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dartfu — Humiliating Loss
Published: 2009-03-03 08:20:26 +0000 UTC; Views: 181; Favourites: 0; Downloads: 2
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Guess what TAUNT and PSI do?HINT:
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Interesting concept, but very complex. I really don't see any way to fit all the reminder text you'd need on there.
Of course, you could just put it in a set with a bunch of commons/uncommons that have either Psi or Taunt (but not both) so people would already know what those abilities do.(like what Time Spiral did with suspend).
I think that any card that has a keyword other than one of the basics (landwalk, flying, trample, reach, etc.) should have reminder text telling you what it does. The set method I described above only works with actual sets, not one-shot cards like this. I had to look up what both the abilities did to understand this card, and that's a problem.
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Right, taunt is a mini-game in itself. It's reminiscent of some older cards. However, it's not very hard to grasp once both players have tried it a few times. I mean, Blackjack seems simple, but if you write out the rules, it might take a few pages to explain every detail.
Reminder text is a relatively new thing. In the old days, players figured things out from reading the rules book or tips card (though only Legends packs provided tips card) or judges were given rules sheets that were to be handed out to players. A tips card would be a cool thing to make, though. But I think an online reference to the new keywords and mechanics would suffice for now. Anyone can browse to it or print out the rules. It brings back Richard Garfield's original vision of exploration and discovery. WotC has good reason to use reminder text. But since mine is an amateur project, I don't always have to follow their methods.
For instance, I really wish they would keyword the two most common actions: 'milling' and 'bounce'. You've probably noticed by visitng the link in my journal entry that I created keywords for these actions--I call these actions 'displace' and 'withdraw' respectively. Two factions in my set have their themes based around putting cards from the library to the grave, so it makes sense for me to create a keyword that will simplify these common interactions. Not only that, depleting an opponent's library is the second most popular path to victory. Hence, it deserves a keyword. I haven't made much use of 'withdraw' yet. Besides being a very common action, returning things to your hand is also used as costs. To me, the cost phrases should be as succinct as possible. I mean, the text on the moonfolks in Kamigawa is very inelegant. Hence, it also deserves a keyword.
I'll still use reminder text for simpler mechanics, like Momentum. Which I just changed from being a Rhox ability to the Slith ability, wherein the creature gains a +1/+1 counter if it damaged the player. Taunt can't be explained in reminder text, but it shouldn't be hard to learn.
It's harder on me as a designer trying to think of good cards to go with taunt. Triggering off discard is the first thing that comes to mind. As such, Madness is very obvious. But I also wanted something fresh. I knew that I needed a keyword to denote a Psychic card's taunt value, hence another keyword called Psi. Furthermore, that keyworded needed to do something besides just helping taunt. Also, 'milling' is the primary victory path for Psychic. Both ideas came together to form the current ability for Psi: when a card with Psi is discarded, have a player move cards from his library to the grave. This is perfect since the set has a lot of interactions with the library: Entropy will self-displace not unlike Dredge; Fractal can scry to set up the library, but displace can mess up their plans; Arcane can search their library, but it does no good if the card they want is in the graveyard.
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