MTG Salvation

He works outside the box.

Question with No Answer
Enchantment (R)
As Question with No Answer comes into play, name exactly seven cards.
When a spell is played, if it has the same name as one of the cards you named, sacirifce Question with No Answer. If you do, remove that spell card from the game. (It has no effect.)
Sometimes an answer is all it takes.

Yes, but you don't have to name seven cards that are in that player's deck. An example: If you have to name cards the player has, and you know he has Shock AND Giant Solifuge, you'd have to name both Shock AND Giant Solifuge. The player, being smart, will play Shock first, then Giant Solifuge after so you can't counter it. However, you are smart, and the card doesn't make you name cards the opponent actually has. So what you do is you name Mox Pearl, Sapphire, Emerald, Jet, Ruby, and Black Lotus, and Giant Solifuge as the seventh card, effectively turning this into a Meddling Mage for U.

The other way to play this card is to name cards you know (or guess) the opponent has. That gives them greater flexibility on how to handle your card and trigger it, but it also gives you a greater chance of not simply losing U and a card that does nothing (if you name 6 random cards and 1 Giant Solifuge, they can just Demonfire you to death, for example).

FINALLY, memory problems: keeping track of 7 named cards requires a piece of paper... oh well... I guess... 1 of these per set only! At least it's not something like counting turns...

Utopia
Legendary Land
: Add to your mana pool
Threshold --
:symu::symu:, , Sacrifice Utopia, but instead of placing it in your graveyard, remove it from the game: Counter Target Spell.
:symg::symg:: until end of turn Utopia becomes 3/3 creature with trample. At end of turn, Sacrifice Utopia, but instead of placing it in your graveyard, remove it from the game.
:symr::symr:, , Sacrifice Utopia, but instead of placing it in your graveyard, remove it from the game: Utopia deals 3 damage divided between any number of creatures and/or players.
:symw::symw:, , Sacrifice Utopia, but instead of placing it in your graveyard, remove it from the game: Put a white 2/2 Knight creature token into play.
:symb::symb:, , Sacrifice Utopia, but instead of placing it in your graveyard, remove it from the game: Destroy target nonblack creature. It can't be regenerated
"Paradise is what you make of it"

Well, Threshold isn't a keyword anymore, so you have to do the "as long as you have seven or more cards..." thing... Being legendary gives it some leeways, but the abilities are a lot better than the old Threshold-activated lands like Barbarian Ring and Cephalid Coliseum. Compare Shock and 1.5Careful Study to Arc Lightning and Cancel. And the land doesn't even give you pain (although it gives colorless.) I also wouldn't name it Utopia... that's like an untouchable name =p
There is a nice contrast here between requiring CC mana and yet producing no mana of its own, making it difficult to activate early in multicolored decks.
I also don't know why you don't just say "CC, T, Remove Utopia from the game: Blah" or make Elephant/Beast tokens for the green ability. The white ability is too similar to green also.


Next:


Mutant Nymph 1G
Creature - Insect Mutant
Graft 2
When Mutant Nymph comes into play, if you have W in your mana pool, remove a +1/+1 counter from it and put two 1/1 green Insect creature tokens into play.
When Mutant Nymph comes into play, if you have U in your mana pool, remove a +1/+1 counter from it and draw two cards.
0/0
Evolution, or mere indecision?

mutant nyphm - a bit too powerful imo, it basically a bear for green mana,
three tokens for GW or a 1/1 + 2cards for GU.
i don't mind the two token ability too much but drawing two cards and getting a creature is just too powerful.

Keeper of Desires 2UUU
Creature - Djinn
Flying
1, Sacrifice ~, each players reveals their hand, you may play any revealed card without paying its mana cost, then each player may also play a card from their hand without paying its mana cost.
2/4

Keeper of Desires: You're missing a colon there. Presumably, the ability costs "1, Sacrifice <THIS>" and the rest is the effect. It's effectively a super-Eureka (of sorts), and any X burn spell will win you the game. Of course, if your opponent has two X spells, they'll win first (since their spell is played last.) You might want to change it to allow you to play any spell with CMC less than the number of cards in your hand, which limits the damage.

