Mix-and-match
Mix-and-match cards are cards that have two or more different named mechanics on them.
Description
Normally when R&D talks about mix-and-match, they don't focus on cards with multiple evergreen keywords, as that's just something every set does. The more interesting mix-and-match cards are ones where neither mechanic is evergreen. These are hard to do because it requires having two mechanics in the same set that can work together on the same card.[1] Of those in regular sets, cycling tends to have the most mechanical overlap, as, being a deciduous smoothing mechanic, it has returned more often than other mechanics.
The first such printed mix-and-match cards appeared in Future Sight. They also appeared in Modern Horizons and Modern Horizons 2, and one or two others in sets with cycling. Going forward, mix-and-match will be a Modern Masters thing with rare exceptions.[2] However, with the uptake of Commander set expansions, mix-and-match cards appear more often than previously suggested.
List of Mix-and-match cards
Card | Set | Mechanic 1 | Mechanic 2 | Purpose |
---|---|---|---|---|
Aegis of the Legion | Ravnica: Clue Edition | Mentor | Shield counter | The shield counter grants a secondary bonus to the mentored creature. |
Arcbound Slasher | Modern Horizons 2 | Modular | Riot | The +1/+1 counter ability from modular can be extended further with riot. |
Archmage's Newt | Outlaws of Thunder Junction | Flashback | Saddle | The creature's combat damage trigger will always give an instant or sorcery flashback, but saddling it provides additional upside. |
Ardent Plea | Alara Reborn | Cascade | Exalted | The cheapest cascade permanent, with exalted an elegant bonus on the board. |
Avian Oddity, Sanctuary Smasher, Splendor Mare, Titanoth Rex, Void Beckoner | Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths | Cycling | Keyword counter | Each member of this cycle puts a color-appropriate keyword counter on a creature when it's cycled. |
Bannerhide Krushok | Modern Horizons 2 | Reinforce | Scavenge | Reinforce then scavenge to increase the amount of +1/+1 counters given. |
Blightbelly Rat, Bloated Contaminator, Tainted Observer | Phyrexia: All Will Be One | Proliferate | Toxic | These creatures can add poison counters to players, then proliferate them. |
Bloodbraid Marauder | Modern Horizons 2 | Cascade | Delirium | A cheap cascade at the cost of needing to have delirium first. |
Bogardan Lancer | Future Sight | Bloodthirst | Flanking | Bloodthirst making itself stronger and flanking to make opposing creatures weaker. |
Brimaz, Blight of Oreskos | March of the Machine Commander | Incubate | Proliferate | Incubate stacks counters on dormant artifact tokens, which can then be pumped up with proliferate. |
Charnel Serenade | Murders at Karlov Manor Commander | Surveil | Suspend | Part of an ongoing mega cycle of Commander suspend spells, its surveil ability synergizes with the deck's default commander. |
Clay Golem | Forgotten Realms Commander | Dice rolling | Monstrosity | The dice's result determines how powerful the monstrosity is. |
Clever Concealment | Phyrexia: All Will Be One Commander | Convoke | Phasing | The spell protects any number of target permanents by phasing them out, and convoke lets a player cast it despite being otherwise tapped out. |
Confession Dial, The Grim Captain's Locker | Doctor Who, The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander | Escape | Surveil | Surveil fills the graveyard, helping pay the escape cost the artifact grants. |
Contaminant Grafter, Glissa's Retriever, Ixhel, Scion of Atraxa | Phyrexia: All Will Be One Commander | Corrupted | Toxic | These creatures have toxic to put poison counters on opponents, and corrupted triggers to benefit from doing so. |
Core Prowler, Viral Drake | Mirrodin Besieged | Proliferate | Infect | Proliferate the counters placed on players and creatures by infect. |
Cutthroat il-Dal | Future Sight | Hellbent | Shadow | Hellbent allows controller to toggle evasion and blocking of shadow creatures. |
Death-Greeter's Champion | March of the Machine Commander | Backup | Dash | Dash returns the creature to hand at end of turn, allowing its controller to repeat its powerful backup trigger as it enters again. |
Dinosaur Egg | The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander | Evolve | Discover | The creature's second ability discovers equal to its power, which increases as it evolves. |
Dust Animus | Outlaws of Thunder Junction | Keyword counters | Plot | Plotting the creature and casting it for free later allows it to come down at a much better rate and with a lifelink counter. |
