Pegaweb's Magic: The Gathering Design Quiz
This is Pegaweb's Magic: the Gathering Design Quiz
If you don't play Magic: The Gathering, this quiz will be meaningless. :)
Each question has one correct choice.
- 1.
Stream of Wraiths XBG Sorcery You gain X life. You may pay [?] life any number of times, and put a 3/3 black Wraith creature token into play for each time.What should [?] be?
- A.
2
- B.
3
- C.
4
- D.
6
- E.
None of the above
Correct Answer
E. None of the aboveExplanation
It's never a good idea to design a card that converts a large amount of one resource into a large amount of another resource. The decks that play the card will be those that can ignore the loss of one resource, and gain massive benefit in some other resource. You can't have a player paying BG to get three 3/3's on turn two, even if each 3/3 costs 6 life. The best answer here is ten or more. This card should never be printed though.Rate this question:
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- 2.
Which one of these mechanics is a printable mechanic, from a design viewpoint? (The only rules for the mechanics are those described here.)
- A.
Rideable 2G (2G: Attach another target creature you control to this creature. That creature gets +X/+Y, where X is this creature's power, and Y is its toughness.)
- B.
Draft (If you pick this card in a draft, pick an extra card.)
- C.
Scurry (This creature can't be blocked except by creatures with trample.)
- D.
Warp 6 (This comes into play with power and toughness of your choice with a total of 6.)
- E.
None of the above.
Correct Answer
E. None of the above.Explanation
None of these mechanics are good.
"Rideable" (among other things) doesn't stop rideable creatures riding each other, attacking independently, being ridden by multiple creatures, or having riders that ride multiple creatures.
"Draft" cards have a mechanic that's useful only once ever, and create a whole host of obvious real-life problems.
There are so few creatures with trample that this ability barely warrants being put on a card. It's definitely not worth making a keyworded mechanic out of it.
"Warp" has memory issues. For each card with Warp, you have to remember that power and toughness you chose. Most cards use counters or some other mechanism instead of requiring you to remember things.Rate this question:
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- 3.
Which one of these land cards is printable? (Each land is a regular nonbasic land with the type "Land".)
- A.
[cardname] comes into play tapped. T: Search your library for a land card and remove it from the game. Then shuffle your library. Add one mana to your mana pool of a colour that land could produce.
- B.
T: Add U to your mana pool. U, T: Target creature gains swampwalk until end of turn.
- C.
T, Remove a loyalty counter from a planeswalker you control: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
- D.
Flash T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
- E.
None of the above.
Correct Answer
E. None of the above.Explanation
None of these lands are printable.
Land A makes you search and shuffle your deck every time you want a mana. This is an excessive amount of work to force a player to do. In most games, you'd be shuffling your deck every turn.
Land B taps for blue mana, or grants swampwalk. It's strictly better than a regular island, so you'd basically never play a regular island over this. Lands aren't allowed to be strictly better than basic lands. Any extra bonus they have must be matched by a drawback.
Land C is useless by the time you have a planeswalker on the table. It's also useless if you don't draw a planeswalker (or even have a planeswalker.) Even if you do get it into play, you're probably not going to want to turn your loyalty into mana.
Land D has flash. The rules say you can't play lands during another player's turn. Even if it was possible to do so, you'd just flash this card in during an opponent's turn for no reason other than to get land into play twice as fast. That's way too powerful.Rate this question:
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- 4.
Which ability best fits this planeswalker?+1: Put a 1/1 green Saproling creature token into play.[Choose an ability]-6: Sacrifice each creature you control. Draw that many cards. Then put any number of permanent cards from your hand into play.<4>
- A.
-1: Put two 1/1 green Saproling creature tokens into play.
- B.
-1: Destroy target artifact or enchantment.
- C.
+1: Each player discards a card.
- D.
-2: Put a 2/2 green Wolf creature token into play.
- E.
None of the above.
Correct Answer
A. -1: Put two 1/1 green Saproling creature tokens into play.Explanation
Putting two saprolings into play feeds the Ultimate ability.
Having each player discard a card is usually going to make the ultimate ability weaker, when you use it.
No one would pay -2 for a 2/2 wolf, when they can pay one loyalty and get a saproling, and either one is going to be sacrificed anyway.Rate this question:
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- 5.
Creature - ShapeshifterAs [cardname] comes into play, you may choose a creature in play. If you do, [cardname] comes into play as a copy of that creature.This creature's power and toughness should be:
- A.
1/1
- B.
