Rosewater Scale

Rosewater Scales are rankings by designer Mark Rosewater of the likelihood that something will be reprinted in future sets, such as mechanics or planes. Things are ranked from 1 (very likely) to 10 (very unlikely) and are always named after the item that defines the 10th rating.

Though the scales are published by Mark Rosewater, it is only a reflection of his opinion and generalities about the topic. It does not account for any actual future plans, or the opinions of other R&D members.

Scales

The scales are listed here in order of creation.

• Storm Scale — Likelihood that a mechanic will return in a Standard-legal set. Named for Storm, "the most broken mechanic ever created". Most well known scale, whose popularity inspired the others.
• Rabiah Scale — Likelihood that a plane will be re-visited again in a Standard-legal set. Named for Rabiah, the setting of the very first Magic expansion when the creative rules were not fully defined, and unfortunately based on a property not owned by Wizards of the Coast. Like the Storm Scale, it has been the subject of articles by Rosewater on the Wizards of the Coast official website, whereas the subsequent ones have not.
• Venser Scale — Likelihood that a Planeswalker type will return in a Standard-legal set. Named for Venser, who is explicitly dead and planeswalker spark-less in the storyline.
• Beeble Scale — Likelihood that a creature type will return in a Standard-legal set. Named for Beebles, a comedic creature type which is now restricted to supplemental sets like Acorn cards.
• Gotcha Scale — Likelihood that a mechanic will return in an Acorn set. Named for Gotcha, which does the opposite of what Un-sets should do by making the game less fun and social to play.

Rosewater has said that the scales other than Storm and Rabiah are "sillier scales", but has also called the first four listed above the "major ones", and that "there are a bunch of minor ones."

Rosewater's fans are also known to joke about other scales, for example ranking food on the Banana Scale due to Rosewater's strong distaste for bananas.

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 Scale. Some of the non-Storm scales have slightly different meanings to the ratings due to the different natures of the features being rated, but the overall gist is the same.

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