Unstable

Unstable

 

Variant cards

 

Trivia

 

Unstable
Set Information
Set symbol
Symbol description	Wrench with acorn shaped hole
Design	Mark Rosewater (lead) Dan Emmons Billy Moreno Monty Ashley Ian Duke
Development	Billy Moreno (co-lead) Dave Humpherys (co-lead) Ben Hayes (co-lead) Mark Purvis Mark Rosewater
Art direction	Dawn Murin
Release date	December 8, 2017
Plane	Bablovia
Themes and mechanics	Contraptions, Watermark matters, Flavor text matters, Dice rolling, Outside assistance assistance
Keywords/​ability words	Assemble, Augment, Crank, Combine, Switch and others
Set size	216-ish cards
Expansion code	UST
Development codename	Quicksilver
Un-sets
Unhinged Unstable Unsanctioned
Magic: The Gathering Chronology
From the Vault: Transform Unstable Rivals of Ixalan

Order of the Widget

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

League of Dastardly Doom

Goblin Explosioneers

Crossbreed Labs

Unstable is a booster-based card set for Magic: The Gathering that can not be used in legal Magic tournaments. It was released on December 8, 2017 as a standalone set. 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 lands, 75 common, 75 uncommon, 46 rare, and 15 mythic rare) and 20 foil tokens, and includes randomly inserted premium versions of all cards. 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. The expansion symbol is a wrench with an acorn-shaped hole.

The big difference between Unglued and Unhinged on one hand, and Unstable on the other, is that the first two were meant to be mixed in with normal Magic, whereas Unstable was built as a stand-alone limited experience.

The set features 'modern design sensibilities' and is built around a 'cohesive creative vision'. It includes fun legendary creatures that can be utilized in the Commander format and some cards designed for Cube. Like its predecessors, Unstable features 5 full-art basic lands, but borderless instead of black-bordered. 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.

The set contains some cards at common which are functionally identical to existing black bordered cards or possibly "blackborderable". These had been included for limited gameplay purposes.

Unstable is only published in the English language.

Magic Story

Title	Author	Release Date	Setting (plane)	Featuring
World Class	Mark Rosewater	2017-11-29	Bablovia

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. When design started, one of the goals, as proposed by the 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.

The design of the set was finished in 2014. It was originally scheduled for summer of 2015, but was pushed back a year to make room for Modern Masters 2015. It was then scheduled for the summer of 2016, but the concern that its steampunk influence made it too similar to Kaladesh, pushed it back yet another year. It was then scheduled for summer 2017: however, after Conspiracy: Take the Crown was added last-minute, its release was pushed back to December.

Marketing

Unstable is sold in boosters and Draft Packs. The first details of Unstable were revealed by Rosewater at San Diego Comic-Con 2017, who also heavily promoted the set on Blogatog.

A booster contains 16 cards: 1 rare, 3 uncommons, 8 commons, 2 contraptions, 1 basic land and 1 foil token. A randomly inserted premium version may replace any one of these cards. The boosters feature art from Willing Test Subject, Three-Headed Goblin and X.

Draft Weekend was held on the 9–10 December 2017, the first time which a non-Standard set was used in such an event, and also the first time the event is held on a casual level (Only 1 lifetime PwP were awarded in those events).

Promotional cards

• Draft Weekend Launch promo: Earl of Squirrel
• Judge Gift: Rules Lawyer

Tokens

Unstable features 20 foil tokens, one per pack. Half of them are tokens from Unstable, with humorous fake ads on the back of each. Only the front side is foil, the back side isn't. For the first time, some of these tokens have watermarks, which interacts with the "watermark matters" mechanic that appears on a number of cards in the set.

