There's been a lot of talk on Blogatog lately about Contraptions, so I thought I'd try my hand at solving the puzzle. For reference, here is the Future Sight card these cards have to work with:
Steamflogger Boss - 3R
Creature — Goblin Rigger
Other Rigger creatures you control get +1/+0 and have haste.
If a Rigger you control would assemble a Contraption, it assembles two Contraptions instead.
3/3
First, I think this necessitates a second subtype beyond Contraptions: Modules (or Components, Parts, Gears, Pieces, Units, etc.).
Modules would look like these:
Knowledge Widget - 3
Artifact — Module
When ~ is sacrificed to assemble a Contraption, that Contraption gains "At the beginning of your upkeep, draw a card."
Suit of War - 3
Artifact — Module
When ~ is sacrificed to assemble a Contraption, that Contraption gains "1: This Contraption becomes a colorless 3/3 Construct artifact creature until end of turn. It's still a Contraption."
Siege Perimeter - 4
Artifact — Module
When ~ is sacrificed to assemble a Contraption, that Contraption gains "Whenever a creature attacks you or a planeswalker you control, this Contraption deals 1 damage to that creature."
Galvanized Steel - 1
Artifact — Module
When ~ is sacrificed to assemble a Contraption, that Contraption gains indestructible.
Disassembler - 2
Artifact — Module
When ~ is sacrificed to assemble a Contraption, that Contraption gains "Sacrifice this Contraption: Return up to two target Module cards from your graveyard to your hand."
Sureshot Scope - 2
Artifact — Module
When ~ is sacrificed to assemble a Contraption, that Contraption gains "{T}: This Contraptions deals one damage to target creature or player."
Basilisk Gear - 2
Artifact — Module
When ~ is sacrificed to assemble a Contraption, that Contraption gains deathtouch and lifelink.
Pendulum Switch - 3
Artifact — Module
When ~ is sacrificed to assemble a Contraption, that Contraption gains "{T}: Choose a counter on target permanent or player. Remove that counter from that permanent or player or put another of those counters on it."
Feedback Loop - 3
Artifact — Module
When ~ is sacrificed to assemble a Contraption, that Contraption gains "Whenever an activated ability of this Contraption is activated, you may copy that ability. You may choose new targets for the copy."
Toolbox - 1
Artifact — Module
When ~ is sacrificed to assemble a Contraption, that Contraption gains "Creatures you control have '{T}: This creature assembles a Contraption.'"
Assembly Line - 2
Artifact — Module
When ~ is sacrificed to assemble a Contraption, that Contraption gains "At the beginning of your upkeep, put a colorless 1/1 Construct artifact creature token onto the battlefield."
Generator Circuit - 2
Artifact — Module
When ~ is sacrificed to assemble a Contraption, that Contraption gains "{T}: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool."
And the Riggers would work like this:
Eager Engineer - 2R
Creature — Human Rigger
Haste
{T}: ~ assembles a Contraption. (To assemble a Contraption, this creature's controller may sacrifice two Modules he or she controls. If he or she does, he or she puts a colorless Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield.)
1/2
Steamflogger Trainee - R
Creature — Goblin Rigger 2R{T}: ~ assembles a Contraption. (To assemble a Contraption, this creature's controller may sacrifice two Modules he or she controls. If he or she does, he or she puts a colorless Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield.)
1/1
Overseer's Pet - 2RR
Creature — Insect Rigger
When ~ enters the battlefield, it assembles a Contraption, then deals damage to target creature or player equal to the number of Contraptions on the battlefield. (To assemble a Contraption, this creature's controller may sacrifice two Modules he or she controls. If he or she does, he or she puts a colorless Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield.)
3/3
Scrapheap Shambler - 3GB
Creature — Zombie Rigger 1GB: ~ assembles a Contraption. Return up to two target Module cards from your graveyard to your hand. (To assemble a Contraption, this creature's controller may sacrifice two Modules he or she controls. If he or she does, he or she puts a colorless Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield.)
2/5
Steam-Powered Automaton - 3
Artifact Creature - Rigger Construct
~'s power and toughness are each equal to the number of Modules and Contraptions you control. 1{T}: ~ assembles a Contraption. (To assemble a Contraption, this creature's controller may sacrifice two Modules he or she controls. If he or she does, he or she puts a colorless Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield.)
*/*
And some other support:
Thoughtful Apprentice - 1U
Creature — Vedalken Rigger 1U: Put a Module artifact token with no abilities onto the battlefield.
1/1
Factory Researcher - 2U
Creature — Vedalken Rigger
Whenever a creature you control assembles a Contraption, draw a card.
2/2
Lightning Assembly - UR
Instant
Target creature assembles a Contraption. (To assemble a Contraption, that creature's controller may sacrifice two Modules he or she controls. If he or she does, he or she puts a colorless Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield.)
Loot the Factory - 3BB
Sorcery
Search your library for up to two Module cards and put them onto the battlefield. Then, target creature you control assembles a Contraption. (To assemble a Contraption, that creature's controller may sacrifice two Modules he or she controls. If he or she does, he or she puts a colorless Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield.)
Industry - UWR
Enchantment
Module spells you control cost 1 less to cast.
Activated abilities of Riggers you control cost 1 less to activate.
Activated abilities of Contraptions you control cost 1 less to activate.
Etc. Basically, creatures that can build your own unique artifact with two separate abilities. The abilities might be incredibly synergistic (Basilisk Gear and Siege Perimeter), or it might just be build your own Staff of Nin (Knowledge Widget and Sureshot Scope). Or it might be an overpriced Darksteel Relic (Feedback Loop and Galvanized Steel).
I believe the mechanic is easily grokkable (combine two artifacts for a combined effect, got it). It has to be a creature ability in order for Steamflogger Boss to work properly, so it would be impossible to make a creatureless Contraption deck. Because of the requirement for at least three cards to make any Contraption (two modules and a creature to assemble them), they need to be incredibly powerful for their cost in order to see any play. Most of the Modules I designed here could probably be cheaper or more powerful and still be fair.
Ok, so I'm not a rules guru, so I'm not sure if these work like I want them to. Am I missing something? Should the Riggers and spells be templated like this instead?
Revised Eager Engineer - 2R
Creature — Human Rigger
Haste
Sacrifice two Modules, {T}: ~ assembles a Contraption. (Put a colorless Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield.)
1/2
Revised Lightning Assembly - UR
Instant
Target creature you control gains "Sacrifice two Modules: This creature assembles a Contraption. Activate this ability only once each turn." until end of turn.
You're missing something, yes. Assembling is an action that creatures take, not players. Your assemble keyword has the creature's controller put the token onto the battlefield, which means it's not a creature action, but instead is an action that you, the player, takes.
If you're trying to make an 'assemble' mechanic, you have to think of it like attacking or blocking - not like outlast.
