templating concerns, general confusion. I consider creative concerns to be on that list.
引用元
THREAD ROVER Posted in Making Magic on February 7, 2005
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/thread-rover-2005-02-07

以前の記事、忍者はマジックなのか？（※１）に対する反応を紹介しています。曰く、「《燃えがらの壁/Cinder Wall》が《骨断ちの矛槍/Bonesplitter》や《稲妻のすね当て/Lightning Greaves》をつけてるファンタジーなんだから、こういう議論はうんざり」とのことです。

それはその通りであり、フレイバー的整合性よりもメカニズムによる面白さが優先されます。ただし、それは常に、というわけではありません。また、あの記事は、フレイバー的な理由づけをするとしたら？といった考えがクリエイティブチームに与えた影響の話である、とのことです。

忍者の持つ忍術がフレイバー面から作られたメカニズムである一方で、忍者の存在自体はフレイバー的な議論を引き起こすのは面白い対比だと思います。

※１
神河当時 - 忍者はマジックなのか？
https://researchofkamigawa.diarynote.jp/202103232136079349/

Q: Is it possible to announce playing Sickening Shoal and splice Horobi’s Whisper removing from the game the Whisper itself to pay the Shoal’s alternate cost? --Dave P.

A: Yes, the Whisper is still in your hand, and paying costs (like removing the Whisper) comes after you’ve announced the spell and any splices.

Q: Can you play Devouring Greed and splice on Horobi’s Whisper with only two cards in your graveyard if you’re sacrificing two Spirits to the Greed?

A: Yes, you can. While mana must be in your pool before paying costs, the costs themselves are paid in any order. You can sacrifice the Spirits for the additional cost on the Greed and then remove the two cards plus the two Spirits to pay for the Whisper’s splice.

*Extra* Be aware that this wouldn’t work if the Spirits you sacrifice are tokens-- they’re in the graveyard until state-based effects are checked, but they’re not actually cards. And also remember that the Devouring Greed is still on the Stack, so it can’t be one of the cards removed for a spliced-on Whisper.

Q: Could you clear something up for me? With regard to Minamo’s Meddling, where it says " each card with the same name as a card spliced onto that spell." does it mean "any card" (as opposed to "one card")? --Dave D.

A: Yes, any copies of a spliced-on card will be discarded. If you play Devouring Greed and splice on a Horobi’s Whisper, playing Minamo’s Meddling would cause you to discard all copies of Horobi’s Whisper that are in your hand no matter how many you spliced. If you’re holding some other card that wasn’t spliced on, that card would be fine.

Q: What happens if I Wear Away targeting a Pattern of Rebirth and splice on a Horobi’s Whisper targeting the creature that has the Pattern on it? --Paul S.

A: Spells with spliced parts are executed in the order written starting with the original spell and then adding the splice portions in the order the player specified. In this case, since the Wear Away is the base spell, the Pattern would be destroyed, and then the previously enchanted creature would be destroyed. The Pattern doesn’t trigger.

*Extra* If you splice Wear Away onto Horobi’s Whisper instead, you’ll get the opposite effect. The creature will be destroyed which triggers the Pattern, and then the Wear Away part will destroy the Pattern. Then the game would check state-based effects (which would have put the Pattern in the graveyard if it were still around), the Pattern trigger would get stacked, and the active player would get priority.
Be careful how you’re announcing your spliced spells, and be sure to think about their order before you get started!

引用元
BETRAYAL ON THE STREETS Posted in Feature on February 5, 2005
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/betrayal-streets-2005-02-05

恒例のQ&A記事です。

《崩老卑の囁き/Horobi’s Whisper》がやたらに登場します。連繫コストを使った、テクニカルな動きが色々考えられるためでしょうか。

あとは、《沈黙の預見者、ウヨウ/Uyo, Silent Prophet》が『神河物語』のカードながら大量に質問が来ています。

Interestingly enough, there are two other awesome Black cards for sacrificing multiple Zubera at once: Death Pit Offering and Barter in Blood. Barter is an easy call as it is an awesome card on its own, but the Death Pit Offering once again comes through in an interesting situation to provide awesome synergy with a bunch of Zubera on the table…especially if one of them happens to be Dripping-Tongue Zubera! Just imagine how your opponent will feel after you sac your guys for multiple effects and end up with a bunch of 3/3s as the result!

