Legacy & Modern can easily hit WBB turn three, and frequently turn two. Even in Standard, it's not exactly hard to do - just something you can't rely on every game by turn three.
The problem is not with the color weight, it's with the converted mana cost and the abilities themselves. The proposed card's first ability should not add Loyalty counters; not only does it make the card extremely difficult to remove, it stalls out the opponents ability to progress the game - for combo decks, sometimes indefinitely. The second ability has to be carefully managed for a Standard-like environment to not be brokenly powerful, and is not a white/black ability anyway as already noted.
Khor Drumbeater2RG
Creature - Beast Warrior
Haste
Whenever ~ attacks, exile the top three cards of your library. You may put a creature card from among them onto the battlefield tapped and attacking. If you do, sacrifice it at the end combat. Put all other cards exiled this way on the bottom of your library in any order.
3/2
Khor Drumbeater2RG
Creature - Beast Warrior
Haste
Whenever ~ attacks, you may put a creature card from your hand onto the battlefield tapped and attacking. If you do, sacrifice it at the end of combat.
3/2
Personally, I like the second of these more - a toned down Sneak Attack with legs. Probably to strong for the current Standard environment, but not an overpowered card.
The '+1' is very strong - this card can easily lock down decks in Modern/Legacy. I'm not fond of combo decks because they tend to overemphasize a single play like that, but they still form a valuable part of the metagame. Move this to '-1', and find something else for the '+'. Also worth noting that you probably shouldn't be able to name lands, and it not stopping activated abilities makes it feel incomplete - preventing damage serves to protect the planeswalker, but I would still consider trading it for activated abilities, as that fits better with the effect.
The '-X' is a black/green ability, and one you have to be careful with being able to reuse. Hitting only creatures limits it some, but not really enough. Change it to "-X: Destroy target nonland permanent with converted mana cost X." or similar, or just drop it entirely to make room for a new '+' ability.
I see no problem with the '-6', aside from minor templating - "You get an emblem with "At the beginning of your upkeep, you may return target permanent card from your graveyard to the battlefield." "
I originally pitched the idea as a 'Buyback' variant, intended to work with permanents as well as instants & sorceries (it also shares similarities with 'Flashback' and 'Unearth'). The ability as written (aside from a few templating errors) works fine. It is effects it is used with, and associated costs, that can be problematic. My biggest criticism right now is that they all use mana costs.
Several of the proposed cards are to strong. To start with, I would suggest the following changes on these three, followed by playtesting.
Cataclysmic FalloutXRR
Sorcery (Rare)
Cataclysmic Fallout deals X damage to each creature and each player. Damage dealt this way can't be prevented.
Reclaim 1R(Ifthis card would be out into a graveyard from anywhere, you may pay 1R. If you do, put it into your hand instead.)
Risky Business1R
Instant (Uncommon)
Draw two cards, then discard two cards.
Reclaim 2R
AEther ExodusUU
Instant (Uncommon)
Return target nonland permanent to it's owners hand.
Reclaim - Discard a card.
Illusionary Replication & Risky Business raise some flags as well, but don't scream overpowered. Tormenting Delve does not feel black (change it to target card in a graveyard, & double the 'Reclaim' cost). Also, I'm guessing the 'Reclaim' cost on the creatures are probably to low, but playtest some first.
That being said, there is a lot of room for the stated goal of 'regaining your spells'.
Off the top of my head, you can have a built-in Regrowth, or a 'Dredge' variant.
<name> <cost> (<cost>: Return this card from your graveyard to your hand. <name> only as a sorcery.)
<name> <cost> (If you would draw a card, instead you may /pay/ <cost>. If you do, return this card from your graveyard to your hand. Otherwise, draw a card.)
Edit: If you go with 'Essence Shift', I would suggest adding a cost, check subtypes (& use 'Arcane' &/or 'Tribal' types), and drop the random aspect.
<name> <cost> (When this card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, you may /pay/ <cost>. If you do, return another <subtype> card from your graveyard to your hand.)
