昨日の記事の続きです。

The Shrine Effigies
Schneider came up with the idea of having the new cycle of Effigies mirror the effects generated by the legendary “Shrine” enchantments in the set, and also designed the new “twist” of each Effigy triggering off of any other Effigy dying, not just themselves. The new cycle was put into the set at uncommon.

White Shrine Effigy
1W
Creature — Effigy
0/2
When CARDNAME is put into a graveyard from play, gain 2 life. For each Effigy that went to the graveyard this turn, gain an additional 2 life.

This is quite close to how the cards actually went to press, but a few more changes went down in the interim…

引用元
FIVE SMALL SPIRITS Posted in Latest Developments on October 15, 2004
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/latest-developments/five-small-spirits-2004-10-15

2枚のカードから、ずべらサイクルが作られると決まった後に行われた変更は、「祭殿と効果を揃えること」「他のずべら（この時点ではEffigy）も参照すること」でした。

更に言えば、祭殿は明神とも関連があります。コモン・アンコモン・レアそれぞれに関連したサイクルが作られる、という美しさが生じました。

近年、こうしたサイクルと言うと『アモンケット』の《活力の試練》《活力のカルトーシュ》《ロナスの碑》《不屈の神ロナス》を思い出します。

これらはフレイバー的に関連するだけでなく、能力のシナジーも考えて作り込まれています（※１）。

ずべらと祭殿と明神はその先駆けと言えるかもしれません。




※１
Making Magic -マジック開発秘話- 2017.4.18 『アモンケット』に入ろう　その３
https://mtg-jp.com/reading/mm/0018677/



2021/03/09 追記
日本語訳を見つけました。
五体の小さなスピリット――ずべらの一生
https://web.archive.org/web/20041113051329/http://www.hobbyjapan.co.jp/magic/articles/files/20041027_01.html

昨日の記事の続きです。

The Inspiration
When the file was handed over to development, it contained those two cards—both Spirits, both with 0 power, both common, and both with “goes to the graveyard” triggered abilities. Developer Devin Low had an idea, and made a comment on the blue “wall”:

DAL 10/15: Very similar to this set’s Blazing Effigy, but the two are not sync’ed up. Could make the link stronger, or even an effigy cycle.

Within a couple weeks, lead developer Brian Schneider was on board with Devin’s suggestion.

bs 10/28: I like this card but am intrigued by the idea of an ’effigy cycle.’ (especially if we do goblin bombardment-type cards that let you sacrifice creatures, which the team deems there should be)

A word on cycles… some designers, especially Mark Rosewater, really enjoy cycles and submit their sets full of them. Others, like Kamigawa lead designer Brian Tinsman, are not as cycle-happy, and development often adds cycles to their sets. Cycles are a great way to take one interesting card and flesh it out, thus filling holes vacated by less interesting cards.

引用元
FIVE SMALL SPIRITS Posted in Latest Developments on October 15, 2004
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/latest-developments/five-small-spirits-2004-10-15

昨日紹介した、2枚のカードには、「スピリット」「パワー0」「死亡誘発能力」といった多くの共通点があります。

そこで、Devin Lowが、これらをまとめられるのでは、という提案をしたことが、サイクルが誕生したキッカケでした。

初めからサイクルを作ろうとした訳でもなく、2枚の別々のカードからサイクルになった、という開発経緯は面白い所です。



2021/03/09 追記
日本語訳を見つけました。
五体の小さなスピリット――ずべらの一生
https://web.archive.org/web/20041113051329/http://www.hobbyjapan.co.jp/magic/articles/files/20041027_01.html

The Beginning
Here are two cards that came in from the Champions design team. The first was a common blue “Wall” that let you draw a card when it died—a perfect target for the soulshift ability. The second card was an homage to the very fun but oft-forgotten Legends common Blazing Effigy.

CU01_RTH
Delaying Wall
U
Creature — Spirit
0/1
When CARDNAME is put into a graveyard from play, draw a card.

UR01_RTH
Blazing Effigy 2
1R
Creature — Spirit
1/3
When CARDNAME is put into a graveyard from play, it deals 3 damage to target creature or player. If CARDNAME received damage from another CARDNAME this turn, it deals three times that damage instead.

Blazing Effigy 2 was a major improvement over the original; not only could it attack for damage, but the “chaining” effect generated when they died was quite potent. It was eventually moved from uncommon to common and weakened to this:

CR06_RTH
[Lava Kami]
1R
Creature — Spirit
0/2
When CARDNAME is put into a graveyard from play, it deals 2 damage to target creature or player. If CARDNAME received damage from another CARDNAME this turn, it deals three times that damage instead.

引用元
FIVE SMALL SPIRITS Posted in Latest Developments on October 15, 2004
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/latest-developments/five-small-spirits-2004-10-15

神河で人気の種族、ずべらができるまでを解説した記事です。

元になった、あるいは発端となったカードが２枚示されています。

１枚は死亡誘発で１ドローするスピリット。

もう１枚が《Blazing Effigy》を調整したスピリットです。

《Blazing Effigy》は、死亡誘発で火力になるクリーチャーです。同じ名前のクリーチャーがいると、それに火力を打ち込むことで、連鎖的に威力が上がります。

なお、MTG wikiでは、このカードとずべらとの類似点が指摘されています。

これをうまくアレンジしたのが、神河物語のずべらといえそう。処理方法はまったく異なるが、同族が同じターンに死ぬと強い効果を発揮するという点で類似している。
引用元
http://mtgwiki.com/wiki/Blazing_Effigy

ただし、この記事へのリンクはありません。

2020/09/02 追記
現在wikiは更新され、記事へのリンクがあります。
また、ずべらの項目においても、この記事へのリンクや、元ネタが《Blazing Effigy》であることが追記されています。
http://mtgwiki.com/wiki/%E3%81%9A%E3%81%B9%E3%82%89



2021/03/09 追記
日本語訳を見つけました。
五体の小さなスピリット――ずべらの一生
https://web.archive.org/web/20041113051329/http://www.hobbyjapan.co.jp/magic/articles/files/20041027_01.html

It’s Spirit Week -- how rude it is for the straw hat-wearing jushi (wizard) in the art of Rend Spirit to blast that big oni (demonic spirit).

