Here's an updated version, plus a much dumber card.
General Custom Cards: The Lab
- Thread starter anotak
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Here's an updated version, plus a much dumber card.
, then shuffle.
White can't grab a Forest.
The name feels like a joke. Even if cleavoke is kind of a joke, it's actually working fine for me because it rhymes and familiar players will understand it immediately.
There's only 8 white creatures that inherently have reach. 5 are from the 1990s and 3 are from UB. 7 of the 8 have a bow or a gun.
White can't grab a Forest.
The name feels like a joke. Even if cleavoke is kind of a joke, it's actually working fine for me because it rhymes and familiar players will understand it immediately.
There's only 8 white creatures that inherently have reach. 5 are from the 1990s and 3 are from UB. 7 of the 8 have a bow or a gun.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I was about to say, grabbing a Forest is fine on a GW hybrid card, so it should be fine here!
Also, while reach isn’t really a white ability, flying is, an reach literally is a subset of flying if you think about it. In addition to the monowhite cards, there are also 12 GW cards with reach. And yes, half of those are archers again, but still, it’s a fine mechanic for a card that feels GW, even if you don’t necessarily need to play it in a GW deck.
Also, while reach isn’t really a white ability, flying is, an reach literally is a subset of flying if you think about it. In addition to the monowhite cards, there are also 12 GW cards with reach. And yes, half of those are archers again, but still, it’s a fine mechanic for a card that feels GW, even if you don’t necessarily need to play it in a GW deck.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I actually think these designs are relatively tame? Obviously Companions have been a notoriously underrated design that was far better than expected, but there are a bunch that don't see play. I think merely having stats might not be enough to make those companions pop in a memorable way.
Well, it depends clearly if these are meant just for Cube or in general. The Shaolin would be very broken in Constructed since 99% of decks would have no reason not to play it (and the other 1% are the Vintage Lurrus decks)
I think it'd be broken with the original Companion rule, but I don't think most Constructed decks would be interested in what it has to offer with the
tax to put it into your hand? It doesn't have a really powerful effect like Lurrus or Yorion, the list of good pitch spells that you can combine with an on-demand red card is pretty limited, and everything about it stat-wise pushes it towards being an aggressive early game card, which is a role Companions aren't good at due to the whole "pay to draw this" thing.I feel like it'd get some testing, run into a surprising number of situations where it effectively doesn't have Prowess because it made more sense to cast those spells than to hold them back and skip a turn, and then get dropped to reclaim the sideboard slot.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I mean, the rule of thumb for companion is: can I play this without sacrificing deck strength? If the answer is yes, you run the companion, it's as simple as that. However, for cube, I would like my customs to spark joy, and a 3/2 prowess, haste does not spark fun for me. Even if it's literally a free card because I already don't run any dragons, it's a boring card.
Here's a few customs I've made! If people like them I can post many more.
As much as I dislike adding new tokens to the box, these ones have clear upside to existing tokens as well as being safe designs because they're so similar to what we already have.
Does Pact of the Undying provide significant upside to existing cards of that variety? I feel like those effects are good specifically because they save the creature somehow.
I prefer my attacking one drops be white, but this dude is a totally fine red design. Maybe a little pushed, but it's no Ragavan or Ocelot Pride. It requires synergy to do much, which is a good thing.
I like that you did a new variant of battles. We had briefly discussed that quite some time ago, but I hadn't seen anyone go through with it. I think that there's a lot of design space there that isn't a DFC. Here were my Eldrazi themed variants if you're curious. Because the subtype assigns who protects it, you could probably make some that you yourself have to protect, as well. A Battle Creature might be hard to design thematically, but could be cool. Hearthstone style toughness. Seems like an unexplored space that WotC forgot about.
Nice art choices all around. Anato Finnstark might be the GOAT.
Does Pact of the Undying provide significant upside to existing cards of that variety? I feel like those effects are good specifically because they save the creature somehow.
I prefer my attacking one drops be white, but this dude is a totally fine red design. Maybe a little pushed, but it's no Ragavan or Ocelot Pride. It requires synergy to do much, which is a good thing.
I like that you did a new variant of battles. We had briefly discussed that quite some time ago, but I hadn't seen anyone go through with it. I think that there's a lot of design space there that isn't a DFC. Here were my Eldrazi themed variants if you're curious. Because the subtype assigns who protects it, you could probably make some that you yourself have to protect, as well. A Battle Creature might be hard to design thematically, but could be cool. Hearthstone style toughness. Seems like an unexplored space that WotC forgot about.
Nice art choices all around. Anato Finnstark might be the GOAT.
Pact of the Undying has a few advantages that I think make it more versatile than the usual Supernatural Stamina effect. It can dodge aura and exile removal by sacrificing the creature, and it can be used proactively like a flicker spell to trigger etb / leaves / dies effects. I think this makes it a little more appealing in aristocrats and value decks, while still having the primary mode of saving a creature.
I like aggro one-drops that also have synergy hooks, but there isn't much room for upside on an mv1 creature that swings for 2. I like double strike for playing nice with counters, equipment, and pump effects.
Battles have a lot of design space and I really hope they get used more. I don't like DFCs at all and it's a shame our first experience with battles was all DFCs. I use the Mission subtype for simple battles an opponent protects, I'm also really into the design space of battle tokens. Slightly more decisions in attacking/blocking is fun, and I like that they don't have to be value engines the way planeswalkers are.
And yes I have tokens for the two token-makers, although you can also use Thornweald Archer and Arcbound Worker.
I'm a big fan of all of these. Creative, synergistic designs low on the mana curve are the best, as that's where it's hardest to balance, but they also get so much more play. Would love to see more!