MTG Salvation

While this card would be fine in a format such as limited or perhaps even standard, ?? Ritual is still way to powerful for most non-rotating formats because Dark Ritual effects feed Storm decks too well. Sacrificing an already tapped land lost land isn't enough of a downside when the player using this card is comboing out. Perhaps a better downside would be, "sacrifice an untapped land", but again that isn't very helpful since most of the time it functionally would just increase the card's cost by 1. Perhaps a better path is to somehow limit the way the mana can be used or restrict the player from casting more than one additional spell after ?? Ritual resolves.


Stitcher's Reproduction 2UU
Creature - Zombie Shapeshifter (R)
You may have Sticher's Reproduction enter the battlefield as a copy of any creature on the battlefield except it is a Zombie in addition to it's other types and has "if this creature would transform you may exile it and return it to the battlefield instead."
"Given enough motivation it can reassemble itself into just about anything."
0/0

My initial idea was a double sided clone that Allows the player to choose a different creature to copy whenever it transforms, I then realized that I could get the same effect on a card with only one side.

Stitcher's Reproduction copies creatures in play FYI. I think the cost is fine. It's tough to find a way to specifically break the transform effect but there are definitely a few things you can do with the transform effect. Obviously you're assuming it would be played in a transform set so there would be something to transform.

Incineration Giant is pretty simple but would create a lot of interesting decisions and it has a pretty good combo of versatility and power without being OP. It's also pretty interesting because it gives red an expensive card with some late game punch but specifically is bad against big creatures.

Argent Lance 2
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Exlated
Equip 3
Equipped creature getes +1/+2 and has vigilance.

Fantastic grixis design that feels like it has some homage to Deathrite Shaman a little bit. Seems balanced, even though only 1-cmc the ability is extremely narrow, and prior to this I'm not aware of a serious elemental tribal deck that would become broken with it.

Once again I have an obsession with cards that twist the rules in interesting ways:

Lasting Honor 1UW
Enchantment - Aura (R)
Enchant target non-planeswalker permanent.
Activated and triggered abilities on target permanent that last until end of turn instead are permanent.

Hmmmm...... what happens if the aura is removed? Will the effect stay, immediately expire, or expire EOT? Either way, this is a strong effect, but admittedly depends the creatures to make it broken. Things like firebreathing will love this.


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Unhallowed Apprenticeship 4BBB
Enchantmet (R)
Whenever you cast a creature spell, return target creature card in your graveyard onto the battlefield if it has lower converted mana cost than the creature spell. That creature becomes a black Zombie in addition to its other colors and types.
"For all his genius, Ludevic still makes the mistake of taking in a living apprentice."

Comments?


EDIT:

Unhallowed Apprenticeship 4BB
Enchantmet (R)
Whenever you cast a creature spell, return target creature card in your graveyard onto the battlefield if it has lower converted mana cost than the creature spell. That creature becomes a black Zombie in addition to its other colors and types.
"For all his genius, Ludevic still makes the mistake of taking in a living apprentice."

Quote from magac »

Unhallowed Apprenticeship 4BBB
Enchantmet (R)
Whenever you cast a creature spell, return target creature card in your graveyard onto the battlefield if it has lower converted mana cost than the creature spell. That creature becomes a black Zombie in addition to its other colors and types.
"For all his genius, Ludevic still makes the mistake of taking in a living apprentice."

Comments?

IMO, you're nerfing this card way too much to the point that it becomes unplayable. At that cost it better do some crazy broken stuff. I suggest going one of two ways.

The balanced and dull way: Change the cmc to 4 or 5.
The fun way: Change the text to "whenever a non-token creature enters the battlefield under your control..." so that one expensive creature landing can trigger a whole chain of progressively smaller creatures rather than just one.

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Chronological Discord U
Instant (R)
Counter target spell. Chronological Discord cannot be countered or redirected. Skip your next turn.

