Definitely not balanced (as neither were the originals), but an interesting/fun idea. I would call the white one Righteous Lightning or something to that effect. I feel like the Siphoning Salve should also have a "Choose One -" format like healing salve.
Known as Inanimate at Goblin Artisans, and TyrRev at /r/custommagic!
Lead Tesla, a community set designed by everyone and led by me, over at Goblin Artisans. Index of articles here!
I agree with giraffes on the "Choose one -" for syphone life. Although I feel like this could be balanced with some alterations, unless that isn't really intended.
Twisted Growth - eh, a little weird for blue, but not too bad. It fills a similar role to Healing Salve since it can either weaken an attacking creature to protect you, or strengthen a creature you control to save it from removal. It isn't really ideal for either use. It might be able to be choose one: -3/-0 or +0/+3.
Siphoning Salve - wow, that is a six point life swing. Takes the opponent down and protects you at the same time. Blood Tithe is each opponent, so it isn't an exact comparison, but it is a place to start. This card could probably be 2B and maybe instant.
Bloodfire Ritual - The place where Dark Ritual was worst was next to three mana creatures like Hypnotic Specter. It forced design of three mana black creatures to be gradualy weaker and weaker.
Ancestral Grounds - Seek the Horizon is four mana. Lay of the Land only fetches for one land. Both are sorceries. Searching for three basic lands isn't the same raw potential as drawing three cards, but it is the same amount of card advantage. Ancestral Recall:Concentrate::Ancestral Grounds:Seek the Horizon.
Twisted GrowthU Instant
Target creature gets -3/+3 until end of turn.
Horrible horrible card. Likely unplayable, even in limited. It can save your guy in combat or from a spell, but is strictly weaker than the cards in the original cycle.
Siphoning SalveB Instant
Target player loses 3 life and you gain 3 life.
Too strong. Lightning Helix that targets only players, in mono black. Burn decks love it.
Bloodfire RitualR Instant
Add RRR to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast creature spells.
Probably balanced. Not as abuseable as Dark Ritual, but still strong.
Ancestral GroundsG Instant
Search your library for up to 3 basic land cards, put those cards into your hand, then shuffle your library.
Too powerful. Yes, it's a fixed Ancestral Recall however it's not... Fixed. At all. Land Tax might still be situationally better.
White Lightning Instant
White Lightning deals 3 damage to target attacking creature.
Its strong to kill nearly all creatures in Limited for one mana.
But its a fair card in itself.
Twisted Growth Instant
Target creature gets -3/+3 until end of turn.
Overall a bad trick, if you need a filler you might run it regardless.
In constructed its just bad.
Siphoning Salve Instant
Target player loses 3 life and you gain 3 life.
Mana wise this is Lava Spike to Lava Axe as is this to Soul Feast.
The drain life cards that only hit players are mostly bad cards, as they act like Lava Axe to finish a player, they are never removal.
Making this "Instant" is not necessary, sure upgrades the card, but its the same thing as making Lava Axe instant, not important.
On lava spike we had the added bonus of arcane to squeeze in some card advantage with Glacial Ray and the like.
For a burn deck Bump in the Night is stronger in constructed, and also just a minor role player.
Bloodfire Ritual Instant
Add :symr::symr::symr: to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast creature spells.
Kind of strange to limit it to creatures, as red boosts its mana for "non-creature" spells. If it does for creatures, its the all-in-red kind of deck that wants something crazy like a Deus of calamity turn 1 ; which is also unfun as it can get.
Here again making it instant is unnecessary. Sure it might in corner cases allow flash creatures, but its a sorcery through and through.
Ancestral Grounds Instant
Search your library for up to 3 basic land cards, put those cards into your hand, then shuffle your library.
Its easy to underrate this kind of card.
Searching land drops is powerfull, this fixes mana, it generates card advantage.
Tithe is a pretty good card to fix your mana and has a bunch of drawbacks to jump through ; only plains, only 2 lands if you have less lands than the opponent ; but its also white.
Land Tax is a kind of card that produces very annoying combo like decks or just land drops for a controllish one ; however its much too strong for 1 mana.
Funny is, searching basics is powerfull, but in a format like Legacy, its much weaker, as you need "other" bonus effects on your cards.
Again its just an instant because its an instant ; it does not need to be, its a better sorcery.
A nice rule to have is that your cards should start as sorcery and only if the card really gets something from it, become instant. Thats much better to design a card around, rather than starting with instant and arguing for yourself to make it sorcery ; which then happens for the wrong reason most of the time ; to balance an otherwise too good card, you say "well, make it sorcery, migth make it slighty less powerfull" , which is a bad way to do.
Wording wise you also missed the reveal part of the land.
Ancestral Grounds Sorcery Search your library for a non-forest basic land card or two forest cards, reveal and put that cards into your hand, then shuffle your library.
That might do the trick.
It either fixes your mana in limited with a non-green or 2 more green.
