New Versions of the Urza Lands
Custom Cards forum
Posted on April 2, 2020, 9:56 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
The trio of Gaea's Cradle, Serra's Sanctum, and Tolarian Academy are some of the most powerful lands in this game, and they shall never be reprinted, due to their amazing power.
Therefore, I wish to make new versions of those lands, but none of my new cards are actually lands, the reason for that being that none of those lands counted themselves for their effects, which made them too unreliable, in my mind. Therefore, my new cards will count themselves, to ensure that they are never dead draws.
Esmeralda, Keeper of the Cradle Show
I used Magus of the Coffers as my guideline for this creature, but this one is legendary, as is the land after which she is modeled, and she has a stricter casting cost, because of how amazing her ability is. She is an elf, because elves in this game have always been portrayed as having a connection to land and nature, but is she too powerful as an elf? Should she be a human or elemental, instead?
Naiquila, High Priestess of Nyx Show
For this card, she could not be only an enchantment, because enchantments in this game do not tap, so she is an enchantment creature. Again, Magus of the Coffers was my guideline for this creature, albeit with a stricter casting cost and the legendary supertype.
Kreissler, Keeper of the Academy Show
As with my previous two creatures, this one is modeled after Magus of the Coffers. I originally had planned for this card to be only an artifact, but that would have broken the pattern from the first two and also not allowed it to be used as a general in an EDH deck.
What does everyone else think of these cards? Do you like them?
DemonDragonJ says... #3
Boza, in that case, here is my new version of that card:
Seraphina, Keeper of the Sanctum Show
First, I changed her name to reference Serra's Sanctum; second, I reduced both her initial casting cost and the activation cost of her ability; third, I reduced her power and toughness, since I feel that a 4/4 creature for four mana with such a powerful ability would be too much.
Now, what do you think of her?
April 3, 2020 8:57 a.m.
The new version feels like much better magus creature compared to the original version.
April 3, 2020 7:28 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #5
Boza, I am very glad to hear that; do the other two need to be modified, or do you believe that they are acceptable as they are?
April 3, 2020 8:51 p.m.
The other two are a lot scarier - in any format, artifacts and creatures are universally more generic and have more uses. Enchantments are generally very dedicated in their use, so using them en masse is dificult.
Overall, the other two seem fine as is. Compare the green one to Priest of Titania or any other elf creature that gives mana for creatures, and these Urza magi appear weaker.
However, their legendary status and counting themselves deserve a high mana cost.
Overall, if you want to modify them, I would look for design inspiration to the legendary mythic artifacts in Throne of Eldraine.
For example, The Great Henge cares both about tall creatures to be cast easily, but its effect gives you a benefit for casting lots of creatures. So, something like that can help balance those cards more uniquely.
Boza says... #2
The mana costs on these are incredibly high - all the different maguses are differently costed, depending on the card they emulate. For example, given how much harder it is to get enchantments on the battlefield is, I would probably lower the mana or activation cost of the enchantment one. I would also change the name to high priestess of the Sanctum, for some consistency and because Theros does not have a monopoly on enchantments.
April 3, 2020 2:46 a.m.