Can I submit cards to the DCC that I've made but have posted elsewhere on the forum, though? Or is it in bad taste? (Oh and vice versa)
I've never seen anyone discourage it, and I'd always felt it was a natural thing to do. The cards you like you want more feedback on, even if it's just a poll.
Morphscape by EzraEliot
- I don't always letting wording hold a card back, but this is one of those cases where it's unavoidable. I think your intention is to have this keep it's copy ability, which it otherwise loses upon copying another land. Otherwise, it's a glorified Vesuva.
Murderous Rampage by MDenham
- REALLY swingy. Sure, you need a creature to make it work, but any reasonable guy gives you a 2 for 1 or better. And since it's an additional cost, they can't even respond by killing your source creature. Doesn't need a lot to work and when it does it's insanely good.
Vermillion Sniper by aftermarketradio
- That's a cute ability. Cute can be damaging, and the busywork here is a bit much, but I still like the package it produces. Very neat.
Circu's Scheme by SecretInfiltrator
- Possibly better than Opt. But that seems perfectly reasonable to me. I like the forced decision. Should bring up some strategically interesting moments.
Tainted Hydromancer by doombringer
- Reversing the flow of things doesn't quite work here, especially considering you could just sacrifice this guy to keep the stolen creature forever. That just feels wrong.
Made my second Legendary Creature (ever) today. Thoughts?
It made my short list. Lifelink felt awkward given that the creature already has a life-gain mechanic. I didn't feel that red was very well represented; it's one of those facets that WOTC can get away with because they're producing sets with intricate interwoven parts, but looking at just one card, the red sort of sticks out as not belonging. It's a black sort of bargain mechanic anyway. Otherwise, I liked it.
One way my inner Johnny wanted to use this was to turn any burn spell in your hand into a soft counter. But now that I read it again, I don't know if it actually works that way. When you cast a spell, can I Shock my guy to make you pay :2mana:, or is the X already locked in when it triggers from you casting a spell?
That in fact would work. Upholder triggers whenever an opponent casts a spell regardless of other conditions. I did not see that interaction before, which is admittedly somewhat nifty. Wouldn't have changed my vote, but at least the card has a greater span of usefulness. Though now it makes me hate how it'd continuously trigger on MTGO.
That was the original wording before I put some thought into it and did my research on the topic. The wording you propose might have some unintended side-effects. Hence I decided to go with the established wording that appears already on existing cards.
You will notice that no existing card replaces the discard event itself, but there are some static effects that change where a card goes as you discard it. It's a subtle difference but I decided to preserve it.
Ooo, I'd be interested in hearing about the side-effects! I love nuance and miss it all the time.
The obvious answer is "white gets flicker effects more often than it gets reanimation effects", which means you're not stuck using it just once in practice.
Though I'm not sure that's necessarily a good thing, as this is usually going to be used to gain 50+ life at one shot (three 5-drops and four lands gains you 75 life...) It probably should exile itself, actually, just to avoid even being a reanimation target.
I don't know if that's obvious at all. Besides, white also reanimates small creatures, too. And ya, I'd just change it to exile anyway.
You gotta admit though, 7 mana is a lot for a big dumb guy that even has trouble attacking properly, what we need here might be uncounterable. Trample is pretty fun though. Just remember you have like 8 cards invested in this given how many lands you've put into play so far. I hope you're doing something else impressive too.
It's an old card. I don't make new cards for this contest; I pilfer my store of cards dating back 10 years. I considered cutting this down to 4GG since creatures are just better and better these days. Also, the name and creature type sort of bother me upon second look. That is, they don't go together. Oh well.
Gonna try to do this quicker today. Only doing cards I have something specific in mind to chirp about.
Sep. 26th
MDenham
- Why not just sacrifice the creature? That's the equivalent of "activate only once" and it's not like keeping a 1/1 around has much value.
Blydden
- Really liking a lot of your vanishing designs. Visible countdowns to some great goal are fun. Planeswalkers prove this, but they don't have the same feel because failing to ultimate is often still winning.
aftermarketradio
- One of those abilities that looks cool on paper, but will rarely ever counter a spell in real play. They'll plan for the eventuality when they have to, but more often they'll just play their stuff precombat to avoid the issue. This does add some strategic bends into the game, but it still means this card sits there with an ability that never gets used.
TheBlackCat
- "Whenever a permanent deals damage to Haunted Conscripts, gain control of that permanent until the end of your next turn. It gains haste until the end of your next turn.
