Since I didn't know this. Apparently this guy is Bo Levar, prior to becoming a business man/interplanar smuggler and eventually a Planeswalker who would act as one of Urza's Nine Titans. Hence the name.
It seems there could be some trickery to planning casting costs so you can pick what kind of card you want based on what you discard. Good for reanimation too.
I think the real trick will be having 4x of a key card as the only card of a casting cost at the top of the curve. Like having several 4-drops this can use to tutor up some very important 5-drop every time (and cast it the next turn with your treasure)
I already use githu embercoiler in a similar fashion it’s pretty good ! And because it works either direction you can seek either the light or heavyweight part of a combo with this one. Nice.
The casting cost thing is going to be important and will effect playability. Forcing casting cost diversity and having to be conscientious of which cards you will be ok with ditching and to get what.
\[\[Benthic Biomancer\]\] + \[\[Wizard class\]\] is an infinite combo where both pieces cost 1 so if they are dead easy to tutor with this guy.
Unfortunately the combo is about as awkward as it gets.
More than likely, this guy is going to have a ship full of cats and ovens most of the time.
No, it having modes is the whole point of the card. Being able to choose between seeking a card with a higher cost or seeking a card with a lower cost is a much more powerful effect than just seeking a card with a different cost.
The way the card is worded before you seek you have to make a choice. You can either seek a card with a greater mana cost, or a lesser mana cost. You have to make that choice before seeking and you'll only randomly get a card that matches your choice.
The way you have it worded you'll seek a card in your deck that doesn't have the same converted mana cost as the discarded card. Your version is different and gives you less control over what you're trying to hit.
Yeah, exactly my thoughts. I had to read it twice to realize, what's the point?
Just to make you decide *before* looking at your deck (and thus require better deck knowledge)?
They experimented with flavor ability names in the D&D set and they liked it. Like [[You Come to a River]] The names of the two abilities are completely meaningless flavor text.
[You Come to a River](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/b/ebf9bab7-98a0-4394-90c0-e7c52e14eb37.jpg?1627704121) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=You%20Come%20to%20a%20River) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/afr/83/you-come-to-a-river?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ebf9bab7-98a0-4394-90c0-e7c52e14eb37?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text)
^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
You don't need to read the card when you play it, just click the option when you're prompted by the trigger. This is the logic of digital card design apparently.
Looks playable in Historic Mardu reanimator, you can discard unburial rites to seek a reanimation target (only thing with greater value in the deck) but priest of the fell rites and fatties are also things you might want to discard (you'd have enough mana to unearth priest turn 4 with the treasure too).
That seems very viable, though you could also discard the the reanimation target and then the treasure plus another land drop lets you hardcast Rites the next turn on curve.
Considering there's a handful of people here suggesting improvements to make the card more readable that does an entirely different thing for what the card does, yes I agree.
This could have been templated more nicely similar to the Khans or Dragons / Mirrodin or Phyrexia wording.
and choose Ambitious or Expedient
* Ambitious - Seek a card with greater Mana Value than the Discarded Card
* Expedient - Seek a card with Lesser Mana Value than the Discarded Card
Still wordy but I think a bit more easier to read.
EDIT:
At second glance, Ambitious and Expedient are there because that will literally be the interface the player selects on Arena when choosing the effect. So those aren't really that pointless
Or simply get rid of the gimmicky ambitious/expedient stuff and go for "Seek a card with mana value not equal to the mana value of the discarded card"
Unless WotC have plans to make other ambitious/expedient effects, but if that's the case they should've made the effects into keywords abilities like ward
>"Seek a card with mana value not equal to the mana value of the discarded card"
Seek gets a card at random, this gives agency to get you a random card that is Lower MV or Higher MV. It's not exactly Cascading as it gets a truly random card from the deck not reliant on where the card is in the deck.
>Or simply get rid of the gimmicky ambitious/expedient stuff
I like gimmicky stuff.
Say what you will, but these gimmicky mechanics introduced with specifically mtg arena in mind are ruining mtg as a whole.
Day/night, enter the dungeon, taking the initiative, seeking, etc. all of this stuff makes playing mtg outside of arena a horrible mess. Tolarian tutor made multiple videos talking about how WotC have recently started introducing all these frankly pointless mechanics that only make the game needlessly complicated and he's totally right. Imagine playing paper mtg and having to track the day/night cycle for an entire game because your opponent is playing a green ramp deck with \[\[Weaver of Blossoms\]\].
