Ability challenge

Custom Cards forum

Posted on Sept. 13, 2019, 7:18 a.m. by Boza

Here is a quick challenge for you guys! I will say a single word, say "Graduate". Everybody makes one or more cards with that keyword or ability word or includes that word as a new card type. In terms of power level, something suitable for a Modern Horizons or a new Commander set. For example:

Student of Martial Arts
Creature - Human Warrior - Uncommon

Prowess
Graduate - When this creature deals combat damage to a player, if it has power or toughness greater than its base P/T, draw 2 cards, then discard a card.

2/2

Another user could make say:

Winding Mountain Way
Enchantment - Rare

Graduate 3 (Put three graduation counters on ~ as it enters the battlefield. Remove 1 each time a creature you control deals combat damage to a player).

Sacrifice ~: Creatures you control deal double damage this turn. Activate this ability only when ~ has no counters on it.

A third user might say:

Wizard Academy
Land - Graduation (Rare)

: Add .
,: Add +1/+1 counter to a creature whose type is included in this land's name.

Once 10 entries or a week have passed, the person who issued a challenge will select winner from the submission. I would really like that person to give a little feedback on each card as well. The winning user gets to select the new word to build around.

I hope I have explained it well!

1/ Small variations on the original word is fine - graduate is perfect, graduation and gradually are fine as well.

2/ You are not limited to one card, that is the minimum - you can make any number of cards with that mechanic to showcase it better or even cards that lack the mechanic, but are good with it - flex your creative muscles! Additionally, as mentioned, imagine your card(s) being printed in a Modern Horizons or Commander set.

3/ Any suggestions to the challenge are also welcome!

---

I will start us off with a word:

Divine

List of already used words Show

- Divine
- Collide
- Nobility
- Despair
- Extract
- Geography
- Intrepid
- Competition
- Illuminate
- Covenant
- Harmony
- Ancient
- Hunt
- Affiliate
- Combine
- Split

Woiteck says... #1

I'll try to learn how to use the spoiler tags for next time, I promise! :-)

October 12, 2019 11:15 a.m.

Boza says... #2

Just a note, I will be reviewing all the posts and making a decision tomorrow around this time. So, you have about 24 hours for your entries.

October 14, 2019 3:01 a.m.

Boza says... #3

Feedback Show

Tzefick - the mechanic is a bit wordy but it comes down to clash variant with cards from your hand. What I do not like is how the mechanic will work. The several issues for me are - same effect every time (not necessarily bad, but having a varied effect can help); the effect can allow black to do land sacrifice, which is not out of its pie, but probably is not good to be a mechanic; if your opponent does not have a hand, you are never playing these cards - and these cards make the opponent lose their hand very fast; conversely, incredibly powerful, when you are hellbent. Overall, this type of mechanic has a place in the game, but maybe not this particular implementation.

DwaginFodder - simple yet effective. The card examples are nice, especially the Mark card, Glissa's chosen should probably be at least part black. Really, not much to say here - all is clear cut and well done.

TypicalTimmy - while I like the flavor of throwing everything behind one spell, the card example is incredibly overpowered. And the problem with this effect is it is not easy to downscale. If you make Raven's Crime with despair, you need only have more cards in hand to have your opponent discard their hand. Given that you can deckbuild to make this effect much more powerful, I am fearful it can downscaled enough.

dbpunk - a sultai colored I mill keyword is nice and simple. the cards presented raise a few eyebrows, but nothing too major. I have an issue with creatures and spells having different wordings of the ability and the templating of the cards (no type line on one card, no rarity on any cards), queen is not a creature type, especially now with noble. But overall, there is nothing wrong with this one, it is a generically good and deceptively powerful ability.

Woiteck 1 - Putting the life cost there makes this not too OP, which is good, but is it good enough. Both cards presented would not be particularly good in any format - well, the creature at least. The Necropotence over there might be pretty good, if you have the life for it (commander). Overall, given those cards, I am quite undecided.

Woiteck 2 - This has the opposite problem - I do not think it is costed good. Ignoring the fact that this works differently for creatures and spells, these are not costed enough. With the life loss attached and the exile, it is very flavorful, but these are just... too oppressive I think. Needs serious work and better cards to represent those. The end was good, but the beast is not spectacular.

Top 3 Show

3. Tzefick - the potential is there, the flavor is on fleek(?), but needs a ton of work. 2. dbpunk - the mechanic is simple, yet super powerful, but the despair is not really the word I would use for something you are happy to do. in the right deck, this is always a bonus. I can see a commander deck with the Naga at the helm easily. 1. DwaginFodder - the mechanic is simple and unexciting, but the flavor and cards do it justice. Honestly, the number 1 and 2 were close, but I like the cards from Dwaggin more.

Word of advise - refrain from submitting more than 1 idea - it is part of the design constraint to come up with one thing and polish it. And usually, if you have multiple ideas, neither will be polished enough.

October 15, 2019 2:42 a.m. Edited.

DwaginFodder says... #4

Well played, everyone! A lot of very Spike-y mechanics this time around. dbpunk's design was probably my favorite - I really do need to get around to building that Sidisi, Brood Tyrant EDH list.

The next ability word is Extract.

October 15, 2019 5:50 a.m.

Boza says... #5

Mechanic Show

Well, sultai is probably my favorite tri-color and this word is fit for it. I even get to introduce a new term to the game:

Extract N - As an additional cost to cast this spell, exile N cards from graveyards. If the average converted mana cost is N or greater, do X.

For example, with extract 3, you have the option to exile 3 cards from any graveyards. If their total CMC is 9 or more, eg the average is 3 or more, you get an extra effect. Note that this is an additional cost. You cannot cast a card with extract 3 unless there are at least 3 cards across graveyards.

The effect would be themed for the bog dwelling Sultai colors, but then I decided against it and made it Golgari exclusive. No real plane on which to base it.

4 Cards, one per rarity Show

Essence from Beyond
Sorcery (common)

Extract 2 - As an additional cost, exile 2 cards from graveyards. If the average converted mana cost of the cards is 2 or greater, scry 2, then draw 2 cards and lose 2 life.
Otherwise, draw 2 and lose 2 life.

Essence Baloth
Creature - Beast (Uncommon)

Haste
Extract 2 - As an additional cost, exile 2 cards from graveyards. If the average converted mana cost of the cards is 2 or greater, gains first strike and deathouch until end of turn.

4/5

Unrot
Instant (Rare)

Extract 3 - As an additional cost, exile 3 cards from graveyards. If the average converted mana cost of the cards is 3 or greater, return 2 target creature cards from your graveyard to the battlefield. Otherwise, return them to your hand and draw a card.

Sephirot, Archlich
Legendary Crature - Zombie Wizard

Deathtouch, indestructible
Essence X - As an additional cost, exile X cards from graveyards. If the average converted mana cost of the cards is X or greater, your opponents lose X life. You gain life equal to twice the amount of life lost this way. ~ enters the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters on it.

0/0

October 15, 2019 7:36 a.m. Edited.

dbpunk says... #6

So I feel like I'm the only one who thought of this, but often times you have drinks/drugs that are called "Extracts", and are usually made using alcohol water. So here's the idea: what if the extract is a permanents main essence?

Dissolution

Instant (Common)

Counter target permanent spell. Create a colorless Extract artifact token (Extract artifacts have ", sacrifice this permanent: Scry 3.")

Merfolk Herbalist

Creature - Merfolk Shaman (uncommon)

, sacrifice an Extract token: Draw a card.

1/3

Etherial Sprite

Creature - Faerie (uncommon)

Flash, flying

When ~ dies, create a colorless Extract artifact token.

2/1

Hand of the River

Creature - Incarnation

Flying

~ enters the battlefield with 5 charge counters on it.

At your upkeep, remove a charge counter from ~.

When ~ dies, create an Extract artifact token for each charge counter on ~ and exile ~.

Sacrifice four Extract tokens: Put ~ from exile onto the battlefield.

7/7

Isle of Naiads

Land (Rare)

: add

, sacrifice any number of Extracts: add X Mana of any color, where X is the number of Extracts sacrificed this way.

Gilanos, Force of Nature

Legendary Creature - Ape Noble (Mythic Rare)

Trample, Haste

When ~ enters the battlefield, create a colorless Extract artifact token for each card in your hand or in your graveyard.

Sacrifice three Extracts: exile a card in your graveyard. At the beginning of your next upkeep, put that card into your hand.

5/5

October 15, 2019 3:45 p.m.

Woiteck says... #7

I think it's about time we ventured into an Un-set. And so my Extract is a whacky removal from such a set.

Mechanic

Extract - Remove target permanent from any sleeves it's in. It gains “0: Put this card in any sleeves you own, then sacrifice it.”

Cards

Live Dangerously

Sorcery (Uncommon)

Extract.

Each player orders a coffee and a peanut butter sandwich.

_

Painted Minefield

Enchantment (Rare)

When ~ enters the battlefield, Extract X times.

Each player must paint a picture using water colours during other players’ turns.

_

The Devil

Legendary Creature - Evil Incarnate (Mythic)

Flying

Whenever a player takes a bite of a food or a sip of a drink, Extract.

6/6/6

October 16, 2019 6:52 a.m.

PIayswithFlRE says... #8

Definition

Extraction (military)

In military tactics, extraction, is the process of removing personnel when it is considered imperative that they be immediately relocated out of a hostile environment and taken to a area either occupied or controlled by friendly personnel.

Mechanic

Extract # - Remove # target permanents from combat. For each permanent removed this way, its controller creates a 1/1 white soldier creature token.

