Design a Card

[SixFootTurkey]

*Nod* I was just throwing out some ideas that popped into my head. (Though I still like an idea I didn't mention about exiling a creature card from your hand as you cast it, and putting copies of it onto the battlefield somehow... although that didn't seem to be what you were going for, so I didn't mention it.)

You could do a multiple X in the cost; XXWWW or XXWW for instance, though that would change how the card works a bit...

It would be a bit differnet, but you could do something as follows:
Teachyplace - WW
Enchantment
Teachyplace etbs with a funding counter on it.
During your upkeep, add a +1/+1 soldier token with vigilance for each funding counter on Teachyplace, then remove a funding counter from Teachyplace.
2W: Put a funding counter on Teachyplace. [Activate only as sorcery?]

This take makes it so you need to keep funding your school to maintain it if you want to keep getting troops out of it. (Costing of course is just a placeholder.) Also, I'm just discussing ideas, by no means am I implying my ideas are better or that you should change yours; I just enjoy talking about what options are available and why a particular option might be chosen. ^^

[JWiley129]

So I recently designed a RW planeswalker b/c it's a shame that we don't have a real Boros planeswalker. So what do you all think?

Aryn, Battlesworn 1RW

+1: Until end of turn, up to one target creature you control gains Vigilance and Menace.

0: Until end of turn, Aryn becomes a 2/2 Human Soldier creature with Indestructible and Double Strike. Prevent all damage dealt to her this turn.

-6: You gain an emblem with "At least one creature must attack each combat if able", "At least one creature must block each combat if able", and "You control how creatures attack and block."

Starting Loyalty: 3

Her ultimate is based on the card Master Warcraft, except it is persistent once you get the emblem.

So, what do you all think?

[chetoos]

I honestly feel that the -6 might be a bit too strong, at least for how many turns it needs to get to. Maybe either reduce the starting loyalty by one, or increase the cost of the ultimate by one. Alternately, remove the "you control how creatures attack" since that can easily just end a game's prospect for the enemies.

[SixFootTurkey]

Turn 6 ult on curve, not counting possible ramp in a Naya deck... and I think the ult is a tad complicated. Do you have a flavor concept behind her?

I feel like 'you choose how creatures block' would be more than enough, and it would cut away at a lot of the clutter with that ability. Alternatively you could make it 'creatures must attack and block each turn if able', or even something unique like 'creatures must attack and block if able unless their controller pays (1) for each creature.'

[AdmiralMemo]

Also, from the way the +1 reads, it seems permanent, when I think it should be until end of turn.

[JWiley129]

Memo, the +1 reads "Until end of turn, up to one target creature you control gains Vigilance and Menace." It's literally the first clause in that sentence.

As per the ultimate, I at first had it as "You choose which creatures attack and block" but that would be too gamebreaking as well. I changed it to this so that each player had to attack with at least one creature and block that creature if able. I agree it's wordy, but it was the best work-around to a potential problem. Also I don't see many times Aryn ultimating on turn 6. There is a tension between wanting to +1 on one of your creatures or making Aryn into a 2/2 doublestrike until end of turn.

[AdmiralMemo]

Dang. Somehow I read it wrong. Anyway...

[Citronman]

Let Me know what you think about this:

Thoughtglass (2)
Artifact

If an opponent would draw a card, instead that player skips that draw and you put a charge counter onto Thoughtglass.

At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice Thoughtglass unless you pay 1 for each charge counter on Thouhtglass.

When Thoughtglass leaves play, each opponent draw X cards, where X is the number of charge counters on Thoughtglass.

[WP&P]

Thoughtglass is interesting - it gets "worse" in multiplayer, because in 4-player you may have 3 players each give up 1 card, then you fail to pay upkeep and they each draw 3. If you're punishing draws, then maybe that's not so bad, but otherwise it gives away card advantage depending on number of players.

If you want to keep it one-to-one (cards lost to cards recouped) then you could make it target a single player, like make it a Curse enchantment.

Another option would be that when it leaves play, it triggers "each player" to draw X cards, not just opponents. Then, even in multiplayer, you're not getting totally shafted by your own card in terms of card advantage.

[JWiley129]

SixFootTurkey - The Theme of Aryn is to be a combat oriented planeswalker. A small part of her backstory is that she was a member of the Boros in Ravnica when she went out on a patrol and had a bad thing happen causing her spark to ignite. She is a master tactician, being able to see the flow of battle, and can direct her soldiers to deal the most damage to the enemy. But not only is she adept at tactics, but she is also a master of hand-to-hand combat where her magic comes from.

Because of this I want Aryn to focus on attacking and combat. So her +1 is meant to indicate her giving a soldier the best ability to attack and defend. Her 0 is her getting into the fray herself, and a 2/2 double strike is a very decent attacker. Her -6 is meant to show her essentially taking over the battlefield by inherently knowing/making which creatures attack and block.

I could see either pushing her starting loyalty to 2 or the ultimate to -7, but I feel like in a RW aggro deck there is likely some tension between whether you want a dude to get harder to block or have her become another attacker.

[SixFootTurkey]

Regarding the planeswalker: I'm actually not sure if the power level needs adjusted (I would lean towards design rather than development). My main concern is it feels very wordy, and I think you can do quite enough without having a bunch of caveats.

@Citronman
Regarding multiplayer, you could change it to cumulative upkeep, opponents skip their draw step, and 'when it leaves play, opponents draw equal to age counters'.

As is, I'm trying to figure out a way to remove age/charge counters... Also, if you were to punish draws, you could also do a lot of proliferating, which would be something to consider. Another power concern, might be if there's much else to 'combo' with it; if you were to just use this as a 'backup' for preventing draws, or simply put 'players can't draw more than one card a turn' effects in. (There is a ton of potential for making this card powerful, especially since you drop it on turn two...)

I would probably make it legendary - and maybe name it as such. If you have two of these, you can use B to prevent the draws they would get for you sacrificing A, bring A back onto the battlefield, then vice versa next turn. (If your opponent doesn't have a way of dealing with them in hand, they are dead.)

[JWiley129]

SixFootTurkey - The first two abilities aren't that wordy, so really your comments are about the ultimate. I think that I've worded it appropriately, unless you have a better way to write out that emblem.

[Citronman]

I REALLY like the Age counters concept, but I intended it to delay card draws, while with age it will cancel some of them. Making it legendary is a good idea to prevent the combo you were talking about.

If I were to try to fix it in multiplayer, I could do a really wacky thing; since you can put counters on players...But then I need to ajust the upkeep cost so the controller don't explode if someone plays Vision Skeins. Let's Try this:

Teferi's Hourglass (2)
Legendary Artifact

Cumulative Upkeep (1)

If an opponent would draw a card, instead that player skips that draw and you put a memory counter onto that player.

When Teferi's Hourglass leaves play, each player draw a card for each memory counter on himself or herself. Then remove all memory counters from every players.

[Asthanius]

So I created a Temur-colored faction for a block I'm working on and was about to ask people for feedback on a mechanic I created for it called Spellbound based on the "when you cast this" effects on the original Eldrazi titans. Then they revealed Oblivion Sower.

So I guess this is a pretty good idea for a faction mechanic, then?

[SixFootTurkey]

Making it legendary does allow it to be a bit more wordy... another option is to just choose a player/opponent to affect when it enters the battlefield. This would preserve some of the original function in a typical two player game (not having to deal with counters on players), while not making it too oppressive in multiplayer games.

(I'll think about it some more while I'm away.)

[WP&P]

RE: Spellbound - it seems that all this amounts to is a keyword for ETB effects. As such, it feels a little underwhelming to me. It might be more interesting if it checked a condition, like Morbid looks for whether a creature died. What if Spellbound checked whether another spell has previously been cast? Or, it could ask that you reveal a "spell" (instant or sorcery card) from your hand in order to trigger it. IE, "Spellbound - you may reveal an instant or sorcery card from your hand as you cast this. If you do, EFFECT"

Just some ideas. I do recognize that Spellbound as you've templated it is in fact different from ETB effects, since you can't trigger it off of blink effects.

[Asthanius]

The point of the faction that has Spellbound is that they're basically enveloped in magic. As such, they allow you to "cast" another spell in addition to them. It's meant to allow for effects that get around counterspells, for one, and also for cards like this:


It's also a way to use the stack without explicitly mentioning it.

EDIT: Added a clause in case it gets countered. Thanks chetoos!

[chetoos]

Add a clause in there, in case it gets countered

[Citronman]

I would change wording because the treefolk can be exiled from the stack using other abilities.
maybe you should take from split second and say "as long as this spell is on the stack"
but it seems gimmicky for just one card.

[Asthanius]

The problem is that it's not exactly...encouraged, I guess, to reference the stack on a card, and I'm trying to make this feel like it could be an actual set.

Also, I just wanted to mention that I'm changing the wording on some of the cards so that things like Lootfish (the first card I linked) now gets countered if you draw a card but don't discard. So basically, you can either draw a card or get a looter.

[SixFootTurkey]

If 'referencing the stack' is not kosher, they probably wouldn't want 'while this is on the stack', however it's worded. Also, I don't think green gets 'spells are cheaper', they are more likely to get 'creature spells' or maaaybe 'green spells'. Either way though, the fact that you can't use that ability for a creature unless it has flash makes it feel very not-green.

Resolving and countering aren't the only possibilities, which starts to make the ability become extremely cumbersome. (Oh, Citronman already mentioned this...)

To me, 'spellbound' sounds a bit off... My inclination on seeing the ability name would be to think something like 'if another spell has been cast this turn, do X'. (This is just feedback from my first reaction, not saying it necessarily needs changed.)

[Citronman]

I really like SixfootTurkey's idea:


Manarage Drake (1UU)
Creature - Drake

Spellbound — When Manarage Drake enters the battlefield, draw a card if you cast a instant or sorcery spell this turn.

Flying
2/2

---


Llanowar Enchantress (1G)
Creature - Elf Druid

Spellbound — When Llanowar Enchantress enters the battlefield, put a 1/1 green Elf creature token onto the battlefield if you cast an enchantment spell this turn.

2/2

[Asthanius]

Cost reduction is functionally similar to ramp, so I don't see a problem with green having access to it. Also, a lot of the creatures in this faction were going to have flash.

How about this, though?


EDIT: I didn't see Citronman's post. I like the idea, I'll try it out. I hadn't thought of doing it with different spell types.

[Citronman]

This version of the treefolk is way too strong, with two of them tapped , i can play one (or many) genesis hydra for 4 less mana!

It should tap for mana like a mana dork.

[Asthanius]

How often are you going to be able to have two of them tapped? You'd have to attack with them, and the likelihood of at least one of them dying is pretty high.

Centaur Omenreader is a 3/3 for 3G with the same tapped clause and it sees no competitive play.