CMC changer

[Shadow-Walker]

Cardname
U
Instant
Choose a number no greater than 10. Target spell's or permanent's converted mana cost is equal to that number until end of turn.


I hate having the "no greater" clause but with artifact mutation (also Rush of Knowledge) this is a pretty strong combo (of course its also 3 colors and 3 cards but still).  In most other cases it's more of a neat trick.  I want the name to have something to do with the target's local energy field and manipulating that.

EDIT: actually if it changed it BY a certain amount that would also be interesting, like:
"Increase or decrease the converted mana cost of target spell or permanent by up to 3 until until end of turn."

[Shadow-Walker]

Current Wording

Cardname
U
Instant
Increase or decrease the converted mana cost of target spell or permanent by up to 4 until until end of turn.

[Anusien]

Interesting.  If you think power level is a concern, you could do XU: Increase or decrease it's CMC by X until end of turn.

I like it though and I think you can keep it as is; it's a neat trick at U and worthless any other way.

Name suggestion: Power Flux

[dandan]

Couldn't you change the CMC to that of a target permanent or spell? That would be more of an illusion than energy field manipulation but it would simplify the card as well as making it easier to see where the change (and consequently size of change) is coming from.

This would almost always allow CMC=0 which is where Keg/EE/Deed would want it. It could partially 'counter' Artifact Mutation but wouldn't help Rush of Knowledge much.

[Shadow-Walker]

Adding a second target further narrows its applications and I just dont see a reason to do it.  I am going to go with the change by a certain amount wording though as it seems more elegant to me.

[Jacob Orlove]

Do we really need this effect? The CMC of a card is a very confusing area of the rules, and this is so narrow that I just can't see it being worth the hassle.

[Matt]

I'm with Jacob.

[dandan]

Jacob/Matt - that was may initial reaction, although when I thought about it, it is very clear what this card does and Blue already has a number of other cards that refer to CMC. As I have mentioned, I like to know why a card should exist and I dislike numbers inserted on cards for no real reason (obviously direct damage and taxing need numbers) so I'd rather this merely gives the illusion that a spell or permanent has the CMC of another spell/permanent.