Whenever an instant or sorcery spell deals damage to Haunted Conscripts, Haunted Conscripts deals that much damage to target player or creature."
Rudyard
- I would never make this common. While it seems simple, you're basically taking an instant and changing a fundamental rule about the card type. It goes against a lot of what a player would expect from the spell, and that's jarring. First question you're gonna hear from a lot of less rules savvy players: "Why isn't this just a sorcery?"
Subdemic
- Awkward place to give this type of ability. For example, it'd be easy for a newer player to think that this gets to strike twice the first time it deals combat damage. The way the ability is associated with having dealt combat damage just carries that baggage. I realize why you didn't make it a trigger, but perhaps it should have just been a 2/2 that gains double strike indefinitely.
SecretInfiltrator
-I'd make it a replacement effect instead: "The next time you would discard a card this turn, instead draw a card."
The problem is that if it's cheaper, you have "Exile target instant or sorcery spell." in colors that shouldn't get it for that cheaply.
Really, that's what you should be looking at this as: a counterspell that hits any instant or sorcery - even if it says it can't be countered - that can be put into any color of deck. (Your deck with this is probably red or green since those are the two most ramp-heavy colors, though.)
I didn't realize it could hit opposing spells. I read it as an Isochron Scepter variant and apparently overlooked some relevant information. Stills seem a bit unwieldy overall, but at least the costs make sense now.
I actually had a hard time deciding what colors to make this. Black would seem to make sense, but Brainspoil made me think otherwise since it does just the opposite. Green is the color that seems to be able to destroy the greatest number of permanents, but this doesn't seem to do what GW usually wants to do. I chose red kinda by default because I didn't know where else to put it. But it still seems weird to me.
Green also has history in this field with Venomous Vines. I think WG fits: white gives you the reach on what sort of permanents you can destroy and green gives you that disdain for unnatural alterations. They both also destroy enchantments and it just feels better there than with red.
Runic Circlet2
Artifact - Equipment (R) : Exile target instant or sorcery spell, then attach Runic Circlet to a creature you control.
Equipped creature has "T: You may cast a copy of a card exiled by Runic Circlet. If you do, that spell costs X less to cast, where X is this creature's mana cost." (Colored mana that isn't in the spell's mana cost reduces its mana cost by 1.)
I'd just word it "If you do, it costs this creature's mana cost less to cast." X doesn't do a good job of tracking colors. (Or so the rules gurus have told me.) The activation cost is way too severe. If I want a Lightning Bolt on a stick, it'll cost me a single turn investment of 7 mana. That's way too harsh and makes this vastly unusable.
Broiling AEtherUR
Instant (U)
Return target creature to its owner's hand. ~ deals X damage to that creature's controller, where X is that creature's power.
Simple idea that's surprisingly not been done yet in real Magic. Good card that I've unfortunately seen many times before. Unfortunate that said familiarity often makes it difficult to vote on without all the extras adding up, and neither the name nor the absent flavor text inspire that. Still, a nice design.
Porcelain Plating
Instant
Prevent all damage target source would deal to you this turn.
Targeting a source is an odd duck. I suppose it isn't problematic since all the sources I can think of in the game are cards, copies, tokens, or emblems. Anyway, this is a good choice for a one mana phyrexian spell. The more useful they are when you tap out, the better.
Whenever Vengeant Troll leaves the battlefield, look at the top card of your library. If it's a creature card, reveal it, and put it onto the battlefield.
1/1
Broken. Just... way to easy to abuse. Sacrificing a creature is hardly difficult, as is knowing what the top card of your deck is. If it put the card into your hand instead, that'd be balanced. Also, being a black and green card, a death trigger fits better than a leave trigger. But that's less important than your desire for turn two eldrazi.
Future SnareU
Enchantment (R)
As Future Snare enters the battlefield, search an opponent's library for a card and exile that card face down. Then that player shuffles their library.
Reveal the exiled card and sacrifice Future Snare: Counter target spell with the same name as the exiled card.
I'd up the cost by 1, even if the counter scope is limited. I really like the design. Neat way to make the Extract effect worthwhile and double damning.
Sewage Slip -- 1UB
Sorcery (U)
Target player puts the top four cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard. If no blue cards were put into that player's graveyard this way, he or she puts the next four cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
Why does this cost so much? Entering does the full effect for one less mana and it gets a whole extra card to play with. I'd cost this at 1U. See Mind Sculpt.
