The deal with being in public and somewhat called "harassment" (and i clearly distinquish between a from a court defined harassment and a person just feeling they are harassed) , is that its really different pieces.
As a private person you have no impact on public that even remotely justifies that anyone attacks you directly.
However, as a public person, like a politician or as we have here, a cosplayer that actively presents their body in public on public events to players, its in your right to criticizes exactly that, which is the body, its presented in a sexualized manner, so commenting in that way is not even inappropriate (might not be your personal taste, but thats a different deal).
If a private person gets mails from random persons theres zero reason or justification, so thats an entirely different matter compared to someone that publicly pushes themselves into public opinion.
Its a really important part of projecting this matter to the context its presented in.
If i see a women feeding a baby and i tell her "You are a 6/10, i wouldnt even rape you" , it would be an unbelieavable inappropriate thing to say , but to someone that in public makes money by presenting their body ? If i tell that to a stripper ? Inapprioriate for sure, but still an entirely different deal, as context matters, the environment matters and if you do not want to expose to that, you are not forced, you can simply not do that job.
If you go to the extreme and outlaw any potenially rude comment, you restrict language by a great deal, so much that people cannot express anything without fear somebody will feel hurt or insulted, and if that justifies that your social media gets permanently flagged and you suffer for it, its a way more extreme response than the "rude comment" started out as.
The adult option would be to point the rude comments out and keep it on a apprioriate level of response, you can talk stuff out and discuss it to proof a point without going to war directly , and still keep in mind, that no person is outright evil, for such things.
And yes, the real sick people are the ones that perform the threats, thats just downright cruelty and has no other reason than pleasing a sadistic pleasure, and that is absolutely nothing a society has to, or should accept, but its a completely different animal to a critic from an public figure.
I am on the side to promote that individuals are responsible for what they are doing.
Jeremy didnt incite harassment, he did poorly phrased comments sure, but thats hardly crazy evil, its just rude and if you talk to him about that, yes ofcourse he knows himself its rude, and thats about it, you can stand above it and realize that something thats already enough, realize you gone a bit to far and the moment you are told so, you can better yourself, problem solved ; the sick people that continue to threaten , thats what remains, but thats adults, responsible for their actions, and any adult that isnt insane should have enough intelligence to not even do that to begin with.
Racist comments are a special kind of deal, just as gay-topics etc. etc.
Its highly controversial to many people and especially your work place is a context with special meaning here.
If i make a racial comment in private, thats it, nobody cares. If someone is insulted they can sue me, i get appropriate punishment, and/or we settle the topic before it escalates, thats the potential for discussion and understanding that is much more valuable than taking every little comment and blow it up like its a death threat right away ; its clearly not.
In your context part you clearly see context matters so much.
Context is key for this here.
All the screenshots are mostly out of context and look entirely different if you get the big picture.
Yes people are offended a lot, but its undeniably a thing you have to be able to deal with if you have any kind of public job, or open yourself up to that (and if you cannot deal with it, its simply the wrong job for you, as theirs issues with lots of jobs and you cannot just blame others for that, self-responsility is a thing, its not that others are always to blame for anything you do and anything you do will have an effect on others, if your job is in public, thats a given).
I think america in special a lot of people are highly influenced by what some special individuals say , so they build up some form of responsibility for what they say, simply because of that.
And i think, it again depends on context and what group you talk to.
In the case here the group of people is the magic community, people that watch Jeremys Channel, thats already a very small subsection again and people that enjoy trollish comments, so they are already open to that and have their own problems why they cannot control what they are doing (as no sane person would write a death threat email to anybody, but lots of people do, especially in heated discusions and extreme topics).
But here Jeremy cannot be at fault for what individuals end up doing, the targeted audience are adults, and should totally be able to control themselves.
----
Your last part.
I also think he could be much less rude in his comments and from his latest comments he acknowledges this, as often you have to be told you are going over the edge, and if its good to think about it (but again, its about critic and staying on a non-extreme course, you want discussion and not open war).
Lots of stuff i can relate to and the topic is simply overblown by extreme margins.
In the end, people said some mean things and others reacted to them ; thats actually all that happened, thats rude at best, but its not downright evil.
This topic would much easier and smoother be solved in a much smaller circle, or in private between these two.