Rend Spirit art by Stephen Tappin

But the kami will have their revenge. A similar kami gets revenge for the kami cause by ripping up the same jushi in the art of Rend Flesh!

Rend Flesh art by Stephen Tappin

引用元
"REND" RENDERINGS Posted in Arcana on October 14, 2004
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/arcana/rend-renderings-2004-10-14

対となる《霊魂の奪取/Rend Spirit》と《肉体の奪取/Rend Flesh》のアートについての記事です。どちらもStephen Tappinがイラストを手掛けています。

この手の、そのブロックのメインテーマとなるクリーチャー「以外」の除去は、《肉体の奪取》が初であるためか、そのページに亜種がまとめられています。

http://mtgwiki.com/wiki/%E8%82%89%E4%BD%93%E3%81%AE%E5%A5%AA%E5%8F%96/Rend_Flesh

また、この手のカードとしては、「○○でない除去」と「○○である除去」が両方ともあるのは珍しいです。

『イニストラード』では、《夜の犠牲/Victim of Night》と《忌まわしきものの処刑者/Slayer of the Wicked》が似たような関係とも言えますが、カードタイプも色もコストも違います。

他のセットと合わせて使用する場合に、強さがあまりにも違い過ぎるため、仕方のないことではあります。

The Grand Prix–Austin field featured just under 400 players and when that event was honed down to a final match, it was again between a relative unknown and a Pro Tour-caliber player. Jon Sonne has a current string of money finishes and was probably the most prominent member of the TOGIT/CMU crowd without an championship trophy on his proverbial mantle. He drafted a powerhouse red-white deck with four copies of Cage of Hands.

It says something about the depth of white that Jon had four copies of what many pundits consider the best white common and there were still two other decks that were at least half white at the final table. One of those players was finalist Eugene Levin, a Los Angeles-based Pro Tour aspirant who nudged Blessed Breath a little bit higher on everyone’s pick orders with his Houdini-like use of the card in the Top 8. While three players drafting white might seem like the color was contested, consider this: I witnessed one draft where five out of six players in a row took white cards out of the same pack.

Sonne took out Levin in two games to earn $2,400 and the Grand Prix trophy. It was a long time coming for the TOGIT star. While Jon has made the Top 8 of a Grand Prix before and has several high Pro Tour finishes to his credit, he had never won a major event. Sonne is known as a deliberate player, and like YMG’s Dave Humpherys, would often find himself saddled with unfinished matches going to time. Over the past year or so he seems to have made a conscious effort to hasten the pace of his play and it has shown in his results.

I spoke to Jon about his success, his reputation, and the extraordinary base of players that have emerged from Somerville, N.J., at a little store known as TOGIT.

引用元
A LONG TIME COMING Posted in The Week That Was on October 14, 2004
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/week-was/long-time-coming-2004-10-14

グランプリオースティン04/Grand Prix-Austin 2004での優勝者、Jonathan Sonneへのインタビュー記事です。

神河環境への話よりは、MTG歴などの話がメインでした。

過小評価されているカードとして《目覚めの悪夢/Waking Nightmare》を挙げていたのが気になりました。ただ、このインタビューではそれ以上深く掘り下げてはいません。

昨日の記事の続きです。

Snakes Aren’t the Only Sibilant Creatures
And now we head into the wayback machine. There were Spirits around long before Kamigawa, of course. While perusing the list, two caught my eye for their, um, synergy. Filling your opponent’s hand with cards usually isn’t a good thing, but Sibilant Spirit can do that (if your opponent cooperates), which will make your Entropic Specter (which is inexplicably a Spirit, not a Specter, as Mark Rosewater discussed on Monday) huge. This got me thinking: How does Sibilant Spirit’s drawback get neutralized? How can I get to a situation where my opponent declines the card draw?

Dreamborn Muse, another Spirit, can punish my opponent for having a full hand. But if I’ve got a 5/6 flyer and, hopefully, another that’s 6/6 or 7/7 or so, then milling doesn’t seem like a top priority to me. No, I figure that Entropic Specter is on the right track. There are other cards along these lines: Multani, Maro-Sorcerer. Storm Seeker. Underworld Dreams. Viseling and its Black Visey ilk, including Dark Suspicions. They all turn cards in my opponent’s hand into damage to his head.

IT’S A DRAW
Creature (17)
4 Entropic Specter
1 Multani, Maro-Sorcerer
1 Nullmage Advocate
2 Psychatog
1 Seizan, Perverter of Truth
3 Sibilant Spirit
2 Soldevi Sentry
3 Viseling

Instant (2)
1 Pulse of the Grid
1 Storm Seeker

Artifact (4)
4 Howling Mine

Enchantment (14)
2 Arcane Laboratory
3 Dark Suspicions
1 Malignant Growth
2 Oath of Scholars
3 Standstill
1 Underworld Dreams
2 Zombie Infestation

Land (23)
4 Island
8 Swamp
1 Grand Coliseum
3 Llanowar Wastes
2 Polluted Delta
1 Tainted Isle
1 Tainted Wood
3 Underground River

60 Cards

That deck is, obviously, a hodge-podge. It should be streamlined—more 4-ofs, less 1-ofs—but for now it serves as an idea cache. I don’t know which cards in which combinations work out the best, so they’re all in there for you to adapt however you see fit.

