Custom cards - Playability assessment

[AdmiralMemo]

Cogwork Spy already does that on a 2/1 flier.

[WP&P]

Ah- you're right; I haven't actually played any Conspiracy yet.

Here's another idea:

When you draft CARDNAME, reveal it. Beginning with you and continuing in draft order, each player selects one card other than CARDNAME that they have already drafted, and place it face-up in front of them. Then, beginning with you and continuing in draft order, each player chooses one card from the revealed cards, and drafts that card.

This gives you a chance to gain some info on what each player is trying to draft, unless of course they are bluffing to throw you off! And since you get first pick, you can trade in one of your weak drafts for something better - at the expense of showing a major signal to all others.

[AdmiralMemo]

Sounds interesting... But here's the problem I see with that...

That ability sounds powerful enough that it would need to be on a rare.

If it's in Pack 1, that's great... You first-pick it, and then you get to do a "choose your own first-pick" situation. That's pretty good.
However, if it's in Packs 2 or 3, then what happens is that you put that down, and the 7 other people throw down their worst card from their previous draft picks. So you're most likely getting garbage or your card back.

[WP&P]

Actually, when you play it (draft it) could have very different effects. You might try to throw others off by drafting against your theme, or you might get rid of a hate card that would be problematic for your deck. And you could put some bomb out there just to see who takes it, thinking they will be intending to use it. If every player does toss out garbage, then you use that to your advantage, and try to bluff.

Notice I did try to word it that you don't pony up that card, but rather some other card previously drafted, so it doesn't turn into an endlessly recurring subdraft. So you get the chance to fish with whatever bait you want to put out there.

[JackSlack]

That feels too strong to me, but a cutdown version could simply be:

Reveal this card as you draft it. When you do, each opponent reveals the next card they draft.

[WP&P]

So, how many of you fine folk listen to the "Magic The Amateuring" podcast, with Maria and Meghan?

They recently issued a challenge to listeners to create a card named "Murderous Kraut", after Maria messed up the pronunciation of "Murderous Cut". I actually came up with two cards, because she might have said...



It's got synergy with Tymaret, The Murder King, who for purposes of this discussion must go by the nickname "Kraut". It creates willing fodder for his activated abilities, and flavor-wise it's like the creature saying "You want to murder ME, you're gonna have to murder US, otherwise I'm coming right back!". I figure it would play a bit like Rescue From The Underworld.

But just in case I was hearing things wrong, here's the other option:



He just wants to stab things. He is a stabbist.

I tried to make both of these be playable cards, not strictly humorous. What do you think... are they rightly costed?

[Re'ozul]

At 2 toughness, Murderous Kraut will likely be more often blocked than his ability comes into play. For the same reason I'd make this card one of those where the CMC of both regular casting and dash are the same.

Murder US, Kraut is basically a Jeskai infiltrator effect. It could actually work well, in fact it seems pretty strong (though not unfairly so) as it basically makes your creature quasi indestructible for whatever is going to kill it, and you get more board presence.

[Our_O'Boros]

Hi all.
I always had a soft spot for Necrotic Ooze and was always kinda underwhelmed by the Sultai Commanders... so I came up with this guy:



Sooo... is he as broken as I suspect but can't quite put my finger on? Of course, in these colors one could play The Mimeoplasm... with Traumatize, Dream-Born Muse, Golgari Grave Troll, Buried Alive and such. Compared to that, I'd say Rata is kinda harmless.
Any thoughts?

[Atifexe]

I feel like he's slightly undercosted. Yes, he has drastically less power than Necrotic Ooze, and yes his activated ability costs 5, but the activated ability actually has the potential to fuel him immensely. I feel like 2UU would be the lowest I'd cost this creature at. Possibly even 3UU. That said, if you can get some friends on board, maybe it's worth giving it some playtesting?

Speaking of legendary creatures, I have one I'd like to get some feedback on myself. I'm a big fan of the card Conspiracy, and it's hard to build around in Commander (while definitely being a build-around card, I believe). To that end, I devised:

Gulroga, Crafter of Conspiracies - (3)(U)(B)
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard
As Gulroga, Crafter of Conspiracies enters the battlefield, choose a creature type.
Creature cards you own that aren't on the battlefield, creature spells you control, and creatures you control are the chosen type.
As long as Gulroga, Crafter of Conspiracies is in the command zone, creatures you control have "Sacrifice this creature: Add U or B to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast Gulroga, Crafter of Conspiracies."
3/3

[Our_O'Boros]

Yeah, the casting cost might be a little low... I saw him as small (power- and costwise), yet careful (hence his toughness) and devious (hence his first ability). The second ability reads as "Oh, you will get back what you lost. It may take your last shred of sanity, leave you a drooling, empty husk... but you WILL get it back." I'll try building a deck around him, see how it goes.

As for Gulroga: Very neat concept. The sacrifice-ability might be a bit strong, ensuring he stays around. However, since he seems to be mostly an enabler, that should be fine.
One last thing: *I* would make him only a wizard, for flavor reasons... might just be me, though.

[WP&P]

I think Gulroga needs to specify whether it sets the creature type in addition to other types, or instead of other types. I kinda agree that leaving him "race-less", with only the "class" = wizard, seems fun, as he fills in that blank when he arrives on the battlefield.

[Atifexe]

The wording on Gulroga is copied shamelessly from the actual card Conspiracy. Because it doesn't say "In addition to their other types", it replaces their existing types. You're correct that that's not immediately clear, and I believe it could be covered under the ruling on Conspiracy that states that this is the case. I also feel that, given the wordiness of it, it might be difficult to rephrase it without making it illegible. Thoughts?

[steric hindrance]

You could make the Conspiracy text clearer with reminder text with something like (This removes all other creature types.)

[Our_O'Boros]

Well, I put Gulroga into the Magic Set Editor, and he already hardly fits on a card. One way to save a bit space: Replace the Sacrifice-ability with Convoke. Then, you would also have enough space for an "in addition to their types".

[Re'ozul]

So I decided to start with my Parahuman cards again.



EDIT: Another one



More Edit: *facepalm* forgot to make Kaiser a gold card.

[Re'ozul]

More card(s)







Hmmm, would Ash Beast work better if he lost Defender and his second ability changed to: "Whenever Ash Beast attacks sacrifice a land."?

[WP&P]

What if Ash Beast didn't have defender but instead just read "Whenever Ash Beast deals combat damage to a player, you may sacrifice one land. If you do, destroy target land controlled by that player."

Then, it becomes a bit of a read-my-opponent game, is he bluffing that he's gonna sac the land, or can I afford to take that chance? Any chump I place in front is just going to die, so maybe I want to let it through.

In place of defender, though, I think he needs to have a restriction that prohibits him from gaining trample, otherwise you lose the decision tension. And I would lower the power to 1, since he sort of has uber-deathtouch.

If you keep the high toughness, then he is simply too good - he needs to be more vulnerable to direct damage, since combat cannot kill him. One way to fix this though might be to delay the timing of when the opposing creature dies. "At the beginning of each end step, destroy all creatures that were dealt damage by Ash Beast" would catch all the methods (attack, block, fight) and still give the opponent a chance to kill it via combat. Then, the 4 toughness makes sense.

[Asthanius]

Regarding Legend, Mark Rosewater has said that Absorb was too powerful to bring back, so I feel like Absorb 4 is REALLY overpowered.

[Re'ozul]

Regarding Legend, Mark Rosewater has said that Absorb was too powerful to bring back, so I feel like Absorb 4 is REALLY overpowered.

That I don't really get. Absorb is very powerful against damage based removal, but does nothing against anything else. And yeah, Legend is supposed to be very hard to remove.
It's why I made him 3 color dependant with only 2 power.

[Re'ozul]

What if Ash Beast didn't have defender but instead just read "Whenever Ash Beast deals combat damage to a player, you may sacrifice one land. If you do, destroy target land controlled by that player."

I agree with some parts of your post.

I am considering:
Ash Beast 2RR
Legendary Creature - Sharded Human
2/3
Ash Beast can not gain trample.
Protection from Auras and Equipment.
Whenever Ash Beast blocks, becomes blocked by or fights a creature, destroy that creature.
Whenever Ash Beast attacks, sacrifice a land.
Whenever Ash Beast deals combat damage to a player, destroy target land, that player controls.

By Fluff:
Walking Nuclear reaction (aka, big ball of plasma).
If he stays in a place, nothing happens to land. If he walks somewhere (aka attacks) he kills some of your land and if he makes it there, some of the enemy's land.

[Re'ozul]

Another one.



Clairvoyant is supposed to be able to look at an opponents hand as a tap ability, not sure if that should also cost mana (I guess). chassis is standard 1/1 also in blue.

[Ronwsj]

These~!!



These need to be a thing~!

[Re'ozul]

Both seem awesome.


Demote to Goat (1U)
Until end of turn, target creature loses all abilities and becomes a Goat of its color with base power and toughness 0/1.


Goat Moat
*as the Savannah Goat Oak, just in UB*


Remote Goats (W)
Sorcery
Put a 0/1 white goat creature token onto the battlefield.
Suspend XX - XW
Whenever a time counter is removed from Remote Goats, put a 0/1 white goat creature token onto the battlefield.

[WP&P]

For the land that produces Goat tokens, you really shouldn't be using "goat" counters to track the storage. The counters need to be some other name. Maybe "grazing" or "pasture" counters, or maybe they are "kid" counters. Also, the "Remove a __ counter" after the tap should be ahead of the colon, so that it is part of the activation cost. Otherwise, you could just make goats without having counters on it, which I'm sure is not the point of the land.

One thing that might be interesting about the land would be to give it a comes-into-play-tapped thingy. But it could be optional - if you choose to bring it in untapped, then it doesn't get any counters (just a plain dual land then). Wording that might be tricky, but maybe something like, "CARDNAME enters the battlefield tapped. When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, you may choose COLOR or COLOR. If you do, CARDNAME enters the battlefield with X __ counters on it, where X is your devotion to the chosen color. Otherwise, untap CARDNAME."