Ok, so I was planning to start a gameplay channel for MTG soon, and I was trying to find a way to make it different from everyone else. Later that day, I was making some random cards and I just go "HOLY YES THATS IT!"
So yes, Crafted Commander became a thing. Crafted commander is proxied commander deck, except your commander is a custom card. I would like some thoughts as far as what you think of it.
So anyways, within our playgroup, we approved the following cards, If you would like to post suggestions on them.
Ben, the ceaseless Hunger (1BRG)
At the beginning of your upkeep, create x 1/1 saporlings, where x is the number or +1/+1 counters on Ben
Eminence - If Ben is in your Command Zone or on the battlefield, creatures you control gain devour 3. Whenever a creature you control is sacrificed to a creature with devour, create 3 1/1 saporlings
2/3
----
Talkao, the Entitled (1RB)
When Talkao enters the battlefield, you become the monarch
Pay 3 life: you become the monarch
Eminence - At the beginning of each player's combat phase, if Talkao is in the Command Zone or the Battlefield and that player is not the monarch, tht player created a 1/1 assassin with menace and haste
4/2
------
Kalmon, the Kid (WB)
Draw an extra card during your draw step
Discard 5 cards: transform Kalmon
2/1
=====
Kalmon, the Insane
Trample, Wither
Skip your draw step
At the beginning of combat on your turn, discard a card. If you cannot, transform Kalmon
2WBB: Draw a card
16/13
---------
Judge of the Xios (WUR)
Once per turn, you may pay X. If you do, increase or decrease the number or value on a spell or ability by X until end of turn
XXX: increase or decrease the number or value on a spell or ability by X until end of turn
WUR: Create 3 1/1 locusts with flying and haste
1/4
-------
Karz Zil, Corrupt Banker (1WUU)
X: X is the total number of bribery counters on all creatures. put a bribery counter on target creature
Creatures with bribery counters on them are 0/1, and cannot attack or block. At the beginning of each Players upkeep, they draw a card for each creature with a bribery counter on it
1/4
------
Merci, Gunner (BG)
Whenever Merci deals combat damage to a creature, that creature loses indestructible until end of turn
As long as it is your turn, Merci has First strike and deathtouch
T: Merci fights target creature
1/1
--------
Mac, Brawler (WBR)
Haste
Mac attacks each combat if able
Creatures you control have wither
whenever Mac attacks, creatures you control have double strike until end of turn
3/2
---------
(This one was contraversial among the playgroup) Ann, Time Bender (3UU)
T: Put an unstability counter on Ann. Then, for each unstability counter on Ann, at random, a player skips their next turn.
7WU: The next time you would skip a turn, instead take your turn as if it weren't skipped.
1/9
-------
Ash the Maker (2)
X: Create an X/X Ledgendary Golem named Dust, following the rules:
-If W was paid, Dust has Vigilance
-If U was paid, Dust has Flying
-If B was paid, Dust has Wither
-If R was paid, Dust has Haste
-If G was paid, Dust has Trample
3/1
--------
Hans, the Trickster (0)
(Hans is Blue/Black)
X:Exile target nonland permanent with CMC X, then return it to the battlefield as an Enchantment-Aura attatched to Hans under your control
1:Exile all cards attatched to Hans. Deal X damage to target player, where X is the CMC of all cards exiled this way this turn.
0/1
-----------
That was all of the normal ones. My group also wanted to do an Undertale themed round of Commanders
(Blank stare) FIIIIIIIIINE
------------
Mettaton NEO (5)
0: Create a 3/1 Laser with haste and, "Exile this card at the end of combat" and a 3/1 Leg Attack with haste and, "Exile this card at the end of combat" Only activate this ability once per turn.
5: Create a 5/1 Disco Ball with "When this card attacks, choose a color sequence of Blue and Orange, 3 long. Then the defending player attempts to guess it. For each color they get incorrect, they take 5 damage. Exile this card at the end of combat"
X: Create a Glamburger Artifact Token with X yum counters on it. It has "Sacrifice this artifact: gain X life, where X are the number of Yum counters on Glamburger"
5/5
(God help us)
-----------
Chara, the Heartless (6BBRR)
Whenever Chara attacks, create 5 5/1 Knife creature tokens tapped and attacking. Exile them at the end of combat.
Menace, Double Strike, Deathtouch, Trample
8/3
-----------------
Papyrus, the Aspiring (WRG
At the beginning of your upkeep, create a 1/1 flying deathtouch Spaghetti Monster Creature token.
Sacrifice a Spaghetti: target creature deals no combat damage this turn
3/3
------------
And c'mon. I couldn'g let an undertale list get away without this one:
Sans, Lazy Skeleton (WUB)
Skip your Combat Step
At the beginning of each upkeep, if Sans is the only creature you control and you took damage last turn, transform Sans
0/1
===========
Sans, Final Guard
U: Phase out
U: Phase in
Whenever Sans Phases out, create a 4/1 Gaster Blaster with Flying. Then, create a 1/1 bone for each creature you control.
1/1
---------------------
Well, that's it for now. If we get enough more approved, Ill post them here.
So if you would be so kind, tell me what you think of Crafted Commanders and the cards posted here.
Have a good day!
Infinity
OH WAIT! Also tell me who your favorite commander from here is. That's all
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Some people call me Deuce. I prefer to be called Deuce
GENERATION 11: The first time you see this, copy and paste it into your signature and add 1 to the generation number. It's a social experiment.
Custom commanders are a pretty popular idea that have been around for a while. And, of course, anything you can get your playgroup to agree to goes in Casual. However, this idea can veer off the rails because (typically) the cards aren't playtested beforehand, which means that... unforeseen balance issues can occur. Even R&D, who do extensively playtest their cards, accidentally let things slip from time to time. You might be letting someone dominate the entire meta without knowing it when you play with a fresh batch of custom commanders.
These cards in particular are hard to evaluate because a) they're so wordy and ability-heavy and b) their formatting is not the best, to the extent that they don't have type lines. Quite a few of the abilities are out of color and unbalanced on their very face, such as Kalmon's extra card draw and ability to transform into a 16/13(!) for free, and Hans's X activated ability. You posted so many cards that it's difficult to give any kind of specific advice but I'd suggest doing your research on design. Mark Rosewater's Making Magic columns are a good place to start.
That all being said, there's definitely some original thinking going on here, and I particularly like out-of-the-box ideas like Mettaton's minigame of secretly choosing a sequence to guess, Kalmon's "power up the transformation/expend the power" concept (although the colors and balance need work), and Ash's Volver-ish build your own creature deal.
Added creature types to EVERYTHING
Added Flavor Text
Formated it... correctly
Ben's mana cost was increased
(1BRG-3BRG)
Balanced Kalmon's mana cost/transformed power
(WB-3WB)(16/13-13/10)(Now discard 2 cards at your upkeep, not 1)
Changed Merci's Mana Cost
(BG-1BG)
Changed Ann's Mana cost and ability cost
(3UU-5UU, 7UU-10UU)
Changed Han's X ability Cost
(X-XX)
Changed Papyrus's Mana Cost
(WRG-1WRG)
Everything here is DEFINITLY MYTHIC
Ben, the ceaseless Hunger (3BRG)
Legendary Creature - Human Eater
At the beginning of your upkeep, create x 1/1 saporlings, where x is the number or +1/+1 counters on ~
Eminence - If ~ is in your Command Zone or on the battlefield, creatures you control gain devour 3. Whenever a creature you control is sacrificed to a creature with devour, create 3 1/1 saporlings
“Eggroll? 5-Dolla”
2/3
----
Talkao, the Entitled (2RB)
Ledgendary Creature - Human Rogue
When Talkao enters the battlefield, you become the monarch
Pay 3 life: you become the monarch
Eminence - At the beginning of each player's combat phase, if Talkao is in the Command Zone or the Battlefield and that player is not the monarch, tht player created a 1/1 assassin with menace and haste
“What is mine is mine. What is yours, it’s still mine”
4/2
------
Kalmon, the Kid (3WB)
Legendary Creature - Human
Draw an extra card during your draw step
Discard 5 cards: transform ~
“What do the expanses of imagination hold this day?”