The other important part of this deck is going to be the mana fixing. With all those separate colors of Zubera, some drastic measures are needed. My first instinct was to look to green for the solution, using the dynamic duo of land fetching, Kodama’s Reach and Sakura-Tribe Elder. But, as is turns out, the Elder was not enough to satisfy the color requirements of the deck, so I decided to go with Fertile Ground instead, since it can give you all five colors in one shot.

The end result?

A bucketful of Zebras.

BUILDING ON A BUDGET: COLORFUL ZUBERAS (LESS THAN 30 TICKETS)
Creature (20)
4 Silent-Chant Zubera
4 Floating-Dream Zubera
4 Ember-Fist Zubera
4 Dripping-Tongue Zubera
4 Ashen-Skin Zubera

Sorcery (11)
4 Kodama’s Reach
3 Devouring Greed
4 Barter in Blood

Enchantment (7)
4 Fertile Ground
3 Death Pit Offering

Land (22)
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Island
11 Forest
8 Swamp

60 Cards

引用元
COLORFUL ZUBERAS Posted in Building on a Budget on February 4, 2005
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/building-budget/colorful-zuberas-2005-02-04

安価デッキの紹介記事です。

ずべらを最大限活用するため、５色全てを４枚ずつフル投入しています。サクリ台としては、定番の《貪る強欲/Devouring Greed》に加えて、《死の奈落の捧げ物/Death Pit Offering》も追加しています。

動きは、マナ加速してずべらを並べて一気にサクる、というわかりやすいものです。安価なことに加えて、ここも初心者に向いているポイントでしょう。

On to the ninja cards themselves. As I looked at our old notes from Betrayers development, I’m struck by how wildly some of the cards changed during the process. What that says to me is that no one had a good intuitive grasp on just how good or bad the ninjutsu mechanic was, and that we had to play the tar out of them all for a long time, both in limited and constructed, before I felt we were even in the ballpark. Some card-by-card notes:

Walker of Secret Ways.
This card was slated to be a moonfolk ninja. It flew, and its saboteur ability was to mill your opponent. It also had a normal “moonfolk” ability to return ninjas to your hand that required you to return lands to your hand to activate it, but all that didn’t fit on a card (flying + ninjutsu + saboteur ability + moonfolk ability). So it, like the other blue ninjas, became human. Even so, the milling ability still didn’t fit on the card—the ability we found that could fit in such a small space was the “peek” ability there now.

引用元
YOU SHOULD HAVE BLOCKED Posted in Latest Developments on February 4, 2005
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/latest-developments/you-should-have-blocked-2005-02-04

個々の忍者カードが、開発中にどのように変化したのか、についての記事です。

初期では《抜け道を歩む者/Walker of Secret Ways》はムーンフォーク・忍者であり、それゆえに飛行とムーンフォーク固有の能力があったそうです。忍術とサボタージュに加えてこれでは、流石に多すぎるため、結局普通の人間になりました。裏返せば、ムーンフォークが忍者をやること自体はフレイバー的に問題ないということでしょうか。また、サボタージュ能力は、ライブラリー破壊だったのですが、スペースの都合で覗き見能力になったとあります。現在のように、キーワード処理「切削」になったのであれば、そのままでも問題なかったかもしれません。

今もし作り直すなら、違った形になった可能性は低くないでしょう。そうした想像もまた面白いところです。

2021/09/08追記
この記事（など）への反響に言及した記事がありました。
MAIL ON THE STACK Posted in Latest Developments on April 8, 2005
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/latest-developments/mail-stack-2005-04-08-0

Seeing Stars
And now it’s time to really veer off the path. Shuriken’s a wacky little card. What occurred to me upon reading it was that if it’s attached to a non-Ninja creature, and I use it to deal damage to my own creature, I retain control of it. Wow! Normally retaining control of a card you control isn’t exciting. (Most cards have that ability built in.) And having your equipment become unattached is a pain—unless you were going to move it to a new creature anyway. Which you were. So that creature can now tap to deal damage to your own creature. Seems insane, right? Well, sure… unless that punching bag of a creature is Mogg Maniac. Preferably one equipped with Slagwurm Armor or Ensouled Scimitar. Or both.