Also, the name doesn't sound Djinn-y.

.

Capture the Future -- 4WUB
Sorcery
You win the next game you would play against target opponent this day.

Quote from dawnseeker

mutant nyphm - a bit too powerful imo, it basically a bear for green mana,
three tokens for GW or a 1/1 + 2cards for GU.
i don't mind the two token ability too much but drawing two cards and getting a creature is just too powerful.

That's not what it does.
Here's what it does:

1G = 2/2 bear
1G+U floating = 1/1 creature + 2 cards
1G+W floating = 3 x 1/1 creatures
1G+WU floating = 2 1/1 creatures + 2 cards

I still think that 1GU is a bit cheap for 2 cards and a 1/1.

Capture the Future - You're not going to make many friends with this card. You know that, right?

Anyway, here's a card I made a while back:

Arsonist
:4mana::symr:
Creature - Human Mercenary
2/3
Haste
When Arsonist comes into play, destroy target nonbasic land.
"Set the fire, and run! It's so easy, even a child could do it."
-Zofar grunt

Compared to Avalanche Riders, it feels a little weak (mostly because it only mangles non-basics)...maybe a 3/3 for 3RR? Good flavor, though, although I think I'd like a more descriptive name, like Fiery Arsonist, or somesuch.

Aetherjag Nantuko 5G
Creature - Insect
Suspend 4 — GG
Morph — GGG
When Aetherjag Nantuko is turned face up, destroy up to two target artifacts and/or enchantments.
6/6
As slippery as a barbed mass of teeth can be.

Note: Morph can be used any time that you could play a card, so if you pay GG to suspend this guy, then 4 turns later you remove the last time counter, you can still pay 3 to put him into play as a 2/2 (if you want to take advantage of the destruction). Of course, then you're paying 3GGGGG for him, but hey.

Barbtooth Wurm + Disadvantage = Sulam Djinn / Johtull Wurm, not + 2 toughness + Advantage = Aetherjag Nantuko.

Your card needs to be a 5/5 for 5G, 6/5 for 4GG, or 6/6 for 3GGG.
The Morph is costly and doesn't instantly take care of problem arti/enc, especially when after a turn or so they begin to be really annoying. It also has Morph, but Morph creatures generally aren't good enough to work without amazing abilities (Exalted Angel). 3+GGG for something with 5-6 power (depending on how you fix it) that doesn't have evasion might be cut it. It also requires a heavy green investment, but it will give you answers to problem arti/enc maindeck. It's a very expensive answer, though, and people usually don't run Creeping Mold or Desert Twister either even though they're versatile.

The Suspend seems tacked on but actually is made more powerful by the fact that the creature already has several options of being played. A 4-turn Suspend isn't much useful in aggro, though.

Next:

Bide 1
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
At the beginning of each upkeep, tap enchanted creature and put a +1/+1 counter on it.
Discard a card: Return Bide to its owner's hand.
"With a little patience, your skin shall become as steel and your muscles as rock. Of course, it might be a bit hard to move." -Druid battleshaman

Should be GW or even 1GW. You have one green effect (growth) and one white effect (tapping). White shouldn't get growth that fast on it's own creatures, and green shouldn't be that good at locking down it's opponents. This is a gold card, not a hybrid card.

Goblin Shiv 0
Artifact - Equipment
Equipeed creature gets +1/+0.
Equip 1

Quote from Cantripmancer

Aetherjag Nantuko 5G
Creature - Insect
Suspend 4 — GG
Morph — GGG
When Aetherjag Nantuko is turned face up, destroy up to two target artifacts and/or enchantments.
6/6
As slippery as a barbed mass of teeth can be.

Note: Morph can be used any time that you could play a card, so if you pay GG to suspend this guy, then 4 turns later you remove the last time counter, you can still pay 3 to put him into play as a 2/2 (if you want to take advantage of the destruction). Of course, then you're paying 3GGGGG for him, but hey.

I would just like to point out that you can't use two replacement effects at the same time. If you use Suspend, you can't play it face down using morph.

Also, this just feels like an attempt to supe up Nantuko Vigilante.

