Hello peoples.
I don't have any practice with card creation or mechanics or proper balance, so if someone can help, or if want to improve and use this idea, be my guest.
I was half-sleeping and thought that i never seen any mechanic or ability that cares about mulligan itself to operate. But because may be too much restricting, i loosened a bit, and make a "synergetic" keyword (Leyline mechanic) + non-keyword (Hellbent-esque) so you guys n gals have this:
Proof of Faith 3WW
Instant
Jackpot (If ~ is in your opening hand, you may cast it without paying its mana cost.)
You gain X life, where X is 10 minus the number of cards in your hand.
Mind Bogging 3UU
Instant
Jackpot (If ~ is in your opening hand, you may cast it without paying its mana cost.)
Draw X cards, where X is 7 minus the number of cards in your hand.
Unlimited Power 3BB
Instant
Jackpot (If ~ is in your opening hand, you may cast it without paying its mana cost.)
Deals X damage to target player, where X is 10 minus the number of cards in your hand.
Hungry Frenzy 3RR
Instant
Jackpot (If ~ is in your opening hand, you may cast it without paying its mana cost.)
Create X 1/1 red Goblin creature tokens, where X is 8 minus the number of cards in your hand.
Fatty Pants 3GG
Instant
Jackpot (If ~ is in your opening hand, you may cast it without paying its mana cost.)
Create a X/X green beast creature token, where X is 8 minus the number of cards in your hand.
If is weak, just pumps the X, if broken, might put something like a pre-static (un-Relentless Rats) and/or post-conditional:
Jackpot (A deck can have only one card named ~. If ~ is in your opening hand, you may cast it without paying its mana cost. If you do, exile it.)
So the idea is:
1 - You get something if in your opening hand even if with the full 7 (6 after casting it: 3 life, draw 1, deal 3, 2 1/1, 1 2/2).
2 - Instant speed to respond to an opponent action.
3 - Better effect the smaller your hand.
1 + 3 is what simulates the "game-changer" when does mulligan quite a number, and start the game strong (sorry the roundabout i'm sleepy).
These are broken or worthless in multiples, no in between. If I start the game with two Unlimited Power my opponent starts the game at 10 life. If I start with multiple Mind Bogging the second one does nothing.
While the effects themselves have lots of possibilities the fact that you can load up with 20 of these in a deck makes it inherently broken. A fix that gives you the most leeway would be something like Jackpot(At the beginning of the game you may cast one card with jackpot without paying its mana cost).
As for your original idea. There is a single card that interacts with mulligans. Serum Powder. Its not a particularly deep well of designs but you could probably find something to do here.
These seem closer to the Chancellors gameplay-wise, but the balance going to be very difficult. Like Tadpole said, multiples of these are overly strong (except the mentioned blue one) because of the way they scale, especially the ones that put creatures onto the board. In fact, the "right" way to play these is to just cram 4 of each into a single deck to get as many triggers as possible.
I'm guessing you are trying to encourage mulliganing. A easier to balance execution would be a cheap spell that scales with the number of mulligans taken, so that you still have to pay mana and therefore you cannot effectively put all 5 in the save deck.
Something like,
Mulligan guy 1G
Creature
Mulligan Guy enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter for each mulligan you took this game.
1/2
I didn't found Serum Powder, maybe cuz i did wake midnight just for this half-baked idea, hahaha.
About what FetalTadpole says, indeed, reading awake now, those are bad balanced. But i think the blue case, won't make me draw 2 each, as they would be cast together, making my actual hand 5 in size (7-5=2, in case of no mulligan)? Dunno, i created to counter the "problem" of smaller hands.
But as user_938036 says, its a better way about limiting the free ones, and not the copies themselves, and rowanalpha make a mulligan counting kind, which maybe i thought was a bad idea for being less flavorful (Not that Jackpot will have any use outside the beginning...).
I think, then, a Mulligan Matter indeed should be about its own counting. Yelp, never made a mechanic before, so at least is not a total failure
About what FetalTadpole says, indeed, reading awake now, those are bad balanced. But i think the blue case, won't make me draw 2 each, as they would be cast together, making my actual hand 5 in size (7-5=2, in case of no mulligan)? Dunno, i created to counter the "problem" of smaller hands.
Say you cast two of the card drawing spell. When the first resolves, you draw 2, because you have 5 cards in hand. When the second resolves, you draw 0, because now you have seven cards in hand. It checks on resolution how many cards are in your hand.
About what FetalTadpole says, indeed, reading awake now, those are bad balanced. But i think the blue case, won't make me draw 2 each, as they would be cast together, making my actual hand 5 in size (7-5=2, in case of no mulligan)? Dunno, i created to counter the "problem" of smaller hands.
Say you cast two of the card drawing spell. When the first resolves, you draw 2, because you have 5 cards in hand. When the second resolves, you draw 0, because now you have seven cards in hand. It checks on resolution how many cards are in your hand.
Yeah, I'd forgotten about that interaction of, if you cast the card, it isn't in your hand and so your hand-size is automatically reduced. That make's the free cast versions even more broken by filling your deck with a bunch of these and popping off 2-3 out of an opener of 7.
Not only that, having a deck full of these cards rewards you for mulliganing aggressively into them. Mull to 3 and get a Mind Bogging, Hungry Frenzy, and Unlimited Power? Opponent takes 10, you get 8 goblins, and you draw back up to 7 before your opponent even gets to move to their main phase. If they don't have a way to deal with it in 2 turns they lose.
Indeed, its ludicrous. The only idea of those above, is like what rowanalpha said: Increasing effect by the number of mulligans done. As well as "only one free" at the beginning, but its not really much Mulligan Matter, but "Game Matter", so the growing effect, i concur, is the best.
So, a least about balancing "Jackpot", one per game can be the correct choice. Together, only one free, it only becomes relevant if you accept the risk of beginning with a smaller hand, betting that you will find this Jackpot at a reasonable point, or you will have a small and possible not much good hand.
With this newbie idea, putting some effort (if i ever do, after all, anyone who likes it, be my guest to have it and polish it at your discretion) might not be so much unplayable... but still, looks more like a "Test Card" mechanic, not much fun to be a Un-type.
The idea is pretty cool. The blue one and white one could stay as is but like mentioned above this it wouldn't be fun to go up against a god draw. They could be tweaked to fix that where yes they have cool abilities but aren't just absolutely broken if you get really lucky.
Red 1RR
Instant
Jackpot (If this is in your opening hand you may cast it without paying it's Mana cost at the start of the first turn.)
If you have 5 or less cards in your hand create 2 1/1 goblin creature tokens.
Doing it this way would limit it in power level
Black 1BB
Instant
Jackpot (If this is in your opening hand you may cast it without paying it's Mana cost at the start of the first turn.)
If you have 4 or less cards in your hand you may search your library for a card, shuffle, then put the chosen card on top of your deck.
Green 3G
Instant
Jackpot (If this is in your opening hand you may cast it without paying it's Mana cost at the start of the first turn.)
If you have 4 or less cards in your hand you search your library for up to two basic land cards and put them on the battlefield under your control.
The limiting cards in hand also is present in actual casting of the cards. This makes you actually want to play less than just going 4 of each in every deck. Because if you do that and don't get really lucky then you could have a few cards in hand that literally have no effect. You would actually be encouraged to play just a few and keep them in appropriate decks.
I would still change the blue one to something like this
Blue 1UU
Instant
Jackpot (If this is in your opening hand you may cast it without paying it's Mana cost at the start of the first turn.)
If you have 4 or less cards in your hand draw 2 cards.
I don't have any practice with card creation or mechanics or proper balance, so if someone can help, or if want to improve and use this idea, be my guest.
I was half-sleeping and thought that i never seen any mechanic or ability that cares about mulligan itself to operate. But because may be too much restricting, i loosened a bit, and make a "synergetic" keyword (Leyline mechanic) + non-keyword (Hellbent-esque) so you guys n gals have this:
Proof of Faith 3WW
Instant
Jackpot (If ~ is in your opening hand, you may cast it without paying its mana cost.)
You gain X life, where X is 10 minus the number of cards in your hand.
Mind Bogging 3UU
Instant
Jackpot (If ~ is in your opening hand, you may cast it without paying its mana cost.)
Draw X cards, where X is 7 minus the number of cards in your hand.
Unlimited Power 3BB
Instant
Jackpot (If ~ is in your opening hand, you may cast it without paying its mana cost.)
Deals X damage to target player, where X is 10 minus the number of cards in your hand.
