Mindsculptor:
Well maybe I can be a little more illuminating!
It's random, because in a format without fetch lands, this is really just not a rampant growth, you are taking what you are getting. If we shortened this down to 3-4 cards you might just not get anything on a turn 2 play (in non-eternal formats).
This card would also feel pretty random in the same sort of way thoughtscour or say mulch does. I'm sure you know what I mean.
The last issue here is that it really needs to have a really finely honed deck to get the most out of a card like this. Most decks don't like to rely on crossing their fingers with the top of their library, that's why top and brainstorming decks with heavy shuffle effects are so popular and people are so excited about getting scry back. This card is a straight -1 card in hand for 2 mana if you don't hit. Costing 2 and having an ability that is not worth playing if you couldn't cast it on turn 2 means you have only your first turn or so to be setting up something interesting with this card. Fetchlands or other sac lands or cycling effects can help, and so can cards like careful study, but in a format without these things, you are going to be feeling really like you are at the whim of the top of your deck and that you are going to have trouble getting the most out of this card. Now later in the game this might get more interesting with stuff like the odessy block threshold lands and things like wasteland or whatever, but these are questions for the people who design tournament formats, and not the sort of things that are your primary concern when you are thinking about how your 2cc acceleration spell will work on turn 2.
Anyway it's just waaaay less reliable and requires more thinking around, that's why it feels more random. I hope that made some sense!
I think I might switch "look at" to "reveal" in the dig mechanic. I really like the subtle influence revealing has on a game.
RE dumping it all into the grave:
Just not the style of the mechanic man. the idea of dig was to give more graveyard interaction, but also more influence on card selection to the cards in a custom block. I believe it also had applications where some cards could be played from your library if you were looking at them. I'm not sure I like every colour working equally well in the grave as every other, but I think it's a fine idea if it's part of the theme and mechanic of a block and I for one am always excited to see more resources getting exploited to make shallow colours deeper and to see more non-blue colours having more control over their draws.
Thanks for the insight. I'm always cracking my head trying to make the Golgari archetype in cube work. Lotsa graveyard play; instead of card or board advantage, it's about graveyard advantage. By the same token, I also wanna make sure it plays well with the other colors. I'll try a few "Dig X" iterations but my version would probably read as:
Dig X (Put the top X cards of your library into your graveyard).
Btw, Mulch whiff many times in tourneys too, but still saw play, simply because it puts cards into the graveyard. This is why I thought your version of dig is very powerful. The beauty of cards like Mulch is not to over push things (like an auto-pilot), but let deckbuilders find out what they could do with it. =)
A) In many cubes I find Golgari can be really strong in unfair recursion sorta decks or ramp/reanimator decks but those are the obvious ones.
I find it's pretty easy to make a ramp deck with more than adequate removal and powerplays if you are able to scoop up the few good black cards.
My favourite GB archetype is probably what a lot of you modern players might be experienced with VS jund. In many powered cubes or power-max style unpowered cubes, cards like thoughtseize and naturalize are amazing plays. Removing key artifact mana or stripping the unfair cards from people's hand go a long way in power max where a deck is built around ensuring the success of an unfair play or two. I've always found black and green mashed together could feel very much like blue and white put together but a little more aggressive. You have heavy disruption, the ability to deal with any type of permanant, strong threats, sweepers and should have access to pretty reasonable card engines and draw fixing. But that really depends on how you build your cube!
B) I made my dig mechanic for a Collaborative Create-A-Booster game on these boards but I got the idea from GumOnShoe. The Set ended up having threshold and recover in it too but no flashback! It looked super interesting.
I think graveyards are great resources in the right format and it's up to block designers and tournament organizers to meet half way on that. I think bannings are a great tool so that you don't have to hurt one environment because it doesn't get along in fair ways with some spotty stuff in the past. In other words: I refuse to design around the mess that became of dredge and such degenerate nonsense.
I think there are unfair things that should be allowed if you put the work into them (like really work intensive reanimation strategies like mulch into fatty and rites) or say tooth and nail decks sorta deserved their big dumb play because they made it happen, but I don't really believe that we should necessarily have to live in a world where enabler cards are just too good because the thing they enable is nuts, I believe that graveyard strategies don't deserve cards that just stop them all together, but a graveyard shouldn't be a difficult thing to disrupt, or something you should have to go far out of your way to do in a set built around that.
And of course in a set that isn't built around making use of your graveyard, you probably wont have very much to do with your poor milled cards. hmmm.
Anyway i think my current version of dig will look like this, though I'm really not sure where I will put it. The sets I'm enjoying thinking about are more about colour matters and hybrid and giving creatures and lands usefulness in zones other than play. Dig X(To dig, reveal the top X cards of your library, you may put one back on top of your library and the rest into your graveyard.)
I don't think dig will be a big number on most cards.
I'm all ears if you wana talk more cube or weird set stuff any time!
I'd change dig to "look." "Reveal" is used usually to confirm the qualities of something, like Mulch confirming that you are in fact keeping land cards.
Dig [NUMBER] (Look at the top [NUMBER] cards of your library. Put up to one of those cards on top of your library and the rest into your graveyard.)
Mindsear1UR
Enchantment (R)
As Mindsear enters the battlefield, name a nonland card.