Pulling it to public just makes things worse, by a lot and it doesnt serve anybody, be they right or wrong, in the end, this open warfare just damages the community and people will bunker themselves into even more extreme sides and become even more unable to discuss anything without directly insulting each other.
----
But one thing is guaranteed, this will be a hot topic for the rest of the week and probably the next one, and at some point, nobody will care anymore and just play Magic again.
- TheOnlyOne652089
- Registered User
-
Member for 15 years, 2 months, and 14 days
Last active Wed, Apr, 24 2024 18:13:01
- 2 Followers
- 5,792 Total Posts
- 1070 Thanks
-
Nov 30, 2017TheOnlyOne652089 posted a message on If You Can't Take Criticism of Jeremy Hambly, You're Part of the ProblemPosted in: Articles
-
Nov 30, 2017TheOnlyOne652089 posted a message on If You Can't Take Criticism of Jeremy Hambly, You're Part of the ProblemThe fact that a comment makes someone feel harassed doesnt mean it is harassment.Posted in: Articles
Just because someone feels insulted, its not automatic evil in nature.
Most important, he never told to her directly, you literally have to seek out his channel to see the comments, so you actively have to search yourself to see negative comments about yourself.
The indisputable issue are the sick minded individuals that go over the top and do exactly that, email directly, twitter to her directly etc. They do the harassment, they are 100% guilty for it, and they qualify for it, as they indeed take a sadistic pleasure in doing that, its among the most harmful type of troll.
Then theres a difference between private people and people in public.
As a private person nobody has any public interest in what i do and so comments about my person would be out of context.
The moment what you are doing is part of a community, like cosplay at a grand prix and doing pictures of that etc. You present yourself in public and so comments about exactly that are clearly presented.
That alone is no harassment and its just as important to clearly draw a line between what people truly say and what is casually said, simply put, if you are talking to a group of people for hours, chances are you will say something stupid and someone will feel insulted ; so it has to be viewed in context and not just "oh god, look what he said" , and finger point exactly that and ignore anything else.
And especially for Jeremys channel, its clearly a form of topics and talking that you might easily find offending, others do not, some think hes right about a bunch of stuff, and i believe you can easily see he has a bunch of points.
All the so called harassment can be put down to context that gives it a background, so that is what makes the topic a lot more slippery than just believing its all crystal clear.
The idea of thinking its downright crystal clear and theres only black/white in it, is already short sighted, as you have to see more of the picture to get a real glimpse of the actual truth.
-
Nov 30, 2017TheOnlyOne652089 posted a message on If You Can't Take Criticism of Jeremy Hambly, You're Part of the ProblemYea, if people truly think theres just 1 problem at hand, and that others, but ofcourse never themselves are a part of it, thats just ridiculous, as it is the kind of finger pointing that just wants to make someone else responsible for what you think is bad.Posted in: Articles
If someone truly feels harassed, seek the police, file a claim, prevent the harassment, thats what you can do as an adult, theres a little bit of responsibility for your own too.
Its not your job to defend your wife, if you truly want fairness, she can do that on her own and she should be absolutely able and willing to do so (and if she isnt, that is a problem you have to start working on).
Its always a big question mark, if you have to drag your personal issues into public.
That just makes everything worse, much worse, as you are suddenly exposed to people that choose sides and over dramatic defend it, no matter if it effects them at all.
The adult way to solve the issue would simply be if she started out to simply ask to stop exactly what she thinks is bothering her. Any responsible adult will accept that and change behavior if its reasonable, and if they dont, you file a claim against them, so they get judged by a neutral court (or you are proven wrong on your feeling of being harassed, thats also an option and as an adult your have to live with it). -
Nov 30, 2017TheOnlyOne652089 posted a message on If You Can't Take Criticism of Jeremy Hambly, You're Part of the ProblemTheres critic and just phrasing opinions and as a form of entertainer and content provider he has a form of talking that a lot of people find offensive, but there is plenty of comedians i find offensive, but that doesnt make them in any way problematic.Posted in: Articles
Comments can easily be in bad taste and thats undeniable the case for Jeremy, but the real core of the issue to discuss is the small amount of truly idiotic people that take it to a true harassment and violent form of threats ; and the question to discuss would be if you as a content provider are truly responsible for what some sick individuals do , given they are adults, these people are the actual problem, and thats not Jeremy.
The same kind of sick individuals exist on the other spectrum too, some of them Social Justice Warriors that somehow feel Jeremy has to be "utterly destroyed" and death threats against him are "totally fine".
