MTG Salvation

.... huh? Fight a creature YOU control???

Aside from something like Garruk, the Veil-Cursed who can churn out deathpokers, this looks uber strange to me....

Rings of Brighthearth is once again sorely needed.

Also is this is very first time Wizards has used "different converted mana cost matters" theme? Sure, this card is a mythic, but I wonder.

Ah, and the Gateway + Dawnglow Infusion or any other such cards = insanity

It's interesting that its own ability (half-Azusa) helps itself ascend, like the other card in the set (that red token maker, what's the name again?)

.... No one's making Grim Patron jokes? Ok.

I wonder what kind of deck wants that dino.

Now we just need Blood Star to complete the set

Slightly worse than Blood Moon, agreed, although at least the cantrip helps.

Hmmm.... I guess this works. 2/3 for 5 is a bit too low though, compared to Fallen Angel. 4 mana should be ok, even if the enchantment-sacrifice effect can be deadly in certain circumstances.


Vital Equalizer 3
Artifact (R)
At the beginning of your upkeep, each player who has more life than another player loses 3 life. Then each player who doesn't lose life this way gains 3 life.
"I don't think it fair for you to stand so high and mighty like that."

What this means is that anyone who's not lagging behind in life total will lose life, and those lagging behind will gain life. The only way to not lose life in this case is to have everyone having exactly the same life total, in which case everyone gains. Low cost for such major effect is mostly to compensate the fact that it hurts you if you're ahead. Comments?

Creating a fresh immersive culture from scratch is an incredibly difficult task, moreso if said manufactured culture is only going to be in the spotlight for a few months at a time, so when I said Wizards should continue taking inspirations from real-world cultures to make their worlds, I'm saying this less because I think that's a good idea and more because it's next to impossible to do otherwise.

Now, I know there are some franchises out there that somehow manage to create fresh cultures not too similar to existing real-world cultures, but usually that's because said franchise focus on their own cultures instead of constantly creating new ones, or they made said culture when its components weren't so well-known, etc.

So yeah, go ahead, Wizards. Bring us Australian-aboriginal, Polynesian, Inuits, whatever other cultures you can think of as long as you can do it well enough.

Well, considering on what happened with the Hour of Devastation artbook blurbs, I guess the spoilers mentioned in this Rivals of Ixalan artbook should be taken with a grain of salt (due to non-verbatim-ness).

Still... The snapback of Jace back to being himself kinds of annoys me, though at least the idea of Vraska asking Jace to have her memory wiped hopefully only means that she wants to lose ALL her memories of him, including their animosity. Of course, given that Ral knows about Jace and Vraska's scuffle, that kind of memory wipe would immediately set off some alarms and he may inform Bolas that Jace might be involved even if Bolas didn't know from the start that Jace was in Ixalan.

And since this is another story where Bolas gets his toys with no fuss, again, I again hope we'll be seeing less of him in the future; He has won way big time already, there's no way anyone ever can make a halfway decent story culminating in a believable defeat for him. (as in, a story of his defeat unfortunately will likely be a deus ex machina)

1 to cast or 1 less to cast? If you forgot that one word, this card is almost quite as powerful as Omniscience despite being a creature, otherwise, feels a tad too expensive.


Weird card.

Herald of Conformity 5WWB
Creature - Angel (M)
Flying
As Herald of Conformity enters the battlefield, choose another player.
The chosen player's life total is always equal to your life total. (That player's life total cannot change unless your life total changes)
At the beginning of your end step, you may return Herald of Conformity to its owner's hand.
5/3

Quite a few potential abuse here: Drain yourself dry then cast this choosing a healthy player, or in 1v1 game deliberately summon this to put your opponent on ransom (because they cannot win the game by killing you, though at the same time you can't hurt them either). The self-bounce clause is to actually allow you to deal a killing blow once you're ready, and the EOT trigger is so that you can't bounce this on your upkeep and then alpha strike with impunity. Comments?

Delegitimize seems fine for a 4-mana unconditional counterspell. Salvage is a decent ability, too. So no issue.


Next

Chronicler of the Ur-Dragon 3BGW
Legendary Creature - Dragon Avatar (M)
Flying
Whenever another dragon creature you control dies, put three +1/+1 counters on Chronicler of the Ur Dragon.
When Chronicler of the Ur-Dragon dies, return any number of other target Dragon creature cards with total power equal to or less than Chronicler of the Ur-Dragon's power in your graveyard to the battlefield. Then shuffle Chronicler of the Ur-Dragon into your library.
6/6

Comments?

Hummm, interesting. The blue feels odd, but otherwise I think this could work.


Next

Plague of Envy 3BB
Enchantment (R)
At the beginning of your upkeep, each opponent who has more life than you loses 1 life, each opponent who has more cards in hand than you discards a card, and each opponent who controls more nonland permanents than you sacrifices a nonland permanent.
"I believe in fairness of all things. Even if I must enforce it myself."

Not sure if 5 mana is the right cost for it. Not as reliable as Undercity Plague in terms of actually hitting players, but at the same time doesn't require combat damage commitment to fire every turn...

Pretty strong. A bit of a trade-off of making your opponent's most dangerous creature indestructible, but the effect is Cruel Reality, so taking that into account, maybe it should cost 4?


A Un card.

Enforcer Of Coats 3R
Creature - Human (R)
Whenever an opponent taps a land for mana, if the mana doesn't share a color with the top that player is wearing, Enforcer Of Coats deals 2 damage to that player. (Example of tops are shirts, T-shirts, jackets, and tank top)
"I thought you are a blue player?!?"
2/2

Originally wanted to make this symmetrical like Manabarbs, but since the effect tend to backfire on you (forcing you to wear a red shirt, for example), I decided to make it one-sided. Especially because this card probably won't work well against some colors, such as white and black (and who wears green shirt, anyway?). Comments?

Might work. The cost is relateable to Mindslaver, and the double-color requirement does help. The drawback should work given that there's that Theros card that flat-out mind-control a player and it was at... 9 mana, I think? I think should be ok.


Next

Allocator of Space 1U
Creature - Human Advisor (U)
T: Put target creature on top of its owner's library if its controller controls four or more other creatures.
"I'm sorry, but this place is already fully occupied."
1/2

So, yeah, in a way your opponent can sac some creatures in response to avoid having his big guy bounced back to library. Comments?

Sooo..... we acticate an ability or cast an instant, then everyone gets to join in the fun? Um... Okay, wait, first thing first, I prefer the second version; not many people understands fast effects, much less if it's random. Anyway, back to the point... I think this card might feel a tad too pricey for something that can backfire on you, but then again, it's half-X for your benefit, so maybe it really does need that double blue.


Massive burn?

Solarblaze Runner 1R
Creature - Elemental (U)
Haste
T: Solarblaze Runner deals 5 damage to target player who has more life than his or her starting life total.
The sun burns brighter for those who live better.
1/1

So at best, this guy deals 4 damage (5 damage to someone with 21 life/41 life depending on format), after which it's just a 1/1 with haste. Comments?


EDIT:

Solarblaze Runner 1R
Creature - Elemental (U)
Haste
T: Solarblaze Runner deals 6 damage to target player who has more life than his or her starting life total.
The sun burns brighter for those who live better.
2/1

Basically I use this name as my handle for a Magic The Gathering-themed website, that's all.