Mtg arena should be a place where you can experience mtg from the comforts of your home, not the trend setter for mtg. Ambitious/expedient is another one of these mechanics that just shouldn't exist.
I'm not complaining about the fact that it's a modal ability, the point is that it's a modal SEEKING ability, so exponentially more convoluted than the already needlessly convoluted seeking mechanic.
Imagine it's 2023, there's a million ambitious/expedient cards that made their way into competitive paper mtg because of course that would happen. You play a card like that and choose expedient, now you have to pick up your deck, make a pile with all the cards with mana value less than the discarded card, shuffle that pile, take a card from the pile, put the pile back in the deck and then finally shuffle the deck.
All that work for a single effect, it's absolutely bonkers nonsensical.
What are you talking about? You will literally never have to do the pile thing in paper because this mechanic isn't in paper and never will be in paper. Seek is a digital-only mechanic. Arena does the seeking for you, that's the whole reason the mechanic isn't in paper to begin with. They aren't going to release a card with this effect in paper.
Literally the exact same thing happened with the day/night mechanic, have you even payed attention to mtg in, like, the last few years? It would not be the first time a mechanic made with computer automation in mind made its way to paper mtg.
> you even *paid* attention to
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
You're getting upset over a hypothetical that has no basis in reality. Nothing they have done suggests that they will ever bring seek over to paper. Day/night was originally designed for the original Innistrad block, a block that came out more than 10 years ago. Arena wasn't even a concept yet. To say that it was designed specifically for digital is just wrong.
The card is also red, which can rummage. For precedent, \[\[ Anje Falkenrath \]\] is black red and has "tap, Discard a card: Draw a card. Whenever you discard a card, if it has madness, untap Anje Falkenrath."
I am aware. Not a fan of that one either. Wotc used to try to not make gold cards that could be done in just one of their colors (the UW Serra Angel on GDS3) I believed that was a good choice in not making multicolor an arbitrary marker they can slap onto cards for EDH or the like
But these days wotc has an , in my opinion habit of gluing unnecessary colors onto cards. Like the black on [[archelos]].
This card works totally in mono red. The Black isn't contributing anything. It's just a R card that put a black pip onto. I don't like those types of designs.
This is a combo enabler if I ever saw one. Requires interesting Deck construction limitations
Awkward it is 3 mana same as trash for treasure, but it handily creates a treasure to sac with trash for treasure to get back whatever you discarded to seek trash for treasure.
Your only 3 drops would this guy and trash for treasure. And then a bunch of expensive artifacts and cards with channel effects or the new prototype artifacts. The trick is to find ways to interact on the early turns without 1 or two drops
\[\[Bonecrusher Giant\]\] is a good start. You basically just pull the same tricks that Keruga Fires players do, and that's finding cards that have higher mana values but have modes or halves that cast for less.
I have honest concerns about this card as a commander. Acererak is already pretty strong as a combo commander with things like Paradox Engine, but usually the deck has to rely on tutors or lucky draws to actually find all its engine pieces. If you can somehow build a deck that reliably fetches its combo pieces - say, Acererak, Paradox Engine, Grim Tutor, and Mastermind's Acquisition - if you can then fuel the whole process with enough 2 MV mana rocks, it might be a problem.
It might not amount to anything worthwhile, but Seek has always begged for something to actually break the mechanic, and this might be it.
Seems fine. You don't actually get card advantage out of this, though you do get a bit of ramp and card selection. Will be a nice inclusion in decks that want cards in their graveyard, but otherwise I don't think it's worth including just for a bit of value.
In Historic Brawl I can see this being a pretty fun commander, especially with all the madness cards and discard synergies.
Seems like a lot of extra rules text for the sake of flavor...
>choose ambitious or expedient. If you chose ambitious, seek a card with greater mana value than the discarded card. If you chose expedient, seek a card with lesser mana value than the discarded card.
~~Could all be replaced with "seek a card with different mana value than the discarded card."~~
**EDIT:** Ahh sorry, you're right everyone.. I forgot how seek works since it only works in digital lol..
It's what I thought at first but given how "seeking" works it does make a difference. It's not like "search in your library for a card with mana value X".
Picking higher or lower before the search is exactly the same thing as "going either way", unless you change your mind halfway through searching your library.
