so here is my custom cube. most of the cards are from other custom cubes and the "print this" thread. there are no custom keywords and no unusual archetypes supported, although i've given tokens and reanimator more support than i'd expect to see in a typical unpowered 360. aggro is supported in all colors except blue, but blue has a substantial number of cheap creatures for aggro and tempo support. i know there are too many lands but i'm used to getting too few in winston and sealed, and the aggro support is good enough that i think 5 color control will be held in check. the list is currently untested.
the feedback that would be most helpful to me is whether a card is overpowered. i've designed under the loose constraint of "currently printable," with the caveat that lightning bolt, stone rain, mana leak, and zombify are the baseline cards for their effect.
the second most useful feedback would be whether i've incorrectly credited an artist. i've made a sincere attempt to do this properly but i've been working on this project for a while and in some cases i had trouble figuring out who was responsible for the art i was using. i got most of it on deviantart and credited with usernames from that site a good amount of the time. also, if you see a card you designed and want credit, i'd be happy to put your name in this post.
i've spent a lot of time on the flavor of the cards, so feel free to comment on the quality of flavor text, art choice, and overall flavor concept of any card. if there's a better way to do any of that on a card, or a way to simplify or improve the elegance of any card, please let me know!
When I see Healing Salve, I'm often like "Oh girl, I wish I could turn every card into this." Thanks they removed the gain life part, otherwise this would have been broken.
1) One of your "exile a card then return it later" lands specifies that it returns a "Land" exiled by it to your hand, not a card.
2) That blue wall that lets you activate abilities of opposing creatures seems a little broken mechanically. You can activate abilities of that creature until end of turn, and if you play a T: ability you untap it. So can't you just then tap it again and again for that ability?
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1) One of your "exile a card then return it later" lands specifies that it returns a "Land" exiled by it to your hand, not a card.
which one? i can't seem to find it.
2) That blue wall that lets you activate abilities of opposing creatures seems a little broken mechanically. You can activate abilities of that creature until end of turn, and if you play a T: ability you untap it. So can't you just then tap it again and again for that ability?
you're right. the reason for that clause is so you can't just use it to tap down your opponents cards or prevent them from using abilities. i've changed it to
T: Until end of turn, you may activate an ability of target permanent as though you controlled it. If you activate an ability with T in its cost this way, untap that permanent.
When I see Healing Salve, I'm often like "Oh girl, I wish I could turn every card into this." Thanks they removed the gain life part, otherwise this would have been broken.
you're right. the reason for that clause is so you can't just use it to tap down your opponents cards or prevent them from using abilities. i've changed it to
so that should fix it, no?
thank you.
Mesa Village, the RW one. First one pictured here.
The problem I see with the wall, regarding tap abilities, is won't they just activate it in response? It's a cool ability, but it doesn't seem like it interacts with tap abilities very well even with your fix. I might suggest something like "U: ~ gains all of target creature's activated abilities until end of turn", or maybe "Whenever ~ blocks a creature, it gains all of that creature's activated abilities".
One kind of weird thing I noticed here: No colorless lands or artifacts?
edit: mesa village is fixed. i think i'm going to go with "nonland permanent" on the wall and skip the clause. you can still force your opponents to activate abilities early but at least it doesn't double as a rishadan port. any other suggestions for this card? i'm attached to the idea of screwing with planeswalkers with it.
When I see Healing Salve, I'm often like "Oh girl, I wish I could turn every card into this." Thanks they removed the gain life part, otherwise this would have been broken.
Wow. This is awesome - I don't get to use that word very often. When did you start working on it? Have you plans to test it soon? Are all the designs from this site? Do you have links to their pages of inception if they are? Any favorites out of the bunch? Were rarities considered for each card? What kind of printing method did/will you use?
Sorry for all the questions. I'm just very excited about what I've seen here - cubing has been quite fun for me, and the idea of custom cubing seems to incorporate a thousand times as much design. Also, fantastic art. It really is beautiful. If I get the chance, I'll definitely look over the cards more thoroughly for any power/archetype/flavor issues.
So far, I have read white, colorless, multicolor and dual lands. I will look into the rest shortly, but here are a few comments so far. The card specific comments are all criticisms, but only because there are so many great cards that I just can't comment on them all. You also said that you want mainly feedback on cards that may be overpowered/unprintable or that show other mistakes. Most of the cards are well balanced, have a good wording and supreme artwork. So again, big thumbs up for that.
