More cards for Coins of Mercalis
Bit of a delay as I've been working on the flavour for a lot of these cards to try build a lot of the world before I do more work on the uncommons.
Black is the primary colour of Gold counters
Also uses -Reshape -Vanishing (at higher rarities)
The WB city of Halvar is a highly competitive and capitalist city that protects its citizens but only as long as they remain useful. Any dissent is eliminated and the corpses used to bolster the workforce of Hollows.
THE CARDS
Bounty
Enchantment — Aura (C)
Enchant creature an opponent controls.
When enchanted creature dies, you get two gold counters. (Once per phase a gold counter can be spent for 1. A player with ten or more gold counters wins the game.) Nothing is safe when money gets involved.
Cash Street Sentry
Creature — Vampire Scout (C)
Lifelink
If you have five or more gold counters, Cash Street Sentry gets +3/+3. Spend enough lumin in Halvar and you can get anything or anyone you want.
1/1
Cranial Gnawer :3mana::symb: -New Name
Creature — Rat (C)
When Cranial Gnawer dies, target player puts the top five cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
3/1
Claret Collector :2mana::symb: -Fixed rule text
Creature — Vampire (C)
Flying
Claret Collector cant block.
When Claret Collector enters the battlefield, each opponent loses 1 life. “History will forget you but I will remember your blood forever.”
2/1
Dark Knowledge :2mana::symb:
Sorcery (C)
Draw two cards.
If mana from a gold counter was spent to cast Dark Knowledge, you gain 3 life. Otherwise, lose 3 life.
Debtslave Hollow :3mana::symb:
Creature — Zombie (C)
When Debtslave Hollow enters the battlefield you get a gold counter (Once per turn you may spend a gold counter for1. A player with ten or more gold counters wins the game.) Hollow are perfect worker, untiring and eternal. That their souls suffer is of no concern to Halvar’s profits.
2/3
Draining Insomnia :1mana::symb:
Enchantment — Aura (C)
Enchant nonland permanent (Target a nonland permanent as you cast this. This card enters the battlefield attached to that nonland permanent.)
Whenever enchanted permanent becomes tapped, its controller loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
Drowned Mass :2mana::symb::symb:
Creature — Zombie Horror (C)
Islandwalk (This creature is unblockable as long as defending player controls an Island.) Unprofitable hollows are dumped in Halvar bay. Nobody swims there anymore, at least not willingly.
3/3
Halvar Blessing :2mana::symb:
Instant (C)
Target creature gets +1/+0 and gains lifelink until end of turn. Regenerate it. “Compliance we reward with life,. transgression with annihilation.”
—Mervir, Parliament Counselor
Hex of Weakness :3mana::symb:
Instant (C)
Target creature gets -2/-4 until end of turn. “We protect society from slipping into chaos, ensuring that the only those truly capable safeguard our future.”
—Mervir, Parliament Counselor
Hollowed Titan :5mana::symb:
Creature — Zombie Giant (C)
:2mana::symb:: Regenerate Hollowed Titan. “Greed and power breeds here yet the parliament works together for the benefit of everyone.
Well everyone of importance that is.”
—Stanis, the Scornful
4/4 4/5
Horrific Presence
Sorcery (C)
Until end of turn, whenever target creature deals combat damage to an opponent, that player discards a card.
Draw a card.
Keyblade Hollow :2mana::symb:
Creature — Zombie Rogue (C)
Deathtouch
When Keyblade Hollow enters the battlefield, Reshape. (Choose a counter on a permanent or player. Remove that counter from it or put another of those counters on it.) A thief that fails his assignment in life may find his second chance a grim affair.
1/2
Mark for Oblivion :4mana::symb::symb:
Instant (C)
Destroy target creature. It can’t be regenerated.
Reshape. (Choose a counter on a permanent or player. Remove that counter from it or put another of those counters on it.)
Miasma Hound :1mana::symb:
Creature — Hound Spirit (C)
When Miasma Hound dies, Reshape. (Choose a counter on a permanent or player. Remove that counter from it or put another of those counters on it.) It hunts screams. Leaving twisted magic in its wake.
