Libra Block consists of three sets, the first of which is named Libra. I'm focusing on this one first, then I will start developing the other 2 and balance all three as a whole for limited.
General Flavor:
Libra is the name of a plane where some races are at war, and an incoming invasion looms on the horizon.
Mechanical Theme:
Black is at odds with all colors but is working on corrupting them and as of Libra has infiltrated Green and White. A coalition of peace-seeking people occupies a multi-color section of the world that is UR, RW, UG. There are separate White, Green, Blue and Red factions as well. Mono white is at war with green and blue, and Mono Red is at war with Green. There are 5 major racial players, but not a strong racial theme. Legends matters is an important part of this set.
Returning Mechanics:
Hybrid Mana returns to a small capacity in Libra (in the first set limited to B/W and B/G). Multi-color appears but is limited to enemy colors. Flip cards come back. I'm going to utilize poison in a different way as well.
New Mechanics: Wager X: If this spell is on the stack, you may pay a combination of mana and life equal to X, if you do you gain control of this spell and may choose new targets for it if applicable. If the Wager cost is paid, double it. Any player may use this ability.
--appears on Red cards mostly, limited use on White and Blue cards.
Staple X If this card would be put into the graveyard from anywhere, any player may pay X life or X If no player does, put this card into your hand instead.
--appears on spells, any color
Backstory:
The leader of the renegade city, Sher Meron, has become aware that the dark side of the planet is planning an invasion of the light side of the planet (The dark side is shadowed by a moon, and the oceans on that side have frozen over). He is working on gathering 8 heroes of prophecy in order to bring the warring nations together to defending against what will otherwise be overwhelming defeat. The dark side of the planet has begun to send some denizens to the light side in order to infiltrate and keep the dissention going.
Primary Races:
White - Humans
Blue - Avens - flying will appear as a until EOT ability on these Aven
Red - Viashino
Green - "Fera" Plant Beasts
Black - Shades
Set Color and Rarity Breakdown
20 Basic Lands
duh
31 Non-Basic Lands/Artifacts
3 Mythic 12 Rares 5/12 Palm Island
Land -R
Palm Island enters the battlefield tapped unless you control a Forest or an Island.
:symtap:: add U or G to your mana pool.
Mesa
Land -R
Mesa enters the battlefield tapped unless you control a Plains or a Mountain.
:symtap:: add R or W to your mana pool.
Decaying Weald
Land -R
Decaying Weald enters the battlefield tapped unless you control a Forest or a Swamp.
:symtap:: add B or G to your mana pool.
Death Field
Land -R
Death Field enters the battlefield tapped unless you control a Plains or a Swamp.
:symtap:: add B or W to your mana pool.
Undersea Volcano
Land -R
Undersea Volcano enters the battlefield tapped unless you control an Island or a Mountain.
:symtap:: add U or R to your mana pool.
Sher Meron
Legendary Land - Island Forest Mountain Plains -R
Champion a Basic Land 4 Commons 12 Uncommons Heirloom Blade1
Artifact - Equipment -U
Equip: 2
Whenever equipped creature blocks or is blocked, if that creature is Legendary, put a Hero counter on it at the end of the turn.
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 for each Hero counter on it.
Horn of Battle3
Artifact -U 2, :symtap:: Creatures you control with Hero counters on them get +2/+2 until the end of turn.
33 White Cards
2 Mythic 7 Rare The Chosen One4WW
Instant -R
Remove target creature from the game. Destroy all creatures in play, they cannot be regenerated. At the end of the turn, put that creature back into play under its owner's control. "Altes, we tried it your way; now we are doing it mine. Rebuild the world as you built Sher Meron, none here were worth saving." Salus, the traveler. 8 Uncommon 16 Common
33 Blue Cards
2 Mythic 7 Rare 8 Uncommon Anjelus Inhibitor1UU
Creature - Aven -U
Spells cost 1 more to play. Anyone else find it hard to breathe when that guy walks into the room? - Gabbro, Dwarven Advisor
2/3 16 Common
33 Red Cards
2 Mythic 7 Rare 8 Uncommon 16 Common
Flameweave2R
Instant -C
Flameweave deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Staple 1 (If this card would be put into the graveyard from anywhere, any player may pay 1 life or 1. If no player does, put this card into your hand instead.)
33 Green Cards
2 Mythic 7 Rare 8 Uncommon 16 Common
33 Black (and B/W, B/G hybrid) Cards
2 Mythic 7 Rare Calcos, Dark Lord1BB
Legendary Creature - Human Lord -R
Sacrifice a Creature: Regenerate Calcos, Dark Lord and put a +1/+1 counter on Calcos, Dark Lord. B, Remove a +1/+1 counter from Calcos, Dark Lord: target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
1/1 "I will use any resource I can to vanquish my enemies, and my most loyal subjects are my most valuable resources." Calcos, Dark Lord 8 Uncommon 16 Common Zombicroc1:symbg::symbg:
Creature - Zombie Crocodile -C "Hans! Watchou....."
4/3
I'm going to post cards in this thread, and then move them into the main post as I finalize them. I'm TERRIBLE at naming things, please suggest better names for stuff. The first 5 cards is a completion to the M10 dual cycle
Edit: All of these have been commented on, feel free to comment further, adding a spoiler box to conserve space
Palm Island
Land -R
Palm Island enters the battlefield tapped unless you control a Forest or an Island.
:symtap:: add U or G to your mana pool.
Mesa
Land -R
Mesa enters the battlefield tapped unless you control a Plains or a Mountain.
:symtap:: add R or W to your mana pool.
Decaying Weald
Land -R
Decaying Weald enters the battlefield tapped unless you control a Forest or a Swamp.
:symtap:: add B or G to your mana pool.
Death Field
Land -R
Death Field enters the battlefield tapped unless you control a Plains or a Swamp.
:symtap:: add B or W to your mana pool.
Undersea Volcano
Land -R
Undersea Volcano enters the battlefield tapped unless you control an Island or a Mountain.
:symtap:: add U or R to your mana pool.
Heirloom Blade1
Artifact - Equipment -U
Equip: 2
Whenever equipped creature blocks or is blocked, if that creature is Legendary, put a Hero counter on it at the end of the turn.
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 for each Hero counter on it.
Horn of Battle3
Artifact - Equipment -U 2, :symtap:: Creatures with Hero counters on them get +2/+2 until the end of turn.
Soma, General-King1WW
Legendary Creature - Human Soldier Lord -R
Banding.
Damage dealt to Soma, General-King by creatures is reduced to zero. W: Redirect target spell or ability targeting Soma, General-King to another creature you control.
1/1 Soma was not only the most brilliant battlefield commander, any soldier would gladly give his life to him.
Calcos, Dark Lord1BB
Legendary Creature - Human Lord -R
Sacrifice a Creature: Regenerate Calcos, Dark Lord and put a +1/+1 counter on Calcos, Dark Lord. B, Remove a +1/+1 counter from Calcos, Dark Lord: target creature blocking or blocked by Calcos, Dark Lord gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
1/1 "I will use any resource I can to vanquish my enemies, and my most loyal subjects are my most valuable resources." Calcos, Dark Lord
Fog of War3RW
Enchantment -R
At the beginning of each player's main phase, that player chooses a creature and flips a coin. If you win, gain control of that creature; If you loose, target opponent gains control of that creature. Repeat this process for every creature in play. At the end of turn if either player controls no creatures, sacrifice Fog of War. After the battle, Gabbro didn't know that it was he who had slain Sapphira. At least the fog had spared him that.
The Chosen One4WW
Instant -R
Remove target creature from the game. Destroy all creatures in play, they cannot be regenerated. At the end of the turn, put that creature back into play under its owner's control. "Altes, we tried it your way; now we are doing it mine. Rebuild the world as you built Sher Meron, none here were worth saving." Salus, the traveler.
Ryjal, Trap Master :2mana::symr::symr:
Legendary Creature - Goblin -U
When Ryjal, Trap Master is turned face up, destroy target unblocked creature.
Whenever an artifact comes into play, you may turn Ryjal, Trap Master face down as a 2/2 creature.
Morph :1mana::symr::symr: (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for . Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.) They always fall for it.
3/3
Necropotent :symb::symb::symb:
Enchantment -U
Whenever a source you control would deal damage to a player, you may pay 1 life. If you do, draw a card.
Evolution3UG
Instant -U
Sacrifice a creature: Reveal cards from the top of your library until a creature card is revealed. Put that card into play unless you pay 2. If you do put it in the graveyard instead and repeat this process. When a creature is put into play by evolution put all revealed cards in your graveyard.
Stonefang Viper2G
Summon Snake -C
Whenever Stonefang Viper attacks or blocks, you gain 2 poison counters. (If a player has 10 or more poison counters, they loose the game) "I wouldn't call it tamed, exactly," Gabbro, master trainer.
5/5
Coral Forest1UG
Creature - Wall -C
Defender
When Coral Forest comes into play you may pay U, if you do return target creature to its owner's hand.
: Add U or G to your mana pool. When the elves were forced into the deep, they not only adapted quickly to their new environment, their new environment adapted quickly to them.
1/4
HesitationUU
Instant -C
Remove target spell from the game and put 3 delay counters on it. During each of that card's owner's upkeeps, remove a delay counter from it. If there are no delay counters on that card, it's owner may play that card as though it were in his hand without paying its mana cost. Even the powerful may be made to hesitate, that brief moment may be your opening to victory.
Flameweave2R
Instant -C
Flameweave deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Staple 1 (If this card would be put into the graveyard from anywhere, any player may pay 1 life or 1. If no player does, put this card into your hand instead.)
Yavil Roulette1RR
Sorcery -R
Deal 10 damage to target player and each creature he or she controls.
Wager 1
Anjelus Inhibitor1UU
Creature - Aven -U
Spells cost 1 more to play. Anyone else find it hard to breathe when that guy walks into the room? - Gabbro, Dwarven Advisor
2/3
Biomancy1UG
Instant -U
Choose one - Put target creature on top of its owner's library; or target player reveals the top card of his or her library, if its a creature card, put that creature into play under your control.
Entwine 2(Choose both if you pay the entwine cost) 'Prevent, Produce, and Purloin.' - Biomancer's creed.
QuestW
Enchantment -C
When Quest comes into play, exile target and put 3 time counters on Quest.
At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter from Quest.
If there are no time counters on Quest, sacrifice it and return the creature rexiled by Quest to play under its owner's control with a Hero counter on it.
When Quest is put into a graveyard from play its target's original controller searches their library for a card and puts it in his or her hand.
Battlefield
Land -U
: add 1 to your mana pool.
Whenever a creature takes leathal damage in combat, put a grave counter on Battlefield.
At end of turn, if there are 5 or more grave counters on Battlefield, you may flip it.
/// Burial Ground
Enchantment
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may put X 1/1 colorless spirit tokens into play where X is the number of grave counters on Burial Ground minus the number of spirit tokens you control.
Sher Meron
Legendary Land - Island Forest Mountain Plains -R
Champion a Basic Land
Shade's Portal
Land - Swamp -C
Shade's Portal enters the battlefield tapped.
The first time you use an activated ability of a black creature you control each turn, its cost is reduced by B
Heirloom Blade1
Artifact - Equipment -U
Equip: 2
Whenever equipped creature blocks or is blocked, if that creature is Legendary, put a Hero counter on it at the end of the turn.
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 for each Hero counter on it.
I think this could cost less, but is fine as is.
Horn of Battle3
Artifact - Equipment -U 2, :symtap:: Creatures with Hero counters on them get +2/+2 until the end of turn.
This card needs such specific other cards to do anything, give it the ability to put hero counters on creature then it will be fine.
Soma, General-King1WW
Legendary Creature - Human Soldier Lord -R
Banding.
Damage dealt to Soma, General-King by creatures is reduced to zero. W: Redirect target spell or ability targeting Soma, General-King to another creature you control.
1/1 Soma was not only the most brilliant battlefield commander, any soldier would gladly give his life to him.
I don't think you can redirect spells or abilities, I think you will need to change it to "change the target of target spell or ability that targets ~ to another creature you control."
Calcos, Dark Lord1BB
Legendary Creature - Human Lord -R
Sacrifice a Creature: Regenerate Calcos, Dark Lord and put a +1/+1 counter on Calcos, Dark Lord. B, Remove a +1/+1 counter from Calcos, Dark Lord: target creature blocking or blocked by Calcos, Dark Lord gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
1/1 "I will use any resource I can to vanquish my enemies, and my most loyal subjects are my most valuable resources." Calcos, Dark Lord
Looks good, seems like you could bump up his second ability to let him target any creature.
Fog of War3RW
Enchantment -R
At the beginning of each player's main phase, that player chooses a creature and flips a coin. If you win, gain control of that creature; If you loose, target opponent gains control of that creature. Repeat this process for every creature in play. At the end of turn if either player controls no creatures, sacrifice Fog of War. After the battle, Gabbro didn't know that it was he who had slain Sapphira. At least the fog had spared him that.
I don't see any white in this. Without giving them haste you won't be able to attack with half of the creatures you have, on top of that doing this process twice a turn every turn just makes me want to scoop. I think this would play much better as a sorcery.
The Chosen One4WW
Instant -R
Remove target creature from the game. Destroy all creatures in play, they cannot be regenerated. At the end of the turn, put that creature back into play under its owner's control. "Altes, we tried it your way; now we are doing it mine. Rebuild the world as you built Sher Meron, none here were worth saving." Salus, the traveler.
I like.
Ryjal, Trap Master :2mana::symr::symr:
Legendary Creature - Goblin -U
When Ryjal, Trap Master is turned face up, destroy target unblocked creature.
Whenever an artifact comes into play, you may turn Ryjal, Trap Master face down as a 2/2 creature.
Morph :1mana::symr::symr: (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for . Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.) They always fall for it.
3/3
You don't need to say "as a 2/2 creature." ,just say "turn ~ face down."
Necropotent :symb::symb::symb:
Enchantment -U
Whenever a source you control would deal damage to a player, you may pay 1 life. If you do, draw a card.
I worry about the power of this card, but really it will probobly be OK. I'd like to see what others have to say about it.
Evolution3UG
Instant -U
Sacrifice a creature: Reveal cards from the top of your library until a creature card is revealed. Put that card into play unless you pay 2. If you do put it in the graveyard instead and repeat this process. When a creature is put into play by evolution put all revealed cards in your graveyard.
Nice combination of Polymorph and Natural Order, but this cost too much. I would drop 1 from the cost, and let you 'Evolve' opponent's creatures as well: Evolution2UG
Instant - u
Target creature's controller sacrifices it, then reveals cards from the top of their library until they reveal a creature card. They put that card into play unless you pay 2. If you do they put all reveal card on the bottom of their library random order, then repeat this process. Then they put all cards revealed this way on the bottom of their library in random order.
Stonefang Viper2G
Summon Snake -C
Whenever Stonefang Viper attacks or blocks, you gain 2 poison counters. (If a player has 10 or more poison counters, they loose the game) "I wouldn't call it tamed, exactly," Gabbro, master trainer.
5/5
I like it!
Coral Forest1UG
Creature - Wall -C
Defender
When Coral Forest comes into play you may pay U, if you do return target creature to its owner's hand.
: Add U or G to your mana pool. When the elves were forced into the deep, they not only adapted quickly to their new environment, their new environment adapted quickly to them.
1/4
I think he's a bit too good, but not terribly so. Either raise his cost by one or raise his cost and change the ETB trigger to just bounce without the extra u
HesitationUU
Instant -C
Remove target spell from the game and put 3 delay counters on it. During each of that card's owner's upkeeps, remove a delay counter from it. If there are no delay counters on that card, it's owner may play that card as though it were in his hand without paying its mana cost. Even the powerful may be made to hesitate, that brief moment may be your opening to victory.
Flameweave2R
Instant -C
Flameweave deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Staple 1 (If this card would be put into the graveyard from anywhere, any player may pay 1 life or 1. If no player does, put this card into your hand instead.)
I like it. I was worried about Staple, but this is fine.
Yavil Roulette1RR
Sorcery -R
Deal 10 damage to target player and each creature he or she controls.
Wager 1
Once someone is down to 10 this just wins, they either take it and die or they won't have the life to pay. You will only need to pay 10(life+mana), but they will need to pay 21(life+mana). Too strong!
Anjelus Inhibitor1UU
Creature - Aven -U
Spells cost 1 more to play. Anyone else find it hard to breathe when that guy walks into the room? - Gabbro, Dwarven Advisor
2/3
Biomancy1UG
Instant -U
Choose one - Put target creature on top of its owner's library; or target player reveals the top card of his or her library, if its a creature card, put that creature into play under your control.
Entwine 2(Choose both if you pay the entwine cost) 'Prevent, Produce, and Purloin.' - Biomancer's creed.
Repel cost 4, and I see the second ability as a constant disapointment.
QuestW
Enchantment -C
When Quest comes into play, exile target and put 3 time counters on Quest.
At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter from Quest.
If there are no time counters on Quest, sacrifice it and return the creature rexiled by Quest to play under its owner's control with a Hero counter on it.
When Quest is put into a graveyard from play its target's original controller searches their library for a card and puts it in his or her hand.
You could clean up the text by using fading or vanishing, but I can understand not wanting to.
Battlefield
Land -U
: add 1 to your mana pool.
Whenever a creature takes leathal damage in combat, put a grave counter on Battlefield.
At end of turn, if there are 5 or more grave counters on Battlefield, you may flip it.
/// Burial Ground
Enchantment
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may put X 1/1 colorless spirit tokens into play where X is the number of grave counters on Burial Ground minus the number of spirit tokens you control.
Initially I thougt,'wow, that is broken', but when I realiased that the creatures needed to die in combat I thought, 'Oh, that's ok', but then I remembered the fliped ability. I still think this is too strong, maybe it simply gives one creature a turn, or has a cost added?
Sher Meron
Legendary Land - Island Forest Mountain Plains -R
Champion a Basic Land
Very nice and simple.
Shade's Portal
Land - Swamp -C
Shade's Portal enters the battlefield tapped.
The first time you use an activated ability of a black creature you control each turn, its cost is reduced by B
Looks good, seems like you could bump up his second ability to let him target any creature.
Like?
Calcos, Dark Lord1BB
Legendary Creature - Human Lord -R
Sacrifice a Creature: Regenerate Calcos, Dark Lord and put a +1/+1 counter on Calcos, Dark Lord. B, Remove a +1/+1 counter from Calcos, Dark Lord: target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
1/1
I don't see any white in this. Without giving them haste you won't be able to attack with half of the creatures you have, on top of that doing this process twice a turn every turn just makes me want to scoop. I think this would play much better as a sorcery.
The process being a pain I agree with. What about:
Fog of War2RR
Instant
Play only after blockers are declared. Exile all attacking and blocking creatures. For each creature exiled in this way, flip a coin put all creatures that came up heads into play under the active players control tapped and attacking. Then, put all remaining creatures under another players control each creature blocking an attacking creature of that players choice. At the end of combat, each creature returns to its owners control. After the battle, Gabbro didn't know that it was he who had slain Sapphira. At least the fog had spared him that.
I worry about the power of this card, but really it will probobly be OK. I'd like to see what others have to say about it.
Necropotent :symb::symb::symb:
Enchantment -U
Whenever a source you control would deal damage to a player, you may pay 1 life. If you do, draw a card.
It becomes a rediculous card with something like Pestilence, but its a two card combo that would basically be Greed. I'll hold off on adding it to let some other people weigh in.
Nice combination of Polymorph and Natural Order, but this cost too much. I would drop 1 from the cost, and let you 'Evolve' opponent's creatures as well: Evolution2UG
Instant - u
Target creature's controller sacrifices it, then reveals cards from the top of their library until they reveal a creature card. They put that card into play unless you pay 2. If you do they put all reveal card on the bottom of their library random order, then repeat this process. Then they put all cards revealed this way on the bottom of their library in random order.
I like your version better as well. I wonder if its too good - but its probably not.
I think he's a bit too good, but not terribly so. Either raise his cost by one or raise his cost and change the ETB trigger to just bounce without the extra u
What if I just drop the bounce and move that ability to another card?
Coral Forest1UG
Creature - Wall -C
Defender
: Add U or G to your mana pool. When the elves were forced into the deep, they not only adapted quickly to their new environment, their new environment adapted quickly to them.
1/4
Flameweave2R
Instant -C
Flameweave deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Staple 1 (If this card would be put into the graveyard from anywhere, any player may pay 1 life or 1. If no player does, put this card into your hand instead.)
I like it. I was worried about Staple, but this is fine.
Cool, glad to hear it. My concept was going to be add 2 to staple commons that have this ability.
Once someone is down to 10 this just wins, they either take it and die or they won't have the life to pay. You will only need to pay 10(life+mana), but they will need to pay 21(life+mana). Too strong!
Well, lets see. What if I changed Wager to state "This ability may be played by anyone except this spells controller" I think I need to do that anyway. Is it just too low of a cost? I think this would be a dangerous card to play unless your opponent was down on life and tapped out... for wager one it goes 1, 2, 4 ,8, 16. Maybe in this case, Wager 2 would actually be better for this card - since then the costs would go 2, 4, 8, 16 - so you're sending it back to the other player with - worst case- 8 life, and they need to come up with 16 to send it back at you.
Biomancy1UG
Instant -U
Choose one - Put target creature on top of its owner's library; or target player reveals the top card of his or her library, if its a creature card, put that creature into play under your control.
