Pattern Recognition #232 - A Problem with White

Features Opinion Pattern Recognition

berryjon

24 March 2022

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Hello everyone! This is Pattern Recognition, TappedOut.Net's longest running article series as written by myself, berryjon. I am something of an Old Fogey who has been around the block quite a few times where Magic is concerned, as as such, I use this series to talk about the various aspects of this game, be it deck design, card construction, mechanics chat, in-universe characters and history. Or whatever happens to cross my mind this week. Please, feel free to dissent in the comments below the article, add suggestions or just plain correct me! I am a Smart Ass, so I can take it.

This week, my subject is a year late and a dollar short because for some reason, I can't stay current with today's Magic events. Or I choose not to in order to be a unique voice in the crowd. You never know with me, I like to mix things up on occasion.

But regardless of my mutterings, today, I want to add my very late $0.02 CDN to the pile of the problem has with Commander. I know, I know a few of you just left the page, but that's on them, not on me. This time.

No, you see, I heard what other people said last year, and as a hardcore player myself, I mulled their considerations over in the back of my mind for a while. Sadly, it wasn't until the release of Innistrad: Midnight Hunt and the printing of Sunset Revelry that I realized that what I had thought was a long-ago problem was one that was still alive and well today. So, allow me to present my point first, and then explain how and why I got there.

plays as though it is losing.

OK, so I'm sure that requires some degree of explanation. One of the basic trusims in life, as well as Magic is that you act like how you want things to be. Be confident, be respectful, be polite. That sort of thing. But when you go about life expecting to be the loser, then you start to think that's the reality of your situation. And sadly for , they've been playing from a position of weakness for so long that it's the assumed default for their cards.

I knew this was the case long ago, but I had thought that Wizards had stopped doing that sort of thing. Too bad I was wrong. If anything, it's become more prevalent as time goes on.

Let's start with Sunset Revelry, and you'll see what I mean.

This card, for the low, low cost of , does three things. First, if an opponent has more life than you, gain 4 life. This is reasonable, as lifegain is primary in 's purview, as much as and want to take it for themselves. From there, this card can also make 2 1/1 Humans if your opponent has more creatures than you. Which isn't the first time has actually done this. They have Keeper of the Accord and Linvala, the Preserver for example. Lastly, if an opponent has more cards in hand than you, draw a card! And can always use more Card Draw.

So what's the problem here?

Well, look at the common theme among all the possible effects here and tell me what they are. Go on, I'll wait.

And there is the light in your eyes.

This card is designed to be played for maximum effect when you're losing. It's a catch up card. At Uncommon.

I used to think this was limited to 's Bomb Rares. In fact, let me take a moment to examine one such rare. A rare so powerful, it's on the Banned list of Legacy and Commander, but Restricted in Vintage. Let's talk Balance.

This wonderful card is one of the ways in which balances (heh) the game, for in by making everything equal again, they can keep other people back. Of note, when reading the card again and its rulings, the sacrifice of Lands proceeds from the casting player in turn order, then once those are announced, it proceeds with card discarding and then creature sacrifice.

Interestingly, this is one of the things that Wizards comes back to every so often to mix things up with their board wipes. Cataclysm, Balancing Act, Restore Balance, Global Ruin, Slaughter the Strong, Single Combat, By Invitation Only, Tragic Arrogance, Cataclysmic Gearhulk... that sort of thing.

Part of what is supposed to be able to do, in the view of Wizards, is level the playing field. They can, in their own way, retroactively tax an opponent to has gotten too far ahead and force them to roll back to something that would be considered a little more 'safe'. Where the player is at.

Balance is a card that is strongest when the playing player is behind in some way. They have fewer creatures. Fewer lands, less cards in hand, the works. And this is true for all these other board wipes. They all seek to reduce the opponent to their current state, and not really advance theirs.

