I haven't played a lot of Pauper, but from what I understand, one of the biggest sources of grief from it is how slow and awful the mana is, especially when you're trying to make a multicolor aggro deck, and I'm wondering what could be done to remedy this. And I just assume that Wizards is never, ever going to print a set of dual lands that can come into play untapped at common, because they're cowards and they might make slightly less money from card shops cracking packs to sate the demands of the secondary market.
But maaaybe a they could print a fetchland? Not a Flooded Strand-level fetch, or even a Flood Plain-level fetch, but Evolving Wilds was reprinted again in Rivals of Ixalan, so it might be possible, right? Admittedly, it still enters play tapped, but that can search for all five land types. Could there be a fetch that searches for only a few of them, but has the possibility of putting them into play untapped? Here's the idea I've been thinking of:
Flood Basalts Land (C)
:symtap:, Sacrifice Flood Basalts: Search your library for a basic Swamp or Mountain card and put it onto the battlefield. If you control another land of that type, it enters the battlefield tapped. Then shuffle your library.
So you can fish up one Swamp and one Mountain and get them untapped, but after that, it's just a worse Terramorphic Expanse. So it can get you a turn 2 Terminate, but not Sinkhole or Fireblast. Is that balanced? Too good? And most importantly, could it be printed at common? If not, maybe they could do the old cheat of printing it at uncommon, and then reprinting it at common in a supplemental set.
I remember posting something like this a very long time ago, in response to an idea for an anti-Thragtusk creature.
Novijen AmphibimancerUG Creature - Merfolk Wizard (R)
Flash
When Novijen Amphibimancer enters the battlefield, until end of turn, target creature you don't control loses all abilities and becomes a blue Frog with base power and toughness 1/1. 1/2
Kinda like a Winged Coatl (which performs serious work as Scorpion Wasp in Eternal, but that's another game), except that it can actually survive combat, and also mess with it when you're attacking. Also as Ravnica lore-friendly Merfolk, it would give fish a reason to actually run green!
It is not "malfunctional" for your counter mechanic that instructs the player to use a counter interacts with counter-manipulating cards like Power Conduit and Chisei, Heart of Oceans. That is the entire point of those cards. It is strictly a good thing for your mechanic to have interaction with counter mechanics like proliferate.
I dislike how the Boros one randomly costs an additional red mana while the others in the cycle are single color symbols. I think you should change it, as I imagine lopsided color pairings should be reserved for more special cases and it doesn't fit on theme with the rest.
Other than that I really like the concepts here.
Ah, that. The reason Daenclast has a red mana symbol is because he just straight up doubles (some) damage, which is a pretty red thing to do, and thus generally gets a bunch of redredsymb... wh, Gisela, what are you doing, you're ruining my point!!!
I mean, I wouldn't be opposed to it being 2WR. Would it need to be nerfed at all to compensate?
I agree with all of saneatali's points. I especially like Metallic Reclamation. It's cool that you can reanimate one big artifact, and then return a bunch of cheap eggs like Chromatic Star and Executioner's Capsule without feeling bad about putting them in your hand. I almost worry that Undead Swarm is a bit OP, being able to revive multiple huge fatties (or Mulldrifters) with not that much mana. But maybe it's fine.
For Gargantuan Call, maybe it should be like Metallic Reclamation and put one of the cards into play and the rest into your hand? Or you could extend the series of X spells from Conflux with a bonus if X is fiveorhigher, which are incidentally all in Naya colors, so maybe it could put them all in play if X is 5 or greater?
I like 'em. Daenclast is a fave even though he's scary. Let's see the other designs?
Sure! These ones I'm just iffy on because the keywords are all over the place on the color pie.
Corvyx, Aven Augur2WU Legendary Creature - Bird Wizard(R)
Flying
Whenever one or more creatures you control attack and aren’t blocked, you gain X life, then scry X, where X is the number of those unblocked creatures. 3/3
Rhydel, the Guardian1GWU Legendary Creature - Spirit Knight(R)
Flash
As long as it’s not your turn, creature spells you cast cost 2 less to cast.
