Happy Friday, Artisans! It's been a while since we've done one of these, and maybe people are staying in for the weekend and have some time to think about magic design. Click through to see this weekend's design parameters. With those as your guidelines, design a custom magic card. Over the course of the weekend, give feedback to your fellow designers on their designs, and incorporate their feedback to iterate on your own. If I have time over the course of next week, I will try to offer some of my own feedback.
I still haven't had a chance to fully digest the Ikoria spoiler, but Mutate is a very interesting mechanic for a whole mess of reasons. Design a card that uses or plays nicely with Mutate, but out of the context of Ikoria.
Good luck, have fun, and I'll see you all Monday.
Impetuous Beckoner R
ReplyDeleteSpells targetting CARDNAME cost 1 less to cast.
Hellbent - CARDNAME has hexproof as long as you have no cards in hand.
1/1
I like this design but I am pretty sure hexproof is not a red mechanic? I believe its U/G.
DeleteAgreed, the concept is otherwise great but hexproof is a no-go here. Being vulnerable to removal is an inherent weakness of red. Maybe "when ~ dies, it deals damage equal to its power to any target"?
DeleteAlso, what creature type and rarity?
DeleteHow would a mutate creature hitting the graveyard count creatures? Do all creatures that were on it hit the graveyard at tha same time?
DeleteWould they be counted by "When ~ dies, it deals damage equal to the number of creatures in all graveyard to target opponent" ?
If so, that could be a black version.
Griffin Spirit 2WW
ReplyDeleteCreature- Griffin Spirit
2/2
Mutate 2W
Flying
When CARDNAME leaves the battlefield, create a 2/2 white Griffin creature token with flying.
That is a nice take on the rider mechanic we have been trying for years to make in a clean way! (Still not convinced by crew as a 100% spot on implementation of that.)
DeleteNice Griffin Guide call back!
DeleteMartyr's Army 2W
ReplyDeleteCreature-Cat Warrior
2/2
Whenever you cast a creature spell, create a 1/1 white Soldier creature token for each opponent who controls more creatures than you.
Oh, I should probably make the main creature a soldier since it makes soldier tokens or make it a warrior and have it make warrior tokens.
DeleteVery cool idea for how to reward go-big play, and mutate specifically since Auras aren't normally creature spells. Does it do enough outside of a mutate deck to make sense? Maybe it plays a role in sacrifice decks...
DeleteMaybe make it a Cat Knight and concept it as the army's leader rather than the whole army?
I concur that with the nice reward for mutate, and the possible rebrand (Martyr would require a death, no?)
DeleteAnother way to reward go-big would be to care for the number of keywords the creature has.
That's a lovely little rare that urgently wants to be made more relevant in commander. Can it base cost more and make 2/2s instead?
DeleteSpontaneous Sentry UU
ReplyDeleteCreature - Turtle
4/4
Defender
As long as CARDNAME has been mutated, it can attack as thought it didn't have defender
That is a nice solution to the question posed by a previous post on the site!
DeleteA cycle of uncommons at 1CC:
ReplyDeleteAspirant of Phenax
Creature - Merfolk Wizard
2/2
Hexproof
T: Target player puts the top X cards of their library into their graveyard, where X is ~’s toughness.
Aspirant of Pharika
Creature - Gorgon Cleric
1/3
Deathtouch
When ~ deals combat damage to a player, that player discards that many cards.
Aspirant of Gideon
Creature - Cat Soldier
3/2
Vigilance
T: Target blocking creature gets +X/+X, where X is ~’s toughness.
Aspirant of Mogis
Creature - Minotaur Berserker
2/2
Trample
When ~ attacks, it gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is its power.
Aspirant of Karametra
Enchantment Creature - Nymph Druid
2/4
Haste
When ~ attacks, add an amount of {G} mana equal to its power.
Green shifted around the most -- its creature type should probably be Satyr Shaman instead!
DeleteOh, more challenges, cool! Although I've drifted away from magic, my cards will probably end up following design principles circa Kaladesh... :)
ReplyDeleteBessengeist 3UU
3/3 (Uncommon)
Mutate Human (...)
