At The Mechanics Workshop, we look in-depth at player-created mechanics. These might be new keywords, new abilities, or new card types (and super- and sub-types). We'll even take an occasional look at rules variants.
The goal is to go from first draft to final. We'll create a MTGSalvation CompRules entry (if you haven't done so already) and discuss how the card would work in both casual and tournament environments. If there are flaws, we'll find 'em -- and most likely, we'll be able to work them out.
There are a few simple rules in The Mechanics Workshop:
Please post only one mechanic at a time. When you post a mechanic to be discussed, you'll be added to The Queue in order. If you already have a mechanic on the Queue, please wait til it's discussed to add another. (Yes, Le Chat knows many of you are crazy-inventive and want to get all the ideas in your head out. However, most similar threads get lost under the weight of jank submissions. Don't be janky.)
Please don't submit a slew of cards along with your mechanic. If you feel it needs an example (to understand how it works in the context of a card), please post only one. When your card comes under discussion, we may ask for more examples, so stick around!
Mechanics will be considered as they would work under the current CompRules. We'll also look at them in the context of various play styles (tournament and casual).
This isn't a scoring or a judging thread. Some mechanics may prove to be unworkable or unfeasible.
Please do contribute constructively to each others' cards. Le Chat would actually prefer to have two other members help her regularly on this.
Please only comment on the first mechanic listed in the Queue.
502.BLUa Blur is a static ability that functions in any zone from which you could play the card it's on. “Blur {cost}” means “As long as you control basic lands that could produce mana of each color of this card, you may play this card any time you could play an instant by paying {cost} rather than this card's mana cost.”
502.BLUb Paying a spell’s blur cost(s) follows the rules for paying alternative costs in rules 409.1b and 409.1f–h.
502.BLUc If an object has more than one blur cost, any one of its blur costs may be paid.
502.BLU Note 1. The alternative cost should include colorless mana equal to the card's converted mana cost, plus an additional cost (which may or may not require mana).
502.CLAa. Celerity is an activated ability. "Celerity {cost} means "{Cost}: Untap this permanent. Play this ability only once each turn."
502.CLBa. Celerity is an activated ability. "Celerity" means "When this becomes tapped for the first time in a turn, untap it."
502.CRSa Critical State is a characteristic-setting ability, written “Critical State — [text].” It alters the rules text of the object it’s on, based on a condition. The text can create any kind of ability. “Critical State — [text]” means “As long as each opponent has at least double your life total, [this object] has ‘[text].’”
502.CRSb Spells and permanents with critical state have the critical state text only as long as each opponent of their controller has a life total equal to or greater than double their controller's life total. Otherwise, the text after “Critical State —” is treated as though it did not appear on the spell or permanent.
502.CRSc An instant or sorcery with critical has its critical state text only while the spell is on the stack and each opponent of their controller has a life total equal to or greater than double their controller's life total. An artifact, creature, enchantment, or land with critical state has the critical state text only as long as the permanent is in play.
502.CRSd See also Desperation (on the WotC board) and Distress (502.DIS).
502.DISa Distress is a characteristic-setting ability, written “Distress— {text}.” It alters the rules text of the object it’s on, based on a condition. The text can create any kind of ability. “Distress — {text}” means “As long as you have seven or less life, {this} has '{text}.’”
502.DISb Spells and permanents with distress have the distress text only as long as their controller has seven or less life. Otherwise, the text after “Distress —” is treated as though it did not appear on the spell or permanent.
502.DISc An instant or sorcery with distress has the distress text only while the spell is on the stack and their controller has seven or less life. An artifact, creature, enchantment, or land with distress has the distress text only if the permanent is in play.
502.GROa "Growing" is a static ability that functions while in play. “Growing {N}” means “At the beginning of your upkeep, if this permanent has less than {N} growth counters on it, put a growth counter on it.”
502.GROb If a card has multiple instances of growing, each triggers separately.
502.GUIa Guile is a static ability that modifies the rules for assigning an attacking creature's combat damage. A creature with guile has no special abilities when blocking or dealing noncombat damage. (See rule 310, "Combat Damage Step.")
502.GUIb The controller of an attacking creature with guile may assign all damage it would deal to the defending player. If he or she decides to assign damage to blocking creatures, he or she may divide damage as normal among blocking creatures. (See rule 310.2)
502.GUIc If all the creatures blocking an attacking creature with guile are removed from combat before the combat damage step, the attacking player may assign all its damage to the defending player.
502.GUId If the attacking creature with guile is blocked by an ability, effect, or rule, its combat damage may still be assigned to the defending player.
502.GUIe Multiple instances of guile on the same creature are redundant.
502.LUCa Lucidity is a triggered ability. "Lucidity" means "When this becomes tapped, if there are no lucid counters on it, put a lucid counter on it and untap it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove all lucid counters from it."
502.MANa Manifest is an activated ability. "Manifest {cost}" means "{Cost}: The next time this permanent would leave play this turn, if was not sacrificed, it remains in play instead." This is a replacement ability similar to regeneration (CR 419.6b).
502.MANb Manifesting a creature doesn't remove damage from it or prevent it from being put into a graveyard due to state-based effects, such as having 0 or less toughness.
