|
Post by gabochido on Dec 6, 2011 10:39:19 GMT -5
I was just thinking that this would make for a cool card in Dark Ascension, adding one more trope to the whole horror theme:
Pool of Evil Land Tap: Add B to your mana pool During your upkeep, if you control 2 or more swamps, transform Pool of Evil.
/// Flip side /// Swamp Horror Creature - Horror 3/2
|
|
|
Post by gabochido on Dec 6, 2011 11:15:45 GMT -5
I love playing limited (draft or sealed) but mana screw is a huge problem (just take a look at the wizards forums on MTGO to see someone complaining about it). Rather than changing the game with a full set of different rules about how lands and mana work I think an easy way to reduce this issue is to always have a number of card slots in each set dedicated to: lands with functionality, permanents with cost flexibility and/or mana sinks. Wizards does this, more or less, but I'm convince they could do it a bit more.
For example look at these cards that could exist:
Earth Wurm Land -This- comes into the battlefield with 4 +1/+1 counters. Tap, remove a +1/+1 counter: Add G to your mana pool 4G: -This- becomes a 0/0 Wurm creature. It is still a land.
Earth Zombie Land When -This- comes into play, lose 2 life unless it comes into play tapped. Tap: Add B to your mana pool 1B, Tap: -This- becomes a 2/2 Zombie creature. It is still a land.
Hot Geyser Land tap: Add 1 to your mana pool 1R, tap, sacrifice Hot Geyser: Hot Geyser deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
As I said, these types of lands have been done before but I think there is plenty of design space for them to be made more frequently, and specially at more common slots to help limited decks. To help with the flavour, they could also create a new card type, since "Land" doesn't always lend itself to something representing a creature, sorcery or artifact/enchantment like functionality. It could be something like "Mana Spawn", and be represented by a being or force made from mana that can also be used to give mana and would have the rule that Mana Spawns can be played when you could play a land.
Mind Conscious Snaffle Mana Spawn Tap: Add U to your mana pool, put a card from your library into your graveyard. 3UU, Tap, Sacrifice -This-: Put three random cards from your graveyard into your hand.
|
|
bobblyigg
New Member
I've got a raging Brainstorm and I'm not afraid to use it
Posts: 47
|
Post by bobblyigg on Dec 6, 2011 17:01:24 GMT -5
The problem with these lands is that you can't make them too powerful so you end up with something like Stalking Stones or Gargoyle Castle. Neither of those cards are strong enough for constructed play today.
They also take up land slots that would otherwise be used for color fixing if you make too many of them. I think manlands do a good enough job of alleviating mana screw. The activation cost allows them to be powerful and you don't mind repaying them when you have nothing in hand. Retrace and cycling were also great mechanics that helped with floods. Lands that pump out creatures like Urza's Factory or Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree can also help in similar ways. Your Hot Geyser card is pretty much Barbarian Ring so that one was on the right track.
The problem with your Mana Spawn idea is that it adds unnecessary complexity to the game. Why couldn't it just be a land? Is it because you can play them in addition to lands (do moxes ring a bell)? Also, there are only a handful of ways to interact with them if you create a new card type. Planeswalkers are powerful because so few cards destroy permanents. Mana Spawns would obsolete land destruction and mana hosers like Blood Moon or Manabarbs. Game mechanics should not be held back because of flavor. You know what happened last time that happened? Unblockable horses.
|
|
|
Post by gabochido on Dec 7, 2011 13:55:45 GMT -5
You have a good point with the flavour vs gameplay argument. Its unfortunate that the term "land" really limits what a free 1 per turn mana producer can be.
As far as constructed play goes I'm not really that worried. I think that, just like anything in this game, it should be possible to make some efficient "functional" lands that could be tournament playable without destroying the balance of the game and in any case, in constructed the mana bases are much better in general. However, Less efficient "functional" lands at common could make limited games be much more consistent. The examples I posted are just cases that I thought would make good picks for limited play.
The idea would be that a number of common cards would be these functional lands that can be a land or work as a slightly less efficient spell or creature. Therefore, you could have say 20 lands in your deck and of these 20 lands, around 5 could be functional lands. This would greatly reduce the chance of both mana screwing and mana flooding. This in addition to mechanics like retrace and cycling, like you mentioned, would reduce one of the most hated aspects of magic without changing the rules.
|
|
|
Post by gabochido on Feb 7, 2012 10:05:18 GMT -5
Here's another card idea, though I imagine that if printed, it would be made uncommon.
Anger thrust RG Instant Target creature you control gets +3/+3 and fights another target creature.
I was thinking how the pauper format needs some more midrange decks (ones that one to use 3-5 casting cost creatures as their main strategy) and that red/green doesn't see any love at all. Maybe an efficient kill spell that also speeds up the clock, like this one could help.
Unfortunately, if it was a common then infect might need some bannings to weaken it or otherwise this has the possibility of making it even better (though the color requirements might make it stay away).
|
|