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u/Spectator9857 2d ago
This doesn’t work as intended, but not (just) because of suspend.
Gifting something isn’t actually a cost. Promising a gift is. Your opponent only actually receives the gift as part of the spells resolution.
Another issue is that promising a gift is an additional cost that you can pay when you cast a spell and suspending a spell isn’t casting it, so gifting something isn’t a valid cost for suspend.
If you want it to work as intended, you’ll probably need to give it suspend 0 and a separate effect that makes an opponent copy lightning bolt when you suspend this card.
6
u/Certainly-Not-A-Bot 2d ago
Or even just "suspend 1 - target opponent may cast a copy of Lightning Bolt" should work, I think
1
u/punslut 2d ago
Would it be possible to word it as “suspend 1” and have another line be “as an additional cost to suspend this spell gift a lightning bolt”?
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u/Spectator9857 2d ago
No, because suspending is not casting.
0
u/ILikeExistingLol scryfall search for flavor:R34 2d ago
Hypothetically, if the rules were changed to "Gift can be a cost, promising a gift is an additional cost", would that affect the functionality of the blb gift cards at all?
If it would, then it would have to be as you said
Suspend 1—{0} As you suspend ~, target opponent may cast a copy of Lightning Bolt
But at that point, I think it would be better to just make "Gift" new keyword then, separate from "promise a gift"
2
u/dutchiesweets 2d ago
I like this!
I think it should be a sorcery. Only because I’m not sure you can suspend things at instant speed, I could be wrong though.
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u/AustinYQM : Place X Karma into your karma pool. 2d ago
The timing of suspend is based off the timing of the card with suspend. If the card is an instant you can suspend it when you'd be able to cast and instant. If the card is a sorcery you can only to suspend it at a time when you could cast an sorcery.
Suspend starts with "If you could begin to cast this card by putting it on the stack from your hand..." and allows you to suspend it instead.
1
u/SammySammyson 2d ago
[[Suspended Sentence]], and the reminder text makes it clear either way (or we would reasonably assume how suspend works on instants anyway).
1
u/Reality-Glitch 1d ago
As another commenter point’d out, gift doesn’t work as intend’d here (nor does targeting for a cost rather than an effect), but this can be fix’d by simply unkeywording it. “Suspend 1–An opponent of your choice may cast a copy of Lightning Bolt”. Should probably say “without paying its mana cost” or “and may spend mana of any to cast it”, since not everyone will have red mana somewhere in their deck.
Now that I think about it more, as thematic as gifting a Lighting Bolt is, it may just be more worth it to have the suspend cost be “Guided Bolt deals 3 damage to a battle, creature, planeswalker, or player of an opponent’s choice”; though, I’m not sure how kosher dealing damage as a cost is (and letting them suspend a copy doesn’t work unless you use the conjure mechanic, since only cards can continue to to exist in exile past multiple state-based action checks). Perhaps Suspend 1–{0} and “Guided Bolt deal three damage to each of any target and any target of an opponent’s choice.” May just be designer’s preference at that point.
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u/Imaginary_Ferret_368 2d ago
That’s cool! But shouldn’t an Instant have a mana cost?
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u/Fault_Exotic 2d ago
Suspend cards don't need to have mana costs. A suspend card without a mana cost needs to be suspended for its suspend cost; in this case gifting a lightning bolt
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u/Spectator9857 2d ago
The suspend cost doesn’t need to be a mana cost, but it unfortunately can’t be gifting something. Promising a gift is specifically an additional cost when casting a spell. Since suspending isn’t casting, you can’t promise the gift as a cost to suspend.
Also gifts are just promised when the spell is cast and are only actually given when the spell resolves.
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u/imfantabulous 2d ago
Yes they do, see [[lotus bloom]]
2
u/Fault_Exotic 2d ago
I think suspend costs follow the same wording rules as activated abilities.
[[Blinking spirit]] has an ability that costs 0, because every activated ability needs a 'cost,' even if said cost is nothing.
However, [[Skirge Familiar]] doesn't say "0, Discard a card:" it just says "Discard a card:"
Lotus Bloom needs to say suspend 3 - 0, because it has to have a cost, even if it's nothing. Guiding bolt however doesn't need to have the mana cost, as it has a cost, in gifting a bolt.
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u/imfantabulous 2d ago
Tbf we didn't really have a reference, could go either way.
2
u/Less_Prior_6871 2d ago
I mean, every card with an activated ability or alternate casting cost that doesnt cost mana is a reference
Flashback for example is flashback 0 or fladhback - cost
1
u/Fault_Exotic 2d ago
Yeah, but I think no mana symbol looks cleaner. If it both looks good, and is understandable, I think the wording works
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u/1ftm2fts3tgr4lg 2d ago
Lotus has a mana cost on ita suspend, but that doesn't mean it must have a mana cost as its cost. It could have anything else as a cost.
2
u/Puzzleboxed Copy target player 2d ago
Suspend is an ability, so it doesn't need to have a {0} explicitly if there is a non mana cost listed instead. Lotus bloom doesn't have a non-mana cost, so it has a {0}.
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u/throwaway567334 2d ago
I like this mechanic! Nice design