@HopefulHawkeye: If my card was one of the ones you have issue with, I'd appreciate if you did speak up, as I am not used to templating MTG cards and I don't get to play MTG much so I do not have the best grasp of balance, and hearing people's opinions would help me learn.
Unity is meant to be Surge's counterpart, or an idea for what it might be anyway, in this whole "Monocolor Matters" thing I've got going. Two questions I had for it:
- Should it only work for monocolored or should I make it so they could be multicolored? I was worried making it monocolored would be too parasitic and play too poorly in a Limited enviroment, so I made it work with multicolored.
I see your point RukiMotomiya, and am starting to come around to your way of thinking. Honestly, maybe it should just cost , and only deal 1 damage. I feel like this is infinitely less powerful though, although I think you're probably right about the flavor at this point. Maybe I could change it to this also...
Shock Therapy
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
When ~ enters the battlefield, and at the beginning of your upkeep, ~ deals 1 damage to enchanted creature.
Brainwash (Whenever this deals damage to a creature, put a -1/-1 counter on that creature. If it isn't brainwashed, it becomes brainwashed.)
This would represent the fact that the shock therapy is recurring, and after too much of it, the creature just can't handle anymore. I'm not sure the wording on the enchantment version is correct though. BTW, thanks for the input Ruki, it's much appreciated.
This would be a pretty neat card, it's interesting because of the fact it can either just be a Shock OR you can put it on a big creature to give it -1/-1s every turn, and it has the flavor of repeatable "shocks". It also fits with the card "Shock" by doing 2 "damage" (Well 1 damage and -1/-1) each turn.
Just because I may as well show, my initial idea for it being different
Shock Therapy1R
Instant (R)
Shock Therapy deals 1 damage to target creature or player. If the target is brainwashed, deal 4 damage instead.
Brainwash (Whenever this deals damage to a creature, put a -1/-1 counter on that creature. If it isn't brainwashed, it becomes brainwashed.)
For the feel of poking something (With a Shock) to mollify it + a wider range of Brainwashable options (Everything 3+)...but if you don't take to re-education quickly, the Brotherhood amps it up until you're fried one way or another, and potential 5 damage for 2 while perhaps pushing it TOO far (It may need to be 4) would be fairly splashy yet simple.
Honorable Mention: Flatline (Personally, I find it odd the Brainwashing does nothing on the card itself, which makes it look out of place. I'd consider making it a Shock to non-Brainwashed creatures and 4 damage to Brainwashed ones, giving you the choice of brainwashing a creature for less damage OR frying the brain of someone whose still an issue after being brainwashed. Also because of how Branwash works, it deals 4 damage total right now, doesn't it? It feels like you won't often use it to Brainwash a creature but to kill it, which hurts the flavor.)
Yes, Shock Therapy does for all intents and purposes deal 4 damage to the creature. This is the main attraction for the card, and what differentiates it from Lightning Strike outside of the environment it's designed for. I will say though, it is one of those cards that is a lot cooler in the environment it's designed for (think Melira, Sylvok Outcast), but I thought I could get away with it in the DCC because the flavor is so good. It's is actually my personal favorite card I've ever made from a flavor standpoint, but that might just be because of my excitement or the set it is designed for. BTW, the environment it is designed for is the Brotherhood of Ormos set that I am working on with Indighost and bravelion83 (Tilwin too). If you've got the time please check it out. I'm really excited about where it's going so far. Here's a link if anybody is interested....
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/creativity/custom-card-creation/custom-set-creation-and/622473-brotherhood-of-ormos
Edit: BTW, I have no problem with this card killing most creatures instead of brainwashing them. I just think this shows that some creatures just aren't strong enough to survive the process. The people that are performing the therapy (Brotherhood re-educators) don't necessarily mind if that's what happens.
Edit2: It is possible that Shock Therapy would need to be bumped up to an uncommon for limited purposes due to the "4 damage" aspect of the card though.
Edit3: One last thing...I'm fine with Shock Therapy being strictly better than Lightning Strike because it's still no Lightning Bolt. Because of this, I can't see Shock Therapy being played outside of standard, therefor, you only need to worry about its power there (and limited).
I've read a bit about the Brotherhood stuff but I haven't looked at it in-depth.
