You fall to the cold ground. The world is white around you, and as you climb to your feet, you slip and fall right back onto your knees. You are standing on ice. Suddenly, you notice that what you took for the sky is too white and too close to you. In the middle of an ice chasm, the light reflects in strange ways around you and through the walls, making it appear you are fighting will a hundred others rather than a just a score of mages.
This stage has a bonus rule: You have to focus on keeping your balance, causing you to lose concentration on your spellcasting. A simple spell will allow you to keep up your defenses, while a powerful spell will catch your opponent off-guard. The card with the lowest "complexity" (found by adding the converted mana cost to the number of words in the rules text) will receive a +1 bonus to defense. The card with the highest converted mana cost will receive a +1 bonus to attack. All players tied for the defensive bonus get the +1, but if players tie for the offensive bonus, no one will get that +1. Late entries will not be eligible.
Before I show the cards, a few notes on the voting.
Anyone may vote on this contest, even people who are not participating.
You may vote for as many cards as you want and you may vote for yourself. You must vote for at least 2 cards.
I ask that when voting, you consider both how well the card uses the stage (described above in italics) and how well designed the card is in general.
Some players have theorized that the best offense is a good defense. As far as I'm concerned, this is a completely acceptable choice and I don't want anyone marked down for it.
Please do not discuss who you think/know made certain cards. Part of the fun of this game is playing with a limited amount of information.
Posting critiques of the cards is encouraged.
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Radiance of the Multiverse (CMC 70)
Legendary Creature - Avatar
Affinity for cards in your library. ~ enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter for each mana spent to cast it. 1: Instead of sending a card to the graveyard, shuffle it into the library. "Truly the multiverse was created, and truly I have seen its creator! Her radiance surpasses even this small shard of power!"
0/0
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Ice Mirror2
Artifact (R)
Whenever a player casts a creature spell, that player may pay its mana cost. If he or she does, that player puts a token onto the battlefield that's a copy of it.
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Encase in Ice1WU
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant player
Prevent all damage that would be dealt to enchanted player.
Whenever enchanted player becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice Encase in Ice.
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Vexing Reflections4UR (R)
Enchantment
Whenever a spell or ability an opponent controls targets you or a creature you control, they flip a coin, if they lose, its countered. The trick isn't to make the reflections perfect, the trick is to make them just real enough to create doubt and confusion
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Sleetshifter3UU
Snow Creature - Shapeshifter {M}
You may have Sleetshifter enter the battlefield as a copy of any creature on the battlefield, except it's still snow. 3SS:Put a creature token onto the battlefield that's a copy of Sleetshifter.
4/4
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Shard Ramparts2WW
Enchantment (R)
Sacrifice a land: Prevent all damage that target permanent would deal to you this turn. The wintermage plunged his foot into the ground, throwing up into the air great, but fleeting parapets of ice.
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Slippery Advance4:symuw::symuw::symuw:
Snow Enchantment (R)
Whenever a creature without flying attacks, its power becomes 0 until end of turn.
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Horn of Bitter Frost3
Legendary Artifact (R)
Whenever a player casts a blue spell, you may put a blizzard counter on Horn of Bitter Frost. 3,t,: Remove all blizzard counters from Horn Of Bitter Forst: Put X 2/2 blue Elemental creatures with flying onto the battlefield, where X is the number of blizzard counters removed this way. It’s call brings forth the teeth of winter, to rip apart it’s masters enemies.
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Frozen Tundra
Snow Land (C)
:1mana:, And to your mana pool (Mana from snow permanents can be spent as :snow:)
Bitter arctic wind, cold that cuts to the bone and snow drifts tall as a Auroch: your typical Videnth summer's day.
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Retsam Rorrim2UU
Creature - Human Wizard Mutant (R)
Whenever Retsam Rorrim blocks, put a token that's a copy of Retsam Rorrim onto the battlefield.
2/2
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Manifest Folly 12GWUB
Sorcery (M)
Delve; convoke
Permanents target player controls become 1/1 colorless Wisp creatures. (This effect doesn't end at end of turn.) "Look upon the mournful countenances of your evil deeds made flesh!" - Eshai the Frostjudge, fifth chamber mage
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Army of DecoysXXUR
Instant
Put X creature tokens onto the battlefield that are copies of target creature. They gain haste. Exile them at the beginning of the next end step.
