Fallout Rider2W
Creature — Human Soldier Mutant [C]
Flying Critical mass — Whenever Fallout Rider attacks, if the total converted mana cost of permanents you control is 10 or greater, it gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
[2/2]
Mantled Heap4U
Creature — Octopus Mutant [C]
Hexproof Critical mass — Mantled Heap can't attack unless the total converted mana cost of permanents you control is 10 or greater.
[4/4]
Half-LivingB
Creature — Zombie Mutant [C] Critical mass — B: Regenerate Half-Living. Activate this ability only if the total converted mana cost of permanents you control is 10 or greater.
[1/1]
Glass Runner1R
Creature — Lizard Mutant [C]
Haste Critical mass — Whenever Glass Runner attacks, if the total converted mana cost of permanents you control is 10 or greater, it gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
[1/1]
Nihil Scavenger1G
Creature — Human Shaman Mutant [C] Critical mass — Whenever Nihil Scavenger deals combat damage to a player, if the total converted mana cost of permanents you control is 10 or greater, you may draw a card.
[2/2]
EDIT: Revised Fallout Rider and Glass Runner to use Heir of the Wilds templating (it previously was a static +2/+2 bonus.)
EDIT: Changed the name of Edinu Scavenger to Nihil Scavenger.
EDIT: Changed the name of the ability word from "critical" to "critical mass". Renamed Mantled Heap from "Mantled Mass".
Fallout Rider seems far and away the best one of the cycle. It's fine without critical mass and insane with it.
ETA: Turn 2 any dual-twobrid bear, turn 3 Fallout Rider, turn 4 Fallout Rider, hit with a 4/4 flier and have bear plus a second 4/4 flier for backup. Yowch.
Edinu Scavenger seems the next most likely to be useful, but it requires you to have a twobrid T1 and a tri-twobrid T3, which seems extremely hard to pull off. It's also garbage in the late game because if your opponent cares about you drawing cards by this point they will most likely be able to leave back something to block.
If Mantled Mass was a 5/5 or had some form of evasion instead of hexproof, I'd like it. As-is it's a miss unless there are some really good Auras in this draft format. I wouldn't pick it highly even without the attacking restriction (though admittedly it is the easiest to get critical mass for).
Glass Runner is always a sucky creature when cast on-curve, which makes me not want to run it. Monored aggro in constructed has better finishers than a hasty 3/3.
Half-Living is just bad. By the time you can regenerate it any tempo you might have gained from the 1cmc discount over Drudge Skeletons is lost.
I'm assuming critical is intended to have anti-synergy with psionic, because spell-based/holding cards in hand vs permanent-based/playing out cards? Because of your insistence of making them all twobrid the common psionic cycle is really good at turning on critical, so if I get a good critical card early I might just snipe psionic cards and pretend the stupid splice line of text doesn't exist.
I'm assuming critical is intended to have anti-synergy with psionic
It is.
The common psionic cycle isn't going to be the only cycle of twobrid artifacts. Not by a long shot. So sure, you could pick one of them and ignore the psionic ability. But you could also pick a number of other things that would serve that purpose equally well.
And there will definitely be instant and sorcery cards that should motivate you to reverse that draft strategy exactly, i.e., pick cards for the psionic ability and ignore that the Psion comes with an optional body that generates high-CMC values for critical.
I actually like Critical, but constantly re-calculating the total CMC of nonlands permanents you control sounds like a pain in the ass. The keyword itself sounds odd, and i feel like its missing a word in the title. Critical Point, or Critical Break, just another word to describe that your card is going beyond a limit. Critical Mass also comes to mind.
Dahammer4
Artifact - Equipment (R)
Choose one - Equipped creature gets +4/+0; or Double Strike; or "When this creature deals combat damage to a creature, exile that creature"; or t, unattach ~ from this creature: ~ deals 5 damage to target creature." t: Equipped creature gains flying until end of turn.
Equip 3
I actually like Critical, but constantly re-calculating the total CMC of nonlands permanents you control sounds like a pain in the ass. The keyword itself sounds odd, and i feel like its missing a word in the title. Critical Point, or Critical Break, just another word to describe that your card is going beyond a limit. Critical Mass also comes to mind.
