The Future of Ward! | Magic: The Gathering Outlaws of Thunder Junction MTG 

When you talked about the deceptive costs example of Ward 3, I took a moment to think about it and equated it in my head as your opponent always having a Mana Leak in hand, and I vaguely remember reading somewhere that you felt Mana Leak was too strong of a counterspell to print regularly anymore, which helped me put it all in perspective

an interesting ward-adjacent mechanic would be a Trinisphere type effect, where any spell that targets the creature has to be scaled up in mana cost.

I think my biggest issue with Ward is that it seems like it isn't considered in any way when looking at a card's power budget.

I really appreciate the use of Ward to evoke a story. Sauron the Dark Lord having Ward: Sacrifice a legendary artifact or creature is such a flavor and rules win. I could definitely see this as a nice way to denote key weaknesses of characters and things going forward.

The biggest problem with big ward is that it encourages playing board wipes over spot removal

A fun idea I had was ward but as a drawback that makes your card a lightning rod. Like Ward--Draw a card or something silly like that

Shoutout to octavia, living thesis for having not-hexproof but really just hexproof.

I think ward is a victim of its own success. It definitely is a better mechanic than hexproof or shroud. But hexproof and shroud weren't printed every set or even every other set. Ward is still a mechanic that demotes/punishes interaction, which arguably is the best part of the game. And when everyone is thinking about the forthcoming set, nobody is saying "I can't wait to see what version of ward we get this time." There is nothing wrong with the mechanic, but imo it isn't ideal to be printing anti-interaction mechanics every set or maybe even every other set. Edit: Wrote this before watching, I fully agree with Gavins conclusions on ward! I agree that non-mana ward has great design space. (Maybe I will be looking forward to seeing what version of ward we get in the future after all)

Introducing: Megaward 😎

Voja should have had "first turn hexproof". If you just want to guarantee value, like an attack step trigger, happening at least 1 time, it doesn't strictly need ward. Or "If you cast card name, it has ward 3 this turn."

Yes. It’s resulting in heavy power creep of targeting removal options to keep up completely warping the metagame around it.

Another Commander-relevant issue for Ward is that in long games with, complex board states with unfamiliar cards, *forgetting* that something has Ward means the spell gets countered. It's on the playgroup to allow takebacks here: "Oh, sorry, I forgot it had ward 2." Ward *can* function like a gotcha, if you want to play to the letter of the law, and I'm not sure if that was an intended part of the design.

I am looking forward to more experimental ward costs like ward, it's owner draws cards, owner gains life, Mill, etc would be really interesting to see

Make a Legendary Creature that REALLY wants to be left alone. With Ward, Skulk, Hexproof, Flying and Shroud. Even if it's on silver border

Inspired by the mention of paying ward twice to cast 2 shocks, it would be interesting to see how a ward type counter would work. Where any player can pay an amount of mana equal to the number of ward counters on a permanent to remove those counters. In the example below I've called it immunity. "Immunity 2 (This card enters the battlefield with 2 immunity counters on it. Any player may pay 2 mana to remove these counters. Permanents with Immunity cannot be the target of spells or abilities.)"

My gripe with ward is your opponent can wait for you to pay the ward cost, and then negate your spell anyways with protection or counters. Leaves a huge feel bad moment.

Even Ward 2 is probably still too strong on Voja. I am extremely sympathetic to the idea that Ward or even Hexproof should be put more liberally on creatures that have to be turned sideways to get any value at all, but Voja's attack trigger is SO powerful that it can feel like a single attack is all it needs to wipe out a player. It's like having Craterhoof Behemoth in the command zone, with Ward 3 having near the same effect as haste. I know Carnage Tyrant could put some control players into conniption fits back in the day but it wasn't as if a single swing of that death lizard finished a game.

As a Commander player, one thing I've noticed about the Oprah Winfrey mechanic (You get Ward 2! And you get Ward 2!), is that because of how hard it is to keep track of board states, people leave up mana for interaction but they forget about Ward costs, so it feels like Ward 2+ tends to overperform (and also why the non-mana Ward payments often feel more fair / attainable). I often forget about my own creatures' Ward abilities . . .