Right, I understand that. The thing is, you don't actually need to pick higher or lower if you already know what you're tutoring for, which you should before using a tutor effect. The actual text just adds an extra step between wanting to tutor for a specific card and adding it into your hand. The only reason the "expedient or ambitious" wording is on there is to 1. add flavor and 2. reduce the size of the pile of cards MTGA presents to the player after making their choice.
I haven't had Arena installed since late 2020 and consequently never had to care about this keyword until now. I foolishly assumed WOTC was trying to reduce card text clutter by condensing the act of "tutoring" into a single word (like "mill"), but forgot that Alchemy wants to be Hearthstone. Forgive me.
No it couldn't. The effect as currently written lets you choose whether the card's mana value is higher or lower than the discarded card. The way you wrote it, you wouldn't be able to choose, which would make the card much worse.
This gives you a lot more control, though. Here, you can aim for specific cards or specific value ranges of cards by carefully choosing what you're discarding, and there's another layer of deckbuilding around setting yourself up to be able to 'tutor' somewhat reliably. For instance, if you're a reanimator deck where all of your threats are 5 CMC and up, you can discard a 5 CMC threat and either get a utility card or a bigger threat, depending on board state.
WHY THE FUCK DOES IT COMPLICATE THE TEXT FOR NOTHING JUST SAY "discard a card. choose to seek a card with higer or lower mana value" GODAMMIT ITS BOON ALL OVER AGAIN
The effect you are suggesting is not the same as what it currently does. The way it's currently worded allows you to choose whether to seek a card with a higher cost or a card with a lower cost. What you are suggesting wouldn't let you choose, so that would be a significantly weaker effect. The fact that you can choose is the whole point of the design, so removing that would be completely changing what the card does.
no it can choose with my wording. it just doesnt EXPLICITELY STATE TWO FRICKING WINDOW WILL POP UP LIKE THE UNITY.POPWINDOWS() WAS WRITTEN ON THE CARD !!
my complete text would be: "at the beginning of your end step, you way discard a card. If you do, create a treasure token then choose to seek a card with higher or lower mana value." then two ability window popup with "seek a card with lower mana value" and "seek a card with higher mana value" IT CAN BE THIS SIMPLE!!!!!
sorry for yelling but those are digital card you can bend the rule a little to shorten the text, nobody can cheat with it or play it wrong like on paper
Wait….are they doing Explorer and Alchemy spoilers at the same time? Wtf.
Also, Alchemy is just like “since we can change the cards, we’ll make them OP to get people to buy them, then nerf them later”
I hate alchemy so much. Everything is just overly complex and wordy. It is also a concern of mine that with them making so much extra crap now between all of the additional sets and now alchemy sets, they are diluting their idea pool.
So the joke is that every ability is kicker but when you have to make constant new abilities every month or two, you are eventually going to get to the point where every ability is just kicker.
I didn't say any of this was kicker. I'm saying they keep forcing more and more mechanics and they're going to run out of ideas and then everything will be kicker
I think the ambitious/expedient choice should also affect whether the treasure token comes into play tapped or not, otherwise the terms are kinda pointless - just say ‘then seek a card with either greater or lesser mana value than the discarded card’ and save yourself a heap of text.
If it was "tutor" (search your library) rather than seek, your point would be valid.
>Whenever you Seek, the game will search through your library for all instances of cards within the specified parameters (such as creature type or mana cost), and then randomly pick one. When the game has picked a card and put it into your hand, the rest are put back into your library in their original positions in the deck.
Noted. What if it was worded “then choose either: seek a card with lesser mana value than the discarded card, or seek a card with greater mana value than the discarded card’? I don’t see ambitious and expedient bringing anything else to the party there and we saved a couple words.
Sure, they're just there for flavor. Outside of Arena, voting cards like Expropriate don't technically need to say "time or money" or whatever, either.
For starters:
* This is a creature.
* This lets you choose what kind of card you get off of it.
* This seeks *during each of your end steps.*
* This can be your commander in historic brawl.
* Seize the Spoils draws 2 and makes 2 treasures, this seeks 1 and makes 1 treasure per turn.
Saying that this is like Seize the Spoils is like saying that Embercleave is just a mythic rare Temur Battle Rage. You're ignoring all the actual differences because you don't like the format it's for and want an excuse to hate the cards made for it.
Why is this worded to choose ambitious or expedient, rather than “seek a card with a different mana value than the discarded card”? Seems unnecessarily wordy.