In constructed it will search for 2 forest duals.
Pretty good card to have as i would allways play this in a green deck in Limited, no reason to cut this kind of card as 1 mana to get you 2 more mana is more than fine, especially if this allows splashes aswell.
I wanted them all to be instants to match the original cycle.
But it was a mistake, as they really dont require instant speed and a cycle doesnt need to be too focused on that.
Would Ancestral Grounds be ok if it only searched for forests, or for all basic forests?
Would still be pretty powerfull as the effect is just strong at 1 mana.
If your land searcher costs you 3+ mana you at least need that mana to cast it, if its just 1 mana the value jumps a lot. This card makes 1 land hands keepers and actual strong hands, if this card would exist you can bet it would be a staple for any green deck that doesnt allready use a ton of mana elfs (and even then its fine to add this card).
Instead of 3 lands, try this with 2 lands, you will see its good enough allready, as Tithe allways was worth its cost, even if it searches only 1 land its more than fine at 1 mana.
Also I purposely made the blue one the weakest this time because it was the strongest the first time around.
Pretty sure everyone got that ^^
Nothing particular wrong with the blue one, its the generic narrow trick blue allways gets.
You could make Twisted Growth +3/-3, but it'd have to either be black or have some extra clause stating that toughness cannot go below 1 (as per Blood Lust.)
Sure I could have Twisted Growth be the black card, and then have the blue one be something else.
I have changed grounds to search for basic forests only. I think its fine since it really restricts what deck you can use it in.
Searching for 3 lands for just 1 mana is good enough that you can use the lands in a 2 color deck regardless ; even if they are all forests, you can use the card for a fair deal of stuff, like Retrace.
If it is used to fuel just the land discard it can be fine, as you get 3 cards afterall.
Its not a Life from the Loam in that regards.
Also a Kamigawa style format, that has a mechanic that wants you to have either 7+ cards in hand, or just more than an opponent, could use this card for a gain, even not playing the land cards.
As said, searching 3 cards, even lands, for a just 1 mana is pretty strong, do not underestimate that effect.
restricting the deck it can go into is something you can fix with other cards in combination with this.
The mana cycling ability of green can help here, so you have a base of green basic forests, but still produce all colors of mana (Chromatic Lantern, Pentad Prismn and such).
If your set has all these combinations, say a Retrace like mechanic, a have "many cards in hand" mechanic, or plain and easy Looters (as this is also good with Faithless looting to discard cards to and filter lands before).
White Lightning W
Instant
White Lightning deals 3 damage to target attacking creature.
Twisted Growth U
Instant
Target creature gets -3/+3 until end of turn.
Siphoning Salve B
Instant
Target player loses 3 life and you gain 3 life.
Bloodfire Ritual R
Instant
Add RRR to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast creature spells.
Ancestral Grounds G
Instant
Search your library for up to 3 basic forest cards, put those cards into your hand, then shuffle your library.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Seek the Horizon?
I'm assuming their OP nature is intended, though.
Lead Tesla, a community set designed by everyone and led by me, over at Goblin Artisans. Index of articles here!
Twisted Growth - eh, a little weird for blue, but not too bad. It fills a similar role to Healing Salve since it can either weaken an attacking creature to protect you, or strengthen a creature you control to save it from removal. It isn't really ideal for either use. It might be able to be choose one: -3/-0 or +0/+3.
Siphoning Salve - wow, that is a six point life swing. Takes the opponent down and protects you at the same time. Blood Tithe is each opponent, so it isn't an exact comparison, but it is a place to start. This card could probably be 2B and maybe instant.
Bloodfire Ritual - The place where Dark Ritual was worst was next to three mana creatures like Hypnotic Specter. It forced design of three mana black creatures to be gradualy weaker and weaker.
Ancestral Grounds - Seek the Horizon is four mana. Lay of the Land only fetches for one land. Both are sorceries. Searching for three basic lands isn't the same raw potential as drawing three cards, but it is the same amount of card advantage. Ancestral Recall:Concentrate::Ancestral Grounds:Seek the Horizon.
Probably balanced. About on-par with Sunlance.
Horrible horrible card. Likely unplayable, even in limited. It can save your guy in combat or from a spell, but is strictly weaker than the cards in the original cycle.
Too strong. Lightning Helix that targets only players, in mono black. Burn decks love it.
Probably balanced. Not as abuseable as Dark Ritual, but still strong.
Too powerful. Yes, it's a fixed Ancestral Recall however it's not... Fixed. At all. Land Tax might still be situationally better.
Instant
White Lightning deals 3 damage to target attacking creature.
Its strong to kill nearly all creatures in Limited for one mana.
But its a fair card in itself.
Twisted Growth
Instant
Target creature gets -3/+3 until end of turn.
Overall a bad trick, if you need a filler you might run it regardless.
In constructed its just bad.
