Mana Scales helps you dig out of mana screw, but unlike my prior fiasco of Primordial Lands, doesn't allow you to totally skimp on lands in your deck.
The lands help alleviate mana flood. But they should never feel unfair, because spending a whole turn or a significant chunk of one putting out a generic 2/2 for 3 tends not to win games. But at least it gives you something to do.
Mana scales is insane. Hello, 1/2 land decks (or lands.dec), followed with an arranged deck AND a draw.
Whoops. Misread. Looks ok, but feels like a decent deck build can still do better. That is, If I'm playing this, maybe I should be playing a land instead.
The Bear-maker cycle should be typeless, yes - we don't need fetchable utility lands. Otherwise they're probably fine, although I'd change the clause to "ETB tapped unless you control fewer lands than each opponent" so they're not drawbackless if nobody is ahead.
Another series of lands. These are similar to Dryad Arbor, but unlike the previous mana flood alleviating land a the top of this thread, they are a bit more wacky... and probably a bit more underpowered/overpowered.
I actually reduced the cost for School of Evocation from X1R to XR just before posting it. Just seeing that XR in the cost looks frightening, but keep in mind that you also have to tap this land and discard specifically a Mountain, so it's more like X1R anyway. It can transform your extra Mountains into Shocks (for essentially 4 mana instead of 1), Lightning Strikes (for 5 instead of 2), and Flame Lashes (for 6 instead of 4). I think a good way to test this card is to see how it does if put into a Standard mono red deck in place of Sunscorched Deserts. This card may indeed be abusive in a limited mono-red deck, especially if you are willing to limit yourself to 1 color while drafting.
But then I decided to remake those cards because they didn't really capture the essence of what a "school" is. These new versions are more flavorful. These cards are vaguely comparable to a mix of Dryad Arbor, Kher Keep, and Vitu-Ghazi, the City Tree. These School cards are powerful and can take over a stalled game. But I don't think they would make much of a difference in Standard.
ATTACHMENTS
School of Abjuration
School of Evocation
School of Illusion
School of Necromancy
School of Transmutation
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The lands help alleviate mana flood. But they should never feel unfair, because spending a whole turn or a significant chunk of one putting out a generic 2/2 for 3 tends not to win games. But at least it gives you something to do.
Mana scales is insane. Hello, 1/2 land decks (or lands.dec), followed with an arranged deck AND a draw.Whoops. Misread. Looks ok, but feels like a decent deck build can still do better. That is, If I'm playing this, maybe I should be playing a land instead.
The lands should lose their basic land types.
"Sometimes, the situation is outracing a threat, sometimes it's ignoring it, and sometimes it involves sideboarding in 4x Hope//Pray." --Doug Linn
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Black and Green are also overpowered, but not the degree of red.
"Sometimes, the situation is outracing a threat, sometimes it's ignoring it, and sometimes it involves sideboarding in 4x Hope//Pray." --Doug Linn
I actually reduced the cost for School of Evocation from X1R to XR just before posting it. Just seeing that XR in the cost looks frightening, but keep in mind that you also have to tap this land and discard specifically a Mountain, so it's more like X1R anyway. It can transform your extra Mountains into Shocks (for essentially 4 mana instead of 1), Lightning Strikes (for 5 instead of 2), and Flame Lashes (for 6 instead of 4). I think a good way to test this card is to see how it does if put into a Standard mono red deck in place of Sunscorched Deserts. This card may indeed be abusive in a limited mono-red deck, especially if you are willing to limit yourself to 1 color while drafting.
But then I decided to remake those cards because they didn't really capture the essence of what a "school" is. These new versions are more flavorful. These cards are vaguely comparable to a mix of Dryad Arbor, Kher Keep, and Vitu-Ghazi, the City Tree. These School cards are powerful and can take over a stalled game. But I don't think they would make much of a difference in Standard.