Wilds of Muraganda: Comments

For the moment, this cardset follows two templating/rules changes that have been discussed by WotC members but not currently implemented:
1)Removing rule 306.7 ("If noncombat damage would be dealt to a player by a source controlled by an opponent, that opponent may have that source deal that damage to a planeswalker the first player controls instead.") and any direct damage will only be able to damage planeswalkers by targeting PWs or directly listing damage to them.
2) Modifying rule 608.2b by removing the line "The spell or ability is countered if all its targets, for every instance of the word “target,” are now illegal.".

We think that both changes are an overall cleanup and fairly likely to eventually occur in the real game. Cards will be playtested under those rules and development will be done with these changes in mind, though we expect it will meaningfully impact very few cards, if any.

This may be revisited later on, especially if further information about the plausibility of these changes comes out from WotC.

Update: PW redirection change has been confirmed, so glad we did those changes earlier and won't have to redo them all.

We decided to try introducing a new game term rather than writing out the somewhat clunky "creature with no abilities" everywhere. Right now we're trying "simple creature," but still on the lookout for synonyms that are short, descriptive, and neutral feeling.

Creating an actual rules term for the property also lets us distinguish between "creatures that have no inherent abilities" and "creatures with no abilities at the moment."

We're starting playtesting using the former definition, so a Grizzly Bears with Flight would still be a simple creature, but a Morphling targeted by Ovinize would not be.

(More formally, there would be a new rule (probably in the 700s) that said "A permanent is simple if and only if it has no abilities after all effects from layer 1 have been applied.")