Hey Artisans. Click through to see the requirements for this weekend's design challenge, due
This week, let's design some legendary artifacts important to a particular planeswalker, in the spirit of the The Chain Veil, Pyromancer's Goggles, and Sword of the Animist. It can be something we've seen before or something that has had no screen time of note, but the less story weight it has, the stronger thematic tie is going to be needed to its owner.
That's it. Good luck, have fun, and I'll see you all Wednesday.
That's it. Good luck, have fun, and I'll see you all Wednesday.
Is Godsend another example?
ReplyDeleteYou betcha
DeletePredator's Axe 4GB
ReplyDeleteLegendary Artifact (M)
When Predator's Axe enters the battlefield, gain 4 life.
T: Destroy target Creature or Planeswalker. You lose life equal to that card's converted mana cost. Activate this card at the beginning of each combat step if able.
"You don't control" to avoid the double drawback?
DeleteI’m not really sure why this is a tap effect and not just a triggered ability
DeleteAgree with Axxle. "At the beginning of combat on your turn, destroy target creature or planeswalker you don't control. You lose life equal to that permanent's converted mana cost."
DeleteThe only reason I can think of to have it be an activated ability is because with the "at the beginning of combat" clause this feels a lot more like an enchantment.
DeleteI don't like the tap version either, though.
Right, the tap version is there to justify the artifactness, but I agree this doesn't quite feel right:
DeletePredator's Axe 2BB
Legendary Artifact M
T: Destroy target creature or planeswalker. A creature destroyed this way deals damage to you equal to its power. A Planeswalker destroyed this way deals damage to you equal the number of loyalty counters on it. Activate this ability any time you could cast a sorcery.
This one seems very powerful for 4cmc. Repeated, manaless creature kill is very dangerous. I think this would be like the "Jace test" and warp the format it's in heavily.
DeleteI also don't think the two separate clauses for creatures/planeswalkers was necessary. CMC was much cleaner, even if it's awkward to mention CMC in cards sometimes.
I think it loses the fighting flavor with cmc, but sure. And yes, it should probably cost more: 4BB?
DeleteI guess I didn't get the fight flavor at first since it's black and destroys, but I see what flavor you're going for now.
DeleteI am in favor of the tap version because it feels like a giant axe blow.
DeleteTemplating-wise, I think the two clauses can be collapsed into "it deals damage to you equal to its power or the number of loyalty counters on it" and have the gatherer rulings clear up the very rare corner cases where it has both.
DeleteThis is a scary card, solid design, and resonant with what we last saw of Mr. Wildspeaker. I do feel it's lacking a certain amount of oomph that I'd like to see in my legendary artifacts. Repeatable kill is cool, and the escalating costs of overusing it make a fun little game, but it feels like it would badly toe the line between oppressive to play against and uninteresting to play too often. I could be wrong on that front.
Electormancer’s Capizzetor 5
ReplyDeleteLegendary Artifact (M)
Whenever you cast a red spell, put a fuse counter on Electormancer’s Capizzetor.
Whenever you cast a blue spell, put a charge counter on Electormancer’s Capizzetor.
UR, T, Remove a fuse and charge counter from Electormancer’s Capizzetor: Copy target spell you control.
Ah, cool effect. Two different counters on the same permanent are pretty hard to track though.
DeleteWhat planeswalker is this supposed to reference? I'm not aware of Ral Zarek having any "copy a spell" abilities.
DeleteIf you want to avoid multiple counters, how about this:
DeleteWhenever you cast a red instant or sorcery spell, put a charge counter on ~.
Whenever you cast a blue instant or sorcery spell, you may remove a charge counter from ~. If you do, copy that spell. You may choose new targets for the copy.
This also solves the problem of not copying permanent spells. It's a strictly worse text box than Swarm Intelligence, so it could be fine at 5 mana or even 4.
This lets you copy any Izzet spell for 2 extra mana, right?
DeleteZal doesn't copy spells. That's so true. I missed that. Maybe a mirror-ish artifact to the pyromancer's goggle would be better?