引用元
IN HIGH SPIRITS Posted in Feature on October 14, 2004
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/high-spirits-2004-10-14

このデッキは、『神河物語』以前のスピリット、《風鳴りの精/Sibilant Spirit》《無規律の死霊/Entropic Specter》に注目したデッキです。どちらも対戦相手の手札が増えることに関した能力です。

そこで、《風鳴りの精/Sibilant Spirit》《真実を捻じ曲げるもの、逝斬/Seizan, Perverter of Truth》《吠えたける鉱山/Howling Mine》《行き詰まり/Standstill》も加えて対戦相手の手札を増やし、《無規律の死霊/Entropic Specter》《地獄界の夢/Underworld Dreams》《万力機械人/Viseling》でダメージソースに変換してしていきます。

このデッキの方向性は興味深いものがあります。

というのも、のちのスタンダードで登場する、ハウリング・オウルに通じるものがあるからです。そちらは、《吠えたける鉱山/Howling Mine》のようなドローだけでなく、バウンスも採用していることが違います。バウンスだと、相手の脅威をさばきつつ、相手の手札を増やす、１枚で２つの役割を持たせられるのが面白いところです。スピリット、という点でも《三日月の神/Kami of the Crescent Moon》がいます。ドロー手段兼ブロッカーという、こちらも一石二鳥のカードになっています。

この記事が後のハウリング・オウル誕生のキッカケになっているのかもしれないと思うと、面白いところです。

昨日の記事の続きです。

Introducing the The Unspeakable

One of my most common requests over the past week was to build a The Unspeakable deck. But I don’t think you really need me to figure out a combo that will get The Unspeakable directly into play. What I find much more interesting is a combo that Tobias Aberg and Ryan (just plain old Ryan) both suggested. They noted that Petals of Insight, while sometimes being a card-drawing spell, can also be construed as this:

PETALS TO THE METTLE
Creature (5)
1 The Unspeakable
4 Thief of Hope

Sorcery (8)
4 Channel the Suns
4 Petals of Insight

Instant (16)
4 Consuming Vortex
4 Peer Through Depths
4 Reach Through Mists
4 Sift Through Sands

Artifact (7)
3 Long-Forgotten Gohei
4 Spellweaver Helix

Land (24)
15 Island
1 Forest
3 City of Brass
3 Mirrodin’s Core
2 Salt Marsh

60 Cards

引用元
IN HIGH SPIRITS Posted in Feature on October 14, 2004
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/high-spirits-2004-10-14

《語られざるもの、忌話図/The Unspeakable》コンボデッキのリクエストが多かったそうです。

ただ、ここで紹介されているのは、異なるコンボも搭載されたデッキです。

《洞察力の花弁/Petals of Insight》が、マナさえあれば何度も唱えられることに注目しました。

《呪文織りのらせん/Spellweaver Helix》で《太陽との交感/Channel the Suns》を組み合わせることで、無限に秘儀を唱えることができます。

《遥か忘れられし御幣/Long-Forgotten Gohei》でコストを軽減していれば無限マナですし、《希望の盗人/Thief of Hope》がいれば無限ドレインです。

《語られざるもの、忌話図/The Unspeakable》とを呼び出すための３つの秘儀呪文はドローなので、連打していれば、自然とどちらかのコンボが成立するでしょう。

Clouding the Issue
And then there are the Spirits we actually care about. First up are a tight little clique of Spirits that have a quirky little history in Magic. Previously glimpsed on the Tempest Master Decoy and the Fifth Edition Flight, the Zebras… huh? Not Zebras? Zuberas? What the heck is a Zubera?

Although I can’t tell you what a Zubera is, my best (sarcastic) guess is that it’s Japanese for “lemming.” When one of these jumps off a cliff, the rest of them want to follow. Mechanically tied to the Shrines, these little critters can dissuade attacking in the early game (does anyone really want to run headfirst into a discard effect?) and can stack up for huge swings late in the game.

ZU TV TOUR
Creature (17)
4 Ashen-Skin Zubera
4 Dripping-Tongue Zubera
4 Floating-Dream Zubera
3 Hana Kami
2 Thief of Hope

Sorcery (12)
4 Death Cloud
4 Devouring Greed
4 Kodama’s Reach

Instant (3)
3 Soulless Revival

Artifact (4)
4 Long-Forgotten Gohei

Land (24)
2 Island
10 Swamp
10 Forest
1 City of Brass
1 Salt Marsh
60 Cards

引用元
IN HIGH SPIRITS Posted in Feature on October 14, 2004
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/high-spirits-2004-10-14

スピリット特集週間につき、スピリット・デッキの記事が執筆されました。

まずはずべらデッキです。

リミテッドでもずべらとのコンボで活躍した《貪る強欲/Devouring Greed》や、お隣『ミラディン』ブロックの《死の雲/Death Cloud》で一度に大量のずべらをサクって、ずべらの死亡誘発効果を最大限に発揮させます。

かと言って、そのコンボだけでなく、《遥か忘れられし御幣/Long-Forgotten Gohei》による全体強化や、《花の神/Hana Kami》と《魂無き蘇生/Soulless Revival》のループコンボなども搭載されています。

ずべらは今でも愛好するプレイヤーがいるほどですが、当時からある程度は注目されていたと言えます。

Sharks of the Magic world have a lot to look forward to. Not only do we have the Champions of Kamigawa Sealed Deck PTQs just kicking off, but we are also about to hit the annual Champs tournaments. This article is going to address both halves of the busy days ahead: The first part is going to be a bit of a follow-up to last week’s article on designing a sealed deck, and the second half is going to be an introduction to Champs.

