I seem to recall Burning Wish being overpowered on account of essentially allowing 7 copies of a sorcery to be played. Besides, those wishes are all from Judgement when more recent examples exist. Mastermind's Acquisition and Coax from the Blind Eternities are both sorceries and cost more than 2.
In any format where they are allowed, wishes are very nearly as strong as tutors. Old tutors are known to have been undercosted, so old wishes shouldn't be considered any differently IMO.
It's the randomness factor that makes a high mana cost problematix. Mastermind hits any cars anywhere with 100% guarantee, this doesn't actually give you what you want.
Compare to Glittering Wish which is modern legal and 2 mana but the cost of the card being multicolor means it still sees little play.
I'm focused on making Wishes Ungranted a fun card moreso than a competitive one, and honestly I think it'll be more fun if it isn't competitive. Gamble really isn't what we should be using as a base for tutors; it was out of color pie for red, and even if it wasn't, it was far too effective. Three mana just feels right here, as much for the aesthetic theme as curve costing.
Yes, this would probably see more play in Commander than Standard, and I'm fine with that. Standard doesn't need a super-efficient tutor. What I'm looking for is a useful card with a genie theme that's mechanically inspired by a certain infamous card from the past.
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MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
I wonder: Could Wishes Ungranted be a monored card? The art could depict an Efreet rather than a Djinn. And though you have some say in what card you can get with it, ultimately the opponent chooses which one you get.
Wishes Ungranted2R
Instant
Search your library for up to three cards with different names and reveal them. An opponent chooses two of those cards. Put the card not chosen into your hand, then shuffle the chosen cards into your library.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
Well, both Gifts Ungiven and Intuition are blue. Those alongside cards like Fact or Fiction and Sphinx of Uthuun mark blue as home of the "I get one or more of these, but you decide which" effects. As mostly-unconditional tutors I feel like those first two probably should have been in black instead, but were printed at a time when blue was still the dumping ground for new mechanics and altogether de-facto best color.
If something similar were printed today, I think it would now be blue just out of tradition.
Contrasting that, red gets all-or-nothing Browbeat effects like Combustible Gearhulk, Sin Prodder, or the upcoming Risk Factor. In every case it always comes down to "you can take a disproportionate amount of damage to completely negate the draw".
So I would think a red version would be something like...
"Choose target opponent, then search your library for up to three cards with different names and exile them. For each card exiled this way, the chosen player may have Wishes Ungranted deal 2 damage to them. If they don't, return that card to your hand."
Wishes Ungranted2R
Instant
Search your library for up to three cards with different names and reveal them. An opponent chooses two of those cards. Put the card not chosen into your hand, then shuffle the chosen cards into your library.
I feel the effect is established in blue and there are just many different effects at the rarity level you are it with this; you can just go a slightly different route and put the variant effect into another color e. g. I just commented on a variant to the idea that might very well reclaim the effect (or better: a variant of it) for black.
What this is lacking is an air of lost control/recklessness that red favors. I'm not going to suggest the vriant I'm proposing next for the "Three Wishes" flavor necessarily, but just as examples how red could claim similar effects:
Palms Full of Ash
Instant
Discard your hand, then draw M cards. Reveal your hand. An opponent chooses N cards from your hand. Discard the chosen cards. "'Power to set things on fire with a touch'? Wish granted. What will be your final wish, then? Did I hear 'No longer being on fire'?"
Amass Riches
Instant
Reveal the top M cards of your library. An opponent chooses N of those cards. Put the chosen cards on the bottom of your library and the remaining cards into your hand. She wished for enviable riches, but not the means to defend them.
I suppose someone already suggested something along the typical red lines of:
Desires Manifest
Instant
Exile cards from the top of your library until you reveal M nonland cards. An opponent chooses N of those cards. Until the begining of your next end step may cast the chosen cards without paying their mana cost. He wished for love, but not for requital.
One thing this thread gave me was an appreciation of how much fun it is to write flavor text for these.
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Planar Chaos was not a mistake neither was it random. You might want to look at it again.
[thread=239793][Game] Level Up - Creature[/thread]
Well, both Gifts Ungiven and Intuition are blue. Those alongside cards like Fact or Fiction and Sphinx of Uthuun mark blue as home of the "I get one or more of these, but you decide which" effects.
I think every color can get Gifts variants based on card types they're allowed to tutor. Black is the least likely to get a Gifts effect, but if it did, it would most likely keep the cards face down and turn the card into a guessing game for your opponent. Secrets Untold?
