There's creature removal (terror), and creature protection (shroud). There's spell nullification (counterspell), and spell protection (split-second). There's hand disruption (thoughtseize), and hand protection (ignorant bliss). Then comes graveyard removal, which is in most ways, final. Aside from the rotating Pull From Eternity, and Wishes, we don't really have any form of "graveyard protection", which is mildly stupid, in my opinion. Thus, I've made some!
Keeper of Spirits B
Legendary Creature - Human Shaman
As an additional cost to play ~, you lose 3 life.
As ~ comes into play, put all cards removed from the game from your graveyard into your graveyard.
Cards in your graveyard may not be targetted by spells or abilities your opponents control.
1/5
Respect the Dead BBB
Enchantment
As ~ comes into play, choose a player.
Cards in the chosen player's graveyard cannot be removed from the game.
EXCEPT IT HAS EVASION AND COUNTS YOUR OPPONENTS CREATURES AS WELL AS YOUR OWN AND CREATURE TOKENS WTF DEAR GOD! DO YOU NOT SEEEEEE THE SHENANIGANS THIS GUY IS ABOUT TO UNLOAD ON YOUR FACE? NANTUKO HUSK IS ALL LIKE "LOL MEET MY BFF JILL!" ALL THE DEVOUR CREATURES ARE LIKE "LOLOLOLOLOL"
Keeper of Spirits B
Legendary Creature - Human Shaman
As an additional cost to play ~, you lose 3 life.
As ~ comes into play, put all cards removed from the game from your graveyard into your graveyard.
Cards in your graveyard may not be targetted by spells or abilities your opponents control.
1/5
Yeah, that seems just an eensy bit overpowered to me. It would be OK power-wise (though out of flavor) without any of the graveyard-related abilities, as a 1/5 + lose 3 life for B.
Black has the most cards that remove cards in the graveyard from the game, so I think like Groundseal this would fit best in green. And make it symmetrical...
Tomb Keepers1G
Creature -- Human Warrior Monk (U)
Cards in graveyards can't be removed from the game.
2/2
As a side benefit to protecting reanimation, it also stops Ichorid, Psychatog, and delve.
RANDOM EDIT: Made it a Monk also, because I like the type combination of Warrior Monk.
Respect the Dead :symb::symb::symb:
Enchantment
As ~ comes into play, choose a player.
Cards in the chosen player's graveyard cannot be removed from the game.
Tomb Keepers1G
Creature -- Human Warrior Monk (U)
Cards in graveyards can't be removed from the game.
2/2
Yawgmoth's will is broken enough on its own, but it requires a ton of cards to work properly.
This + dark ritual/lotus petal + ywill makes for infinite storm+mana. No need for elaborate YWill setups.
And while this stops ichorid (the card), it helps the deck far more than it hinders it, unless this card also stops flashback (in which case, yes, this would nuke ichorid).
Keeper of Spirits
Legendary Creature - Human Shaman
As an additional cost to play ~, you lose 3 life.
As ~ comes into play, put all cards removed from the game from your graveyard into your graveyard.
Cards in your graveyard may not be targetted by spells or abilities your opponents control.
1/5
You'd have to keep track of which cards were RFG'd from the graveyard vs those RFG'd by other means. This is a tedious amount of bookkeeping, almost having to create a whole seperate RFG zone.
On graveyard protection in general: I already think that the amount of graveyard hate isn't enough. Its very frustrating to have to sideboard 7+ graveyard hate cards in formats with ichorid and still lose. leyline? tormod's? planar? Wheel of sun and moon? Jotun? Sometimes all of these aren't nearly enough, plus you're exposing yourself to be curb stomped by other decks if you do pack that much graveyard hate. As it is, graveyard hate is almost must in nearly all SBs, sometimes maindeck. Graveyard protection, especially hyper-efficient ones like by the OP's, makes the current situation worse.
Guardian of the Dead :1mana::symb:
Creature - Spirit
If a card would be removed from your graveyard, imprint this card on ~ instead.
