MTG Salvation

I'm not sure...that seems like an ability that's awfully easy to break. First, it should only let you sacrifice an untapped land, so it can't be used the turn it comes into play. Then assuming one plays it with 5 lands in play, and plays another one the next turn, that's 18 mana on turn 6. And, if you happen to, say, use a BoP or elves to accel, this could come out as early as turn 3. Turn 4 and you have 12 mana. That's insane.
Maybe drop the mana to 2 and add a "pay two life" clause. Its likely still broken, but its a little better.

Battleground Retaliater 1
Creature-Human Soldier (C)
When ~ is put into a graveyard from play, it deals one damage to each creature dealt damage this turn.
1/1

Thanks for all the feedback

Temporal Addendum: I kind of figured this would be completely broken, but I wanted to just confirm that here. The ability just seemed to work too well with "take an extra turn after this one" to not flirt with the idea.

Cemetery Eviction: I'm not sure I'd want this to go up to 4BB, since I want to push it a little. Would it be okay if I added a condition to returning to your hand, like this:

Cemetery Eviction 3BB
Sorcery (R)
At end of turn, if Cemetery Eviction was the only spell you played this turn, you may sacrifice a permanent. If you do, return Cemetery Eviction from your graveyard to your hand.

@ mondu the fat: this is why I wouldn't want to keyword this ability, because I'd like it to both be able to have conditions and not.

Tidal Overflow: Yeah, I thought this one would be a little controversial. The comparisons to capsize make sense, but maybe with a little work, it'll be alright. Would 2UU and/or sorcery speed work?

thanks
drenik

I've been thinking recently about how to make instants and sorceries a little more interesting and relevant. Here is just one idea that I'm fond of:

Infectious Overflow BB
Instant (C)
Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
At end of turn, if Infectious Overflow is in your graveyard and was the only spell you played this turn, you may return Infectious Overflow to its owner’s hand.

Lunar Overflow 2W
Instant (C)
Prevent the next three damage that would be dealt to target creature or player this turn.
At end of turn, if Lunar Overflow is in your graveyard and was the only spell you played this turn, return Lunar Overflow to its owner’s hand.

Growth Overflow 2G
Instant (C)
Target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn.
At end of turn, if Growth Overflow is in your graveyard and was the only spell you played this turn, you may return Growth Overflow to its owner’s hand.

Tidal Overflow 1UU
Instant (C)
Return target creature to its owner’s hand.
At end of turn, if Tidal Overflow is in your graveyard and was the only spell you played this turn, you may return Tidal Overflow to its owner’s hand.

Solar Overflow 3R
Instant (C)
Solar Overflow deals three damage to target player.
At end of turn, if Solar Overflow is in your graveyard and was the only spell you played this turn, you may return Solar Overflow to its owner’s hand.

and a couple of larger ones:

Seasonal Bloom 4G
Sorcery (U)
Search your library for up to two basic land cards and put them into play tapped. Then shuffle your library.
At end of turn, if Seasonal Bloom is in your graveyard and was the only spell you played this turn, you may return Seasonal Bloom to its owner’s hand.

Cemetery Eviction 3BB
Sorcery (R)
Return target creature card in your graveyard to play.
At end of turn, if Cemetery Eviction is in your graveyard and was the only spell you played this turn, you may return Cemetery Eviction to its owner’s hand.

Temporal Addendum 3UUU
Sorcery (M)
Take an extra turn after this one.
At end of turn, if Temporal Addendum is in your graveyard and the only spell you played this turn, you may return Temporal Addendum to its owner’s hand.

What do you think? Does this mechanic work or does it bust? Are the costs for Cemetery Eviction and Temporal Addendum too low? Am I completely ignoring or forgetting something important? Anything else cool, wacky, ignorant or off about these cads? Let me know!

drenik

To start this off, a new ability: "Return to [basic land type]:"

Minefume Conflagration 4RR
Sorcery (R)
Minefume Conflagration deals damage to each creature and each player equal to the number of mountains you control.
Return to mountain 2 (When this card is put into a graveyard, you may pay 2. If you do, remove this card from the game and put a mountain land token into play.)

