You have developed the core themes of your new Commander deck with a central commander and an "assistant," a new multiplayer mechanic, and equipment and other spells to develop your theme. Now you will move on to create some other cards in the vein of memorable cards from the first Commander set.
Your challenge:
Create a rare card that might be playable in Legacy or Vintage, like Scavenging Ooze and Flusterstorm. Of course, it must be within your commander's color identity, and it should make sense in a multiplayer context as well.
AND
Create two cards that are pieces of a horizontal cycle, one for your deck and one for another of the top four competitors' decks, something with interesting multiplayer play like the Vow of Duty cycle. (nameless one), we will assume your deck is 6th in a set of mono-colored decks. I believe the restrictions and colors of the remaining competitors mean that your cards can only be black, red, green, or colorless.
Please try to finish the cards by Wednesday, October 16th (9PM Pacific Time, midnight Eastern)
Critiques will then be due on Friday, October 18th, at the same time.
Underworld FerrymanBB
Creature - Zombie Centaur (R)
Only one of Underworld Ferryman's abilities may be activated each turn. BB, Sacrifice Underworld Ferryman: Target player sacrifices a creature. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery. BB, Pay X life: Return Underworld Ferryman and another target creature card with converted mana cost X or less from a graveyard to the battlefield. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery. It's a long trip to the Underworld, and a long and harrowing trip back from the Underworld.
2/2
The best part about this is that by this NOT being legendary it's not quite broken. (This is me hoping it's not broken anyways.)
Possibility for the Horizontal cycle
Death Dealing1BB
Sorcery (U)
Destroy target creature.
Deal (Each other player may pay this card's mana cost as if their mana was any color. If a player does, they copy this spell and may choose new targets for it, except the copy can't target you or a card you control.
Flame DealingXRR
Sorcery (U)
Flame Dealing deals X damage to target creature or player.
Deal (Each other player may pay this card's mana cost as if their mana was any color. If a player does, they copy this spell and may choose new targets for it, except the copy can't target you or a card you control.
...and then we got a glimpse of tempting offer. Still, Deal is different enough.
About time.
Definitely gonna have to sit down and think about this.
Legacy/Vintage Card
DemandR
Instant {R}
Split Second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can’t cast spells or activate abilities that aren’t mana abilities.)
Target spell can’t be countered by spells or abilities. NO!
Makes for an interesting answer to all the counterspells that run rampant in the format. Is that extra mana you have open for Demand? or is it simply a bluff?
The name also mirrors one of the most powerful and annoying counterspells Remand which I think is a nice extra touch.
The split second is required to both prevent this from being countered or the original spell being countered again higher on the stack.
Works well in multiplayer as it allows you to diplomatically save another players card or simply reduce the threat on counters to everybody by announcing (truthfully or not) that you have the card and are willing to use it.
Multiplayer Cycle
Mark of Striking :2mana::symr:
Enchantment — Aura (U)
Enchant creature you don’t control
Whenever enchanted creature attacks or blocks, you and enchanted creature’s controller may each choose a target creature. Chosen creatures gets +3/+0 and gains first strike until end of turn.
Mark of Savagry :2mana::symg:
Enchantment (U)
Enchant creature you don’t control
Whenever enchanted creature attacks or blocks, you and enchanted creature’s controller may each choose a target creature. Chosen creatures gets +2/+2 and gains trample until end of turn.
Placing these on a opponents creature allows you to plan together to double the effects or each cancel the effects out if they attack you. This them subtly not want to attack you with the enchanted creature and makes for interesting politics.
Whenever Hyperion enters the battlefield or attacks, you may pay x. If you do, search your library for an Equipment card with converted mana cost X or less and put it onto the battlefield attached to Hyperion. Then shuffle your library.
3/3
-------------
Fusion Core
Land (uncommon)
t: Add 1 to your mana pool.
t: Add 2 to your mana pool. You can't spend this mana to cast spells.
Focus - Energy Thrusters's ability costs 2 less during your main phase.
"Divert all energy to the primary cannons. We are on attack mode."
Focus rewards actions that are done during its controller's main phase. This is great in multiplayer because it encourages players to do their actions during their turn to prevent wasting time from other player's turn
Hydragynia the Mercurial enters the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters, where X is the amount of mana spent to cast it.