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The Good - Very creative. Rather novel. You might be on to something.
The Bad - There are some technical issues, but I don't think they're insurmountable.
The Ugly - It seems to be too parasitic to implement in a fun and effective way.
Perhaps your take on Assemble could be broadened to include Modules and also other artifacts? Just spit-balling:
Assemble (Exile two artifacts: Put a colorless Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield. It has the types, activated abilities, and total base power and toughness of the sacrificed artifacts. Assemble only as a sorcery.)
You're missing something, yes. Assembling is an action that creatures take, not players. Your assemble keyword has the creature's controller put the token onto the battlefield, which means it's not a creature action, but instead is an action that you, the player, takes.
If you're trying to make an 'assemble' mechanic, you have to think of it like attacking or blocking - not like outlast.
Ok, I get that. I even referenced it in the OP. But is there anything in the rules that prevents a creature keyword from involving player actions? For example, fighting and attacking are creature keywords, but the player has to make choices. Probably the most obvious one of these is Exploit. Exploit's rules say:
702.109. Exploit
702.109a Exploit is a triggered ability. “Exploit” means “When this creature enters the battlefield, you may sacrifice a creature.”
702.109b A creature with exploit “exploits a creature” when the controller of the exploit ability sacrifices a creature as that ability resolves.
Look at Sidisi. The player does the sacrificing, and yet Sidisi is said to have exploited the creature. I don't see why assembling a Contraption can't be written similarly:
XXX.XXX. Assemble
XXX.XXXa Assemble is an activated ability appearing on creatures. To “Assemble” a Contraption means “the creature's controller may sacrifice two Modules he or she controls. If he or she does, he or she puts a colorless Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield.”
XXX.XXXb A creature “assembles a Contraption” when the controller of the creature puts a Contraption token onto the battlefield as the creature's assemble ability resolves.
Assemble (Exile two artifacts: Put a colorless Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield. It has the types, abilities, and total base power and toughness of the sacrificed artifacts. Assemble only as a sorcery.)
I like this version, although I would only keep the artifacts' activated abilities as opposed to all abilities. You don't want a card with both defined base power and toughness and CDA's that define them, right?
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Perhaps your take on Assemble could be broadened to include Modules and also other artifacts? Just spit-balling:
Assemble (Exile two artifacts: Put a colorless Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield. It has the types, abilities, and total base power and toughness of the sacrificed artifacts. Assemble only as a sorcery.)
I like this solution. I was considering exile as an alternative to sacrificing, since that would solve the memory issues (just stick the exiled cards behind the token to reference it's abilities), And it doesn't make too much sense to be able to reuse modules while they're in use in another contraption, so exiling might be better than sacrificing. I think it's elegant.
Your version also prevents parasitism, which is great, although R&D would have to be super-careful about what artifacts get printed in all of the surrounding blocks to prevent easy combos in Standard. I shudder thinking of Wurmcoil Engine assembled with Mage-Ring Responder in Tron if assembling was too easy (or, probably more devastating, Baleful Strix and Caltrops).
Assemble (Exile two artifacts: Put a colorless Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield. It has the types, abilities, and total base power and toughness of the sacrificed artifacts. Assemble only as a sorcery.)
I like this version, although I would only keep the artifacts' activated abilities as opposed to all abilities. You don't want a card with both defined base power and toughness and CDA's that define them, right?
Maybe don't allow the ability to use creatures?
Eager Engineer - 2R
Creature — Human Rigger
Haste
{T}: ~ assembles a Contraption. (To assemble a Contraption, this creature's controller may exile two noncreature artifacts he or she controls. If he or she does, he or she puts a colorless Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield. It has the types and abilities of the cards exiled this way.)
1/2
Then as support just in the block, you can make artifacts with abilities that can't be used unless they've been assembled into a Contraption, like the Modules (except they wouldn't need the Module subtype). Like this:
Knowledge Widget - 3
Artifact
When ~ is exiled to assemble a Contraption, that Contraption gains "At the beginning of your upkeep, draw a card."
These modules could then be undercosted compared to their non-module counterparts to help sell the mechanic. There could also just be random artifacts like this:
Feedback Loop - 2
Artifact
Whenever an activated ability of ~ is activated, you may copy that ability. You may choose new targets for the copy.
That does nothing on its own, but is powerful when used to assemble a Contraption. There may have to be more like this one and less like the first one...
The issue has more to do with the spirit of the challenge than the letter of the challenge. Basically, assemble is specifically pointing to something a creature can do. If your solution is to say "Well when a creature does a thing, that means its controller does a thing", then you're not really solving the problem so much as you're finding a work around. There are no rule issues, but it defeats the point of the challenge. The rigger itself has nothing to do with the actual assembly of the contraption, so why bother jumping through the hoop? For lack of better terms, it just feels like a cop out.
FWIW, I don't hate the design overall. I agree with Legend that it feels way too parasitic to see print in most expansions, but it wouldn't take much to change that. However, I believe the majority of people (including MaRo) would end up disappointed if this was the result of the infamous contraption challenge. It just forgoes dealing with the actually difficult part of the problem.
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It was at that moment that I realized: I'm kinda just making these things up. We can just write the rules the way we want them to work. People will have fun, and people will get it.
The issue has more to do with the spirit of the challenge than the letter of the challenge. Basically, assemble is specifically pointing to something a creature can do. If your solution is to say "Well when a creature does a thing, that means its controller does a thing", then you're not really solving the problem so much as you're finding a work around. There are no rule issues, but it defeats the point of the challenge. The rigger itself has nothing to do with the actual assembly of the contraption, so why bother jumping through the hoop? For lack of better terms, it just feels like a cop out.
If this is the case, I feel like it's a false constraint. What keyword actions or abilities are there in Magic that a creature does rather than its controller? The only keyword actions or abilities that I see that are templated as a creature doing something (rather than its controller) are attacking, blocking, fighting, exploiting, and devouring. But even those abilities and things that trigger off of them are actually triggered by player action, not creature action: "Whenever a creature with flying attacks..." actually means "Whenever a creature with flying is declared as an attacker [by its controller]..."
Other keyword abilities have the same issue. Exploit refers to creatures taking an action, but it is a work around, as I mentioned earlier. Devour is similar. Devour means "you may sacrifice any number of creatures," but it is templated as a creature "devouring" other creatures (Marrow Chomper). Evolve means "put a +1/+1 counter on this creature," but it is templated as a creature "evolving" (Battering Krasis).
Would this be a valid template under the current rules: "If a creature would Evolve, put two +1/+1 counters on it instead."? If so, then I think the constraint that assembling a contracption has to be a creature keyword action that doesn't involve the player is overly restrictive in a way that WotC R&D doesn't apply to themselves in any other context.
