General Custom Cards: The Lab

[Onderzeeboot]

I don't necessarily love all of these, but there are some absolute gems in there! The Oracle of the Alpha variants are all really clever. There's some really awesome treasure cards as well, I particularly like Organized Crime and Hold for Questioning. And while I don't love Illusionary Discovery as a colorless card, I would love to play that design as a white card if I had face-down cards in my cube!

Edit: Judging from the power level of these cards, I think Urza's Landmarks looks fine. It's costs two mana and doesn't fix, so usually this amounts to 9 mana on turn 5, or 8 on turn 4 if you started with a Mox or a mana dork. That's a lot, but doesn't seem crazy in a cube that plays Moxen variants?

 

[Velrun]

It’s true that the explosive mana first happens on turn 5.

But it also guarentees land drops every turn of the game basically because it only costs 2 so you have to have a really bad start in order to not draw the first two lands in your first 8 or 9 cards. And on turn 3, 4 and 5 you have lands from the tutor. In those draw steps you can also draw lands you can play on later turns 6+.

As written it is a card that is very exciting! And I would run it every time I had acces to green mana. It’s interesting and would pull me in

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Yeah, it's definitely a Sylvan Library level card in that regard. Green doesn't have that many cards that can draw you into the color p1p1, and many of them are top of the line redundant role players like Birds of Paradise and Noble Hierarch. I really like Urza's Landmarks for that reason.

That said, I think rules-wise the reminder text is a bit too much of a short-cut. Maybe something like...

Urza's Landmarks
Sorcery
Stash—Before you shuffle your deck to start the game, you may reveal this card from your deck to add cards named Urza's Mine, Urza's Power Plant, and Urza's Tower to your sideboard.
Reveal the stashed cards and put them into your hand.

Ghitu Thunderchild
Creature — Human Shaman
Stash—Before you shuffle your deck to start the game, you may reveal this card from your deck to add four cards named Lightning Bolt to your sideboard.
Prowess
When ~ enters the battlefield, reveal the stashed cards and shuffle them into your library.
2/2

 

[Velrun]

Yup, I like Stash

Make more of those please <3

 

[Rusje]

Yeah, it's definitely a Sylvan Library level card in that regard. Green doesn't have that many cards that can draw you into the color p1p1, and many of them are top of the line redundant role players like Birds of Paradise and Noble Hierarch. I really like Urza's Landmarks for that reason.

That said, I think rules-wise the reminder text is a bit too much of a short-cut. Maybe something like...

Urza's Landmarks
Sorcery
Stash—Before you shuffle your deck to start the game, you may reveal this card from your deck to add cards named Urza's Mine, Urza's Power Plant, and Urza's Tower to your sideboard.
Reveal the stashed cards and put them into your hand.

Ghitu Thunderchild
Creature — Human Shaman
Stash—Before you shuffle your deck to start the game, you may reveal this card from your deck to add four cards named Lightning Bolt to your sideboard.
Prowess
When ~ enters the battlefield, reveal the stashed cards and shuffle them into your library.
2/2

Reveal the stashed cards with ~ and….
Otherwise one can read it like all stashed cards? See cards with exile as an example, e.g., kayla’s music box

 

[blacksmithy]

"conjure Urza's blah blah blah into your hand"

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Yup, I like Stash

Make more of those please <3

Herdcaller
Creature — Elf Shaman
Stash—Before you shuffle your deck to start the game, you may reveal this card from your deck to add a card named Call of the Herd to your sideboard.
When ~ attacks, you may cast the stashed card.
2/1

Terragate
Land
Stash—Before you shuffle your deck to start the game, you may reveal this card from your deck to add two basic lands to your sideboard.
, Sacrifice ~: Put one of the stashed cards onto the battlefield.

Sinister Cultist
Creature — Human Warlock
Stash—Before you shuffle your deck to start the game, you may reveal this card from your deck to add cards named Dark Ritual, Demonic Tutor, and Demonic Pact to your sideboard.
When ~ dies, reveal one of the stashed cards and put it into your hand.
1/1

Auditor's Eye
Sorcery
Stash—Before you shuffle your deck to start the game, you may reveal this card from your deck to add three cards with different card types from your deck to your sideboard.
Put one of the stashed cards into your hand, one into your graveyard, and one on the bottom of your library.

 

[Zoss]

Love these, but I think you might want to specify on Auditor's Eye whether or not this affects deck size because if it does then it's crazy strong.

I'm also unsure how Stash differs from Conjure in a meaningful way apart from Auditor's Eye. There are probably cool things you can do with the one that aren't possible with the other, but I'm just not seeing them yet. Really neat cards, though!

 

[Velrun]

Terragate
Land - Gate

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Love these, but I think you might want to specify on Auditor's Eye whether or not this affects deck size because if it does then it's crazy strong.

I'm also unsure how Stash differs from Conjure in a meaningful way apart from Auditor's Eye. There are probably cool things you can do with the one that aren't possible with the other, but I'm just not seeing them yet. Really neat cards, though!

Yeah, it reduces your deck, which is pretty strong. My intent was to add "with different card types", but maybe "random" is just better for this cost? Also a lot less satisfying though, so maybe you up the cost to .

 

[Chris Taylor]

Okay, stash is pretty similar to a few "existing" magic effects:


Pros:
-No shuffling

Cons:
-Does everyone know what call of the herd does without spelling it out?
-If you have a card worth wishing for, why aren't you just playing it? This isn't constructed, you can't play 3 in your main AND 4 wishes

Blacksmithy gives the fewest fucks here, just list some cards and put em in your hand. For the most part, I'm on the side of radiant mage here when I make conjure cards, mostly on account of having to explain Tidings a thousand times back when I used to run the textless version.

