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Mechanic Monday: Out of Mana but Learning Not to be Out of Cards

Good late evening loyal listeners.  It’s another surprise late night installment of Out of Mana.  Happy Mechanic Monday! I actually bought myself a few booster packs of the latest set for my birthday yesterday.  However many years clean and I just grab the first needle I see, amazing.  But the theme of the set (Hogwarts but no money to TERFs) was on my radar months ago, and I always knew that if I was gonna come back, it would be for this.  And I really like the set! Witherbloom/Silverauill, obvs.  I should’ve gone for one of the blue schools, as blue fuckery offers the most control and therefore (in my limited, annoyed experience) the most (and most unfun) wins.

Speaking of Strixhaven and its new mechanics, why don’t we get down to it?

Reserve Powers
In GREEM, players purchase buy and sell goods, as well as special player powers that let them define and accelerate their strategy.  Prior to the start of the game, players assemble a six-power reserve.  As one of the actions on their turn, they may exchange one of their purchased and played powers for a power in their reserve with an equivalent cost.

So I never fully understood the concept of a sideboard, which was very embarrassing when I asked Daniel Solis to explain it when he referenced it in a blog entry.  The only times I had ever played Magic were on a schoolyard lunchtable, so I didn’t know that sideboards existed at all, much less how to leverage them.  But the Learn mechanic that’s new to Strixhaven; that brings it sharply into focus.  I am a little annoyed that it augments the gap between those who already have the deckbuilding advantage of a larger collection, but it’s still smart.  It’s like the stupid fucking cycling decks I’ve run into; get enough of one mechanic into your deck and you can tutor your way to the exact hand you really need to win.  Which is annoying, for sure, but less annoying I think when everyone can do it, hence why I mocked up its inclusion in an economic game (perhaps it could even go in one of my weird auction games, with “cost” being either point value or bid value.  I can also envision cards (in the reserve and in the market) that cater to or counter a reliance on Reserve cards.  Fun stuff!

Right that’s that on that.  Til next time, all cops are bastards!

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