If they hadn't made Steamflogger Boss as a joke in Future Sight, but were instead trying to come up with a flavorful keyword ability for "Fires of Kaladesh" or some similar plane, then they could have come up with assembling contraptions as a keyword ability that was restricted to Rigger creatures for flavor reasons. They then could have dropped Steamflogger Boss into that set, and no one would be upset with the way it turned out. And if that's the case, I don't understand why we would be disappointed in my "work around." It seems to me to be a fairly common tool that R&D uses to have the players do something to or with creatures...
Here's a plot twist: what if both players and creatures can assemble contraptions?
I'm using the variant that I quoted above (Legend's but with a slight modification).
A player would assemble a Contraption if a spell that player controls instructs them to do so. A creature assembles a Contraption if the instruction to perform the keyword action was due to the resolution of one of its activated or triggered abilities.
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Here's a plot twist: what if both players and creatures can assemble contraptions?
I'm using the variant that I quoted above (Legend's but with a slight modification).
A player would assemble a Contraption if a spell that player controls instructs them to do so. A creature assembles a Contraption if the instruction to perform the keyword action was due to the resolution of one of its activated or triggered abilities.
It cleans up the design quite a bit, but at the expense of flavor. Most players don't know how or why most abilities work, so I think that with my current work-around, most of the player base would be ok with it. If some cards allow players to assemble contraptions without the involvement of Riggers, though, then the work-around becomes obvious and part B of the rule feels tacked on, and I think that sets up more people for disappointment.
The rule could be written:
XXX.XXX. Assemble
XXX.XXXa Assemble is a keyword action. “Assemble a Contraption" means “you may exile two noncreature artifacts you control. If you do, put a colorless Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield. It has all abilities of all cards exiled this way.”
XXX.XXXb A creature “assembles a Contraption” when the controller of the creature puts a Contraption token onto the battlefield as an ability of the creature resolves.
This allows for players to assemble contraptions without creature involvement. However, if I were leading the first set with contraptions, I would not put any cards in the set that allow for the assembly of contraptions without Riggers, for the reasons I mentioned earlier. Future sets could forgo the Riggers and just have an assembly subtheme without the further need for a rule change, and by then Riggers assembling Contraptions will have been around long enough for most people to be satisfied with the Steamflogger Boss execution.
If this is the case, I feel like it's a false constraint.
Of course it's a false constraint, that's the whole point? Steamflogger boss is worded in a way that was intentionally hard to design around. Having the creature do the assembling was the whole joke, and as such having the creature do the assembling is necessary for it to become a reality.
Yes, WotC could decide that a creature assembling a contraption really just means a player doing something related to a creature ability, but clearly they don't believe this or contraptions would be absolutely no problem to solve at all. When Aaron Forsythe or Mark Rosewater talk about the challenge of contraptions, they always specifically mention the fact that creatures assembling the contraptions is the key. Finding a workaround is serviceable, but not exciting. It's a solution, but not one that retains what made the problem interesting and unique in the first place.
If they hadn't made Steamflogger Boss as a joke in Future Sight, but were instead trying to come up with a flavorful keyword ability for "Fires of Kaladesh" or some similar plane, then they could have come up with assembling contraptions as a keyword ability that was restricted to Rigger creatures for flavor reasons. They then could have dropped Steamflogger Boss into that set, and no one would be upset with the way it turned out. And if that's the case, I don't understand why we would be disappointed in my "work around." It seems to me to be a fairly common tool that R&D uses to have the players do something to or with creatures...
The reason is because they did make it as a joke card for Future Sight, and that in and of itself (plus years of constant hype from both inside and outside of R&D) created expectations beyond that of a normal card. People are eagerly awaiting contraptions now, and they're doing so because they want to see how something so wild and unique can be implemented. What they don't really want to see is something that uses semantics to dodge the reason they wanted to see it in the first place.
As I said, this is not a horrible stand alone mechanic. And you're right, if this was printed without steamflogger's existence it would make sense. But if this is trying to actually solve contraptions in a way that's satisfying to the real world audience, then yes it does have higher, stranger standards to meet. People are expecting something insane, creative, and unlike anything they've seen before. These expectations are unrealistic, but that doesn't mean the answer is ignoring them.
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It was at that moment that I realized: I'm kinda just making these things up. We can just write the rules the way we want them to work. People will have fun, and people will get it.
Apprentice Rigger (Common) R
Creature - Goblin Rigger
1/1 T, Sacrifice Apprentice Rigger: Apprentice Rigger assembles a contraption. (Two artifacts you control become one artifact with shared types, abilities, and total base power and toughness of the constituent artifacts. Creatures can't assemble contraptions during combat.)
Apprentice Rigger (Common) R
Creature - Goblin Rigger
1/1 T, Sacrifice Apprentice Rigger: Apprentice Rigger assembles a contraption. (Two artifacts you control become one artifact with shared types, abilities, and total base power and toughness of the constituent artifacts. Creatures can't assemble contraptions during combat.)
If I have Steamflogger Boss on the battlefield and I sacrifice this, how do I get my second Contraption?
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[c]Lightning Bolt[/c] -> Lightning Bolt
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Apprentice Rigger (Common) R
Creature - Goblin Rigger
1/1 T, Sacrifice Apprentice Rigger: Apprentice Rigger assembles a contraption. (Two artifacts you control become one artifact with shared types, abilities, and total base power and toughness of the constituent artifacts. Creatures can't assemble contraptions during combat.)
If I have Steamflogger Boss on the battlefield and I sacrifice this, how do I get my second Contraption?
This is why I wanted to use tokens.
Although, Steamflogger Boss may require that the action actually be performed twice, rather than just getting a second Contraption, in which case Legend's Rigger would work, I think. Depends on how the rule is worded...
What kind of mechanic would really feel like the creature did the assembling, though? One idea - what if all/part of the contraption was from artifacts that were equipped to the assembling creature? Like:
{T}: ~ assembles a contraption. (To assemble a contraption, exile any number of artifacts which are equipped to ~. Put a 0/1 artifact creature token onto the battlefield under your control. It has all abilities of the exiled cards as if they were equipped to it.)
That's pretty clunky phrasing, but you get the idea. However, I think it needs something else, this version doesn't seem substantially different than just equipping the stuff onto a cheap artifact creature to start with. Although I guess it would let you make a really hard to remove creature (Darksteel Plate + Whispersilk Cloak).
Another possibility is to make the creature stockpile the cards over time:
{T}: Exile an artifact you control.
{T}: ~ assembles a contraption. (To assemble a contraption, put an artifact token onto the battlefield under your control. It has all abilities of all cards exiled by ~. Return those cards to your graveyard.)
The resulting contraptions from that version would have to be pretty damn good though, to be worth that assembly time.
I think the relation needs to have to do with the characteristics of the assembling creature, e.g.
