This is a sort of pirate drinking song, performed as a contest where each participant sings each lyric sung so far while adding a new lyric at the end. Whoever sings the last lyric of the song gets a number of Treasure tokens equal to the number of verses sung. Gameplay wise, the singing is represented as discarding a card with converted mana cost greater than the number of verse counters on ~ (were this a silver border card, it would probably involve actual singing).
Swindler's ShantyR
Enchantment
~ enters the battlefield with a verse counter on it.
At the beginning of your end step, the player who goes next may discard a card with converted mana cost greater than the number of verse counters on ~. If they do, that player gains control of ~ and puts a verse counter on it. Otherwise, sacrifice ~ and create X colorless Treasure artifact tokens with "T, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color," where X is the number of verse counters on ~.
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.
Considering the opponent needs to choose to play along, the default effect of this is... R
Sorcery
Create a Treasure token at the beginning of your end step.
Which is pretty underwhelming. You might consider having it come into play with two verse counters instead, and change the wording to
"discard a card with converted mana cost greater than or equal to the number of [...]"
Also, it might be better as an activated ability with an "any player may activate this ability, but only during your end step." clause (something similar having been used in fairly recent cards). That way anyone can get pulled into the con rather than just the player to your left.
Swindler's Shanty R
Enchantment
~ enters the battlefield with a verse counter on it.
At the beginning of your end step, the player who goes next may discard a card with converted mana cost greater than the number of verse counters on ~. If they do, that player gains control of ~ and puts a verse counter on it. Otherwise, sacrifice ~ and create X colorless Treasure artifact tokens with "T, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color," where X is the number of verse counters on ~.
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.
R
Sorcery
Create a Treasure token at the beginning of your end step.
Which is pretty underwhelming. You might consider having it come into play with two verse counters instead, and change the wording to
"discard a card with converted mana cost greater than or equal to the number of [...]"
Also, it might be better as an activated ability with an "any player may activate this ability, but only during your end step." clause (something similar having been used in fairly recent cards). That way anyone can get pulled into the con rather than just the player to your left.
- Rabid Wombat