MTG Salvation

For the most part, I think you've done a good job with these custom cards. I came back to the game right after Dominaria came out, so I didn't play during Ixalan's heyday, but I can definitely see the allure of Pirates.

Still, I'd like to see – especially if you expand this into a full-fledged 'Return to Ixalan' set – some green and white and Non-Pirate stuff.

You've been improving a bit – the second post's cards felt more cohesive and restrained than the first. See the spoiler below for cards that need to be looked at.

Oh and there's one more thing – I really suggest you add some more creature damage, destruction & bounce [return to hand] cards. It's what Grixis [Blue, Black and Red] is good at, and it's especially important in a set with so many creatures.

Well, it finally happened - a spoiled card turns out to be very similar to one I designed in a custom set.

Unfortunately, I hadn't pasted it up to the thread for Annutia, so I don't have online evidence, but it's there in my MSE.

I created:

Opportunity Strikes 2RU
Instant - (Uncommon)
Opportunity Strikes deals 3 damage to any target.
Draw a card.

And today, was spoiled, and it's the exact same, except for .

Of course, it's not the biggest effect, and similar things have been made before. But it's still neat.

Ah! Now I see, willows. Thanks.

Chant sounds a lot better now - not in power level, but design.
Power level wise, it seems a little on the weak side, but not so much that it really needs changing. Like a weaker Cipher or slower, conditional Rebound.

I like the cards here. I do hope you flesh out a background plane for them at some point.
Most of the cards look to be fine. I could easily see them being printed as is or in an Asian-influenced set.

But there are some concerns I had:

-Chant seems possibly too strong. Even two unblocked hits [it currently triggers for every creature] a turn provides a lot of value.
It's not too overpowered a mechanic, but I think it would make for a quite powerful deck archetype if built around, like Bogles. It also depends on what rare Chants there are.

-Disturb a Dragon seems much too powerful for a common. Compare it to Char, Flames of the Blood Hand, and Bathe In Dragonfire/Bombard. 4 to any target should be an uncommon at least, and with an upside a rare.

Half a week ago, I decided to play Commander at a different store from my normal one. Before selecting a deck, I asked what type of power level they were running and got the response "Casual, but pretty good." So I pulled out my Animar deck - it's nearly all creatures (only about 6 noncreatures, and I have not included Primal Surge, Vorinclex, etc.). It plays like a battlecruiser with ramp, which in my normal playgroup is a fair but challenging deck. Turn 2, I drop a tapped land and pass. Another guy plays Collective Voyage and everyone pays into it so we each get six basics. turn 3, I drop a land, bringing me up to nine mana; I cast Animar, Forgotten Ancient, and a morph. The turn comes all the way around to me, and amazingly, no one has touched a piece of my board, but they have put seven or eight counters on the Ancient, so of course I move them to Animar. I drop Beast Whisperer and Soul of the Harvest and a couple other creatures, and they all start complaining "Hey, we said casual; this is just turn four." I had to point out that it was his group hug spell that ramped me and my deck would have taken twice as long to get there without it. They kept complaining, not even attempting to remove any of my stuff for a while. One person finally tried to wrath, but I countered it with a morph. They kept complaining, so I held back, not dropping Purphoros or a couple Eldrazi in hand. One guy started tapping me down turn after turn by recurring a Cryptic Command, and then someone succeeded with a board wipe, so I flipped up a Brine Elemental to prevent a third Cryptic Command. I opted for Plan B and dropped Purphoros and then proceeded to win. They still complained about it being casual, so game two I dumbed it down with a budget deck. Game three I dumbed it down even further with a suicide deck. Long story short, I won every game but didn't have much fun, and I probably won't play Commander there again.

The moral of the story is that it takes a lot more than a quick question like "Are you the type of guy we want to play with?" or even "What power level are your decks?" to know if you're a good fit in a group. Given that the whole point of playing is to have fun, isn't it worth the time to have that conversation? A three minute conversation can make the next three hours significantly more enjoyable for all involved.