I try not to get jealous of other people's designs, but Mental Schism is making it hard for me. The others are good too, but that one takes the cake. Are vampires going to remain in black, or will they bleed into red like in Innistrad?
The others are good too, but that one takes the cake. Are vampires going to remain in black, or will they bleed into red like in Innistrad?
"Vampire tribal" isn't really going to be a thing in Eleventh Edition. One of my aspirations, pie-wise, is to move effects like Griffin Rider into red. This card is that.
Compare this to Advocate of the Beast and Marauding Maulhorn in M14. This card is meant to make you look for Vampires to draft in Limited. As of right now, the only common Vampire I'm planning is Callous Hangman, but it's possible that I might do another. There will be at least one or two uncommon / rare Vampires as well. As of right now, I'm anticipating that they'll all be black, but a red one isn't out of the question, necessarily.
Could Blood Toy have haste as well if you control a Vampire? Because if you're a Blood Toy, and you don't hit the ground running...
Become Wrath feels more green to me in functionality, and fits nicely there. It might be pushing it for common, though. I think this card would be fine if the creature became a 5/1, since then it could double as (weak) removal sometimes.
Add me to the list of people who love Mental Schism!
Blood toy is a creepy name, great flavor. I think the ability actually feels like it belongs more in white, because it fosters cooperation, or green, because it fosters diversity, but I guess it works anywhere. A neat way to get players noticing and caring about creature types.
Become Wrath feels more green (and too powerful at common) to me, but I agree with OhDaisy! that it could work in red as a 5/1, and I think that would make it a bit more interesting too. I had designed a green global enchantment once that made all your creatures big (like 7/7 or 6/6) and I'm kind of really into these sorts of effects.
"Vampire tribal" isn't really going to be a thing in Eleventh Edition. One of my aspirations, pie-wise, is to move effects like Griffin Rider into red. This card is that.
Compare this to Advocate of the Beast and Marauding Maulhorn in M14. This card is meant to make you look for Vampires to draft in Limited. As of right now, the only common Vampire I'm planning is Callous Hangman, but it's possible that I might do another. There will be at least one or two uncommon / rare Vampires as well. As of right now, I'm anticipating that they'll all be black, but a red one isn't out of the question, necessarily.
Griffin Rider was in a set with three common griffins, all in the same color, and which you wouldn't be completely embarrassed to play on their own. You're making this card both get a weaker bonus and be harder to turn on, which sounds to me less like "build-around-me" and more like "intentional sucky noob trap that will never be taken higher than a 13th pick after you've been burned by it the first time." And even that is questionable, considering how terrible the card looks on paper.
Become Wrath is intriguing. It makes me wonder what utility creatures I can put it on to gain value and offset the inherent 2-for-1 nature of Auras. (Scroll Thief reprint?)
I'm conflicted on Mental Schism. I want to like it, but it's pretty bad to cast early and sometimes you're going to flip over two lands and feel completely hosed.
I'm conflicted on Mental Schism. I want to like it, but it's pretty bad to cast early and sometimes you're going to flip over two lands and feel completely hosed.
Obviously you cast Schism before your land drop, so you just play one of those lands. If lands are valuable at this point in the game, congrats, you "drew" one. If not, congrats, you effectively cast Divination.
The feel bad potential is when you cast this on t4 and hit 5 drop 6 drop, but that should be pretty rare and is mitigated by playskill.
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I primarily play limited, so most of my spoiler season comments view cards through that lens.
The feel bad potential is when you cast this on t4 and hit 5 drop 6 drop, but that should be pretty rare and is mitigated by playskill.
Remember that casting Schism puts you down a land, so 4 drop + 4 drop is also bad. Or 4 drop + 2 drop when you could have cast a 3 drop in your hand instead.
What does "mitigated by playskill" mean? Absent effects like scry, how often you get screwed over by random chance has less to do with how good your technical play is and more to do with how well your deck was constructed.
While I like the name 'Mental Schism', Split Decision is a fantastic name, and it's got the kind of intuitive flavor that a core set loves.
Design wise, these are all quite nice. I do agree with some others that Become Wrath could be weighed more towards power.
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Mental Schism is a great card, but I'm not really fond of the name. You should call it Split Decision.
That was my first name for it, but I guess I had split second on the brain at the time, and felt the name would be weird on a sorcery-speed effect.
But looking at it now, it seems fine.
For values of X that aren't functioning as removal, I think "this creature is/becomes X/X" effects should be red, not green. I believe this because these effects are maximized when you play them on little, crappy creatures, unlike stuff like Giant Growth which is just as powerful no matter the size of the creature.
Yes, green incidentally creates little, crappy creatures when it creates a lot of them at once (tokens,) but tokens have their own suite of mechanics and don't really want this. Green is not the color of Raging Goblins. Become Wrath wants to be thrown on your lone, piddly 1/1 to make him amazing. Even ignoring the 2-for-1-ness of Auras, that's a risky strategy. That risk/reward solidifies it as red for me.
