Watching the Mythic Invitational, which is a best-of-one style tournament, I saw a few interesting consequences of the fact that the sideboard can't be used for strategic adjustments between games.
Among the slightly abnormal deckbuilding choices was Mastermind's Acquisition, which a few decks used to basically sideboard midgame, one card at a time. That meant that one could load the side board with any number of situational singles that would normally never see play.
Then, while thinking about something unrelated, I realised that the sideboard can be used much more actively in Bo1 games if there were more wish cards.
Algae Fen
Land (R) T: Add C. T, Sacrifice ~: Put a Swamp or Forest card you own from outside the game onto the battlefield.
Already, this design saves a lot of time without needing to shuffle. It also might enable decks to be a bit more aggressive with their deckbuilding, including fewer lands in the main deck. This would play well with the new mulligan rule being tested as well.
I allowed it to tap for colorless so as not to put too much pressure on the player to sacrifice sideboard slots to lands though.
Wish cards have always been a bit far fetched for standard, as post-game sideboarding has always been the more effective way to adapt to your opponent mid match. However, that concern isn't really present in Bo1, which allows the sideboard to be used almost more like an extra deck instead. Even in best-of-three, it at least presents a strategic choice between using your sideboard for consistency at the cost of some answers and maxing it out for adaptability.
Heck, that choice could be made a bit easier by printing lands with basic types that also have effects one would normally keep in the sideboard:
Sulfuric Swamp
Land - Swamp (U)
(T: Add B.)
~ enters the battlefield tapped. B, T: Exile target creature card from a graveyard if it was put there from the battlefield this turn.
Bo1 is already resulting in more flexible design choices in standard (Knight of Autumn, Ravager Wurm, etc.), so I could see it going far enough that the sideboard becomes an integral part of active gameplay. What do you guys think?
I like Algae Fen in concept; I think it's a safe idea for a drawbackless fetch simply because there is a drawback; that is, committing sideboard slots to lands. (Then again, it still gets shocklands, so eesh. Maybe it does need a drawback?)
I'm not keen on fetchable utility lands. Yes, even with abilities as narrow as that. I know the better-than-basic rule is occasionally sorta broken, but like the Kamigawa cycle, I think stuff like this should at least be legendary.
I like Algae Fen in concept; I think it's a safe idea for a drawbackless fetch simply because there is a drawback; that is, committing sideboard slots to lands. (Then again, it still gets shocklands, so eesh. Maybe it does need a drawback?)
I'm not keen on fetchable utility lands. Yes, even with abilities as narrow as that. I know the better-than-basic rule is occasionally sorta broken, but like the Kamigawa cycle, I think stuff like this should at least be legendary.
I added "etb tapped" to the utility land. I agree that it shouldn't be strictly better than a basic land.
The Algae Fen is kind of interesting but the fetch should probably cost 1 or 2 or the land should not be able to produce C. I would go for the mana cost variant because otherwise I am not sure that a simple sacrifice without additional cost isn't too strong.
Sulfuric Swamp would need to enter tapped or need another kind of drawback (like loosing 2 life) because otherwise it is strictly better then a basic Swamp.
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I asked Maro about this concept once,. He said R&D had played around with the idea when tackling the issue of too-much-shuffling, and discovered that it wasn't feasible because players would constantly forget to take the 'wished' lands out of their deck after the game, same problem with token lands. Even if hypothetically it saves shuffle time, in practice it caused a lot of headaches.
What I came up with and asked him about- and never got a response- was why they couldn't do 'half-size' token lands, using perforated punchcards on tokens so that you can put two lands on a single card print and then tear them apart and use them as two tokens. That way it would never get shuffled back into a deck. Well I brought that up years ago, and then later we got the perforated cut-outs for amonkhet. Maybe there's a chance?
I asked Maro about this concept once,. He said R&D had played around with the idea when tackling the issue of too-much-shuffling, and discovered that it wasn't feasible because players would constantly forget to take the 'wished' lands out of their deck after the game, same problem with token lands. Even if hypothetically it saves shuffle time, in practice it caused a lot of headaches.
What I came up with and asked him about- and never got a response- was why they couldn't do 'half-size' token lands, using perforated punchcards on tokens so that you can put two lands on a single card print and then tear them apart and use them as two tokens. That way it would never get shuffled back into a deck. Well I brought that up years ago, and then later we got the perforated cut-outs for amonkhet. Maybe there's a chance?
That occurred to me too. In Bo1, the simple solution is to just use different sleeves for your sideboard so that they stand out. In best of 3, however, there isn't really a clean solution without expecting players to re-sleeve between games.
I do think that token basics of different shapes and sizes could definitely work though.
Algae Fen
Land (R) T, Sacrifice ~: Create a basic colorless Swamp land token. (It has "T: Add B.") T, Sacrifice ~: Create a basic colorless Forest land token. (It has "T: Add G.")
That does cost some of the versatility that wishlands offer, though.
Among the slightly abnormal deckbuilding choices was Mastermind's Acquisition, which a few decks used to basically sideboard midgame, one card at a time. That meant that one could load the side board with any number of situational singles that would normally never see play.
Then, while thinking about something unrelated, I realised that the sideboard can be used much more actively in Bo1 games if there were more wish cards.
Algae Fen
Land (R)
T: Add C.
T, Sacrifice ~: Put a Swamp or Forest card you own from outside the game onto the battlefield.
Already, this design saves a lot of time without needing to shuffle. It also might enable decks to be a bit more aggressive with their deckbuilding, including fewer lands in the main deck. This would play well with the new mulligan rule being tested as well.
I allowed it to tap for colorless so as not to put too much pressure on the player to sacrifice sideboard slots to lands though.
Wish cards have always been a bit far fetched for standard, as post-game sideboarding has always been the more effective way to adapt to your opponent mid match. However, that concern isn't really present in Bo1, which allows the sideboard to be used almost more like an extra deck instead. Even in best-of-three, it at least presents a strategic choice between using your sideboard for consistency at the cost of some answers and maxing it out for adaptability.
Heck, that choice could be made a bit easier by printing lands with basic types that also have effects one would normally keep in the sideboard:
Sulfuric Swamp
Land - Swamp (U)
(T: Add B.)
~ enters the battlefield tapped.
B, T: Exile target creature card from a graveyard if it was put there from the battlefield this turn.
Bo1 is already resulting in more flexible design choices in standard (Knight of Autumn, Ravager Wurm, etc.), so I could see it going far enough that the sideboard becomes an integral part of active gameplay. What do you guys think?
I'm not keen on fetchable utility lands. Yes, even with abilities as narrow as that. I know the better-than-basic rule is occasionally sorta broken, but like the Kamigawa cycle, I think stuff like this should at least be legendary.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Sulfuric Swamp would need to enter tapped or need another kind of drawback (like loosing 2 life) because otherwise it is strictly better then a basic Swamp.
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Give a round of applause
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What I came up with and asked him about- and never got a response- was why they couldn't do 'half-size' token lands, using perforated punchcards on tokens so that you can put two lands on a single card print and then tear them apart and use them as two tokens. That way it would never get shuffled back into a deck. Well I brought that up years ago, and then later we got the perforated cut-outs for amonkhet. Maybe there's a chance?
I do think that token basics of different shapes and sizes could definitely work though.
Algae Fen
Land (R)
T, Sacrifice ~: Create a basic colorless Swamp land token. (It has "T: Add B.")
T, Sacrifice ~: Create a basic colorless Forest land token. (It has "T: Add G.")
That does cost some of the versatility that wishlands offer, though.
Hands to the sky
Give a round of applause
For the great Miss Y!