Wednesday, September 21, 2016

CCDD 092116—Take In the Scenery

Cool Card Design of the Day
9/21/2016 - So this isn't a very green effect (though no bleedier than Survival Cache), but it's clean and simple and fits green's meditative nature.


It bothers me more that it costs less than Divination; I guess it could be {2}{G}?

A flash of inspiration, and a quick rules check... yup:


You can pay additional costs when casting a spell without paying its mana cost, so you can pay the kicker for a spell either initially, when it rebounds, or both. That might have potential (but note that it's much less elegant).

Mechanically different, but you can't combe kicker and rebound without wondering about making rebound itself the kicker effect.


When you add a cost to rebound—a discrete, optional cost—it acts more like buyback. That is, buyback you can only claim once, which eliminates the biggest concern with that keyword. Capsize isn't quite so broken when you can only cast it twice.

The first design was top-down, but led somewhere mechanical. Design is all about inventing a starting point and then following where that leads. Take in the Scenery isn't particularly exciting itself, but there might be potential in one of the two combinations of kicker with rebound. Design a card using one of those combos that shows off what the pairing can do. Alternately, design a better top-down card from Bae's illustration.


8 comments:

  1. Thinking about how original kicker was to encourage multicolor decks:

    Take in the Scenery (same art)
    G
    Instant - Uncommon
    Search your library for a basic land card, reveal it, then put it into your hand. Shuffle your library afterwards.
    Rebound Kicker 1W

    Crash Through
    R
    Instant - Uncommon
    Target creature gets +2/+2 and gains trample until end of turn.
    Rebound Kicker 1G

    Flash in Time
    W
    Instant - Uncommon
    Exile target creature you control. Return it to the battlefield under its owner's control at end of turn.
    Rebound Kicker 1U

    Draining Bite
    B
    Instant - Uncommon
    Deal 1 damage to target creature and 1 damage to target player. You gain 1 life.
    Rebound Kicker 1R

    Withering Stare
    U
    Instant - Uncommon
    Target creature gets -3/-0 until end of turn.
    Rebound Kicker 1B

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nice!

      Although it's hard to rebound Flash in Time profitably.

      Delete
  2. When I saw the name, I sort of thought a Green Timely Reinforcements. Came up with this:

    Gift of the Wildlands 2GG
    Sorcery (Uncommon or Rare)
    If you control no creatures, create a 4/4 green Beast creature token.
    If you control a creature, draw three cards.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Are you supposed to get the three cards regardless, or only if you didn't get the token?

      Delete
    2. It's either or, a modal spell that makes the decision for you based on whether you're behind on board or not.

      Gift 1 2GG
      Sorcery (Uncommon/Rare)
      If you control no creatures, create a 4/4 green Beast creature token; if you control a creature, draw three cards instead.

      As is so often the case, I'm trying to be clever, and ignoring an obviously better design:

      Gift 2 3GG
      Sorcery (Rare)
      If you control no creatures, create a 4/4 green Beast creature token.
      If you have one or fewer cards in your hand, draw three cards.

      Delete
    3. templating quirk:

      Gift 1 2GG
      Sorcery (Uncommon/Rare)
      If you control no creatures, create a 4/4 green Beast creature token. Otherwise draw three cards.

      Gift 2 is definitely more exciting. Particularly since a 4/4 for four is much less special to green than three cards for four mana is.

      Delete
  3. related to the second one, it's interesting to think about a spell that's intentionally much more... useful? usable? on the rebound, for a delayed effect that can be, uh, well, you'll see what I mean:

    Take in the Scenery {2}{G}
    Instant
    Kicker {2}{G}
    If ~ was kicked, draw three cards.
    Rebound

    or...

    Shuddering Growth {2}{G}{G}
    Instant
    Kicker {2}{G}{G}
    Target creature gets +4/+4 until end of turn.
    If ~ was kicked, put eight +1/+1 counters on that creature instead.
    Rebound

    this can also be cleaned up a little for a less deep but more easy-to-grasp effect...

    Third Gift of the Wildlands {2}{G}{G}
    Sorcery
    Rebound {3}{G}{G} (If you cast this spell from your hand, you may exile it, blah blah blah your next upkeep, you may cast this card from exile for its Rebound cost)
    Create a 4/4 green Beast creature token.
    On the rebound, draw two cards.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love the idea of an echo card that you can get more value out of in the late game.

      Delete