Welcome to the first ever non-Magicthegathering.com official Betrayers preview! I'm Musteval, prominent R&D member, and I'll be your host on the long voyage through the creation of this card! I'll do it in chronological order, because that's the easiest type of writing.

Step One: A promising young R&D member has an idea. Musteval thinks, “Hey, we should make a card that makes everything a Wall!” He decides to mention it to Mark Rosewater before telling anyone else.

Step Two: Mark loves the idea, and decides to tell the rest of R&D about it (taking credit, of course, just like he does for everything). They love the card, and decide to include it in BOK.

Step Three: The card is fleshed out. A Multiverse entry is made:

Turn to Stone
4WW
Enchantment
All creatures are Walls. (Walls can't attack.)

Step Four: The rules team rears its ugly head. The card changes to give all creatures Defender. This is much less flavorful, but at least it doesn't confuse newbies. Whereas Walls, obviously, do.

Step Five: The card is finalized. It is moved to 3WW, and proves powerful in the Future Future League. It dominates playtesting, proving once again that the FFL doesn't have any good deckbuilders.

Step Six: Art is made. The artist is to be Rebecca Guay, and the following description is sent to her:

Color: White
Location: Doesn't matter
Action: A creature or creatures turning to stone..
Focus: the creatures
Mood: I'm turning to stone, but am strangely at peace.
Notes: This is a very strong card. Make sure you convey it.

Step Seven: Guay returns the art. It looks like this:



We suddenly realize why we fired her in the first place, and send the same art description to Musteval. He returns this:



It is perfect, like everything Musteval has ever made. We proceed with the process.

Step Eight: Flavor text is not written, because nobody has any good ideas. Mark Rosewater submits the following gem: ”When the going gets tough, the tough get stoned,”, but it is rejected for flavor, drug references, and general suckiness. Mark Gottleib, despite not being on the flavor team, submits some random nonsense, which is nonetheless funny.

Step Nine: The card is finalized, sent to the printer's, and placed in Betrayers packs all over the world. Players open it and are amazed at it, excluding those who use dirty dirty spoilers.



Step Ten: There is much hubbub about the card's incredible power. Comparisons are made to Moat, Teferi's Moat, Glacial Chasm, and the like. Decks are built around it, and it is touted as “the next Ravager.” A huge amount of articles are written about it on Starcity, most of which are horrible and derivative.

Step Eleven: Everyone keeps playing Raffinity. It continues to dominate the Type II scene until September 2008, three years after it left Standard.

Discuss this article in the Magic: the Gathering Forums!

Related Stories

• The New Look of Mirrodin
• Making Magic: You Get to See Another Card
• Scourge Card Preview: Beastly Speculation

Welcome to the first ever non-Magicthegathering.com official Betrayers preview! I'm Musteval, prominent R&D member, and I'll be your host on the long voyage through the creation of this card! I'll do it in chronological order, because that's the easiest type of writing.

Step One: A promising young R&D member has an idea. Musteval thinks, “Hey, we should make a card that makes everything a Wall!” He decides to mention it to Mark Rosewater before telling anyone else.

Step Two: Mark loves the idea, and decides to tell the rest of R&D about it (taking credit, of course, just like he does for everything). They love the card, and decide to include it in BOK.

Step Three: The card is fleshed out. A Multiverse entry is made:

Turn to Stone
4WW
Enchantment
All creatures are Walls. (Walls can't attack.)

Step Four: The rules team rears its ugly head. The card changes to give all creatures Defender. This is much less flavorful, but at least it doesn't confuse newbies. Whereas Walls, obviously, do.

Step Five: The card is finalized. It is moved to 3WW, and proves powerful in the Future Future League. It dominates playtesting, proving once again that the FFL doesn't have any good deckbuilders.

Step Six: Art is made. The artist is to be Rebecca Guay, and the following description is sent to her:

Color: White
Location: Doesn't matter
Action: A creature or creatures turning to stone..
Focus: the creatures
Mood: I'm turning to stone, but am strangely at peace.
Notes: This is a very strong card. Make sure you convey it.

Step Seven: Guay returns the art. It looks like this:



We suddenly realize why we fired her in the first place, and send the same art description to Musteval. He returns this:



It is perfect, like everything Musteval has ever made. We proceed with the process.

Step Eight: Flavor text is not written, because nobody has any good ideas. Mark Rosewater submits the following gem: ”When the going gets tough, the tough get stoned,”, but it is rejected for flavor, drug references, and general suckiness. Mark Gottleib, despite not being on the flavor team, submits some random nonsense, which is nonetheless funny.

Step Nine: The card is finalized, sent to the printer's, and placed in Betrayers packs all over the world. Players open it and are amazed at it, excluding those who use dirty dirty spoilers.



Step Ten: There is much hubbub about the card's incredible power. Comparisons are made to Moat, Teferi's Moat, Glacial Chasm, and the like. Decks are built around it, and it is touted as “the next Ravager.” A huge amount of articles are written about it on Starcity, most of which are horrible and derivative.

Step Eleven: Everyone keeps playing Raffinity. It continues to dominate the Type II scene until September 2008, three years after it left Standard.

Discuss this article in the Magic: the Gathering Forums!

Related Stories

• The New Look of Mirrodin
• Making Magic: You Get to See Another Card
• Scourge Card Preview: Beastly Speculation