Grozzonardo da Krinci3R
Legendary Creature — Goblin Artificer (R)
When ~ enters the battlefield, it assembles a Contraption. (Put a Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield. It has, "Assembled by — Grozzonardo da Krinci, a Goblin, an Artificer.")
Contraptions assembled by Grozzonardo da Krinci have, "4, T: This deals 1 damage to target creature or player." 2R, T: Each Contraption you control loses all abilities and gains "Assembled by Grozzonardo da Krinci" until end of turn.
2/2
The idea being that Contraptions contain pointers that allow them to look at nearly Contraption-builders and are imbued with definition by them. Unfortunately unless you want to be very careful with timestamp tracking you have to avoid abilities that turn Contraptions into creatures.
What kind of mechanic would really feel like the creature did the assembling, though? One idea - what if all/part of the contraption was from artifacts that were equipped to the assembling creature? Like:
{T}: ~ assembles a contraption. (To assemble a contraption, exile any number of artifacts which are equipped to ~. Put a 0/1 artifact creature token onto the battlefield under your control. It has all abilities of the exiled cards as if they were equipped to it.)
That's pretty clunky phrasing, but you get the idea. However, I think it needs something else, this version doesn't seem substantially different than just equipping the stuff onto a cheap artifact creature to start with. Although I guess it would let you make a really hard to remove creature (Darksteel Plate + Whispersilk Cloak).
Another possibility is to make the creature stockpile the cards over time:
{T}: Exile an artifact you control.
{T}: ~ assembles a contraption. (To assemble a contraption, put an artifact token onto the battlefield under your control. It has all abilities of all cards exiled by ~. Return those cards to your graveyard.)
The resulting contraptions from that version would have to be pretty damn good though, to be worth that assembly time.
That's a good thought. I don't think the artifacts need to be returned to the graveyard, I think that would cause memory issues. I guess it could be done with something like how Imprint was done on Mimic Vat:
Klark-Clan Rigger 2R
Creature - Goblin Rigger 1R, T: Exile target artifact. Then if 3 or more cards have been exiled by ~, return all but two of those cards to their owners' graveyard. 1R, T: Assemble a Contraption. (To assemble a contraption, put a Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield under your control. It has all abilities of all cards exiled by ~.)
2/2
That serves two purposes: your little riggers can constantly change their contraptions as needed, and the contraption is tied to the creature. If your creature leaves the battlefield, then the contraption is set in stone. (The creature stops tinkering with his contraptions). Variations could alter the number of artifacts that a Rigger could assemble together to make a contraption (a legendary master Rigger might not have a limit to the number of contraptions it could assemble, for example). Also, it may be more balanced to limit the exiling to artifacts you control, and then maybe a UB Rigger could be flavored as a thief that steals opponents' artifacts.
I think the relation needs to have to do with the characteristics of the assembling creature, e.g.
Grozzonardo da Krinci3R
Legendary Creature — Goblin Artificer (R)
When ~ enters the battlefield, it assembles a Contraption. (Put a Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield. It has, "Assembled by — Grozzonardo da Krinci, a Goblin, an Artificer.")
Contraptions assembled by Grozzonardo da Krinci have, "4, T: This deals 1 damage to target creature or player." 2R, T: Each Contraption you control loses all abilities and gains "Assembled by Grozzonardo da Krinci" until end of turn.
2/2
The idea being that Contraptions contain pointers that allow them to look at nearly Contraption-builders and are imbued with definition by them. Unfortunately unless you want to be very careful with timestamp tracking you have to avoid abilities that turn Contraptions into creatures.
This version definitely works, but I don't think I would have as much fun with it. When I envision assembling, I see putting multiple game objects together. I think I would be disappointed if the solution to this issue was simply Riggers putting contraptions into play always with the same ability.
What about a ninjutsu type ability? Replacing an action that the creature is taking in a specific state with assembling a contraption. A replacement effect. It feels like trodden ground and will probably end with the same arguments.
It seems to me for creatures to assemble something and stay within the "spirit of the challenge", Assemble would have to become a meaningful vocabulary word like attack or block or tap and not just a mechanic. It will have to be a state that can be referenced. But what causes this state and what does it do?
It seems to me for creatures to assemble something and stay within the "spirit of the challenge", Assemble would have to become a meaningful vocabulary word like attack or block or tap and not just a mechanic. It will have to be a state that can be referenced. But what causes this state and what does it do?
I came up with assembly as a state a few years back.
My concept of Contraptions is an evolution of flip cards and level up cards. A Contraption changes form via assembly or disassembly.
Assemble is a keyword action, like tap, that changes a card's state from disassembled to assembled. All permanents enter the battlefield assembled, except Contraptions come in disassembled.
Contraption cards look like leveler cards in that the text box is partitioned to denote the card's current assemble state. The disassembled state may be indicated, for instance, by the O symbol and assembled state by | symbol (like off/on symbols on electronic devices.) A contraption card's rules text in either the disassembled or assembled box only applies while that card is in the appropriate state. Rules outside of both boxes are always in effect.
Contraptions usually come with the keyword ability Assembly. "Assembly <cost>" means "<cost>: Assemble this. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery and only if this is disassembled." This ability is always in effect since it is generally placed outside the disassembled/assembled rules boxes.
Instead of leveler frames, one could try double-faced cards. In this case, you'd want some rider text, like "When this becomes assembled, transform it."
I like the sac some artifacts to make a Contraption token.
Maybe something like this.
Apprentice Rigger 1R
Creature - Goblin Rigger T, Exile two noncreature artifacts with converted mana cost 0: Assemble a Contraption. (Put a Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield. It has all types, colors, and abilities of the exiled artifacts.)
Master Rigger 4UR
Creature - Human Rigger X, T, Exile two noncreature artifacts: Assemble a Contraption. X is the combined converted mana costs of the exiled artifacts. (Put a Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield. It has all types, colors, and abilities of the exiled artifacts.)
Professor Roborigger 3UBR
Legendary Creature - Skeleton Rigger XX, T, Exile two artifact creatures: Assemble a Contraption Construct. X is the combined converted mana costs of the exiled artifact creatures. (Put a Contraption Construct artifact creature token onto the battlefield. It has all types, colors, and abilities of the exiled artifact creatures. Its power and toughness are the total power and toughness of the exiled artifact creatures.)
This makes it so that the Riggers are assembling the Contraption tokens (and the Boss can make a second one).
I like the sac some artifacts to make a Contraption token.
Maybe something like this.
Apprentice Rigger 1R
Creature - Goblin Rigger T, Exile two noncreature artifacts with converted mana cost 0: Assemble a Contraption. (Put a Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield. It has all types, colors, and abilities of the exiled artifacts.)
This is problematic for multiple reasons, chiefest of which are that it is 2-for-1-yourself the mechanic and it doesn't function acceptably with CDAs.
