I wonder if we'll soon see the Exile-zone be the new Graveyard v.2?
It seems silly to me that this one exiles. Flavorwise and all I understand it but purely mechanic-wise it makes me cringe my toes that Blue gets the best type of removal on an X-target version.
Had it been UX exile target creature with (CMC/Power/Toughness) equal or less than 2 times X and then drop a 0/1 Goat (for kicks) if anything at all, then it'd be alright and not totally illogical as a tough-ass creature would likely demand a little more juice to cram into a swine-form. Polymorphing a God as easily as a Human being seems incredibly illogical.
Generally I dislike Exile for the pure mechanic that it removes the target from interactions and because it makes a ton of stuff superfluous; indestructibility, regeneration, Dies-effects. I accept it on single-uses and on hell-expensive mass-removals (possible double-edged) but targeting like this is not cool to me.
...What? Pongify is blue removal. Polymorph is design-your-deck-around-me Shenanigans, and "removal" as an act of desperation. Pongify/Rapid Hybridization might share similar flavor but they are not a "simpler" version of polymorph.
I'm tired of seeing Blue get Every effect under the sun... that's White's job. It seems that every set Blue gets to do a little more bleeding into other color pies, and does it better than that color.
Anyways, Easily one of the best "sweepers" printed. The only time this one makes me sad is against tons of tokens/hexpro..eh? Cyclonic what?
...What? Pongify is blue removal. Polymorph is design-your-deck-around-me Shenanigans, and "removal" as an act of desperation. Pongify/Rapid Hybridization might share similar flavor but they are not a "simpler" version of polymorph.
I'm tired of seeing Blue get Every effect under the sun... that's White's job. It seems that every set Blue gets to do a little more bleeding into other color pies, and does it better than that color.
Anyways, Easily one of the best "sweepers" printed. The only time this one makes me sad is against tons of tokens/hexpro..eh? Cyclonic what?
One of the bets sweepers ever printed ?
Because paying to transform little mobs in 2/2 is better then destroyinh then ¬_¬
This is only remotely good in EDH. In Standard BTE.dec will wipe the floor with you if this is what you're doing on turn 4.
How about Pestilence Demon then, from a breathtaking three years ago...
While it is an ability that doesn't show up that often, its an ability that black gets and nobody ever bats an eye about.
It is also not a stretch for blue to get Curse of the Swine, not even mechanically. Blue gets -n/-0 effects every single damn set. This is just a different scale of this. Blue morphs and mutates creatures constantly. It can't kill creatures, but it can transform them to make them less useful.
Is Agoraphobia a stretch for blue to get? Then how is this?
-X/-0 effects don't kill creatures. Curse of the Swine basically kills creatures. The flavor of it is not killing creatures, but the basic text is "Exile a bunch of creatures, give their controllers pigs." It's the equivalent of calling Path to Exile a transformation card because it transforms a creature into a land.
The problem with comparing Curse of the Swine to an effect like Snakeform, Agoraphobia, Diminish, Meishin the Mind Cage, etc. is that the creature is still there. Those cards change an aspect of a creature.
Hard removal isn't something you are supposed to come by in blue. That's what other colors are for.
You CANT give blue other effects for flavor reasons because you can give blue ANYTHING for flavor reasons. Is it a spell? BLUE. Is the spell magical? ALSO BLUE.
I am perplexed. How is it that human are 1/1 creatures and the pigs are 2/2 creatures?
If you play this late game while facing an army of dudes and some are indestructible; your opponent will at you as if you farted. I wonder if we will get a burn board sweeper to extract the bacon.
One of the bets sweepers ever printed ?
Because paying to transform little mobs in 2/2 is better then destroyinh then ¬_¬
This is only remotely good in EDH. In Standard BTE.dec will wipe the floor with you if this is what you're doing on turn 4.
That's Standard's fault for being a terrible format.