If the named card would be put into a graveyard from anywhere, instead put it into its owner's hand and Mindsear deals damage to that player equal to that card's converted mana cost. "You're going to remember this, whether you want to or not."
The drawback attached to the ability is a nice one, but this card begs to be broken in half. True, this is mostly with other broken cards (Lotus Petal, Dark Rotual), but free recursion is just too good.
Counterpoint2U
Enchantment (R) U, Discard a card: Counter target spell with the same converted mana cost as the discarded card.
A much more difficult and much more tasking version of Counterbalance, it feels "fair" (as much as any repeatable counterspell can be) and looks fun to build control decks around. I'd consider upping the activation cost since multiple activations really shut the game down hard.
Galvanic Experiment :1mana::symb:
Creature - Zombie (U)
:2mana::symr:, Exile Galvanic Experiment from your graveyard: Deal 2 damage to target creature or player. "Early attempts at non-magical zombification often rendered explosive results."
2/1
It's a fine dead-guy with a good pun. One of those cards where there isn't much to say.
Blueprint TheftG Instant
Destroy up to two artifacts or enchantments an opponent controls unless their controller has you put a token onto the battlefield that's a copy of it for each.
Weird in how useless it can be. The effect is rather marginal against Leyline of the Void, Howling Mine (they'd just want more), Ghostly Prison (decks that play this rarely do much attacking for the win), and so on. That sort of risk doesn't really associate itself with a GWU card.
Hammered to the Ground :1mana::symu:
Enchantment - Aura (R)
Enchant Plains
Each creature does not untap during their controller's untap step.
Spells and abilities can't cause creatures to untap.
Chained to the Rocks spin-off. The cost is fairly cheap given that this reduces all creatures to single shots. I'd expect a card like this to cost at least twice as much. Forcing it to enchant a plains doesn't really curb this issue.
Scouting Whelp :1mana::symr:
Creature - Dragon (C)
Flying
Whenever a source you control deals 2 or more damage to a player, scry 1. The most dangerous dragons aren't always the largest ones.
1/1
The idea of a dragon the checks things out for the bigger guys is cute. It's odd that you chose to make it too small to scry by itself.
Mist MonsterGU
Creature - Elemental Beast (U) GU: Until end of turn, if Mist Monster would deal damage, prevent that damage. Put a +1/+1 counter on Mist Monster for each 1 damage prevented in this way.
2/2
Pretty cool card, really. I'd consider starting it at 1/1 just to make it a tad more difficult to get to the big prize. As is, the first blocker it meets needs to be 4/X or bigger to kill it. Still, I really like the card's elegant internal synergy.
Angel of the Harvest1BWG
Creature - Angel
Flying
:symtap:, Sacrifice a creature: Draw a card.
:symtap:, Sacrifice a land: Add GG to your mana pool. "Her wings are the autumnal leaves, her scythe is the harbinger of the equinox."
3/2
This just doesn't feel like an angel to me. I also dislike when larger creatures have marginal tap abilities; I wanna beat in with by 3 powered flier, not recycle my creatures and lands.
Instant (C)
Target attacking creature gets +1/+1 and gains first strike until end of combat. Put a 1/1 red Soldier token onto the battlefield at end of combat. True heroes know when they need help.
It's really weird to give creatures pump durations that only last until end of combat. Target a Runeclaw Bear with this, it gets blocked by a Pillarfield Ox, and somehow the Bear still dies? Yuck. The timing of the token also feels weird.
Undertaker1BG
Creature - Plant Troll (R)
Hexproof, Defender
During your upkeep, look at the top card of your library. If it's a land card sacrifice it.
BG Sacrifice Undertaker: Put up to X amount of land cards from your graveyard onto the battlefield tapped, where X is your devotion to (B/G)
3/3
You don't sacrifice things from the top of your library. You put them into your graveyard. Or did you mean the Plant Troll (really? Plant Troll?) was the one being sacrificed? Given the way the card is arranged, I'll assume the former. The card itself aint half bad. You clear away lands that you'd draw and get them back later. I think a simpler execution would have made this card shine. The card isn't really black in any way; I'd cut that out. Something like the following might have grabbed my vote:
Root Raker2G Creature - Plant (U)
At the beginning of your upkeep, reveal the top card of your library. If it's a land card, put it into your graveyard. 2G, Sacrifice Root Raker: Return up to X target land cards from your graveyard to the battlefield, where X is your devotion to green.
0/4
Blazing Light :symr::symw:
Instant
Tap all creatures target player controls. "First rule of military tactics: Attack with the sun in your back. First addendum of magical warfare: If you have no sun in your back, create one."
-Colonel Piron
Magmatic Implosion2RRR
Sorcery (R)
Each player may sacrifice any number of lands. Then, Magmatic Implosion deals damage to each player equal to twice the number of lands that player controls.
It's a very clever design and forces some interesting decisions upon the players. It mostly comes down to math, but still... a very nice Armageddon variant.
Crowded Control2BB
Sorcery (U)
Target player discards X cards, where X is the number of creatures they control. "You seem to have a lot on your mind, let me take some of it off."
Generally, the more creatures a player controls, the less cards in his or her hand. Which makes this have a very nice internal balancing feature, where your target casting point is probably when they have three critters. And it does nothing to stop said critters, so all in all, it works out well.
