This is perhaps my favourite YMTC design ever! No complex text and a polarising mechanic used in an exciting new way.
I think I'd make it Legendary to prevent it being strictly better than the Lairs (this wouldn't negatively effect EDH). This would also help the flavour of a land that 'levels up' by giving it some character and identity.
My team split for a U/B control and a G/W infect. If we had played a B/G deck it would mean cutting quality cards from it so it made more sense to pair them with the weaker colours. U/B seemed the best choice as there is instant speed counters in U and removal in B where G/W has low cost tricks you can play creatures around. We stuck all the good equipment in the G/W and let U/B play powerful artifacts (eg. Trigon of Rage, Contagion Clasp). It worked pretty well, 3 - 1 and 4 - 0 and the loss was to another phyrexian deck with a few Core Prowlers and a Mortarpod. I didn't see any Mirran teams in the top half of the board after game 2.
I played 2HG all weekend and, as expected, it was a Phyrexian shut-out across every table. After the concerns about the SoM packs I busted Contagion Engine twice...
I just played 2HG twice and a draft and it sucked. Poison decides every 2HG game and it's usually completely non-interactive. A few times we hit with a pumped evasion infector for 10-13 poison tokens, every other time they hit us or Proliferated 6 or 7 times.
I was pretty lost in the draft, I began with some blue which is extremely weak and then got passed nothing pack 2. It didn't matter because my first round opp drafted super aggro infect with the (R) doublestrike instant which finished me once from his empty board.
Sealed seems okay, but 2HG is my favourite format and it's basically a waste of time. The opposite of fun. Busted some planeswalkers then went home...
When Meridian Tiller enters the battlefield, Choose one — Meridian Tiller gains haste until end of turn; or search your library for a basic land card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
I know it changes the functionality but the impact is minimal and reads much better while avoiding mentioning pre/post-combat which Mark Gottlieb would probably appreciate. This also increases the power ever so slightly, allowing you to tutor up a land and drop it pre-combat AND trigger the Tiller's ability during any phase with cards like Flash. If you are wondering why I removed the "may/if" clause it's because you can simply give it haste if you don't want a land.
In general, giving players more options is always more attractive than limiting their choice. If you then re-used the feature, in a cycle for example you may have a creature that reads:
Blue Timing Guy - 1U
pre-combat drop: target creature gains flying until eot
post-combat drop: draw a card then discard a card.
1/2
The card still has incentives relating to pre and post combat but you may really want to sift for your combat trick and find this limitation very frustrating. I also feel that as it currently reads the precombat effect should be stronger as you're having to tap your mana before combat.
As for the way it plays, opening design space etc. an important part of good design is elegance, simplicity and consistent formatting. Making one effect comabt relevent is a far more effective approach to design than bringing pre/post-combat main phase conditions onto the card.
Obviously, haste isn't exactly important beyond the turn it enters the battlefield, but other abilities are noted with much more relevance (partially due to their lasting capabilities, as noted above). That's what I was aiming at.
The only effect that I'd let persit past EoT is a +1/+1 counter or else you create memory issues.
Red Wheel of Fortune sounds good and ties into INN but then blue already has a Windfall guy. Burn would make it too close to Bogardan Hellkite. Pillage? Price of Progress?
The first green card that comes to mind is Berserk. The creature would then need haste. Plow Under or Natural Order would be cool.
White... Replenish? StP?
I think I'd make it Legendary to prevent it being strictly better than the Lairs (this wouldn't negatively effect EDH). This would also help the flavour of a land that 'levels up' by giving it some character and identity.
I was pretty lost in the draft, I began with some blue which is extremely weak and then got passed nothing pack 2. It didn't matter because my first round opp drafted super aggro infect with the (R) doublestrike instant which finished me once from his empty board.
Sealed seems okay, but 2HG is my favourite format and it's basically a waste of time. The opposite of fun. Busted some planeswalkers then went home...
When Meridian Tiller enters the battlefield, Choose one — Meridian Tiller gains haste until end of turn; or search your library for a basic land card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
I know it changes the functionality but the impact is minimal and reads much better while avoiding mentioning pre/post-combat which Mark Gottlieb would probably appreciate. This also increases the power ever so slightly, allowing you to tutor up a land and drop it pre-combat AND trigger the Tiller's ability during any phase with cards like Flash. If you are wondering why I removed the "may/if" clause it's because you can simply give it haste if you don't want a land.
In general, giving players more options is always more attractive than limiting their choice. If you then re-used the feature, in a cycle for example you may have a creature that reads:
Blue Timing Guy - 1U
pre-combat drop: target creature gains flying until eot
post-combat drop: draw a card then discard a card.
1/2
The card still has incentives relating to pre and post combat but you may really want to sift for your combat trick and find this limitation very frustrating. I also feel that as it currently reads the precombat effect should be stronger as you're having to tap your mana before combat.
As for the way it plays, opening design space etc. an important part of good design is elegance, simplicity and consistent formatting. Making one effect comabt relevent is a far more effective approach to design than bringing pre/post-combat main phase conditions onto the card.
The only effect that I'd let persit past EoT is a +1/+1 counter or else you create memory issues.