502.MANc If a permanent has multiple instances of manifest, any of its manifest abilities may be used. Playing a manifest ability will only create one replacement shield, even if the permanent has multiple instances of manifest.
502.RESa Reserve is a combination of two separate abilities on permanents. "Reserve {number}" means "As this comes into play, remove the top {number} cards of your library from the game" and "At the beginning of your upkeep, put one card removed from the game by this ability on top its owner's library. If you can't, sacrifice this permanent."
502.RESb Cards removed from the game by a reserve ability are removed from the game face up. (See CR xxx.xx)
502.RESc If a permanent with reserve is controlled by a player other than its owner, its current controller chooses which card to return to the library. That card is put on top of its owner's library.
502.RESd You can't put a card removed from the game by an effect other than the one generated by the reserve ability on top of its owner's library as part of the triggered ability's resolution.
502.RESe If a creature has more than one reserve ability, both (or all) reserve abilities will trigger at the beginning of the upkeep.
Adapt {type}(A creature with adapt may be swapped with another creature with Adapt in your hand as long as they share their Adapts)
Funnel X - {effect}(When this spell resolves, instead of putting it into your graveyard, you may remove it and the top X cards of your library from the game. If you do, effect.)
X: Transport Y (Transport target creature. You may transport up to Y creatures. Transport and transported creatures band. Play this ability any time you could play a sorcery.)
Wildfire(If a spell or ability would counter this, it targets a random legal target instead.)
Havoc - X (This creature deals X damage to each attacking and blocking creature during the assign damage phase.)
Obscure (Whenever a player plays an instant, sorcery or activated ability that doesn't target this, remove this from the game. Return it to play at end of turn)
Form (Put this card into play face-down as [a permanent])
Fathom(This creature can't be blocked by Flying creatures.)
Netherdrift - {Effect}(You play with the top card of your library revealed. As long as the top card of your library has Netherdrift, {effect}.)
Outrun - existing mechanic also known as Supertrample
Rulings: You may have ~this~ deal its combat damage to defending player as though it weren't blocked.
Now it found home here The question here really is, whether this mechanic deserves to be keyworded and if my suggestion for its name is usable and satisfactory to most.
Outrun - existing mechanic also known as Supertrample
Rulings: You may have ~this~ deal its combat damage to defending player as though it weren't blocked.
Now it found home here The question here really is, whether this mechanic deserves to be keyworded and if my suggestion for its name is usable and satisfactory to most.
Cool thread, LeChat. I'm happy to help contribute contructive critiques. To start with, we might want to specify what kind of mechanics are acceptable and cleary describe the difference between a "mechanic" and a "keyword". "Outrun", for instance, while it would be a new "keyword" is certainly not a new "mechanic", and thus really doesn't need to be workshopped.
Manifestation: I actually did some work on something like this before. Mine was called Progeneration/Progenerate (probably too similar to Regeneration to be productive), and fit into different colors based on what was being Progenerated:
Confident Cleric 1W
Creature - Human Cleric
Sacrifice ~: Progenerate target creature or land. (The next time this turn that a spell, ability, or effect would move that creature or land from one zone to another, it instead remains in the current zone.)
1/2
Slightly different from Manifestation, but it has this added pro:
Mindstatic Mystic 1UU
Creature - Human Wizard
1U: Progenerate target card in your hand. (The next time this turn that a spell, ability, or effect would move the card from one zone to another, it instead remains in the current zone. This ability may be played at any time that this card is visible to all players.)
1/3
(The extra reminder text would only appear on cards that it mattered for. The comprehensive rules would explain all.)
EDIT: I like Manifestation as a name (perhaps Manifest would work better), but I think the ability itself needs a bit more adjustment.
We move down the queue when the (three?) judges decide collectively it's time to move down the queue. Hopefully, this is after the mechanic has been fully explored, any problems ironed out, and a CompRules entry has been created. Right now, the only judge is Le Chat; interested in joining?
The real flaw in outrun is that it is not a player-created mechanic. It's a WotC-created mechanic that someone else gave a name to. It's happened in the past with fear and haste; "attacking doesn't cause this to tap" received enormous pressure on the boards to be turned into a keyworded mechanic. "Vigilance" tapped into the existing flavor of creatures with the mechanic. Outrun is tolerable, but not amazing; it sounds like it's in a roadrace.
Outrun modifies how a creature assigns combat damage; in this sense, it's much like trample:
502.OUT. Outrun
502.OUTa Outrun is a static ability that modifies the rules for assigning an attacking creature's combat damage. A creature with outrun has no special abilities when blocking or dealing noncombat damage. (See rule 310, "Combat Damage Step.")
502.9b The controller of an attacking creature with outrun may assign all damage it would deal to the defending player. If he or she decides to assign damage to blocking creatures, he or she may divide damage as normal among blocking creatures. (See rule 310.2)
502.9c If all the creatures blocking an attacking creature with outrun are removed from combat before the combat damage step, all its damage is assigned to the defending player.
502.9d If the attacking creature with outrun is blocked by an ability, effect, or rule, its combat damage may still be assigned to the defending player.
502.9e Multiple instances of outrun on the same creature are redundant.
Comments?
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502.9c If all the creatures blocking an attacking creature with outrun are removed from combat before the combat damage step, all its damage is assigned to the defending player.
