War of the Spark (WAR) Masterpiece cards need some work
Matthew
Posts: 605 Critical Contributor
The Masterpiece cards from WAR all seem to have something relating to the guild abilities we saw in the previous two sets. As a quick refresher, I've included them below. Note that they are hidden behind the spoiler section to minimize the length of the post, and to avoid boring those of you who know them by heart already.
So I'll preface this by saying that I understand it might seem petty or pointless. But I think it's worth a little discussion. Seven of the ten MPs from WAR have abilities that are either carbon copies of their associated guild abilities, or which are extremely close to those abilities.
My gripe, Oktagon, is this: Why not go all-in and just give them these abilities? Is it because of licensing rules you have to follow from Wizards? Or did you guys just mail it in on the design for these cards?
Below is a list of the cards (links to octal's site provided for convenience), and how I would change/improve them.
Council of the Absolute: This card is the first of the 7 that I mentioned above. It gives an Addendum ability to the first card in your hand, like so - "Addendum: At the beginning of your turn, all spells in your hand gain 3 mana and the first spell in your opponent's hand becomes Disabled until the beginning of your next turn." Why not actually have it say Addendum? Why spell it out like that? Now sure, I know that's not quite how the ability works. But on the whole, Addendum has room for a great deal of variance in functionality, so I think it would be acceptable.
Notion Thief: Card number 2 of the 7 cards I mentioned. You can sum up the entire first half of his ability like this - "Cycling 3. When you cycle this card, Surveil 4, then draw a card." So why not do it??? It's much more elegant in its simplicity, and makes the text box much less crowded.
Havoc Festival: Card number 3 of the 7 that I mentioned. It has three functions. 1) Players can't gain life; 2) At the beginning of your opponent's turn, that player loses 3 life; 3) At the end of your turn, if your opponent lost life this turn, all cards in your hand gain 2 mana. It's the last bit that bothers me. Essentially, that block of text gives Spectacle to every card in your hand while it's in play, but only during your turn. To improve it, I would make it apply the mana gain to both turns (like Spectacle does) by simply saying "While this card is in play, all cards in your hand have Spectacle 2."
Gruul Ragebeast: The first ability is actually more like the aforementioned Spectacle ability than anything Gruul, but it's still alright I would keep everything the way it is, but also give him the Riot ability, and then have him give it to every card that enters your hand, regardless of whether you drew it or fetched it. As it is now, it's way overpriced for what it does. This is a Masterpiece, after all...
Wayfaring Temple: Card number 4 of the 7. The first block of text can be summed up very simply, by giving it Convoke 9. Also, after having tested this card quite a bit, I would say that even with that Convoke-like ability, it's still too expensive. It should cost 15 mana at the most, though to truly warrant the Masterpiece status, it should be more like 11 or 12 mana. Oktagon, you have done an amazing job at making Tokens a viable strategy, I'll give you that. But you've done so well that this card is a complete dud in a token deck. The token generators are more important and more useful than this card. And since token decks seem to be the desired strategy for making use of this guy, that renders him pretty much useless.
Treasury Thrull: I actually like this card the way it is. Sure, I could tweak it a few ways (boost its p/t by 1 or 2, for starters), but as a whole, I think it's pretty solid. I've play-tested it and I really like it. But since we're on a roll about these cards having nothing to do with the guild mechanics, I'll go ahead and say that he should have Afterlife 6.
Djinn Illuminatus: Card number 5 of 7, though I will admit that this one is sort of a stretch. This card gets my award for "Most Interesting (And Yet Completely Squandered) Potential." He gives mana to cards in your graveyard. Whoopdee doo. There are a grand total of 9 cards that would care about this (those that have the Jump-Start ability) and of those, only 3 of them are really that interesting. Djinn should have a global effect that gives Jump-Start to all spell cards that you draw, fetch, or (my preference) both. That would really amp up the potential for fun with him. Of course, it might also completely break it, so suggestions are welcome on how to incorporate the Jump-Start mechanic into his abilities
Deadbridge Chant: Card number 6 of 7. The first block of ability text can be summed up like so: "Undergrowth 8: At the beginning of your turn, destroy the top X cards of your library." The rest of it is perfect how it is. I actually really like this card, it makes for some fantastic graveyard shenanigans.
