Brain Drain 1U
Sorcery (U)
Target player puts the top 4 cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard, then puts the top 4 cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard for each card named Brain Drain in your graveyard.
I'd like it to be an instant (nothing says "wait, strategic milling?" like playing this after an opponent's enlightened tutor.
Finally, although this is unoriginal (and I kind of wonder if we should keyword/ability word Kindle effects at this point), I love it! This is exactly the kind of card you want to print at for a common cycle of a cards. It takes advantage of the common rarity to become more aggressive the more you draft, and can create it's own "mini-archetype" (of mill in this case) within a set that doesn't have much (if anything) in the way of mill.
This is just a better designed card than an overcosted creature you draft 12th pick. It's bad, but has a chance to shine in limited. It's got casual constructed playable written all over it. It's a card people want to have 4 of (driving sales, believe it or not. Relentless Rats feels like a cashgrab where Plague Rats do not). And - gasp - in incremental mill archetypes (IE, those that mill via several spells, not just one or two big spells), this is not bad. It's not exactly Glimpse of Unthinkable... but, in a way it is. Where's Pokemon's Battle Compressor when you really need it.
The thing with uncommons is that chances are you'll only get one of them in limited.
One of these cards in a deck kinda sucks.
Then again, at common you can draft 8 of them. That's going to be a serious problem (or not, depending on how you view mill wins; let's face it, some people hate them).
My suggestion would be to keep it at uncommon, but make it a bit stronger, or make it common and a bit weaker.
Then again, at common you can draft 8 of them. That's going to be a serious problem (or not, depending on how you view mill wins; let's face it, some people hate them).
The odds of 8 or more being opened in a modern large set is approximately 0.16%. It's a miniscule number. We are talking once or twice every thousand drafts. And even in the case when 8 are opened, that won't mean one player gets 8 of them.
Truth is Brain drain (absent other sources of mill in the format) doesn't actually become good until you get 4 of them. Odds of 4 or more being opened in a single draft are approximately 21.5%. So maybe one in every 5 drafts, a single player manages to draft the mill deck.
None of this seems like a problem to me. Brain Drain seems fine at common and probably should be at common.
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Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
- Manite
The main thing I'm worried about with making this a common is that if you mill yourself it might be a bit counterintuitive. Although it seems like all the other kindle effects go at common, probably for the reason you guys discussed.
As far as limited goes it obviously depends on the rest of the format. I think even if you draft 4 of these you're probably not going to have a very cohesive strategy without other cards to support it - you're probably going to draw 2 or less each game so you just mill your opponent for 12.
One of the issues with cold snap was that if you were playing with unresponsive drafters, a single player could get 6+ copies of one of the "not burn" ripple cards, and just combo out. That said, if we're talking a big set (and unfortunately those seem to be all we'll ever get again; good bye block format... hello no reason to stick around for then next set...), I could see printing it alongside a little "not really meant for mill, but can be used for mill" strategy cards (Think symmetrical merfolk looter effects).
Remember, Mill is pretty awesome when you use it with spells that let you look at the top card of a player's library, and cards that put cards ontop of player's libraries. Printing Hinder - a great card - makes this spell slightly more relevant.
I'd like to see a full cycle. It'd be interesting if you could do something with the same number (IE 4 + 4 more in the grave) for each effect. Still, I'd recommend a tight cycle of instants at common.
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Sorcery (U)
Target player puts the top 4 cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard, then puts the top 4 cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard for each card named Brain Drain in your graveyard.
I'd like it to be an instant (nothing says "wait, strategic milling?" like playing this after an opponent's enlightened tutor.
Finally, although this is unoriginal (and I kind of wonder if we should keyword/ability word Kindle effects at this point), I love it! This is exactly the kind of card you want to print at for a common cycle of a cards. It takes advantage of the common rarity to become more aggressive the more you draft, and can create it's own "mini-archetype" (of mill in this case) within a set that doesn't have much (if anything) in the way of mill.
This is just a better designed card than an overcosted creature you draft 12th pick. It's bad, but has a chance to shine in limited. It's got casual constructed playable written all over it. It's a card people want to have 4 of (driving sales, believe it or not. Relentless Rats feels like a cashgrab where Plague Rats do not). And - gasp - in incremental mill archetypes (IE, those that mill via several spells, not just one or two big spells), this is not bad. It's not exactly Glimpse of Unthinkable... but, in a way it is. Where's Pokemon's Battle Compressor when you really need it.
The thing with uncommons is that chances are you'll only get one of them in limited.
One of these cards in a deck kinda sucks.
Then again, at common you can draft 8 of them. That's going to be a serious problem (or not, depending on how you view mill wins; let's face it, some people hate them).
My suggestion would be to keep it at uncommon, but make it a bit stronger, or make it common and a bit weaker.
"Sometimes, the situation is outracing a threat, sometimes it's ignoring it, and sometimes it involves sideboarding in 4x Hope//Pray." --Doug Linn
The odds of 8 or more being opened in a modern large set is approximately 0.16%. It's a miniscule number. We are talking once or twice every thousand drafts. And even in the case when 8 are opened, that won't mean one player gets 8 of them.
Truth is Brain drain (absent other sources of mill in the format) doesn't actually become good until you get 4 of them. Odds of 4 or more being opened in a single draft are approximately 21.5%. So maybe one in every 5 drafts, a single player manages to draft the mill deck.
None of this seems like a problem to me. Brain Drain seems fine at common and probably should be at common.
- Manite
As far as limited goes it obviously depends on the rest of the format. I think even if you draft 4 of these you're probably not going to have a very cohesive strategy without other cards to support it - you're probably going to draw 2 or less each game so you just mill your opponent for 12.
Remember, Mill is pretty awesome when you use it with spells that let you look at the top card of a player's library, and cards that put cards ontop of player's libraries. Printing Hinder - a great card - makes this spell slightly more relevant.
I'd like to see a full cycle. It'd be interesting if you could do something with the same number (IE 4 + 4 more in the grave) for each effect. Still, I'd recommend a tight cycle of instants at common.