New Mechanic: Siphon

Custom Cards forum

Posted on May 19, 2016, 11:34 a.m. by Crayfish

I have been working on designing some cards to use an interact with a mechanic I call "Siphon"

Siphon X (This permanent enters the battlefield with siphon counters equal to X times the amount of life you pay as it enters the battlefield.)

I have about 30 cards at the time of writing this post, and I would like to share some with you guys, to get feedback and advice!

Cards with Siphon Show

Cards that interact with the mechanic Show

I would love to hear your feedback! Thanks!

so this is like devourer, but worse because you have to remove the counters?

seems kinda shit.

I mean, I guess it would be useful, but there's so many better things to do with the life and mana.

May 19, 2016 11:37 a.m. Edited.

MagicalHacker says... #3

The flavor, wording, and effect seem less than ideal...Siphon is a slang term in mtg meaning to make one or more opponents lose life and you gain that much life, so you should at the very least change the actual name.

May 19, 2016 12:19 p.m.

zandl says... #4

The actual rules text needs work, too. As it stands currently, nothing explains what the number means next to "Siphon", and the text doesn't specify if it's mandatory or not. I imagine you'd like it to be a mandatory cost, so how about this:

Siphon 2 (As this permanent enters the battlefield, pay 2 life. If you do, it enters the battlefield with 2 siphon counters on it.)

The "if you do" clause is added because you wouldn't be able to pay 2 life if you're at 1 life.

For what it's worth, as well, ability costs are always before a colon and the effects are after. Paying life is always a cost since players may not be able to pay certain amounts. Remember... Cost : Effect.

On the functionality side of things, I think you'd do well to include other abilities on the cards in case Siphon can't be paid, or maybe make a base card and give it siphon to add or improve an existing effect.

May 19, 2016 1:09 p.m. Edited.

rainbowofdeath says... #5

zandl the formatting is actually fine it uses the same format as devour effectively and im pretty sure everyone got how that mechanic worked.

I personally like how this ability could potentially play out but the flavor of it being on a ton of artifacts feels a little weird.

May 19, 2016 4:29 p.m.

zandl says... #6

Actually, Devour is:

Devour 1 (As this enters the battlefield, you may sacrifice any number of creatures. This creature enters the battlefield with that many +1/+1 counters on it.)

... which more closely resembles what I posted.

Now that I've given this thread another once over, I've noticed that the TC's definition for Siphon in the original post differs from what it is on the cards.

May 19, 2016 5:17 p.m.

RoarMaster says... #7

Triskaidekaphobia + Siphon = pretty broken.

May 19, 2016 7:23 p.m.

aholder7 says... #8

as it stands now, you have no way of paying life when the cards come in. unless siphon says you may pay any amount of life when you cast this card, you can't pay life.

i think you want something like

Devour X (As you cast CARD, you may pay any amount of life. This card enters the battlefield with X times that many siphon counters on it.)

also as mentioned above, siphon is occasionally slang for stealing life from the opponent (im partial to the term leech and drain, but i know that i may be the minority on that one.) so you might want to make it something like "Offering" or "Bloodletting".

May 19, 2016 10:55 p.m.

Postmortal_Pop says... #9

I feel that with this much life pay you are almost obligated to have something like Lich's Tomb of Phyrexian Unlife.

Maybe something like

CARD NAME HERE wbbEnchantment

Siphon 4

You don't lose the game for having 0 of less life.

Whenever a source an opponent controls would cause you to lose life, remove that many Siphon counters from CARD NAME HERE.

if there are no Siphon counters on CARD NAME HERE sacrifice it.

May 20, 2016 2:14 a.m.

zandl says... #10

The problem there is that you can't pay life you don't have. If you're at 0 with an effect that says you don't lose, you can't pay anything.

May 20, 2016 2:27 a.m.

That's actually the point, you cast it and it let's you use your life with impunity but you have a deadline,that way the game doesn't last for ever but you don't have to worry about someone burning you because your life dropped too low

May 20, 2016 2:19 p.m.

MagicalHacker says... #12

Basically the issue is that that "siphon" card prevents you from being able to siphon anymore.

Also, I love the idea of it being called "Bloodletting", so I wanna suggest the counters as "Blood Counters". Also, can you make half of the cards just check for the number of blood counters rather than have them remove that many? Not many people like cards that eventually stop themselves from doing awesome stuff.

May 20, 2016 2:24 p.m.

Maybe when CARDNAME enters the battlefield, pay X amount of life. If you do, put X syphon counters on CARDNAME

Like devour, but with life. Loving it! Also, proliferate. If there is another esper faction, this could be a sweet mechanic in it.

Also, for star wars cube, this seems like the perfect sith mechanic

June 13, 2016 12:52 a.m.

This discussion has been closed