Pattern Recognition #94 - Custom Card Critique 5

Card Design Features Opinion Pattern Recognition

berryjon

13 December 2018

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Good day to you all! My name is berryjon, and this is Pattern Recognition! TappedOut.Net's longest running article series. Each week, I endeavor to come to you all with something new and interesting to talk about, be it the history of the game, mechanics, the backgrounds of individual cards, or something a bit more esoteric. I always try to be educational, and am quite willing to listen to your feedback. After all, I can't know everything at all ever! Even Old Fogeys like me need a helping hand every now and again.

This week's Card Critique stars three very simple cards, and therefore this will be the second to last such article for a while. And if you're still confused about what I'm doing, well, I would suggest going back a few articles to see what I've done in the past. And to read the submissions from you, my audience.

So, let's start off with freshdemon, and:

Commander's Boon

Artifact
Hexproof, Players can't search their libraries

...

.....

Wow.

You... like, really hate Tutors and Fetches, right?

Now, I know. I mean, I've complained about the knife to the heart of Commander's format before, but even I wouldn't go this far.

But, to be fair, we do have Leonin Arbiter, Mindlock Orb, Shadow of Doubt and Stranglehold that do the same thing. And of these, it's the Mindlock Orb that has the most interest to this article as it's the closest example already in the game to compare your suggestion to.

And you suggest that you should add Hexproof by reducing the cost by ?

Surely I can't be the only person who sees the problem with this, right?

So, let's just start with the assumption that this would appear in a Commander product, like Stranglehold. That still doesn't change the fact that you are creating a card that is, to put it into the parlance of technicalities, strictly better in every way.

And with that in mind, I seriously doubt that Wizards would approve of such a card as-is. And if they were to print such a global slap-in-the-face of Commander, it would need to have some serious drawbacks to make it palpable even in that format, and to not simply have Wizards reprint Mindlock Orb.

Now, the first solution would be to match the cost for starters. We can increase the cost of this card to thanks to the single instance of color to non-color exchange rate. But that still doesn't account for the Hexproof.

You could even cost this for or even and it could be about right.

Now, let's talk about why this card would even exist. And the answer to that is simple. It's to stop fetching and tutors. In a metagame where people like to skip drawing cards step to get the cards they want in order to win. It's a whole article in of itself, and I think I just penciled one in for the future.

Regardless, having this as being costed at rather than something more in line with what exists makes me think that there is a very specific thing being targeted with this artifact, and that's Fetch Lands.

Well, that and early cards like Entomb that help set up came-ending combos.

But do we really want to shut down combos like this so early, so quickly, and then requiring removal to undo? Leonin Arbiter is a creature, with all the weaknesses that implies, and even then, the players can pay a tax to search regardless. And Shadow of Doubt is only for that turn.

But you know, there is a solution to all this. Back in 2006, Wizards accidentally hit upon a solution that they finally came back to over the past year. You see, they have come to realize that searching a full library is a slowing of the game, but what if you just searched the first few cards of the deck?

What if this was Aven Mindcensor? Or Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin  ^Flip? Or Impulse? Or -2 on Kiora, Master of the Depths? Or Prophetic Bolt?

If it just limited the size of the search, rather than shutting it down fully, I could accept it at .

Just lose the Hexproof. It's too much.

Moving on, loricatuslupus gives us the first Planeswalker for me to review;

Gideon, Corrupted by the Blackblade

+1: Until your next upkeep, Gideon, Corrupted by the Blackblade becomes a 5/5 Demon creature with indestructible and lifelink that's still a planeswalker. Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt to him.
-3: Destroy target creature or planeswalker. If it was legendary, gain life equal to its toughness or loyalty.
-6:Target opponent gets an emblem with "Creatures you control get -2/-2".

So, did I forget the initial Loyalty? Let's call it a 4 in order to keep to the basic idea that you can push out the middle ability but leave the Planeswalker in a very precarious position.

Now, from a Vorthos point of view, this is an interesting choice to take the character of Gideon. We know that the Blackblade has a corrupting influence on its wielders, as Liliana observed directly when she finished killing the last of her personal demons, so it's only logical that Gideon could fall to the same power as a result of the efforts to kill Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker.

So, Vorthos test passed. And I mean, it's not like Crovax the Cursed could become Ascendant Evincar or Crovax, Ascendant Hero depending on the vagaries of fate.

And hey, Time Spiral reference! Woo! Take a drink of your holiday drink of choice!

Now, mechanically speaking, his abilities are a curious bunch. The first is traditional for all versions of Gideon as I have mentioned in the past. He turns into a creature. However, there are a couple of things different about him here that are worth mentioning. And no, I'm not talking about becoming a Demon. That's silly.

