Sweep

Article Request

Hi Mark! After MH3 comes out, I would LOVE to see an article about some of Erik's one-design-for-every-mechanic-ever cards that didn't see print. I'm especially interested in some of the "bad" mechanics - banding, sweep, epic. Any chance we could get an article like that?

A few show up in my card-by-card design articles.

Banding Card Printing Epic Mechanics Modern Horizons 3 Sweep

Sweep Keyword Ranking

Do you think Sweep would make it into a Top 10 of the worst keywords ever? It really seems like one of those mechanics that would be despised even if it was put on more powerful cards.

I’m not sure it makes the ten worst. It’s forgettable, but not egregious.

Keywords Mechanics Sweep

Controlling Exile Dynamics

I think the question about 'exile a card in exile' wants an effect to do things like keep a slow flickered card in exile from returning, stop a suspended card from being cast, or mess with abilities like haunt or imprint. Something like Riftsweeper but without letting things out of exile. I am not sure any elegant text would do this though.

My only solution that’s worked. : )

Blogatog / Tumblr Card Printing Haunt Humor Imprint Riftsweeper The Exile Zone

About Reverse Flicker Mechanic

RE the question about Reverse Flicker. Not exactly the same, but Pull from Eternity, Venser’s Diffusion, and Riftsweeper all function in close proximity to what the asker was mentioning.

FYI

Mechanics Pull from Eternity Question Marks Riftsweeper Venser's Diffusion

Hurricane's Color Pie Status

As I understand it, due to dealing direct damage to players, cards such as hurricane or squall line shouldn't be in pie anymore yes? Or does green get this one specific symmetrical player sweep.

No, Hurricane is no longer in pie for green.

Color Pie Green Hurricane Squall Line Sweep

Kamigawa's Future Keyword Mechanics

Now that Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty has been announced, where would you put all the original block's keyword mechanics on the Storm Scale for this set? Those mechanics being: Bushido, Soulshift, Splice, Ninjutsu (My Favorite), Offering, Channel, Sweep, and Epic.

I’m not saying nothing is returning, but be aware that the greatest weakness of original Kamigawa was it’s mechanical components. As I’ve talked about on this blog many times (reinforced from feedback from many of you), a return is not leaning heavily on the named keywords/ability words of the original visit.

Ability Words Blogatog / Tumblr Bushido Epic Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Keywords Mechanics Ninjutsu Offering Soulshift Splice Storm Scale Sweep

Storm Scale for Sweep

Where is sweep on the storm scale?

I’d call it an 8 returning as an ability word.,

Ability Words Storm Scale Sweep

Megamorph Criticism

Regarding Megamorph, I disliked it because it felt so flat. Here's a brand new mechanic to play in the neat morph/manifest format and it turns out it's just morph + a +1 +1 counter. It felt uninspired. At least with other mechanics that ended up poor (Sweep, Ingest) you could tell a lot of thought and effort went into making them and they just didn't work out. Megamorph just felt like R&D forgot to do their homework and scraped something together right before class to get parti credit.

Block planning had a variant that didn’t work out. Smorph got shot down because it didn’t play well with normal morph. We didn’t find a great answer, but not because we didn’t look.

Game Design Ingest Manifest Mechanics Morph Morph Sweep

Survey Results on Megamorph

Did Megamorph really score lower than Sweep?

Yep.

Sweep

Opinion on Exile-related Cards

How do you feel about cards that care about cards being in exile, but don't bring them back from Exile? Crackling Drake for example, as opposed to something like Riftsweeper.

I’m okay with caring about cards in exile as long as you don’t bring them back (except if you’re the card/effect that exiled them).

Crackling Drake Drake Riftsweeper The Exile Zone

Storm Scale Ratings

Hey, just a question for the Storm Scale: Why aren't there ratings for Channel, Sweep, [Noun] offering, and Soulshift?

Not everything has been put on the scale yet.

Channel Keyword Abilities Offering Soulshift Storm Scale Sweep

Sweep Mechanic Opinion

Where is Sweep on the worse mechanic list?

It shouldn’t be keyworded (in my opinion), but the gameplay of it isn’t bad.

Game Play Mechanics Sweep

Exile Zone Mechanics

I know you're generally reluctant to print cards that take other cards out of exile, but if you had a set-defining mechanic that banked on the exile zone (like how Suspend engendered Riftsweeper & Pull from Eternity), would you be open to making more?

No. The exile zone should be a place we can send things so they don’t come back.

Card Printing Mechanics Pull from Eternity Riftsweeper Suspend The Exile Zone

Spike Card List

Spike is supposed to be able to get cards previously banned? Your list on your faq has none of the unbanned commander cards. From what i can tell your missing Protean Hulk, Kokusho, the Evening Star, Staff of Domination, Riftsweeper, Crucible of Worlds, Test of Endurance, Beacon of Immortaility

Anything ever banned officially in Commander counts.

Bannings Commander Crucible of Worlds Format Legality Format Legality Format Legality Kokusho, the Evening Star Protean Hulk Riftsweeper Spike Staff of Domination Test of Endurance The FAQ

Dominaria's Coverage

When we eventually return to Dominaria, will the focus be on one continent, or a full sweep on the entire plane?

What would you all prefer?

Dominaria Sweep

Plains Matter Semantics

In regards to the ask about no "Plains matter" cards, there's a Sweep mechanic card that cares, and several cards that tutor specifically a Plains land.

White can tutor for Plains on rare occasion. That’s not really “Plains matter” to me.

Lands Mechanics Rares Sweep Tutoring White

Kamigawa Mechanics Revisited

This isn't really a question... But not all the mechanics were terrible in kamigawa. Ninjutsu was a favorite, and I could see sweep and channel being interesting to see again. Some of the cycles could be done again like the honden enchantments, demon theme, etc. And like the eldrazi, I'd be confident that you could reinvent much of kamigawa to keep the feel, but have better gameplay.

The question is to measure that against a brand new world influenced by Japanese mythology where we have no mechanical or creative baggage we are obligated to keep. Which makes a block more players enjoy? Normally nostalgia is a plus and is why we return to worlds. But Kamigawa is a world that was much derided when we first visited (mechanically *and* creatively). Both worlds get the “low hanging fruit” (samurai and ninja and such) so it’s a complex question about whether nostalgia of the old world is net positive or negative.

Channel Cycles Demon Eldrazi Enchantments Game Play Gates Japan Kamigawa Mechanics Ninjas Ninjutsu Samurais Sweep

Keyword Regrets

Why does it always seem that when it seems like a key/ability word isn't needed for a mechanic you usually end up regretting it (like the Naya mechanic or digest)

We’ve committed errors in the other direction like Sweep and Channel that both shouldn’t have been keyworded.

Ability Words Channel Mechanics Naya Naya (R/G/W) Sweep

Sweep Mechanic Undeveloped

half-baked

Sweep.

Sweep

Exile Zone Interaction

If anything, there needs to be more cards that interact with the exile zone. Riftsweeper and Pull from Eternity are the only two cards that can bring a card back from exile without some sort of added condition attached to it. (Runic Repetition almost counts but it says a card with flashback)

Let’s agree to disagree.

Card Backs Flashback Pull from Eternity Riftsweeper Runic Repetition The Exile Zone