Entwine 2(Choose both if you pay the entwine cost) 'Prevent, Produce, and Purloin.' - Biomancer's creed.
Repel cost 4, and I see the second ability as a constant disapointment.
I was going for a Versitile but weakened version of Temporal Spring. When Entwined, it becomes basically a control magic. Maybe I should drop entwine from this set and use kicker instead?
QuestW
Enchantment -C
When Quest comes into play, exile target and put 3 time counters on Quest.
At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter from Quest.
If there are no time counters on Quest, sacrifice it and return the creature rexiled by Quest to play under its owner's control with a Hero counter on it.
When Quest is put into a graveyard from play its target's original controller searches their library for a card and puts it in his or her hand.
You could clean up the text by using fading or vanishing, but I can understand not wanting to.
Is the card good enough to add those? I don't mind playing around with what mechanics are added and not. I think there's some general design space in that card, that I could design a few that use similar mechanics.
Battlefield
Land -U
: add 1 to your mana pool.
Whenever a creature takes leathal damage in combat, put a grave counter on Battlefield.
At end of turn, if there are 5 or more grave counters on Battlefield, you may flip it.
/// Burial Ground
Enchantment
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may put X 1/1 colorless spirit tokens into play where X is the number of grave counters on Burial Ground minus the number of spirit tokens you control.
Initially I thougt,'wow, that is broken', but when I realiased that the creatures needed to die in combat I thought, 'Oh, that's ok', but then I remembered the fliped ability. I still think this is too strong, maybe it simply gives one creature a turn, or has a cost added?
Good points. How about:
Battlefield
Land -U
: add 1 to your mana pool.
Whenever a creature takes leathal damage in combat, put a grave counter on Battlefield.
At end of turn, if there are 5 or more grave counters on Battlefield, you may flip it.
/// Burial Ground
Enchantment
Remove a Grave counter from Burial Ground: Put a 2/2 Spirit token into play. Use this ability only once each turn and only durring your upkeep.
Whenever there are no Grave counters on Burial Ground, flip it.
Shade's Portal
Land - Swamp -C
Shade's Portal enters the battlefield tapped.
The first time you use an activated ability of a black creature you control each turn, its cost is reduced by B
Make it legendary.
Does it need to be? I was hoping this would be common and balance out a large number of shade creatures. What if it said instead:
Shade's Portal
Land - Swamp -C
Shade's Portal enters the battlefield tapped.
:symtap:: add BB to your mana pool. Use this only to pay the activation costs of Black permanents.
Here's a start to the poison theme I wanted to put into this block. Some of these cards will probably be moved to later sets, and I will likely need to add a ton more cards, but these should cover a lot of the mechanics I've been thinking of. Each color has a way to remove poison counters - I might not have color pie right for these necessarily - so feel very free to offer changes.
Example Poison Cards:
Adding spoiler boxes to reduce wall of text
Blackriver ViperG
Creature - Snake
Whenever Blackriver Viper attacks or blocks, you gain 1 poison counter.
2/2
Blackriver Python1GG
Creature - Snake
When Blackriver Python comes into play, you gain 3 poison counters.
4/4
Trained Diamondhide3G
Creature - Snake
When Trained Diamondhide deals damage to a player, that player gains 1 poison counter.
Deathtouch
1/4
Poison Shock2
Instant
Deal damage equal to the number of poison counters you have to target creature or player. You lose 1 poison counter.
Poison Burn3R
Instant
Remove all poison counters from target player. He or She takes 1 damage for each counter removed in this way.
Envenom2BB
Sorcery
Target player gains 3 poison counters.
Antidote2WW
Sorcery
Remove all poison counters from all players
Anti-venom2W
Instant
Remove 2 Poison counters from target player
Staple 1
Venomwell Spider1GG
Creature - Spider
Pay 1 life, Remove two Poison counters from yourself: Put a +1/+1 counter on Venomwell Spider. Use this ability only as a sorcery and only once each turn.
Reach
0/2
Poison Transfer2U
Sorcery
As an additional cost to cast Poison Transfer, remove 2 poison counters from yourself.
Target player gains 2 poison counters.
Venom ElementalBBB
Creature - Elemental
Venom Elemental's power and toughness are equal to the number of poison counters you have.
Whenever Venom Elemental attacks or blocks you lose one poison counter.
X/X
I'm going to put some of the common cycles for the set. I've got a map I'm using for all the common cards that I will try and put up tonight.
Adding spoiler boxes to reduce wall of text
Flame of Possession3R
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature.
Tap Enchanted Creature: Deal 1 damage to target creature or player.
Power of Possession3W
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature.
Tap Enchanted Creature: Target creature gains +1/+1
Allure of Possesion3U
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature.
Tap Enchanted Creature: Tap or untap target land.
Fear of Possesion3B
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature.
Tap Enchanted Creature: Target player gains 1 poison counter.
Dream of Possesion3G
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature.
Tap Enchanted Creature: add GG to your mana pool.
If my wording doesn't work like this I will be using 0: Tap enchanted creature and do X. Use this ability only if enchanted creature is untapped and only once per turn.
Staple Commons
Adding spoiler boxes to reduce wall of text
Inner Strength2G
Instant
Target Creatures gains +3/+3
Staple 1 (If this card would be put into the graveyard from anywhere, any player may pay 1 life or 1 If no player does, put this card into your hand instead.)
Hesitation3U
Instant
Counter target spell unless its controller pays 3
Staple 1 (If this card would be put into the graveyard from anywhere, any player may pay 1 life or 1 If no player does, put this card into your hand instead.)
Flameweave2R
Instant -C
Flameweave deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Staple 1 (If this card would be put into the graveyard from anywhere, any player may pay 1 life or 1 If no player does, put this card into your hand instead.)
Mind Wipe2B
Sorcery -C
Target player reveals three cards from his or her hand and you choose one of them. That player discards that card.
Staple 1 (If this card would be put into the graveyard from anywhere, any player may pay 1 life or 1 If no player does, put this card into your hand instead.)
First Aid2W
Instant -C
Choose one — Target player gains 3 life; or prevent the next 3 damage that would be dealt to target creature or player this turn.
Staple 1 (If this card would be put into the graveyard from anywhere, any player may pay 1 life or 1 If no player does, put this card into your hand instead.)
These are the charms except I dropped the broken ones (Ancestral Recall and Dark Ritual), and add 2 more that deal with 3 (Mana Leak and Blackmail). I actually think Mana Leak and Healing salve are more balanced with this keyword, so I am kind of happy about the way it worked out. There will be other Staple cards at other rarities.
I'm not sure if these have a decent power level or not (either to weak or too strong):
Rune of Vitol2
Artifact -C 1,:symtap:: add R or W to your mana pool. RW, Sacrifice Rune of Vitol: Target creature gains +1/+0 and first strike until end of turn. Draw a card.
Rune of Avent2
Artifact -C 1,:symtap:: add U or G to your mana pool. UG, Sacrifice Rune of Vitol: Return target creature to its owner's hand. Draw a card.
Rune of Hetz2
Artifact -C 1,:symtap:: add R or U to your mana pool. RU, Sacrifice Rune of Vitol: Tap target creature, rune of Hetz deals 2 damage to it. Draw a card.
I want to have 2 common "standard" poison creatures from each group. I consider a poison counter to be roughly 1.5 damage, since it doesn't stack with regular damage (instead of 2, like it would count for a player getting closer to death) and can't hurt creatures. I intend to very slightly push these cards since there will be a lot of ways to deal with poison counters. Please let me know if any of these are over the top!
Edit: Adding spoiler boxes to reduce wall of text
Yavil Alchemist3R
Creature - Viashino
Haste
Whenever Yavil Alchemist attacks and isn't blocked, defending player gets a poison counter.
2/3
Lava Lizard1RR
Creature - Lizard
Whenever Lava Lizard attacks and isn't blocked, defending player gets a poison counter.
2/2
Venomtalon HawkW
Creature - Bird
Flying
Whenever Lava Lizard attacks and isn't blocked you may pay 1, if you do defending player gets a poison counter.
0/1
Merchantile GuardWW
Creature - Soldier
First Strike
Whenever Merchantile Guard attacks and isn't blocked, defending player gets a poison counter.
2/1
Trained Diamondhide3G
Creature - Snake
Whenever Trained Diamondhide Guard attacks and isn't blocked, defending player gets a poison counter.
Deathtouch
1/4
Blackriver Crocodile4GG
Creature - Crocodile
Trample
Whenever Blackriver Crocodile deals combat damage to a player, that player gets a poison counter.
5/4
Venomous Apparition4B
Creature - Shade
Intimidate
Whenever Venomous Apparition attacks and isn't blocked, defending player gets a poison counter. B: Venomous Apparition gets +1/+1 until end of turn
0/1
Kai Cobra2B
Creature - Snake
Deathtouch
Whenever Kai Cobra attacks and isn't blocked, defending player gets a poison counter.
1/2
Kai Squid5U
Creature - Squid Beast
Trample
Kai Squid cannot attack unless defending player controls an island.
Whenever Kai Squid deals combat damage to a player, that player gets a poison counter.
4/6
Anjelus Assasin1UU
Creature - Aven U: Anjelus Assasin gains flying until end of turn.
Whenever Anjelus Assasin attacks and isn't blocked, defending player gets a poison counter.
1/3
Yavil Phalanx1RW
Creature - Viashino Soldier
Vigilance
Whenever Carniverous Fera deals combat damage to a player, that player gets a poison counter.
3/3
Rulue Wasp2UG
Creature - Insect
Flying
Whenever Rulue Wasp attacks and isn't blocked, defending player gets a poison counter.
3/3
with these, once they get balances I've got about 25% of the commons done.
Hero counters are referred to by certain cards. This is a cycle of vanilla/french vanilla creatures that come into play with one. They don't do anything on their own, but other cards will refer to them, and they can be used to pay certain costs.
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Shadow Warrior2B
Creature - Shade B: Shadow Warrior gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
Shadow Warrior comes into play with a Hero counter on it.
1/1
Yavil Warrior1RR
Creature - Viashino Warrior
First Strike
Yavil Warrior comes into play with a Hero counter on it.
3/1
Anjelus Warrior2UU
Creature - Aven Soldier
Shroud U: Anjelus Warrior gains flying until end of turn.
Anjelus Warrior comes into play with a Hero counter on it.
2/2
Merchantile WarriorWW
Creature - Human Soldier
First Strike, Lifelink
Merchantile Warrior comes into play with a Hero counter on it.
2/2
Fera Warrior1GG
Creature - Plant Beast
Deathtouch, Reach
Fera Warrior comes into play with a Hero counter on it.
2/3
Sher Meron Warrior1WR
Creature - Viashino Soldier
Haste
Sher Meron Warrior comes into play with a Hero counter on it.
3/3
Common Legend cycle
Since I wanted to have a strong "Legends matter theme" I decided to put a cycle of legends in at common. Since that will cause a lot of issues with people having multiples, I decided to give them go to the graveyard triggers.
Since legends at common also have rules issues, I have reminder text.
Adding spoiler boxes to reduce wall of text
Miasma, Corrupted Fae3B
Legendary Creature - Shade Fae (If two or more legendary permanents with the same name are in play, all are put into their owners’ graveyards)
Flying B: Miasma, Corrupted Fae gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
When Miasma, Corrupted Fae is put into a graveyard from the battlefield target creature gets -1/-1
0/1
Radess, Yavil EngineerRR
Legendary Creature - viashino (If two or more legendary permanents with the same name are in play, all are put into their owners’ graveyards)
When Radess, Yavil Engineer is put into a graveyard from the battlefield deal 3 damage to target creature or player.
2/2
Himeto, Anjelus Skywarden2U
Legenday Creature - Aven (If two or more legendary permanents with the same name are in play, all are put into their owners’ graveyards) U: Himeto, Anjelus Skywarden gains flying until end of turn.
When Himeto, Anjelus Skywarden is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, tap or untap all creatures target player controlls.
2/3
Sapphira, Somma's Guard Captain1WW
Legendary Creature - Human Soldier (If two or more legendary permanents with the same name are in play, all are put into their owners’ graveyards)
Vigilance
When Sapphira, Somma's Guard Captain is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, gain 4 life.
3/3
Strongheart, Fera Snaketamer3GG
Legendary Creature - Plant Beast (If two or more legendary permanents with the same name are in play, all are put into their owners’ graveyards) G: Regenerate Strongheart, Fera Snaketamer.
When Strongheart, Fera Snaketamer is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may put a +1/+1 counter on target snake creature.
4/4
Cedreck, Yavil Scholar1RU
Legendary Creature - Viashino Wizard (If two or more legendary permanents with the same name are in play, all are put into their owners’ graveyards)
Shroud
When Cedreck, Yavil Scholar is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may draw 2 cards.
1/1
This set feels like you're trying to dip into too many areas of design at once, and it becomes disjointed and incoherent as a result.
So far, your set themes/non-evergreen keywords are:
* Hybrid mana/enemy color matters
* Legendary matters/"Hero" counters
* Poison (in all 5 colors?)
* Opponent can pay cost to affect spell (Wager and Staple)
* Morph (how are these different from Otaria morphs?)
* Flip cards
* Banding (why? WotC retired the mechanic because it was notoriously difficult to understand)
* Entwine
* Champion
Flavor can go a long way to make up for this, but right now, if I were to pull 15 cards at random from this set, I think I would not have any idea what it's supposed to be about either flavorfully or mechanically. The good vs. evil storyline (again?) only seems to interact with the enemy-color and legendary themes, and doesn't touch on any of the others.
This set feels like you're trying to dip into too many areas of design at once, and it becomes disjointed and incoherent as a result.
So far, your set themes/non-evergreen keywords are:
* Hybrid mana/enemy color matters
* Legendary matters/"Hero" counters
* Poison (in all 5 colors?)
* Opponent can pay cost to affect spell (Wager and Staple)
* Morph (how are these different from Otaria morphs?)
* Flip cards
* Banding (why? WotC retired the mechanic because it was notoriously difficult to understand)
* Entwine
* Champion
Flavor can go a long way to make up for this, but right now, if I were to pull 15 cards at random from this set, I think I would not have any idea what it's supposed to be about either flavorfully or mechanically. The good vs. evil storyline (again?) only seems to interact with the enemy-color and legendary themes, and doesn't touch on any of the others.
I do need to go through and put the flavor in. I started with a story, so I have a fairly good sense of that, but its not in the cards themselves yet other than names.
I agree that I have too much mechanically going on, so I need to tighten that up some. So far, the things I'm set on are poison, and legendary/hero theme. Part of the theme of the story is how heroes become legends (side one) and the corruption of those heroes (side two) - which I'm trying to introduce mechanically a bit through poison in the first set, and then develop more thematically in the second and third sets. The Enemy colors just happened to work through the story when assigning colors to factions - so I thought I would highlight that aspect of the story specifically.
Once I've got more cards better defined, I do want to pair down the extraneous mechanics to what feels best. Right now I'm trying to get enough ideas down to make a set.
Outside of the issues you noted, how are the cards? Do they feel overly strong or weak, am I short in any particular areas? I know there's not a lot to go on with only 60-odd some cards, but I wanna know if I'm heading in a right direction for play.
I'm using what I assume is the latest revision, since the first post has not been updated with all the cards. This is a card-by-card breakdown, which may not be what you wanted, but I generally find it easier to give specific critique on detail rather than big-picture stuff.
Enemy color M10 duals: Sure, fits the theme.
Heirloom Blade: Why does the counter go on at end of turn, instead of getting the bonus right when it BOIB? You're only incentivizing the opponent to find a good trade, since the counter goes on the creature and not the Equipment.
Horn of Battle: I think it's pretty bad, since it pumps your opponent's stuff as well and it's not much easier than, say, level counters on Time of Heroes. If it only pumped your stuff it'd be fine. Also, "at end of turn" is proper wording, no need for "the."
Soma: "Target creature you control loses all evasion abilities, has +1 power in combat and prevent all damage that would be dealt to it"? Hmm. Verdict is "very annoying."
Calcos: I like BSD's edit, unless you're going token crazy you're not getting card advantage from using his ability, and the +1/+1 counters before regen make his body actually do something.
Fog of War: Ugh, it's like Camouflage's sadistic big brother. Note that in multiplayer games, the active player can invoke rule 506.3c and give the "blocking" creatures to a player who isn't being attacked.
The Chosen One: Seen it before, and it's fine.
Ryjal: Very "Zendikar" feel, I like. If you're not developing morph as a major theme, though, I'd say get rid of it, because morph relies on having as many different morph creatures as possible in a deck to preserve the "surprise" factor.
Necropotent: Shouldn't have "would" in wording. Hard to judge the power level, and giving it that name doesn't really help...
Evolution: It's strictly better than Polymorph in almost every way, except being multicolored. What if it gave the opponent the ability to "counter" the effect as well?
Stonefang Viper: Probably a beating in Limited, but won't make the cut in Constructed. Monogreen even has Leatherback Baloth with no drawback.
Coral Forest: Mana Horned Turtle is fine.
Hesitation: Eh, it's non-block-themed Delay, but I don't really like introducing a new counter type if the rest of the set has nothing to do with it.
Yavil Roulette: My first instinct is that this is all kinds of broken. I'm not sure how much fun this kind of mechanic is, as it seems to make both players unhappy more often than not.
Flameweave: Early game it will get them for an extra life, late game they'll probably have mana open. I think it's fine, because even if they're tapped out the first time and don't pay the life for some reason, you still pay its cost when you "rebound" it. I don't like the idea of "free buyback" on paper, but cards that are fairly costed can create interesting decision trees.
Anjelus Inhibitor: Great way to get yourself ganged up on in multiplayer. Why doesn't a blue Aven have flying?
Zombicroc: Which is neither a Zombie nor a Crocodile?
Biomancy: Momir Vig meets Bribery? Sure.
Quest: This card is flavorful but it's got much too much going on for a common. You have the Journey to Nowhere, it has vanishing, the card comes back with a hero counter (very random if you don't know about the "legendary" theme, and the card's "original controller" gets to go tutor something (which creates interesting implications about using it on your own creature). Overall I'd say it's a fair bit worse than Journey. You can't even get value if it dies in response to the trigger, since they'll just go fetch another copy of what you exiled (bouncing it back to your hand, of course, works just fine and is wholeheartedly approved).
Battlefield: "What is "leathal [sic] damage in combat" supposed to mean? If I Shock your 3/3 and block it with a 1/1, does that count? What if it regenerates, or it has totem armor? What if it takes 1000 damage but it's indestructible? What if it's damaged by something with deathtouch? You could probably make this trigger off anything going to the graveyard from the battlefield, and it would be fine. The spirit making ability happening only during the upkeep seems random. Flipping a card that's already flipped does nothing because of how the flip rules work.
Sher Meron: Interesting drawback. Because it's legendary and needs a basic in play to not be sacrificed immediately after tapping it, it seems fine.
Shade's Portal: It's not common, but it seems fine.
Blackriver Viper has an interesting drawback, as goldfishing it will kill you before you get those last points of damage in. Python is just a vanilla body for the cost, and green should be getting midrange guys at better than average prices anyway. Trained Diamondhide is good. Poison Shock is a cute build-around-me, but should be in red, as it's superior to Poison Burn in at least two ways. Envenom/Poison Dart are redundant, as are Antidote/Anti-Venom. Venomwell Spider doesn't need the -1 life drawback, that's not green. I don't like Poison Transfer being blue for the sake of having poison in five colors. Venom Elemental likewise for the build-around-me. Nice use of design space, though I'd like to see it on a few more cards like Diamondhide that aren't solely devoted to the mechanic.
"Possession" Auras: I don't like the Blinding Mage ability getting colorshifted into red and green - it's one of blue's, especially, few methods of permanent creature control. Also, if you make this common, you'll have hordes of new players swearing that you can't tap an opponent's creature to pay a cost, which is hard to grok in the first place. Personally I like "Tap this Aura: Tap enchanted creature. Do something," which still restricts it to once per turn cycle and is much easier to understand. The green one is also far worse than the others because you'll be wanting to use it on your opponent's turn (to tap down their guy), but when are you going to make use of GG during your opponent's beginning of combat step?
Staple commons: Good stuff. Even if Healing Salve is still crap.
Runes: I like how the colorshifting makes them worse than Ravnica Signets, but they have a "Seal" tacked on to make up for that. I'm not sure the draw is necessary. Avent seems the best as you can clear away a blocker, kill an Aura, or just delay a really annoying guy for a turn. Vitol will never be a surprise unless the opponent is really not paying attention, so in that respect it's worse than something like Kindled Fury. Hetz seems like one of the modes will almost always be irrelevant.
Common poison creatures: Is there a reason these don't all say "combat damage" instead of "attacks and isn't blocked"? It will be functionally the same 99% of the time anyway. I'm not going to evaluate these individually, as they are almost all the same evasion creature with different p/t and costs.
Common "Hero" creatures: What if the ability had some relevance to the hero counter, or the number of hero counters? It makes the card seem much less random in isolation. Also, what is the expected proportion of cards that care about hero counters on things in this set?
Miasma: I like it, although paying 3B and sacrificing a creature to give something -2/-2 is kind of crap. Would upping the ltb to -2/-2 push this into uncommon territory? It's also the kind of card that you normally wouldn't want more than one on the board anyway, since it has 0 power until it starts eating up your mana.
Radess: Straight damage. Sure.
Himeto: I see two uses for this: To tap all your opponent's stuff and untap yours at sorcery speed (bad), or to go untap-crazy with some sort of combo shenanigans. Overall it's rather underwhelming, but I guess that's fine because it's a common?
Sapphira: Wait, isn't this character dead? The body is worth several times more than the ltb effect.
Strongheart: Another card where the body is worth much more than the ltb. 4/4 regenerate for 5 should not be common, as he is incredibly difficult to kill (compare Cudgel Troll). Since all of the current Snakes are in the poison deck, it's hard to tell how much impact the counter will have. Maybe shrink him by 1/1 and let him target any creature?
Cedreck: Why does he have shroud - don't you want him to die? He's like a fog that draws cards, which is nice.
EDIT: Why is the set called "Libra"? Does it have to do with the Roman word for "scales", or was it just something you thought sounded cool?
Thanks, I appreciate it. I only wanted to move cards up into the main post as people said they were decent.
Heirloom Blade: To balance it, I figured if it when on in combat, it would be a little too powerful. This might not be correct.
Horn of Battle: That makes sense, it can be one sided, it wasn't intended to be global that was an oversight on my part.
Soma: Yeah I think I'm gonna drop Him (or recreate him) and get rid of banding, I thought it was a cool concept, but its not worth trying to bring back banding.
Calcos: Glad to hear the confirmation! I'll be using BSDs wording on him.
Fog of War: Well, the player brings the creature into play blocking the attacking creature, but I probably need to refamiliarize myself with multiplayer rules to make sure I word complicated cards like this properly.
Ryjal: I'll drop it, I don't have much in the way of other morph stuff really.
Necropotent: I wanted the name to evoke the original - and the casting cost. I don't really think this is way too powerful. In testing I'll need to see if it should limit it to damage by creatures.
Evolution: I like the ability of the opponent to counter the effect, it fits mechanically with other themes in the set (Wager and Staple). Maybe I need a cycle of these.
Stonefang Viper: Well, when you have cards like Poison Bolt, his "draw back" becomes good - so we'll see - but I'm pretty sure he needs to move to uncommon for the effect on limited.
Hestitaion: Gonna drop this
Yavil Roulette: I wanted to seriously aggressively cost Wager cards - I'm gonna put an update with a lot of them in it so that people can see some of the ideas I have. It might turn out to be bad (or need to be cumulative rather than exponential increases, etc.).
Flameweave: Really appreciate the feedback on this. It seems like you're getting what my goal is for these - interesting decision trees.
Anjelus Inhibitor: The Aven on this planet have been grounded for a while, most of them don't ever actually fly because its "beneath" them. Those that do have more of a Jump ability. A Politician like the Inhibitor wouldn't be caught flying anywhere. This is purely flavor.
Zombicroc: Yup this should be fixed.
Biomancy: Cool, that's what I was going for!
Quest: Yeah, I designed this card pre Zendikar - It does have a ton of words on it- the easy thing to do would just have it suspend the creature I suppose, and then sac when it comes back - but then Suspend was a waste too
Battlefield: Yeah I would assume that the shock would mean leathal damage in combat. I was not wanting it to trigger off of a sacrifice, but I certainly see the confusion that could be caused. Cards really can't be flipped back? Ok that will mean the original descision of waiting to flip the card until it had a good number of counters on it more meaningful. That's a lot better than the other possible work around of blinking the card. THough... I could have the card return to your hand...
Poison Stuff: That's really great feedback. I'll take another pass at it.
Possession Auras: Yeah red doesn't really have that mechanic, but a green enchantment is where I got the idea: Entangling Vines. Is tapping Aura's more Grokkable? All of them kind of have a benefit to being used on your own turn, which I thought would be interesting on a descision level.
Runes: I was trying to make these like Mind stone, but since they don't accelerate (didn't want to make BETTER signets..) I thought I'd tack on a fairly weak ability on the sacrifice.
Poison creatures: The reason I didn't put "combat damage" on all of them, is because I used the wording from oracle of existing creatures. I had to change it to work with the trample creatures. They could all be combat damage except the 0 power ones though.
Hero Creatures: I really like that idea. I'll work some stuff up.
Legends: I didn't want these to all be throw away creatures, just ones that it wasn't a big deal if you had a bunch cause you could do neat things with them by forcing them to die through the legend rule. It doesn't sound like any were overpowered - which is nice
The set is called libra because of its Latin translation: Balance. This world is out of balance, in the beginning on the side of Light, in the next set on the side of Dark, and then it will come back to neutral in the 3rd set (flavor wise, not (hopefully) play wise).
Sphinx is really good. Control will play it and be able to protect him just fine, hes a much better finisher then Jwar Isle and thats saying a lot considering how good he alone is. Bazzar Trader.dec now has 16 threaten effects. Thats really, really, really,really good. Really good.
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Libra Block consists of three sets, the first of which is named Libra. I'm focusing on this one first, then I will start developing the other 2 and balance all three as a whole for limited.
General Flavor:
Libra is the name of a plane where some races are at war, and an incoming invasion looms on the horizon.
Mechanical Theme:
Black is at odds with all colors but is working on corrupting them and as of Libra has infiltrated Green and White. A coalition of peace-seeking people occupies a multi-color section of the world that is UR, RW, UG. There are separate White, Green, Blue and Red factions as well. Mono white is at war with green and blue, and Mono Red is at war with Green. There are 5 major racial players, but not a strong racial theme. Legends matters is an important part of this set.
Returning Mechanics:
Hybrid Mana returns to a small capacity in Libra (in the first set limited to B/W and B/G). Multi-color appears but is limited to enemy colors. Flip cards come back. I'm going to utilize poison in a different way as well.
New Mechanics:
Wager X: If this spell is on the stack, you may pay a combination of mana and life equal to X, if you do you gain control of this spell and may choose new targets for it if applicable. If the Wager cost is paid, double it. Any player may use this ability.
--appears on Red cards mostly, limited use on White and Blue cards.
Staple X If this card would be put into the graveyard from anywhere, any player may pay X life or X If no player does, put this card into your hand instead.
--appears on spells, any color
Backstory:
The leader of the renegade city, Sher Meron, has become aware that the dark side of the planet is planning an invasion of the light side of the planet (The dark side is shadowed by a moon, and the oceans on that side have frozen over). He is working on gathering 8 heroes of prophecy in order to bring the warring nations together to defending against what will otherwise be overwhelming defeat. The dark side of the planet has begun to send some denizens to the light side in order to infiltrate and keep the dissention going.
Primary Races:
White - Humans
Blue - Avens - flying will appear as a until EOT ability on these Aven
Red - Viashino
Green - "Fera" Plant Beasts
Black - Shades
Set Color and Rarity Breakdown
20 Basic Lands
12 Rares 5/12
Palm Island
Land -R
Palm Island enters the battlefield tapped unless you control a Forest or an Island.
:symtap:: add U or G to your mana pool.
Mesa
Land -R
Mesa enters the battlefield tapped unless you control a Plains or a Mountain.
:symtap:: add R or W to your mana pool.
Decaying Weald
Land -R
Decaying Weald enters the battlefield tapped unless you control a Forest or a Swamp.
:symtap:: add B or G to your mana pool.
Death Field
Land -R
Death Field enters the battlefield tapped unless you control a Plains or a Swamp.
:symtap:: add B or W to your mana pool.
Undersea Volcano
Land -R
Undersea Volcano enters the battlefield tapped unless you control an Island or a Mountain.
:symtap:: add U or R to your mana pool.
Sher Meron
Legendary Land - Island Forest Mountain Plains -R
Champion a Basic Land
4 Commons
12 Uncommons
Heirloom Blade 1
Artifact - Equipment -U
Equip: 2
Whenever equipped creature blocks or is blocked, if that creature is Legendary, put a Hero counter on it at the end of the turn.
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 for each Hero counter on it.
Horn of Battle 3
Artifact -U
2, :symtap:: Creatures you control with Hero counters on them get +2/+2 until the end of turn.
2 Mythic
7 Rare
The Chosen One 4WW
Instant -R
Remove target creature from the game. Destroy all creatures in play, they cannot be regenerated. At the end of the turn, put that creature back into play under its owner's control.
"Altes, we tried it your way; now we are doing it mine. Rebuild the world as you built Sher Meron, none here were worth saving." Salus, the traveler.
8 Uncommon
16 Common
2 Mythic
7 Rare
8 Uncommon
Anjelus Inhibitor 1UU
Creature - Aven -U
Spells cost 1 more to play.
Anyone else find it hard to breathe when that guy walks into the room? - Gabbro, Dwarven Advisor
2/3
16 Common
2 Mythic
7 Rare
8 Uncommon
16 Common
Flameweave 2R
Instant -C
Flameweave deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Staple 1 (If this card would be put into the graveyard from anywhere, any player may pay 1 life or 1. If no player does, put this card into your hand instead.)
2 Mythic
7 Rare
8 Uncommon
16 Common
2 Mythic
7 Rare
Calcos, Dark Lord 1BB
Legendary Creature - Human Lord -R
Sacrifice a Creature: Regenerate Calcos, Dark Lord and put a +1/+1 counter on Calcos, Dark Lord.
B, Remove a +1/+1 counter from Calcos, Dark Lord: target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
1/1
"I will use any resource I can to vanquish my enemies, and my most loyal subjects are my most valuable resources." Calcos, Dark Lord
8 Uncommon
16 Common
Zombicroc 1:symbg::symbg:
Creature - Zombie Crocodile -C
"Hans! Watchou....."
4/3
2 Mythic
7 Rare
8 Uncommon
16 Common
I'd love input and advice!
Edit: All of these have been commented on, feel free to comment further, adding a spoiler box to conserve space
Palm Island
Land -R
Palm Island enters the battlefield tapped unless you control a Forest or an Island.
:symtap:: add U or G to your mana pool.
Mesa
Land -R
Mesa enters the battlefield tapped unless you control a Plains or a Mountain.
:symtap:: add R or W to your mana pool.
Decaying Weald
Land -R
Decaying Weald enters the battlefield tapped unless you control a Forest or a Swamp.
:symtap:: add B or G to your mana pool.
Death Field
Land -R
Death Field enters the battlefield tapped unless you control a Plains or a Swamp.
:symtap:: add B or W to your mana pool.
Undersea Volcano
Land -R
Undersea Volcano enters the battlefield tapped unless you control an Island or a Mountain.
:symtap:: add U or R to your mana pool.
Heirloom Blade 1
Artifact - Equipment -U
Equip: 2
Whenever equipped creature blocks or is blocked, if that creature is Legendary, put a Hero counter on it at the end of the turn.
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 for each Hero counter on it.
Horn of Battle 3
Artifact - Equipment -U
2, :symtap:: Creatures with Hero counters on them get +2/+2 until the end of turn.
Soma, General-King 1WW
Legendary Creature - Human Soldier Lord -R
Banding.
