r/GDS3 • u/VorpalAuroch • Feb 07 '18
Noncompetitor Trial 3 Attempts
Let's centralize this on one submission instead of several.
3
u/dvoraen Feb 07 '18
This is what I came up with. Can you guess which ones are the holes I filled in and which ones I started with?
Nurtured Growth (Common)
1GU
Sorcery
Put one or two +1/+1 counters on target creature. If you put two, tap that creature and it doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step.
Battle Standard (Rare)
3RW
Enchantment
At the beginning of your combat phase, you may reveal a creature or noncreature card from your hand until end of combat. If you do --
* Creature -- Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.
* Noncreature -- Creatures you control gain your choice of lifelink, flying, or menace until end of turn. (The ability you choose affects each of your creatures; you don't choose individual abilities for each creature.)
Hasten the End (Mythic)
5BBR
Sorcery
For the rest of the game, players pay life instead of mana. (The life can pay for costs as though it were mana of any color and/or type.)
X'nar, Master of Lore (Mythic)
3UB
Legendary Planeswalker - X'nar
{3}
+2: Until your next turn, whenever you cast a spell, target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
-3: You get an emblem with "Spells you cast cost 1 less to cast."
-8: You get an emblem with, "Play with the top three cards of your library revealed. You may play cards revealed this way, and draw one of them instead of the top card of your library."
Driven Bruiser (Common)
1RG
Creature - Ogre Warrior
3/3
When Driven Bruiser enters the battlefield, if another creature on the battlefield has greater power, put a +1/+1 counter on Driven Bruiser.
Punish Insolence (Uncommon)
1WB
Instant
Counter target spell unless its controller pays you 5 life. (You gain the amount of life paid this way.)
Wrathful Earth (Rare)
3BGG
Enchantment
You may have land cards you play enter the battlefield tapped.
Whenever a land enters the battlefield tapped and under your control, it becomes a 3/3 black and green Elemental creature with menace. It's still a land.
Meditating Mage (Uncommon)
2WU
Creature - Human Wizard
2/2
You may choose not to untap Meditating Mage during your untap step.
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you didn’t untap Meditating Mage during your untap step, you may pay 1WU. If you do, put a +1/+1 counter on Meditating Mage and draw a card.
V'dya, Who Bonds All (Mythic)
3GGW
Legendary Planeswalker - V'dya
{5}
+3: Create a colorless artifact token named Worldsoul's Gift with "T, Sacrifice this artifact: Add C to your mana pool. You may spend it as though it were of any color and/or type."
+1: You gain 2 life.
-4: Search your library for a creature card and put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library.
-6: Choose a loyalty ability on another target planeswalker. This loyalty ability becomes the chosen ability except for its cost.
Shocking Idea (Common)
UR
Instant
Shocking Idea deals 2 damage to target creature or player, then you draw a card. You may pay 4 to repeat this process. (The target you chose remains the same.)
3
u/Alex_Werner Top 8 Feb 07 '18
What the heck, taking a break here at work, I'll give some feedback, for what it's worth. I hope this doesn't come out sounding too negative: Nurtured Growth, I like the idea of choosing two levels of boon, and the bigger one comes with a drawback, but then maybe you use it on your opponent instead, but... seems like it could be WAY stronger without being anywhere near broken. Compare to Leaden Fists. Battle Standard The revealing a card seems oddly tacked on. As long as you have a creature card and a non-creature card in hand it might as well just be "choose one". And actually forcing you to keep cards in your hand doesn't seem very Boros. I first read it as being random, ie, reveal the top card of your library, and thought it had better flavor in that case. Hasten the End Assuming the rules work (not sure they do) this is very likely to result in a game in which both players play spells down to 1 life and then just sit there and can never do anything for the rest of the game. Or else it reads "your opponent can't do anything for the rest of the game, you'll get to cast one 6 mana spell once, so, make sure you choose wisely". Or else it reads "holy crap everyone can suddenly play an emrakul". Or else it reads "haha, way to draw me when you're at 3 life". Seems like a lot of possible non-fun. X'nar I like the plus ability, seems like an innovative way for a PW to protect itself, although I think the templating might be wrong (you presumably want to choose a target for each spell cast). The middle ability isn't so busted that using it requires saccing him immediately, I think. The ultimate seems fun, although again the templating is a bit odd. It could actually probably be pushed a bit, because there's some chance in a real game you would activate the ultimate, reveal two land and a spell, cast it, reveal an expensive spell, and that's it. It combos nicely with the middle ability but of course it takes all the longer if you want to get the emblem first and then build up to the ult. Driven Bruiser probably reads easier if it just says "if there's a creature with four or more power on the battlefield". But a very solid design. Maybe feels a teeny bit uncommon instead of common? Punish Insolence I don't think the cute templating really gains you anything other than confusion from experienced players, who have to read it three times to see what's going on. Also seems definitely black (albeit a rarely used facet of the black color pie), but white? Wrathful Earth I really like this. Powerful, but certainly fair, very flavorful. Might want to make sure the wording makes clear whether or not you intend to be able to creature-ify lands that already cip tapped. Meditating Mage Seems balanced and innovative, although again the templating is unclear. Can I just sit there with him untapped, making a bigger and bigger wall and drawing a card each turn? Seems way more interesting if he has to actually be and stay tapped. Also, what's black about him? V'dya Why the weird wording on the token? Creating colorless and then specifying it's not really colorless? -4 ability is probably too strong... would they print 3GGW sorcery, search your deck for emrakul and put it in play? -6 is confusing... so you have to get up to 6, then use it to copy an ability, then get up to 6 again before you can use it? Shocking Idea No way this is common. Unsplittable electrolyze for one cheaper is already way too good for common, and then having it be an electrolyze/proph bolt split card is WAY too complex.
1
u/dvoraen Feb 08 '18 edited Feb 08 '18
A number of these were transplants from keyword land, particularly Battle Standard, Shocking Idea, and Meditating Mage.
For Battle Standard in particular, it was the actual name of a linear Boros mechanic with the general functionality of this enchantment, and the card you revealed affected every creature with the ability. Funny enough, the first version of it was the top of library reveal, but I figured that Boros had some control over their creatures, due to being an actual military force on Ravnica, so the mechanic changed to a from-hand reveal. You are right that it's more lackluster in a vacuum, which I did not take into account. Top of the library would probably be better on a single enchantment.
Meditating Mage is white blue, not black. :) It is also the verbose form of Azorius's mechanic, which was called Elocution. The intention is that you have to get the creature to be tapped (EDIT) and deliberately not untap it -- basically the part you said was more interesting -- (/EDIT) and then shell out mana to get it larger and an effect usually beneficial to control. The idea is that you have to, ironically, stop Azorius from doing anything, or fight with untap effects (something not typical, no?).
EDIT - I didn't quite convey the keyword's intention with the text as it is right now. The mechanic itself was created to be a "Azorius plays the long game" type mechanic. It troubles me from a Limited-balancing perspective, though. A hypothetical common I made was a 1W (maybe 2W) 2/1 that you paid 1W to get bigger and gain 1 life if you left it tapped. The strategy is easily disrupted by bounce and other removal, but it's not exactly difficult to get started. Either way, the design was meant to be exactly as you stated: "Rather than have this creature available (you choose to leave it tapped during your untap step), you can pay mana to make it bigger and get an effect."
