A few years ago (and under a different name) I completed a 310 card set known as Planetside. Lately I needed something to spur on my creative side so I thought I'd revisit the set I worked on so long ago. A year or so ago I wanted to revise it but never finished it. This would be my second attempt, but this time it is more or less gonna be a fresh start.
At the moment I abandoned the idea of using a keyword that would allow you to play exiled cards and cards from your sideboard. I went with a more streamlined approach that didn't bring up as many balance issues. In other words, I wanted to keep it somewhat simpler.
Anyways, here's the preliminary information for the set:
Nexus - Set 1 of 3 in the Nexus Block
Nexus will have 250 cards: 100 Commons, 60 Uncommons, 55 Rares & 15 Mythics.
Nexus will follow the conflict between the Templar Sovereignty & the Arclia Federation as they attempt to halt the resurrection the ancient god Zyran Dagon by Shiya Trist and her followers in the Cult of Zyran.
Flavorful information is attached to the bottom of this post along with a tip card on Gene Splice & the set symbol.
Mechanics
Etherlink— [Effect] for each creature and land you tap while you cast this spell.
The Ether flows through every animal and plant that thrive on a habitable planet. The Templar are more aware of this link than other species and often use this link to their advantage. When a caster uses the Ether to bring new life into existence, often latent energy is left over allowing skilled spellshapers to manipulate this energy into their spells. When a caster does this, the Ether will often make their spell stronger or, in rare cases, change its effect entirely.
Gene Splice <Cost> (<cost>, reveal CARDNAME from your hand and choose one of its abilities: Target creature or creature spell gains the chosen ability until end of turn.)
While the plane of Nexus still has plenty of spells floating around, most civilizations on planet Nexus have developed powerful new technology by incorporating magic into their design. Eventually, Nexus scientists found a way to use magic and technology to splice a creature's genes into another organism. The only downside is that the spliced genes only last so long before the organisms natural link to the Ether kills the foreign genes and returns the organism to its original state.
Voidshift <cost>(If you own this card and it is exiled or outside the game, you may cast it during your upkeep for its voidshift cost.)
With technology reigning supreme all over the planet, engineers across the globe were constantly looking for new ways to improve their technology. With the advent of fusing Magick and Technology into a single source, Nexian Technicasters have discovered a new way to transport units and machines across vast distances by sending them through the Void.
Indoctrinate(T: You control target creature as long as the number of belief counters on it are equal to or greater than its toughness.)
With the coming of Zyran Dagon close at hand, the Cult have stepped up their efforts to recruit new members to their cause. Before the Coming they were more passive in their recruitment efforts, but recently Cult members have become more forceful in their methods and have resorted to indoctrination as a means to recruit members. These new recruits don't willingly believe in the Cult's ideals, but so long as their forced beliefs are stranger than their will, they are unfortunate puppets to be control by the Cult
Sub-themes
1: Certain instant spells will feature the Technology subtype. These Instant spells will grant an additional effect if their target is an artifact or artifact creature.
Preview Card
Edits
Feb. 8 2011 - Removed Augment from the set. The set will now include a revised version of Ethermorph, Gene Splice, and Reconstruct. The changes have already been listed. All cards that use these keywords will be changed accordingly.
Feb. 27 2011 - Finalized the mechanics list for Nexus. Removed Repurpose and finalized Ethermorph (now officially known as Etherlink). Added new keyword Indoctrinate to go along with the Cult's theme of control.
Nerfed Gene Splice. Now you can only choose one ability per Gene Splice. Keyword is still effective as a recurring, uncounterable spell but now has less potential to be busted.
Here are few cards that are, for the most part, completed. Critique as you will. More are definitely coming and some will have appropriate storyline relating to them.
Edit (1/25/2011): Some of the cards attached have been slightly altered to fix wording and space issues that were brought to light by the poser below.
Edit (1/26/2011) - Changed AFC-02 Striker's name to Stratoviper. Upped Reconstruct cost from 2W to 4W. Common reconstruct cards will carry a Reconstruct cost that is at LEAST equal to their mana cost but sometimes might cost more. Uncommons will likely see a small cost reduction by maybe 1 or 2 colorless mana while Rares/Mythic Reconstruct cards will carry the cheapest Reconstruct costs.