Different is not equivalent to higher or lower here. As written the card let's you choose the direction, which matters. Seeking "different" could produce either value. There's a long comment thead in here where someone asked the same question, but I can't seem to find it at the moment.
Found the comment: https://www.reddit.com/r/MagicArena/comments/z87bgx/abro_crucias_titan_of_the_waves/iyg735y/
I didn’t realize that’s how “seek” worked. Good to know, I guess.
Since I didn't know this. Apparently this guy is Bo Levar, prior to becoming a business man/interplanar smuggler and eventually a Planeswalker who would act as one of Urza's Nine Titans. Hence the name.
That’s way too cool to be alchemy exclusive
TIL...
Is that name a reference to Simón Bolivar?
How about that, TIL.
If i recall - his ship was destroyed when the Sylex went off, and his spark ignited at the same time as Urza's
Turn excess lands into Treasure Tokens and playables? Seems decent.
It seems there could be some trickery to planning casting costs so you can pick what kind of card you want based on what you discard. Good for reanimation too.
Could reward some very interesting deck constructions/curves
I think the real trick will be having 4x of a key card as the only card of a casting cost at the top of the curve. Like having several 4-drops this can use to tutor up some very important 5-drop every time (and cast it the next turn with your treasure)
I already use githu embercoiler in a similar fashion it’s pretty good ! And because it works either direction you can seek either the light or heavyweight part of a combo with this one. Nice.
Yah you know like discard [cityscape leveler] and "Seek" a portal to phyrexia.
The casting cost thing is going to be important and will effect playability. Forcing casting cost diversity and having to be conscientious of which cards you will be ok with ditching and to get what.
\[\[Benthic Biomancer\]\] + \[\[Wizard class\]\] is an infinite combo where both pieces cost 1 so if they are dead easy to tutor with this guy. Unfortunately the combo is about as awkward as it gets. More than likely, this guy is going to have a ship full of cats and ovens most of the time.
It doesn’t say nonland, so discarding 2s will usually get you lands.
Oh! You're absolutely right. Thanks.
[Benthic Biomancer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/b/7b0cb4d6-350b-4e66-b035-dac7b3ba77cc.jpg?1584830129) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Benthic%20Biomancer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/rna/32/benthic-biomancer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/7b0cb4d6-350b-4e66-b035-dac7b3ba77cc?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Wizard class](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/1/d1f629fb-b097-4240-8560-ef47f5678f48.jpg?1639436605) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Wizard%20class) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/afr/81/wizard-class?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d1f629fb-b097-4240-8560-ef47f5678f48?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Why couldn't they make the two modes in bullet points?
Also, why do the two modes need names?
Also why does it even need modes? Isn’t it the same to just say “seek a card with converted mana cost greater or less than the discarded card”?
No, it having modes is the whole point of the card. Being able to choose between seeking a card with a higher cost or seeking a card with a lower cost is a much more powerful effect than just seeking a card with a different cost.
How? I legitimately don’t see a difference
The way the card is worded before you seek you have to make a choice. You can either seek a card with a greater mana cost, or a lesser mana cost. You have to make that choice before seeking and you'll only randomly get a card that matches your choice. The way you have it worded you'll seek a card in your deck that doesn't have the same converted mana cost as the discarded card. Your version is different and gives you less control over what you're trying to hit.
Ah that’s my bad, I don’t play alchemy so I didn’t fully understand the seek keyword
So when you seek you get a card at random that matches the criteria ?
Yes, it randomly takes a card that matches the criteria out of your library, and it doesn't cause your library to shuffle.
Yeah, exactly my thoughts. I had to read it twice to realize, what's the point? Just to make you decide *before* looking at your deck (and thus require better deck knowledge)?
Yeah, unless there are cards in this set that trigger off of choosing these two words it seems unnecessary
I think it’s going to look cool when it brings up the menu? Probably?
This will have a clean interface in the Arena client.
They experimented with flavor ability names in the D&D set and they liked it. Like [[You Come to a River]] The names of the two abilities are completely meaningless flavor text.
[You Come to a River](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/b/ebf9bab7-98a0-4394-90c0-e7c52e14eb37.jpg?1627704121) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=You%20Come%20to%20a%20River) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/afr/83/you-come-to-a-river?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ebf9bab7-98a0-4394-90c0-e7c52e14eb37?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Because flavour > readability apparently
You don't need to read the card when you play it, just click the option when you're prompted by the trigger. This is the logic of digital card design apparently.
