Invert (mana cost) - (You may pay an additional (mana cost) When you cast this spell. If you do, resolve the last effect on this card prior to the first).
The inspiration for this mechanic was the Amonkhet card Insult // Injury which really intrigued the cube community but we ultimately wanted the ability order swapped if it was going to make the cut. So I decided to make a mechanic that lets you switch the order abilities resolve for a cost. Here are three sample cards I created to showcase the mechanic.
Blazing Touch3R
Sorcery (R)
Invert 1R: (You may pay an additional 1R When you cast this spell. If you do, resolve the last effect on this card prior to the first).
Blazing Touch deals 2 damage to target creature and 2 damage to that creature’s controller.
If a red source you control would deal damage this turn it deals that much damage plus two instead.
Notes: This was my invert take on insult // injury. The biggest change I had to make was to up the base cost since both abilities are better than either half of insult // injury and whether you twist or not you will get both abilities. Secondly I removed the damage prevention clause, required the damage to be done by red sources to get the bonus, and instead of doubling damage, it deals damage +2. The twist mode is where the card gets to do what we wanted from Insult // injury all along. It is four to a creature, four to the face, and our red threats/spells do additional damage!
Boneyard Militia3B
Creature - Skeleton Soldier (R)
Invert B: (You may pay an additional B When you cast this spell. If you do, resolve the last effect on this card prior to the first).
When Boneyard Militia enters the battlefield it deals damage equal to the number of skeletons you control to target player.
When Boneyard Militia enters the battlefield create three 1/1 black skeleton tokens.
1/1
Notes: So Twist gives Boneyard Militia two modes.
1) Cast Boneyard Militia at 3B, opponent loses 1 life for the Militia, then you make three 1/1 tokens.
2) Cast Boneyard Militia at 3BB, you make three tokens, opponent loses 4 life (assuming no other skeletons).
Inspired Rejection3UU
Instant (R)
Invert U: (You may pay an additional 1U When you cast this spell. If you do, resolve the last effect on this card prior to the first).
Counter up to one target spell if its converted mana cost is less than the number of cards in your hand.
Draw two cards.
Notes: Inspired Rejection is a conditional hard counter that costs 2UU but when you are able to counter a spell with it you get to draw two cards as well. The inverted mode lets you draw the cards first upping the likelihood you will be able to counter the spell. Thought about costing the Invert at U but this is already pretty dangerous so I kept it at 1U.
Let me know your thoughts on invert - keep it constructive. I'm looking for ability pairs that work really well with the mechanic so let me know if you have some ideas!
First, I'm very confused about your problem with Insult//Injury.
The twist mode is where the card gets to do what we wanted from Insult // injury all along. It is four to a creature, four to the face, and our red threats/spells do additional damage!
This is what Insult//Injury does if you cast both halves the same turn.
This idea was proposed a while ago by a poster who didn't understand how the ability actually worked resulting in a huge argument that derailed the thread which was a shame because I liked the design space it opened. You've hit an interesting design space with effects that are obviously better the other way around but you can get them cheaper if you go inefficient.
Inspired Rejection doesn't work the way you want it to and if it did you would have to increase the cost as the base effect of draw two at instant speed is already a 4 mana effect. To get the effect you want it needs to check on resolution not on targeting like Blue Elemental Blast. "Counter target spell if its converted mana cost is less than the number of cards in your hand. Draw two" Though it should probably be 3UU with an invert of U
My favorite effect from the last time this effect was discussed was
Invertible Wrath 2WW
Sorcery
Invert W
Creatures get +2/+0.
Destroy all creatures with power 4 or greater.
Our problem was that the injury half wasn't first and the insult mode wasn't very desirable by itself at 2R even if you could follow it up with injury once you got to 4RR. At least this variant gets you a desirable effect with both modes.
I'm glad you find the design space interesting! Thanks for the wording assist on Inspired Rejection. I'm not sure about the cost necessarily needing to change though...first for 3U we have Chemister's Insight at uncommon and this can be cast twice. This card combines counter and draw for 2UU at rare and while that change would would generally require more than just changing a colorless mana to colored, I think it is worth considering that with the proper wording as you have provided, there are going to be instances where this is uncastable (when you have less cards than the CC of the spell) and I feel that is a pretty strong counterweight which balances the card.
I'm going to edit my card to incorporate your wording.
I believe you are grossly underestimating the value of countering a spell and drawing cards on the same card. Contradict is the current going rate for this type of effect but it has been seen cheaper. However, you draw two cards on this effect making it significantly stronger. If you feel its too weak at 5 you can make it up to one target spell so you can always draw if you need to but the ability to counter and draw two shouldn't be less than 5.
Boneyard Militia doesn't need the invert mechanic. It has two distinct ETB triggers, which you can resolve in either order anyways. Actually, I don't think the ability works at all on cards that aren't instants or sorceries. The two latter types order what they do line by line from top to bottom, which is what makes invert intuitive, but the abilities on permanents are much more inherently fluid. Multiple lines of text on permanents tend to function individually, and, if not, they use some kind of Rube Goldberg-style trigger sequence that invert doesn't have much to do with. Multi-stage abilities that unfold all at once like instants or sorceries tend to get crammed into a single paragraph, which makes the re-ordering of invert much more difficult to parse.
The mechanic cost should show the final cost, and be an alternative cost.
ex.
Blazing Touch 3R
Invert 4RR (You may pay this spell's invert cost instead of its mana cost when you cast this spell. If you do, resolve its effects in reverse order).
Interesting, but this mechanic seems extremely narrow. It only makes sense on designs with two separate effects where either order of effects would work but one is better than the other and you have to put an appropriate cost to that such that the choice of whether to cast it with or without the invert is relevant and meaningful, while also trying to keep the balance of card power level and making fun card designs.
It's a hard sell to include at common. I imagine it will confuse a lot of newer players— even some more experienced players— who aren't used to thinking about the order of effects. And I'm not sure there are enough good, usable designs to justify making this a name mechanic even at higher rarities only.
This would work much better as just a cycle.
EDIT: more thoughts because I can
This mechanic seems too clever for its own good, essentially. Its a neat concept to play with reordering effects, but that doesn't mean it's actually a particularly fun idea in actual gameplay. Like Rules Lawyer from Unstable has a very interesting effect in interacting with state-based actions like that, and it works well enough on a single quirky card, but it's not something you want to make very many cards out of it because that novelty interest is going to wear off very quickly when you do.
The mechanic cost should show the final cost, and be an alternative cost.
ex.
Blazing Touch 3R
Invert 4RR (You may pay this spell's invert cost instead of its mana cost when you cast this spell. If you do, resolve its effects in reverse order).
I agree with this.
Further, there's a weird issue with it in that the first 'effect' of the card is technically invert's effect. So you get a paradox where if the inversion happens first then you've already done it wrong by not going backwards, while if the inversion happens last then you don't invert anything until you get to that effect.
But given that it's a keyword you could just word it properly to account for that. Such as "If you paid (amount), the rest of this card's effects happen in reverse order."
In general it seems intuitive enough that I don't think it'd be an issue in actual gameplay. However, the design space for this is also fairly limited if you're trying to create effects that couldn't be conventional kicker costs.
Blazing Touch3R
Sorcery (R)
Invert 1R: (You may pay an additional 1R When you cast this spell. If you do, resolve the last effect on this card prior to the first).
Blazing Touch deals 2 damage to target creature and 2 damage to that creature’s controller.
If a red source you control would deal damage this turn it deals that much damage plus two instead.
kicker version
Blazing Touch3R
Sorcery (R)
Kicker: 1R (You may pay an additional 1R as you cast this spell.)
Blazing Touch deals 2 damage to target creature and 2 damage to that creature’s controller. If it was kicked, it deals 4 damage to that creature and that player instead.
If another red source you control would deal damage this turn it deals that much damage plus two instead.
Boneyard Militia3B
Creature - Skeleton Soldier (R)
Invert B: (You may pay an additional B When you cast this spell. If you do, resolve the last effect on this card prior to the first).
When Boneyard Militia enters the battlefield it deals damage equal to the number of skeletons you control to target player.
When Boneyard Militia enters the battlefield create three 1/1 black skeleton tokens.
1/1
So, this one actually is already freely reversible. If more than one trigger would happen at once, you decide what order they go onto the stack. Invert doesn't actually do anything here.
But a hypothetical sorcery version might go...
Boneyard Militia2B
Sorcery (R)
Kicker: B (You may pay an additional B as you cast this spell.)
Boneyard Militia deals damage equal to the number of skeletons you control to target player. If it was kicked, it deals that much damage plus 3 instead.
Create three 1/1 black skeleton creature tokens.
Inspired Rejection3UU
Instant (R)
Invert U: (You may pay an additional 1U When you cast this spell. If you do, resolve the last effect on this card prior to the first).
Counter up to one target spell if its converted mana cost is less than the number of cards in your hand.
Draw two cards.
kicker version
Inspired Rejection3UU
Instant (R)
Kicker: U (You may pay an additional U as you cast this spell.)
If ~ was kicked, draw two cards. Otherwise, draw two cards at the beginning of the next end step.
Counter up to one target spell if its converted mana cost is less than the number of cards in your hand.
Really only that last one is any different as a result of using kicker over invert. And even then, only a little bit.
The inspiration for this mechanic was the Amonkhet card Insult // Injury which really intrigued the cube community but we ultimately wanted the ability order swapped if it was going to make the cut. So I decided to make a mechanic that lets you switch the order abilities resolve for a cost. Here are three sample cards I created to showcase the mechanic.
Blazing Touch 3R
Sorcery (R)
Invert 1R: (You may pay an additional 1R When you cast this spell. If you do, resolve the last effect on this card prior to the first).
Blazing Touch deals 2 damage to target creature and 2 damage to that creature’s controller.
If a red source you control would deal damage this turn it deals that much damage plus two instead.
Notes: This was my invert take on insult // injury. The biggest change I had to make was to up the base cost since both abilities are better than either half of insult // injury and whether you twist or not you will get both abilities. Secondly I removed the damage prevention clause, required the damage to be done by red sources to get the bonus, and instead of doubling damage, it deals damage +2. The twist mode is where the card gets to do what we wanted from Insult // injury all along. It is four to a creature, four to the face, and our red threats/spells do additional damage!
Boneyard Militia 3B
Creature - Skeleton Soldier (R)
Invert B: (You may pay an additional B When you cast this spell. If you do, resolve the last effect on this card prior to the first).
When Boneyard Militia enters the battlefield it deals damage equal to the number of skeletons you control to target player.
When Boneyard Militia enters the battlefield create three 1/1 black skeleton tokens.
1/1
Notes: So Twist gives Boneyard Militia two modes.
1) Cast Boneyard Militia at 3B, opponent loses 1 life for the Militia, then you make three 1/1 tokens.
2) Cast Boneyard Militia at 3BB, you make three tokens, opponent loses 4 life (assuming no other skeletons).
Inspired Rejection 3UU
Instant (R)
Invert U: (You may pay an additional 1U When you cast this spell. If you do, resolve the last effect on this card prior to the first).
Counter up to one target spell if its converted mana cost is less than the number of cards in your hand.
Draw two cards.
Notes: Inspired Rejection is a conditional hard counter that costs 2UU but when you are able to counter a spell with it you get to draw two cards as well. The inverted mode lets you draw the cards first upping the likelihood you will be able to counter the spell. Thought about costing the Invert at U but this is already pretty dangerous so I kept it at 1U.
Let me know your thoughts on invert - keep it constructive. I'm looking for ability pairs that work really well with the mechanic so let me know if you have some ideas!
This is what Insult//Injury does if you cast both halves the same turn.
