MTG Salvation

Quote from Wildfire393 »

I think even at {R}, this isn't good enough. What good is a 2/2 haste for 1 if you can't hit with it the first turn without sacking it? It'd effectively be a 2/2 haste for {R}{R} with a {R} upkeep cost, which is way way worse than Ash Zealot, who isn't even good enough for most cubes these days.

Oh yeah, forgot you couldn't play this t1. You know what would be perfect, goblin guide with echo R. Too bad wizards doesn't do echo anymore.

Quote from joekinguyr »

goblin runner
creature-goblin solider
Haste
whenever ~ deals combat damage to a player, sacrifice it unless you pay
2/2

But this card is unplayable. You can't attack with it without losing it until T3 (and even then you need to be playing mono red), and the haste isn't valuable unless you have RRRR available. Worst Lava Spike ever.

Quote from Wildfire393 »

How about:

Goblin Lavarunner R
Creature - Goblin Rogue
Haste
Whenever Goblin Lavarunner deals combat damage to an opponent, it deals that much damage to you unless you pay R
2/2

I'd probably play that even if you couldn't avoid the pain lol.

What about a punisher effect? Seems more red in a way.

Mogg Partygoer R
Creature - Goblin Berserker

Haste

Whenever ~ deals combat damage to an opponent, that player may pay 3. If they do, sacrifice ~.
2/2

Quote from hopefulhawkeye »

Repeat U
Instant (R)
Target instant or sorcery spell in your graveyard gains flashback. The flashback cost is equal to its mana cost.
Draw a card.

Snapcaster's ability with a cantrip for U. Would you play it?

Uhhh, that card is better than U instant - draw 2. I would play it. You would play it. Every blue deck in existence would play it. Then it would get banned. That card is absurd.

Getting an instant or sorcery in your graveyard is pretty trivial these days. If you cantrip turn 1, you can use this + cantrip turn 2, effectively digging you ten extra cards into your library by turn 3 for three easy payments of U. A draw 2 does about the same.

This card belongs in a deck with a ton of cantrips, because it basically turns them into Ancestrals. And it also works with a number of other combo pieces like mana accelerators. This + manamorphose is three mana for a draw 3 + 2 mana + three storm. In that scenario, it is contributing 1 mana cost for 2 cards and 2 storm. It's better than a draw two.

Also, just look at this with Lighning bolt:

Repeat bolt RRU
instant
Can't be countered (effectively).
~ deals 3 damage to target creature or player.
~ deals 3 damage to target creature or player.
draw a card

There goes all your red decks.

Sorcery speed doesn't help it with combo stuff, but it makes it worse for counter spells. It's so strong that playing it on your turn is still unfair.

Snapcaster is good because of the flashback, not so much because it's a 2/1. In fact, some people would consider a 2/1 to be marginally worth less than a full card in cube. Yeah, it gets to affect the board, but so does a random theoretical card off the top of your deck.

For the sake of designing custom cube cards, it's not really that interesting to try and make something on the same power level of P9 cards. The reason some of those cards are so powerful is because they're drastically undercosted which is something you can do with any card.

Yes, the blue cantrip that grants flashback is too good. Probably better than Snapcaster, since the cost of the spell is less, so flashing back spells is even easier. They're both 2-for-1 card advantage, but this one costs less mana, making the flashback ability even stronger.

Quote from hopefulhawkeye »

Okay, help me because maybe I'm thinking about this wrong because I don't see how this is better than an instant speed draw 2.

1) You have to have an instant or sorcery in your graveyard to cast this.
2) You still have to pay to recast that instant or sorcery.

I grant that this card is very strong, but is it banhammer strong?

Would this be better at sorcery speed?

Note - this is for constructed, as this card is much more broken there than cube.

This card basically says "U - draw a card, then draw the best possible instant or sorcery for this situation from the cards you have played all game." That's why it's better than U - draw 2. Then, on the off chance it isn't good, it cycles for an incredibly low cost. Imagine a hand with this and brainstorm. Turn 1, you play a land, pass, brainstorm on your opponents EOT. Play a fetch land, pass. Crack your fetch, cast this, brainstorm again. For UUU, accross two turns, you just dug 7 cards deep and kept the 3 best cards in your hand. And that is an average case scenario in legacy, not even a BCS. This card with counters and removal spells is even crazier.

Maybe a printable version would be the same, but instead of draw a card, it has cycling for U. That would still be pretty good, but not completely broken.

Cold-Eyed Thief
Creature - Human Rogue
Prowess
Whenever ~ deals damage to a player, draw that many cards.
0/2

Also thought about it as a 0/1 flying magpie, or as a 0/2 flyer for

Edit - In hindsight, that's probably too good at 1 cmc....

I like it. If it's too much, just change it to a single "draw a card".

For reference, I think Snapcaster Mage is overpowered, and if I were to design the snapcast effect myself it would have been:

Snapcast UR
Instant
Target instant or sorcery card in your graveyard gains flashback until end of turn. The flashback cost is equal to its mana cost. (You may cast that card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)

And the creature version would have been:

Snapcaster Mage 2UR
Creature - Human Wizard
Flash
When Snapcaster Mage enters the battlefield, target instant or sorcery card in your graveyard gains flashback until end of turn. The flashback cost is equal to its mana cost. (You may cast that card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
3/2

While there would also have been:

Arcane Archeologist UBR
Creature - Human Mage
When Arcane Archeologist enters the battlefield, return target instant or sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand.
1/4

Getting cards sorta back from the graveyard at instant speed is a dangerous effect, especially since it often implies the card is already a good one to play against the current opponent's strategy, and it makes it like having more copies of certain cards in your deck, and some cards they don't print different named but mechanically identical/similar cards because they are too good/efficient. Being able to copy an effect that was already good and used is even more powerful in singleton formats like some cubes or EDH, and being able to choose between snapping back a lightning bolt or a remand as needed in Modern is crazy good, to the point that 1U I think is way too easy of a mana cost and getting a body for the effort is even crazier.

Snapcaster Mage is so good, if I were to only able to include one creature in cube, it would be him.

Wait...


Jungle Channeler 1GG
Creature -- Human Shaman
T: Add 1 to your mana pool
Whenever you tap a nonland permanent for mana, add an additional G to your mana pool
2/1

Unburdened Agility - 1U
Instant
Whenever you cast a creature spell this turn, tap or untap target creature.

Endless Ire - 1RR
Instant
Whenever you cast a creature spell this turn, deal 2 damage to target creature of player.

Growing Forces - WW
Sorcery
Whenever you cast a creature spell this turn, target creature gets +2/+2 until the end of turn

Ultimate Ambitions - BB
Sorcery
Whenever you cast a creature spell this turn, target creature gets -1/-1.

I assume those were all intended to be enchantments?

Nope. Those appear to be a cycle based on Glimpse of Nature

Quote from PyreDream »

Nope. Those appear to be a cycle based on Glimpse of Nature

Schism 3UG
Sorcery
Exile your hand. Put X time counters on each non-land card exiled this way, where X is the number of cards exiled. Those cards gain suspend.


I'm not sure about the numbers on this thing...

Quote from Retra »

Schism 3UG
Sorcery
Exile your hand. Put X time counters on each non-land card exiled this way, where X is the number of cards exiled. Those cards gain suspend.


I'm not sure about the numbers on this thing...

Very cool design, probably too good though.