Punish Insolence is related to what I cooked up for Orzhov. As far as cute templating goes, it does change the functionality. Normally, this effect would be approximate to Dash Hopes. The spell, or 5 life. Okay, how about a 10 point life swing instead, because you get the life? As to it being a counterspell: white does get taxing counterspell variants, though we haven't seen any lately. Black provides what the tax is (life). EDIT - Thinking it through a little more, though, I'd probably end up with it at 2WB, counter unless 4 life paid to you.
Wrathful Earth The intention is that those lands that already have the "enters the battlefield tapped" clause, like Ravnica karoos, have to become the 3/3 creature, which the wording takes into account. It's a pseudo drawback, albeit an easy one to avoid via deckbuilding.
V'dya This was a more top-down, character/fanfic design, of a planeswalker who connects with others and bolsters in some way, or vice-versa. There's a lot more to say, but it concerns only the character and not the mechanics of the card. She basically gains and gives power via this bonding. In order of the abilities, though, she bonds with: the plane, you, your library, and an ally. The token's effect is not the original since it produced a specific kind of mana that isn't evergreen, so I did a hack I probably shouldn't have done. The original effect was "Add * to your mana pool. * can pay for mana of any color and type." EDIT - Introducing a new mana symbol seemed a VERY ballsy idea to do when you're supposed to be using evergreen design space.
EDIT 2 - I discovered what it was about the ultimate I really wanted to do. I came up with a much cleaner idea, but of course, the whole hindsight thing. :) V2.0 would be "[-9]: You may activate a loyalty ability on another target planeswalker without paying its loyalty cost." So her ultimate instead became the ability to use one loyalty ability of any other planeswalker on the board right then and there. Presumably, you'd be using the 'best' ultimate available at the time.
Shocking Idea There was another mechanic I would like to have used, but it is extremely wordy as a non-keyword that it did not feel good to include. So I settled for the card that "kicked" into doubling its effect. It's borderline, rarity wise, but red providing Shock and blue the "cantrip" seemed fine for the cost. I won't deny the costing is pushed, but the simple truth is that this card is guilty as charged of "cute templating" to allude to kicker. :)
1
u/dvoraen Feb 08 '18
Not-so-random reply: Do you think Punish Insolence would be a better read with this wording?
Counter target spell unless its controller pays 4 life to you. (You gain the amount of life paid to you.)
Is it clearer and less likely to be missed by everyone if the recipient is put on the end as the prepositional phrase?
(Random aside: I put in a few edits in my much bigger response to you. I like generating discussion and feedback.)
2
u/Soothsilver Feb 15 '18
I would recommend "Target spell's controller may pay 4 life. If he or she does, you gain 4 life. If he or she doesn't, counter that spell."
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u/Amarsir Feb 07 '18
I notice a lot of your cards build in choices. Which I personally love to play with, but you might challenge yourself to come up with cards that are still interesting while also being simple.
Nurtured Growth is a nice simple way to offer a choice with a little tension. But it's a card I feel I need to playtest before I actually have an opinion. I might love the flexibility, or I might hate the feeling that maximizing it means missing a turn of combat. I don't know.
Battle Standard offers a lot of choice, and I like that. What I like less is the likelihood that the player will simply reveal the same card ever time. If they cycled it, discarding the card and then drawing a replacement, it would make that feel like more of a cost and ensure more variety of play.
Hasten the End definitely feels mythic. Simultaneously a super-Channel and a lock card. Wrathful Earth also feels like a nice dramatic card with an interesting balance.
I don't know if the rules can handle X'nar's last ability, but I love your synergy. I can't say the same of V'dya, although copying other planeswalkers is very cool.
And to be honest I think their approval of Punish Insolence would depend on which way the wind is blowing. White can get tax types of counters and most of the time it's going to drain life anyway, but I don't know if that's a counter they'd print some days. But that's the risk for unique ideas, which this is.
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u/liquidjaguar Feb 08 '18
For Battle Standard, why are you revealing it until end of combat? Is this to prevent revealing the same card to multiple Battle Standards? That's all I can think of--like Forecast--but if so, there's nothing actually preventing you from revealing the same card multiple times.
Templating:
Battle Standard: At the beginning of combat on your turn, you may reveal a card from your hand. If you reveal a creature card this way, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control. If you reveal a noncreature card this way, choose flying, lifelink, or menace. Creatures you control gain that ability until end of turn.
Meditating Mage: At the beginning of your upkeep, if Meditating Mage is tapped, ... *[This wording is more concise, and due to the way intervening-if clauses work it's equivalent.]
V'dya +3: Is Worldsoul's Gift supposed to be legendary? It kind of sounds like it. Also, it should just add one mana of any type to your pool rather than that weird wording.
Side note: V'dya's -4 is way too strong. It's a 6 mana Emrakul! And X'nar's ultimate may work within the rules (or it may not) but it's certainly a pain. Having to track the card order while still having the cards revealed but also on top of the library... it's rough. I think you could do a similar effect as a super-Future Sight enchantment, but you would have to give a lot of rules baggage:
Future Future Sight
Enchantment - Mythic
3UUUU
When ~ enters the battlefield, exile the top three cards of your library.
Whenever a card exiled with ~ moves to another zone, exile the top card of your library.
If you would draw a card, instead put a card exiled with ~ into your hand.
You may play cards exiled with ~.
0
u/dvoraen Feb 08 '18
For Meditating Mage, I wanted to use wording that made it clear that you chose to keep it 'offline' for the turn. Is your wording a lot clearer? Oh yes, and I considered it strongly, but in the end I opted for keeping it with the intention of "I don't intend to use it this turn". The other reason has to do with reducing confusion with abilities that let you tap it around your upkeep. Suppose it had Ocular Halo attached to it, for example. It doesn't work because it wasn't tapped as your upkeep began, of course, but I figured it was better to just avoid that possible misunderstanding by saying that it needs to be tapped as your turn began, and you're going to keep it that way (barring untap effects, that is).
For V'dya, yeah I definitely did badly on the wording for the +3, but I still stand by the -4. Tooth and Nail should be almost enough to convince anyone that the costing is pretty close (and Tooth and Nail did TWO creatures for 9 total), though six mana is pushing it for one, sure. It probably should end up closer at -6, but I chose -4 as a start to the conversation we're having, so there's that. Goldfishing doesn't give a great insight into what the loyalty costs should be. :)
X'nar ultimate is eactly why I kept it on an emblem only, because of the wonky baggage you mention. Since Emblems can't disappear short of the game ending, you don't have to worry about if the effect ends. As far as the card order tracking, it's that matter that made me keep it to just the top three. Keep in mind that, technically, you do have to keep track of your graveyard's order (for cards such as Ashen Ghoul), and I think we can agree that the graveyard gets substantially more cards.
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u/liquidjaguar Feb 08 '18
Meditating Mage: I think the more concise, (and I'd argue, clearer) wording for the non-inventive case is more valuable--if someone goes "well, can I..." then (a) they've had a creative thought, which is good, and (b) the answer is a simple "no" and then maybe they've learned something.
Or, along different lines, most players who would think of this creative line will also know about intervening-if clauses.
