MTG Salvation

Quote from Koopa »

Bend:

Demonic Possession 3BBB
Enchantment - Aura (R)
Enchant creature
You control enchanted creature.
When enchanted creature dies, put a 5/5 black Demon creature token with flying onto the battlefield.
MOmMy?

Enslave, Olivia Voldaren, and Captivating Vampire all prove that black has access to creature stealing in a very limited and flavorful way.

Break:

Whiptail Scorpion 2G
Creature - Scorpion (R)
Deathtouch
2G, T: Whiptail Scorpion deals damage equal to it's power to another target creature.
I don't think even Zegana could manufacture a more efficient killing machine.
1/1

One-sided fight has recently been moved to green. This card takes green's new fight and combines it with greens ability to have deathtouch and combining them into one, turning this into basically a black card.

Demonic Possession - Planar chaos is really not a good precedence for color-pie related effect. I do feel that flavourly, taking control of someone's mind is very black, and I fail to see why Worst Fears is black but taking control of a creature isn't, but as far as recent precedence is concern, this is a break rather than a bleed. I do really like the flavor and I think it's very viable as a future addition for black's piece of the pie.
Whiptail Scorpion – As you've said, one-sided fights have been added to green's arsenal, which means there's no part of the card that isn't green really. It does have a certain viciousness a-la Avatar of Woe that green usually doesn't get, so I'd say it could be classified as a bleed, but a break it is not. I don't much care for the flavor, it seems kinda generic and the flavor text needs to be a quote from someone. It's also really lacking the "wow" effect people had when they first read the text on Avatar of Woe.

Quote from Flatline »

Bleed:

Swath of Pain
Sorcery (R)
Wither (This deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters.)
Swath of Pain deals 3 damage to each creature.

A moment of pain, a lifetime of anguish.

Red does not generally spam out -1/-1 counters, and black doesn't often deal damage to creatures. But there have been several instances of red dealing with -1/-1 counters when the block calls for it, such as wither (Puncture Blast, Kulrath Knight, Puncture Bolt), and more recently cards like Razor Swine and Ogre Menial, and black does occasionally deal direct damage to creatures (Douse in Gloom, Sorin's Thirst, Wail of the Nim). Also, Wizards sometimes lets hybrid cards give colors access to things they wouldn't usually have, such as Judge's Familiar giving white access to counterspells.

Break:

Norn’s Judgement
Instant (U)
Choose one —
• Target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
• Target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.

"Those that follow the ways of the Father shall be rewarded. Those that do not will suffer another fate."

Outside of Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, white does not decrease a creature's P/T. Although if we revisit New Phyrexia at some point, I could totally see a card like this being printed because of the way it mirrors the original Elesh Norn.

Swath of Pain – This is ok with me. Past experience shows that when -1/-1 counters are a part of the theme, they can appear in red as part of its usual "damaging and maiming" package, so the red part's good. The real bleed in my eyes is with black – Black does get to pass -1/-1 counters around, but the card most reminds me of the likes of Famine, which we haven't seen in a long while. Pretty good rare, though I feel like it's stepping on Languish's toes a bit.
Norn’s Judgment – I don't see how directly lowering a single creature's toughness is acceptable in white, and this card did not have a good enough flavor reason for me to accept it. Elesh Norn had a unique "my side will take over while yours will die" feel that just stretched the definition of what white gets to do for players to still feel like it's a white, oppressive card, and turning the effect into a targeted one hurts that. On top of that, I feel like you've missed a chance to tie the card to Norn by having it give +2/+2 to creature you control or -2/-2 to creature you don't. It's subtle, but it would have made the connection much stronger.

Quote from Moss_Elemental »

Five years, huh? Interesting that New Phyrexia was released in 2011.

Holder.

Bend:
Mind Needle U
Sorcery
Target opponent reveals his or her hand. You choose an instant or sorcery card from it. That player discards that card.

Blue has dabbled in discarding, like Dismal Failure, Serum Raker and Trapfinder's Trick, and blue is the colour of mental games, it would make sense that blue would get the ability to make opponents discard.

Break:

Relic Transmutation 2U
Sorcery (R)
Exile target artifact an opponent controls. That player reveals cards from the top of his or her library until an artifact card is revealed. The player puts that card onto the battlefield, then shuffles the rest into his or her library.

Artifact removal is usually seen in white, red and green. But if blue can exile creatures with cards like Blessed Reincarnation and Reality Shift (both of which are currently Standard-legal,) why can't it do with artifacts? Flavour-wise, it makes sense, since morphing is a blue thing.

This is a real challenge.

