Click through to see the requirements for your design test, due by Monday morning. Every submission warrants feedback, which you may use to revise your submission any number of times. I encourage you all to revise your designs at least once in response to feedback. I will review the most recent submission from each designer.
For this art, design a red common card which isn't a creature, and which doesn't deal damage.
Dinosaur Ranch (Common)
ReplyDelete2R
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant land
When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, enchanted land's controller creates a 3/3 red Dinosaur creature token.
Enchanted land doesn't untap during its controller's untap step if they control a Dinosaur creature.
This definitely doesn't feel common to me.
DeleteAlso, it is somewhat against the spirit of the challenge to make creature tokens.
Sorcery speed Beast Within... kind of. I agree with Tommy that it's uncommon, but the pseudo-stone-rain makes this more than just a token creator. Neat design!
DeleteAgreed, this is an uncommon, but it's a very neat one!
DeleteI also have to agree that making creature tokens is slightly against the intent of the challenge, however, this does have more to it, with the ability to lock down an opponent's land as well, giving them a Dino in recompense.
More an uncommon, I know. Designing commons that aren't bland is so difficult though :/ I started out with:
DeleteLife Among Ruins (Common)
2R
Sorcery
Destroy target land. It's controller creates a 3/1 red Dinosaur creature token.
But that didn't feel like it was exploring much new space.
That's why I like assigning common challenges. Live up to the word 'challenge', you know? :)
DeleteI like the token in that one a lot, a 3/1 token is real interesting to make. It'd be a bit of comprehension complexity, but not too bad if the set accounts for it. It's quite a nice little design.
Hey Isao! Cool designs this week.
DeleteRe: David's question about how to make this card more common -- how much gameplay do you lose with this design:
Life Among Ruins (Common)
2R
Enchantment -- Aura
Enchant Land
Enchanted land loses all abilities and is a 3/1 red Dinosaur creature.
As of the Dominaria spoilers this afternoon, WoTC has demonstrated that they're willing to print Auras that "silence" creatures at common (Deep Freeze), and this effect makes a card that does one thing (turns a land into a creature) rather than two things (kills a land and makes a new creature).
At first I didn't see the common restriction and made this:
ReplyDeleteYearning for Freedom (U)
1RR
Enchantment
Spells and abilities can't force creatures to attack or block.
Spells and abilities can't prevent creatures from attacking or blocking.
It's a take on red rebelling against white's rule-setting. Cancels out pacifism effects and 'must attack if able' effects. Might not be worded correctly.
An attempt at a common:
Youthful Rebellion (C)
R
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant Creature
As this enters the battlefield, flip a coin. If heads, enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and Haste. If tails, enchanted creature can't block.
The idea behind this one is to evoke the reluctance of a child to follow rules. There's one mode you want for your own creature and one you want for your opponents, but the effect you intend may not be the one you get.
Alternatively,
I Need My Mommy (C)
R
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and can't attack or block alone.
Youthful Rebellion has memory issues at common. I think it's intuitive to set the coin on top of the card as a reminder of what came up, but I'm also pretty sure that won't be immediately obvious to most players. I'm also not sure that the card would be that satisfying to play. Something that swingy and random isn't going to be satisfying at common, where it shows up a lot, I think. That's why these kinds of cards are better at higher rarities.
DeleteI love I Need My Mommy! That's a great common exploring some tried-and-true design space for red. Love it.
I think you have to give players a little bit of credit. This is asking them to remember a single binary result that's easily marked by the coin they used to flip.
DeleteIf it's somehow necessary, you could add some reminder text: "Indicate the effect with the result of the coin".
I prefer to avoid such leaps of logic as much as possible at common, but yeah, perhaps that's just playing it too safe. The reminder text would help a lot!
DeleteI am not a fan of either of the Auras. Both just don't seem playable at all to me. There's a lot of tension of "should I play this on my creature or my opponents?" But each part actively makes the other worse.
DeleteI like Neeed my Mommy! without the +1/+1. Still not sure if it is good enough but it is at least tempting.
Yearning for Freedom is also pretty cool! Certainly makes me want to search for all creatures with "must attack or block" to see if a deck can be built around it.
DeleteCarefree Play R
ReplyDeleteInstant (C)
Untap target creature you control and put a +1/+1 counter on it. It gains haste until end of turn.
Does red get instant speed untapping of creatures?
DeleteIf it does, why is my instant that untaps a creature - most likely on my enemy's turn - granting it haste?
If it is my turn, if my creature was tapped, why does it need haste?
The reason R&D doesn't like giving instant-speed threatens is to prevent them from being used defensively. This is basically Ornamental Courage, and doesn't feel red at all on defense.
