(Edit: Forget the "french vanilla" thing. my bad.) Instruct(As this spell resolves, if you played it from your hand you may choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile this spell. That creature knows this spell and has "T: You put a copy of a spell this creature knows onto the stack.")
Practice Bolt3R
Instant (U)
Practice Bolt deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Instruct (As this spell resolves, you may choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile this spell. That creature knows this spell and has "T: You put a copy of a spell this creature knows onto the stack.")
Thoughts:
* I toyed with various ways of making this turn creatures into (actual) spellshapers (including discarding and paying the card's cost), and making teaching optional, kicker-style. So you'd have a slightly overcosted X you could pay the teach cost to teach. Both added a lot of text that long-time magic players might like, as it'd allow the mechanic to be more competitive, as both would lower the cost of the spell dramatically. I rejected it for simplicity's sake.
* I'm not sure what the ruling with cypher or haunt and creature-copies, but I suspect the copy isn't haunted or encoded, so the same would be true for Instruct/knowing.
* Instruct should be only on instants, to avoid confusion about when a creature that knows the spell can tap to play it.
Cons:
* Instruct, like haunt and cypher, is a mechanic that uses the exiled zone. Suspend, which I think is cool, was notoriously "too complex" for new players according to MaRo/R+D. I hope this isn't that.
* Because of the templating, it would be easy to cost Instruct cards so that they're all exclusively limited-only cards. I think this would be a mistake.
Pros:
* You don't choose the untapped creature until it resolves, so your opponent has a harder time killing the target, as they would with an aura. Even if they hit your best choice, you may have another untapped creature.
* This mechanic can work really interestingly with keywords like vigilance and to a lesser degree haste.
* Because of the template, these cards will often be "overcosted" limited cards (Practice Bolt is 3R for a conditional 2+2 damage the first turn, plus 2 each additional turn the creature lives...), but despite their "overcostedness", their repeatability may be practical in several formats.
A cycle of 2C Instruct cards:
Bad Chiropracty2R
Instant (U)
~ deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
Instruct (As this spell resolves, you may choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile this spell. That creature knows this spell and has "T: You put a copy of a spell this card knows onto the stack.")
Sight Seeing2G
Instant (U)
Reveal the top three cards of your library. You may put a land card revealed in this way into your hand and the rest on the top and/or bottom of your library in any order.
Instruct (As this spell resolves, you may choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile this spell. That creature knows this spell and has "T: You put a copy of a spell this card knows onto the stack.")
Obsessive Looting2U
Instant (U)
Draw two cards, then discard two cards.
Instruct (As this spell resolves, you may choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile this spell. That creature knows this spell and has "T: You put a copy of a spell this card knows onto the stack.")
Swat Away2B
Instant (U)
Destroy target creature card with a converted mana cost of 2 or less. Lose 2 life.
Instruct (As this spell resolves, you may choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile this spell. That creature knows this spell and has "T: You put a copy of a spell this card knows onto the stack.")
Provide Aid2W
Instant (U)
If you have less life than target opponent, gain 2 life.
If you control less creatures than target opponent, create a 1/1 white soldier creature token.
Instruct (As this spell resolves, you may choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile this spell. That creature knows this spell and has "T: You put a copy of a spell this card knows onto the stack.")
A rare cycle of Instruct cards: Beseech Glory4WW
Instant (R)
Create a 4/4 white angel creature token with flying.
Instruct (As this spell resolves, you may choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile this spell. That creature knows this spell and has "T: You put a copy of a spell this card knows onto the stack.")
Mental Dump4UU
Instant (R)
Put the top 10 cards of each opponent's library into his or her graveyard.
Instruct (As this spell resolves, you may choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile this spell. That creature knows this spell and has "T: You put a copy of a spell this card knows onto the stack.")
Drag Up4BB
Instant (R)
Return target creature card in a graveyard to the battlefield. It is a black zombie in addition to its other colors and types.
Instruct (As this spell resolves, you may choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile this spell. That creature knows this spell and has "T: You put a copy of a spell this card knows onto the stack.")
Awaken Fury4RR
Instant (R)
Sacrifice two lands. If you did, create a 5/5 red dragon token with flying.