Shoutout to Arcane Lighthouse, if only you were around for ward as well. I don't always play burn in commander, but when I do I give my spells a vantage point.

I feel like ward doesn't really need to exist. Tacking protection onto a strong creature via an aura or equipment is already incredibly well balanced and something you have to consider in deck construction. Swiftfoot Boots is one of my favourite cards of all time for this reason. It grants protection, requires you to think ahead a little bit when it comes to playing equipment or protecting it, and makes the protection for your creature interactable in many different ways. You can blow up the boots, bounce them, unequip them, steal them, ect. I feel like having to do something like that to get around protection feels more dynamic than just paying an inflated cost for removal.

The problem with wards like voja is that it is such a strong effect on attack that it should be on the onus of the controller to protect it. But instead with ward the onus/cost on the opponent removing it is even higher. Instead of it being a build around commander it’s just all upside

The best Wards are ones that have unique payments like Vein Ripper or Graveyard Trespasser since they are still a cost that must be answered but 1.Doesn't negate the use of target removal 2. Plays into the game plan of the card, Ward 2-3 just leads to an over abundance of boardwipes since if I'm paying 5 to Terror your Voja, I might has well just drop a Damnation for 4

Wedge, referring to Carnage Tyrant: "that thing is stupid"

I think Ward could be something you earn and try to keep. Like it comes online if you have a certain amount of cards in hand, artifacts you control, cards in your graveyard, etc. This way, there’s an alternate method to turn it off (Discard, artifact destruction, Bojuka) instead of paying the cost.

Lol, Ward is not the problem, the problem is giving ward to stupidly powerful creatures such as Voja or Miirym.

Shout-out to Kodama of the North Tree & Giant Solifuge. Two absolute bangers

I really appreciate the transparency, so thank you!! I've been enjoying a lot of these videos talking about the concept and implementation of mechanics! Acknowledging hiccups, faults, wins and losses help make this game a much better place! ❤😄🍻

I think you generally have the right assessment on what each ward type is good for, but I think another part of the equation is that it sometimes feels like Ward isn’t factored into the mana cost of a card. Voja feels like it should have had Ward 2 and been 6 CMC (if it has Ward at all).

Ok but counterpoint: Ward as a mechanical theme for armadillos (as it is in Thunder Junction) is super cute and should be the exception to the rules you stated in this video because to heck with the consequences armadillos are baller

That pink background is filthy. Thought my phone had muck on it.

I like ward because it means "can't be countered" matters vs. colours other than blue. Re; a potential fix, maybe ward could only apply to the first time it gets targeted during a turn?

Another card that I think demonstrates a problem with Ward is Vein Ripper (which has ward: sacrifice a creature), which is that while non-mana ward that you can always pay can be fun, non-mana ward that you sometimes can't pay does not feel fun. If your opponent untaps on turn 3, plays Sorin, and drops Vein Ripper while you don't have a creature, it feels pretty bad.

I like Ward. I think it toned the power level of things like Sigarda HoH, Narsest Enlightened Master, Uril and the likes. Dragonlord Ojutai's Hexproof clause was conditional, which led to an interesting gameplay. Ward makes even the ones mentioned above somewhat more interactable! I think the issue stems from tossing them on already powerhouse creatures like Miirym, Voja, Tivit, etc.

I think there are a few fair fixes for ward. 1. Non mana ward cost. Discard a card, exile a card in graveyard, creature with ward does x damage to target player/creature, sac a creature. We still lose a resource, but it's controllable vs we get land screwed. 2. Keep ward 2, but make the stats of the creature lower. 5 power is so relevant. I rather a 3/3, ward 2, than 5/4 ward 2 and extra abilities sprinkled. Even ward 4 is fine, if it's for a 1/2 or a 1/1. 3. Make ward similar to shield counters, you get 1 time protection from a source and then no more afterwards. It becomes really difficult to deal with ward when its always on a commander.

Your suggestions at the end sound good! One other way is to errata "Ward" like how companion was errata'd. Instead of paying the ward cost for every targetting instance, it will now be "any player/opponent may pay the ward cost to remove ward from the creature/permanent until end of turn". So this wouldn't really change too much for 1v1 formats (except for red) but would certainly make for a more fun and interactive Commander/EDH mechanic. Perhaps this could be a new protection mechanic as well.

