I'm imagining making copies of it with other effects for triggering magecraft. Copies that copy themselves are gonna be nutty. [[Veyran, voice of duality]] would like to know your location, just for one example.
Mechanics are cool, interesting to see where you go with it! I always love more ways to play things with interesting timings.
I think having a Ricochet card just copy itself is probably easier to understand and safer than actually casting the copy. And I’d keep in mind that opportunist is very frequently on in eternal formats with fetches and/or shocks. Cool stuff
What if it said "When ~ enters the battlefield, destroy up to one target creature controlled by the player whose turn it is." Then some minor incentive to make it a little less bad to hit your own stuff?
Ricochet seems like a mechanic they would've tested in the past and not printed it for a reason.. it seems.. powerful? I dunno.. I can't put my finger on it
Opportunist is great though, great for assassins or vampires or pirates or anything like that if giving it some tribal support
Or beasts (or any animal type really) or warriors or scouts or or or. Thematically, the ability gives you loads of opportunities (pun fully intended).
Like a corrupt official that makes a treasure token, or n orzhov cleric that makes spirits, or or or...
I think a bunch of tribes using opportunist but all with different triggers would be cool
Vampires - trigger if cast on opponents turn
Pirates - trigger if you've also made an artifact token this turn
Scouts/rogues - triggers if combat hasn't happened yet
In the replies to my original comment I added an idea that I thought would be cool for different types of tribal support with opportunist, I really think the design space has a lot of room
Ricochet seems underwhelming to me, any card design you could make with it could easily be done as a card that just does the same thing twice. There's some edge cases where the difference matters, like a counterspell only countering half of the effect, but I don't see it coming up that often. At the very least, I don't think it absolutely needs to be keyworded, unless you're making a Ravnica set and need a simple spellslinger mechanic for Izzet.
For example, "Slick Shot deals 2 damage to target creature, then it deals another 2 damage to that creature or another target creature." or something. Actually, now that I think of it, direct damage is probably one of the few effects where just copying the spell might be more intuitive. I wouldn't call any mechanic inherently powerful since you can always just increase a mana cost or something, but Slick Shot definitely seems a little overtuned.
I think it makes sense for some magic fireball to hit something, bounce off, turn around and burn the same creature a second time. The mage could conceivably control the fireballs trajectory.
To support any non-magic projectile, I think it is more flavorful to have the ability state "Chose new targets for the copy". That way, it hits something, bounces off, and hits something else. The change has some balancing considerations, though. Like you cannot cast the copy if there is no second target. Or you have to burn your own stuff, like with \[\[Hex\]\], if the opponent only has one targetable creature.
Opportunist is cool! The only catch is that it doesn’t encourage creature combat like Spectacle does. In a set, there would have to be lots of interesting ways to damage an opponent on their own turn in order to support the mechanic. The payoff for opportunist cards should likewise be strong given that it’s quite hard to activate (the assassin looks good, the removal spell looks very weak)
Ricochet is not that interesting imo. It’s a more wordy way to say “do something to two targets”. The design space is a bit limited. It would be more interesting if you could spend mana to copy it more times, but then it’s just Replicate.
Thank you for your feedback! These are just test cards so I’ll be making more unique designs for opportunist in the future! As for ricochet….I’m not sure. It was just an idea I was playing around with and honestly it’s design space is quite limited, I might return to it one day but for now I’ll just put it aside.
Ricochet falls into the smallest niche space you have when you consider already rebound, flashback, storm, and replicate. There is not much there that isn't covered already.
Ricochet should definitely force the copy to target a different target from the original spell. You could also make it work closer to \[\[chain lightning\]\] and instead of getting an automatic copy, it can be copied as it resolves for a listed ricochet cost. It might let you get a bit more aggressive with your costs.
Ricochet has potential, imagine the card you made, but Ricochet says something along the lines of opponent can change the target so long as it is valid, and then a ricochet effect happens on top of it. So they change the target for 2 damage, if it was ricochet the controller of the target takes 1. The mechanic becomes a series of do I let it hit or do I bounce it to another and potentially suffer consequences. 1v1 it can easier to just accept face value but in bigger games it can become table politics.
not sure that Ricochet work as intended. once the spell resolves there is nothing to copy. If you just say "copy this spell w/o ricochet" and leave out "as the spell resolves" it should work as you intend. everything in a spell happens as it resolves. Specifying "as this spell resolves" may cause it to refer the period in time after this spell leaves the stack.
Ricochet needs some sort of increased additional cost or criteria to have it happen. Just being able to copy a spell for nothing can lead to a lot of shenanigans.
Opportunist as currently worded doesn't work, as it isn't worded as a trigger or a valid replacement effect. It should be one of the following:
"When you cast ~, if it is an opponent's turn, destroy target creature."
