My fellow EDH players out there will agree that white needs something to make it more competitive. It's been discussed numerous times, but I am curious as to what people think white actually needs. Card advantage and mana ramp are among the most common topics in discussion.
Things I believe white should get:
Situational Card Draw - Why not? I am a firm believer in the color pie, but it feels silly that all the other colors can draw cards while white struggles. Give white situational card draw that plays into its strengths and what white naturally does.
Vital Devotion2W
Enchantment
At the beginning of each end step, if you gained 4 or more life this turn, draw a card.
Mana Fixing - White had had some land draw/ramp cards before. I think white should blend more with green in being able to search for lands. I don't think white should often step into the territory of directly ramping cards, but I think finding a basic out of a deck is something white could do.
Wayward Nomads1W
Creature - Human Nomad
When ~ enters the battlefield, you may search your library for a basic land, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.
1/1
What do you guys think? Propose some cards, ideas, etc
I disagree about situational card draw for the same reasons I don't think Wicked Wolf or Beast Within is good for green— it's too much of a cheat trying to get around the color's weakness altogether by just using in-color conditions and effect stylings, where the result is much the same. White not getting card draw means white not getting card draw. There's some small room for flexibility there, but it can't just be very typical easily built around things.
WotC has been trying 'each player draws a card' in white, the latest example being Shatter the Sky. I think it's promising territory to increase cardflow in white without giving it real card advantage.
One thing white could do with more of, I think, is more, better, perpetual late game value. Cards like The Circle of Loyalty, and more of them that don't encourage relatively aggressive small creature decks. Repeated effects that create tokens, buff creatures, return cards from the grave, remove permanents— cards that threaten to just take over the game with value. Green gets lots of cards like this, Nyxbloom Ancient with the newest set, while White's big lategame cards can often be more one-shot like Planar Cleansing, or rather contained, like Zetalpa, Primal Dawn.
I think white could also afford to push more with land filtering cards like the upcoming The Birth of Meletis. At least more basic plains tutoring, but perhaps white could also get some Lay of the Land type cards, cards that return lands from your graveyard to the battlefield, creatures that tap for white mana but only to cast creatures, or to cast artifacts or enchantments.
I disagree about situational card draw for the same reasons I don't think Wicked Wolf or Beast Within is good for green— it's too much of a cheat trying to get around the color's weakness altogether by just using in-color conditions and effect stylings, where the result is much the same. White not getting card draw means white not getting card draw. There's some small room for flexibility there, but it can't just be very typical easily built around things.
WotC has been trying 'each player draws a card' in white, the latest example being Shatter the Sky. I think it's promising territory to increase cardflow in white without giving it real card advantage.
One thing white could do with more of, I think, is more, better, perpetual late game value. Cards like The Circle of Loyalty, and more of them that don't encourage relatively aggressive small creature decks. Repeated effects that create tokens, buff creatures, return cards from the grave, remove permanents— cards that threaten to just take over the game with value. Green gets lots of cards like this, Nyxbloom Ancient with the newest set, while White's big lategame cards can often be more one-shot like Planar Cleansing, or rather contained, like Zetalpa, Primal Dawn.
I think white could also afford to push more with land filtering cards like the upcoming Birth of Meletis. At least more basic plains tutoring, but perhaps white could also get some Lay of the Land type cards, cards that return lands from your graveyard to the battlefield, creatures that tap for white mana but only to cast creatures, or to cast artifacts or enchantments.
But that's the whole thing, in this age of the game, saying that white cannot have card draw, or a form of filtering that is very, very close is effectively saying "white's part of the color pie is always being inferior to the other color, that is what white does, that is what White is allowed to do, just be inferior'. It doesn't need blue or black card draw, but it isn't really in Red color pie either, and they get a looting effect that is virtually the same in context of what they do, in each and every set. If white even got THAT, it would probably be plenty. or green style 'look at the yop 5 for XYZ' type draw. if they aren't going to give white something constructed relevant that it does well that will allow it to keep up, they should stop making mono-white cards, they should cut out the middleman of wasting the paper and the ink, and only have white in multicolor cards if they aren't going to let it DO anything outside of Limited
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It is certain that some effects have more domain and influence on the game, and thus should not be left out of any color because it throws the entire balance of power off. If I was to assign a value of influence to various effects in the game, it's obvious that removal and creature aren't going to have the same value. Because the post-ex-facto dynamic of removal makes it more precedent. One giveth, but then one taketh away. And thus, the after-the-fact-of effect becomes the precedent everlasting one. More domain (time and space)—thus more value of influence. Even if they did have the same values (as board advantage—one for one), when the totals all add up, one color having both, and the other only having one, is going to set one color out of balance with the others (its influence total is higher).