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Frozen World4UUU
Enchantment (M)
When Frozen World enters the battlefield, put an ice counter on each nonland permanent controlled by an opponent, then tap those permanents.
Permanents with ice counters on them don't untap during their controller's untap step.
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player may remove an ice counter from a permanent he or she controls.
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Echoing Blast1R
Instant (U)
~ deals 2 damage to target creature and all other creatures with the same name as that creature. A single bolt unleashes a world of hurt.
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Glacial Iceness 1U
Enchantment (R)
All permanents have "When this permanent becomes target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it."
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Melt :symr::symr:
Sorcery {R}
Destroy target snow permanent.
Standing over the great puddle, "In the end, you built your fortress out of ice... again," Trask said disapprovingly.
This is a late entry. Please reply below if you wish to vote for it.
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Staff of Frost3U
Artifact - Equipment (R)
Equipped creature has "U,T: Tap target creature and put a -1/-1 counter on it."
Equip 2 "A frostbite just waiting to happen."
Non-participants have been voting for only 1 option for a while now. I don't really have a problem with it as I want that rule simply to keep participants from voting for only themselves.
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I'll bet you wish you had a non-unglued/unhinged card that shared your first name.
Radiance of the Multiverse {:5mana::0mana:}:sym2w::sym2w::sym2u::sym2u::sym2b::sym2b::sym2r::sym2r::sym2g::sym2g: (CMC 70)
Legendary Creature - Avatar
Affinity for cards in your library. ~ enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter for each mana spent to cast it.
:1mana:: Instead of sending a card to the graveyard, shuffle it into the library.
"Truly the multiverse was created, and truly I have seen its creator! Her radiance surpasses even this small shard of power!"
0/0
Umm, no. Good luck with that +1 attack bonus.
Ice Mirror
Artifact (R)
Whenever a player casts a creature spell, that player may pay its mana cost. If he or she does, that player puts a token onto the battlefield that's a copy of it.
I like it. Might end up with a lot of different types of tokens in play, which could cause memory issues; I might have upped it to mythic just to make that even less common in limited, but that's minor.
Encase in Ice :1mana::symw::symu:
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant player
Prevent all damage that would be dealt to enchanted player.
Whenever enchanted player becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice Encase in Ice.
This seems really swingy: if your opp happens to have enough player targeting spells, it does very little for a gold card. If they don't, it will likely trigger scoop-phase in limited. A lot depends on its rarity, which isn't indicated.
Vexing Reflections :4mana::symu::symr: (R)
Enchantment
Whenever a spell or ability an opponent controls targets you or a creature you control, they flip a coin, if they lose, its countered. The trick isn't to make the reflections perfect, the trick is to make them just real enough to create doubt and confusion
This feels like just the right place, cost-wise, for a coin-flip ability. Playable in casual but not likely to cause a Grand Prix to literally come down to a coin flip.
Sleetshifter :3mana::symu::symu:
Snow Creature - Shapeshifter {M}
You may have Sleetshifter enter the battlefield as a copy of any creature on the battlefield, except it's still snow. : Put a creature token onto the battlefield that's a copy of Sleetshifter.
4/4
This is rather neat: if you don't have the snow mana, you can just use it as a clone; if you do, it's a 4/4 creature that spits out clones. I suspect it's undercosted (the activated ability could at least have a :symtap:, perhaps), but the design is tops.
Shard Ramparts :2mana::symw::symw:
Enchantment (R)
Sacrifice a land: Prevent all damage that target permanent would deal to you this turn. The wintermage plunged his foot into the ground, throwing up into the air great, but fleeting parapets of ice.
Not too thrilling. Rather underpowered effect for losing a land (though of course broken with Crucible of Worlds) and expensive mana cost just to get an overpriced ability. Slippery Advance :4mana::symwu::symwu::symwu:
Snow Enchantment (R)
Whenever a creature without flying attacks, its power becomes 0 until end of turn.
White getting p/t setting is a bit of a stretch, but I can see it. I'm not a fan of p/t setting in general, as it can require an in-depth understand of the layering rules for p/t calculation, one of the darker corners of the comp-rules that's best avoided*. CMC 7 seems about the right price as this will often by game-ending.
Horn of Bitter Frost
Legendary Artifact (R)
Whenever a player casts a blue spell, you may put a blizzard counter on Horn of Bitter Frost.