Hellkite: Get rid of the "Whenever you cast" text and just change it to "target creature spell", as this isn't a triggered ability (and wouldn't work if it was). It's mostly free of memory issues (although it will probably confuse players who don't understand how changing the characteristics of spells works). Letting you splice onto permanents would be more flexible, but then you'd lose stuff like haste and the etb ability. ...What about both?
Gene Splice {COST} ({COST}, Discard this card from your hand: Target creature spell or creature gains this card's abilities until end of turn.)
AFC-02 Striker: Magic doesn't use "quotes" in card names - To Arms!, for example. Putting four lines of flavor text on a card with four lines of reminder text is a bad idea - is that even readable at card size? Otherwise, the card is fine. Note that reconstruct, reviving the same creature, lets you get etb triggers at will.
Nanotech Reconstruction: Does "Technology" really need to be its own instant type?
Shadow Guard: This is white and not black at all. Augment is a fine twist on haunt.
Flame Torrent: "Casted" is not a word. I'm assuming the spell only has one target, regardless of how much mana you paid for it? Storm "worked" at common, and this is just a worse storm, so it seems fine.
Stealth Field Generator: Ignoring the rampant wording problems, it's a nice top-down design. One more reason to get rid of the "Technology" subtype on Nanotech Reconstruction (Isn't this card a "Technology" too? What about Equipment, for that matter?)
Hellkite: Get rid of the "Whenever you cast" text and just change it to "target creature spell", as this isn't a triggered ability (and wouldn't work if it was). It's mostly free of memory issues (although it will probably confuse players who don't understand how changing the characteristics of spells works). Letting you splice onto permanents would be more flexible, but then you'd lose stuff like haste and the etb ability. ...What about both?
Gene Splice {COST} [I]({COST}, Discard this card from your hand: Target creature spell or creature gains this card's abilities until end of turn.)
[I]I would consider this long, but I noticed a mistake I made when you brought this up. Gene Splice is suppose to work like Splice Onto Arcane (Hence the name similarities). I realized my fault when I checked back at SOA's wording and realized it said, "As you cast.." I changed the wording as such, so now it works like I intended it to without it raising such questions.[/I]
AFC-02 Striker: Magic doesn't use "quotes" in card names - To Arms!, for example. Putting four lines of flavor text on a card with four lines of reminder text is a bad idea - is that even readable at card size? Otherwise, the card is fine. Note that reconstruct, reviving the same creature, lets you get etb triggers at will.
[I]Fixed that as well. It didn't occur to me the text would be too hard to read. Your concerns about recurring ETB triggers is noted. I think I can work in a fix for that, maybe add in "return an artifact card other than [CARDNAME]..." into the reminder text. Then any recurring interactions would be done intentionally by me (or by accident, heh.)[/I]
Nanotech Reconstruction: Does "Technology" really need to be its own instant type?
[I]It's a sub-theme to the deck. It's a generalized word, yes, but everyone got over it when they made Trap an Instant subtype. Until I think of a more unique name, Technology as a subtype will usually add a benefit to an Instant spell if it interacts with an artifact creature in some way.
I spent a bit of time trying to come up with a way of making technology related Sorceries and Instants. Problem was, Techno Sorcery or Sorcery—Technology sounded ridiculous. I intend I keeping the sub-theme in the set as it's going to play a role in how the set's constructed. This was the best I could come up with so I could continue without being bogged down for awhile trying to think on it. Just try to accept it for what it is I suppose.[/I]
Shadow Guard: This is white and not black at all. Augment is a fine twist on haunt.
[I]The ability is also on Urza's Armor, which is the card I had in mind when I made the card. It's not there to spit on the color pie, it's basically flavor reasons. One can't consider the card obnoxiously broken so it likely won't hurt none the way it is. I'm gonna have to keep it as is but thanks for the input.[/I]
Flame Torrent: "Casted" is not a word. I'm assuming the spell only has one target, regardless of how much mana you paid for it? Storm "worked" at common, and this is just a worse storm, so it seems fine.
