And how Mechanical Chaos Scaled Up the Entire Damn Game (Part 1)

Disclaimer: These are going to be ranty and fairly emotional, as the title may have hinted. Yeah, I have poor self-control.

The biggest problem with Mechanical Chaos that I've seen is that its generators all but obsoleted any need or desire for normal dual gens – or even normal basic gens! That's what this thread is going to address.

I'll try to keep the first post of each thread updated with change suggestions and other results of discussion: remind me or another mod in IRC or AIM about what to update if you notice something important missing. Hopefully, this will make it possible to have an idea of existing discussion by reading this first post.

Let's start with the most important point:

THESE ARE THE BASELINE. These will NOT be boosted for the sole sake of "keeping up" with new generators. NO other generator setup should be generally, let alone universally, superior to using these.

The problem is, in a lot of cases they HAVE been obsoleted. Today's example:

Mechanical Chaos Switch Gens

Ahahahahahahah, WHERE TO BEGIN.

Switch generators were ALWAYS intended for earlygame generation in bicolor decks, with a disadvantage to make up for their flexibility in switching between mana types: they were NOT intended to become mandatory replacements for half of your basic generators in any monocolor deck because they can fucking triple your generation rate on turn 1.

The biggest problem with switchgens is that they cost 1 of one type of mana, but generate another. In essence, this means gaining 2 of one color mana in exchange for 1 of another color. Hm, what else gives you a net profit of 2 mana for the price of 1...

If a lesser source every goddamn turn for an offcolor mana can possibly be balanced, the only possible way I can see it happening is giving them disadvantages on the scale of Clash Spybot.

So it's pretty clear this is innately out of line. The problem is, what should we do about it?

A lot of suggestions have been proposed in the past, many omitted in favor of the stepped nerfs that have gone through so far (because everyone loves their new overpowered generators requiring a complete redesign of everything previous to abuse them). I'll try to include them in the balance change options, but here's my take on the problem:

Switchgens MUST generate the same color as their cost, as with basic generators.

This is important because, again, there is NO sane way to justify 1 offcolor flat for 2 on-color per turn for monocolor decks as the default. From there we can work out the kinks such as "using the ability every turn making this a moot change unless your opponent plays Confusing Controls pretty much instantly." Which is not the point.

There are a multitude of possible fixes to slow down monocolor abuse with switch gens on top of the play-generator fix: in general, the basic solution is to include an additional activation cost for using their ability to switch. The simplest changes are either blockdizzying or spiking (no generation next turn) when the ability is used, ultimately allowing for monocolor conversion only every other turn without being overly crippled for bicolor usage. A possible alternative would be to move other sorts of disadvantages to their activation cost, such as the more varied set of downsides they originally had for into play: since these would only be used for acting above and beyond basic generators and be relevant fairly often, you could actually get away with the original semi-avoidable effects.

These are going to be a nightmare, but for god's sake, guys, let's get them to the point where they actually go in bicolor decks rather than mandatory replacements for half your generators in mono, okay?

Proposed Changes:
WITHOUT matching play cost and default generation type:
1/1 cost – Vetoed in the past, slows down too much for basic dual gens...

WITH matching play cost and default generation type:
(Into Play/)Use Ability: No undizzy next
Use ability: Spiked
Misc. ability-use downside

Alternatives:
A maintenance penalty?