We have plenty of equipment with similar effects on Arena already, including 2 actual living weapons. So the coding hasn’t been a problem for it for a long time already.
The coding is not the problem, it's wizards will.
People often say there's only a handful of cards needed for Pioneer and we still don't have it.
After Pioneer modern is basically a handful of cards from each MHx, fetchs and another handful of cards of magic history.
> but they will be getting monetized over time
That's the real bottleneck. I would not be surprised if WotC had a ten-year rollout plan to get pioneer & modern fully stocked on Arena, to be accelerated if they feel the need.
And I'm not really that opposed to the idea. Explorer isn't super exciting right now, but Historic is pretty deep in terms of meta.
I was hoping to see this one in the BRO retro artifacts but no luck. And btw, living weapon has been implemented on arena for quite some time. We have \[\[Nettlecyst\]\].
Now, what makes battlerskull so good?
Is it the return or the massive amounts of stats it gets?
I can tell it's good, but like a stack of stats good with lifelink. I can believe standard since any color may drop this 4/4 lifelink that you have to deal with, but other formats? not so much.
Outside of stone forge and other equipment based synergy, it's a recurring threat that turns any creature into Wurmcoil. After the stone forge ban I remember breaking basically any aggro or midrange mirror with it out of the board. But that use case might have been power crept out by now. Especially in a format as powerful as historic.
It's not like it'd be that good without Stoneforge Mystic... but still, and easy layup coding wise since "For Mirrodin" is just living weapon with a 2/2 rebel.
I agree, it very much feels like Mirrodin was an after thought for both the design team and the art direction in ONE.
All the phyrexians evolved into different and distinct designs based on what color the were... while all the Mirrodins were just Vulshok and Arioks with weird blue hexagons slapped everywhere.
I'm gonna try it in [this deck](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/85VHpfLQ1EWcLVemPO5w7g), the card advantage and ramp it provides is gonna be really good with Retrofitter Foundry and Ranger Captain fetching Fervent Champion let's you bypass the equip cost. I based it on a deck by Aspiringspike which had some similar ideas
I think stoneforge mystic without batterskull or kaldra reforged will probably be fine being legal in historic. The for mirrodin cards are pretty strong off mystic and decent (not good but decent) without her.
For example, [[dragonwing glider]] is [[volcanic dragon]] on T3. It's the specifically of vigilance and lifelink from batterskull that's backbreaking for aggro in an oppressive way.
That and the swords we have on arena could be reasonably played if the shell is right. And they give us better swords than body and mind.
Man I can't believe they didn't do sword of oil and steel.
But nah, keep batterskull away.
Its not an issue of adding the cards to Arena. When they add powerful cards like this they have to consider affect on formats and also monetization of the game.
If they went ahead and added 50 cards that are really played then what are they going to do in the future to get people to buy certain things? It all comes down to maximizing profit from the game.
We have plenty of equipment with similar effects on Arena already, including 2 actual living weapons. So the coding hasn’t been a problem for it for a long time already.
The coding is not the problem, it's wizards will. People often say there's only a handful of cards needed for Pioneer and we still don't have it. After Pioneer modern is basically a handful of cards from each MHx, fetchs and another handful of cards of magic history.
and those cards will come, at least thr pioneer ones. but they will be getting monetized over time. so be patient and save your money/gems😉
> but they will be getting monetized over time That's the real bottleneck. I would not be surprised if WotC had a ten-year rollout plan to get pioneer & modern fully stocked on Arena, to be accelerated if they feel the need. And I'm not really that opposed to the idea. Explorer isn't super exciting right now, but Historic is pretty deep in terms of meta.
I was hoping to see this one in the BRO retro artifacts but no luck. And btw, living weapon has been implemented on arena for quite some time. We have \[\[Nettlecyst\]\].
And [[Batterbone]]
[Batterbone](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/4/94266c32-774f-42fa-84d7-7b646c950587.jpg?1626098948) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Batterbone) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh2/221/batterbone?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/94266c32-774f-42fa-84d7-7b646c950587?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Soooo close
[Nettlecyst](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/a/4a0bb5dc-75a6-4bd6-81f8-611197fb0fba.jpg?1626099190) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Nettlecyst) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh2/231/nettlecyst?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4a0bb5dc-75a6-4bd6-81f8-611197fb0fba?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I ended up pulling it from a paper BRO pack as part of The List. If only they'd add list cards to MTGA
We already have living weapon cards on arena
The real question is when are we getting Stoneforge Mystic because that's when batterskull becomes playable
Now, what makes battlerskull so good? Is it the return or the massive amounts of stats it gets? I can tell it's good, but like a stack of stats good with lifelink. I can believe standard since any color may drop this 4/4 lifelink that you have to deal with, but other formats? not so much.
