MTG Salvation

I would love to see things when you are done so I can scavenge some ideas. I will also, of course, share ideas when I have completed them.

The different lenses through which we view cards is probably due to our varied backgrounds. I am a novelist with two novels completed and a third that should be complete by this summer. This disposition also makes me extremely interested in the link between flavor and effect. I wrote an article for MTG Salvation forever and a day ago on the issue and if you would like more insight into my perspective you can read it or read the flavor section of the YMTC FAQ I wrote for the MtG forums. Both are outdated, but they should show my perspective when taken in context and how I make decisions about cards.

That being said I hope that we might be able to work together on the third set in the block. I find that it is crucial to design to have people with different views working on cards and we would be an interestingly juxtaposed pair.

It is interesting that you have decided that playing with flux counters is a primarily blue thing. I guess I can understand the feeling, although that will not be the case in my set. The flavor behind tinkering with the flux counters on permanents can fit in many colors. I did not want to get into it for this set since I have to have this set finalized in the next two weeks so that it can be printed with as few mistakes and as many balanced, playable and fun cards as possible.

In the next set Red is going to up the ante for control of things. They are going to want to make the flux more and more chaotic and as things get more and more fluxuation energy in them they start going haywire.

White is trying to resist the flux, as they will flux into Red. White is going to get flux hate and, rarely, flux cards with large but controllable effects. White also has a thing about uniformity and if one of their own gets "fluxed" they have to purify it.

Black is going to be all about artifacts in this next set. They are going to use said artifacts to sow choas and disorder among the ranks of the other colors, playing all sides against eachother as often and as much as possible.

Green is going to be using the flux as a way to bond together and grow in every direction. Green mutations of flux counters will double the counters, move from one to the next rather than just disappearing grow stronger and "blossom" as they feed off the energy of flux. They are embracing the power of flux like Red, but as a method to create a surge of life rather than chaotic build-ups of energy.

Lastly is blue. Blue will be using phasing and other "tinkering" abilities to adjust the levels of flux on its permanents. Blue veiws this new wave form of energy as a way to interconnect all their systems and doings into a super-computer-esque thing called The Channel. They will also have cards that allow for safe storage of multiple flux counters and new enchanted artifacts that allow for controlled use of this new energy.

That will make up the next set :-P.

PS. As for your cards:

Tidal Influence - As is this will more likely be a red or green ability (most likely green).

Coils of Confinement - Will be red with something like "Attacks each turn if able + Can't Block"

Blessing of the Faith - Will probably be worded the other way around (no flux you get the boon) and adjusted so it isn't overpowered outside the block.

Unstable Pyre - Good, but red is going to be using temporary energy. There is a card in the set, but it looks like this:

Flux
Whenever you play a red spell you may remove a flux counter from a permanent you control. If you do ~ deals 1 damage to target creature or player.

Thanks for all the interest

Quote from Onderzeeboot

Nightly Visits UB
Enchantment (U)

Flux (At the beginning of your upkeep, if ~ does not have a flux counter on it, put one on it. If it has a flux counter on it, remove it.)
At the beginning of your draw step draw a card. If ~ has a flux counter on it, discard a card instead.

Edit: I changed the reminder text to (At the beginning of your upkeep, if there are no flux counters on this, put a flux counter on this. Otherwise remove all flux counters from this.). It's slightly longer, but also more consistent. Also, it prevents shenanigans in case of multiple flux counters so it really is an on, off, and on again thing.

Edit 2: And of course this ability asks for an ode to the original Homarid.

Tidal Champion 2U
Creature - Merfolk Warrior (C)

Flux (At the beginning of your upkeep, if there are no flux counters on this, put a flux counter on this. Otherwise remove all flux counters from this.)
As long as there is a flux counter on Tidal Champion, it gets +1/+1. Otherwise it gets -1/-1.

2/2

Edit 3: Since there is no multicolor in the set I'm currently designing you are free to use Nightly Visits. I will be using the following enchantment instead.

