Friday, March 20, 2015

Weekend Art Challenge 032015—xiaobotong

Weekend Art Challenge
Greetings, artisans! Click through to see this weekend's art and the design requirements for your single card submission, due Monday morning. Every submission warrants feedback, and everyone is encouraged to give feedback. You may use that feedback to revise your submission any number of times, though only the version rendered will be included in the review, if someone volunteers to render the cards.


Design a mysterious white, black and/or red card for this art.

100 comments:

  1. Masker Leader 2BW
    Creature - Warrior
    When CARDNAME becomes blocked, you may sacrifice it.
    If you do, you may put a legendary human from your hand or graveyard on the battlefield, tapped, attacking, and blocked by that creature.
    4/2
    "So it was you raiding our lands all this time"

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    Replies
    1. This is pretty. Why not a human warrior though?

      Delete
    2. Also, this feels more red than black to me

      Delete
    3. Initially I had it as black and red. It is supposed to be human warrior.

      Delete
    4. Depending on the world it could be either black or red...

      Delete
  2. Mist Covered General 3UWW
    Creature - Human Soldier (M)

    Vigilance

    When ~ enters the battlefield, exile the top four cards of your deck face down.

    You may look at and play creatures exiled in this way. You may play them as though they had flash.

    6/6

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm going to tweak the General to be a little smaller:

      Mist Covered General 2UWW
      Creature - Human Soldier (M)

      Vigilance

      When ~ enters the battlefield, exile the top four cards of your deck face down.

      You may look at and play creatures exiled with ~ as though they had flash.

      4/4

      Delete
    2. That might need to be worded slightly differently. As written it seems like you can't look at noncreature facedown cards, which you can't verify without looking at them in the first place.

      Delete
    3. Oh whoops, my attempt to tighten the template shaved too many words!

      Mist Covered General 2UWW
      Creature - Human Soldier (M)

      Vigilance

      When ~ enters the battlefield, exile the top four cards of your deck face down. You may look at these cards.

      You may play creatures exiled with ~ as though they had flash.

      4/4

      Delete
    4. Solid design space. Not loving the mana cost.

      Delete
    5. Would you rather it cost 3UWW? I could also see this being Green/White, but the picture screamed Blue/White so I went that way. Usual mythic design seems to want to put as many keywords as possible on, so I could see giving this thing itself "Flash" to reduce the window to get robbed of the creatures you exiled. Okay, we'll do this:

      Mist Covered General 3UWW
      Creature - Human Soldier (M)

      Vigilance, Flash

      When ~ enters the battlefield, exile the top four cards of your deck face down. You may look at these cards.

      You may play creatures exiled with ~ as though they had flash.

      4/4

      Delete
  3. Mistweave Charger 2WW
    Creature - Hound Warrior (R)
    Whenever Mistweave Charger attacks, manifest the top card of your library tapped and attacking.
    3/2

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. When they bring back Manifest, this is bound to show up.

      Nice!

      Delete
  4. The idea I came here to submit was very similar to Jenesis's (but didn't use manifest), so instead have my other idea (that does use manifest):

    Ride from the Mists, Sorcery, 2RW, uncommon
    Manifest two cards at random from your hand. Those creatures gain haste until end of turn. (To manifest a card, put it onto the battlefield face down as a 2/2 creature. Turn it face up any time for its mana cost if it's a creature card.)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nameless Legion 3RB
    Creature - Human Warrior
    Haste
    Whenever ~ attacks, each player exiles a card from his/her graveyard. Put those cards into the battlefield under your control face down with "when this creature dies, exile it", tapped, and attacking.
    3/3

    This seems wordy and confusing. Maybe a better way to work this.

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    Replies
    1. How about: Whenever CARDNAME attacks, each player chooses a card from his or her graveyard. You manifest those cards, tapped and attacking. They have "when this creature dies, exile it."
      -or-

      Whenever CARDNAME attacks, each player exiles a card from his or her graveyard. For each card exiled in this way, you put a 2/2 black and red Graveborn token onto the battlefield, tapped and attacking.

      Either way, this is a lot of text.

      Delete
    2. I believe the first idea you pitched sounds more like what this card was intended to do. However, it is a lot of text and I'm not exactly sure if the complication is worth the card itself.

      Delete
    3. Reminds me of Kessig Cagebreakers. I don't see the "mystery".