1/1
Parliment Assistant :1mana::symb: Reduced mana cost
Creature — Human Advisor (C) Halvar’s parliament rules the city, carefully eliminating any that threaten their society. Each citizen provided for so long as they remain dedicated to increasing the city’s wealth and influence.
1/3
Pocket Skulk :1mana::symb:
Creature — Human Rogue (C)
Whenever Pocket Skulk deals combat damage to a player, you get a gold counter (Once per turn you may spend a gold counter for 1. A player with ten or more gold counters wins the game.)
1/1
Rite of Undeath :4mana::symb: COLOR] -Changed name and rule text
Sorcery (C)
As an additional cost to cast Rite of Undeath, sacrifice a creature.
Return up to three creature cards at random from your graveyard to your hand. For those with money and the right magic, death is only an inconvenience. Old version
Rite of Return :4mana::symb: COLOR]
Sorcery (C)
Sacrifice a creature, then return up to three creature cards at random from your graveyard to your hand. For those with money and the right magic, death is only an inconvenience.
Treasure Ooze :4mana::symb:
Creature — Ooze (C)
Sacrifice Treasure Ooze: You get a gold counter (Once per turn you may spend a gold counter for 1. A player with ten or more gold counters wins the game.) “It’s acid doesn’t tarnish gold nor silver, but is excellent at burning thieving fingers”
—Lucied, Halvar Enforcer
2/5
I really like the idea of gold counters, but I honestly have one pet peeve. Never in my life have I been close to winning anything with ten gold coins. Have you considered changing the name to something less common? I have been looking at your set for awhile now and I really enjoy the concept. Perhaps fortune counters would work better; since it could stand for more thing as opposed to just "gold".
Other than that I really like the idea of your set! Interesting new spin on the game.
Gold counter works within the flavour of the world I am building. Planeswalkers travel far and wide to get hold of this mysterious "lumin" (the name of gold from this world)
Elementals are enraged at the mining of their habitats and are starting to attack but are unable to maintain their animated form for long thus they have vanishing.
Changed Horrific Presence to cause discard rather than intimidate. Helps differentiate black card of the cycle from the blue card.
not 100% sure about the wording.
Horrific PresenceB
Sorcery {C}
Until end of turn, whenever target creature deals combat damage to an opponent, that player discards a card.
Draw a card.
Okay, with that background knowledge I like the idea much more. Your black commons seem fairly good for their rarity, and I like the design and flavor. I can't wait to see some of the higher rarity cards. Keep up the good work!
Bounty
Enchantment — Aura (C)
Enchant creature an opponent controls.
When enchanted creature dies, you get two gold counters. (Once per phase a gold counter can be spent for 1. A player with ten or more gold counters wins the game.) Nothing is safe when money gets involved.
Nice flavor here, very black. Is there a reason it's "an opponent controls"? It adds extra text to the card and I'm not sure it adds way more flavor. Consider dropping that.
So my questions about Gold are: Why 10 to win? That makes them seem like an anti-poison mechanic, which is kind of neat, but being able to spend gold makes much more sense than winning because you have a bunch of it. The flavor of it is strange, s'what I'm saying. Additionally, why once per phase? I apologize if this is answered in the thread you linked; I haven't read that yet. Just stuff to consider.
Cash Street Sentry
Creature — Vampire Scout (C)
Lifelink
If you have five or more gold counters, Cash Street Sentry gets +3/+3. Spend enough lumin in Halvar and you can get anything or anyone you want.
1/1
How easy is it to get gold counters in your set? I'm reading these as I'm going, so I'm not sure yet. the numbers here may need tweaking, and this kind of benefit, especially with lifelink, says uncommon to me, but I might be wrong.
Cerebral Rodent :3mana::symb:
Creature — Rat Horror (C)
When Cerebral Rodent dies, target player puts the top five cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
2/2
Is there a mill theme in your set? If so, this guy is fine. If not, I think you can boost his toughness a bit, to 3 or 4, and keep him common. Additionally, the name of the card could stand to be more flavorful, too, like Mind Gnawer or something. Right now he just sounds like a smart rat.
