Draw 7 with a twist revisited

[Guardian]

OK, I know this is going to stir discussion. In fact, I'm rebooting an idea I had six years ago about draw 7 effects. The fact a new one that is not terrible has been printed in M11 makes me want to bring back what I and other members discussed back then.

For reference, here's the old thread: http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=19920.msg323200#msg323200


Ergosphere
1UB
Sorcery
An opponent may choose to reveal his hand if he has more than zero card in his hand. If he does, choose and discard a card. If he doesn't, each player discards his hand and draws seven cards.


The effect of drawing 7 cards is huge and one has to think beyond mana cost to create such a card. The problem is how to make something playable but that isn't overpowered in any format. Timetwister is obviously too powerful but Temporal Cascade is just horrible.

I chose sorcery speed for obvious reasons. Timetwister is a sorcery and so are Time Spiral, Windfall, Diminishing Returns, Wheel of Fortune, Coercion, Temporal Cascade and Time Reversal.

First drawback: colors. Mono colored spells are somewhat too powerful unless there's a ridiculous amount of colored mana that is necessary to cast the sapell so making it multi-colored is the way to go. What are then the correct colors? Since it can draw and discard, blue and black are the choice colors in the present situation.

Second drawback: it is possible to dodge the effect if the opponent has at least one card. Then it becomes a multi-colored Coercion, thus a less powerful card.

Third drawback: it probably deserves a mythic Rare status.

However, I still chose to cost it at three so it remains playable. The balance of the card comes from the fact that if you play this early, it is a discard spell as the opponent will likely want to prevent you from drawing 7 cards. However, he may want to have a fresh hand so he may choose to not reveal his hand and draw 7 cards instead. Late game, if you get to the point where the opponent is empty handed, you deserve for the spell to resolve.

While reading the old discussion, keep in mind that the metagame in 2004 was very different so I believe that with the actual card pool, this card is worth a look.

Ergosphere
1UB
Sorcery
An opponent may choose to reveal his hand if he has more than zero card in his hand. If he does, choose a card. That opponent disards that card. If he doesn't, each player discards his hand and draws seven cards.

Changes:

- Killane: wording

[Killane]

If I understand the intent of the card correctly, the wording is wrong. It should read: ".... if he does, choose a card. That opponent disards that card." The way it is worded now makes it sound like you the caster are the one who as to discard if he reveals.

Otherwise I like it.

[Guardian]

That correction makes a lot of sense.

[Killane]

I love the tension that exists within this card. the opponent is faced with a very difficult choice - moving forward past the resolution of this card, you will either- know the entire contents of thier hand, and get to remove the best card they have, or they will give you 7 new cards and get 7 themselves, but will their 7 beat yours? As a combo player I'd love if they woudl print this - it leads to all sorts o decision trees - how many spells do you play out before this? If they pick draw 7 and you leave 6 cards uncast, you loose a huge part of what makes draw 7's good - but if they pick discard after you've played out your whole Storm hand and you don;t get the draw 7 effect, you've actual hurt yourself worse than them.

Vey skill intensive card, well designed. I love it- wish they'd actually print this. Beautiful.

[Anusien]

Am I the only one that doesn't really find this card interesting? A card that 80% of the time is just Coercion and sometimes is randomly a Draw7 isn't really consistent enough for combo decks to actually take advantage.
I would suggest that if you want to play in this space, instead of doing a Draw7, Dark Tutelage 7 times is an interesting effect. But it's so hit or miss, it's probably like Diminishing Returns: either you win on the spot or you lose.

[Delha]

I like it a lot as well, FWIW. I suspect that it'd be too unreliable to see play, but I feel that it's a neat concept.

In the vein of Anusien's suggestion, how about reducing the cost to , but making the draw only affect you, and be half your life for 4 cards? It becomes a cheaper Coercion or Infernal Contract, weakened by the fact that your opponent gets to choose which one you get.

[Guardian]

In the vein of Anusien's suggestion, how about reducing the cost to , but making the draw only affect you, and be half your life for 4 cards? It becomes a cheaper Coercion or Infernal Contract, weakened by the fact that your opponent gets to choose which one you get.

Not all cards have to be tournament worthy. I really want a BIG effect. Draw 7 is as big as it gets. And an opponent may choose to let the card resolve. In Type 1 it would be mighty dangerous to let that happen but in other formats, I guess it could happen. Of course it can be a worse Coercion, but that's the point. The drawback to that draw 7 is that it may not happen. Instead you get a weaker effect that is still somewhat potent.

[jro]

Is there some way to change the templating on this to make it not read like programming code?  The current version gets too unwieldy if you change it to be gender neutral, which is how modern templating is done.  Something like the current wording for Mana Vortex might work:

Ergosphere
1UB
Sorcery
When you cast Ergosphere, counter it unless an opponent reveals his or her hand and discards a card of your choice. (A player with no cards can't discard.)
Each player discards his or her hand and draws seven cards.

Also, I'm not sure the name for the region around the event horizon of a black hole is an appropriate name for a fantasy card game.  "Black Hole" wouldn't be a good name for a Magic card, right?

[Delha]

Is there some way to change the templating on this to make it not read like programming code?  The current version gets too unwieldy if you change it to be gender neutral, which is how modern templating is done.  Something like the current wording for Mana Vortex might work:

[snip]

Also, I'm not sure the name for the region around the event horizon of a black hole is an appropriate name for a fantasy card game.  "Black Hole" wouldn't be a good name for a Magic card, right?

Boseiju makes your version becomes a true Draw 7, which is not the case for the current template. That said, I have no problem with that loophole, and like your choice of templating better anyway.

Regarding flavor: It seems everyone tends to go with Magic-Tech for their fantasy worlds these days. Offhand, Parallectric Feedback sounds more like a Star Trek kinda card than Magic, but shrug.

[Killane]

Is there some way to change the templating on this to make it not read like programming code?  The current version gets too unwieldy if you change it to be gender neutral, which is how modern templating is done.  Something like the current wording for Mana Vortex might work:

Ergosphere
1UB
Sorcery
When you cast Ergosphere, counter it unless an opponent reveals his or her hand and discards a card of your choice. (A player with no cards can't discard.)
Each player discards his or her hand and draws seven cards.

Also, I'm not sure the name for the region around the event horizon of a black hole is an appropriate name for a fantasy card game.  "Black Hole" wouldn't be a good name for a Magic card, right?

This seems good. the wording allowing the Boseiju loohole shouldn'y make it a big issue. I still love the concept of this card.