Instruct (As this spell resolves, you may choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile this spell. That creature knows this spell and has "T: You put a copy of a spell this card knows onto the stack.")
Awaken the Territory4GG
Instant (R)
Search your library for a land card and put it onto the battlefield with four +1/+1 counters. It is a 0/0 green elemental creature in addition to its other types. Shuffle your library.
Instruct (As this spell resolves, you may choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile this spell. That creature knows this spell and has "T: You put a copy of a spell this card knows onto the stack.")
Instruct(As this spell resolves, you may choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile this spell. That creature knows this spell and has "T: You put a copy of a spell this card knows onto the stack.")
Is there any reason the creature needs to be untapped? Obviously, it's better to put it on an untapped creature and players usually would no matter what, but why force players to do so, or punish them when they can't? Why not remove the untapped clause and simply make the effect "...you may choose a creature you control..."
* This mechanic can work really interestingly with keywords like vigilance and to a lesser degree haste, but damage-dealing (burn, sometimes fight?) instruct cards clearly work with Deathtouch, Lifelink, curiosity, my Blackmail mechanic (see the evergreen UB thread), Inspired, etc. Hexproof is especially vicious with these cards.
It works with vigilance and haste. It doesn't work with Deathtouch lifelink or curiosity effects at all. A creature that casts a Practice Bolt isn't the thing dealing the damage. The copy of Practice Bolt is dealing the damage, not the creature. So you won't gain life through lifelink or get deathtouch interaction.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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
I discussed the mechanic in general in previous post. I'm now moving on to the individual cards. Because these cards are instants, you should expect to get at least three uses out of them on average. I'm starting with the rares. Simply casting it during opponent's end step, then tapping the instructed creature, then untapping on your turn lets you get 3 uses before your opponent can respond with anything other than an instant speed removal spell, which even if they have instant speed removal and the mana to cast it, would still mean letting the opponent get two uses. First the spell resolves, then it gets instructed onto a creature which can then be tapped to cast the spell, and only then after the spell has been cast twice, can the instant speed removal effect be used. Spoilers: Most of your cards seem undercosted to me.
Beseech Glory - This card is comically busted. Its three 4/4 flying angels for 6 mana. this is way too efficient. It wins a limited game on the spot and is probably powerful enough to warp standard. This is worse than Glorybringer in terms of its negative impact on a limited environment.
Mental Dump - This card probably isn't too good in standard but would also win a limited game on the spot. This is worse than Glorybringer in terms of its negative impact on a limited environment. 6 mana mill 30 is OP.
Drag Up - I like this design. Reanimate is the kind of card that tends to fall off in utility as you keep playing more of it, so the third cast is much weaker than the second is much weaker than the first. Seems fun. Its probably still undercosted though. 6 mana reanimate 3 things is a busted effect.
Awaken Fury - Sure? This card is kind of awful compared to the rest of this cycle. Its decent in limited I guess, but probably isn't going to be a first pick out of a lot of packs.
Awaken the Territory - Super busted card for basically the same reasons as Beseech Glory.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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
These are instants. So you get one use when you cast it at the end of opponent's turn, one use immediately after instructing a creature. And then one use a few seconds later when you untap for your turn. Three resolutions is basically a bare minimum and I would expect to get about 3 resolutions in a typical standard environment. In limited, it's more likely that you get many many more activations out of these. Practice Bolt for example is probably way too good to put at uncommon for limited as it's effectively triple shock with upside at 4 mana. (Remember that Shock is usually a top tier common and is sometimes the best common in a set.)
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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
1. Are the Instructed copies meant to be "learnable" as well? The current wording suggests that with 9 untapped Goblins I could deal 20 damage with Practice Bolt.
2. Are token creatures able to learn Instruct spells? The reminder text states in part that this "card" knows the spell.
1. I didn't think you can exile a copy, but I guess you can? I'm open to wording to make it clear you can't do that.
2. You're right, it should say creature.
I wpuld like it to be encoded onto target creature like Cipher was. Or exiled attached to that creature or something similar.
My early wording featured encoding, but I didn't want the creature to be able to tap to play a card cyphered onto it. But if they "know" it, it's exiled attached to them - it's the same mechanic as cypher and haunt, and named differently only for flavor reasons and to distinguish their gameplay functions.
