Welcome to the Card Creation League! Everyone is free to participate in either or both of the first two rounds. Come join us!
Theme
It's June, which means time for the summer supplement! This year we're getting Archenemy: Nicol Bolas, which is exciting for anyone who likes to play the bad guy. This month's going to be all about supplemental products.
Archenemy: Nicol Bolas has just released, in time for the lead up to Hour of Devastation. There are a bunch of new schemes with very consistent flavor having to do with Bolas's return to Amonkhet and defeat of the Gatewatch. However, there are no new non-scheme cards, sadly. My hope is that future Archenemy products do have new "regular" cards like Planechase and Commander. There are tons of possibilities.
Challenge
Design two cards for an Archenemy deck and an opposing deck - one with "hero" or "underdog"
flavor that has converted mana cost 3 or less, and one referencing schemes that has converted mana cost 4 or greater.
There are no design restrictions on the "hero" card other than converted mana cost or flavor.
The "Archenemy" card should not be a scheme. It should be a card that can be in an ordinary deck, with CMC 4 or greater, that references schemes in its text.
Make sure to include a rarity.
Your submissions are due Monday, June 19, 23:59 EST.
Wildhoof StalwartGGW
Creature - Centaur Shaman Soldier {R}
Vigilance, indestructible Avenge -- Whenever one of your teammates loses the game, you may search your library for a creature card and put that card onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library.
3/3
Millennial Machinations3BB
Sorcery {R}
Search your library for a card and put that card into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
Search your scheme deck for a card. Shuffle your scheme deck, then put the card on top of it.
Doom 1B(If you would set a scheme in motion, instead you may cast this card for its doom cost.)
Opposing deck Tritus, RiverwalkerUG
Legendary Creature — Merfolk Druid Mutant (M)
Evolve, graft 1 Heroic — Whenever you cast a spell that targets Tritus, put a +1/+1 counter on it and look at the top 4 cards of your library. You may reveal an aura, creature or instant card from among them and put it into your hand, then puts the rest on the bottom of your library in any order. "His name is rarely mentioned in the tales of our terrestrial conquests. Yet it was the gift of his genetic abnormality that allowed the merfolk to fight on land." — Zanus, Merfolk Chronicler
0/0
Archenemy deck Blithe Jesters2RR
Creature — Goblin Bard Wizard (R)
First strike, myriad
Whenever you set a scheme in motion, flip a coin. If you win the flip, set an additional scheme in motion. If you lose the flip, until end of turn, each other creature you control loses all abilities and becomes a red Goat with base power and toughness 1/1. Some songs are paeans. Others, mockeries.
3/2
Reward of Preliminary2BB
Enchantment (R)
At the end of your turn, each opponent loses X life, where X is equal to the number of card types among cards in your command zone. You gain life equal to the life lost this way. (Card types that can be in your command zone are conspiracy, creature, plane, scheme and vanguard.)
Insolent nescients! I was ready for this encounter before even your sparks ignited!
Opposing deck, "hero" or "underdog" flavor, cmc 3-
Tariq, Lord of AkrasaGWU
Legendary Creature - Human Knight (R)
Whenever Tariq, Lord of Akrasa attacks or blocks, you may tap any number of other creatures you control. Until end of turn, Tariq, Lord of Akrasa gets +X/+Y, where X is their combined power and Y is their combined toughness and gains all their abilities.
1/1
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
—Eli Shiffrin, Rules Manager, on a design stacking lifelink instances
Now Behold My Black Armies2WB
Enchantment (R)
When Now Behold My Black Armies enters the battlefield, set a scheme in motion.
Ongoing schemes you control have, "Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, create a tapped 1/1 black Zombie creature token."
A "hero or underdog" flavored card that is CMC 3 or less:
Unassuming Rebel2R
Creature — Human Rebel (U)
Whenever Unassuming Rebel attacks, for each player, the untapped creature with the highest power that player controls can't block this turn.
2/2
Heroic creature Crusader of the Opal Order 1WW
Creature - Human Knight (R)
First strike, lifelink
Whenever a teammate becomes attacked, he or she gains control of Crusader of the Opal Order. If he or she does, Crusader of the Opal Order gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
2/2
The Archenemy: Bolas's Repudiation1UUBR
Instant (R)
Counter target spell. If this is your turn, take an extra turn after this. Otherwise set a scheme in motion. No interuption!
Karplusan Savior2G
Creature - Human Druid (U) 2G, Sacrifice Karplusan Savior: Regenerate each creature your opponents don't control. "Through the snow and fire, some will reach the destination and some will stay here."
3/2
Archenemy:
Gitaxian Cogitator4
Artifact (R)
Whenever you set a scheme into motion for the first time each turn, you may set an additional scheme into motion for each five artifacts you control, then scry X, where X is the number of schemes in motion. "Of course it escalates quickly. The best minds of Phyrexia was melded to it for the sake of progress." - Jin-Gitaxias
Skep Delver2U
Creature - Human Scout (R)
Whenever a creature you or a teammate controls deals combat damage to an opponent, that creature's controller may scry 1. "If we wish to vanquish these monsters, we must first study them."
2/3
The Hive Hungers2GG
Sorcery (U)
Create two 1/1 colorless Sliver creature tokens.
If you control five or more Slivers, set the top scheme of the scheme deck into motion. In the beginning, the Hive only knew how to propagate and expand itself. Now it knows so much more.
The Great Disciple1WW
Creature - Human Soldier (R) 3: Put a +1/+1 counter on The Great Disciple. Any player may activate this ability. 6WW: The Great Disciple becomes an Avatar with double strike and indestructible. Activate this ability only if The Great Disciple's power and toughness are 8 or greater. One student, many teachers, unparalleled virtue.
2/2
To Rule the Multiverse2BB
Enchantment (R)
Whenever you set a scheme into motion, you may put a quest counter on To Rule the Multiverse.
As long as there are four or more quest counters on To Rule the Multiverse, if you would set a scheme into motion, set two schemes into motion instead.
Wildhoof Stalwart - Honestly this is the highest combination of p/t and upside ability of an Indestructible creature ever have in 3 cmc.. it also has two further upside ability with the first being vigilance, and the second a creature tutor that puts it into play when a teammate loses. if this card is only legal in an archenemy deck, then it should be fine, since Archenemy deck usually have a lot of crazy powered schemes, but if this is made legal in other format, this seems to be a super efficient costed creature. which i don't really like. The Avenge ability however, is a cool ability to have, useless in non multiplayer game but it is very powerful trigger.
Millennial Machination - an archenemy Diabolic Tutor, costed pretty well, and allow you to choose a scheme to be set into motion next, this seems like a balanced card power level wise. nothing much to say since its pretty straight forward card in flavor and in things that it does. but the Doom cost makes me see this card differently. The doom cost literally throw the card out of balance since you can set motion each turn, and when you do, you can set aside two mana to set up your scheme and tutor for something which i believe is too strong to be allowed to be done at such minimal cost of 1B.
Reward of Preliminary - a creative scheme involving ability. however, unless we play a Planechase Archenemy Commander,
it will most of the time cause each opponent to lose 1 life and gain you three life. If you play multiple cards in the command zone, then it could spell doom to you opponent, losing 2 life each turn and you gaining 6 life is a big deal. i like this card but its seems pretty weak, but could be wacky on a wackier format.
Tariq, Lord of Akrasa - i don't really fancy a card that has both X and Y in its rule text since it involve much maths in finding out what it does.
The card i have in mind when i saw this is Lodestone Myr and Myr Battlesphere both costed at 4 and 7 respectively and increase its p/t by 1 for each tapped artifact. While Tariq, is costed at 3 cmc that grows bigger as your biggest creature goes, and gains all of their ability as well. I think this is too much for a creature to have. Idea wise, i could see the flavor, Tariq uniting the whole army as one.
Now Behold My Black Armies - this basically lets you create armies of zombies ala Monastery Mentor. Not very flavorful in black i think. Black has never been the prowess color. It would be much suitable in UW with the creature being a monk or soldier tokens. This could be seen as bad guys trying to break into Jeskai Monastery and the Archenemey is the Dragonlord Ojutai itself. Power level wise, its a fine card,
but i don't think its in the right color. Black has never done anything with regard of you playing noncreature spell, other than Blood Funnel which flavor was more like, you sacrifice a creature to cast your spell.
