Addenum - Is just the return of a cycle of cards from Timespiral (Return to Dust/Careful Consideration), while one of the cards sees play in Infect and the other in EDH only, the 3 other cards are litterally garbage. Also no this isn't a cast trigger, if you counter the spell they get zip, nada, piss and all. Not a very strong mechanic, actually from the cards spoiled pretty weak.
We don't know what the rest of the ~8 cards will look like. But we already have the first instant speed Timetwister effect in the game. Even at 7 mana, that alone is worth a consideration, and does not a garbage card make. For a cycle with a tiny number of cards from Time Spiral, having two actually see play, one of which sees non-casual play, that's... actually quite good. Go look at the number of concepts in the game that have such cycles or can be made into an entire mechanic, and look at how many actually see play. 1-2 out of a mere handful total is very high a ratio.
Even with wicked mechanics like Infect, how many cards actually see play? There are a whopping fifty-eight cards that have infect, create a token creature with infect, or give a creature infect. A mechanic that has been used once before, and already has a good 20-40% of the previous cards with it seeing actual play, and when reintroduced now has the very first instant-speed version of a powerful, iconic effect, is not, I would think, a failure of a mechanic by the metric of how many cards of a given mechanic actually see real play.
Riot - It's basically similar to unleash, you have to choose between one extra power/toughness or haste. A very boring mechanic that could have been improved if it was Unleash X. I would have loved to see a beast creature that came in as a cub with haste or a adult beast with counters.
It's boring, but effective, and fits Gruul very well. Do you want to hit them harder, or do you want to hit them faster? Simple, but fits to a t. Two bonuses to choose between rather than either nothing or one bonus with a penalty is more fun for people to play around with, and causes a similar kind of tension of choice. Either a bigger critter than can't block, or a smaller one that can? Hmmm. Either a bigger creature that has to wait to attack, or a smaller one that rushes the enemy right now? Hmmm.
Riot is perfectly fine and thematic an ability that fits Gruul better than Unleash would. After all, green and red both lean into haste, historically, with green having large creatures. While black and red both lean into creatures that can't block in exchange for being larger than normal for their cost/color, historically. With black being the other color with significant numbers of creatures incapable of blocking, Unleash fits Rakdos better than it would ever fit with Gruul.
Adapt - Monstrosity, it's just monstrosity without out the extra trigger or special state. So you can reuse it if there are no counters but it's still a bad mechanic. Walking Ballista is better than this mechanic, if they don't make a card similar to it or Hangarback walker than this mechanic has failed. I mean even Clockwork Dragon lets you keep putting counters on it and it's considered a bad card.
Again, this comparison to Monstrosity that asserts the Monstrosity mechanic is itself the triggers that go off with it. That's not the case, as is evidenced by the half-dozen creatures that gain exactly no benefit whatsoever for becoming monstrous, other than the keyword and the +1/+1 counters, one of which was, itself, a preview card for the mechanic back in Theros: Fleetfeather Cockatrice, Gluttonous Cyclops, Ill-Tempered Cyclops, Nemesis of Mortals, Nessian Asp (the preview card for Monstrosity), and Ravenous Leucrocota.
This is the entire Monstrosity mechanic:
Mana Cost: Monstrosity N. (If this creature isn't monstrous, put N +1/+1 counters on it and it becomes monstrous.)
That is it. There is nothing else to the mechanic, itself.
Compare this to the Adapt mechanic:
Mana Cost: Adapt N. (If this creature has no +1/+1 counters on it, put N +1/+1 counters on it.)
Some cards might use the monstrous keyword, or the trigger upon activating the Monstrosity ability for an additional effect, but those are not... the... Monstrosity... mechanic. Any more than the text on Zegana, Utopian Speaker that grants trample to creatures with +1/+1 counters on them is the Adapt mechanic.
But damn, that trample-enabling ability Zegana has sure does use the Adapt mechanic in a more versatile version of the way the monstrous keyword granted extra abilities. Many monstrous creatures gained nothing more than a keyword or two for becoming monstrous, like trample, menace, vigilance, etc. Zegana doesn't merely mimic that just as well, she does it far better. Because she also gains it when she gets a +1/+1 counter from anywhere else, no Monstrosity Adapt required.
