2. Draft boosters
Each March of the Machine Draft Booster contains 15 cards and 1 token/ad card or Helper card, including 1–2 card(s) of rarity Rare or higher and 3–5 Uncommon, 8–9 Common, and 1 Land cards. Traditional Foil Borderless Mythic Planeswalker in <1% of boosters. Traditional Foil of any rarity replaces a Common in 33% of boosters.
We can actually derive a decent bit of information from this.
1. As most would guess, this likely points to some sort of bonus sheet gimmick.
2. The fact that the Uncommon count can vary between 3 and 5 shows that there are two gimmick slots (much as there were two legendary creature slots in each Command Legends pack)
3. The smaller variation in rare/common counts indicates that this bonus sheet gimmick exists at all rarities with one common/uncommon slot and one uncommon/rare slot in each pack (unless there are two different gimmicks but one simply doesn't exist at high rarities, which seems unlikely). This isn't a situation like the Brother's War/Strixhaven where there were no commons. Sadly (for me), it is also highly unlikely that this sheet will contain legendary creatures as well, seeing how they don't normally appear at common (and a "Prismatic Piper"-style common would not be needed in formats without color identity even if a major mechanic of MOM is legendary-based).
Talking a bit about point #3, this is kind of weird as The Brother's War and Strixhaven didn't have ANY commons on their bonus sheet
I would do something in between these ideas, I think.
DFCs have a lot of baggage that would stop us from getting too many and that would make them a headache to reprint. Further, the tempo-loss from exiling them and not being able to attack with them the turn they blink back in would be pretty considerable.
Using compleation as an alternate casting cost, meanwhile, reintroduces the color pie problems that phyrexian mana originally struggled with.
How about something like Monstrous/Adapt?
Miriam Researcher
Creature- Vedalken Wizard
Compleation 2- (if this card isn’t compleated, put two +1/+1 counters on it and it becomes a phyrexian artifact in addition to its other types)
When Vedalken researcher attacks, scry 1. Then, if Vedalken Researcher is compleated, draw a card.
1/1
I think that clever concealment won’t be much more expensive than the 50 cent lethal scheme from New Capenna (at least initially).
Why? Because the very same deck first printing concealment is also reprinting flawless maneuver, which I think is generally going to be preferred over concealment.
The reprint of maneuver is likely going to drive down its price, reducing demand for a next-best card.
The Filigree Sylex seems like it just replaces 1 Ratchet Bomb in every deck that currently runs it. Since it's often a wishboard 1-of, that means it replaces most Ratchet Bombs.
Is there any benefit to using it, though? I get that is is a strict upgrade but I struggle to imagine any situation in which I have no other oil cards and I choose to keep building this card up for the last ability rather than saving it for a future threat or ratching up to nail whatever permanent has me locked down.
Like, when would you even try for that last ability?
Tying the names to the old artifact lands is awesome but I’m pretty sure we already know the names of the 9 spheres from that art book thing that spoiled the realmbreaker.
You know what, it’s about time that I just create a boiler plate message that I can more or less copy to all of your threads.
1. If you want to make changes to the rules, please do so for mechanical reasons. If a similar ability isn’t being used because it doesn’t “flow” or “lacks adherence to sound principles”, or you feel a card deserves “allowance for flavor” or the like, you are a not a great designer. If a card does not look right or is too wordy when fully written out, simply abandon the card.
2. Assume that your card will be used by idiots without the comprehensive rules with them. If someone with a basic grasp of the rules who reads the card is still confused and would need to read additional rulings to navigate core functions of your cards, you are a bad designer.
3. the color pie is a good thing and should be upheld, not seen as a norm that you should be making every sort of exception to. As an extension of this, hybrid mana means that either color could get an effect, not that one color could get it but you want the other color to get it.
4. interaction between cards and giving a card weaknesses where other cards can respond to it is a GOOD thing. Abusing special actions, hybrid abilities, deus ex abilities, and protective abilities on all of your cards so their function can’t be interfered with is a sign of a bad designer, even if one or two cards with protection may be okay in a vacuum.
5. What sees play is dependent on the actual metagame. Making a card for a specific combo with two obscure old cards that wouldn’t be too fast or reliable compared with what people actually play is not powerful.
Does that cover everything, guys?
Edit: surprisingly, all of those points fit in here. Hybrid ability that reduces interaction and doesn’t work within the rules on a clone that can be cast in mono green whose text was edited specifically for imagined interactions with a single card.
Escapism: thank you for fully articulating that you wanted a change in the rules in the opening post rather than leaving readings to infer that summon = create. Otherwise, the card is fairly powerful and you need to specify that the copy is a token but I’m not totally against the idea.
