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General Magic / "Reworked" vs "Original" vs "Recycled" mechanics
« on: March 10, 2024, 04:28:52 pm »
For the last 2 years I've been under the impression that "reworked" mechanics have become more and more common. By that I mean mechanics that work similar to older mechanics and/or tap into the same design space.
Power creep aside, I think this is a very bad trend because it's getting harder to remember all the little differences between the mechanics.
The most obvious (and most recent) example are Disguise and Cloak being power-crept versions of Morph and Manifest, and I think it was a terrible idea to put out a commander precon that mixes Morph, Megamorph, Disguise and Manifest in the same deck, especially when said deck is (allegedly) targeted at new players.
I preferred their design philosophy from mid/late 2010s, when they were more willing to straight-up recycle old mechanics and were generally introducing less new keywords per set (Tarkir and Ravnica sets being the notable exceptions).
What is your stance on this topic?
Are you having any issues keeping up with all the mechanics and their variants, or do you think this is fine?
EDIT: quick "recap" of all the mechanics that came out since 2021, the year when the shift to reworked mechanics became more evident - to me, at least:
- Kaldheim: Boast is a fairly generic payoff for attacking but I woud still consider it an original mechanic. Foretell is also something MtG had never done before.
- Strixhaven: Learn is the most "out there" mechanics we've had in a while. The only new thing Magecraft does is triggering off copied spells. Ward was a much-needed nerf of Hexproof (i.e. good but not original).
- D&D Adventure in the Forgotten Realms: Pack Tactics is another generic payoff for aggro, and a cross between Battalion and Formidable. Now, many people, (me included) have a love-hate relationship with Venture into the dungeon. Still, I think it was very original and probably the second most "out there" mechanic in recent memory (after learn).
(Where things start going downhill...)
- ISD: Midnight Hunt: Daybound/Nightbound is a desperate attempt at making werewolves tranformations "easier to track". It failed spectacularly, but because Graveyard Trespasser is so good, we kinda HAVE to play with it. Decayed Zombies were an interesting take on token makers because you had to find a way to use the tokens beyond attacking and blocking. Disturb was a flavorful take on flashback, but not very original. Coven was fairly novel imho. Returning mechanics: Flashback and Investigate.
- ISD: Crimson Vow: Training was advertised by MaRo himself as "reverse Mentor". Cleave is "reverse kicker". Disturb is back from Midnight Hunt and Exploit is back from DTK.
- Now, I'm gonna dedicate a paragraph to Blood Tokens and artifact tokens in general (Map, Scrap,...). We do NOT need all these tokens. Please stop. Clues (card draw), Treasures (mana) and Food (life) are more than enough. Any additional unique token ads complexity to the board.
- Kamigawa Neon Dynasty: The only truly new mechanic is Configure, a new take on equipment. It feels similar to Living Weapon, but it's different enough to count as an original mechanic imho. I don't consider Modified a mechanic, just an umbrella term for enchanted, equipped, and "counter-ed" creature. Ninjutsu and Channel are back from OG Kamigawa. For what it's worth, Neon Dynasty also introduces Compleated.
- New Capenna: Shield Counters are interesting for being the first counters with intrinsic rule meaning since +1/+1 and -1/-1. the other family mechanics are either variants (Blitz~Dash, Casualty~Kicker - yes every mechanic is just Kicker) or just lazy (Connive and Alliance).
- Skipping Baldur's Gate ...
- Dominaria United: Kicker is back, specifically off-color Kicker, and is the main set mechanic alongside Domain. the "new" mechanics are Enlist (generic aggro payoff that saw 0 play outside of limited) and Read Ahead (variant of Sagas).
- The Brother's War: Nothing special here. I can tolerate Powerstone tokens since they stay on the field and fill a different role than Bloods/Maps/Food/etc. Unearth is a returning mechanic, so nothing new (they changed the flavor from "Disentombing Zombies" to "Discovering ancient relics", but that's it). The return of Meld was nice, but the mechanic is too much "out there", imho.
- All Will Be One: The awkwardly named "For Mirrodin!" mechanic is just Living Weapon. Toxic is a harder-to-break Infect. Proliferate is Proliferate. Corrupted gets some free "novelty points" simply because it can only work in a set like Phyrexia.
- March of the Machines: Battles are a completely new card type, so very novel by default. Incubate introduces transforming tokens and it felt quite new to me. Same with Backup and ability-sharing shenanigans.
- The Lord of the Rings: Tempted by the ring is another love-hate mechanics like Dungeons. Proof that things can be too novel sometimes.
- Wilds of Eldraine: Bargain is just "Kicker-sacrifice an artifact, enchantment or token". Roles tokens are original. Celebration is nothing special, but still less lazy than Alliance. Adventures return.
- The Lost caverns of ixalan: I like the flavor of Descend, but in the end it's just a harder-to-abuse Threshold. Craft is just a special way of flipping DFCs.
- Muders at Karlov Manor: Disguise and Cloak are power-crept Morph and Manifest (and the whole reason I'm writing this). Cases are just Quests but with a better layout. Suspected reminds me of Unleash from RTR. Investigate returns.
- Outlaws of Thunder Junction: Crime and Outaws are umbrella terms for "targeting your opponent or their stuff" and "bad guys creature types" respectively. Plot is a cross between Suspend and Foretell. Saddle is just Crew but for living beings (mounts), which I think it's genius, but not very original gameplay-wise (very willing to change my mind, though).