DeleteI'd say it's closer to Burst of Strength. :)
DeleteThat gives a counter, though.
DeleteAs does this! :)
DeleteWell I glanced right over that like 3 times. Even weirder card now.
DeleteIt's a mark of mutany for your own creatures. But /fine/
DeleteChasing Butterflies R
Sorcery C
As an additional cost to play this spell, discard a card at random.
Draw two cards.
While Mark of Mutiny can hit your own creatures, it feels awkward for red to have a card where that is the entirety of it. Similar to how black wouldn't get Lightning Bolt even it if gets Essence Drain, you know? It's the whole of the card that is red, not that one function. Also, it's not an instant.
DeleteChasing Butterflies is real interesting, I like it!
My first idea was:
ReplyDeleteCapture Stray 3R
Instant
Gain control of target creature an opponent controls until end of turn. Untap that creature. It gains haste and "This creature can't attack or block alone." until end of turn.
But an instant speed threaten effect is definitely uncommon. What I ended up with is:
Require Supervision R
Instant (C)
Target creature gains "This creature can't attack or block alone." until end of turn. Draw a card.
Why does Capture Stray have to be an instant?
DeleteWhy does Require Supervision not just say "Target creature can't attack or block alone this turn"?
I like Require Supervision. I think it is good lenticular design, where its effect is simple but it can be used in many different ways by a skilled player.
DeleteThat is a better wording.
DeleteI considered having Capture Stray be:
Capture Stray 2R
Sorcery (C)
Gain control of target creature until end of turn. Untap that creature. It gains haste and "This creature can't attack alone" until end of turn.
But, I didn't really like the idea of a strictly worse threaten, and having it be 1R felt too powerful for common.
If you need it at 2R give it another bonus, such as +1/+1, maybe? At instant speed it's not quite right for red I think.
DeleteDazzling Butterflies 2R
ReplyDeleteSorcery (C)
Target creature can't block this turn. Add RRR.
----------
This design doesn't quite make sense in a neutral environment, but in a set with Surge or Storm or other mechanics that care about spells I think it would make sense.
I think this can make sense in more environments. Imagine having this and, in your hand, a Gray Ogre, or a Bathe in Dragonfire. You could cast this and still get some board presence this turn, or remove another pesky blocker. Lining up such a combo won't happen all the time, but I think - at 3CMC, which is a wise choice - it happens enough for this to be worth it.
DeleteYeah, "Set with Morph" would be a natural environment, for sure.
DeleteSlight update, to make this play a little better:
DeleteDazzling Butterflies 3R
Sorcery (C)
Creatures without flying can't block this turn. Add RRR.
Fierce Spirit R
ReplyDeleteEnchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +2/+0 and has menace. (It can't be blocked except by two or more creatures.)
Not the most creative common. I wanted to key in on the resistance of the un-wrangled dino -- "too hot to handle," as it were, since that seemed the most red concept to me for this art. There are other ways to show that, but difficult at common.
I love the angle you went for with this. Great start. This is a perfect entry into the challenge. I'd love to see more of your ideas!
DeleteDeinonychus Daydreamer R
ReplyDeleteCreature - Dinosaur (c)
~ isn't a creature unless you control another creature.
2/1
A little too cutesy. :) This follows the letter of the challenge but not the spirit of it, I think!
Delete:) I'm not sure this even passes the letter of the challenge. I toyed with the idea of a card that causes something else to deal damage, but decided the spirit of finding other red design space was more interesting :)
DeleteDoes this work? Every other creature that "isn't a creature" has some other card type. This is just... a permanent?
DeleteThere's a tiny precedent for this in Neurok Transmuter, but it's true that it'd be pretty cavalier to print this on a single card (rather than needing March of the Machines and another card). I'll go back to the drawing board.
DeleteFree Range 1R
ReplyDeleteSorcery
target creature you control gets +1/+0 until end of turn for each basic mountatin you control
Functional, but fine! I like the flavor here, too.
Deletelets up the anti
DeleteFree Range 2R
Exile the top three(two? four?, playtest number) cards of your library, you may cast a creature card with power less than the number of basic mountains you control from among them without paying its mana cost.
Not sure how many this should exile.
I think the uncommon gives the creature haste and maybe exiles only three but you can cast all the creatures with less power. I think the common should be able to whiff but not often so 3-4 seems right.
sorcery*
DeleteOverawe 1R
ReplyDeleteSorcery
Gain control of target creature with power 3 or less. Untap it. It gains haste UEOT.