White
Magus of the Stack
Why aren't you going with the original “At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player sacrifices a permanent for each soot counter on Smokestack.” wording? This would bring the card in line with the Time Spiral Magi and wouldn't be too powerful, since it's a 2/2 that has to stick around for a whole turn to do its thing.
Wipe Out
Very, very, very powerful for a white removal spell. Catching them with less than 2 mana up isn't that hard in the earlier turns and later you can cycle it. In faster formats, it would be better than Path to Exile – and Wizards said that this was a mistake. On the other hand, having the opponent pay only 1 could make it a bit too bad. Even though it would lose the clear Path/Swords analogy, wouldn't it be better to make it cost 1W? Or take the cycling away, so that it bears the danger of becoming dead later. I am not a fan of the latter option though.
Final Journey
See the Path to Exile comment. Drawing a card is often less of a compensation than searching a basic land into play. At least early, when the ramp counts. Again, “may draw two cards” could make the card a bit too bad, so upping the mana cost to 1W looks like an option.
Colorless
Gearspin Infantery / Ticking Automation / Myr Aggressor
While all of those have appropriate drawbacks and don't seem overpowered per se, none of the colorless wheenes that Wizards have been printing so far are as aggressively costed and as aggressive as these three.
Microtrike
While cool, it is probably unprintable as a 2/2 for 2 with an upside. Maybe with “enters the battlefield tapped with a +1/+1 counter on it.”?
Manufactured Terror
The power level is fine, but I really, really, really dislike the colorless Phyrexian mana. The whole point was to make cards that are colored, but can also be cast as colorless spells.
Rusted Battlesuit
Is too good. A 3/3 for 3 with a huge upside! The bonus should be +3/+2 and even then it would be super good.
Primal Wellspring
You can tap five lands for mana, then return them, then tap Wellspring for another five, resulting in 11 mana on turn six. Not sure if this is too good, but it caused a lot of discussion when this card was made.
Rainbow Clearing
Is strictly better than Grand Coliseum. That's not broken, but I'm just saying.
Eldrazi Apocalypse
Is missing the instruction to shuffle your library after you search it for a card. What about “target opponent discards two cards” for the black effect, to save space. Or even “each opponent”, so that the effect doesn't need a target.
Multicolor
Dreamscape
I don't quite get it... You put the creature onto the battlefield, then immediately shuffle it back it? Is this just for the etb and ltb effects?
Brightening
Draw two cards would already be very good for two mana. Adding 3 life to that seems a bit much. Since it is already not a clear mirror to Blightning, why not up the cost to 1WU and up the life gain to 4 or 5? At 3 mana, it would be a lot more reasonable to see print and the significent life gain makes it better for cube than Divinitation.
Duals
Lightwarmed Canopy
Why aren't you just calling it Horizon Canopy? Sure, it is a card that already exists, but only as a futuresighted card and it is clearly the one that inspired this cycle.
Magus of the Stack
Why aren't you going with the original “At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player sacrifices a permanent for each soot counter on Smokestack.” wording? This would bring the card in line with the Time Spiral Magi and wouldn't be too powerful, since it's a 2/2 that has to stick around for a whole turn to do its thing.
the card is identical to smokestack in its effect, it just uses charge counters instead because i felt like soot counters on a dude would be weird.
Wipe Out
Very, very, very powerful for a white removal spell. Catching them with less than 2 mana up isn't that hard in the earlier turns and later you can cycle it. In faster formats, it would be better than Path to Exile – and Wizards said that this was a mistake. On the other hand, having the opponent pay only 1 could make it a bit too bad. Even though it would lose the clear Path/Swords analogy, wouldn't it be better to make it cost 1W? Or take the cycling away, so that it bears the danger of becoming dead later. I am not a fan of the latter option though.
making it 1W sounds good to me, but i'd really like a 1cc white removal spell so i might take out the cycling.
Final Journey
See the Path to Exile comment. Drawing a card is often less of a compensation than searching a basic land into play. At least early, when the ramp counts. Again, “may draw two cards” could make the card a bit too bad, so upping the mana cost to 1W looks like an option.
again, sounds fine. i wish i could get a 1cc white removal spell, though. what's an acceptable drawback at that cost?
