One minor nitpick about the grapeshot/remand/grapeshot example you gave. If you play grapeshot with a storm count of 7 and remand the original, only the 6 copies will resolve - Remand was cast after grapeshot's triggered ability went on the stack so it won't create another copy there. Remand is the 8th spell, recasting grapeshot again for storm 9 means a total of 15 damage.
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- Algernone25
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Ultimately I'm just a player and not a judge so I don't have any weight in this, but it's my take and I figured I'd weigh in.
Lord of the Manor 1BB
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor (M)
Whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to an opponent, that player exiles a card from their hand. If four or more nonland cards are exiled this way, exile Lord of the Manor, then return him to the battlefield transformed under his owner's control.
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Davriel Cane, Kessig Diabolist
Legendary Planeswalker - Davriel (M)
+1: Discard a card. If it's not a land, exile it instead.
-X: Choose target exiled card with converted mana cost X. You may cast that card this turn, and you may spend mana as though it were mana of any type to cast that spell.
-7: Destroy all creatures. For each creature destroyed this way, create a 6/6 black Demon creature token with flying.
3
Source for naming conventions: https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Davriel_Cane
Endanger BB
Sorcery (U)
Soulcast (You may cast this card face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. Turn it face up any time by paying life equal to its converted mana cost. If it's an instant or sorcery, reveal it and cast it without paying its mana cost instead of turning it face up.)
Target player discards two cards unless they discard a creature card.
Jwar Isle Wyvern {}
•• Creature - Drake (R)
Flying
Surge 2UR (You may cast this spell for its surge cost if you or a teammate has cast another spell this turn.)
When Jwar Isle Wyvern enters the battlefield, if its surge cost was paid, return target instant or sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand.
3/4
Cardz5000 - Took me a sec to realize the suspend cost won't be affected by commander tax, you have a bonus for suspending it early but eventually the 3 turns is going to be cheaper than rawdogging it. Very cool design for a spellslinger-type build.
Artorias - Real cool idea. A better Isamaru but you have to wait to get him back, eventually he'll be outclassed. Still neat idea with the null mana cost, though I'm not sure it's powerful enough to rate it when you compare to the TSP cycle.
netn10 - So blinking this guy won't kill you (unlike Phage) which is cool, but I really think this should be your opponent's Choice of Damnations instead of both - it forces you to think of a compromise you can live with while also putting it down in some reasonable amount of time. Also, no evasion at all?
Subject16 - So Emmy's going to be chilling in exile basically the entire game, which is interesting. And then adding an anti-Counterbalance makes it really interesting. But suspend 13 is just WAY too long.
TotallyHaywire - So it's a Timetwister on a beatstick. however this just SCREAMS "break me" by popping the last counter on your opponent's turn (especially in response to a spell you don't like). The cost is a bit prohibitive but there's other, much simpler ways to empty it out. If it was like Day's Undoing where it only ends the turn if it's your turn, I'd be less sketchy on it.
kwanyeegor - with deathtouch his ETB is "destroy a creature for each creature you control plus each land you control" with any excess going upstairs AND you gain that much life. Really cool idea of keeping him still in exile a bit longer to maximize value, but your opponents are going to get smart pretty quick once they see it go off. Still a cool idea.
1st: Cardz5000 - everything else was just super OP in my opinion. Your card is still strong, but it's not TOO strong.
2nd: TotallyHaywire - while yes it is exploitable, you have to really work for it, to where if I let you do that on me I probably deserved it.
3rd: Artorias - I think underpowering a card compared to nearest estimate is better than overpowering. It's still powerful in its own right, just...maybe not on THAT scale. Still fine.
Elegance: 3/3 - You look at this and you don't need anything else explained. It's simple but incredibly profound.
Viability: 3/3 - Having it black/white instead of red/white is a bend, but black gets just enough "deals damage" compared to "lose life" effects that you can justify it, so no deduction. Rare is absolutely right, it compares rather similarly to Bitterblossom in terms of "I'm winning the game unless you deal with this" enchantments.
Balance: 1.5/3 - That you pay white mana to start and black for the upkeep does open up the possibility of exploiting the intended tradeoff with ritual spells, to where you could really make this oppressive, to say nothing of how something like Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth trivializes this. Also that both effects trigger at the beginning of your upkeep is bothersome - it allows you to stack the triggers and get a final activation from it without paying the associated CU cost.
