Whenever Master of Predicaments deals
combat damage to a player, chose a card in
your hand. That player guesses whether the
card's converted mana cost is greater than 4.
If that player guessed wrong, you may cast
the card without paying its mana cost.
Beautiful fun design. There isn't enough guessing in Magic. Imagine casually building a deck of strait guessing... you'd need to bring a bottle of Acetaminophen to counter the large headache it will make.
Also, being a 4/4 w/ flying on a 5cc body makes it well balance for cost to power level. The game designers did a great job. I hope w can get the stories behind their designs, as we had for Genesis Hydra.
Can anyone find a home for this guy? I EDH and the casual crowd will love him, but I am asking for tech or deck specifics.
A likely explanation I see for this card:
David Sirlin is the designer of several Street Fighter-esque themed board games, most notably Yomi (which is in Kickstarter right now for its latest edition). "Yomi" means "reading", and he frequently uses this to mean, specifically, reading your opponent. The core mechanic of Yomi is just that - Attacks beat Throws, Throws beat Blocks/Dodges, and Blocks/Dodges beat Attacks. You have to read your opponent and predict what he will play to successfully play the card that will beat it. Further decisions of this type come up in the game as well. If your opponent hits you with a combo-starter, you have the option to play a card face down before your opponent continues their combo. If you do and reveal a Joker after they finish their combo, it negates the effects of everything but the initial hit. So your opponent has to guess whether the card you played is a Joker. If it's not, they blew their chance at a big combo if they hold back. If it is, they wasted their cards trying to combo you.
The mechanic of the sphinx is exactly the same kind of mind game. A card that costs more than 4 is obviously going to be stronger, so that's likely what most people would pick. But that makes it the obvious choice to name, meaning it's easier to stop the ability by choosing it.
And then the "Wine in front of me" kicks in.
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For those of you who don't know, David Sirlin is a former Street Fighter player and (currently) indie game designer. He made Yomi, a card game where you can do all the stuff in fighting games like combos, hadoukens, shoryukens, and more (for those who play fighting games competitively, this list of terms, which are mechanically represented in Yomi, might pique your interest: crossup, blue/gold burst, meaty attack, super armor, tick throw, fireball trap).
You can play Yomi online at fantasystrike.com for free. Normally, free users only get to play one randomly-selected character at a time, but as a promo for an ongoing Kickstarter, four characters are unlocked.
Now, Sirlin likes guessing games - in his own words, "rock-paper-scissors with unequal tradeoffs". This arises from his experience in fighting games. There are situations where you have to decide to block high/low, block left/right (the aforementioned "crossup"), shoryuken on wakeup to beat attacks and throws/throw to beat blocks, etc.
This card also has a guessing game in it, as expected - you guess higher or lower. And the payoffs are not equal; a low-CMC card is obviously less effective than a high-CMC card, but it's more likely that your opponent has a low-CMC card in hand, so you can make him get nothing at all by guessing higher.
The idea is there, but unfortunately, competitive MTG is a harsh world. There are only so many high-CMC cards you can play in your deck, including the Sphinx. One way to get around this is to play high-CMC cards with an ability that can be activated from hand for a smaller cost, like cycling. In the early game, you can cycle the fatty, so it isn't completely useless in hand. However, in formats which include those cards in the card pool, it's an achievement to hardcast a 5-mana flier without protection, and an even bigger one to connect with it.
So yeah, while I see why he chose to design the card that way, in terms of competitive playability, it ranks low. Kind of sad, because Sirlin is a really Spikey guy.
P.S. Two things which may be interesting to you:
1) Sirlin actually talked a bit about what card he'd like to design for MTG here, back in 2008.
2) Sirlin also wrote a book called "Playing to Win", which you can read on his site. It's basically the manual for Spikes the world over.
Yeah, I'm curious about this as well. As it's written, there's no way to determine whether the chosen player guessed correctly or incorrectly, so there's no way to know whether the controller of the ability will be able to decide whether to cast the chosen card.
