Current candidates

clues.py

from sqlite3 import connect

db = connect('All Sets-2011-06-19.db')

mechanics = ['Banding', 'Rampage', 'Cumulative Upkeep', 'Living Weapon', 'Phasing', 'Flanking', 'Storm', 'Affinity', 'Buyback', 'Soulshift', 'Kicker', 'Multikicker', 'Modular', 'Cycling', 'Storm', 'Madness', 'Threshhold', 'Ripple', 'Devour', 'Battle Cry', 'Infect', 'Rebound', 'Cascade', 'Champion', 'Reinforce', 'Provoke', 'Sunburst', 'Frenzy', 'Gravestorm', 'Retrace', 'Annihilator', 'Evoke', 'Hideaway', 'Totem Armor', 'Transmute', 'Ninjutsu', 'Split Second', 'Absorb', 'Convoke', 'Entwine', 'Bushido', 'Soulshift', 'Wither', 'Recover']

# get a list of cards that have been in a core set
corecards = set([x[0] for x in db.execute("SELECT name FROM published WHERE expansion IN ('A', 'B', 'U', 'RV', '4E', '5E', '6E', '7E', '8ED', '9ED', '10E', 'M10', 'M11')")])

# get a list of cards from sets that maro worked on but didn't lead
maros = set([x[0] for x in db.execute("SELECT name FROM published WHERE expansion IN ('ST', 'EX', 'US', 'UL', 'MM', 'NE', 'PY', 'IN', 'PS', 'AP', 'TOR', 'JUD', 'DST', 'CHK', 'DIS', 'TSP', 'PLC', 'LRW', 'MOR', 'ALA', 'WWK', 'CSP')")])

# get a list of the "A" and "F" cards
af = set([x[0] for x in db.execute("SELECT name FROM published WHERE name LIKE '%A%' OR name LIKE '%F%' COLLATE NOCASE")])

# get all the white and blue cards
wu = set([x[0] for x in db.execute("SELECT cardname FROM cards WHERE color = 'W' OR color = 'U'")])

# get the cards that are not artifacts, creatures, or sorceries
types = set([x[0] for x in db.execute("SELECT cardname FROM cards WHERE type NOT LIKE '%sorcery%' AND type NOT LIKE '%creature%' AND type NOT LIKE '%artifact%' COLLATE NOCASE")])

# create a set of cards that feature mechanics that aren't likely to appear in a core set
mechcards = set()
for m in mechanics:
    [mechcards.add(x[0]) for x in db.execute("SELECT cardname FROM cards WHERE cardtext LIKE '%" + m + "%' COLLATE NOCASE")]

candidates = list(maros&wu&types - (af|corecards|mechcards))

candidates.sort()

for x in candidates:
    print x

clues.txt

maro254 :

I have a Magic 2012 Twitter preview this Wednesday. It's the card Tom LaPille called "the most important reprint to Standard in Magic 2012".

Everyone seems to think it's Island. (Apparently I'm the Loki of Magic.) No, the card is a card that has never been in a core set before.

Clue #1: I was not the lead designer of the set the card first appeared in, but I was on the design team.

Clue #2: The initials of the man who's had jobs held by Buehler, Schneider & Johns do not appear in the name of the card.

(Aaron Forsythe?)

Clue #3: The card's color can be found on the flag of the team to come in 2nd at the 1995 World Championships.
(Finland -- white/blue)

 Clue #4: The first 3 cards I designed to be printed were in Alliances. This card does not share a card type with any of those 3 cards.
 "The 3 cards he designed in Alliances were Gustha's Scepter (Artifact), Library of Lat-Nam (Sorcery), and Soldier of Fortune (Creature - Human Mercenary)."

maybe.txt

Bewilder
Compulsion
Consuming Vortex
Contempt
Conviction
Cunning
Cunning Wish
Customs Depot
Deliver
Dispel
Disperse
Disrupt
Divine Presence
Douse
Echoing Truth
Envelop
Exclude
Ghostly Prison
Ghostly Wings
Guided Strike
Gush
Hermetic Study
Hinder
Hobble
Hold the Line
Hoodwink
Humble
Ice
Illusion
Intervene
Limited Resources
Lost in Thought
Memory Erosion
Merrow Commerce
Misdirection
Muzzle
Oblivion Ring
Opt
Order
Orim's Cure
Otherworldly Journey
Ovinize
Peer Through Depths
Porphyry Nodes
Protective Bubble
Protective Sphere
Psychic Possession
Psychic Puppetry
Purge
Quiet Purity
Rebound
Redeem the Lost
Renounce
Repulse
Return to Dust
Sivvi's Ruse
Sleeping Potion
Slow Motion
Smite
Spirit Loop
Spite
Squeeze
Squelch
Submerge
Sunder
Surprise Deployment
Swirl the Mists
Telekinetic Bonds
Temper
Tezzeret the Seeker
Think Twice
Thoughtbind
Veiled Crocodile
Veiled Sentry
Vex
Vision Skeins
Whirlpool Whelm
Wind Zendikon
Winnow
Worldly Counsel
Zephyr Net