Uniqueness: 3/3 - I can't find anything that comes close to what you're up to here, and it just seems...logical. Amazing work.
Flavor: 3/3 - I might be biased since I'm an accountant, but there's a subtle something about this that makes me smile. Perfectly Orzhov.
Quality: 3/3 - "Interests" should probably be singular for "loan", but for one *maybe* incorrect letter I can't justify an entire half-point deduction.
Main Challenge: 2/2 - Main Challenge is met.
Sub-Challenges: 2/2 - Both Subchallenges met.
Total: 23/25
Elegance: 3/3 - Make dudes, pump dudes. Very clean, very concise, very elegant.
Viability: 2/3 - This is definitely a red and kinda green card, rare is right for a consistent token generator that can be spitting out big dudes. But since they don't have haste, the green half of the CU payment is useless without setup on the red side first. I can see why, but it's still awkward to deal with.
Balance: 2.5/3 - I mean...this is a tribal card that'll obliterate in tribal decks, and is a strong card just on its own, to where it just...slots into anything that can use a mana sink. It doesn't need an engine, it is its own engine - and a very powerful one.
Uniqueness: 2/3 - There's not much unique with a red/green token-making enchantment, even with the CU attachment it draws fairly clear parallels to Jötun Owl Keeper.
Flavor: 1/3 - With a name like THE bloodhall, not making this legendary is a criminal mistake. And to that end, Bloodhall is more indicative of Red/Black than Red/Green - see Stensia Bloodhall and Bloodhall Priest. If this was Cumulative Upkeep R or B and made 1/1 vampires it would be a homerun, but as is...really really falls flat.
Quality: 3/3 - Absolutely zero problems here.
Main Challenge: 2/2 - Main Challenge was met.
Sub-Challenges: 2/2 - First subchallenge met. Second subchallenge...technically as written it passes but including the same mana color in the CU cost goes against what I feel is the spirit of the subchallenge. That said, segregating the colors mattering how you did makes me think you couldn't have kept it mono-red so I'll give you benefit of the doubt.
Total: 20/25
Elegance: 3/3 - It's a land that makes lands. Garden is...not the word I'd use for that, but I can't think of a better one without digging into a thesaurus so no deduction.
Viability: 2.5/3 - I entirely understand why this is mythic, but compared to Maze's End or Mirrorpool (the only other lands printed at mythic in non-promo sets) in terms of attention-getting it doesn't make the cut. Insofar as color pie...yeah that works.
Balance: 2/3 - Thawing Glaciers, eat your heart out. You can't play it turn 1 to any effect which is very good, but you're going to be hitting land drops every turn (and a couple extra lands to boot) for about as long as you want. You know those 13-land decks in MTG Arena that work super well in spite of how they really shouldn't? Something like this could make them a reality in paper.
Uniqueness: 1/3 - It's Hibernation's End but for basic lands instead of creatures. That's...really it.
Flavor: 3/3 - A name and flavor like that demand it be legendary. check. Needs flavor text. Check. Flavor text that's painfully, PAINFULLY on point...check. Too on point for my blood, but I can see WotC doing it so you're clean.
Quality: 3/3 - Had to double check wording between your and mirrodin's card, but you're both correct on templating for your respective effects.
Main Challenge: 2/2 - Main Challenge was met.
Sub-Challenges: 2/2 - Both Sub-Challenges met.
Total: 21.5/25
Elegance: 2.5/3 - There's a number of moving parts here. Once you see them all working it all comes together, but you have to see it first.
Viability: 2.5/3 - Pestilence says there's no need for red to be here. Rare is fair, mythic would be viable but you can make a case for it not moving up.
Balance: 2/3 - This is mardu's wet dream. I'll sweep the board, then attack with a 6/6 flier, my hand is full of removal to kill whatever you try playing to shut it off. In any reasonable design space this is going to be a force to be reckoned with, and the mana needed to get a kill from 20 life is entirely manageable. It's not going to BREAK a format but it's for sure going to make a regular appearance at the top tables.
Uniqueness: 2.5/3 - Following the time-honored tradition of 6/6 creatures for 4 with a drawback. But this drawback is attention-getting, and it comes with its own way to get around it, so props for that.
Flavor: 3/3 - If you've ever played Trivia Murder Party, you probably get a sense of what this is supposed to convey, and does so very well. I like it.
Quality: 3/3 - Templating looks fine, nothing amiss here.
