Thursday, May 18, 2017

CCDD 051817—It's Dangerous

Cool Card Design of the Day
5/18/2017 - Started designing a Briarpack Alpha-à-la-carte spell only to discover it was just Savage Summoning with +2/+2 until EOT instead of a +1/+1 counter (and it was counterable), so I decided to explore a lower rarity version instead:


“There is a distinct difference between "suspense" and "surprise," and yet many pictures continually confuse the two. I'll explain what I mean. We are now having a very innocent little chat. Let's suppose that there is a bomb underneath this table between us. Nothing happens, and then all of a sudden, "Boom!" There is an explosion. The public is surprised, but prior to this surprise, it has seen an absolutely ordinary scene, of no special consequence. Now, let us take a suspense situation. The bomb is underneath the table and the public knows it, probably because they have seen the anarchist place it there. The public is aware the bomb is going to explode at one o'clock and there is a clock in the decor. The public can see that it is a quarter to one. In these conditions, the same innocuous conversation becomes fascinating because the public is participating in the scene. The audience is longing to warn the characters on the screen: "You shouldn't be talking about such trivial matters. There is a bomb beneath you and it is about to explode!" In the first case we have given the public fifteen seconds of surprise at the moment of the explosion. In the second we have provided them with fifteen minutes of suspense. The conclusion is that whenever possible the public must be informed. Except when the surprise is a twist, that is, when the unexpected ending is, in itself, the highlight of the story.”

Posted by Jay Treat at 2:19 PM
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5 comments:

  1. ZachMay 19, 2017 at 11:20 AM

    Would I ever attack an opponent with this in play and untapped mana?

    What about a mana cost reduction.

    Surprise Dude
    Instant - G (R)
    The next creature spell you cast costs 1 less and has flash.
    The creature that enters the battlefield under your control gets +2/+2 until end of turn.

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    Replies
    1. UnknownMay 19, 2017 at 11:30 AM

      I think the answer is yes - you would just do so if you had your own trick, or an evasive attacker.

      I think the counterplay wouldn't differ much from current counterplay around cards like Collected Company, which are generally fun/well-received.

      I like Jay's version a bit more for the dream "drop a bunch of guys at EOT" scenario.

      Delete
  2. ZachMay 19, 2017 at 11:23 AM

    But I guess you could still win against the opponent who played this and kept a card in hand (ie, it's not super powerful). So probably a good design, or at least a play space worth exploring.

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  3. Jay TreatMay 19, 2017 at 4:46 PM

    Imagine your opponent plays this on turn 2 and passes on turn 3. If you don't attack with your 2-drop, she either has to waste this, or her 3 mana, leaving her a turn behind on board. Unless she then casts Think Twice. Or maybe she has no creatures she can afford to cast, and is hoping you won't attack. Maybe you decide it's better to lose your two-drop so she can't ambush a more important attack later.

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