      Delete
  6. Inscrutable Warlord
    1WB
    Creature - Human Knight - Mythic Rare
    Whenever Inscrutable Warlord attacks, secretly choose Good or Evil. At the end of declare blockers, reveal your choice. If you chose Good, Inscrutable Warlord gains lifelink and "whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, put that many 1/1 white Human creature tokens onto the battlefield." until end of turn. If you chose Evil, Inscrutable Warlord gains first strike and deathtouch until end of turn.
    2/2

    I want you to be able to play a bluffing game whenever you attack with this guy. I think the ability as written has the best gameplay, but it's SO texty. You could probably lose lifelink from the Good ability, but that loses some of the flavor. Thoughts on how to work this better?

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    Replies
    1. Inscrutable Warlord
      1WB
      Creature - Human Knight - Mythic Rare
      First strike, deathtouch
      When Inscrutable Warlord attacks, secretly choose Mercy or No Mercy. At the end of declare blockers, reveal your choice. If you chose Mercy, it loses first strike and deathtouch and gains lifelink and "whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, put that many 1/1 white Human creature tokens onto the battlefield." until end of turn.
      2/2

      Second shot at this. A little shorter but omitting that "No Mercy" means "do nothing" is a little confusing.

      Delete
    2. First strike, deathtouch
      When Inscrutable Warlord attacks, secretly choose Mercy or No Mercy. At the end of declare blockers, reveal your choice. If you chose Mercy, prevent all damage that would be dealt by Inscrutable Warlord and put two 1/1 white Human creature tokens onto the battlefield.

      I know that's pretty different functionally, but it's another way to work around it, and is 8 lines instead of 9. Hard to make that only work on hitting players, though, so I don't know if the bluff is as fun.

      Delete
    3. Giving a creature both first strike and deathtouch on defense seems pretty dangerous, and hasn't been done without either a drawback, conditional rider, or shield down moment with the exception of Master of Cruelties at 5 CMC http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?sort=cmc+&text=%20[first]%20[strike]%20[deathtouch]

      Delete
    4. Per the current rules, trigger checks happen immediately before a player would gain priority. So you can't have a trigger timing that is contingent on both players passing in sequence (since that would move the game into the next step or phase right away).

      Because of the defensive implications, I think it should only have first strike/deathtouch if you make the choice, though it makes the text box wordier.

      Delete
    5. Nitpick to Axxle: there's Venomous Cobra at 4 mana uncommon, and Glissa the Traitor at 3 mana mythic. I agree though that it's a combination normally best avoided or restricted to attacking.

      Delete
    6. Haha, well I did miss Venomous Cobra but Glissa is technically covered by "drawback" as it's a legendary creature, heh.

      Delete
    7. Axxle - great point.

      Jenesis - I'm not sure how else to make sure you don't skip the first strike damage step if you don't have any other first strikers in combat.

      Final edit:

      Inscrutable Warlord
      1WB
      Creature - Human Knight - Mythic Rare
      Whenever Inscrutable Warlord deals combat damage to a player, put that many 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens onto the battlefield.
      Whenever Inscrutable Warlord attacks, secretly choose Good or Evil. At the end of declare blockers, reveal your choice. If it is Evil, Inscrutable Warlord loses all abilities and gains first strike and deathtouch until end of turn.
      2/2

      Delete
    8. Why at the *end* of declare blockers? It's still going to give players priority after the ability resolves but before combat damage, so I don't see there's any benefit over the more usual "beginning" template. In fact, what does that even mean? It goes on the stack once you're in the declare blockers step and the stack is empty? But that's the beginning of declare blockers...

      Delete
    9. AlexC - if you're a kitchen table Magic player, does "beginning of declare blockers" mean before or after you declare blockers?

      On the other hand, the vast majority of players will answer the question "is the end of declare blockers before or after you declare blockers" correctly.

      Delete
    10. Can't you use the anchor word tech from Fate Reforged's Siege cycle?

      Inscrutable Warlord (MYTHIC) 1WB
      Creature - Human Knight 2/2
      Whenever Inscrutable Warlord attacks, secretly choose mercy or no mercy. After blockers are declared, reveal your choice.
      * Mercy - Inscrutable Warlord gains lifelink until end of turn. Populate.
      * No Mercy - Inscrutable Warlord gains first strike and deathtouch until end of turn.