Again, putting cards on the bottom of your library is usually very different from 'getting those cards back'. Also, simpler is better - avoid complex mechanics if there is another way of achieving the goal.
Instead, maybe look at a Buyback variant that works with creatures.
<ability name> <cost> (If this card would be put into your graveyard, you may pay <cost>. If you do, put it into your hand instead).
I would change 'put on the bottom of your library' to 'exile'. It is cleaner & saves space. It also fits flavor more I think, of using the lingering magic remnants (you lose the 'reuse/reincarnation' aspect, but putting it on the bottom of your library doesn't feel like that anyway). I would also keep it as a tribal mechanic - elemental subtype only.
Either way, 'Convey' is not a good word for this ability.
Tibalt, Painmaker1BR
Planeswalker - Tibalt (2)
+2: Put a -1/-1 counter on up to one target creature.
-1: Each player loses life equal to the number of cards in his or her graveyard.
-3: ~ deals 3 damage to that player. That player discards two cards.
I dislike the '+2' ability because it can all to often not do anything (I am aware Wizards has printed planeswalkers with + abilities that don't do anything already - those however are usually among the more poorly designed ones). The new version still requires a creature to do anything more than just add loyalty, but will nearly always impact that creature, and serve as a 'protection' ability.
The '-3' ability was to strong; fixed this by moving his starting loyalty to 2.
The '-13' feels like a bunch of random effects stapled on. While potentially strong, the Blightning ability means you would never even bother with this. I took the first part (which seems the most flavor-appropriate anyway), gave it a downside (global instead of opponent), and moved it to -1.
This version is still to strong I think (possibly stronger than your first version despite not being strictly better than Blightning), but I feel it is a more cohesive design while still doing what you appeared to be trying to accomplish. Balance issues can be fixed by toying with a few numbers (I would focus on the discard/damage from the '-3' and on the casting cost first).
I dislike having a 'cards in graveyards do damage' ability and a 'discard cards and do damage' ability - two much overlap, but that is mostly personal taste. I also have an issue with the '-3' providing fuel for the '-1', as it seems backwards, but again it's mostly personal taste, & I can't fix it without spending more time on the card than I want to.
Edit: Templating for the first ability of your current design should be "+2: ~ deals 1 damage to each of up to two target creatures."
While not directly related to phrasing of the mechanic, I feel obligated to point out that there is a reason Yawgmoth's Will has an exile clause - and is still played in nearly every deck in the single competative format it is legal in (& was banned in Standard, irrc).
[Needs a Name] 4UG
Enchantment - (U)
Whenever you cast a permanent spell during your opponents turn, draw a card and reveal the drawn card if it shares a type with the target permanent spell then put a copy of the revealed card into the battlefield.
"Whenever you cast a permanent spell during an opponent's turn, draw a card. If it shares a card type with target permanent, you may reveal it and put a token that's a copy of the revealed card onto the battlefield."
Rethink the design - it is a high cost card with a very clunky mechanic that does nothing on it's own, and is entirely dependent on cards with flash. Maybe have it give your spells flash, and if the drawn card shares a card type with the spell you cast, put a copy into play.
Kruphix, God of Time 3UG
Legendary Enchantment Creature - God (M)
Flash Indestructible
~ isn't a creature if your devotion to blue or green is less than three.
As long as your devotion to blue is more than three, you may cast sorceries and enchantments as if they had flash.
As long as your devotion to green is more than three, all other permanents you control have hexproof.
As long as your devotion to green and blue is more than three, at the beginning of your upkeep search your library for a permanent spell, reveal it and put it in hand that spell has flash for as long as your control ~.
5/5
"As long as your devotion to blue is three or more, you may cast sorcery and enchantment spells as if they had flash.
As long as your devotion to green is three or more, other permanents you control have hexproof."
