Just an idea I was kicking around the ol' head this morning at work.
Blackheart Speaker 2BB
Creature - Human Shaman (R)
Transcend (When this creature dies, return it to the battlefield as a noncreature enchantment.)
At the beginning of your upkeep, draw a card and lose 1 life.
2/2
Basically a value mechanic, would slot it into an enchantment matters set, probably one that cares about things dying too maybe.
The other mechanic is one I cooked up a while back and thought was kind neat.
Aethertorn Prophet 1U
Creature - Human Wizard (U)
When ~ enters the battlefield, scry 1.
Disperse 2 (You may exile this permanent from the battlefield to add 2 mana to your mana pool in any combination of this card's colors.)
0/1
Thoughtmage Initiate 3U
Creature - Human Wizard (R)
Flash
When ~ enters the battlefield, scry 1.
When you disperse ~, draw a card.
Disperse 2
2/2
Note: I hadn't actually noticed how similar those two were when I was first designing them, this was a while ago.
Living Lightning R
Creature - Elemental (U)
Haste
When you disperse ~, it deals 3 damage to you.
Disperse 3
2/1
Meditative Master 2UR
Creature - Human Monk (U)
Focus (At the beginning of the end step, if this creature was not dealt damage this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on it. If this creature is dealt damage, remove all +1/+1 counters from it.)
Remove three +1/+1 counters from ~, T: Draw a card.
1/2
Heightened Senses UR
Enchantment - Aura (U)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has Focus.
Skill-shot Archer 2G
Creature - Human Archer (U)
Focus G, Remove a +1/+1 counter from ~, T: ~ deals 2 damage to target creature with flying.
2/2
Transcend might want a subtype to help tie them together, other than that the problem with the mechanic is how costly cards will have to be due to the value of getting the creature then the enchantment. Look at bestow cards, transcend cards will usually have to cost as much as bestowing did. So the cards will look unattractive. Your card should cost a minimum 5 but would probably be pushed to 6 with a slightly larger body.
Disperse isn't the type of ability you want to do anywhere near enough to warrant a keyword. Also being any color makes it a color pie problem in every color.
Focus is interesting but considering the value of +1/+1 counters it would probably produce unappealing cards. Look at outlast cards to seethe cost of regularly adding +1/+1 counters, it's a similar choice, attack/block or gain counters, focus just has a way of losing them which could help with the cost. Also unless the goal is tons of feel bad moments the counters should be removed during clean up rather than the endstep so they don't die from the damage they took earlier.
Just an idea I was kicking around the ol' head this morning at work.
Blackheart Speaker 2BB
Creature - Human Shaman (R)
Transcend (When this creature dies, return it to the battlefield as a noncreature enchantment.)
At the beginning of your upkeep, draw a card and lose 1 life.
2/2
Basically a value mechanic, would slot it into an enchantment matters set, probably one that cares about things dying too maybe.
In line with what user_938036 said, I would probably make Transcend optional, like Bestow, to make them more attractive as well as more controlled.
You could, like Bestow, make it an alternate cost to introduce the effect, but I don't think that works well here, so I recommend making it (or at least trying it out as) an ability you pay for when the creature dies.
I'm not entirely convinced this has the design space for a whole mechanic, given non aura enchantments aren't something usually done at common or at high frequency in general. I'd be wary of that and if it is put into a set, at least not try to make the mechanic super important so you don't have to worry too much about pushing the frequency beyond its viable design space.
The other mechanic is one I cooked up a while back and thought was kind neat.
Aethertorn Prophet 1U
Creature - Human Wizard (U)
When ~ enters the battlefield, scry 1.
Disperse 2 (You may exile this permanent from the battlefield to add 2 mana to your mana pool in any combination of this card's colors.)
0/1
I also agree with user_938036 on Disperse, I really don't think this is an effect you really want to do a lot of. It's much more of a splash, and not a staple, ability. It seems pretty fundamentally flawed to me as mechanic, but it could probably be perfectly good on some individual cards.
Meditative Master 2UR
Creature - Human Monk (U)
Focus (At the beginning of the end step, if this creature was not dealt damage this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on it. If this creature is dealt damage, remove all +1/+1 counters from it.)
Remove three +1/+1 counters from ~, T: Draw a card.
1/2
Cards like Deathcoil Wurm seem to suggest that this should be 'wasn't' not 'was not'. The second part should be a whenever, not, if.
This has memory and tracking issues, and I don't like how much uncapped cumulative potential it is has when it's going to be going on plenty of low rarity cards, and though it has a limiting factor, it's one that arguably increases the cards impact as both players fight to control the creatures stats.
