@UncleIstivan: I dont know why she swallowed a fly. I guess she'll die?
Anyway, take out that second clause and you've got a worse Bridge from Below, except it has to be in play to work. Not sure when you'd play this over Bridge.
I just went very simple and direct, with as few words as possible, with something that should be very splashy and unique:
Your opponents can't activate loyalty abilities of their planeswalkers.
Indeed you did. I worry that this one is just TOO narrow, though. Plus, it shuts off people playing with WotC's mascots, and I doubt they'd like that. Perhaps you tweak it like this...?
"If a player would add loyalty counters on a planeswalker, subtract that number instead. If a player would put a +1/+1 counter on a creature, put a -1/-1 counter on that creature instead."
That's a little broader and accomplishes much of what you're trying to do.
BBB, Discard a card: Exile a card at random from target opponent's hand. If it's a nonland card, you may cast it without paying its mana cost. If you don't, put it into its owner's graveyard. You may use this ability any time you could cast a sorcery.
That's a little broader and accomplishes much of what you're trying to do.
I think you're making assumptions about what I was trying to do when I made the submission. Your revision is not close to that.
My goal was simplicity, keeping in mind the effect that Crucible of Worlds had on the game. As few words as possible to make it as easy to understand and naturally play; the less verbage and more focused, the better it is IMO. (Even if the effect might be very strong and sweeping.)
Yes, I get all that, and your design accomplishes all of it. The trouble is that the EFFECT is just a narrow hate card. Do we really want such a narrow hate card out of this contest? The other interesting possibilities so far are also simple, but much more profoundly impactful on the game:
(1) Some sort of black creature crucible / yawgwill against opponent's yard / etc.
(2) Casting cards your opponents discard.
(3) Controlling your opponent for part of each turn, like your own end step maybe.
(4) The reverse of Doubling Season; prevents or reduces tokens or counters.
(5) Your opponents lose some amount of life whenever a creature is sacrificed.
I sincerely doubt a hoser is going to make it to the final voting process. This creation process is not really for creating hosers that deal with problem permanents.
Especially since hosers rarely make an impact at casual tables barring extreme cases. Like Timmy plays with Bobby, Jimmy, and Tom. They all play commander decks filled to the brim with planeswalkers so Timmy starts playing the planeswalker hoser you submitted.
Having a card that hits on both the casual and pro level would be ideal similar to crucible of worlds.
I wanted to make something very flavorful and top down since I haven't seen a lot of those, however I seem to have worked myself into a rather obvious corner.
Cardname
At the beginning of your upkeep place a disease counter on ~. Creatures you control have intimidate and get +X/-X for each disease counter on ~.
I'm surprised by how little hand disruption I've seen suggested as well. Has anyone seen any really good flavorful designs?
Mono speaks truth. When you're designing a card (or voting on it) bear in mind the following principles:
(1) Simple. The card should do something you can quickly grasp. Doesn't mean it has to be stated in few words, but probably should be.
Example: "Players can play creatures from their graveyards." Very short, very easy to understand.
(2) Unique. The card should not simply colorshift another ability, shouldn't keep doing what black already can do, etc. It should do something that has never been done before.
Example: "Whenever an opponent discards a card, exile it. You may cast spells exiled by ~." There is nothing like this, and it helps out an underpowered archetype, the discard deck.
(3) Profoundly changes the rules of the game. You don't want an efficient way to kill creatures or a simple hate card; you want something that might lead to whole new archetypes! Ideally, it also has alternative functions so that it can splash against other existing decks.
Example 1: "Whenever a creature is sacrificed, you may have each opponent lose life equal to that creature's toughness." This both enables a Zombardment-style deck in mono-black, and also hoses opposing decks that might be hoping to sacrifice creatures, like Meleria Pod.