Contraption Construct Golem Juggernaut
Artifact Creature (token) - Contraption Construct Golem Juggernaut
Indestructible
~'s power and toughness are each equal to the number of artifacts you control.
~'s power and toughness are each equal to the number of creatures on the battlefield.
~ attacks each turn if able.
?/?
What are the power and toughness of Contraption Construct? How do you tell? Its abilities have the same timestamp and apply on the same layer. You don't actually have them written on a card so you can't simply 'do what's written on the card in order'.
You can make a similarly confusing situation regarding the resultant token's colors with any Devoid Eldrazi, Transguild Courier and Liquimetal Coating.
This isn't solvable in the rules of MTG as it's currently written without actually writing out "characteristic-defining ability" on the card, and that is the reason that cards like Havengul Lich which can copy multiple cards' abilities do not copy static abilities.
Anyway the 2-for-1 thing and the ability clash are among the reasons that my design specifically doesn't incorporate the literal 'combine two objects' approach that is so popular as a proposed solution for this puzzle.
Apprentice Rigger (Common) R
Creature - Goblin Rigger
1/1 T, Sacrifice Apprentice Rigger: Apprentice Rigger assembles a contraption. (Two artifacts you control become one artifact with shared types, abilities, and total base power and toughness of the constituent artifacts. Creatures can't assemble contraptions during combat.)
If I have Steamflogger Boss on the battlefield and I sacrifice this, how do I get my second Contraption?
It's pretty simple. You only get it if you have two qualifying artifacts to assemble. If you don't, then Steamflogger's effect just fizzles like any other triggered ability. Nothing new really.
A better question imo is, if I activate Apprentice while I control a Steamflogger and three artifacts, will the abilities of Steamflogger and Apprentice stack in a way that allows me to wind up with a single contraption?
It's pretty simple. You only get it if you have two qualifying artifacts to assemble. If you don't, then Steamflogger's effect just fizzles like any other triggered ability. Nothing new really.
Steamflogger Boss doesn't have a triggered ability. There's nothing that "fizzles".
A better question imo is, if I activate Apprentice while I control a Steamflogger and three artifacts, will the abilities of Steamflogger and Apprentice stack in a way that allows me to wind up with a single contraption?
Yes, there is, but it's somewhat confusing. You can merge A+B together, then merge (A+B)+C together to make ((A+B)+C). Many would think that you'd need A, B, C, and D for the replacement effect to apply successfully, with (A+B) and (C+D) being the resultant Contraptions.
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
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First, I think this necessitates a second subtype beyond Contraptions: Modules (or Components, Parts, Gears, Pieces, Units, etc.).
Modules would look like these:
Knowledge Widget - 3
Artifact — Module
When ~ is sacrificed to assemble a Contraption, that Contraption gains "At the beginning of your upkeep, draw a card."
Suit of War - 3
Artifact — Module
When ~ is sacrificed to assemble a Contraption, that Contraption gains "1: This Contraption becomes a colorless 3/3 Construct artifact creature until end of turn. It's still a Contraption."
Siege Perimeter - 4
Artifact — Module
When ~ is sacrificed to assemble a Contraption, that Contraption gains "Whenever a creature attacks you or a planeswalker you control, this Contraption deals 1 damage to that creature."
Galvanized Steel - 1
Artifact — Module
When ~ is sacrificed to assemble a Contraption, that Contraption gains indestructible.
Disassembler - 2
Artifact — Module
When ~ is sacrificed to assemble a Contraption, that Contraption gains "Sacrifice this Contraption: Return up to two target Module cards from your graveyard to your hand."
Sureshot Scope - 2
Artifact — Module
When ~ is sacrificed to assemble a Contraption, that Contraption gains "{T}: This Contraptions deals one damage to target creature or player."
Basilisk Gear - 2
Artifact — Module
When ~ is sacrificed to assemble a Contraption, that Contraption gains deathtouch and lifelink.
Pendulum Switch - 3
Artifact — Module
When ~ is sacrificed to assemble a Contraption, that Contraption gains "{T}: Choose a counter on target permanent or player. Remove that counter from that permanent or player or put another of those counters on it."
Feedback Loop - 3
Artifact — Module
When ~ is sacrificed to assemble a Contraption, that Contraption gains "Whenever an activated ability of this Contraption is activated, you may copy that ability. You may choose new targets for the copy."
Toolbox - 1
Artifact — Module
When ~ is sacrificed to assemble a Contraption, that Contraption gains "Creatures you control have '{T}: This creature assembles a Contraption.'"
Assembly Line - 2
Artifact — Module
When ~ is sacrificed to assemble a Contraption, that Contraption gains "At the beginning of your upkeep, put a colorless 1/1 Construct artifact creature token onto the battlefield."
Generator Circuit - 2
Artifact — Module
When ~ is sacrificed to assemble a Contraption, that Contraption gains "{T}: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool."
And the Riggers would work like this:
Eager Engineer - 2R
Creature — Human Rigger
Haste
{T}: ~ assembles a Contraption. (To assemble a Contraption, this creature's controller may sacrifice two Modules he or she controls. If he or she does, he or she puts a colorless Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield.)
1/2
Steamflogger Trainee - R
Creature — Goblin Rigger
2R{T}: ~ assembles a Contraption. (To assemble a Contraption, this creature's controller may sacrifice two Modules he or she controls. If he or she does, he or she puts a colorless Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield.)
1/1
Overseer's Pet - 2RR
Creature — Insect Rigger
When ~ enters the battlefield, it assembles a Contraption, then deals damage to target creature or player equal to the number of Contraptions on the battlefield. (To assemble a Contraption, this creature's controller may sacrifice two Modules he or she controls. If he or she does, he or she puts a colorless Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield.)
3/3
Scrapheap Shambler - 3GB
Creature — Zombie Rigger
1GB: ~ assembles a Contraption. Return up to two target Module cards from your graveyard to your hand. (To assemble a Contraption, this creature's controller may sacrifice two Modules he or she controls. If he or she does, he or she puts a colorless Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield.)
2/5
Steam-Powered Automaton - 3
Artifact Creature - Rigger Construct
~'s power and toughness are each equal to the number of Modules and Contraptions you control.
1{T}: ~ assembles a Contraption. (To assemble a Contraption, this creature's controller may sacrifice two Modules he or she controls. If he or she does, he or she puts a colorless Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield.)
*/*
And some other support:
Thoughtful Apprentice - 1U
Creature — Vedalken Rigger
1U: Put a Module artifact token with no abilities onto the battlefield.
1/1
Factory Researcher - 2U
Creature — Vedalken Rigger
Whenever a creature you control assembles a Contraption, draw a card.
2/2
Lightning Assembly - UR
Instant
Target creature assembles a Contraption. (To assemble a Contraption, that creature's controller may sacrifice two Modules he or she controls. If he or she does, he or she puts a colorless Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield.)