A Terrible Toll2WB
Enchantment (R)
When A Terrible Toll enters the battlefield, exile target permanent.
Extort (Whenever you cast a spell, you may pay :symwb:. If you do, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain that much life.) "The Obzedat prefer to leave messages that are not easily forgotten."
I'd consider making it "nonland permanent" to conform with modern standards. It's a neat place to staple extort, and I think it really does want to be a Vindicate rather than an Oblivion Ring.
Sorcery (R)
Choose target opponent. That player may have you gain control of a creature of his or her choice that he or she controls . If that player doesn't, draw four cards. "Even in refusing, something is always given away." — Ambassador Ovv
It think we should adopt "give" for these situations. "That player gives control..." It just sounds better. This is a comment on the game, not you. Bargaining is a topic I've had long discussions on: what colors should be able to get it and in what capacity. This sort of effect makes a lot of sense in blue when done right, and I think this fits well. It's difficult to use since it's Evangelize rather than Control Magic, so crafting situations where you get four cards will be difficult. I can't decide how good or bad of a feature that is.
Nothing about this feels red except the name, and that concept doesn't attach itself all that well to the mechanics for me. It might work in the right setting, but this doesn't feel like the way red would punish the enchanted.
Mania ChamberRG
Enchantment - Aura (R)
Enchant land
Enchanted land has "T: Choose one - counter target instant or sorcery spell that targets a noncreature permanent you control; or copy target instant or sorcery spell that targets a noncreature permanent you control and you may choose new targets for the copy."
I'm not sure what to say about this card. I don't particularly like or dislike it. The narrowness plus the options plus the colors give it an odd composure. All I can say is that it isn't the card for me. Wish I had more input to give.
Delayed Explosives2
Artifact {R}
Vanishing 5 (This permanent enters the battlefield with five time counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter from it. When the last is removed, sacrifice it.)
Sacrifice Delayed Explosive: Destroy all creatures with converted mana cost equal to the number of time counters on Delayed Explosive.
Very neat idea. A reverse Powder Keg changes the implications of its use, and I like how bad timing can just ruin it. There's a lot of skill to using it right, and it has that delicious benefit on just whacking a big guy out of nowhere. It might be a bit too powerful in that right as well; I'd probably up the cost one and lower the starting counters by one, but I'd be willing to roll with these stats into the playtest ring.
I suddenly feel like making more cards with a similar ability.
Pathlearner RogueUB Creature - Rogue
~ can't be blocked as long as it has dealt combat damage to a player. (This effect lasts indefinitely)
"How did he know that?" "He's had to have been here before."
Assuming it has a reasonable p/t (2/1, maybe 2/2), this card has a very keen ability. I tend to think that memory issues are overstated, so I'm fine with the indefinite ability. It might be more interesting on a bigger creature; attacking on turn three unblocked isn't the most uncommon thing. A bigger guy might add more interesting tension to the card.
Watchhog's WarningW
Instant (C)
Untap target creature. It can block any number of creatures this turn. Boars are the perfect sentries. They possess a sense of smell rivaling a dog's, are more sensitive to the vibrations of oncoming armies, and when their usefulness is outlived, are much tastier.
Simple combination of abilities that surprisingly hasn't been done before. Good card.
NostalgiaUURR
Enchantment (R)
Instant and sorcery spells you control gain "Exile this spell with three time counters on it. If it doesn't have suspend, it gains suspend."
That's quite the loopy-loop of time-wimey self-fulfilling magic. Cast this and a few spells, leave the game to have some jammie-dodgers and a cup of earl grey, come back to a well roasted opponent. Rather powerful but fun effect. And worthless with counterspells, which I consider to be a bonus.
Gravewatch Statue3
Artifact (R)
Creatures entering the graveyard don't cause abilities to trigger. All are at peace under her gaze.
There's no reason for this to cost more than its counterpart. "From the battlefield" adds some needed clarity, even if we all know that it would otherwise state "creature cards."
Beacon of HopeWWW
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+3, and each other creature gets +1/+1 as long as they share a type with enchanted creature.
"Enchanted creature gets +1/+3. Each other creature that shares a creature type with enchanted creature gets +1/+1." The initial p/t bonus you chose just feels odd compared to the overall card, and this doesn't feel special enough to get the mythical triple-color cost.
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may pay 3G. If you do, put a 3/3 green Chocobo creature token onto the battlefield.