:3mana:,,: Remove all blizzard counters from Horn Of Bitter Forst: Put X 2/2 blue Elemental creatures with flying onto the battlefield, where X is the number of blizzard counters removed this way. It’s call brings forth the teeth of winter, to rip apart it’s masters enemies.
Another nice card. I would expect a "Sacrifice HoBF" as part of the activation, were Wizards to print this, so it's refreshing that this doesn't have that.
Frozen Tundra
Snow Land (C)
:1mana:, And to your mana pool
(Mana from snow permanents can be spent as :snow:) Bitter arctic wind, cold that cuts to the bone and snow drifts tall as a Auroch: your typical Videnth summer's day.
Nothing too special, but a nice common workhorse for a snow set.
Retsam Rorrim :2mana::symu::symu:
Creature - Human Wizard Mutant (R)
Whenever Retsam Rorrim blocks, put a token that's a copy of Retsam Rorrim onto the battlefield.
2/2
I like this, too. Another nice simple take on the "false reflections" theme. Not sure why its a mutant, though.
Manifest Folly :12mana::symg::symw::symu::symb:
Sorcery (M)
Delve; convoke
Permanents target player controls become 1/1 colorless Wisp creatures. (This effect doesn't end at end of turn.) "Look upon the mournful countenances of your evil deeds made flesh!" - Eshai the Frostjudge, fifth chamber mage
It's kind of neat that this can be used on yourself or your opponent, depending on your deck and the situation. That cost is pretty ugly, though I have a soft spot for the Wisp creature type
Army of Decoys :xmana::xmana::symu::symr:
Instant
Put X creature tokens onto the battlefield that are copies of target creature. They gain haste. Exile them at the beginning of the next end step.
Good use of XX, imo, overall cost seems about right, and it fits UR. As it (can be) such a big effect, though, I'd rather it were a sorcery just for flavor reason.
Frozen World :4mana::symu::symu::symu:
Enchantment (M)
When Frozen World enters the battlefield, put an ice counter on each nonland permanent controlled by an opponent, then tap those permanents.
Permanents with ice counters on them don't untap during their controller's untap step.
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player may remove an ice counter from a permanent he or she controls.
I think this would work better as a symmetric effect on a cheaper card. Casting this will be pretty oppressive most of the time. Also, why no love for "snow"?
Echoing Blast :1mana::symr:
Instant (U)
~ deals 2 damage to target creature and all other creatures with the same name as that creature. A single bolt unleashes a world of hurt.
A bit too close to Echoing Decay, though it fits this round very nicely.
Glacial Iceness :1mana::symu:
Enchantment (R)
All permanents have "When this permanent becomes target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it."
A pretty powerful effect for such a cheap cost. Nice that it that it's effect can be used to remove it, though most enchantment targeting is removal anyway.
Melt :symr::symr:
Sorcery {R}
Destroy target snow permanent. Standing over the great puddle, "In the end, you built your fortress out of ice... again," Trask said disapprovingly.
Red should really be able to remove enchantments, but the exception for snow seems quite fitting I'm be happier if this didn't destroy snow creatures so easily, though.
For anyone interested, effects that set power and toughness are applied before +/- effects. So, setting a 5/5 creature's power to 0 makes it a 0/5, but doing the same to a 0/0 with five +1/+1 counters does nothing. I find this rather silly, but I suspect there's so many possible p/t interactions that any rules solution will have counter-intuitive corner cases.
Radiance of the Multiverse {:5mana::0mana:}:sym2w::sym2w::sym2u::sym2u::sym2b::sym2b::sym2r::sym2r::sym2g::sym2g: (CMC 70)
Legendary Creature - Avatar
Affinity for cards in your library. ~ enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter for each mana spent to cast it.
:1mana:: Instead of sending a card to the graveyard, shuffle it into the library.
"Truly the multiverse was created, and truly I have seen its creator! Her radiance surpasses even this small shard of power!"
0/0
Umm, no. Good luck with that +1 attack bonus.
This card definitely has that. I would run it in an EDH deck, as the general >:), to enter the field as a -30/-30 critter. Or cheat him in with Fist of Suns, making him 5/5. I don't... really see a scenario where you would hard cast him and he'd be useful, though.
Ice Mirror
Artifact (R)
Whenever a player casts a creature spell, that player may pay its mana cost. If he or she does, that player puts a token onto the battlefield that's a copy of it.
I like it. Might end up with a lot of different types of tokens in play, which could cause memory issues; I might have upped it to mythic just to make that even less common in limited, but that's minor.
