Liked a lot of cards today (Oct. 23rd), particularly those by Rudyard (really neat, sort of a blink with extra options), MDenham (I love doomsday type of effects; exiling the library is a fun "risk/reward" to play with), aftermarketradio (funny as hell), arbitraryarmor (would have been my favorite card, flavor and mechanics, if it weren't for the phyrexian mana; I don't wanna see this on turn two), Whitemage57 (seen similar, but never this clean; how it took this long I'll never know), and SecretInfiltrator (still a fan, this could have been black but I'm okay with it in red, especially since I don't like black so easily getting rid of its pain inducing enchantments). Thankfully, I had a 6-sided die handy.
I still don't think you want it at one mana. A card that said "Destroy target planeswalker" and nothing else I would expect to be heavily colored and cost at least two mana, despite Dreadbore's existence. This does that plus it kills Hydras, triggers Dark Depths, is a combat trick, etc. All that and you can cast it with two different colors!
MDenham - While I think this card is a bit more complex than it needs to be, it has an innovative effect that's very thematic. I like the all-in nature; it works well with the overall idea. The splitting of damage is unfortunately harder to wrap your head around than I'd like, but it's ultimately worth it.
CryoZenith - Sort of sick to turn every card in your hand into a 1-for-1 targeted piece of removal. Especially when the price they pay for avoiding it is your immortality.
void_nothing - While I dig the mini-game going on here, the execution is just so complex. This is the sort of card where I find that forgivable, the sort of Warp World processes that make you want to put in the effort. Still, I find this particular card not done well enough to suffice. Neat idea, though.
arbitraryarmor - Simple and neat. The swingy nature makes me want it costed higher... probably just one mana more. It also seems flavorfully to be a bit more technical than Selesnya would care for.
Rudyard - I like this. I think it's ultimately more interesting on a bigger body, but that in no ways means it can't exist at this size. Fairly cute, makes hastey dudes act unlike their usual nature.
aftermarketradio - Vampire Hexmage aside, I'm not sure I like this existing. "Destroy target planeswalker" doesn't seem like the type of cards that should cost one mana.
KlassyReborn - Target creature becomes a Demon. I can get down with that. It's not a particularly powerful or playable cards, but it's still a nice design and something for certain types of players to mess around with. So, I can dig that.
Antny223 - Extending this to every permanent type seems excessive at this cost. Just creatures would have been fine, really. Other than that, I really like the symmetry between the effects.
SecretInfiltrator - See comments above. Your 1 CMC series is still my favorite thing in custom card creation in a long time.
RukarumelFieldJournal - While I like the idea, and while there are rules in place to handle the issue I'm about to bring it, this has the unfortunate effect of trying to shuffle cards into libraries other than their owners' libraries. That's just not something Magic wants to encourage. (I know that the rules refuse to actually let it happen, but still....)
FreshMeat - It's sort of a very weak lifelink. The unfortunate thing is that it won't get to trigger all that often. It's practically a death trigger. Still, there are ways around that, and the card is at least interesting because of that. This might be one of those cases where making it a 2/4 or something similar would allow more function. (You'd of course want to change the cost at that point.)
EzraEliot - I think this is simple and well put together. I think it could give +1/+1 and be perfectly reasonable still.
Red/White is annoying. It's so easy to get stuck making combat oriented spells or Lightning Helix variants.
I used to enjoy green/black a lot, but it feels like Golgari has colored it so graveyard oriented that my mind drifts there a little too easily.
Green/White is tough to design cards for that really feel like they want the color combination. But everyone knows that they're really just the same color.
The card should have been named Cascade anyway. Big negative points for missing out. I will note that using mono-hybrid with cascade is just a really neat idea. Had the card cost :sym2r::sym2r:, I would have voted for it and called it the coolest ritual I'd ever seen. Lower cascade CMCs have already proven themselves too good for my comfort.
I'm not sure I like that stretch, especially when the more direct wording doesn't actually add significant wordiness.
"True-Name Nemesis has protection from the chosen player."
"True-Name Nemesis has protection from sources controlled by the chosen player."
"True-Name Nemesis has protection from everything controlled by the chosen player."
I suppose it's pretty easy to figure out what is meant, and if that's the case, the simple form is better. And I guess this means that there aren't any ways to give player's targeted abilities in real Magic as we know it.
Actually the newly spoiled True-Name Nemesis means his wording is actually correct.
I'll wait til I see an English version of it before completely backing down. They've been more and more relaxed with protection, but if the translation is as posted, that's very relaxed and needs some updates to the CR.