Go through the Monstrosity creatures, and think of how they'd look if their abilities simply turned on when they have +1/+1 counters on them at all. If cards like Colossus of Akros, Fleecemane Lion, or Polis Crusher, instead said, "While ~ has any +1/+1 counters on it, it gains _____.", they'd look quite a bit stronger than they already are.
Additionally, the templating for triggered abilities could be equally versatile without shutting down the ability entirely. Nemesis of Mortals points the way to the formatting and the implications for this.
Mana Cost: If ~ has no +1/+1 counters on it, [ability to activate], then Adapt N. (If this creature has no +1/+1 counters on it, put N +1/+1 counters on it.)
So, using an existing Monstrosity creature as an example, Arbor Colossus. How would that creature's monstrous trigger ability look in Adapt? I think it would look like this:
3GGG: If Simic Colossus has no +1/+1 counters on it, destroy target creature with flying an opponent controls, then Adapt 3. (If this creature has no +1/+1 counters on it, put 3 +1/+1 counters on it.)
Thus, you can still get the same Monstrosity effect of Arbor Colossus in full while this version of Colossus has no +1/+1 counters on it. Only better, because if you remove those counters or move them elsewhere, you get to activate it again. Often easier than flickering or bouncing a creature to turn the monstrous keyword off for decks that feed off +1/+1 counters already.
Other creatures still point to another potential formatting of these abilities that could be far more versatile than Monstrosity ever had the hope of being. Look at Shipbreaker Kraken. That card puts exactly four counters on it with Monstrosity, then triggers exactly four blue tap-and-freeze effects. Looking once more at Zegana, Utopian Speaker, a Simic version of that kraken could easily, easily, easily be templated to have similar rules text below the Adapt that says, "Each time Simic Kraken gains a +1/+1 counter, you may tap target creature. That creature doesn't untap during its controllers' untap steps for as long as you control Simic Kraken."
Voila. Pay the Adapt cost that gives four counters while it has no counters, and you get the same effect as Shipbreaker Kraken. But, if you can throw counters on it in other ways--such as via grafting, or using Simic Ascendancy--you can get far more value, and start doing so much sooner.
Much like Zegana can be an 8/8 trampler if you Adapt her. Or, if you graft a counter onto her or otherwise toss a +1/+1 counter on her much more cheaply, she's "merely" a 5/5 trampler for four mana with no drawbacks, who might very well have cantripped when she came into play. A lot of value for that cost, no Adapt needed; the Adapt ends up being a bonus mode you may or may not use.
And if you can move counters around, or spend them for effects? Like Simic is wont to do anyhow, or if it gets a card akin to Sage of Fables? You could then turn Zegana's trample for herself on early, later spend those counters, then Adapt her for additional value.
But for real, Monstrosity was not, not, not all the riders that went with it. As the half dozen cards with exactly no other bonuses gained for being monstrous show. Rather, just like Zegana, many creatures with Monstrosity simply had abilities that turned on with or triggered off of what Monstrosity provided. Adapt, however, has more versatility in how this can be implemented, while still being able to mimic all those triggers Monstrosity itself had with ease. Adapt has, imho, far more potential design space that can be explored with the same basic mechanism.
Afterlife - This already exists from Innistrad in the form of Doomed Traveler and Mausoleum Guard. Everyone remembers the traveler cause it was good for its cost. Yet the others were unplayable even in limited, never saw anyone pick a Elgaud Inquisitor in a draft. Heck even this idea was taken from Legacy where their was a huge cycle of cards that crapped out insect tokens, Symbiotic Cycle.
I mean, 1/1 flying spirit tokens coming off creatures dying has been a thing, sure. Actually making it a keyword that fits the mechanic thematically, is rock solid, though. And fits the Orzhov lore brilliantly. But hell, Afterlife is good enough in theme and ability to become evergreen, imho. It is boring? I mean, sure, I suppose. But in a vacuum, a whole hell of a lot of keyword abilities are pretty darn boring. How they're used is what ultimately matters.
Spectacle - This is actually new, only card I can find similar is Needle Drop and even that is still too different. I mean it could be interesting, especially if they make cheap spells, heck they could even make a new lightning bolt out of it. I like it, I just hope they push it more than they pushed Unleash/Hellbent cause they never push Rakdos Mechanics.
