Long time Cuber and Card designer here. I've decided to try and tackle a custom cube yet again, but this time I'm going to give it a shot in more manageable 3 card bursts. I'll be keeping the set skeleton and all designs I post (or their fixed versions that you critique) in the Set Creation subforum: Altaurus321's Custom Cube. This will allow me to stay organized and focused.
Design Standards/Goals:
1. This is a 360 card cube. 50 cards in each color, 60 Guild, and 50 Colorless.
2: The majority of card's need to be easily grokkable. Player's are playing with hundreds of cards they've never seen before. Making each design easy to understand will make the whole process alot smoother.
3. Creature card power levels should be around the current design standards, and noncreature card power levels should be around Urza's block design standards. Planeswalker's will be measured on a case by case basis.
4. There will be reprints in this cube (roughly 10%). I will be choosing the most simplistic cube effects used (Think Lightning Bolt and Original Dual lands) and using them to take a bit of work load off of this project, and give the players of a bit of familiarity.
Thanks for the feedback on Pt 1, it was quite helpful and I hope it continues I understand that feedback is a two way street, so I will be trying to become more active on these forums and doing my share of critiquing as well!
I think I'm going to focus on mono colored cards for a bit because the multicolor spots should be used to fill holes in archetypes and/or strengthen an overall theme, so coming last would make more sense.
[White, C_CMC4]
Immortal Elder 2WW
Creature - Human Cleric {U}
3/2
When Immortal Elder enters the battlefield, gain 2 life. Then if you have more life than an opponent, draw a card.
Persist
[White, C_CMC2]
Fearless Veteran1W
Creature - Human Soldier {R}
2/1
When Fearless Veteran dies, you may return it to the battlefield flipped.
//////////////// Hero's Memorial
Legendary Artifact {R}
Creatures you control get +1/+0. A hero's death sews the seed of vengeance.
[Blue, NC_CMC3]
Unparalleled Foresight 2U
Instant {U}
Counter target spell unless it's controller pays 3. Purified - At the beginning of your next main phase, if only blue mana was spent to cast Unparalleled Foresight, add 3 to your mana pool.
Unparalleled Foresight 1U
Instant {U}
Counter target spell unless it's controller pays 2. Purified - At the beginning of your next upkeep, if only U was spent to cast Unparalleled Foresight, draw a card.
Unparalleled Foresight 1UU
Instant
Counter target spell. Purified - At the beginning of your next main phase, if only blue mana was spent to cast Unparalleled Foresight, add 1UU to your mana pool.
Fearless Knight1W
Creature - Human Knight {R}
2/1
First strike
When Fearless Knight dies, you may return it to the battlefield transformed.
//////////////// Hero's Memorial
Legendary Artifact {R}
Creatures you control get +1/+0 and have first strike. A hero's death sews the seed of vengeance
Since you're designing the cube from the ground up it might be nice to start by outlining some of the strategies and archetypes you want to create. Otherwise you're just making a bunch of random cards and watching the strategies emerge (which is a totally fine way of doing it, but it makes design a lot harder since everything is scattered and broad).
Also, even though everything is going to be a one-of, i'd still assign rarity to things as it lets us know about what level you were intending the card to be at.
I really like immortal elder, then again, I liked Survival Cache more than I should have and this is just a creature version.
Fearless Knight: cute, though I do think it's a tad on the strong side.
Unparalleled Foresight; has some potential to be broken, but I guess the spells are supposed to be way above the modern curve.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"In the beginning, MTG Salvation switched to a new forum format.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
It was at that moment that I realized: I'm kinda just making these things up. We can just write the rules the way we want them to work. People will have fun, and people will get it.
Immortal Elder - It is merely a more expensive Kitchen Finks, but that is okay. It might work at just 3W.
You got a few wording and punctuation errors when copying Survival Cache:
When Immortal Elder enters the battlefield, you gain 2 life. Then if you have more life than an opponent, draw a card.
