We Need To Talk About Ward

Nice video, Vince! Sorry I stole your video topic. Guess I have... Ward - Make a Video Explaining Ward

Maybe the MTG Goldfish crew was right, and the 9 wrath meta is the way forward now that spot removal isn't as viable.

Decks change. People change. But ward, ward never changes

Horobi, looking at creatures with Ward: You have no power here

Gavin did kinda hit on it by looking at Voja and Tivit but... My BIGGEST problem with ward is that when it's larger numbers it can feel like hexproof at most stages of the game, even in commander. Tempo still matters in commander, even if it is more casual. But they wouldn't have printed actual hexproof on the card. So the card feels pushed in most games, because the ward is acting like the keyword it shouldn't have. Ward is really best at 1, 2, and unique costs like discard a card or pay life. 3 and higher, and it runs into the "im basically hexproof, but im given power like im not actually hexproof."

Ward is fine as long as the cost isn't ridiculous. Ward 3+ may as well be hexproof in most instances cause it will practically cost you the whole turns worth of mana to deal with it and often will result in whatever it is going uncontested without a wipe in my experience. But I do like alternate ward costs like paying life or sacking something. Sauron having one of the most insane alternate ward costs I think.

Ward: go next door and get me pepper chicken with shrimp fried rice.

I think Ward in of itself is a good mechanic when it does something more than make your opponent pay one extra mana. We've seen this with Black cards that have Ward, instead of just paying 1 extra mana, your opponent has to decide if they want to sacrifice a permanent or discard a card, which not everyone is going to be able to do or want to do. I'd like to see we do more with the other colors, like White having your opponent choose things like you gaining a life or making a token, Green lets you search for a basic or put a +1/+1 counter on a creature you control, red deals damage to them or they sacrifice a land, blue has you draw a card a card or they bounce a permanent to their hand. There's some excellent space here that makes it more interesting than just a Poorman's Hexproof, but it also shouldn't be pushed to the extreme its being used.

Ward 1: A small tax for interacting with the permanent, encourages opponents to pick something else to target Ward 2: A serious defense for the permanent, usually gets to stick around at least until an opponent untaps and you may get to untap with it even if it's an obvious "remove on sight" target Ward 3: Don't put it on something you would immediately rule out hexproof for Ward 4+: Keep it conditional, like on Iymrith Ward--Pay 2 life: Neither the permanent's controller nor the opponent feels great after a removal spell, but neither feels awful, either Ward--Pay 3 life: The permanent's controller is starting to feel better about it being removed Ward--Discard a card: It really hurts, but sometimes the two-for-one is worth it, particularly with cards that can do stuff from the graveyard In any case, use it sparingly and keep it flavorful.

My issue with ward is twofold. One, it's another protection effect that while, "strictly worse than hexproof," it can be slapped on to more cards because of this and shows less restraint in design. Two, it makes single target removal less effective, pushing players into playing more board wipes. I have no problem with board wipes, but a lot of players do, so I have to hear more people moaning about "slowing the game down."

To copy/paste my comment on Gavin's video on this subject yesterday: The issue is that MTG designers seem to ignore that Ward, like Hexproof and Shroud, should be on a limited number of cards. In all of Magic, there are around: 250 cards with hexproof, 120 with shroud, and over 110 cards with ward despite the mechanic only existing for 3 years. Think about that… Ward has nearly 1/2 the number of cards that Hexproof has, a mechanic that’s existed since 2011, and within a set or two will have more cards than Shroud, a mechanic that’s existed since 1994. Ward is being handed out like candy to cards that frankly shouldn’t have it. Powerful cards are kill on sight because they are powerful. They don’t need to have built in protection. For example, if I play Kaalia the Vast, I full expect my opponent to kill Kaalia immediately if I don’t have some sort of protection available for her. Someone playing Voja or Miirym as their commander knows it’s a kill on sight card… they should be required to work to protect it, not have that protection built in so they don’t need to do anything. All three keywords should be used as appropriate, but they really need to be included in the casting cost better. Going back to Voja as a recent example: a 5/5 trample vigilance for 5 that makes +1/+1 counters and draws cards seems fair… why does it also need Ward 3, and where is the mana value going to show that? Like… even without Ward 3 it’s arguably worth 5 mana, so why doesn’t it cost even more for having such great built in protection? Basically, Hexproof would cause a card to cost 1 - 2 extra mana, but it doesn't seem like ward is increasing the CMC of the cards it's on, it's just being put on cards with no thought to that element of the design.

I just got back into MtG recently after a long time being away. When I left, they just keyworded shroud (it was Lorwyn/Shadowmoor) and had it on a bunch of stuff and that felt almost oppressive but was balanced in that you paid a high price to play it. Coming back and reading about hexproof and ward just feels.... immensely powerful. Being able to buff/manipulate targets while your opponent can't is just so strong.

Non mana ward is based

"Ward, we need to talk about the Giant Beaver."

I think the issue is that the prescence of Ward rarely factors into the cost, even when the Ward ability might as well be hexproof. Voja and Sauron might as well have Hexproof, but they aren't costed accordingly.

Shield counters where better designed ward you can't change my mind

Ward 2 is such an interesting mechanic, becuase it looks so unamusing but when you realize your go for the throat cost 4 and thats basically means deciding between timewalking yourself to answer the thing, or letting it run rampant and you realize its true power. I loved Gavin's video on it. I love your take. Its a cool mechanic, we just all missevaluated a bit.

As primarily a limited player, I definitely appreciate Ward, particularly since removal feels like it keeps getting more and more abundant at lower and lower mana, so ward is a way to keep your bombs feeling fun without resorting to hexproof, which is often unfun.

I like how flexible ward is as a mechanic. Ward pay 3 life is really good on an aggressive creature. On a value engine not so much. Ward, "sacrifice a creature" and "discard an instant sorcery or enchantment" can be brutal depending on the state of the game but not always. Ward 2; on a two mana 1/1 that grows every turn is not gonna save the creature forever but it might save ot long enough for you to win.

My solution to Gavin’s double Shock vs. a Ward (2) Toughness 4 creature = total 6 mana problem is to make it like the ability of Clergy of the Holy Nimbus and Knight of the Holy Nimbus.