Example 2: "Exile a card from your graveyard, B: Search your library for a card and put it into your graveyard. Shuffle your library afterwards." This enables reanimator strategies in Modern in a big way, and also hoses mill strategies -- you can search out an Emrakul or something in response to mill to reshuffle your graveyard.
These three principles should be at the forefront of everyone who is voting on this thing. Everyone should be aiming high, and aiming for something like Crucible, not like Forgotten Ancient (the card we forgot). Join me, and let us welcome our new black enchantment overlords!
I wanted to make something very flavorful and top down since I haven't seen a lot of those, however I seem to have worked myself into a rather obvious corner.
Cardname
At the beginning of your upkeep place a disease counter on ~. Creatures you control have intimidate and get +X/-X for each disease counter on ~.
I'm surprised by how little hand disruption I've seen suggested as well. Has anyone seen any really good flavorful designs?
My favorite cards are all top down designs. I love the idea behind your card, especially because you really have to think outside the box to take advantage of it.
I tried to submit a top down card too. The concept is a spell that blacks out the sun, sending the world into darkness. Since the spell is represented by an enchantment, it can be broken. When the enchantment is destroyed and the sun returns, the light blinds and kills the creatures who were thriving in the darkness.
Blot Out the Sun
When Blot Out the Sun enters the battlefield, destroy all nonblack creatures.
When Blot Out the Sun leaves the battlefield, destroy all black creatures.
I'm sure plenty of people here would complain about how boring this design is in practice (more mass removal in black) but I like how it creates tension during a game; do you play it when you have a bunch of black creatures out to wrath your opponent's board, or is the risk of them having enchantment removal too high? After it's in play, do you play out more black creatures or hold them? These decisions get even more difficult after sideboarding.
I figure what I submitted is too wordy, and thus won't even get consideration.
"Horror Show"
It's a top down design based on the idea that black creatures are tearing apart their allies to use their limbs as weapons.
Card text:
At the beginning of each upkeep, you may sacrifice a creature.
If it is your turn, creatures you control gain intimidate and get +2/0 until end of turn.
If it is not your turn, creatures your opponents control gain defender until end of turn.
I specifically chose giving everything defender rather than "creatures your opponents control can't attack", because I think enabling "Defender matters" cards is more interesting.
This one seems fine and all, but do we REALLY want another Punisher mechanic? How many of those are actually good?
To the best of my knowledge, there are only 16 Punisher-style cards in all of Magic, only two of which are black (unless you count Tyrannize, then three). None are enchantments.
Personally, I love making an opponent choose which terrible thing happens to them. This is something that has mostly been a red thing, but is hardly outside of black's bailiwick. <shrug> Again, I'm not submitting this one because I'm trying to stick with the rules of the submission form, but I think this one would be fun. Possibly not as game-altering as we're wanting this new enchantment to be, but... fun.
How about,
~Insert name here~ 1BB
Enchantment
Discard a card: target opponent discards a card.
At the beginning of your next upkeep if you have no cards in hand, draw a card and sacrifice ~.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
\m/ Device \m/
Decks i'm currently running
Standard BUGW BUG Control (With a splash of white) WUG Midrange Lifegain
Modern
Death and Taxes
Legacy RG Valakut Lands WG Maverick R Burn
EDH G Azusa, Lost but Seeking
How about,
~Insert name here~ 1BB
Enchantment
Discard a card: target opponent discards a card.
At the beginning of your next upkeep if you have no cards in hand, draw a card and sacrifice ~.
Here's a top-down design I just thought up for someone trying to absorb as much information as possible until it overwhelms them, unfortunately I think it came out feeling a little too blue and not black enough
Hunger for Power BBB
You have no maximum hand size.
At the beginning of your upkeep draw a card.
At the beginning of your end step if you have 13 or more cards in hand you lose the game.
Mine was probably submitted by others but the concept is draining creatures souls and using them to gain knowledge. Painful for both. NOTE: shorthanded for time and space.
When a creature dies, put a counter on NAME.
