Among my Magic design hobbies, one of them is thinking of alternatives to the infamous Storm that avoid the brokenness of the original. I have a couple ideas in this topic, one that rewards monocolor play and another that rewards multicolor play:
Lightning Surge2R
Instant
Redstorm (When you cast this spell, copy it for each spent to cast it.)
~ deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
This first version copies the spell for each point of mana of a particular type spent to cast the spell. Obviously, this one rewards monocolor play; the above example is most effective when cast for RRR. This strength of this version is dependent upon the mana cost of the spell, in particular how much room the cost has for the necessary color of mana.
Prism Lightning2R
Instant
Colorstorm (When you cast this spell, copy it for each color among permanents you control.)
~ deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
This one favors the multicolor approach. Obviously, the largest number of copies you can get is five.
I like that both of these mechanics impose a regular upper limit on the number of copies, reducing the potential degeneracy. X costs should probably be avoided in both cases.
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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.
I'm not very good at discussing power levels, so I'll avoid that discussion entirely. For me, the fun of storm is in dumping your hand for an insane whirlwind of spells. Both your mechanics simply wind up being ways to get extra copies of the spell, they don't capture that essential element of what made storm storm. It doesn't matter if you cast other spells, just cast it on-curve and keep playing. I'm not saying they're bad mechanics, just that they don't feel all that satisfying for "fixed storm."
I've experimented with a version of storm as a threshold mechanic, rather than a counting mechanic:
Surge (When you cast this spell, copy it if you cast a spell before it this turn.)
The first one, according to current wording, deals 4 damage split for RRR (1 original, 3 copies)
maybe you want a copy for each red mana beyond the first one?
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Lightning Surge 2R
Instant
Redstorm (When you cast this spell, copy it for each spent to cast it.)
~ deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
This first version copies the spell for each point of mana of a particular type spent to cast the spell. Obviously, this one rewards monocolor play; the above example is most effective when cast for RRR. This strength of this version is dependent upon the mana cost of the spell, in particular how much room the cost has for the necessary color of mana.
Prism Lightning 2R
Instant
Colorstorm (When you cast this spell, copy it for each color among permanents you control.)
~ deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
This one favors the multicolor approach. Obviously, the largest number of copies you can get is five.
I like that both of these mechanics impose a regular upper limit on the number of copies, reducing the potential degeneracy. X costs should probably be avoided in both cases.
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.
I've experimented with a version of storm as a threshold mechanic, rather than a counting mechanic:
Surge (When you cast this spell, copy it if you cast a spell before it this turn.)
RWU
GUB
WBR
URG
BGW
maybe you want a copy for each red mana beyond the first one?