I'd probably put it in most of my decks as a deck thinner. It's a 0 mana cantrip with the caveat of not really being playable until you miss a land drop. But it does absolutely nothing to define your cube, so I wouldn't play it. Same as the Baubles. I guess if you've either got ways to bounce land or artifact support for the baubles, you could make an argument because it changes pick order.
It makes no sense to me why it enters the battlefield tapped though. Maybe it prevents using it straight away with something like Blood Moon, but it just feels completely non-intuitive when it has no tap ability.
1U
Sorcery
The next spell target opponent casts costs 2 more to cast.
Draw a card.
Like a reverse Mana Leak, in a way. No idea how good it would be, and if it would be worth a card if the numbers were tweaked to give you a mana advantage.
I'd probably put it in most of my decks as a deck thinner. It's a 0 mana cantrip with the caveat of not really being playable until you miss a land drop. But it does absolutely nothing to define your cube, so I wouldn't play it. Same as the Baubles. I guess if you've either got ways to bounce land or artifact support for the baubles, you could make an argument because it changes pick order.
It makes no sense to me why it enters the battlefield tapped though. Maybe it prevents using it straight away with something like Blood Moon, but it just feels completely non-intuitive when it has no tap ability.
I can't believe either of you would seriously consider using this card.
You want to skip a land drop for... what? A blind re-draw?
Oh, my bad! I did not even realize it does not tap for colourless. I must just have assumed that much automatically. Yeah, completely unplayable. BUt if it did tap for mana, I retain that it would most definitely be worth at least testing.
It makes no sense to me why it enters the battlefield tapped though. Maybe it prevents using it straight away with something like Blood Moon, but it just feels completely non-intuitive when it has no tap ability.
I take it you aren't familiar with Roborosewater? It is an AI that makes cards. Sometimes it comes up with something that actually approach what a real card could look like, other times it's complete gibberish. (A recent example card had an ability that read: Shanform (For more +1/+1 counters on Goblin Scrawser, you may pay 2U. If you do, discard this card. If that creature deals combat damage to a creature is put into a divinitacter in poison counters on it). Other times, like the one I quoted, it comes up with something somewhere in between, where the card mostly works but it has some strange text that does nothing or is otherwise completely out of place. I included the ETBT clause just to keep it as is from the Roborosewater original.
I can't believe either of you would seriously consider using this card.
You want to skip a land drop for... what? A blind re-draw?
I don't think you should look at it as skipping a land drop, as in, you aren't playing this as a land, but as one of your 23. What this card does, basically, is that it allows you to run a 59 card deck at the cost of sometimes having a dead card in hand that you can't cycle until you miss a land drop.
But yah, it's like the baubles. Too do-nothing for a cube (at least in singleton. Maybe if you could do the "pick one play four rule, then the deck-thinning it provides could actually mean something). Mostly I just raised an eyebrow when I saw this on Roborosewater and wanted to discuss it with someone.
1U
Sorcery
The next spell target opponent casts costs 2 more to cast.
Draw a card.
Like a reverse Mana Leak, in a way. No idea how good it would be, and if it would be worth a card if the numbers were tweaked to give you a mana advantage.
This sounds horrible to face early. If your opponent plays this on turn 2 on the play, what are you supposed to do? If you don't have a one drop (likely, since you probably already played it if you did), you have to skip casting spells on your turn 2 and turn 3 and then spend your entire turn 4 playing only a 2 drop. Not to mention if you are missing that fourth land..
And it even cantrips..
It would be slightly weaker if it actually read like mana leak, and said "is countered unless its controller pays 2.". That way you could at least waste a two-drop and then be able to do something on turn three on time. With that wording, and if it didn't cantrip, then I reckon it would be ok, as it is a 1-for-1 trade.
The other option would be to have it affect all players, so that you can't simply go delver into this into more threats/disruption.
It's one of your 23... that forces you to skip a land drop when you use it. In order to save one mana on Reach Through Mists.
Again, it's potentally absurd if you have 4 Riftstone Portal, 4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth or something. Also, it doesn't work in a way you want with Blood Moon (well, it's an ETB tapped non-basic mountain).
It's just an absurdly bad Cube card. I don't really want to keep harping on it, but I also think it's worth taking some time to explain WHY it's so bad.
