Glass Temple (u)
Land
Glass Temple comes into play tapped.
Tap: Add to your mana pool.
Tap, sacrifice Glass Temple: Add 2 mana in any combination of colors to your mana pool.
Enthralling Burial :2mana::symb::symb: (r)
Enchantment
At the end of each opponent's turn, that player may pay 4 life. If he or she does not, return all creatures put into that player's graveyard this turn to the battlefield under your control.
Fiddle :1mana::symu: (c)
Instant
You may tap or untap target artifact, creature, or land. If an artifact or land is tapped or untapped this way, you may draw a card.
edit: new idea. Do you like this better?
Fiddle :1mana::symu: (c)
Instant
You may tap or untap target artifact, creature, or land. If a permanent is untapped this way, you may draw a card.
[you only get the cantrip for untapping, but it includes creatures too.]
Ticking Goblin (c)
Creature - Goblin Soldier
2/1
When another creature enters the battlefield, sacrifice Ticking Goblin. If you do, it deals 2 damage to that creature. He's got a really short fuse.
original:
Ticking Goblin (c)
Creature - Goblin Soldier
2/1
When another creature enters the battlefield, sacrifice Ticking Goblin. If you do, it deals 2 damage to target creature or player and 2 damage to you. He's got a really short fuse.
Vexing Mystic :1mana::symw::symw: (r)
Creature - Human Nomad Mystic 2/1 2/2
Flying, Vigilance
Whenever a player an opponent casts a spell, that player may pay :2mana:. If he or she does not, Vexing Mystic gains protection from all colors until end of turn.
Battle of Wills :xmana::symu: (r)
Instant
Untap all permanents target opponent controls. Then draw X cards unless that player pays :xmana:.
Nature, peace, love for harmony, might, immensity, spirituality,
Those are good criteria. But I would also add Growth, and Resilience.
I think Hydras are very strong in might, immensity, growth, and resilience. They have some connection to harmony (lots of heads, working together) and nature (they're a lizard-like creature that could easily live in forests, and especially undiscovered untouched locales) and spirituality (with multiple heads, they are likely to be worshiped as something special). Peace and harmony and spirituality are all green, but also white, so when it came down to it I would focus on the growth/might/nature aspects. Particularly when we are designing a creature, something that is inevitably going to be concerned more with attacking than with peace and love.
I think that hits the bases pretty well, at least as well as anything else. Treefolk fit the criteria quite well but are just way too lame (imo) to ever be Iconic.
And about Resilient -- I don't know, it seems that every new creature is meant to pile up against red, which is a color that relies very much so in key cards rather than a general solidity.
I think it would make more sense that the opponent needs to pay extra mana to target or deal combat damage to a big green monster though.
Resilient doesn't do anything against direct damage, as currently worded. The keyword is really just a black hoser.
I definitely like the idea of cards that cost opponents (or all players) extra mana to target, even if it is just a weaker shroud. The idea of "If this would be dealt damage, prevent that damage unless any player pays :2mana:" sounds cool too. (But also more than a little bit white - the color of damage prevention and taxing.)
And plz don't just make every card a "instant" because instant is simply better, keep in mind that "powerfull" magic (flavourwise) is better placed on Sorcery , as powerfull magic is not casted at instant speed , you need some preperation and time for it (which means you can't cast it out of nowhere).
I don't make every card an instant just because that makes it better. I know what sorceries are, I understand how they work. I made this card an instant because I thought it was far more exciting this way - for some of the reasons you said. I understand that makes it powerful, but I wanted the possibility of "play this at the end of your opponent's turn and then smash face" to exist. I would gladly make Sanguine Bargain cost a little more, but keep it an instant. (I could see it at 3BB or 4BB...not 6BB.)
For the record, I think it is fair as a 2BB sorcery, as there is a lot of risk in getting your life that low where at sorcery speed you would be very vulnerable before playing the card.
(And furthermore, setting life totals is rarely "strong" on Magic cards because it is generally overcosted; that is why it is never played.)
Your version of Omniscience is less fun than my original. (See the "spoiler" in my first post.) I'd rather just go back to that version if I had to. The only difference between them is that yours gives everyone a future sight, and mine just gives you a Sphinx of Jwar Isle ability. But anyway, I think the modified version now in my original post (suggested by TwoBah) is fine - any delay of game caused by this pales in comparison to a reusable shuffling effect, for example.
