I designed a cycle of mana rocks for my set in progress, Remnants of Taria.
These are similar to the Cluestones, but have different abilities like the Spellbombs.
Aedon Relic 2
Artifact (Common)
Aedon Relic enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add W to your mana pool. 1W, , Sacrifice Aedon Relic: Target attacking creature becomes blocked.
Zesigh Relic 2
Artifact (Common)
Zesigh Relic enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add U to your mana pool. 1U, , Sacrifice Zesigh Relic: Target creature can’t be blocked this turn.
Mavgul Relic 2
Artifact (Common)
Mavgul Relic enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add B to your mana pool. 1B, , Sacrifice Mavgul Relic: Target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
Yulmar Relic 2
Artifact (Common)
Yulmar Relic enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add R to your mana pool. 1R, , Sacrifice Yulmar Relic: Discard a card, then draw a card.
Wyndell Relic 2
Artifact (Common)
Wyndell Relic enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add G to your mana pool. 1G, , Sacrifice Wyndell Relic: Create a 1/1 green Saproling creature token.
Prophetic Relic 2
Artifact (Common)
Prophetic Relic enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add C to your mana pool. 1C, , Sacrifice Prophetic Relic: Scry 2
You need to decide what the 1c baseline is. Red is too weak, and the rest play very differently (g and w usually just block in an emergency).
Kill the colorless one - keyword, gimmick mans, and never good.
Suggestions
1 make them cost 3 and come untapped. It's the current convention.
2 make them have useful effects that don't require the opponent pay attention to your mana base. I.e., sac for some bonus at sorcery speed. quicksand like cards aren't fun or fair nowadays...
3 make them equipment instead? As equipment, there is no surprises involved, and would be fair early and late game.
Perhaps add "Draw a card" to the sac abilities? Then they feel like Cluestones mixed with Spellbombs. Or, basically Mind Stones with extra perks.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
The White, Red, Green, and Colorless ones are all pretty low impact on the sac effect. The Blue one is usually low impact, but occasionally huge, and the black one is beans and turkeys above the rest.
My answer:
Don't make them ETB tapped: they cost 2 and tap for one, and it is only of one color, so these don't go turbo all that well. If you're behind on the board, you shouldn't have to wait a turn to sac your mana rock for a 1/1 when you draw it. The black one would need to be nerfed some (-2/-1 instead?)
If you want to keep the ETB tapped, you could punch up the other five a bit in power level.
They shouldn't come in untapped, especially at common.
Sky Diamond and friends are strictly worse than this cycle, and those cards are very playable in limited and EDH.
The black one is too good, the white one is worded in a strange way. The black one should be -1/-1. Maybe the red one could deal 2 damage to target player and the blue one could loot or Index.
Question: Is the colorless one actually relevant to your set?
Suggestions:
Increase mana costs to 3 and remove "enters the battlefield tapped" unless your set is for some reason lean on two-drops and fat on four-drops (which shouldn't be the case).
The sac abilities should have low-to-no tracking complexity and shouldn't effect creatures / have any direct effects on combat.
White - life gain
Blue - card draw
Black - discard/life loss
Green - the next spell you cast this turn can't be countered
The cycle could be tightened up (my favorite version):
White - return target artifact from graveyard to hand
Blue - return target instant from graveyard to hand
Black - creature to hand
Red - sorcery to hand
Green - enchantment to hand
Here's an idea: What if each Relic's sac ability allowed you to retrieve or maybe even tutor a card of a specific type? Rather than tutor the card straight to your hand, they put it on top of your library. Or they could just retrieve cards.
If choosing a card type for each color is too difficult, consider this alternative: Each Relic can retrieve or tutor a card of the corresponding color, though such an ability will require a generic cost.
Aedon Relic3
Artifact T: Add W to your mana pool. 3, T, Sacrifice ~: Return target white card from your graveyard to your hand.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
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These are similar to the Cluestones, but have different abilities like the Spellbombs.
Aedon Relic 2
Artifact (Common)
Aedon Relic enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add W to your mana pool.
1W, , Sacrifice Aedon Relic: Target attacking creature becomes blocked.
Zesigh Relic 2
Artifact (Common)
Zesigh Relic enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add U to your mana pool.
1U, , Sacrifice Zesigh Relic: Target creature can’t be blocked this turn.
Mavgul Relic 2
Artifact (Common)
Mavgul Relic enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add B to your mana pool.
1B, , Sacrifice Mavgul Relic: Target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
Yulmar Relic 2
Artifact (Common)
Yulmar Relic enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add R to your mana pool.
1R, , Sacrifice Yulmar Relic: Discard a card, then draw a card.
Wyndell Relic 2
Artifact (Common)
Wyndell Relic enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add G to your mana pool.
1G, , Sacrifice Wyndell Relic: Create a 1/1 green Saproling creature token.
Prophetic Relic 2
Artifact (Common)
Prophetic Relic enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add C to your mana pool.
1C, , Sacrifice Prophetic Relic: Scry 2
Questions, comments, concerns, constructive criticisms, conundrums?
Servien
Chaos' Realm
Escalation of Chaos
Tales of Cahdaria
Enigmatic Distrubance
Celestial Unveiling
Kill the colorless one - keyword, gimmick mans, and never good.
Suggestions
1 make them cost 3 and come untapped. It's the current convention.
2 make them have useful effects that don't require the opponent pay attention to your mana base. I.e., sac for some bonus at sorcery speed. quicksand like cards aren't fun or fair nowadays...
3 make them equipment instead? As equipment, there is no surprises involved, and would be fair early and late game.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
https://archidekt.com/user/71716
My answer:
Don't make them ETB tapped: they cost 2 and tap for one, and it is only of one color, so these don't go turbo all that well. If you're behind on the board, you shouldn't have to wait a turn to sac your mana rock for a 1/1 when you draw it. The black one would need to be nerfed some (-2/-1 instead?)
If you want to keep the ETB tapped, you could punch up the other five a bit in power level.
Low-power cube enthusiast!
My 1570 card cube (no longer updated)
My 415 Peasant+ Artifact and Enchantment Cube
Ever-Expanding "Just throw it in" cube.
Sky Diamond and friends are strictly worse than this cycle, and those cards are very playable in limited and EDH.
The black one is too good, the white one is worded in a strange way. The black one should be -1/-1. Maybe the red one could deal 2 damage to target player and the blue one could loot or Index.
UBRKess, Dissident MageUBR - Controlling Dissidents
GRhonas the IndomitableG - Indomitable Four Drops
WUBOloro, Ageless AsceticWUB - Loot & Renanimate
Suggestions:
Increase mana costs to 3 and remove "enters the battlefield tapped" unless your set is for some reason lean on two-drops and fat on four-drops (which shouldn't be the case).
The sac abilities should have low-to-no tracking complexity and shouldn't effect creatures / have any direct effects on combat.
White - life gain
Blue - card draw
Black - discard/life loss
Green - the next spell you cast this turn can't be countered
The cycle could be tightened up (my favorite version):
White - return target artifact from graveyard to hand
Blue - return target instant from graveyard to hand
Black - creature to hand
Red - sorcery to hand
Green - enchantment to hand
If choosing a card type for each color is too difficult, consider this alternative: Each Relic can retrieve or tutor a card of the corresponding color, though such an ability will require a generic cost.
Aedon Relic 3
Artifact
T: Add W to your mana pool.
3, T, Sacrifice ~: Return target white card from your graveyard to your hand.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.