This months theme, in respect to this month's holiday, will be love or at least designing cards that inspire some sort of synergy, symbiosis, ect ect.
Each round will tackle a different kind of relationship; ranging from other cards to other players.
For the Top 4, you will be exploring how even a color's enemies can be similar to itself both ideologically and mechanically.
Challenge: Choose a color. Design a card of that color. Then, design a card for each of it's color enemies, that are both mechanically similar to the original card.
Feel free to ask questions if your unsure about anything in the Discussion Thread
-Mechanically similar does not mean it has to be able to be color-shifted.
-You are designing three cards in total. One being your primary color card. Two being that color's enemies.
And I'm going to go ahead and design a card, then decide it's one of the enemy color cards and THEN make the 'chosen color' card. Because **** da rulez!!1one
Edit: Green is primary. But did I design it first? You'll never know!
Willowglen Archmage3GG
Creature - Elf Wizard (R)
If you would put a creature or land card from your library into your hand, you may put it onto the battlefield instead.
3/4
Bogknoll Archmage2BB
Creature - Human Wizard (R)
If a creature card would be returned from your graveyard to your hand, you may put it onto the battlefield instead.
3/2
Mistbank Archmage1UU
Creature - Merfolk Wizard (R)
If a creature would be returned from the battlefield to a player's hand, you may put it on the bottom of its owner's library instead.
2/3
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
Keeper of the Pale1WW
Creature - Spirit Cleric (R)
Flying XWW: Exile X target creatures you control. Return those creatures to the battlefield under your control at the beginning of the next end step.
2/3
Enemy Colors
Netherdelve2BB
Enchantment (R) 2B, Sacrifice a creature: Choose target creature card in your graveyard. At the beginning of your next upkeep, put that creature card on top of your library and return the sacrificed card to the battlefield under your control. "The dead are always willing to lend a hand to the living. It's getting the living to lend a hand to the dead that's challenging."
-Mavos, psychopomp
Soulfire Channeler4RR
Creature - Elemental Shaman (R)
Haste, menace 2RR: Put a token that's a copy of target creature you control onto the battlefield. That token has haste. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.
4/3
Necrotic Atlas5BB
Creature - Zombie Giant (M)
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have fewer then seven cards in your graveyard, put cards from the top of your library into your graveyard equal to the difference. B, Exile a card from your graveyard: Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
7/7
Sower Atlas5GG
Creature - Plant Giant (M)
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control fewer than seven creatures, put 1/1 green Saporling creature tokens onto the battlefield equal to the difference. G, Sacrifice a creature: Target creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
7/7
Immortal Atlas5WW
Creature - Spirit Giant (M)
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have less than seven life, gain life equal to the difference. W, Pay 1 life: Target permanent gains indestructible until end of turn.
7/7
And I'm going to go ahead and design a card, then decide it's one of the enemy color cards and THEN make the 'chosen color' card. Because **** da rulez!!1one
Edit: Green is primary. But did I design it first? You'll never know!
Willowglen Archmage3GG
Creature - Elf Wizard (R)
If you would put a creature or land card from your library into your hand, you may put it onto the battlefield instead.
3/4
Bogknoll Archmage2BB
Creature - Human Wizard (R)
If a creature card would be returned from your graveyard to your hand, you may put it onto the battlefield instead.
3/2
Mistbank Archmage1UU
Creature - Merfolk Wizard (R)
If a creature would be returned from the battlefield to a player's hand, you may put it on the bottom of its owner's library instead.
2/3
Interesting cycle. Of these, Mistbank Archmage is by far the least worrisome... which also makes the least interesting. Bogknoll Archmage has a lot of power I'm sure, just a matter of looking into what works best. Willowglen Archmage is hilarious with Fauna Shaman, and extra hilarious with cards like Armillary Sphere. So much to break... but the cost might be enough of a balancer? Could be too strong in Commander at the least.
Necrotic Atlas5BB
Creature - Zombie Giant (M)
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have fewer then seven cards in your graveyard, put cards from the top of your library into your graveyard equal to the difference. B, Exile a card from your graveyard: Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
7/7
Sower Atlas5GG
Creature - Plant Giant (M)
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control fewer than seven creatures, put 1/1 green Saporling creature tokens onto the battlefield equal to the difference. G, Sacrifice a creature: Target creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
7/7
Immortal Atlas5WW
Creature - Spirit Giant (M)
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have less than seven life, gain life equal to the difference. W, Pay 1 life: Target permanent gains indestructible until end of turn.