Triggering extra abilities when something or someone has taken damage isn't new, but yeah, Spectacle is one of those abilities that has been designed for fun among fans many times, because it's pretty obvious. I'm actually more surprised it's never shown up yet, than by it actually existing. It is certainly a delightfully simple ability with tons of design space to explore.
Can you give me some examples of white cards doing that? Time twisting or putting permanents onto the battlefield?
White has always been about providing balanced benefits and penalties to all players equally, from the very beginning of the game. A Timetwister-like effect leans much more towards the white end of the blue portion of the color pie, than the black end. Giving a hefty benefit like everyone draw a new hand fits Azorius, and fits white-blue in general, for that reason, methinks.
"White knights"? Lol, oh dear. I mean, alternatively, perhaps some of us are just astonished at the knee-jerk reaction to adapt? One that's quite different from previous reactions to this same mechanic... when it was called monstrosity?
Wowza, what a strong trio of preview cards to introduce the mechanic to us. Oh crap, is one a common with one evergreen creature keyword, that gives no added benefits from becoming monstrous? Well, that seems familiar.
The rare adapt card presented is better than any of the preview cards for monstrosity. Was monstrosity to be judged in its entirety by just those three preview cards? Or maaaaaaaybe by the entire suite of cards, once presented, instead? With cards like Arbor Colossus, Fleecemane Lion, Polis Crusher, and Stormbreath Dragon?
It might, in fact, have far more to do with some of us shaking our heads at those judging the entire mechanic and all the cards as being total garbage. When... you know... we haven't really seen anything, yet? And what we have seen is straight up better than the parallel previews of the previous iteration of the same mechanic?
I'm hoping to see at least one Adapt X somewhere in the set.
You have to much faith in WotC. We’re in the PlayDesign era now. We got Chamber Sentry because of a previous pre PlayDesign group making Walking Ballista and then PlayDesign weeding out something similar.
Not sure what your point is - perhaps you're saying they wouldn't allow you to pay X to put on X counters? Sure, but that's not necessarily what I mean; for example, "Adapt X, where X is the highest power among creatures you control."
Even a simple, straight up "XUG: Adapt X." isn't remotely a stretch or unbalanced. Look at Worldsoul Colossus for an example of a similarly potentially explosive card. I could eaaaaaasily see an uncommon ooze or hydra that costs, like, UG for a 2/2 with its only ability being "XUG: Adapt X." Hell, it could realistically gain some small benefit for having +1/+1 counters on it, such as trample--like its Monstrosity parallel (discussed below)--and still be fine. Overall, that's XUUGG for an X/X creature, with the adapt cost itself largely being the Worldsoul Colossus with flash, or something somewhat comparable. Not busted, and even quite manageable in limited.
After all, they tried an Monstrosity Adapt X card already, in Domesticated Hydra from Conspiracy: Take the Crown. And that card is meh. At best.
Hell, look at Hydra Broodmaster from Journey into Nyx, or, better yet, Polukranos, World Eater from Theros. Those both have an Monstrosity Adapt X mechanic. Only it's "XXG: Monstrosity Adapt X.", with some other effect tacked on. Like tossing X, X/X creatures into play, or distributing X fight damage around however you want. And Polukranos has a 4-drop, 5/5 body before using its Monstrosity Adapt X mechanic. And is still perfectly fine.
I see little reason we won't have some Adapt X cards. No need to toss restrictions on to X, for that matter. They've straight up tried Monstrosity Adapt X on three cards already, and none of them come close to broken. With no limits on how big X can be. And, keep in mind that those three cards are mono-green--the color that ramps up mana the fastest all on its own--instead of multicolored.
Another thing is the way the mechanic is worded. With monstrosity, the mechanic was all about either immediately gaining a huge effect, which is feelgood, or gaining a cool new permanent effect on your creature, which is feelgood. With adapt, you get some +1/+1 counters, which are generally fairly common. Nearly every set has them. And that is feelsmeh. Then at the end of the mechanic as you read it, it says it can only be done if it doesn't already have counters. Very feelsbad, especially again when putting counters on creatures is so common.