As long as Hydragynia the Mercurial is on the battlefield, it has all the abilities of all artifacts on the battlefield. (Equipment that's a creature can't equip a creature)
0/0
-----------
Equipment featuring Legendary:
Sword of Destiny3
Artifact - Equipment (rare)
Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage to a player, put X experience counters on that creature equal to the damage it dealt this turn. Then, you may sacrifice that creature. If you do, search your graveyard, hand, library and/or command zone for a legendary creature with converted mana cost X or less were X is the number of experience counters on the sacrificed creature and put it on the battlefield with Sword of Destiny attached to it. If you search your library this way, shuffle it.
As long as the equipped creature is legendary, it gets +X/+X where X is equal to the experience counter on that creature.
,t, Sacrifice Flashbang: Abilities of target creature or planeswalker can't be activated until the end of turn. If a creature was targeted this way, tap that creature.
----------
Uncommon:
Beloved Motherland
Land (uncommon)
t: Add 1 to your mana pool. If this mana was used to cast a planeswalker spell, that planeswalker enters the battlefield with an additional loyalty counter.
"There's no place like home."
Eternal playable:
Terrazuma Pendant1
Artifact (rare)
Terrazuma Pendant has all the activated abilities of all lands in all graveyards.
"The energy of a plane that once was encased within this pendant. "
Although the card sounds broken, it is still graveyard dependent and eternal format isn't shy when it comes to grave hate. Also, Deathrite Shaman is ubiquitous in Legacy and sees Vintage play.
-------------
Horizontal Cycle (aka the Emissary Cycle):
Hyperion's Proxy0
Artifact Creature - Drone (uncommon)
When Hyperion's Proxy enters the battlefield, attach target equipment onto it. That equipment's controller gains control of Hyperion's Proxy.
Hyperion's Proxy gets +1/+1 for each equipment attached to it.
Branded (The owner of this card has protection from it.)
0/0
Yes, you can help out another player by giving him a creature as long as he or she controls an equipment. You can also "animate" your own equipment if you need to.
-----
Kalivan's AgentBB
Creature - Horror (uncommon)
When Kalivan's Agent enters the battlefield, you may have another player gain control of it.
As long as Kalivan, Death's Hand is on the battlefield or command zone, damage that would be dealt to and dealt by Kalivan's Agent is dealt by Kalivan, Death's Hand instead.
Branded (The owner of this card has protection from it.)
3/3
Similar idea as above (you may help another player). But as long as Kalivan is on the battlefield or command zone, this guy has deathtouch. Although any damage dealt to this guy will be lethal.
The beauty of this is that any saboteur effect on Kalivan applies to this guy (as explained by Ink Threader from the previous rounds). It's just the matter of how you use him.
Vali, Gilt-Leaf Witch1BG
Legendary Creature - Elf Shaman (M)
When you cast Vali, Gilt-Leaf Witch, return a creature card with converted mana cost equal to or less than the amount of mana used to cast Vali from your graveyard to the battlefield.
Sacrifice a creature: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.
Sacrifice a creature: Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
2/2
Influential Call3G
Sorcery (U)
Put X 1/1 green Elf Warrior creature tokens onto the battlefield, where X is the highest power among creatures you control. The elves of the Gilt-Leaf will follow anyone with the power to offer them prestige.
Mechanic: Sustain. Sustain is a triggered ability that means "When this creature dies, you may exile target card in an opponent's graveyard with converted mana cost equal to this creature's. If you do, shuffle this creature into your library."
Crashing Tatterhorn2BG
Creature - Beast Zombie (R)
Sustain (When Crashing Tatterhorn dies, you may exile target card in an opponent's graveyard with converted mana cost 4. If you do, shuffle Crashing Tatterhorn into your library.)
Crashing Tatterhorn can't block.
Whenever Crashing Tatterhorn sustains, you gain 4 life and target opponent loses 4 life.
4/3
Legendary: Nakon, the Carver2G
Legendary Creature - Elf Warrior(R)
Deathtouch
Whenever a creature is sacrificed, you may put a +1/+1 counter on Nakon, the Carver.
Whenever a +1/+1 counter is put on Nakon, it gains trample until end of turn.
3/3 Vali's favored guardian, she makes sure his every morbid craving is catered to.
Equipment: Kingslayer Dagger2
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Equipped creature gets +2/+0.
Whenever equipped creature blocks or becomes blocked by a legendary creature, equipped creature gains deathtouch until end of turn.
Equip 2
Common: Shedding Mossdog2G
Creature - Plant Hound (C)
When Shedding Mossdog enters the battlefield, put a 1/1 green Saproling creature token onto the battlefield.
When Shedding Mossdog dies, put a loyalty counter on target planeswalker you control.
2/2 A trained mossdog may be messy, but they're loyal to the end.
Uncommon: Vigor DrainXBG
Sorcery (U)
Choose one - Put X +1/+1 counters on target creature you control; or target creature gets -X/-X until end of turn.
Choose both if you control a planeswalker. "For my next trick, I'll require a volunteer from the cages in the back row" - Vali, Gilt-Leaf Witch
Eternal Playable
Shadow of NathBG
Creature - Elf Spirit (R)
Haste
Whenever Shadow of Nath deals combat damage to a player, that player discards a card at random. B: Shadow of Nath gains intimidate until end of turn.
1/1 Though his physical body is gone, his wrath will live forever.
I picture this card slotting into some sort of aggressive and/or control deck, I'm not actually that familiar with Eternal formats but I think this could work in something like Shardless BUG. As for its multiplayer applications, if you've ever played with random discard in multiplayer you know just how political it can make things and the intimidate would be more relevant in multiplayer games because it's most likely to be unblockable by someone.
Horizontal Cycle
Gift of Savagery1G
Sorcery (U)
Put a 3/3 green Beast token onto the battlefield under target opponent's control. It has "If a creature you control attacks this creature's owner or a planeswalker they control, sacrifice this creature and its owner puts a +1/+1 counter on each creature they control."
Gift of Release1B
Sorcery (U)
Put a 1/1 black Assassin token with deathtouch onto the battlefield under target opponent's control. It has "If a creature you control attacks this creature's owner or a planeswalker they control, sacrifice this creature and creatures its owner controls gain deathtouch until the beginning of their next end step."
The idea behind the cycle was to give your opponent a moderately useful token "gift" that would punish them quite harshly for then attacking you with anything. The wording is more awkward than I would have liked but I'm happy enough with it, though I wish I'd had more time to iron it out.
DemandR
Instant {R}
Split Second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can’t cast spells or activate abilities that aren’t mana abilities.)
Target spell can’t be countered by spells or abilities. NO!
Mark of Striking :2mana::symr:
Enchantment — Aura (U)
Enchant creature you don’t control
Whenever enchanted creature attacks or blocks, you and enchanted creature’s controller may each choose a target creature. Chosen creatures gets +3/+0 and gains first strike until end of turn.
Mark of Savagry :2mana::symg:
Enchantment (U)
Enchant creature you don’t control
Whenever enchanted creature attacks or blocks, you and enchanted creature’s controller may each choose a target creature. Chosen creatures gets +2/+2 and gains trample until end of turn.
Demand seems pretty cool. I'm not sure how often anti-counterspell spells get played in Legacy/Vintage, but it does seem to do its job admirably. The Mark cycle is kind of interesting, and offers great political maneuvers.
Terrazuma Pendant1 Artifact (rare)
Terrazuma Pendant has all the activated abilities of all lands in all graveyards. "The energy of a plane that once was encased within this pendant. "
Horizontal Cycle (aka the Emissary Cycle):
Hyperion's Proxy0 Artifact Creature - Drone (uncommon)
When Hyperion's Proxy enters the battlefield, attach target equipment onto it. That equipment's controller gains control of Hyperion's Proxy.
Hyperion's Proxy gets +1/+1 for each equipment attached to it.
Branded (The owner of this card has protection from it.) 0/0
Kalivan's AgentBB Creature - Horror (uncommon)
When Kalivan's Agent enters the battlefield, you may have another player gain control of it.
As long as Kalivan, Death's Hand is on the battlefield or command zone, damage that would be dealt to and dealt by Kalivan's Agent is dealt by Kalivan, Death's Hand instead.
Branded (The owner of this card has protection from it.) 3/3
Wow... that pendant would definitely cause packs to move... I'm a little leery of its power. Yes grave hate is a thing in Legacy/Vintage. Somehow Dredge is still a thing though. Honestly, I think this would likely be a land if WotC ever printed such a thing. I like Hyperion's Proxy. I always wished there was a way to give an artifact living weapon. On the other hand, this really needs at least 1 toughness for it to work properly. (i.e. not spontaneously die). Kalivan's Agent is interesting, but besides some wording issues (should say "a card named Kalivan, Death's Hand), it's a bit narrow. I'd be happier if it simply referred to the owner's commander to be more interesting (...which makes Phage the Untouchable a more plausible commander choice... that'd be neat.)
