tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post4420080690211852500..comments2024-03-11T02:32:15.295-04:00Comments on Goblin Artisans: Weekend Design Challenge 080318 - Return 3x Combo!!!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger83125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-77954959364765248652018-08-09T14:14:06.726-04:002018-08-09T14:14:06.726-04:00Strong agree. If it were a digital card game, extr...Strong agree. If it were a digital card game, extra tags like the guilds could be binding, but as an analog game I think batching is a net negative here for understanding with little gameplay upside, <i>especially</i> for newer players.Pasteurhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02058331124653341978noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-57678443512816418092018-08-09T01:43:26.730-04:002018-08-09T01:43:26.730-04:00Azorius being unfun was kind of a problem WotC bro...Azorius being unfun was kind of a problem WotC brought on themselves. "Hey, let's take the color combination that lots of players complain is unfun, and make its thematic identity all about the reasons why they think it's unfun!"<br /><br />OTOH, detain was a hit, so maybe the secret to making Azorius fun is to laser-focus in on the flying creatures/battlefield control part.Jenesishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05356037137564501914noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-66134795470825270422018-08-09T01:31:38.089-04:002018-08-09T01:31:38.089-04:00I don't think batching guild names will or sho...I don't think batching guild names will or should ever be a thing, because there's too much flavor stuff tied up in what it means to belong to a certain guild. It'd be the tribal problem all over again. For instance, Golgari Grave-Troll is clearly a Golgari card. It has Golgari in the name, has the Golgari watermark, and has the set keyword associated with Golgari. But... it's somehow, simultaneously, also a Selesnya, Gruul, and Simic card? Does it want to be, or is there a way to say that it isn't, without putting protection-level clutter into the batching rule?<br /><br />Historic worked because there was no consensus on what a "historic Magic card" meant; even the concept of "famous from the past" was more closely tied in the Magic lexicon with "iconic" (GJ, Iconic Masters) or "nostalgic." And even then, historic still has some weirdness because artifacts get lumped into it, leading to some nonsense statements like "every 1/1 Servo token is historic."Jenesishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05356037137564501914noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-65715124374355747742018-08-08T21:04:29.818-04:002018-08-08T21:04:29.818-04:00Your fix on the return-choice is absolutely an imp...Your fix on the return-choice is absolutely an improvement. Thanks!Pasteurhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02058331124653341978noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-23752126892955850242018-08-08T09:26:35.460-04:002018-08-08T09:26:35.460-04:00It is essentially grapeshot. The buy in can be cha...It is essentially grapeshot. The buy in can be changed to rr if it proves an issue, but turning this into a blaze is much worse that grapeshot. Being able to interact with 1 spell turns on every counter spell, whites damage prevention, red redirection, etc. Lefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17314232061312529400noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-75516689676229304212018-08-08T08:05:35.491-04:002018-08-08T08:05:35.491-04:00Isn’t that more or less Grapeshot? Obviously it al...Isn’t that more or less Grapeshot? Obviously it all targets one thing and can be countered, but being able to spend leftover mana to pump it up seems like it more than makes up for that.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15941977219304581236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-74982421125796895692018-08-07T21:06:07.287-04:002018-08-07T21:06:07.287-04:00Dragon's Breath XR
Sorcery R
Conductivity
Deal...Dragon's Breath XR<br />Sorcery R<br />Conductivity<br />Deal X damage to any target.Lefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17314232061312529400noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-49745660936468099442018-08-07T20:47:29.070-04:002018-08-07T20:47:29.070-04:00Reviewing Electrifying Bolt since Izzet saw so lit...Reviewing Electrifying Bolt since Izzet saw so little love in this challenge. <br /><br />Conductivity is great. Setting up and balancing "burst" mechanics like this is always a challenge, and I'd love to see this developed. I might even be interested in making the cost reduction a flat {2}, or variable on a card by card basis. Izzet is definitely the right guild for it, and Surge is a great precedent. Solid mechanic. Now put it on a splashy rare.zefferalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13845251416516553492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-14658189051812299182018-08-07T20:35:38.620-04:002018-08-07T20:35:38.620-04:00I like the final numbers you came up with for the ...I like the final numbers you came up with for the rock. The original signets were a little too good, the cluestones a little too lackluster. This is somewhere in between. I don't know that I'd want one of my guild's hybrid slots (assuming that there are only three or four per guild) to be used on mana fixing necessarily. <br /><br />Balancing a cycle of these would be something impressive. The different guilds are going to want different effects appended to the mana fixing, and finding the right balance of effect to mana fixing to needs of the guild across all ten would be an adventure. But I really like what it suggests. <br /><br />I think being able to use this as a stealth <a rel="nofollow">Lava Axe</a> is cute, but detrimental to the overall