I don't like LoTA for a few reasons. His (oddly worded) symmetrical activated ability is off; his mana cost is too splashable for the lord convention, and he's a 2/3 again defying convention.
Defying convention is fine, but there has to some substantive reason to do so other than just "because". Besides, zombie tokens would surely be in my core set, and having even a clunky graveyard answer is practical.
As for (U) vs (R), while I have no doubt some people will draft tribal, half of the creatures in a core set wouldn't have supported creature types for those 5 tribes. I've drafted core sets where you got a rare lord and got 2-3 commons to support it. I think we can kick things up a notch by including more utility elves, goblins, etc. Remember, both Onslaught and Lorywn ran more than 5 tribes. I think a 5-tribe-centric mtg set with slightly less tribal emphasis will help. If nothing else, (U) lords would be a bit hit with the casual crowd (then again, that's another reason to make some new, but classic lords).
AS for white's tribal... gonna go with soldiers here > humans. Humans tend to be in all 5 colors to some degree. Besides, it "defies" the convention by making it a "class" type rather than a traditional creature type. Kithkin, dwarves, birds, catfolk, and even griffins are alternatives. But I suspect we'll have lots of soldiers worthy of a core set worth tapping, and that's not true of any of those. Indeed, Kithkin Soldiers, Dwarf Soldiers, and Cat Soldiers are all on the table. White can have a truly diverse "soldier" tribal, which is pretty interesting.
Sideshow Wizard2U
Creature - Human Wizard (R) Imprint - When Sideshow Wizard enters the battlefield, you may choose a card you own from outside the game and exile it face down. (That card is imprinted on this creature.)
Whenever an opponent casts a spell, if it has the same name as the card imprinted on Sideshow Wizard, you may play the imprinted card without paying its mana cost. "Just do what everyone else does, they say. Everyone's a critic."
2/3
Demonicly Tutored2B
Creature - Human Wizard (R) Imprint - When ~ enters the battlefield, you may choose a card you own from outside the game and exile it face down. (That card is imprinted on this creature.)
When ~ dies, you may put the exiled card into your hand.
2/3
Hornrune Minotaur2R
Creature - Minotaur Shaman (R) Imprint - When ~ enters the battlefield, you may choose a sorcery or instant card you own from outside the game and exile it. (That card is imprinted on this creature.)
Whenever Hornrune Minotaur attacks and is not blocked, you may play a copy of an instant or sorcery card imprinted on it.
2/3
Freakshow Shaman2G
Creature - Centaur Shaman(R) Imprint - When ~ enters the battlefield, you may choose a creature card you own from outside the game and exile it. (That card is imprinted on this creature.) xx, t: Create a token that's a copy of a creature card imprinted on ~, where X equals that card's converted mana cost.
3/2
Master Smith2W
Creature - Human Artificer Soldier (R) Imprint - When ~ enters the battlefield, you may choose an equipment card you own from outside the game and exile it. (That card is imprinted on this creature.)
Sacrifice a land, x, t: Create a token that's a copy of an equipment card imprinted on ~, where X equals that card's converted mana cost.
3/2
Admittedly, with the possible exception of Goblin Chieftain, I think all of these could be improved, changed.
Reaper is probably the toughest nut to crack, as it's a bomb in limited, although a bit slow, and helps to hinder zombify strategies... yet in constructed, he's not much of a driving force as you'd almost never use his tap ability.
Archdurid can add a lot of mana, which in tribal elves might otherwise be useless... so that feels bad. Yet the card itself feels really on point.
Sovereign seems fair, yet bomby with even only 1 other merfolk.
That said, if you put enough efficient removal and/or lifegain in the set, you can smooth these things out, I think.
* It's still just bad domain, right? I can domain x 5 with only 3 lands out in Modern, and my spells don't need to cost 5 mana for me to get there. So I can go full domain on multiple spells a turn.