EDIT: Suspend is really out of place on this card. Take off suspend. Increase the mana cost to 4GG or 6G.

Quote from Jaxal1

Should be GW or even 1GW. You have one green effect (growth) and one white effect (tapping). White shouldn't get growth that fast on it's own creatures, and green shouldn't be that good at locking down it's opponents. This is a gold card, not a hybrid card.

Green has Tangle and the "doesn't untap" snakes from Kamigawa.
White has so many combat tricks I'm not even going to list them... and they usually give +1/+1 or better. Plus white +/+ Auras aren't half bad. Also, Biding for later is white.
It will definitely fit as gold, but I'm just stretching it a bit to be hybrid...

Storm decks have free spells in every single format to play already. They don't need this... but this IS +1 free mana for Affinity. Of course, not that affinity doesn't ALREADY have good free artifacts. Maybe have it do something with goblins?

Shivan Magician seems black. Shiv is traditionally red/black anyway, and the YawgWin / Sins of the Past / Toshiro Umezawa thing is black.

Its red ability isn't awesome, but works well when combined with the other one. The ability is actually a sort of drawback when you consider that it has the other drawback... after all, paying RR for a mere +1 damage isn't worth it, especially on a creature so horribly bad at combat.


Spark of Power 1R
Instant
2B: Put a 3/3 black, red, and green Graveborn creature token with haste into play. Remove it from the game at end of turn.
2R: Spark of Power deals 2 damage target player and each creature he or she controls.
2G: Destroy target artifact, enchantment, or nonbasic land. Play this ability only while Spark of Power is on the stack.

(...if only I had the (mana) commands ingrained in my memory, this would be much easier to reply to every time... ...and yeah, I forgot how to do the Tap symbol. )

Shouldn't those abilities on that card be kickers? As it is (or even with kickers), that's way too many abilities on a red card and probably undoable (of course it'll need a FAQ to go with it). You could probably just make it a 1BRG rare instant with reduced abilities, but even then, it could be too undercosted. I'd say those would be better as seperate cards and not a card full of chaos.

Pits of Sacrifice 6
Artifact (R)
6, sacrifice a creature, T: Add an amount of mana equal to the sacrificed creature's mana cost. If the sacrificed creature was black, that amount is doubled.

@ Bide
This can work as a hybrid card. That isn't the problem. The problem is the +/+1 each upkeep. It shouldn't get extra counters if it is already tapped. At least not with a two mana enchantment.

At the beginning of each upkeep, tap enchanted creature. If you do, put a +1/+1 counter on it.

It might also need a mana cost in addition to the discard on the bounce ability.

@ Goblin Shiv
This isn't really that much different than Shuko or Paradise Mantle. And truthfully, the only time this is better than Shuko is if you have an Auriok Steelshaper in play (and in that case I would much rather have Bonesplitter or Leonin Scimitar). Otherwise, Shuko is almost always a better piece of equipment.

@ Shivan Magician
This is not blue. It is black. This type of spell recursion has always been black.

Quote from Morsetlis

Spark of Power 1R
Instant
2B: Put a 3/3 black, red, and green Graveborn creature token with haste into play. Remove it from the game at end of turn.
2R: Spark of Power deals 2 damage target player and each creature he or she controls.
2G: Destroy target artifact, enchantment, or nonbasic land. Play this ability only while Spark of Power is on the stack.

Are the first two abilities also supposed to have the last part of the third ability?

@ Pits of Sacrifice
Well, it is an artifact and it is repeatable, but looking at Burnt Offering, both the card and the ability could cost less. Maybe 4 to play and -3 to activate? As is, you curently need a seven mana creature just to net yourself any mana. I would also remove the part about black creatures.

---

Breath of Fire 2R
Instant (R)
As an additional cost to play Breath of Fire, tap an untapped Dragon with power X you control.
The tapped Dragon deals X damage to each other creature and each player.

I would like Breath of Fire better if you could tap a dragon as a kicker cost. Like, if you don't tap a dragon its simply an overcosted pyroclasm or something.