Compare to Evolve, which requires more active deckbuilding to accumulate, and less about whether your opponent has many or even any burn cards. It's not terrible in comparison, but Evolve is the clear winner IMO, and makes Focus look sub-optimal. Obviously, playtesting is necessary to be conclusive about such gameplay issues.
EDIT: Another point I kinda forgot to mention, the condition to Evolve encourages you to play more cards of increasing size, which is something the game wants you to do anyway, and therefore a good condition. But Focus encourages stalling and avoiding combat which the kind of gameplay that is generally actively avoided more than anything else.
Blackheart Speaker
2BB
Creature - Human Shaman (R)
Transcend (When this creature dies, return it to the battlefield as a noncreature enchantment.)
At the beginning of your upkeep, draw a card and lose 1 life.
2/2
Basically a value mechanic, would slot it into an enchantment matters set, probably one that cares about things dying too maybe.
The other mechanic is one I cooked up a while back and thought was kind neat.
Aethertorn Prophet
1U
Creature - Human Wizard (U)
When ~ enters the battlefield, scry 1.
Disperse 2 (You may exile this permanent from the battlefield to add 2 mana to your mana pool in any combination of this card's colors.)
0/1
Thoughtmage Initiate
3U
Creature - Human Wizard (R)
Flash
When ~ enters the battlefield, scry 1.
When you disperse ~, draw a card.
Disperse 2
2/2
Note: I hadn't actually noticed how similar those two were when I was first designing them, this was a while ago.
Living Lightning
R
Creature - Elemental (U)
Haste
When you disperse ~, it deals 3 damage to you.
Disperse 3
2/1
Meditative Master
2UR
Creature - Human Monk (U)
Focus (At the beginning of the end step, if this creature was not dealt damage this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on it. If this creature is dealt damage, remove all +1/+1 counters from it.)
Remove three +1/+1 counters from ~, T: Draw a card.
1/2
Heightened Senses
UR
Enchantment - Aura (U)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has Focus.
Skill-shot Archer
2G
Creature - Human Archer (U)
Focus
G, Remove a +1/+1 counter from ~, T: ~ deals 2 damage to target creature with flying.
2/2
UBBreya's Toybox (Competitive, Combo)WR
RGodzilla, King of the MonstersG
-Retired Decks-
UBLazav, Dimir Mastermind (Competitive, UB Voltron/Control)UB
"Knowledge is such a burden. Release it. Release all your fears to me."
—Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
Disperse isn't the type of ability you want to do anywhere near enough to warrant a keyword. Also being any color makes it a color pie problem in every color.
Focus is interesting but considering the value of +1/+1 counters it would probably produce unappealing cards. Look at outlast cards to seethe cost of regularly adding +1/+1 counters, it's a similar choice, attack/block or gain counters, focus just has a way of losing them which could help with the cost. Also unless the goal is tons of feel bad moments the counters should be removed during clean up rather than the endstep so they don't die from the damage they took earlier.
In line with what user_938036 said, I would probably make Transcend optional, like Bestow, to make them more attractive as well as more controlled.
You could, like Bestow, make it an alternate cost to introduce the effect, but I don't think that works well here, so I recommend making it (or at least trying it out as) an ability you pay for when the creature dies.
I'm not entirely convinced this has the design space for a whole mechanic, given non aura enchantments aren't something usually done at common or at high frequency in general. I'd be wary of that and if it is put into a set, at least not try to make the mechanic super important so you don't have to worry too much about pushing the frequency beyond its viable design space.
I also agree with user_938036 on Disperse, I really don't think this is an effect you really want to do a lot of. It's much more of a splash, and not a staple, ability. It seems pretty fundamentally flawed to me as mechanic, but it could probably be perfectly good on some individual cards.
Cards like Deathcoil Wurm seem to suggest that this should be 'wasn't' not 'was not'. The second part should be a whenever, not, if.
This has memory and tracking issues, and I don't like how much uncapped cumulative potential it is has when it's going to be going on plenty of low rarity cards, and though it has a limiting factor, it's one that arguably increases the cards impact as both players fight to control the creatures stats.
Compare to Evolve, which requires more active deckbuilding to accumulate, and less about whether your opponent has many or even any burn cards. It's not terrible in comparison, but Evolve is the clear winner IMO, and makes Focus look sub-optimal. Obviously, playtesting is necessary to be conclusive about such gameplay issues.
EDIT: Another point I kinda forgot to mention, the condition to Evolve encourages you to play more cards of increasing size, which is something the game wants you to do anyway, and therefore a good condition. But Focus encourages stalling and avoiding combat which the kind of gameplay that is generally actively avoided more than anything else.
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice