Storm Scale

The Storm Scale is a ranking of the likelihood that a given mechanic will be reprinted in a future Standard-legal set. Mechanics are ranked from 1 (very likely) to 10 (very unlikely).

The Rabiah Scale offers analogous ratings for planes.

History

The Storm Scale was created on Mark Rosewater's blog, Blogatog, in response to a question asking for the odds of cascade being reprinted "on a scale of storm-10". It is named for the storm mechanic, which Rosewater describes as the most broken mechanic ever printed, and which will almost certainly never be reprinted in a Standard-legal set.

Mark Rosewater has stated that the Scale is only a reflection of his willingness, as Head Designer, to reprint mechanics. It does not account for any actual future plans, or the opinions of other R&D members. He has also asked that it be considered a form of entertainment, and taken with a grain of salt. Any rankings higher than 10 are strictly humorous.

Although the Storm Scale was originally phrased in the context of reprinting mechanics, it has since been used to ask for the likelihood of a variety of other things, including the eventual printing of known but unreleased mechanics, and new cards fitting a specific niche.

Descriptive rankings

In 2016, Mark Rosewater began writing articles about the Storm Scale on magicthegathering.com. Starting with the first such article, he offered a brief explanation of the odds represented by each numeric point on the Storm Scale.

• Level 1: Will definitely see again, most likely in the next set
• Level 2: Will definitely see again, but not necessarily right away
• Level 3: Will most likely do again, probably many times
• Level 4: Will most likely do again, but they have issues that make them less of a guarantee
• Level 5: We need to find the right place to bring it back, but I'm optimistic
• Level 6: We need to find the right place to bring it back, but I'm a little less optimistic
• Level 7: It's unlikely to return, but possible if the right environment comes along
• Level 8: It's unlikely to return, but possible if the stars align
• Level 9: I never say never, but this would require a minor miracle
• Level 10: I never say never, but this would require a major miracle

Ratings for reprinting mechanics

Mechanic	Latest ranking	Timeline
-1/-1 counters	2	1, 2
Absorb	8	8
Affinity	6	4, 3, 5, 5, 6
Affinity for artifacts	9	7, 9, 9
Annihilator	9	7, 7, 8, 7, 10, 9, 9
Ante	10	9, 10
Aura swap	6	6
Awaken	4	4
Banding	9	10, 10, 9
Bands with other	11	11, 11
Battalion	4	5, 4
Battle cry	3	3
Bestow	7	7
Bloodrush	6	6
Bloodthirst	3	3
Bolster	5	4, 5
Bushido	8	8
Bushido (renamed)	4	4
Buyback	8	6, 6, 6, 8, 8, 8
Cascade	7	3, 7, 7
Champion	6	6
Changeling	4	5, 5, 4, 4
Chroma	10	6, 5, 6, 5, 10
Cipher	9	9
Clash	9	9
Cohort	8	8
Coin flipping	2	1, 2
Constellation	5	5
Converge	6	6
Convoke	3	2, 2, 3, 3, 3
Cumulative upkeep	9	9
Curses	2	2
Cycling	3	1, 2, 3
Dash	3	3
Delirium	7	7
Delve	8	5, 6, 8
Detain	3	5, 5, 3
Devoid	5	2, 5
Devotion	5	2, 5
Devour	7	6, 7
Domain	4	4, 4
Dredge	10	8, 10, 10, 10
Echo	8	8, 9, 8
Emerge	6	6
Entwine	5	4, 5
Epic	8	7, 8
Escalate	5	5
Evoke	5	2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 5, 4, 5
Evolve	5	5, 5
Exalted	3	3, 3
Exploit	6	6
Extort	6	6
Fading	8	8
Fateful hour	8	7, 8
Fateseal	8	8
Fear	10	9, 10
Ferocious	7	7
Flanking	7	9, 8, 8, 7
Flanking (modified)	6	7, 5, 7, 6
Flashback	3	1, 1, 2, 2, 3
Flip cards	10	8, 10
Forecast	8	8
Formidable	9	9
Frenzy	8	8
Fuse	4	4
Gotcha	10	10, 10
Graft	8	8
Grandeur	5	4, 5
Grind	5	5, 5
Haunt	9	9, 9
Hellbent	5	5
Heroic	4	4, 5, 4
Horsemanship	9	9, 8, 9, 9
Hybrid mana	1	1
Imprint	5	5
Infect	6	2, 3, 3, 5, 6, 6, 6, 8, 6, 6, 6, 7, 6
Ingest	9	9
Intimidate	10	9, 10
Investigate	4	4
Investigate	3	3
Kicker	4	1, 2, 4
Kinship	7	7
Landfall	3	1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 3
Landhome	9	9
Landwalk	9	9
Level up	8	7, 8
Living weapon	6	6, 6
Madness	8	8, 7, 8, 7, 8, 8, 9, 8, 8
Manifest	6	6
Megamorph	9	9
Meld	5	5
Metalcraft	7	7, 7
Miracle	8	4, 5, 5, 8
Monstrosity	4	3, 3, 4
Morbid	5	5, 4, 5
Morph	4	3, 5, 4
Multikicker	5	5
Ninjutsu	7	7
Ninjutsu (renamed)	6	6, 6
Nonbasic landwalk	9	9
Outlast	7	7
Overload	6	6
Persist	6	3, 3, 6
Phasing	9	9, 9, 9, 9, 9
Phyrexian mana	7	5, 7
Poison	6	2, 6
Populate	5	5, 5
Processor (tribal mechanic)	9	9
Proliferate	5	2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5
Provoke	7	7, 7, 7
Prowess	1	4, 4, 1
Quests	5	6, 6, 5
Radiance	9	8, 9
Raid	3	4, 3
Rally	6	6
Rampage	9	9
Rebel (tribal mechanic)	8	8
Rebound	3	3, 4, 3, 3
Recover	7	6, 7
Replicate	5	4, 5
Retrace	7	6, 7
Rhystic	9	9
Ripple	8	8
Scavenge	4	4
Scry	1	1, 1, 2, 1, 1
Shadow	7	6, 7, 9, 7
Shroud	9	9
Skulk	7	7
Slivers (symmetric)	10	10
Slivers (tribal mechanic)	2	1, 2, 2
Snow	7	7, 7, 7
Soulbond	6	5, 7, 6
Spellshaper (tribal mechanic)	5	4, 5
Spike (tribal mechanic)	6	6, 6
Split second	7	7, 8, 8, 7
Storm	10	10, 10
Support	6	6
Surge	4	4
Suspend	8	9, 8, 9, 9, 8, 9, 8, 8
Threshold	8	8, 9, 8, 8
Totem armor	5	4, 3, 5
Transfigure	9	9
Transform	3	1, 3, 3, 3, 3, 2, 3
Transmute	9	9
Traps	6	6
Tribal (type)	9	9
Twobrid	3	2, 3
Typecycling	8	8
Undying	5	4, 4, 5
Unearth	3	2, 4, 3
Unleash	4	4
Untap symbol	8	9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 8
Vanishing	7	7
Wither	5	3, 3, 4, 5
World (supertype)	9	8, 9, 10, 9