• 0/1 Goat creature, for Everythingamajig.
• 1/2 Bird creature with flying called Storm Crow, for Crow Storm.
• 1/1 Faerie Spy creature with the S.N.E.A.K. watermark and with flying, haste, and "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to an opponent, draw a card.", for Faerie Aerie.
• 2/2 Rogue creature with the S.N.E.A.K. watermark and with menace, for Dispatch Dispensary and Very Cryptic Command.
• 1/1 Brainiac creature, for The Big Idea.
• 1/1 Goblin creature, for Box of Free-Range Goblins, Garbage Elemental, and Gift Horse.
• 1/1 Squirrel creature, for Chittering Doom, Earl of Squirrel, and Squirrel Dealer.
• */* Construct artifact creature, for Rapid Prototyper and Everythingamajig.
• 1/1 Gnome artifact creature, for By Gnome Means, Gnome-Made Engine, Gnomeball Machine, and Very Cryptic Command.
• Gold 4/4 Dragon creature with flying, for Sword of Dungeons & Dragons.

The other half of the tokens are for non-Unstable cards, and has full borderless art of the same token on the back faces instead of advertisements.

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

Reception

Wizards of the Coast reported that Unstable was one of the smash hits of the year, and was beloved by players.

Flavor

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

• The Order of the Widget faction () are cyborgs that use technology to constantly improve themselves. They have no self control.
• The Agents of S.N.E.A.K. faction () are really bad spies with cool toys.
• The League of Dastardly Doom faction () are supervillains scheming to take over the world. They're constantly at odds with each other.
• The Goblin Explosioneers faction () are steamfloggers and tinkerers that experiment with lots of crazy ideas, many of which explode. They breed fast enough to not wipe out their race.
• The Crossbreed Labs faction () are creature hybrids that have used their inventions to create a perfect society where everyone is their true self.

Themes and mechanics

• Contraptions and assemble — 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.
  • Each pack of Unstable contains two Contraption cards.
  • Two cards may reassemble a Contraption, which means that player takes control of the Contraption and puts it on a sprocket of their choice.
• 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 an augment ability have no mana cost (but have a color indicator), have plus or minus symbols in both their power and toughness (ex. +2/+2 or -1/-0), and each have the first half of some 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.
• "Watermark matters" — To emphasize the individual factions, there are a number of cards (ex. Stamp of Approval) that care about the watermark printed on a card.
• "Outside assistance" — Cards that require you to find a person not playing in your current game and ask them to do something, usually making a choice or choices about something that will impact your game.
• Other "things that matter" include collector number, border color, rarity, artist's name, and the number of words in a card's name.

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

• Art menace — Creatures with art menace can only be blocked by creatures "with two or more visible figures in their art."
• Blurry — A play on evasion abilities, creatures with blurry can't be blocked except by players who were wearing glasses as the creature was cast.
• Just a second — A riff on split second, spells with just a second prevent players from moving cards on the battlefield while they're on the stack.
• Last strike and triple strike — A riff on first strike and double strike, creatures with last strike deal damage after creatures without last strike. Creatures with triple strike deal both first-strike, regular, and last-strike combat damage.
• Loose lips — A source is considered to have loose lips if an open mouth is depicted in its artwork. This only appears in the context of Knight of the Kitchen Sink, a variant of which has "protection from loose lips."
• Squirrellink — Similar to lifelink, creatures with squirrellink create that many Squirrel creature tokens whenever they deal damage.
• 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.
• Undeathtouch — Creatures with undeathtouch specifically exile a creature card if they would otherwise deal damage to it, including cards in a graveyard.

Unstable also features a number of returning mechanics.

• Existing un-mechanics that return include wordy, "flavor text matters," "art matters," subgames, dice rolling and dexterity cards.
• Existing non-evergreen mechanics that return include battalion, battle cry, cascade, frenzy, proliferate, Phyrexian mana, protection, storm, undying, and unleash.
• Trample also appears on non-creature spells for the first time (Super-Duper Death Ray).

New types and colors

Unstable continues the trend of introducing humorous card types to the game.

Supertypes

• Host is a new supertype, that is used with the augment mechanic.