DeleteElectormancer’s Capizzetor 5
Legendary Artifact (M)
T: Add U. When that mana is spent to cast a blue instant or sorcery spell, reveal the top card of your library. If it's a nonland card, cast it without paying its mana cost if able.
That's awesome. I can't think of a good reason to limit it to Blue, since the impulsive draw is plenty red, and Ral is Izzet to the core. I like a lot about this, but I'd have it add UR, then add it again instead of letting you cast for free. Very nice.
DeleteAngrath's Searing Chains 5
ReplyDeleteLegendary Artifact - Equipment
Equipped creature gets +3/+0. It also has first strike as long as it's attacking.
If another creature damaged by equipped creature would die this turn, exile it instead.
Equip: RB
Equip: Pay 5 life.
So Angrath is a blacksmith and the heat of his chains is an infusion of his planeswalker magic. So I visualize the idea that he could actually let others use his chains if he wanted to. They're not as finicky or as clever as other planeswalker artifacts. But ... it might hurt a bit.
I love it, both using the Eternal/Jousting Lance technology to encourage attacking and the dual equip costs giving players interesting choices
DeleteNice one. It is lacking a bit of the splash I'd look for in a signature legendary artifact, but that's fine. If you wanted to spice it up a little bit, you could make the 5 life payment an activated ability to attach it to something instead of an equip cost. By using some Cranial Plating tech, you end up with some very interesting play patterns.
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ReplyDeleteTamiyo's Story Scrolls 5
DeleteLegendary Artifact (R)
2, T: If it’s your turn, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a Saga card that doesn't have the same name as a permanent you control. Put that card onto the battlefield and the other exiled cards on the bottom of your library in a random order.
Definitely want to see sagas for all the planes now, so you can truly have a collection of stories from everywhere. Nice!
DeleteI can definitely visualize somewhere down the line a core set that brings back sagas to represent histories of other various planes that the game has visited.
DeleteAre Saga abilities broken enough that this requires a your-turn-only restriction and a highlander restriction (they're not legendary on purpose)? Seems like a lot of extra words that just get in the way of Johnny having his fun.
DeleteCool idea and very Tamiyo.
Love it. While Jenesis makes some good points about the safety on this card maybe being a little high, I would want to playtest this to see how much we could break it. I like to think there's a supplemental product out there with a new Tamiyo, this artifact, and a bunch of new Sagas. Very nifty.
DeleteGideon's Sural 3
ReplyDeleteLegendary Artifact - Equipment
Equipped creature gets +1/+1.
Whenever equipped creature attacks, tap target creature you don't control. If equipped creature is a Gideon planeswalker, you may destroy that creature instead.
Equip 2
Hmm... on second thought, none of the examples explicitly cares about controlling the planeswalker. So maybe I should do something different.
DeleteGideon's Sural 3
Legendary Artifact- Equipment
Equipped creature gets +2/+2.
As long as equipped creature is attacking, all damage that would be dealt to other creatures you control is dealt to equipped creature instead.
Equip 2
Having equipment that really wants to be put on Gideon is a bit weird since equipment fall of permanents when they stop being creatures. Not sure what the best way to get around that though.
DeleteYeah. I figured making all your creatures damage-proof was enough of a reward that you'd want to equip to Gideon anyway.
DeleteEquipment for Planeswalkers is an inherently weird concept. Sword of the Animist was ok since it was in a set which explicitly had Nissa as a creature (Nissa, Vastwood Seer). That said, if ever a signature artifact was going to be an equipment, it would be for Gideon, who always turns into a creature.
DeleteIn fact, maybe that gimmick could be incorporated into the design somehow. "Whenever a Gideon Planeswalker you control becomes a creature, you may attach ~ to it."
Of course, doing that bit of text with the submitted card is a little overkill, since the card wants you to jump through hoops to make your team indestructible.
While there's strong resonance with Gideon's whole shtick, there is a little bit of a disconnect when it comes to what Surals do and the end effect of the card that it might pay to reexamine. Still, there's a lot of cool stuff there. Well done.
Parasite Blade 2
ReplyDeleteLegendary Artifact — Equipment (M)
Equipped creature has lifelink.
As long as the equipped creature is attacking, it has base power equal to half the opponent’s life total rounded up.