Chronological Discord would be broken in several formats for the same reason pact of negation goes big- if your 'next turn' never occurs, there's no drawback. Having a 1 mana hard counter that can't be countered or even swerved is like #5-8 pacts for a deck that's going to combo off in one turn, and that's a scary level of defensive protection for combos. Now played 'fairly' its not that problematic, but who would play it fairly?

Sudden Ambush RR
Instant (R)
The next Creature card you cast this turn can be cast as though it had flash. If its the combat phase on your turn, you may have that creature enter the battlefield tapped and attacking.

(intentionally lets you sneak in after declare blockers)

Seems like a very powerful spell, but it's niche enough for it to be acceptable.

Minadra's Prodigy 2RR
Creature - Human Wizard (Rare)
Flash
When Minadra's Prodigy enters the battlefield, put target spell or ability on top of the stack. (A spells or ability on top of the stack is the first to resolve.)
"We all move through time. Mistress Minadra has simply taught me to move through it faster."
2/2

(Minadra is a mono-R planeswalker that is fascinated with time travel and manipulation. She has a very Izzet-attitude, wrecking havoc by experimenting with volatile and yet unexplored forms of magic, just like this card, she tries to do things that haven't been done before.)

Quote from clan_iraq »

Sudden Ambush RR
Instant (R)
The next Creature card you cast this turn can be cast as though it had flash. If its the combat phase on your turn, you may have that creature enter the battlefield tapped and attacking.

(intentionally lets you sneak in after declare blockers)

I think there is a creature which causes a player to automatically lose if they take any combat damage from it... forget the name of it. But that seems like a pretty good combo. I don't think this is too powerful.

Quote from Subject16 »

Minadra's Prodigy 2RR
Creature - Human Wizard (Rare)
Flash
When Minadra's Prodigy enters the battlefield, put target spell or ability on top of the stack. (A spells or ability on top of the stack is the first to resolve.)
"We all move through time. Mistress Minadra has simply taught me to move through it faster."
2/2

(Minadra is a mono-R planeswalker that is fascinated with time travel and manipulation. She has a very Izzet-attitude, wrecking havoc by experimenting with volatile and yet unexplored forms of magic, just like this card, she tries to do things that haven't been done before.)

Fascinating ability with a lot of subtle applications. There's probably something really broken you can do with this. But hey, that's Magic. I approve.

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Coffin Market 3B
Enchantment (R)
When Coffin Market enters the battlefield, choose a player. That player may only pay for Delve costs using your graveyard. You may only pay for Delve costs using that player's graveyard.

I like Minadra's Prodigy! WotC doesn't like mentioning the stack, but pffft. LIVE A LITTLE. Fitting cost, too.

Edit: Oh my god I love Coffin Market. Should probably be an aura with "Enchant player pther than you", though.

Aether something-or-other
Land
When Aether etc enters the battlefield, you get .
: Add C to your mana pool.
3, : Proliferate.

Coffin Market should either be more open-ended to allow using graveyards for more effects as best as you can template it to apply to more than just delve, or for 4 cmc, it really should have some impact on its own, because it takes quite some hoops to jump through before it even does anything

If proliferate and energy were ever in the same block, I'd definitely want a land just like that. It would probably have to cost more to activate due to the power with -1/-1 and +1/+1 counters, like contagion clasp at 4, but it would be a great way to both have an energy producing land and a more open ended counter-deck land.

Warden of Tomorrow 1G
Creature - Elf Shaman (U)
You may cast Warden of Tomorrow without paying its mana cost when you draw it. If you do, it gains haste and "Return Warden of Tomorrow to your hand at the beginning of the end step"
T: Add G to your mana pool.
1/2

Seems like a decent land. Could definitely see printing once Phyrexia takes over Kaladesh, but maybe with the ability to convert energy into colored mana as well? Something like a mix between Aether Hub and Unknown Shores?

There hasn't been a proper blue fatty in a while.

