Reverse Bio-Engineering (Part 1)

Darwin's Winners and Losers

Explain this situation to me:

You might say something like, "Green is supposed to have superior creatures! It is as Garfield intended!". Ok, then how do you explain this!?

Next you might say, "Blue is supposed to have superior flyers! It is as Garfield intended!". Ok, then how do you explain THIS!?

The point is, these old design philosophies are riddled with inconsistencies. That, and I don't think color should be used as a balance factor for cards. Certain effects only showing up in certain colors, sure, but Bog Imp being worse than Scryb Sprites just because it's not green? Whatever expression of design that was meant to be channeled through Bog Imp failed to hit it's mark. It's what we refer to as "strictly worse" than both Scryb Sprites and Flying Men. In other words, a coaster... What a shame.

Exposing the Genetic Code

After months of staring at every creature in the old school card pool, I began to see... "the code". I horked down the red pill and now I'm uniquely qualified to tell you why your Grizzly Bears suck and what to do about it.

What is "The Code"?

I've devised a little point system for plotting a creature on the power curve. Once I lay out the system, I'll go on to shatter your reality with revelations such as how Savannah Lions is actually on the same power level as Yotian Soldier.

The System

Below is a quick summary of the system.

Power vs Toughness

Power and toughness are not quite equal, even though cards like Holy and Unholy Strength would try to tell you otherwise.

Let's look at the following example assuming power and toughness are of equal value. Player A has a 2/1 creature and Player B has a 1/2 creature. Player A's creature will kill Player B twice as fast as the opposite. If the creatures clash, it's a clean trade, with both sides losing their creatures. You could conclude from this scenario that the 2/1 creature is superior. (outside of a fringe situation like Prodigal Sorcerer pinging you).

Now let's assume power is twice as valuable as toughness. If Player A's creature is a 2/1, that would make Player B's creature a 1/3 (-1 power, +2 toughness). Player A's creature still kills Player B twice as fast, but Player B's creature wins combat if the creatures happen to clash. Now that's a more interesting tradeoff.

Abilities

If we compare Savannah Lions to Scryb Sprites, the difference is -1 power and + flying. So we can assume flying is worth 1 power, or 2 points. We can make the same comparison with other 1 drops like Tundra Wolves (first strike) and Benalish Hero (banding).

If we look at Phantom Monster (flying) and War Mammoth (trample), we can see that they have the same exact stat line, which means Trample must be worth the same as Flying (2 points).

Regeneration was harder to pin down since there aren't a lot of good comparisons to make. However, I noticed that the creature enchantment called Regeneration actually costs 1 more mana than similar cards like Flight and Lance. This shows that the designer intended regeneration to be more valuable, and matched up with my findings looking at cards like Uthden Troll and Will-o'-the-Wisp.

Point Refunds

Colored mana symbols are a power tuning knob. The more restrictive the mana cost, the harder the card is to play, and the more impactful it can be. It took me a while comparing Elvish Archers to the likes of Black Knight before I started to see the light. How could Black Knight get so much additional value for the single extra black mana symbol?

Enter the 2/3 rule. This rule states that any colored mana symbol beyond 2/3 of the total casting cost of the card is refunded an additional point, assuming the card costs more than 1. So in a mana cost of BB, the second B is worth 2 points. In a mana cost of BBB, the last mana is worth 2 points. If a mana symbol falls onto a fractional point, it counts for the 2/3 rule.

Last but not least, the 0 power rule. I noticed when a card had 0 power, it seemed to break the mold a little. I notice this with cards like Will-o'-the-Wisp and Ornithopter. This rule makes sense since the jump from 0 power to 1 power is huge. A power of 0 means it can't even effect the game state. A power of 1 can kill someone in 20 turns, so watch out.

The Report Card

Let's apply this system to some of old schools better creatures and see what we can see.

It seems like 3 points is the high end of the curve for 1 drops.

Top end for 2 drops looks like 5 points.

3 drops seem to be sitting at 7 points. One thing worth mentioning is that non-standard abilities are subject to a lot of eyeballing (referring to Gargoyle's toughness pump and Yotian's no tap to attack). The rational for Gargoyle's ability costing 1, is that it's giving up a toughness to have that ability. So the first pump breaks even, and you don't start to get value until the second pump, so I decided to value the ability at the same cost as a single toughness. Yotian is a little harder since it only shares it's ability with Serra Angel. However, there is one card:

Just like the Regeneration comparison above, we can see that the designers valuate this ability as on par with flying and first strike (which I meet with a little side eye, but lets assume it's right), so 2 points it is.

Remake them; BETTER, FASTER, STRONGER!

Let's assess the whipping boy of old school.

Pathetic! Ogre is 3 whole points behind Granite Gargoyle. No wonder it feels so bad. Let's give it the strength of a REAL ogre.

Woah, hold your horses everyone. I now this might be a little controversial, seeing as how we're used to bad creatures and all, but I'm just following the numbers here.

Let's move on to the imp.

It's a pretty sad state of affairs. But wait... Ron Spencer made you ripped for a reason!

Ok, now we're talking. +1 power and first strike are both 2 point traits, but we discounted them by half by putting them behind a paywall. The ability is based on the Imp's flavor text, since it likes to ambush it's prey with muck crusted claws.

I promised that I would tell you why your Grizzly Bears suck, and here we are.

The old bear just bearly missed the mark. I knew something smelled off.

Now the old bear can bear an assault from Elvish Archers and the Black Knight. It's not much, but it's honest work.

What the hell is this?

Man, I don't even know how to rank that ability. It's like a fractional point. I'm not shifting my whole point system up by 1 for you.

Woah, now this thing is like a blue Kird Ape. Watch your back when this little wurm swims up from the ocean into the estuary's muddy waters...

That's All Folks

At least for today. Keep an eye out for more Old School Remix posts. All remixed cards are available here.

Disclaimer: This blog contains unofficial fan content permitted under Wizards of the Coast's Fan Content Policy. This content is not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC. Custom card mock-ups are created with Card Conjurer, credit to Kyle Burton(ImKyle4815).

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