As a mostly limited player, Ward on common and uncommons has been a huge boon to diversify the creature base. With how limited sets have normally played out, creatures that were MV 4 or above were nearly unplayable unless they generated value entering or leaving the battlefield and/or had haste. I am really enjoying OTJ so far mostly because of how ward was implemented. With Ward, the increase in efficiency and prevalence of removal in the set does not feel overly oppressive because it mostly can only be used that efficiently against creatures that are generating value when they come into play, have haste, or are creatures that must be answered quickly or the game is over. I can tap out for my big dumb 7/7 with ward 3 that doesn't do anything ETB and not feel like having big stompy creatures in my deck was a mistake. It was a great way to pull the power in the format somewhat away from the one and two drops and give more heaft to the 4, 5, and 6 drops. I love that removal can be efficient and plentiful without completely warping the format around it and i love that MV 4+ creatures can be good again. All Hail Ward!!!

I think a big factor is also that cards with Ward that advance the game through combat are fine because there are ways to beat them with creatures. But ones that get powerful effects without ever fighting feel impossible to slow down.

I like ward when it has a special twist : paying life, discarding, when it only have it the turn it enters etc... Would love some more like having to tap non-lands permanents you controle, revealing cards/hand etc...

Love these videos Gavin! Many of us have been a little worried with the direction ward was taking, it helps a lot to know what’s are designer's thought on these things.

Man I love these design insight videos, it's super easy as someone who plays the game regularly to get frustrated with individual aspects of design like the (admitted) overabundance of ward, especially in commander. It's really nice to take a step back and figure out how we got here. It's also really encouraging to hear that you guys are not only aware of these things, but using them to decide how they should be applied in the future. I love things like hexproof and ward, like you pointed out, as long as they're used with the appropriate amount of caution and intent. I also agree entirely, alternate cost ward is a really cool design space and "feels" a lot less bad. I personally think it also helps with the "memory problem" of ward, it's a lot harder to "Forget" Mishra's "sacrifice a permanent" ward than it is a random value piece with ward 2 on it. (I don't struggle with this one personally, but it's something I hear a lot, and has lead our play group to ask for "ward checks" to figure out if we can remove the things we want to.) Great video, always love to get a little peak behind the curtain.

Tivit is a prime example of "Why does he have Ward?" He is easily so pushed that I don't know how his entire text box got past testing

Wards that aren't related to Mana Costs are fantastic and full of flavor. Love Vein Ripper.

Thanks for the video gaving, I appreciate the honesty and openness. introspective and straight to the point.

Love the video, love the discourse, all around much love to pleasant kenobi for bringing me to your channel!

The pink background made me think I had water stains all over my screen.

Why no wards : tap a creature, bounce an artifact?

Thanks for the details, I appreciate the overview and future directions. I also like the non-mana ward costs, really makes opponents evaluate if removing the target is worth that cost.

Thank you, Gavin! Puts my mind at ease knowing your stance. My 2c: “ETB, if cast, hexproof until your next turn” “Ward: mill X/tap X/reveal X/an opponent gets X” “Instant - gain hexproof until end of turn. If

I was hoping for an explanation on why Voja got ward 3 but the explanation is just "whoops"

I like and appreciate this video. It does feel incomplete, however. There are several points that merit conversation, and for which I would love to see a follow up video! In particular: • The way Ward functions as a "gotcha!" mechanic, where people get punished for making mistakes in complicated situations, creates much greater moments of social discomfort and ambiguity. In prerelease settings particularly, I've received conflicting messages about "takebacks" for Ward misplays. A clearer message about takebacks would be appreciated. • Power budget in card design. In this video, you discussed what amount of ward would be appropriate to give a card based on when it is played and what it does, but did not discuss the problem that many cards would have been very powerful with no Ward at all, but were given a Ward of 2 or 3 still. • How did the thought take root that a hexproof-equivalent mechanic was okay to give to cards without adjusting their stats or abilities to justify the added power? • What can you do to convince designers not to throw overpowered mechanics on cards without adjusting the card to compensate? Is there no step in the design process where someone asks "how do we reduce the power of Voja to justify making it so much harder to remove this must-remove creature, that kills opponents in a single swing?" • When everything has ward, single target removal gets replaced with board wipes and counterspells. This exacerbates the existing design problem of the arms race between overpowered creatures and overpowered removal. • You have said in the past that Mana Leak is too powerful to print regularly in sets. Ward 3 is literally free Mana Leak for the owner, costing neither card nor mana.

