MTG Salvation

I sent an ask to Maro on his Tumblr a while back asking about the future of Bears in Magic. Until then, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I don't really have a frame of reference anymore for modern Magic since I haven't played in years, but here we go. Also, I apologize for any outdated terms.

Mama Bear - 2GG
Creature -- Bear (R)
Whenever a creature deals damage to a creature you control with less power than Mama Bear, Mama Bear fights that creature.
4/4

Barbearian - RG
Creature -- Bear (U)
When Barbearian enters the battlefield, it fights target creature you don't control.
2/2

Honeyseeker - 1GG
Creature -- Bear (U)
Flash
When Honeyseeker enters the battlefield, until end of turn, all +1/+1 counters that would be placed on other creatures are placed on Honeyseeker instead.
2/2

Brainseeker - 2BB
Creature -- Zombie Bear (R)
When Brainseeker enters the battlefield, look at target opponent's hand and choose a card from it. That player discards that card, and put +1/+1 counters on Brainseeker equal to that card's converted mana cost.
0/0

I'm not sure if these currently work under the rules, but I'm sure they can with a simple tweak:

Thought Ransom - 1U
Instant (U)
Target spell's controller chooses one--

• Counter that spell.
• You draw two cards.

Entwine 4U

At Knifepoint - 2R
Sorcery (U)
Target opponent chooses one--

• Untap and gain control of target creature that player controls. It gains haste until end of turn.
• At Knifepoint deals 5 damage to that player.

Entwine 4R

Not to mention Urborg. You would be better off making them into enchantments that cost mana and didn't require you to sacrifice lands.

Your Moxen are way out of balance compared to each other, and shouldn't be called Moxen, that name should be reserved for 0 mana cost mana producing artifacts. I would also not make them cost colored mana in order to make them into true fixers.

Mox Flower is way outclassed by cards such as Dreadship Reef.

Activated and triggered abilities, then. I'm sure it's still problematic, but I wasn't sure how much to cost it. 6 is definitely on the aggressive side.

Morphogenetic Field - 4UU
Enchantment (R)
Creatures you control have the abilities of creature cards in your graveyard.

Nonary Game - 0
Artifact (R)
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control a permanent with converted mana cost one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and nine, each, you win the game.

Make a 5/5 for 2 mana.

Big Bang - 5RRR
Sorcery (M)
Exile all permanents you control. Put all permanent cards in your hand onto the battlefield, then cast all non-permanent cards in your hand without paying their mana cost. Afterwards, put all the cards you exiled from Big Bang into your hand.

Kavu Instigator - 2RG
Creature -- Kavu (U)
When Kavu Instigator enters the battlefield, it fights target creature an opponent controls.
4/2

Conservation Orb - 2
Artifact (R)
When Conservation Orb enters the battlefield, draw a card.
Players can't sacrifice lands.
Lands without a mana ability gain "T: Add 1 to your mana pool."

Banecircle - 1W
Enchantment (R)
As Banecircle enters the battlefield, name a card.
2: The next time a source of your choice with the same name as the named card would deal damage to you, prevent that damage.

I originally had Paranoia only work for opponents' spells and abilities but when I designed the second cards for each color, I realized they would rarely trigger, so like Skullclamp, I made it better by "making it worse". I think extra reminder text would help solve the Shroud issue, at least on common cards where newer players are more likely to see them and there's more space for reminder text, typically.

void_nothing; Legend: I was wondering if anyone would notice! Anyway...Magic and MTG Salvation are so different now than when I last left them. I was afraid I'd have lost all my old history thanks to the migration to Curse, but thankfully I figured out how to keep my old account. I feel like I could still play Magic if I really wanted to, but I also feel like the game has passed me by on a design level. I don't feel like I have the capability of coming up with ideas as much as I was able to in the past, and since I generally only come here to post cards, I'm not likely to post often, but I'll always keep Salvation in mind. I actually was inspired by Mark Rosewater's Monday article (I don't usually read MTG.com anymore, but this was a pretty big article as far as Magic goes and I heard about it on Twitter.)

Inspired by the fact that U/B still don't have a combat ability in common.

Paranoid Wizard - 2U
Creature -- Human Wizard (C)
Paranoia (Whenever Paranoid Wizard becomes the target of a spell or ability, return it to its owner's hand.)
2/2

Paranoid Researcher - 2UU
Creature -- Human Wizard (U)
Paranoia
Whenever Paranoid Researcher enters the battlefield, draw a card, then discard a card.
2/2

Shy Bones - B
Creature -- Skeleton (C)
Paranoia
1/1

Necrosis Lich - 2BB
Creature -- Zombie Wizard (U)
Paranoia
Whenever ? enters the battlefield, target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
3/1

Courser of Kruphix.

You know it's a good design when they use it again. (http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=63277&page=26). Also, I was wrong about Oracle of Mul Daya, what they did to it improved the card so much and I had a lot of fun using it.

It's nice to still see you here, Pharmalade! I never liked designing blue, either, for some reason I always got stuck in the same tropes. These are very clever cards though, I like Borrowed Time and Manufactured Friend, and I agree with the prior poster that the creature should be sacrificed for consistency's sake.

I had originally intended for Survival of the Fittest to give the power boost after the fight, but I had no idea how to make that work under the rules.

Goblin Fighting Cage - 1RR
Enchantment (R)
Each turn, you may skip your combat step. If you do, you may have a creature you control fight target creature an opponent controls.

Battle Royal - 3R
Enchantment (R)
4: A creature you control fights target creature an opponent controls. Any player may play this ability.
If only one player controls creatures, sacrifice Battle Royal. If you do, that player puts two +1/+1 counters on each creature that player controls.

Eject - 1W
Instant (U)
Choose one or both: Exile target creature that fought this turn; or draw a card.

Jungle Patrol - 2GG
Creature -- Elf Warrior (U)
When Jungle Patrol enters the battlefield, it fights target creature an opponent controls.
3/2

Survival of the Fittest (Not the Exodus One) - 2G
Enchantment (R)
When Survival of the Fittest enters the battlefield, a creature you control fights target creature an opponent controls.
Whenever a creature fights, put a +1/+1 counter on it.

Changed Survival to ryzorz's suggestion.

New New World Order was a great April Fool's article because it started off very believable, and then delved into the bizarre about halfway through. For example, the stuff about Equipment, Token Making, and Shuffling. I also appreciate how they can poke fun at themselves for all the things they've done to make the game accessible to new players (which is great, as long as it doesn't come at a cost to established players).

I've played Neopets before so it might be a subconscious reference but I intended for it to parallel with Delusions of Mediocrity.