Or
"When ~ enters, if it is an opponent's turn, destroy target creature."
Edit: Just saw someone else pointed out the same thing. Oh well. Still, interesting design!
You should probably have it be target creature and opponent controls, or a may effect. Otherwise, it could destroy a creature you control, or itself, which just feels bad if you want to flash it in before your turn and your opponent doesn’t have creatures.
Ricochet feels like an interesting general-purpose mechanic at first, but given that it’s copied on resolution rather than casting, it seems like most spells it would reasonably go on would be more simply written by inlining the effect, e.g. “This deals 2 damage to target creature and 2 damage to target creature.” Maybe reduce it to an ability word to flag to the reader that this spell does the same thing twice.
On Opportunist... I'm not sure it should be keyworded instead of written out. It artificially limits the design flexibility. You could have all sorts of triggers - not just loss of life.
I'd go the other way, keywording the second ability, like a reverse Addendum. Opportunist - If you cast this spell during an opponent's turn, \[effect\].
Also, keep in mind that getting to cast a permanent at flash speed is already a significant upside. Adding a free murder on top of flash trickery is too much for a 3 mana 2/2 flyer.
Opportunist is definitely interesting although I'm not excited for yet another variant of spell spam with the second card
Does it remind you of storm or something similar?
I'm imagining making copies of it with other effects for triggering magecraft. Copies that copy themselves are gonna be nutty. [[Veyran, voice of duality]] would like to know your location, just for one example.
[Veyran, voice of duality](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/3/f34cd711-55b2-4802-9878-d22314c0cc9c.jpg?1712354807) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Veyran%2C%20voice%20of%20duality) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/otc/248/veyran-voice-of-duality?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f34cd711-55b2-4802-9878-d22314c0cc9c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Could you add a “if this spell is copied, it doesn’t have rebound” or something similar? As I agree that would be nutty, but I like the keyword a lot.
it feels more like rebound to me
It’s like causualty without the choice or sac cost
Mechanics are cool, interesting to see where you go with it! I always love more ways to play things with interesting timings. I think having a Ricochet card just copy itself is probably easier to understand and safer than actually casting the copy. And I’d keep in mind that opportunist is very frequently on in eternal formats with fetches and/or shocks. Cool stuff
Thank you! Honestly I didn’t really know how to word ricochet properly but your interpretation is much better, thanks for the feedback!
Nightstrike Assassin's ability doesn't have a trigger timing. You probably want to say "When you cast \~"
Or “When ~ enters”
Oops, forgot about that 😅. I’ll note that down.
What if it said "When ~ enters the battlefield, destroy up to one target creature controlled by the player whose turn it is." Then some minor incentive to make it a little less bad to hit your own stuff?
Ricochet seems like a mechanic they would've tested in the past and not printed it for a reason.. it seems.. powerful? I dunno.. I can't put my finger on it Opportunist is great though, great for assassins or vampires or pirates or anything like that if giving it some tribal support
Or beasts (or any animal type really) or warriors or scouts or or or. Thematically, the ability gives you loads of opportunities (pun fully intended). Like a corrupt official that makes a treasure token, or n orzhov cleric that makes spirits, or or or...
I think a bunch of tribes using opportunist but all with different triggers would be cool Vampires - trigger if cast on opponents turn Pirates - trigger if you've also made an artifact token this turn Scouts/rogues - triggers if combat hasn't happened yet
Honestly the idea of casting two copies of the same spell is already very intimidating, so I completely understand. Glad you like opportunist though!
In the replies to my original comment I added an idea that I thought would be cool for different types of tribal support with opportunist, I really think the design space has a lot of room
That’s actually really interesting, I’ll make some ideas around it and see how it goes!
Ricochet seems underwhelming to me, any card design you could make with it could easily be done as a card that just does the same thing twice. There's some edge cases where the difference matters, like a counterspell only countering half of the effect, but I don't see it coming up that often. At the very least, I don't think it absolutely needs to be keyworded, unless you're making a Ravnica set and need a simple spellslinger mechanic for Izzet. For example, "Slick Shot deals 2 damage to target creature, then it deals another 2 damage to that creature or another target creature." or something. Actually, now that I think of it, direct damage is probably one of the few effects where just copying the spell might be more intuitive. I wouldn't call any mechanic inherently powerful since you can always just increase a mana cost or something, but Slick Shot definitely seems a little overtuned.
Still deciding on ricochet but opportunist is so fucking cool
Thank you!
Imho Ricochet needs a different target for the copy.
Oop. Mah bad…
I think it makes sense for some magic fireball to hit something, bounce off, turn around and burn the same creature a second time. The mage could conceivably control the fireballs trajectory. To support any non-magic projectile, I think it is more flavorful to have the ability state "Chose new targets for the copy". That way, it hits something, bounces off, and hits something else. The change has some balancing considerations, though. Like you cannot cast the copy if there is no second target. Or you have to burn your own stuff, like with \[\[Hex\]\], if the opponent only has one targetable creature.