Unassuming Rebel - a straight forward utility card, since in Archenemy is 3 vs 1, this easily read as the strongest creature your opponent control can't block if this attacks. which seems fine at the cost the card is. Not really stand out but is useful to get in the damage of your teammates too. I can feel the work together flavor in this card in a multiplayer game, where he takes the leads, and the rest follow him around to evade opponent biggest creature.
Karplusan Savior - this is a fine uncommon especially that it has a regen all that could be useful against mass removal in archenemy. The idea of saving the whole team by self sacrifice seems fine in green.
Gitaxian Cogitator - i'm not really sure what it does especially with 'five artifacts', i assume the more logical one is for each artifact you control. This is crazy scary in archenemy especially if the archenemy build the deck around artifact stuff like Moxes and other Mana stone, and suddenly you set three scheme into motion on turn three (or two) for three or four scheme then scry 4. Seems like a good card design for what it does, but given what cards are available, this is too overpowered imo.
Skep Delver - its a fine card. definitely useful, but is very fragile and slow on its own, it could be the first target if the archenemy has any removal spell since when this hits the battlefield, in a winnies opposing archenemy,
this could result in scry 2 across the board.
The Hive Hungers - i can imagine a scenario of heroes, against Alien like Sliver horde where this card is played.
at 4 mana, you could probably already hit five slivers with the help of the tokens. the sliver are learning more and more and they become smarter. They then set an evil scheme into motion. Flavorwise it doesn't really feel green,
but the token putting ability is surely green. I could see this better in blue though, maybe 2UG for the cost to correct the flavor. Balance wise its pretty fairly costed.
The Great Disciple - this reminds me of a join forces kind of card. This requires 18 mana by itself , then it requires 8 mana from its controller to be a super avatar. Seems like a cool card design, safely costed so that it won't be easily overpowering, but definitely useful. Getting it to 8 power is fine, but getting it to become avatar is surely a hard work.
To Rule the Multiverse - this is the first thing i have in mind actually for the challenge. this is surely right on color. It takes four turn to actually set the quest counter up unless we have a proliferating kind of decks. seems like a simple nice design.
Tritus, Riverwalker - powerlevel wise, its pretty ok. 2 mana for a 1/1 evolver. but it has graft, as well, which means it can move its +1/+1 counter to other creatures when they enter the battlefield, depends on how you do the triggers, Tritus allows any creature with power or toughness greater than 1 to enter the battlefield with an additional +1/+1 counters on it since Evolve will put a +1/+1 counter on Tritus then its Graft allow it to move the counter somewhere else. This effect is seen on multiple cards at 2 mana with many different restriction so balance wise it should be fine.
The third ability is where it got me on alert, it has a heroic ability that allows you to dig 4 cards, this is the strongest ability among its other ability, and it is repeatable. I was active doing standard when Heroic deck was around, and Battlewise Hoplite easily win games by itself with its Heroic scry ability, this does much more by digging for 4 cards. I honestly don't really like the dig number at 4, if it were 2 it would be fine by me. Ability wise, it seems interesting to have Graft and Evolve on the same creature, and the Heroic also goes well with grafting since excess +1/+1 can be moved around.
Idea wise, its seems fine, but if you do an MSE render, the text is so small, its a 10-liner
Blithe Jesters - four mana for a chance for flipping double scheme or turn each other creature into red Goats. seems like a good bet especially if you have no other creature around. Itself, with Myriad and First strike is quite hard to deal with in battle and go for a chunk 3 damage to each player everytime it attacks. If build around, it could be a very strong contender in the Archenemy fight, especially if you have Lightning Greaves and the sort to protect it.
Wildhoof Stalwart: Avenge is a narrow but flavorful ability. The body is perhaps overly aggressive costed, especially since it isn't even legendary. It does ring of being a hero for sure.
Millennial Machinations:Considering you set a scheme into motion every turn automatically, doesn't this just cost 1B? In that regard, it's certainly overpowered. Edit- Misread, you do this instead of the scheme eh? Pretty fair actually. I like it.
Tritus, Riverwalker: Too complicated for my taste, though the interaction of abilities is quite good. There wouldn't be room for that long flavor text. Certainly feels like a hero.
Blithe Jesters: A jester who is a goblin bard wizard? Odd flavor junction there, but could be quite the character. A random schemer? Eh. This card has and interesting narrative, but it pulls in a lot of directions that I'm not sure quite jive. A Myriad creature for the Archenemy is smart.
Reward the Preliminary: I like that you came up with a strange build around card that works beyond archenemy. I do think it's fairly narrow in spite of this and doesn't offer that much of a reward. The name could be darker to match the tone of the flavor text.
Tariq, Lord of Akrasa: Well this does feel like super super exalted. It also a fair bit more complicated, and the addition of gaining ALL abilities this way adds lots of potential rules headaches. It does fit the colors well and is certainly a hero. Feels almost Mythic.
Now Behold My Black Armies: I'm not sure wb was thecolors to go with this. I think it would of been better as a mono black card,cost 5, making 2/2 zombies.
The concept is quite good, but the execution on the numbers feel off.
Unassuming Rebel: The name almost makes me think this should have blue in it's identity. I think the ability is overly complicated for little reason. The distinction on the highest power creature being the one who cant block is a subtle nuance that I don't think is needed to illustrate the flavor. It also feels weird as this is the hero card going against the archenemy when it actually targets more of your allies (in a non-relevant way.) I assume the intent was to make it more interesting for other multiplayer formats?
In archenemy you can already block for allies, so the complexity of this card is unnecessary. However a defensive hero makes sense. A lot of the creativity of this card goes out the window when you consider it ability should be simpler.
Bolas Repudiation: This is mean. I like it. Seems pretty fair too, though getting an extra turn is quite vicious. Opponents will have to quickly learn to play around this.
If anything, the flavor text is quite weak, and doesn't come with the wit or monologue I'd expect from Bolas.
Karplusan Savior:Solid card, certainly a hero(martyr), and expanded a classic effect to mater in a multiplayer game. Might be better worded referring to teammates, but their are pros and cons to doing that instead. I like the jist of the flavor text, but maybe a different quip about failure since it sounds like everyone is at least attempting a journey.
Gitaxian Cogitator: Too many numbers reference in this, and the 5 artifacts in particiular feels arbitrary. The elegance is missing. The grammar in the flavor text could use work. I do really like the idea of a phyrexian card for the Archenemy, and it's a product I would want to see.
Skep Delver: The reward here is modest, certainly not rare worthy. It'd be a fine uncommon. It's weak on the heroic flavor for me. Someone who scouts and scrys doesn't hit the right note.
The Hive Hungers: Another good direction to take the archenemy, though I admit slivers don't really feel scheme oriented even with your flavor text. The balance of this card feels good, albeit perhaps too easy to achieve. I think the idea has merit, but it would require a special flavor of schemes to make me beleive it.
Picking a top three was difficult. No one had a perfect entry, and while there were some great concepts, execution was all over the place and often inelegant. I can solidly give a 1st place, but the ones after are very difficult. In the end I went with the entries that had distinct creativity without going so far out there into rules/elegance issues to make them unprintable.
Feedback: (my apologies for providing less feedback than usual. With double the cards it was tough. I tried to do my best, and if you want to chat about your card, don't hesitate to PM me).
Wildhoof Stalwart:
I'm a big fan of this card. The avenge ability is really good here, both from a flavor and gameplay perspective. It encourages the archenemy to either kill you first (more likely) or to try to get each of you to a low life total before killing all of you at once (less likely). So I think it's greatest utility is in saving a teammate who is more slow in developing his board or who has been decimated by the Archenemy in some fashion because it discourages the archenemy from finishing him off. The ability is strong enough to act as a real deterrent. That's neat.
Regarding the specifics of the card, I think I would prefer First strike instead of Indestructible. Everything else feels pitch-perfect.
I appreciate the creativity here - good multiplayer design space for green-white.
This card is simply way too powerful. You get two Vampiric Tutor for 2 mana. Cheap versions of these cards only promote degeneracy (and the elimination of white, green, and red as viable colors. See 1v1 Commander on MTGO.). This one doubles down on that. I can't imagine this card making Archenemy a fun experience either. It decreases the replayability of a product that already is less replayable than it should be (I think the Professor at Tolarian Community College is right in his evaluation of the Bolas Archenemy product). This was one of my motivations for designing Blithe Jesters. I'd avoid putting tutor effects like this in Archenemy, but if you do, they need to be balanced ones, not doubly potent ones. Something like Diabolic Tutor, perhaps. Which leads me to....
The way to fix this card would be to make the Doom cost only work with the scheme. So you get a 5 mana tutor (maybe cut it down to 4 mana) or a 2 mana (reduce to 1 mana?) scheme tutor in one card. We can worry about the wording later, but that's a change that needs to happen. Fortunately it isn't changing the card too much. The native idea behind the card is still present in this tweaked version. I do like and appreciate the creativity in this design.
One additional thing - I think it is clever to try to balance the card around foregoing a free spell. I think that shows considerate design. The card now needs to just take one additional design step to become a great card!
Cool names for both cards. Aesthetics matter
Reward of Preliminary:
I like this card a lot, and appreciate that it works across all multiplayer formats.
I think the card is costed appropriately, at least for Archenemy, Planechase, and Commander. No comment on the others hah!
Just an overall clean design. I enjoyed reading it.
Tariq:
This is a cool card. Obviously it will lead to many a rules headache, but I think there is a solution to the gameplay problems of the card as-written. Would it be too unsatisfying if it simply gave itself all the evergreen keywords of the tapped creatures? I wish there were a way to just say that instead of writing them all out. Maybe pick out a few of them that are common in Bant colors? Like Flying, Trample, and First Strike? The reason you'd need to do this is that the card would be utterly confusing in its current form. I don't mind complexity and the power/toughness tracking, but *all abilities* is going to make for many an Advil needing to be taken.
Other than that, it's a cool card with a cool design. Colors help sell it. Creature type is great. 1/1 is good.
Now Behold My Armies:
Interesting card. It is very strong, and reminiscent of Oketra's Monument or Skywise Teachings. Both are fun cards. This one looks like a fun card.
There is something unsatisfying about getting only a 1/1. Not sure why that is. Maybe because zombies are usually 2/2s? Maybe because they enter tapped? I think if you are worried about power level (and I'm not 100% sure how highly to value schemes in a power level equation), then perhaps requiring a single mana to make the token would be better than weakening them in two ways. Perhaps: "Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, you may pay 1. If you do, create a 1/1 white Monk token. If that spell was a planeswalker, create a 2/2 black Zombie token instead."
Nevertheless, the above point is tweaking the card for aesthetic and satisfaction reasons. How you chose to balance it is a legitimate way to balance it. This tapped/untapped business annoyed the hell out of me during SOI block though. "Why do these come into play tapped, yet those come into play untapped?" The tapped ones felt like guard-rails were being attached to the card. Wizards made a mistake there - drawbacks can be fun and cool, but drawbacks need to feel like drawbacks instead of like guard-rails and training wheels. I felt the same about the aftermath half of aftermath cards in AKH all being sorcery speed if they affected the battlefield in any way, as if "instants" were some sort of forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. Anyway, sorry for the rambly musings.
A name change is needed here. It sounds like a scheme. I also would have liked some flavor text. Seems like some flavor text could be really cool here.
Creative card. By caring about ongoing schemes, you sold me on the color choice of the card. Thanks for sharing
Unassuming Rebel:
I don't like this card for this particular challenge (I'd rather this be in the Archenemy's deck in an Archenemy product.), but I do like the card intrinsically.
costed appropriately. Has a meaningful effect on the game. Solid.
Crusader of the Opal Order
I really like the idea of this card. In a format with a different set of rules, this would have been extremely clever! It shows creativity as it is, of course. It's a great ability in White as well! The problem in Archenemy is that the Archenemy attacks the three of you all at the same time. He doesn't attack each player in sequential order.
Solidly costed. Good stats. Clean design all around.
For archenemy, I think maybe making this blue/white (or maybe maybe leaving it in white), costing it at 4 or 5 with the same stats, and making it copy itself for each ally who is being attacked would be the way to modify the card for Archenemy.
Bolas's Repudiation
This was my favorite card submitted this round. Balanced. Feels grixis. Powerful and exciting. Flavor text on point. Just a clean, solid design.
Karplusan Savior
Solid design. I like the name, creatuer type, rarity, stats, and costs.
I think I like the regeneration at CMC 3 or 4.
flavor text needs some extra juice.
Gitaxian Cogitator:
I don't know if you can say "set a scheme into motion", but I must say that I really do prefer that accusative wording. Seeing everyone else, me included, follow Wizards' ablative wording "set a scheme in motion" has been driving me nuts. This point is irrelevant for all intents and purposes, but I had to write that I appreciated your word change there.
It is rather confusing as-is. I think I would drop the Scry clause at the end of that train of clauses and add a new ability: "At the end of your turn, scry X, where X is the number of schemes set in motion this turn." That tidies it up nicely and doesn't alter the function of the card in a meaningful way.
This card looks like a fun card in the right Archenemy product. Sets up its own little subgame. I think that ruffles up the texture of the product and enables novel and differing play experiences.
cool flavor text. Nice submission overall
Skep Delver:
I really like this card. Many cards like it need to be in an archenemy product if the product is going to be a success. This should be some of the bread and butter of the product. Drop its rarity down to uncommon!
You could reword it: "Whenever a creature deals damage to one of your opponents, its controller may scry 1." That is cleaner, but it doesn't have the exact effect if there are 3 or 4 teams at the table. Just an alternate version for you to consider.
I would recommend making this a 2 mana 1/2 flyer or 2/1 flyer.
well balanced, appropriate stats for its cost. Good flavor text. Solid, if subdued, submission.
The Hive Hungers:
Another cool card. This one is a definite flavor win. Creative and culturally-fitting archenemy being alluded to.
Pitch-perfect name. My goodness that is a good name. A+ name.
The card, and the name, is screaming to be an enchantment. I hear it calling down from the rooftops now! It should read:
The Hive Hungers2GG
Enchantment (R)
When The Hive Hungers enters the battlefield, create two 1/1 colorless Sliver creature tokens.
At the beginning of your endstep, if you control five/seven or more Slivers, set the top scheme of the scheme deck in motion."
You forgot to put a rarity.
great flavor text. Great submission overall. This one made me smile more than any other.
The Great Disciple:
Another solid card (seems like I really like everyone's cards this round).
I think the card is fairly costed. Has a neat multiplayer component. Has an activated ability that feels relevant because multiplayer games often last longer than competitive 1v1 games.
The flavor immersion of the card needs a tweak somewhere. If you're going for a virtue angle, then perhaps make the disciple turn into an Angel or a Spirit or something instead of an Avatar. You're taking a concept already foreign to the West and then expanding its meaning beyond what Magic (or its native Hinduism) has ever done before. Bring it closer to home.
One more minor thing - make it a monk, not a soldier.
Overall, I like this card. I think it would make a great inclusion in an Archenemy product.
To Rule the Multiverse:
Just like how every limited environment needs a few Sandwurm Convergence or Sagu Mauler or [/card]Rush of Battle[/card] to break open games and prevent games from dragging on and on, this card fits the bill for an Archenemy product. Thus, from a game design perspective, I think this is a smart design.
Also, extremely flavorful. Might rub some as a bit cartoonish, but count me sold.
Depending on how good schemes are, you may want to cost this at 5. In the latest Archenemy product, 4 seems good because the schemes are weaker. In the former one, you'd want to cost this at 5.
Color is on-point. Good choice there. Overall, really good! Was a real pleasure to read!
*note* I really don't see much of a difference between #1-8 here, so this is fairly meaningless. Highest quality among all submissions across the board I've seen since I started participating. Was a pleasure to read and comment on these cards.
