Pasting decks on MTG Salvation

TappedOut forum

Posted on Sept. 13, 2010, 3:37 p.m. by yeaGO

Hey there,

For those of you who use MTG Salvation I created an export format for that site. Should be easier for you to use. See 'Export' heading on your deck page.

nammertime says... #2

Awesome, thanks man!

September 13, 2010 7:34 p.m.

-Logician says... #3

For the last few months, I've been designing a new format that adds an entirely new dimension to deck building. In addition to building your deck, you also choose a class. What's a class, you ask? Here's an example.

Regular MSE users will recognize the purple set symbol as the "special" rarity. If my set was released as a booster pack, I would imagine every booster pack always including one random class card in the back. You'll notice that the color identity of the class is clearly stated right after the type "Class -- Black." The color identity of your class is very important, but not as strict as so with commander.

Your class card does NOT count as one card in your 60 card deck. I have made 28 unique classes: one for each color, one for each two-color combination, one for each three-color combination, two colorless, and one five-color. You simply choose a class among the 28 possible classes and start the game with that class card in your command zone. You start at level 1 (not zero, like the leveler cards). Your deck must be at least 60 cards. It is not a singleton format, and you may have up to four copies of a given card among your minimum 60 card mainboard, and your maximum 15 card sideboard just like in Standard. Cards in your deck may be of any color (you are not limited by your Class's color identity), but many cards in this set have special bonus effects if your class is a given color and you are at least some given level. Also, some cards can't even be cast unless you meet the color and level requisites.

Here's an example of a card that looks extremely overpowered at first sight. Make no mistake, requiring level 6 is a hefty cost. While I try not to make the process of leveling too difficult, it's not exactly easy either. It would be truly impressive if you actually dropped this on turn 4.

Some classes level up quicker than others. The classes with fewer colors in their identity are able to level up faster, while the classes that include several colors level up slower, but allow the deck to feature more of the set's class-specific powerful cards. For comparison, here's an example of a three-color class.

You'll notice that while the necromancer class had an activated ability that can put demons into play, the warrior class has nothing of the sort. However, the warrior class does have access to three colors instead of just one.

Here are some more examples of some class-specific cards in the set.

Not all of the powerful cards in the set are class-specific though. I tried to design cards that would change the way the game is played. In the example below, Tarnish is a creature that says, "You can't draw cards." However, the player is then able to utilize their graveyard like never before, except I cut off the ability to recycle instant and sorcery spells endlessly. The strategy could backfire with your opponent answering your graveyard, and so the weakness is clear.

Another example of a card that warps the game and changes how the game feels is Dawkstrike Angel. Flavorfully, she strikes at dawn. She essentially moves the combat phase to the beginning of the turn instead of in the middle. This pretty much shuts down haste entirely. Players gets so used to how magic is normally played, and when you introduce a card like this, it makes them think and presents the players with decisions they haven't yet encountered.

Here's an example of some interesting counter-magic fully equipped with the characteristically egotistical flavor text just as you'd expect. This kind of card really shows how far I wanted to go in order to avoid functional reprints and to just think outside the box in general. One of my goals for this set is to make as many cards as possible appear different or obscure. While sometimes I throw simplicity right out the window, I feel like the overall product becomes a much more interesting puzzle to figure out.

Perhaps one of the most ambitiously obscure mechanics in this set are a series of lands called Hideouts. This plane is young, and civilizations are only starting to emerge. In this pre-civilized era, hideouts are abundant. They basically give your creatures a place to hide for a little while. Since this set features many ETB effects, I wanted a dual land cycle that synergized with that strongly.

To show you just one more example of obscurity, here's the Cleric class that states, "As a player receives priority, removal all damage marked on creatures you control." Now there's a line of text you probably weren't expecting, but it makes sense considering its a cleric. A cleric heals, and in this case, a cleric heals all of its creatures as players receive priority. That means that if your opponent was planning on using two burn spells together to kill a single big creature you control, they might want to think again.