Whispers of the Ocean 1UU
Enchantment (R)

Flux (At the beginning of your upkeep, if there are no flux counters on this, put a flux counter on this. Otherwise remove all flux counters from this.)
At the beginning of your draw step, if there is a flux counter on ~, draw a card.

Edit 4: And a lovely little utility creature!

Caller of Waves
Creature - Merfolk Wizard (C)

Flux (At the beginning of your upkeep, if there are no flux counters on this, put a flux counter on this. Otherwise remove all flux counters from this.)
:symtap:: Move a flux counter from target permanent onto another target permanent with flux.

1/1

I just assumed you would leave the walking thing alone, but since you won't there is a reason for it.

The world is divided heavily on color lines and The Flux is changing everything as they know it. There is a vertical cycle of black landwalkers that walk along different things (both parts of the flux, and then there is a non-basic land walk / intimidator). Since Blue and Green are in the same area of the flux (as in the Flux forces it between the two colors) the Horror built to infiltrate that land has those abilities. Likewise the Diplomat sent to "sooth tensions" between the Red and White Flux area has red and white landwalk. I am playing with a lot of awkward color things here, I know that. I have a blue removal spell, a cycle of black walkers, flowstone-esque green cards and a Biorhythm-esque card in white. I know I am changing a lot of things and people may not be ok with it (some things I find I change to much and put back in line), but the cycle of landwalkers are most likely going to stay.

As for your cards:

Nightly Visits looks like two cards I have had a baby, I like it. The flux IS something that can happen in excess, it isn't something that is "on and off" it is something that changes. There will be cards in the next set that get "innundated" with flux tokens and get changed forever. As such, Flux is worded to only remove one counter at a time.

Caller of Waves I will not use, but you can feel free to.

The 2nd enchantment I may use, but most likely not. I have a lot of card draw in this set and will have very little (most likely only one or two) in the next set.

Lastly Tidal Champion is needlessly complicated (Although it isn't exactly like its a huge issue). Their is very little reason to not have the card like so:

Tidal Champion
2U
Creature
Flux
If ~ has a flux counter on it, it get +2/+2.
1/1

Law used to be the way you had it written (as well as Quicksilver Warden) but this way accomplishes the same goal in a slightly more elegant fashion.

Thanks for the comments :-D

-Photic

Quote from Onderzeeboot

I gather there is a lot of flux in your set then?


Good! I would still change Islandwalk though, the ability really doesn't fit.


Still an awfully powerful uncommon, but a bit more balanced!

Say, would you mind if I used flux in my own sets? I really like the ability, and think it has some interesting design space.

I would not mind, but I would like to see what you come up with. The 2nd set of this block will focus more on flux than this one and I would be interested in your ideas for when I am making it.

Librarian now mills for 1.

Walker has 3 power.

Feral Gunjen has G instead of 0 as an activation cost.

Today's Highlighted Cards:

Flamebringer Zealot
R/ ( I don't know how to do hybrid mana)
Creature - Human Knight - Rare
Flux (At the beginning of your upkeep, if Flamebringer Zealot does not have a flux counter on it, put one on it. If it has a flux counter on it, remove it.)
R/: If Flamebringer Zealot has a flux counter on it, target creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn. Otherwise, target creature gets +0/+1 until end of turn.
1/1

Sulfur Rain
5R
Instant - Uncommon
~ deals 3 damage to target creature.
~ deals 2 damage to target creature.
~ deals 1 damage to target creature.

Possibly reduce cost by 1?

Southern Walker
3B
Creature - Horror - Uncommon
Flux (At the beginning of your upkeep, if Southern Walker does not have a flux counter on it, put one on it. If it has a flux counter on it, remove it.)
If Southern Walker has a flux counter, it has Forestwalk. Otherwise, it has Islandwalk.
4/3

Demented Librarian
2U
Creature - Human Wizard - Common
Flux (At the beginning of your upkeep, if Demented Librarian does not have a flux counter on it, put one on it. If it has a flux counter on it, remove it.)
Whenever a flux counter is added or removed from a permanent you control, target player puts the top two cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
2/2

Feral Gunjen
2GG
Creature - Beast - Uncommon
Haste, Protection from Blue.
0: ~ gets +1/-1 until end of turn.
3/3

Quote from gtmwarrior

Agnis Flailer - did you intentionally base this off [card]Nyxathid[/c] or had you not seen that card?

