"Semi-flash" mechanic, for both permanents and spells.

Similarities:

• You can leave mana open.

• Creatures can attack next turn.

Differences:

• Cannot cast surprise blockers.

• Cannot cast combat tricks, in general.

Yuck. That's like the worst most boring bit of flash/instant, without the "Maybe it can be used in an interesting way" part.

Eh, I don't like combat phases lasting 20 minutes because everyone has Archangel Avacyn.

I'm with Vitenka, this is super boring and encourages unfun gameplay.

encourages unfun gameplay

Could you please explain why? While I agree this is certainly not flashy (pun intended), I think it's a newbie friendly flash, in that it presents a clear decision (play this creature now to block or hold it to bluff/play an instant) without the complex decision trees of flash.

Tht's the point - it's not even a decision. It's not an option; it's just the right thing to do in every circumstance except "Oh, I'm absolutley losing the game rght now, might as well throw out chumps to see if I can luck into something".

It's not a decision, it's just a thing you might get wrong.

Sure; it teaches people "Play things in the opponents end step!" but it's a bit of a blunt-force-trauma way of teaching, don't you think?

(Now, if you can find some way to capture the other half; a thing that canot be played at the last possible moment... so if you hold the mana, it's wasted. The only real example of that are Counterspells)

I think this is a fine mechanic. As kauefr points out it creates more decisions than flash, since if you want the card to impact the opponent's turn you have to play it main phase. It is still nice for the user because you get to hold up mana for other things and keep information from your opponent.

Overall, an environment with lots of flash has everything happen at the last possible moment and makes people hesitant to act in every step while their opponents have open mana. On the other hand, an environment with a lot of precursor leaves people with important decisions about timing and forces you to consider the strategic implications of different things happening on your end step without bogging down every step.

--CF