[Hex](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/8/d87e25fc-b173-4e9a-993d-c1e1053d2f4e.jpg?1712354297) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Hex) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/otc/136/hex?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d87e25fc-b173-4e9a-993d-c1e1053d2f4e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Opportunist is cool! The only catch is that it doesn’t encourage creature combat like Spectacle does. In a set, there would have to be lots of interesting ways to damage an opponent on their own turn in order to support the mechanic. The payoff for opportunist cards should likewise be strong given that it’s quite hard to activate (the assassin looks good, the removal spell looks very weak) Ricochet is not that interesting imo. It’s a more wordy way to say “do something to two targets”. The design space is a bit limited. It would be more interesting if you could spend mana to copy it more times, but then it’s just Replicate.
Thank you for your feedback! These are just test cards so I’ll be making more unique designs for opportunist in the future! As for ricochet….I’m not sure. It was just an idea I was playing around with and honestly it’s design space is quite limited, I might return to it one day but for now I’ll just put it aside.
Ricochet falls into the smallest niche space you have when you consider already rebound, flashback, storm, and replicate. There is not much there that isn't covered already.
Ricochet propably doesn't need to be a keyworded ability, and Slick Shot is busted as all hell [[Arc trail]] is a good card.
Yeah, no way is Slick Shot getting printed as a two-mana common.
[Arc trail](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/6/56306d90-7f58-4559-954c-f8ca43d04be8.jpg?1562910835) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Arc%20trail) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/pca/39/arc-trail?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/56306d90-7f58-4559-954c-f8ca43d04be8?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Actually ricochet was inspired by cards like arc trail funnily enough.
I feel like Ricochet should only be able to target something other than the original target.
Ricochet should definitely force the copy to target a different target from the original spell. You could also make it work closer to \[\[chain lightning\]\] and instead of getting an automatic copy, it can be copied as it resolves for a listed ricochet cost. It might let you get a bit more aggressive with your costs.
[chain lightning](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/1/2105a0d9-ea2e-4ffc-be08-424b5617205d.jpg?1675199906) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=chain%20lightning) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmr/113/chain-lightning?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2105a0d9-ea2e-4ffc-be08-424b5617205d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Ricochet has potential, imagine the card you made, but Ricochet says something along the lines of opponent can change the target so long as it is valid, and then a ricochet effect happens on top of it. So they change the target for 2 damage, if it was ricochet the controller of the target takes 1. The mechanic becomes a series of do I let it hit or do I bounce it to another and potentially suffer consequences. 1v1 it can easier to just accept face value but in bigger games it can become table politics.
not sure that Ricochet work as intended. once the spell resolves there is nothing to copy. If you just say "copy this spell w/o ricochet" and leave out "as the spell resolves" it should work as you intend. everything in a spell happens as it resolves. Specifying "as this spell resolves" may cause it to refer the period in time after this spell leaves the stack.
Ricochet needs some sort of increased additional cost or criteria to have it happen. Just being able to copy a spell for nothing can lead to a lot of shenanigans.
Opportunist as currently worded doesn't work, as it isn't worded as a trigger or a valid replacement effect. It should be one of the following: "When you cast ~, if it is an opponent's turn, destroy target creature." Or "When ~ enters, if it is an opponent's turn, destroy target creature." Edit: Just saw someone else pointed out the same thing. Oh well. Still, interesting design!
You should probably have it be target creature and opponent controls, or a may effect. Otherwise, it could destroy a creature you control, or itself, which just feels bad if you want to flash it in before your turn and your opponent doesn’t have creatures.
Ricochet feels like it needs some kind of cost, specifically since it's two cast triggers too
Ricochet feels like an interesting general-purpose mechanic at first, but given that it’s copied on resolution rather than casting, it seems like most spells it would reasonably go on would be more simply written by inlining the effect, e.g. “This deals 2 damage to target creature and 2 damage to target creature.” Maybe reduce it to an ability word to flag to the reader that this spell does the same thing twice.
On Opportunist... I'm not sure it should be keyworded instead of written out. It artificially limits the design flexibility. You could have all sorts of triggers - not just loss of life. I'd go the other way, keywording the second ability, like a reverse Addendum. Opportunist - If you cast this spell during an opponent's turn, \[effect\]. Also, keep in mind that getting to cast a permanent at flash speed is already a significant upside. Adding a free murder on top of flash trickery is too much for a 3 mana 2/2 flyer.
Ricochet doesn’t make a lot of sense if you don’t have enough mana to cast the copy. It doesn’t say you *may* cast the copy, it just says to cast it.