1)scrad_the_wanderer
2)iphanx
3)Raptorchan
My first thought seeing Wildhoof Stalwart was: is a 3 mana 3/3 indestructible acceptable in high end formats? Archenemy cards would be legal in Legacy I think. I guess that's okay? The archenemy decks would probably be crafted in a way that there's answers to indestructible. Anyways, that's a very interesting trigger. On one hand, it's not going to happen often - so it's not something you'd actually want to spend words on. But it feels very cool to have such a large effect, so that lessens the perception of it not mattering much. It's a cool comeback mechanic. Maybe players losing actually happens more often in Archenemy than I think. I'm no expert. At any rate, this might be very fun. As for Millennial Machinations, I like the idea of the Doom mechanic. I have sympathies for the name but it seems rather broad. It's certainly fitting for the naming conventions in Archenemy. However, setting actual schemes in motion is very powerful, fun and kind of the catch of the entire format. Skipping that isn't something people would want to do often, so it's fine for a single card, but not fit for a mechanic. The card makes a good job of making up for that though, as it may be very well worth it to skip out on a scheme to get the right one next time. However, searching two decks isn't something I'd put into a four player format, as it would be rather time consuming.
You like special creature types, don't you? Starting with Tritus, Riverwalker - when I think of a creature with both Evolve and Graft I'm expecting some hyperevolving blobby mass. Not exactly someone who's able to walk in a River, doing druidic things. You might have overshot with the mechanics here - flavorwise. The card itself sounds like nice gameplay though. You'll want to play lots of creatures with this and at first heroic seems to contradict that, but anything that triggers heroic also requires a mass of creatures and the card digging for creatures as well helps a lot. I like that a lot. The idea that the two-legged Merfolk evolved with the help of one anormal specimen really ties them nicely into the Simic. As far as Blithe Jesters is concerned, I was sceptical, but you had me at red Goat. Generally randomness of this kind is frowned upon. It's either broken or awful. Never a good experience for the whole table. But I guess when you build an entire Archenemy around that and embrace it, it might work out. I don't think you needed the Wizard subtype there. Myriad is an interesting choice for archenemy. Originally an incetive to attack in multiplayer it becomes a tool to equally distribute beatings among the 3 "heroes".
I'm not sure if extending scheme naming conventions to regular cards is an idea I can get behind, which is certainly something you did with Now Behold My Black Armies. Things can get a bit confusing when attributes you connect with a certain type of card suddenly appear on others. But this is basicially a scheme, as it sets on in motion. So that might be just fine. I like how you added that feel-good bonus of setting a scheme in motion on etb. The way it cares about the amount of ongoing schemes you have is also nice. 1/1 zombies is a bad idea however, those are supposed to be 2/2. You could have used insects instead. Unassuming Rebel reads a bit awkward, but plays well I suspect. Shouldn't it say 'for each opponent' though? Not sure how this belongs into Archenemy though. You only have one opponent to face there as the hero. Still a nice card in general, as you can play around the block-prevention with the right setup. Feels interactive in a design space that's usually not.
I'm sorry to tell you, but as of Archenemy Nicol Bolas, players can block for eachother. That renders Crusader of the Opal Order's ability kinda pointless and needlessly complex. "Whenever ~ blocks a creature that isn't attacking you or a planeswalker you control, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn." would be a functionally identical and interesting way to do this. Except for the juicy lifelink of course. That doesn't pay off for the added confusion by control swapping. When both your teammates get attacked, who gets control? It's a cute concept though. Maybe it should gain the entire team life whenever it deals damage.
I wonder if setting schemes in motion at instant speed could be a problem, but I'm too lazy to check, so I'll assume Bolas's Repudiation causes no trouble. I like the idea of a high reward of countering something in your own turn. That's very cool. Other than that there's not much to say about this. Schemes as a cantrip seems like a good idea.
With the addition of teammate to the vocabulary by the Surge mechanic, there's no need to beat around the bush anymore, like Karplusan Savior does. Regeneration is also no longer really supported. Indestructible took its place. Other than that, this is a neat design. Fair power creature, which you can trade off for lots of mana for a big effect. Seems healthy. Gitaxian Cogitator seems a bit off. Five artifacts already seems like a lot. How often will it happen that you have ten of them? I guess you can build the schemes around that. Which would certainly lead to explosive gameplay. The scry part feels tacked on, but I guess it's nice to have the card do something, even when you don't have 5 artifacts. However it's a nice concept for a scheme reward card, setting more and more of them into motion.
Skep Delver is a nice concept, but turned out underwhelming. It has no evasion itself and rather mediocre stats for the cost. Multiple Scry 1 triggers aren't very exciting. Scry 1 in general isn't. Normally you get to draw a card with these kinds of effects. After all you managed to get a creature through the line of defense. But it goes into a good direction. The Hive Hungers is neat. I like the idea of a sliver archenemy. It's hard to tell how much an additional scheme is worth. 4 mana for two 1/1s isn't great, but you'll most likely reach the five with that. Depending on the nature of schemes slivers have this might be good. Probably an uncommon.
The Great Disciple's first ability is a nice way to utilize multiplayer. The hoops for the second ability seem a bit much to jump through. The activation costs a total of 26 mana. Holy crap. I guess it's a very deep mana sink. The name sounds legendary, but still generic. Confusing, yet the card is flavorful. All in all the design is rather nice, even if on the lower end of power level. For Archenemy that could be fine, especially in the later portions of the game. To Rule the Multiverse is certainly the grandest quest. The reward falls a bit flat, I expected something grand, not even more schemes. Your first four schemes should get you to rules the multiverse, which should put an end to needing schemes, right? Feels like a placeholder powerful reward right now (a bit like my own design), but the concept is amazing.
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
—Eli Shiffrin, Rules Manager, on a design stacking lifelink instances
Wildhoof StalwartGGW
Creature - Centaur Shaman Soldier {R}
Vigilance, indestructible Avenge -- Whenever one of your teammates loses the game, you may search your library for a creature card and put that card onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library.
3/3
This guy is plain broken. Sure, anti-Archenemy team need a hero, but come on, Darksteel Myr costs 3 and we know what he does.
Millennial Machinations3BB
Sorcery {R}
Search your library for a card and put that card into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
Search your scheme deck for a card. Shuffle your scheme deck, then put the card on top of it.
Doom 1B(If you would set a scheme in motion, instead you may cast this card for its doom cost.)
Doom seems fine just because it reminds me about spellshapers - you can turn any spell into certain spell, now you can turn any scheme into certain Scheme-like spell.
Opposing deck Tritus, RiverwalkerUG
Legendary Creature — Merfolk Druid Mutant (M)
Evolve, graft 1 Heroic — Whenever you cast a spell that targets Tritus, put a +1/+1 counter on it and look at the top 4 cards of your library. You may reveal an aura, creature or instant card from among them and put it into your hand, then puts the rest on the bottom of your library in any order. "His name is rarely mentioned in the tales of our terrestrial conquests. Yet it was the gift of his genetic abnormality that allowed the merfolk to fight on land." — Zanus, Merfolk Chronicler
0/0
What I can say - Mythic is the right rarity. Simple (I mean stats and mana cost, ability is wordy but seems clear) and powerful.
Archenemy deck Blithe Jesters2RR
Creature — Goblin Bard Wizard (R)
First strike, myriad
Whenever you set a scheme in motion, flip a coin. If you win the flip, set an additional scheme in motion. If you lose the flip, until end of turn, each other creature you control loses all abilities and becomes a red Goat with base power and toughness 1/1. Some songs are paeans. Others, mockeries.
3/2
Need to say that first ability can give you a lot schemes in a row if you are lucky. But second ability is just too much - maybe you need a drawback for a powerful ability like the first one, but while being an Archenemy you just can't avoid it (the only option is not to play these guys).
Archenemy deck, referencing schemes, cmc 4+
Reward of Preliminary2BB
Enchantment (R)
At the end of your turn, each opponent loses X life, where X is equal to the number of card types among cards in your command zone. You gain life equal to the life lost this way. (Card types that can be in your command zone are conspiracy, creature, plane, scheme and vanguard.)
Insolent nescients! I was ready for this encounter before even your sparks ignited!
