I was trying to think of ways to re-forge Miracle so it retains the "things happening at unspecified times" feature while being a little different.
Blessing (When this permanent enters the battlefield, name a nonland card. When you draw the named card, you may reveal it and this becomes blessed.)
Sanctuary Trumpeter1W
Creature — Human Cleric (U)
Blessing
When Sanctuary Trumpeter becomes blessed, put a 4/4 white Angel creature token onto the battlefield.
1/2
Sandstone Gate
Land (U)
Blessing T: Add C to your mana pool.
As long as it's blessed, Sandstone Gate is a Mountain Plains.
Waking Necropolis2B
Enchantment (R)
Blessing
Whenever a permanent you control becomes blessed, put a 2/1 black Spirit token with skulk onto the battlefield.
Seraph of Seven Eyes3WW
Creature — Angel (M)
Flying
Blessing
Blessed creatures you control get +2/+2, have vigilance, and can block any number of creatures.
4/4
This is quite interesting. I like it, but I worry about memory issues.
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Lead Tesla, a community set designed by everyone and led by me, over at Goblin Artisans. Index of articles here!
You're both right about the memory issues. I think that the state tracking problem can be solved by using DFCs, with the text "...you may reveal it. If you do, transform this." You lose the "blessed" state word but that's okay.
I don't really see any situation where you'd want to name more than one card name for Blessing so I'm not really concerned about the memory burden of "name a nonland card."
I... huh. I like it. You're right in that memory could be a problem, but this is probably not going on commons - much like miracle - so a little bit of notation mostly in Constructed isn't too bad.
You're both right about the memory issues. I think that the state tracking problem can be solved by using DFCs, with the text "...you may reveal it. If you do, transform this." You lose the "blessed" state word but that's okay.
I don't really see any situation where you'd want to name more than one card name for Blessing so I'm not really concerned about the memory burden of "name a nonland card."
Wouldn't you pick more names for cards that care about the total number of blessed permanents you control, or when a permanent becomes blessed?
For example, Waking Cemetery rewards you with a token every time something becomes blessed. If everything has declared the same name, then you have a (max) 4/53 chance of drawing that card, and getting a number of tokens equal to the number of permanents you have. Okay, sure.
But if you choose two cards, wouldn't your chances of getting a named card go up to 8/53 (max)? Sure, you don't get as many tokens at once, but you're more likely to get tokens sooner, right?
Also, for state-tracking, you could just use a +1/+1 counter or 'blessed counter' on noncreatures, and still have them become blessed. Monstrosity style.
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That's a fair point. I think the best solution is to not design cards that encourage you to do that, though? My intuition is that it's best for gameplay if you almost always choose the same card for your blessing permanents - which means you've giving up the least amount of information about what's still in your library and you don't have to remember a lot of stuff and there's a big moment when all your blessing cards wake up at one time.
I mean, if you think about it critically, Necropolis is a pretty bad card. There's no reason that a card should encourage you to increase your memory burden and not give a decent reward for it.
I suppose you could engineer the keyword that way?
Blessing (When this permanent enters the battlefield, name a nonland card. When you draw the card you last named with blessing, you may reveal it and put a [whatever type] counter on this. It becomes blessed.)
I'm not overly happy with the extra words but if it eliminates some game situations that I'd rather not have, that's good.
Well, this mechanic is never really going to work well in paper, even if you're only keeping track of one name at a time. So I wouldn't worry too much about it...
If you wanted to convert this to a more paper-ready mechanic, I'd say to find some other thematic condition that works well with the theme of 'blessing', rather than a name. For example, CMC5+.
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Why online-only? Using the DFC solution for state tracking, there's almost zero memory burden.
I don't think the "is this permanent blessed or not?" is the main memory issue. I was more focused on the possibility of having 4+ cards waiting for a Blessing over multiple turns, then drawing one of the cards you are pretty sure you named for which one was it again... - Judge!
I genuinely like the mechanic, and if you did want to keep it in the M:tG framework I think CMC 5+ is a good way to go. But I think you have an opportunity here to imagine going out of the M:tG engine and seeing where it takes you.
I do rather like the CMC5+ version, actually. But I'm concerned that it would warp decks.
I think it'd warp them in an interesting way, myself. Like Clash did, but without the secret smoothing.
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Blessing (When this permanent enters the battlefield, name a nonland card. When you draw the named card, you may reveal it and this becomes blessed.)
Sanctuary Trumpeter 1W
Creature — Human Cleric (U)
Blessing
When Sanctuary Trumpeter becomes blessed, put a 4/4 white Angel creature token onto the battlefield.
1/2
Sandstone Gate
Land (U)
Blessing
T: Add C to your mana pool.
As long as it's blessed, Sandstone Gate is a Mountain Plains.
Waking Necropolis 2B
Enchantment (R)
Blessing
Whenever a permanent you control becomes blessed, put a 2/1 black Spirit token with skulk onto the battlefield.
Seraph of Seven Eyes 3WW
Creature — Angel (M)
Flying
Blessing
Blessed creatures you control get +2/+2, have vigilance, and can block any number of creatures.
4/4
Lead Tesla, a community set designed by everyone and led by me, over at Goblin Artisans. Index of articles here!
I don't really see any situation where you'd want to name more than one card name for Blessing so I'm not really concerned about the memory burden of "name a nonland card."
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Wouldn't you pick more names for cards that care about the total number of blessed permanents you control, or when a permanent becomes blessed?
For example, Waking Cemetery rewards you with a token every time something becomes blessed. If everything has declared the same name, then you have a (max) 4/53 chance of drawing that card, and getting a number of tokens equal to the number of permanents you have. Okay, sure.
But if you choose two cards, wouldn't your chances of getting a named card go up to 8/53 (max)? Sure, you don't get as many tokens at once, but you're more likely to get tokens sooner, right?
Also, for state-tracking, you could just use a +1/+1 counter or 'blessed counter' on noncreatures, and still have them become blessed. Monstrosity style.
Lead Tesla, a community set designed by everyone and led by me, over at Goblin Artisans. Index of articles here!
I mean, if you think about it critically, Necropolis is a pretty bad card. There's no reason that a card should encourage you to increase your memory burden and not give a decent reward for it.
I suppose you could engineer the keyword that way?
Blessing (When this permanent enters the battlefield, name a nonland card. When you draw the card you last named with blessing, you may reveal it and put a [whatever type] counter on this. It becomes blessed.)
I'm not overly happy with the extra words but if it eliminates some game situations that I'd rather not have, that's good.
If you wanted to convert this to a more paper-ready mechanic, I'd say to find some other thematic condition that works well with the theme of 'blessing', rather than a name. For example, CMC5+.
Lead Tesla, a community set designed by everyone and led by me, over at Goblin Artisans. Index of articles here!
I genuinely like the mechanic, and if you did want to keep it in the M:tG framework I think CMC 5+ is a good way to go. But I think you have an opportunity here to imagine going out of the M:tG engine and seeing where it takes you.
I think it'd warp them in an interesting way, myself. Like Clash did, but without the secret smoothing.
Lead Tesla, a community set designed by everyone and led by me, over at Goblin Artisans. Index of articles here!