Gearspin Infantery / Ticking Automation / Myr Aggressor
While all of those have appropriate drawbacks and don't seem overpowered per se, none of the colorless wheenes that Wizards have been printing so far are as aggressively costed and as aggressive as these three.
agreed, but while i'm concerned with precedent, i'm fine with using cards that i think are balanced properly. they may never print a card like this, but if they did i doubt it would cause a problem. it's the same reason i'm running 3cc LD here. yes, they wouldn't print it right now, but i don't think it's actually degenerate.
Microtrike
While cool, it is probably unprintable as a 2/2 for 2 with an upside. Maybe with “enters the battlefield tapped with a +1/+1 counter on it.”?
i'm fine with etbt but is that really much of a drawback? i could go with 2(P/R), which would make it a red card but it would still see a ton of play in other decks.
Manufactured Terror
The power level is fine, but I really, really, really dislike the colorless Phyrexian mana. The whole point was to make cards that are colored, but can also be cast as colorless spells.
i love the colorless phyrexian mana.
Rusted Battlesuit
Is too good. A 3/3 for 3 with a huge upside! The bonus should be +3/+2 and even then it would be super good.
3/2 sounds good.
Primal Wellspring
You can tap five lands for mana, then return them, then tap Wellspring for another five, resulting in 11 mana on turn six. Not sure if this is too good, but it caused a lot of discussion when this card was made.
honestly it doesn't worry me. it's a one time ritual effect on turn 6. i think it will be ok. it's a huge risk with bounce and LD.
Eldrazi Apocalypse
Is missing the instruction to shuffle your library after you search it for a card. What about “target opponent discards two cards” for the black effect, to save space. Or even “each opponent”, so that the effect doesn't need a target.
the text is a bit small but it's readable even with the shuffle addition. each opponent discards three would be appropriate, i think, if i needed to change it.
Dreamscape
I don't quite get it... You put the creature onto the battlefield, then immediately shuffle it back it? Is this just for the etb and ltb effects?
it is, and honestly i think it might be overpowered. imagine getting your pick of any etb effect in your deck turn after turn. there's tutors on sticks, shatters/disenchants/creeping molds on sticks, counterspells on sticks, etc.
Brightening
Draw two cards would already be very good for two mana. Adding 3 life to that seems a bit much. Since it is already not a clear mirror to Blightning, why not up the cost to 1WU and up the life gain to 4 or 5? At 3 mana, it would be a lot more reasonable to see print and the significent life gain makes it better for cube than Divinitation.
i don't think i'd cube a multicolor divination just for some lifegain. this may be a weird example, but if you look at esper charm you can see that multicolor gets more efficient draw (blue would never get a 3cc draw 2 instant, but here it is with two very useful options attached) and i think drawing two for WU at sorcery speed is fine. the lifegain is a small enough bonus that i think it's safe. a 3cc instant draw + 3 life would be great but i think that's too strong.
Lightwarmed Canopy
Why aren't you just calling it Horizon Canopy? Sure, it is a card that already exists, but only as a futuresighted card and it is clearly the one that inspired this cycle.
the card isn't actually identical, it's damage instead of lifeloss. i wanted the cycle but i'm strictly playing with custom cards so i couldn't use horizon canopy. it's a stretch, but i was willing to do it in this case.
thank you so much for the specific criticism. it's incredibly helpful and i can't tell you enough how much i appreciate it! feel free to respond to my post here with further argument if necessary.
When did you start working on it? Have you plans to test it soon? Are all the designs from this site? Do you have links to their pages of inception if they are? Any favorites out of the bunch? Were rarities considered for each card? What kind of printing method did/will you use?
1) around two years ago, i think.
2) i hope to test it next week.
3) many of the designs are from the print this wizards thread. some are from custom cubes of posters in the cube thread. some are my own design, not all of which show up in the print this thread.
4) i don't have links to every source i used.
5) i'm looking forward to cycling stormsurge titan and reanimating it on turn three. i'm looking forward to building around dreamscape. mostly i'm just looking forward to playing cards i've wanted to play with for years.
6) i did not consider rarity.
7) unfortunately answering this question is against site rules and i'll be suspended or banned if i do so.
If I get the chance, I'll definitely look over the cards more thoroughly for any power/archetype/flavor issues.
i would greatly appreciate it!
again, thanks to everybody for the posts. i'm surprised by how great the response has been to this. i put a lot of work into it so i'm glad you guys are enjoying it.
