Published on the now defunct Grimmoire.com, September 7, 2002
Onslaught’s New Ability: Morph
by Ron Vitale
I’m an old school player and am proud of that. I’ve ranted and raved about the lack of new ideas coming into the new Magic sets because I want to see the game grow beyond its current, static playing field. I have not been impressed with Odyssey and even less impressed with Torment and Judgment. I enjoyed Invasion’s split cards and will be sad to see them go. I still wish that Wizards would branch out of their limited designs and add new colors to the game. I think trying something new might bring back old players. Almost all of the people I know who used to play Magic have left the game, bored with it, and moved on to bigger and better things.
Why do I remain? I’ve met and played cards with Richard Garfield (creator of Magic) and believe his vision of the game to be imaginative and fun. We’ve seen a lot of subpar cards over the last few years, but I am encouraged by the new morph ability found in Onslaught. First, let’s take apart what the ability does. Here’s the official wording for the Blistering Firecat that has the morph ability:
“Morph RR (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.)”
What do I think of the new ability? I like it a lot. The idea is borrowed from the Illusionary Mask that came out in the basic set many moons ago, but I always enjoyed the idea then, and I like it even more now. Given the fact that you can use the morph ability to put out a surprise army and then morph your creatures without a player being able to respond with a card like Shock is a powerful ability.
For me, I prefer to play Blue in Magic because of the bluff factor. I enjoy bluffing or holding onto Counterspells because my opponent needs to gamble: Can she play a spell and I won’t counter it? It’s a difficult choice to make. With the morph ability, a player will be able to put out a creature and use the bluff factor to intimidate an opponent. Having three morph creatures out, can cause some frustration for your opponent.
There are some interesting interactions of older cards with the morph ability. According to Wizards' site, if your opponent plays a Faceless Butcher and use its ability to remove your morph creature from play, the morph creature will leave play face up and then return (if the Butcher leaves play) face up. This potentially weakens cards such a Faceless Butcher. If all you have in play are face down morph creatures that are 2/2, your opponent might think twice before playing the Faceless Butcher. She might play it but then wind up bringing your 6/6 creature into the mix. And better yet, you didn’t have to pay the morph cost!
Onslaught’s New Ability: Morph
by Ron Vitale
I’m an old school player and am proud of that. I’ve ranted and raved about the lack of new ideas coming into the new Magic sets because I want to see the game grow beyond its current, static playing field. I have not been impressed with Odyssey and even less impressed with Torment and Judgment. I enjoyed Invasion’s split cards and will be sad to see them go. I still wish that Wizards would branch out of their limited designs and add new colors to the game. I think trying something new might bring back old players. Almost all of the people I know who used to play Magic have left the game, bored with it, and moved on to bigger and better things.
Why do I remain? I’ve met and played cards with Richard Garfield (creator of Magic) and believe his vision of the game to be imaginative and fun. We’ve seen a lot of subpar cards over the last few years, but I am encouraged by the new morph ability found in Onslaught. First, let’s take apart what the ability does. Here’s the official wording for the Blistering Firecat that has the morph ability:
“Morph RR (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.)”
What do I think of the new ability? I like it a lot. The idea is borrowed from the Illusionary Mask that came out in the basic set many moons ago, but I always enjoyed the idea then, and I like it even more now. Given the fact that you can use the morph ability to put out a surprise army and then morph your creatures without a player being able to respond with a card like Shock is a powerful ability.
For me, I prefer to play Blue in Magic because of the bluff factor. I enjoy bluffing or holding onto Counterspells because my opponent needs to gamble: Can she play a spell and I won’t counter it? It’s a difficult choice to make. With the morph ability, a player will be able to put out a creature and use the bluff factor to intimidate an opponent. Having three morph creatures out, can cause some frustration for your opponent.
There are some interesting interactions of older cards with the morph ability. According to Wizards' site, if your opponent plays a Faceless Butcher and use its ability to remove your morph creature from play, the morph creature will leave play face up and then return (if the Butcher leaves play) face up. This potentially weakens cards such a Faceless Butcher. If all you have in play are face down morph creatures that are 2/2, your opponent might think twice before playing the Faceless Butcher. She might play it but then wind up bringing your 6/6 creature into the mix. And better yet, you didn’t have to pay the morph cost!