I toyed around with a more specific "power less than creature you control", but a fixed number seemed simpler for common. Likewise, I toyed around with matching creature type (e.g. draw a card if you control a lizard) but decided it was just messier.
That's not very innovative although I can't think of many times it's been used. I may come back with another idea if I think of a better one.
I don't know what cost/power number fit best. If the card is cheaper it may serve as a decent wall-remover, which also seems appropriately red.
This might be better as an ETB effect, but that'd be a creature (and likely uncommon).
You're fine not innovating, though of course it's always welcome :)
DeleteThis is a great way to make Act of Treason more exciting. It's often used to remove walls anyway, and this streamlines it to do so more efficiently.
Is it the mana cost of Act of Treason that's the problem though? I agree that an ETB on a creature would be approaching a more widely playable card. We've seen it at common on Keldon Overseer and Smelt-Ward Gatekeepers, but both have a big hoop.
Wrangle agrees that this is a good, printable uncommon:
Deletehttps://scryfall.com/card/aer/101
I'm not sure why Act of Treason is now uncommon, but I know it can be simply a very powerful effect that can steal away games. I've definitely felt frustrated by thinking I've stabilized when I played my big blocker only to have it stolen away. At common, almost every red deck can have a copy of Act of Treason in their sideboard.
Limiting the target to low power obviously limits those games, and lets Act get used for other stuff, like the BR Act of Treason sacrifice decks.
I forgot about Wrangle! Wrangle's actually common, so this should be fine too. Act of Treason is currently fine at common; we've seen Hijack in both KLD and XLN recently, for example.
DeleteThe reason Limits of Solidary was uncommon was precisely for the reasons you mention. When it works, it really works, but when it doesn't, it's a dead card. Being able to cycle it when it's dead makes it a lot stronger, hence uncommon.
Huh. OK, this is almost exactly Wrangle. Good news for my rarity instincts, bad news in that I didn't really design a new card.
DeleteI'm not great at rarity, but my reasoning is that Act of Treason is a can-win-out-of-nowhere card, and is a bit situational, and both push it towards uncommon despite being a staple red effect. I remember in GDS 3 I looked up the rarity, but I sort of took the wrong lesson, I treated it as a common effect when it was common *sometimes*, but it would have been more accurate to say "it straddles common/uncommon depending on the set, and it doesn't take that much to push it over the top". Only targeting small creatures means you can't remove a blocker AND alpha strike with the opponent's biggest creature at once.
Alas, it seems somewhat underwhelming, limited players sound to not have thought it was useful at all. Usually with act of treason it's by far the most useful when you use it *last*. I was hoping for a card it might be useful to play *early* to turn a 3/3 holding off two 2/2s into a swing for 7 etc. But early burn is always an unhill struggle.
What about bumping it down further to R for power 2 or less? Then you've more chance to play it as well as a creature (e.g. turning on bloodthirst type effects or casting sacrifice costs), but it still functions as a wall-remover.
I'll see if an alternative presents itself :)
Act of Treason kinda has the 'falter' problem in that when it works, it wins you the game, and otherwise it's not very useful at all. So they get pretty swingy.
DeleteI'd love to see attempts to solve this swinginess. One attempt, of course, has been to attach it to creatures, but as noted, that's infrequently common.
Raptor Romp R
ReplyDeleteSorcery
As an additional cost, discard a dinosaur card.
Put target instant or sorcery in your graveyard on top of your library.
"Unless you want to deal with an angry ball of teeth, find something else to occupy yourself for an hour or so."
This feels a little disconnected to me, and quite narrow for common. I think I'd prefer an optional discard that gives you a bonus if you did. Outright requiring a Dino in hand feels like a lot.
DeleteAlso, if you're discarding your Dino for an inst/sorc, that doesn't feel right in a tribal deck. Feels backwards!
I am trying like heck to not design a discard to draw.
DeleteAttempt 2:
Raptor Romp R
Sorcery
As an additional cost, discard a creature card or pay 3.
Return target instant or sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand.
"Unless you want to deal with an angry ball of teeth, find something else to occupy yourself for an hour or so."
Eh. It still kind of feels disconnected. I'm trying to capture the idea of "Well, this creature isn't cooperating so let's do something else while it plays."
DeleteHa, I love the flavor!
DeleteI think you're getting onto the right track with the next design. The connection is a lot more clear - you're definitely saying, "to heck with creatures, let's work with instants/sorceries"!
Maybe a new name would help?
Waylaid Scouting R
DeleteSorcery
As an additional cost, discard a creature card or pay 3.
Return target instant or sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand.
"Unless you want to deal with an angry ball of teeth, find something else to occupy yourself for an hour or so."
