MTG Salvation

Suicide Pact
BR
Enchantment
During your upkeep, sacrifice a creature.
Creatures you control get +2+0 and have haste.

I thought of the idea of discarding a card at random from your hand, and if it is Red do X, and if it is Blue do Y. Instance:

Crash and Burn
UUR
Instant
Counter target spell.
Questionable Brilliance
As you play this spell, you may discard a card at random from your hand. If it is Red, Crash and Burn deals 3 damage to target creature or player. If it is Blue, Crash and Burn deals 2 damage to you.

Note that in this particular card, the Blue discard is a drawback. It doesn't have to be, it is only this way to balance things out. Here is a card where the Blue is okay.

Malicious Impulse
UR
Instant
Deal two damage to target creature or player and one damage to you. Draw a card.
Questionable Brilliance
As you play this spell, you may discard a card at random from your hand. If it is Red, deal two damage to target creature or player and one damage to you. If it is Blue, draw a card.

The only reason something like this is reasonable is you lose a card, and conceivably, nothing could happen.

That's what I meant by "four different cards," but you're right, "four cards with different names" is clearer. But thanks, I thought it was cool too.

Guys, come on. There is NOT going to be a coin-flipping guild. I think that it wasn't a terrible idea to have a card that has an undercosted good effect or a slightly overcosted good effect. But this is a little out of hand. JUST DROP IT.

Anyways, I got an idea for a tutor.

Erratic Thoughtflow UR
Sorcery
Search your libray for four different cards. Reveal them. Choose one randomly and put it into your hand. Put the rest in your graveyard.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of reason for Red to be in there, but red is the "Erratic" and Blue is the "Thoughtflow."

I think that coin-flipping can be interpreted as Izzet territory (not because they're "mindless" but because they might leave things up to chance or change thier mind mid-spell). But it doesn't fit as well as the Cumpulsion-type effect. And do you honestly think R&D will make a "coin-flipping" guild?

I agree Wildfire, some of that stuff is a bit overpowered. I was just showcasing some abilities, I don't think these exact things will be printed. Maybe something like them, though. Also, they are all multicolored because I wanted it to oozing with guild flavor. Anyway. I like your mechanic, but it is a tad overpowered too, at least in some situations.

I'd like to talk briefly about the argument about Rakdos flavor above. First of all, there are not 5 colors in Ravnica. There are 10 colors. It's as simple as that. Example: Golgari. Black is quite a bit about selfishness and doing whatever it takes. Green is a lot about the power of the group, and in obnoxious extremes, conformity. The Golgari realizes the power of the group, but also the importance of the individual. They cancel eachother out. The Guild is much different than the sum of its parts. So the Rakdos. The red tells them to do what they feel. Simple. What they want is to do whatever they want. Maybe they want to kill someone. Red may or may not allow them to do this on thier own, but black, being self-serving, drops the moral boundaries that might stop them. True, random killing isn't in either of the color's natures, but together, Red wants to have fun, and Black lets it. So you have a rowdy, impulsive group of amoral (not immoral) thugs.

So anyway, I think that all of the above-mentioned things about Rakdos living for the moment is very true. If you're playing R/B it should be like "What late game? I don't see any late game." Therefore, I can see Rakdos Aggro being like Suicide Black. I'm thinking a kicker-type Guild Mechanic that lets you get extra boosts... for a price. So like:

Incinerate Soul BRR
Instant
Incinerate Soul deals three damage to target creature or player.
Backlash 4 (As you play this spell, you may pay four life. If you do, add the Backlash effect to this spell.)
Destroy target creature. It can't be regenerated.

Rakdos Lightfoot BR
Creature - Assassin
Power/Toughness: 2/1
Backlash 3
When Rakdos Lightfoot comes into play, destroy target creature.

Incite Insanity 1BR
Instant
Backlash 8
All creatures you control gain +4+4 and trample until end of turn. Sacrifice them at end of turn.

Rakdos Cleaver BBR
Creature - Warrior
Power/Toughness: 3/3
Baclash 5
Rakdos Cleaver comes into play with three +1+1 counters on it.

Pyrospecter 1BR
Creature - Specter
Power/Toughness: 2/2
Flying
Backlash 4
Pyrospecter has Trample, Haste, and comes into play with four +1+0 counters. Sacrifice it at end of turn.

I like it. I think it makes a lot of sense, though it does seem to be a tad implausible (everyone hates coin-flips). But you definitely found a way to make them good. I'm actually hoping this is a mechanic for the Izzet.

I think the card draw/discard fits the Izzet perfectly. Someone said something about the Izzet being less manic than we all seem to think. I think that the idea is that they drop ideas and gain ideas and drop ideas and gain ideas and each time they keep the good ones. That's how they come up with stuff like how to handle the water supply and control the weather. They also sometimes pick the wrong ones, making for disaster. They're continuously cycling things in and out, but they are very focused and goal-driven when they come to decisions. That's why I see a lot of cheap, cycle-away wizards. I think the guild mechanic will be about card draw/discard, but the Izzet will also have some discard/deal damage. Example:

Izzet Battlemage
Cost: RRU
Power/Toughness: 2/2
Effects: Discard a card at random from your hand: If it is a red card, Izzet Battlemage deals 2 damage to target creature and two damage to you. If it is a blue card, return target creature you control and target creature your opponent controls to thier owner's hands.
Guild Mechanic:
Erratic Knowledge
Sacrifice Izzet Battlemage: Draw cards equal to Izzet Battlemage's converted mana cost. You lose that much life. At end of turn, discard two cards from your hand.

I know the "Draw cards and lose life" ability is Black, but it fits the Izzet so perfectly. Though it is neither Red nor Blue, it works with Red/Blue. Also, note that for Erratic Knowledge, "discard two cards from your hand at end of turn" is a constant. It would be as such even if the converted mana cost was 4 or 6 or whatever.

The Izzet are a guild that want knowledge, and get all these (originally) kickass ideas that end up bum-raping them in the end. Just imagine a bunch of really clever, streetwise scientists on a lot of crack. "Hey, I got an idea! No, an idea! Yeah! Um, like, I was thinking we could like, make a food that makes you lose weight!" "No! No! I got one, I got one! We'll make a food that makes everyone else in the room lose weight!" "No! We'll make a food that makes everyone else in the room DIE!" You get the picture. They just do stuff. So I figure it's gonna be like this:

Izzet Inventor
Cost: UUR
Power/Toughness: 1/2
Effects:
Izzet Inventor is unblockable.
When Izzet Inventor deals combat damage to a player, draw two cards and lose 3 life.

It feels overpowered, I know, but it A.)costs the same as Shadowmage Infiltrator B.) has less toughness and C.) gives you a hurtin' for your "bad idea."

Ridiculous, Swinkee. Although I "answer to no one" and lots of other cliches generally used by the badass, even the evil have to pay allegiance. I misspelled that. And that. I think the real problem is that no one is taking those cookies. Don't try'n bull**** me. You all like cookies. And what does evil do? Evil is just a word people with systematic morals tacked on to people who don't let anything get in the way of thier conquest. Manipulate her! She has cookies.

Hey, sorry I'm a little late on the draw. But not real sorry. Anyways, I'm the Insane Hermit. You can't get more evil than someone who has a complete lack of morals. My knives and pyromancy will paint the battlefield with the entrails of our enemies. I'm good at killin' stuff close range, long range... whatever. I hold sway over the squirrels, (they're really vicious, and incredibly destructive in numbers). So the Insane Hermit officially applies.