Power creepy, that is. Or at least that’s what people say. Seems like every new set that comes out has at least one card, sometimes more than one, that is accused of taking things just a little too far. Let’s look at some of the cards from 2023 that have been used as specific examples to see if power creep really is a thing, and if so, is it an actual problem?
One of the hottest cards of last year was The One Ring
. This card gives card draw to any deck of any color. This fixes one of the biggest problems with the color balancing. It also gives protection, but comes at a cumulative life cost. Oh, and by the way it is indestructible on top of everything else!
Not only does this card give card draw, it gives increasing card draw. Cards that allow you to draw more than one card tend to be pretty powerful, or cost too much mana. This card can put a lot of cards in a player’s hands, thereby increasing their odds of winning. The increasing life loss can be a problem, especially if your life is already low. This card can kill it’s owner before they can draw an answer, and I have felt that sting myself a couple times.
This does seem to have increased the power level from previous colorless card draw options, and pretty significantly. This has become a card in almost every deck at a CEDH level, and even casual games have an abundance of them. The “downside” of the card rarely kills its owner, but has turned the game in their favor often in my experience. Personally I do not find this card is an instant win for the person who gets it. There are ways of dealing with it, if you look.
Orcish Bowmasters
is another card from LOTR that created quite a stir and was accused of the power creep. It punishes when a player draws extra cards and there is no downside to this card, just flash and amass. Oh, and did I mention it only costs ???!
Again, this card seems much more powerful than previous cards, and it is light on the CMC as well! Besides the price tag there is nothing about this card that makes it bad in almost any deck that plays black. And the fact that it can target any legal target makes it even more insane! But once again I do not feel like this card has “broken” commander. It can be countered, and dies easily to removal. Any color deck can deal with this card in one way or another, and until then, try not to draw extra cards.
For my last example I will choose Ojer Taq, Deepest Foundation // Temple of Civilization
. This is not just a token doubler, but a tripler. It also has the ability to flip when it dies then flip back later to start tripling all over again.
This card seems to be following the footseps of red damage multipliers. Doublers have become more common, so why not throwing a tripler out there? And the fact that it can recur itself seems a little too good as well. While I have not played against it, I have heard that it doesn’t seem to have changed the game. Any powerful card can run away with the game. The key is to counter it, or exile it before it can really get out of hand.
Every meta is different, and you may have had different experiences than others with these or other cards. Perhaps for you, one or many of these cards became oppressive. I can tell you metas find their ways to deal with things. It could be ways to remove the issue, agreeing not to play a card, or not playing with a problem player who won’t cooperate.
These were a few of the most powerful cards of 2023, but they all lead me to the same conclusion: Power creep is real, but it is not “breaking” the game. In instances in the past when a card has, it has usually either been banned, or people learn to deal with it. And isn’t power creep what players ask for all the time? “Why doesn’t white have more card draw?” or “Why don’t they make more ways to stop blue players from drawing so many cards?” And aren’t we looking for more powerful cards from sets to add to our decks? And while I may personally still find Oko, Thief of Crowns
to be broken, it doesn’t determine the winner of a game just because it is cast. If its not countered, it usually dominates for a while, and then gets removed. Life goes on.
Many of the cards that I thought would “break” the game when they were previewed were cards I ended up enjoying once they came out. Watching it played by other people made it less scary, and intrigued me as to what would happen if I tried it. I really think at this point, WOTC knows a thing or two about the game. They may miss the mark on reading their audience, but the cards tend to be pretty top notch. That’s why I don’t think power creep is a bad thing, but more a natural progression of the game. But maybe its me, maybe…♪I’m a creep, I’m a weirdo….♪ (If you know, you know.)