Wanted to make it permanent instead of creature so you can protect a planeswalker. Since it's mostly a protection ability and creates soldier tokens, it's centered in white, but I wanted to add other colors. Since it's soldiers, not knights, didn't want to go into black. Selesneya's got other effects that create soldiers and would be a good fit, but I wanted to add in red to put a more aggressive spin on it, so I put it in Naya.

Cards

Cover Fire

Instant

Extract X.

Each soldier you control deals 1 damage to any target

---

Take Out The Sentry

Instant

Extract 1

Target creature gains trample until end of turn.

---

Nayangel

Creature - Angel Soldier

Flying, Flash, Riot

Extract 1

2/3

---

Troop Transport

Artifact - Vehicle

Vigilance

,: Extract 1. Use only if Troop Transport is a creature

Crew 3

4/4

October 18, 2019 6:22 a.m.

DwaginFodder says... #9

I'll post a decision tomorrow morning - this is the 24-hour warning for Extract.

October 21, 2019 10:24 a.m.

Tzefick says... #10

I see PIayswithFlRE had a very similar idea to what I had in mind.

The mechanic Show

The first thing that came to mind with Extract is something to do with extracting information, which is very black-blue in origin. However seeing as we just had Despair, which was very black inspired, I wanted to go a new route, and thought exactly of the military term extraction; to get personnel out of an area.

Feedback on PlayswithFIRE Show

Although PIayswithFlRE went with the combat route, which is both an interesting take but also a very strange mechanic.

Removing a permanent from combat, such as a planeswalker, is not really something you can do under the current rule set. You can remove attacking creatures from combat and in certain abilities blocking creatures, but that's where it stops. Planeswalkers are not actively in combat and is merely a target for damage. By this mechanic's definition, you could essentially sideline it with removing yourself from combat (and thus any harm). I know this says permanent and thus cannot select yourself but the idea is the same.

As such I think I would have to advice that the mechanic be changed to only target creatures.

---

Anyway, onto my suggested mechanic:

It's kind of a combined mechanic, where one is setup and the other is payoff. It will be featured mainly on creatures but occasionally also on instants/sorceries. It will be mainly in white with a secondary group in green and in red.

The setup:

When ~ is returned from the battlefield to your hand, gain effect.

The "payoff":

Extract cost - Whenever a nonland permanent you control becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, you may cast ~ for its extract cost. If you do the targeted permanent becomes marked for extraction.

When ~ enters the battlefield (/spell resolves), return all permanents marked for extraction you control to their owner's hand. If you control no permanents marked for extraction, you may return a nonland permanent you control to its owner's hand.

The setup can obviously be utilized with other bounce effects, such as Cunning Evasion to gain the actual payoff, and the Extract cards can be used against any sort of targeting or just to self-bounce nonland permanents.

The idea is that Extract can be a resource generator by protecting permanents you would otherwise perhaps lose and because the Extract cost is an alternate cost, it could be lower than the card's printed cost and thus be a tempo-trade in addition to being a counter to spot removal.

There's an obvious issue in the Extract cards because they are based on a "Gotcha!"-moment, which in general is a bad player experience. However I don't think the mechanic is tempo-wise powerful enough to warrant much of an issue against anything but control decks and to a certain degree tempo decks. It's an alternate way to provide white with some pseudo card advantage. It's basically Whitemane Lion , the mechanic.

White has traditionally had different ways to protect themselves and things they control. Rebuff the Wicked , Dawn Charm , Rootborn Defenses or Teferi's Protection .

The cards Show

Deft Platoon

Creature - Soldier (Uncommon)

Extract - Whenever a nonland permanent you control becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, you may cast Deft Platoon for its Extract cost. If you do, the targeted permanent becomes marked for extraction.

When Deft Platoon enters the battlefield, return all permanents marked for extraction you control to their owner's hand. If you control no permanents marked for extraction, you may return a nonland permanent you control to its owner's hand.

3/3

---

Shedale Runner

Creature - Human Cleric (Common)

Extract - Whenever a nonland permanent you control becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, you may cast Shedale Runner for its Extract cost. If you do, the targeted permanent becomes marked for extraction.

When Shedale Runner enters the battlefield, return all permanents marked for extraction you control to their owner's hand. If you control no permanents marked for extraction, you may return a nonland permanent you control to its owner's hand.

2/1

---

Shedale Agents

Creature - Human Soldier (Rare)

First strike

Extract

When Shedale Agents enters the battlefield, return all permanents marked for extraction you control to their owner's hand. If you control no permanents marked for extraction, you may return a nonland permanent you control to its owner's hand.

2/2

---

Armored Caravan

Creature - Human (Uncommon)

Extract - Whenever a nonland permanent you control becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, you may cast Armored Caravan for its Extract cost. If you do, the targeted permanent becomes marked for extraction.

When Armored Caravan enters the battlefield, return all permanents marked for extraction you control to their owner's hand. If you control no permanents marked for extraction, you may return a nonland permanent you control to its owner's hand.

2/4

---

Extraction Mage

Creature - Human Wizard (Rare)

Extract

When Extraction Mage enters the battlefield, return all permanents marked for extraction you control to their owner's hand. If you control no permanents marked for extraction, you may return a nonland permanent you control to its owner's hand.

3/2

---

Engulfing Mists

Instant (Uncommon)

Return a creature you control to its owner's hand. Draw a card.

---

Mistcovered Reinforcements

Sorcery (Common)

Extract - Whenever a nonland permanent you control becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, you may cast Mistcovered Reinforcements for its Extract cost. If you do, the targeted permanent becomes marked for extraction.

Create two 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens.

If Mistcovered Reinforcements was cast for its Extract cost, return all permanents marked for extraction you control.

---

Distracting Mistmage

Creature - Human Wizard (Common)

When Distracting Mistmage is returned to your hand from the battlefield, create two 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens.

2/2

---

Shedale Scout

Creature - Human (Uncommon)

Whenever Shedale Scout deals combat damage to an opponent, you may return it to its owner's hand.

When Shedale Scout is returned to your hand from the battlefield, draw a card.

1/2

---

Tinkering Gadgeteer

Creature - Human Artificer (Rare)

When Tinkering Gadgeteer enters the battlefield, create 2 1/1 colorless artifact Thopters with flying.

Creatures you control get +1/+0.

2/2

October 22, 2019 7:11 a.m.

DwaginFodder says... #11

My Thoughts

-Boza: "Average" is a term that WotC has likely been avoiding since they don't want Magic to be played with a calculator, since doing this sort of math in one's head can be a barrier to entry. In small amounts in a Commander or MH products at higher rarities it'd probably be fine, but as a set mechanic across all rarities it should likely be avoided except in limited sets for a single, specific audience. I'm also unsure of the interactions by using this ability as an additional cost; if it is a cost, the actual Extract ability of the benefit from the average would be a seperate ability. A casting trigger would likely function better here. The rest of the mechanic is interesting to me, in some ways reminiscent of the playstyle of the KTK Sultai. All of your examples seem well-balanced, and a Sephirot commander deck looks super interesting.

-TypicalTimmy: The templating of your mechanic is in the space that Boza's probably should have been. It's worded very well and supports an existing playstyle that many enjoy. However, the implementation isn't very clean. Several of your designs aren't cohesive (Biostatic Engineer), are out of pie (Yen-Vesectus, the Engineer again), or out of rarity (Spread Perfection). The inconsistency of "token" for Remove Soul and the use of Phyrexian mana for Memory Carve are also off-putting to me.

-dbpunk: It turns out that you were the only one who thought of an artifact token. :P Your design certainly has merit, but suffers from three issues: Scry's scalability, templating, and color pie. First, scry's power doesn't scale linearly with its number. Scry 2 is much more powerful than scrying 1 twice, scry 3 is more powerful than scrying 2 and scrying 1, etc. As such, Extracts are likely too powerful as scry 3 and are better suited for scry 2. Secondly, WotC no longer binds abilities to card types beyond basic land types. The abilities of Treasure tokens are not tied to the artifact type "Treasure," but the identity of that token. That's why with nontoken Food, the ability is rules text and not reminder text. All Food have that same ability, it's just not direct result of their typing. The reminder text for Extract tokens would have to be modified to accompany this. Several of your examples also suffer from mismanaged templating. Finally, artifact tokens that scry are likely not green, but red. However, since Investigate was W/U/G, that isn't really something I'll take into account here.

-Woiteck: Your designs are impeccable and hilarious, and your version of Extract is devilishly cruel. In a silver-bordered environment, the problems of your mechanic are mitigated by low individual card value. Unfortunately, the prompt on this thread is for a Commander set or something similar to Modern Horizons, so I cannot take your designs into account.

-PIayswithFlRE: To be quite honest, I'm unsure how to feel about your mechanic. Only being able to use it in combat is very restrictive, but it has a massive amount of defensive potential, since you can remove a blocker from combat after blockers are assigned to both prevent the damage and get a token. It doesn't lend itself very well to synergy, and removing things from combat is the opposite of what red generally wants to do. Creatures with activated Extract abilities in particular seem hellish to try to attack into, since they can remove themselves from combat (thus preventing damage) and make a creature. Tzefick is correct that Planeswalkers are not generally removed from combat, however, since we know what happens if a defending Planeswalker is removed by a spell before attackers deal damage (the attacks are still happening but deal no damage) and we know the designer's intent, the new rules this would bring are very reasonable.

