Laz
Developer
After having my fun running aggressive decks into Perilous Myrs, it actually looks pretty anti-aggro, and is incredibly aggressively costed (it gives Flying!). Maybe just make Mortarpod give +1/+1?
General Custom Cards: The Lab
- Thread starter anotak
- Start date
After having my fun running aggressive decks into Perilous Myrs, it actually looks pretty anti-aggro, and is incredibly aggressively costed (it gives Flying!). Maybe just make Mortarpod give +1/+1?
Better Talrand, Sky Summoner:
Summoner 2U
Creature - Human Wizard
Whener you cast a noncreature spell, put a 2/2 blue Drake creature token with flying onto the battlefield.
1/3
Something like that?
Summoner 2U
Creature - Human Wizard
Whener you cast a noncreature spell, put a 2/2 blue Drake creature token with flying onto the battlefield.
1/3
Something like that?
Chris Taylor
Contributor
I worry about something making 2/2 fliers being that cheap. Probably the better bet is just to play (or make a blue version of) Monastery Mentor
Thinking about red counterspells, in the sense that red's passion lets them push through opposing magic. From a design perspective I want to bleed stack interaction out of 
and enable reactive non-blue decks (also shifting a blue counter or two into creatures).What do you guys think about (spitballing here):
R
Instant
As an additional cost to cast ~, tap all your lands and then empty your mana pool. Spells you control can't be countered this turn.
Draw a card.
1RR
Instant
Counter target creature or artifact spell. Deal damage to its controller equal to that spell's converted mana cost.
1R
Choose one:
Counter target spell. Cast this only if you control a Wizard.
Deal two damage to target non-Wizard creature
RR
Counter target instant spell if it's your turn. Draw a card.
and enable reactive non-blue decks (also shifting a blue counter or two into creatures).What do you guys think about (spitballing here):R
Instant
As an additional cost to cast ~, tap all your lands and then empty your mana pool. Spells you control can't be countered this turn.
Draw a card.
1RR
Instant
Counter target creature or artifact spell. Deal damage to its controller equal to that spell's converted mana cost.
1R
Choose one:
Counter target spell. Cast this only if you control a Wizard.
Deal two damage to target non-Wizard creature
RR
Counter target instant spell if it's your turn. Draw a card.
Not to pick on you, but I think people get too hung up on using the specific words "counter target spell" rather than stopping certain types of spells and effects. Feed the Clan is one of the best counterspells ever printed against burn decks, etc.
That said, cards like Remand and Delay seem the most "red" of blue's counters as they prevent the spell in the short-term without removing the opponent's ability to eventually cast it. If you wanted something similar, but not exactly like blue's existing options maybe something like this:
Mana Burst -
Instant
Counter target spell. That spell's controller adds two mana of any combination of colors to his or her mana pool at the beginning of their next main phase.
That said, cards like Remand and Delay seem the most "red" of blue's counters as they prevent the spell in the short-term without removing the opponent's ability to eventually cast it. If you wanted something similar, but not exactly like blue's existing options maybe something like this:
Mana Burst -
Instant
Counter target spell. That spell's controller adds two mana of any combination of colors to his or her mana pool at the beginning of their next main phase.
Laz
Developer
The timing should work for Madness, as you can stack the discard triggers (Madness is triggered right?) so you get the mana before you cast the spell.
I like Mana Burst, although I think you could go further and just make it reverse Mana Drain, though that would likely make it too unwieldy.
This card is sweet, though a little unintuitive (probably still more intuitive than the other Red 'counter-target-counterspell'-spell though). Really awesome design.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
I wanted to fix this, and this is what I came up with:
Spells! -
Instant
Cascade, Cipher
The instant speed means that you can encode it on an already unblocked created if you're already getting through (for a guaranteed second cascade unless they have instant removal), or you can roll the dice for a counterspell if needed. I think the power level is in the right place, but I'm not sure.
Spells! -
Instant
Cascade, Cipher
The instant speed means that you can encode it on an already unblocked created if you're already getting through (for a guaranteed second cascade unless they have instant removal), or you can roll the dice for a counterspell if needed. I think the power level is in the right place, but I'm not sure.
To be more accurate, when the discard + R happens, you can't respond in between discard and R. You either respond before or after the whole thing happens, so yeah, you can madness away, since it's in the stack if you discarded a madness card with Madcaster Mage.
Ps: i would like that creature more, if it gave 1R or RR. It still would probably be worse than BTE in most cases i believe.
