General Custom Cards: The Lab

Maybe you can add an “activate only as a sorcery” rider to at least eliminate the block + donate play pattern.
Oh yeah, I forgot to write that here, but it's on the card. Only sorcery speed here.

So, giving your opponent a 0/1 isn’t really a downside, I assume? What can they do with it? Stare at you menacingly?
Block for days, mostly. It's a very creature focused meta, naturally, there are ways to put counters on the magikarp or tap it as a cost for some effects.

Is it smoother to give them the fish and you draw a card and that's it?
I thought about this, could even just make it a sorcery with flashback or something. But there is like a minor Magikarps matter subtheme here with cards like Tempting Bait, a control magic that only works for as long as you control a Magikarp or Unlucky Fishing, which gives you Magikarps when you discard and sacs itself once you have six to fetch a water type pokémon into play.

So I would like this to works with those as a clever payoff. If possible.
 

Chris Taylor

Contributor
Now lemmie tell you, if this loses you life and gives them 0/1s, but with a bigger upside? Now we've got a stew goin.
Like putting yourself on a clock to get this game over and making that harder for yourself? How much power could that give you
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Now lemmie tell you, if this loses you life and gives them 0/1s, but with a bigger upside? Now we've got a stew goin.
Like putting yourself on a clock to get this game over and making that harder for yourself? How much power could that give you
Surveil X, where X is the number of Magicarp you control, before the draw ;)
 
Now lemmie tell you, if this loses you life and gives them 0/1s, but with a bigger upside? Now we've got a stew goin.
Like putting yourself on a clock to get this game over and making that harder for yourself? How much power could that give you

That's the catch (pun intended). You get this cheap draw engine that also allows you to store treasures – now you need to find a way to punch through with evasion (or maybe gain some life) to make sure you can win.

You can also decide to not sell the Magikarps though.
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Perpetuum Mobile should probably be "the first activated ability that isn't a mana ability you activate each turn", otherwise tapping a land for mana uses up the cost reduction...
Yeah, good catch! I already was in bed when I thought of that XD The white one probably needs to be juiced up a bit to be comparable to these as well.
 
How annoying would this be? It's great with Smokestack at the very least :D

View attachment 9672
Seems perfect if you hate red.

I don't think it's actually very strong, as it makes 0/3s, but it basically beats an entire archetype on its own, which is problematic.

You could probably get away with a 1/1 or maybe T: Create 1/1 is a bit better. Then it compares to a lifeless grounded Bitterblossom with a mana option at 3mv. Still very annoying if your aggro decks rely on 2/1s, however.

It's pretty interesting with the current effect, but making a 0/1. Nearly worthless tokens that encourage the player to sacrifice them in order to get more value. That said, maybe that's a Kobold red card? Or a black Serf card? Something where the colors are more likely to be sacrificing. Maybe it's fine as a blocker for control.

It's worth noting that the original white, blue, and red designs are pretty playable by any deck, whereas the black design feels like it's considerably more likely to get value in Bx.

Also worth noting that the red one is able to make any color via the treasure, while the others are not. I personally would prefer to see them all make any color in order to expand their playability as well as possibly changing the black design to be more universal.
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Way too strong for even Legacy.

Also imagine going through this endless wall of walls.

Whip of Erebos is a baby compared this.
I think this is stone cold unplayable in Legacy. Ophiomancer doesn't see any play there and is arguably stronger. This uses the same text, except it creates a Wall of Hope instead of a 1/1 deathtoucher.

Seems perfect if you hate red.

I don't think it's actually very strong, as it makes 0/3s, but it basically beats an entire archetype on its own, which is problematic.
I mean, yes it is really annoying for aggro decks, but also red is king of artifact destruction. (Disclaimer: I haven't actually checked how much maindeckable artifact destruction aggro decks have available...) You are both probably right that this design is problematic though.

It's worth noting that the original white, blue, and red designs are pretty playable by any deck, whereas the black design feels like it's considerably more likely to get value in Bx.
You would think that, but all colors except red (which is not adjacent to black in my cube) have multiple cards that would trigger this.

Also worth noting that the red one is able to make any color via the treasure, while the others are not. I personally would prefer to see them all make any color in order to expand their playability as well as possibly changing the black design to be more universal.
That said, I view these as basically colorless designs. They only tap for a specific color for signaling purposes. Each of them, except the white one maybe, work exceptionally well with the themes I have seeded in their respective colors. Blue has the most activation-heavy archetypes in ninja's and discard matters, black obviously is the king of reanimation, and red has Wildfire and some incidental artifact synergies. I didn't include a green one because 3 mv ramp can't compete with the likes of Farseek and Nature's Lore anyway.

I currently run six colorless 3 mv mana rocks, and black and white are the most likely to pick them up because they are not adjacent to green and thus are least likely to pick up the 2 mv ramp spells. I think I will try to think of another rare white design and then make an uncommon white and black design that plays well with the Smokestack archetype in some way.
 
I think this is stone cold unplayable in Legacy. Ophiomancer doesn't see any play there and is arguably stronger. This uses the same text, except it creates a Wall of Hope instead of a 1/1 deathtoucher.

Which I think is a lot stronger because it can single take down aggro. There’s no way around that wall.

Try it out for just a single cube session and you’ll see.

You’ll probably notice by then that a 2/2 is a lot easier to remove than a mana rock.

Let me know if I missed something.
 
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Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Back to the original version of Beacon of Hope (etb create a Wall of Hope token) plus these two.

Makeshift Barrier.jpg Warlock’s Skull.jpg

Is swear I wanted to name this Makeshift Barricade...
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
I mean that name's available: link
For the flavor text: the phrase is usually "offense", not "attack", is that a dutch difference (tm)?
Yup, "offense" and "attack" translate into the same word in Dutch: "aanval". Thanks for the correction, now I have two reasons to redo the render :D

By the way, I knew Makeshift Barricade was available. I just put in the wrong name when I did the render XD
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
OMG I drafted an Esper deck in playtesting that ended up with four of the new mana rocks and it was sweeeeet! I blocked with a Wall of Hope token, I got free Zombies off of reanimation spells, I pitched Mirrorshell Crab for {U} and returned Eternal Dragon for {1}{W}{W}, and I both looted and milled Warlock’s Skull away for a free card. VALUE! These were all super fun to play, so I’m happy with them! Now I need to test Makeshift Barricade :D

:pogchimp:
 
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