Editor’s Note: The following document was provided to various news outlets several months ago, including Good Gamery. We were told by Wizards of the Coast to suspend release until further notice, in order to ensure that the timing was appropriate within WotC’s dynamic marketing strategy. The notice never came — instead, Wizards rescinded the document, calling it a “big mistake” and that Worldwake would be something entirely different, and “ten times as revolutionary.” Today we present to you the Worldwake that might have been.

PRESS DOCUMENT

Magic: The Gathering‘s upcoming expansion, Worldwake, presents an exciting oppurtunity to rebrand — or ‘reland’, and R&D has come to term it — one of the most fundamental and yet unglamorous aspects of the game: land cards. As you know, traditionally lands have been regarded as sources of mana and little else; a necessary but unexciting aspect of deck construction. Rather than being constrictions upon creativity, however, it is our desire that lands come to be regarded as a dynamic and exciting part of the average game of Magic. We will be expanding on the wild success of the Zendikar expansion and its ‘land matters’ theme in Worldwake, Magic’s first all-land set.

Of course, one of the most important aspects of any set, for new and old players alike, is its quota of reprinted, historical cards adapted into new, exciting contexts. Since we feel that no currently existing card properly reflects the land-centric approach we wish to propagate in Worldwake, we have decided to issue functional errata to a number of cards and reprint them in new, land-based forms. The final list has not been chosen, but here is a selection of possible cards being considered:

• Cage of Lands
• Landage
• Landradite Leech
  (many players were unfamiliar with the mineral Ca₃Fe₂Si₃O₂ anyway)
• Bland
  (the creative team wasn’t happy with this name, but we feel it is suitably punchy)
• Landler
• Defiant Land
• Gland Arbiter Augustin IV
  (this one probably won’t see print)
• Landân
• Landerdise
  (an obvious choice)
• Landstill
  (surprisingly, many players are already familiar with this word)
• Landra Nalaar
• Land of Cruelty
• Land of Honour
• Land to Land
• Illusions of Landeur
• Last Land
• Library of Alexlandria
  (I thought this was what the card was called anyway)
• Martyr of Lands

These cards have been chosen in part because we feel errata would have a minimal impact on tournament play. Their new abilities will be more suitable for printing on a land card; for example, many of them will tap for mana. In addition, the card Badlands will be banned in all formats, since its flavour is thematically opposed to a land-centric constructed environment.

It should be noted that we are forbidding any Worldwake Prerelease Events or Launch Parties from taking place at sea, as we feel that not introducing the set on land would be contrary to the theme.

The Worldwake rebranding has made many other changes to the game necessary; for example, the zone hitherto referred to as the ‘hand’ will become the ‘land’. We are phasing out support for the type II format and replacing it with Landard constructed; this format will operate under a Lanned & Restricted list. The Banding keyword ability will also be reintroduced as of Worldwake, but called ‘landing’. Finally, we will be introducing land-related terms into the internal Magic: The Gathering vernacular in an attempt to further impress its importance upon the playerbase. We will henceforth be referring to the organised play schedule as the ‘calander,’ and are renaming Hasbro’s brand management department ‘land management.’

We feel that these changes will sufficiently push the ‘land matters’ theme and change the way players enjoy Magic: The Gathering. Making changes like these are essential to the health of the game, and although we anticipate some of them being unpopular at first, in time they will be considered as important as the M10 or the Sixth Edition rules changes. We are confident Worldwake will change the way players turn their cardboard sideways.

Regards,

Wizards of the Coast Marketing Department