Huh... just noticed that “boots of jumping and striding” in the flavor text of Swiftfoot Boots is specifically un-italicized to call attention to the item name. That is a minor but somewhat fascinating design choice.
I have given a decent amount of brainpower in how this should be explained.
Reap, I want you to meet maggot carrier. If Maggot Carrier enters the battlefield, each player loses 1 life. If a player plays a second maggot carrier when the first is still on the battlefield, I think that we can agree that each player loses another 1 life. Even though the first maggot carrier reads "when maggot carrier enters the battlefield", we know that it is not triggered a second time when another card named maggot carrier enters the battlefield as well. For all intents and purposes, the card means "Whenever THIS CARD enters the battlefield".
In all cases where a card refers to CARDNAME and not to "a card/permanent/creature named CARDNEAME", we can plug in the words THIS CARD and get the functionality of that card. That is how the rules of this game work and having some cards function like this and not others would be too confusing.
With that in mind, consider your card
I assume your intent is that the first casting gets one of four cards, the second gets one of the remaining three, and so on. Because you don't say "a card named impulsive wish", this is what your card actually does.
Impulsive Wish
Sorcery
The first time you cast this card, exile the top four cards of your library.
Put a random card exiled with this card into your hand.
The first time you cast an Impulsive wish, you exile 3 of the top 4 cards of your library at random and put the 4th into your hand. Or, put differently, you made a vastly worse Thought Scour.
The second time you cast an Impulsive wish, meanwhile, you exile 3 of the top 4 cards of your library at random and put the 4th into your hand. Or, put differently, you made a vastly worse Thought Scour.
Yeah, the exact same thing happens. That is what happens when you say "impulsive wish" instead of "a card named impulsive wish". I am feeding you the literal cause and effect of your wording choice.
To reiterate:
1. The exact card effect you want IS possible.
2. The language needs to change in order to give that effect.
3. Staying in line with linguistic guidelines of MTG creates consistency between cards to increase immediate readability of cards.
4. If you are feeling that "creativity" is being sacrificed, that would suggest that the desired end result is not possible. Again, the end result is possible. Using incorrect language is not "creative".
So...
1. There are no cards that force an opponent to roll a dice. There is never a situation that would be punished for the crime of not bringing a dice when someone else brings the dice-rolling into the game.
2. I must reiterate that outside of a very unlucky and fringe “collector booster” draft, there are no circumstance where you will suddenly find yourself with this card without having the foresight to bring a dice. Cards that roll non-d20s cannot be obtained in draft boosters.
I for one appreciate that there are only 4 ETB tapped lands in this precon, one of which is always justified bojuka bog. Combining that with the fly, stone, talisman, and signet, this deck has a legitimately okay mana base by the standards of commander precons.
The Ebony Fly seems pretty useful. Price is comparable to mind stone. While it ETBs tapped and cannot be used for immediate value late in the game. Getting a flying creature that gives another creature flying seems like a decent alternative to just "draw a card" for some decks.
Like a 6-sided dice, ok, maybe someone has one, not guaranteed.
A spin-down d20? sure somebody has one, almost guaranteed.
But a d12 ? Good luck ...
In case you missed the news, it has been repeatedly stated that you are NOT supposed to use spindowns for dice rolls as all of the high rolls are right next to each other and anyone half decent at rolling dice would be able to ensure a 10+ roll 90+ percent of the time.
Turn 3, moon-blessed cleric
Turn 4, teleportation circle searched by cleric, proceed to fetch enchantments every turn so you only draw gas until cleric dies.
So... I'm confused. Wizards has held off on making skeletons except in teensy tiny amounts due to cultural pressure in the east and then this set comes out of nowhere with two Mythic Skeletons, a lord that pumps and generates skeletons, and at least 1 common skeleton (plus the beholder skeleton we're getting in the commander decks).
Seems like Delina and Pixie Guide might be the new Kikki-Jikki combo, and I think that's probably okay.
You have a 49% chance that the first Delina shot fizzles and makes one Pixie with one Pixie Guide out. I don't like my odds at nigh-coin-flip rates like this.
Whether or not it ends up actually being reliable, I can 100% see wizards banning one of those cards if the combo gets popular. If a major tournament comes up and one of the major meta decks makes victory or defeat come down to a literal dice roll, that could leave a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths.
Seriously, coin flipping is rare for a darn good reason (and that’s coming from someone who loves dice rolls and coin flips).
Mark Rosewater had this discrepancy pointed out and he said that aesthetics do not justify excessive power. They apparently do not want vulshok morningstar to ever return for limited reasons. Does anyone remember whether the morningstar caused problems in Mirrodin limited?
Seems nice in the same sort of way that Temur Sabertooth is nice. Do not be surprised if it pops into a random cEDH list here or there.
This is definitely not a CEDH card and the comparison to the cat is misleading. Temur Sabertooth for instance, bounce every other creature you control with real ETB value, this only herself for some very mediocre dungeon reward. If you just need something that bounce herself repeatedly for combo purposes, Shrieking Drake is infinitely better at this purpose than this.
If you have infinite mana and shrieking drake in hand, you get nothing without a third enabler.
If you have infinite mana and Displacer Beast in hand, you automatically win.