Any time that the surprise factor is brought into the game, I believe the complexity rises. I have not agreed with protected and trample creatures being pulled out of the basic set. Seventh edition cards are bland, to say the least, and adding in a base set with the morph ability will strengthen the game. What we will need to see is if the morph creatures are balanced throughout all the colors or are only red and green as mentioned in the Onslaught article on Wizards’ Website. Casting cost is also another factor. I’m impressed with the Blistering Firecat’s ability in that it only costs 3 colorless mana to cast (in its face down state). Even if you do not have the red to play its morph ability, being able to get a creature into play could help inflict early damage on your opponent. The versatility of the morph ability opens up fantastic opportunities. Instead of holding cards in your hand and being unable to cast them, getting a 2/2 creature out will help. Since you can change the color, add tokens, or +1/+1 to the creature, I can foresee decks based around getting lots of morph creatures out quickly and working with enchantments that give bonuses to your creatures.
In general, Green decks have lots of mana and already have some great creatures with madness. Building a deck around morph and madness creatures, and Green might stomp away again. Of course, Blue’s Upheaval will be something to watch out for. On a recent poll on the MagictheGathering.com Website, 27% of over 8,200 voters thought that Upheaval should be banned in Standard. That is an interesting bit of data. Blue mages love the card because it can break the game with Psychatog. A Blue mage who gets the Upheaval/Psychatog combo out may still wreck Green decks. We will have to see what other morph cards will be available and how useful they are. From reading the Blistering Firecat’s text, I think that Wizards has come up with a creative mechanic. Again, we’ll have to see. With the pre-releases coming out in a few weeks, we’ll finally know.
One problem that I can see with the morph ability is the rise of the cheating factor. Anyone who has three morph cards down in play cannot mix these cards up or try to hide them after the game. When the game ends, all morph cards get turned face up so that your opponent can see that you were not cheating. I would hope that judges at tournaments enforce this rule. I’ve seen many Magic players try to cheat and adding the face down factor into the game could create problems. If someone is new to the game and not sure of the rules, it would be rather easy to just scoop the cards up and move on to the next game. From a strategic point-of-view, your opponent needs to see the morph cards face up at the end of a game so that she can see that you’re not cheating and learn what type of cards that you have in your deck so that she can make intelligent sideboard choices.
I’m excited that the morph ability is coming into the game and would encourage Wizards to continue to challenge us as players. I’m tired of seeing the same old abilities being recycled in new sets. Although the morph ability is similar to the Illusionary Mask card, at the same time, it isn’t. The added element of being able to play a card for three colorless mana has great potential. As long as you have some mana in play, you’ll be able to play cards. Again, the bluff factor comes into play. If you are able to play a total morph deck, your opponent is going to have a hard time deciding what she wants to counter coming into play. A seemingly innocent 2/2 creature might not appear so threatening, but when that 2/2 is morphed into a 6/6, then your opponent will have something to fear.
When Onslaught is legal for Extended, it will be interesting to see if Powder Keg becomes used more often. Considering the fact that all face down cards that have the morph ability are counted as 0 casting creatures, a Powder Keg would rip right through all the morph cards. Granted, a player could respond and morph some of his creatures into their more powerful incarnation, but anyone playing with a Powder Keg will have the initial upper hand.
When playing against morph creatures, I will do all that I can to stop them from coming into play, bounce the cards back into my opponent’s hand, or remove the card from play. Any of these tactics will allow me the opportunity to view the morph card’s true value. I’m guessing at this point, but I would think that there will be morph cards as commons, uncommons, and rares. If this assumption of mine is true, then my job in playing against a morph deck will be extremely difficult. How will I know what cards to counter or bounce back into my opponent’s hand? These type of choices and decisions will force me to watch my opponent’s playing style, memorize what’s he’s playing with in his deck, and play the game wisely.
I suspect that players will like the morph cards and that they will be a major part of the Standard environment. Of course, this all depends on the playability of the cards: Will morph cards all be expensive? Can any of the new cards in Onslaught stop a card from morphing? At this point, I don’t know. It will be interesting to see how the research and design team came together to create the new mechanic and if any players will find a way to break any of the cards.
Each year the Fall’s base set launch is a time for players to come together to learn new mechanics and to say a fond farewell to another base set. Back when Invasion came out, I was impressed with the cards and happy to see that they were powerful cards and exciting. Although I’ve read many people complain about cards such as Undermine and Absorb, I liked Invasion’s creature mix and spells. I felt the set was enjoyable to play. As for Odyssey, honestly, I wouldn’t run out and buy cards from that set. I wasn’t that impressed with the card mix.
What will Onslaught bring? Honestly, I don’t know. But I am encouraged by the morph ability. I enjoy thinking in Magic and being challenged to use new mechanics in my play style. I’ve never liked cards that you just play and swamp your opponent with, but would rather beat my opponent through skill. In a few short weeks, we’ll all have our Onslaught cards in front of us so we'll see how balanced the set is.
