^Flash seems a bit unsporting (your opponent should know the minigame he's playing), maybe drop flash and add some compensatory ability like First Strike or something? Card is otherwise awesome.
I considered that when I put flash on the card; this is part of the reason why it's mythic. The card mainly serves as an anti-control weapon, with the secondary effect of punishing players who stall on land drops or keep hands without enough early game action. Maybe it's too pushed, but the design is justified if not correct.
Consider the card: I'm bored1RR
Sorcery (R)
Choose target opponent that didn't cast a spell during his or her last turn. Look at that player's hand. You may cast a nonland card from it without paying its mana cost.
Restless Rascal will have more trouble getting you a free spell than this card because your opponent still has the chance to cast something after you play it or remove the creature before your upkeep rolls around.
Restless Rascal1RR
Creature - Devil (M)
Flash
At the beginning of your upkeep, for each opponent who didn't cast a spell during his or her last turn, look at that player's hand. You may cast a nonland card from it without paying its mana cost. Few things are more perilous than a bored devil.
3/1
Idle hands are the devil's playground, of course. I'd have liked to make casting a card mandatory, but things like the additional cost on Gaze of Justice make that too much of a rules headache.
IIW: One or more cards that would fit in a cycle with Meddling Mage.
Rose Hedge1GG
Creature - Plant (U)
Defender, reach
Whenever Rose's Hedge is dealt damage, transform it.
1/6
/////// Rose's Thorns
Creature - Plant (U)
Rose's Thorns can't be blocked except by two or more creatures.
Whenever Rose's Blossom deals damage, transform it.
6/1
This card will die the moment it transforms. Needs a "regenerate" or "remove all damage from it" in there somewhere.
Or maybe "at the beginning of each player's upkeep, if blah happened last turn, transform ~".
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Towering Ancient2GG
Creature - Treefolk (R)
Defender; reach
When Towering Ancient dies, it deals damage equal to its toughness to each creature attacking you or a planeswalker you control.
0/7
Not exactly in the core of green's color pie, but I believe for a top-down rare it's perfectly suitable.
IIW: One or more cards that would fit in a cycle with Meddling Mage.
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DurdleGUU
Instant (R)
Planeswalk (Put each face-up plane card and phenomenon card on the bottom of its owner’s planar deck face down, then move the top card of your planar deck off that planar deck and turn it face up.)
Populate (Put a token onto the battlefield that's a copy of a creature token you control.)
Proliferate (You choose any number of permanents and/or players with counters on them, then give each another counter of a kind already there.)
Scry 1 (Look at the top card of your library. You may put that card on the bottom of your library.)
Fateseal 1 (Look at the top card of an opponent's library. You may put that card on the bottom of its owner's library.)
Actual entry to come later, maybe.
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You asked for a return to Zendikar. As far the story of the block left off, the Eldrazi are still roaming free on the plane consuming everything in their path. If the entire plane isn't a lifeless expanse by now, it is reasonable to believe that at least parts of it are.
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Lifeless Expanse
Land (U)
, Put the top two cards of your library into your graveyard: Add to your mana pool. Activate this ability only any time you could cast an instant.
IIW: One or more cards that would fit in a cycle with Meddling Mage.
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Geodesic Barrier3
Artifact (R)
Creatures with power 3 or greater can't attack.
Picture the inside of a giant buckyball composed of shining lines of force. A towering monster of some sort (a hydra perhaps?) can be seen on the opposite side of the ball, struggling futilely to break through.
IIW: Gold cards and/or gold tokens.
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Stomp FlatG
Instant (U)
Destroy target noncreature permanent. Its controller may search his or her library for a basic land card, put that card onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle his or her library.
Stops a lot of combos and other problematic permanents. Castable off of Elvish Spirit Guide on the draw. Usable by combo decks to answer things like leylines, but at least it isn't another free counterspell. Probably not broken.
That's not really true. Red is allowed to generate card advantage (more than white), and looting has made its card selection better too. If what MaRo says is true and "Chandraw" becomes a more common ability in red, it doesn't seem all that out of color.
My argument isn't that the effect isn't red. It's that it's out of red at that cost and power level. I'm not MaRo though, so YMMV, I guess.
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Chandra's GambitR
Instant
Exile the top three cards of your library. You may play one of those cards this turn. "You have until the flame is an ember. Go."
IIW: Charms
No rarity. I guess there's a little bit of tension here -- choosing one of the cards means you can't play the others. This is probably too good for red at this cost, though.