Screeching Skystalker 3UU
Creature - Leviathan (Rare)
Flying
Play with your hand revealed.
Screeching Skystalker gets +3/+3 for each land card in your hand.
Its shrieks erode stone and steel faster than any winds or waters.
1/1

Missing the shuffle on the imprint and should be 'plays a card' templating-wise but otherwise its rather clunky to have effects that only work when both players have the same card in both their libraries. That's not really that common in many matchups, unless this angel just winds up putting a basic land into play tapped. I mean, even if your opponent has the same cards in his deck, he still needs to play the same named one after you cast this 5 drop, which is a real convergence of hoops to jump through to ever use the second ability to get value.
Maybe what you could do is search your opponent's library for a card, guaranteeing this can work for any multiples they play. The downside there is if your opponent has any fetchlands or other library search effects, they can deduce the card you stole by counting, which is a time consuming process. Its possible you could play around this in other ways, like naming the card in secret or exiling more than one card but only triggering it for one

Warden of Tomorrow 1G
Creature - Elf Shaman (U)
You may cast Warden of Tomorrow without paying its mana cost when you draw it. If you do, it gains haste and "Return Warden of Tomorrow to your hand at the beginning of the end step"
T: Add G to your mana pool.
1/2

Seems like the first ability should be a triggered ability akin to Miracle. Otherwise it's an interesting card, but not overpowered. Though there are definitely ways it can be abused, but that's what magic is about.

Domri, Fist of Krosa 4RG
Planeswalker - Domri (Mythic)
(+2) Reveal the top four cards of your library. Put all creature cards revealed this way into your hand and the rest into your graveyard.
(-X) Domri, Fist of Krosa deals X damage to up to one target creature. You may have target creature you control fight that creature.
(-8) Search your library for up to three creature cards and put them onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library. Creatures you control gain haste until end of turn.
Starting loyalty: (4)

Quote from Subject16 »

Seems like a decent land. Could definitely see printing once Phyrexia takes over Kaladesh, ...

Why, tho? Be more interesting to have another world, one with both Proliferate and Energy.

Anyway, the Domri card is interesting as a storyline concept. Picking up an affiliation with a forest on another Plane would be an interesting path for Domri's character to travel down. The card itself is perfectly fine, if faintly unexciting as far as I'm concerned.

And now! I've been thinking aout my rGw faction cocntept and...
Sentinel of Rocky Fields 2GG
Creature Treefolk Ranger
Vigilance
When Sentinel of Rocky Fields dies, you may pay . If you do, reveal the top four cards of your library. Put a mountain or plains card revealed this way onto the battlefield and the rest into your graveyard.
2/5

What do you think of this tweak?

It seems interesting, but I feel like "from outside the game" effects shouldn't go any lower than rare, even if in some environments outside the game it the sideboard. Also if its ability triggers on a spell being cast, wouldn't "cast the imprinted card" be more properly worded than "play" since that only applies to lands now.

Spiraling Madness 1U
Instant (Rare)
Draw a card.
Cycling 3 (3, Discard this card: Draw a card.)
Madness U (When you discard this card, discard it into exile. When you do, cast it for its madness cost or put it into your graveyard.)
Flashback U, Discard a card. (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)

Quote from entombedhydra »

I genuinely don't like vigilance on green creatures. I know WOTC thinks it's vigilance's 2nd color, but quite franky blue needs all the help it can get (No, I don't buy the fact that flying is UW... come on, have you seen magic?).

I don't like Ranger as as subtype.

As for the death trigger... can't it get that for free w/o paying the mana? Especially if you're going to ask me to only reveal the top 4.

It should probably be this:
Sentinel Ranger 3G
Creature - Treefolk Shaman (U)
Sacrifice ~: Reveal the top card of your library until you reveal a basic land. Put that land onto the battlefield tapped. Put the other revealed cards on the bottom of your library in a random order.
2/4

This is a drastically different card. I could say more, but it might be messy so I'll refrain. Edit: huh! Ranger isn't a supported card type. Treefolk Warrior it is, then!

Anyway, on to more interesting things! Spiraling Madness is very fun, I dig it! Piling on keywords like this is great, IMO. The costs are very reasonable, too! The only criticism I really have is that I think the name could use some changing.

