Image: Wizards of the Coast/Art by James Paick
In the wake of the recent Standard bannings, Magic: The Gathering pro player and writer Patrick "The Innovator" Chapin took the time to discuss the broken mechanic of Kaladesh and Aether Revolt: Energy.
In a recent episode of Top Level Podcast, Chapin described the Energy mechanic as "Fundamentally broken. Not broken like necessarily overpowered, though they frequently are. Broken as in their underlying structure to them does not work."
Chapin says that he disagrees with head designer Mark Rosewater when he described Energy as a good mechanic but balanced wrong. He's probably referring to when Rosewater said, "Energy's issue is it was not properly costed, not that the mechanic is inherently flawed."
Chapin says that Energy is just "an empty resource manipulation thing where you never have to commit to anything." He also brings up an interesting point that there should be less instant-speed energy sinks or cards that give payout for the energy players invest. They would be more balanced if the energy sinks are sorcery speed or if they have additional costs to them such as tapping, etc. He argues that there are no risks when it comes to investing Energy, explaining that the Energy cards would be more balanced if they required you "sacrifice to synergize"; if they involved some amount of opportunity costs.
Related: 5 Reasons Why Energy Should Be Banned in Magic: The Gathering's Standard Format
It's amusing how Chapin enthusiastically talks about various cards that produce and use Energy. He even praised the great aspects of the Kaladesh block and compares the concept of Energy with Phyrexians.
I thought it's hilarious how Chapin brought up how people called that Aetherworks Marvel is "too easy", broken at the time it was first spoiled. He says that its design is good but unbalanced.
Source: HiroProtagonist1984 (Via Reddit)
Chapin brought up some great points about design here. You can listen to the whole episode here. Chapin's rant about Energy starts at the 20:40 mark.
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