Life Is Beautiful {1}{R}
ReplyDeleteSorcery (common)
Exile the top card of your library.
If its a land, you may play it this turn.
If its CMC is less than or equal to that of a creature you control, you may tap that creature to cast that card without paying its mana cost.
Otherwise, creatures can't block this turn.
Too busy and weird for common. shrug
If we cut the last line, we get down to six lines and a weird cantripp-y manamorphose-y card that is probably still too finicky for common, but definitely unique and interesting. Maybe close? Maybe not. I'd be curious to see a RG version, maybe on an aura that gives the creature the first four lines as a T:.
DeleteYou're onto something great here, Jay! I agree it's real busy for a common - that is a lot of 'if-else' statements, hehe - but I think you can pare it down to the most interesting bits easily.
Delete"Exile the top card of your library. If it's converted mana cost is less than or equal to that of a creature you control, you may tap it to play the card without paying its mana cost."
Saying "play" makes it worth with lands without needing to spell that out. However, again, that might be unintuitive to players. And it still doesn't quite feel common.
Removing the 'otherwise' makes this a lot riskier. We could compensate by perhaps exiling more cards, and specifying you can play just one card exiled this way? Iunno.
I do think you're onto a great design here. Hopefully with some adjustments it ends up at common. If not, it'd make a great uncommon for the future. :)
I appreciate the encouragement. Good advice.
DeleteLife Is Beautiful {R}
Sorcery (common)
Exile the top card of your library. Until end of turn, you may play that card. If you don't, return ~ to your hand at EOT.
Wow, now that's an interesting one! My first instinct is to love it. I'll have to think about it more!
DeleteI think it's pretty cool, and a neat enabler for a UR spells matters deck, but I think it is squarely in Uncommon.
DeleteNot for power or complexity, but for frequency of play, I think I agree.
DeleteFoster the Young {1}{R}
ReplyDeleteInstant
Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature with the least power among creatures you control. It gains first strike until end of turn.
Two ideas:
ReplyDeleteButterfly Effect {R}
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
When ~ enters the battlefield, target creature can't block this turn.
Enchanted creature can't block.
Might be slightly too wordy and get a red flag. I don't think it is too complex for common though. At a higher cost, the etb effect could be a falter, or a falter for creatures that share a type with enchanted creature in a tribal set.
Enrapture {1}{R}
Sorcery (common)
Untap target creature and gain control of it until end of turn. That creature loses haste until end of turn.
Somewhere between a Panic and a Threaten. The "loses haste" part is functional, but is mostly there since new players might think stolen creatures aren't already summoning sick.
Enrapture I fear would be unintuitive for a common, and a little too narrow. But it's an interesting effect for sure.
DeleteI like Butterfly Effect. I agree with your assessment that it wants to be a falter. As it is, it's confusing, but making it a falter would clear that up quick.
Thanks for the feedback. I agree about Enrapture. It would not make sense except maybe in a set with mechanics that cared about sacrificing or controlling permanents.
DeleteHow about this?
Butterfly Effect {3}{R}
Enchantment - Aura (common)
Enchant creature
When ~ enters the battlefield, creatures can't block this turn.
Enchanted creature can't block.
I like the Falter flavor much better...that one enemy being distracted results in a chain reaction leaving the whole army defenseless.
In retrospect, I don't know if the not blocking half of Pacifism is in-pie for red on an Aura. Also, the card I made seemed really strong for common in an aggressive deck.
DeleteSo my final attempt is:
Butterfly Effect {1}{R}
Sorcery (common)
Target creature and other creatures that share a creature type with it can't block this turn.
"Distract the raptor, disrupt the pack. Chomp on me, I chomp back!" — Dinosaur Hunter, last words
Moonfolklore,
DeleteI think 'can't block' on an Aura isn't seen in red that often, but it's not out of color pie for red at all. It's in black more, but it's no break, and probably not even a bend.
Still, if you prefer this last iteration for power level reasons, I'd be happy to review it!
I was wondering about that. At first I was sure red could do that. But when I searched, it looks like "can't block" hasn't shown up on a mono-red enchantment since Maniacal Rage got reprinted in Conflux, at least without the "until end of turn" clause. (Red is definitely primary in temporary panic.) Although red is also secondary in "can't block" on creatures, it doesn't usually get to assign it as a permanent drawback. It doesn't undermine the color's weakness that much though, so I'm not sure.
DeleteBut the last iteration feels more common to me. It isn't anything fancy but I don't think it has been done before and could fit in an appropriate set.