Card drawing (card advantage) should be a much easier concept to understand. The flow of the cards a core-fundamental of the game. A player who is able to resource more cards is naturally going to have the advantage in a vacuum (more domain over time and space). The ideal isn't to open unlimited potential for resourcing cards, but wants to gracefully limit it (balance it). And would want to do this by the same means that Pokemon Trading Card Game has: Put an emphasis on providing outlets for all types of basic card advantage capabilities. You have straight draw (cards draw off the top). You have wheel effects (shuffle and re-draw). You have direct retrieval (direct access to a specific card). Each of these outlets have their own differing value of influence on how they effect the flow of the cards, and the overall card advantage potential they provide; based on how their dynamics work in strategic means (domain over space and time—circumvention over the probability factor). Let me explain that last one in a bit greater detail. Some cards (such as direct retrieval) enable you circumvent probability, thus having a great value of influence (domain over time and space) in a vacuum. This is checked against the Entropy Factor—overall value of your needs (domain over space and time).
In general, the entropy of ones needs exceeds a single card, and so the measure of domain (over space and time) needed to be sufficient for success can't be met if the only card advantage outlet provided is direct retrieval. One will have to source the other needs faced directly against probability. And typically, this is where additional card advantage outlets help to close the gap. As they provide sizable measures influence, to help capture the Entropy Factor, despite being faced directly against probability.
The strategic dynamics of these card advantage outlets (and total value of influence they have collectively) also change based on the combination sequence in which they are used together.
MTG has legendarily provided these effects. There's only so much space in card game development to work with. However, they have also legendarily failed to put the emphasis on, and consistently provide, the volume (combination of outlets) which can produce sufficient capabilities equally across all colors.
Here's a great example in a deck I made awhile back in 2008, which plays incredibly well due to an anomaly in development which enables it to play out like a PTCG deck. I was able to secure a high percentile clench between the combination of Joiner Adept and Prismatic Omen. While Treefolk Harbinger provided extensions of Doran the Siege Tower (further securing high percentile clenches for important content); and Harmonize then enabling high influence value to capture entropy with-and in addition to that.
It could probably use Dungrove Elder these days. And obviously, I could have updated the land base with something like this below. But after playing it out a few times, it didn't even seem necessary. Also, Verdant Catacombs didn't exist back then. I would have had to use Wooded Foothills instead with Windswept Heath. I could have probably even used Grasslands or Mountain Valley—it played out so well.
And I guess other techs could be made, including swaping out Joiner Adept for Birds of Paradise, and skimming down Wandering Stream and Harmonize for Green Sun's Zenith. I would probably just run 3 Doran at that point and 4 Birds. You would definitely need to run the lands above though with this configuration. I would also be tempted to tech 1 Indomitable Ancients I think.
I disagree about situational card draw for the same reasons I don't think Wicked Wolf or Beast Within is good for green— it's too much of a cheat trying to get around the color's weakness altogether by just using in-color conditions and effect stylings, where the result is much the same. White not getting card draw means white not getting card draw. There's some small room for flexibility there, but it can't just be very typical easily built around things.
WotC has been trying 'each player draws a card' in white, the latest example being Shatter the Sky. I think it's promising territory to increase cardflow in white without giving it real card advantage.
One thing white could do with more of, I think, is more, better, perpetual late game value. Cards like The Circle of Loyalty, and more of them that don't encourage relatively aggressive small creature decks. Repeated effects that create tokens, buff creatures, return cards from the grave, remove permanents— cards that threaten to just take over the game with value. Green gets lots of cards like this, Nyxbloom Ancient with the newest set, while White's big lategame cards can often be more one-shot like Planar Cleansing, or rather contained, like Zetalpa, Primal Dawn.