Litigate: You chronically underestimate how good fateseal is and getting more than fateseal 2 is utterly backbreaking in actual games. The before or after thing is also just weird. I can tell that you were imagining one specific scenario in your head when you added that and I personally don’t imagine that extreme corner case could be worth the big change in the rules that would be needed to incorporate this rules change. Also note that this usage of “or” (before or after) is different from the type of “or” your deus ex machina abilities use (when x happens or when y happens).
Put’tbnk: First of all, how dare you insert a vowel into the name of a homunculus. This thing should be named Pt’tbnk (pronounced the same way, though). More importantly, copying a creature would make this card lose its drawback and this card is a creature without a listed power and toughness, which is a kinda big deal. Also, the idea of getting a wish for a cheap utility creature that you effectively play for free (even if you make the drawback work) is kind of silly as I’m far more likely to one a 1-drop or 2 drop creature for an ability than combat.
This was already discussed in another thread where I brought up the issue that this rule doesn't exist but should—to prevent infinite loops and sequences.
I believe this was in discussing the details for hammering out hybrid abilities, where I was placing a static ability on a trigger.
The answer to questions about a card you create should be in the comprehensive rules (if they are within the current rules) or in the same post (if you are proposing a rules change).
Asking people to go search through your posting history every time you break the rules in the exact same way because you can’t be bothered to do some basic copying and pasting is not an option.
So… are you expecting casual edh players to play in an actively competitive event when not being competitive is a major draw of the tournament to many or are you expecting wizards to regularly send out sufficient support to every LGS to make it worthwhile to cEDH players with decks worth over $5000?
Asking why wizards isn’t holding competitive commander events displays a startling lack of awareness regarding the appeal of EDH in general.
If only 1 life weren't significant truly. Oohh, and someone listed painlands before? Which are like in the last category of selection now among lands for duals—because they cost you a life each time to use.
This is actual data, made from people actively competing against each other to make the best possible decks. If you were correct and there is some secret deck out there that "exploits" people using painlands without (without offsetting it with lifegain) for easy victories, someone would have figured it out by now and the entire meta of the game would have adjusted to represent this fact.
One life for one mana, even one colorless mana is not a fair rate, especially for a non-legendary nonland card that you can potentially have more than one copy of in your opening hand.
I simply don’t think that this would work in a draft environment.
I remember when people were playing Oath of the Gatewatch and needing to draft colorless producers and wastes in order to use the strongest cards (or drafting sources of snow mana in Kaldheim, for a more recent example) was a bit of a headache when there was essentially just ONE category of mana (snow mana or colorless mana) being introduced.
Making a set where there are 10 new forms of mana and your spells feel underwhelming unless you match the exact right mana to the right spell sounds like an exercise in absolute frustration, even if you go the way of Dragon’s maze and have a dedicated land slot for your fixing lands in each pack.
Black gets a 2/2 that can't block for 2 mana.
Seems fair.
We can actually derive a decent bit of information from this.
1. As most would guess, this likely points to some sort of bonus sheet gimmick.
2. The fact that the Uncommon count can vary between 3 and 5 shows that there are two gimmick slots (much as there were two legendary creature slots in each Command Legends pack)
3. The smaller variation in rare/common counts indicates that this bonus sheet gimmick exists at all rarities with one common/uncommon slot and one uncommon/rare slot in each pack (unless there are two different gimmicks but one simply doesn't exist at high rarities, which seems unlikely). This isn't a situation like the Brother's War/Strixhaven where there were no commons. Sadly (for me), it is also highly unlikely that this sheet will contain legendary creatures as well, seeing how they don't normally appear at common (and a "Prismatic Piper"-style common would not be needed in formats without color identity even if a major mechanic of MOM is legendary-based).
Talking a bit about point #3, this is kind of weird as The Brother's War and Strixhaven didn't have ANY commons on their bonus sheet
DFCs have a lot of baggage that would stop us from getting too many and that would make them a headache to reprint. Further, the tempo-loss from exiling them and not being able to attack with them the turn they blink back in would be pretty considerable.
Using compleation as an alternate casting cost, meanwhile, reintroduces the color pie problems that phyrexian mana originally struggled with.
How about something like Monstrous/Adapt?
Miriam Researcher
Creature- Vedalken Wizard
Compleation 2-
When Vedalken researcher attacks, scry 1. Then, if Vedalken Researcher is compleated, draw a card.
1/1
Why? Because the very same deck first printing concealment is also reprinting flawless maneuver, which I think is generally going to be preferred over concealment.
