So current prognosis from me is the following set theme: colored versus colorless! It suits the whole "fighting the Eldrazi" thing that seems to be creeping up on us. Either way, random stuff I cooked up. Standard statement by me of "I swear I didn't intentionally copy anyone".
Slow thread will be slow while I deal with another matter, though. So here's three off the brain to start... which don't really have anything to do with speculated theme.
Ancient Awakenings (Mythic)
WUBRG
Enchantment
When Ancient Awakenings enters the battlefield, search your library for up to three creature cards, reveal them, put them into your hand, then shuffle your library.
WUBRG: You may put a creature card onto the battlefield tapped. If you do, that creature gains lifelink, trample and first strike until end of turn when it next untaps.
Kor Shieldmate (Uncommon)
WW
Creature - Kor Warrior
2/2
Vigilance
T: Prevent the next 2 damage that would be dealt to Kor Shieldmate this turn.
Purification
3WW
Sorcery
Exile target colorless permanent. Oh how I wish Purify was not already a card name. Update 2/20: Upped to 3WW.
Vampire Nullslave (Uncommon)
1B
Creature - Vampire
3/3
Lifelink
Whenever Vampire Nullslave becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it.
Joraga Watchman (Uncommon)
2GG
Creature - Elf Warrior
4/2
Vigilance, reach
Joraga Watchman blocks each turn if able. This is weird for green, I know, but I was going for a twist, which is to say that over-achievers sometimes have 'issues' (in this case, fatties).
Champion of the Locus (Uncommon)
1WW
Creature - Avatar
3/3
Protection from colorless
Deadlife (Uncommon)
:sym2g::sym2g:
Enchantment (:sym2g: can be paid with or :symg:. This card has converted mana cost 6.)
Whenever you cast a colorless spell, you may put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. Lookit, I'm a homage to "deadlight"! Still dithering on whether to just go for Tower Above's mana cost as well. Then again, it seems really good to allow it on a potential turn 2-3 in Limited play.
This should be straightforward.
Ugin's Hunger (Rare)
2RRR
Instant
Consume 1 (As you cast this spell, you may sacrifice any number of creatures. It costs 1 less to cast for each creature sacrificed this way.)
Ugin's Hunger deals 5 damage to target creature or player. If five or more creatures were consumed to cast Ugin's Hunger, instead it deals 5 damage to each creature your opponents control and each opponent. Yes, I'm a Soulblast variant. But don't blow my cover.
Forgotten Necromancy (Rare)
2BBB
Sorcery
Consume 1
Return a creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. If you consumed five or more creatures to cast Forgotten Necromancy, instead return up to five creature cards from your graveyard to the battlefield. Rare cycle maybe? Yes, it's triple black on purpose. Potential 1-2 mana zombify variants scare me.
Honor the Fallen
2WWW
Instant
Consume 1
You gain 10 life. If you consumed at least five or more creatures to cast Honor the Fallen, instead you gain 5 life for each creature consumed. Does this text fit? I can't mockup in MSE right just yet.
Dissection
2UUU
Sorcery
Consume 1
Search your library for two cards, then shuffle your library and put those cards on top. If you consumed five or more creatures to cast Dissection, instead search your library for seven cards, then shuffle your library and put those cards on top. This is probably overpowered...
Natural Cycle
2GGG
Sorcery
Consume 1
Search your library for a creature card and put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle your library. If you consumed five or more creatures to cast Call of Nature, instead search your library for three creature cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle your library. Move over Tooth and Nail, I think...
Physical Growth (Common)
2GG
Sorcery
Put two +1/+1 counters on target creature.
Malakir Hex (Common)
2BB
Sorcery
Choose one - Remove all counters from target permanent; or, target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
Kabira Hero (Rare)
WW
Creature - Human Warrior
2/2
First strike, vigilance, lifelink
Empower 1 - W (W: Put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. Activate only as a sorcery and only once each turn.)
Kabira Hero has protection from all colors as long as it has three or more +1/+1 counters on it.
Emeria, Ruler of the Skies (Mythic)
4WWU
Legendary Creature - Angel
5/5
Flying, vigilance
Empower 1 - WU (WU: Put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. Activate only as a sorcery and only once each turn.)
Whenever you empower Emeria, Ruler of the Skies, other creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain flying and lifelink until end of turn.
Heretic of Reason (Rare)
2BB
Creature - Horror
2/2
Intimidate
Empower 2 - 2B (2B: Put two +1/+1 counters on this creature. Activate only as a sorcery and only once each turn.)
At the beginning of your upkeep, each player discards a card for each +1/+1 counter on Heretic of Reason.
Oran-Rief Survivor (Common)
1G
Creature - Human Warrior
2/2
Empower 1 - G (G: Put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. Activate only as a sorcery and only once each turn.) Once he had allies to rely on; now he only has himself. (See what I did here with this card?)
Drain of Blood (Uncommon)
3BB
Tribal Sorcery - Eldrazi
Drain of Blood is colorless.
Destroy target creature. If that creature is destroyed this way, put X 1/1 colorless Eldrazi creature tokens named "Brood Lineage" into play, where X is that creature's toughness. Name brought to you by the little snippet of "In the Teeth of Akoum" in the Worldwake fatpack.
Victim of Carnage (Uncommon)
2BB
Tribal Sorcery - Eldrazi
Victim of Carnage is colorless.
Destroy target creature. Put a +1/+1 counter on each colorless creature you control. *insert scared-angel with tentacle art here*
Encroaching Enslavement
2UU
Tribal Enchantment - Eldrazi
Encroaching Enslavement is colorless.
Enchant creature
At the beginning of your end step, you may put a slave counter on Encroaching Enslavement.
When Encroaching Enslavement has four or more slave counters, gain control of enchanted creature then sacrifice Encroaching Enslavement.
Again, jury's still out on Eldrazi themselves. This is me mostly playing sandbox. I'm still of the opinion that Rosewater's "goblingoblin" paragraph was meant to telegraph "insane fatties at common... but the chances of getting them out are low unless you jump through our hoops *whipcrack*". Plus, they'd be terrible picks in Draft; you'd want one or two to help you seal the deal lategame, but you wouldn't take many. Besides, this is a large set: how often do you see a given card at common in a large set? Not THAT much, but flukes happen.
Breeding Hedron (Uncommon)
7
Tribal Artifact - Eldrazi
T: Put three 0/1 colorless Eldrazi creature tokens named "Brood Lineage" onto the battlefield with "Sacrifice this creature: Add 1 to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast Eldrazi spells".
Soulpuller Hedron (Rare)
6
Tribal Artifact - Eldrazi
T: Put two 0/1 colorless Eldrazi creature tokens named "Brood Lineage" onto the battlefield with "Sacrifice this creature: Add 1 to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast Eldrazi spells."
T, Sacrifice three creatures: Target creature gets -4/-4 until end of turn. You gain 4 life.
Absorb Light (Common)
2W
Instant
Absorb Light is colorless.
You gain 6 life.
Dark Whispers (Uncommon)
4BB
Sorcery
Dark Whispers is colorless.
Untap target creature and gain control of it until end of turn. It gains haste. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.
Emerok, Bane of Prosperity (Mythic)
12
Legendary Creature - Eldrazi
10/10
When you cast Emerok, Bane of Prosperity, return up to two target creature cards from your graveyard to the battlefield.
Annihilator 4 (Whenever this creature attacks, defending player sacrifices four permanents.)
Whenever Emerok is put into your graveyard from anywhere, return it to its owner's hand.
That Which Condemns (Uncommon)
9
Creature - Eldrazi
7/7
When you cast That Which Condemns, exile target creature. You gain life equal to that creature's toughness.
Annihilator 2 (Whenever this creature attacks, defending player sacrifices two permanents.)
That Which Steals Hope (Uncommon)
8
Creature - Eldrazi
Destruction 1 (Whenever this creature attacks, defending player sacrifices a creature.)
7/7
One Who Brings Ruin (Uncommon)
14
Creature - Eldrazi
10/10
Destruction 2 (Whenever this creature attacks, defending player sacrifices two creatures.)
I decided that this would be a great naming schema for Eldrazi critters (meaning, not the Brood Lineage minions, but actual, honest-to-goodness "citizens" of the race). Convince me I'm wrong.
Why did I settle on "defending player sacrifices critters"? Well, if you get the COMMON versions out on the table, shouldn't you be winning the game?! This only accelerates that. Permanent sacrifice in a late-game situation is rather irrelevant unless we're going for "half" of them or more. Even Curse of the Cabal makes the board a scarily vacant thing for your opponent if it goes off via hardcast. I've since reconsidered this and decided they will probably be uncommon, but I'm still half-convinced we might see common versions of them, if for no other reason than that they'll be for those decks (that are playing blue?!) that need a fatty finisher that isn't a rare.
Sarkhan Unravelling
3BR
Planeswalker - Sarkhan
{3}
[+2]: Sarkhan Unravelling deals 2 damage to target player unless he or she discards a card, then deals 2 damage to you unless you discard a card.
[-3]: Put a 5/5 red Dragon creature token with flying onto the battlefield.
[-4]: Search target player's library for five cards and exile them, then that player shuffles his or her library. Sarkhan Unravelling deals 5 damage to that player.