7/7
Of these, Necrotic Atlas is probably the riskiest to use, as it's the only triggered ability that can kill you. Good thing it's also pretty damn good at closing out games with the activated ability. Sower Atlas is nice, but has the least valuable activated ability, if only because you usually would only want to sacrifice the saprolings and other small tokens. Immortal Atlas is terrifically powerful. Definitely contends with Necrotic Atlas for the strongest activated ability.
1. doomfish
2. IcariiFa
This was so hard... ultimately I let my inner Johnny guide me
Doomfish: I really like the idea here. Particularly the green and black ones. The blue one? Not so much. I don't like giving blue much of anything that resembles permanent removal. It's a fair card for blue to have at least. Except for the cost. I think this all should be a high price points with difference bodies. Maybe even some keywords. So in short, cool effect ideas, just not sold on the execution.
Ink-Treader: I like that you tried to make the connection between these non obvious, and even spread them across different card types. It was risky. However, I don't feel it payed off. This doesn;t really meet the challenge for me, as I wouldn;t connect these card togther at all. While I think the White and red card have merit and could be fun, the black enchantment is more confusing then anything and has memory issues. So not a fan.
On the individual cards: Keeper of the Pale
The shenanigans are real. Swing with everything, rescure those that'd die, ready those that need to block.
A strong, yet mana-intensive card. And then there's the potential with etb effects.
Giving this flying enables it to be played in limited, while hoping to get some value out of the ability.
The fact that it with 3 mana you save this from any removal is a bit worrying. Might be a good addition for a white control-deck.
A very versatile card.
Netherdelve
A rather slow card. Spending 3 mana and putting a creature into timeout just to be able to spend a draw on that creature in your graveyard?
Not really want you want from a rare enchantment for 4 mana. The delay before returning is necessary, but rather weird, as you have to remember which creature went into the grave this way.
I understand it's an altered Rescue from the Underworld, but that was just a one-time effect. I wouldn't even know in what order the creatures return with your enchantment.
I like the etb-effect interactions with this. I'd definately try to run this in a draft deck. Looks like fun.
Soulfire Channeler
Big. Lovely. This card packs quite the punch. I'd imagine any Timmy would just go crazy when he saw this card and Johnny wouldn't scoff either.
This sits in a perfect spot. I like how you made itself a card worth copying.
On the similarity:
From the first two cards I take it's about delayed effects. Exile until end of turn. Sacrifice until your next upkeep.
The red one kind of falls out of that, making a token until end of turn just seems like a given. That's just how it works. There's no delay, there's just a deadline, sort of.
It really could have been a bit more direct.
On the individual cards: Necrotic Atlas
Oh boy. Splitable -7/-7 every turn? That's bonkers! And takes up quite a lot of mana, so it might just be fine.
Nothing you'd win against in limited though. Might just be a little bit too brutal. I don't see where else one could take that design though, so it's either this or nothing.
I'd take this over not tapping into this rather interesting design space. Also it's mythic, so it's balanced.
Sower Atlas Verdant Force cries in a corner. Considering it's still a card that's liked by a lot of people, it shows that you went a bit far on these cards.
Again, this probably plays really well, but maybe just too well. Also plant made me snicker.
Immortal Atlas
Gaining life seems a lot less impressive than the others with that condition. But the activated ability seems to be a bit stronger in return.
This might be at a good spot.
On the similarity:
I feel like you went a bit too direct on the similiarity, as this is just a cycle. But I'd consider such a direct approach to be better than being vague.
1. IcariiFA
2. Ink-Treader
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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
And I'm going to go ahead and design a card, then decide it's one of the enemy color cards and THEN make the 'chosen color' card. Because **** da rulez!!1one
Edit: Green is primary. But did I design it first? You'll never know!
Willowglen Archmage3GG
Creature - Elf Wizard (R)
If you would put a creature or land card from your library into your hand, you may put it onto the battlefield instead.
3/4
Bogknoll Archmage2BB
Creature - Human Wizard (R)
If a creature card would be returned from your graveyard to your hand, you may put it onto the battlefield instead.
3/2
Mistbank Archmage1UU
Creature - Merfolk Wizard (R)
If a creature would be returned from the battlefield to a player's hand, you may put it on the bottom of its owner's library instead.
2/3
I wish Mistbank would put the creature back into play to mirror the other two. It may seem strange, for you to bounce creature only to have them put back, but it could make interesting interactions with stuff like Peel from Reality. Still, very cool.
Keeper of the Pale1WW
Creature - Spirit Cleric (R)
Flying XWW: Exile X target creatures you control. Return those creatures to the battlefield under your control at the beginning of the next end step.
2/3
Enemy Colors
Netherdelve2BB
Enchantment (R) 2B, Sacrifice a creature: Choose target creature card in your graveyard. At the beginning of your next upkeep, put that creature card on top of your library and return the sacrificed card to the battlefield under your control. "The dead are always willing to lend a hand to the living. It's getting the living to lend a hand to the dead that's challenging."