:xmana:: Put X cards imprinted on ~ in your graveyard, where X is the number of imprinted cards.
2/1
The idea is that it will protect all your graveyard cards and possible put them back for a little 1 mana "bribe" per card, which makes it expensive if you lose "too much" cards.
this works as you explained if one card is removed and then put back, if there are more you'd have to put them back all in one swing.
1: Put a card imprinted on ~ in your graveyard.
is what you explained, but that's to combolicous.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Each reality is but the dream of another, and each sleeper a god unknowing.
We define the boundaries of reality; they don't define us.
For my taste this is one of the best and to be true, if you design a card you never care for type 1 and "y-will", but its true that the ability can make some combos, if they use "remove" as a drawback.
Looking at a card from all possible angles (and that includes the older formats) lets us see if the card can be broken more thoroughly. Preferably, I'd like it not broken anywhere. Maybe its because I don't have the ego to say "my taste is best and true" and like to think of how other people play.
Tombo Keepers :1mana::symg:
Creature -- Human Warrior Monk (U)
Cards in graveyards can't be played or removed from the game.
2/2
it really is good against Ichorid
Not necessarily. Give it shroud and make it 0 or 1cc. _That's_ good against ichorid. As it is, it is no better than leyline of the void or planar void, and is even worse due to the fact that it is 2cc. Being green alone, its even less flexible than wheel of sun and moon which could at least be used by white. And yet ichorid can still go around those more effective hate cards, which was the very point I was trying to make about the game not needing graveyard protection but needs _effective_ graveyard hate.
At least, it's a 2/2. Hopefully, it will be enough to kill the ichorid player before he finds a solution for it, but given that this card does nothing to stop dredge's draw/discard engine, I'm willing to bet the dredge player would find a solution faster than they would facing leyline/planar void/whatever.
Guardian of the Dead 1B
Creature - Spirit
If a card would be removed from your graveyard, imprint this card on ~ instead. X: Put X cards imprinted on ~ in your graveyard, where X is the number of imprinted cards.
2/1
Yixlid Arbiter :SymWG:B
Creature- Zombie Wizard
Colorless.
You may reveal your hand, discard all cards not named Yixlid Arbiter from your hand, and pay 2 life instead of paying Yixlid Arbiter's mana cost.
If a creature would be put into play from a graveyard, return it to its owner's hand instead. For each card put into your hand this way, you lose 2 life.
If a card in a graveyard would be removed from the game, return it to its owner's hand instead. For each card put into your hand this way, you lose 2 life.
2/2
Guardian of the Dead is cool, but tapping out means that your opponent can remove Guardian of the Dead and result in the imprinted cards from the graveyard getting rftg anyways, which is preciesely what it seems like we're trying to avoid here.
Keeper of Spirits is a rules headache becuase it requires players to remember where cards were removed from the game from. Respect the Dead seems like the most viable card previously posted, but it MUST be played off a Dark Ritual to really be effective.
Tomb Keepers and Tombo Keepers need flash or shroud, and should cost less or have alternate costs. Graveyard tricks can kill turn 1.
Yixlid Arbiter would incentivize team play, because you could remove cards in your teammates's graveyard and the cards would return to your teammate's hand without the life-loss drawback triggering.
It also turns reanimation effects into raise dead effects, so it signifigantly weakens Ichorid, but does not completely hose it out, as the Ichorid player can still get it into play each turn- they just need to pay its mana cost, and have a discard outlet for the other black creature that gets returned to hand when Ichorid would remove it. This card could be a Ichorid enabler in that sense, if one were willing to pay 3B and 4 life per turn for it (the math gets a little better with two Ichorids- 6BB and 4 life for 6 hasty damage each turn), but obviously it's nowhere near the power level Ichorid finds in dedicated dredge decks.
On top of that, Yixlid Arbiter is a 'free' 2/2, and the alternate cost has synnergy with its abilities. The colorless part is to avoid Coalition Victory/domain combos, as well as to avoid Unmask-style combos. Plus a colorless arbiter is flavorfull. Then I realized that Colorless would make a pretty self-explanatory keyword.