I'm not sure how you can possibly say that Monstrosity itself is what caused monstrous creatures to immediately "feel good". The Monstrosity mechanic is literally just Adapt with the creature gaining the monstrous keyword, and not being able to use Monstrosity again while it has the monstrous keyword rather than while it has any +1/+1 counters on it. That is the entire mechanic. And cards like Fleetfeather Cockatrice, Gluttonous Cyclops, Ill-Tempered Cyclops, Nemesis of Mortals, Nessian Asp, and Ravenous Leucrocota, all have exactly zero other effects that reward the creature for being monstrous, just like Aeromunculus.
On the other hand, Zegana, Utopian Speaker not only itself shows a reward for being adapted with a bonus right on par with a lot of the monstrous creatures (gaining a single keyword ability like trample, menace, etc, was pretty common a lone bonus for becoming monstrous), it's potentially better than the bonus gained for being monstrous. After all, it can get a +1/+1 counter from anywhere, and have the bonus. Go look through monstrous creatures, and see how they'd look if they gained their bonus for having any +1/+1 counters instead of the monstrous keyword.
We've seen exactly two adapt cards, one of which gives a reward very much like monstrosity did, only to every creature you have with +1/+1 counters on them, and one that is itself better than basically all of the vanilla monstrous creatures, being a quite serviceable 2/3 flier for 3 mana. If it were just that, with no adapt, it would STILL be a perfectly a-ok common 3-drop.
Monstrosity made use of additional rules text to synergize with the monstrosity mechanic. Monstrosity itself didn't provide that extra rules text at all, and a half dozen monstrous creatures gave no bonuses whatsoever for becoming monstrous.
Based on Zegana, Utopian Speaker, and the way Simic traditionally works their +1/+1 counters, including both moving them around and gaining bonus abilities for having one or more such counters, it's very, very likely a lot of adapt critters will have quite similar bonuses monstrous creatures did. Only potentially better, because they're likely to turn on with the presence of any +1/+1 counter on them at all, rather than first requiring payment of the monstrosity adapt cost.
I think the part that upsets me the most about adapt is that it has antisynergy with Simic's previous two mechanics graft and evolve. I don't really know why it bothers me so much, but at least with Dimir or other guilds, the mechanics can at least coexist even if they don't directly synergize.
Oh, and as far as this bit? I don't actually think it will end up anti-synergizing as much as you think, if at all. Again, Zegana, Utopian Speaker points the way in this regard.
Regarding evolve? Adapt straight up does NOT anti-synergize with it. If you drop an Aeromunculus out while you have any evolve creatures with power lower than 2, or toughness lower than 3, they evolve immediately. Same as always. They don't toss a counter onto Aeromunculus, which could potentially be anti-synergistic.
If you drop Zegana while you have an evolve creature out with either power or toughness lower than 4, on the other hand, not only do those creatures each evolve, they also suddenly each gain trample. That's synergistic, not anti-synergistic. If other creatures follow this format, those evolve creatures might very well each gain multiple abilities when they evolve. At the worst, they just... evolve as normal for you playing someone bigger than them. So the mechanic works exactly the same as always in that case, and is synergy-neutral.
As for graft? Think of it like this. If you have a graft creature out and cast a creature with adapt that gets some reward for having +1/+1 counters on it, that creature has gained an additional choice/mode. You can either toss that adapt creature a +1/+1 counter with graft, immediately turning on any and all bonuses it gains for having +1/+1 counters, right this second. Or, you can choose not to so you can adapt it later.
But a lot of the time? For a creature like Zegana? If you have a graft creature out, not only does she cantrip when she comes out--which is synergistic--she can immediately become a 5/5 trampler that also gives the creature that grafted her trample. More synergy. I would wager that quite often, that'll be more than enough payout for her 2GU cost.
I really like Riot. Spectacle and Afterlife as they fit their guilds pretty well. I feel that Adapt is just Monstrous reworded
I can see Riot creating interesting decisions as to when to give it thee counter or haste
Adapt is Monstrosity reworded. That's literally what they intended, per Mark Rosewater, who said that it was intentional, it's not something that was being hidden, and it was just a tweaked version that interacts better with counters and has less memory issues. It looks like Monstrosity reworded because that's 100% precisely what WotC intended. It is, for all intents and purpose, a returning mechanic being used for a guild.
