Magic Timing
Posted: 06 Jun 2014, 01:02Been noticing a few strange AI activities, and think that some of the magic timings are over-used.
MagicTiming.Pump appears on all manner of activated abilities and spells. The AI seems to like using this timing as if it were increasing the power and toughness of a creature, which I assume is what it was originally designed for.
It also appears on abilities/spells that grant an ability. As well as damage prevention. (And generally as a catch-all for any other abilities/spells).
MagicTiming.Pump restricts abilities to the first main phase, declare blockers, and whenever there's something on the stack.
For damage prevention, I would assume that it would either have no restriction (MagicTiming.None), damage can potentially occur at any time. Giving a pre-emptive damage shield during the first main phase is a bit of a waste of time (barring any triggered abilities).
For granting abilities, many times the ability is added multiple times (for permanents that grant an ability to itself, so not having a target picker to stop adding the same ability twice), or after it's useful - a creature granting "can't be blocked this turn" to itself/another creature while already blocked.
I understand that the Timings help reduce the thinking time for the AI, but either adding more variety, or using the MagicTiming.None, should lead for more intelligent plays.
Just an observation
MagicTiming.Pump appears on all manner of activated abilities and spells. The AI seems to like using this timing as if it were increasing the power and toughness of a creature, which I assume is what it was originally designed for.
It also appears on abilities/spells that grant an ability. As well as damage prevention. (And generally as a catch-all for any other abilities/spells).
MagicTiming.Pump restricts abilities to the first main phase, declare blockers, and whenever there's something on the stack.
For damage prevention, I would assume that it would either have no restriction (MagicTiming.None), damage can potentially occur at any time. Giving a pre-emptive damage shield during the first main phase is a bit of a waste of time (barring any triggered abilities).
For granting abilities, many times the ability is added multiple times (for permanents that grant an ability to itself, so not having a target picker to stop adding the same ability twice), or after it's useful - a creature granting "can't be blocked this turn" to itself/another creature while already blocked.
I understand that the Timings help reduce the thinking time for the AI, but either adding more variety, or using the MagicTiming.None, should lead for more intelligent plays.
Just an observation