Hello, and welcome to YOU be the dev team! In this new semi-regular feature, we’ll see if YOU have what it takes to design the game of MAGIC PUZZLE QUEST!
For your first challenge, look at these 3 mythic cards. One of them is clearly unbalanced, and will break the game, whereas the other two are a bit rubbish. Can YOU do the job the dev team should have done and determine which card is too powerful to be printed?
I’m going with the 8 manna, 5/5 mythic, shteev.
I’ll go for “Under-costed Mythics” for 8, Trebek!
Well… Olivia is totally imba and she’s a vampire… and Yahenni, Undying Partisan is a vampire… so… the lizard!?
Are people misreading Yaheeni? Or am I the only person seeing the potential there? (hint: black has defenders and others that can come back immediately for free; the text reads “until the end of your turn”, not the “current turn”).
I have to go with Baral. Oh the damage I could do with that card in my Jace 2 deck.
I assume you are referring to Prized Amalgam as the defender that comes back for free but it doesn’t come back on it’s own. You are likely dedicating a creature spot to Prized Amalgam and another spot to zombie tokens in order to recur the Prized Amalgam. I’d rather play Gisa and Geralf in the third spot since it can recur the Prized Amalgam on it’s own plus help me get larger stacks of Amalgam all at once. GnG costs 3 more mana than Yahenni and starts out as an 8/8. I don’t really need the berserker part on Yahenni either because that just reduces the damage I do against the opponent and Prized Amalgam slowly kills the opponent’s creatures by blocking. I’m sure I’m having a bit of tunnel vision based on my own build but I really can’t see a use for Yahenni, at least not for me personally. If he cost a little less and maybe grew at a faster rate, I’d consider using him. How many creatures are you killing in a given game? If you kill 6, you end up with an 8/8. Killing 6 creatures is a lot in a single PvP game.
Back on topic, without even reading the cards I’d just pick whichever one is the exclusive as the one that’s too powerful.
Yahenni could be good with all the cheap removal in black…
The basilisk, however, is poop.
Baral is completely undercosted and will be the #1 mythic in the set, other than that green spell.
Yahenni looks like a fun card, but like Grim Flayer, is too weak to do much in the current meta, unfortunately. Could combo with Prized Amalgam or some berserkers, but it’s going to be very niche.
Aetherwind Basker looks like a decent card, might be overlooked because it’s not OP like some other cards. I could see it get use if you don’t have any of the other great green mythics.
Wait, these are actual cards???
Son of a…yeah. 8 mana 5/5 is strong. That spell ability is BANANAS. Kiora plus convert some gems plus…any spell…this is going to be bad.
Can’t wait for Pt2!
Baral, Chief of Compliance. Its a 5/5 for 8, the mana abilities are amazing, and the cast one/draw one draw is OP at twice the cost on a 3/3 body.
Baral is a 5/5 creature. He is also easily repeatable card draw. He is also ramp when he enters, and repeatable ramp at that. Oh and he only costs 8 mana? Imagine this in a deck with 6+ spells, especially cheaper ones; all that cycling… Also, these cards all suddenly become free: Imprisoned in the Moon (most notably), Kozilek’s Return, Haunted Cloak, Scatter to the Winds, Demolish, Turn Against, and Transgress the Mind Whispers of Emrakul (when we get a UB planeswalker). And if Saheeli adds in Harness… goodness gracious!
I bet Prism Array is looking pretty balanced now isn’t it, shteev?
Dammit. There goes ‘YOU be the dev team pt2’.
No no no, I want to see part two! I’m curious to see which other two you want to look at.
Still waiting on part 2 shteev
As a developer I wouldn’t call Baral overpowered. He’s just a wallet opener. 
Baral can form an infinite loop.
If you look up Broken in the Game Designer’s Dictionary…
Baral is the least over powered as everyone had a chance to buy it before they jacked up the prices.
The others are hard to get and Yhenni is now in an elite pack apparently the default choice if the rng breaks down.