Part I: PTQ at Neutral Ground - New York, 9 October 2004

I had a chance to play in the Sealed Deck PTQ at Neutral Ground this past weekend. I applied the principles that I talked about in last week’s article and came up with this:

CHAMPIONS OF KAMIGAWA SEALED DECK

Creature (15)
1 Cursed Ronin
1 Gibbering Kami
1 Kuro, Pitlord
1 Nezumi Cutthroat
1 Nezumi Graverobber
1 Wicked Akuba
2 Burr Grafter
1 Humble Budoka
1 Kami of the Hunt
1 Iname, Life Aspect
1 Order of the Sacred Bell
1 Orochi Eggwatcher
1 Orochi Leafcaller
1 Rootrunner
Sorcery (4)
1 Befoul
1 Devouring Greed
2 Kodama’s Reach
Instant (4)
1 Rend Spirit
1 Kodama’s Might
1 Strength of Cedars
1 Yamabushi’s Flame
Land (17)
8 Forest
1 Mountain
8 Swamp
40 Cards

The hardest part about building this deck was whether I should play Wear Away or Kuro, Pitlord as my last spell. Wear Away is actually quite good in a deck like this one because it would theoretically be vulnerable to Honden -- especially the blue Honden out of especially another green deck -- as well as faux-removal stall enchantments like Cage of Hands and Mystic Restraints. Moreover, Wear Away is just good in a high mana deck with a lot of Arcane and a decent number of Arcane interactions. Ultimately I played Kuro because I was pretty sure I could cast him (where most decks can’t), not to mention I wanted another body. Despite the fact that I lost every single game one of the Swiss, Kuro won me at least two matches.

As you can see, my deck lacked any legitimate bombs. As such, I had to build on a curve. Nezumi Graverobber was very good, but half the time, it just ended up trading for a 3/3 while I tried to pedal for position against a vastly superior deck. I played several 2 power creatures for 2 mana, including the aforementioned Nezumi Graverobber, the superb Nezumi Cutthroat, and the dangerous Wicked Akuba. One of the really great things about this deck was that I played Orochi Leafcaller -- a card that many players would simply overlook -- that let me get in for three free damage game after game. The Leafcaller is one of the best mana fixers in the history of Limited Magic – peer, in its own way, to the vaunted Nomadic Elf from Invasion -- that allowed me crazy curve draws that followed up with Wicked Akuba on turn two, and snuck in Yamabushi’s Flame and Cage of Hands out of nowhere, that no opponent could have have seen coming. The mana fixing element of this deck was clearly strong, with double Kodama’s Reach allowing me to play Yamabushi’s Flame with a lone Mountain and side in strategic off-color answers.

引用元
BUSY DAYS AHEAD Posted in Feature on October 13, 2004
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/busy-days-ahead-2004-10-13

シールドのPTQについての、自戦記です。

ボムには恵まれなかったため、テンポよく展開していくアグロデッキになりました。《鼠の殺し屋/Nezumi Cutthroat》はじめ、2マナパワー2が数枚取れていたことは幸いしたようです。

マナフィルターである《大蛇の葉詠み/Orochi Leafcaller》のおかげ、3色目の赤をタッチしやすくしたのも地味ながら勝利に貢献したでしょう。

Wrapping Up
With all of these ideas in mind, here is a simple sample deck that goes with a black beatdown approach:

Creature (15)
4 Carnophage
4 Withered Wretch
4 Rotting Giant
3 Seizan, Perverter of Truth

Instant (4)
4 Diabolic Edict

Artifact (9)
4 Tangle Wire
2 Chrome Mox
3 Mox Diamond

Enchantment (10)
4 Sarcomancy
2 Cover of Darkness
4 Crown of Suspicion

Land (22)
4 Wasteland
4 Polluted Delta
4 Bloodstained Mire
10 Swamp

60 Cards

Essentially, this deck runs a bunch of cheap threats and some good ways to get things out of the way. A Seizan in play can simply finish the opponent off by draining away their life after the initial rush (even if they do manage to draw good cards with him). Cover of Darkness can supply a great path of victory for either Zombies, Demons, or Spirits, depending on your board position. Tangle Wire is great in any Seizan deck, but in a beatdown deck it becomes especially good. I’m running a split selection of Moxes just to speed up the deck further, but even though I’m mono-black, I’m running more Mox Diamond just to help make the Rotting Giant better. For a similar reason, I’m running the full complement of eight lands that sacrifice to find Swamps, even though they can’t find anything else. If you start making a sideboard, Masticore is a great place to start. Not only does he shore up one of black’s notorious weaknesses (dealing with small Red creatures), but also he works wonderfully with Seizan. I helped work on a similar deck for Extended a few years back with Andy Wolf and the rest of Cabal Rogue, and I think you’ll find that the basic idea has a lot to offer.

