I'm amazed this doesn't exist already. My next question is "why?" Green already gets instant +N/+N and trample (compare to Predator's Strike), but I don't see this design treading on green's toes, particularly at sorcery speed.
I suspect it only doesn't exist because there is so little room for Lava Axe effects. They are so very narrow, usually only existing as traps for new players.
As is, this is very solidly an Limited Resources F. I don't really want to see the version of this that gets into the D+ camp. I may be giving away my personal biases too much, but "Might see play in Legacy Burn" is one of the worst categories of cards to design for.
So that's why I think they haven't done it, but still, it seems they should. Maybe 2R for +5/+0 and trample would hit fringe playability in limited in the right decks?
There are tons of opportunities to print straight F's, so I'll be shocked if we don't see something like this at some point, but Red already owns a lot of effects that are always printed at F level in near every set, like Stone Rain and Shatter, so Red doesn't have a ton of common F's to give. Now that they're working hard on expanding Red's color pie, maybe we'll have room for this!
Being sorcery-speed limits its value, but bear in mind that I can cast this on my Hill Giant and force 5 points past your 1/1, as well as convincing you not to block with your 2/4.
You're correct that it isn't strictly worse than Lava Spike, but I think you'll agree it is much worse than Lava Spike (which is a very bad card excluding Splice and the aforementioned Legacy burn deck).
"convincing you not to block with your 2/4" seems difficult, since them blocking is still a 2 for 1 against you, unless you are playing this on your own 2/4.
One could certainly design an environment to make this fringe playable (Heroic-Illusion-Naya land!), but I don't think I could name an environment where this would see play.
Of course, the problem is that if you push it just a tad further, you end up with a format where people can draft 8 Phytobursts and 5 Spire Tracers. This is why I expect they put Phytoburst in a small set instead of a large, so you couldn't get that critical mass.
Cool Card Design of the Day
I'm amazed this doesn't exist already. My next question is "why?" Green already gets instant +N/+N and trample (compare to Predator's Strike), but I don't see this design treading on green's toes, particularly at sorcery speed.
ReplyDeleteI suspect it only doesn't exist because there is so little room for Lava Axe effects. They are so very narrow, usually only existing as traps for new players.
ReplyDeleteAs is, this is very solidly an Limited Resources F. I don't really want to see the version of this that gets into the D+ camp. I may be giving away my personal biases too much, but "Might see play in Legacy Burn" is one of the worst categories of cards to design for.
So that's why I think they haven't done it, but still, it seems they should. Maybe 2R for +5/+0 and trample would hit fringe playability in limited in the right decks?
There are tons of opportunities to print straight F's, so I'll be shocked if we don't see something like this at some point, but Red already owns a lot of effects that are always printed at F level in near every set, like Stone Rain and Shatter, so Red doesn't have a ton of common F's to give. Now that they're working hard on expanding Red's color pie, maybe we'll have room for this!
Being sorcery-speed limits its value, but bear in mind that I can cast this on my Hill Giant and force 5 points past your 1/1, as well as convincing you not to block with your 2/4.
DeleteYou're correct that it isn't strictly worse than Lava Spike, but I think you'll agree it is much worse than Lava Spike (which is a very bad card excluding Splice and the aforementioned Legacy burn deck).
Delete"convincing you not to block with your 2/4" seems difficult, since them blocking is still a 2 for 1 against you, unless you are playing this on your own 2/4.
One could certainly design an environment to make this fringe playable (Heroic-Illusion-Naya land!), but I don't think I could name an environment where this would see play.
Of course, the problem is that if you push it just a tad further, you end up with a format where people can draft 8 Phytobursts and 5 Spire Tracers. This is why I expect they put Phytoburst in a small set instead of a large, so you couldn't get that critical mass.
This is basically Rouse the Mob (from Journey into Nyx), except that is an instant and has Strive
ReplyDeleteThis has been done before at instant speed, it is the Sorcery speed-ness that intrigues Jay I think.
DeleteI think this wants to give +3/+1.
ReplyDelete