I think white could also afford to push more with land filtering cards like the upcoming Birth of Meletis. At least more basic plains tutoring, but perhaps white could also get some Lay of the Land type cards, cards that return lands from your graveyard to the battlefield, creatures that tap for white mana but only to cast creatures, or to cast artifacts or enchantments.
But that's the whole thing, in this age of the game, saying that white cannot have card draw, or a form of filtering that is very, very close is effectively saying "white's part of the color pie is always being inferior to the other color, that is what white does, that is what White is allowed to do, just be inferior'. It doesn't need blue or black card draw, but it isn't really in Red color pie either, and they get a looting effect that is virtually the same in context of what they do, in each and every set. If white even got THAT, it would probably be plenty. or green style 'look at the yop 5 for XYZ' type draw. if they aren't going to give white something constructed relevant that it does well that will allow it to keep up, they should stop making mono-white cards, they should cut out the middleman of wasting the paper and the ink, and only have white in multicolor cards if they aren't going to let it DO anything outside of Limited
There was a time in the game's history when green was very weak. That problem wasn't solved by removing green's limitation of relying on creatures. Instead, WotC just found more ways to allow, and pushed more cards that allowed, green to do better at some of the things it was weak at within its critical weakness of relying on creatures. Similarly, the answer to white's relative weakness right now is not to abandon its critical weakness, but find and push more ways for it to work around that without breaking it. If breaking weaknesses was your go-to just because a color is weak, the color pie would just slowly dissolve into nothing over time.
It's not like white has consistently been the weakest colour— it's just been the last few years roughly. (EDIT: Here's a blogatog comment from just four years ago complaining about how white gets to have in-colour ways to work around its weakness but red doesn't). Red didn't get 'rummaging' and 'impusive draw' because WotC gave up on it's critical weaknesses— because card draw was never that, it was late-game sustainability and being unable to deal with enchantments. Card draw does help with late-game sustainability, so they gave red card draw and card selection that was less effective at that.
Giving up on white's critical weakness being a lack of card draw would require a reassessing of the whole color's strengths and weaknesses. Maybe that is necessary, but WotC hasn't had that much of an opportunity yet (with their delayed schedule) to try working around it in color, so I think it's premature to call for that.
I do think white should get more filtering though, in line with what I was saying about getting lands and mana. White is already allowed to get scry and do some dig and tutoring cards, and it would be simple enough to just print and push a little more of these cards. It's quite possible WotC is already doing this with current and upcoming sets. They are reprinting Idyllic Tutor, after all.
There was a time in the game's history when green was very weak. That problem wasn't solved by removing green's limitation of relying on creatures. Instead, WotC just found more ways to allow, and pushed more cards that allowed, green to do better at some of the things it was weak at within its critical weakness of relying on creatures. Similarly, the answer to white's relative weakness right now is not to abandon its critical weakness, but find and push more ways for it to work around that without breaking it. If breaking weaknesses was your go-to just because a color is weak, the color pie would just slowly dissolve into nothing over time.
It's not like white has consistently been the weakest colour— it's just been the last few years roughly. (EDIT: Here's a blogatog comment from just four years ago complaining about how white gets to have in-colour ways to work around its weakness but red doesn't). Red didn't get 'rummaging' and 'impusive draw' because WotC gave up on it's critical weaknesses— because card draw was never that, it was late-game sustainability and being unable to deal with enchantments. Card draw does help with late-game sustainability, so they gave red card draw and card selection that was less effective at that.
Giving up on white's critical weakness being a lack of card draw would require a reassessing of the whole color's strengths and weaknesses. Maybe that is necessary, but WotC hasn't had that much of an opportunity yet (with their delayed schedule) to try working around it in color, so I think it's premature to call for that.
I do think white should get more filtering though, in line with what I was saying about getting lands and mana. White is already allowed to get scry and do some dig and tutoring cards, and it would be simple enough to just print and push a little more of these cards. It's quite possible WotC is already doing this with current and upcoming sets. They are reprinting Idyllic Tutor, after all.