Star Mask1WW
Instant (R)
Permanents you control gain protection from target player until end of turn.
Protection means "This can't be damaged, equipped, enchanted, blocked, or targeted by sources with the given quality." There's no way for a player to equip or enchant anything (that's a quality of permanents), nor can a player block anything (that's a quality of creatures). There's probably a way for players to deal damage in real Magic, but I don't know what card allows it. (Most cards and abilities cite themselves as the damage source.) Targeting is also a quality of spells and abilities, not of the player controlling them.
You need something like "Permanents you control gain protection from sources target player controls until end of turn."
MDenham - I can just imagine have 5 different markers and a tally-pad as I work my way to activating Door to Nothingness. I don't think there's a lot to be gained from the memory issue. Making it similar to the storage lands makes it a little more powerful and a lot more manageable.
void_nothing - At first, I missed "nonland" and thought "that's too good." Now I think it's too weak. It is debilitating, so too weak might be a fine route to take. But I feel like this could eat all but two permanents. Or at least be reduced to 4WW. I reserve the right to be VERY WRONG about this since the card is rather unique and game-changing. I wouldn't be surprised if the right move was to increase the cost, either.
CryoZenith - Nothing about this really feels white. Even the life gain feels more black than white. The card is interesting; The activated ability has a unique flare once considering the the triggered ability, and the p/t makes more sense when you're just piling counters on itself. The card looks awkward at first glance, which is unfortunate considering the depth to it.
EzraEliot - "Copy target instant or sorcery card..." If it becomes a copy in mid-resolution, weird things happen. (You can't counter it, no one is sure if it actually can resolve, order choices my get screwy, etc.) Otherwise, I like how it filters with itself to make future castings better. Neat card overall. A Twincast at a low cost with this sort of minimum range seems like a neat card all its own. Maybe 3 CMC for U?
arbitraryarmor - Most days, this will just be "... deals X damage to all creatures." There are plenty of times otherwise, so that's not really a good argument against it. But I'd want the environment it exists in to support such a card as much as possible.
aftermarketradio - "Target opponent reveals his or her hand. You choose a card from it and exile that card. Return that card to its owner's hand at the beginning of the next end step unless ~ was kicked." Just seems cleaner to gather it all up, even if that loses to the neat new wording. I really like the card. Sort of like a bad Silence into a good Coercion.
Whitemage57 - Sacrifice fodder. No idea why you'd give it such a prohibitive cost. It's not nearly special enough to force that. Unless you're trying to force a devotion theme? Even then....
Raziel_X007223 - Awfully efficient for what it's doing. Consider that Ajani's Sunstriker and Child of Night are both weaker straight-across and at more prohibitive costs. I think there's a neat connection between the lifelinker and the little gnat left behind. I'd bump this to :2mana::symwb:. Maybe change the life-loss to a reverse lifelink on the token?
doombringer - Reward mechanics are fun. I think it's generally better to make the reward up-front. That way the timing is more direct and the satisfaction is more immediate. Just have glorious hand out the counter the moment you attack or block. You might want to change the flavor, but I still think it works: the "glory" is in battle, not necessarily in surviving it.
Rudyard - Only thing I'd change here is to have it only affect other creatures. On one hand, there's a neatness to it not loosing any power the turn you use the ability. But really, it just doesn't feel like what should happen intuitively. You're spending the wurms power to make everything else bigger: that's how it reads. I really do like the card, though. Perfect use of a wurm.
FreshMeat - I'd just make the last ability static: "As long as ~ has a -1/-1 counter on it, it loses lifelink and has deathtouch." I really like the juxtaposition of lifelink and deathtouch. The latter is perhaps the only effective keyword on lower powered creatures. It's not strictly better on them, but it just looks so elegant that way! Neat card.
KlassyReborn - Deathtouch and doublestrike don't exactly make a lot of sense together. You kill opposing creatures in the first strike combat damage step... then kill them more in the normal combat damage step? There's also a bit too much difference between it's standard form and it's threshhold form.
SecretInfiltrator - Why not: "Reveal the top card of your library. If it's a creature card, put it into your hand. Otherwise, put it on the bottom of your library and put a 1/1 white Soldier creature token onto the battlefield." I'm not sure about the value of bottoming the card. That could be really frustrating compared to the ability of this card. I'd make that part optional.
Mix Master Mikaeus - The problem with this card is that there's not much influence to block it. 1 damage just isn't that scary. Of course, that makes this quite the target for auras and equipment. Still, I'd adjust it's p/t to be more threatening.