Upkeep, draw X cards and lose X life. X=counters on NAME.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Petition to stop WotC from making M:tG cards that do not fit my specific likes! Join the revolution! If not you, then who?
Ah, women. They make the highs higher and the lows more frequent.-Friedrich Nietzsche
Sometimes I feel like the word "interactivity" around here is akin to the word "electrolytes" in sports drinks. The public doesn't really know what it means, but they figure it's a good thing to have.
Another one
Doomsday Chant 1BBB
Skip your draw step.
When ~ ETB sacrifice all creatures you control. Whenever you tap a land draw a card and lose 1 life.
Here's a top-down design I just thought up for someone trying to absorb as much information as possible until it overwhelms them, unfortunately I think it came out feeling a little too blue and not black enough
Hunger for Power BBB
You have no maximum hand size.
At the beginning of your upkeep draw a card.
At the beginning of your end step if you have 13 or more cards in hand you lose the game.
My concept is a spreading, multiplying plague that gives you lots of creatures but a scaling cost. If left unchecked for too long, eventually kills the controller. Would have worked more elegantly as a creature, bit clunky as an enchantment but anyhow:
Plague of Toads BB
As Plague of Toads comes into play, put a 1/1 black Toad creature token into play. It has "when this creature comes into play, you lose 1 life"
At the beginning of your upkeep, for each Toad token you control, put a creature token into play that's a copy of that creature.
Playtest name: Aggropotence (if I were actually naming it, I'd call it By Demons Be Driven)
Skip your draw step.
Whenever a creature you control attacks, put a 1/1 black Demon creature token with flying onto the battlefield tapped and attacking.
At the beginning of your end step, you lose 1 life for each Demon you control and draw that many cards.
Just sign here and you'll receive our free* Ever-Growing Army of Demons starter kit (*demon food not included).
-----
Yes, it's a life-for-cards effect, but it's more complex than just a card advantage engine.
- The creature-centric nature of this card plays well with the current design philosophy of "turn guys sideways to win" (not stating that is good or bad...)
- It fits well with black's suicidal tendencies and "whatever it takes" attitude
- It requires forethought and some amount of decision making ability to manage once it's in play
- It's a build-around-me card instead of a random auto-include, which in my mind at least should encourage creative deck building
On the surface I can see a passing similarity to Symbiotic Deployment + Goblin Assault (not to mention pinching what has been purely a white mechanic), but the feel of this card is quite undeniably black. It's different enough from what currently exists and other examples I've seen to warrant consideration.
Thoughts?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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Anyway, take out that second clause and you've got a worse Bridge from Below, except it has to be in play to work. Not sure when you'd play this over Bridge.
Indeed you did. I worry that this one is just TOO narrow, though. Plus, it shuts off people playing with WotC's mascots, and I doubt they'd like that. Perhaps you tweak it like this...?
"If a player would add loyalty counters on a planeswalker, subtract that number instead. If a player would put a +1/+1 counter on a creature, put a -1/-1 counter on that creature instead."
That's a little broader and accomplishes much of what you're trying to do.
Your Thoughts Become My Deeds
BBB, Discard a card: Exile a card at random from target opponent's hand. If it's a nonland card, you may cast it without paying its mana cost. If you don't, put it into its owner's graveyard. You may use this ability any time you could cast a sorcery.
Whenever a non fairy creature dies, put a 1/1 flying fairy flier into play. Sac 3 fairies: destroy target creature, it can't be regenerated.
I think you're making assumptions about what I was trying to do when I made the submission. Your revision is not close to that.
My goal was simplicity, keeping in mind the effect that Crucible of Worlds had on the game. As few words as possible to make it as easy to understand and naturally play; the less verbage and more focused, the better it is IMO. (Even if the effect might be very strong and sweeping.)
(1) Some sort of black creature crucible / yawgwill against opponent's yard / etc.
(2) Casting cards your opponents discard.