-Mavos, psychopomp
Soulfire Channeler4RR
Creature - Elemental Shaman (R)
Haste, menace 2RR: Put a token that's a copy of target creature you control onto the battlefield. That token has haste. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.
4/3
These cards are very interesting and have a loose mechanical tie but I do think the tie is a little too loose. The black one is also needlessly complex for what could have been a very simple ability.
Necrotic Atlas5BB
Creature - Zombie Giant (M)
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have fewer then seven cards in your graveyard, put cards from the top of your library into your graveyard equal to the difference. B, Exile a card from your graveyard: Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
7/7
Sower Atlas5GG
Creature - Plant Giant (M)
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control fewer than seven creatures, put 1/1 green Saporling creature tokens onto the battlefield equal to the difference. G, Sacrifice a creature: Target creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
7/7
Immortal Atlas5WW
Creature - Spirit Giant (M)
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have less than seven life, gain life equal to the difference. W, Pay 1 life: Target permanent gains indestructible until end of turn.
7/7
I love these. I would have prefereed they be a little less cycle-ish, as you could easily fit in the other colors here, but the designs are so refreshing that it honestly doesn't matter. These are the kind of cards that are awesome Mythics and would be so much for at and EDH table. Great job.
This months theme, in respect to this month's holiday, will be love or at least designing cards that inspire some sort of synergy, symbiosis, ect ect.
Each round will tackle a different kind of relationship; ranging from other cards to other players.
For the Top 4, you will be exploring how even a color's enemies can be similar to itself both ideologically and mechanically.
Challenge: Choose a color. Design a card of that color. Then, design a card for each of it's color enemies, that are both mechanically similar to the original card.
Feel free to ask questions if your unsure about anything in the Discussion Thread
-Mechanically similar does not mean it has to be able to be color-shifted.
-You are designing three cards in total. One being your primary color card. Two being that color's enemies.
Players:
Ink-Treader
RaikouRider
IcariiFA
doomfish
BGStandard Green AggroGB
UWRGModern Saheeli CobraGRWU
UBRGLegacy StormGRBU
Wizards Certified Rules Advisor
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
And I'm going to go ahead and design a card, then decide it's one of the enemy color cards and THEN make the 'chosen color' card. Because **** da rulez!!1one
Edit: Green is primary. But did I design it first? You'll never know!
Willowglen Archmage 3GG
Creature - Elf Wizard (R)
If you would put a creature or land card from your library into your hand, you may put it onto the battlefield instead.
3/4
Bogknoll Archmage 2BB
Creature - Human Wizard (R)
If a creature card would be returned from your graveyard to your hand, you may put it onto the battlefield instead.
3/2
Mistbank Archmage 1UU
Creature - Merfolk Wizard (R)
If a creature would be returned from the battlefield to a player's hand, you may put it on the bottom of its owner's library instead.
2/3
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
Keeper of the Pale 1WW
Creature - Spirit Cleric (R)
Flying
XWW: Exile X target creatures you control. Return those creatures to the battlefield under your control at the beginning of the next end step.
2/3
Enemy Colors
Netherdelve 2BB
Enchantment (R)
2B, Sacrifice a creature: Choose target creature card in your graveyard. At the beginning of your next upkeep, put that creature card on top of your library and return the sacrificed card to the battlefield under your control.
"The dead are always willing to lend a hand to the living. It's getting the living to lend a hand to the dead that's challenging."
-Mavos, psychopomp
Soulfire Channeler 4RR
Creature - Elemental Shaman (R)
Haste, menace
2RR: Put a token that's a copy of target creature you control onto the battlefield. That token has haste. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.
4/3
Choose one of these judge of creation:
Make Strionic Resonator shine!
You can not grasp the true form of Ashiok's attack!
Creature - Zombie Giant (M)
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have fewer then seven cards in your graveyard, put cards from the top of your library into your graveyard equal to the difference.
B, Exile a card from your graveyard: Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
7/7
Sower Atlas 5GG
Creature - Plant Giant (M)
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control fewer than seven creatures, put 1/1 green Saporling creature tokens onto the battlefield equal to the difference.
G, Sacrifice a creature: Target creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
7/7
Immortal Atlas 5WW
Creature - Spirit Giant (M)
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have less than seven life, gain life equal to the difference.
W, Pay 1 life: Target permanent gains indestructible until end of turn.