Loot the Factory - 3BB
Sorcery
Search your library for up to two Module cards and put them onto the battlefield. Then, target creature you control assembles a Contraption. (To assemble a Contraption, that creature's controller may sacrifice two Modules he or she controls. If he or she does, he or she puts a colorless Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield.)
Industry - UWR
Enchantment
Module spells you control cost 1 less to cast.
Activated abilities of Riggers you control cost 1 less to activate.
Activated abilities of Contraptions you control cost 1 less to activate.
Etc. Basically, creatures that can build your own unique artifact with two separate abilities. The abilities might be incredibly synergistic (Basilisk Gear and Siege Perimeter), or it might just be build your own Staff of Nin (Knowledge Widget and Sureshot Scope). Or it might be an overpriced Darksteel Relic (Feedback Loop and Galvanized Steel).
I believe the mechanic is easily grokkable (combine two artifacts for a combined effect, got it). It has to be a creature ability in order for Steamflogger Boss to work properly, so it would be impossible to make a creatureless Contraption deck. Because of the requirement for at least three cards to make any Contraption (two modules and a creature to assemble them), they need to be incredibly powerful for their cost in order to see any play. Most of the Modules I designed here could probably be cheaper or more powerful and still be fair.
Ok, so I'm not a rules guru, so I'm not sure if these work like I want them to. Am I missing something? Should the Riggers and spells be templated like this instead?
Revised Eager Engineer - 2R
Creature — Human Rigger
Haste
Sacrifice two Modules, {T}: ~ assembles a Contraption. (Put a colorless Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield.)
1/2
Revised Lightning Assembly - UR
Instant
Target creature you control gains "Sacrifice two Modules: This creature assembles a Contraption. Activate this ability only once each turn." until end of turn.
Help me, MTGS, you're my only hope!
Modern - UG Mana Denial GU
. . . . . . .
WBG Melira Pod GBWCommander - BR Olivia Voldaren RB Vampire Tribal
. . . . . . . . . WUB Sharuum the Hegemon BUW Not-Broken Artifact Midrange
. . . . . . . . . WUG Rafiq of the Many GUW Voltron
. . . . . . . . . . .UB Oona, Queen of the Fae BU No-combo Tempo-Mill
. . . . . . . . . WUB Oloro, Ageless Ascetic BUW Pillow Fort
If you're trying to make an 'assemble' mechanic, you have to think of it like attacking or blocking - not like outlast.
Lead Tesla, a community set designed by everyone and led by me, over at Goblin Artisans. Index of articles here!
The Bad - There are some technical issues, but I don't think they're insurmountable.
The Ugly - It seems to be too parasitic to implement in a fun and effective way.
Perhaps your take on Assemble could be broadened to include Modules and also other artifacts? Just spit-balling:
Assemble (Exile two artifacts: Put a colorless Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield. It has the types, activated abilities, and total base power and toughness of the sacrificed artifacts. Assemble only as a sorcery.)
Ok, I get that. I even referenced it in the OP. But is there anything in the rules that prevents a creature keyword from involving player actions? For example, fighting and attacking are creature keywords, but the player has to make choices. Probably the most obvious one of these is Exploit. Exploit's rules say:
Look at Sidisi. The player does the sacrificing, and yet Sidisi is said to have exploited the creature. I don't see why assembling a Contraption can't be written similarly:
Why doesn't that work?
Modern - UG Mana Denial GU
. . . . . . .
WBG Melira Pod GBWCommander - BR Olivia Voldaren RB Vampire Tribal
. . . . . . . . . WUB Sharuum the Hegemon BUW Not-Broken Artifact Midrange
. . . . . . . . . WUG Rafiq of the Many GUW Voltron
. . . . . . . . . . .UB Oona, Queen of the Fae BU No-combo Tempo-Mill
. . . . . . . . . WUB Oloro, Ageless Ascetic BUW Pillow Fort
I like this version, although I would only keep the artifacts' activated abilities as opposed to all abilities. You don't want a card with both defined base power and toughness and CDA's that define them, right?
[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
I like this solution. I was considering exile as an alternative to sacrificing, since that would solve the memory issues (just stick the exiled cards behind the token to reference it's abilities), And it doesn't make too much sense to be able to reuse modules while they're in use in another contraption, so exiling might be better than sacrificing. I think it's elegant.
Your version also prevents parasitism, which is great, although R&D would have to be super-careful about what artifacts get printed in all of the surrounding blocks to prevent easy combos in Standard. I shudder thinking of Wurmcoil Engine assembled with Mage-Ring Responder in Tron if assembling was too easy (or, probably more devastating, Baleful Strix and Caltrops).
Modern - UG Mana Denial GU
. . . . . . .
WBG Melira Pod GBWCommander - BR Olivia Voldaren RB Vampire Tribal
. . . . . . . . . WUB Sharuum the Hegemon BUW Not-Broken Artifact Midrange
. . . . . . . . . WUG Rafiq of the Many GUW Voltron
. . . . . . . . . . .UB Oona, Queen of the Fae BU No-combo Tempo-Mill
. . . . . . . . . WUB Oloro, Ageless Ascetic BUW Pillow Fort
Maybe don't allow the ability to use creatures?
Eager Engineer - 2R
Creature — Human Rigger
Haste
{T}: ~ assembles a Contraption. (To assemble a Contraption, this creature's controller may exile two noncreature artifacts he or she controls. If he or she does, he or she puts a colorless Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield. It has the types and abilities of the cards exiled this way.)
1/2
Then as support just in the block, you can make artifacts with abilities that can't be used unless they've been assembled into a Contraption, like the Modules (except they wouldn't need the Module subtype). Like this:
Knowledge Widget - 3
Artifact
When ~ is exiled to assemble a Contraption, that Contraption gains "At the beginning of your upkeep, draw a card."
These modules could then be undercosted compared to their non-module counterparts to help sell the mechanic. There could also just be random artifacts like this:
Feedback Loop - 2
Artifact
Whenever an activated ability of ~ is activated, you may copy that ability. You may choose new targets for the copy.
That does nothing on its own, but is powerful when used to assemble a Contraption. There may have to be more like this one and less like the first one...
Modern - UG Mana Denial GU
. . . . . . .
WBG Melira Pod GBWCommander - BR Olivia Voldaren RB Vampire Tribal
. . . . . . . . . WUB Sharuum the Hegemon BUW Not-Broken Artifact Midrange
. . . . . . . . . WUG Rafiq of the Many GUW Voltron
. . . . . . . . . . .UB Oona, Queen of the Fae BU No-combo Tempo-Mill
. . . . . . . . . WUB Oloro, Ageless Ascetic BUW Pillow Fort
FWIW, I don't hate the design overall. I agree with Legend that it feels way too parasitic to see print in most expansions, but it wouldn't take much to change that. However, I believe the majority of people (including MaRo) would end up disappointed if this was the result of the infamous contraption challenge. It just forgoes dealing with the actually difficult part of the problem.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
Comic Book Set
Archester: Frontier of Steam (A steampunk set!)
