Inspired by Echo, this mechanic is more like a delay kicker cost:
Resonant [Cost]: (At the beginning of your upkeep, if this came under your control since the beginning of your last upkeep, you may pay [Cost])
Any comments on the below cards or the mechanic itself are appreciated
Superstar Recruit 1W
Creature - Human Soldier (C)
Resonant 2W: (At the beginning of your upkeep, if this came under your control since the beginning of your last upkeep, you may pay 2W)
If Superstar Recruit Resonates, place two +1/+1 counters on it.
2/1
Broodsnake G
Creature - Snake (C)
Resonant 3G: (At the beginning of your upkeep, if this came under your control since the beginning of your last upkeep, you may pay 3G)
Deathtouch
If Broodsnake Resonates, create two 1/1 green snake creature tokens
1/1
Reflected Mirror Magician 3R
Creature - Human Wizard (C)
Resonant 2R: (At the beginning of your upkeep, if this came under your control since the beginning of your last upkeep, you may pay 2R)
When Reflected Mirror Magician enters the battlefield return target instant or sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand.
If Reflected Mirror Magician Resonates, return target instant or sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand.
2/2
Casualty Expert 2BB
Creature - Human Assassin (U)
Resonant 2B: (At the beginning of your upkeep, if this came under your control since the beginning of your last upkeep, you may pay 2B)
When Casualty Expert enters the battlefield creatures target player controls get -1/-1 until end of turn.
If Casualty Expert Resonates, creatures target player controls get -2/-2 until end of turn.
3/1
Oscillating Decapod 1U
Creature - Crab (U)
Resonant 1R: (At the beginning of your upkeep, if this came under your control since the beginning of your last upkeep, you may pay 1R)
Defender
If Oscillating Decapod Resonates, switch its power and toughness until end of turn and it has trample and may can attack as though it didn't have defender until end of turn
1/5
Angel of Censorship 3WW
Creature - Angel (R)
Resonant WU: (At the beginning of your upkeep, if this came under your control since the beginning of your last upkeep, you may pay WU)
Flying, Lifelink
Whenever Angel of Censorship deals damage to an opponent, search that player's library for up to two cards and exile them face up. Then that player shuffles their library.
If Angel of Censorship Resonates, players may not cast spells that share a name with a card exiled by Angel of Censorship.
3/4
I would change the ability name to "Resonate [cost]" as that can be used as a verb when players talk about the ability ("At the beginning of my upkeep, my Angel will resonate") and you refer to it that way in the rules text.
The memory issue is a little bit of a problem, especially since it counts control and not just coming into play, so Control Magic effects give the opportunity for a player to steal and get a ability trigger.
You could simply use echo, and accomplish 99% of what your are doing, but the new flavor is a fine reason to change. I'd change the reminder to (At the beginning of your upkeep, if this entered the battlefield under your control since the beginning of your last upkeep, you may pay COST). That way there are no shenanigans for opponents stealing the creature, but it will still trigger off blink effects.
Well I can't use Echo since the sacrifice is part of the ability of Echo. As it's currently on gatherer:
(At the beginning of your upkeep, if this came under your control since the beginning of your last upkeep, sacrifice it unless you pay its echo cost.)
As you can see - Echo also uses the control language. I don't know if that's just old language or if that should be fine for memory issues. Additionally I think the only card with memory issues would be the angel - all the others happen on paying the cost.
Welcome to these forums, stranger.
Let me first say that the mechanic is excellent.
The Angel is doing something that only black (and to a lesser degree, blue) does - namely, exiling cards from an opponent’s graveyard. Make it a black Demon and you’re set. Red card is too good for common. Blue card doesn’t need defender.
But again, the mechanic is excellent and even the cards are nice prototypes.
Most (if not all) of the time, the Resonate rider effect should begin with “When” rather than “If”.
Yes, the idea is cool and all but you can't fight with memory issues. When you have cards entering the battlefield, one after the other, requiring you to remember the previous turn, it becomes more and more taxing for you to keep track of all of them.
Memory issues are always a consideration, but you can in fact fight with them and should fight for them when it’s worth it. Wizards recently won a fight with memory issues against Exert in Amonkhet. Remembering for one turn is not too much to ask, especially when it’s tied to a set mechanic that effectively “trains” players to look out for it. Resonant actually has a built in pacer too, in that it’s very unlikely you’ll have more than two at a time unless you’re wasting the mechanic or have a significant amount of mana - enough to pay for multiple activations during a single upkeep.
Welcome to these forums, stranger.
Let me first say that the mechanic is excellent.
The Angel is doing something that only black (and to a lesser degree, blue) does - namely, exiling cards from an opponent’s graveyard. Make it a black Demon and you’re set. Red card is too good for common. Blue card doesn’t need defender.