-Tzefick: While the intent of your mechanic is clear, it has memory and complexity issues. Marking something for extraction is neither well-defined nor obvious when looking at the battlefield, and would need the use of a special kind of counter to mark it. The combination of the Extract reminder text and the associated ETB take up a lot of space on a card, and means that many of your designs feel too similar. The combination of a trigger for the alternate cost, the cost itself, marking for extraction, and the associated ETB all work to make your commons feel too complex for commons. The only differences between Deft Platoon, Extraction Mage, and Armored Caravan are costs and P/T; that's not a good look. While your support cards are well-designed, the mechanic itself is very weak.

Top Trio

3.) TypicalTimmy, your mechanic read the best and was the most polished on its own, but your implementation on your card designs held it back.

2.) Boza, your individual cards were the most polished and best balanced, but the mechanic itself used language that WotC likely wants to avoid, and the use of an additional cost here is suboptimal. However, it still took an existing theme into an interesting new area.

1.) dbpunk, your mechanic, while not very polished and in need of rebalancing, has enough knobs that it may be tweaked throughout testing into any balance point required. All of your designs may be improved, but your mechanic stood out from the crowd enough and held enough potential that I am willing to overlook this lack of polish. Many of the issues of your designs would be ironed out easily via later steps in the design process, and are still functional enough for testing.

October 22, 2019 12:46 p.m.

DwaginFodder says... #12

dbpunk is the winner, yes.

October 22, 2019 1:05 p.m.

dbpunk says... #13

Oh sweet I'm actually kinda surprised I won that.

The word I want you to build a mechanic around is GEOGRAPHY

October 22, 2019 9:54 p.m.

Boza says... #14

Quick note - please note that any aspect of the thread is subject to change - what the power level or set to be printed in should be, whether silver-border mechanics are OK or not, the format of the whole thing. The idea is to be as user-driven as possible.

I will think about the GEOGRAPHY mechanic. I languished between additional cost, casting trigger, optional additional cost and a few other options, and it ended up costing me (get it?). I appreciate the detailed feedback and I am glad people are so eager to write long posts with multiple spolier blocks for a custom card thread.

October 23, 2019 5:18 a.m.

Woiteck says... #15

I'm very glad you say that, Boza! I must admit I completely forgot about the mechanics being utilized in a MH/EDH set when I came up with my take on Extract, and only remembered after I submitted it. But I liked it and found it hilarious, so I kept it here.

Anyway, regarding Geography, I think it is inevitably tied to lands and even though I consider this keyword the hardest so far, I did think of a way to make it. It revolves around playing lands with different names and I thought of a rare enchantment cycle to illustrate it.

Geography cards

Quest for the Holy Grail

Enchantment (Rare)

Geography - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, if it has a different name than each other land you control, create a white 1/1 soldier token.

_

World Wisdom

Enchantment (Rare)

Geography - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, if it has a different name than each other land you control, draw a card.

_

Underworld Pact

Enchantment (Rare)

Geography - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, if it has a different name than each other land you control, search your library for a card and put it in your hand, then shuffle your library.

_

Terra Cannon

Enchantment (Rare)

Geography - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, if it has a different name than each other land you control, Terra Cannon deals 2 damage to any target.

_

Promised Land

Enchantment (Rare)

Geography - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, if it has a different name than each other land you control, return target card from your graveyard to your hand.

Disclaimer

Initially I thought of making the effect apply whenever you play such a land card, but ultimately decided to make it more powerful. Perhaps way too powerful in EDH, so careful playtesting would be required.

October 23, 2019 6:36 a.m.

Boza says... #16

I am not able to think about this mechanic, because I already made it for an earlier challenge and did not use it in the end. Recycling ftw!

Geography mechanic Show

The geography mechanic ties to lands, now doubt about that. So, there is only one plane and only one set, Zendikar Rising, where this is most appropriate.

Geography - If you control more non-basic lands than basic lands, do X. Otherwise, do Y.

Geography can appear on any number of permanents or spells, no restrictions on which colors may use - it is intended to be a key mechanic of an upcoming Standard Set.

Geography cards Show

Map of the unknown
Artifact (common)

,: Add one mana of any color.
, Sacrifice ~: Geography - If you control more non-basic lands than basic lands, search your library for a land card and put it in your hand. Otherwise, draw a card.

Murasa Beastmaster
Creature - Human Shaman (uncommon)

Geography - when ~ enters the battlefield, if you control more non-basic lands than basic lands, draw a card for each Beast you control. Otherwise, deal 3 damage to target non-Beast creature.

2/2

Sea Gate, Reclaimed
Land (Rare)

: Geography - If you control more non-basic lands than basic lands, add . Otherwise, add .

Rise from the ashes
Sorcery (Mythic)

Geography - If you control more non-basic lands than basic lands, destroy target creature and return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand. Otherwise, destroy target non-basic land, then you may play an additional land this turn.

October 23, 2019 7:09 a.m.

Tzefick says... #17

In response to DwaginFodder's feedback on last challenge:

The feedback Show

-Tzefick: While the intent of your mechanic is clear, it has memory and complexity issues. Marking something for extraction is neither well-defined nor obvious when looking at the battlefield, and would need the use of a special kind of counter to mark it. The combination of the Extract reminder text and the associated ETB take up a lot of space on a card, and means that many of your designs feel too similar. The combination of a trigger for the alternate cost, the cost itself, marking for extraction, and the associated ETB all work to make your commons feel too complex for commons. The only differences between Deft Platoon, Extraction Mage, and Armored Caravan are costs and P/T; that's not a good look. While your support cards are well-designed, the mechanic itself is very weak.

Response Show

I disagree on the issue of memory. There's little difference in marking for extraction and a target for a spell. If you need memory due to multiple uses of extractions at the same time, (remember that each Extraction can only target one permanent) you just plop the Extract cards directly on that permanent as you would say a Lightning Bolt .

I get that the mechanic is wordy and I tried to think of ways to decrease the word count and combine them instead of having a separate trigger on ETB - however that would ruin the use of the card's function when not casting through Extract.

It is definitely a more wordy mechanic than average for a common, but I wouldn't say it is more complex than what has already been done with say Transform, Cascade, or Evoke.

As for designs being too similar, the entire mechanic is on par with what most mechanics are; it does this particular thing. The mechanic is: "Oh no, someone targets one of your permanents, that usually means you're about to lose it or have it affected in some negative way, you can cast this Extract card for an alternative cost at instant speed in response to save that permanent and possibly get a different/better body on the field. There might even be a benefit to self-bouncing this permanent in terms of a bounce-trigger or the possibility for new cast/ETB-triggers."

And to avoid the mechanic merely falling flat in case no one targets anything on your side, you can play them naturally and get an optional free bounce for one of your nonland permanents.

So I don't quite understand this criticism that the mechanic is too similar. Would you say the same about Madness?

The mechanic is pretty self-parasitic, in terms that you don't want too many of these cards in a deck as their main function is from hand and sitting with open mana is not something you want to do all the time. The intend of the mechanic is to trade tempo for card advantage. Your opponent is likely down one removal spell, and you might have upgraded or downgraded the target to a new buddy.

You have to be careful about making the alternate cost too low, as the mechanic is a "gotcha"-feeling and being unable to interact with your opponent's board because of undercosted "gotcha"-costs will be very frustrating and problematic for the player experience. I might have costed some of these alternate costs too high, but that was to make it more safe than blatantly overpowered that nullifies any attempt at interactions with targets while providing meaningful bodies to replace them.

---

As for Geography, I'm kinda drawing a blank here. Obviously it presents itself as a land-centric theme. At first I thought in the lines of Flinthoof Boar but figured an entire mechanic around that would be rather... shallow.

There's already landfall on triggers with lands, there's sunburst and domain when considering mana diversity.

I thought about something with explore or discovery, basically a landfall-esque mechanic with conditions. But it would essentially be that; landfall with conditions.

It could lend itself to an external game mechanic like Planechase. But then it's basically just Planechase or Planechase 0,5.

I don't think I'll suggest anything for Geography, sorry DP.

---

Feedback on other suggestions:

Woiteck's unique land name mechanic Show

Woiteck There's some wild differences in power level on those enchantments. I don't really like how the mechanic effectively punishes mono color and rewards multicolor.

I especially worry about the power level of the green and black ones in tandem with Jund and Lord Windgrace for Commander. It's not cEDH but should be relatively easy to go off with either of these and a few other components.

It plays very nicely with Ghost Town though.

---

Boza's basic/non-basic proportion Show

Boza Interesting idea to divide effects based on the proportional amount of non-basic lands you control vs basic lands. Although I cannot help but feel like the power comes from controlling non-basics, and non-basic lands already have additional value, that's why you play them over basic lands, so in my eyes it would make more sense to empower the basic side of the effect.

In the case of the Sea Gate, it doesn't make much sense that the non-basic and basic side is just two different colors, especially in those colors. Why not just play any other untapped land that fits either land mass?

You cannot manipulate the proportion of your land mass that much in white and blue, without playing some of Blue's land self-bounce mechanics which in general is not something you want. It could make sense in Jund, as they have black and red's sacrifice themes and green's ability to ramp that can skewer the proportions in any direction you require.

Interesting concept, but I would flip the power over to basic lands.

October 24, 2019 9:26 a.m.

dbpunk says... #18

So I think it's been a week, and I know this was a hard one, so I got my comments here:

Woiteck is probably the hardest to build around but also probably very very balanced in comparison. I could see it's as a bit of a watered down Landfall but also a mechanic with very interesting mechanical play arounds, especially in EDH.

Boza's is, in my opinion, very interesting in terms of manipulation. For one thing, you may want to manipulate your Mana base to be able to decide different effects. Which is really cool, but really complicated.

TypicalTimmy's is a really... Realistic account of how geography in ecology works so I love it. Additionally, it could lead to some interesting decks and card interactions. What makes it difficult for me to see it printed is the fact that you never see more than six subtypes of land in a set, but that could change if it was printed, and marks it for new ground. Additionally, it's essentially a better version of Domain.

My ranking

1. TypicalTimmy (the winner)
2. Boza
3. Woiteck

October 29, 2019 8:28 p.m.

Boza says... #19

The competition was very tough this time around!

Mechanic Show

Intrepid is a really interesting word. I literally had to google what it meant, as it is one of those SAT words that never stuck.

Well, given the word, this will be a creature mechanic. The idea is to stick it in Lorwyn for the kithkin, but brought back for a Commander product (prior to them becoming more conniving when they added blue). Inspired by Goldmeadow Dodger .

Intrepid - When ~ attacks, if the defending player controls a legendary creature or a creature with higher power, do X.

I think attacking in the face of a great threat is what intrepid really represents.

3 cards Show

Rouser of spirits
Creature - Kithkin Soldier (common)

Intrepid - When ~ attacks, if the defending player controls a legendary creature or a creature with higher power, up to two other target creatures you control gets +1/+1 until end of turn.

2/2

Goldmeadow Spearhead
Creature - Kithkin Warrior (uncommon)

Intrepid - When ~ attacks, if the defending player controls a legendary creature or a creature with higher power, creatures you control gain first strike until end of turn.

3/2

Sabinne, Field Tactician
Legendary Creature - Kithkin General (Mythic)

Intrepid - When ~ attacks, if the defending player controls a legendary creature or a creature with higher power, choose one:

• Creatures you control gain skulk until end of turn.
• Other creatures you control gain +2/+2 until end of turn.
• Untap ~ and creatures you control gain vigilance until end of turn.

2/5

October 30, 2019 5:20 a.m.

dbpunk says... #20

Ok so I know a lot of you are going to be doing white mechanics, but think about what fearlessness actually means: sometimes it means going forward into battle. But sometimes, it means not caring if you die or disappear.

Careless Witch

Creature - Human Warlock (Common)

Flying

Intrepid (Whenever this card would enter a graveyard, you may exile it instead)

When ~ enters exile from anywhere, draw a card. Each opponent puts the top card of their library into their graveyard.

3/3

Silk Blade Dagger

Artifact - Equipment (Uncommon)

Equip creature

Intrepid (Whenever this card would enter a graveyard, you may exile it instead)

When equipped creature dies, sacrifice ~ and tap all creatures with power 3 or greater your opponents control.

Whenever ~ enters exile from anywhere, target creature doesn't untap during it's controller's next untap phase.

Equip

Search For Green Pastures

Instant

Intrepid (Do I really need to type this out reminder text again?)

Create X 4/4 green beast creature tokens, where X is the number of creatures your opponents control.

When ~ enters exile from anywhere, search your library for any number of creature cards with total converted Mana cost X or less into play, where X is the total power among creatures you control.

October 30, 2019 9:04 a.m.

Tzefick says... #21

I think I'll go with a multiplayer themed mechanic. Perhaps to be included in a Commander, Conspiracy or Battlebond-esque product that naturally has multiplayer.

Intrepid is defined as a resolute fearlessness and is often used to describe someone going up against unfavorable odds.

The mechanic Show

Very simple; the more opponents, the stronger the effect. In Battlebond you can push the cards a bit further as it's usually only 2v2 format meaning 2 opponents, while in Conspiracy you may need to tone them down for limited.

For each opponent, gain effect. Had to turn the template over to X, where X is the number of opponents you have.

The cards Show

Wayfaring Merchant

Creature - Human (uncommon)

Intrepid - When ~ enters the battlefield create X Treasures, where X is the number of opponents you have who controls more lands than you.

2/1

---

Cornered Beast

Creature - Beast (uncommon)

Intrepid - Cornered Beast enters the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters, where X is equal to the number of opponents you have.

Cornered Beast has trample as long as it has power 4 or greater.

2/2

---

Windswept Pondering

Instant (uncommon)

Intrepid - Draw X cards, then discard that many, where X is equal to the number of opponents you have.

---

Level Up Warrior

Creature - Human Warrior (rare)

Intrepid - ~ enters the battlefield with X level counters, where X is equal to the number of opponents you have.

Level up First strike [3/3]

[Level 3 - 4] First strike, haste [4/3]

[Level 5+] Double strike, haste, menace [4/3]

---

Hellspawn of Ghurlack

Creature - Demon (mythic)

Intrepid - ~ enters the battlefield with X level counters, where X is equal to the number of opponents you have.

Level up , pay 2 life. Flying [4/5]

[Level 4+] Flying [4/5]

Whenever you draw a card, you may discard that card and remove a level counter from ~. If you do, each opponent loses life equal to that card's converted mana cost and you gain the same amount of life.

---

Gargantuan of the three Rings

Creature - Beast (Mythic)

Intrepid - ~ enters the battlefield with 2 times X level counters, where X is equal to the number of opponents you have.

Level up Trample [6/6]

[Level 5 - 11] Trample, haste [8/8]

[Level 12+] Trample, haste, lifelink [12/12]

Remove a level counter from ~: ~ deals 1 damage to any target.

---

Bird Keeper

Creature - Elf (common)

Intrepid - When ~ enters the battlefield, create X 1/1 white bird creature tokens with flying, where X is equal to the number of opponents you have.

2/3

---

Was actually going to suggest a card that costs less for each opponent, but Undaunted is already printed and usually WotC doesn't trample over their previous keywords that early with a new variant of the same thing.

---

Thought it was interesting to play around with the idea of softening the cost on level up units by granting them a starting boost.

Additionally I find it interesting to potentially go "down" a level by using their power, sort of like exhausting their power, making them weakened.

Might be a slight flavor fail that this is basically portraying a creature's energy or a creature-variant of PW-loyalty but sticking to "level up" as a foundation. Could be reason to make an entirely new mechanic to suit that idea but I thought it was worth trying to meld a previously liked but not really mechanic with a mechanic that ease up on the cost.

November 1, 2019 12:04 p.m.

PIayswithFlRE says... #22

Having some writer's block, but I wanted to at least get something down for this one. Mostly brainstorming, but I'll hope to come up with

Immediately after hearing the word Intrepid, my mind followed it up with "intrepid explorers", or possibly "intrepid adventurers". Both of which made me think that it had to be a kind of Golgari-focused version of Madness.

Intrepid {cost} - when this card enters your graveyard from your library, you may exile it. If you do, you may cast it for {cost}.

Apart from intrepid creatures also probably causing creatures to explore and providing benefits when cards are cast from exile or creatures enter the battlefield after being cast from exile, I'm having trouble coming with specific examples.

I'll try to come up with some before this challenge ends, but that's the mechanic.

November 4, 2019 9:30 p.m.

PIayswithFlRE says... #23

Ashiok, Villainous Whelp

Legendary Planeswalker - AShiok

Creature cards in your library have intrepid with the intrepid cost equal to their mana cost

+1: Each player gains an emblem with "at the start of your upkeep, each player puts the top card of their library into their graveyard"

-X: Exile target card from each of X graveyards. Until end of turn you may cast those spells.

4

---

Scavenger Druid

Creature - Zombie Druid

Intrepid

Whenever a card leaves your graveyard, add or to your mana pool

November 5, 2019 8:48 p.m.

Tzefick says... #24

TypicalTimmy

Response on the feedback Show

Thank you for your review.

It is true that the mechanic gets worse the less opponents you have, but in defense of the mechanic if you only have one opponent, then you wont need as much additional value as you do against multiple opponents.

Also a card like Rampant Growth gets worse the longer the game, as getting one extra land from the library to the field is progressively less incremental to your mana pool and most likely it would have been the same drawing Rampant Growth as drawing a land. That doesn't make Rampant Growth bad.

The mechanic is designed for multiplayer so you "need" at least 2 opponents for the cards to be good, add more opponents and they turn ever better. 1on1 situations are not where the mechanic is good but most of the cards are still acceptable - it's basically only the instant which turns bad because it is card disadvantage mixed with minimal card filtering. All the creatures are at least fair in a 1on1. The entire mechanic is based around being "bold and brave and up against the odds" and that's not a 1on1 situation. The mechanic has strengths and weaknesses and I think that's acceptable.

Would you play Expropriate in a 1on1 situation over say Temporal Manipulation ? Just because Expropriate gets worse as the number of opponents go down, does not mean Expropriate is a bad card or Council's Dilemma a bad mechanic, but in a 1on1 situation you would likely prefer another card that didn't scale with the number of players. The same situation applies to my mechanic.

You don't comment directly on the suggested cards but say you struggle to see the mechanic viable and fair. Could you please put some words to that? Do you think the suggested cards are too powerful? Are they too weak?

When I looked them over they didn't appear to be particularly busted but neither bad. Some may need more playtesting than others to determine a good balance between fair and viable.

November 6, 2019 7:34 a.m.

dbpunk says... #25

Huh neat. So the word I'm gonna go with is Competition.

November 6, 2019 2:51 p.m.

Boza says... #26

Competition, eh? How meta!

Competition backstory Show

Competition is an interesting word. I really want to make it a 5 color word for Throne of Eldraine 2. There is very knightly feel to it. It is ambitious, but I think it will work. It will be present on a cycle of of knight creatures.

Competition N (When ~ enters the battlefield, Each player has to gain at least N life, an opponent has lost at least N life or control a permanent with converted mana cost at least N till their next end step to win or they lose.)

Each player who wins/lose a competition does X.

Notes:

This will work as a delayed trigger ability. This ability means multiple players compete and all competititors can win. Note the creature has to survive by the time the effect resolves (your next end step). This ability stacks - if you have multiple creatures with the ability and win a competition, you gain all applicable effects.

Competition cards - 1 per rarity Show

Castle Guardian
Creature - Human Knight (Common)

Lifelink
Competition 4 (When ~ enters the battlefield, Each player has to gain at least 4 life, an opponent has lost at least 4 life or control a permanent with converted mana cost at least 4 by the beginning of their next end step to win or they lose.)

When a competition, they gain 2 life for each creature they control.

2/4

Embereth Contender
Creature - Human Knight (uncommon)
Adamant - If 3 or more red mana was spent to cast this spell, ~ gains haste until end of turn.

Compete 5

When an opponent loses the competition, deal damage to target creature equal to number of creatures you control.

5/2

Yorvo, Master of the Henge
Legendary Creature - Giant Knight

Trample
Compete 6 When a player wins a competition, they put 2 +1/+1 counters on a creature they control. Then, if you control the creature with the greatest power, draw a card.

7/6

Sandra, Champion of Lochwein
Legendary Creature - Elf Knight (Mythic)

Flash, Menace
Competition 5
When an opponent loses a competition, you may destroy target creature they control.

3/3

Ended up being way more complex than I thought, but I think it will create interesting gameplay.

November 7, 2019 5:24 a.m. Edited.

dbpunk says... #27

So it's almost been a week and no one's attempted anything other than Boza.

November 11, 2019 8:18 p.m.

TheQueue841 says... #28

I got another one for you. This is actually a mechanic I came up with a while ago, under the name of Rivalry, but I think Competitive could also be a good fit.

Competitive - When this creature enters the battlefield, you may have it fight another creature with Competitive. If you do, put a +1/+1 counter on each of those creatures.

The main purpose of this ability is to pump your own creatures, but it can double as situational removal. I see it being primarily a Gruul mechanic, with a touch of white support.

Examples:

Goblin Rookie Show

Goblin Rookie Creature - Goblin (Common)

Competitive, persist

1/2

Explanation

The goblin that keeps on trying. This card can serve multiple purposes. It can be your run-of-the-mill competitive card that comes in, survives a fight, and gets stronger. Or, it can come in, pick on the big guy, and fail to learn his lesson, pumping up one of your guys twice. It also goes infinite with another copy of itself and a sacrifice outlet, if you're into that kind of thing.

Orcish Champion Show

Orcish Champion Creature - Orc Warrior

Competitive

When ~ fights, put a +1/+1 counter on it.

3/4

Explanation

Basically, this card gets double counters for Competitive triggers (the intended function is for it to get the counter after the fight, if it's still around). But the effect is not limited to fights off of Competitive triggers, so it can serve as fight-removal-payoff. If you're into that kind of thing.

Iroas's Presence Show

Iroas's Presence Enchantment (Mythic)

All creatures have Competitive.

Prevent all noncombat damage that would be dealt to creatures you control.

Explanation

Basically a Mark of Asylum that gives everything Competitive. It's main purpose is make the "situational spot removal" aspect of Competitive more viable - each time one of your creatures enter the battlefield, you can take out something with toughness lower than its power. It also allows you to freely pump your Competitive creatures without any drawback. It also goes infinite with Goblin Rookie and a sacrifice outlet. You know, if you're into that kind of thing. Then again, so would Mark of Asylum .

November 12, 2019 11:14 p.m.

dbpunk says... #29

Ok so commentary:

Boza my one thing about yours is that it takes up a lot of memory usage and space on a card, but it seems interesting to play. I don't know how often it would work in a standard set, but it'd be really cool in a supplemental set (battlebond 2: electric boogaloo for example). Honestly I would also add "cast a spell with converted Mana cost X or higher" to it too for people playing control decks.

TheQueue841 this seems interesting but also extremely broken when added onto cards that are a certain powerlevel or greater. My one concern is how the concept could potentially get parasitic (i.e. if you have one, you have to have more and the more you have the better it gets) and/or the fact that cards with competitive only work as removal if an opponent is playing creatures with competitive. Which makes it worse since basically it's just a fight mechanic. But it's an interesting design space.

My choices:

1. Boza, just because of how weird of a mechanic it is.

2. TheQueue841 because that mechanic would be great to build a commander deck around.

November 13, 2019 3:52 p.m.

Boza says... #30

Well, I guess that finally being weird with mechanics paid off.

Alright, people, your new key word is:

Illuminate

November 18, 2019 3:16 a.m.

Tzefick says... #31

Sorry dbpunk. It seems every keyword you come up with makes me draw a blank. Competition was a very broad term so I didn't seem to be able to find a way to encompass that without making a very complex mechanic.

As for illuminate, I think I have something.

Mechanic Show

Illuminate will be a black primary, blue secondary and perhaps multicolor red tertiary (as in it only happens with red as part of a black and/or blue card and it happens rarely).

Illuminate N (When you illuminate, target opponent reveals N cards of their choice and another card at random from their hand. You may choose a card among them. If you do that opponent discards that card and draws a card.)

It symbolizes how investigating can sometimes be influenced by what the investigated finds acceptable to be found to satisfy the investigation and that sometimes the investigator stumbles over something else that is unintentionally found and possibly more significant.

Knowledge is power, and getting rid of problematic cards before they are cast is a power that black has. This is a blend of black's ability to Thoughtseize and to an extend blue's ability to read the opponent and scry their own future. Although the reveal/selection is on a smaller scale than black is used to and the choice grants the opponent some measure of natural resistance. As such it is largely worse than a traditional Thoughtseize -effect. However it can hit lands if your opponent chooses to let you see them, or if it gets shown at random, or if they have too small a hand size to hide them. By being mostly worse than a traditional Thoughtseize-effect, you can more easily put this mechanic on permanents or spell that is not a dedicated Duress card, but as a side-effect.

Illuminate as a keyword has more of a justice, light, optimism and traditional white feel to it, but I think it can work in black and blue as a metaphorical illumination of their opponent's plans.

I kinda want to change the wording away from reveal and over to simply showing, but that's much longer text wise. I don't think it would pass to simply phrase it "reveal to you", as reveal in MtG terminology is synonym with showing the cards to everyone. The difference is only seen in multiplayer games where reveal has "splash"-damage so to speak, whereas I mainly want the "illuminator" to get the information and not everyone else. If someone can figure out a way to phrase that in short, I want to change it to that.

The cards Show

Dragmar Charletan

Creature - Human Rogue (common)

When ~ enters the battlefield Illuminate 1 (When you illuminate, target opponent reveals one card of their choice and another card at random from their hand. You may choose a card among them. If you do, that opponent discards that card and draws a card.)

2/1

---

Nightveil Observer

Creature - Human (uncommon)

Skulk

When ~ enters the battlefield Illuminate 3 (When you illuminate, target opponent reveals three cards of their choice and another card at random from their hand. You may choose a card among them. If you do that opponent discards that card and draws a card.)

2/3

---

Mistformed Infiltration

Sorcery (uncommon)

You draw two cards and lose two life. Create a 1/1 black spirit creature token with flying.

Illuminate 2 (When you illuminate, target opponent reveals two cards of their choice and another card at random from their hand. You may choose a card among them. If you do that opponent discards that card and draws a card.)

---

Duskmantle Trailchaser

Creature - Vampire (common)

When ~ enters the battlefield Illuminate 2 (When you illuminate, target opponent reveals two cards of their choice and another card at random from their hand. You may choose a card among them. If you do that opponent discards that card and draws a card.)

4/4

---

Peer into Mind

Instant (rare)

Illuminate 3 (When you illuminate, target opponent reveals three cards of their choice and another card at random from their hand. You may choose a card among them. If you do that opponent discards that card and draws a card.)

At the beginning of each upkeep, if you control five or more Swamps, you may pay 2 life and return Peer into Mind from your graveyard to your hand.

---

Kessian Overseer

Creature - Demon Wizard

Flying

Whenever ~ attacks, Illuminate 3 (When you illuminate, target opponent reveals three cards of their choice and another card at random from their hand. You may choose a card among them. If you do that opponent discards that card and draws a card.)

Whenever an opponent draws a card, ~ deals 1 damage to that opponent.

6/6

---

---

It kinda quickly fell into a Dimir mechanic - although that was mainly just because it was easier to craft some names around the existing lore of Dimir. It could just as easily be on any other plane, like Alara or Kamigawa or wherever.

The Peer into Mind is likely the most powerful of the examples as Illuminate goes, but the fact that the opponent doesn't go down in cards with Illuminate, makes it a lot more acceptable to pair with other powerful mechanics - somewhat akin to what happened with Scry.

In standard I picture the 5 swamp requirement makes it less appealing as far as constructed goes, which effectively leaves it a bad Thoughtseize - that on occasion may hit a crucial land card and disrupt more than Thoughtseize. In eternal formats it's mainly useless compared to other black hand disruption (if that is even used). For multiplayer is where the card will have a significant impact by granting black cheap, repeatable hand disruption at instant speed to hopefully deal with some of the cards that black does not fare so well against, like enchantments and artifacts. Because the opponent can hide cards in their hand and because they get a card to replace whatever gets discarded, it is much less problematic that it can be recurred. The life payment is also significantly less impactful in formats with elevated starting life totals.

There is one problem where the black player can effectively "take out" an opponent by using every player's upkeep to target the same player and filter their hand until it's just lands and top-deck. If it is too powerful, the solution could be to remove the "may" in the discard section, so if the opponent reveals only lands, one of them has to be discarded for a new card regardless. It makes the mechanic as a whole worse off as it removes a choice from the controller. This card is another reason why I want to change the wording from reveal to only reveal to the controller of the Illuminate source.

The overseer takes advantage of the ability to effectively force the opponent to rummage a card whenever he attacks and causes some additional damage with it. I did consider making his illuminate an X-variant based on your or your opponent's hand size, but opted out and made his P/T better.

November 18, 2019 9:53 a.m.

JANKYARD_DOG says... #32

I would put Illuminate in esper colors because it can be used lawfully (azorius) or in spy work (dimir).

Ability Show

Illuminate X - when ~ enters the battlefield or attacks target player reveals X cards from their hand or the top of their library. Put them back in the same order.

For a spell (instant/sorcery) it would not have the attack option obviously. Artifacts and enchantments would be 'whenever you Illuminate' effects.

Card Examples Show

Messenger Owl

Creature- Owl - Uncommon

Flying

Illuminate 2 - When ~ enters the battlefield or attacks target opponent reveals two cards from their hand at random and or from the top of their library.

2/2

---

Thief of Thought

Creature - Shade - Mythic

Flying

Illuminate 4 (higher rarity so no rules text)

Whenever you Illuminate divide those cards into two piles. That player then chooses one pile then puts the other in the graveyard.

: ~ gets +1/+1 until end of turn

2/2

---

Harsh Bishop

Creature - Human Cleric - Rare

Illuminate 2

When you Illuminate that player may pay 1 life per card revealed, otherwise put them in the graveyard.

2/3

---

Abject Inquisition

Sorcery - Mythic

Illuminate 5 - When this spell resolves target opponent reveals five cards from their hand and or from the top of their library. Return them in the same order.

You may cast cards revealed with ~ using mana as if it were of any color to cast them until end of turn. Exile ~.

---

Halls of Illumination

Legendary Artifact

Whenever you Illuminate you may choose one:

• if cards are revealed from the hand you may have that player shuffle any number of those cards revealed into their library then draw that many cards.

• if cards are revealed from the top of that players deck you may put them on the bottom in a random order.

November 18, 2019 1:29 p.m.

Boza says... #33

Just a heads up - I will have to cut the deadline a bit short and judge on the coming Sunday the 24th, as I will be going on vacation next week with limited access to the internet.

November 20, 2019 4:21 a.m.

TheQueue841 says... #34

Whoops! Accidentally posted this to the wrong thread. Reposting here to keep everything in one place.

This might be a bit of a stretch, but "illuminate" reminded me of the Illuminati so this is what I went with.

Mechanics

Creature Type - Illuminator Show

Originating from Dominaria, the Illuminators are a secret inter-planar organization that pulls the strings behind even day-to-day events across the multiverse. They are represented on cards with the creature type "Illuminator". Like with all creature types, Illuminator does not grant any inherit characteristics. However, most Illuminators will interact with another new creature type, Conspirator (more on them below), and many will have a new ability, Illuminate. Illuminators are usually notable figures. As such, they are always Legendary.

Creature Type - Conspirator Show

Conspirators are creatures who believe in and oppose the actions of the Illuminators. No creatures are printed with this creature type; instead they are created by Illuminators out of suspicion.

Keyword Ability - Illuminate Show

Illuminate X -- To illuminate X, choose X other target non-Illuminator creatures. Those creatures become Conspirators in addition to their other types until this permanent leaves the battlefield.

Illuminate is only found on creatures or planeswalkers. Within the story, it's actually means something that's rather negative for the Illuminators - creatures that are "illuminated" are suspicious of the Illuminators. However, in-game, it's beneficial to make more Conspirators as Illuminators will often have effects that care about them.

Examples

Kamahl of the Secret Order Show

Kamahl of the Secret Order

Legendary Creature - Human Barbarian Illuminator (Rare)

Haste

When ~ deals combat damage to a player, illuminate that many.

Conspirators must block ~ if able.

3/5

Explanation

Often, Kamahl would just end up being a removal spell if there are already Conspirators out, or a delayed removal spell if not. I just needed something on the lower end of the power spectrum.

Marchesa, Rightful Heir Show

Marchesa, Rightful Heir

Legendary Creature - Human Noble Illuminator (Rare)

When ~ enters the battlefield, create three 1/1 black Assassin creature tokens with deathtouch.

Whenever an assassin you control dies, illuminate 1.

When ~ dies, destroy all Conspirators and each creature she illuminated.

2/3

Explanation

Surprise! Marchesa was actually crowned Queen due to the help of the Illuminators. The card name, of course, is sarcastic. Her last ability here is worded awkwardly because I wanted her to take out the creatures she turned into Conspirators, but always wanted to keep the "until N leaves the battlefield" clause on illuminate a static effect rather than a delayed triggered ability.

Teferi, the Messenger Show

Teferi, the Messenger

Legendary Planeswalker - Teferi (Mythic)

+1 - Illuminate 1.

-2 - Gain control of target legendary Conspirator. It becomes an Illuminator and is no longer a Conspirator.

-6 - You get an emblem with "activated abilities of non-Illuminator creatures can't be activated and their entering the battlefield don't cause abilities to trigger."

{4}

Explanation

Teferi is an Illuminator who helped spread the their influence outside of Dominaria. As such, his card has the ability to "recruit" other legendary creatures into the organization. By himself, Teferi won't be able to steal a creature until the turn after he entered, but other Illuminators can illuminate pretty easily, so you'll likely just use his -2 twice when your opponents get legendary creatures in play. And then of course, in typical Teferi fashion, his ultimate shuts down what your opponents are trying to do.

Sunken Barge / Chromium, Arisen Mastermind Show

Sunken Barge

Legendary Land (Mythic)

~ enters the battlefield tapped with ten ruin counters on it.

: Add

, Tap any number of untapped Illuminators you control: Remove a ruin counter from ~ for each color among creatures tapped this way. If the last ruin counter was removed this way, transform ~, then untap it.

---

Chromium, Arisen Mastermind

(Color Indicator: WUB) Legendary Creature - Elder Dragon Illuminator

Flying

When this creature transforms into ~ and at the beginning of your upkeep, illuminate X, where X is the number of Illuminators you control.

Illuminators you control have hexproof and indestructible.

: Exile target Conspirator and put a conspiracy counter on it.

~ has the activated abilities of all Conspirators, all Illuminators, and all cards in exile with conspiracy counters on them.

7/7

Explanation

The headline card should this be made into a real set. Before Chromium was killed, he had set in motion what would eventually grow into the Illuminators. Recently, the barge which Ravidel had turned his body into was discovered, and modern Illuminators have worked vigorously in an attempt to revive their founder. I took some influence from Dark Depths when designing the card - Sunken Barge is a relatively weak land, but can turn into a powerful creature with some effort. In this case, it takes the combined efforts of differently-skilled Illuminators (or a very long time from one) to bring Chromium back to life. Once revived, Chromium becomes a powerful evasive creature that protects fellow Illuminators and gains power from Conspirators. I wanted the card to be difficult but rewarding to flip over. It takes at minimum two turns (or one additional untap) to revive him, and that requires all five colors to be represented among your Illuminators. As far as the illuminate ability, I would consider this to be the cap of how much a single permanent can illuminate.

Martyr to the Conspiracy Show

Martyr to the Conspiracy

Sorcery (Common)

Cast this spell only if there are more Conspirators on the battlefield than Illuminators.

As an additional cost to cast this spell, sacrifice a Conspirator.

Exile target Illuminator.

Explanation

I had to.

November 24, 2019 10:35 p.m.

Boza says... #35

I am sorry I have been away for a week having the sickest vacation ever. Judging in progress, including the entry in the wrong thread, that was reposted here in the mean time.

December 2, 2019 3:18 a.m.

Boza says... #36

Judged in order of appearance:

Judging Show

Tzefick has a very nice mechanic that seems a bit more complicated at second glance. Initially, I thought that this was basically a keyworded Blackmail or Raven's Crime , but the depth provided with the random reveal and the replacement draw make this a very interesting mechanic. The text should be reworded to make it so that the random reveal happens first and only then you choose which other cards to reveal, but that is a minor quibble. However, the cards are a bit bland - only 1 really does have any interaction with its own mechanic, but I would not think twice before putting that demon into my Nekusar, the Mindrazer EDH.

Mj3913 - it is a minor bonus, but having as an etb and attack trigger helps it a lot. There are few mechanics in the game that let you have partial hand knowledge. There is depth - the cards you reveal both players know are revealed. However, in terms of strategy, there is no reason not to choose the deck everytime you get illuminated - that way the opponent knows what they will draw in the next X turns and can plan accordingly. So, this is beneficial for the opponent as well. I assume at some point, the opponent without cards in hand will have to reveal from the library. I have to say, the cards are all over the place - Thief of Thought does not really work since you cannot mix hand cards and library cards. The mythic sorcery is really weird with cards from the library. But I really like the legendary artifact.

TheQueue841 - This is incredibly complex and flavorful - the idea to create a benefit for the opponent for your gain does not happen often (the Hunted cycle, e.g. Hunted Wumpus is what this reminds me of). The cards are the real gem in this submission oozing with flavor and nostalgia for the old days (Kamahl being an Illuminati is endlessly funny). Chromium especially is awesome. Now, while I enjoy the flavor, the complexity of the mechanic is through the roof. Because your mechanic is essentially a Conspiracy mechanic, literally, it does not impact gameplay. So, for the mechanic to do anything, you need the cards to do the heavy mechanical lifting, which is fine for one card, but not for the second. Memory issues will abound ("one of my three illuminators died, which creatures did it illuminate again?"). Perhaps, changing the mechanic a bit to have it do something more than just change types would serve to decrease complexity, but I am not sure how that could be done currently.