Blydden - It's an okay cycle. The thing about making a cycle of Phyrexian mana cards: it becomes a lot less interesting when you aren't eager to mix them together. I can imagine these working in the right setting, though, so that's not necessarily a strike against them. Just something I considered when thinking about where these would exist.
RukarumelFieldJournal - Why does it get one benefit for free but has to work so hard for the other? That just feels jarring.
Altaurus321 - Why not "control"? If you can give the opponent a creature and then mass copy it, that'd be an extra level of cool for this card. This thing already has to rely on your opponent playing a good creature to copy, playing a bunch of lesser creatures yourself, and hoping there isn't a good way for them to go target-happy. Why do you hate my inner-Johnny?
Sagharri - This is a good concept, but I think it buries the card too deep. Oust always felt like a good measure. 4 deep might even be okay.
What did you guys think of my Dryad? Useless? Overpowered? Too complicated?
Original Post: Chorellius, the Cantankerous DryadG
Creature - Dryad
1: Place one color counter (white, blue, black, red, green, or colorless) on Chorellius, the Cantankerous Dryad that is the same color as the mana used to activate this ability. This creature gains +0/+1 for each color counter.
:symq:: Add mana to your mana pool that is equivalent to the quantity and colors of color counters on Chorellius, the Cantakerous Dryad.
I looked into it's "eyes" and saw relentless anger, the pass of eons, and the eternal elements.
1/1+*
Let's compare it to other small green creatures that provide multiple mana. I think the best examples we're gonna find are Joraga Treespeaker, Bloom Tender, and Harabaz Druid. What your card is essentially doing is taking small investments and turning them into big gains. If we compare it to Treespeaker in a two-color deck, the result is basically the same. But even just one more color catapults this to a much crazier level. To get that sort of production from Tender or Harabaz, you need four other specific nonland permanents. (Though you can admittedly cheat with Tender.) My point is that the investment for your card to have incredible potential is much smaller than that of these other cards.
The counter system feels awkward, though it's probably the cleanest way to do it. Although I don't really like the concept of the card, I'd write it out something like this:
Cantankerous DryadG Creature - Dryad 1, t: Put a color counter on Cantankerous Dryad of the color spent to activate this ability. t: For each different color counter on Cantankerous Dryad, add one mana of that color to your mana pool.
1/1
As for an untap ability, those are really dangerous when providing mana. Consider that Pili-Pala in it's unassuming state has plenty of infinite combos to go with it.
These and the next handful of cards are all coming from a brainstorming session where some friends and I tried to think of ways to abuse subgames. It turned into a spiderweb of awesome (and quite possibly unfeasible) tangents like these last two cards.
I think this does make sense in green. Is it all that oppressive? Ehh, depends on the situation; depends on the sideboard.
I meant that it was too swingy. Sometimes you screw yourself against a deck that has 10+ pieces against you, sometimes you nail 15 land against a deck that only drew 2. The extremes are a bit too extreme for a 3 cmc card.
The Unknowable1GG Legendary Creature - Spirit (R)
Intimidate
When The Unknowable enters the battlefield, target opponent shuffles his or her sideboard into his or her library, then puts that many cards from the top of his or her library into his or her sideboard. "I looked into the eyes of the behemoth long and with great strain until, having stared far past my physical limits, I realized they weren't eyes at all."
—Tales of the Outer World, Ko Rolani
3/3
Upon further consideration, this ability is potentially more debilitating than I figured it to be. I still don't think it's interesting enough to put on a sorcery. (Though I'm open to opinions on that.) I am interested to know what color people feel it should be in. It felt too uncalculated for blue. Maybe white makes more sense since it deals more with the outer realms and enjoys equivalent exchange. Anyway, I don't ask for comments often, but I'm more interested in hearing opinions on this one than most.
MDenham - While I think this card is a bit more complex than it needs to be, it has an innovative effect that's very thematic. I like the all-in nature; it works well with the overall idea. The splitting of damage is unfortunately harder to wrap your head around than I'd like, but it's ultimately worth it.
CryoZenith - Sort of sick to turn every card in your hand into a 1-for-1 targeted piece of removal. Especially when the price they pay for avoiding it is your immortality.
void_nothing - While I dig the mini-game going on here, the execution is just so complex. This is the sort of card where I find that forgivable, the sort of Warp World processes that make you want to put in the effort. Still, I find this particular card not done well enough to suffice. Neat idea, though.
arbitraryarmor - Simple and neat. The swingy nature makes me want it costed higher... probably just one mana more. It also seems flavorfully to be a bit more technical than Selesnya would care for.