      Populate isn't at all the same thing as getting tokens for sure, but I was trying to make space while preserving the idea of the effect.

      Delete
    11. "After blockers are declared" is exactly the wording of the trigger I was looking for and had somehow convinced myself didn't exist.

      AlexC - does that wording work under the current rules?

      Inscrutable Warlord
      1WB
      Creature - Human Knight - Mythic Rare
      Whenever Inscrutable Warlord attacks, secretly choose good or evil. After blockers are declared, reveal your choice.
      * Good - Inscrutable Warlord gains lifelink and "whenever this damages a player, put that many 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens onto the battlefield" until end of turn.
      * Evil - Inscrutable Warlord gains first strike and deathtouch until end of turn.
      2/2

      Delete
    12. After blockers are declared is a perfectly acceptable time for a trigger to occur. Aleatory, Chaotic Strike, Curtain of Light, Flash Foliage and Trap Runner all use the term "after blockers are declared. You could also just go with "At the beginning of the combat damage step," although that wording has never been used before.

      Delete
    13. Those cards all use that phrase - but not as a trigger condition. Trigger conditions have to use the words "when", "whenever" or "at". "At the beginning of" is most conventional; "At the end of" only appears on old silver-bordered cards that haven't got errata. Sadly "at the beginning of the combat damage step" doesn't work either because that'd be after combat damage was dealt!

      I do definitely see R Stech's point about kitchen table players - "at the end of the declare blockers step" is much more intuitively "after blockers" than any other phrasing. I can't find an ideal phrasing that also works in the rules...

      Delete
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  8. Impulsive Captain 3UR
    Creature - Human Warrior (R)
    Morph 2UR
    Whenever a face down creature you control blocks or becomes blocked by a creature, you may return it to your hand. If you do, you may put a card from your hand face down blocking or blocked by that creature.
    4/4

    Should this be a "manifest a card from your hand"? It makes it a lot stronger, but a lot less niche.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It should probably be "put a card from your hand face down", not manifest, mostly because I don't think we want a set that has both Morph and Manifest.

      Delete
  9. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  10. This brushes up against a lot of Magic's current Design taboos. But I tried to mitigate the damage.

    Frontline Raider 4R (UNC)
    Creature - Human Berserker 3/3
    At the beginning of your end step, stockpile the top card of your library. (Exile that card face down.)
    R, Reveal a card you stockpiled and put it on top of your library: NAME gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is the card’s worth. (A card that costs 1R is worth 2.)
    First to the field. First to the spoils.

    A couple notes.

    You can't look at stockpiled cards. They are a mystery to you too. Recent cards like Bane Alley Broker, Colfenor's Plan, and Grimoire Thief all expressly indicate you can look at their face down cards. Stockpile is playing with the space in not knowing.

    Unlike imprinted cards, any card that gets stockpiled can be used by a card that asks you to reveal a stockpiled card. So players won't feel bad if they have stockpiled cards and Frontline Raider leaves the battlefield. They will have a chance to use the stockpiled cards with the next Frontline Raider they cast. Also, to keep stockpile tempo neutral, it will always grab a card from top of the library and then put it back for effect.

    I'm using the "worth" wording and reminder text for converted mana cost Jay and I worked out in an old Tesla update.

    Originally, I wanted this to be a common stockpile card, but opted for a more interesting example of the mechanic. That common?

    Spoils Collector 1R (COM)
    Creature - Human Warrior 0/1
    When NAME enters the battlefield, stockpile the top two cards of your library. (Exile those cards face down.)
    NAME gets +1/+0 for each card in your stockpiled.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. From these there is no reason for your Stockpile to be cards, when it could just be counters. Functionally there is no difference between exiling a card and then later putting a random card you haven't seen on top of your library and just using the top card of your library. I recommend replacing the Stockpile of cards with Stockpile counters.

      I think the common you propose is very strong. At worst it is a Goblin Piker but it grows very well throughout the game. The downside is that if there are cards where you spend your stockpile, as in your other example, it creates negative tension because spending the cards makes your creature worse.

      If I were to set out to build a set around this, I think I'd first try having the stockpile only accumulate and never go down. If that didn't provide me enough design space, I think I'd split ways of caring about stockpiles across colors, so that some colors purely accumulated and rewarded you for having large stockpiles and others spent them or... whatever.

