Crash Test Magic — How to Simulate Military Supply with a Magic Card
I’ve been following along with Magic’s Great Designer Search 2 — the eight finalists have some really cool ideas in their sets, but it turns out executing those ideas with Magic’s mechanics is harder than it looks. It’s been tough here at the RV too, as we’ve tried to find a good military themed mechanic. Here’s my latest shot.
For those who’ve been following along the gradual and occasional development of Robot Viking’s hypothetical Magic set, two quick updates: we need to scrap the Fate Counters idea, or heavily rework it, because it’s what Magic R&D calls “parasitic;” it doesn’t work outside the set ( we could possibly just use +1/+1 counters). Also, I think we should bring back both Bushido and Flanking. They’re relatively simple mechanics that perfectly showcase the military theme.
We obviously want to add another new mechanic though. I hit upon the idea of something to do with supply lines weeks ago, but couldn’t figure out a good way to make it interesting and unique. You could have creatures that fetch equipment from your library, a la Stoneforge Mystic, but that isn’t really anything new. Then I was reading the judge comments on some of the GDS2 submissions, and Mark Rosewater pointed out that most sets need some kind of mana smoothing mechanic that works well at common.
Supply isn’t very revolutionary — it’s still your basic “fetch some stuff from your library” mechanic. Putting the lands on top of the library instead of into your hand keeps it from intruding too much on green’s chunk of the color pie. It also makes it, quite frankly, a very mediocre mechanic. I think that’s a good thing. That lets us put it at common. That allows it to be overlooked until someone figures out a way to abuse it with Treasure Hunt or Oracle of Mul Daya. It lets us make bad cards, like Rescue Brigade — every set needs some stinkers, especially at common.
It’s also important to think of it in the context of the set. The military theme gives each of the colors heavy monocolored casting costs. In another set, a big rare finisher might cost BB4. In this set, it would cost BBBBB1. Supply lets you use early game cards to meet the difficult mana requirements of the really heavy hitters.
There are some drawbacks. My brother Joe pointed out that it leads to extra shuffling, which is a pain and slows down games. Obviously, with fetch lands and other effects already published, we can see that some mid-game shuffling is acceptable. I think if we are careful to minimize shuffling effects in the rest of the set, and use a limited number of cards with Supply, it will be ok. I’m thinking something like two commons and two uncommons at each color. You would rarely use the Supply ability more than once or twice per game, which also helps mitigate the slowdown aspect.
Anyone have any ideas for interesting ways to use Supply, variations on the mechanic, or serious problems with it? Any unforeseen ridiculous combos?
November 18th, 2010 10:01 AM
Bushido and Flanking should probably not be in the same set together, much like how +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters don’t play well with each other in blocks. One or the other, or something mashing the two. Or Rampage
(no not really).
I’m kind of sad to see Fate Counters go, but it probably is for the best.
Supply is interesting. In addition to ensuring land drops on time, I also see it as a deck thinning mechanism, but one that doesn’t actually get you advantage from said thinning unless you find a way to draw/mill/whatever the fetched lands on top.
Also interesting is the way it’s currently formatted to get a land of a certain subtype, rather than just basic land. Currently this doesn’t actually do anything interesting beyond being a multicolor fixer with the dual/shock lands, but it *could* be used to explore the territory taking/holding side of military action (Q: why are we defending this grassy field with little discernible strategic value? A: it’s preventing us from dying horribly to that Pyroclasm with buff effects etc), with typed non-basics like those minor repeatable effect lands in Shadowmoor. Treating land as more than just resources has a kind of Zendikar “land matters” vibe to it, but in this case it’s more land being tactically valuable over land having extra magical properties.
November 18th, 2010 12:37 PM
Ah, I’d forgotten about those Shadowmoor lands. Leechridden Swamp, Mistveil Plains, etc. We should definitely do a cycle of uncommon non-basics with basic land types just because of the Supply interaction. So the Plains version would tap to give your creatures +0/+1. Very nice.
November 18th, 2010 4:19 PM
The upside for Zizhou is that neither bushido nor Flanking deals in counters, so that may simplify things. I really like the idea of typed non-basics that do things, to give a feel of having land worth defending. Of course, w may want to emphasize defending the land by making some way for land to change hands. . . Hmmm. . Still working on a balanced way to do this.
O nother nte, I like Supply, it works well with Enter battlefield lands, landfall and other things with the known down side that you won’t be top decking that Bolt.
November 18th, 2010 11:43 PM
The reason I think Bushido and Flanking should be separate is simply streamlining combat phase decisions: when you have two separate combat phase triggers that do opposing things, it makes combat math more complicated than it could be with determining trigger order stacking and whatnot for both players. While this is not an inherently bad thing, from a design standpoint for a cohesive set, it adds a layer of complexity that just kind of bogs things down as far as gameplay goes.
Also, supply needs to have a reveal clause in there somewhere, just as a matter of keeping it in line with restricted tutor templating (i.e. anything besides the unrestricted black tutors that let you fetch up “a card” as opposed to one with some specific quality).
Oh, and “Conquer” X : If this creature/spell/permanent deals X (combat) or more damage to target player this turn, take control of target land he or she controls.
November 19th, 2010 2:03 AM
I’m a little worried about the Flanking/Bushido complexity too, but they’re both pretty straightforward. Maybe some weird interactions with state-based effects, but in 99% of cases, the active player’s triggers going first rule will keep things neat and easy. You’re only adding and subtracting small numbers. While we should work to keep overall board complexity down, I think complicated combat could be considered a subtheme. Not complicated to the point of unfun, but still, I think there’s room in players’ brains for some deep combat.
Conquer is AWESOME. That’s a huge tempo swing though, and not an effect that applies to all portions of the color pie. So we just need to consider it carefully, test it and make sure it isn’t broken. If the creatures are costed correctly, that would totally work.
Regarding Fate Counters: I still love the idea. It is terrible to have a mechanic that creates dead cards outside of the set. We can either say 1). Whatever, it’s our hypothetical set, we can do what we want, 2). Fate Counters are cool enough that it’s worth it despite being highly parasitic and creating cards that don’t work outside the set (especially if a small percentage of cards actually use it) or 3). Figure out a non-parasitic way to get the “fate vs. free will” theme across mechanically. I was thinking the “cosmic” cards could provide +1/+1 counters, and other cards would then reference the counters, but that feels clunky.
November 19th, 2010 2:09 AM
A thought: if we make some decent non-basics with useful effects, as per the Supply discussion, what if Conquer reads: “Gain control of target land until end of turn. Untap it if it’s tapped.”
Then you get a temporary small mana boost if you time it right, or get a one-time shot at using one of their good non-basics, maybe you make a token creature, gain some life, etc.
Would “until your next upkeep” be too hard to remember? That would give you a little extra time with your conquered land. I’m not discounting taking permanent control, but this way might let us put it on more cards at lower CC.
November 19th, 2010 5:36 PM
I like until your next upkeep, but that’s because I’d like more time to use the land, especially if it has a combat related ability.