Cool Card Design of the Day8/7/2014 - Pentapod's ability is like a flagbearer for discard (see: Coalition Honor Guard). Like Dodecapod, it is meant to combat discard, but rather than punish your opponent for making you discard the spell you added because of her discard, it is meant to actually protect the card's you're so desperate not to discard.
What's really fascinating is how this ability reads as an upside on bad creatures and a downside on good ones. Compare with Arachnopod:
The funny part being that I had originally tried to make Pentapod ride the line between appealing and unappealing: It works for Constructed since most decks can do better than a vanilla 5/5 at this price point, but in Limited it's quite good. Arachnopod is weak enough to feel good about discarding in Limited, but perhaps too weak to run in Constructed even against a discard deck.
I have no idea how this could be templated/implemented to get around cheaters and/or people who forget what cards are in their hand.
ReplyDeleteAt least, not without making it optional and getting rid of the upside/downside tension you mention
DeleteGood point. Throw a 'may' in there and it fixes both problems.
DeleteI definitely support the "may".
DeleteI feel like this is missing some reward for discarding it. Like "If an effect an opponent controls would cause you to discard a card, you may discard ~ instead. If you do, ~ deals 5 damage to that opponent."
ReplyDeleteAlternatively: "If ~ is put into your graveyard from anywhere, ~ deals 5 damage to target player."
DeleteMaybe it should be less specifically oriented towards discard, and be something like "If an opponent would choose a card in your hand, that player must choose at least CARDNAME if able".
ReplyDeleteWorth trading off protection from random discard for Lobotomy and Psychic Intrusion?
DeleteEffects like Blackmail would make this wording tricky rules-wise, at least as I understand it.
DeleteHow so? If the card is among the three revealed, then the opponent must choose it; if for whatever reason I choose to not reveal Hypothetical Pentapod, my opponent is unable to choose said card, and thus is not forced to choose it.
DeleteChoose, choose, choose, choose, choose.
Duress is a bit awkward.
DeleteIs there something in the Comp Rules I'm missing? Or are we just talking about people getting confused about what constitutes "being able" to choose something?
DeleteI missed the "if able" in your wording. I think that's pretty clear.
DeleteThe only way this could break if there were something that caused multiple cards to be discarded, and then did things that required them to exist. "Target player with two or more cards in hand discards two cards. He or she loses life equal to the first card's CMC. You gain life equal to the second card's CMC." Pretty sure nothing like that exists or ever should.
It might also be cool if you could discard this instead of discarding multiple other cards. Sort of like adding the Thirst For Knowledge discarding an artifact rider onto another player's spell?
ReplyDeleteThat would be cool. There's probably a wording for that.
Delete"If an effect an opponent controls would cause you to discard cards, you may discard CARDNAME instead"?
DeleteProbably "one or more" to make it explicit.
DeleteThis could theoretically break some cards, but likely not.
This plus Reforge the Soul... wow. Then again, if Notion Thief is safe, I suppose this is too.
DeleteDiscard ~: You can't discard other cards this turn.
ReplyDeleteWe could go Pitchstone Wall on it:
ReplyDeleteWhenever you discard a card, you may discard ~. If you do, return the discarded card from your graveyard to your hand.
Slightly ambiguous... hm...
Whenever you discard a card, you may discard ~. If you do, return the first discarded card from your graveyard to your hand?
Whenever you discard a card, you may discard ~ as well. If you do, return a card that entered your graveyard this turn to its owner's hand.
Delete?
This is interesting design space.
ReplyDelete