There's always one right behind.
3/3
Fun fact: I've never played a Final Fantasy game in my lifetime. That said, fairly standard token maker, though the base stats are better than white usually gets at this rarity and cost.
I try to keep an open mind when voting. Cleverness appeals to my Johnny sensibilities, but I try not to let that sway me too much. I also try to overlook general wording errors unless they actually damage what the card does, but sometimes I just can't do it. Elegance comes up a lot. A complex card without a true central idea doesn't earn my vote often, and even the ones that are well thought out take an extra read or two before I start to dig them. Really, anything can win. I'd even vote for a vanilla creature if the flavor was right. (And have before, though not in this contest.)
Mainly bringing this up because I'm curious and want to know the special histories attached to the cost BBB. I also posted it up because it won my local forum's weekly CaC competition and I was so excited to post it up...
It's more of a feel than a strict guideline, really. When a card costs BBB, you expect to see something never-before seen. You expect the unexpected. You expect Bridge from Below or Necropotence or Doomsday or Phylactery Lich. I suppose my main complaint is that the cool part of your card doesn't cost BBB; it costs 3BBB. For BBB, all you get is Looming Shade. I also think cards in a devotion setting need to be careful about their costs, and that this particular card doesn't warrant improving that stat.
Mainly bringing this up because I want to know how I could improve on this card. I want it to feel black, white, and green at the same time...which is a bit of a tall thing to ask, but I'll explain it this way.
A fallen angel that has redeemed herself (while remaining edgy {that's a scythe pun}), through the power of nature. An Angel of Autumn.
I was thinking of adding Vigilance to the card so that she could tap and still swing her scythe, but that's one effect too many without making her legendary...and I avoid legendary [& planeswalkers] like the plague x-x
Flying is a must because well, she's an angel. I also want the black being prominent, hence the two ways to sacrifice cards you control.
Green is a little shoe-horned, I'm not sure how to make it fit better. : (
She's a wedge card for the people that care to read this post that may not notice at first glance, BWG
Although I listed it after, the tap abilities were my main concern. Like I said, if you want to put tap abilities on a bigger creature, make the effect bigger. I want a damn good reason for not attacking. As for the flavor, it's mostly the green part that gets to me. I don't know why an angel would busy herself/himself with harvesting the land.
Ya, it takes a good chunk of time, but I enjoy it. I've been voting before deciding whether or not to write out reviews, so there's been a couple of times I've thought about changing my vote upon that closer look, and at least one time where I changed it because of that. It's fun to review cards.
I will say, after reviewing thousands of cards over the years, that people generally just don't know how to feel about Planeswalkers in custom card forums. They simultaneously want them to have self-interaction but not be too stupidly self-centered, to be powerful but balanced, to be exciting but usable, to have flavor but not have flavor text, and so on. They rarely get attention and I think it's somewhat of a shame, and I feel that Planeswalker design is greatly misunderstood. (Not that this is why my card wasn't voted on, even if that inspired this rant.)
Mindsear1UR
Enchantment (R)
As Mindsear enters the battlefield, name a nonland card.
If the named card would be put into a graveyard from anywhere, instead put it into its owner's hand and Mindsear deals damage to that player equal to that card's converted mana cost. "You're going to remember this, whether you want to or not."
The drawback attached to the ability is a nice one, but this card begs to be broken in half. True, this is mostly with other broken cards (Lotus Petal, Dark Rotual), but free recursion is just too good.
Counterpoint2U
Enchantment (R) U, Discard a card: Counter target spell with the same converted mana cost as the discarded card.
A much more difficult and much more tasking version of Counterbalance, it feels "fair" (as much as any repeatable counterspell can be) and looks fun to build control decks around. I'd consider upping the activation cost since multiple activations really shut the game down hard.
Galvanic Experiment :1mana::symb:
Creature - Zombie (U)
:2mana::symr:, Exile Galvanic Experiment from your graveyard: Deal 2 damage to target creature or player. "Early attempts at non-magical zombification often rendered explosive results."
2/1
It's a fine dead-guy with a good pun. One of those cards where there isn't much to say.
Blueprint TheftG Instant
Destroy up to two artifacts or enchantments an opponent controls unless their controller has you put a token onto the battlefield that's a copy of it for each.
Weird in how useless it can be. The effect is rather marginal against Leyline of the Void, Howling Mine (they'd just want more), Ghostly Prison (decks that play this rarely do much attacking for the win), and so on. That sort of risk doesn't really associate itself with a GWU card.