Obligatory black-red ability, Dragon Roost, and the obligatory "lolwut?" ability that's relevant in Limited and will help you win the game! And somewhat fairly costed for each.
Gideon Farrel
3WW
Planeswalker - Gideon
{3}
[+1]: Search your library for a card named Faith's Fetters and put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library.
[+1]: Target creature gains protection from the color of your choice until end of turn.
[-5]: For the rest of the game, creatures can't attack you unless their controller pays 2 for each creature attacking you.
Don't ask about the last name; it was just something that sounded aesthetically nice. His presence is largely due to various things, namely Purifying Fire and a comment by that book's author suggesting he's getting a card.
Purification
2WW
Sorcery
Exile target colorless permanent. Oh how I wish Purify was not already a card name. Don't tell anyone I'm land destruction for white though!
Ugin's Hunger (Rare)
2RRR
Instant
Consume 1 (As you cast this spell, you may sacrifice any number of creatures. It costs 1 less to cast for each creature sacrificed this way.)
Ugin's Hunger deals 5 damage to target creature or player. If five or more creatures were consumed to cast Ugin's Hunger, instead it deals 5 damage to each creature your opponents control and each opponent. Yes, I'm a Soulblast variant. But don't blow my cover.
Consume is good though purification should be changed to non-land permanent since giving white LD when it already has a lot of the pie already is a little much.
A Zombify that consumed creatures would be pretty flavourful too
Private Mod Note
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If I am not posting in the custom card creation forum something has gone horribely wrong.
The last time white got targeted land destruction was Saltblast, but that was Planar Chaos.
The only colors that can remove both artifacts and lands are red and green. Neither color generally gets to exile things, though. When you put colorless creatures into the mix, I want to say it feels better in green than in red. Removing the colorless creatures because they are unnatural, etc.
Actually, during the Great Designer Search one of the submissions by Andrew Emmot during the contest was this card:
Ancient Roots 3G
Sorcery
Destroy target colorless permanent.
Though in the comments, MaRo said he would consider putting it in red, as red has had a number of cards that deal with colorlessness in the past.
White had Saltblast, and this is just a more limited form of that. It hits artifacts, lands, and Eldrazi. Four mana land destruction is not so big a problem really.
This mini-batch is brought by the specific phrase: "Colorless Eldrazi spells", which I'll note do not necessarily have to be just creature spells. I'm also not really going to speculate on the "Annihilate" thing people bandied around with MaRo's "goblingoblin"-ified paragraph.
Drain of Blood (Uncommon)
3BB
Tribal Sorcery - Eldrazi
Drain of Blood is colorless.
Destroy target creature. If that creature is destroyed this way, put X 1/1 colorless Eldrazi creature tokens named "Brood Lineage" into play, where X is that creature's toughness. Name brought to you by the little snippet of "In the Teeth of Akoum" in the Worldwake fatpack.
Encroaching Enslavement
2UU
Tribal Enchantment - Eldrazi
Encroaching Enslavement is colorless.
Enchant creature
At the beginning of your end step, you may put a slave counter on Encroaching Enslavement.
When Encroaching Enslavement has four or more slave counters, gain control of enchanted creature then sacrifice Encroaching Enslavement.
This mini-batch is brought by the specific phrase: "Colorless Eldrazi spells", which I'll note do not necessarily have to be just creature spells.
It is still unlikely that Tribal is going to be re-used, since that was pretty much a Lorwyn "keyword".
Though they could also just make Eldrazi instants and sorceries, like they did with Arcane spells in Kamigawa.
I love Ugin's Hunger. Specifically, the "if five were consumed" part. When I first read the consume ability, I thought "why would anyone sacrifice so many creatures just to reduce the spell's cost by a few mana?" Then I finished reading the card.
And I agree with PlayMoreRemoval, a consume Zombify variant would be great.
Another idea:
Giant Monster!!!! :3mana::symb::symb::symb:
Creature - Horror
6/6
Consume 1
Giant Monster!!!! enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it for each creature you consumed to cast it.
It is still unlikely that Tribal is going to be re-used, since that was pretty much a Lorwyn "keyword".
Though they could also just make Eldrazi instants and sorceries, like they did with Arcane spells in Kamigawa.
The Worldwake FAQ flat out identifies "Eldrazi" as a creature type (because cards with Changeling have it). If they want to strictly do Eldrazi instant/sorcery cards, that heavily suggests Tribal to me. It's under Eye of Ugin's FAQ entry.
Oh, and by popular demand(?), this is a random Zombify variant I made once:
Transfer Soul
1BB
Instant
As an additional cost to cast Transfer Soul, sacrifice a creature.
Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. I'm too powerful. Woe is me.
Forgotten Necromancy (Rare)
2BBB
Sorcery
Consume 1
Return a creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. If you consumed five or more creatures to cast Forgotten Necromancy, instead return up to five creature cards from your graveyard to the battlefield. Rare cycle maybe? Yes, it's triple black on purpose. Potential 1-2 mana zombify variants scare me.
That use of Consume is excellent, as well. At first I thought it was too much like a worse version of Convoke, but seeing that you can have effects that trigger off of more sacrifices than necessary made me reconsider. I give it a thumbs-up. It would probably have been a much better mechanic for Jund than Devour... what is red about Devour anyway? This is a much better fit for "sacrifice resources for short-term gain."
Frankly, I like Devour more, but that's largely for the purposes of Limited. More often than not, you're goign to have creatures that are unable to pull their weight for whatever reason (hi Valiant Guard!), or have been rendered impotent by whatever reason. Devour lets you get rid of your obvious chaff for gain, namely a fatty with possible bonus such as Skullmulcher and Caldera Hellion especially.
I don't think Devour was a flop, but I do wish they had included 2-3 more cards for it in the block. It wasn't very well represented if you ask me. Somewhat the same with Unearth, but not as much. Unearth is arguably stronger.
Also, red has had a history of "drawback for gain" or "forfeiture for gain" like black does. Recent memory includes funs like Char (hits you; yes I know it's just red Psionic Blast), Fiery Bombardment, (EDIT: Meant Fiery Conclusion heh /EDIT), Boom // Bust (you know which side). I can't think of one in the past two years recently off the top of my head, but Devour wasn't a bad fit for red. Arguably out of color for green if anything in my opinion.
That said, I figured I'd go for the rest of a rare cycle. I wanted to do an Anthem effect for white, but I couldn't figure out a good wording for it...
Honor the Fallen
2WWW
Instant
Consume 1
You gain 10 life. If you consumed at least five or more creatures to cast Honor the Fallen, instead you gain 5 life for each creature consumed. Does this text fit? I can't mockup in MSE right just yet.
Dissection
2UUU
Sorcery
Consume 1
Search your library for two cards, then shuffle your library and put those cards on top. If you consumed five or more creatures to cast Dissection, instead search your library for seven cards, then shuffle your library and put those cards on top. This is probably overpowered...
Natural Cycle
2GGG
Sorcery
Consume 1
Search your library for a creature card and put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle your library. If you consumed five or more creatures to cast Call of Nature, instead search your library for three creature cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle your library. Move over Tooth and Nail, I think...
EDIT2: I'm also sad because I really wanted to say something like "If five or more creatures were consumed by Ugin's Hunger", but being pedantic won out over sounding clever with naming.
Well, to enable devour Jund also had a lot of token creatures and creatures with unearth and enter abilities like Blister Beetle and Elvish Visionary that were all less important and easier to sacrifice. Consume would likewise probably be in a set with other cards to help enable it.
Honor the Fallen and Dissection are either very good or very bad, but it would take some testing to really find out which. Natural Cycle might be okay if it was limited to green creatures, but even then it is capable of grabbing Progenitus pretty cheaply.
I think that the wording might be more similar to Vigor Mortis:
If five or more creatures were consumed to cast CARDNAME, [...]
This matters mostly in the very small corner case of Commandeer, but it also reads a little bit more cleanly. I think Commandeer is also the reason why (before ZEN) kicker, and some similar mechanics, had been changed from "If you paid the kicker cost" to simply "If the kicker cost was paid".
Today's bump is brought to you by Planeswalker Watch<tm>. I think the first one speaks for himself, given that he's on the plane and all.
My current belief is we're getting 2-3 in Rise of the Eldrazi, with maybe a surprise thrown in. I don't see Ajani, Liliana or Elspeth being any of those, for various reasons, but I might be surprised by the latter (she might end up an interplanar crusader/smite-evil individual is what I'm getting at).
Sarkhan Unravelling
2BR
Planeswalker - Sarkhan
{3}
[+2]: Sarkhan Unravelling deals 2 damage to target player unless he or she discards a card, then deals 2 damage to you unless you discard a card.
[-3]: Put a 5/5 red Dragon creature token with flying onto the battlefield.
[-4]: Search target player's library for five cards and exile them, then that player shuffles his or her library. Sarkhan Unravelling deals 5 damage to that player.
Obligatory black-red ability, Dragon Roost, and the obligatory "lolwut?" ability that's relevant in Limited and will help you win the game! And somewhat fairly costed for each.
Gideon Farrel
3WWW
Planeswalker - Gideon
{4}
[+1]: Search your library for a card named Faith's Fetters and put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library.
[+1]: Target creature gains protection from the color of your choice until end of turn.
