To give you an example of how bad my problem is, I read on Wikipedia about how hard and difficult it is for humanity to get the idea for an alphabet (like the Latin alphabet we use). This got me to think, well if it is so hard to create an alphabet, I wonder if any other intelligent life in the universe has created an alphabet that could easily represent different languages. Which led to the idea that once humanity makes contact with aliens, humans become the default linguists and diplomats of the universe since they introduce the first trans-language alphabet to the universe. And then by extension English becomes the universal language of the universe. And basically this is just the tip of the iceberg of my entire idea that was sparked by that one line that I read on Wikipedia, because then I got thinking that humans are unusually well programmed for language learning, retention, and making a wide-range of sounds and inclinations, meaning there is a strong possibility that we would be able to learn and speak most alien sound-based languages in some form or another. Another interesting fact is that the more languages one learns the easier it is to learn and retain another language.
But the problem is that I get one idea, get 10-20 pages into it and then find another idea that drags me in the opposite direction. Well that and it seems most of my ideas revolve around vampires (which is no surprise to anybody that knows me).
The best I ever did was I got about 100 pages into a finishing writing the novel before I got dragged into a different direction by another spark. Though it is so far along that I will come back to it eventually. Plus it is number two on my top 3 novel ideas, so I got motivation to finish it.
Right now I am like 50 pages into the novel I am writing, and I have committed myself to finishing it through thick and thin, no matter what else may ignite my spark.
Hmm... I wrote a lot for just a response.
Chaotic Distortion
Instant
Counter target spell, deal 3 damage to the countered spell's controller.
The Izzet Master thought his spell failed, little did he know that it would appear on a different plane with explosive results.
Warrior of the Rift
Creature - Human Warrior 2/2
When Warrior of the Rift comes into play it deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
He looked up, into the rift to see the entirty of Ravnica only to look down and see the plane of Domnaria.
Contracted Spirit
Creature - Spirit 3/3
Flying
Sacrifice Contracted Spirit: Lose 2 life and draw 2 cards or Gain 4 Life.
His contract was for eternal life, but once through the rift he quickly found that thier are more important things than eternity.
Hope you like and hopefully if they are put in they will be as cool as these.
~Keep *** Alive '07
Keep *** Alive '07
Here is what I played at the FNM
4 Terramorphic Expanse
11 Snow-Covered Island
5 Snow-Covered Mountain
3 Snow-Covered Forest
4 Dreamscape Artist
4 Reckless Wurm
4 Mystic Snake
2 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
2 Intet, the Dreamer
4 Think Twice
4 Skred
3 Remand
2 Char
2 Psionic Blast
2 Demonfire
4 Blood Moon
4 Rough // Tumble
4 Giant Solifuge
3 Life from the Loam
Now after testing it and having more than 30 minuets to build it here is the version I am currently running.
4 Terramorphic Expanse
11 Snow-Covered Island
6 Snow-Covered Mountain
2 Snow-Covered Forest
4 Dreamscape Artist
4 Reckless Wurm
4 Mystic Snake
2 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
3 Think Twice
4 Skred
4 Remand
4 Electrolyze
4 Demonfire
4 Blood Moon
4 Rough // Tumble
4 Giant Solifuge
3 Life from the Loam
The deck is pretty simple to play as you either play the counter/burn stategy slowly amassing some creatures here and there, such as mystic snake, a true all-star. Or you can use the preferred strategy of getting a turn two Artist, which you can activate turn 3, in response to an opponents spell, and then still have two lands untaped to counter the spell with. You keep harrowing whenever you can hopefully discarding a madness reckless wurm or think twice until you have gotten pretty much all your land out of your deck, so that you have plenty of mana for your counterspells, draw a spell everyturn, instead of a redundant land, or have a huge demonfire(My biggest so far was for 14.)
This deck, while can play like a true counter-burn deck, is actually more reminiscent to the old Ghost Dad decks of hay day in that it is very much a tempo orinted deck for several reasons.
1. With Dreamscape Artist you can quickly excellerate mana with it's effect, while getting all of the lands out of your deck so that you only draw spells.
2. There are a bunch of cantrips, madness reckless wurms, 2 for 1's, ex.) Mystic Snake and Electrolyze, and flashbackable think twice, which allow you to draw a huge amount of your deck very quickly, with or without a dreamscape artist.
3. When you win, you win, as you rarely ever fall behind on tempo once you have gained it.
Some quick card choices
Intet, the Dreamer: While I initially thought he would be good, he always seems to underwhelm me whenever I got him into play as his ability, while relavant, felt either like a win-more or a mana sink. So I instead replaced him with two more demonfires.
Mystic Snake: Since I took out Intet it seems sort of silly to keep the Mystic Snakes in, except that this card is probably the best card in the deck other than Dreamscape Artist and about on the same level as demonfire. Even though this is the only maindeck green card now, it is good enough to run without green support, and even though it probably doesn't look like it, my mana base is actually very stable.
