Ral, Izzet InitiateUR
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard
Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, put a storm counter on ~. Then if ~ has three or more storm counters on it, exile ~, then return him to the battlefield transformed under his owner's control. T: Draw a card, then discard a card unless you've cast an instant or sorcery spell this turn.
1/3
It's a general rule that the planeswalker side of a sparker should be better than the creature side, so Izzet Initiate has a weaker version of League Luminary's +1 ability to give him some function beyond being a 1/3 body.
Ral, League Luminary (U/R) Legendary Planeswalker - Ral
+1: Draw two cards, then discard a card unless you've cast an instant or sorcery spell this turn.
-2: Return target nonland permanent to its owner's hand. You may have ~ deal 3 damage to that permanent's controller.
-5: You get an emblem with "Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, copy it for each other instant or sorcery spell you've cast before it this turn. You may choose new targets for the copies."
4
League Luminary's -3 can be used to bounce your own stuff to help with the spellslinger theme, so the bolt part is optional. The -5 is a homage to Thousand-Year Storm. Originally I wanted most of Ral's abilities here to care about casting spells in general, but since the ultimate cares about instants and sorceries in particular, I felt it was better to guide the player towards casting those kinds of spells in general.
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
Creature Ral without any of the flip text already seems too strong. The looting ability is already on the high-end of 2cmc the optional actual card advantage is too much for just multicolor.
The planeswalker side is even more egregious. His + is always card advantage which puts him on par with 5cmc walkers, and its essentially guaranteed plus 2. He has soft removal that can be used twice and it helps close the game. His ultimate can be used the turn after he hits play and is equivalent to a 6 mana enchantment. How does bouncing your own permanents help with spellslinging?
To balance I would drop the conditional advantage on the creature, reduce the walker's draw to only one and decrease starting loyalty to 3.
T: Draw a card, then discard a card unless you've cast an instant or sorcery spell this turn.
This half of the card reads "T: Draw a card." most of the time in a red/blue deck.
In my opinion it's way too strong for the cost.
A fair cost for a 1/3 Archivist would be 2RU - and that's ignoring the flip ability entirely.
Ral, League Luminary
(U/R) Legendary Planeswalker - Ral
+1: Draw two cards, then discard a card unless you've cast an instant or sorcery spell this turn.
-2: Return target nonland permanent to its owner's hand. You may have ~ deal 3 damage to that permanent's controller.
-5: You get an emblem with "Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, copy it for each other instant or sorcery spell you've cast before it this turn. You may choose new targets for the copies."
4
[+1] feels too strong. Compare to Tezzeret, Artifice Master who gives a similar effect on his [+0] and costs 3UU to cast.
[-2] is reasonably balanced. It might be a tad strong, but I think it's around where it should be for a [-2], judging by [-2]Ajani Vengeant and [-1]Jace, The Mind Sculptor
[-5] is super strong. Ultimate abilities are meant to be strong, so that's OK. The issue here is not so much that the ult is too strong, but that it's too easy to activate. Your opponent has a 1-turn window after this card flips to stop it, or else you get that emblem and they lose. Consider starting this at 2 loyalty, or increasing the cost of the ult to 7.
I feel the front side would be much more straightforward cooler and Izzet/Stormy as a variant of Goblin Electromancer:
Ral, Spark Slinger
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard
Instant and sorcery spells you cast cost {1} less to cast.
When you cast an instant or sorcery spell for the third time this turn, exile ~, then return him to the battlefield transformed under his owner's control.
2/2
I think it also feels kinda neat that his spark goes of literally for you reaching a certain storm count, but why not make it literally a storm count rather than something similar? In the deck that wants to play him that's not that hard to achieve a reasonable amount of time - and conversely allows to plan around keeping him *not* transformed if you e. g. want to keep the creature and planeswalker side around at the same time.
As an added bonus not making Ral a looter means you aren't retreading Jace ground.
