Denial Gems review

Hello—I was wondering if there are any reports on the general Denied mechanics working improperly? I feel like they are, but it’s impossible to tell because it’s very hard to read how the mechanics function in a battle.

I don’t want to rant too much, but the description of “Deny” as presented in game has too many terms that also require defining, and players cannot find those definitions in the card.

So in the Deny description, we see the terms “denial gem” “denied” “restrained” “time bubble” and “improved” in a single paragraph. Each of these should have a whole other paragraph describing it. It’s extremely difficult to tell if the mechanics are working properly when there is so much confusion as to how they should be functioning in the first place.

Anyway, I think that I’ve seen time bubble tokens discarding the first card in my hand even when they are not destroyed, which (I think?) isn’t how they are meant to function.

Comments

  • Anonymous2112
    Anonymous2112 Posts: 42 Just Dropped In

    You're not alone in this, as I have also encountered the issue where it looked like my first card with mana is discarded when I break a "denial" gem (a gem with that glow around it), before any "time bubble" gems are even on the board. This is especially noticeable when playing against the "Chronoclast" version of Teferi (I've lost track which number this Planeswalker is). I was struggling with finding a way to demonstrate this sort of thing happening, since I'm always more concerned with trying to win the match versus reproducing the apparent bug. So thank you for taking the time to post this.

  • MforVendetta
    MforVendetta Posts: 32 Just Dropped In

    I managed to get a screen recording of it, and I submitted to the in-game help. Not sure if I can upload here

  • Julie71
    Julie71 MTGPQ Mod Posts: 707 Critical Contributor

    @MforVendetta said:
    I managed to get a screen recording of it, and I submitted to the in-game help. Not sure if I can upload here

    if you have a issue uploading you can send it to me on discord i will forward it.

  • Tremayne
    Tremayne Posts: 1,649 Chairperson of the Boards

    I agree that the Deny mechanism is a handful to decipher ingame.

    It is further complicated by which side you are on e.g. are you the player casting Denial gems or are you the afflicted player.
    I also find it problematic (for analysing purposes) that the time bubble gems are hidden. Additionally, when a time bubble is matched often the support “Ambiguity” is muddling the picture by multiple cascades from converting loads of gems.
    So it is actually very difficult to determine incorrect behaviour.

  • MforVendetta
    MforVendetta Posts: 32 Just Dropped In

    @Tremayne said:

    I also find it problematic (for analysing purposes) that the time bubble gems are hidden. Additionally, when a time bubble is matched often the support “Ambiguity” is muddling the picture by multiple cascades from converting loads of gems.

    Yeah I got an email back from
    Support clarifying that they are invisible to the opposing player (which I had no clue about because again, it’s not mentioned anywhere).

    I just feel there were so many design issues with this mechanic.. it’s a shame, it could be a lot more fun