Design a Card

[type_omega]

i made the card to be in the insta-ban and to OP to exist area. toning it down a bit would make it actually usable though. like adding "target instant or sorcery" to narrow the spells it can hit and maybe revising it to read "sacrifice a land: shuffle Gluttonous Spell-Eater into your library" so you still get repeat-ability but its not as dependable and your board state suffers"

[Re'ozul]

Restricting it to instants and sorceries would likely be enough.

If you want to make the usage a bit more punishing you could use "on top of its owner's library" instead of "owner's hand" for the return.
They'll still have it their next turn (milling, fatesealing etc not included). But if they keep using it constantly they'll keep mostly drawing it back to their hand, effectively causing some card disadvantage.

[type_omega]

[Artirian_Legacy]

Hunter of Abominations
3WB
Creature- Human
Wither
2W: Prevent all damage that would be dealt to and by [CARDNAME] this turn.
1B, Pay 1 life: [CARDNAME] deals 1 damage to target creature.
4/2

I Was drawing parallels between Innistrad's current state and Bloodborne, and thought I'd try my hand at what The Hunter might look like on the plane.

[chetoos]

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1J0rYFT0Y-QxqVYMWGA7P2ewp8NhTf1Nfm5nW-N-H34o
I'd love to see the card design someone makes out of this creature I made for Pathfinder.

[SixFootTurkey]

Without knowing what you consider the most key aspects of the creature, here's a quick sample:

"""
~ 3RR
Creature - Ape Berserker
Prowess, Defender
~ blocks each turn if able.
Whenever ~ blocks, it loses defender and gains "~ attacks each turn if able" until the end of your next turn.
3/3
"""

Initial concerns with the design:
[*] Complexity. Possible solutions: remove prowess, or the 'until end of turn'.
[*] Colors. With your concept, making them three colored might work, but that limits design space. Alternatively you could make a specific tribe and pick a shard/wedge for the tribe as a whole. Hybrid mana could be useful, but adds a bit more complexity in. Off color activated abilities are of course possible.

[chetoos]

Without knowing what you consider the most key aspects of the creature, here's a quick sample:

"""
~ 3RR
Creature - Ape Berserker
Prowess, Defender
~ blocks each turn if able.
Whenever ~ blocks, it loses defender and gains "~ attacks each turn if able" until the end of your next turn.
3/3
"""

Initial concerns with the design:
[*] Complexity. Possible solutions: remove prowess, or the 'until end of turn'.
[*] Colors. With your concept, making them three colored might work, but that limits design space. Alternatively you could make a specific tribe and pick a shard/wedge for the tribe as a whole. Hybrid mana could be useful, but adds a bit more complexity in. Off color activated abilities are of course possible.

I love this design. I had envisioned the creature as Green, with a Red activated ability, but I really like your design. I based it on a beanie baby my mom got me, and it's a green striped thing with 3 red horns on its head, so I'd really consider the energy stuff to be the "main focus" of the creature.

[TaiyouShinobi]

Ok, I want to try lands again, since they seem to be really tricky to design. I'm thinking about a dual land that shifts the color of mana it produces whenever it is tapped. Right now I don't know how to mark two different states so I'm thinking of a coin.

So something like this:
________________________________
~
Land - Forest Mountain
When ~ enters the battlefield put a coin counter on it.
T: If the coin is heads add G to your mana pool, or if the coin is tails add R to your mana pool.
Whenever ~ is tapped, flip the coin counter over.
________________________________

Is this design playable or interesting? I was also considering adding some other ability where you can change the coin position somehow, but I'm not sure how at the moment or if it is needed.

[Artirian_Legacy]

That design seems to be trickier to make work than at first glance. My reasoning is that you'd have to actually flip a coin first, since there's no "default" setting for a coin to make the land start as. Then you face the problem of keeping track of what face the coin is, since I don't think the rules have a way to know how to deal with counters with faces.

Honestly, I think it should be "T: Flip a coin. If it comes up heads, add X to your mana pool. If it comes up tails, add Y to your mana pool."
I understand that's WAY worse, but like I said, it seems tricky. If I'm completely wrong about the counters-with-faces thing, then your current design should be pretty close to functional.

I think this is a neat space you've found, though

[SixFootTurkey]

I would probably just do:

"""
~
Land - Forest Mountain
You may have ~ enter with a [] counter.
T, remove a [] counter from ~: Add R to your mana pool.
T : Add G to your mana pool. Add a [] counter to ~. Activate this ability only if ~ has no [] counters.
"""

This eliminates the random element (which I find especially problematic with mana bases) while maintaining the core element of alternating production types.

[SixFootTurkey]

I personally like designing w/o activated abilities whenever possible; I feel static and triggered typically allow you to convey more with less complexity. (Sometimes activated abilities make sense though, but I like saving them for when they shine.) This is a personal thing though, as triggered abilities have their own type of complexity.

Another quick possible design (I may tweak it later, but heading out in a few minutes):

"""
~ 2RG
Creature -- Ape Berserker
~ attacks each turn if able.
Whenever a creature deals combat damage to you, ~ gets +1/+1 until the end of your next turn.
2/2
"""

(Also, I aim for a rough ballpark wrt balance, but I definitely lean more towards design than development.)

[WP&P]

I agree that you only need a generic counter (not necessarily a two-faced coin) and just track whether the counter is present or not to decide between the two states.

Another possibility might be to make it such that it only gains counters by being powered up, so that it normally produces green, but by spending red you can get a counter onto it so that you can later remove the counter to draw red mana. That makes it less efficient than a straight-up dual.

Maybe "G: Add 1 to your mana pool, then add a [strata] counter to CARDNAME." for the first ability, then "T, remove a [strata] counter from CARDNAME: Add R to your mana pool." and "T: Add G to your mana pool."

The middle ability could even be, "T, remove a [strata] counter from a land you control: Add R to your mana pool." - then all of your thusly-worded duals can work together as a large battery. One such land could serve as the counter generator, powering itself up for other lands to use...

[SixFootTurkey]

Slight semantics, it's now 'Add C to your mana pool.'

Being able to make a battery defeats the purpose of having lands that are more restrictive in mana. Honestly, even being able to do so w/o removing them from others makes them just overly complex for minimal value:

They effectively have "T,G: add 1R to your mana pool" while having the upside of being able to store a ridiculous number of strata counters every time you don't need specifically green mana from something that can produce green.

[TaiyouShinobi]

I think the main thing I wanted to set out with the shift land design is that you need to plot out your course for mana at least a few turns in advance. In my head, the player chooses the starting state of the counter and then has to make sure that they plot according to what that mana will be when they need it. The battery idea goes against this by having a player chose the color by removing stored counters. As it is right now, a player could still manipulate the color but only with other cards helping. I think my design can work, but I'll have to test some with it.

_________________________________________

Second question: Have there been any cards that grab all creatures or planeswalkers with the same name from your library, put them on the battlefield for a turn then shuffle them back in? I'm wondering how that would be worded and how strong it would be. Also if applied to planeswalkers. (Legend rule excluded).

[SixFootTurkey]

@TaiyouShinobi - did you have a chance to look at my template suggestion for your lands?

Not to my knowledge. Getting all of a planeswalker with the same name would be useless, as you'd only get to keep one of them anyway. Getting all creatures with the same name would open up edge cases with things like Relentless Rats, even if you restricted it by CMC/power/etc. (I.e., there's a lot of risk for debatable reward.)

[SixFootTurkey]

Though... I can see a pseudo-imprint style card working with that...

"""
~ GW
Enchantment
As ~ enters the battlefield you may search your library for any number of creature cards that share a name and exile them.

T, XGW: Put a card with CMC X exiled with ~ onto the battlefield.
"""

[TaiyouShinobi]

@SixFootTurkey

Yes, I did see your design, it more or less conveys what I was thinking, the only reason I think I like the coin idea better is because it might make a better visual reminder than a present/absent counter. Not sure what you meant by "randomness" (maybe Artirian_Legacy's design?). With the coin you'd just place it in heads or tails position when it enters, like with choosing if the counter goes on it in yours; though I didn't originally mention it.

With the planeswalkers I had mentioned excluding the legend rule (similar to Mirror Gallery, but just for the turn.) but I didn't realize that it was a different rule that handled them based on subtype.
Hmmm, yeah, the rats could be a serious problem. Too bad Declaration in Stone isn't instant speed... There's still Echoing Truths and maybe Extrapate in response...

Well, maybe if they didn't have haste and stuck around until the end of the users next turn? Perhaps I could just limit it to getting three copies. I'm not sure. I do think this could work somehow though, the flavor of this is a time-travel spell that calls the different versions of the creature to the same moment from across time, so one at a time with Imprint goes against the idea a bit.

[SixFootTurkey]

@TaiyouShinobi

It was indeed in regards to their suggestion. (I probably should have said 'doesn't add the random element of the other suggestion...')

[TaiyouShinobi]

Ok, how about this?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Temporal Resonance -- 2WU
Instant

Choose a target creature you control. Search your library for any number copies of that creatures. You may have those copies enter the battlefield with the name “Echo of Time” and lose Legendary and all sub-types until the end of turn. They gain haste.

At the end of turn return all permanents that entered this way, back to your library, then shuffle your library.

Destined -- If you control a [name] planeswalker, you may choose a target planeswalker instead.
____________________________________________________________________________

[Phi]

This seems... broken, to say the least.

[WP&P]

I think maybe the cost should be XWU instead, and you get to search for up to X copies.

This would need some way of wording such that the return back to library is not a separately timed action, so that you cannot skip its triggering. It's the Fiend Hunter / Banisher Priest templating all over again.

Not sure this should be an Instant. Yeah it does have the word "Temporal" in its name, but as an instant it feels more like a combat trick. As a Sorcery it feels more like muddling with time in order to get something to happen, a mage using his/her energies (your turn) to explore this stratagem.

[SixFootTurkey]

Slight terminology fix first. "Copies of that creature" has no meaning. You would want 'cards with the same name as that creature.'

Sorcery limits some of the issues definitely. Alternatively you could make it change its effect based on whether you cast it when you could cast a sorcery or not.

If you don't plan on doing an X spell, 'up to 4' would work to negate working too well with 'any number' cards - assuming that's a concern for you.

[TaiyouShinobi]

Fixed the bit with copies of creatures to cards with the same name. Seemed strange originally since I was just going to change the names of them anyway.

X spell go get X copies is a really good idea and I'm not sure why I didn't think of it at all, so I'll probably go that route.

The reason it's an instant is when your facing that big stompy guy/board who's about to kill you and three (or) more blockers would do wonders for you right now, even if it means giving up a fierce crackback, but I see your point.

@WP&P: I am confused about your comparison to the Fiend Hunter. If I recall, that one had something to do with exiling forever if it left before the first part resolved. Is there a similar abuse that I'm overlooking? It's no issue to make it all one paragraph, but I'm curious if there is.

[SixFootTurkey]

Balance wise, let's take a not too far fetched scenario - though it does require a third color in this particular instance.

Kalastria Healer turn 2 or 3. Cast ~ targeting KH. Get 3 healers, drain for 12.

It's a five drop, but get a Gary out (Grey Merchant): same thing, but you're draining for 24.

All of this at instant speed so you can wait until you're opponent's turn to see if they use mana.

[WP&P]

The abuse would be a flicker effect, especially a mass-flicker effect, that let the fetched-up permanents enter the battlefield in a different way, prior to end of turn. Then they'd get to stay.

A possible fix might be to have those permanents gain wording like, "Each permanent that enters the battlefield this way has 'At end of turn, or if this permanent would leave the battlefield, return this permanent to your library and then shuffle your library'."

That would actually be a bit stronger as it prevents a dying creature from going to the graveyard; one could reuse the same ambush squad several times.