"I serve at the pleasure of the President."

I heard that in a movie or something. [West Wing - Trick] The other day I got an email from Trick "suggesting" that I look into the Level Up mechanic. He felt I should look at the math behind it. To be frank, I really didn't like the mechanic at first glance and grimaced at the thought. But "suggestions" from nice guys like Trick are like Edicts from bosses. So I started looking deeper into Level Up. [Good man - Trick]

At this point I feel it also necessary to mention a Level Up in my backyard. Our local Friday Night Magic is officially under new management. No longer is it "Asylum Anime" where Magic is a side interest. Now it is officially "Edict Gaming" where games take the top billing and Magic is the boss. If you live in the Pittsburg Kansas area I strongly suggest swinging by. It's good times.

Any way, commercial over, back to work. As I mentioned earlier Level Up didn't really interest me right away. I think a lot of this had to with the cards that were spoiled early. It does seem that each one gets better and better. Probably there will be one spoiled at the same time as this piece that will knock the socks of what I'll be saying today.

Orb of Insight

I started by looking at the Orb to figure how many cards will have this new framework. If you're not familiar with the Orb it is a sight that Wizards puts up that allows you to guess a word and see how many times it occurs in the set. If you type in "Level" for example it yields 124. No, they didn't make 124 cards with Level up. The word 'level' appears 124 times on all text (except flavor text) on cards. If you look at a spoiled Level up card you will read the word Level 5 times. "Up" yields 52 instances while each card says it twice.

Sometimes Wizards tricks us with the Orb. For Example, "Planeswalker" hits 3 times in the Rize of Eldrazi Orb. There are only two ‘Walkers though because Gideon's text says that he is "still a Planeswalker." Which are two hits from one card.

Because of these "tricks" I worked a little deeper to find how many Level Up mechanics we'll see in this set. Examine the cards and you will find a unique situation. In the realm of Magic there has never been a Number then a plus sign combo. (At least I can't recall one. Feel free to correct me.) Sure there are tons of +1 and +2's and even a +* or two thrown in but no #+'s. So I typed each number with a plus sign in it up to 20. The reason I did this is each Level Up creature has a #+ to represent the level at which the go "supreme". (I would say "ultimate" here but that is for ‘walkers).

These are my results:

I almost gave up at 10 since that seems like high level to reach at even one mana each. But then in a reach I ran into 12. What supreme ability is that guy gonna have? 12 levels, really? It must be something like "T: You win the game" or just about as ridiculous. Either that or it's a no mana cost Leveler. Something like "Level Up pay one life" or "Level Up discard a card". [It's actually Transcendent Master, revealed after Dan submitted his article for this week. - Trick]

Given the uniqueness of the #+ and the numbers I got from Orbing "level" and "up" I can safely forecast that there will be 24 Level up creatures. Doing some additional math 24 Level ups would leave us with 120 levels and 48 ups. Orb shows that there will be 4 more of each. Not enough for an additional card unless the reminder text is left out and it has a supreme of more than 20 levels. We can make two educated guesses as to the missing 4. It could be that there will be cards that either add or subtract levels or it could just be semantics. A card with the name "Mananation Troup" would count in the up test. However there are few words with "level" in them so I'm guessing that there are spells that either effect or are triggered by Level Upping.

Comparisons

When evaluating a new mechanic the best way to start is to compare it to previous mechanics. Or in absence of a comparable you can look for comparable cards. If the mechanic includes creatures then you can compare it to Vanilla and see if the additional cost is worth the additional benefit the mechanic yields.

The first and most obvious comparison is Figure of Destiny. In many ways FoD was the poster child of Level Up. Really the only exception would be the fact FoD could Level Up at Instant speed. Interestingly if Figure was a Level Upper it would also have a extra set of levels. If FoD was printed in Rize of Eldrazi as a Level Up creature it would read like this. (Note: This is not a functional reprint as this only allows leveling at sorcery speed, and Figure could 'level' as an instant.)

Maybe a couple of our extra instances of Level will come from cards that require an extra line.

I have seen the comparisons with FoD done by almost everybody so I won't bore you with another. For my comparison I started looking at other Mechanics. I find Level Up playing out like an optional Echo. With Echo you could get more for your mana but then on the next turn you had to pay extra. While Level Up gets a regular creature and, if you so desire, you can pay the additional a get the extra benefits.

I've always felt that Echo costs were like paying a loan. I don't have the money to buy my house with cash but with a loan I get to pay for it later. Only I have to pay more than I would have if I didn't need the loan. In Magic the cost for this loan is around 2 for 1 or 100% interest rate. (YIKES). For Example look at Lightning Dragon. A 4/4 Flyer in red should cost about 6 mana without drawbacks. An Echo "loan" lets us pay 4 now and 4 next turn. The 2 we save today needs to be paid double the next turn. I think if you look at the other Echo creatures you'll find that this is pretty close to the average.

With Level Up the banking analogy still holds only now it's more like a Savings account. When I want to I can put more money in it and over time I will reap the rewards for my savings. Kargan Dragonlord becomes a 4/4 flier as well but would have a grand total cost of 6 mana to make it that big. Considering that I can pay for it over multiple turns that makes it significantly better than a normal 4/4 flyer in red. If we play one land a turn with no acceleration Kargan becomes a 4/4 flyer on turn 4 (just like Echo) while a general 4/4 flyer in red would wait for turn 6. But you have to be careful of a couple of items. Kargan has to stay in play long enough for your savings to accumulate. There are many answers to a 2/2 with no abilities you opponent can play to keep you from Gathering you savings. Imagine paying your 4th mana to make your Kargan a Level 4 and you opponent says "in response Bolt". Or even worse you pay all the mana and have an 8/8 Flying Trample with Fire breathing and your opponent says "Smother".

