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CardName: Thought Damper Cost: b Type: Enchantment Pow/Tgh: / Rules Text: Triggered abilities don't trigger unless their controller has discarded a card this turn. Flavour Text: Set/Rarity: Link's Unplaced Cards Rare |
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This reads like it gives players permission to make the discard for no reason and turn triggers back on, even though that's not the case. It's a really random rider to make something conditional on, that's for sure.
Is there a way to improve the syntax, or would you say this is a lost cause? It's just a random idea that I came up with.
I think this wording works. It's just potentially confusing.
Perhaps adding a rider, like on Volrath's Shapeshifter would help solve player confusion? In other words, add "
: Discard a card. And player may activate this ability."
You lose a bit of the elegance, though, I know. If this was an actual set, and I was developing, I'd probably just motion to table the card, interesting as it is, for something less problematic.
For that matter, it's a fascinating idea, but maybe it doesn't need the discard a card rider at all, why not just be "unless you pay N""? I don't know whether there's a specific reason for discard a card I'm missing.
In fact, possibly it should be "unless a player plays N" -- the existing version is pretty nuts with cards like Phyrexian Dreadnought
Eh, the problem part I see is the whole "My opponent played this card. Now I have to know what a triggerred ability is; and I kinda think I do? But it's not a distinction I normally make because it normally never matters." thing.
A rider along the lines of "(Triggered abilities are ones with When or Whenever in them)" might help that, I guess.
It's a rare. Rares are allowed to have wording that refers to technical concepts. See also Voidslime, Stifle, Torpor Orb for the particular case of "triggered ability". ("Activated ability" is more commonly understood so it can appear on uncommons like Squelch.)
Torpor Orb also demonstrates that working around Phyrexian Dreadnought's trigger with a separate card is apparently okay.
Huh, you're right. I could see a two card combo for a 12/12 wasn't that broken, but I assumed an ETB trigger was used to balance a card somewhere, but apparently not. I was sure this is broken somehow, but I can't see it. There's a bunch of cards that turn into "you can't lose the game", but platinum angel can do that in one card, so I guess it doesn't matter.
The concept of this came from randomly thinking about Torpor Orb. I wondered how black might do it.