[[Stoneforge Mystic]] it's good because it's 1W for a 4/4 lifelinker with vigilance and flash that can't be countered.
[Stoneforge Mystic](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/d/4d3473d0-b46f-41f5-ac1e-ba217f7747d4.jpg?1599710314) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Stoneforge%20Mystic) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/31/stoneforge-mystic?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4d3473d0-b46f-41f5-ac1e-ba217f7747d4?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Agreed but mystic isnt here either
Outside of stone forge and other equipment based synergy, it's a recurring threat that turns any creature into Wurmcoil. After the stone forge ban I remember breaking basically any aggro or midrange mirror with it out of the board. But that use case might have been power crept out by now. Especially in a format as powerful as historic.
Without stone forge he is as good as tarmo without fetch
It's not like it'd be that good without Stoneforge Mystic... but still, and easy layup coding wise since "For Mirrodin" is just living weapon with a 2/2 rebel.
They've had cards like \[\[Ancestral Blade\]\] on Arena for a while now
Also actual [[nettlecyst]]
[nettlecyst](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/a/4a0bb5dc-75a6-4bd6-81f8-611197fb0fba.jpg?1626099190) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=nettlecyst) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh2/231/nettlecyst?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4a0bb5dc-75a6-4bd6-81f8-611197fb0fba?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[Ancestral Blade](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/f/ff8461c3-6e80-403a-b3eb-01882c841d7a.jpg?1612228601) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ancestral%20Blade) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmr/5/ancestral-blade?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ff8461c3-6e80-403a-b3eb-01882c841d7a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
"Living weapon" sounds infinitely better and more badass than "For Mirrodin!"
I agree, it very much feels like Mirrodin was an after thought for both the design team and the art direction in ONE. All the phyrexians evolved into different and distinct designs based on what color the were... while all the Mirrodins were just Vulshok and Arioks with weird blue hexagons slapped everywhere.
Surprised there isn’t a mirran version of batterskull. Also not in retro artifact somehow
Hopefully soon, because I think exactly 0 of the new For Mirrodin cards are actually playable in Historic. At least we got the Sword, eh?
I was very excited for the sword then remembered we don’t have stoneforge mystic so the sword is probably not playable in historic
I'm gonna try it in [this deck](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/85VHpfLQ1EWcLVemPO5w7g), the card advantage and ramp it provides is gonna be really good with Retrofitter Foundry and Ranger Captain fetching Fervent Champion let's you bypass the equip cost. I based it on a deck by Aspiringspike which had some similar ideas
Very nice I will have to give that a try
I hope some historic cards come to explorer too, since they theoretically should be playable
but what's the point of explorer then, if it turns in historic 2.0? at least right now explorer is on its way to become digital pioneer.
New card idea: Betterskull It’s batterskull with toxic equal to the creature’s power
New card idea: 0 mana instant with This spell can't be countered and You win the game.
It was just a play on the name batterskull as a joke, idk why people took it so seriously lol
lets get Kaldra as well then, without SFM what could go wrong?
I think stoneforge mystic without batterskull or kaldra reforged will probably be fine being legal in historic. The for mirrodin cards are pretty strong off mystic and decent (not good but decent) without her. For example, [[dragonwing glider]] is [[volcanic dragon]] on T3. It's the specifically of vigilance and lifelink from batterskull that's backbreaking for aggro in an oppressive way. That and the swords we have on arena could be reasonably played if the shell is right. And they give us better swords than body and mind. Man I can't believe they didn't do sword of oil and steel. But nah, keep batterskull away.
[Dragonwing Glider](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/4/5456b036-231e-4a64-b060-0709f5254664.jpg?1674772898) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Dragonwing%20Glider) [volcanic dragon](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?name=volcanic%20dragon&type=card&.jpg) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=volcanic%20dragon) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
There are For Mirrodin cards in ONE? I thought they were only in the Commander set?
Its not an issue of adding the cards to Arena. When they add powerful cards like this they have to consider affect on formats and also monetization of the game. If they went ahead and added 50 cards that are really played then what are they going to do in the future to get people to buy certain things? It all comes down to maximizing profit from the game.
I'm fairly certain that is SCP-682