Siphoning Salve
Instant
Target player loses 3 life and you gain 3 life.
Mana wise this is Lava Spike to Lava Axe as is this to Soul Feast.
The drain life cards that only hit players are mostly bad cards, as they act like Lava Axe to finish a player, they are never removal.
Making this "Instant" is not necessary, sure upgrades the card, but its the same thing as making Lava Axe instant, not important.
On lava spike we had the added bonus of arcane to squeeze in some card advantage with Glacial Ray and the like.
For a burn deck Bump in the Night is stronger in constructed, and also just a minor role player.
Bloodfire Ritual
Instant
Add :symr::symr::symr: to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast creature spells.
Kind of strange to limit it to creatures, as red boosts its mana for "non-creature" spells. If it does for creatures, its the all-in-red kind of deck that wants something crazy like a Deus of calamity turn 1 ; which is also unfun as it can get.
Here again making it instant is unnecessary. Sure it might in corner cases allow flash creatures, but its a sorcery through and through.
Ancestral Grounds
Instant
Search your library for up to 3 basic land cards, put those cards into your hand, then shuffle your library.
Its easy to underrate this kind of card.
Searching land drops is powerfull, this fixes mana, it generates card advantage.
Tithe is a pretty good card to fix your mana and has a bunch of drawbacks to jump through ; only plains, only 2 lands if you have less lands than the opponent ; but its also white.
Land Tax is a kind of card that produces very annoying combo like decks or just land drops for a controllish one ; however its much too strong for 1 mana.
Funny is, searching basics is powerfull, but in a format like Legacy, its much weaker, as you need "other" bonus effects on your cards.
Again its just an instant because its an instant ; it does not need to be, its a better sorcery.
A nice rule to have is that your cards should start as sorcery and only if the card really gets something from it, become instant. Thats much better to design a card around, rather than starting with instant and arguing for yourself to make it sorcery ; which then happens for the wrong reason most of the time ; to balance an otherwise too good card, you say "well, make it sorcery, migth make it slighty less powerfull" , which is a bad way to do.
Wording wise you also missed the reveal part of the land.
Ancestral Grounds
Sorcery
Search your library for a non-forest basic land card or two forest cards, reveal and put that cards into your hand, then shuffle your library.
That might do the trick.
It either fixes your mana in limited with a non-green or 2 more green.
In constructed it will search for 2 forest duals.
Pretty good card to have as i would allways play this in a green deck in Limited, no reason to cut this kind of card as 1 mana to get you 2 more mana is more than fine, especially if this allows splashes aswell.
WUBRG#BlackLotusMatterWUBRG
👮👮👮 #BlueLivesMatter 👮👮👮
Would Ancestral Grounds be ok if it only searched for forests, or for all basic forests?
Also I purposely made the blue one the weakest this time because it was the strongest the first time around.
But it was a mistake, as they really dont require instant speed and a cycle doesnt need to be too focused on that.
Would still be pretty powerfull as the effect is just strong at 1 mana.
If your land searcher costs you 3+ mana you at least need that mana to cast it, if its just 1 mana the value jumps a lot. This card makes 1 land hands keepers and actual strong hands, if this card would exist you can bet it would be a staple for any green deck that doesnt allready use a ton of mana elfs (and even then its fine to add this card).
Instead of 3 lands, try this with 2 lands, you will see its good enough allready, as Tithe allways was worth its cost, even if it searches only 1 land its more than fine at 1 mana.
Pretty sure everyone got that ^^
Nothing particular wrong with the blue one, its the generic narrow trick blue allways gets.
WUBRG#BlackLotusMatterWUBRG
👮👮👮 #BlueLivesMatter 👮👮👮
Sure I could have Twisted Growth be the black card, and then have the blue one be something else.
I have changed grounds to search for basic forests only. I think its fine since it really restricts what deck you can use it in.
Well not necessary.
Searching for 3 lands for just 1 mana is good enough that you can use the lands in a 2 color deck regardless ; even if they are all forests, you can use the card for a fair deal of stuff, like Retrace.
If it is used to fuel just the land discard it can be fine, as you get 3 cards afterall.
Its not a Life from the Loam in that regards.
Also a Kamigawa style format, that has a mechanic that wants you to have either 7+ cards in hand, or just more than an opponent, could use this card for a gain, even not playing the land cards.
As said, searching 3 cards, even lands, for a just 1 mana is pretty strong, do not underestimate that effect.
restricting the deck it can go into is something you can fix with other cards in combination with this.
The mana cycling ability of green can help here, so you have a base of green basic forests, but still produce all colors of mana (Chromatic Lantern, Pentad Prismn and such).
If your set has all these combinations, say a Retrace like mechanic, a have "many cards in hand" mechanic, or plain and easy Looters (as this is also good with Faithless looting to discard cards to and filter lands before).
WUBRG#BlackLotusMatterWUBRG
👮👮👮 #BlueLivesMatter 👮👮👮