Fearless Knight - The first strike on the flipped side might be a bit too much unless the mana cost is raised. The first strike on the flipped side also might be a little confusing to some players if the Knight is killed during combat during the first strike combat damage step. Without first strike on the second side, 1W is probably fine. You might even take off first strike from the first side so that it can die easier.
Unless you plan on having more transform cards, you might considder just making this like the single-faced Kamigawa flip cards so you do not have to worry about the hassle of two-faced cards during draft or placeholder cards during gameplay.
Unparalleled Foresight - I think like Consume Spirit this would be written out in words. "if only blue mana was spent to cast CARDNAME"
IMO, this kind of monocolored bonus should only appear on cards with otherwise really light color requirements, either cards with only one colored mana symbol or colorless cards, so that it creates the biggest contrast between the two modes. The difference between 1UU and UUU is not a lot; the difference between 2U and UUU is more significant. Following that restriction does mean that it wouldn't be very good for a hard counter though. Without changing it too much, maybe noncreature spell would still be good enough?
2U
Instant
Counter target noncreature spell. Purified - If only blue mana was spent to cast CARDNAME, at the beginning of your next main phase, add UUU to your mana pool.
Immortal Elder - It is merely a more expensive Kitchen Finks, but that is okay. It might work at just 3W.
You got a few wording and punctuation errors when copying Survival Cache:
When Immortal Elder enters the battlefield, you gain 2 life. Then if you have more life than an opponent, draw a card.
Fearless Knight - The first strike on the flipped side might be a bit too much unless the mana cost is raised. The first strike on the flipped side also might be a little confusing to some players if the Knight is killed during combat during the first strike combat damage step. Without first strike on the second side, 1W is probably fine. You might even take off first strike from the first side so that it can die easier.
Unless you plan on having more transform cards, you might considder just making this like the single-faced Kamigawa flip cards so you do not have to worry about the hassle of two-faced cards during draft or placeholder cards during gameplay.
Unparalleled Foresight - I think like Consume Spirit this would be written out in words. "if only blue mana was spent to cast CARDNAME"
IMO, this kind of monocolored bonus should only appear on cards with otherwise really light color requirements, either cards with only one colored mana symbol or colorless cards, so that it creates the biggest contrast between the two modes. The difference between 1UU and UUU is not a lot; the difference between 2U and UUU is more significant. Following that restriction does mean that it wouldn't be very good for a hard counter though. Without changing it too much, maybe noncreature spell would still be good enough?
2U
Instant
Counter target noncreature spell. Purified - If only blue mana was spent to cast CARDNAME, at the beginning of your next main phase, add UUU to your mana pool.
Immortal Elder - Kitchen Finks doesn't draw you cards Text changes fixed, thanks.
Fearless Knight - Hmm, I'm hesitant to change this until playtesting. Thalia shows that its first side is fine, but Thalia doesn't turn into a pseudo Glorious Anthem afterwards either. It very well may be that First strike doesn't belong on this card though (hadn't thought about the issues with transforming after First strike damage and negating the rest of your combat which is pretty counter intuitive).
Unparalleled Foresight - You... are very correct. I had initially come to that conclusion when I first designed the mechanic a year or two ago, but apparently forgotten Noncreature spell is too narrow in cube to see play, what about a Mana Leak variant?
Thanks for the feedback!
EDIT: See Torrent of Souls for the templating I used for Purified
I preferred your previous version of purified, where it did the same effect but better if you paid the pure price. That seems like a really cool theme to use for Purify effects. The delayed upkeep draw feels way more awkward to me.
I preferred your previous version of purified, where it did the same effect but better if you paid the pure price. That seems like a really cool theme to use for Purify effects. The delayed upkeep draw feels way more awkward to me.
Hmm, it does make more sense flavor wise. I've got an idea on how to fix it.
Fearless Knight - The Youthful Knight side is obviously okay. I was just thinking that if you removed first strike it could actually be beneficial because it would be easier to die in combat.
