Auto-tapping my lands is one thing, because it's dead simple and I can correct the system if it does it wrong. Triggers are complicated and nuanced, and an AI does a horrible job ordering them. Once the system auto orders your triggers, you're f*cked - there's no correcting it.
I shouldn't need to turn off a default setting just to have a functional game of magic. This wasn't some complicated interaction with priority, I just needed to perform a fundamental aspect of magic.
External link →Out of curiosity, what was the trigger order you disliked? It's nearly impossible to sort them correctly 100% of the time (especially because some trigger interactions sort non-transitively), but perhaps the issue that burned you is one we haven't considered. #wotc_staff
I have one. It's the Hydra for XGG that fights and it comes into play whole I control The Great Henge. Current default is to have the henge trigger go first, then Hydra trigger on top of that. It's almost always better to have the Hydra be put on first then the Henge on top of it.
I haven't played Wicked Wolf with a Henge yet but I suspect it has the same problem. In fact I can't recall if any of the ETB fighting creatures have the Henge stack first.
It's a pity, our system really cuts Voracious Hydra a raw deal. The only context it has for deciding where to stack the trigger is "When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, choose one" - it can't investigate what the options are. Also, it's possible that those options are wildly different in where they would want to be sorted - at the extremes, one option could win you the game and one could lose you the game, but there are many possibilities between.
Annoyingly, both "Double the number of +1/+1 counters on CARDNAME" and "CARDNAME fights target creature you don’t control" would normally be sorted to occur after the Great Henge's trigger, but the "we don't know anything about this modal" sorting weight is the default value, which is stacked to resolve before the Great Henge. #wotc_staff
Chulane triggers should basically always go to the bottom, where Arena loves putting it above other draw cards effects like from Guardian Project.
Chulane's trigger is currently sorted as a draw trigger, which means that the age-order of the triggering cards is the tiebreaker. Our gameplay designer is now aware of this ask though... #wotc_staff
I think creatures' own etb effects should pretty much always go on the bottom of the stack and resolve last. Please point out a scenario where this is not the case, if there is such.
Sure, the etb ability results in a Scry, but you have another ability that says "Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, draw a card." Usually, you want to scry before you draw. #wotc_staff
These glimpses at the engine are fascinating.
It looks less like a game and more like the contents of my course on compilers.
Given that card behaviors are machine-generated code, that isn't surprising! This job is really fascinating to me too, and I'm glad that people in our audience can geek out about the process as much as I can. #wotc_staff
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