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Mystery Box Challenges
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A Mystery Challenge: Create a creature with an ability that triggers when it dies.
The second duel for @RudyTheDuck vs @Jadefire
Your mystery box contains:
Mystery Challenge: Create a creature that adds three mana.
Encounter: Create a spell with the correct card name.
Had no idea what to do with that riddle, so I just ran with WoTC's joke.
Another two-for-one mystery box please.
I'll claim some Prize 63 – Leftovers, which I believe earns me another Rain Check.
Personal Prize Inventory
- Prize ??? – Mode Negotiations: You will be awarded 1~5 modes selected from 1~5 modes of your choice. (Both values selected at random upon cashing in this prize.) [X]
- Prize 76 - Short Fuse (Modifier): Prizes received this deadline must be cashed in this deadline, or they will be voided.
- Rain Check
[Spellwebs] Prizes (partial account; additional prizes in my Spellwebs inventory)- Prize 63 - Leftovers: When you cash this in, you'll get a random prize from the last batch. A batch is 2+ mystery boxes. Can't be used if only 1 prize in the batch.
- Prize 22 - Prize (Draft): You may activate this draft at any time. The mystery challenges will be assigned to each cardsmith requesting a box, but the prizes will be up for grabs, first come, first serve.
- Prize 126 - Song (Gambit)
[Twitch] Prizeshttps://mtgcardsmith.com/view/maelstrom-devastator
This card introduces some choice as to how to split your mana between making X big and kicking it an extra time, the right choice will vary depending on what your opponent is playing. Having cascade on a variable mana cost card also allows for some degree of control as to what cascade turns up, if that's what's really important. Lastly, taking into account the total mana value of previously played spells (including those of its own cascaded cards) is an attempt to offset sinking mana into multikicker instead of X.
-There was no claim that the opponent has a consistent impact on the mana distribution when casting the hydra, simply an acknowledgement that different scenarios, board states, and opposing decks require a different response and choice is what this card is all about. Rather than being a static "play it this way and this way only (predictably)" card, mana can be shifted around to aim for different outcomes. In a game as diverse as Magic, having choice is always better than not having it because you never know what kind of weird corner cases you might find yourself in and having a card in your hand that's dead less often than not is one possible way of getting yourself out of a bad situation.
-I agree that kicking the spell as often as possible with a moderate X is probably the ideal way to cast it. But what that "moderate X" is isn't determined solely by the card itself but by the environment in which it gets played, so the "ideal" X will be different from one deck to another, depending on its contents (interdeck (i.e., deckbuilding) vs. intradeck (i.e., deck playing) flexibility).
-While it is possible to warp a deck's mana curve and the count of certain cards to achieve a higher probability (or even guarantee) of getting an exact spell when the hydra is kicked at a certain mana value, unless X is 1 or 2, you'll still have RNG to deal with as to what cards get flipped up once you start going into higher values of X. And yes, cascade making it hard to deal with this card in addition to its cascaded spells with 1-to-1 removal like destruction and countermagic is what makes this card mythic, although I've been seeing cascade more and more in recent sets on even common cards.
-Going back to the assertion that kicking this spell many times is almost always the right play rather than maximizing X, I agree. However, this is an ideal case scenario to have lots of mana and the luxury of not needing to care about what's on the other side of the board. Let me take another multikicker card as an example, Everflowing Chalice. While someone, somewhere out there will make the case for casting it for 0 to achieve Metalcraft, up storm count for free, ramp an affinity spell, or trigger an "artifact enters the battlefield" effect for free, you'd really never cast it for just its mana value without kicking it at least once. Similarly with the hydra, you may only have 2 or 3 mana at your disposal because you're mana screwed or you absolutely have to both cast what's in your hand and get an extra creature onto the battlefield to survive or win. Again, it's about options, especially when your back is against the wall, not only in perfect world scenarios.
-Also the Drannith Magistrate scenario.
Hopefully, that reasonably answers the points you brought up. Let me know if it doesn't.
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/blessed-herder
Another box please.
- It appears your intention for this card is that it can modulate meaningfully based on different scenarios / board states / opposing decks. But the hydra has no real interaction with the board and/or your opponents, so I'm still left confused as to why you introduced this card as being affected by your opponent (which seems to imply that your opponent should affect how you use this card in most situations, and it still appears that they don't). Your answers in many places seem to boil down to 'this card shouldn't be dead in hand' which seems to have little to nothing to do with your opponent, but rather how broad the applications of a single card can be (for better or worse).