design. If we're going to allow an opponent to resurrect a creature, I think it ought to read "Target player chooses a creature in their GY. Return that creature to its owners hand, then that player loses life equal to its converted mana cost." You can force the life loss, but you're probably not winning the game outright if you drop this in the late game. <br /><br />The mana rock idea is cool, the GY/life loss shenanigan artifact is cool, but they probably ought to be two separate cards.zefferalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13845251416516553492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-9511583682406854242018-08-07T19:12:24.411-04:002018-08-07T19:12:24.411-04:00I initially was going to just have it be a tweak o...I initially was going to just have it be a tweak on dash where you could cast it for cheaper if you attacked with a certain number of creatures but that seemed, very boring.Doug Kenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11099708938705613144noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-3714148260977935362018-08-07T18:27:56.663-04:002018-08-07T18:27:56.663-04:00I don't care for minuteman as a keyword, mostl...I don't care for minuteman as a keyword, mostly because it relies on nesting keywords (one of my pet peaves), and beyond that, relies on a nested batch keyword which doesn't already exist. That's a lot of memory issues in a small package.<br /><br />That said, the core mechanical hook (cheaper if you have a first strike or double strike creature) can be a good mechanic. I'm not sure it's 100% boros (the mana reduction works for the red half, less so for the white half), but there's definitely something fun there. zefferalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13845251416516553492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-69856166407554839872018-08-07T18:21:42.300-04:002018-08-07T18:21:42.300-04:00Yeah, the exiling three cards thing definitely isn...Yeah, the exiling three cards thing definitely isn’t set in stone. Things I also considered:<br />- Put a -1/-1 counter on target creature you control - probably too unintuitive for newer players.<br />- When a nontoken creature dies - I was worried that this would discourage combat too much.rkohn1357https://www.blogger.com/profile/13571769648433004272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-74747732229233221142018-08-07T15:41:39.965-04:002018-08-07T15:41:39.965-04:00"Rakdos cards have no colored mana symbols on..."Rakdos cards have no colored mana symbols on them except {R} or {B}." <br /><br />Maybe too out there... :PInanimatehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13739701478436262740noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-65130573357593400742018-08-07T15:25:04.971-04:002018-08-07T15:25:04.971-04:00Lots of love for Golgari today.
I like these in ...Lots of love for Golgari today. <br /><br />I like these in concept. I am really unsure how they would play in testing, but my guess is not great, mostly due to cost/payoff balance. Exiling three cards from a GY is a non-negligable cost, especially when you're going to want to do it repeatedly. Getting a handful of saprolings from the deal isn't the payoff I'd want to see. <br /><br />Does two cards per seed work, since we're already jumping through the hoop of getting the seed to begin with? The, uh, seed of the idea is definitely there, but it needs to be a little less bookkeeping.zefferalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13845251416516553492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-43999023360534790692018-08-07T13:35:49.268-04:002018-08-07T13:35:49.268-04:00Very cool card. I agree with Ryan that it doesn...Very cool card. I agree with Ryan that it doesn't quite fit any guild, nor neatly within the concept of a creature belonging to a guild. Although, if it hit all noncreature permanents, that would be somewhat more appropriate for Azorius (political redistribution of assets) though much less impactful. zefferalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13845251416516553492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-29296567890136705192018-08-07T11:28:15.905-04:002018-08-07T11:28:15.905-04:00Once we find the most elegant way to use guild nam...Once we find the most elegant way to use guild names as batching keywords, there's definitely some fun stuff to do with it. <br /><br />I do agree that specifically calling out instants and sorcery cards has a more Izzet feel to it than Rakdos, given that much of their historical identity has been playing in that space. Practically it's the same, but it reads differently to say "whenever a creature your opponent controls becomes the target of a Rakdos spell you control, return noncreature rakdos spell at random etc."<br /><br />There's no way that guildname batching happens in Guilds of Rav, but it's possible that by Set 3 in the nonblock they will have had enough time to process feedback from Historic to include it there. There are issues surrounding a card's color identity vs. its color. Is <a rel="nofollow">Sunforger</a> a Boros card or not? If there's a good way to address that without writing a master's thesis of reminder text, I'm on board.zefferalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13845251416516553492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-4296187642767921352018-08-07T11:18:24.312-04:002018-08-07T11:18:24.312-04:00I think the most appealing/easiest to brainspace r...I think the most appealing/easiest to brainspace restriction for "hey we'll ramp you but use our guild" might be to make the casting cost 2 and the mana ability "{WB}{WB},T: Add 1WB." 2 of either gets you one of each and a mana boost to keep on rate.