So, discard is a very powerful effect in Magic. Not only are you (usually) putting your opponent at a card disadvantage, you are, perhaps more importantly, depriving then of options. As such, R&D has not taken discard effects lightly and, other than the occasional Duress or Despise in some sideboards, not many discard effects have seen play since the time of Hymn to Tourach and Thoughtseize. No doubt due to the relatively un-fun nature of losing a card completely and the power level of stopping your opponent's plans before they can carry them out.
But what if we could tilt discard effects just a bit so that they aren't overwhelming while still allowing you to fiddle with your opponent's gameplan? Take a look at this.
FugueB
Instant
Target opponent reveals their hand. You choose a non-land card from it. That player discards that card and draws a card.
This card still does what you want discard to do. If there's something in your opponent's had that you're wary of, you can still get rid of it and put a hitch in their plan. However, what this doesn't do is give your opponent card disadvantage on top of forcing them to get rid of their best card. Instead, it's a bit more lenient and allows them to draw a different card to shore up their loses. Essentially, you force your opponent to rummage, but you choose the card they lose. For this reason, I felt that it was relatively safe to allow you to cast this kind of effect at instant speeed.
Also, the draw effect on this card was originally delayed. It originally only allowed your opponent to draw their consolation card at the beginning of the next end step. Let me know if you feel that would be appropriate on this card or tell me about any other thoughts you have on this sort of effect.
Here is a variation on this effect that I thought would be interesting as well:
OmitWB
Instant
Split Second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can't cast spells or activate abilities that aren't mana abilities.)
Target opponent reveals their hand. You choose a non-land card from it. Exile that card. At the beginning of the next end step, that player adds that card to their hand from exile.
Draw a card.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Pop in, find a dragon, roast a dragon."
-Chandra Nalaar
I prefer games where card flow is high and both players' hands are full.
I like your first design, although the name Fugue is already taken. I would make the draw happen immediately instead of on a later step, because A) it takes up less text on the card, B) it's cleaner and simpler, and C) players sometimes forget to draw cards when the draw happens later.
You may have noticed that WotC just printed Lost Legacy, which is similar to your idea.
I'm not sure if Omit has many uses. It blinks a card from their hand, but how often is this going to be helpful? It would have to hit a card at exactly the turn when the opponent was going to play it.
Subliminal SuggestionU
Sorcery (U)
Look at target player's hand. You may choose a nonland card from it. If you do, that player reveals the chosen card, puts it on the bottom of his or her library, then draws a card.
I like this version. Having the discard/draw effect in blue would distinguish it from straight-discard spells. And discard/draw is already a blue effect, like on Merfolk Looter.
But I still think it's a moderate color pie bend and something blue shouldn't do often, because it infringes on black's territory. So I can't say the blue version is something I'd want to see in the game frequently.
If we're being nit-picky, discard/draw is a R effect (rummaging) and draw/discard is a U effect (looting).
You're not being nit-picky, I stand corrected. Rummaging and looting are becoming distinct operations that are strictly confined to their respective colors, and it's important to remember that.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
But what if we could tilt discard effects just a bit so that they aren't overwhelming while still allowing you to fiddle with your opponent's gameplan? Take a look at this.
Fugue B
Instant
Target opponent reveals their hand. You choose a non-land card from it. That player discards that card and draws a card.
This card still does what you want discard to do. If there's something in your opponent's had that you're wary of, you can still get rid of it and put a hitch in their plan. However, what this doesn't do is give your opponent card disadvantage on top of forcing them to get rid of their best card. Instead, it's a bit more lenient and allows them to draw a different card to shore up their loses. Essentially, you force your opponent to rummage, but you choose the card they lose. For this reason, I felt that it was relatively safe to allow you to cast this kind of effect at instant speeed.
Also, the draw effect on this card was originally delayed. It originally only allowed your opponent to draw their consolation card at the beginning of the next end step. Let me know if you feel that would be appropriate on this card or tell me about any other thoughts you have on this sort of effect.
Here is a variation on this effect that I thought would be interesting as well:
Omit WB
Instant
Split Second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can't cast spells or activate abilities that aren't mana abilities.)
Target opponent reveals their hand. You choose a non-land card from it. Exile that card. At the beginning of the next end step, that player adds that card to their hand from exile.
Draw a card.
-Chandra Nalaar
I prefer games where card flow is high and both players' hands are full.
I like your first design, although the name Fugue is already taken. I would make the draw happen immediately instead of on a later step, because A) it takes up less text on the card, B) it's cleaner and simpler, and C) players sometimes forget to draw cards when the draw happens later.
You may have noticed that WotC just printed Lost Legacy, which is similar to your idea.
I'm not sure if Omit has many uses. It blinks a card from their hand, but how often is this going to be helpful? It would have to hit a card at exactly the turn when the opponent was going to play it.
But I still think it's a moderate color pie bend and something blue shouldn't do often, because it infringes on black's territory. So I can't say the blue version is something I'd want to see in the game frequently.