This is a card that is only good in that infinite mana scenario but blue does not have too many infinite mana outlets that instantly win the game in multiplayer settings. Things like blue sun's zenith can nuke a single player and all that but there is a total dearth of blue cards that end multiplayer games (Lore weaver could technically do the job if you put the ability on the stack a few thousand times but that opens your opponents up to drawing any possible interaction they may have).
Because this is a blue card that can wipe out the entire table more efficiently than sands of delirium or similar infinite outlets, I would not be surprised if it randomly pops up somewhere (though the newly spoiled secret door is probably a bit more likely as it costs only 5 to enter the dungeon rather than 7).
Edit: I was apparently hit by the sanity bat right after posting this and realized that there are dozens of "infinite mana outlets" that win the game instantly and see absolutely no play anywhere. Yeah, this is a nothing card.
Reap, I want you to meet maggot carrier. If Maggot Carrier enters the battlefield, each player loses 1 life. If a player plays a second maggot carrier when the first is still on the battlefield, I think that we can agree that each player loses another 1 life. Even though the first maggot carrier reads "when maggot carrier enters the battlefield", we know that it is not triggered a second time when another card named maggot carrier enters the battlefield as well. For all intents and purposes, the card means "Whenever THIS CARD enters the battlefield".
In all cases where a card refers to CARDNAME and not to "a card/permanent/creature named CARDNEAME", we can plug in the words THIS CARD and get the functionality of that card. That is how the rules of this game work and having some cards function like this and not others would be too confusing.
With that in mind, consider your card
I assume your intent is that the first casting gets one of four cards, the second gets one of the remaining three, and so on. Because you don't say "a card named impulsive wish", this is what your card actually does.
Impulsive Wish
Sorcery
The first time you cast this card, exile the top four cards of your library.
Put a random card exiled with this card into your hand.
The first time you cast an Impulsive wish, you exile 3 of the top 4 cards of your library at random and put the 4th into your hand. Or, put differently, you made a vastly worse Thought Scour.
The second time you cast an Impulsive wish, meanwhile, you exile 3 of the top 4 cards of your library at random and put the 4th into your hand. Or, put differently, you made a vastly worse Thought Scour.
Yeah, the exact same thing happens. That is what happens when you say "impulsive wish" instead of "a card named impulsive wish". I am feeding you the literal cause and effect of your wording choice.
To reiterate:
1. The exact card effect you want IS possible.
2. The language needs to change in order to give that effect.
3. Staying in line with linguistic guidelines of MTG creates consistency between cards to increase immediate readability of cards.
4. If you are feeling that "creativity" is being sacrificed, that would suggest that the desired end result is not possible. Again, the end result is possible. Using incorrect language is not "creative".
1. There are no cards that force an opponent to roll a dice. There is never a situation that would be punished for the crime of not bringing a dice when someone else brings the dice-rolling into the game.
2. I must reiterate that outside of a very unlucky and fringe “collector booster” draft, there are no circumstance where you will suddenly find yourself with this card without having the foresight to bring a dice. Cards that roll non-d20s cannot be obtained in draft boosters.
In case you missed the news, it has been repeatedly stated that you are NOT supposed to use spindowns for dice rolls as all of the high rolls are right next to each other and anyone half decent at rolling dice would be able to ensure a 10+ roll 90+ percent of the time.
Turn 4, teleportation circle searched by cleric, proceed to fetch enchantments every turn so you only draw gas until cleric dies.
Temur Sabertooth and Cloudstone Curio allow you to repeatedly make use of wirewood symbiont or hyrax tower scout to untap a big Karametra's Acolyte, priest of titania, Circle of Dreams Druid to keep the combo going.
The heck?
Whether or not it ends up actually being reliable, I can 100% see wizards banning one of those cards if the combo gets popular. If a major tournament comes up and one of the major meta decks makes victory or defeat come down to a literal dice roll, that could leave a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths.
Seriously, coin flipping is rare for a darn good reason (and that’s coming from someone who loves dice rolls and coin flips).
I don’t know, friend.
Seems a bit convenient for this mistake to be made right as barbarians return to mtg.
I think our illiterate D12-loving friends may have something to do with this. /s
Mark Rosewater had this discrepancy pointed out and he said that aesthetics do not justify excessive power. They apparently do not want vulshok morningstar to ever return for limited reasons. Does anyone remember whether the morningstar caused problems in Mirrodin limited?
If you have infinite mana and shrieking drake in hand, you get nothing without a third enabler.
If you have infinite mana and Displacer Beast in hand, you automatically win.
This is a card that is only good in that infinite mana scenario but blue does not have too many infinite mana outlets that instantly win the game in multiplayer settings. Things like blue sun's zenith can nuke a single player and all that but there is a total dearth of blue cards that end multiplayer games (Lore weaver could technically do the job if you put the ability on the stack a few thousand times but that opens your opponents up to drawing any possible interaction they may have).
Because this is a blue card that can wipe out the entire table more efficiently than sands of delirium or similar infinite outlets, I would not be surprised if it randomly pops up somewhere (though the newly spoiled secret door is probably a bit more likely as it costs only 5 to enter the dungeon rather than 7).
Edit: I was apparently hit by the sanity bat right after posting this and realized that there are dozens of "infinite mana outlets" that win the game instantly and see absolutely no play anywhere. Yeah, this is a nothing card.