Deck thinning, or running a "59" card deck, is nearly useless in a vacuum. Again... we have two Baubles and two 2-life cycling cards (Gitaxian Probe, Street Wraith) and no deck just throws them in randomly without some very specific need for that effect.
Yes, the land is basically "free" on T10 once you get to the point that you don't care about land, but that doesn't come close to making up for how bad it is on the first four turns that actually decide who wins a game of Magic.
There was some talk about new exciting boros cards recently, so I have been thinking about some designs, mostly combining different white and red abilities on the same card.
Mentor of Keral Keep1WR
Creature - Human Warrior Cleric
Whenever another creature with converted mana cost 3 or less enters the battlefield under your control, exile the top card of your library. Until end of turn, you may play that card.
2/2
This one I fear would be rare, since both of its elements are, and isn't that somehow how they deal with repeated card advantage these days? Still, I love the Abbot, and want more of it.
Pegasus of Keral KeepWR
Creature - Pegasus
Flying
When Pegasus of Keral Keep enters the battlefield, exile the top card of your library. Until end of turn, you may play that card.
2/1
This one I feel is much more plausible at uncommon, although it might still belong at rare. It would probably fit best into more aggressive decks were just playing it as a 2/1 flyer for 2 on T2 is fine. But also in more controlling decks I think it would be good.
BygonePyromancerWR
Creature - Spirit Shaman
Whenever you cast a spell with converted mana cost 3 or less, put a 1/1 red and white elemental token onto the battlefield.
2/1
Here, the idea is that white is allowed to care about small creature spells, and red is allowed to care about instant/sorceries. So red/white should be allowed to care about 3CMC and below instant/sorceries since it is a subset of instant/sorceries, and thus it can care about all spells <4CMC
Dawntongue Kavu2WR
Creature - Elemental
First Strike, Flash.
When Dawntongue Kavu enters the battlefield, prevent the next 2 damage that would be dealt to target creature or player this turn, and Dawntongue Kavu deals 2 damage to target creature.
2/1
This last idea is less refined, I think that there is something here that combines direct damage and prevention. Perhaps something that starts from a Rock Slide and then adds spice.. I'd love it to be a card that requires some work, but when you get it to work it can be a real blowout. This Dawntongue is probably just too easy to get to work, and should probably at least say "attacking or blocking".
We basically have Abbot of Keral Keep with flying instead of prowess. Which is a pretty strict upgrade even if it is a multi-coloured card instead. This would never be printed at uncommon, although I think the mechanic should be made more viable outside of rare.
And then we have Super Sayan Young Pyromancer. Young Pyromancer is already an extremely powerful card, even if it is a bit hard to support properly in CU/be. Just making it multi-coloured does not balance out it being triggered by pretty much every spell most constructed decks would be casting. Even in CU/be, an aggressive deck will often have it trigger for each and every spell being cast. I know I am being a bit mean but really, what makes this seem like a good balance to anyone?
I think the Mentor is the sort of card that should be made available at uncommon, although I think it would probably cost 4 and be a 2/3 or something. It seems a bit too cheap for uncommon card advantage as is. The Kavu suffers a bit from one half of its effect not working ideally when played at sorcery speed. Damage prevention tends to be an instant speed thing for a reason. Besides this bit of clunkiness, it might actually work quite nicely.
For me, personally, Boros is associated with double strike - but the multi-coloured options are just too bland. I wonder of this would be printable instead... (Should also work nicely with equipment, another in-colour theme.)
Second Blade Templar
Creature - Human Knight
: Target creature gains vigilance until end of turn.
: Target creature gains double strike until end of turn.
2/1 Those she trains are never caught unprepared.
The vigilance ability was a later addition to the design but I figured it would still remain comparable to a guildmage this way. If it would push this card over the top, I would be happy to remove it or increase its mana cost.
We basically have Abbot of Keral Keep with flying instead of prowess. Which is a pretty strict upgrade even if it is a multi-coloured card instead. This would never be printed at uncommon, although I think the mechanic should be made more viable outside of rare.
Yeah. If you take Abbot to belong at rare, then I agree. But I hope that this effect is being tried out at rare for now, and that we should be able to see it more at uncommon later on. Playing with Abbot, it doesn't strike me as being super powerful or a limited bomb or anything like that to make it need be a rare. Complexity wise, it does have two abilities, but the only reason it is complex is due to the complexity of the Elkin draw. If Elkin draw in red becomes more commonplace, then there shouldn't be complexity reasons to keep it away from uncommon. So basically, I feel Abbot could have been or could become uncommon, and thus I also feel that this pegasus could be uncommon.
