Cool Card Design of the Day9/2/2015 - If Magic did go to Kaladesh, would it continue the Thopter token theme from Magic Origins? We've talked about how neat it is that the Kaladesh cards in Origins have an artifact theme almost entirely without artifact cards. My guess is that a Kaladesh set would include Thopter tokens, but could also include one or two other artifact creature tokens.
This final card presents an alternative version of tinker that scales with the amount of colorless mana you spend. That would likely be fine in Limited, where a deck will only be able to get so many colorless mana sources, but it seems completely busted in older Constructed formats—kind of an impressive feat. If only it were a positive.
Very cool. I wonder what alternate conditions we could use besides colorless mana? While I will readily admit I am partial to the colorless-mana theme, I think there could be a lot of difficulties in making the set work around it, so alternative plans might be good to have.
ReplyDeleteThis does remind me of something I was considering, by the way, along these same lines. Inspired by Chah's thinking, I was pondering to myself what kind of cheap artifact tokens we're mostly likely to see. I came up with the following:
Delete- Thopters, of course. A 1/1 artifact creature flier.
- "Swords". An Equipment for +1/+1 that equips for {2}, maybe {1}.
- "Batteries", artifact tokens that sacrifice to add mana to your mana pool. Any color would make the most sense, but also be very similar to Gold.
I stopped there, one because I couldn't think of any better 'basic' artifact tokens, and two because I like that these three cover pretty much every 'type' of artifact. (Creature, Equipment, Noncreature.)
I'm all for an 'artifact token' theme or subtheme in a Kaladesh set. That sounds pretty exciting and interesting, and it's unique compared to Mirrodin.
"If you control an artifact…"
Delete"For each artifact card in your graveyard…"
"If there's a land card in your graveyard…"
I definitely think there's a place for noncreature artifact tokens and I agree batteries are likely the best option.
So I can cast Ronin Servitor off two Ancient Tombs and get 10 power worth of dudes on turn 2? And if I have any Sphere effects the additional cost gets me more dudes?
ReplyDelete...Yeah, probably better to stick to the binary-check version.
Yup. Clearly broken. Even for Legacy.
DeleteI don't believe Jay's card is the broken card in this interaction.
DeleteI think the "for each colourless mana spent" version could actually work as long as it was almost always only on things with the generic mana part of their costs down at {1} or {2}, and the occasional {3}{C}{C} or {4}{C}{C}{D}{D}. I don't think Sphere of Resistance makes those particularly broken.
DeleteWith 1/1 Thopters, they're small enough that you can get plural of them at efficient costs; with the Splicers' 3/3 Golems, they're big enough that they feel like they have a chance of mattering. While I like the idea, 2/2s feel like they're stuck in between - too big to get them cheaply without raising the cost of the card, and too small to feel worth the additional cost.
ReplyDeleteConstruct also loses out to thopter and golem on "instant-flavor-comprehension", though it does have some advantages from being generic. Obviously Creative could help us out with this; all it takes is a cohesive compelling Construct design (like, say, Arcbound) to make them feel connected.
I agree Construct isn't as inherently exciting as Thopter and Golem, though I do think sweet token art can address that well, alongside the flavor on cards that generate them.
DeleteI don't think 2/2 can be in a useless zone; we just have to find an appropriate cost. Perhaps kicker {2}.