I kid, I kid. Sort of. But who cares, last I checked Standard was nothing but an aggro-fest and tempo... Tempo, Hmm, I wonder what kind of card Curse could be... Besides, I said it was bad against Tokens (I should've said "little mobs" too), so I'm not sure what your problem is.
Quote from chaosof99 »
How do you not get this? The creature is still there with Curse of the Swine. Only now it's a Pig! It isn't "exile creatures, give pigs". It's "those creatures are now pigs". Curse doesn't kill creatures. It transforms them.
I feel like you're being deliberately obtuse or just trolling, as none of your comparisons so far have been remotely equivalent. This spell is nowhere-not mechanically, not flavor-wise, not anything- like -X/0 spells, please stop bringing them up. There's nothing to "not get," read the card: "Exile X target Creatures." It's the first line. The creatures are no longer there, not even in a graveyard. Ixidrion is close but facedown is not the same as exiling. What exile-removal is there in blue? Phyrexian Ingester?
Quote from Unskilled Ninja »
Hey, that's my joke.
:X
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I am perplexed. How is it that human are 1/1 creatures and the pigs are 2/2 creatures?
If you play this late game while facing an army of dudes and some are indestructible; your opponent will at you as if you farted. I wonder if we will get a burn board sweeper to extract the bacon.
Even a mighty warrior like Robert Baratheon can be killed by a boar
I just noticed a major flavor fail: Circe's curse was temporary. The best solution would have been to make a Day of the Dragons-style enchantment. Only instead of the pigs returning to normal when the enchantment dies, you'd have to make love with your opponent.
How do you not get this? The creature is still there with Curse of the Swine. Only now it's a Pig! It isn't "exile creatures, give pigs". It's "those creatures are now pigs". Curse doesn't kill creatures. It transforms them.
Your comparison to Path to Exile is also wrong because Path to exile doesn't replace the creature with another creature. This is the crucial and highly important difference that you people simply just can't seem to wrap your heads around.
Path to Exile quite clearly does transform a creature into a land. The creature is exiled, your opponent gets a new land. It's just like that one card Curse of the Swine, which turns your opponents' creatures into pigs by exiling the creature and giving your foes pigs.
We get that Curse of the Swine's flavor is of transformation, but simply justifying any sort of mechanical process with flavor leads you down the path of Hornet Sting. It's especially bad here because Blue actually has plenty of cards that capture transformation better. I feel Blue mechanically should not get hard removal of this quality because the lack of good permanent removal is a deliberate flaw of the color. It's equivalent to Red getting Chaos Warp, which has the flavorful justification of "randomness" and the mechanical justification of "It's like a mini Warp World". Chaos Warp breaks the color pie because it gives Red a simple and easy solution to its enchantment problems, breaking a deliberate limitation of the color.
Flavor-wise, yes. But mechanically, you're pretty much taking them out. If they wanted to make this card more in line with Blue mechanically they would have made the transformation reversible...but as it is, they gave Blue a very potent kill spell, one that is off-the-charts in EDH.
Exiling the creature and replacing it with a token takes any memory issues that permanently changing the creature into a 2/2 Pig and instantly does away with them, making for a cleaner and easier to play/understand card. This obstinate attitude that Blue should never be able to exile a creature is counter productive. Wizards designs cards to have the best execution, which also means they need to be easily conveyed and understood by inexperienced players.
This is the biggest stumbling block a lot of players with design critiques have. They are not able to remove their own egos and experience from the situation and approach the card how a new player would. If your first foray into Magic is Theros, this design is superior to any of the other suggested ones because there is no ambiguity, no space in time for either rules or flavour issues to confuse the new player That is superior to these little mechanical nitpicks, making it a better card.
To the anti curse fraction: Do you have any problem whatsoever with the card Ixidron?
Oh the irony.
First off, I'm not anti-Pig Curse, I'm anti-Blue I'll run this card just like I already run Cyclonic Rift.
Second of all,
Quote from I said earlier »
Ixidrion is close but facedown is not the same as exiling. What exile-removal is there in blue? Phyrexian Ingester?