[I]Fixed casted into cast. And yes, it only has one target regardless of how many spells were played before it.[/I]
Stealth Field Generator: Ignoring the rampant wording problems, it's a nice top-down design. One more reason to get rid of the "Technology" subtype on Nanotech Reconstruction (Isn't this card a "Technology" too? What about Equipment, for that matter?)
Addressed most of the response. The Quotations in the name field are there also for flavor reasons. Although I suppose I could dumb down the technical abbreviation and just call it something less generic.
I kind of like gene splice, but I think it needs a little streamlining. It's obvious that it's a take on Splice from the Kamigawa block, but there should be a cleaner way to do it. Instead of as you cast a creature, and discarding the gene splice card, what about:
Gene splice [cost] ([cost], reveal this card from your hand: target creature gains this cards abilities until end of turn.)
Augment is Haunt with a cost attached to it. Why not just make it Haunt? Have you tried using haunt? It'll probably work just fine. It'll also give your flavor a little more variety. Kind of "Ghost in the Shell", if you catch my drift.
Ethermorph is basically storm? Is there a reason you want a storm-like effect? Why not an instant/sorcery subtheme a la Wee Dragonauts?
Reconstruct is probably too good. Also, too much reminder text. I'll try to trim it for you.
Originally Gene Splice didn't require you to discard the card and it only allowed you to choose one ability to balance it out. I decided to make it all abilities and force a discard to reflect on Gene Splicing being a relatively new science on Nexus and thus is unstable. As it is, Gene Splicing represents an all in idea. You could take a risk and gene splice multiple abilities onto a single spell at the risk of having your opponent X for 1 you or you could play it safe and not do it at all. It's just a flavor choice to represent how experimenting with new science usually requires you to take chances.
Edit (1/26/2011): I actually like your suggestion for Gene Splice. Although it would bring up some balance issues depending on what I slapped it on, but it would eliminate memory issues because the effect would always end at end of turn. I could take your suggestion & Jenesis' suggestion.
Maybe something along the lines of: Gene Splice [Cost] ([Cost], Reveal this card from your hand: Target creature or creature spell gains this card's abilities until end of turn.)
The only thing I'm not too fond of is that the Hellkite would effectively become a recurring Volcanic Hammer, but since you have to take that 1R onto the cost of whatever your casting, it might balance it out. Of course I could just raise the Gene Splice cost to 2R or 1RR to make it harder to pull off with consistency.
Yes, Augment does seem to be like Haunt. I was aiming for enchant-like effect that can be put on creatures. Granted, Haunt does do that but Haunt also isn't a choice 100% of the time. Augment has the advantage that as long as the creature is in your graveyard, you can use the effect. Gives you a bit more choice in what benefit (or detriment) goes on what permanent.
Your suggestion on changing Ethermorph is noted. I did notice how it functions a little likes storm, but with giving a spells a bonus effect (or different effect entirely) as opposed to just making copies. The suggestion you made is very interesting however, if I can come up with a way to make it work on spells (keep in mind I already have 3 keywords that are usually associated with creatures) I might just use it.
Reconstruct WAS too good. Before I overlooked the fact you could recur the same creature over and over. The additional text was to limit this oversight. As of now, the usefulness of Reconstruct squares solely on how I cost it and what I put it on (which pretty much holds the same for any other keyword; Cascade would have likely been less shady if it wasn't tacked onto something like Bloodbraid Elf.)
I'll be posting some more cards soon. Having said that, the set will include it's own variety of Chase cards and Jank cards. If you see one or two cards that are seemingly too good, reserve the thought that it was likely done on purpose.
Theme - Sounds pretty cool, all this generic tinkering and technology focus.
Augment - Sure thing. It's like controllable Haunt.
Ethermorph - Your preview card left me thinking... bleh. If you're going to alter the cost of the spell, put that at the beginning of the card. The way you've previewed this mechanic it seems like it's actually a bit of a punisher on you, rather than a direct upgrade. Can't think of a way to word it that doesn't step too much on Storm's toes. As is it doesn't sit well with me as it bends how you pay for it in an unpleasant way.
Gene splice - Memory issues aplenty. This is so similar to Augment, you're better off rolling the two into one mechanic.