Deluged Depository
Land (C)
Deluged Depostitory comes into play tapped.
T: Add B to your mana pool.
B, T, Sacrifice Deluged Depostitory: Remove target card in a graveyard from the game.
Return to swamp 2 (When this card is put into a graveyard, you may pay 2. If you do, remove this card from the game and put a swamp land token into play.)

Trellised Coppice G
Creature-Plant (C)
Defender
t: Add G to your mana pool.
Return to forest 2 (When this card is put into a graveyard, you may pay 2. If you do, remove this card from the game and put a forest land token into play.)
0/2

Wavewash 3
Instant (U)
Put target non-creature permanent on top of its owner's library.

Slum Archer 1BG
Creature-centaur Archer (U)
Deathtouch
t: Slum Archer deals one damage to target creature with flying.
2/2

Pious Refiner1WW
Creature-Human Cleric (C)
When Pious Refiner comes into play, destroy target enchantment.
When Pious Refiner leaves play, destroy target enchantment.
1/1

And, lastly, two simple common artifacts that are very similar. I'm wondering which of the two versions you think is better (in terms of play value, flavor, design and power level)

Lavasworn Ember 2
Artifact (C)
T, Sacrifice Lavasworn Ember: Lavasworn Ember deals one damage to target creature or player. If you control more mountains than any other player, return Lavasworn Ember to its owner’s hand.

Sandsworn Seashell 2
Artifact (C)
T, Sacrifice Sandsworn Seashell: Draw a card. If you control more islands than any other land type, you may return Sandsworn Seashell to its owner’s hand.

thanks
drenik

Quote from rancored_elf

What would be the colour (or colours) best for the effect "destroy target planeswalker"?

Personally, I would say green. First of all, green already can (Rootgrapple). More importantly, however, green should get that ability (if it ever appears - which I don't think it should, but...) because it makes sense flavorwise. Green is the champion of the natural order. Planeswalkers travel from plane to plane, and, in doing so, they disrupt the natural orders of the planes. While "the spark" may be natural in the long term, I doubt that a green mage would see individual planeswalkers as being part of the natural order in the moment. Thus, green should get "destroy target planeswalker," if any color.

On the other hand, black can get anything it wants (expect maybe enchantment distruction) if its willing to give enough.

Or, maybe that ability should be on an artifact or land. Then every colro could have it, and none very well.

Hmm. This is an interesting idea, but also slightly dangerous. Black is traditionally the color with control over the graveyard, with each other color getting a little bit of interaction with it, especially in Odyssey block. Blue (along with black) is generally the best color at putting cards into a graveyard, but generally doesn't have much use for the graveyard afterwards. Blue is looking forward towards newer ideas, not old, discarded ones.

That said, I think some blue interaction with the graveyard is okay, especially with artifacts, instants and, to a lesser degree, sorceries (red usually has first dibs on sorceries). Right now, Use that Aether feels more black (or even green) than blue.

Use that Aether 2.0 1UU
Enchantment
1U, remove X cards in your graveyard from the game: Return target instant or sorcery card with converted mana cost X or less to its owner's hand.

or

Use that Aether 2.5 1UU
Enchantment
1U, remove X cards in your graveyard from the game: Return target artifact card with converted mana cost X or less to its owner's hand.

I'd be careful with version 2.5, just because artifact recursion has a history of being extremely volatile. Then again, so do graveyard mechanics. The thing about cards in the graveyard, unlike cards in hand or in the library, is that they are useless until a card makes them useful. In that respect, they are sort of a "free" resource: nothing will happen to them or because of them if a card uses them, other than what the card will do to them. That means that abilities that use the graveyard must be costed quite conservatively.

On a slightly different note, the reason graveyard abilities are generally black is because a) graveyards are about death, and so it black, and, more importantly, b) because black generally deals more with "free" resources and the dilemma's of using them more than any other color.

I'm rambling, but I hope you get my general point: blue can use the graveyard ,but not usually in an all-purpose way like black can: blue uses the graveyard only when it involves milling cards, artifacts, instants or occasionally sorceries.