SURE I CAN
Creature (16)
4 Auriok Steelshaper
4 Goblin Matron
4 Leonin Shikari
4 Mogg Maniac

Sorcery (4)
4 Steelshaper’s Gift

Instant (2)
2 Overblaze

Artifact (10)
2 Ensouled Scimitar
4 Shuriken
4 Slagwurm Armor

Enchantment (4)
4 Furnace of Rath

Land (24)
4 Plains
10 Mountain
4 Battlefield Forge
2 Grand Coliseum
2 Mirrodin’s Core
2 Tendo Ice Bridge
60 Cards

引用元
THE DAY THE NINJAS FELL Posted in Feature on February 3, 2005
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/day-ninjas-fell-2005-02-03

さまざまな忍者デッキを紹介した記事です。

シンプルに、最速で忍術召喚を狙うもの、《静風の日暮/Higure, the Still Wind》の能力を《奸謀/Conspiracy》でコンボするもの、《手裏剣/Shuriken》を活用するもの、などがあります。最速で忍術を狙うものは、実際に活躍したデッキにも通じる部分があるので、着眼点は悪くないと言えるでしょう。

昨日の記事の続きです。

February 28, 2005
Q: "Why is the protagonist of the Kamigawa block books named Toshi Umezawa when the card based on him is named Toshiro Umezawa?"
--Daniel
Columbia, South Carolina

A: From Brady Dommermuth, Magic Creative Director:

"Toshi is short for Toshiro, Daniel. We wanted to use the full name on the card even though the novels use the shortened version."

引用元
ASK WIZARDS - FEBRUARY, 2005 Posted in Feature on February 1, 2005
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/ask-wizards-february-2005-2005-02-01

小説では「俊/Toshi」と呼ばれているのに、カード名が《梅澤俊郎/Toshiro Umezawa》なのはなぜなのか？という質問です。

単純に省略形（あだ名）で呼ばれている、というのが回答です。実際、小説などの会話において一々フルネームで呼ぶ方が不自然でしょう。

ゲームにおいてもあだ名で呼ばれることは珍しくありません。ただ、《梅澤俊郎/Toshiro Umezawa》よりも《梅澤の十手/Umezawa’s Jitte》がそう呼ばれているようですが……。

昨日の記事の続きです。

February 22, 2005
Q: "How far in advance do you design sets? Are you still developing Saviors of Kamigawa, or is that set done and you are working on the next block? This is just something that I have always been curious about."
--Charlie
New Jersey, USA

A: From Brian Tinsman, Magic R&D:

"Charlie,

"It takes longer than you might think to build a set. In general, card design for a big set will start about 20 months before the release date. After it leaves R&D’s hands, it has to go through editing, typesetting, collation (randomization), manufacturing, and distribution. So to answer your question, Saviors has been ’in the can’ for some time. As of Feb. 2005 we’ve just finished development of Ravnica: City of Guilds (Oct ’05 release) and are well under way with the design of the set codenamed ’Snap’ (the Oct. ’06 set) among others."

引用元
ASK WIZARDS - FEBRUARY, 2005 Posted in Feature on February 1, 2005
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/ask-wizards-february-2005-2005-02-01

セットのデザインがどのくらい前に行われているのか？『神河救済』はまだ開発中なのか？という質問です。

回答は、準備中とのことです。セットはR＆Dによるデザインが終わった後も、色々な作業工程があるため、デザインは20ヶ月前から始められているようです。

それゆえに、土壇場で見つかったエラーに対処できない場合もあるという例が、『ストリクスヘイヴン：魔法学院』の日本画ミスティカルアーカイブのアート入れ替わり問題なのでしょう。

February 21, 2005
Q: "How come all of the Kamigawa black kill spells are lacking the clause ’cannot be regenerated’?"
--Miguel
Davis, California, USA

A: From Brian Schneider, Magic R&D:

"I believe that you’ll be seeing less of ’cannot be regenerated’ going forward. It’s been an issue in R&D for a while now to let regeneration actually matter. After all, what’s the point of having regeneration if all of the kill spells get around it?"

