21 Ways to Design a Card: Part 2a - Cards Inspired by Magic Jargon

I'm going to continue with my series of cards that draw inspiration from Magic glossaries - namely, cards based on things that players say during a game.

Here's some card ideas based on the phrases "In response to that..." and "At the end of your turn...."

Impulsive Response (R)
RR
Instant


Choose target spell, then exile the top five cards of your library. You may choose a nonland card from those cards with converted mana cost equal to or less than the converted mana cost of the targeted spell and cast it without paying its mana cost.

This card allows you to respond to a spell with another spell of similar strength. I like how it's kind of like a Reverberate, and kind of like a "cast a random spell" effect that Red sometimes gets. It's also like a mana ritual - for example, you could potentially get a Titan in response to an opponent's Titan for only RR, or you might get 8 mana worth of spells for 6 mana in one turn, by casting a 4 casting cost spell followed by Impulsive Response.

Here's a blue version of the spell:

Inspired Response (R)

2UU

Instant

Choose target spell, then exile the top seven cards of target opponent's library. You may choose a nonland card from those cards with converted mana cost equal to or less than the converted mana cost of the targeted spell and cast it without paying its mana cost.

It's much more secure, looking at seven cards instead of five. It's also a mill spell! 

Finally, here's a card based on the phrase "At the end of your turn...." 

Shorthand Scrolls

3U
Enchantment

Flash

When Shorthand Scrolls enters the battlefield, draw two cards, then exile two cards from your hand face down. You may look at those cards any time.

During each opponent’s end phase, you may cast the exiled cards as though they were in your hand and as though they had flash.


It's for control decks that insist on only doing things at end of turn.

This is a red version:

Scribbled Scrolls

1RR

Enchantment

At the beginning of your first main phase each turn, reveal a card at random from your hand. You may cast the revealed card. It costs RR less to cast.

Every set tries to include a few cards that cater to the small niche of players who really love randomness and want cards that take them for a wild ride. They want the experience of not knowing what will happen. There used to be a lot of silly coin flip cards for that, but now I suspect they're designing some Johnny cards to double as "wild experience" cards, such as Hive Mind, Wild Evocation, and Knowledge Pool. (In addition to the awesome coin-flip design Sorcerer's Strongbox.)