tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post2757086177402427509..comments2024-03-11T02:32:15.295-04:00Comments on Goblin Artisans: Weekend Art Challenge 060916—A-B MechanicsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger72125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-63713452639519417732016-06-14T12:16:31.065-04:002016-06-14T12:16:31.065-04:00Oh cool. Yeah, that seems like a good version of t...Oh cool. Yeah, that seems like a good version of the mechanic.Jack (cartesiandaemon)https://www.blogger.com/profile/08258267965242039995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-43988222228734589042016-06-14T11:28:32.760-04:002016-06-14T11:28:32.760-04:00Steam Juggernaut {4}
Artifact Creature—Juggernaut ...Steam Juggernaut {4}<br />Artifact Creature—Juggernaut (unc)<br />~ doesn't untap during your untap step.<br />At EOT, if you have steam, untap ~.<br />5/4<br /><br />Thopter Assembly line<br />Land (r)<br />{T}: Add {C}<br />{1}, {T}: Put a 1/1 flying Thopter token OTB. Activate this ability only if you have steam.Jay Treathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09428861685923241850noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-4851675763853240672016-06-14T11:18:54.312-04:002016-06-14T11:18:54.312-04:00It's fairly likely we'll only ever want st...It's fairly likely we'll only ever want steam to be a boolean, but we'd certainly test it both ways.Jay Treathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09428861685923241850noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-91602309181142270202016-06-14T11:18:02.765-04:002016-06-14T11:18:02.765-04:00Rapport (This costs {2} less to cast if you contro...Rapport <i>(This costs {2} less to cast if you control three or more creatures that share a type.)</i><br /><br />{2}{R} cmn Instant<br />Rapport<br />Deal 3 damage.<br /><br />{4}{U} unc Sorcery<br />Rapport<br />Draw three cards.<br /><br />{3}{G} unc Sorcery<br />Rapport<br />Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.<br /><br />{2}{W} cmn Instant<br />Rapport<br />Untap each creature you control. They get +1/+1 until EOT.<br /><br />{3}{W} cmn Instant<br />Rapport<br />Gain 6 life. If you have rapport, draw a card.<br /><br />{4}{W}{W} rare Instant<br />Rapport<br />Put a 1/1 white Soldier creature token OTB for each non-Soldier creature you control.<br /><br />{4} unc Artifact Creature<br />Rapport<br />3/3<br /><br />{G}{G}{G} unc Creature<br />Rapport<br />When ~ ETB from your hand, if you have rapport, put a copy of it OTB.<br />3/3<br /><br />{2}{W}{W} rare Enchantment<br />Rapport<br />Creatures you control get +1/+1.<br /><br />{3}{B}{B} rare Instant<br />Rapport<br />Destroy target creature that doesn't share a type with any creatures you control.<br />Draw a card.Jay Treathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09428861685923241850noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-77830458365968320432016-06-13T21:58:01.911-04:002016-06-13T21:58:01.911-04:00Nice! And if you swap haste and trample there are ...Nice! And if you swap haste and trample there are no memory concerns. Jay Treathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09428861685923241850noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-37279478173114279732016-06-13T20:48:56.070-04:002016-06-13T20:48:56.070-04:00Verdant Inferno 1R
Creature - Elemental (Common)
H...Verdant Inferno 1R<br />Creature - Elemental (Common)<br />Haste<br />Summoning Circle (As an additional cost to cast ~, you may tap two creatures)<br />If you paid its summoning circle cost, Verdant Inferno gains trample.<br />5/1<br /><br />No longer an A/B mechanic, but I like the flavor still.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-77310046254872929952016-06-13T18:14:23.057-04:002016-06-13T18:14:23.057-04:00Thanks for the review. My "vision" of st...Thanks for the review. My "vision" of steam/steampowered is as a major block mehanic found in most (possibly all?) colors.<br /><br />The land "turns on" with +1 steam, as a consession to actually being a dual land. I imagine other Steampowered cards would like to have a higher threshold of steam to turn on. I kind of like "T: add C. Steampowered-T: Add CC", but duals are important (and easier for the artisans to swallow than lands that tap for more than one mana).<br /><br />The goblin piker is indented more as a sigiled skink. Cheap, aggressive enabler without much fan fair or payoff.<br /><br />Each color would have to rely on the color pie to dictate how (and how much) it generates steam. I haven't really fleshed it out but attacking doesn't seem like it should be the only way to generate steam.<br /><br />Cannister bomb R<br />Inst (c)<br />Deals 2 damage to a creature, you get +1 steam until end of turn.