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How to use card tags (please use them for everybody's sanity)
[c]Lightning Bolt[/c] -> Lightning Bolt
[c=Lightning Bolt]Apple Pie[/c] -> Apple Pie
Vowels-Only Format Minimum deck size: 60 Maximum number of identical cards: 4 Ban list: Cards whose English names begin with a consonant, Unglued and Unhinged cards, cards involving ante, Ancestral Recall
Yeah, I'm curious about this as well. As it's written, there's no way to determine whether the chosen player guessed correctly or incorrectly, so there's no way to know whether the controller of the ability will be able to decide whether to cast the chosen card.
If they cast it for free, you know. If they don't, you can assume but it might be a bluff.
You don't even get to decide whether you want to cast the card for free until the converted mana cost of the card is known to the player who guessed. But the player who guessed will never know the mana cost of the card since it was never revealed to him or her.
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How to use card tags (please use them for everybody's sanity)
[c]Lightning Bolt[/c] -> Lightning Bolt
[c=Lightning Bolt]Apple Pie[/c] -> Apple Pie
Vowels-Only Format Minimum deck size: 60 Maximum number of identical cards: 4 Ban list: Cards whose English names begin with a consonant, Unglued and Unhinged cards, cards involving ante, Ancestral Recall
The casting it is part of the ability, so yeah, you can choose not to cast it even if you could potentially do it. If they do decide to do it, you know whether they are casting it then.
Knowing whether or not the player is going to cast the chosen card is different from knowing whether or not they will even be able to make that decision entirely. The latter is contingent only based on that player's response ("yes, I will cast it" or "no, I will not cast it"), whereas the latter depends on the characteristics of a card in a hidden zone.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
How to use card tags (please use them for everybody's sanity)
[c]Lightning Bolt[/c] -> Lightning Bolt
[c=Lightning Bolt]Apple Pie[/c] -> Apple Pie
Vowels-Only Format Minimum deck size: 60 Maximum number of identical cards: 4 Ban list: Cards whose English names begin with a consonant, Unglued and Unhinged cards, cards involving ante, Ancestral Recall
Is there any practical consequence of that distinction?
I don't think there is an obvious immediate consequence. There is a subtle one, I think. Since the Sphinx's controller does not have to cast the chosen card if the opponent guessed wrong, this mechanic can serve as a way to either stall for time in a legal way or mentally wear out the opponent by having to make guesses every turn. As izzetmage noted, in any format other than Standard, getting this Sphinx cast and able to hit the opponent is probably going to be a rare occurrence.
So... I am putting Master of Predicaments in my 4 color planes walker deck.. even though pretty much all of the planes walkers are above 4 mana cost most of my opponents should not know this going into the match-up. Even if they DO know my planes walkers are 4+ (hoping new jace is 3 mana) I have d-sphers, abrupt decays, and cyclonic rifts that I wouldn't mind using as well as a mana dork or courser of kruphix. I may also end up adding in brimaz as a 3 if new jace isnt good enough to make it a little more of a guessing game. This is a just a fun deck idea I've been working on in a while. I think it would work decently in U/W midrange where they have things all over the cc range from 2-3-4-5..
4 sylvan caryatid
4 Voyaging Satyr
4 Courser of Kruphix
2 Master of Predicaments
2 Jace, Architect of Thought
3 Kiora, kiora the crashing wave
2 Ajani, the Steadfast
2 Ajani, Mentor of Heros
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Vraska The Unseen
2 New Jace
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Detention Sphere
1 Cyclonic Rift
4 Breeding Pool
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Temple Garden
2 Mana Confluence
1 Temple of Mystery
3 Temple of Deceit
2 Temple of Plenty
4 Temple of Enlightenment
1 Temple of Malady
I could also see U/B devotion getting good with this. You have tons of kill spells and plenty of creatures to choose from... if they say more than two you could play a free pack rat or nightveil spectre or kill spell. if they say less than 4 you can play desecration demon or gray merchant or any other number of fatties.
