The Lion’s Eye Quotient

Originally coined by Cajun, the Lion’s Eye Quotient describes a card’s power level in abuse cases divided by its power level in a normal case. The LEQ takes its name from the Mirage rare Lion’s Eye Diamond:

The normal use case of LED is you just discard your hand. The abuse case for LED is you have what is functionally a black lotus that also enables your Infernal Tutor, or something that helps you fire your (very lethal) Goblin Charbelcher. The end result is an absolutely absurd Lion’s Eye Quotient (Given that we’re dividing by as close to 0 as we meaningfully can). On the opposite end of the spectrum is a card that gets no power level bump in abuse cases, something like Baneslayer Angel that is just a generically powerful card with no real room for synergies. Baneslayer Angel would have a LEQ of approximately 1, since its power level is exactly the same in abuse cases and in non abuse cases.

Designing cards with high LEQ’s is also a siren song for designers. Due to the fact that a large percentage of custom magic designers are members of the Johnny/Jenny psychographic, there is a natural desire to create cards that would appeal to that psychographic. Cards that ask questions of “How can you use this, let alone break it?” can generate a lot of excitement and interest in your card, and lead to fun conversations. However, offsetting the good things here are numerous pitfalls for custom designers who intend to actually play with their cards in a constructed format.

Now, the LEQ is just a tool for understanding cards, it is neither a good nor a bad thing. A card having a LEQ greater than 1 is frequently a good thing, since it means that it rewards players for playing with synergy pieces rather than good stuff piles. However, cards with absurd LEQ’s are things that should be treated with care; as long as their abuse case doesn’t exist, they will metaphorically rot in trade binders, lacking a purpose or use case, but the second that abuse case arrives they are capable of warping entire formats around them.

So next time that you design a card that does nothing except for win the game if very specific circumstances arise, ask yourself: “Is this worth it? Or am I merely held in the lion’s eye?”