I think these are my favorite Unstable cards so far!
I love the killbots switching with Mary- it's a direct reference to my favorite Marvel villain, Doctor Doom! In the comics, every time Doom seems to die, it turns out a Doombot died in his place. Plus I can use an Irish accent gratuitously while I play her.
The article HEAVILY implies a black border version of "switch" is coming down the pipe:
"The switch is a perfect "ninja" ability, letting you change the state of the battlefield with minimal chance for your opponent to respond. R&D wisely seems to tie it to activation so that something is on the stack, but you don't have to move too far in this space to see it leading to interesting territory:
What if:
You allowed instants to switch places on the stack?
You allowed different permanent types to switch places (e.g., artifact and enchantment)?
You implemented partial replacement (you don't inherit the untapped, targeted, attacking, etc. state when swapping)?
We won't likely see anything else in this design space for a long time, but I like being able to peek at R&D's brains to see what they might be thinking."
It would be "wise" to use switch (maybe renamed) on "Ninjas" in "a while".
Grusilda reminds me of the melder Brisela, Voice of Nightmares. It would be weird if Grusilda didn't affect Brisela, we should check with Mark on that. But I look forward to mashing many monsters together soon!
You sir are a gentleman and a scholar. I can't wait till I can play my bicycle land out, thus making me heckbent, while I have Nessie on the field. You know, so I can attack with my Pervert.
Concerning Mary, it's pretty clear from the wording that you can use it from hand. "Switch a killbot or Mary in your hand with one on the battlefield". What's there not to understand?
Well, all that means to me is that if Mary is on the battlefield, you can switch a killbot or another Mary that is in your hand with a Mary or killbot on the battlefield. But not necessarily that you can activate the ability from your hand.
That would be pretty weird on a legendary creature, and not in a good way. Having one die instantly to the legend rule would limit its use considerably.
Hold on... Since the article doesn't mention it... could you use Mary's activated ability to effectively steal an opponent's Mary O'Kill (assuming they don't have the mana up to activate it in response to flip it back to hand) or killbot, because it doesn't specify which side of the battlefield the target needs to be on?
Hold on... Since the article doesn't mention it... could you use Mary's activated ability to effectively steal an opponent's Mary O'Kill (assuming they don't have the mana up to activate it in response to flip it back to hand) or killbot, because it doesn't specify which side of the battlefield the target needs to be on?
Huh. I wonder how that slipped the net.
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Check out the thread for my cube if you have the time, and tell me how terrible it is.
Generals meant to be drafted first in a single pack of 6 cards.
And here is the actual cube, meant to be drafted in 4 regular sized packs. (60 card decks)
Hold on... Since the article doesn't mention it... could you use Mary's activated ability to effectively steal an opponent's Mary O'Kill (assuming they don't have the mana up to activate it in response to flip it back to hand) or killbot, because it doesn't specify which side of the battlefield the target needs to be on?
Well, I suspect that you wouldn't be able to make the switch in this case (since you would be unable to put opponent's card in your hand). If you'd make a switch with a card your opponent controls, but you own, I think you could do that -- but the creature you switch in would still be under opponent's control.
Hold on... Since the article doesn't mention it... could you use Mary's activated ability to effectively steal an opponent's Mary O'Kill (assuming they don't have the mana up to activate it in response to flip it back to hand) or killbot, because it doesn't specify which side of the battlefield the target needs to be on?
You can't activate abilities of permanenets you don't control unless specifically said so, so you can't switch their Mary for your killbot but you probably can do it the other way around. The question is why, unless we get a killbot better than a 5/5.