引用元
ASK WIZARDS - FEBRUARY, 2005 Posted in Feature on February 1, 2005
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/ask-wizards-february-2005-2005-02-01

WotCに送られた質問に答える記事"ASK WIZARDS"から、神河関連のものを見ていきます。

神河の黒の除去呪文は、すべて「再生できない」がない理由はなにか？という質問です。『神河謀叛』での質問ですが、神河ブロック全体で調べてみました。再録である《汚れ/Befoul》を唯一の例外として、確かに「再生できない」はありません。このことは気づいていませんでした。

回答は、除去呪文にそれをつけていたら、再生の意味がなくなるので、それを減らす傾向にある、とのことでした。実にもっともな理由です。そのタイミングが神河であった理由までは」わかりませんが。

「再生できない」が問題だった一方で、「再生」の方も非直感的で複雑という問題があり、「破壊不能」に置き換わりました。そして、破壊不能が登場したのはミラディンブロックです。「破壊不能」がミラディンブロックで登場し、「再生できない」が神河ブロックで消え始める。除去耐性の転換点だったと言えます。

This week’s Swimming With Sharks asks a simple question: "which Ninja cards are viable in constructed?" As is often the case with simple questions, the answer is actually pretty complex.

When we evaluate new cards for constructed, there are a couple of different roles that we look to fill. The most obvious is finding replacements for old staples when they rotate out (like Maro for Erhnam Djinn in G/W Armageddon) or improving a deck by replacing a card with a more efficient version of the same (like Shock replacing Kindle in Deadguy Red). Least common is a card, like Mind’s Desire, that can serve as the cornerstone of a whole new deck; though when such a deck appears, yet another category opens up... the cards that are made constructed quality by such a deck, and usually only in that deck (say Task Force or Myr Enforcer). From my first blush, I would say that the Ninja fall mostly into the last two categories.

引用元
HI-YAH REDUX Posted in Feature on February 2, 2005
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/hi-yah-redux-2005-02-02

忍者が構築で活躍できるかを考察したものです。新しいメカニズムが活躍するかどうかの議論は常ですが、忍者は特に期待値が高かっただけに、注目度は一段と高かったでしょう。

もちろん、個々のカードによって強弱があるので、一概には言えません。１枚１枚を取り上げて考察しています。クリーチャーを手札に戻すことを、デメリットと捉えてどう埋めるか、あるいはCIPを繰り返すメリットと捉えてどうシナジーさせるか、という点に注目しているようでした。

ここでは予測ですが、私達はすでに結果を知っています。《深き刻の忍者/Ninja of the Deep Hours》が圧倒的に使用され、その他はたまに使われた、という結果です。考察では、最高の忍者がこれだと考えられていました。的中したと言っても過言ではないでしょう。

Wrapping Up
All of that said, I suppose it is no surprise that the deck I’m going to use this week is White Weenie for Standard. Now, I’ve spent a bit of time working on White Weenie for Standard for States, with my fellow co-columnist Nate Heiss and I briefly having a fairly large affection for the Bushi Tenderfoot in our initial builds (quoth Nate Heiss, “He’s like a one-mana Moat”). At first glance, Bushi Tenderfoot seemed great, but one of the problems that kept on being run into was that you’d have to work really hard to make him survive combat and flip. Now all you need is a Jitte with a counter on it, and it becomes very easy. And if he does flip, oh man! (P.S., he starts out as a Soldier…)

SS - WHITE WEENIE
Creature (29)
4 Savannah Lions
3 Auriok Glaivemaster
3 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
3 Bushi Tenderfoot
4 Samurai of the Pale Curtain
4 Leonin Skyhunter
2 Leonin Shikari
4 Auriok Steelshaper
2 Hokori, Dust Drinker

Sorcery (2)
2 Steelshaper’s Gift

Artifact (9)
3 Umezawa’s Jitte
1 Leonin Bola
1 Mask of Memory
4 Chrome Mox

Land (20)
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
1 Eiganjo Castle
15 Plains

60 Cards

引用元
UMEZAWA’S JITTE Posted in Feature on February 2, 2005
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/umezawa’s-jitte-2005-02-02

《梅澤の十手/Umezawa’s Jitte》のシナジーを考察しています。その結果、先制攻撃、警戒、飛行、装備品参照カード、といった要素から、白との相性がいいとの結論になり、白単ウィニーデッキを構築しました。

ただ、後の使われ方を見ると、特に色は選ばず採用されていたようです。それこそ、無色である利点なので、活躍の仕方としては望ましいと言えるでしょう。もっとも、あまりにもみんなが使うと、それはそれで問題なので、難しいところですが。