Curious, Research, or just my Spirit Guide?
Custom Cards forum
Posted on Aug. 6, 2015, 11:27 p.m. by Karns_Pyromancer
I've been working on a mechanic, but I'm having some trouble with deciding which variation I should use. My intention is to run a few cards with this mechanic in my Cube as a kind of fun personalization, but I don't want to be too broken.
Anyway here's the original:
Curious 3 - Anytime you would draw one or more cards, you may exile this card from your hand. If you do, draw three cards instead.
And the two variations:
Research - 
: Sacrifice CARDNAME. If you do, draw X cards where X is the toughness of CARDNAME. Activate this ability only during your main phase.
Spirit-Guide - Exile CARDNAME from your hand: Draw a card. You lose 2 life.
I think Spirit-Guide and research are the most versatile; offering variations like tutoring or Simian Spirit Guide. I'm just a bit attached to the original form.
When I say "Research is pretty good", I mean research is very powerful.
August 6, 2015 11:39 p.m.
ItchiUchiha117 says... #4
Well, yes, Research is very powerful, but it also requires the investment into the permanent and making sure it can get around to you again for full value. On a one or two drop, it will be incredibly powerful, as it will just be a Braingeyser or better on a creature. But then, the toughness of said creature is likely to be quite low if it's that low of mana cost (barring a Tarmogoyf-esque creature, which would be busted anyways. I'd rather not face a Tarmogoyf that turned into card draw later in the game, thank you very much) so you are restricted in how much you can draw. If you are using anthem effects to make your creatures bigger and therefore draw more cards, why not just make a bunch of creatures and win by hitting the opponent? You would be investing too many resources into drawing more cards. And if it is a large creature, you are likely to be spending two entire turns in order to draw cards, which seems not very powerful at all. I'd much rather either play a card that will draw me cards or a creature that will help me beat in.
tl;dr: Yes, it's powerful, but very resource intensive for not much return, if all you're playing it for is the card draw.
August 7, 2015 12:29 a.m.
Karns_Pyromancer says... #5
ItchiUchiha117, when Logician read it, I had forgotten to write in the toughness clause. :P
Anyway, which of the three do you find most attractive in a Cube draft setting?
August 7, 2015 12:32 a.m.
ItchiUchiha117 says... #6
On Curious:
That is an incredibly powerful mechanic, if paired with any kind of cheap draw. Also, you need to add the words "except the first card you draw in your draw phase," after the first comma in the ability. That being said, if it is a numbered ability, what is the highest X could be in Curious X? You've already demonstrated that you are willing to tack a free Divination onto every draw (Curious 3 nets one extra card as you are spending one for the effect and you were already going to get one from the draw itself), would you be willing to add a free Ancestral Recall onto a spell with Curious 4? If not, how many cards would have Curious 2 and how many would have Curious 3? Could you tack these onto each other? If I seem like I'm being a bit too harsh in my examinations, I apologize, I'm just trying to work out the numbers games before trying to give a full answer to your question.
August 7, 2015 12:38 a.m.
ItchiUchiha117 says... #7
Depends on how many cards have any of the mechanics in a Cube and what the various associated numbers would be with each of them. Also, what the spells themselves did beyond these particular mechanics.
August 7, 2015 12:40 a.m.
Curious seems like an extremely flavorful mechanic for creatures. Specifically Imps and Faeries. Both are semi-intelligent creatures who don't know when to stop before they get themselves into danger.
Here's an example:
Name: Wide-Eyed Imp
Cost: 
Type: Creature
Subtype: Imp
Text (Version 1): Curious 2 (Anytime you would draw a card other than the first card drawn each turn you may choose to instead exile the top X cards of your library, where X is equal to the number of cards you would draw. If you do, put X cards into your hand where X is equal to twice the number of cards put into exile this way.)
Text (Version 2a): Curious 1 (Anytime you would draw one or more cards you may exile this creature to draw an additional card.)
Text (Version 2b): Curious (Anytime you would draw one or more cards you may instead exile this creature and draw additional cards equal to this creatures CMC)
So in version 1 Curious must have a number after it which is how you figure out how many cards you end up drawing. The idea is those Planeswalkers who play with Imps and Faeries can reap substantial benifits but sometimes the Imps and Faeries cause a big problem for the Planeswalker, whether out or mischief or their playful spirit.
In version 2a Curious still has a number after it and is a one time effect. In this version their is no risk to the Planeswalker, but rather to the creature themselves.
In version 2b Curious loses it's number because Curious causes extra cards to be drawn equal to the creatures CMC. This method also prevents loss to the planeswalker.
If you want to keep it as a spell that can't be cast, just used when extra cards are drawn, I suggest either dropping it to Curious 2 as you have it, or putting some kind of downside to it. Perhaps you lose the game if you cannot exile enough cards from your graveyard, or you discard or take damage equal to the number of cards drawn.
Either way I really love how many different ways you could implement the mechanic. Not sure if your designing the cube for poewrful cards like Entomb or Storm strategies, but either way great work. These are the kinds of cards that older developers of MTG loved but that were sacrificed for the New World Order.
August 7, 2015 1:01 a.m.
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #9
Curious seems a bit too powerful as of now, as it's basically a free Divination or such. Research I could definitely see happening, provided it's put onto the right cards. Spirit-Guide seems ok, pretty much a pseudo-cycling that you can't Living End into :)
August 7, 2015 2:23 a.m.
MagicalHacker says... #10
I'm not too impressed with any of these but I have an idea that could work under the name curious:
Exile ~ from your hand, Pay 2 life: Until end of turn, if you would draw a card, draw two cards instead.
August 7, 2015 7 a.m.
Karns_Pyromancer says... #11
ItchiUchiha117, most cards would be Curious 2, one or two being Curious 3. I don't think I'd go above Curious 3.
kengiczar, thanks for the suggestions. I have toyed around with Curious netting additional cards for versatility and Power level reasons. The only issue I've actually got with the flavor is that I'm aiming for the player's curiosity leading to the loss of a spell on a gamble. The flavor you're working with is more like Research.
I'm not currently running a Powered Cube because of finances. However, I am slowly working there. I'm really not sure I want Storm it make an appearance because of current power level. Entomb effects are currently limited to Spellshapers and Mill/discard, which I found to be less niche and just about as effective.
-Logician says... #2
I cast Brainstorm. I'll replace all three draws by exiling these Curious 3 cards. I'll draw 9 cards and put two back.
Research is pretty good when you examine the cost of Braingeyser.
Spirit Guide is okay. That's just a Street Wraith
August 6, 2015 11:36 p.m.