引用元
SEIZAN, PERVERTER OF TRUTH Posted in Feature on October 13, 2004
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/seizan-perverter-truth-2004-10-13

《真実を捻じ曲げるもの、逝斬/Seizan, Perverter of Truth》のゾンビアグロデッキです。

誘発型能力の内、ドローでなくライフロスに目をつけ、フィニッシャーとして採用しています。

このほか、《姥の仮面/Uba Mask》とのシナジーや、《エルフの笛吹き/Elvish Piper》などで相手のターン終了時に出すテクニックなどを紹介しています。それらを中心にしたデッキを組むのもまた一興でしょう。

So, adding those cards and including the lands gives a final listing of:

Creature (12)
1 Soratami Cloudskater
1 Cruel Deceiver
1 Villainous Ogre
1 Kabuto Moth
1 Callous Deceiver
1 Soratami Rainshaper
1 Soratami Mirror-Guard
1 Mothrider Samurai
1 Soratami Savant
1 Scuttling Death
1 Gutwrencher Oni
1 Konda, Lord of Eiganjo

Sorcery (2)
1 Counsel of the Soratami
1 Befoul

Instant (6)
1 Reach Through Mists
1 Consuming Vortex
2 Sift Through Sands
1 Rend Spirit
1 Hideous Laughter

Artifact (1)
1 Journeyer’s Kite

Enchantment (2)
1 Cage of Hands
1 Mystic Restraints

Land (17)
7 Swamp
6 Island
1 Cloudcrest Lake
3 Plains
40 Cards

As I said before this looks creature light with only 12 in the deck but with the Sifts and Reach replacing themselves it actually works out like you’re playing 13 or 14, which is a bit more reasonable. You also have a lot of removal in this build and with both Cage and Restraint you have the chance to deal with opposing Soulshift cards and even the ridiculous Dragon Legends without triggering their effects.

The mana is about as good as you can hope for in a three-colour deck with both the Lake and the Kite aiding the splash.

引用元
CHAMPIONS SEALED DECK PRIMER: SCOTT’S BUILD Posted in Limited Information on October 11, 2004
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/limited-information/champions-sealed-deck-primer-scott%E2%80%99s-build-2004-10-11

以前の日記（※１）で、シールドデッキの組み方とそのサンプルを紹介したMike Floresの記事を引用しました。

今回の記事は、それと同じカードプールで、Scott Willsが組んだデッキが紹介されています。

基本的な色は同じですが、黒タッチの白青に対して、白タッチの青黒です。

これは、優秀な除去である《忌まわしい笑い/Hideous Laughter》と《汚れ/Befoul》が共にダブルシンボルで、タッチではやや扱いづらいということ、白はパーツがシングルシンボルなものが多い事が理由です。

同じプールでもデッキが異なる事、その構築理論は面白いところです。




※１
神河当時 - シールドデッキの作成例　Mike Flores
https://researchofkamigawa.diarynote.jp/202007162021267189/
CHAMPIONS SEALED DECK: MY BUILD Posted in Feature on October 6, 2004
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/champions-sealed-deck-my-build-2004-10-06

昨日の記事の続きです。

Sire of the Storm (Champions of Kamigawa)
One of the fun parts of writing these design columns is that I get to dig back into my files and find old versions of cards. Here is the earliest version of Sire of the Storm:

Blue Spirit #5
2UU
Creature - Spirit
2/4
Flying
Whenever a mystic spell is played, you may pay 1U to draw a card.

For starters, I called this Blue Spirit #5 because there were four Blue Spirits submitted before it. My version cost a little less but made you pay for the card draws. Development decided to not have mana costs associated with spiritcraft triggers so this was changed from four mana to six. At some point the 2/4 became a 3/3, I suppose to make it a little better.

Not much else to say about this one.

引用元
THAT’S THE SPIRIT Posted in Making Magic on October 11, 2004
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/%E2%80%99s-spirit-2004-10-11

これも初期案からの変更について書かれています。

最初はドローするために追加で(１)(青)を払う必要がありました。しかし、スピリットクラフトは追加でマナを支払う用にはしない、というデザインの方針から本体コストが引き上げられて調整された、とのことです。

スピリットにせよ秘儀にせよ、その時点でマナをある程度使うので、追加でマナを要求すると使いづらくなる、という判断ではないかと推測します。

裏返せば、マナ以外のコスト（ペイライフ、サクリファイスなど）であればありと言えるでしょう。

昨日の記事の続きです。

Kami of the Painted Road (Champions of Kamigawa)
During Champions of Kamigawa development (although the credits fail to acknowledge this, I was actually on the Champions development team), I was tasked with creating more “arcane & spirit triggers” (referred to as “spiritcraft” cards). One card I created was the following:

Fighting Spirit
1WW
Creature – Spirit
2/1
Flying
Whenever a mystic spell is played, CARDNAME gets protection from the color of your choice until end of turn.

1WW became 4W. 2/1 became 3/3. And Flying became “ “ (this represents the emptiness of words).

I’ve included this card because I wanted to point out that often the heart of design is ripped off a card and reattached to another card. My version of the card was a small evasion creature while the printed version is a medium-sized ground pounder. Why is this done? Because development has the additional concern of making sure each color is balanced. Whether that be color or size or abilities, the development team has to worry that each element of the set is rounded out. White had enough fliers. What it needed was a larger ground creature. This ability worked on both sized creatures, thus the change was made.

引用元
THAT’S THE SPIRIT Posted in Making Magic on October 11, 2004
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/%E2%80%99s-spirit-2004-10-11

《虚飾の道の神》は最初、3マナ2/1のフライヤーでした。

しかし、セット全体のバランスを見ると、フライヤーが十分であったのに対し、地上の中型以上のクリーチャーが不足していることが分かりました。

そのため、現在のような形になった、ということです。

《虚飾の道の神》はコモンであるため、このような調整の影響を受けやすいのでしょう。

Horobi, Death’s Wail (Champions of Kamigawa)
A big part of Magic design comes from the inspiration of older cards. The key is finding something you liked from the past and figuring out how to use it in a new way. Horobi, Death’s Wail was the result of such an exercise. You see, ever since I first laid eyes on Skulking Ghost, I’ve been a fan. In fact, he’s the star of one of my favorite Magic memories.