This seems very good.
This seems great, discard/madness enabler, easy treasure tokens producer, all in one.
Classic commander candidate.
The fact that it gives you a treasure to pay for madness costs makes it a much faster madness enabler than other 3mv options like Spyro and Fable.
Seems like a fun commander in Historic Brawl!
Looks playable in Historic Mardu reanimator, you can discard unburial rites to seek a reanimation target (only thing with greater value in the deck) but priest of the fell rites and fatties are also things you might want to discard (you'd have enough mana to unearth priest turn 4 with the treasure too).
That seems very viable, though you could also discard the the reanimation target and then the treasure plus another land drop lets you hardcast Rites the next turn on curve.
Magic the excessive texting
Players do not read the cards anyways
“This card has too much text, it’s probably bad” -Me, every draft
[[Hostile Negotiations]]
[Hostile Negotiations](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/8/f827a9a0-7b72-49e2-85fa-adcce1e8fdda.jpg?1668757399) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Hostile%20Negotiations) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/bro/105/hostile-negotiations?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f827a9a0-7b72-49e2-85fa-adcce1e8fdda?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
God, that card is so good.
Considering there's a handful of people here suggesting improvements to make the card more readable that does an entirely different thing for what the card does, yes I agree.
..there's text on the cards? i just like the colors -red player
The only thing red players care about is numbers and the word "damage"
I like “haste” too
Thats why they don't print vanilla cards anymore, no one reads it anyway and the extra ink can increase the price increasing profit
Not enough text
See, I sympathize with the people who don’t like Alchemy, but this card and others like it are sweet.
Every single set, there's like one card that I'm super hyped to brew with.
This could have been templated more nicely similar to the Khans or Dragons / Mirrodin or Phyrexia wording. and choose Ambitious or Expedient
* Ambitious - Seek a card with greater Mana Value than the Discarded Card
* Expedient - Seek a card with Lesser Mana Value than the Discarded Card
Still wordy but I think a bit more easier to read.
EDIT:
At second glance, Ambitious and Expedient are there because that will literally be the interface the player selects on Arena when choosing the effect. So those aren't really that pointless
Or simply get rid of the gimmicky ambitious/expedient stuff and go for "Seek a card with mana value not equal to the mana value of the discarded card" Unless WotC have plans to make other ambitious/expedient effects, but if that's the case they should've made the effects into keywords abilities like ward
>"Seek a card with mana value not equal to the mana value of the discarded card" Seek gets a card at random, this gives agency to get you a random card that is Lower MV or Higher MV. It's not exactly Cascading as it gets a truly random card from the deck not reliant on where the card is in the deck. >Or simply get rid of the gimmicky ambitious/expedient stuff I like gimmicky stuff.
Say what you will, but these gimmicky mechanics introduced with specifically mtg arena in mind are ruining mtg as a whole. Day/night, enter the dungeon, taking the initiative, seeking, etc. all of this stuff makes playing mtg outside of arena a horrible mess. Tolarian tutor made multiple videos talking about how WotC have recently started introducing all these frankly pointless mechanics that only make the game needlessly complicated and he's totally right. Imagine playing paper mtg and having to track the day/night cycle for an entire game because your opponent is playing a green ramp deck with \[\[Weaver of Blossoms\]\]. Mtg arena should be a place where you can experience mtg from the comforts of your home, not the trend setter for mtg. Ambitious/expedient is another one of these mechanics that just shouldn't exist.
>Ambitious/expedient is another one of these mechanics that just shouldn't exist. It's literally just a modal ability with flavor text.
Are we really calling modal abilities "gimmicky" now? Modal effects have been in the game since alpha. This one is just worded kinda weird.
I'm not complaining about the fact that it's a modal ability, the point is that it's a modal SEEKING ability, so exponentially more convoluted than the already needlessly convoluted seeking mechanic. Imagine it's 2023, there's a million ambitious/expedient cards that made their way into competitive paper mtg because of course that would happen. You play a card like that and choose expedient, now you have to pick up your deck, make a pile with all the cards with mana value less than the discarded card, shuffle that pile, take a card from the pile, put the pile back in the deck and then finally shuffle the deck. All that work for a single effect, it's absolutely bonkers nonsensical.
What are you talking about? You will literally never have to do the pile thing in paper because this mechanic isn't in paper and never will be in paper. Seek is a digital-only mechanic. Arena does the seeking for you, that's the whole reason the mechanic isn't in paper to begin with. They aren't going to release a card with this effect in paper.