Reconstruct - Quite nice! Makes this set a a bit graveyard-focused - perhaps you could have Augment discard rather then exile from gravey.
CARDS
Dragon - Too strong, even without Gene splice.
Reconstruction - Probably shouldn't have a mechanic in the name of a card that doesn't actually use that ability directly. Does the Technology subtype mean something? Say, the cost-reducing? Nice card.
Shadow Guard - This card is white.
Stealth Field Generator - Awesome. All your guys become Gustcloaks.
Private Mod Note
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Gaymer
Custom Card / Set Reviewer
When reviewing custom cards / sets, I look for (a) flavour, (b) function, and (c) cohesiveness, generally through a risk focus.
It just occurred to me that you may want to go the Soulshift route with Reconstruct. Something like:
Reconstruct N (When this card is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may return another artifact with converted mana cost N or less from your graveyard to the battlefield.)
or
Reconstruct (When this artifact is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may return another artifact with the same converted mana cost from your graveyard to the battlefield.)
I realize it doesn't let you do it whenever you want, but it's a thought. Of course, to streamline your current ability's reminder text:
Reconstruct [cost] ([cost]: Return target artifact card with the same converted mana cost as this artifact from your graveyard to the battlefield, then sacrifice this artifact.)
The benefit of the sacrifice being part of the effect is that if an opponent exiles the targeted card, the entire ability is countered, and you get to keep the original artifact.
Again though, I think you should go with the Soulshift variant. It gets rid of the need for the mana cost attached to it, and balances it out by forcing you to have to find a way to kill it off in order to get it to work.
After a brief break from working on the set I decided to go back and revise some of the keywords. As the keywords are changed, I WILL be added associated storyline to give everyone an idea of why it works the way it does.
After giving it some thought, I'm revamping the core idea of the set to put it back in line with what I worked with before.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized I could not give the set a core focus. The only way I could have logically gone was an artifact/creature focused set, but with Scars already in the format I really did not want to be bothered to do it.
So expect the revamp to take place over the next few hours.
Voidshift Disruptor - Don't use a mechanic keyword in a card name if it doesn't have that mechanic, even if it's a hoser.
Solan Rebel - 2R for 3/2 haste is too good, never mind the other ability. Also, reword the ability to: trigger (ETB), conditional (tapped to cast), effect. Finally, this should have Rebel subtype.
Soldier of the Federation - When was the last time you saw a W one-drop 2/2 without a drawback?
Tangle Predator - May be confusing as giving a spell splice doesn't stop it from being targeted. This mechanic as a whole I dislike - Channel from Saviors of Kamigawa was far neater in its execution, if though it appeared repetitive.
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Gaymer
Custom Card / Set Reviewer
When reviewing custom cards / sets, I look for (a) flavour, (b) function, and (c) cohesiveness, generally through a risk focus.
>In the Nexus universe, Voidshifting is a technical term for teleporting something across a great distance. It may not have the keyword on the card, but this seems like nitpicking at best. The name perfectly describes what the effect does. Someone disrupted an object that was voidshifting to its location. I'm all for constructive criticism, but this just seems like nitpicking.
>When was the last time you saw a 4-mana Walker that could win you the game on its own? Didn't happen before Jace, the Mind Sculptor was printed. Is Soldier of the Federation amazing? Yep. It wasn't a design flaw or some oversight, the card's power level is where I wanted it to be. And the set will have more than a few ways to deal with weenie cards.
Wizard is constantly pushing the envelope on the power level of cards. From Tarmogoyf to Baneslayer Angel and recently Jace 2.0. I may not be a wizards employee, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't be allowed to push the envelope a bit in my card design.
At the very least, wait til I put up some other cards. You'll start to see that the set will have answers to these things as I post up more cards.
>I'm not sure if Gene Splice confused you or not. But seeing this made me go back and look at it. In a way, I can see how it comes off as confusing. The way I worded it is that you choose the ability and the targetted card gains that ability. But looking at it now, I can see how it would come off as if the keyword picks the ability at random (even though random isn't in the reminder text.)