I mean I don't necessarily know that this is an appeal to ignorance. Since there are technically no flying dinosaurs, they would need to avoid technical correctness to print this card as a dinosaur or ruin the tribal theme of the set.
Technically, there are tons of flying dinosaurs. Modern birds are a group of theropod dinosaurs.
...Though I think Jhessian Infiltrator is better, but come on, he is in different (and mostly better) colors and they cause different combat shenanigans.
It's better on attack only, however. This card is better than Jhessian Infiltrator when you're being attacked by an opponent's flying creature, though. Meaning there's a case for this being situationally better against other aggro decks with fliers in it.
Pretty sure pterodactyls weren't dinosaurs. Might be wrong though.
Yeah, just like Mosa-, Ichthyo- and Elasmosaurs (big marine reptiles) weren't dinosaurs. Pterosaurs also never had feathers as far as we can tell (some to most dinosaurs did though). But it would probably be too problematic to make that distinction (both marine as well as flying reptiles would better be kept typed as "lizard") both from a flavor as well as from a mechanical standpoint. It's a fantasy version of dinosaurs, I think we can give them a bit leeway on this.
Pterosaurs were covered in furry, feather-like structures called pycnofibers (everywhere but their wings; like the fur bodies with leathery wings on bats). Pycnofibers were used strictly for thermal control like mammalian fur, but probably didn't aid in flight, and they were most likely warm-blooded.
So, having pterosaurs being covered in fur-like feathers is actually quite accurate. Although the wings would be bare. But as you pointed out, this is a fantasy version. And they really are much closer relatives to dinosaurs than basically all other reptiles than crocodilians, so it is actually more accurate to call them dinos than, say, lizards.
All that being said this card seems like a nice and efficient little beastie! I like it.
We don't know what the rest of the ~8 cards will look like. But we already have the first instant speed Timetwister effect in the game. Even at 7 mana, that alone is worth a consideration, and does not a garbage card make. For a cycle with a tiny number of cards from Time Spiral, having two actually see play, one of which sees non-casual play, that's... actually quite good. Go look at the number of concepts in the game that have such cycles or can be made into an entire mechanic, and look at how many actually see play. 1-2 out of a mere handful total is very high a ratio.
Even with wicked mechanics like Infect, how many cards actually see play? There are a whopping fifty-eight cards that have infect, create a token creature with infect, or give a creature infect. A mechanic that has been used once before, and already has a good 20-40% of the previous cards with it seeing actual play, and when reintroduced now has the very first instant-speed version of a powerful, iconic effect, is not, I would think, a failure of a mechanic by the metric of how many cards of a given mechanic actually see real play.
It's boring, but effective, and fits Gruul very well. Do you want to hit them harder, or do you want to hit them faster? Simple, but fits to a t. Two bonuses to choose between rather than either nothing or one bonus with a penalty is more fun for people to play around with, and causes a similar kind of tension of choice. Either a bigger critter than can't block, or a smaller one that can? Hmmm. Either a bigger creature that has to wait to attack, or a smaller one that rushes the enemy right now? Hmmm.
Riot is perfectly fine and thematic an ability that fits Gruul better than Unleash would. After all, green and red both lean into haste, historically, with green having large creatures. While black and red both lean into creatures that can't block in exchange for being larger than normal for their cost/color, historically. With black being the other color with significant numbers of creatures incapable of blocking, Unleash fits Rakdos better than it would ever fit with Gruul.
Again, this comparison to Monstrosity that asserts the Monstrosity mechanic is itself the triggers that go off with it. That's not the case, as is evidenced by the half-dozen creatures that gain exactly no benefit whatsoever for becoming monstrous, other than the keyword and the +1/+1 counters, one of which was, itself, a preview card for the mechanic back in Theros: Fleetfeather Cockatrice, Gluttonous Cyclops, Ill-Tempered Cyclops, Nemesis of Mortals, Nessian Asp (the preview card for Monstrosity), and Ravenous Leucrocota.
This is the entire Monstrosity mechanic:
Mana Cost: Monstrosity N. (If this creature isn't monstrous, put N +1/+1 counters on it and it becomes monstrous.)