Claret Collector :2mana::symb:
Creature — Vampire (C)
Flying
Claret Collector cant block.
When Claret Collector enters the battlefield, Claret Collector deals 1 damage to each opponent. “History will forget you but I will remember your blood forever.”
2/1
Black tends to deal in life loss rather than damage dealing, so the third ability should probably make each opponent lose one life. What is a claret? That word doesn't do much for me so I'm not sure what the flavor of that last ability is (other than bloodsucking). Overall, though, black has a rich history of flying 2/1s at common- in fact, there's a similar one in Theros- and this is just fine.
Dark Knowledge :2mana::symb:
Sorcery (C)
Draw two cards.
If mana from a gold counter was spent to cast Dark Knowledge, you gain 3 life. Otherwise, lose 3 life.
Too much upside/downside? I like the card, though again, the numbers might need work.
Debtslave Hollow :3mana::symb:
Creature — Zombie (C)
When Debtslave Hollow enters the battlefield you get a gold counter (Once per turn you may spend a gold counter for1. A player with ten or more gold counters wins the game.) Hollow are perfect worker, untiring and eternal. That their souls suffer is of no concern to Halvar’s profits.
2/3
The flavor is there, and it's a nice simple common design. Might'n he be a 3/3? Or is that pushing him too much? That's a development question rather than a design question
Draining Insomnia :1mana::symb:
Enchantment — Aura (C)
Enchant nonland permanent (Target a nonland permanent as you cast this. This card enters the battlefield attached to that nonland permanent.)
Whenever enchanted permanent becomes tapped, its controller loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
I'd add "When ~ ETB, draw a card," and maybe up the cost by 1 because the effect here is very slight. Most of the time, you won't want to play this at all, so adding a cantrip could up that quite a bit.
Drowned Mass :2mana::symb::symb:
Creature — Zombie Horror (C)
Islandwalk (This creature is unblockable as long as defending player controls an Island.) Unprofitable hollows are dumped in Halvar bay. Nobody swims there anymore, at least not willingly.
3/3
Halvar Blessing :2mana::symb:
Instant (C)
Target creature gets +1/+0 and gains lifelink until end of turn. Regenerate it. “Compliance we reward with life,. transgression with annihilation.”
—Mervir, Parliament Counselor
Lovely combat trick that helps in multiple situations. Nicely done.
Hex of Weakness :3mana::symb:
Instant (C)
Target creature gets -2/-4 until end of turn. “We protect society from slipping into chaos, ensuring that the only those truly capable safeguard our future.”
—Mervir, Parliament Counselor
I wonder if this should cost 1 more or if it's just right; power minuses tend to not matter as much, as spells like this make you want to use them to kill creatures outright, though sometimes it matters. I'd like to see overall how much it is relevant in combat situations, which again, makes this card ready for development.
Hollowed Titan :5mana::symb:
Creature — Zombie Giant (C)
:2mana::symb:: Regenerate Hollowed Titan. “Greed and power breeds here yet the parliament works together for the benefit of everyone.
Well everyone of importance that is.”
—Stanis, the Scornful
4/5
At common, I think this guy needs to cost 6B; black doesn't tend to get creatures with stats this good at common, and actually, it's pretty rare in anything except green. Although it happens.
Horrific Presence
Sorcery (C)
Until end of turn, whenever target creature deals combat damage to an opponent, that player discards a card.
Draw a card.
Perfectly playable limited common. The use of "Draw a card" here is really nice.
Keyblade Hollow :2mana::symb:
Creature — Zombie Rogue (C)
Deathtouch
When Keyblade Hollow enters the battlefield, Reshape. (Choose a counter on a permanent or player. Remove that counter from it or put another of those counters on it.) A thief that fails his assignment in life may find his second chance a grim affair.
1/2
Reshape, huh? Kinda like Proliferate plus/minus. The name needs work, given that you're building up or breaking down the thing you're doing it to, not completely changing it. This card feels uncommon to me, as it does something relevant when it comes down, and trades with something in combat.
