General Custom Cards: The Lab
- Thread starter anotak
- Start date
I'm really not sure where I'm going with this, but I'm revamping my tricolor section and this was one thought I had for esper. Definitely needs some work and testing.
I want esper to get some proliferate that goes in control, and that seemed like maybe a direction to go with it. I don't know, I'll probably test it.
I want esper to get some proliferate that goes in control, and that seemed like maybe a direction to go with it. I don't know, I'll probably test it.
here's a cycle of 3-way split cards. how to physically fit a 3-way split card onto a magic card is left as an exercise to the reader.
Rock 
Sorcery
Destroy target land.
//
Paper
Sorcery
You draw two cards and you lose 2 life.
//
Scissors
Sorcery
Destroy target creature.
--------------------------------
Hop
Instant
Return target creature to its owner’s hand.
//
Skip
Instant
Exile target creature you control, then return it to the battlefield under its owner’s control.
//
Jump
Instant
Target creature gains flying until end of turn.
--------------------------------
Earth
Instant
Add for each Mountain you control.
//
Wind
Instant
Creatures you control get +1/+0 and gain haste until end of turn.
//
Fire
Instant
Fire deals 2 damage divided as you choose among one or two targets.
--------------------------------
Signed
Instant
Target permanent you control gains indestructible until end of turn.
//
Sealed
Instant
Your opponents can’t cast spells this turn.
(Spells cast before this resolves are unaffected.)
//
Delivered
Instant
Search your library for an Equipment card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
--------------------------------
Animal
Sorcery
Create a 3/3 green Beast creature token.
//
Vegetable
Sorcery
Create a colorless Forest land token.
//
Mineral
Sorcery
Destroy target artifact.
--------------------------------
also heres a pile of 3-word phrases that can be freely used for more i guess if anyone feels like it
Sorcery
Destroy target land.
//
Paper
Sorcery
You draw two cards and you lose 2 life.
//
Scissors
Sorcery
Destroy target creature.
--------------------------------
Hop
Instant
Return target creature to its owner’s hand.
//
Skip
Instant
Exile target creature you control, then return it to the battlefield under its owner’s control.
//
Jump
Instant
Target creature gains flying until end of turn.
--------------------------------
Earth
Instant
Add
for each Mountain you control.//
Wind
Instant
Creatures you control get +1/+0 and gain haste until end of turn.
//
Fire
Instant
Fire deals 2 damage divided as you choose among one or two targets.
--------------------------------
Signed
Instant
Target permanent you control gains indestructible until end of turn.
//
Sealed
Instant
Your opponents can’t cast spells this turn.
(Spells cast before this resolves are unaffected.)
//
Delivered
Instant
Search your library for an Equipment card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
--------------------------------
Animal
Sorcery
Create a 3/3 green Beast creature token.
//
Vegetable
Sorcery
Create a colorless Forest land token.
//
Mineral
Sorcery
Destroy target artifact.
--------------------------------
also heres a pile of 3-word phrases that can be freely used for more i guess if anyone feels like it
Code:
bell book candle
blood sweat tears
cool calm collected
healthy wealthy wise
eat drink be merry
hook line sinker
control alt delete
snap crackle pop
life liberty happiness
sugar spice everything nice
snips snails tails
lights camera action
shake rattle roll
lock stock barrel
here there everywhere
morning noon night
stop look listen
this that the other
snow rain gloom of night
animal vegetable mineral
beg borrow steal
way shape form
live long prosper
good bad ugly
These two go into the Selesnya Legendary deck.
Tome of Legends first came to be here:
https://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/custom-cards-the-lab.403/page-81#post-79658
Selesnya Legendary deck idea here:
https://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/the-selesnya-conclave-gw.1848/#post-81448
(The italic on Legends is not a mistake but a choice. I might change it back to normal. The two wording oddities on Leorian (keywords revealed and then shuffle) are no mistakes either but choices. I want focus on the keyword part and I always write shuffling like this on custom cards.)
