thinking of how a new form of dual land might be used, I thought of something that may or may not work.
Calamitous Vents
Land- Mountain Island
Add or to your mana pool.
When you play Calamitous Vents, neither player can cast spells until end of turn.
This is what I came up with, a dual land that enters the battlefield untapped but that carries an interesting double-edged sword. If you pack too many of these into a deck, you effectively develop your board state as though you were one turn behind. Even so, the careful use of "delay lands" would allow to stop enemy combat tricks and most end-of-turn surprises.
My big question regards whether an ability can trigger off of "playing a land", as opposed to having it enter the battlefield. Several cards like Crucible of Worlds and Exploration affection how you "play" lands and from where but not a single ability in this game currently triggers from playing a land. This distinction is important as is stops players from cheating out "delay lands" on an opponent's turn to freeze them.
If necessary, that second line of text could always become:
"When Calamitous Vents enters the battlefield, if it is your turn,..."
But that seems pretty wordy compared to a relatively streamlined alternative.
To answer your question, yes, an ability can trigger specifically off of a player playing lands as opposed to lands entering the battlefield. But due to the prevalence of fetchlands and other similar cards, I wouldn't recommend having the "play a land" trigger condition. This is especially so because these have two basic land types.
Another thing (although this is probably just an oversight) is that the concept of "neither player" doesn't exist for purposes of multiplayer games. It should probably read "each player" or something like that. Maybe even just "you"; off the top of my head I can't imagine too many cases where this should be able to punish opponents as well.
Lastly, I'm not sure whether or not this should lock abilities as well as spells. I'm not sure if locking abilities is entirely needed, since abilities are mostly information that each player has available to them and thus are able to play around.
I wonder how powerful this variant would be:
Calamitous Vents Land
You may have ~ enter the battlefield tapped. If you don't, you can't cast spells this turn. T: Add U or R to your mana pool.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
How to use card tags (please use them for everybody's sanity)
[c]Lightning Bolt[/c] -> Lightning Bolt
[c=Lightning Bolt]Apple Pie[/c] -> Apple Pie
Vowels-Only Format Minimum deck size: 60 Maximum number of identical cards: 4 Ban list: Cards whose English names begin with a consonant, Unglued and Unhinged cards, cards involving ante, Ancestral Recall
I agree with the idea that this effecting opponent's negatively as well is probably not appropriate. Thought Criminal's variant seems more properly balanced to me.
The idea of making the effect symmetrical was due to an error in my own rules understanding. My original thought was that, as lands don't use the stack, it would be a way to lock opponents out of instants. Upon reflection, however, opponents would be able to respond to the triggered ability and still get their things down.
Because it was symmetrical, I ended up using "play" as a trigger. While a spell pulling one or more duals into play untapped with no drawback is powerful (and these lands were designed to be "pushed"), a symmetrical enter the battlefield effect would open up lockdowns where you proceed to cheat these lands into play on your opponent's turn.
Now that I realize that the trigger doesn't work as I thought it did, however, the suggested compromise is pretty great. A less punishing alternative might be.
Calamitous Vents
Land- Island Mountain
When ~ enters the battlefield, the next spell you cast this turn costs more to cast.
: Add or to your mana pool.
If you want to avoid players using this for mana the turn it comes out, it has to be a static effect rather than a triggered ability. Otherwise, you can cast an instant spell in response and use it anyway.
"You can't cast spells if ~ entered the battlefield this turn," maybe?
Actually I just looked at Through Criminal's post. That seems like the best option.
Calamitous Vents
Land- Mountain Island
Add or to your mana pool.
When you play Calamitous Vents, neither player can cast spells until end of turn.
This is what I came up with, a dual land that enters the battlefield untapped but that carries an interesting double-edged sword. If you pack too many of these into a deck, you effectively develop your board state as though you were one turn behind. Even so, the careful use of "delay lands" would allow to stop enemy combat tricks and most end-of-turn surprises.
My big question regards whether an ability can trigger off of "playing a land", as opposed to having it enter the battlefield. Several cards like Crucible of Worlds and Exploration affection how you "play" lands and from where but not a single ability in this game currently triggers from playing a land. This distinction is important as is stops players from cheating out "delay lands" on an opponent's turn to freeze them.
If necessary, that second line of text could always become:
"When Calamitous Vents enters the battlefield, if it is your turn,..."
But that seems pretty wordy compared to a relatively streamlined alternative.
Another thing (although this is probably just an oversight) is that the concept of "neither player" doesn't exist for purposes of multiplayer games. It should probably read "each player" or something like that. Maybe even just "you"; off the top of my head I can't imagine too many cases where this should be able to punish opponents as well.
Lastly, I'm not sure whether or not this should lock abilities as well as spells. I'm not sure if locking abilities is entirely needed, since abilities are mostly information that each player has available to them and thus are able to play around.
I wonder how powerful this variant would be:
Calamitous Vents
Land
You may have ~ enter the battlefield tapped. If you don't, you can't cast spells this turn.
T: Add U or R to your mana pool.
[c]Lightning Bolt[/c] -> Lightning Bolt
[c=Lightning Bolt]Apple Pie[/c] -> Apple Pie
Vowels-Only Format
Minimum deck size: 60
Maximum number of identical cards: 4
Ban list: Cards whose English names begin with a consonant, Unglued and Unhinged cards, cards involving ante, Ancestral Recall
Because it was symmetrical, I ended up using "play" as a trigger. While a spell pulling one or more duals into play untapped with no drawback is powerful (and these lands were designed to be "pushed"), a symmetrical enter the battlefield effect would open up lockdowns where you proceed to cheat these lands into play on your opponent's turn.
Now that I realize that the trigger doesn't work as I thought it did, however, the suggested compromise is pretty great. A less punishing alternative might be.
Calamitous Vents
Land- Island Mountain
When ~ enters the battlefield, the next spell you cast this turn costs more to cast.
: Add or to your mana pool.
"You can't cast spells if ~ entered the battlefield this turn," maybe?
Actually I just looked at Through Criminal's post. That seems like the best option.