The reason I suggest boffing up the "Enchant Lands" is that if AURAS count (as opposed to just enchantments), only enchant lands have targets stable enough that their not gonna be terrored or naturalized out from under you, 2-for-1ing you.
Whoops! Totally misunderstood you. I thought you meant you wanted Mirrodin-style lands that also counted as enchantments. Yes, enchant lands are great.
Finally, may I suggest working on auras that form combos with older cards not in your set. These would count as "bad cards" in the set, and yet be "good cards" in other formats - not unlike Trinisphere/Crucible of Worlds/etc.
So, this type of keywords doesn't have to be well distributed at all. You can have auracycling show up in each color, but more so, and at a lower rarity, in colors that have affinity for either enchantments or tutoring. Auracycling is also an ability that shouldn't show up too much in my opinion, since it's rather narrow in its application (much like basic landcycling showed up only five times in Conflux). Maybe something like...
Right, I wasn't planning on giving each color a ton of auracycling, but thought it would be fine for each color to get at least 1 auracyling card.
I love Reshape. Seems like it may be too strong, actually.
In an Aura-heavy environment, it might also be worth it to try to limit the efficiency of removal spells by a little bit more than usual. If there's cards like Doomblade and Lightning Bolt flying around, Auras are going to be hurting even with strong incentives to use them. Don't nerf removal into the ground, but make sure it's a little on the weaker side. Shatter was more than good enough in Mirrodin; something like Shattering Spree or even Smash to Smithereens would have been overpowered.
Exactly. Along a similar line of thought, that's why I wanted to make the "good black removal" spell in the set get nerfed by enchanted creatures - it's a strong card but actually weaker when players are capitalizing on the theme of the set.
But remember also that Mirrodin gave us Oxidize, the most efficient single-artifact removal ever. Though perhaps wotc just knew (or at least thought they knew) how nuts artifacts would end up getting?
Anyway, thanks for ALL the comments guys, you've given me a ton to think about.
opalshell egg is fine. Compare it to Darksteel Ingot - the egg may be better in most circumstances, but it isn't ridiculous or anything.
subsidized research - other than the name, there's nothing blue about this, so I think BB is fine if you want to make a playable Skulltap.
Yeah, Bonk is broken. Maybe not its own fault, it's affinity/mirrodin really. But even outside of all that, it's probably nuts in an esper/artifact deck. Pharm's suggestions might help.
Yes, more indication that we'll have a return to mirrodin.
This card is cool - I just wish it didn't die to relevant removal that is already so inexpensive (bolt, path). Even making it a 4/4 would have helped in regard to bolt. Still, strong card that I could see getting a lot of play.
(Note that I'm not making a "dies to removal" argument. I'm just pointing out that there is highly relevant 1-mana-removal that deals with this, that his ability won't really bother or hinder in any big way. Would have been exciting if your 4-mana Glowrider had to be killed by something more than a 1-mana spell.)
I'm fairly disappointed this is mythic considering it's just the red Scute Mob, but I like the card. It seems fun. It may create some interesting decision points for your opponent, too. If this drew a lightning bolt or path that could have been spent on one of your more immediately relevant creatures (like a 2- or 3-drop, or more) that would be pretty nice.
YES! one of my favorite lands! I hope this can find a spot in some control deck. obviously one that wasn't so reliant on having multiple colors. Maybe blue/white...
Mine was literally just "counter target spell" for :symw::symu:. I decided to make it "Counter target nonenchantment spell" instead after some criticism, but that worked because it fit with my enchantment-themed set anyway. Yours ends up being "counter target spell" against any deck that doesn't have enchantment kill, which I think is OK.
Wow, thanks for all the continued comments guys. This makes me feel great (but also bad for being so slow to post my uncommons and rares!) You've all given me a lot to think about.
Overly complex, and at the end of the day the color hoser ability is so inconsequential as to not be worth the additional text. Have it be a 1/1 w/ W, tap: Prevent 1, gain 1. Still won't see constructed play.
Absolutely.
Nice cantrip ability. Should be a major focus of your set, IMO.
I like that idea. There's definitely a ton of design space for conditional cantrips.
Too much on one mediocre card. CIP/LP enchantments that grant other bonuses are too much.
I think the card itself is actually pretty strong, but I agree with you (and Onderzeeboot, and others) that it is just "too much" especially for a common.
Imp's Prize :1mana::symb: (C or U)
Enchantment
When Imp's Prize enters the battlefield, target player discards a card.
When Imp's Prize is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, draw a card.
Costed at 1 less than Unhinge. I could play around with its cost and the cards drawn/discarded, like maybe 2BB for discard 2 and then draw 2.
Eh, life gain in black can be better than this. Cantrip shows you know it's not worth the card. Maybe make the cantrip conditional (if you gained X or less life, draw a card) and make it cost B. Or W.
Making it another conditional cantrip is a great idea.
Maybe make it copy itself for each enchantment/aura you've played this turn, and make it a keyword"
Auramancy - Copy this spell for each aura card you played this turn.
Having an Auramancy ability word is a neat idea. Maybe not for this card, which I might scrap altogether, but a keyword/abilityword that cares about enchantments is probably a good idea for an enchantment-themed set.
Fits your theme, interesting, encourages aura-play, and etc. You'll need cheap land-auras for this to be a competative thing though.
After Mirrodin I think I'm going to stay away from enchantment lands, except for maybe one uncommon with "tap: add 1" and that's it.
Choose 2 is done, and this isn't anywhere near as interesting as those cards. The cantrip ability shows you didn't have enough abilities for this card. Since it is an enchantment set, maybe give us more enchantments that do this stuff. A jitte-esque enchantment that lets you remove +1/+1 counters for +2/+2, disenchant, or rampant growth sounds good...
The cantrip option was a very deliberate choice; I like cantrips as charm/command options. But like Onderzeeboot suggested, I'm probably going to split the disenchant option into two. Your enchantment idea sounds neat.
I would place this at 2B common sorcery or 2B uncommon instant.
I think that's the perfect cost for it. I will probably go with common/sorcery.
This is a great card, but definitely not a common. Also, very dangerous and way too easy with the en-kor creatures! Maybe a restriction a la Shimmering Glasskite?
It only triggers on spells, not abilities. The glasskite restriction is a good idea though, and could let me add the ability trigger.
Powerful, very powerful! I wouldn't give it auracycling, doesn't feel very red, not at common anyway. As is, this is elegant but pretty beat-face! Then again, Unholy Strength isn't a stellar card in constructed anyway...
I feel like auracycling is a mechanic I could give to every color, at least in an aura block. Every color got scry, even on commons, and that's all about card draw/manipulation.
Lovely concept, wrong at common. I think this works best at uncommon, at rare you would be miffed you'ld get this from your pack. It's no Isamaru after all.
Continuing the discussion with luminum can and quietquieter, I think uncommon works.
It's weird that you give three options when one of those options gives you a choice as well. Why not make it "choose two - [...]; or destroy target artifact; or destroy target enchantment; or [...]"? Nice card anyway, despite that little inconsistency.
Yup.
All in all a nice batch of cards. Lovely selection to peruse Next time post more stinkers though
Vineweave Ward: Oops, I had forgotten about Veilstone Amulet (I wonder why ;). ) I like your idea, ToO, but it leads to infinite power shenanigans if you control two or more creatures and Lightning Greaves. I think the best fix would be to add "you may pay 1, if you do" to the card.
Banner of Virtue2W
Enchantment U
Creatures you control get +0/+1 for each Plains you control.
ToO's version of Vineweave Ward already took care of that, actually. It only gives a bonus the first time in a turn that a creature is targeted. I think that's a lot better than forcing you to pay extra mana.
Banner of Virtue is pretty neat too. I guess it might get very, very frustrating for opponents, because it ends up saying "your creatures can't be killed by damage" after a few plains. It may be harder to play a deck with so many plains in limited, but I'm not sure - maybe it would need to be rare because of its bombiness?
there is terramorphic. it comes into play tapped like the panoramas, but even then is great manafixing on a budget, that triggers landfall twice as well
That's true, and I like terramorphic expanse generally. But because the land ETBT, you couldn't crack it for the land needed for your fifth mana to cast Mysteries on your opponent's turn. You already need 5 other lands - so it's sort of like mysteries costs 6. I would imagine that at that point, the budget player would just give up trying to play Mysteries altogether.
edit: ityedmyshoetoday, you're reading it wrong. You never, ever get to draw 4 cards with Mysteries. On your turn, it is either sorcery speed draw 2 for 5 mana (disgustingly bad) or sorcery speed draw 3 for 5 mana, if you play a land or crack a fetch (but not both). At that point, it's still a mana more expensive than Concentrate and less flexible than Mind Spring. Concentrate isn't standard legal but mind spring is. Like I said, the card is only good at its optimal mode. The card is versatile, but it's two terrible options, one extremely mediocre option, and one good option.
I'm really glad wotc is printing Mysteries of the Deep, and I hope there are many more spells in WWK that are terrible unless you have a fetchland. Wotc needs to give people more reasons to buy fetchlands, because right now nobody likes them or uses them. It seems like I can't go five minutes without hearing someone say "Zendikar is such a thrilling set, but I just can't stand those janky fetchlands."
So i'm pretty sure your being sarcastic.
I actually like this use of fetchlands and landfall. It makes for a cool synergy and allows wizards a lot of design space. I hope to see a couple more instants with landfall.
Yes I was. But I'm not being sarcastic when I say that I hope wotc prints some decent fetchland variants so that people without lots of money can also play Mysteries of the Deep without having it entirely suck. That is, fetchland variants that don't cost mana to activate. More terrible instants with landfall, with no other support, would just piss me off. We also need more ways to take advantage of the landfall instants without resorting to purchasing multiple copies of the 5 highest-priced Zendikar cards.
dark vanishing - um, so a black version of white's Momentary Blink ability? Seems kind of pointless, although I guess it combos with sacrifice triggers too (not that there are many of those).
lunging swordsman - neat. I like the options it gives, like luminum can says. However it doesn't seem too often that you would need a 3/3 first striker if you were also able to attack with it as a 1/3. If your opponent had something that you'd need a 3/3 first striker (as opposed to a 1/3) to kill, you probably wouldn't be attacking into it with a 1/3 in the first place. See what I'm saying?
vineweave ward - this is a fantastic idea! I do think that it could be cheaper, and/or give another small boost to the creature, as theonlyone suggested.
stunned silence - nice! and would be maybe one of the best Isochron Scepter choices ever, but I guess we already have a lot of those so that's ok. But maybe that's why Intimidation Bolt costs 3?
I'm really glad wotc is printing Mysteries of the Deep, and I hope there are many more spells in WWK that are terrible unless you have a fetchland. Wotc needs to give people more reasons to buy fetchlands, because right now nobody likes them or uses them. It seems like I can't go five minutes without hearing someone say "Zendikar is such a thrilling set, but I just can't stand those janky fetchlands."
Thanks guys! I never really thought of ticking goblin as a rare, but I suppose that 2 power creatures for one mana can fit there. I do think that because of its disadvantage (limiting your aggro options) it could be bumped up to 2/2 if I wanted. Luminum can, is there something specific that makes you think rare is more appropriate than common or uncommon?
I've been meaning to post a follow up thread with uncommons, but have been way behind. I'll get to it asap.
Whoops! Totally misunderstood you. I thought you meant you wanted Mirrodin-style lands that also counted as enchantments. Yes, enchant lands are great.
Certainly.
Right, I wasn't planning on giving each color a ton of auracycling, but thought it would be fine for each color to get at least 1 auracyling card.
I love Reshape. Seems like it may be too strong, actually.
Exactly. Along a similar line of thought, that's why I wanted to make the "good black removal" spell in the set get nerfed by enchanted creatures - it's a strong card but actually weaker when players are capitalizing on the theme of the set.
But remember also that Mirrodin gave us Oxidize, the most efficient single-artifact removal ever. Though perhaps wotc just knew (or at least thought they knew) how nuts artifacts would end up getting?
Anyway, thanks for ALL the comments guys, you've given me a ton to think about.
subsidized research - other than the name, there's nothing blue about this, so I think BB is fine if you want to make a playable Skulltap.
Yeah, Bonk is broken. Maybe not its own fault, it's affinity/mirrodin really. But even outside of all that, it's probably nuts in an esper/artifact deck. Pharm's suggestions might help.
I still don't think it is standard playable, but it is obviously a powerful card. MWC already has better options, I think.
Yes, more indication that we'll have a return to mirrodin.
This card is cool - I just wish it didn't die to relevant removal that is already so inexpensive (bolt, path). Even making it a 4/4 would have helped in regard to bolt. Still, strong card that I could see getting a lot of play.
(Note that I'm not making a "dies to removal" argument. I'm just pointing out that there is highly relevant 1-mana-removal that deals with this, that his ability won't really bother or hinder in any big way. Would have been exciting if your 4-mana Glowrider had to be killed by something more than a 1-mana spell.)
Mine was literally just "counter target spell" for :symw::symu:. I decided to make it "Counter target nonenchantment spell" instead after some criticism, but that worked because it fit with my enchantment-themed set anyway. Yours ends up being "counter target spell" against any deck that doesn't have enchantment kill, which I think is OK.
Absolutely.
I like that idea. There's definitely a ton of design space for conditional cantrips.
I think the card itself is actually pretty strong, but I agree with you (and Onderzeeboot, and others) that it is just "too much" especially for a common.
How would this feel as a Hatching Plans variant?
Imp's Prize :1mana::symb: (C or U)
Enchantment
When Imp's Prize enters the battlefield, target player discards a card.
When Imp's Prize is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, draw a card.
Costed at 1 less than Unhinge. I could play around with its cost and the cards drawn/discarded, like maybe 2BB for discard 2 and then draw 2.
Making it another conditional cantrip is a great idea.
Having an Auramancy ability word is a neat idea. Maybe not for this card, which I might scrap altogether, but a keyword/abilityword that cares about enchantments is probably a good idea for an enchantment-themed set.
After Mirrodin I think I'm going to stay away from enchantment lands, except for maybe one uncommon with "tap: add 1" and that's it.
The cantrip option was a very deliberate choice; I like cantrips as charm/command options. But like Onderzeeboot suggested, I'm probably going to split the disenchant option into two. Your enchantment idea sounds neat.
I think that's the perfect cost for it. I will probably go with common/sorcery.
It only triggers on spells, not abilities. The glasskite restriction is a good idea though, and could let me add the ability trigger.
I feel like auracycling is a mechanic I could give to every color, at least in an aura block. Every color got scry, even on commons, and that's all about card draw/manipulation.
Continuing the discussion with luminum can and quietquieter, I think uncommon works.
Yup.
Thanks!
ToO's version of Vineweave Ward already took care of that, actually. It only gives a bonus the first time in a turn that a creature is targeted. I think that's a lot better than forcing you to pay extra mana.
Banner of Virtue is pretty neat too. I guess it might get very, very frustrating for opponents, because it ends up saying "your creatures can't be killed by damage" after a few plains. It may be harder to play a deck with so many plains in limited, but I'm not sure - maybe it would need to be rare because of its bombiness?
That's true, and I like terramorphic expanse generally. But because the land ETBT, you couldn't crack it for the land needed for your fifth mana to cast Mysteries on your opponent's turn. You already need 5 other lands - so it's sort of like mysteries costs 6. I would imagine that at that point, the budget player would just give up trying to play Mysteries altogether.
edit: ityedmyshoetoday, you're reading it wrong. You never, ever get to draw 4 cards with Mysteries. On your turn, it is either sorcery speed draw 2 for 5 mana (disgustingly bad) or sorcery speed draw 3 for 5 mana, if you play a land or crack a fetch (but not both). At that point, it's still a mana more expensive than Concentrate and less flexible than Mind Spring. Concentrate isn't standard legal but mind spring is. Like I said, the card is only good at its optimal mode. The card is versatile, but it's two terrible options, one extremely mediocre option, and one good option.
Yes I was. But I'm not being sarcastic when I say that I hope wotc prints some decent fetchland variants so that people without lots of money can also play Mysteries of the Deep without having it entirely suck. That is, fetchland variants that don't cost mana to activate. More terrible instants with landfall, with no other support, would just piss me off. We also need more ways to take advantage of the landfall instants without resorting to purchasing multiple copies of the 5 highest-priced Zendikar cards.
lunging swordsman - neat. I like the options it gives, like luminum can says. However it doesn't seem too often that you would need a 3/3 first striker if you were also able to attack with it as a 1/3. If your opponent had something that you'd need a 3/3 first striker (as opposed to a 1/3) to kill, you probably wouldn't be attacking into it with a 1/3 in the first place. See what I'm saying?
vineweave ward - this is a fantastic idea! I do think that it could be cheaper, and/or give another small boost to the creature, as theonlyone suggested.
stunned silence - nice! and would be maybe one of the best Isochron Scepter choices ever, but I guess we already have a lot of those so that's ok. But maybe that's why Intimidation Bolt costs 3?
mark of virtue - "big butt of the plains"
I've been meaning to post a follow up thread with uncommons, but have been way behind. I'll get to it asap.