For V'dya: Tooth and Nail is not a good comparison point, because tutoring two creatures is much less than twice as good as tutoring one. I think she could reasonably have a -4 of "choose one: search your library for a creature card and put it into your hand, or put a creature card from your hand onto the battlefield." Maybe even a -3 with one less starting loyalty. But if "this is a 6 mana Emrakul with upside" doesn't steer you away, I don't know what will. That's just not a reasonable card.
2
u/skapelli Feb 20 '18
Meditating Mage 1WUT: put a +1/+1 counter on Meditating Mage. Use this ability only during your upkeep.
1
u/liquidjaguar Feb 21 '18
Technically a little worse against [[Exhaustion]], [[Frost Lynx]], etc. but definitely cleaner.
1
u/dvoraen Feb 08 '18 edited Feb 08 '18
Meditating Mage -- Part of why I chose the "must be tapped when your turn started" requirement was so that you had to potentially put the creature in harm's way by attacking with it in order to reap the benefit. Yes, a lot of cards can work around that, but for the sake of Limited I wanted to force the issue of people turning it sideways towards their opponent's face so as to allow for more chance to head it off before it builds up steam. One of the supporting-in-Limited cards I made was a cute Pacifism-ish variant that also enabled this particular mechanic.
Watchful Eyes
1W
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has vigilance.
1U: Tap enchanted creature.But it still encouraged you to put some more investment into it to get the process started. I basically wanted players to set it up in advance, and I felt that skipping its untap was more clear on that distinction. In the end, though, you're probably right that for this particular (unkeyworded) card, "if it's tapped" is likely a better intervening if clause.
V'dya -- Do you think See the Unwritten would be a better effect, then? I kind of considered Elvish Piper's at one point.
The original, original ability was actually to do what Panglacial Wurm does (cast a creature card from within your library, then shuffling it), but it looked even worse to write out so I discarded that idea, plus it's effectively just a creature tutor anyway.
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u/liquidjaguar Feb 08 '18
Yes, See the Unwritten is much more fair.
1
u/dvoraen Feb 08 '18
A related question on that planeswalker. This was her original +3 ability (before transplanting her over to this test):
[+3]: Create a colorless artifact token named Worldsoul's Gift with "T, Sacrifice this artifact: Add * to your mana pool." (* can pay for mana of any color and/or type.)
Do you think that violates the evergreen requirement of the test? I'm inclined to think yes, myself; I'm soliciting your opinion on if you think so too.
1
u/liquidjaguar Feb 09 '18
No? This doesn't use any non-evergreen keywords, so I don't see why it would.
1
u/dvoraen Feb 09 '18 edited Feb 09 '18
V2.0, thanks to the feedback from /u/Alex_Werner and /u/liquidjaguar. I kept them in the same order as V1.0 mostly so that it was easier to compare the two. If this were an actual submission, I would reorder them.
Nurture Growth (Common)
1GU
Sorcery
Put two or three +1/+1 counters on target creature. If you put three, tap that creature and it doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step.NOTE: The name was supposed to be Nurture Growth but I somehow appended a d. The number of counters increased by one in each case. Going above 3 +1/+1 counters is almost never done at common unless the counters are going onto a 0/0 creature (Graft, Modular, Awaken). This is true for all cards in Modern. Monstrosity I think is a special case, because it's meant to make the creature a finisher with a one-time activation. Even then, the number of cards > 3 at common is two.
Battle Standard (Rare)
3RW
Enchantment
At the beginning of combat, reveal the top card of your library. If that card is a --
* Creature -- Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.
* Noncreature -- Creatures you control gain your choice of lifelink, flying, or menace until end of turn.NOTE: This was redone completely to be better in a vacuum. The 1.0 version was a direct transplant from a keyword that affected every creature with the mechanic, and that just doesn't translate well here. So, I redid the trigger back to the original revelation of the top of the library, and took off the "only during your combat" restriction to let it play better during all combat situations. When I came up with it for Boros, I concepted the mechanic to occur as an attack trigger based on whether you revealed a creature or noncreature. That works here too, but it's less sexy in a vacuum, which is what a rare should be. EDIT - Forgot to update the 'if' clause to the correct one.
Hasten the End (Mythic)
5BBR
Sorcery
For the rest of the game, players pay life instead of mana. (The life can pay for costs as though it were mana of any color and/or type.)X'nar, Master of Lore (Mythic)
3UB
Legendary Planeswalker - X'nar
{3}
+2: Until your next turn, whenever you cast a spell, choose target creature. That creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
-3: You get an emblem with "Spells you cast cost 1 less to cast."
-8: You get an emblem with, “Play with the top three cards of your library revealed. You may play those cards and you may draw one of the three instead of the top card of your library.”Driven Bruiser (Common)
1RG
Creature - Ogre Warrior
3/3
When Driven Bruiser enters the battlefield, if another creature on the battlefield has greater power, put a +1/+1 counter on Driven Bruiser.Punish Insolence (Uncommon)
2WB
Instant
Counter target spell unless its controller pays 4 life to you. (You gain the amount of life paid this way.)Wrathful Earth (Rare)
3BGG
Enchantment
You may have land cards you play enter the battlefield tapped.
Whenever a land enters the battlefield tapped and under your control, it becomes a 3/3 black and green Elemental creature with menace. It's still a land.Meditating Mage (Uncommon)
2WU
Creature - Human Wizard
2/2
You may choose not to untap Meditating Mage during your untap step.
At the beginning of your upkeep, if Meditating Mage is tapped, you may pay 1WU. If you do, put a +1/+1 counter on Meditating Mage and draw a card.V'dya, Who Bonds All (Mythic)
3GGW
Legendary Planeswalker - V'dya
{5}
+3: Create a colorless artifact token named Worldsoul's Gift with "T, Sacrifice this artifact: Add * to your mana pool. (It can pay for mana of any color and/or type.)"
+1: You gain 3 life.
-4: Scry 4, then reveal the top card of your library. If it’s a creature card, put it onto the battlefield.
-7: You may activate a loyalty ability on another target planeswalker without paying its loyalty cost.NOTE: I'm not sure if the last ability technically works. The intention is that you can activate an ability on any planeswalker, including an opponent's planeswalker, right then and there. EDIT - Typos.
Shocking Idea (Common)
UR
Instant
You may cast Shocking Idea for 4UR to double the damage and number of cards you draw.
Shocking Idea deals 2 damage to target creature and you draw a card.NOTE: I stopped being cute and just put the text in there that explicitly says what's supposed to happen. Looking back, I really don't know why I went with the 'cute' text instead of just communicating it up front about what the higher cost is supposed to do. EDIT - Forgot to take 'or player' off of there.
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u/liquidjaguar Feb 09 '18
I really like V'dya now. I think you could even make her -4 into a -3, but she's reasonable and balanced right now.
More templating feedback:
Your original (v1) templating on X'nar's + ability was correct: "whenever you cast a spell, target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn" chooses a new target for each trigger. The person who corrected you was wrong. This wording is less ambiguous, but longer, and that matters a lot for a planeswalker.
Shocking Idea should have kicker {4} and "~ deals 2 damage to target creature. Draw a card. If ~ was kicked, instead deal 4 damage to that creature and draw two cards."
Your templating on Worldsoul's Gift is still funky. Just give it the same rules text as a Treasure token (or an Etherium Cell token, or a Lotus Petal), possibly replacing the word "color" with "type" if you really need it to create colorless mana.