I don't care about blue resetting the board. Evacuation. Devistation Tide. Cyclonic Rift like I said above. Blue has Plenty of "Sweepers." Ixdron is fine by me; Doesn't hit tokens, hits Everyone's creatures, and when the face-down cards die they go to the graveyard. If anything, i'd compare it to an offensive version of Mass Polymorph, but I haven't seen anyone defending Babe's Curse mention it yet.
I have a problem with Blue having Exile creature effects, because, aside from Tucking, (which Blue isgreatat), exile is The best way to deal with problematic creatures.
..why didn't you comment on me bringing up Phyrexian Ingester and instead go for the jab?
This is all just spirited debate, I hope you know. Nothing against people who like Blue. I do, however, feel that comparing Pongify/Polymorph/Turn to Frog or -X/0 spells is missing the point.
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People need to calm down. There is a reason Rapid Hybridization doesn't see any play. Beast within is 10 times better and it barely saw play.
If you are using this to wipe some one's board.....well.....they still have a board. Unless you combine this with detention sphere or ratchet bomb it isn't very strong.
That means you need to at least kill 3 creatures to gain any advantage at all. Most of the time this will be a X= 1 or 2. This is a speed bumb not a board wipe.
People need to calm down. There is a reason Rapid Hybridization doesn't see any play. Beast within is 10 times better and it barely saw play.
If you are using this to wipe some one's board.....well.....they still have a board. Unless you combine this with detention sphere or ratchet bomb it isn't very strong.
That means you need to at least kill 3 creatures to gain any advantage at all. Most of the time this will be a X= 1 or 2. This is a speed bumb not a board wipe.
Rapid Hybridization was fun in casual, but it usually got me killed. That, and it only killed some things. Though to be fair, exiling is much stronger than destroying. It deals with many more creatures. And the token that gets left behind when you use this card is a 2/2 versus a 3/3.
I agree though, this isn't board wipe material. It's a Sorcery speed way to replace any creature that isn't Hexproof/Shroud with a 2/2 for 1UU. The fact you can scale it is just magic flavored gravy.
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If you play this late game while facing an army of dudes and some are indestructible; your opponent will at you as if you farted. I wonder if we will get a burn board sweeper to extract the bacon.
nice.
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If MTG is a part of your life, the formats are like relationships:
Standard/Block = The on-again, off-again holiday fling
Modern/Vintage/Legacy = Stable, homely. A ***** after absence/misreading
Limited/Sealed = Heart breaking free spirit
Commander/Cube = Agreeable, needy and expensive
Pauper/Peasant = Sweet, kind, practical, but shy and boring
Exiling the creature and replacing it with a token takes any memory issues that permanently changing the creature into a 2/2 Pig and instantly does away with them, making for a cleaner and easier to play/understand card. This obstinate attitude that Blue should never be able to exile a creature is counter productive. Wizards designs cards to have the best execution, which also means they need to be easily conveyed and understood by inexperienced players.
Here's the thing you aren't taking into consideration...this card didn't need to exist. There was no imperative that "Circe Sorcery" needed to exist. It could have been made as a (reversible by removal) Enchantment, or it could have been scrapped altogether if they couldn't find a way to make it work well. Or it could have been costed a lot higher, like with a double X cost so as to lessen it's impact.
But instead Wizards drove on because "lol top down design is kewl" and made yet another Blue-colored mistake, which will be a huge pain in EDH. Between this and Cyclonic Rift, mono-Blue has gotten awfully good at dealing with the board....something it shouldn't be so hot at.
A card needing to exist is a different argument than whether or not they nailed its execution. This is as well designed as it could be. Just because you don't like the idea of Blue getting board wipes, which they've had for the entire history of the game in some form of another, mind you, doesn't mean its a bad design/card.
Here's the thing you aren't taking into consideration...this card didn't need to exist. There was no imperative that "Circe Sorcery" needed to exist. It could have been made as a (reversible by removal) Enchantment, or it could have been scrapped altogether if they couldn't find a way to make it work well. Or it could have been costed a lot higher, like with a double X cost so as to lessen it's impact.
