Twisted Sisters (Rare) UBR
Legendary Creature - Hag
0/4 t: Switch the power and toughness of any number of target creatures until end of turn.
Seagrim Zeven (Uncommon) GUB
Legendary Creature - Elder Merfolk
3/1
Hexproof 1: Exchange target creature's base power and toughness with another target creature's base power and toughness until end of turn. (Or after damage clean up. When would that be?)
Huspex, Angel of Undeath (Mythic) 2WUB
Legendary Creature - Angel Zombie
4/4
Flying
Pay X life: Exile Huspex, Angel of Undeath. Then return Huspex and up to one other creature card with converted mana cost X from exile to the battlefield under your control. That creature is a black Zombie in addition to its other colors and types.
Brimstone Beast (Uncommon) 2BR
Creature - Beast
2/4
Damage dealt by Brimstone Beast is doubled.
Damage dealt to Brimstone Beast is doubled.
Morbid Curiosity (Uncommon) UB
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Whenever enchanted creature deals damage to an opponent, he or she discards a card and you draw a card.
Chromatic Ward (Common) W
Instant
Target creature you control gains protection from multicolored until end of turn.
Blood, Sweat, and Tears (Uncommon) 2G
Instant
Add to your mana pool R for each creature that attacked this turn, W for each creature that blocked this turn, and B for each creature that died this turn.
I like Morbid Curiosity. I think a Dimir Cutpurse enchantment would be pretty exciting. I think it can be justified at uncommon. My gut feeling is that it needs to cost at least 1 more.
Brimstone Beast feels mis-templated. See: Dictate of the Twin Gods, etc. It also feels more rare than uncommon. I think a lower complexity / lower rarity application might give it double strike and also give the creatures blocking / blocked by it double strike a la Spitting Slug. That also feels excitingly throw-backy.
Twisted Sisters and Seagrim Zeven feel of a single piece, insofar as they both necessitate record-keeping of P/T changes. Both are HUGELY complex and memory-intensive. Of the two, I like Seagrim better. I think the design would be greatly improved by only allowing that ability to go off once per turn. It's still a very powerful ability. I think I like it as an upkeep trigger.
I'm a little confused why Huspex reanimates from exile rather than a graveyard. I am in the camp that gives major side-eye to stuff that interacts with other cards in exile, and thinks BfZ / OotG were two of Magic's all-time worst sets partly because of that. So, major side-eye here, too.
Blood, Sweat, and Tears is a fun, flavor driven card, but I really feel like it's missing, you know... a color or two. I might let go of the name and the flavor direction just so it could feel more complete in the kinds of mana it can generate.
Twisted Sisters, I really like this, but would feel better if they couldn't kill themselves with their own ability. So 1 power maybe?
Seagrim Zeven, damage and other Until End of Turn effects all end at the same time so you don't need to worry about losing a toughness boost before damage wears off.
Huspex, Angel of Undeath, I can not condone turning the exile zone into a second graveyard.
Morbid Curiosity, this probably needs to cost at least 1 more.
Blood, Sweat, and Tears, I get it, but I don't like it. If you have a larger mechanical theme for why green would want RWB then I could get behind this, but as a stand alone card it feels incomplete.
Mydra's Apprentice, past examples say with haste this needs to cost 3. Though you could make it larger.
Jeweled Bifocals, Khalni Gem says this is too powerful, but it sits at an awkward spot. At 5 you get unconditional 3 colors of mana, Gilded Lotus. While at 4 you get 2 with upside, Hedron Archive. So what is colored mana worth? I would be comfortable with this entering tapped. But honestly feel it shouldn't be a problem as is, just past precedence.
I don't mind Huspex being able to be played from exile, but the fact you can pay 0 life to exile her for protection is what gets me. It's too good. If you're going to tamper with exile I think it should be a little harder to abuse.
Morbid Curiosity - You're right, it should cost 1UB.
Brimstone Beast - I worded it that way partially because I'm lazy and partially because I've never understood why grockable language isn't acceptable in the case of doubling damage. (Maybe it's because R&D doesn't want double damage being dealt to walkers?)
Twisted Sisters - Require some work that I think relegates it to uncommon.
