Eternal (When this card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, you may pay 1. If you do, put it on the bottom of your library.)
Or
Eternal (If this card would be put into your graveyard from anywhere, you may pay 1. If you do, it is revealed and put on the bottom of your library instead.)
Since you have to pay mana, the triggered ability is simpler since this could be happening at a time where stopping to pay for this could be complicated, such as the resolution or even casting of a spell.
The triggered ability though is vulnerable to abilities like Leyline of the Void, where as the replacement ability would still function. The triggered ability gives mill decks at another chance to be able to get rid of the card before it is put back. Whether that is good or bad I guess is up to you.
The triggered ability is also shorter. I think I will go with the first version as I don't want to completely hose milling strategies. (An earlier version was: When this card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, put it on the bottom of your library.)
Is "into your graveyard from anywhere" correct with the first version, or should it be "into a graveyard from anywhere"?
Also, should it be "the bottom of its owner's library"?
What colour(s) can/should this ability go into?
What colour(s) can/should this ability not go into?
This ability seems like it could definitely go in White (Mistveil Plains) or even be worked into just about any color (Tel-Jilad Stylus). It would feel wrong to me in Black or Red (Black isn't squeamish about death and would probably prefer to use the graveyard as a resource; Red simply doesn't plan that far ahead and isn't so "conservative"). Green would want it on living things, Blue would want it on abstract ideals, White would want it on just about everything. Maybe put it in Green, White, and Blue but "centered" in White; Green could have it on creatures, Blue could have it on instants and sorceries, White could have it on anything.
The standard template for cards like Darksteel Colossus and Dread seems to use "a graveyard ... its owner's library". I'm not really sure why though. Since they use the "from anywhere" wording then I think "your graveyard ... your library" should also work exactly the same. (Without "from anywhere" it would only work from the battlefield, and using "your graveyard" would only work if it was controlled by its owner.)
White and green obviously seem like the main colors, but the other colors could all get this in small amounts. Creatures seem like the easiest place to put this. Every color has at least one creature type that could work flavorwise. Any noncreature cards with this should probably be able to push towards a win condition (similar to cards with epic) since it would be possible to end up with just that card left in your library and repeating.
White: Angels, Spirits. Protective and group pump spells like Brave the Elements and Break of Day.
Green: Elementals, Plants, possibly Beasts or Wurms. Pump spells and Auras to make your creature bigger and harder to stop. Maybe land animation?
In either white or green, a spell that creates two or more tokens would be nice.
Black: Demons, Zombies, Spirits. Maybe something like Vicious Hunger or Zombify?
Red: Phoenixes, Dragons. Some kind of eternal flame flavored burn spell, maybe as a Blaze variant could be interesting?
Blue: Djinns, Elementals. A lot of various deck manipulation spells are possible. Would making a mill spell with this make the mill mirror match potentially drag out too long? Maybe a Mind Control variant?
In either blue or red, maybe a Wheel of Fortune or Windfall variant might work.
I'm not really sure why "a graveyard" is required either as I though cards could only be put their owner's graveyard... even if another player has control of it... and that cards could not be put into the hand or library of a player other than the card's owner...
Regardless, I would like to use the standard template, therefore:
Eternal (When this card is put into a graveyard from anywhere, you may pay 1. If you do, put it on the bottom of its owner's library.)
What do you think of this ability? Is it interesting? I could see it in all colours in small amounts. I originally saw white and blue as primary colours, but white and green makes a lot of sense: Wheel of Sun and Moon.
I also played with more powerful effects than "bottom of your library", including:
(When this card is put into a graveyard from anywhere, you may pay 1. If you do, shuffle it into its owner's library.)
(When this card is put into a graveyard from anywhere, you may pay 1. If you do, put it on top of its owner's library.)
(When this card is put into a graveyard from anywhere, you may pay 1. If you do, return it to its owner's hand at the beginning of the next end step.)
This is like buyback and the ultimate of Tamiyo, the Moon Sage and would probably require a higher cost, like 3.
Actually, Tamiyo's ultimate seems to indicate that the following wording would be okay:
Eternal (When this card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, you may pay 1. If you do, put it on the bottom of your library.)
Some card ideas:
Endless Denial1UU
Instant (Uncommon)
Counter target spell.
Eternal (When this card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, you may pay 1. If you do, put it on the bottom of your library.)
