Category: Game Mechanics


Game and Mechanics – Legendary Impediments Part I – Grandeur

Filed under: Game Mechanics by solemnparty — Leave a comment
February 16, 2013

While we here at Win Target Game have been doing the “Generally Speaking” series in alphabetical order, we run into cards that aren’t usable as EDH Generals or just are terrible choices, especially those with mechanics that simply won’t work in EDH.

One of these mechanics was an interesting one called Grandeur. It was a mechanic introduced in Future Sight within a cycle of 5 legendary creatures that we’ll cover today. Grandeur is an instant-speed ability that can be used at any time, in which you discard another copy of the same card (for example, if you control Baru, Fist of Krosa, you may discard another Baru, Fist of Krosa from your hand) to trigger whatever ability the creature has. The Grandeur mechanic exists only on these five Legendary Creatures. First up, the green Legend, Baru, Fist of Krosa:

Baru, Fist of Krosa is the first of these Grandeur creatures; a 4/4 for 3GG. His first ability is a static ability that triggers every time you play a Forest, giving all of your green creatures +1/+1 and trample until end of turn. Then his Grandeur ability lets you discard another Baru to create an X/X green Wurm creature token, where X is the number of lands you control. As a  General, he could work, but his ability isn’t the best around to build around. You could build a fun casual deck around him in Constructed, though.

Korlash, Heir to Blackblade is the black creature in the cycle. For 2BB, you get a creature whose power and toughness are equal to the number of swamps you control. Assuming you’re playing mono-black, Korlash is a great ramp card at instant speed, boosting himself +2/+2 if that’s the case. On top of that, he has Regenerate for 1B, making him even more impressive. Out of the entire cycle, Korlash is generally the best of them, especially as a General!

linessa-zephyr-mage

Linessa, Zephyr Mage is a nice looking card.  She costs 3U to cost and her ability is ok. For X plus 2U and a tap, you can return taret creature with converted mana cost X to its owner’s hand. It’s a decent effect if you really need it, and Linessa certainly can fit into an Azumi, Lady of Scrolls deck if you just had to find another Wizard to put in there. But her Grandeur ability bounces a lot more than that. If you discard another Linessa, target player returns a creature, an artifact, an enchantment, and a land of their choosing to their hand. This sounds pretty good, except that the choice is that of the target player. So she’s not really amazing. As a general, she’s fairly meh, as well.

oriss-samite-guardian

Oriss, Samite Guardian is playable in EDH simply for the effect to prevent all damage that would be dealt to a target creature that turn. A 1/3 for 1WW isn’t terrible, either. However, the Grandeur ability on Oriss is pretty silly. If you discard a copy of her while another Oriss is on the battlefield, target player can’t play spells or attack for that turn. I’d be fascinated to get a control deck that utilizes 4 copies of her, but obviously, this is one you won’t be playing as a general (although, it is possible if you love Oriss that much.)

tarox-bladewing

Tarox Bladewing is a nice card for the Dragon fans out there to collect, but without his Grandeur ability, he’s just a 4/3 flyer with haste for 2RRR. That’s obviously not awful, but most certainly not General material. His Grandeur ability is not too special, either. If you discard another Tarox Bladewing, the Tarox on the board gets +X/+X where X is its power. Considering that its power could be boosted in a number of ways, this ability could obviously become more than a simple +4/+4 boost, but still, it’s the weakest of the Grandeur abilities. If you want to build a Red EDH Dragon Deck around him, be my guest, but there are far better choices for Generals out there.

You can bet that someone out there has built EDH decks around these five potential generals, but for now, we’ll consider these reviewed.

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Game and Mechanics – Fateful Hour

Filed under: Dark Ascension, Game Mechanics by solemnparty — Leave a comment
August 7, 2012

Fateful Hour is a mechanic introduced in Dark Ascension that exists only on 7 cards, 5 white and 2 green.