As World Within enters the battlefield, choose an opponent.
The chosen opponent plays with the top card of his or her library revealed.
You may play the top card of the chosen opponent’s library.
Shared Fate without the sharing. Always a headache for players when coupled with Future Sight. Knowing the priority system intimately is hard enough for novices, but playing as though that system needs to constantly be checked is annoying. That's a minor complaint, though, and one that's rare to come up. The card itself is probably fine and fun, but there are versions utilizing exile to get around the potential problems.
Unicorn UmbraW
Enchantment - Aura (U)
Enchant creature
If a spell or ability would deal damage to enchanted creature, it deals that much damage minus 1 instead.
Totem armor
That's an odd ability to strap on an umbra. Totem armor is already protecting the creature. Why make the only other ability also a strict protection?
Cloudcarved Mesa
Land (R)
Cloudcarved Mesa enters the battlefield tapped.
:symtap:: Add to your mana pool.
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control seven or more artifacts and/or enchantments, add WWW to your mana pool.
Do you mean this to be added during your precombat main phase, or is this for a set with upkeep costs?
The drawback attached to the ability is a nice one, but this card begs to be broken in half. True, this is mostly with other broken cards (Lotus Petal, Dark Rotual), but free recursion is just too good.
That actually wasn't my first thought for how to break it. Thoughtseize pairs ridiculously well with it (T1/2 Telepathy, T3 Mindsear naming an expensive card in your opponent's hand, T4 2x Thoughtseize choosing that card...).
Bonus points for using it against an Eldrazi deck, obviously.
Mindsear is interesting MDenham, but I think it breaks the game too easily. Adding replicate +free buyback to spells (especially removal/counter/burn) is too strong at that cost.
Major:
Uh oh! I guess our ideas are running too close!
If there is any doubt if I'm being original, I made sure to search the contest board for instances of "thawing" because I was uncertain if I'd entered it already. Sure enough I have posted this one to the create a booster game months back!
Honest cuber's perspective:
His card seems like a better baby jace in the way I'd be looking at it where as my card just seems like the worlds slowest concentrate.
Rush Classical:
I love your review series! I know it must be a pain but let me tell you, it's appreciated!
Ya, it takes a good chunk of time, but I enjoy it. I've been voting before deciding whether or not to write out reviews, so there's been a couple of times I've thought about changing my vote upon that closer look, and at least one time where I changed it because of that. It's fun to review cards.
I will say, after reviewing thousands of cards over the years, that people generally just don't know how to feel about Planeswalkers in custom card forums. They simultaneously want them to have self-interaction but not be too stupidly self-centered, to be powerful but balanced, to be exciting but usable, to have flavor but not have flavor text, and so on. They rarely get attention and I think it's somewhat of a shame, and I feel that Planeswalker design is greatly misunderstood. (Not that this is why my card wasn't voted on, even if that inspired this rant.)
Whole bunch of vanishing cards today.
I like the Delayed Gratification though I would probably change the wording so that you can't use things like Vampire Hexmage to remove/add the counters.
EDIT: rush_Clasic keep up the reviews they are really helpful
Just a note: both today and tomorrow, the thread is going up an hour early because my wife is house-sitting for a friend of hers whose house is one town over (meaning a round trip of ~30 miles if she were going to pick me up :-/), so I'm riding my bike to work, which means I need extra time to make the trip, and so... tide goes in, tide goes out, you can't explain that thread goes up early.
Oh wow there is a thread for this! I might as well post or something...
~
For the record, Paranoid Darkness was supposed to reveal all of the cards in your opponent's hand...maybe I should have remembered to write that in. ITS ANCIENT HISTORY NOW THOUGH MOVING ON ->
Damned Shade by Blydden
- Adding the shade ability to control magic has some interesting applications. It's a nice choice. I wouldn't cost this card BBB, though. That cost has certain special histories attached to it, and while this card has cool back-end, it's not that right sort of special to demand the cost, even in a set with devotion.
Mainly bringing this up because I'm curious and want to know the special histories attached to the cost BBB. I also posted it up because it won my local forum's weekly CaC competition and I was so excited to post it up...
Angel of the Harvest by Blydden
- This just doesn't feel like an angel top me. I also dislike when larger creatures have marginal tap abilities; I wanna beat in with by 3 powered flier, not recycle my creatures and lands.
Mainly bringing this up because I want to know how I could improve on this card. I want it to feel black, white, and green at the same time...which is a bit of a tall thing to ask, but I'll explain it this way.
A fallen angel that has redeemed herself (while remaining edgy {that's a scythe pun}), through the power of nature. An Angel of Autumn.
I was thinking of adding Vigilance to the card so that she could tap and still swing her scythe, but that's one effect too many without making her legendary...and I avoid legendary [& planeswalkers] like the plague x-x
Flying is a must because well, she's an angel. I also want the black being prominent, hence the two ways to sacrifice cards you control.
Green is a little shoe-horned, I'm not sure how to make it fit better. : (
She's a wedge card for the people that care to read this post that may not notice at first glance, BWG
I also have to say I've been pretty impressed with how Blydden came out of the gates! Great stuff from a new user!
...
I'mma cry tears of joy and squee at the same time now into my comfy pillow.