Mind Needle – Blue *very rarely* gets to do discard effects, and the reason has to do more with the balance of the game than the specific blue flavor: adding discard to blue's already impressive control suit will skew the balance between the colors. Wizards had kept the "mental games" part of blue's color pie mostly for library manipulation and milling. In the case of your specific card, you've basically created a blue Duress. I can accept that flavorly this fits blue, but I don't see how the game can ever benefit from blue having its own duress. This is the sort of card that will either be completely useless or break the balance of the game in half.
Relic Transmutation – There are a lot of things done right with this card: it harkens back to one of the best known top-down blue designs (Polymorph), it exiles rather than destroys (a big problem with the original Polymorph), it's cheap enough to matter. It also has quite a few problems: Limiting it to opponent's artifacts makes it really useless. No one likes a removal spell that can bite them in their behinds, and you've hurt the Johnny aspect that made Polymorph memorable in the first place. As it's written, it's pretty much useless. I'd rather it cost twice as much and let me target my own artifacts.

Quote from Solesticio »

I can only post something tonight, if that's ok.

Arachnus Web more recently, but other similar effects: Lignify, Utopia Vow.

Trap with Branches 2G
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature can't attack or block, and its activated abilities can't be activated.
Tap two untapped creatures with power 4 or greater: Trap with Branches' controller sacrifices it. Only any opponent may activate this ability.
Unlike herds, lone travelers can be snared forever in a forest.


Burning Fervor 1R
Enchantment (R)
All creatures have haste and attack each turn if able.
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield, it gains "At the beginning of the end step, sacrifice this creature" unless its controller pays 1.
A bloodlust so intense that consumes from within.

White is known for taxing cards, namely increasing costs. However, red is known for crazy enchantments and, in some alternative ways, for taxing on lands. This is a red version of taxing creatures, embedded in the reckless red spirit.

Trap with Branches - Green removal is hard to design. Aside from fighting, Green relies on flavorful designs that evoke the nature aspect of pacifying a creature: Song of the Dryads, Beast Within and indeed Arachnus Web. Your card does a very good job of evoking the same general idea, but it suffers from two issues: the first one is that it costs a bit too much for a Pacifism with a drawback. The other is that the rider is a bit confusing: Do I need to tap two creatures with power 4 each or power 4 total? (I'm aware that you meant the former, but read the card as a new player might read it) Can I tap the enchanted creature? (a bit of contradiction in flavor if you can). These are not major issues, but they do hurt an otherwise lovely idea of design.
Burning Fervor – I really, really wish you didn't include the "unless its controller pays 1" clause. It doesn't make it feel like a taxing effect, it makes it feel like a rhystic effect, and the cost is so low that it doesn't matter much unless you have taxing effects to complement it, which is too much of a break. I'd much rather you'd keep it a simple 'Whenever a creature enters the battlefield, it gains "At the beginning of the end step, sacrifice this creature"' which would still make it a break (being a black effect) but will feel right at home in red, since the whole card is about turning every creature into a Ball Lightning.

Quote from RaikouRider »

Bleed:

Giant Adephage

This is mythic rare for Limited. This card ruins drafts.

Invasive Ooze 2GG
Creature - Ooze {M}
When Invasive Ooze dies, if it wasn't sacrificed, put two tokens onto the battlefield that are copies of it at the beginning of the next end step.
Cutting it in half only doubles your troubles.
1/1

Break:

Sequester W
Instant {U}
Counter target spell. If that spell is countered this way, put that card into its owner's hand instead of that player's graveyard. Cards with the same name as that spell can't be cast this turn.

White doesn't get to counter spells. White is, however, good at setting temporary or permanent rules (precedent: Nevermore) as well as imprisonment effects (cf. Oblivion Ring). White has also gotten temporary banishment effects flavored as repentence before (cf. Excommunicate, Lapse of Certainty). White is good at finding temporary answers while looking for the few permanent ones it has. This card is a temporary answer. I could see this card being printed in a set with a faction like the Azorius.

Invasive Ooze - I am not at all sure why this is a bleed. Is it the word copy? That appears in Spawnwrithe, Spitting Image, Giant Adephage and each and every populate card. Biggest problem of this card is that you've gone too far and "fixed" it in more ways than one, to the point I just don't see what it's good for or why it's mythic. We've had a similar effect in Sprouting Phytohydra which was much more abusable, and the game didn't break. It's too small for Timmy, too restrictive for Johnny and too inefficient for Spike. It's only redeeming feature is that it's going to be fairly good in limited.

Sequester – Let me start by saying I like Sequester a lot. However, there is a reason that white very rarely gets to counter spells, and it has more to do with the mechanical needs of the color rather than whether or not its flavor allows it (it does, btw). White's efficient and fast creatures pair with cheap countering effects like Sequester will lead to a one-sided game. It doesn't matter if your opponent can cast it next turn, you have means to grow your board presence while preventing your opponent from growing theirs, and that's dangerous and unfun. The solution in my eyes is to take a page out of Judge's Familiar's book, and make it target only instants and sorceries.

Quote from IcariiFA »

Bleed:

Treasure Cruise, Icy Blast, Skaab Ruinator

Blue doesn't normally use the graveyard as a resource (often a black thing), but every delve card in Khans makes it seem ok.
Likewise, blue caring about creatures make the card seem more green, but ferocious shows that sometimes those bleeds happen when enforcing a tri (or multi) color scheme.
Also, Inistrad blue zombies are on point.

Forensic Analysis XU
Sorcery (R)
Exile up to X target creature cards from any number of graveyards. Draw cards equal to the number of cards exiled this way.
"The body is still relatively untouched. Come, let us secure it. There is still much I want to know."
-Faldrick, Dimir Necrosurgeon

Break:

Retributive Volley 2WW
Instant (U)
Retributive Volley deals 4 damage to each creature that dealt damage to you this turn.
Pain inspires vengeance.

White can sometimes deal damage directly to attacking and blocking creatures. There are even things like avenging arrow which shows retributive effects are normal for white. But something as potentially oneside and massive like this? Without targeting even? This would be a break, but in an environment where there are lots of tokens/easy summons or where there will little other mass removal options, this could fit. That and environment based around ,any creatures that have more that 4 toughness

Forensic Analysis – I'm fine with blue harnessing creature cards in a graveyard in a set with a graveyard theme. It's the sort of bend I'd expect to help drive the theme in. The card itself I don't much care for, though. I'd much rather it would have had a fixed price and let you take out creature cards from a graveyard for cards, or take out one card and draw cards equal to its toughness or something (would make more sense with flavor). The flavor is off: The name evokes Azorius, the flavor text evokes Dimir and the whole card just scream: "Not Ravnika!" anyways.

Retributive Volley – White does have a long standing tradion of being vengeful and punishing creatures, so I'm quite fine with the break, I'm just not too enthusiastic about the card. I'd like it better if it would have just wiped out the creatures entirely, damage seems to me too limiting to make it exciting. No Mercy this is not. Solid design though.

Quote from Hemlock »

Bleed

Angelic Intervention WW
Instant (R)
Counter target spell unless its controller has you to put a 4/4 white Angel creature token with flying onto the battlefield.
"Heaven always has an answer"

Considering countermagic in white as a "big break" rather than a bleed is not probably the most accurate. Chancellor of the Annex is the precedent of choice here, but cards like Mana Tithe, Lapse of certainty and even rebuff the wicked and dawn charm made countermagic find its way into white (Older precedents include Unyaro Griffin and Presence of the Master). Bleeding countermagic into the other colors was tried several times, but it was only achieved in white with a respectable degree of mechanical and philosophical sense. No colors should other than blue are meant to have hard counters, but with the right limitations white is the color where it feels more natural.

Break


Grip of the Censor B
Enchantment (R)
When Grip of the Censor enters the battlefield, each opponent reveals his or her hand. Choose a nonland card from each of them.
Cards with the same name as the chosen cards can't be cast.
"I said no"

Preventing cards from being played is a white ability, but I feel this can serve a purpose in black. Discard was once a more powerful effect, as the only color that could benefit from the graveyard in the other side of the table was black. The main purpose of discarding your opponent's cards was preventing them from being cast, but now that the graveyard has become quite resourceful (Delve, Flashback, madness, Dredge, Unearth, Recover, etc) discard has lost a bit of efficiency. Grip of the Censor does what it is meant to do: preventing stuff from being played, and to achive that a bit more of control on what your opponent can do is needed. It's not a big break, but I think this white ability can be used to benefit black intentions pretty clearly

Angelic Intervention – I guess it's fine? I get the reasoning behind it, but much like the case of Dash Hopes, I just can't get worked up about this. Both options of the card (countering a spell and getting a 4/4 flyer for 2) are exciting on their own rights, but there is just too much left in your opponent's hands for players to consider this as part of their arsenal.
Grip of the Censor – Here's the thing: what this effect boils down to is basically the same effect as Brain Maggot, but this card is much more efficient than Brain Maggot, and arguably much more efficient than Thoughtseize. I see no flavor reason not to use the tried and true Brain Maggot mechanic, and I see no reason to make a hand disruption card that's this powerful.

1. Koopa
2. Solesticio
3. Flatline

Since Time Spiral, Flash has been almost exclusive to white, green and blue, but lately cards like Dictate of Erebos, Dictate of the Twin Gods and even Dragon Grip had shown that flash can be added to cards that would benefit mechanically from having a surprise element. Melovarn is such a card, so Flash should be an acceptable bend.

It should be pretty obvious: Red does not get to counter spells. Much like other red pie-breaking cards like Final Fortune, and Form of the Dragon, the flavor allows it do something that it otherwise wouldn't. Countering here isn't about control or preventing your opponent from achieving their goals, but rather turning the spells into pure energy that fans greater and greater flames.