Damage dealt to Soma, General-King by creatures is reduced to zero.
W: Redirect target spell or ability targeting Soma, General-King to another creature you control.
1/1
Soma was not only the most brilliant battlefield commander, any soldier would gladly give his life to him.
Calcos, Dark Lord 1BB
Legendary Creature - Human Lord -R
Sacrifice a Creature: Regenerate Calcos, Dark Lord and put a +1/+1 counter on Calcos, Dark Lord.
B, Remove a +1/+1 counter from Calcos, Dark Lord: target creature blocking or blocked by Calcos, Dark Lord gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
1/1
"I will use any resource I can to vanquish my enemies, and my most loyal subjects are my most valuable resources." Calcos, Dark Lord
Fog of War 3RW
Enchantment -R
At the beginning of each player's main phase, that player chooses a creature and flips a coin. If you win, gain control of that creature; If you loose, target opponent gains control of that creature. Repeat this process for every creature in play. At the end of turn if either player controls no creatures, sacrifice Fog of War.
After the battle, Gabbro didn't know that it was he who had slain Sapphira. At least the fog had spared him that.
The Chosen One 4WW
Instant -R
Remove target creature from the game. Destroy all creatures in play, they cannot be regenerated. At the end of the turn, put that creature back into play under its owner's control.
"Altes, we tried it your way; now we are doing it mine. Rebuild the world as you built Sher Meron, none here were worth saving." Salus, the traveler.
Ryjal, Trap Master :2mana::symr::symr:
Legendary Creature - Goblin -U
When Ryjal, Trap Master is turned face up, destroy target unblocked creature.
Whenever an artifact comes into play, you may turn Ryjal, Trap Master face down as a 2/2 creature.
Morph :1mana::symr::symr: (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for . Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.)
They always fall for it.
3/3
Necropotent :symb::symb::symb:
Enchantment -U
Whenever a source you control would deal damage to a player, you may pay 1 life. If you do, draw a card.
Evolution 3UG
Instant -U
Sacrifice a creature: Reveal cards from the top of your library until a creature card is revealed. Put that card into play unless you pay 2. If you do put it in the graveyard instead and repeat this process. When a creature is put into play by evolution put all revealed cards in your graveyard.
Stonefang Viper 2G
Summon Snake -C
Whenever Stonefang Viper attacks or blocks, you gain 2 poison counters. (If a player has 10 or more poison counters, they loose the game)
"I wouldn't call it tamed, exactly," Gabbro, master trainer.
5/5
Coral Forest 1UG
Creature - Wall -C
Defender
When Coral Forest comes into play you may pay U, if you do return target creature to its owner's hand.
: Add U or G to your mana pool.
When the elves were forced into the deep, they not only adapted quickly to their new environment, their new environment adapted quickly to them.
1/4
Hesitation UU
Instant -C
Remove target spell from the game and put 3 delay counters on it. During each of that card's owner's upkeeps, remove a delay counter from it. If there are no delay counters on that card, it's owner may play that card as though it were in his hand without paying its mana cost.
Even the powerful may be made to hesitate, that brief moment may be your opening to victory.
Flameweave 2R
Instant -C
Flameweave deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Staple 1 (If this card would be put into the graveyard from anywhere, any player may pay 1 life or 1. If no player does, put this card into your hand instead.)
Yavil Roulette 1RR
Sorcery -R
Deal 10 damage to target player and each creature he or she controls.
Wager 1
Anjelus Inhibitor 1UU
Creature - Aven -U
Spells cost 1 more to play.
Anyone else find it hard to breathe when that guy walks into the room? - Gabbro, Dwarven Advisor
2/3
Zombicroc 1BG
Creature - Horror -C
"Hans! Watchou....."
4/3
Biomancy 1UG
Instant -U
Choose one - Put target creature on top of its owner's library; or target player reveals the top card of his or her library, if its a creature card, put that creature into play under your control.
Entwine 2 (Choose both if you pay the entwine cost)
'Prevent, Produce, and Purloin.' - Biomancer's creed.
Quest W
Enchantment -C
When Quest comes into play, exile target and put 3 time counters on Quest.
At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter from Quest.
If there are no time counters on Quest, sacrifice it and return the creature rexiled by Quest to play under its owner's control with a Hero counter on it.
When Quest is put into a graveyard from play its target's original controller searches their library for a card and puts it in his or her hand.
Battlefield
Land -U
: add 1 to your mana pool.
Whenever a creature takes leathal damage in combat, put a grave counter on Battlefield.
At end of turn, if there are 5 or more grave counters on Battlefield, you may flip it.
///
Burial Ground
Enchantment
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may put X 1/1 colorless spirit tokens into play where X is the number of grave counters on Burial Ground minus the number of spirit tokens you control.
Sher Meron
Legendary Land - Island Forest Mountain Plains -R
Champion a Basic Land
Shade's Portal
Land - Swamp -C
Shade's Portal enters the battlefield tapped.
The first time you use an activated ability of a black creature you control each turn, its cost is reduced by B
I'd love input and advice!
I think this could cost less, but is fine as is.
This card needs such specific other cards to do anything, give it the ability to put hero counters on creature then it will be fine.
I don't think you can redirect spells or abilities, I think you will need to change it to "change the target of target spell or ability that targets ~ to another creature you control."
Looks good, seems like you could bump up his second ability to let him target any creature.
I don't see any white in this. Without giving them haste you won't be able to attack with half of the creatures you have, on top of that doing this process twice a turn every turn just makes me want to scoop. I think this would play much better as a sorcery.
I like.
You don't need to say "as a 2/2 creature." ,just say "turn ~ face down."
I worry about the power of this card, but really it will probobly be OK. I'd like to see what others have to say about it.
Nice combination of Polymorph and Natural Order, but this cost too much. I would drop 1 from the cost, and let you 'Evolve' opponent's creatures as well:
Evolution 2UG
Instant - u
Target creature's controller sacrifices it, then reveals cards from the top of their library until they reveal a creature card. They put that card into play unless you pay 2. If you do they put all reveal card on the bottom of their library random order, then repeat this process. Then they put all cards revealed this way on the bottom of their library in random order.
I like it!
I think he's a bit too good, but not terribly so. Either raise his cost by one or raise his cost and change the ETB trigger to just bounce without the extra u
Delay?
I like it. I was worried about Staple, but this is fine.
Once someone is down to 10 this just wins, they either take it and die or they won't have the life to pay. You will only need to pay 10(life+mana), but they will need to pay 21(life+mana). Too strong!
Grood.
Grood.
Repel cost 4, and I see the second ability as a constant disapointment.
You could clean up the text by using fading or vanishing, but I can understand not wanting to.
Initially I thougt,'wow, that is broken', but when I realiased that the creatures needed to die in combat I thought, 'Oh, that's ok', but then I remembered the fliped ability. I still think this is too strong, maybe it simply gives one creature a turn, or has a cost added?
Very nice and simple.
Make it legendary.
Like?
Calcos, Dark Lord 1BB
Legendary Creature - Human Lord -R
Sacrifice a Creature: Regenerate Calcos, Dark Lord and put a +1/+1 counter on Calcos, Dark Lord.
B, Remove a +1/+1 counter from Calcos, Dark Lord: target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
1/1
The process being a pain I agree with. What about:
Fog of War 2RR
Instant
Play only after blockers are declared. Exile all attacking and blocking creatures. For each creature exiled in this way, flip a coin put all creatures that came up heads into play under the active players control tapped and attacking. Then, put all remaining creatures under another players control each creature blocking an attacking creature of that players choice. At the end of combat, each creature returns to its owners control.
After the battle, Gabbro didn't know that it was he who had slain Sapphira. At least the fog had spared him that.
I think the wording might be weak on that.
Necropotent :symb::symb::symb:
Enchantment -U
Whenever a source you control would deal damage to a player, you may pay 1 life. If you do, draw a card.
It becomes a rediculous card with something like Pestilence, but its a two card combo that would basically be Greed. I'll hold off on adding it to let some other people weigh in.
I like your version better as well. I wonder if its too good - but its probably not.
What if I just drop the bounce and move that ability to another card?
Coral Forest 1UG
Creature - Wall -C
Defender
: Add U or G to your mana pool.
When the elves were forced into the deep, they not only adapted quickly to their new environment, their new environment adapted quickly to them.
1/4
Cool, glad to hear it. My concept was going to be add 2 to staple commons that have this ability.
Inner Strength 2G
Instant
Target Creatures gains +3/+3
Staple 1
Hesitation 3U (dropping the other card of this name heh)
Instant
Counter target spell unless its controller pays 3
Staple 1
Well, lets see. What if I changed Wager to state "This ability may be played by anyone except this spells controller" I think I need to do that anyway. Is it just too low of a cost? I think this would be a dangerous card to play unless your opponent was down on life and tapped out... for wager one it goes 1, 2, 4 ,8, 16. Maybe in this case, Wager 2 would actually be better for this card - since then the costs would go 2, 4, 8, 16 - so you're sending it back to the other player with - worst case- 8 life, and they need to come up with 16 to send it back at you.
I was going for a Versitile but weakened version of Temporal Spring. When Entwined, it becomes basically a control magic. Maybe I should drop entwine from this set and use kicker instead?
Is the card good enough to add those? I don't mind playing around with what mechanics are added and not. I think there's some general design space in that card, that I could design a few that use similar mechanics.
Good points. How about:
Battlefield
Land -U
: add 1 to your mana pool.
Whenever a creature takes leathal damage in combat, put a grave counter on Battlefield.
At end of turn, if there are 5 or more grave counters on Battlefield, you may flip it.
///
Burial Ground
Enchantment
Remove a Grave counter from Burial Ground: Put a 2/2 Spirit token into play. Use this ability only once each turn and only durring your upkeep.
Whenever there are no Grave counters on Burial Ground, flip it.
Does it need to be? I was hoping this would be common and balance out a large number of shade creatures. What if it said instead:
Shade's Portal
Land - Swamp -C
Shade's Portal enters the battlefield tapped.
:symtap:: add BB to your mana pool. Use this only to pay the activation costs of Black permanents.
I'd love input and advice!
Example Poison Cards:
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Blackriver Viper G
Creature - Snake
Whenever Blackriver Viper attacks or blocks, you gain 1 poison counter.
2/2
Blackriver Python 1GG
Creature - Snake
When Blackriver Python comes into play, you gain 3 poison counters.
4/4
Trained Diamondhide 3G
Creature - Snake
When Trained Diamondhide deals damage to a player, that player gains 1 poison counter.
Deathtouch
1/4
Poison Shock 2
Instant
Deal damage equal to the number of poison counters you have to target creature or player. You lose 1 poison counter.
Poison Burn 3R
Instant
Remove all poison counters from target player. He or She takes 1 damage for each counter removed in this way.
Envenom 2BB
Sorcery
Target player gains 3 poison counters.