Seriously, its the same kind of sick individuals and its the CORE of a true problem which puts every little issue into full on overdrive roadkill.
It serves nobody and its a form of discussion that is very prevalent in the internet.
Its a culture of trolls and social justice warriors that simply cannot keep their actions behind a healthy line that keeps a minimum of civilized discourse alive.
If people get famous they undeniable have to have a tougher hide. The more people you know and the more people respond to you, the more bad comments you will accumulate.
Thats natural, and people will either like what you do or they will not.
Some of the sick people will downright hate you for whatever you do and this leads to the exact problem of people that think they have to act themselves , right now and fight what they think is the evil, everyone thinks they are in the right to do so and so nobody is able to self-reflect and see they are going over the top.
If matters settle down you could easily see Jeremy seeing himself that a bunch of stuff crosses the line , but bad taste comments and actual harassment should be dealt with in court and absolutely not in public for people to just judge and start their little lynch mobs in every corner burning whatever victim they just found.
----
So there is more than just one problem.
A lot of problems and everyone is part of some problem, if they see it, know it, or still deny it. -
Nov 30, 2017TheOnlyOne652089 posted a message on If You Can't Take Criticism of Jeremy Hambly, You're Part of the ProblemTheres plenty of "good" men that started wars and killed people in the name of what they thought to be somehow the right thing.Posted in: Articles
The reality is, there are no "evil" and no "good" men, just opinions and people that push these ideology with violence over the other, who ever wins will be in the right, the other side clearly must have been wrong.
Its not the job of people to start a lynch mob and "destroy" other human beings and its downright pedantic to think that is in any way what "good men" should do.
Any problem has to be discussed and solved on the appropriate level.
Pushing topics in public only serves the trolls and media hype , people calling out for a single entity to be blamed for everything they think is bad.
The reality is, theres not a single bad person and everyone is usually to some degree responsible for what they do or do not do.
People really like to give small problems horrific names so they sound like much bigger problems, that leads only to despair and misery, it has no positive benefit for anybody, just pampers the ideology of people that really think they are the only legit form of judgment call, self-administered justice isnt the way to go and if you ever get in the situation to think someone is the personified evil, you are guaranteed wrong and simply ignore the other standpoint (so you become evil yourself, just to pretend to defend against evil, thats in no way a solution and only leads to a conflict in which everyone can blame anyone to be in the right and suddenly there are no good men left anymore).
-
Nov 30, 2017TheOnlyOne652089 posted a message on If You Can't Take Criticism of Jeremy Hambly, You're Part of the ProblemA very big issue is that different topics are brought together, while they simply do not fit.Posted in: Articles
Nazi and troll posters are two very different things and should never be put together, just to fuel a cause, thats selling your own arguments cheap and makes them one-dimensional black/white thinking again, which is good for nobody.
Also, there will be critic and negative critic as well, that has to be acceptable.
Nobody is forced to be overly positive about anything.
If you truly dislike something you can say so, and its value to the discussion that this is expressed and not just ignored, or even outlawed as something terrible wrong.
At the same time its very valid to criticize something and not come up with a solution on your own right away. I can critic a cook and not be able to make it better, thats totally fine and it must be legit to do so. The point of critic is that you should never need to justify for it, the receiver can take the critic and see it as an issue, or they dont, thats their cup of tea and its what an adult has to learn to deal with.
But here again, this changes a lot if someone is in private or its brought up in public and presented to a mob of people.
If you just honestly dislike cosplay and say so, thats fair, nobody forces you to like anything.
The "locker-room-talk" is a topic entirely for its own. Its something that is widely accepted and always was. Women to the same about men, they even do it among each other, it might just be more subtle than the direct approach of actually saying it out loud, even if its just in the "locker-room" (or in this case a youtube channel, or a bunch of twitter posts).
Its fine on its own.
What really pushes the topic to become a real issue is how stuff completely gets lost and out of control incited to be way bigger than what it really is (and yes, thats a terrible huge deal with the amount of media and the very real interest of media to promote topics into "highlights" and further push the mob to generate more horrific events to report about, its almost a self proclaiming prophecy, so its very difficult to truly say what amount of discussion is healthy and what is just talking it to bits and pieces, as many if not all topics will be seemingly super hot for the moment and meaningless the next week, as there is no real issue beside the illusion of talk at all).