Other Storm Scale requests

Although originally used for evaluating the odds of mechanics being reprinted, the Storm Scale has evolved into a catch-all for asking for the odds of anything being printed, including entirely novel cards, mechanics, and themes.

New mechanics

• The "E" mechanic, which had previously been mentioned by that name only, was rated at a 5 in August 2014. It was later revealed to be energy counters, and printed for the first time, in Kaladesh.
• Spells requiring two cards, like Unglued's B.F.M. (Big Furry Monster), were ranked at a 7 in March 2013. A similar mechanic, by the name of link, was known to have been scrapped from the design of New Phyrexia. A mechanic matching this description, meld, was finally printed in Eldritch Moon.
• Turning cards face-down, outside of the morph mechanic, was rated at 6. Manifest and megamorph have since used face-down cards. Regardless of the mechanic responsible for turning a card face-down, as a larger rules matter, any face-down card on the battlefield is a 2/2 typeless, nameless, colorless creature.
• Further cards in the vein of Ghostfire were rated at 6. This space was later explored with the devoid cards in Battle for Zendikar block.
• Inserting cards into another player's deck was rated at 10 on the Storm Scale.
• Lands that can be played during an opponent's turn are rated at 10.
• A sixth color is rated at 9.

Creature types

Characteristic tribal mechanics are listed in the table above.

• Beebles are rated at 8.
• Dauthi are rated at 6.
• Djinn were rated at 4. They have since been printed during Khans of Tarkir block.
• Dwarves were repeatedly rated at 1. They were reprinted in Kaladesh.
• Faeries are ranked at 3.
• Goats are ranked at 2.
• Ninjas are ranked at 6.
• Processors are ranked a 9.
• Rebels were ranked a 5.
• Scarecrows were ranked at 1 and 2 ahead of their reprinting in Shadows over Innistrad block.
• Spellshapers are ranked at 4 and 5.
• Spikes are ranked at 6.