7/7
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
BGStandard Green AggroGB
UWRGModern Saheeli CobraGRWU
UBRGLegacy StormGRBU
Wizards Certified Rules Advisor
Interesting cycle. Of these, Mistbank Archmage is by far the least worrisome... which also makes the least interesting. Bogknoll Archmage has a lot of power I'm sure, just a matter of looking into what works best. Willowglen Archmage is hilarious with Fauna Shaman, and extra hilarious with cards like Armillary Sphere. So much to break... but the cost might be enough of a balancer? Could be too strong in Commander at the least.
Of these, Necrotic Atlas is probably the riskiest to use, as it's the only triggered ability that can kill you. Good thing it's also pretty damn good at closing out games with the activated ability. Sower Atlas is nice, but has the least valuable activated ability, if only because you usually would only want to sacrifice the saprolings and other small tokens. Immortal Atlas is terrifically powerful. Definitely contends with Necrotic Atlas for the strongest activated ability.
1. doomfish
2. IcariiFa
This was so hard... ultimately I let my inner Johnny guide me
Choose one of these judge of creation:
Make Strionic Resonator shine!
You can not grasp the true form of Ashiok's attack!
Ink-Treader: I like that you tried to make the connection between these non obvious, and even spread them across different card types. It was risky. However, I don't feel it payed off. This doesn;t really meet the challenge for me, as I wouldn;t connect these card togther at all. While I think the White and red card have merit and could be fun, the black enchantment is more confusing then anything and has memory issues. So not a fan.
2nd: Ink-Treader
Keeper of the Pale
The shenanigans are real. Swing with everything, rescure those that'd die, ready those that need to block.
A strong, yet mana-intensive card. And then there's the potential with etb effects.
Giving this flying enables it to be played in limited, while hoping to get some value out of the ability.
The fact that it with 3 mana you save this from any removal is a bit worrying. Might be a good addition for a white control-deck.
A very versatile card.
Netherdelve
A rather slow card. Spending 3 mana and putting a creature into timeout just to be able to spend a draw on that creature in your graveyard?
Not really want you want from a rare enchantment for 4 mana. The delay before returning is necessary, but rather weird, as you have to remember which creature went into the grave this way.
I understand it's an altered Rescue from the Underworld, but that was just a one-time effect. I wouldn't even know in what order the creatures return with your enchantment.
I like the etb-effect interactions with this. I'd definately try to run this in a draft deck. Looks like fun.
Soulfire Channeler
Big. Lovely. This card packs quite the punch. I'd imagine any Timmy would just go crazy when he saw this card and Johnny wouldn't scoff either.
This sits in a perfect spot. I like how you made itself a card worth copying.
On the similarity:
From the first two cards I take it's about delayed effects. Exile until end of turn. Sacrifice until your next upkeep.
The red one kind of falls out of that, making a token until end of turn just seems like a given. That's just how it works. There's no delay, there's just a deadline, sort of.
It really could have been a bit more direct.
Necrotic Atlas
Oh boy. Splitable -7/-7 every turn? That's bonkers! And takes up quite a lot of mana, so it might just be fine.
Nothing you'd win against in limited though. Might just be a little bit too brutal. I don't see where else one could take that design though, so it's either this or nothing.
I'd take this over not tapping into this rather interesting design space. Also it's mythic, so it's balanced.
Sower Atlas
Verdant Force cries in a corner. Considering it's still a card that's liked by a lot of people, it shows that you went a bit far on these cards.
Again, this probably plays really well, but maybe just too well. Also plant made me snicker.
Immortal Atlas
Gaining life seems a lot less impressive than the others with that condition. But the activated ability seems to be a bit stronger in return.
This might be at a good spot.
On the similarity:
I feel like you went a bit too direct on the similiarity, as this is just a cycle. But I'd consider such a direct approach to be better than being vague.
2. Ink-Treader
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
BGStandard Green AggroGB
UWRGModern Saheeli CobraGRWU
UBRGLegacy StormGRBU
Wizards Certified Rules Advisor
I wish Mistbank would put the creature back into play to mirror the other two. It may seem strange, for you to bounce creature only to have them put back, but it could make interesting interactions with stuff like Peel from Reality. Still, very cool.
These cards are very interesting and have a loose mechanical tie but I do think the tie is a little too loose. The black one is also needlessly complex for what could have been a very simple ability.
Still, an interesting take on the challenge.
I love these. I would have prefereed they be a little less cycle-ish, as you could easily fit in the other colors here, but the designs are so refreshing that it honestly doesn't matter. These are the kind of cards that are awesome Mythics and would be so much for at and EDH table. Great job.
Top 3:
1) Icarii
2) Doomfish
3) Ink-Treader
BGStandard Green AggroGB
UWRGModern Saheeli CobraGRWU
UBRGLegacy StormGRBU
Wizards Certified Rules Advisor