this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2023
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The complete lack of any negative aspect to the ring tempting you is just too much of a flavour fail. Maro says that players would not have wanted to use the temptation mechanic if it came with a downside, then they really should have scrapped it and tried something else. Even including some punisher cards that thematically could have introduced a lose condition from being excessively tempted would have been something. But honestly, given how baked in the concept of "undercosted spells or abilities with a downside" are to Magic, I refuse to believe that a free effect of the ring tempting you and giving you a benefit but also a malus would have been unused. There's whole deck archetypes built around that..
The opposite. As a LoTR themed set, they need to have the ring involved somehow.
"Tempts" is probably the wrong word. Maybe "You resonate with The Ring", for example. Just choosing a random different word.
The problem I have with this is that the whole concept of the ring is that it's fundamentally a corruptive force. Without the ring having some kind of outcome where you fall to its corruption, it's not The One Ring, it's just another gimmicky mechanic.
The One Ring should give you bonuses. That's fine - its power is what tempts. But if the ring in the books worked like it does in the game, Frodo should have just power walked into Mordor, slam dunked the ring into Mount Doom, and moonwalked back to the shire, flipping Sauron the bird the whole way home.
I think not being able to move it between creatures without paying mana or life would be flavorful enough of a downside without really being a downside. The idea being that whoever has the ring isn't going to want to let it go.
I think the thing with people not wanting to play with it when it had downsides is more some people don't like playing it with downsides. Especially newer players who are scared of things like shocklands, having not yet learned that life is a resource. And this set will have a lot of people who haven't played before who are interested because it is Lord of the Rings.