A design & development question I was thinking about the other day: We know Auras are risky and have inherent card disadvantage. But how much value can we design an Aura to have while keeping that risk, so that the Aura is playable without being an "I win if this resolves" card?
Caveat: For the purposes of this discussion I'm only talking about limited, as I don't play enough constructed to have an answer.
(First two designs deleted as they are incorrect for the thread's topic and goal.)
Rune of Corrosion1BB
Enchantment - Aura [Uncommon]
Enchant artifact or creature
At the beginning of your upkeep, enchanted permanent's controller loses 2 life.
^Increasing the amount of card types that the Aura can enchant could increase the playability. I believe this specific effect is in black's color pie (see Stab Wound and Relic Bane).
Primeval Mark2GG
Enchantment - Aura [Rare]
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and has "Whenever this creature attacks, you may search your library for up to two basic land cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle your library."
^Build your own mini Primeval Titan. I believe the level of aggressive ramp and card advantage offsets the aura's inherent risk without being game-breaking.
Consecrated Mark1UU
Enchantment - Aura [Rare]
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has "Whenever an opponent draws a card, you may draw a card."
Vivacity3GUR
Enchantment - Aura [Mythic]
Cascade (When you cast this spell, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card that costs less. You may cast it without paying its mana cost. Put the exiled cards on the bottom of your library in a random order.)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +3/+3, and has haste, flying, and all abilities of each other multicolored permanent.
^Cascade seems like a good way to get some value out of casting an Aura, regardless of it getting countered. But then, I'm kind of cheating as at the beginning of this post I explicitly stated my goal was to create Auras that don't bypass the initial risk of card disadvantage inherent in being an Aura. Bizarrely, while designing this card I noticed that there currently doesn't exist a single Aura with cascade (I imagine there are some good reasons for this that I have yet to realize).
I don't get where exactly you draw the line for "cheating" the card advantage. Apparently cascade is kinda cheating, but getting to tutor cards when you attack isn't? So you count only card disadvantage due to instant speed removal, but not due to sorcery speed removal?
You have many levels on which an Aura can fail. Some youcatch, some you don't. But half of these don't push past the card disadvantage, but balance it with card advantage of their own, which is not what I expected from the introduction, so I'd like more insight into what exactly you are trying to do here.
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]
I don't get where exactly you draw the line for "cheating" the card advantage. Apparently cascade is kinda cheating, but getting to tutor cards when you attack isn't? So you count only card disadvantage due to instant speed removal, but not due to sorcery speed removal?
You have many levels on which an Aura can fail. Some youcatch, some you don't. But half of these don't push past the card disadvantage, but balance it with card advantage of their own, which is not what I expected from the introduction, so I'd like more insight into what exactly you are trying to do here.
Edit 2: Disregard my first two Auras, the white one and green one. I'll deleted them now as they are incorrect for the purpose of this thread and are blatantly misleading.
I probably should have been more clear/explicit in my original post. The biggest issue with Auras is the risk from the Aura's target being removed before the Aura resolves, leading to an immediate 2-for-1. This is why Auras with "When this ETB, draw a card" often still aren't playable as they need to enter the battlefield to get the value. My original intent was to think about how to design Aura's that accept this casting risk and try to provide enough value if the Aura resolves. Cast triggers/effects (like Cascade) get around that risk, which is why I referred to it as "cheating".
In retrospect my original designs probably didn't tackle my question well enough and went into a contradictory direction. Also I think my designs still don't push the envelope enough, but the counterpoint to all of the above are Auras that push their value to the point of being almost "I win" in limited if they do resolve (Eldrazi Conscription, Control Magic, etc), but I think such cards are very rare.
To illustrate the topic, is the following a playable Aura?
Magma Whip1RR
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +5/+0 and has first strike and reach.
Yea it's decently useful if it resolves, but it's very vulnerable to being countered or having the creature removed. It doesn't even grant haste or have an ETB effect so you're likely to have to wait a turn to get something out of it unless you curve into it perfectly.
This is the kind of thing I want to discuss. What is the threshold for an Aura that embraces it's risk, is good enough to mainboard, yet not so blatantly strong as to entirely wreck draft tables the majority of the time it's opened? (Sidenote: I'm surprised that card name hasn't already been used.)
Magma Whip1RR
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +5/+0 and has first strike and reach.
Yea it's decently useful if it resolves, but it's very vulnerable to being countered or having the creature removed. It doesn't even grant haste or have an ETB effect so you're likely to have to wait a turn to get something out of it unless you curve into it perfectly.
Here is a little secret about Auras: One of the aspeccts that I'd consider the strength of the subtype is that they don't need to grant haste if you cast them on a creature already under your control since the beginning of your turn - a strength they share with the much more universally usable Equipment though. If you want to make strong Auras, you have to be competetive with Equipment on multiple axes. (They'll also always be in competition with sorceries that short-term can get the effect for cheap.)
A card like you suggest I'd already consider having virtual haste if it ween't for the fact that you created a uniquely defensive combination of keywords. That's weird if you want this to be a Ball Lightning.
I recall Auras often being successful for aggressive decks - let the Aura grant evasion and soem p/t bonus to an already aggressively cost small attacker.