Thanks for this Gavin. Really insightful video. It certainly helps to get an explicit acknowledgement that Voja and Tivit were overtuned. I really like Ward as a mechanic overall, and I like that it can avoid needing to 'frontload' the value in a high MV creature design via a powerful etb. The frustration as a commander player comes from wanting an environment where people interact with one another outside of slamming down farewell, and ward really punishes non-boardwipe, non-proactive game plans. I've heard people in our playgroup talk about cutting classic commander cards like chaos warp and generous gift from there *casual* decks because 3mv + ward feels so rough. Anything that encourages commander players to cut interaction, or replace it with groan-inducing boardwipes definitely needs to be treated respectfully! To finish up, I also love the ward costs on Sedgemoor witch and GY trespasser. I'm also a fan of it on Sailor's Bane and other cards that aren't going to win the game by themselves, a big, dumb beatstick is a great place to stick ward imo.

Cool video, nice to hear Wizards perspective on card creation. sometimes it feels confusing but these are very enlightening.

Bring back Shroud you cowards

Trespasser? is black. Raffine? is black. Sauron? Is black. Saruman? Is black. New Ghisa? Is black. Vein ripper? Is black. Other colors don´t get premium treatment like black gets since 2021 in this game and the best green ward they give to tarrasque which he can´t have it without being CAST, as a freaking 9 mana that is not a good reanimate target. You can play a standard deck with a premium black creature card from each mana cost from 1 to 6 and make it a viable deck. GIVE GOOD WARDS TO OTHER COLORS in the weakest formats

Absolutely love non-mana ward personally. It's something you could get wacky with and it would be easy to understand. The biggest issue me and my playgroup have (Commander ofc) is the sheer amount of "what does that do again?" so ward looks good and is flexible without being confusing.

Thank you so much, Gavin, for this trip down memory lane. Autumn Willow, Deadly Insect. ☺ That was nice, just nice. Also, a possible solution to Ward's problems- particularly the one at 8:18- also lies in the past. Have you considered doing something like Clergy of the Holy Nimbus and Knight of the Holy Nimbus? “Hexproof. (Cost): [CARDNAME] loses Hexproof until ens of turn. Only your opponents may play this ability.”

I think Ward 1 on disguise would have been more correct, or a second cycle of uncounterable spells that remove cheaper creatures would balance out the play versus draw issue that morph formats bring. You're always at a disadvantage when you have to swing and interact into open mana against disguises because it's either a combat trick or their flip and they "gain" tempo compared you to taking time to hold up spells or just trading off. I think ward was the correct move to make it more difficult to interact with, but 1 seems more limited friendly while 2 makes it more playable in constructed formats. I love the breakdown at the end of what Ward numbers do and stipulations. I think one of the biggest ward costs that most players wouldn't pay would be "Ward-card's controller draws a card". (unless you're trying to do group hug)

Ward gives such a good way of tuning Hexproof to fit a card design more appropriately than an "all or nothing" approach. People just need to be chill.

I really like this type of feedback and design space video, especially on something the community is talking about. Thanks Gavin!

Ward that is not mana cost is the coolest version. There can also be thematic wards that really fit what the cards are trying to do. Like having a ward-discard a card on a creature that cares about opponents discarding a card.

I don't think I've heard anyone talk about Ward as a bad thing. Quite the opposite.

Ward? A problem? I don’t understand how people would come to that conclusion, Ward basically just helps creatures trade more favorably with removal. It’s a genuinely great design!

I really appreciate the breakdowns of the mechanics. I think the explanation of your philosophy moving forward is great, I'm also a big fan of non-mana Ward costs.

I'm glad you are aware and looking to change things. you hit pretty much all of the points. the biggest one is that it's just too frequent, but also I'm glad you are looking to treat it more like hexproof. on so many creatures, it's at no extra cost. looking through some of the stuff to get it recently, the cards would already be really, exceptionally, envelope pushing good for the casting cost even if ward were removed.

Great communication 😊 thanks for the insights on the thoughts behind it

My favourite Ward card is Wondrous Crucible. It's such a great comeback card, allowing you to rebuild your board and protecting that board while you cultivate it. I also had a lot of fun with Mishra, Tamer of Mak Fawa before I had to make space in my Mishra, Eminent One deck. That "Ward: Sacrifice a permanent" gave everyone pause for thought.

I would love to see more of the tech you guys used on jade orb of dragonkind, maybe there could be a keyword like “this creature can’t be targeted as long as it has summoning sickness” that way people can untap with their big fun creatures but their opponents aren’t helpless to deal with them turn after turn, thanks for the peek behind the curtain and keep up the good work Gavin :)

Thanks for the video Gavin! I really like your approach to ward going forward and think it's an improvement. I do really like that ward increases the utility of cards that target and cannot be countered

Thank you Gavin for this! It makes me feel as a magic player like I know that the design team is really thinking hard about every mechanic you guys introduce into the game and make changes to the future to make better cards! Everything you talked about is exactly how I feel about ward and it's great to know that there may be changes going forward to help fix some of the problems it has! Keep making these great inside videos, I love seeing inside the design teams thought processes!

Sean Fleishman was my mentor in the 90s! I used to tag along with him to all the events in the early days of MTG, often crammed in the back of his Honda CRV. He used to play a balance control deck.

Super glad you brought up Graveyard trespasser, it's the ward cost that I've enjoyed the most because it isn't always a strict downside to pay, but in most cases it is. That's a great recipe for strategic thinking!

One idea for you to consider is Commander-specific keywords. *Link*, for example, which allows other players to contribute to a spell’s casting cost at their option.

Great video, Gavin! Seems you have the right mindset and these seem like good standards moving forward. Personally, I think non-mana ward can also be a tool for creating flavour, such as the “Sacrifice a Legendary Artifact or Legendary Creature” on Sauron, the Dark Lord. That’s probably the best instance of Ward ever printed!

Well said, and it feels good knowing that there is reflection happening on these Ward costs and going forward we might see more palpable versions that are interesting enough to still protect a card but also not so resource intensive that it feels like it is pseudo hexproof

Been a complaint of mine for about a year now, this feels perfectly addressed. Thanks Gavin!

Ward 2 for Disguise probably is a right decision. I think it did make the limited format feel much more fun. But yeah, in practice, it’s almost always just a “hexproof”, since it’s rarely worth it to remove stuff before they flip. Unless it’s super endgame top decking situations.

I was surprised that you didn't address that ward was templated as a triggered ability instead of an additional cost. In my experience this has caused a lot of confusion and frustrating situations, especially with new players. Would love to hear discussion on why it was done in this way.

Your videos are very enjoyable to watch! Please send my thanks to the team that animates all those cards! :-)

Specifically for EDH, it might be neat to see ward costs that can be payed cooperatively by any players, not just the person targeting it.

One side counter to Ward is Can't be Countered Spells, which allow you to bypass the cost even if you don't pay the mana. If Ward is such a problem to a person playing, it's better to throw in a one side board clear or counterspell. For me though, it's still less annoying than Hexproof, because any proper multicolored deck with green can still pay the extra if they ramp properly.

One thing I might be interested in is a kinda shroud ward. Where you have ward that effects your spells too. Could be combined with non mana ward to have, say a card where you have to pay life to target it but it also does something when you lose life

I miss these kind of deep insight videos. This was super interesting, thanks Gavin

You definitely hit the nail on the head with your conclusion on Ward. it can be a great mechanic and i look forward to see what else you do with it in the future.

