CCDD 033020 - Eager Brute

I was a big fan of the Monarch mechanic (as seen on Palace Sentinels) when it showed up in the second Conspiracy set. Being able to assign statuses to players opens up a cool new region of design space. Finding effects that fit nicely there was harder than it seemed, though. Here's an example of one that I'm reasonably happy with.

CCDD 022120 - Struck Blind

Pacifism is an iconic way for white to "remove" creatures by keeping them out of combat. Many powerful creatures these days can just shrug it off, though. Kenrith, the Returned King doesn't have to attack or block to make an impact. To counter this, recently we've seen more variants like Arrest and Trapped in the Tower that turn off activated abilities as well. But then what can we do about creatures like God-Eternal Oketra and Niv-Mizzet, Parun?

CCDD 102014—Forced Retirement

Cool Card Design of the Day
10/20/2014 - It's awkward that Oblivion Ring and Banishing Light are targeted removal enchantments like Pacifism, but aren't auras, and you don't name your target until after the spell resolves. Here I take a stab at a couple alternate templates for an updated Journey to Nowhere.

Moving Activation Restrictions to the Left of the Colon

The Review for the last WAC will come later this week. Today, let's chat about a potential upgrade to Magic templating. Remember when they changed "Enchant Creature" to "Enchantment-Aura" and "Summon Knight" to "Creature-Human Knight"? Go even further back and remember when they clarified 'Mono', 'Poly' and 'Continuous' Artifacts? There have been countless tweaks and upgrades to the templates used for Magic cards over the decades, most of them small, in the form of word choice and phrasing, but some of them significant, noticeable.

A few days ago, Ipaulsen suggested "Sacrifice this artifact on your turn: Untap target permanent." The act of moving the timing restriction from the right side of the colon to the left spawned a conversation and rightly so. Turns out, it's got potential. The right side might not be the correct side.

Chah's Musings - A Minor Point in Token Templating

During the Great Designer Search 2, Aaron Forsythe mentioned that the introduction of the Tribal type was not a great choice:

I can tell from your templates that you're thinking of using the Tribal type in the set, but I'd rather you didn't if at all possible. That mechanic, while conceived with the best intentions, is generally considered a bit of a failed experiment, and bringing it back on a couple cards in Rise of the Eldrazi probably wasn't a wise choice.