CCDD 062011—Jealous Thoughts & Undeniable Request

Cool Card Design of the Day
6/20/2011 - Both of these cards were created while reading Chah's article today and thinking about card/effect-specific hosers.


Undeniable Request was born of the turn-your-opponent's-weapons-against-him concept and is clearly related to Praetor's Grasp. It was originally a static cost that searched for four cards, but the mana cost for that amount of potential card advantage was high enough that it made the card too slow to be effective. Hence, the X:

You should actually be able to trace the inspiration of the next card to Chah's article.


Another way to punish your opponent for doing something, apart from handicapping their process, is to just reward yourself for it. They can still do it, but knowing how much it helps you may convince them not to. The final ability here reeks of n00b designer mistake #3, but I present it regardless as a learning/discussion opportunity.

The mistake I'm referring to is the instinct to put more on a card than is necessary for it to serve its purpose. That line makes the card more appealing since you can get the card you need immediately and simultaneously gives this narrow 'hoser' cycling, but it appeals most to Spike who will see the merit of the card even without that ability. Obv, one version might cost more than the other.

One might look at this and think, "gah, too much shuffling," but remember that this card will only cause you to search and shuffle your deck when (effectively while) your opponent is doing so, making it nearly free, time-wise. If that shortcut proves untrue due to tournament strictness, we could replace the reward with just drawing a card or even filtering/looting should we need a more marginal version, perhaps on a creature (at which point it could even be moved to a color that hates shuffling more).