Jace's GambitU
Instant (U)
Exile the top three cards of your library. You may play one of those cards this turn. "Wait, I'll just be impulsive."
Is that better?
It's closer to fitting in blue, yes. The issue is not really power level per se, but color pie. That effect is fine on a red card, but red's card advantage and card selection are among the worst.
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A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
Chandra's GambitR
Instant
Exile the top three cards of your library. You may play one of those cards this turn. "You have until the flame is an ember. Go."
IIW: Charms
No rarity. I guess there's a little bit of tension here -- choosing one of the cards means you can't play the others. This is probably too good for red at this cost, though.
Grafted Bloodsword3
Artifact — Equipment [R]
Equipped creature gets +4/+4.
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, attach Grafted Bloodsword to that creature.
Whenever Grafted Bloodsword becomes unattached from a creature, that creature's controller sacrifices it. "It's not the sword being ripped from your arm stump that kills you. It's the ichor that pours from your gaping wound that does."
—Azax-Azog, the Demon Thane
IIW: White as the hypocrite, blue as the desperate, black as the hero, red as the architect, or green as the tyrant
A good design, but the tension in this card seems like it won't come into play all that often, at least in constructed. Play a cheap evasive and/or resilient guy, beat down with it until your opponent finds an answer, rinse, repeat.
Fortbreaker Baloth2G
Creature — Beast (R)
Trample
At the beginning of your end step, if Fortbreaker Baloth didn't attack this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on it. Nothing stands in nature's way for long.
1/1
IIW: Big ability costs on tiny things.
This could be uncommon or a little cheaper or larger to start, but I like the design. "Attack now or wait until it gets bigger" is an interesting trade-off.
Torpor Powder2
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Equipped creature has vigilance and "t, Unattach Torpor Powder: Tap target creature."
Equip 2
IIW: Take something distinctly nonblack and make a black variant of it
I don't really see any tension here except maybe the decision between tapping an attacker and leaving the equipped creature untapped to block. Why does "torpor powder" give a creature vigilance?
Oathbound Praetorian1WB
Creature - Skeleton Knight (U) 1W: Oathbound Praetorian gains first strike and vigilance until end of turn. 1B: Regenerate Oathbound Praetorian and it gains lifelink until end of turn. The Praetorian Knights were once the mightiest fighting force in Galgallone. Now, they serve under the very force that emptied the city.
2/2
Galgallone, Cleansed and Lifeless
Legendary Land (R) T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool for each card that left a graveyard this turn. Spend this mana only to cast spells from your graveyard or to activate abilities of cards in your graveyard. “What I never could figure out is why the angels are still here. They killed all the sinners! Why do they need to drive us away?”
-Kalemi, historian
IIW: Disney villains or Enchantment creatures that are riffs of other enchantments (bonus points for capitalizing on being a creature)
There isn't really much tension here. You can get more mana out of it if you use your other lands to unearth and flashback your stuff first, but the decision ultimately comes down to "here's what i want to cast from my graveyard this turn; can I do it or not?"
Embers of Aenum2R Legendary Enchantment M
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a flame counter on ~. Then ~ deals X damage to each player when X is the number of flame counters on ~.
If ~ would leave the battlefield, exile it, then return it onto the battlefield at the beginning of the next end step.
Collective Consciousness2UU Sorcery U
Each player draws a card, then draw a card for each card drawn this way.
Revengeance3RR Enchantment R
Whenever a red source you control deals damage to an opponent, exile the top card of your library. You may play it until the end of your turn.
Not really seeing much tension in any of these. Collective consciousness has a little bit of a drawback and ties up your mana a bit, but the decision isn't really interesting.
Embers of Aenum2R Legendary Enchantment M
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a flame counter on ~. Then deal X damage to each player when X is the number of flame counters on ~.
If ~ would leave the battlefield, remove all flame counters from it instead.
Collective Consciousness2UU Sorcery U
Each player draws a card, then draw a card for each card drawn this way.
Riff:
Tempt with Knowledge1U
Sorcery {U} Tempting offer — Draw a card. Each opponent may draw a card. For each opponent who does, draw a card.
IIW: Better outside of Standard.
This card is more interesting than Collective Consciousness. Pretty similar in concept to Trade Secrets but executed more cleanly. This could easily cost one mana since without an opponent's consent it's just worse than Peek.