----
How would an adult deal with bad talk about them in private ?
You confront the person and actually tell them to stop as its not ok for you.
Solves the issue, unless the person is actively not recognizing your problem.
In public it changes a lot.
Theres either somewhat anonymous people that jump on a topic train and pick sides, which very often leads to extreme reactions, way over the top (any threats via mail or any form of actual harm is absolutely no-go, no matter what the topic is, theres never a reason to choose violence to solve anything.
So if you talk in public, it will have an effect on people and it will polarize the people more and more. Thankfully lots of people can distinguish between a topic that truly effects them and just a rat catcher lynch mob , but some cant, and the poster shouldnt be responsible for these individuals, as almost anything could be seen as an incentive for violence, if the individual has some sick mind, theres an entirely different problem of its own (and yes, you have to ask yourselves why so many "troll" people exist and no matter the topic, they are harmful and actively ignore any productive discussion).
----
For the topic at hand, the first problem that ignited this into a public *****-fest was that it was brought to public at all.
Solving these kinds of issues should have been a thing between Jeremy and Sprinkle , in private or by her actively telling what bothers her, its just fair to do so, as it solves most issues and avoids outside people to intervene.
If that doesnt work out and somebody is not taking your arguments, you can take it to the police and to court to actively stop what bothers you with something like a protective injunction suit, which again should solve the issue at hand, instead of putting it up for debate to a lynch mob that just wants blood, no matter from who.
Its a very clear picture if a topic is just instantly brought to public, avoiding any legal options (or doing so later, in hopes the public opinion boosts your side).
See, if a topic is discussed in public, it will never be fair.
People pick side right away and defend it for whatever the cost, even if it doesnt effect them personally at all ; which brings the Social Justice Warrior term to fruits.
Yes thats a problem just as trolls.
Its good to have empathy, but its bad to jam ideals and ideology into a topic and mix topics entirely, just to proof a point that has nothing to do with the topic at hand.
----
Believe it or not, neither Jeremy nor Sprinkle are somehow "evil incarnate" , they arent and they arent "toxic" to the community.
The kind of topic and how much its media-hyped and exaggerated , thats an entire issue of its own and overshadows the problem they personally had to solve between each other and makes it like a community issue , which it isnt, the community is fine, theres very rare cases and problems to deal with and they shouldnt be ignored, but also not exaggerated into spheres they arent fit for.
And this is, about a game, a hobby, people enjoy playing the game and enjoy being part of a community, if this is taken to a level of social criticism it doesnt serve a purpose for the game it just harms the experience for everyone, as it puts a stigma to the game, that it neither deserves or justifies at all. - To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Well, if you are kinda "dumb" maybe. Ofcourse everyone can tell if a card is "tapped" or not, no matter how often you flip it, it is still tapped.
And in the end you should tap cards all in the same direction, not randomly in another (which is especially important with flip cards, and overall annoying if peops dont).
So its not really a "problem" at all, especially as you dont need to make cards that flip like crazy, and in worst case use some counters to say if its flipped or unflipped.
In the end i liked the Artwork of Flip cards, as they really give a picture of how the creature "evolves" unlike Kicker cards (Figure of Destiny has a artwork that shows its evolution too, but its more like everything at the same time).
For flip you have plenty of design, starting with lands that flip to another color or creatures that transform into something "evil" (like the creatures that left a "black" token, in the end peops used to just take the card with an "counter" to indicate its the shadow part).
Even some spells might be fun, so spells that "flip" on the stack into something (maybe even an Instant that becomes a creature, like a reversed Erayo).
Ideas are like this:
Holy Land
Land
T: Add W to your manapool.
Whenever you cast an black spell, flip ~.
===========
Unholy Land
Land
T: Add B to your manapool.
Whenever you cast an white spell, unflip ~.
You can make a big cycle of them, making lands that actual have the flip (maybe cards that trigger for flips/unflips).
Razor Spider 4G
Creature - Spider
Reach
When ~ is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, return it to play flipped.
3/4
============
Undead Razor Spider
Creature - Spider
Reach, Deathtouch
B: Regenerate ~.
3/4
Soldier of Fate W
Creature - Human, Soldier
At the end of turn, if you have 5 or less life, flip ~.