 

Fateful Hour triggers when you have 5 or less life. The list of cards with Fateful Hour is here. Personally, I find it to be an interesting mechanic, but it’s not very consistent, and most of the cards with Fateful Hour aren’t very impressive. The only ones that see play are Thraben Doomsayer and Gather the Townsfolk.

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Why Everyone Else Hates Exalted Besides Myself

Filed under: Articles, Game Mechanics by elspethftw — Leave a comment
August 3, 2012

I understand why people don’t like Exalted as a deck. Coming into play tapped and only giving colorless mana are some major drawbacks, yes, but having that Exalted tag can make a big difference. Potentially having that +5/+5 with four of these and a Noble Hierarch on the board is very, very powerful. You also have your Sovereigns of Lost Alara and Qasali Pridemages for backup.

Let’s also keep in mind that it’s very possible that we’ll be seeing more Exalted cards in the next set block. Yes, this could be one of those core set anomalies where it was basically only brought back to have relevance in Limited. But I have a feeling that they created this land card for a reason.

When I review a card, I look at its potential. I feel that is the best way to look at a card. But as it stands right now, Exalted isn’t going to top anything. So I may have overstated myself when I said it makes Exalted really, really good. But it does add a new dimension to the possiblity of building around the said mechanic that didn’t exist before. People love Noble Hierarch because it’s a Bant mana dork (btw, I LOVE Bant) and that Exalted on it is just icing on the cake.

I do agree that building a deck completely around the Exalted mechanic doesn’t really scream “best deck ever” but it’s a fun concept to think about. All you have to do is make one of your big flyers have protection from your opponent’s colors and suddenly you hit for 4 or 5 extra damage that they can’t do anything about. But yes, you do need to have other ways to win the game, too. You could build a pretty stable deck with Exalted being a major component.

I love the idea of a Black and Blue Exalted Phyrexian Obliterator deck, like I’ve read about on Reddit has run. That’s the kind of deck that I was thinking about, something creative that you may not think about at first. Imagine a really, really big Phyrexian Obliterator coming at you. Keep in mind that Exalted gives that creature +1/+1, and not just attack. A lot of people will argue that you can just block that one creature and be done with it. But with Phyrexian Obliterator, the bigger it is, the more you’re not going to want to block it, because you’ll have a sacrifice a permanent for each point of damage that it takes.

Magic is all about finding those crazy interactions between cards. I get the impression that these days that everyone just wants to play the Top 8 decks and not really try something new. Also, remember that Exalted is very good in Limited, and that format is ridiculously popular, especially on the competitive level. So you want to keep that in mind, too. I just want people to recognize that cards like Cathedral of War and Sublime Archangel can give you quite an advantage if played in the right decks.

I may be championing a card like Cathedral of War a bit too optimistically, but I think that Wizards is trying to change things up (like they often do) and offer an alternate strategy to build decks around. I like those decks that can make sneaky wins come out of nowhere. I hate games being over by turn five or six. So in my opinion, I like the idea of Exalted decks seeing play (even if they’re not particularly super-competitive) because it’s something different. But yeah, Exalted can die pretty hard to board wipes. So I’ll keep my Exalted experiments to EDH for now, until Wizards proves to us that this was not a little fluky thing that they decided would make people sad in Limited.

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Game and Mechanics – First Strike and Double Strike

Filed under: Articles, Game Mechanics by solemnparty — Leave a comment
July 28, 2012

First Strike was the first game mechanic that I actually encountered when I started playing, aside from Flying. Very simply, the reminder text reads:

 ”This creature deals combat damage before creatures without first strike.”

Simple enough, right? a 6/1 first strike would kill a 1/1 without dying because he does his damage first.

As for some background, First Strike has been around since the beginning of Magic with Alpha, and is focused mainly in White and Red, though it’s in all colors.

So, yeah. Easy mechanic, right?

And then I ran into this card.

 

 

Double strike. And that is?

