Here's the card in layman's terms, just to get the idea across:
Psychic Intrusion 1R
Sorcery
Name a card and a number. If target opponent has that many of named card in all their zones, ~ deals the chosen number of damage to them.
The intention is basically, if they're playing some card as a 4-of, you can name that card and they take 4 damage.
If they have 1 in play and 3 in the library/hand, they still take 4 damage.
But I'm having some trouble making that actually work. It can't be you searching that player's library, since then you can just fail to find and throw off the number. It can't be that player searching their library, since then they could fail to find 1 copy, showing just 3 of 4.
For the card to work, I think it has to make the library and hand temporarily a public zone for all players.
Here was my first try:
Psychic Intrusion 1R
Sorcery
Name a card and choose a number. Target opponent may reveal their hidden zones to all players, and show that there's a different number of cards in all that player's zones than the chosen number. If that player doesn't, ~ deals damage to them equal to the chosen number. If a library we revealed, shuffle that library.
I could do this, but ideally, I'd like the opponent to have the option of not revealing anything, and just taking the damage.
Psychic Intrusion 1R
Sorcery
Name a card and choose a number. Reveal target opponent's library and hand to all players. If the amount of cards, permanents, and spells that player owns in all zones with the chosen name equals the chosen number, Psychic Intrusion deals damage to that player equal to the chosen number.
I think this is the best version:
Psychic Intrusion 1R
Sorcery
Name a card and choose a number. Target opponent may reveal their library and hand to all players. If that player doesn't or the player does and the amount of cards, permanents, and spells they own in all zones with that name equals the chosen number, Psychic Intrusion deals damage to them equal to the chosen number. If that player revealed their library, shuffle it.
"Choose a card name and a number. Target opponent may reveal their hand and library. If the number of cards that player owns on the battlefield, their graveyard, exile, their hand, and their library with that name is equal to the chosen number or if they didn't reveal, Psychic Intrustion deals that much damage to them. If that player revealed their library in this way, they shuffle it."
This card... randomly hoses basic lands, if you've seen both their hand and their library already? Like against a monocolor deck, if you can either Surgical Extraction for any card (or a similar effect), you'll then get to see their zones anyway, can write down the number of their on-color basic, and then just immediately end the game because they might have 20+ copies. Even against multicolor decks you might be able to hit for more than 10, particularly in casual or less powered settings, to say nothing of Commander. It also does this against Relentless Rats/Rat Colony? Basically the only way to ensure you won't get blown out by this card is having a mana base of all nonbasics, which is something that strikes me as not to be encouraged even more than the power of nonbasic lands already does, lol.
The design seems quite hard to balance and print, as well as annoying to resolve, although I like the concept and the expansion of red's color pie through a red way of seeing all of the opponent's cards. The card is swingy, and also simultaneously fun (guessing game!) and unfun (tedious revealing/counting/shuffling process).
You're right, the card should definitely specify "nonland" somehow. Naming lands wasn't the intention of the card.
Basically this card is designed to punish running 4-ofs all the time. I've always loved cards like Meddling Mage, etc that promote more diversity in decklists, and also encourage rogue decks and non-stock lists. Like hey, maybe instead of running 4x Lightning Bolt, a deck might run 3x Lightning Bolt and 1x Flame Slash.
Another thing to consider is that the card counts all zones, but not the sideboard. So if you're playing against it, 2nd match you can take the gambit of sideboarding down to 3 copies of some cards. And that's a whole new level of mind games.
Do you only want to punish 4 ofs? or do you want the weird guessing game of "do you run 1, 2, 3, or 4 copies of this card." Punishing 4 ofs is a lot easier because you are removing one of the variables in your card, if it needs to have the extra guessing game then its wordier.
"Choose a nonland card name. Target opponent may reveal their hand and library. If they do ~ deals damage equal to the number of named cards they own to them. Otherwise, ~ deals 4 damage to them."
This way your spell should always deal damage to the opponent and they can choose not to give you information. If you want it to fail if they don't have exactly 4, then the wording is trickier.
"Choose a nonland card name. Target opponent may reveal their hand and library. If they do ~ deals 4 damage to them if they own exactly 4 cards with the chosen name. Otherwise, ~ deals 4 damage to them."
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Psychic Intrusion
1R
Sorcery
Name a card and a number. If target opponent has that many of named card in all their zones, ~ deals the chosen number of damage to them.
The intention is basically, if they're playing some card as a 4-of, you can name that card and they take 4 damage.
