I am not sure whether the first one would be that busted even for Constructed because of a saga's inherent slowness. If your deck relied only on the third act, it would be a terrible combo. However, I also do not really see a reason to play it in CU/be because the first two acts have such minimal impact.
Investigative Research, however, is a fairly elegant design I could certainly get behind (well, except the name). Clues are a mechanic I would like to see more and in more viable cards at Peasant.
I really like the idea though it would probably indeed have to either be colourless or limited to green which has this effect printed on a few cards such as Abundance. However, I imagine it would most likely get abused in constructed decks which primarily utilise one option or the other such as Lands.deck or Belcher.
Pending Tutor is definitely something I can get behind. Forecast is such an underutilised bit of design space and the current design philosophy hardly has room for it and its ilk which is sad. In comparison to the earlier versions, this card has the balancing restrictions that its repeatable mode only works once per turn, has a restrictive timing window (decide before drawing for the turn), and does not trigger spells matter cards when used repeatedly.
What you seem to be missing is how the previous cards were providing free buyback for the baseline spell. Again, consider the comparison to a card like Mystic Speculation which costs 1 more than Blah de blah Tutor with buyback, scries less, and has no kicker for a stronger one-off effect. I understand that the return to hand is supposed to allow for 'digging deep' to emulate a kind of tutoring but it breaks the baseline spell's power level. Imagine that with Young Pyromancer or in decks which have spare mana in the late game. Normally, repeatable scries are something more like Crystal Ball, and while the spell would not be strictly better in terms of mana efficiency and timing restrictions, the double depth per scry really adds up.(So, basically, the point is that the free buyback mode of the non-kicked spell is what I find problematic in itself. I understand that those cards do not have free buyback when kicked.)
So, as mentioned, I still consider the free buyback mechanic a terrible idea since as Salmo pointed out, it is as broken as things get.
Thinking about this myself, I got interested in alternatives that do things similar to Razaketh's Rite: just overpriced Demonic Tutor's with alternative costs or modes. In the case of Razaketh's Rite, you have a considerably weaker effect doing the same thing, digging, for a minimal cost. Looking at some alternatives, Madness, Convoke, Suspend, and Miracle each represent a way to make conditionally better or at least comparable cards using something like Grim Tutor as a baseline. Additionally, I would likely be fine with a Vampiric Tutor or Cruel Tutor type of effect. Another interesting take is a conditional tutor like Beseech the Queen. Here are some ideas:
Demented Tutor1BB
Search your library for a card with converted mana cost less than or equal to the number of cards in your hand, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
Madness 1B
Whispers of the Swarm4B
Convoke
Search your library for a card and put that card into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
Creeping Insight2BB
Search your library for a card and put that card into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
Suspend 3 - B
Brush with the Inconceivable2BB
Search your library for a card, then shuffle your library and put that card on top of it. Then, you may pay half your life, rounded up. If you do, draw a card.
Miracle B
These mostly act as proofs of concept rather than fully thought-out designs. The miracle tutor in particular was just me having a bit of fun.
The 'if you do not [extra] then return this card to your hand' template seems like a terrible idea because it amounts to free buyback and these spells are not so overpriced that the deal would not be great. Compare to cards like Mystic Speculation. Also, loss of 1 life as a rider is really redundant. As Leelue always says, it s pretty laughable how Wizards thinks 'pay 2 life' is a real cost to balance anything, and if the rider has no true balancing function, it seems pretty redundant.
Still, the idea itself is really interesting. I do think that tutors with alternative modes and/or strong filtering effects provide an interesting design space.
Just an idea since I was reminded of the existence of Brain Maggot by recent discussion: How about a Brain Maggot... with Bestow? Since that way, if it is enchanting something, its +1/+1 can still be relevant but more importantly, it will remain on the battlefield a bit longer since it will just become unattached if the creature dies. Obviously, paying 3+ mana for the strictly better version is not good so it needs to instead have a CC cost. Orzhov is not too stacked and has similar effects - notably Tidehollow Sculler. WB it is. Except I want to be special and make it 'more black' by excluding the white from the bestow cost. Thus, I know Wizards would never print this card but I am thinking along the lines of...
Memory-Curer Maggot
Enchantment Creature - Nightmare Insect
Bestow (If you cast this card for its bestow cost, it's an Aura spell with enchant creature. It becomes a creature again if it's not attached to a creature.)
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1.
When Memory-Curer Maggot enters the battlefield, target opponent reveals his or her hand and you choose a nonland card from it. Exile that card until Memory-Curer Maggot leaves the battlefield.
1/1
I know the ambiguity makes it awkward but the fluff is that the maggot cures - i.e. preserves - memories it collects and it can nest in someone's head, granting them additional power in the form of insight derived from the stolen memories.
