Cameo
In 2023, Magic: The Gathering R&D started experimenting with cameos, where an old mechanic appears once in a premier set on a card at a higher rarity.
Description
Cameos are non-deciduous and non-evergreen mechanics that only occur on one or few cards in a set. They can be put in as a mechanical call-back to previous sets, without having the density to be relevant in wider play. Occasionally, the mechanic is spelled out in rules text as an Easter egg and to save learning space for newer players. The name is derived from the film and television practice of known characters or actors making short appearances.
The rules for cameo cards require that they're relatively simple and don't have a history of balance issues.[1][2]
It is relatively easy to do more one-of existing ability words in sets, as the card text explains everything, and thus an ability word comes at less of a mental cost.[3]
List of cameos
"Banding Scale"
The introduction of cameo mechanics caused some confusion for players following Mark Rosewater's Storm Scale ratings.[5][6] The appearance of cameo mechanics seemed to invalidate the nature of the Storm Scale as rating the likelihood of a mechanic's return to a Standard-legal set by making all mechanics returning a possibility. While Rosewater would clarify that the Storm Scale was limited to mechanics appearing as a major theme or component[7], it left Blogatog readers without a method of judging the likelihood of a mechanic making a cameo appearance. In 2025, Rosewater answered a question on Blogatog about what a hypothetical Rosewater Scale for cameo mechanics would be called. He chose "Banding Scale" as "We experimented with cameo-ing it in an Un-set and it was too much, so we changed it."[8] The first official rating of the Banding Scale was for Storm, which Rosewater rated a 3 ("Will most likely do again, probably many times").[9] Spacecraft would be later rated a 4.[10]
References
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (November 27, 2023). "Odds & Ends: 2023, Part 2". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (January 29, 2024). "Only Murders That We're Building, Part 1". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (October 14, 2023). "Why did we get a single card with Battle Cry in ONE?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (September 02, 2024). "Why the Patched Plaything is an uncommon Cameo ?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (July 9, 2024). "Is Storm no longer a 10 on the Storm Scale?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (October 7, 2025). "... can we get a Banding Scale rating for Storm as the first rating?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (June 25, 2025). "When you evaluate a mechanic on the storm scale, are you referring to it returning as one of, cameo, etc or it returning as major mechanic on a premiere set?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (October 7, 2025). "... if you were to make a cameo version of the storm scale, what mechanic would you use to name said scale?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (October 7, 2025). "... can we get a Banding Scale rating for Storm as the first rating?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (October 14, 2025). "Hi Mark. Where would Spacecraft be on the Banding Scale?". Blogatog. Tumblr.