2/1
=====
Kalmon, the Insane
Legendary Creature - Giant Bezerker
Trample, Wither
Skip your draw step
At the beginning of combat on your turn, discard two cards. If you cannot, transform ~
1WWBB: Draw a card
13/10
---------
Judge of the Xios (WUR)
Legendary Creature - Human
Once per turn, you may pay X. If you do, increase or decrease the number or value on a spell or ability by X until end of turn
XXX: increase or decrease the number or value on a spell or ability by X until end of turn
WUR: Create 3 1/1 locusts with flying and haste
1/4
-------
Karz Zil, Corrupt Banker (1WUU)
Legendary Creature - Human
X: X is the total number of bribery counters on all creatures. put a bribery counter on target creature
Creatures with bribery counters on them are 0/1, and cannot attack or block. At the beginning of each Player’s upkeep, they draw a card for each creature with a bribery counter on it
1/4
------
Merci, Gunner (1BG)
Legendary Creature - Human Rogue
Whenever Merci deals combat damage to a creature, that creature loses indestructible until end of turn
As long as it is your turn, Merci has First strike and deathtouch
T: Merci fights target creature
1/1
--------
Mac, Brawler (WBR)
Legendary Creature - Human Fighter
Haste
Mac attacks each combat if able
Creatures you control have wither
Whenever Mac attacks, creatures you control have double strike until end of turn
3/2
---------
Ann, Time Bender (5UU)
Legendary Creature- Gnome Mutant
T: Put an unstability counter on Ann. Then, for each unstability counter on Ann, at random, a player skips their next turn.
10UU: The next time you would skip a turn, instead take your turn as if it weren't skipped.
“As the fabric of time and space continue to unravel, she does not stop. Only when there is nothing left for her to search for, will the fabric be sewn together again, should it still exist”
1/9
-------
Ash the Maker (2)
Legendary Creature - Cyborg Wizard
X: Create an X/X Legendary Golem named Dust, following the rules:
-If W was paid, Dust has Vigilance
-If U was paid, Dust has Flying
-If B was paid, Dust has Wither
-If R was paid, Dust has Haste
-If G was paid, Dust has Trample
3/1
--------
Hans, the Trickster (0)
Legendary Creature - Spirit Wizard
(Hans is Blue/Black)
XX:Exile target nonland permanent with CMC X, then return it to the battlefield as an Enchantment-Aura attached to Hans under your control
1:Exile all cards attached to Hans. Deal X damage to target player, where X is the CMC of all cards exiled this way this turn.
0/1
-----------
That was all of the normal ones. My group also wanted to do an Undertale themed round of Commanders
(Blank stare) FIIIIIIIIINE
------------
Mettaton NEO (5)
Legendary Creature - Robot
0: Create a 3/1 Laser with haste and, "Exile this card at the end of combat" and a 3/1 Leg Attack with haste and, "Exile this card at the end of combat" Only activate this ability once per turn.
5: Create a 5/1 Disco Ball with "When this card attacks, choose a color sequence of Blue and Orange, 3 long. Then the defending player attempts to guess it. For each color they get incorrect, they take 5 damage. Exile this card at the end of combat"
X: Create a Glamburger Artifact Token with X yum counters on it. It has "Sacrifice this artifact: gain X life, where X are the number of Yum counters on Glamburger"
5/5
(God help us)
-----------
Chara, the Heartless (6BBRR)
Legendary Creature - DEMON
Whenever Chara attacks, create 5 5/1 Knife creature tokens tapped and attacking. Exile them at the end of combat
Menace, Double Strike, Deathtouch, Trample
“Since when were you in control?”
8/3
-----------------
Papyrus, the Aspiring (1WRG)
Legendary Creature - Skeleton
At the beginning of your upkeep, create a 1/1 flying deathtouch Spaghetti Monster Creature token.
Sacrifice a Spaghetti: target creature deals no combat damage this turn
“NYEH HEH HEH!”
3/3
------------
Sans, Lazy Skeleton (WUB)
Legendary Creature - Skeleton
Skip your Combat Step
At the beginning of each upkeep, if Sans is the only creature you control and you took damage last turn, transform Sans
“Hey kid, want to go to Grillby’s?”
0/1
===========
Sans, Final Guard
Legendary Creature - Skeleton Wizard
U: Phase out
U: Phase in
Whenever Sans Phases out, create a 4/1 Gaster Blaster with Flying. Then, create a 1/1 bone for each creature you control.
“Hey kid, want to have a Bad Time?”
1/1
---------------------
Private Mod Note
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Some people call me Deuce. I prefer to be called Deuce
GENERATION 11: The first time you see this, copy and paste it into your signature and add 1 to the generation number. It's a social experiment.
Overall feedback, please take more care when formatting your cards. If something is a mana symbol, make it a mana symbol: W not W. As is, these cards are hard to read. I'm just going to go through and give card by card feedback.
Ben, the ceaseless Hunger - This card can't be templated cleanly. It has two different eminence abilities and they need to be seperated. This card also needs a name change. The Ceaseless Hunger is an already existing title that shouldn't be reused. How about "Branch Blossom, the Consuming." I'm imagining a fungus in a similar vein to Slimefoot except it is trying to grow and reproduce to literally eradicate the rest of the local ecosystem. It's also not clear to me if you intend for Ben to have devour. As is, I think it does, but I'm not sure. I also don't like that the card has multiple different token making abilities. It feels redundant and messy. If it were me, I'd choose one and balance the card appropriately.
Talkao, the Entitled - Seems reasonable to me. The only thing I find clunky is that the card has multiple abilities that accomplish the same thing, becoming the monarch. If it were me, I'd remove the etb ability or remove the activated ability. Choose one and the design becomes cleaner and simpler.
Kalmon, the Kid - This card is a massive color pie break. This is a solidly blue card. White and black just don't get card draw like this and don't get giant leviathan what is seen on the backside of the card. The wither ability seems out of place and pointless to me as well. It's just keyword soup. Final thought, 13/10 seems super random. 13/13 seems thematically appropriate to me just because of the lore behind the number 13. 13/13 is also plenty large enough and will easily two shot people in commander. In general, unless you have a gameplay reason why a creature should have uneven stats, just give it square stats.
Judge of the Xios - This is a super degenerate combo commander and is just generally busted IMO. As with some of your other designs, I don't like that this card has multiple abilities that do the same thing. Choose one and the card becomes cleaner.
Karz Zil, Corrupt Banker - Seems fine. Nice call back to Gwafa
Merci, Gunner - This card is going to be very counter intuitive for a large bulk of players. I wouldn't generally reccomend mixing first strike and fight. They don't work together and people expect them to. I'm also not sure a "gunner" should be fighting. I feel like it should be punching.
Mac, Brawler - This card is exceptionally pushed. I guess its fine for commander only products but would never be acceptable in standard. It is kind of a theme of my comments here, but I'm really not sure why this is granting wither. Wither is a weird keyword to just be throwing around. This feels keyword soupy to me.