This isn't how the mechanic currently works. If all the blockers are removed from combat, the attacking player still has the choice of whether or not to assign damage to the player. This can be an important distinction if, for example, the defending player played a Candles' Glow before damage assignment.
Outrun - existing mechanic also known as Supertrample
Rulings: You may have ~this~ deal its combat damage to defending player as though it weren't blocked.
This mechanic probably deserves a keyword, I agree. But Le Chat is right. The name doesn't fit. Maybe Bashthrough for the name? But then:
Thorn Elemental 5GG
Creature- Elemental
Bashthrough. Rain from this storm leaves you pinned to the ground like an insect.
7/7
Right.
Maybe outrun is a little off. But so is bashthrough. Imagine Lone Wolf to bash through Krosan Cloudscraper...
But there certainly is a way to name this ability. I thought of Cunning but that is already a card with another mechanic. But then it came to me: GUILE. Even smallest of creatures can have guile to ignore the blocker, right?
And even though the ability was primarily put into green I can't really see a reason why black, red or even blue creatures couldn't have it. Then the keyword would have even more justification.
Other name suggestions: dodge, sidestep, stealth (though I have a mechanic called this already :redface:, please don't take it :crying:), burrow, avoid, distract, camouflage.
But I'd like to argue that this shouldn't be keyworded:
It doesn't appear on enough cards to deserve keywording: in the history of the game, it has only appeared on eight cards. Vigilance, the most recently keyworded mechanic, appears on 68.
It shouldn't be on more that many more creatures. With one of these creatures out, especially a large one, blocking becomes completely ineffective. Without the chance of effective blocking, you lose player interaction, and whenever you lose player interaction, the game becomes less fun.
All of the other creature abilities make sense almost from their keywords alone. Flying means the creature flies. First strike means the creature strikes first. They make sense. "Guile" is the closest we've come, but even that doesn't fit even all 8 of the creatures printed. If we can't think of something that immediately captures the flavour of the ability and implies how the creature does it, we can't keyword it.
There isn't yet a good, flavourful explanation of the ability. The reason we're having trouble coming up with a word is that the (8!) existing cards have no flavour! There's a Wurm, two elementals, some wolves and lions, a "Rhox" and a "Gurzigost". Only three of them have flavour text, but even that doesn't describe why they have the ability. It's a solely mechanical ability—there's nothing at all wrong with that, it just means it's ill-suited for keywording.
Counter arguments welcome
(Incidentally, if your still looking for another judge in this thread, LeChat, I'd be willing to take on the position :wink2:)
My thoughts on supertrample/guile/etc. ...have already been nicely expressed by jwanders. It doesn't really need to be keyworded. I think the "Web" or Spirit Link abilities would be keyworded long before this ever was. ...While I'm here, I'll throw in a keyword of my own:
Lucidity (Whenever this permanent becomes tapped, if there are no lucid counters on it, untap it and put a lucid counter on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove all lucid counters from this permanent.)
It's really just the Doubletap ability, slightly modified, but...I haven't seen anyone else using it, so I borrowed it. >_>
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Creator of the Dreamworld block, which currently includes Dreams of Nightmares. I wanna play until I die / Don't wanna lose my reasons why Gonna race towards the sky / In a world that never ends
..BUnofficial Rakdos,
:symub:.....RHouse Dimir, ..U[and Izzet lover.
This isn't how the mechanic currently works. If all the blockers are removed from combat, the attacking player still has the choice of whether or not to assign damage to the player. This can be an important distinction if, for example, the defending player played a Candles' Glow before damage assignment.
Thank you. It should read "the attacking player may assign all its damage to the defending player," and will be so corrected.
For those submitting mechanics, thank you. For those looking to comment, this is an opportunity to explore mechanics in depth, which naturally takes some time. Quality over quantity.
jwanders, Le Chat appreciates your thoughtfulness regarding the cards, and you are hereby appointed co-judge.
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We seem to be done with Outrun, save for a motion to change its name. Le Chat accepts the proposal to change its name to guile; does anyone second?
And, moving on:
Manifestation - {cost} (The next time this permanent would leave play, you may pay its manifestation cost. If you do, it remains in play instead.
The utility of this mechanic all depends on the cost to manifest it. Obviously, as the cost approaches zero, the brokenness of the card approaches infinity. "Zero" does not necessarily mean zero mana; it could mean "Target opponent gains five life" or anything similarly benign.
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The main problem I see with this is ANY combo based off some card that lets you sacrfice the permanent's type for more than or equal to the Manifestation cost...
This could work with higher-end stuff where a combo like that is much less likely, but I agree the low-cost Manifestation needs to be VERY carefully done
The main problem I see with this is ANY combo based off some card that lets you sacrfice the permanent's type for more than or equal to the Manifestation cost...
Suggest we ammend the rules on saccing permantents to say:
If a spell or ability requires a permanent to be sacrificed as a cost, that cost is only payed if the permanent is placed in a graveyard.
In other words, if you can't "sac" something with a manifestitation shield to pay a cost.
Name suggestions: Prevail, Endure (my favourite)...
(I'll post more thoughts once I'm a bit more awake...)
