X Planeswalker - too bad the first X planeswalker is so clunky, and not vert GU. Designing a good planeswalker is hard, and these guys have trouble designing Alpha Lords...
Lord - I understand why this is "splashable", but 2/2 for 1CC with +1/+1 and some additional effect is standard. This is a 2/3 for 2C with +1/+1 and some additional... admittedly crappy... 2nd effect. They needed to live up to the elegance of Imperious Perfect and failed.
1. It should have been 2/2. No question. No debate. 1/3 might have been acceptable in some sense, but standards are standards.
2. Tapping for Menace is annoying. Why can't it just tap to exile a card from the grave...
You know, straight up obsoleting Cemetery Reaper by making it a 2/2 for 2B would be fun, flavorful, good in limited, and not step on anyone's toes too hard (Reaper is just slightly too bad. If it cost B to activate, it still probably wouldn't see much play but would be fairer).
Plague Belcher - it's a 3/2 menace for 2B with additional upside. I guess this is standard now?
Dread Wanderer - There is too much text on this card. There are better existing versions of this card. If it returned automatically if you had "heckbent"... sure. But as is, it's just unsatisfying. Which is quite surprising since it's an immortal black Jackal pup.
You know, they should reprint Jackal Pup and finally make it a Jackal Hound. Yeah, Jackal Pup will see no limited play whatsoever, but it'd be interesting to see if red wanted to try their hand at it in standard...
Blazing thanks for your assessment. I've fixed the embalmer.
Regarding Catouches, I'm still not sure I'd want to print them as-is, but WOTC's goal was clearly to make a "deck archetype" - either limited or constructed - out of them. But playing auras is crazy risky in constructed; this design "gets around that". By cycling your cartouches and then playing them from the 'yard, they're useful without the downside.
Yeah, it's a bunch of Coastal Piracy effects, but I think their power could be tweaked in a number of ways to get them to work. In any case, they feel more like trials than the current ones.
You're right with regards to "Cycling or discard", but I think that if Wizards believes "people forget cycling is discard", they should have taken this as evidence that it needs to just be restricted to cycling, rather than having "Cycling counts as discard" in reminder text. SOI-synergy should be on Shadows-side, not AHK. As is, the SOI cards fail to have the "reminder text" Wizards thinks is necessary.
Re: Trials/Cartouches - the idea that one gets a cartouche as a reward for completing a trial is exciting and a flavor goldmine, but the current cards don't capture this - they're clunky flavor fail. Auras are bad and you have to do more to make them better than just add a block of text to them and have them trigger your CIP enchantments to do things.
Instead, consider
Cartouches - common:
Cartouche of Knowlegde U
Enchantment - Aura Cartouche
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and flying
Cycling U
Cartouche of Ambition B
Enchantment - Aura Cartouche
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and deathtouch
Cycling B
Cartouche of Zeal R
Enchantment - Aura Cartouche
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and menace
Cycling R
Cartouche of Strength G
Enchantment - Aura Cartouche
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and Trample
Cycling G
Cartouche of Solidarity W
Enchantment - Aura Cartouche
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and vigilance
Cycling W
Trials - Uncommon:
Trial of Strength G
Legendary Enchantment
Whenever a creature you control deals damage to an opponent, you may return a cartouche from your graveyard to the battlefield attached to that creature.
Whenever an enchanted creature you control deals damage to an opponent, you may put a +1/+1 counter on that creature.
Cycling 2
Trial of Solidarity 1W
Legendary Enchantment
Whenever a creature you control deals damage to an opponent, you may return a cartouche from your graveyard to the battlefield attached to that creature.
Whenever an enchanted creature you control deals damage to an opponent, create a 1/1 white human warrior token with vigilance.
Cycling 2
Trial of Ambition 2B
Legendary Enchantment
Whenever a creature you control deals damage to an opponent, you may return a cartouche from your graveyard to the battlefield attached to that creature.
Whenever an enchanted creature you control deals damage to an opponent, that player discards a card.
Cycling 2
Trial of Zeal 3R
Legendary Enchantment
Whenever a creature you control deals damage to an opponent, you may return a cartouche from your graveyard to the battlefield attached to that creature.
Whenever an enchanted creature you control deals damage to an opponent, you may have it deal damage to target creature or player equal to its power.
Cycling 2
Trial of Knowledge 5U
Legendary Enchantment
Whenever a creature you control deals damage to an opponent, you may return a cartouche from your graveyard to the battlefield attached to that creature.
Whenever an enchanted creature you control deals damage to an opponent, you may draw two cards.
Cycling 2
Also, some useful related commons and uncommons to make limited interesting:
Cartouche Sealer 2W
Creature - Human Cleric - Uncommon
When Cartouche Sealer enters the battlefield, you can search your library for any number of cartouches with different name and put them into the battlefield. If you do, shuffle your library.
2/2
Worthy Challenger W
Creature - Human Warrior - Common
When Worthy Challenger enters the battlefield, you may return an aura with a converted mana cost of 1 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield attached to it.
1/1
Second, Drake Haven annoys me. If people were so confused about cycling counting as discard, just make it a flat out lightning rift variant. There's no reason to make cycling and discard play "that much" better together, and older discard cards don't reference cycling so it'll still confuse new players!
Drake Haven1U (fixed)
Enchantment - Rare
Whenever a player cycles a card, you may pay 1. If you do, create a 2/2 blue Drake creature token with flying.
Reaching Roots 1G
Enchantment - Rare
Whenever a player cycles a card, you may pay 1. If you do, search your library for a forest card and put it onto the battlefield tapped.
(AKA - the card that works with bicyling lands)
Enduring Faith 1W
Enchantment - Rare
Whenever a player cycles a card, you may pay 1. Gain 3 life.
(A peace of mind homage, this is more powerful than it looks.)
Cursed Wellspring 1B
Enchantment - Rare
Whenever a player cycles a card, you may pay 1. If you do, put a -1/-1 counter on target creature and its controller loses 1 life.
And related cycling cards:
Cursed Jackal 2B
Creature - Jackal Zombie - Unc
Whenever you cycle a card, you may pay 1 life. If you do, return ~ from your graveyard to the battlefield.
3/1
Your standard reanimates when x card; this is cool in limited and aggressive in constructed.
Come on Wizards, just do it. Print the uncommon fattie with colorless cycling to be reanimated with the zombify variant. Also, print a cycle of #CC cycling 2 rares or mythics to be reanimated. Your set is full of zombies. Make reanimator a mildly viable limited strategy.
Speaking of which, why not print:
Curse of the Wastes 3BB
Sorcery - Un
Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. It is a black zombie in addition to it's other colors and types.
Cycling1B
When you cycle ~, you may return a creature card with a CMC of 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield.
Also, reprint Unearth Unearth isn't broken, is it? It's awesome - a casual favorite and it creates an interesting dynamic in limited. Indeed printing a cycle of relatively useful colored 2 drops with cycling 2 so that black can cycle and reanimate them would just be super interesting.
Relatively Useful White Guy 1W
Creature - Human Cleric
Zombie creature tokens you control have lifelink.
embalm 4W
Cycling 2
2/2
Relatively Useful Green Guy 1G
Creature - Elf Cleric T add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
Cycling 2
1/2
Relatively Useful blue Guy 1U
Creature - bird wizard
Flying
Cycling 2
2/1
Relatively Useful Red Guy 1R
Creature - Elf Cleric
Cycling 2
Whenever you cycle a card, this guy gets +1/+1 until end of turn (Prowess for cycling).
1/3
I'd Unearth these guys in limited on turn 3, why not?
A lack of desert is horrible. Too powerful to come back? Pretty much every creature has a toughness of 2 or more (including 1 drops!). If you can't design a block where desert is not "too good", you're bad at magic. Desert was even timeshifted! This is inexcusable.
The new Roar of the Wurm is predictable, but not enough of a twist. I fully expected 3W for the "flashback" cost... but nope. Having only a single green in it's mana cost is a little tone-deaf too. Splashing is nice and all that, but it's a rare - you should have to work to cast it in limited.