I was visiting my old stomping grounds in Costa Mesa down in Southern California. Mirage had just come out so I was playing a game of Mirage sealed. I got my opponent down to 6 life when the ground stalemated. And then what did I draw? Yes, a Skulking Ghost. (Okay, that wasn’t so hard to figure out.) The problem was that my opponent had a Dwarven Nomad in play (aka Dwarven Warriors). If I played the Skulking Ghost, he could simply give it unblockablity with the Nomad and destroy it.

As I played the next few turns, I came to an interesting conclusion: My opponent wasn’t going to catch that he could destroy my Skulking Ghost with his Dwarven Nomad. So I played my Ghost. My opponent did nothing. I attacked for two. Nothing. Next turn, for two more. Nothing. Finally, I attacked for two and won the game. There is a lot of talk of being able to play not just against the opponent’s cards but against the opponent. I was proud that I was able to see this very delicate road to victory.

But let’s get back to designing Horobi. So, I wanted to find a way to use the “skulking” ability. I thought of new creatures that could have the ability. But then I thought about using it offensively rather than being a drawback. What if, I thought, I gave the ability to others? Then I came up with the idea of a skulking creature that granted the skulking ability onto all other creatures. And voila, Horobi, Death’s Wail was born.

引用元
THAT’S THE SPIRIT Posted in Making Magic on October 11, 2004
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/%E2%80%99s-spirit-2004-10-11

この週はスピリット特集だったようです。この記事は歴代のスピリット・カードを取り上げています。

当日記では、神河のカードが関係したものをピックアップします。

まずは《死者の嘆き、崩老卑/Horobi, Death’s Wail》です。

これの元になったのは、《卑屈な幽霊/Skulking Ghost》の「対象になるたび生け贄に捧げる」能力でした。

これだと単なるペナルティ能力ですが、それを相手にも与えることで攻撃的に使おう、という逆転の発想により、崩老卑が誕生しました。

このような発想は、他のペナルティ能力にも応用が出来そうです。

Send your rules questions to Magic Rules Manager John Carter. Can’t find the answer to your question somewhere else? Maybe he’s already answered it! Try the Saturday School Searchable Rules Database.

Q: Although they have different ’subnames’, Iname, Life Aspect and Iname, Death Aspect technically have the same name and would axe each other due to the new Legendary rule. Is this right? --Hyrum T.

A: No, their names are different. For example, the green Iname is named “Iname, Life Aspect”, not just “Iname”. Though the Champions names may be flavored differently than in past sets, we still take the entire contents of that upper left corner [CR 202.1] - the intervening comma doesn’t delineate the name.

*Extra* For more on Inane, check out his origin story. Iname is just the latest in a line of Legendary creatures that evolve over time such as Ertai, Wizard Adept / Ertai, the Corrupted and Kamahl, Pit Fighter / Kamahl, Fist of Krosa.

引用元
INAME, FIST OF THE CORRUPTED Posted in Feature on October 9, 2004
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/iname-fist-corrupted-2004-10-09

寄せられた質問に答える恒例の記事です。

引用元の記事タイトルにある通り、否命についての質問があります。
《生相の否命/Iname, Life Aspect》と《死相の否命/Iname, Death Aspect》をコントロールしていた場合レジェンドルールにより対消滅するのか？というものです。

フレイバー上は同一個体ですが、ルール上は名前が違うので対消滅を起こしません。

否命については、同一キャラの違う時の姿を表したもので、《ピット・ファイター、カマール/Kamahl, Pit Fighter》と《クローサの拳カマール/Kamahl, Fist of Krosa》のようなものだと説明されています。

その手のカードの中で、否命が特殊なのは、同じセットで収録されていることでしょうか。これは、否命が2つの側面を持つためです。狼男のようだと言えます。

当時両面カードがあれば、それを用いてカード化されたことでしょう。反転では変化が一方通行のみですから、それを使うことができないためです。



2021/03/09 追記
この回は日本語訳がありませんが、特別編は見つかりました。
オンラインルール学校・特別編#8――国内からの質問、お答えします
https://web.archive.org/web/20041217002432/http://www.hobbyjapan.co.jp/magic/articles/files/20041015_01.html

昨日の記事の続きです。

Roundtable Feedback
There was quite a bit of feedback on the forums and in my email folder after last week’s roundtable with several high-profile players about the Champions of Kamigawa release. The feedback illustrated (for me anyway) the divide that exists between the professional Magic community and the more casual set. I am always amazed at Magic’s ability to be visible across so many wavelengths. Whether the game has captured the imagination of a small group who gather weekly around a kitchen table or it occupies every waking moment of a group of professional playtesters huddled around the Rochester Draft table looking for any advantage for Grand Prix–Austin, opinions about the game are equally strong at both tables -- as they are at every table in between, regardless of whether those tables are used for Friday Night Magic, a raucous game of Emperor, or a Pro Tour Qualifier.

Most of the comments seemed to be concerning the pessimism that many of the pros expressed in regard to Champions helping to keep Affinity decks at bay for the upcoming State/Province/Territory/Island Championships. While the pros seemed to be throwing their hands up in defeat, many of you out there made it clear that you were not going to go down without a knock-down, drag-out fight.

One way of dealing with the modular decks out there came from came from someone known simply as “Soul.”