Top 3 Show

3. Mj3913 - good and simple, but needs more time in the proverbial oven. Can we see this in Alara 2.0? Perhaps if tweaked it could easily serve the Esper. 2. TheQueue841 - same as above, but has a much better flavor. It could be part of a new commander precon, but it needs a lot of time in the proverbial oven.
1. Tzefick - simple, clean and nice mechanic that leads to interesting gameplay. The examples were rough, but still good. The potential to be an actual Standard mechanic is very high. A keyworded Vendilion Clique is an awesome possibility!

Congratulations, Tzefick!

December 2, 2019 7:48 a.m.

Tzefick says... #37

Thanks Boza, having received feedback for too complex mechanics in the past made me dial down to a more simple mechanic.

Considerations for my mechanic and cards Show

As for the cards, it was suggested previously to make different rarities to show a larger spectrum of how to scale the mechanic with itself or other effects. The more interesting cards tends to be at rare or mythic rare, I know, but it is necessary to go through the rarities to know if the mechanic can hold up as a set mechanic to be scaled throughout the rarities. For the higher rarities I went with one example of scaling with itself through the Peer into Mind (the recurring one) to show how dialing the mechanic upwards could look like and then one example of a complementary effect through the demon with Underworld Dreams attached to its buttocks.

I figured I couldn't make the Peer much higher in Illuminate or it would basically become Vendilion Clique or a semi-worse Thoughtseize with little actual benefit by itself. Instead I figured the way to "scale with itself" would be through recursion with a requirement, so instead of higher power, I went with higher frequency.

I think it might be a good idea to include more complementary cards alongside the suggestions for the mechanic if it invites to it - like mine was basically forced enemy rummage, discard + draw, and do something with that. It can help tie the mechanic together with other interactions in the game. Worth considering at least going forward.

---

And finally... the actual duty of the winner of the challenge, I present to you the new key word:

Covenant

Covenant is the main theme more than the keyword, so if you figure going for pact or contract or similar, I wont mind. Although if you decide to revive mercenaries , I will flunk you.

December 3, 2019 2:28 p.m.

JANKYARD_DOG says... #38

Hmmmmmm this could prove difficult. For starters based on the definition I think it would have to be relegated to a multiplayer format (EDH, 2HG).

Ability Show

This would be an 'enter the battlefield' ability for permanants or part of a regular spell. Also main color white, secondary black, tertiary red

Covenant - {when ~ enters the battlefield} choose any number of players. Those players then choose among the given options of this spell. If there is a tie no extra effect happens.

I feel the wording may need tweaking somehow on the last clause. I was initially going to say a tie counters the spell but felt that could just be a ploy used anytime the choice of players was even.

Examples Show

Covenant of Lightning

Sorcery

Deal 2 damage to any target

Covenant - choose any number of players. Those players then choose among the given options of this spell. If there is a tie no extra effect happens.

Choose one:

• Deal 3 damage to target player or planeswalker

• Deal 3 damage divided between up to 3 targets.

---

Tithe Collector

Creature - Human Cleric (common)

Covenant - when this creature enters the battlefield choose any number of players. Those players then choose among the given options of this spell. If there is a tie no extra effect happens.

Choose one:

• target player loses 3 life

• gain a treasure token

---

Forgiving Clergyman

Creature - Human Cleric (uncommon)

Lifelink

Covenant - when this creature enters the battlefield choose any number of players. Those players then choose among the given options of this spell. If there is a tie no extra effect happens.

Choose one :

• you gain 2 life for each creature you control

• target player loses 2 life for each creature they control

2/2

---

Canyon Raider

Creature - Ogre (Rare)

Haste, Menace

Covenant- Choose one

• Gain control of target creature until end of turn

• Destroy target artifact

---

Selgarak, the Dealer

Legendary Creature - Demon (Mythic)

Flying

Coventant - Choose One

• Search your library for a card, put it into your hand and shuffle your library.

• Search your Library for two cards, put them into your hand, then shuffle your library. Each other player may pay 2 life to search their library for a card and put it into their hand. If they do shuffle their library.

5/4

December 3, 2019 6:51 p.m.

Boza says... #39

Covenant is a really cool word to build around. I appreciate the challange!

Keyword Show

Covenant - (Wizards, Warlocks, Staffs and Tomes are Covenant permanents.)

Covenant is a new "bundle" type of ability word that bundles different types of cards, similar to Historic. In this case, I am bundling 2 artifict subtypes with 2 creature subtypes that are magic-related. Spells and abilities can care if you control a permanent of the certain type or how many of them you control. Additionally, cards can care if they are Covenant artifacts or Covenant creatures. The primary colors for this ability are Grixis.

Covenant cards Show

Tome of Forbidden Knowledge
Artifact - Tome (Common)

Draw three cards, then discard a card.
If you control a Covenant creature, instead draw 4 cards, then discard a card (Wizards and Warlocks are Covenant creatures).

Imp Servant
Creature - Imp Familiar (Uncommon)

Flying When ~ enters the battlefield, if you control a Covenant artifact, draw a card. ~ gets +1/+1 as long as you control a Covenant creature.

2/2

Eridaya, Doomed Wizard
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard

Indestructible When ~ enters the battlefield, draw a card for each Covenant creature you control. When you control no Covenant artifacts, sacrifice ~.

4/1

Aryx, the Staff of Legends
Legendary Artifact - Tome Staff (Mythic)

When another Covenant artifact enters the battlefield, draw a card for each Tome you control and each opponent sacrifices a creature for each other Staff you control.
When a Covenant creature enters the battlefield, each opponent discards a card for each Warlock you control, then deal 1 to any target for each Wizard you control.

December 4, 2019 6:33 a.m. Edited.

Tzefick says... #40

I'll be closing the challenge and announcing the winner on Covenant this Saturday. So there's still a little time to get in on it.

December 12, 2019 7:43 a.m.

Tzefick says... #41

Sorry for the delay.

Feedback on suggestions Show

Mj3913 I always find multiplayer mechanics interesting, but they are really hard to design and make work. The idea here is very simple; you ask any amount of players what additional effect they would allow you to get. It's an interesting idea that encourages politics around the table and is very suitable for multiplayer formats with more than 2 players/teams (in two-headed giant, it's basically the same as a 1-on-1).

Where it starts to unravel is the mechanic setup. When cast you can choose any number of players to vote for an effect. So you could just always choose yourself as the only contributor and gain exactly what you want. Another issue is that some of these additional effects have targets, and it is necessary when putting a spell or ability on the stack to select targets, which you cannot do when you don't know if it will be relevant or not. The closest existing mechanic I can think of is Will of the Council . The templating for Will of the Council is specifically always mentioning the options as either this general effect or that general effect - draw a card or blow everything up . Split decision as shown above selects a target beforehand and then asks what is going to happen to that target. That templating could be copied for Covenant, but Will of the Council is already very lengthy, so I think we'll run into text length issues.

The idea is good, but I think it still needs some work.

---

Boza A new take on Historic. It's an interesting idea to simply create design space out of existing subtypes and creating new ones to match the bundle. The difficulty is similarly that either you have to errata a bunch of old artifacts, supply a large amount of support within the particular product for the new subtypes or continue to support specifically this mechanic going forward. The ideal thing would be to find an artifact subtype that could work with other mechanics down the line. Staff and tome seems a little narrow but it could possibly work.

Although I cannot help but question; why not just template it specifically to those subtypes that Covenant covers? For instance the Doomed Wizard;

"When ~ enters the battlefield, draw a card for each Wizard and each Warlock you control.

When you control no Tome or Staff, sacrifice ~."

I like the idea of new takes on Historic and there's potential here, but with a bit of cynicism, is this not just making an arbitrary reference group for the sake of making a reference group?

Lots of creature types could be part of the band of Covenant creatures, like Clerics, which opens the mechanic up to a broader support group. Actually I'm a bit surprised clerics were not included for covenant creatures. It may be a choice made because the mechanic was set in Grixis, but black has had many clerics before. Although, the more subtypes to include, the longer the reminder text. It seems like a challenge to balance granting enough support and not go overboard in an attempt to shoehorn the mechanic in everywhere.

Possibly it would have been better to make Covenant a characteristic on the permanents rather than a group of subtypes. It would make it more flexible within the product, if you could just slap Covenant on basically any permanent and have it work with things that cares for it. Covenant should maybe provide some small benefit by itself then. The cost to that change would be no potential outside that specific product.

Winner Show

1. Boza A new take on Historic has potential. Covenant might be a bit arbitrary here on what is and what is not part of the Covenant, but it is thematic. Covenant may have been better focused and flexible if permanents had Covenant as a characteristic instead of Covenant defining a group of subtypes, some not existing at the moment. Although I find the idea interesting and believe it worth tempering with for a future mechanic.

2. Mj3913 A multiplayer mechanic with politics in mind is an interesting and potent mechanic at heart. Sadly I don't think the kinks have been worked out of the mechanic, which leaves it confusing, lengthy, and with an obvious loophole that could be solved by having you choose any amount of other players than yourself.

Congratulations Boza! What new keyword shall we wreck our brains with for the coming week(s)?

December 15, 2019 12:23 p.m.

Boza says... #42

I have to say the orginal covenant was Witches, Warlocks and Wizards - all the Ws. I Know that clerics or shamans (to cover all five colors could be included), but the reminder text was getting too long as is. I wanted to convey the tools of the trade to be as important as those practising the trade. I am geniunly interested what you mean by "if permanents had Covenant as a characteristic".

Anyways, stop the rambling its new word time. A simple one this time:

HARMONY

December 16, 2019 3:21 a.m. Edited.