The really interesting thing about Yixlid Arbiter is that it will make a player want to TARGET HIM OR HERSELF with Tormod's Crypt. That makes the card for me- it turns the crypt from sideboard staple to card-advantage enabler. Being as that many casual players forgo sideboards, this would give those players a serious incentive to run Crypt in the main deck, which would probably win them more games against more competitive players. With green and white in the mix, this card screams "LIFE GAIN". It wants players playing cards to gain a bunch of life (preferably black's Drain Life-type effects, but a simple Stream of Life work also), then playing Yixlid Arbiter and then activating the crypt, targeting self, to get back said life gain cards.
It might be broken with Yawgmoth's Will, but seriously, what isn't broken with Yawgmoth's Will? Freakin' Flight and Hell Swarm are broken with Yawgmoth's Will. At least it might inspire the mono-black Yawgmth's Will/Tendrils of Agony-combo player to splash a color to pay Yixlid Arbiter's mana cost.
I'm not sure why a seperate RFG zone would be that troublesome, as it has been seen several times (and recently, moreover, with Circu and Jester's Scepter).
Keeper of Spirits B
Legendary Creature - Human Shaman
As an additional cost to play ~, you lose 3 life.
As ~ comes into play, put all cards removed from the game from your graveyard into your graveyard.
Cards in your graveyard may not be targetted by spells or abilities your opponents control.
1/5
Respect the Dead BBB
Enchantment
As ~ comes into play, choose a player.
Cards in the chosen player's graveyard cannot be removed from the game.
Man, Ground Seal would be sweet. Too bad I can't splash for it.
Still, doesn't prevent Tormod's Crypt and the like (Ground Seal that is).
And then there are the magic words on that guy - OPPONENT'S control. So they are still reanimation targets.
Respect the Dead I also like a lot. Same thing - Doesn't prevent reanimation but does protect you from yard hate.
Tomb Keepers 1G
Creature -- Human Warrior Monk (U)
Cards in graveyards can't be removed from the game.
2/2
As a side benefit to protecting reanimation, it also stops Ichorid, Psychatog, and delve.
RANDOM EDIT: Made it a Monk also, because I like the type combination of Warrior Monk.
Black messes with the dead.
Green seems like a better color.
Butcher of Words.
Made by Spiderboy4
Yawgmoth's will is broken enough on its own, but it requires a ton of cards to work properly.
This + dark ritual/lotus petal + ywill makes for infinite storm+mana. No need for elaborate YWill setups.
And while this stops ichorid (the card), it helps the deck far more than it hinders it, unless this card also stops flashback (in which case, yes, this would nuke ichorid).
You'd have to keep track of which cards were RFG'd from the graveyard vs those RFG'd by other means. This is a tedious amount of bookkeeping, almost having to create a whole seperate RFG zone.
On graveyard protection in general: I already think that the amount of graveyard hate isn't enough. Its very frustrating to have to sideboard 7+ graveyard hate cards in formats with ichorid and still lose. leyline? tormod's? planar? Wheel of sun and moon? Jotun? Sometimes all of these aren't nearly enough, plus you're exposing yourself to be curb stomped by other decks if you do pack that much graveyard hate. As it is, graveyard hate is almost must in nearly all SBs, sometimes maindeck. Graveyard protection, especially hyper-efficient ones like by the OP's, makes the current situation worse.
"Sometimes, the situation is outracing a threat, sometimes it's ignoring it, and sometimes it involves sideboarding in 4x Hope//Pray." --Doug Linn
this works as you explained if one card is removed and then put back, if there are more you'd have to put them back all in one swing.
1: Put a card imprinted on ~ in your graveyard.
is what you explained, but that's to combolicous.
Looking at a card from all possible angles (and that includes the older formats) lets us see if the card can be broken more thoroughly. Preferably, I'd like it not broken anywhere. Maybe its because I don't have the ego to say "my taste is best and true" and like to think of how other people play.
