There is absolutely no reason his set needs a 5/5 for 6 with "maybe trample" in green.
There is absolutely no reason for WOTC to print bad cards except because they are lazy and don't bother to find a simple, good, multiplayer (/etc.) card that does the same in limited, but is good in one obscure constructed format.
It is a disservice to serious card designers to say "just do whatever you want, make it whatever powerlevel you think your set needs, and don't listen to other people."
You think I like saying "It sticks"? I say "it stinks" because I know Gifts has done some good card designs and I want him to do more. But for him to do more, he has to have that little voice in the back of his head saying "is this something that ANYBODY would ever want to open in a pack?" and for every single one of these cards, the answer is "no".
You and I darned well both know 5/5s for 6 in green get trample. For free. And are unplayable outside of limited. In fact, I'm pretty darned sure Kamigawa printed just that card! His hypothetical custom set doesn't need "bad cards"... at best, it needs "not a t2 card"... which means multiplayer, casual, trival, or maybe constructed as a one-of tutor target. None of which fits these cards.
Let me put it this way, I think these things are printable vanillas:
X WW
Vigilance
2/3
X1U
Hexproof
2/1
X 1R
Firebreathing (I know, not vanilla, bite me)
1/1
X 1B
Deathtouch
2/1
(We have a 1/1 Deathtouch for 1 at common...)
X 5G
Trample, Hexproof (Uncommon, since Hexproof is tough to deal with at common)
5/5
Your cards would see absolutely no play outside of limited, and be really bad far more often than you think they will be.
Finally, if you want to do a cycle - and I think you do - make it all 2/1s for 1C. Still, it'd be tough finding a keyword they don't already get w/o a drawback.
Stroke of Luck is... something all right. I think it's probably broken, but I'd hate to see the set this sees print in regardless. It needs to be a rare, but it's also pretty bad.
Blazing Club2
Artifact - Equipment (R)
Equip: 2
Equipped creature gets +2/+1.
Equpped creature has "RX, sacrifice Blazing Club, T: ~ deals X damage to target creature or player."
I thought we were bumping it to rare to balance complexity and make limited smoother, not because it was overpowered...
I hate to say it, but Moonlace + co. pretty much blows your concept of "rare" out of the water.
Rare ought to be good, "legendary"/rare/powerful cards. It should also include cards that are bad in limited, but good elsewhere... Cranial Extraction for example. These should be costed to be playable. It also includes complicated jazz and vigilance blinky is surely complicated jazz.
So this really just finds the three worst spells in your opponent's deck or drags something brutal out of yours. I see what you're trying to do here, but I think the execution could perhaps be a little cleaner.
Pretty much. I want your opponent to do the searching, but wanted a "threat" to make sure they found a card. It still strikes me as card advantage though... it also forces your opponents to play at least 1 card of each type???
Darting Merfolk but worse because damage doesn't use the stack anymore. Not rare at all ever, but I suppose it would make a cute common.
Well, it does cost less. The 2/1 flyer for 3 was rare, and I was just following that tradition. Because it's cheap, this effectively reads "UU: Counter target non-trampler, nonflying attack."...
Probably a little too good. Repeatable creature control that pulls triple duty as repeatable protection and throws out buffs. It also swings for a vigilant three damage, which is far too good at this cost.
There's always the opening the turn it comes back though. I like it, and thought it was good... but it's so mana intensive it'd be jank more often than not?
Weaponbearer is a "W:Put skullclamp into play for free and draw two cards" if you have a skullclamp in your starting hand. In a "constructed" environment, this is too powerful.
Uh... Skullclamp makes Mons Goblin Raiders broken. So either we ban all creatures, or we ban Skullclamp. Oh, wait, we did.
Flash Sprite seems to be legacy/modern material. Flash, Evasion and Hexproof...
And probably too good in limited if there's a lot of uncommon equipment. But yeah, it's a playable cool 1/1. Which was what I was apparently going for.
Pikeman is definitely undercosted. Compare the Boros Onedrop Goblin of the original ravnica, which was even easier to cast...
Ah, but 1/1s for W w/ First Strike have never been particularly constructed worthy (although print them alongside Bonesplitter, and we'll talk). I figure Flash/FS lets him get a nice cheap block/victory, which is in color for white... and probably not undercosted. Vigilance is just thumbing my nose at WOTC because Vigilance is like trample is for green - pretty much free.