T_T *SQUEE* T_T
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One of my main things I'm trying to do is to take calculated balancing risks when designing my cards. Sure you could make a bland evergreen card that will win 1 or 2 points, but that doesn't really improve one's inner card designer.
I still have yet to make a legendary creature or planeswalker....ever. *crippling fear of failure*
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Re-reading my submissions over the month, I didn't even notice I won Friday the 13th's DCC. I might as well talk about it, I guess? O,o
I'm really surprised that I actually managed to win one, although I'm not sure how mechanically this card works THAT well. Thematically though, I know EXACTLY why!
Heart of the Mountain
Legendary Land
Heart of the Mountain enters the battlefield tapped.
:symtap:: Add to your mana pool.
Threshold - :symtap:: Add RG to your mana pool.
Like I do most every day, I try to germinate an idea. My boyfriend has the most awesome D&D setting...
Basically, the last sanctuary of a rebuilding yet ruinous world after a great war with the undead apocalypse is a tremendous mountainous dwarven cavity that stands as one of the few last remnants of civilization in an overgrown druidic land. Mountain's Heart.
Before the war, Mountain's Heart was merely the dwarven capital of the world. Not really all that special. (So, you can tap it for 1, the turn after it enters the battlefield. Not really all that special.)
However, one of the things dwarves were great at was defending their home. The mountain itself was the perfect terrain to exist as a bastion and hold a Heroic Last Stand between the living and the undead. Losses were great on both sides, but in the end, life prevailed.
Hence, threshold. To honor all that died in the War of Bones, all the races united under Mountain's Heart to build it into a thriving metropolis, so it could be everyone's home.
It is R, because Mountain. Not really much need to explain there.
It is also G, because of the fact the majority of the world is an overgrown wilderness unfit for the everyday journeyer, now with no one willing to tame the landscape, Green is abundant.
What happened to U? With only Mountain's Heart and a couple other non-arcane civilizations, there really aren't a lot of things that are blue. Many things that were arcane were destroyed by the undead in their pursuit of conquest. Knowledge was burned, history was undone, really its kind of a Blue personal hell!
What happened to W & B? During the Heroic Last Stand, the side of Good and the side of Evil both fought until their last. They are not really around anymore to declare themselves as a source of mana. Both of said forces are too weak.
Dude I've been on this contest for a few months now and I can tell you I have no idea when my designs are going to be a hit. I can only tell which ones probably won't. Then again you see a lot of funky stuff getting votes, we are all multifaceted people voting for different reasons from week to week. I really like it as prompt though to get my gears running. So much inspiration to be had too!
Well I've been here for a little more than a week and I find people are more drawn to gimmicky, wacky cards that aren't all that spiky. That's how voting has been thus far. But this doesn't mean I don't like them. I love some of the designs I've seen. Some are pretty awesome.
I would think the more experienced designers favor a clean, simple card (that's usually Wizards' template) but alas, it's not.
Since this is a voting contest, vanillas tend to be underappreciated. As do simple cards.
Different people have different expectations. I'm not too concerned about popular voting; but I'll be happy if I received your vote (Thanks!). I've been putting cube-level cards since I first joined. So do understand where I come from and what I expect when I make my vote. I just want my cards to be shared, heard, loved. Feedback is suuuuuper important.
Cube level cards need to clear at least 2 of the following (at least that's how I vote):
- Support at least 2 archetypes/color pairings; synergistic
- Good on its own; effective in its role
- Pushed (be it through costs or abilities) but not to Sol Ring-stupidity levels
- Fill a space/cycle where it hasn't been done or completed
- Built around (what I deemed as "engine")
- Grokkable, simple design, fun**
** This is highly important because I also do social research. And my research finds that people will ignore custom cards that are too wordy or complicated. They end up picking real magic cards when the custom would have been the better pick. This is simple psychological thinking, so designers should take that into account. If one doesn't know wordy, check out Frazzled Editor. lol
I try to keep an open mind when voting. Cleverness appeals to my Johnny sensibilities, but I try not to let that sway me too much. I also try to overlook general wording errors unless they actually damage what the card does, but sometimes I just can't do it. Elegance comes up a lot. A complex card without a true central idea doesn't earn my vote often, and even the ones that are well thought out take an extra read or two before I start to dig them. Really, anything can win. I'd even vote for a vanilla creature if the flavor was right. (And have before, though not in this contest.)
Mainly bringing this up because I'm curious and want to know the special histories attached to the cost BBB. I also posted it up because it won my local forum's weekly CaC competition and I was so excited to post it up...
It's more of a feel than a strict guideline, really. When a card costs BBB, you expect to see something never-before seen. You expect the unexpected. You expect Bridge from Below or Necropotence or Doomsday or Phylactery Lich. I suppose my main complaint is that the cool part of your card doesn't cost BBB; it costs 3BBB. For BBB, all you get is Looming Shade. I also think cards in a devotion setting need to be careful about their costs, and that this particular card doesn't warrant improving that stat.
Mainly bringing this up because I want to know how I could improve on this card. I want it to feel black, white, and green at the same time...which is a bit of a tall thing to ask, but I'll explain it this way.
A fallen angel that has redeemed herself (while remaining edgy {that's a scythe pun}), through the power of nature. An Angel of Autumn.
I was thinking of adding Vigilance to the card so that she could tap and still swing her scythe, but that's one effect too many without making her legendary...and I avoid legendary [& planeswalkers] like the plague x-x
Flying is a must because well, she's an angel. I also want the black being prominent, hence the two ways to sacrifice cards you control.
Green is a little shoe-horned, I'm not sure how to make it fit better. : (
She's a wedge card for the people that care to read this post that may not notice at first glance, BWG
Although I listed it after, the tap abilities were my main concern. Like I said, if you want to put tap abilities on a bigger creature, make the effect bigger. I want a damn good reason for not attacking. As for the flavor, it's mostly the green part that gets to me. I don't know why an angel would busy herself/himself with harvesting the land.
Mindsculptor:
That's funny Mr. Bolas! My first couple months on I was only able to draw sporatically from what I like to think of as "old gold" stuff I designed and could recall from before I rejoined these boards. The rest were sort of exactly what you seem to find under-appreciated: Solid unremarkable playable cards.
For a long time I thought I was doing well, but never great, because the bulk of my submissions were boring, spikey streamlined cards I'd like to play with. Someone else would get excitement votes, but I was always a fair alternative. At some point the bottom fell out on that plan and I realized I had no idea why anyone was voting for anything.
Like the last card I had that did well was a 1/1 for 2 that let you put a land in your graveyard into play. That's such a fair card in non-degenerate formats.
I still like developing weird constructed cards, but these days often as not, I'm stuck putting out a bunch of material on whatever it is I've been thinking about designing around. For instance interacting with lands in other zones / making lands that are in play more interesting. Or something like "Black needs to be better."
I do like submitting a lot of cube designed cards, but I find when I design a cube card, people tend to get uppity, because it's either pushing something it's close to in an obvious way (duh why I made it) or it's something people won't really understand the nuance or reason for because they don't cube or have had very different experiences. The black needs to be better designs are so exemplary of people not getting it.
What if Angel of the Harvest's second activated ability (the mana gain) was :symq:?
Or what if both were :symq:?
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Designed my first ever legendary today. : )
...He's probably terrible. : (
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Addendum:
What is the general consensus about Planeswalkers with a different number of abilities than three? There was Jace 2.0 with four abilities and then he was banned and everyone hated him ever. : (
Then, while there are no official planeswalkers with this, I'm sure theoretically one could have two activated abilities and a passive "always-on" ability. What about that?
Well maybe I can be a little more illuminating!
It's random, because in a format without fetch lands, this is really just not a rampant growth, you are taking what you are getting. If we shortened this down to 3-4 cards you might just not get anything on a turn 2 play (in non-eternal formats).
This card would also feel pretty random in the same sort of way thoughtscour or say mulch does. I'm sure you know what I mean.
The last issue here is that it really needs to have a really finely honed deck to get the most out of a card like this. Most decks don't like to rely on crossing their fingers with the top of their library, that's why top and brainstorming decks with heavy shuffle effects are so popular and people are so excited about getting scry back. This card is a straight -1 card in hand for 2 mana if you don't hit. Costing 2 and having an ability that is not worth playing if you couldn't cast it on turn 2 means you have only your first turn or so to be setting up something interesting with this card. Fetchlands or other sac lands or cycling effects can help, and so can cards like careful study, but in a format without these things, you are going to be feeling really like you are at the whim of the top of your deck and that you are going to have trouble getting the most out of this card. Now later in the game this might get more interesting with stuff like the odessy block threshold lands and things like wasteland or whatever, but these are questions for the people who design tournament formats, and not the sort of things that are your primary concern when you are thinking about how your 2cc acceleration spell will work on turn 2.
Anyway it's just waaaay less reliable and requires more thinking around, that's why it feels more random. I hope that made some sense!
I think I might switch "look at" to "reveal" in the dig mechanic. I really like the subtle influence revealing has on a game.
RE dumping it all into the grave:
Just not the style of the mechanic man. the idea of dig was to give more graveyard interaction, but also more influence on card selection to the cards in a custom block. I believe it also had applications where some cards could be played from your library if you were looking at them. I'm not sure I like every colour working equally well in the grave as every other, but I think it's a fine idea if it's part of the theme and mechanic of a block and I for one am always excited to see more resources getting exploited to make shallow colours deeper and to see more non-blue colours having more control over their draws.
Cube talk, design community and much much more!
Dig X (Put the top X cards of your library into your graveyard).
Btw, Mulch whiff many times in tourneys too, but still saw play, simply because it puts cards into the graveyard. This is why I thought your version of dig is very powerful. The beauty of cards like Mulch is not to over push things (like an auto-pilot), but let deckbuilders find out what they could do with it. =)
Thanks!
UR Melek, Izzet ParagonUR, B Shirei, Shizo's CaretakerB, R Jaya Ballard, Task MageR,RW Tajic, Blade of the LegionRW, UB Lazav, Dimir MastermindUB, UB Circu, Dimir LobotomistUB, RWU Zedruu the GreatheartedRWU, GUBThe MimeoplasmGUB, UGExperiment Kraj UG, WDarien, King of KjeldorW, BMarrow-GnawerB, WBGKarador, Ghost ChieftainWBG, UTeferi, Temporal ArchmageU, GWUDerevi, Empyrial TacticianGWU, RDaretti, Scrap SavantR, UTalrand, Sky SummonerU, GEzuri, Renegade LeaderG, WUBRGReaper KingWUBRG, RGXenagos, God of RevelsRG, CKozilek, Butcher of TruthC, WUBRGGeneral TazriWUBRG, GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
I find it's pretty easy to make a ramp deck with more than adequate removal and powerplays if you are able to scoop up the few good black cards.
My favourite GB archetype is probably what a lot of you modern players might be experienced with VS jund. In many powered cubes or power-max style unpowered cubes, cards like thoughtseize and naturalize are amazing plays. Removing key artifact mana or stripping the unfair cards from people's hand go a long way in power max where a deck is built around ensuring the success of an unfair play or two. I've always found black and green mashed together could feel very much like blue and white put together but a little more aggressive. You have heavy disruption, the ability to deal with any type of permanant, strong threats, sweepers and should have access to pretty reasonable card engines and draw fixing. But that really depends on how you build your cube!
B) I made my dig mechanic for a Collaborative Create-A-Booster game on these boards but I got the idea from GumOnShoe. The Set ended up having threshold and recover in it too but no flashback! It looked super interesting.
I think graveyards are great resources in the right format and it's up to block designers and tournament organizers to meet half way on that. I think bannings are a great tool so that you don't have to hurt one environment because it doesn't get along in fair ways with some spotty stuff in the past. In other words: I refuse to design around the mess that became of dredge and such degenerate nonsense.
I think there are unfair things that should be allowed if you put the work into them (like really work intensive reanimation strategies like mulch into fatty and rites) or say tooth and nail decks sorta deserved their big dumb play because they made it happen, but I don't really believe that we should necessarily have to live in a world where enabler cards are just too good because the thing they enable is nuts, I believe that graveyard strategies don't deserve cards that just stop them all together, but a graveyard shouldn't be a difficult thing to disrupt, or something you should have to go far out of your way to do in a set built around that.
And of course in a set that isn't built around making use of your graveyard, you probably wont have very much to do with your poor milled cards. hmmm.
Anyway i think my current version of dig will look like this, though I'm really not sure where I will put it. The sets I'm enjoying thinking about are more about colour matters and hybrid and giving creatures and lands usefulness in zones other than play.
Dig X (To dig, reveal the top X cards of your library, you may put one back on top of your library and the rest into your graveyard.)
I don't think dig will be a big number on most cards.
I'm all ears if you wana talk more cube or weird set stuff any time!
Cube talk, design community and much much more!
Dig [NUMBER] (Look at the top [NUMBER] cards of your library. Put up to one of those cards on top of your library and the rest into your graveyard.)
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Let's do a card by card review!
The drawback attached to the ability is a nice one, but this card begs to be broken in half. True, this is mostly with other broken cards (Lotus Petal, Dark Rotual), but free recursion is just too good.
A much more difficult and much more tasking version of Counterbalance, it feels "fair" (as much as any repeatable counterspell can be) and looks fun to build control decks around. I'd consider upping the activation cost since multiple activations really shut the game down hard.
It's a fine dead-guy with a good pun. One of those cards where there isn't much to say.
Weird in how useless it can be. The effect is rather marginal against Leyline of the Void, Howling Mine (they'd just want more), Ghostly Prison (decks that play this rarely do much attacking for the win), and so on. That sort of risk doesn't really associate itself with a GWU card.
Chained to the Rocks spin-off. The cost is fairly cheap given that this reduces all creatures to single shots. I'd expect a card like this to cost at least twice as much. Forcing it to enchant a plains doesn't really curb this issue.
The idea of a dragon the checks things out for the bigger guys is cute. It's odd that you chose to make it too small to scry by itself.
Pretty cool card, really. I'd consider starting it at 1/1 just to make it a tad more difficult to get to the big prize. As is, the first blocker it meets needs to be 4/X or bigger to kill it. Still, I really like the card's elegant internal synergy.
This just doesn't feel like an angel to me. I also dislike when larger creatures have marginal tap abilities; I wanna beat in with by 3 powered flier, not recycle my creatures and lands.
This ability does not require 6 mana. It really, really doesn't.
It's really weird to give creatures pump durations that only last until end of combat. Target a Runeclaw Bear with this, it gets blocked by a Pillarfield Ox, and somehow the Bear still dies? Yuck. The timing of the token also feels weird.
You don't sacrifice things from the top of your library. You put them into your graveyard. Or did you mean the Plant Troll (really? Plant Troll?) was the one being sacrificed? Given the way the card is arranged, I'll assume the former. The card itself aint half bad. You clear away lands that you'd draw and get them back later. I think a simpler execution would have made this card shine. The card isn't really black in any way; I'd cut that out. Something like the following might have grabbed my vote:
Root Raker 2G
Creature - Plant (U)
At the beginning of your upkeep, reveal the top card of your library. If it's a land card, put it into your graveyard.
2G, Sacrifice Root Raker: Return up to X target land cards from your graveyard to the battlefield, where X is your devotion to green.
0/4
The joke almost works. Mostly works.
It's a very clever design and forces some interesting decisions upon the players. It mostly comes down to math, but still... a very nice Armageddon variant.
