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Recent updates to Clockwork Wings: (Generated at 2025-05-01 19:16:50)
A bad Tablet of Epityr (the Soul Net for artifacts). Principally here just to be a common artifact land, because the connectors really want one. It more or less doesn't matter what the rest of the text box is as long as it gives you some kind of mana. Upped the life-gain cost from
to 
, because this being on a land does mean it's easier to include in decks, and this really isn't meant to be a good card.
In initial playtesting we concluded this was powerful, but expensive enough to make it worth it. The wording was (correctly) criticised: I'll try to find a better way to phrase it. I may also add a cost of
so this doesn't actually go infinite quite so easily.
A common 1/1 haste for 1 mana that's not completely useless later on in the game. It does obsolete Raging Goblin, but I can't see much way round that unless I give this "~ can't block".
Alex: Good point on trolls. I agree a flyer sniper would be a good choice. Another possibility would be a one-shot "target creature untaps and attacks" ability if there isn't one already, to increase the number of ways the trolls interact with opposing creatures.
"I don’t like (say) ruling that each artifact can only have one connector."
And yet this seems to be the most elegant solution. Modify Connect to read "Attach this to target unconnected artifact you control".
That has the downside that it's harder if you want to reorder your connectors (say, you have one that triggers on tapping but doesn't tap itself, so you want to put it at the end of the chain); but it also opens up design space for, eg, artifacts and connectors that expliticly allow doubling up (although the wording would have to be careful, since Connect targets...)
Random thought; you could have "Connect M (M: Attach this to target artifact you control. Attach each other connector attached to that artifact to this". That way Connectors "slot in" to the middle of existing chains.
I'm torn. It was very fun at
and it was obviously very fortunate to be on a double strike flyer, one of the situations when it shines best. So I agree it was good. I think firebreathing has a bad reputation because firebreathing auras are hard to use, but I think it's much better on equipment because you can normally pump something, even if it's at 
-for-1.
And if you can play some big ground creatures and then pay
each before combat to give them flying each turn that's very nice, but not necessarily too nice.
I think you should try it with an equip cost and see if it feels as fun :)
Dropped to a 2/2 and gave reach instead.
Hm. Other people seemed to have a problem because they tried to activate it and then later on in the turn use the land and had to remember; I couldn't see why not to normally use the abilities just before you tapped the land anyway, and then it's effectively "add blah extra".
OTOH, I completely and totally missed that it wasn't "the next time this land is tapped for mana". I hadn't realised this could get 1 extra mana normally and 2 more with torque. And if you have the "untap all other artifacts" connector, you can get two extra mana from tapping this twice, and three from torque. I'm not sure if Stewart realised this either, I think he was using this to get red to ping me with the land, but I can't remember exactly how he used it. I think remembering these triggers is too fiddly (certainly for common) but you may be able to fix it with tweaking the abilities.
Alternatively, you could make this a fortification?
People were hoping for a troll that could ping creatures. I'm cautious of making one of those for fear it could be too effective at stalling. What I might make is a green troll that can ping flyers, following in the footsteps of Matsu-Tribe Sniper etc. I'm hoping that that along with Bladetrap Recluse would provide enough ping to satisfy players without letting the trolls just dominate.
The pilots and hierarchy cards in the Pilots deck left qqzm saying "I can't believe I'm hoping to topdeck an Ornithopter!" Which sounds like just the right kind of inversion of expectations :)
In initial playtesting this was indeed fun on the double-striker. Seems fine power-level-wise generally.
In initial playtesting this turned out just as good as I'd thought. It's good, but its vulnerability was relevant. It's clearly towards the top of the power curve, and I'll keep an eye on it, but I think it's probably okay.
Jack's reaction on seeing this was perfect: "Aha! I'd been looking for a way to turn Torque into Winning."
In initial playtesting this turned out very useful. Particularly with a few Steam available, but perfectly serviceable without.
Initial playtesting pointed out the need for the "only on your turn" rider to stop this being a draw-step denial engine.
In initial playtesting this turned out far more fiddly than I'd hoped. I do like the synergies in this version, but it's just too brain-bending. Will probably convert it to something much more boring like "
: Add 1 mana. // [Torque]: Untap this."
In initial playtesting this turned out good, but the
activation cost to ping hampered it a bit, just as I'd desired. I did get finished off from 3 life by qqzm spending 6 mana to ping,move,ping,move,ping, but that seems reasonable too.
Initial playtesting suggests this is good; Stuart suggests even perhaps too good. Might up the Equip cost to
.
"Try to make the connectors and power cards do things that interact with opponents more, such as tapping their creatures"
Seems like a good plan.
"I’d like to find solutions if there are any elegant ones, but I don’t like (say) ruling that each artifact can only have one connector."
Yeah. I'm not sure how far to go with it, because on the one hand it felt a little silly with seven artifacts all connected up, but on the other hand, I think it would have been harder to represent visually if it was vital to connect them in some other order and maintain tapped states separately. I think (pure guess) the rules are probably fine, it was just that there are many "when connected artifact becomes tapped, tap this" connectors and Vitenka drew all of them at once.
If you wanted to tweak things, you could consider variants like: Add connector effects which scale in effect or cost with the converted mana cost of the artifact? Have some one-shot untap effects, or other "enhance this effect" effects? Have connectors not themselves tap to grant a "when artifact taps" effect?
I was trying to think of a connector which would enhance equipment (or artifact creatures), but your comment about designing interesting fortifications and connectors being difficult was apt. The only variants I could come up with were explicitly increasing P/T bonuses, explicitly duplicating the equipment, or giving it an cheaper/instant re-equip ability.
"Rolling Stones actually only works on Walls"
Oh, good point.
I was worried this might be either too good or too bad. Initial playtesting seems neither is the case: seems fine.
Yeah, the set needs quite a number of very simple artifact creatures, and also Connectors like have several commons that can just tap for some effect.
So... even I managed an infinite combo with your connector deck. But it was fun.
The "Big pile of connectors" was kinda annoying though, I had artifacts equipped with three artifacts, each equipped with an artifact or two... it got more confusing than a village idiot. Not sure what to suggest there.
My notes from first playtest:
Jack: Yeah, I fear Heat-Compression Centrifuge is definitely problematic. More discussion on that one on its own page. The only other card that can untap other artifacts is Temporal Stutterer, which is also one to keep a close eye on, but its expense means it's probably okay.
I'm very glad the power cards plugging into each other felt good when it worked without feeling wrong when it didn't.
I had realised that several connectors in a chain don't really care whether they're attached to the source or each other. I agree this is somewhat of a pity, but it doesn't really interfere with gameplay. I'd like to find solutions if there are any elegant ones, but I don't like (say) ruling that each artifact can only have one connector.
Rolling Stones actually only works on Walls. Wakestone Gargoyle or Warmonger's Chariot could be quite effective, but by that point, you've spent enough mana that it's fine.