Too bad they are apparently not also doing gotcha cards - if that were the case, they could also have some gotcha linked to swearing. Speaking of swearing, I wonder if they will somehow spoof MTGO's interface problems and the misplays to which those easily lead.
To be fair, the biggest problem with Groundskeeper is the fact that it is a 1/1 for 1. This is not an effect for which you need the creature to be dropped early since it is effectively a late game CA engine (used for synergies). As such, I would actually prefer something like this:
Keeper of the Grounds (or )
Creature - Elemental / [Whatever]
: Return target basic land card from your graveyard to your hand.
1/4
Flash might be taking the Kavu a bit over the top: it will too easily be a 3-for-1 when it comes into play during combat: killing something with the damage, another with first strike damage, and a third one with a blocker that survives due to damage prevention.
But yeah, I agree that Abbot of Keral Keep is a very borderline case. Personally, I was cross to have it at rare when it was printed but I think the main reason is wanting to avoid red having easy access to cheap card advantage. The key word here is cheap: we do have Act on Impulse but that is completely unplayable, of course. I think the more viable alternatives will either be non-creatures (Ongoing Investigation type of card using Elkin draws?) or slightly ovecosted (CMC 4+) creatures or CMC 3 creatures with additional costs for the ability.
I would argue that even though granting +1/0 might be balanced by the amount of mana it takes, the card might become a bit too self-contained. Plus, the focus is supposed to be on the double striking aspect, but that ability would by itself already probably steal the show a lot of the time. The thing with vigilance is that it works nicely with equipments but I could see the ability being changed for haste: slightly overcosted, maybe, but it is an ability which I often want even though cards which do nothing else are just not good enough to include.
We basically have Abbot of Keral Keep with flying instead of prowess. Which is a pretty strict upgrade even if it is a multi-coloured card instead. This would never be printed at uncommon, although I think the mechanic should be made more viable outside of rare.
And then we have Super Sayan Young Pyromancer. Young Pyromancer is already an extremely powerful card, even if it is a bit hard to support properly in CU/be. Just making it multi-coloured does not balance out it being triggered by pretty much every spell most constructed decks would be casting. Even in CU/be, an aggressive deck will often have it trigger for each and every spell being cast. I know I am being a bit mean but really, what makes this seem like a good balance to anyone?
I think the Mentor is the sort of card that should be made available at uncommon, although I think it would probably cost 4 and be a 2/3 or something. It seems a bit too cheap for uncommon card advantage as is. The Kavu suffers a bit from one half of its effect not working ideally when played at sorcery speed. Damage prevention tends to be an instant speed thing for a reason. Besides this bit of clunkiness, it might actually work quite nicely.
For me, personally, Boros is associated with double strike - but the multi-coloured options are just too bland. I wonder of this would be printable instead... (Should also work nicely with equipment, another in-colour theme.)
Second Blade Templar
Creature - Human Knight
: Target creature gains vigilance until end of turn.
: Target creature gains double strike until end of turn.
2/1 Those she trains are never caught unprepared.
The vigilance ability was a later addition to the design but I figured it would still remain comparable to a guildmage this way. If it would push this card over the top, I would be happy to remove it or increase its mana cost.
Oh, my bad! I did not even realize it does not tap for colourless. I must just have assumed that much automatically. Yeah, completely unplayable. BUt if it did tap for mana, I retain that it would most definitely be worth at least testing.
Plus, the better comparison would probably be Sakura-Tribe Elder rather than Rampant Growth. Sakura Tribe is really, really solid: it seems to be considered staple in powered environments. Now then,
- STE can block immediately to avoid some damage.
- ETB triggers are more easily abused than sac activations.
- 3/3 is much more relevant towards the late game than a 1/1.
- STE can only ever block once.
I think the second point is particularly relevant here.
I find it a bit problematic just how good it would be as a simple wall, even if it was not ramping when need be. Just evolving it once would give you a 3/4 wall to sit on, which is quite hard for aggressive decks without mostly evasive threats to deal with. I would get rid of any power in the starting stats, leaving a 0/3. Yeah, it is easier to level up but at least it will not immediately start killing all creatures being thrown against it.
Then again... Wall of Roots is already a really powerful card. Even if the idea would be nifty, I do not think that we need an upgraded version in addition to the original.
Actually, I misread the card as giving you colourless for some reason. I would say it is fine as is. It might even be a realistic effect to get although design space for cards is so wide that Wizards will likely never go there.
Investigative Research, however, is a fairly elegant design I could certainly get behind (well, except the name). Clues are a mechanic I would like to see more and in more viable cards at Peasant.
