I would need to playtest this, but experience tells me that using a single card to keep track of multiple - even many - tokens is quite often comfortable e. g. I just used two differently colored dice or two solitary token cards plus dice to represent my hybrid Squirrel/Saproling horde (or depending on the deck the Bird/Spirit/Soldier horde).
Additionally if I were to use this mechanic or a similar one I have already a plan for "generic" tokens - which each represent copies and come in multiple (e. g. four) variants so as long as you are not having token copies of more than four different originals you are fine.
Can you keep "splitting" the tokens as well? Imagine if you "split" this twice then drop one or two other bifurcate creatures and split them as well. Then you tap like half of them attack or so. You got a grand mess right there.
The exile clause IMO isn't that helpful in this scenario since it immediately needs to keep "track of" multiple objects. It's like an Aura that attempted to be enchanting two creatures simultaneously.
It does have memory issues. As I made the mechanic up on the spot to make a different point that is unrelated to the memory issue, that question never came up. (I also think it maybe shouldn't work at instant speed.)
I recall projection and like its possibilities, but what do you think about the following alternate solution for this effect?
Bifurcate (: Exile this permanent. If you do, create two tokens that are copies of it. Bifurcate as a sorcery.)
Affinity for Swamps (This spell costs less to cast for each Swamps you control.) Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has trample and lifelink and gets +2/+2.
Illus. Leos "Okita" Ng
While affinity is a somewhat infamous mechanic due to the fallout of affinity to artifacts, variants of the mechanic are not inherently impossible to develop. The safest form of affinity is tying the cost reduction mechanic to basic land types and printing it on colored cards, so their mana cost is not easily reduced to zero.
This card is one of several designs I made that experimented with indirectly colored cards. While the mana cost only contains red mana symbols the cards cost is also tied to your access to Swamps and hence black mana. You can imagine virtual monocolor hybrid mana symbols in these mana costs.
So just like Dross Golem this card gets access to a keyword usually seen in black which otherwise would not be found on a monocolored red card (here lifelink rather than the outdated fear). Just as with cards like Beseech the Queen I wouldn't want to push the effect to be something that you couldn't get from an artifact with a generic mana cost e. g. Loxodon Warhammer.
Going into more detail on what kind of set I might see this being used in... in general something tribal/faction-based.
I never specifically put it into a file (hence they're here in "Assorted". Things I might have imagined could be Orc tech level for WarCraft or Protoss tech level for StarCraft - maybe adding a Research enchantment subtype and have a Research tech level for a set based on Sid Meyer's Civilization? Not every custom set is equally "magicky" after all.
+++
I presented my thoughts on the featured card in the general card set comments since that is nothing specific to this card.
@Tahazzar:
The Card of the Day is a feature where I highlight a card that I want the community to see. This might be because the card is "finished" and I'm super proud of it, but more likely it is an unfinished card or a card with an iffy mechanic which I hope to receive feedback on (like in this case).
I noticed that almost all reactions I receive are to the five cards automatically displayed on the front page due to recent activity. I upload sometimes (often?) more than five cards in a single day to a given set. So I devised this system to bump some designs that might have fallen through the cracks.
There are plenty of other benefits, too, e. g. I force myself to review more cards while selecting a worthy feature card and make some general improvements even before feedback. Conjured Djinn received some art and improved reminder text this way.
Note: I have 185 threads worth of card designs (with an estimated five cards average per thread) waiting to be added and plan to process at least one thread each day before I move on to assorted card designs I have posted not in dedicated threads.
I don't expect to run out of cards to feature.
Maybe the community won't be able to appreciate such a freqency - in which case I can always adjust and change the moniker to "Featured Card" or skip individual days to give a card more time.
Yeah, I suspected "tech level" was a placeholder term.
So what is this "Card of the Day" thing you mention? I would feel iffy about placing a card with an unfinished mechanic for such a slot. "Of the day" also seems too frequent. Weekly or monthly is likely much more manageable.
So in what kind of set do you see tech being used? I don't find a statement like "I'm so hi-tech right now!" particularly "magicky."
For this particular card it might make more sense (if not for the whole mechanic) if it counted the total number of colored mana symbols among wizards (ie. more like devotion). I think players generally like more the style of "building my board" compared to "protect my few crucial pieces." Or maybe at that point this might as well just say "where X is the number of Wizards you control"...
Compared to devotion this also seems harder to understand.
Conjured Djinn has been chosen as the first Card of the Day and to celebrate this event the card receives art by Christos Karapanos and an update to the tech level reminder text.
Conjured Djinn costs less to cast, where X is your Wizard tech level. (Your Wizard tech level is the total number of colored mana symbols among mana costs of Wizards you control.) Flying, hexproof
Illus. Christos Karapanos
4/5
Tech level is a new game term similar to devotion. While devotion cares about the color of the mana symbol the current iteration of tech level cares about colored mana symbols of any color.
Devotion for all colors is equal to tech level. Though tech level can also care about just colored mana symbols of a specific card type or subtype as shown here.
The mechanics design has gone through many horrible iterations and is steadily improving. What do you think about the way tech level looks right now?
