Having some spare time, I decided to start creating some more cards for my most recent project. Jace is going to be a partially relevant planeswalker in the story, and was hoping to have some feedback on some designs.
Now, in the latest plane I've been working on, the teachings of magic are HIGHLY restricted, however there are many underground groups that go against said order. Jace, deciding to see what had lead to such an incident on the plane while traversing the multiverse, has started to come up with concepts and theories of what could have happened as he is putting the pieces together of this planes history. Without further ado, Jace, Theorist of Logic.
Jace, Theorist of Logic2UU
Planeswalker - Jace (Mythic Rare) +2: Each opponent may draw a card. If they do, you may have target player draw cards equal to the number of cards drawn this way. 0: Until the beginning of your next upkeep, each time a player casts a spell, you may have target opponent draw a card. -3: Each opponent puts the top X cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard, where X is twice the number of cards in their hand. -7: Each player draws X number of cards for each card in their hand, where X is the number of cards in their hand.
Starting Loyalty: 3
Similar to other versions of Jace, he has a heavy emphasis on milling. What is different, however, is that the mill is based upon the opponents hand size, so many of these abilities emphasizing targeting an opponent for draw instead of yourself. His first ability can be a huge draw outlet, however it is dependent upon your opponents choices, and even still you may want to force that additional draw onto another player instead of yourself in preparation for one of his other abilities.
The second blue mythic is a huge draw/discard outlet that has the potential for tons of use.
Developmental Theory3UU
Instant (Mythic Rare)
Until end of turn, whenever a player casts a spell, draw a card.
Whenever you draw a card this turn, you may discard two cards. If you do, draw a card. “Theories are a prelude to success. For every thousands of failures, there is a truthful theory found.” -Jace, Planeswalker
Whenever Kankennon hears Rubber Ducky sung by Ernie from Sesame Street he can't help but try to take a bath. Sadly, any bath water he tries to get into instantly evaporates due to his own body temperature. Truly a sad curse for using the devil's oven to bake those delicious cookies as depicted in your avatar.
Much appreciated Kahmos for pointing out key aspects about why certain cards are in the deck!
After much consideration thanks to the comments thus far, I've come to the following changes...
-1 Gatecreeper Vine
+1 Gravecrawler
-1 Abrupt Decay
-1 Grisly Salvage
+2 Rancor
-1 Swamp
-1 Forest
+2 Cavern of Souls
Reasoning: Gatecreeper Vine is a wonderful card since he can be a discard outlet late game, or also be used to drop and fetch a swamp to recur Veilborn Ghoul. While he is handy for this, the tempo I need for the decks manabase is pretty low, so losing one shouldn't hurt too much, especially considering I'm filling his position with an additional Gravecrawler.
Given that I'm adding another gravecrawler which can't be used as a blocker, the inclusion of a couple of Rancor's sounds ideal. I am, however, keeping Ranger's guile at 4 due to alternative methods of dealing with the Troll that regen won't save him from. (looking at you bounce, exile, flicker). Golgari Charm is also being untouched due to the decent number of token spawnings currently (yay -1/-1 to the field) and the various enchantments that may prove to be a large hindrance that Abrupt Decay cannot hit. (Hi martial law, Conjured Currency, Sphere of Safety, ect.)
Since the only creature in the deck that is not a zombie is Gatecreeper Vine, Cavern of Souls seems like a prominent and understandable choice.
Thanks for responding Kahmos, and glad to see you joining in the mtg salvation chat!
Rancor, I admit, is an astoundingly good card, there is absolutely no doubt. However, with the fact that the main creature the deck is built around already has trample, I find it a little more difficult to warrant it. In addition, if he leaves field once, even if its blink, bounce, whatever, poof goes the counters. This said, I was trying to think of what would be best for protecting the Lotleth Troll from encountering such a situation, hence the ranger's guile.
The others I can agree I could maybe take out for something else, but its simply a matter of what, if not Rancor since its not benefiting the deck to its absolute potential compared to other aggressive based decks.
You know the troll... No, not the troll you find on forums, and certainly not the one that lives under a bridge... I'm talking about the troll that eats on peoples flesh, the lovely little Lotleth Troll! This is a deck dedicated to this bad boy who has had a little too much protein.
Most of the deck is revolved around feeding the monster of the deck, although there are some that aren't just fodder. Gatecreeper Vine, for instance, allows us to grab our basic lands we need, and if we already have the manabase, more swamps to return Veilborn Ghoul back to hand to be discarded again. While Dreg Mangler is something you can discard, in some cases it may be better just to actually play him, and then use his scavenge later to power up the monstrosity of the deck.