Seagrim Zeven - Followed suggested fix with the exception that you can activate it each (and every) upkeep.
Huspex, Angel of Undeath - Changed name and added "X can't be 0" which was supposed to be there in the first place (thanks Creedmoor). It doesn't have to bring back from exile, I just think it's funky and janky enough to be a Legends II legend. It also templates cleanly. I don't like BfZ / OotG either, but I don't think Anna rings of them in and of itself. If she does, it's more of an Eldritch Moon player. Even if it does, I don't see anything wrong with a teensie Eldrazi homage since Abomination is the original Cthulu nod, which the Eldrazi are clearly modeled after.
Blood, Sweat, and Tears - The flavor is tight. One of the best top down designs I've ever made by a long shot (and I love designing like that). Sure, it could be changed, but then it would just be a completely different card. If it doesn't make the set that's fine, but I'm not inclined to alter it.
Mydra's Apprentice - Right now I think it's fine. Perfect even. What "past examples" are there that say otherwise?
Here's the fixed legends. Feel free to make changes as you see fit (if they're to be included at all). I'll make these changes in the set thread for ease of reference.
Twisted Sisters (Uncommon) UBR
Legendary Creature - Hag
2/4
Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, you may switch target creature's power and toughness.
Seagrim Zeven (Rare) GUB
Legendary Creature - Elder Merfolk
3/1
Hexproof
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may pay 1. If you do, exchange target creature's base power and toughness with another target creature's base power and toughness until end of turn.
Anna Thema (Mythic) 2WUB
Legendary Creature - Angel Zombie
4/4
Flying
Pay X life: Exile Anna Thema. Then return Anna and up to one other creature card with converted mana cost X from exile to the battlefield under your control. That creature is a Spirit in addition to its other types. X can't be 0.
Brimstone Beast - I worded it that way partially because I'm lazy and partially because I've never understood why grockable language isn't acceptable in the case of doubling damage. (Maybe it's because R&D doesn't want double damage being dealt to walkers?)
I imagine it's because they want players to be able to identify it as a replacement effect without needing to write more rules. And also, because such abilities appear infrequently enough that writing those rules is probably not worth the gains in grokkability.
But, I know what you meant, so, whatevs. I'll save the anal-retentiveness for my own cards.
You could have Blood, Sweat, and Tears allow you to select three colors rather than specifying them. That would satisfy the color desires of Guesswork with minimal effect on the flavor.
You could have Blood, Sweat, and Tears allow you to select three colors rather than specifying them. That would satisfy the color desires of Guesswork with minimal effect on the flavor.
That's... actually a really excellent idea. If it can be worded sensibly. How would you word it?
You could have Blood, Sweat, and Tears allow you to select three colors rather than specifying them. That would satisfy the color desires of Guesswork with minimal effect on the flavor.
That's... actually a really excellent idea. If it can be worded sensibly. How would you word it?
Ummm...
Blood, Sweat, and Tears2G
Instant
Choose a first color, a second color, and a third color.
Add to your mana pool one mana of the first color for each creature that attacked this turn, one mana of the second color for each creature that blocked this turn, and one mana of the third color for each creature that died this turn.
It's wordy for sure, I don't know that it can be slimmed down any further. The meat of it is the same as original, expanding each symbol into "one mana of the Nth color" thus adding 18 words, plus the choose clause on its own line for another 11 words. It doesn't significantly drop the font size when I put it into a card frame, but it does fill the text box quite thoroughly.
Feels like a card that could be designed for an EDH precon. It could get away with being uncommon there, perfect for some tri-color decks. In a normal set, I think the complexity and potential output would push it into rare. It's not going to be hard to get it past the +2 mana value that got Seething Song banned from modern.
Unless you made it a sorcery, then I think it would balance better in a normal set.
Anna Thema (Mythic) 2WUB
Legendary Creature - Angel Zombie
4/4
Flying
Pay X life: Exile Anna Thema. Then return Anna and up to one other creature card with converted mana cost X from exile to the battlefield under your control. That creature is a Spirit in addition to its other types. X can't be 0.
This is flagrantly abusable. Infinite combos with Soul Warden, generates a hilarious number of ETB effects even without a warden, and single-handedly turns exile into "just another graveyard". I realize that's sort of the intent, but it's busted to do so; there has to be somewhere that we can put cards in order to be sure they're good and gone.
