Aetherworld Portal Land
When Aetherworld Portal enters the battlefield, you may play a land card from your graveyard during your next turn.
: Add C to your mana pool. 1, : Return Aetherworld Portal to its owner's hand. "I knew there was a way to undo my past. But first we must undo yours—Ob Nixilis."
—Nevinyrral
It all started with this. How do we give this a free play? Not exactly what I had in mind. I kinda wanted this to be a white land. White could use cooler legendary lands.
Grand Revivalist Cathedral Legendary Land
When Grand Revivalist Cathedral enters the battlefield, you may cast up to one white creature card from your graveyard this turn. If you do, exile Grand Revivalist Cathedral.
: Add W to your mana pool. I saw a zombie praying here once, and now I truly believe that through faith all things are possible.
Free! Who doesn't love free?! Free everything would be great! Even if everyone in the world had a million dollars they would still show up to work at the gas station for something to do. Obviously, this could have more restriction. Say, if you do cast it, exile this land. Wish there was a cooler word for such a church. Temple would be cool to make it more universal across cultures. Sanctuary would also be interesting imo. There's no tax on running 4. That is what feels oddest to me.
Hunting Valley Land
: Add C to your mana pool.
: Put a reach counter on target creature.
, Sacrifice Hunting Valley: Target blocking creature gets +2/+3 until end of turn.
Hostile Outlands Land
: Add C to your mana pool.
, Sacrifice Hostile Outlands: Target creature gets +1/-1 and gains haste until end of turn. This is the type of place that immediately changes you upon arrival.
It's literally just an inverse Hunting Valley.
I originally wanted to put haste and reach together on Hunting Valley. But that's such severe overclocking I realize it would tie up phone lines on the dreaded ultimate nightmare of Wizards of the Coast customer service hotline. So, I was like, a flowstone would be cool with haste. +2/ still feels a little overclocked, even with the CMC limiter, but it does have the excitement of Quicksand (which is nice!).
Hunting Valley Land
: Add C to your mana pool.
, Sacrifice Hunting Valley: Target creature with base power 4 or less gets +1/+2 and gains reach until end of turn.
Cursed Outlands Land
: Add C to your mana pool.
, Sacrifice Cursed Outlands: Target creature with converted mana cost 3 or less gets +2/-1 and gains haste until end of turn.
Bridge is probably fine. The fact that its colorless and doesn't actually give you extra lands above your normal one-per-turn keeps it on balance.
Cathedral needs to ETB tapped, because being able to play a creature from graveyard essentially equals "draw a card" in a white deck.
Quicksand likely wouldn't get printed in modern in modern standard magic. Valley is strong, but might see print is a higher power level product like a commander deck. Same goes for Outlands.
Cathedral is the only significantly over powered card, so that aside good job on cards that are correct rules wise, mostly balanced, and elegant designs.
I think it exiling itself is good enough for balance. Even if you can also use it for the mana before you do.
A land drop is a land drop no matter how you cut it.
I think the name could be a little better. I wanted to name it Portal, on the wings of Riftstone Portal.
Honestly still on the fence with both of the Quicksand variants. I had wrestled with the idea of just +0/+2 on Hunting Valley and then +1/-1 on Cursed Outlands from the start. One of the things keeping me from that is the necessity for these to have other limiters. I am very weary at allowing these to just boost any type of creature. It's not on board with the schematic of the original concept, and makes them more extravagant than they want to be (in that light—or in that shadow) as well.
Yes, the exile bit you added to the Cathedral does balance it a bit. You can still get mana out of it before it exiles which might push it over the top, but that is a difficult line to measure.
I've loosened up to making everything linear here to the original concept. I think some diversity is nice. I also didn't see any feasible way to work those restrictions into the bonuses that they added without there still being complications. They were hopeful at best, but still majorly overclocked. Putting an extra damage on a 4 power attacking creature is too redlined. It was a yellow flag for me from the start. The effect providing reach allowing a lesser creature to reach for a Dragon should be imperative though. For this to work as intended, it needs to switch over to purely defensive. No way to do that as it was, with the time loophole between blocking and having reach after the fact of.
