Time for the round 4 poll! You may vote for any number of entries including your own. Poll runs until the end of Friday and the lowest scorer is eliminated.
As a reminder, the challenge was: Design a mechanic that is at least partially or situationally a drawback.
Hooded Informant(U/B)(U/B)
Creature - Human Rogue {C}
Infiltrator (When this attacks exile it. Return it tapped and attacking during your next combat after blockers are declared.)
Whenever Hooded Informant deals damage to an opponent, draw a card. Whispers aren’t a trade, they’re a currency.
Dredgebarrows Banshee1UB
Creatrue - Sprit {U}
Infiltrator (When this attacks exile it. Return it tapped and attacking during your next combat after blockers are declared.)
When Dredgebarrows Banshee leaves the battlefield, target opponent reveals cards from the top of their library until they reveals a land card, then puts those cards into their graveyard.
1/4
Connoisseur of Thoughts2BB
Creature - Vampire Wizard {R}
Infiltrator (When this attacks exile it. Return it tapped and attacking during your next combat after blockers are declared.)
When Connoisseur of Thoughts is put into exile from the battlefield, target opponent reveals his or her hand and you choose a nonland card from it. Exile that card as long as Connoisseur of Thoughts remains exiled.
2/4
Blazing Anima2R
Instant (U)
Arcanamorph R(you my cast this card face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. When it would leave the battlefield, you may turn it face up and cast it for its Arcanamorph cost.)
Blazing Anima deals 3 damage to any target.
Flinging CirrusU
Sorcery (C)
Arcanamorph 2U(you my cast this card face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. When it would leave the battlefield, you may turn it face up and cast it for its Arcanamorph cost.)
Return target creature to its owner's hand. If Flinging Cirrus targets face-down creature, draw a card.
Spiraling Growth3G
Sorcery (C)
Arcanamorph 2G(you my cast this card face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. When it would leave the battlefield, you may turn it face up and cast it for its Arcanamorph cost.)
Search your library for up to two basic land cards, and reveal them. Put one in your hand, and the other onto the battlefield tapped. Shuffle your library.
Devouring Mouths1B
Sorcery (U)
Arcanamorph BB(you my cast this card face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. When it would leave the battlefield, you may turn it face up and cast it for its Arcanamorph cost.)
Each player sacrifices a nonland permanent. If a player sacrifices a face-down permanent in this way, each opponent loses 3 life.
[A partial drawback because you don't always control when it goes off.]
Keeper (When this creature enters the battlefield, exile the top card of your library face down. You may look at and play that card for as long as you control this creature. When the exiled card is played, sacrifice this creature.)
Cathedral WardenW
Creature - Human Cleric (C)
Keeper (When this creature enters the battlefield, exile the top card of your library face down. You may look at and play that card for as long as you control this creature. When the exiled card is played, sacrifice this creature.)
1/1
Incubatory Vessel2G
Creature - Ooze (U)
Keeper (When this creature enters the battlefield, exile the top card of your library face down. You may look at and play that card for as long as you control this creature. When the exiled card is played, sacrifice this creature.)
When Incubatory Vessel dies, create a 3/3 green Beast creature token.
0/2
Circle of Guardians3WU
Creature - Human Wizard (R)
Keeper (When this creature enters the battlefield, exile the top card of your library face down. You may look at and play that card for as long as you control this creature. When the exiled card is played, sacrifice this creature.)
When Circle of Guardians enters the battlefield, if it's not a token, create three tokens that are copies of it.
1/1
Imposing - Creatures with power less than this creature enter the battlefield tapped.
Exalted Gigaphant2GGG
Creature - Beast (U)
Trample
Imposing
Whenever a creature you control becomes untapped, Exalted Gigaphant gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
4/5
Bane of the Currents5UU
Creature - Leviathan (U)
Imposing
Bane of the Currents enters the battlefield tapped.
When Bane of the Currents enters the battlefield, return all other creatures to their owner's hand.
7/7
HavocodonRG
Creature - Beast (U)
Imposing
At the beginning of your end step, sacrifice another tapped creature you control.
4/3
Drain X- At the beginning of your upkeep, if this spell is not a copy, exile it and put a copy of this spell into the stack and lose X life as long as it remains exiled.
Morbid Selfawareness3B
Sorcery (u)
Drain 2 ( If this spell is not a copy, exile it. At the beginning of your upkeep, put a copy of this spell into the stack and lose 2 life as long as it remains exiled.)
Look at the top cards of your library. Put one of them into your hand and the other in your graveyard. What you don't want anyone to know is what the real you wants, seeks and longs.