But instead Wizards drove on because "lol top down design is kewl" and made yet another Blue-colored mistake, which will be a huge pain in EDH. Between this and Cyclonic Rift, mono-Blue has gotten awfully good at dealing with the board....something it shouldn't be so hot at.
This is all I've been trying to say, apologies and hope no one assumed I'm flipping my bippity
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Disclaimer: All comments made through EDH-Only coloured glasses.
A card needing to exist is a different argument than whether or not they nailed its execution. This is as well designed as it could be. Just because you don't like the idea of Blue getting board wipes, which they've had for the entire history of the game in some form of another, mind you, doesn't mean its a bad design/card.
How a card fits in with the whole of the game is integral to design, bro. The color pie is important to Magic's variety and appeal and this is a card that greatly violates the integrity of it, especially in the most popular casual format.
That's bad design; you can't just look at it in a vacuum and call it good.
People need to calm down. There is a reason Rapid Hybridization doesn't see any play. Beast within is 10 times better and it barely saw play.
We're not saying that it is OP or even playable. We're saying that hard removal like it is something that blue should not have. It sets bad precedent and could lead to blue's classic downside of having difficulty dealing with resolved threats removed. That's what the other colors are for.
Blue can bounce it, blue can tap it, blue can tuck it, blue can temporally remove it from play.
Permanently removing it from play goes too far. I don't care about the cmc of the card, that's not an effect blue should get period.
People need to calm down. There is a reason Rapid Hybridization doesn't see any play. Beast within is 10 times better and it barely saw play.
If you are using this to wipe some one's board.....well.....they still have a board. Unless you combine this with detention sphere or ratchet bomb it isn't very strong.
That means you need to at least kill 3 creatures to gain any advantage at all. Most of the time this will be a X= 1 or 2. This is a speed bumb not a board wipe.
Question: Do you play EDH/Commander? This card will be played at those tables.
Besides, GeneralArmchair got it right: This effect feels wrong in Blue, whether or not it's decently costed.
To the anti curse fraction: Do you have any problem whatsoever with the card Ixidron?
Yes. I think anybody who has played against Ixidron has a problem with Ixidron.
Because Ixidron doesn't give creatures a way to turn face-up, it's effectively a March of Souls that gets past all defenses in Blue. It's equivalent to Mogg Infestation and Chaos Warp in terms of pure "What the hell is this color's weakness again?"-ery.
There are so many stupid things that you can justify by barely connecting them to other mechanics. "Oh, it's morph, turning your creatures face-down is Blue, so Ixidron totally belongs in Blue!" even though the actual card plays more like a White card because it turns your opponents' creatures face-down.
If it said "x target creatures become 2/2 and lose all abilities" we probably wouldn't even be having this discussion.
I guess we wouldn't have this discussion, another might spawn though. Whether that speaks that THAT card shouldn't exist is something for that alternative dimension.
However the reason people wouldn't be having trouble about thatmechanic would be that it was un-doable. You could blink, bounce your creature and use it again by breaking the curse. Also you wouldn't get equal-named, token creatures which dies to Ratchet Bombs or Detention Spheres.
I think the primary source for the "wrongness" of this effect in Blue is indeed the dumbed-down "Exile creature, create token". When you're cutting corners with a sledgehammer it simply feels wry as a mechanic.
Especially as you've rather gracefully dumbed down a less moronic hard-removal phrase, right there. If they wanted to, WotC could have made this mechanic more elegant and feel blue without burrowing white's mechanic.
@the person who insisted the mechanic was made to be friendly to new players:
I don't think I've seen a more complex Set in quite a while. Bestow and Devotion's mechanics are rather complex for new players to grasp, so if you start in Theros, you're in for a hard time to learn mechanics fast. For that matter Heroic is even a mechanic that might be slightly difficult for new players to fully grasp on how works.