I don't think it's any more challenging that checking your devotion.
Flavor-wise, I am referencing nuclear criticality. And I could call it critical mass, sure, but my gut feeling was that that wasn't much better.
I don't think it's any more challenging that checking your devotion.
I don't agree with that at all. When you look at the board state for devotion, its fairly easy to spot the colored mana symbols in your cards. You can just count it out on your fingers, if you wanted. However, determining CMC is tougher just because it requires significantly more math. Sure, its still basic addition, but keeping more numbers in your head adds up really fast.
Dahammer4
Artifact - Equipment (R)
Choose one - Equipped creature gets +4/+0; or Double Strike; or "When this creature deals combat damage to a creature, exile that creature"; or t, unattach ~ from this creature: ~ deals 5 damage to target creature." t: Equipped creature gains flying until end of turn.
Equip 3
Ah, so this is the explanation for the large amount of mono-hybrid mana. I was expecting something along these lines.
There are two worries I have with this mechanic - it mentions "converted mana cost" at common, which is something that can be done on one or two cards in a set at most, and is only mentioned on one common card in all of Standard for the past few years. So, difficult to do for an entire mechanic, obviously. (But doable, I think, if you spend your complexity points on it.)
The other problem is that the mechanic is a lot of book-keeping. Yes, the comparison to devotion is an apt one - but it's also not quite perfect. Devotion requires you to count separate mana symbols, which is a lot easier than having to look at the numbers in the gray mana symbols and add them up with the other mana symbols of every color on your board at once... yikes! It's quite a bit more math, when you get down to it. My other concern is that this number is going to be fluctuating a lot mid-combat. This will greatly affect cards that get stat bonuses when they're critical, such as Fallout Rider. I recommend you go along the lines of existing precedence - stuff like Heir of the Wilds is a clean work-around for this problem while also pushing the game to conclusion.
The mechanic itself is quite smart, though. Making early-game "okay" cards into late-game power draws is smart.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Known as Inanimate at Goblin Artisans, and TyrRev at /r/custommagic!
Lead Tesla, a community set designed by everyone and led by me, over at Goblin Artisans. Index of articles here!
Ah, so this is the explanation for the large amount of mono-hybrid mana. I was expecting something along these lines.
I recommend you go along the lines of existing precedence - stuff like Heir of the Wilds is a clean work-around for this problem while also pushing the game to conclusion.
It's ONE part of the explanation for the twobrid mana. The other part is... well, I've dropped a few hints in the various RKU threads. I'm still hammering that bit into shape, but will reveal it soon.
Heir of the Wilds is a great suggestion, one which I'll probably adopt in some capacity. That's also a nice suggestion in that it helps this to feel different from the spectrum mechanic in Dominaria. I just need this mechanic to stay away from ETB triggers, because I don't want there to be any incentive to hold them back in your hand.
Agreed, and I should have mentioned that myself. Psionic is already pushing a bit too far in 'hand-holding' (harhar), so I think keeping these as omni-situational as possible is good.
I have an idea for the second explanation, but I'll keep it to myself. (:
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Known as Inanimate at Goblin Artisans, and TyrRev at /r/custommagic!
Lead Tesla, a community set designed by everyone and led by me, over at Goblin Artisans. Index of articles here!
I like Critical a lot as a mechanic -- it groks well, is relatively easy to keep track of, and rewards you for doing things you want to be doing anyway (10 is also a nice number because if you curve out naturally you can hit it without really thinking).
This cycle is a bit odd to me for the common introduction to the mechanic, though. You'd only be truly happy to play the white and green ones, and the green one only because it's a bear to start. (The blue one is probably sneaky good, but that's mostly because it gets you halfway to critical by itself.) It feels weird that the Critical bonuses are so varied for a common cycle -- two get bigger, one gains a triggered ability, one gains an activated ability, and one loses a drawback (which: incidentally, you probably want to go the "Defender" into "May attack as though it didn't have defender" route). In addition, three members of the cycle have an evergreen keyword to start. It's also weird that some of the weaker benefits -- the Ophidian ability on a bear, the conditional regeneration -- are on the creatures that contribute the least to Critical on their own.