      Delete
    2. This just seems like a massively convoluted way of doing Mindshrieker. I'd bite if the "stockpile" mechanic was involved in creating "mystery" per the challenge parameters, but as your common shows, it's not inherent to it.

      Delete
    3. As it stands, I would spell it out for the player: "R, reveal a card at random from your stockpile: do stuff"

      "Worth" seems like a term worthy of being coined. If "fight" can happen...

      Delete
  11. Ghost Raider 3RR

    Creature- Human Knight

    Whenever ~ attacks, you may return it to your hand. If you do, manifest each card in your hand tapped and attacking.

    3/3

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I actually left off some text, though I'm not sure which version I like better:
      Ghost Raider 3RR

      Creature - Human Knight

      Whenever ~ attacks, you may return it to your hand, then manifest each card in your hand tapped and attacking. If you do, at end of combat, return all face-down creatures you control to their owner's hands.

      3/3

      Delete
    2. I prefer the second one. It's a lot riskier, which creates more of a puzzle as to how you can best exploit your "one big turn", as 14 incoming damage + whatever other creatures you control + however much mana you have to un-manifest things midcombat ought to win the game on the spot if you're doing it right.

      Delete
    3. I prefer the first one. It reads like it's all upside, but leaves your shields down.

      Top deck knight is not a good top deck. Points!

      Delete
    4. "Shields down" - not really, I don't think? You still have whatever blockers you left back to block, and indeed can have a bunch of mana available too. I guess it's shields down in the same way that Pyromancer's Swath is. But rather more "I win next turn".

      Delete
    5. After seeing other people's thoughts on the two, I think the second one is more interesting, so I'll have that one be the 'submitted' one.

      Delete
  12. Erratic Warlord RR
    Creature - Human Knight (M)
    First strike
    Whenever CARDNAME attacks a player and isn’t blocked, or blocks or becomes blocked, [or becomes the target of a spell or ability your opponents controls] reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a nonland card. CARDNAME gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is that card’s converted mana cost. Put all cards revealed this way on the bottom of your library in any order.
    2/2

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Instead of that really wordy section, it might work just as well as a once per turn activated ability, since you're only going to activate it after blocks or in response to a relevant spell anyway.

      Reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a nonland card: CARDNAME gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is that card’s converted mana cost. Put all cards revealed this way on the bottom of your library in any order. Activate this ability only once each turn.

      Delete
    2. Too many triggers. Pick one (or two if they are related) and you have yourself a card

      Delete
    3. The idea is that the creature gets the bonus always after the opponent's choice of dealing with it (Damned if you do, damned if you don't).
      The part in square brackets was just a thought, but I wans't very sure to add that. It is inelegant, even if it adds something to the flavor. But it was too much.
      Finally, probably the best way to go is Axxle's activated ability (thanks!) and so be it.

      Erratic Warlord RR
      Creature - Human Knight (M)
      First strike
      Reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a nonland card: CARDNAME gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is that card’s converted mana cost. Put all cards revealed this way on the bottom of your library in any order. Activate this ability only once each turn.
      2/2

      Delete
  13. Paliano Mercenaries
    2B
    Creature - Spirit Warrior
    You may draft Paliano Mercenaries face up. If you do, before each booster pack is opened, any player may gain ownership of Paliano Mercenaries. If a player does, you get to draft the first pick from the next booster pack opened by that player. (You own the drafted card.)
    Intimidate
    4/4

    (Conspiracy stamp)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Without having played it, this seems balanced. Probably pretty fun at somebody's kitchen table/casual Legacy, too.

      Delete
    2. This has both timing issues ("any player" means multiple players might try to do it at once, and there is no priority system during a draft) and leads to really bad feel bad moments (oops, I used this and the pack I paid for had a $40 card in it).

      Also, the kind of choice it involves is bad. It is either correct to trade for someone's Paliano Mercenaries or it isn't. If it is correct, you should never draft it face up. If it is incorrect, you should always draft it face up, and no one should ever trade. There is very little that can happen during a draft to change this.

      Further, this will be annoying to implement when the person who takes the deal is on the other side of the table in an eight man draft.

      I think there is a good idea buried in here, but I think if you work with and hone it carefully you will end up designing something a lot like Deal Broker, which has the same idea but handles all the issues.