---
I agree with the general tone of the voices regarding the planeswalker side. Ignoring my suggested change to the planeswlker front side, are you aware that this (your OP version) straight draws you three cards the turn you transform it while going up to the five loyalty needed for the ultimate? Is that part of your considerations?
I think you have unercost the front side by a straight {1} and the back side would still be a good deal just due to the raw card draw power.
I'm not too aware of the new Ral's floatng around right now, but I feel a mana generation ability (maybe "~ deals 4 damage to target creature. Add . Spend this mana only to cast instants and/or sorcery spells."?) could make for a better spell-slinging enabler than the current middle ability you have?
Anothr thought: Am I the only one who thinks a good ultimate would be to just ouright hand you the storm victory: "Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell this turn, draw a card and add some mana."? Seriously, copying spells is fine as well. It's an Izzet thing to do. I almost feel though it doesn't actually need to be an emblem if done right, which I'd consider fitting for Izzet's flair of big singular events.
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Planar Chaos was not a mistake neither was it random. You might want to look at it again.
[thread=239793][Game] Level Up - Creature[/thread]
The general idea with the Sparkers is that you want to transform them, generally as soon as possible. Jace, Vryn's Prodigy was a bit of a screw-up as his creature side was way too useful (and it kept UR from being the main Madness pair in SOI like it should have been). Kytheon, Hero of Akros and Nissa, Vastwood Seer were much better examples of Sparkers done right.
So, I see what everyone means about Ral being too good between the two faces. I could get behind Izzet Initiate emulating Goblin Electromancer, but I still want to push towards transforming him into League Luminary. Here's a second pass:
Ral, Izzet InitiateUR
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard
Instant and sorcery spells you cast cost 1 less to cast.
When you cast your second instant or sorcery spell this turn, exile ~, then return him to the battlefield transformed under his owner's control.
2/2
Ral, League Luminary (U/R) Legendary Planeswalker - Ral
+1: ~ deals X damage to up to one target and you may draw X cards, where X is the number of instant and sorcery spells you've cast this turn.
-X: Add X mana in any combination of U and/or R. Spend this mana only to cast instant or sorcery spells.
-8: Exile all instant and sorcery cards from your graveyard. You may cast cards exiled this way for as long as they remain exiled. Then you get an emblem with "Instant and sorcery spells you cast can't be countered by spells or abilities."
4
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
Both sides look a lot more reasonable but that + has gotten worse. The + on a planeswalker this cheap isn't supposed to be card advantage, so stop giving it card advantage as though it was a 7cmc walker. The plus is a minimum deal 2 draw 2 the turn you flip making it the strongest plus on any walker currently printed. I understand the desire to push his effects but give up on making the plus card advantage and make the minus card advantage if you need him to draw.
Ral, League Luminary (U/R) Legendary Planeswalker - Ral
+1: Draw a card, then add UR. Spend this mana only to cast instant or sorcery spells.
-XX: ~ deals X damage to up to one target and you may draw X cards.
-8: Exile all instant and sorcery cards from your graveyard. You may cast cards exiled this way for as long as they remain exiled. Then you get an emblem with "Instant and sorcery spells you cast can't be countered by spells or abilities."
4
This way, the first and second abilities both help you draw steam, the first gives you a small amount of mana along with the card draw, and the second ability helps you reload a lot faster while also burning something. To be safe, I made the second ability cost XX loyalty since you're getting two scaling effects out of the deal.
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MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
The fact that his plus is still card advantage is a concern considering how easy it is to transform. A quick question, around what assumed turn are you balancing him(because you can't use his cost to determine his strength its better to use the turn its expected to transform in place of cmc)? You can see that the other transform walkers are balanced roughly along those lines. Most balanced around 4 but Nissa and Bolas being stronger because they transform later. Your Ral can and should transform turn 3 meaning you should balance him as a 3 or 4 cmc walker, while all of your designs balance him as at least a 5cmc walker. If you want to keep him that strong then you need to make him harder to transform. Use counters and wait till 3 or 4.