That last little line about exceptions being made for notable characters is something I’ve thought about a lot when it comes to the Lord of the Rings cards. Sauron, the Dark Lord’s ”Ward - Sacrifice a legendary creature or artifact” is something I see criticized a lot with the argument being ”it might as well be hexproof” And I mean, functionally, it basically is hexproof.. but the way the ward ability is formulated is so much more evocative and flavorful, and I think that’s another part where Ward truly shines brighter than Hexproof

Fabulous, thoughtful video! And I’ll always love Autumn Willow.

I started with Core 2012, and one of the first cards I got was Combust. I think that using Ward in the future could also open to cards that can get through the ability with a niche use like the color requirement of Combust's target.

I think a Ward cost with colorless phyrexian mana would be really interesting

Love the forward looking approach! To positively impact the commander experience for cards already printed with ward, have you considered new targeted removal cards that give a “payoff” for paying a ward cost? Example: Deal 3 damage to target creature. If you paid a ward cost while casting this card, create a x/x kobold creature token where x is equal to the ward cost paid. Love the videos, keep em’ coming.

I think you really got the right lessons here. Maybe could have talked about whether some of these protections should be restricted in the color pie, archetypes can always answer? White can ward more, but blue could play around it? I would also hope that any future protection design conversations include shield counters, they are fun, can be answered usually by costing another spell or action and sometimes are just a great flavor fit. (What if a shield equipment adds a shield counter each turn?)

really cool video and explanation, thank you Gavin!

This video warmed my heart. I’m so glad the devs (at least some of them) are this aware of the situation. Sounds like we are headed in the right direction! One small request: can we bring back Shroud? Not a whole bunch, but the occasional Shroud creature would be great. Empyrial Archangel, as an example is an amazing design. Expensive, powerful, game-changing. But, without protection she’s not worth her cost, and if it was Hexproof instead she would be ridiculous.

I like your thoughts on it going forward! The one thing I'd add is that big wards can be a nice flavour thing where hexproof would be appropriate, but boring. Like ward 10 on the Tarrasque *feels* big and intimidating like the Tarrasque should in a way that hexproof wouldn't, even though hexproof would be strictly better. Or how ward: sacrifice a legendary artifact (or creature) is perfect flavour for Sauron. It's just a nice tool to have in your belt.

I really love the idea of non-mana ward. Sedgemoor witch is a great example, and I think Sauron is as well but for a different reason - for Sauron it works as "hexproof with a weakness" that's pretty flavorful to the character.

Ward 1 or 2 on red and/or green spells to make them harder to counter could be a useful tool. Ward of 'The controller may draw a card' could be a powerful deterrent. Messing with card tempo without messing with mana tempo. Could even mess with permanent tempo, and allow something like a land drop or a token of some sort for the controller as a ward cost.

I think you made good points on ward and how it should be used going forward. Important note: regardless of the issues you’ve encountered to this point, it is still lightyears better than static hexproof (which was a big mistake along with static indestructible).

Some of the most fun ward I've seen was in the LOTR cards, speaking particularly of Saruman of Many Colors and Sauron, the Dark Lord. Discarding a sorcery/instant/enchantment is a risky thing against Saruman. Versus Sauron, it really asks for you to commit to the removal and sacrifce something dear to you. Those are fun haha

Thanks for the history of this subject, very inciteful thanks

Definitely agree with the point on non-mana ward costs - they make it feel much more like an active choice to make rather than either an "I can't ever afford this" or "it's never the right time to take the tempo hit". It also doesn't suffer the same issue of quickly getting "too high" - in a commander game, I've paid for Nine Fingers Keene's ward cost of 9 life like, three times, lol (and no, not with a deck that gains life). Finding other types of non-mana costs for ward effects would be really cool to see. Like, what if a permanent had a ward that gave the caster a Chandra, Awakened Inferno emblem? That would be neat.

I'm happy to hear you share my thoughts on Ward being a wee bit too common and high, especially on creatures that generate additional value which is something that wasn't common for Hexproof to do. I think it's a well designed mechanic and a great addition to Magic when used conservatively.

One thing I wish would change is that Ward should only trigger once per turn. As you said, it's really bad for red to pay multiple times for removal, but it also stifles fun lines of play that require multiple targeting sources. Like tapping a creature and using at "target tapped creature" effect. That's basically impossible on Ward creatures.