CardName: Castaway Cost: 1U Type: Instant Pow/Tgh: / Rules Text: Return target creature to its owner's hand. Explore 1 (Look at the top card of your library. You may reveal it if it's a land card and put it into your hand.) Flavour Text: Set/Rarity: Multiverse Design Challenge None |
History: [-] Add your comments: |
See Challenge # 157.
Explore, a seafarer mechanic in U and maybe G. It looks like a land mechanic but really it's scry.
Explore 2 would read "(Look at the top 2 cards of your library. You may reveal any number of land cards from among them and put them into your hand. Put the rest back in any order.)"
Huh, I made a mechanic similar to this once in a challenge on another site. I like iteration better.
I like this!
I do think it would be unlikely to come with a number, though. Then it could be a keyword action: "Return target creature to its owner's hand, then explore."
I assumed it was a keyword action. But I didn't stop to think if keyword actions could have numbers or not :)
Scry is a keyword action. :)
Oh yes, good point.
Explore is a lot harder to develop than scry since explore N can give you a card advantage of up to N. Those might only be lands, but lands that are fueling the spells you are more likely to draw next and depending on the land and the game state might be sourly needed.
Also the mechanic doesn't let you get rid of dead nonland draws if you need it to which is one of the amin reasons Augury Owl is a strictly superior design to Sage Owl - having to put back cards you don't want to draw onto your library is a terrible feeling making you loath your upcoming inevitably bad draws.
An explore keyword action is a noble goal, but this version is still too flawed and would fall apart in playtests pretty quickly.