Things to think about! Great names, by the way. This set has A+ flavor so far.
(which: incidentally, you probably want to go the "Defender" into "May attack as though it didn't have defender" route).
Interesting point!
And it's interesting because I'm actually sunsetting defender as a keyword in my custom sets after its last hurrah in Call to Glory block. For that matter, I'm also sunsetting landwalk as an evergreen mechanic, and possibly intimidate either totally or as an evergreen (since WotC seems to be going with the obsolescence route on intimidate anyways.) You might (MIGHT) still see Walls, but they will simply have the line of text, "~NAME~ can't attack." as opposed to defender. (Note that I'm not saying that defender will receive errata — older cards will still have it — just that I'm officially done using it as a keyword as of Raksu Unchained.)
The Blighted Earth Howls for Revenge!
Fallout Rider 2W
Creature — Human Soldier Mutant [C]
Flying
Critical mass — Whenever Fallout Rider attacks, if the total converted mana cost of permanents you control is 10 or greater, it gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
[2/2]
Mantled Heap 4U
Creature — Octopus Mutant [C]
Hexproof
Critical mass — Mantled Heap can't attack unless the total converted mana cost of permanents you control is 10 or greater.
[4/4]
Half-Living B
Creature — Zombie Mutant [C]
Critical mass — B: Regenerate Half-Living. Activate this ability only if the total converted mana cost of permanents you control is 10 or greater.
[1/1]
Glass Runner 1R
Creature — Lizard Mutant [C]
Haste
Critical mass — Whenever Glass Runner attacks, if the total converted mana cost of permanents you control is 10 or greater, it gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
[1/1]
Nihil Scavenger 1G
Creature — Human Shaman Mutant [C]
Critical mass — Whenever Nihil Scavenger deals combat damage to a player, if the total converted mana cost of permanents you control is 10 or greater, you may draw a card.
[2/2]
EDIT: Revised Fallout Rider and Glass Runner to use Heir of the Wilds templating (it previously was a static +2/+2 bonus.)
EDIT: Changed the name of Edinu Scavenger to Nihil Scavenger.
EDIT: Changed the name of the ability word from "critical" to "critical mass". Renamed Mantled Heap from "Mantled Mass".
ETA: Turn 2 any dual-twobrid bear, turn 3 Fallout Rider, turn 4 Fallout Rider, hit with a 4/4 flier and have bear plus a second 4/4 flier for backup. Yowch.
Edinu Scavenger seems the next most likely to be useful, but it requires you to have a twobrid T1 and a tri-twobrid T3, which seems extremely hard to pull off. It's also garbage in the late game because if your opponent cares about you drawing cards by this point they will most likely be able to leave back something to block.
If Mantled Mass was a 5/5 or had some form of evasion instead of hexproof, I'd like it. As-is it's a miss unless there are some really good Auras in this draft format. I wouldn't pick it highly even without the attacking restriction (though admittedly it is the easiest to get critical mass for).
Glass Runner is always a sucky creature when cast on-curve, which makes me not want to run it. Monored aggro in constructed has better finishers than a hasty 3/3.
Half-Living is just bad. By the time you can regenerate it any tempo you might have gained from the 1cmc discount over Drudge Skeletons is lost.
I'm assuming critical is intended to have anti-synergy with psionic, because spell-based/holding cards in hand vs permanent-based/playing out cards? Because of your insistence of making them all twobrid the common psionic cycle is really good at turning on critical, so if I get a good critical card early I might just snipe psionic cards and pretend the stupid splice line of text doesn't exist.
Avatar by Numotflame96 of Maelstrom Graphics
Sig banner thanks to DarkNightCavalier of Heroes of the Plane Studios!
The common psionic cycle isn't going to be the only cycle of twobrid artifacts. Not by a long shot. So sure, you could pick one of them and ignore the psionic ability. But you could also pick a number of other things that would serve that purpose equally well.
And there will definitely be instant and sorcery cards that should motivate you to reverse that draft strategy exactly, i.e., pick cards for the psionic ability and ignore that the Psion comes with an optional body that generates high-CMC values for critical.