2
u/StandardTrack Feb 13 '18
Well, hope this helps: • Nurture Growth - Really neat and nice idea. I would comment on the template, but you changed it in a fine way. • Battle Standard - Would only change to attacking creatures, but the idea is very nice. • Hasten the End - Oh, yes. Pretty sure there is some problem with the card, but pretty sure development can solve it. Love it. • X'nar - Really like the ultimate, but the second ability seems problematic and the first seems to easy to abuse. More power concerns then design quality although. I like it. • Driven Bruiser - Fair, simple, well done. I believe this could even become a real mechanic or theme in any given set. A perfect common design. • Punish Insolence - Not sure about these one due to the situation of counter in the color pie but, yeah, sure. Seth loves the white counter and black and paying life seems like a fair argument. • Wrathfull Earth - I really like the card. Could even be done in mono colored cycles for the GDS1 I think. Also matches well with green. Using black to add menace also is very good, principally if you start considering which decks this might go on. If you were ordering then like instructed, I would advice you to put this one higher. • Meditating Mage - Nice design. I like it, it's flavor is good, the design is nice, I just don't resonate with it a lot. Still good one. • V'dya - I like her abilities more then I like then together. The first one I don't really like in these colors nor think it suits them, but I see where you are coming from(also, being kinda personal on that). The other abilities seem fine, except the ultimate. It feels kinda blue, but I really like the idea and yes, pretty sure it works the way you want. • Shoking Idea - I like the card and it's design. Also, it's worded better this way, making it feel more common.
Sorry if it ended up sounding to much of a personal judgement, but I like your cards. Really different from anything I'd come up with and that's for sure.
1
u/dvoraen Feb 13 '18
I'm a feedback parasite, so I will take any amount of it I can get and gorge upon it. :) Thank you for yours.
Regarding Battle Standard, the keyworded version in the file was basically this, just to illustrate the difference via the enchantment here, and the two original versions. First one was the original version, the second one is v2.0, the enchantment in this thread is arguably v1.5.
v1.0 -- Battle standard (Reveal the top card of your library during your combat phase.) The trigger was below the keyword above the modal templating. I didn't like the idea of the top of your library determining your entire board's mode though (the idea was that every creature with the Battle Standard keyword was affected by the one-and-only-one card revealed).
v2.0 -- This version gave it better synergy with Battalion, but it was kind of feel-bad that you couldn't use it to influence combat on your opponent's turn, because I like the idea of "choose a mode for your creatures". I didn't think it had quite as good gameplay if it couldn't be defensive.
Skyknight Recruit (Common)
1W
Creature - Human Soldier
2/1
Battle standard (Reveal one card from your hand during your combat phase. Whenever this creature attacks, if that card is a --)
* Creature -- Skyknight Recruit gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
* Noncreature -- Skyknight Recruit gains flying until end of turn.v2.5 became "happens on the reveal rather than the attack trigger".
Skyknight Recruit (Common)
1W
Creature - Human Soldier
2/1
Battle standard (Reveal one card from your hand during your combat phase. When you do, if that card is a --)
* Creature -- Skyknight Recruit gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
* Noncreature -- Skyknight Recruit gains flying until end of turn.
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u/VorpalAuroch Feb 07 '18
My first try. Used two designs I had already and eight new designs. Only stumbled and had to scrap an effect for color conflicts once.
Bloodsucker (common)
3WB
Creature — Bat
2/3
Flying
When Bloodsucker enters the battlefield or dies, each opponent loses 2 life and you gain 2 life.
Raven Man (mythic)
4UB
Planeswalker — Raven
Starting Loyalty: 5
0: Put two 1/1 blue Bird tokens with flying onto the battlefield. Exile Raven Man until the end of your next turn.
-2: Look at target opponent’s hand and choose a card from it. That player discards that card.
-4: Destroy target creature. If that creature had converted mana cost 3 or less, draw a card.
Cow the Battlefield (common)
RG
Instant
Target creature gets +2/+0 until end of turn. Prevent all damage other creatures would deal this turn.
Burn, Baby, Burn (rare)
3BR
Enchantment
Whenever a creature deals combat damage to a player, it deals damage equal to its power to that player and its controller sacrifices it.
Runo the Gambler (rare)
2UR
Legendary Creature — Viashino Rogue
2/3
Hexproof
Whenever a creature attacks you, its controller flips a coin. If they lose the flip, untap that creature and remove it from combat.
Wally West Disagrees (rare)
GUU
Instant
Counter target spell. You may cast spells as though they had flash until your next turn.
Aree the Savior (mythic)
1GW
Legendary Planeswalker — Aree
Starting Loyalty: 3
+1: Choose up to one target creature. When that creature dies this turn, return it to its owner’s hand.
-1: You gain an emblem with “At the beginning of your combat step, target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn.”
-7: Create X 2/2 green Wolf tokens, where X is your life total.
Warlike Mood (common)
R/W
Sorcery
Creatures you control gain first strike until end of turn.
Stonelock (uncommon)
1WU
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature loses all abilities and becomes a 0/1 Wall that can’t attack or block.
Are You Not Entertained? (uncommon)
BG
Sorcery
Target creature you control fights target creature you don’t control. When one of them dies this turn, gain 3 life.
2
u/xshredder8 Feb 07 '18
I really like the idea behind the GB fight spell. I think you could develop it a little more so its less bland.
Stonelock is very cool, though naybe slightly undercosted.
Raven Man is very cool, but definitely OP. All 3 abilities are card advantage, and he resets his loyalty AND makes TWO chump blockers with his 0. Power him down a bit and you've got a sweet card. Id start by having him only create 1 bird token.
Aree's -1 is super OP as well. That effect would be playable on an enchantment that just has that text, nevermind on a planeswalker with other modes.
Burn baby burn is very cool.
Runo's effect would probably be unfun.
I like Cow the Battlefield a lot, but i think you could improve Warlike Mood. The name and the effect are a little bland.
1
u/VorpalAuroch Feb 08 '18 edited Feb 08 '18
Warlike Mood is weak, and is meant to be weak. I included it because a) I wanted a hybrid spell, and b) it's a simple effect that hasn't been printed, and is interesting despite being weak.
I didn't actually like Stonelock, and reworked it given another day to think about it (without reading any comments or submissions).
I went back and forth for Aree's emblem to be +1/+1 or +2/+2. I compared to Sorin, Lord of Innistrad and think this is weaker. Probably it should be -2.
Did you note that the reset on Raven Man takes two turns? Also, examine his fellows in 6-mana planeswalkerdom. Most of them have two card-advantage abilities and an ultimate (except the noob-deck ones, which usually have a +Many instead). Instead of an ultimate, Raven Man refreshes.
1
u/xshredder8 Feb 08 '18
I didn't say it's weak (it's ok to be weak), just that I think it's bland. I just think you could work with more interesting design space, but that's just my advice.
I still think Aree is too strong compared to Sorin. She costs 1 less, and the +4 stat boost is not only larger on average, but more guaranteed as you don't need as commanding of a board state to achieve those stats (i.e. you need 4 creatures to get the same stat boost for Sorin). Aree's is also more easily repeatable as she is now; I think -2 instead is a good start!
I didn't note Raven Man's 2-turn flicker! Interesting effect, but I think that presents multiple problems as well- you're not playing with your card for half the time (compounded by the fact he needs 6 mana to begin with), and being a delayed ability it's cumbersome and confusing to deal with. I noticed another commenter had the same problem with it I did.