Hammered to the Ground :1mana::symu:
Enchantment - Aura (R)
Enchant Plains
Each creature does not untap during their controller's untap step.
Spells and abilities can't cause creatures to untap.
Chained to the Rocks spin-off. The cost is fairly cheap given that this reduces all creatures to single shots. I'd expect a card like this to cost at least twice as much. Forcing it to enchant a plains doesn't really curb this issue.
Scouting Whelp :1mana::symr:
Creature - Dragon (C)
Flying
Whenever a source you control deals 2 or more damage to a player, scry 1. The most dangerous dragons aren't always the largest ones.
1/1
The idea of a dragon the checks things out for the bigger guys is cute. It's odd that you chose to make it too small to scry by itself.
Mist MonsterGU
Creature - Elemental Beast (U) GU: Until end of turn, if Mist Monster would deal damage, prevent that damage. Put a +1/+1 counter on Mist Monster for each 1 damage prevented in this way.
2/2
Pretty cool card, really. I'd consider starting it at 1/1 just to make it a tad more difficult to get to the big prize. As is, the first blocker it meets needs to be 4/X or bigger to kill it. Still, I really like the card's elegant internal synergy.
Angel of the Harvest1BWG
Creature - Angel
Flying
:symtap:, Sacrifice a creature: Draw a card.
:symtap:, Sacrifice a land: Add GG to your mana pool. "Her wings are the autumnal leaves, her scythe is the harbinger of the equinox."
3/2
This just doesn't feel like an angel to me. I also dislike when larger creatures have marginal tap abilities; I wanna beat in with by 3 powered flier, not recycle my creatures and lands.
Instant (C)
Target attacking creature gets +1/+1 and gains first strike until end of combat. Put a 1/1 red Soldier token onto the battlefield at end of combat. True heroes know when they need help.
It's really weird to give creatures pump durations that only last until end of combat. Target a Runeclaw Bear with this, it gets blocked by a Pillarfield Ox, and somehow the Bear still dies? Yuck. The timing of the token also feels weird.
Undertaker1BG
Creature - Plant Troll (R)
Hexproof, Defender
During your upkeep, look at the top card of your library. If it's a land card sacrifice it.
BG Sacrifice Undertaker: Put up to X amount of land cards from your graveyard onto the battlefield tapped, where X is your devotion to (B/G)
3/3
You don't sacrifice things from the top of your library. You put them into your graveyard. Or did you mean the Plant Troll (really? Plant Troll?) was the one being sacrificed? Given the way the card is arranged, I'll assume the former. The card itself aint half bad. You clear away lands that you'd draw and get them back later. I think a simpler execution would have made this card shine. The card isn't really black in any way; I'd cut that out. Something like the following might have grabbed my vote:
Root Raker2G Creature - Plant (U)
At the beginning of your upkeep, reveal the top card of your library. If it's a land card, put it into your graveyard. 2G, Sacrifice Root Raker: Return up to X target land cards from your graveyard to the battlefield, where X is your devotion to green.
0/4
Blazing Light :symr::symw:
Instant
Tap all creatures target player controls. "First rule of military tactics: Attack with the sun in your back. First addendum of magical warfare: If you have no sun in your back, create one."
-Colonel Piron
Magmatic Implosion2RRR
Sorcery (R)
Each player may sacrifice any number of lands. Then, Magmatic Implosion deals damage to each player equal to twice the number of lands that player controls.
It's a very clever design and forces some interesting decisions upon the players. It mostly comes down to math, but still... a very nice Armageddon variant.
Crowded Control2BB
Sorcery (U)
Target player discards X cards, where X is the number of creatures they control. "You seem to have a lot on your mind, let me take some of it off."
Generally, the more creatures a player controls, the less cards in his or her hand. Which makes this have a very nice internal balancing feature, where your target casting point is probably when they have three critters. And it does nothing to stop said critters, so all in all, it works out well.
As World Within enters the battlefield, choose an opponent.
The chosen opponent plays with the top card of his or her library revealed.
You may play the top card of the chosen opponent’s library.
Shared Fate without the sharing. Always a headache for players when coupled with Future Sight. Knowing the priority system intimately is hard enough for novices, but playing as though that system needs to constantly be checked is annoying. That's a minor complaint, though, and one that's rare to come up. The card itself is probably fine and fun, but there are versions utilizing exile to get around the potential problems.