Ann, Time Bender - I really like the idea of this card but it doesn't pass the mental playtest. Figuring out who is going to go next is going to be very difficult when you are skipping five turns chosen at random. It just seems really annoying to me to have to track how many turns each player is going to have to skip. I like the idea, but the scaling on this seems problematic.
Ash the Maker - Just like Marath this needs to have an "x can't be zero" clause. Or else it needs to have some additional cost on the activated ability preventing people from making 0/0 tokens for free infinitely many times. A Rootwalla clause would also work. As is, this card is degenerate and goes infinite trivially. In general I think this kind of design will be a pain to track. You can produce up to 32 different possible combinations of keywords and tracking which tokens have which keyword will be a pain.
Hans, the Trickster - As written this card doesn't work. It needs to say something like "Exile target nonland permanent with CMC X, then return it to the battlefield as an Enchantment-Aura with "Enchant Creature" attached to Hans under your control. (it has no other types or abilities)" I also don't know why this is bothering to exile the target. It doesn't accomplish anything mechanically. I also don't understand why this is bothering to turn things into auras at all. It seems really pointless. I just don't understand this card I guess. I feel like you could get essentially the same game play by just doing..
Hans, the Trickster 0
Legendary Creature - Spirit Wizard
(Hans is Blue/Black) XX :Exile target nonland permanent with CMC X, and put X charge counters on Hans 1, Remove all Charge Counters from Hans : Hans deals damage equal to the number of counters removed to target player.
0/1
.. In terms of balance, this card seems super busted to me. Its a zero cost card that lets you repeatedly exile any nonland permanent at an efficient rate and then randomly dome people for huge amounts of damage. It seems way too efficient.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
- Manite
Thank you for your suggestions Harlannowick, let me just trace back through them really quickly.
Ben, the ceaseless Hunger - This card can't be templated cleanly. It has two different eminence abilities and they need to be seperated. This card also needs a name change. The Ceaseless Hunger is an already existing title that shouldn't be reused. How about "Branch Blossom, the Consuming." I'm imagining a fungus in a similar vein to Slimefoot except it is trying to grow and reproduce to literally eradicate the rest of the local ecosystem. It's also not clear to me if you intend for Ben to have devour. As is, I think it does, but I'm not sure. I also don't like that the card has multiple different token making abilities. It feels redundant and messy. If it were me, I'd choose one and balance the card appropriately.
Yeah, I kind of see that the first ability makes it a bit messy, and I suppose I could split the rest into two eminence abilities. Also, I had a great idea for the name:
Salty Ben, the All-Devouring 1BRG
Legendary Creature - Human Eater
Eminence - If ~ is in your Command Zone or on the battlefield, creatures you control gain devour 3.
Eminence - If ~ is in your Command Zone or on the battlefield, whenever a creature you control is sacrificed to a creature with devour, create 3 1/1 saporlings
“Eggroll? 5-Dolla”
2/3
Talkao, the Entitled - Seems reasonable to me. The only thing I find clunky is that the card has multiple abilities that accomplish the same thing, becoming the monarch. If it were me, I'd remove the etb ability or remove the activated ability. Choose one and the design becomes cleaner and simpler.
Ok, guess the two effects are kind of redundant. Guess ill pitch the ETB trigger.
Talkao, the Entitled 2RB
Ledgendary Creature - Human Rogue
Pay 3 life: you become the monarch
Eminence - At the beginning of each player's combat phase, if Talkao is in the Command Zone or the Battlefield and that player is not the monarch, tht player created a 1/1 assassin with menace and haste
“What is mine is mine. What is yours, it’s still mine”
4/2
Kalmon, the Kid - This card is a massive color pie break. This is a solidly blue card. White and black just don't get card draw like this and don't get giant leviathan what is seen on the backside of the card. The wither ability seems out of place and pointless to me as well. It's just keyword soup. Final thought, 13/10 seems super random. 13/13 seems thematically appropriate to me just because of the lore behind the number 13. 13/13 is also plenty large enough and will easily two shot people in commander. In general, unless you have a gameplay reason why a creature should have uneven stats, just give it square stats.
Ok, yeah, I agree with the white being a color break. I think black still fits due to the fact that is has a bunch of self-harming card draw, like phyrexian arena. Also i guess it couldnt hurt to make him a 13/13.
Kalmon, the Kid 3UUB
Legendary Creature - Human
Draw an extra card during your draw step
Discard 5 cards: transform ~
“What do the expanses of imagination hold this day?”
2/1
=====
Kalmon, the Insane
Legendary Creature - Giant Bezerker
Trample
Skip your draw step
At the beginning of combat on your turn, discard two cards. If you cannot, transform ~ 1UUBB: Draw a card
13/13
Judge of the Xios - This is a super degenerate combo commander and is just generally busted IMO. As with some of your other designs, I don't like that this card has multiple abilities that do the same thing. Choose one and the card becomes cleaner.
I'll fix that...
Judge of the Xios WUR
Legendary Creature - Human XXX: increase or decrease the number or value on a spell or ability by X until end of turn WUR: Create 3 1/1 locusts with flying and haste
1/4
Karz Zil, Corrupt Banker - Seems fine. Nice call back to Gwafa
Guess I did something right.
Karz Zil, Corrupt Banker 1WUU
Legendary Creature - Human X: X is the total number of bribery counters on all creatures. put a bribery counter on target creature
Creatures with bribery counters on them are 0/1, and cannot attack or block. At the beginning of each Player’s upkeep, they draw a card for each creature with a bribery counter on it
1/4
Merci, Gunner - This card is going to be very counter intuitive for a large bulk of players. I wouldn't generally reccomend mixing first strike and fight. They don't work together and people expect them to. I'm also not sure a "gunner" should be fighting. I feel like it should be punching.
Well, the entire point was to line it up to kill any creature it fought. It could be heavily simplified though:
Merci, Gunner BG
Legendary Creature - Human Rogue T: Target creature loses indestructible until end of turn. Then, destroy that creature
1/1
Mac, Brawler - This card is exceptionally pushed. I guess its fine for commander only products but would never be acceptable in standard. It is kind of a theme of my comments here, but I'm really not sure why this is granting wither. Wither is a weird keyword to just be throwing around. This feels keyword soupy to me.
Ok, to answer the Wither question, my brain goes "Underused keywords... hmmm..... WITHER!"
Mac, Brawler WBR
Legendary Creature - Human Fighter
Haste
Mac attacks each combat if able
Whenever Mac attacks, creatures you control have double strike until end of turn
3/2
Ann, Time Bender - I really like the idea of this card but it doesn't pass the mental playtest. Figuring out who is going to go next is going to be very difficult when you are skipping five turns chosen at random. It just seems really annoying to me to have to track how many turns each player is going to have to skip. I like the idea, but the scaling on this seems problematic.
So, I had a struggle with this too. I think the best hope here is to leave it to the playgroup and let them devise their own method.
Ann, Time Bender 5UU
Legendary Creature- Gnome Mutant
T: Put an unstability counter on Ann. Then, for each unstability counter on Ann, at random, a player skips their next turn. 10UU: The next time you would skip a turn, instead take your turn as if it weren't skipped.
“As the fabric of time and space continue to unravel, she does not stop. Only when there is nothing left for her to search for, will the fabric be sewn together again, should it still exist”
1/9
Ash the Maker - Just like Marath this needs to have an "x can't be zero" clause. Or else it needs to have some additional cost on the activated ability preventing people from making 0/0 tokens for free infinitely many times. A Rootwalla clause would also work. As is, this card is degenerate and goes infinite trivially. In general I think this kind of design will be a pain to track. You can produce up to 32 different possible combinations of keywords and tracking which tokens have which keyword will be a pain.