I'll be changing Gene Splice to reflect how I want it to work and hopefully eliminate the confusion that could come from it.
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At the moment I abandoned the idea of using a keyword that would allow you to play exiled cards and cards from your sideboard. I went with a more streamlined approach that didn't bring up as many balance issues. In other words, I wanted to keep it somewhat simpler.
Anyways, here's the preliminary information for the set:
Nexus - Set 1 of 3 in the Nexus Block
Nexus will have 250 cards: 100 Commons, 60 Uncommons, 55 Rares & 15 Mythics.
Nexus will follow the conflict between the Templar Sovereignty & the Arclia Federation as they attempt to halt the resurrection the ancient god Zyran Dagon by Shiya Trist and her followers in the Cult of Zyran.
Flavorful information is attached to the bottom of this post along with a tip card on Gene Splice & the set symbol.
Mechanics
Etherlink— [Effect] for each creature and land you tap while you cast this spell.
The Ether flows through every animal and plant that thrive on a habitable planet. The Templar are more aware of this link than other species and often use this link to their advantage. When a caster uses the Ether to bring new life into existence, often latent energy is left over allowing skilled spellshapers to manipulate this energy into their spells. When a caster does this, the Ether will often make their spell stronger or, in rare cases, change its effect entirely.
Gene Splice <Cost> (<cost>, reveal CARDNAME from your hand and choose one of its abilities: Target creature or creature spell gains the chosen ability until end of turn.)
While the plane of Nexus still has plenty of spells floating around, most civilizations on planet Nexus have developed powerful new technology by incorporating magic into their design. Eventually, Nexus scientists found a way to use magic and technology to splice a creature's genes into another organism. The only downside is that the spliced genes only last so long before the organisms natural link to the Ether kills the foreign genes and returns the organism to its original state.
Voidshift <cost>(If you own this card and it is exiled or outside the game, you may cast it during your upkeep for its voidshift cost.)
With technology reigning supreme all over the planet, engineers across the globe were constantly looking for new ways to improve their technology. With the advent of fusing Magick and Technology into a single source, Nexian Technicasters have discovered a new way to transport units and machines across vast distances by sending them through the Void.
Indoctrinate(T: You control target creature as long as the number of belief counters on it are equal to or greater than its toughness.)
With the coming of Zyran Dagon close at hand, the Cult have stepped up their efforts to recruit new members to their cause. Before the Coming they were more passive in their recruitment efforts, but recently Cult members have become more forceful in their methods and have resorted to indoctrination as a means to recruit members. These new recruits don't willingly believe in the Cult's ideals, but so long as their forced beliefs are stranger than their will, they are unfortunate puppets to be control by the Cult
Sub-themes
1: Certain instant spells will feature the Technology subtype. These Instant spells will grant an additional effect if their target is an artifact or artifact creature.
Preview Card
Edits
Feb. 8 2011 - Removed Augment from the set. The set will now include a revised version of Ethermorph, Gene Splice, and Reconstruct. The changes have already been listed. All cards that use these keywords will be changed accordingly.
Feb. 27 2011 - Finalized the mechanics list for Nexus. Removed Repurpose and finalized Ethermorph (now officially known as Etherlink). Added new keyword Indoctrinate to go along with the Cult's theme of control.
Nerfed Gene Splice. Now you can only choose one ability per Gene Splice. Keyword is still effective as a recurring, uncounterable spell but now has less potential to be busted.
Edit (1/25/2011): Some of the cards attached have been slightly altered to fix wording and space issues that were brought to light by the poser below.
Edit (1/26/2011) - Changed AFC-02 Striker's name to Stratoviper. Upped Reconstruct cost from 2W to 4W. Common reconstruct cards will carry a Reconstruct cost that is at LEAST equal to their mana cost but sometimes might cost more. Uncommons will likely see a small cost reduction by maybe 1 or 2 colorless mana while Rares/Mythic Reconstruct cards will carry the cheapest Reconstruct costs.
Gene Splice {COST} ({COST}, Discard this card from your hand: Target creature spell or creature gains this card's abilities until end of turn.)