Antidote 2WW
Sorcery
Remove all poison counters from all players
Anti-venom 2W
Instant
Remove 2 Poison counters from target player
Staple 1
Poison Dart 2B
Instant
Target player gains 1 poison counter.
Staple 1
Venomwell Spider 1GG
Creature - Spider
Pay 1 life, Remove two Poison counters from yourself: Put a +1/+1 counter on Venomwell Spider. Use this ability only as a sorcery and only once each turn.
Reach
0/2
Poison Transfer 2U
Sorcery
As an additional cost to cast Poison Transfer, remove 2 poison counters from yourself.
Target player gains 2 poison counters.
Venom Elemental BBB
Creature - Elemental
Venom Elemental's power and toughness are equal to the number of poison counters you have.
Whenever Venom Elemental attacks or blocks you lose one poison counter.
X/X
I'd love input and advice!
I'm going to put some of the common cycles for the set. I've got a map I'm using for all the common cards that I will try and put up tonight.
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Flame of Possession 3R
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature.
Tap Enchanted Creature: Deal 1 damage to target creature or player.
Power of Possession 3W
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature.
Tap Enchanted Creature: Target creature gains +1/+1
Allure of Possesion 3U
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature.
Tap Enchanted Creature: Tap or untap target land.
Fear of Possesion 3B
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature.
Tap Enchanted Creature: Target player gains 1 poison counter.
Dream of Possesion 3G
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature.
Tap Enchanted Creature: add GG to your mana pool.
Staple Commons
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Inner Strength 2G
Instant
Target Creatures gains +3/+3
Staple 1 (If this card would be put into the graveyard from anywhere, any player may pay 1 life or 1 If no player does, put this card into your hand instead.)
Hesitation 3U
Instant
Counter target spell unless its controller pays 3
Staple 1 (If this card would be put into the graveyard from anywhere, any player may pay 1 life or 1 If no player does, put this card into your hand instead.)
Flameweave 2R
Instant -C
Flameweave deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Staple 1 (If this card would be put into the graveyard from anywhere, any player may pay 1 life or 1 If no player does, put this card into your hand instead.)
Mind Wipe 2B
Sorcery -C
Target player reveals three cards from his or her hand and you choose one of them. That player discards that card.
Staple 1 (If this card would be put into the graveyard from anywhere, any player may pay 1 life or 1 If no player does, put this card into your hand instead.)
First Aid 2W
Instant -C
Choose one — Target player gains 3 life; or prevent the next 3 damage that would be dealt to target creature or player this turn.
Staple 1 (If this card would be put into the graveyard from anywhere, any player may pay 1 life or 1 If no player does, put this card into your hand instead.)
These are the charms except I dropped the broken ones (Ancestral Recall and Dark Ritual), and add 2 more that deal with 3 (Mana Leak and Blackmail). I actually think Mana Leak and Healing salve are more balanced with this keyword, so I am kind of happy about the way it worked out. There will be other Staple cards at other rarities.
I'd love input and advice!
I'm not sure if these have a decent power level or not (either to weak or too strong):
Rune of Vitol 2
Artifact -C
1,:symtap:: add R or W to your mana pool.
RW, Sacrifice Rune of Vitol: Target creature gains +1/+0 and first strike until end of turn. Draw a card.
Rune of Avent 2
Artifact -C
1,:symtap:: add U or G to your mana pool.
UG, Sacrifice Rune of Vitol: Return target creature to its owner's hand. Draw a card.
Rune of Hetz 2
Artifact -C
1,:symtap:: add R or U to your mana pool.
RU, Sacrifice Rune of Vitol: Tap target creature, rune of Hetz deals 2 damage to it. Draw a card.
I'd love input and advice!
I want to have 2 common "standard" poison creatures from each group. I consider a poison counter to be roughly 1.5 damage, since it doesn't stack with regular damage (instead of 2, like it would count for a player getting closer to death) and can't hurt creatures. I intend to very slightly push these cards since there will be a lot of ways to deal with poison counters. Please let me know if any of these are over the top!
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Yavil Alchemist 3R
Creature - Viashino
Haste
Whenever Yavil Alchemist attacks and isn't blocked, defending player gets a poison counter.
2/3
Lava Lizard 1RR
Creature - Lizard
Whenever Lava Lizard attacks and isn't blocked, defending player gets a poison counter.
2/2
Venomtalon Hawk W
Creature - Bird
Flying
Whenever Lava Lizard attacks and isn't blocked you may pay 1, if you do defending player gets a poison counter.
0/1
Merchantile Guard WW
Creature - Soldier
First Strike
Whenever Merchantile Guard attacks and isn't blocked, defending player gets a poison counter.
2/1
Trained Diamondhide 3G
Creature - Snake
Whenever Trained Diamondhide Guard attacks and isn't blocked, defending player gets a poison counter.
Deathtouch
1/4
Blackriver Crocodile 4GG
Creature - Crocodile
Trample
Whenever Blackriver Crocodile deals combat damage to a player, that player gets a poison counter.
5/4
Venomous Apparition 4B
Creature - Shade
Intimidate
Whenever Venomous Apparition attacks and isn't blocked, defending player gets a poison counter.
B: Venomous Apparition gets +1/+1 until end of turn
0/1
Kai Cobra 2B
Creature - Snake
Deathtouch
Whenever Kai Cobra attacks and isn't blocked, defending player gets a poison counter.
1/2
Kai Squid 5U
Creature - Squid Beast
Trample
Kai Squid cannot attack unless defending player controls an island.
Whenever Kai Squid deals combat damage to a player, that player gets a poison counter.
4/6
Anjelus Assasin 1UU
Creature - Aven
U: Anjelus Assasin gains flying until end of turn.
Whenever Anjelus Assasin attacks and isn't blocked, defending player gets a poison counter.
1/3
Yavil Phalanx 1RW
Creature - Viashino Soldier
Vigilance
Whenever Carniverous Fera deals combat damage to a player, that player gets a poison counter.
3/3
Rulue Wasp 2UG
Creature - Insect
Flying
Whenever Rulue Wasp attacks and isn't blocked, defending player gets a poison counter.
3/3
I'd love input and advice!
Hero counters are referred to by certain cards. This is a cycle of vanilla/french vanilla creatures that come into play with one. They don't do anything on their own, but other cards will refer to them, and they can be used to pay certain costs.
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Shadow Warrior 2B
Creature - Shade
B: Shadow Warrior gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
Shadow Warrior comes into play with a Hero counter on it.
1/1
Yavil Warrior 1RR
Creature - Viashino Warrior
First Strike
Yavil Warrior comes into play with a Hero counter on it.
3/1
Anjelus Warrior 2UU
Creature - Aven Soldier
Shroud
U: Anjelus Warrior gains flying until end of turn.
Anjelus Warrior comes into play with a Hero counter on it.
2/2
Merchantile Warrior WW
Creature - Human Soldier
First Strike, Lifelink
Merchantile Warrior comes into play with a Hero counter on it.
2/2
Fera Warrior 1GG
Creature - Plant Beast
Deathtouch, Reach
Fera Warrior comes into play with a Hero counter on it.
2/3
Sher Meron Warrior 1WR
Creature - Viashino Soldier
Haste
Sher Meron Warrior comes into play with a Hero counter on it.
3/3
Since I wanted to have a strong "Legends matter theme" I decided to put a cycle of legends in at common. Since that will cause a lot of issues with people having multiples, I decided to give them go to the graveyard triggers.
Since legends at common also have rules issues, I have reminder text.
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Miasma, Corrupted Fae 3B
Legendary Creature - Shade Fae
(If two or more legendary permanents with the same name are in play, all are put into their owners’ graveyards)
Flying
B: Miasma, Corrupted Fae gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
When Miasma, Corrupted Fae is put into a graveyard from the battlefield target creature gets -1/-1
0/1
Radess, Yavil Engineer RR
Legendary Creature - viashino
(If two or more legendary permanents with the same name are in play, all are put into their owners’ graveyards)
When Radess, Yavil Engineer is put into a graveyard from the battlefield deal 3 damage to target creature or player.
2/2
Himeto, Anjelus Skywarden 2U
Legenday Creature - Aven
(If two or more legendary permanents with the same name are in play, all are put into their owners’ graveyards)
U: Himeto, Anjelus Skywarden gains flying until end of turn.
When Himeto, Anjelus Skywarden is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, tap or untap all creatures target player controlls.
2/3
Sapphira, Somma's Guard Captain 1WW
Legendary Creature - Human Soldier
(If two or more legendary permanents with the same name are in play, all are put into their owners’ graveyards)
Vigilance
When Sapphira, Somma's Guard Captain is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, gain 4 life.
3/3
Strongheart, Fera Snaketamer 3GG
Legendary Creature - Plant Beast
(If two or more legendary permanents with the same name are in play, all are put into their owners’ graveyards)
G: Regenerate Strongheart, Fera Snaketamer.
When Strongheart, Fera Snaketamer is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may put a +1/+1 counter on target snake creature.
4/4
Cedreck, Yavil Scholar 1RU
Legendary Creature - Viashino Wizard
(If two or more legendary permanents with the same name are in play, all are put into their owners’ graveyards)
Shroud
When Cedreck, Yavil Scholar is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may draw 2 cards.
1/1
I'd love input and advice!
So far, your set themes/non-evergreen keywords are:
* Hybrid mana/enemy color matters
* Legendary matters/"Hero" counters
* Poison (in all 5 colors?)
* Opponent can pay cost to affect spell (Wager and Staple)
* Morph (how are these different from Otaria morphs?)
* Flip cards
* Banding (why? WotC retired the mechanic because it was notoriously difficult to understand)
* Entwine
* Champion
Flavor can go a long way to make up for this, but right now, if I were to pull 15 cards at random from this set, I think I would not have any idea what it's supposed to be about either flavorfully or mechanically. The good vs. evil storyline (again?) only seems to interact with the enemy-color and legendary themes, and doesn't touch on any of the others.
Avatar by Numotflame96 of Maelstrom Graphics
Sig banner thanks to DarkNightCavalier of Heroes of the Plane Studios!
I do need to go through and put the flavor in. I started with a story, so I have a fairly good sense of that, but its not in the cards themselves yet other than names.
I agree that I have too much mechanically going on, so I need to tighten that up some. So far, the things I'm set on are poison, and legendary/hero theme. Part of the theme of the story is how heroes become legends (side one) and the corruption of those heroes (side two) - which I'm trying to introduce mechanically a bit through poison in the first set, and then develop more thematically in the second and third sets. The Enemy colors just happened to work through the story when assigning colors to factions - so I thought I would highlight that aspect of the story specifically.
Once I've got more cards better defined, I do want to pair down the extraneous mechanics to what feels best. Right now I'm trying to get enough ideas down to make a set.
