At the Seattle M11 Prerelease, I was talking with some of the employees of Wizards of the Coast and I brought up the whole “Sixth color is coming to Magic” thread from MTGSalvation. All of the guys started laughing and saying that sometimes people read too much into things. If you don’t know how it started, one person looked at the art for Time Reversal before the card was spoiled and said “Hey, there are six colored planets (one for each color and purple) on this art and MaRo tweeted that a future set will have players the opportunity to draft something they’ve never been able to. That must mean Purple is coming to Magic!” It’s a very fun thread to read about how some people do read too much into things.
Well, the conversation went from there to how Mana Leak in M11 was spoiled by WotC employee Mr. Tom LaPille at Grand Prix DC. But there was a problem:
Rumors of my presence at Grand Prix Washington: DC are greatly exaggerated.
Oh.
Besides the fact that Mana Leak is in M11, apparently this started a joke/meme that started going through Wizards: if there was something that “leaked out” which was wrong that the public thought, just pin it on Tom. While Aaron Forsythe has a meme that praises him as a God (from the awesome I Want My MTG blog), Tom is apparently known as a guy with loose lips. And we all know what happens when we have loose lips.
Yeah, that’s kinda unfair reputation to have, even living in the Seattle area where there have been a ton of missing boats. So, why do I bring this up? Is it to torment the guy? No, quite the opposite. I just want to cover my back in case I ever “hear” anything that I wasn’t supposed to and have a scapegoat. If he’s already the guy around the office known as the one to give out info, well, who am I to go against that already known quality about him.
- See, ’cause Tom LaPille told me that they’re bring Affinity back for Scars of Mirrodin. He said it’s not just Mirrodin without Affinity.
- Tom LaPille also told me that there’s a foil only copy of Force of Will in M11 like Super Secret Tech. It’s like the Priceless Treasures promotion for Zendikar that WotC hasn’t confirmed.
- Tom LaPille told me that Wizards did do the Priceless Treasures for Zendikar. They were going to paint on purple expansion symbols to try and entice Vintage players to play Standard, but decided against it because WotC doesn’t care about Vintage players.
- From the Vault: Relics are going to be nothing but common and uncommon artifacts, Tom LaPille told me. “Ornithopter is plenty powerful as it is.” Other cards in FtV: R include Vault of Whispers, Arcbound Workers and Lotus Petal, which was in the last From the Vault set but they want to put more of them into circulation.
- Mana Leak and Lighting Bolt are two of the “new boon something for 3” cycle that Wizards is slowly bringing back for the Core Sets, mentioned Tom LaPille. M12 will bring back Dark Ritual for Black, Summer Bloom for Green and Waylay for White. “Hey, it was either that or Reinforcements, and no one likes that card.” Healing Salve was off the table as it was deemed too insulting to White mages.
- Emblems are going to be a big deal in Scars block, Tom LaPille said. “Like really big. Think of them owning leather bound books and smelling of rich mahogany.” Also, Scars tokens will be replaced by real wood mahogany pieces.
- Tom LaPille told me the tested poison in Scars of Mirrodin with actual snakes. Sadly, that got killed in development.
- Magic is going to do a tie-in with Old Spice with that shirtless guy who does all of those commercials spouts Tom LaPille. The ad will show him playing cards, flipping them over to reveal a bouquet of flowers, then him shooting a fireball. He’ll then rip off his face to reveal himself to be Jace.
So, what things have Tom LaPille said to you?
MTG Color Pie 