A Good Place to Start Designing
Just what everyone's saying: "player assembling =/= Rigger assembling".
If this is the case, I feel like it's a false constraint. What keyword actions or abilities are there in Magic that a creature does rather than its controller? The only keyword actions or abilities that I see that are templated as a creature doing something (rather than its controller) are attacking, blocking, fighting, exploiting, and devouring. But even those abilities and things that trigger off of them are actually triggered by player action, not creature action: "Whenever a creature with flying attacks..." actually means "Whenever a creature with flying is declared as an attacker [by its controller]..."
Other keyword abilities have the same issue. Exploit refers to creatures taking an action, but it is a work around, as I mentioned earlier. Devour is similar. Devour means "you may sacrifice any number of creatures," but it is templated as a creature "devouring" other creatures (Marrow Chomper). Evolve means "put a +1/+1 counter on this creature," but it is templated as a creature "evolving" (Battering Krasis).
Would this be a valid template under the current rules: "If a creature would Evolve, put two +1/+1 counters on it instead."? If so, then I think the constraint that assembling a contracption has to be a creature keyword action that doesn't involve the player is overly restrictive in a way that WotC R&D doesn't apply to themselves in any other context.
If they hadn't made Steamflogger Boss as a joke in Future Sight, but were instead trying to come up with a flavorful keyword ability for "Fires of Kaladesh" or some similar plane, then they could have come up with assembling contraptions as a keyword ability that was restricted to Rigger creatures for flavor reasons. They then could have dropped Steamflogger Boss into that set, and no one would be upset with the way it turned out. And if that's the case, I don't understand why we would be disappointed in my "work around." It seems to me to be a fairly common tool that R&D uses to have the players do something to or with creatures...
Modern - UG Mana Denial GU
. . . . . . .
WBG Melira Pod GBWCommander - BR Olivia Voldaren RB Vampire Tribal
. . . . . . . . . WUB Sharuum the Hegemon BUW Not-Broken Artifact Midrange
. . . . . . . . . WUG Rafiq of the Many GUW Voltron
. . . . . . . . . . .UB Oona, Queen of the Fae BU No-combo Tempo-Mill
. . . . . . . . . WUB Oloro, Ageless Ascetic BUW Pillow Fort
I'm using the variant that I quoted above (Legend's but with a slight modification).
A player would assemble a Contraption if a spell that player controls instructs them to do so. A creature assembles a Contraption if the instruction to perform the keyword action was due to the resolution of one of its activated or triggered abilities.
[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
It cleans up the design quite a bit, but at the expense of flavor. Most players don't know how or why most abilities work, so I think that with my current work-around, most of the player base would be ok with it. If some cards allow players to assemble contraptions without the involvement of Riggers, though, then the work-around becomes obvious and part B of the rule feels tacked on, and I think that sets up more people for disappointment.
The rule could be written:
This allows for players to assemble contraptions without creature involvement. However, if I were leading the first set with contraptions, I would not put any cards in the set that allow for the assembly of contraptions without Riggers, for the reasons I mentioned earlier. Future sets could forgo the Riggers and just have an assembly subtheme without the further need for a rule change, and by then Riggers assembling Contraptions will have been around long enough for most people to be satisfied with the Steamflogger Boss execution.
Modern - UG Mana Denial GU
. . . . . . .
WBG Melira Pod GBWCommander - BR Olivia Voldaren RB Vampire Tribal
. . . . . . . . . WUB Sharuum the Hegemon BUW Not-Broken Artifact Midrange
. . . . . . . . . WUG Rafiq of the Many GUW Voltron
. . . . . . . . . . .UB Oona, Queen of the Fae BU No-combo Tempo-Mill
. . . . . . . . . WUB Oloro, Ageless Ascetic BUW Pillow Fort
Yes, WotC could decide that a creature assembling a contraption really just means a player doing something related to a creature ability, but clearly they don't believe this or contraptions would be absolutely no problem to solve at all. When Aaron Forsythe or Mark Rosewater talk about the challenge of contraptions, they always specifically mention the fact that creatures assembling the contraptions is the key. Finding a workaround is serviceable, but not exciting. It's a solution, but not one that retains what made the problem interesting and unique in the first place.
The reason is because they did make it as a joke card for Future Sight, and that in and of itself (plus years of constant hype from both inside and outside of R&D) created expectations beyond that of a normal card. People are eagerly awaiting contraptions now, and they're doing so because they want to see how something so wild and unique can be implemented. What they don't really want to see is something that uses semantics to dodge the reason they wanted to see it in the first place.
As I said, this is not a horrible stand alone mechanic. And you're right, if this was printed without steamflogger's existence it would make sense. But if this is trying to actually solve contraptions in a way that's satisfying to the real world audience, then yes it does have higher, stranger standards to meet. People are expecting something insane, creative, and unlike anything they've seen before. These expectations are unrealistic, but that doesn't mean the answer is ignoring them.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
Comic Book Set
Archester: Frontier of Steam (A steampunk set!)
A Good Place to Start Designing
Apprentice Rigger (Common)
R
Creature - Goblin Rigger
1/1
T, Sacrifice Apprentice Rigger: Apprentice Rigger assembles a contraption. (Two artifacts you control become one artifact with shared types, abilities, and total base power and toughness of the constituent artifacts. Creatures can't assemble contraptions during combat.)
If I have Steamflogger Boss on the battlefield and I sacrifice this, how do I get my second Contraption?
[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
This is why I wanted to use tokens.
Although, Steamflogger Boss may require that the action actually be performed twice, rather than just getting a second Contraption, in which case Legend's Rigger would work, I think. Depends on how the rule is worded...
Modern - UG Mana Denial GU
. . . . . . .
WBG Melira Pod GBWCommander - BR Olivia Voldaren RB Vampire Tribal
. . . . . . . . . WUB Sharuum the Hegemon BUW Not-Broken Artifact Midrange
. . . . . . . . . WUG Rafiq of the Many GUW Voltron
. . . . . . . . . . .UB Oona, Queen of the Fae BU No-combo Tempo-Mill
. . . . . . . . . WUB Oloro, Ageless Ascetic BUW Pillow Fort
{T}: ~ assembles a contraption. (To assemble a contraption, exile any number of artifacts which are equipped to ~. Put a 0/1 artifact creature token onto the battlefield under your control. It has all abilities of the exiled cards as if they were equipped to it.)
That's pretty clunky phrasing, but you get the idea. However, I think it needs something else, this version doesn't seem substantially different than just equipping the stuff onto a cheap artifact creature to start with. Although I guess it would let you make a really hard to remove creature (Darksteel Plate + Whispersilk Cloak).
