Monday, March 2, 2020

CCDD 030220 - Watch Your Plan Unfold

I don't have relatively complex thoughts about competitive EDH vs. the kind of commander I play. Win or lose, I want to do the thing my deck was designed to do (herein after referred to as "Do the Thing", and in competitive EDH, I generally don't get to do the thing. Here's a card that forces the issue.



You (each of you) gets three cards and three turns where I don't untap, don't do much to advance my board that I haven't already set in motion. You have free reign to Do the Thing. If you don't, I win. Pure and simple.

I wasn't sure which colors this belongs in. Flavor arguments can be made for every color. Mechanically, tutor + win the game + downside felt black, plus the idea of outsmarting your opponents leaned blue. but I originally had it as a WUBRG card.

I think that this is both fun to build a deck around, and to play against (again, since I get a prime opportunity to Do the Thing) in both 1 on 1 and multiplayer, but your mileage may vary. 

6 comments:

  1. Definitely a fun idea for Commander. As written I'm not sure anyone would play it, though. "Skip your turn" is basically the definition of unfun, and giving your opponents everything they need to "go off" is not far behind. Plus someone will probably just use enchantment removal on this at some point.

    Ideas for alleviating these issues:
    - 1 spell / turn rather than skip your turn
    - additional restrictions to prevent extra turns / counter manipulation
    - hexproof
    - give opponents treasure tokens and 1-2 tutors

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    Replies
    1. Ooh, how about Epic + Approach of the Second Sun tech?

      Undisputed Superiority 3UB
      Sorcery
      Epic (For the rest of the game, you can’t cast spells. At the beginning of each of your upkeeps, copy this spell except for its epic ability.)
      Each opponent draws a card and creates two Treasure tokens. Then if you've cast at least three other spells named CARDNAME this game, you win the game.

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    2. You would need to track this in some different way, since copying a spell doesn't count as a cast. Maybe exile cards with types of counters on it, do you can't proliferate it.

      But I guess I just don't like the design. It reads silly but in actuality it's often gonna ruin games. You don't get to play anymore, just maybe win and for the rest, it's like going to turns in a game where neither player has a fast enough win con.

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  2. I like the concept, but I'm not sure this would ever actually work as intended. Three Demonic Tutors plus three Time Walks would let even most casual EDH decks win on the spot, and "hope they fight among themselves and ignore you" seems like a hard sell when you literally win the game if you untap. At the bare minimum, you have to play a five-mana enchantment and hold on to enough mana that you can counter however many Disenchant effects they search out.

    Or you could just Stifle the ETB trigger, but that seems more like a bug than a feature.

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  3. I like the flavor you chose. I would rather you secretly selecting a non-land card you control, writing its name down, and if that card is still in play after 3 rounds, you win. Your permanents lose and cannot gain hexproof, indestructable and shroud, and your opponents get to draw 2 cards at the start of their next upkeep.

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  4. I feel this will just be played with counter removal and I agree that skipping three turns does not feel great. Skip your draw step? You also tutor? So it is a question of who can come up with the best plan. A true battle of wits.

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