Card Development Questions

[friarsol]

Now, a rules question I'm not sure about is: what if I have two Celestial Dawns and one of them is sleighted, say, black? The table for this modified Celestial Dawn would look like this:

Odd to see these Matrices as O and X instead of 0 and 1, I guess they don't line up as well with a 1. I believe, the Celestial Dawn restriction Matrix needs to be ANDed not ORed.

I'll confirm with an actual judges ruling, but it doesn't really fit into layers, so I don't think timestamps matter here. I'm pretty sure it's literally, this one says Blue can do things and everything else can't. And that one says White can do things and everything else can't. So nothing can do things (except colorless things).

We can probably do it like this:

1. Start with original matrix (each color being able to pay for itself, and all being able to pay for colorless)
2. OR all of the positive allowances to the matrix (which is all of them except for the restriction in Celestial Dawn)
3. AND that to the payment restriction (just second half of Celestial Dawn)
4. Apply the payment matrix when trying to pay mana.

[Marek14]

Yup, hope it was a bit helpful. I started to try something similar for mana generation replacement, but there's too many corner cases to put it in a reasonable-looking algorithms when multiple effects interact.

EDIT: Thinking about it, probably the best solution would be to compute all permutations of mana replacement effects and give player choices based on all the different options. This should work fine until the number of replacement effects reaches 10 or so, and that should only happen in very dedicated decks.

[swordshine]

I've just added initial codes to support mana generation replacement. I'm quite sure AI cannot handle this effect. Some global mana replacement would made ai fail to cast cards, e.g. Naked Singularity, Contamination. If AI fails to cast a spell, that card will disappear.

Contamination | Open

Code: Select all

Name:Contamination
ManaCost:2 B
Types:Enchantment
T:Mode$ Phase | Phase$ Upkeep | ValidPlayer$ You | Execute$ TrigSacUnless | TriggerZones$ Battlefield | TriggerDescription$ At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice CARDNAME unless you sacrifice a creature.
SVar:TrigSacUnless:AB$ Sacrifice | Cost$ 0 | UnlessCost$ Sac<1/Creature> | UnlessPayer$ You
R:Event$ ProduceMana | ActiveZones$ Battlefield | ValidCard$ Land | ManaReplacement$ ProduceB | Description$ If a land is tapped for mana, it produces B instead of any other type and amount.
SVar:ProduceB:Any->B
SVar:RemAIDeck:True
SVar:NonStackingEffect:True
SVar:Picture:http://www.wizards.com/global/images/magic/general/contamination.jpg
Oracle:At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice Contamination unless you sacrifice a creature.\nIf a land is tapped for mana, it produces {B} instead of any other type and amount.


Naked Singularity | Open

Code: Select all

Name:Naked Singularity
ManaCost:5
Types:Artifact
Text:If tapped for mana, Plains produce R, Islands produce G, Swamps produce W, Mountains produce U, and Forests produce B instead of any other type.
K:Cumulative upkeep:3
R:Event$ ProduceMana | ActiveZones$ Battlefield | ValidCard$ Plains | ManaReplacement$ ProduceR | Secondary$ True | Description$ If tapped for mana, Plains produce R.
SVar:ProduceR:Colorless->R & B->R & U->R & G->R & W->R
R:Event$ ProduceMana | ActiveZones$ Battlefield | ValidCard$ Island | ManaReplacement$ ProduceG | Secondary$ True | Description$ If tapped for mana, Islands produce G.
SVar:ProduceG:Colorless->G & B->G & U->G & R->G & W->G
R:Event$ ProduceMana | ActiveZones$ Battlefield | ValidCard$ Swamp | ManaReplacement$ ProduceW | Secondary$ True | Description$ If tapped for mana, Swamps produce W.
SVar:ProduceW:Colorless->W & B->W & U->W & R->W & G->W
R:Event$ ProduceMana | ActiveZones$ Battlefield | ValidCard$ Mountain | ManaReplacement$ ProduceU | Secondary$ True | Description$ If tapped for mana, Mountains produce U.
SVar:ProduceU:Colorless->U & B->U & G->U & R->U & W->U
R:Event$ ProduceMana | ActiveZones$ Battlefield | ValidCard$ Forest | ManaReplacement$ ProduceB | Secondary$ True | Description$ If tapped for mana, Forests produce B.
SVar:ProduceB:Colorless->B & G->B & U->B & R->B & W->B
SVar:RemAIDeck:True
SVar:RemRandomDeck:True
SVar:Picture:http://www.wizards.com/global/images/magic/general/naked_singularity.jpg
Oracle:Cumulative upkeep {3} (At the beginning of your upkeep, put an age counter on this permanent, then sacrifice it unless you pay its upkeep cost for each age counter on it.)\nIf tapped for mana, Plains produce {R}, Islands produce {G}, Swamps produce {W}, Mountains produce {U}, and Forests produce {B} instead of any other type.