Perpetual Flame2R
Instant (Common)
Perpetual Flame deals 3 damage to target creature or player.
Eternal (When this card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, you may pay 1. If you do, put it on the bottom of your library.)
Runed Kodiak1G
Creature - Bear (Common)
Eternal (When this card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, you may pay 1. If you do, put it on the bottom of your library.)
2/2
A cycle of dual lands:
Underworld Caverns
Land (Rare)
Underworld Caverns enters the battlefield tapped. T: Add B or R to your mana pool.
Eternal (When this card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, you may pay 1. If you do, put it on the bottom of your library.)
Eternal (When this card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, you may pay 1. If you do, put it on the bottom of your library.)
Or
Eternal (If this card would be put into your graveyard from anywhere, you may pay 1. If you do, it is revealed and put on the bottom of your library instead.)
The triggered ability though is vulnerable to abilities like Leyline of the Void, where as the replacement ability would still function. The triggered ability gives mill decks at another chance to be able to get rid of the card before it is put back. Whether that is good or bad I guess is up to you.
The triggered ability is also shorter. I think I will go with the first version as I don't want to completely hose milling strategies. (An earlier version was: When this card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, put it on the bottom of your library.)
Is "into your graveyard from anywhere" correct with the first version, or should it be "into a graveyard from anywhere"?
Also, should it be "the bottom of its owner's library"?
What colour(s) can/should this ability go into?
What colour(s) can/should this ability not go into?
White and green obviously seem like the main colors, but the other colors could all get this in small amounts. Creatures seem like the easiest place to put this. Every color has at least one creature type that could work flavorwise. Any noncreature cards with this should probably be able to push towards a win condition (similar to cards with epic) since it would be possible to end up with just that card left in your library and repeating.
White: Angels, Spirits. Protective and group pump spells like Brave the Elements and Break of Day.
Green: Elementals, Plants, possibly Beasts or Wurms. Pump spells and Auras to make your creature bigger and harder to stop. Maybe land animation?
In either white or green, a spell that creates two or more tokens would be nice.
Black: Demons, Zombies, Spirits. Maybe something like Vicious Hunger or Zombify?
Red: Phoenixes, Dragons. Some kind of eternal flame flavored burn spell, maybe as a Blaze variant could be interesting?
Blue: Djinns, Elementals. A lot of various deck manipulation spells are possible. Would making a mill spell with this make the mill mirror match potentially drag out too long? Maybe a Mind Control variant?
In either blue or red, maybe a Wheel of Fortune or Windfall variant might work.
Regardless, I would like to use the standard template, therefore:
Eternal (When this card is put into a graveyard from anywhere, you may pay 1. If you do, put it on the bottom of its owner's library.)
What do you think of this ability? Is it interesting? I could see it in all colours in small amounts. I originally saw white and blue as primary colours, but white and green makes a lot of sense: Wheel of Sun and Moon.
I also played with more powerful effects than "bottom of your library", including:
(When this card is put into a graveyard from anywhere, you may pay 1. If you do, shuffle it into its owner's library.)
(When this card is put into a graveyard from anywhere, you may pay 1. If you do, put it on top of its owner's library.)
(When this card is put into a graveyard from anywhere, you may pay 1. If you do, return it to its owner's hand at the beginning of the next end step.)
This is like buyback and the ultimate of Tamiyo, the Moon Sage and would probably require a higher cost, like 3.
Actually, Tamiyo's ultimate seems to indicate that the following wording would be okay:
Eternal (When this card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, you may pay 1. If you do, put it on the bottom of your library.)
Some card ideas:
Endless Denial 1UU
Instant (Uncommon)
Counter target spell.
Eternal (When this card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, you may pay 1. If you do, put it on the bottom of your library.)
Perpetual Flame 2R
Instant (Common)
Perpetual Flame deals 3 damage to target creature or player.
Eternal (When this card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, you may pay 1. If you do, put it on the bottom of your library.)
A Blaze variant, as suggested, would be a lot like Red Sun's Zenith.
Runed Kodiak 1G
Creature - Bear (Common)
Eternal (When this card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, you may pay 1. If you do, put it on the bottom of your library.)
2/2
A cycle of dual lands:
Underworld Caverns
Land (Rare)
Underworld Caverns enters the battlefield tapped.
T: Add B or R to your mana pool.
Eternal (When this card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, you may pay 1. If you do, put it on the bottom of your library.)