No, the first thing I want to point out is that he stays a creature until your next turn. All other Gideons stay as a creature only until the end of the current turn. Most likely to avoid confusion about whether you can still target Gideon as a Planeswalker while he's also a Creature, and can thus block a creature that is attacking him. I would recommend changing this to be in line with all the other versions of Gideon - keep him a creature until the end of your turn.

Second, while his is a creature, he has indestructible, and all combat damage is prevented. While nice, this doesn't actually prevent him from dying as if he takes non-combat damage, like say, from a Shock. Because while he would still be indestructible, having zero Loyalty counters kills him as a state-based effect. That's why other Gideons still ignore all damage. This is a rather large exploit in dealing with this guy, and my inner player is giggling at the thought.

So yeah, another thing to patch up.

Gideon's second ability looks like it's takes straight from Garruk, Apex Predator or one of the many versions of Nicol Bolas, though I would have to look at Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker as the most relevant ability.

Now, I'm not saying that this is a bad thing. Not at all. Rather, it's a thing that needs to be carefully moderated, especially when you're dealing with a color combination that starts with Vindicate and ends with Anguished Unmaking. Taking out a Creature or Planeswalker and gaining life from it (conditionally) is something that can be done.

However, there is one small, tiny, problem. How do you gain life from a Legendary Planeswalker? It doesn't have a toughness! I would not want to tie the life-gain to a Planeswalker's loyalty as the ability becomes too wordy. Perhaps instead it could be a flat gain, line 3 life instead?

Now, finally, the last ability.

You know, I don't mind this at all. It's a pretty solid ability, though White dips into it with Crovax, Ascendant Hero and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite. One nice example, one example I despise. And it serves as a nice counterpoint to how Garruk, Apex Predator's ultimate ability also works. One boosts creatures attacking, while the other reduces their creatures permanently.

I don't actually have much feedback regarding this ultimate. It's solid and reliable without being a total blowout. Kinda like my view of Gideon in general, right? ;)

Last for this week, we have SecretEgret and their submission:

Dr. Jalda, foe of Ego

When Dr. Jalda, foe of Ego enters the battlefield, put a 1/1 white green spirit into play for each creature card in a graveyard then each player shuffles their hand and graveyard into their library and draws seven.

Uh....

Creature type? Power and Toughness?

And I'm very confused by all this, so let's break it down. The casting cost is curious. I wonder why it's non-Black, and the only answers that I can come up are twofold. The first is that the submitting player wants a four colour commander, and for whatever reason isn't satisfied with Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis.

Which, let's be honest here, that Commander is kinda lackluster. I mean, yeah, there's good uses for it, but this guy just does so much different.

Actually, I just can't help or shake the feeling that this guy belongs in an UnSet. Oh well.

But his ability? This is... You know, here's the other of those two reasons for the casting cost. The designer of this card started with an ability, and from there back tracked a relevant casting cost onto it. If we start with the effect of Day's Undoing, or Learn from the Past, or Commit / Memory or Mnemonic Nexus or Struggle / Survive or do I really need to keep going? That covers the . Now, putting a White 1/1 Spirit tokens into play is something that can and will do at the drop of a hat with Doomed Traveler to Drogskol Cavalry to Field of Souls to Hallowed Spiritkeeper....

Wait a minute!

That's this ability! Aside from generating multi-coloured tokens that is.

In fact, the more I break this down, this is just a case of two discrete abilities that are paired together that have some sort of synergy, then with additional colours slapped on... because....? Yeah, I'm confused too.

So, let me re-write this ability to make a little more sense: "When Dr. Jalda, Foe of Ego enters the battlefield, if it was cast, you may create a 1/1 White Spirit token with Flying for each creature in your graveyard. If you do, shuffle your hand and your graveyard into your library, then draw seven cards."

With the additional 'cast' caveat to avoid cheating this person in. And even then, this guy is still only in nature. The are just superfluous, and there is no real way I can justify their inclusion in this guy, save for the colour identity.

And I really can't justify adding anything to this creature to invoke those two colours. They're arbitrary and seemingly only there for Commander.

Oh, and I think Legendary Creature - Human Wizard is a solid choice for a with this ability, and a stat line of 1/3 or 2/3 would suffice. After all, this guy isn't here to fight himself, but to create an army of spirits who will then charge into battle for him!

I think that's it for this week. Join me next week when I start on my post-mortem of a Commander League I participated in. Spoiler alert: I suck.

Until then, please consider donating to my Pattern Recognition Patreon. Yeah, I have a job, but more income is always better. I still have plans to do a audio Pattern Recognition at some point, or perhaps a Twitch stream. And you can bribe your way to the front of the line to have your questions, comments and observations answered!