It feels like it harms for 1 only in any format (can conspiracies, planes, schemes and other command zone-matters cards be used in the same format? Home rules, maybe). Also you forgot about creature (come on, it's COMMANDER zone). Otherwise, loss of 1 life per turn probably doesn't worth such cost.
Opposing deck, "hero" or "underdog" flavor, cmc 3-
Tariq, Lord of AkrasaGWU
Legendary Creature - Human Knight (R)
Whenever Tariq, Lord of Akrasa attacks or blocks, you may tap any number of other creatures you control. Until end of turn, Tariq, Lord of Akrasa gets +X/+Y, where X is their combined power and Y is their combined toughness and gains all their abilities.
1/1
This is what can be called Super exalted. It hard to judge a card like this - melding all your creature cards into one can be broken as hell (I already see it, just use something unblockable like Triton Shorestalker or trample and everything will be fire, but to be honest, it's not so broken as Vehicles - the power boost is fair at least), but again, it dies to removal as long as you don't use hexproof or something like this. So, I see it as 50/50.
A scheme-related card that is CMC 4 or greater:
Now Behold My Black Armies2WB
Enchantment (R)
When Now Behold My Black Armies enters the battlefield, set a scheme in motion.
Ongoing schemes you control have, "Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, create a tapped 1/1 black Zombie creature token."
Elegant. Good job. I want one. Probably should not be white though (or should it be "Now Behold my Black and White Armies?" .
A "hero or underdog" flavored card that is CMC 3 or less:
Unassuming Rebel2R
Creature — Human Rebel (U)
Whenever Unassuming Rebel attacks, for each player, the untapped creature with the highest power that player controls can't block this turn.
2/2
I got the idea but this hard definitely has issues. No one said you always want to block with your most powerful creature - it can be true, sure, but not always. Also it doesn't relly fit Archenemy format because Archenemy is usually single. But don't worry, I like the first card enough to put it into the TOP 3.
Heroic creature Crusader of the Opal Order 1WW
Creature - Human Knight (R)
First strike, lifelink
Whenever a teammate becomes attacked, he or she gains control of Crusader of the Opal Order. If he or she does, Crusader of the Opal Order gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
2/2
Probably will be rules hell with Archenemy's creatures attacking all opposing players at the same time. I am not a judge and i can;t say how it will work in this situation.
The Archenemy: Bolas's Repudiation1UUBR
Instant (R)
Counter target spell. If this is your turn, take an extra turn after this. Otherwise set a scheme in motion. No interuption!
Bolas-y enough and mana intensive. Bad news - it should not be red and black because all effects are blue (okaym scheming effect can be in any colors, so I'll forgive you ). Good news - I still kinda like it.
Skep Delver2U
Creature - Human Scout (R)
Whenever a creature you or a teammate controls deals combat damage to an opponent, that creature's controller may scry 1. "If we wish to vanquish these monsters, we must first study them."
2/3
Pretty simple and encourages teamplay. Multiple scrying for 1 will be a mess though. Maybe would work better with "scry X, where X is the number of creatures dealt... and so on"
The Hive Hungers2GG
Sorcery (U)
Create two 1/1 colorless Sliver creature tokens.
If you control five or more Slivers, set the top scheme of the scheme deck into motion. In the beginning, the Hive only knew how to propagate and expand itself. Now it knows so much more.
Scheming Slivers. Mana cost is high for such effect especially in green, but nothing to really dislike about.
The Great Disciple1WW
Creature - Human Soldier (R) 3: Put a +1/+1 counter on The Great Disciple. Any player may activate this ability. 6WW: The Great Disciple becomes an Avatar with double strike and indestructible. Activate this ability only if The Great Disciple's power and toughness are 8 or greater. One student, many teachers, unparalleled virtue.
2/2
That's some really intense mana invest - but more smooth with teammates. And of course any Johnny will cheat it with pumping spell which is nice.
To Rule the Multiverse2BB
Enchantment (R)
Whenever you set a scheme into motion, you may put a quest counter on To Rule the Multiverse.
As long as there are four or more quest counters on To Rule the Multiverse, if you would set a scheme into motion, set two schemes into motion instead.
That's something I can call Grand Quest. On turn 8 things will become really sour for the opposing team. I don't really know how Archenemy lay can last 8 turns (I played twice and games were ended really fast). Otherwise, it's neat.
doomfish:
Reward of Preliminary> Triggers happen "at the beginning of the end step." Are we making Magic cards in 2005 now? I *think* this is correctly costed for being so narrow. Seems perfect for people who play really crazy kitchen table games but that's about it.
Tariq> I like the idea, but "gains all their abilities" can cause the game rules themselves to break down. There is a reason cards like Concerted Effort list abilities to share among creatures.
kjsharp:
Tritus> The combination of graft and heroic is neat, and I think the numbers look right.
Blithe Jesters> You realize this triggers off itself right? So in the end you set as many schemes in motion as you get heads, and your guys are 1/1s. This needs to use a replacement effect to do what you want it to do.
scrad_the_wanderer:
Skep Delver> Doesn't seem worth it to me at this cost. Sadly I don't think there is really a cost you can put this at for it to be "good" as is. When I first saw this I thought of Edric, Spymaster of Trest, and in most cases I'd rather just play him.
The Hive Hungers> No rarity? Seems fine otherwise.
iphanx:
Crusader of the Opal Order> This should probably have vigilance instead of first strike, given that it wants to block. Might even be able to make the power boost permanent using counters.
Bolas' Repudiation> Scheming on the heroes' turn seems like it could be ludicrously powerful. Granted it is a five mana counterspell, but given how controlling Archenemy decks tend to be, getting there shouldn't be terribly challenging, especially not with 40 life (80 in EDH.)
IcariiFA:
The Great Disciple> This is easily one of the better hero cards in this batch. My only real nitpick is with a name like that, why isn't it legendary?
To Rule the Multiverse> Extra scheme cards are so difficult to balance. I think this one is about right. My only complaint is this does absolutely nothing outside Archenemy.
Raptorchan:
Karplusan Savior> YES. Just YES. I don't see too many 25/25 cards, but this is one of them.
Gitacian Cogitator> Being able to scheme multiple times repeatedly seems a bit over the top. Probably should be legendary.
willows:
Now Behold My Black Armies> It's very hard to set a price on scheming an extra time. I think there are enough ongoing schemes in the game that you can make a scheme deck with twenty of them, and this could get out of hand extremely quickly, even with the tokens coming in tapped.
Unassuming Rebel> This fits the prompt better than most of the other submissions I've seen. I'd actually like to see this kind of creature printed more often, like on a 3/2 for 2R. Masako the Humorless says hi though.
Great job everyone, making a top 3 was tough.
1) Raptorchan
2) IcariiFA
3) willows
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A mere ten days after the Mending, a young knight of Valeron and a young ranger of Eos made a discovery that would change Alara forever.
I don't usually like asymmetrical multi mana costs and this is that. Avenge gets across a solid "underdog" flavor. I do foresee this creating a weird team build where one player runs a form of suicide black so they can proc your Stalwart at will, which seems...strange.
I would like this card better if it symmetrically tutored to top of each deck. Doom is all right. I'm not super excited by it, but it's not the worst thing ever.
I feel like Tritus is trying to do too much. It's a lot of different things that all have to be tracked at once and it's just a lot.
Blithe Jesters loops with itself. Is this intentional? I think it could be quite problematic.
Reward of Preliminary is pretty silly since you don't typically use all those card types in a game at once.
Tariq is pretty strong but it's also problematic in that it can give itself multiple conflicting CDAs.
Crusader of the Opal Order is a bit clunky but delightful.
Bolas' Repudiation is a bit oddly worded. I'm not sure how I feel about a counterspell having a special bonus when you cast it on your turn.
Regenerate?
You're asking players to do division on one variable and then scry based on another variable? No please no.
Skep Delver, what's a skep? This is a lot of scry but as soon as you hit a card you want to keep it becomes irrelevant if you get more, which is a thing that always makes me sad about multiple small amounts of scry.
The Hive Hungers is cool and I like it. I think it can simple say "set a scheme in motion" though.