Personally I thought the fact that 90% of the time it'll be used just for killing a creature hurt the flavor, because how often are you really going to use it to brainwash something, since it has to have 5+ toughness? I get that they don't mind if they die or if they're strong enough for it, but the thing that makes the card cool flavor-wise is the idea of delivering shock "therapy" to them until they're brainwashed, but if you never brainwash anyone then the flavor feels lost to me. That's why I suggested the idea of making it do less to non-brainwashed (Meaning you're more likely to use it to brainwah things) and doing more to brainwashed ones (They amp it up on people who won't be pacified until it mollifies them with likely death).
I'm not really remotely qualified to say, but Haste on Flectomancer seems out of place: I get that it is so that you can use its abilities immediately, but the kind of Haste-y feel to it makes it feel like it'd also need a cost up and having Flash, so you could use it to redirect spells on your opponent's turn. As-is the Haste feels like it makes it better but not really connected to the card?
Also @ Flatline: Yes, I'm the one who made Monochromatic, and I'm hoping to make more cards for it. Sadly me being gone for so long means I haven't worked on it much, but one day I'll make the Monochromatic set (no idea where to start, really...).
EDIT: Bloodburn got made because I made this card I'm really happy about that cares about your own creatures dying, which made me think of both Devour and a mechanic that would work with your own creatures dying. But that'd be just a more boring/worse Morbid at base, so I thought of how to work it, which reminded me of "Paincast"...so I made an Ability Word that basically cares about you doing harm to yourself for an effect. No pain, no gain! Also fits very well in Black and Red.
How do you guys playtest anyway? I'd love to playtest (back when I did Yu-Gi-Oh! CCG we'd put all our cards on YVD and duel a ton), but I don't really know how to find people or put cards, I'd assume you use a program like Cockatrice.
Personally, I print the cards out in Magic Set Editor, cut them off the sheet and stuff them in a sleeve with an old basic land. I have a handful of friends (most of whom, like myself, have been playing Magic for 20 years) that I bounce the set off of. It's been a process for sure. I've printed my 295 card set in it's entirety twice, and probably replaced every card on its own at least once. It's amazing how little of a design will remain intact if you actively polish it for more than a year. I'd probably get more playtests in if I could do it online too, but I'm pretty sure the custom format I'm designing for is impossible to replicate online. I'd also really love an external playtest from some other designer-types, but that would require physically running off a copy of my set and shipping it somewhere.
If they have Notecards, they can do something I did back when I wanted to play Yu-Gi-Oh but had no access to cards or YVD: Take out notecards and write the card info down on it, then you just use them as if they were actual cards. Takes some effort from the person on the other side of the world but it can use in a pinch compared to making actual sheets.
Since coming in here late means I won't get many points this month, I decided to focus the last days on this month on throwing out new keywords/abilities words and seeing what people think. This time around is pretty simple, and I'd bet has been in the DCC before, it's "Reverse Evolve".
I was originally gonna call it Upgrade or Inspire, but Inspired is already there so I figure it's too close and Upgrade sounded too...mechanical, which could make it limiting.
I'd love anyone's thoughts on this or any of the other keywords/etc I make.
How do you guys playtest anyway? I'd love to playtest (back when I did Yu-Gi-Oh! CCG we'd put all our cards on YVD and duel a ton), but I don't really know how to find people or put cards, I'd assume you use a program like Cockatrice.
Man, it's been so long since I posted here...still fun to pop in and make some. Maybe next month I'll be an active, regular person! Too bad I still can't do card text right...
Ok, I don't know why, but the cards I make that are the least creative get the most votes.
I think it is because sometimes, less creative cards can be more grounded, which is enjoyable. They can also tend to have rather sharp concepts in their simplicity. For example I quite liked your card because it was a really cool and yet simple and flavorful take on 4 mana board clears and felt like it could be seamlessly put into a set.
Used Soramaro's non-Ooze template and riliss' upkeep on the second ability since I don't want to trigger it on just having -1/-1 counters. I also raised the mana cost by one black mana: Compared to Midnight Banshee it trades 1 P/T, Persist and 1 colorless mana for a slightly more intensive mana cost and Ooze generating. Thanks for the help, everyone.
I get the feeling my card today, Putrid Flesh Giant, is a bit of a wording mess. The idea is it puts a -1/-1 counter on everything else, then if anything dies due to that you put a 2/2 black Ooze into play. How bad is the wording?
Votes: MDenham, IlGreven
Putrid Flesh Giant2BBB
Creature - Zombie Giant (R)
During each of your upkeep steps, put a -1/-1 counter on each other creature. If a creature(s) die from this, put a 2/2 black Ooze token onto the battlefield on your side of the field.