2/2
- C.
4/4
- D.
6/6
- E.
8/8
Correct Answer
C. 4/4Explanation
At 1/1 or 2/2, you'd almost always copy a creature. The card is basically identical to Clone. At 6/6 or 8/8, you'd almost always just keep the huge creature. 4/4 is the number that makes the ability the most interesting and relevant, because both options (copying, or keeping the 4/4) will often be viable. At any of the other power levels, you might as well just make Clone, or a big creature instead.Rate this question:
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- 6.
Creature - Human Warrior3/2[cost]: This creature gains first strike until end of turn.Which of the following would be a good cost
- A.
Pay 2 life
- B.
Remove two creature cards in your graveyard from the game
- C.
1
- D.
Discard an instant card
- E.
None of the above
Correct Answer
D. Discard an instant cardExplanation
Paying two life to save a 3/2 creature (that can have first strike) is a very obvious choice. Unless you're under five life, you'd pretty much always pay this cost. The same goes for the cost of "1". You'd make sure you always paid it. The benefit here is too great for you to not pay one of these trivial costs.
Removing two creature cards in your graveyard is an entirely reasonable cost.
Discarding an instant card makes this card much more interesting. You can bluff, and the opponent has to decide whether to take the risk of tangling with your creature. You also have to weigh up the value of your creature against the value of your instant, so even if you could play the ability, you wouldn't necessarily do so.Rate this question:
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- 7.
3WRSorceryDestroy [?] target lands.What's a good number to put here?
- A.
Three
- B.
Five
- C.
Seven
- D.
Ten
- E.
Twenty
Correct Answer
D. TenExplanation
Three and five both make the card too powerful. As does seven. Even at its worst, it's likely going to destroy five of the opponent's lands and two of yours.
Twenty is not a terrible choice, but it will often sit in your hand all game.
A choice of "ten" makes the card useful, but reasonable. On turn five, you can Armageddon, or later on, you can swing it more and more in your favour.Rate this question:
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- 8.
Assuming these abilities are each alone on a sorcery card, which is the weakest of these five abilities on average?
- A.
Destroy target equipment
- B.
Deal 1 damage to target creature
- C.
Draw a card and then discard a card
- D.
Target creature gains flying until end of turn
- E.
Target player loses 1 life and you gain 1 life
Correct Answer
A. Destroy target equipmentExplanation
It's quite unlikely that there's an equipment in play.Rate this question:
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- 9.
A spell that costs WBR is most equivalent to a spell that costs how much colorless mana?
- A.
3
- B.
4
- C.
5
- D.
7
- E.
9
Correct Answer
D. 7Explanation
The cost WBR is colour-heavy, has three different colours, and is opposite and allied-coloured. Unless the set is specifically set up to help a player pay such costs, a cost of WBR is very hefty indeed. "6" would also be a reasonable answer, if it were included here.Rate this question:
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- 10.
Which of these combinations makes a well-designed card? (The card is an instant.)
- A.
Counter target spell unless its controller pays 2. Draw two cards unless that spell's controller pays 2.
- B.
Return target spell to its owner's hand unless its controller pays 2. Draw a card unless that spell's controller pays 2.
- C.
Return target spell to its owner's hand unless its controller pays 2. Draw two cards unless that spell's controller pays 2.
- D.
Counter target spell unless its controller pays 2. Draw a card unless that spell's controller pays 2.
- E.
None of the above
Correct Answer
B. Return target spell to its owner's hand unless its controller pays 2. Draw a card unless that spell's controller pays 2.Explanation
There are two choices to balance here. The first is for the player whose spell is being countered/returned. Their choice is to pay for one, both, or neither of the costs of 2. They may not be able to pay at all, may only be able to pay one cost, or they may want to just leave their mana open for their own spells/abilities. Most of these choices are skewed heavily one way or the other. If they can only pay one cost, they will almost always choose the same one. Given the choice of having their spell countered, or having the opponent draw a card, they'll almost always choose to keep the spell (that they've paid for), and let you draw a card (which may be a land). Only two of these options have two choices that are reasonably balanced for the person on the receiving end of this spell.
The other choice is for the player playing this spell. If the rewards are too high, they'll only play it when the opponent is tapped out. You're not going to let your opponent pay 2 to stop you drawing two cards.
Only option D has two equal rewards small enough that you'd play it when the opponent could pay 2 (or 4).Rate this question:
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Mar 14, 2023Quiz Edited by
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Dec 25, 2008Quiz Created by
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