Hi all
We’ve finally added cards from Unglued 2 to the UnOthodox supplement as card entries on the website. You can view them here. For more information on this unusual set and how we’ve decided to handle it, read on.
Strap in, this time we’re diving into a Magic set that never made it to store shelves.
Unglued 2: The Obligatory Sequel, as its name implies, was made as a follow-up to the first silver-bordered un-set, Unglued. The set showed so much promise, Wizards of the Coast began work on another un-set, Unglued 2, before the first set had even released. However, Unglued was heavily overprinted, so despite generally positive reception, it was seen as a financial failure. This resulted in Unglued 2 being put on a permanent hiatus.
This left Unglued 2 in limbo. Mark Rosewater had finished the design work for the set, the cards had been drafted up, and card art had been commissioned. As silver-bordered cards, the cards couldn’t all be moved over to normal black-bordered sets. However, some cards were repurposed when the next un-set Unhinged came around in 2004. In the years afterwards, Mark Rosewater and other staff members began releasing information on some of the Unglued 2 cards that weren’t used in Unhinged.
The main theme of Unglued was killer vegetables, and the poison counters they players. This followed the theme of chickens in Unglued (and Donkeys in Unhinged later on), but was a larger part of the set in Unglued 2. Artists working on Unglued 2 were instructed to hide a vegetable on every card. Interestingly, this means that it’s easier to spot which Unhinged cards were originally from Unglued 2, like S.N.O.T. New themes included scratch cards, voting and snarky reminder text. Die rolling returned from Unglued.
One of our goals with UnCommander is giving unusual or obscure cards a chance to shine. When we heard about Unglued 2, we were sure that these cards where something we wanted to add. However, as the set was never officially released, we couldn’t add the cards to the main UnCommander Core card pool. Instead we had to settle for UnOrthodox, the UnCommander supplement that includes cards that were never printed on official cardstock.
Information on a lot of Unglued 2 cards has been released, in full or part form. In the end, we decided on the following criteria for the Unglued 2 cards: For us to add them to UnCommander, we needed to know all the card’s complete characteristics, and the name had to be unique, not used on any other Magic cards. For example, the Unglued 2 Phyrexian Librarian wasn’t added, as the name and art were reused for a card in Unhinged.
Another issue was that the cards for Unglued 2 were never laid out in card frames. As such, we’ve used unofficial recreations using the official art. We think it’s helpful to have card images on the UnCommander card entries, so it’s easy to compare the original text to any changes in UnCommander errata. Many thanks to DementedKirby, who put together the vast majority of the Unglued 2 card recreations. A man of many talents, he runs The Commander Tavern, a Youtube channel where he makes a variety of content, from deck techs to drafts of his mixed silver-border and black-border Commander Cube. Here’s one of these recreations:
Despite Unlgued 2 being left unreleased, many Unglued 2 ideas made their way into silver-bordered and black-bordered sets. As previously, er, mentioned, Gleemax in Unglued 2 originally let you control your opponent for a turn. With the set on hiatus, the ability was repurposed for Mindslaver in Mirrodin, while the name and art were used in Unhinged. The concept of Udder Madness saw use in Timesifter, another crazy artifact from Mirrodin. Instead of rolling dice to decide the next turn, players reveal cards from their library and compare converted costs. The cycle of Punny Djinns in Unglued 2 were tweaked to be more consistent, and fitted into Invasion, a set that rewarded players for playing multiple colors. The voting mechanic from the Conspiracy sets was based on Unglued 2 vote cards like Endangered Species Act. One card, Atogatog, made its way into the black-bordered Odyssey set largely unchanged, name, art and all. And that’s just scratching the surface.
If you want to learn more about the history of this fascinating silver-bordered set, I’ve provided some links below as a place to start.
- Drive to work podcast – Unglued 2
Mark Rosewater, head designer of the un-sets, gives an overview of Unglued 2’s history and his involvement. - Un-Seen
Mark Rosewater goes over the original design files for twenty Unglued 2 cards and talks about set design. - Un-Seen 2: Electric Bugaloo
Much like the set itself, this is a sequel that picks up where the last article left off. Twenty more cards, with more design insights from MaRo. - Punny Djinns
A look at the Djinn cycle from Unglued 2 and their cameo in Invasion. - When Unglued 2 Cards See Print
An article from Unhinged’s release in 2004, looking at various Unglued 2 cards that made it to black-bordered sets. - Unglued 2: The Obligatory Sequel – MTG Wiki
A Magic wiki page for Unglued 2. It includes links to many more sources. - The Magic Librarities – Unglued 2: The Obligatory Sequel
A fan site that catalogues information on unusual parts of Magic. They have more card recreations, including the cards that didn’t make it to UnCommander.
With that, I’ll make my exit. I hope everyone’s doing well in this unusual time. All the best, and until the next one! As ever, if you’ve some thoughts you’d like to share, head over to our Discord or send us an email.
-Hamster