Transmonk needs to be rare, due to the uniqueness of his ability (there are only 2 similar cards in magic), one being concerted effort, the other death-mask duplicant. Real interaction with exile is rare in all cases, I think.
How can Weaponbearer be not "any good" if it needs to cost more mana? White routinely gets 2/1s for 1 nowadays. A rare that MIGHT be a 3/1 or a 2/2 depending on your opening hand is "decent", but not obscene.
Star Guide lets you repeatedly blink guys... and gives you a bonus for it? How is dodging removal not good? Heck, even Vigilant Pikeman strikes me as a rather strong, but not broken, 1 drop.
I just don't understand your (lack of) criticism...
Hex - besides being too close to Hexproof, it's just a pointlessly complicated ability. WTF?
Harvest - Holy bazeebus, that's a super efficient cantrip tutor ability... you just keyworded? Do you understand what keywording is?
Reassemble - so let me get this straight... you thought you'd make "return ~ from your graveyard to play tapped.", an ability we've seen before on lots of things, into a keyword?
Awaken X: This card comes onto the battlefield tapped, and doesn't untap for X of your next untap steps. You may pay 2 life to cause it to untap normally after one less untap step, as many times as you want. If there is no given value for X, it untaps normally.
OH WTF? You don't even use time counters? WTF?
Rapid ExpansionGG
Sorcery (U)
Each player may search his or her library for a land card and put it onto the battlefield. Then each player who searched his or her library this way shuffles it.
Actually, I found that card on a list dated "Sunday, October 16, 2011" on my hard drive.
I sort of like your multiplayer rampant growth... but I wish it was "Each player can tutor for a forest" and cost 1G. Makes playing 1 forest in your deck "the tech"
Archive Dweller4UR
Creature - Dragon
Haste
While you are searching your library, you may cast ~ for 4. If you do, at the end of the combat phase, shuffle ~ back into your library. Spellbooks and knowledge aren't the only things you'll find in this library.
3/4
I like the variant. However:
1. Make the cost cleaner 3RU would work, and would be good to just copy the Wurm's wording word for word, then tack on the "at end of turn" effect.
2. The end of turn effect should put it on the bottom of your library.
3. Make it a 4/4 haste/flying.
Otherwise, nice!
Rootfolk1GG
Creature - Treefolk
Hexproof
~ gets +1/+1 for each basic forest in your graveyard.
1/3
Don't we have this card with just the first ability? If so, I'd rather that card just be reprinted... it actually feels core-set-worthy.
This isn't to say that your card is poorly designed or anything, it's just... busy. And cards like this shouldn't be busy.
Temporary Growth 1G
Sorcery
Search your library for up to three basic land cards and put them into play, shuffle your library. Sacrifice them at the end of turn.
There is absolutely no reason his set needs a 5/5 for 6 with "maybe trample" in green.
There is absolutely no reason for WOTC to print bad cards except because they are lazy and don't bother to find a simple, good, multiplayer (/etc.) card that does the same in limited, but is good in one obscure constructed format.
It is a disservice to serious card designers to say "just do whatever you want, make it whatever powerlevel you think your set needs, and don't listen to other people."
You think I like saying "It sticks"? I say "it stinks" because I know Gifts has done some good card designs and I want him to do more. But for him to do more, he has to have that little voice in the back of his head saying "is this something that ANYBODY would ever want to open in a pack?" and for every single one of these cards, the answer is "no".
You and I darned well both know 5/5s for 6 in green get trample. For free. And are unplayable outside of limited. In fact, I'm pretty darned sure Kamigawa printed just that card! His hypothetical custom set doesn't need "bad cards"... at best, it needs "not a t2 card"... which means multiplayer, casual, trival, or maybe constructed as a one-of tutor target. None of which fits these cards.
Let me put it this way, I think these things are printable vanillas:
X WW
Vigilance
2/3
X1U
Hexproof
2/1
X 1R
Firebreathing (I know, not vanilla, bite me)
1/1
X 1B
Deathtouch
2/1
(We have a 1/1 Deathtouch for 1 at common...)
X 5G
Trample, Hexproof (Uncommon, since Hexproof is tough to deal with at common)
5/5
Your cards would see absolutely no play outside of limited, and be really bad far more often than you think they will be.
Finally, if you want to do a cycle - and I think you do - make it all 2/1s for 1C. Still, it'd be tough finding a keyword they don't already get w/o a drawback.
