I have the urge to discuss the D cards in depth here: their past history, what we know so far, and finally a bit of future speculation. An old thread was already speculating on D cards, but rather than necro that thread I felt like having an in-depth conversation of all things D card. My commentary at the end of that thread is a bit of what I want to do here: http://forum.nogoblinsallowed.com/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=12645&start=20#p392151

History (starting with Origins)

First off, the past. When we fired up Magic Duels back in Origins, the D cards represented a significant portion of our card pool even if you owned every Origins card (Origins is 251 cards, and the original D cards were 93). Clearly the weight of its effect on the metagame was substantial, between understanding what new players would be running, to the commonly-used meta cards of the D group. Speaking of the meta cards, here's a quick list of the D cards that I feel had the greatest game impact from Origins era.

1 x Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
1 x Perilous Myr
1 x Gatecreeper Vine
1 x Reclamation Sage
1 x Primal Bellow
1 x Lys Alana Huntmaster
1 x Jagged-Scar Archers
1 x Twin Bolt
1 x Kird Chieftain
1 x Flaring Flame-Kin
1 x Foundry Street Denizen
1 x Gravedigger
1 x Bone Splinters
1 x Jorubai Murk Lurker
1 x Telling Time
1 x Esperzoa
1 x Countermand
1 x Angelic Edict
1 x Solemn Offering
1 x Reprisal
1 x Nimbus Wings

...and the availability of dual-color lands in general. Consider what the game would have looked like without their inclusion, i.e., just basic lands to start.


These cards enabled some specific decks of the era, but in most cases were widely applicable across a variety of deck archetypes, which I must assume was the intent of the D cards. In the meta of Origins with our limited card pool, the D cards did not lack for power relative to what we had available, and helped to fill in the gaps as needed. You might not be happy running Angelic Edict, but it was there if you needed it. People were speculating at the time that if the D card pool did not grow, then new players would find themselves utterly outclassed by both players and the AI. As it turns out, the D card pool did indeed grow, and if it had not then those concerns would be very valid (they may still be valid to some degree; time will tell).


Battle for Zendikar Era

The Battle for Zendikar D cards were an anemic offering (or solid if you really liked allies) of 10 unique cards, and were as follows (for a more in-depth analysis from the time period, see my linked post from earlier):

1 x Cliffside Lookout
1 x Kor Bladewhirl
1 x Makindi Patrol
1 x Benthic Infiltrator
1 x Mist Intruder
1 x Murk Strider
1 x Mind Raker
1 x Ondu Champion
1 x Ruin Processor
1 x Stonework Puma



Basically, allies were not a great deck in B4Z, so the D cards included here were mostly written off. Taken as a harbinger of things to come, people probably thought the outlook was grim for new players. Some Origins archetypes became less shiny in B4Z era, and the influence of the D cards waned. I speculated about format changes and rotations, but I was pessimistic in my post.


Oath of the Gatewatch / Shadows over Innistrad Era

It took a long time for the Oath of the Gatewatch / Shadows over Innistrad update to arrive, and by the time it did the D card conversation was lost in the shuffle of excitement until Wizards put up this article: http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-digital/magic-duels-starter-box-changes-2016-03-11. Rotations! Power balance changes! Turns out Those In Power were paying some attention after all, and love it or hate it, it heralded a new era of Magic Duels, one where we cannot expect the D cards to stay the same forever; nor, perhaps, can we even be sure that the purchased cards will never be rotated, considering that one card in Origins changed. Here's the quick breakdown:

Mwonvuli Acid-Moss became Explosive Vegetation, to much rejoicing by the masses and wary glances by the experts.
Dreg Reaver became Minotaur Abomination.
Divine Favor became Siegecraft, to everyone's mild sorrow.
Angelic Edict became Suppression Bonds, which required changing Suppression Bonds from Origins into Enshrouding Mist, becoming our first purchased-card rotation.
Axebane Stag became Yavimaya Wurm, which everyone agrees is a slightly superior card but of inferior coolness.
Gatecreeper Vine became Sylvan Ranger, which is better for elves and mono- or dual-color, and worse for 3+ color decks because we cannot fetch dual lands.
Jagged-Scar Archers became Lifespring Druid, surprising everyone. This is (probably) a hit to elf decks and a modest boost to other decks.
Perilous Myr became Bronze Sable in my least favorite change. We traded out a versatile multi-archetype-enabling card for... a 2/1. I still disagree with Wizards on this.
Foundry Street Denizen became Goblin Balloon Brigade, going from archetype-defining to practically unplayable. Wizards wants you to slow down, Red.
Elite Vanguard became Expedition Envoy, a helpful change to Ally decks.
The guildgates (a la Golgari Guildgate) became a generic cycle (a la Foul Orchard) for flavor reasons, but this is a downgrade from losing Gatecreeper Vine.


This breathed some new life into a stale metagame, and also prompted a bit of discussion of D cards again. No longer set in stone, the D cards can be seen as an easily accessible tool for Wizards to alter the format as needed by restructuring the metagame. "Bannings" and "rotations" are real in a sense with the D cards, making them a fluid group that I expect to change further as time progresses. The future seems more optimistic with this interaction and active oversight from Wizards. In addition to the rotations, a few of the new D cards were teased but we didn't see the full extent of the new D cards until the expansion was practically upon us:

1 x Champion of Arashin
1 x Grip of the Roil
1 x Jwar Isle Avenger
1 x Metropolis Sprite
1 x Crow of Dark Tidings
1 x Havoc Sower
1 x Indulgent Aristocrat
1 x Kindly Stranger
1 x Rotted Hulk
1 x Sky Scourer
1 x Stallion of Ashmouth
1 x Stromkirk Mentor
1 x Boulder Salvo
1 x Ember Beast
1 x Pyromancer's Assault
1 x Birthing Hulk
1 x Moldgraf Scavenger
1 x Spined Wurm
1 x Stalking Drone
1 x Vessel of Nascency


I will continue this discussion of the new D cards and what it represents in my next post below, "The Present."

The Present (circa April 8th, 2016)

What a different experience this is from the Battle for Zendikar D card update (to be fair, allies have improved with Oath of the Gatewatch to the point that one or two of the B4Z D cards may be playable now). Where to begin... ah, I know, I'll follow some of the formatting I had from this post: http://forum.nogoblinsallowed.com/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=12645&start=20#p392151


WHAT THEY (WotC/Stainless) DID DO:

* Supported 4 new deck archetypes (2 per expansion) that were unique to their respective expansions; a pattern emerges
* Added simple incarnations of some new mechanics (see below)
* Added in new staples (Kindly Stranger, Boulder Salvo, Moldgraf Scavenger and Vessel of Nascency) that could make it into constructed decks
* Used reprints that were not from the paper expansions (Champion of Arashin, Metropolis Sprite, Rotted Hulk, Ember Beast and Spined Wurm; in this instance, one per color)
* Introduced "bannings" or, more accurately, rotations to swap out problem cards and/or shake up the meta
* Increased the converted mana cost range a little compared to the B4Z update (mana costs range from 1 to 5 on this update with the 7 mana outlier of Birthing Hulk)
* Added 4 cards this time that were not creatures (B4Z D cards were all creatures; Grip of the Roil, Boulder Salvo, Pyromancer's Assault and Vessel of Nascency are the culprits)


WHAT THEY DIDN'T DO:

* Add any rares or mythic rares (Grip of the Roil, Havoc Sower, Indulgent Aristocrat, Kindly Stranger, Pyromancer's Assault and Birthing Hulk are uncommon); a pattern emerges
* Keep the numbers even across colors or rarities (in unique cards, we have 1 white, 3 blue, 8 "black," 3 red, 5 "green" and no true-colorless cards; this is compared to the B4Z group of 3 white, 3 "blue," 1 "black," 1 red, 0 green and 2 true-colorless cards. We have 6 uncommons and 14 commons)
* Provide any support for madness or investigate


In total, 20 unique cards were added to the D cards with the OotG/SoI update (74 cards total counting duplicates), and the new land Wastes has been added so this could effectively count as 21 new unique cards. If they hold to this pattern, 10 new D cards will be added to the game with each expansion, giving newer players a fighting chance at starting a decent collection. As a side note, as new campaigns and rules tutorials are added over time, the "sudden burst" value of gold a brand new player can earn keeps increasing with time; would someone chime in and tell me if you still earn booster packs for finishing the Origins campaigns?