Eternal Playable Shadow of NathBG
Creature - Elf Spirit (R)
Haste
Whenever Shadow of Nath deals combat damage to a player, that player discards a card at random. B: Shadow of Nath gains intimidate until end of turn.
1/1 Though his physical body is gone, his wrath will live forever.
Gift of Savagery1G
Sorcery (U)
Put a 3/3 green Beast token onto the battlefield under target opponent's control. It has "If a creature you control attacks this creature's owner or a planeswalker they control, sacrifice this creature and its owner puts a +1/+1 counter on each creature they control."
Gift of Release1B
Sorcery (U)
Put a 1/1 black Assassin token with deathtouch onto the battlefield under target opponent's control. It has "If a creature you control attacks this creature's owner or a planeswalker they control, sacrifice this creature and creatures its owner controls gain deathtouch until the beginning of their next end step."
Fear not, I'm not overly familiar either. As it stands, Shadow of Nath certainly does some sweet stuff. It can come down early enough to start wrecking hands, and has a way to keep that up. Your gift cycle is quite interesting. On one hand, I wish the gift gave more tokens. On the other hand, the punishers are very cool and seem to make for excellent deterrents, which is why the token gift was a bit less of a token gift.
Designing for the Eternal formats... wish I had a better grasp of what was desired myself.
Your Eternal playable card has a lot of possibility, from control to combo strategy. With control, you can activate its Innocent Blood ability to control the board state and recur it. It's recursion means that it has synergy with Life from the Loam. I can see this in Pox decks as well, getting through a Smallpox to discard or sacrifice it and only to recur it. And at the same time has a great synergy with Liliana's +1 ability. Its a great removal spell and threat for Landstill decks. It also brings value to Buried Alive. You can set up a BA pile including this this and a bunch of "toolbox" creature. Unlike Green Sun's Zenith, this card doesn't care about the creature's color or cost (as long as you can pay the life). Speaking of Buried Alive, you can also set up combo pieces with it. Necrotic Ooze does exist, along with Phyrexian Devourer and Triskelion. The problem with that combo is reliably putting those creatures in the yard. Usually, Buried Alive is used to do so but that also requires a reanimation spell for Ooze. As long as you have one of the pieces in the yard, you can BA the rest of the pieces along with Ferryman and have less worries (as the ability can't be Forced. It can also be a back up Reanimation spell that can't be Forced for actual Reanimator decks. Also, making it a zombie, it has the possibility to push Zombie tribal as a Legacy aggro-control deck the same way Deathrite Shaman pushed Elves into a versatile combo deck. And since we're talking about Zombies, this can see play in Sam Black's Zombie Bombardment Deck (that rogue deck that made a Legacy GP top8). It's a very versatile card for eternal, but not broken since graveyard hate is a concern in eternal formats.
As much as I love how your eternal is, I don't like how Deal is worded. It's essentially a Replicate that can be payed by your opponent. It's essentially a poorly worded version of doombringer's Converge mechanic. Although I get the idea of your multiplayer cycle.
Your eternal card already exist in the form of Overmaster. Overmaster sees play in Legacy Sneak Show decks. Switching Overmaster's cantrip for split second could be relevant as it prevents counter wars. The cantrip is moot anyways when you're about to win the game. What I like about this is not only it can protect Show and Tell, it can also protect Sneak Attack.
The idea behind your multiplayer cycle is school. It's either a multiplier or an equalizer, all depending on your mood.
Your eternal playable card is definitely playable but it doesn't leave much to the imagination. It's too blunt. A cheaper, color intensive Hyppie isn't really innovative. Sure Hyppie doesn't see play anymore but that's because Liliana of the Veil exists. Sure it can be cascaded into but what do you remove from Shardless BUG? Hymn to Tourach? Tarmogoyf? Maybe it helps AggroLoam strategies but what do you cut from those deck? Bob? Liliana? I don't see much from this card.
I don't think your multiplayer cycle works out the way you intend to. If an effect you have puts a token under an opponent's control, that opponent is considered to be the owner of the token. This is evident under the "Hunter Creature" cycle. It was also explained here under 4. Token Ownership
1. doombringer
2. Ink-Treader
3. FreshMeat
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Thanks for spiderboy4 of High~Light_Studios for the kick ass avatar.
