FIXING HEXPROOF
Custom Cards forum
Posted on Aug. 25, 2016, 1:42 p.m. by chaoswalker
I love hexproof cards. They make me feel pretty assured that I can rely on a creature to carry a strategy. My opponenets HATE my hexproof cards, since most things that remove them kill all of their own creatures as well.
Hexproof is essentially the improved version of Shroud, as it is much more fun to use and isn't as difficult to actually build strategies around. The problem is that being wholly un-targetable is not something you can adjust during design. I believe there should be a similar effect with more counterplay built in, much as how skulk is a more healthy alternative to un-blockable.
Therefore, I propose a mechanic which for now I will call "Hex Armor." Hex armor would add an extra cost to spells and abilities your opponent controls that target your creatures with hex armor.
For example, a creature with 'Hex Armor 2' costs 2 more mana for an opponent to target with spells and abilities. In order to target that creature with 'Hex Armor 2' with Path to Exile, they must pay 
and 
.
Giving a creature 'Hex Armor' is also much less abusable than giving Hexproof. An effect can give 'Hex Armor X' where X is equal to the creature's converted mana cost or toughness.
What are your thoughts? There have been similar effects in magic before, and I see it as a more healthy mechanic since it doesn't completely remove an opponent's options, but rather limits them in an interesting way. In the case of 'Hex Armor X' it also gives the user interesting considerations for how to maximize the effects of hex armor.
Hexproof is oppressive? This is news to me. Hexproof seems fairly balanced.
August 25, 2016 2:18 p.m.
PepsiAddicted says... #4
yeah really.. the only archetype that kind of abuses hexproof is modern bogles and that deck is really not oppressive or unbalanced. its not even strong.no need to fix imo
August 25, 2016 2:23 p.m.
chaoswalker says... #5
Nobody found unblockable to be ruining the game either, but skulk in undoubtedly a better mechanic. A game can have mechanics that are balanced, but less fun.
August 25, 2016 2:30 p.m.
chaoswalker says... #6
Nobody found unblockable to be ruining the game either, but skulk in undoubtedly a better mechanic. A game can have mechanics that are balanced, but less fun.
August 25, 2016 2:30 p.m.
zephramtripp says... #7
Skulk was only for Shadows block. Unblockable will still remain with us. See Insidious Mist and Uninvited Geist Flip's flip, which were in the same set as skulk. The fact that MaRo has stated the skulk is not becoming evergreen while unblockable is makes me think that skulk is not a better mechanic.
August 25, 2016 2:47 p.m.
chaoswalker says... #8
Skulk is a well designed mechanic for the inclusion of a built in floodgate, that is the potential to break it with future cards is very low due to evasion being tied to the creature's power. Cards like these relieve pressure on designers when creating future sets as they don't have to worry as much about creating unintended interactions.
Skulk is also very well designed for being a mechanic that does not completely remove intractability from a card. Uninteractive cards bring the game closer to two decks doing their own thing and ignoring the other's strategy, a problem that regularly crops up in the modern format.
Good mechanics increase interactivity or at least make it more dynamic by asking for more complex problem solving.
August 25, 2016 3:02 p.m.
@zephramtripp - Theros Block Constructed had Prognostic Sphinx, a staple of control decks.
August 25, 2016 4:33 p.m.
Skulk is a horrible replacement for unblockable. It's directly tied to the creatures power meaning the larger the creature gets the easier it is to block. This means your not using skulk as a form of evasion to finish off your opponent the same way you would a creature that was unblockable. This also means that in order to take advantage of skulk you need low powered creatures (because they're more likely to be "unblockable") which means in comparison your opponents creatures will easily outclass yours along the same curve. This means a creature with skulk also needs some other ability to make up for it's inherent lack of power before it could even be considered for play-ability (i.e. Wharf Infiltrator). If not you either have a low powered creature that is "unblockable" most of the time but not always, or you have a high powered creature that is "unblockable" only if your opponent has a larger threat, neither of which are good options.
Even though skulk can prevent your creature from being blocked, fundamentally skulk and "unblockable" function completely different. Skulk would be more comparable to some other form of evasion, like flying, in the sense that they both make your creature "unblockable" unless a condition is met (your opponent having a creature with equal or less power to block skulk or having a creature with flying to block your flier).
