tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post2215713723572940469..comments2024-03-11T02:32:15.295-04:00Comments on Goblin Artisans: Weekend Art Challenge Review 050115—ilkerserdarUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-20545289322928274992015-05-09T10:14:58.747-04:002015-05-09T10:14:58.747-04:00You never run out of auras, so it's trivial to...You never run out of auras, so it's <i>trivial</i> to get two Dead Weights on a 4/4. When you're building your deck around Isli, you've probably got 8 crazy boons and 12 efficient debuffs, minimum. I'm not saying her deck is unstoppable like affinity, but I am saying she's much much stronger than you're willing to admit, drawing you 10+ cards if you protect her.Jay Treathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09428861685923241850noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-50270042677622195712015-05-08T13:07:32.892-04:002015-05-08T13:07:32.892-04:00I love Visit the Meadhall. The trick will be to pl...I love Visit the Meadhall. The trick will be to play it with incidental lifegain. Being an instant means you can use it after combat involving a lifelink creature, for example. Though casting it 10 turns after suspending Heroes Remembered would be the best payoff ever.AlexChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05674122775216494431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-20954665660894918162015-05-06T20:13:46.012-04:002015-05-06T20:13:46.012-04:00Yeah, really good point. I wish I could think of b...Yeah, really good point. I wish I could think of better answers.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-80809012110147433092015-05-06T20:05:30.339-04:002015-05-06T20:05:30.339-04:00I don't think we need to argue whether the cur...I don't think we need to argue whether the current design is broken -- if she's INTENDED to be a quirky "make my positive auras good" card, she could obviously be tweaked to do that if it's necessary.<br /><br />I'm inclined to think that would help -- if a card has to be costed to balance a less-obvious use, it's likely to make it unappealing for it's more-obvious use. But maybe the current card is ok for rare, not sure.<br /><br />I take Evan's point there's no particular combo which is necessarily broken, but it seems asking for trouble. It restricts what can be printed in future sets if, say, an aura with "Sac THIS: draw a card" is unprintable.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-18448581676968317002015-05-06T18:36:32.058-04:002015-05-06T18:36:32.058-04:00Getting to permanently keep all your opponent'...Getting to permanently keep all your opponent's X/2 creatures off the board for the price of a single B each is still a really potent effect, and it gets better in formats where sideboards are involved. Granted, it's not Punishing Fire levels of strong, but "banned in Modern and has seen infrequent Legacy play" is not the greatest measuring stick from a development standpoint.<br /><br />There are also a couple infinite combos you can do with her, but none in her colors, so good call on the U I guess.Jenesishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05356037137564501914noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-49347657153210101422015-05-06T18:18:07.134-04:002015-05-06T18:18:07.134-04:00The thing to remember about negative auras is that...The thing to remember about negative auras is that they typically don't kill the thing they get put on immediately. A card like <a href="http://magiccards.info/query?q=dead+weight&v=card&s=cname" rel="nofollow">Dead Weight</a> is basically a modal card with two modes: kill their small creature, or make their big creature mediocre. If you choose the first mode, you will never kill anything big; if you choose the second mode, you won't get bad creatures with it. In this case, the way you stop the recursion loop is by having a creature larger than 2/2. If R&D were to make a -4/-4 Aura, they'd probably make it a sorcery instead. (In fact, I believe this was a question on the GDS2 test.)<br /><br />Jay mentioned Mire Blight, but then we're living in Magical Christmasland where we get Isli and Mire Blight and a repeatable damage source out and are able to keep Isli alive as we recur the combo, which doesn't even go infinite. <br /><br />As for Isli + Indestructibility, keep in mind that Gift of Immortality is pretty close to that in effect, and Gift is a card that's seeing absolutely zero competitive play.<br /><br />I definitely appreciate developmental feedback about cards, however, I think it's easy to look at a card in a vacuum and think "wow, that's busted!" without thinking about how the card would play out in an actual Constructed environment with removal and answers. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17647677781801914930noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-67354886067507370752015-05-06T18:09:57.918-04:002015-05-06T18:09:57.918-04:00A creature that's Supporting is supposed to be...A creature that's Supporting is supposed to be unable to attack or block, but still be able to do anything any other creature could do (get Bolt'd, wrath'd, prey upon'd, tap for Chord of Calling, etc). Should this be in the reminder text rather than the comp. rules? ...probably.<br /><br />When I thought it would go on multiple permanent types, Support seemed like the best catch-all term. With just creatures, "Follower" and "Follow {2}" are an option. If this mechanic represents both supporting humanoids and potentially mounts, which seems like a better term?Pasteurhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02058331124653341978noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-16065710078085448702015-05-06T18:09:52.592-04:002015-05-06T18:09:52.592-04:00I really appreciate this analysis.I really appreciate this analysis.Pasteurhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02058331124653341978noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-73167497311233396482015-05-06T16:57:39.179-04:002015-05-06T16:57:39.179-04:00Indestructibility is what I meant, thanks.