Giving a creature first strike after the first strike combat damage step actually doesn't stop it from dealing damage during the normal combat damage step [sub](and there isn't actually a first strike combat damage step and a normal combat damage step)[/sub]. That is what might confuse some players.
[spoiler]510.5. If at least one attacking or blocking creature has first strike (see rule 702.7) or double strike (see rule 702.4) as the combat damage step begins, the only creatures that assign combat damage in that step are those with first strike or double strike. After that step, instead of proceeding to the end of combat step, the phase gets a second combat damage step. The only creatures that assign combat damage in that step are the remaining attackers and blockers that had neither first strike nor double strike as the first combat damage step began, as well as the remaining attackers and blockers that currently have double strike. After that step, the phase proceeds to the end of combat step.[/sub]
Unparalleled Foresight - Torrent of Souls looks for specific mana that is paid. "Was B spent? Was R spent?"
Unparalleled Foresight 1U
Instant {U}
Counter target spell unless it's controller pays 2. Purified - At the beginning of your next upkeep, if only U was spent to cast Unparalleled Foresight, draw a card.
"Was onlyU spent?" That would only work if you control something like Nightscape Familiar that allows you to reduce the total amount of mana you spend down to only U. If you spend UU, that is only blue mana, but it is more than U, so it is not only U. If you want to use colored mana symbols so that it can't be Glamerdyed, then it would be "if UU was spent".
EDIT: "single color ..." how does this interact if the spell is cast without paying its mana cost?
Also, I didn't specify this before, but I think purified raising by just one colored mana does not seem like enough. I think cmc 3 and cmc 4 would be the sweet spot for purified so that it changes from one colored mana to three or four colored mana.
Hello everyone!
Design Standards/Goals:
Thanks for the feedback on Pt 1, it was quite helpful and I hope it continues I understand that feedback is a two way street, so I will be trying to become more active on these forums and doing my share of critiquing as well!
I think I'm going to focus on mono colored cards for a bit because the multicolor spots should be used to fill holes in archetypes and/or strengthen an overall theme, so coming last would make more sense.
[White, C_CMC4]
Creature - Human Cleric {U}
3/2
When Immortal Elder enters the battlefield, gain 2 life. Then if you have more life than an opponent, draw a card.
Persist
[White, C_CMC2]
Creature - Human Soldier {R}
2/1
When Fearless Veteran dies, you may return it to the battlefield flipped.
////////////////
Hero's Memorial
Legendary Artifact {R}
Creatures you control get +1/+0.
A hero's death sews the seed of vengeance.
[Blue, NC_CMC3]
Instant {U}
Counter target spell unless it's controller pays 3.
Purified - At the beginning of your next main phase, if only blue mana was spent to cast Unparalleled Foresight, add 3 to your mana pool.
Instant {U}
Counter target spell unless it's controller pays 2.
Purified - At the beginning of your next upkeep, if only U was spent to cast Unparalleled Foresight, draw a card.
Unparalleled Foresight 1UU
Instant
Counter target spell.
Purified - At the beginning of your next main phase, if only blue mana was spent to cast Unparalleled Foresight, add 1UU to your mana pool.
Fearless Knight 1W
Creature - Human Knight {R}
2/1
First strike
When Fearless Knight dies, you may return it to the battlefield transformed.
////////////////
Hero's Memorial
Legendary Artifact {R}
Creatures you control get +1/+0 and have first strike.
A hero's death sews the seed of vengeance
(CubeTutor & MTGS)
360 Peasant Cube!
Custom Cube
RWU Miracles RWU
Also, even though everything is going to be a one-of, i'd still assign rarity to things as it lets us know about what level you were intending the card to be at.
I really like immortal elder, then again, I liked Survival Cache more than I should have and this is just a creature version.
Fearless Knight: cute, though I do think it's a tad on the strong side.
Unparalleled Foresight; has some potential to be broken, but I guess the spells are supposed to be way above the modern curve.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
Comic Book Set
Archester: Frontier of Steam (A steampunk set!)