Eloise, Nephalia Sleuth | Midnight Hunt Commander | Investigate | Surveil | Surveil upon sacrificing a Clue, allowing for greater card selection when sacrificing them. |
Ethersworn Sphinx | Modern Horizons 2 | Affinity | Cascade | Affinity to cheapen the costly creature for a strong cascade effect. |
Evidence Examiner | Murders at Karlov Manor | Collect evidence | Investigate | A draft signpost that provides a flavorful payoff for collecting evidence. |
Feaster of Fools | Modern Horizons | Convoke | Devour | Devouring the creatures used to convoke it. |
Follow the Bodies | Murders at Karlov Manor Commander | Gravestorm | Investigate | Sacrificing Clues increases the gravestorm count, which in turn provides more Clues. |
Foul Watcher, Dragon's Rage Channeler | Modern Horizons 2 | Delirium | Surveil | By using Foul Watcher's surveil ability, the controller can achieve delirium faster. |
Funnel-Web Recluse | Modern Horizons 2 | Investigate | Morbid | The morbid ability that causes investigate gives a reason to play a creature with reach as big as Mammoth Spider at the same cost. Flavor-wise, Funnel-Web Recluse invokes a murder investigation. |
Gathan Raiders | Future Sight | Hellbent | Morph | Discarding a card for the Morph cost helps achieve hellbent, making it like a combat trick. |
Gibbering Descent | Future Sight | Hellbent | Madness | With the upkeep trigger causing discards, the madness cost lets other copies be discounted, while the hellbent lets the player stack triggers on opponents. |
Glistening Sphere, Contaminant Grafter | Phyrexia: All Will Be One | Proliferate | Corrupted | Proliferate brings poisoned opponents closer to being corrupted. |
Haze of Rage | Future Sight | Buyback | Storm | Up the storm count with buyback. |
Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis | Modern Horizons | Convoke | Delve | Alternate ways to cast a creature that can't be cast normally. |
Ichor Slick | Future Sight | Cycling | Madness | Madness to cast the card while cycling, acting like a kicker cost. |
Impending Flux, Surge of Brilliance | Doctor Who | Foretell | Paradox | Foretell casts from exile, increasing the count of cards cast from outside your hand for the paradox ability. |
Innocuous Researcher | Murders at Karlov Manor Commander | Investigate | Parley | The built-in card advantage provided by Clues softens the blow of giving opponents free card draw from parley. |
Into the Time Vortex | Doctor Who | Cascade | Rebound | Rebound provides an extra cascade trigger. |
Iraxxa, Empress of Mars | Doctor Who | Battle cry | Paradox | The paradox trigger creates tokens to be pumped up with battle cry. |
Kavu Primarch | Future Sight | Convoke | Kicker | Convoke to pay kicker. |
Kaleidoscorch | Modern Horizons 2 | Converge | Flashback | Flashback's higher cost enables higher converge numbers. |
Lazotep Sliver | Commander Masters | Afflict | Amass | Two keywords associated with the Eternals on a Sliver that is apparently a member of Bolas' undead army. |
Lethal Scheme | New Capenna Commander | Connive | Convoke | Each creature that convoked the spell connives for more filtering. |
Lonis, Genetics Expert | Ravnica: Clue Edition | Evolve | Investigate | When the creature evolves, it investigates, and when Clues are sacrificed, it produces even more +1/+1 counters. |
Lunar Hatchling | Doctor Who | Basic landcycling | Escape | Escape can bring the creature back after it's pitched to the graveyard with basic landcycling. |
Maelstrom Djinn | Future Sight | Morph | Vanishing | A powerful threat that can be put in for cheap with morph, but gains vanishing as a downside. |
Markov Baron | March of the Machine: The Aftermath | Convoke | Madness | Mechanically, Vampires generally care about going wide and discarding cards, and this Vampire lord rewards both. |
Marshaling Cry | Future Sight | Cycling | Flashback | Flashback the card after cycling it, for when the spell is not yet strong enough. |
Merchant of Truth | Murders at Karlov Manor Commander | Investigate | Exalted | The Clues generated by the card retain their normal utility, but add some power on attacks with exalted if they aren't sacrificed. |
Mistway Spy | Murders at Karlov Manor | Disguise | Investigate | Uses disguise to sneak in a Saboteur effect; uses investigate as a more balanced payoff than simply drawing. |
Molten Disaster | Future Sight | Kicker | Split second | Split Second as a kicker bonus against sacrifice or protection effects. |