[-4]: For the rest of the game, creatures can't attack you unless their controller pays 2 for each creature attacking you.
Don't ask about the last name; it was just something that sounded aesthetically nice. His presence is largely due to various things, namely Purifying Fire and a comment by that book's author suggesting he's getting a card.
Decided to go digging into the "level up" speculated mechanic a smidgen. But first, starting simple because some of these cards don't exist I think.
Experience Hack (Common)
2GG
Sorcery
Put two +1/+1 counters on target creature.
Malakir Hex (Common)
2BB
Sorcery
Choose one - Remove all counters from target permanent; or, target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
Empower X - COST (COST: Put X +1/+1 counters on this creature. Activate this ability only as a sorcery and only once each turn.)
I settled on this for a few reasons, which should be rather straightforward as I see it: upping a creature's "stats" basically means power and toughness, which means +1/+1 counters if you want it to be a true version of "levelling up". Of course, that strongly implies you need to limit the mechanic, or things go bonkers in Limited if the costs are low, which they arguably should be in some ways. I'm still trying to assess this reasoning, given the presence of the common multikicker cycle in Worldwake, which is arguably the same thing as doing this if just up front.
Kabira Hero (Rare)
WW
Creature - Human Warrior
2/2
First strike
Empower 1 - W
Kabira Hero has protection from all colors as long as it has three or more +1/+1 counters on it.
Emeria, Ruler of the Skies (Mythic)
4WWU
Legendary Creature - Angel
5/5
Flying, vigilance
Empower 1 - WU
Whenever you empower Emeria, Ruler of the Skies, other creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain flying and lifelink until end of turn.
Heretic of Reason (Rare)
2BB
Creature - Horror
2/2
Intimidate
Empower 2 - 2B
At the beginning of your upkeep, each player discards a card for each +1/+1 counter on Heretic of Reason.
Oran-Rief Survivor (Common)
1G
Creature - Human Warrior
2/2
Empower 1 - G Once he had allies to rely on; now he only has himself. (See what I did here with this card?)
Again, jury's still out on Eldrazi themselves. This is me mostly playing sandbox. I'm still of the opinion that Rosewater's "goblingoblin" paragraph was meant to telegraph "insane fatties at common... but the chances of getting them out are low unless you jump through our hoops *whipcrack*". Plus, they'd be terrible picks in Draft; you'd want one or two to help you seal the deal lategame, but you wouldn't take many. Besides, this is a large set: how often do you see a given card at common in a large set? Not THAT much, but flukes happen.
Breeding Hedron (Uncommon)
7
Tribal Artifact - Eldrazi
T: Put three 0/1 colorless Eldrazi creature tokens named "Brood Lineage" onto the battlefield with "Sacrifice this creature: Add 1 to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast Eldrazi spells".
That Which Steals Hope (Common)
8
Creature - Eldrazi
Destruction 1 (Whenever this creature attacks, defending player sacrifices a creature.)
5/5
One Who Brings Ruin (Common)
14
Creature - Eldrazi
7/7
Destruction 2 (Whenever this creature attacks, defending player sacrifices two creatures.)
I decided that this would be a great naming schema for Eldrazi critters (meaning, not the Brood Lineage minions, but actual, honest-to-goodness "citizens" of the race). Convince me I'm wrong.
EDIT - Why did I settle on "defending player sacrifices critters"? Well, if you get the COMMON versions out on the table, shouldn't you be winning the game?! This only accelerates that. Permanent sacrifice in a late-game situation is rather irrelevant unless we're going for "half" of them or more. Even Curse of the Cabal makes the board a scarily vacant thing for your opponent if it goes off via hardcast
And here's a completely random question to whomever reads it: Allies, yea (yay?) or nay in RotE? Right now, I'm thinking it's 50/50.
Doubt it. Descriptions of Em, ruler of the sky realm of Emeria, say that she is angelic. Cosi is seen as a mischievous humanoid. And Ula, ruler of the water realm, is a merfolk. They all are described as having quite "human" temperaments, also. It is difficult to believe that such anthropomorphic deities would be derived from something as alien and malevolent as the Eldrazi. Not every little thing on Zendikar has to be linked to the Eldrazi in some way; the Merfolk realms, and their rulers, are simply a part of their culture.
I qualify. I think it's a deravative sort of thing, in that the gods Emeria, Cosi, and Ula are Eldrazi, but they have been mythologized into their current forms by thousands of years of the telephone game. A similar pattern can be observed in the real world with the divinity of Jesus. According to this reasoning, I think there is mabye a 50-50 chance of them turning out to be Eldrazi.
Thread Cleaner
1R
Creature - Human Pyromancer
0/1
T, Make a ">_>" face, Exile Thread Cleaner: Destroy all posters that are discussing storyline matters in the Custom Card Creation forum. They can't be regenerated. Then, flip a coin. If you win the flip, you don't get yelled at for posting this.
Out! Out I say! (Though for what it's worth, I get the feeling you're right that Emeria and Cosi will end up as either false gods or Eldrazi. Archon of Redemption's flavor text is kind of vexing in that regard, though.)
Oh and here's something on topic:
Victim of Carnage (Uncommon)
2BB
Tribal Sorcery - Eldrazi
Victim of Carnage is colorless.
Destroy target creature. Put a +1/+1 counter on each colorless creature you control. *insert scared-angel with tentacle art here*
Now for more combat/Limited related mechanics. You might remember one of these from previous.
Defiance (Whenever this creature blocks, put a +1/+1 counter on it at end of combat.)
Assist (T: Target creature gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is this creature's power. Combat damage may be assigned to this creature instead of the assisted creature.)
Pyromancer General (Uncommon)
3RR
Creature - Human Shaman
3/2
Assist
EDIT - Figured I'd try some mix-and-match.
Bloodthirsty Baloth (Rare)
6GG
Creature - Beast
6/6
Consume 1 (As you cast this spell, you may sacrifice any number of creatures. This costs 1 less to cast for each creature sacrificed this way.)
Shroud
Empower 2 - 2G (2G: Put two +1/+1 counters on this creature. Activate only as a sorcery and only once each turn.)
Not to preach to the choir, but the obvious idea is you get rid of your bad critters for a bad(ass?) critter. The critter sacrifice is to either power it out, or to power it up the same turn you get it.
Based on a certain other post (no link provided for multiple reasons, since it was locked if not deleted by poster request), I'm trying something a little different here with "levelup". Mostly, I'm trying to figure out how it would look on a card without being too boring.
Raging Tsunami (Uncommon)
2UU
Creature - Elemental
4/4
Advance 2UU (2UU: Put a growth counter on this. Activate only as a sorcery. This gains abilities based on the number of growth counters on it.) Growth 2 - Raging Tsunami has flying. Growth 3 - Raging Tsunami has shroud.
So if you spend a total of 2UU three more times on this critter, you have a 4/4 flier with shroud. Not terrible, not great (investiture is why), Limited relevant, which is the point. Issue is: does it make sense as worded here? or should it be (bleh) spelled out as below, thereby taking up a LOT of text box space potentially?
Death's Herald (Rare)
3BB
Creature - Avatar
4/4
Advance 7BB (7BB: Put a growth counter on this. Activate only as a sorcery.) Growth - Death's Herald has intimidate as long as it has a growth counter on it and gets +5/+5 for each growth counter on it.
Also, something random~
Soulpuller Hedron (Rare)
6
Tribal Artifact - Eldrazi
T: Put two 0/1 colorless Eldrazi creature tokens named "Brood Lineage" onto the battlefield with "Sacrifice this creature: Add 1 to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast Eldrazi spells."
T, Sacrifice three creatures: Target creature gets -4/-4 until end of turn. You gain 4 life.
No real rhyme or reason here, and nothing really new aside from stuff I already made.
Absorb Light (Common)
2W
Instant
Absorb Light is colorless.
You gain 6 life.
Dark Whispers (Uncommon)
4BB
Sorcery
Dark Whispers is colorless.
Untap target creature and gain control of it until end of turn. It gains haste. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.
Emerok, Bane of Prosperity (Mythic)
12
Legendary Creature - Eldrazi
10/10
When you cast Emerok, Bane of Prosperity, return up to two target creature cards from your graveyard to the battlefield.
Annihilator 4 (Whenever this creature attacks, defending player sacrifices four permanents.)
Whenever Emerok is put into your graveyard from anywhere, return it to its owner's hand.
That Which Condemns (Uncommon)
9
Creature - Eldrazi
7/7
When you cast That Which Condemns, exile target creature. You gain life equal to that creature's toughness.
Annihilator 2 (Whenever this creature attacks, defending player sacrifices two permanents.)
Vampire Nullslave (Uncommon)
1B
Creature - Vampire
3/3
Lifelink
Whenever Vampire Nullslave becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it.
Joraga Watchman (Uncommon)
1GG
Creature - Elf Warrior
4/2
Vigilance, reach
Joraga Watchman blocks each turn if able. This is weird for green, I know, but I was going for a twist, which is to say that over-achievers sometimes have 'issues' (in this case, fatties).
Champion of the Locus (Uncommon)
1WW
Creature - Avatar
3/3
Protection from colorless
Ugin, the Spiritfire
6
Planeswalker - Ugin
{4}
[+1]: Target creature gets +2/+0 and gains haste until end of turn.
