General Custom Cards: The Lab

Chris Taylor

Contributor
Boreal Frontier.jpgBoreal Frontier 2.jpg
Which design do you like better? (Bouncelands are not in the format, proliferate is, still pretty marginal mechanically)
Also, which art do you like better?

Wasteland and Tectonic Edge were too much, Ghost Quarter itself was not enough, but I do feel I need something.
There's a lot of good gameplay to be had with Nonfixing nonbasics (Manlands and ones with more generic activated abilities like say Volrath's Stronghold), but I don't just want my players to be stuck dealing with 2-4 more threats than their opponent's deck has nonland cards in it (games often coming down to a topdeck war, but one player has a treetop village, for eg)
 
definitely like scry better, but perhaps the right one fits the flavor of what it does better
both arts kind of look serviceable but not particularly noteworthy

have you tried, um, field of ruin
have you considered a refuge version maybe

but if you are making customs here have you considered making them grab from the basic land box to save shuffling time

with that art and that name why is it not a snow land
 

Chris Taylor

Contributor
I agree both artworks are fine but nothing spectacular.

Scry land is an upgraded Zhalfirin Void
That's fine with me.
definitely like scry better, but perhaps the right one fits the flavor of what it does better
both arts kind of look serviceable but not particularly noteworthy

have you tried, um, field of ruin
have you considered a refuge version maybe

but if you are making customs here have you considered making them grab from the basic land box to save shuffling time

with that art and that name why is it not a snow land
Field of ruin I found too expensive to use, most of the time. I could make it cheaper, but the incentive is wrong if people are using it as an evolving wilds rather than its intended use.

Refuge could work, but lifegain isn't much of a bonus in my format and these lands are something I'd want everyone using, not just control.

They're not snow because that's just meaningless confusing additional text :p
 
thinking about it more the right art looks like it makes more sense bc theres like something happening and it's a land that destroys lands
 
so i'm currently not really loving this "temporary discard" mechanic, but it's kind of strange, and maybe it'll inspire something interesting for other people?
it feels weird, like, what even is this? other than a bunch of game mechanics??
also just like, idk, it doesn't seem like it plays that well, a bunch of extra baggage on discard mechanics for no gain?

Some Token Maker Person {W}
Creature - Human
When Some Token Maker Person enters the battlefield, you may exile a card from your hand until the beginning of your next upkeep. If you do, create a 1/1 white Human token.
1/1

Untapper Person {2}{U}
Creature - Faerie
Flying
Exile a card from your hand until the beginning of your next upkeep: Untap Untapper Person.
3/1

Vision Quest {U}{R}
Rebound (If you cast this spell from your hand, exile it as it resolves. At the beginning of your next upkeep, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.)
Scry 1.
You may exile a card from your hand until the beginning of your next upkeep. If you do, draw a card.
 
Sort of cool.

It also feels like there isn't much of a payment most of the times. You reveal a card to your opponent but it will be quite rare to see a situation, where you actually need the card you decide to temporarily discard ASAP, correct?

Especially with a card like Vision Quest. You always want to pay the extra payment because the reward is a card. Both times.

Are these designed with a strategic planning on mind? Are they designed in order to make top-decking worse and forward-planning better?
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
So... Blame Chris for this batch. I went through a few Hearthstone sets to see if there was something worth stealing for our cubes...

Arcane Tyrant.png Elven Minstrel.png Kobold Librarian.png Living Mana.png Mimic Pod.png The Dragon Soul.png
 

Chris Taylor

Contributor
Look man I was only talking about Witchwood :p

However, I'm still gonna dig into these:
Arcane Tyrant works pretty well. I might make the "off" mana cost a bit more forgiving though.
Elvish Minstrel: I barely noticed this was a combo card. Maybe add it in like we add in "landfall"?
Look, I love kobold librarian, but you gotta know thats broken as hell :p (Dusk Legion Zealot)
Living Mana is cool, very all in. Natural Affinity type effects have been in magic for a while, but this is an interesting twist on it. HOWEVER, none of those lands have summoning sickness, which plays very differently than living mana.
Mimic Pod really ought to exile the card as well. Anything revealed can't just sit in a player's hand, the hidden information games are just frustrating.
Dragon Soul...works.
 

Chris Taylor

Contributor
Super racist :p

Tbh this always felt Green to me. White always seems to do this sort of thing via shame (humility, humble) but it feels more green to be saying g to someone "stop faffing about, come down here and fight me like a man!" unless you follow it up with "have you no honor?"
 
not sure how i feel about this mechanic

Potion of Invulnerability {1}{W}
Artifact — Potion
Potion of Invulnerability enter the battlefield with three flask counters on it.
{T}, Remove a flask counter from Potion of Invulnerability: Target creature you control gains indestructible until end of turn.

Potion of Insight {1}{U}
Artifact — Potion
Potion of Insight enter the battlefield with three flask counters on it.
{T}, Remove a flask counter from Potion of Insight: Target creature you control gains “{T}: Draw a card.” until end of turn.

Potion of Undeath {1}{B}
Artifact — Potion
Potion of Undeath enter the battlefield with three flask counters on it.
{T}, Remove a flask counter from Potion of Undeath: Target creature you control gains “When this creature dies, return it to the battlefield tapped under its owner’s control.” until end of turn.

Potion of Division {2}{R}
Artifact — Potion
Potion of Division enter the battlefield with three flask counters on it.
{T}, Remove a flask counter from Potion of Division: Create a token that’s a copy of target creature you control. That token has haste. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.

Potion of Rage {R}
Artifact — Potion
Potion of Rage enter the battlefield with three flask counters on it.
{T}, Remove a flask counter from Potion of Rage: Target creature you control gets +2/+0 and haste until end of turn.

Potion of Growth {G}
Artifact — Potion
Potion of Growth enter the battlefield with three flask counters on it.
{T}, Remove a flask counter from Potion of Growth: Target creature you control gets +3/+3 until end of turn.

Royal Alchemist {2}{U}
Creature — Human Wizard
When Royal Alchemist enters the battlefield, search your library or sideboard for a Potion card and put it into your hand. Shuffle your library.
2/2

Potion of Burning {2}{B}{R}
Artifact — Potion
Potion of Burning enter the battlefield with three flask counters on it.
{T}, Remove a flask counter from Potion of Burning: Target creature you control gains “{T}: Deal 3 damage to any target.” until end of turn.

Potion of Transmutation {G}{U}
Artifact — Potion
Potion of Transmutation enter the battlefield with three flask counters on it.
{T}, Remove a flask counter from Potion of Transmutation, Sacrifice a creature you control: Create a 3/3 colorless Golem artifact creature token.

Pack Mule {W}
Creature — Horse
Whenever Pack Mule attacks, put a flask counter on each Potion permanent you control.
1/2
 
Me too. I always adore utility cards if they are simple.

Are you planning on flooding your cube with Potions are do you want them to be a minor theme? Some of these can stand on their own legs without support.
 
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