Rudyard - I like this. I think it's ultimately more interesting on a bigger body, but that in no ways means it can't exist at this size. Fairly cute, makes hastey dudes act unlike their usual nature.
aftermarketradio - Vampire Hexmage aside, I'm not sure I like this existing. "Destroy target planeswalker" doesn't seem like the type of cards that should cost one mana.
KlassyReborn - Target creature becomes a Demon. I can get down with that. It's not a particularly powerful or playable cards, but it's still a nice design and something for certain types of players to mess around with. So, I can dig that.
Antny223 - Extending this to every permanent type seems excessive at this cost. Just creatures would have been fine, really. Other than that, I really like the symmetry between the effects.
SecretInfiltrator - See comments above. Your 1 CMC series is still my favorite thing in custom card creation in a long time.
RukarumelFieldJournal - While I like the idea, and while there are rules in place to handle the issue I'm about to bring it, this has the unfortunate effect of trying to shuffle cards into libraries other than their owners' libraries. That's just not something Magic wants to encourage. (I know that the rules refuse to actually let it happen, but still....)
FreshMeat - It's sort of a very weak lifelink. The unfortunate thing is that it won't get to trigger all that often. It's practically a death trigger. Still, there are ways around that, and the card is at least interesting because of that. This might be one of those cases where making it a 2/4 or something similar would allow more function. (You'd of course want to change the cost at that point.)
EzraEliot - I think this is simple and well put together. I think it could give +1/+1 and be perfectly reasonable still.
I used to enjoy green/black a lot, but it feels like Golgari has colored it so graveyard oriented that my mind drifts there a little too easily.
Green/White is tough to design cards for that really feel like they want the color combination. But everyone knows that they're really just the same color.
"True-Name Nemesis has protection from the chosen player."
"True-Name Nemesis has protection from sources controlled by the chosen player."
"True-Name Nemesis has protection from everything controlled by the chosen player."
I suppose it's pretty easy to figure out what is meant, and if that's the case, the simple form is better. And I guess this means that there aren't any ways to give player's targeted abilities in real Magic as we know it.
I'll wait til I see an English version of it before completely backing down. They've been more and more relaxed with protection, but if the translation is as posted, that's very relaxed and needs some updates to the CR.
Protection means "This can't be damaged, equipped, enchanted, blocked, or targeted by sources with the given quality." There's no way for a player to equip or enchant anything (that's a quality of permanents), nor can a player block anything (that's a quality of creatures). There's probably a way for players to deal damage in real Magic, but I don't know what card allows it. (Most cards and abilities cite themselves as the damage source.) Targeting is also a quality of spells and abilities, not of the player controlling them.
You need something like "Permanents you control gain protection from sources target player controls until end of turn."
MDenham - I can just imagine have 5 different markers and a tally-pad as I work my way to activating Door to Nothingness. I don't think there's a lot to be gained from the memory issue. Making it similar to the storage lands makes it a little more powerful and a lot more manageable.
void_nothing - At first, I missed "nonland" and thought "that's too good." Now I think it's too weak. It is debilitating, so too weak might be a fine route to take. But I feel like this could eat all but two permanents. Or at least be reduced to 4WW. I reserve the right to be VERY WRONG about this since the card is rather unique and game-changing. I wouldn't be surprised if the right move was to increase the cost, either.
CryoZenith - Nothing about this really feels white. Even the life gain feels more black than white. The card is interesting; The activated ability has a unique flare once considering the the triggered ability, and the p/t makes more sense when you're just piling counters on itself. The card looks awkward at first glance, which is unfortunate considering the depth to it.
EzraEliot - "Copy target instant or sorcery card..." If it becomes a copy in mid-resolution, weird things happen. (You can't counter it, no one is sure if it actually can resolve, order choices my get screwy, etc.) Otherwise, I like how it filters with itself to make future castings better. Neat card overall. A Twincast at a low cost with this sort of minimum range seems like a neat card all its own. Maybe 3 CMC for U?
arbitraryarmor - Most days, this will just be "... deals X damage to all creatures." There are plenty of times otherwise, so that's not really a good argument against it. But I'd want the environment it exists in to support such a card as much as possible.
aftermarketradio - "Target opponent reveals his or her hand. You choose a card from it and exile that card. Return that card to its owner's hand at the beginning of the next end step unless ~ was kicked." Just seems cleaner to gather it all up, even if that loses to the neat new wording. I really like the card. Sort of like a bad Silence into a good Coercion.
Whitemage57 - Sacrifice fodder. No idea why you'd give it such a prohibitive cost. It's not nearly special enough to force that. Unless you're trying to force a devotion theme? Even then....