Life from the Loam: The other reason to stay in green as it has double synergy of helping me against LD and has synergy with Dreamscape Artist, who is also very good against LD. It also has the distinction of being very good against mono black rack.
Rough // Tumble: Personal preference over pyroclasm and has proven to be better in testing than pyroclasm.
General Matchup info: This deck doesn't have any really good or bad matches pre-sideboarding, though after sideboarding the deck does become a lot more powerful against either control or aggro, especially when I sideboard in Blood Moon for pretty much all non-basic land decks.
Well I hope you all like it, and I highly recommend playing it if you are looking for fun and new deck to play that doesn't have a manabase that costs an arm and a leg.
I played my homebrew URg Skittles Artist, which used Dreamscape Artist to fix mana, get lands out of library so you only draw spells, and to play madness Reckless Wurm and huge Demonfire.
My Record was 3-1 and put me in 4th.
Round 1: Dralnu de Louve 2-1
Game one was a long drawn out affair with the game going long before he overwhelmed me with Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir and Dralnu, Lich Lord. Game two was won off the back of a resolved Blood Moon. Game three was another drawn out game with me winning with an uncounterable Demonfire for 10.
Round 2: Mono Green Aggro 1-2
Game One was a long game with me in control either burning or contering his creatures before I won with a giant Demonfire. Game two was quick and messy with him overwhelming me. Game three was another long game where I had countered all of his cards except one Scaryb Ranger, but unfortuently I couldn't draw any of my cards that would of killed it and I died because of it the turn before I would of won.
Round 3: RWU CounterLand 2-1
Game one was short with me mullagining to four on the play with one land in hand. Game two was a short brutal affair as he had a great hand with three flagstones of trokair, two bust // boom, a Steam Vents, and a rune snag. Unfortuently for him I mana leak his first boom // bust, and then play blood moon, which completely destroys his mana base, leading for an easy win. Game three was mostly me ramping my mana with Dreamscape Artist, while he was trading two counters for a lot of my game winning spells like Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir and Blood Moon, before I just overwhelmed in wurm attacks and card advantage.
Round 4: GR Goodstuff 2-0
Game one and two were pretty much the same with him playing a lot of mana excel and lands and me not really sure what to expect, as I see no real threat either game, just play out a few threats and win. Afterwards he shows me his deck which contain a lot of powerful cards that he just never drew, such as Akroma, Angel of Fury.
Overall I was very pleased with my deck and the new decks I saw, and pretty confidant I could of gone 4-0 with it if I made some small adjustments. Plus it was a blast to play.
Remeber all cards not called power 9(God) were created equal, some cards(Humans) just decided to work together better under the influance of a magic player(Satan). See using this philosphy no cards are overpowered.
Heres to you:
BB Wrathof God (Death to Damnation in coresets)
BB Cloudpost (To replace UrzaTron)
BB Fetchlands (and to the speculated enemy fetchlands in FS)
Also I support the idea of the finding players willing to trade a certain card idea as that would make trading easier faster and cheaper. Finally I really have never had a problem with the rules engine.
1. They had the article all about purple to wet our pallet.
2. They said a major rule would get broken with it. Though some speculate the major rule might be the addition of a fourth expansion in the block.
1. Purple deals with the RFG.
2. Purple has efficient creatures that instead of being efficiently big like green are efficient because they have lots of abilities. It is the second creature color after green.
3. Purple supports artifacts and hates enchantments. For example see below.
Mystic Scribe 2
Creature - Veldalken Advisor 2/2
When Mystic Scribe comes into play destroy target enchantment.
Enlightened Engineer 2
Creature - Human Artificer 1/1
Whenever an artifact comes into play you may draw a card.
Whenever an artifact goes to the graveyard from play you may pay
For new things how about these.
4. Purple should probably be the second counterspell color since that spot is kind of open, but should have them be not as good as blue's. Time + Space = Counterspells
Rift Break 2
Instant
Counter target spell unless it's controller pays 3. If the spell is countered this way remove it from the game.
5. Purple could also be the second burn color. As you never know what sort of energy is going to come out of those portals.
AEther Blast 1
Instant
Deal 3 damage to target creature or player and 1 damage to you.
6. If it does have 4 and 5 than we can then have cool spells like this then.
Counterfire
Instant
Counter target spell unless it's controller pays 2. If the spell is countered this way deal 2 damage to it's controller.
7. Purple cannot deal with lands as they cannot make rifts big enough.
8. Purple can enhance, but have a hard time destroying the artifacts they love so they do it sparingly.
9. Purple can have some mass creature removal, but it is like green in that it is specific and not the most efficient.
Hope this helps on purple's focuses issue.