Never to Return is yet another of this cycle - and it seems very wasteful of competent names. Sure, this is a fair kill spell (that doesn't stop cat combo), but the bottom half is both flavorless, as it can exilenon-creatures, and costs an obscene amount of mana. Or was Shamble Back too broken in the current format to print?
This set is full of moderate hits and giant flavor mistakes.
Lord - I understand why this is "splashable", but 2/2 for 1CC with +1/+1 and some additional effect is standard. This is a 2/3 for 2C with +1/+1 and some additional... admittedly crappy... 2nd effect. They needed to live up to the elegance of Imperious Perfect and failed.
1. It should have been 2/2. No question. No debate. 1/3 might have been acceptable in some sense, but standards are standards.
2. Tapping for Menace is annoying. Why can't it just tap to exile a card from the grave...
You know, straight up obsoleting Cemetery Reaper by making it a 2/2 for 2B would be fun, flavorful, good in limited, and not step on anyone's toes too hard (Reaper is just slightly too bad. If it cost B to activate, it still probably wouldn't see much play but would be fairer).
Plague Belcher - it's a 3/2 menace for 2B with additional upside. I guess this is standard now?
Dread Wanderer - There is too much text on this card. There are better existing versions of this card. If it returned automatically if you had "heckbent"... sure. But as is, it's just unsatisfying. Which is quite surprising since it's an immortal black Jackal pup.
You know, they should reprint Jackal Pup and finally make it a Jackal Hound. Yeah, Jackal Pup will see no limited play whatsoever, but it'd be interesting to see if red wanted to try their hand at it in standard...
MAYBE if this was legendary, sure? But Zozu represents quality, fair red hate. This? This is just really too good, no?
Regarding Catouches, I'm still not sure I'd want to print them as-is, but WOTC's goal was clearly to make a "deck archetype" - either limited or constructed - out of them. But playing auras is crazy risky in constructed; this design "gets around that". By cycling your cartouches and then playing them from the 'yard, they're useful without the downside.
Yeah, it's a bunch of Coastal Piracy effects, but I think their power could be tweaked in a number of ways to get them to work. In any case, they feel more like trials than the current ones.
You're right with regards to "Cycling or discard", but I think that if Wizards believes "people forget cycling is discard", they should have taken this as evidence that it needs to just be restricted to cycling, rather than having "Cycling counts as discard" in reminder text. SOI-synergy should be on Shadows-side, not AHK. As is, the SOI cards fail to have the "reminder text" Wizards thinks is necessary.
Instead, consider
Cartouches - common:
Cartouche of Knowlegde U
Enchantment - Aura Cartouche
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and flying
Cycling U
Cartouche of Ambition B
Enchantment - Aura Cartouche
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and deathtouch
Cycling B
Cartouche of Zeal R
Enchantment - Aura Cartouche
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and menace
Cycling R
Cartouche of Strength G
Enchantment - Aura Cartouche
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and Trample
Cycling G
Cartouche of Solidarity W
Enchantment - Aura Cartouche
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and vigilance
Cycling W
Trials - Uncommon:
Trial of Strength G
Legendary Enchantment
Whenever a creature you control deals damage to an opponent, you may return a cartouche from your graveyard to the battlefield attached to that creature.
Whenever an enchanted creature you control deals damage to an opponent, you may put a +1/+1 counter on that creature.
Cycling 2
Trial of Solidarity 1W
Legendary Enchantment
Whenever a creature you control deals damage to an opponent, you may return a cartouche from your graveyard to the battlefield attached to that creature.
Whenever an enchanted creature you control deals damage to an opponent, create a 1/1 white human warrior token with vigilance.
Cycling 2
Trial of Ambition 2B
Legendary Enchantment
Whenever a creature you control deals damage to an opponent, you may return a cartouche from your graveyard to the battlefield attached to that creature.
Whenever an enchanted creature you control deals damage to an opponent, that player discards a card.
Cycling 2
Trial of Zeal 3R
Legendary Enchantment
Whenever a creature you control deals damage to an opponent, you may return a cartouche from your graveyard to the battlefield attached to that creature.
Whenever an enchanted creature you control deals damage to an opponent, you may have it deal damage to target creature or player equal to its power.