Main Challenge: 2/2 - Main Challenge was met
Sub-Challenges: 1.5/2 - Technically both sub-challenges met, but unlike mirrodin's submission there's no good reason to have the CU cost be red outside of that being worth bonus points.
Total: 21.5/25
Bravelion83: 23/25
Freyleyes: 21.5/25
Flatline: 21.5/25
Mirrodin71: 20/25
Sorcery (R)
Destroy target creature that's not a Cleric, Druid, Shaman, or Wizard.
Lieutenant - If you control your commander, instead destroy each creature that isn't a Cleric, Druid, Shaman, or Wizard.
Flashback 3BBB
And that's not even getting into how you would try to implement it. What code is supposed to filter out mono-red decks and only mono-red decks automatically?
Instant (R)
Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt to you this turn. If damage is prevented this way, you gain half that much life, rounded up, and attacking player loses half that much life, rounded down.
//////
Good Luck XUR
Instant (R)
Flip X coins. for each coin that comes up heads, draw a card.
Fuse (You may cast one or both halves of this spell from your hand.)
Seria the Blood Keeper 1BB
Legendary Creature - Human Cleric (R)
Suspend 3 - 2BB
Lifelink
When you cast Seria the Blood Keeper, if it was cast from exile, search your library for a card, put that card in your hand, then shuffle your library.
The blood of mages contains their life's work. A single drop contains an Opus.
2/3
If you're using un-sets as justification for flavor then there are much bigger problems in play. Yawgmoth is "The Ineffable" and that Ugin got a card with that name makes me curious as to what wizards is planning with him. The word doesn't make sense for the card IN ADDITION to the flavor clash with established lore, that's why the deduction is so high.
I am willing to make a half-point concession if mods feel my justification isn't germane, but as Eventide has issued a DQ, it would be a token offering at best. With or without that change my score stands and I will not be joining Eventide in issuing a DQ to Cardz.
With regard to my other matchup, I have had to DQ RaikouRider for making a card that is practically close enough to a previously printed card that I consider the two to be effectively functional reprints, on the same scale as Fork and Reverberate.
Elegance: 3/3 - you see the typeline, you read the effect, and it just...makes sense. It's simple but wonderfully effective.
Viability: 2.5/3 - Given the associated sub-challenge I'm not deducting points from anyone for not having the card be blue. Rare is right for the statline and that it turns into an anthem afterwards. However, making it indestructible is redundant since phasing out is worded as a replacement effect. It'll phase out instead of dying.
Balance: 2/3 - Anything that involves phasing I envision players using an official Cup O' Phasing to work around it. (When anything phases out, put it under the Cup O' Phasing. It's still THERE, you just can't see it.) and this effect has SIGNIFICANT memory issues, both with the boost while phased out (Cuo's covering it so you can't see that it should be boosting) and never phasing back in (when everything else phased out will). If printed this would get a TON of judge calls because of this. It's not unbalanced, more like it has balance-adjacent issues.
Uniqueness: 3/3 - Nothing has interacted with cards that are phased out, and it's design space that if phasing were still a thing might be explored a bit more.
Flavor: 0.5/3 - Obviously killing the angel doesn't mean it's gone, but..."ineffable" has a very specific connotation in MTG lore. You also could have used some flavor text, but that flavor fail is really hard to look past.
Quality: 3/3 - Card is clean.
Main Challenge: 1.5/2 - Main challenge is met, but you rather blatantly twisted yourself to get there. The card is clearly designed to work out of Exile, possibly with some kind of counter to clear up the memory issues.
Sub-Challenges: 2/2 - Both subchallenges met.
Total: 20/25
Elegance: 3/3 - It's hard to get more elegant than a giant white sweeper. You read it, that's it.
Viability: 1.5/3 - White gets giant sweepers sure, but killing everything including lands is red's domain (See Jokulhaups, Obliterate, et al) even if it's only temporary this should have been mono-red or RW. This also NEEDS to be mythic for limited balance which I'll get to in a second - sure there's a little precedent for rare in Bearer of the Heavens but there's no way it'd be printed lower than mythic.
Balance: 1/3 - oh sure, let me cast this on your upkeep, all your lands phase out and you can't do anything. My turn, I get a complete shields-down turn while you have no lands and no blockers. Even at 6 mana you're winning the game the second this resolves, full stop. It's a combination of Time Walk, Silence and Mana Short all in one. Broken with a capital B.