Dual devotion is a cool idea, but the third ability is basically unprintable. First, the card is very wordy, and there is probably not room to typeset all those abilities. Second (though this isn't 'unprintable') requiring two devotions at once is again clunky. And third, you cannot assign properties to cards in a hidden zone - you cannot give a specific card in your hand, library, or exiled face-down flash or any similar ability.
Time Lash 1U
Instant - (U)
Return target nonland permanent to it's owners hand that player puts a nonland permanent from the hand to the battlefield with equal or less than the converted mana cost of target card.
"Return target nonland permanent to its owner's hand. That player may put a nonland permanent with converted mana cost equal to or less than that card's converted mana cost from his or her hand onto the battlefield."
Clunky, difficult to format correctly, and it allows the player to put the bounced card back onto the battlefield immediately off the effect that bounced it. Instead, add a timing restriction of 'during an opponents main phase', and instead of the exchange, add an amount of colorless mana to their mana pool equal to the bounced card's converted mana cost. This removes a lot of the complexity, provides an effect similar to the perceived design goal, and allows you to return colored permanents without them immediately returning. This change does not allow you to effectively use it on your own cards, but if that is the objective, it would be cleaner to restrict it to yourself, or simply use preexisting 'blink' mechanics.
Edit: Another way to try and duplicate the functionality you appear to be going for is for them to put a card onto the battlefield, then return the target to it's hand. 'Exile target nonland permanent. It's controller may put a nonland permanent with converted mana cost equal to or less than it onto the battlefield. Then put the exiled card into its owner's hand.' is probably the best way to do so.
Leader of the Pack 1WG
Creature - Lion (U)
Trample
Whenever another creature enters the battlefield under your control put a +1/+1 counter on a target creature you control.
3/3
"Whenever another creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control."
3/3 trample with that ability for CMC 3 is a bit strong; should probably be weakened a little.
Meletis Champion 2UW
Creature - Human Soldier (R)
Hexproof
Whenever ~ deals combat damage to a player target player reveals their hand you may choose a nonland card from their hand and gain life equal to its converted mana cost and put a +1/+1 counter on ~.
3/4
"Whenever ~ deals combat damage to a player, that player reveals his or her hand. You may choose a nonland card from it. If you do, you gain life equal to it's converted mana cost and put a +1/+1 counter on ~.
Leyline Titan - as originally written, cannot be reasonably priced for reasons already pointed out. Comparing it to Iona does not help, as Iona is an example of a card that should not have been printed (similar to early color hosers such as Conversion); it is not that Iona is to powerful - it is actually reasonably priced for an ability of that strength - it is that it introduces a metagame warping effect. Side note: I'm not sure why you would give a creature with 'titan' in the name a beast subtype.
As a 1G instant with an additional 'draw a card', the card is fine, if a bit cumbersome. There is a reason effects like that are not normally printed.
Alternatives to the original design that fall under a similar purview could be (tweak as necessary):
Leyline Titan 3GG
Creature - Giant
At the beginning of each players upkeep, that player chooses a color. Until end of turn, lands produce one mana of the chosen color when tapped for mana instead of their normal type and amount.
3/3
<<OR>>
Leyline Titan 3GG
Creature - Giant
Nonbasic lands produce 1 when tapped for mana instead of their normal type and amount.
3/3
@Steeloverseer: You obviously have no idea what you are talking about. 43 lands is strong, but nowhere near the top of the ladder, and most builds probably wouldn't bother with something like the original submission anyways. Counterbalance is a much stronger lock, and still is not dominating, or even that competitive without significant support and building around it. Most high-level control decks don't even bother with it.
I see no problems at all with the original proposal. It's an overcosted counterspell or weak land. It makes up for that by being either. The only changes I would make are have it enter the battlefield tapped and add {U} instead of colorless, exchanging colored production for speed. How this would affect the card's strength is dependent on the format; in slower environments like Standard or Limited, it's probably stronger. In faster formats like Legacy, it's worse and possibly not even playable outside very niche builds.
Really? For Shards decks, yes, but for Wedge decks I don't think so. You can only use so many allied dual lands and there aren't a lot of enemy lands at all.
If you are using painlands in a wedge colored Commander deck, you are either poor or doing it very wrong (quite possibly both). Color fixing in three-color is trivial, regardless of arc or wedge. Five-color is at least as easy, and mono-color doesn't need fixing.
Two colored decks are the only place I would expect to see these played in Commander; two-color can have significant fixing issues.
non Legacy Non Vintage players are the have nots- they want to play but can't or don't want afford to. They want to play an open format that isn't dominated by the latest release (Standard) and to have the most desired cards reprinted so they are easily -re: cheaply - available to the masses even though continuing to be current in Standard is expensive it occurs over a prolonged period.
Legacy and Vintage Players are the Haves- they have either played many years ago, invested heavily either by hard work or inheritance. They don't want to see their cards reprinted / given away for those they deem too lazy or industrious to work for them.
Even when this new format happens it will not have mass reprints although they will reprint many. It will still be expensive. Whatever Blue/X deck wins some events those decks will be very expensive. The Haves will still manage to get the cards while the Have-nots will complain that it is too expensive.
Yea, that's a pretty damn ignorant statement. I am a competitive Legacy player, and I own over a dozen dual lands, among playsets of other 'staples' that, while not actually on the reserved list, are highly unlikely to be reprinted outside of limited promos (Wasteland, Force of Will, etc).
I am strongly of the opinion that Wizard's enforcement of the Reserved List is the most idiotic thing they have done sense it's conception. My roommate (who owns a playset of dual lands - at least one of each near mint beta) believes their acknowledging it is the dumbest thing they have done sense becoming "Subsidiary of Hasbro".
The vast majority of Legacy players I know also think the Reserved List is beyond stupid.
As for Modern itself, I played it for a while when they first started toying with the idea. It feels like bad Legacy. Seriously.
Edit: Oh, and current Shock Land prices are equal to (or even greater than) revised duals 2 or 3 years ago. If Modern actually takes off, you can almost guarantee they will increase in price at the same rate. Go Star City price inflation.
Including 'as though they where in your hand' would allow 'cast from hand' triggers to work, such as the Myojin's (not entirely certain, would have to doublecheck comp rules).
Not including the text will not allow that, but otherwise functions fine. More importantly, I almost ditched the Will design because I felt it was to 'wordy'. Adding the hand clause would be far to much.
Oh, and being primarily a Legacy player, Surgical Extraction is actually a pretty strong card. Being a black player though, I much prefer Extirpate. Unfortunately, that's not Standard legal
The problem is not with the color weight, it's with the converted mana cost and the abilities themselves. The proposed card's first ability should not add Loyalty counters; not only does it make the card extremely difficult to remove, it stalls out the opponents ability to progress the game - for combo decks, sometimes indefinitely. The second ability has to be carefully managed for a Standard-like environment to not be brokenly powerful, and is not a white/black ability anyway as already noted.
Creature - Beast Warrior
Haste
Whenever ~ attacks, exile the top three cards of your library. You may put a creature card from among them onto the battlefield tapped and attacking. If you do, sacrifice it at the end combat. Put all other cards exiled this way on the bottom of your library in any order.
3/2
Khor Drumbeater 2RG
Creature - Beast Warrior
Haste
Whenever ~ attacks, you may put a creature card from your hand onto the battlefield tapped and attacking. If you do, sacrifice it at the end of combat.
3/2
Personally, I like the second of these more - a toned down Sneak Attack with legs. Probably to strong for the current Standard environment, but not an overpowered card.
The '-X' is a black/green ability, and one you have to be careful with being able to reuse. Hitting only creatures limits it some, but not really enough. Change it to "-X: Destroy target nonland permanent with converted mana cost X." or similar, or just drop it entirely to make room for a new '+' ability.
I see no problem with the '-6', aside from minor templating - "You get an emblem with "At the beginning of your upkeep, you may return target permanent card from your graveyard to the battlefield." "
Several of the proposed cards are to strong. To start with, I would suggest the following changes on these three, followed by playtesting.
Illusionary Replication & Risky Business raise some flags as well, but don't scream overpowered. Tormenting Delve does not feel black (change it to target card in a graveyard, & double the 'Reclaim' cost). Also, I'm guessing the 'Reclaim' cost on the creatures are probably to low, but playtest some first.
That being said, there is a lot of room for the stated goal of 'regaining your spells'.
Off the top of my head, you can have a built-in Regrowth, or a 'Dredge' variant.
<name> <cost> (<cost>: Return this card from your graveyard to your hand. <name> only as a sorcery.)
<name> <cost> (If you would draw a card, instead you may /pay/ <cost>. If you do, return this card from your graveyard to your hand. Otherwise, draw a card.)
Edit: If you go with 'Essence Shift', I would suggest adding a cost, check subtypes (& use 'Arcane' &/or 'Tribal' types), and drop the random aspect.
<name> <cost> (When this card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, you may /pay/ <cost>. If you do, return another <subtype> card from your graveyard to your hand.)
Instead, maybe look at a Buyback variant that works with creatures.
<ability name> <cost> (If this card would be put into your graveyard, you may pay <cost>. If you do, put it into your hand instead).
Either way, 'Convey' is not a good word for this ability.
Planeswalker - Tibalt (2)
+2: Put a -1/-1 counter on up to one target creature.
-1: Each player loses life equal to the number of cards in his or her graveyard.
-3: ~ deals 3 damage to that player. That player discards two cards.
I dislike the '+2' ability because it can all to often not do anything (I am aware Wizards has printed planeswalkers with + abilities that don't do anything already - those however are usually among the more poorly designed ones). The new version still requires a creature to do anything more than just add loyalty, but will nearly always impact that creature, and serve as a 'protection' ability.
The '-3' ability was to strong; fixed this by moving his starting loyalty to 2.
The '-13' feels like a bunch of random effects stapled on. While potentially strong, the Blightning ability means you would never even bother with this. I took the first part (which seems the most flavor-appropriate anyway), gave it a downside (global instead of opponent), and moved it to -1.
This version is still to strong I think (possibly stronger than your first version despite not being strictly better than Blightning), but I feel it is a more cohesive design while still doing what you appeared to be trying to accomplish. Balance issues can be fixed by toying with a few numbers (I would focus on the discard/damage from the '-3' and on the casting cost first).
I dislike having a 'cards in graveyards do damage' ability and a 'discard cards and do damage' ability - two much overlap, but that is mostly personal taste. I also have an issue with the '-3' providing fuel for the '-1', as it seems backwards, but again it's mostly personal taste, & I can't fix it without spending more time on the card than I want to.
Edit: Templating for the first ability of your current design should be "+2: ~ deals 1 damage to each of up to two target creatures."
"Whenever you cast a permanent spell during an opponent's turn, draw a card. If it shares a card type with target permanent, you may reveal it and put a token that's a copy of the revealed card onto the battlefield."
Rethink the design - it is a high cost card with a very clunky mechanic that does nothing on it's own, and is entirely dependent on cards with flash. Maybe have it give your spells flash, and if the drawn card shares a card type with the spell you cast, put a copy into play.
"As long as your devotion to blue is three or more, you may cast sorcery and enchantment spells as if they had flash.
As long as your devotion to green is three or more, other permanents you control have hexproof."
Dual devotion is a cool idea, but the third ability is basically unprintable. First, the card is very wordy, and there is probably not room to typeset all those abilities. Second (though this isn't 'unprintable') requiring two devotions at once is again clunky. And third, you cannot assign properties to cards in a hidden zone - you cannot give a specific card in your hand, library, or exiled face-down flash or any similar ability.
"Whenever you cast a permanent spell during an opponents turn, put two +1/+1 counters on ~."
"Return target nonland permanent to its owner's hand. That player may put a nonland permanent with converted mana cost equal to or less than that card's converted mana cost from his or her hand onto the battlefield."