Firemane Avenger: The last card of the 7 that I mentioned. This one essentially has the Mentor ability, except that she gives a +2/+2 buff instead of a +1/+1. I'm completely fine with the change in buff, because this is a Masterpiece we're talking about. But why not just give her the little Mentor icon, and then make the text box say "This creature's Mentor ability gives +2/+2 instead of +1/+1. [Insert the rest of its text box verbatim at this point]."
Fathom Mage: Just like the Treasury Thrull, I also like this card as it is. I suppose you could give it something like Adapt 2 or maybe Adapt 3, but that might be a little overkill. It's already a solid card and doesn't need that extra boost.
What do the players think? Anyone in agreement? Anyone think otherwise? Please comment, I'd like to hear your thoughts. Maybe this will get the developers' collective attention if we get some good discussion going. It really doesn't make sense to me that they'd leave the guild abilities off of these cards. In the past, with both Hibernum and Oktagon, major design liberties have been taken with what cards are able to do. Just look at Startled Awake or Prism Array. So is there something from Wizards that's keeping Oktagon from doing this? I'd like to hope it's that, instead of poor attention to detail, apathy, forgetfulness, or some other negative thing...
Azorius - Addendum: If this card has full mana at the beginning of your turn, it will have additional effects
Dimir - Surveil: Pick up to X cards from the top 4 cards of your library. Put those cards into your graveyard and the rest on top of your library.
Rakdos - Spectacle: At the end of any turn, if your opponent lost life this turn, this card gains X mana.
Gruul - Riot: When this creature enters the battlefield, choose one: It gets +1/+1 or gains Haste.
Selesnya - Convoke: While this card is in your hand, it costs X less, where X is the number of creatures and creature reinforcements you control, up to this card's Convoke value.
Orzhov - Afterlife: When this creature dies or loses a reinforcement, create X Orzhov Spirit Tokens, where X is this card's Afterlife.
Izzet - Jump-Start: This card can be cast from your graveyard. Whenever you exile a card from hand, if this is the first spell with Jump-Start in your graveyard, this spell gains mana equal to the mana on the card. If you cast this card from your graveyard, exile it.
Golgari - Undergrowth: The X in this ability is equal to the number of nontoken creatures in your graveyard, up to this card's Undergrowth value.
Boros - Mentor: Whenever this creature attacks, your other creatures with power lower than this creature's get +1/+1.
Simic - Adapt: When this creature enters the battlefield, Adapt X gems. Whenever you match one of these gems, this creature gets +1/+1 and the gem loses its adaptation. Whenever your opponent matches one of these gems, Adapt another gem.
Dimir - Surveil: Pick up to X cards from the top 4 cards of your library. Put those cards into your graveyard and the rest on top of your library.
Rakdos - Spectacle: At the end of any turn, if your opponent lost life this turn, this card gains X mana.
Gruul - Riot: When this creature enters the battlefield, choose one: It gets +1/+1 or gains Haste.
Selesnya - Convoke: While this card is in your hand, it costs X less, where X is the number of creatures and creature reinforcements you control, up to this card's Convoke value.
Orzhov - Afterlife: When this creature dies or loses a reinforcement, create X Orzhov Spirit Tokens, where X is this card's Afterlife.
Izzet - Jump-Start: This card can be cast from your graveyard. Whenever you exile a card from hand, if this is the first spell with Jump-Start in your graveyard, this spell gains mana equal to the mana on the card. If you cast this card from your graveyard, exile it.
Golgari - Undergrowth: The X in this ability is equal to the number of nontoken creatures in your graveyard, up to this card's Undergrowth value.
Boros - Mentor: Whenever this creature attacks, your other creatures with power lower than this creature's get +1/+1.
Simic - Adapt: When this creature enters the battlefield, Adapt X gems. Whenever you match one of these gems, this creature gets +1/+1 and the gem loses its adaptation. Whenever your opponent matches one of these gems, Adapt another gem.
So I'll preface this by saying that I understand it might seem petty or pointless. But I think it's worth a little discussion. Seven of the ten MPs from WAR have abilities that are either carbon copies of their associated guild abilities, or which are extremely close to those abilities.
My gripe, Oktagon, is this: Why not go all-in and just give them these abilities? Is it because of licensing rules you have to follow from Wizards? Or did you guys just mail it in on the design for these cards?
Below is a list of the cards (links to octal's site provided for convenience), and how I would change/improve them.
Council of the Absolute: This card is the first of the 7 that I mentioned above. It gives an Addendum ability to the first card in your hand, like so - "Addendum: At the beginning of your turn, all spells in your hand gain 3 mana and the first spell in your opponent's hand becomes Disabled until the beginning of your next turn." Why not actually have it say Addendum? Why spell it out like that? Now sure, I know that's not quite how the ability works. But on the whole, Addendum has room for a great deal of variance in functionality, so I think it would be acceptable.
Notion Thief: Card number 2 of the 7 cards I mentioned. You can sum up the entire first half of his ability like this - "Cycling 3. When you cycle this card, Surveil 4, then draw a card." So why not do it??? It's much more elegant in its simplicity, and makes the text box much less crowded.
Havoc Festival: Card number 3 of the 7 that I mentioned. It has three functions. 1) Players can't gain life; 2) At the beginning of your opponent's turn, that player loses 3 life; 3) At the end of your turn, if your opponent lost life this turn, all cards in your hand gain 2 mana. It's the last bit that bothers me. Essentially, that block of text gives Spectacle to every card in your hand while it's in play, but only during your turn. To improve it, I would make it apply the mana gain to both turns (like Spectacle does) by simply saying "While this card is in play, all cards in your hand have Spectacle 2."
Gruul Ragebeast: The first ability is actually more like the aforementioned Spectacle ability than anything Gruul, but it's still alright I would keep everything the way it is, but also give him the Riot ability, and then have him give it to every card that enters your hand, regardless of whether you drew it or fetched it. As it is now, it's way overpriced for what it does. This is a Masterpiece, after all...
Wayfaring Temple: Card number 4 of the 7. The first block of text can be summed up very simply, by giving it Convoke 9. Also, after having tested this card quite a bit, I would say that even with that Convoke-like ability, it's still too expensive. It should cost 15 mana at the most, though to truly warrant the Masterpiece status, it should be more like 11 or 12 mana. Oktagon, you have done an amazing job at making Tokens a viable strategy, I'll give you that. But you've done so well that this card is a complete dud in a token deck. The token generators are more important and more useful than this card. And since token decks seem to be the desired strategy for making use of this guy, that renders him pretty much useless.
Treasury Thrull: I actually like this card the way it is. Sure, I could tweak it a few ways (boost its p/t by 1 or 2, for starters), but as a whole, I think it's pretty solid. I've play-tested it and I really like it. But since we're on a roll about these cards having nothing to do with the guild mechanics, I'll go ahead and say that he should have Afterlife 6.
Djinn Illuminatus: Card number 5 of 7, though I will admit that this one is sort of a stretch. This card gets my award for "Most Interesting (And Yet Completely Squandered) Potential." He gives mana to cards in your graveyard. Whoopdee doo. There are a grand total of 9 cards that would care about this (those that have the Jump-Start ability) and of those, only 3 of them are really that interesting. Djinn should have a global effect that gives Jump-Start to all spell cards that you draw, fetch, or (my preference) both. That would really amp up the potential for fun with him. Of course, it might also completely break it, so suggestions are welcome on how to incorporate the Jump-Start mechanic into his abilities
Deadbridge Chant: Card number 6 of 7. The first block of ability text can be summed up like so: "Undergrowth 8: At the beginning of your turn, destroy the top X cards of your library." The rest of it is perfect how it is. I actually really like this card, it makes for some fantastic graveyard shenanigans.
