Soradyne Laboratories

Soradyne Laboratories by SFletcher

99 cards in Multiverse

43 commons, 31 uncommons, 14 rares, 11 mythics

6 white, 5 blue, 6 black, 14 red, 11 green,
30 multicolour, 1 hybrid, 16 artifact, 10 land

289 comments total

A near-modern magical society searches for answers after a world-spanning war

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Mechanics | Skeleton | Soradyne Laboratories — Home

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Recently active cards: (all recent activity)

 U 
Creature – Jellyfish
Flying
Parallax Glider enters the battlefield with four +1/+1 contours on it.
Whenever an opponent plays a spell, remove a +1/+1 counter from Parallax Glider. If you do, counter that spell unless it's controller pays {2}.
0/0
1 comment
2011-04-28 17:57:22 by Ryan Okamoto
 M 
Legendary Creature – Giant Monk
Vigilance
If an untapped creature you control would be destroyed, regenerate it.
7/4
2 comments
last 2011-04-19 20:03:07 by Corey
 R 
Legendary Creature – Dragon Hydra
Flying, haste, trample
Hazmarax enter the battlefield with five +1/+1 counters on it.
For each damage that would be dealt to Hazmarax, instead remove a +1/+1 counter from it.
At end of turn, move all +1/+1 counters on Hazmarax to another target creature you control.
3/0
2 comments
last 2011-04-21 06:24:42 by NLewis
 C 
Sorcery
Exile all auras and equipment attached to target creature you control. Then return them to the battlefield attached to another target creature you control.
8 comments
last 2011-04-26 16:35:04 by SFletcher
 C 
Creature – Human Monk
{1}{w}, {t}: Tap target creature and gain 1 life.
0/2
5 comments
last 2011-04-20 18:45:42 by Wes

Recent comments: (all recent activity)
On Soradyne Laboratories:

After a ton of examination, Test is coming out of the set in favor of something simpler and less likely to encourage improper deck building...

It was not an easy call. Test, untested though it was, was generally well received, was cumbersome (took a crapload of card space). It also had a hidden danger in that novice deckbuilders could very easily see the semi-search ability as permission to skimp on the indicated card type (i.e., Test for Land digs for a land card, therefore I won’t need to put as many land in my deck because this card usually gets me one anyway.)

In its place, I’m bringing in something I’ve been referring to as “autoscry”. Autoscry works the same way on all cards it appears on; when the card is put into your graveyard, you may scry 1. The ability is not tied specifically to where the card goes to the graveyard FROM, just that it has gone to the graveyard. This means that if you discard the card with the ability, or if it gets milled away, it will trigger. The mechanic represents clues turning up at sometimes unexpected times in a setting built around the mystery of a grand conspiracy.

On Temporal Mechanic:

Okay, I've decided that while the mass-bounce is a cool ability, it probably deserves to be rare. Time to update this...

On Coal Road Investigator:

It's hard to evaluate by face-value, and I'm going to assume by Bombshell's comment that this hasn't seen significant playtesting time. As a clock, it's about comparable to Blighted Agent, except the Agent was provided with the developmental out of being in the third set, thus preventing a limited format where it was easy to get a bundle. In triple New Phyrexia, Agent.dek was an actual thing and an abominable thing at that.

Of course, Agents also exist in a format with tons of cheap equipment.

On Fezzit and Dyble:

You forgot Mizzium Transreliquat. Nyah.

I kid!

And I kid because I'm convinced; while I do think that the randomness of U/R has been played up lately (along with their ability to copy spells) in a way for the colors to show distinction, if Fez+Dy are Izzet, then from a flavor perspective the abilities should be less random. Not that there shouldn't be any random ability but that 2/3 random abilities is too many for the guild.

The flavor of the Guild certainly did play up the goofiness and I still like the characters as less serious and I think there's room to have them still be Izzet and goofy but you're right; the abilities should be predominantly straightforward.

Just not that storm thing.

On Coal Road Investigator:

Since this is unblockable, maybe the power should be reduced to 2. If this comes down turn 2, by turn 5 an opponent would have gone through half their deck in Sealed. In multiples-and at common there WILL be multiples-this may produce a clock that's extremely difficult for any color that can't interact with a creature except in combat (see green.)

On Fezzit and Dyble:

Regarding the first point, I always imagine hybrid cards in their potential forms. That is to say, this can be cast for {3}{u}{u} or {3}{r}{r}, and neither of those costs feel especially appropriate to the design as is.

But again, I acknowledge that most hybrid designs are terrible about this.

RE: The Izzet -

There are zero Izzet cards that deal with random effects. There is one coin flip (Stitch in Time). They're almost entirely dedicated to duplication, sometimes even duplication within duplication (Mimeofacture).

The art may paint a picture of goofiness, but the cards are significantly more about creative intuition and intellectual expression.

To step back a bit, it's very important to recognize that PWs are thee marketing tool. They're the cover to every booster, they're the cards little kids dream of cracking, and they happen to be a dominant force in constructed play. In a post-JTMS world, PWs are definitely getting dialed back a bit, becoming narrow B-types like Koth or flavor extravaganzas like Karn, but there's still little room for hypercasual experiments like "a PW dedicated to randomness and coin flips". Sarkhan the Mad and Gideon Jura] are the most recent weirdo PWs, and they were premiered in a set that featured Eldrazi and their colorless card frames.