Ral, Izzet InitiateUR
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard
Instant and sorcery spells you cast cost 1 less to cast.
Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, put a storm counter on ~, then if there are three or more storm counters on ~, exile him, then return him to the battlefield transformed under his owner's control.
2/2
Ral, League Luminary (U/R) Legendary Planeswalker - Ral
+1: Draw a card, then add UR. Spend this mana only to cast instant or sorcery spells.
-XX: ~ deals X damage to up to one target and you may draw X cards.
-8: Exile all instant and sorcery cards from your graveyard. You may cast cards exiled this way for as long as they remain exiled. Then you get an emblem with "Instant and sorcery spells you cast can't be countered by spells or abilities."
4
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
Would you consider making the second ability of the planeswalker a Recoup/Snapcaster MAge variant? That way you avoid the harder to develop mass draw in that spot (and after all you have already pure card draw as the first ability). The ultimate then could be an upscaled version of the second ability of one of the GRN Rals: "~ deals X damage to each opponent and each creature and planeswalker controlled by an opponent, and you draw X cards, where X is the number of instants and/or sorcery cards in your graveyard and you own in exile." or however it is worded.
The ultimate is worded unfortunately; putting the emblem text as the second effect makes it ambiguous whether "then" is supposed to mean "after exiling the cards", "after casting a card from exile" or even "after the time the cards remain in exile has passed". My first step solution would be to move the emblem to the beginning of the ability, but I also think the emblem is by far the least concern of this ability and could be removed entirely.
I've noticed elsewhere that you tend to add just a little more to read to some abilities/cards that doesn't really make for a satisfying addition and actually detracts from the main effect by being a distraction despite being an upside. It's like adding "If you have exactly four cards in hand, you gain 4 life" to Day of Judgment - technically you made the card better, but the time spend parsing that extra line makes the card less effective - at conveying itself.
Private Mod Note
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Planar Chaos was not a mistake neither was it random. You might want to look at it again.
[thread=239793][Game] Level Up - Creature[/thread]
Ral, Izzet InitiateUR
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard
Instant and sorcery spells you cast cost 1 less to cast.
Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, put a storm counter on ~, then if there are three or more storm counters on ~, exile him, then return him to the battlefield transformed under his owner's control.
2/2
Ral, League Luminary (U/R) Legendary Planeswalker - Ral
+1: Draw a card, then you may discard a card. If you discard a card this way, add UR.
-3: You get an emblem with "If an instant or sorcery spell you control would deal damage to a permanent or player, it deals that much plus 1 damage to that permanent or player instead."
-7: Exile any number of instant and sorcery cards from your graveyard. You may cast cards exiled this way for as long as they remain exiled.
4
Now the emblem is one of those cheaper stacking emblems like those made by Gideon, Ally of Zendikar or Sorin, Lord of Innistrad. Basically, Ral turns your Shocks into Lightning Bolts with one emblem. The first ability has also been modified slightly so you have to discard to get the mana, and it allows you to spend the mana on whatever you wish.
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MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
That looks much better but the emblem should take all of his starting loyalty. It is a very powerful effect and getting the option of having it and him is excessive. The threat of getting multiple emblems out of a single Ral is also very scary. Also you may want to have him care about any noncombat or noncreature damage, it feels less Izzet but it works better with walkers and enchantments.
I considered the noncombat damage option, but I was worried it felt too general and not focused enough on the Guild's instants and sorceries theme. So, like this?
Ral, League Luminary (U/R) Legendary Planeswalker - Ral
+1: Draw a card, then you may discard a card. If you discard a card this way, add UR.
-4: You get an emblem with "If a source you control would deal noncombat damage to a permanent or player, it deals that much plus 1 damage to that permanent or player instead."