Tome of Legends first came to be here:
https://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/custom-cards-the-lab.403/page-81#post-79658
Selesnya Legendary deck idea here:
https://riptidelab.com/forum/threads/the-selesnya-conclave-gw.1848/#post-81448
(The italic on Legends is not a mistake but a choice. I might change it back to normal. The two wording oddities on Leorian (keywords revealed and then shuffle) are no mistakes either but choices. I want focus on the keyword part and I always write shuffling like this on custom cards.)
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I like Tome of Legends, but I think adding the scry is probably a bit too much Who knows though, you're at a slightly higher power level than me. Maybe I should actually proxy that design up and test it a bit, as I do like it the design as a way to get some much needed white card advantage!
Leorian looks like a handful. It predict both slow play and memory issues, as you need to search your deck and hand for a bunch of cards, revealing cards from both while making sure your hand and library don't accidentally get mixed up, then write down all the keywords, because if there's more than one even, there's a good chance you'll forget which keywords are on there, and after all of that you still have to shuffle your deck.
Who knows though, you're at a slightly higher power level than me. Maybe I should actually proxy that design up and test it a bit, as I do like it the design as a way to get some much needed white card advantage!Leorian looks like a handful. It predict both slow play and memory issues, as you need to search your deck and hand for a bunch of cards, revealing cards from both while making sure your hand and library don't accidentally get mixed up, then write down all the keywords, because if there's more than one even, there's a good chance you'll forget which keywords are on there, and after all of that you still have to shuffle your deck.
I like Tome of Legends, but I think adding the scry is probably a bit too much
Maybe scry is too much but it feels right on the card. And we have seen these three underpowered cards at 3 mana that can scry 1 for 2 mana.
The keywords will be written down beforehand on a piece of paper by the player who chooses to add Leorian to his 40 card deck during the deck construction phase. This will take a little longer than a Fetch land. The card is fairly unique but why are we designing custom cards if not for the extraordinary?
Leorian also has the "wording oddity" of "reveal from your library" where you probably mean search but don't want to say it.
Relying on the player to write things down would not work in groups I've played with, maybe it works for you.
Explicitly referring to keywords just feels wrong from a design perspective. It's also a bit unclear how this is supposed to work with self-stacking keywords. If I reveal legends with Bushido 1, Bushido 1, and Bushido 3, does Leorian get Bushido 1+1+3? Or 1+3? Or just 3 somehow? If I reveal two legends with Exploit, does Exploit trigger twice? Do your players know what is and is not a keyword?
I'd consider making it instead enter as a 3/3 copy of a colored legendary from your hand or graveyard, or something along those lines.
Relying on the player to write things down would not work in groups I've played with, maybe it works for you.
Explicitly referring to keywords just feels wrong from a design perspective. It's also a bit unclear how this is supposed to work with self-stacking keywords. If I reveal legends with Bushido 1, Bushido 1, and Bushido 3, does Leorian get Bushido 1+1+3? Or 1+3? Or just 3 somehow? If I reveal two legends with Exploit, does Exploit trigger twice? Do your players know what is and is not a keyword?
I'd consider making it instead enter as a 3/3 copy of a colored legendary from your hand or graveyard, or something along those lines.
The difference between search and reveal is time. The opponent will not need a pen and paper to write the entire library down.
My players are fine with writing things down. I think They are already doing that now with hidden agendas.
Since I decide what to put into the cube...Can I go with this wording and just avoid duplicate bushido effects etc?
My players are fine with writing things down. I think
They are already doing that now with hidden agendas.Since I decide what to put into the cube...Can I go with this wording and just avoid duplicate bushido effects etc?
i like the idea
I feel like theres some issues with writing it down and not actually revealing. like someone forgets they sideboarded out a creature, or makes a mistake. worst case: someone lies about what's in their deck, although I hope nobody will do that.
is there any good way to fix that?
I feel like theres some issues with writing it down and not actually revealing. like someone forgets they sideboarded out a creature, or makes a mistake. worst case: someone lies about what's in their deck, although I hope nobody will do that.
is there any good way to fix that?
There might be issues, I am not sure
Can people lie about which keywords Leorian gets if the owner has to reveal legendaries from library, hand, graveyard and exile in order to get those abilites?
There could be an issue with sideboarding but isn't that only a problem if the players decide they do not want the owner to reveal the cards again (in say..game 2 or 3)?
Can people lie about which keywords Leorian gets if the owner has to reveal legendaries from library, hand, graveyard and exile in order to get those abilites?
There could be an issue with sideboarding but isn't that only a problem if the players decide they do not want the owner to reveal the cards again (in say..game 2 or 3)?
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Well, as a player, I would want to make sure my opponent wrote down the correct keywords, meaning they had to search all of their zones, reveal any legendaries, and keep the zones apart anyway. I don't think writing down the keywords beforehand is going to help all that much in terms of how fast your design plays. I feel this type of card works way better in an online only environment, where the software can handle memory issues by simply putting the keywords (temporarily) on the card, and where you can assume the software didn't miss anything. I think you have to ask yourself whether the potential memory and slow play issues are worth the reward. I don't think adding a bunch of random keywords is, to be honest, but ultimately only you can answer that question for your cube.
Maybe a good thought exercise is to think what "combo's" you expect people to assemble and evaluate accordingly. Looking at my own cube, you could draft Leorian together with Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle and... Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim, putting Leorian at a 3/3 flying, first strike, deathtouch for. I mean, that's good, but you're also required to play three colors now, and this is about the best you can do, meaning your average use case will be much worse, because those cards might not even be in the draft, and if they are, they might still not reach you. Like, a lot has to go right for this to actually amount to something cool, and all of those cool thing require you to play at least three colors. To make the average use case better, you will likely have to warp your cube to include a bunch of legendary creatures with different keywords in , a lot of which are not going to be your usual optimal pick for the legendary sub theme you want to run. Isamaru, Hound of Konda, for example, is great for the historic sub theme in white in my cube, great for the legendary theme you want to run, and still a great aggressive white drop in general if you're ignoring those themes, but it has exactly zero useful interaction with Leorian.
You obviously designed Leorian to strengthen the legendary theme, but it kinda fails that purpose because of the design restraints it puts on your section, specifically which other legendary creatures you can run. On top of that I expect the card to have some play issues. I honestly don't want to rain on your parade, but I think Leorian is not the design you are looking for.
Maybe a good thought exercise is to think what "combo's" you expect people to assemble and evaluate accordingly. Looking at my own cube, you could draft Leorian together with Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle and... Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim, putting Leorian at a 3/3 flying, first strike, deathtouch for
. I mean, that's good, but you're also required to play three colors now, and this is about the best you can do, meaning your average use case will be much worse, because those cards might not even be in the draft, and if they are, they might still not reach you. Like, a lot has to go right for this to actually amount to something cool, and all of those cool thing require you to play at least three colors. To make the average use case better, you will likely have to warp your cube to include a bunch of legendary creatures with different keywords in , a lot of which are not going to be your usual optimal pick for the legendary sub theme you want to run. Isamaru, Hound of Konda, for example, is great for the historic sub theme in white in my cube, great for the legendary theme you want to run, and still a great aggressive white drop in general if you're ignoring those themes, but it has exactly zero useful interaction with Leorian.You obviously designed Leorian to strengthen the legendary theme, but it kinda fails that purpose because of the design restraints it puts on your
section, specifically which other legendary creatures you can run. On top of that I expect the card to have some play issues. I honestly don't want to rain on your parade, but I think Leorian is not the design you are looking for.I am not sure what you are afraid of and what memory issues there could possibly be. The keywords are already written down as the game begins and they don’t switch or change except for what is on the battlefield under the owner’s control. They will therefore be the same keywords. No memory issues since you have a piece of paper to look at, same as with many Unglued, Unhinged, Unstable cards and Conspiracies. We can go all in and let him check the battlefield as well and thus he will always have the same abilities as soon as you have constructed your 40 card deck.
Maybe a good thought exercise is to think what "combo's" you expect people to assemble and evaluate accordingly. Looking at my own cube, you could draft Leorian together with Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle and... Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim, putting Leorian at a 3/3 flying, first strike, deathtouch for
You obviously designed Leorian to strengthen the legendary theme, but it kinda fails that purpose because of the design restraints it puts on your
Rain away
I am here for critique among many other things You are suggestion a really healthy exercise and that is a great advice!
