MTG Salvation

I don't think you should be too concerned with the two spell limit.

This random effect is kind of interesting in that each token is similarly powerful, meaning the decks that want this don't have to worry much about power discrepancy. That said, I think the base cost (4 mana) is too high for this effect.

Random land drops is a massive part of the game's balance beyond color screw. It ensures that a 7 drop is much more risky to play and that low count land decks such as red aggro easier run out of fuel.

Quote from ilovesaprolings »

We have the enemy temples from m20 and i'm sure we'll get ally temples with Theros #2, we still have the shocklands in standard, so i don't why Eldraine with no duals is such a huge scandal

Exactly. Current mana base is massively good. I'm actually relieved there's no rare land cycle now.

I severely dislike this card's power level. There are already too many too good planeswalkers in Standard for my taste.

I have to ask, plays anything else right now in what exactly? I see it very rarely in Standard, and it's definitely not prevalent in Commander. Lightning Strike is much more common.

Lava Coil isn't even a problem in singleplayer. Players should be able to remove threats.

Isn't there any graveyard hate available in Duels?

Also, exile removal should help a bit.

Also I'm a little confused why Lava Coil is a problem? Yes, it's a good removal spell, but it's not overpowered, it's quite fair. In general, fair answers are not the thing to restrict in order to make a format good. In the sets listed, the only other red cards that can exile (a reasonably important ability when there are several graveyard strategies present) are Magma Spray, Puncturing Blow and Scorchmark. In a slow format, Magma Spray and Scorchmark are really bad, and Puncturing Blow is a slow, expensive removal spell; in general, you want your format's answers to be cheaper than its threats. This is actually one of the larger problems of the sets of the Bolas Arc, removal was quite underpowered for a lot of it, and Wizards admitted it wasn't good design.

I understand that you want variance in deckbuilding, but I'm not sure taking out general tools because they're better than other cards is the solution. You're already at a minimum deck size of 80 cards, the red player has to add other cards to fill the removal quota anyways, Lava Coil is a single target spell in a multiplayer format (and is therefore overshadowed by mass removal by a long shot), and with the larger minimum deck size red already has problems with drawing its cards that would be answering graveyard decks. And red's already general weak in multiplayer, and you're talking about structuring the rules in such a way that you can up the access to high value cards such as Dreadhorde Invasion at the cost of restricting a general purpose removal spell! Think of how the two interact; Lava Coil would remove the Amass token only once, and only if it's a 4/4 or less, and then the opponent will get their zombie back the very next turn. In a multiplayer format, this is crucially more powerful for the amass player.

What kind of decklists are you facing? What is available for your card pool?

Maybe just remove group 2, making it restricted like Vintage? Or organize restrictions according to rarity?

So I don't really have suggestions for the particular card counts, but I have a few basic issues with the format. I'll list out some thoughts. But even before that I think the format sounds really epic and could be really cool.

Thought 1) It's true that the singleton element should never be changed in Commander, but I believe the reason it's like that is different than preventing combos per se. Preventing combos was just a good sideeffect that has improved the health of the format significantly over how bad it could be. Initially it was probably intended to increase variance as much as possible, since so much deckbuilding was about optimization; remember that what makes this format particularly interesting isn't its singleton but its usage of commanders, its vast health stockpiles slowing the game down, and so on, founded back in Legends where combos just weren't as much as a thing. But this isn't really relevant for you, I just wanted to bring it up.

Thought 2) The deck construction rules are already quite complicated, infact moreso than Commander; figuring out multicard tracking in addition to that adds a lot of complexity to the deckbuilding that I'm not sure is benefitial for the format's spread. However as a format just between you and friends, it sounds really amazing; and in that case I'd just let people do 4-ofs, and then you can agree on bans communally. Especially with the restrictions you've noted, everything should be fine. What really pushes Commmander to combo is solely the starting life, by the way, and you seemingly plan to increase it by 5 (if 45 total). I'm not sure how the cumulative addition+loss of "commander" permanents translates into making it more or less combo friendly.

Create a 5/6 blue djinn creature token with flying.

- This is Mahamoti Djinn, a creature for 6 mana. Today quite underpowered and would probably cost 5, so let's go with that. It's probably fine as one of the effects, but I'd set it as a 4/4 due to its mirale cost ceiling efficiency - already massively powerful, mind you - and lower the normal cost to 7

Shuffle your hand and library into your hand and draw 4 cards.

- Tidings costs 5, but without the shuffle I'd always choose this. Even with the shuffle, I'd probably always pick this. Shuffle seems to be there for the Miracle cost. I'd have it draw three straight.

Add a card you own from outside of the game to your hand.

- Haven't been strictly printed and it's a monoblack effect.

Return target artifact card from your graveyard to the battlefield.

- This is a white ability today.

"Kicked" is also a property similar to this, but I'm unsure whether it remains kicked permanently.

Quote from italofoca »

Even if stick to the old pie phylosophy that certain colors cant deal with certain permanents, it never made sense that 3 colors dealt with artifacts but only two dealt with enchantments. Or that black was the only color who had two "critical" weakness (cant deal with Artifacts AND enchantments).

Flavor-wise, it can be imagined as a variation of black's curse magic. It makes sense that the mage who can inflict curses can also take charms away.

Artifacts used to be primarily colorless and enchantments colored, meaning that each artifact could be playd in quintuple the number of colors as enchantments. As such it makes sense to me that more colors were able to remove artifacts.