Why Do Soul Warden-Type Effects Rarely Trigger from Opponents' Creatures, Recently?
General forum
Posted on July 25, 2024, 10:23 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
Soul Warden is an iconic card, to the point that other creatures with its ability are compared to it or regarded as variations of it, but I have noticed that recent variations of Soul Warden typically trigger only when creatures enter the battlefield under their controller's control, not when creatures enter the battlefield under the control of their controller's opponents, with that ability being somewhat rarer, recently, so I wonder why that is, as I feel that it is a perfectly valid strategy to benefit from one's opponents' actions.
What does everyone else say about this? Why is it that recent variations of Soul Warden trigger only from their own controller's creatures, and rarely from their opponent's creatures?
FormOverFunction says... #3
I think we’ve been moving in the direction of a generalized separation of triggers into one’s own battlefield. This is nice for new players, and makes it easier for the card designers (it specifically helps with the overall problems with power creep, too). I don’t personally like it, but that seems to be where we’re going.
July 26, 2024 10:48 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #4
FormOverFunction, how does that help with power creep?
July 26, 2024 2:41 p.m.
Crow_Umbra says... #5
Makes it easier to track triggers for stuff only entering your own battlefield, vs tracking entries to every battlefield. Also helps with power creep by reducing how much these types of effects can trigger in a multi-player setting: triggers for just your own creatures entering vs every creature entering.
July 26, 2024 2:52 p.m.
FormOverFunction says... #6
Crow_Umbra is spot-on for what I was thinking. There’s still a lot of interaction in magic, but narrowing the scope of cards (only your creatures, only at sorcery speed, only once per turn, etc) makes it harder to accidentally make an infinite loop or whatever because you don’t have to expand your concerns exponentially out to include whatever the other players are doing.
July 26, 2024 3:08 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #7
Crow_Umbra, that makes sense, but triggering from opponents' creatures entering the battlefield is a good way to protect one's self from opponents who use decks that swarm the battlefield with tokens.
July 28, 2024 10:59 a.m.
Crow_Umbra says... #8
If I'm playing a non-rotating format like EDH, then I still have access to Soul Warden & the other sisters.
I won a game a couple weeks ago via making multiple copies of Guide of Souls over the course of the game & using Energy from creature ETBs to make thopters with Whirler Virtuoso, & created an "infinite" loop of life gain, & net Energy cultivation.
I think as long as you can ultimately be proactive with your own strategy, you should be fine.
legendofa says... #2
I think it's mostly because the other cards have other synergistic effects on top of life gain.
If you break Soul Warden into
"Whenever another creature enters the battlefield under your control, you gain 1 life.
Whenever another creature enters the battlefield under another player's control, you gain 1 life."
and replace the second sentence with a different ability, changing the mana cost as needed, you get Prosperous Innkeeper, or Guide of Souls, or Distinguished Conjurer, or Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim, or whatever.
I would say it's mostly to diversify the ability while keeping it in the 1-2 mana range and reducing reliance on opponents to help.
July 25, 2024 10:35 p.m.