IN IT TO WIN IT Posted in The Week That Was on October 7, 2004
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/week-was/it-win-it-2004-10-07

トッププレイヤー達の間では、『神河物語』では親和を止められないだろう、とした意見が主流であった、という記事（※１）がありました。

それに対して、反論コメントが寄せられていた、という内容です。

《薄青幕の侍/Samurai of the Pale Curtain》は接合能力も《大霊堂の信奉者/Disciple of the Vault》も封じる。

（『ホームランド』以外の）どのエキスパンションでも、環境に大きな影響を与える。

《減衰のマトリックス/Damping Matrix》《忌みの像/Imi Statue》《亡霊の牢獄/Ghostly Prison》で勝てる。

といったコメントが見られます。

結果は、トッププレイヤーの言う通り、親和は止まりません。当時のスタンダードで何枚も禁止カードを出すハメになってしまいました。

流石はトッププレイヤーというのはもちろんですが、それに追従するだけでなく自分できちんと考えて意見を表明することは悪くありません。

※１
CHAMPIONS ROUNDTABLE Posted in The Week That Was on September 30, 2004
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/week-was/champions-roundtable-2004-09-30

Champions of Kamigawa hit the stores this past weekend and before you could even put Bushido on the stack the Limited Pro Tour Qualifier season for Pro Tour–Nagoya had begun. There were qualifiers all over the world utilizing Champions of Kamigawa Sealed Deck with a Rochester Draft Top 8.

Here on the East Coast of the United States, Rob Dougherty and the YMG gang were hosting one such tournament in lovely Brighton, Mass. There were more than 100 players vying for the invite, pack prizes, and $500 travel award. When the battling came to a close there was a magicthegathering.com columnist holding the elusive blue envelope…

No, it wasn’t me -- the first chance I will have to play in a PTQ this season falls on my wedding anniversary. I got my wife what she wanted, so hopefully I will be able to play. Had I been in Brighton it may have been a different outcome, but it was former magicthegathering.com columnist Chad Ellis making his triumphant return to the Pro Tour after a prolonged absence.

Chad was a fixture on the Pro Tour for a couple of years and had an assigned seat on the so-called Gravy Train. He was a big part of the successful YMG team and wrote extremely popular columns mainstream Magic websites. He has one Pro Tour Top 8 to his credit, when he drafted his way to the final table of Pro Tour–Barcelona.

You know the story. The obligations of the post-college world beckoned and Chad drifted away from the game, living in Germany far away from his support network of New England gamers. As regular readers of magicthegathering.com know, Chad has been back for the past year or so and trying to get back on the Tour. I am happy to report that he was successful in his quest and even happier that he agreed to take some time to talk about his tournament and the current Limited format.

引用元
IN IT TO WIN IT Posted in The Week That Was on October 7, 2004
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/week-was/it-win-it-2004-10-07

プロツアー名古屋の予選、『神河物語』のロチェスタードラフトを勝ち抜いたChad Ellisへのインタビュー記事です。《鼠の墓荒らし/Nezumi Graverobber》などのボムが勝因である様子でした。

その他、余ったマナで《山伏の長、熊野/Kumano, Master Yamabushi》の能力を本体に叩き込んだら、《返礼/Reciprocate》を食らってしまった、というエピソードなどが語られています。

From the Kamigawa Glossary:

soratami (soh-rah-TAH-mee) “Skyfolk.” Kamigawa’s race of aristocratic cloud-dwellers.

During the time of the Kami War, the blue-aligned soratami helped the humans of Kamigawa fight the kami -- in their own remote and secretive way. They resembled tall, elegant humans, except for their very pale skin, long ears, flowing silver hair and animated runes in place of eyebrows.

Soratami concept art by Ittoku

The soratami were masters of air magic; they walked the air as if it were solid land, and wove rainclouds as if they were thread.

Soratami Rainshaper art by Ittoku

The soratami often used mirrors as foci for their magic.

Soratami Mirror-Guard art by Wayne England

Elegant and beautiful yet somewhat aloof, the soratami’s plans played a crucial role in the war against the kami.

Counsel of the Soratami art by Randy Gallegos

引用元
SORATAMI IN ART Posted in Arcana on October 7, 2004
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/arcana/soratami-art-2004-10-07

神河固有の人型種族である、ムーンフォークこと空民のアートについての記事です。このての記事にしては珍しく、画像が残っていました。

「非常に薄い肌」「長い耳」「流れるような銀色の髪」「眉毛の代わりにルーンが描かれている」「細く長身」ことが特徴です。肌が薄いことや耳が長いことは、「月に住む兎」の伝承を元にしたことがベースにあるためでしょう。

また、空民が空を歩くことや、鏡の魔法を使うことが、《空民の雨刻み/Soratami Rainshaper》や《空民の鏡守り/Soratami Mirror-Guard》のアートに表れていることが分かります。

My battles against Captain Obvious are neverending. That jerk wants everything to be as nonconvoluted as possible. Doesn’t he know that violates the supervillain code? I could get kicked out of the League of Evil for that! One of his recent projects was a Champions of Kamigawa Snake deck. His way is to toss Sashi, Sosuke, and Seshiro together, along with a bunch of other sibilant slitherers, and be done with it. My way is to start with the “unplayable” Snake—Shisato, Whispering Hunter—and break it. Add in a Whispersilk Cloak so that it can’t be targeted or blocked and you’ve just Stasisified your opponent. (Doesn’t Stasis sound like it belongs in here?) Orochi Eggwatcher and Orochi Hatchery can pump out Snake tokens for it to (rather cannibalistically) eat, and you can keep Shisato’s energy up all day. Captain Obvious and I were locked in a death-defying battle on a tightrope strung between two hot-air balloons (long story), but then the episode ended with that cliffhanger and, what with presidential debates and baseball playoffs, the conclusion hasn’t aired yet. I don’t know who wins, so I’ll have to compromise.