Equip 5
What character is this referencing?
DeleteGideon maybe? Is this another version of Blackblade?
DeleteIt’s Sorin’s Blade https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Sorin_Markov
DeleteTrying to get the flavor of Sorin’s Vengence
typo: Sorin's Vengeance
DeleteDespite its prominence in a lot of Sorin art, his sword is not something I particularly associate with the character. Still, other than the Helvault there isn't much else that I would associate with him, artifact-wise.
DeleteThis design is reminiscent of Quietus Spike, although there are some key differences between the designs.
The equip cost is a little high for something that has such diminishing returns once you've gotten even a handful of points knocked off your opponent's life total. I'd imagine having it cost 3-4 and equip for 3 wouldn't play too badly, but I might be off there given the lifelink swings this can provide with chump blockers in the mix.
Thanks, I didn't realize how unknown the blade was. I thought it was pretty prominent in most of his art: https://tagger.scryfall.com/tag/artwork/sorin-markov
DeleteIt'd probably be a good idea to feature him prominently in the art and/or rename the card to something more identifiable. "Sorin's Lifeblade"
Good comparison to Quietus Spike. Now that I see it I remember it, but definitely forgot about it. I think the life swing is pretty big, so I do like having the equip cost where it is. I tried comparing it to Loxodon's Warhammer and Butcher's Cleaver, this seems like it would give much more power most of the time.
Now that I consider the card more, there are cases where it actually shrinks your creature. I'd probably put some other kind of rider to fix that, turning it into an attack trigger with a may ability. Not sure if there's a nicer way to do it for digital though.
Stoneblade of Sealing 5
ReplyDeleteArtifact (mr)
CARDNAME enters the battlefield tapped.
3, T: Exile target tapped permanent.
T: Return a card exiled by CARDNAME to the battlefield, then exiled target permanent card on the battlefield or in a graveyard.
The last line should read ", then exile target permanent card on the battlefield or in a graveyard" - just a typo!
DeleteIt's not "every ability Nahiri has", but it's a pitch at feeling a little like her? The first ability might be better balanced at sorcery speed.
Hey Pasteur! I love the themes of the design you have going! Exiling and exile is one of my favorite things. I’m not sure why, but I really want to equip this sword to a creature I control! Maybe one of the effects could be triggered off attack or attack damage of an equipped creature instead of an activated ability? That could potentially balance the effect too. Keep up the designs!
DeleteThat's a very fun concept, but potentially oppressive with the repeatable removal and board stalling tendencies. The first thing I would do is make it only ever exile one thing at a time. Either as an ETB, or limit the first ability to only being activatable if no other creature is exiled by it.
DeleteThe other thing I would kill is using it to mess with the graveyard. It's fun, and maybe somehow reminiscent of Nahiri, but I think the card stands fine on its own without interacting as much with the GY.
Lithomancer's Blade - 3
ReplyDeleteLegendary Artifact - Equipment
Equipped creature gets +3/+3.
When you attach Lithomancer's Blade to a creature, you may attach any number of other equipments you control to that creature.
Equip 5
Not sure if the numbers are anywhere near correct, but I like the ability.
Ha! Very fun. I'm not sure it quite captures what Nahiri/Lithomancy/Stoneforging is all about, but it would definitely be a blast to play with. Which of these cards breaks the hardest?
DeleteThe numbers on this are the hardest to intuit. 5 to equip +3/+3 may be too strong or far too weak. We'd need some extensive playtesting to tell either way.
Jace’s Cowl
ReplyDelete4
Legendary Artifact - Equipment - Mythic Rare
Equipped creature has hexproof.
Whenever ~ becomes attached to a creature, create a token copy of that creature until ~ becomes unattached from that creature.
Equip 5
Very cool. "Create a token until" isn't supported in the rules, but you could make a copy that's an Illusion, and then exile all Illusions you control, etc.
DeleteInspired by Helm of the Host? Do you want to carry over the "except that it isn't legendary" clause from there?
Should this also cause opponents to play with their hands revealed? :-P
Definitely should have the “except that it isn’t legendary” clause, good catch.
