General Magic the Gathering Card Creation Thread

[Carl]

There’s been a brilliant littile OOTS Magic the Gathering Card making thread running in the OOTS area, but I’m sure everyone there and some people here would like to post somenone OOTS themed stuff. You can make cards up on any criteria you please, no need for them to be themed after an existing IP. Though if you want to do Star Trek, or Dresden Files or Barbie, or whatever themed stuff your more than welcome.


Joint Mercies

WWW

Enchantment

Shroud, Indestructible, Protection from Sacrifice

All damage to all players is halved (rounding fractions down).

Kicker X: Any player may kick this card as it is being cast for X. They gain life equal to X, (calculate each players X and Life gain separately).

The effect is very simple and hits both players equally. I gave it shroud and indestructible because otherwise it opened abuses up involving using it to stall while you built up something to crush your opponent with, then killing it for advantage. By denying that it’s much less of an advantage, (if still strong if you’ve built your deck for it). Protection from Sacrifice does a similar thing.

Sacrifice Angel

2WW

Creature – Angel

Flying, Indestructible

When any creature you own leaves the battlefield you may exile it under Sacrifice Angel. If you do, Sacrifice Angel gains all abilities of the exiled creature. You may only do this once. When Sacrifice Angel leaves the battlefield place the card underneath, (if any), exile it.

2/5

I give up my body so that one on deaths door may live.

Just a cool concept I had.

Unicorn Rider

1GW

Creature – Unicorn Human Knight

Protection from Black and Red and Sacrifice.

2/3

Usually being a maiden in battle just means you have to discourage a few more idea’s of your enemies with your sword. But if you’re lucky enough to befriend a unicorn it’s quite the advantage.

For fun. Flavour text especially.

Couple of new keywords here, really just codifying two existing concepts.

Illusion: When the card becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it.

Unlimited: You may have any number of cards of this type in your deck.

And a new one that’s all new:

Swarm X: When a card with this rule is played, X copies of the Card are placed into play. These are identical to the base card in every respect, and if the copied card enter’s play with any counters or such like on it, all copies will enter with counters present.

Copies of cards are created and placed onto the battlefield at the same time as the initial card.

Copies spawned by the Swarm rule cannot themselves spawn copies, but if these copies are themselves duplicated, (e.g. by a Clone card), the copies created in this fashion will themselves spawn Swarm copies.

I’m going to be posting several cards that will eventually form part of a set that use this rule, for a few it’s irrelevant without further card’s, but covering the rule now lets you gauge it’s potential to at least some degree.

Illusionary City

Creature Land – Island Illusion

Defender, Illusion, Unlimited

Illusionary City’s Toughness is equal to the number of lands in play that also count as islands.

The first Illusionary City you play each turn does not count against your limit on the number of lands you may play each turn.

0/*

And they where exiled. And they journeyed across the great ocean. Some went to the plains and built there great towers of white marble. And some went to the forests and where transformed. And some went to the swamps and where consumed by what dwelt there. And some went to the Mountains and carved great holds there in defiance of forest and swamp alike. And some went not across the ocean, but over it and constructed in the air above it many dwellings of wondrous light.

Actually part of a “set” I’m working on, lots more to come but could take some time as some general aspects are still up in the air. It’s much more a lore concept card than anything else, though it’s ability to greatly increase your mana ramp up at the cost of much easier destruction is very much useful, (in fact I added the rule for that solely as a compensation for it’s greater frailty as a mana source). Particularly since anything wasted on this costs you nothing in terms of card plays. You haven’t paid to put it down you’re your opponent has paid to get rid of it. Also can’t help but feel I’m paraphrasing something with the flavour text, probably biblical.


Okay about to drop a ton of creature cards on you all, these are the “part of a set” stuff I mentioned a littlie further up. I’m not going to post the whole set at, many aspects are very much in flux, and other area’s need work. One factor that is going to be fully in play however is that the set as a whole will produce slower than usual, but more defensive deck’s, mainly through another new mechanic that’s part of that “in flux” stuff I mentioned. However since there’s a degree of expense associated with said elements there’s somewhat a need for cheap expendable early game stuff in the set. That’s what these cards are. The use of Swarm is a thematic aspect to them, the use of Unlimited is explicitly intended to keep me from having to make too many of these things.

Ether Shield

U

Creature – Illusion

Unlimited, Swarm 0, Haste, Absorb 2

Ether shield cannot attack or block

Tap: Add a shield counter to a target creature you control or yourself, remove them at the start of your next upkeep.

U, Tap: Add 2 Shield Counters to a target creature you control or yourself, remove them at the start of your next upkeep.

Creatures and players with 1 or more Shield counters on them gain Absorb X where X is 1 + the number of shield counters on them.

0/1

This is more or less the ultimate in damage denial at an early stage, and can scale to some quite nice value’s, though ultimately it will suffer somewhat as the game goes on. A very typical Blue delaying card, it just tells you “nah you can’t deal damage” for a while.

Cleansing Ether

U

Enchantment Creature – Illusion

Illusion, Swarm 3, Unlimited

Cleansing Ether cannot attack or block

Sacrifice Cleansing Ether: prevent a single counter that affects power or toughness from being place on a creature you control, or to remove such a counter already on a creature you control.

Sacrifice Cleansing Ether: Prevent a single Poison Counter from being placed on yourself or remove a single poison counter already on yourself.

0/1

Ether’s, such useful things.

The obvious and necessary compliment to Ether Shields, not sure on the numbers on the swarm rule. It’s necessary but also of limited power since most common sources of counter adding (particularly wither), add several at once.

Dogs of War

R

Creature – Construct

Unlimited, Swarm 1

R: Sacrifice Dogs of War. Target Construct or Artifact Creature your opponent controls suffers 2 damage.

1/1

Cry Havoc

Really, what did you expect for flavour text. Note that most faction names are currently un-sorted so the name is missing the faction name from the front, so if it’s copying any existing, (as I’m sure it is), don’t fret about it.

Mechanically they’re a very typical swarmy offensive Red card, with a nasty punch, albeit limited to certain types, (this should keep the synergy with Ravager’s below to it’s intended area of tougher target’s. Though I admit, weak Constructs and Artifact creatures do still exist, but it’s much riskier to build a deck around that..

Ravager

RR

Creature – Construct

Unlimited, Swarm 1, Flying

R: Sacrifice Ravager then Opponent Sacrifices Target Creature they control which has suffered damage this turn and has 1 toughness or less remaining.

Again Faction Name is missing.

Swarmy with a powerful punch later on as well, but expensive and losing them hurts more.

Swarmer

G

Creature – Construct Treefolk

Unlimited, Swarm 2, Reach

GG: Swarmer and up to two other identical creatures have their power increased to 1 until end of turn.

0/1

Swarmy and expendable with lots of toughness for minimal cost. You can give them attacking punch by spending mana, but otherwise their pure sacrificial blockers.

And again, missing faction name.

Bone Bat

B

Creature – Skeleton Construct

Unlimited, Swarm 1

You May cast Bone Bat from your Graveyard for B.

1/1

Take 100 swamp bat’s, animate and combine and you get one giant sized Bat. Not much use for anything except menial tasks, but there are many such tasks to be performed daily and any apprentice can make one a day.

Probably the most conventional of the lot. Simple mass 1/1 creature put down with a return from graveyard effect that will keep the swarm rolling.

Celestial GPCU

W

Artifact Creature – Construct Drone

Unlimited, Swarm 0

Celestial GPCU enters play as either a 2/1 or a 1/2 creature

W: Swap Celestial GPCU’s Power and Toughness

*/*

The Celestial General Purpose Combat Unit is amongst the most versatile and deadly of the mass produced constructs available to us.

Not sure I’ve got this worked out right cost wise. There are examples of creatures for 1 mana that have 2/1 or 1/2 and the swap cost is enough to offset that I think, but it’s still borderline IMO.

Solar

WWW

Artifact Creature - Construct Drone

Unlimited, Swarm 1, Reach, First Strike

WWW: Solar and 1 identical creature gain Double Strike until the end of turn.

3/1

If the Celestial is the fencer who dances around, the Solar is the battleaxe wielding nut who cleaves open your skull

A serious pounder, albeit one who won’t last long once the blocks start going out. White is going to have the fewest single colour cards amongst the rest of it’s options. SO pure white decks will need to turn to other options.

Absolver

WW

Artifact Creature – Construct Drone

Swarm 1, Absorb 1

Absolution enters play tapped

Absolution cannot attack or block

Tap: Exile Target creature opponent controls with Converted Mana cost 4 or less, then sacrifice Absolver.

0/2

Ramming Always Works

Really not sure I got the cost right on this one. It’s a lot more fragile and you can see it coming a turn in advance unlike the more normal “Exile” card. But it doesn’t give your opponent the same mana advantage and you get 2 shots.

Unleash the Swarm

(U/B/R)(U/B/R)(U/B/R)XX

Sorcery

Return X creature cards with the swarm rule from your Graveyad to the battlefield. Each Returned Creatures Swarm Value increases by X.

One of those Swarm mechanic interacting cards I mentioned. Lot’s of uses for everyone here and can put a really huge swarm of creatures out if used right.



Ok I’m betting there’s a ton of broken stuff in there, but hey that’s why it’s up for review.

Now get posting your own slowpokes :smalltongue:.

[thatonesungod]

this thread is sweet an thank you for posting it some critque for now some cards will come later

@sacrafice angel, the wording, i cannot understand it

@illusionary city you dont need to say counts as islands just say islands

@your swarm Things, swarm seems overpowered in general and also u have a thing with swarm 0, why. swarm bats should just say you may cast this card from the graveyard, ravagers wording is incomprehensible, swarmer should say swarmer and up to 2 other creatures named swarmer, also all these things having unlimited is pretty op, celestial whatever is frigin sweet, but construct isnt a thing that u have to worry about. also absolver is REDICULOUSLY overpowered, like so much, i would up its cost to 6 do not pass go do not collect 200 dollars and remove swarm and absorb

more stuff to come later

[Carl]

Oh crap just realized Absolver's missing a line, (your supposed to sacrifice it as well as exile an enemy creature), also could you explain why things are incomprehensible. Remember i know what i mean so i can't understand where the logic chain is breaking.

p.s. as far as swarm goes i'm working on the basis that any creature with a mana cost = to 1/2 it's power + toughness is going to be on the weak side. Swarm offsets this. Obviouslly many of my Swarm creatures have abilities tagged on, but all cost Mana to activate so they shouldn't really add that much compared to more normal abilities which are either activated under specific circumstances, or which have a simple Tap cost attached.

[thatonesungod]

Oh crap just realized Absolver's missing a line, (your supposed to sacrafice it as well as exile an enemy creature), also could you explain why things are incomprehensible. Remember i know what i mean so i can't understand where the logic chain is breaking.

oh, its missing a line, cause if it sacrafices itself then its less broken

well i kinda can interpret what they do but its difficult from a rules perspective, you should look up some stuff on gatherer so u can better write rules text.

Edit: working on my Twelfth fulminata stuff, will post when done


ps. 100 mana to the first person who gets the refrence

[Xefas]

Though if you want to do Star Trek, or Dresden Files or Barbie, or whatever themed stuff your more than welcome.


http://i.imgur.com/Z4AbDKt.jpg
Not to be confused with Counterspell. To pronounce it properly, you have to do the little air-quotes with your fingers.

[thatonesungod]

http://i.imgur.com/Z4AbDKt.jpg
Not to be confused with Counterspell. To pronounce it properly, you have to do the little air-quotes with your fingers.

exquees me xefas but i cannot see ur image, mind writing it out

[Carl]

Direct link:

http://i.imgur.com/Z4AbDKt.jpg

[Loreweaver15]

This is a great thread idea, but it's something we already do over in the MTG Thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=16950246#post16950246)!

[thatonesungod]

@carl, that link is blocked for me

also is anyone gona guess

[AkazilliaDeNaro]

Soo im just going to leave a couple of links to my 543 custom mtg cards right here.

Soul eater (100 total) (http://s1065.photobucket.com/user/AkazilliaDeNaro/slideshow/Soul%20eater%20mtg%20cards)

Ben 10 (100 total) (http://s1065.photobucket.com/user/AkazilliaDeNaro/slideshow/Ben%2010%20mtg%20cards)

Ponies (100 total) (http://s1065.photobucket.com/user/AkazilliaDeNaro/slideshow/Ponies%20mtg%20cards)

Marvel (50 total) (http://s1065.photobucket.com/user/AkazilliaDeNaro/slideshow/Marvel%20mtg%20cards)

DCU (50 total) (http://s1065.photobucket.com/user/AkazilliaDeNaro/slideshow/DCU%20mtg%20cards)

Superhero equipment (50 total) (http://s1065.photobucket.com/user/AkazilliaDeNaro/slideshow/Superhero%20equipment%20Mtg%20Cards)

Unruled (43 total) (http://s1065.photobucket.com/user/AkazilliaDeNaro/slideshow/Unruled%20Mtg%20cards)

[thatonesungod]

@akazilla
for your marvel, deadpool doesnt work, you cant attack creatures, and evasion is supidly broken
For dc, again evasion is busted and weakness is obscure and confusing
For the equipments, they are all indestructible which is wierd, and vehicle is stupid
For unhinged, nope
For soul eater, do like, although your wording is off at times
for ben 10, eh im not the best judge

[AkazilliaDeNaro]

@akazilla
for your marvel, deadpool doesnt work, you cant attack creatures, and evasion is supidly broken
i got the idea for evasion from a merfolk who had that exact wording, other than it wasnt a named ability. and deadpool is suppose to be broken and yes there are creatures that can choose their targets.


For dc, again evasion is busted and weakness is obscure and confusing
weakness is rather intuitive i thought.


For the equipments, they are all indestructible which is wierd, and vehicle is stupid
they are indestructible because they belong to superheroes, how many times does any supers equipment break?
and "stupid" isn't quantitative its an opinion


For unhinged, nope
would you like to elaborate on that? and its "unruled"


For soul eater, do like, although your wording is off at times
for ben 10, eh im not the best judge
what about ponies?

[thatonesungod]

i got the idea for evasion from a merfolk who had that exact wording, other than it wasnt a named ability. and deadpool is suppose to be broken and yes there are creatures that can choose their targets.
@evasion, the problem there is you just throw it on things as a topping, where it could make a creature all on its own
@deadpool, no, no there are not i have said it before and will say it againYOU CANNOT ATTACK CREATURES, EVER, FOR ANY REASON!!!

they are indestructible because they belong to superheroes, how many times does any supers equipment break?
actually alot
would you like to elaborate on that? and its "unruled"[/QUOTE]
nope

what about ponies?

nope

[AkazilliaDeNaro]

@evasion, the problem there is you just throw it on things as a topping, where it could make a creature all on its own
@deadpool, no, no there are not i have said it before and will say it againYOU CANNOT ATTACK CREATURES, EVER, FOR ANY REASON!!!
geez touchy but im fairly certain that there are cards that CAN select which creatures block them. ergo attacking a specific creature.

[thatonesungod]

geez touchy but im fairly certain that there are cards that CAN select which creatures block them. ergo attacking a specific creature.

that is NOT the same thing as attacking a creature, it is NOT

[Jormengand]

Couldn't you just use Fight target creature or something?

[thatonesungod]

Couldn't you just use Fight target creature or something?

yes, but it is NOT attacking

[AkazilliaDeNaro]

yes, but it is NOT attacking
can you find me the rule that says "you can't attack any creature no matter what"

[thatonesungod]

can you find me the rule that says "you can't attack any creature no matter what"

Yup, i can in fact find you that rule, im not going to right now cause im watching tv with family but if you really want me to i will later

[Jormengand]

can you find me the rule that says "you can't attack any creature no matter what"

You don't attack creatures, but you can change it to say "When Deadpool attacks, he must fight target other creature you control first," or something like that.

You attack players and fight creatures.

[Realms of Chaos]

AkazilliaDeNaro: Well, I decided to go ahead and look through your Soul Eater cards to let you know what I thought. I went in completely blind (having never watched Soul Eater) so I apologize if I have missed obvious references or core mechanics. I also judged the cards as if they were a real miniature set that were to come out to tomorrow (which may have been a bit unfair) so I apologize if the intention was to be tongue-in-cheek or if I otherwise "don't get it", which is quite possible. :smallredface:

Abbreviated Thoughts:
I can see that the cards focus on taking a small monster, loading it up to the gills with buffs and equipment, and making a single unblockable strike to end everything. With that said, things that I've noticed are...


Just about everything is at least part black
Every multicolored card has hybrid mana without exception
There is just about no blue anywhere.
The color wheel seems to be pretty much abandoned
The sheer amount of shroud, shadow, and unblockability removes a good deal of interactivity from the game.
There seem to be twice as many buffs as actual decent creatures, which seems wrong for a set that wants you to beat in faces.
At least half of the land are pretty overpowered
A bit of flavor text here and there may have clarified things that aren't obvious without a wiki.
I'd estimate that over 25 different keyword abilities appear in that collection. At least two of them seem to have been created by you for use on a single card (possession and witchcraft).
You may have missed out on an opportunity to have miesters actually do something flavorful (maybe have Ox Ford draw cards, for example).
Putting Arachne (a card with infect) in a set so filled to the gills with power buffs is scary.


Intense Analysis:
Wrath of the Pharoah: Seems kind of off-color. Trample is neither a white nor black ability in most cases and getting mid-cost vanillas that break the expectations of power and toughness seems more red or green. The colors definitely match the name and concept but the actual rules text seems kind of off unless you added another ability.

Witch Hunter: Pretty good use of colorless instants and sorceries, something we haven't seen since eldrazi. I don't see anything wrong with this one (actually kind of weak), though I will be keeping in mind that these things could be included in any deck.

Vector Plate: Might as well note this early, even though I’m not positive that it applies here. The problem with basing cards around a pre-existing thing is that other medias don’t necessarily follow the color pie. I am assuming here that vector plate is part black here due to association with a villain as no part of it actually seems black. In fact, raw unblockability is pretty rare for both colors (not counting the occasional rarity like tormented soul). It’s kind of a shame because there are a couple of alternates that would work perfectly for an all-red card such as “must be blocked by two or more creatures” (as goblin war drums). I’m assuming that this ability is intended to end at the end of the turn (most abilities that don’t work that way mention it in parentheses afterwards [see Memnarch for example] and that might make this card a bit too potent). Oh, and unblockable isn’t a keyword, though I totally understand what you mean so I’ll disregard that from now on.

Wolf Tail Wall: Huh, it’s rare to see a “wall” that isn’t a creature. Everything seems to be in place, though I wonder a bit at the cost. While wall of shadows is certainly a thing, the ability seems far more white than black so I’d think that 1 W W/B or even 1WB would make more sense than 1 B W/B.

Yumi Azuse: Yeah, this certainly isn’t a common. It would probably be broken even as a mythic rare due to giving you a font to destroy creatures with all of your spare mana even without equipping it. Otherwise, I feel the need to point out that the weapon ability is kind of silly. Nope, your Loxodon Warhammer isn’t a weapon. Neither is your Sword of Fire and Ice, for that matter. This is a weapon. Another example of something that makes more sense in the show continuity than in the mtg continuity, I guess. Even so, there might be a better word to use like “Bound” or “Soul Eater” or something. As two last notes, 1) it’s always odd to see a common legend (I don’t think we had those even in Kamigawa) and 2) is that woman the weapon? Otherwise, the picture confuses me.

Weapon Form: Even as a mythic, this thing seems a bit too strong for reanimation. Imagine calling back blighted agent and attacking for 11 infect on turn 5, using just two cards. Or imagine grabbing back Gisela and swinging for 30. Or Bouncing everything back with a Kederekt Leviathan before attacking for 15. In the context of just these cards, this card is insanely powerful. If this actually gets into the reanimation deck where it belongs, however, it is just a tad too overpowered.

Vector Arrow: Having not seen any snake tokens so far, this card just looks kind of random to me (especially as green is typically more associated with snakes). I’ll just have to see what snakes tokens are in this set (you may want to change it to plain snakes so that the card gains a bit of versatility).

Tsubaki Nakatsukasa: Okay, the girls ARE the weapons. A shame that “Living Weapon” is already taken as an ability name. The card seems kind of contradictory, though, as haste means you want to attack and reach means you want to block.

Vertical Line: Nothing so far has dealt with counters but still a pretty nice effect. Could be cheaper but this is a common so I guess it works just fine. At this point, I realize that I haven’t seen even one multicolor card without hybrid mana so far (but I’ll probably see those later).

Trap Star: Pretty nice. 2 things, though. First, you need a period right after block. Secondly, you can probably get rid of the untapping part as it doesn’t seem to add much unless their creature either A) has a passive ability that only works when untapped or B) uses sorcery-speed enchantment removal (which is also pretty rare). Even without that part, it would still be useful as a black arrest.

Triple F: If I remember my card rulings right, deathtouch and trample is one of the more powerful combinations as you only need to deal one damage to each creature to kill it (instead of only carrying over extra damage). In other words, this thing gives +5 power and any creature thrown in the way will only stop 1 point of damage. Even if that’s right, though, the fact that it needs an equipped creature and costs so much balances this out. Kudos.

Sword Fang: Again, waiting to see the counters. Interesting that this thing only costs one less than vertical line, though. Like vertical line, could probably be cheaper.

Sun: Well, that picture is giving me nightmares tonight. First, “world enchantment” hasn’t been used to my knowledge in the past decade so it could be a normal enchantment. Secondly, I don’t see why it’s red at all other than it… we… being the sun (and mono-white has quite a few cards based on light so I’m not sure that red is needed) and glorious anthem effects aren’t red’s normal thing. Lastly, this thing seems a bit cheap and odd as a common even if you expect your opponents to have their own meisters. I’d probably raise the CMC to 4 and make it a legendary rare (unless multiple suns tend to congregate in Soul Eater, which they might).

Smashing Pumpkin: Not much to say here. Decently priced and I like the mechanic of witchcraft.

Three Paths Shot: I’m just realizing that this set has a really high density of things that can’t be blocked (which I’m kind of assuming comes from strikes that are extremely fast and/or “can’t be blocked” in the series). Counters and unblockability seem to be a major theme in this mini-set so I’m not so bothered by off-color unblockability at this point. When I think about how these cards would actually play out, however, I feel that unblockability (along with the large amounts of shroud) makes for a less interactive game so making them a larger sub-theme makes me a bit uneasy.

Soul Thread Sutures: CURSE YOU, FLAVOR/COLOR CONFLICT!!! Seriously, this card looks very blue/white but I can definitely see the black flavor here and it isn’t too much of a stretch for a black card (though I do wonder why it’s not B/W as both pacifism and indestructibility are more white things). It’s okay as is.

Stein’s Lab: That second ability is going to be one of those times when tons of rulings are needed just to address one card because right now, nothing targets specific abilities (except for maybe abilities active on the stack). Also, this card is broken. This card is immensely broken in every way. Hilariously so, in fact. First, you have a common non-legendary card that can make mana of any color with absolutely no strings attached. Then, that second ability kind of breaks the card to a whole new level as most decks rely on their creatures having abilities. And that’s not considering what this could do when combined with things like phyrexian dreadnaught. So… yeah. This card is better than strip mine. Possibly more powerful than any other land ever printed (including tolarian academy and gaea’s cradle)

Soul Resonance: Odd converted mana cost but seems fine. Still assuming that it ends at end of turn (otherwise, you could just put on +1/+1 counters, which works with the counter sub-theme of the mini-set)

Soul Eater Evans: It works. No new comments beyond the fact that it might be priced a bit cheaply (+3 power and first strike is friggin amazing, after all).

Spirit: It works. Not particularly back or good, though vigilance isn’t in color for black or red… is Spirit a particularly vigilant weapon? Even then, it seems like a stretch.

Soul Perception: Seems FAR more blue than black but otherwise works. Incidentally, were these cards made before the advent of hexproof or do they just not consider it. Otherwise, nice card.

Soul Protect: So you target a creature with this and then they never have to interact with the opponent ever again. Still not sure how I feel about that. Should probably be an uncommon (I… think you’re using rarities here as I know I saw at least one mythic).

Soul Force: It works and it’s pretty damn awesome. Nice job

Smoke Bomb: Another mono-black card that really seems blue/white. Really not sure about these colorations unless this thing kind of a planar chaos dealie. Otherwise, it’s a nifty little charm.

Sinigami Chop: Pretty Awesome card. In mtg, though, I believe that “this turn” might be better replaced with “until end of the turn”. Otherwise, awesome.

Sid Barett: Okay, I’m going to assume at this point that the one mythic I saw was a fluke because this guy is probably a rare. A pretty overpowered one as well if you could use it in commander (a 1/3 commander for 1 that protects itself and makes itself unblockable would be the ultimate voltron) No other real notes, other than that you may want to up the cost to U/B U/B.

Shadow Star: Even without knowing the anime, I expect that this card is related to the “Black star” that I’ve yet to see yet. Again, another well-priced effect balanced by the need for equipment.

Screech Gamma: An interesting approach to giving mono-black artifact destruction, though the effect honestly seems mono-red from beginning to start. Would be a nice Uncommon

Shibusen: So the first Mythic wasn’t a fluke? What’s going on around here? In any case, this is a nice mythic legendary land. Potential to add lots of mana or even bash in faces early on but balanced by its uselessness in the early game.

Screech Beta: This is the second “weak” version of a card that costs 1 less with barely diminished effects that I’ve seen here. I’d suggest making screech gamman and vertical line more powerful and expensive so there’s actually some noticeable difference between them and their “weaker forms”

Shield Star: Balanced enough but flanking seems to come from out of left field as it isn’t one of the standard abilities and I haven’t seen any other flanking. Even if the shield star actually works by flanking, there may be an alternate ability out there more consistent than the use of an outdated keyword.

Reverse Rotation: Like smoke bomb, a pretty nice charm. I like this one a bit better, though, because it actually deals with card interaction instead of precluding it.

Samantha: Yay, creatures again. Are the zombie tokens creatures (like most zombie tokens)? If so, what is their power and toughness? Also, this card is far too powerful to ever see the light of day. The turn after you get it out, you start using it’s second and third abilities each turn to fetch out whatever creature you need that round every single round. A turn one dark ritual into Samantha would get a “gg” from most players I’m familiar with as this seems as scary (or worse than) birthing pod (far worse if the zombies are 2/2 tokens like most zombies).

Screech Alpha: Costing one less and dealing 2 less damage. Kind of redundant after the last two.

Ox Ford: Another cheap legend that…. Doesn’t’ really do anything this time. Huh.

Pot of Fire and Pot of Thunder: Seems just about right as it is. No real problems.

Puppet Strike: Certainly consistent with what we’ve seen so far. Lots of double strike here.

Shadow Puppet: Again, this is about the normal from what I’ve seen so far.

Multiplication: Yay, we finally reach the countres! Sword countres are a pretty interesting innovation. Also, this is apparently a set with both flanking and bushido. If horsemanship shows up somewhere, I think that my brain may overload with joy.

Mosquito: Another odd black trampler. And a black trampling vanilla (basically), at that. Assumign that Mosquito doesn’t always look this tame, I’d actually think that an Innistrad-style flip card would be more appropriate for this guy. Also, this might be the first level-up legendary.

Niinja Sword Mode: Why would people use this card when there’s another for the same CMC that replaces first strike with unblockability? I suppose there’s the combat trick aspect but being unblockable kind or preempts the need for combat tricks.

Moon: Nearly all comments for sun apply here as well.

Mizune Family: So it’s 3 mana and multicolor or 4 mana and essentially mono-black. Still don’t understand your color schemes (or why everything has to be part black). Also, I don’t think that the second ability is a typical MTG mechanic. While many cards refer to creature types and a few refer to cards by specific names, the “name-archetype” thing so common in yu-gi-oh (elemental heroes, infernity, etc.) doesn’t exist in mtg in any manner at all. I can only really imagine that you intended this thing to bounce itself and different “mizune” cards to your hand (otherwise that ability is just about useless) but that isn’t typically done so making a new card with this ruling out of the blue in a set that doesn’t seem un-hinged/glued/ruled seems kind of odd. Maybe turn mizune into a creature type?

Mifune: This honestly seems a bit powerful to me. A 3 mana legend that goes anywhere and that can pump itself/harm enemy cards each turn. Why isn’t this guy red, though? It seems to just make a ton of sense to do so, especially as it loses a huge element of itself if used in a non-red deck. If it’s a flavor thing, you could always include red in the cost and just make it a colorless creature (like ghost flame). I was going to call this guy too powerful but the huge amount of shroud in this mini-set actually offsets that in context by quite a bit.

Mira Nygus: This is the weakest of these things I’ve seen so far. Not necessarily a bad thing but just an observation on my part.

Marie Mjolnir: That first ability seems a bit too cheap unless you intended it to be damage “to players” or damage “to creatures”. Otherwise, it’s an interesting approach to the card and planeswalkers really couldn’t live with this thing around.

Masamune Nakatsukasa: Raw Awesome. That is all

Medusa: Not sure how I feel about this card. First, it actually costs one cheaper than it appears to unless you’re really terrified by the idea of a shock or something. Don’t like morph costs over 3 cheaper than the actual cost for that reason. Also, I’m not sure any more if +1/+1 counters cancel out -1/-1 counters or not but probably not too strong either way.

Maka Albarn: Another of these relatively weak things. Actually thinking things over, I’m not sure if the legendary-creature-linking-to-legendary-weapon thing would actually work out in play. Getting both of them out without some form of tutoring is hard and the end result isn’t really worth tutoring for even if everything works perfectly. I’d say it would work in limited but that’s the one place where getting both pieces seems a bit iffy.

Mabaa: Bam, fading right out of nowhere. I’d be more confused about it but it actually really works here because it’s another source of counters for you to work off of. The first ability, however, kind of troubles me. First, all abilities of that kind NEED to specify the shuffle. That line is there so that people don’t learn the entire order of their deck so it’s kind of necessary unless that was your intention. Secondly, fetching something from your deck right onto the field is kind of scary, even on a small and expensive body. I’m just imagining someone searching for this with Samantha and going totally nuts. Then again, this WOULD be the first time that witches were good for something in mtg…

Lightning King: A white Lightning Bolt? Considering that even sunlance was kind of a big deal, this might be going a tad too far, especially when you consider that it creates another full set of lightning bolts for every burn deck ever. 2 damage would probably be plenty.

Lost Island: Wow. Finally a non-common, non-mythic. And it’s pretty awesome as well. The ability to slowly kill creaturs and the ability of players to save their creatures. Of course, this would just be used as another way to escape echo costs and reuse enters-the-battlefield abilities over and over again (looking at you, karmic guide). Still pretty darn balanced with such high costs.

Liz and Patti Thompson: Small formatting thing. I believe the tap ability should be in quotation marks to signify that the ability is being gained by the equipped creature so it doesn’t look like the artifact is tapping itself. Otherwise, it’s a possible mono-white burn but it doesn’t seem too bad.

Lupin: Yes, a ninja. Totally called… wait, it’s not a ninja? Well, I do guess that makes sense as lupin seems to be a thief but… why the ninjitsu? Actually, why DOES this thing have ninjitsu? To cheat it out a bit cheaper, I guess? I’m not seeing a reason to bounce back a likely stronger unblocked creature just to get out a guy whose only ability is not being blocked but that might just be me. Seems more like something that a ninja deck would use to call out other ninjas. I guess that I’m just sad that this guy doesn’t do anything with it actually hits someone.

Lord Death: And a planeswalker. Just pray that your enemy lacks any counter removal, I guess. The +1 ability is pretty awesome, though the -4 and -8 abilities seem like they should be switched. I’d much rather swing with a huge 10/10 reaper than swap around equipment.

Kishin: …this is odd. The +1 is just about useless to you as it only really stops 3 blockers (tap abilities could be used at instant speed). The -1 ability, however, allows you to nail one or two nonland permanents and lock them down, which neither black nor red really DO. Madness counters seem to work okay as well, so far as flavor is concerned. The -8 is about on par for an ultimate, though.

Kishin’s Madness: This is just kind of crazy in all of the best possible ways. Could probably remove a black mana from the cost but it makes me happy inside.

Lines of Sanzu: Lines of Sanzu, Damnation, attack for 11 infect? Nah, I doubt things would ever really go down like that. Even so, giving something indestructible right before killing it kind of sucks as a defensive trick so I guess that this is mono black giant growth… thing. Could ends games a bit quickly, is my only real concern.

Lightning King Lance: Again, that’s a bit much damage for a potentially white card (compare to something like volley of arrows) but otherwise an interesting idea.

Kishin Hunter: Yup, that’s big. Not much use for it but it’s certainly big.

Kirikou Rung: Well, it’s tied for the cheapest of these guys. Not much else to say.

Kim Diehl: See Kirikou Rung, except it’s more expensive.

Infinte One-Sword Style: Ignoring silly typo, this seems like a pretty ingenius idea for a black combat-buff/white kill spell. Again, sword counters were quite an interesting idea. Just a shame that there’s been so few samurai so far.

Hook Cemetary: No. This is just kind of frightening. This isn’t broken to the same degree as Stein’s Lab but cheap colorless reusable revival directly onto the battlefield… only a cemetery could be this frighteningly powerful.

Jacqueline O. Lantern Dupre: Kind of random but also pretty awesome. Only just now realized how many of these things there are. It’s almost a shame that most just lend a p/t boost and a couple of keyworded abilities.

Justin Law: Wouldn’t see play but decent limited fodder and it works as a decent outlet for equipment even if it isn’t a miester.

Hiro, the Useless: Well, shoot. I was wondering if I’d find a 0-cost Meister somewhere in here and I get the feeling it would be this guy if it was going to be anybody. Oh well.

Joe Buttataki: Okay, I could dig weapons being people and reapers being artifacts without any questions asked (I don’t know the series) but this normal-looking guy being an enchantment is what finally drove me to look something up on a wiki and… I still don’t really know why he’s an enchantment. This guy can perceive souls and detect lies so it could be a creature that reveals a creature’s hands. The soul perception can break through a witch’s soul protection so this could be another card that removes shroud. I’m not sure. Just feels odd to have an enchantment be an entity.

Flying Dutchman: It’s an okay card, though I do wonder why it’s R/B instead of U/R (but that’s another odd color wheel tangent.

Harver D. Éclair: It’s okay, I suppose. As written, it really looks like the artifact taps to deal damage instead of the creature (that comma is easily mistaken as a period).

Fisher King: Again, U/R or mono-Red would probably make more sense here it’s otherwise perfectly functional.

Execution Mode: It’s cool. Can’t actually be used for a couple turns but it’s a nice trick when it does come online.

Free: Yep, that’s annoying. Even so, I have to say that I really like it. Now that innistrad has paved the way for werewolves, however, you may want to update the creature type.

Experimental Protoplasm: Looks more like a creature than an instant but it’s an interesting experiment in a black fog… even though damage prevention is more of a white thing… and the ghost is also white.

Giriko, the Chainsaw: Yeah, that thing kicks all kind of butt, though +5/+0 and doublestrike really does seem to be overkill.

Fey Blade: A nice power boost and shadow at a decent price. It kind of seems odd that multiple later cards are using shadow while the earlier ones are just plain unblockable. Was that a conscious shift mid-way or did you want both unblockable creatures and virtually unblockable creatures?

Dummy Star: And here’s my answer, another card to make you unblockable. Neither of these colors really deal with doublestrike… or unblockability, though, so the card seems a bit odd to me.

Eruka Frog: Again, it seems ridiculous to even have the real cost when morphing it is so much cheaper and can be done in response to kill spells (maybe if there was a CMC matters subtheme in this set but I’m not seeing one). As far as the actual card, it’s pretty cool and actually seems in flavor… even if she doesn’t look like a frog.

Death the Kid: One of the bigger Maesters so far. Other than that, pretty normal.

Emeth, the Oldest Golem: A 7/10 doublestriker is pretty boss but this guy is much less useful than his chainsaw so I’m kind of down on him.

Excalibur: On the one hand, I really do appreciate the humor here. On the other hand, this card is really a bit too insane for anything but an un-set card.

Demon Hunter: Eh, it works. I do wonder why there are so many of these cards, though.

Death City: Another card that is probably too ridiculous to see play. Vitu-ghazi needs 4 mana to make a single 1/1 and this land could make a small army for the same price. Even in a world with sword counters and unblockable shrouded enemy creatures, this seems a bit insane.

Dr. Franken Stien: I like this. A series of abilities that actually make sense combined together. The ability to rob things of abilities is still odd but the card is expensive and the ability feels like it has a real cost (tapping this guy and paying mana) so I’m more sympathetic to it here.

Death Room: I’m always a bit weary of cards that can produce any color without a serious downside (much less those that have other uses) but this thing seems to be dancing on the knife’s edge where land balance is concerned so I can’t get too angry.

Compulsive Burial: What? I’m not really sure what’s going on here. Black is giving out shroud and calling it a burial. There’s probably a decent story behind this one but it doesn’t really make any sense coming in cold. Considering the short length of text, some clarifying flavor text may have been appreciated on this one.

Cat Blair: Well, that’s certainly one good wall. Don’t really see where the U/R is coming from, though. Will have to see what the catgirl blair does, I guess.

Crona and Ragnorak: Now THIS is a meister. Not prohibitively expensive, not too insanely powerful, and every kind of kick-sass you could imagine.

Death Cannon: A creative and flexible combat trick. I must say that I like.

Catgirl Blari: Okay, so you trade your 1/9 for a 5/9 on turn 4 and attack with it on turn 5. Considering that the flash ability will just about never see use, I’m hard pressed to call this one overpowered. Pretty nice, actually.

Black Star: Just when I thought that no more old keyword abilities would appear, Black Star comes and surprises me. Like most meisters, not much else to say. At least this guy gets an ability.

BREW: It’s… certainly interesting. It could theoretically end a game, sure, but anything capable of cheating it out for practical use could probably grab a blightsteel colossus instead. As such, it’s just a delightful little curiosity of DOOM!

Black Blood: Lines of Sanzu for RB, I guess. Not really sure if there’s anything special to be made out of this card. I do, however, kind of see what this set is trying to do. Grab a creature, make it unblockable, load it up with equipment, and then slam on your combat tricks and buffs before going in for the kill. If Gar had a playstyle, I imagine that it would look kind of like this.

Arachne: Insanely cheap morpher #3 and theres nothing too… infect? I keep joking throughout these cards that all of these buffs would go mad with infect and there’s an actual card with infect here? For crying out loud, this is the card right after a +10/+10 buff. Judging it on its own merits, though, this card is perfectly fine, though THIS is the witch that I’d worry about Samantha and Mabaa finding.

Black Star Big Wave: This… works. I feel that a 3-color one-cost card should be driving me up insane, especially as I’ve been railing against burn being given to everyone. In this particular card, though, all three of those colors work and I can really say that I dig it.

Baba Yaga’s Castle: Same problem as with death city except that it can also roll out and punch faces late in the game as well.

Angela Leon: Well, it’s certainly an interesting witch. Color wheel aside, it certainly works (and doesn’t look like a lizard) so I don’t have any real problem with it.

Black Needle: I get the feeling there were only two sources of blood tokens… at most. Seems kind of odd that the follow-up to mono-black crono and ragnarok wouldn’t be mono-black as well but red is certainly in color for dealing damage.

Addition: The minor form of multiplication. Nothing more to say here that I didn’t say about screech beta and screech alpha

Avatar Mizune: Another card that makes me think Mizune was intended as a “name-archetype” despite the fact that there is only one other “mizune” card. Isn’t broken any more than the catgirl (and it’s flash may actually come up due to its last ability.

[Ninjadeadbeard]

Okay, so I made a bunch of cards for a custom setting...but I don't have time to upload them all just yet. So as a placeholder:
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s231/sithlord7/thedoctorcomplete_zps5cf66661.jpg

I've been told it is a terrible, broken mess of a card. But it's all I got online at the moment.

Rate my card?

[Landis963]

Okay, so I made a bunch of cards for a custom setting...but I don't have time to upload them all just yet. So as a placeholder:
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s231/sithlord7/thedoctorcomplete_zps5cf66661.jpg

I've been told it is a terrible, broken mess of a card. But it's all I got online at the moment.

Rate my card?

First off, he needs a starting loyalty.

Second off, the templating in general is very strange. I kinda get your intent; you want the Doctor to be able to play his abilities during his opponent's turn, but you don't want something that will allow players to get two uses of an ability versus only one. However, why not just keep it sorcery-speed?

Third off, that ult seems broken. Board Wipe ult that specifically doesn't get rid of him? Yikes.

[AkazilliaDeNaro]

AkazilliaDeNaro: Well, I decided to go ahead and look through your Soul Eater cards to let you know what I thought. I went in completely blind (having never watched Soul Eater) so I apologize if I have missed obvious references or core mechanics. I also judged the cards as if they were a real miniature set that were to come out to tomorrow (which may have been a bit unfair) so I apologize if the intention was to be tongue-in-cheek or if I otherwise "don't get it", which is quite possible. :smallredface:
no that fine this was actually my first set that i made. and i design it like it would be official imagine my disappointment when i remembered copyright infringement. so thanks.




Abbreviated Thoughts:
I can see that the cards focus on taking a small monster, loading it up to the gills with buffs and equipment, and making a single unblockable strike to end everything. With that said, things that I've noticed are...


Just about everything is at least part black
Every multicolored card has hybrid mana without exception
There is just about no blue anywhere.
The color wheel seems to be pretty much abandoned
The sheer amount of shroud, shadow, and unblockability removes a good deal of interactivity from the game.
There seem to be twice as many buffs as actual decent creatures, which seems wrong for a set that wants you to beat in faces.
At least half of the land are pretty overpowered
A bit of flavor text here and there may have clarified things that aren't obvious without a wiki.
I'd estimate that over 25 different keyword abilities appear in that collection. At least two of them seem to have been created by you for use on a single card (possession and witchcraft).
You may have missed out on an opportunity to have miesters actually do something flavorful (maybe have Ox Ford draw cards, for example).
Putting Arachne (a card with infect) in a set so filled to the gills with power buffs is scary.


Intense Analysis:
very large amount of text.

[Ninjadeadbeard]

First off, he needs a starting loyalty.

Wait a min-crap. I forgot that. Um....just pretend it's 6? :smallredface:


Second off, the templating in general is very strange. I kinda get your intent; you want the Doctor to be able to play his abilities during his opponent's turn, but you don't want something that will allow players to get two uses of an ability versus only one. However, why not just keep it sorcery-speed?

I liked the idea of the Doctor using Time against his foes, and so working during their turn. If they weren't so marginalized after Time Spiral, I suppose he could use Time Counters instead to replicate that idea. What do you think?


Third off, that ult seems broken. Board Wipe ult that specifically doesn't get rid of him? Yikes.

That one's...well. If you follow the show you know exactly what it references. Although, I considered it fair due to how long it would take to build towards (though I guess that depends on fixing the Starting Loyalty, damnit!).

[thatonesungod]

@ninja, all planeswalker abilities are instants unless stated otherwise, and u can only uses 1 per upkeep cycle. your templating is entirely unnecessary

[Loreweaver15]

@ninja, all planeswalker abilities are instants unless stated otherwise, and u can only uses 1 per upkeep cycle. your templating is entirely unnecessary

Nnnnno, planeswalker abilities can only ever be activated at sorcery speed.

Akazillia, you can't attack creatures; you can only attack the defending player. The Fight keyword and the Provoke keyword are the only things that really fit what you're trying to do with Deadpool.

When I have more time, I'll go more in-depth.

[thatonesungod]

Nnnnno, planeswalker abilities can only ever be activated at sorcery speed.

Akazillia, you can't attack creatures; you can only attack the defending player. The Fight keyword and the Provoke keyword are the only things that really fit what you're trying to do with Deadpool.

When I have more time, I'll go more in-depth.

well mybad, however everything else you said has already been adressed by multiple people, one of which was me

[Carl]

Anyone care to give me some detailed feedback on my individual cards from the OP?

Not that i haven't enjoyed everyone else's :smallcool:.

[thatonesungod]

Anyone care to give me some detailed feedback on my individual cards from the OP?

Not that i haven't enjoyed everyone else's :smallcool:.

well you never answered my question about swarm 0

[Carl]

Looks like you missed an edit, check my second post, i added a p.s.

Or are you referring to a different question that i missed?

[thatonesungod]

i just checked your first post and im not seeing anything

[Carl]

Second post

here the section quoted for you.


p.s. as far as swarm goes i'm working on the basis that any creature with a mana cost = to 1/2 it's power + toughness is going to be on the weak side. Swarm offsets this. Obviously many of my Swarm creatures have abilities tagged on, but all cost Mana to activate so they shouldn't really add that much compared to more normal abilities which are either activated under specific circumstances, or which have a simple Tap cost attached.

[thatonesungod]

this is a true thing, it still does not explain swarm 0, ITS AN EFFECT THAT DOESNT DO ANYTHING, IT MAY AS WELL NOT BE WRITTEN ON THE CARD

[Carl]

Ahh, check the last card i posted. Without that those can't be pulled back, and with it their swarm effect goes up to soothing useful. I haven't written them yet but i'm planning some similar effects on other cards ;).

p.s. in case anyone's wondering i'm going through and critiquing the marvel deck.

[thatonesungod]

while this is true, card text designed strictly to interact with other cards that dont interact back, like festering newt, bubbling cauldron, and bogbrew witch really isnt nessisary

[Carl]

You misunderstand my line of reasoning i think. Cards like Unleash the Swarm are intended to interact with the various early game stalers the set has. Eliminating them from affecting specific cards here would screw over specific color rather hard, and i want to avid that.

I could double up the mana costs on the Swarm 0 and change them to Swarm 1, but that rather kills the stalling effect as it extends the minimum play point.

[thatonesungod]

all im saying, is that card interactions like that, are quite strange and unnecessary, i dont think that wizards would make a card like that

[Carl]

Eye of Ugin springs to mind as an example, and i'm pretty sure I've seen more direct examples.

[thatonesungod]

yes, but eye of ugan was forshadowing, and now that eldrazi exist its much more powerful

[thatonesungod]

ooooh i just got an idea

[thatonesungod]

some of the stuff i just made up

Soldier zombie 2B
Creature Zombie
B: Soldier Zombie gains flying until end of turn, sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step
2/2

All-Star zombie 2B
Creature zombie warrior
trample
4/2

Engineer Zombie 2B
haste
Tap: Put a 1/1 zombie artifact creature token onto the battlefield
1/3

[Carl]

heh, nice :D. First one should probably b 1B or BB though IMO. Generally all the considered "good" creature cards on Gatherer seem to have a formula of CMC = (1/2(P+T))+(Abilities Modifier -1). So as a rule you tend to need one good or two average abilities on top of equal P/T to get a CMC = the Power/Toughness of the card.

What i meant with eye is that it's an example of a card that interacts with other card's, (eldrazani), that then don't interact back with it.

[thatonesungod]

thats the point though, eldrazi are game winning legendary bombs, your tiny swarm things, well, arent

[thatonesungod]

i am now generating, THE TOWER DEFENSE SAGA, first wave spawns soon at a forum near you

[thatonesungod]

hello, anyone on this thread anyone at all

[Gazzien]

that is NOT the same thing as attacking a creature, it is NOT
It actually is pretty damn close. Look up the Provoke rule.

[thatonesungod]

It actually is pretty damn close. Look up the Provoke rule.

1, no its not
2, they havent used that keyword in a long dam time

[Gazzien]

1, no its not
2, they havent used that keyword in a long dam time
Eh, you have to target it, and you have that (targeted) creature block, even if it started tapped... fairly close to just attacking that creature.

No, no they haven't. Nor have they used slivers. :shakefist:

[Loreweaver15]

Eh, you have to target it, and you have that (targeted) creature block, even if it started tapped... fairly close to just attacking that creature.

No, no they haven't. Nor have they used slivers. :shakefist:

They actually just used Silvers--and Provoke is absolutely as close to attacking another creature as anything but the Fight mechanic.

[Gazzien]

They actually just used Silvers--and Provoke is absolutely as close to attacking another creature as anything but the Fight mechanic.
Do you mean in the premium deck? Because that hardly counts... Wasn't part of any set, didn't add any new slivers (I mean, they reused the time-shifted ones)... It was nice to get a bunch of shiny slivers though :P

[thatonesungod]

no he means the m14 slivers, u know bonesythe thorncaster galerider, which is awesome, 1 blue for evasion

[Fortinbro]

Tawnos, Apprentice of Urza UW

Legendary Creature - Human Artificer

Whenever you pay a mana cost to activate an ability of an artifact you control you gain an amount of life equal to the amount of mana paid in this way.

2/2

Ashnod, Apprentice of Mishra UBR

Legendary Creature - Human Artificer

Whenever an artifact enters the battlefield under your control choose one — Draw a card then discard a card, put a -1/-1 counter on target creature, or target creature can’t block this turn.

2/2

Belbe, Phyrexian Emissary BG

Legendary Creature - Zombie Elf

You can’t play lands.

Sacrifice another creature: Target opponent gains control of Belbe.

3/4

Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor 4BBB

Legendary Creature - Demon Praetor

When Gix enters the battlefield you lose 20 life, sacrifice all other permanents you control and discard your hand.

Intimidate

20/20

[Jormengand]

Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor 4BBB

Legendary Creature - Demon Praetor

When Gix enters the battlefield you lose 20 life, sacrifice all other permanents you control and discard your hand.

Intimidate

20/20

Commander. Just, commander.

[thatonesungod]

Commander. Just, commander.

just like podium of heros:smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin:

[Gazzien]

no he means the m14 slivers, u know bonesythe thorncaster galerider, which is awesome, 1 blue for evasion
Wow. I have those in my deck. How did I miss those?

[Loreweaver15]

just like podium of heros:smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin:

Except completely broken, and also not at all like Podium of Heroes.

[thatonesungod]

well i meant it was only for commander, actual abillities nonwithstanding

[Loreweaver15]

Even designing a card for Commander, it needs to be balanced for every major format.

That's not even balanced for commander.

[thatonesungod]

i guess, but if your playing against a burn deck and have 23 life and cast that and then get bolted, hehe

[Tanuki Tales]

Did anyone bother asking Roland St. Jude if this thread is kosher to do?

[Loreweaver15]

Did anyone bother asking Roland St. Jude if this thread is kosher to do?

Why wouldn't it be?

[Tanuki Tales]

Why wouldn't it be?

Copyright junk we can't discuss.

[Loreweaver15]

Copyright junk we can't discuss.

...If homebrew D&D stuff is fine, I don't understand why homebrew Magic stuff (owned by the same company, even!) isn't. Besides, there's whole other card design threads for Magic where this goes on that have been going for months; nobody's shut those down.

[Tanuki Tales]

...If homebrew D&D stuff is fine, I don't understand why homebrew Magic stuff (owned by the same company, even!) isn't. Besides, there's whole other card design threads for Magic where this goes on that have been going for months; nobody's shut those down.

I can't discuss this topic further than saying "copyright junk". There's already been cards posted/linked to in here that use copyrighted frame sets and copyrighted intellectual property. That's all I can say.

It just never hurts to run things past Roland.

[Loreweaver15]

I can't discuss this topic further than saying "copyright junk". There's already been cards posted/linked to in here that use copyrighted frame sets and copyrighted intellectual property. That's all I can say.

It just never hurts to run things past Roland.

Fair enough. Call him in; I don't think it'll be anything but the go-ahead.

[thatonesungod]

oots characters as magic cards and the greater mtg threead have been up for a long time without raising any ruckus

[MysticTemplar]

You asked for a critique of the cards in the OP, so here is one.



Joint Mercies

WWW

Enchantment

Shroud, Indestructible, Protection from Sacrifice

All damage to all players is halved (rounding fractions down).

Kicker X: Any player may kick this card as it is being cast for X. They gain life equal to X, (calculate each players X and Life gain separately).



This is an interesting idea but your templating is off. Something more along the lines of:
Joint Mercies - WWW
Enchantment
Indestructible, Shroud
Joint Mercies can't be sacrificed.
All damage dealt to players is halved, rounded down.
When Joint Mercies enters the battlefield, each player may pay any amount of mana. If they do, that player gains life equal to the mana paid this way.

Remember that protection has a very specific definition within Magic, and so it always needs to follow the form of 'Protection from <thing>', never Protection from <Action>'. As far as the power level of the card goes, it's probably too strong - it absolutely and utterly wrecks decks that are trying to kill you through damage, and is nigh-impossible to remove. (I believe it's still doable, but you have to jump through hoops.) The main thing to keep in mind is that a card like this highly encourages alternate win conditions - when you're trying to mill your opponent out, or cast Coalition Victory, or something, an unremovable enchantment that makes you take half damage is ridiculously handy. As an aside, you generally want costs anyone can pay to be handled on resolution - the game isn't really set up to let your opponents pay costs while you're announcing a spell, and it has some unfortunate interactions with counters. Here, I set it up as an ETB effect, instead, which is probably where you'd see that sort of effect on an actual magic card.


Sacrifice Angel

2WW

Creature – Angel

Flying, Indestructible

When any creature you own leaves the battlefield you may exile it under Sacrifice Angel. If you do, Sacrifice Angel gains all abilities of the exiled creature. You may only do this once. When Sacrifice Angel leaves the battlefield place the card underneath, (if any), exile it.

2/5

I give up my body so that one on deaths door may live.

I'm fully willing to buy this sort of effect as a full magic card - but templated something more like this:
Sacrifice Angel - 2WW
Creature
Flying, Indestructible
Imprint - Whenever another creature you own would leave the battlefield, if there are no cards imprinted on Sacrifice Angel, you may exile that creature instead.
Sacrifice Angel has all abilities of the Imprinted Card.
2/5

The key here is that the way your original card was worded, it could, in theory, grab things being shuffled into your library, but it wasn't set up to actually grab it before being shuffled in, so it needs to be a replacement effect. As is, it's probably a bit strong, with the possibility of being nigh-impossible to get rid of, and it interacts in extremely unfortunate ways with certain short-term reanimation effects (Goryo's Vengeance+Emrakul =??). The idea isn't awful, but it's something to be careful with.


Unicorn Rider

1GW

Creature – Unicorn Human Knight

Protection from Black and Red and Sacrifice.

2/3

Usually being a maiden in battle just means you have to discourage a few more idea’s of your enemies with your sword. But if you’re lucky enough to befriend a unicorn it’s quite the advantage.

Probably fine, but remember that you need to be Protection from <Thing>, not Protection from <Action>. Should be:
Protection from Black and from Red.
Unicorn Rider can't be Sacrificed.


Couple of new keywords here, really just codifying two existing concepts.

Illusion: When the card becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it.

Unlimited: You may have any number of cards of this type in your deck.

Some thoughts - Illusion should probably have a different name, to differentiate it from the Creature type Illusion. This isn't a definite thing, but generally, things like the 'counter spells'/'+1/+1 counter' are generally inadvisable (and I think the game would be better off if counter wasn't used interchangeably like that). You court confusion between 'Illusion Creature' and 'Creature with Illusion', if you wish to refer to them differently in rules text.

Unlimited is an odd keyword, because part of the effect is so rare in the game is because it is *really* dangerous, especially on things other than creatures. Power can be really hard to read off of the written card, and if you accidentally make a card too strong, you may end up seeing a deck with Land, Unlimited Card, which seems undesirable.


Swarm X: When a card with this rule is played, X copies of the Card are placed into play. These are identical to the base card in every respect, and if the copied card enter’s play with any counters or such like on it, all copies will enter with counters present.

Copies of cards are created and placed onto the battlefield at the same time as the initial card.

Copies spawned by the Swarm rule cannot themselves spawn copies, but if these copies are themselves duplicated, (e.g. by a Clone card), the copies created in this fashion will themselves spawn Swarm copies.


First off - You probably want something along the following lines for your rules text for the Swarm ability:
Swarm X - When a creature with Swarm enters the battlefield, if it is note token created by the Swarm ability, put X tokens into play as a copy of that creature.

Generally, most sources that cause creatures to enter the battlefield with counters are more universal than 'the next creature to enter the battlefield'. This wording will catch most, but not all.

The ability as a whole, however, is incredibly dangerous power level wise. I'll explain more in the individual cards below.


Illusionary City

Creature Land – Island Illusion

Defender, Illusion, Unlimited

Illusionary City’s Toughness is equal to the number of lands in play that also count as islands.

The first Illusionary City you play each turn does not count against your limit on the number of lands you may play each turn.

0/*

The first thing to note is that Land Creatures are really awkward within the rules, but as custom cards, eh. They also tend to be stronger than they'd seem... And this one is crazy powerful, for a couple reasons. The first, of course, is that it is a scaling toughness based on your lands. In a mono-blue deck, this does a decent job of stopping aggro cold, espcially because a lot of the time, the majority of spells in such a deck that would be capable of targeting it will be able to kill it *anyways*. The second is that as you can run an unlimited number, and they allow a free land per turn, it's a hilarious mana ramping engine, that costs no mana. (There's also something odd with the templating here. As written, if you have played zero lands, you may play an Illusionary City, and then an island. If, however, you play the island first, you may not then play the City.) The other thing to note is that if there was, say, a cycle of these, as implied, then as written I could play all five of them in one turn. Sure, they'd have summoning sickness, but I could be up a massive amount of mana in one turn.


The use of Swarm is a thematic aspect to them, the use of Unlimited is explicitly intended to keep me from having to make too many of these things.

Here, the mechanic probably doesn't work the way you want it to. When looking at what a set needs, it's a question of 'what does it need it for?'. For any format other than draft the set doesn't generally have to stand on its own, and it's not uncommon to see Standard decks cherry picking one drops from all over the place, for example, and draft has a special ruleset that makes unlimited entirely unnecessary. I think the most likely result for 1 drops with unlimited in constructed is that they are weak enough that they are, at best, grudgingly one drops 5-8, or they are strong enough that they completely replace all other options, with the first being that Unlimited doesn't matter, and the latter probably being undesirable. Now for the general cards.


Ether Shield

U

Creature – Illusion

Unlimited, Swarm 0, Haste, Absorb 2

Ether shield cannot attack or block

Tap: Add a shield counter to a target creature you control or yourself, remove them at the start of your next upkeep.

U, Tap: Add 2 Shield Counters to a target creature you control or yourself, remove them at the start of your next upkeep.

Creatures and players with 1 or more Shield counters on them gain Absorb X where X is 1 + the number of shield counters on them.

0/1

It's... hard to tell, but this is either terrible, or incredibly overpowered, and it's not a blue card, either way. For comparison, would a card that cost a single white, and said 'Whenever a source would deal damage to you, prevent two of that damage instead.' be alright? I tend to think it wouldn't, and this card is flat out better than that. Damage prevention is also a very white thing that blue doesn't generally get. Though as far as why it might be terrible, it's a singular stall card that doesn't really advance the game plan in any way. It's really hard to tell without seeing everything going on in the set, and in hypothetical formats including the card. Also, I agree with others in that the swarm text is really awkward on this card, in part because of how it reads. 'Swarm, neat! Wait... Swarm 0? How does that work?'


Cleansing Ether

U

Enchantment Creature – Illusion

Illusion, Swarm 3, Unlimited

Cleansing Ether cannot attack or block

Sacrifice Cleansing Ether: prevent a single counter that affects power or toughness from being place on a creature you control, or to remove such a counter already on a creature you control.

Sacrifice Cleansing Ether: Prevent a single Poison Counter from being placed on yourself or remove a single poison counter already on yourself.

0/1
My first instinct, while looking at this card, is that Illusion and Swarm are terrible mechanics to have on the same card together, and that Illusion is also a silly mechanic to have on a 0/1 with a sacrifice ability. The first is because having a card be more fragile is less relevant when it comes with three others, and the second is because anything your opponent will ever target it with will kill it *anyways*, they won't because you'll just sacrifice it in response, and there's no reason to do so anyways, because it's an underwhelming effect that can't interfere with combat.

That being said, this still feels like a white card, because it's about defensive magics, and protecting your creatures. The first ability should probably be templated 'Remove a -1/-1 counter from a creature you control.' It's not *quite* the original ability, and it doesn't hit all edge cases (Magic has a lot of edge cases, especially with early cards), but modern Magic doesn't include p/t altering counters other than +/- 1 any more, anyways. If you wish to keep the part where it can reduce the counters, it instead needs to be templated like this: 'Choose a creature. Remove a -1/-1 counter from that creature, or the next time it would have any number of -1/-1 counters placed on it this turn, instead place that number of -1/-1 counters minus one.'

The second ability can simply read 'You may remove a poison counter from yourself.' The edge case in which someone is dealing you exactly ten in one shot really isn't worth screwing up the wording like that.



Dogs of War

R

Creature – Construct

Unlimited, Swarm 1

R: Sacrifice Dogs of War. Target Construct or Artifact Creature your opponent controls suffers 2 damage.

1/1
This one is probably crazy powerful - Red just generally doesn't get 2 power for one mana with no drawback - and especially not with a potentially useful ability on top of it. The merits of having that on two separate bodies is up in the air, as it carries both upsides and downsides.


Ravager

RR

Creature – Construct

Unlimited, Swarm 1, Flying

R: Sacrifice Ravager then Opponent Sacrifices Target Creature they control which has suffered damage this turn and has 1 toughness or less remaining.


First, this lacks P/T, which makes it difficult to comment on the card's power as a whole, though it suffers the same problem as above - Red generally doesn't get 2 power fliers for two without some sort of drawback, much less a beneficial ability. The ability itself, I'm not sure if it is intended to work around indestructible, or something, but it feels like what it really wants to say is "R, Sacrifice Ravager: Ravager deals one damage to target creature that was dealt damage this turn." If it is intended to deal with indestructible, then something more along the lines of "R, Sacrifice Ravager: Target creature's controller sacrifices it if it has taken damage greater than or equal to its toughness minus one this turn." As written, I think it only actually manages to effect X/1s that have already taken damage, which seems incredibly awkward.


Swarmer

G

Creature – Construct Treefolk

Unlimited, Swarm 2, Reach

GG: Swarmer and up to two other identical creatures have their power increased to 1 until end of turn.

0/1
I don't have much to say about this, but what you're looking for in templating is GG: Swarmer and up to two other creatures with the same name have power 1 until end of turn.


Bone Bat

B

Creature – Skeleton Construct

Unlimited, Swarm 1

You May cast Bone Bat from your Graveyard.

1/1
This is easily the most deceptively powerful card in the original post due to how it interacts with sacrifice effects and outlets. Of note, it is a two card infinite mana combo with Phyrexian Altar, in addition to being two(!) power worth of fliers in black for one mana. The closest effect in magic currently is Gravecrawler which has a restriction on casting it from the graveyard, comes into play tapped, and doesn't fly, and it was still fairly powerful.


Celestial GPCU

W

Artifact Creature – Construct Drone

Unlimited, Swarm 0

Celestial GPCU enters play as either a 2/1 or a 1/2 creature

W: Swap Celestial GPCU’s Power and Toughness

*/*


This is alright, although the Swarm 0 is really awkward still. There's a couple of cards in Magic that you can look at to get the proper templating for its type defining effect, such as that one Plasma creature from Time Spiral block.


Solar

WWW

Artifact Creature - Construct Drone

Unlimited, Swarm 1, Reach, First Strike

WWW: Solar and 1 identical creature gain Double Strike until the end of turn.

3/1

This card is, entirely on its own, 12 damage on turn 4, which is crazy strong. It might be fine at 2/1, but compare other White three drop creatures. In addition, as I go through these creatures, 'unlimited' feels really tacked on. It doesn't help the card, and with how these are set up, depending on the state of the wraths in the format, it wouldn't surprise me to see a deck that was, say, 16 plains, 44 Solars. Perhaps not optimal, but it's not really something you want to encourage. Especially because this one does *not* encourage you to overextend into a wrath the currently extant 'no deck limit' cards do (Shadowborn Apostle and Relentless Rats).



Absolver

WW

Artifact Creature – Construct Drone

Swarm 1, Absorb 1

Absolution enters play tapped

Absolution cannot attack or block

Tap: Exile Target creature opponent controls with Converted Mana cost 4 or less, then sacrifice Absolver.

0/2
WW: Next turn, exile two creatures opponents control, unless they discard a card for each creature you would exile. Play it early, and it wrecks the board. Compare to modern white removal with similar effects (Last Breath). Also, the templating is wonky on the tap effect. You should almost certainly sacrifice it as part of activating the ability. Tap, Sac: Stuff.


Unleash the Swarm

(U/B/R)(U/B/R)(U/B/R)XX

Sorcery

Return X creature cards with the swarm rule from your Graveyad to the battlefield. Each Returned Creatures Swarm Value increases by X.


This one I dunno about. If it included white, I'd be yelling (why doesn't it include white? Why red? Does this spell make sense for RRRXX? It makes much more sense for WWWXX), but as is, it doesn't seem terribly potent, and large XX spells tend to win the game outright. That said, you should probably rethink the color section of its cost. General rule of thumb is: Hybrid cards can only do things that each color could do individually, while multicolor cards can do things that each color can't do individually, and it really doesn't fall into Red's color pie.

[thatonesungod]

when you say it like that it makes absolver seem more like a suspend spell than anything else