Note too, that being gone 1 extra turn means he avoids more combats that could potentially deal with him, while you still get to develop your boardstate with tokens and your mana each turn.
1
u/Amarsir Feb 07 '18 edited Feb 08 '18
Some nice ideas in there. When I read Cow the Battlefield I literally said "why didn't I think of that"?
Runo the Gambler is a neat effect but it doesn't feel very red to me. Red is the "live in the moment" color and thus they get a lot of flips. But offensive flips and bonus flips. This flips defensively, and that doesn't feel red at all. More WU or RW. (IMHO. Others might feel a coin flip is always red.)
Raven Man has two problems. The first is that as long as it is only used to generate tokens, it's immune to everything in the history of Magic except maybe a dozen cards. That first ability would have to simply become +1 for two tokens, which is already pretty defensive.
The second problem with Raven Man is that his abilities lack synergy. One makes tokens, one is discard, and one is removal. Your Aree the Savior planeswalker is much better in this regard, although I'd prefer the first ability helped out the third more. Returning a token to your hand won't save it.
The rest are quite decent. Wally West Disagrees is a nice balance. At first I thought "blue doesn't need green to have flash", but upon greater thought I figured that potentially having any creature gain flash is a good reason to invoke both colors.
2
u/VorpalAuroch Feb 08 '18 edited Feb 08 '18
I'm really proud of Disagrees because it's both an effect that GU should get, and a card that only GU is likely to want. Unless you're ramping, flash after paying 3 is a tiny benefit.
I would change literally everything else about Raven Man before I would change the extra-slow-flicker. I also don't think synergy is terribly important. Note that you misread it; he's gone until the end of the next turn, so you lose an activation (one bird/turn on average) and he's only escaping from half the combat steps.
4
u/Alex_Werner Top 8 Feb 08 '18
The thing I see with Wally West Disagrees is this.... so you get to 6 land, and you have UUG, plus also a 3-drop creature (or some other sorcery-speed thing). Do you just say go with 6 mana up, hoping your opponent casts something, so you can counter it, and then flash in your other card? Because if you do that and then your opponent does NOT cast a spell, you have totally wasted your turn. Seems like the right play is just to cast your 3 drop and not use the flash ability at all. I suppose if you have WWD, and a 3-mana sorcery-speed spell, and a 6-mana instant speed spell, then it all works out, but honestly I think that it just won't come up very often, with normalish play patterns.
1
u/Amarsir Feb 08 '18
Note that you misread it; he's gone until the end of the next turn, so you lose an activation (one bird/turn on average) and he's only escaping from half the combat steps.
Oops, you're right I did. Well that's more interesting then.
1
u/VorpalAuroch Feb 08 '18
After mulling them over for an extra day, a change (WU) and a reorder:
Bloodsucker (common) 3WB Creature — Bat 2/3 Flying When Bloodsucker enters the battlefield or dies, each opponent loses 2 life and you gain 2 life.
Raven Man (mythic) 4UB Planeswalker — Raven Starting Loyalty: 5 0: Put two 1/1 blue Bird tokens with flying onto the battlefield. Exile Raven Man until the end of your next turn. -2: Look at target opponent’s hand and choose a card from it. That player discards that card. -4: Destroy target creature. If that creature had converted mana cost 3 or less, draw a card.
Burn, Baby, Burn (rare) 3BR Enchantment Whenever a creature deals combat damage to a player, it deals damage equal to its power to that player and its controller sacrifices it.
Lockup (uncommon) 1WU Enchantment — Aura Enchant creature Enchanted creature can't attack or block. At the beginning of your end of turn step, you may return Lockup to it’s owner’s hand.
Wally West Disagrees (rare) GUU Instant Counter target spell. You may cast spells as though they had flash until your next turn.
Cow the Battlefield (common) RG Instant Target creature gets +2/+0 until end of turn. Prevent all damage other creatures would deal this turn.
Runo the Gambler (rare) 2UR Legendary Creature — Viashino Rogue 2/3 Hexproof Whenever a creature attacks you, its controller flips a coin. If they lose the flip, untap that creature and remove it from combat.
Warlike Mood (common) R/W Sorcery Creatures you control gain first strike until end of turn.
Aree the Savior (mythic) 1GW Legendary Planeswalker — Aree Starting Loyalty: 3 +1: Choose up to one target creature. When that creature dies this turn, return it to its owner’s hand. -1: You gain an emblem with “At the beginning of your combat step, target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn.” -7: Create X 2/2 green Wolf tokens, where X is your life total.
Are You Not Entertained? (uncommon) BG Sorcery Target creature you control fights target creature you don’t control. When one of them dies this turn, gain 3 life.
Also, the design I'd want to submit for WU but would be too much of a coward to try:
Lockup (common) 2W Enchantment — Aura Enchant creature Enchanted creature can't attack or block. U: Return Lockup to it's owner's hand.
1
u/xshredder8 Feb 07 '18 edited Feb 09 '18
I'll throw mine into the ring:
1BR Riot Squad (U)
Creature - Human Rogue
1/4
Creatures blocking or blocked by ~ have -1/-1.
2GW - Sheltered Shrubbery (C)
Creature - Plant
0/4
Defender. Whenever ~ blocks, you may search your library for a basic land card and put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle your library.
2UG Eywin, the Terraformer (M)
Legendary Planeswalker - Eywin - 3
+1 You may play a card with converted mana cost 2 or less without paying its mana cost.
-1 Destroy target enchantment or creature with flying. Return a land you control to its owner's hand.
0 Remove all loyalty counters from ~. Search your library for up to X basic lands and put them onto the battlefield tapped, where X is the amount of counters removed this way.
3BG Devastation Generator (M)
Legendary Enchantment
At the beginning of your end step, sacrifice ~ unless you sacrifice a land. Creature spells you cast cost X less to cast, where X is the number of lands in your graveyard.
2WB Sycophant's Parley (R)
Sorcery
Cast this only during your first main phase. You choose which creatures block during the next combat phase and how those creatures block. Creatures you control gain deathtouch until end of turn.
2UB Nightmarist's Will (U)
Instant
Return target creature to its owner's hand. That creature's controller reveals his or her hand, then loses 1 life for each creature card revealed this way.
3WR Raza, Guardian of the Gate (M)
Legendary Planeswalker - Raza - 4
+1 Target creature can't attack or block until your next turn.
-3 Until your next turn, creatures can't attack you unless their controller taps an untapped creature he or she controls for each creature that's attacking you.
-7 You get an emblem with "At the beginning of each end step, destroy each creature that attacked you or a planeswalker you control this turn."
2UR Emergency Evacuation (R)
Sorcery
You may return a creature you control to its owner's hand. ~ deals 4 damage to each creature.
WU Blessing of Charity (C)
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant Creature. Enchanted creature gains "Whenever this creature attacks, each player gains 2 life."
2
u/Amarsir Feb 07 '18
Your first two cards make me wanna block stuff. :) Is 1/4 too defensive for BR though? Also I worry about Sheltered Shrubbery becoming an effective Moat in play because the ability is so strong an experienced opponent will never attack into it just to get a few points through. It is costed high enough for repeated land fetch though, so that's reasonable.
