Gameplay change: reinforce number implementation

Morphis

at the moment almost any effect that take in account the number of creatures is rather pointless.

I suggest to add a number to creature in game that counts how many times the creature has been reinforced.
For card and effect that summon a number of tokens the number will show how many there are in total.

This change alone would give a place to many current(and probably future) effects.

So which effects could this affect?

-First of it all any effect that is base on number of creature in play.
Most of those effects are rather weak right now so would need no rebalancing.
Only one I can think of that should be nerfed is goblin piledriver.

-Upon death effects. This would apply to creature that trigger something when die and creatures that trigger when other creatures die.
So it will give a better place for scions, especially the cards that spawn more than one in a turn. A 3/3 scion would give 9 mana on death.
Also would improve cards such as malakir cullblade.
Again most of these effect are already balanced even after such a change in my opinion. Some would probably need a change.

Only real thing that should be nerfed(more of a fix in my opinion) is murder investigation not triggering on tokens.
This of course to avoid it becoming insanely powerful(right now it is mostly annoying in he right deck but not impossible to overcome).

I think the game would really benefit from this change cause it opens up space for new decks.

Discuss and support the idea if you like it by upvoting.

Roxton

I like this direction, but I would go further.

Right now, stacking two Tunneling Geopedes, Stonehaven Medics, Zulaport Cutthroats, or Eldrazi Scions is garbage, whereas stacking two Skysnare Spiders or White Orchid Knights is beastly.

Power and toughness have a nonlinear benefit with reinforcement, whereas abilities have no benefit. Separately and together, these things make game balance difficult and gameplay janky. Let's linearize reinforcement a bit.

* Rather than adding power and toughness, simply keep the first creature played "in front" of the reinforcement stack.
* Buffs, abilities, and spells only impact the front-most creature, with static effects (e.g. Brawler's Plate) transferring to the next creature when the front-most creature dies.
* Stack-based mechanic buffs on a creature (e.g. disabled, vigilance, haste, flying, but not first strike) affect the whole reinforcement stack for the combat round. For example, if you use Stratus Walk on a Screeching Skaab, the Skaab stack has flying, but loses flying after combat if the buffed one dies.
* Reinforcement stacks always attack or block as a group. Each creature attacks sequentially (briefly appearing in the foreground) targeting the top-most blocker. Blockers "spend" their power when attacked, up to the attacking creatures toughness. Trample allows a single creature's attack to carry over to the next blocker.
* Abilities work independently for each creature in the stack. Two Jhessian Thieves damaging a planeswalker will draw two cards. Each Prickleboar will gain its own +2/+0 and first strike.

It sounds complicated, but I think it strikes that balance of being thoroughly intuitive while opening up tactical possibilities and card design. It also avoids the need for a massive rebalancing of cards. The only change to the UI layout is a number indicating the size of the stack. As you say, it makes Eldrazi Scions less garbagey (particularly when it comes to something like Blight Herder) and "number of creature" effects more interesting. Both trample and chumping become more meaningful.

Let players kill the first first-striker even if they don't have enough toughness to kill both. Allow the damage potential (and spell pump potential) of a token stack to weaken as it loses members, while simultaneously allowing chump blocks. Let Gideon's buffs protect the front-most creature, but woe to the stack if its vanguard dies. Let weenie decks retain momentum in the face of removal.

UniQ_77

Morphis wrote:

So which effects could this affect?

-First of it all any effect that is base on number of creature in play.
Most of those effects are rather weak right now so would need no rebalancing.
Only one I can think of that should be nerfed is goblin piledriver.

Thinking of zada and 3rd ability of koth

Morphis

UniQ_77 wrote:

Morphis wrote:

So which effects could this affect?

-First of it all any effect that is base on number of creature in play.
Most of those effects are rather weak right now so would need no rebalancing.
Only one I can think of that should be nerfed is goblin piledriver.

Thinking of zada and 3rd ability of koth

My suggestion involved stuff based on number of creatures not buff to creatures.
If anything buffs one creature or buffs all creatures it will not take in account reinforcing number.
This to avoid too much rebalancing in buffing skills and supports(that usually are well tuned)
So for instance dwynen green elf skill: the healing effect would be increased by reinforce numbers, but the stat bonuses would be static at +2/+2.