Oh, let me still put some words for my Outrun (now GUILE, I guess) ability
It doesn't appear on enough cards to deserve keywording: in the history of the game, it has only appeared on eight cards. Vigilance, the most recently keyworded mechanic, appears on 68.
This is simple - Double Strike. Only on white and red, about 8 creatures in Magic so far as well, not strong flavor either. As I said before, I believe GUILE deserves to be on non-green creatures too. Nice example could be 1/5 blue common creature. And since we design these keywords mostly for custom cards, I can see no problem to preserve it.
It shouldn't be on more that many more creatures. With one of these creatures out, especially a large one, blocking becomes completely ineffective. Without the chance of effective blocking, you lose player interaction, and whenever you lose player interaction, the game becomes less fun.
Same is true for flying, fear, shadow etc. If you play it right, you have a chance to let GUILED creature to strike just once, as opposed to fear, which could just kill you without you doing anything.
There isn't yet a good, flavourful explanation of the ability. The reason we're having trouble coming up with a word is that the (8!) existing cards have no flavour! There's a Wurm, two elementals, some wolves and lions, a "Rhox" and a "Gurzigost". Only three of them have flavour text, but even that doesn't describe why they have the ability. It's a solely mechanical ability—there's nothing at all wrong with that, it just means it's ill-suited for keywording.
That's why we look for a keyword - to add some flavor to it. I believe GUILE does the trick, the creature is extra vicious and dangerous and I think it can be applied on all existing "outrunners" just fine.
Now move on to "Manifestation". No offence but I don't like the mechanic - it seems broken and abusable or demanding such high activation costs that it would be unplayable... It just doesn't seem right to have means to counter any attempt to get rid of a permanent. It has no weak spots save the cost. Just my thoughts.
EDIT: I would also second another name for it. Manifestation is too long and artificial IMO. Now, that I think of it it has a lot in common with indestructability actually. Perhaps it could be trancended to flicker ability and named as such:
Whenever this permanent leaves play, you may pay its Flicker cost. If you dom, remove it from the game instead. Return it to play at end of phase/turn.
Far less abusable this way and it still preserves much of its intended functionality.
_______
And now I guess I can throw another nifty mechanic I'm very proud of in the queue. It was developed and even tested already. I'll just quote from my custom set docs:
Blur - enables you to decolor the mana cost (blur the spell) for a Blur cost. In essence it defines the alternate cost, typically for color-intensive spells.
Rulings: For each mana symbol in this spell's mana cost, if you control a basic land that produces mana of that color, you may pay Blur cost plus this spell's converted mana cost instead of paying its mana cost.
The ruling above stands for a definition valid for all spells. On particular spells we use abbreviated form of the definition where the variables for that spell are filled in. Example:
Kill -
Instant
Blur (If you control a swamp, you may pay plus Kill's converted mana cost instead of paying its mana cost.)
Destroy target nonartifact, nonblack creature. It can't be regenerated.
Common
Abeyance Djinn -
Creature - Djinn
Blur --- An opponent may draw a card.
Flying
You can't play spells. : Sacrifice Abeyance Djinn. He does not like competition.
4/4
Rare
Oops... maybe we weren't quite done with guile (I'll second the motion for a name change)...
Quote from charmer »
This is simple - Double Strike. Only on white and red, about 8 creatures in Magic so far as well, not strong flavor either. As I said before, I believe GUILE deserves to be on non-green creatures too. Nice example could be 1/5 blue common creature.
Double Strike was a brand new keyword ability; this is keywording an existing ability. Different things, mate. Stick to fear, haste and vigilance if you want existing examples.
Also note that color-limitation wasn't one of my arguments...
Quote from charmer »
Same is true for flying, fear, shadow etc. If you play it right, you have a chance to let GUILED creature to strike just once, as opposed to fear, which could just kill you without you doing anything.
Shadow, yes, but you're not doing the mechanic any favours by bringing that up. With flying and fear, the defending player can hope to draw a flyer/artifact creature in addition to any removal, giving about 4-5 outs in any well built limited deck. If the guile creature is bigger than your blockers can kill, your only outs are spot removal.
That's why we look for a keyword - to add some flavor to it. I believe GUILE does the trick, the creature is extra vicious and dangerous and I think it can be applied on all existing "outrunners" just fine.
guile
Definition: deceitfulness, treachery, or cunning; wiliness.
Loads of design space given the number of places cards leaving play can go
Fits on any type of permanent (edit: except auras, thank god...)
Potential combo interaction with many older cards
Stuff I don't like:
Potential combo interaction with many older cards
The "arms race" feeling from "destroy" to "regenerate" to "destroy can't be regened" to "indestructible" to "removed from game" to this,
As Charmer mentioned, the costs might balance unplayably high.
(1): The sacrifice clause stops most of the problems I can think of with older cards. Obviously the set that this comes out it would have to be closely scrutinized, but if there's a sick combo in Extended, it wouldn't hurt too too much to let players find it and ban cards if necessary.
(2): I think I'll just have to live with the arms race. But if someone suggests the mechanic, "Panic (grab target card, tear it to pieces, run screaming out of the building and throw the shreds in the nearest sewer.)", I shall not be happy.
As for (3), we can at least cop out by limiting the number of activations (i.e. cip with N counters, remove 1 to manifest). As well, we can put cheap manifestation costs on cards which aren't as crucial to get rid of, as Wizards did with indestructible: no one really needs to remove stuff like pendants, and the cheapest indestructible creature cost :7mana:!