When I see Healing Salve, I'm often like "Oh girl, I wish I could turn every card into this." Thanks they removed the gain life part, otherwise this would have been broken.
the card is identical to smokestack in its effect, it just uses charge counters instead because i felt like soot counters on a dude would be weird. No, it's not identical. With your Magus, all players sacrifice during your upkeep, making it more symmetrical. Smokestack lets each player sacrifice during their own upkeep.
making it 1W sounds good to me, but i'd really like a 1cc white removal spell so i might take out the cycling. Without cycling, it might have a huge enough drawback to justify its power level.
again, sounds fine. i wish i could get a 1cc white removal spell, though. what's an acceptable drawback at that cost? Letting the opponent draw two cards would be fine at a cost of W.
agreed, but while i'm concerned with precedent, i'm fine with using cards that i think are balanced properly. they may never print a card like this, but if they did i doubt it would cause a problem. it's the same reason i'm running 3cc LD here. yes, they wouldn't print it right now, but i don't think it's actually degenerate. They should be fine in this cube. And maybe Wizards actually prints an aggressive colorless wheenie soon. I was just pointing out that they didn't so far.
i'm fine with etbt but is that really much of a drawback? i could go with 2(P/R), which would make it a red card but it would still see a ton of play in other decks. It isn't much of a drawback, but that's the trick. A 2/2 for 2 is unprintable, but with a drawback, it is. Yet this specific drawback isn't severe enough to make it uncubable.
i love the colorless phyrexian mana. You're weird.
3/2 sounds good. It might still be too good to see print, considering what the existing living weapons look like. But at least it isn't straight up overpowered anymore.
honestly it doesn't worry me. it's a one time ritual effect on turn 6. i think it will be ok. it's a huge risk with bounce and LD. Yeah, it seems ok.
the text is a bit small but it's readable even with the shuffle addition. each opponent discards three would be appropriate, i think, if i needed to change it. Are you sure it would fit? The text box is already completely full with nine lines of text, which is normally the maximum Wizards would use. Three cards seems a bit severe by the way. At that point, it is most often "discard your hand". Which is backbreaking when you wipe out the board with the same spell.
it is, and honestly i think it might be overpowered. imagine getting your pick of any etb effect in your deck turn after turn. there's tutors on sticks, shatters/disenchants/creeping molds on sticks, counterspells on sticks, etc. Hm, repeatable instant speed etb effect tutoring might be indeed a powerful thing. The card's text was just a bit weird to read.
i don't think i'd cube a multicolor divination just for some lifegain. this may be a weird example, but if you look at esper charm you can see that multicolor gets more efficient draw (blue would never get a 3cc draw 2 instant, but here it is with two very useful options attached) and i think drawing two for WU at sorcery speed is fine. the lifegain is a small enough bonus that i think it's safe. a 3cc instant draw + 3 life would be great but i think that's too strong. 3 life is too little for 3 mana, but what about 5 life? That is a huge swing. I just don't think that they would print a "draw two" spell with another upside for only 2 mana, even with two different colors.
the card isn't actually identical, it's damage instead of lifeloss. i wanted the cycle but i'm strictly playing with custom cards so i couldn't use horizon canopy. it's a stretch, but i was willing to do it in this case. Ah, sorry, missed the damage/life loss difference.
[...]
again, thanks to everybody for the posts. i'm surprised by how great the response has been to this. i put a lot of work into it so i'm glad you guys are enjoying it. What really makes me go through all these cards is that they are so beautifully finalized. I would be much less inclined to go through the whole cube if it were just a wall of text.
When I see Healing Salve, I'm often like "Oh girl, I wish I could turn every card into this." Thanks they removed the gain life part, otherwise this would have been broken.
Excellent work. I wish we lived close enough to each other so I could draft this cube. I went through every card, but I don't have time to comment specifically. I'll try to do so in the next few days.
One of the only cards I read that I said "that's too broken" is the black spell that makes a 2/1 for B. That then has flashback for 1B. The flashback needs to be 1BB or 3B, IMO. It's simply way too good.
