Is Epic a Bad Mechanic? Disclaimer: This will mostly discuss Epic in the context of Commander, as Epic is generally far to slow for 60 card formats. Epic is one of the most notorious failures in mtg history. It was a mechanic appearing on a cycle of 5 cards in Saviors of Kamigawa. They were powerful monocolor finishers that gave incredibly powerful effects that would repeats turn after turn, with the downside that you could no longer cast spells. The Epic cards suffered from 3 main problems. Firstly, they removed a lot of the gameplay from Magic. Magic is, fundamentally, a game about casting spells. Removing that aspect makes the game a lot less interesting. The epic spells need to substitute with new gameplay and choices in order to keep the game from turning in an autobattler. Secondly, they leave you very open to attack. When you aren't dropping threats each turn, especially late in the game, which is when you'll be able to play this, there's a very good chance that you'll be killed before your epic cards make a real impact. This is especially true because if you do pose a real threat, you're opponents will likely just team up on you. Without any defenses, you'll be quickly overwhelmed. Finally, they're overcosted. Expensive spells need to win the game quickly once played in order to be useful, since they just make you a target. Epic spells inherently require a few turns to get real value out of, which clashes with their high mana cost. Now, let's look at how each card tries to counter these three flaws. 1. Endless Swarm {5}{G}{G}{G} Sorcery Create a 1/1 green Snake creature token for each card in your hand. Epic (For the rest of the game, you can’t cast spells. At the beginning of each of your upkeeps, copy this spell except for its epic ability.) Endless Swarm immediately fails the first check. IT doesn't add any gameplay to replace what is lost, and there is no decision-making available here. It's just boring to play. It produces blockers at the very least, so it does fine on the second criteria. However, the third is where it really disappoints. At its best, it produces a measly 7 1/1s nowhere near enough to compensate for the downsides. Not only that, but this is only if you have a full hand, by the time you get to 8 mana, you may be at only 2 or 3 cards, making this effect far weaker, although you still draw each turn. Now, I'm sure some of you have assumed that I've forgotten about Reliquary Tower. Removing your max hand size leaves this card with a much higher ceiling. And yes, there are 36 cards that remove your max hand size. However, many of these effects are very expensive. Not only that, but the ones attached to permanents are vulnerable to removal. Once Epic is active, you can't play any new nonland permanents to replace that affect. The only land with this effect is Reliquary Tower, and frankly, there are better two card combos that actually win you the game. This is just a prerequisite to make this card playable. In conclusion, Endless Swarm may give you some protection, but it's overcosted and not fun to play with. 2. Enduring Ideal {5}{W}{W} Sorcery Search your library for an enchantment card, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle. Epic (For the rest of the game, you can’t cast spells. At the beginning of each of your upkeeps, copy this spell except for its epic ability.) This card is much better, frankly. It has a real choice to make baked into the card, letting you actually do something during your turn. There are also 734 Enchantments on Scryfall that have an activated ability, giving you something to do with your mana besides cast spells. (Although not all of those cost mana, I just couldn't find a search to only show cards with an activated ability that costed mana) It can also act as protection by searching out Enchantments that prevent your opponent from attacking like Ghostly Prison, getting removal like Aang's Iceberg, or even powerful enchantment creatures like Bahamut or Summon: Knights of Round. (These are less common than the other two categories) This card will have no trouble winning, unlike the previous one. However, it's going to take a few turns to pull off a win, and dropping this means you probably won't even make it to your untap step, as you've most likely become the prime threat. However, this card is still a fun card to build around, and 8 mana isn't an awful rate for a win con, all things considered. Well, I'm out of text space, so that's all for now. Check the Studio for other articles: Part 2 Link:
