Because of a promotional card released in The Netherlands, Magic: The Gathering players have gotten a sneak peek at a new game mechanic that will appear in the next Magic set, Onslaught.

Mark Rosewater of Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic: The Gathering, confirmed Friday that the new game mechanic will be known as "Red Sucks Ass."

"Some game mechanics have what we call 'keyword names,' such as Fading or Madness," Rosewater said Friday. "However, some game mechanics, such as the ability spellshapers had in Masques block, or the ability we informally call 'Domain,' are game mechanics although they do not precisely have keyword names."

"Red Sucks Ass falls in this latter category," Rosewater said.

An early glimpse at the Red Sucks Ass mechanic.

Normally, game mechanics are not discussed by the company before the set's prerelease tournament, but so many people were now aware of the game mechanic that Rosewater felt it was appropriate to discuss it, he said.

Rosewater said that the Red Sucks Ass game mechanic would appear on Onslaught cards by taking the following forms:

• Two playable red creatures.
  
• No way for red to deal with creatures with five toughness or greater without spending at least 16 mana or nine cards.
  
• Nothing for red to do during the opponent's turn.
  
• Land destruction now a blue mechanic.
  
• No way for red to draw cards.
  
• Traditional red inability to deal with enchantments.
  
• No way for red to protect own permanents from any spell or ability.
  
• Access by red to other mechanics in block will require random discard of 8 cards.
  
• Other four colors will have ways to deal with new "play cards straight from your library" game mechanic, but red won't.
  

"That last idea we got from Odyssey block," Rosewater said. "In that block, the focus was on the graveyard, so we made sure to give red no way to deal with the graveyard."

"Except for Mudhole, which like Memory Jar was a mistake."

The Red Sucks Ass game mechanic will be sure to be popular with a certain type of player, Rosewater said.

"You see, there are basically three types of players. Spike, the tournament player; Timmy, the casual player; and Johnny, the player who enjoys trying to break cards," Rosewater said. "Because of our new Red Sucks Ass game mechanic, Johnnies especially will enjoy wasting hours and hours trying to make red work in the next and future sets, according to our polling data."

Rosewater acknowledged that green used to be the color associated with sucking. White used to be associated with a sturdy form of aggression, while red was faster but with less sturdy creatures, he said.

"With what we've done, red is the new green," Rosewater said. "Green is the new white, and white is the new red. It's called an ability pie or something."

Discuss this article in the Magic: the Gathering Forums!

Because of a promotional card released in The Netherlands, Magic: The Gathering players have gotten a sneak peek at a new game mechanic that will appear in the next Magic set, Onslaught.

Mark Rosewater of Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic: The Gathering, confirmed Friday that the new game mechanic will be known as "Red Sucks Ass."

"Some game mechanics have what we call 'keyword names,' such as Fading or Madness," Rosewater said Friday. "However, some game mechanics, such as the ability spellshapers had in Masques block, or the ability we informally call 'Domain,' are game mechanics although they do not precisely have keyword names."

"Red Sucks Ass falls in this latter category," Rosewater said.

An early glimpse at the Red Sucks Ass mechanic.

Normally, game mechanics are not discussed by the company before the set's prerelease tournament, but so many people were now aware of the game mechanic that Rosewater felt it was appropriate to discuss it, he said.

Rosewater said that the Red Sucks Ass game mechanic would appear on Onslaught cards by taking the following forms:

• Two playable red creatures.
  
• No way for red to deal with creatures with five toughness or greater without spending at least 16 mana or nine cards.
  
• Nothing for red to do during the opponent's turn.
  
• Land destruction now a blue mechanic.
  
• No way for red to draw cards.
  
• Traditional red inability to deal with enchantments.
  
• No way for red to protect own permanents from any spell or ability.
  
• Access by red to other mechanics in block will require random discard of 8 cards.
  
• Other four colors will have ways to deal with new "play cards straight from your library" game mechanic, but red won't.
  

"That last idea we got from Odyssey block," Rosewater said. "In that block, the focus was on the graveyard, so we made sure to give red no way to deal with the graveyard."

"Except for Mudhole, which like Memory Jar was a mistake."

The Red Sucks Ass game mechanic will be sure to be popular with a certain type of player, Rosewater said.

"You see, there are basically three types of players. Spike, the tournament player; Timmy, the casual player; and Johnny, the player who enjoys trying to break cards," Rosewater said. "Because of our new Red Sucks Ass game mechanic, Johnnies especially will enjoy wasting hours and hours trying to make red work in the next and future sets, according to our polling data."

Rosewater acknowledged that green used to be the color associated with sucking. White used to be associated with a sturdy form of aggression, while red was faster but with less sturdy creatures, he said.

"With what we've done, red is the new green," Rosewater said. "Green is the new white, and white is the new red. It's called an ability pie or something."

Discuss this article in the Magic: the Gathering Forums!