Magic: The Gathering Designers Reflect on Forgotten 2011 Card
Designers at Wizards of the Coast recently discussed Magic 2012, a core set marking its fifteenth anniversary. During a retrospective interview, senior creative designer Doug Beyer and vice president of Magic design Aaron Forsythe highlighted Vengeful Pharaoh, an obscure card from the set featuring unique graveyard mechanics that failed to achieve significant competitive popularity.
Key points
- Aaron Forsythe serves as the vice president of Magic design, while Doug Beyer holds the role of senior creative designer at Wizards of the Coast.
- The designers reflected on Magic 2012, a core set that recently marked its fifteenth anniversary since release.
- Doug Beyer stated in an interview that he originally expected the card Vengeful Pharaoh to see considerably more competitive play.
- Vengeful Pharaoh required a casting cost of five mana, specifically two colorless and three black mana.
In a recent interview discussing the legacy of past products, Wizards of the Coast executives revisited the history of the Magic 2012 core set. Aaron Forsythe, vice president of Magic design, and Doug Beyer, senior creative designer, evaluated older cards from the set as it reached its fifteenth anniversary milestone.
Beyer specifically pointed to Vengeful Pharaoh as an underappreciated creation from the set. The card, which features a five-mana cost requiring two colorless and three black mana, was designed with top-down flavor intended to simulate a mummy returning from the graveyard to defeat attackers.
Despite the creative team's initial expectations for its popularity, the card ultimately faded from competitive play and was largely forgotten by the player base over the subsequent fifteen years.
Sources
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