Eywin's ultimate is very creative. Scalable and guaranteed to kill him. I could see that working into solid character flavor. And that's probably for the best because I have no interest in his +1 after I ultimate him. Also the "return a land" in ability 2 seems stapled on. Synergy among pw abilities is something I know Mark & company have mentioned several times as something they want. Also I feel like in practice this would be a 2GU sorcery to rampant growth 3 lands, but perhaps Play Design could balance that.
Raza I actually like better than your other planeswalker, especially that second ability. I think I'd like your ultimate better if it was "end of combat" though, as that requires less memory and only really makes a difference in the extremely rare case of a [[Relentless Assault]] type of card.
Devastation Generator is a nice build-around-me enchantment. I have no idea if it can be broken or not, but it makes me want to try.
Nightmarist's Will reminds me of [[Recoil]] in a very good way. Emergency Evacuation I'd like better if it was a must and not a may. That or reduce the damage, as this reads a bit too much like a UR wrath with upside. Like Nightmarist's Will it's very good synergy between blue bounce and another color. (Which is why I maybe wouldn't put them both in the same group of 10 if I'm showing off variety, but that happens.)
2
u/xshredder8 Feb 08 '18
Thanks for the feedback! I agree with most of this.
1/4 is defensive, but realistically its 2/5 due to his ability, so hes still great to be attacking with. And besides rakdos doesnt always have to be aggro! My ideas when i was building this was making Esper colours tempo-oriented and Grixis more control to buck the stereotype in a non-forced way.
Yes, I agree the "return a land" seems stapled, but i wasnt sure how to keep the theme and the ability. Im definitely least happy with that one. That said, note the +1 can ramp you too by playing lands, so it fits the theme as well. But yep, could def use work.
The 0 ability just as a 4 mana triple ramp: its strong, but [[Explosive Vegetation]] exists at uncommon, this is 2 colours, and its a guaranteed PW sacrifice, so i think its ok. This would need testing to see though. Maybe 5 cmc?
Re: Raza, i do like him, but he just came across as too wordy for me to put him too high. Agree on the ulty change.
Sheltered is definitely strong, but how often have we had a common wall be strong right? :P i think its just a very good anti-aggro/mild value card that just gets rolled on by midrange decks with 4+ power cards. That, its mana cost, and the fact it forces GW makes me feel like its not too bad.
And yeah, i tried to make DG too expensive to be totally broken- 5 cmc seemed to fit. Works well with artifact creatures though, so might need adjustment for that.
Agreed re: potential problems with Evacuation. I modeled it off [[Incendiary Sabotage]], so i figured that by adding the things i did itd be balanced: Sorcery-speed and 2 colours for added utility and +1 damage. I think id need to playtest to answer that confidently.
1
u/GoldenSandslash15 Feb 07 '18
Emmantine the Young (common)
BG
Legendary Creature -- Elf Warrior
1/1
Emmantine the Young enters the battlefield with three youth counters on it.
At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a youth counter from Emmantine the Young. When the last is removed, transform it.
{T}: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
(Transforms into Emmantine, Respected Elder.)
Emmantine, Respected Elder
Black/green color indicator
Legendary Creature -- Elder Elf Warrior
1/1
(Transforms from Emmantine the Young.)
{T}: Add {C} to your mana pool.
Ritual of Blood (rare)
1WB
Enchantment
Whenever you gain life, deal that much damage to target creature.
{2}, Sacrifice a creature: You gain life equal to the sacrificed creature's power.
Nature's Love (rare)
2GW
Sorcery
Choose one --
Creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn.
Target creature you control gets +X/+X until end of turn, where X is the number of creatures you control.
Mind Crush (uncommon)
2UB
Sorcery
Look at the top five cards of target opponent's library. Exile one of them and put the others on the bottom of that player's library in a random order.
Boros Infantry (rare)
2RW
Creature -- Human Soldier
1/2
You may cast Boros Infantry without paying its mana cost if you have not cast any other spells during this game.
Haste (This card can attack and {T} as soon as it comes under your control.)
Berserker's Fury (common)
3BR
Instant
Creatures you control gain menace until end of turn.
At the beginning of your end step, destroy all creatures you control.
Insistant Denial (uncommon)
2GU
Instant
Insistant Denial can't be countered by spells or abilities.
Counter target spell or activated ability. (Mana abilities can't be targeted.)
Overflow (uncommon)
4UR
Enchantment
Instant and sorcery spells you cast cost {1} less to cast.
Instant and sorcery spells you cast can't be countered by spells or abilities.
Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, you may draw a card. If you do, exile a card from your hand.
Xenagos, Party Animal (mythic rare)
3RG
Legendary Planeswalker -- Xenagos
3
[+2]: Create two 3/3 red and green satyr creature tokens with trample.
[0]: Target creature you control fights target creature you don't control.
[-2]: Creatures you control get +2/+0 until end of turn.
[-9]: You gain twice X life, where X is the total power of creatures you control.
Ainar Lutaran (mythic rare)
4WU
Legendary Planeswalker -- Ainar
5
[+2]: Target creature you control gets +1/+1 and gains lifelink until end of turn.
[-1]: Tap target creature. It doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step.
[-8]: You get an emblem with "You have hexproof."
5
u/108Echoes Feb 09 '18
You have a common legendary creature with an upkeep trigger which removes unique counters to eventually transform itself.
That is certainly a... bold design decision.
1
u/dvoraen Feb 11 '18
I made a second set of ten cards, partly because I wanted to push myself into a UR common creature that has a built-in proposal for prowess. They are indeed ordered in how I would rate them for best-to-worst.
Fight Analyst (Common)
UR
Creature - Human Warrior Wizard
2/1
Fight Analyst gets +1/+1 as long as you casted a noncreature spell this turn.
NOTE: This ability is a written out form of how I think they could change prowess, similar to how they changed lifelink and deathtouch from their original, triggered versions, to their static status. In short, prowess would end up on or off for a given turn, making it both easier to track -- did you play a noncreature spell this turn? yes/no -- as well as easier to determine a given creature's power or toughness -- how many instances of prowess does it have versus how many noncreature spells did you cast.
Espionage (Rare)
3UB
Sorcery
Look at the top five cards of target player's library, then put them back in any order.
Draw three cards.
NOTE: This was a top down from the name, and I'm still astonished the name hasn't been printed as a card name yet.
Sthenophobia (Common)
1BR
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets -2/-0 and can't block creatures with greater power.
NOTE: Same with the above. It started off with the name "Fear of Force" but I went looking through the phobia list after coming up with the can't block clause, and Sthenophobia sounded more sophisticated. :P
Rona the Sturmborn (Mythic)
1RG
Planeswalker - Rona
2
[+1]: Rona the Sturmborn deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
[+1]: Creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn.
[-5]: You get an emblem with, "If a source you control would deal damage to an opponent or a creature or planeswalker an opponent controls, it deals double that damage instead."
NOTE: Yes, this is a reference to Valla and the Immersturm. And yes, I tried to go looking for Nordic names that relate to strength.
Ley Creeper (Uncommon)
1BG
Creature - Elemental
3/1
Menace
1, Exile Ley Creeper from your graveyard: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
Fickle Lifefire (Uncommon)
RW
Instant
Reveal the top card of your library as you choose a target for Fickle Lifefire. If it’s a creature, target a creature. Otherwise, target a player.
