On November 20 2012 05:59 Pumplekin wrote:WARNING: LARGE WALL OF TEXT.
I liked this a lot, I think it is a fun and interesting project to merge two interests/hobbies. I used to play a lot of both SC and MTG, and so I've put together some feedback.
I've also tried to point out some of the templating errors I can see in it. (I'm not someone you want to proofread things for spelling, I'm minorly dyslexic).
I'm not convinced by associating each SC race with a single colour. I think SC races, and people/things within those races represent different parts of the magic colour pie. For example, Mengsk has aspects of black (willingness to sacrifice for power), but has some white aspects too (authority, even if impossed authority).
Zerg as a race have a lot of red/green in them as well (natural order, survival of the fittest, random impulsion), but when dominated by say Kerrigan or the Hive Mind would lose the red in favour of black.
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On individual cards :-
Battlecruiser: 6/6 flying body for 7 is good (but not amazing), and the ability is very expensive/slow and unlikely to be used often. I think it could lose a bit from the body in exchange for a better ability on the Yamato, but then again, the Yamato isn't that popular in game, so this captures that quite nicely.
TEMPLATING: At the beginning of your upkeep, put a Yamato counter on Battlecruiser.
TEMPLATING: RRRR{tap} Remote 3 Yamato counters from Battlecruiser: Deal 7 Damage to Target Creature.
(Putting the Remove before the : indicates it is part of the cost, and something you must pay). If it is after the : it would cause problems).
Marauder: Uninspiring, but would see limited play for sure.
Supply Depot: Would certainly see some limited play, particularly in sets with lots of 2 powered attackers. I may tweak it to something like.
TEMPLATING: Change to the new "Enters the Battlefield" template.
Specter: This is Latch Seeker in red. I don't think this is a particularly red card, but it is very strong.
TEMPLATING: As much as I didn't want to point out spelling, this one makes a huge difference. The card name is "Specter" but the rules text refers to "Spectre".
Thor: IMO, this is significantly better, and significantly more likely to see play than the Battlecruiser (I guess a bit like SC2 then). It has a very good body for the cost, and can totally shut down certain decks that can't deal with it.
Reaper: Did you really mean the double negative on "Can't not". I think you mean "Reaper can't be blocked except by creatures with flying".
Yamato Cannon: Fine power level wise. Sorcery speed makes up for it's high power and flexibility. Red generally doesn't get this ability though to just zap any creature. Usually this is reserved for black.
TEMPLATING: Exile target artifact or creature.
Vulture: TEMPLATING. "Vulture comes into play with 3 mine tokens on it. RR{tap}, remove a mine token from Vulture: Put a 3/1 red Spidermine creature token with defender onto the battlefield."
Barracks: Feels underpowered these days.
TEMPLATING: "Put a 1/1 Marine Creature token onto the battlefield".
Medivac: Powerful. Very powerful. Amazingly powerful with pump effects, or cards like maruader. An obvious interaction is to use Medivac to pick up some Maruaders, and then pump them after the check for 6 or less power has been done.
TEMPLATING: "Infantry creatures you control get +0/+1. I'm really not sure how to template the last bit".
Medic: I'm assuming you don't want the healing ability to persist through turns. I'm also not sure how a player can gain the type infantry. I'd have this something like :-
TEMPLATING: "Activated abilities of Infantry Creatures you control cost {R} less to activate. {TAP}: Prevent the next 2 damage that would be delt to target infantry creature this turn".
Ghost: TEMPLATING: Move the Discard to be part of the cost. Otherwise you can play the ability with an empty hand to shoot people for 4, which I don't think is the desired effect.
Emp: This would never see print in red, it doesn't even see print anymore in blue at less than 1UU.
Mule: Red dark ritual. WAY WAY TOO GOOD to see print.
Orbital Command: It could use an ability that interacts with your opponents hand as well, to simulate comsat.
Hellion: TEMPLATING. Go for the modern "Enters the Battlefield" template. Also, maybe make the ability optional. As it stands, playing it on turn 1 without a target means it needs to kill itself.
Siege Tank: I'd redesign this to have a "tank mode" and a "non-tank mode".
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Neural Parasite: This is basically "Threaten" in black. Unlikely to see print. TEMPLATING: Steal threatens
.
