Tesla: Kick into Gear

Hello again, everyone! Since last time, there's been some great progress on the Tesla set skeleton over at the Multiverse, kick-started by the Filling in the Skeleton challenge and Skeleton Key article. We've been on a 'big picture' kick lately, so this week, I thought I'd zoom in a bit and examine a single mechanic - Research - in more detail.

To kick things off, let's remind everyone what Research (currently) is:

Research began its life as a variant for Kicker. Kicker is the perfect mana sink, but it also has a problem - it is an additional cost, not an alternative costs, as it tends to be nowadays. (See: Awaken) To 'bring it back in spirit', we decided to add a small, incidential bonus to the spells when kicked. Small enough that costs weren't significantly affected, but big enough that it justifies why it's a new mechanic.

Shuffling it back into the library was just the right thing. The new version shuffles only into the top six, but is still not super likely to come back before the game's over. However, the bonus wanted to make sense, so I pushed for each Research card to feature a 'game-ending' bonus when researched, which justifies the bonus. On Canister Instability, the bonus burns - on other spells, opponents lose life, or pump a creature and give it trample, or mill the opponent, or make fliers,

Of course, this isn't the only Kicker option we have.

Overload and Replicate are previous well-liked variants of Kicker, which stumbled onto a very rich vein of design space that also justifies their unique existence. 

These mechanics are still alive-and-kicking, with plenty of design space left, and are good candidates for the "kicker slot" in Tesla - and for the "returning mechanic" slot, as well! As they were both relegated to Izzet in the past, there's definitely some design space left in {W}{B}{G}.

However, when it comes down to it, while they have the good qualities of Kicker, they also share the mechanic's problems...

Swift Kick by Mathias Kollros

Kicker is a fascinating mechanic. It promises flexibility - the ability to cast a spell for cheap, or to power it up for a price. However, that flexibility also makes for some tough, even unfun, decisions. As Mark Rosewater discusses in Here's the Kicker, a player who is aware of the potential payout of a card is far less willing to play it in "suboptimal" conditions, even if the card is necessary for them to win and/or survive.  

This same problem has come up on other cards - such as Aven Cloudchaser, as Rosewater discusses in Lenticular Design - causing this kind of card design to go out of favor. To use his words, "the card creates a bad experience for the beginner. By leaving the [card] in his or her hand, the beginner will become frustrated because he or she wants the [card] but feels obligated to wait." 

He then goes on to say, "[A good lentcilaar card for beginners] wants to encourage the player to use it. Beginners want action and want to feel like the game is moving forward. Also, you want to give them the tools to help push the game toward a conclusion."

And yet, we still see Kicker variants - as recently as Awaken - that do not achieve this! Is there a way to make a Kicker mechanic that makes it alright for a player to cast the spell without kicking it? That possibly even incentivizes it? Surprisingly, the solution didn't lie in kicker, but in another mechanic entirely...

Introducing Discovery! or, as I referred to it while working on it, "kickback". Not only because these cards let you "kick back" and relax, but also because it's a combination of kicker and flashback. Clever, right?

Yes, this combination is technically possible with just flashback, as the Increasing cycle shows. However, there are a lot of benefits to making it its own keyword. For example, Aerial Espionage lets us Peek, but Squadron Deployment doesn't, due to a difference in flavor that wasn't possible in the Increasing cycle. Furthermore, as mentioned earlier when discussing Overload and Replicate, a "simple-enough and deep-enough tie" can justify making a new mechanic entirely.

And beyond even these points, there is a very interesting vein of design space in Discovery...

Artifact Cycle for Tesla

Yes, we can change card types entirely! This cycle is meant to represent 'moments of discovery' - largely based on accidental discoveries throughout history - that lead to world-changing inventions. These cards convert a passing 'accident' into a consistent 'invention' which produces half the effect, but is permanent.

And as Continuumg has shown, we can even use this mechanic to produce off-color archetype supporters at uncommon. Incredible!

While I think Discovery has a lot of promise, it has undeniable problems. It adds more DFC slots in the set, and is pricy in comprehension complexity. For this reason, I have one last, simpler, 'mana sink' mechanic to suggest, which is also (coincidentally!) based on a mechanic that isn't Kicker...

Develop is a mixture of Cycling, Research, and Biking. The reason I didn't go with Tricycling, which puts it under the third card on top, is because I wanted to preserve a sense of anticipating the uncertain. Of course, if this causes too much shuffling, we can always change it to Tricycling in development.

While this isn't a Kicker mechanic, it fulfills the same purpose as a mana-sink, as it lets us put larger spells in the set than normal. In addition, excess mana can be used to Develop cards you draw late that you don't want right now, or might not want at all. Lastly, it is a homerun on a feeling of 'anticipation and progress', which Tesla is trying to cultivate.

Leaping Master, by Anastasia Ovchinnikova

That concludes our discussion about Kicker, and its many many variants, for today! 

Which of these mechanics most excites you? Which one do you think would be best for Tesla? Let me know in the comments, or over at the Tesla Multiverse page. Until next time, have a great week!