Sigpic by Rivenor
Artifact - Equipment (R)
Choose one - Equipped creature gets +4/+0; or Double Strike; or "When this creature deals combat damage to a creature, exile that creature"; or t, unattach ~ from this creature: ~ deals 5 damage to target creature."
t: Equipped creature gains flying until end of turn.
Equip 3
Courtesy of Crepes
[OMC] Omerium's Collapse
Flavor-wise, I am referencing nuclear criticality. And I could call it critical mass, sure, but my gut feeling was that that wasn't much better.
I don't agree with that at all. When you look at the board state for devotion, its fairly easy to spot the colored mana symbols in your cards. You can just count it out on your fingers, if you wanted. However, determining CMC is tougher just because it requires significantly more math. Sure, its still basic addition, but keeping more numbers in your head adds up really fast.
Sigpic by Rivenor
Artifact - Equipment (R)
Choose one - Equipped creature gets +4/+0; or Double Strike; or "When this creature deals combat damage to a creature, exile that creature"; or t, unattach ~ from this creature: ~ deals 5 damage to target creature."
t: Equipped creature gains flying until end of turn.
Equip 3
Courtesy of Crepes
[OMC] Omerium's Collapse
There are two worries I have with this mechanic - it mentions "converted mana cost" at common, which is something that can be done on one or two cards in a set at most, and is only mentioned on one common card in all of Standard for the past few years. So, difficult to do for an entire mechanic, obviously. (But doable, I think, if you spend your complexity points on it.)
The other problem is that the mechanic is a lot of book-keeping. Yes, the comparison to devotion is an apt one - but it's also not quite perfect. Devotion requires you to count separate mana symbols, which is a lot easier than having to look at the numbers in the gray mana symbols and add them up with the other mana symbols of every color on your board at once... yikes! It's quite a bit more math, when you get down to it. My other concern is that this number is going to be fluctuating a lot mid-combat. This will greatly affect cards that get stat bonuses when they're critical, such as Fallout Rider. I recommend you go along the lines of existing precedence - stuff like Heir of the Wilds is a clean work-around for this problem while also pushing the game to conclusion.
The mechanic itself is quite smart, though. Making early-game "okay" cards into late-game power draws is smart.
Lead Tesla, a community set designed by everyone and led by me, over at Goblin Artisans. Index of articles here!
Heir of the Wilds is a great suggestion, one which I'll probably adopt in some capacity. That's also a nice suggestion in that it helps this to feel different from the spectrum mechanic in Dominaria. I just need this mechanic to stay away from ETB triggers, because I don't want there to be any incentive to hold them back in your hand.
I have an idea for the second explanation, but I'll keep it to myself. (:
Lead Tesla, a community set designed by everyone and led by me, over at Goblin Artisans. Index of articles here!
This cycle is a bit odd to me for the common introduction to the mechanic, though. You'd only be truly happy to play the white and green ones, and the green one only because it's a bear to start. (The blue one is probably sneaky good, but that's mostly because it gets you halfway to critical by itself.) It feels weird that the Critical bonuses are so varied for a common cycle -- two get bigger, one gains a triggered ability, one gains an activated ability, and one loses a drawback (which: incidentally, you probably want to go the "Defender" into "May attack as though it didn't have defender" route). In addition, three members of the cycle have an evergreen keyword to start. It's also weird that some of the weaker benefits -- the Ophidian ability on a bear, the conditional regeneration -- are on the creatures that contribute the least to Critical on their own.
Things to think about! Great names, by the way. This set has A+ flavor so far.
And it's interesting because I'm actually sunsetting defender as a keyword in my custom sets after its last hurrah in Call to Glory block. For that matter, I'm also sunsetting landwalk as an evergreen mechanic, and possibly intimidate either totally or as an evergreen (since WotC seems to be going with the obsolescence route on intimidate anyways.) You might (MIGHT) still see Walls, but they will simply have the line of text, "~NAME~ can't attack." as opposed to defender. (Note that I'm not saying that defender will receive errata — older cards will still have it — just that I'm officially done using it as a keyword as of Raksu Unchained.)