[-1]: Ugin, the Spiritfire deals 3 damage to target creature or player.
[-6]: For the rest of the game, target player sacrifices two permanents at the beginning of his or her upkeep. I'm more inclined to think Ugin is either an Eldrazi or sealed-away force, though (like Omnath and maybe Emeria?).
Deadlife (Uncommon) 2(2/G)(2/G)
Enchantment ((2/G) can be paid with 2 or G. This card has converted mana cost 6.)
Whenever you cast a colorless spell, you may put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. Lookit, I'm a homage to "deadlight"! Still dithering on whether to just go for Tower Above's mana cost as well. Then again, it seems really good to allow it on a potential turn 2-3 in Limited play.
Rekindled Blaze (Uncommon)
2R
Instant
Rekindled Blaze deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Rebound (If you cast this card from your hand, exile it as it resolves. At the beginning of your next upkeep, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.)
Second Thoughts (Common)
1U
Sorcery
Draw a card.
Rebound (If you cast this card from your hand, exile it as it resolves. At the beginning of your next upkeep, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.)
Temporary Reprieve (Uncommon)
3WW
Sorcery
Until your next turn, creatures can't attack you.
Rebound (If you cast this card from your hand, exile it as it resolves. At the beginning of your next upkeep, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.)
Echo of Æther (Uncommon)
2U
Sorcery
Return target permanent to its owner's hand.
Rebound (If you cast this card from your hand, exile it as it resolves. At the beginning of your next upkeep, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.)
Persistant Infection
2B
Sorcery
Target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
Rebound (If you cast this card from your hand, exile it as it resolves. At the beginning of your next upkeep, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.)
Totem armor stuff:
Mongoose Umbra (Uncommon)
3G
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control.
Totem armor (If enchanted creature would be destroyed, instead remove all damage from it and destroy this Aura.)
Elemental Umbra (Uncommon)
5R
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
When Elemental Umbra enters or leaves the battlefield, it deals 2 damage to target creature.
Enchanted creature has double strike.
Totem armor (If enchanted creature would be destroyed, instead remove all damage from it and destroy this Aura.)
Random stuff:
Eternal Infusion (Rare)
2WW
Enchantment
Auras you control are indestructible. How to make Totem armor insufferable.
Guul Draz Assassin (Rare)
1BB
Creature - Vampire Assassin
1/1
T: Destroy target tapped creature. Put a +1/+1 counter on Guul Draz Assassin.
With previews starting tonight, this will be the final post in this thread, including minor post mortem. But you're not here to read that, so here's random cards as if I were trying to fill out Limited.
Overswarm (Common)
7
Tribal Instant - Eldrazi
Target creature gets -X/-X until end of turn, where X is the number of Eldrazi creatures you control. Not sure how useful this would be, but yeah.
Binder of Lost Fire (Rare)
1R
Creature - Elemental
2/2
Level up 2R
Level 1-3 -- 4/4
Level 4+ -- 4/4 -- Whenever Binder of Lost Fire gains a level, it deals 2 damage to target creature or player. Only question is, does it apply to level 4 itself, or 5+?
Butcher's Overseer (Rare)
3BB
Creature - Eldrazi
3/3
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may sacrifice it. If you do, put X 0/1 colorless Eldrazi Spawn creature tokens onto the battlefield, where X is the sacrificed creature's converted mana cost. They have "Sacrifice this creature: Add 1 to your mana pool."
Wall of Radiance
3W
Creature - Elemental Wall
0/4
Defender
T: Target creature with defender gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
Felidar Umbra
3W
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and has lifelink.
Totem armor
Calcite Umbra (Common?)
3U
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has shroud.
0: Switch enchanted creature's power and toughness. Activate this ability only once each turn.
Totem armor
And now the baby post-mortem on this musing thread.
- Set theme. I strongly thought we were going for coloreds versus the nots. We kind of are, still, but I expected it more along the lines of how Shadowmoor and Eventide did "color matters", which is that the "have nots" (they don't have color, get it?) would be about as prevalent as hybrid was, meaning the "Ghostfire" clause of forcing them to be colorless. Also did not think they would do a Defender subtheme in the set, which kind of makes sense now that I think about it.
- Tribal Eldrazi - check! Not as many tribal hits in the Orb as I was expecting, but I felt very happy that I was vindicated on the matter of them printing nonpermanent Eldrazi cards strictly for Eye of Ugin to <3 and cherish. Still hoping they print an "Eldrazi Lattice" type card so EVERY Eldrazi card can be used with Eye, but we'll see.
- Colorless cards - bombo as mentioned above. Obviously they exist, but I was quite sure they were going to reprint Ghostfire and do a slough of cards that basically had a "colorless matters" subtheme to it.
- Leveler cards - yes-and-no. I feel I effectively guessed right in post #20, but I certainly did not expect them to do static ability shorthand for level up, nor did I think they would have literally different power/toughness based on level. I more expected it to be bonuses to the base P/T rather than setting it to that quantity. I did call sorcery speed, though! (Also had once-a-turn, but my version used varying numbers of +1/+1 counters, so that should be relatively intuitive why only once at sorcery speed.)
- Totem armor - bombo. Definitely didn't see it coming.
- Rebound - Rebound what? That came from nowhere, but I can't say it's a bad idea. It's certainly less easily abused compared to Cascade, that's for sure. imo, one of the better "free" mechanics.
- Eldrazi - They're sooooo big. And sooooo common. At first I was quite sure MaRo's goblingoblin blurb meant "two at common" (which seems to be the case now!), but then I figured that it would make Limited really freaking weird. Turns out that Limited is really freaking weird! Still, it was nice to be right, and also very irritating that I second guessed myself and changed my mind when I should've gone with my instincts that there were, indeed, ridiculous fatties at common if only two. (Those of you who are following at home, I kind of joined the bandwagon that the goblingoblin-graph meant "two at uncommon", since most crazy fatty bombs tend to be there for green or at rare, and Ulamog's Crusher certainly qualifies as fatty and probably a bit bomby for the common slot.)
- Eldrazi spawn. Hmm, "Drain of Blood" and "Corpsehatch" look familiar. I wasn't sure how exactly they were going to do Spawn tokens, but I do think it's funny I made something almost identical to Corpsehatch and it had the same cost even if Corpsehatch was not Tribal Eldrazi. Which I still think it should have been.
- I still like my creation of consume, even though it's probably been done on this forum before. So there.
Overall: I want to do this for Scars of Mirrodin now, but it's way too early. Maybe about August I'll make that. *considers this* Current prognosis: colored artifacts make their heyday outside of Alara, and we get Sarcomite Myr back.
Overswarm -- It is too bad that this can't count the Eldrazi Spawn that you sacrifice to help pay for it. How much wordier would that be? Probably something like Caller of the Claw:
Target creature gets -X/-X until end of turn, where X is the number of Eldrazi creatures you control plus the number of Eldrazi creatures put into your graveyard from the field this turn.
Or maybe not. That is a little too ugly.
I was sort of expecting more colorless tribal Eldrazi spells to take advantage of Eye of Ugin. And given that there are in fact colored Eldrazi, it seems like spells like Corpsehatch should also be tribal Eldrazi.
Binder of Lost Fire -- I would word this like "Whenever CARDNAME levels up to level 4 or higher, ..." It is expensive to get up to level 4, but after that this is pretty strong ability.
On a side note, I like the idea of higher level ranges using the same P/T. It is a nice compliment to other creatures that just get bigger and more monstrous. We've seen it on the looter, but the P/T there is pretty boring. I think it would be possible to have a creature that you want to attack with have the same P/T at each level range and still encourage you to level up.
I'm not really sure how level up should be costed, but here is an example of all the same P/T that is a little more interesting:
Firethorn3G
Creature -- Elemental Weird (U)
Level up 1(R/W) (3/3)
[L 1-2] First strike (3/3)
[L 3+] Whenever CARDNAME blocks or becomes blocked by a creature, CARDNAME deals damage equal to its power to that creature. (3/3)
Butcher's Overseer -- I think this would be better as an upkeep trigger.
At your upkeep, sacrifice a creature, then put X 0/1 colorless Eldrazi Spawn creature tokens onto the battlefield, where X is the sacrificed creature's converted mana cost. They have "Sacrifice this creature: Add 1 to your mana pool."
You could just sacrifice its own tokens, but then you don't accelerate your mana any. If you are in a pinch, then you sacrifice it to itself and get five mana.
Wall of Radiance -- Given the defender restriction on the pump, this would probably be fine at 2W. If the pump could target any creature, then it would make more sense to be at four mana, but then it would fit better in green.
Felidar Umbra -- The totem armor cards we have seen have been pretty aggressively costed. This card might be okay for 2W.
Calcite Umbra -- Shroud is okay at common, and switching power and toughness is okay at common. Both together doesn't seem too overpowered. Oddly enough though there haven't been any Auras or Equipment that switch power and toughness, so the cost is a little difficult to estimate. I think this should be okay for 2U, and maybe even 1U.
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Slow thread will be slow while I deal with another matter, though. So here's three off the brain to start... which don't really have anything to do with speculated theme.
