Wednesday, June 11, 2014

CCDD 061114—Impassioned Performance

Cool Card Design of the Day
6/11/2014 - This design was inspired by Nich's suggestion of a color-shifted Three Wishes. What really got my motor running was the idea of exiling multiple cards, such that your choices were greater, but repeated use makes you potentially vulnerable to decking, ala Arc-Slogger.

Three possibilities:




These each fit rather different niches. The rare really wants you to find some way to produce absurd amounts of mana and cast as many free spells as you can (hmm, seems broken with mana rituals into storm). The common nets you no card advantage but can really help you find the exact right spell when you need it*. The uncommon falls between the two: In the early game, it might just dig you to a quick threat or answer, but it has a sort of hidden kicker that helps you get more value out of it when you're flush with mana.

*None of these need to be instants, but the combination of having to cast what you find without the mana you spent casting Performance, and that the smaller versions are magic bullet finders pushed me to make them instants. It now occurs to me that these really only want to allow players to cast spells if they're instants, because we don't want to imply that players can play lands during their opponent's turns. Kinda confuses sorceries and creatures too, doesn't it? Okay, these should definitely be sorceries.

But mostly, look, a red spell that isn't made of fire and rage.

9 comments:

  1. This is very interesting. I like the idea that red can think up a whole bunch of potential paths to take at once, picks one and just tosses the rest. feels VERY red. I like it. I am interested in how development will treat these and what numbers are broken and what numbers are not...

    Passionate Recall R
    Instant
    Exile the top three cards of your library. You may play one of those cards this turn.

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  2. I'm curious as to why all of these examples (and Nich's) are instants. It seems like new players may fall into a trap of believing in the myth that instants should generally be played on your opponent's turn and then find themselves unable to cast revealed permanents.

    Plus, most (if not all) rituals are sorcery speed.

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  3. You mean most tutors are sorcery speed.

    I made mine an instant, because it was a colorshifted Three Wishes, and the effect lasts until your next turn. I played with Three Wishes a lot when Visions first came out, and in multiplayer in particular, it's fun to have a little mini hand sitting next to you for an entire turn around the board. Sure, you could cast it during your main phase, play a land and rattlesnake. But casting it as a reaction to being messed with, and knowing you'll have a chance to cast the other cards if you need them has play value.

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  4. These are awesome designs-- especially the first one, and especially if it's a sorcery. Not so sure about the explicit-card-selection-in-red thing in the second and third options. But I'd totally try out #1 in the Modern storm deck!

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  5. I want to combine this effect with a ritual effect.

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  6. Very neat designs, I especially like the rare version (even if it could be broken imho). I think R&D will soon deliver us something similar.

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