Hall of Mirrors: Recent Activity
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Recent updates to Hall of Mirrors: (Generated at 2024-05-02 14:56:56)
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common => unc
"Eh."
Without token cards these two are exactly equally hard to track, no?
The problem with 0/0 variant is that all of them require an additional ability to keep them alive. That is going to push complexity too much at common IMO. From power standpoint, something like Glazed Screen is an anthem with a body attached so it's absolutely unacceptable at common. Of the cards Pharmalade lists, this Foggy one is the only one I would be moderately content with at common, but even it has the serious issue of granting nonsquared buff. Much of the time, preliminary limited tests are done with commons only so this tribe should be able to function with commons only.
The version with 1/1 has the problem of variety. There's only so many different designs of global enchantments you can make at common that only produce 1/1s. However, this affects gameplay as well. As mentioned, those global p/t buffs are too impactful at lower rarities, so they aren't a solution here either. A single 1/2 or such is going to make attacking so unprofitable with bunch of 1/1s that you would have to get 4+ of them unblocked for an attack against such a board for it to be worth it - not to mention if there are multiple bigger creatures waiting. I would wager that would lead easily to stalls and painstaking chumb blocking.
On the other hand, with the variable p/t version we have at the very base level all the french vanilla variants from Shimmer 1... to 4+ available for common, without even exploring the mechanic any further. The core concept of enchantment based creatures remains intact either way. As such, turning the mechanic into an action ability (or whatever) is counterproductive since the essential designs are those french vanilla creatures, where as those novelty designs where an action keyword might make more sense (such as Shattered Dreams) probably won't even make the cut in the end. Similarly, IMO turning the certain cards into sorceries, instants, or creatures where applicable would undermine the fundamental theme, which is the separation of essence/soul and body/corporeal manifestation, which applies mechanically as well as in flavor. Cards like Regress and Perilous Research will now play wildly differently compared to having Glory Seeker vs having a Unshattered Shard. While one might see having a vanilla enchantment plus a separate body as a "gimmick" of sorts, I would see it as a clear mechanical motif that contextualizes the cards clearly. They connect this "tribe" in a novel way that makes all cards that care about enchantments and/or additional permanents in general (and tokens as well) a boon and a synergy that you don't have to state out loud.
Hopefully the train of thought is understandable here.
Yes, but why is Bestial Menace an uncommon? We have had cards that produce multiple tokens at common before. I think one of the key things why bestial is uncommon is that those tokens are of different types and you have trouble tracking their sizes without the appropriate token cards. +1/+1 counters remove this problem. This is obviously an impactful card though, so common might be pushing it, but I don't think it's completely infeasible.
The clogging up the board is the single most distinctive feature rather than a bug. Obviously the buffs that linger are clearly beneficial. Regarding the vanilla enchantments, you could easily think of them as less clunky energy counters - a resource to be exploited. While the tokens might cease to exist, you could still resummon/duplicate them if you bounce and/or flicker the enchantment. This isn't that far-fetched considering it's just a different version of a normal creature card that can be Disentombed (or a sorcery that generates a token). I don't see this difference as being a negative - it's just unusual which isn't inherently bad.
This is a cool card btw, but not a template or a solution of any kind for the common cards.
Neither is Power Refraction. Refaction makes me feel uncomfortable since it makes the token and the enchantment too separate to my tastes where in most of the other designs you can interpret the enchantment as being the token's essence. An aura can fall of immediately and the token then becomes a mere afterthought IMO.
Example of a support card for Reflection. It's probably best to use existing templates of enchantments if you're going to make reflections "enchantment tribal", to make them feel more like enchantments rather than creatures that clog up the board even once they're removed.
That or you could:
> When ~ enters the battlefield, shimmer 0 four times. (Create four 0/0 Reflection creature tokens.)
Even with tribal support this seems like a poor idea unless the support for toughness boost extends far beyond the tribe.
That "Creatures you control of the type of your choice" makes this spell kinda inaccessible.
Just split the effect into two steps: "Choose a creature type. Creatures you control of the chosen type get ."
Far easier to process.
That "type of your choice" wording is a relic from multiple card face changes ago. I think, they use it for Jinx effects still(?) sometimes(?), maybe?
I think something like this would generally make more sense if you leave out the parameter/counters and establish Reflections as something like token-only Slivers that leave their boost entirely on a separate permanent.
In fact the idea that they all would by default be the same size is a big potential boon.
(checks link) You know, like the original. What's with the counters?
A more sensible use of the enchantment this leaves behind.
In fact, without knowing where this comes from, I think a higher rarity card with shimmer N and something like "
, Sacrifice an enchantment: Bounce/blink ~" is an idea.
Bestial Menace is an uncommon. Making it more complex shouldn't make it a common.
I don't get why shimmer is not realized as a keyword action:
> When ~ enters the battlefield, shimmer 1, then shimmer 2, then shimmer 3. (Create three 0/0 Reflection creature tokens. One with a single +1/+1 counter on it, one with two counter, one with three counters.)
And then I would re-think whether this should be an enchantment or sorcery in the first place. There is probably some thought going into the enchantment part, but it makes sense on other examples and less sense on this.
You know, if this was just a 3/3 with flash that gave all your creatures +2/+2 when it entered the battlefield, I would probably think that that spell was on the expensive side.
essentially by Pharmalade (MTG Salvation)
by Pharmalade (MTG Salvation)