Ancient Awakenings (Mythic)
WUBRG
Enchantment
When Ancient Awakenings enters the battlefield, search your library for up to three creature cards, reveal them, put them into your hand, then shuffle your library.
WUBRG: You may put a creature card onto the battlefield tapped. If you do, that creature gains lifelink, trample and first strike until end of turn when it next untaps.
Kor Shieldmate (Uncommon)
WW
Creature - Kor Warrior
2/2
Vigilance
T: Prevent the next 2 damage that would be dealt to Kor Shieldmate this turn.
Purification
3WW
Sorcery
Exile target colorless permanent.
Oh how I wish Purify was not already a card name.
Update 2/20: Upped to 3WW.
Vampire Nullslave (Uncommon)
1B
Creature - Vampire
3/3
Lifelink
Whenever Vampire Nullslave becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it.
Joraga Watchman (Uncommon)
2GG
Creature - Elf Warrior
4/2
Vigilance, reach
Joraga Watchman blocks each turn if able.
This is weird for green, I know, but I was going for a twist, which is to say that over-achievers sometimes have 'issues' (in this case, fatties).
Champion of the Locus (Uncommon)
1WW
Creature - Avatar
3/3
Protection from colorless
Deadlife (Uncommon)
:sym2g::sym2g:
Enchantment
(:sym2g: can be paid with or :symg:. This card has converted mana cost 6.)
Whenever you cast a colorless spell, you may put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.
Lookit, I'm a homage to "deadlight"! Still dithering on whether to just go for Tower Above's mana cost as well. Then again, it seems really good to allow it on a potential turn 2-3 in Limited play.
This should be straightforward.
Ugin's Hunger (Rare)
2RRR
Instant
Consume 1 (As you cast this spell, you may sacrifice any number of creatures. It costs 1 less to cast for each creature sacrificed this way.)
Ugin's Hunger deals 5 damage to target creature or player. If five or more creatures were consumed to cast Ugin's Hunger, instead it deals 5 damage to each creature your opponents control and each opponent.
Yes, I'm a Soulblast variant. But don't blow my cover.
Forgotten Necromancy (Rare)
2BBB
Sorcery
Consume 1
Return a creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. If you consumed five or more creatures to cast Forgotten Necromancy, instead return up to five creature cards from your graveyard to the battlefield.
Rare cycle maybe? Yes, it's triple black on purpose. Potential 1-2 mana zombify variants scare me.
Honor the Fallen
2WWW
Instant
Consume 1
You gain 10 life. If you consumed at least five or more creatures to cast Honor the Fallen, instead you gain 5 life for each creature consumed.
Does this text fit? I can't mockup in MSE right just yet.
Dissection
2UUU
Sorcery
Consume 1
Search your library for two cards, then shuffle your library and put those cards on top. If you consumed five or more creatures to cast Dissection, instead search your library for seven cards, then shuffle your library and put those cards on top.
This is probably overpowered...
Natural Cycle
2GGG
Sorcery
Consume 1
Search your library for a creature card and put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle your library. If you consumed five or more creatures to cast Call of Nature, instead search your library for three creature cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle your library.
Move over Tooth and Nail, I think...
Physical Growth (Common)
2GG
Sorcery
Put two +1/+1 counters on target creature.
Malakir Hex (Common)
2BB
Sorcery
Choose one - Remove all counters from target permanent; or, target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
Kabira Hero (Rare)
WW
Creature - Human Warrior
2/2
First strike, vigilance, lifelink
Empower 1 - W (W: Put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. Activate only as a sorcery and only once each turn.)
Kabira Hero has protection from all colors as long as it has three or more +1/+1 counters on it.
Emeria, Ruler of the Skies (Mythic)
4WWU
Legendary Creature - Angel
5/5
Flying, vigilance
Empower 1 - WU (WU: Put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. Activate only as a sorcery and only once each turn.)
Whenever you empower Emeria, Ruler of the Skies, other creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain flying and lifelink until end of turn.
Heretic of Reason (Rare)
2BB
Creature - Horror
2/2
Intimidate
Empower 2 - 2B (2B: Put two +1/+1 counters on this creature. Activate only as a sorcery and only once each turn.)
At the beginning of your upkeep, each player discards a card for each +1/+1 counter on Heretic of Reason.
Oran-Rief Survivor (Common)
1G
Creature - Human Warrior
2/2
Empower 1 - G (G: Put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. Activate only as a sorcery and only once each turn.)
Once he had allies to rely on; now he only has himself.
(See what I did here with this card?)
Drain of Blood (Uncommon)
3BB
Tribal Sorcery - Eldrazi
Drain of Blood is colorless.
Destroy target creature. If that creature is destroyed this way, put X 1/1 colorless Eldrazi creature tokens named "Brood Lineage" into play, where X is that creature's toughness.
Name brought to you by the little snippet of "In the Teeth of Akoum" in the Worldwake fatpack.
Victim of Carnage (Uncommon)
2BB
Tribal Sorcery - Eldrazi
Victim of Carnage is colorless.
Destroy target creature. Put a +1/+1 counter on each colorless creature you control.
*insert scared-angel with tentacle art here*
Encroaching Enslavement
2UU
Tribal Enchantment - Eldrazi
Encroaching Enslavement is colorless.
Enchant creature
At the beginning of your end step, you may put a slave counter on Encroaching Enslavement.
When Encroaching Enslavement has four or more slave counters, gain control of enchanted creature then sacrifice Encroaching Enslavement.
Again, jury's still out on Eldrazi themselves. This is me mostly playing sandbox. I'm still of the opinion that Rosewater's "goblingoblin" paragraph was meant to telegraph "insane fatties at common... but the chances of getting them out are low unless you jump through our hoops *whipcrack*". Plus, they'd be terrible picks in Draft; you'd want one or two to help you seal the deal lategame, but you wouldn't take many. Besides, this is a large set: how often do you see a given card at common in a large set? Not THAT much, but flukes happen.
Breeding Hedron (Uncommon)
7
Tribal Artifact - Eldrazi
T: Put three 0/1 colorless Eldrazi creature tokens named "Brood Lineage" onto the battlefield with "Sacrifice this creature: Add 1 to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast Eldrazi spells".
Soulpuller Hedron (Rare)
6
Tribal Artifact - Eldrazi
T: Put two 0/1 colorless Eldrazi creature tokens named "Brood Lineage" onto the battlefield with "Sacrifice this creature: Add 1 to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast Eldrazi spells."
T, Sacrifice three creatures: Target creature gets -4/-4 until end of turn. You gain 4 life.
Absorb Light (Common)
2W
Instant
Absorb Light is colorless.
You gain 6 life.
Dark Whispers (Uncommon)
4BB
Sorcery
Dark Whispers is colorless.
Untap target creature and gain control of it until end of turn. It gains haste. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.
Emerok, Bane of Prosperity (Mythic)
12
Legendary Creature - Eldrazi
10/10
When you cast Emerok, Bane of Prosperity, return up to two target creature cards from your graveyard to the battlefield.
Annihilator 4 (Whenever this creature attacks, defending player sacrifices four permanents.)
Whenever Emerok is put into your graveyard from anywhere, return it to its owner's hand.
That Which Condemns (Uncommon)
9
Creature - Eldrazi
7/7
When you cast That Which Condemns, exile target creature. You gain life equal to that creature's toughness.
Annihilator 2 (Whenever this creature attacks, defending player sacrifices two permanents.)
That Which Steals Hope (Uncommon)
8
Creature - Eldrazi
Destruction 1 (Whenever this creature attacks, defending player sacrifices a creature.)
7/7
One Who Brings Ruin (Uncommon)
14
Creature - Eldrazi
10/10
Destruction 2 (Whenever this creature attacks, defending player sacrifices two creatures.)
I decided that this would be a great naming schema for Eldrazi critters (meaning, not the Brood Lineage minions, but actual, honest-to-goodness "citizens" of the race). Convince me I'm wrong.
Why did I settle on "defending player sacrifices critters"? Well, if you get the COMMON versions out on the table, shouldn't you be winning the game?! This only accelerates that. Permanent sacrifice in a late-game situation is rather irrelevant unless we're going for "half" of them or more. Even Curse of the Cabal makes the board a scarily vacant thing for your opponent if it goes off via hardcast.I've since reconsidered this and decided they will probably be uncommon, but I'm still half-convinced we might see common versions of them, if for no other reason than that they'll be for those decks (that are playing blue?!) that need a fatty finisher that isn't a rare.Sarkhan Unravelling
3BR
Planeswalker - Sarkhan
{3}
[+2]: Sarkhan Unravelling deals 2 damage to target player unless he or she discards a card, then deals 2 damage to you unless you discard a card.
[-3]: Put a 5/5 red Dragon creature token with flying onto the battlefield.
[-4]: Search target player's library for five cards and exile them, then that player shuffles his or her library. Sarkhan Unravelling deals 5 damage to that player.
Obligatory black-red ability, Dragon Roost, and the obligatory "lolwut?" ability that's relevant in Limited and will help you win the game! And somewhat fairly costed for each.
Gideon Farrel
3WW
Planeswalker - Gideon
{3}
[+1]: Search your library for a card named Faith's Fetters and put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library.
[+1]: Target creature gains protection from the color of your choice until end of turn.
[-5]: For the rest of the game, creatures can't attack you unless their controller pays 2 for each creature attacking you.