Droning: This is "Explore" in black. Black doesn't really do this, green is the only real "extra land" colour. TEMPLATING: Steal explores
).
Hydralisk: Fine limited card, maybe make the body weaker but the ability stronger ?. Not sure why Hydras can only shoot up, but a pinger without the body would be overcosted, and if the ability was better without a targeting restriction, the ability would be too good.
Burrowing Roach: I really like this card. Would see a lot of limited play.
Burrowed Baneling: THIS IS OVERPOWERED !. Needs to be more expensive, more limited, or provide opponents with ways out. At the moment the only thing I can do is be very careful how I attack to play around it. This would be a serious set warping card, and and as printed at common would break limited.
Infestor: You need to be very careful wording this card to avoid the problem of Waylay. Waylay as printed (not as errated) created tokens you could make in your end step, keep during your opponents turn, and then attack with before you have to exile them. As the token made with infestor is designed to attack, this is less of an issue, but as written you could use the ability at your opponents EOT, and then use it in yours to get two to attack at the same time. I'm not sure if this is intentional or not.
Zergling Swarm: I think this card has power level issues. It is one of the best token makers around and would give token decks some serious wet dreams. I think it needs at least some more fixed cost added to make it stop being "good" at 3, "awesome" at 4 and "busted at 5+".
Queen of Blades: Too risky to see play, but captures Kerrigan quite well. Might be better if instead of costing you the game, made you sac all zerg creatures you controlled, and had an ability that interacted better with zerg creatures.
Zergling Spawn: I think this is too good to see print. Raise the Alarm does this for 1W in black.
Changeling: Reminds me of Sleeper Agent, but much more expensive and much less risky in terms of what you are giving away for the effect.
TEMPLATING: Steal some templating from Sleeper Agent.
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Zealot: Not very blue. Blue doesn't get Trample. I think he needs an "anti small/cheap creatures" type ability, maybe the ability to block two creatures.
Dark Templar: Surely should have an evasion ability to better reflect Dark Templar. Maybe intimidate or even unblockable. First Strike + Deathtouch are pretty busted on a single creature
.
Fenix/Fenix Dragoon: Very high power level. VERY
. Maybe not so totally silly with some of the undying cards seeing print these days though. Also, you can have a Fenix and a Fenix Dragoon at the same time (which seems theme, even if doing so is quite risky).
High Templar: The psistorm ability is very powerful, although with the targeting restriction could make you blow up your own creature. The land targeting ability is also quite powerful.
Colossus: I think I see what the 3rd ability is for, but I don't think this is very elegent. I think the idea is that it can be targetted by things that hit flyers (like colossus in SC2 can be targetted by anti air abilities). Here are the problem I see with the card :-
1.) It CAN hit flyers, but thematically it shouldn't be able to (Colossi don't fire up).
2.) The "All Players but the owner" ability interacts poorly in these situations :-
2.1.) Control Magic Effects: If I steal your colossus, I can make it fly !. You can't.
2.2.) In a 2HG game, my teammate can it make it fly !.
3.) The "loses first strike" when blocking flyers seems wierd.
How about (still not very blue, still not 100% elegent) :-
Trample. Colossus cannot deal damage to creatures with flying. If colossus is blocked by a creature with flying, you may assign combat damage as if it were not blocked by that creature.
Charge: WOAH. I'm sure the different between "Creature" and "Creatures" here means you really meant to design a nice pump spell rather than something utterly broken. Still not very blue (with trample and all).
Archon: Too weak. Really not worth 2 cards to play this. Maybe give it flash, and use the offering mechanic from Betrayers of Kamigawa to allow you to play Archon in response to a dying templar. (and use the templar as part of the cost to play it). It would still need some rebalancing, but I think that would be better thematically.
Carrier: People who know magic are going to hate me for this, but I think this card could make 1/1 interceptor tokens and give them banding
.
TEMPLATING: "enters the battlefield".
Pylon: This is just a reprint of Council of the Soratami or Divination. I think it could be much more interesting.
Mothership: TEMPATING. When Mothership enters the battlefield, return target creature to its owners hand. {TAP}: Untap up to 3 target attacking creatures you control and remove them from combat.
Phoenix: Capturing a Phoenix lift is really tricky, but your Phoenix doesn't have flying
. I think it also needs to prevent the creatures it "lifts" from being damaged by creatures without reach or flying.