This idea was proposed a while ago by a poster who didn't understand how the ability actually worked resulting in a huge argument that derailed the thread which was a shame because I liked the design space it opened. You've hit an interesting design space with effects that are obviously better the other way around but you can get them cheaper if you go inefficient.
Inspired Rejection doesn't work the way you want it to and if it did you would have to increase the cost as the base effect of draw two at instant speed is already a 4 mana effect. To get the effect you want it needs to check on resolution not on targeting like Blue Elemental Blast. "Counter target spell if its converted mana cost is less than the number of cards in your hand. Draw two" Though it should probably be 3UU with an invert of U
My favorite effect from the last time this effect was discussed was
Invertible Wrath 2WW
Sorcery
Invert W
Creatures get +2/+0.
Destroy all creatures with power 4 or greater.
I'm glad you find the design space interesting! Thanks for the wording assist on Inspired Rejection. I'm not sure about the cost necessarily needing to change though...first for 3U we have Chemister's Insight at uncommon and this can be cast twice. This card combines counter and draw for 2UU at rare and while that change would would generally require more than just changing a colorless mana to colored, I think it is worth considering that with the proper wording as you have provided, there are going to be instances where this is uncastable (when you have less cards than the CC of the spell) and I feel that is a pretty strong counterweight which balances the card.
I'm going to edit my card to incorporate your wording.
ex.
Blazing Touch 3R
Invert 4RR (You may pay this spell's invert cost instead of its mana cost when you cast this spell. If you do, resolve its effects in reverse order).
........................
It's a hard sell to include at common. I imagine it will confuse a lot of newer players— even some more experienced players— who aren't used to thinking about the order of effects. And I'm not sure there are enough good, usable designs to justify making this a name mechanic even at higher rarities only.
This would work much better as just a cycle.
EDIT: more thoughts because I can
This mechanic seems too clever for its own good, essentially. Its a neat concept to play with reordering effects, but that doesn't mean it's actually a particularly fun idea in actual gameplay. Like Rules Lawyer from Unstable has a very interesting effect in interacting with state-based actions like that, and it works well enough on a single quirky card, but it's not something you want to make very many cards out of it because that novelty interest is going to wear off very quickly when you do.
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
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Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
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#Defundthepolice
Further, there's a weird issue with it in that the first 'effect' of the card is technically invert's effect. So you get a paradox where if the inversion happens first then you've already done it wrong by not going backwards, while if the inversion happens last then you don't invert anything until you get to that effect.
But given that it's a keyword you could just word it properly to account for that. Such as "If you paid (amount), the rest of this card's effects happen in reverse order."
In general it seems intuitive enough that I don't think it'd be an issue in actual gameplay. However, the design space for this is also fairly limited if you're trying to create effects that couldn't be conventional kicker costs.
kicker version
Blazing Touch 3R
Sorcery (R)
Kicker: 1R (You may pay an additional 1R as you cast this spell.)
Blazing Touch deals 2 damage to target creature and 2 damage to that creature’s controller. If it was kicked, it deals 4 damage to that creature and that player instead.
If another red source you control would deal damage this turn it deals that much damage plus two instead.
So, this one actually is already freely reversible. If more than one trigger would happen at once, you decide what order they go onto the stack. Invert doesn't actually do anything here.
But a hypothetical sorcery version might go...
Boneyard Militia 2B
Sorcery (R)
Kicker: B (You may pay an additional B as you cast this spell.)
Boneyard Militia deals damage equal to the number of skeletons you control to target player. If it was kicked, it deals that much damage plus 3 instead.
Create three 1/1 black skeleton creature tokens.
kicker version
Inspired Rejection 3UU
Instant (R)
Kicker: U (You may pay an additional U as you cast this spell.)
If ~ was kicked, draw two cards. Otherwise, draw two cards at the beginning of the next end step.
Counter up to one target spell if its converted mana cost is less than the number of cards in your hand.
Really only that last one is any different as a result of using kicker over invert. And even then, only a little bit.
- Rabid Wombat