For reference, every Izzet Card:

­Cerebral Vortex
­Djinn Illuminatus
­Electrolyze
­Gelectrode
­Gigadrowse
­Goblin Flectomancer
­Hypervolt Grasp
­Invoke the Firemind
­Izzet Chronarch
­Izzet Guildmage
­Leap of Flame
­Mimeofacture
­Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
­Ogre Savant
­Petrahydrox
­Pyromatics
­Schismotivate
­Shattering Spree
­Siege of Towers
­Steamcore Weird
­Stitch in Time
­Thunderheads
­Tibor and Lumia
­Torch Drake
­Train of Thought
­Vacuumelt
­Wee Dragonauts

On Fezzit and Dyble:

I'm not sure about your first point. Fez+Dy aren't mono-U so isn't the card correct?

Even with that, there are blue cards (very few) that do involve randomness the draw/discard element has been used with red before on Noggle Ransacker.

In addition, researching info on the Izzet guild (so I could understand your objection better) it seems like the randomness really suits this card. If it wasn't Izzet guild, I'd probably get behind you more though. As a flavor note, if the Izzet guild symbol could be watermarked onto this card, that would be SWEET.

I'm actually a little more behind the Vorthian critique that if you've got 2 random abilities, then the final ability should be 'You get an emblem that says, “whenever you cast an instant or sorcery, copy that spell and choose a random target for it.'

Or

"You get an emblem that says, “whenever you cast an instant or sorcery, copy a random instant or sorcery in your graveyard."

This is also a bit more in line with how I envision these characters; they are there to monkey around, see cool stuff, and they don't really have anything vested in this plane one way or another; they just dig spellcasting--and are easily distracted.

However, you may be right then, that the audience for this card is...not the card for this audience.

The fact that they don't relate to artifacts in any manner might be of greater concern, as Izzets do tend to play with the things however one can only do so much on a single card. Since this leaves space open to design a Fezzit or Dyble PW seperately, that focuses on the more blue or red side of things I'm less worried about it.

Moving on.

I do like the breakdown of the PW and that feels right-but I can't say I've dedicated enough mindspace to the subject. I see where you're moving towards a B but because these are Izzet visitors, a C type is more apropos. They don't mesh with the other themes of Soradyne Labs, they're aliens.

Removing the random element of the ability takes away from the Izzet-ness of it.

That isn't to say Houlding's vision of the card is bad, it just isn't one that I think captures the guild.

Also, that -8 ability is TERRIFYING to me. Storm is one of those mechanics that has led to more masturbation decks than any other kind since Brainstorm/Sensei's Divining Top. Anything that comes near it should just read 'Warning: Very Hazardous to Fun.'

I think there's already a problem with not enough cards interacting with the PW type; something like that with an EIB loyalty of 4, coupled with Proliferate, I could see becoming active far to quickly and making everyone miserable because there's just no defense against it and emblems never go away.

On Fezzit and Dyble:

These proposed abilities do not suck. The storm one is scary as hell, so I'll avoid that, but the others are quite reasonable.

On Fezzit and Dyble:

Well, more issues:

  1. This isn't mono-blue due to all the randomness. I realize the majority of hybrids are terrible at achieving what they're supposed to (an either/or identity), but random discard and random selection just aren't blue things. If it's going to be hybrid, don't fudge the color pie.

  2. There are four archetypes of PW design:

Type A expresses a progression of functions, where the abilities intertwine in some manner, pushing the player to use each ability rather than focus on one. (Chandra Ablaze, Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas)

Type B demonstrates an almost single-minded conceptual focus, where each ability revolves around a common idea, though they don't necessarily benefit each other. (Koth of the Hammer, Jace, Memory Adept)

Type C uses flavor as a defense for an ability hodgepodge. (Venser, the Sojourner, Sorin Markov)

Type D is a meat & potatoes construction that's kinda every type, but not quite. (Liliana Vess, Sarkhan Vol)

One type isn't better than the other really, but they typically avoid Type D outside of core set, and they all try to suggest some form of strongly resonant flavor. Chandra Ablaze is the acknowledged worst design, forcing players to do things they don't really like to do (discard a lot) for not much gain. It's too Spike, but costed like a Timmy card.

If, as Visitor stated, Izzet is "about instants and sorceries", that would suggest to me that the design should be concepted as a Type B. Ditching the randomness and the discard because those things just aren't fun:

Fezzit & Dyble
­{3}{u/r}{u/r}
Planeswalker - Fezzit & Dyble (M)
Loyalty - 4
+1 - Until your next turn, instant and sorcery spells you cast cost {1} less to cast.
-2 - Return target instant or sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand.
-7 - You get an emblem that says, “whenever you cast an instant or sorcery, copy that spell. You may choose new targets for it.”

An alternative to the proposed ultimate, for extra spice:

-8 - You get an emblem with "Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery, copy it for each other spell cast this turn. You may choose new targets for each copy."

Because, you know, Storm + Replicate are like bros.

On Fezzit and Dyble:

Let's just accept that I made them incongruous by choice, and that set 2 may very well have an element of color/multicolor mattering...

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