Okay, everything is bad domain, because domain was inherently overpowered for the exact reasons you stated. Tribal Flames would not be printed in a current era set as is, it would either cost 1-2 more and be a sorcery, or only hit creatures. Look at the domain cards printed in Alara block, none are as straight up powerful as Tribal Flames or Evasive Action, and the only old domain card that got reprinted was Worldly Counsel and Gaea's Might was a psuedo reprint
Domain wasn't overpowered until the Ravnica duals brought dual lands back.
Now it would be difficult to design for Domain unless (A) you design for easy access to duals, and (B) you have dual lands in the rare slot of the expansion.
I happen to think both are plausible. However, while I wouldn't necessarily reprint Tribal Flames, there are quite a few fair Domain cards that show us how to design them moving forward:
Might of Alara Worldly Counsel - Take note here, as the X isn't the "effect" of the card (IE, drawing a card), it's just making your draw better. This kind of use of the mechanic is where I think we'd want to develop the most. Matca Rioters - Creature types aside, this is an excellent, iconic card. Great in limited, challenging boarderline playable in constructed. Well costed. Tromp the Domains - Still a great example; someone can build a deck around this and when it works, it works. Is this the go-to overrun variant? Of course not, but it provides an option that designers need to consider. That's probably something no one has ever said about a Converge card. Exploding Borders - The self-synergy here is astoundingly fun. You can't do this kind of card often, but I could see an uncommon gold cycle, or a vertical green cycle.
Gatherer returns 31 Domain cards. I dare say that most are printable today (Tribal Flames, Collective Restraint, Collective Restraint, and the landwalker are too good to print willy nilly), and I dare say over half of the remaining cards are well designed by even my standards, which I like to think are high, and ost of the rest are within 1-2 mana or slight tweaking of being well designed.
There's still a lot of design space with Domain. I realize that people here tend not to like throwing reprints in their sets, but for many reasons I think this is a mistake. If you want to do a 5 color set... Domain's a great way to do this, as Domain is inherently more forgiving in limited than in constructed, and thus a good constructed card can be mediocre in limited and mediocre constructed card be good in limited (your limited bombs, tier 2 tribal cards, etc.). So pick some dual lands for your rare slots, or design your own, and then get Domaining!
I genuinely don't like vigilance on green creatures. I know WOTC thinks it's vigilance's 2nd color, but quite franky blue needs all the help it can get (No, I don't buy the fact that flying is UW... come on, have you seen magic?).
I don't like Ranger as as subtype.
As for the death trigger... can't it get that for free w/o paying the mana? Especially if you're going to ask me to only reveal the top 4.
It should probably be this: Sentinel Ranger3G
Creature - Treefolk Shaman (U)
Sacrifice ~: Reveal the top card of your library until you reveal a basic land. Put that land onto the battlefield tapped. Put the other revealed cards on the bottom of your library in a random order.
2/4
(My DCC entry, looking for feedback...) Sideshow Wizard2U
Creature - Human Wizard (U) Imprint - When Sideshow Wizard enters the battlefield, you may choose a card you own from outside the game and exile it face down. (That card is imprinted on this creature.)
Whenever an opponent casts a spell, if it has the same name as the card imprinted on Sideshow Wizard, you may play the imprinted card without paying its mana cost. "Just do what everyone else does, they say. Everyone's a critic."
2/3
Sideshow Wizard2U
Creature - Human Wizard (R) Imprint - When Sideshow Wizard enters the battlefield, you may choose a card you own from outside the game and exile it face down. (That card is imprinted on this creature.)
Whenever an opponent casts a spell, if it has the same name as the card imprinted on Sideshow Wizard, you may play the imprinted card without paying its mana cost. "Just do what everyone else does, they say. Everyone's a critic."
2/3
Pros:
* Where as converge (old) referenced playing that spell, this references playing other spells. Thus, it is repeatable in a way converge is not. So sometimes you'll only get x1 bonus, othertimes x5, with the same card. This does fix a lot of what made Converge feel bad - the fact that a 3 drop converge spell failed you always.
