Baseline effect cards
General forum
Posted on Dec. 10, 2021, 12:49 a.m. by legendofa
There are cards that seem to get printed with some frequency, but also regularly get strictly better versions. Cancel and Mind Rot are two examples, and Blaze would count if it ever got reprinted. There's nothing quite strictly better than Giant Growth. Shock is also in there. What other cards can you think of that have these common baseline effects?
TypicalTimmy says... #3
I would wager Lightning Bolt is strictly better to Shock?
December 10, 2021 3:20 a.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #4
And I would say Mutagenic Growth is the best there is, since it costs .
December 10, 2021 3:22 a.m.
lespaul977 says... #5
Vapor Snag is strictly better than Unsummon by having your opponent lose 1 life.
December 10, 2021 8:06 a.m.
sergiodelrio says... #6
lespaul977 unless you're bouncing your own stuff
December 10, 2021 9:41 a.m.
sergiodelrio says... #7
TBH I think WotC actually does a good job avoiding printing strictly better/worse cards in the grand scheme of things. Most examples we can come up with will at least have a minor tweak to the card, so that the 'strictly' never really applies. With some obvious exceptions ala Bolt vs Shock.
December 10, 2021 9:44 a.m.
TriusMalarky says... #8
sergiodelrio Neutralize versus Cancel -- there's a strictly better Cancel literally every set, and a strictly better Mind Rot almost every set, and a strictly better black 3 mana draw 2 lose 2 almost every set . . . To be fair, these 'baseline' cards tend to be unplayable, and their slightly better versions that have set mechanics are also unplayable in constructed, but they are great for limited
December 10, 2021 11:10 a.m.
sergiodelrio says... #9
TriusMalarky, yes, I agree with you. However, once you've found one of those "baseline" cards, it's easy to find examples for strictly better cards. I think it makes more sense to identify them as singular "strictly worse" cards, instead of counting the strictly better cards in comparison. Then suddenly they are only a hand full.
December 10, 2021 11:17 a.m.
sergiodelrio Yeah, that was my goal for this thread: pick out the handful of "baseline" cards and see how many there were. I figure they represent the most basic, common spells and effects.
For creatures, a vanilla 3/3 for or and vanilla 2/2 for or seem to be popular, but they're all functional reprints, give or take some creature types.
Omniscience_is_life says... #2
Maybe Prey Upon? Idk
I'm interested to see what more people think of!
December 10, 2021 1:19 a.m.