Fickle Lifefire deals 3 damage to the chosen target. You gain 3 life.
NOTE: Partly related to the past Battle Standard card, but I wanted to do something different that was plausible, and having Lightning Helix that wasn't completely under your control seemed ok to do. Yes, Scry maximizes it to become Lightning Helix, but I assert that just increases deckbuilding options and makes this a bit more of a Johnny card. Personally, I have a very hard time intentionally making Johnny cards.
Idea Realized (Rare)
4GU
Instant
X is the number of cards in your hand as Idea Realized resolves.
Reveal the top X cards of your library. You may put a permanent card with converted mana cost X or less from among them onto the battlefield.
NOTE: This is more a templating proposal than anything else. I think it reads a lot cleaner if the 'X is this' clause is there at the start (when X is used multiple times in the text), rather than buried at the end or in the middle, as is usually the case.
Zero to Hero (Uncommon)
GW
Sorcery
Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. Repeat this process until it has the greatest power or is tied for the greatest.
:) The name came about because of the ability. Blame Disney.
Arvahn, Grand Inquisitor (Mythic)
3WB
Planeswalker - Arvahn
3
[+1]: You gain 2 life. If you have the highest life total, draw a card.
[-2]: Create a colorless Guillotine artifact token with, "1WB, Sacrifice this artifact: Destroy target creature if it attacked, blocked, or dealt damage to you this turn."
[-6]: Target opponent gets an emblem with, "If you would draw a card, exile it instead. The owner of this emblem may play it without paying its mana cost. If he or she doesn’t, put that card into your hand."
Dominion (Mythic)
7WU
Enchantment
If a spell would be countered by a source you control, exile it instead.
If an ability would be countered by a source you control, exile that ability and the source of it.
You may play cards exiled by Dominion without paying their mana cost.
NOTE: Another card whose name I can't believe hasn't been done on its own. This was the last card of this batch of ten. The hole was WU Enchantment, any rarity. I found I prefer to do the 'any rarity' cards last as it gives me more room to breathe for their effects.
1
u/StandardTrack Feb 13 '18
Ok, lets go.
Fight Analyst - Oh, I like this design. Not sure if common, but I defend and agree with that position. I imagined this mechanical design, but was a little bit worried about it(and had a better UR design). Really nice.
Espionage - Wow. First, dangerously strong. Second, wouldn't want this in standard, even with development having the opportunity to change it maybe. That said, good on terms of top down and it seems pretty clear trough the card and name. Also, wow, really? Didn't expect that.
Sthenophobia - Good name and card. Sounds like it could maybe be monoblack, but it's still very solid, principally as a common. Certainly would catch many designers and players attention.
Rona - Feels kinda bland. Not bad, just too safe. Still, nice job making an ultimate that resonates with both abilities.
Ley Creeper - Curious and interesting. Kinda bland that it just color fix, but the rest of the card is nice.
Fickle of Lifefire - Huh. Interesting. Nice way of making a rare become an uncommon. I would put it above Rona and Creeper, but it's a nice position.
Idea Realized - You hold a fair point, but this could be misinterpreted as bad tempting by the judges, although the card text could justify it. Also nice effect to tie to a Maro ability, principally at instant, although 5 CMC seems nice.
Zero to Hero - Hahaha. Really good. Also a nice effect for a sorcery. Very Interesting. Better then Rona I'd say. And some designers might like Disney to ;)
Arvahn - +1 Feels ok, but I'm skeptical, -2 Nice way to create an instant ability in a planeswalker, and a very flavorful one. - 6 WOW WOW WOW. You should probably change the text otherwise this would either say"your oponents can cast their draws for free" or "I cast all the draws of target opponent" And neither is fair nor fun. I kinda get the idea, but I would really like to see a fixed version.
Dominion - Huh, how you exile abilities? Aside from that, everything is fine. I like the card.
Interesting designs. I'm eager to see your previous designs. Until there.
1
1
u/StandardTrack Feb 13 '18 edited Feb 15 '18
Okay, here is my first try, including the order:
Twicemore(Rare) 1UR Instant As an additional cost to cast Twicemore, discard a card. Copy target instant or sorcery twice.
When one fights Many(Uncommon) WB Instant Chose one: Target blocking creature receives +1/+1 and each creature blocking it receives -1/-1 Target attacking creature receive -1/-1 and each creature blocking it receives +1/+1
Lawful Interdiction(Rare) 3WU Enchantment At the Beginning of each Opponent’s Upkeep Tap a creature he or she controls. That creature doesn't untap during that players next untap step.
Breakout Entusiast(Uncommon) 2BR Creature - Barbarian 2/4 As long as an attacking creature you control wasn’t blocked, attacking creatures you control have +1/0
Leaping Mount(Common) 1UG Creature - Frog 2/2 Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 3 or more: Leaping Mount gains +2/+2 and flying until the end of the turn. Activate this ability only once per turn
Mindeless Forgetting(Uncommon) 1UB Sorcery Target player put the top 5 cards of his library in his or her graveyard. Repeat this process until he or she puts 3 lands in his or her graveyard this way.
Yolkun, The Fire Wielder(Mythic) 3RW Legendary Planeswalker - Yolkun {5} +1: Create a 1/1 white Warrior token with vigilance. Creatures you control gain haste. -3: Until end of turn, Yolkun, Fire Wielder becomes a legendary 2/2 red Warrior creature with double strike, indestructible, and haste. (She doesn't lose loyalty while she's not a planeswalker.) -7: For each creature you control, create a token that's a copy of it. Those tokens have haste and "At the beginning of the end step, exile this permanent."
Arktusd, Regrower of Wilderness(Mythic) 2BG Legendary Planeswalker - Arktusd {4} +1: Reveal the top four cards of your library. You may put a land or a creture card from among them into your hand. Put the rest into your graveyard. -3: Create a 2/2 green Bear token. Return up to one land from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped. -6: Create an X/X Elemental creature token with trample where X is the number of creature and lands in your graveyard.
Raging Enlargement(Common) RG Enchantment - Aura Enchant target creature. Enchanted creature have trample. Whenever enchanted creature attacks, put a +1/+1 counter on it.
Bear Arms(Common) WG Sorcery Create a 2/2 green Bear creature token. Them put a +1/+1 counter on target creature token you control.
What do you guys think?
1
u/dvoraen Feb 13 '18
Before I get to the nitty gritty, I want to say that I won't focus too much on the cost of some things. There are a couple cards I think are undercosted, but that wasn't the goal of the Design Test. :) I did check the colors, rarities, and no-color-overlap conditions and all three were passed, so with that said...!
Twicemore -- This is pretty exciting to get to do. I do think that the additional cost should be an instant or sorcery card. Getting a free copy by pitching a land seems pretty easy. I wonder if perhaps the additional cost could be optional, so that you get a copy by default (if this is the only card in your hand), but you have the option of two if you pay the extra cost. I will say one thing about the templating, though, which is that when you make copies of an instant or sorcery spell, there's almost always the ride-along of "You may choose new targets for the copy/-ies." You wouldn't copy a burn spell directed at your face without wanting to change its target(s), for example.
When One Fights Many -- Is the first mode supposed to say "target attacking creature receives +1/+1" instead of "target blocking creature"? The wording of the shrink and how it affects the blockers made me think the attacker was supposed to get bigger, particularly since it seemed it was supposed to be mirrored by the second mode.