JANKYARD_DOG says... #43

Harmony Show

Harmony I would say is Bant because Rakdos colors are too chaotic/evil. It is hard to say which would be better suited as the lead color between (religious/order aspect) & (nature aspect) but would be tertiary. Harmony would work similar to devotion except it would require it completely rather than just counting pips, it would check that you have ONLY that/those color(s). With colored artifacts becoming more commonplace they won't be excluded.

Harmony - if all other permanents you control share only the colors of this card do/gain X

After coming up with my examples I kinda feel a defender/big butts matter theme would fit with this as well if this were to be featured in a set.

Examples Show

Perfect Harmony

Enchantment

Creatures you control gain +0/+2 and Vigilance

Harmony - if all other permanents you control share only the colors of this card creatures you control gain lifelink

---

Master of Mind

Creature - Bird Monk

Defender

When ~ enters the battlefield scry 2

Harmony - if all other permanents you control share only the colors of this card ~ gains : target creature loses all abilities and becomes 0/2 until end of turn.

1/4

---

Ticahr, Aerie Keeper

Legendary Creature - Bird Monk

Flying, Vigilance

Other Birds you control gain +1/+1

Harmony - if all other permanents you control share only the colors of this card ~ gains : Search your Library for a bird card and put it into your hand. Shuffle your library.

3/4

---

Call of Ticahr

Sorcery

Put X 1/1 bird tokens onto the battlefield

Harmony - if all other permanents you control share only the colors of this card you may cast this spell as if it had Flash.

---

Blossom Tender

Creature - Elf Druid

: Add

Harmony - if all other permanents you control share only the colors of this card ~ gains : add .

---

Harmonic Totem

Artifact

When ~ Enters the battlefield choose a color. ~ is the chosen color.

: put a Harmonic Counter on target permanant you control. It becomes the chosen color as long as you control a card named ~.

: Permanents target player controls become the color of your choice until end of turn.

(This doesn't feature Harmony but I feel it was necessary to show a card that supported multi color play alongside the ability.)

December 16, 2019 2:49 p.m.

Boza says... #44

It appears this contest has died down - I waited quite a while, mainly due to holidays, for a second challenger to appear, since it is not a contest with just one entry.

Mj3913 Show

I feel that this Harmony is a bit too simple to achieve - play no artifacts and play only cards in the colors of your deck. This is a very low deck-building bar to clear for, judging by the cards, a very powerful effect. Plus, it should really say "non-land permanents", otherwise, you cannot achieve harmony if you play any lands.

Some of the effects are really strong - Blossom Tender as a turn one play is a double Llanowar Elves . Others are really cool - the bird lord and bird sorcery are pretty awesome. The harmonic totem raises some eyebrows in terms of application - it can be put into any harmonic deck and allows you to play permanents outside of your harmony colors, which can be more easily remedied by just building your deck not to include those cards, but it can be used to break an opponent's Harmony.

Mj3913, you are the winner of the Harmony challenge and can choose the next word.

I think that if we get a couple of challenges with less than 3 responses, it will mean the interest has petered out.

January 2, 2020 4:34 a.m.

Tzefick says... #45

Eh, I just think the holidays overshadowed the desire for posting on here. I think it might pick up the pace once we get further through January.

I had nothing for Harmony when it was posted and kinda forgot about it all afterwards.

January 2, 2020 12:41 p.m.

JANKYARD_DOG says... #46

The word of the day is "Hubris".

January 2, 2020 1:50 p.m.

dbpunk says... #47

I honestly have been so busy I wasn't really paying attention to this.

Anyways, keyword:

Hubris - Whenever ____, sacrifice this creature.

Its a creature keyword primarily because of the fact that only creatures really can end up in the follies of their ways. Additionally, Im going to go ahead and make it grixis, cause the combination of passion, intelligence and greed often lead to hubris. Also, since its hubris, it only works best if its Greek mythos for it.

Examples:

Common

Burnfeather Satyr

Creature - Satyr Berserker

Haste

~ enters play with two +1/+1 counters on it.

Hubris - When ~ deals combat damage to an opponent, sacrifice it.

1/1

Uncommon

Deathstalker Gorgon

Creature - Gorgon

Deathtouch

When ~ dies, destroy target non-Gorgon creature.

Hubris- Whenever a creature with power 5 or greater enters the battlefield under your control, sacrifice ~.

Rare

Lisalis, Queen of Aritisus

Legendary Creature - Demigod Noble

Haste

Whenever a creature dies, draw a card.

When ~ dies, destroy all creatures

Hubris - Whenever an opponent controls more creatures than you, sacrifice ~.

4/4

Mythic

Triton Chronologists

Creature - Merfolk Wizards

Whenever an opponent casts a spell, put a time counter on ~.

When ~ dies, exile it and take an additional turn after this one.

Hubris - When there are ten or more time counters on ~, sacrifice it.

1/1

January 2, 2020 5:43 p.m.

Boza says... #48

OK, I was a bit worried there for a minute, but I totally forgot the holidays existed for everybody :)

I am having a hard time coming up with something better than what is already offered, these are some great Hubris words already!

Hubris explanation Show

Hubris is synonymous with Icarus and his flight. I think that flavor is not difficult to capture in a card, but I think that given we are in the swing of Theros 2.0, I want to make a thing connected with Gods, as hubris is invoked with Gods often. Hubris is an activated ability that can put counters on a creature, but the creature needs a god to reign it in. It is a slight play on Monstrous.

Hubris is in all 5 colors, but restricted to only Human creatures.

X: Hubris N (Put N +1/+1 counters on this creature. At the beginning of the next end step, sacrifice it unless you control a God.)

Hubris cards Show

Boastful philosopher
Creature - Human Advisor (common)

: Hubris 1 (Put N +1/+1 counters on this creature. At the beginning of the next end step, sacrifice it unless you control a God.)

When ~ attacks or blocks, gain 1 life for each point of toughness ~ has above its base toughness.

2/2

Hypocratia, Chief Hoplite
Legendary Creature - Human Soldier (Rare)

First strike
: Hubris 2 (Put N +1/+1 counters on this creature. At the beginning of the next end step, sacrifice it unless you control a God.)
When ~ attacks, create a 1/1 Soldier token tapped and attacking for each +1/+1 counter on ~.

3/2

Theosis, the God-Bound King Legendary Creature - Human Noble

: Hubris 3.

As long as ~ has 5 or more +1/1 counters on it, it gains indestructible and is a God in addition to its other types.

4/4

January 3, 2020 4:05 a.m.

JANKYARD_DOG says... #49

Going to leave this open til Sunday night if that's alright. Then I'll post either that night or then next day with ratings, unless anyone has any objections.

January 8, 2020 11:11 p.m.

JANKYARD_DOG says... #50

Judging

Hubris: excessive pride or self confidence. Or in ancient Greece,(hybris) is the intentional use of violence to humiliate or degrade.

Don't judge the judge to harshly, jussayin.

I was hoping for a non-divine spin on it, my own vision was something like Hubris - you gain X benefit but if ~ 'action' do Y. Makes for some leader types but if they get too cocky something bad happens.

dbpunk

Grixis was a good play, I was thinking Mardu myself because of whites religious sort of aspect, but blue makes sense.

Common - close to what I had imagined, still good though. It's a Volcanic Hammer with a body basically, which is pretty standard these days. Pun intended.

Uncommon - You forgot the stats. A majority of gorgons though are bigger in the butt though so I can use my imagination. Nicely flavored though for a gorgon.

Rare - if my rules knowledge is correct the 3rd ability is state based so you can't react to an increase of their board state by sacrificing, etc? Correct me if wrong here. So much advantage though: ahead of curve, draw on any deaths, threaten board states, can swing out of the gate. Gold.

Mythic - This is an interesting design. It says 'kill me now so I can have an extra turn, or wait awhile and I get an extra turn. Either way...'. I'd love to add prowess to this... jussayen.

Overall I think this is something that could actually be seen in packs if ever we were to return to Theros...again. Great concept.

TypicalTimmy

1st card - All other 'one sided wipes' I could find are all 8-9 mana so the cost of this one is worrisome. Wrath of God for or full price for one player. Over powered maybe?

2nd - This feels more black than blue, but anything's possible I suppose.

3rd - it's interesting, but I think it could end up leading to some confusion. Also high probability of being broken lol. Imagine everyone taking an extra turn, every turn?

It's an interesting concept, I can see it in a place where 'cmc matters' with cards like Cerebral Eruption or Blast of Genius . Also probably spell reduction stuff. Also featured in this set... the Scornful Egotist .

Boza

I'm just going to lump everything in one here. I like it, it's almost like Monsterous but better because it's not limited to a one time use. And the flavor of the God check is nice, gives the opponent opportunity to 2 for 1 if they take down the God. The ascension is nice too, I think overall these are all creatures that would have to be dealt with quickly before they get out of hand.

Top (only) 3 Show

Don't judge the judge to harshly... this is hard, I dont like choosing favorites but, name of the game I suppose. Anyway...

3rd: TypicalTimmy, sorry was a bit confusing I think. Good concept, but think it would need a bit more work to flesh out completely. It could have applications in a 'cmc matters' setting for sure though.

2nd: if I could make a tie I would but it'd be harder to have 2 people collaborate on the next word lol. dbpunk, it was hard coming to a final decision. The sacrifice clause was bugging me a bit.. I tried arguing with myself about grixis's powers of reanimation and such, but something about the next one won me over in the end.

1st: Boza, there's not much more to say about it than I did in the last section. I really like the feel of it, I think it's something that could see print. I wonder if WotC employees look at these things at all XD. Anyway, the next word is yours to choose.

January 13, 2020 10:20 a.m.