That is it. There is nothing else to the mechanic, itself.
Compare this to the Adapt mechanic:
Mana Cost: Adapt N. (If this creature has no +1/+1 counters on it, put N +1/+1 counters on it.)
Some cards might use the monstrous keyword, or the trigger upon activating the Monstrosity ability for an additional effect, but those are not... the... Monstrosity... mechanic. Any more than the text on Zegana, Utopian Speaker that grants trample to creatures with +1/+1 counters on them is the Adapt mechanic.
But damn, that trample-enabling ability Zegana has sure does use the Adapt mechanic in a more versatile version of the way the monstrous keyword granted extra abilities. Many monstrous creatures gained nothing more than a keyword or two for becoming monstrous, like trample, menace, vigilance, etc. Zegana doesn't merely mimic that just as well, she does it far better. Because she also gains it when she gets a +1/+1 counter from anywhere else, no
MonstrosityAdapt required.Go through the Monstrosity creatures, and think of how they'd look if their abilities simply turned on when they have +1/+1 counters on them at all. If cards like Colossus of Akros, Fleecemane Lion, or Polis Crusher, instead said, "While ~ has any +1/+1 counters on it, it gains _____.", they'd look quite a bit stronger than they already are.
Additionally, the templating for triggered abilities could be equally versatile without shutting down the ability entirely. Nemesis of Mortals points the way to the formatting and the implications for this.
Mana Cost: If ~ has no +1/+1 counters on it, [ability to activate], then Adapt N. (If this creature has no +1/+1 counters on it, put N +1/+1 counters on it.)
So, using an existing Monstrosity creature as an example, Arbor Colossus. How would that creature's monstrous trigger ability look in Adapt? I think it would look like this:
3GGG: If Simic Colossus has no +1/+1 counters on it, destroy target creature with flying an opponent controls, then Adapt 3. (If this creature has no +1/+1 counters on it, put 3 +1/+1 counters on it.)
Thus, you can still get the same Monstrosity effect of Arbor Colossus in full while this version of Colossus has no +1/+1 counters on it. Only better, because if you remove those counters or move them elsewhere, you get to activate it again. Often easier than flickering or bouncing a creature to turn the monstrous keyword off for decks that feed off +1/+1 counters already.
Other creatures still point to another potential formatting of these abilities that could be far more versatile than Monstrosity ever had the hope of being. Look at Shipbreaker Kraken. That card puts exactly four counters on it with Monstrosity, then triggers exactly four blue tap-and-freeze effects. Looking once more at Zegana, Utopian Speaker, a Simic version of that kraken could easily, easily, easily be templated to have similar rules text below the Adapt that says, "Each time Simic Kraken gains a +1/+1 counter, you may tap target creature. That creature doesn't untap during its controllers' untap steps for as long as you control Simic Kraken."
Voila. Pay the Adapt cost that gives four counters while it has no counters, and you get the same effect as Shipbreaker Kraken. But, if you can throw counters on it in other ways--such as via grafting, or using Simic Ascendancy--you can get far more value, and start doing so much sooner.
Much like Zegana can be an 8/8 trampler if you Adapt her. Or, if you graft a counter onto her or otherwise toss a +1/+1 counter on her much more cheaply, she's "merely" a 5/5 trampler for four mana with no drawbacks, who might very well have cantripped when she came into play. A lot of value for that cost, no Adapt needed; the Adapt ends up being a bonus mode you may or may not use.
And if you can move counters around, or spend them for effects? Like Simic is wont to do anyhow, or if it gets a card akin to Sage of Fables? You could then turn Zegana's trample for herself on early, later spend those counters, then Adapt her for additional value.
But for real, Monstrosity was not, not, not all the riders that went with it. As the half dozen cards with exactly no other bonuses gained for being monstrous show. Rather, just like Zegana, many creatures with Monstrosity simply had abilities that turned on with or triggered off of what Monstrosity provided. Adapt, however, has more versatility in how this can be implemented, while still being able to mimic all those triggers Monstrosity itself had with ease. Adapt has, imho, far more potential design space that can be explored with the same basic mechanism.