Other general questions regarding the mechanic:
Does it have a color/colors or cardtype where it's most prevalent?
How many cards could this go on, and how many ways can the ability be tweaked in subsequent sets?
What about the creative side? Is there a cool, flavourful way of explaning the mechanic?
Just a few words, seems like I still have some advocating to do
Double Strike was a brand new keyword ability; this is keywording an existing ability. Different things, mate. Stick to fear, haste and vigilance if you want existing examples. Also note that color-limitation wasn't one of my arguments...
IMHO it matters not. What does is that DS is quite rare because of its potency, just like Guile. WOTC never contemplated Guile as a keyword yet they have used it across many blocks as a solid mechanic.
With flying and fear, the defending player can hope to draw a flyer/artifact creature in addition to any removal, giving about 4-5 outs in any well built limited deck. If the guile creature is bigger than your blockers can kill, your only outs are spot removal.
On the other hand, in white-green (for example) you can do virtually nothing with 2/1 fear Rat (killed me many times in drafts) but you can utilize your combat tricks (if you play colors that don't have playable removal) even if guiled creature is bigger than your blockers. Moreover, no one said that future guile creatures have to be such insane fatties like Rhox.
You did trivialize it: Guile (according to dictionary.com)
1. Treacherous cunning; skillful deceit.
2. shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception
3. the quality of being crafty
4. the use of tricks to deceive someone
So no, tornado is not wily, but the Elemental of it can use Treacherous cunning etc. I believe Guile has a solid ground to be keyworded. Pity no one else comments on it.
Le Chat doesn't see an awful lot of design space with manifestation, if simply because it does avoid so much removal. Of the usual ways to make somethign leave play -- bounce it, burn it, damage it, destroy it -- indestructibility avoids two; this avoids all four, plus more innovative methods of getting rid of something by RFGing it or putting it into the library. Hell, it even avoids AWOL. The last -- only? -- resort with it is enchanting it so it doesn't move.
The original creature cost would need to be high, and the manifestation cost needs to be low, and the creature can't be all that good.
The "unless it is sacrificed" clause is good. The "you may pay" doesn't strictly work under MtG rules: there's no window for player activity in the destroy sequence. It would seem to work better with either shields or counters. Le Chat despises shields and counters equally, but here's a go:
Manifest {cost} {Cost}: Put a manifest counter on this. The next time this would leave play, if it has a manifest counter on it and was not sacrificed, remove all manifest counters from it instead.)
This still leaves it vulnerable to damage and -/- effects, but immune to bounce and RFG -- the flip side, almost, to indestructibility.
What's the flavor behind it? Why is a particular creature (..artifact, enchantment or land) manifest?
I still kind of have a problem with this Manifest thing. What it virtually does is that it combines protection, untargetability and indestructability to one flavorless piece of mess (pardon the expression). In addition Evacuation doesn't work against it either but that's it.
What's the point in it anyway? Care to provide something to back it up flavorwise?
And what do you think about the flicker variant?
Whenever this permanent leaves play, you may pay its Flicker cost. If you do, remove it from the game instead. Return it to play at end of phase/turn.
It borrows something from the real game, but IMHO it makes more sense. Ideas?
I like that actually... The only thing I'm uncertain about is keywording something with "Play this ability only once per turn." but that does cure the broknness nicely.
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The goal is to go from first draft to final. We'll create a MTGSalvation CompRules entry (if you haven't done so already) and discuss how the card would work in both casual and tournament environments. If there are flaws, we'll find 'em -- and most likely, we'll be able to work them out.
There are a few simple rules in The Mechanics Workshop:
Instant
Target spell or permanent's tone becomes playful.
502.BLUa Blur is a static ability that functions in any zone from which you could play the card it's on. “Blur {cost}” means “As long as you control basic lands that could produce mana of each color of this card, you may play this card any time you could play an instant by paying {cost} rather than this card's mana cost.”
502.BLUb Paying a spell’s blur cost(s) follows the rules for paying alternative costs in rules 409.1b and 409.1f–h.
502.BLUc If an object has more than one blur cost, any one of its blur costs may be paid.
502.BLU Note 1. The alternative cost should include colorless mana equal to the card's converted mana cost, plus an additional cost (which may or may not require mana).
502.CLAa. Celerity is an activated ability. "Celerity {cost} means "{Cost}: Untap this permanent. Play this ability only once each turn."
502.CLBa. Celerity is an activated ability. "Celerity" means "When this becomes tapped for the first time in a turn, untap it."
502.CRSa Critical State is a characteristic-setting ability, written “Critical State — [text].” It alters the rules text of the object it’s on, based on a condition. The text can create any kind of ability. “Critical State — [text]” means “As long as each opponent has at least double your life total, [this object] has ‘[text].’”
502.CRSb Spells and permanents with critical state have the critical state text only as long as each opponent of their controller has a life total equal to or greater than double their controller's life total. Otherwise, the text after “Critical State —” is treated as though it did not appear on the spell or permanent.
502.CRSc An instant or sorcery with critical has its critical state text only while the spell is on the stack and each opponent of their controller has a life total equal to or greater than double their controller's life total. An artifact, creature, enchantment, or land with critical state has the critical state text only as long as the permanent is in play.
