Gold Mox5
Artifact
~ costs 1 less to cast for each color among permanents you control and cards in your graveyard. T: Add two mana of different colors.
Okay, yeah, I know it's not like other moxes, but hear me out. Here are the two expectations most people have about moxes:
1. Costs 0 mana
2. Accelerates your mana production, usually by one.
My design shakes things up by making the first assumption into a best-case-scenario. It can still be cast for 0, just only in the right deck.
And the second expectation has always been a bit loose. I don't think anyone could ever dream that a 0 mana artifact could tap for more than one mana without having a drawback which makes it unplayable, so the idea of a mox that does tap for more than one just never really comes up. This mox, however, is designed to reward and aid a really densely multicolored deck (hense the name "Gold Mox"), and adding two mana of different colors does that nicely. Adding two mana instead of one takes this card from having a ceiling that's barely worth reaching and an abismal floor to having an irrelevantly high ceiling and a decent floor.
In two-color decks, this card is already comparable to some of the most powerful artifacts in the game, making it well worth the title of Mox and the mythic rarity. In three colors, it's absurd. If you can reliably get four or five colors worth of permanents or cards in your graveyard within the first few turns of the game, I'd say you've earned a free Firemind Vessel.
It's definitely very pushed, but in the spirit of modern horizons, we can assume it's designed for eternal formats where its power is less problematic. And in any case, it isn't playable without jumping through a certain number of hoops, which does restrict how early it can be played.
I mean, tron only gets to CCCCCCC on turn 3 if all goes well, and that's one of the top decks in the format. GGGGGGGG is a bit more impressive and requires the same number of pieces over the same three turns. You'd have to bet on your opponent not having creature interaction, but other than that, your idea has serious potential.
Why are these cards in a Moderm focused product instead of a commander one?
Because this is a draft set and they decided the limited environment needed uncommon mana rocks, I'm guessing. This gave them the opportunity to complete an incomplete cycle, as they've decided to do with other cycles. I figure after years of Masters sets being filled with cards that serve no purpose other than to aid the limited format, we'd be past asking why this kind of card gets included.
I wonder if tokens decks would want four extra Lingering Souls bad enough to play this card. It's not terrible value, but basically costs a blocker for a turn to flashback.
Combo potential with Venser, the Sojourner? Sneak in Venser, flicker Venser, sneak in any other pw every turn for an activation and then flicker them to keep them. Possible to get going by t3 with Birds of Paradise and Simian Spirit Guide. Does this deck have teeth?
We have a few unfinished cycles that the core set could easily finish, primarily the enemy Bicycle lands (Amonkhet) and Showlands (Shadows Over Innistrad), either of which would be welcome.
Alternatively, I'd like to see a new cycle staring with enemy lands for a change. Like an enemy Nimbus Maze cycle. I think that would complement the Shocklands nicely.
It seems you have significantly misunderstood the card presented. Its floor is literally cancel. With it's high being 0 mana counter spell. It's a novel design that is very confusing but in the right supplemental product could be a good include.
I was talking about the first design. Yes, functionally, the second one is just Cancel, but the number of situations in which that card isn't just Cancel-but-with-pointlessly-confusing-wording is so small, that there is literally no point in making the card.
Look, I get that there are a handful of situations in which this card goes from incredibly confusing to "wow, free counterspell!" but that is just bad game design. But whatever. Do you.
The problem is that a card should not require you to have a very specific, infrequent, rare effect in play just to be able to play it. A sorcery that counters a spell is just confusing and bad. Heck, even if you did jump through the hoops required to make the card playable, you're still spending more resources to play the card than you normally would for that effect. 1WU and a card for Teferi, and then another card for the spell, all spaced out likely over multiple turns and phases and such. I'd rather just hold up 1UU for Cancel and be done with it.
What I'm saying is that, even disregarding the counterintuitiveness of your design, the floor of the card is "literally unplayable" and the ceiling is "really, really bad Cancel."
I think this could technically be done in monoblack. Black can steal things (usually players and planeswalkers) very infrequently. I think this is a case where it justify stealing a creature. If the spell let you do something else with the creature before it died, I think it would need to be red or blue, but as is I don't think that's the case.
That said, I'm not a fan of the card. It's obviously designed to take advantage of a very specific interaction that isn't immediately obvious. It just doesn't feel clean. I would do something like this instead:
Futile End 1BB
Instant
Until end of turn, whenever a creature dying under an opponent's control triggers an ability of a permanent that player controls, gain control of that triggered ability.
Destroy up to one target creature.
Artifact
~ costs 1 less to cast for each color among permanents you control and cards in your graveyard.
T: Add two mana of different colors.
Okay, yeah, I know it's not like other moxes, but hear me out. Here are the two expectations most people have about moxes:
1. Costs 0 mana
2. Accelerates your mana production, usually by one.
My design shakes things up by making the first assumption into a best-case-scenario. It can still be cast for 0, just only in the right deck.
And the second expectation has always been a bit loose. I don't think anyone could ever dream that a 0 mana artifact could tap for more than one mana without having a drawback which makes it unplayable, so the idea of a mox that does tap for more than one just never really comes up. This mox, however, is designed to reward and aid a really densely multicolored deck (hense the name "Gold Mox"), and adding two mana of different colors does that nicely. Adding two mana instead of one takes this card from having a ceiling that's barely worth reaching and an abismal floor to having an irrelevantly high ceiling and a decent floor.
In two-color decks, this card is already comparable to some of the most powerful artifacts in the game, making it well worth the title of Mox and the mythic rarity. In three colors, it's absurd. If you can reliably get four or five colors worth of permanents or cards in your graveyard within the first few turns of the game, I'd say you've earned a free Firemind Vessel.
It's definitely very pushed, but in the spirit of modern horizons, we can assume it's designed for eternal formats where its power is less problematic. And in any case, it isn't playable without jumping through a certain number of hoops, which does restrict how early it can be played.
Anyway, what do you all think?
or at least post a text version
Alternatively, I'd like to see a new cycle staring with enemy lands for a change. Like an enemy Nimbus Maze cycle. I think that would complement the Shocklands nicely.
Look, I get that there are a handful of situations in which this card goes from incredibly confusing to "wow, free counterspell!" but that is just bad game design. But whatever. Do you.
What I'm saying is that, even disregarding the counterintuitiveness of your design, the floor of the card is "literally unplayable" and the ceiling is "really, really bad Cancel."
1UU
Instant
~ costs 1UU less to cast if you cast it during your main phase.
Counter target spell.
Idk how balanced that is, but it's about as close to your intended design as we'd get.
That said, I'm not a fan of the card. It's obviously designed to take advantage of a very specific interaction that isn't immediately obvious. It just doesn't feel clean. I would do something like this instead:
Futile End 1BB
Instant
Until end of turn, whenever a creature dying under an opponent's control triggers an ability of a permanent that player controls, gain control of that triggered ability.
Destroy up to one target creature.