Thanks for bearing with me
Power creep aside, I think this is a very bad trend because it's getting harder to remember all the little differences between the mechanics.
The most obvious (and most recent) example are Disguise and Cloak being power-crept versions of Morph and Manifest, and I think it was a terrible idea to put out a commander precon that mixes Morph, Megamorph, Disguise and Manifest in the same deck, especially when said deck is (allegedly) targeted at new players.
I preferred their design philosophy from mid/late 2010s, when they were more willing to straight-up recycle old mechanics and were generally introducing less new keywords per set (Tarkir and Ravnica sets being the notable exceptions).
What is your stance on this topic?
Are you having any issues keeping up with all the mechanics and their variants, or do you think this is fine?
EDIT: quick "recap" of all the mechanics that came out since 2021, the year when the shift to reworked mechanics became more evident - to me, at least:
- Kaldheim: Boast is a fairly generic payoff for attacking but I woud still consider it an original mechanic. Foretell is also something MtG had never done before.
- Strixhaven: Learn is the most "out there" mechanics we've had in a while. The only new thing Magecraft does is triggering off copied spells. Ward was a much-needed nerf of Hexproof (i.e. good but not original).
- D&D Adventure in the Forgotten Realms: Pack Tactics is another generic payoff for aggro, and a cross between Battalion and Formidable. Now, many people, (me included) have a love-hate relationship with Venture into the dungeon. Still, I think it was very original and probably the second most "out there" mechanic in recent memory (after learn).
(Where things start going downhill...)
- ISD: Midnight Hunt: Daybound/Nightbound is a desperate attempt at making werewolves tranformations "easier to track". It failed spectacularly, but because Graveyard Trespasser is so good, we kinda HAVE to play with it. Decayed Zombies were an interesting take on token makers because you had to find a way to use the tokens beyond attacking and blocking. Disturb was a flavorful take on flashback, but not very original. Coven was fairly novel imho. Returning mechanics: Flashback and Investigate.
- ISD: Crimson Vow: Training was advertised by MaRo himself as "reverse Mentor". Cleave is "reverse kicker". Disturb is back from Midnight Hunt and Exploit is back from DTK.
- Now, I'm gonna dedicate a paragraph to Blood Tokens and artifact tokens in general (Map, Scrap,...). We do NOT need all these tokens. Please stop. Clues (card draw), Treasures (mana) and Food (life) are more than enough. Any additional unique token ads complexity to the board.
- Kamigawa Neon Dynasty: The only truly new mechanic is Configure, a new take on equipment. It feels similar to Living Weapon, but it's different enough to count as an original mechanic imho. I don't consider Modified a mechanic, just an umbrella term for enchanted, equipped, and "counter-ed" creature. Ninjutsu and Channel are back from OG Kamigawa. For what it's worth, Neon Dynasty also introduces Compleated.
- New Capenna: Shield Counters are interesting for being the first counters with intrinsic rule meaning since +1/+1 and -1/-1. the other family mechanics are either variants (Blitz~Dash, Casualty~Kicker - yes every mechanic is just Kicker) or just lazy (Connive and Alliance).
- Skipping Baldur's Gate ...
- Dominaria United: Kicker is back, specifically off-color Kicker, and is the main set mechanic alongside Domain. the "new" mechanics are Enlist (generic aggro payoff that saw 0 play outside of limited) and Read Ahead (variant of Sagas).
- The Brother's War: Nothing special here. I can tolerate Powerstone tokens since they stay on the field and fill a different role than Bloods/Maps/Food/etc. Unearth is a returning mechanic, so nothing new (they changed the flavor from "Disentombing Zombies" to "Discovering ancient relics", but that's it). The return of Meld was nice, but the mechanic is too much "out there", imho.
- All Will Be One: The awkwardly named "For Mirrodin!" mechanic is just Living Weapon. Toxic is a harder-to-break Infect. Proliferate is Proliferate. Corrupted gets some free "novelty points" simply because it can only work in a set like Phyrexia.
- March of the Machines: Battles are a completely new card type, so very novel by default. Incubate introduces transforming tokens and it felt quite new to me. Same with Backup and ability-sharing shenanigans.
- The Lord of the Rings: Tempted by the ring is another love-hate mechanics like Dungeons. Proof that things can be too novel sometimes.
- Wilds of Eldraine: Bargain is just "Kicker-sacrifice an artifact, enchantment or token". Roles tokens are original. Celebration is nothing special, but still less lazy than Alliance. Adventures return.
- The Lost caverns of ixalan: I like the flavor of Descend, but in the end it's just a harder-to-abuse Threshold. Craft is just a special way of flipping DFCs.
- Muders at Karlov Manor: Disguise and Cloak are power-crept Morph and Manifest (and the whole reason I'm writing this). Cases are just Quests but with a better layout. Suspected reminds me of Unleash from RTR. Investigate returns.
- Outlaws of Thunder Junction: Crime and Outaws are umbrella terms for "targeting your opponent or their stuff" and "bad guys creature types" respectively. Plot is a cross between Suspend and Foretell. Saddle is just Crew but for living beings (mounts), which I think it's genius, but not very original gameplay-wise (very willing to change my mind, though).
Thanks for bearing with me
) and between the various 
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