Interested to see the review on this one. It could only grant the counter on EBT. But that's more likely going to make it useless than it does make it artistic and balanced. Much more important that the utility for this is preserved, and so naturally this form becomes essential to the design's integrity. It being potentially double from Quicksand, but doing nothing on its own, is still a little shaky for me.
Putting 2 damage on a 3 cmc in this era can certainly be redline as well. The restriction on Outlands just didn't do what it hoped to. I feel confident that this flex is where it wants to be. And the uniqueness of there being no restriction, alongside the combo potential it has to run in a spread with Quicksand is prime. Just needed a more descriptive name for its aggro nature.
Hunting Valley
Land t : Add C to your mana pool. t : Put a reach counter on target creature. t , Sacrifice Hunting Valley: Target blocking creature gets +2/+3 until end of turn.
But reach is not a net zero ability, sure it doesn't do anything when the opponent doesn't have any fliers but if he has them it grants you an ability to block them which isn't net zero.
Furthermore if it were then why put it on a card if it is net zero wouldn't that mean it actively does nothing to the game state and might as well be flavortext thus making its inclusion just a way of bloating the cards text unnnecessarily.
Otherwise it is an OK design 6/10 if you make it t: Target creature gains Reach until EOT Id bump it up to a 7/10
My Opinions on the other cards
Aetherworld Portal
Land
When Aetherworld Portal enters the battlefield, you may play a land card from your graveyard during your next turn. t: Add C. 1, t : Return Aetherworld Portal to its owner's hand.
I actually like this design a lot seems strong but not overly or even overtly so its a free but somewhat limited Land recursion and the fact that it says (only) next turn makes it less abusable.
10/10
Grand Revivalist Cathedral
Legendary Land
When Grand Revivalist Cathedral enters the battlefield, you may cast up to one white creature card from your graveyard this turn. If you do, exile Grand Revivalist Cathedral. t : Add W to your mana pool.
Still think needs to be ETB tapped IMO but if I saw this printed this way it wouldn't catch me of guard
8/10
Hostile Outlands
Land t : Add C to your mana pool. t , Sacrifice Hostile Outlands: Target creature gets +1/-1 and gains haste until end of turn.
Doesn't pop out but is a pretty good design for an uncommon land 9/10 would love to have the callback to flowstone referenced in the name but names also fine as is
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Land
When Aetherworld Portal enters the battlefield, you may play a land card from your graveyard during your next turn.
: Add C to your mana pool.
1, : Return Aetherworld Portal to its owner's hand.
"I knew there was a way to undo my past. But first we must undo yours—Ob Nixilis."
—Nevinyrral
It all started with this. How do we give this a free play? Not exactly what I had in mind. I kinda wanted this to be a white land. White could use cooler legendary lands.
Grand Revivalist Cathedral
Legendary Land
When Grand Revivalist Cathedral enters the battlefield, you may cast up to one white creature card from your graveyard this turn. If you do, exile Grand Revivalist Cathedral.
: Add W to your mana pool.
I saw a zombie praying here once, and now I truly believe that through faith all things are possible.
Free! Who doesn't love free?! Free everything would be great! Even if everyone in the world had a million dollars they would still show up to work at the gas station for something to do. Obviously, this could have more restriction. Say, if you do cast it, exile this land. Wish there was a cooler word for such a church. Temple would be cool to make it more universal across cultures. Sanctuary would also be interesting imo. There's no tax on running 4. That is what feels oddest to me.
Hunting Valley
Land
: Add C to your mana pool.
: Put a reach counter on target creature.
, Sacrifice Hunting Valley: Target blocking creature gets +2/+3 until end of turn.
It's literally just an inverse Quicksand.
Hostile Outlands
Land
: Add C to your mana pool.