Mark for Oblivion :4mana::symb::symb:
Instant (C)
Destroy target creature. It can’t be regenerated.
Reshape. (Choose a counter on a permanent or player. Remove that counter from it or put another of those counters on it.)
Neat! Properly costed at common, I'd say, though depending on the rest of the set, you might be able to get away with 3BB.
Miasma Hound :1mana::symb:
Creature — Hound Spirit (C)
When Miasma Hound dies, Reshape. (Choose a counter on a permanent or player. Remove that counter from it or put another of those counters on it.) It hunts screams. Leaving twisted magic in its wake.
1/1
A dog ghost. Neat idea there, very flavorful, and no complication on the card.
Parliment Assistant :2mana::symb:
Creature — Human Cleric (C) Halvar’s parliament rules the city, carefully eliminating any that threaten their society. Each citizen provided for so long as they remain dedicated to increasing the city’s wealth and influence.
1/3
I think this is the first time I've seen a list of commons on this forum that included a vanilla creature, so great job there. This guy could easily be 1B or 2/3 given Bane Alley Blackgaurd and Fellhide Minotaur.
Pocket Skulk :1mana::symb:
Creature — Human Rogue (C)
Whenever Pocket Skulk deals combat damage to a player, you get a gold counter (Once per turn you may spend a gold counter for 1. A player with ten or more gold counters wins the game.)
1/1
Rite of Return :4mana::symb:
Sorcery (C)
Sacrifice a creature, then return up to three creature cards at random from your graveyard to your hand. For those with money and the right magic, death is only an inconvenience.
This much card advantage- even random- really should be uncommon. In many cases in limited, you're going to cast this when you have 2 creature cards in your graveyard, so you'll get all three back anyway. Hell, that might even be the case in constructed.
Treasure Ooze :4mana::symb:
Creature — Ooze (C)
Sacrifice Treasure Ooze: You get a gold counter (Once per turn you may spend a gold counter for 1. A player with ten or more gold counters wins the game.) “It’s acid doesn’t tarnish gold nor silver, but is excellent at burning thieving fingers”
—Lucied, Halvar Enforcer
2/5
Ewwwwwwww. Again, the flavor is really nice here.
You've got a real flair for simple designs, and that's awesome for commons. Overall, I think these could use a little more pop in terms of power level, and you could use 1-2 more vanillas, but I like this bunch.
A couple of reasons:
-To prevent you from simply putting it on your own creature and then sacrificing or suiciding it.
-Two gold counters is a fairly decent reward.
-Putting a bounty on your own creature is a little odd flavour wise.
So my questions about Gold are: Why 10 to win? That makes them seem like an anti-poison mechanic, which is kind of neat, but being able to spend gold makes much more sense than winning because you have a bunch of it. The flavor of it is strange, s'what I'm saying. Additionally, why once per phase? I apologize if this is answered in the thread you linked; I haven't read that yet. Just stuff to consider.
Gold is supposed to be a flavorful yet versatile mechanic that can be played a few different ways.
The first way is to simply go all in with gold counters and reshape to rush to ten counters.
The other way is to splash it for ramp and use other cards that give bonuses if you spent gold counters on them. This second style can be played in a few different colours by seperate people during a limited draft while going all in for gold counters can only really be achieved reliably by a single or maybe two players in a eight person draft.
The restriction on once per turn is due to being non vulnerable unlike Eldrazi spawn that can be killed. This means it is hard to stop a player simply ramping into a 7 or 8 mana spell by turn 5 if it doesn't have the once per turn restriction.
How easy is it to get gold counters in your set? I'm reading these as I'm going, so I'm not sure yet. the numbers here may need tweaking, and this kind of benefit, especially with lifelink, says uncommon to me, but I might be wrong.
This card is designed to be a card that value changes if a player is going directly for ten gold counters as this can keep them alive. But this would be quite hard to activate without dedicating yourself.