The Great Disciple makes me smile, nice work.
To Rule the Multiverse, hm. I would like a trigger condition that doesn't simply happen automatically every turn.
“Foolish Hero, You Shouldn't Have Come Here”
A Display of My Dark Power, taken from magicthegathering.com, by Jim Nelson and Wizards of the Coast
Theme
It's June, which means time for the summer supplement! This year we're getting Archenemy: Nicol Bolas, which is exciting for anyone who likes to play the bad guy. This month's going to be all about supplemental products.
Archenemy: Nicol Bolas has just released, in time for the lead up to Hour of Devastation. There are a bunch of new schemes with very consistent flavor having to do with Bolas's return to Amonkhet and defeat of the Gatewatch. However, there are no new non-scheme cards, sadly. My hope is that future Archenemy products do have new "regular" cards like Planechase and Commander. There are tons of possibilities.
Challenge
Contestants:
doomfish
kjsharp
scrad_the_wanderer
iphanx
IcariiFA
Raptorchan
RaikouRider
willows
Schedule
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Creature - Centaur Shaman Soldier {R}
Vigilance, indestructible
Avenge -- Whenever one of your teammates loses the game, you may search your library for a creature card and put that card onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library.
3/3
Millennial Machinations 3BB
Sorcery {R}
Search your library for a card and put that card into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
Search your scheme deck for a card. Shuffle your scheme deck, then put the card on top of it.
Doom 1B (If you would set a scheme in motion, instead you may cast this card for its doom cost.)
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
Tritus, Riverwalker UG
Legendary Creature — Merfolk Druid Mutant (M)
Evolve, graft 1
Heroic — Whenever you cast a spell that targets Tritus, put a +1/+1 counter on it and look at the top 4 cards of your library. You may reveal an aura, creature or instant card from among them and put it into your hand, then puts the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
"His name is rarely mentioned in the tales of our terrestrial conquests. Yet it was the gift of his genetic abnormality that allowed the merfolk to fight on land." — Zanus, Merfolk Chronicler
0/0
Archenemy deck
Blithe Jesters 2RR
Creature — Goblin Bard Wizard (R)
First strike, myriad
Whenever you set a scheme in motion, flip a coin. If you win the flip, set an additional scheme in motion. If you lose the flip, until end of turn, each other creature you control loses all abilities and becomes a red Goat with base power and toughness 1/1.
Some songs are paeans. Others, mockeries.
3/2
Reward of Preliminary 2BB
Enchantment (R)
At the end of your turn, each opponent loses X life, where X is equal to the number of card types among cards in your command zone. You gain life equal to the life lost this way. (Card types that can be in your command zone are conspiracy, creature, plane, scheme and vanguard.)
Insolent nescients! I was ready for this encounter before even your sparks ignited!
Opposing deck, "hero" or "underdog" flavor, cmc 3-
Tariq, Lord of Akrasa GWU
Legendary Creature - Human Knight (R)
Whenever Tariq, Lord of Akrasa attacks or blocks, you may tap any number of other creatures you control. Until end of turn, Tariq, Lord of Akrasa gets +X/+Y, where X is their combined power and Y is their combined toughness and gains all their abilities.
1/1
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
—Eli Shiffrin, Rules Manager, on a design stacking lifelink instances
Now Behold My Black Armies 2WB
Enchantment (R)
When Now Behold My Black Armies enters the battlefield, set a scheme in motion.
Ongoing schemes you control have, "Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, create a tapped 1/1 black Zombie creature token."
A "hero or underdog" flavored card that is CMC 3 or less:
Unassuming Rebel 2R
Creature — Human Rebel (U)
Whenever Unassuming Rebel attacks, for each player, the untapped creature with the highest power that player controls can't block this turn.
2/2
Crusader of the Opal Order 1WW
Creature - Human Knight (R)
First strike, lifelink
Whenever a teammate becomes attacked, he or she gains control of Crusader of the Opal Order. If he or she does, Crusader of the Opal Order gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
2/2
The Archenemy:
Bolas's Repudiation 1UUBR
Instant (R)
Counter target spell. If this is your turn, take an extra turn after this. Otherwise set a scheme in motion.
No interuption!
Karplusan Savior 2G
Creature - Human Druid (U)
2G, Sacrifice Karplusan Savior: Regenerate each creature your opponents don't control.
"Through the snow and fire, some will reach the destination and some will stay here."
3/2
Archenemy:
Gitaxian Cogitator 4
Artifact (R)
Whenever you set a scheme into motion for the first time each turn, you may set an additional scheme into motion for each five artifacts you control, then scry X, where X is the number of schemes in motion.
"Of course it escalates quickly. The best minds of Phyrexia was melded to it for the sake of progress." - Jin-Gitaxias
Creature - Human Scout (R)
Whenever a creature you or a teammate controls deals combat damage to an opponent, that creature's controller may scry 1.
"If we wish to vanquish these monsters, we must first study them."
2/3
The Hive Hungers 2GG
Sorcery (U)
Create two 1/1 colorless Sliver creature tokens.
If you control five or more Slivers, set the top scheme of the scheme deck into motion.
In the beginning, the Hive only knew how to propagate and expand itself. Now it knows so much more.
Creature - Human Soldier (R)
3: Put a +1/+1 counter on The Great Disciple. Any player may activate this ability.
6WW: The Great Disciple becomes an Avatar with double strike and indestructible. Activate this ability only if The Great Disciple's power and toughness are 8 or greater.
One student, many teachers, unparalleled virtue.
2/2
To Rule the Multiverse 2BB
Enchantment (R)
Whenever you set a scheme into motion, you may put a quest counter on To Rule the Multiverse.
As long as there are four or more quest counters on To Rule the Multiverse, if you would set a scheme into motion, set two schemes into motion instead.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Millennial Machination - an archenemy Diabolic Tutor, costed pretty well, and allow you to choose a scheme to be set into motion next, this seems like a balanced card power level wise. nothing much to say since its pretty straight forward card in flavor and in things that it does. but the Doom cost makes me see this card differently. The doom cost literally throw the card out of balance since you can set motion each turn, and when you do, you can set aside two mana to set up your scheme and tutor for something which i believe is too strong to be allowed to be done at such minimal cost of 1B.
it will most of the time cause each opponent to lose 1 life and gain you three life. If you play multiple cards in the command zone, then it could spell doom to you opponent, losing 2 life each turn and you gaining 6 life is a big deal. i like this card but its seems pretty weak, but could be wacky on a wackier format.
Tariq, Lord of Akrasa - i don't really fancy a card that has both X and Y in its rule text since it involve much maths in finding out what it does.
The card i have in mind when i saw this is Lodestone Myr and Myr Battlesphere both costed at 4 and 7 respectively and increase its p/t by 1 for each tapped artifact. While Tariq, is costed at 3 cmc that grows bigger as your biggest creature goes, and gains all of their ability as well. I think this is too much for a creature to have. Idea wise, i could see the flavor, Tariq uniting the whole army as one.
Now Behold My Black Armies - this basically lets you create armies of zombies ala Monastery Mentor. Not very flavorful in black i think. Black has never been the prowess color. It would be much suitable in UW with the creature being a monk or soldier tokens. This could be seen as bad guys trying to break into Jeskai Monastery and the Archenemey is the Dragonlord Ojutai itself. Power level wise, its a fine card,
but i don't think its in the right color. Black has never done anything with regard of you playing noncreature spell, other than Blood Funnel which flavor was more like, you sacrifice a creature to cast your spell.
Unassuming Rebel - a straight forward utility card, since in Archenemy is 3 vs 1, this easily read as the strongest creature your opponent control can't block if this attacks. which seems fine at the cost the card is. Not really stand out but is useful to get in the damage of your teammates too. I can feel the work together flavor in this card in a multiplayer game, where he takes the leads, and the rest follow him around to evade opponent biggest creature.
Karplusan Savior - this is a fine uncommon especially that it has a regen all that could be useful against mass removal in archenemy. The idea of saving the whole team by self sacrifice seems fine in green.