When Onslaught is released, I’m looking forward to seeing how the new cards interact with the current Standard environment. If we’re lucky, Wizards will have a winning set on their hands. From the small amount of information we currently have about Onslaught, I am encouraged to believe that the new set will be worth buying. I hope my guess is correct!
In general, Green decks have lots of mana and already have some great creatures with madness. Building a deck around morph and madness creatures, and Green might stomp away again. Of course, Blue’s Upheaval will be something to watch out for. On a recent poll on the MagictheGathering.com Website, 27% of over 8,200 voters thought that Upheaval should be banned in Standard. That is an interesting bit of data. Blue mages love the card because it can break the game with Psychatog. A Blue mage who gets the Upheaval/Psychatog combo out may still wreck Green decks. We will have to see what other morph cards will be available and how useful they are. From reading the Blistering Firecat’s text, I think that Wizards has come up with a creative mechanic. Again, we’ll have to see. With the pre-releases coming out in a few weeks, we’ll finally know.
One problem that I can see with the morph ability is the rise of the cheating factor. Anyone who has three morph cards down in play cannot mix these cards up or try to hide them after the game. When the game ends, all morph cards get turned face up so that your opponent can see that you were not cheating. I would hope that judges at tournaments enforce this rule. I’ve seen many Magic players try to cheat and adding the face down factor into the game could create problems. If someone is new to the game and not sure of the rules, it would be rather easy to just scoop the cards up and move on to the next game. From a strategic point-of-view, your opponent needs to see the morph cards face up at the end of a game so that she can see that you’re not cheating and learn what type of cards that you have in your deck so that she can make intelligent sideboard choices.
I’m excited that the morph ability is coming into the game and would encourage Wizards to continue to challenge us as players. I’m tired of seeing the same old abilities being recycled in new sets. Although the morph ability is similar to the Illusionary Mask card, at the same time, it isn’t. The added element of being able to play a card for three colorless mana has great potential. As long as you have some mana in play, you’ll be able to play cards. Again, the bluff factor comes into play. If you are able to play a total morph deck, your opponent is going to have a hard time deciding what she wants to counter coming into play. A seemingly innocent 2/2 creature might not appear so threatening, but when that 2/2 is morphed into a 6/6, then your opponent will have something to fear.
When Onslaught is legal for Extended, it will be interesting to see if Powder Keg becomes used more often. Considering the fact that all face down cards that have the morph ability are counted as 0 casting creatures, a Powder Keg would rip right through all the morph cards. Granted, a player could respond and morph some of his creatures into their more powerful incarnation, but anyone playing with a Powder Keg will have the initial upper hand.
When playing against morph creatures, I will do all that I can to stop them from coming into play, bounce the cards back into my opponent’s hand, or remove the card from play. Any of these tactics will allow me the opportunity to view the morph card’s true value. I’m guessing at this point, but I would think that there will be morph cards as commons, uncommons, and rares. If this assumption of mine is true, then my job in playing against a morph deck will be extremely difficult. How will I know what cards to counter or bounce back into my opponent’s hand? These type of choices and decisions will force me to watch my opponent’s playing style, memorize what’s he’s playing with in his deck, and play the game wisely.
I suspect that players will like the morph cards and that they will be a major part of the Standard environment. Of course, this all depends on the playability of the cards: Will morph cards all be expensive? Can any of the new cards in Onslaught stop a card from morphing? At this point, I don’t know. It will be interesting to see how the research and design team came together to create the new mechanic and if any players will find a way to break any of the cards.
Each year the Fall’s base set launch is a time for players to come together to learn new mechanics and to say a fond farewell to another base set. Back when Invasion came out, I was impressed with the cards and happy to see that they were powerful cards and exciting. Although I’ve read many people complain about cards such as Undermine and Absorb, I liked Invasion’s creature mix and spells. I felt the set was enjoyable to play. As for Odyssey, honestly, I wouldn’t run out and buy cards from that set. I wasn’t that impressed with the card mix.
What will Onslaught bring? Honestly, I don’t know. But I am encouraged by the morph ability. I enjoy thinking in Magic and being challenged to use new mechanics in my play style. I’ve never liked cards that you just play and swamp your opponent with, but would rather beat my opponent through skill. In a few short weeks, we’ll all have our Onslaught cards in front of us so we'll see how balanced the set is.
When Onslaught is released, I’m looking forward to seeing how the new cards interact with the current Standard environment. If we’re lucky, Wizards will have a winning set on their hands. From the small amount of information we currently have about Onslaught, I am encouraged to believe that the new set will be worth buying. I hope my guess is correct!
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