If you look back at the history of the game, the first green card draw that really existed (other than a single color hoser and incidental cantrips/delayed cantrips that existed in white a la Ritual of Steel, Blessed Wine, and Carrier Pigeon) seems to be Fugitive Druid in tempest... well after white received Truce and Temporary Truce.
I am happy to see white getting mana filtering through specific tutors. White has also been pretty good about getting a whole bunch of highly specific tutors for enchantments/auras/equipments/weak creatures/planeswalkers/legendary creatures, which is nice. White also gets decent reanimation from time to time, which shouldn't be discounted. I feel that the renewed presence of symmetrical advantage in cards like Happily Ever After and Shatter the Sky are the final key to this system, though it needs to be done in a way that "breaks" the synergy.
For example:
Stern Guidance
Sorcery
Opponents can't cast spells until the end of your next turn.
Each player draws 2 cards.
(everyone gets cards but you get to use them first and get a decent haste effect.
Mass Aurafication
Sorcery
Destroy all creatures. Each player draws 2 cards.
(card advantage tied to destruction that lets you pull ahead)
Generous Benefactor
Creature- Human Noble
At the beginning of your end step, each player with three or fewer cards in their hand draws a card.
1/4
(situational card advantage for everyone that may not be symmetrical in practice)
There was a time in the game's history when green was very weak. That problem wasn't solved by removing green's limitation of relying on creatures. Instead, WotC just found more ways to allow, and pushed more cards that allowed, green to do better at some of the things it was weak at within its critical weakness of relying on creatures. Similarly, the answer to white's relative weakness right now is not to abandon its critical weakness, but find and push more ways for it to work around that without breaking it. If breaking weaknesses was your go-to just because a color is weak, the color pie would just slowly dissolve into nothing over time.
It's not like white has consistently been the weakest colour— it's just been the last few years roughly. (EDIT: Here's a blogatog comment from just four years ago complaining about how white gets to have in-colour ways to work around its weakness but red doesn't). Red didn't get 'rummaging' and 'impusive draw' because WotC gave up on it's critical weaknesses— because card draw was never that, it was late-game sustainability and being unable to deal with enchantments. Card draw does help with late-game sustainability, so they gave red card draw and card selection that was less effective at that.
Giving up on white's critical weakness being a lack of card draw would require a reassessing of the whole color's strengths and weaknesses. Maybe that is necessary, but WotC hasn't had that much of an opportunity yet (with their delayed schedule) to try working around it in color, so I think it's premature to call for that.
I do think white should get more filtering though, in line with what I was saying about getting lands and mana. White is already allowed to get scry and do some dig and tutoring cards, and it would be simple enough to just print and push a little more of these cards. It's quite possible WotC is already doing this with current and upcoming sets. They are reprinting Idyllic Tutor, after all.
If you look back at the history of the game, the first green card draw that really existed (other than a single color hoser and incidental cantrips/delayed cantrips that existed in white a la Ritual of Steel, Blessed Wine, and Carrier Pigeon) seems to be Fugitive Druid in tempest... well after white received Truce and Temporary Truce.
I am happy to see white getting mana filtering through specific tutors. White has also been pretty good about getting a whole bunch of highly specific tutors for enchantments/auras/equipments/weak creatures/planeswalkers/legendary creatures, which is nice. White also gets decent reanimation from time to time, which shouldn't be discounted. I feel that the renewed presence of symmetrical advantage in cards like Happily Ever After and Shatter the Sky are the final key to this system, though it needs to be done in a way that "breaks" the synergy.
For example:
Stern Guidance
Sorcery
Opponents can't cast spells until the end of your next turn.
Each player draws 2 cards.
(everyone gets cards but you get to use them first and get a decent haste effect.
Mass Aurafication
Sorcery
Destroy all creatures. Each player draws 2 cards.
(card advantage tied to destruction that lets you pull ahead)
Generous Benefactor
Creature- Human Noble
At the beginning of your end step, each player with three or fewer cards in their hand draws a card.
1/4
(situational card advantage for everyone that may not be symmetrical in practice)
I think those are some pretty good designs for pushing the symmetrical draw effect in white. I hope we see cards like these in upcoming sets. The situational draw rollout in white has been slow and tame so far, but I can't fault WotC for being careful with this. "Each player draws four cards" would be a great way to push the effect and really give white some serious cardflow but it would probably force opponent's to discard too often such that it probably would not be symmetrical enough.