I mean, 1/1 flying spirit tokens coming off creatures dying has been a thing, sure. Actually making it a keyword that fits the mechanic thematically, is rock solid, though. And fits the Orzhov lore brilliantly. But hell, Afterlife is good enough in theme and ability to become evergreen, imho. It is boring? I mean, sure, I suppose. But in a vacuum, a whole hell of a lot of keyword abilities are pretty darn boring. How they're used is what ultimately matters.
Triggering extra abilities when something or someone has taken damage isn't new, but yeah, Spectacle is one of those abilities that has been designed for fun among fans many times, because it's pretty obvious. I'm actually more surprised it's never shown up yet, than by it actually existing. It is certainly a delightfully simple ability with tons of design space to explore.
White has always been about providing balanced benefits and penalties to all players equally, from the very beginning of the game. A Timetwister-like effect leans much more towards the white end of the blue portion of the color pie, than the black end. Giving a hefty benefit like everyone draw a new hand fits Azorius, and fits white-blue in general, for that reason, methinks.
As for putting cards onto the battlefield from your hand in white, Preeminent Captain and Stoneforge Mystic come to mind immediately.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mechanics-theros-2013-09-02
I mean, look at the amazing cards they used to highlight the monstrosity mechanic when it premiered:
Nessian Asp
Stoneshock Giant
Hundred-Handed One
Wowza, what a strong trio of preview cards to introduce the mechanic to us. Oh crap, is one a common with one evergreen creature keyword, that gives no added benefits from becoming monstrous? Well, that seems familiar.
The rare adapt card presented is better than any of the preview cards for monstrosity. Was monstrosity to be judged in its entirety by just those three preview cards? Or maaaaaaaybe by the entire suite of cards, once presented, instead? With cards like Arbor Colossus, Fleecemane Lion, Polis Crusher, and Stormbreath Dragon?
It might, in fact, have far more to do with some of us shaking our heads at those judging the entire mechanic and all the cards as being total garbage. When... you know... we haven't really seen anything, yet? And what we have seen is straight up better than the parallel previews of the previous iteration of the same mechanic?
Even a simple, straight up "XUG: Adapt X." isn't remotely a stretch or unbalanced. Look at Worldsoul Colossus for an example of a similarly potentially explosive card. I could eaaaaaasily see an uncommon ooze or hydra that costs, like, UG for a 2/2 with its only ability being "XUG: Adapt X." Hell, it could realistically gain some small benefit for having +1/+1 counters on it, such as trample--like its Monstrosity parallel (discussed below)--and still be fine. Overall, that's XUUGG for an X/X creature, with the adapt cost itself largely being the Worldsoul Colossus with flash, or something somewhat comparable. Not busted, and even quite manageable in limited.
After all, they tried an
MonstrosityAdapt X card already, in Domesticated Hydra from Conspiracy: Take the Crown. And that card is meh. At best.Hell, look at Hydra Broodmaster from Journey into Nyx, or, better yet, Polukranos, World Eater from Theros. Those both have an
MonstrosityAdapt X mechanic. Only it's "XXG:MonstrosityAdapt X.", with some other effect tacked on. Like tossing X, X/X creatures into play, or distributing X fight damage around however you want. And Polukranos has a 4-drop, 5/5 body before using itsMonstrosityAdapt X mechanic. And is still perfectly fine.I see little reason we won't have some Adapt X cards. No need to toss restrictions on to X, for that matter. They've straight up tried
MonstrosityAdapt X on three cards already, and none of them come close to broken. With no limits on how big X can be. And, keep in mind that those three cards are mono-green--the color that ramps up mana the fastest all on its own--instead of multicolored.I'm not sure how you can possibly say that Monstrosity itself is what caused monstrous creatures to immediately "feel good". The Monstrosity mechanic is literally just Adapt with the creature gaining the monstrous keyword, and not being able to use Monstrosity again while it has the monstrous keyword rather than while it has any +1/+1 counters on it. That is the entire mechanic. And cards like Fleetfeather Cockatrice, Gluttonous Cyclops, Ill-Tempered Cyclops, Nemesis of Mortals, Nessian Asp, and Ravenous Leucrocota, all have exactly zero other effects that reward the creature for being monstrous, just like Aeromunculus.