This seems like a complex version of Cipher. Commons will either look gravely overcosted or have such downsides that I wouldn't really want to play them multiple times. This could be great for a rare cycle though.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Gaymer
Custom Card / Set Reviewer
When reviewing custom cards / sets, I look for (a) flavour, (b) function, and (c) cohesiveness, generally through a risk focus.
I think you're probably right; cypher lets them play the spell... on a condition that's harder to meet, so you can cost the spells more reasonably...
Maybe I should have gone for a straight-up spellshaper mechanic:
Spellshaper Practice Bolt1R
Instant (U)
~ deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Teach (As this spell resolves, if you played it from your hand, you may choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile this attached to target creature you control. That creature knows this spell and is a spellshaper in addition to it's other colors and types.)
The creature that knows this has "1R, discard a card, T: This creature deals 2 damage to target creature or player."
The problem with this is that I can't think of a cogent way to fit the post-teach text into the teach reminder text in such a way that would be uniform, so it reads more like Haunt than Cypher...
Practice Bolt 2R
Instant (U)
Practice Bolt deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Instruct - Choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile Practice Bolt and that creature gains "2R, t: This creature deals 2 damage to target creature or player."
...It actually lets you get at the gameplay (with deathtouch/lifelink/etc) you want and gives you more development knobs to twist for balance purposes. For example....
Practice Bolt V2 R
Instant (U)
Practice Bolt deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Instruct - Choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile Practice Bolt and that creature gains "4R, t: This creature deals 2 damage to target creature or player."
Practice Bolt V3 R
Instant (U)
Practice Bolt deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Instruct - Choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile Practice Bolt and that creature gains "3R, t, discard a card: This creature deals 2 damage to target creature or player."
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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
Yeah, I suppose this is fair. I'd want to go with the following:
Practice Bolt1R
Instant - Instruction (U)
Practice Bolt deals 2 damage to target creature or player. Instruct - You may choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile Practice Bolt and that creature is a spellshaper in addition to its other creature types and gains "1R, discard a card, t: This creature deals 2 damage to target creature or player."
Note: By giving the spell the subtype "Instruction", I maintain the searchability of keywords, while letting me use the ability word "Instruct" to pick out the latter mechanic.
This seems to be the ideal version of the mechanic:
1. "Instruction" makes it tutorable.
2. The spellshaper aspect is flavorful and allows you to give bonuses or drawbacks to that creature type; tribal and hosers can be printed.
3. Because activating the spell requires discard, the card's cost (and the spellshaper activation) can be more reasonable - you don't pay "up front" for it; rather you pay each individual time for it.
4. And, as you say, this wording allows damage to come from the creature in question, opening up lots of design space and provides incentive to print more french vanillas that "break" the mechanic in one way or another.
5. Of course, spellshaping is famous for smoothing out limited and for helping enable graveyard strategies - 2 fun things!
It's wordier than I intended, but I like it!. At 1R I think you'd even consider using Practice Bolt even if you don't have a creature to instruct in constructed.
I think one of the bigger problems with this mechanic is the memory issues it has. Maybe it could have bestow or something similar that when it resolves instead of going o the grave it becomes an aura.
I think one of the bigger problems with this mechanic is the memory issues it has. Maybe it could have bestow or something similar that when it resolves instead of going o the grave it becomes an aura.
Each card with Instruct exiles itself as part of instructing a creature. You can use the card itself as a memory aid in the same way cipher was used
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Instruct (As this spell resolves, if you played it from your hand you may choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile this spell. That creature knows this spell and has "T: You put a copy of a spell this creature knows onto the stack.")
Sample card:
Thoughts:
* I toyed with various ways of making this turn creatures into (actual) spellshapers (including discarding and paying the card's cost), and making teaching optional, kicker-style. So you'd have a slightly overcosted X you could pay the teach cost to teach. Both added a lot of text that long-time magic players might like, as it'd allow the mechanic to be more competitive, as both would lower the cost of the spell dramatically. I rejected it for simplicity's sake.
* I'm not sure what the ruling with cypher or haunt and creature-copies, but I suspect the copy isn't haunted or encoded, so the same would be true for Instruct/knowing.