Another possibility is to make the creature stockpile the cards over time:
{T}: Exile an artifact you control.
{T}: ~ assembles a contraption. (To assemble a contraption, put an artifact token onto the battlefield under your control. It has all abilities of all cards exiled by ~. Return those cards to your graveyard.)
The resulting contraptions from that version would have to be pretty damn good though, to be worth that assembly time.
Grozzonardo da Krinci 3R
Legendary Creature — Goblin Artificer (R)
When ~ enters the battlefield, it assembles a Contraption. (Put a Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield. It has, "Assembled by — Grozzonardo da Krinci, a Goblin, an Artificer.")
Contraptions assembled by Grozzonardo da Krinci have, "4, T: This deals 1 damage to target creature or player."
2R, T: Each Contraption you control loses all abilities and gains "Assembled by Grozzonardo da Krinci" until end of turn.
2/2
The idea being that Contraptions contain pointers that allow them to look at nearly Contraption-builders and are imbued with definition by them. Unfortunately unless you want to be very careful with timestamp tracking you have to avoid abilities that turn Contraptions into creatures.
Klark-Clan Rigger 2R
Creature - Goblin Rigger
1R, T: Exile target artifact. Then if 3 or more cards have been exiled by ~, return all but two of those cards to their owners' graveyard.
1R, T: Assemble a Contraption. (To assemble a contraption, put a Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield under your control. It has all abilities of all cards exiled by ~.)
2/2
That serves two purposes: your little riggers can constantly change their contraptions as needed, and the contraption is tied to the creature. If your creature leaves the battlefield, then the contraption is set in stone. (The creature stops tinkering with his contraptions). Variations could alter the number of artifacts that a Rigger could assemble together to make a contraption (a legendary master Rigger might not have a limit to the number of contraptions it could assemble, for example). Also, it may be more balanced to limit the exiling to artifacts you control, and then maybe a UB Rigger could be flavored as a thief that steals opponents' artifacts. This version definitely works, but I don't think I would have as much fun with it. When I envision assembling, I see putting multiple game objects together. I think I would be disappointed if the solution to this issue was simply Riggers putting contraptions into play always with the same ability.
Modern - UG Mana Denial GU
. . . . . . .
WBG Melira Pod GBWCommander - BR Olivia Voldaren RB Vampire Tribal
. . . . . . . . . WUB Sharuum the Hegemon BUW Not-Broken Artifact Midrange
. . . . . . . . . WUG Rafiq of the Many GUW Voltron
. . . . . . . . . . .UB Oona, Queen of the Fae BU No-combo Tempo-Mill
. . . . . . . . . WUB Oloro, Ageless Ascetic BUW Pillow Fort
It seems to me for creatures to assemble something and stay within the "spirit of the challenge", Assemble would have to become a meaningful vocabulary word like attack or block or tap and not just a mechanic. It will have to be a state that can be referenced. But what causes this state and what does it do?
I came up with assembly as a state a few years back.
Assemble is a keyword action, like tap, that changes a card's state from disassembled to assembled. All permanents enter the battlefield assembled, except Contraptions come in disassembled.
Contraption cards look like leveler cards in that the text box is partitioned to denote the card's current assemble state. The disassembled state may be indicated, for instance, by the O symbol and assembled state by | symbol (like off/on symbols on electronic devices.) A contraption card's rules text in either the disassembled or assembled box only applies while that card is in the appropriate state. Rules outside of both boxes are always in effect.
Contraptions usually come with the keyword ability Assembly. "Assembly <cost>" means "<cost>: Assemble this. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery and only if this is disassembled." This ability is always in effect since it is generally placed outside the disassembled/assembled rules boxes.
Instead of leveler frames, one could try double-faced cards. In this case, you'd want some rider text, like "When this becomes assembled, transform it."
........................
Maybe something like this.
Apprentice Rigger 1R
Creature - Goblin Rigger
T, Exile two noncreature artifacts with converted mana cost 0: Assemble a Contraption. (Put a Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield. It has all types, colors, and abilities of the exiled artifacts.)
Master Rigger 4UR
Creature - Human Rigger
X, T, Exile two noncreature artifacts: Assemble a Contraption. X is the combined converted mana costs of the exiled artifacts. (Put a Contraption artifact token onto the battlefield. It has all types, colors, and abilities of the exiled artifacts.)
Professor Roborigger 3UBR
Legendary Creature - Skeleton Rigger
XX, T, Exile two artifact creatures: Assemble a Contraption Construct. X is the combined converted mana costs of the exiled artifact creatures. (Put a Contraption Construct artifact creature token onto the battlefield. It has all types, colors, and abilities of the exiled artifact creatures. Its power and toughness are the total power and toughness of the exiled artifact creatures.)
This makes it so that the Riggers are assembling the Contraption tokens (and the Boss can make a second one).
This is problematic for multiple reasons, chiefest of which are that it is 2-for-1-yourself the mechanic and it doesn't function acceptably with CDAs.
Example:
You use Professor Roborigger to assemble a Beast of Burden with a Darksteel Juggernaut. You now control the following token:
Contraption Construct Golem Juggernaut
Artifact Creature (token) - Contraption Construct Golem Juggernaut
Indestructible
~'s power and toughness are each equal to the number of artifacts you control.
~'s power and toughness are each equal to the number of creatures on the battlefield.
~ attacks each turn if able.
?/?
What are the power and toughness of Contraption Construct? How do you tell? Its abilities have the same timestamp and apply on the same layer. You don't actually have them written on a card so you can't simply 'do what's written on the card in order'.
You can make a similarly confusing situation regarding the resultant token's colors with any Devoid Eldrazi, Transguild Courier and Liquimetal Coating.
This isn't solvable in the rules of MTG as it's currently written without actually writing out "characteristic-defining ability" on the card, and that is the reason that cards like Havengul Lich which can copy multiple cards' abilities do not copy static abilities.
Anyway the 2-for-1 thing and the ability clash are among the reasons that my design specifically doesn't incorporate the literal 'combine two objects' approach that is so popular as a proposed solution for this puzzle.
It's pretty simple. You only get it if you have two qualifying artifacts to assemble. If you don't, then Steamflogger's effect just fizzles like any other triggered ability. Nothing new really.
A better question imo is, if I activate Apprentice while I control a Steamflogger and three artifacts, will the abilities of Steamflogger and Apprentice stack in a way that allows me to wind up with a single contraption?
Steamflogger Boss doesn't have a triggered ability. There's nothing that "fizzles".
Yes, there is, but it's somewhat confusing. You can merge A+B together, then merge (A+B)+C together to make ((A+B)+C). Many would think that you'd need A, B, C, and D for the replacement effect to apply successfully, with (A+B) and (C+D) being the resultant Contraptions.
[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