On that note, i'll try this:
Funnel Blood 1B
Sorcery
Target opponent loses 1 life and you cain that much life.
Overload - 1B, Sacrifice a creature
Replicate - Sacrifice a creature

Well the combination of Overload and Replicate is kind of neat, they don't directly interact but it takes the spell from affecting one opponent to affecting all opponents multiple times over. But my problem is that for all the round-about mechanical means to deliver the spell, what you actually get is just comparable to exsanguinate or debt to the deathless, not not really on par with them powerwise. You could pay 2BB and sacrifice 4 creatures just to make each opponent lose 4 life and gain 4? You could have gotten that for 6 alone.

Deflector Mage 1WG
Creature - Human Wizard (R)
Flash
When Deflector Mage enters the battlefield, return another creature you control to it's owner's hand. During your next turn, you may cast a spell with the same name as that creature without paying it's mana cost.
3/2

Three mana to save a creature and play it for free again next turn? Eldrazi love this. It's way too strong. Without the free casting it's a fine uncommon, if you want to bump it to a rare then reduce the cost by a little (like 2 mana), but not entirely. The wording is a little off too I feel, I feel like it should read "spells you cast that share a name with that card cost less to cast).

Mage's Duel 2R
Sorcery (Uncommon)
Create two 1/1 blue Human Wizard creature tokens with prowess.
Flashback 2U
"Fights between mages involve careful planning and use of their resources, and generally a lot of bravado." -Kurga, Pit Master

Seems like ok. I like the Prowess tokens.


Next

Blind Devotee of Valima 4W
Creature - Human Cleric (R)
T, discard seven cards: Create a legendary 4/4 white Angel creature token name Valima, the Savior. It has flying, "When this creature leaves the battlefield, you gain 10 life" and "At the beginning of your upkeep, you win the game." Activate this ability only any time you could cast sorcery.
2/2

Too strong?

First, I ahould point out that Overload costs are paid unstead of casting costs, so it'd just be 1B, sacrifice four creatures. I like seeing cards without mana costs so, eh.

Second, I like Deflector Mage! It's somewhere between a bonus and a drawback that would require just a bit of planning to make the most use of.

Edit: Third: Blind Devotee of Valima is a really fun concept. I would say it's not too strong and is costed about right for the effectt. I'd give them higher P/T personally, maybe - or perhaps move some of that mana from the casring cost to the activation. Even with an intriguing activated ability like that, a 2/2 for 5 mana isn't terribly exciting.

So, my rGw faction prooooobably needs some graveyard reclamation.

?? G
Enchantment
When ?? enters the battlefield, draw a card.
At the beginning of your upkeep, put target card in your graveyard on the bottom of your library.

I suppose it should maybe be 1G but I'm frankly not feeling that. I considered restricting it to non-lands too, but hmm. I don't know about that either.

Screeching Skystalker 3UU
Creature - Leviathan (Rare)
Flying
Play with your hand revealed.
Screeching Skystalker gets +3/+3 for each land card in your hand.
Its shrieks erode stone and steel faster than any winds or waters.
1/1

I think the casting cost for that needs to be lower. At 5 cmc it's hard to expect you're going to have more than one land in your hand (if even that), in which case it's an Air Elemental. Also keep in mind that blue likes to play and use a lot of lands, typically because it wants to cast spells during the opponent's turn. Blue also, probably more than any other color, doesn't like to reveal it's hand. You're paying a lot for a card that forces you to play against the color's tendencies.

Whispering Angel 3WB
Creature - Angel (R)
Flying
Imprint - When Whispering Angel enters the battlefield, search your library for a card and exile it face down, then name a card. Shuffle your library. (That card is imprinted on this creature.)
Whenever an opponent plays a spell with the chosen name, you may reveal the imprinted card. If it is a nonland card, you may play it as though it is in your hand without paying its mana cost. If it is a land, you may put it onto the battlefield tapped.
4/5

This is powerful. Any card, free to cast? Emrakul? All you have to do is name Lightning Bolt against the burn deck, or Cryptic Command against the control deck? Well, I like powerful cards, so this gets my approval.