[Marek14]

So that's why the AI commanders tend to disappear?

[Sloth]

I've just added initial codes to support mana generation replacement. I'm quite sure AI cannot handle this effect. Some global mana replacement would made ai fail to cast cards, e.g. Naked Singularity, Contamination. If AI fails to cast a spell, that card will disappear.

Contamination | Open

Code: Select all

Name:Contamination
ManaCost:2 B
Types:Enchantment
T:Mode$ Phase | Phase$ Upkeep | ValidPlayer$ You | Execute$ TrigSacUnless | TriggerZones$ Battlefield | TriggerDescription$ At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice CARDNAME unless you sacrifice a creature.
SVar:TrigSacUnless:AB$ Sacrifice | Cost$ 0 | UnlessCost$ Sac<1/Creature> | UnlessPayer$ You
R:Event$ ProduceMana | ActiveZones$ Battlefield | ValidCard$ Land | ManaReplacement$ ProduceB | Description$ If a land is tapped for mana, it produces B instead of any other type and amount.
SVar:ProduceB:Any->B
SVar:RemAIDeck:True
SVar:NonStackingEffect:True
SVar:Picture:http://www.wizards.com/global/images/magic/general/contamination.jpg
Oracle:At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice Contamination unless you sacrifice a creature.\nIf a land is tapped for mana, it produces {B} instead of any other type and amount.


Naked Singularity | Open

Code: Select all

Name:Naked Singularity
ManaCost:5
Types:Artifact
Text:If tapped for mana, Plains produce R, Islands produce G, Swamps produce W, Mountains produce U, and Forests produce B instead of any other type.
K:Cumulative upkeep:3
R:Event$ ProduceMana | ActiveZones$ Battlefield | ValidCard$ Plains | ManaReplacement$ ProduceR | Secondary$ True | Description$ If tapped for mana, Plains produce R.
SVar:ProduceR:Colorless->R & B->R & U->R & G->R & W->R
R:Event$ ProduceMana | ActiveZones$ Battlefield | ValidCard$ Island | ManaReplacement$ ProduceG | Secondary$ True | Description$ If tapped for mana, Islands produce G.
SVar:ProduceG:Colorless->G & B->G & U->G & R->G & W->G
R:Event$ ProduceMana | ActiveZones$ Battlefield | ValidCard$ Swamp | ManaReplacement$ ProduceW | Secondary$ True | Description$ If tapped for mana, Swamps produce W.
SVar:ProduceW:Colorless->W & B->W & U->W & R->W & G->W
R:Event$ ProduceMana | ActiveZones$ Battlefield | ValidCard$ Mountain | ManaReplacement$ ProduceU | Secondary$ True | Description$ If tapped for mana, Mountains produce U.
SVar:ProduceU:Colorless->U & B->U & G->U & R->U & W->U
R:Event$ ProduceMana | ActiveZones$ Battlefield | ValidCard$ Forest | ManaReplacement$ ProduceB | Secondary$ True | Description$ If tapped for mana, Forests produce B.
SVar:ProduceB:Colorless->B & G->B & U->B & R->B & W->B
SVar:RemAIDeck:True
SVar:RemRandomDeck:True
SVar:Picture:http://www.wizards.com/global/images/magic/general/naked_singularity.jpg
Oracle:Cumulative upkeep {3} (At the beginning of your upkeep, put an age counter on this permanent, then sacrifice it unless you pay its upkeep cost for each age counter on it.)\nIf tapped for mana, Plains produce {R}, Islands produce {G}, Swamps produce {W}, Mountains produce {U}, and Forests produce {B} instead of any other type.


I will try to solve this.

[Idontknow84]

I think the card Nest Invader has a wrong description. In fact, in place of the words "They have" in the TriggerDescription (file nest_invader.txt, line 5), you should have "It has".

[swordshine]

Just added a card from Commander 2013: Derevi, Empyrial Tactician.
It's necessary to record the mana spent to cast/activate a spell or ability in order to implement the other two cards (Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge and Prossh, Skyraider of Kher) and some of remaining cards (Nix, Ice Cauldron, Jeweled Amulet, and Balduvian Fallen).