White has Oblation, if you want to count that. And Decree of Justice draws a card if you cycle it for some tokens. But in the end, there is nothing on the noncreature front.
Therefore I would hope for something like...
a) 1W, Sorcery, Draw two cards, then exile a card from your hand unless you have gained life this turn.
b) 1WW, Sorcery, Scry 3, then reveal the top card of your library and put that card into your hand. If the revealed card is a land, gain 3 life.
c) 3WW, Instant, Exile the top four cards of your library. You may play cards exiled with ~ for as long as you control a creature with power 2 or less.
d) 4WW, Enchantment, Exile target creature you control: Draw cards equal to it's toughness, then exile 3 cards from your hand.
One option that could work as CA for white is Pull from Eternity but back into hand? It won't work for sideboard cards like a wish but can interact well with many other cards and could be sometype of CA or quality for white.
One option that could work as CA for white is Pull from Eternity but back into hand? It won't work for sideboard cards like a wish but can interact well with many other cards and could be sometype of CA or quality for white.
I think easy exile interaction is a problem of its own right, not only because of the "second graveyard" issue parodied by AWOL, but also because exile acts like a safety valve for a lot of powerful mechanics. Imagine a deck that gets to recur something like Temporal Mastery multiple times over the course of a game. Easy exile interaction is like building a city on top of a nuclear waste dump; everything that results will be poisoned.
Things I believe white should get:
Situational Card Draw - Why not? I am a firm believer in the color pie, but it feels silly that all the other colors can draw cards while white struggles. Give white situational card draw that plays into its strengths and what white naturally does.
Vital Devotion 2W
Enchantment
At the beginning of each end step, if you gained 4 or more life this turn, draw a card.
Mana Fixing - White had had some land draw/ramp cards before. I think white should blend more with green in being able to search for lands. I don't think white should often step into the territory of directly ramping cards, but I think finding a basic out of a deck is something white could do.
Wayward Nomads 1W
Creature - Human Nomad
When ~ enters the battlefield, you may search your library for a basic land, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.
1/1
What do you guys think? Propose some cards, ideas, etc
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
WotC has been trying 'each player draws a card' in white, the latest example being Shatter the Sky. I think it's promising territory to increase cardflow in white without giving it real card advantage.
One thing white could do with more of, I think, is more, better, perpetual late game value. Cards like The Circle of Loyalty, and more of them that don't encourage relatively aggressive small creature decks. Repeated effects that create tokens, buff creatures, return cards from the grave, remove permanents— cards that threaten to just take over the game with value. Green gets lots of cards like this, Nyxbloom Ancient with the newest set, while White's big lategame cards can often be more one-shot like Planar Cleansing, or rather contained, like Zetalpa, Primal Dawn.
I think white could also afford to push more with land filtering cards like the upcoming The Birth of Meletis. At least more basic plains tutoring, but perhaps white could also get some Lay of the Land type cards, cards that return lands from your graveyard to the battlefield, creatures that tap for white mana but only to cast creatures, or to cast artifacts or enchantments.
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
But that's the whole thing, in this age of the game, saying that white cannot have card draw, or a form of filtering that is very, very close is effectively saying "white's part of the color pie is always being inferior to the other color, that is what white does, that is what White is allowed to do, just be inferior'. It doesn't need blue or black card draw, but it isn't really in Red color pie either, and they get a looting effect that is virtually the same in context of what they do, in each and every set. If white even got THAT, it would probably be plenty. or green style 'look at the yop 5 for XYZ' type draw. if they aren't going to give white something constructed relevant that it does well that will allow it to keep up, they should stop making mono-white cards, they should cut out the middleman of wasting the paper and the ink, and only have white in multicolor cards if they aren't going to let it DO anything outside of Limited
It is certain that some effects have more domain and influence on the game, and thus should not be left out of any color because it throws the entire balance of power off. If I was to assign a value of influence to various effects in the game, it's obvious that removal and creature aren't going to have the same value. Because the post-ex-facto dynamic of removal makes it more precedent. One giveth, but then one taketh away. And thus, the after-the-fact-of effect becomes the precedent everlasting one. More domain (time and space)—thus more value of influence. Even if they did have the same values (as board advantage—one for one), when the totals all add up, one color having both, and the other only having one, is going to set one color out of balance with the others (its influence total is higher).