Not necessarily. Give it shroud and make it 0 or 1cc. _That's_ good against ichorid. As it is, it is no better than leyline of the void or planar void, and is even worse due to the fact that it is 2cc. Being green alone, its even less flexible than wheel of sun and moon which could at least be used by white. And yet ichorid can still go around those more effective hate cards, which was the very point I was trying to make about the game not needing graveyard protection but needs _effective_ graveyard hate.
At least, it's a 2/2. Hopefully, it will be enough to kill the ichorid player before he finds a solution for it, but given that this card does nothing to stop dredge's draw/discard engine, I'm willing to bet the dredge player would find a solution faster than they would facing leyline/planar void/whatever.
Unlimited flashback for the low cost of 1?
"Sometimes, the situation is outracing a threat, sometimes it's ignoring it, and sometimes it involves sideboarding in 4x Hope//Pray." --Doug Linn
Creature- Zombie Wizard
Colorless.
You may reveal your hand, discard all cards not named Yixlid Arbiter from your hand, and pay 2 life instead of paying Yixlid Arbiter's mana cost.
If a creature would be put into play from a graveyard, return it to its owner's hand instead. For each card put into your hand this way, you lose 2 life.
If a card in a graveyard would be removed from the game, return it to its owner's hand instead. For each card put into your hand this way, you lose 2 life.
2/2
Guardian of the Dead is cool, but tapping out means that your opponent can remove Guardian of the Dead and result in the imprinted cards from the graveyard getting rftg anyways, which is preciesely what it seems like we're trying to avoid here.
Keeper of Spirits is a rules headache becuase it requires players to remember where cards were removed from the game from. Respect the Dead seems like the most viable card previously posted, but it MUST be played off a Dark Ritual to really be effective.
Tomb Keepers and Tombo Keepers need flash or shroud, and should cost less or have alternate costs. Graveyard tricks can kill turn 1.
Yixlid Arbiter would incentivize team play, because you could remove cards in your teammates's graveyard and the cards would return to your teammate's hand without the life-loss drawback triggering.
It also turns reanimation effects into raise dead effects, so it signifigantly weakens Ichorid, but does not completely hose it out, as the Ichorid player can still get it into play each turn- they just need to pay its mana cost, and have a discard outlet for the other black creature that gets returned to hand when Ichorid would remove it. This card could be a Ichorid enabler in that sense, if one were willing to pay 3B and 4 life per turn for it (the math gets a little better with two Ichorids- 6BB and 4 life for 6 hasty damage each turn), but obviously it's nowhere near the power level Ichorid finds in dedicated dredge decks.
On top of that, Yixlid Arbiter is a 'free' 2/2, and the alternate cost has synnergy with its abilities. The colorless part is to avoid Coalition Victory/domain combos, as well as to avoid Unmask-style combos. Plus a colorless arbiter is flavorfull. Then I realized that Colorless would make a pretty self-explanatory keyword.
The really interesting thing about Yixlid Arbiter is that it will make a player want to TARGET HIM OR HERSELF with Tormod's Crypt. That makes the card for me- it turns the crypt from sideboard staple to card-advantage enabler. Being as that many casual players forgo sideboards, this would give those players a serious incentive to run Crypt in the main deck, which would probably win them more games against more competitive players. With green and white in the mix, this card screams "LIFE GAIN". It wants players playing cards to gain a bunch of life (preferably black's Drain Life-type effects, but a simple Stream of Life work also), then playing Yixlid Arbiter and then activating the crypt, targeting self, to get back said life gain cards.
It might be broken with Yawgmoth's Will, but seriously, what isn't broken with Yawgmoth's Will? Freakin' Flight and Hell Swarm are broken with Yawgmoth's Will. At least it might inspire the mono-black Yawgmth's Will/Tendrils of Agony-combo player to splash a color to pay Yixlid Arbiter's mana cost.
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