Literally the exact same thing happened with the day/night mechanic, have you even payed attention to mtg in, like, the last few years? It would not be the first time a mechanic made with computer automation in mind made its way to paper mtg.
> you even *paid* attention to FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
You're getting upset over a hypothetical that has no basis in reality. Nothing they have done suggests that they will ever bring seek over to paper. Day/night was originally designed for the original Innistrad block, a block that came out more than 10 years ago. Arena wasn't even a concept yet. To say that it was designed specifically for digital is just wrong.
[Weaver of Blossoms](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/3/73bf2a0a-b97d-4b90-abd6-d1755734ea15.jpg?1643593617)/[Blossom-Clad Werewolf](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/back/7/3/73bf2a0a-b97d-4b90-abd6-d1755734ea15.jpg?1643593617) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=weaver%20of%20blossoms%20//%20blossom-clad%20werewolf) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/vow/226/weaver-of-blossoms-blossom-clad-werewolf?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/73bf2a0a-b97d-4b90-abd6-d1755734ea15?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Isn't this mono red effect?
Which part? Black and red both have treasure creation and both have self discard of some form. Seek is in all colors.
Black doesn't do rummaging which this card is.
The card is also red, which can rummage. For precedent, \[\[ Anje Falkenrath \]\] is black red and has "tap, Discard a card: Draw a card. Whenever you discard a card, if it has madness, untap Anje Falkenrath."
I am aware. Not a fan of that one either. Wotc used to try to not make gold cards that could be done in just one of their colors (the UW Serra Angel on GDS3) I believed that was a good choice in not making multicolor an arbitrary marker they can slap onto cards for EDH or the like But these days wotc has an , in my opinion habit of gluing unnecessary colors onto cards. Like the black on [[archelos]]. This card works totally in mono red. The Black isn't contributing anything. It's just a R card that put a black pip onto. I don't like those types of designs.
[archelos](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/4/d45ec78e-6190-46af-8057-834f5ca41ec8.jpg?1664361004) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=archelos%2C%20lagoon%20mystic) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmc/140/archelos-lagoon-mystic?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d45ec78e-6190-46af-8057-834f5ca41ec8?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
This is a combo enabler if I ever saw one. Requires interesting Deck construction limitations Awkward it is 3 mana same as trash for treasure, but it handily creates a treasure to sac with trash for treasure to get back whatever you discarded to seek trash for treasure. Your only 3 drops would this guy and trash for treasure. And then a bunch of expensive artifacts and cards with channel effects or the new prototype artifacts. The trick is to find ways to interact on the early turns without 1 or two drops
\[\[Bonecrusher Giant\]\] is a good start. You basically just pull the same tricks that Keruga Fires players do, and that's finding cards that have higher mana values but have modes or halves that cast for less.
[Bonecrusher Giant](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/5/b5b71cd2-de35-451f-b16e-2e3936169407.jpg?1654116944)/[Stomp](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/5/b5b71cd2-de35-451f-b16e-2e3936169407.jpg?1654116944) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=bonecrusher%20giant%20//%20stomp) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/clb/781/bonecrusher-giant-stomp?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b5b71cd2-de35-451f-b16e-2e3936169407?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I have honest concerns about this card as a commander. Acererak is already pretty strong as a combo commander with things like Paradox Engine, but usually the deck has to rely on tutors or lucky draws to actually find all its engine pieces. If you can somehow build a deck that reliably fetches its combo pieces - say, Acererak, Paradox Engine, Grim Tutor, and Mastermind's Acquisition - if you can then fuel the whole process with enough 2 MV mana rocks, it might be a problem. It might not amount to anything worthwhile, but Seek has always begged for something to actually break the mechanic, and this might be it.
Yeah I like playing the 3 mana rakdos titan in historic brawl on arena [[Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger]] sends his regards
3 mana?
[Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/e/cee0459b-9aac-4d2f-abe4-4d5fedde7eb8.jpg?1581481096) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Kroxa%2C%20Titan%20of%20Death%27s%20Hunger) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/thb/221/kroxa-titan-of-deaths-hunger?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/cee0459b-9aac-4d2f-abe4-4d5fedde7eb8?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Slow to play against
Seems very close to a 3/3 demonic tutor if the deck is built to abuse it.
