Don't know why there is so much hate on this sleep flower. It looks functional and fun to me.
Welcome to the forum and good defence, sir!
It is definitely fun because it is very flavoursome: it certainly appeals to the roleplayer in me. But it is a very niche spell. The reasons are:
(a) Range 1. This means it is mainly useful via vine range so effectively Druid Only.
(b) only vs. Living. Useless against any Necromancer, most Earth Wizards, Golem Warlord, Stalker Forcemaster and Undead Warlock.
Definition of niche = an effective Mage X Only card that is also only effective against some Mage builds.
Is it worth investing 3 spell points of your 120 budget in a card that may be redundant? Only if it is a Silver Bullet in the meta. This isn't one.
I could have 1 Lotus or 3 Tanglevines (same vine range but played by other mages at range 2). Hard choice...
think of it as a level 1 creature(~5mana with 2 mana preinvested in the sleep spell) which can cast one(level 2 nature) sleep spell. added together, that should be 3 spellpoints, the same total mana cost, and not any less.
It's not a level 1 creature. It's a conjuration. It does not give me action overlap to time my moves correctly (which a rooted creature would). It does not hinder (which a rooted creature would). It cannot be buffed up by enchantments or commands. It is a structure or terrain that can attack via a ready marker. This can be game breaking if you can stack them. It's not an issue in this case as its range is 0 and teleporting victim into multiples has no benefit as multiple Sleep does not stack (good design here). It is less than a level 1 creature.
So you pay 9 + target level vs. 2x target level for a Sleep. Because the damage is minimal here. To use it as a quick cast or Deployment attack, it breaks most Channelling thresholds so requires pre-planned saved mana. It's not a on-the-fly Fly Trap.
Because of vine range, it is a potentially useful toolbox option for a Druid. But I can see many Druids deciding it just doesn't "make the cut" at 3 spell points for a situational spell.
(Rise Again is another example, but I believe it costs 3 spell points because of potential recursive abuse with Curse Weaving)
And as for those who would prefer some sort of trap, this thing can trap just fine. The vine or seedling pod is the trap. If you have initiative, cast the flower in deployment, from a vine or defensive seedling pod then do the attack asap at beginning of round, or just quickcast it all. If you cast the flower when you need the sleep effect, then there is no chance for it to die before the sleepening.
All good points, sir.
I think Seedling Pods germinate thinking "when I grow up, I wanna be a Tree" and are generally wasted on vines (but the option exists). Yes you can Vine Tree Deploy or QC attack with it anywhere with a vine marker. But you can do that with new Tanglevines, 3 times over.
Ok, on reflection, this is grossly unfair because it is judging a card in a vacuum. Etherian Lifetree will pump it up. It gets round Mordok's Obelisk and Altar of Peace. It does help stake ownership of a zone against an opponent who is playing Living. It can target Flyers (those airborne spores) whilst Tanglevine can't. Yes, I can see a Druid running one of them as a toolbox option. But it will never make any other mage book and is likely to be useless in many match-ups.
As a Druid, from previews so far (big proviso), I think I prefer +1 Tanglevine, +1 Surging Wave, +1 Acid Ball over 1 Lotus Nightshade.
It's a shame as it is such a great flavoursome thematic card. And I love the homage image reference to a certain $1000 Magic card...
