Pattern Recognition #49 - Modal

Features Opinion Pattern Recognition

berryjon

26 October 2017

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Hello everybody! My name is berryjon, and I am TappedOut.net's resident Old Fogey and part time Smart Ass. I write this series, Pattern Recognition, with the intent to entertain, educate and illuminate about Magic, its cards, mechanics and history. Or at least, that's what I tell myself when scrambling for something to talk about.

Today's article is the result of a comment made by one of our community here on TappedOut.net. superhuman21 made a comment on my article regarding Heroic a few weeks back with regards to how I pointed out the synergy with the Strive mechanics. That person said:

With the way you approached comparing it synergistically to strive it made me think of the comparison between strive and multikicker (on something like Comet Storm, as they are pretty similar abilities.

Well, the response I gave then was that I saw Multikicker as a 'vertical' improvement on the card, while Strive was more 'horizontal' in nature. But it still got me thinking about how spells can escalate themselves, and how Wizards has experimented with the concept over time. So, today is that article!

I think I will start with the first (not really) mechanic that helped drive this into being. Kicker. Now, I have talked about this before when I discussed the Volver's cycle, but it behooves me to give a quick refresher.

Kicker is a mechanic introduced in the Invasion block and brought back for the Zendikar block. I also make no qualms about the fact that I think this is one of the best mechanics in the game, and would love it if it went evergreen. But enough gushing, more talking!

A card with Kicker can be cast as normal, by paying the cost in the upper right of the card. However, if you also pay the Kicker cost, the card comes into play, or resolves, with an additional benefit. My favourite example of this is Kavu Titan. At it's most basic, the Kavu Titan is a 2/2 with no abilities that costs , which, as you may instantly recognize, is the generic green creature that is the benchmark for all other creatures. However, if you pay the Kicker cost, the Kavu Titan becomes a 5/5 with Trample for a fairly reasonable cost of .

This allows for a card to exist in a simpler state, one that is cheaper, and a more complicated but expensive state at the same time. The Kicker allows for the upgrade without needing to print multiple, similar cards.

Moving from that quick review, the Kicker mechanic got an 'improvement' in the Zendikar block. Now, while I use the quote marks with only some irony here, it is mostly because of my personal opinion. The Multikicker mechanic seemed to be the result of Wizards D&D thinking "Well, Kicker is a great mechanic, and we used it at the start of the block. So, what if we allowed the players to Kick multiple times! It'll be like Level Up!" And thus was born Multikicker. Which worked pretty much the same way as normal Kicker except that you could do it multiple times.

What this allowed for was more granularity and options in the card. Take, for example, Comet Storm, from the initial comment. Of course, considering I think that Comet Storm compares poorly to Fireball, that's not saying much. Instead, the Multikicker ability on Comet Storm does help address one of the weaknesses that exists in Red's vast, vast repertoire of direct damage. That being there isn't much between hitting one creature and hitting all the creatures. Sure, you have Twinshot and Fall of the Titans, but Comet Storm is fairly efficient, even when compared to Fireball, at hitting multiple targets.

Another example is Lightkeeper of Emeria, which is a decent enough life-gain creature, though a simple 2/4 with Flying that is costed at seems a bit behind the curve. I'd honestly prefer Venerable Monk. But that's probably just my Cleric Tribal fanboy talking.

But now that I've got those two mechanics covered, and provided something of a baseline, I want want to move on to subjects a bit more relevant.

The first thing I want to introduce is not a mechanic in particular, but rather a couple of cycles of cards that transcend set, block and colour, bringing large chunks of utility into the game. I would like to show you guys (and girls) the Commands from Lorwyn and Tarkir and the Charms from Visions and Mirage all the way through to Tarkir.

Hey, I knew Tarkir was good for something! I am vindicated!

So, the Charms and the Commands make no bones about what they are, but what that actually is, is something that requires a bit of unpacking. Charms and Commands give their caster three or four options, and allow you to pick one or two of them when cast. These cards are called "Modal" spells, despite the lack of a mechanic. Now, I want to focus on the Commands more than the Charms for this article, but I also wanted to bring the latter to your attention to show where the Commands came from.

Now, while there is no formal 'Modal' mechanic, the idea behind the Charms and Commands has appeared since the beginning of the game, with Healing Salve being the first. No, Lightning Bolt doesn't count. Everyone knows White comes before Red!

Anyway, with the Commands, you were given four options and were told to choose two. This gave the caster six different options for how the spell would resolve - there is a reason why Cryptic Command is considered a very useful Modern format card, and why Atarka's Command was pretty much the only reason why mono-Red in Tarkir Standard splashed Green. They were and are just so useful that it was worth it.

Charms, however, are something interesting, now that Boza pointed something out while I was writing this article. There are some very strict rules about them that make a lot of sense, and with these rules, you can predict how Charms work. First, with 45 examples (15 Tri-color: 5 Alara, 5 Tarkir, 5 Planeshift; 10 Guild Charms from Ravnica, 5 mono color from Visions, 5 mono color from Invasion, and 5 Time Spiral Charms (take a shot!)), we have plenty of cycles and examples to work with.

