Poison Again.... Soon??

Aaron Forsythe indicates poison in this article:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/af122


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6) Poison guild?

One of your stated goals for the Ravnica block was to give each guild a different route to victory. You've weenies, big guys, spells, bleeders, and even a decking guild. So, why isn't there a poison guild?
--Wade Trupke

To channel Mark Rosewater, “Who wants doughnuts?” Er, “Poison will be back some day, I guar-on-tee it!”

I do agree with Mark that we'll refresh the poison mechanic someday and make it work better than it ever did before, but Ravnica was simply not the place for that comeback. Were we to reintroduce poison, we'd probably do it as one of the guilds' keywords, and we intentionally stayed away from reusing old keywords for any of the guilds (to prevent fans of any particular color combination from feeling cheated). And there's no way we would have done it in addition to a guild's keyword, seeing as (a) there are only so many cards per guild to execute each theme, and (b) with ten keywords in the block already, there wasn't “space” for another concept like poison that would invariably need reminder text and rules support.


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And in 2004 Mark Rosewater said this:



October 13, 2004

Q: "Has R&D ever considered bringing back the poison mechanic?"
-- JJ, Kirkland, Washington

A: From Mark Rosewater, Magic Head Designer:

"JJ,

"Yes, we have. And I believe (and remember I'm the guy in charge of Magic design) that one day we will bring it back. Not in the immediate future, but some day. If you are patient, you will be rewarded."