Thanks for DarkNightCavalier of HotPS for the exceptional signature.
I am convinced that WotC is "dumbing" the game because of all the stupid posts they come across on MTG-related forums
DISCLAIMER: As I said earlier, I don't know the first thing about Eternal
Eternal: At first I thought this was kind of klunky but then I realised it was a repeatable edict attached to a repeatable reanimator, making it really strong (I still think it's kind of klunky, though :P)
Cycle: Ignoring Tempting Offer since you came up with yours separately, I'm not a big fan of Deal. It's ok, but I don't like the idea of giving my opponents a choice to cast spells, even if they can't target me. The cards you've designed leave something to be desired as well, they're both kind of weak, being sorcery versions of good instants.
Eternal: I'm always down for a little counterspell hate, even if this might be a little overpowered since it's reactive and causes them to blow their counterspell. I can totally see someone 2-for-1ing themselves with FoW against this.
Cycle: I don't care for these at all, it seems like nearly all upside for your opponent as they're in control of the trigger and if they're attacking you, if you have a blocker the buffs cancel each other out and if you don't have a blocker, you're in for some hurt.
Eternal: This card is kind of terrifying, you've given a few potential combos with it but I like it in Vintage with good old fashioned Balance.
Cycle: I'm not a big fan of these, they're not really recognisable as a cycle other than an opponent gaining control of them and having Branded as they're all very different in what they do. They just seem like ok cards that randomly have the option of giving them to an opponent
Just had a 10.5 hour shift at work so hopefully I don't read this later and scream.
I'm not the biggest player of eternal formats so I'm sorry if I miss any super important metagame interactions.
Ink Treader
Your Eternal payable card is a major threat that can be really hard to effectively deal with for certain decks. This interacts well with a lot of eternal staples while not horrifically breaking anything as far as I can tell. The weakness to graveyard hate and the inability to chain the abilities also helps keep this not too insane.
I'm wondering if there is a better way of doing the activate once per turn clause better using tap costs and ETB tapped or something. Not a big issue though.
The deal mechanic certainly has potential in multiplayer but I'm not a fan of the mana of any colour aspect when you could just explicitly say "pay3" or "pay X2" The wording just doesn't seem clean enough.
Death dealing is a cool name but why have these simply be a worse murder most of the time. Sure they are nice for politics but if your giving the other players potentially powerful spells why do I not get a discount?
FreshMeat
Your eternal card is certainly brutal at disruption but I worry with its 1/1 body if it is going to be reliable enough especially as it is super easy to block with the very often seen Deathrite Shaman.
The haste really punishes the player who taps out early but I especially see this being outgunned by Liliana of the Veil which while not random discard is far more versatile.
This seems like it would be really good against some decks but not great against others. The decks it is good against I'm not 100% need this compared to other disruption options.
I don't think your multiplayer cards actually work properly if I'm reading them right. Token ownership rules are a little different meaning the trigger doesn't work. Unless someone else steals it and attacks you like a derp (like my commander)
I really really like the idea but the sloppy wording brings this down.
(NamelessOne)
Your pendent....
I really really like this. It has a great clean effect that give a lot of options to the eternal format. Would be very interesting to see if something like this ever gets printed.
Definitely weak to graveyard hate but also interesting how it can change the metagame by using the opponents abilities which is a nice threat.
I like the concept of branded but the cards you chose to display are really narrow and the first one doesn't actually work as far as I can tell. Also that the 2nd card directly names the commander which is interesting but it seemed like you tried to fit too many ideas on the one card. Would of preferred a simpler brand card that let the concept shine.
Top 3
3 FreshMeat
2 (NamelessOne)
1 Ink Treader (Very hard to pick 1st and 2nd spot)
Your challenge:
Create a rare card that might be playable in Legacy or Vintage, like Scavenging Ooze and Flusterstorm. Of course, it must be within your commander's color identity, and it should make sense in a multiplayer context as well.
AND
Create two cards that are pieces of a horizontal cycle, one for your deck and one for another of the top four competitors' decks, something with interesting multiplayer play like the Vow of Duty cycle. (nameless one), we will assume your deck is 6th in a set of mono-colored decks. I believe the restrictions and colors of the remaining competitors mean that your cards can only be black, red, green, or colorless.
Our competitors:
Ink-Treader
(nameless one)
doombringer
FreshMeat
Please try to finish the cards by Wednesday, October 16th (9PM Pacific Time, midnight Eastern)
Critiques will then be due on Friday, October 18th, at the same time.