I like Master for UG. Blue has a lot of inexpensive tempo/control effects while Green has a nice number of beaters. Making your opponent guess on a either a cheap tempo card or a threatening creature will keep the pressure on them and really mess with their game. This is a limited monster, and will make people sad when they see him on your board.
Creature - Sphinx R
Flying
Whenever Master of Predicaments deals
combat damage to a player, chose a card in
your hand. That player guesses whether the
card's converted mana cost is greater than 4.
If that player guessed wrong, you may cast
the card without paying its mana cost.
4/4
----------------------------------------------
Beautiful fun design. There isn't enough guessing in Magic. Imagine casually building a deck of strait guessing... you'd need to bring a bottle of Acetaminophen to counter the large headache it will make.
Also, being a 4/4 w/ flying on a 5cc body makes it well balance for cost to power level. The game designers did a great job. I hope w can get the stories behind their designs, as we had for Genesis Hydra.
Can anyone find a home for this guy? I EDH and the casual crowd will love him, but I am asking for tech or deck specifics.
David Sirlin is the designer of several Street Fighter-esque themed board games, most notably Yomi (which is in Kickstarter right now for its latest edition). "Yomi" means "reading", and he frequently uses this to mean, specifically, reading your opponent. The core mechanic of Yomi is just that - Attacks beat Throws, Throws beat Blocks/Dodges, and Blocks/Dodges beat Attacks. You have to read your opponent and predict what he will play to successfully play the card that will beat it. Further decisions of this type come up in the game as well. If your opponent hits you with a combo-starter, you have the option to play a card face down before your opponent continues their combo. If you do and reveal a Joker after they finish their combo, it negates the effects of everything but the initial hit. So your opponent has to guess whether the card you played is a Joker. If it's not, they blew their chance at a big combo if they hold back. If it is, they wasted their cards trying to combo you.
The mechanic of the sphinx is exactly the same kind of mind game. A card that costs more than 4 is obviously going to be stronger, so that's likely what most people would pick. But that makes it the obvious choice to name, meaning it's easier to stop the ability by choosing it.
And then the "Wine in front of me" kicks in.
Currently Playing:
Legacy: Something U/W Controlish
EDH Cube
Hypercube! A New EDH Deck Every Week(ish)!
For those of you who don't know, David Sirlin is a former Street Fighter player and (currently) indie game designer. He made Yomi, a card game where you can do all the stuff in fighting games like combos, hadoukens, shoryukens, and more (for those who play fighting games competitively, this list of terms, which are mechanically represented in Yomi, might pique your interest: crossup, blue/gold burst, meaty attack, super armor, tick throw, fireball trap).
You can play Yomi online at fantasystrike.com for free. Normally, free users only get to play one randomly-selected character at a time, but as a promo for an ongoing Kickstarter, four characters are unlocked.
Now, Sirlin likes guessing games - in his own words, "rock-paper-scissors with unequal tradeoffs". This arises from his experience in fighting games. There are situations where you have to decide to block high/low, block left/right (the aforementioned "crossup"), shoryuken on wakeup to beat attacks and throws/throw to beat blocks, etc.
This card also has a guessing game in it, as expected - you guess higher or lower. And the payoffs are not equal; a low-CMC card is obviously less effective than a high-CMC card, but it's more likely that your opponent has a low-CMC card in hand, so you can make him get nothing at all by guessing higher.
The idea is there, but unfortunately, competitive MTG is a harsh world. There are only so many high-CMC cards you can play in your deck, including the Sphinx. One way to get around this is to play high-CMC cards with an ability that can be activated from hand for a smaller cost, like cycling. In the early game, you can cycle the fatty, so it isn't completely useless in hand. However, in formats which include those cards in the card pool, it's an achievement to hardcast a 5-mana flier without protection, and an even bigger one to connect with it.