Clunky, difficult to format correctly, and it allows the player to put the bounced card back onto the battlefield immediately off the effect that bounced it. Instead, add a timing restriction of 'during an opponents main phase', and instead of the exchange, add an amount of colorless mana to their mana pool equal to the bounced card's converted mana cost. This removes a lot of the complexity, provides an effect similar to the perceived design goal, and allows you to return colored permanents without them immediately returning. This change does not allow you to effectively use it on your own cards, but if that is the objective, it would be cleaner to restrict it to yourself, or simply use preexisting 'blink' mechanics.
Edit: Another way to try and duplicate the functionality you appear to be going for is for them to put a card onto the battlefield, then return the target to it's hand. 'Exile target nonland permanent. It's controller may put a nonland permanent with converted mana cost equal to or less than it onto the battlefield. Then put the exiled card into its owner's hand.' is probably the best way to do so.
"Whenever another creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control."
3/3 trample with that ability for CMC 3 is a bit strong; should probably be weakened a little.
"Whenever ~ deals combat damage to a player, that player reveals his or her hand. You may choose a nonland card from it. If you do, you gain life equal to it's converted mana cost and put a +1/+1 counter on ~.
Side note: I'm not sure why you would give a creature with 'titan' in the name a beast subtype.
As a 1G instant with an additional 'draw a card', the card is fine, if a bit cumbersome. There is a reason effects like that are not normally printed.
Alternatives to the original design that fall under a similar purview could be (tweak as necessary):
Leyline Titan 3GG
Creature - Giant
At the beginning of each players upkeep, that player chooses a color. Until end of turn, lands produce one mana of the chosen color when tapped for mana instead of their normal type and amount.
3/3
<<OR>>
Leyline Titan 3GG
Creature - Giant
Nonbasic lands produce 1 when tapped for mana instead of their normal type and amount.
3/3
I see no problems at all with the original proposal. It's an overcosted counterspell or weak land. It makes up for that by being either. The only changes I would make are have it enter the battlefield tapped and add {U} instead of colorless, exchanging colored production for speed. How this would affect the card's strength is dependent on the format; in slower environments like Standard or Limited, it's probably stronger. In faster formats like Legacy, it's worse and possibly not even playable outside very niche builds.
If you are using painlands in a wedge colored Commander deck, you are either poor or doing it very wrong (quite possibly both). Color fixing in three-color is trivial, regardless of arc or wedge. Five-color is at least as easy, and mono-color doesn't need fixing.
Two colored decks are the only place I would expect to see these played in Commander; two-color can have significant fixing issues.
Hard to tell, but number looks like 247.
Yea, that's a pretty damn ignorant statement. I am a competitive Legacy player, and I own over a dozen dual lands, among playsets of other 'staples' that, while not actually on the reserved list, are highly unlikely to be reprinted outside of limited promos (Wasteland, Force of Will, etc).
I am strongly of the opinion that Wizard's enforcement of the Reserved List is the most idiotic thing they have done sense it's conception. My roommate (who owns a playset of dual lands - at least one of each near mint beta) believes their acknowledging it is the dumbest thing they have done sense becoming "Subsidiary of Hasbro".
The vast majority of Legacy players I know also think the Reserved List is beyond stupid.
As for Modern itself, I played it for a while when they first started toying with the idea. It feels like bad Legacy. Seriously.
Edit: Oh, and current Shock Land prices are equal to (or even greater than) revised duals 2 or 3 years ago. If Modern actually takes off, you can almost guarantee they will increase in price at the same rate. Go Star City price inflation.
Not including the text will not allow that, but otherwise functions fine. More importantly, I almost ditched the Will design because I felt it was to 'wordy'. Adding the hand clause would be far to much.
Oh, and being primarily a Legacy player, Surgical Extraction is actually a pretty strong card. Being a black player though, I much prefer Extirpate. Unfortunately, that's not Standard legal