Curse of the Swine

Blue's Transformation Spells

“Blue can’t destroy permanents. It’s the primary color of stealing them though.” It does however destroy(or exile) a creature and replace it with a useless token(Pongify, Curse of the Swine). It's essentially a blue kill spell and I hate it.

It’s a transformation spell, which blue can do, and not flavorfully a kill spell. It’s an example where we use the “destroy” templating for text simplification.

Blue Colors Creatures Curse of the Swine Destroy Permanents Pongify Primary Spells Templating The Exile Zone Tokens

Blue's Removal Limitations

Could one say that Blue's major weakness is that they are fairly poor at permanently dealing with threats already on the board? Even pongify effects are weaker than they seem because they leave a threat behind [reality shift / curse of the swine never saw much tournament play].

One could say that.

Blue Curse of the Swine Pongify Reality Shift

Exile Mechanic Views

I think it is the exile part of Manifest Reality/Curse of the Swine, etc. that bothers people. Tucking, flash enchantments, or just flat out saying target creature is now a 3/3 frog might all be received better.

Tucking seems much more out of flavor (and stronger in Commander). Creature A is now Creature B. Creature A Is no more (unless the effect is an enchantment and the effect is undone). Changing A into B and then drawing A next turn seems way more out of flavor. I disliked “destroy” for the same reason as changing A into B and then animating A next turn felt equally as jarring flavorfully.

Commander Creatures Curse of the Swine Destroy Enchantments Flash Flavor Frog Manifest The Exile Zone

Transformation vs Growth

Why is it that when Blue gets creature removal themed as transformation, something blue can do, it's good, but when green gets creature removal themed as growth, something green can do, it's bad? (If you think Rapid Hybridization and Curse of the Swine are as damaging to the colour pie as Song of the Dryads, then never mind. :) )

Rapid Hydrization shouldn’t say “destroy”. It should say “exile” or “put on the bottom of the library”. I’d also rather development costed the ability less aggressively, but that’s not my call. That said, the ability is blue. Blue doesn’t destroy things but it can change them. Change is a big part of blue’s identity. Green does get removal but its removal is supposed to be tied to its creatures. That’s why fight is a perfect green card and Song of the Dryads is not. A creatureless green deck is not supposed to efficiently be able to deal with any creature.

Blue Colors Creatures Curse of the Swine Destroy Dryad Fight / Bite Green Pop Culture Rapid Hybridization Song of the Dryads The Exile Zone The Library

Color Pie Polymorph

Why is the Pongify/Ovinize/Rapid Hybridization/Curse of the Swine effect primarily blue? It seems like a flavorful way of giving green a way to deal with creatures without really breaking the color pie.

Blue hates artifice. Polymorphing is as artificial change. I don’t think it’s a good fit for green.

Blue Color Pie Colors Creatures Curse of the Swine Flavor Green Ovinize Pongify Rapid Hybridization

Token Ability Limits

Do cards like Pongify or Curse of the Swine always have to make vanilla tokens? Or could they have blue abilities? (Or even green)

They need to mostly have blue abilities. Note that other than flying and haste, we don’t put abilities on tokens often.

Blue Curse of the Swine Flying Green Haste Pongify Tokens Vanilla

Blue Removal Philosophy

Follow up to the last question on blue removal: Why does blue get things like Curse of the Swine or Rapid Hybridization? While the flavor is spot on, the game reality is still basically destruction. Cards like Turn to Frog, Ovinize, and Snakeform feel like what blue "removal" should be. How are Polymorph and friends not just based around using a flavor justification to give a color an ability it shouldn't have?

Blue is allowed to change things. There’s no color pie breaking. Note that we make sure that they are changing into something still potent so it’s not “just removal”.

Blue Color Pie Colors Curse of the Swine Flavor Frog Ovinize Polymorph Rapid Hybridization Snakeform Turn to Frog

Most Baconian Card

Curse of the Swine is the most Baconian.

: )

Curse of the Swine

Curse of the Swine Origins

Curse of the Swine didn't seem too "Greek" to me. Be honest, it was inspired by the movie Willow wasn't it? :)

No, it was based on The Odyssey. So pretty Greek. That is also the source material for any movie you’ve ever seen turn people into pigs. : )

Curse of the Swine Odyssey Pop Culture

Theros Animal Complaints

Why are these no Epic Pigs in Theros? Also, where are the bears? WE NEED MOAR BEARS AND PIGS. Hydras are boooring. We need more Grizzzzly Bears. One in every pack!

Check out Theros’ Curse of the Swine.

Bear Curse of the Swine Epic Hydra Theros

Preference for Exiling

So I noticed Curse of the Swine exiles. Will blue's polymorph effects start exiling? I've always felt Rapid Hybridization and Polymorph et al. should exile, just more flavorful and feels less weird when blue isn't destroying.

I much prefer exiling to destroying.

Blue Curse of the Swine Flavor Polymorph Rapid Hybridization The Exile Zone