So yeah, while I see why he chose to design the card that way, in terms of competitive playability, it ranks low. Kind of sad, because Sirlin is a really Spikey guy.
P.S. Two things which may be interesting to you:
1) Sirlin actually talked a bit about what card he'd like to design for MTG here, back in 2008.
2) Sirlin also wrote a book called "Playing to Win", which you can read on his site. It's basically the manual for Spikes the world over.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
Whenever i play this guy (limited or even constructed) i will have a reason to aways watch my back if there is a spy watching out
Yeah, I'm curious about this as well. As it's written, there's no way to determine whether the chosen player guessed correctly or incorrectly, so there's no way to know whether the controller of the ability will be able to decide whether to cast the chosen card.
[c]Lightning Bolt[/c] -> Lightning Bolt
[c=Lightning Bolt]Apple Pie[/c] -> Apple Pie
Vowels-Only Format
Minimum deck size: 60
Maximum number of identical cards: 4
Ban list: Cards whose English names begin with a consonant, Unglued and Unhinged cards, cards involving ante, Ancestral Recall
The card is revealed if it's cast.
You don't even get to decide whether you want to cast the card for free until the converted mana cost of the card is known to the player who guessed. But the player who guessed will never know the mana cost of the card since it was never revealed to him or her.
[c]Lightning Bolt[/c] -> Lightning Bolt
[c=Lightning Bolt]Apple Pie[/c] -> Apple Pie
Vowels-Only Format
Minimum deck size: 60
Maximum number of identical cards: 4
Ban list: Cards whose English names begin with a consonant, Unglued and Unhinged cards, cards involving ante, Ancestral Recall
Playtesting | Karador, Ghost Chieftain | Narset, Enlightened Master | Ephara, God of the Polis
Established | Gahiji, Honored One | Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker | Opal-Eye, Konda's Yojimbo | Rubinia Soulsinger
Retired | Medomai the Ageless | Diaochan, Artful Beauty
[c]Lightning Bolt[/c] -> Lightning Bolt
[c=Lightning Bolt]Apple Pie[/c] -> Apple Pie
Vowels-Only Format
Minimum deck size: 60
Maximum number of identical cards: 4
Ban list: Cards whose English names begin with a consonant, Unglued and Unhinged cards, cards involving ante, Ancestral Recall
Playtesting | Karador, Ghost Chieftain | Narset, Enlightened Master | Ephara, God of the Polis
Established | Gahiji, Honored One | Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker | Opal-Eye, Konda's Yojimbo | Rubinia Soulsinger
Retired | Medomai the Ageless | Diaochan, Artful Beauty
I don't think there is an obvious immediate consequence. There is a subtle one, I think. Since the Sphinx's controller does not have to cast the chosen card if the opponent guessed wrong, this mechanic can serve as a way to either stall for time in a legal way or mentally wear out the opponent by having to make guesses every turn. As izzetmage noted, in any format other than Standard, getting this Sphinx cast and able to hit the opponent is probably going to be a rare occurrence.
4 sylvan caryatid
4 Voyaging Satyr
4 Courser of Kruphix
2 Master of Predicaments
2 Jace, Architect of Thought
3 Kiora, kiora the crashing wave
2 Ajani, the Steadfast
2 Ajani, Mentor of Heros
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Vraska The Unseen
2 New Jace
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Detention Sphere
1 Cyclonic Rift
4 Breeding Pool
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Temple Garden
2 Mana Confluence
1 Temple of Mystery
3 Temple of Deceit
2 Temple of Plenty
4 Temple of Enlightenment
1 Temple of Malady
Sideboard :
2 Jace, Memory Adept
2 Notion Thief
3 Archangel of Thune
4 Nyx-Fleece Ram
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Supreme Verdict