I mean, I'm assuming that there's more than literally just Mary and this one killbot that's been previewed. In theory, say you have this 2/1 killbot in your hand and they're attacking/blocking with a Mary (with your own on the field, and no mana up on their end or no killbot in hand) or a bigger killbot. Theoretically, you could switch your 2/1 in hand with their bigger creature, creating an unfavorable situation for the opponent, while also effectively stealing the opponent's creature to cast at a later point
Yeah, my main thought with that was that it might be possible to make an opponent suddenly have really bad attacks or blocks while also stealing their creature for casting later on
Hold on... Since the article doesn't mention it... could you use Mary's activated ability to effectively steal an opponent's Mary O'Kill (assuming they don't have the mana up to activate it in response to flip it back to hand) or killbot, because it doesn't specify which side of the battlefield the target needs to be on?
Well, I suspect that you wouldn't be able to make the switch in this case (since you would be unable to put opponent's card in your hand). If you'd make a switch with a card your opponent controls, but you own, I think you could do that -- but the creature you switch in would still be under opponent's control.
You should be able to put them in your hand in silver-bordered land, see Naughty//Nice
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Rest in RIP My Signature, I guess. 2015-2016, we hardly knew ye.
Total side note but I like how people are discussing running this over itself.
Well, it has to be said that Kolaghan is clearly better than Kolaghan. Considering what BR decks usually want and how stiff the competition in this guild is, there is no way that I would run Kolaghan over Kolaghan! Kolaghan might make it in as the sixth guild card or so. Kolaghan on the other hand ranks several places below that.
It was so funny to me when they described this as a downgrade to the original Zurgo during the Pax East panel. I was thinking if this is a downgrade, they should really "downgrade" all legendary creatures. Haha.
My deck designing is quite concise at this point:
1. Come up with deck idea
2. Realize this idea is somehow fundamentally similar to another deck I have or that is commonly played in my group
3. Decide I don't want to disassemble one of my existing decks
4. Give up and do nothing
I don't see the point of this new shroud mechanic. It's strictly worse than Hexproof. Threshold is pretty bad too, Delirium is a much better mechanic and probably easier to activate.
Otherwise this card is a pretty neat guy. Dodges removal and grows into a Primal Huntbeast. 3/5
I feel like ms Monster Masher's ability was supposed to be on that one contraption card with the two creatures in test tubes that sadly only has the ability to give two creatures +2/+2
If not, it should been or maybe there were some sort of balancing issues
Well, I know a lot of custom card creators that will recognize two or three of their mechanics in this thread alone. I have a feeling this set will really be more of a Time Spiral 2 than an Unglued 3 to some custom card creators. And I was really hoping to get a Time Spiral 2, so that's great.
(In fact you could call it Future Sight 2; with their announcement that this set is used as a testing ground they will receive plenty of questions about whether some mechanic or another will return in black borders - and we'll see whether there'll be a new favorite akin to Steamflogger Boss. )
It's kind of annoying that Mary's ability can be activated from hand, but nothing on the card implies that's the case.
It does though. It explicitly tells that you switch a creature or her "in your hand" with one on the battlefield. How does a card that refers to "Killbot or ~ in your hand" make sense if you cannot activate it from your hand. This is similar to rules that allow you to activate from the graveyard if they make a reference to moving the card itself from the graveyard e. g. Advanced Stitchwing. I'd argue that that's not even the part that pushes this card into silver borders - it's the fact that "switching" doesn't work like "exchanging".
I for my part have been working on some action like that long enough that I might just adapt "switch" for custom cards.
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
Concerning Mary, it's pretty clear from the wording that you can use it from hand. "Switch a killbot or Mary in your hand with one on the battlefield". What's there not to understand?
Well, all that means to me is that if Mary is on the battlefield, you can switch a killbot or another Mary that is in your hand with a Mary or killbot on the battlefield. But not necessarily that you can activate the ability from your hand.
That would be pretty weird on a legendary creature, and not in a good way. Having one die instantly to the legend rule would limit its use considerably.
Switching a Mary for a Mary does not invoke the legend rule, and it's a pretty decent play to dodge spot removal.
It's kind of annoying that Mary's ability can be activated from hand, but nothing on the card implies that's the case.