Beastcutter Hedge - like it, nice and simple. good core set fodder.

Goldfire Oaks - interesting idea, but i think this ends up being incredibly weak in every turn except 1 and 2. hard to tell without playtesting though.

Yes, its why I said "Was black, now red"

Glad you like it

I was thinking of a way to make goldfire stronger and wondering if I needed it to be specifically stronger. It is harder to keep the drawbacks the way they are and make it stronger without having it produce 2 if you control a permanent of both colors (which seems too good).

Today's Highlighted Cards:

Mageallurgist
2UU
Creature - Human Wizard - Rare
T: Put a token copy of a nontoken enchantment that left the battlefield this turn. That copy is an artifact in addition to its other types.
2/3

Agnis Flailer
2RR
Creature - Elemental - Rare
As ~ enters the battlefield chose an opponent.
~ gets -1/-1 for each card in the chosen player's hand.
7/6

It was black, now red.

Beastcutter Hedge
GG
Creature - Sol Warrior - Uncommon
3G: ~ gets +3/+3 until end of turn. If this is the second time you have activated this ability this turn, ~ gains trample until end of turn.
2/2

Infernal Spawn of McBobbin
B
Creature - Zombie
Phasing, Lifelink
Pay 2 life: ~ phases in or out. Any player may play this ability.
2/1

Goldfire Oaks
Land - Uncommon
T: Add 1 to your mana pool. If you control no red permanents you may add R to your mana pool instead. If you control no green permanents you may add Gto your mana pool instead.



In a rush, so sorry if there are typos.

Quote from Hinotama

It's actually quite easy.

You don't "have" to keep track of day or night until you play a card that involves day/night. Once you do, toss a coin. One side ends up in Day and the other side in Night. When you no longer need to keep track of this, you don't have to, until another card that uses it is played.

Except for the whole addition of an entire new rule set that has to be added that completely changes a core function of the game. While it CAN be done I just think it is easier to have it not be done. Honestly it makes me think of my flux cards, but I might just be focused too much on my own set.

Quote from malcolmbw

luminum, why does your version cost more when it is worse? the first one you can use to counter counterspells making your opponent down a card, yours does not

Well for one it is notably stronger than Overmaster which only costs R to cast. It is instant and avoids any kind of response rather than just countering. 1Uis a good cost for that card.

I'm not a fan of this daytime / nighttime thing. The problem is that all the rules for it cannot be on the same card. Since it is going to be like that you have to either

1) Drastically change the turn system of magic adding in new rules for types of turns (diurnal and nocturnal)

or

2) Change day and night time to only effect on "day and night" style cards which runs into the Kamigawa "splice into arcane" problem where cards become useless, under powered or nonsensical when taken out of the block.

Note on Archive Text wording:

I sent in a letter to MaRo explaining (but keeping it vague at the same time) the problem happening with Archive text being long and / or not extremely specific.

He had this to say in response:

Reminder text doesn't have to say everything technical that has to be said. It has to be plain-speak so that players get what's supposed to happen. The technical version can be done behind the scenes.

With that in mind, would it be beneficial in this situation to make reminder text plain-speak different in order to help make it smaller and thus able to appear on more cards. If I do this, what should the plain-speak reminder text say?

Thanks in advance.

PS Sorry for the double post, but I thought this was important enough to deserve it's own post.

Quote from Shadowfate

This doesn't work the way it's worded. It would hit the battlefield, trigger, but have an undefined p/t and die. It needs to be a replacement effect ("As ~ enters the battlefield, yadda yadda yadda" or "You may have ~ enter the battlefield blah blah blah"). That being said, replacement effects don't target, so the wording may be convoluted as I assume you can mix and match creatures' powers and toughness on this guy. Or give it a defined p/t like 1/1 so it doesn't die when it hits the field. That way makes it more susceptible to burn, though.