Uniqueness: 2.5/3 - It's a big white sweeper in a long list of big white sweepers. It does something new but it's still cut from the same cloth. One of the downsides of simplicity is that it's been done a lot.
Flavor: 3/3 - It's also a very on-the-nose sweeper, one that gets its point across perfectly. You don't need much flavor but you get enough. No complaints here.
Quality: 3/3 - The reminder text is shaky, but given a lack of precedent against and the clarity it provides, I can't justify a deduction here.
Main Challenge: 2/2 - Main Challenge is met.
Sub-Challenges: 1.5/2 - Both subchallenges are de facto met, but I have a hard time thinking that you'd defend it being a rare if it wasn't worth a bonus point.
Total Score: 19.5/25
This is Ghostway with the exact same mana cost and a similar enough application that it's effectively a functional reprint. As such I cannot fairly judge this card and must issue a Disqualification.
Appeal: 2/3 - Timmy doesn't like that they're only 1/1s but he'll get enough of them to be content. Johnny is all in on trying to break this, Spike is going to take it but he won't be as enthused.
Elegance: 2/3 - In an inexorable tide of elementals, and trying to kill them off only means more are coming. It takes a bit of seeing this card in action to really get it, but once you do...you get it.
Viability: 3/3 - Spitting out 1/1 elementals is definitely within red's domain, and that you keep getting them without any additional mana investment means I can see rare being correct. It's like a slower but less suicidal Bitterblossom
Balance: 2.5/3 - This gets REALLY dumb when you pair it with anything with evoke, moreso with blink effects, and even moreso in multiples. If it only procc'd off its own tokens dying it would be a lot fairer, but this probably isn't going to break any 60-card formats in half.
Uniqueness: 2.5/3 - It's hardly the first cheap red token engine, and the Bitterblossom influence is clearly there. But it's also a refreshing take on spitting out dudes, there has to be a bit of effort into it.
Flavor: 1/3 - "Fall" of the Pyromancers makes it seem like they're being defeated, if anything this is showing them kicking butt and taking names like they're on the rise. A little flavor text would also be nice, there appears to be room.
Quality: 1/3 - lots of spelling and grammar issues. Missing commas, the second ability should be "when" and not "if".
Main Challenge: 2/2 - Main Challenge is met.
Sub-Challenges: 2/2 - Both Subchallenges met without reservation.
Total Score: 18/25
Cardz5000 20/25
Freyleyes 19.5/25
mirrodin71 18/25
Raikourider DQ/25This is true for probably the vast majority of the F2P crowd - they make RDW because it's fairly wildcard cheap and is a good deck for ladder climbing. As we're seeing more and more from paper results, it's not as great in Bo3 settings but in Bo1 you can just go full aggro and you get there more often than not.
The effort to make a second and third deck is exponentially higher than what it takes to make the first one (speaking as someone who started when open beta came out, hard to believe it's been 8 months) and with the rewards for getting to plat and mythic so powerful it makes sense that people will take the most efficient route to get there.
If you want to prey on the RDW decks, the BW preconstructed deck has a good core. Add some more lifegain and you'll just outlast them.
[b]Appeal:[/b] 2.5/3 - Timmy is okay with drawing cards and extra turns which mean more big creatures and more attacking, but he's not a huge FAN of it. Johnny loves this, Spike REALLY loves this, especially if he can pair it with Forced Fruition.
[b]Elegance:[/b] 2.5/3 - The process itself is very easy to understand, especially when your next closest analogue is Chains of Mephistopheles so props for that. But filling sand by drawing cards...I mean, I guess, but it's a bit non-intuitive.
[b]Viability:[/b] 3/3 - Anything dealing with time magic is mythic, and this has nothing that's outside of blue's domain. You're clean here.
[b]Balance:[/b] 2/3 - As I noted before, this plus Forced Fruition equals "Time walk whenever anyone else casts a spell" and that's absurdly broken. Even without any combo engine and simple 60-card formats, there's the looming doom of constant extra turns, PLUS the extra card draw, PLUS the possibility of proliferate shenanigans. I won't say it's Nexus of Fate broken...but it's up there.
[b]Uniqueness:[/b] 3/3 - Time magic spells in print are hard to really differentiate, and you've done a great job making something that's not just another time warp. Good job.
[b]Flavor:[/b] 2/3 - As I said, the flavor isn't the MOST clear cut, and I would have loved some flavor text here - there's enough space for at least a line
[b]Quality: 2.5/3[/b] - missing a few commas after "draw step" in the first ability and "Then" in the second ability.