Outside of the issues you noted, how are the cards? Do they feel overly strong or weak, am I short in any particular areas? I know there's not a lot to go on with only 60-odd some cards, but I wanna know if I'm heading in a right direction for play.
I'd love input and advice!
Enemy color M10 duals: Sure, fits the theme.
Heirloom Blade: Why does the counter go on at end of turn, instead of getting the bonus right when it BOIB? You're only incentivizing the opponent to find a good trade, since the counter goes on the creature and not the Equipment.
Horn of Battle: I think it's pretty bad, since it pumps your opponent's stuff as well and it's not much easier than, say, level counters on Time of Heroes. If it only pumped your stuff it'd be fine. Also, "at end of turn" is proper wording, no need for "the."
Soma: "Target creature you control loses all evasion abilities, has +1 power in combat and prevent all damage that would be dealt to it"? Hmm. Verdict is "very annoying."
Calcos: I like BSD's edit, unless you're going token crazy you're not getting card advantage from using his ability, and the +1/+1 counters before regen make his body actually do something.
Fog of War: Ugh, it's like Camouflage's sadistic big brother. Note that in multiplayer games, the active player can invoke rule 506.3c and give the "blocking" creatures to a player who isn't being attacked.
The Chosen One: Seen it before, and it's fine.
Ryjal: Very "Zendikar" feel, I like. If you're not developing morph as a major theme, though, I'd say get rid of it, because morph relies on having as many different morph creatures as possible in a deck to preserve the "surprise" factor.
Necropotent: Shouldn't have "would" in wording. Hard to judge the power level, and giving it that name doesn't really help...
Evolution: It's strictly better than Polymorph in almost every way, except being multicolored. What if it gave the opponent the ability to "counter" the effect as well?
Stonefang Viper: Probably a beating in Limited, but won't make the cut in Constructed. Monogreen even has Leatherback Baloth with no drawback.
Coral Forest: Mana Horned Turtle is fine.
Hesitation: Eh, it's non-block-themed Delay, but I don't really like introducing a new counter type if the rest of the set has nothing to do with it.
Yavil Roulette: My first instinct is that this is all kinds of broken. I'm not sure how much fun this kind of mechanic is, as it seems to make both players unhappy more often than not.
Flameweave: Early game it will get them for an extra life, late game they'll probably have mana open. I think it's fine, because even if they're tapped out the first time and don't pay the life for some reason, you still pay its cost when you "rebound" it. I don't like the idea of "free buyback" on paper, but cards that are fairly costed can create interesting decision trees.
Anjelus Inhibitor: Great way to get yourself ganged up on in multiplayer. Why doesn't a blue Aven have flying?
Zombicroc: Which is neither a Zombie nor a Crocodile?
Biomancy: Momir Vig meets Bribery? Sure.
Quest: This card is flavorful but it's got much too much going on for a common. You have the Journey to Nowhere, it has vanishing, the card comes back with a hero counter (very random if you don't know about the "legendary" theme, and the card's "original controller" gets to go tutor something (which creates interesting implications about using it on your own creature). Overall I'd say it's a fair bit worse than Journey. You can't even get value if it dies in response to the trigger, since they'll just go fetch another copy of what you exiled (bouncing it back to your hand, of course, works just fine and is wholeheartedly approved).
Battlefield: "What is "leathal [sic] damage in combat" supposed to mean? If I Shock your 3/3 and block it with a 1/1, does that count? What if it regenerates, or it has totem armor? What if it takes 1000 damage but it's indestructible? What if it's damaged by something with deathtouch? You could probably make this trigger off anything going to the graveyard from the battlefield, and it would be fine. The spirit making ability happening only during the upkeep seems random. Flipping a card that's already flipped does nothing because of how the flip rules work.
Sher Meron: Interesting drawback. Because it's legendary and needs a basic in play to not be sacrificed immediately after tapping it, it seems fine.
Shade's Portal: It's not common, but it seems fine.
Blackriver Viper has an interesting drawback, as goldfishing it will kill you before you get those last points of damage in. Python is just a vanilla body for the cost, and green should be getting midrange guys at better than average prices anyway. Trained Diamondhide is good. Poison Shock is a cute build-around-me, but should be in red, as it's superior to Poison Burn in at least two ways. Envenom/Poison Dart are redundant, as are Antidote/Anti-Venom. Venomwell Spider doesn't need the -1 life drawback, that's not green. I don't like Poison Transfer being blue for the sake of having poison in five colors. Venom Elemental likewise for the build-around-me. Nice use of design space, though I'd like to see it on a few more cards like Diamondhide that aren't solely devoted to the mechanic.
"Possession" Auras: I don't like the Blinding Mage ability getting colorshifted into red and green - it's one of blue's, especially, few methods of permanent creature control. Also, if you make this common, you'll have hordes of new players swearing that you can't tap an opponent's creature to pay a cost, which is hard to grok in the first place. Personally I like "Tap this Aura: Tap enchanted creature. Do something," which still restricts it to once per turn cycle and is much easier to understand. The green one is also far worse than the others because you'll be wanting to use it on your opponent's turn (to tap down their guy), but when are you going to make use of GG during your opponent's beginning of combat step?
Staple commons: Good stuff. Even if Healing Salve is still crap.
Runes: I like how the colorshifting makes them worse than Ravnica Signets, but they have a "Seal" tacked on to make up for that. I'm not sure the draw is necessary. Avent seems the best as you can clear away a blocker, kill an Aura, or just delay a really annoying guy for a turn. Vitol will never be a surprise unless the opponent is really not paying attention, so in that respect it's worse than something like Kindled Fury. Hetz seems like one of the modes will almost always be irrelevant.
Common poison creatures: Is there a reason these don't all say "combat damage" instead of "attacks and isn't blocked"? It will be functionally the same 99% of the time anyway. I'm not going to evaluate these individually, as they are almost all the same evasion creature with different p/t and costs.
Common "Hero" creatures: What if the ability had some relevance to the hero counter, or the number of hero counters? It makes the card seem much less random in isolation. Also, what is the expected proportion of cards that care about hero counters on things in this set?
Miasma: I like it, although paying 3B and sacrificing a creature to give something -2/-2 is kind of crap. Would upping the ltb to -2/-2 push this into uncommon territory? It's also the kind of card that you normally wouldn't want more than one on the board anyway, since it has 0 power until it starts eating up your mana.
Radess: Straight damage. Sure.
Himeto: I see two uses for this: To tap all your opponent's stuff and untap yours at sorcery speed (bad), or to go untap-crazy with some sort of combo shenanigans. Overall it's rather underwhelming, but I guess that's fine because it's a common?
Sapphira: Wait, isn't this character dead? The body is worth several times more than the ltb effect.
Strongheart: Another card where the body is worth much more than the ltb. 4/4 regenerate for 5 should not be common, as he is incredibly difficult to kill (compare Cudgel Troll). Since all of the current Snakes are in the poison deck, it's hard to tell how much impact the counter will have. Maybe shrink him by 1/1 and let him target any creature?
Cedreck: Why does he have shroud - don't you want him to die? He's like a fog that draws cards, which is nice.
EDIT: Why is the set called "Libra"? Does it have to do with the Roman word for "scales", or was it just something you thought sounded cool?
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Heirloom Blade: To balance it, I figured if it when on in combat, it would be a little too powerful. This might not be correct.
Horn of Battle: That makes sense, it can be one sided, it wasn't intended to be global that was an oversight on my part.
Soma: Yeah I think I'm gonna drop Him (or recreate him) and get rid of banding, I thought it was a cool concept, but its not worth trying to bring back banding.
Calcos: Glad to hear the confirmation! I'll be using BSDs wording on him.
Fog of War: Well, the player brings the creature into play blocking the attacking creature, but I probably need to refamiliarize myself with multiplayer rules to make sure I word complicated cards like this properly.
Ryjal: I'll drop it, I don't have much in the way of other morph stuff really.
Necropotent: I wanted the name to evoke the original - and the casting cost. I don't really think this is way too powerful. In testing I'll need to see if it should limit it to damage by creatures.
Evolution: I like the ability of the opponent to counter the effect, it fits mechanically with other themes in the set (Wager and Staple). Maybe I need a cycle of these.
Stonefang Viper: Well, when you have cards like Poison Bolt, his "draw back" becomes good - so we'll see - but I'm pretty sure he needs to move to uncommon for the effect on limited.
Hestitaion: Gonna drop this
Yavil Roulette: I wanted to seriously aggressively cost Wager cards - I'm gonna put an update with a lot of them in it so that people can see some of the ideas I have. It might turn out to be bad (or need to be cumulative rather than exponential increases, etc.).
Flameweave: Really appreciate the feedback on this. It seems like you're getting what my goal is for these - interesting decision trees.
Anjelus Inhibitor: The Aven on this planet have been grounded for a while, most of them don't ever actually fly because its "beneath" them. Those that do have more of a Jump ability. A Politician like the Inhibitor wouldn't be caught flying anywhere. This is purely flavor.
Zombicroc: Yup this should be fixed.
Biomancy: Cool, that's what I was going for!
Quest: Yeah, I designed this card pre Zendikar - It does have a ton of words on it- the easy thing to do would just have it suspend the creature I suppose, and then sac when it comes back - but then Suspend was a waste too
Battlefield: Yeah I would assume that the shock would mean leathal damage in combat. I was not wanting it to trigger off of a sacrifice, but I certainly see the confusion that could be caused. Cards really can't be flipped back? Ok that will mean the original descision of waiting to flip the card until it had a good number of counters on it more meaningful. That's a lot better than the other possible work around of blinking the card. THough... I could have the card return to your hand...
Poison Stuff: That's really great feedback. I'll take another pass at it.
Possession Auras: Yeah red doesn't really have that mechanic, but a green enchantment is where I got the idea: Entangling Vines. Is tapping Aura's more Grokkable? All of them kind of have a benefit to being used on your own turn, which I thought would be interesting on a descision level.
Runes: I was trying to make these like Mind stone, but since they don't accelerate (didn't want to make BETTER signets..) I thought I'd tack on a fairly weak ability on the sacrifice.
Poison creatures: The reason I didn't put "combat damage" on all of them, is because I used the wording from oracle of existing creatures. I had to change it to work with the trample creatures. They could all be combat damage except the 0 power ones though.
Hero Creatures: I really like that idea. I'll work some stuff up.
Legends: I didn't want these to all be throw away creatures, just ones that it wasn't a big deal if you had a bunch cause you could do neat things with them by forcing them to die through the legend rule. It doesn't sound like any were overpowered - which is nice
The set is called libra because of its Latin translation: Balance. This world is out of balance, in the beginning on the side of Light, in the next set on the side of Dark, and then it will come back to neutral in the 3rd set (flavor wise, not (hopefully) play wise).
I'd love input and advice!
Disperse Magic UU
Instant
Counter target spell, that spells controller draws a card
balanced?
I'd love input and advice!