Jimmi/Luminum - I like that idea, but I feel like the use of other zones are corner cases anyway, and the current wording (without mentioning zones) is probably a lot easier for newer players to grasp.
GREAT idea TwoBah - that strengthens the card while making it even more flavorful.
I'm going to edit the card to that change, and not add a cantrip to it.
I'm also changing the name of the black card to Sanguine Bargain, as that actually fits the card's ability better, and makes it feel a little more black in flavor.
Barbarian Foothold
Land
At the end of your turn, if Barbarian Foothold is untapped, it deals 1 damage to you.
:symtap:: Add R or G to your mana pool.
I think this is an incredibly well-done dual land and it is a shame that the lack of mana burn now more or less negates it. (Although it still can't be used for spells on your opponent's turn.)
Does this save it?
"At the end of your turn, if you did not spend mana produced by Barbarian Foothold, it deals 1 damage to you."
or some different wording - to make it clear that it pings you if you did not use the land to produce mana and spend that mana. the wording I put on it now is ambiguous, making it sound like its ping can be avoided by just not using the land to produce mana in a turn.
Not so much. [...] More like a 4-mana Final Judgment.
I had a typo when I said "4 mana Day of Judgment" - I meant 4-mana Final Judgment. (DoJ already is 4 mana, of course.) But thanks for proving the point I was trying to make: the "combo" knocks 2 mana off the cost of Final Judgment (not even, considering Tranquility-esque sweepers), which is a near-worthless two-card combo, and nothing to be worried about at all.
I'm sure enchantment.dec would love this card, and would be playing the enchantment-protecting cards anyway, but I think enchantment.dec is a deck we can safely encourage. (mainly because it doesn't yet exist.)
I'm going to quote myself from the beginning of the thread:
All white wraths are compared to either Wrath of God or now the nearly-identical DoJ. This has some advantages (ignores regeneration and indestructibility, prevents reanimation) and one disadvantage (can be "countered" by enchantment kill).
2WW might actually be fine in an environment with sufficient color splashing and enchantment destruction. 3WW would be safer, and 3WWW would be unplayable.
I think that sums up this card pretty well. What I missed was 4W as a cost, which is also probably fine, but given the card's heavy white-ness I think at least WW in the cost is warranted.
I'll also add that two 4-mana wraths in the same environment at the same time might be something to generate some concern - at the very least, it prevented wotc from ever printing another 4-mana wrath while wrath existed. Except the black one, of course. And I don't think many decks need/want wraths 5-8 anyway.
I think Sutures is fine at common, even with a cost of W.
Benalish cads - how about replace first strike with vigilance? Feels more appropriate. Also, you mention of Naf's Asp made me think that maybe white should get a creature that gives you additional life after it hits them, if they don't pay the mana.
devil's night - I designed a card long ago that I think would be a more elegant version of this. It isn't identical, but somewhat functionally similar:
4BB
Sorcery
Choose a creature. Destroy all other creatures, then put a +1/+1 counter on the chosen creature for each creature destroyed this way.
Something like that wording. Does about what yours does, only less messily, and feels rather mythic I think.
I think the suggestion is that we could call these "greater elementals" something else. 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons, for instance, calls them "primordials".
But those Dragons and Angels were still Dragons and Angels - big, badass flyers.
All the more reason why Elementals shouldn't be green's iconic creature type - and I'm fine with that, as I've been more in favor of Hydras ever since Megiddo first suggested it.
It's dinosaurs or get out of town, people.
Meh...I'll defer to Megiddo's list of reasons why I don't think they should be iconic. What it boils down to for me is that they are just beasts with scales.
Now, I'm totally in favor of a set that takes place in a world with dinosaurs, and I'd like to see a bunch of dinosaur cards...but that doesn't mean that each set should get 0-2 mega-awesome dinosaurs from now on.
Actually, I think it makes a lot of sense in general for big green monsters to have a resistance to "destroy" effects but not damage. Maybe a keyword: "Resilient (This can't be destroyed except by lethal [combat?] damage.)
I think this is a phenomenal idea for a green ability, whether keyworded or not, but I also feel like it is getting away from the topic of what green's iconic creature should be. I don't think the green iconic needs to be defined by a specific keyword. (that goes for Hydras, too.)
Adenohydra is cool but could cost just XG. It is a lot like Protean Hydra but instead of doubling itself, it spreads (non-doubled) to others. It seems like a trade-off but not enough to make this worth G more.
Only issue I see with this is the fact that it is massively undercosted. Unmake's cost was reduced to 1W as an enchantment, so I see Final Judgement as the base of this card. I think it'd be more balanced if it costed 4W or 3WW. But you have to consider its non-targeting aspect, so I suggest 3WWW.
But we need to compare it to comparable white mass removal aside from just Final Judgment. All white wraths are compared to either Wrath of God or now the nearly-identical DoJ. This has some advantages (ignores regeneration and indestructibility, prevents reanimation) and one disadvantage (can be "countered" by enchantment kill).
2WW might actually be fine in an environment with sufficient color splashing and enchantment destruction. 3WW would be safer, and 3WWW would be unplayable.
Glass Temple (u)
Land
Glass Temple comes into play tapped.
Tap: Add
Tap, sacrifice Glass Temple: Add 2 mana in any combination of colors to your mana pool.
Enthralling Burial :2mana::symb::symb: (r)
Enchantment
At the end of each opponent's turn, that player may pay 4 life. If he or she does not, return all creatures put into that player's graveyard this turn to the battlefield under your control.
Fiddle :1mana::symu: (c)
Instant
You may tap or untap target artifact, creature, or land. If an artifact or land is tapped or untapped this way, you may draw a card.
edit: new idea. Do you like this better?
Fiddle :1mana::symu: (c)
Instant
You may tap or untap target artifact, creature, or land. If a permanent is untapped this way, you may draw a card.
[you only get the cantrip for untapping, but it includes creatures too.]
Ticking Goblin
Creature - Goblin Soldier
2/1
When another creature enters the battlefield, sacrifice Ticking Goblin. If you do, it deals 2 damage to that creature.
He's got a really short fuse.
original:
Creature - Goblin Soldier
2/1
When another creature enters the battlefield, sacrifice Ticking Goblin. If you do, it deals 2 damage to target creature or player and 2 damage to you.
He's got a really short fuse.
Vexing Mystic :1mana::symw::symw: (r)
Creature - Human Nomad Mystic
2/12/2Flying, Vigilance
Whenever
a playeran opponent casts a spell, that player may pay :2mana:. If he or she does not, Vexing Mystic gains protection from all colors until end of turn.Battle of Wills :xmana::symu: (r)
Instant
Untap all permanents target opponent controls. Then draw X cards unless that player pays :xmana:.
Tell me what you think
Those are good criteria. But I would also add Growth, and Resilience.
I think Hydras are very strong in might, immensity, growth, and resilience. They have some connection to harmony (lots of heads, working together) and nature (they're a lizard-like creature that could easily live in forests, and especially undiscovered untouched locales) and spirituality (with multiple heads, they are likely to be worshiped as something special). Peace and harmony and spirituality are all green, but also white, so when it came down to it I would focus on the growth/might/nature aspects. Particularly when we are designing a creature, something that is inevitably going to be concerned more with attacking than with peace and love.
I think that hits the bases pretty well, at least as well as anything else. Treefolk fit the criteria quite well but are just way too lame (imo) to ever be Iconic.
The card is too strong though, and also feels un-green to me. What if it cost UG and was an instant? UUG and was a cantrip?
Resilient doesn't do anything against direct damage, as currently worded. The keyword is really just a black hoser.
I definitely like the idea of cards that cost opponents (or all players) extra mana to target, even if it is just a weaker shroud. The idea of "If this would be dealt damage, prevent that damage unless any player pays :2mana:" sounds cool too. (But also more than a little bit white - the color of damage prevention and taxing.)
I don't make every card an instant just because that makes it better. I know what sorceries are, I understand how they work. I made this card an instant because I thought it was far more exciting this way - for some of the reasons you said. I understand that makes it powerful, but I wanted the possibility of "play this at the end of your opponent's turn and then smash face" to exist. I would gladly make Sanguine Bargain cost a little more, but keep it an instant. (I could see it at 3BB or 4BB...not 6BB.)
For the record, I think it is fair as a 2BB sorcery, as there is a lot of risk in getting your life that low where at sorcery speed you would be very vulnerable before playing the card.
(And furthermore, setting life totals is rarely "strong" on Magic cards because it is generally overcosted; that is why it is never played.)
Your version of Omniscience is less fun than my original. (See the "spoiler" in my first post.) I'd rather just go back to that version if I had to. The only difference between them is that yours gives everyone a future sight, and mine just gives you a Sphinx of Jwar Isle ability. But anyway, I think the modified version now in my original post (suggested by TwoBah) is fine - any delay of game caused by this pales in comparison to a reusable shuffling effect, for example.