Generally, the more creatures a player controls, the less cards in his or her hand. Which makes this have a very nice internal balancing feature, where your target casting point is probably when they have three critters. And it does nothing to stop said critters, so all in all, it works out well.
Shared Fate without the sharing. Always a headache for players when coupled with Future Sight. Knowing the priority system intimately is hard enough for novices, but playing as though that system needs to constantly be checked is annoying. That's a minor complaint, though, and one that's rare to come up. The card itself is probably fine and fun, but there are versions utilizing exile to get around the potential problems.
That's an odd ability to strap on an umbra. Totem armor is already protecting the creature. Why make the only other ability also a strict protection?
Do you mean this to be added during your precombat main phase, or is this for a set with upkeep costs?
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Bonus points for using it against an Eldrazi deck, obviously.
(Probably NSFW) So you may have heard I'm trying to write a TV series...
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Eh, it went through several revisions as I was posting it, and now I think I'd much rather the mana be useable at sorcery speed.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
(CubeTutor & MTGS)
360 Peasant Cube!
Custom Cube
RWU Miracles RWU
I like it. The problem is, I like most cards. Voting usually comes down to a very narrow (and arbitrary) tiebreaker.
Uh oh! I guess our ideas are running too close!
If there is any doubt if I'm being original, I made sure to search the contest board for instances of "thawing" because I was uncertain if I'd entered it already. Sure enough I have posted this one to the create a booster game months back!
Honest cuber's perspective:
His card seems like a better baby jace in the way I'd be looking at it where as my card just seems like the worlds slowest concentrate.
Rush Classical:
I love your review series! I know it must be a pain but let me tell you, it's appreciated!
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I will say, after reviewing thousands of cards over the years, that people generally just don't know how to feel about Planeswalkers in custom card forums. They simultaneously want them to have self-interaction but not be too stupidly self-centered, to be powerful but balanced, to be exciting but usable, to have flavor but not have flavor text, and so on. They rarely get attention and I think it's somewhat of a shame, and I feel that Planeswalker design is greatly misunderstood. (Not that this is why my card wasn't voted on, even if that inspired this rant.)
I like the Delayed Gratification though I would probably change the wording so that you can't use things like Vampire Hexmage to remove/add the counters.
EDIT: rush_Clasic keep up the reviews they are really helpful
Are you designing commons? Check out my primer on NWO.
Interested in making a custom set? Check out my Set skeleton and archetype primer.
I also write articles about getting started with custom card creation.
Go and PLAYTEST your designs, you will learn more in a single playtests than a dozen discussions.
My custom sets:
Dreamscape
Coins of Mercalis [COMPLETE]
Exodus of Zendikar - ON HOLD
tide goes in, tide goes out, you can't explain thatthread goes up early.(Probably NSFW) So you may have heard I'm trying to write a TV series...
Most Nominated for Random Categories, 2013
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For the record, Paranoid Darkness was supposed to reveal all of the cards in your opponent's hand...maybe I should have remembered to write that in. ITS ANCIENT HISTORY NOW THOUGH MOVING ON ->
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Mainly bringing this up because I'm curious and want to know the special histories attached to the cost BBB. I also posted it up because it won my local forum's weekly CaC competition and I was so excited to post it up...
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Mainly bringing this up because I want to know how I could improve on this card. I want it to feel black, white, and green at the same time...which is a bit of a tall thing to ask, but I'll explain it this way.
A fallen angel that has redeemed herself (while remaining edgy {that's a scythe pun}), through the power of nature. An Angel of Autumn.
I was thinking of adding Vigilance to the card so that she could tap and still swing her scythe, but that's one effect too many without making her legendary...and I avoid legendary [& planeswalkers] like the plague x-x
Flying is a must because well, she's an angel. I also want the black being prominent, hence the two ways to sacrifice cards you control.
Green is a little shoe-horned, I'm not sure how to make it fit better. : (
She's a wedge card for the people that care to read this post that may not notice at first glance, BWG
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...
I'mma cry tears of joy and squee at the same time now into my comfy pillow.
T_T *SQUEE* T_T
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One of my main things I'm trying to do is to take calculated balancing risks when designing my cards. Sure you could make a bland evergreen card that will win 1 or 2 points, but that doesn't really improve one's inner card designer.
I still have yet to make a legendary creature or planeswalker....ever. *crippling fear of failure*
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Re-reading my submissions over the month, I didn't even notice I won Friday the 13th's DCC. I might as well talk about it, I guess? O,o
I'm really surprised that I actually managed to win one, although I'm not sure how mechanically this card works THAT well. Thematically though, I know EXACTLY why!
Like I do most every day, I try to germinate an idea. My boyfriend has the most awesome D&D setting...
Basically, the last sanctuary of a rebuilding yet ruinous world after a great war with the undead apocalypse is a tremendous mountainous dwarven cavity that stands as one of the few last remnants of civilization in an overgrown druidic land. Mountain's Heart.
Before the war, Mountain's Heart was merely the dwarven capital of the world. Not really all that special. (So, you can tap it for 1, the turn after it enters the battlefield. Not really all that special.)
However, one of the things dwarves were great at was defending their home. The mountain itself was the perfect terrain to exist as a bastion and hold a Heroic Last Stand between the living and the undead. Losses were great on both sides, but in the end, life prevailed.
