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Mechanics

CardName: Fable Box Cost: {1}{g}{w} Type: Artifact Pow/Tgh: / Rules Text: {x}{g}, {t}: Search your library for a creature card with converted mana cost equal to X and reveal it, put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library. Flavour Text: Set/Rarity: Commander X Rare

Fable Box
{1}{g}{w}
 
 R 
Artifact
{x}{g}, {t}: Search your library for a creature card with converted mana cost equal to X and reveal it, put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
Updated on 20 Aug 2014 by wlframe

History: [-]

2014-08-17 16:37:55: wlframe created the card Fable Box

Looks rather worse than Citanul Flute or Planar Portal. Cheaper to cast, I guess, but still.

2014-08-19 18:23:36: wlframe edited Fable Box

was based off Chord of Calling cost

The big difference with Chord of Calling is that puts the creature straight onto the battlefield!

Admittedly this is repeatable, which definitely offsets that to a fair degree. This is a fair variation on Citanul Flute now: slightly more expensive to activate, slightly cheaper to cast.

It's also colored, which means it's not nearly as flexible.

They can't all be stunning new ideas that rock the game of Magic as we know it. Looks fine to me. Just... you know... not a common. I'm not even sure you could argue uncommon with this ability.

2014-08-20 01:13:57: wlframe edited Fable Box

Hadn't really considered rarity yet; but I do want to make it non-rare; I really want to get better at balancing cards with their rarity. Not everything should be rare/mythic...

You say you "do want to make it non-rare", but also that you "want to get better at balancing cards with their rarity". I'm not sure these goals are compatible. Not everything should be rare - absolutely not! Questing for effects that are sensible at common is a highly noble quest. And indeed there are some examples like flickering or Threaten that were originally rare, then uncommon, and are now common.

But I do believe there are certain effects that the game just plays better if they're only at rare. Wrath of God being a natural example. Repeated tutoring seems to me to be another effect that's not going to be good for the game to have available lower than rare.

Getting beyond the whole 'repeated tutoring' thing, there's also the "But what would I do with two of these on the board at the same time?" problem (Okay, okay, you can search for two small creatures each turn, but that's an unlikely goal.) I know I'd be psyched if I saw one of these in a draft. By the time I got my fourth one because no one else is playing white-green, I'd be, um... a little less so.

Mmm, still uncommon means you're unlikely to get two, in draft; and even less likely to get them both into play.

OTOP, I agree that the colour identity laregly offsets that - if two ARE in the draft, one player will get them both.

(Outside of limited, of course; if you don't want 4 in a deck, don't put 4 in the deck)

It's quite reasonably a build hint "Play the white-green combo deck, you know you want to; this card lets you pull the combo off fairly reliably". So uncommon might be the right place for it.

But I can see arguments for rare. Is it "Fable" as in "Stories people often tell" or as in "Famed"? The latter shoves it to rare, for me :)

It is actually a play on the game Fable for the Xbox (a really bad pun, I know) which is a game that two of the green/white players in my group play

2014-08-20 13:51:50: wlframe edited Fable Box

Alex makes a good point of certain mechanics being in certain rarities, and I think it would be a good idea to make it rare considering all the discussion points you guys have brought up for me

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