DeleteGah that is so cool. Helm of the Host and Followed Footsteps for reference.
DeleteWhile flavorful, I'm not sure that having the illusion die to unattachment of equipment makes the most gameplay sense. Old Magic did a ton of that very flavorful drawback stuff, and it was clever to read, but didn't exactly lead to a lot of great cards. War Barge for reference. Do we want the illusions to have the standard targeted sacrifice text instead of the fragility of keeping the cowl equipped?
Fun card to capture and idea of tamiyo's story club
ReplyDeleteTamiyo's Tea Cups 4
Legendary Artifact
5T tap remove three loyalty counters from a planeswalker you control and tap it, create a legendary token saga named "story's of Z" where Z is that planeswalkers subtype with abilities equal to the tapped planeswalkers abilitys in top down order.
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Spectral Stabbing Dagger
Artifact Equipment 2
Equipped creature gets +1/+0 and gains deathtouch.
Equipped creature can't be blocked by non-spirit creatures and gains "T: deal one damage to target spirit"
equip 2
The first design is amazing, if potentially unworkable with the rules (don’t care, it’s still awesome!) Riffing:
DeleteTamiyo’s Tale
4UU
Enchantment - Saga - Mythic Rare
I - Activate the first ability of a Planeswalker you control without paying its loyalty cost.
II - Activate the second ability of a Planeswalker you control without paying its loyalty cost.
III - Activate the third or fourth ability of a Planeswalker you control without paying its loyalty cost.
I love both of those Tamiyo artifacts. I honestly don't think the game can distinguish the sequence or order of planeswalker abilities. One way around it would be to say "loyalty ability that doesn't require you to remove loyalty counters to activate" or "that doesn't require you to remove more than 5 counters to activate." It's a mouthful, but it's something I think the rules can parse better (since it has to check in order to prevent you from activating an ability with insufficient loyalty counters).
DeleteI'm not sure that it's worth it, unless we make some handwavy rulings about the card specifically that keeps the rules text comprehensible and follows the intent. But if we can, it's such a great concept. Development would have to address all costs, and there are a lot of knobs on this that need fine tuning, but I love where it's going.
Tibalt's Rack 1BR
ReplyDeleteLegendary Artifact
When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, each player chooses two cards at random in their hand and discards the rest.
Whenever an opponent discards a card, CARDNAME deals 1 damage to that player.
"I can't tell it's working unless you scream."
—Tibalt
Hey Pietro. Welcome.
DeleteThis has great flavor, but it's got a fun problem: I wouldn't play Standard if this were in the format. Not only can it offer absurd card advantage, but it's so random and will just decimate games. Would you enjoy playing against this?
I would envision this to be part of a supplemental product, like Commander, themed around Tibalt and not Standard-legal. The first effect is powerful to be sure, but it is less punishing than some interactions in the Commander format and, I believe, a way for explosive red/black decks to catch up to blue decks who stockpile resources for the late game, in the vein of Blightning.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Delete
DeleteHey Pietro! Cool design, I really reads ‘pain mage’ to me! Lol My only critique is that it be mono red only beacuase, as far as I know, Tibalt is mono red. I can see how it is influenced by Blightning, although, this is much more powerful. Nice flavor too.
I love the idea of designing for such an odd planeswalker card. Here is one that your design make me think up:
Tibalt’s Laboratory (2)
Legendary Artifact
Whenever a player discards one or more cards at random, create a 1/1 red Devil creature token.
“What noise? I don’t hear any chittering...” - Necromancer student, to no one at all
Welcome, Pietro. I think in the appropriate supplemental product, this can be right. The other approach is to start fine tuning some of those knobs on this torture device so that it doesn't break standard. Mean cards are fine if they're not defining tournament play, so let's start with the mana cost. Three is too low. I'd say five for all but two cards. 3BR. I'd also make the saved cards selected rather than random. If you have some control being on the receiving end of this thing, it creates far fewer feel-bad moments. I would also make all abilities symmetrical, including the damage from discard. The caster of this card is probably the only one at the table running discard, but given the earlier ability is symmetrical, having the latter also affect all players makes it read a lot better.