And then we have Super Sayan Young Pyromancer. [..] I know I am being a bit mean
I don't know what Super Sayan means, so you might have been meaner than I think, but you didn't come across as mean. You are right that this is well pushed. The result, I suspect, of the idea fermenting for some days and looking good as an abstract idea, but I then didn't take a good critical second look once I actually put numbers on it. Also, as you imply, a result of me thinking too much about this card in cube, and not in constructed formats.
What would changing its texbox like this do?
Whenever you cast a spell with converted mana cost 3 or less, you may pay 1. If you do, put a 1/1 red and white elemental token onto the battlefield.
The Kavu suffers a bit from one half of its effect not working ideally when played at sorcery speed. Damage prevention tends to be an instant speed thing for a reason. Besides this bit of clunkiness, it might actually work quite nicely.
For me, personally, Boros is associated with double strike - but the multi-coloured options are just too bland. I wonder of this would be printable instead... (Should also work nicely with equipment, another in-colour theme.)
Second Blade Templar
Creature - Human Knight
: Target creature gains vigilance until end of turn.
: Target creature gains double strike until end of turn.
2/1 Those she trains are never caught unprepared.
The vigilance ability was a later addition to the design but I figured it would still remain comparable to a guildmage this way. If it would push this card over the top, I would be happy to remove it or increase its mana cost.
Yeah this seems plausible. One factor in favour of this design over mine in terms of plausible printability is that your design is more likely to fit the "draft around uncommon", which is the role of so many uncommon multicoloureds these days. That said, I'm not sure I would cube it, although Double Strike on demand is strong. What about making the abilities synergistic with themselves though? Perhaps let the "small" ability be "WR: Target creature gets +1\+0 until end of turn"? This would make it remind me of Rix Maadi Guildmage. Might create some tough combat math scenarios..
Flash might be taking the Kavu a bit over the top: it will too easily be a 3-for-1 when it comes into play during combat: killing something with the damage, another with first strike damage, and a third one with a blocker that survives due to damage prevention.
But yeah, I agree that Abbot of Keral Keep is a very borderline case. Personally, I was cross to have it at rare when it was printed but I think the main reason is wanting to avoid red having easy access to cheap card advantage. The key word here is cheap: we do have Act on Impulse but that is completely unplayable, of course. I think the more viable alternatives will either be non-creatures (Ongoing Investigation type of card using Elkin draws?) or slightly ovecosted (CMC 4+) creatures or CMC 3 creatures with additional costs for the ability.
I would argue that even though granting +1/0 might be balanced by the amount of mana it takes, the card might become a bit too self-contained. Plus, the focus is supposed to be on the double striking aspect, but that ability would by itself already probably steal the show a lot of the time. The thing with vigilance is that it works nicely with equipments but I could see the ability being changed for haste: slightly overcosted, maybe, but it is an ability which I often want even though cards which do nothing else are just not good enough to include.
Knight of Keral Keep seems decent. It will be difficult to trigger if not played on curve, so I wish it had a little something else. First strike might be asking a bit much. But it is pretty awesome in that you could get the trigger before you've tapped any of your land for the turn, something you can't do with Abbot.
Nettle Patch seems awkward because you don't get to pick the order. Having this in your opening hand with a Llanowar Elf seems a bit 'feel bad'. If you need the red for fixing but you also want the green source, I don't think I like that tension.
A long time ago (pre SOI) I was thinking about customs that added 'junk' artifact tokens to the battlefield that did nothing, (but the cards interacted with the junk tokens or generated more junk) to enable artifact matters themes, but seeing Clues, a 'do nothing' token probably isn;t right.
So I was thinking about something that could be more aggressive. I was thinking something like:
I started at +1/+1, but if you get a bunch on the battlefield, it probably leans towards being defensive (especially if only one player has them). I started at 0 activation, but if you can generate 10, I don't think you should be able to threaten 10 extra damage without paying any mana. Plus I think it then enables you to chuck it on creatures whose baseline is fine, especially cheap cards so you can enable it early.
Elite Warrior
Cost : W
When this ETB, put a Runeshard artifact token onto the battlefield.
2/1
Skulksharder
Cost : U
Whenever ~THIS~ deals combat damage to a player, put a Runeshard artifact token onto the battlefield.
1/1
Skulk
The question is, when do you want to cast it? If this is in your opener alongside 3-4 lands, you would need another 1 or 2-drop to get any value, and probably be getting worse than a Giant Growth. Or you could hold lands in the late game and try and break through, but that also seems less than ideal. You could build synergies into your cube (bouncelands, return lands to hand for effect) but the timing to maximise the effect seems awkward on the surface.
In our environment, doubling the benefit (ala Martyr of Sands) seems reasonable, but that might be pushing it in other environments that can more reliably fill their hands with land.
Tokenball XRW
Instant
Tokenball deals X damage to target creature. When that creature dies this turn, put X 1/1 red and white warrior creature tokens onto the battlefield.
EDIT. Hangon. Fits better as a white card if it only targets attackers/blockers, and then the original cost is more on place too:
Warriorball XRW
Instant
Warriorball deals X damage to target attacking or blocking creature. When that creature dies this turn, put X 1/1 red and white warrior creature tokens onto the battlefield.
5 mana to kill something and put 3 tokens on the board? Seems reasonable. Maybe the high end is too good, but it does need a bit of mana?
An attempt at green 3-drops
Bellowing Charger
Creature - Beast
Cost : 2G
2/2
Attacking creatures you control get +1/+0.
~This~ attacks each turn if able.
Drop it turn 3 pre-combat, boost your other early drops, then get the boost next turn. It dies easy, but it should boost two attacks. In a go wide deck you can always hold it until the right time.
Random Beast Name
Creature - Beast
Cost : 2G
Echo 2G
When you pay the echo cost on ~this~, put a 3/1 Beast token into play.
3/1
It forces your play next turn, but you sort of get a free card. A single 3/1 isn't stellar and will die if it runs into most stuff, but you can pay the echo before sending the original into battle. Gives it some fringe interactions for creature recursion, blink / bounce and sacrifice.
Scaleguard Warrior
Creature - Human Warrior
Cost : 2G
When ~this~ enters the battlefield, bolster 1.
2/3
This is probably just wishful thinking given conservative approach to bolster. It's a 3/4 for 3 without a drawback on its own, and gives you an instant power boost if you are aggressive and have earlier drops. I think dropping a single stat makes it significantly worse though.
My first thought is drawing it on T9 of a stalled game (in like round three of draft, after four beers) and having no idea if I mulliganed at the start of the game.
--
You could just add Flash to Seacoast Drake, I guess, to alleviate the tough choice on leaving up Mana Leak on T2. Or give it Prowess and it would be a reasonable uncommon I think.
My first thought is drawing it on T9 of a stalled game (in like round three of draft, after four beers) and having no idea if I mulliganed at the start of the game.
This reminds me of a recent This-or-that discussion I had with a friend, and he based his decision on "The other one has a "may" ability, so I will forget it after a few beers".
ulvenwald captive made me think about a card like wall of roots but there was tension between blocking and ramping, instead of the wall that just does both. What if it traded with attackers instead of walling? Thought it would play interestingly
Blooming Brambles 1G
Creature - Plant (C)
Defender
At the beginning of your precombat main phase, add G to your mana pool.
3/2
I'm down with the Rummaging Goblin. I reckon the tweak we would see to the flying Gravedigger if Wizards printed it is to give it 1 toughness.
Something I've been carrying around in my head for a while and keep forgetting to note down.
Due Diligence
Instant
Cost : U
Rebound.
Investigate.
The intention behind the design is to give us an enabler for that elusive artifact matters deck while being an ok draw spell in its own right, with rebound and instant speed to support spells matters /prowess decks. I don't know if it is too good for artifact decks in other formats, but my impression is those decks are full of busted stuff already. It could always be sorcery speed and / or 2 mana if necessary. It's a 5 mana Inspiration, but being able to break down the costs probably makes it pretty strong for control decks.
I'm not a huge fan of the color restrictions on some of the black removal, and I've also come to think it would be best if exile was the main way to deal with regenerate. So I would like to see a new Annihilate except:
Re-Annihilate
Instant
Cost:3BB
Destroy target creature. Draw a card.
It makes no sense to me why it enters the battlefield tapped though. Maybe it prevents using it straight away with something like Blood Moon, but it just feels completely non-intuitive when it has no tap ability.