Don't ask about the last name; it was just something that sounded aesthetically nice. His presence is largely due to various things, namely Purifying Fire and a comment by that book's author suggesting he's getting a card.
Past Ruminations
Links are broken, will fix in near future.
- Kaladesh
- Zendikar
- Rise of the Eldrazi
- Alara Reborn
- Innistrad <- Personal Favorite
- Dark Ascension
- Avacyn Restored
- Theros
- Return to Ravnica
- Tarkir
Consume is good though purification should be changed to non-land permanent since giving white LD when it already has a lot of the pie already is a little much.
A Zombify that consumed creatures would be pretty flavourful too
The only colors that can remove both artifacts and lands are red and green. Neither color generally gets to exile things, though. When you put colorless creatures into the mix, I want to say it feels better in green than in red. Removing the colorless creatures because they are unnatural, etc.
Actually, during the Great Designer Search one of the submissions by Andrew Emmot during the contest was this card:
Ancient Roots 3G
Sorcery
Destroy target colorless permanent.
Though in the comments, MaRo said he would consider putting it in red, as red has had a number of cards that deal with colorlessness in the past.
R Citizen Cane (Feldon of the Third Path)
This mini-batch is brought by the specific phrase: "Colorless Eldrazi spells", which I'll note do not necessarily have to be just creature spells. I'm also not really going to speculate on the "Annihilate" thing people bandied around with MaRo's "goblingoblin"-ified paragraph.
Drain of Blood (Uncommon)
3BB
Tribal Sorcery - Eldrazi
Drain of Blood is colorless.
Destroy target creature. If that creature is destroyed this way, put X 1/1 colorless Eldrazi creature tokens named "Brood Lineage" into play, where X is that creature's toughness.
Name brought to you by the little snippet of "In the Teeth of Akoum" in the Worldwake fatpack.
Encroaching Enslavement
2UU
Tribal Enchantment - Eldrazi
Encroaching Enslavement is colorless.
Enchant creature
At the beginning of your end step, you may put a slave counter on Encroaching Enslavement.
When Encroaching Enslavement has four or more slave counters, gain control of enchanted creature then sacrifice Encroaching Enslavement.
Past Ruminations
Links are broken, will fix in near future.
- Kaladesh
- Zendikar
- Rise of the Eldrazi
- Alara Reborn
- Innistrad <- Personal Favorite
- Dark Ascension
- Avacyn Restored
- Theros
- Return to Ravnica
- Tarkir
It is still unlikely that Tribal is going to be re-used, since that was pretty much a Lorwyn "keyword".
Though they could also just make Eldrazi instants and sorceries, like they did with Arcane spells in Kamigawa.
And I agree with PlayMoreRemoval, a consume Zombify variant would be great.
Another idea:
Giant Monster!!!! :3mana::symb::symb::symb:
Creature - Horror
6/6
Consume 1
Giant Monster!!!! enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it for each creature you consumed to cast it.
Oh, and by popular demand(?), this is a random Zombify variant I made once:
Transfer Soul
1BB
Instant
As an additional cost to cast Transfer Soul, sacrifice a creature.
Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.
I'm too powerful. Woe is me.
Forgotten Necromancy (Rare)
2BBB
Sorcery
Consume 1
Return a creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. If you consumed five or more creatures to cast Forgotten Necromancy, instead return up to five creature cards from your graveyard to the battlefield.
Rare cycle maybe? Yes, it's triple black on purpose. Potential 1-2 mana zombify variants scare me.
Past Ruminations
Links are broken, will fix in near future.
- Kaladesh
- Zendikar
- Rise of the Eldrazi
- Alara Reborn
- Innistrad <- Personal Favorite
- Dark Ascension
- Avacyn Restored
- Theros
- Return to Ravnica
- Tarkir
Should spells flavored to belong to the Eldrazi be colorless like Ghostfire?
That use of Consume is excellent, as well. At first I thought it was too much like a worse version of Convoke, but seeing that you can have effects that trigger off of more sacrifices than necessary made me reconsider. I give it a thumbs-up. It would probably have been a much better mechanic for Jund than Devour... what is red about Devour anyway? This is a much better fit for "sacrifice resources for short-term gain."
R Citizen Cane (Feldon of the Third Path)
I don't think Devour was a flop, but I do wish they had included 2-3 more cards for it in the block. It wasn't very well represented if you ask me. Somewhat the same with Unearth, but not as much. Unearth is arguably stronger.
Also, red has had a history of "drawback for gain" or "forfeiture for gain" like black does. Recent memory includes funs like Char (hits you; yes I know it's just red Psionic Blast), Fiery Bombardment, (EDIT: Meant Fiery Conclusion heh /EDIT), Boom // Bust (you know which side). I can't think of one in the past two years recently off the top of my head, but Devour wasn't a bad fit for red. Arguably out of color for green if anything in my opinion.
That said, I figured I'd go for the rest of a rare cycle. I wanted to do an Anthem effect for white, but I couldn't figure out a good wording for it...
Honor the Fallen
2WWW
Instant
Consume 1
You gain 10 life. If you consumed at least five or more creatures to cast Honor the Fallen, instead you gain 5 life for each creature consumed.
Does this text fit? I can't mockup in MSE right just yet.
Dissection
2UUU
Sorcery
Consume 1
Search your library for two cards, then shuffle your library and put those cards on top. If you consumed five or more creatures to cast Dissection, instead search your library for seven cards, then shuffle your library and put those cards on top.
This is probably overpowered...
Natural Cycle
2GGG
Sorcery
Consume 1
Search your library for a creature card and put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle your library. If you consumed five or more creatures to cast Call of Nature, instead search your library for three creature cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle your library.
Move over Tooth and Nail, I think...
EDIT2: I'm also sad because I really wanted to say something like "If five or more creatures were consumed by Ugin's Hunger", but being pedantic won out over sounding clever with naming.
Past Ruminations
Links are broken, will fix in near future.
- Kaladesh
- Zendikar
- Rise of the Eldrazi
- Alara Reborn
- Innistrad <- Personal Favorite
- Dark Ascension
- Avacyn Restored
- Theros
- Return to Ravnica
- Tarkir
Honor the Fallen and Dissection are either very good or very bad, but it would take some testing to really find out which. Natural Cycle might be okay if it was limited to green creatures, but even then it is capable of grabbing Progenitus pretty cheaply.
I think that the wording might be more similar to Vigor Mortis:
This matters mostly in the very small corner case of Commandeer, but it also reads a little bit more cleanly. I think Commandeer is also the reason why (before ZEN) kicker, and some similar mechanics, had been changed from "If you paid the kicker cost" to simply "If the kicker cost was paid".
My current belief is we're getting 2-3 in Rise of the Eldrazi, with maybe a surprise thrown in. I don't see Ajani, Liliana or Elspeth being any of those, for various reasons, but I might be surprised by the latter (she might end up an interplanar crusader/smite-evil individual is what I'm getting at).
Sarkhan Unravelling
2BR
Planeswalker - Sarkhan
{3}
[+2]: Sarkhan Unravelling deals 2 damage to target player unless he or she discards a card, then deals 2 damage to you unless you discard a card.
[-3]: Put a 5/5 red Dragon creature token with flying onto the battlefield.
[-4]: Search target player's library for five cards and exile them, then that player shuffles his or her library. Sarkhan Unravelling deals 5 damage to that player.
Obligatory black-red ability, Dragon Roost, and the obligatory "lolwut?" ability that's relevant in Limited and will help you win the game! And somewhat fairly costed for each.
Gideon Farrel
3WWW
Planeswalker - Gideon
{4}
[+1]: Search your library for a card named Faith's Fetters and put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library.
[+1]: Target creature gains protection from the color of your choice until end of turn.
[-4]: For the rest of the game, creatures can't attack you unless their controller pays 2 for each creature attacking you.
Don't ask about the last name; it was just something that sounded aesthetically nice. His presence is largely due to various things, namely Purifying Fire and a comment by that book's author suggesting he's getting a card.
Past Ruminations
Links are broken, will fix in near future.
- Kaladesh
- Zendikar
- Rise of the Eldrazi
- Alara Reborn
- Innistrad <- Personal Favorite
- Dark Ascension
- Avacyn Restored
- Theros
- Return to Ravnica
- Tarkir
Mindleach 4B
Instant
Mindleach is colorless.
Target player discards two cards.
But that's more because someone pointed out Ghostfire's flavor text than anything else...
(Probably NSFW) So you may have heard I'm trying to write a TV series...
Most Nominated for Random Categories, 2013
Experience Hack (Common)
2GG
Sorcery
Put two +1/+1 counters on target creature.
Malakir Hex (Common)
2BB
Sorcery
Choose one - Remove all counters from target permanent; or, target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
Empower X - COST (COST: Put X +1/+1 counters on this creature. Activate this ability only as a sorcery and only once each turn.)
I settled on this for a few reasons, which should be rather straightforward as I see it: upping a creature's "stats" basically means power and toughness, which means +1/+1 counters if you want it to be a true version of "levelling up". Of course, that strongly implies you need to limit the mechanic, or things go bonkers in Limited if the costs are low, which they arguably should be in some ways. I'm still trying to assess this reasoning, given the presence of the common multikicker cycle in Worldwake, which is arguably the same thing as doing this if just up front.
