Masterpiece/Elite "Flash"

[Deleted User]

Before your opponents creatures attack, if this card is disabled, cast it.

If you control 2 or less creatures, move the first creature in your hand to the battlefield. It gains "destroy this creature at end of turn".

I like the effort and possible design of this card - its creative. So first off, well done.

Now bad news... if I dont want to cast a card, i disable it (clicking to grey out the upper left hand corner of a card, which happens to denote creature, spell, support.). But when this card is disabled it is cast during the opponent's turn like an instant. The problem is if i dont want to cast it during my opponents turn i have to keep it enabled which could cause me to cast it during my turn (unless this is the only card in MTGPQ that cannot be cast ever during my turn but that wouldnt help because it should also be castabke during my turn, should i choose to). Thus, unless i exile this card (negative card draw plus reduces reliability of card thus no one will want to use it unless very niche), exile all creatures i dont want to cast (which is a terrible option), put it at the bottom of my hand (and hope i dont cascade and fill it with mana.. once again reliability issue), or maybe this card has a restriction of not being cast if I do not have a creature in hand (but that should always be the case.. no creature => not castable)? 

Can we please have this masterpiece looked over again. Honestly when i first saw it - I was super excited! ..until i starting brewing in my head and read the complicated text enough to understand the flaw..

Some possible solutions. 
1. Have the option to exile it and it draws you a card to remove negative card draw when you dont want to cast it during your turn or the opponents turn. Potential problems: But with everyones hate of cycling.. not sure how the community feels,  but it would be the only standard card that has this ability so maybe? Also it allows for free digging/card draw when you dont need the card but it could have been used, which is already a good ability but maybe for a masterpiece its okay to have?

2. In order for the ability to trigger instead of disable in hand. Disable AND exile from hand to make it have the instant/interrupt (cast on opponents turn) ability activate. Potential problem: extremely hard to use; may cause future issues if exile is ever really used as a core part of a future set; people will forget how they exiled it; cannot view card status in exile.

3. Disabled and has to be the first/second/third card in hand. Nevermind this doesnt work.. there are way too many  problems from mana drain issues to order of cards in hand getting mana from gem breaks.. etc. Etc

Any other suggestions? I like #1 the best but #2 feels more fair. 

Mburn7

I'm confused, what's the issue?  That you may not want to cast it?  How I read it if you leave it enabled it'll just sit in your hand (I see no reason for it to be cast on your turn).  Hopefully the creature part is not required, but it is certainly possible that it is, which would definitely limit its usability (but then again, none of your choices would really fix that).

I'd say wait until people get to play with it, and see how its implemented

James13

I don't see a big issue at all assuming it has a confirm cast prompt that you can decline.  Leave it active if you don't have an ambush prepared.

FindingHeart8

James13 said:

I don't see a big issue at all assuming it has a confirm cast prompt that you can decline.  Leave it active if you don't have an ambush prepared.

that could get mildly annoying though for players (like myself) who've gotten into an entrenched habit of disabling spells you don't want to case (like HuF if you have a full hand, or if you have multiple spells you dont want to case yet but are sick of having to decline casting the spell every turn).  The unique reverse-style of this card could cause a lot of "woops!" moments as you accidentally cast the card.

Note: from the wording of this card I'd presume it would be autocast without option to decline, as how some of the other mtgpq spells function.

FindingHeart8

jimpark said:

Before your opponents creatures attack, if this card is disabled, cast it.

If you control 2 or less creatures, move the first creature in your hand to the battlefield. It gains "destroy this creature at end of turn".

I like the effort and possible design of this card - its creative. So first off, well done.

Now bad news... if I dont want to cast a card, i disable it (clicking to grey out the upper left hand corner of a card, which happens to denote creature, spell, support.). But when this card is disabled it is cast during the opponent's turn like an instant. The problem is if i dont want to cast it during my opponents turn i have to keep it enabled which could cause me to cast it during my turn (unless this is the only card in MTGPQ that cannot be cast ever during my turn but that wouldnt help because it should also be castabke during my turn, should i choose to). Thus, unless i exile this card (negative card draw plus reduces reliability of card thus no one will want to use it unless very niche), exile all creatures i dont want to cast (which is a terrible option), put it at the bottom of my hand (and hope i dont cascade and fill it with mana.. once again reliability issue), or maybe this card has a restriction of not being cast if I do not have a creature in hand (but that should always be the case.. no creature => not castable)? 

Can we please have this masterpiece looked over again. Honestly when i first saw it - I was super excited! ..until i starting brewing in my head and read the complicated text enough to understand the flaw..