1U
Sorcery
The next spell target opponent casts costs 2 more to cast.
Draw a card.
Like a reverse Mana Leak, in a way. No idea how good it would be, and if it would be worth a card if the numbers were tweaked to give you a mana advantage.
My cube discussion thread
I can't believe either of you would seriously consider using this card.
You want to skip a land drop for... what? A blind re-draw?
???
?????
I take it you aren't familiar with Roborosewater? It is an AI that makes cards. Sometimes it comes up with something that actually approach what a real card could look like, other times it's complete gibberish. (A recent example card had an ability that read: Shanform (For more +1/+1 counters on Goblin Scrawser, you may pay 2U. If you do, discard this card. If that creature deals combat damage to a creature is put into a divinitacter in poison counters on it). Other times, like the one I quoted, it comes up with something somewhere in between, where the card mostly works but it has some strange text that does nothing or is otherwise completely out of place. I included the ETBT clause just to keep it as is from the Roborosewater original.
I don't think you should look at it as skipping a land drop, as in, you aren't playing this as a land, but as one of your 23. What this card does, basically, is that it allows you to run a 59 card deck at the cost of sometimes having a dead card in hand that you can't cycle until you miss a land drop.
But yah, it's like the baubles. Too do-nothing for a cube (at least in singleton. Maybe if you could do the "pick one play four rule, then the deck-thinning it provides could actually mean something). Mostly I just raised an eyebrow when I saw this on Roborosewater and wanted to discuss it with someone.
This sounds horrible to face early. If your opponent plays this on turn 2 on the play, what are you supposed to do? If you don't have a one drop (likely, since you probably already played it if you did), you have to skip casting spells on your turn 2 and turn 3 and then spend your entire turn 4 playing only a 2 drop. Not to mention if you are missing that fourth land..
And it even cantrips..
It would be slightly weaker if it actually read like mana leak, and said "is countered unless its controller pays 2.". That way you could at least waste a two-drop and then be able to do something on turn three on time. With that wording, and if it didn't cantrip, then I reckon it would be ok, as it is a 1-for-1 trade.
The other option would be to have it affect all players, so that you can't simply go delver into this into more threats/disruption.
Cubetutor Peasant'ish-Funbox
Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
Again, it's potentally absurd if you have 4 Riftstone Portal, 4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth or something. Also, it doesn't work in a way you want with Blood Moon (well, it's an ETB tapped non-basic mountain).
It's just an absurdly bad Cube card. I don't really want to keep harping on it, but I also think it's worth taking some time to explain WHY it's so bad.
Deck thinning, or running a "59" card deck, is nearly useless in a vacuum. Again... we have two Baubles and two 2-life cycling cards (Gitaxian Probe, Street Wraith) and no deck just throws them in randomly without some very specific need for that effect.
Yes, the land is basically "free" on T10 once you get to the point that you don't care about land, but that doesn't come close to making up for how bad it is on the first four turns that actually decide who wins a game of Magic.
Mentor of Keral Keep 1WR
Creature - Human Warrior Cleric
Whenever another creature with converted mana cost 3 or less enters the battlefield under your control, exile the top card of your library. Until end of turn, you may play that card.
2/2
Pegasus of Keral KeepWR
Creature - Pegasus
Flying
When Pegasus of Keral Keep enters the battlefield, exile the top card of your library. Until end of turn, you may play that card.
2/1
This one I feel is much more plausible at uncommon, although it might still belong at rare. It would probably fit best into more aggressive decks were just playing it as a 2/1 flyer for 2 on T2 is fine. But also in more controlling decks I think it would be good.
Bygone Pyromancer WR
Creature - Spirit Shaman
Whenever you cast a spell with converted mana cost 3 or less, put a 1/1 red and white elemental token onto the battlefield.
2/1
Here, the idea is that white is allowed to care about small creature spells, and red is allowed to care about instant/sorceries. So red/white should be allowed to care about 3CMC and below instant/sorceries since it is a subset of instant/sorceries, and thus it can care about all spells <4CMC
Dawntongue Kavu 2WR
Creature - Elemental
First Strike, Flash.
When Dawntongue Kavu enters the battlefield, prevent the next 2 damage that would be dealt to target creature or player this turn, and Dawntongue Kavu deals 2 damage to target creature.