Hungry Frenzy 3RR
Instant
Jackpot (If ~ is in your opening hand, you may cast it without paying its mana cost.)
Create X 1/1 red Goblin creature tokens, where X is 8 minus the number of cards in your hand.
Fatty Pants 3GG
Instant
Jackpot (If ~ is in your opening hand, you may cast it without paying its mana cost.)
Create a X/X green beast creature token, where X is 8 minus the number of cards in your hand.
If is weak, just pumps the X, if broken, might put something like a pre-static (un-Relentless Rats) and/or post-conditional:
Jackpot (A deck can have only one card named ~. If ~ is in your opening hand, you may cast it without paying its mana cost. If you do, exile it.)
So the idea is:
1 - You get something if in your opening hand even if with the full 7 (6 after casting it: 3 life, draw 1, deal 3, 2 1/1, 1 2/2).
2 - Instant speed to respond to an opponent action.
3 - Better effect the smaller your hand.
1 + 3 is what simulates the "game-changer" when does mulligan quite a number, and start the game strong (sorry the roundabout i'm sleepy).
As for your original idea. There is a single card that interacts with mulligans. Serum Powder. Its not a particularly deep well of designs but you could probably find something to do here.
I'm guessing you are trying to encourage mulliganing. A easier to balance execution would be a cheap spell that scales with the number of mulligans taken, so that you still have to pay mana and therefore you cannot effectively put all 5 in the save deck.
Something like,
Mulligan guy 1G
Creature
Mulligan Guy enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter for each mulligan you took this game.
1/2
About what FetalTadpole says, indeed, reading awake now, those are bad balanced. But i think the blue case, won't make me draw 2 each, as they would be cast together, making my actual hand 5 in size (7-5=2, in case of no mulligan)? Dunno, i created to counter the "problem" of smaller hands.
But as user_938036 says, its a better way about limiting the free ones, and not the copies themselves, and rowanalpha make a mulligan counting kind, which maybe i thought was a bad idea for being less flavorful (Not that Jackpot will have any use outside the beginning...).
I think, then, a Mulligan Matter indeed should be about its own counting. Yelp, never made a mechanic before, so at least is not a total failure
Say you cast two of the card drawing spell. When the first resolves, you draw 2, because you have 5 cards in hand. When the second resolves, you draw 0, because now you have seven cards in hand. It checks on resolution how many cards are in your hand.
Yeah, I'd forgotten about that interaction of, if you cast the card, it isn't in your hand and so your hand-size is automatically reduced. That make's the free cast versions even more broken by filling your deck with a bunch of these and popping off 2-3 out of an opener of 7.
So, a least about balancing "Jackpot", one per game can be the correct choice. Together, only one free, it only becomes relevant if you accept the risk of beginning with a smaller hand, betting that you will find this Jackpot at a reasonable point, or you will have a small and possible not much good hand.
With this newbie idea, putting some effort (if i ever do, after all, anyone who likes it, be my guest to have it and polish it at your discretion) might not be so much unplayable... but still, looks more like a "Test Card" mechanic, not much fun to be a Un-type.
Red 1RR
Instant
Jackpot (If this is in your opening hand you may cast it without paying it's Mana cost at the start of the first turn.)
If you have 5 or less cards in your hand create 2 1/1 goblin creature tokens.
Doing it this way would limit it in power level
Black 1BB
Instant
Jackpot (If this is in your opening hand you may cast it without paying it's Mana cost at the start of the first turn.)
If you have 4 or less cards in your hand you may search your library for a card, shuffle, then put the chosen card on top of your deck.
Green 3G
Instant
Jackpot (If this is in your opening hand you may cast it without paying it's Mana cost at the start of the first turn.)
If you have 4 or less cards in your hand you search your library for up to two basic land cards and put them on the battlefield under your control.
The limiting cards in hand also is present in actual casting of the cards. This makes you actually want to play less than just going 4 of each in every deck. Because if you do that and don't get really lucky then you could have a few cards in hand that literally have no effect. You would actually be encouraged to play just a few and keep them in appropriate decks.
I would still change the blue one to something like this
Blue 1UU
Instant
Jackpot (If this is in your opening hand you may cast it without paying it's Mana cost at the start of the first turn.)
If you have 4 or less cards in your hand draw 2 cards.