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Unstable
Set Information
Set symbol
Themes and mechanics Contraptions
Watermark matters, Flavor text matters, Die rolls
Keywords/​ability words Assemble, Augment, Crank, Combine, Switch and others
Set size 216-ish
Expansion code UST[2]
File:Order of the Widget.jpg

Order of the Widget

File:Agents of S.N.E.A.K.jpg

Agents of S.N.E.A.K.

File:League of Dasterdly Doom.jpg

League of Dasterdly Doom

File:Goblin Explosioneers.jpg

Goblin Explosioneers

File:Crossbreed Labs.jpg

Crossbreed Labs

Unstable is a booster-based card set for Magic: The Gathering that can not be used in legal Magic tournaments. It will be released on December 8, 2017 as a standalone set.[3][4] This is the third of the silver bordered Un-sets and is designed to be drafted.

Set details

Unstable contains "216-ish" cards (5 basic land, TBA common, TBA uncommon, TBA rare, and TBA mythic rare) and 20 foil tokens, and includes randomly inserted premium versions of all cards.[5] The set explores new areas of Magic game design and continues the tradition of bending the conventional rules of the game in a fun and whimsical way. Unstable was designed to both be drafted alone and be mixed with other sets: according to Mark Rosewater, however, the best experience is probably when it's drafted alone.[6] The expansion symbol is a wrench with an acorn-shaped hole.

The set features 'modern design sensibilities' and a is built around a 'cohesive creative vision'.[3] It includes fun legendary creatures that can be utilized in the Commander format and some cards designed for Cube.[7][8][9] Like its predecessors, Unstable features 5 full-art basic lands[10], but borderless instead of black-bordered.[11][12] Every pack contains one of the five lands unless it is replaced by a Steamflogger Boss, which replaces 1 in every 121 basic lands. The set also features foil tokens, both for tokens produced by cards in the set and for popular tribes outside the set.

History

Mark Rosewater had to wait 13 years after Unhinged before Unstable could be printed, as Unhinged had been considered a commercial failure. However, Rosewater and senior brand director Mark Purvis argue this wasn't because of poor sales, but because of overprinting. At the time, Wizards of the Coast didn't regularly create supplemental sets, so Unhinged was treated as a small expansion. Actual work on the set took six years.[13][14] When design started, one of the goals, as proposed by director of product design Mark Globus, was to explore what new printing technology might allow: however, none of these proposed ideas were feasible at the time the set was printed.[4]

Marketing

Unstable is sold in 16-card boosters (one card being a foil token) and Draft Packs. The first details of Unstable were revealed by Rosewater at San Diego Comic-Con 2017,[14] who also heavily promoted the set on Blogatog.

Tokens

Unstable features 20 foil tokens, one per pack.

The following tokens notably are for non-Unstable cards, and have full borderless art of the token on the back faces instead of advertisements.

  • {W} 4/4 Angel creature with flying
  • {W} 1/1 Spirit creature with flying
  • {U} 1/1 Thopter artifact creature with flying
  • {B} 2/2 Zombie creature
  • {R} 1/1 Elemental creature
  • {G} 3/3 Beast creature
  • {G} 1/1 Saproling creature
  • {G/W} */* Elemental creature with "This creature's power and toughness are each equal to the number of creatures you control."
  • {C} Clue artifact

Flavor

Unstable is set on Bablovia, a steampunk 'mad scientist world' with 5 factions:[16][4]