2/1
This last idea is less refined, I think that there is something here that combines direct damage and prevention. Perhaps something that starts from a Rock Slide and then adds spice.. I'd love it to be a card that requires some work, but when you get it to work it can be a real blowout. This Dawntongue is probably just too easy to get to work, and should probably at least say "attacking or blocking".
Thoughts?
EDIT: Left out flash on the kavu.
Cubetutor Peasant'ish-Funbox
Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
We basically have Abbot of Keral Keep with flying instead of prowess. Which is a pretty strict upgrade even if it is a multi-coloured card instead. This would never be printed at uncommon, although I think the mechanic should be made more viable outside of rare.
And then we have Super Sayan Young Pyromancer. Young Pyromancer is already an extremely powerful card, even if it is a bit hard to support properly in CU/be. Just making it multi-coloured does not balance out it being triggered by pretty much every spell most constructed decks would be casting. Even in CU/be, an aggressive deck will often have it trigger for each and every spell being cast. I know I am being a bit mean but really, what makes this seem like a good balance to anyone?
I think the Mentor is the sort of card that should be made available at uncommon, although I think it would probably cost 4 and be a 2/3 or something. It seems a bit too cheap for uncommon card advantage as is. The Kavu suffers a bit from one half of its effect not working ideally when played at sorcery speed. Damage prevention tends to be an instant speed thing for a reason. Besides this bit of clunkiness, it might actually work quite nicely.
For me, personally, Boros is associated with double strike - but the multi-coloured options are just too bland. I wonder of this would be printable instead... (Should also work nicely with equipment, another in-colour theme.)
Second Blade Templar
Creature - Human Knight
: Target creature gains vigilance until end of turn.
: Target creature gains double strike until end of turn.
2/1
Those she trains are never caught unprepared.
The vigilance ability was a later addition to the design but I figured it would still remain comparable to a guildmage this way. If it would push this card over the top, I would be happy to remove it or increase its mana cost.
Yeah. If you take Abbot to belong at rare, then I agree. But I hope that this effect is being tried out at rare for now, and that we should be able to see it more at uncommon later on. Playing with Abbot, it doesn't strike me as being super powerful or a limited bomb or anything like that to make it need be a rare. Complexity wise, it does have two abilities, but the only reason it is complex is due to the complexity of the Elkin draw. If Elkin draw in red becomes more commonplace, then there shouldn't be complexity reasons to keep it away from uncommon. So basically, I feel Abbot could have been or could become uncommon, and thus I also feel that this pegasus could be uncommon.
I don't know what Super Sayan means, so you might have been meaner than I think, but you didn't come across as mean. You are right that this is well pushed. The result, I suspect, of the idea fermenting for some days and looking good as an abstract idea, but I then didn't take a good critical second look once I actually put numbers on it. Also, as you imply, a result of me thinking too much about this card in cube, and not in constructed formats.
What would changing its texbox like this do?
Exactly how I feel about the Abbot : )
Whooops, it was meant to have flash. Edited.
Yeah this seems plausible. One factor in favour of this design over mine in terms of plausible printability is that your design is more likely to fit the "draft around uncommon", which is the role of so many uncommon multicoloureds these days. That said, I'm not sure I would cube it, although Double Strike on demand is strong. What about making the abilities synergistic with themselves though? Perhaps let the "small" ability be "WR: Target creature gets +1\+0 until end of turn"? This would make it remind me of Rix Maadi Guildmage. Might create some tough combat math scenarios..
Cubetutor Peasant'ish-Funbox
Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
But yeah, I agree that Abbot of Keral Keep is a very borderline case. Personally, I was cross to have it at rare when it was printed but I think the main reason is wanting to avoid red having easy access to cheap card advantage. The key word here is cheap: we do have Act on Impulse but that is completely unplayable, of course. I think the more viable alternatives will either be non-creatures (Ongoing Investigation type of card using Elkin draws?) or slightly ovecosted (CMC 4+) creatures or CMC 3 creatures with additional costs for the ability.
I would argue that even though granting +1/0 might be balanced by the amount of mana it takes, the card might become a bit too self-contained. Plus, the focus is supposed to be on the double striking aspect, but that ability would by itself already probably steal the show a lot of the time. The thing with vigilance is that it works nicely with equipments but I could see the ability being changed for haste: slightly overcosted, maybe, but it is an ability which I often want even though cards which do nothing else are just not good enough to include.
Want!