4/4 Flesh to ooze.
Re: why Gastric Purge was black rather than red: Flavor reasons (the flavor in question was a mixture of earwax, liver, and burnt garlic).
In short, yes, it probably should be printed in red normally, but it fits in black when themed appropriately, I think.
It was the way the creatures can't attack/block that turn that really pushed i t to Red for me. That is a collection of very Red abilities on one card, while the only black on it really is the flavor.
Private Mod Note
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Pfff, I didn't notice until you bought it up. That IS quite amusing.
I guess our thoughts were...in unity.
- Should it only work for monocolored or should I make it so they could be multicolored? I was worried making it monocolored would be too parasitic and play too poorly in a Limited enviroment, so I made it work with multicolored.
- Two or more or three or more other creatures?
This would be a pretty neat card, it's interesting because of the fact it can either just be a Shock OR you can put it on a big creature to give it -1/-1s every turn, and it has the flavor of repeatable "shocks". It also fits with the card "Shock" by doing 2 "damage" (Well 1 damage and -1/-1) each turn.
Just because I may as well show, my initial idea for it being different
Shock Therapy 1R
Instant (R)
Shock Therapy deals 1 damage to target creature or player. If the target is brainwashed, deal 4 damage instead.
Brainwash (Whenever this deals damage to a creature, put a -1/-1 counter on that creature. If it isn't brainwashed, it becomes brainwashed.)
For the feel of poking something (With a Shock) to mollify it + a wider range of Brainwashable options (Everything 3+)...but if you don't take to re-education quickly, the Brotherhood amps it up until you're fried one way or another, and potential 5 damage for 2 while perhaps pushing it TOO far (It may need to be 4) would be fairly splashy yet simple.
I've read a bit about the Brotherhood stuff but I haven't looked at it in-depth.
Personally I thought the fact that 90% of the time it'll be used just for killing a creature hurt the flavor, because how often are you really going to use it to brainwash something, since it has to have 5+ toughness? I get that they don't mind if they die or if they're strong enough for it, but the thing that makes the card cool flavor-wise is the idea of delivering shock "therapy" to them until they're brainwashed, but if you never brainwash anyone then the flavor feels lost to me. That's why I suggested the idea of making it do less to non-brainwashed (Meaning you're more likely to use it to brainwah things) and doing more to brainwashed ones (They amp it up on people who won't be pacified until it mollifies them with likely death).
I think it should be uncommon @ 4 damage.
Also @ Flatline: Yes, I'm the one who made Monochromatic, and I'm hoping to make more cards for it. Sadly me being gone for so long means I haven't worked on it much, but one day I'll make the Monochromatic set (no idea where to start, really...).
EDIT: Bloodburn got made because I made this card I'm really happy about that cares about your own creatures dying, which made me think of both Devour and a mechanic that would work with your own creatures dying. But that'd be just a more boring/worse Morbid at base, so I thought of how to work it, which reminded me of "Paincast"...so I made an Ability Word that basically cares about you doing harm to yourself for an effect. No pain, no gain! Also fits very well in Black and Red.
If they have Notecards, they can do something I did back when I wanted to play Yu-Gi-Oh but had no access to cards or YVD: Take out notecards and write the card info down on it, then you just use them as if they were actual cards. Takes some effort from the person on the other side of the world but it can use in a pinch compared to making actual sheets.
I was originally gonna call it Upgrade or Inspire, but Inspired is already there so I figure it's too close and Upgrade sounded too...mechanical, which could make it limiting.
I'd love anyone's thoughts on this or any of the other keywords/etc I make.
I think it is because sometimes, less creative cards can be more grounded, which is enjoyable. They can also tend to have rather sharp concepts in their simplicity. For example I quite liked your card because it was a really cool and yet simple and flavorful take on 4 mana board clears and felt like it could be seamlessly put into a set.
Putrid Flesh Giant 2BBB
Creature - Zombie Giant (R)
During each of your upkeep steps, put a -1/-1 counter on each other creature. If a creature(s) die from this, put a 2/2 black Ooze token onto the battlefield on your side of the field.
4/4
Flesh to ooze.
It was the way the creatures can't attack/block that turn that really pushed i t to Red for me. That is a collection of very Red abilities on one card, while the only black on it really is the flavor.