Kabira Hero (Rare)
WW
Creature - Human Warrior
2/2
First strike
Empower 1 - W
Kabira Hero has protection from all colors as long as it has three or more +1/+1 counters on it.
Emeria, Ruler of the Skies (Mythic)
4WWU
Legendary Creature - Angel
5/5
Flying, vigilance
Empower 1 - WU
Whenever you empower Emeria, Ruler of the Skies, other creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain flying and lifelink until end of turn.
Heretic of Reason (Rare)
2BB
Creature - Horror
2/2
Intimidate
Empower 2 - 2B
At the beginning of your upkeep, each player discards a card for each +1/+1 counter on Heretic of Reason.
Oran-Rief Survivor (Common)
1G
Creature - Human Warrior
2/2
Empower 1 - G
Once he had allies to rely on; now he only has himself.
(See what I did here with this card?)
Again, jury's still out on Eldrazi themselves. This is me mostly playing sandbox. I'm still of the opinion that Rosewater's "goblingoblin" paragraph was meant to telegraph "insane fatties at common... but the chances of getting them out are low unless you jump through our hoops *whipcrack*". Plus, they'd be terrible picks in Draft; you'd want one or two to help you seal the deal lategame, but you wouldn't take many. Besides, this is a large set: how often do you see a given card at common in a large set? Not THAT much, but flukes happen.
Breeding Hedron (Uncommon)
7
Tribal Artifact - Eldrazi
T: Put three 0/1 colorless Eldrazi creature tokens named "Brood Lineage" onto the battlefield with "Sacrifice this creature: Add 1 to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast Eldrazi spells".
That Which Steals Hope (Common)
8
Creature - Eldrazi
Destruction 1 (Whenever this creature attacks, defending player sacrifices a creature.)
5/5
One Who Brings Ruin (Common)
14
Creature - Eldrazi
7/7
Destruction 2 (Whenever this creature attacks, defending player sacrifices two creatures.)
I decided that this would be a great naming schema for Eldrazi critters (meaning, not the Brood Lineage minions, but actual, honest-to-goodness "citizens" of the race). Convince me I'm wrong.
EDIT - Why did I settle on "defending player sacrifices critters"? Well, if you get the COMMON versions out on the table, shouldn't you be winning the game?! This only accelerates that. Permanent sacrifice in a late-game situation is rather irrelevant unless we're going for "half" of them or more. Even Curse of the Cabal makes the board a scarily vacant thing for your opponent if it goes off via hardcast
And here's a completely random question to whomever reads it: Allies, yea (yay?) or nay in RotE? Right now, I'm thinking it's 50/50.
Past Ruminations
Links are broken, will fix in near future.
- Kaladesh
- Zendikar
- Rise of the Eldrazi
- Alara Reborn
- Innistrad <- Personal Favorite
- Dark Ascension
- Avacyn Restored
- Theros
- Return to Ravnica
- Tarkir
Allies will be in Rise. If not MaRo can go into time out for a block.
GWU Rafiq
RWB Zurgo
WBG Ghave
WUB Oloro
WBR Kaalia (Archived)
My Blog, currently working on series about my custom set Cazia.
Steam Trades - I play Dota 2, CS:GO, TF2, and trade cards heavily. Add me if you like.
Doubt it. Descriptions of Em, ruler of the sky realm of Emeria, say that she is angelic. Cosi is seen as a mischievous humanoid. And Ula, ruler of the water realm, is a merfolk. They all are described as having quite "human" temperaments, also. It is difficult to believe that such anthropomorphic deities would be derived from something as alien and malevolent as the Eldrazi. Not every little thing on Zendikar has to be linked to the Eldrazi in some way; the Merfolk realms, and their rulers, are simply a part of their culture.
R Citizen Cane (Feldon of the Third Path)
GWU Rafiq
RWB Zurgo
WBG Ghave
WUB Oloro
WBR Kaalia (Archived)
My Blog, currently working on series about my custom set Cazia.
Steam Trades - I play Dota 2, CS:GO, TF2, and trade cards heavily. Add me if you like.
1R
Creature - Human Pyromancer
0/1
T, Make a ">_>" face, Exile Thread Cleaner: Destroy all posters that are discussing storyline matters in the Custom Card Creation forum. They can't be regenerated. Then, flip a coin. If you win the flip, you don't get yelled at for posting this.
Out! Out I say! (Though for what it's worth, I get the feeling you're right that Emeria and Cosi will end up as either false gods or Eldrazi. Archon of Redemption's flavor text is kind of vexing in that regard, though.)
Oh and here's something on topic:
Victim of Carnage (Uncommon)
2BB
Tribal Sorcery - Eldrazi
Victim of Carnage is colorless.
Destroy target creature. Put a +1/+1 counter on each colorless creature you control.
*insert scared-angel with tentacle art here*
Now for more combat/Limited related mechanics. You might remember one of these from previous.
Defiance (Whenever this creature blocks, put a +1/+1 counter on it at end of combat.)
Assist (T: Target creature gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is this creature's power. Combat damage may be assigned to this creature instead of the assisted creature.)
Herald of Emeria (Uncommon)
2WW
Creature - Angel
3/3
Defiance; vigilance
Pyromancer General (Uncommon)
3RR
Creature - Human Shaman
3/2
Assist
EDIT - Figured I'd try some mix-and-match.
Bloodthirsty Baloth (Rare)
6GG
Creature - Beast
6/6
Consume 1 (As you cast this spell, you may sacrifice any number of creatures. This costs 1 less to cast for each creature sacrificed this way.)
Shroud
Empower 2 - 2G (2G: Put two +1/+1 counters on this creature. Activate only as a sorcery and only once each turn.)
Not to preach to the choir, but the obvious idea is you get rid of your bad critters for a bad(ass?) critter. The critter sacrifice is to either power it out, or to power it up the same turn you get it.
Past Ruminations
Links are broken, will fix in near future.
- Kaladesh
- Zendikar
- Rise of the Eldrazi
- Alara Reborn
- Innistrad <- Personal Favorite
- Dark Ascension
- Avacyn Restored
- Theros
- Return to Ravnica
- Tarkir
Raging Tsunami (Uncommon)
2UU
Creature - Elemental
4/4
Advance 2UU (2UU: Put a growth counter on this. Activate only as a sorcery. This gains abilities based on the number of growth counters on it.)
Growth 2 - Raging Tsunami has flying.
Growth 3 - Raging Tsunami has shroud.
So if you spend a total of 2UU three more times on this critter, you have a 4/4 flier with shroud. Not terrible, not great (investiture is why), Limited relevant, which is the point. Issue is: does it make sense as worded here? or should it be (bleh) spelled out as below, thereby taking up a LOT of text box space potentially?
Death's Herald (Rare)
3BB
Creature - Avatar
4/4
Advance 7BB (7BB: Put a growth counter on this. Activate only as a sorcery.)
Growth - Death's Herald has intimidate as long as it has a growth counter on it and gets +5/+5 for each growth counter on it.
Also, something random~
Soulpuller Hedron (Rare)
6
Tribal Artifact - Eldrazi
T: Put two 0/1 colorless Eldrazi creature tokens named "Brood Lineage" onto the battlefield with "Sacrifice this creature: Add 1 to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast Eldrazi spells."
T, Sacrifice three creatures: Target creature gets -4/-4 until end of turn. You gain 4 life.
Past Ruminations
Links are broken, will fix in near future.
- Kaladesh
- Zendikar
- Rise of the Eldrazi
- Alara Reborn
- Innistrad <- Personal Favorite
- Dark Ascension
- Avacyn Restored
- Theros
- Return to Ravnica
- Tarkir
No real rhyme or reason here, and nothing really new aside from stuff I already made.
Absorb Light (Common)
2W
Instant
Absorb Light is colorless.
You gain 6 life.
Dark Whispers (Uncommon)
4BB
Sorcery
Dark Whispers is colorless.
Untap target creature and gain control of it until end of turn. It gains haste. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.
Emerok, Bane of Prosperity (Mythic)
12
Legendary Creature - Eldrazi
10/10
When you cast Emerok, Bane of Prosperity, return up to two target creature cards from your graveyard to the battlefield.
Annihilator 4 (Whenever this creature attacks, defending player sacrifices four permanents.)
Whenever Emerok is put into your graveyard from anywhere, return it to its owner's hand.
That Which Condemns (Uncommon)
9
Creature - Eldrazi
7/7
When you cast That Which Condemns, exile target creature. You gain life equal to that creature's toughness.
Annihilator 2 (Whenever this creature attacks, defending player sacrifices two permanents.)
Vampire Nullslave (Uncommon)
1B
Creature - Vampire
3/3
Lifelink
Whenever Vampire Nullslave becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it.
Joraga Watchman (Uncommon)
1GG
Creature - Elf Warrior
4/2
Vigilance, reach
Joraga Watchman blocks each turn if able.
This is weird for green, I know, but I was going for a twist, which is to say that over-achievers sometimes have 'issues' (in this case, fatties).
Champion of the Locus (Uncommon)
1WW
Creature - Avatar
3/3
Protection from colorless
Ugin, the Spiritfire
6
Planeswalker - Ugin
{4}
[+1]: Target creature gets +2/+0 and gains haste until end of turn.
[-1]: Ugin, the Spiritfire deals 3 damage to target creature or player.
[-6]: For the rest of the game, target player sacrifices two permanents at the beginning of his or her upkeep.
I'm more inclined to think Ugin is either an Eldrazi or sealed-away force, though (like Omnath and maybe Emeria?).
Speculation: "colored hybrid" returns? (Spectral Procession costed cards.)
Deadlife (Uncommon)
2(2/G)(2/G)
Enchantment
((2/G) can be paid with 2 or G. This card has converted mana cost 6.)
Whenever you cast a colorless spell, you may put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.
Lookit, I'm a homage to "deadlight"! Still dithering on whether to just go for Tower Above's mana cost as well. Then again, it seems really good to allow it on a potential turn 2-3 in Limited play.
Past Ruminations
Links are broken, will fix in near future.
- Kaladesh
- Zendikar
- Rise of the Eldrazi
- Alara Reborn
- Innistrad <- Personal Favorite
- Dark Ascension
- Avacyn Restored
- Theros
- Return to Ravnica
- Tarkir
First, this is me fleshing out the uncommon cycle, which I think would be nice to see sort of repeated from Future Sight's "resuspend" cycle, as I call it (Chronomantic Escape, Reality Strobe, Festering March, Arc Blade, Cyclical Evolution)
Rekindled Blaze (Uncommon)
2R
Instant
Rekindled Blaze deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Rebound (If you cast this card from your hand, exile it as it resolves. At the beginning of your next upkeep, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.)
Second Thoughts (Common)
1U
Sorcery
Draw a card.
Rebound (If you cast this card from your hand, exile it as it resolves. At the beginning of your next upkeep, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.)
Temporary Reprieve (Uncommon)
3WW
Sorcery
Until your next turn, creatures can't attack you.
Rebound (If you cast this card from your hand, exile it as it resolves. At the beginning of your next upkeep, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.)
Echo of Æther (Uncommon)
2U
Sorcery
Return target permanent to its owner's hand.
Rebound (If you cast this card from your hand, exile it as it resolves. At the beginning of your next upkeep, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.)
Persistant Infection
2B
Sorcery
Target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
Rebound (If you cast this card from your hand, exile it as it resolves. At the beginning of your next upkeep, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.)
Totem armor stuff:
Mongoose Umbra (Uncommon)
3G
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control.
Totem armor (If enchanted creature would be destroyed, instead remove all damage from it and destroy this Aura.)
Elemental Umbra (Uncommon)
5R
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
When Elemental Umbra enters or leaves the battlefield, it deals 2 damage to target creature.
Enchanted creature has double strike.
Totem armor (If enchanted creature would be destroyed, instead remove all damage from it and destroy this Aura.)
Random stuff:
Eternal Infusion (Rare)
2WW
Enchantment
Auras you control are indestructible.
How to make Totem armor insufferable.
Guul Draz Assassin (Rare)
1BB
Creature - Vampire Assassin
1/1
T: Destroy target tapped creature. Put a +1/+1 counter on Guul Draz Assassin.
Past Ruminations
Links are broken, will fix in near future.
- Kaladesh
- Zendikar
- Rise of the Eldrazi
- Alara Reborn
- Innistrad <- Personal Favorite
- Dark Ascension
- Avacyn Restored
- Theros
- Return to Ravnica
- Tarkir
Overswarm (Common)
7
Tribal Instant - Eldrazi
Target creature gets -X/-X until end of turn, where X is the number of Eldrazi creatures you control.
Not sure how useful this would be, but yeah.
Binder of Lost Fire (Rare)
1R
Creature - Elemental
2/2
Level up 2R
Level 1-3 -- 4/4
Level 4+ -- 4/4 -- Whenever Binder of Lost Fire gains a level, it deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Only question is, does it apply to level 4 itself, or 5+?
Butcher's Overseer (Rare)
3BB
Creature - Eldrazi
3/3
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may sacrifice it. If you do, put X 0/1 colorless Eldrazi Spawn creature tokens onto the battlefield, where X is the sacrificed creature's converted mana cost. They have "Sacrifice this creature: Add 1 to your mana pool."
Wall of Radiance
3W
Creature - Elemental Wall
0/4
Defender
T: Target creature with defender gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
Felidar Umbra
3W
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and has lifelink.
Totem armor
Calcite Umbra (Common?)
3U
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has shroud.
0: Switch enchanted creature's power and toughness. Activate this ability only once each turn.
Totem armor
And now the baby post-mortem on this musing thread.
- Set theme. I strongly thought we were going for coloreds versus the nots. We kind of are, still, but I expected it more along the lines of how Shadowmoor and Eventide did "color matters", which is that the "have nots" (they don't have color, get it?) would be about as prevalent as hybrid was, meaning the "Ghostfire" clause of forcing them to be colorless. Also did not think they would do a Defender subtheme in the set, which kind of makes sense now that I think about it.
- Tribal Eldrazi - check! Not as many tribal hits in the Orb as I was expecting, but I felt very happy that I was vindicated on the matter of them printing nonpermanent Eldrazi cards strictly for Eye of Ugin to <3 and cherish. Still hoping they print an "Eldrazi Lattice" type card so EVERY Eldrazi card can be used with Eye, but we'll see.
- Colorless cards - bombo as mentioned above. Obviously they exist, but I was quite sure they were going to reprint Ghostfire and do a slough of cards that basically had a "colorless matters" subtheme to it.
- Leveler cards - yes-and-no. I feel I effectively guessed right in post #20, but I certainly did not expect them to do static ability shorthand for level up, nor did I think they would have literally different power/toughness based on level. I more expected it to be bonuses to the base P/T rather than setting it to that quantity. I did call sorcery speed, though! (Also had once-a-turn, but my version used varying numbers of +1/+1 counters, so that should be relatively intuitive why only once at sorcery speed.)
- Totem armor - bombo. Definitely didn't see it coming.
- Rebound - Rebound what? That came from nowhere, but I can't say it's a bad idea. It's certainly less easily abused compared to Cascade, that's for sure. imo, one of the better "free" mechanics.
- Eldrazi - They're sooooo big. And sooooo common. At first I was quite sure MaRo's goblingoblin blurb meant "two at common" (which seems to be the case now!), but then I figured that it would make Limited really freaking weird. Turns out that Limited is really freaking weird! Still, it was nice to be right, and also very irritating that I second guessed myself and changed my mind when I should've gone with my instincts that there were, indeed, ridiculous fatties at common if only two. (Those of you who are following at home, I kind of joined the bandwagon that the goblingoblin-graph meant "two at uncommon", since most crazy fatty bombs tend to be there for green or at rare, and Ulamog's Crusher certainly qualifies as fatty and probably a bit bomby for the common slot.)
- Eldrazi spawn. Hmm, "Drain of Blood" and "Corpsehatch" look familiar. I wasn't sure how exactly they were going to do Spawn tokens, but I do think it's funny I made something almost identical to Corpsehatch and it had the same cost even if Corpsehatch was not Tribal Eldrazi. Which I still think it should have been.
- I still like my creation of consume, even though it's probably been done on this forum before. So there.
Overall: I want to do this for Scars of Mirrodin now, but it's way too early. Maybe about August I'll make that. *considers this* Current prognosis: colored artifacts make their heyday outside of Alara, and we get Sarcomite Myr back.
Past Ruminations
Links are broken, will fix in near future.
- Kaladesh
- Zendikar
- Rise of the Eldrazi
- Alara Reborn
- Innistrad <- Personal Favorite
- Dark Ascension
- Avacyn Restored
- Theros
- Return to Ravnica
- Tarkir
Or maybe not. That is a little too ugly.
I was sort of expecting more colorless tribal Eldrazi spells to take advantage of Eye of Ugin. And given that there are in fact colored Eldrazi, it seems like spells like Corpsehatch should also be tribal Eldrazi.
Binder of Lost Fire -- I would word this like "Whenever CARDNAME levels up to level 4 or higher, ..." It is expensive to get up to level 4, but after that this is pretty strong ability.
On a side note, I like the idea of higher level ranges using the same P/T. It is a nice compliment to other creatures that just get bigger and more monstrous. We've seen it on the looter, but the P/T there is pretty boring. I think it would be possible to have a creature that you want to attack with have the same P/T at each level range and still encourage you to level up.
I'm not really sure how level up should be costed, but here is an example of all the same P/T that is a little more interesting:
Butcher's Overseer -- I think this would be better as an upkeep trigger.
You could just sacrifice its own tokens, but then you don't accelerate your mana any. If you are in a pinch, then you sacrifice it to itself and get five mana.
Wall of Radiance -- Given the defender restriction on the pump, this would probably be fine at 2W. If the pump could target any creature, then it would make more sense to be at four mana, but then it would fit better in green.
Felidar Umbra -- The totem armor cards we have seen have been pretty aggressively costed. This card might be okay for 2W.
Calcite Umbra -- Shroud is okay at common, and switching power and toughness is okay at common. Both together doesn't seem too overpowered. Oddly enough though there haven't been any Auras or Equipment that switch power and toughness, so the cost is a little difficult to estimate. I think this should be okay for 2U, and maybe even 1U.