Is there a mill theme in your set? If so, this guy is fine. If not, I think you can boost his toughness a bit, to 3 or 4, and keep him common. Additionally, the name of the card could stand to be more flavorful, too, like Mind Gnawer or something. Right now he just sounds like a smart rat.
Name changed and made it a 3/1.
Black tends to deal in life loss rather than damage dealing, so the third ability should probably make each opponent lose one life. What is a claret? That word doesn't do much for me so I'm not sure what the flavor of that last ability is (other than bloodsucking). Overall, though, black has a rich history of flying 2/1s at common- in fact, there's a similar one in Theros- and this is just fine.
Actually that was a wording mistake on my part. Changed.
Too much upside/downside? I like the card, though again, the numbers might need work.
I'll keep an eye on it.
The flavor is there, and it's a nice simple common design. Might'n he be a 3/3? Or is that pushing him too much? That's a development question rather than a design question
I want to keep it as a 2/3 to differentiate it from Drowned Mass
I'd add "When ~ ETB, draw a card," and maybe up the cost by 1 because the effect here is very slight. Most of the time, you won't want to play this at all, so adding a cantrip could up that quite a bit.
Your right that this needs something a little extra, I don't want a cantrip though.
I'll put this on the list of things to change.
Hmmmm. Cool. I'd make it a Zombie Fish, though.
Actually it is supposed to be a rotting mass of drowned zombies on the bottom of a lake.
Lovely combat trick that helps in multiple situations. Nicely done.
Glad you like it.
I wonder if this should cost 1 more or if it's just right; power minuses tend to not matter as much, as spells like this make you want to use them to kill creatures outright, though sometimes it matters. I'd like to see overall how much it is relevant in combat situations, which again, makes this card ready for development.
Considering Lash of the Whip is considered overcosted I think this should be about right. Also as I have a 6 mana removal spell I need this to stay at the current mana cost.
At common, I think this guy needs to cost 6B; black doesn't tend to get creatures with stats this good at common, and actually, it's pretty rare in anything except green. Although it happens.
Your right, the only 4/5 black common is Maze Abomination.
I'll change to 4/4 and keep an eye on it during playtest.
Perfectly playable limited common. The use of "Draw a card" here is really nice.
I'm rather happy with this design as well.
Reshape, huh? Kinda like Proliferate plus/minus. The name needs work, given that you're building up or breaking down the thing you're doing it to, not completely changing it. This card feels uncommon to me, as it does something relevant when it comes down, and trades with something in combat.
will move to uncommon once I create something to replace it.
Neat! Properly costed at common, I'd say, though depending on the rest of the set, you might be able to get away with 3BB.
I actually like my removal at common to be overcosted as it helps limited. Really good article on why it helps the format HERE.
A dog ghost. Neat idea there, very flavorful, and no complication on the card.
Glad you like it. I have some wicked art for it.
Here is a render:
I think this is the first time I've seen a list of commons on this forum that included a vanilla creature, so great job there. This guy could easily be 1B or 2/3 given Bane Alley Blackgaurd and Fellhide Minotaur.
Was actually a mistake, he should of been 1B, changing.
Lovely. How about just "Cutpurse" for the name?
I'm thinking maybe "Underslum Cutpurse"
This much card advantage- even random- really should be uncommon. In many cases in limited, you're going to cast this when you have 2 creature cards in your graveyard, so you'll get all three back anyway. Hell, that might even be the case in constructed.
I'll change to my original wording that required the sacrifice as an extra cost. This means it is more similar to March of the Returned.
Ewwwwwwww. Again, the flavor is really nice here.
MMMMMnnnnnn Squishy.....
You've got a real flair for simple designs, and that's awesome for commons. Overall, I think these could use a little more pop in terms of power level, and you could use 1-2 more vanillas, but I like this bunch.
Glad you like them, finding room for my vanillas is hard. I'll take a look though.
Bit of a delay as I've been working on the flavour for a lot of these cards to try build a lot of the world before I do more work on the uncommons.
Black is the primary colour of Gold counters
Also uses
-Reshape
-Vanishing (at higher rarities)
The WB city of Halvar is a highly competitive and capitalist city that protects its citizens but only as long as they remain useful. Any dissent is eliminated and the corpses used to bolster the workforce of Hollows.