It does though. It explicitly tells that you switch a creature or her "in your hand" with one on the battlefield. How does a card that refers to "Killbot or ~ in your hand" make sense if you cannot activate it from your hand. This is similar to rules that allow you to activate from the graveyard if they make a reference to moving the card itself from the graveyard e. g. Advanced Stitchwing. I'd argue that that's not even the part that pushes this card into silver borders - it's the fact that "switching" doesn't work like "exchanging".
I for my part have been working on some action like that long enough that I might just adapt "switch" for custom cards.
There is nothing on the card that would force it to be used from a different zone (unlike say ninjutsu or bloodrush which have discarding as a cost, or Tymaret which mentions the zone he has to originate from). If it were a battlefield only ability, it would be worded the exact same way. It's not really an unrealistic assumption to think the intent was to switch a Mary O' Kill with another copy of herself from your hand. So that is where the confusion lies I think.
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My apologies, children, for I am afraid I cannot save you all.
Concerning Mary, it's pretty clear from the wording that you can use it from hand. "Switch a killbot or Mary in your hand with one on the battlefield". What's there not to understand?
Well, all that means to me is that if Mary is on the battlefield, you can switch a killbot or another Mary that is in your hand with a Mary or killbot on the battlefield. But not necessarily that you can activate the ability from your hand.
That would be pretty weird on a legendary creature, and not in a good way. Having one die instantly to the legend rule would limit its use considerably.
Switching a Mary for a Mary does not invoke the legend rule, and it's a pretty decent play to dodge spot removal.
Except it is not, since the one you switch in will still be targeted. Or do I understand the switch wrong?
Concerning Mary, it's pretty clear from the wording that you can use it from hand. "Switch a killbot or Mary in your hand with one on the battlefield". What's there not to understand?
Well, all that means to me is that if Mary is on the battlefield, you can switch a killbot or another Mary that is in your hand with a Mary or killbot on the battlefield. But not necessarily that you can activate the ability from your hand.
That would be pretty weird on a legendary creature, and not in a good way. Having one die instantly to the legend rule would limit its use considerably.
Switching a Mary for a Mary does not invoke the legend rule, and it's a pretty decent play to dodge spot removal.
Except it is not, since the one you switch in will still be targeted. Or do I understand the switch wrong?
No you're right, I forgot that Switch didn't work like Master Transmuter.
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My apologies, children, for I am afraid I cannot save you all.
There is nothing on the card that would force it to be used from a different zone (unlike say ninjutsu or bloodrush which have discarding as a cost, or Tymaret which mentions the zone he has to originate from). If it were a battlefield only ability, it would be worded the exact same way. It's not really an unrealistic assumption to think the intent was to switch a Mary O' Kill with another copy of herself from your hand. So that is where the confusion lies I think.
My assumption is that if the ability refered to any card named Mary O'Kill, it would use that phrase ("card/permanent named Mary O'Kill") while just using the name alone ("Mary O'Kill") is synonymous to "this card".
Compare:
" : Return CARDNAME from your graveyard to the battlefield." vs. " Return a card named CARDNAME from your graveyard to the battlefield."
The first works from the graveyard (to return the card itself) while the second works from the battlefield (to return other cards with the same name). This is because the former actually is translated to " : Return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield." (Name alone mean "this card/permanent/spell/token/etc.")
Now you are interpreting the wording as though it was "Switch a Killbot or a card named Mary O'Kill in your hand with one on the battlefield." though the usual replacement would be "Switch a Killbot or this card in your hand with one on the battlefield." This clearly has to satisfy two possible zones: "this card" in hand and "this card" on the battlefield.
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Planar Chaos was not a mistake neither was it random. You might want to look at it again.
[thread=239793][Game] Level Up - Creature[/thread]
I love the killbots switching with Mary- it's a direct reference to my favorite Marvel villain, Doctor Doom! In the comics, every time Doom seems to die, it turns out a Doombot died in his place. Plus I can use an Irish accent gratuitously while I play her.
The article HEAVILY implies a black border version of "switch" is coming down the pipe:
It would be "wise" to use switch (maybe renamed) on "Ninjas" in "a while".