Nazgûl | The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth | The Ring Tempts You | Relentless | The Nazgûl become stronger as their controller is tempted by the Ring, which happens as more Nazgûl enter the battlefield. |
Oketra's Attendant | Amonkhet | Cycling | Embalm | Embalm to bring the creature to the battlefield after cycling it. |
Order of Sacred Dusk | The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander | Convoke | Exalted | The more creatures you control, the less the card costs, and the more powerful its exalted bonus will be. |
Orochi Soul-Reaver | Outlaws of Thunder Junction Commander | Manifest | Ninjutsu | Ninjutsu allows the creature to sneak past blockers, giving additional triggers for its powerful manifest ability. |
Park Heights Maverick | New Capenna Commander | Dethrone | Proliferate | Dethrone puts counters on itself when it attacks the player with the most life, and those counters are increased with proliferate. |
Ravaging Riftwurm | Future Sight | Kicker | Vanishing | Kicker is to add counters for vanishing. |
Ripples of Potential | The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander | Proliferate | Phasing | Only permanents that could be proliferated can be protected by the phasing effect. |
Sojourner's Companion | Modern Horizons 2 | Affinity | Artifact landcycling | Cycles to find artifacts, which discounts further copies through Affinity. |
Spirit en-Dal | Future Sight | Forecast | Shadow | Forecast to give shadow as evasion or falter effect. |
Sprout Swarm | Future Sight | Buyback | Convoke | Functionally a creature that helps to convoke and pay buyback. |
Starving Revenant | The Lost Caverns of Ixalan | Descend | Surveil | Surveil fills the graveyard, helping turn on the descend ability. |
Syndicate Heavy | Ravnica: Clue Edition | Extort | Investigate | Extort gains life to trigger the investigate ability. |
Thorough Investigation | Forgotten Realms Commander | Investigate | Venture into the dungeon | Sacrifice Clues to venture further into the dungeon. |
Throes of Chaos | Modern Horizons | Cascade | Retrace | Retrace to cascade repeatedly. |
Timeless Dragon | Modern Horizons 2 | Eternalize | Plainscycling | After plainscycling for a Plains, one can Eternalize Timeless Dragon from the graveyard. |
Tizerus Charger | Modern Horizons 2 | Escape | Keyword counter | By casting with escape, the creature can either be bigger or gain flying instead through the use of a keyword counter. |
Unbounded Potential | Modern Horizons 2 | Entwine | Proliferate | The entwine ability amplifies the counter-placing first ability with proliferate, the second ability. |
Unshakable Tail | Murders at Karlov Manor Commander | Investigate | Surveil | The surveil ability enables the investigate ability by putting creatures in the graveyard from the library. |
Urban Daggertooth | Modern Horizons 2 | Enrage | Proliferate | The enrage ability that causes proliferate adds the risk of removing Urban Daggertooth via damage alone that doesn't kill it in one shot. |
Viscera Dragger | Shards of Alara | Cycling | Unearth | Unearth the creature after cycling it. |
Vashta Nerada | Doctor Who | Morbid | Shadow | With every morbid trigger, the creature grows, increasing the impact of its unblockable damage with shadow. |
Watcher of Hours | Murders at Karlov Manor Commander | Surveil | Suspend | The surveil ability gives an additional incentive to suspend the creature aside from the reduced mana cost. |
Waterlogged Hulk | The Lost Caverns of Ixalan | Craft | Descend | Both craft and descend 8 are payoffs for filling the graveyard with the artifact's activated ability. |
Wavesifter | Modern Horizons 2 | Evoke | Investigate | Wavesifter's evoke ability gives the option for the player who just wants the double clue tokens via its Investigate ability that activates twice upon entry. |
Xavier Sal, Infested Captain | The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander | Populate | Proliferate | When the card proliferates, it creates more counters to fuel its populate ability, and when it populates, it creates creatures to fuel its proliferate ability. |
Zephyrim | Warhammer 40,000 Commander Decks | Miracle | Squad | Miracle discounts the creature, leaving additional mana to pay the squad cost. |
Zephyr Singer | March of the Machine | Convoke | Keyword counters | When the creature enters, it puts a flying counter on each creature that convoked it. |
References
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (May 31, 2021). "A Modern Approach, Part 2". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (December 26, 2021). "Could I request for more mix and match cards in supplemental sets?". Blogatog. Tumblr.