But again, the mechanic is excellent and even the cards are nice prototypes.
Most (if not all) of the time, the Resonate rider effect should begin with “When” rather than “If”.
Thank you all for liking the mechanic!
Just FYI - Angel is exiling from the library, not the graveyard?
Also - Legend a question for you since I see you working on mechanics all the time on these boards . . . if I want this to be a feature mechanic of a set how many Commons, Uncommons, Rares, Mythics per color (and/or with the occasional multicolor/artifact) should I be looking at?
Additionally, in terms of complexity - should their just be a counter cycle at common and a slightly more complex cycle at uncommon?
It think the complexity is low enough to allow for loose cycles even at common. iow, they don't have to be "samey".
If it's in all five colors (and depending on how many other mechanics are in the set), a typical ~250 card set could have upwards of 20 cards with Resonant and would probably want at least one horizontal cycle in common, uncommon, and rare (if not mythic) to ensure it has a notable ASFAN. A possible spread might look like:
Common: W, U, B, R, R, G, G
Uncommon: W, U, U, B, B, R, G
Rare: W, U, B, B, R, G
Mythic: W
In this spread, each color has four instances of the mechanic distributed throughout all four rarities. Of course, you could change them out as desired.
As a side note, I'd be wary of using off-color Resonant costs because it will lock you into a color pair set like Ravnica. That is unless, you want to do a full cycle of ten uncommons with off-color Resonant costs. The reason I say uncommon is because ten Resonators at common, while doable, would be unconventional but more importantly confusing to drafters. But were you to put a set of ten at uncommon, then you could design them as signposts, which alert drafters to and direct them towards draft strategies and archetypes.
EDIT: White doesn't exile from library. That's black's domain.
I think this mechanic is really cool and leads to some fun boardstates. However, I think Angel of Censorship needs to work differently, because you can just take all the removal first, then kill your opponent. You might want to consider making the commons not all generate card advantage, like Superstar Recruit. The recruit gets bigger, but doesn't get you more cards, whereas Broodsnake and the Magician both are 2 or 3-for-1s
If the memory issues are a concern, you could make it a counter. Next upkeep, you remove the counter, pay the cost and do the effect?
A bit more going on, but certainly easier on the brain.
I love it.
It partially solves the concern for Kicker that players will always wait for full value.
But it's still timing-restricted, so the costs don't go as high as they do with Monstrosity, making it more appealing.
I would steer clear of using a counter to indicate unresolved Resonates, I feel that it would cause more confusion alongside Resonate cards that use.gain counters from their abilities. One turn of memory isn't so bad.
The issue with your angel is that exiling from the library is a U/B effect, but she's doing it with only W. Disallowing spells to be cast is a W/U, so the Resonate cost is on-color, but the casting cost is off.
Well I can't use Echo since the sacrifice is part of the ability of Echo. As it's currently on gatherer:
(At the beginning of your upkeep, if this came under your control since the beginning of your last upkeep, sacrifice it unless you pay its echo cost.)
As you can see - Echo also uses the control language. I don't know if that's just old language or if that should be fine for memory issues. Additionally I think the only card with memory issues would be the angel - all the others happen on paying the cost.
Yup, I totally blanked about the sacrifice part of echo.
I think if echo were printed now, it would have the ETB text instead of control, as R&D would want to avoid those weird corner cases. Interestingly, the "control" version makes your opponents Control Magics stronger for them, but makes Threaten effect weaker, since you'd get the extra Resonate trigger. This may be an interaction you could build into the environment if you go that route.
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Resonant [Cost]: (At the beginning of your upkeep, if this came under your control since the beginning of your last upkeep, you may pay [Cost])
Any comments on the below cards or the mechanic itself are appreciated
Superstar Recruit 1W
Creature - Human Soldier (C)
Resonant 2W: (At the beginning of your upkeep, if this came under your control since the beginning of your last upkeep, you may pay 2W)
If Superstar Recruit Resonates, place two +1/+1 counters on it.
2/1
Broodsnake G
Creature - Snake (C)
Resonant 3G: (At the beginning of your upkeep, if this came under your control since the beginning of your last upkeep, you may pay 3G)
Deathtouch
If Broodsnake Resonates, create two 1/1 green snake creature tokens
1/1
Reflected Mirror Magician 3R
Creature - Human Wizard (C)
Resonant 2R: (At the beginning of your upkeep, if this came under your control since the beginning of your last upkeep, you may pay 2R)
When Reflected Mirror Magician enters the battlefield return target instant or sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand.
If Reflected Mirror Magician Resonates, return target instant or sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand.
