Cool Card Design of the Day7/25/2011 - Sol Ring is broken. You don't need me to tell you that. Not only does it accelerate your mana for future turns twice as fast as your average Mind Stone, it does so on turn one and nets you a mana the turn you play it. While it's the former part that lends Sol Ring the bulk of its true power, I suspect it's the latter part that sets off the "this is SO good" alarm bells for even the most casual players.
A lot of players get a nice little thrill out of playing cards that feel broken (whether they really are or not). Solemn Simulacrum, Baneslayer Angel and even Lightning Bolt are but a few recent examples. I want to try to capture that same feeling of getting-away-with-something in a new iteration of the mana stone concept without actually producing a broken card. Here is my attempt:
It's been a long time since they've printed Ur-Golem's Eye, the last 4cc mana stone to truly accelerate you by 2 (though Khalni Gem basically does, over a long game), but Everflowing Chalice does all that and more, so we can assume cards like the Eye are still printable and fair.
Sol Orb only accelerates you by 1, but it actually nets you 1 the very turn you play it (where the Eye leaves you down 2). In this way, it operates just like Sol Ring does the turn you play it… you just can't play it until turn four.
Refunding the card's own mana cost should seem familiar because it's been done before in cards like Rewind, Cloud of Faeries and Treachery. Adding colorless mana to your pool is less useful and abusable than untapping lands, what with their ability to produce colored mana, non-mana effects and even multiple mana. On the other hand, Sol Orb is a permanent where Snap and Time Spiral are not, making it easier to recur its ETB ability with cards like Venser, the Sojourner.
I'm not locked in to this costing 4. Development might show that it can be pushed to 3 or that 5 is more reasonable, but my intuition says 4 is right. Curious to see what you all think the magic number is.
How good is Sol Orb? I honestly don't know. It might be great or mediocre depending on the play environment. But I do expect that when you play it on turn four and then cast Precursor Golem or Batterskull the same turn, with a Titan in your hand for next turn, you're going to be feeling slightly giddy.
We could change "Add 4 to your mana pool" to "Add X to your mana pool where X is the amount of mana you spent to cast it this turn" or the simpler "If you cast it from your hand, add 4 to your mana pool" if the card proves too abusable with blink effects, but I'd rather see Johnnies do impressive things with the simpler version so long as it's not so good it becomes ubiquitous.
ReplyDeleteI'm only worried about it because of the Artifact type. If it could somehow not be one, I'd be at peace, but with it I'm half-aware of some card in the bowels of Gatherer that provides a two card infinite mana engine.
ReplyDeleteIn the grand scheme of things, what's one more infinite mana engine going to do to the game?
ReplyDeleteIn my mind, iconic parts of Sol Ring include:
ReplyDeleteCosting 1
Making 2 mana
The fact that it nets you 1 mana in the process is really more a biproduct of those two factors, rather than a factor in itself. If a set called for a homage to Sol Ring, I might go:
Sol Hedron 7
Artifact
T: Add 14 to your mana pool.
Or
Sol Fragment 1
Artifact
T: Add 2 mana to your mana pool. You can't spend this mana to cast spells.
As an updated Thran Turbine.
or
Sol Attunement G
Enchantment-Aura C
Enchant Permanent
Enchanted permanent has "T: Add 2 to your mana pool"
Or:
ReplyDeleteRelic of the False God 1
Artifact
T: Add 2 to your mana pool. Activate this ability only if you control four or more lands.
or
Sol Clock 1
Artifact
You can't cast Sol Clock on your first, second or third turns.
T: Add 2 to your mana pool.
"But I do expect that when you play it on turn four and then cast Precursor Golem or Batterskull the same turn, with a Titan in your hand for next turn, you're going to be feeling slightly giddy."?
More giddy than using Chalice or Manalith to do the same thing? If you're ramping, shouldn't you casting ramp spells earlier than turn 4?
Relic of the False God is my favorite.
ReplyDelete@Duncan: "More giddy than using Chalice or Manalith to do the same thing? If you're ramping, shouldn't you casting ramp spells earlier than turn 4?"
ReplyDeleteWell you could, then get this on Turn 3 with a Explore/Rampant Growth/Overgrown Battlement (ala current Valakut).
Venser is a little worrisome, but I don't think it really matters. Going Sol Orb into Sad Robot is cute too. Costing 3 would be cute with Sun Titan as getting the mana during combat is hardly relevant. I would like it at 3 I think.
Hey, Duncan, I like Relic of the False God and Sol Clock. Maybe too strong, but your solutions are clever and straight-forward.
ReplyDeleteAs far as being giddier about that play with Sol Orb than Everflowing Chalice or Manalith, yes: Turn 3 Manalith gives you one mana up to cast other spells (IE, nothing) on the same turn. Turn 4 Chalice gives you two mana, enough for another small chalice, but no threats. Turn 4 Sol Orb gives you 5 mana the same turn cast it.
Even so, Sol Clock does it better than Sol Orb IMO. It's both cleaner and a more direct homage to the original.
ReplyDeleteI mean, I get that, but it's like comparing Priest of Urabrask to Jackel Pup. Sure, Priest is free, but the effect it brings to the table is much less exciting on turn 3 than it is on turn 1.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying the card is bad (could be really fun in the right set), but as a homage to Sol Ring it doesn't work for me.
Intriguing thought, Jay.
ReplyDelete"When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, add 4 to your mana pool" immediately makes me think ... why stop at 4? It's so tantalizingly close to being really exciting and over the top. Let us play around with WUBRG instead of just 4!
@GleamAxe: I agree that 4 colorless isn't that exciting - there aren't many spells you can actually cast with it (although my Karn deck might be okay with that). The problem with your design is that you've created a colorless Channel the Suns that just happens to leave a minor mana artifact behind.
ReplyDeleteIs there some middle ground? "When Sol Orb enters the battlefield, add 4 mana of any one color to your mana pool. Tap: Add 1 mana of any color to your mana pool."
It wasn't a "design" so much as an exhortation to make an interesting artifact with "When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, add WUBRG to your mana pool." You correctly identify tacking on "T: Add 1 to your mana pool" isn't particularly interesting.
ReplyDeleteFor the next return to Mirroden:
ReplyDeleteLiberated Lotus 5
Artifact
When Liberated Lotus enters the battlefield, add WUBRG to your mana pool.
2, T: Add WUBRG to your mana pool.
@Duncan: Progress! Although possibly broken as written? Make the activated ability 5, T: Add WUBRG to your mana pool, and you have an ability you can use every turn, implicitly including the turn you cast it. Actually, there's probably a fair amount of design space there (similar to how the Titans work).
ReplyDeleteAlternatively:
Emblazoned Forge 5
Artifact
When Emblazoned Forge enters the battlefield, add WUBRG to your mana pool.
WUBRG, T: Put a 5/5 colorless artifact golem creature token onto the battlefield.
Could be a fun inclusion in a five-color set like Conflux. This is a long way from the original mana stone design, however.
Great stuff there, JW. I really like Emblazoned Forge. The farther afield we roam, the more likely we are to stumble upon something marvelous, as you just did.
ReplyDeleteI like Sol Orb, but I would remove the maths of adding mana twice to your mana pool and give it this:
ReplyDeleteCARDNAME enters the battlefield tapped.
When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, add 5 to your mana pool.
T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
I can just imagine this card in my hand and I'd keep forgetting that when I play it, I actually go up one. I think this might be a little easier to process as it removes an option but does what you still want.