A Good Place to Start Designing
You got a few wording and punctuation errors when copying Survival Cache:
When Immortal Elder enters the battlefield, you gain 2 life. Then if you have more life than an opponent, draw a card.
Fearless Knight - The first strike on the flipped side might be a bit too much unless the mana cost is raised. The first strike on the flipped side also might be a little confusing to some players if the Knight is killed during combat during the first strike combat damage step. Without first strike on the second side, 1W is probably fine. You might even take off first strike from the first side so that it can die easier.
Unless you plan on having more transform cards, you might considder just making this like the single-faced Kamigawa flip cards so you do not have to worry about the hassle of two-faced cards during draft or placeholder cards during gameplay.
Unparalleled Foresight - I think like Consume Spirit this would be written out in words. "if only blue mana was spent to cast CARDNAME"
IMO, this kind of monocolored bonus should only appear on cards with otherwise really light color requirements, either cards with only one colored mana symbol or colorless cards, so that it creates the biggest contrast between the two modes. The difference between 1UU and UUU is not a lot; the difference between 2U and UUU is more significant. Following that restriction does mean that it wouldn't be very good for a hard counter though. Without changing it too much, maybe noncreature spell would still be good enough?
Instant
Counter target noncreature spell.
Purified - If only blue mana was spent to cast CARDNAME, at the beginning of your next main phase, add UUU to your mana pool.
Immortal Elder - Kitchen Finks doesn't draw you cards Text changes fixed, thanks.
Fearless Knight - Hmm, I'm hesitant to change this until playtesting. Thalia shows that its first side is fine, but Thalia doesn't turn into a pseudo Glorious Anthem afterwards either. It very well may be that First strike doesn't belong on this card though (hadn't thought about the issues with transforming after First strike damage and negating the rest of your combat which is pretty counter intuitive).
Unparalleled Foresight - You... are very correct. I had initially come to that conclusion when I first designed the mechanic a year or two ago, but apparently forgotten Noncreature spell is too narrow in cube to see play, what about a Mana Leak variant?
Thanks for the feedback!
EDIT: See Torrent of Souls for the templating I used for Purified
(CubeTutor & MTGS)
360 Peasant Cube!
Custom Cube
RWU Miracles RWU
Other than that though, it looks good.
I like it, thanks!
(CubeTutor & MTGS)
360 Peasant Cube!
Custom Cube
RWU Miracles RWU
Giving a creature first strike after the first strike combat damage step actually doesn't stop it from dealing damage during the normal combat damage step [sub](and there isn't actually a first strike combat damage step and a normal combat damage step)[/sub]. That is what might confuse some players.
[spoiler]510.5. If at least one attacking or blocking creature has first strike (see rule 702.7) or double strike (see rule 702.4) as the combat damage step begins, the only creatures that assign combat damage in that step are those with first strike or double strike. After that step, instead of proceeding to the end of combat step, the phase gets a second combat damage step. The only creatures that assign combat damage in that step are the remaining attackers and blockers that had neither first strike nor double strike as the first combat damage step began, as well as the remaining attackers and blockers that currently have double strike. After that step, the phase proceeds to the end of combat step.[/sub]
Unparalleled Foresight - Torrent of Souls looks for specific mana that is paid. "Was B spent? Was R spent?"
"Was only U spent?" That would only work if you control something like Nightscape Familiar that allows you to reduce the total amount of mana you spend down to only U. If you spend UU, that is only blue mana, but it is more than U, so it is not only U. If you want to use colored mana symbols so that it can't be Glamerdyed, then it would be "if UU was spent".
EDIT: "single color ..." how does this interact if the spell is cast without paying its mana cost?
Also, I didn't specify this before, but I think purified raising by just one colored mana does not seem like enough. I think cmc 3 and cmc 4 would be the sweet spot for purified so that it changes from one colored mana to three or four colored mana.
The same thing that happens if you cast any sunburst card without paying the mana cost / with colorless mana.