Cubetutor Peasant'ish-Funbox
Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
Nettle Patch seems awkward because you don't get to pick the order. Having this in your opening hand with a Llanowar Elf seems a bit 'feel bad'. If you need the red for fixing but you also want the green source, I don't think I like that tension.
So I was thinking about something that could be more aggressive. I was thinking something like:
Runeshard
1, Sacrifice ~THIS~, Target creature gets +1/+0.
I started at +1/+1, but if you get a bunch on the battlefield, it probably leans towards being defensive (especially if only one player has them). I started at 0 activation, but if you can generate 10, I don't think you should be able to threaten 10 extra damage without paying any mana. Plus I think it then enables you to chuck it on creatures whose baseline is fine, especially cheap cards so you can enable it early.
Elite Warrior
Cost : W
When this ETB, put a Runeshard artifact token onto the battlefield.
2/1
Skulksharder
Cost : U
Whenever ~THIS~ deals combat damage to a player, put a Runeshard artifact token onto the battlefield.
1/1
Skulk
In our environment, doubling the benefit (ala Martyr of Sands) seems reasonable, but that might be pushing it in other environments that can more reliably fill their hands with land.
isn't this just the world's worst seal of strength
Instant
Tokenball deals X damage to target creature. When that creature dies this turn, put X 1/1 red and white warrior creature tokens onto the battlefield.
It might need to cost an extra 1 or be a sorcery to be fair compared to Secure the Wastes and Volcanic Geyser
EDIT. Hangon. Fits better as a white card if it only targets attackers/blockers, and then the original cost is more on place too:
Instant
Warriorball deals X damage to target attacking or blocking creature. When that creature dies this turn, put X 1/1 red and white warrior creature tokens onto the battlefield.
Cubetutor Peasant'ish-Funbox
Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
An attempt at green 3-drops
Bellowing Charger
Creature - Beast
Cost : 2G
2/2
Attacking creatures you control get +1/+0.
~This~ attacks each turn if able.
Drop it turn 3 pre-combat, boost your other early drops, then get the boost next turn. It dies easy, but it should boost two attacks. In a go wide deck you can always hold it until the right time.
Random Beast Name
Creature - Beast
Cost : 2G
Echo 2G
When you pay the echo cost on ~this~, put a 3/1 Beast token into play.
3/1
It forces your play next turn, but you sort of get a free card. A single 3/1 isn't stellar and will die if it runs into most stuff, but you can pay the echo before sending the original into battle. Gives it some fringe interactions for creature recursion, blink / bounce and sacrifice.
Scaleguard Warrior
Creature - Human Warrior
Cost : 2G
When ~this~ enters the battlefield, bolster 1.
2/3
This is probably just wishful thinking given conservative approach to bolster. It's a 3/4 for 3 without a drawback on its own, and gives you an instant power boost if you are aggressive and have earlier drops. I think dropping a single stat makes it significantly worse though.
Scaleguard Warrior
Creature - Human Warrior
Cost 2G
2/3
When Scaleguard Warrior enters the battlefield, support 1. (Put a +1/+1 counter on up to one other target creature.)
Removes the 3/4 possibility.
--
You could just add Flash to Seacoast Drake, I guess, to alleviate the tough choice on leaving up Mana Leak on T2. Or give it Prowess and it would be a reasonable uncommon I think.
This reminds me of a recent This-or-that discussion I had with a friend, and he based his decision on "The other one has a "may" ability, so I will forget it after a few beers".
Cubetutor Peasant'ish-Funbox
Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
Blooming Brambles 1G
Creature - Plant (C)
Defender
At the beginning of your precombat main phase, add G to your mana pool.
3/2
Or a 4/1 even
1R for Rummaging Goblin
A 2/2 Restoration Angel
A flying Gravedigger
Something I've been carrying around in my head for a while and keep forgetting to note down.
Due Diligence
Instant
Cost : U
Rebound.
Investigate.
The intention behind the design is to give us an enabler for that elusive artifact matters deck while being an ok draw spell in its own right, with rebound and instant speed to support spells matters /prowess decks. I don't know if it is too good for artifact decks in other formats, but my impression is those decks are full of busted stuff already. It could always be sorcery speed and / or 2 mana if necessary. It's a 5 mana Inspiration, but being able to break down the costs probably makes it pretty strong for control decks.
Re-Annihilate
Instant
Cost:3BB
Destroy target creature. Draw a card.