Unicorn UmbraW
Enchantment - Aura (U)
Enchant creature
If a spell or ability would deal damage to enchanted creature, it deals that much damage minus 1 instead.
Totem armor
That's an odd ability to strap on an umbra. Totem armor is already protecting the creature. Why make the only other ability also a strict protection?
I'd change dig to "look." "Reveal" is used usually to confirm the qualities of something, like Mulch confirming that you are in fact keeping land cards.
Dig [NUMBER] (Look at the top [NUMBER] cards of your library. Put up to one of those cards on top of your library and the rest into your graveyard.)
Sorry about not having the thread up yet - the wife decided I needed out of the house right when I was about to start working on it, and I haven't made it to a computer yet.
If someone else will get it up shortly, that would be nice.
Well, red has the least design space of any color. Red commons, for example, is probably the hardest general category to design.
I've never seen anyone discourage it, and I'd always felt it was a natural thing to do. The cards you like you want more feedback on, even if it's just a poll.
Morphscape by EzraEliot
- I don't always letting wording hold a card back, but this is one of those cases where it's unavoidable. I think your intention is to have this keep it's copy ability, which it otherwise loses upon copying another land. Otherwise, it's a glorified Vesuva.
Murderous Rampage by MDenham
- REALLY swingy. Sure, you need a creature to make it work, but any reasonable guy gives you a 2 for 1 or better. And since it's an additional cost, they can't even respond by killing your source creature. Doesn't need a lot to work and when it does it's insanely good.
Vermillion Sniper by aftermarketradio
- That's a cute ability. Cute can be damaging, and the busywork here is a bit much, but I still like the package it produces. Very neat.
Circu's Scheme by SecretInfiltrator
- Possibly better than Opt. But that seems perfectly reasonable to me. I like the forced decision. Should bring up some strategically interesting moments.
Tainted Hydromancer by doombringer
- Reversing the flow of things doesn't quite work here, especially considering you could just sacrifice this guy to keep the stolen creature forever. That just feels wrong.
It made my short list. Lifelink felt awkward given that the creature already has a life-gain mechanic. I didn't feel that red was very well represented; it's one of those facets that WOTC can get away with because they're producing sets with intricate interwoven parts, but looking at just one card, the red sort of sticks out as not belonging. It's a black sort of bargain mechanic anyway. Otherwise, I liked it.
That in fact would work. Upholder triggers whenever an opponent casts a spell regardless of other conditions. I did not see that interaction before, which is admittedly somewhat nifty. Wouldn't have changed my vote, but at least the card has a greater span of usefulness. Though now it makes me hate how it'd continuously trigger on MTGO.
Ooo, I'd be interested in hearing about the side-effects! I love nuance and miss it all the time.
I don't know if that's obvious at all. Besides, white also reanimates small creatures, too. And ya, I'd just change it to exile anyway.
It's an old card. I don't make new cards for this contest; I pilfer my store of cards dating back 10 years. I considered cutting this down to 4GG since creatures are just better and better these days. Also, the name and creature type sort of bother me upon second look. That is, they don't go together. Oh well.
Sep. 26th
MDenham
- Why not just sacrifice the creature? That's the equivalent of "activate only once" and it's not like keeping a 1/1 around has much value.
Blydden
- Really liking a lot of your vanishing designs. Visible countdowns to some great goal are fun. Planeswalkers prove this, but they don't have the same feel because failing to ultimate is often still winning.
aftermarketradio
- One of those abilities that looks cool on paper, but will rarely ever counter a spell in real play. They'll plan for the eventuality when they have to, but more often they'll just play their stuff precombat to avoid the issue. This does add some strategic bends into the game, but it still means this card sits there with an ability that never gets used.
TheBlackCat
- "Whenever a permanent deals damage to Haunted Conscripts, gain control of that permanent until the end of your next turn. It gains haste until the end of your next turn.
Whenever an instant or sorcery spell deals damage to Haunted Conscripts, Haunted Conscripts deals that much damage to target player or creature."
Rudyard
- I would never make this common. While it seems simple, you're basically taking an instant and changing a fundamental rule about the card type. It goes against a lot of what a player would expect from the spell, and that's jarring. First question you're gonna hear from a lot of less rules savvy players: "Why isn't this just a sorcery?"
