Multiple Choice Magic Design Question of the Day 19-24

19) Which of these abilities/templates is best for the most audiences?  a) Whenever you put a -1/-1 counter on a creature, create a 1/1 black Insect creature token.
 b) Whenever you put one or more -1/-1 counters on a creature, create that many 1/1 black Insect creature tokens.

 20) Which of these abilities/templates is best for the most audiences?
 a) As long as CARDNAME is attacking, it gets +2/+0.
 b) At the beginning of combat on your turn, CARDNAME gets +2/+0 until end of turn.

 21) Which of these abilities/templates is best for the most audiences?
 a) Whenever CARDNAME or another creature dies, target player loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
 b) Whenever CARDNAME or another creature you control dies, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.

 22) Which of these abilities/templates is best for the most audiences?
 a) Whenever another creature enters the battlefield, you gain 1 life.
 b) Whenever another creature enters the battlefield, you may gain 1 life.

 23) Which of these abilities/templates is best for the most audiences?
 a) At the beginning of combat on your turn, target creature gets +2/+0 until end of turn.
 b) At the beginning of combat on your turn, you may have target creature get +2/+0 until end of turn.

 24) Which of these abilities/templates is best for the most audiences?
 a) This creature gets +1/+1 as long as it's attacking or blocking.
 b) This creature gets +1/+1 as long as it's blocked or blocking.
 c) This creature gets +1/+1 as long as it has blocked or been blocked this turn.
 d) Whenever this creature blocks or becomes blocked, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn.

Click through to see the answer and my rationale.

The best answer to #19 is B. These abilities are functionally identical, but the first triggers N times and the second triggers once. While that could matter to a triggers-matter card, reducing triggers is better for digital implementations because it requires fewer clicks for players to pass priority.

The best answer to #20 is A. It's a static effect and avoids generating a trigger, which is a small boon to paper Magic (you can't miss a trigger that never happens) and a real boon to digital Magic (less busy-clicking). See Adanto Vanguard and Kitesail Corsair.

The best answer to #21 is B, though A is a fair answer. A requires you to choose a target where B does not, and that's one less click in digital Magic. B is also better in multiplayer. A has the upside of counting all deaths and so can be used more offensively, giving the design flexibility; B only counts your own deaths and can only be used defensively or as a combo, giving the design focus. Though A is strictly better (in a duel) in terms of power, B is the stronger design. Zulaport Cutthroat vs Blood Artist.

Ah, the age old debate between Soul Warden and Soul's Attendant. The best answer has flip-flopped over the years. Soul Warden stuck around for a long time before being replaced by Soul's Attendant. That 'may' stuck around through original and Scars of Mirrodin on Auriok Champion and Suture Priest. Then it disappeared again on Pious Evangel, Authority of the Consuls, and Anointer Priest. The 'may' was originally added so that tournament games would need to be rewound less when players forgot these mandatory triggers, but it was removed again because clicking 'yes' to a question like that is a waste of time in digital Magic, and I believe the original concern was addressed by a change to the tournament rules which says that if you miss your own trigger, it's your fault alone, and the penalty is that you don't get that effect. The best answer to #22 is A.

The best answer to #23 is B. Melissa explains why better in her article Play Design and Digital Magic, which this question set leaned on heavily, but basically: With the 'may' we can assume the trigger was missed after no attack is declared; Without it we have to assume it happened, and that raises questions of what was targeted, and could make the triggering card (it's Battle-Rattle Shaman, okay?) vulnerable to Smite the Monstrous in a contentious way.

Finally, the best answer to #24 is C. A and B share the flaw that the toughness boost ends as soon as combat does, which will cause a creature that survived combat by 1 damage to die as soon as it ends, which is awful. C and D are functionally identical, but C accomplishes the effect without a trigger. D is a good answer (and currently the best we've got, but C looks forward, which is a designer's job). I learned of this template from Wobbles. When they retheme bushido—and they will—this is the wording they should use. (Probably minus the blocking.)

These questions are focused on important incidentals of design choices and templating. They affect the practical details of the game's procedure both IRL and online. Tournament judging experience and UX knowledge aren't something anyone can reasonably require a game designer to have, but they are nonetheless relevant and helpful. (If I were scoring this test, I would not weigh these six questions as highly as the rest of the text. Maybe treat all six as weighing two total.)