-7: Exile any number of instant and sorcery cards from your graveyard. You may cast cards exiled this way for as long as they remain exiled.
Of course, that would look better if Ral had a built-in damage dealing ability:
Ral, League Luminary (U/R) Legendary Planeswalker - Ral
+1: ~ deals 1 damage to any target, then you may draw a card.
-4: You get an emblem with "If a source you control would deal noncombat damage to a permanent or player, it deals that much plus 1 damage to that permanent or player instead."
-7: Exile any number of instant and sorcery cards from your graveyard. You may cast cards exiled this way for as long as they remain exiled.
4
And that in turn gets me thinking about a new take on Izzet Initiate that focuses on what Ral does best: zap stuff.
Ral, Izzet InitiateUR
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard
Whenever a source you control deals noncombat damage, draw a card, then discard a card. Then if you've drawn three or more cards this turn, exile ~, then return him to the battlefield transformed under his owner's control. T: ~ deals 1 damage to target player or planeswalker.
1/3
I kinda like this direction. It encourages you to build around pingers and burn, yet also rewards you for playing card drawing spells. Of course this means you can expect to draw at least 4 cards on the turn he gets to flip, but three of those are looting, so you're only up one card total. Notably this Izzet Initiate works really well with Jace, Vryn's Prodigy and Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh. However, this does lean Ral away from the instants and sorceries theme, making me think he could use a new ultimate, or to turn the emblem into the ultimate and give him something else as his second ability.
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
That looks really good and gives him a better identity. My only complaint is it should be 4 cards in one turn, 3 means you only need to play one spell that deals damage or draws a card. If you are looking for a different ult you can go the bold route of giving him two emblems. Keep the -4 and have the second as -6 with originals Niv-mizzet's ability.
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Ral, Izzet Initiate UR
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard
Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, put a storm counter on ~. Then if ~ has three or more storm counters on it, exile ~, then return him to the battlefield transformed under his owner's control.
T: Draw a card, then discard a card unless you've cast an instant or sorcery spell this turn.
1/3
It's a general rule that the planeswalker side of a sparker should be better than the creature side, so Izzet Initiate has a weaker version of League Luminary's +1 ability to give him some function beyond being a 1/3 body.
Ral, League Luminary
(U/R) Legendary Planeswalker - Ral
+1: Draw two cards, then discard a card unless you've cast an instant or sorcery spell this turn.
-2: Return target nonland permanent to its owner's hand. You may have ~ deal 3 damage to that permanent's controller.
-5: You get an emblem with "Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, copy it for each other instant or sorcery spell you've cast before it this turn. You may choose new targets for the copies."
4
League Luminary's -3 can be used to bounce your own stuff to help with the spellslinger theme, so the bolt part is optional. The -5 is a homage to Thousand-Year Storm. Originally I wanted most of Ral's abilities here to care about casting spells in general, but since the ultimate cares about instants and sorceries in particular, I felt it was better to guide the player towards casting those kinds of spells in general.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
The planeswalker side is even more egregious. His + is always card advantage which puts him on par with 5cmc walkers, and its essentially guaranteed plus 2. He has soft removal that can be used twice and it helps close the game. His ultimate can be used the turn after he hits play and is equivalent to a 6 mana enchantment. How does bouncing your own permanents help with spellslinging?
To balance I would drop the conditional advantage on the creature, reduce the walker's draw to only one and decrease starting loyalty to 3.
In my opinion it's way too strong for the cost.
A fair cost for a 1/3 Archivist would be 2RU - and that's ignoring the flip ability entirely.
[+1] feels too strong. Compare to Tezzeret, Artifice Master who gives a similar effect on his [+0] and costs 3UU to cast.