Themes and mechanics

  • Contraptions — One of two flagship mechanics of the set. There are 45 different Contraptions (nine with each faction's watermark), or roughly one-fifth of the set. Contraptions are artifacts that start the game shuffled into a separate "contraption deck." When an effect assembles a Contraption, that player takes the top card of their contraption deck and puts it into their first, second or third sprocket slot. (Any number of Contraptions can exist in a single sprocket.) During each of your upkeeps, if you control a Contraption, you move the CRANK! counter onto the next sequential sprocket of your Contraption deck (sprocket 3 looping back to 1), then crank all Contraptions in that sprocket. Each Contraption has a different ability that triggers upon being cranked.
    • All creatures that can assemble a Contraption are Riggers.[14]
    • Each pack of Unstable contains two Contraption cards.[23]
  • Host creatures and augment — The other flagship mechanic of the set.
    • Host creatures all have abilities that trigger on their entering the battlefield, as well as art and name divided by a vertical line. Creatures with augment have no mana cost (but have a color indicator), have plus symbols in their power and toughness (ex. +2/+2), and each have the first half of a triggered ability.
    • Augment appears on creatures without casting cost. When a host creature is on the battlefield, its controller can augment it with a creature from their hand: those two creatures are then combined into one until they leave the battlefield. The augment creature overlaps the left side of the host creature, such that the arts align.
    • If an augment creature is on the battlefield not combined with a host, it goes to the graveyard as a state-based action.[24]
  • Combine — A subset of cards (ex. Do-it-Yourself Seraph and Grusilda, Monster Masher) can combine the text boxes of cards in unique ways.
  • Switch — To switch two cards means to exchange their respective game states. Cards that switch do not trigger other abilities, as they do not transition between states.[25]
  • "Watermark matters" — To emphasize the individual factions, there are a number of cards (ex. Hammerfest Boomtacular) that care about the watermark printed on a card.

Unstable also has a number of one-off mechanics that are riff on other black-bordered mechanics:

Subtypes

Cycles

  • Faction leaders: Five mythic multicolor permanents that each represent a leader of a faction — The Grand Calcutron ({W/U}), ?? ({U/B}), Baron von Count ({B/R}), ?? ({R/G}), and Dr. Julius Jumblemorph ({G/W}).
    • The Grand Calcutron was supposed to have "This artifact can be your commander" as rules text, but there was not enough room.[29] Mark Rosewater has stated in his blog that he "officially errata'd" The Grand Calcutron to be legal as commander in silver-bordered EDH games.[30]

Trivia

General

  • Mark Rosewater joked that his toaster did most of the design.[31]
  • Originally, there were supposed to be 50 Contraptions (10 for each faction), but Dawn Murin, the art director for Unstable, decided to connect all the Contraptions for each faction, leading there to be 9 Contraptions for each faction, with each piece of artwork on each Contraption card making up a single section of a 3x3 grid.[23]

Cards

Gallery

References

  1. Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (August 04, 2017). "". Tumblr.
  2. [1]
  3. a b Template:NewRef
  4. a b c d Template:NewRef
  5. Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (September 10, 2017). "". Tumblr.
  6. Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (June 15, 2017). "". Tumblr.
  7. Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (June 23, 2017). "". Tumblr.
  8. Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (June 27, 2017). "". Tumblr.
  9. Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (July 28, 2017). "". Tumblr.
  10. Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (July 23, 2017). "". Tumblr.
  11. Magic Twitter
  12. Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (September 09, 2017). "". Tumblr.
  13. Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (July 15, 2017). "". Tumblr.
  14. a b c Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (July 23, 2017). "". Tumblr.
  15. Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (September 20, 2017). "". Tumblr.
  16. Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (July 23, 2017). "". Tumblr.
  17. Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (August 03, 2017). "". Tumblr.
  18. Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (August 03, 2017). "". Tumblr.
  19. Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (August 03, 2017). "". Tumblr.
  20. Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (August 03, 2017). "". Tumblr.
  21. Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (July 25, 2017). "". Tumblr.
  22. Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (August 03, 2017). "". Tumblr.
  23. a b Template:NewRef
  24. Template:NewRef
  25. Template:NewRef
  26. Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (November 14, 2017). "". Tumblr.
  27. Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (August 03, 2017). "". Tumblr.
  28. Template:NewRef
  29. Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (November 15, 2017). "". Tumblr.
  30. Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (November 16, 2017). "". Tumblr.
  31. Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (August 30, 2017). "". Tumblr.
  32. Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (November 16, 2017). "". Tumblr.
  33. Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (November 16, 2017). "". Tumblr.
  34. Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (July 21, 2017). "". Tumblr.

External links

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