[b]Main Challenge:[/b] 2/2 - Main Challenge is met.
[b]Subchallenges:[/b] 2/2 - Both subchallenges met.
[b]Total: 21.5/25[/b]
[b]Elegance:[/b] 3/3 - Anyone who hasn't been living under a rock since Urza's block will know what this does just looking at it. You don't get much better than that.
[b]Viability:[/b] 3/3 - Time magic is mythic and blue, this is mythic and blue. Really straightforward here.
[b]Balance:[/b] 3/3 - That you have to wait a turn AND sink 5 mana into a 6 mana artifact for the other turn I think makes it fair but not broken in a vacuum (and only halfway-broken outside of one, assuming you're untapping it and cracking it the turn you play it.) There are ways to exploit it, but they require a dedicated effort that'll prevent it from becoming the next Nexus. You even give it something smaller to do, as almost a disincentive to instantly crack it. I really like this.
[b]Uniqueness:[/b] 2.5/3 - it's a focused Icy Manipulator with upside. And sure it's a HUGE upside but for a legendary artifact...it's just kind of there.
[b]Flavor:[/b] 3/3 - Sure it's just kind of there, but it's a very iconic just kind of there. A very simple solution and while I feel the flavor text is a bit too on-point it's a line I could see WotC printing on it, so no deduction.
[b]Quality:[/b] 3/3 - Very simple, you'd really have to work hard to mess this up.
[b]Main Challenge:[/b] 2/2 - Main Challenge is met.
[b]Subchallenges:[/b] 2/2 - Both subchallenges met.
[b]Total: 23.5/25[/b]
[b]Elegance:[/b] 2.5/3 - There's a lot here. Some of it is obvious, some of it less so. You're going to need to take a few looks at it to piece it all together, but the lightbulb moment at the end (why exile 3 cards from three different places? Oh, that's why.) is worth it.
[b]Viability:[/b] 2/3 - The devoid is obvious. the mythic rarity is obvious. the black for life payment is obvious. Black for exiling cards is obvious. But pinning your card on mono-black when your only precedent is from Planar Chaos is a step too far. 4UB would have been defensible but shaky, as it stands it's a bend I have to mark down for. (as an aside, Extract lends further credence to not just being mono-black.)
[b]Balance:[/b] 3/3 - That much life for an extra turn (significance notwithstanding) is probably about right. You've taken great care to make this as hard as possible to exploit. Is it still possible? Absolutely, but at that point you're in Tin Fins territory - if they want to engineer their entire deck just to try and exploit this, that's on them and not you, so it's not worth penalizing.
[b]Uniqueness:[/b] 3/3 - It's not just that black doesn't get time magic, it's that you have a card that immediately generates notice, and keeps it. This is a card you remember even when you haven't seen it in 5 years.
[b]Flavor:[b] 2.5/3 - If black ever DID get time magic, this is how it would be done. Absolutely a home run flavorwise, with one exception that's easy to miss until pointed out: the Eldrazi, especially things related to the titans, have effects that trigger when the spell is CAST, not when they enter the battlefield.
[b]Quality:[/b] 3/3 - having "afterward" at the end of the ETB ability is redundant but helps reinforce order so no deduction.
[b]Main Challenge:[/b] 2/2 - Main Challenge is met.
[b]Subchallenges:[/b] 2/2 - Both Subchallenges met.
[b]Total: 21/25[/b]
[b]Bravelion83 - 23.5/25[/b]
[b]Cardz5000 - 21.5/25[/b]
BlackWaltz3 - 21/25I want to note that this was a very close decision, and that your card is by no means bad. I love it, but I feel that in trying to balance it you made it too safe, to where most players will have some reservations picking it up. Best of luck in the future.
The price is going to go up. While MHI may be print-to-demand, the buy-a-box promo is NOT part of the set (you can see the card is numbered 255/254) so you'll never see it in packs. It was printed in IMA which *might* still be in print, not sure? The price won't skyrocket but I expect it to go back to 20 or so. 30 would surprise me.
It does a real number on combo decks in general - yes it won't stop phoenix triggers, but the london mulligan in general gives combo decks a HUGE boost in terms of consistency. I expect not just storm, but amulet and citadel and grishoalbrand to all get a boost from it. Having a pre-emptive "shut up" card at 1 mana makes sense as an early check on it.