Card of the Day - Fell Banishing, Impromptu Revival, Worldmoss

Confession time. I did not create reclaim. I discovered it during a brief stint on the MTG Salvation forums. Someone else had created a fair few intelligent, well-designed cards with it and I thought, "this is just what I need for Chicken." Chicken, the codename of the first set in the Chicken block (followed by Noodle and Soup) had a land-matters theme. A mechanic that messed around with lands would be a welcome addition. So, being the well-mannered individual that I am, I politely sent the creator a message asking if I could use his mechanic. This was a nicety. I did not have to do it. Only Wizards of the Coast has copyrights for cards and mechanics. But I wanted to be thoughtful and to honor the collective illusion of control, and to give him a chance to feel good about graciously granting my request. The response I received was anything but polite. It informed me that I could use reclaim but that I was not to display any cards I created with it. Although it granted permission, it did so grudgingly. This guy seemed insulted that I should even notice this mechanic he had revealed in the public domain for all to see, let alone request to use it. Well, I'm violating his terms. I've been able to use reclaim since the second I laid eyes on it, permission or not. Reclaim's creator is a smart fella and a good designer. But that doesn't give him permission to be rude.

NOTA BENE: None of my cards or mechanics or names or what-have-you belong to me. Not reclaim, not fervor, not portend, not anything. Only the art has some ownership attached to it, and none of it's mine. Even if I did have control over these things, I would encourage people to use them. Collaboration (even when not actually working together) fosters creativity. Just look at growing (the mechanic Shenafu based on doublethink). And look at the new way I'm using reclaim:




Reclaim is one of those things that gives me difficulty when judging the power level. So I'm not sure if Fell Banishing is good or if it's terrible or if it's just mediocre. But I am sure that it's neat. And yes, the discard triggers for both spells if you reclaimed a swamp.




This is exactly the sort of card I railed against during Shadowmoor. Sure, white does get some zombify effects, and green does get some raise dead effects, but mono-green doesn't get zombify. Because of cards like Temple Garden and Hermit's Hovel, you can get 3 Plains in a mono-green deck. It is better than hybrid in that you HAVE to have some way to get white mana to get its white ability, but it irks me that you don't actually have to use that mana.

But I'm getting too serious about this. After all, Magic is just a game (and these cards aren't even real).




What do we do with games? We win them! Twice!

EDIT: The original version let you win the game without actually reclaiming any lands. While certainly amusing, it was slightly overpowered. The problem has been subdued.

I just lost the game.

Original Art - Fell Banishing
Original Art - Impromptu Revival
Original Art - Worldmoss