THE CARDS
Enchantment — Aura (C)
Enchant creature an opponent controls.
When enchanted creature dies, you get two gold counters. (Once per phase a gold counter can be spent for 1. A player with ten or more gold counters wins the game.)
Nothing is safe when money gets involved.
Cash Street Sentry
Creature — Vampire Scout (C)
Lifelink
If you have five or more gold counters, Cash Street Sentry gets +3/+3.
Spend enough lumin in Halvar and you can get anything or anyone you want.
1/1
Cranial Gnawer :3mana::symb: -New Name
Creature — Rat (C)
When Cranial Gnawer dies, target player puts the top five cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
3/1
Claret Collector :2mana::symb: -Fixed rule text
Creature — Vampire (C)
Flying
Claret Collector cant block.
When Claret Collector enters the battlefield, each opponent loses 1 life.
“History will forget you but I will remember your blood forever.”
2/1
Dark Knowledge :2mana::symb:
Sorcery (C)
Draw two cards.
If mana from a gold counter was spent to cast Dark Knowledge, you gain 3 life. Otherwise, lose 3 life.
Debtslave Hollow :3mana::symb:
Creature — Zombie (C)
When Debtslave Hollow enters the battlefield you get a gold counter (Once per turn you may spend a gold counter for1. A player with ten or more gold counters wins the game.)
Hollow are perfect worker, untiring and eternal. That their souls suffer is of no concern to Halvar’s profits.
2/3
Draining Insomnia :1mana::symb:
Enchantment — Aura (C)
Enchant nonland permanent (Target a nonland permanent as you cast this. This card enters the battlefield attached to that nonland permanent.)
Whenever enchanted permanent becomes tapped, its controller loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
Drowned Mass :2mana::symb::symb:
Creature — Zombie Horror (C)
Islandwalk (This creature is unblockable as long as defending player controls an Island.)
Unprofitable hollows are dumped in Halvar bay. Nobody swims there anymore, at least not willingly.
3/3
Halvar Blessing :2mana::symb:
Instant (C)
Target creature gets +1/+0 and gains lifelink until end of turn. Regenerate it.
“Compliance we reward with life,. transgression with annihilation.”
—Mervir, Parliament Counselor
Hex of Weakness :3mana::symb:
Instant (C)
Target creature gets -2/-4 until end of turn.
“We protect society from slipping into chaos, ensuring that the only those truly capable safeguard our future.”
—Mervir, Parliament Counselor
Hollowed Titan :5mana::symb:
Creature — Zombie Giant (C)
:2mana::symb:: Regenerate Hollowed Titan.
“Greed and power breeds here yet the parliament works together for the benefit of everyone.
Well everyone of importance that is.”
—Stanis, the Scornful
4/4
4/5Horrific Presence
Sorcery (C)
Until end of turn, whenever target creature deals combat damage to an opponent, that player discards a card.
Draw a card.
Keyblade Hollow :2mana::symb:
Creature — Zombie Rogue (C)
Deathtouch
When Keyblade Hollow enters the battlefield, Reshape. (Choose a counter on a permanent or player. Remove that counter from it or put another of those counters on it.)
A thief that fails his assignment in life may find his second chance a grim affair.
1/2
Mark for Oblivion :4mana::symb::symb:
Instant (C)
Destroy target creature. It can’t be regenerated.
Reshape. (Choose a counter on a permanent or player. Remove that counter from it or put another of those counters on it.)
Miasma Hound :1mana::symb:
Creature — Hound Spirit (C)
When Miasma Hound dies, Reshape. (Choose a counter on a permanent or player. Remove that counter from it or put another of those counters on it.)
It hunts screams. Leaving twisted magic in its wake.
1/1
Parliment Assistant :1mana::symb: Reduced mana cost
Creature — Human Advisor (C)
Halvar’s parliament rules the city, carefully eliminating any that threaten their society. Each citizen provided for so long as they remain dedicated to increasing the city’s wealth and influence.