I would need to playtest this, but experience tells me that using a single card to keep track of multiple - even many - tokens is quite often comfortable e. g. I just used two differently colored dice or two solitary token cards plus dice to represent my hybrid Squirrel/Saproling horde (or depending on the deck the Bird/Spirit/Soldier horde).
Additionally if I were to use this mechanic or a similar one I have already a plan for "generic" tokens - which each represent copies and come in multiple (e. g. four) variants so as long as you are not having token copies of more than four different originals you are fine.
Can you keep "splitting" the tokens as well? Imagine if you "split" this twice then drop one or two other bifurcate creatures and split them as well. Then you tap like half of them attack or so. You got a grand mess right there.
The exile clause IMO isn't that helpful in this scenario since it immediately needs to keep "track of" multiple objects. It's like an Aura that attempted to be enchanting two creatures simultaneously.
It does have memory issues. As I made the mechanic up on the spot to make a different point that is unrelated to the memory issue, that question never came up. (I also think it maybe shouldn't work at instant speed.)
I recall projection and like its possibilities, but what do you think about the following alternate solution for this effect?
I'm partial to using exiled cards as memory aids.
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has trample and lifelink and gets +2/+2.
While affinity is a somewhat infamous mechanic due to the fallout of affinity to artifacts, variants of the mechanic are not inherently impossible to develop. The safest form of affinity is tying the cost reduction mechanic to basic land types and printing it on colored cards, so their mana cost is not easily reduced to zero.
This card is one of several designs I made that experimented with indirectly colored cards. While the mana cost only contains red mana symbols the cards cost is also tied to your access to Swamps and hence black mana. You can imagine virtual monocolor hybrid mana symbols in these mana costs.
So just like Dross Golem this card gets access to a keyword usually seen in black which otherwise would not be found on a monocolored red card (here lifelink rather than the outdated fear). Just as with cards like Beseech the Queen I wouldn't want to push the effect to be something that you couldn't get from an artifact with a generic mana cost e. g. Loxodon Warhammer.
You can comment on this card here.
Doesn't this have extreme levels of memory issues? IMO something like the "projection" seems more plausible.
illustration: added; keywords: tagged
Source
Phyrexianized Wurmskin Forger.
Going into more detail on what kind of set I might see this being used in... in general something tribal/faction-based.
I never specifically put it into a file (hence they're here in "Assorted". Things I might have imagined could be Orc tech level for WarCraft or Protoss tech level for StarCraft - maybe adding a Research enchantment subtype and have a Research tech level for a set based on Sid Meyer's Civilization? Not every custom set is equally "magicky" after all.
+++
I presented my thoughts on the featured card in the general card set comments since that is nothing specific to this card.
@Tahazzar: The Card of the Day is a feature where I highlight a card that I want the community to see. This might be because the card is "finished" and I'm super proud of it, but more likely it is an unfinished card or a card with an iffy mechanic which I hope to receive feedback on (like in this case).
I noticed that almost all reactions I receive are to the five cards automatically displayed on the front page due to recent activity. I upload sometimes (often?) more than five cards in a single day to a given set. So I devised this system to bump some designs that might have fallen through the cracks.
There are plenty of other benefits, too, e. g. I force myself to review more cards while selecting a worthy feature card and make some general improvements even before feedback. Conjured Djinn received some art and improved reminder text this way.
Note: I have 185 threads worth of card designs (with an estimated five cards average per thread) waiting to be added and plan to process at least one thread each day before I move on to assorted card designs I have posted not in dedicated threads.
I don't expect to run out of cards to feature.
Maybe the community won't be able to appreciate such a freqency - in which case I can always adjust and change the moniker to "Featured Card" or skip individual days to give a card more time.
Yeah, I suspected "tech level" was a placeholder term.
So what is this "Card of the Day" thing you mention? I would feel iffy about placing a card with an unfinished mechanic for such a slot. "Of the day" also seems too frequent. Weekly or monthly is likely much more manageable.
The mechanic "tech level" has been created bottom-up as something similar to research upgrades in an RTS game.
A fitting term for a fantasy setting has yet to be found.
I also adjusted the reminder text of tech level again.
So in what kind of set do you see tech being used? I don't find a statement like "I'm so hi-tech right now!" particularly "magicky."
For this particular card it might make more sense (if not for the whole mechanic) if it counted the total number of colored mana symbols among wizards (ie. more like devotion). I think players generally like more the style of "building my board" compared to "protect my few crucial pieces." Or maybe at that point this might as well just say "where X is the number of Wizards you control"...
Compared to devotion this also seems harder to understand.
Conjured Djinn has been chosen as the first Card of the Day and to celebrate this event the card receives art by Christos Karapanos and an update to the tech level reminder text.
Flying, hexproof
Tech level is a new game term similar to devotion. While devotion cares about the color of the mana symbol the current iteration of tech level cares about colored mana symbols of any color.
Devotion for all colors is equal to tech level. Though tech level can also care about just colored mana symbols of a specific card type or subtype as shown here.
The mechanics design has gone through many horrible iterations and is steadily improving. What do you think about the way tech level looks right now?
Leave your comment right here.