With that ground work in mind let's look at some of the spoiled cards so far.

Spoils

Knight of Cliffhaven

At 0 Level this is a 2/2 for 1W which is very reasonable. To convert it to a 2/3 Flyer it takes just 3 more mana. Looking at other 2/3 flyers in White shows that it should cost about 4 mana. By paying over time we may pay 1 more mana but it's there a turn sooner with a Pseudo haste factor. Going "supreme" and getting a Serra Angel is not worth the investment. Serra only cost 5 while getting the Knight there would run us 14 mana and runs a turn slower.

Lighthouse Chronologist

Upon entry the 1/3 for 1U is normal stats. To pay 4 more to change to a 2/4 is overcosted since we could have a Fighting Drake for only 4 mana and add Flying. Going Supreme however is well worth it. If it can live an opponents turn (and that's a big IF) then you get a Time Warp and a 3/5 Critter for a total investment of 8 mana. I remember a deck that was called Critical Mass back in the day that would use a Green powerful creature as a finisher and would protect it with blue counters. Now blue has a critical card in color. It's just a matter of protecting it long enough to reap the extra turns.

Guul Draz Assassin

1/1 for B is rather boring at 0 Level. Paying 4 more to make a 2/2 is unfathomable until you see the ability it gains. Never in Magic have we had a repeatable -2/-2 without a draw back. The supreme is the same case. Sure, we're paying to much for a creature but the consistent source of removal is worth it in the end. With smart use of mana it should go to -4/-4 about the same time as your opponents creatures start growing a bigger than 2 toughness. If damage still went on the stack he would be even better.

Enclave Cryptologist

I find this card unplayable at all levels. A 0/1 for U is weak even for Blue. To pay 3 to get a weakened version of Merfolk Looter is lame. It gets even worse when we start contemplating paying 7 for a no power Archivist.

Beastbreaker of Bala Ged

A Bear at level 0 is still a bear which are still playable in my opinion. Moving up to a 4/4 does require 5 mana. That is more mana than a 4/4 should cost in Green but the fact that it can be pseudo hasty on turn 3 is well worth it. Moving up to a 6/6 Trampler costs us an investment of 14 mana. That's more than double what we should pay for it. Even making payments this supreme isn't worth it.

Kazandu Tuskcaller

Here we have the first Leveler whose 0 entry is behind the norm. However with just one Level activation you run into a very good Token Generator. If she lives for long the army of Elephants can be immense. All for the investment of just one card. That's a card advantage engine. I do like her supreme ability also. In fact I like it twice as much but I only see getting there in situations that have nothing else to do with my mana since her first ability is taking over.

Joraga Treespeaker

0 level is bearable though not preferred since we are use to getting something out of 1/1 elves for 1 mana. Level Treespeaker up just once and we have a Fyndhorn Elder with a bigger toughness and tapable two turns earlier for the same total investment. That's pretty good. I predict that her supreme will rarely see play since since by the time you could invest 11 total mana with an Elf deck you have already plenty of mana from other sources.

Kargan Dragonlord

2/2 for 2 is pretty common is Red. Not as common as it is in Green but still very playable 0 level. Investing the 6 total mana would be worth a 4/4 flyer in a normal card. Paying for it over time and getting it out turns earlier is a real bonus. The only 8/8 Flying Trample comparison we have is Hellkite Overlord. While Kargan takes a total of 10 mana when compared to Overlords 8 it can be paid in installments. That means the Kargan can swing for 8 three turns faster than the Overlord could. That a good trade off for the loss of an off color regeneration ability.

Student of Warfare

This is probably my favorite Level Up card. 1/1 for 1 is just average for White at level 0. Paying a meager 2 extra mana moves us up to level 2 gaining a 3/3 First Strike. Let that sink in. We potentially have a pseudo hasty 3/3 first Striker on turn 2 for less total mana than a 3/3 First Strike would normally cost us. The only 3/3 first strike we have is Battle Hurda and it cost 5 mana to play. Student on level 2 far surpasses that. We've never had a Double Strike 4/4 printed to compare the supreme to. I'm willing to bet having a 4/4 double strike on turn 4 with pseudo haste is pretty good.

Card Advantage

The subtle part of Level Up is the card advantage it generates. By upgrading your field presence without having to commit a card gives you an indirect card advantage engine. Forcing your opponent into dealing with you ever growing Level Up threat while you draw replacements can put you into a favorable position even if your opponent finds removal for your leveler. Imagine your opponent being forced to go one for one with a Day of Judgment just because your Student is a one man wreaking machine.

Conclusion

I started out skeptical of the Level Up mechanic. In fact I hated it. Now that more cards are spoiled it seems that there are some very playable cards. I look forward to seeing the rest. Can't wait to play these guys in limited more than anything else.

I am sure that many more Levelers will be spoiled as this article goes through the editing process.

Homework

In the comments post your favorite Level Up card. Feel free to repost if a better one gets spoiled. I know my favorite has changed almost daily.