Well, a creature with Double Strike deals combat damage both during first strike and regular combat damage. For example, a 2/2 with double strike would deal 2 damage to a 4/4, and then deal an additional 2 damage, killing it in the second combat step.

Double Strike began in Legions and has seen some existence in every block since then.

Notable cards with first strike:

  • Akroma, Angel of Wrath
  • Baneslayer Angel
  • Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
  • Porcelain Legionnaire
  • Phyrexian Crusader

Notable cards with double strike:

  • Mirran Crusader
  • Drogskol Reaver
  • Warren Instigator
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Game and Mechanics – Banding

Filed under: Articles, Game Mechanics by solemnparty — 1 Comment
July 28, 2012

I was on r/mtg, and I stumbled upon this; a player admitting that he liked the banding mechanic.

Banding is considered a dark point in Magic’s history, mainly because of how horribly complicated the ability is.

Look at this:

From the Comprehensive Rules

  • 702.20. Banding
    • 702.20a Banding is a static ability that modifies the rules for combat.
    • 702.20b “Bands with other” is a special form of banding. If an effect causes a permanent to lose banding, the permanent loses all “bands with other” abilities as well.
    • 702.20c As a player declares attackers, he or she may declare that one or more attacking creatures with banding and up to one attacking creature without banding (even if it has “bands with other”) are all in a “band.” He or she may also declare that one or more attacking [quality] creatures with “bands with other [quality]” and any number of other attacking [quality] creatures are all in a band. A player may declare as many attacking bands as he or she wants, but each creature may be a member of only one of them. (Defending players can’t declare bands but may use banding in a different way; see rule 702.20j.)
    • 702.20d All creatures in an attacking band must attack the same player or planeswalker.
    • 702.20e Once an attacking band has been announced, it lasts for the rest of combat, even if something later removes banding or “bands with other” from one or more of the creatures in the band.
    • 702.20f An attacking creature that’s removed from combat is also removed from the band it was in.
    • 702.20g Banding doesn’t cause attacking creatures to share abilities, nor does it remove any abilities. The attacking creatures in a band are separate permanents.
    • 702.20h If an attacking creature becomes blocked by a creature, each other creature in the same band as the attacking creature becomes blocked by that same blocking creature.
      • Example
        A player attacks with a band consisting of a creature with flying and a creature with swampwalk. The defending player, who controls a Swamp, can block the flying creature if able. If he or she does, then the creature with swampwalk will also become blocked by the blocking creature(s).
    • 702.20i If one member of a band would become blocked due to an effect, the entire band becomes blocked.
    • 702.20j During the combat damage step, if an attacking creature is being blocked by a creature with banding, or by both a [quality] creature with “bands with other [quality]” and another [quality] creature, the defending player (rather than the active player) chooses how the attacking creature’s damage is assigned. That player can divide that creature’s combat damage as he or she chooses among any number of creatures blocking it. This is an exception to the procedure described in rule 510.1c.
    • 702.20k During the combat damage step, if a blocking creature is blocking a creature with banding, or both a [quality] creature with “bands with other [quality]” and another [quality] creature, the active player (rather than the defending player) chooses how the blocking creature’s damage is assigned. That player can divide that creature’s combat damage as he or she chooses among any number of creatures it’s blocking. This is an exception to the procedure described in rule 510.1d.
    • 702.20m Multiple instances of banding on the same creature are redundant. Multiple instances of bands with other of the same kind on the same creature are redundant.

That’s the comprehensive rules of Banding. No other ability (to my knowledge, correct me if I’m wrong) has nearly as many rulings on it.

But the actual “reminder text” for banding is this:

“Any creatures with banding, and up to one without, can attack in a band. Bands are blocked as a group. If any creatures with banding you control are blocking or being blocked by a creature, you divide that creature’s combat damage, not its controller, among any of the creatures it’s being blocked by or is blocking.”