How does this apply to Allot? Well, it, like cycling, could very easily be applied to every color (although maybe more heavily in black), but it should have a steep cost. A cost of 2, like with cycling, won't work, because discarding a card is also a very steep cost. Maybe a base cost of 4 or 5, or something like this:

Simple Blue Allot Spell 2UU
Instant (C)
Draw two cards.
Allot 3, remove ~ and two other instant spells in your graveyard from the game: Draw a card.

I hope this helped.

Topographic Compactor 5
Artifact (R)
Each player may only have one mana of each color in his or her mana pool.
WUBRG: Remove Topographic Compactor from the game. Return it to play at end of turn. Any player may play this ability.

Skittish Manta 1UU
Creature-Fish (U)
When Skittish Manta comes into play, return target permanent to its owner's hand.
Whenever a permanent with the same name as the permanent returned to its owner's hand by Skittish Manta comes into play, return Skittish Manta to its owner's hand.
3/2

Sunscale Lizard
Creature-Lizard (C)
When Sunscale Lizard comes into play, if R was used to play it, add G to your mana pool. If G was used to play it, add R to your mana pool.
1/1

Mockery of Aggression 3W
Instant (U)
Mockery of Aggression deals two damage to each attacking creature. You gain life equal to the amount of damage dealt in this way.

Treecavern Deathspinner 2GG
Creature-Spider (R)
Reach, deathtouch
Whenever a creature with flying is put into a graveyard from play, put a +1/+1 counter on Treecavern Deathspinner.
2/3

Pedantic Syphon BBBB
Enchantment (M)
Whenever a player loses life, draw that many cards.
Whenever a player gains life, discard that many cards.
Creatures you control have lifelink.

Bloodblinded Goblin 1R
Creature-Goblin Barbarian (C)
Haste
At end of turn, if Bloodblinded goblin didn't attack, sacrifice it.
3/2

Whirlpool's Kin 1U
Creature-Merfolk Wizard (U)
t: Target creature gets -X/-0 until end of turn, where X is the amount of mana in your mana pool.
1/1

Battleground Muddle 2URR
Enchantment (R)
Whenever a player plays a spell, counter it. That spell's controller may pick a card from his or her hand at random. He or she may play that card without paying its mana cost.

so I was thinking about computers and gaming, and I kept on coming back to the idea that the base colors for computers are red, blue and green.

a little while I was thinking about magic, and those three colors were still stuck in my head, so I wondered, in regards to magic, what life would be like in red green blue:

Impede 1UU
Instant (C)
Shuffle target spell into its owner's library.

Inquisitive Etching U
Creature-Merfolk Wizard (C)
Morph 1U
When Inquisitive Etching is turned face up, choose one — Look at target face-down card or reveal the top card of target player’s library.
1/1

Exposure of Thought XU
Instant (U)
Search your library for up to X cards and reveal them. Then shuffle your library.
Draw a card.

Creative Guerdon 3UU
Enchantment (R)
Whenever a card is revealed or a creature turned face-up, you may put a 1/1 blue merfolk wizard creature token into play.

Explorer's Delight 2R
Enchantment - Aura (U)
Enchant creature
Whenever a card is revealed from anywhere, enchanted creature gets +X/+0, where X is the revealed card’s converted mana cost.

Hoaxing Clamorer 3RR
Creature-Centaur Warrior (R)
First strike, trample
Visualize 4RR (When this card is revealed from anywhere, you may play it for its visualize cost.)
When Hoaxing Clamorer comes into play, if you played it for its visualize cost, it comes into play with a +1/+1 counter on it.
3/3

Expand the Periphery G
Instant (C)
Reveal the top three cards of your library. Put all land cards revealed in this way into play tapped, and shuffle the rest into your library.

Summerwave Revelry 2G
Instant (U)
You gain one life for each land you control.
Visualize 2GG (When this card is revealed from anywhere, you may play it for its visualize cost.)
If you played Summerwave Revelry for its visualize cost, also put a 3/3 green centaur warrior creature token into play.

Tidal Eruption 2UR
Sorcery (C)
Reveal the top four cards of your library. Tidal Eruption deals X damage to target creature or player and tap X non-land permanents, where X is the the number non-land spells revealed in this way.

Covetous Maladroit 2GU
Creature-Elemental (R)
Whenever a creature card is revealed from anywhere, you may pay 2. If you do, Covetous Maladroit becomes a copy of that creature with this ability.
2/2

Wavebroken Courier 1URG
Creature-Merfolk Wizard (U)
Shroud
Whenever Wavebroken Courier blocks, reveal the top five cards of your library. Your may put a creature card revealed in this way into play blocking the creature(s) Wavebroken Courier is blocking. If you do, shuffle Wavebroken Courier into your library.
1/2

Pirate Intuition UURG
Instant (R)
Each player reveals the top card of their library. Pirate Intuition becomes a copy of one of those cards. (This effect doesn’t end at end of turn.)

Ealic the Ingenious 2URG
Legendary Creature-Centaur Wizard (MR)
Protection from instants and sorceries.
Visualize XURG (When this card is revealed from anywhere, you may play it for its visualize cost.)
When Ealic the Ingenious comes into play, if you played it for its visualize cost, you may play up to X spells this turn without playing thier mana costs.
3/4

Simulacre 4UURG
Creature-Elemental (MR)
Whenever a player plays a spell, you may put a 5/5 blue, green and red Simulacre token into play with this ability.
5/5

Summerwave Portrait
Land (C)
T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
Morph 2
When Summerwave Portrait is turned face up, add URG to your mana pool.

~

Thats all for now.

Some cards that I thought about while nostalgically looking at my old Diligent Farmhands and Muscle Bursts:

Mindtheft Augur U
Creature-Merfolk Wizard (C)
Sacrifice Mindtheft Augur: Look at target player’s hand.
If Mindtheft Augur is in a graveyard, effects from spells named Censor Thought count it as a card named Censor Thought.
1/1

Censor Thought U
Instant (C)
Remove the top four cards of target player’s library from the game, then remove the top four cards of target player’s library from the game for each card named Censor Thought in each graveyard.

Focal Peeve 2R
Creature-Goblin Barbarian (C)
Whenever a creature you control is put into a graveyard from play, it deals one damage to Focal Peeve.
If Focal Peeve is in a graveyard, effects from spells named Jumbled Exchange count it as a card named Jumbled Exchange.
3/2

Jumbled Exchange 3RR
Instant (R)
Each player discards his or hand, then draws X cards, where X is two plus the number of cards named Jumbled Exchange in all graveyards.

Meditative Disciple 1G
Creature-Elf Warrior Shaman (C)
When Meditative Disciple is put into a graveyard from play, you may put a 1/1 green elf creature token into play.
If Meditative Disciple is in a graveyard, effects from spells named Expedited Fertility count it as a card named Expedited Fertility.
1/1

Expedited Fertility 3GG
Sorcery (U)
Search your library for X land cards and put them into play tapped, where X is one plus the number of cards named Expedited Fertility in all graveyards. Then shuffle your library.

Grim Attendants 1B
Creature-Rat (C)
B, Sacrifice Grim Attendants: Each player discards a card.
If Grim Attendants is in a graveyard, effects from spells named Dismember count it as a card named Dismember.
1/1

Dismember 2B
Instant (C)
Target creature gets -X/-X until end of turn, where X is two plus the number of cards named Dismember in all graveyards.

Adjustable Sentence 2W
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature cannot attack or block.
Sacrifice Adjustable Sentence: Target creature cannot attack or block until end of turn.
If Adjustable Sentence is in a graveyard, effects from spells named Faithful’s Retaliation count it as a card named Faithful’s Retaliation.

