Mystery Mechanic

[Sek'Kuar]

So, I was reading MaRo's article today when I noticed a little censored bar. He made the comment that in the upcoming block codenamed "Live", "Long", and "Prosper" they will be bringing back a mechanic that is a "fan favorite". this got me thinking about past mechanics that were popular.
Obviously affinity is out, and they wont re-do Bushido because of the fact that it really lends itself to a tribal theme, or at least a tribal sub-theme. Sunburst is a no-go, because it requires 5 color, which they are doing this block. Domain is also out. Mercadia was a flop except for rebels which were overpowered, so they wont bring back anything from that, and Urza's block was too overpowered, so the only thing that could come from that would be cycling, which they are doing now. It wouldn't be mana intensive like Echo or Buyback because that would cause a REALLY slow environment, and I doubt it would be Kicker because in a past article that I am too lazy to search for right this minute, MaRo stated that kicker was a mistake because basically every mechanic could be reworded as kicker.
Prior to that, there were not too many mechanics that were popular that still exist, and besides, mechanics were not as well defined. This leaves us with Odyssey's Madness/Threshold/and Flashback, Time Spiral's Suspend (which I cant see working outside that context), or perhaps one of the Ravnica mechanics.
Radiance seems too weak, Transmute seems hard to do so it wouldn't break an entire format. Flooding a format with tutors is a bad idea. Convoke doesn't seem like it could fit with all of the colors, and I think they would be wary of re-doing Dredge due to its innate power. Bloodthirst seems weak, Haunt was not as good in practice as it was in theory, and Replicate would force all metas towards combo. Forecast forces metas toward control, Hellbent toward aggro control, and Graft sucks.
Then there is the option of a Future Sight keyword, but the only one that really acheived any level of mainstream popularity was Delve.
This all leads me to the conclusion that a graveyard based block like Odyssey may be in the works, but that would mean they would scale back the power of whatever mechanic(s) might be in the block, due to the fact that Odyssey contributed so many staples to EVERY format.

My questions are as follows. What is the likelihood of redoing a GY themed set? If this is done, what mechanics can we expect to see? If I am wrong, What mechanic do you expect/hope to come back?

Remember, this is not factual, it is just one person musing about the future based on what he already knows about Wizard's thought processes, and statements that have been made. Thanks for sticking with me throughout this post, I know it was long-ish and I apologize.

Link:http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazin...tg/daily/mm/23
Edit: Also, which past mechanic could have the biggest impact on, or be the healthiest for the Legacy format?

[Sanguine Voyeur]

I've read somewhere that the next block will explicitly not be graveyard themed.

[raharu]

No, they said that about the Lorwyn Block after Future Sight, which leave the possibility of Grave.format in Standard constructed.

[Sek'Kuar]

In fact, one of my favorite components of the design of "Live" (the 2009 fall expansion) is a mechanic that rewards players for doing something they want to do.

Just thought that was an interesting bit too. Kinda rules out a few mechanics...

[Sanguine Voyeur]

That makes me think Hellbent. Over-extending is fun.

[Sek'Kuar]

That makes me think Hellbent. Over-extending is fun.

Which plays well with Madness, Threshold, and Flashback, but would they put those three into a set together again? Im not sure, because it would feel like they were just repeating a block with an extra mechanic. It also seems if they did that it would have a slight graveyard theme, if not a major one. And the last time they did GY was 2001. Most things cycle in3/4 years, its been 8, so its past due. Also, like I said, they would REALLY have to watch the power level, mainly because of the power of Madness back in the day, Threshold since its advent and flashback's utter usefulness. Combine it all with Hellbent you have an unstoppable force. I can see UGr being stupid in Standard and Extended if that happens.

[Sanguine Voyeur]

Threshold and Hellbent go very well together. After you over-extend and all of your creatures die to a single Wrath, you have Thresh and Hellbent. Madness joins in to make this all happen faster.

[Seriously]

So, I was reading MaRo's article today when I noticed a little censored bar. He made the comment that in the upcoming block codenamed "Live", "Long", and "Prosper" they will be bringing back a mechanic that is a "fan favorite".

banding, its gotta be banding.

[Bryant Cook]

Storm <3.

[Sek'Kuar]

Threshold and Hellbent go very well together. After you over-extend and all of your creatures die to a single Wrath, you have Thresh and Hellbent. Madness joins in to make this all happen faster.

I can understand the sarcasm, because it makes for a very reckless play style, but sometime balls-to-the-wall aggro does very well.

[rockout]

I want them to print cycling cards in every set mainly because I like drawing cards and having a cool, sort of un-counterable ability attached to it.

[dahcmai]

Read into his articles a lot more and you'll dig up one from a long time ago that he mentioned he knew what set was going to bring back one forgotten but loved ability. It's been that few years and even if they move at more than 4 blocks ahead of time. Future Sight even had some "testing the waters" cards as I like to call them. It's that time.



Poison.




Yeah baby.

[Dark_Cynic87]

Poison.

Oh god, please no. More stupid creature themes. I wish it would be a mechanic both creatures and spells could have. That sounds right, though.

Oh well...I like poison. It's less scary than counterbalance.

Pce,

--DC

[dahcmai]

I don't think I'd worry too much since people flew off the handle last time poison was even mentioned. Then they added a few cards into future sight and no one cared except table top players and a few people who have a soft spot for it.

I think they learned their lesson about making Poison cards that stack also. Virelent Sliver I doubt turned out like what they intended it to be used with. I figure if they really will bring it back (and I'm really betting on it) , it won't be too horrible and won't take up much of the set since people won't want to deal with it in other formats.

I played in a tribal tournament with Assassins and I won a game when the opponent was at 2 billion life because he couldn't stop a lone Suq'Ata Assassin. I'll always have that soft spot for Poison.

[atv]

I kinda hope it's cycling, even though that seems highly unlikely since it already returned once with the Onslaught block. I just love cycling.

Madness would be pretty interesting too.

Edit: Yeah I know there have been some cycling cards since then, but those haven't been that good or impactful.

[rufus]

It's all about the ripple.

[Jak]

I am positive it's Madness. I bet they will make some good creatures but also some nice spells, too, hopefully.

[chokin]

I bet it's Madness. I want to see the return of UG Madness.

[xsockmonkeyx]

Delve? Tombstalker could use some friends.

[Pinder]

I'm hoping it's Delve. Tombstalker is the only reasonably powerful spell with Delve at the moment, and Delve seems to be one of those mechanics that's easy to break in Legacy (lol Fetchlands), but harder in Standard and Extended. It would allow them to print cards that are powerful enough to see play in Legacy, but won't completely wreck other formats.

Plus, Tombstalker's just fun. We need more stuff like that.