2/2
Casualty Expert 2BB
Creature - Human Assassin (U)
Resonant 2B: (At the beginning of your upkeep, if this came under your control since the beginning of your last upkeep, you may pay 2B)
When Casualty Expert enters the battlefield creatures target player controls get -1/-1 until end of turn.
If Casualty Expert Resonates, creatures target player controls get -2/-2 until end of turn.
3/1
Oscillating Decapod 1U
Creature - Crab (U)
Resonant 1R: (At the beginning of your upkeep, if this came under your control since the beginning of your last upkeep, you may pay 1R)
Defender
If Oscillating Decapod Resonates, switch its power and toughness until end of turn and it has trample and may can attack as though it didn't have defender until end of turn
1/5
Angel of Censorship 3WW
Creature - Angel (R)
Resonant WU: (At the beginning of your upkeep, if this came under your control since the beginning of your last upkeep, you may pay WU)
Flying, Lifelink
Whenever Angel of Censorship deals damage to an opponent, search that player's library for up to two cards and exile them face up. Then that player shuffles their library.
If Angel of Censorship Resonates, players may not cast spells that share a name with a card exiled by Angel of Censorship.
3/4
The memory issue is a little bit of a problem, especially since it counts control and not just coming into play, so Control Magic effects give the opportunity for a player to steal and get a ability trigger.
You could simply use echo, and accomplish 99% of what your are doing, but the new flavor is a fine reason to change. I'd change the reminder to (At the beginning of your upkeep, if this entered the battlefield under your control since the beginning of your last upkeep, you may pay COST). That way there are no shenanigans for opponents stealing the creature, but it will still trigger off blink effects.
(At the beginning of your upkeep, if this came under your control since the beginning of your last upkeep, sacrifice it unless you pay its echo cost.)
As you can see - Echo also uses the control language. I don't know if that's just old language or if that should be fine for memory issues. Additionally I think the only card with memory issues would be the angel - all the others happen on paying the cost.
Let me first say that the mechanic is excellent.
The Angel is doing something that only black (and to a lesser degree, blue) does - namely, exiling cards from an opponent’s graveyard. Make it a black Demon and you’re set. Red card is too good for common. Blue card doesn’t need defender.
But again, the mechanic is excellent and even the cards are nice prototypes.
Most (if not all) of the time, the Resonate rider effect should begin with “When” rather than “If”.
Thank you all for liking the mechanic!
Just FYI - Angel is exiling from the library, not the graveyard?
Also - Legend a question for you since I see you working on mechanics all the time on these boards . . . if I want this to be a feature mechanic of a set how many Commons, Uncommons, Rares, Mythics per color (and/or with the occasional multicolor/artifact) should I be looking at?
Additionally, in terms of complexity - should their just be a counter cycle at common and a slightly more complex cycle at uncommon?
Thanks!
If it's in all five colors (and depending on how many other mechanics are in the set), a typical ~250 card set could have upwards of 20 cards with Resonant and would probably want at least one horizontal cycle in common, uncommon, and rare (if not mythic) to ensure it has a notable ASFAN. A possible spread might look like:
Common: W, U, B, R, R, G, G
Uncommon: W, U, U, B, B, R, G
Rare: W, U, B, B, R, G
Mythic: W
In this spread, each color has four instances of the mechanic distributed throughout all four rarities. Of course, you could change them out as desired.
As a side note, I'd be wary of using off-color Resonant costs because it will lock you into a color pair set like Ravnica. That is unless, you want to do a full cycle of ten uncommons with off-color Resonant costs. The reason I say uncommon is because ten Resonators at common, while doable, would be unconventional but more importantly confusing to drafters. But were you to put a set of ten at uncommon, then you could design them as signposts, which alert drafters to and direct them towards draft strategies and archetypes.
EDIT: White doesn't exile from library. That's black's domain.
Deal with it.
A bit more going on, but certainly easier on the brain.
Excellent idea for sure, though.
It partially solves the concern for Kicker that players will always wait for full value.
But it's still timing-restricted, so the costs don't go as high as they do with Monstrosity, making it more appealing.
I would steer clear of using a counter to indicate unresolved Resonates, I feel that it would cause more confusion alongside Resonate cards that use.gain counters from their abilities. One turn of memory isn't so bad.
The issue with your angel is that exiling from the library is a U/B effect, but she's doing it with only W. Disallowing spells to be cast is a W/U, so the Resonate cost is on-color, but the casting cost is off.
Yup, I totally blanked about the sacrifice part of echo.
I think if echo were printed now, it would have the ETB text instead of control, as R&D would want to avoid those weird corner cases. Interestingly, the "control" version makes your opponents Control Magics stronger for them, but makes Threaten effect weaker, since you'd get the extra Resonate trigger. This may be an interaction you could build into the environment if you go that route.