RENTON, WASHINGTON- In a special feature column on MagicTheGathering.com yesterday, the much-anticipated new mechanic for Mirrodin was revealed.

"As you know, with each new mechanic, we like to take things that were originally thought of as bad, and turn them into advantages," explained Mark Rosewater in the column. "People used to think discarding was bad, but Odyssey Block turned that around. And with Scourge, we turned high casting costs, traditionally scorned, into a good thing."

"So without further ado, let me introduce the new mechanic for Mirrodin Block: Losing the game."

Rosewater went on to explain that losing the game has never in Magic's history been a commonly accepted path to victory. "But with Mirrodin, that's about to change," he asserted in the column. "Losing the game will finally become a viable strategy in standard."

"Until next time, may all your games be losses."

Randy Buehler spoke about losing's place in the color wheel. "As stated in previous articles, White has traditionally gotten the short end of many mechanics. That's why we decided to make up for that by giving the lion's share of the 'Losing' mechanic to white."



To sate the public's appetite for Mirrodin previews, Buehler treated readers with a card preview showing off the new mechanic. The preview was a Mirrodin common, "Failure". Failure is an instant for 3WW with the effect, "You lose the game." "Failure is really the benchmark standard for the new 'Losing' cards," explained Buehler. "Obviously the rares of Mirrodin will feature more interesting variations on this mechanic, but we like the commons to be fairly straightforward."

Some pros offered their opinions on this new mechanic. "I really like it!" exclaimed Gary Wise. "This new mechanic feels really natural to me; I just like the way it plays. Once Mirrodin comes out, I just know I'm going to go nuts building a lot of new decks around it."

"Oh, and, uh, we brought back Kicker, too," threw in Rosewater. "I dunno. Gotta bring back somethin'."

Discuss this article in the Magic: the Gathering Forums!

RENTON, WASHINGTON- In a special feature column on MagicTheGathering.com yesterday, the much-anticipated new mechanic for Mirrodin was revealed.

"As you know, with each new mechanic, we like to take things that were originally thought of as bad, and turn them into advantages," explained Mark Rosewater in the column. "People used to think discarding was bad, but Odyssey Block turned that around. And with Scourge, we turned high casting costs, traditionally scorned, into a good thing."

"So without further ado, let me introduce the new mechanic for Mirrodin Block: Losing the game."

Rosewater went on to explain that losing the game has never in Magic's history been a commonly accepted path to victory. "But with Mirrodin, that's about to change," he asserted in the column. "Losing the game will finally become a viable strategy in standard."

"Until next time, may all your games be losses."

Randy Buehler spoke about losing's place in the color wheel. "As stated in previous articles, White has traditionally gotten the short end of many mechanics. That's why we decided to make up for that by giving the lion's share of the 'Losing' mechanic to white."



To sate the public's appetite for Mirrodin previews, Buehler treated readers with a card preview showing off the new mechanic. The preview was a Mirrodin common, "Failure". Failure is an instant for 3WW with the effect, "You lose the game." "Failure is really the benchmark standard for the new 'Losing' cards," explained Buehler. "Obviously the rares of Mirrodin will feature more interesting variations on this mechanic, but we like the commons to be fairly straightforward."

Some pros offered their opinions on this new mechanic. "I really like it!" exclaimed Gary Wise. "This new mechanic feels really natural to me; I just like the way it plays. Once Mirrodin comes out, I just know I'm going to go nuts building a lot of new decks around it."

"Oh, and, uh, we brought back Kicker, too," threw in Rosewater. "I dunno. Gotta bring back somethin'."

Discuss this article in the Magic: the Gathering Forums!