Raziel_X007223 - Awfully efficient for what it's doing. Consider that Ajani's Sunstriker and Child of Night are both weaker straight-across and at more prohibitive costs. I think there's a neat connection between the lifelinker and the little gnat left behind. I'd bump this to :2mana::symwb:. Maybe change the life-loss to a reverse lifelink on the token?
doombringer - Reward mechanics are fun. I think it's generally better to make the reward up-front. That way the timing is more direct and the satisfaction is more immediate. Just have glorious hand out the counter the moment you attack or block. You might want to change the flavor, but I still think it works: the "glory" is in battle, not necessarily in surviving it.
Rudyard - Only thing I'd change here is to have it only affect other creatures. On one hand, there's a neatness to it not loosing any power the turn you use the ability. But really, it just doesn't feel like what should happen intuitively. You're spending the wurms power to make everything else bigger: that's how it reads. I really do like the card, though. Perfect use of a wurm.
FreshMeat - I'd just make the last ability static: "As long as ~ has a -1/-1 counter on it, it loses lifelink and has deathtouch." I really like the juxtaposition of lifelink and deathtouch. The latter is perhaps the only effective keyword on lower powered creatures. It's not strictly better on them, but it just looks so elegant that way! Neat card.
KlassyReborn - Deathtouch and doublestrike don't exactly make a lot of sense together. You kill opposing creatures in the first strike combat damage step... then kill them more in the normal combat damage step? There's also a bit too much difference between it's standard form and it's threshhold form.
SecretInfiltrator - Why not: "Reveal the top card of your library. If it's a creature card, put it into your hand. Otherwise, put it on the bottom of your library and put a 1/1 white Soldier creature token onto the battlefield." I'm not sure about the value of bottoming the card. That could be really frustrating compared to the ability of this card. I'd make that part optional.
Mix Master Mikaeus - The problem with this card is that there's not much influence to block it. 1 damage just isn't that scary. Of course, that makes this quite the target for auras and equipment. Still, I'd adjust it's p/t to be more threatening.
Blydden - It's an okay cycle. The thing about making a cycle of Phyrexian mana cards: it becomes a lot less interesting when you aren't eager to mix them together. I can imagine these working in the right setting, though, so that's not necessarily a strike against them. Just something I considered when thinking about where these would exist.
RukarumelFieldJournal - Why does it get one benefit for free but has to work so hard for the other? That just feels jarring.
Altaurus321 - Why not "control"? If you can give the opponent a creature and then mass copy it, that'd be an extra level of cool for this card. This thing already has to rely on your opponent playing a good creature to copy, playing a bunch of lesser creatures yourself, and hoping there isn't a good way for them to go target-happy. Why do you hate my inner-Johnny?
Sagharri - This is a good concept, but I think it buries the card too deep. Oust always felt like a good measure. 4 deep might even be okay.
Let's compare it to other small green creatures that provide multiple mana. I think the best examples we're gonna find are Joraga Treespeaker, Bloom Tender, and Harabaz Druid. What your card is essentially doing is taking small investments and turning them into big gains. If we compare it to Treespeaker in a two-color deck, the result is basically the same. But even just one more color catapults this to a much crazier level. To get that sort of production from Tender or Harabaz, you need four other specific nonland permanents. (Though you can admittedly cheat with Tender.) My point is that the investment for your card to have incredible potential is much smaller than that of these other cards.
The counter system feels awkward, though it's probably the cleanest way to do it. Although I don't really like the concept of the card, I'd write it out something like this:
Cantankerous Dryad G
Creature - Dryad
1, t: Put a color counter on Cantankerous Dryad of the color spent to activate this ability.
t: For each different color counter on Cantankerous Dryad, add one mana of that color to your mana pool.
1/1
As for an untap ability, those are really dangerous when providing mana. Consider that Pili-Pala in it's unassuming state has plenty of infinite combos to go with it.
Ya, I had it as a 4/4 for 5. I lowered it because I felt it could easily be a more aggressive creature, but looking at it again, a fattie fits better.
I meant that it was too swingy. Sometimes you screw yourself against a deck that has 10+ pieces against you, sometimes you nail 15 land against a deck that only drew 2. The extremes are a bit too extreme for a 3 cmc card.
Upon further consideration, this ability is potentially more debilitating than I figured it to be. I still don't think it's interesting enough to put on a sorcery. (Though I'm open to opinions on that.) I am interested to know what color people feel it should be in. It felt too uncalculated for blue. Maybe white makes more sense since it deals more with the outer realms and enjoys equivalent exchange. Anyway, I don't ask for comments often, but I'm more interested in hearing opinions on this one than most.