Basically, if you double the cost, you double the effect? Relentless Rats might like that. Or any other deck with smallish creatures. White Weenies, for one. It would relax your frantic need to draw a bit. I disagree with increased rarity, though.
Encase in Ice :1mana::symw::symu:
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant player
Prevent all damage that would be dealt to enchanted player.
Whenever enchanted player becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice Encase in Ice.
This seems really swingy: if your opp happens to have enough player targeting spells, it does very little for a gold card. If they don't, it will likely trigger scoop-phase in limited. A lot depends on its rarity, which isn't indicated.
Against creatures, this becomes impassable darksteel armor for the player of a sorts. Against burn, this is just totem armor. I agree with jwanders.
Vexing Reflections :4mana::symu::symr: (R)
Enchantment
Whenever a spell or ability an opponent controls targets you or a creature you control, they flip a coin, if they lose, its countered. The trick isn't to make the reflections perfect, the trick is to make them just real enough to create doubt and confusion
This feels like just the right place, cost-wise, for a coin-flip ability. Playable in casual but not likely to cause a Grand Prix to literally come down to a coin flip.
It might come down to a coin flip, if you play this to protect yourself from a late game variant on channel fireball. However, that won't happen often.
Sleetshifter :3mana::symu::symu:
Snow Creature - Shapeshifter {M}
You may have Sleetshifter enter the battlefield as a copy of any creature on the battlefield, except it's still snow. : Put a creature token onto the battlefield that's a copy of Sleetshifter.
4/4
This is rather neat: if you don't have the snow mana, you can just use it as a clone; if you do, it's a 4/4 creature that spits out clones. I suspect it's undercosted (the activated ability could at least have a :symtap:, perhaps), but the design is tops.
very interesting. I doubt that a top leauges game would last long enough to have 6SSSS in one turn, though, so I don't see the problem with not including a t cost.
Shard Ramparts :2mana::symw::symw:
Enchantment (R)
Sacrifice a land: Prevent all damage that target permanent would deal to you this turn. The wintermage plunged his foot into the ground, throwing up into the air great, but fleeting parapets of ice.
Not too thrilling. Rather underpowered effect for losing a land (though of course broken with Crucible of Worlds) and expensive mana cost just to get an overpriced ability.
I do agree with the sac being a bit costly for the ability on a CMC 4 card. Perhaps it would also add 1 to your mana pool, that would be balanced cost wise?
Slippery Advance :4mana::symwu::symwu::symwu:
Snow Enchantment (R)
Whenever a creature without flying attacks, its power becomes 0 until end of turn.
White getting p/t setting is a bit of a stretch, but I can see it. I'm not a fan of p/t setting in general, as it can require an in-depth understand of the layering rules for p/t calculation, one of the darker corners of the comp-rules that's best avoided*. CMC 7 seems about the right price as this will often by game-ending.
Simply, I don't like this card. even with the price.
Horn of Bitter Frost
Legendary Artifact (R)
Whenever a player casts a blue spell, you may put a blizzard counter on Horn of Bitter Frost.
:3mana:,,: Remove all blizzard counters from Horn Of Bitter Forst: Put X 2/2 blue Elemental creatures with flying onto the battlefield, where X is the number of blizzard counters removed this way. It’s call brings forth the teeth of winter, to rip apart it’s masters enemies.
Another nice card. I would expect a "Sacrifice HoBF" as part of the activation, were Wizards to print this, so it's refreshing that this doesn't have that. I will continue commenting on your comments and on the cards in a moment - my brother is threatening to start our show without me, I'll edit more in soon.
Indeed, most similar cards I have seen require a sac. Which is truly annoying. But when a star goes supernova, does it become a star again? It seems to me there's nothing left but a black hole. That's the WotC design philosophy, and it's not going to change...
Frozen Tundra
Snow Land (C)
:1mana:, And to your mana pool
(Mana from snow permanents can be spent as :snow:) Bitter arctic wind, cold that cuts to the bone and snow drifts tall as a Auroch: your typical Videnth summer's day.
Nothing too special, but a nice common workhorse for a snow set.
indeed, it gets my vote. It's a filter land, sort of, and a real nice one.
Retsam Rorrim :2mana::symu::symu:
Creature - Human Wizard Mutant (R)
Whenever Retsam Rorrim blocks, put a token that's a copy of Retsam Rorrim onto the battlefield.
