Thread by @Dunkatog

I've seen quite a few people asking about the upcoming change to suspend with the release of MKM, so I thought I'd preview some of what you'll see in the MKM update bulletin in a Twitter thread. #WotCstaff 1/14

In case you haven't seen the release notes, I'll summarize: previously, you were forced to cast a suspended card when the last counter was removed. Now, you may choose not to cast it. Choosing not to cast it will leave that card stranded in exile. #WotCstaff 2/14

There are three main reasons for this change. These are (1) philosophy around player understanding, (2) game-breaking rules issues in corner cases, and (3) handling suspend's digital implementation. #WotCstaff 3/14

We've always liked the gameplay of the occasional situation where being forced to cast your spell was bad for you, and losing that was considered a downside to this change. That's not why we changed it. #WotCstaff 4/14

There are relatively common cases where players can't be quite sure what it means to be forced to cast a spell. Most of these involve effects that change a spell's cost or add an additional cost to cast a spell. #WotCstaff 5/14

If Fling is suspended, are you forced to sacrifice a creature? If there is a Thalia in play, do you have to tap a land? What if you're floating mana already due to Omnath? Most players can't answer those. Even I wouldn't be immediately confident in every case. #WotCstaff 6/14

As we do more and more things with suspend, these situations become even more common. We don't think expecting players to know those deep rules answers (or worse, stop games to debate them) is reasonable or fun. #WotCstaff 7/14

I also mentioned game-breaking rules issues. There are a few, but the easiest to explain are cases where it isn't clear whether or not it's even legal to cast a spell, or what happens if you do. #WotCstaff 8/14

For example, your Crackling Drake is the only card on the battlefield. You have Blade Banish suspended with three other instants in exile. Blade Banish comes off suspend; can you cast it? #WotCstaff 9/14

You can start to, but once you do, there's no longer a legal target for it. A strict intepretation of the rules backs the game up, but then you have to cast it again, and it becomes a never-ending loop. There are other, more complex cases too. #WotCstaff 10/14

While these kinds of situations are pretty rare, cases where the game rules break down are something we always want to avoid, and the fact that these will only become more common as we make more cards with suspend is something we've had out eye on for some time. #WotCstaff 11/14

All this was a hurdle for the Arena team, too. Humans can compromise, walk things back, etc., but Arena can't. Implementing something that can break the game wasn't appealing. Handling casting for disconnected players also presented a challenge that isn't present in paper. 12/14

After discussing these issues (repeatedly and energetically), we eventually decided that it was finally time to bite the bullet and make the one simple change that would remove every single one of these issues: Make the spell optional to cast. 13/14

We know that this removes some counterplay from a few suspend cards, but we feel that this is the best path forward to continue making awesome Magic cards, including cards with suspend and cards that make other cards suspended in cool ways. 14/14