Mind-Bolt Memomancer- UU
Creature- Human Psionist
At the beginning of your upkeep, this deals 3 damage to target blue creature you control. At the end of turn, if that creature is still in play, you may pay U. If you do, draw three cards.
Sometimes all you need is a good bonk to the head to remember.
1/3
*art description*
The telepath, clutching another mage's head, channeling psychic energy. The other mage's eyes are contorted in pain and realization. He froths from his twisted smile as blood pours from his nose.

Breath of Fire - Flavorwise, I like it but it should really only affect creatures without flying. The templating is also bit off though.

As an additional cost to play Breath of Fire, tap an untapped Dragon you control.
It deals damage equal it's power to each creature and player.

Mind-Bolt Memomancer - Very interesting effect. Three cards a turn (if you can keep it alive) seems a bit overpowered though. Maybe if you had to pay U for each card drawn.

_______________________________________________

Spectral Philter 3
Artifact [u]
3, T, Sacrifice Spectral Philter: Discard your hand then draw a card

Did an Izzzzzet Nomenmancer mess with that card? =p
Anyway, Jayemdae Tome and friends have had their chance to shine in the sun. From now on colorless Tomes aren't worth much anymore... and that's if yo udidn't have to sacrifice it. Now, you DO have to sacrifice it, so it's not even a weird tome. If you want Madness/Flashback enablers there's better cards than that. Oh, sure, it gives you quick Hellbent... but Hellbent sucks, even if there are good pseudo-hellbent cards (like Magus of the Scroll). All in all, comparable to Skullmead Cauldron in terms of silliness. The name doesn't quite make sense to me. How is discarding hand = Spectral or Philter?

I might be missing some weird interactions with it... but I just don't see the possibilities of it being interesting, useful, or good. I mean, One With Nothing was novel, but...

Next:

Dracolich's Breath 1B
Sorcery
1B: Target player loses 2 life. You gain 2 life. Play this ability only while Dracolich's Breath is on the stack.
1B: Target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn. Play this ability only while Dracolich's Breath is on the stack.

Can also be an enchantment that gets sacrifice at end of turn, but that defeats the point of the gimmick. (Oh, yeah, most interesting cards have gimmicks.)

(Some people compared this to kicker, which is stupid since they obviously don't know how activated abilities are different from kicker. -_-)
(They are also the ones who accused a red card of being chaotic.)
(If you need something to compare it to, Primitive Justice.)

Dracolich's breath - not bad.

Clockwork Goblin 4

Artifact Creature - Clockwork Goblin

T: Add R to your mana pool.
4R: Put a creature token into play that is a copy of Clockwork Goblin.
R,T: Target clockwork gains first strike until end of turn.

2/2

Quote from Drago0n »

Clockwork Goblin

Artifact Creature - Clockwork Goblin

:symtap:: Add to your mana pool.
:4mana::symr:: Put a creature token into play that is a copy of Clockwork Goblin.
:symr:, :symtap:: Target clockwork gains first strike until end of turn.

2/2

A Goblin that replicates itself? I like that Idea. It seems balanced, and playable. I like the idea of having made 5, netting you 5 extra mana to play with from 1 card :D.

Dracolich's Breath: I think the best way to template it would be:

Dracolich's Breath :1mana::symb:
Sorcery
Choose one—Target player loses 2 life and you gain 2 life, or target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
Replicate :1mana::symb:

My idea:

Excite :1mana::symu::symu:
Instant R
Trigger a triggered ability of a card in play, in a graveyard, or on the stack.

Dracolich's Breath: Because I think "not bad" is not unsufficient for a good critique, I go along with mine: you told us to compare it with Primitive Justice - so, if your card is so similar to this, why not word it like it? Just because of the fact you then have activated abilities on a sorcery?
Anyway, I think it's too weak:
1B: nothing
2BB: lose 2 life, gain 2 life
3BBB: lose 4 life, gain 4 life
...
2BB: -2/-2
3BBB: -4/-4
...
3BBB: lose 2 life, gain 2 life, -2/-2
Considering this will cost many B if you want a good effect, that's simply too expensive. Maybe let the spell cost B, then it's a bit better - or let it cost BB and the abilities 2 or 3 each... Don't know how to fix it correctly, but somehow it has to change