What you seem to be missing is how the previous cards were providing free buyback for the baseline spell. Again, consider the comparison to a card like Mystic Speculation which costs 1 more than Blah de blah Tutor with buyback, scries less, and has no kicker for a stronger one-off effect. I understand that the return to hand is supposed to allow for 'digging deep' to emulate a kind of tutoring but it breaks the baseline spell's power level. Imagine that with Young Pyromancer or in decks which have spare mana in the late game. Normally, repeatable scries are something more like Crystal Ball, and while the spell would not be strictly better in terms of mana efficiency and timing restrictions, the double depth per scry really adds up.(So, basically, the point is that the free buyback mode of the non-kicked spell is what I find problematic in itself. I understand that those cards do not have free buyback when kicked.)
Thinking about this myself, I got interested in alternatives that do things similar to Razaketh's Rite: just overpriced Demonic Tutor's with alternative costs or modes. In the case of Razaketh's Rite, you have a considerably weaker effect doing the same thing, digging, for a minimal cost. Looking at some alternatives, Madness, Convoke, Suspend, and Miracle each represent a way to make conditionally better or at least comparable cards using something like Grim Tutor as a baseline. Additionally, I would likely be fine with a Vampiric Tutor or Cruel Tutor type of effect. Another interesting take is a conditional tutor like Beseech the Queen. Here are some ideas:
These mostly act as proofs of concept rather than fully thought-out designs. The miracle tutor in particular was just me having a bit of fun.
Still, the idea itself is really interesting. I do think that tutors with alternative modes and/or strong filtering effects provide an interesting design space.
Memory-Curer Maggot
Enchantment Creature - Nightmare Insect
Bestow (If you cast this card for its bestow cost, it's an Aura spell with enchant creature. It becomes a creature again if it's not attached to a creature.)
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1.
When Memory-Curer Maggot enters the battlefield, target opponent reveals his or her hand and you choose a nonland card from it. Exile that card until Memory-Curer Maggot leaves the battlefield.
1/1
I know the ambiguity makes it awkward but the fluff is that the maggot cures - i.e. preserves - memories it collects and it can nest in someone's head, granting them additional power in the form of insight derived from the stolen memories.
Keeper of the Grounds (or )
Creature - Elemental / [Whatever]
: Return target basic land card from your graveyard to your hand.
1/4
But yeah, I agree that Abbot of Keral Keep is a very borderline case. Personally, I was cross to have it at rare when it was printed but I think the main reason is wanting to avoid red having easy access to cheap card advantage. The key word here is cheap: we do have Act on Impulse but that is completely unplayable, of course. I think the more viable alternatives will either be non-creatures (Ongoing Investigation type of card using Elkin draws?) or slightly ovecosted (CMC 4+) creatures or CMC 3 creatures with additional costs for the ability.
I would argue that even though granting +1/0 might be balanced by the amount of mana it takes, the card might become a bit too self-contained. Plus, the focus is supposed to be on the double striking aspect, but that ability would by itself already probably steal the show a lot of the time. The thing with vigilance is that it works nicely with equipments but I could see the ability being changed for haste: slightly overcosted, maybe, but it is an ability which I often want even though cards which do nothing else are just not good enough to include.
We basically have Abbot of Keral Keep with flying instead of prowess. Which is a pretty strict upgrade even if it is a multi-coloured card instead. This would never be printed at uncommon, although I think the mechanic should be made more viable outside of rare.
And then we have Super Sayan Young Pyromancer. Young Pyromancer is already an extremely powerful card, even if it is a bit hard to support properly in CU/be. Just making it multi-coloured does not balance out it being triggered by pretty much every spell most constructed decks would be casting. Even in CU/be, an aggressive deck will often have it trigger for each and every spell being cast. I know I am being a bit mean but really, what makes this seem like a good balance to anyone?
I think the Mentor is the sort of card that should be made available at uncommon, although I think it would probably cost 4 and be a 2/3 or something. It seems a bit too cheap for uncommon card advantage as is. The Kavu suffers a bit from one half of its effect not working ideally when played at sorcery speed. Damage prevention tends to be an instant speed thing for a reason. Besides this bit of clunkiness, it might actually work quite nicely.
For me, personally, Boros is associated with double strike - but the multi-coloured options are just too bland. I wonder of this would be printable instead... (Should also work nicely with equipment, another in-colour theme.)
Second Blade Templar
Creature - Human Knight
: Target creature gains vigilance until end of turn.
: Target creature gains double strike until end of turn.
2/1
Those she trains are never caught unprepared.
The vigilance ability was a later addition to the design but I figured it would still remain comparable to a guildmage this way. If it would push this card over the top, I would be happy to remove it or increase its mana cost.
- STE can block immediately to avoid some damage.
- ETB triggers are more easily abused than sac activations.
- 3/3 is much more relevant towards the late game than a 1/1.
- STE can only ever block once.
I think the second point is particularly relevant here.
Then again... Wall of Roots is already a really powerful card. Even if the idea would be nifty, I do not think that we need an upgraded version in addition to the original.