If funny cards are so beloved by the magic fanbase, why aren't they printing an un-set with every block?
So apparently they aren't. Printing a crappy card like Mindless Null is disrespectful to the consumer.
Actually there have been several replies in this thread alone that indicate that there are people who find the card entertaining. And how is it disrespectful, exactly? I mean, if the card said "YOU ARE DUMB" in big red letters, I could see that, but my copy doesn't have that anywhere on it. It's just a bad, near-unplayable Limited common. If any of you folks feel like you're wasting your money buying Zendikar packs because of the existence of this card, then feel free to stop buying them. Leaves more for me to draft with, since the set's sold out and all.
I wouldn't blame you, though. I mean, "slightly-improved Spineless Thug" would've really made this set hum. As it is, it's pretty meh. </sarcasm>
I think Mindless Null is pretty funny. I understand that it's a terrible card, and I understand that it's worse than Scathe Zombies, but I don't understand why that has so many people up in arms about its existence. Even costed at 1B, it would've just ended up in piles of discarded draft commons, never seeing play outside of Limited except by players who only own a few packs' worth of cards, or ones who like the flavor and would put it in their Vampire decks anyway.
After the draft, Warpath Ghoul and Mindless Null are pretty much equally useless to the vast majority of players. Every set is going to have its pack dregs. Mindless Null is just the next in a proud tradition that includes Jump, Behemoth's Herald, Zephyr Spirit, and Chimney Imp.
In that case they would have just been worded "unless you control another X or Y". However I think the problem from WotC's standpoint was that each one would then enable every other one that shared at least one color with it, and they probably felt that was too powerful.
Actually if that was the problem they could have just worded them "unless you control a basic X or Y". It was probably their interaction with fetches that would've made them too powerful.
They all enter the battlefield simultaneously. Wouldn't it be four 6/6s and sixteen 2/2s?
Yes, this is correct. At the prerelease I had a similar situation when I cast a kicked Rite of Replication on my opponent's Nimana Sell-Sword. In that case I got five 7/7s.
what i would like to see is a card that redirects and/or copies activated abilities. it would be like, oh, why thank you for sacrificing that fulminator mage to kill your own land.
Agiussword, meet Reroute. I hope you two have a long and happy life together.
Yes they all do, with the exception of the red one which is just a second rite variant. Desperate Countermeasures could easily be white as could Pack loyalty if it had flying instead of reach. The blsck one also is out of place, why should this spell be more powerful just because the player has more life. Why should life total matter to any of these colors any way? Just cause? It doesn't make sense to me.
I wouldn't say Desperate Countermeasures could "easily" be white. Maybe white/blue. As far as Pack Loyalty goes, yeah if you changed the card it could be white. Air Elemental could easily be green if it had trample instead of flying. Doesn't make it green.
My thought with the black spell was that you could drain more life if your opponent had more. Blood works sort of the same way; the less of it you have (like if you donate it), the harder it is to get a vial full to run medical tests or whatever.
I agree that the life-total cards feel best in red and white, but that's probably because those two colors have the most direct control over life totals. I think luminum can's comparison to Odyssey block was spot-on, and life-total cards work in blue about as well as graveyard cards worked in red. But the folks at WotC are a lot better at making Magic cards than I am, so don't look at the ones I made up in 5 minutes and think that's the extent of the potential for the mechanic.
No, there isn't. You do realise that most of these cards are one color - white. There's little reason for life total to matter in other colors. That said WotC isn't going to do a block theme that doesn't make sense in all colors.
Of the cards I listed, Avatar of Hope is the only white card that really exemplifies the sort of thing I think you could do with "life total matters." Most of the rest just care about you having lots and lots of life, and Pulse of the Fields and Transcendence are just life gain spells (though Transcendence has a really weird way of going about it). Here are some other possibilities. I'll apologize in advance for poor templating.
Desperate Countermeasures
UU
Instant
If your life total is 6 or less, counter target spell. Otherwise, counter target spell unless your opponent pays 3.
Killing Stroke
R
Sorcery
Killing Stroke deals 2 damage to target player. If that player's life total is 4 or less, Killing Stroke deals 4 damage to that player instead.
Pack Loyalty
1GG
Enchantment
Creatures you control get +0/+1. If your life total is 4 or less, those creatures get an additional +1/+1 and have reach.
NOM NOM NOMs (couldn't come up with a good name)
3B
Sorcery
Target player loses 3 life and you gain 3 life. If that player's life total is 15 or more, that player loses 5 life and you gain 5 life instead.
Do any of those cards feel particularly out-of-place in their respective colors?
Is there space to do it? Yes. Would it be a good idea? I say no. This type of theme is going to lead to tons of life-gain decks, and I know I REALLY don't want to deal with a format full of life-gain decks.
It wouldn't necessarily lead to a bunch of life-gain decks. "Life total matters" is not the same as "Higher life total matters." Cards like Second Chance (thanks Tranquilo), Second Rite, and Avatar of Hope care about you having a low life total. What if white got a bear that powers up to a 4/4 if your life total is 7 or less? That doesn't seem to me like it encourages life-gain.
Heck, you might even see people pointing Lightning Bolts at themselves in Standard. Wouldn't that be a hoot?
With the new rule changes of no more mana burn, does anyone think that the "theme never done before as a block theme but exploited only on a few cards" could be life total matters?