Card drawing (card advantage) should be a much easier concept to understand. The flow of the cards a core-fundamental of the game. A player who is able to resource more cards is naturally going to have the advantage in a vacuum (more domain over time and space). The ideal isn't to open unlimited potential for resourcing cards, but wants to gracefully limit it (balance it). And would want to do this by the same means that Pokemon Trading Card Game has: Put an emphasis on providing outlets for all types of basic card advantage capabilities. You have straight draw (cards draw off the top). You have wheel effects (shuffle and re-draw). You have direct retrieval (direct access to a specific card). Each of these outlets have their own differing value of influence on how they effect the flow of the cards, and the overall card advantage potential they provide; based on how their dynamics work in strategic means (domain over space and time—circumvention over the probability factor). Let me explain that last one in a bit greater detail. Some cards (such as direct retrieval) enable you circumvent probability, thus having a great value of influence (domain over time and space) in a vacuum. This is checked against the Entropy Factor—overall value of your needs (domain over space and time).
In general, the entropy of ones needs exceeds a single card, and so the measure of domain (over space and time) needed to be sufficient for success can't be met if the only card advantage outlet provided is direct retrieval. One will have to source the other needs faced directly against probability. And typically, this is where additional card advantage outlets help to close the gap. As they provide sizable measures influence, to help capture the Entropy Factor, despite being faced directly against probability.
The strategic dynamics of these card advantage outlets (and total value of influence they have collectively) also change based on the combination sequence in which they are used together.
MTG has legendarily provided these effects. There's only so much space in card game development to work with. However, they have also legendarily failed to put the emphasis on, and consistently provide, the volume (combination of outlets) which can produce sufficient capabilities equally across all colors.
Here's a great example in a deck I made awhile back in 2008, which plays incredibly well due to an anomaly in development which enables it to play out like a PTCG deck. I was able to secure a high percentile clench between the combination of Joiner Adept and Prismatic Omen. While Treefolk Harbinger provided extensions of Doran the Siege Tower (further securing high percentile clenches for important content); and Harmonize then enabling high influence value to capture entropy with-and in addition to that.
3 Joiner Adept
3 Sheltering Ancient
3 Dauntless Dourbark
4 Treefolk Harbinger
4 Doran, the Siege Tower
1 Might of Alara
3 Wandering Stream
4 Gaea's Might
4 Harmonize
4 Tribal Flames
It could probably use Dungrove Elder these days. And obviously, I could have updated the land base with something like this below. But after playing it out a few times, it didn't even seem necessary. Also, Verdant Catacombs didn't exist back then. I would have had to use Wooded Foothills instead with Windswept Heath. I could have probably even used Grasslands or Mountain Valley—it played out so well.
2 Windswept Heath
4 Dryad Arbor
4 Murmuring Bosk
4 Verdant Catacombs
And I guess other techs could be made, including swaping out Joiner Adept for Birds of Paradise, and skimming down Wandering Stream and Harmonize for Green Sun's Zenith. I would probably just run 3 Doran at that point and 4 Birds. You would definitely need to run the lands above though with this configuration. I would also be tempted to tech 1 Indomitable Ancients I think.
There was a time in the game's history when green was very weak. That problem wasn't solved by removing green's limitation of relying on creatures. Instead, WotC just found more ways to allow, and pushed more cards that allowed, green to do better at some of the things it was weak at within its critical weakness of relying on creatures. Similarly, the answer to white's relative weakness right now is not to abandon its critical weakness, but find and push more ways for it to work around that without breaking it. If breaking weaknesses was your go-to just because a color is weak, the color pie would just slowly dissolve into nothing over time.
It's not like white has consistently been the weakest colour— it's just been the last few years roughly. (EDIT: Here's a blogatog comment from just four years ago complaining about how white gets to have in-colour ways to work around its weakness but red doesn't). Red didn't get 'rummaging' and 'impusive draw' because WotC gave up on it's critical weaknesses— because card draw was never that, it was late-game sustainability and being unable to deal with enchantments. Card draw does help with late-game sustainability, so they gave red card draw and card selection that was less effective at that.
