Cool Card Design of the Day4/16/2015 - Spell Torrent is similar to Commune with Lava, but arguably more red because it's not about setting up future turns, and it feels more like gambling.
Spell Torrent doesn't need to be an instant to do its thing, but letting you cast sorceries and permanents at instant speed might be the extra awesome it needs (though that's not such a red thing). Or maybe it's already crazy strong; I'd trade a Fireball for two Shocks and a Goblin Guide.
So, you reveal a spell with a variable CMC (e.g. Fireball), you can always play it? If X is odd, and all the cards you reveal have even CMCs, you get nothing?
ReplyDeleteAdding the "or less" now. Oh and I forgot the "for free" part. Kind of important. X spells you cast for free have X=0.
DeleteHeh - you could have gaslighted me into believing that the "or less" was there the whole time (:
DeleteI would expect (casual) players to miss the X=0 most of the time. (reminder text could help here)
Reminder text would be best, yeah.
DeleteAlso, as X limits the total CMC, you could use a constant for the number of cards (say, always 3 or always 5) exiled.
ReplyDeleteAnd we're potentially circumventing color restrictions. Maybe limit it to red cards?
The number of cards exiled could certainly be a constant number. X gives you more options and more power, but that would simplify the card and is a power-level knob.
DeleteCould restrict it to red cards, though it's not uncommon for spells that let you cast other spells not to worry about color.
It goes without saying that the more nits I find, the more fascinating I find the mechanic/card (:
ReplyDeleteInteresting twist on the Genesis Wave/Epic Experiment mold, and one I'm personally more likely to play. Casting WUBRG spells with just red mana seems fun and more thsn fair, given that you have to include them in your deck to begin with.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of cascade, does this work with Living End/Ancestral Visions, if it does happen to hit one? (Though you obviously wouldn't want to Torrent in any deck that did have cascade itself).
Based on the Ancestral Vision ruling that mentions Mind's Desire, I'm thinking Spell Torrent could cast cards with no mana cost. Yikes.
DeleteYou could cast them for free, since you don't have to pay their mana cost and they have CMC=0.
DeleteI misread (or maybe just wanted to read) this as:
ReplyDeleteSpell Torrent
XR
Sorcery
Exile the top X cards of your library. You may cast any of them with converted mana cost X without paying their mana cost.
So if you do it for 5, you look at the top 5 cards of your library and cast any Lava Axes you find.
More gambling, more deckbuilding attention, less utility with finding Lightning Bolts and Goblin Guides (and no cheating with Ancestral Visions).
It occurs to me that this would work well with FlyingSheep's suggestion of a set number for the top cards exiled.
DeleteSpell Torrent
XR (or XU? Or X(R/U)? Or XUR?)
Sorcery
Reveal the top 5 cards of your library. You may cast any of them with converted mana cost X without paying their mana cost.
X can't be 0.
I like that version a lot better with the fixed number.
DeleteIt feels more like wishing for a specific card or two than like seeing what comes and improvising, but it's still totally red.
If it only cast one such card, it would be the red equivalent of tutoring, which is neat.
Isn't that just a strictly better Epic Experiment? (with the very minor downsides that the uncasted card don't end in the graveyard)
ReplyDeleteI missed the "total" part the first few times I saw this card, so it looked like a better, cheaper Epic Experiment to me. What about this?
ReplyDeleteSpell Torrent (rare)
XR
Sorcery
Exile the top X cards of your library. You may cast them until end of turn.
Add X mana in any combination of colors to your mana pool.
Have we seen the Manamorphose ability in Red except htat time (and kind of sort of the 2/2)? I'm not sure this ability was ever really mono Red.
DeleteThat out of the way, this is way cleaner and more elegant and I like it much better.
What Tommy said. I like this a lot, but I think it should add X red mana. Timmy will happily go mono-red to get the most out of it, and Spike will happily leave a few mana up to pay the off-color costs.
DeleteAdd a "Spend this mana only to cast spells exiled by CARDNAME", maybe?
Delete