Another option could be something like Signal the Clans, where you get one of the three cards at random.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
I think every color can get Gifts variants based on card types they're allowed to tutor. Black is the least likely to get a Gifts effect, but if it did, it would most likely keep the cards face down and turn the card into a guessing game for your opponent. Secrets Untold?
Unless you keep one pile face-up like Fortune's Favor that'd just be a psychological guess and remove much of the appeal of the card in evaluating the cards you can see.
In a very real way Gifts Ungiven is a more black effect than Fact or Fiction since it's a tutor as opposed to taking cards from the top.
---
Since I'm already here:
Naive Request
Instant
Draw four cards, then reveal half of the cards from your hand, rounded down. An opponent may have you discard the cards revealed this way. If they don't, discard the cards not revealed this way. She wished to be inflammable, where she really ought to have asked for a dictionary.
How amazing would that be in a set with madness?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Planar Chaos was not a mistake neither was it random. You might want to look at it again.
[thread=239793][Game] Level Up - Creature[/thread]
In any format where they are allowed, wishes are very nearly as strong as tutors. Old tutors are known to have been undercosted, so old wishes shouldn't be considered any differently IMO.
- Rabid Wombat
Compare to Glittering Wish which is modern legal and 2 mana but the cost of the card being multicolor means it still sees little play.
Yes, this would probably see more play in Commander than Standard, and I'm fine with that. Standard doesn't need a super-efficient tutor. What I'm looking for is a useful card with a genie theme that's mechanically inspired by a certain infamous card from the past.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
Wishes Ungranted 2R
Instant
Search your library for up to three cards with different names and reveal them. An opponent chooses two of those cards. Put the card not chosen into your hand, then shuffle the chosen cards into your library.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
If something similar were printed today, I think it would now be blue just out of tradition.
Contrasting that, red gets all-or-nothing Browbeat effects like Combustible Gearhulk, Sin Prodder, or the upcoming Risk Factor. In every case it always comes down to "you can take a disproportionate amount of damage to completely negate the draw".
So I would think a red version would be something like...
"Choose target opponent, then search your library for up to three cards with different names and exile them. For each card exiled this way, the chosen player may have Wishes Ungranted deal 2 damage to them. If they don't, return that card to your hand."
- Rabid Wombat
I feel the effect is established in blue and there are just many different effects at the rarity level you are it with this; you can just go a slightly different route and put the variant effect into another color e. g. I just commented on a variant to the idea that might very well reclaim the effect (or better: a variant of it) for black.
What this is lacking is an air of lost control/recklessness that red favors. I'm not going to suggest the vriant I'm proposing next for the "Three Wishes" flavor necessarily, but just as examples how red could claim similar effects:
Palms Full of Ash
Instant
Discard your hand, then draw M cards. Reveal your hand. An opponent chooses N cards from your hand. Discard the chosen cards.
"'Power to set things on fire with a touch'? Wish granted. What will be your final wish, then? Did I hear 'No longer being on fire'?"
Amass Riches
Instant
Reveal the top M cards of your library. An opponent chooses N of those cards. Put the chosen cards on the bottom of your library and the remaining cards into your hand.
She wished for enviable riches, but not the means to defend them.
I suppose someone already suggested something along the typical red lines of:
Desires Manifest
Instant
Exile cards from the top of your library until you reveal M nonland cards. An opponent chooses N of those cards. Until the begining of your next end step may cast the chosen cards without paying their mana cost.
He wished for love, but not for requital.
One thing this thread gave me was an appreciation of how much fun it is to write flavor text for these.
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
Factions: Sleeping
Remnants: Valheim
Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO
I think every color can get Gifts variants based on card types they're allowed to tutor. Black is the least likely to get a Gifts effect, but if it did, it would most likely keep the cards face down and turn the card into a guessing game for your opponent. Secrets Untold?
Another option could be something like Signal the Clans, where you get one of the three cards at random.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
Unless you keep one pile face-up like Fortune's Favor that'd just be a psychological guess and remove much of the appeal of the card in evaluating the cards you can see.
Maybe they'd make a card that does a very black effect like Zombify and call it Boneyard Parley or a Damnation variant an call it Do or Die. ^^
In a very real way Gifts Ungiven is a more black effect than Fact or Fiction since it's a tutor as opposed to taking cards from the top.
---
Since I'm already here:
Naive Request
Instant
Draw four cards, then reveal half of the cards from your hand, rounded down. An opponent may have you discard the cards revealed this way. If they don't, discard the cards not revealed this way.
She wished to be inflammable, where she really ought to have asked for a dictionary.
How amazing would that be in a set with madness?
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
Factions: Sleeping
Remnants: Valheim
Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO