Wish it weren't a 'may' ability. Midas' story is tragic for a reason
Good card, though. Would be interested in seeing an EDH deck with this guy as the commander.
I'd be more disappointed with Kruphix if we didn't already get the ridiculous Prophet of Kruphix. He doesn't need something to top even that. As it is, Kruphix is unfortunately almost useless for my Animar deck, but he's a good candidate for Riku.
I'd like to see two parallel small sets being released simultaneously. For draft, players could pick either pack in that slot.
I don't think it'd work out very well, though. It doesn't seem to have a whole lot going for it compared to a single large set. If you're going after a specific rare/mythic, you'll end up with lots of the same uncommons/commons, though I guess it'd increase your chances of getting said mythic. Seems to have all the same drawbacks of regular small sets, but at least it gets around the 'first set must be large for card pool reasons' issue. I think it'd be neat to see as a gimmick, and see if they can make anything cool happen with it. Not holding my breath though.
~
Land
~ enters the battlefield tapped. ,t: Spells you cast cost RG less to cast this turn.
The mana cost of activating the ability should help mitigate some of its potential, but it's still rather powerful. For red-green spells, it'll tap for mana parity on the first spell (two mana in, reduce the cost by 2), but makes subsequent spells much cheaper.
I can tell you right now that in any incarnation, this effect would vastly increase the power of my Animar deck, so you've got to play it pretty safe.
One last comment: I removed the 'red spells' clause from your design in the interest of making it evenly balanced as a dual land, but it does significantly limit what spells are eligible for the reduction. Notably, my version makes storm decks too good.
Master Flamespeaker feels more than a little pushed. First strike plus firebreathing is already a potent combination, so I don't think it needs haste to become even more explosive. The firebreathing + scry is a nice combination as well. I think overall, you'd need to drop either haste or first strike to balance it at 4 mana.
This seems... Really really bad, to me. Lots of comments giving it more credit than I expected. I think in most cases you'd just prefer straight damage over this, meaning lightning strike and searing blood.
Fair enough in limited, of course.
With all these enchantment creatures, instant speed removal is going to be pretty key. Static effects that disappear so easily are going to create a lot of blowouts to non-savvy players.
If you have to play it safe so much, how much value can you ever get out of this guy, I wonder?
Still a crazy strong effect, though. Just thinking that I might prefer spear of heliod for the safety.
Don't care for the extended black bottom. Seems like 'logistics' was the only prompt for it, and I'd rather they just deal with the more complicated procedure instead of integrate the visual-scanning stuff they were talking about. Unless they're directly passing those profits on to us by raising the quality of what we're buying, they're just decreasing their own expenses and delivering a less aesthetically pleasing product. I can understand that as a company decision, but it sure sucks.
The border reduction is neat, of course. Less dead space.
I didn't know counterfeiting was actually an issue, but their solution doesn't bother me at this time. I'll have to see how they appear in person, I think. Too bad for the additional hardships on alters, though.
As for the design credits, I really don't get why they didn't take advantage of all that black space they just made and put design credits down there with artist credits. It could go right there on the right corner, under the WotC ownership info. Feels like they used a blunt hammer to sign an autograph -.-
Dual Mox
If ~ would enter the battlefield, you may sacrifice a land instead. If you do, put ~ onto the battlefield. If you don't, put it into its owner's graveyard.
Tap: Add C or D to your mana pool.
I like this example the best. It still provides an extra mana the turn you cast it, but isn't crazy acceleration. It's also not too powerful, as far as I can tell, since a single casting of it is like casting a Pyretic Ritual, while still being very simple and mox-like.
I mean, it's a dual mox. It has to have a severe drawback, and in my opinion, crippling the ramp capability is pretty appropriate. I also like the flavor of an artifact so powerful that creating it requires drawing the mana-producing power right out of the land itself.
Guided Passage is easily my favorite card. First, and for a long time only, red/blue/green card. I love it because it's generally 'bad,' but in casual play, especially in EDH, it can lead to some awesome plays. It is unique in its design, and I enjoy how people always ask what it does when I cast it.
Good card, though. Would be interested in seeing an EDH deck with this guy as the commander.
I don't think it'd work out very well, though. It doesn't seem to have a whole lot going for it compared to a single large set. If you're going after a specific rare/mythic, you'll end up with lots of the same uncommons/commons, though I guess it'd increase your chances of getting said mythic. Seems to have all the same drawbacks of regular small sets, but at least it gets around the 'first set must be large for card pool reasons' issue. I think it'd be neat to see as a gimmick, and see if they can make anything cool happen with it. Not holding my breath though.
~
Land
~ enters the battlefield tapped.
,t: Spells you cast cost RG less to cast this turn.
The mana cost of activating the ability should help mitigate some of its potential, but it's still rather powerful. For red-green spells, it'll tap for mana parity on the first spell (two mana in, reduce the cost by 2), but makes subsequent spells much cheaper.
I can tell you right now that in any incarnation, this effect would vastly increase the power of my Animar deck, so you've got to play it pretty safe.
One last comment: I removed the 'red spells' clause from your design in the interest of making it evenly balanced as a dual land, but it does significantly limit what spells are eligible for the reduction. Notably, my version makes storm decks too good.
Sorry, mixed up my rules with the God enchantments, who are creatures on the stack regardless of devotion.
Thanks for the clarification.
Isn't this just a worse negate, since there a no creature spells that target?
Well, I suppose it has fringe advantage in being able to counter a bestowed creature, but that hardly counts.
Fair enough in limited, of course.
If you have to play it safe so much, how much value can you ever get out of this guy, I wonder?
Still a crazy strong effect, though. Just thinking that I might prefer spear of heliod for the safety.
The border reduction is neat, of course. Less dead space.
I didn't know counterfeiting was actually an issue, but their solution doesn't bother me at this time. I'll have to see how they appear in person, I think. Too bad for the additional hardships on alters, though.
As for the design credits, I really don't get why they didn't take advantage of all that black space they just made and put design credits down there with artist credits. It could go right there on the right corner, under the WotC ownership info. Feels like they used a blunt hammer to sign an autograph -.-
I like this example the best. It still provides an extra mana the turn you cast it, but isn't crazy acceleration. It's also not too powerful, as far as I can tell, since a single casting of it is like casting a Pyretic Ritual, while still being very simple and mox-like.
I mean, it's a dual mox. It has to have a severe drawback, and in my opinion, crippling the ramp capability is pretty appropriate. I also like the flavor of an artifact so powerful that creating it requires drawing the mana-producing power right out of the land itself.