Which Specific Artifacts Have Been Problematic?
General forum
Posted on April 1, 2022, 9:32 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
Mark Rosewater has stated that WotC is now printing colored artifacts more frequently because colorless artifacts have been too powerful in the past, so I am now wondering which specific artifacts have been problematic. I began playing the game in 2003, with the release of Eighth Edition, so I did not directly experience the Urza block, and I did not yet have a sufficient understanding of the game to comprehend the power level of the original Mirrodin block, and I was paying only vague attention to the Kaladesh block.
What does everyone else here say about this? Which specific artifacts were problematic?
wallisface says... #3
Only speaking from a modern-perspective, My thoughts are:
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Ensnaring Bridge would probably be white (though lets be honest, that’s never coming into standard again).
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Walking Ballista should prolly be red
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I bet if Torpor Orb were reprinted, it’d be white
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the sword-cycle (i.e Sword of Fire and Ice) should’ve prolly had colours
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Chalice of the Void should’ve probably been blue, or blue-white
Note that most of the above aren’t too overpowered though, so aren’t in massive need of “colouring”. Going further back into legacy territory, we can see some really miserable artifacts that should have colours (Smokestack should be black, Winter Orb should be blue, Skullclamp is probably black-green, etc).
In general with colourless artifacts, there’s the constant problem that they either print the card to weak (to compensate for colourlessness), and nobody uses it, OR they print it too strong, and everyone does, harmonising decks (which they don’t want happening). Being able to apply a colour to an artifact lets them give it a bit more oompf, without as much fear of it becoming an auto-include for every standard deck.
April 1, 2022 11:19 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #4
wallisface, that is a very good explanation, although I feel that Winter Orb would be white if it were printed, today (although WotC most likely would never print a supremely annoying card such as that, today).
April 1, 2022 11:25 p.m.
wallisface says... #5
DemonDragonJ yeah there’s no way they’d even consider printing Winter Orb into modern, let-alone standard. I think it would be blue for a few reasons. Flavourfully, Wotc tends to associate any frost/freeze effects with blue, and the ability to tap down permanents is solidly primary for blue. I think it wouldn’t be white because it’s too universal-a-control element, and the way it functions is to forceful (white taxing is very passive). We’ve also seen blue do similar effects in stuff like Exhaustion - blue has a bunch of ways to prevent things untapping in a timely manner.
April 1, 2022 11:45 p.m. Edited.
Mirrodan block was kind of a perfect storm where the whole meta broke at once, and even if they print very strong artifacts in newer sets, I don't think you'd see anything like it again.
There was so much artifact support in affinity and so little answers available and it lead to a place where they couldn't just ban one card or even ban a few cards to level the playing field. They'd essentially had to put restrictions on an entire playstyle, which was also the core theme of the set, and it just felt bad to play around then. I remember when we'd play four player, 20 life, with three players versus my friend with the affinity deck, and we all still felt like it was a hill to climb.
Now there just tends to be more answers, even if they are specific answers. If Vandalblast had been printed in Mirrodin and you'd blow up all of affinity's lands, it would have single handedly changed the meta.
And, more than anything I think, a lot of the problems in Mirrodin came from the power playing in the times. There wasn't a ton of information out there about meta decks and things, and the vast majority of players were just casual kitchen table, so it lead to a lot of games where one person had an absolutely optimized tournament deck and everyone else had their pet decks. With the availability of information that we have now, it's much easier to come up with a strategy that can play to your playgroup's level. I remember going into a card store and asking the person there, how do I make a deck to play against affinity, and them being like, you know I've been trying to figure that out too.
So, I don't know, I think that there are artifacts like Mishra's Bauble that just kind of break things a bit, but the whole game has changed since Mirrodin block. It used to be a thing of, there's no way I can compete with these artifacts, and now it's, it's hard to compete with these artifacts, and the difference there is a big deal.
Heh, in my opinion at least. All totally in my opinion : )
April 2, 2022 8:18 a.m.
Gidgetimer says... #7
Hokori, Dust Drinker would like a word about what color you think Winter Orb would be.
April 2, 2022 8:49 a.m.
I'm not sure if its specific cards or its that a handful of good colorless artifacts in an environment can be an issue all together
April 2, 2022 9:05 a.m.
FormOverFunction says... #9
I think that adding a color requirement to artifacts is a perfect way to stretch card concepts. I can hear the lamentations now; “Finally - this next set is going to have the red version of Shuffle Helmet. I can’t believe they released the green one first...”
April 2, 2022 9:56 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #10
wallisface, white is the color of authority, so I think that forcibly tapping permanents makes sense as a way for white to demonstrate its authority.
April 3, 2022 1:32 a.m.
wallisface says... #11
DemonDragonJ the argument of “[COLOR] is the color of [XXXX], so it should be able to do [YYYY]” isn’t a great one, as it’s often used as a template by many, for advocating a colour doing anything it wants.
The most compelling argument for Winter Orb being white is the one raised by Gidgetimer mentioning the existence of Hokori, Dust Drinker. This is a big example of why it could be white, though I also feel like the color has changed a LOT since Hokori’s printing, and by todays standard this might be a bend in the colour (though, hard to say, as there are so few cards printed with these kinds of effects). I’m still leaning towards this being more of a blue effect than a white one.
April 3, 2022 6:16 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #12
Personally I still think Winter Orb would be white. A lot of old artifacts were busted because "it is fair because it is symmetrical" was untrue enough that it became a meme about things exactly like Winter Orb. Exploiting effects that appear symmetrical, but that can be negated by deckbuilding or determining when the effect applies seems to be right in the current design philosophy for white to me.
Gidgetimer says... #2
Paradox Engine comes to mind right off the bat as a problematic artifact from recent memory. Skullclamp, Sensei's Divining Top, and Walking Ballista seem like cards that they would at least want to put a color on now.
April 1, 2022 10:57 p.m.