Paying 1 life and no mana for an exile dodge by itself is already ridiculously strong even without also bringing creatures back. Not only would this break commander, it would also become the basis for a new combo deck in legacy.
A more balanced version might be: "2B, Pay X life: Exile Anna Thema and up to one creature card in your graveyard with converted mana cost X or less, then return those cards to the battlefield at the beginning of the next end step."
UBR
Legendary Creature - Hag
0/4
t: Switch the power and toughness of any number of target creatures until end of turn.
Seagrim Zeven (Uncommon)
GUB
Legendary Creature - Elder Merfolk
3/1
Hexproof
1: Exchange target creature's base power and toughness with another target creature's base power and toughness until end of turn. (Or after damage clean up. When would that be?)
Huspex, Angel of Undeath (Mythic)
2WUB
Legendary Creature - Angel Zombie
4/4
Flying
Pay X life: Exile Huspex, Angel of Undeath. Then return Huspex and up to one other creature card with converted mana cost X from exile to the battlefield under your control. That creature is a black Zombie in addition to its other colors and types.
Brimstone Beast (Uncommon)
2BR
Creature - Beast
2/4
Damage dealt by Brimstone Beast is doubled.
Damage dealt to Brimstone Beast is doubled.
Morbid Curiosity (Uncommon)
UB
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Whenever enchanted creature deals damage to an opponent, he or she discards a card and you draw a card.
Chromatic Ward (Common)
W
Instant
Target creature you control gains protection from multicolored until end of turn.
Blood, Sweat, and Tears (Uncommon)
2G
Instant
Add to your mana pool R for each creature that attacked this turn, W for each creature that blocked this turn, and B for each creature that died this turn.
Wildred's Cockatrice (Common)
2GW
Creature - Cockatrice
2/2
Flying
Deathtouch
Mydra's Apprentice (Common)
UR
Creature - Human Wizard
1/1
Haste
T: Draw a card, then discard a card.
Jeweled Bifocals (Uncommon)
4
Artifact
T: Add two different colors of mana to your mana pool.
I like Morbid Curiosity. I think a Dimir Cutpurse enchantment would be pretty exciting. I think it can be justified at uncommon. My gut feeling is that it needs to cost at least 1 more.
Brimstone Beast feels mis-templated. See: Dictate of the Twin Gods, etc. It also feels more rare than uncommon. I think a lower complexity / lower rarity application might give it double strike and also give the creatures blocking / blocked by it double strike a la Spitting Slug. That also feels excitingly throw-backy.
Twisted Sisters and Seagrim Zeven feel of a single piece, insofar as they both necessitate record-keeping of P/T changes. Both are HUGELY complex and memory-intensive. Of the two, I like Seagrim better. I think the design would be greatly improved by only allowing that ability to go off once per turn. It's still a very powerful ability. I think I like it as an upkeep trigger.
I'm a little confused why Huspex reanimates from exile rather than a graveyard. I am in the camp that gives major side-eye to stuff that interacts with other cards in exile, and thinks BfZ / OotG were two of Magic's all-time worst sets partly because of that. So, major side-eye here, too.
Blood, Sweat, and Tears is a fun, flavor driven card, but I really feel like it's missing, you know... a color or two. I might let go of the name and the flavor direction just so it could feel more complete in the kinds of mana it can generate.
Seagrim Zeven, damage and other Until End of Turn effects all end at the same time so you don't need to worry about losing a toughness boost before damage wears off.
Huspex, Angel of Undeath, I can not condone turning the exile zone into a second graveyard.
Morbid Curiosity, this probably needs to cost at least 1 more.
Blood, Sweat, and Tears, I get it, but I don't like it. If you have a larger mechanical theme for why green would want RWB then I could get behind this, but as a stand alone card it feels incomplete.
Mydra's Apprentice, past examples say with haste this needs to cost 3. Though you could make it larger.
