Multiverse: Soradyne Laboratories v1.2: Recent Activity

2012-02-05 02:02:45: SFletcher edited Contrarian Bully

2012-02-05 02:01:43: SFletcher created the card Contrarian Bully

2012-02-05 01:39:27: SFletcher edited Crossblighted Rager

2012-02-05 01:38:19: SFletcher created the card Vent Hellion Hatchling

2012-02-05 01:29:28: M_Houlding commented on Augmentation Director

I guess I discounted RoE's aura-theme because I think that, as your memory attests, there wasn't really any finesse involved and you never picked Totem-Guide Hartebeest or the other white aura-helpers highly unless you had multiple Narcolepsy or Eldrazi Conscription. (W/G was an abominable combination in RoE, so you rarely had Hartebeest in your base-green Gnarlid deck.)

Whereas Ravnica had the aforementioned Familiar + ETB aura tricks, goofy things that you could do with Simic Guildmage, and the auras that boosted all other creatures with aura.

2012-02-05 01:10:54: SFletcher commented on Augmentation Director

There were several aura-assist creatures, actually. There was a white gazelle-thing that could fetch an aura from your deck, a white wizard/cleric thing that made all creature auras into Totem Armors, and the gnarlid that fucked you up when some ten year old dipshit put it in a no-brain deck with nothing but Totem Armors, gazelle-things, and wizard/cleric things.

So, I mean, generally speaking, there was enough stuff to consider it a sub-theme. Thing.

2012-02-04 23:59:28: Alex commented on Augmentation Director

Rise of the Eldrazi, yeah. But I'm not sure there were specific Aura synergies. Whereas Drake Familiar was specifically made to work with the common cycle of ETB Auras - Fists of Ironwood, Galvanic Arc etc.

2012-02-04 22:38:13: SFletcher commented on Augmentation Director

Worldwake had a pretty annoying Totem Aura thing going on. I think that probably counts as an aura theme.

2012-02-04 22:24:46: M_Houlding commented on Augmentation Director

As an aside — I would be really excited if there was such a thing as the "Flash Aura" archetype in any format.

I believe Ravnica was as close as they got to making an aura-theme work, and even then you couldn't really build around them beyond Drake Familiar and Bramble Elemental. I think it might be good to put an equivalent aura-support card in both white and green, though maybe they should be spread out across the block similar to Burning Vengeance and Secrets of the Dead. But if you haven't already, you should probably make an Enchantress variant.

2012-02-04 22:18:33: M_Houlding commented on Soradyne Geologist

I was just laughing that you even brought up truffle-hunting boars as belonging in your quasi-futuristic kinda-post-apocalyptic environment.

EDIT - Just realized you should appropriate the Gnarlid creature type from Zendikar block. Not in any way evocative of a particular setting, but "Gnarlid" sounds like the sort of Animal a wizard would use to test reagents on and own as a pet. Also, Gnarlids have proven to enjoy aura. (Aura Gnarlid)

2012-02-04 19:14:35: SFletcher commented on Refute

I’m hesitant to switch it up because I feel like the name and flavor text have to go together, and are fairly crucial to setting up the stories for the second and third sets.

The ability, in this context, says to me that the caster has effectively put forth a blanket categorical denial of something. “I am not a crook.” May not be true, but for the moment it shuts down all further questions.

2012-02-04 19:05:31: SFletcher edited Refile

2012-02-04 19:01:57: SFletcher commented on Augmentation Director

Good call on the template. Thank you, Shimmer Myr.

2012-02-04 19:01:37: SFletcher edited Augmentation Director

2012-02-04 18:57:52: SFletcher commented on Soradyne Geologist

Heh. Yeah, pretty close. But not quite what we need here.

Nice one though.

2012-02-04 18:47:21: SFletcher edited Production Monitor

2012-02-04 18:37:50: M_Houlding commented on Soradyne Geologist

Did you say Truffle Hog?

2012-02-04 18:32:30: M_Houlding commented on Augmentation Director

It's a bit hard to find using Gatherer, as the actual text and the oracle text are so different, but they printed almost this exact card in Tempest block: Rootwater Shaman

I'm not sure if the oracle wording for Rootwater Shaman is what would need to be used here. Regardless, the power level seems fine for Uncommon. It's basically in the mold of modern uncommon-build-around cards that usually fall around 5th or 6th pick unless someone is forcing the Flash-Aura archetype.

2012-02-04 18:00:05: SFletcher edited Augmentation Director

2012-02-04 17:59:55: SFletcher edited Augmentation Director

2012-02-04 17:59:30: SFletcher commented on Augmentation Director

Actually, I’m starting to think that the ability may not need an activation or EOT limitation at all. Vernal Equinox was a rare, but this is more restrictive, more relevant to the set it’s in, and susceptible to more kinds of removal.

Consider this a narrow but conditionally powerful uncommon. You may not always want to first-pick it, but if you’ve managed to grab a few solid auras, he becomes a great accessory.

2012-02-04 17:47:43: SFletcher commented on Signal Chaff

Interesting thought that I just remembered, brought back by Houlding’s note on use of mechanical interference to counter spells:

At the beginning of the last GDS, there was an essay component that had to be submitted. One of the questions was regarding how the applicant might shift an existing ability from one color to another. I proposed that "soft counterspells" - those that allowed the victim to squeeze out of it in one way or another – should be moved to red on the grounds that blue is precise, while red is impulsive and prone to inaccuracy. Blue will silence your spell outright, while red will impulsively try to distract you or rush you, thereby making your spell more difficult to cast, but not necessarily impossible.

The use of mechanical means to counter spells feels, to me, like an interesting flavor space that fits in that realm of “reasons ability X may not always be in the color it’s currently in”.

2012-02-04 17:39:32: SFletcher edited Signal Chaff

2012-02-04 17:33:44: SFletcher commented on Mark of Perseverence

I love that flavor text. So perfect for Callimus it’s crazy. I’ve tweaked the phrasing slightly, but it’s now on the card.

2012-02-04 17:30:44: SFletcher edited Mark of Perseverence

2012-02-04 17:25:52: SFletcher edited Laboratory Drone

2012-02-04 17:25:37: SFletcher commented on Laboratory Drone

You were dead-on with C-3PO, that’s all it was. I like Laboratory Drone.

2012-02-04 17:23:30: SFletcher commented on Soradyne Geologist

I’ve had trouble with this card as well. I want something that interacts well with Wizards as a tribe, but doesn’t correspond directly to their “working together towards card advantage” thematic links. Green needed something mid-range beefy, so Giant made sense, but the card’s result is a bit weak, I’ll admit.

Maybe some kind of truffle-hunting boar would make sense here (naturalist wizards using it to find herbal resources?). I honestly don’t know.

2012-02-04 13:35:46: SFletcher commented on Skittering Scuttlebutt

They did do a variant: Undead Alchemist, in Innistrad. The spoiler that revealed him came out about one month after Houlding (I think?) came up with our template here. And it should be noted that they used the same wording.

2012-02-04 06:23:02: jmgariepy commented on Skittering Scuttlebutt

Well, I can see the argument a bit clearer now, and I think you know my point of view on it, so we can let this rest now. Either way, I like ability. In fact, I'd be surprised if Wizards didn't do a variant of this sometime in the next five years. Not next block, though... they still got to distance themselves from Poison.