Impossible Cards (tracking, discussing, etc.)

[Splinterverse]

I've had some more thoughts on Epic. See this post: viewtopic.php?f=63&t=19263&p=237974#p237974

I also thought I would try some functions from DOTP2015 to see if maybe they existed in 2014 unbeknownst to us.

I tried CopyAbility, but it just results in this error in the script log: "attempt to call method 'CopyAbility' (a nil value)". I tried it with various items in the parenthesis to make sure it wasn't just missing parameters or something.

I tried this code for Heartstone using the DOTP2015 function DecreaseAbilityCost() . . .

Code: Select all

<TRIGGER value="CONSIDERED_FOR_ACTIVATION" pre_trigger="1" >
         return TriggerObject():GetCardType():Test( CARD_TYPE_CREATURE )
      </TRIGGER>
      <RESOLUTION_TIME_ACTION>
         TriggerObject():DecreaseAbilityCost(1)
      </RESOLUTION_TIME_ACTION>

When Hearstone entered the battlefield, it simply made all activated abilities on the battlefield unavailable indefinitely. So, not the desired effect. I didn't get any errors in the script log for it.

For the DOTP2015 abilities, I'm simply posting the information here so that others know these things have been tried and don't have to use time attempting them.

[Splinterverse]

Evermind -- splice piece works but I can't get it to not be castable/playable (per the card text that says since it has no casting cost, it can't be cast normally). I've tried considered for casting and can't be played characteristics, but no luck; it might continue to be impossible due to this issue.

Evermind is tested and now working (and has been uploaded). Oddly, I ended up having to add an additional cost that could never be met in order to prevent it from being cast normally. I'm guessing that the CA block and CONSIDERED_FOR_CAST TA versions would only work if they were on a manager or something rather than the card itself.

I have updated the OP.

[Xander9009]

Regarding Evermind, Hypergenesis is in the CW and working and the code for making it un-castable is directly on the card. Not sure if you already tried that method and it failed or if you just didn't notice it, but it was the latter, it might be worth checking.

2019-07-20 Updates to the OP

Removed from the Impossible List: Accursed Witch/Infectious Curse, Blessed Breath, Candles' Glow, Consuming Vortex, Dampen Thought, Desperate Ritual, Elderwood Scion, Everdream, Glacial Ray, Goryo's Vengeance, Hideous Laughter, Horobi's Whisper, Hundred-Talon Strike, Into the Fray, Kodama's Might, Lifted by Clouds, Mirrorwing Dragon, Overblaze, Psychic Puppetry, Reweave, Roar of Jukai, Soulless Revival, Spiritual Visit, Splicer's Skill, Strange Inversion, Through the Breach, Torrent of Stone, Veil of Secrecy, Vital Surge, Wear Away

Most of the above have also been added to the CW.

The majority of the Splice Onto/Splice Onto Arcane cards will be available in the next CW repack (tonight).

Here's the status of the ones that won't be included (yet):
Evermind -- splice piece works but I can't get it to not be castable/playable (per the card text that says since it has no casting cost, it can't be cast normally). I've tried considered for casting and can't be played characteristics, but no luck; it might continue to be impossible due to this issue.
Minamo's Meddling -- this one really doesn't make any sense given the current rules for splice. The card being spliced onto doesn't take the names of any of the cards being spliced onto it, so we'd have to track them somewhere I guess for this to be viable.

The easiest method would be to make it so that when you splice onto a spell, store a pointer to the card with splice in an ObjectDC on the spell. Then, when the spell leaves the stack, clear that ObjectDC register. Make sure to put it in a subchest and to use the next available slot. That way multiple splices don't interfere.

Shifting Borders -- the splice piece works, but I've written the control change code from scratch twice and tried every similar piece of code I could find and none of it results in control changing. If I can get that fixed, this card will be good to go.

SetBaseController() is probably your best bet. The layers are probably what's giving you trouble at a guess.

Through the Breach -- the splice piece works as does most of the rest of the card. The only problem piece is giving the card haste. I've tried it from scratch repeatedly and copied working haste code from several other cards, but to no avail. If we can get the haste working, this card will be ready to play.

Just like the above, I'd suspect the layer system is the issue. The splice ability itself is probably granting the relevant ability to the spliced spell on layer X and the haste is being granted on layer <= X. Haste would need to be done on a higher layer, but that can cause issues. The best way to do it, I think, would be to grant another ability to spell on the stack. That ability will create a new delayed triggered ability for when it resolves. Upon resolution, grant haste in the delayed triggered ability like normal. I don't know for sure if this will help get around the layer issue, but it might.

Wear Away -- this code is bizarre. I have coded it from scratch twice and every time I add it to a deck, the game crashes when I try to load into an actual match with it. I've tried changing the MID just in case that was conflicting, and it didn't work. Not sure why it's crashing.

No idea. Your word choice is perfect: bizarre. In any case, feel free to package up and send me any files you don't want to fiddle with any more and I'll see what I can do with them.

===== ATTENTION MODDERS AND TESTERS =====

If you want to try and fix any of the problem cards above, let me know and I'll send you the code.

Also, it is very important to note the following: since splice allows the text of abilities to be added to entirely different cards, we must use different target numbers for each potential card. Why? Because if the card you are splicing onto is using target ID #2 and you splice a card on it that is also using target ID #2, it will use the target chosen by the first ability to use that number. So, I deliberately made all of the Splice Onto cards that have targets use increasing numbers.

Here's a list in case new ones need to be coded (and yes, I know I skipped a number here and there):

Blessed Breath -- 20
Candles' Glow -- 21
Consuming Vortex -- 23
Dampen Thought -- 24
Glacial Ray -- 25
Goryo's Vengeance -- 26
Horobi's Whisper -- 27
Hundred-Talon Strike -- 28
Into the Fray -- 29
Kodama's Might -- 30
Lifted by Clouds -- 31
Overblaze -- 32
Psychic Puppetry -- 33
Reweave -- 34 and 35
Shifting Borders -- 36 and 37
Soulless Revival -- 38
Strange Inversion -- 39
Through the Breach -- 40
Torrent of Stone -- 41
Veil of Secrecy -- 42
Wear Away -- 43

Splice cards not listed above don't have any targets, so they don't need numbers assigned to them.

In the case of the Modern Horizons splice cards, they have more possible bad interactions since they can splice onto any sorcery or instant. As a result, the target numbers could still encounter conflicts since there are so many instants and sorceries out there. But, hopefully, that will be rare, and if reported, we can easily fix it by giving those cards new target numbers.

I would highly suggest upping these to 100+. The values below 100 are intended to be reserved for cards to use on their own. 100-999 are to supposed to be used by cards that affect other cards. This way, cards can only mess up abilities from other granted abilities, never another card's base abilities. This is significantly rarer and much less likely to happen. That said, I never noticed this was an issue. However, most of the granting of abilities is granting activated, triggered, or static abilities, not spell abilities, so I wouldn't have really noticed it before.