Dust is legendary, it wouldnt be too hard to keep track since there is only one. And yesh, I guess the infinite 0/0 is a bit broken. So:
Ash the Maker 2
Legendary Creature - Cyborg Wizard
X: Create an X/X Legendary Golem named Dust, following the rules:
-If W was paid, Dust has Vigilance
-If U was paid, Dust has Flying
-If B was paid, Dust has Wither
-If R was paid, Dust has Haste
-If G was paid, Dust has Trample
-Only activate this ability once per turn
3/1
Hans, the Trickster - As written this card doesn't work. It needs to say something like "Exile target nonland permanent with CMC X, then return it to the battlefield as an Enchantment-Aura with "Enchant Creature" attached to Hans under your control. (it has no other types or abilities)" I also don't know why this is bothering to exile the target. It doesn't accomplish anything mechanically. I also don't understand why this is bothering to turn things into auras at all. It seems really pointless. I just don't understand this card I guess. I feel like you could get essentially the same game play by just doing..
Hans, the Trickster 0
Legendary Creature - Spirit Wizard
(Hans is Blue/Black) XX :Exile target nonland permanent with CMC X, and put X charge counters on Hans 1, Remove all Charge Counters from Hans : Hans deals damage equal to the number of counters removed to target player.
0/1
.. In terms of balance, this card seems super busted to me. Its a zero cost card that lets you repeatedly exile any nonland permanent at an efficient rate and then randomly dome people for huge amounts of damage. It seems way too efficient.
Ok, I have a solution, kind of. Make it hard as heck to get the exile ability. So...
Hans, the Trickster 0
Legendary Creature - Spirit Wizard
(Hans is Blue/Black) XXXT:Exile target nonland permanent with CMC X, and put X charge counters on Hans 1, Remove all Charge Counters from Hans : Hans deals damage equal to the number of counters removed to target player.
0/1
Guys, some really good advice has been flowing in, and I couldnt thank you enough! I would like some critiques on the Undertale ones, if possible though.
Mettaton NEO 5
Legendary Creature - Robot 0: Create a 3/1 Laser with haste and, "Exile this card at the end of combat" and a 3/1 Leg Attack with haste and, "Exile this card at the end of combat" Only activate this ability once per turn. 5: Create a 5/1 Disco Ball with "When this card attacks, choose a color sequence of Blue and Orange, 3 long. Then the defending player attempts to guess it. For each color they get incorrect, they take 5 damage. Exile this card at the end of combat" X: Create a Glamburger Artifact Token with X yum counters on it. It has "Sacrifice this artifact: gain X life, where X are the number of Yum counters on Glamburger"
5/5
(God help us)
-----------
Chara, the Heartless 6BBRR
Legendary Creature - DEMON
Whenever Chara attacks, create 5 5/1 Knife creature tokens tapped and attacking. Exile them at the end of combat
Menace, Double Strike, Deathtouch, Trample
“Since when were you in control?”
8/3
-----------------
Papyrus, the Aspiring 1WRG
Legendary Creature - Skeleton
At the beginning of your upkeep, create a 1/1 flying deathtouch Spaghetti Monster Creature token.
Sacrifice a Spaghetti: target creature deals no combat damage this turn
“NYEH HEH HEH!”
3/3
------------
Sans, Lazy Skeleton WUB
Legendary Creature - Skeleton
Skip your Combat Step
At the beginning of each upkeep, if Sans is the only creature you control and you took damage last turn, transform Sans
“Hey kid, want to go to Grillby’s?”
0/1
===========
Sans, Final Guard
Legendary Creature - Skeleton Wizard U: Phase out U: Phase in
Whenever Sans Phases out, create a 4/1 Gaster Blaster with Flying. Then, create a 1/1 bone for each creature you control.
“Hey kid, want to have a Bad Time?”
1/1
---------------------
Have a good day guys!
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Some people call me Deuce. I prefer to be called Deuce
GENERATION 11: The first time you see this, copy and paste it into your signature and add 1 to the generation number. It's a social experiment.
Ok, yeah, I agree with the white being a color break. I think black still fits due to the fact that is has a bunch of self-harming card draw, like phyrexian arena.
In general, you don't need to remove colors to solve a color pie breaking design. The design couldn't really be WB, but it could be WUB if you wanted it to. It can also just be UB or even just mono blue, though more colors tends to work better in commander. Note that Kalem doesn't have self-harming card draw. Kalem just says draw an extra card a turn. There is no life loss payment of any kind. Kalem has other abilities that allow you to discard cards, but these abilities are fully under the owners control meaning they aren't self-harming and aren't connected to the card draw ability at all. Kalem's first ability is solidly blue. No other color gets that effect
Judge of the Xios - I like the simplification, the card is only marginally weaker though. This More or Less style effect just goes infinite very easily Basalt Monolith is just the simplest combo off the top of my head. There are tons more though.
Guess I did something right.
You got many things right. Card design is hard
Well, the entire point was to line it up to kill any creature it fought.
The issue with merci was that it didn't do what you wanted. first strike only works in combat. It doesn't work with fight effects. Merci was able to trade with any creature not kill any creature. Your current design is totally reasonable but the cost seems way too low. Compare it to Avatar of Woe. Sure both cards can technically cost 2 mana, but the hoops you have to jump through for avatar are dramatically higher. Just playing merci on turn 2 and being able to murder every turn will be really oppressive at an EDH table.
Dust is legendary, it wouldn't be too hard to keep track since there is only one. And yesh, I guess the infinite 0/0 is a bit broken.
I totally missed that. Update looks good.
Mettaton NEO - I don't like this design. It has too much going on IMO. I don't think you can even fit this much text on an MTG card in any kind of reasonable way. It also is letting you make infinitely many artifact tokens for free which is super degenerate. less so because the commander is colorless so it's harder to combo with, but still super busted and degenerate. Just off the top of my head, this card makes arcbound ravager infinitely big for free. Krark-Clan ironworks makes infinite mana that you can then use to make infinite 5/1 tokens. I'm sure there are other more degenerate combos using cards I'm less familiar with too.
Chara, the Heartless - I don't know the lore, but this card seems really keyword soupy to me. Its also just kind of comically large and expensive. The design itself is good but it seems way over the top to me. I'd dial it back a bit.
Papyrus, the Aspiring - Baring mino templating issues, this design looks solid to me. My intuition is that it will be miserable to play against and is probably a bit too efficient, but it seems like that's what your going for.
Sans - The front side works fine. It is incredibly easy to flip it using pain lands though. I'm not sure if this is intentional or not. As written, the card seems way too good. The back side is way too efficient and way too easy to get. It seems really easy to just make disgusting amounts of tokens way too quickly. Basically, turn 2 rock, turn 3 play it transform and phase it out making a 4/1 and a 1/1. Turn 4, phase out phase in in response to trigger making another 4/1 and four 1/1s. phase out + phase in again to make another 4/1 and nine 1/1s. Phase out again and make another 4/1 and eighteen 1/1s for a total of 48 power on turn 4. And even more to come next turn because the effect grows exponentially. This just seems super busted.
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Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
- Manite
Mettaton NEO - I don't like this design. It has too much going on IMO. I don't think you can even fit this much text on an MTG card in any kind of reasonable way. It also is letting you make infinitely many artifact tokens for free which is super degenerate. less so because the commander is colorless so it's harder to combo with, but still super busted and degenerate. Just off the top of my head, this card makes arcbound ravager infinitely big for free. Krark-Clan ironworks makes infinite mana that you can then use to make infinite 5/1 tokens. I'm sure there are other more degenerate combos using cards I'm less familiar with too.
Well, I don't think that this card is possible either, Its just a bit too insane. But I mean, it fits the lore. It'll probably be banned.
Chara, the Heartless - I don't know the lore, but this card seems really keyword soupy to me. Its also just kind of comically large and expensive. The design itself is good but it seems way over the top to me. I'd dial it back a bit.
Ok, in case the lore is relevant to you, the main protagonist is Frisk, a normal child. The more people that Frisk kills, the more they start to shift into Chara. This is essentially the maximum power of chara, as shown on the card, at the end of the game when Sans finally uses his true strength (I guess this answers his lore too)
But overall, with chara, I think it may be just a bit too much. Deathtouch is definitly keyword soup, the rest fits, I think. I might make her a 7/3 though...
Chara, the Heartless 6BBRR
Legendary Creature - DEMON
Whenever Chara attacks, create 5 5/1 Knife creature tokens tapped and attacking. Exile them at the end of combat
Menace, Double Strike, Trample
“Since when were you in control?”
7/3
Papyrus, the Aspiring - Baring mino templating issues, this design looks solid to me. My intuition is that it will be miserable to play against and is probably a bit too efficient, but it seems like that's what your going for.
I mean, yeah, I didn't really think the deathtouch part through... That would balance it, probably.
Papyrus, the Aspiring 1WRG
Legendary Creature - Skeleton
At the beginning of your upkeep, create a 1/1 flying Spaghetti Monster Creature token.
Sacrifice a Spaghetti: target creature deals no combat damage this turn
“NYEH HEH HEH!”
3/3
Sans - The front side works fine. It is incredibly easy to flip it using pain lands though. I'm not sure if this is intentional or not. As written, the card seems way too good. The back side is way too efficient and way too easy to get. It seems really easy to just make disgusting amounts of tokens way too quickly. Basically, turn 2 rock, turn 3 play it transform and phase it out making a 4/1 and a 1/1. Turn 4, phase out phase in in response to trigger making another 4/1 and four 1/1s. phase out + phase in again to make another 4/1 and nine 1/1s. Phase out again and make another 4/1 and eighteen 1/1s for a total of 48 power on turn 4. And even more to come next turn because the effect grows exponentially. This just seems super busted.
Ok, the pain land flip was not intentional. I realized this a couple of days back when I showed these to the people who work at my LGS. So, maybe it should be if a creature an opponent controls deals damage to you, not any damage. Which makes me ask a question... are there any cards that force people to attack you? or is the best bet just to curse yourself a lot? Also I think Sans might want to have flash...
Oh, and to solve the HUMUNGOUS power problem, I removed the Phase In ability, so it can only happen once per go-round
Sans, Lazy Skeleton WUB
Legendary Creature - Skeleton
Skip your Combat Step
At the beginning of each upkeep, if Sans is the only creature you control and a creature an opponent controls dealt you damage last turn, transform Sans
“Hey kid, want to go to Grillby’s?”
0/1
===========
Sans, Final Guard
Legendary Creature - Skeleton Wizard U: Phase out
Whenever Sans Phases out, create a 4/1 Gaster Blaster with Flying. Then, create a 1/1 bone for each creature you control.
“Hey kid, want to have a Bad Time?”
1/1
Thanks for the feedback so much! These just feel so much more balanced and useable now!
Oh, and one last thing: If I were to make a 2nd batch of commanders, what are some mechanics you guys would like to see?
Have a good day!
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Some people call me Deuce. I prefer to be called Deuce
GENERATION 11: The first time you see this, copy and paste it into your signature and add 1 to the generation number. It's a social experiment.
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So yes, Crafted Commander became a thing. Crafted commander is proxied commander deck, except your commander is a custom card. I would like some thoughts as far as what you think of it.
So anyways, within our playgroup, we approved the following cards, If you would like to post suggestions on them.
Ben, the ceaseless Hunger (1BRG)
At the beginning of your upkeep, create x 1/1 saporlings, where x is the number or +1/+1 counters on Ben
Eminence - If Ben is in your Command Zone or on the battlefield, creatures you control gain devour 3. Whenever a creature you control is sacrificed to a creature with devour, create 3 1/1 saporlings
2/3
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Talkao, the Entitled (1RB)
When Talkao enters the battlefield, you become the monarch
Pay 3 life: you become the monarch
Eminence - At the beginning of each player's combat phase, if Talkao is in the Command Zone or the Battlefield and that player is not the monarch, tht player created a 1/1 assassin with menace and haste
4/2
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Kalmon, the Kid (WB)
Draw an extra card during your draw step
Discard 5 cards: transform Kalmon
2/1
=====
Kalmon, the Insane
Trample, Wither
Skip your draw step
At the beginning of combat on your turn, discard a card. If you cannot, transform Kalmon
2WBB: Draw a card
16/13
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Judge of the Xios (WUR)
Once per turn, you may pay X. If you do, increase or decrease the number or value on a spell or ability by X until end of turn
XXX: increase or decrease the number or value on a spell or ability by X until end of turn
WUR: Create 3 1/1 locusts with flying and haste
1/4
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Karz Zil, Corrupt Banker (1WUU)
X: X is the total number of bribery counters on all creatures. put a bribery counter on target creature
Creatures with bribery counters on them are 0/1, and cannot attack or block. At the beginning of each Players upkeep, they draw a card for each creature with a bribery counter on it
1/4
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Merci, Gunner (BG)
Whenever Merci deals combat damage to a creature, that creature loses indestructible until end of turn
As long as it is your turn, Merci has First strike and deathtouch
T: Merci fights target creature
1/1
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Mac, Brawler (WBR)
Haste
Mac attacks each combat if able
Creatures you control have wither
whenever Mac attacks, creatures you control have double strike until end of turn
3/2
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(This one was contraversial among the playgroup) Ann, Time Bender (3UU)
T: Put an unstability counter on Ann. Then, for each unstability counter on Ann, at random, a player skips their next turn.
7WU: The next time you would skip a turn, instead take your turn as if it weren't skipped.
1/9
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Ash the Maker (2)
X: Create an X/X Ledgendary Golem named Dust, following the rules:
-If W was paid, Dust has Vigilance
-If U was paid, Dust has Flying
-If B was paid, Dust has Wither
-If R was paid, Dust has Haste
-If G was paid, Dust has Trample
3/1
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Hans, the Trickster (0)
(Hans is Blue/Black)
X:Exile target nonland permanent with CMC X, then return it to the battlefield as an Enchantment-Aura attatched to Hans under your control
1:Exile all cards attatched to Hans. Deal X damage to target player, where X is the CMC of all cards exiled this way this turn.
0/1
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That was all of the normal ones. My group also wanted to do an Undertale themed round of Commanders
(Blank stare) FIIIIIIIIINE
------------
Mettaton NEO (5)
0: Create a 3/1 Laser with haste and, "Exile this card at the end of combat" and a 3/1 Leg Attack with haste and, "Exile this card at the end of combat" Only activate this ability once per turn.
5: Create a 5/1 Disco Ball with "When this card attacks, choose a color sequence of Blue and Orange, 3 long. Then the defending player attempts to guess it. For each color they get incorrect, they take 5 damage. Exile this card at the end of combat"
X: Create a Glamburger Artifact Token with X yum counters on it. It has "Sacrifice this artifact: gain X life, where X are the number of Yum counters on Glamburger"
5/5
(God help us)
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Chara, the Heartless (6BBRR)
Whenever Chara attacks, create 5 5/1 Knife creature tokens tapped and attacking. Exile them at the end of combat.
Menace, Double Strike, Deathtouch, Trample
8/3
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Papyrus, the Aspiring (WRG
At the beginning of your upkeep, create a 1/1 flying deathtouch Spaghetti Monster Creature token.
Sacrifice a Spaghetti: target creature deals no combat damage this turn
3/3
------------
And c'mon. I couldn'g let an undertale list get away without this one:
Sans, Lazy Skeleton (WUB)
Skip your Combat Step
At the beginning of each upkeep, if Sans is the only creature you control and you took damage last turn, transform Sans
0/1
===========
Sans, Final Guard
U: Phase out
U: Phase in
Whenever Sans Phases out, create a 4/1 Gaster Blaster with Flying. Then, create a 1/1 bone for each creature you control.
1/1
---------------------
Well, that's it for now. If we get enough more approved, Ill post them here.
So if you would be so kind, tell me what you think of Crafted Commanders and the cards posted here.
Have a good day!
Infinity
OH WAIT! Also tell me who your favorite commander from here is. That's all
These cards in particular are hard to evaluate because a) they're so wordy and ability-heavy and b) their formatting is not the best, to the extent that they don't have type lines. Quite a few of the abilities are out of color and unbalanced on their very face, such as Kalmon's extra card draw and ability to transform into a 16/13(!) for free, and Hans's X activated ability. You posted so many cards that it's difficult to give any kind of specific advice but I'd suggest doing your research on design. Mark Rosewater's Making Magic columns are a good place to start.
That all being said, there's definitely some original thinking going on here, and I particularly like out-of-the-box ideas like Mettaton's minigame of secretly choosing a sequence to guess, Kalmon's "power up the transformation/expend the power" concept (although the colors and balance need work), and Ash's Volver-ish build your own creature deal.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
And I suppose I do need some research on these kinds of things; that would help a lot.
So, I'll try to format it all better, fix some colors, and ill be back soon!
-Infinity
Added creature types to EVERYTHING
Added Flavor Text
Formated it... correctly
Ben's mana cost was increased
(1BRG-3BRG)
Balanced Kalmon's mana cost/transformed power
(WB-3WB)(16/13-13/10)(Now discard 2 cards at your upkeep, not 1)
Changed Merci's Mana Cost
(BG-1BG)
Changed Ann's Mana cost and ability cost
(3UU-5UU, 7UU-10UU)
Changed Han's X ability Cost
(X-XX)
Changed Papyrus's Mana Cost
(WRG-1WRG)
Everything here is DEFINITLY MYTHIC
Ben, the ceaseless Hunger (3BRG)
Legendary Creature - Human Eater
At the beginning of your upkeep, create x 1/1 saporlings, where x is the number or +1/+1 counters on ~
Eminence - If ~ is in your Command Zone or on the battlefield, creatures you control gain devour 3. Whenever a creature you control is sacrificed to a creature with devour, create 3 1/1 saporlings
“Eggroll? 5-Dolla”
2/3
----
Talkao, the Entitled (2RB)
Ledgendary Creature - Human Rogue
When Talkao enters the battlefield, you become the monarch
Pay 3 life: you become the monarch
Eminence - At the beginning of each player's combat phase, if Talkao is in the Command Zone or the Battlefield and that player is not the monarch, tht player created a 1/1 assassin with menace and haste
“What is mine is mine. What is yours, it’s still mine”
4/2
------
Kalmon, the Kid (3WB)
Legendary Creature - Human
Draw an extra card during your draw step
Discard 5 cards: transform ~
“What do the expanses of imagination hold this day?”
2/1
=====
Kalmon, the Insane
Legendary Creature - Giant Bezerker
Trample, Wither
Skip your draw step
At the beginning of combat on your turn, discard two cards. If you cannot, transform ~
1WWBB: Draw a card
13/10
---------
Judge of the Xios (WUR)
Legendary Creature - Human
Once per turn, you may pay X. If you do, increase or decrease the number or value on a spell or ability by X until end of turn
XXX: increase or decrease the number or value on a spell or ability by X until end of turn
WUR: Create 3 1/1 locusts with flying and haste
1/4
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Karz Zil, Corrupt Banker (1WUU)
Legendary Creature - Human
X: X is the total number of bribery counters on all creatures. put a bribery counter on target creature
Creatures with bribery counters on them are 0/1, and cannot attack or block. At the beginning of each Player’s upkeep, they draw a card for each creature with a bribery counter on it
1/4
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Merci, Gunner (1BG)
Legendary Creature - Human Rogue
Whenever Merci deals combat damage to a creature, that creature loses indestructible until end of turn
As long as it is your turn, Merci has First strike and deathtouch
T: Merci fights target creature
1/1
--------
Mac, Brawler (WBR)
Legendary Creature - Human Fighter
Haste
Mac attacks each combat if able
Creatures you control have wither
Whenever Mac attacks, creatures you control have double strike until end of turn
3/2
---------
Ann, Time Bender (5UU)
Legendary Creature- Gnome Mutant
T: Put an unstability counter on Ann. Then, for each unstability counter on Ann, at random, a player skips their next turn.
10UU: The next time you would skip a turn, instead take your turn as if it weren't skipped.
“As the fabric of time and space continue to unravel, she does not stop. Only when there is nothing left for her to search for, will the fabric be sewn together again, should it still exist”
1/9
-------
Ash the Maker (2)
Legendary Creature - Cyborg Wizard
X: Create an X/X Legendary Golem named Dust, following the rules:
-If W was paid, Dust has Vigilance
-If U was paid, Dust has Flying
-If B was paid, Dust has Wither
-If R was paid, Dust has Haste
-If G was paid, Dust has Trample
3/1
--------
Hans, the Trickster (0)
Legendary Creature - Spirit Wizard
(Hans is Blue/Black)
XX:Exile target nonland permanent with CMC X, then return it to the battlefield as an Enchantment-Aura attached to Hans under your control
1:Exile all cards attached to Hans. Deal X damage to target player, where X is the CMC of all cards exiled this way this turn.
0/1
-----------
That was all of the normal ones. My group also wanted to do an Undertale themed round of Commanders
(Blank stare) FIIIIIIIIINE
------------
Mettaton NEO (5)
Legendary Creature - Robot
0: Create a 3/1 Laser with haste and, "Exile this card at the end of combat" and a 3/1 Leg Attack with haste and, "Exile this card at the end of combat" Only activate this ability once per turn.
5: Create a 5/1 Disco Ball with "When this card attacks, choose a color sequence of Blue and Orange, 3 long. Then the defending player attempts to guess it. For each color they get incorrect, they take 5 damage. Exile this card at the end of combat"
X: Create a Glamburger Artifact Token with X yum counters on it. It has "Sacrifice this artifact: gain X life, where X are the number of Yum counters on Glamburger"
5/5
(God help us)
-----------
Chara, the Heartless (6BBRR)
Legendary Creature - DEMON
Whenever Chara attacks, create 5 5/1 Knife creature tokens tapped and attacking. Exile them at the end of combat
Menace, Double Strike, Deathtouch, Trample
“Since when were you in control?”
8/3
-----------------
Papyrus, the Aspiring (1WRG)
Legendary Creature - Skeleton
At the beginning of your upkeep, create a 1/1 flying deathtouch Spaghetti Monster Creature token.
Sacrifice a Spaghetti: target creature deals no combat damage this turn
“NYEH HEH HEH!”
3/3
------------
Sans, Lazy Skeleton (WUB)
Legendary Creature - Skeleton
Skip your Combat Step
At the beginning of each upkeep, if Sans is the only creature you control and you took damage last turn, transform Sans
“Hey kid, want to go to Grillby’s?”