1/1
============
Soldier of Glory
Creature - Spirit, Soldier
First Strike, Lifelink
3/3
For my taste it plays out a lot more fun, as the creature really "changes", which is a lot more flavour than the use of +1/+1 counters, or changing the cards types and give it abilities, in addition that the artwork expresses the changed card.
Enforce Fate 4U
Instant
Flip or unflip target permanent.
Mindblast 3R
Instant
~ deals 2 damage to target player for each flipped permanent you control.
*Kind of powerfull with a big cycle of the flip lands and a bigger theme of flip cards.
So in the end you can use flip in many situations, and its a great ability in the end (and common, if you can't remember if your card is tapped or untapped, use some counters or your human brain).
Ofcourse i should ^^.
Creature — Angel Warrior (R)
Flying
Lifelink (Damage dealt by this creature also causes you to gain that much life.)
When CARDNAME is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may put CARDNAME on top of its owner’s library.
4/5
Powerwise i would upgrade it, as they put Serra Angel in "uncommon" and Lightning Bolt in the set (which makes any 3 thoughness scream for death, especially if Essence Drain and such will come too).
So with the upgrade to 4/5 size i think its something that really is playable and Rare worthy.
First-Pride Torchbearers :3mana::symw::symw:
Creature — Cat Mystic Knight (R)
First Strike
:symw::symw:, :symtap:: Choose one — Destroy target permanent if it’s black; or counter target spell if it’s black.
3/3
I would go for a "Mystic Knight" so it really stays the Paladin and just gets the added punish against black.
Powerwise i would say its "ok".
Heavenly Choir 3:symw::symw:
Creature — Angel Spirit (R)
Flying
Whenever another creature you control enters the battlefield or is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you gain life equal to that creature’s toughness.
1/5
As you allready have a 4WW rare, its better to have another cost.
As its mainly an "Enchantment" becomming a creature and the card itself favour high thoughness, it seems just logic that the card should be more a "wall" like size.
Callow Emissary :3mana::symw:
Creature — Human Advisor (R)
Whenever a creature deals combat damage to you, it doesnt untap during its controllers next untap step.
2/4
Seems to be "way" to strong to lock a player. It will trigger for each creature that damages, so attack with 2 and they have to pay 2 mana or dont untap, so they will never be able to pay the mana again (as you keep putting more creatures to increase the tax).
Thats for sure too much, especially as hitting the enemie doesnt seem to be white to force th tax.
It would work better if you look that the creatures hit "you" and than force them to stay tapped (like Aurafication).
As 3W should give some usefull blocking size, i choose to go with 2/4, the card might even be "Uncommon", as it looks kinda strange that all your cards here are "rares", unless you plan a set with only rares (would be fun somehow xD).
Rhox Champion :5mana::symw::symw:
Creature — Rhino Soldier (U)
First strike
Whenever CARDNAME attacks, if you control a green permanent, CARDNAME gains trample until end of turn.
5/8
This is 100% an Uncommon as its a horrible rare. Its the kind of "fattie" you play in Limited and be happy with it, in constructed its only junk.
Cross the Streams :2mana::symu:
Sorcery (R)
Kicker :symu::symu: (You may pay an additional :symu::symu: as you cast this spell.)
After this phase, there your choice of an additional untap step, upkeep step, combat phase, or main phase. If the kicker cost was paid, take an extra turn after this one instead.
As "kicker" is not intuitive and not really an smart ability for a core set, as its an mechanic to give "expensive" cards an cheaper way to play them, core sets keep the card simpel.
And the card is kind of insane anyway. You get an extra combat for 2U mana? come on thats too cheap, and getting an extra main phase has "what" effect?
So in the end theirs only the combat that makes it insane, the others are crap most the time.
An Time Warp is allready a good rare for a core set, so just stick with it (they did Time Stretch, but thats just the more expensive and pretty much unplayable sorcery, unless you get ways to abuse it "somehow").
Look to Windward :xmana::symu:
Instant (R)
Put the top X cards of your library into your hand, then exile your library.
Well this is not just "johnny" its incredible overpowered, as i would even play it for a singel blue with X=0 just to get my library exiled (using this for sets that actual use the exile zone to play cards, or set cards up with Research and such).
All in all its a card thats way to strong as an X version:
Look to Windward 1:symu::symu::symu:
Sorcery (R)
Put the top seven cards of your library into your hand, and exile the rest of your library.
This card needs you to either win with the cards "right off" or use something to refill your library (which is allready done with things that shuffle graveyard cards back, so you get them over and over), so the card isnt obvisious nuts, but you can build a deck around it to abuse its effect. So believe it or not, even Leveler gets "tech" if you have mechanics that use the Exile zone.
Instant
You can't play Warning Counter from your hand.
At the beginning of your upkeep, if Warning Counter is in your hand, you may exile it. As long as remains exiled, you may play it.
Counter target spell.
I think nothing can "trigger" in your hand as its a hidden zone, and beside this its still a Counterspell as i just exile it if i have it, and keep in mind thats its an insane strong Forbidd, as i just have to "exile" it from my grave to get it again and again (and thats not hard at all).
So to get this card "fair" look at this:
Recurring Forbidd 1UU
Instant
You can play ~ only from exile.
Cycling 3
When you cycle ~, exile it.
Counter target spell that is played from a players hand.
This way, you get the draw from cycling, and set up your Forbidd counterwall. A powerfull tool for any controll deck to keep a counterwall up.
The drawback to counter only spells played from the hand should give it enough interaction with spells ala Suspend, Madness, Flashback so players can still interact with the game.
It might be a great card for Delve like themes (like a set i do, so i just take this card).
Sorcery
Reveal a creature or tribal card in your hand. Reveal the top 4 cards of your library. Put all cards among them that share a creature type with the revealed card into your hand. Put the rest to the bottom of your library.
Well, its actual a brutal strong card draw, as you will more or less get at least an Impulse, and as its best draw "4" cards, which is more or less "game" allready.
I just assume this card highly in "Elves" as thats the only deck that really abuses it (with Eyeblights Ending and all the Tribal spells, together with your bunch of creatures).
Especially strong with Changeling spells, if your deck has some random cards that are not the tribal (like a Cloudtresher in your elves deck), which again Elves does best with Chameleon Collosus.
In the end it might work better as a Tutor instead of revealing the top 4, so you reveal an Elf to tutor for another, like a E.Recall just for Tribal.
Specialized Armory :1mana::symw:
Sorcery
Choose a creature you control. Search your library for an equipment card that shares a creature type with that creature and equip it to that creature. Then shuffle your library.
Theirs not really much "tribal" Equipments and most likely not to come that much, but in the end its a card that forces tribal Equipments to be "bad", as big ones would make it pretty unfair.
Rememberance of Home
Instant
Reveal any number of creature cards in your hand. For each creature card revealed this way, creatures you control that share a creature type with that creature card get +0/+2 until end of turn.
Well, somehow i instantly got this card as "Doran" friendly. I want to play Doran with 2 more random critters, than give them a +0/+8 to wreck my opponent (well +0/+6 or even +0/+4 is allready enough than).
Anything else, its just the random protection against Mass Burn Removal or Infest, which is most the time crap on spells (as theirs Anthemn and the like that do the job better).
Anything else, you might get a random extra activation, hopefully of an allready good effect.
Shadji, Calisto’s Archmage 4:symu::symu:
Legendary Creature — Djinn Wizard
Grandeur — Discard another card named Shadji, Calisto’s Archmage: You may play an activated ability of a spell or permanent you control without paying its costs. (X is 0.)
5/6
Being a 1/1 for a singel blue is incredible junk, and the only reason is to combo with this cards Grandeur, which is a bad design point to start with.
Being a "djinn" it might be a lot bigger, so the Grandeur really kicks in.
In the end its "grandeur" and this ability has a lot of problems, as it forces the player to run 4 of the legend, and its overall very random.
It might work better if its just an High Wizard that eats other wizards to get an "copy" of an activation.
Shadji, Calisto’s Archmage 2:symu::symu:
Legendary Creature — Djinn Wizard
Flying
:symu:, Discard an Wizard or Djinn from your hand: Copy an triggered or activated ability.
3/4
Allready strong creature with a usefull ability to get more out of your cards.
Instant (U)
Return target creature to it's owner's hand. That creature's controller can't play creature spells this turn.
Good bounce, as it helps to give you speed, bouncing the create and make it impossible to replay it. But that might be really needed, as bounce lost a lot of its power with the "no damage stack" change, which might be reason enough to lower its cost to 1U (as bounce can need a push to be still usefull).
Anticipate
Instant (C)
Counter the next spell casted this turn.