Let me know if you have any questions, thanks!
Underworld Ferryman BB
Creature - Zombie Centaur (R)
Only one of Underworld Ferryman's abilities may be activated each turn.
BB, Sacrifice Underworld Ferryman: Target player sacrifices a creature. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
BB, Pay X life: Return Underworld Ferryman and another target creature card with converted mana cost X or less from a graveyard to the battlefield. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
It's a long trip to the Underworld, and a long and harrowing trip back from the Underworld.
2/2
The best part about this is that by this NOT being legendary it's not quite broken. (This is me hoping it's not broken anyways.)
Possibility for the Horizontal cycle
Death Dealing 1BB
Sorcery (U)
Destroy target creature.
Deal (Each other player may pay this card's mana cost as if their mana was any color. If a player does, they copy this spell and may choose new targets for it, except the copy can't target you or a card you control.
Flame Dealing XRR
Sorcery (U)
Flame Dealing deals X damage to target creature or player.
Deal (Each other player may pay this card's mana cost as if their mana was any color. If a player does, they copy this spell and may choose new targets for it, except the copy can't target you or a card you control.
...and then we got a glimpse of tempting offer. Still, Deal is different enough.
Choose one of these judge of creation:
Make Strionic Resonator shine!
You can not grasp the true form of Ashiok's attack!
Definitely gonna have to sit down and think about this.
Legacy/Vintage Card
Demand R
Instant {R}
Split Second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can’t cast spells or activate abilities that aren’t mana abilities.)
Target spell can’t be countered by spells or abilities.
NO!
Makes for an interesting answer to all the counterspells that run rampant in the format. Is that extra mana you have open for Demand? or is it simply a bluff?
The name also mirrors one of the most powerful and annoying counterspells Remand which I think is a nice extra touch.
The split second is required to both prevent this from being countered or the original spell being countered again higher on the stack.
Works well in multiplayer as it allows you to diplomatically save another players card or simply reduce the threat on counters to everybody by announcing (truthfully or not) that you have the card and are willing to use it.
Multiplayer Cycle
Enchantment — Aura (U)
Enchant creature you don’t control
Whenever enchanted creature attacks or blocks, you and enchanted creature’s controller may each choose a target creature. Chosen creatures gets +3/+0 and gains first strike until end of turn.
Mark of Savagry :2mana::symg:
Enchantment (U)
Enchant creature you don’t control
Whenever enchanted creature attacks or blocks, you and enchanted creature’s controller may each choose a target creature. Chosen creatures gets +2/+2 and gains trample until end of turn.
Placing these on a opponents creature allows you to plan together to double the effects or each cancel the effects out if they attack you. This them subtly not want to attack you with the enchanted creature and makes for interesting politics.
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
Eternal playable:
Terrazuma Pendant 1
Artifact (rare)
Terrazuma Pendant has all the activated abilities of all lands in all graveyards.
"The energy of a plane that once was encased within this pendant. "
Although the card sounds broken, it is still graveyard dependent and eternal format isn't shy when it comes to grave hate. Also, Deathrite Shaman is ubiquitous in Legacy and sees Vintage play.
Horizontal Cycle (aka the Emissary Cycle):
Hyperion's Proxy 0
Artifact Creature - Drone (uncommon)
When Hyperion's Proxy enters the battlefield, attach target equipment onto it. That equipment's controller gains control of Hyperion's Proxy.
Hyperion's Proxy gets +1/+1 for each equipment attached to it.
Branded (The owner of this card has protection from it.)
0/0
Kalivan's Agent BB
Creature - Horror (uncommon)
When Kalivan's Agent enters the battlefield, you may have another player gain control of it.
As long as Kalivan, Death's Hand is on the battlefield or command zone, damage that would be dealt to and dealt by Kalivan's Agent is dealt by Kalivan, Death's Hand instead.
Branded (The owner of this card has protection from it.)
3/3
The beauty of this is that any saboteur effect on Kalivan applies to this guy (as explained by Ink Threader from the previous rounds). It's just the matter of how you use him.
Thanks for spiderboy4 of High~Light_Studios for the kick ass avatar.
Thanks for DarkNightCavalier of HotPS for the exceptional signature.
Legendary Creature - Elf Shaman (M)
When you cast Vali, Gilt-Leaf Witch, return a creature card with converted mana cost equal to or less than the amount of mana used to cast Vali from your graveyard to the battlefield.