On the other hand, Zegana, Utopian Speaker not only itself shows a reward for being adapted with a bonus right on par with a lot of the monstrous creatures (gaining a single keyword ability like trample, menace, etc, was pretty common a lone bonus for becoming monstrous), it's potentially better than the bonus gained for being monstrous. After all, it can get a +1/+1 counter from anywhere, and have the bonus. Go look through monstrous creatures, and see how they'd look if they gained their bonus for having any +1/+1 counters instead of the monstrous keyword.
We've seen exactly two adapt cards, one of which gives a reward very much like monstrosity did, only to every creature you have with +1/+1 counters on them, and one that is itself better than basically all of the vanilla monstrous creatures, being a quite serviceable 2/3 flier for 3 mana. If it were just that, with no adapt, it would STILL be a perfectly a-ok common 3-drop.
Monstrosity made use of additional rules text to synergize with the monstrosity mechanic. Monstrosity itself didn't provide that extra rules text at all, and a half dozen monstrous creatures gave no bonuses whatsoever for becoming monstrous.
Based on Zegana, Utopian Speaker, and the way Simic traditionally works their +1/+1 counters, including both moving them around and gaining bonus abilities for having one or more such counters, it's very, very likely a lot of adapt critters will have quite similar bonuses monstrous creatures did. Only potentially better, because they're likely to turn on with the presence of any +1/+1 counter on them at all, rather than first requiring payment of the
monstrosityadapt cost.Oh, and as far as this bit? I don't actually think it will end up anti-synergizing as much as you think, if at all. Again, Zegana, Utopian Speaker points the way in this regard.
Regarding evolve? Adapt straight up does NOT anti-synergize with it. If you drop an Aeromunculus out while you have any evolve creatures with power lower than 2, or toughness lower than 3, they evolve immediately. Same as always. They don't toss a counter onto Aeromunculus, which could potentially be anti-synergistic.
If you drop Zegana while you have an evolve creature out with either power or toughness lower than 4, on the other hand, not only do those creatures each evolve, they also suddenly each gain trample. That's synergistic, not anti-synergistic. If other creatures follow this format, those evolve creatures might very well each gain multiple abilities when they evolve. At the worst, they just... evolve as normal for you playing someone bigger than them. So the mechanic works exactly the same as always in that case, and is synergy-neutral.
As for graft? Think of it like this. If you have a graft creature out and cast a creature with adapt that gets some reward for having +1/+1 counters on it, that creature has gained an additional choice/mode. You can either toss that adapt creature a +1/+1 counter with graft, immediately turning on any and all bonuses it gains for having +1/+1 counters, right this second. Or, you can choose not to so you can adapt it later.
But a lot of the time? For a creature like Zegana? If you have a graft creature out, not only does she cantrip when she comes out--which is synergistic--she can immediately become a 5/5 trampler that also gives the creature that grafted her trample. More synergy. I would wager that quite often, that'll be more than enough payout for her 2GU cost.
Adapt is Monstrosity reworded. That's literally what they intended, per Mark Rosewater, who said that it was intentional, it's not something that was being hidden, and it was just a tweaked version that interacts better with counters and has less memory issues. It looks like Monstrosity reworded because that's 100% precisely what WotC intended. It is, for all intents and purpose, a returning mechanic being used for a guild.
Here's his exact statement about it: https://twitter.com/maro254/status/1075502480165720064
Technically, there are tons of flying dinosaurs. Modern birds are a group of theropod dinosaurs.
It's better on attack only, however. This card is better than Jhessian Infiltrator when you're being attacked by an opponent's flying creature, though. Meaning there's a case for this being situationally better against other aggro decks with fliers in it.
Pterosaurs were covered in furry, feather-like structures called pycnofibers (everywhere but their wings; like the fur bodies with leathery wings on bats). Pycnofibers were used strictly for thermal control like mammalian fur, but probably didn't aid in flight, and they were most likely warm-blooded.
So, having pterosaurs being covered in fur-like feathers is actually quite accurate. Although the wings would be bare. But as you pointed out, this is a fantasy version. And they really are much closer relatives to dinosaurs than basically all other reptiles than crocodilians, so it is actually more accurate to call them dinos than, say, lizards.
All that being said this card seems like a nice and efficient little beastie! I like it.