Gitaxian Cogitator - i'm not really sure what it does especially with 'five artifacts', i assume the more logical one is for each artifact you control. This is crazy scary in archenemy especially if the archenemy build the deck around artifact stuff like Moxes and other Mana stone, and suddenly you set three scheme into motion on turn three (or two) for three or four scheme then scry 4. Seems like a good card design for what it does, but given what cards are available, this is too overpowered imo.
Skep Delver - its a fine card. definitely useful, but is very fragile and slow on its own, it could be the first target if the archenemy has any removal spell since when this hits the battlefield, in a winnies opposing archenemy,
this could result in scry 2 across the board.
The Hive Hungers - i can imagine a scenario of heroes, against Alien like Sliver horde where this card is played.
at 4 mana, you could probably already hit five slivers with the help of the tokens. the sliver are learning more and more and they become smarter. They then set an evil scheme into motion. Flavorwise it doesn't really feel green,
but the token putting ability is surely green. I could see this better in blue though, maybe 2UG for the cost to correct the flavor. Balance wise its pretty fairly costed.
The Great Disciple - this reminds me of a join forces kind of card. This requires 18 mana by itself , then it requires 8 mana from its controller to be a super avatar. Seems like a cool card design, safely costed so that it won't be easily overpowering, but definitely useful. Getting it to 8 power is fine, but getting it to become avatar is surely a hard work.
To Rule the Multiverse - this is the first thing i have in mind actually for the challenge. this is surely right on color. It takes four turn to actually set the quest counter up unless we have a proliferating kind of decks. seems like a simple nice design.
Tritus, Riverwalker - powerlevel wise, its pretty ok. 2 mana for a 1/1 evolver. but it has graft, as well, which means it can move its +1/+1 counter to other creatures when they enter the battlefield, depends on how you do the triggers, Tritus allows any creature with power or toughness greater than 1 to enter the battlefield with an additional +1/+1 counters on it since Evolve will put a +1/+1 counter on Tritus then its Graft allow it to move the counter somewhere else. This effect is seen on multiple cards at 2 mana with many different restriction so balance wise it should be fine.
The third ability is where it got me on alert, it has a heroic ability that allows you to dig 4 cards, this is the strongest ability among its other ability, and it is repeatable. I was active doing standard when Heroic deck was around, and Battlewise Hoplite easily win games by itself with its Heroic scry ability, this does much more by digging for 4 cards. I honestly don't really like the dig number at 4, if it were 2 it would be fine by me. Ability wise, it seems interesting to have Graft and Evolve on the same creature, and the Heroic also goes well with grafting since excess +1/+1 can be moved around.
Idea wise, its seems fine, but if you do an MSE render, the text is so small, its a 10-liner
Blithe Jesters - four mana for a chance for flipping double scheme or turn each other creature into red Goats. seems like a good bet especially if you have no other creature around. Itself, with Myriad and First strike is quite hard to deal with in battle and go for a chunk 3 damage to each player everytime it attacks. If build around, it could be a very strong contender in the Archenemy fight, especially if you have Lightning Greaves and the sort to protect it.
1. IcariFa
2. kjsharp
3. raikourider
Millennial Machinations:Considering you set a scheme into motion every turn automatically, doesn't this just cost 1B? In that regard, it's certainly overpowered. Edit- Misread, you do this instead of the scheme eh? Pretty fair actually. I like it.
Blithe Jesters: A jester who is a goblin bard wizard? Odd flavor junction there, but could be quite the character. A random schemer? Eh. This card has and interesting narrative, but it pulls in a lot of directions that I'm not sure quite jive. A Myriad creature for the Archenemy is smart.
Tariq, Lord of Akrasa: Well this does feel like super super exalted. It also a fair bit more complicated, and the addition of gaining ALL abilities this way adds lots of potential rules headaches. It does fit the colors well and is certainly a hero. Feels almost Mythic.
The concept is quite good, but the execution on the numbers feel off.
Unassuming Rebel: The name almost makes me think this should have blue in it's identity. I think the ability is overly complicated for little reason. The distinction on the highest power creature being the one who cant block is a subtle nuance that I don't think is needed to illustrate the flavor. It also feels weird as this is the hero card going against the archenemy when it actually targets more of your allies (in a non-relevant way.) I assume the intent was to make it more interesting for other multiplayer formats?
Bolas Repudiation: This is mean. I like it. Seems pretty fair too, though getting an extra turn is quite vicious. Opponents will have to quickly learn to play around this.
If anything, the flavor text is quite weak, and doesn't come with the wit or monologue I'd expect from Bolas.
Gitaxian Cogitator: Too many numbers reference in this, and the 5 artifacts in particiular feels arbitrary. The elegance is missing. The grammar in the flavor text could use work. I do really like the idea of a phyrexian card for the Archenemy, and it's a product I would want to see.
The Hive Hungers: Another good direction to take the archenemy, though I admit slivers don't really feel scheme oriented even with your flavor text. The balance of this card feels good, albeit perhaps too easy to achieve. I think the idea has merit, but it would require a special flavor of schemes to make me beleive it.
1st: RaikouRider
2nd: willows
3rd: iphanx
Enchantment (R)
When The Hive Hungers enters the battlefield, create two 1/1 colorless Sliver creature tokens.
At the beginning of your endstep, if you control five/seven or more Slivers, set the top scheme of the scheme deck in motion."
1)scrad_the_wanderer
2)iphanx
3)Raptorchan
I wonder if setting schemes in motion at instant speed could be a problem, but I'm too lazy to check, so I'll assume Bolas's Repudiation causes no trouble. I like the idea of a high reward of countering something in your own turn. That's very cool. Other than that there's not much to say about this. Schemes as a cantrip seems like a good idea.
Gitaxian Cogitator seems a bit off. Five artifacts already seems like a lot. How often will it happen that you have ten of them? I guess you can build the schemes around that. Which would certainly lead to explosive gameplay. The scry part feels tacked on, but I guess it's nice to have the card do something, even when you don't have 5 artifacts. However it's a nice concept for a scheme reward card, setting more and more of them into motion.
The Hive Hungers is neat. I like the idea of a sliver archenemy. It's hard to tell how much an additional scheme is worth. 4 mana for two 1/1s isn't great, but you'll most likely reach the five with that. Depending on the nature of schemes slivers have this might be good. Probably an uncommon.
Very tough call, nice designs all around...
2. RaikouRider
3. kjsharp
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.
—Eli Shiffrin, Rules Manager, on a design stacking lifelink instances
Wildhoof Stalwart GGW
Creature - Centaur Shaman Soldier {R}
Vigilance, indestructible
Avenge -- Whenever one of your teammates loses the game, you may search your library for a creature card and put that card onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library.
3/3
This guy is plain broken. Sure, anti-Archenemy team need a hero, but come on, Darksteel Myr costs 3 and we know what he does.
Millennial Machinations 3BB
Sorcery {R}
Search your library for a card and put that card into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
Search your scheme deck for a card. Shuffle your scheme deck, then put the card on top of it.
Doom 1B (If you would set a scheme in motion, instead you may cast this card for its doom cost.)
Doom seems fine just because it reminds me about spellshapers - you can turn any spell into certain spell, now you can turn any scheme into certain Scheme-like spell.
Opposing deck
Tritus, Riverwalker UG
Legendary Creature — Merfolk Druid Mutant (M)
Evolve, graft 1
Heroic — Whenever you cast a spell that targets Tritus, put a +1/+1 counter on it and look at the top 4 cards of your library. You may reveal an aura, creature or instant card from among them and put it into your hand, then puts the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
"His name is rarely mentioned in the tales of our terrestrial conquests. Yet it was the gift of his genetic abnormality that allowed the merfolk to fight on land." — Zanus, Merfolk Chronicler
0/0
What I can say - Mythic is the right rarity. Simple (I mean stats and mana cost, ability is wordy but seems clear) and powerful.
Archenemy deck
Blithe Jesters 2RR
Creature — Goblin Bard Wizard (R)
First strike, myriad
Whenever you set a scheme in motion, flip a coin. If you win the flip, set an additional scheme in motion. If you lose the flip, until end of turn, each other creature you control loses all abilities and becomes a red Goat with base power and toughness 1/1.