The B4Z update was completely and totally dedicated to its two creature theme decks; every single card was either an ally or some sort of eldrazi processor/enabler. By comparison, the OotG/SoI update feels more relaxed, tossing in vanilla creatures, eldrazi color-pump beatdown, non-madness vampires and totally ignoring the SoI set mechanics of madness and investigate. This seems to say, "We will always enable some new mechanics, but we feel no need to shove them all in; if you really want them, buy some packs of the expansion!" That's not necessarily a bad thing, as the B4Z D card update felt cramped and underpowered; giving themselves a bit of wiggle room may mean interesting D card reprints somewhere down the line. The downside is that your favorite new set mechanic may or may not get any support in the D cards, giving brand new players a tough choice of where to spend their hard-earned gold.

This big update has given life to not only some new deck mechanics, but also some classic archetypes. The addition of Birthing Hulk to the D cards, added to B4Z's Ruin Processor, gives some interesting ramp targets as well as reanimation targets with Rise from the Grave. Reanimator in particular has some new graveyard shenanigans (expect me to make a D card reanimator deck soon in the appropriate thread), so while this archetype was largely unplayable in Origins we should take a closer look at the D cards we already have to reexamine our position.

Final thoughts: Wizards has pleasantly surprised us with their interest, and the new D cards include some staples like Vessel of Nascency and Boulder Salvo that could very well make it into a variety of decks. Now that we know bannings/rotations are real, all bets are off. While new players will face an increasing struggle over time to collect all the cards (in particular, the longer they wait to try the game, the further they have to go), it appears that the D cards may do more than just enable whatever new deck archetypes have come with the latest expansion. I give the Oath of the Gatewatch / Shadows over Innistrad D card update a grade of B+: it shows promise, and while not perfect it is a big step in the right direction.

The Future of D Cards

It's all speculation from here on out, but we can discern a few things. Wizards will surprise us; at first some people thought the D cards would never expand beyond Origins, then we were pessimistic when the lackluster Battle for Zendikar D card update hit. Now? I think everyone realizes Wizards is invested in this game, invested enough to have development, rotations and at least some understanding of the public / metagame (not a perfect understanding perhaps, but an inkling). We've been thinking small, thinking pessimistically. The D cards aren't just going to keep expanding, they're going to be a toolbox for Wizards to reach our metagame as needed. While they might have qualms about swapping around purchased expansion cards (which could lead to some ill will from players who spent time/money to get those cards), the D cards came for free and no one can really complain when they switch it up (some will anyway; bring back Perilous Myr!).

I will tentatively forecast that we will not see any more rare D cards unless something really strange happens to lands in some expansion (weirder even than Oath of the Gatewatch), and continue the trend of no mythic rares. Exciting and swingy cards such as these are the stuff of booster packs, the reason you're tempted to buy gold in the first place. That's not to say we won't see powerful commons or uncommons though; Vessel of Nascency looks to be a role player in a variety of decks, and cards like Boulder Salvo and Kindly Stranger are certainly playable. Mostly the lack of rares means we shouldn't expect to get big board sweepers, cards with a lot of complexity, or anything with a converted mana cost of 8 or higher (this last one may yet prove me wrong someday). Solid (if unexciting) creatures, good removal and excellent utility should continue to be the order of the day.