(3) Controlling your opponent for part of each turn, like your own end step maybe.
(4) The reverse of Doubling Season; prevents or reduces tokens or counters.
(5) Your opponents lose some amount of life whenever a creature is sacrificed.
Especially since hosers rarely make an impact at casual tables barring extreme cases. Like Timmy plays with Bobby, Jimmy, and Tom. They all play commander decks filled to the brim with planeswalkers so Timmy starts playing the planeswalker hoser you submitted.
Having a card that hits on both the casual and pro level would be ideal similar to crucible of worlds.
Feel free to bid on my cards here!
Cardname
At the beginning of your upkeep place a disease counter on ~. Creatures you control have intimidate and get +X/-X for each disease counter on ~.
I'm surprised by how little hand disruption I've seen suggested as well. Has anyone seen any really good flavorful designs?
(1) Simple. The card should do something you can quickly grasp. Doesn't mean it has to be stated in few words, but probably should be.
Example: "Players can play creatures from their graveyards." Very short, very easy to understand.
(2) Unique. The card should not simply colorshift another ability, shouldn't keep doing what black already can do, etc. It should do something that has never been done before.
Example: "Whenever an opponent discards a card, exile it. You may cast spells exiled by ~." There is nothing like this, and it helps out an underpowered archetype, the discard deck.
(3) Profoundly changes the rules of the game. You don't want an efficient way to kill creatures or a simple hate card; you want something that might lead to whole new archetypes! Ideally, it also has alternative functions so that it can splash against other existing decks.
Example 1: "Whenever a creature is sacrificed, you may have each opponent lose life equal to that creature's toughness." This both enables a Zombardment-style deck in mono-black, and also hoses opposing decks that might be hoping to sacrifice creatures, like Meleria Pod.
Example 2: "Exile a card from your graveyard, B: Search your library for a card and put it into your graveyard. Shuffle your library afterwards." This enables reanimator strategies in Modern in a big way, and also hoses mill strategies -- you can search out an Emrakul or something in response to mill to reshuffle your graveyard.
These three principles should be at the forefront of everyone who is voting on this thing. Everyone should be aiming high, and aiming for something like Crucible, not like Forgotten Ancient (the card we forgot). Join me, and let us welcome our new black enchantment overlords!
My favorite cards are all top down designs. I love the idea behind your card, especially because you really have to think outside the box to take advantage of it.
I tried to submit a top down card too. The concept is a spell that blacks out the sun, sending the world into darkness. Since the spell is represented by an enchantment, it can be broken. When the enchantment is destroyed and the sun returns, the light blinds and kills the creatures who were thriving in the darkness.
Blot Out the Sun
When Blot Out the Sun enters the battlefield, destroy all nonblack creatures.
When Blot Out the Sun leaves the battlefield, destroy all black creatures.
I'm sure plenty of people here would complain about how boring this design is in practice (more mass removal in black) but I like how it creates tension during a game; do you play it when you have a bunch of black creatures out to wrath your opponent's board, or is the risk of them having enchantment removal too high? After it's in play, do you play out more black creatures or hold them? These decisions get even more difficult after sideboarding.
Sad I am not in the US, I really hate when they offer "ALL" their players (by their website) something cool but they ignore this HUGE small print.
Thanks to zaphod for great sign!!!
When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, destroy target non-enchantment permanent.
If you would win the game, instead you lose the game.
That is downright awful.
You should never use "lose the game" or "win the game" except in very rare circumstances. According to MaRo, those terms are "game dynamite".
And you certainly shouldn't use them on simple removal spells.
"Horror Show"
It's a top down design based on the idea that black creatures are tearing apart their allies to use their limbs as weapons.
Card text:
At the beginning of each upkeep, you may sacrifice a creature.
If it is your turn, creatures you control gain intimidate and get +2/0 until end of turn.
If it is not your turn, creatures your opponents control gain defender until end of turn.