Firemane Avenger: The last card of the 7 that I mentioned. This one essentially has the Mentor ability, except that she gives a +2/+2 buff instead of a +1/+1. I'm completely fine with the change in buff, because this is a Masterpiece we're talking about. But why not just give her the little Mentor icon, and then make the text box say "This creature's Mentor ability gives +2/+2 instead of +1/+1. [Insert the rest of its text box verbatim at this point]."
Fathom Mage: Just like the Treasury Thrull, I also like this card as it is. I suppose you could give it something like Adapt 2 or maybe Adapt 3, but that might be a little overkill. It's already a solid card and doesn't need that extra boost.
What do the players think? Anyone in agreement? Anyone think otherwise? Please comment, I'd like to hear your thoughts. Maybe this will get the developers' collective attention if we get some good discussion going. It really doesn't make sense to me that they'd leave the guild abilities off of these cards. In the past, with both Hibernum and Oktagon, major design liberties have been taken with what cards are able to do. Just look at Startled Awake or Prism Array. So is there something from Wizards that's keeping Oktagon from doing this? I'd like to hope it's that, instead of poor attention to detail, apathy, forgetfulness, or some other negative thing...
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Comments
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I succumbed to the wall of text on each card, so I’m not even sure I really bothered understanding the text, but your alterations sure simplified the cards significantly. Good job!
I have wondered for quite a while about D3/Oktagon card design decisions. Their contract must be quite a straight jacket or so it seems to me from the cards published.0 -
This set has masterpieces?! Huh. In my 10+ PPs I think I’ve pulled ONE mythic. My drop rates are far from the advertised rate. Somebody out there should be thanking me for upping their odds.0
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You've gotten a Masterpiece from a PP? I haven't done that since DOM (and I've opened waaaay more than 10 lol)Theophilus said:This set has masterpieces?! Huh. In my 10+ PPs I think I’ve pulled ONE mythic. My drop rates are far from the advertised rate. Somebody out there should be thanking me for upping their odds.0 -
Hahaha! No. No masterpieces. I can’t even pull mythics. I can’t remember the last time I pulled a MP from a PP- if ever.0
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Oops, I misread
I don't get a ton of mythics but definitely get one every once in a while lol. Most of them come from the elite packs, which is definitely less than ideal0 -
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I suspect the original team was more concerned about generating big, splashy effects appropriate to the style of Match 3 game they want to play, and using whatever card justified that happening.Tremayne said:I succumbed to the wall of text on each card, so I’m not even sure I really bothered understanding the text, but your alterations sure simplified the cards significantly. Good job!
I have wondered for quite a while about D3/Oktagon card design decisions. Their contract must be quite a straight jacket or so it seems to me from the cards published.
The new team is far more about remaining faithful to the original Magic card, even if it translates into total junk in the game.
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Oh, I know. I'm just so incredibly bored right now. That's literally the only reason I wrote the post. That, and the fact that they really did just give these cards the abilities without actually saying that they did.jtwood said:
For the record about Flusterstorm though, they have done something to it, though I'm not sure if it's completely fixed. I was mastering it a few weeks ago and noticed that it seemed to be behaving differently that it used to. Just couldn't be bothered to actually try to test it.0 -
@Matthew I’ll applaud your analysis and effort. I believe they won’t change anything because then know players like to see lots of text. So instead of the icons they spell it out give it a small(small) buff to those abilities and they slap it with a pretty frame. You can’t really mess up a design for a card if you never really design it in the first place.1
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