Specific cards

Reprints

• Angelic Destiny was rated a 4.
• Baneslayer Angel was rated a 3.
• Dark Ritual was rated a 10. Multiple times. Even if colorshifted to red.
• Doubling Season was rated a 10, due to the strength of its interaction with planeswalkers.
• Giant Growth was rated a 2.
• Healing Salve was rated a 6.
• Isochron Scepter was rated a 4.
• Lightning Bolt was previously rated a 2, but more recently rated an 8.
• The Laces were rated an 8.
• Maro was rated either a 3 or a 4.
• Mishra's Factory was rated a 9.
• Mother of Runes was rated an 8.
• The Future Sight Pact cycle, including cards such as Pact of Negation, was rated a 7.
• Painlands were rated a 5.
• Path to Exile was rated a 5.
• Shichifukujin Dragon was rated a 10.
• Skullclamp was rated "as 10 as they get".
• Storm Crow was rated a 1.
• Swords to Plowshares was rated a 10.
• Sylvan Library was rated a 10. As a new card in the right colors, it rates a 5.
• Volcanic Hammer was rated a 3.
• Winter Orb was rated a 9.

New cards

• A new variant of Jace was rated a 1.
• A new bear lord was rated a 3.
• A goblin planeswalker was rated a 5.
• Further land creatures, like Dryad Arbor, were rated a 9.
• A new mox was rated a 4.
• A new lotus was rated an 8.
• A new card with negative power or toughness was rated a 4.
• More nonbasic lands with basic land subtypes were rated a 2.
• An ooze lord was rated a 4.
• A Phyrexian planeswalker was rated a 10, as they are incapable of holding a spark.
• A card capable of removing counters from an arbitrary permanent, like Vampire Hexmage, was rated a 3.
• Planeswalker cards for Serra and Urza were rated a 10, due to both characters being definitively dead. However, since that response, Commander 2014 was released, featuring planeswalker and creature cards for several similarly deceased characters.
• Sorceries that can be cast at instant-speed for a higher cost were rated a 5.
• A vanilla rare or mythic rare creature was rated a 1.
• A wall without defender was rated a 10.

Sets and themes

• An all-creature set was rated at 9.
• An artifact block was rated at 1. Since then, Kaladesh block was released.
• A block set in the past was rated at 6. Less than a year later, Fate Reforged was released.
• A block focusing on class-centric tribal synergies was rated at 5, or at 7 if that focus excluded non-class based tribal in the same set.
• Color-imbalanced sets, such as Judgment and Torment, were rated at 9 and 10.
• Revisiting Dominaria was rated at 5. The April 2018 expansion will feature a return to Dominaria.
• An enchantment block or theme has most often been rated at 1. However, the only response following the release of Theros instead rated it at 4, and stated that a future block is more likely to use enchantments as a component, rather than the sole theme.
• A goblin theme was rated at 2.
• Graveyard-matters was rated at 1.
• However, graveyard order matters was rated at 10.
• Human tribal themes are rated at 1.
• A set with a strong sense of nostalgia, in the creative vein of Time Spiral block, was rated at 5 or 6. However, a set with more mechanical similarities to that block instead rates a 9 or 10.
• The return of the Phyrexians was rated at 2.
• A "pirate world" was first rated at 9, but has since improved in likelihood to 7 and then 6. The creative world of Ixalan block was reported to be at least partially pirate-related in June 2017.
• A new Planechase product was rated at 5. Since then, the only release has been the reprint-only Planechase Anthology.
• Both a planeswalker-heavy and a planeswalker-less set were rated 10s.
• A return to Rabiah was rated 10 multiple times, eventually leading to the creation of the Rabiah Scale. However, a world with similar Persian-inspired themes was rated "less than 10".
• A block containing six planeswalker cards was rated a 3. Kaladesh block met this criteria.
• A Star Wars set was rated a 10, due to Wizards of the Coast's unwillingness to use outside intellectual property.
• A third Un-set was rated a 4. Unstable was announced in June 2017 for a December release.
• More World Championship Decks were rated a 9.

Assorted inquiries

• Another "You Make the Card" event was variously scored at a 3 or 4. However, all such ratings predate the most recent such event.
• A change to the size of the cards was scored at an 11.
• Explicit references to the stack in card text were scored at an 8.
• Textless lands were scored at a 1.
• Textless vanilla creatures, like those printed in Future Sight, were scored at a 5.
• The promotion of an existing mechanic to evergreen was scored a 3. Since then, both scry and prowess have achieved that status.
• Scratch-off cards scored a 9 "to keep from crushing hopes and dreams".
• White-bordered cards, like the earliest core sets, scored a 10.