Creature types

• New card types are:
  • Beaver (Eager Beaver)
  • Brainiac
  • Cyborg
  • Deer (Druid of the Sacred Beaker)
  • Hatificer (Goblin Haberdasher)
  • Head (Skull Saucer) (previously seen in the Face the Hydra Challenge Deck)
  • Kangaroo (Mother Kangaroo)
  • Killbot (Curious Killbot)
  • Raccoon (Squirrel Dealer, later officially introduced on non-acorn cards in Streets of New Capenna).
  • Scientist (Willing Test Subject)
  • Vampyre (Old-Fashioned Vampire)
  • Wrestler (Slaying Mantis)
• Reintroduced creature types are:
  • Spy (previously existed on Stromgald Spy, before receiving errata)
  • Villain (previously existed on Spinal Villain, before receiving errata)
• A number of creature types were also revisited after a long absence from black-border Magic:
  • Ninjas appear for the first time since Betrayers of Kamigawa and the Night of the Ninja deck of Planechase 2012.
  • Beebles and Gamers are featured for the first time since Unhinged.
  • Riggers, first featured in Future Sight, are expanded upon and given a mechanical identity.
  • Squirrels form a minor flavor theme.

Other subtypes

• Contraption
• Urza (Urza, Academy Headmaster)

Colors

Gold joins brown, hazel, and pink as exclusive silver-bordered color.

And/or

“And/or” (Shellephant) isn’t a creature type.

Cycles

Cycle name
Watermarks matter	Knight of the Widget	S.N.E.A.K. Dispatcher	"Rumors of My Death..."	Hammerfest Boomtacular	Druid of the Sacred Beaker
	Five uncommon spells, one for each faction, that care about watermarks of the respective faction.
Dice hosts	Adorable Kitten	Numbing Jellyfish	Big Boa Constrictor	Feisty Stegosaurus	Mother Kangaroo
	Five common host creatures, each with an enters-the-battlefield effect that rolls a die and gets an effect based on the result.
Outside assistance spells	Sacrifice Play	Defective Detective	Subcontract	It That Gets Left Hanging	Squirrel Dealer
	Five common spells that require the casting player to consult a person outside of the game.
Cycle name	Order of the Widget	Agents of S.N.E.A.K.	League of Dastardly Doom	Goblin Explosioneers	Crossbreed Labs
Faction leaders	The Grand Calcutron	Phoebe, Head of S.N.E.A.K.	Baron von Count Mary O'Kill Grusilda, Monster Masher The Big idea	Ol' Buzzbark	Dr. Julius Jumblemorph
	Several mythic multicolor permanents that each represent a leader of a faction.
Mythic contraptions	Rapid Prototyper	Faerie Aerie	Pet Project	Hard Hat Area	Bee-Bee Gun
	Five mythic Contraptions, one for each faction.

Variant cards

Thirteen cards in Unstable were printed with multiple variants. These variants can differ on rules text, stats, flavor text, art, watermark, and even card name. The rarity of all the variations of a particular card add up to the regular listed rarity.

Cycle name
Common rarity	Amateur Auteur	Novellamental	Extremely Slow Zombie	Target Minotaur	Beast In Show	Killbot series
	Six common creatures, each with four variations in art and flavor text (and in one case, name), but unchanging rules text.
Higher rarity	Knight of the Kitchen Sink	Very Cryptic Command	Sly Spy	Garbage Elemental	Ineffable Blessing	Everythingamajig
	Six uncommon or rare cards, each with six variations in rules text but the same card name across them.

Vertical cycles

Cycle name
Dice-rolling contraptions	Boomflinger	Thud-for-Duds	Gift Horse	Hard Hat Area
	A vertical cycle of Goblin Explosioneers-watermarked Contraptions, that when cranked roll a pair of six-sided dice and produce an effect based on the difference of the results.

Functional reprints

• Amateur Auteur is a functional reprint of Felidar Cub, Kami of Ancient Law and Keening Apparition, save for creature type and border color.
• Novellamental is a functional reprint of Vaporkin and Welkin Tern, save for creature type and border color.
• Beast in Show is a functional reprint of Yavimaya Wurm, save for creature type and border color.

Gallery

• 

  Borderless Plains

• 

  Borderless Island

• 

  Borderless Swamp

• 

  Borderless Mountain

• 

  Borderless Forest

External links

• Mark Rosewater (November 27, 2017). "Unstable Scraps, Part 1". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
• Mark Rosewater (December 11, 2017). "Unstable Scraps, Part 3". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
• Chris Gleeson (December 13, 2017). "Unstable Art Descriptions". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
• Mark Rosewater (August 7, 2023). "Lessons Learned, Part 5". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.