      Delete
    3. Good call on the timing stuff. The "offer" template makes more sense here. As for the potential for feeling bad if you give up, say, a foil Brainstorm, well, opening any booster pack is a gamble, isn't it? Some people would prefer to take a known card over any other random rare in the set, and it's completely opt-in for both participants.

      Paliano Mercenaries
      2B
      Creature - Spirit Warrior
      You may draft Paliano Mercenaries face up. If you do, before each booster pack is opened, each other player may offer to gain ownership of Paliano Mercenaries. If any player does, accept one of those offers. You get to draft the first pick from the next booster pack opened by that player. (You own the drafted card.)
      Intimidate
      4/4

      Delete
    4. You probably want change it to have "may accept one of those offers", otherwise what happens in the event two of these are drafted face up and one (and only one) person makes offers for both of them?

      Delete
    5. 905.2a. During a draft, there is no active player or system of priority. If multiple players wish to take an action at the same time during the draft and can't agree on an order, those actions are taken in a random order.

      Delete
    6. Is this then turned face down? Or will the guy who trades his p2p1 away get shafted because subsequent offers are force to e accepted

      Delete
    7. "You may draft Paliano Mercenaries face up. If you do..." so if you took this card from someone else, you didn't draft it, so no one else can take it from you.

      Delete
    8. I see it now. Is specifying the first pick worth that much text? Also, is it necessary to mandate the exchange?

      Would this be out of the question:

      Draft ~ face up. As long as ~ remains face up this draft, any player may offer you control of his or her next draft pick. If you accept, exchange ownership of that card and ~.

      I know it's different from your initial concept, but that's a block of text, with zero in-game functionality, and two tiny windows where it "might" be relevant. I love where you're going with this, regardless.

      Delete
    9. I love the idea. Tommy's point about "it's either good or it isn't" seems strong, but I think I can imagine some decks which would be more inclined towards wanting to do this or not.

      Delete
  14. Paladin of the Ruby Search 2RW
    Creature - Human Knight
    R, Tap an untapped creature you control, discard a card: Draw a card.
    3W, T: Return target artifact card from your graveyard to your hand.
    3/3

    What would a knight in Magic look like who was searching for a Holy Grail/Urn of Andraste? What if he could press-gang your other creatures into making the search for him? Is this a rare? Maybe 2RW or 2{RW}{RW}, depending on the set.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I really like the flavor and thought behind this guy. Although, personally, I'm not sure an archeologist is going to be carrying around that big of a sword. Maybe make it a damage trigger rather than an activated ability?

      Delete
  15. CARDNAME, Leader of the Horde 2BW
    Creature - Human Soldier
    When CARDNAME attacks, reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a nonlegendary creature card with power 2 or less. Put that card onto the battlefield and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
    2/2

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Whoops, forgot name and rarity

      Tai Shu, Leader of the Horde
      Rare

      And probably makes more sense as a Knight than a Soldier.

      Delete
    2. I take it Tai Shu is supposed to be Legendary?

      My fear with this is it is a bit too easy to manipulate. No one will put this in their deck and turn up "fair" 2 power creatures, it will be all Mulldrifters and Hornet Queens etc. That kind of "spice" is appropriate once in a blue moon, but on a Red/White card I think you want to encourage actually playing an aggressive weenie deck (which this card screams) so I'd say "costing 2 or less" and maybe even say something like "reveal the top 4 cards of your deck and put all creatures costing 2 or less from there onto the battlefield tapped and attacking" or something that can really reward the kind of deck this "belongs" in.

      Neat design, I'd just remove the part where it is a tutor.

      Delete
    3. Ah yeah, he should be Legendary. This is a Black/White creature, not RW. I wanted to evoke more of a slow march of soldiers rather than the hasty bandits of RW so don't want them coming into play attacking. You might have a point about the power level, but at it’s price point and fragility I think it’s worth at least testing to see how it plays out. I do like the reveal from the top idea though to bring it down a bit, I’ll borrow from the text of Collected Company.

      ---------------

      Tai Shu, Leader of the Horde 2BW
      Legendary Creature - Human Knight (R)
      When CARDNAME attacks, look at the top five cards of your library. Put up to one non-legendary creature card with power 2 or less from among them onto the battlefield. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
      2/2

      Delete

    4. Tai Shu, Leader of the Horde 2BW
      Legendary Creature - Human Knight (R)
      When CARDNAME attacks, look at the top five cards of your library. Put up to one creature card with power 2 or less from among them onto the battlefield. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
      2/2

      Removed non-legendary as it's not needed after we changed how it searches for the creature.