2/2
I like this, too. Another nice simple take on the "false reflections" theme. Not sure why its a mutant, though.
I don't see it. Yeah, it's creating copies... but how is that a "false" reflection? Seems you're hitting the real one and the false remains - hardly correct, since I've seen various puppet false image scenes - they always end with the REAL one surviving.
Agreed on the mutant??
Manifest Folly :12mana::symg::symw::symu::symb:
Sorcery (M)
Delve; convoke
Permanents target player controls become 1/1 colorless Wisp creatures. (This effect doesn't end at end of turn.) "Look upon the mournful countenances of your evil deeds made flesh!" - Eshai the Frostjudge, fifth chamber mage
It's kind of neat that this can be used on yourself or your opponent, depending on your deck and the situation. That cost is pretty ugly, though I have a soft spot for the Wisp creature type
The other obvious attempt for highest cost. Only it didn't get so high a cost...
Delve and Convoke are both ways to get it out of the graveyard, correct? No, convoke makes it cheaper. The ability fits the high price, though - powerful.
Army of Decoys :xmana::xmana::symu::symr:
Instant
Put X creature tokens onto the battlefield that are copies of target creature. They gain haste. Exile them at the beginning of the next end step.
Good use of XX, imo, overall cost seems about right, and it fits UR. As it (can be) such a big effect, though, I'd rather it were a sorcery just for flavor reason.
Uhuh. Exile them at the end step. So if you have a major massive wall, but it's not enough to block everything AND survive... pull out an army of them. Though that raises flavor issues. Oh, well, mechanically a great card, and mostly no flavor disconnect.
Frozen World :4mana::symu::symu::symu:
Enchantment (M)
When Frozen World enters the battlefield, put an ice counter on each nonland permanent controlled by an opponent, then tap those permanents.
Permanents with ice counters on them don't untap during their controller's untap step.
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player may remove an ice counter from a permanent he or she controls.
I think this would work better as a symmetric effect on a cheaper card. Casting this will be pretty oppressive most of the time. Also, why no love for "snow"?
I'll admit I also forgot about S entirely. If you destroy Frozen World, though, what happens to all the permanents with ice counters? Suddenly they can tap again? But get double frozen when the second Frozen World comes along?
Ooh, I'd hate to play against this.
Echoing Blast :1mana::symr:
Instant (U)
~ deals 2 damage to target creature and all other creatures with the same name as that creature. A single bolt unleashes a world of hurt.
A bit too close to Echoing Decay, though it fits this round very nicely.
Haven't heard of Echoing Decay, and this card would be an excellent back up in any 20of variant, besides 20of itself. 2 mana, instant speed, and since the opponent may have about 7 or more of a single 1/1 creature, BAM.
In most formats, though, the most creatures you'll hit is 4, if you're lucky. Unless you're playing against relentless rats or a CC loosely based on it.
Glacial Iceness :1mana::symu:
Enchantment (R)
All permanents have "When this permanent becomes target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it."
A pretty powerful effect for such a cheap cost. Nice that it that it's effect can be used to remove it, though most enchantment targeting is removal anyway.
Basically, everything shatters pretty easy. And trying for synergy results in catastrophe - this would kill a soulbond deck, flat dead.
Make it mythic, and cost more.
Melt :symr::symr:
Sorcery {R}
Destroy target snow permanent. Standing over the great puddle, "In the end, you built your fortress out of ice... again," Trask said disapprovingly.
Red should really be able to remove enchantments, but the exception for snow seems quite fitting I'm be happier if this didn't destroy snow creatures so easily, though.
Nice.... that is all.
For anyone interested, effects that set power and toughness are applied before +/- effects. So, setting a 5/5 creature's power to 0 makes it a 0/5, but doing the same to a 0/0 with five +1/+1 counters does nothing. I find this rather silly, but I suspect there's so many possible p/t interactions that any rules solution will have counter-intuitive corner cases.
Aren't we fighting in an aera that makes duplicate images? Why would I want a spell that makes additional duplicates? The area already does that, so shouldn't i try to fight it instead?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"In the beginning, MTG Salvation switched to a new forum format.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
It was at that moment that I realized: I'm kinda just making these things up. We can just write the rules the way we want them to work. People will have fun, and people will get it.
Maybe you want to produce duplicates to fight those duplicates? I must say that, this time, except for one or two cards, all others seem to fit the stage. From those that don't, to mind comes the 70cmc avatar and the land, which although fits the stage, it's neither an attack nor a defense plan.