Also, weighting this towards power (having the creature become 5/1 or something) isn't wrong. I'm just saying that giving the creature square numbers (5/5) should still be a red effect.
Also, weighting this towards power (having the creature become 5/1 or something) isn't wrong. I'm just saying that giving the creature square numbers (5/5) should still be a red effect.
Agreed. But with a name like 'Become Wrath', square stats feel off.
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That was my first name for it, but I guess I had split second on the brain at the time, and felt the name would be weird on a sorcery-speed effect.
But looking at it now, it seems fine.
Ah, great minds think alike, I see. Anyway, the only issue I see with Split Decision is that you've technically got all turn to decide between one of the two cards. You could make it so you have to choose one of them upon resolution... which might be enough of a nerf to make it an instant. Two birds with one stone!
The best comparison for Mental Schism is Ideas Unbound. I think the way you've templated and balanced it is spot on and the card is perfect as is. I think its exactly what this game needs. I think the drawback of being unable to work with cards in your hand, and EoT shenanigans, and effects of 'on draw' and less cards and the fact ideas unbound really wasn't played afaik, as neat a concept as it was, puts your 2-for-1 at a good balance. Its card advantage only if you can take advantage of it, and low mana cost decks with tons of 0-1 CMC cards would go ga-ga for it.
Ok, possibly too strong, but I just love it too much. Totally vintage playable
It's mostly worse than Sleight of Hand. It could see play in a modern MonoR storm deck if they print enough redundancy, but it would be very unlikely to do anything in older formats than that.
@Jenesis: Right, forgot about the mana it took itself. By "mitigated by playskill" I mean not casting this on t4 when you have a 3 drop in hand. More seriously, you might want to pass the turn rather than cast this t4, depending on whether you're under pressure, what you know the remaining composition of your deck to look like, how much mana you expect to spend the next couple of turns, etc.
Blood Toy doesn't work for me. A human that gets Giant Strength when he/she is low on blood doesn't seem realistic. What's red about it? Just the color of blood? On paper the ability seems workable, but the card doesn't make sense to me. If the creature became a vampire in addition to the buff, and only checked for "Other creatures you control," it would make more sense, but what if the other creature dies? The toy stops being a vampire. It doesn't work.
The other two cards I like a lot. For the third card, I'd name it Burning the Midnight Oil.
Eh, not really. I like "Become Wrath," but that name doesn't have to belong to this card. It sounds bigger and scarier and more rare than this card.
I'd like to establish a naming convention for cards like this that isn't just "Giant Something," in order to really set them apart from stuff like Giant Growth, etc. And since I'm trying to whittle this down to its most basic effect ("is 5/5") I don't want a name that implies a color or a creature type change, because this card isn't going to change those things.
So, I guess I'm just waiting for a jolt of inspiration.
Eh, not really. I like "Become Wrath," but that name doesn't have to belong to this card. It sounds bigger and scarier and more rare than this card.
I'd like to establish a naming convention for cards like this that isn't just "Giant Something," in order to really set them apart from stuff like Giant Growth, etc. And since I'm trying to whittle this down to its most basic effect ("is 5/5") I don't want a name that implies a color or a creature type change, because this card isn't going to change those things.
So, I guess I'm just waiting for a jolt of inspiration.
Are you dead set on it not changing types or colors? Because I had an idea for something like this:
Form of Flame2R
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature is a 5/4 red Elemental in addition to its other colors and types.
Creature — Human [C]
Blood Toy gets +2/+2 as long as you control a Vampire.
[1/1]
Enchantment — Aura [C]
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature is 5/5.
Sorcery [C]
Exile the top two cards of your library. You may play one of them this turn.
Opinions?
Thanks!
"Vampire tribal" isn't really going to be a thing in Eleventh Edition. One of my aspirations, pie-wise, is to move effects like Griffin Rider into red. This card is that.
Compare this to Advocate of the Beast and Marauding Maulhorn in M14. This card is meant to make you look for Vampires to draft in Limited. As of right now, the only common Vampire I'm planning is Callous Hangman, but it's possible that I might do another. There will be at least one or two uncommon / rare Vampires as well. As of right now, I'm anticipating that they'll all be black, but a red one isn't out of the question, necessarily.
Could Blood Toy have haste as well if you control a Vampire? Because if you're a Blood Toy, and you don't hit the ground running...
Become Wrath feels more green to me in functionality, and fits nicely there. It might be pushing it for common, though. I think this card would be fine if the creature became a 5/1, since then it could double as (weak) removal sometimes.
Blood toy is a creepy name, great flavor. I think the ability actually feels like it belongs more in white, because it fosters cooperation, or green, because it fosters diversity, but I guess it works anywhere. A neat way to get players noticing and caring about creature types.
Become Wrath feels more green (and too powerful at common) to me, but I agree with OhDaisy! that it could work in red as a 5/1, and I think that would make it a bit more interesting too. I had designed a green global enchantment once that made all your creatures big (like 7/7 or 6/6) and I'm kind of really into these sorts of effects.
Griffin Rider was in a set with three common griffins, all in the same color, and which you wouldn't be completely embarrassed to play on their own. You're making this card both get a weaker bonus and be harder to turn on, which sounds to me less like "build-around-me" and more like "intentional sucky noob trap that will never be taken higher than a 13th pick after you've been burned by it the first time." And even that is questionable, considering how terrible the card looks on paper.
Become Wrath is intriguing. It makes me wonder what utility creatures I can put it on to gain value and offset the inherent 2-for-1 nature of Auras. (Scroll Thief reprint?)
I'm conflicted on Mental Schism. I want to like it, but it's pretty bad to cast early and sometimes you're going to flip over two lands and feel completely hosed.
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Obviously you cast Schism before your land drop, so you just play one of those lands. If lands are valuable at this point in the game, congrats, you "drew" one. If not, congrats, you effectively cast Divination.
The feel bad potential is when you cast this on t4 and hit 5 drop 6 drop, but that should be pretty rare and is mitigated by playskill.
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My Cube:Cardinal Custom Cube
A custom version of a third modern masters: MM2019
(filter->rarity to see in set rarity).
Remember that casting Schism puts you down a land, so 4 drop + 4 drop is also bad. Or 4 drop + 2 drop when you could have cast a 3 drop in your hand instead.
What does "mitigated by playskill" mean? Absent effects like scry, how often you get screwed over by random chance has less to do with how good your technical play is and more to do with how well your deck was constructed.
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Design wise, these are all quite nice. I do agree with some others that Become Wrath could be weighed more towards power.
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That was my first name for it, but I guess I had split second on the brain at the time, and felt the name would be weird on a sorcery-speed effect.
But looking at it now, it seems fine.
For values of X that aren't functioning as removal, I think "this creature is/becomes X/X" effects should be red, not green. I believe this because these effects are maximized when you play them on little, crappy creatures, unlike stuff like Giant Growth which is just as powerful no matter the size of the creature.
Yes, green incidentally creates little, crappy creatures when it creates a lot of them at once (tokens,) but tokens have their own suite of mechanics and don't really want this. Green is not the color of Raging Goblins. Become Wrath wants to be thrown on your lone, piddly 1/1 to make him amazing. Even ignoring the 2-for-1-ness of Auras, that's a risky strategy. That risk/reward solidifies it as red for me.
Also, weighting this towards power (having the creature become 5/1 or something) isn't wrong. I'm just saying that giving the creature square numbers (5/5) should still be a red effect.
Agreed. But with a name like 'Become Wrath', square stats feel off.
Lead Tesla, a community set designed by everyone and led by me, over at Goblin Artisans. Index of articles here!
Ah, great minds think alike, I see. Anyway, the only issue I see with Split Decision is that you've technically got all turn to decide between one of the two cards. You could make it so you have to choose one of them upon resolution... which might be enough of a nerf to make it an instant. Two birds with one stone!
And 5/4 "Giant Form" instead of 5/5 Become Wrath.
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Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
Ok, possibly too strong, but I just love it too much. Totally vintage playable
It's mostly worse than Sleight of Hand. It could see play in a modern MonoR storm deck if they print enough redundancy, but it would be very unlikely to do anything in older formats than that.
@Jenesis: Right, forgot about the mana it took itself. By "mitigated by playskill" I mean not casting this on t4 when you have a 3 drop in hand. More seriously, you might want to pass the turn rather than cast this t4, depending on whether you're under pressure, what you know the remaining composition of your deck to look like, how much mana you expect to spend the next couple of turns, etc.
Interested in Custom Card Creation.
My Cube:Cardinal Custom Cube
A custom version of a third modern masters: MM2019
(filter->rarity to see in set rarity).
The other two cards I like a lot. For the third card, I'd name it Burning the Midnight Oil.
Eh, not really. I like "Become Wrath," but that name doesn't have to belong to this card. It sounds bigger and scarier and more rare than this card.
I'd like to establish a naming convention for cards like this that isn't just "Giant Something," in order to really set them apart from stuff like Giant Growth, etc. And since I'm trying to whittle this down to its most basic effect ("is 5/5") I don't want a name that implies a color or a creature type change, because this card isn't going to change those things.
So, I guess I'm just waiting for a jolt of inspiration.
Are you dead set on it not changing types or colors? Because I had an idea for something like this:
Form of Flame 2R
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature is a 5/4 red Elemental in addition to its other colors and types.
R1
3/3
Has -2/-2 if you don't control a vampire
Hah! I was just going to recommend this.