Cool Card Design of the Day5/7/2015 - Why not make the cycles-from-play mechanic MaRo hinted at so many years ago a formal keyword?
Obviously, it goes on a different class of cards. Where cycling is helpful on conditional cards like lands, expensive cards, and Naturalizes, deplete is good on cards that are good early but lose value late. That also includes lands, but not expensive cards or sorceries/instants.
I like everything but the name. The name sounds like it's a bad thing that you do to your opponent. "I deplete your thing".
ReplyDeleteMy suggestion would be; Fieldcycling, so it counts as cycling. (Needs a better name.)
Or, Regroup/Recoup/Muster, something like that. But I think the design is nice, particularly Rope Trap.
Could be a number of names, of course. The idea came about thinking about possible smoothing mechanics for Tesla.
DeleteRecycle might be a good name.
DeleteRecycle. Definitely.
DeleteIt's actually kind of surprising that this hasn't happened yet.
ReplyDeleteYou mean, more than it happened in Urza's Destiny? Surprising that it hasn't been brought back? Or surprising that it hasn't been brought-back-and-keyworded?
Delete(Amusingly, Sarcomite Myr, the Future Sight preview of a) coloured artifacts and b) Phyrexianised Mirrodin, could also count as a Future Sight preview of the returning Urza's Destiny cycling-from-play mechanic :) )
Surprising that it hasn't been brought back (and therefore likely keyworded)
DeleteThere are two things I see that might be minor issues with this mechanic.
ReplyDelete1.) It can happen at instant-speed. A card cycling from the hand at instant-speed is fine, but a card leaving the battlefield at instant speed can be more confusing. Causing spells to fizzle, 'phantom blockers', etc. This isn't a major problem, but it is a complexity expenditure (albeit a small one)
2.) Choosing whether to play a card or gamble on drawing a better one is a pretty significant decision, with a lot of tension and flexibility. Choosing whether to keep a card on the field or gamble on drawing a better one is often going to be less interesting of a decision (as far as I can tell). Again, this is a MINOR difference - "cycling from play" is not THAT much less interesting than cycling. But, in my opinion, it definitely is a little less interesting.
Now, note, I said "minor issues". Neither of these are preventing this from becoming a mechanic, and in fact, I'm all for it. But it's definitely playing in a similar space as cycling, and not offering too much more reward.
However, where I do see a place for these is in a set where early cards are useful, but the late-game is an entirely different beast, and early-game cards are no longer necessary... a set like Rise of the Eldrazi, for example.