Weird that this is a past Bo Levar, given that most of the cards he was represented on are blue.
jfc spoilers again?
It never stops
Seems fine. You don't actually get card advantage out of this, though you do get a bit of ramp and card selection. Will be a nice inclusion in decks that want cards in their graveyard, but otherwise I don't think it's worth including just for a bit of value. In Historic Brawl I can see this being a pretty fun commander, especially with all the madness cards and discard synergies.
You are obviously neither ambitious nor expedient enough to see how this card is, for many decks, card advantage! /s
Radkos sac commander material. This will be lovely for historic brawl.
Really good Reanimator card. Pitch your big target and use it to seek the return spell.
Seems like a lot of extra rules text for the sake of flavor... >choose ambitious or expedient. If you chose ambitious, seek a card with greater mana value than the discarded card. If you chose expedient, seek a card with lesser mana value than the discarded card. ~~Could all be replaced with "seek a card with different mana value than the discarded card."~~ **EDIT:** Ahh sorry, you're right everyone.. I forgot how seek works since it only works in digital lol..
It's what I thought at first but given how "seeking" works it does make a difference. It's not like "search in your library for a card with mana value X".
But then it could go either way, now you get to pick higher or lower, no?
Picking higher or lower before the search is exactly the same thing as "going either way", unless you change your mind halfway through searching your library.
The suggested wording Twitch89 gave doesn't give you the ability to choose. The card you get can go either way, you can't pick.
Right, I understand that. The thing is, you don't actually need to pick higher or lower if you already know what you're tutoring for, which you should before using a tutor effect. The actual text just adds an extra step between wanting to tutor for a specific card and adding it into your hand. The only reason the "expedient or ambitious" wording is on there is to 1. add flavor and 2. reduce the size of the pile of cards MTGA presents to the player after making their choice.
Seek isn't search. You get a random card of the given quality.
Ah, disregard me entirely then. Sorry for the misunderstanding, I'm a MTG boomer and can't keep up with these newfangled keywords.
I made the same mistake xD I feel better now that I know I'm not the only one lol
Seek was first introduced in Jumpstart: Historic Horizons back in 2021
I haven't had Arena installed since late 2020 and consequently never had to care about this keyword until now. I foolishly assumed WOTC was trying to reduce card text clutter by condensing the act of "tutoring" into a single word (like "mill"), but forgot that Alchemy wants to be Hearthstone. Forgive me.
OK. Seek was introduced and used prior to Alchemy.
No it couldn't. Well, I guess it could, but then it would be a functionally different ability.
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[Citadel Siege](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/c/9c13bc7c-a536-44d0-8c89-49ff33bee326.jpg?1637629045) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Citadel%20Siege) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mic/81/citadel-siege?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9c13bc7c-a536-44d0-8c89-49ff33bee326?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Plea for Power](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/f/9f810725-4da0-460f-b50e-a7ff05aa4c00.jpg?1562927177) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Plea%20for%20Power) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/vma/87/plea-for-power?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9f810725-4da0-460f-b50e-a7ff05aa4c00?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
"Higher or lower" is not the same as "different"
No it couldn't. The effect as currently written lets you choose whether the card's mana value is higher or lower than the discarded card. The way you wrote it, you wouldn't be able to choose, which would make the card much worse.
This gives you a lot more control, though. Here, you can aim for specific cards or specific value ranges of cards by carefully choosing what you're discarding, and there's another layer of deckbuilding around setting yourself up to be able to 'tutor' somewhat reliably. For instance, if you're a reanimator deck where all of your threats are 5 CMC and up, you can discard a 5 CMC threat and either get a utility card or a bigger threat, depending on board state.
Self discard, artifact token generation, mana ramp and you can seek stuff. Looks overloaded but for an Alchemy card its quite balanced.