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Trophyless guy.
Thought of the Month: I gave up from trying to require the 'i' on my name: SolesticIo
Vedalken Anatomist disagrees, unless you feel that card was a flavor mistake.
A scientist discenting something has much different flavor than an ice staff. Also, phyrexia warps the color pie a bit. If it was called "Staff of Phyrexian Frost" or something, it might be a bit better ;).
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"In the beginning, MTG Salvation switched to a new forum format.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
It was at that moment that I realized: I'm kinda just making these things up. We can just write the rules the way we want them to work. People will have fun, and people will get it.
This round's stage:
You fall to the cold ground. The world is white around you, and as you climb to your feet, you slip and fall right back onto your knees. You are standing on ice. Suddenly, you notice that what you took for the sky is too white and too close to you. In the middle of an ice chasm, the light reflects in strange ways around you and through the walls, making it appear you are fighting will a hundred others rather than a just a score of mages.
This stage has a bonus rule: You have to focus on keeping your balance, causing you to lose concentration on your spellcasting. A simple spell will allow you to keep up your defenses, while a powerful spell will catch your opponent off-guard. The card with the lowest "complexity" (found by adding the converted mana cost to the number of words in the rules text) will receive a +1 bonus to defense. The card with the highest converted mana cost will receive a +1 bonus to attack. All players tied for the defensive bonus get the +1, but if players tie for the offensive bonus, no one will get that +1. Late entries will not be eligible.
Before I show the cards, a few notes on the voting.
:facepalm::facepalm::facepalm:
Sig & Avvy by Disappointing Signets Inc.
CCC&G BRAGGING RIGHTS
Mafia Statistics
I collect pacifism: 228
Radiance of the Multiverse {:5mana::0mana:}:sym2w::sym2w::sym2u::sym2u::sym2b::sym2b::sym2r::sym2r::sym2g::sym2g: (CMC 70)
Legendary Creature - Avatar
Affinity for cards in your library. ~ enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter for each mana spent to cast it.
:1mana:: Instead of sending a card to the graveyard, shuffle it into the library.
"Truly the multiverse was created, and truly I have seen its creator! Her radiance surpasses even this small shard of power!"
0/0
Umm, no. Good luck with that +1 attack bonus.
Ice Mirror
Artifact (R)
Whenever a player casts a creature spell, that player may pay its mana cost. If he or she does, that player puts a token onto the battlefield that's a copy of it.
I like it. Might end up with a lot of different types of tokens in play, which could cause memory issues; I might have upped it to mythic just to make that even less common in limited, but that's minor.
Encase in Ice :1mana::symw::symu:
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant player
Prevent all damage that would be dealt to enchanted player.
Whenever enchanted player becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice Encase in Ice.
This seems really swingy: if your opp happens to have enough player targeting spells, it does very little for a gold card. If they don't, it will likely trigger scoop-phase in limited. A lot depends on its rarity, which isn't indicated.
Vexing Reflections :4mana::symu::symr: (R)
Enchantment
Whenever a spell or ability an opponent controls targets you or a creature you control, they flip a coin, if they lose, its countered.
The trick isn't to make the reflections perfect, the trick is to make them just real enough to create doubt and confusion
This feels like just the right place, cost-wise, for a coin-flip ability. Playable in casual but not likely to cause a Grand Prix to literally come down to a coin flip.
Sleetshifter :3mana::symu::symu:
Snow Creature - Shapeshifter {M}
You may have Sleetshifter enter the battlefield as a copy of any creature on the battlefield, except it's still snow.
4/4
This is rather neat: if you don't have the snow mana, you can just use it as a clone; if you do, it's a 4/4 creature that spits out clones. I suspect it's undercosted (the activated ability could at least have a :symtap:, perhaps), but the design is tops.
Shard Ramparts :2mana::symw::symw:
Enchantment (R)
Sacrifice a land: Prevent all damage that target permanent would deal to you this turn.
The wintermage plunged his foot into the ground, throwing up into the air great, but fleeting parapets of ice.
Not too thrilling. Rather underpowered effect for losing a land (though of course broken with Crucible of Worlds) and expensive mana cost just to get an overpriced ability.
Slippery Advance :4mana::symwu::symwu::symwu:
Snow Enchantment (R)
Whenever a creature without flying attacks, its power becomes 0 until end of turn.