First is that all Charms that have a cost more than a single color of mana, such as Darigaaz's Charm, are overcosted for their effects. This Charm can be cast as a Raise Dead, a Lightning Bolt or a Giant Growth, but regardless of how much each of those individual cards cost, to cost any of them through this card would be . The cost to cast any of these effects on this card is the cost to cast all of them.

All the triple-color Charms have three modes, one for each relevant color as you can see in Darigaaz's Charm. And they are presented in the same order as the casting cost. You know, ?

This holds true when you look at the triple-modal dualcoloured Charms as well. Azorius Charm, for example, has a first mode, a second mode, and the third mode is a mode that both colours have access to. And the Multi-coloured mechanic is always last.

Yes, yes, I know. has been getting more and more Lifelink as time goes by, but it's still a mechanic from start to finish.

Moving on, from the Modal style of cards, we get two more mechanics that build up from it. The first of these two is Entwine. Entwine is a mechanic that went through the entirely of the Mirroden block, and was an answer to a question that has been asked by everyone who ever played a modal spell. "What can I do to get both effects?"

Entwine cards always had two options on them, and had the default result of choosing just one. However, if you paid the extra cost - which wasn't always mana, as per Solar Tide - you can do both options on an Entwined card. You can take an 'either/or' choice and turn it into an 'and' choice.

In a way, Entwine is a version of Kicker that allows you flexibility in which is default and which is the additional benefit. And given how much I like Kicker, this similarity gives me reason to like this ability far above and beyond what it actually did. And you know, I wouldn't mind seeing this mechanic come back as a backup in some set in the future.

Oh wait. IT DID.

The aptly named - and not just because of the theme of this article - Escalate is a mechanic that was introduced in Eldritch Moon. And whereas Entwine gave you the option to go from 'one' to 'both', Escalate lets you go from 'one' to 'more'. With the number of options expanded to three or more, Escalate was the next step up from Entwine, and a logical progression from it.

Wait a minute ... why are these cards only in ?

Huh. Turns out that Escalate was designed specifically on the model of entwine, and that it was originally going to be a mechanic where the cost was associated with other colour before it got expanded into to give them something for the set.

Things you learn.

So, what the heck am I trying to get through with all of this?

Well, I've talked tangentially about the two-for-one problem in the past, and how certain cards are vulnerable due to how they can be removed without directly removing them. What Modal and associated mechanics and card typing do, is create a different and more positive version of two-for-one.

With one card, you can have the effect of multiple cards in your hand. For example, Cryptic Command can be seen as a combination of Boomerang and Counterspell that has the total cost reduced from to in the process.

Now, that's not to say that there is going to be a 1-to-1 comparison between a Modal card and any other sets of cards. I mean, it's not like Lightning Helix is the 'and' mode of Lightning Bolt and Healing Salve, or how Mystic Snake is a Grizzly Bear paired up with a Counterspell.

Wizards has known about the issue of 'dead cards' in hand ever since the beginning. These are cards that have no use when they are drawn, and whose only real value then becomes in becoming a prolonged bluff in your hand. Modal spells and similar effects are an attempt to get rid of that problem by making cards that could do multiple things, allowing you to tailor your response without having a glut of cards in your hand.

One of my editors, Boza, pointed out that in a way, the concept of "Kicker" as a modal enabler is something that is too generic. In a way, Wizards has printed a lot of Kicker cards, but hasn't used the mechanic at all. And because of this, Wizards really doesn't like the mechanic at all.

After all, what is Escalate but "Modal Kicker", Raid is "Attack Kicker", Blight Herder has "Processor Kicker", and Bestow is "Aura Kicker" if you tilt your head slightly. Anything with an alternate casting cost or an alternate effect could come under the aegis of 'Kicker', and that generality is something that, while I appreciate, Wizards goes to some lengths to not invoke and to keep mechanics fresh and unique rather than rehashing the same old, same old.

On the other side though, is a serious problem called "Option Paralysis" (not the Dillenger Escape Plan albulm) or sometimes "Analysis Paralysis". This is a mental state where a person is presented with too many choices to consider and cannot resolve in a reasonable frame of time. And given that tournament play is time restricted, having the clock run down because a player can't decide what to do represents something that Wizards wants to avoid.

Thus, Modal spells are not printed often, and when they are, they are tightly bound to whatever colour(s) they may be. And yet, when they are printed, they are a massive boon to the game. For they really shine in Limited, where the card selection is more restricted and the ability to hold multiple cards in hand for the space of one in your deck is something that cannot be underestimated.

Even Ixalan, the most recent set at the time of this publication, has modal spells hidden in it. River Heralds' Boon has three various outcomes. You can put just a +1/+1 counter on any creature (Merfolk or not), OR you can put a +1/+1 counter onto any two creatures, as long as one of them is a Merfolk, OR you can put two +1/+1 counters onto a specific Merfolk.

Oh, and Strive? Well, it's like casting the same card over and over again, where each copy can cost differently than the first casting. Not quite Storm, but good enough.

Join me next week for BIG NUMBER 50!

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