I'm building a cube right now that is more than "some ordinary cube!" It's a cube that changes every time it's played. The credit of the idea goes to Cube: Legacy, which was inspired by Risk: Legacy. I'm not a fan of the term "Cube: Legacy" because of the connotation of the word Legacy and how it relates to Magic: the Gathering, so I'm trying to figure out a more flavorful and thematic (or at least, meta and non-conflicting) name for the project. Anyways, I'm coming to you folks in hope of developing better wordings for some aspects of my own project.
Here's the context you need in order for me to get help:
With my cube, at the start of each draft (or however else), each player will be given a "Sticky" (sticker card, tentative name) which is a card with a name, type, and text like most other MtG cards. It also has a sticker on the card that is meant to be removed and placed on another card. Transferring this sticker from a Sticky (which is not even a card as far as Magic is concerned) to a card in the cube permanently alters the "stickied" card.
Example:
At the start of the cube draft, Zovc is dealt the sticker card ("Sticky") Path of the Noble. Zovc notices that as he receives Path of the Noble, it's got a sticker that says "Knight with Horsemanship" on it. During deckbuilding, Zovc decides to put Path of the Noble's sticker on an Eternal Witness he drafted.
Path of the Noble Sticky - Creature
Stickied creature has Horsemanship and is a Knight in addition to its types. (Creatures with horsemanship can only be blocked by other creatures with horsemanship.)
After transferring the sticker from Path of the Noble to Eternal Witness, Eternal Witness' now has a sticker on it that says "Knight with Horsemanship." The sticker is to remind us that Eternal Witness now reads:
Eternal Witness1GG Creature - Human Shaman Knight
Horsemanship
When ~ enters the battlefield, you may return target card from your graveyard to your hand. 2/1
So, what I'm asking you folks for is help cleaning up and clarifying the mechanics and wording for my "Stickies/Sticker Cards." Any flavorful help is welcome, as well.
It's early and I'm just starting to drink my coffee. I apologize if my post wasn't clear.
One way to make this work within the existing rules is to use Conspiracies.
Path of the Noble
Conspiracy
[Type] Sticky (Start the game with this face down in the command zone and secretly name a [Type] card. You may turn this face up any time and reveal the chosen name.)
Creatures with the chosen name you control have Horsemanship and are Knights in addition to their other types.
Note that this only works for sticking a specific card if your cube is singleton, but I can't think of a cleaner way to do this by using existing rules. Perhaps:
Path of the Noble
Conspiracy
[Type] Sticky (Start the game with this face down in the command zone and secretly name a [Type] card. You may reveal the chosen name at any time to exile this stuck to a permanent with that name.)
The stuck creature has Horsemanship and is a Knight in addition to its other types.
But this also has imperfect interactions with drafting non-singleton because the first card you draw with the name will always be the stuck card, and if the creature is bounced or returned to hand, this falls off it at can't be re-attached, so it'd lead to some awkward situations.
In terms of singleton though, I believe the first version works just as intended though.
The reason I chose not to use the Conspiracy card type is because I don't want these cards to "exist" in terms of Magic.
Making sticker cards function like conspiracies slightly changes the functionality of them in that the sticker is placed on them in-game, as a card is played, and it also kind of implies that you do it every game (like you would with a conspiracy card).
You are supposed to make the choices for conspiracies with hidden agenda before the game begins also. Path of the Noble is almost exactly Immediate Action swapping out haste for horsemanship, except with the two differences of limiting it to a single copy of the card and allowing your opponent to see the effect before it is relevant if they are using something like Peek.
I'm not sure what I'm missing.
...wait, you say in the first post that you place the sticker before the game, but in the third post you say you place it as you play the card. Which is it? The second seems wildly overpowered because you could just place your evasion ability on the first largish creature that you play without having to plan ahead.
