Wednesday, April 9, 2014

CCDD 040914—Illusion of Power

Cool Card Design of the Day
4/9/2014 - I'm curious how quickly you can guess the two blue cards I count as direct inspiration for this design.


25 comments:

  1. Wobbless guessed Illusionary Armor and I face-palmed. That's not one of the cards that inspired this, as this was designed July 2012, but I had forgotten about Illusionary Armor (despite it being just 9 months old) when I posted this. Probably would've skipped it if I'd remembered, because they're nearly identical.

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  2. Illusionary Armor and Crystalline Nautilus?
    Anyway I think this needs to either use "destroy" or grant the ability to the creature since you can't sacrifice your opponent's permanent.

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  3. Replies
    1. Unstable Mutation is the first of my two direct inspirations.

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    2. I sure hope we don't spiral out of time before someone guesses the second...

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    3. Wait, you said "two blue cards."

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    4. Time... spiral? I would guess Leaden Fists, but it was in Future Sight, and is already an Unstable Mutation riff.

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    5. Moonlace, for the combo potential?

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    6. (If not for the Time Spiral hint, I would have said Ice Cage.)

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    7. Pongify?

      I would have just guessed Oakenform with a downside for being off color.

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    8. Unstable Mutation and Leaden Fists, because both pump a creature (by +3/+3) and/or remove a creature.

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  4. MaRo has now said that Unstable Mutation, in the abstract, is Red. Leaden Fists, I can see as blue. Illusion of Power, in my opinion, is unquestionably black.

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    1. I didn't think about this as a "deal with the devil," but now that I have I agree. Given that it's a blue ability used in a very black way I'd save this for a set where it could be multicolored.

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    2. I could totally see this as mono-black. Skulking was originally a black ability.

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    3. That argument leads down a slippery slope that R&D seems intent on taking. It shouldn't matter what a color has done in the past, just what is currently in it slice of pie. Thinking otherwise leads us to continue making Terrors for 20 years.

      Black has had 7 Skulking cards; blue has had 15 pingers, but I'm not about to let those come back.

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    4. I agree about that slope.
      But I'm not sure why it's a problem for black to have this ability. Power with fragility is a very black concept.

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    5. Whatever blue's done in the past, this card seems flavorfully and mechanically black - both as a Power-with-fragility and also as "this is literally removal".

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    6. The flavor's spot on, and I certainly wouldn't give this to mono blue, but it's clearly treading on the toes of a blue ability. If we give this to black we'd better be willing to let white give -X/-X to attacking creatures and red make your opponent randomly discard and then draw because they're equally valid.

      An argument can be made for that position, but I haven't heard anyone make it and it's certainly not the stance that R&D seems to be taking.

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    7. "CARDNAME can't block" is a black ability. But "Target creature can't block" is definitely not one.

      Likewise, even if we claim "when CARDNAME is targeted, sacrifice it" as solely blue, I think "when enchanted creature is targeted, its controller sacrifices it" is again a horse of a different color.

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    8. I'm arguing that granting the skulk ability is significantly blacker than -X/-X is white. (Though I'm less sure it's better than offensive random discard in red, because that seems justifiable color-pie-wise, especially given Wheel of Fortune effects.)

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    9. (Likewise, I'd potentially be okay with 2W Instant "Target attacking creature gets -2/-2" because that honestly makes as much or more sense than the direct damage that white sometimes/often gets under those circumstances.)

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