Odyssey rare. Part of Odyssey block’s design involved changing up which creature types got first billing for their colors. In any other block, it’s likely that the flavor of this card would be associated with Goblins, but while the Odyssey block sports 17 dwarf-related cards, there isn’t one card with “Goblin” on it.
Homelands rare. In the earliest days of Magic, there was a running joke on Usenet of a super rare card named Throat Wolf. What the card did always seemed to change. The only constant was that it always had Firstest Strike. For many years R&D always named one card Throat Wolf in design out of a nod to that joke, and even printed Heart Wolf as a wink to the running gag.
Homelands rare. An optional damage ability that only works during the end of combat step is a rare effect mostly found on very old cards. The idea behind this restriction was to give the ability to harm opposing creatures but still allow them to deal the damage they were going to deal for that combat. (Another example is Desert, from Arabian Nights.)
Homelands common. Dwarves are a pretty skilled group. Of the 32 printed so far, this is the only vanilla card (slang for no abilities) in the entire bunch. Thanks to Goblins of the Flarg though, even Dwarven Trader kind of has an ability. Well, if you control both that is.
Mercadian Masques uncommon. The ability to use creatures to tap other creatures typically shows up in blue or white. Though it’s only a loose guide, as you move forward in Magic’s history blue is often more likely to have temporary or one-time tapping effects. White is more likely to have repeatable effects that allow its creatures to tap other creatures. (But there are certainly exceptions, even among modern cards, such as Puppeteer.)
Urza’s Saga rare. It’s humorous that a card with “stack” in the name was at its best when abusing “the stack” - which hadn’t been invented yet! (Haven’t seen the card in action? The trick is for the controller to put the soot counter effect on the stack, and then put the sacrifice effect on the stack, which lets the controller sacrifice one fewer permanent each cycle.)
Fifth Edition rare. First printed all the way back in Alpha, Smoke is one of several early red cards that “sets rules” - an ability now normally given only to white cards. This particular effect is also very closely related to taxing, which is also a white ability in the current color pie.
Odyssey uncommon. The original art designed for this card is actually the piece that got used on Flame Burst! The art was changed because the original illustration didn’t exactly make it clear that the (protection from red) creature was shrugging off the damage from the spell aimed at it.
Ravnica rare. One of the most complicated cards in the set in terms of rules management, the irony is that it was created during development by Mark Gottlieb. Since then Mark has become the Rules Manager for Magic, and we can’t help but wonder if he still would have created this card if he’d known he would become the one that has to deal with all the rules issues it creates!
Ravnica common. The vast majority of cards undergo many changes as they progress from the initial design file to final printed form. Designed by Aaron Forsythe, this card as printed is actually nearly identical to his original version??� even the name stayed the same!