<br /><br />Pipe Burst. 4R<br />Sor (u)<br />Deals 4 damage to target creature.<br />Steam powered- deals an additional 4 damage to that creatures control of you have 3 or more steam.<br /><br />Pressurizer 2<br />Art (u)<br />T: add <>.<br />T, sac: you get +2 steam until end of turn.<br /><br />Forge Stoker 2R<br />Cre- human assembly-worker (r)<br />Whenever an effect gives you steam, it gives you that much steam +1 instead.<br />CARDNAME's power is equal to your steam.<br />*/4<br /><br />Dajiir Assembly line<br />Land (r)<br />T: add <><br />2, T: you get a cannister artifact token. It has "sac: +1 steam until end of turn"<br /><br />Thanks again. I dislike A-B mechanics in limited, but this seems to have a lot of design space.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14773403569389449877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-44865788894977152682016-06-13T17:06:05.943-04:002016-06-13T17:06:05.943-04:00Oh yes. I liked that they tried for more variety. ...Oh yes. I liked that they tried for more variety. But a lot of tribal was normal within-tribe, it's just there was a bunch of cards that wanted something else too. I always felt frustrated that X wanted Y and Y wanted something else, and it's not like the cross-tribal rewards were large enough to encourage it over tribal if you had a choice.<br /><br />If the focus of the set was elves-want-treefolk and treefolk-want-elves (and the same for some other tribes), it would feel like a different design to me.Jack (cartesiandaemon)https://www.blogger.com/profile/08258267965242039995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-66907436237741734962016-06-13T16:11:18.385-04:002016-06-13T16:11:18.385-04:00Lorwyn had some good inter-tribal cards like that....Lorwyn had some good inter-tribal cards like that. Probably important not to overdo it.Jay Treathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09428861685923241850noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-8528077494697350122016-06-13T15:15:11.587-04:002016-06-13T15:15:11.587-04:00On reflection, maybe A and B could be creature typ...On reflection, maybe A and B could be creature types where in THIS set, all elves need treefolk and vice versa, but outside the set, they can be paired with existing cards of the other type (that don't get the benefit but may be stronger-than-average rather than weaker-than-average).<br /><br />In fact, more so than most challenges, this one has thrown up several mechanic ideas which, if not perfect, I'd be interested to see more of.Jack (cartesiandaemon)https://www.blogger.com/profile/08258267965242039995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-836971325808411742016-06-13T14:18:09.863-04:002016-06-13T14:18:09.863-04:00REVIEW
Positive/Negative definitely qualifies as a...REVIEW<br />Positive/Negative definitely qualifies as an A-B mechanic, though its the most parasitic we've seen in a long while. It's not that A needs B but B just needs to exist, B needs A just as bad. Each set does want a linear mechanic, though, so if the gameplay is really great, this could work. At least in Limited and Standard. Parasitic mechanics powerful enough to appear in Modern tend to be simply too powerful for those two formats.<br /><br />Polar Champion is playable at {2}{W} if a bit underwhelming for uncommon (and generally weak at {4}), but if you've got a couple negative creatures at the same time, you'll be quite glad to have it.<br /><br />Momentum Bomber can't do anything without positive creatures, which is pretty bad for {2} and not great for {R}, but pair it with Polar Champion and suddenly it's a 3/3 that can attack. It still can't block in any satisfying way, and that's an uneccessary complication we'll definitely want to remove.<br /><br />As twobrid creatures, you can draft a five-color deck of all positive and negative creatures, trying to maximise your synergy at the expense of casting things on curve. I'd be curious to see how that plays out in practice. It might be really nice, or it might be so nice that too many players draft it and its horrible. IDK and I'd be curious to find out. Being so parasitic, the risk of drafting a completely terrible deck because you only got half the polarized cards you wanted is very real.Jay Treathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09428861685923241850noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-18685752542147176662016-06-13T14:07:01.272-04:002016-06-13T14:07:01.272-04:00REVIEW