So I call major BS that this mechanic was made this way to make it more easily graspable for new-comers. Like before it seems more like cutting the corner with a sledgehammer.
Just throwing my hat into the "This is very much a blue effect and is clearly within their color pie and it is certainly an effect that 'feels' blue" camp.
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It seems silly to me that this one exiles. Flavorwise and all I understand it but purely mechanic-wise it makes me cringe my toes that Blue gets the best type of removal on an X-target version.
Had it been UX exile target creature with (CMC/Power/Toughness) equal or less than 2 times X and then drop a 0/1 Goat (for kicks) if anything at all, then it'd be alright and not totally illogical as a tough-ass creature would likely demand a little more juice to cram into a swine-form. Polymorphing a God as easily as a Human being seems incredibly illogical.
Generally I dislike Exile for the pure mechanic that it removes the target from interactions and because it makes a ton of stuff superfluous; indestructibility, regeneration, Dies-effects. I accept it on single-uses and on hell-expensive mass-removals (possible double-edged) but targeting like this is not cool to me.
...What? Pongify is blue removal. Polymorph is design-your-deck-around-me Shenanigans, and "removal" as an act of desperation. Pongify/Rapid Hybridization might share similar flavor but they are not a "simpler" version of polymorph.
I'm tired of seeing Blue get Every effect under the sun... that's White's job. It seems that every set Blue gets to do a little more bleeding into other color pies, and does it better than that color.
Anyways, Easily one of the best "sweepers" printed. The only time this one makes me sad is against tons of tokens/hexpro..eh? Cyclonic what?
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One of the bets sweepers ever printed ?
Because paying to transform little mobs in 2/2 is better then destroyinh then ¬_¬
This is only remotely good in EDH. In Standard BTE.dec will wipe the floor with you if this is what you're doing on turn 4.
BGU Control
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BG Auras
I think Pongify was an Ovinomancer homage, considering it was printed in the nostalgia block.
-X/-0 effects don't kill creatures. Curse of the Swine basically kills creatures. The flavor of it is not killing creatures, but the basic text is "Exile a bunch of creatures, give their controllers pigs." It's the equivalent of calling Path to Exile a transformation card because it transforms a creature into a land.
The problem with comparing Curse of the Swine to an effect like Snakeform, Agoraphobia, Diminish, Meishin the Mind Cage, etc. is that the creature is still there. Those cards change an aspect of a creature.
Hey, that's my joke.
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You CANT give blue other effects for flavor reasons because you can give blue ANYTHING for flavor reasons. Is it a spell? BLUE. Is the spell magical? ALSO BLUE.
One of the best blue cards spoiled so far, and definitely playable in EDH, and maybe standard if there's a solid U/X build after rotation.
If you play this late game while facing an army of dudes and some are indestructible; your opponent will at you as if you farted. I wonder if we will get a burn board sweeper to extract the bacon.
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That's Standard's fault for being a terrible format.
I kid, I kid. Sort of. But who cares, last I checked Standard was nothing but an aggro-fest and tempo... Tempo, Hmm, I wonder what kind of card Curse could be... Besides, I said it was bad against Tokens (I should've said "little mobs" too), so I'm not sure what your problem is.
I feel like you're being deliberately obtuse or just trolling, as none of your comparisons so far have been remotely equivalent. This spell is nowhere-not mechanically, not flavor-wise, not anything- like -X/0 spells, please stop bringing them up. There's nothing to "not get," read the card: "Exile X target Creatures." It's the first line. The creatures are no longer there, not even in a graveyard. Ixidrion is close but facedown is not the same as exiling. What exile-removal is there in blue? Phyrexian Ingester?
:X
Playing (Only) EDH:
Sleeved:
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GW Trostani Rock
UBR Nekusar Wheel.dec
Shelved:
BR Lyzolda Midrange
RW Gisela Tokens
GWB Karador Rock
UBR Thraximundar Stax
B Drana Big Mana Tribal
Disclaimer: All comments made through EDH-Only coloured glasses.
