Wednesday, February 24, 2016

CCDD 022416—Subsume

Cool Card Design of the Day
2/24/2016 - Inspired by synthesis from Devin's initial Spotlight Challenge submission, I made a keyword out of just the core action so that it could be used in a variety of ways. That flexibility comes at the cost of more reading (since less of a card's use of the mechanic is reminder text), and makes the mechanic itself less exciting (even if every card with it brings its own excitement). The flavor is considerably weaker too.







8 comments:

  1. I think the flavor of this mechanic is pretty sweet and exciting if we rename it "swallow"!

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    1. I like 'swallow' a lot!

      Makes it even harder to use on Banisher Priest but I honestly don't believe subsume works there either.

      Delete
  2. Gobble feels mechanically white: it's an "answer with an answer". I think it would feel more green if it required your creature to have greater power (or toughness) than the gobbled creature.

    Berg-Eater seems strong. If it's subsuming any land, then it's a 6 mana 5/5 Stone Rain. It will basically always be able to attack. Is it supposed to only allow subsuming *your* lands?

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    1. Gobble definitely could be white. I justified it in green since it requires you to have a creature to cast, and will be poorer if that creature is weak. Whether that's justification enough is certainly debatable.

      I intended Berg-Eater to be a 6 mana 5/5 Stone Rain. At six mana, land destruction isn't such an issue.

      Delete
    2. Gobble: Certainly justified within the color pie, but thematically, a 1/1 gobbling up a 6/6 feels way off.

      Berg-Eater: Agree, LD at 6 mana is fine, but a 6 mana 5/5 Stone Rain in blue (even at uncommon) seems out-of-color and the attack restriction is mostly superfluous.

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    3. All good points.

      Gobble 1G
      Sorcery
      Target creature you control subsumes target creature with lower toughness.
      Draw a card.

      Delete
  3. Banish is another word we could use for the effect... I fear the reason this has not been keyworded yet is because of the number of different flavours you exclude from the effect once you name it.

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