* Instruct should be only on instants, to avoid confusion about when a creature that knows the spell can tap to play it.
Cons:
* Instruct, like haunt and cypher, is a mechanic that uses the exiled zone. Suspend, which I think is cool, was notoriously "too complex" for new players according to MaRo/R+D. I hope this isn't that.
* Because of the templating, it would be easy to cost Instruct cards so that they're all exclusively limited-only cards. I think this would be a mistake.
Pros:
* You don't choose the untapped creature until it resolves, so your opponent has a harder time killing the target, as they would with an aura. Even if they hit your best choice, you may have another untapped creature.
* This mechanic can work really interestingly with keywords like vigilance and to a lesser degree haste.
* Because of the template, these cards will often be "overcosted" limited cards (Practice Bolt is 3R for a conditional 2+2 damage the first turn, plus 2 each additional turn the creature lives...), but despite their "overcostedness", their repeatability may be practical in several formats.
A cycle of 2C Instruct cards:
Bad Chiropracty 2R
Instant (U)
~ deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
Instruct (As this spell resolves, you may choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile this spell. That creature knows this spell and has "T: You put a copy of a spell this card knows onto the stack.")
Sight Seeing 2G
Instant (U)
Reveal the top three cards of your library. You may put a land card revealed in this way into your hand and the rest on the top and/or bottom of your library in any order.
Instruct (As this spell resolves, you may choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile this spell. That creature knows this spell and has "T: You put a copy of a spell this card knows onto the stack.")
Obsessive Looting 2U
Instant (U)
Draw two cards, then discard two cards.
Instruct (As this spell resolves, you may choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile this spell. That creature knows this spell and has "T: You put a copy of a spell this card knows onto the stack.")
Swat Away 2B
Instant (U)
Destroy target creature card with a converted mana cost of 2 or less. Lose 2 life.
Instruct (As this spell resolves, you may choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile this spell. That creature knows this spell and has "T: You put a copy of a spell this card knows onto the stack.")
Provide Aid 2W
Instant (U)
If you have less life than target opponent, gain 2 life.
If you control less creatures than target opponent, create a 1/1 white soldier creature token.
Instruct (As this spell resolves, you may choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile this spell. That creature knows this spell and has "T: You put a copy of a spell this card knows onto the stack.")
A rare cycle of Instruct cards:
Beseech Glory 4WW
Instant (R)
Create a 4/4 white angel creature token with flying.
Instruct (As this spell resolves, you may choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile this spell. That creature knows this spell and has "T: You put a copy of a spell this card knows onto the stack.")
Mental Dump 4UU
Instant (R)
Put the top 10 cards of each opponent's library into his or her graveyard.
Instruct (As this spell resolves, you may choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile this spell. That creature knows this spell and has "T: You put a copy of a spell this card knows onto the stack.")
Drag Up 4BB
Instant (R)
Return target creature card in a graveyard to the battlefield. It is a black zombie in addition to its other colors and types.
Instruct (As this spell resolves, you may choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile this spell. That creature knows this spell and has "T: You put a copy of a spell this card knows onto the stack.")
Awaken Fury 4RR
Instant (R)
Sacrifice two lands. If you did, create a 5/5 red dragon token with flying.
Instruct (As this spell resolves, you may choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile this spell. That creature knows this spell and has "T: You put a copy of a spell this card knows onto the stack.")
Awaken the Territory 4GG
Instant (R)
Search your library for a land card and put it onto the battlefield with four +1/+1 counters. It is a 0/0 green elemental creature in addition to its other types. Shuffle your library.
Instruct (As this spell resolves, you may choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile this spell. That creature knows this spell and has "T: You put a copy of a spell this card knows onto the stack.")
Is there any reason the creature needs to be untapped? Obviously, it's better to put it on an untapped creature and players usually would no matter what, but why force players to do so, or punish them when they can't? Why not remove the untapped clause and simply make the effect "...you may choose a creature you control..."
It works with vigilance and haste. It doesn't work with Deathtouch lifelink or curiosity effects at all. A creature that casts a Practice Bolt isn't the thing dealing the damage. The copy of Practice Bolt is dealing the damage, not the creature. So you won't gain life through lifelink or get deathtouch interaction.