[-2] is reasonably balanced. It might be a tad strong, but I think it's around where it should be for a [-2], judging by [-2]Ajani Vengeant and [-1]Jace, The Mind Sculptor
[-5] is super strong. Ultimate abilities are meant to be strong, so that's OK. The issue here is not so much that the ult is too strong, but that it's too easy to activate. Your opponent has a 1-turn window after this card flips to stop it, or else you get that emblem and they lose. Consider starting this at 2 loyalty, or increasing the cost of the ult to 7.
Ral, Spark Slinger
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard
Instant and sorcery spells you cast cost {1} less to cast.
When you cast an instant or sorcery spell for the third time this turn, exile ~, then return him to the battlefield transformed under his owner's control.
2/2
I think it also feels kinda neat that his spark goes of literally for you reaching a certain storm count, but why not make it literally a storm count rather than something similar? In the deck that wants to play him that's not that hard to achieve a reasonable amount of time - and conversely allows to plan around keeping him *not* transformed if you e. g. want to keep the creature and planeswalker side around at the same time.
As an added bonus not making Ral a looter means you aren't retreading Jace ground.
---
I agree with the general tone of the voices regarding the planeswalker side. Ignoring my suggested change to the planeswlker front side, are you aware that this (your OP version) straight draws you three cards the turn you transform it while going up to the five loyalty needed for the ultimate? Is that part of your considerations?
I think you have unercost the front side by a straight {1} and the back side would still be a good deal just due to the raw card draw power.
I'm not too aware of the new Ral's floatng around right now, but I feel a mana generation ability (maybe "~ deals 4 damage to target creature. Add . Spend this mana only to cast instants and/or sorcery spells."?) could make for a better spell-slinging enabler than the current middle ability you have?
Anothr thought: Am I the only one who thinks a good ultimate would be to just ouright hand you the storm victory: "Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell this turn, draw a card and add some mana."? Seriously, copying spells is fine as well. It's an Izzet thing to do. I almost feel though it doesn't actually need to be an emblem if done right, which I'd consider fitting for Izzet's flair of big singular events.
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
Factions: Sleeping
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Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
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Read up on Red Flags & NWO
So, I see what everyone means about Ral being too good between the two faces. I could get behind Izzet Initiate emulating Goblin Electromancer, but I still want to push towards transforming him into League Luminary. Here's a second pass:
Ral, Izzet Initiate UR
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard
Instant and sorcery spells you cast cost 1 less to cast.
When you cast your second instant or sorcery spell this turn, exile ~, then return him to the battlefield transformed under his owner's control.
2/2
Ral, League Luminary
(U/R) Legendary Planeswalker - Ral
+1: ~ deals X damage to up to one target and you may draw X cards, where X is the number of instant and sorcery spells you've cast this turn.
-X: Add X mana in any combination of U and/or R. Spend this mana only to cast instant or sorcery spells.
-8: Exile all instant and sorcery cards from your graveyard. You may cast cards exiled this way for as long as they remain exiled. Then you get an emblem with "Instant and sorcery spells you cast can't be countered by spells or abilities."
4
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
Ral, League Luminary
(U/R) Legendary Planeswalker - Ral
+1: Draw a card, then add UR. Spend this mana only to cast instant or sorcery spells.
-XX: ~ deals X damage to up to one target and you may draw X cards.
-8: Exile all instant and sorcery cards from your graveyard. You may cast cards exiled this way for as long as they remain exiled. Then you get an emblem with "Instant and sorcery spells you cast can't be countered by spells or abilities."
4
This way, the first and second abilities both help you draw steam, the first gives you a small amount of mana along with the card draw, and the second ability helps you reload a lot faster while also burning something. To be safe, I made the second ability cost XX loyalty since you're getting two scaling effects out of the deal.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
Ral, Izzet Initiate UR
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard
Instant and sorcery spells you cast cost 1 less to cast.
Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, put a storm counter on ~, then if there are three or more storm counters on ~, exile him, then return him to the battlefield transformed under his owner's control.
2/2
Ral, League Luminary
(U/R) Legendary Planeswalker - Ral
+1: Draw a card, then add UR. Spend this mana only to cast instant or sorcery spells.