502.CRSd See also Desperation (on the WotC board) and Distress (502.DIS).
502.DISa Distress is a characteristic-setting ability, written “Distress— {text}.” It alters the rules text of the object it’s on, based on a condition. The text can create any kind of ability. “Distress — {text}” means “As long as you have seven or less life, {this} has '{text}.’”
502.DISb Spells and permanents with distress have the distress text only as long as their controller has seven or less life. Otherwise, the text after “Distress —” is treated as though it did not appear on the spell or permanent.
502.DISc An instant or sorcery with distress has the distress text only while the spell is on the stack and their controller has seven or less life. An artifact, creature, enchantment, or land with distress has the distress text only if the permanent is in play.
502.GROa "Growing" is a static ability that functions while in play. “Growing {N}” means “At the beginning of your upkeep, if this permanent has less than {N} growth counters on it, put a growth counter on it.”
502.GROb If a card has multiple instances of growing, each triggers separately.
502.GUIa Guile is a static ability that modifies the rules for assigning an attacking creature's combat damage. A creature with guile has no special abilities when blocking or dealing noncombat damage. (See rule 310, "Combat Damage Step.")
502.GUIb The controller of an attacking creature with guile may assign all damage it would deal to the defending player. If he or she decides to assign damage to blocking creatures, he or she may divide damage as normal among blocking creatures. (See rule 310.2)
502.GUIc If all the creatures blocking an attacking creature with guile are removed from combat before the combat damage step, the attacking player may assign all its damage to the defending player.
502.GUId If the attacking creature with guile is blocked by an ability, effect, or rule, its combat damage may still be assigned to the defending player.
502.GUIe Multiple instances of guile on the same creature are redundant.
502.LUCa Lucidity is a triggered ability. "Lucidity" means "When this becomes tapped, if there are no lucid counters on it, put a lucid counter on it and untap it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove all lucid counters from it."
502.MANb Manifesting a creature doesn't remove damage from it or prevent it from being put into a graveyard due to state-based effects, such as having 0 or less toughness.
502.MANc If a permanent has multiple instances of manifest, any of its manifest abilities may be used. Playing a manifest ability will only create one replacement shield, even if the permanent has multiple instances of manifest.
502.RESa Reserve is a combination of two separate abilities on permanents. "Reserve {number}" means "As this comes into play, remove the top {number} cards of your library from the game" and "At the beginning of your upkeep, put one card removed from the game by this ability on top its owner's library. If you can't, sacrifice this permanent."
502.RESb Cards removed from the game by a reserve ability are removed from the game face up. (See CR xxx.xx)
502.RESc If a permanent with reserve is controlled by a player other than its owner, its current controller chooses which card to return to the library. That card is put on top of its owner's library.
502.RESd You can't put a card removed from the game by an effect other than the one generated by the reserve ability on top of its owner's library as part of the triggered ability's resolution.
502.RESe If a creature has more than one reserve ability, both (or all) reserve abilities will trigger at the beginning of the upkeep.
Instant
Target spell or permanent's tone becomes playful.
Instant
Target spell or permanent's tone becomes playful.
Rulings: You may have ~this~ deal its combat damage to defending player as though it weren't blocked.
Now it found home here
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Cool thread, LeChat. I'm happy to help contribute contructive critiques. To start with, we might want to specify what kind of mechanics are acceptable and cleary describe the difference between a "mechanic" and a "keyword". "Outrun", for instance, while it would be a new "keyword" is certainly not a new "mechanic", and thus really doesn't need to be workshopped.
How will we decide when to move down the queue?
Confident Cleric 1W
Creature - Human Cleric
Sacrifice ~: Progenerate target creature or land. (The next time this turn that a spell, ability, or effect would move that creature or land from one zone to another, it instead remains in the current zone.)
1/2
Slightly different from Manifestation, but it has this added pro:
Mindstatic Mystic 1UU
Creature - Human Wizard
1U: Progenerate target card in your hand. (The next time this turn that a spell, ability, or effect would move the card from one zone to another, it instead remains in the current zone. This ability may be played at any time that this card is visible to all players.)
1/3
(The extra reminder text would only appear on cards that it mattered for. The comprehensive rules would explain all.)
EDIT: I like Manifestation as a name (perhaps Manifest would work better), but I think the ability itself needs a bit more adjustment.
We move down the queue when the (three?) judges decide collectively it's time to move down the queue. Hopefully, this is after the mechanic has been fully explored, any problems ironed out, and a CompRules entry has been created. Right now, the only judge is Le Chat; interested in joining?
The real flaw in outrun is that it is not a player-created mechanic. It's a WotC-created mechanic that someone else gave a name to. It's happened in the past with fear and haste; "attacking doesn't cause this to tap" received enormous pressure on the boards to be turned into a keyworded mechanic. "Vigilance" tapped into the existing flavor of creatures with the mechanic. Outrun is tolerable, but not amazing; it sounds like it's in a roadrace.
Outrun modifies how a creature assigns combat damage; in this sense, it's much like trample:
Comments?
Instant
Target spell or permanent's tone becomes playful.