0/1
===========
Sans, Final Guard
Legendary Creature - Skeleton Wizard
U: Phase out
U: Phase in
Whenever Sans Phases out, create a 4/1 Gaster Blaster with Flying. Then, create a 1/1 bone for each creature you control.
“Hey kid, want to have a Bad Time?”
1/1
---------------------
Ben, the ceaseless Hunger - This card can't be templated cleanly. It has two different eminence abilities and they need to be seperated. This card also needs a name change. The Ceaseless Hunger is an already existing title that shouldn't be reused. How about "Branch Blossom, the Consuming." I'm imagining a fungus in a similar vein to Slimefoot except it is trying to grow and reproduce to literally eradicate the rest of the local ecosystem. It's also not clear to me if you intend for Ben to have devour. As is, I think it does, but I'm not sure. I also don't like that the card has multiple different token making abilities. It feels redundant and messy. If it were me, I'd choose one and balance the card appropriately.
Talkao, the Entitled - Seems reasonable to me. The only thing I find clunky is that the card has multiple abilities that accomplish the same thing, becoming the monarch. If it were me, I'd remove the etb ability or remove the activated ability. Choose one and the design becomes cleaner and simpler.
Kalmon, the Kid - This card is a massive color pie break. This is a solidly blue card. White and black just don't get card draw like this and don't get giant leviathan what is seen on the backside of the card. The wither ability seems out of place and pointless to me as well. It's just keyword soup. Final thought, 13/10 seems super random. 13/13 seems thematically appropriate to me just because of the lore behind the number 13. 13/13 is also plenty large enough and will easily two shot people in commander. In general, unless you have a gameplay reason why a creature should have uneven stats, just give it square stats.
Judge of the Xios - This is a super degenerate combo commander and is just generally busted IMO. As with some of your other designs, I don't like that this card has multiple abilities that do the same thing. Choose one and the card becomes cleaner.
Karz Zil, Corrupt Banker - Seems fine. Nice call back to Gwafa
Merci, Gunner - This card is going to be very counter intuitive for a large bulk of players. I wouldn't generally reccomend mixing first strike and fight. They don't work together and people expect them to. I'm also not sure a "gunner" should be fighting. I feel like it should be punching.
Mac, Brawler - This card is exceptionally pushed. I guess its fine for commander only products but would never be acceptable in standard. It is kind of a theme of my comments here, but I'm really not sure why this is granting wither. Wither is a weird keyword to just be throwing around. This feels keyword soupy to me.
Ann, Time Bender - I really like the idea of this card but it doesn't pass the mental playtest. Figuring out who is going to go next is going to be very difficult when you are skipping five turns chosen at random. It just seems really annoying to me to have to track how many turns each player is going to have to skip. I like the idea, but the scaling on this seems problematic.
Ash the Maker - Just like Marath this needs to have an "x can't be zero" clause. Or else it needs to have some additional cost on the activated ability preventing people from making 0/0 tokens for free infinitely many times. A Rootwalla clause would also work. As is, this card is degenerate and goes infinite trivially. In general I think this kind of design will be a pain to track. You can produce up to 32 different possible combinations of keywords and tracking which tokens have which keyword will be a pain.
Hans, the Trickster - As written this card doesn't work. It needs to say something like "Exile target nonland permanent with CMC X, then return it to the battlefield as an Enchantment-Aura with "Enchant Creature" attached to Hans under your control. (it has no other types or abilities)" I also don't know why this is bothering to exile the target. It doesn't accomplish anything mechanically. I also don't understand why this is bothering to turn things into auras at all. It seems really pointless. I just don't understand this card I guess. I feel like you could get essentially the same game play by just doing..
Hans, the Trickster 0
Legendary Creature - Spirit Wizard
(Hans is Blue/Black)
XX :Exile target nonland permanent with CMC X, and put X charge counters on Hans
1, Remove all Charge Counters from Hans : Hans deals damage equal to the number of counters removed to target player.
0/1
.. In terms of balance, this card seems super busted to me. Its a zero cost card that lets you repeatedly exile any nonland permanent at an efficient rate and then randomly dome people for huge amounts of damage. It seems way too efficient.
- Manite
Thank you for your suggestions Harlannowick, let me just trace back through them really quickly.
Yeah, I kind of see that the first ability makes it a bit messy, and I suppose I could split the rest into two eminence abilities. Also, I had a great idea for the name:
Salty Ben, the All-Devouring 1BRG
Legendary Creature - Human Eater
Eminence - If ~ is in your Command Zone or on the battlefield, creatures you control gain devour 3.
Eminence - If ~ is in your Command Zone or on the battlefield, whenever a creature you control is sacrificed to a creature with devour, create 3 1/1 saporlings
“Eggroll? 5-Dolla”
2/3
Ok, guess the two effects are kind of redundant. Guess ill pitch the ETB trigger.
Talkao, the Entitled 2RB
Ledgendary Creature - Human Rogue
Pay 3 life: you become the monarch
Eminence - At the beginning of each player's combat phase, if Talkao is in the Command Zone or the Battlefield and that player is not the monarch, tht player created a 1/1 assassin with menace and haste
“What is mine is mine. What is yours, it’s still mine”
4/2
Ok, yeah, I agree with the white being a color break. I think black still fits due to the fact that is has a bunch of self-harming card draw, like phyrexian arena. Also i guess it couldnt hurt to make him a 13/13.
Kalmon, the Kid 3UUB
Legendary Creature - Human
Draw an extra card during your draw step
Discard 5 cards: transform ~
“What do the expanses of imagination hold this day?”
2/1
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Kalmon, the Insane
Legendary Creature - Giant Bezerker
Trample
Skip your draw step
At the beginning of combat on your turn, discard two cards. If you cannot, transform ~
1UUBB: Draw a card
13/13
I'll fix that...
Judge of the Xios WUR
Legendary Creature - Human
XXX: increase or decrease the number or value on a spell or ability by X until end of turn
WUR: Create 3 1/1 locusts with flying and haste
1/4
Guess I did something right.
Karz Zil, Corrupt Banker 1WUU
Legendary Creature - Human
X: X is the total number of bribery counters on all creatures. put a bribery counter on target creature
Creatures with bribery counters on them are 0/1, and cannot attack or block. At the beginning of each Player’s upkeep, they draw a card for each creature with a bribery counter on it
1/4
Well, the entire point was to line it up to kill any creature it fought. It could be heavily simplified though:
Merci, Gunner BG
Legendary Creature - Human Rogue
T: Target creature loses indestructible until end of turn. Then, destroy that creature
1/1
Ok, to answer the Wither question, my brain goes "Underused keywords... hmmm..... WITHER!"
Mac, Brawler WBR
Legendary Creature - Human Fighter
Haste
Mac attacks each combat if able
Whenever Mac attacks, creatures you control have double strike until end of turn
3/2
So, I had a struggle with this too. I think the best hope here is to leave it to the playgroup and let them devise their own method.
Ann, Time Bender 5UU
Legendary Creature- Gnome Mutant
T: Put an unstability counter on Ann. Then, for each unstability counter on Ann, at random, a player skips their next turn.
10UU: The next time you would skip a turn, instead take your turn as if it weren't skipped.
“As the fabric of time and space continue to unravel, she does not stop. Only when there is nothing left for her to search for, will the fabric be sewn together again, should it still exist”
1/9
Dust is legendary, it wouldnt be too hard to keep track since there is only one. And yesh, I guess the infinite 0/0 is a bit broken. So:
Ash the Maker 2
Legendary Creature - Cyborg Wizard
X: Create an X/X Legendary Golem named Dust, following the rules:
-If W was paid, Dust has Vigilance
-If U was paid, Dust has Flying
-If B was paid, Dust has Wither
-If R was paid, Dust has Haste
-If G was paid, Dust has Trample
-Only activate this ability once per turn
3/1
Ok, I have a solution, kind of. Make it hard as heck to get the exile ability. So...