White getting p/t setting is a bit of a stretch, but I can see it. I'm not a fan of p/t setting in general, as it can require an in-depth understand of the layering rules for p/t calculation, one of the darker corners of the comp-rules that's best avoided*. CMC 7 seems about the right price as this will often by game-ending.
Horn of Bitter Frost
Legendary Artifact (R)
Whenever a player casts a blue spell, you may put a blizzard counter on Horn of Bitter Frost.
:3mana:,
It’s call brings forth the teeth of winter, to rip apart it’s masters enemies.
Another nice card. I would expect a "Sacrifice HoBF" as part of the activation, were Wizards to print this, so it's refreshing that this doesn't have that.
Frozen Tundra
Snow Land (C)
:1mana:,
(Mana from snow permanents can be spent as :snow:)
Bitter arctic wind, cold that cuts to the bone and snow drifts tall as a Auroch: your typical Videnth summer's day.
Nothing too special, but a nice common workhorse for a snow set.
Retsam Rorrim :2mana::symu::symu:
Creature - Human Wizard Mutant (R)
Whenever Retsam Rorrim blocks, put a token that's a copy of Retsam Rorrim onto the battlefield.
2/2
I like this, too. Another nice simple take on the "false reflections" theme. Not sure why its a mutant, though.
Manifest Folly :12mana::symg::symw::symu::symb:
Sorcery (M)
Delve; convoke
Permanents target player controls become 1/1 colorless Wisp creatures. (This effect doesn't end at end of turn.)
"Look upon the mournful countenances of your evil deeds made flesh!" - Eshai the Frostjudge, fifth chamber mage
It's kind of neat that this can be used on yourself or your opponent, depending on your deck and the situation. That cost is pretty ugly, though I have a soft spot for the Wisp creature type
Army of Decoys :xmana::xmana::symu::symr:
Instant
Put X creature tokens onto the battlefield that are copies of target creature. They gain haste. Exile them at the beginning of the next end step.
Good use of XX, imo, overall cost seems about right, and it fits UR. As it (can be) such a big effect, though, I'd rather it were a sorcery just for flavor reason.
Frozen World :4mana::symu::symu::symu:
Enchantment (M)
When Frozen World enters the battlefield, put an ice counter on each nonland permanent controlled by an opponent, then tap those permanents.
Permanents with ice counters on them don't untap during their controller's untap step.
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player may remove an ice counter from a permanent he or she controls.
I think this would work better as a symmetric effect on a cheaper card. Casting this will be pretty oppressive most of the time. Also, why no love for "snow"?
Echoing Blast :1mana::symr:
Instant (U)
~ deals 2 damage to target creature and all other creatures with the same name as that creature.
A single bolt unleashes a world of hurt.
A bit too close to Echoing Decay, though it fits this round very nicely.
Glacial Iceness :1mana::symu:
Enchantment (R)
All permanents have "When this permanent becomes target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it."
A pretty powerful effect for such a cheap cost. Nice that it that it's effect can be used to remove it, though most enchantment targeting is removal anyway.
Melt :symr::symr:
Sorcery {R}
Destroy target snow permanent.
Standing over the great puddle, "In the end, you built your fortress out of ice... again," Trask said disapprovingly.
Red should really be able to remove enchantments, but the exception for snow seems quite fitting
First and foremost
Glacial Iceness? The card seems fine, it's just the worst name ever.
Sig & Avvy by Disappointing Signets Inc.
CCC&G BRAGGING RIGHTS
Mafia Statistics
I collect pacifism: 228
Ashamed of posts from years ago.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
Comic Book Set
Archester: Frontier of Steam (A steampunk set!)
A Good Place to Start Designing
Thought of the Month:
I gave up from trying to require the 'i' on my name: SolesticIo
Club Flamingo Wins: 1!
Though I am saddened that the most... reasonable if Janky card is currently in the lead =n=
Artist: //gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?action=advanced&artist=[%22Daniel%20Ljunggren%22">"]Daniel Ljunggren
Thought of the Month:
I gave up from trying to require the 'i' on my name: SolesticIo
Vedalken Anatomist disagrees, unless you feel that card was a flavor mistake.
Club Flamingo Wins: 1!
A scientist discenting something has much different flavor than an ice staff. Also, phyrexia warps the color pie a bit. If it was called "Staff of Phyrexian Frost" or something, it might be a bit better ;).
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
Comic Book Set
Archester: Frontier of Steam (A steampunk set!)
A Good Place to Start Designing