Popverse's top stories of the day

• How Disney+'s What If...? is the moonshot for the next 50 years of Marvel Studios & the MCU
• Watch: Dune: Prophecy's Desmond Hart explained: His secret identity, his past, and his possible future [SPOILERS]
• Dune: Prophecy's Desmond Hart explained: His secret identity, his past, and his possible future [SPOILERS]

Creating for Magic: The Gathering is surely a lot more difficult than playing it, but the same love for the game goes into both acts. This has the potential to put the designers in a difficult position - on the one hand, you may have a mechanical idea that comes straight out of your passion for the franchise, but on the other hand, you have to make sure it works, ensuring smooth gameplay for your customers. At PAX Unplugged 2024, we heard from designer Gavin Verhey, who shared with us some of his fondest ideas for mechanics that are simply, well, not in the cards.

The topic came up during the Q&A portion of the Magic: The Gathering Foundations Power Hour on Saturday, December 7. Verhey, who is the team lead on the upcoming Universes Beyond set that will utilize characters and lore from the Final Fantasy game franchise, was asked about mechanics he'd love to see in the game that haven't been introduced yet. Verhey was quick to answer but, unfortunately, was also quick to clarify that we'd probably never see these mechanics in the game.

"I'll tell you about three weird mechanics that I made that will never see the light of day," Verhey said with a laugh, "These are off the top of my head, but I think I'm sure I could think of hundreds more."

"The first one is 'Gunk.' Gunk are these cards that are about shuffling your opponent's library, and have no ability but cycling, so they 'Gunk up' [your opponent's] hand. It is logistically unfeasible for any kind of Magic, but I really enjoy the cards." 

"At one point in Ixalan," Verhey continued, "we were trying to figure out a mechanic for pirates, one that would make you feel like you're finding treasure. I had the idea of Booster Tutor the mechanic where you would open up a booster pack, because you're finding your treasure in the booster pack! That's unfeasible for a bunch of other reasons."

Though Verhey did not expand on what those reasons were, we feel comfortable taking his word on it, considering how long he's been working on the game. This left him with just one more doomed mechanic to talk about, for which Verhey spent some time mulling over possible answers. Finally, he came up with one.

"The third one that will talk about," Verhey concludes, "I'm a big fan of side decks, so I've asked, 'What is something that I can bring to the table along with the rest of your stuff going on?' Something that was more competitive-focused than, say, contraptions or attractions or anything like that, which I didn't really test at all."

(To clarify, side decks, or sideboards, do already exist in Magic: The Gathering - we presume Verhey is referencing cards specifically made for sideboards, which do not currently exist.)

Before he wrapped up his answer, Verhey did have one more mechanic he'd love to see in the game, though it's probably the least likely of all of them, due to the fact that 

"Triple face cards," was the idea, Verhey said. "You've got to break the laws of physics, but it would be cool if we could do that."

Sure, that sounds pretty difficult. Then again, Magic: The Gathering was able to add a Marvel set to their Universes Beyond catalogue despite the fact that Disney has their own TGC in Lorcana And what are the laws of science against corporate IP synergy?

Is Netflix's Magic: The Gathering animated series ever going to happen? Here's what we've heard.