Grusilda reminds me of the melder Brisela, Voice of Nightmares. It would be weird if Grusilda didn't affect Brisela, we should check with Mark on that. But I look forward to mashing many monsters together soon!
That would be pretty weird on a legendary creature, and not in a good way. Having one die instantly to the legend rule would limit its use considerably.
Huh. I wonder how that slipped the net.
Generals meant to be drafted first in a single pack of 6 cards.
And here is the actual cube, meant to be drafted in 4 regular sized packs. (60 card decks)
Well, I suspect that you wouldn't be able to make the switch in this case (since you would be unable to put opponent's card in your hand). If you'd make a switch with a card your opponent controls, but you own, I think you could do that -- but the creature you switch in would still be under opponent's control.
You can't activate abilities of permanenets you don't control unless specifically said so, so you can't switch their Mary for your killbot but you probably can do it the other way around. The question is why, unless we get a killbot better than a 5/5.
You should be able to put them in your hand in silver-bordered land, see Naughty//Nice
If not, it should been or maybe there were some sort of balancing issues
Good point! What a Transylvania Twist!
Thank you. If they added blue to this it would be a perfect Ludevic.
(In fact you could call it Future Sight 2; with their announcement that this set is used as a testing ground they will receive plenty of questions about whether some mechanic or another will return in black borders - and we'll see whether there'll be a new favorite akin to Steamflogger Boss. )
It does though. It explicitly tells that you switch a creature or her "in your hand" with one on the battlefield. How does a card that refers to "Killbot or ~ in your hand" make sense if you cannot activate it from your hand. This is similar to rules that allow you to activate from the graveyard if they make a reference to moving the card itself from the graveyard e. g. Advanced Stitchwing. I'd argue that that's not even the part that pushes this card into silver borders - it's the fact that "switching" doesn't work like "exchanging".
I for my part have been working on some action like that long enough that I might just adapt "switch" for custom cards.
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
Factions: Sleeping
Remnants: Valheim
Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO
Forget the article... did no one read the CARD? It says right there on it "in your hand".
in a color pair where that ability isn't particularly fitting.
Reprint Stasis!
Control needs more love.
EDH:
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm
WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW
WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
I guarantee it is. Just implicitly, to keep it PG-13.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Switching a Mary for a Mary does not invoke the legend rule, and it's a pretty decent play to dodge spot removal.
There is nothing on the card that would force it to be used from a different zone (unlike say ninjutsu or bloodrush which have discarding as a cost, or Tymaret which mentions the zone he has to originate from). If it were a battlefield only ability, it would be worded the exact same way. It's not really an unrealistic assumption to think the intent was to switch a Mary O' Kill with another copy of herself from your hand. So that is where the confusion lies I think.
Except it is not, since the one you switch in will still be targeted. Or do I understand the switch wrong?
No, I think you're right. Switching with a kill spell on the stack will have the kill spell hit whatever you switch in.
No you're right, I forgot that Switch didn't work like Master Transmuter.
My assumption is that if the ability refered to any card named Mary O'Kill, it would use that phrase ("card/permanent named Mary O'Kill") while just using the name alone ("Mary O'Kill") is synonymous to "this card".
Compare:
" : Return CARDNAME from your graveyard to the battlefield." vs. " Return a card named CARDNAME from your graveyard to the battlefield."
The first works from the graveyard (to return the card itself) while the second works from the battlefield (to return other cards with the same name). This is because the former actually is translated to " : Return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield." (Name alone mean "this card/permanent/spell/token/etc.")
Now you are interpreting the wording as though it was "Switch a Killbot or a card named Mary O'Kill in your hand with one on the battlefield." though the usual replacement would be "Switch a Killbot or this card in your hand with one on the battlefield." This clearly has to satisfy two possible zones: "this card" in hand and "this card" on the battlefield.
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
Factions: Sleeping
Remnants: Valheim
Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO
I thought so too.