-XX: ~ deals X damage to up to one target and you may draw X cards.
-8: Exile all instant and sorcery cards from your graveyard. You may cast cards exiled this way for as long as they remain exiled. Then you get an emblem with "Instant and sorcery spells you cast can't be countered by spells or abilities."
4
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
The ultimate is worded unfortunately; putting the emblem text as the second effect makes it ambiguous whether "then" is supposed to mean "after exiling the cards", "after casting a card from exile" or even "after the time the cards remain in exile has passed". My first step solution would be to move the emblem to the beginning of the ability, but I also think the emblem is by far the least concern of this ability and could be removed entirely.
I've noticed elsewhere that you tend to add just a little more to read to some abilities/cards that doesn't really make for a satisfying addition and actually detracts from the main effect by being a distraction despite being an upside. It's like adding "If you have exactly four cards in hand, you gain 4 life" to Day of Judgment - technically you made the card better, but the time spend parsing that extra line makes the card less effective - at conveying itself.
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
Factions: Sleeping
Remnants: Valheim
Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO
Ral, Izzet Initiate UR
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard
Instant and sorcery spells you cast cost 1 less to cast.
Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, put a storm counter on ~, then if there are three or more storm counters on ~, exile him, then return him to the battlefield transformed under his owner's control.
2/2
Ral, League Luminary
(U/R) Legendary Planeswalker - Ral
+1: Draw a card, then you may discard a card. If you discard a card this way, add UR.
-3: You get an emblem with "If an instant or sorcery spell you control would deal damage to a permanent or player, it deals that much plus 1 damage to that permanent or player instead."
-7: Exile any number of instant and sorcery cards from your graveyard. You may cast cards exiled this way for as long as they remain exiled.
4
Now the emblem is one of those cheaper stacking emblems like those made by Gideon, Ally of Zendikar or Sorin, Lord of Innistrad. Basically, Ral turns your Shocks into Lightning Bolts with one emblem. The first ability has also been modified slightly so you have to discard to get the mana, and it allows you to spend the mana on whatever you wish.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
Ral, League Luminary
(U/R) Legendary Planeswalker - Ral
+1: Draw a card, then you may discard a card. If you discard a card this way, add UR.
-4: You get an emblem with "If a source you control would deal noncombat damage to a permanent or player, it deals that much plus 1 damage to that permanent or player instead."
-7: Exile any number of instant and sorcery cards from your graveyard. You may cast cards exiled this way for as long as they remain exiled.
Of course, that would look better if Ral had a built-in damage dealing ability:
Ral, League Luminary
(U/R) Legendary Planeswalker - Ral
+1: ~ deals 1 damage to any target, then you may draw a card.
-4: You get an emblem with "If a source you control would deal noncombat damage to a permanent or player, it deals that much plus 1 damage to that permanent or player instead."
-7: Exile any number of instant and sorcery cards from your graveyard. You may cast cards exiled this way for as long as they remain exiled.
4
And that in turn gets me thinking about a new take on Izzet Initiate that focuses on what Ral does best: zap stuff.
Ral, Izzet Initiate UR
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard
Whenever a source you control deals noncombat damage, draw a card, then discard a card. Then if you've drawn three or more cards this turn, exile ~, then return him to the battlefield transformed under his owner's control.
T: ~ deals 1 damage to target player or planeswalker.
1/3
I kinda like this direction. It encourages you to build around pingers and burn, yet also rewards you for playing card drawing spells. Of course this means you can expect to draw at least 4 cards on the turn he gets to flip, but three of those are looting, so you're only up one card total. Notably this Izzet Initiate works really well with Jace, Vryn's Prodigy and Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh. However, this does lean Ral away from the instants and sorceries theme, making me think he could use a new ultimate, or to turn the emblem into the ultimate and give him something else as his second ability.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.