      Delete
    5. Put it onto the battlefield tapped and attacking, maybe?

      Delete
  16. So I'm not sure entirely where to go with this. Here are my two ideas:

    Herald of the Mists 3RR
    Creature - Human Warrior (R)
    When Herald of the Mists enters the battlefield, exile a card at random from your hand face-down. You may look at that card.
    Whenever Herald of the Mists deals combat damage to a player, you may sacrifice it. If you do, you may cast the exiled card without paying its mana cost.
    4/2

    This is mysterious in the way that all the above cards that manifest things are. I'm not sure if this would work better with card-from-hand-you-can-look-at or top-card-from-library-you-explicitly-cannot-look-at.

    For a more mysterious card along the lines of "What is that thing?" it could be something like

    Mist Whisperer 1B
    Creature - Human Knight (U)
    B, Pay 2 life: Put a card from your hand on top of your library.
    2/1

    which is more of a mystery in terms of "what could they possibly do with that?" In other words, a really hard to understand Jenny card, like Blood Funnel. I prefer the first one myself.

    Feedback appreciated as always.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I like the first one better. The other guy is a miracle maker, too bad that name doesn't fit black

      Delete
    2. How about officially:

      Herald of the Mists 3RR
      Creature - Human Warrior (R)
      When Herald of the Mists enters the battlefield, exile the top card of your library face-down. (You may not look at that card.)
      Whenever Herald of the Mists deals combat damage to a player, you may sacrifice it and reveal the exiled card. If you do, you may cast it without paying its mana cost.
      4/2

      To make it a bit more unique and distance it from Jenesis's excellent Mistweave Charger above.

      Delete
  17. Order of the Phoenix 2R
    Creature- Human Knight (unc)
    CARDNAME can't block.
    When CARDNAME dies, return it to its owner's hand. If you do, that player discards a card at random.
    4/1

    I'm not married to this design, but it's cute enough for a starter.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Changing this to common and 3/2 for 2R

      Delete
    2. I think it's actually better as an uncommon or rare. Random discard, even when you can control when it happens, is enough of a feel bad when it goes wrong that it's probably not something you want to have happen all of the time in limited. Also, at higher rarity, I think you can be a bit more generous with the stats, which makes the card more attractive to get back in the late game.

      Delete
    3. Yeah, you convinced me. Original post is fine as is

      Delete
  18. Cheap Strike 2R
    Instant C
    Target creature gets +2/+0 until end of turn.
    Add RR to your lingering mana pool. (Mana in your lingering mana pool doesn't empty until end of turn)

    I feel like this would have been a more exciting Atarka mechanic. Also, instants are always mysterious.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think this (awesome) design is playing around in some space that is a lot more dangerous than it looks. Remember that Pentad Prism sees play in cubes, essentially for its ability to ramp you by 2 on a later turn.

      A whole mechanic based around this can lead to some pretty gross later turns. I like it (and it might be my favorite of the designs this week) but it scares me!

      Delete
  19. Mistrider Mercenary {2}{R}{R}
    Creature - Hound Soldier (Rare)
    5/5
    Haste
    At the beginning of your end step, each player discards a card, then draws a card. Choose a player who discarded a card this way with the greatest converted mana cost. That player gains control of CARDNAME.

    A powerful beater who auctions himself off after fighting for you. The mystery is in the auction.

    Any suggestions (especially with wording)?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Goo choice of wording. Esp the "choose a player" part.

      Doesn't feel mono red to me. BR or UBR? Maybe you're right...

      Should this untap if it changes control?

      Delete
    2. Looking at the gatherer for "gains control of", a defection drawback for some benefit seems to be all over the color pie (mostly because it hasn't been done too often), but it's definitely in Red too with Humble Defector, Drooling Ogre, and Goblin Cadets.

      Delete
    3. I agree this is fine in red (to the extent that I counted "changes controller based on some arbitrary trigger" as a "red" drawback in a recent design challenge).

