From Mary O'Kill: (If a creature is tapped, the switched creature is tapped. The same is true for untapped, attacking, blocking, enchanted, equipped, and targeted. Any counters on a creature are on the switched creature instead.)
I think this honestly works fine within the same zone...
Aminatou, Eternal Seer(W/B)U
Legendary Planeswalker - Aminatou {U}
You may look at the top card of your library.
\-1/: Exile the top card of your library face down. You may look at and play that card for as long as you control Aminatou.
[5]
Fortified Clearing
Land {R}
Fortified Clearing enters the battlefield tapped.
Champion a land (When this enters the battlefield, sacrifice it unless you exile another land you control until this leaves the battlefield.) T: Add two mana in any combination of R, G, and/or W.
Collective InsightsRR
Sorcery {R} Tempting offer — Exile the top card of your library. Each opponent may exile the top card of their library. For each opponent who does, exile the top card of your library. Until the beginning of your next turn, players may play cards they own exiled in this way. If you cast Collective Insights from your graveyard, each opponent must choose to exile the top card of their library.
Flashback 2RR(You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
Hundred-Handed One is a direct pull from the Hecatoncheires... but I get the point.
Valen, The War King1RWB
Legendary Artifact Creature - God Wonder {MR} (As this Wonder enters and after your draw step, you may tap a creature to put a brick counter on this.)
Indestructible
As long as it has less than three brick counters on it, Valen isn’t a creature.
Remove a brick counter from Valen: Untap target attacking creature you control. After this phase there is an additional combat phase. Each other creature that attacked or blocked this turn, cannot attack or block until end of turn. Activate this ability only once per turn.
7/4
Design (2/3) Appeal: The concept would appeal to Timmy and Johnny, but I've never known too many Spikes that cared for anthem effects.
Do the different player psychographics (Timmy/Johhny/Spike) have a use for the card? (1/3) Elegance: This is a giant plate of word salad, and, unfortunately, it doesn't make a lot of sense from a rules standpoint.
Development (0/3) Viability: Here's the bad news: the card does not work. When this creature dies, it is changing zones. It has left the battlefield and is no longer a creature. Granting it indestructible at this juncture does not change anything. As it is no longer a permanent, it cannot phase out. Also, you are assuming death via lethal damage. How would your card survive being Disfigured? (0/3) Balance: There is no way to interact with this card after it phases out and tries to become an anthem, and Time and Tide is the only card in existence that can force a phased-out permanent to phase back in. Conceptually, I see what you were trying to do. Unfortunately, the card "doesn't exist" while it is phased out, meaning it also cannot have an effect on the game state, unlike a card in exile.
Creativity (1/3) Uniqueness: I see where you were going, trying to create pseudo-emblems. It just does not work due to the rules. (1/3) Flavor: The definitions for "ineffable" are 'too great or extreme to be expressed or described in words' or 'not to be uttered'. A 2/2 Angel Spirit that can transcend the corporeal doesn't come across as 'ineffable'.
Polish (1/3) Quality: Unable to correct the first line, as the card does not work as written. (0/2) *Main Challenge: Challenge attempted. However, as the card is not viable, I cannot award points here. (2/2) Subchallenges: Not Blue? Yes. Uncommon or Rare? Yes.
Viability: The trigger that makes the card phase out is a replacement effect ("If ~ would die" not "When ~ dies") and as such the zone change never happens. Creatures that would die from Anger of the Gods never actually hit the graveyard, if what you are saying about my card were true, that would not be the case.
Rule 702.25b. is:
If a permanent phases out, its status changes to "phased out." Except for rules and effects that specifically mention phased-out permanents, a phased-out permanent is treated as though it does not exist. It can't affect or be affected by anything else in the game. A permanent that phases out is removed from combat.
As this card does specifically mention a phased-out permanent (itself), the static ability should function.
And regardless of the card's viability, it by definition satisfies the main challenge as it is "a card with "phasing", "phase(s) in", and/or "phase(s) out" in its rules text."
The card was purely example, the actual issue was with a card with "if this would die, it phases out instead" need indestructibility until EoT or to have the marked damage removed in order to actually function (and would -N/-N card just outright kill it?)
Ineffable StewardWW
Creature - Angel Spirit {R}
Flying
If Ineffable Steward would die, it gains indestructible until end of turn and phases out instead. (While it’s phased out, it’s treated as though it doesn’t exist.)
Ineffable Steward doesn’t phase in during your untap step.
As long as Ineffable Steward is phased out, creatures you control get +1/+1.
2/2
Appeal: 2.5/3 - Timmy is fine with an anthem that those stupid control players can't blow up, Johnny wants to break this and will stop at nothing to try. Spike will take it, but he's a bit miffed at the effort it'll take to make it OP.
Elegance: 3/3 - you see the typeline, you read the effect, and it just...makes sense. It's simple but wonderfully effective.
Viability: 2.5/3 - Given the associated sub-challenge I'm not deducting points from anyone for not having the card be blue. Rare is right for the statline and that it turns into an anthem afterwards. However, making it indestructible is redundant since phasing out is worded as a replacement effect. It'll phase out instead of dying.
Balance: 2/3 - Anything that involves phasing I envision players using an official Cup O' Phasing to work around it. (When anything phases out, put it under the Cup O' Phasing. It's still THERE, you just can't see it.) and this effect has SIGNIFICANT memory issues, both with the boost while phased out (Cuo's covering it so you can't see that it should be boosting) and never phasing back in (when everything else phased out will). If printed this would get a TON of judge calls because of this. It's not unbalanced, more like it has balance-adjacent issues.
Uniqueness: 3/3 - Nothing has interacted with cards that are phased out, and it's design space that if phasing were still a thing might be explored a bit more.
Flavor: 0.5/3 - Obviously killing the angel doesn't mean it's gone, but..."ineffable" has a very specific connotation in MTG lore. You also could have used some flavor text, but that flavor fail is really hard to look past.
Quality: 3/3 - Card is clean.
Main Challenge: 1.5/2 - Main challenge is met, but you rather blatantly twisted yourself to get there. The card is clearly designed to work out of Exile, possibly with some kind of counter to clear up the memory issues.
Sub-Challenges: 2/2 - Both subchallenges met.
Total: 20/25
Ineffable has been usedtwice in magic card names, and neither (to my knowledge) has anything to do with Yawgmoth. I personally don't feel the use of the word should incur any kind of flavor penalty, but I absolutely don't feel that a 2.5 point penalty is appropriate.
The indestructible clause was added because I am genuinely unsure if state based actions 'see' phased out permanents. If they are affected, it would need to have its damage removed (regenerate) or be made indestructible even with the replacement effect of phasing out. Additionally, even if they are't affected by SBAs, I didn't want the un-intuitive situation to arise that the angel dies due to damage, phases itself out with the damage still marked on it, and then had Time and Tide cast in the same turn, causing the angel to phase back in and then immediately phase back out again because it still has lethal damage marked on it.
Simply enough: are phased-out permanents affected by State based actions.
to my knowledge, there aren't any real cards that could cause this issue, but say this was a card:
Phased DisfigureB
Instant {C}
Target phased-out creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
Assuming a targeted Grizzly Bears did not phase in before the end of the turn, would the bear die due to having 0 toughness? Or is it treated as tough it doesn't exist even to the point of state-based actions not checking on it?
Sadly its not a die trigger so bouncing and exiling while you still have doesnt really work.
I think they mean in conjunction: Bazaar Trader him away, then flicker him. Your opponent has to sac a mountain (if they have one, saneatali suggested Blood Moon) and when he comes back into play it will be under your control so you go get another mountain.
I think this honestly works fine within the same zone...
Legendary Planeswalker - Aminatou {U}
You may look at the top card of your library.
\-1/: Exile the top card of your library face down. You may look at and play that card for as long as you control Aminatou.
[5]
IIW: Niche Commanders
Land {R}
Fortified Clearing enters the battlefield tapped.
Champion a land (When this enters the battlefield, sacrifice it unless you exile another land you control until this leaves the battlefield.)
T: Add two mana in any combination of R, G, and/or W.
IIW: Copy things
Sorcery {R}
Tempting offer — Exile the top card of your library. Each opponent may exile the top card of their library. For each opponent who does, exile the top card of your library. Until the beginning of your next turn, players may play cards they own exiled in this way. If you cast Collective Insights from your graveyard, each opponent must choose to exile the top card of their library.
Flashback 2RR (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
They aren't. I was poking fun at Void's question of why Vareer discards cards and copies rather than just casting for free.
Valen, The War King 1RWB
Legendary Artifact Creature - God Wonder {MR}
(As this Wonder enters and after your draw step, you may tap a creature to put a brick counter on this.)
Indestructible
As long as it has less than three brick counters on it, Valen isn’t a creature.
Remove a brick counter from Valen: Untap target attacking creature you control. After this phase there is an additional combat phase. Each other creature that attacked or blocked this turn, cannot attack or block until end of turn. Activate this ability only once per turn.
7/4
IIW: Artifacts with the subtype "Wonder"
Edit: I feel like I need to argue for myself here
Viability: The trigger that makes the card phase out is a replacement effect ("If ~ would die" not "When ~ dies") and as such the zone change never happens. Creatures that would die from Anger of the Gods never actually hit the graveyard, if what you are saying about my card were true, that would not be the case.
Rule 702.25b. is:
If a permanent phases out, its status changes to "phased out." Except for rules and effects that specifically mention phased-out permanents, a phased-out permanent is treated as though it does not exist. It can't affect or be affected by anything else in the game. A permanent that phases out is removed from combat.
As this card does specifically mention a phased-out permanent (itself), the static ability should function.
And regardless of the card's viability, it by definition satisfies the main challenge as it is "a card with "phasing", "phase(s) in", and/or "phase(s) out" in its rules text."
/rant
Ineffable has been used twice in magic card names, and neither (to my knowledge) has anything to do with Yawgmoth. I personally don't feel the use of the word should incur any kind of flavor penalty, but I absolutely don't feel that a 2.5 point penalty is appropriate.
The indestructible clause was added because I am genuinely unsure if state based actions 'see' phased out permanents. If they are affected, it would need to have its damage removed (regenerate) or be made indestructible even with the replacement effect of phasing out. Additionally, even if they are't affected by SBAs, I didn't want the un-intuitive situation to arise that the angel dies due to damage, phases itself out with the damage still marked on it, and then had Time and Tide cast in the same turn, causing the angel to phase back in and then immediately phase back out again because it still has lethal damage marked on it.
to my knowledge, there aren't any real cards that could cause this issue, but say this was a card:
Phased Disfigure B
Instant {C}
Target phased-out creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
Assuming a targeted Grizzly Bears did not phase in before the end of the turn, would the bear die due to having 0 toughness? Or is it treated as tough it doesn't exist even to the point of state-based actions not checking on it?
I think they mean in conjunction: Bazaar Trader him away, then flicker him. Your opponent has to sac a mountain (if they have one, saneatali suggested Blood Moon) and when he comes back into play it will be under your control so you go get another mountain.