DeleteNow that we've made this less of a crazy third turn game defining moment and more of a quirky build around, it feels far less oppressive. I might even allow it to scale up in power from this point, provided that it doesn't have the potential to be overly oppressive in the early stages of the game.
Venser’s Spark 3
ReplyDeleteLegendary Artifact
Hexproof
1, Exile Venser’s Spark: When target planeswalker is put into your graveyard from play this turn, return that card to play with 3 loyalty counters on it.
“If each reality is but the dream of another, I shall dream for you.”
I like this one but keep it simple.
DeleteWhy not something like "3, exile Venser's Spark : Return target planewalker from your graveyard into play" directly?
That would let you cheat out a big Planeswalker like Ugin or Bolas as soon as turn 3. And it's less flavorful I think.
DeleteJulian, thanks for commenting on the design! Whenever I think up a new card, I like to take existing cards for inspiration, flavor, and to make it feel a little more familiar. This one is based on Saffi Eriksdotter (effect), Helix Pinnacle (self protection), Venser, the Sojourner (number of counters), and Venser's Diffusion (flavor text). I agree, it is less simple but I hope it's not too overly complicated. Thanks again for the feedback.
DeleteHey Sage, thanks for noticing the flavor! Cheers.
Sage, you are right. I didn't think enought on this one.
DeleteThat's very cool. I wonder if the concept of a spark is too cosmic to be reduced to an artifact, even a mythic legendary one. Hexproof is really just some trinket text over here, and I'm not sure if it's worthwhile to keep. Otherwise I'm a big fan of this design.
DeleteZaff, thanks for the feedback. I agree, I also thought that a spark is too special to be encapsulated in an artifact. I just figured, Venser is ma boi, RIP, and I went for it. lol I'm new around here, I'm trying to learn as much as I can from everyone. Thanks again for taking the time to comment!
DeleteHello everybody, I'm new here.
ReplyDeleteRelic is like Fortification but for planewalker.
Grand Illusion Ring {4} (possible Jace's artifact)
Legendary Artifact - Relic
At the beginning of your upkeep, draw a
card.
Clothed planewalker can't be attacked.
Clothe {4} ({4}: Attach to target planewalker
you control. Clothe only as a sorcery. This card enters the battlefield unattached and stays on the battlefield if the planewalker leaves.)
I forgot the rarity level, I think it should be rare at least.
DeleteWelcome!
DeleteRelic is very cool, but because planeswalkers are so rare it's hard to make the designs relevant, especially in Limited. I see you mitigated that by adding "Draw a card", which is a smart choice (though maybe a bit too powerful for 4 colorless mana). I could see a cycle of these being printed at rare in the right set.
If you do find a planeswalker to put this on, "Can't be attacked" seems like way too huge a benefit. Maybe give it the Propaganda effect (Can't be attacked without paying 2 per attacking creature) instead, and a lower clothe cost?
Thank you for the comment.
DeleteGrand Illusion Ring {5} (possible Jace's artifact)
Legendary Artifact - Relic (R)
At the beginning of your upkeep, draw a
card.
Clothed planewalker has "No more than one creature can attack this planewalker each turn."
Clothe {5} ({5}: Attach to target planewalker
you control. Clothe only as a sorcery. This card enters the battlefield unattached and stays on the battlefield if the planewalker leaves.)
What do you think?
"No more than one" is a good restriction, yeah.
DeleteWelcome, Julien! Equipment for Planeswalkers is a cool space to play in, but might not be feasible for a standard release without getting preemprive deciduous status.
DeleteBecause, outside of a superfriends deck, there is so much less for this to attach itself to over the course of the game, I think having the general artifact mode was very smart. I'd say that if this was to be a continuing type, having an unattached mode should be default, and that it should turn that ability off if it's attached to anything. Very cool. I don't feel great about "Clothe" as the keyword action, but that's not at all a dealbreaker. Well done.
I'm also a fan of the "more than one" update. That was a smart iteration.
DeleteThank you for the comments.
DeleteAnother week, another round of amazing card designs. It's also great to see some new faces contributing as well. There are some very cool, unexplored mechanical pools here I'm eager to dive deeper into.
ReplyDelete