The reprint of maneuver is likely going to drive down its price, reducing demand for a next-best card.
Artifact Creature- Phyrexian Myr (U)
Sacrifice Spheretapper: Proliferate.
2/2
Just wanted to design the sort of callback card that we might see in the upcoming Phyrexia set.
Is there any benefit to using it, though? I get that is is a strict upgrade but I struggle to imagine any situation in which I have no other oil cards and I choose to keep building this card up for the last ability rather than saving it for a future threat or ratching up to nail whatever permanent has me locked down.
Like, when would you even try for that last ability?
Being reprinted in a Masters set does not change a card’s legality in any formats.
also, pretty sure that we’re missing a mono black noncreature artifact so that may be one of our remaining two Rares.
1. If you want to make changes to the rules, please do so for mechanical reasons. If a similar ability isn’t being used because it doesn’t “flow” or “lacks adherence to sound principles”, or you feel a card deserves “allowance for flavor” or the like, you are a not a great designer. If a card does not look right or is too wordy when fully written out, simply abandon the card.
2. Assume that your card will be used by idiots without the comprehensive rules with them. If someone with a basic grasp of the rules who reads the card is still confused and would need to read additional rulings to navigate core functions of your cards, you are a bad designer.
3. the color pie is a good thing and should be upheld, not seen as a norm that you should be making every sort of exception to. As an extension of this, hybrid mana means that either color could get an effect, not that one color could get it but you want the other color to get it.
4. interaction between cards and giving a card weaknesses where other cards can respond to it is a GOOD thing. Abusing special actions, hybrid abilities, deus ex abilities, and protective abilities on all of your cards so their function can’t be interfered with is a sign of a bad designer, even if one or two cards with protection may be okay in a vacuum.
5. What sees play is dependent on the actual metagame. Making a card for a specific combo with two obscure old cards that wouldn’t be too fast or reliable compared with what people actually play is not powerful.
Does that cover everything, guys?
Edit: surprisingly, all of those points fit in here. Hybrid ability that reduces interaction and doesn’t work within the rules on a clone that can be cast in mono green whose text was edited specifically for imagined interactions with a single card.
Litigate: You chronically underestimate how good fateseal is and getting more than fateseal 2 is utterly backbreaking in actual games. The before or after thing is also just weird. I can tell that you were imagining one specific scenario in your head when you added that and I personally don’t imagine that extreme corner case could be worth the big change in the rules that would be needed to incorporate this rules change. Also note that this usage of “or” (before or after) is different from the type of “or” your deus ex machina abilities use (when x happens or when y happens).
Put’tbnk: First of all, how dare you insert a vowel into the name of a homunculus. This thing should be named Pt’tbnk (pronounced the same way, though). More importantly, copying a creature would make this card lose its drawback and this card is a creature without a listed power and toughness, which is a kinda big deal. Also, the idea of getting a wish for a cheap utility creature that you effectively play for free (even if you make the drawback work) is kind of silly as I’m far more likely to one a 1-drop or 2 drop creature for an ability than combat.
The answer to questions about a card you create should be in the comprehensive rules (if they are within the current rules) or in the same post (if you are proposing a rules change).
Asking people to go search through your posting history every time you break the rules in the exact same way because you can’t be bothered to do some basic copying and pasting is not an option.
Asking why wizards isn’t holding competitive commander events displays a startling lack of awareness regarding the appeal of EDH in general.
Here is a standard deck that willingly uses 7 pain lands even though alternatives are available. You may notice that it only came in 11th place but the first place winner was using 8. In fact, Here is a page filled with standard decks people actually use. Go ahead and see how many multicolor decks you find that choose not to use painlands.
This is actual data, made from people actively competing against each other to make the best possible decks. If you were correct and there is some secret deck out there that "exploits" people using painlands without (without offsetting it with lifegain) for easy victories, someone would have figured it out by now and the entire meta of the game would have adjusted to represent this fact.
One life for one mana, even one colorless mana is not a fair rate, especially for a non-legendary nonland card that you can potentially have more than one copy of in your opening hand.
I remember when people were playing Oath of the Gatewatch and needing to draft colorless producers and wastes in order to use the strongest cards (or drafting sources of snow mana in Kaldheim, for a more recent example) was a bit of a headache when there was essentially just ONE category of mana (snow mana or colorless mana) being introduced.
Making a set where there are 10 new forms of mana and your spells feel underwhelming unless you match the exact right mana to the right spell sounds like an exercise in absolute frustration, even if you go the way of Dragon’s maze and have a dedicated land slot for your fixing lands in each pack.