I don't like your Magus of the Ring at 2WW. All of the "Magus of the" <Enchantment> cards have identical costs to the cards they mimic, and no additional abilities (your magus here has first strike). It seems like a fine card (maybe a little above curve for an Uncommon but probably a fine Rare), but it needs to not be a Magus.
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One of the only cards I read that I said "that's too broken" is the black spell that makes a 2/1 for B. That then has flashback for 1B. The flashback needs to be 1BB or 3B, IMO. It's simply way too good.
i totally agree but i didn't design the card so i just threw it in there and hoped no one would say what i was thinking. "can't block" isn't a big enough drawback for you?
I don't like your Magus of the Ring at 2WW. All of the "Magus of the" <Enchantment> cards have identical costs to the cards they mimic, and no additional abilities (your magus here has first strike). It seems like a fine card (maybe a little above curve for an Uncommon but probably a fine Rare), but it needs to not be a Magus.
this is a good point. any suggestions for a different name?
When I see Healing Salve, I'm often like "Oh girl, I wish I could turn every card into this." Thanks they removed the gain life part, otherwise this would have been broken.
Im just listing cards that are too good to be currently printable
The two lions - two power pro creatures for one mana are the definition of oppressive
Wipe out - very often just better than stp, not to mention more flexible.
2 mana random discards - these cards can mana screw someone hard, and are likely not printable anymore.
Hate - this card is very close to the power level of bonesplitter, and they've said that card is too good. This card loses the ability to move for 1 less mana and immunities to removal.
Bendable lightning - strictly better than searing spear and flames of the firebrand (with two targets). Big nono.
Rage - probably. Double strike forever for 1 is nuts.
bloom defender - often doesn't actually have a drawback. which is too bad, I like him.
survey - likely, because fetching manlands is bananas
Slow bloom - blame artifacts. also, the card is half a sol ring, sometimes a whole one. I have a similar issue with the other one mana accelerants, but this is the best.
Mindflower - bahroken. being able to never have a mana problem is a problem.
Dreamscape basically draws every creature in your deck and gives you infi handsize. Basically.
Overthrow mind - only because it stole flavor text from word of seizing.
Now that I'm done being negative, good job. Backpats and upthumbing all around.
The two lions - two power pro creatures for one mana are the definition of oppressive
after printing elite vanguard at uncommon and goblin guide are rare, i'm pretty confident these are printable. they're legendary, which is a minor drawback. i think adding a small upside and a small downside to an existing uncommon and making it a rare is ok.
2 mana random discards - these cards can mana screw someone hard, and are likely not printable anymore.
mind shatter was in 2010, and i think i've been pretty careful with these. but you are probably right that they're not printable. i've been a little loose with the disruption because, to be blunt, i wouldn't want to design a cube with modern quality disruption.
Hate - this card is very close to the power level of bonesplitter, and they've said that card is too good. This card loses the ability to move for 1 less mana and immunities to removal.
they just reprinted rancor, though. so i think these cards are alright. bonesplitter was colorless, which makes it definitely undercosted. these are harder to get rid of, though.
Bendable lightning - strictly better than searing spear and flames of the firebrand (with two targets). Big nono.
you can't really specify where it's "strictly better." it either is, or it isn't. this card isn't strictly better than lightning bolt, incinerate, or arc lightning. so i think we're good. i agree it's pretty awesome and is probably pushing it.
bloom defender - often doesn't actually have a drawback. which is too bad, I like him.
i would think repeatedly fixing your opponent's mana is a substantial drawback. maybe i'm overestimating it.
Slow bloom - blame artifacts. also, the card is half a sol ring, sometimes a whole one. I have a similar issue with the other one mana accelerants, but this is the best.
i was actually thinking of changing it to "nonartifact spells" for that very reason.
Dreamscape basically draws every creature in your deck and gives you infi handsize. Basically.
i'm not sure what you mean. you can never attack with the creature you fetch.
Overthrow mind - only because it stole flavor text from word of seizing.
good catch, i did a flavor text search because i was sure it had been used before. apparently i did it wrong.
thanks for the feedback. any suggestions for fixes on the cards you think are over the top?
When I see Healing Salve, I'm often like "Oh girl, I wish I could turn every card into this." Thanks they removed the gain life part, otherwise this would have been broken.
Just going through the set, there seems to be an above-average number of cards with flash, and on some of them the ability seems tacked on in a case of throw-keyword-on-card-to-make-better syndrome. But I think I recognized a couple of my ideas too and in other places the same art that I borrowed for my custom cube pops up!
Also, can you include the software you used to create the cards in the first post? Seems like a piece of info that should be in the OP.
Just going through the set, there seems to be an above-average number of cards with flash, and on some of them the ability seems tacked on in a case of throw-keyword-on-card-to-make-better syndrome. But I think I recognized a couple of my ideas too and in other places the same art that I borrowed for my custom cube pops up!
Also, can you include the software you used to create the cards in the first post? Seems like a piece of info that should be in the OP.
any specific cards that jump out at you? i did try to include flash in green more because that's the direction they've been going. if you could point out cards with flash where it's not necessary to the effect of the card that would be really helpful.
When I see Healing Salve, I'm often like "Oh girl, I wish I could turn every card into this." Thanks they removed the gain life part, otherwise this would have been broken.
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the feedback that would be most helpful to me is whether a card is overpowered. i've designed under the loose constraint of "currently printable," with the caveat that lightning bolt, stone rain, mana leak, and zombify are the baseline cards for their effect.
the second most useful feedback would be whether i've incorrectly credited an artist. i've made a sincere attempt to do this properly but i've been working on this project for a while and in some cases i had trouble figuring out who was responsible for the art i was using. i got most of it on deviantart and credited with usernames from that site a good amount of the time. also, if you see a card you designed and want credit, i'd be happy to put your name in this post.
i've spent a lot of time on the flavor of the cards, so feel free to comment on the quality of flavor text, art choice, and overall flavor concept of any card. if there's a better way to do any of that on a card, or a way to simplify or improve the elegance of any card, please let me know!
thanks for looking, and thanks for designing!
Two issues I spotted though:
1) One of your "exile a card then return it later" lands specifies that it returns a "Land" exiled by it to your hand, not a card.
2) That blue wall that lets you activate abilities of opposing creatures seems a little broken mechanically. You can activate abilities of that creature until end of turn, and if you play a T: ability you untap it. So can't you just then tap it again and again for that ability?
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which one? i can't seem to find it.
you're right. the reason for that clause is so you can't just use it to tap down your opponents cards or prevent them from using abilities. i've changed it to
so that should fix it, no?
thank you.
Mesa Village, the RW one. First one pictured here.
The problem I see with the wall, regarding tap abilities, is won't they just activate it in response? It's a cool ability, but it doesn't seem like it interacts with tap abilities very well even with your fix. I might suggest something like "U: ~ gains all of target creature's activated abilities until end of turn", or maybe "Whenever ~ blocks a creature, it gains all of that creature's activated abilities".
One kind of weird thing I noticed here: No colorless lands or artifacts?
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I haven't looked at all the cards yet, but I spotted one of my own designs (Rhox Purifier) right away. Now I feel flattered.
Further comments when I have time to go over all the cards.
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edit: mesa village is fixed. i think i'm going to go with "nonland permanent" on the wall and skip the clause. you can still force your opponents to activate abilities early but at least it doesn't double as a rishadan port. any other suggestions for this card? i'm attached to the idea of screwing with planeswalkers with it.
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Sorry for all the questions. I'm just very excited about what I've seen here - cubing has been quite fun for me, and the idea of custom cubing seems to incorporate a thousand times as much design. Also, fantastic art. It really is beautiful. If I get the chance, I'll definitely look over the cards more thoroughly for any power/archetype/flavor issues.
Juju Alters - Altered MTG Cards
White
Magus of the Stack
Why aren't you going with the original “At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player sacrifices a permanent for each soot counter on Smokestack.” wording? This would bring the card in line with the Time Spiral Magi and wouldn't be too powerful, since it's a 2/2 that has to stick around for a whole turn to do its thing.
Wipe Out
Very, very, very powerful for a white removal spell. Catching them with less than 2 mana up isn't that hard in the earlier turns and later you can cycle it. In faster formats, it would be better than Path to Exile – and Wizards said that this was a mistake. On the other hand, having the opponent pay only 1 could make it a bit too bad. Even though it would lose the clear Path/Swords analogy, wouldn't it be better to make it cost 1W? Or take the cycling away, so that it bears the danger of becoming dead later. I am not a fan of the latter option though.
Final Journey
See the Path to Exile comment. Drawing a card is often less of a compensation than searching a basic land into play. At least early, when the ramp counts. Again, “may draw two cards” could make the card a bit too bad, so upping the mana cost to 1W looks like an option.
Colorless
Gearspin Infantery / Ticking Automation / Myr Aggressor
While all of those have appropriate drawbacks and don't seem overpowered per se, none of the colorless wheenes that Wizards have been printing so far are as aggressively costed and as aggressive as these three.
Microtrike
While cool, it is probably unprintable as a 2/2 for 2 with an upside. Maybe with “enters the battlefield tapped with a +1/+1 counter on it.”?
Manufactured Terror
The power level is fine, but I really, really, really dislike the colorless Phyrexian mana. The whole point was to make cards that are colored, but can also be cast as colorless spells.
Rusted Battlesuit
Is too good. A 3/3 for 3 with a huge upside! The bonus should be +3/+2 and even then it would be super good.
Primal Wellspring
You can tap five lands for mana, then return them, then tap Wellspring for another five, resulting in 11 mana on turn six. Not sure if this is too good, but it caused a lot of discussion when this card was made.
Rainbow Clearing
Is strictly better than Grand Coliseum. That's not broken, but I'm just saying.
Eldrazi Apocalypse
Is missing the instruction to shuffle your library after you search it for a card. What about “target opponent discards two cards” for the black effect, to save space. Or even “each opponent”, so that the effect doesn't need a target.
Multicolor
Dreamscape
I don't quite get it... You put the creature onto the battlefield, then immediately shuffle it back it? Is this just for the etb and ltb effects?
Brightening
Draw two cards would already be very good for two mana. Adding 3 life to that seems a bit much. Since it is already not a clear mirror to Blightning, why not up the cost to 1WU and up the life gain to 4 or 5? At 3 mana, it would be a lot more reasonable to see print and the significent life gain makes it better for cube than Divinitation.
Duals
Lightwarmed Canopy
Why aren't you just calling it Horizon Canopy? Sure, it is a card that already exists, but only as a futuresighted card and it is clearly the one that inspired this cycle.
Uril, the Miststalker RGW -- Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre C -- Vhati il-Dal BG -- Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer RW -- Animar, Soul of Elements URG
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker R -- Maga, Traitor to Mortals B -- Ghave, Guru of Spores BGW -- Sliver Hivelord WUBRG
the card is identical to smokestack in its effect, it just uses charge counters instead because i felt like soot counters on a dude would be weird.
making it 1W sounds good to me, but i'd really like a 1cc white removal spell so i might take out the cycling.
again, sounds fine. i wish i could get a 1cc white removal spell, though. what's an acceptable drawback at that cost?
agreed, but while i'm concerned with precedent, i'm fine with using cards that i think are balanced properly. they may never print a card like this, but if they did i doubt it would cause a problem. it's the same reason i'm running 3cc LD here. yes, they wouldn't print it right now, but i don't think it's actually degenerate.
i'm fine with etbt but is that really much of a drawback? i could go with 2(P/R), which would make it a red card but it would still see a ton of play in other decks.
i love the colorless phyrexian mana.
3/2 sounds good.
honestly it doesn't worry me. it's a one time ritual effect on turn 6. i think it will be ok. it's a huge risk with bounce and LD.
the text is a bit small but it's readable even with the shuffle addition. each opponent discards three would be appropriate, i think, if i needed to change it.
it is, and honestly i think it might be overpowered. imagine getting your pick of any etb effect in your deck turn after turn. there's tutors on sticks, shatters/disenchants/creeping molds on sticks, counterspells on sticks, etc.
i don't think i'd cube a multicolor divination just for some lifegain. this may be a weird example, but if you look at esper charm you can see that multicolor gets more efficient draw (blue would never get a 3cc draw 2 instant, but here it is with two very useful options attached) and i think drawing two for WU at sorcery speed is fine. the lifegain is a small enough bonus that i think it's safe. a 3cc instant draw + 3 life would be great but i think that's too strong.
the card isn't actually identical, it's damage instead of lifeloss. i wanted the cycle but i'm strictly playing with custom cards so i couldn't use horizon canopy. it's a stretch, but i was willing to do it in this case.
thank you so much for the specific criticism. it's incredibly helpful and i can't tell you enough how much i appreciate it! feel free to respond to my post here with further argument if necessary.
1) around two years ago, i think.