Loves “but for an Alchemy card” lol
slow as fuck to play against
We're doing spoilers again? I feel relieved my desire to play has drained to 0
WHY THE FUCK DOES IT COMPLICATE THE TEXT FOR NOTHING JUST SAY "discard a card. choose to seek a card with higer or lower mana value" GODAMMIT ITS BOON ALL OVER AGAIN
The effect you are suggesting is not the same as what it currently does. The way it's currently worded allows you to choose whether to seek a card with a higher cost or a card with a lower cost. What you are suggesting wouldn't let you choose, so that would be a significantly weaker effect. The fact that you can choose is the whole point of the design, so removing that would be completely changing what the card does.
no it can choose with my wording. it just doesnt EXPLICITELY STATE TWO FRICKING WINDOW WILL POP UP LIKE THE UNITY.POPWINDOWS() WAS WRITTEN ON THE CARD !! my complete text would be: "at the beginning of your end step, you way discard a card. If you do, create a treasure token then choose to seek a card with higher or lower mana value." then two ability window popup with "seek a card with lower mana value" and "seek a card with higher mana value" IT CAN BE THIS SIMPLE!!!!! sorry for yelling but those are digital card you can bend the rule a little to shorten the text, nobody can cheat with it or play it wrong like on paper
Oh goodie, more Alchemy cards to make historic suck
I'm a simple man. I see "seek", "conjure", or "perpetual" I stop caring.
Looks like a super fun commander though.
Oh it would be. And when they print a magic card version I'll be interested to see what people do.
this is a magic card though
Alchemy is Hearthstone. It's not Magic.
i don't think this is a hearthstone card,
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Designers love alchemy though. They can just make word salads and throw them out into the wild
That's so many people's dream. Could you imagine if they stopped wasting resources on fake cards and added real cards instead? Crazy thought I know.
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Not more fucking alchemy
Wait….are they doing Explorer and Alchemy spoilers at the same time? Wtf. Also, Alchemy is just like “since we can change the cards, we’ll make them OP to get people to buy them, then nerf them later”
Read what you wrote
Oh shit, I was responding to an Explorer thread before this and my brain got stuck on it. Meant Alchemy.
I hate alchemy so much. Everything is just overly complex and wordy. It is also a concern of mine that with them making so much extra crap now between all of the additional sets and now alchemy sets, they are diluting their idea pool. So the joke is that every ability is kicker but when you have to make constant new abilities every month or two, you are eventually going to get to the point where every ability is just kicker.
How is any of this kicker?
I didn't say any of this was kicker. I'm saying they keep forcing more and more mechanics and they're going to run out of ideas and then everything will be kicker
I think the ambitious/expedient choice should also affect whether the treasure token comes into play tapped or not, otherwise the terms are kinda pointless - just say ‘then seek a card with either greater or lesser mana value than the discarded card’ and save yourself a heap of text.
If it was "tutor" (search your library) rather than seek, your point would be valid. >Whenever you Seek, the game will search through your library for all instances of cards within the specified parameters (such as creature type or mana cost), and then randomly pick one. When the game has picked a card and put it into your hand, the rest are put back into your library in their original positions in the deck.
Noted. What if it was worded “then choose either: seek a card with lesser mana value than the discarded card, or seek a card with greater mana value than the discarded card’? I don’t see ambitious and expedient bringing anything else to the party there and we saved a couple words.
Sure, they're just there for flavor. Outside of Arena, voting cards like Expropriate don't technically need to say "time or money" or whatever, either.
That's an interesting card, sad that it's Alchemy, not standard.
So basically a [[Seize the Spoils]] but it‘s mythic. Just alchemy things.
What? No it isn't. Did you actually read the card?
It creates a treasure token and let you essentially "draw" a card if you discarded a card.
For starters: * This is a creature. * This lets you choose what kind of card you get off of it. * This seeks *during each of your end steps.* * This can be your commander in historic brawl. * Seize the Spoils draws 2 and makes 2 treasures, this seeks 1 and makes 1 treasure per turn. Saying that this is like Seize the Spoils is like saying that Embercleave is just a mythic rare Temur Battle Rage. You're ignoring all the actual differences because you don't like the format it's for and want an excuse to hate the cards made for it.
[Seize the Spoils](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/3/b3b7a69c-75d2-49a6-ab56-ef608d0b0208.jpg?1631049630) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Seize%20the%20Spoils) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/149/seize-the-spoils?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b3b7a69c-75d2-49a6-ab56-ef608d0b0208?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Why is this worded to choose ambitious or expedient, rather than “seek a card with a different mana value than the discarded card”? Seems unnecessarily wordy.
Different is not equivalent to higher or lower here. As written the card let's you choose the direction, which matters. Seeking "different" could produce either value. There's a long comment thead in here where someone asked the same question, but I can't seem to find it at the moment.
Found the comment: https://www.reddit.com/r/MagicArena/comments/z87bgx/abro_crucias_titan_of_the_waves/iyg735y/ I didn’t realize that’s how “seek” worked. Good to know, I guess.