MTG Salvation

So, the new You Make the Card article is up. What do you think is the best design?

- Consuming Contract

At the beginning of your upkeep, choose one—You draw two cards and lose 2 life; or destroy target creature; or __________*; or you lose the game. You can't choose the same mode twice.
*This ability originally read "Cast a spell without paying its mana cost." That was judged to be too powerful compared to the others. If this design wins, we'll have a further vote to decide what ability will go in this blank space.

- Double Down

Exile two cards with the same name from graveyards: Draw a card.

- Blood in the Watering Can

At the beginning of each end step, if you've lost life this turn, you may return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand.

- Mass Mummification

CARDNAME enters the battlefield with thirteen bandage counters on it.
At the beginning of your upkeep, each player's life total becomes the number of bandage counters on CARDNAME, then remove a bandage counter from CARDNAME.

- Soulfeaster's Rising

Whenever a creature dies, exile it and put a risen counter on CARDNAME.
As long as CARDNAME has five or more risen counters, it's a 7/7 Demon creature and has "CARDNAME has all activated abilities of all creature cards exiled by CARDNAME."

- Revenge of Necromancy

Whenever an opponent discards a creature card, put a 2/2 black Zombie creature token onto the battlefield.
Whenever an opponent discards a land card, add BB to your mana pool.
Whenever an opponent discards a noncreature, nonland card, draw a card.

- Eldritch Rites

Sacrifice a nontoken creature: You may cast target black instant or sorcery card from your graveyard. If that card would be put into your graveyard this turn, exile it instead.

- Demonic Bargain

CARDNAME enters the battlefield with X doom counters on it.
At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a doom counter from CARDNAME and draw a card. Then, if CARDNAME has no doom counters on it, sacrifice it and put a 5/5 black indestructible Demon token with flying onto the battlefield under an opponent's control.

Link: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/247b

Ohhhh man, there's some really neat things going on here.

I personally like Demonic Bargain and Revenge of Necromancy

Oh yes Eldritch Rites..

Every single poll felt Johnny vs Spike.

Gotta love Revenge of Necromancy.

Sigh, these are all not that interesting.

- Mass Mummification
- Revenge of Necromancy

I'm a big fan of Demonic Bargain. The flavor is perfect, and the mechanics are simple, potent, but risky. Very, very black.

I went with:

Consuming Contract
Blood in the Watering Can
Soulfeaster's Rising
Demonic Bargain

That said, if some of these are what were chosen..I'd hate to see some of the ones that didn't make the cut.

Double Down really really kinda sucks, and as an EDH player I would be really really pissed if it won. Thankfully I don't think it'll even make it passed this round of voting.

The second pairing was a bit closer. I went with the one I'd be more likely to play personally, but I dig the idea behind the Mass Mummification.

Soulfeaster's Rising and Revenge of Necromancy also was a bit of a tossup for me, but again as an EDH player I went with one that I would get more mileage out of. Things die all the time and this is a great way to exploit that.

And the last pair was a pretty easy call. I like the card advantage off of Demonic Bargain, but saccing a dude to get some more value out of my instants and sorceries isn't so bad, especially if I'm using it to wrath again.

Quote from Crownclown

Sigh, these are all not that interesting.

Agreed. These are terrible. Whatever criteria they used, power and elegance do not appear to be among them.

Eldritch Rites seemed like a card I would actually chose to play. So yeah. Most of them are at least interesting, and none really seemed like repeats except for the ones that make big tokens, and even then they're pretty cool.

Quote from Lord of Atlantis

- Mass Mummification
- Revenge of Necromancy

Definitely.

These two are EASILY my favorite.

Anything with counters will not get a vote from me. I liked the contract card that makes you lose the game if you run out of modes. It's like getting a bunch of cards in one card. Double down just seems johnny and fun.

1) Double Down sounds green to me so I didn't vote for that

2) Probably Blood in the Watering Can. Mass Mummification sounds fun but it sounds like a casual-destined headachefest

3) Revenge of Necromancy sounds like some lame Deathrite Shaman copy

4) Last two are tough. Probably Demonic Bargain is cooler. Rites sounds an attempt to make something broken.

I don't understand how some of these are considered "top 8", must've been out of a top hat.