Warden of Tomorrow 1G
Creature - Elf Shaman (U)
You may cast Warden of Tomorrow without paying its mana cost when you draw it. If you do, it gains haste and "Return Warden of Tomorrow to your hand at the beginning of the end step"
T: Add G to your mana pool.
1/2

I think it also needs to gain Flash, since you'd be casting it during your draw step, right? Potentially can be abused similar to the spirit guides. But if not, then it's a bit weaker than you would want for a mana-producer in formats outside of Standard, so overall, I think it's good.

Domri, Fist of Krosa 4RG
Planeswalker - Domri (Mythic)
(+2) Reveal the top four cards of your library. Put all creature cards revealed this way into your hand and the rest into your graveyard.
(-X) Domri, Fist of Krosa deals X damage to up to one target creature. You may have target creature you control fight that creature.
(-8) Search your library for up to three creature cards and put them onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library. Creatures you control gain haste until end of turn.
Starting loyalty: (4)

Pretty nice alternative to the 3 cmc Domri. Seems balanced and good.

Sentinel of Rocky Fields 2GG
Creature Treefolk Ranger
Vigilance
When Sentinel of Rocky Fields dies, you may pay . If you do, reveal the top four cards of your library. Put a mountain or plains card revealed this way onto the battlefield and the rest into your graveyard.
2/5

Seems okay. Could be more interesting if it said "If you paid this cost with R, put all mountains revealed this way onto the battlefield..." and the same for paying W.

Spiraling Madness 1U
Instant (Rare)
Draw a card.
Cycling 3 (3, Discard this card: Draw a card.)
Madness U (When you discard this card, discard it into exile. When you do, cast it for its madness cost or put it into your graveyard.)
Flashback U, Discard a card. (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)

Seems okay. Not sure it needs to be rare, probably uncommon.

Funnel Blood 1B
Sorcery
Target opponent loses 1 life and you cain that much life.
Overload - 1B, Sacrifice a creature
Replicate - Sacrifice a creature

As someone else noted, this is underpowered, except in games with more than 2 players I guess.

Deflector Mage 1WG
Creature - Human Wizard (R)
Flash
When Deflector Mage enters the battlefield, return another creature you control to it's owner's hand. During your next turn, you may cast a spell with the same name as that creature without paying it's mana cost.
3/2

Opposite day, huh? This is actually a really interesting card that seems no less fair than Reflector Mage. Nice work.

Mage's Duel 2R
Sorcery (Uncommon)
Create two 1/1 blue Human Wizard creature tokens with prowess.
Flashback 2U
"Fights between mages involve careful planning and use of their resources, and generally a lot of bravado." -Kurga, Pit Master

Using Goblin Fodder as a comparison, I think this is balanced without Flashback. Maybe make it an instant. With flashback you're looking at getting 4 prowess tokens by turn 4 with a single card. Seems a bit much.

Blind Devotee of Valima 4W
Creature - Human Cleric (R)
T, discard seven cards: Create a legendary 4/4 white Angel creature token name Valima, the Savior. It has flying, "When this creature leaves the battlefield, you gain 10 life" and "At the beginning of your upkeep, you win the game." Activate this ability only any time you could cast sorcery.
2/2

Great design here. Specifying 7 cards rather than "your hand" really makes it hard to do, and very hard to do more than once. If we look at it as "4W: gain 10 life and force opponent to discard a removal spell" then that seems good but not overpowered.

?? G
Enchantment
When ?? enters the battlefield, draw a card.
At the beginning of your upkeep, put target card in your graveyard on the bottom of your library.

This works. You have an extremely minor effect generated, so it's fair being a cantrip.

The Antikythera Mechanism 5
Artifact - (M)
Skip your draw phase. If a spell you control is countered, you may draw a card.
0: The next instant or sorcery you cast this turn gains "as this spell resolves, return it to your hand." You may activate this ability only once each turn.

Unsure how to price the cost of this one... it admittedly allows some very broken things to happen (that's by design), but also I can easily see a situation where the controller ends up stuck with lands and non-instant/non-sorcery spells, and in that situation he's probably screwed.