Why Are So Many Recent Activated Abilities Usable Only as Sorceries?
General forum
Posted on Oct. 31, 2023, 9:25 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
I have noticed that a significant number of activated abilities on permanents in recent sets can be used only whenever a player could cast a sorcery, which is very annoying, as it prevents players from using those abilities in response to moves made by their opponents, so I really hope that this is not the start of a new trend.
What does everyone else say about this? Why are so many activated abilities in recent sets usable only at sorcery speed?
wallisface says... #2
DemonDragonJ sacrifice triggers have to be used carefully, and they were absolutely correct to make Fiend Artisan ability sorcery-speed. However whether these effects need to be sorcery or not rides heavier on the payoff rather than the sac itself.
I already gave you a bunch of examples earlier in this thread on abilities that are correctly only sorcery-speed. I would suggest going back and re-reading this thread.
December 17, 2023 1:30 p.m.
wallisface says... #3
I know this thread is very old and the topic already well discussed - but Rosewater put up a pretty good article covering this topic for those still wanting to understand why restrictions are a good thing.
Link here.
January 10, 2024 6:50 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #4
A user actually asked Mark Rosewater about this issue on his Tumblr account, and Rosewater's response displeases me, as I was hoping to see such an effect, at some point, in the future.
February 16, 2024 9:02 p.m.
wallisface says... #5
DemonDragonJ the reason Mark would have answered that way would be in large-part the same reasoning everyone here has given you in this thread. I would be far more surprised if he had said the opposite, as that would have gone against all the "valves" wotc have been working so hard to implement in the name of game-balance.
DemonDragonJ says... #1
wallisface, I can agree with you about map tokens, but I am very glad that I can declare a 1/1 creature as blocker to negate damage, and then sacrifice that creature to gain a benefit, because I feel that is why sacrifice outlets even exist, at all.
Also, I feel that I may have already asked this question, earlier in this thread, but can you name an activated ability that is perfectly acceptable to activate during an opponent's end step, and one that you feel should require "commitment," to use your word?
December 17, 2023 1:07 p.m.