[moomarc]

Just added a card from Commander 2013: Derevi, Empyrial Tactician.
It's necessary to record the mana spent to cast/activate a spell or ability in order to implement the other two cards (Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge and Prossh, Skyraider of Kher) and some of remaining cards (Nix, Ice Cauldron, Jeweled Amulet, and Balduvian Fallen).

I did some initial work on this for Nix, but never managed to crack colorless mana. That 0 byte is a pain. Managed to get everything else working though, mostly following Sunburst but keeping a map of the colour bytes instead of a straight list. Hope you have better luck than I did.

[Sloth]

@swordshine: Some of the scripts you made are not 100% correct.

Quicksilver Dragon: The ability should be able to target any spell, but only take effect when the condition is met (similar to Pyroblast).

Arboria:
1. Keeping track of player's actions with invisible static trigger can be turned off with cards like Humility and causes problems when the card gets cloned.
2. This card cares who puts a nontoken permanent onto the battlefield. When i cast Flicker on an opponent's creature i put a card onto the battlefield.

Premature Burial:
Does not work when cast by another player.

[swordshine]

@swordshine: Some of the scripts you made are not 100% correct.

Quicksilver Dragon: The ability should be able to target any spell, but only take effect when the condition is met (similar to Pyroblast).

Arboria:
1. Keeping track of player's actions with invisible static trigger can be turned off with cards like Humility and causes problems when the card gets cloned.
2. This card cares who puts a nontoken permanent onto the battlefield. When i cast Flicker on an opponent's creature i put a card onto the battlefield.

Premature Burial:
Does not work when cast by another player.

I can handle Quicksilver Dragon, the other cards are really difficult.
It looks like Summoning Trap suffers the same bug with Premature Burial.

[Sloth]

It looks like Summoning Trap suffers the same bug with Premature Burial.

Cards like this need more bookkeeping. Summoning Trap would need a boolean variable CreatureSpellWasCounteredByOpponentThisTurn in the Player class. Prematural Burial would need a list of Players variable called TurnsEndedSinceOnTheBattlefield. Arboria needs ... a lot.

[swordshine]

It looks like Summoning Trap suffers the same bug with Premature Burial.

Cards like this need more bookkeeping. Summoning Trap would need a boolean variable CreatureSpellWasCounteredByOpponentThisTurn in the Player class. Prematural Burial would need a list of Players variable called TurnsEndedSinceOnTheBattlefield. Arboria needs ... a lot.

We can remove Arboria before the release of new snapshots.

[drdev]

I'm currently working on supporting display mana symbols as icons instead of text characters. It's become apparent that this will require script changes to reliably replace characters that represent mana symbols and not replace indentical characters that aren't mana symbols. For example, X in some contexts is a mana symbol, and in others it should be displayed as just the character "X". Similarly, "Tap" is sometimes the tab symbol and sometimes the word "Tap" at the beginning of a sentence, like "Tap target creature."

What I'd like to propose is wrapping actual mana symbol characters in the script in {} to mark them as mana symbols. For example, "Tap, G:" would become "{T}, :" (ironically, this forum already converts "{G}" to the icon as you can see). Note that by using {}, we no longer need spaces between consecutive symbols, so "W/G W/G" will become "{W/G}{W/G}" to avoid a space appearing between the icons.

This implementation will have the additional advantage of allowing search functionality to be enhanced to search for mana symbols accurately. I'm even planning to support displaying a symbol table while the focus is in any text field.

I'm planning to convert the code I've already been working on into a script to parse all card script files and make this change to them. I'll then go through and clean up any places that get missed. Going forward, any script changes will need to wrap mana symbol characters in {}, otherwise they'll just appear as plain text everywhere and not be matched on mana symbol searches.

Does this change sound ok to everyone?

[friarsol]

You'd be basically changing every single card. We need to have a larger discussion about that. I'd think there's a smarter way of handling this. Every time we've changed every single card script there's been lots of issues with svn and other things like that.

What scenarios are actual mana symbols used in? Costs and Mana generation. We already have separate functions for those, so why not just output differently from those functions?

What scnearios is the tap symbol used in? Costs.

It seems like you'd be better off just changing the tostring in costs to wrap mana symbols instead of trying to change our whole procedure.

[Max mtg]

All scenarios except for ability descriptions such as 'add {g} to your mana pool' can use parsed mana costs from oracle texts or abilities

Why change toString of manacosts, and then re-parse it, if manacosts already contain all mana shards?