I didn't call black as the winning color for the second decision of You Make the Card 4. But seeing that Red was in second place is not completely disappointing. Especially since blue came in a distant fourth. To recap, here is where we are in the process:
Type: Enchantment
Color: Black
AoE: Voting this week - Link to Voting
What is AoE? It's an older acronym occasionally used in gaming that means 'Area of Effect'. Enchantments are funny spells that can, depending on the type, either effect a player, permanent in play, or the battlefield (please note that I'm not a judge, so this explanation is basic and in my own terms). For the purposes of arguing the benefits and keeping this less Spike and more Timmy - we're going to limit the discussion this week to Auras and Global enchantments.
Yes, I realize WotC is also limiting the voting to Aura's and Global enchantments even though Enchantments can have several subtypes (Auras, Curses and Shrines from what I've read). Funny how things work at that way, isn't it?
What's the Difference?
Simply stated, Auras principally affect the card they are attached to. Auras can be attached to Artifacts, Creatures, and Land. Global enchantments, on the other hand, don't attach to anything. They are permanents that stand alone on the battlefield and can only be targeted by spells or abilities that specifically target enchantments.
Recent examples of Auras: Abundant Growth, Arrest, Ethereal Armor, Rancor, and Chronic Flooding.
Recent examples of Global: Collective Blessing, Detention Sphere, and Martial Law.
So how should we determine what to pick? Do we go for the buffed up creature or the clever abuse of a land? Or should we shoot for a way to make everything better for us/more challenging for our opponent? Let's look at them.
Auras
Auras are a means of modifying or otherwise enhancing a permanent in play. Note that I stated a permanent, so this can not affect a sorcery or an instant. Many black aura's that I searched for had some type of penalty attached to it as the effect. Making it a card we'd want to play most of the time on our opponent's permanents.
Could we end up with a Rancor type card, only in black? Not as far as I know. Mark Rosewater, the guru of set development for MTG, is fond of defining what effects fall into which colors. With that in mind (and taking a look at the Gatherer database), black aura cards tend to:
- Destroy target upon an action occurring
- Offer a bonus for black cards
- Offer a penalty for opponents or non-black cards
- Create a situation whereby the player makes a sacrifice for a benefit
- Does something to result in lifelink or damage
- Gives Intimidate/Swampwalk
- or Plays with the Graveyard
Surely someone with encyclopedic knowledge could add to the list, but all of these are relevant options to consider as we move forward. Would you like an aura that affects Creatures, adds +2/+0 to Demons and gives +0/-4 to all other creatures, and gives the enchanted creature Swampwalk? Well, that type of a card is a possibility with Auras.
Fun fact - there are 152 unique Black Enchantment Auras in Gatherer.
Global - or...Plain Jane Enchantments now on a Global Scale!
Global Enchantments are a means of modifying the game state, all of the cards in play, the graveyard, the exile zone, and more. Whereas aura's are targeted effects, GE's are played to the battlefield. Once they resolve and until they're removed, they're always 'on' and can be triggered by any number of changes that occur during the game.
As such, they have potential to do more than Auras. GE's can do some of the following and more:
- Generate tokens
- 'Suspend the rules' (ie, creatures that die are exiled instead of sent to the graveyard)
- Globally affect any card type and/or subtypes (for example, "All lands are now Swamps in addition to their other type(s).")
- Effects that penalize the person who played it, the opponent, or both!
In addition to these examples, a carefully worded GE can do much of what an Aura can do - only on a bigger scale. It should be noted that it appears that GE's cost on average a little bit more than Aura style Enchantments. That's not a deal breaker - they do more. But don't think you'll get a similar effect on a Global Enchantment as you'd find on an Aura without paying for it.
Fun fact - there are 209 unique Black Global Enchantments in Gatherer.
What to Choose?
At this point, each time we vote we're all playing a massive game of chess. Voters should be looking at how their decision today will play out to the end - trying to outguess what it will take to get to the endgame.
I, for one, think my recommendation this time is to go for a Global Enchantment. Why? What did it for me this time is the fact that Globals can simply do more. I want to engage and encourage the creative process and selecting Global allows for a larger number of possible outcomes. I'm still not 100% decided though. So, in the interest of fairness, I'll wait a day or two to cast my vote. Everyone who reads this is encouraged to give me some feedback as to which direction they're going in and why. I promise I'll view it all and respond.
Before you run off there is one thing you should do. Post in your Twitter feed the current enchantment direction you are leaning towards and why (if you can do it in less than 140 characters).
In fact - why not link back to this article at the same time. The benefit there is others can get in on the fun as well. We can all see what kind of traffic is generated and have a chance to convince others to change their minds.
Use the following hashtags:
It looks like you didn't even consider the possibility of an aura that's meant to enchant your opponent's stuff! Myself, I would like to see an Enslave variant that stole planeswalkers.
ReplyDeleteActually, in the list for Aura effects above, there are a couple that affect the opponent. However, I like where you're going with that thought. Theft of a Planeswalker? Or how about preventing their effects from working? Sign me up, that is a variant of an Aura I would like to see.
ReplyDeleteI saw in another post that someone would like to see a buff for planeswalkers. But I'm not sure that's the direction to go into. Aren't they strong enough on the whole?