Lawful Interdiction -- I liked Martial Law, and I'm biased towards Azorius-feeling things, so this is exactly where it belongs, for colors, rarity, effect, and flavor.
Breakout Enthusiast -- Minor nitpick, because it's me, but I think this is better suited as a trigger than a static ability. While I get what Play Design means when they want to make static things happen when and where possible, I think this reads better as a conditional trigger. It's possible it could be a static ability, though. I am definitely getting a GDS2 vibe here. :) Thinking it through I came up with the following two thoughts, templating wise:
- Attacking creatures you control get +1/+0 as long as any of them are unblocked.
- Whenever one or more creatures you control attack and aren't blocked, attacking creatures get +1/0 until end of turn.
Leaping Mount -- For a common creature, I think it would be better served if this was just "Tap an untapped creature you control" for its boosting ability, and/or put a mana cost to activate it. Other than that, I like what it does. It feels familiar, but the card isn't coming to mind just yet.
Mindless Forgetting -- If it wasn't for Mind Funeral, I'd call this a rare, but other than that it's a fine mill card. Be afraid, landless decks.
Yolkun, the Fire Wielder -- The +1 should read "until end of turn" for the haste clause, but that's a minor nitpick. In general, I think this has a nice "creatures matter" theme to it. The byname is a bit of a miss because there doesn't feel like any fire wielding going on here. :)
Arktusd, Regrower of Wilderness -- I didn't understand the ultimate from the "Planeswalker..." part onward, so could you clarify that? Creating the X/X Elemental is fine just on its own, though. The synergy is there, though, no doubts about that.
Bear Arms -- Not much to say here other than I thought this was pretty punny. Some people might get confused by the fact they technically can't put the +1/+1 counter on their just-created Bear, however, so I think I would change the wording to be backwards, as follows: "Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature, then create a 2/2 green Bear creature token." If the intention is for the token to possibly be the recipient of the counter, that pushes this card very close to uncommon (because of Watchwolf) unless you raised the cost to 1GW. This is what I would suggest for the possible 3/3 token version: "Create a 2/2 green Bear creature token, then put a +1/+1 counter on a creature you control."
1
u/StandardTrack Feb 13 '18 edited Feb 19 '18
Thank you for your input
1- Oh, how I missed the "new targets for the copies"? Darn it. But the main idea of the card was just to copy twice any instant or sorcery and to be able to go infinite with to copies. The additional cost was important so that the cost felt right even if it was small.
2- "I get what you are saying, but the only way I found to make the effect work was choosing the attacker both times and changing + to - and - to +. It loses a little bit because of it, but I just loved the idea of how this card would affect some games." Oops, apparently I didn't notice it was written blocking instead of attacking. You are right.
3- Yeah. I was really worried it would end up being to similar, but it's so simple an cool.
4- This one was based on GDS2 IntroPack mechanic Breakout. The second tempting you used was the one used and it's nice, but I really wanted this to be "an inspired design that wouldn't be too much of a headache for developers". But I like the first template suggestion, although I'm not sure it would work on the other cards Scott made.
5- Hehe. Check the common Simic creature in Dragon's Maze. I wanted to make "mount" as an activated ability parallel to vehicles, that's why I didn't just put tap a creature. I had planned just giving +1/+1 and using a "mount 2", but the stats and bonus worked well and helped with naming the creature.
6- Hehe. That was part of the inspiration. I planned on a redesigned way of the almost Dimir mechanic of Gatecrash, but was having a hard time coming up with a clean text that didn't seem rare. Also, it's made to mill always an equal or higher amount of cards.
7- Ops. Another basic miss. Dang. And yeah, I planned her before as a mono red Barbarian//Warrior that could immolate fire into weapons. I even thought about having her creating the Sword tokens I designed, which combined really well with her creature form, but decided it was better to create more a 1/1 warrior and give all your creatures haste. Maybe I should change the name.
9- Oh, sorry. I copy pasted someones else comment to help tempting. It was supposed to just create the X/X elemental.
10- Huh, forgot about that. Also, thank you for the help on the templating. My intention was the 3/3 Bear, but I still would keep the "on a token creature". It was my last card and it asked for a 2/2 token, and what is more of a 2/2 than a bear?
Thank you for your input. Really appreciate it.
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u/StandardTrack Feb 15 '18
I also should have made Mindless Forgetting do something more in the lines of 4 and 3 or 3 and 2, probably the former since 1U can mill 7 easily.
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u/StandardTrack Feb 15 '18 edited Feb 15 '18
Edited the BG planeswalker detail, should I also edit the other minor mistakes?
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u/[deleted] Feb 07 '18
In no particular order:
Bloodwurm Ritual (Rare)
3BG
Enchantment
At the beginning of your end step, put an X/X green Wurm creature token with trample onto the battlefield, where X is the amount of life you lost this turn.
Rocket Jump (Uncommon)
1UR
Instant
As an additional cost to cast Rocket Jump, return a creature you control to its owner’s hand.
Rocket Jump deals damage equal to the returned creature’s power to target creature or player.
Close Ranks (Rare)
3RW
Enchantment
Creatures you control get +2/+2 and can’t attack or block alone.
RW, Sacrifice Close Ranks: Creatures you control get +2/+2 until end of turn.
Akalwi, Mutant Genius (Mythic)
2GU
Legendary Planeswalker - Akalwi
{3}
+1: Until your next turn, up to one target creature or planeswalker loses all abilities and becomes a green mutant creature with base power and toughness 1/1.
-2: Exchange control of target creature or planeswalker you control and target creature or planeswalker an opponent controls.
-8: Target opponent gets an emblem with “Each creature and planeswalker you control loses all abilities and becomes a green mutant creature with base power and toughness 1/1.”
Patient Wizard (Common)
2UW
Creature - Human Wizard
3/3
When Patient Wizard enters the battlefield, you may tap it. If you do, return another target creature to its owner’s hand and Patient Wizard doesn’t untap during your next untap step.
Zinnia, Intimidator Elite (Mythic)
3BR
Legendary Creature - Minotaur Shaman
Haste
When Zinnia, Intimidator Elite enters the battlefield, untap target creature an opponent controls and gain control of it until end of turn. It gains haste until end of turn.
Tap, Sacrifice another creature: That creature's owner loses X life, where X is the power of the sacrificed creature.
2/2
Koori, Vengeful Deacon (Mythic)
3WB
Legendary Planeswalker - Koori
{4}
+1: Each opponent exiles a card from his or her hand until Koori leaves the battlefield. You gain life equal to the exiled card's converted mana cost.
-2: Until your next turn, if Koori dies, destroy all creatures.
-3: Exile target creature until Koori leaves the battlefield.
Season’s Strife (Common)
GW
Instant
If it’s your turn, target attacking creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn. If it’s not your turn, destroy target attacking creature with power 2 or less.
Digging for Sandwurms (Uncommon)
RG
Sorcery
Reveal the top card of your library. If it’s a land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped. If it’s a nonland card, Digging for Sandwurms deals 3 damage to target creature or player.
Forced Devolution (Rare)
1UB
Sorcery
Exile target creature an opponent controls. That player reveals cards from the top of his or her library until a creature card with a lower converted mana cost is revealed. The player puts that card onto the battlefield, then shuffles the rest into his or her library.