Sacrifice a creature: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.
Sacrifice a creature: Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
2/2
Influential Call 3G
Sorcery (U)
Put X 1/1 green Elf Warrior creature tokens onto the battlefield, where X is the highest power among creatures you control.
The elves of the Gilt-Leaf will follow anyone with the power to offer them prestige.
Mechanic: Sustain. Sustain is a triggered ability that means "When this creature dies, you may exile target card in an opponent's graveyard with converted mana cost equal to this creature's. If you do, shuffle this creature into your library."
Crashing Tatterhorn 2BG
Creature - Beast Zombie (R)
Sustain (When Crashing Tatterhorn dies, you may exile target card in an opponent's graveyard with converted mana cost 4. If you do, shuffle Crashing Tatterhorn into your library.)
Crashing Tatterhorn can't block.
Whenever Crashing Tatterhorn sustains, you gain 4 life and target opponent loses 4 life.
4/3
Legendary:
Nakon, the Carver 2G
Legendary Creature - Elf Warrior(R)
Deathtouch
Whenever a creature is sacrificed, you may put a +1/+1 counter on Nakon, the Carver.
Whenever a +1/+1 counter is put on Nakon, it gains trample until end of turn.
3/3
Vali's favored guardian, she makes sure his every morbid craving is catered to.
Equipment:
Kingslayer Dagger 2
Artifact - Equipment (U)
Equipped creature gets +2/+0.
Whenever equipped creature blocks or becomes blocked by a legendary creature, equipped creature gains deathtouch until end of turn.
Equip 2
Common:
Shedding Mossdog 2G
Creature - Plant Hound (C)
When Shedding Mossdog enters the battlefield, put a 1/1 green Saproling creature token onto the battlefield.
When Shedding Mossdog dies, put a loyalty counter on target planeswalker you control.
2/2
A trained mossdog may be messy, but they're loyal to the end.
Uncommon:
Vigor Drain XBG
Sorcery (U)
Choose one - Put X +1/+1 counters on target creature you control; or target creature gets -X/-X until end of turn.
Choose both if you control a planeswalker.
"For my next trick, I'll require a volunteer from the cages in the back row" - Vali, Gilt-Leaf Witch
Eternal Playable
Shadow of Nath BG
Creature - Elf Spirit (R)
Haste
Whenever Shadow of Nath deals combat damage to a player, that player discards a card at random.
B: Shadow of Nath gains intimidate until end of turn.
1/1
Though his physical body is gone, his wrath will live forever.
I picture this card slotting into some sort of aggressive and/or control deck, I'm not actually that familiar with Eternal formats but I think this could work in something like Shardless BUG. As for its multiplayer applications, if you've ever played with random discard in multiplayer you know just how political it can make things and the intimidate would be more relevant in multiplayer games because it's most likely to be unblockable by someone.
Horizontal Cycle
Gift of Savagery 1G
Sorcery (U)
Put a 3/3 green Beast token onto the battlefield under target opponent's control. It has "If a creature you control attacks this creature's owner or a planeswalker they control, sacrifice this creature and its owner puts a +1/+1 counter on each creature they control."
Gift of Release 1B
Sorcery (U)
Put a 1/1 black Assassin token with deathtouch onto the battlefield under target opponent's control. It has "If a creature you control attacks this creature's owner or a planeswalker they control, sacrifice this creature and creatures its owner controls gain deathtouch until the beginning of their next end step."
The idea behind the cycle was to give your opponent a moderately useful token "gift" that would punish them quite harshly for then attacking you with anything. The wording is more awkward than I would have liked but I'm happy enough with it, though I wish I'd had more time to iron it out.
Demand seems pretty cool. I'm not sure how often anti-counterspell spells get played in Legacy/Vintage, but it does seem to do its job admirably. The Mark cycle is kind of interesting, and offers great political maneuvers.
Wow... that pendant would definitely cause packs to move... I'm a little leery of its power. Yes grave hate is a thing in Legacy/Vintage. Somehow Dredge is still a thing though. Honestly, I think this would likely be a land if WotC ever printed such a thing. I like Hyperion's Proxy. I always wished there was a way to give an artifact living weapon. On the other hand, this really needs at least 1 toughness for it to work properly. (i.e. not spontaneously die). Kalivan's Agent is interesting, but besides some wording issues (should say "a card named Kalivan, Death's Hand), it's a bit narrow. I'd be happier if it simply referred to the owner's commander to be more interesting (...which makes Phage the Untouchable a more plausible commander choice... that'd be neat.)