Blazing Club2
Artifact - Equipment (R)
Equip: 2
Equipped creature gets +2/+1.
Equpped creature has "RX, sacrifice Blazing Club, T: ~ deals X damage to target creature or player."
I hate to say it, but Moonlace + co. pretty much blows your concept of "rare" out of the water.
Rare ought to be good, "legendary"/rare/powerful cards. It should also include cards that are bad in limited, but good elsewhere... Cranial Extraction for example. These should be costed to be playable. It also includes complicated jazz and vigilance blinky is surely complicated jazz.
Flaring Salamander - underpowered.
Crashing Wurm -trample is "free" on green, and this is underpowered in at least 2 ways. And breaks your cycle.
End of the day, "3 or more" just punishes multicolor play and splashing in limited, which is poor design. No offense.
A 1/1 for 0 with a relevant creature type that makes sense in the core set moves product.
Re: 2/1... nope, the one I'm talking about cost 1U to bounce.
And yes, it is a versatile, efficient weenie. Maybe it should be rare.
? You're going to have to be more specific or more silent. Pick a side. We're at war.
Soldiers are better. End of the day, you could print this in a core set and it'd have a neat name and be a cool card... and tribal blah blah.
Pretty much. I want your opponent to do the searching, but wanted a "threat" to make sure they found a card. It still strikes me as card advantage though... it also forces your opponents to play at least 1 card of each type???
Well, it does cost less. The 2/1 flyer for 3 was rare, and I was just following that tradition. Because it's cheap, this effectively reads "UU: Counter target non-trampler, nonflying attack."...
Yup.
There's always the opening the turn it comes back though. I like it, and thought it was good... but it's so mana intensive it'd be jank more often than not?
Hand.
RIght.
Uh... Skullclamp makes Mons Goblin Raiders broken. So either we ban all creatures, or we ban Skullclamp. Oh, wait, we did.
And probably too good in limited if there's a lot of uncommon equipment. But yeah, it's a playable cool 1/1. Which was what I was apparently going for.
Ah, but 1/1s for W w/ First Strike have never been particularly constructed worthy (although print them alongside Bonesplitter, and we'll talk). I figure Flash/FS lets him get a nice cheap block/victory, which is in color for white... and probably not undercosted. Vigilance is just thumbing my nose at WOTC because Vigilance is like trample is for green - pretty much free.
OK, sounds about right.
Star Guide lets you repeatedly blink guys... and gives you a bonus for it? How is dodging removal not good? Heck, even Vigilant Pikeman strikes me as a rather strong, but not broken, 1 drop.
I just don't understand your (lack of) criticism...
Harvest - Holy bazeebus, that's a super efficient cantrip tutor ability... you just keyworded? Do you understand what keywording is?
Reassemble - so let me get this straight... you thought you'd make "return ~ from your graveyard to play tapped.", an ability we've seen before on lots of things, into a keyword?
Awaken X: This card comes onto the battlefield tapped, and doesn't untap for X of your next untap steps. You may pay 2 life to cause it to untap normally after one less untap step, as many times as you want. If there is no given value for X, it untaps normally.
OH WTF? You don't even use time counters? WTF?
Actually, I found that card on a list dated "Sunday, October 16, 2011" on my hard drive.
I sort of like your multiplayer rampant growth... but I wish it was "Each player can tutor for a forest" and cost 1G. Makes playing 1 forest in your deck "the tech"
I like the variant. However:
1. Make the cost cleaner 3RU would work, and would be good to just copy the Wurm's wording word for word, then tack on the "at end of turn" effect.
2. The end of turn effect should put it on the bottom of your library.
3. Make it a 4/4 haste/flying.
Otherwise, nice!
Rootfolk 1GG
Creature - Treefolk
Hexproof
~ gets +1/+1 for each basic forest in your graveyard.
1/3
This isn't to say that your card is poorly designed or anything, it's just... busy. And cards like this shouldn't be busy.
Temporary Growth 1G
Sorcery
Search your library for up to three basic land cards and put them into play, shuffle your library. Sacrifice them at the end of turn.
You mistake charity for bigotry.
Edit: I should point out that there are numerous cards that let you reveal, or leave statically revealed, the top card of your library.
Having effects that trigger when said cards are revealed in a set with a mechanic or two like that would satisfy your goals w/o tipping any cows.