The difference between what I originally suggested (in the first post) and what BaronVonGrixis suggested (and I voiced my interpretation of in the third post) is this:
I'm intending for the sticker card to be used during deckbuilding (or sideboarding), outside of the game. You do this once per cube draft, moving the "Knight with Horsemanship" sticker from the Path of the Noble card onto your Eternal Witness (or whatever else). That specific Eternal Witness will now always be a Knight with Horsemanship. Forever. For the next game you play, for every game after that. If someone else drafts it the next time you break out the cube, it's still a "knight with horsemanship."
BaronVonGrixis's first example (functioning like Immediate Action) works for the game you use it in, but that's it. The second example is closer to what I'm going for, but it still doesn't 'actually' mention placing a sticker. Not that my original design did, either, but it had its own "card type" rather than having a keyword added onto an already obscure type of card.
Starting the game with a conspiracy face down is counter-intuitive to what I'm trying to do and makes things more clunky. Rather than casting your Eternal Witness and having it already be a "Knight with Horsemanship" (like it says on the sticker) you have to be like, "Hey, I have this conpsiracy that makes Eternal Witness a Knight with Horsemanship." turn your conspiracy face up, then at that point move your sticker over. In my opinion, having to secretly name a card is so much more complicated than just putting a sticker on your card outside of the game.
It's a different way of doing things. I mean no offense, but I feel like it's objectively less elegant because it's piggybacking on and complicating existing mechanics. I think a new "meta" card type and mechanic is less intrusive. That could just be preference.
What if going in the splice direction, sticker could be something like a supertype (Or whatever noncopiable quality being a token is that allows Dogged Hunter to kill a Saproling without also being able to kill a Clone copying a Saproling.) and all other characteristics of the sticker are then given to the card?
Noble {Creature} {Sticker} Creature - Knight
Horsemanship (This creature can't be blocked except by creatures with horsemanship.)
{Stick to a creature card (Immediately after the draft, you may add the characteristics of this sticker to a creature card in your card pool.)}
Then, using your example, the sticker Noble {Creature} stuck to Eternal Witness would make it:
Noble Eternal Witness1GG Creature - Human Shaman Knight (U)
Horsemanship (This creature can't be blocked except by creatures with horsemanship.)
When Noble Eternal Witness enters the battlefield, you may return target card from your graveyard to your hand. She remembers every word spoken, from the hero's oath to the baby's cry.
2/1
That then changes its name for cards like Echoing Decay, Runed Halo, and conspiracies with hidden agenda. Just something to consider.
This is perhaps a little harder for players not familiar with splice to wrap their heads around, but I think it's really elegant overall.
I was trying to figure out how to include universal stuff like "Draw a card." or "Gain 2 life." or whatever, because there's the awkwardness of "What if it's attached to a creature?" My original solution was to have the drawing of cards or gaining of life or whatever else to be attached to "when you cast this spell." But that 'makes counterspells worse' and I don't want that!
How would you recommend making a sticker card, using this new splice templating, that could attach to an undefined spell that may or not be a permanent, that gives the card "Draw a card." on resolution? That is, as a spell resolves or the permanent enters the battlefield.
Is it as simple as saying something like "If the stickied spell is a permanent, do this when it enters the battlefield."?
Your first example was limited to sticking to a creature. They should probably all be limited in some way like that. It can be broader than just one card type, but they should still be limited in a fitting way. For example, spell effects like "Draw a card." could be "Stick to an instant or sorcery card", continuous effects could be "Stick to an artifact or enchantment".
I stuck with a simpler example (limited to creatures) because I was confident I could get my basic idea across with a simpler sticker. I'd be dealing out random "sticker cards" like these at the beginning of each cube draft, and I'd like to avoid cluttering things up with several "similar, but different" stickers like "Draw a card." for creatures, for artifacts/enchantments, and for instant/sorcery.
Examples of stickers that, in theory, could be attached to any card. (Again, the current "inelegant" solution I have is to just have these trigger when you cast the card, like Cascade.)
"Draw a card."
"Scry 2."