The enchantments may seem like an odd choice at first, but having mana open each turn for at least one regeneration or one green mana for Ranger's Guile at any given time seems like a viable choice in my opinion. A secondary option for using the Urban Burgeoning is to provide more draw engine via Underworld Connections, allowing potentially more answers to issues or more power to our flesh-eating zombie.
If you have an suggestions or recommendations for improving the deck, all input would be greatly appreciated!
I could see this at rare I mean come on Exhume was made at common rarity so yeah. Though it could cost 1 more.
Exhume, however, assisted each player, not just yourself. In addition, you have to consider the time in which they printed that card, Urza's block, which is pretty renowned for having a broad number of pretty darn broken cards.
I would say the cost should probably be BB at least, possibly even 1BB. I would lean towards more of the 1BB considering the effect currently is for ANY graveyard, not just your own.
I really like the tactics mechanic... heck, if you don't mind, may I use that in one of my future sets?
As for the gold mechanic, might I recommend changing the reminder text to "Players may spend a gold counter instead of 1 life or 1 to cast spells."?
This gives a more explicit number that people can go by. Although most people would assume such, some may see it as paying for the whole colorless cost or the whole life payment.
As for tactics, it may not be as confusing or outright broken as banding, but it keeps one of the core mechanics, which is reassigning combat damage. I think this will simply irritate players too much. I think you should just stick with the en-Kor mechanics.
I would have to agree with Sigismond0 for the most part. Comparison for leyline of the plague, look at Night of Souls' Betrayal. Same mana cost, -1/-1, affects everyone, and doesn't even have the leyline effect, and is legendary, and people still love it.
As for a red leyline, although some randomness in mtg can be appreciated, making the entire game based on coin flip luck throughout the entire game makes it too chaotic to the point where you question whether your going to get completely screwed over my gravity demanding it lands on tails.
And I thought that Darksteel Reactor was easy to pull off with a gilder bairn here, and a paradox haze there... Shesh this thing is going to be nuts in modern janky decks.
5/5 as he costs four colored mana. Is that too much?
Fight is green removal, and I would call it balanced. And what if I in some magical way enchant this creature granting it flying? A big wolf flying around doesn't make anymore sense, yet enchantments grant flying to creature without weight restrictions.
Moonmist turns a grant total of five non-Werewolf Humans, and as this ability only target your Humans I left it out. And since it reads Human it should not work to target Huntmaster of the Fells in response to a transformation on stack. Changing it for the improved flavor.
Considering that all of the mana used has to be specific colors, allowing almost no splashability, I would say its fine.
As for the moonmist comparison that everyone is making, I have to agree with movexig. You have to consider that Moonmist is a one time thing, although it also acts as a fog. This guy can transform them the instant they touch field as he's putting out additional transform creatures, and ensure that they don't transform back, which is the main feature keeping the power level of the transformed versions in check. I would either up the cost on the ability to 1G, or have it be G,T. Another way to go about balancing it is taking out the "Non-human werewolves cannot transform" part, as that is potentially a bit over the top when you add all these features together, then put it side by side by Immerwolf.
You'll always control a creature with the highest mana cost among creatures you control. As long as you have a creature anyway. No reason for it to have "if".
"The creature you control with the highest converted mana cost X."
Or if they're only supposed to be active when you have the highest mana cost of all, take off the "you control" at the end.
This is incorrect, as if there is a tie in converted mana cost, it would not be one creature with the highest, meaning confusion of authority for those in the "lower ranks". Thankfully, Kassow already stated this.
The keyword is meant to only be active if your highest converted mana cost creature is the only with its cost. Meaning a Baneslayer Angel and a Sengir Vampire won't get any boost if they are both the highest amoung creature he controls.
I like the keyword. Very flavourful. Feels like something Bant could have had.
Much appreciated! I got some inspiration from bant's keyword exalted. Although this can provide additional types of bonus's compared to just one-ones, you are restricted to having those bonus's on your highest converted mana cost, no matter how much you wanted it on your unblockable two drop (atleast, normally).
Nice keyword and ability. Why didn't you go for Royalty or Nobility (or something similar) as the keyword name? The flavor description sounds so feudal/serfdom; Hierarchy probably just works with your plane flavor better.
Royalty and Nobility seemed alot more specific in where it was directed at. I was trying to think of a name that was more open-ended, and could be applied to other things, as example, the hierarchy of a food chain within nature.
