MTG Battles have been “greenlit eternally for future use”, says Magic: The Gathering’s head designer, Mark Rosewater. The comment comes in an official MTG blog post from March 18, where Rosewater lists the new card type as one of the highlights of 2023.
MTG Battles are the first new card type introduced since 2007. They were first mentioned on a specific card in Phyrexia: All Will Be One, but they weren’t actually released until the March of the Machine MTG set in April 2023.
Battles are permanents that enter play with a number of Defense Counters. The person who played a Battle chooses one of their opponents to be its protector, and from that point on, other players can target the Battle with attacks, much like you would an MTG planeswalker. Deal one damage to a Battle, and you remove one Defense Counter.
Right now, there’s only one type of Battle – Siege. When you deal enough damage to a Siege, it transforms into something else. That ‘thing’ usually benefits the person who originally played the Battle.
According to Rosewater, Battles have gone down pretty well with the Magic community. “We don’t take making a new card type lightly and spent a lot of time trying to make Battles something that was worthy of doing”, he says in Monday’s post. “I’m quite pleased with the response from the players, and I’m happy to say it’s something we’ve greenlit eternally for future use.”
Fans might have been expecting Battles to return in last year’s MTG Lord of the Rings set, but no dice. Rosewater says we will see the card type again, though. “I can’t say where or when, but there will be more Battles coming”, he confirms.
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