- The second and third points don't seem to say anything that isn't apparent upon reading the hydra and the function of cascade, so I don't see why those statements were made.
- I'm struggling with your choice of Everflowing Chalice as illustration in your last argument, because unlike the hydra the chalice actually does nothing by itself if it's not kicked. It also doesn't have a second value at odds with the multikicker cost. Comet Storm might be a more appropriate illustration here, as it scales between high damage and many targets depending on where you spend your mana, and its potential applications are generally dependent on board state.
It may simply be that I neither understand nor agree with the design philosophy of making cards both extremely powerful and 'always usable (just in case it can't do what it's supposed to do)', which your hydra exudes in spades, and I was perhaps hoping to find some intention for this card outside of that. Regardless, thank you for furthering my understanding of card design.-If my original assertion that the hydra can be played differently "depending on what your opponent is playing" is the point of contention, that can simply be disregarded and chalked up to a poor choice of words in an attempt to succinctly convey the broad utility of the card in an array of gameplay contexts, of which your opponent's gameplay and their choice of deck is a contributing factor.
-Sometimes what's seemingly apparent is still worth mentioning, both as due diligence and to present it as a facet of a more comprehensive case. Also, what's apparent to one person can't be assumed to be apparent to everyone else and I don't mind doing the extra work to leave as little to assumption as possible.
-I specifically chose Everflowing Chalice as the example over Comet Storm and Strength of the Tajuru because the previous comparison of the hydra without kicker was to a "generic X hydra" (which I read to be a vanilla XG creature). Just like you would have to make a strong argument for casting Everflowing Chalice without kicker when the option to kick it is there (and then only under very limited and specific circumstances), it sounded like that same argument was being applied to the hydra. "Of course you'd kick it as much as possible for maximum value. Why would anyone ever cast it as a straight XG creature?" Granted the floor of the hydra's usefulness is higher than the Chalice's when cast without kicker, the underlying presupposition is the same.
The hydra is actually less overpowered than it may appear. I charted out the different permutations in a scenario with 6, 8, and 10 mana. Take Apex Devastator, it's a 10/10 for 10 mana that cascades four times for spells with up to a mana value of 9. That same 10 mana spent on the hydra yields either one cascade for up to a mana value of 7 and a 7/7 (plus bonuses) creature, two cascades for up to a mana value of 5 and a 5/5 (plus bonuses) creature, three cascades for up to a mana value of 3 and a 3/3 (plus bonuses) creature, or four cascades for up to a mana value of 1 and a 1/1 (plus bonuses) creature. Also the green mana requirement for kicking the hydra multiple times quickly overshadows the coloured mana requirement of Apex Devastator's. The one redeeming aspect of this card, given less value for your mana, is that you don't need to have the full 10 mana to cast it.
I'll leave it at that as understanding isn't what's preventing us from reaching agreement on this. Feel free to get in any further thoughts, you can have the final word on the matter. We don't go deep into people's creations nearly enough in the forums, good job keeping me honest in my card description!
wins the 2nd duel vs @Jadefire
Your mystery box contains:
- A Rain Check
- A Mystery Challenge: Create an Instant spell with mana cost
.
Your mystery box contains:- A Mystery Challenge: Create an instant spell with mana cost
.
Your encounter continuesYour mystery box contains:
- A Mystery Challenge: Create an Equipment that creates a creature token.
@WarriorCatInAhatYour mystery box contains:
- Rain Check
- A Mystery Challenge: Create a Bird creature with trample.
@WarriorCatInAhat Cash in your rain checks after the conclusion of this deadline (next week) for a random prize each. Your mystery box contains:- Rain Check
- A Mystery Challenge*: Create a Bird creature that deals noncombat damage to a target. This entry will receive a favorite on it after you submit it.
@SMPrague Well now! HEYO!!! Thanks for jumping into these! Your mystery box contains:https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/thundering-chariot-1
Another box please.
Your mystery box contains:
"Mystery Challenge*: Create a rare Enchantment that benefits only you!"
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/unconditional-fervor?list=set&set=63878
Can I order another box too?
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/escalating-explosion
Another box please.
your mystery box contains:
- Rain Check
- A Mystery Challenge: Create a land that enters the battlefield tapped.
@SMPragueyour mystery box contains:
- A Mystery Challenge: Create a card that's name starts with the letter A.
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/a-24
@LeBateauIvreyour mystery box contains:
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/geistpack-howler
Can I get another mystery box?