Cool Card Design of the Day4/14/2011 - I strongly suspect that the latest Mirrodin block is not done waxing nostalgic about the original Mirrodin block. The question is, will they reprint Solemn Simulacrum? No, sigh. Will they infect some good old cards? Infect Bringers, pass. Will they bring back a Mirrodin mechanic? I hope so. Will it be Affinity?
No, it won't. No one loves affinity. As cute as tying it to poison would be, you really want your affinity cards to key off something you can actually, y'know control. Ignoring Ichor Rats and Vatmother. Will they eventually reprint Affinity in a more sensible context? It'll be a looong time, but pretty much everything's inevitable. I'm going to toss this one out there, November 20, 2020. That's not even close to the normal release schedule? A wise man once said, Go big or go home. (PS, yes, I know discard isn't white)
Entwine is what I'm hoping will come back in New Phyrexia. It's certainly a solid mechanic (even if it's design space is relatively limited), so I know we'll see it again soon enough, but I've gotten the impression they're going to save it for an entire block where it can really shine. That said, Phyrexian mana and entwine seem like they could be the best of friends.
An infect planeswalker, really, Jay? Well, yes and no. No, I don't think this art belongs to a planeswalker card (it was pointed out to be box art), and no I don't think a dedicated infect 'walker is a good idea. But yes, designing walkers is fun and I'm sure 100 folks have already an infect-based walker. Basically, Giz is my way of mourning the timing of Necroskitter, who clearly would have had a lot more fun romping around today than he did a couple years ago.
As is apparently my way, above is the simple version and below is the tassled version:
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. The casting cost was going to use Phyrexian black mana originally, but MSE wasn't rocking that so I forgot about it. That switch (which I still find awesome-ish) would require a higher cost at this point.
I think there could be another version of affinity for poison counters where you reduce cost based on the poison counters your opponent has. The feeling would be, you weakened the opponent, so you can do stuff to him that wouldn't work if he was in full health.
ReplyDeleteGlissa's Minions could also be interesting if it gave you the choice between getting non-infect creatures vs infect creatures.
Giz is a really cool card. In the more complex version, you could use the 4-ability Jace template and put the line "Infect" on the top line.
Jay - Creepy Puppet Stare's ability to return the cards won't work, even in multiplayer. Once you're out of the game, you're not around to put triggers like that on the stack. It's the same issue that Oblivion Ring has.
ReplyDeleteChah - that's a cool idea for Glissa's minions. We already know that NPH has 3/3 Beasts, so making either infect Insects or a non-infect Beast could be a nice twist on One Dozen Eyes.
I like the second Giz. I was trying to figure out how to do Proliferate on a Planeswalker that wouldn't either be dead, or else seem needlessly complicated. "Put a -1/-1 counter on a creature, then Proliferate" made me think "why not just put two -1/-1 counters on?" Putting a -1/-1 counter on everything, including your own guys, answers that question. It is incredibly strong in a non-creature deck, though, especially since it's effectively only a -1 loyalty ability (since you can Proliferate a loyalty counter back on). Maybe you should make it -3 loyalty? That stops you from Wrathing small creatures three turns in a row.
I've always been a fan of a planeswalker having the ability "0: Proliferate." as an ersatz "plus" ability. It's simple and elegant, and a little bit unique as far as being a 'walker with no plus ability that still can grow in loyalty.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely a fan of changing Glissa's Minions so that one mode is infect and the other isn't.
ReplyDeleteIf Creepy Puppet Stare doesn't work, they should change the rules so it does. I'm a big fan of consistency and players leaving the game should work the same as creatures or anything else leaving the game. If that's somehow completely impossible, I'm sure there's a wording that works. Maybe a replacement ability "If you would lose, instead do this and then lose."
I hadn't even thought about the proliferate being used on the PW himself, which it always would be, of course, so yeah, those numbers need to be tweaked. Good catch.
"0: Proliferate" is a gorgeous PW ability. Love it.