Subdemic
- Awkward place to give this type of ability. For example, it'd be easy for a newer player to think that this gets to strike twice the first time it deals combat damage. The way the ability is associated with having dealt combat damage just carries that baggage. I realize why you didn't make it a trigger, but perhaps it should have just been a 2/2 that gains double strike indefinitely.
SecretInfiltrator
-I'd make it a replacement effect instead: "The next time you would discard a card this turn, instead draw a card."
I didn't realize it could hit opposing spells. I read it as an Isochron Scepter variant and apparently overlooked some relevant information. Stills seem a bit unwieldy overall, but at least the costs make sense now.
I'd just word it "If you do, it costs this creature's mana cost less to cast." X doesn't do a good job of tracking colors. (Or so the rules gurus have told me.) The activation cost is way too severe. If I want a Lightning Bolt on a stick, it'll cost me a single turn investment of 7 mana. That's way too harsh and makes this vastly unusable.
Simple idea that's surprisingly not been done yet in real Magic. Good card that I've unfortunately seen many times before. Unfortunate that said familiarity often makes it difficult to vote on without all the extras adding up, and neither the name nor the absent flavor text inspire that. Still, a nice design.
Targeting a source is an odd duck. I suppose it isn't problematic since all the sources I can think of in the game are cards, copies, tokens, or emblems. Anyway, this is a good choice for a one mana phyrexian spell. The more useful they are when you tap out, the better.
Broken. Just... way to easy to abuse. Sacrificing a creature is hardly difficult, as is knowing what the top card of your deck is. If it put the card into your hand instead, that'd be balanced. Also, being a black and green card, a death trigger fits better than a leave trigger. But that's less important than your desire for turn two eldrazi.
I'd up the cost by 1, even if the counter scope is limited. I really like the design. Neat way to make the Extract effect worthwhile and double damning.
Why does this cost so much? Entering does the full effect for one less mana and it gets a whole extra card to play with. I'd cost this at 1U. See Mind Sculpt.
I'd consider making it "nonland permanent" to conform with modern standards. It's a neat place to staple extort, and I think it really does want to be a Vindicate rather than an Oblivion Ring.
It think we should adopt "give" for these situations. "That player gives control..." It just sounds better. This is a comment on the game, not you. Bargaining is a topic I've had long discussions on: what colors should be able to get it and in what capacity. This sort of effect makes a lot of sense in blue when done right, and I think this fits well. It's difficult to use since it's Evangelize rather than Control Magic, so crafting situations where you get four cards will be difficult. I can't decide how good or bad of a feature that is.
Nothing about this feels red except the name, and that concept doesn't attach itself all that well to the mechanics for me. It might work in the right setting, but this doesn't feel like the way red would punish the enchanted.
I'm not sure what to say about this card. I don't particularly like or dislike it. The narrowness plus the options plus the colors give it an odd composure. All I can say is that it isn't the card for me. Wish I had more input to give.
Very neat idea. A reverse Powder Keg changes the implications of its use, and I like how bad timing can just ruin it. There's a lot of skill to using it right, and it has that delicious benefit on just whacking a big guy out of nowhere. It might be a bit too powerful in that right as well; I'd probably up the cost one and lower the starting counters by one, but I'd be willing to roll with these stats into the playtest ring.
Assuming it has a reasonable p/t (2/1, maybe 2/2), this card has a very keen ability. I tend to think that memory issues are overstated, so I'm fine with the indefinite ability. It might be more interesting on a bigger creature; attacking on turn three unblocked isn't the most uncommon thing. A bigger guy might add more interesting tension to the card.
Simple combination of abilities that surprisingly hasn't been done before. Good card.
That's quite the loopy-loop of time-wimey self-fulfilling magic. Cast this and a few spells, leave the game to have some jammie-dodgers and a cup of earl grey, come back to a well roasted opponent. Rather powerful but fun effect. And worthless with counterspells, which I consider to be a bonus.
There's no reason for this to cost more than its counterpart. "From the battlefield" adds some needed clarity, even if we all know that it would otherwise state "creature cards."
"Enchanted creature gets +1/+3. Each other creature that shares a creature type with enchanted creature gets +1/+1." The initial p/t bonus you chose just feels odd compared to the overall card, and this doesn't feel special enough to get the mythical triple-color cost.
Fun fact: I've never played a Final Fantasy game in my lifetime. That said, fairly standard token maker, though the base stats are better than white usually gets at this rarity and cost.
