Powercreep?

Some of the new cards are going to be better than cards in the previous set. I think that's fine and sustainable.

It isn't sustainable if they never retire old sets. If all the cards are legal all the time, then it's going to be very difficult for cards from a new set to be usable without making them overly powerful.

In paper MtG, "Shock" saw play in top level tournaments ({R}, instant, deal 2 damage to target creature or player), even though the card "Lightning Bolt" existed ({R}, instant, deal 3 damage to target creature or player). That's because at some point, they retired Lightning Bolt. Shock happened to still be good enough.

If MtGPQ follows this strategy, then expect either Origins or BFZ cards to stop being legal sometime in the next 6-24 months.

In paper Magic, the phrase "gain control of target" yields 325 hits on a Gatherer search (a website where the Oracle text of all Magic cards is kept). This effect is often found in blue and red. With blue, the effect is usually permanent. With red, it's often temporary.

The flavor is that blue uses its superior intellect to gain control of your thoughts and make them their own. Red, on the other hand, is very passionate and can temporarily persuade your creatures to fight for its cause on a emotional whim.

In paper Magic, Act of Treason is actually a functional reprint of a card called "Threaten", originally printed in Onslaught in 2002. The two cards are absolutely identical except for the name. Because of this, cards like Act of Treason are referred to as "Threaten effects".

Turn Against is new to Battle for Zendikar. In paper, it costs 5 mana while Act of Treason costs 3. However, Act of Treason is a Sorcery (meaning you can cast it only on your turn) while Turn Against is an Instant (meaning you can cast it on any player's turn). This means you can use it as a "combat trick". An opponent attacks you with two creatures. You use Turn Against to steal one, use it to block the other, and possibly kill them both.







If you want a deck that's consistent, you need redundant effects. Many people have already noted the synergy between Act of Treason and Fiery Conclusion. You steal a creature then sacrifice that creature to damage another creature. In paper Magic, this is very common - steal your opponent's stuff, use it against them, and then sacrifice it. It's made possible by hundreds of different cards which allow you to gain control of your opponent's stuff and hundreds of different cards which allow you to sacrifice that stuff.

In paper Magic, there are hundreds of different archetypes possible. A burn deck wants lots of burn spells. A token deck wants lots of token generators. A ramp deck wants lots of ways to produce mana. A goblin deck wants lots of goblins.

Even if card A is strictly better than card B, it doesn't make card B unplayable. It might mean that card B and card A work together in the same deck. In paper Magic, a deck has 60 cards with a 15 card sideboard, but you can only have 4 copies of any given spell. In Magic Puzzle Quest, you're required to have 10 different cards in your deck. If you want to see the same effect in your opening hand on a consistent basis, you'll want to put several different similar cards in that deck.

Would the new PW's mana gain be considered power creep? Gideon gets 2/2/2 and Garruk gets 2/3/2. I know Garruk is limited to only 4 creature slots, but in a green deck that isn't really even a drawback at all. And Gideon has some insane PW abilities...

So what is the drawback to these guys?

BassMuffinFIve wrote:

Would the new PW's mana gain be considered power creep? Gideon gets 2/2/2 and Garruk gets 2/3/2. I know Garruk is limited to only 4 creature slots, but in a green deck that isn't really even a drawback at all. And Gideon has some insane PW abilities...

So what is the drawback to these guys?

Doesn't seem like there's too much drawback with those two. Koth on the other hand....