- Manite
Damn, you're right - it doesn't work with lifelink/etc. I suck!
Beseech Glory - This card is comically busted. Its three 4/4 flying angels for 6 mana. this is way too efficient. It wins a limited game on the spot and is probably powerful enough to warp standard. This is worse than Glorybringer in terms of its negative impact on a limited environment.
Mental Dump - This card probably isn't too good in standard but would also win a limited game on the spot. This is worse than Glorybringer in terms of its negative impact on a limited environment. 6 mana mill 30 is OP.
Drag Up - I like this design. Reanimate is the kind of card that tends to fall off in utility as you keep playing more of it, so the third cast is much weaker than the second is much weaker than the first. Seems fun. Its probably still undercosted though. 6 mana reanimate 3 things is a busted effect.
Awaken Fury - Sure? This card is kind of awful compared to the rest of this cycle. Its decent in limited I guess, but probably isn't going to be a first pick out of a lot of packs.
Awaken the Territory - Super busted card for basically the same reasons as Beseech Glory.
- Manite
- Manite
1. Are the Instructed copies meant to be "learnable" as well? The current wording suggests that with 9 untapped Goblins I could deal 20 damage with Practice Bolt.
2. Are token creatures able to learn Instruct spells? The reminder text states in part that this "card" knows the spell.
2. You're right, it should say creature.
My early wording featured encoding, but I didn't want the creature to be able to tap to play a card cyphered onto it. But if they "know" it, it's exiled attached to them - it's the same mechanic as cypher and haunt, and named differently only for flavor reasons and to distinguish their gameplay functions.
Custom Card / Set Reviewer
When reviewing custom cards / sets, I look for (a) flavour, (b) function, and (c) cohesiveness, generally through a risk focus.
Maybe I should have gone for a straight-up spellshaper mechanic:
Spellshaper Practice Bolt 1R
Instant (U)
~ deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Teach (As this spell resolves, if you played it from your hand, you may choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile this attached to target creature you control. That creature knows this spell and is a spellshaper in addition to it's other colors and types.)
The creature that knows this has "1R, discard a card, T: This creature deals 2 damage to target creature or player."
Practice Bolt 2R
Instant (U)
Practice Bolt deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Instruct - Choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile Practice Bolt and that creature gains "2R, t: This creature deals 2 damage to target creature or player."
...It actually lets you get at the gameplay (with deathtouch/lifelink/etc) you want and gives you more development knobs to twist for balance purposes. For example....
Practice Bolt V2 R
Instant (U)
Practice Bolt deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Instruct - Choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile Practice Bolt and that creature gains "4R, t: This creature deals 2 damage to target creature or player."
Practice Bolt V3 R
Instant (U)
Practice Bolt deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Instruct - Choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile Practice Bolt and that creature gains "3R, t, discard a card: This creature deals 2 damage to target creature or player."
- Manite
Practice Bolt 1R
Instant - Instruction (U)
Practice Bolt deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Instruct - You may choose an untapped creature you control. If you do, exile Practice Bolt and that creature is a spellshaper in addition to its other creature types and gains "1R, discard a card, t: This creature deals 2 damage to target creature or player."
Note: By giving the spell the subtype "Instruction", I maintain the searchability of keywords, while letting me use the ability word "Instruct" to pick out the latter mechanic.
This seems to be the ideal version of the mechanic:
1. "Instruction" makes it tutorable.
2. The spellshaper aspect is flavorful and allows you to give bonuses or drawbacks to that creature type; tribal and hosers can be printed.
3. Because activating the spell requires discard, the card's cost (and the spellshaper activation) can be more reasonable - you don't pay "up front" for it; rather you pay each individual time for it.
4. And, as you say, this wording allows damage to come from the creature in question, opening up lots of design space and provides incentive to print more french vanillas that "break" the mechanic in one way or another.
5. Of course, spellshaping is famous for smoothing out limited and for helping enable graveyard strategies - 2 fun things!
It's wordier than I intended, but I like it!. At 1R I think you'd even consider using Practice Bolt even if you don't have a creature to instruct in constructed.
Each card with Instruct exiles itself as part of instructing a creature. You can use the card itself as a memory aid in the same way cipher was used
- Manite