Some songs are paeans. Others, mockeries.
3/2
Need to say that first ability can give you a lot schemes in a row if you are lucky. But second ability is just too much - maybe you need a drawback for a powerful ability like the first one, but while being an Archenemy you just can't avoid it (the only option is not to play these guys).
Reward of Preliminary 2BB
Enchantment (R)
At the end of your turn, each opponent loses X life, where X is equal to the number of card types among cards in your command zone. You gain life equal to the life lost this way. (Card types that can be in your command zone are conspiracy, creature, plane, scheme and vanguard.)
Insolent nescients! I was ready for this encounter before even your sparks ignited!
It feels like it harms for 1 only in any format (can conspiracies, planes, schemes and other command zone-matters cards be used in the same format? Home rules, maybe). Also you forgot about creature (come on, it's COMMANDER zone). Otherwise, loss of 1 life per turn probably doesn't worth such cost.
Opposing deck, "hero" or "underdog" flavor, cmc 3-
Tariq, Lord of Akrasa GWU
Legendary Creature - Human Knight (R)
Whenever Tariq, Lord of Akrasa attacks or blocks, you may tap any number of other creatures you control. Until end of turn, Tariq, Lord of Akrasa gets +X/+Y, where X is their combined power and Y is their combined toughness and gains all their abilities.
1/1
This is what can be called Super exalted. It hard to judge a card like this - melding all your creature cards into one can be broken as hell (I already see it, just use something unblockable like Triton Shorestalker or trample and everything will be fire, but to be honest, it's not so broken as Vehicles - the power boost is fair at least), but again, it dies to removal as long as you don't use hexproof or something like this. So, I see it as 50/50.
Now Behold My Black Armies 2WB
Enchantment (R)
When Now Behold My Black Armies enters the battlefield, set a scheme in motion.
Ongoing schemes you control have, "Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, create a tapped 1/1 black Zombie creature token."
Elegant. Good job. I want one. Probably should not be white though (or should it be "Now Behold my Black and White Armies?" .
A "hero or underdog" flavored card that is CMC 3 or less:
Unassuming Rebel 2R
Creature — Human Rebel (U)
Whenever Unassuming Rebel attacks, for each player, the untapped creature with the highest power that player controls can't block this turn.
2/2
I got the idea but this hard definitely has issues. No one said you always want to block with your most powerful creature - it can be true, sure, but not always. Also it doesn't relly fit Archenemy format because Archenemy is usually single. But don't worry, I like the first card enough to put it into the TOP 3.
Crusader of the Opal Order 1WW
Creature - Human Knight (R)
First strike, lifelink
Whenever a teammate becomes attacked, he or she gains control of Crusader of the Opal Order. If he or she does, Crusader of the Opal Order gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
2/2
Probably will be rules hell with Archenemy's creatures attacking all opposing players at the same time. I am not a judge and i can;t say how it will work in this situation.
The Archenemy:
Bolas's Repudiation 1UUBR
Instant (R)
Counter target spell. If this is your turn, take an extra turn after this. Otherwise set a scheme in motion.
No interuption!
Bolas-y enough and mana intensive. Bad news - it should not be red and black because all effects are blue (okaym scheming effect can be in any colors, so I'll forgive you ). Good news - I still kinda like it.
Creature - Human Scout (R)
Whenever a creature you or a teammate controls deals combat damage to an opponent, that creature's controller may scry 1.
"If we wish to vanquish these monsters, we must first study them."
2/3
Pretty simple and encourages teamplay. Multiple scrying for 1 will be a mess though. Maybe would work better with "scry X, where X is the number of creatures dealt... and so on"
The Hive Hungers 2GG
Sorcery (U)
Create two 1/1 colorless Sliver creature tokens.
If you control five or more Slivers, set the top scheme of the scheme deck into motion.
In the beginning, the Hive only knew how to propagate and expand itself. Now it knows so much more.
Scheming Slivers. Mana cost is high for such effect especially in green, but nothing to really dislike about.
Creature - Human Soldier (R)
3: Put a +1/+1 counter on The Great Disciple. Any player may activate this ability.
6WW: The Great Disciple becomes an Avatar with double strike and indestructible. Activate this ability only if The Great Disciple's power and toughness are 8 or greater.
One student, many teachers, unparalleled virtue.
2/2
That's some really intense mana invest - but more smooth with teammates. And of course any Johnny will cheat it with pumping spell which is nice.
To Rule the Multiverse 2BB
Enchantment (R)
Whenever you set a scheme into motion, you may put a quest counter on To Rule the Multiverse.
As long as there are four or more quest counters on To Rule the Multiverse, if you would set a scheme into motion, set two schemes into motion instead.
That's something I can call Grand Quest. On turn 8 things will become really sour for the opposing team. I don't really know how Archenemy lay can last 8 turns (I played twice and games were ended really fast). Otherwise, it's neat.
1) willows
2) doomfish
3) scrad_the_wanderer
doomfish:
Reward of Preliminary> Triggers happen "at the beginning of the end step." Are we making Magic cards in 2005 now? I *think* this is correctly costed for being so narrow. Seems perfect for people who play really crazy kitchen table games but that's about it.
Tariq> I like the idea, but "gains all their abilities" can cause the game rules themselves to break down. There is a reason cards like Concerted Effort list abilities to share among creatures.
kjsharp:
Tritus> The combination of graft and heroic is neat, and I think the numbers look right.
Blithe Jesters> You realize this triggers off itself right? So in the end you set as many schemes in motion as you get heads, and your guys are 1/1s. This needs to use a replacement effect to do what you want it to do.
scrad_the_wanderer:
Skep Delver> Doesn't seem worth it to me at this cost. Sadly I don't think there is really a cost you can put this at for it to be "good" as is. When I first saw this I thought of Edric, Spymaster of Trest, and in most cases I'd rather just play him.
The Hive Hungers> No rarity? Seems fine otherwise.
iphanx:
Crusader of the Opal Order> This should probably have vigilance instead of first strike, given that it wants to block. Might even be able to make the power boost permanent using counters.
Bolas' Repudiation> Scheming on the heroes' turn seems like it could be ludicrously powerful. Granted it is a five mana counterspell, but given how controlling Archenemy decks tend to be, getting there shouldn't be terribly challenging, especially not with 40 life (80 in EDH.)
IcariiFA:
The Great Disciple> This is easily one of the better hero cards in this batch. My only real nitpick is with a name like that, why isn't it legendary?
To Rule the Multiverse> Extra scheme cards are so difficult to balance. I think this one is about right. My only complaint is this does absolutely nothing outside Archenemy.
Raptorchan:
Karplusan Savior> YES. Just YES. I don't see too many 25/25 cards, but this is one of them.
Gitacian Cogitator> Being able to scheme multiple times repeatedly seems a bit over the top. Probably should be legendary.
willows:
Now Behold My Black Armies> It's very hard to set a price on scheming an extra time. I think there are enough ongoing schemes in the game that you can make a scheme deck with twenty of them, and this could get out of hand extremely quickly, even with the tokens coming in tapped.
Unassuming Rebel> This fits the prompt better than most of the other submissions I've seen. I'd actually like to see this kind of creature printed more often, like on a 3/2 for 2R. Masako the Humorless says hi though.
Great job everyone, making a top 3 was tough.
1) Raptorchan
2) IcariiFA
3) willows
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
IcariiFA
RaikouRider
Raptorchan
willows
The semifinal round will shortly be up.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
I would like this card better if it symmetrically tutored to top of each deck. Doom is all right. I'm not super excited by it, but it's not the worst thing ever.
Blithe Jesters loops with itself. Is this intentional? I think it could be quite problematic.
Tariq is pretty strong but it's also problematic in that it can give itself multiple conflicting CDAs.
Bolas' Repudiation is a bit oddly worded. I'm not sure how I feel about a counterspell having a special bonus when you cast it on your turn.
You're asking players to do division on one variable and then scry based on another variable? No please no.
The Hive Hungers is cool and I like it. I think it can simple say "set a scheme in motion" though.
To Rule the Multiverse, hm. I would like a trigger condition that doesn't simply happen automatically every turn.