Cons:
* Despite this, I fear that Aurora will only feel real good when you're dropping 5 drops at the cost of Sliver Queen. This will lead bad players to add too many 5 drops, warping limited games and hurting player retention. "I ran all m 5 drops so I could go full aurora... and I wen 0/4. Why? Does WOTC not want me to go full Aurora?"
* Bookkeeping - The fact Border Keeper gains me 1 life off of Lightning Bolt is mediocre, but a lot of bookkeeping. If I have 3 Aurora creatures, then I'm getting 3 separate effects each time I play a spell. Given Aurora's on some commons here, this is going to come up a lot in limited. Is this a good thing?
* It's still just bad domain, right? I can domain x 5 with only 3 lands out in Modern, and my spells don't need to cost 5 mana for me to get there. So I can go full domain on multiple spells a turn. Also, Domain asks me to make interesting deckbuilding choices - only certain mana fixers will do. Here, I'm okay with duals, cities of brass, and BoP.
Wildfield Noma - All of my creatures get a Rhonas's Monument trigger? I run that thing off color in limited, and you're willing to put it "on a stick" and allow multiples? Oh, and it works with ANY SPELL? If I had 2 of these in limited, how could I possibly lose?
Veinfire Tyrant - All my 5 drop spells Lava Axeand get their effects? If this ONLY worked on 5 mana spells, it's busted. But I also get to bust heads with any spell I play? At least it's not on some bomb dragon too... oh, wait.
Maelstrom Usurper - EVERY SPELL is a kill spell? EVERY ONE?
Light Runner - Neat concept. That said, I liked this ability more when it was called Prowess. +1/+1 > +X/+0 anyday.
Maelstrom Monument - You like this design. I'll let you test it to see if it's fair.
Nightmare Fragment - I'm sorry, was milling cards not good enough for you? You have to exile them and you have to be able to cantrip on demand? Why? Isn't this just broken in limited, as I'm mill stoning for whatever each turn.
Light Drinker - It's a 1/1, then a 6/6, then an 11/11. I guess you're saying I can always kill it. And with Maelstrom Usurper in the format, you're right.
Alliance Paragon - At least he's not giving +X/+X to each creature you control. That said, this is Samite Healer-level of board state confusing x the number of mana I paid to cast my spell from my hand... you know, private information that makes it impossible to respond to this correctly in 9/10 situations?
Border Keeper - I look at this as gaining you 3 life a turn. So I think of it as a 3/3 for 4 with lifelink. I'm not sure if I'm okay with that at (C); but let's gatherer it and find out...
7 cards. Champion of Arashin seems the most comparable. But as a 3/2, it'll die easily, and it needs to combat to lifelink. So... either your opponent attacks with exclusively 1/1s, or it's not going to +3 your life each turn. Verdict: Scrounger of Souls, Faithbearer Paladin cost 5 mana; make this cost 5 mana and you're safe. (It's nice to be positive!)
Wandering Drake - So you're telling me I ALWAYS need to block my opponent's 2/2 evasion creature, or I might just as easily concede? I don't know if that's fair.
Final thoughts: I never played with Allies. But Allies feel like the closest comparison. If you ran an ally deck, each of your allies triggered off of other allies entering the battlefield. So you could routinely get 3+ triggers each turn... for each ally. This triggers off of anything. And the multiplier differs for each thing, depending on the mana you spend for them. But you'll get a 2x multiplier w/o trying in limited for 90% of the spells you play.
If this was a mechanic on a cycle of rares (or maybe a cycle of uncommons?), I'd be okay with it. They'd feel a lot like the Bringers from 5th dawn, flavorwise, and I coulld see a casual deck focused on getting all 5 legendary creatures in play, then playing some spells for 5 mana. It'd be fun.
But as one of the main mechanics for your block? You're going to go to time on every match. Or not, because of the sheer number of "oops, I win" moments. Whoever gets their Aurora card 1st wins, right? Provided you untap with it.
That's a mighty small leviathan...
And I'm going to assume this is a flying 10/10 for 3UU... which seems too strong. Even at a 7/7, it's above the curve...
Whispering Angel3WB
Creature - Angel (R)
Flying Imprint - When Whispering Angel enters the battlefield, search your library for a card and exile it face down, then name a card. Shuffle your library. (That card is imprinted on this creature.)
Whenever an opponent plays a spell with the chosen name, you may reveal the imprinted card. If it is a nonland card, you may play it as though it is in your hand without paying its mana cost. If it is a land, you may put it onto the battlefield tapped.
4/5
Actually... since Kaladesh had vehicles and equipment, I'm still thoroughly confused at how a dwarf can fly in such a way that can't be crewed or equipped by other creatures....
I wouldn't mind if Dwarves in a core set had the unique design space of being involved in equipment and/or vehicles. RW ideally. Perhaps the core set could have mild "skeletons" of tribal themes: R Goblins B Zombies U W Soldiers G Elves RU Wizards BW clerics UG WR dwarves GB Gorgons?
But honestly, I think that's asking too much. Give us 5 clear (monocolored base) tribes, with uncommon lords and 2-3 cards of that type at each rarity, as appropriate. Other types should be featured as well; it shouldn't be completely tribal.
I completely missed this. These are 2 cards I didn't play with; my bad. Thanks for making this clear; I will stop comparing them. I just assumed the latter was a 2/2. Doh.
They do occupy a similar design space, but no, I wouldn't say Converge is a worse mechanic from a gameplay perspective.
To be fair, 2 are identical. But of the 6 that cost 2 or less, 5 are serious contenders for constructed play and all 6 would pretty much always make your limited deck if you're in those colors regardless of whether you're in domain!
Those stats are remarkable and a byproduct of good design. 5/6 of these are common. Off the top of your head can you think of a mechanic that had similar success?
I can; it's the first cycle of scry! The reason I mention this is because Scry is one of only a few mechanics to be made evergreen of this kind; and the only to make it into the main (mulligan) rules of the game! http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?action=advanced&text= [Scry]&cmc=+%3C=[2]&block=+[%22Mirrodin%20Block%22]
You like Skyrider Elf even though Nimbus Swimmer exists? I just cannot understand that. Converge feels like a restriction; a drawback here.
Sometimes making advantages into drawbacks has interesting design applications, bucking trends and all that. Same for making drawbacks into advantages. I don't think that's the case here. Making such cards interesting is not easy, and making them appeal to anyone but your standard Vorthos takes effort and nuance.
At this point, I don't think we'll ever agree that Converge is a bad mechanic. But can we at least agree Domain is a better mechanic that occupies much of the same design space? Given Domain has a storm scale of 4, and Converge of 6, it seems Wizards thinks this.
Gift of Wurms2G
Sorcery (R)
Each opponent creates a 6/6 green wurm creature token. Then, for each creature token created in this way, you may search your library for two land cards and put them onto the battlefield tapped. If you do, shuffle your library. "That's not what I meant when I said 'Send the Wurms'!"
- Carolina, Eternally Disappointed.
Doh! Griffin! It needs to be a griffin! Griffins are clearly white, but have suffered from 2/2s for 3W for much of Magic's history. Pegasus tend to be 1/2s or 2/1s, and could arguably be 2/2s; but I think a 2/3 griffin makes sense, and fits the requirement for an iconic magic creature type.
I'd be disappointed in a core set that didn't have white soldiers, clerics, dwarf artificers, pegasi, griffins, angels, and at least one avatar. Maybe a spirit dragon?
I'm sure they'll slip some spirits in there (ghosts or otherwise), but if they didn't have a single spirit in the set, I don't think I'd notice. Spirit is almost too generic fantasy, as it could describe any number of actual fantasy things - ghosts, souls, shades, illusions, etc. I'm pretty sure I could find a suitable quality spirit to reprint in a core set along the way. Spectral Shepherd, Blessed Spirits, Niblis of the Mist, Lantern Kami (if not suntail hawk), maybe Dearly Departed or Phantom General.
I think it's the best of the burn Converge burn spell variants so far. It's not really a Fireball but a scalable Searing Blood kind of deal. The X here has a different function than the X on a regular Fireball and you can never deal more than 5 damage, but Fireball doesn't offer you the same amount of damage on creature and player unless you pay huge amounts of mana. And honestly, "deal 4 damage to target creature and to its controller" feels reasonably powerful for 4 mana (to get the same effect with a Fireball, you'd have to pay 8R!). What I probably like most about it that you could cast it for R or RG if you just want to remove a creature with the respective amount of toughness and do something else that turn too - and Converging Fireball is always 1 more mana efficient than Fireball in these scenarios.
Best in what sense? It's an X burn spell that doesn't do X damage; that's a rules nightmare, right? It's Elf Skyraider on a burn spell, and judging from the discussion here no one liked that card.
Defying convention is fine, but there has to some substantive reason to do so other than just "because". Besides, zombie tokens would surely be in my core set, and having even a clunky graveyard answer is practical.
As for (U) vs (R), while I have no doubt some people will draft tribal, half of the creatures in a core set wouldn't have supported creature types for those 5 tribes. I've drafted core sets where you got a rare lord and got 2-3 commons to support it. I think we can kick things up a notch by including more utility elves, goblins, etc. Remember, both Onslaught and Lorywn ran more than 5 tribes. I think a 5-tribe-centric mtg set with slightly less tribal emphasis will help. If nothing else, (U) lords would be a bit hit with the casual crowd (then again, that's another reason to make some new, but classic lords).
AS for white's tribal... gonna go with soldiers here > humans. Humans tend to be in all 5 colors to some degree. Besides, it "defies" the convention by making it a "class" type rather than a traditional creature type. Kithkin, dwarves, birds, catfolk, and even griffins are alternatives. But I suspect we'll have lots of soldiers worthy of a core set worth tapping, and that's not true of any of those. Indeed, Kithkin Soldiers, Dwarf Soldiers, and Cat Soldiers are all on the table. White can have a truly diverse "soldier" tribal, which is pretty interesting.
Creature - Human Wizard (R)
Imprint - When Sideshow Wizard enters the battlefield, you may choose a card you own from outside the game and exile it face down. (That card is imprinted on this creature.)
Whenever an opponent casts a spell, if it has the same name as the card imprinted on Sideshow Wizard, you may play the imprinted card without paying its mana cost.
"Just do what everyone else does, they say. Everyone's a critic."
2/3
Demonicly Tutored 2B
Creature - Human Wizard (R)
Imprint - When ~ enters the battlefield, you may choose a card you own from outside the game and exile it face down. (That card is imprinted on this creature.)
When ~ dies, you may put the exiled card into your hand.
2/3
Hornrune Minotaur 2R
Creature - Minotaur Shaman (R)
Imprint - When ~ enters the battlefield, you may choose a sorcery or instant card you own from outside the game and exile it. (That card is imprinted on this creature.)
Whenever Hornrune Minotaur attacks and is not blocked, you may play a copy of an instant or sorcery card imprinted on it.
2/3
Freakshow Shaman 2G
Creature - Centaur Shaman(R)
Imprint - When ~ enters the battlefield, you may choose a creature card you own from outside the game and exile it. (That card is imprinted on this creature.)
xx, t: Create a token that's a copy of a creature card imprinted on ~, where X equals that card's converted mana cost.
3/2
Master Smith 2W
Creature - Human Artificer Soldier (R)
Imprint - When ~ enters the battlefield, you may choose an equipment card you own from outside the game and exile it. (That card is imprinted on this creature.)
Sacrifice a land, x, t: Create a token that's a copy of an equipment card imprinted on ~, where X equals that card's converted mana cost.
3/2
You lose so much lore and flavor by butchering the card frames in this way.
I would consider downshifting the following cards for a core set to uncommon: Cemetery Reaper, Elvish Archdruid, Goblin Chieftain, and Merfolk Sovereign. Add a comparable +1/+1 and keyword for soldiers, and you're good?
Admittedly, with the possible exception of Goblin Chieftain, I think all of these could be improved, changed.
Reaper is probably the toughest nut to crack, as it's a bomb in limited, although a bit slow, and helps to hinder zombify strategies... yet in constructed, he's not much of a driving force as you'd almost never use his tap ability.
Archdurid can add a lot of mana, which in tribal elves might otherwise be useless... so that feels bad. Yet the card itself feels really on point.
Sovereign seems fair, yet bomby with even only 1 other merfolk.
That said, if you put enough efficient removal and/or lifegain in the set, you can smooth these things out, I think.
Domain wasn't overpowered until the Ravnica duals brought dual lands back.
Now it would be difficult to design for Domain unless (A) you design for easy access to duals, and (B) you have dual lands in the rare slot of the expansion.
I happen to think both are plausible. However, while I wouldn't necessarily reprint Tribal Flames, there are quite a few fair Domain cards that show us how to design them moving forward:
Might of Alara
Worldly Counsel - Take note here, as the X isn't the "effect" of the card (IE, drawing a card), it's just making your draw better. This kind of use of the mechanic is where I think we'd want to develop the most.
Matca Rioters - Creature types aside, this is an excellent, iconic card. Great in limited, challenging boarderline playable in constructed. Well costed.
Tromp the Domains - Still a great example; someone can build a deck around this and when it works, it works. Is this the go-to overrun variant? Of course not, but it provides an option that designers need to consider. That's probably something no one has ever said about a Converge card.
Exploding Borders - The self-synergy here is astoundingly fun. You can't do this kind of card often, but I could see an uncommon gold cycle, or a vertical green cycle.
Gatherer returns 31 Domain cards. I dare say that most are printable today (Tribal Flames, Collective Restraint, Collective Restraint, and the landwalker are too good to print willy nilly), and I dare say over half of the remaining cards are well designed by even my standards, which I like to think are high, and ost of the rest are within 1-2 mana or slight tweaking of being well designed.
There's still a lot of design space with Domain. I realize that people here tend not to like throwing reprints in their sets, but for many reasons I think this is a mistake. If you want to do a 5 color set... Domain's a great way to do this, as Domain is inherently more forgiving in limited than in constructed, and thus a good constructed card can be mediocre in limited and mediocre constructed card be good in limited (your limited bombs, tier 2 tribal cards, etc.). So pick some dual lands for your rare slots, or design your own, and then get Domaining!
I don't like Ranger as as subtype.
As for the death trigger... can't it get that for free w/o paying the mana? Especially if you're going to ask me to only reveal the top 4.
It should probably be this:
Sentinel Ranger 3G
Creature - Treefolk Shaman (U)
Sacrifice ~: Reveal the top card of your library until you reveal a basic land. Put that land onto the battlefield tapped. Put the other revealed cards on the bottom of your library in a random order.
2/4
(My DCC entry, looking for feedback...)
Sideshow Wizard 2U
Creature - Human Wizard (U)
Imprint - When Sideshow Wizard enters the battlefield, you may choose a card you own from outside the game and exile it face down. (That card is imprinted on this creature.)
Whenever an opponent casts a spell, if it has the same name as the card imprinted on Sideshow Wizard, you may play the imprinted card without paying its mana cost.
"Just do what everyone else does, they say. Everyone's a critic."
2/3
Sideshow Wizard 2U
Creature - Human Wizard (R)
Imprint - When Sideshow Wizard enters the battlefield, you may choose a card you own from outside the game and exile it face down. (That card is imprinted on this creature.)
Whenever an opponent casts a spell, if it has the same name as the card imprinted on Sideshow Wizard, you may play the imprinted card without paying its mana cost.
"Just do what everyone else does, they say. Everyone's a critic."
2/3
* Where as converge (old) referenced playing that spell, this references playing other spells. Thus, it is repeatable in a way converge is not. So sometimes you'll only get x1 bonus, othertimes x5, with the same card. This does fix a lot of what made Converge feel bad - the fact that a 3 drop converge spell failed you always.
Cons:
* Despite this, I fear that Aurora will only feel real good when you're dropping 5 drops at the cost of Sliver Queen. This will lead bad players to add too many 5 drops, warping limited games and hurting player retention. "I ran all m 5 drops so I could go full aurora... and I wen 0/4. Why? Does WOTC not want me to go full Aurora?"
* Bookkeeping - The fact Border Keeper gains me 1 life off of Lightning Bolt is mediocre, but a lot of bookkeeping. If I have 3 Aurora creatures, then I'm getting 3 separate effects each time I play a spell. Given Aurora's on some commons here, this is going to come up a lot in limited. Is this a good thing?
* It's still just bad domain, right? I can domain x 5 with only 3 lands out in Modern, and my spells don't need to cost 5 mana for me to get there. So I can go full domain on multiple spells a turn. Also, Domain asks me to make interesting deckbuilding choices - only certain mana fixers will do. Here, I'm okay with duals, cities of brass, and BoP.
Wildfield Noma - All of my creatures get a Rhonas's Monument trigger? I run that thing off color in limited, and you're willing to put it "on a stick" and allow multiples? Oh, and it works with ANY SPELL? If I had 2 of these in limited, how could I possibly lose?
Veinfire Tyrant - All my 5 drop spells Lava Axe and get their effects? If this ONLY worked on 5 mana spells, it's busted. But I also get to bust heads with any spell I play? At least it's not on some bomb dragon too... oh, wait.
Maelstrom Usurper - EVERY SPELL is a kill spell? EVERY ONE?
Light Runner - Neat concept. That said, I liked this ability more when it was called Prowess.
Maelstrom Monument - You like this design. I'll let you test it to see if it's fair.
Nightmare Fragment - I'm sorry, was milling cards not good enough for you? You have to exile them and you have to be able to cantrip on demand? Why? Isn't this just broken in limited, as I'm mill stoning for whatever each turn.
Light Drinker - It's a 1/1, then a 6/6, then an 11/11. I guess you're saying I can always kill it. And with Maelstrom Usurper in the format, you're right.
Alliance Paragon - At least he's not giving +X/+X to each creature you control. That said, this is Samite Healer-level of board state confusing x the number of mana I paid to cast my spell from my hand... you know, private information that makes it impossible to respond to this correctly in 9/10 situations?
Border Keeper - I look at this as gaining you 3 life a turn. So I think of it as a 3/3 for 4 with lifelink. I'm not sure if I'm okay with that at (C); but let's gatherer it and find out...
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?action=advanced&text= [lifelink]&power=+%3E[2]&rarity=+[C]
7 cards. Champion of Arashin seems the most comparable. But as a 3/2, it'll die easily, and it needs to combat to lifelink. So... either your opponent attacks with exclusively 1/1s, or it's not going to +3 your life each turn. Verdict: Scrounger of Souls, Faithbearer Paladin cost 5 mana; make this cost 5 mana and you're safe. (It's nice to be positive!)
Wandering Drake - So you're telling me I ALWAYS need to block my opponent's 2/2 evasion creature, or I might just as easily concede? I don't know if that's fair.
Final thoughts: I never played with Allies. But Allies feel like the closest comparison. If you ran an ally deck, each of your allies triggered off of other allies entering the battlefield. So you could routinely get 3+ triggers each turn... for each ally. This triggers off of anything. And the multiplier differs for each thing, depending on the mana you spend for them. But you'll get a 2x multiplier w/o trying in limited for 90% of the spells you play.
If this was a mechanic on a cycle of rares (or maybe a cycle of uncommons?), I'd be okay with it. They'd feel a lot like the Bringers from 5th dawn, flavorwise, and I coulld see a casual deck focused on getting all 5 legendary creatures in play, then playing some spells for 5 mana. It'd be fun.
But as one of the main mechanics for your block? You're going to go to time on every match. Or not, because of the sheer number of "oops, I win" moments. Whoever gets their Aurora card 1st wins, right? Provided you untap with it.
And I'm going to assume this is a flying 10/10 for 3UU... which seems too strong. Even at a 7/7, it's above the curve...
Whispering Angel 3WB
Creature - Angel (R)
Flying
Imprint - When Whispering Angel enters the battlefield, search your library for a card and exile it face down, then name a card. Shuffle your library. (That card is imprinted on this creature.)
Whenever an opponent plays a spell with the chosen name, you may reveal the imprinted card. If it is a nonland card, you may play it as though it is in your hand without paying its mana cost. If it is a land, you may put it onto the battlefield tapped.
4/5
I wouldn't mind if Dwarves in a core set had the unique design space of being involved in equipment and/or vehicles. RW ideally. Perhaps the core set could have mild "skeletons" of tribal themes:
R Goblins
B Zombies
U
W Soldiers
G Elves
RU Wizards
BW clerics
UG
WR dwarves
GB Gorgons?
But honestly, I think that's asking too much. Give us 5 clear (monocolored base) tribes, with uncommon lords and 2-3 cards of that type at each rarity, as appropriate. Other types should be featured as well; it shouldn't be completely tribal.
I completely missed this. These are 2 cards I didn't play with; my bad. Thanks for making this clear; I will stop comparing them. I just assumed the latter was a 2/2. Doh.
They play different at 2 mana. Converge can never "max out" at 2 mana, but Domain can. You'll note that there is only 2 mana Converge card (with an X so it can be 5 mana!), while Domain has 6:
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?action=advanced&text= [domain]&cmc=+%3C=[2]
To be fair, 2 are identical. But of the 6 that cost 2 or less, 5 are serious contenders for constructed play and all 6 would pretty much always make your limited deck if you're in those colors regardless of whether you're in domain!
Those stats are remarkable and a byproduct of good design. 5/6 of these are common. Off the top of your head can you think of a mechanic that had similar success?
I can; it's the first cycle of scry! The reason I mention this is because Scry is one of only a few mechanics to be made evergreen of this kind; and the only to make it into the main (mulligan) rules of the game!
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?action=advanced&text= [Scry]&cmc=+%3C=[2]&block=+[%22Mirrodin%20Block%22]
Sometimes making advantages into drawbacks has interesting design applications, bucking trends and all that. Same for making drawbacks into advantages. I don't think that's the case here. Making such cards interesting is not easy, and making them appeal to anyone but your standard Vorthos takes effort and nuance.
At this point, I don't think we'll ever agree that Converge is a bad mechanic. But can we at least agree Domain is a better mechanic that occupies much of the same design space? Given Domain has a storm scale of 4, and Converge of 6, it seems Wizards thinks this.
Gift of Wurms 2G
Sorcery (R)
Each opponent creates a 6/6 green wurm creature token. Then, for each creature token created in this way, you may search your library for two land cards and put them onto the battlefield tapped. If you do, shuffle your library.
"That's not what I meant when I said 'Send the Wurms'!"
- Carolina, Eternally Disappointed.
Oh, and JamBlock... good game! Good game all!
I'd be disappointed in a core set that didn't have white soldiers, clerics, dwarf artificers, pegasi, griffins, angels, and at least one avatar. Maybe a spirit dragon?
I'm sure they'll slip some spirits in there (ghosts or otherwise), but if they didn't have a single spirit in the set, I don't think I'd notice. Spirit is almost too generic fantasy, as it could describe any number of actual fantasy things - ghosts, souls, shades, illusions, etc. I'm pretty sure I could find a suitable quality spirit to reprint in a core set along the way. Spectral Shepherd, Blessed Spirits, Niblis of the Mist, Lantern Kami (if not suntail hawk), maybe Dearly Departed or Phantom General.
Best in what sense? It's an X burn spell that doesn't do X damage; that's a rules nightmare, right? It's Elf Skyraider on a burn spell, and judging from the discussion here no one liked that card.