Overwhelming PowerRR
Instant (r)
Target instant or sorcery spell gains Drain 3. ( If that spell is not a copy, its controller exiles it. At the beginning its ciontroller's upkeep, that player puts a copy of this spell into the stack and lose 3 life as long as it remains exiled.) Few things can be more destructive than a young eager wizard who got carried away by his hunger for power. Sadly, they blast themselves a lot.
Baptism of BloodRW
Sorcery (c)
Drain 2 ( If this spell is not a copy, exile it. At the beginning of your upkeep, put a copy of this spell into the stack and lose 2 life as long as it remains exiled.)
Target creature gets +1/+0 and gains indestructible until the next end step. It is said that hounds that had tasted blood are dangerous... People is no different.
Arcanamorph - Arcanamorph's biggest strike against it is that it because it doesn't quite line up with the way other morph abilities work it is intuitive. This feels more like an odd mix of madness and morph. (that being said, if you did make it work like one would expect it to work, it wouldn't have been a downside) Keeper - Hideaway... sort of... My problem here is the colors you put this in. This pushes white's card advantage beyond what it is supposed to have, I feel like this is most at home in Red and Blue and secondarily in Green and Black. Imposing - This feels like it could be a Naya mechanic as well as a centerpiece for some BATTLECRUSER MAGIC set (Which I would really love to see again) Drain - I'm going to be honest... I have no idea what is going on here... As best I can tell it's some Panoptic Mirror type ability, but I don't know if the spell gets exile before the rest of the spell resolves, or what "lose 2 life as long as it remains exiled." means.
Notes on Infiltrator for those who want them:
Infiltrator was made to emulate someone taking their time (and dropping off the grid so to speak) in order to get close to their target. They attack one combat, but don't actually hit until the next combat (typically your next turn barring any extra combat phase shenanigans (Illusionist's Gambit is my favorite and on color to!)) upside being that by taking this extra time, they can't be blocked as they drop back in after blockers have already been declared. This means they are slow to knock down life-totals, but many would have abilities dependent on dealing combat damage or entering/leaving the battlefield.
Keeper - Hideaway... sort of... My problem here is the colors you put this in. This pushes white's card advantage beyond what it is supposed to have, I feel like this is most at home in Red and Blue and secondarily in Green and Black.
Notes on Infiltrator for those who want them:
Infiltrator was made to emulate someone taking their time (and dropping off the grid so to speak) in order to get close to their target. They attack one combat, but don't actually hit until the next combat (typically your next turn barring any extra combat phase shenanigans (Illusionist's Gambit is my favorite and on color to!)) upside being that by taking this extra time, they can't be blocked as they drop back in after blockers have already been declared. This means they are slow to knock down life-totals, but many would have abilities dependent on dealing combat damage or entering/leaving the battlefield.
As for Infiltrator, to me the ability would work better as a may, but of course, that doesn't work with the challenge. My other problem was Hooded Informant. An unblockable mono-black Shadowmage Infiltrator at common is definitely both a color break and ridiculously broken.
Thraben Inspector and Cathedral Warden are very different cards. Inspector requires you to pay 2 additional mana to get the card, which is a massive balancing factor (additionally I feel there was a little color bleed with investigate in order to push set themes.)
Hooded Informant is a color break (I should have had it ping you for 1) but I doubt it would be "ridiculously broken" given the massive downside of only drawing every other turn.
As a reminder, the challenge was:
Design a mechanic that is at least partially or situationally a drawback.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Keeper - Hideaway... sort of... My problem here is the colors you put this in. This pushes white's card advantage beyond what it is supposed to have, I feel like this is most at home in Red and Blue and secondarily in Green and Black.
Imposing - This feels like it could be a Naya mechanic as well as a centerpiece for some BATTLECRUSER MAGIC set (Which I would really love to see again)
Drain - I'm going to be honest... I have no idea what is going on here... As best I can tell it's some Panoptic Mirror type ability, but I don't know if the spell gets exile before the rest of the spell resolves, or what "lose 2 life as long as it remains exiled." means.
Notes on Infiltrator for those who want them:
More card advantage than Thraben Inspector?
As for Infiltrator, to me the ability would work better as a may, but of course, that doesn't work with the challenge. My other problem was Hooded Informant. An unblockable mono-black Shadowmage Infiltrator at common is definitely both a color break and ridiculously broken.
Hooded Informant is a color break (I should have had it ping you for 1) but I doubt it would be "ridiculously broken" given the massive downside of only drawing every other turn.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