It's more of a feel than a strict guideline, really. When a card costs BBB, you expect to see something never-before seen. You expect the unexpected. You expect Bridge from Below or Necropotence or Doomsday or Phylactery Lich. I suppose my main complaint is that the cool part of your card doesn't cost BBB; it costs 3BBB. For BBB, all you get is Looming Shade. I also think cards in a devotion setting need to be careful about their costs, and that this particular card doesn't warrant improving that stat.
Although I listed it after, the tap abilities were my main concern. Like I said, if you want to put tap abilities on a bigger creature, make the effect bigger. I want a damn good reason for not attacking. As for the flavor, it's mostly the green part that gets to me. I don't know why an angel would busy herself/himself with harvesting the land.
I will say, after reviewing thousands of cards over the years, that people generally just don't know how to feel about Planeswalkers in custom card forums. They simultaneously want them to have self-interaction but not be too stupidly self-centered, to be powerful but balanced, to be exciting but usable, to have flavor but not have flavor text, and so on. They rarely get attention and I think it's somewhat of a shame, and I feel that Planeswalker design is greatly misunderstood. (Not that this is why my card wasn't voted on, even if that inspired this rant.)
Let's do a card by card review!
The drawback attached to the ability is a nice one, but this card begs to be broken in half. True, this is mostly with other broken cards (Lotus Petal, Dark Rotual), but free recursion is just too good.
A much more difficult and much more tasking version of Counterbalance, it feels "fair" (as much as any repeatable counterspell can be) and looks fun to build control decks around. I'd consider upping the activation cost since multiple activations really shut the game down hard.
It's a fine dead-guy with a good pun. One of those cards where there isn't much to say.
Weird in how useless it can be. The effect is rather marginal against Leyline of the Void, Howling Mine (they'd just want more), Ghostly Prison (decks that play this rarely do much attacking for the win), and so on. That sort of risk doesn't really associate itself with a GWU card.
Chained to the Rocks spin-off. The cost is fairly cheap given that this reduces all creatures to single shots. I'd expect a card like this to cost at least twice as much. Forcing it to enchant a plains doesn't really curb this issue.
The idea of a dragon the checks things out for the bigger guys is cute. It's odd that you chose to make it too small to scry by itself.
Pretty cool card, really. I'd consider starting it at 1/1 just to make it a tad more difficult to get to the big prize. As is, the first blocker it meets needs to be 4/X or bigger to kill it. Still, I really like the card's elegant internal synergy.
This just doesn't feel like an angel to me. I also dislike when larger creatures have marginal tap abilities; I wanna beat in with by 3 powered flier, not recycle my creatures and lands.
This ability does not require 6 mana. It really, really doesn't.
It's really weird to give creatures pump durations that only last until end of combat. Target a Runeclaw Bear with this, it gets blocked by a Pillarfield Ox, and somehow the Bear still dies? Yuck. The timing of the token also feels weird.
You don't sacrifice things from the top of your library. You put them into your graveyard. Or did you mean the Plant Troll (really? Plant Troll?) was the one being sacrificed? Given the way the card is arranged, I'll assume the former. The card itself aint half bad. You clear away lands that you'd draw and get them back later. I think a simpler execution would have made this card shine. The card isn't really black in any way; I'd cut that out. Something like the following might have grabbed my vote:
Root Raker 2G
Creature - Plant (U)
At the beginning of your upkeep, reveal the top card of your library. If it's a land card, put it into your graveyard.
2G, Sacrifice Root Raker: Return up to X target land cards from your graveyard to the battlefield, where X is your devotion to green.
0/4
The joke almost works. Mostly works.
It's a very clever design and forces some interesting decisions upon the players. It mostly comes down to math, but still... a very nice Armageddon variant.
Generally, the more creatures a player controls, the less cards in his or her hand. Which makes this have a very nice internal balancing feature, where your target casting point is probably when they have three critters. And it does nothing to stop said critters, so all in all, it works out well.
Shared Fate without the sharing. Always a headache for players when coupled with Future Sight. Knowing the priority system intimately is hard enough for novices, but playing as though that system needs to constantly be checked is annoying. That's a minor complaint, though, and one that's rare to come up. The card itself is probably fine and fun, but there are versions utilizing exile to get around the potential problems.
That's an odd ability to strap on an umbra. Totem armor is already protecting the creature. Why make the only other ability also a strict protection?
Dig [NUMBER] (Look at the top [NUMBER] cards of your library. Put up to one of those cards on top of your library and the rest into your graveyard.)
I'll put it up in a few minutes.