Well i see it as a hard counter against Suspend and the like, and thats what it actual does best. The "played" might now be "casted".
In a set that uses Suspend like mechanics its a pretty usefull card.
Denied the Skies :2mana::symu::symu::symu:
Enchantment
Blue creatures have flying.
Nonblue creatures lose flying.
Uncommon
Well, this is something i would put on a creature as it works like "your creatures are unblockable", like Deepchannel Mentor, which was even a lot better due to Hybrid, and just a singel blue to splash for it, in addition it just gave "you" the advantage.
Sandstorm Drake :1mana::symu::symu:
Creature - Drake (C)
Flash, flying
When Sandstorm Drake comes into play, return a blue creature to it’s owner’s hand.
2/2
Quite powered for a common, as a 2/2 flyer flash is allready good, with the bounce ability you can wreck blue opponents, or use it as a Rescue creature in combat (even if that is worser with the no dmg stack change).
Infinite Flame :xmana::symr::symr:
Sorcery
Infinite Flame deals X damage to target creature or player.
Untap up to X Mountains.
Uncommon
Well, its very strong, and X burn is best Rare for limited play. The untap part makes it more powerfull as a combo option, play it with Heartbeat of Spring and such shoot damage, use the untap for "more" mana and shoot another.
In the end, its dangerous to untap lands, it might work better if you simply have something to get it back (something that "infinited" implies), like if you have X=5 you get buyback for it (on library or something) to shoot again.
Swamp Teeth :1mana::symb:
Instant
As an additional cost to play Sand Teeth, pay X life.
Target creature gets -X/-X until end of turn.
Uncommon
Well, sounds like hard removal, with 5 life you should be able to kill pretty much everything. In the end its like killing a creature and than lose life equal to its thoughness.
Depths of Vetera :1mana::symb::symb::symb:
Sorcery
Each player discards a card then returns a creature card from his or her graveyard to play.
Uncommon
Well, its Exhume more expensive, with the added discard (which is mainly drawback as Exhume can be one sided).
Might work allready at 3B Zombify cost, anything else just makes it less splashable and overall worser as it allready is.
Deny Dreams 3BB
Enchantment
If a player would draw a card, that player loses 1 life instead.
Whenever a player has no cards in hand, sacrifice ~.
Quite simpel, it forces the draw to become life lose, which is allready quite usefull for black and its a card to lock a player if your discard made them stuck on as less cards as possible.
Possessed Portal is an card that locks a lot harder, as it will kill absolute everything they have, and you can easy keep it up for yourself if you can create tokens to sacrifice (or Goblin Welder actions), and its still far far away from a "good" card, as LockDown decks must be fast to win, anything else is worthless against beatdown and control might have answers to your threads anyway.
With the life lose it plays like Underworld Dreams, just with the added advantage to eat the card (which makes it actual playable).
To offer a way out of the Lock, i like to use the Pestilence like part, just look for the part the card wants to lock and remove it when this part no longer exists.
You still can play the card together with Land Destruction and more lock cards to build your own P.Portal .
Dark Strike 1BR
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Whenever this creature attacks or blocks, sacrifice a creature. If you do, it deals damage equal to its power to target creature or player.
Like an "super" first strike it will hit its victim before it can hit back. As the manacost makes it slower, i thought it would work better if it eats another creatures life (sacrifice) to get the extra attack (which should look for its power for this reason).
So in the end it plays like "doublestrike" with a faster hit than first strike damage.
A little side effect is that you can enchant your opponents creature and force the sacrifice if its the only creature, so its more flexible overall.
Blaze of Heat 1RR
Instant
~ deals 3 damage to target creature.
When this creature is put into a graveyard from the battlefield this turn, its controller sacrifices a non-basic land.
It might allready work as this. You get removal with 3 damage and if that kills the target, you punish them for non-basics too.
Its important to keep in mind that Lightning Bolt gets a reprint in m10, so 3 damage is actual worth a singel red mana (yes even WotC seems to think thats "fair", as drunken as they might be), and the land destruction is connected to killing the creature AND only to non-basics, so its allready quite fair at 1RR.
Overall its a kind of card that can see play in formats that encourages players to run a lot of non-basics, and even Extended shifted to more basics because of the giant amount of hate against non-basics (counting Bloodmoon and all the mainly red hate).