"Gain 2 life."
"Put a 0/1 colorless Eldrazi Spawn creature token onto the battlefield. It has "Sacrifice this creature: Add {1} to your mana pool.""
If I wanted to avoid the "when you cast this card" clause, I could make different ones for instant/sorcery and nonland permanents, but then I'd basically be adding twice the number of stickers to my "stack," changing the odds of getting the different stickers.
It's definitely easier to either have different ones for different types (or have the effects trigger on cast), but if there's an elegant solution out there somewhere...!
Between making different instances of the sticker cards for different types of spells and having the stickers' effects trigger on cast, which do you prefer?
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I'm building a cube right now that is more than "some ordinary cube!" It's a cube that changes every time it's played. The credit of the idea goes to Cube: Legacy, which was inspired by Risk: Legacy. I'm not a fan of the term "Cube: Legacy" because of the connotation of the word Legacy and how it relates to Magic: the Gathering, so I'm trying to figure out a more flavorful and thematic (or at least, meta and non-conflicting) name for the project. Anyways, I'm coming to you folks in hope of developing better wordings for some aspects of my own project.
Here's the context you need in order for me to get help:
With my cube, at the start of each draft (or however else), each player will be given a "Sticky" (sticker card, tentative name) which is a card with a name, type, and text like most other MtG cards. It also has a sticker on the card that is meant to be removed and placed on another card. Transferring this sticker from a Sticky (which is not even a card as far as Magic is concerned) to a card in the cube permanently alters the "stickied" card.
Example:
At the start of the cube draft, Zovc is dealt the sticker card ("Sticky") Path of the Noble. Zovc notices that as he receives Path of the Noble, it's got a sticker that says "Knight with Horsemanship" on it. During deckbuilding, Zovc decides to put Path of the Noble's sticker on an Eternal Witness he drafted.
Path of the Noble
Sticky - Creature
Stickied creature has Horsemanship and is a Knight in addition to its types. (Creatures with horsemanship can only be blocked by other creatures with horsemanship.)
After transferring the sticker from Path of the Noble to Eternal Witness, Eternal Witness' now has a sticker on it that says "Knight with Horsemanship." The sticker is to remind us that Eternal Witness now reads:
Eternal Witness 1GG
Creature - Human Shaman Knight
Horsemanship
When ~ enters the battlefield, you may return target card from your graveyard to your hand.
2/1
So, what I'm asking you folks for is help cleaning up and clarifying the mechanics and wording for my "Stickies/Sticker Cards." Any flavorful help is welcome, as well.
It's early and I'm just starting to drink my coffee. I apologize if my post wasn't clear.
Path of the Noble
Conspiracy
[Type] Sticky (Start the game with this face down in the command zone and secretly name a [Type] card. You may turn this face up any time and reveal the chosen name.)
Creatures with the chosen name you control have Horsemanship and are Knights in addition to their other types.
Note that this only works for sticking a specific card if your cube is singleton, but I can't think of a cleaner way to do this by using existing rules. Perhaps:
Path of the Noble
Conspiracy
[Type] Sticky (Start the game with this face down in the command zone and secretly name a [Type] card. You may reveal the chosen name at any time to exile this stuck to a permanent with that name.)
The stuck creature has Horsemanship and is a Knight in addition to its other types.
But this also has imperfect interactions with drafting non-singleton because the first card you draw with the name will always be the stuck card, and if the creature is bounced or returned to hand, this falls off it at can't be re-attached, so it'd lead to some awkward situations.
In terms of singleton though, I believe the first version works just as intended though.
Avant Block: Avant -- Stormfront
Making sticker cards function like conspiracies slightly changes the functionality of them in that the sticker is placed on them in-game, as a card is played, and it also kind of implies that you do it every game (like you would with a conspiracy card).
I'm not sure what I'm missing.
