Soradyne Laboratories v1.2: Recent Activity
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| Mechanics | Skeleton |
Recent updates to Soradyne Laboratories v1.2: (Generated at 2025-08-18 15:30:29)
It doesn't matter whether it's good or bad, as I would guess that this isn't much better than Forsaken City, the issue is that its badness is the heart of a complex system.
If they've gone damn near 20 years without printing a land that can untap itself in a manner similar to this, I imagine there's a good reason for that.
This ability almost always has a double color UU/RR in the casting cost. Limiting it to an instant isn't bad and may very well keep it from being insane but I'd keep an eye on it.
I'm not seeing that myself but: I could be wrong. I just don't see most turns having 3 spells/abilities happening and this land being pretty bunko, most of the time.
Thinking about this card some more, there are a number of issues:
The most straight-forward concern is the composite effect of its word count and overall complexity. You have an extensive "drawback" clause, a complex trigger that depends on the actions of both players, and that trigger causes the land to untap itself.
That last bit is important due to gameplay implications. There has never been a land that untaps itself, though it's arguable that Deserted Temple and Minamo, School at Water's Edge can be used to do so if you were so inclined. I think the reason for this is that players have a habit of disregarding lands that are tapped, especially since you typically only care about your opponent's lands under permission situations (i.e. can my opponent counter my spell?). Moreover, unless you're battling a fellow by the name of Pablo Doritos who likes to play his lands in front of his other permanents, your opponent's lands are the things on the perimeter of your attention. In this situation, this is especially relevant because the trigger responds to everyone's actions. To illustrate:
Player A starts their turn by playing a tapped Newbridge, equips a dude, and enters combat. After blockers are declared, Player A taps out to Feint in their Viper Wrangler. In response Player B, seeing that their opponent is tapped out, attempts to (((Dupe))) the Viper Wrangler. Wokka wokka! Newbridge untaps on the casting of Dupe, and suddenly Player A has the mana to pay for Dupe.
This circumstance isn't entirely unique, Force of Will is a thing after all, but because it's the result of an on-board permanent that Player B technically should have read and been aware of, the "feel bad" moment is that much more intense. AND it's all because of something as subtle as someone equipping a creature before they cast their durdle.
This one card dramatically increases the necessary degree of awareness for all players, in a set that I really don't think can take on that burden.
You shouldn't let mana abilities count (they're a type of activated ability): "Whenever the third spell or nonmana activated ability each turn is played, untap Newbridge."
Three spells and/or abilities in a turn isn't all that difficult to pull off, especially when it counts both players. The set has a reasonable number of activation costs – including a zero-equip cost equipment, so between casting a spell or two and using something on the table, it should come online with decent frequency. I'm more afraid of three being too low than too high.
As for the mechanic, I see it as a potential tease to the third set, where the final machination of the prime conspirator plays out. The whole endgame of the story comes down to one huge play to sway the people of Debronia into a near-genocidal wave of social supremacy.
(Spoiller, they learn to hate vampires as much as the Reigsman Empire.)
I like this design, but I have no idea what the trigger is doing in your set. Maybe it'd be too heavy-handed to have this land oriented towards combat spell-casting, but reacting to the number of spells and abilities just seems out of place. Also, note that there are a number of activated abilities that can be activated with a cost of
, like Demonspine Whip, making the drawback somewhat superficial. (Though that's admittedly a corner-case scenario.)
I think the problem now is that it will ONLY fit in Storm decks, unless this triggers off mana abilities, in which case why even have that restriction? Most of the time it's difficult to get two spells/abilities played in a turn.
This leaves storm decks or aggro decks which can't afford to have a land EIB tapped.
Maybe put the trigger at two?
Interesting design. Hard to tell, but it's probably balanced. Would be fun in storm decks: leave it untapped from the last turn, use the mana to start a chain of Pyretic Rituals or whatever, untap it after the third one, two more mana for the finale.
"As to the card, all I really know is that in competitive magic "
Right. The point I was making is that in places where people aren't playing competitive magic-that is, many, many places-this card is pretty sick. Time Warp, while being reasonable at 5CC isn't attached to a 5/5 body and isn't as repeatable nor as recurrable. Suggesting that there is a similarity between Seedborn Muse and this is incorrect because Seedborn Muse doen't allow for extra sorceries to be played when its ability triggers.
But Houlding's point that preposterously annoying things are possible b/c of the Muse holds just as much, if not more weight here because now, instead of having an untap on each opponent's turn, you get it on your own.
Doesn't mean it should be changed: I do value cards that have big impacts. But the fact of the matter is, this card represents a very powerful concept and should be handled as such.
Debronian Power Station seems like a cool idea, but would probably fit at uncommon.
Newbridge may not need to ETBT, unless mana-activated abilities are prevalent in the block. What I meant earlier was that it seemed awkward to produce colored mana or
, though I suppose "add 
or 
" is common enough.
I've got a weird idea:
What if this was actually like... a power node or something.
Debronian Power Station
: Add 
to your mana pool.
less to activate.
Land
CARDNAME enters the battlefield tapped. You may choose not to untap during your untap step.
As long as CARDNAME remains tapped, activated abilities of permanents you control cost
I don't know whether cheaper activated abilities is really ever such a big deal, but I suppose multiples off these could make someone play Level-Up guys in Modern. Maybe. Not likely.
Strangely, it seems like more often than not it's simply "Veterans Hospital", much like how we have the Depertment of Veterans Affairs. I imagine it doesn't really matter, but I hadn't ever thought about it.
And does it need to come in tapped now?
Is it desirable at “1 mana of any color or
” and without the mana to activate it? Would it be busted as-is without the 
to activate it?
I like this version. The second mana ability is a bit clunky, though.
New angle: Power for the infrastructure you’ve already built.