Alpha Imperiosaur2GG
Creature - Lizard
Pack 2/2 (Whenever this attacks, you may put a +1/+1 counter on it. If you don't, remove all +1/+1 counters from it, and put that many 2/2 green Lizard creature tokens onto the battlefield, tapped and attacking.)
3/3
IIW: until
No rarity, but pretty good design (though I agree with AA's comment). The tension here is not too bad -- let the creature keep growing or throw some more attackers out there.
Chemtrails wins this one.
Next round: Big ability costs on tiny things.
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I considered that when I put flash on the card; this is part of the reason why it's mythic. The card mainly serves as an anti-control weapon, with the secondary effect of punishing players who stall on land drops or keep hands without enough early game action. Maybe it's too pushed, but the design is justified if not correct.
Consider the card:
I'm bored 1RR
Sorcery (R)
Choose target opponent that didn't cast a spell during his or her last turn. Look at that player's hand. You may cast a nonland card from it without paying its mana cost.
Restless Rascal will have more trouble getting you a free spell than this card because your opponent still has the chance to cast something after you play it or remove the creature before your upkeep rolls around.
A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
Creature - Devil (M)
Flash
At the beginning of your upkeep, for each opponent who didn't cast a spell during his or her last turn, look at that player's hand. You may cast a nonland card from it without paying its mana cost.
Few things are more perilous than a bored devil.
3/1
A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
Or maybe "at the beginning of each player's upkeep, if blah happened last turn, transform ~".
A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
Creature - Treefolk (R)
Defender; reach
When Towering Ancient dies, it deals damage equal to its toughness to each creature attacking you or a planeswalker you control.
0/7
A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
Enchantment (R)
Creatures can't attack or block unless each untapped creature controlled by the same player attacks or blocks.
IIW: One or more cards that would fit in a cycle with Meddling Mage.
A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
Decimate?
Durdle GUU
Instant (R)
Planeswalk (Put each face-up plane card and phenomenon card on the bottom of its owner’s planar deck face down, then move the top card of your planar deck off that planar deck and turn it face up.)
Populate (Put a token onto the battlefield that's a copy of a creature token you control.)
Proliferate (You choose any number of permanents and/or players with counters on them, then give each another counter of a kind already there.)
Scry 1 (Look at the top card of your library. You may put that card on the bottom of your library.)
Fateseal 1 (Look at the top card of an opponent's library. You may put that card on the bottom of its owner's library.)
Actual entry to come later, maybe.
A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
Land (U)
, Put the top two cards of your library into your graveyard: Add to your mana pool. Activate this ability only any time you could cast an instant.
IIW: One or more cards that would fit in a cycle with Meddling Mage.
A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
3RW for basically a Plague Wind and 6 damage to the face. Sounds about right!
A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
Artifact (R)
Creatures with power 3 or greater can't attack.
A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
Instant (U)
Destroy target noncreature permanent. Its controller may search his or her library for a basic land card, put that card onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle his or her library.
A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
My argument isn't that the effect isn't red. It's that it's out of red at that cost and power level. I'm not MaRo though, so YMMV, I guess.
A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
It's closer to fitting in blue, yes. The issue is not really power level per se, but color pie. That effect is fine on a red card, but red's card advantage and card selection are among the worst.
A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
No rarity. I guess there's a little bit of tension here -- choosing one of the cards means you can't play the others. This is probably too good for red at this cost, though.
A good design, but the tension in this card seems like it won't come into play all that often, at least in constructed. Play a cheap evasive and/or resilient guy, beat down with it until your opponent finds an answer, rinse, repeat.
This could be uncommon or a little cheaper or larger to start, but I like the design. "Attack now or wait until it gets bigger" is an interesting trade-off.
I don't really see any tension here except maybe the decision between tapping an attacker and leaving the equipped creature untapped to block. Why does "torpor powder" give a creature vigilance?
There isn't really much tension here. You can get more mana out of it if you use your other lands to unearth and flashback your stuff first, but the decision ultimately comes down to "here's what i want to cast from my graveyard this turn; can I do it or not?"
Not really seeing much tension in any of these. Collective consciousness has a little bit of a drawback and ties up your mana a bit, but the decision isn't really interesting.
This card is more interesting than Collective Consciousness. Pretty similar in concept to Trade Secrets but executed more cleanly. This could easily cost one mana since without an opponent's consent it's just worse than Peek.
No rarity, but pretty good design (though I agree with AA's comment). The tension here is not too bad -- let the creature keep growing or throw some more attackers out there.
Next round: Big ability costs on tiny things.
A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.