This bad-boy planeswalker was banned from Standard play, which recognizes its obviously inflated power - Although, I don't like to see anything get banned. I'd suggest recognizing this sort of thing during the design process, instead. There are a lot of cards that I don't want in play, in fact - Drakuseth, Torbran, Dream Trawler... And there are many others I won't mention yet, but it shouldn't be difficult to discern why I don't like these cards - They are blatantly imbalanced with the rest of the game. I'm sure that when people find these sorts of cards, they grow fond of them, for winning them the game so easily, and they temporarily fall in love with Magic. However, any of these powerful cards WILL betray you, and I want to (rather) promote more power in the cards, using natural synergies and increased compatibility. Not so much power that just "sits there", as power that must be wrought with skill. Not only is this the only legitimate way of empowering the game, it's a lot more fun once you have a handle on it. It is possible to perform that feat, at times, using the current design elements, but skill and creative finesse won't always win you the game as things stand. I never tried to use Oko, so I can't speak that much as to what I would have done with him; but what makes him too powerful is obvious - Low casting cost, huge creature control, and an over-easy loyalty counter setup. By that last bit, I mean (primarily) that the + on the transformation ability should have been a -, because you might be sacrificing nothing, while setting up to wipe those creatures off the board. Giving that much power and control to players will cause opponents who don't know the trick yet to endlessly fall into your trap, where they play permanents out, and inevitably lose everything. Anything that sets up such an easy control over all the opponent's permanents should be eliminated, because it hinders play, and makes everyone (understandably) paranoid. I'd like to see the game be more forgiving, rather than handing power over tragedy to players who are only immaturely reveling in it, and eventually losing interest when it doesn't work every time. |