Interesting card. Probably should've been just creatures or lands, though. Black doesn't get artifact kill, and I think that white and green are the only colors so far to get planeswalker removal (O-Ring, Rootgrapple, Woodfall Primus, Celestial Purge). I like the way your design adds multiplayer utility that isn't completely useless in a duel - you could play this as a bad Bone Splinter or a really bad tutor in a pinch. In fact, multiplayer was the first thing I thought of when I looked at this card, but I haven't seen anybody bring it up in this thread.
I like Behemoth Sledge over Loxodon Warhammer. The extra 2 toughness puts Ascetic and Drove out of Pyroclasm/Jund Charm/Volcanic Fallout range. The Sledge also gives your Drove of Elves +1/+1 without even being equipped.
You might consider running some G/W borderposts. They'll interact nicely with Naya Hushblade and with Drove of Elves.
Slippery Bogle is another "uber-Shroud" guy that's in Standard right now. Doesn't seem very good to me, but maybe he starts looking better if he picks up a Sledge.
Just play this guy with "Ach! Hans, Run!" Same colors, and you can stack the triggers at end of turn so that your Hellion gets shuffled before he gets RFG'd. You'll never run out of beef!
Actually there have been several replies in this thread alone that indicate that there are people who find the card entertaining. And how is it disrespectful, exactly? I mean, if the card said "YOU ARE DUMB" in big red letters, I could see that, but my copy doesn't have that anywhere on it. It's just a bad, near-unplayable Limited common. If any of you folks feel like you're wasting your money buying Zendikar packs because of the existence of this card, then feel free to stop buying them. Leaves more for me to draft with, since the set's sold out and all.
I wouldn't blame you, though. I mean, "slightly-improved Spineless Thug" would've really made this set hum. As it is, it's pretty meh. </sarcasm>
After the draft, Warpath Ghoul and Mindless Null are pretty much equally useless to the vast majority of players. Every set is going to have its pack dregs. Mindless Null is just the next in a proud tradition that includes Jump, Behemoth's Herald, Zephyr Spirit, and Chimney Imp.
Actually if that was the problem they could have just worded them "unless you control a basic X or Y". It was probably their interaction with fetches that would've made them too powerful.
Yes, this is correct. At the prerelease I had a similar situation when I cast a kicked Rite of Replication on my opponent's Nimana Sell-Sword. In that case I got five 7/7s.
Agiussword, meet Reroute. I hope you two have a long and happy life together.
I wouldn't say Desperate Countermeasures could "easily" be white. Maybe white/blue. As far as Pack Loyalty goes, yeah if you changed the card it could be white. Air Elemental could easily be green if it had trample instead of flying. Doesn't make it green.
My thought with the black spell was that you could drain more life if your opponent had more. Blood works sort of the same way; the less of it you have (like if you donate it), the harder it is to get a vial full to run medical tests or whatever.
I agree that the life-total cards feel best in red and white, but that's probably because those two colors have the most direct control over life totals. I think luminum can's comparison to Odyssey block was spot-on, and life-total cards work in blue about as well as graveyard cards worked in red. But the folks at WotC are a lot better at making Magic cards than I am, so don't look at the ones I made up in 5 minutes and think that's the extent of the potential for the mechanic.
Of the cards I listed, Avatar of Hope is the only white card that really exemplifies the sort of thing I think you could do with "life total matters." Most of the rest just care about you having lots and lots of life, and Pulse of the Fields and Transcendence are just life gain spells (though Transcendence has a really weird way of going about it). Here are some other possibilities. I'll apologize in advance for poor templating.
Desperate Countermeasures
UU
Instant
If your life total is 6 or less, counter target spell. Otherwise, counter target spell unless your opponent pays 3.
Killing Stroke
R
Sorcery
Killing Stroke deals 2 damage to target player. If that player's life total is 4 or less, Killing Stroke deals 4 damage to that player instead.
Pack Loyalty
1GG
Enchantment
Creatures you control get +0/+1. If your life total is 4 or less, those creatures get an additional +1/+1 and have reach.
NOM NOM NOMs (couldn't come up with a good name)
3B
Sorcery
Target player loses 3 life and you gain 3 life. If that player's life total is 15 or more, that player loses 5 life and you gain 5 life instead.
Do any of those cards feel particularly out-of-place in their respective colors?
It wouldn't necessarily lead to a bunch of life-gain decks. "Life total matters" is not the same as "Higher life total matters." Cards like Second Chance (thanks Tranquilo), Second Rite, and Avatar of Hope care about you having a low life total. What if white got a bear that powers up to a 4/4 if your life total is 7 or less? That doesn't seem to me like it encourages life-gain.
Heck, you might even see people pointing Lightning Bolts at themselves in Standard. Wouldn't that be a hoot?
This is exactly what I was thinking. There's only a handful of cards that care about your life total - off the top of my head, Serra Avatar, Avatar of Hope, Transcendence, Test of Endurance, Pulse of the Fields, Pulse of the Forge, Hidetsugu's Second Rite, and Ajani Goldmane (his ultimate). I think there's definitely enough space here to support a major block theme.
Absolutely love the limerick.
You might consider running some G/W borderposts. They'll interact nicely with Naya Hushblade and with Drove of Elves.
Slippery Bogle is another "uber-Shroud" guy that's in Standard right now. Doesn't seem very good to me, but maybe he starts looking better if he picks up a Sledge.