Tera, Lord of the Abyss is just "wayyyyyy" to overcosted as its 10 mana for a 5/5 flyer that has no effect at all, so say you can keep it alive, than you will search for a demon, and you are still not happy as you have not Auto-Win by now, and a 10 mana card should be powerfull enough to win.
Even worser is the fact that you have 2 Tap abilities, and the second is ALLWAYS the superior and theirs no reason at all to make 2/2 tokens with a 10 mana creature.
A concept could be to give this card something to reduce its giant manacost, Demon / Imp Offering or something, Delve, whatever.
Skip the 2/2 ability and why not give it an Abyss ability for non-demons, its the Lord of the Abyss after all so it should have some kind of "Abyss" like effect.
So my Tera concept:
Lord of the Abyss 7BBB
Legendary Creature - Demon
Flying
When ~ enters the battlefield from your hand, destroy each non-demon creatures. For each creature destroyed this way, search your library for a demon creature card and put it onto the battlefield.
8/8
This way it will just clear the board and unleash hell against your enemies. The "from hand" protects against silly reanimation tricks, but "if" this guy resolves you really should win the game with it and the expensive Demons you are going to search.
Necrotic Overlord 3BB
Creature - Zombie, Wizard
3B, T: Destroy target creature. Put target creature card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control, its black and a Zombie in addition to its other colors and creature types.
3/4
Sounds more flavourwise as it kills a creature to reanimate another as a Undead, activation cost is flavoured with Zombify.
As a new standard i try to push every creature to survive a Lightning Bolt if its more expensive than 3 mana, anything else is just auto bad.
So overall, some nice ideas, but they look more like cards that are tracked together without a real concept or flavour in mind.
Even more important is to see how they play out, and against a Constructed field, as each card should at least have a reason to exist for "some" deck (like your Lord of the Abyss screams for a Demon tribal).
Theirs this giant that allready does the job to put all player back on the player with the most life, its just too expensive (would be more than playable for 2WW as a 3/3 for example).
Borg the Xenophobic 2BB
Legendary Creature - Demon
As ~ enters the battlefield each player chooses a creature type.
Creatures of the chosen creature types get -1/-1.
4/4
I would push it even this far, as its a giant hate card for black on the line of plague, but being a creature adds drawbacks allready, and being Legendary prevents multiple copies too.
So its for sure great against token decks, but overall you get efficient fatties, and more than enough removal.
A small add on is that each player chooses a creature type, so they can go for "demon" to shrink this guy to 3/3 (making it a target for lightning bolt and such), and the most important is that it becomes big in Multiplayer, where everyone can choose a type to hate someone with it (but not everyone, making it not a -1/-1 for every creature).
A funny thing could be to create "Changelings" in the zoo, that are simply everything:
Changeling Factory 1G
Tribal Enchantment - Shapeshifter
Changeling
2G: Put a 1/1 colorless Shapeshifter creature token with changeling onto the battlefield.
Hi George. Hi George. Hi George. Hi George. Hi George. ...
Goes along the line of Mirror Entity, as it simply forces more changelings into play (instead of changing things to changelings).
It can produce any creature type you want, so for the big ones it might be even a really playable card as it is.
Avatar of the Library 12UUUU
Creature - Avatar
You may exile any number of cards from the top of your library as you cast this spell. It costs 1 less to cast for each card exiled this way.
If ~ would be dealt damage, exile that many cards from the top of your library instead.
If ~ would deal damage to an player, exile that many cards of that players library instead.
12/12
So its a 12/12 for just 4 blue mana, for sure a giant "defender", but should be no real problem in Constructed formats. Its still a way to have a expensive creature for cheap mana, and use it to mill the opponent.
Animated Library 4UUUU
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant library you own with 1 or more cards in it
Your library counts as a creature with power and thoughness equal to the number of cards in it.
If it would be dealt damage, exile that many cards from the top of your library instead.
If it would leave the battlefield, exile the top ten cards of your library instead.
*Well its more an "UN" card, as its so extrem, in the end the library plays like a creature, it just can't leave its spot, it just becomes smaller and smaller tills its gone.
If the library ends with 0 thoughness, it will force you to mill your library.
Very strange card, which might need a giant rulez entry, like Time Stop, Mindslaver and its friends with super special effects (and mainly UN like effects).
Cutting it down to "draw 2" might work in your Ancestral Recall version, but even that is pretty strong allready.