Whenever you cast Rhydel, the Guardian or cast another creature spell while Rhydel is on the battlefield, you may return target creature you control to its owner’s hand. 2/5
Grosh, Raidmaster1BRG Legendary Creature - Orc Berserker(R)
Haste
Whenever Grosh, Raidmaster or another creature enters the battlefield under your control, that creature gets +3/+0 until end of turn. If it’s your turn, that creature gains indestructible until end of turn. 3/3
For Ibraxa, she doesn't destroy creatures because, like you said, I wanted her to pressure your opponents to block your deathtouch dudes and get deathtouched by them. Deathtouch is kind of a boring keyword in practice, because even if your attacking Typhoid Ratscould hypothetically kill something huge, it's never gonna get blocked by anything but a 1/1 anyway. The point of Ibraxa is to make them make those delicious unfavorable trades, and deathtouch creatures are uncommon enough that I think she's fine, if a bit scary in theory.
Three-Fang... I don't agree? What's wrong with it doing damage to other creatures in addition to the enemy player? You say it shouldn't, but you don't really give any justification aside from a few remarks about flavor, which I don't really see as a problem. Your dudes are barreling through the enemy's defenses, and then further asserting their dominance on any other poor bystanders. And I'd prefer that it not be limited to trample, as Siege Behemoth exists, and is a Beast, and would be great with this dude. Maybe it should just be, "Whenever a blocked creature you control deals combat damage to a player or planeswalker, you may have it fight target creature that player controls"?
Felldr, yeah, you might have a point. The idea was to interact with vigilance and untap effects like Copperhorn Scout and Village Bell-Ringers, but the blocking trigger isn't likely to happen without the assistance of a bunch of combat tricks. Maybe instead of making her rely on untap effects, have her still synergize with them, but provide one herself?
Felldr of the Vanguard1GW Legendary Creature - Elf Soldier(R)
Vigilance
At the beginning of your end step, put a +1/+1 counter on each untapped creature you control that attacked or blocked this turn, then untap all creatures you control. 2/2
Telev... yeah, he is beating you over the head with the hexproof stuff. I figured, the best part about having hexproof creatures is being able to play your own stuff on them without getting blown out, but that could be done without explicitly mentioning hexproof. In fact, the first ability probably doesn't need to mention it at all, since there's a mana payment on it (which I just added so that you couldn't play Lightning Greaves and make all of your creatures unblockable forever). So, it's a bit wordy, but maybe this?
Telev, Navigator of Mists2UG Legendary Creature - Merfolk Scout(R)
Hexproof
Whenever a creature you control with hexproof becomes the target of a spell or ability, you may pay 1. If you do, that creature can’t be blocked this turn.
Whenever a creature you control with hexproof attacks and isn’t blocked, if it hasn’t been the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls this turn, you may draw a card. 3/4
Just thinking about a few legendary creatures to serve as "lords" of sorts for creatures with evergreen keywords, with the general purpose of making for obvious linear EDH deck-building strategies (i.e. "put lots of creatures with this keyword in your deck"), while also leaving them open to build other interesting kinds of decks. With the general guidelines of:
1. Don't just give them all +1/+1 or something boring
2. Don't give them any other keywords either
3. Be better than Stonebrow, Krosan Hero
So here are a few of them!
Daenclast of the Twin Axes1RRW Legendary Creature - Dwarf Soldier(R)
Double strike
If a creature you control would deal first strike combat damage to a permanent or player, it deals twice that much damage to that permanent or player instead. 2/3
Sergev, Tithe EnforcerWB Legendary Creature - Vampire Cleric(R)
Lifelink
Whenever you gain life, put a +1/+1 counter on a creature you control with lifelink. 2/3
Ibraxa, Maker of Marble3BG Legendary Creature - Gorgon(R)
Deathtouch
Whenever a creature you control with deathtouch deals damage to an opponent, destroy target noncreature, nonland permanent of that player’s choice that he or she controls. 2/5
Heaval, Harbinger of HavocBR Legendary Creature - Devil(R)
Menace
Whenever a creature you control becomes blocked, for each creature blocking it, that creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn and defending player loses 1 life. 2/3
Three-Fang, Baloth Alpha3RG Legendary Creature - Beast(R)
Trample
Whenever a blocked creature you control deals combat damage to a player or planeswalker, you may have it deal that much damage to target creature that player controls. 6/5
Felldr of the Vanguard1GW Legendary Creature - Elf Soldier(R)
Vigilance
At the beginning of each end step, put a +1/+1 counter on each untapped creature you control that attacked or blocked this turn. 3/3
Telev, Navigator of Mists2UG Legendary Creature - Merfolk Scout(R)
Hexproof
Whenever a creature you control with hexproof becomes the target of a spell or ability, you may pay 1. If you do, that creature can’t be blocked this turn.
Whenever a creature you control with hexproof attacks and isn’t blocked, you may draw a card. 3/4
I've got ideas for flying, haste, and flash too, but I'm not super certain on the designs for them yet.
That said I can't see the original post because I ignore that user and since you quoted only a small part of that post it might be that the rest of the proposed mechanic is nonsense.
Hunt is functionally provoke, but provoke is simpler.
...
Attacking creatures is not a small change.
Provoke isn't without its problems. The classic example is provoking creatures with abilities, like Arcanis the Omnipotent.
Is it really THAT big of a change? I realize this is something that'll probably never exist in Magic the 27-year-old project as it is today, but if, in some hypothetical scenario, it were to be rebooted completely, I think abilities like these would be pretty painless to introduce. The game already has rules for creatures dealing combat damage to creatures, and the only hiccup I can think of is trample damage (which I think would just be assigned to the opponent).
Just thinking about a few potential keywords that are probably unprintable, but maybe not? I dunno.
The first one is Hunt. It's just Hearthstone. It's also just provoke, but shhhh. As such, it'd probably be primarily in RG, tertiary in W. Or maybe it should be tertiary in B. Who knows.
Prowling Wolf2G Creature - Wolf (C)
Hunt (This creature can attack creatures your opponents control. Attacked creatures assign and are assigned combat damage as though they’re blocking.)
2/2
Does that wording work? Your opponent should be able to block it with other creatures, but the attacked creature just gets lumped in with them as though it's a blocker and can still be killed. So it's more interactive than just "T: Fight", at the very least! (You could try to rework it so the attacked creature actually does block, but 1. that's probably a rules nightmare, and 2. you can't flank when you're flat-footed, get outta here! You can use your bushido when you're untapped, pal.)
Next up is Lure, which is literally just Taunt. You know, from Hearthstone. Except with a minor change because, unlike Hearthstone, attacks don't happen individually, and being able to wall off every single creature with one dude would be too much. (I know Lure is already a card. Feel free to recommend something else for a name.)
Shield Warden1W Creature - Human Soldier (C)
Lure (Creatures your opponents control can attack this creature. It assigns and is assigned combat damage as though it’s blocking. You and planeswalkers you control can’t be attacked unless this creature is also attacked.)
2/2
Maybe this one doesn't work as well. It almost seems like kind of a drawback? But adding a clause to make it somehow optional would be really complicated and annoying and probably overpowered. Maybe having it only work if it's untapped? So that it'd work better with vigilance. I'm thinking this one would be primary in W, secondary in G, and maybe tertiary in U?
And of course, in this creature-attacking-creature environment, my true agenda would finally be revealed...
Lurking Assailant1(U/B) Creature - Human Rogue (C)
Backstab (If this creature is attacking, you may have it assign its combat damage to any blocking creature defending player controls.)
2/1
This is just a dumb deck I came up with based around Pyromancer Ascension's synergy with cards like Tormenting Voice and Cathartic Reunion. Namely, with a single active Ascension, these draw you massive amounts of cards and turn all of your card filtering into card advantage, because the discard is a cost and isn't copied. (Also, it's important to note that if you cast a Tormenting Voice with none in your graveyard and discard a Tormenting Voice to the cost, your Ascensions will get a counter.) In addition, Manamorphose gives you more mana and draws more cards, and Desperate Ritual can splice onto itself to give you potentially 60 red mana with three splices. The obvious win condition is Seismic Assault, since it's pretty easy to get 10 Mountains in your hand. Emrakul, the Aeons Torn and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre are mostly there to prevent us from decking ourselves (which is incredibly easy to do once you have multiple Ascensions online), as we have 12 easy discard outlets for it, and also let us recycle our discarded Mountains if we discarded too many of them in our initial filtering. They're also a good backup win condition in case of Leyline of Sanctity or something, as it's pretty easy to get the mana to cast them with our copied mana spells. Anyway, just a goofy combo deck that's pretty fun, if not all that competitive.
I dig this cycle. I would love having a bunch of cantrip auras for an Enchantress/Kor Skyfisher deck. If you really want to make them less powerful, you could make the draw a sac effect like Unbridled Growth.
And as for an artifact version, I've tossed around ideas in my head like this:
Azorius Chalice1 Artifact (C) 1, T: Add W or U to your mana pool. WU, T, Sacrifice Azorius Chalice: Draw a card.
This is a nice, elegant idea. If you were going to go with the counter implementation, I'd say have it enter with a counter and have it removed to gain the colors. That way, it'll only have a counter on it for one turn, which is a lot more convenient when you're putting all your lands into a little stack.
Underground Shrine Land (?)
Underground Shrine enters the battlefield with a discovery counter on it. T, Remove a mystery counter from Underground Shrine: Add C to your mana pool. T: Add W or B to your mana pool. Activate this ability only if there are no discovery counters on Underground Shrine.
Maybe discovery counter doesn't totally work as a name. But it kinda does? It's like, "Hey, there's a thing left to discover on this land. Oh, you found it! So remove the discovery counter."
If you wanted to do it without counters, there are a few ways you could do it that are pretty close to the same, if you make some pretty fair assumptions.
Underground Shrine v2 Land (?) T: If you haven't controlled Underground Shrine v2 since your last upkeep, add C to your mana pool. Otherwise, add W or B to your mana pool.
Underground Shrine v3 Land (?) T: If Underground Shrine v3 entered the battlefield this turn, add C to your mana pool. Otherwise, add W or B to your mana pool.
Underground Shrine v4 Land (?) T: If this is the first time you've tapped Underground Shrine v4 for mana, add C to your mana pool. Otherwise, add W or B to your mana pool.
v3 is slightly more powerful, since you can still produce colored mana on the opponent's turn after it enters the battlefield, which might make it a bit too good in certain color combinations (namely, anything with U). Somebody could say that v4 could cause memory issues, but 99% of the time, you're going to tap it for mana within your first turn cycle. I guess the other 1% of the time, you're just boned.
What is the point of these, exactly? Off-color activated abilities? Uh... sunburst/converge enabler? Just straight up stopping you from casting any spells of the color seems to make it 99% pointless.
So I was trying to think of another UBRG commander that wouldn't be quite so complex, and I was thinking, instead of the "big bad giant bigger than everybody" brand, what about another brand of biggest, baddest, strongest creature? A totally original one that's definitely not the final boss of an old SNES game?
Bolbox, Pinnacle of EvolutionUBRG Legendary Creature - Ooze Horror (B)
Whenever a creature dealt damage by Bolbox, Pinnacle of Evolution this turn dies, put a +1/+1 counter on Bolbox. T: Bolbox deals damage equal to its power to target creature. 4, Sacrifice a creature: Double the number of +1/+1 counters on Bolbox and untap it.
Dunno about the mana cost on the second ability. I was thinking about the first ability being divisible like Living Inferno, but that would probably be way too good. I almost wonder if there isn't enough to this guy, but you can have fun with stuff like Simic Guildmage and Hardened Scales/Winding Constrictor, Sage of Fables, etc. I guess this isn't really super red, but... Extra Arms? Ion Storm, I guess?
Also, another idea for Vand.
Vand, Consortium BrokerWUBR Legendary Creature - Human Advisor (M)
Whenever a player casts a spell, any player may pay 1 and 2 life. If no one does, you gain 2 life and create an artifact token named Gold with “Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.” 4WUBR: Gain control of target nonland permanent. Spend only mana produced by artifacts to activate this ability.
3/4
The mana and life payment is probably a bit weird, but I like the idea of it mirroring the benefits you get if they don't pay up. The big color cost and artifact-only clause are there to prevent you from just spamming it with any old ramp, though I guess that's not as big a deal in a color identity without green. Is triggering on every single spell too annoying? Maybe just non non-artifact spells?
But maaaybe a they could print a fetchland? Not a Flooded Strand-level fetch, or even a Flood Plain-level fetch, but Evolving Wilds was reprinted again in Rivals of Ixalan, so it might be possible, right? Admittedly, it still enters play tapped, but that can search for all five land types. Could there be a fetch that searches for only a few of them, but has the possibility of putting them into play untapped? Here's the idea I've been thinking of:
Flood Basalts
Land (C)
:symtap:, Sacrifice Flood Basalts: Search your library for a basic Swamp or Mountain card and put it onto the battlefield. If you control another land of that type, it enters the battlefield tapped. Then shuffle your library.
So you can fish up one Swamp and one Mountain and get them untapped, but after that, it's just a worse Terramorphic Expanse. So it can get you a turn 2 Terminate, but not Sinkhole or Fireblast. Is that balanced? Too good? And most importantly, could it be printed at common? If not, maybe they could do the old cheat of printing it at uncommon, and then reprinting it at common in a supplemental set.
Novijen Amphibimancer UG
Creature - Merfolk Wizard (R)
Flash
When Novijen Amphibimancer enters the battlefield, until end of turn, target creature you don't control loses all abilities and becomes a blue Frog with base power and toughness 1/1.
1/2
Kinda like a Winged Coatl (which performs serious work as Scorpion Wasp in Eternal, but that's another game), except that it can actually survive combat, and also mess with it when you're attacking.
Also as Ravnica lore-friendly Merfolk, it would give fish a reason to actually run green!Ah, that. The reason Daenclast has a red mana symbol is because he just straight up doubles (some) damage, which is a pretty red thing to do, and thus generally gets a bunch of red red symb... wh, Gisela, what are you doing, you're ruining my point!!!
I mean, I wouldn't be opposed to it being 2WR. Would it need to be nerfed at all to compensate?
For Gargantuan Call, maybe it should be like Metallic Reclamation and put one of the cards into play and the rest into your hand? Or you could extend the series of X spells from Conflux with a bonus if X is five or higher, which are incidentally all in Naya colors, so maybe it could put them all in play if X is 5 or greater?
Sure! These ones I'm just iffy on because the keywords are all over the place on the color pie.
Corvyx, Aven Augur 2WU
Legendary Creature - Bird Wizard (R)
Flying
Whenever one or more creatures you control attack and aren’t blocked, you gain X life, then scry X, where X is the number of those unblocked creatures.
3/3
Rhydel, the Guardian 1GWU
Legendary Creature - Spirit Knight (R)
Flash
As long as it’s not your turn, creature spells you cast cost 2 less to cast.
Whenever you cast Rhydel, the Guardian or cast another creature spell while Rhydel is on the battlefield, you may return target creature you control to its owner’s hand.
2/5
Grosh, Raidmaster 1BRG
Legendary Creature - Orc Berserker (R)
Haste
Whenever Grosh, Raidmaster or another creature enters the battlefield under your control, that creature gets +3/+0 until end of turn. If it’s your turn, that creature gains indestructible until end of turn.
3/3
That last one might need reminder text so people don't accidentally think it's Ogre Battledriver when it's really Primal Forcemage.
For Ibraxa, she doesn't destroy creatures because, like you said, I wanted her to pressure your opponents to block your deathtouch dudes and get deathtouched by them. Deathtouch is kind of a boring keyword in practice, because even if your attacking Typhoid Rats could hypothetically kill something huge, it's never gonna get blocked by anything but a 1/1 anyway. The point of Ibraxa is to make them make those delicious unfavorable trades, and deathtouch creatures are uncommon enough that I think she's fine, if a bit scary in theory.
Three-Fang... I don't agree? What's wrong with it doing damage to other creatures in addition to the enemy player? You say it shouldn't, but you don't really give any justification aside from a few remarks about flavor, which I don't really see as a problem. Your dudes are barreling through the enemy's defenses, and then further asserting their dominance on any other poor bystanders. And I'd prefer that it not be limited to trample, as Siege Behemoth exists, and is a Beast, and would be great with this dude. Maybe it should just be, "Whenever a blocked creature you control deals combat damage to a player or planeswalker, you may have it fight target creature that player controls"?
Felldr, yeah, you might have a point. The idea was to interact with vigilance and untap effects like Copperhorn Scout and Village Bell-Ringers, but the blocking trigger isn't likely to happen without the assistance of a bunch of combat tricks. Maybe instead of making her rely on untap effects, have her still synergize with them, but provide one herself?
Felldr of the Vanguard 1GW
Legendary Creature - Elf Soldier (R)
Vigilance
At the beginning of your end step, put a +1/+1 counter on each untapped creature you control
that attacked or blocked this turn, then untap all creatures you control.2/2
Telev... yeah, he is beating you over the head with the hexproof stuff. I figured, the best part about having hexproof creatures is being able to play your own stuff on them without getting blown out, but that could be done without explicitly mentioning hexproof. In fact, the first ability probably doesn't need to mention it at all, since there's a mana payment on it (which I just added so that you couldn't play Lightning Greaves and make all of your creatures unblockable forever). So, it's a bit wordy, but maybe this?
Telev, Navigator of Mists 2UG
Legendary Creature - Merfolk Scout (R)
Hexproof
Whenever a creature you control
with hexproofbecomes the target of a spell or ability, you may pay 1. If you do, that creature can’t be blocked this turn.Whenever a creature you control
with hexproofattacks and isn’t blocked, if it hasn’t been the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls this turn, you may draw a card.3/4
1. Don't just give them all +1/+1 or something boring
2. Don't give them any other keywords either
3. Be better than Stonebrow, Krosan Hero
So here are a few of them!
Daenclast of the Twin Axes 1RRW
Legendary Creature - Dwarf Soldier (R)
Double strike
If a creature you control would deal first strike combat damage to a permanent or player, it deals twice that much damage to that permanent or player instead.
2/3
Sergev, Tithe Enforcer WB
Legendary Creature - Vampire Cleric (R)
Lifelink
Whenever you gain life, put a +1/+1 counter on a creature you control with lifelink.
2/3
Ibraxa, Maker of Marble 3BG
Legendary Creature - Gorgon (R)
Deathtouch
Whenever a creature you control with deathtouch deals damage to an opponent, destroy target noncreature, nonland permanent of that player’s choice that he or she controls.
2/5
Heaval, Harbinger of Havoc BR
Legendary Creature - Devil (R)
Menace
Whenever a creature you control becomes blocked, for each creature blocking it, that creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn and defending player loses 1 life.
2/3
Three-Fang, Baloth Alpha 3RG
Legendary Creature - Beast (R)
Trample
Whenever a blocked creature you control deals combat damage to a player or planeswalker, you may have it deal that much damage to target creature that player controls.
6/5
Felldr of the Vanguard 1GW
Legendary Creature - Elf Soldier (R)
Vigilance
At the beginning of each end step, put a +1/+1 counter on each untapped creature you control that attacked or blocked this turn.
3/3
Telev, Navigator of Mists 2UG
Legendary Creature - Merfolk Scout (R)
Hexproof
Whenever a creature you control with hexproof becomes the target of a spell or ability, you may pay 1. If you do, that creature can’t be blocked this turn.
Whenever a creature you control with hexproof attacks and isn’t blocked, you may draw a card.
3/4
I've got ideas for flying, haste, and flash too, but I'm not super certain on the designs for them yet.
Wow, thanks for contributing to the discussion!
Provoke isn't without its problems. The classic example is provoking creatures with
Is it really THAT big of a change? I realize this is something that'll probably never exist in Magic the 27-year-old project as it is today, but if, in some hypothetical scenario, it were to be rebooted completely, I think abilities like these would be pretty painless to introduce. The game already has rules for creatures dealing combat damage to creatures, and the only hiccup I can think of is trample damage (which I think would just be assigned to the opponent).
The first one is Hunt. It's just Hearthstone. It's also just provoke, but shhhh. As such, it'd probably be primarily in RG, tertiary in W. Or maybe it should be tertiary in B. Who knows.
Prowling Wolf 2G
Creature - Wolf (C)
Hunt (This creature can attack creatures your opponents control. Attacked creatures assign and are assigned combat damage as though they’re blocking.)
2/2
Does that wording work? Your opponent should be able to block it with other creatures, but the attacked creature just gets lumped in with them as though it's a blocker and can still be killed. So it's more interactive than just "T: Fight", at the very least! (You could try to rework it so the attacked creature actually does block, but 1. that's probably a rules nightmare, and 2. you can't flank when you're flat-footed, get outta here! You can use your bushido when you're untapped, pal.)
Next up is Lure, which is literally just Taunt. You know, from Hearthstone. Except with a minor change because, unlike Hearthstone, attacks don't happen individually, and being able to wall off every single creature with one dude would be too much. (I know Lure is already a card. Feel free to recommend something else for a name.)
Shield Warden 1W
Creature - Human Soldier (C)
Lure (Creatures your opponents control can attack this creature. It assigns and is assigned combat damage as though it’s blocking. You and planeswalkers you control can’t be attacked unless this creature is also attacked.)
2/2
Maybe this one doesn't work as well. It almost seems like kind of a drawback? But adding a clause to make it somehow optional would be really complicated and annoying and probably overpowered. Maybe having it only work if it's untapped? So that it'd work better with vigilance. I'm thinking this one would be primary in W, secondary in G, and maybe tertiary in U?
And of course, in this creature-attacking-creature environment, my true agenda would finally be revealed...
Creature - Human Rogue (C)
Backstab (If this creature is attacking, you may have it assign its combat damage to any blocking creature defending player controls.)
2/1
This thread was probably a mistake.
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
// 8 Enchantment
4 Pyromancer Ascension
4 Seismic Assault
4 Manamorphose
4 Desperate Ritual
// 24 Land
24 Mountain
// 18 Sorcery
4 Tormenting Voice
4 Wild Guess
3 Flame Jab
3 Magmatic Insight
4 Cathartic Reunion
And as for an artifact version, I've tossed around ideas in my head like this:
Azorius Chalice 1
Artifact (C)
1, T: Add W or U to your mana pool.
WU, T, Sacrifice Azorius Chalice: Draw a card.
Make the sac ability cost less if you want.
Underground Shrine
Land (?)
Underground Shrine enters the battlefield with a discovery counter on it.
T, Remove a mystery counter from Underground Shrine: Add C to your mana pool.
T: Add W or B to your mana pool. Activate this ability only if there are no discovery counters on Underground Shrine.
Maybe discovery counter doesn't totally work as a name. But it kinda does? It's like, "Hey, there's a thing left to discover on this land. Oh, you found it! So remove the discovery counter."
If you wanted to do it without counters, there are a few ways you could do it that are pretty close to the same, if you make some pretty fair assumptions.
Underground Shrine v2
Land (?)
T: If you haven't controlled Underground Shrine v2 since your last upkeep, add C to your mana pool. Otherwise, add W or B to your mana pool.
Underground Shrine v3
Land (?)
T: If Underground Shrine v3 entered the battlefield this turn, add C to your mana pool. Otherwise, add W or B to your mana pool.
Underground Shrine v4
Land (?)
T: If this is the first time you've tapped Underground Shrine v4 for mana, add C to your mana pool. Otherwise, add W or B to your mana pool.
v3 is slightly more powerful, since you can still produce colored mana on the opponent's turn after it enters the battlefield, which might make it a bit too good in certain color combinations (namely, anything with U). Somebody could say that v4 could cause memory issues, but 99% of the time, you're going to tap it for mana within your first turn cycle. I guess the other 1% of the time, you're just boned.
Bolbox, Pinnacle of Evolution UBRG
Legendary Creature - Ooze Horror (B)
Whenever a creature dealt damage by Bolbox, Pinnacle of Evolution this turn dies, put a +1/+1 counter on Bolbox.
T: Bolbox deals damage equal to its power to target creature.
4, Sacrifice a creature: Double the number of +1/+1 counters on Bolbox and untap it.
Dunno about the mana cost on the second ability. I was thinking about the first ability being divisible like Living Inferno, but that would probably be way too good. I almost wonder if there isn't enough to this guy, but you can have fun with stuff like Simic Guildmage and Hardened Scales/Winding Constrictor, Sage of Fables, etc. I guess this isn't really super red, but... Extra Arms? Ion Storm, I guess?
Also, another idea for Vand.
Vand, Consortium Broker WUBR
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor (M)
Whenever a player casts a spell, any player may pay 1 and 2 life. If no one does, you gain 2 life and create an artifact token named Gold with “Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.”
4WUBR: Gain control of target nonland permanent. Spend only mana produced by artifacts to activate this ability.
3/4
The mana and life payment is probably a bit weird, but I like the idea of it mirroring the benefits you get if they don't pay up. The big color cost and artifact-only clause are there to prevent you from just spamming it with any old ramp, though I guess that's not as big a deal in a color identity without green. Is triggering on every single spell too annoying? Maybe just non non-artifact spells?