August 25, 2016 9:31 p.m.
Tyrant-Thanatos says... #11
On top of the already expressed "hexproof doesn't really need to be fixed" sentiment, I'd like to note that there are already a few cards with this effect. Diffusion Sliver and Frost Titan. There may be more but those are off the top of my head.
The only sentiment I've heard on this effect is essentially "so it's hexproof except useless". Admittedly Titan would probably be too strong with straight hexproof, but I doubt this mechanic will ever catch on enough to be keyworded.
August 25, 2016 11:55 p.m.
chaoswalker - Don't worry, I understand what you're saying. The introduction of more decision making rather than forcing a blanket lack of interaction is definitely a good thing. In this way then yeah I can see how rewording hexproof as a Diffusion Sliver type thing would be good and having unblockable come closer in line with skulk.
August 26, 2016 10:24 a.m.
chaoswalker says... #13
I understand that from a player's perspective that if you had the choice between a mana cost increase and full untargetablity, obviously you would want the stronger effect. I challenge us to look at things from the other side of the booster package though, and consider how difficult it can be to make a creature more "resilient" and worth the mana you paid for it when anything under 3 toughness go down to Lightning Bolt and everything else is goes to Path to Exile #diestodoomblade.
If you want to make a creature harder to kill, you have a few tools at your disposal: You can increase its toughness, allowing it to survive combats and direct damage. Another method is making the creature indestructible. This forces you to use exile or true toughness manipulation to get it dead, making it often times a bit too much survivability. There is hexproof, which allows a creature to die in combat, but you can't catch them with typical removal spells. Again, this is often too much survivablity to just let any creature have. As it stands, there HAVE been a few "sort of indestructible" effects printed. Things like persist and undying give a creature two lives, making them strong but not unkillable. It give the player more assurance that a high cost creature like Vorapede is not going to just going to be a trade of 5 mana for 2 without straight up making it unkillable. Another similar effect is regeneration, which imposes the burden of a cost on the user to keep their creature alive such a mana cost. Pushing an opponenet into a position where they can't afford to pay for regenerate can be a very interesting and rewarding puzzle.
Hexproof on the other hand does not have "in between" effects that a designer can easily just reach back for and print on a creature to give it slight protection. There are some tools available, such as straight up printing the full effect I suggested like on the aforementioned Frost Titan. We have also seen conditional hexproof on creatures like Dragonlord Ojutai and something similar to regenrate on Reaper of the Wilds. These are interesting effects because the user must maintain and the opponent must figure out how to play around.
I stressed many times the importance of demanding both player's involvement, even once referring to preventing a player from using regenerate as a puzzle with a reward. Competitive turn based games are, in fact, the most complex and rewarding puzzles you will ever play. As you get better at chess, you can take on stronger opponents, who will in turn present you with more difficult puzzles to solve. In the same way, Magic asks you to select a group of cards in certain proportions with synergistic effects while regarding what opponents are likely to pick, and then solve the second problem of playing the cards in the right order to reduce an opponent to 0 life. This is why effects like skulk and flying are so superior to unblockable. They provide an advantage, but not an insurmountable one. Once you see a creature with one of these effects, you know that you either need to get something small enough to block the skulk, a creature with flying/reach, or waste precious removal on the threat that you would otherwise have reserved for higher power threats.
August 26, 2016 3:22 p.m.
zephramtripp says... #14
I prefer not to refer to mechanics like these as "fixing" their respective non-interactive mechanics, but rather as providing alternatives.
Also, couldn't one argue that hexproof and unblockable provide just as much of a puzzle? For hexproof that usually means interacting with it through combat or board wipes or edicts, while for unblockable it means using removal or board wipes or Trap Runner.
zephramtripp says... #2
Hexproof is mostly balanced in more recent sets by not giving hexproof creatures evasion. As long as the hexproof creature trades in combat, most of the time it's fine. Since Invisible Stalker, I can't recall any hexproof creatures that see much play, except Lumbering Falls, which has to be reanimated every time you want to use it, and some fringe play of Void Grafter, which only grants hexproof until end of turn. I don't think hexproof needs to be fixed.
August 25, 2016 2:12 p.m.