Is this too powerful?
Custom Cards forum
Posted on March 13, 2015, 10:51 p.m. by EridanWwins
Another card for my Custom Tiny Leaders Cube:
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #4
Whatever Epoch said (though I don't quite understand it to be honest). The card itself is definitely not overpowered, maybe even a bit underpowered. Storm-based decks would work well with this.
March 13, 2015 11 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #5
From a wording perspective, yes.
I'm not really sure why it's blue.
March 13, 2015 11 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #6
@FAMOUSWATERMELON: When you design any rules for any game, it's a good idea to insert checks for player honesty when possible. This design principle is one such check.
In general, it's bad design to base an effect on hidden information because then you're relying on the honesty of a single player instead of using other players to verify the effect.
Ever notice that all of the effects that allow you to tutor for a card with a particular characteristic also require you to reveal that card? That's to prove that you actually found a card with those characteristics.
The same principle applies here. Good design principles require that you reveal the hand in order to make the number of land cards in the target player's hand during the resolution public knowledge.
March 13, 2015 11:24 p.m.
Honestly, this is really underpowered. It's less consistent than Pyretic Ritual without the potential brute power of Drain Power. The ability to cast it off of blue mana is nice, and the information gain is a bonus, but I wouldn't want to use it if given the opportunity. If it were each opponent...nah, that much information and potential mana WOULD probably be a bit on the broken side. :P
Also, yes, blue does have some conditional fast mana spells from the olden days, like Drain Power, Apprentice Wizard, Energy Tap, and (most famously) Mana Drain. However, blue almost never gets effects which create colored mana. Instead, blue gets fast mana generation in colorless almost exclusively, playing in with blue's artificer theme. However, since red creates exclusively red mana, and both blue and red can create mana based off of existing resources, either the opponent's (Drain Power and Mana Geyser) or your own (Energy Tap and Brightstone Ritual), I think that the card bends the color pie without breaking it completely.
March 13, 2015 11:26 p.m.
ItchiUchiha117 says... #8
I suppose it's blue because you're looking at their hands. It's just kind of awkward, as far as color goes. Red doesn't really care what's in your opponent's hands and blue doesn't ramp like this. If it had you discarding or sacrificing lands to get mana, it would probably be entirely red, though. Of course, that would mean that Storm would basically have the greatest ritual ever.
March 13, 2015 11:29 p.m.
The problem is that they probably have few to no lands I their hand by the time you are going off, which would absolutely ruin your storm chain if you cast this and it blanks.
Epochalyptik says... #2
In order to base another effect off of cards in a hidden zone, the cards must be revealed first. You would need to instead have this card cause the target player to reveal his or her hand so that the number of land cards in it becomes public knowledge for the course of the resolution.
March 13, 2015 10:55 p.m.