While that line of rules text does require a little bit more than the average amount of rules knowledge to fully comprehend, that's not something I'm at all worried about. My target audience for this is not new players to the game. Also, this set is designed solely for constructed play. This is not a draft set/format. This set is intended to be played with solo, as in not including any other magic set unless it is also a Class Magic set.

Now that I've put a small bit of this set and format onto the table, I'm interested in your initial reaction. How do you feel about having a Class associated with your deck, leveling up, and playing powerful cards like Bloodmore Hellkite (imaged above)? Would you feel comfortable playing with obscure cards like Dawnstrike Angel, Tarnish, and Hideouts?

I would love to have shared many more cards in this set, but it is still in the late stages of construction. I am currently 284 cards in and have images for less than half of them. I personally prefer only sharing cards that I feel are finished and have an image, which is why I only shared so few cards today. When I finish, I intend to create a custom Cockatrice cards.xml file and a downloadable collection of images so that the set is playable on Cockatrice. I'm unsure of the rules regarding the posting of such files on this forum though, and will take necessary informative precautions when proceeding to that step.

Thank you for your interest, and have a wonderful day.

March 23, 2015 3:41 a.m.

JakeHarlow says... #4

I don't have a lot to say at this point, except that this looks very slick and well-considered. Very good job. It looks like you did a lot of work here. Thanks for sharing, I'm excited to see what you come up with next!

March 23, 2015 3:54 a.m.

-Fulcrum says... #5

First of all, this sounds like a really great idea. But I have a few questions and concerns.

  1. The process of leveling up seems almost too slow. The Necromancer class seems difficult to level up because of its requirements, and the Warrior class doesn't actually do anything when it levels up.

  2. Is this set meant to be standalone? Or can I include cards in my deck(s) from other sets? If so, will there be a banned list or set limitation?

  3. Is there any way to implement this idea into EDH? If so, would the class have to match the Commander's color identity exactly, or just part of it. For example, the Black class in a White/Black EDH deck.

March 23, 2015 4:04 a.m.

The_Raven says... #6

I don't think this should be a 60 card format. 60 cards format is way to fast for this leveling up. When people win on turn 4, your class don't really do anything. Instead, this would be fun in commander, since it is USUALLY a slower format.

Or, have I missed something?

March 23, 2015 4:54 a.m.

Kizmetto says... #7

this sounds really sweet actuallymore fleshed out Classes like what vault mentioned re: Warrior and we're good to go. I like having the restrictions of needing to be a certain level to cast certain cards, and then also using your levels as a resource like that time card! I like it a lot.

best of luck, i would totally be interested in playing this with my friends - bonus points if you can incoprorate the class system into EDH play (treat like a commander enchantment...wait no, a world enchantment?)

March 23, 2015 7:21 a.m.

Gidgetimer says... #8

The format seems interesting but my question is about the art that you have on your cards. Did you create all of the art? Because some of it is simply amazing.

March 23, 2015 7:22 a.m.

I appreciate extensive these designs are out of Magic's regular pallet...which unfortunately leaves a lot of your ideas feeling too alien and "not-Magic".

I love the idea of Hideout lands, but I feel Hideout might work better as a mechanic on the land ie. Spinerock Knoll rather than as a subtype of the land, simply so as not to use of design space. That is, unless you have things that interact with Hideouts?

Also, you reeealllly need to credit any and all artists for this kind of thing. If these are for yourself, that's one thing. But if you show any of these designs to anyone else, it's really important to credit the original artists. I know for certain that at least some of these pieces belong to other people as I've seen them on other people's designs before with an artist credited.

March 23, 2015 8:07 a.m.

pookypuppy6 says... #10

I think what irks me about some of these designs is that you are trying to make complicated card mechanics ON TOP of introducing a whole system of Classes and levelling up. Take the Necromancer and the Cleric. With the Necromancer, the levelling up is not just tircky but also rather bizzarre and doesn't seem remotely black. Tap two creatures of the same converted mana cost to dump a creature from your hand? Seems more suited for green or white. As for the Cleric, the level up ability and the last ability are fine, but surely you can come up with something simpler than "removing marked damage when priority is passed" (using a whole bunch of words that you don't see on actual Magic cards). Just have a simple damage prevention ability. The Warrior at least is simple and still encourages building around, which makes me wonder why the tri-coloured class is way simpler to use than the monocoloured classes.

If you do make this into a set of Magic cards, do make sure to keep it simple at common at least. New ways to play the game with new mechanics are often fun yet familiar because they are a twist on very simple aspects of the game. Delve is a twist on casting a spell with simple effects. Dash is a twist on casting creatures and attacking with them. Classes should provide a similar twist to familiar game fundamentals, which is why Fiendclaw is one of your best designs here.

All this looks good mind, just make sure not to go overboard unnecessarily. A new Class concept is tough enough t handle without Mr. Tarnish coming in and making things even weirder.

March 23, 2015 8:40 a.m.

-Logician says... #11

JakeHarlow Thanks!

vault

  1. The necromancer does indeed require some building around to make it work properly, and isn't as simple as the Warrior. I guess I felt like the demon ability was very strong, and I wanted a way to feel like a necromancer. I kind of felt like giving him the ability to reanimate might be a little overpowered. I'm open to suggestions.
  2. Yes. It's standalone.
  3. If one would allow you to have a general and a class in EDH, I would allow any class that fits in the commander's identity. So yes, necromancer in a B/W class seems fine. Gives more options, which is good in my opinion.

NorthernRaven You make a good point. Since this is a standalone format, however, I have taken steps to ensure that this is not a turn 4 format. I would see this as closer to a turn 6 format.

Kizmetto Thanks. I haven't yet thought about implementing into commander. I think I would need to simplify some class abilities first. The only thing I would have against it is that I feel like people would tend towards monocolored classes and maybe just use a single mythic rare among their 100 card deck that corresponds to that class. I feel like that's not in the spirit of Class Magic.

Gidgetimer Good point. None of it is my own, and I should indeed credit that if I plan on doing the cockatrice thing. Oh dear, I have a lot of googling to do.

BlueEyesRedMage I do have hideout interactions, actually. I will consider your advice though.

pookypuppy6 You make a good point about the necromancer's ability not feeling like its in black's color pie. I'm open to suggestions on that. Indeed, introducing wild mechanics on top of trying to introduce classes is probably too ambitious, but I intended this to be a constructed standalone set to play at almost the power level of Standard. Since standard currently has eight sets in its arsenal instead of one, I had to up the complexity of the set to make it feel less like a draft format and give players more to think about. Even though a normal set will try to stick to just five new mechanics, I think that creating a standalone set with only five new mechanics makes for an uninteresting metagame (I suppose if done well, maybe not, but I hope you understand what I mean). Much like Modern Masters, I didn't want this format to be easily solved. I also didn't want to push too many level-required cards into the format, because then I feel like you lose some freedom in deck building. I appreciate your advice! Thank you.

March 23, 2015 11:25 a.m.

I get that you want this format to be complex and have a lot of depth but I feel like you're mixing up the complexity that comes from an environment with multiple mechanics and the complexity that an individual mechanic has on it's own.

If a player new to your set (let's forgo even conceptualizing introducing a new or even semi-new player to this set, which would be quite simply impossible) has trouble even understanding how a mechanic works in principle on one card, let alone how it interaction with other cards in the set, then you may need to tone down the complexity of that mechanic.

I would suggest either;

a) Tone down the complexity of the mechanics, so that the deep designs of the cards can shine through

OR

b) Tone down the complexity of card designs like Tarnish or the Dawn Angel so that the deep design of the mechanic has room to breath.

March 23, 2015 12:04 p.m.

My suggestion would be to generate a template for what a base level Class card would look like. Keep it simple and leave it open to being changed to suit each colour combination. Make something consistent across all class cards, like gaining a level for every spell you cast of a certain colour or gaining a level every turn. Then, once you've established something concrete that players can go "ah, that's how Classes work" tweak the designs. That's where classes can evolve and look different, but only after you've set the groundwork for how this brand new design space even works.

March 23, 2015 12:08 p.m.

-Logician says... #14

BlueEyesRedMage I see what you mean, and have been meaning to balance the leveling rate of classes. In general, after some tweaks, all classes are presented with one opportunity each turn to level up. As much fun as it was initially to consider the possibility of leveling up twice or even thrice in one turn, I later realized that allowing such leveling rates was overpowered, and nerfed many of the class's leveling rates. After recent tweaks, I'd say that every class can level up once per turn, with the except of a couple that might level up slower than that.

Here's a list of each class I have so far after today's tweaks. Note the few obvious changes in Necromancer and Cleric.

If anyone catches something that needs to be fixed, feel free to let me know! :)

Necromancer -

  • At the beginning of your upkeep, you may put a creature card in your graveyard on top of your library. If you do, you level up.
  • : Put a 5/5 black Demon creature token onto the battlefield. Activate this ability only as a sorcery, only once each turn, and only if you are at least level 13.

Mage -

  • At the beginning of your end step, if a spell you control targeted an opponent or a spell or permanent you dont control, you level up.
  • : Draw a card, then discard a card. Activate this ability only as a sorcery, only once each turn, and only if you are at least level 4.

Elf -

  • At the beginning of your end step, if one or more green creatures with power 3 or greater entered the battlefield under your control this turn, you level up.
  • Creatures you cast come into play with a +1/+1 counter on them as long as you are least level 3.

Pyromancer -

  • Whenever you cast a spell, if its the second spell you have cast this turn, you level up.
  • While you are least level 4, nonbasic lands you dont control deal 1 damage to their controller when they become tapped during your turn.

Cleric -

  • At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have the highest life total or are tied for the highest life total, you level up.
  • Prevent the first 1 damage dealt to you each turn.
  • While you are at least level 5, at the beginning of your upkeep, you gain 2 life.

Hunter -

  • At the beginning of your end step, if you control the creature with the highest power or tied for the highest power, you level up.
  • Whenever a creature comes into play under an opponents control, as long as you are at least level 6, you may have target creature you control fight that creature.

Rogue -

  • At the beginning of your end step, if a creature you dont control died this turn, you level up.
  • Your creatures have deathtouch as long as you are at least level 4.
  • While you are at least level 8, the creature you control with the lowest power cant be blocked.

Sorcerer -

  • At the beginning of your end step, if you have seven or more cards in your hand, you level up.
  • You have no maximum hand size as long as you are at least level 3.
  • Whenever a player discards a card, as long as you are at least level 9, draw a card.

Alchemist -

  • At the beginning of your end step, if an artifact came into play under your control this turn, you level up.
  • While you are at least level 4 and control at least 4 artifacts, artifact spells you cast cost 1 less to cast.

Elementalist -

  • At the beginning of your end step, if you have cast one or more creature spells and one or more noncreature spells this turn, you level up.
  • : Target creature cant be blocked by creatures with power less than the number of cards in your hand. Use this ability only once each turn and only as long as you are at least level 8.

Beast Tamer -

  • Whenever the first token creature comes into play under your control each turn, you level up.
  • Creature tokens you control have vigilance.
  • : Put a 2/2 green and white Wolf creature token into play. Use this ability only as long as you are at least level 4.

Barbarian -

  • Whenever one or more creatures with power 3 or greater you control attacks, you level up.
  • Unblocked creatures you control get +1/+0 as long as you are at least level 5.

Paladin -

  • At the end of combat, if you attacked with one or more creatures this turn and none of them were blocked, you level up.
  • : Target creature you control gains double strike until end of turn. Use this ability only once each turn and only as long as you are at least level 7.

Fallen Angel -

  • At the beginning of each end step, if a creature you control died this turn, you level up.
  • While you are at least level 4, creatures you control with power 4 or greater have flying.
  • When you become level 9 for the first time, put a 4/4 white Angel creature token with flying onto the battlefield.

Battlepriest -

  • Whenever you draw your second card each turn, you level up.
  • : Prevent all damage dealt by the source of your choice until end of turn. Use this ability only once each turn and only if you are at least level 6.
  • While you are at least level 10 and being attacked by three or more creatures, those creatures get -2/-0 until end of turn.

Tyrant -

  • At the beginning of your upkeep, you may sacrifice a permanent. If you do, you level up.

Reaper -

  • At the beginning of your end step, if an opponent has no cards in his or her hand, you level up.
  • Your opponents play with their hands revealed.

Warlock -

  • At the beginning of each opponents end step, if one or more creatures entered the battlefield under your control this turn, you level up.
  • You may cast creature spells as though they had flash.

Apparition -

  • At the beginning of your upkeep, send the top two cards of your library into the graveyard. If one or more creature cards are put into your graveyard this way, you level up.

Harrier -

  • At the beginning of your upkeep, you may choose to become Awakened until your next turn. If you do, you level up.
  • While you are Awakened, spells you cast cost more to cast, can be cast any time you could play an instant, and cant be countered.

Druid -

  • Whenever you cast a creature spell with converted mana cost 3 or greater for the first time each turn, you level up.

Monk -

  • At the end of each combat, if one or more creatures you control with 4 or more toughness blocked this turn, you level up.

Assailant -

  • Whenever a creature card enters the battlefield under your control from your graveyard, put the top four cards of your library into your graveyard and you level up.

Warrior -

  • At the beginning of your end step, if you control more creatures than your opponent, you level up.

Scion -

  • Whenever you cast a spell with converted mana cost 5 or greater, you level up.

Shapeshifter -

  • Whenever a permanent comes into play under your control as a copy of another permanent on the battlefield, you level up.
  • While there are five colors among permanents you control, spells you cast cost less to cast.

Archaeologist - Colorless

  • At the beginning of your upkeep, you may exile the top card of your library. If that card is a colorless nonland card, you level up and you may play it this turn as though it were in your hand.
  • If you are level 15 or more, you win the game.

Centurion - Colorless

  • At the beginning of your upkeep, you level up.
  • While you are at least level 10, at the beginning of your upkeep, if you dont control any creatures, put a 7/7 colorless Centurion artifact creature token onto the battlefield.
March 23, 2015 3:28 p.m.

-Logician says... #15

There's a typo on the elementalist's ability. It only lasts until end of turn, not forever.

March 23, 2015 3:37 p.m.

jandrobard says... #16

It's an interesting idea, kudos for not cribbling Hearthstone, which is what I expected.

March 23, 2015 5:10 p.m.

-Fulcrum says... #17

Still loving the idea, but the classes don't yet feel balanced. I love that the class is called a Hunter (I love playing ), but the fight ability feels distinctly .

The Necromancer is practically unplayable. He provides a bit of utility in that it essentially allows you to draw a creature card from your graveyard, but the activated ability is impossible. You said this is looking to be a T6 format. The upkeep trigger will not happen every turn, and it would take at least 15 turns to get up the level 13 without additional help.

On the other side of the spectrum, the Cleric levels up stupidly fast. I think it would be more balanced if it required higher life total. Being tied for the highest life total means it will level up on T1 at 20 life.

Rogue - sounds more like a name than .

Elementalist - Requiring both creature and noncreature spells makes it very difficult to level up, especially in the early game.

Fallen Angel - a nice start, but the power 4 or greater requirement doesn't seem to match those colors.

Tyrant - it will be rare for a player in these attrition colors to sacrifice a permanent. Also, it doesn't do anything (yet).

Warlock , Druid , and Apparition - fantastic designs, but don't get any value out of leveling up. Additionally, Apparition sounds very much like an Esper name.

Monk - abilities feel very off. More Sultai than Jeskai. Also doesn't do anything.

Assailant - abilities feel very off. More Sultai than Abzan. Also doesn't do anything.

Scion - an Esper deck is never going to cast spells with 5 CMC, or at least not regularly.

Centurion - the second ability needs to be reworded.


Now that the criticisms are out of the way, I absolutely loved

  • Reaper - please put Cruel Ultimatum in this set

  • Elf - the simplicity is elegant.

  • Rogue - perfect abilities for these colors

  • Barbarian - perfect abilities for these colors

  • Beast Tamer - perfect abilities for these colors

  • Warlock - this looks so much fun to play

  • Harrier - probably the best designed class to date. Absolutely incredible, perfect design.

I look forward to seeing more of this idea of yours.

March 23, 2015 5:45 p.m.

It looks really interesting, but there are some issues: are they permanents? can you play the prolifferate game with them to do abuse? also, introducing a new type throws EVERYTHING OFF> also, with cards like Pithing Needle, do they affect it?

March 23, 2015 7 p.m.

-Fulcrum says... #19

It says somewhere in the post that they go to the command zone, kind of like conspiracies.

March 23, 2015 7:45 p.m.

that still doesnt answer most of the questions.

March 23, 2015 8:05 p.m.

-Fulcrum says... #21

It answers all your questions. Because it's in the Command Zone, it's not a permanent, is not affected by proliferate or Pithing Needle, and cannot be targeted by spells or abilities.

March 23, 2015 8:17 p.m.

Commanders are in the command zone, and can be targeted by pithy. and you said "go to" not "are in". please check your wording. also, they wouldnt be able to retain counters in command zone b/c it works like a removed from game pile.

March 23, 2015 8:19 p.m.

-Fulcrum says... #23

Pithing Needle doesn't actually target, but you have to name a card. I don't know the rules behind it, but I think it only stops abilities from being activated from the battlefield. I may be wrong, but that's my guess.

The Level Up aspect to these Class cards is different from the other level up ability, and may not involve counters. Logician may need to change the name of his ability to avoid confusion.

March 23, 2015 8:24 p.m.

zYpu are wrong. thats why both it AND Nevermore are needed to stop Derevi, Empyrial Tactician

March 23, 2015 8:30 p.m.

-Logician says... #25

DERPLINGSUPREMEI would rule that a card like Pithing Needle does nothing against a Class. That would be like trying to use Pithing Needle on an emblem. Emblems, along with Classes, shouldn't even be considered a card. It's not a nonland card, because it's not really even a card. It's just a representation of your Class. Notice how the list of card types in magic does not include Emblem. Think of it like your Class is sort of like an emblem you start the game with. To further prove my point, notice how you can enter a sanctioned tournament, ultimate a planeswalker, and claim that you now have an emblem. Your opponent can't call a judge if you do not own the emblem, because the emblem itself is just a representation. It's not part of the deck and isn't included in official decklists.

vault Thank you so much for your comments. I agree that hunter feels like , and I'm open to suggestions for changing it.

Necromancer feels underwhelming at first, but keep in mind that there are cards that can level ramp, and the best one is in black. It's called Neyra's Pact and it's pictured in the original post. I might lower the price a little bit for making the Demon, but making a 5/5 flying every turn is a big deal and must come at a very real cost. As for the leveling ability, if you have anything in mind that seems flavorfully appropriate for a Necromancer, let me know. It's been stumping me and this has been my third complete rewrite of this class.

Elementalist is probably a bit underpowered, indeed. It's difficult coming up with appropriate abilities for some of these classes, this one especially. I'll consider revision.

Fallen Angel includes white, which absolutely on its own includes several cards with the text, "power 4 or greater." Reprisal is just one of many. The number "4" is actually very characteristic of Angels.

You mentioned many three color classes that you feel don't get any benefits, but the reason they lack additional abilities is because they include three colors. With Tyrant, you can be abusing the strongest leveling cards in green, black, and red. I do understand that part of what makes Reaper well-designed is that it actually has an small additional ability just as you'd want from these other classes. If you can come up with little things for them to have, let me know and I'll consider them. In the mean time, I'll try to think of some too.

I'm not sure what your main concern is with Centurion.

So I looked up some cards, and it seems you're right about apparition being Esper instead of Sultai. To be honest, I think I really like Esper being a Scion, but knowing that an Apparition isn't Sultai makes me want to change that completely.

As for Rogue sounding more like than , I can see how the first two lines seem like black and the last line seems like blue, but I wanted the Rogue to appear sneaky. You'd expect a rogue to be a small dude, and making your smallest dude unblockable seemed like what a rogue should be doing. Perhaps there's a better way to imagine a rogue in the rakdos colors.

Finally, I see your point about Scion rarely casting CMC 5 or greater, but Scion is actually one of the only (I think perhaps THE only) class that can eventually start leveling up twice in one turn natively. It happens whenever you cast a CMC 5 or higher spell, so yeah. I have made a card similar to Caged Sun (but a little bit nerfed and costs 7 mana) and casting two CMC 5+ cards can happen earlier than you might expect.

I'm glad I've shared my designs for all these classes, as this thread has helped a lot in terms of determining what truly needs work. It's easy to overlook things when its your own design, and this criticism is exactly what I need. I'm open to all sorts of ideas. In fact, after giving it a lot of thought today, I've been considering reworking the set starting with the classes I already have, and maybe a few key-defining cards having to do with classes. I clearly wanted two different things from this set. I wanted it to be competitive as a standalone constructed set with complex cornerstones and such, and I also wanted to make this entirely new type of card called a Class. If I were to rework the set from mostly the ground up, one thing I might consider trying is to somehow also implementing quests to really dive into the RPG feels. I know that sounds ambitious, and maybe someone just needs to slap me and say, "No Logician. No. You're ruining it!" But if we work together, we might be able to create something amazing.

March 24, 2015 1:27 a.m.

-Fulcrum says... #26

Classes and quests. Sounds more like DND than MTG to me. Not necessarily saying they need to be separate, but definitely handled with care in this situation.

How about this?

Necromancer -

At the beginning of your endstep, if a creature died this turn, level up.

: Put a 2/2 black zombie creature token onto the battlefield tapped under your control. Activate this ability only as a sorcery, only once per turn, and only if you are level 4 or higher.


It makes sense for necromancers to make zombies, not demons. Nerfing the ability a bit is the best way to also lower the level requirement. This makes it playable, and (in my opinion) balanced. If you think it's overpowered, work with it a bit more.

If you're interested, I would be willing to help you with some more ideas and stuff.

March 24, 2015 2:06 a.m.

-Logician says... #27

I think that zombie ability is well-made. being double black makes sense, and level four is a perfectly fine requirement.

That leveling ability is something I was actually trying to avoid, honestly. Let me explain. Rogue levels up when an opponent's creature dies, and Fallen Angel levels up when your creature dies. While it is indeed unique, I feel like I would be overusing that.

I like the zombie ability though, and I'll make that change. As much as I like the demon ability, I do realize it is a bit of a stretch.

March 24, 2015 1:12 p.m.

-Logician says... #28

What do you think about this? Added one more level required for the zombie ability because you basically get the first level up for free.

March 24, 2015 1:23 p.m.

-Fulcrum says... #29

I love it.

March 24, 2015 3:33 p.m.

-Logician says... #30

Damn Diablo 3... taking up all my free time. I will work on this sometime this weekend. I will. I will! (maybe ;D)

March 27, 2015 1:40 p.m.

Off topic, but if anyone is up for jamming some Diablo 3, I'm always down for some dungeon crawling action.

March 27, 2015 1:44 p.m.

I love the idea, but it would be terribly hard to keep it all balanced. Having more colors in your class makes you very strong, and the level up systems would have to be extremely well designed equally for each card.

March 28, 2015 8:18 p.m.

DBCooper says... #33

pretty cool new mechanic, man.

March 30, 2015 2:53 p.m.

This discussion has been closed