I already have Leorian in the cube as a Boros card and it works fine. I am switching him to Selesnya because Brad inspired me to the White and Green legendary theme. I have completed the exercise in white-red but not yet in white-green. It worked very fine before. My cube is 360 cards so all cards are part of each draft.
The real reason why I posted those two cards were so others could steal the design if they wanted to. In my experience they already work fine although they are a bit unique
This conversation has tempted me into letting Leorian also check the battlefield so nothing can vary from situation to situation (except sideboarding between games.)
--------------------
Next custom card for Selesnya legendary/historic theme. This is a buff to an already existing card which yields a new name. I am, however, still using the old picture. Not sure how I feel about that.
Thoughts?
Original design from Saviors of Kamigawa here: Reki, the History of Kamigawa
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Yeah, I like updated Reki a lot better than Leorian . Good to hear you already tested out Leorian, and if your playgroup handles him just fine, that's sweet!
. Good to hear you already tested out Leorian, and if your playgroup handles him just fine, that's sweet!
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I've been thinking about a way to tweak Tome of Legends. The scrying part feels a bit inelegant, since you already play with the top card of your library revealed. I think I'm going to try out this version to replace the Spear of Heliod I'm currently running in the anthem slot:
Tome of Legends
Artifact
Play with the top card of your library revealed.
You may play the top card of your library if it's historic.
Historic creatures you control get +1/+1.
My gut feeling is this should cost, but why not start more ambitious, right?
Tome of Legends
Artifact
Play with the top card of your library revealed.
You may play the top card of your library if it's historic.
Historic creatures you control get +1/+1.
My gut feeling is this should cost
, but why not start more ambitious, right?That is an interesting angle as well. After uploading the version here I talked to my play group and we came up with quite many variants.
Right now we have plans to test this one next:
Cost 1WW
You may look at the top card of your library.
You may play the top card of your library if it’s historic.
Tap: Put the top card of your library on the bottom.
“Every myth dawned as a fable”
The tapping is now free.
We also talked about versions that could put bottom cards of the library on top and in order to prevent locking itself down it had the option to exile the bottom. “Tap: Look at the bottom card of your library. You may exile it or put it on top of your library.” We ended up going with the simple version because it felt slow to look at both top and bottom each turn.
Right now we have plans to test this one next:
Cost 1WW
You may look at the top card of your library.
You may play the top card of your library if it’s historic.
Tap: Put the top card of your library on the bottom.
“Every myth dawned as a fable”
The tapping is now free.
We also talked about versions that could put bottom cards of the library on top and in order to prevent locking itself down it had the option to exile the bottom. “Tap: Look at the bottom card of your library. You may exile it or put it on top of your library.” We ended up going with the simple version because it felt slow to look at both top and bottom each turn.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Yeah, I like the cleaner version there, kudos for going with that one! I tested a bit with your previous design, and this new version should pay swimmingly, no doubt!
I tested a single match with my new version, and is actually the correct cost I think! You're bricking quite often without the inherent ability to put cards from the top of your library to the bottom, but that's okay. The buff to historic cards also typically doesn't hit your whole team, so I quite like this version! Thanks for putting my attention to this one, I'ld say this is a definitive add
I tested a single match with my new version, and
is actually the correct cost I think! You're bricking quite often without the inherent ability to put cards from the top of your library to the bottom, but that's okay. The buff to historic cards also typically doesn't hit your whole team, so I quite like this version! Thanks for putting my attention to this one, I'ld say this is a definitive add 
Chris Taylor
Contributor
How would you change the reminder text for this, if at all?
Sorry for assigning you with a large task for a small reward:
I have run this draft ability in my cube for many years. Here is a link:
http://www.cubetutor.com/visualspoiler/97699
If you scroll 99,5 % of the way to the bottom you find the card right above the 10 Signets. I believe I have shared the card on this forum before. I am at work and cannot take a picture for you.
I have run this draft ability in my cube for many years. Here is a link:
http://www.cubetutor.com/visualspoiler/97699
If you scroll 99,5 % of the way to the bottom you find the card right above the 10 Signets. I believe I have shared the card on this forum before. I am at work and cannot take a picture for you.