This isn't how the mechanic currently works. If all the blockers are removed from combat, the attacking player still has the choice of whether or not to assign damage to the player. This can be an important distinction if, for example, the defending player played a Candles' Glow before damage assignment.
This mechanic probably deserves a keyword, I agree. But Le Chat is right. The name doesn't fit. Maybe Bashthrough for the name? But then:
Thorn Elemental 5GG
Creature- Elemental
Bashthrough.
Rain from this storm leaves you pinned to the ground like an insect.
7/7
But you also have
Rhox 4GG
Creature- Beast
Bashthrough.
2G: Regenerate Rhox.
5/5
Where it is flavorful to do so. So there's no way to capture all of the cards that have this ability's flavor under one name.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Maybe outrun is a little off. But so is bashthrough. Imagine Lone Wolf to bash through Krosan Cloudscraper...
But there certainly is a way to name this ability. I thought of Cunning but that is already a card with another mechanic. But then it came to me: GUILE. Even smallest of creatures can have guile to ignore the blocker, right?
And even though the ability was primarily put into green I can't really see a reason why black, red or even blue creatures couldn't have it. Then the keyword would have even more justification.
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But I'd like to argue that this shouldn't be keyworded:
- It doesn't appear on enough cards to deserve keywording: in the history of the game, it has only appeared on eight cards. Vigilance, the most recently keyworded mechanic, appears on 68.
- It shouldn't be on more that many more creatures. With one of these creatures out, especially a large one, blocking becomes completely ineffective. Without the chance of effective blocking, you lose player interaction, and whenever you lose player interaction, the game becomes less fun.
- All of the other creature abilities make sense almost from their keywords alone. Flying means the creature flies. First strike means the creature strikes first. They make sense. "Guile" is the closest we've come, but even that doesn't fit even all 8 of the creatures printed. If we can't think of something that immediately captures the flavour of the ability and implies how the creature does it, we can't keyword it.
- There isn't yet a good, flavourful explanation of the ability. The reason we're having trouble coming up with a word is that the (8!) existing cards have no flavour! There's a Wurm, two elementals, some wolves and lions, a "Rhox" and a "Gurzigost". Only three of them have flavour text, but even that doesn't describe why they have the ability. It's a solely mechanical ability—there's nothing at all wrong with that, it just means it's ill-suited for keywording.
Counter arguments welcome(Incidentally, if your still looking for another judge in this thread, LeChat, I'd be willing to take on the position :wink2:)
Growth X - At the beginning of your upkeep, if there are less than X growth counters on *THIS*, you may put a Growth counter on *THIS*.
Essentially use it on some card that can grow, but use that growth to further it's own plans. For example:
Treefolk Warrior 1GG
Creature - Treefolk
Growth 2
Remove a Growth counter from ~: ~ gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
1/3
Lucidity (Whenever this permanent becomes tapped, if there are no lucid counters on it, untap it and put a lucid counter on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove all lucid counters from this permanent.)
It's really just the Doubletap ability, slightly modified, but...I haven't seen anyone else using it, so I borrowed it. >_>
I wanna play until I die / Don't wanna lose my reasons why
Gonna race towards the sky / In a world that never ends
..B
:symub:.....R House Dimir,
..U
Thank you. It should read "the attacking player may assign all its damage to the defending player," and will be so corrected.
For those submitting mechanics, thank you. For those looking to comment, this is an opportunity to explore mechanics in depth, which naturally takes some time. Quality over quantity.
jwanders, Le Chat appreciates your thoughtfulness regarding the cards, and you are hereby appointed co-judge.
Instant
Target spell or permanent's tone becomes playful.
And, moving on:
Manifestation - {cost} (The next time this permanent would leave play, you may pay its manifestation cost. If you do, it remains in play instead.
The utility of this mechanic all depends on the cost to manifest it. Obviously, as the cost approaches zero, the brokenness of the card approaches infinity. "Zero" does not necessarily mean zero mana; it could mean "Target opponent gains five life" or anything similarly benign.
Instant
Target spell or permanent's tone becomes playful.
Say...
Generic Manifester 1
Creature - Elf
Manifest - 1
0/1
+ Ashnod's Altar = bahroken.
This could work with higher-end stuff where a combo like that is much less likely, but I agree the low-cost Manifestation needs to be VERY carefully done
In other words, if you can't "sac" something with a manifestitation shield to pay a cost.
Name suggestions: Prevail, Endure (my favourite)...
(I'll post more thoughts once I'm a bit more awake...)
That's a good idea, but that approach is really editing Sacrifice rules, which are pretty core rules.. Dunno if we can pretend to mess with those..
This is simple - Double Strike. Only on white and red, about 8 creatures in Magic so far as well, not strong flavor either. As I said before, I believe GUILE deserves to be on non-green creatures too. Nice example could be 1/5 blue common creature. And since we design these keywords mostly for custom cards, I can see no problem to preserve it.
Same is true for flying, fear, shadow etc. If you play it right, you have a chance to let GUILED creature to strike just once, as opposed to fear, which could just kill you without you doing anything.
That's why we look for a keyword - to add some flavor to it. I believe GUILE does the trick, the creature is extra vicious and dangerous and I think it can be applied on all existing "outrunners" just fine.