It's not a great sign for a mechanic wh...REVIEW<br />It's not a great sign for a mechanic when the marquee enabler for it is a rare. How do we build a set with enough mana-generating creatures to give players any hope of enjoying summoning circle? How does the format play out that has so much mana available? And with all that mana acceleration, is further cost reduction the reward players would appreciate most?<br /><br />The obvious comparison is convoke, which is simpler and easier to use, nailing the same theme.<br /><br />Verdant Inferno's {G}{G}{R} cost means I can't even cast it with a Coalstoker. For answering that challenge, I'd expect a creature less fragile.<br /><br />Archmage of the Circle will probably be a card one day, but since it's more fragile than <a rel="nofollow">Cryptolith Rite</a>, I'd expect it to be cheaper or larger.Jay Treathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09428861685923241850noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-71172689366051514732016-06-13T12:03:35.876-04:002016-06-13T12:03:35.876-04:00REVIEW
Ambition rewards you for having a lot of cr...REVIEW<br />Ambition rewards you for having a lot of creatures in your deck, and risks milling you out. It's a swingy mechanic with a lot of luck. I would play it (in the right deck), but the milling will turn off many a Tammy who would enjoy the variance, and the luck will turn off many a Spike who would enjoy the cost.<br /><br />Goblin Sociopath will sometimes be a <a rel="nofollow">Sparkmage Apprentice</a> and sometimes a <a rel="nofollow">Hill Giant</a> with a free <a rel="nofollow">Lightning Bolt</a>.<br /><br />Reminisce is transmute for your graveyard, except it also casts the card (regardless of color or type). I can reminisce Burning Recollection for <a rel="nofollow">Jace Beleren</a> or <a rel="nofollow">Brimaz, King of Oreskos</a>. Red shouldn't be able to do that.<br /><br />I can also reminisce for the same card over and over again, allowing me to build a deck with 8 or 12 copies of my best sorcery. That's not great for tournament variety.<br /><br />Ambition require anything but creatures (which Burning Recollection doesn't provide). Reminisce does require targets in the GY, though, and ambition helps with that. That's a soft A-B relationship, but valid.<br /><br />Goblin Sociopath is an 8-line uncommon and Burning Recollection is a 8-line common (just barely). A couple of those are fine in a set, but you could never make an NWO set with two keywords so wordy.Jay Treathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09428861685923241850noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-57647566575275513032016-06-13T11:50:09.938-04:002016-06-13T11:50:09.938-04:00Overcharge says it's about charge counters, bu...Overcharge says it's about charge counters, but being immune to non-combat damage is what it's really about. It's okay for a keyword to serve multiple functions, but we also want first impressions to be sufficiently valid.<br /><br />Overcharged Drone is passively immune to all of red's and green's removal, and a fraction of white's and black's. Your opponent won't be putting any charge counters on it (shy of a <a rel="nofollow">Pyroclasm</a> that nets advantage despite Drone). That means if you care about powering up your overcharge creatures, you're going to have to damage them yourself.<br /><br />You're rarely going to spend a <a rel="nofollow">Lightning Strike</a> just to put charge counters on your Drone, but <a rel="nofollow">Pyroclasm</a> effects become three times as good in a deck full of overchargers.<br /><br />Storm Surger illustrates the issue well. Suppose you've got 3 or 6 or however many overcharges in your deck. You play Surger to enable them. But you draw when you only have other X/1s at and can't cast it. Then you side all those creatures out to avoid that problem, but now your deck is lopsided.<br /><br />Overcharge is also nuts with fight.<br /><br />What if overcharge didn't prevent damage? "Whenever ~ is dealt damage, put that many charge counters on it." You still have an incentive to hurt your own creatures, but now there's a threshold (their toughness) to how much you can charge them each turn. They do exactly what they say they do, without a distinction between combat and non-combat damage, and they change the value of your and your opponent's cards by a factor closer to 2 than 3. Because combat damage now matters, they still affect gameplay considerably—more actually. That's very different, so it's hard to say whether it's better or not (and impossible without context) but it has some important advantages.Jay Treathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09428861685923241850noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-66170372351086454052016-06-13T11:19:31.744-04:002016-06-13T11:19:31.744-04:00REVIEW
