Axis of Mortality

Gideon

It costs 16 . I play it and get no benefit the turn I play it . My turn is over. During my opponents first turn after I play it I take 5 and he gains five. What a horrible card. I don’t wanna pay 16 for a card that doesn’t do anything. Stop arguing. This card is bad.

khurram

Indeed it is. This is the first set where not even a single one of the spoiled cards have made me excited to get it. Sure the events seem creative but the cards themselves? I went through the 4 blog posts again today and on second glance they seem even more underwhelming. There is curbing the power and then there is curb stomping it. 

ElfNeedsFood

Compelling Arguement is 12 and literally does *nothing* and it got a lot if play due to combos with other cards. I suppose we will see with this one. 

Thuran

ElfNeedsFood said:

Compelling Arguement is 12 and literally does *nothing* and it got a lot if play due to combos with other cards. I suppose we will see with this one. 

No, it doesnt fo “anything”

Tilwin90

Compelling Argument is silly - worst case scenario it fuels an opponent's Endless Sands so it works in your disadvantage. It might just as well have read "Cycling 1" and not have a cost at all - that would've been interesting.

Now about this Axis of Mortality, let's make an in depth analysis:
- It's a rare, so it will be semi-hard to obtain. As a slightly niche item, we expect it to either do something interesting, or be rather powerful. This falls in the interesting category with repeated lifegain and damage. Lifeloss is already an illusion in this game as everything is treated as damage. How can this symmetric drain be good?
- - Take advantage of lifegain triggers, such as Crested Sunmare and Defiant Broodlord.
- - Maybe there are some weird objectives out there "take X or more damage", and then you abuse this there to inflict damage to yourself. But do expect it will take quite a bit...

- It's a support, so at least black/blue decks will have a more difficult time dealing with it. Wonder how many shields it has...
- It triggers *once* per turn, so no chance to abuse it in a more repeated fashion. 
- The opponent takes advantage of the lifegain first (reminds me of Howling Mine really), and can remove it before you reap its rewards yourself. 
- Costs 16, which is quite a substantial cost.

Now let's compare it with some similar cards in usage:
- God Pharaoh's Faithful is much more potent for repeated lifegain triggers. Sure, the lifegain is small, but it's asymmetrical and achievable for only 4 mana. Yep, a quarter the cost of this card. It's a creature, so perhaps easier to remove plus it takes a slot on the battlefield. But reduced cost + repeated triggers > guaranteed once a turn + support.
- Approach the Second Sun costs the same and triggers twice per cast. Sure... it's per cast, so you need repeated investment, but in combo decks it has been shown to be quite powerful. Plus it's a real wincon vs. this which works more like an Illusions of Grandeur kind of gimmick. Permanent, incremental drain > each turn pseudo-drain.

Would people experiment with this did they have the chance? I think yes, if the cost were more accessible.
Since this is more of a gimmicky card, you need more of an incentive to cast it. Plus it should benefit the caster first.
So what I would change?
- Drastically reduce its cost (I wouldn't pay anything more than 5 for this really, as it does NOTHING on its own)
- Move the lifedrain trigger at the end of turn so that the caster benefits first from it.

Kardynal

Thuran said:

ElfNeedsFood said:

Compelling Arguement is 12 and literally does *nothing* and it got a lot if play due to combos with other cards. I suppose we will see with this one. 

No, it doesnt fo “anything”

I get that