Now move on to "Manifestation". No offence but I don't like the mechanic - it seems broken and abusable or demanding such high activation costs that it would be unplayable... It just doesn't seem right to have means to counter any attempt to get rid of a permanent. It has no weak spots save the cost. Just my thoughts.
EDIT: I would also second another name for it. Manifestation is too long and artificial IMO. Now, that I think of it it has a lot in common with indestructability actually. Perhaps it could be trancended to flicker ability and named as such:
Whenever this permanent leaves play, you may pay its Flicker cost. If you dom, remove it from the game instead. Return it to play at end of phase/turn.
Far less abusable this way and it still preserves much of its intended functionality.
_______
And now I guess I can throw another nifty mechanic I'm very proud of in the queue. It was developed and even tested already. I'll just quote from my custom set docs:
Blur - enables you to decolor the mana cost (blur the spell) for a Blur cost. In essence it defines the alternate cost, typically for color-intensive spells.
Rulings: For each mana symbol in this spell's mana cost, if you control a basic land that produces mana of that color, you may pay Blur cost plus this spell's converted mana cost instead of paying its mana cost.
The ruling above stands for a definition valid for all spells. On particular spells we use abbreviated form of the definition where the variables for that spell are filled in. Example:
Kill -
Instant
Blur
Destroy target nonartifact, nonblack creature. It can't be regenerated.
Common
Abeyance Djinn -
Creature - Djinn
Blur --- An opponent may draw a card.
Flying
You can't play spells.
He does not like competition.
4/4
Rare
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Double Strike was a brand new keyword ability; this is keywording an existing ability. Different things, mate. Stick to fear, haste and vigilance if you want existing examples.
Also note that color-limitation wasn't one of my arguments...
Shadow, yes, but you're not doing the mechanic any favours by bringing that up. With flying and fear, the defending player can hope to draw a flyer/artifact creature in addition to any removal, giving about 4-5 outs in any well built limited deck. If the guile creature is bigger than your blockers can kill, your only outs are spot removal.
guile
Definition: deceitfulness, treachery, or cunning; wiliness.
You think a tornado is "cunning" and "wily"?!?
How about "linger" as a new name?
Stuff I like
- Big spashy effect
- Loads of design space given the number of places cards leaving play can go
- Fits on any type of permanent (edit: except auras, thank god...)
- Potential combo interaction with many older cards
Stuff I don't like:- Potential combo interaction with many older cards
- The "arms race" feeling from "destroy" to "regenerate" to "destroy can't be regened" to "indestructible" to "removed from game" to this,
- As Charmer mentioned, the costs might balance unplayably high.
(1): The sacrifice clause stops most of the problems I can think of with older cards. Obviously the set that this comes out it would have to be closely scrutinized, but if there's a sick combo in Extended, it wouldn't hurt too too much to let players find it and ban cards if necessary.(2): I think I'll just have to live with the arms race. But if someone suggests the mechanic, "Panic (grab target card, tear it to pieces, run screaming out of the building and throw the shreds in the nearest sewer.)", I shall not be happy.
As for (3), we can at least cop out by limiting the number of activations (i.e. cip with N counters, remove 1 to manifest). As well, we can put cheap manifestation costs on cards which aren't as crucial to get rid of, as Wizards did with indestructible: no one really needs to remove stuff like pendants, and the cheapest indestructible creature cost :7mana:!
Other general questions regarding the mechanic:
IMHO it matters not. What does is that DS is quite rare because of its potency, just like Guile. WOTC never contemplated Guile as a keyword yet they have used it across many blocks as a solid mechanic.
On the other hand, in white-green (for example) you can do virtually nothing with 2/1 fear Rat (killed me many times in drafts) but you can utilize your combat tricks (if you play colors that don't have playable removal) even if guiled creature is bigger than your blockers. Moreover, no one said that future guile creatures have to be such insane fatties like Rhox.
You did trivialize it: Guile (according to dictionary.com)
1. Treacherous cunning; skillful deceit.
2. shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception
3. the quality of being crafty
4. the use of tricks to deceive someone
So no, tornado is not wily, but the Elemental of it can use Treacherous cunning etc. I believe Guile has a solid ground to be keyworded. Pity no one else comments on it.
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The original creature cost would need to be high, and the manifestation cost needs to be low, and the creature can't be all that good.
The "unless it is sacrificed" clause is good. The "you may pay" doesn't strictly work under MtG rules: there's no window for player activity in the destroy sequence. It would seem to work better with either shields or counters. Le Chat despises shields and counters equally, but here's a go:
Manifest {cost} {Cost}: Put a manifest counter on this. The next time this would leave play, if it has a manifest counter on it and was not sacrificed, remove all manifest counters from it instead.)
This still leaves it vulnerable to damage and -/- effects, but immune to bounce and RFG -- the flip side, almost, to indestructibility.
What's the flavor behind it? Why is a particular creature (..artifact, enchantment or land) manifest?
Instant
Target spell or permanent's tone becomes playful.
What's the point in it anyway? Care to provide something to back it up flavorwise?
And what do you think about the flicker variant?
Whenever this permanent leaves play, you may pay its Flicker cost. If you do, remove it from the game instead. Return it to play at end of phase/turn.
It borrows something from the real game, but IMHO it makes more sense. Ideas?
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