Wobbles The Goose
05-04-2007, 08:51 PM
Flash got me thinking about other cards that would be horribly broken if they could be played as printed. Who knows, maybe the next time an oracle update/large legacy event rolls around, such a card might be on it without warning and warp the metagame so that it can be properly banned a month later. As far as I can think, there are really only two cards that would be clearly more game warping then Flash (Kaervek's Spite or Sonic Blast with an activated ability instead of an additional cost). Granted, the current policy is theorically not in place to revert cards to their printed effect, but rather their intended effect. However, it's pretty clear that in the case of Flash though no one at the time intended for it to be used to horribly break leaving play effects (no cards that I've seen pre-mirage had any such abilities, but I could be missing something).
Other cards that would be way more powerful (but still probably less broken then Flash) if they worked as the rules would allow them to today:
Pursuit of Knowledge- Is white getting a sorcery speed draw 4 for 3W really that broken? I mean, it's a little better then harmonize, but still.
Waylay- Would a white ball lightning for 2W even be played?
Thawing Glaciers- Personally, searching twice with this card before it bounced seems cool, but not broken.
Lotus Vale- This card would be black lotus that also takes your land drop. In case it is degenerate, you could just ban it as it's not like it's seeing any play now.
Mox Diamond- Better then lotus petal, but the format does have 8 spirit guides which serve a really simular role. If the card would have to be banned, it would take a chunk out of loam/stax, but not all loam/stax builds even run it and little else does.
Phyrexian Dreadnought- a 12/12 that instantly dies seems alot less broken then a 6/6 that instantly dies then wins you the game.
Lion's Eye Diamond- I'm not sure how much better allowing this card to play one spell makes it. Storm already gets around the disadvantage fine, but it would certainly help Salvager. Dredge might get alot better, but even that doesn't sounds like an unsolvable metagame. If they were really going for intent, it would just read "This mana can't be used to play spells". Maybe they will change it that way eventually reguardless.
Zodiac Dragon- Could this card really do anything more frightening then a really big wild mongrel? Is such a mongrel even really that scary? Would banning Zodiac really be a huge blow to the metagame?
Parallax Wave / Parallax Tide- Really, the inability to bounce these cards in response to their abilities on the stack is counter intuitive. Plus, it makes the cards alot better when they are about to be removed. Angel stompy would miss Wave if it had to be banned, but I'm not sure if modern lists still run it over cataclysm/geddon. Either way Wave would remain either must counter, or a target for Krosan Grip from Gobos so it's not like much would change there.
Culling of the Weak, any other instant/sorcery with a colon: Since lightning storm opened the door to non-permanents with activated abilities it wouldn't be that hard to just allow all old cards with that templating to be played as such. It would certainly make alot of them alot better by the virture of being basically uncounterable. Harrow would keep it's Invasion wording so as not to allow you to grab most of the lands out of your deck, like relic bind. Culling would be the strongest of those that wouldn't have to be instantly banned, but even then it's not a turn one kill, just 4 mana per creature you control, probably powering up a storm combo, at the notable disadvantage of playing a bunch of creatures. Still, probably not a broken as Flash, and even if it was cullings a pretty easy card to ban.
Gilded Drake- I'm not exactly sure why you can't stifle the drakes ability, but you can't. I'm pretty sure that it's not the only thing holding Drake from being the next flash.
Impluse- You would get to shuffle your library. savage
I think I got all the big ones, but are there any other cards that would be playable if they just did what they said they did? As near as I can tell, the basic policy is that it's better to have cards that break the game in half by doing what they say they do then have cards that remain niche playable as errataed. It would increase the power level of legacy decks, but not make them entirely degenerate to the point were every deck either runs force of will or loses horribly. Would the game be better off if cards like these just did what they said they do instead of having to rely on the mess that constitutes most of their texts?
For that matter, is there any need for errata to remain on any card that makes even the slightest amount of since as written? (Cards that don't make since: Time Vault, Erayo, maybe a few from portal) I mean, it's all well and good to divine the "intended" meaning, but why not just go for the printed wording and let bannings figure out the rest?
Other cards that would be way more powerful (but still probably less broken then Flash) if they worked as the rules would allow them to today:
Pursuit of Knowledge- Is white getting a sorcery speed draw 4 for 3W really that broken? I mean, it's a little better then harmonize, but still.
Waylay- Would a white ball lightning for 2W even be played?
Thawing Glaciers- Personally, searching twice with this card before it bounced seems cool, but not broken.
Lotus Vale- This card would be black lotus that also takes your land drop. In case it is degenerate, you could just ban it as it's not like it's seeing any play now.
Mox Diamond- Better then lotus petal, but the format does have 8 spirit guides which serve a really simular role. If the card would have to be banned, it would take a chunk out of loam/stax, but not all loam/stax builds even run it and little else does.
Phyrexian Dreadnought- a 12/12 that instantly dies seems alot less broken then a 6/6 that instantly dies then wins you the game.
Lion's Eye Diamond- I'm not sure how much better allowing this card to play one spell makes it. Storm already gets around the disadvantage fine, but it would certainly help Salvager. Dredge might get alot better, but even that doesn't sounds like an unsolvable metagame. If they were really going for intent, it would just read "This mana can't be used to play spells". Maybe they will change it that way eventually reguardless.
Zodiac Dragon- Could this card really do anything more frightening then a really big wild mongrel? Is such a mongrel even really that scary? Would banning Zodiac really be a huge blow to the metagame?
Parallax Wave / Parallax Tide- Really, the inability to bounce these cards in response to their abilities on the stack is counter intuitive. Plus, it makes the cards alot better when they are about to be removed. Angel stompy would miss Wave if it had to be banned, but I'm not sure if modern lists still run it over cataclysm/geddon. Either way Wave would remain either must counter, or a target for Krosan Grip from Gobos so it's not like much would change there.
Culling of the Weak, any other instant/sorcery with a colon: Since lightning storm opened the door to non-permanents with activated abilities it wouldn't be that hard to just allow all old cards with that templating to be played as such. It would certainly make alot of them alot better by the virture of being basically uncounterable. Harrow would keep it's Invasion wording so as not to allow you to grab most of the lands out of your deck, like relic bind. Culling would be the strongest of those that wouldn't have to be instantly banned, but even then it's not a turn one kill, just 4 mana per creature you control, probably powering up a storm combo, at the notable disadvantage of playing a bunch of creatures. Still, probably not a broken as Flash, and even if it was cullings a pretty easy card to ban.
Gilded Drake- I'm not exactly sure why you can't stifle the drakes ability, but you can't. I'm pretty sure that it's not the only thing holding Drake from being the next flash.
Impluse- You would get to shuffle your library. savage
I think I got all the big ones, but are there any other cards that would be playable if they just did what they said they did? As near as I can tell, the basic policy is that it's better to have cards that break the game in half by doing what they say they do then have cards that remain niche playable as errataed. It would increase the power level of legacy decks, but not make them entirely degenerate to the point were every deck either runs force of will or loses horribly. Would the game be better off if cards like these just did what they said they do instead of having to rely on the mess that constitutes most of their texts?
For that matter, is there any need for errata to remain on any card that makes even the slightest amount of since as written? (Cards that don't make since: Time Vault, Erayo, maybe a few from portal) I mean, it's all well and good to divine the "intended" meaning, but why not just go for the printed wording and let bannings figure out the rest?