<br /><br />This avoids "spend this only on white black spells" text while still for sure rewarding that behavior.Pasteurhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02058331124653341978noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-7750529844970404712018-08-07T10:45:36.503-04:002018-08-07T10:45:36.503-04:00I really like this card, although it still needs s...I really like this card, although it still needs some smoothing out. I prefer it as gold to hybrid, partially for reasons described above re: hybrid, but also because most black decks would snap pick this, while most green decks would prioritize it lower. The disparity in power level is high.<br /><br />The costs need to be brought up a tick. Maybe set at two mana, but more likely three. Constant recursion (esp. in decks with sacrifice triggers, like Golgari do) is problematic for incidental costs like this. Same with steady potentially large chunks of life gains. <br /><br />There have been a bunch of cards recently that play in this space, but I think that this is too easily abused. <a rel="nofollow">Savra, Queen of the Golgari</a> is definitely not a powerhouse by current standards, but she is well balanced.<br /><br />Whenever a nontoken creature you control dies, you may exile it and pay B/GB/G. If you do, choose one:<br />* Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand. Lose life equal to that card's converted mana cost.<br />* Gain life equal to the number of creature cards in your Graveyard.<br /><br />Still a lot of knobs to be tinkered with, but this has you starting to play a Mel/Spike game of figuring out when to let things go to/sit in your GY and when to exile them.zefferalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13845251416516553492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-87322834443542425452018-08-06T21:45:08.690-04:002018-08-06T21:45:08.690-04:00Ultimately, after thinking about it for a long tim...Ultimately, after thinking about it for a long time, even if it's not terribly broken immediately based on existing cards, it would create a bad game design framework for future cards where every single creature-based trigger would need to be viewed through the lens of this creature's existence. It would be like Doubling Season, except possibly even more repressive.<br /><br />So there may be fun and interesting ways to retrigger other triggers beyond what we have now, but I don't think it's good game design for it to be presented on a creature in this way. Larcenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02637510675812632748noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-57581970010958208922018-08-06T19:59:10.279-04:002018-08-06T19:59:10.279-04:00I like these designs, but I like them more for Ret...I like these designs, but I like them more for Return to Shadowmoor than RtRtR. <br /><br />These cards worked in Shadowmoor, because they needed psuedo-gold cards (or pseudo-split cards, at any rate) to manage the lack of mechanical overlap for cards that could be played in either of two colors. They did good work there.<br /><br />Ravnica doesn't have that same need. In fact, it's the opposite on Ravnica. There are plenty of cards that tell you to stick to your two colors. The hybrid cards are truly designed to be splashable outside of the guild, and shine inside. <br /><br />The Izzet one in particular is a very fun card, but I don't think that Ravnica is where it should be printed.zefferalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13845251416516553492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-38608842318526956152018-08-06T15:48:15.264-04:002018-08-06T15:48:15.264-04:00It seems more green than blue. Also, in general I ...It seems more green than blue. Also, in general I like it as an ability word more than a keyword, just because keywording this with a specific upside is very constraining. Markushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12068835592259699836noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-83443828215174315402018-08-06T15:20:53.316-04:002018-08-06T15:20:53.316-04:00Great point. What if we went along the lines of:
...Great point. What if we went along the lines of:<br /><br />Parabola Tracer<br />UG<br />Creature - Fish Bird - Common<br />Flying<br />Biodiversity 1 (~ enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter if you controlled creatures with four or more different creature types as you cast it.)<br />1/2Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15941977219304581236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-9530867948066912092018-08-06T14:56:40.691-04:002018-08-06T14:56:40.691-04:00Maybe
Pain Juggler 1RB
Creature - Human Rogue (R...Maybe <br /><br />Pain Juggler 1RB<br />Creature - Human Rogue (R)<br />Menace<br />Whenever you cast a Rakdos instant or sorcery, you may pay 3 life. If you do, return a Rakdos instant or sorcery card at random from your graveyard to your hand. (Rakdos cards are just Black, Red or Red and Black.)<br />3/1Wobbleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11494097707732649864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-44727008113897865342018-08-06T14:55:37.836-04:002018-08-06T14:55:37.836-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.Wobbleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11494097707732649864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-37117369614623690302018-08-06T14:53:52.762-04:002018-08-06T14:53:52.762-04:00Exiling removes the juggling flavor of the card, w...Exiling removes the juggling flavor of the card, which Is really what Im going for. The Life payment is good, although I worry about degenerate things happening too easily without a mana payment (Dark Ritual getting back Rite of Flame or whatever). <br /><br />I really like "respectively" as a templating option, although it doesn't parse easily. I can't think of another way to do this, but I'm open to suggestions.Wobbleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11494097707732649864noreply@blogger.com