Storm Scale: Theros and Theros: Beyond Death
General forum
Posted on Dec. 7, 2020, 6:49 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
Mark Rosewater has written another Storm Scale article, this one for the Theros block and Theros: Beyond Death, so I am again posting it, here, for us to discuss.
This time around, I agree with all of Rosewater's ratings, since Theros is not one of my favorite planes and I honestly found both blocks to be only mildly exciting. I disliked how Rosewater stated that all the creatures with the constellation mechanic in TBD were not enchantments themselves, because I like how awesomely they combo with themselves when they are creatures.
What does everyone else say about this? Do you agree or disagree with Rosewater's ratings?
No I agree with Maro about strive. Its about making an effect that feels unique. We have various buff, destroy etc effects. Ya cant squeeze enough unique feeling cards out of it.
Honestly the 5 strive cards IMO we are missing are Strive Mind Control, Polymorph, Flicker, recurr from GY and targetted sacrifice
December 8, 2020 4:31 a.m.
MindAblaze says... #4
I thought the constellation creatures in THB were a cop-out. Maybe it was easier for them to balance them when they didn’t trigger themselves, but who wants to shove non-enchantment permanents in their enchantment deck?
I agree with MaRo about strive too. Boring, expensive ability that requires a lot of set up to get the most of it. The one combo is fun once.
I liked inspire for certain effects but I can only build so many decks around specific styles and Inspire and voltron always seemed like competing interests.
December 8, 2020 11:15 a.m.
Tyrant-Thanatos says... #5
I agree with MaRo about strive too. Boring, expensive ability that requires a lot of set up to get the most of it.
But that's only because they chose to design the cards that way. The ability itself does not inherently create these problems. Consign to Dust didn't have to cost to cast and an additional per extra target. I'd hesitate to reduce the primary casting cost to avoid a strictly-better Naturalize (though those already exist now so whatever I guess), but per extra target!? FFS that could have easily been and the card would be fine imo. Maybe if you're trying to be conservative about it. But is just absurd. And this is a consistent issue with these cards, and it's not a problem with the ability itself, it's a problem with the design philosophy that was in play when they designed them. I mean Nature's Panoply come on
Honestly the 5 strive cards IMO we are missing are Strive Mind Control, Polymorph, Flicker, recurr from GY and targetted sacrifice
Creature destruction? Damage? -X/-X? Protection? "recur from GY" can be done various ways on various targets. Artifacts, creatures, instant/sorcery, to hand, to battlefield, etc. The only Strive Bounce spell only targeted Enchantments ffs.
Cards like Double Negative, Swift Silence, and Summary Dismissal have been printed, so I see no reason a goofy Strive Counterspell couldn't have been made.
Either way, they're definitely in a position where bringing this back is unlikely. You're not going to excite people with the return of a mechanic that floundered the way this one did, regardless of if it was an issue with the core concept of the mechanic or the design and implementation of it.
Tyrant-Thanatos says... #2
Agree with most of the ratings. Disagree with some of the rationales. Strive in particular, which was largely disliked (imo) because the cards were awful. The mechanic would have been fine if they had just designed the cards with reasonable costs instead of dramatically overestimating the value of additional targets. I mean it's basically Replicate, but they balanced it as if it was Buyback. If you look at something like Shattering Spree, which isn't even fantastic tbh, and compare it to Consign to Dust or Kiora's Dismissal like dude, of course nobody liked these wtf.
Then he goes on to say
.... You can't think of more than 20 multi-targeted effects in this game? and we're trusting you to design for it? bruh
December 8, 2020 2:47 a.m.