Affinity for Tribal almost certainly doesn&...REVIEW<br />Affinity for Tribal almost certainly doesn't work as templated, but I'm sure there's a simple template for the effect, so we can focus on how it rewards you for going tribal, without pre-sorting itself into specific tribes. Affinity is tricky to balance, and making it open-ended like that may prove un-developable, but I still love "choose a tribe" and think we'll see a ton of that in the next tribal set.<br /><br />Are we okay with Cliffside Charge for {R} enabled entirely by <a rel="nofollow">Goblin Rally</a> or <a rel="nofollow">Siege-Gang Commander</a>? On a <a rel="nofollow">Warren Instigator</a>? I'm not. But if the spell just cost 1 or 2 less when you have 3+ of any tribe, or if it gave more of a boost (perhaps not killing its target) when you meet that threshold, then it could cost less to start and still be pretty attractive.<br /><br />Goblin Mentor could be common, since it's so hard to make use of a one-turn 1/1. Without <a rel="nofollow">Goblin Grenade</a>, it's worse than <a rel="nofollow">Goblin Chariot</a>. This way, it reduces the cost of Charge by {2} instead of {1} but only the turn you play it, so you still need {2}{R}+{2}{R} to do both. For enabling goblin-affinity, I'd rather have <a rel="nofollow">Dragon Fodder</a>'s permanent boost.<br />Jay Treathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09428861685923241850noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-38709936381352477692016-06-13T11:05:22.532-04:002016-06-13T11:05:22.532-04:00REVIEW
Barricade will make players feel better abo...REVIEW<br />Barricade will make players feel better about playing defenders. Like Rise of the Eldrazi, defender-matters could be a welcome change of pace. It's a bit dangerous, though, because if make defenders too strong, games will go much longer and draw more often, which is undesirable. We'd want more evasion for sure.<br /><br />Topple doesn't play great with Piker, but it should be as good as <a rel="nofollow">Fling</a> with your high-toughness walls. Even with Piker, it's at least a bad <a rel="nofollow">Shock</a>.<br /><br />Promontory Piker, won't be a high-pick, but is certainly playable… in the abstract. Trouble is, it's most relevant to aggro decks—the kind that least want to play defenders. And it's also going to be worst in a format with a lot of walls.Jay Treathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09428861685923241850noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-50361333578698073692016-06-13T11:04:11.554-04:002016-06-13T11:04:11.554-04:00REVIEW
Dajir Foreman is a Goblin Piker when you do...REVIEW<br />Dajir Foreman is a <a rel="nofollow">Goblin Piker</a> when you don't have any steam-powered cards. Dajir Refinery is a colorless land when you don't have any steam. <br /><br />While off, the former might be weak or just-playable depending your deck, while the latter is actively bad. When you have both, attacking with the Foreman turns on your Refinery and any number of other steam-powered cards you have. That's the part that makes steam feel sufficiently distinct from mana, and worth considering.<br /><br />The 2R Foreman is much more attractive, but your instinct that it'll be drafted by players who don't care about steam is right. The 1R version supports the archetype more directly (but less so, because it's weaker).<br /><br />Refinery likely needs to be stronger. Steam won't be available on a huge number of cards, and if most of them have to risk combat to produce steam, the bonus should be bigger. Any color of mana, in this case. <i>Maybe</i> even {2}.Jay Treathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09428861685923241850noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-63045733622924028002016-06-13T10:53:39.650-04:002016-06-13T10:53:39.650-04:00REVIEW
Blade Runner is a solid card on its own, re...REVIEW<br />Blade Runner is a solid card on its own, rewarding equipment (especially with high equip costs) more than usual. I wouldn't be surprised to see that exact card printed some day. In line with <a rel="nofollow">Kor Outfitter</a>.<br /><br />I can't imagine Dual Wielder at common, because it would make So Much equipment to the environment, but at uncommon, sure. While +1/+0 for {2} isn't maximally intuitive, it could easily be the best configuration of equipment tokens for good gameplay.<br /><br />If we push equipment-matters too hard in a set, the equipment will have to be terrible because the card type is inherently powerful. But in small numbers like the Kor of Zendikar or the Humans of Innistrad, equipment-matters allows us to print slightly weak looking equipment without disappointing players, and that's good because equipment is always better than it looks.Jay Treathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09428861685923241850noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-78902660372487099632016-06-13T10:14:08.260-04:002016-06-13T10:14:08.260-04:00REVIEW
Solidarity is not an A-B mechanic.
Do we wa...REVIEW<br />Solidarity is not an A-B mechanic.<br />Do we want a set full of <a rel="nofollow"> Relentless Rats</a>?<br />Slum Healer punishes solidarity. We generally don't want that tension in the same set/block.Jay Treathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09428861685923241850noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-27664684050195735772016-06-13T06:53:44.150-04:002016-06-13T06:53:44.150-04:00Oh good point, I didn't think of that. Yeah, i...Oh good point, I didn't think of that. Yeah, if it's really good fight-fodder. Really good.Jack (cartesiandaemon)https://www.blogger.com/profile/08258267965242039995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-73264931274004950602016-06-12T19:24:55.882-04:002016-06-12T19:24:55.882-04:00This plays really well with fighting, right? RG Be...This plays really well with fighting, right? RG Bees was a pretty awesome deck.Pasteurhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02058331124653341978noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-42022932935577891172016-06-12T17:43:12.566-04:002016-06-12T17:43:12.566-04:00Oh yes, I think I'd got muddled with non-sac t...Oh yes, I think I'd got muddled with non-sac tokens. But I think I'll leave it as-is for now, it's reasonable for red. And if it's too attractive it'll never make it to the tribal player.Jack (cartesiandaemon)https://www.blogger.com/profile/08258267965242039995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-12345239955821971962016-06-12T17:25:44.721-04:002016-06-12T17:25:44.721-04:00I like the idea. I wonder where it's going. Do...I like the idea. I wonder where it's going. Do all polar creatures have a bonus for the opposite creature? Are those often the same (either across the polarity, or within in?)<br /><br />Polar creatures need to take up a fair proportion of the set to give people a chance to draft them together, but not so much that everyone just gets the creatures by default. I wonder where the best balance is, it may be hard to find one.<br /><br />Momentum Bomber is *really* nerfed, if it can't attack or block at all without the corresponding card. Most A/B cards have *some* effect. Could it be less absolute and still fill the same niche? Or is that the idea?Jack (cartesiandaemon)https://www.blogger.com/profile/08258267965242039995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-23985213655214191842016-06-12T17:11:24.148-04:002016-06-12T17:11:24.148-04:00I really like this idea, but I agree with Taresivo...I really like this idea, but I agree with Taresivon about the problems, it may need to take a different form.Jack (cartesiandaemon)https://www.blogger.com/profile/08258267965242039995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479847193762153273.post-11865195749010156462016-06-12T16:59:56.431-04:002016-06-12T16:59:56.431-04:00I really like the idea here, I love the feeling of...I really like the idea here, I love the feeling of the overcharge counters.<br /><br />I worry it will be hard to have enough "deal damage to your own creatures" spells people will actually want to play. (I mean, you can just use normal burn spells, but it's hard to make that more attractive than aiming them at the opponent's creatures without making it too good.)<br /><br />It may end up just functioning as "red hexproof".<br /><br />But maybe some tweaks would make it work? Or maybe it should be an ability that triggers on non-combat damage to OPPOSING triggers. Like landfall or bloodthirst etc, it's something you want to do anyway, but you want to do MORE of when you're rewarded for it.Jack (cartesiandaemon)https://www.blogger.com/profile/08258267965242039995noreply@blogger.com