Jeweled Bifocals, Khalni Gem says this is too powerful, but it sits at an awkward spot. At 5 you get unconditional 3 colors of mana, Gilded Lotus. While at 4 you get 2 with upside, Hedron Archive. So what is colored mana worth? I would be comfortable with this entering tapped. But honestly feel it shouldn't be a problem as is, just past precedence.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
Brimstone Beast - I worded it that way partially because I'm lazy and partially because I've never understood why grockable language isn't acceptable in the case of doubling damage. (Maybe it's because R&D doesn't want double damage being dealt to walkers?)
Twisted Sisters - Require some work that I think relegates it to uncommon.
Seagrim Zeven - Followed suggested fix with the exception that you can activate it each (and every) upkeep.
Huspex, Angel of Undeath - Changed name and added "X can't be 0" which was supposed to be there in the first place (thanks Creedmoor). It doesn't have to bring back from exile, I just think it's funky and janky enough to be a Legends II legend. It also templates cleanly. I don't like BfZ / OotG either, but I don't think Anna rings of them in and of itself. If she does, it's more of an Eldritch Moon player. Even if it does, I don't see anything wrong with a teensie Eldrazi homage since Abomination is the original Cthulu nod, which the Eldrazi are clearly modeled after.
Blood, Sweat, and Tears - The flavor is tight. One of the best top down designs I've ever made by a long shot (and I love designing like that). Sure, it could be changed, but then it would just be a completely different card. If it doesn't make the set that's fine, but I'm not inclined to alter it.
Mydra's Apprentice - Right now I think it's fine. Perfect even. What "past examples" are there that say otherwise?
Here's the fixed legends. Feel free to make changes as you see fit (if they're to be included at all). I'll make these changes in the set thread for ease of reference.
Twisted Sisters (Uncommon)
UBR
Legendary Creature - Hag
2/4
Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, you may switch target creature's power and toughness.
Seagrim Zeven (Rare)
GUB
Legendary Creature - Elder Merfolk
3/1
Hexproof
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may pay 1. If you do, exchange target creature's base power and toughness with another target creature's base power and toughness until end of turn.
Anna Thema (Mythic)
2WUB
Legendary Creature - Angel Zombie
4/4
Flying
Pay X life: Exile Anna Thema. Then return Anna and up to one other creature card with converted mana cost X from exile to the battlefield under your control. That creature is a Spirit in addition to its other types. X can't be 0.
But, I know what you meant, so, whatevs. I'll save the anal-retentiveness for my own cards.
That's... actually a really excellent idea. If it can be worded sensibly. How would you word it?
Ummm...
Blood, Sweat, and Tears 2G
Instant
Choose a first color, a second color, and a third color.
Add to your mana pool one mana of the first color for each creature that attacked this turn, one mana of the second color for each creature that blocked this turn, and one mana of the third color for each creature that died this turn.
It's wordy for sure, I don't know that it can be slimmed down any further. The meat of it is the same as original, expanding each symbol into "one mana of the Nth color" thus adding 18 words, plus the choose clause on its own line for another 11 words. It doesn't significantly drop the font size when I put it into a card frame, but it does fill the text box quite thoroughly.
Feels like a card that could be designed for an EDH precon. It could get away with being uncommon there, perfect for some tri-color decks. In a normal set, I think the complexity and potential output would push it into rare. It's not going to be hard to get it past the +2 mana value that got Seething Song banned from modern.
Unless you made it a sorcery, then I think it would balance better in a normal set.
I could see Wizards printing Jeweled Bifocals at rare.
UBRKess, Dissident MageUBR - Controlling Dissidents
GRhonas the IndomitableG - Indomitable Four Drops
WUBOloro, Ageless AsceticWUB - Loot & Renanimate
This is flagrantly abusable. Infinite combos with Soul Warden, generates a hilarious number of ETB effects even without a warden, and single-handedly turns exile into "just another graveyard". I realize that's sort of the intent, but it's busted to do so; there has to be somewhere that we can put cards in order to be sure they're good and gone.
Paying 1 life and no mana for an exile dodge by itself is already ridiculously strong even without also bringing creatures back. Not only would this break commander, it would also become the basis for a new combo deck in legacy.
A more balanced version might be: "2B, Pay X life: Exile Anna Thema and up to one creature card in your graveyard with converted mana cost X or less, then return those cards to the battlefield at the beginning of the next end step."
- Rabid Wombat