But this isn't just the only issue I'm seeing. What did you guys think of Secret Rendezvous? From Strixhaven? This card that allowed a player to draw three cards as long as target opponent did the same?

Now, don't get me wrong, drawing cards in is always a good thing, and hard to come by. But here we see again one of the fundamental problems that Wizards is having with making better for their most popular format. We literally see that once again, can't have anything unless someone else is benefiting from it.

Tellingly, Mark Rosewater himself has expressed displeasure with cards like Mentor of the Meek and Dawn of Hope, cards that allow to draw cards without being dependent on the actions or contribution of another player. This is justified, in one way, by the argument that in larger formats will have an answer to anything, but the limiting factor is being able to draw it.

Let me know when can remove Planeswalkers. Yes, I know about Fateful Absence, Fated Retribution and Slash the Ranks. The first gives a reward to the player for losing their creature or Planeswalker, much in the vein of Swords to Plowshares. One is a global board wipe that affects you as much as it does the opponents, and the last leaves Commanders alone, another case of "Everyone reduced to the same level".

Here's my argument; has a problem where it assumes that it is behind in the game. That they can only gain never to have an advantage, but rather only act to either reduce someone else or try to catch up with but never exceed them.

This is a Problem.

Now, this is not to say that isn't capable of generating advantage. But it's more incidental than deliberate. If anything, I would look at Anointed Procession as a case where can get some form of advantage, as doubling tokens is something that can do from Doubling Season on up, but giving it to is not just catching up to its allied colour, but giving them something that can synergize with Sigil of the Empty Throne, Divine Visitation, Court of Grace, or Luminarch Ascension. These are just synergies that can use to try and gain advantage over time.

But one example does not a pattern make.

How can we then solve this problem? This specific problem, mind you. I'm not asking for some magic panacea that will make the dominant colour in the game, but rather something that this colour can do in a way that won't break the game over its knee and give it an advantage.

And with Kamigawa, Neon Dynasty, we got it.

Light-Paws, Emperor's Voice.

This card violates one of the axioms I have about the game - that Free Spells are Bad, but does it in such a narrow field that already cares about and limits the effects to mitigate most of the worst excesses of Free Spells. Light-Paws is, in the hands of even a semi-competent deck builder, pure card advantage.

Card Advantage is one of those hard-to-define things in the game, where the general gist of it is that the player who spends fewer resources, who uses fewer cards and less mana to accomplish their goals will have an advantage over time. So being able to pull Auras out of your library, effectively for free (admittedly with the "drawback" of needing to be attached to Light-Paws), is card advantage.

I mean, I can only imagine the sheer power of a Creature that could do the same thing with Instants, or even just Sorceries. But here, with this? It's actually powerful, but not game breaking. Which is in that golden zone of good card design that is very hard to find.

But that's just one example, and as I said above, a single example does not a pattern make. And for a series named Pattern Recognition, I need to pull double duty to stay on theme! But what I am seeing is a long pattern of While starting in second place and staying there, never having the tools to not only take the lead, but exploit it.

My problem with is that it doesn't really have bombs meant to end the game. Prolong them, yes, but closing the game out in a way that is interactive is beyond them for the most part. Yes, there are win conditions, but they tend to either be self-contained, like Approach of the Second Sun, or passives, like Test of Endurance.

is there in the game, but it's hard to say what it does. I've seen it described in the context of the Modern format as "The Fun Police", but in Standard, or other formats, there is no real... identity involved.

The only thing I know for sure is that starts in second place, and is content to stay there.

That's if for this week. Join me next week when I talk about Week's 6 and Seven of Slow Grow. I'm going into the end here, can I stay in the top 4? The Magic Eight Ball shows that it's possible!

Until then please consider donating to my Pattern Recognition Patreon. Yeah, I have a job, but more income is always better. I still have plans to do a audio Pattern Recognition at some point, or perhaps a Twitch stream. And you can bribe your way to the front of the line to have your questions, comments and observations answered!