Skyweaver is missing its P/T.

I made it a 1/1, hopefully that helps.

Sorry about the lack of p/t on the flier, I was in a rush this morning.

Quote from gtmwarrior

its much more powerful than that, because its like a counterspell you can wait until the end of turn to retroactively cast. there's no risk, no decision.

"hmm if i counter this, he could play something stronger. but if i don't counter now, i might not be able to get rid of it later"

vs.

"ok i'll kill this at EOT unless he plays something stronger."



i don't like things? i thought it was out of color and overpowered (mostly because of how out of color it was). that's all i've said about this card. its not like you've given me 5 variations and i've shot them all down. i gave you one critique, then we went back and forth for another few posts.

this isn't my set, its yours. you can take my criticism or leave it. i've provided you plenty of cards to support my arguments so its up to you to make the best decision. if you still think it should be 2U, then make it 2U.

I'm sorry if I seem overly defensive. It is hard not to be defensive sometimes even if you know they are just being honest. Again, sorry about being too defensive.

I know you have given a lot of support for your argument, that being said there isn't really a "shuffle target creature into its owner's library" effect in the game right now, beyond the often clunky and unwieldy Gomazoa. I think it is an effect that should exist and, if it does, should be in blue.

I think it should be blue, so with that being said the advice I am looking to hunt down is this:

Costing / Drawbacks.
1) Should it only target a creature that entered play that turn? Should it target a creature of a specific color?
2) How much should it cost as an instant with no targeting restrictions? An instant with each of the above targeting restrictions? A sorcery with no restrictions and a sorcery with the 2nd restriction?
3) Which of all these options is preferable for an uncommon slot?

What I have ended up going with so far is the following:

2UU
Instant - Uncommon
Put target creature on top of it’s owner’s library, then that player shuffles their library.

Does that seem too much?

As to the other people who commented, making it 1U is not a good plan, too efficient for a blue creature removal that is arguably better than Terror or Essence Scatter. Essence Scatter lets you hit any creature as it is played, but isn't any use once it is out and Terror not only has targeting restrictions, but it also can't kill indestructible things the way this can. Another big thing to take into account is that getting cards back from the graveyard is not nearly as difficult as getting them from your deck. Yes you can kill that Baneslayer Angel with the Essence Scatter, but it's a lot easier to get back to the field if it is in the Graveyard.

I don't think this card should cost anything less than 4.

That mouthful out of the way, here are today's Highlighted cards:

Borderland Lancer
WW
Creature - Human Knight - Common
~ can't be blocked by green creatures.
If ~ would be dealt only one damage, prevent that damage.
He was the white foam in a green sea. The rock of faith that kept the wild at bay.
2/1

Morphic Eddy
1UU
Creature - Elemental - Rare
When ~ enters the battlefield its power becomes equal to target creature’s power. When ~ enters the battlefield its toughness becomes equal to target creature’s toughness.
1/1

Dread Skyweaver
2B
Flying
When ~ enters the battlefield sacrifice it unless you pay 2 life.
The Skyweavers haunt the narrow chasms of Biunal pass, laying claim to it's twisted spires and barren canyons.
3/2

Boundless Berserker
R
Creature - Human Berserker - Common
Vigilance
~ attacks each turn if able.
1/1

Thundercry Lion
G
Creature - Cat - Rare
When ~ enters the battlefield sacrifice it unless you control at least 2 lands.
The hardest part of keeping a lion is leaving room for its pride.
2/2

Gtm, sorry you don't like things. I am going to keep it in blue and there are no multicolored spells in the set (aside from the 2 hybrids). I guess I'll go into making it more expensive then.

Made After spin into myth:

4U
Instant
Put target creature on top of it's owner's library, then that player shuffles their library.

Is that acceptable by you? I think creature removal for 5 is sort of not worth it, but then again **shrug**