If they have 1 in play and 3 in the library/hand, they still take 4 damage.
But I'm having some trouble making that actually work. It can't be you searching that player's library, since then you can just fail to find and throw off the number. It can't be that player searching their library, since then they could fail to find 1 copy, showing just 3 of 4.
For the card to work, I think it has to make the library and hand temporarily a public zone for all players.
Here was my first try:
Psychic Intrusion
1R
Sorcery
Name a card and choose a number. Target opponent may reveal their hidden zones to all players, and show that there's a different number of cards in all that player's zones than the chosen number. If that player doesn't, ~ deals damage to them equal to the chosen number. If a library we revealed, shuffle that library.
I could do this, but ideally, I'd like the opponent to have the option of not revealing anything, and just taking the damage.
Psychic Intrusion
1R
Sorcery
Name a card and choose a number. Reveal target opponent's library and hand to all players. If the amount of cards, permanents, and spells that player owns in all zones with the chosen name equals the chosen number, Psychic Intrusion deals damage to that player equal to the chosen number.
I think this is the best version:
Psychic Intrusion
1R
Sorcery
Name a card and choose a number. Target opponent may reveal their library and hand to all players. If that player doesn't or the player does and the amount of cards, permanents, and spells they own in all zones with that name equals the chosen number, Psychic Intrusion deals damage to them equal to the chosen number. If that player revealed their library, shuffle it.
Corrupt Control B | Burn R | UG Turbofog UG | White Weenie W | GW Tethmos WG | BG Cycling Combo BG
Enchantress GBW | Colorless Tron C | Red Deck Wins R | UG Madness UG | Mono-G Tron G | UR Puzzlehorns UR
Rhystic Tron WU| WU Prowess WU | BR Reanimator BR | Mono-R Control R | Stompy G | Temur Tron URG
Mardu Infinite Priest WBR | 85-Card Dredge BRG | Elves GU | Boros Bully RW | Jeskai Familiars RWU
This card... randomly hoses basic lands, if you've seen both their hand and their library already? Like against a monocolor deck, if you can either Surgical Extraction for any card (or a similar effect), you'll then get to see their zones anyway, can write down the number of their on-color basic, and then just immediately end the game because they might have 20+ copies. Even against multicolor decks you might be able to hit for more than 10, particularly in casual or less powered settings, to say nothing of Commander. It also does this against Relentless Rats/Rat Colony? Basically the only way to ensure you won't get blown out by this card is having a mana base of all nonbasics, which is something that strikes me as not to be encouraged even more than the power of nonbasic lands already does, lol.
The design seems quite hard to balance and print, as well as annoying to resolve, although I like the concept and the expansion of red's color pie through a red way of seeing all of the opponent's cards. The card is swingy, and also simultaneously fun (guessing game!) and unfun (tedious revealing/counting/shuffling process).
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Basically this card is designed to punish running 4-ofs all the time. I've always loved cards like Meddling Mage, etc that promote more diversity in decklists, and also encourage rogue decks and non-stock lists. Like hey, maybe instead of running 4x Lightning Bolt, a deck might run 3x Lightning Bolt and 1x Flame Slash.
Another thing to consider is that the card counts all zones, but not the sideboard. So if you're playing against it, 2nd match you can take the gambit of sideboarding down to 3 copies of some cards. And that's a whole new level of mind games.
Corrupt Control B | Burn R | UG Turbofog UG | White Weenie W | GW Tethmos WG | BG Cycling Combo BG
Enchantress GBW | Colorless Tron C | Red Deck Wins R | UG Madness UG | Mono-G Tron G | UR Puzzlehorns UR
Rhystic Tron WU| WU Prowess WU | BR Reanimator BR | Mono-R Control R | Stompy G | Temur Tron URG
Mardu Infinite Priest WBR | 85-Card Dredge BRG | Elves GU | Boros Bully RW | Jeskai Familiars RWU
"Choose a nonland card name. Target opponent may reveal their hand and library. If they do ~ deals damage equal to the number of named cards they own to them. Otherwise, ~ deals 4 damage to them."
This way your spell should always deal damage to the opponent and they can choose not to give you information. If you want it to fail if they don't have exactly 4, then the wording is trickier.
"Choose a nonland card name. Target opponent may reveal their hand and library. If they do ~ deals 4 damage to them if they own exactly 4 cards with the chosen name. Otherwise, ~ deals 4 damage to them."