I was thinking about cards like Crippling Chill. Why don't they give that a keyword? They did it for shroud and hexproof. Delay sounds like a perfect fit. In essence, it delays the creature (or whatever is being tapped down). "Delay target creature." is shorter than "Tap tarfet creature. It doesn't untap during it's controller's next untap step." I have been pushong that in my playgroup. Thoughts?
I know Delay isnt the best but it would make sense to give it a keyword. Ot would save space on the card and it would be less cumbersome to say in a game.
I know Delay isnt the best but it would make sense to give it a keyword. Ot would save space on the card and it would be less cumbersome to say in a game.
Sure, it would save space, but really, why contribute to keyword creep? Why make players new and old memorize yet another word not just for a set or block but forever? Magic is already terminology-heavy. And "freeze tap" isn't used on enough cards to justify adding another evergreen keyword action imo.
There's also another problem with this, if it became evergreen. All the cards that use this ability would need to be erratad. Freeze doesn't work flavorwise for many cards with this ability, Delay is probably neutral enough to work, but barely.
Having a card with the name of ability isn't really a problem (Enrage, Explore).
The "doesnt untap" keyword was talked over and over, many many times.
It makes perfect sense to make it a keyword, even use it as a evergreen one, as blue and white get that kind of effect fairly often.
However, the biggest issue is that the effects that do the "doesnt untap for 1 turn" simply dont really share a theme.
At some point its "ice" , so freezing a creatures makes sense.
In others its putting a creature to sleep , white uses "blinding" to tap creatures and randomly prevents the untap at some points.
Its all different and still does the same effect.
Its like a burn spell that either is Lightning, Fire, sometimes just rocks, all kinds of stuff, but "deals damage" just works, a keyword wouldnt as the sources are so different.
So yea, thats the big deal, a keyword would be great, but they just dont fit in a good way and so its written out in text, and that usually does the trick too.
People i play with usually just say "freeze" your creatures, as the vast majority of the cant untap effects especially in blue used the freezing flavor for it.
Then they printed "Sleep" and it all gone to the bin.
Anyway, the cant untap is still the prime example of a mechanic that screams to have a keyword, but probably never will get one.
-----
Regarding the mechanics that also have cards.
A lot of keywords end up having cards:
So thats completely irrelevant for something to be a mechanic or keyword.
Just card tags around a list of keyword abilities:
Hover over them and be surprised what random card exists that has the name of the mechanic
Keywords for simple things add to the learning curve.
They ease the learning curve when used for complicated but recurring effects like Protection, Bestow, Undying, Monstrous or Suspend that let you clump complicated ideas together.
I'm not sure if Take into Custody crosses that threshold, and it rarely occurs on more than two or three cards per set. Granted, Hexproof also has that profile, but it seems iffy.
It's a shame they can't errata it to "Tap target creature and exert it" (since there are cards that trigger of a card's exerted status, so it'd make them functionally different).
But really, I think Exert is an awesome mechanic and I hope they bring it back in more contexts, including exerting your opponent's stuff.
It's a shame they can't errata it to "Tap target creature and exert it" (since there are cards that trigger of a card's exerted status, so it'd make them functionally different).
But really, I think Exert is an awesome mechanic and I hope they bring it back in more contexts, including exerting your opponent's stuff.
Except that makes no sense given one significant detail: Exert's dictionary definition.
From Dictionary.com:
verb (used with object)
1. to put forth or into use, as power; exercise, as ability or influence; put into vigorous action:
to exert every effort.
2. to put (oneself) into strenuous, vigorous action or effort.
That makes exert a horrible word to use on spells and abilities that inflict an inability to untap on permanents. It fit perfectly with what WoTC wanted to achieve for Amonkhet because that type of effort was the kind of flavor they aimed for. It makes absolutely no sense slapped onto random freezing spells.
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Having a card with the name of ability isn't really a problem (Enrage, Explore).
It makes perfect sense to make it a keyword, even use it as a evergreen one, as blue and white get that kind of effect fairly often.
However, the biggest issue is that the effects that do the "doesnt untap for 1 turn" simply dont really share a theme.
At some point its "ice" , so freezing a creatures makes sense.
In others its putting a creature to sleep , white uses "blinding" to tap creatures and randomly prevents the untap at some points.
Its all different and still does the same effect.
Its like a burn spell that either is Lightning, Fire, sometimes just rocks, all kinds of stuff, but "deals damage" just works, a keyword wouldnt as the sources are so different.
So yea, thats the big deal, a keyword would be great, but they just dont fit in a good way and so its written out in text, and that usually does the trick too.
People i play with usually just say "freeze" your creatures, as the vast majority of the cant untap effects especially in blue used the freezing flavor for it.
Then they printed "Sleep" and it all gone to the bin.
Anyway, the cant untap is still the prime example of a mechanic that screams to have a keyword, but probably never will get one.
-----
Regarding the mechanics that also have cards.
A lot of keywords end up having cards:
So thats completely irrelevant for something to be a mechanic or keyword.
Just card tags around a list of keyword abilities:
Hover over them and be surprised what random card exists that has the name of the mechanic
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They ease the learning curve when used for complicated but recurring effects like Protection, Bestow, Undying, Monstrous or Suspend that let you clump complicated ideas together.
I'm not sure if Take into Custody crosses that threshold, and it rarely occurs on more than two or three cards per set. Granted, Hexproof also has that profile, but it seems iffy.
But really, I think Exert is an awesome mechanic and I hope they bring it back in more contexts, including exerting your opponent's stuff.
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Except that makes no sense given one significant detail: Exert's dictionary definition.
From Dictionary.com:
verb (used with object)
1. to put forth or into use, as power; exercise, as ability or influence; put into vigorous action:
to exert every effort.
2. to put (oneself) into strenuous, vigorous action or effort.
That makes exert a horrible word to use on spells and abilities that inflict an inability to untap on permanents. It fit perfectly with what WoTC wanted to achieve for Amonkhet because that type of effort was the kind of flavor they aimed for. It makes absolutely no sense slapped onto random freezing spells.