The term Deciduous, as in the context of "a deciduous keyword", refers to keywords, keyword actions or other mechanics that are not evergreen, but may show up from time to time in a set that needs it.
Description[ | ]
Deciduous mechanics are a tool in R&D's toolbox that they're allowed to use, but they're not something they expect to use in every set.[1][2][3] Most of these are spell mechanics; as spells make up a much lower density of a set's file, needing certain old mechanics are less relevant. Additionally, only one fixing mechanic is usually needed per set, so if the set already has one developed, mechanics such as Clues, Blood, cycling or surveil are less necessary.
The term is derived from the botanical sense, in which deciduous is the antonym of evergreen.
As of 2022, R&D is considering making other mechanics deciduous, like they did with cycling.[4] In October 2022, surveil and landfall were promoted to deciduous status.[5] Additionally, cards from previous sets that had those mechanics written out without the keyword (i.e. Consider and Evolution Sage) had their Oracle text updated to include them.[6][7]
Current deciduous mechanics[ | ]
Cameo mechanics[ | ]
In 2023, R&D started experimenting with "cameos", where an old mechanic appears once in a set at a higher rarity. The rules for cameo cards require that they're relatively simple and don't have a history of balance issues.[24][25]
References[ | ]
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (November 7, 2016). "A Few More Words from R&D". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (June 8, 2015). "Evergreen Eggs & Ham". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ a b Mark Rosewater (March 28, 2022). "Deciduous". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (August 24, 2022). "Surveil needs to be evergreen and errataed onto cards like Consider and the newly spoiled Uurg, Spawn of Turg.". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ a b Mark Rosewater (October 15, 2022). "Hi Mark! I just saw that a bunch of cards in Gatherer got errata’d to use Surveil rather than the spelled out wording. Whats happening there?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (August 24, 2022). "Surveil needs to be evergreen and errataed onto cards like Consider and the newly spoiled Uurg, Spawn of Turg.". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ a b Mark Rosewater (October 15, 2022). "Mark... gatherer had a weird update this morning. Are surveil and landfall becoming evergreen?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (January 23, 2023). "Is affinity deciduous now?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ a b Why is There Just 1 Flashback Card in Phyrexia: All Will Be One? (Video). Good Morning Magic. YouTube (Janauary 25, 2023).
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (November 10, 2023). "I noticed there were a few cards in LCI with typecycling.". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (March 29, 2023). "With the introduction of battles, can we assume that from now on, MDFC's are now evergreen and every set will have them?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (August 17, 2022). "Are charge counters evergreen?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (June 29, 2024). "Is convoke now deciduous?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ a b c Mark Rosewater (June 30, 2017). "What mechanics and tools are currently considered Deciduous?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (November 20, 2023). "Odds & Ends: 2023, Part 1". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (July 17, 2022). "Is there hope for Enchantment Creatures becoming deciduous?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (September 8, 2022). "Enchantment creatures now being decidious. What is the color distribution for them?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (March 28, 2022). "Aren't ability tokens (menace tokens, death touch tokens, etc) deciduous?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (April 5, 2023). "Final Flourish is the only card in the set with Kicker?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (March 29, 2022). "hen, how about Colorless Nonartifact is? Not only like Eldrazi, as small tools, like Environmental Sciences.". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (April 15, 2022). "You recently made an article mentioning all Deciduous mechanics. However you missed Phasing.". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (January 28, 2022). "Are Sagas deciduous yet?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (March 20, 2022). "Since you mentioned that vanilla creatures are printed infrequently now, where does that put them on the Storm Scale?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (November 27, 2023). "Odds & Ends: 2023, Part 2". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (January 29, 2024). "Only Murders That We're Building, Part 1". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.