Why 10 cards per expansion though? And why are they not balanced across the colors (i.e., 2 of each color)? If I had to land upon a reason for this arbitrary amount/limit, I'd say it has something to do with the number of cards necessary to feel like you've created a new theme deck without filling out that theme very much. If the pattern of 2 new Deck Wizard archetypes per expansion continues, this 10 card limit seems inherently tied to it. Some themes, the ones that require a lot of support (allies, eldrazi processors) might take up the whole 10 cards; maybe broader themes, ones that already have a little support within the D card pool (vampires, and now eldrazi) give them some free slots to add new cards that have nothing to do with the expansion. For every answer, three questions seem to arise. Does this mean "big set" expansions with an offbeat mechanical focus will generally use all 10 D cards to support the newbie decks? If we return to a setting with some broad mechanical support (like artifacts if we visit Vryn, New Phyrexia or Kaladesh; auras if we visit Theros; or elves and goblins if we visit anywhere), it may be more likely that some D card slots will be open for them to tinker with. They prefer adding creatures so far, but somewhere down the road they will have adequately filled out the mana curve of every color with decent options... right? Will we see more artifacts, enchantments, instants and sorceries then?

The rotations though; that's where the big changes can come about. Mostly this round of bannings/rotation felt like a mild nerf when viewed as a collective whole, but some strict upgrades like Expedition Envoy can also happen, and I think Explosive Vegetation will be seen as a more powerful card in the long run. I doubt Wizards will elect to "upgrade" D cards unless one of their deck archetypes is proving to be anemic and underplayed, and even then not often. It is a possibility though, and you never know when one of the existing D cards may suddenly get a boost from an expansion. The future is more uncertain than ever with D cards, and even the patterns I've spotted could easily be undone if they feel like a change.


Final Thoughts: Change is good in this case. While we may not agree with every decision, the uncertain future of the D cards holds potential and promise, adding new tools for a changing metagame and continuing to offer new options to beginner and expert alike. New players are always going to be outclassed by veteran players, but if they are careful in their implementation of the AI then newer players may continue having a fighting chance against the hard AI. These fundamental pieces of our game will continue to shape the meta even after years of expansions, because we can only assume an influx of new players over time will not own all the cards for a long while. No matter which expansion packs a player chooses to buy first, leading to wildly different decks and experiences, we are all connected by the D cards, and therefore their relevance will endure.

Nice analysis and yes it's also a change as booster box in card collection now shows all the D. I think apart from origins if you filter on a set it still includes the D but it's handy you can separate them all in card collection.

They may be just commons and uncommons but as you mention can be a staple of a lot of decks. I am debating, if I think people will want to, to try and run a tourney for decks just using D. It would be an interesting challenge I think and has the advantage everyone should have access to the same pool.

Ya, it does

A D card tourney? Now that sounds interesting to me. It would totally level the playing field for new players, so that's a plus. The downside, obviously, is that we're all using the same pool of 123 cards to build from, so variety may dwindle. I don't know though... I can absolutely see RDW, reanimator, ramp, delirium, elves, UR artifacts, eldrazi midrange and aura beats all being a thing, and maybe some dark horse candidates like white weenie, eldrazi processors and a couple others that people would expect about as much as the Spanish Inquisition. For being such a small pool (about the size of one of the old-school small sets like Homelands), I think I see some variety possible.

What exactly does the D stand for? No seriously, I'm curious.

It stands for Duels.

Good posts. I am less optimistic with my conclusions than you are with yours, but I like that they're enabling at least one of the many new archetypes each expansion brings (Surge and Delirium in this case) enough that it can compete with the AI.

I pity anyone that relys on cards from the D set.

They gave you 2 of the 4 best ingester in the game in it. so it might be a necessity if you want to use the eldrazi mystic snake, that thing is hungry.

Lol Ingest is a thing? Just auto-process all of them madness cost.

I've yet to resolved the 5/4 + 3 scrion dude, but it will come someday.

Now, you wouldn't happen to be trolling would you?

Anyway, I double dog dare you to use absolutely ZERO cards from the D list until the big Fall update. Let me know how you do, and which D cards you end up wishing you had access to, or if in fact you are correct and you could find adequate replacements across the expansions released thus far.