Clockwork Goblin: Clockwork is not a creature type, let's just have it goblin, that'll do it just fine... Also, clockwork creature all have to do with counters (ignoring Clockwork Gnomes) - that's what makes the clockwork...
But with a new name, fixed creature types and a twist to the third ability (maybe "target goblin gains first strike"), I have nothing to complaint any more


Mind Bridge 5
Artifact
Tap an untapped land an opponent controls: Add one mana of any color that land could produce to your mana pool. Play this ability only during your turn.
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, untap all lands your opponents control.

Mind Bridge - aside from being broken, it is a very interesting card. I think any effect this powerful needs to be symmetric in order to be balanced, and even then, as an artifact, it may still be way too good. Perhaps as an actual sorcery it may be less broken.
________________________________________

Dark Premonition XXUB
Sorcery - Arcane

Lifecast 2 (When this spell is announced, you may choose to pay two life for each point of the value of X instead of mana. Otherwise spend mana on X as normal.)

Search your library for X cards. Place them on top of your library in any order.
Draw a card.

sounds like a good card but Sensei's Divining Top seems like such a better card since u only pay 1 to look at 3

been a while so im a bit rusty

Call to Silence
4W
Enchantment
T3 Target oppoent can't play any creatures (play this anytime you could play a instant) then sacrifice Call to Silence

Call to Silence: Since I don't understand what this card is supposed to do, I can't critique it properly. A couple of things- Activated abilities are instant speed unless explicitly stated (Cabal Inquisitor), and enchantments don't tap (unless you Flame Fusillade). Also, is it permanent or "Until end of turn"? If it's the former, congratulations for making the most broken combo with Wrath of God ever. If it's the latter, it's kinda weak. If it's "Until end of turn", cost it at 1W and, since repeating the effect in response to the sacrifice would be useless (unlike Goblin Cannon), format it like so:

Call to Silence 1W
Enchantment
:3mana:, Sacrifice Call to Silence: Target opponent can't play creature spells this turn.

...

Beholder of Lost Souls 4B
Creature - Eye
When Beholder of Lost Souls comes into play, you may destroy target non-Eye enchanted creature. If you do, attach all Auras attached to that creature to Beholder of Lost Souls.
It sees only what it can take from you.
2/3

That Sphere of Taxing sounds nice, but it only increases the cost of spells just by generic mana, right? Or does it make the spells that cost less than X have no color requirements and just a higher mana cost?

Thriving Moment
2RR
Creature – Avatar
Haste
~ gets +1/+1 for each other creature with haste in play.
2/2

The name is a strange and creative way to make a creature interesting. Unfortunately, it sucks. It should cost at most 1RR, and should be something like:

Thriving Moment 1RR
Creature - Avatar
Haste
Thriving Moment gets +1/+1 for each other creature with haste.
Each other creature with haste gets +1/+1.
2/2

This is because hasty creatures are generally weak power-wise unless they die at end of turn. The good ones right now in T2 are Avalanche Rider, Solifuge, and Akroma. The ones that cost 3 mana or less are too weak so your creature won't be able to capitalize on that.

Next:

Schizobolt 2R
Sorcery
Schizobolt deals 5 damage divided randomly between target creature and that creature's controller.

(Luck + Big flashy effects = win!)

Nice spin on red spells -- although "randomly divided" might cause a little of problems, especially in determining whether a 0/5 split is permissible. May also cause problems when one or the other is untargetable.

.

Slipstream Predator -- 3U
Creature - Bird Warrior
Suspend 5 - U.
Flying.
<THIS> gets +1/+1 for each suspended card.
1/1

Slipstream Predator- Very interesting idea, could've been used in TS to good effect. But, the card itself is fairly weak. Unless you have like 4 Lotus Blooms or something, it will usually be a 2/2 or a 3/3 at best. I'd lower the mana cost to 1UU and make it have suspend 4.

Fire Infusion
2RR
Enchantment
Whenever you play a spell, counter it, and deal 3 damage to target creature or player.