Revival of the Fittest - To be honest, I'm not sure where this fits in with this day and age. VERY rarely do we see low cost recursion since the olden days of magic that has been a bygone age. It is true that you could compare to Exhume, but you also have to take into consideration how much they have pushed creature power over the years compared to when Exhume came out, which happened to be what many consider the most broken time for spells overall, Urza's Saga.
Moss Elemental - a 5/5 beatstick for 5 is good. A 5/5 beatstick that essentially has built in Druid's Call is amazing. A 5/5 beatstick with build in druid's call that recurs itself at no expense or cost, that's over the top. Also, don't just consider against other colors. Also consider against mirror matches. I play Moss Elemental. My opponent plays Moss Elemental. I attack, he blocks, I pump to have my moss elemental kill hi-oh wait, whats the point?
Empathic Bonds - Although burn is usually reds thing, don't forget that black has had its fair share as well. An interesting effect to say the least though. I would probably bump the cost up to 2BBW.
Next: Catacomb Slug
Now, in the latest plane I've been working on, the teachings of magic are HIGHLY restricted, however there are many underground groups that go against said order. Jace, deciding to see what had lead to such an incident on the plane while traversing the multiverse, has started to come up with concepts and theories of what could have happened as he is putting the pieces together of this planes history. Without further ado, Jace, Theorist of Logic.
Jace, Theorist of Logic 2UU
Planeswalker - Jace (Mythic Rare)
+2: Each opponent may draw a card. If they do, you may have target player draw cards equal to the number of cards drawn this way.
0: Until the beginning of your next upkeep, each time a player casts a spell, you may have target opponent draw a card.
-3: Each opponent puts the top X cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard, where X is twice the number of cards in their hand.
-7: Each player draws X number of cards for each card in their hand, where X is the number of cards in their hand.
Starting Loyalty: 3
Similar to other versions of Jace, he has a heavy emphasis on milling. What is different, however, is that the mill is based upon the opponents hand size, so many of these abilities emphasizing targeting an opponent for draw instead of yourself. His first ability can be a huge draw outlet, however it is dependent upon your opponents choices, and even still you may want to force that additional draw onto another player instead of yourself in preparation for one of his other abilities.
The second blue mythic is a huge draw/discard outlet that has the potential for tons of use.
Developmental Theory 3UU
Instant (Mythic Rare)
Until end of turn, whenever a player casts a spell, draw a card.
Whenever you draw a card this turn, you may discard two cards. If you do, draw a card.
“Theories are a prelude to success. For every thousands of failures, there is a truthful theory found.” -Jace, Planeswalker
After much consideration thanks to the comments thus far, I've come to the following changes...
-1 Gatecreeper Vine
+1 Gravecrawler
-1 Abrupt Decay
-1 Grisly Salvage
+2 Rancor
-1 Swamp
-1 Forest
+2 Cavern of Souls
Reasoning: Gatecreeper Vine is a wonderful card since he can be a discard outlet late game, or also be used to drop and fetch a swamp to recur Veilborn Ghoul. While he is handy for this, the tempo I need for the decks manabase is pretty low, so losing one shouldn't hurt too much, especially considering I'm filling his position with an additional Gravecrawler.
Given that I'm adding another gravecrawler which can't be used as a blocker, the inclusion of a couple of Rancor's sounds ideal. I am, however, keeping Ranger's guile at 4 due to alternative methods of dealing with the Troll that regen won't save him from. (looking at you bounce, exile, flicker). Golgari Charm is also being untouched due to the decent number of token spawnings currently (yay -1/-1 to the field) and the various enchantments that may prove to be a large hindrance that Abrupt Decay cannot hit. (Hi martial law, Conjured Currency, Sphere of Safety, ect.)
Since the only creature in the deck that is not a zombie is Gatecreeper Vine, Cavern of Souls seems like a prominent and understandable choice.
4 Lotleth Troll
4 Gravecrawler
4 Slitherhead
3 Dreg Mangler
3 Gatecreeper Vine
2 Veilborn Ghoul
4 Urban Burgeoning
2 Rancor
2 Underworld Connections
Instants: 12
4 Ranger's Guile
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Golgari Charm
2 Grisly Salvage
2 Cavern of Souls
4 Overgrown Tomb
7 Swamp
7 Forest
Rancor, I admit, is an astoundingly good card, there is absolutely no doubt. However, with the fact that the main creature the deck is built around already has trample, I find it a little more difficult to warrant it. In addition, if he leaves field once, even if its blink, bounce, whatever, poof goes the counters. This said, I was trying to think of what would be best for protecting the Lotleth Troll from encountering such a situation, hence the ranger's guile.