Jimmi/Luminum - I like that idea, but I feel like the use of other zones are corner cases anyway, and the current wording (without mentioning zones) is probably a lot easier for newer players to grasp.
I'm going to edit the card to that change, and not add a cantrip to it.
I'm also changing the name of the black card to Sanguine Bargain, as that actually fits the card's ability better, and makes it feel a little more black in flavor.
I think this is an incredibly well-done dual land and it is a shame that the lack of mana burn now more or less negates it. (Although it still can't be used for spells on your opponent's turn.)
Does this save it?
"At the end of your turn, if you did not spend mana produced by Barbarian Foothold, it deals 1 damage to you."
or some different wording - to make it clear that it pings you if you did not use the land to produce mana and spend that mana. the wording I put on it now is ambiguous, making it sound like its ping can be avoided by just not using the land to produce mana in a turn.
I like the idea of it as a 2/2 for WB too - or, for that matter, GB.
I had a typo when I said "4 mana Day of Judgment" - I meant 4-mana Final Judgment. (DoJ already is 4 mana, of course.) But thanks for proving the point I was trying to make: the "combo" knocks 2 mana off the cost of Final Judgment (not even, considering Tranquility-esque sweepers), which is a near-worthless two-card combo, and nothing to be worried about at all.
I'm sure enchantment.dec would love this card, and would be playing the enchantment-protecting cards anyway, but I think enchantment.dec is a deck we can safely encourage. (mainly because it doesn't yet exist.)
I'm going to quote myself from the beginning of the thread:
I think that sums up this card pretty well. What I missed was 4W as a cost, which is also probably fine, but given the card's heavy white-ness I think at least WW in the cost is warranted.
I'll also add that two 4-mana wraths in the same environment at the same time might be something to generate some concern - at the very least, it prevented wotc from ever printing another 4-mana wrath while wrath existed. Except the black one, of course. And I don't think many decks need/want wraths 5-8 anyway.
Assuming it works as intended, I'm fine with this guy. Simple and flavorful, as you said. Good design.
shepherd - fantastic design, I'm surprised this hasn't been printed.
dwarven recruit - pretty goofy, probably unplayable but has a little potential I guess.
rivermate - feels like this card has been done before, but if not, nice job.
undead marauder - reminds me of Kjeldoran Dead, only worse.
for future reference, it is MUCH easier to read cards if you post them like this:
CardName [mana cost]
Creature - [something]
p/t
Abilities
without extra lines in between.
Not really. It is a two-card combo that turns "Wrath of Dog" into a 4-mana Day of Judgment. That isn't that special.
Benalish cads - how about replace first strike with vigilance? Feels more appropriate. Also, you mention of Naf's Asp made me think that maybe white should get a creature that gives you additional life after it hits them, if they don't pay the mana.
devil's night - I designed a card long ago that I think would be a more elegant version of this. It isn't identical, but somewhat functionally similar:
4BB
Sorcery
Choose a creature. Destroy all other creatures, then put a +1/+1 counter on the chosen creature for each creature destroyed this way.
Something like that wording. Does about what yours does, only less messily, and feels rather mythic I think.
All the more reason why Elementals shouldn't be green's iconic creature type - and I'm fine with that, as I've been more in favor of Hydras ever since Megiddo first suggested it.
Meh...I'll defer to Megiddo's list of reasons why I don't think they should be iconic. What it boils down to for me is that they are just beasts with scales.
Now, I'm totally in favor of a set that takes place in a world with dinosaurs, and I'd like to see a bunch of dinosaur cards...but that doesn't mean that each set should get 0-2 mega-awesome dinosaurs from now on.
I think this is a phenomenal idea for a green ability, whether keyworded or not, but I also feel like it is getting away from the topic of what green's iconic creature should be. I don't think the green iconic needs to be defined by a specific keyword. (that goes for Hydras, too.)
Adenohydra is cool but could cost just XG. It is a lot like Protean Hydra but instead of doubling itself, it spreads (non-doubled) to others. It seems like a trade-off but not enough to make this worth G more.
But we need to compare it to comparable white mass removal aside from just Final Judgment. All white wraths are compared to either Wrath of God or now the nearly-identical DoJ. This has some advantages (ignores regeneration and indestructibility, prevents reanimation) and one disadvantage (can be "countered" by enchantment kill).
2WW might actually be fine in an environment with sufficient color splashing and enchantment destruction. 3WW would be safer, and 3WWW would be unplayable.