Unless they sent out emails to the Top 8 or switched the wording for some cards, my submission made the Top 16 as:

Skip your draw step.
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a devotion counter on CARDNAME, then sacrifice a creature. If you do, draw cards equal to the number of devotion counters on CARDNAME. If you can't, sacrifice it.

Looks similar to Demonic Bargain.

Quote from Lord of Atlantis

- Mass Mummification
- Revenge of Necromancy

I found all of them BUT these 2 interesting :/

Voted:
Double Down
Blood in the watering can
Soulfeaster's Rising
Eldritch Rites

Would be nice to see something playable and not a repeat of last time, or the first time when it went from a playable 2-drop to a junk rare 4-drop after it won the vote.

Now I want to see the few hundreds more they had to go through

Had to vote for Mass Mummification just because of Vampire Hexmage.

Double Down plus Relentess Rats or the new M14 creature is also exciting, if not necessarily strong.

Eldritch Rites looking very breakable in combo at the right mana cost.

Really, really hoping Consuming Contract wins this. The two modes available are already very excellent and will provide excellent value, and we don't even have what the third one is, yet. Possibly a mini Dark Ritual? I'm really psyched if that one wins.

My other vote would go to Eldritch Rites, because we don't have enough cards that let us play instants and sorceries from our graveyard. Also, anything "Eldritch" gets points for my being a fan of H.P. Lovecraft

The rest are alright and flavorful, sure, but seem either impractical or very... narrow.

I have no idea why anyone would play Demonic Bargain just to draw an extra card each turn with the looming threat of an indestructible beater appearing on the opponent's side of the board. It'd have to be cost less than Phyrexian Arena at :1mana::symb::symb: for me to consider playing it, and even then Phyrexian Arena is probably better.

Double Down is narrow and very sketchy in anything but EDH, and as much as I love EDH I want something playable in more than a casual format.

Blood In The Watering Can seems pretty crappy to me as when I'm playing Black I'd usually rather have creatures being reanimated than returned to my hand. Why do we need a core set card stuck on an enchantment with a stipulation of having to lose life for something that may or may not even be in our graveyards in a color that should want to put stuff on the battlefield from the graveyard rather than return stuff to our hand??

Quote from Ooms Farlow

Unless they sent out emails to the Top 8 or switched the wording for some cards, my submission made the Top 16 as:

Skip your draw step.
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a devotion counter on CARDNAME, then sacrifice a creature. If you do, draw cards equal to the number of devotion counters on CARDNAME. If you can't, sacrifice it.

Looks similar to Demonic Bargain.

I would've gladly picked this over any of the top 8. Maybe if it had been half the # of counters rounded up instead, it would've made it.

Sadly I think Eldritch Rites and Double Down are the only other cards im interested in. Rites would likely cost at least 4BB and DD would probably only be playable at BB or 2B. =/

I'm digging that blood in the watering can, I wish it said, if your life total has changed, that way lifelink and drain could affect it.

This round of voting was pretty easy. None of the cards with counters got my vote (because they were all bad with the exception of Demonic Bargain). Didn't choose Demonic Bargain because I feel it just ends up being a really awkward "Draw X over X turns". Not to mention it was up against a YawgWin variant. Would really like to be casting cards from the GY.

Which brings me to my favorite card out of all of these: Consuming Contract. If you look through these, Consuming Contract is the one I feel has the most interesting and novel design, and the only one other than Demonic Bargain to offer a drawback, something I don't feel we have enough of in Modern Magic. The concept of having access to three powerful effects, but only in the time you can use them, seems really powerful.

Really hoping Consuming Contract wins, but I seem to be alone on these forums so far.

So, to put my votes in order:

1. Consuming Contract
2. Eldritch Rites
3. Blood in the Watering Can
4. Revenge of Necromancy

Blood in the Watering Can would be awesome with Street Wraith, although you would kill yourself in a turn cycle or two.

Quote from Xenphire

Really, really hoping Consuming Contract wins this. The two modes available are already very excellent and will provide excellent value, and we don't even have what the third one is, yet. Possibly a mini Dark Ritual? I'm really psyched if that one wins.

Please share your reaction when you notice the 4th mode. Its the only part of this card that makes it interesting =]