Time for card 2? I am not that experienced in MtG to give trustful ideas, yet I am sure many of us are.
I hadn't expected Card 1 to generate this much in depth discussion (including leading to some users developing field slots and autocast further), but I will post card 2 if more users want to move on.
Keep in mind that we are making a separate EtG card, so you don't have to discuss it from an MtG point of view. Instead, try to focus on how we could improve it EtG-wise and how it would effect the EtG metagame.
@ZBlader
I would have expected you to examine the source as you do the product. What I mean by this is that you spent too little space describing what was good/bad about the thing being converted. This lead you to continue with a source that is poorly suited for EtG.
What is Ninjutsu? : The ability to trade places with an attacking creature.
Why is Ninjutsu? : To create a new combat trick that has a theme that fit ninjas.
I think we can all see that EtG does not have combat tricks and is not ideal for the addition of combat tricks.
The first lesson about taking inspiration for other sources is not to steal. However the second lesson is to recognize when an idea is good or bad for the new setting.
Before I address the main issue presented here, I would like clarify what I meant by 'translate' in the original post. The column's intent is not to directly
copy a mechanic from one game to another but rather to analyze what the mechanic does in its medium and create a
deriative mechanic that relates to a similar
theme or purpose of the original.
My goal for each 'card post' was to be brief to avoid boring users and encourage discussion of the derivative mechanic. I did however forget to add a concise analysis of the mechanic, which may clarify why I decided it was a 'valid' random pick to start with.
Ninjutsu is a card/tempo advantage combat trick designed for MtG to reward players for landing direct hits on a player.
In order to provide general advantage to compensate for the disadvantage of 'bouncing' the initial creature, Ninjutsu provides 2 benefits:
1) A lowered mana cost allowing the Ninjitsu card to be played on an earlier turn which allows Ninjas to be 'accelerated' out at the cost of a card. (Card for Tempo)
2) A Ninja with a more effective ability than most creatures with its P/T. This abilit provides either card or tempo advantage depending on the Ninja. (
Mistblade Shinobi gives tempo advantage by returning an enemy creature to its owner's hand.
Okiba Gang Shinobi gives card advantage by forcing your opponent to discard 2 cards.
Silent-Blade Oni gives both types of advantages because it steals a card from your opponent's hand and lets you play that card for free.)
I agree that a direct copy of Ninjutsu would not fit in EtG at all due lack of an entire combat phase.
A combat trick would not fit into EtG because EtG does not support instants code-wise.
Howevever Ninjutsu is a
conditional cost that occurs under certain conditions. (In this case, succesfully attacking unblocked.)
I wanted to focus on the "conditional cast" aspect of that cost, and this resulted in the "autocast on [condition]" mechanic. (Note: This mechanic does not have to be ninja related. As jazzfan27 also showed this could be possibly given to other creatures and possibly spells/permanents.)
The thread then discussed on how the autocast should be triggered and under what conditions should it be triggered - slot interaction was brought up in an attempt to resemble the MtG mechanic but was dismissed as being too clunky as shown by Hyroen. In other words, other triggers should be found for autocast.
I think this separate effect should be given a chance to be discussed and developed - it does not require a battle step like Ninjutsu and only bears a passing resemblance to an MtG 'combat trick' (if anything, this acts more like several 'Trap' card ideas on the EtG forums like
Quiet Trap | Redirecting Trap, with the difference being this casts from the hand and the previous CI&A traps had to be played on the field.) We have only brought up one condition for costing that attempted to resemble MtG and have rejected it so far -
We should refine this autocast mechanic further, IMHO, and develop other factors like:
- Should this check costs, or play for free?
- What are the best conditions for gameplay? (List provided but not narrowed down.)
- What are the best conditions for coding? (List provided but not narrowed down.)
- Does the effect change if autocast? If yes, stronger/weaker effect?