...wait, you say in the first post that you place the sticker before the game, but in the third post you say you place it as you play the card. Which is it? The second seems wildly overpowered because you could just place your evasion ability on the first largish creature that you play without having to plan ahead.
I'm intending for the sticker card to be used during deckbuilding (or sideboarding), outside of the game. You do this once per cube draft, moving the "Knight with Horsemanship" sticker from the Path of the Noble card onto your Eternal Witness (or whatever else). That specific Eternal Witness will now always be a Knight with Horsemanship. Forever. For the next game you play, for every game after that. If someone else drafts it the next time you break out the cube, it's still a "knight with horsemanship."
BaronVonGrixis's first example (functioning like Immediate Action) works for the game you use it in, but that's it. The second example is closer to what I'm going for, but it still doesn't 'actually' mention placing a sticker. Not that my original design did, either, but it had its own "card type" rather than having a keyword added onto an already obscure type of card.
Starting the game with a conspiracy face down is counter-intuitive to what I'm trying to do and makes things more clunky. Rather than casting your Eternal Witness and having it already be a "Knight with Horsemanship" (like it says on the sticker) you have to be like, "Hey, I have this conpsiracy that makes Eternal Witness a Knight with Horsemanship." turn your conspiracy face up, then at that point move your sticker over. In my opinion, having to secretly name a card is so much more complicated than just putting a sticker on your card outside of the game.
It's a different way of doing things. I mean no offense, but I feel like it's objectively less elegant because it's piggybacking on and complicating existing mechanics. I think a new "meta" card type and mechanic is less intrusive. That could just be preference.
You are using some informal formatting already by making the card type creature also a subtype to sticky.
The technology from splice should handle the adding of abilities. Each sticky has a text box that is added in its entirety to a card of your choice.
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
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Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO
{Sticker} Creature - Knight
Horsemanship (This creature can't be blocked except by creatures with horsemanship.)
{Stick to a creature card (Immediately after the draft, you may add the characteristics of this sticker to a creature card in your card pool.)}
Then, using your example, the sticker Noble {Creature} stuck to Eternal Witness would make it:
Creature - Human Shaman Knight (U)
Horsemanship (This creature can't be blocked except by creatures with horsemanship.)
When Noble Eternal Witness enters the battlefield, you may return target card from your graveyard to your hand.
She remembers every word spoken, from the hero's oath to the baby's cry.
2/1
That then changes its name for cards like Echoing Decay, Runed Halo, and conspiracies with hidden agenda. Just something to consider.
This is perhaps a little harder for players not familiar with splice to wrap their heads around, but I think it's really elegant overall.
I was trying to figure out how to include universal stuff like "Draw a card." or "Gain 2 life." or whatever, because there's the awkwardness of "What if it's attached to a creature?" My original solution was to have the drawing of cards or gaining of life or whatever else to be attached to "when you cast this spell." But that 'makes counterspells worse' and I don't want that!
How would you recommend making a sticker card, using this new splice templating, that could attach to an undefined spell that may or not be a permanent, that gives the card "Draw a card." on resolution? That is, as a spell resolves or the permanent enters the battlefield.
Is it as simple as saying something like "If the stickied spell is a permanent, do this when it enters the battlefield."?
Examples of stickers that, in theory, could be attached to any card. (Again, the current "inelegant" solution I have is to just have these trigger when you cast the card, like Cascade.)
"Draw a card."
"Scry 2."
"Gain 2 life."
"Put a 0/1 colorless Eldrazi Spawn creature token onto the battlefield. It has "Sacrifice this creature: Add {1} to your mana pool.""
If I wanted to avoid the "when you cast this card" clause, I could make different ones for instant/sorcery and nonland permanents, but then I'd basically be adding twice the number of stickers to my "stack," changing the odds of getting the different stickers.
It's definitely easier to either have different ones for different types (or have the effects trigger on cast), but if there's an elegant solution out there somewhere...!
Between making different instances of the sticker cards for different types of spells and having the stickers' effects trigger on cast, which do you prefer?