The others I can agree I could maybe take out for something else, but its simply a matter of what, if not Rancor since its not benefiting the deck to its absolute potential compared to other aggressive based decks.
4 Lotleth Troll
4 Gatecreeper Vine
4 Slitherhead
3 Dreg Mangler
3 Gravecrawler
2 Veilborn Ghoul
4 Urban Burgeoning
2 Underworld Connections
Instants: 14
4 Abrupt Decay
4 Ranger's Guile
3 Golgari Charm
3 Grisly Salvage
4 Overgrown Tomb
8 Swamp
8 Forest
Most of the deck is revolved around feeding the monster of the deck, although there are some that aren't just fodder. Gatecreeper Vine, for instance, allows us to grab our basic lands we need, and if we already have the manabase, more swamps to return Veilborn Ghoul back to hand to be discarded again. While Dreg Mangler is something you can discard, in some cases it may be better just to actually play him, and then use his scavenge later to power up the monstrosity of the deck.
The enchantments may seem like an odd choice at first, but having mana open each turn for at least one regeneration or one green mana for Ranger's Guile at any given time seems like a viable choice in my opinion. A secondary option for using the Urban Burgeoning is to provide more draw engine via Underworld Connections, allowing potentially more answers to issues or more power to our flesh-eating zombie.
If you have an suggestions or recommendations for improving the deck, all input would be greatly appreciated!
Exhume, however, assisted each player, not just yourself. In addition, you have to consider the time in which they printed that card, Urza's block, which is pretty renowned for having a broad number of pretty darn broken cards.
I would say the cost should probably be BB at least, possibly even 1BB. I would lean towards more of the 1BB considering the effect currently is for ANY graveyard, not just your own.
As for the gold mechanic, might I recommend changing the reminder text to "Players may spend a gold counter instead of 1 life or 1 to cast spells."?
This gives a more explicit number that people can go by. Although most people would assume such, some may see it as paying for the whole colorless cost or the whole life payment.
EDIT:
Actually I would recommend going AWAY from the en-kor mechanics. This is because of abuse with targeting features, such as Angelic Protector, Cephalid Illusionist, Daru Spiritualist, or Task Force.
As for a red leyline, although some randomness in mtg can be appreciated, making the entire game based on coin flip luck throughout the entire game makes it too chaotic to the point where you question whether your going to get completely screwed over my gravity demanding it lands on tails.
Considering that all of the mana used has to be specific colors, allowing almost no splashability, I would say its fine.
Green isn't just a green ability, as it is also red. This is shown in Blood Feud, Magus of the Arena, Rivals' Duel, and essentially Alpha Brawl.
As for the moonmist comparison that everyone is making, I have to agree with movexig. You have to consider that Moonmist is a one time thing, although it also acts as a fog. This guy can transform them the instant they touch field as he's putting out additional transform creatures, and ensure that they don't transform back, which is the main feature keeping the power level of the transformed versions in check. I would either up the cost on the ability to 1G, or have it be G,T. Another way to go about balancing it is taking out the "Non-human werewolves cannot transform" part, as that is potentially a bit over the top when you add all these features together, then put it side by side by Immerwolf.
Just my two cents though.
Will adjust with the "exactly one" to make it more clear.
This is incorrect, as if there is a tie in converted mana cost, it would not be one creature with the highest, meaning confusion of authority for those in the "lower ranks". Thankfully, Kassow already stated this.
Much appreciated! I got some inspiration from bant's keyword exalted. Although this can provide additional types of bonus's compared to just one-ones, you are restricted to having those bonus's on your highest converted mana cost, no matter how much you wanted it on your unblockable two drop (atleast, normally).
Royalty and Nobility seemed alot more specific in where it was directed at. I was trying to think of a name that was more open-ended, and could be applied to other things, as example, the hierarchy of a food chain within nature.
Thank you for the correction! Made adjustments accordingly!
Moss Elemental - a 5/5 beatstick for 5 is good. A 5/5 beatstick that essentially has built in Druid's Call is amazing. A 5/5 beatstick with build in druid's call that recurs itself at no expense or cost, that's over the top. Also, don't just consider against other colors. Also consider against mirror matches. I play Moss Elemental. My opponent plays Moss Elemental. I attack, he blocks, I pump to have my moss elemental kill hi-oh wait, whats the point?
Empathic Bonds - Although burn is usually reds thing, don't forget that black has had its fair share as well. An interesting effect to say the least though. I would probably bump the cost up to 2BBW.