I could see maybe something with ridiculous toughness but without having defender and still having some attack, or maybe something with 0 toughness and really high attack like a Force of Savagery without trample and either lower cmc or higher power or something like that.

We got one rare vanilla in the past with ridiculous toughness, but if I remember correctly, it was not well-received.

I could see them upsizing and respinning a Fusion Elemental type as a mythic.

honestly if it weren't for force of savagery I'd guess 0 toughness. but it's probably something that relates to a set theme somehow. maybe a weird type line?

would a -5/20 creature (with a proper reason/flavor for the stats) be mythic?

Maybe something like this:

Vibrant Baloth
Creature - Beast
What is simplest solution but the greatest might?
10/10

Without trample or evasion, a 10/10 isn't a mythic quality (for the same reason I don't think my Fusion Elemental reference is viable, either). Ghoultree wasn't great (and wasn't Mythic), and it was quite often castable for 5 or less.


I really have to wonder if this 'vanilla' really has some special quality granted by its type (another big 5c sliver?) or costing (hybrid/phyrexian mana, for instance - Reaper King was notable in large part for its unique cost).

Grrrrr... no Serum Visions

May be a 5/3 for

Maybe a vanilla 20/20? A creature that can kill you in one swing has to be appealling, right?

Creature
When cardname enters the battlefield, trasform it.
0/1
///////////////
20/1

Maybe?

Serum Visions was just spoiled as a summer FNM promo, btw.

Is that vanilla, though? Garruk Relentless is considered a 5-ability PW.

Something from Maro's recent answer page: He said that out of all the mechanics in Coldsnap, the one that would fit best in Battle for Zendikar is Recover. Does this mean a minor graveyard theme?

I'm assuming less of a graveyard theme and more of a "things dying all the time" theme, what with it being a battle against the Eldrazi and all. Granted we're most likely losing the Annihilator mechanic because Wizards thinks it's too oppressive, but I'm willing to bet that the Eldrazi have some toned down flavor of it, much like how Metalcraft was a toned down flavor of Affinity. Having an ability like Recover would be a nice way to help non-Eldrazi strategies to come back from that.

Well, the alternatives are snow mana, ripple, and cumulative upkeep, so I wouldn't read too much into it. It's possible, though.

So... menace is a new keyword that appears in M:O but is not one of the two keywords that appears in M:O.

That is some kind of koan.

Menace is a keyword, and it is new, but it is just giving a name to an ability that has existed across multiple sets since Fallen Empires. It is not a "new keyword" in the sense that it brings something new and different to the game.

I caught this great tweet from Matt Tabak, but he seems to have deleted it, so maybe it's not true.