Giving up on white's critical weakness being a lack of card draw would require a reassessing of the whole color's strengths and weaknesses. Maybe that is necessary, but WotC hasn't had that much of an opportunity yet (with their delayed schedule) to try working around it in color, so I think it's premature to call for that.
I do think white should get more filtering though, in line with what I was saying about getting lands and mana. White is already allowed to get scry and do some dig and tutoring cards, and it would be simple enough to just print and push a little more of these cards. It's quite possible WotC is already doing this with current and upcoming sets. They are reprinting Idyllic Tutor, after all.
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
If you look back at the history of the game, the first green card draw that really existed (other than a single color hoser and incidental cantrips/delayed cantrips that existed in white a la Ritual of Steel, Blessed Wine, and Carrier Pigeon) seems to be Fugitive Druid in tempest... well after white received Truce and Temporary Truce.
I am happy to see white getting mana filtering through specific tutors. White has also been pretty good about getting a whole bunch of highly specific tutors for enchantments/auras/equipments/weak creatures/planeswalkers/legendary creatures, which is nice. White also gets decent reanimation from time to time, which shouldn't be discounted. I feel that the renewed presence of symmetrical advantage in cards like Happily Ever After and Shatter the Sky are the final key to this system, though it needs to be done in a way that "breaks" the synergy.
For example:
Stern Guidance
Sorcery
Opponents can't cast spells until the end of your next turn.
Each player draws 2 cards.
(everyone gets cards but you get to use them first and get a decent haste effect.
Mass Aurafication
Sorcery
Destroy all creatures. Each player draws 2 cards.
(card advantage tied to destruction that lets you pull ahead)
Generous Benefactor
Creature- Human Noble
At the beginning of your end step, each player with three or fewer cards in their hand draws a card.
1/4
(situational card advantage for everyone that may not be symmetrical in practice)
I think those are some pretty good designs for pushing the symmetrical draw effect in white. I hope we see cards like these in upcoming sets. The situational draw rollout in white has been slow and tame so far, but I can't fault WotC for being careful with this. "Each player draws four cards" would be a great way to push the effect and really give white some serious cardflow but it would probably force opponent's to discard too often such that it probably would not be symmetrical enough.
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
I have a 560 card cube and try to include 4-5 noncreature draw spells for each color.
Blue: Chart a Course, Bident of Thassa, Mystic Confluence, Thassa's Intervention
Black: Night's Whisper, Phyrexian Arena, Promise of Power, Decree of Pain
Red: Faithless Looting, Light up the Stage, Ignite the Future, Commune with Lava
Green: Sylvan Library, Harmonize, Greater Good, Rishkar's Expertise
White has Oblation, if you want to count that. And Decree of Justice draws a card if you cycle it for some tokens. But in the end, there is nothing on the noncreature front.
Therefore I would hope for something like...
a) 1W, Sorcery, Draw two cards, then exile a card from your hand unless you have gained life this turn.
b) 1WW, Sorcery, Scry 3, then reveal the top card of your library and put that card into your hand. If the revealed card is a land, gain 3 life.
c) 3WW, Instant, Exile the top four cards of your library. You may play cards exiled with ~ for as long as you control a creature with power 2 or less.
d) 4WW, Enchantment, Exile target creature you control: Draw cards equal to it's toughness, then exile 3 cards from your hand.
I think easy exile interaction is a problem of its own right, not only because of the "second graveyard" issue parodied by AWOL, but also because exile acts like a safety valve for a lot of powerful mechanics. Imagine a deck that gets to recur something like Temporal Mastery multiple times over the course of a game. Easy exile interaction is like building a city on top of a nuclear waste dump; everything that results will be poisoned.
Creature - whatever
When ~ etbs or dies, each player scrys 2
2/1
W
Creature - whatever
When ~ leaves the battlefield, each player draws a card
2/1
W
Instant
Each opponent sacrifices a creature.
Each player draws one card.
And probably some larger stuff for EDH later on