Flying
Bessengeist can target a creature you don't control. You control the mutated creature.
Innistrad also has humans and monsters but when we revisit it, the mutate mechanic takes the opposite role, it's what turns humans into monsters. A werewolf can enter the battlefield itself, or convert an existing human into a werewolf. A zombie can represent a new creature or one stitched together from an existing creature (e.g. one that died this turn).
The "gain control" was the first thing that occurred to me as a variant of mutate.
I'm not sure if "human" is the right restriction. It could also be, say, a werewolf mutates a non-werewolf.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMutatron Slime {2}{U}{G}
DeleteCreature- Slime Mutant (Uncommon)
Mutate {U/G}{U/G}
When this creature would leave the battlefield, you may attatch its mutations to another creature you control.
1/4
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand I am out of subject! This is clearly an Ikoria card.
DeleteTake 3:
Promissing Monster 1W
Creature - Human
If ~ is a werewolf, vampire, ghost or zombie, it gains +4/+4
1/1
On inistrad making humans into monsted?
Aaaand the post before mine just used Innistrad.
DeleteEventide / shadowmoor chanegelings?
Unfinished Changeling {C}{C}
Creature - Shapeshifter
If ~ has 4 or more creature types, it gains all remaining creature types, +2/+2 and indestructable.
2/2
Deeeeeeeep lore note: in Shadowmoor, all changelings have become mimics! And all the mimics we've seen so far are enemy hybrid, for whatever that's worth.
DeleteDesign note: I totally get wanting to give one's mutate pile indestructible, but also wonder if that could feel oppressive on the other side of the table -- maybe it could be an activated ability, so that sometimes the shields are down?
In this version the shields are down until you mutate it twice, to get to 4 creature types. Itself has no mutate and a harsh mana cost to go with your mutate restrictions. I felt there were enough hoops to jump through as it was, but maybe I am wrong? This is mostly ment for tammy.
DeleteYou are correct that changelings in shadowmoor are mimics, I should have kept it Eventide. Nice catch.
Norn’s Transmogrant 1W
ReplyDeleteArtifact
(W/P)(W/P), T: Mutate Norn’s Transmogrant on top of target non-human creature you own. (It is no longer a creature)
Took me a second to realize what this actually does: it lets you manually mutate any 2 creatures together. Very neat and interesting for Johnny / Jenny but the price (a whole card plus needing at least two activations) seems kind of steep to me.
DeleteShouldn't it be below target non-human creature you own? Otherwise the mutation will not have a stats block.
DeleteI would remove the tap activation, personally.
The goal was to create a Cold Storage/Safe Haven style card, where you can store a creature that’s about to die while keeping their abilities. You can also “release” the creatures by flickering the artifact. Very Jenny/Johnny, but I thought it was neat
DeleteOh wow, I hadn't realized the mechanical implications at all -- I was just so struck by the "lose yourself to Phyrexia" flavor!
DeleteI'm wondering if you need the non-human rider in this context -- shouldn't Norn be able to compleat anything?
Mutate has the “non-human” and “own” riders as part of the ability, so even if you don’t write them out I think they’d still exist as a restriction. You could have the artifact “Merge” with any target creature, but then mutate triggers wouldn’t trigger. I don’t know, Mutate is a very weird ability and nothing currently allows a card to mutate once it’s on the battlefield.
DeleteI see. I missunderstood the (It is no longer a creature). Indeed mutate is weird.
DeleteEvolving Wastes
ReplyDeleteLand - Wastes
T: Add <>.
<>: Evolving Wastes becomes a 0/1 Eldrazi creature until the end of turn.
Whenever this card mutates, untap it.
Evolving Wastes
DeleteLand - Wastes
T: Add <>.
<>: Evolving Wastes becomes a 0/1 Eldrazi creature until the end of turn.
Whenever this card mutates or awakens, untap it.
Nice little add on. Clean and funny take on evolving wilds. Common? Uncommon?
ReplyDeleteDespite the recent push towards rare creature lands, this reads as Uncommon to me
Delete