You mention Limited, but I can tell you that a lot of competetive level cards or even competetively weak bombs are "wrecking" Limited if opened. It's part of the format's lack of removal access. So you have the same valves: Consider your cards per rarity. If your Aura can build a 1/1 vanilla into a monster that wouldn't usually appear in that color at common... maybe it shouldn't be common? Etc.
Your first post was full of rarities and mostly Rare+, so what would you this one to be?What do you think of a 6/1 with reach and first strike for say 3RR? That's never a common, right?
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]
Caveat: For the purposes of this discussion I'm only talking about limited, as I don't play enough constructed to have an answer.
(First two designs deleted as they are incorrect for the thread's topic and goal.)
Rune of Corrosion 1BB
Enchantment - Aura [Uncommon]
Enchant artifact or creature
At the beginning of your upkeep, enchanted permanent's controller loses 2 life.
^Increasing the amount of card types that the Aura can enchant could increase the playability. I believe this specific effect is in black's color pie (see Stab Wound and Relic Bane).
Primeval Mark 2GG
Enchantment - Aura [Rare]
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and has "Whenever this creature attacks, you may search your library for up to two basic land cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle your library."
^Build your own mini Primeval Titan. I believe the level of aggressive ramp and card advantage offsets the aura's inherent risk without being game-breaking.
Consecrated Mark 1UU
Enchantment - Aura [Rare]
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has "Whenever an opponent draws a card, you may draw a card."
^Another version of the same idea, this time a baby Consecrated Sphinx.
Vivacity 3GUR
Enchantment - Aura [Mythic]
Cascade (When you cast this spell, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card that costs less. You may cast it without paying its mana cost. Put the exiled cards on the bottom of your library in a random order.)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +3/+3, and has haste, flying, and all abilities of each other multicolored permanent.
^Cascade seems like a good way to get some value out of casting an Aura, regardless of it getting countered. But then, I'm kind of cheating as at the beginning of this post I explicitly stated my goal was to create Auras that don't bypass the initial risk of card disadvantage inherent in being an Aura. Bizarrely, while designing this card I noticed that there currently doesn't exist a single Aura with cascade (I imagine there are some good reasons for this that I have yet to realize).
You have many levels on which an Aura can fail. Some youcatch, some you don't. But half of these don't push past the card disadvantage, but balance it with card advantage of their own, which is not what I expected from the introduction, so I'd like more insight into what exactly you are trying to do here.
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
Edit 2: Disregard my first two Auras, the white one and green one. I'll deleted them now as they are incorrect for the purpose of this thread and are blatantly misleading.
I probably should have been more clear/explicit in my original post. The biggest issue with Auras is the risk from the Aura's target being removed before the Aura resolves, leading to an immediate 2-for-1. This is why Auras with "When this ETB, draw a card" often still aren't playable as they need to enter the battlefield to get the value. My original intent was to think about how to design Aura's that accept this casting risk and try to provide enough value if the Aura resolves. Cast triggers/effects (like Cascade) get around that risk, which is why I referred to it as "cheating".
In retrospect my original designs probably didn't tackle my question well enough and went into a contradictory direction. Also I think my designs still don't push the envelope enough, but the counterpoint to all of the above are Auras that push their value to the point of being almost "I win" in limited if they do resolve (Eldrazi Conscription, Control Magic, etc), but I think such cards are very rare.
To illustrate the topic, is the following a playable Aura?
Magma Whip 1RR
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +5/+0 and has first strike and reach.
Yea it's decently useful if it resolves, but it's very vulnerable to being countered or having the creature removed. It doesn't even grant haste or have an ETB effect so you're likely to have to wait a turn to get something out of it unless you curve into it perfectly.
This is the kind of thing I want to discuss. What is the threshold for an Aura that embraces it's risk, is good enough to mainboard, yet not so blatantly strong as to entirely wreck draft tables the majority of the time it's opened? (Sidenote: I'm surprised that card name hasn't already been used.)
edit: fixed text.
Here is a little secret about Auras: One of the aspeccts that I'd consider the strength of the subtype is that they don't need to grant haste if you cast them on a creature already under your control since the beginning of your turn - a strength they share with the much more universally usable Equipment though. If you want to make strong Auras, you have to be competetive with Equipment on multiple axes. (They'll also always be in competition with sorceries that short-term can get the effect for cheap.)
A card like you suggest I'd already consider having virtual haste if it ween't for the fact that you created a uniquely defensive combination of keywords. That's weird if you want this to be a Ball Lightning.
I recall Auras often being successful for aggressive decks - let the Aura grant evasion and soem p/t bonus to an already aggressively cost small attacker.
You mention Limited, but I can tell you that a lot of competetive level cards or even competetively weak bombs are "wrecking" Limited if opened. It's part of the format's lack of removal access. So you have the same valves: Consider your cards per rarity. If your Aura can build a 1/1 vanilla into a monster that wouldn't usually appear in that color at common... maybe it shouldn't be common? Etc.
Your first post was full of rarities and mostly Rare+, so what would you this one to be?What do you think of a 6/1 with reach and first strike for say 3RR? That's never a common, right?
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