Laz
Developer
Ah, I took the 'if you do...' to be a triggered action, but that is clearly not how that templating works. The triggered ability is 'When it enters the battlefield...' with an option as part of resolution. Thanks for clearing that up.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
I don't think the 1 mana more to recur things is enough to justify all your bolts being terminates. Deathtouch is way stronger than wither
My gut reaction is take the first card and give it the activation cost of the second card.
The card is fine as is. Is it powerful? Yes. Is it over the top? Not really.
For cube only this card is fine.
Snapcaster Mage in my opinion weren't that insane in cube, this will make it a little better (sometimes), but still won't dominate the game constantly.
If something like counterspell-recursion seems too unfair, maybe the ability should be put under 'use this ability as a sorcery'
I hope i'm not repeating someone else, i didn't read every comment that has been given to this card.
Edit: Soulfire Grand Master to me seems more powerful than this black version... And Soulfire Grand Master hasn't been broken
For cube only this card is fine.
Snapcaster Mage in my opinion weren't that insane in cube, this will make it a little better (sometimes), but still won't dominate the game constantly.
If something like counterspell-recursion seems too unfair, maybe the ability should be put under 'use this ability as a sorcery'
I hope i'm not repeating someone else, i didn't read every comment that has been given to this card.
Edit: Soulfire Grand Master to me seems more powerful than this black version... And Soulfire Grand Master hasn't been broken
Boros Reckoner and Blas Act come pretty close!Edit: Soulfire Grand Master to me seems more powerful than this black version... And Soulfire Grand Master hasn't been broken
I think the flashback version of the ability is way more powerful than SGM's buyback. SGM requires you to either hold back your spells in the early game or only use it on spells you topdeck in the late game. With Priest, you can run out all your spells on time and then recast them later when you have mana to spare.
I was going to type out a long response, but basically this^
Another angle is that this card slots in somewhere between value engine and finisher for a control deck that contains burn + other spells, but doesn't cost as much as a traditional finisher. Admittedly, he isn't as immediately scary as something like sphinx of jwar isle, but he provides a lot more flexibility and still brings inevitability. And since he's a 2 drop, you don't have to wonder if you're making your deck too top heavy (building a control deck, would you play 2 sphinx if available? what about 3?). With this guy, he can always be a speedbump early game against aggro, and late game, he demands removal but doesn't represent an entire turn tapping out to play something large. And on top of that, he allows you to keep mana open and sink it into him for value.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
I did think of this sweet mechanic though.
Sorcery
Draw a card
Energize (Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature or a charge counter on target permanent)
Could have potential
Sorcery
Draw a card
Energize (Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature or a charge counter on target permanent)
Could have potential
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Have any of you designed an entire/almost entire custom Cube before? The design-a-card contest has got me thinking about making a set of customs (perhaps an entire set's worth... ambitiously) as an ongoing side-project, and I was wondering if you wonderful people could point me to basic card designing articles/resources/considerations. I've read through some stuff occasionally in this thread, but have never really been interested in customs until now. That would be awesome.
So, I've jointly made a custom cube with some friends. For the most part, it was a natural continuation of a modified cube we already had. We just decided it would be cleaner to start from scratch. I'm not sure if there's a good source of information for designing a custom cube from the ground up, but all the general things we talk about on this site are applicable when it comes to balance and design. I remember some of Jason's articles about how he made the eldrazi domain cube being starting points for my venture into custom cards. A few things that come to mind from my experience:
- Planning is good, and I wish we had made 60 blank cards of each color + lands/gold/artifacts up front so when it was time to put everything together, we wouldn't have had so much to cut/add to hit the numbers.
- Don't be a slave to symmetry or the archetypes you choose. Listing 10, 2 color archetypes that you want is great, and with customs you can create overlap that you can't find in normal magic cards, but that doesn't mean you should. Sometimes the ideas you have just don't fit together coherently across colors. It also helps a lot to have even broader strokes about how you want the decks to play which then guide the 2 color combinations.
- There is no substitute for playtesting. It helps tremendously when you have a group of people to play with regularly as you iterate your design. And trust me, you will be making changes.
So maybe start with a simple cube that is functional, then make some goals about what you want it to do, and move from there. Have a couple updates in the beginning where you turn over 25% of the cardpool for customs. Play a bunch, then figure out where you stand with regard to implementing your ideas.
- Planning is good, and I wish we had made 60 blank cards of each color + lands/gold/artifacts up front so when it was time to put everything together, we wouldn't have had so much to cut/add to hit the numbers.
- Don't be a slave to symmetry or the archetypes you choose. Listing 10, 2 color archetypes that you want is great, and with customs you can create overlap that you can't find in normal magic cards, but that doesn't mean you should. Sometimes the ideas you have just don't fit together coherently across colors. It also helps a lot to have even broader strokes about how you want the decks to play which then guide the 2 color combinations.
- There is no substitute for playtesting. It helps tremendously when you have a group of people to play with regularly as you iterate your design. And trust me, you will be making changes.
So maybe start with a simple cube that is functional, then make some goals about what you want it to do, and move from there. Have a couple updates in the beginning where you turn over 25% of the cardpool for customs. Play a bunch, then figure out where you stand with regard to implementing your ideas.
Firstly, design contests are great, and this one was especially fun. When you have so many cube enthusiasts together, the contest's theme becomes just that much cooler. The stream was pretty neat and seeing all the constructive feedback for the votees was informative. While my submission didn't end up being considered, I do feel like it was glossed over before it was fully explored. I would have appreciated some feedback on it too, but to see that it didn't make it to the voting kinda bummed me out. There wasn't really a humble way to mention that during the contest, so I could only really keep my head down until the contest came to a close.
Jason and Chris's feedback was on point and I love that they sensed the flavor I was trying to communicate, but they did miss two pretty important facets of the design. The first pretty big one is the targeting clause which affects any land, not just ones you control. Second is the "and gains this effect" clause. Both were pretty integral parts of the card's overall power, but since the card is just one block of text, it was easy to misread. /technically venting.
Now, I'm really enthusiastic about my design since I strung it together with my own cube in mind. I wanted to give relevance to weenie-based strategies again by giving them another means of interaction, and so this little single-card minigame was born. With it out, each of your small creature's death triggers branches into decisions. Firstly, it always puts another mortal land effect on the board. Unless you've played some awaken effects or similar, the number of counters on lands is a good way to gauge how many of those triggers go off when a guy dies. What comes after is choosing what land to put it on. Do you make an opponent's land vulnerable or yours? Artifact Golems are intentional choice. For one: I love splicers, metalcraft, and all that good stuff. Secondly, animated lands become vulnerable not only to standard removal and wraths, but to artifact hate as well, which my red and green very much enjoy. The decision to make it a land was intentional as well. While this done partly to be able to outfit itself, Jason and Chris appropriately discussed how it has the trade-off of using up your landdrop, and as such, it may not be worth running main-deck. I feel that its card-type prevents slower mid-range strategies from using it as well as an aggressive one would, which I prefer seeing with this card. And all these aspects in tandem, I hope, nail the card's intended flavor: the struggle of Therosian weenies against Heliod (who is also pictured on my cube's main wrath).
And now that the contest is coming up on its final lap, I do think that Shadow Servant and Priest of the Cursed Flame deserve their spots. Entering the contest wasn't so much a desire for first place than it was my competitive designing spirit. Even though my design didn't make it to the voting round, I'm still happy I participated. This post was mostly a rant post, but if you guys have any thoughts for the card, I'd be ecstatic to hear them.
Jason and Chris's feedback was on point and I love that they sensed the flavor I was trying to communicate, but they did miss two pretty important facets of the design. The first pretty big one is the targeting clause which affects any land, not just ones you control. Second is the "and gains this effect" clause. Both were pretty integral parts of the card's overall power, but since the card is just one block of text, it was easy to misread. /technically venting.
Now, I'm really enthusiastic about my design since I strung it together with my own cube in mind. I wanted to give relevance to weenie-based strategies again by giving them another means of interaction, and so this little single-card minigame was born. With it out, each of your small creature's death triggers branches into decisions. Firstly, it always puts another mortal land effect on the board. Unless you've played some awaken effects or similar, the number of counters on lands is a good way to gauge how many of those triggers go off when a guy dies. What comes after is choosing what land to put it on. Do you make an opponent's land vulnerable or yours? Artifact Golems are intentional choice. For one: I love splicers, metalcraft, and all that good stuff. Secondly, animated lands become vulnerable not only to standard removal and wraths, but to artifact hate as well, which my red and green very much enjoy. The decision to make it a land was intentional as well. While this done partly to be able to outfit itself, Jason and Chris appropriately discussed how it has the trade-off of using up your landdrop, and as such, it may not be worth running main-deck. I feel that its card-type prevents slower mid-range strategies from using it as well as an aggressive one would, which I prefer seeing with this card. And all these aspects in tandem, I hope, nail the card's intended flavor: the struggle of Therosian weenies against Heliod (who is also pictured on my cube's main wrath).
And now that the contest is coming up on its final lap, I do think that Shadow Servant and Priest of the Cursed Flame deserve their spots. Entering the contest wasn't so much a desire for first place than it was my competitive designing spirit. Even though my design didn't make it to the voting round, I'm still happy I participated. This post was mostly a rant post, but if you guys have any thoughts for the card, I'd be ecstatic to hear them.