Even a mighty warrior like Robert Baratheon can be killed by a boar
Path to Exile quite clearly does transform a creature into a land. The creature is exiled, your opponent gets a new land. It's just like that one card Curse of the Swine, which turns your opponents' creatures into pigs by exiling the creature and giving your foes pigs.
We get that Curse of the Swine's flavor is of transformation, but simply justifying any sort of mechanical process with flavor leads you down the path of Hornet Sting. It's especially bad here because Blue actually has plenty of cards that capture transformation better. I feel Blue mechanically should not get hard removal of this quality because the lack of good permanent removal is a deliberate flaw of the color. It's equivalent to Red getting Chaos Warp, which has the flavorful justification of "randomness" and the mechanical justification of "It's like a mini Warp World". Chaos Warp breaks the color pie because it gives Red a simple and easy solution to its enchantment problems, breaking a deliberate limitation of the color.
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Flavor-wise, yes. But mechanically, you're pretty much taking them out. If they wanted to make this card more in line with Blue mechanically they would have made the transformation reversible...but as it is, they gave Blue a very potent kill spell, one that is off-the-charts in EDH.
This is the biggest stumbling block a lot of players with design critiques have. They are not able to remove their own egos and experience from the situation and approach the card how a new player would. If your first foray into Magic is Theros, this design is superior to any of the other suggested ones because there is no ambiguity, no space in time for either rules or flavour issues to confuse the new player That is superior to these little mechanical nitpicks, making it a better card.
First off, I'm not anti-Pig Curse, I'm anti-Blue I'll run this card just like I already run Cyclonic Rift.
Second of all,
I don't care about blue resetting the board. Evacuation. Devistation Tide. Cyclonic Rift like I said above. Blue has Plenty of "Sweepers." Ixdron is fine by me; Doesn't hit tokens, hits Everyone's creatures, and when the face-down cards die they go to the graveyard. If anything, i'd compare it to an offensive version of Mass Polymorph, but I haven't seen anyone defending Babe's Curse mention it yet.
I have a problem with Blue having Exile creature effects, because, aside from Tucking, (which Blue is great at), exile is The best way to deal with problematic creatures.
..why didn't you comment on me bringing up Phyrexian Ingester and instead go for the jab?
This is all just spirited debate, I hope you know. Nothing against people who like Blue. I do, however, feel that comparing Pongify/Polymorph/Turn to Frog or -X/0 spells is missing the point.
Playing (Only) EDH:
Sleeved:
BUG Damia Stax
GW Trostani Rock
UBR Nekusar Wheel.dec
Shelved:
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RW Gisela Tokens
GWB Karador Rock
UBR Thraximundar Stax
B Drana Big Mana Tribal
Disclaimer: All comments made through EDH-Only coloured glasses.
If you are using this to wipe some one's board.....well.....they still have a board. Unless you combine this with detention sphere or ratchet bomb it isn't very strong.
That means you need to at least kill 3 creatures to gain any advantage at all. Most of the time this will be a X= 1 or 2. This is a speed bumb not a board wipe.
Rapid Hybridization was fun in casual, but it usually got me killed. That, and it only killed some things. Though to be fair, exiling is much stronger than destroying. It deals with many more creatures. And the token that gets left behind when you use this card is a 2/2 versus a 3/3.
I agree though, this isn't board wipe material. It's a Sorcery speed way to replace any creature that isn't Hexproof/Shroud with a 2/2 for 1UU. The fact you can scale it is just magic flavored gravy.
URJhoira of the GhituUR(Under con.)
BMaralen of the MornsongB
UBLazav, Dimir MastermindUB
Standard:
UMono U DevotionU
Casual:
GPrimordial Hydra JankinessG
nice.