, Sacrifice Hostile Outlands: Target creature gets +1/-1 and gains haste until end of turn.
This is the type of place that immediately changes you upon arrival.
It's literally just an inverse Hunting Valley.
I originally wanted to put haste and reach together on Hunting Valley. But that's such severe overclocking I realize it would tie up phone lines on the dreaded ultimate nightmare of Wizards of the Coast customer service hotline. So, I was like, a flowstone would be cool with haste. +2/ still feels a little overclocked, even with the CMC limiter, but it does have the excitement of Quicksand (which is nice!).
Hunting Valley
Land
: Add C to your mana pool.
, Sacrifice Hunting Valley: Target creature with base power 4 or less gets +1/+2 and gains reach until end of turn.
Cursed Outlands
Land
: Add C to your mana pool.
, Sacrifice Cursed Outlands: Target creature with converted mana cost 3 or less gets +2/-1 and gains haste until end of turn.
Cathedral needs to ETB tapped, because being able to play a creature from graveyard essentially equals "draw a card" in a white deck.
Quicksand likely wouldn't get printed in modern in modern standard magic. Valley is strong, but might see print is a higher power level product like a commander deck. Same goes for Outlands.
Cathedral is the only significantly over powered card, so that aside good job on cards that are correct rules wise, mostly balanced, and elegant designs.
A land drop is a land drop no matter how you cut it.
I think the name could be a little better. I wanted to name it Portal, on the wings of Riftstone Portal.
Honestly still on the fence with both of the Quicksand variants. I had wrestled with the idea of just +0/+2 on Hunting Valley and then +1/-1 on Cursed Outlands from the start. One of the things keeping me from that is the necessity for these to have other limiters. I am very weary at allowing these to just boost any type of creature. It's not on board with the schematic of the original concept, and makes them more extravagant than they want to be (in that light—or in that shadow) as well.
I've loosened up to making everything linear here to the original concept. I think some diversity is nice. I also didn't see any feasible way to work those restrictions into the bonuses that they added without there still being complications. They were hopeful at best, but still majorly overclocked. Putting an extra damage on a 4 power attacking creature is too redlined. It was a yellow flag for me from the start. The effect providing reach allowing a lesser creature to reach for a Dragon should be imperative though. For this to work as intended, it needs to switch over to purely defensive. No way to do that as it was, with the time loophole between blocking and having reach after the fact of.
Interested to see the review on this one. It could only grant the counter on EBT. But that's more likely going to make it useless than it does make it artistic and balanced. Much more important that the utility for this is preserved, and so naturally this form becomes essential to the design's integrity. It being potentially double from Quicksand, but doing nothing on its own, is still a little shaky for me.
Putting 2 damage on a 3 cmc in this era can certainly be redline as well. The restriction on Outlands just didn't do what it hoped to. I feel confident that this flex is where it wants to be. And the uniqueness of there being no restriction, alongside the combo potential it has to run in a spread with Quicksand is prime. Just needed a more descriptive name for its aggro nature.
Nice triple decker mansion.
The boost maybe could use a cost. Obviously, I would rather lessen the boost amount.
But reach is not a net zero ability, sure it doesn't do anything when the opponent doesn't have any fliers but if he has them it grants you an ability to block them which isn't net zero.
Furthermore if it were then why put it on a card if it is net zero wouldn't that mean it actively does nothing to the game state and might as well be flavortext thus making its inclusion just a way of bloating the cards text unnnecessarily.
Otherwise it is an OK design 6/10 if you make it t: Target creature gains Reach until EOT Id bump it up to a 7/10
My Opinions on the other cards
I actually like this design a lot seems strong but not overly or even overtly so its a free but somewhat limited Land recursion and the fact that it says (only) next turn makes it less abusable.
10/10
Still think needs to be ETB tapped IMO but if I saw this printed this way it wouldn't catch me of guard
8/10
Doesn't pop out but is a pretty good design for an uncommon land 9/10 would love to have the callback to flowstone referenced in the name but names also fine as is