So, essentially, combat damage is distributed backwards; when you attack with, say, 15 1/1 creatures all in a band, you get to distribute the blocking damage. A good player would have their 14/14 deal one damage to 14 of 15 of those creatures. But a player with banding would cause that 14 damage to be taken by a single 1/1. The same thing occurs when blocking; if your opponent attacks with a 6/6 but you block with two 3/3 creatures, usually the 6/6 would kill both 3/3 creatures; but instead, one of those 3/3 creatures would take all 6 damage for his comrade, but they would still kill that 6/6.

This ability has been admittedly removed from ever seeing play again, for essentially what this one redditor said:

“I am not a closet banding fan; I’m am open!! I emailed MaRo to ask why they got rid of it? (I stopped playing while it was still around; came back in M10). He gave me an explanation: basically it was too complicated and clunky.”

For some actual background on the mechanic, Banding began in Alpha, the first set in MTG, and was last (legally) printed in Weatherlight. If you want to understand Wizards of the Coast’s stance on Banding, take a look at Old Fogey from Unhinged. There’s a reason he has “banding with others” along with his other retired abilities.

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Game and Mechanics – Flash

Filed under: Game Mechanics by solemnparty — Leave a comment
July 24, 2012

Flash is a mechanic that allows you to play a card any time you would be able to cast an instant (essentially, whenever you want in most circumstances). As stated on MTG Salvation, King Cheetah was the first card released with flash.

Originally from Visions, King Cheetah really isn’t a very impressive card, but being a 3/2 with Flash for 3G isn’t terrible during that time, though it’s not a card I recommend now. The actual mechanic wasn’t called flash until Time Spiral, which included significant cards such as Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir.

Flash is an evergreen concept, being used in almost every set, though the best known card of this would be the famous Snapcaster Mage.

Notable cards with Flash:

  • Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
  • Snapcaster Mage
  • Ambush Viper
  • Yeva, Nature’s Herald
  • Jin-Gitaxis, Core Augur
  • Aven Mindcensor
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Game and Mechanics – Horsemanship

Filed under: Game Mechanics by solemnparty — Leave a comment
July 23, 2012

Horsemanship is a mechanic that exists on only 36 cards, all of which came from the Portal Three Kingdoms set.

 

I originally went over Horsemanship in my review of From the Vault: Legends, and he’s still an amazing card now due to his ability to give all of your creatures Horsemanship. Like Flying, Horsemanship can only be blocked by creatures that also have Horsemanship. Due to the fact this ability only exists on 36 cards in all of Magic, this would make your entire army unblockable.

You can find more information on Horsemanship here.

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Game and Mechanics – Vigilance

Filed under: Game Mechanics by solemnparty — Leave a comment
June 21, 2012

With the large number of white cards in M13 and Avacyn Restored, I thought I’d briefly talk about Vigilance; it is a virtue, after all.

Vigilance is one of the older mechanics in Magic, originally introduced in the first set ever, Alpha. However, its ruling was simply written out prior to Champions of Kamigawa, where it was introduced as an actual keyword.

Vigilance was originally written (and the ruling is still written) as: Attacking doesn’t cause this creature to tap.

As seen here, this is a Serra Angel from Unlimited right next to a newer Serra Angel from M12, the last core set. These are the same card, but the original does not have the Vigilance keyword.

Vigilance is a very basic ability, but still very important. It’s present on many cards in our current format, such as Sun Titan.

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Game and Mechanics – A New Series, Beginning with Exalted!

Filed under: Articles, Game Mechanics by solemnparty — Leave a comment
June 20, 2012

Well, SolemnParty is back. I’ve decided that I’m returning to write a few series of my own.

As of right now, my first new addition to the site is Game and Mechanics. Seeing the return of Exalted, I’ve decided I’ll mention a few things and eventually cover everything from Horsemanship to flying, from banding to wither. All of this will reveal itself in time, of course.

Exalted as MTGSalvation states, was originally introduced in the realm of Alara, starting with Shards of Alara and continued through Conflux and Alara Reborn. As of Magic: 2013, Exalted is returning in full force.

“”Exalted” means “Whenever a creature you control attacks alone, that creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.”

While the ability doesn’t make it self evident, if multiple cards have exalted and one creature attacks, each card gives that creature +1/+1 until the end of the turn. For example, a 1/1 attacks, but you have 7 cards with exalted on the board, that 1/1 becomes a 8/8 because it is attacking alone.

Here’s one of the best examples for the fact that even non-creatures can have exalted. With this land in play, any creature that attacks alone will have that +1/+1 bonus until the end of the turn. Even though it comes into play tapped, that isn’t really a huge deal due to the fact that it doesn’t need to be untapped to have exalted, it’s an instant +1/+1 when it hits the board as long as you attack alone.

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Transform: A Better Look

Filed under: Articles, Card Reviews, Game Mechanics, Innistrad by solemnparty — 1 Comment
August 29, 2011

Now, when I first reviewed the cards that were revealed to have transform, I didn’t know the cards were double sided, so I’m going to take another look at them now that the mechanic has been revealed.

Mayor of Avabruck pumps all of your other humans by +1/+1, which is decent by himself. Now, as it’s the beginning of each upkeep, if your opponent doesn’t play a spell after you play him, you’ll start your next turn with Wolfpack Alpha, his other side, who gives each of your other werewolf and wolf creatures +1/+1, and at the end step he puts 2/2 green Wolves into play. Then, if two or more spells were cast, he turns back into Mayor of Avabruck during the next player’s upkeep.

Mayor of Avabruck is a decent beginning for werewolves, but is simply a start.

An interesting thing to point out is that Gatstaf Shepard benefits from Mayor of Avabruck regardless of form, as he’s a Human Werewolf. He’s nothing amazing, though a 2/2 for 1G isn’t bad, and Avabruck or Wolfpack Alpha makes him a 3/3 regardless of form. Like the other werewolves, he transforms if no spells were cast in the previous turn, into Gatstaf Howler, a 3/3 with Intimidate. Against anything not green, this’ll be a strong play, especially combined with Mayor of Avabruck’s Wolfpack Alpha, making it a 4/4 Intimidate with plenty of back up on the board.

Daybreak Ranger makes sure to let you know he’s the one out in the day. He’s a 2/2 for 2G who can tap to deal 2 damage to target creature with flying. Seeing as I doubt werewolves will develop the ability to fly (though a few might be able to jump really high and get reach) he may be one of the few answers to creatures with flying. And he transforms into Nightfall Predator, a 4/4 that “fights”. Fight is a new mechanic, where two creatures deal damage equal to their power to each other. He fights for a red and a tap, reminding us that werewolves will be in red and green, not just green.

However, Transforming isn’t reserved for the werewolves. Ludevic’s Test Subject for a cool 1U gives you a 0/3 defender, which is decent by itself. However, for 1U you can place a hatchling counter on the Test Subject, and when it reaches 5 hatchling counters, it Transforms into Ludevic’s Abomination, a 13/13 with what would’ve been a mana cost of 6UUUUUU or more. The only really disappointing thing about this card is that it’s a rare; it would’ve been a lot better as an uncommon; however, it’s confirmed that in Innistrad there will be a double sided card in every pack, in addition to your Rare and possible foil.

From this card, we can assume that Vampires will be able to transform at command, rather than the mandatory transformations of the werewolves and eventual evolution of the abomination of sciences. A 2/2 for 2B isn’t terrible, and being a 5/5 for 2BB isn’t terrible either. Losing flying as a 5/5 is a bit of a downer, but at least you have the ability to transform back.

All in all, I’m hoping they keep the double-sided cards around for a while; the entire block, at the very least. It’s very gimmicky, but I like it, personally. Shows that Wizards hasn’t quite run out of ideas.

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