Standard/Block = The on-again, off-again holiday fling
Modern/Vintage/Legacy = Stable, homely. A ***** after absence/misreading
Limited/Sealed = Heart breaking free spirit
Commander/Cube = Agreeable, needy and expensive
Pauper/Peasant = Sweet, kind, practical, but shy and boring
Here's the thing you aren't taking into consideration...this card didn't need to exist. There was no imperative that "Circe Sorcery" needed to exist. It could have been made as a (reversible by removal) Enchantment, or it could have been scrapped altogether if they couldn't find a way to make it work well. Or it could have been costed a lot higher, like with a double X cost so as to lessen it's impact.
But instead Wizards drove on because "lol top down design is kewl" and made yet another Blue-colored mistake, which will be a huge pain in EDH. Between this and Cyclonic Rift, mono-Blue has gotten awfully good at dealing with the board....something it shouldn't be so hot at.
This is all I've been trying to say, apologies and hope no one assumed I'm flipping my bippity
Playing (Only) EDH:
Sleeved:
BUG Damia Stax
GW Trostani Rock
UBR Nekusar Wheel.dec
Shelved:
BR Lyzolda Midrange
RW Gisela Tokens
GWB Karador Rock
UBR Thraximundar Stax
B Drana Big Mana Tribal
Disclaimer: All comments made through EDH-Only coloured glasses.
In a heavy blue deck, for which manacost will you ever be satisfied casting it?
For 3 mana its imho a worse pongify, even though it exiles.
Four mana might be the sweetspot, but you are forced to tapping out and leave the opponent with a turn + a substantial board presence.
Five mana I would take evacuation any day over this card.
For six mana you would be most likely dead before you can cast it
Give irony and sarcasm, when ignorance and stupidity is found.
The whip is kept for special occasions
How a card fits in with the whole of the game is integral to design, bro. The color pie is important to Magic's variety and appeal and this is a card that greatly violates the integrity of it, especially in the most popular casual format.
That's bad design; you can't just look at it in a vacuum and call it good.
We're not saying that it is OP or even playable. We're saying that hard removal like it is something that blue should not have. It sets bad precedent and could lead to blue's classic downside of having difficulty dealing with resolved threats removed. That's what the other colors are for.
Blue can bounce it, blue can tap it, blue can tuck it, blue can temporally remove it from play.
Permanently removing it from play goes too far. I don't care about the cmc of the card, that's not an effect blue should get period.
Besides, GeneralArmchair got it right: This effect feels wrong in Blue, whether or not it's decently costed.
Yes. I think anybody who has played against Ixidron has a problem with Ixidron.
Because Ixidron doesn't give creatures a way to turn face-up, it's effectively a March of Souls that gets past all defenses in Blue. It's equivalent to Mogg Infestation and Chaos Warp in terms of pure "What the hell is this color's weakness again?"-ery.
There are so many stupid things that you can justify by barely connecting them to other mechanics. "Oh, it's morph, turning your creatures face-down is Blue, so Ixidron totally belongs in Blue!" even though the actual card plays more like a White card because it turns your opponents' creatures face-down.
Thanks to Rivenor of Miraculous Recovery Signatures!
However the reason people wouldn't be having trouble about that mechanic would be that it was un-doable. You could blink, bounce your creature and use it again by breaking the curse. Also you wouldn't get equal-named, token creatures which dies to Ratchet Bombs or Detention Spheres.
I think the primary source for the "wrongness" of this effect in Blue is indeed the dumbed-down "Exile creature, create token". When you're cutting corners with a sledgehammer it simply feels wry as a mechanic.
Especially as you've rather gracefully dumbed down a less moronic hard-removal phrase, right there. If they wanted to, WotC could have made this mechanic more elegant and feel blue without burrowing white's mechanic.
@the person who insisted the mechanic was made to be friendly to new players:
I don't think I've seen a more complex Set in quite a while. Bestow and Devotion's mechanics are rather complex for new players to grasp, so if you start in Theros, you're in for a hard time to learn mechanics fast. For that matter Heroic is even a mechanic that might be slightly difficult for new players to fully grasp on how works.
So I call major BS that this mechanic was made this way to make it more easily graspable for new-comers. Like before it seems more like cutting the corner with a sledgehammer.