I still like playing with Shisato, but it’s not the focus of this deck anymore. (Whispersilk Cloak, although it paired oh-so-thematically with the Whispering Hunter, was largely useless otherwise, so I cut it.) The new fun thing is to see how big you can get your Snake tokens. They get +1/+0 from Sosuke, +0/+1 from Sachi, +2/+2 from Seshiro, +2/+2 from Konda’s Banner, and +who knows how much/+that same amount again from Coat of Arms. The Blasting Station-Beacon of Creation trick works just as well with Orochi Hatchery, so here it is again.

WHY’D IT HAVE TO BE SNAKES?
Creature (23)
2 Matsu-Tribe Decoy
4 Orochi Eggwatcher
4 Orochi Sustainer
3 Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Seshiro the Anointed
2 Shisato, Whispering Hunter
2 Sosuke, Son of Seshiro

Sorcery (5)
2 Collective Unconscious
3 Time of Need

Artifact (9)
1 Blasting Station
1 Coat of Arms
3 Konda’s Banner
4 Orochi Hatchery

Land (23)
22 Forest
1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers

60 Cards

Hmmm, that was reasonably obvious, wasn’t it? Some fun things within the deck: Sachi turns a number of your Snakes into producers to help power out a giant Hatchery. The Hatchery can help your Eggwatcher flip. And Shisato turns your Decoys into mini-assassins as they have extra power, a Basilisk ability, and a moderate form of Lure. It’s better creature removal than green normally gets!

引用元
THE ATTACK OF CAPTAIN OBVIOUS Posted in Feature on October 7, 2004
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/attack-captain-obvious-2004-10-07

《囁きの狩人、しさ斗/Shisato, Whispering Hunter》を軸にした、蛇デッキの紹介です。他にも、かルドラデッキや侍デッキが紹介されています。

この記事のテーマは「超悪玉/supervillain」らしいのですが、実のところその辺りのネタがあまりよく分かっていません。

デッキとしては普通にまとまっているようですが、それ以上の意味については解説は難しそうです。

With these principles in mind, let’s take a look at Scott’s card pool from Monday.

White:
Terashi’s Cry
Ethereal Haze
Quiet Purity x 2
Cage of Hands
Devoted Retainer
Harsh Deceiver
Horizon Seed
Hundred-Talon Kami
Kabuto Moth
Kami of Ancient Law
Kitsune Riftwalker
Konda, Lord of Eiganjo
Mothrider Samurai
Silent Chant Zubera

Blue:
Counsel of the Soratami
Eye of Nowhere
Consuming Vortex
Dampen Thought
Hisoka’s Defiance
Peer Through Depths
Reach Through Mists
Sift Through Sands x 2
Field of Reality
Mystic Restraints
Callous Deceiver
Hisoka’s Guard
Soratami Cloudskater
Soratami Mirror Guard
Soratami Rainshaper
Soratami Savant

Black:
Befoul
Distress
Waking Nightmare
Hideous Laughter
Rend Spirit
Ragged Veins
Cruel Deceiver
Cursed Ronin
Gutwrencher Oni
Nezumi Bone-Reader
Rag Dealer
Scuttling Death
Villainous Ogre

Red:
Mana Seism
Crushing Pain
Glacial Ray
Sideswipe
Unnatural Speed x 2
Brutal Deceiver
Ember-Fist Zubera
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
Ronin Houndmaster
Sokenzan Bruiser
Soul of Magma

Green:
Commune with Nature
Gale Force
Joyous Respite
Heartbeat of Spring
Lure
Serpent Skin x 2
Kami of the Hunt
Orbweaver Kumo
Order of the Sacred Bell
Orochi Eggwatcher
Orochi Ranger
Orochi Sustainer

Lands & Artifact:
Cloudcrest Lake
Hankyu
Jade Idol
Journeyer’s Kite
Kusari-Gama

（中略）

All of that said, I think this is the build I would choose:

CHAMPIONS OF KAMIGAWA SEALED DECK

Creature (12)
1 Harsh Deceiver
1 Hundred-Talon Kami
1 Kabuto Moth
1 Kami of Ancient Law
1 Kitsune Riftwalker
1 Konda, Lord of Eiganjo
1 Mothrider Samurai
1 Callous Deceiver
1 Soratami Cloudskater
1 Soratami Mirror-Guard
1 Soratami Rainshaper
1 Soratami Savant

Sorcery (2)
1 Counsel of the Soratami
1 Befoul

Instant (4)
1 Consuming Vortex
1 Hisoka’s Defiance
1 Hideous Laughter
1 Rend Spirit

Artifact (2)
1 Journeyer’s Kite
1 Kusari-Gama

Enchantment (2)
1 Cage of Hands
1 Mystic Restraints

Land (18)
1 Cloudcrest Lake
7 Island
7 Plains
3 Swamp
40 Cards

引用元
CHAMPIONS SEALED DECK: MY BUILD Posted in Feature on October 6, 2004
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/champions-sealed-deck-my-build-2004-10-06

シールドデッキの作成を軽く説明した後、実際にデッキを組む様子を説明した記事です。

基本的な生物が揃っていること、《永岩城の君主、今田/Konda, Lord of Eiganjo》があることから、デッキタイプは青白飛行です。

黒の優秀な除去《汚れ/Befoul》《霊魂の奪取/Rend Spirit》《忌まわしい笑い/Hideous Laughter》もあるので、それをタッチしています。

《旅行者の凧/Journeyer’s Kite》があるので、土地を伸ばして今田などの重いカードでゲームを決めることや連繋でのアドバンテージ獲得も可能でしょう。