AFC-02 Striker: Magic doesn't use "quotes" in card names - To Arms!, for example. Putting four lines of flavor text on a card with four lines of reminder text is a bad idea - is that even readable at card size? Otherwise, the card is fine. Note that reconstruct, reviving the same creature, lets you get etb triggers at will.
Nanotech Reconstruction: Does "Technology" really need to be its own instant type?
Shadow Guard: This is white and not black at all. Augment is a fine twist on haunt.
Flame Torrent: "Casted" is not a word. I'm assuming the spell only has one target, regardless of how much mana you paid for it? Storm "worked" at common, and this is just a worse storm, so it seems fine.
Stealth Field Generator: Ignoring the rampant wording problems, it's a nice top-down design. One more reason to get rid of the "Technology" subtype on Nanotech Reconstruction (Isn't this card a "Technology" too? What about Equipment, for that matter?)
Avatar by Numotflame96 of Maelstrom Graphics
Sig banner thanks to DarkNightCavalier of Heroes of the Plane Studios!
Addressed most of the response. The Quotations in the name field are there also for flavor reasons. Although I suppose I could dumb down the technical abbreviation and just call it something less generic.
Gene splice [cost] ([cost], reveal this card from your hand: target creature gains this cards abilities until end of turn.)
Augment is Haunt with a cost attached to it. Why not just make it Haunt? Have you tried using haunt? It'll probably work just fine. It'll also give your flavor a little more variety. Kind of "Ghost in the Shell", if you catch my drift.
Ethermorph is basically storm? Is there a reason you want a storm-like effect? Why not an instant/sorcery subtheme a la Wee Dragonauts?
Reconstruct is probably too good. Also, too much reminder text. I'll try to trim it for you.
My art blog
Claims:
The kicker variant in WWK will be "Kicker without a kicked effect." - proven wrong Jan 2010 : 2 wrongs
Decks:
:symu::symb: Bloodchief Ascension - Modern
:symb::symr: Rakdos, the Defiler - EDH
:symu::symb::symw: Sharuum the Hegemon - EDH
:symw::symu::symb: Zur the Enchanter - EDH
Edit (1/26/2011): I actually like your suggestion for Gene Splice. Although it would bring up some balance issues depending on what I slapped it on, but it would eliminate memory issues because the effect would always end at end of turn. I could take your suggestion & Jenesis' suggestion.
Maybe something along the lines of: Gene Splice [Cost] ([Cost], Reveal this card from your hand: Target creature or creature spell gains this card's abilities until end of turn.)
The only thing I'm not too fond of is that the Hellkite would effectively become a recurring Volcanic Hammer, but since you have to take that 1R onto the cost of whatever your casting, it might balance it out. Of course I could just raise the Gene Splice cost to 2R or 1RR to make it harder to pull off with consistency.
Yes, Augment does seem to be like Haunt. I was aiming for enchant-like effect that can be put on creatures. Granted, Haunt does do that but Haunt also isn't a choice 100% of the time. Augment has the advantage that as long as the creature is in your graveyard, you can use the effect. Gives you a bit more choice in what benefit (or detriment) goes on what permanent.
Your suggestion on changing Ethermorph is noted. I did notice how it functions a little likes storm, but with giving a spells a bonus effect (or different effect entirely) as opposed to just making copies. The suggestion you made is very interesting however, if I can come up with a way to make it work on spells (keep in mind I already have 3 keywords that are usually associated with creatures) I might just use it.
Reconstruct WAS too good. Before I overlooked the fact you could recur the same creature over and over. The additional text was to limit this oversight. As of now, the usefulness of Reconstruct squares solely on how I cost it and what I put it on (which pretty much holds the same for any other keyword; Cascade would have likely been less shady if it wasn't tacked onto something like Bloodbraid Elf.)
I'll be posting some more cards soon. Having said that, the set will include it's own variety of Chase cards and Jank cards. If you see one or two cards that are seemingly too good, reserve the thought that it was likely done on purpose.
Augment - Sure thing. It's like controllable Haunt.
Ethermorph - Your preview card left me thinking... bleh. If you're going to alter the cost of the spell, put that at the beginning of the card. The way you've previewed this mechanic it seems like it's actually a bit of a punisher on you, rather than a direct upgrade. Can't think of a way to word it that doesn't step too much on Storm's toes. As is it doesn't sit well with me as it bends how you pay for it in an unpleasant way.