I'...Indestructibility is what I meant, thanks.<br /><br />I'm not at all sure whether Isli is more oppressive than Tajic in Constructed, but it's definitely less oppressive in Limited.Jay Treathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09428861685923241850noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-7393473605066823802015-05-06T16:56:32.420-04:002015-05-06T16:56:32.420-04:00"Search your deck for an uncommon" would..."Search your deck for an uncommon" would've been lovely.<br /><br />It's interesting that in many decks, "draw card" is occasionally worse than "discards 2 cards then draw 2 cards" or "draw 3 cards, then discard 3 cards."Jay Treathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09428861685923241850noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-43817329553643035662015-05-06T16:21:29.963-04:002015-05-06T16:21:29.963-04:00@Jay do you mean the card Indestructibility?
Yes,...@Jay do you mean the card Indestructibility?<br /><br />Yes, if you stick Indestructibility on her she's indestructible forever (her ability doesn't use the stack). She can still be answered by anything that answers a natively indestructible creature. In addition, you can easily snag the two-for-one by killing her in response to the controller casting an Aura on her.<br /><br />The interaction with getting to reuse black "negative Auras" infinitely is probably the biggest abuse.Jenesishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05356037137564501914noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-36948371011742399782015-05-06T15:27:38.498-04:002015-05-06T15:27:38.498-04:00Incidentally this is why I made Innkeep a bit expe...Incidentally this is why I made Innkeep a bit expensive/restrictive even at rare. Giving red a powerful card selection engine that aligns with their traditional axis of proactive play feels like it could be dangerous.Lefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17314232061312529400noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-90657093637500547972015-05-06T14:40:30.860-04:002015-05-06T14:40:30.860-04:00So six mana spread over two cards gets you an inde...So six mana spread over two cards gets you an indestructible 2/2 with a nice bonus ability. Is that more oppressive than <a href="http://magiccards.info/dgm/en/107.html" rel="nofollow">Tajic, Blade of the Legion</a>?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17647677781801914930noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-78446358215987146582015-05-06T14:00:55.364-04:002015-05-06T14:00:55.364-04:00If you don't kill Isli in response to the trig...If you don't kill Isli in response to the trigger from destroying Invincibility, the aura snaps right back on her and she immediately becomes unkillable again.Jay Treathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09428861685923241850noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-55157401508869883342015-05-06T13:21:48.709-04:002015-05-06T13:21:48.709-04:00Not addressing the specific card discussion, but m...Not addressing the specific card discussion, but more generally:<br /><br />Bear in mind that True-name Nemesis was designed to be a quirky political card in multiplayer. Design intent matters little in the end. Tommy Occhipintihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13495646355536064735noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-76728530600606743762015-05-06T12:18:53.674-04:002015-05-06T12:18:53.674-04:00Also, you asked why Isli was blue. Moving Auras be...Also, you asked why Isli was blue. Moving Auras between permanents is blue. (Aura Graft, Simic Guildmage, Enchantment Alteration, etc.)<br /><br />She was designed to be a quirky tier-2 Commander or a kitchen table build-around-me; I'm a bit surprised that you saw her as an unstoppable Constructed powerhouse.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17647677781801914930noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-32178301886805851592015-05-06T11:40:06.961-04:002015-05-06T11:40:06.961-04:00Having a single creature trade with two opposing c...Having a single creature trade with two opposing creatures is straight card advantage. Vorstclaw was almost always at least a two for one, sometimes more. <br /><br />Card selection can definitely be a proxy for card advantage, but I think it is not quite the same thing. As a designer, I tend to believe that card selection is a far less insidious beast than card advantage. <br /><br />Card selection (even very strong card selection) can be excellent for limited, helping your deck revolve around a few key cards and making your decks really feel distinct. It is an unsolved problem in Magic R&D that you fundamentally can't build a deck around one copy of a build around card (save the delightful Laboratory Maniac), and so players are really restricted in what they can draft. Card selection cards can serve as additional copies of build arounds, and so can allow a player who has just one Bred for the Hunt (or whatever) to move in on the deck and make picks based around it. Unfortunately, it also serves as additional copies of Grave Titan or Pack Rat or whatever rare is making limited players miserable that season, so one has to be careful about that!<br /><br />On the other hand, good card selection is pure poison for constructed, making every game with a deck play out the same. This can quickly kill a format based on a relatively small number of decks and matchups interacting. <br /><br />Ideally, I think, one should cost cards so that limited has a lot of selection and constructed has relatively little, but this is rather difficult. I like what Mwonvuli Beast Tracker is trying to do in this regard, though one would have to very carefully balance what things could be chosen. It is too bad it can't say "Search your deck for an uncommon and put it on top of your library."Tommy Occhipintihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13495646355536064735noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-73882510682898134282015-05-06T11:20:36.466-04:002015-05-06T11:20:36.466-04:00"You'll have to cast a Doom Blade in resp..."You'll have to cast a Doom Blade in response to her trigger to ever kill her."<br /><br />Huh? You don't need to respond to her trigger, you can just kill her. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17647677781801914930noreply@blogger.com