Faithful's Retaliation 4WW
Sorcery (R)
Remove X target permanents from the game, where X is two plus the number of cards named Faithful’s Retaliation in all graveyards.

and an extra card:

Sewer Majesties 2BB
Creature-Rat (R)
Protection from black
Fear
Whenever Sewer Majesties deals combat damage to a player, that player discards a card at random. Put X 1/1 black rat creature tokens into play, where X is the number of colored mana symbols in that card’s mana cost.
2/2

~

When we first started speculating on Shards, many people believed that Naya would have a land theme. (I was one of those people.) Instead we got this 5 or more power matters theme that, while interesting and flavorful, doesn't work as well for the game as I would have liked.

Some cards, like Lush Growth, Wild Nacatl, Druid of the Anima, Qasali Ambusher and even Godsire feel like they could have been a part of a land-themed shard.

So, here are a couple cards that I feel represent what Naya should have been: the land themed-shard. (And yes, I know the names are terrible)

Naya Highlands
Land (C)
~ comes into play tapped.
T: Add R or G to your mana pool.
RG, t: Target creature gets -1/-0 and gains trample until end of turn.

Naya Lowlands
Land (C)
~ comes into play tapped.
T: Add G or W to your mana pool.
GW, t: Target creature gets -1/-0 and gains vigilance until end of turn.

Vinetraveller Elder G
Creature-Elf Shaman (C)
When ~ is put into a graveyard from play, you may search your library for a basic mountain, plains or forest ad put it into play tapped. If you do, shuffle your library.
1/1

Naya Croptiller 1G
Creature-Elf Druid (U)
At the beginning of your upkeep you may return a land card in your graveyard to your hand.
1/2

Frontier Delver 1GW
Creature-Cat Warrior Shaman (U)
Whenever ~ attacks, you may search your library for a land card and put it into play tapped. If you do, shuffle your library.
3/2

Animated Terrain 3GG
Enchantment (R)
Basic lands you control are 2/2 green elf warrior creatures. They're still lands.
Non-basic lands you control have: "t: Target land gets +1/+1 until end of turn."

Emissary of the Landscape 4RGGW
Creature-Treefolk Druid (M)
Vigilance
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a 1/1 green saproling creature token into play for each land you control.
T: Search your library for up to 3 land cards and put them into play tapped. Then shuffle your library.
5/4

Thoughts? Ideas? Additions?

Honestly, I'd like to see the tap lands back. While I personally like the pain lands a lot, I think a short break from insane mana fixing would be nice. As it is, basic lands rarely comprise more the half of a deck's mana base anymore, and a return to simpler fixing would be appreciated. I remember the tap lands being played a little in Type 2 when they were in 8th, but not in every deck. Just for 11th, the taplands would be nice. We could have the pain lands back by 12th, but in an environment with 2 or 3 cycles of rare 2 color lands, simple, not so powerful one would be great.

I doubt it, but maybe they'll surprise us. Kind of like how Goldmeadow Lookout was a 'preview' of Goldmeadow Harrier, even though the lookout didn't appear in LOR or MOR.

well, while Alara is mostly likely (and hopefully) not gold themed, it is confirmed that there will be more gold cards than card of any one particular color, since Ajani's collector's number is 154, and Sarkhan's is 191. That leaves at most 30 cards per color and at least 40 gold cards, probably closer to 50.

Bloc Party - Mercury

(and eagerly awaiting Thursday's surprise release of Intimacy!)

Regarding the whole brightness issue:

I think the new, brighter world is a good thing. Yes, being able to see will be nice, although it wasn't that big of a problem for me in II.

The big thing for me is a variation of what a lot of other people have been saying: the contrast. With a larger variety of colors, the game will be able to have more different regions of the game, and, with more areas comes more game time. In the end, we may very well get a game twice as long because there are more colors to differentiate the acts in it. That, in my book, is a definite positive.

Also, a common reason that has been expressed for wanting a more grim world is that it would "make the game scarier."
While this may be true in some cases, I doubt that it would. I, personally, find that (even in video games) scary things out of place (in broad daylight, in the middle of a tranquil town, ect.) frequently are scarier than scary things in scary places. Again, it's about the contrast. We should welcome the change for what it is. Maybe, with enough support, they'll have a menu option where you can slightly decrease the brightness and make it darker. Keyword: option.