      Delete
  20. Otherworld Harbinger 1R
    Creature - Wolf Shaman (R)
    Whenever CARDNAME becomes blocked, look at the top card of your library. If it's a creature card, you may put it onto the battlefield tapped, attacking, and blocked by the same creatures as this one. If you do, put CARDNAME on top of your library.
    3/1

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    1. I don't think red gets 3/1s for 1C with upside like this, even at rare, but I really like the idea.

      Delete
    2. Personally, I like red getting 3/1s.

      But this guy does not seem like one to run from a fight. That's a bit of a flavor disconnect for me. The ability is also super swingy in a way that might not be fun.

      Delete
    3. I'm a big fan of this card, particularly because it is so swingy. I love the idea of playing in similar space as Sneak Attack and Show and Tell, but in a way that lets your opponent interact. 3/1 for 1R is also great stats for this ability. It's powerful enough and fast enough to make blocking it attractive, but easy to trade with, when it doesn't swap into a different creature. Nicely done!

      Delete
  21. Edo, the Elusive Fox
    2R
    Legendary Creature - Fox Rogue
    {2}{R}: Reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal an instant or sorcery card which could target Edo, the Elusive Fox. If you do, you may cast it targeting Edo without paying its mana cost. Put the revealed cards on the bottom of your library in a random order.
    3/3

    I'm not happy with this, but liked the idea enough to submit it as it was even though it doesn't fulfil what I'd hoped. I wanted a feel of an elusive rebel leader, striking and fading away, and the closest I got with this was the ability to pull unknown tricks out her hat when necessary.

    Things I'd hoped to include but didn't work:
    - a "once per turn" restriction (eg. with vigilance and a {T} cost)
    - an ability to produce "followers" either tokens or by allowing spells to target them
    - the "rebel" creature type.
    - a "remove from combat" ability so she's not as screwed if the trick doesn't work

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    1. Too exploitable. Printing things that are just tutors with the right deck construction tends to end poorly. Even Cascade!

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    2. I think it's fine. I'd rather just let it tutor than cascade, because I think it's more interesting as a tool box ability than a random effect. Development might have to mess around with the numbers a bit. It would also be less broken if you can only activate the ability if Edo is attacking or blocking, but that would make it considerably more vulnerable. But the idea that it's "too exploitable" just seems like a lack of developmental creativity.

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    3. The thing that interests me most about this card is how it makes you want to build a deck without Lightning Strike and Roast, and with Kindled Fury and Become Immense.

      As for the wording, if you want a once per turn limit, why not an attack trigger? I also think you could get away with only mentioning an instant or sorcery that could target Edo once, if you put it in the conditions to cast the spell.

      Edo, the Elusive Fox 2R
      Legendary Creature - Fox Rogue 3/3
      Whenever Edo the Elusive Fox attacks, you may pay 2R. If you do, reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal an instant or sorcery card. You may cast the instant or sorcery targeting Edo without paying its mana cost. Then put the revealed cards on the bottom of your library in a random order.

      Delete
  22. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  23. Arrival of the King 4R
    Sorcery (U)
    Hidden Loyalty (You may start the game with your commander face down in the command zone. Reveal it when it is cast.)
    Put your commander from your command zone onto the battlefield face up. It gains haste. If it was face down in your command zone, creatures you control gain +2/+0 until end of turn.

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    1. How would this work? At the start of the (Commander) game you declare "I have at least one card with Hidden Loyalty in my deck, therefore my commander is hidden", presumably. Hmm.

      Is this too good with Progenitus? Or other huge red legends like Dragonlord Atarka? Probably not by Commander standards, given the crazily powerful new cards they keep printing in the Commander precons, I guess :/

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    2. It's more likely that we'd see Commanders with a mechanic on them that says "You may start the game with this creature face down in the command zone." There would need to be 2 or 3 legendary creatures with the keyword though to allow for some mystery. Or commander auras, maybe?

      Hidden Throne
      Enchantment - Aura
      Enchant commander
      You may start the game with Hidden Throne attached to your commander. It remains attached to your commander as it moves to any zone other than a player's hand or library.
      Enchanted commander starts the game face down in the command zone. Reveal it when it is cast.

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    3. If your commander is face down, can you cast it normally? This design has some promise, but it is not captured in the entry.

      I may be wrong, but I suspect most Commander players play with the same people on a regular basis. If that is the case, I don't see this being that useful an ability, since people will know once they've seen a land or two what your deck is.

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  24. I'll do the renders this week (unless I missed someone else volunteering to do it).

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