Hans, the Trickster 0
Legendary Creature - Spirit Wizard
(Hans is Blue/Black)
XXXT:Exile target nonland permanent with CMC X, and put X charge counters on Hans
1, Remove all Charge Counters from Hans : Hans deals damage equal to the number of counters removed to target player.
0/1
Guys, some really good advice has been flowing in, and I couldnt thank you enough! I would like some critiques on the Undertale ones, if possible though.
Mettaton NEO 5
Legendary Creature - Robot
0: Create a 3/1 Laser with haste and, "Exile this card at the end of combat" and a 3/1 Leg Attack with haste and, "Exile this card at the end of combat" Only activate this ability once per turn.
5: Create a 5/1 Disco Ball with "When this card attacks, choose a color sequence of Blue and Orange, 3 long. Then the defending player attempts to guess it. For each color they get incorrect, they take 5 damage. Exile this card at the end of combat"
X: Create a Glamburger Artifact Token with X yum counters on it. It has "Sacrifice this artifact: gain X life, where X are the number of Yum counters on Glamburger"
5/5
(God help us)
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Chara, the Heartless 6BBRR
Legendary Creature - DEMON
Whenever Chara attacks, create 5 5/1 Knife creature tokens tapped and attacking. Exile them at the end of combat
Menace, Double Strike, Deathtouch, Trample
“Since when were you in control?”
8/3
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Papyrus, the Aspiring 1WRG
Legendary Creature - Skeleton
At the beginning of your upkeep, create a 1/1 flying deathtouch Spaghetti Monster Creature token.
Sacrifice a Spaghetti: target creature deals no combat damage this turn
“NYEH HEH HEH!”
3/3
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Sans, Lazy Skeleton WUB
Legendary Creature - Skeleton
Skip your Combat Step
At the beginning of each upkeep, if Sans is the only creature you control and you took damage last turn, transform Sans
“Hey kid, want to go to Grillby’s?”
0/1
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Sans, Final Guard
Legendary Creature - Skeleton Wizard
U: Phase out
U: Phase in
Whenever Sans Phases out, create a 4/1 Gaster Blaster with Flying. Then, create a 1/1 bone for each creature you control.
“Hey kid, want to have a Bad Time?”
1/1
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Have a good day guys!
In general, you don't need to remove colors to solve a color pie breaking design. The design couldn't really be WB, but it could be WUB if you wanted it to. It can also just be UB or even just mono blue, though more colors tends to work better in commander. Note that Kalem doesn't have self-harming card draw. Kalem just says draw an extra card a turn. There is no life loss payment of any kind. Kalem has other abilities that allow you to discard cards, but these abilities are fully under the owners control meaning they aren't self-harming and aren't connected to the card draw ability at all. Kalem's first ability is solidly blue. No other color gets that effect
Judge of the Xios - I like the simplification, the card is only marginally weaker though. This More or Less style effect just goes infinite very easily Basalt Monolith is just the simplest combo off the top of my head. There are tons more though.
You got many things right. Card design is hard
The issue with merci was that it didn't do what you wanted. first strike only works in combat. It doesn't work with fight effects. Merci was able to trade with any creature not kill any creature. Your current design is totally reasonable but the cost seems way too low. Compare it to Avatar of Woe. Sure both cards can technically cost 2 mana, but the hoops you have to jump through for avatar are dramatically higher. Just playing merci on turn 2 and being able to murder every turn will be really oppressive at an EDH table.
I totally missed that. Update looks good.
Mettaton NEO - I don't like this design. It has too much going on IMO. I don't think you can even fit this much text on an MTG card in any kind of reasonable way. It also is letting you make infinitely many artifact tokens for free which is super degenerate. less so because the commander is colorless so it's harder to combo with, but still super busted and degenerate. Just off the top of my head, this card makes arcbound ravager infinitely big for free. Krark-Clan ironworks makes infinite mana that you can then use to make infinite 5/1 tokens. I'm sure there are other more degenerate combos using cards I'm less familiar with too.
Chara, the Heartless - I don't know the lore, but this card seems really keyword soupy to me. Its also just kind of comically large and expensive. The design itself is good but it seems way over the top to me. I'd dial it back a bit.
Papyrus, the Aspiring - Baring mino templating issues, this design looks solid to me. My intuition is that it will be miserable to play against and is probably a bit too efficient, but it seems like that's what your going for.
Sans - The front side works fine. It is incredibly easy to flip it using pain lands though. I'm not sure if this is intentional or not. As written, the card seems way too good. The back side is way too efficient and way too easy to get. It seems really easy to just make disgusting amounts of tokens way too quickly. Basically, turn 2 rock, turn 3 play it transform and phase it out making a 4/1 and a 1/1. Turn 4, phase out phase in in response to trigger making another 4/1 and four 1/1s. phase out + phase in again to make another 4/1 and nine 1/1s. Phase out again and make another 4/1 and eighteen 1/1s for a total of 48 power on turn 4. And even more to come next turn because the effect grows exponentially. This just seems super busted.
- Manite
Well, I don't think that this card is possible either, Its just a bit too insane. But I mean, it fits the lore. It'll probably be banned.
Ok, in case the lore is relevant to you, the main protagonist is Frisk, a normal child. The more people that Frisk kills, the more they start to shift into Chara. This is essentially the maximum power of chara, as shown on the card, at the end of the game when Sans finally uses his true strength (I guess this answers his lore too)
But overall, with chara, I think it may be just a bit too much. Deathtouch is definitly keyword soup, the rest fits, I think. I might make her a 7/3 though...
Chara, the Heartless 6BBRR
Legendary Creature - DEMON
Whenever Chara attacks, create 5 5/1 Knife creature tokens tapped and attacking. Exile them at the end of combat
Menace, Double Strike, Trample
“Since when were you in control?”
7/3
I mean, yeah, I didn't really think the deathtouch part through... That would balance it, probably.
Papyrus, the Aspiring 1WRG
Legendary Creature - Skeleton
At the beginning of your upkeep, create a 1/1 flying Spaghetti Monster Creature token.
Sacrifice a Spaghetti: target creature deals no combat damage this turn
“NYEH HEH HEH!”
3/3
Ok, the pain land flip was not intentional. I realized this a couple of days back when I showed these to the people who work at my LGS. So, maybe it should be if a creature an opponent controls deals damage to you, not any damage. Which makes me ask a question... are there any cards that force people to attack you? or is the best bet just to curse yourself a lot? Also I think Sans might want to have flash...
Oh, and to solve the HUMUNGOUS power problem, I removed the Phase In ability, so it can only happen once per go-round
Sans, Lazy Skeleton WUB
Legendary Creature - Skeleton
Skip your Combat Step
At the beginning of each upkeep, if Sans is the only creature you control and a creature an opponent controls dealt you damage last turn, transform Sans
“Hey kid, want to go to Grillby’s?”
0/1
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Sans, Final Guard
Legendary Creature - Skeleton Wizard
U: Phase out
Whenever Sans Phases out, create a 4/1 Gaster Blaster with Flying. Then, create a 1/1 bone for each creature you control.
“Hey kid, want to have a Bad Time?”
1/1
Thanks for the feedback so much! These just feel so much more balanced and useable now!
Oh, and one last thing: If I were to make a 2nd batch of commanders, what are some mechanics you guys would like to see?
Have a good day!