Scared Out of Your Mind-R
ReplyDeletesorcery
Each player discards a card at random, then if you have less cards in your hand than your opponent draw a card.
Is the flavor here the idea that the dinosaur is actually afraid of the butterflies? If so, that's hilarious.
DeleteYou have to pick an opponent, Doug - Magic games have more than two players pretty often nowadays. I always get tripped up on that too. :)
DeleteI think this is interesting, but is it fun?
I actually could not see the photo on my device and wanted to post something before Monday. All I figured was there was a Dinosaur in the artwork but sure Dinos can fear butterflies. Thanks Inanimate I was not sure how I wanted to word it.
DeleteGuess just change it to an opponent or each opponent, not sure which would play better. I like burning inquiry but it is too slow and card disadvantage. Also I think random discard should be in red's color pie.
DeleteStomachache-2R
DeleteSorcery
If you control the creature with the least power, target creature gets +X/-X where X is its power, otherwise target player discards two cards at random.
Might be too complex at common.
Dinos of the Lost Land-1R
DeleteSorcery
If you control a desert search your library for a dinosaur and put it into your hand.
A Dinosaur's Dream (common)
ReplyDelete1R
Enchantment
Sacrifice CARDNAME: Exile the top card of your library. You may play that card. If you don’t, add RR.
In other words, the first of Chandra, Torch of Defiance's abilities.
Endless Summer
ReplyDelete1R
Sorcery
Creatures you control get +1/+0 and gain trample until end of turn. Search your library for any number of cards named Scorching Sun and put them into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
The art looks like an enchant land to me -- if I were to design strictly to the art, I'd probably submit this card:
Scorching Sun
3R
Enchantment -- Aura
Enchant land
Enchanted land doesn't untap during its controller's untap step.
But that felt unfun to me. Fourteen times out of fifteen, it's Craterize, and I'm not convinced the gameplay difference of the fifteenth time is worth the irritation of having to look at your land that you can't use every turn.
Endless Summer I like better because it encourages more fun gameplay. I worry the card is largely unplayable, because putting too many of them in your deck dilutes the effectiveness of each one, as you're not drawing creatures. But trample is a good effect to have on a rebound card, and if you have a few of them, it can play like a Replicate or Multikicker card in environments that don't have those mechanics.
For Endless Summer, do you mean "search your library for any number of cards named Endless Summer"? Whereas currently it says Scorching Sun, which, while a cool idea (tutoring another specific card), looks super unfun with the Scorching Sun you have posted.
DeleteYou're correct, it should read "cards named Endless Summer." My mistake! Although, you're quite right, cool potential design space.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteUpdate: a pair of commons!
DeleteScorching Sun
2R
Sorcery
Creatures you control get +2/+0 until end of turn. You may search your library for a card named Heat Sickness, put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.
Heat Sickness
1R
Sorcery
Two target creatures can't block this turn. You may search your library for a card named Scorching Sun, put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.
I'd be fascinated to see a "four seasons" version of this, but that would probably be best for another challenge.
DeleteI like the paired tutoring. That seems real fun in draft! Would you like to submit this pair?
DeleteYep I'll submit those!
DeleteI think it would play better in draft if Heat Sickness didn't search. That way Heat Sickness is a "bad card" and will float to the person drafting the Scorching Suns.
DeleteSmall Wonders 1R
ReplyDeleteSorcery (...c)
Create a token that’s a copy of target creature. That token has haste, base power and toughness 2/1, and “At the beginning of the end step, exile this permanent.”
It's ambitious to think that a tiny Twinflame is commonable, but I can't see this causing that many problems, right? Curious if this could be bigger/cost more, and if that would make it more common, in the vein of Lightning Shrieker and Arc Runner. Maybe a 4/1 for 4R in a set that really wants a Lava Axe?
Making a temporary creature token still feels like a bit out of spirit of the challenge. :) But I do recognize that you're trying to find innovative common design space for red, and that's the real spirit of the challenge, so this is probably fine!
DeleteI have to agree that this isn't quite common, I think. The problem with Twinflame isn't the power, it's the complexity, I believe.
Ecstasy of the New R
ReplyDeleteEnchantment (C)
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, exile CARDNAME and the top card of your library. Until end of turn, you may cast either of those cards.
Errata: Up to one of those cards.
DeleteNeat! I'm personally the type of player who would enjoy this sort of "pick-it-up-and-cast-it-again-and-again" gameplay. At the very least it lets you get a prowess trigger for every creature spell you cast. Though, there is a little feel-bad that you can't cast a two-drop on turn two after this without losing it.
DeleteAgreed, you may seems nice here. Otherwise I potentially need a lot of mana available.
Delete