Some possible solutions. 
1. Have the option to exile it and it draws you a card to remove negative card draw when you dont want to cast it during your turn or the opponents turn. Potential problems: But with everyones hate of cycling.. not sure how the community feels,  but it would be the only standard card that has this ability so maybe? Also it allows for free digging/card draw when you dont need the card but it could have been used, which is already a good ability but maybe for a masterpiece its okay to have?

2. In order for the ability to trigger instead of disable in hand. Disable AND exile from hand to make it have the instant/interrupt (cast on opponents turn) ability activate. Potential problem: extremely hard to use; may cause future issues if exile is ever really used as a core part of a future set; people will forget how they exiled it; cannot view card status in exile.

3. Disabled and has to be the first/second/third card in hand. Nevermind this doesnt work.. there are way too many  problems from mana drain issues to order of cards in hand getting mana from gem breaks.. etc. Etc

Any other suggestions? I like #1 the best but #2 feels more fair. 

4. Remove the "disable" feature entirely.  Have it function only when enabled but with the same response effect that cards like Gideon's Defeat have.

babar3355

Yeah, the question is, does it cast normally if enabled on your turn with full mana?  That is @jimpark's assumption.  It can either be cast as an interrupt or as just a normal spell.

jtwood

Interesting insight @jimpark , and the 6 of us who get it will have to let us know how it works

Also, can we speculate on how Greg will use this? My guess is that he will be 2-for-1ing himself left and right as he casts creatures that have no benefit to being cast on my attack phase so that they can die at end of turn.

jtwood

FindingHeart8 said:

4. Remove the "disable" feature entirely.  Have it function only when enabled but with the same response effect that cards like Gideon's Defeat have.

Assuming there's a problem with the current state of the card, switching to only casting when it's enabled makes more sense. Then you need to make it so that it can't be cast on your turn. Ever.

Related: is there a scenario where using this to cheat an expensive card into play on your own turn for 8 mana just to get its trigger is worth it?

James13

jtwood said:

FindingHeart8 said:

4. Remove the "disable" feature entirely.  Have it function only when enabled but with the same response effect that cards like Gideon's Defeat have.

Assuming there's a problem with the current state of the card, switching to only casting when it's enabled makes more sense. Then you need to make it so that it can't be cast on your turn. Ever.

Related: is there a scenario where using this to cheat an expensive card into play on your own turn for 8 mana just to get its trigger is worth it?

I can think of a few.  The wording also says destroy rather than exile, so you could get a secondary ETB trigger/attack damage next turn via Gift as well.

FindingHeart8

jtwood said:

FindingHeart8 said:

4. Remove the "disable" feature entirely.  Have it function only when enabled but with the same response effect that cards like Gideon's Defeat have.

Assuming there's a problem with the current state of the card, switching to only casting when it's enabled makes more sense. Then you need to make it so that it can't be cast on your turn. Ever.

Related: is there a scenario where using this to cheat an expensive card into play on your own turn for 8 mana just to get its trigger is worth it?

The only thing that comes to mind is the Kamigawa dragons for their death abilities, there might be a few other cards out there tho

ZW2007-

Mburn7 said:

Hopefully the creature part is not required, but it is certainly possible that it is, which would definitely limit its usability (but then again, none of your choices would really fix that).

I'd say wait until people get to play with it, and see how its implemented

What creature part? Having one in your hand for it to put into play? If so, it literally does nothing if you don't have a creature for it to put into play. Flash puts one of your creatures into play as a surprise blocker for very cheap that dies at the end of your turn, even if it survives combat. In some very rare cases it is just used to sacrifice a creature to benefit from an on death trigger.

James13 already mentioned the solution to OP's problem. Card is enabled in hand with full mana, it has a confirmation box, "do you want to cast flash? yes/no". Card is disabled with full mana, it will go off when opponent attacks. Not that complicated and most likely how it works. Days Undoing and plenty of other spells have confirmation boxes. No reason this shouldn't. Then again there are plenty that should have them and don't, like Behold the Beyond and Dark Ritual. Guess we wait and see.

Mburn7

ZW2007- said:

Mburn7 said:

Hopefully the creature part is not required, but it is certainly possible that it is, which would definitely limit its usability (but then again, none of your choices would really fix that).

I'd say wait until people get to play with it, and see how its implemented

What creature part? Having one in your hand for it to put into play? If so, it literally does nothing if you don't have a creature for it to put into play. Flash puts one of your creatures into play as a surprise blocker for very cheap that dies at the end of your turn, even if it survives combat. In some very rare cases it is just used to sacrifice a creature to benefit from an on death trigger.

The creature part I'm referring to is the "if you have 2 or less creatures in play play one from your hand" clause.  If its mandatory, it means you cannot cast Flash if you don't have a creature in hand, or if you have a full board.  This would severely limit its usability, arguably making it a borderline unplayable card.  

Also, while in paper it's supposed to give a surprise blocker in PQ its just a way to stop an attack for 1 turn.  The creature summoning part is much less important to its functionality.  Its what makes it so powerful, true, but the card should still work without a creature summon

ZW2007-

But what would it do if it didn't summon a creature? It would literally do nothing except remove Flash from your hand.

Mburn7

ZW2007- said:

But what would it do if it didn't summon a creature? It would literally do nothing except remove Flash from your hand.

It disables their creature, doesn't it?

ZW2007-

Nope. (body is 2 characters too short, apparently 7 is the minimum.)

ZW2007-

It should grant the creature you flash into play defender. That way your flashed creature takes the first card slot and blocks before any other non-defender creatures. If I flash in a vanilla 4/4, it will do nothing besides waste my cards and mana which is dumb.

jtwood

ZW2007- said:

It should grant the creature you flash into play defender. That way your flashed creature takes the first card slot and blocks before any other non-defender creatures. If I flash in a vanilla 4/4, it will do nothing besides waste my cards and mana which is dumb.

Would help ensure Greg plays it well, too.

[Deleted User]

Mburn7 said:

I'm confused, what's the issue?  That you may not want to cast it?  How I read it if you leave it enabled it'll just sit in your hand (I see no reason for it to be cast on your turn).  Hopefully the creature part is not required, but it is certainly possible that it is, which would definitely limit its usability (but then again, none of your choices would really fix that).

I'd say wait until people get to play with it, and see how its implemented

Ah, I see. I fully understand your point about your thoughts on it being left enabled in hand and it would not be cast-able during your turn. However, it being an "instant and possibly even an interrupt (although paper magic did away with interrupts a while back)", I felt it should be a card that is cast-able both during your turn and during your opponents turn.

Also, I hope the creature card being in hand is essential otherwise it would be a dead card except maybe in Imminent Doom decks.

And I sure hope I am one of those people who get to try it out.

[Deleted User]

James13 said:

I don't see a big issue at all assuming it has a confirm cast prompt that you can decline.  Leave it active if you don't have an ambush prepared.

Yes, this would be the best option. I guess I assumed this would not be the case, which is an oversight on my part. However, my reasoning for this assumption was that having that confirm cast prompt during the opponents turn may cause freezes in an already semi-unstable (getting more and more stable as time passes (trying to give credit to the devs for their efforts and my appreciation for that) state of the game.

[Deleted User]

babar3355 said:

Yeah, the question is, does it cast normally if enabled on your turn with full mana?  That is @jimpark's assumption.  It can either be cast as an interrupt or as just a normal spell.

I assumed, the devs were going to try to stay loyal to the paper MTG card (instant effect); thus, allowing it to be cast both during my turn and my opponents since the drawback (sacrifice) associated with the creature being cast, possibly cheaper, was severe enough to allow for this.

Man... I made quite a lot of assumptions lol.

Mana Cost:

Converted Mana Cost:

2

Types:

Instant

Card Text:

You may put a creature card from your hand onto the battlefield. If you do, sacrifice it unless you pay its mana cost reduced by up to .

<Source: Wizards Magic Gatherer search>

Side note: I thought the pay the remainder of the creature's mana to not sacrifice it would have been super cool to have as well but I am getting ahead of myself there.

[Deleted User]

FindingHeart8 said:

jtwood said:

FindingHeart8 said:

4. Remove the "disable" feature entirely.  Have it function only when enabled but with the same response effect that cards like Gideon's Defeat have.

Assuming there's a problem with the current state of the card, switching to only casting when it's enabled makes more sense. Then you need to make it so that it can't be cast on your turn. Ever.

Related: is there a scenario where using this to cheat an expensive card into play on your own turn for 8 mana just to get its trigger is worth it?

The only thing that comes to mind is the Kamigawa dragons for their death abilities, there might be a few other cards out there tho

As is, and assuming there is no confirm cast prompt, I actually assumed it would work like Gideon's Defeat where there is no confirm cast prompt and it its effect/casting just takes place.

Yeah, not being able to cast during your turn was a possibility that I actually was hoping wasn't the case, as it would limit the card even further (since I assume you would also need a creature in hand; otherwise, it would be casting a blank). I really, really, don't want it to go in this direction ..but I guess we'll have to see. haha.

I can't think of a creature off the top of my head, the first thing I thought of was using Journey to Eternity that that chupa..chu.. ca.. bra..? something? though to get more value. I haven't thought much beyond that.