To be considered for this list, a keyword ability has to be just that - both a keyword and an ability. Keyword actions and ability words don't count. I chose three criteria to judge all keywords abilities:
- Innovation. When this keyword ability was first released, did it add something fundamentally new to the game of Magic? Since then, has the ability been used in new and different ways?
- Endurance. Has the keyword ability aged well? If a number of cards were printed today showcasing this ability, would players welcome those cards? Do players remember the keyword fondly?
- Playability. Perhaps the most important criterion, does the keyword ability play well? Is it fun? Does it lead to interesting and exciting games? Can it make for powerful, memorable cards?
#3 - Cycling
The first time we saw cycling was in Urza block, where it was a mere sideshow to the maddeningly powerful cards of that block. Since then, cycling has made a comeback in three different blocks - more than any other keyword ability not promoted to the Core Set. This makes cycling Magic's most featured keyword ability. The success or failure of Urza, Onslaught and Shards of Alara blocks all depended on cycling, in part. The funny thing is that cycling is not really a Magic mechanic! It is a card game mechanic, and anybody who has ever played draw poker has experienced more-or-less the same mechanic. Cycling is unique only because it uses Magic's mana resource as its limiting factor, rather than being limited by the number of cards that can be discarded or the turns left in the game. At its heart, though, cycling is not much different from other draw-discard card game mechanics that have existed for as long as playing cards have existed. Is that a problem? Of course not. Cycling shows that WotC understands Magic's roots.
Nevertheless, besides excellence, cycling shares a dubious distinction with another keyword ability in the Top 10, splice. Both are world-class keyword abilities that have been wronged, more than any other keyword abilities in Magic (that both mechanics relate to players' hands might be a coincidence, but it might not be). I believe that cycling has suffered the worse treatment of the two. It was chained to not one, but two problematic blocks, and it has never been featured in a block that was dedicated to making the mechanic shine. Urza block overpowered it, Onslaught block's tribal theme never could have embraced it, and Shards of Alara merely used it as putty to hold together its fractured tri-color concept. Cycling is a mechanic that speaks the universal language of playing card games. It could be the ambassador to new players and new gameplay permutations if only WotC would print it in greater numbers, put it in the Core Set, and stop perpetually overcosting it (cycling costs of would be a good thing).
If you click on any of the links in the two paragraphs above, you'll see a few things missing. Specifically, cycling variants. Save for Fluctuator, Urza block played it safe with cycling. But, starting in Onslaught block, cards like Gempalm Incinerator and Eternal Dragon changed the way that players perceived cycling, continuing in Time Spiral and Shards of Alara blocks with cards like Vedalken Æthermage and Resounding Roar. Cycling triggers, such as those on Decree of Silence, add an interesting twist to the keyword that could only be done in a game like Magic. Cards like Fiery Fall, on the other hand, are cycling in name only: what would a game of 5-card draw be if you could discard a spade to search your deck for any other spade that you wanted? While x-cycling may trigger an Astral Slide, only the original operates with such smooth and universal appeal. Cycling, in its stripped down form, taps into Magic's ancestral memory more than any other keyword ability. It deserves to stand in the pantheon with the other evergreen greats.
- Innovation: B+
- Endurance: A
- Playability: A
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Feb 6, 2010