1/3
Pocket Skulk :1mana::symb:
Creature — Human Rogue (C)
Whenever Pocket Skulk deals combat damage to a player, you get a gold counter (Once per turn you may spend a gold counter for 1. A player with ten or more gold counters wins the game.)
1/1
Rite of Undeath :4mana::symb: COLOR] -Changed name and rule text
Sorcery (C)
As an additional cost to cast Rite of Undeath, sacrifice a creature.
Return up to three creature cards at random from your graveyard to your hand.
For those with money and the right magic, death is only an inconvenience.
Old version
Sorcery (C)
Sacrifice a creature, then return up to three creature cards at random from your graveyard to your hand.
For those with money and the right magic, death is only an inconvenience.
Treasure Ooze :4mana::symb:
Creature — Ooze (C)
Sacrifice Treasure Ooze: You get a gold counter (Once per turn you may spend a gold counter for 1. A player with ten or more gold counters wins the game.)
“It’s acid doesn’t tarnish gold nor silver, but is excellent at burning thieving fingers”
—Lucied, Halvar Enforcer
2/5
Are you designing commons? Check out my primer on NWO.
Interested in making a custom set? Check out my Set skeleton and archetype primer.
I also write articles about getting started with custom card creation.
Go and PLAYTEST your designs, you will learn more in a single playtests than a dozen discussions.
My custom sets:
Dreamscape
Coins of Mercalis [COMPLETE]
Exodus of Zendikar - ON HOLD
Other than that I really like the idea of your set! Interesting new spin on the game.
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
Elementals are enraged at the mining of their habitats and are starting to attack but are unable to maintain their animated form for long thus they have vanishing.
Changed Horrific Presence to cause discard rather than intimidate. Helps differentiate black card of the cycle from the blue card.
not 100% sure about the wording.
Horrific Presence B
Sorcery {C}
Until end of turn, whenever target creature deals combat damage to an opponent, that player discards a card.
Draw a card.
Are you designing commons? Check out my primer on NWO.
Interested in making a custom set? Check out my Set skeleton and archetype primer.
I also write articles about getting started with custom card creation.
Go and PLAYTEST your designs, you will learn more in a single playtests than a dozen discussions.
My custom sets:
Dreamscape
Coins of Mercalis [COMPLETE]
Exodus of Zendikar - ON HOLD
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
Nice flavor here, very black. Is there a reason it's "an opponent controls"? It adds extra text to the card and I'm not sure it adds way more flavor. Consider dropping that.
So my questions about Gold are: Why 10 to win? That makes them seem like an anti-poison mechanic, which is kind of neat, but being able to spend gold makes much more sense than winning because you have a bunch of it. The flavor of it is strange, s'what I'm saying. Additionally, why once per phase? I apologize if this is answered in the thread you linked; I haven't read that yet. Just stuff to consider.
How easy is it to get gold counters in your set? I'm reading these as I'm going, so I'm not sure yet. the numbers here may need tweaking, and this kind of benefit, especially with lifelink, says uncommon to me, but I might be wrong.
Is there a mill theme in your set? If so, this guy is fine. If not, I think you can boost his toughness a bit, to 3 or 4, and keep him common. Additionally, the name of the card could stand to be more flavorful, too, like Mind Gnawer or something. Right now he just sounds like a smart rat.
Black tends to deal in life loss rather than damage dealing, so the third ability should probably make each opponent lose one life. What is a claret? That word doesn't do much for me so I'm not sure what the flavor of that last ability is (other than bloodsucking). Overall, though, black has a rich history of flying 2/1s at common- in fact, there's a similar one in Theros- and this is just fine.
Too much upside/downside? I like the card, though again, the numbers might need work.
The flavor is there, and it's a nice simple common design. Might'n he be a 3/3? Or is that pushing him too much? That's a development question rather than a design question
I'd add "When ~ ETB, draw a card," and maybe up the cost by 1 because the effect here is very slight. Most of the time, you won't want to play this at all, so adding a cantrip could up that quite a bit.