Fear not, I'm not overly familiar either. As it stands, Shadow of Nath certainly does some sweet stuff. It can come down early enough to start wrecking hands, and has a way to keep that up. Your gift cycle is quite interesting. On one hand, I wish the gift gave more tokens. On the other hand, the punishers are very cool and seem to make for excellent deterrents, which is why the token gift was a bit less of a token gift.
Designing for the Eternal formats... wish I had a better grasp of what was desired myself.
1. FreshMeat
2. doombringer
3. (nameless one)
Choose one of these judge of creation:
Make Strionic Resonator shine!
You can not grasp the true form of Ashiok's attack!
As much as I love how your eternal is, I don't like how Deal is worded. It's essentially a Replicate that can be payed by your opponent. It's essentially a poorly worded version of doombringer's Converge mechanic. Although I get the idea of your multiplayer cycle.
The idea behind your multiplayer cycle is school. It's either a multiplier or an equalizer, all depending on your mood.
I don't think your multiplayer cycle works out the way you intend to. If an effect you have puts a token under an opponent's control, that opponent is considered to be the owner of the token. This is evident under the "Hunter Creature" cycle. It was also explained here under 4. Token Ownership
2. Ink-Treader
3. FreshMeat
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Cycle: Ignoring Tempting Offer since you came up with yours separately, I'm not a big fan of Deal. It's ok, but I don't like the idea of giving my opponents a choice to cast spells, even if they can't target me. The cards you've designed leave something to be desired as well, they're both kind of weak, being sorcery versions of good instants.
Cycle: I don't care for these at all, it seems like nearly all upside for your opponent as they're in control of the trigger and if they're attacking you, if you have a blocker the buffs cancel each other out and if you don't have a blocker, you're in for some hurt.
Cycle: I'm not a big fan of these, they're not really recognisable as a cycle other than an opponent gaining control of them and having Branded as they're all very different in what they do. They just seem like ok cards that randomly have the option of giving them to an opponent
2. (nameless one)
3. Ink-Treader
I'm not the biggest player of eternal formats so I'm sorry if I miss any super important metagame interactions.
Ink Treader
Your Eternal payable card is a major threat that can be really hard to effectively deal with for certain decks. This interacts well with a lot of eternal staples while not horrifically breaking anything as far as I can tell. The weakness to graveyard hate and the inability to chain the abilities also helps keep this not too insane.
I'm wondering if there is a better way of doing the activate once per turn clause better using tap costs and ETB tapped or something. Not a big issue though.
The deal mechanic certainly has potential in multiplayer but I'm not a fan of the mana of any colour aspect when you could just explicitly say "pay3" or "pay X2" The wording just doesn't seem clean enough.
Death dealing is a cool name but why have these simply be a worse murder most of the time. Sure they are nice for politics but if your giving the other players potentially powerful spells why do I not get a discount?
FreshMeat
Your eternal card is certainly brutal at disruption but I worry with its 1/1 body if it is going to be reliable enough especially as it is super easy to block with the very often seen Deathrite Shaman.
The haste really punishes the player who taps out early but I especially see this being outgunned by Liliana of the Veil which while not random discard is far more versatile.
This seems like it would be really good against some decks but not great against others. The decks it is good against I'm not 100% need this compared to other disruption options.
I don't think your multiplayer cards actually work properly if I'm reading them right. Token ownership rules are a little different meaning the trigger doesn't work. Unless someone else steals it and attacks you like a derp (like my commander)
I really really like the idea but the sloppy wording brings this down.
(NamelessOne)
Your pendent....
I really really like this. It has a great clean effect that give a lot of options to the eternal format. Would be very interesting to see if something like this ever gets printed.
Definitely weak to graveyard hate but also interesting how it can change the metagame by using the opponents abilities which is a nice threat.
I like the concept of branded but the cards you chose to display are really narrow and the first one doesn't actually work as far as I can tell. Also that the 2nd card directly names the commander which is interesting but it seemed like you tried to fit too many ideas on the one card. Would of preferred a simpler brand card that let the concept shine.
Top 3
3 FreshMeat
2 (NamelessOne)
1 Ink Treader (Very hard to pick 1st and 2nd spot)
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