A new Unfinity teaser was released today by Mark Rosewater. Unfinity is the latest Un-set for Magic: The Gathering, which are characterized by absurd comedic card effects and silly artwork. As part of this irrerverent tone, the set was originally planned to release on April Fool's Day until it was delayed due to complications from COVID-19. While Rosewater did post an official preview of Unfinity showcasing the set's new sticker-based mechanic, this latest teaser is one of many he's done for sets in the past such as Dominaria United.
What was revealed in the Unfinity teaser?
As is tradition this new Unfinity teaser was published on Rosewater's Tumblr page. The first batch of information is as follows:
- a card that can become almost two-hundred and fifty different cards for the turn
- a card that enchants your graveyard
- a card that requires you to use pantomime
- an enchantment subtype appears on an artifact for the first time
- a new subgame card in a color that’s never had one
- a card that can make one of five different artifact tokens that each don’t do anything
- an outside assistance card where the person assisting doesn’t even know
- a common command
- over ten new named abilities including best in show, gear up, and parade!
- a card that can make multiple Storm Crow tokens
- a cycle of “fill in the blank” cards
- multiple cards that let you win a prize
- a creature ability gets converted to a land ability
- a planeswalker that doesn’t do what you say
- a card that makes flying Cat tokens
- a cycle of cards that care about certain objects you can see from your seat
- another spell that lets you open a booster pack
- a card that gives you a resource to pay costs that no card has ever granted before
- a card that asks an outside person to rate something on a scale from 1 to 5
- between cards and stickers, over twenty-five nonevergreen/nondeciduous mechanics are returning
Almost immediately the Unfinity teaser shows its farcical side. A card that requires you to use pantomime showcases how playful this set will be with player expectations. A card that enchants your graveyard sticks out due how specific it is. There have been cards that enchant cards that are in graveyards, but not the graveyard itself. A planeswalker that doesn't do as you say also has potential for laughs at a table due to how much effort it can take to summon one. Finally, only an Un-set could have a card effect where you just open a booster pack.
The second batch of info regards rules text on certain cards and are as follows:
- “An opponent tells you a statement about themselves and secretly notes whether it’s true or false.”
- “Each player in an Un-game who can hear you may bid life.”
- “where X is the greatest number of stored results on it of the same value.”
- “except by creatures with flavor text”
- “for each item in its art that’s not touching CARDNAME, another item, or the card frame.”
- “As long as CARDNAME remains tapped, that effect doesn’t end.”
- “As CARDNAME enters the battlefield, choose a word with five or more letters.”
- “target non-Brushwagg creature”
- “Ask a person outside the game to choose which of them is most like a rock band.”
- “using the first letters of the names of permanents you control,”
- “As long as three or more hands are touching CARDNAME,”
- “first strike and a sword, vigilance and a shield, menace and mean eyes”
- “with the same artist and different names”
- “with #GuessThatMagicCard and no other text.”
- “any number of printed Clown Robot tokens that aren’t touching each other, that you hid on the battlefield”
- “choose A through M or N through Z.”
- “If the cracks in CARDNAME’s art are completely covered,”
- “An opponent chooses ‘the fastest’, ‘the scariest’ or ‘the weakest.’”
- “As CARDNAME enters the battlefield, choose a named Magic character.”
- “When you draw yourself, you win the game.”
Once again, the Unfinity teaser shows its playful nature with the rules text. A lot of that style is shown in esoteric or convoluted rules being expressed such as each player who can hear you can bid life or asking someone outside the game to choose which player is more like a rock band. Another notable bit of text is "target non-Brushwagg creature" which refers to the titular creature last seen in Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths. It is such a specific qualifying statement it might as well not be present...unless another card effect changes a creature's type that is.
The Unfinity teaser also contains reminder text. They are as follows:
- “Anything with two or more capitalized words in its name that begin with the same letter is alliterative.”
- “A top is an outerwear garment worn on the upper body.”
- “the card, not your head”
- “They can’t be blocked except by creatures with horsemanship.”
- “Align the tops of both cards to check.”
- “Don’t explain anything else. You choose targets.”
- “This creature has first strike as long as it’s blocking or being blocked by a creature that comes after it alphabetically.”
- “The vowels are A, E, I, O, U, and Y.”
- “This spell costs 1 less to cast for each Clown you control.”
- “It has their total power, total toughness, combined mana costs, all text boxes, names, art, and so on.”
- “Something is hot if it has hot things in its art, like fire or explosions.”
- “CARDNAME divides the battlefield into alpha, beta, and gamma sectors.”
- “Each time you gobble, take a bit of food or sacrifice a Food token.”
- “You can have two commanders if both have partner.”
- “It becomes 2/2, then 1/1, ½ / ½ , and so on.”
- “about 0.3 meters”
- “Creatures in a log together can’t be blocked unless they’re all blocked.”
- “Don’t touch other people’s phones without permission and be careful if you do.”
- “Places everyone! The first creature in line gets +0/+0.”
- “They continue to exist after they leave the battlefield.”
This continues the farcical pedantry as seen in the rules text. The idea of power and toughness values going into fractions, an ability that grants +0/+0 tokens, the list goes on.
Finally, there are new creature-type cards which are:
- Creature - Rat Rogue
- Creature - Alien Insect
- Artifact Creature - Clown Robot Mime
- Creature - Dog Employee
- Creature – Beeble
- Creature - Frog Guest
- Creature - Human Hatificer Assassin
- Creature - Alien Squirrel
- Creature - Minotaur Child Guest
- Creature - Porcupine Performer
- Creature - Dinosaur Employee
- Creature - Zombie Coward Guest
- Artifact Creature - Plant Mutant Food
- Legendary Creature - Devil Performer
- Legendary Creature - Human Gamer
- Legendary Creature - Alien Ooze
- Legendary Creature - Human Pilot Employee
- Legendary Creature - Elephant Mouse Performer
- Legendary Creature - Human Clown Artificer
- Legendary Artifact Creature – Robot
Considering that this set takes place in a space circus, a lot of the creatures described are quite fitting. There are a few outliers though such as Zombie Coward Guest and Dinosaur Employee
The Unfinity teaser ends with Rosewater stating to tune in to official Magic YouTube and Twitch channels September 20 for more information on Unfinity.