Gene splice - Memory issues aplenty. This is so similar to Augment, you're better off rolling the two into one mechanic.
Reconstruct - Quite nice! Makes this set a a bit graveyard-focused - perhaps you could have Augment discard rather then exile from gravey.
CARDS
Dragon - Too strong, even without Gene splice.
Reconstruction - Probably shouldn't have a mechanic in the name of a card that doesn't actually use that ability directly. Does the Technology subtype mean something? Say, the cost-reducing? Nice card.
Shadow Guard - This card is white.
Stealth Field Generator - Awesome. All your guys become Gustcloaks.
Custom Card / Set Reviewer
When reviewing custom cards / sets, I look for (a) flavour, (b) function, and (c) cohesiveness, generally through a risk focus.
Reconstruct N (When this card is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may return another artifact with converted mana cost N or less from your graveyard to the battlefield.)
or
Reconstruct (When this artifact is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may return another artifact with the same converted mana cost from your graveyard to the battlefield.)
I realize it doesn't let you do it whenever you want, but it's a thought. Of course, to streamline your current ability's reminder text:
Reconstruct [cost] ([cost]: Return target artifact card with the same converted mana cost as this artifact from your graveyard to the battlefield, then sacrifice this artifact.)
The benefit of the sacrifice being part of the effect is that if an opponent exiles the targeted card, the entire ability is countered, and you get to keep the original artifact.
Again though, I think you should go with the Soulshift variant. It gets rid of the need for the mana cost attached to it, and balances it out by forcing you to have to find a way to kill it off in order to get it to work.
My art blog
Claims:
The kicker variant in WWK will be "Kicker without a kicked effect." - proven wrong Jan 2010 : 2 wrongs
Decks:
:symu::symb: Bloodchief Ascension - Modern
:symb::symr: Rakdos, the Defiler - EDH
:symu::symb::symw: Sharuum the Hegemon - EDH
:symw::symu::symb: Zur the Enchanter - EDH
Expect an update soon.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized I could not give the set a core focus. The only way I could have logically gone was an artifact/creature focused set, but with Scars already in the format I really did not want to be bothered to do it.
So expect the revamp to take place over the next few hours.
Voidshift Disruptor - Don't use a mechanic keyword in a card name if it doesn't have that mechanic, even if it's a hoser.
Solan Rebel - 2R for 3/2 haste is too good, never mind the other ability. Also, reword the ability to: trigger (ETB), conditional (tapped to cast), effect. Finally, this should have Rebel subtype.
Soldier of the Federation - When was the last time you saw a W one-drop 2/2 without a drawback?
Tangle Predator - May be confusing as giving a spell splice doesn't stop it from being targeted. This mechanic as a whole I dislike - Channel from Saviors of Kamigawa was far neater in its execution, if though it appeared repetitive.
Custom Card / Set Reviewer
When reviewing custom cards / sets, I look for (a) flavour, (b) function, and (c) cohesiveness, generally through a risk focus.
>When was the last time you saw a 4-mana Walker that could win you the game on its own? Didn't happen before Jace, the Mind Sculptor was printed. Is Soldier of the Federation amazing? Yep. It wasn't a design flaw or some oversight, the card's power level is where I wanted it to be. And the set will have more than a few ways to deal with weenie cards.
Wizard is constantly pushing the envelope on the power level of cards. From Tarmogoyf to Baneslayer Angel and recently Jace 2.0. I may not be a wizards employee, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't be allowed to push the envelope a bit in my card design.
At the very least, wait til I put up some other cards. You'll start to see that the set will have answers to these things as I post up more cards.
>I'm not sure if Gene Splice confused you or not. But seeing this made me go back and look at it. In a way, I can see how it comes off as confusing. The way I worded it is that you choose the ability and the targetted card gains that ability. But looking at it now, I can see how it would come off as if the keyword picks the ability at random (even though random isn't in the reminder text.)
I'll be changing Gene Splice to reflect how I want it to work and hopefully eliminate the confusion that could come from it.