Hmmmm. Cool. I'd make it a Zombie Fish, though.
Lovely combat trick that helps in multiple situations. Nicely done.
I wonder if this should cost 1 more or if it's just right; power minuses tend to not matter as much, as spells like this make you want to use them to kill creatures outright, though sometimes it matters. I'd like to see overall how much it is relevant in combat situations, which again, makes this card ready for development.
At common, I think this guy needs to cost 6B; black doesn't tend to get creatures with stats this good at common, and actually, it's pretty rare in anything except green. Although it happens.
Perfectly playable limited common. The use of "Draw a card" here is really nice.
Reshape, huh? Kinda like Proliferate plus/minus. The name needs work, given that you're building up or breaking down the thing you're doing it to, not completely changing it. This card feels uncommon to me, as it does something relevant when it comes down, and trades with something in combat.
Neat! Properly costed at common, I'd say, though depending on the rest of the set, you might be able to get away with 3BB.
A dog ghost. Neat idea there, very flavorful, and no complication on the card.
I think this is the first time I've seen a list of commons on this forum that included a vanilla creature, so great job there. This guy could easily be 1B or 2/3 given Bane Alley Blackgaurd and Fellhide Minotaur.
Lovely. How about just "Cutpurse" for the name?
This much card advantage- even random- really should be uncommon. In many cases in limited, you're going to cast this when you have 2 creature cards in your graveyard, so you'll get all three back anyway. Hell, that might even be the case in constructed.
Ewwwwwwww. Again, the flavor is really nice here.
You've got a real flair for simple designs, and that's awesome for commons. Overall, I think these could use a little more pop in terms of power level, and you could use 1-2 more vanillas, but I like this bunch.
When in doubt, call a judge.
Objectivist here. Hit me up to talk philosophy.
Would love if you could comment on some of my other cards if you have time.
Felllix
To answer some of your questions:
A couple of reasons:
-To prevent you from simply putting it on your own creature and then sacrificing or suiciding it.
-Two gold counters is a fairly decent reward.
-Putting a bounty on your own creature is a little odd flavour wise.
Gold is supposed to be a flavorful yet versatile mechanic that can be played a few different ways.
The first way is to simply go all in with gold counters and reshape to rush to ten counters.
The other way is to splash it for ramp and use other cards that give bonuses if you spent gold counters on them. This second style can be played in a few different colours by seperate people during a limited draft while going all in for gold counters can only really be achieved reliably by a single or maybe two players in a eight person draft.
The restriction on once per turn is due to being non vulnerable unlike Eldrazi spawn that can be killed. This means it is hard to stop a player simply ramping into a 7 or 8 mana spell by turn 5 if it doesn't have the once per turn restriction.
This card is designed to be a card that value changes if a player is going directly for ten gold counters as this can keep them alive. But this would be quite hard to activate without dedicating yourself.
Name changed and made it a 3/1.
Actually that was a wording mistake on my part. Changed.
I'll keep an eye on it.
I want to keep it as a 2/3 to differentiate it from Drowned Mass
Your right that this needs something a little extra, I don't want a cantrip though.
I'll put this on the list of things to change.
Actually it is supposed to be a rotting mass of drowned zombies on the bottom of a lake.
Glad you like it.
Considering Lash of the Whip is considered overcosted I think this should be about right. Also as I have a 6 mana removal spell I need this to stay at the current mana cost.
Your right, the only 4/5 black common is Maze Abomination.
I'll change to 4/4 and keep an eye on it during playtest.
I'm rather happy with this design as well.
will move to uncommon once I create something to replace it.
I actually like my removal at common to be overcosted as it helps limited. Really good article on why it helps the format HERE.
Glad you like it. I have some wicked art for it.
Here is a render:
Was actually a mistake, he should of been 1B, changing.
I'm thinking maybe "Underslum Cutpurse"
I'll change to my original wording that required the sacrifice as an extra cost. This means it is more similar to March of the Returned.
MMMMMnnnnnn Squishy.....
Glad you like them, finding room for my vanillas is hard. I'll take a look though.
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Dreamscape
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