Hence, threshold. To honor all that died in the War of Bones, all the races united under Mountain's Heart to build it into a thriving metropolis, so it could be everyone's home.
It is R, because Mountain. Not really much need to explain there.
It is also G, because of the fact the majority of the world is an overgrown wilderness unfit for the everyday journeyer, now with no one willing to tame the landscape, Green is abundant.
What happened to U? With only Mountain's Heart and a couple other non-arcane civilizations, there really aren't a lot of things that are blue. Many things that were arcane were destroyed by the undead in their pursuit of conquest. Knowledge was burned, history was undone, really its kind of a Blue personal hell!
What happened to W & B? During the Heroic Last Stand, the side of Good and the side of Evil both fought until their last. They are not really around anymore to declare themselves as a source of mana. Both of said forces are too weak.
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I would think the more experienced designers favor a clean, simple card (that's usually Wizards' template) but alas, it's not.
Since this is a voting contest, vanillas tend to be underappreciated. As do simple cards.
Different people have different expectations. I'm not too concerned about popular voting; but I'll be happy if I received your vote (Thanks!). I've been putting cube-level cards since I first joined. So do understand where I come from and what I expect when I make my vote. I just want my cards to be shared, heard, loved. Feedback is suuuuuper important.
Cube level cards need to clear at least 2 of the following (at least that's how I vote):
- Support at least 2 archetypes/color pairings; synergistic
- Good on its own; effective in its role
- Pushed (be it through costs or abilities) but not to Sol Ring-stupidity levels
- Fill a space/cycle where it hasn't been done or completed
- Built around (what I deemed as "engine")
- Grokkable, simple design, fun**
** This is highly important because I also do social research. And my research finds that people will ignore custom cards that are too wordy or complicated. They end up picking real magic cards when the custom would have been the better pick. This is simple psychological thinking, so designers should take that into account. If one doesn't know wordy, check out Frazzled Editor. lol
UR Melek, Izzet ParagonUR, B Shirei, Shizo's CaretakerB, R Jaya Ballard, Task MageR,RW Tajic, Blade of the LegionRW, UB Lazav, Dimir MastermindUB, UB Circu, Dimir LobotomistUB, RWU Zedruu the GreatheartedRWU, GUBThe MimeoplasmGUB, UGExperiment Kraj UG, WDarien, King of KjeldorW, BMarrow-GnawerB, WBGKarador, Ghost ChieftainWBG, UTeferi, Temporal ArchmageU, GWUDerevi, Empyrial TacticianGWU, RDaretti, Scrap SavantR, UTalrand, Sky SummonerU, GEzuri, Renegade LeaderG, WUBRGReaper KingWUBRG, RGXenagos, God of RevelsRG, CKozilek, Butcher of TruthC, WUBRGGeneral TazriWUBRG, GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
It's more of a feel than a strict guideline, really. When a card costs BBB, you expect to see something never-before seen. You expect the unexpected. You expect Bridge from Below or Necropotence or Doomsday or Phylactery Lich. I suppose my main complaint is that the cool part of your card doesn't cost BBB; it costs 3BBB. For BBB, all you get is Looming Shade. I also think cards in a devotion setting need to be careful about their costs, and that this particular card doesn't warrant improving that stat.
Although I listed it after, the tap abilities were my main concern. Like I said, if you want to put tap abilities on a bigger creature, make the effect bigger. I want a damn good reason for not attacking. As for the flavor, it's mostly the green part that gets to me. I don't know why an angel would busy herself/himself with harvesting the land.
That's funny Mr. Bolas! My first couple months on I was only able to draw sporatically from what I like to think of as "old gold" stuff I designed and could recall from before I rejoined these boards. The rest were sort of exactly what you seem to find under-appreciated: Solid unremarkable playable cards.
For a long time I thought I was doing well, but never great, because the bulk of my submissions were boring, spikey streamlined cards I'd like to play with. Someone else would get excitement votes, but I was always a fair alternative. At some point the bottom fell out on that plan and I realized I had no idea why anyone was voting for anything.
Like the last card I had that did well was a 1/1 for 2 that let you put a land in your graveyard into play. That's such a fair card in non-degenerate formats.
I still like developing weird constructed cards, but these days often as not, I'm stuck putting out a bunch of material on whatever it is I've been thinking about designing around. For instance interacting with lands in other zones / making lands that are in play more interesting. Or something like "Black needs to be better."
I do like submitting a lot of cube designed cards, but I find when I design a cube card, people tend to get uppity, because it's either pushing something it's close to in an obvious way (duh why I made it) or it's something people won't really understand the nuance or reason for because they don't cube or have had very different experiences. The black needs to be better designs are so exemplary of people not getting it.
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What if Angel of the Harvest's second activated ability (the mana gain) was :symq:?
Or what if both were :symq:?
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Designed my first ever legendary today. : )
...He's probably terrible. : (
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Addendum:
What is the general consensus about Planeswalkers with a different number of abilities than three? There was Jace 2.0 with four abilities and then he was banned and everyone hated him ever. : (
Then, while there are no official planeswalkers with this, I'm sure theoretically one could have two activated abilities and a passive "always-on" ability. What about that?