First off after taking into account what mamelon said I have to agree with mamelon about the spiritual aspect of purple and it's interest in it's self, though I am going to modify it as I still think that purple wants social progress. Therefore I am going to say that purple is the color of spirituality and change, it sees the world as a hostile place and that only through bettering themselves may they change and better society as a whole.
For thier creature types I am seeing Monks, Spiritualists, Illusions, Wizards, Advisors, Spirits, Wierds, and Humors as thier big, flashy creatures which are like elementals, but instead of coming from nature they are magically made. Also Veldalkens would be a perfect fit as thier tribal race as blue would then get merfolks back and everyone would be happy.
Like green, purple is a creature color, but unlike green who has big efficient creatures that usually don't have a lot of abilities, purple is going to have small and mid-sized creatures that are effecient, but also have a lot of abilities. Also since green likes enchantments and hates artifacts, purple likes artifacts and hates enchantments.
Ethereal (When this would be destroyed or dealt damage by a non-Ethereal source, instead it phases out.)
Faint Attack (You may have this creature deal its combat damage to defending player as though it weren't blocked.)
Flash (You may play this card anytime you could play an instant.)
Hide ( As long as this creature is untapped, it can't be the target of spells or abilities. )
Leechstrike X (Whenever this creature blocks or becomes blocked by a creature, that creature gets -0/-X and this creature gets +0/+X until the end of turn.)
Overlook (when this card becomes the target of an artifact's ability, sacrifice it.)
Phasing (Don't know the exact rules text on phasing.)
Runecraft X (When this creature comes into play, put X rune counters on this creature.)
Scare (Whenever this creature blocks or becomes blocked by a creature, remove that creature from combat, if it's power is less than this creature's power.)
Shadow (Creatures with shadow can only block or be blocked by creatures with shadow.)
Subconcious - As long as an creature type card you own is revealed and outside of play, CARDNAME has stated ability.
Suspend X - Y(Rather than play this card from your hand, pay Y and remove it from the game with X time counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter. When the last is removed, play it without paying its mana cost.)
Warp (At the end of your turn remove this creature from the game. At the beginning of your upkeep return it to play under your control. It has haste)
1. White dabbles in RFG about as much as Green dabbles in Flying.
2. Colors often overlap in what they can do, such as both Green and Black both dabble in the graveyard, but we still think of the graveyard color is black.
3. The wish cycle and Pull from Eternity proved that they are willing to mess with the RFG.
Also on the flavor aspect of purple RFG seems perfect because most people are leaning towards it being the color of Time and Space. Personally I think of the RFG as a sort of alternate dimension where all sorts of wierd stuff can come from.
For the purple basic land I would have to go with Cave for two reasons.
1. Caves are mysterous and hidden, because you never know where to go and how far it goes, seems pretty purple.
2. Rift, City, and AEther while they would be neat they break up the whole natural landform thing. I mean how often in Geography does one talk about Temporal Rifts or Natural Cities to go along side Mountains, Islands, Forests, Swamps, and Plains.
For purples flavor I would have to go for mysterous and apethetic towards others.
What it likes: Progress, Inginuity, Mysteries, Change
What it hates: Nature, Instinct
It is like blue in that it seeks knowledge, but instead seeks knowledge not to just know it but to apply it and progress the world to a better state(At least in thier eyes). Verdict: Friend
It is like black in that it doesn't mind doing whatever it takes to get the job done, but instead does it for society instead of for themselves. Verdict: Friend
It is like white in that it cares for the whole of society, but hates white idea that no change and balance is what is best for it. Verdict: Neutral
It is like red in that it sees the world as a place ever changing and that one should not be afraid to faciltate that change, but they can't stand red's reckless attitude and lack of thinking things through. Verdict: Neutral
P.S. Purple loves red's poetry and storytelling though
It can't stand green and it's attitude of letting nature rule and facilitate all, it also can't stand how it let's instinct guide them instead of thought. Verdict: Enemy
Also I attached what I think a purple card would look like and what a purple mana symbol could look like.
Fleeting Illusion 1
Creature - Illusion 2/1
Flying, Warp(At the end of your turn remove Fleeting Illusion from the game. At the beginning of your upkeep return it to play under your control. It has haste) <-A Purple standard keyword like fear or haste
Prophetic Sphinx 3
Creature - Sphinx 3/3
Flying
When Prophetic Sphinx comes into play put a face up card that you own that is removed from the game into your hand.
Rift Illusion 3
Creature - Illusion */*
Rift Illusion's power and toughness are equal to the number of cards removed from the game.
Planeshift 2
Sorcery
Switch all graveyards and removed from play zones. Remove Planeshift from the game.
These are what I came up with so far, but I think that this is the best way to have it as it then has an identity still in conflict with green, allied with blue and black and really dives into virgin design space.