Edit: @GimmickMan, thank you. I'm hoping they will continue to support the new deck archetypes enough that they can compete with the AI. As for optimism, well... the B4Z D card update had me a bit bummed out about where D cards were headed. The rotations shook me awake, and inclined me towards a bit of optimism. I mean... let's consider a scenario where we are on the same date 3 years from now. By my count, we will have gone through 12 additional expansions beyond the 4 we already have, 16 total by April of 2019. The D cards (if the patterns hold) will have added 120 new cards, mostly in support of their respective expansions but in some cases just generally useful, bringing us to 243 D cards (nearly double what the D cards have now). New players will have joined the game along the way at all sorts of different stages, many of them trying to do the free-to-play model, and perhaps some dropping $40 or so to get a much-beloved expansion. At the B4Z update, I thought maybe the D cards would lose relevance with time, but now I think the opposite is true. They are a commonality that we veterans will share with the newbs of 2019, and everyone in-between. We must respect that their constant presence across all players means they will always impact the metagame, less so for us veterans who started playing at 8 o'clock day one, but the decks we will be facing? The D cards will be there. There's no telling what might get rotated in the future; I think the next big change to watch for is if they introduce cards in a rotation to specifically be answers to some archetype. Nerfing an archetype is one step this direction, but I'm talking about something like Tormod's Crypt showing up in a D card rotation. If that happens, then the D cards will become perhaps the most important tool in shaping the metagame, because we'll know Wizards is willing to give newbies shutoff valves against dominant archetypes. Until then... we must be Always Watching.

I legitimately wonder if chiang is an extremely skilled troll or entirely in earnest with like 50% of his posts.

But yeah, essentially the rotation is the thing I find most interesting about the starter list. We may not ever get a Tormod's Crypt or meta equivalent, but the changing of cards like Foundry Street Denizen is going to go a long way towards keeping the meta fresh each season.

It's really not that hard. D cards are trash. Izzet Prowess (Grinding AI) and Eldrazi both run 0 "D" cards.

Well folks, you heard the man. Everybody pack those Explosive Vegetations away and dust off your 2/1s because only bad players run Twin Bolt.

He's a 17 year old child, with no respect or manners.. amongst a bunch of adults (except Peepysqueeps). I think he thinks this site is 4chan or Gamefaqs where everyone else is a #420YoLoSwAgGeR..

He oughta hear what people say about him behind his back.. then maybe he'd stop acting like a walking meme generator.

Is this still a thing? I think the only "playable" cards are Reprisal, Telling Time and Explosive Vegetation. Maybe Esperzoa if people still think Tropers are a thing (how does one spell it I never seem to get it right).

What I hate is players that are playing Sylvan Ranger in mono-green decks. Also, I still don't understand why they removed moss; it sucks in the OGW/SOI format now, and T3 Thoughtknot is 10 times better. I can't wait for kids to start complaining and petitioning to get it banned.

Edit: The "D" packs are like the 10-15th pick slots of a draft. Most of the time they won't go into the final deck.

I was going to say that it is kind of harsh to judge him this much but, well, the only reason I replied to him this time is because this thread has very little activity sooooooooo... Let's leave it at that I guess.

In a totally unrelated note, I just figured out how to add people to my list of ignored users.

I think that might be enough said on that topic.


@Hello World: I realize I should have touched on the eldrazi processors a bit more. So... if allies were a half-hearted attempt in B4Z that achieved tier 2 status at best, processors were a dark horse, a rarity in the metagame. I'm not saying no processor cards got used, and when they did you might well find Mist Intruder or Benthic Infiltrator lurking in someone's decklist. They were hard to stop (nigh-impossible for the Benthic), but they required a lot of support from the very best processors and exile cards in B4Z to work much at all. It was a weird midrange deck in an era of ramp that required setup to work properly; that explains the position it took as a footnote in the metagame at the time. Now with Oath of the Gatewatch in the mix we might just see a resurgence of the archetype at some point, because exile effects got so much love. If you can move forward with your game plan by playing good or aggressive cards that just so happen to exile some stuff, all the better. Are any of those cards on the D list though? Murk Strider could maybe make the cut, Benthic Infiltrator as a distant second. With all of the new options we have, even if the processors rise again they may not look the same at all. I also think trying to grind up your gold as a new player using the eldrazi processor experience would be slow and frustrating, and narrows your options to two sets to start buying packs from if it's your favorite deck. All of that being said, I shouldn't have ignored it in my earlier commentary.