2) i hope to test it next week.
3) many of the designs are from the print this wizards thread. some are from custom cubes of posters in the cube thread. some are my own design, not all of which show up in the print this thread.
4) i don't have links to every source i used.
5) i'm looking forward to cycling stormsurge titan and reanimating it on turn three. i'm looking forward to building around dreamscape. mostly i'm just looking forward to playing cards i've wanted to play with for years.
6) i did not consider rarity.
7) unfortunately answering this question is against site rules and i'll be suspended or banned if i do so.
i would greatly appreciate it!
again, thanks to everybody for the posts. i'm surprised by how great the response has been to this. i put a lot of work into it so i'm glad you guys are enjoying it.
Uril, the Miststalker RGW -- Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre C -- Vhati il-Dal BG -- Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer RW -- Animar, Soul of Elements URG
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker R -- Maga, Traitor to Mortals B -- Ghave, Guru of Spores BGW -- Sliver Hivelord WUBRG
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
CubeCobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/5f5d0310ed602310515d4c32
Cube Tutor: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/1963
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
I don't like your Magus of the Ring at 2WW. All of the "Magus of the" <Enchantment> cards have identical costs to the cards they mimic, and no additional abilities (your magus here has first strike). It seems like a fine card (maybe a little above curve for an Uncommon but probably a fine Rare), but it needs to not be a Magus.
Currently Playing:
Legacy: Something U/W Controlish
EDH Cube
Hypercube! A New EDH Deck Every Week(ish)!
i totally agree but i didn't design the card so i just threw it in there and hoped no one would say what i was thinking. "can't block" isn't a big enough drawback for you?
this is a good point. any suggestions for a different name?
The two lions - two power pro creatures for one mana are the definition of oppressive
Wipe out - very often just better than stp, not to mention more flexible.
2 mana random discards - these cards can mana screw someone hard, and are likely not printable anymore.
Hate - this card is very close to the power level of bonesplitter, and they've said that card is too good. This card loses the ability to move for 1 less mana and immunities to removal.
Bendable lightning - strictly better than searing spear and flames of the firebrand (with two targets). Big nono.
Rage - probably. Double strike forever for 1 is nuts.
bloom defender - often doesn't actually have a drawback. which is too bad, I like him.
survey - likely, because fetching manlands is bananas
Slow bloom - blame artifacts. also, the card is half a sol ring, sometimes a whole one. I have a similar issue with the other one mana accelerants, but this is the best.
Mindflower - bahroken. being able to never have a mana problem is a problem.
Dreamscape basically draws every creature in your deck and gives you infi handsize. Basically.
Overthrow mind - only because it stole flavor text from word of seizing.
Now that I'm done being negative, good job. Backpats and upthumbing all around.
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
after printing elite vanguard at uncommon and goblin guide are rare, i'm pretty confident these are printable. they're legendary, which is a minor drawback. i think adding a small upside and a small downside to an existing uncommon and making it a rare is ok.
mind shatter was in 2010, and i think i've been pretty careful with these. but you are probably right that they're not printable. i've been a little loose with the disruption because, to be blunt, i wouldn't want to design a cube with modern quality disruption.
they just reprinted rancor, though. so i think these cards are alright. bonesplitter was colorless, which makes it definitely undercosted. these are harder to get rid of, though.
you can't really specify where it's "strictly better." it either is, or it isn't. this card isn't strictly better than lightning bolt, incinerate, or arc lightning. so i think we're good. i agree it's pretty awesome and is probably pushing it.
i would think repeatedly fixing your opponent's mana is a substantial drawback. maybe i'm overestimating it.
i was actually thinking of changing it to "nonartifact spells" for that very reason.
i'm not sure what you mean. you can never attack with the creature you fetch.
good catch, i did a flavor text search because i was sure it had been used before. apparently i did it wrong.
thanks for the feedback. any suggestions for fixes on the cards you think are over the top?
But it's no probem
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
Also, can you include the software you used to create the cards in the first post? Seems like a piece of info that should be in the OP.
My Cube (DeckStats)
My Pauper Cube: 540 (CubeTutor link!)
Level 1 Judge
any specific cards that jump out at you? i did try to include flash in green more because that's the direction they've been going. if you could point out cards with flash where it's not necessary to the effect of the card that would be really helpful.
the software i used was magic set editor.