I specifically chose giving everything defender rather than "creatures your opponents control can't attack", because I think enabling "Defender matters" cards is more interesting.
To the best of my knowledge, there are only 16 Punisher-style cards in all of Magic, only two of which are black (unless you count Tyrannize, then three). None are enchantments.
Personally, I love making an opponent choose which terrible thing happens to them. This is something that has mostly been a red thing, but is hardly outside of black's bailiwick. <shrug> Again, I'm not submitting this one because I'm trying to stick with the rules of the submission form, but I think this one would be fun. Possibly not as game-altering as we're wanting this new enchantment to be, but... fun.
Archenemy: Nicol Bolas Upgrades
~Insert name here~ 1BB
Enchantment
Discard a card: target opponent discards a card.
At the beginning of your next upkeep if you have no cards in hand, draw a card and sacrifice ~.
Decks i'm currently running
Standard
BUGW BUG Control (With a splash of white)
WUG Midrange Lifegain
Modern
Death and Taxes
Legacy
RG Valakut Lands
WG Maverick
R Burn
EDH
G Azusa, Lost but Seeking
This needs to be at sorcery speed only.
R: Copypasta Sauce {Browbeat}
UR: Mana Cache , One Spell to Bind them All {Magnetic Theft}
UG: Epic Struggle , All-In-Poison {Metamorphosis}
UW: Planar Overlay , Decree of the Bailiff {Saprazzan Bailiff}
BG: Thought Gorger , Dark Chroma {Umbra Stalker}
UBR: Dwarven Shrine
WUBRG: Dissipation Field , Maelstrom Nexus
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may search each player's library for a card and exile it. Each player then shuffles his or her library.
Pull the chaff from your mind, pull the wheat from theirs.
B
Legendary Enchantment
Flash
Pro White
At the beginning opponent's end step, if a creature ETB'd or attacked this turn, put a counter on ≈
Creatures get -x-x where x is the number of counters on ≈
At the beginning of your end step sacrifice ≈ if there are no creatures in play
Concept:
Meddling authorities are compromising my agenda. I seek the power to break them and do as I wish.
lets trade:
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=509405
Hunger for Power BBB
You have no maximum hand size.
At the beginning of your upkeep draw a card.
At the beginning of your end step if you have 13 or more cards in hand you lose the game.
When a creature dies, put a counter on NAME.
Upkeep, draw X cards and lose X life. X=counters on NAME.
Banner ala Lymons
Doomsday Chant 1BBB
Skip your draw step.
When ~ ETB sacrifice all creatures you control. Whenever you tap a land draw a card and lose 1 life.
Your design plays interestingly with Promise of Power
Plague of Toads BB
As Plague of Toads comes into play, put a 1/1 black Toad creature token into play. It has "when this creature comes into play, you lose 1 life"
At the beginning of your upkeep, for each Toad token you control, put a creature token into play that's a copy of that creature.
Skip your draw step.
Whenever a creature you control attacks, put a 1/1 black Demon creature token with flying onto the battlefield tapped and attacking.
At the beginning of your end step, you lose 1 life for each Demon you control and draw that many cards.
Just sign here and you'll receive our free* Ever-Growing Army of Demons starter kit (*demon food not included).
-----
Yes, it's a life-for-cards effect, but it's more complex than just a card advantage engine.
- The creature-centric nature of this card plays well with the current design philosophy of "turn guys sideways to win" (not stating that is good or bad...)
- It fits well with black's suicidal tendencies and "whatever it takes" attitude
- It requires forethought and some amount of decision making ability to manage once it's in play
- It's a build-around-me card instead of a random auto-include, which in my mind at least should encourage creative deck building
On the surface I can see a passing similarity to Symbiotic Deployment + Goblin Assault (not to mention pinching what has been purely a white mechanic), but the feel of this card is quite undeniably black. It's different enough from what currently exists and other examples I've seen to warrant consideration.
Thoughts?