Cycling 2
Trial of Knowledge 5U
Legendary Enchantment
Whenever a creature you control deals damage to an opponent, you may return a cartouche from your graveyard to the battlefield attached to that creature.
Whenever an enchanted creature you control deals damage to an opponent, you may draw two cards.
Cycling 2
Also, some useful related commons and uncommons to make limited interesting:
Cartouche Sealer 2W
Creature - Human Cleric - Uncommon
When Cartouche Sealer enters the battlefield, you can search your library for any number of cartouches with different name and put them into the battlefield. If you do, shuffle your library.
2/2
Worthy Challenger W
Creature - Human Warrior - Common
When Worthy Challenger enters the battlefield, you may return an aura with a converted mana cost of 1 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield attached to it.
1/1
Second, Drake Haven annoys me. If people were so confused about cycling counting as discard, just make it a flat out lightning rift variant. There's no reason to make cycling and discard play "that much" better together, and older discard cards don't reference cycling so it'll still confuse new players!
Lightning Rift shifted to rare.
Drake Haven 1U (fixed)
Enchantment - Rare
Whenever a player cycles a card, you may pay 1. If you do, create a 2/2 blue Drake creature token with flying.
Reaching Roots 1G
Enchantment - Rare
Whenever a player cycles a card, you may pay 1. If you do, search your library for a forest card and put it onto the battlefield tapped.
(AKA - the card that works with bicyling lands)
Enduring Faith 1W
Enchantment - Rare
Whenever a player cycles a card, you may pay 1. Gain 3 life.
(A peace of mind homage, this is more powerful than it looks.)
Cursed Wellspring 1B
Enchantment - Rare
Whenever a player cycles a card, you may pay 1. If you do, put a -1/-1 counter on target creature and its controller loses 1 life.
And related cycling cards:
Cursed Jackal 2B
Creature - Jackal Zombie - Unc
Whenever you cycle a card, you may pay 1 life. If you do, return ~ from your graveyard to the battlefield.
3/1
Your standard reanimates when x card; this is cool in limited and aggressive in constructed.
Upheaven Wurm 10G
Creature - Wurm - Unc
Cycling 2
10/10
Come on Wizards, just do it. Print the uncommon fattie with colorless cycling to be reanimated with the zombify variant. Also, print a cycle of #CC cycling 2 rares or mythics to be reanimated. Your set is full of zombies. Make reanimator a mildly viable limited strategy.
Speaking of which, why not print:
Curse of the Wastes 3BB
Sorcery - Un
Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. It is a black zombie in addition to it's other colors and types.
Cycling1B
When you cycle ~, you may return a creature card with a CMC of 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield.
Stir the Sands is nice and all, but is relatively redundant with Liliana's Mastery.
Also, reprint Unearth Unearth isn't broken, is it? It's awesome - a casual favorite and it creates an interesting dynamic in limited. Indeed printing a cycle of relatively useful colored 2 drops with cycling 2 so that black can cycle and reanimate them would just be super interesting.
Relatively Useful White Guy 1W
Creature - Human Cleric
Zombie creature tokens you control have lifelink.
embalm 4W
Cycling 2
2/2
Relatively Useful Green Guy 1G
Creature - Elf Cleric
T add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
Cycling 2
1/2
Relatively Useful blue Guy 1U
Creature - bird wizard
Flying
Cycling 2
2/1
Relatively Useful Red Guy 1R
Creature - Elf Cleric
Cycling 2
Whenever you cycle a card, this guy gets +1/+1 until end of turn (Prowess for cycling).
1/3
I'd Unearth these guys in limited on turn 3, why not?
The new Roar of the Wurm is predictable, but not enough of a twist. I fully expected 3W for the "flashback" cost... but nope. Having only a single green in it's mana cost is a little tone-deaf too. Splashing is nice and all that, but it's a rare - you should have to work to cast it in limited.
Never to Return is yet another of this cycle - and it seems very wasteful of competent names. Sure, this is a fair kill spell (that doesn't stop cat combo), but the bottom half is both flavorless, as it can exilenon-creatures, and costs an obscene amount of mana. Or was Shamble Back too broken in the current format to print?
This set is full of moderate hits and giant flavor mistakes.