Conceptually, conjure is at its best when it's putting cards in your hand that aren't worth putting in your deck. That's REALLY limiting design wise, because most cards aren't worth putting in your deck for a reason, and that reason is usually EXTREMELY swingy.

Sideboard cards are one category (see you line up the shot), but as with tutors, you need a powerful enough card to get to justify spending time/mana tutoring.
The same way it's not actually worth it to demonic tutor for something as pedestrian as your average 3 drop (look most cards aren't good if you add 2 mana to their cost), you need something that will singlehandedly win you the game if it resolves, like a combo piece or upheaval.
You can (and I do) adjust your expectations for tutoring spells and envision them as more consistent Anticipate expys, but you're never getting past this tax, you're adjusting it.

In terms of the combo angle, conjuring the whole package strikes me as....to easy?
Like on some concious or subconcious level, we all know we shouldn't be making like, 2 card combos that partner with each other, right?
Cards that tutor for one specific card are already getting side eye from me, design wise because of how prescriptive it is?
When you look at something like recurring nightmare, it's interesting to think through and discover what other cards do in combination with it, and which ones of those are the best.
When you look at Hanweir Battlements, you know. Maybe there's other cool stuff you can do, but it's hard to hear over the game shouting in your ear with a megaphone.

Okay I think that's all the design notes I have about "gimmie specific card".

I do like it when you're making a pile of "token instants" though. If you're making something, and only one copy of that thing will ever exist, then who cares. There's technically a difference between Flametongue Kavu and Onakke Ogre, cast Flame Slash, but like who cares.

Currently I run these:

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Cons:
-If you have a card worth wishing for, why aren't you just playing it? This isn't constructed, you can't play 3 in your main AND 4 wishes

Conceptually, conjure is at its best when it's putting cards in your hand that aren't worth putting in your deck. That's REALLY limiting design wise, because most cards aren't worth putting in your deck for a reason, and that reason is usually EXTREMELY swingy.

Just wanted to get into these two arguments specifically. So, the first one makes a few assumptions that you can easily break with stash (or conjure). Your argument is totally valid for the original Wishes, but I don't think it applies to what Maldar and me are doing with our designs. (I'll call them stash cards for clarity's sake, even though Maldar's designs don't use that ability word.) For one, stash cards don't allow you to play the original card in your main deck. It may act like a wish card, but that doesn't mean you're free to maindeck the card you're wishing for. Secondly, most of them twist the concept of wishes in a way that doesn't equate to putting the card(s) in your deck. Having a single copy of all three Tron lands in your deck is really bad in limited, having a single card that wishes for all three, on the other hand, is really exciting. On top of that, Wishes traditionally don't do anything on their own. You're just spending mana to get to the thing you really want. Stash cards can have an actual body or effect that is worth playing on its own, therefore acting much more like card advantage than a tutor.

As for your second argument, I think that's only partially true. Yes, designing a conjure card to offer a selection of specific answers or weak effects that synergize with it is good design, but it's not the only way. In fact, conjuring powerful cards from Magic's past is a thrill in and of itself. I would never put Ancestral Recall in my cube, but a card that conjures Ancestral Recall at a reasonable cost? Sure! Flavor can also go a long way, "binding" together a selection of spells that just resonates. I think the design space is a lot less limited than you give it credit for. Case in point.

Sinister Cultist
Creature — Human Warlock
Stash—Before you shuffle your deck to start the game, you may reveal this card from your deck to add cards named Dark Ritual, Demonic Tutor, and Demonic Pact to your sideboard.
When ~ dies, reveal one of the stashed cards and put it into your hand.
1/1

 

[Velrun]

@Maldar
If you want more tools to play with for your Urzatron card, there are also these four you can think about. Most of them are new so not everyone has seen them before which could also be kind of spicy for you.

 

[Velrun]

If you go down the flavor route, there are also these ones

 

[Maldar]

Just wanted to get into these two arguments specifically. So, the first one makes a few assumptions that you can easily break with stash (or conjure). Your argument is totally valid for the original Wishes, but I don't think it applies to what Maldar and me are doing with our designs. (I'll call them stash cards for clarity's sake, even though Maldar's designs don't use that ability word.) For one, stash cards don't allow you to play the original card in your main deck. It may act like a wish card, but that doesn't mean you're free to maindeck the card you're wishing for. Secondly, most of them twist the concept of wishes in a way that doesn't equate to putting the card(s) in your deck. Having a single copy of all three Tron lands in your deck is really bad in limited, having a single card that wishes for all three, on the other hand, is really exciting. On top of that, Wishes traditionally don't do anything on their own. You're just spending mana to get to the thing you really want. Stash cards can have an actual body or effect that is worth playing on its own, therefore acting much more like card advantage than a tutor.

As for your second argument, I think that's only partially true. Yes, designing a conjure card to offer a selection of specific answers or weak effects that synergize with it is good design, but it's not the only way. In fact, conjuring powerful cards from Magic's past is a thrill in and of itself. I would never put Ancestral Recall in my cube, but a card that conjures Ancestral Recall at a reasonable cost? Sure! Flavor can also go a long way, "binding" together a selection of spells that just resonates. I think the design space is a lot less limited than you give it credit for. Case in point.

Yes those are reasons why this is not the same as conjure. However, another very important difference with conjure is that you cannot multiply the effect with copy effects or recursion. On Arena NumotTheNummy had an insane deck withOracle of the Alpha and Displacer Kitten. While that is fun I would really like to have only one copy of every card.
I know I took a bit of a shortcut with the reminder text on my cards to save space. But my cards do work without other text if you would have drafted a Mox. Its just that those cards are not draftable.

 

[Maldar]

I don't necessarily love all of these, but there are some absolute gems in there! The Oracle of the Alpha variants are all really clever. There's some really awesome treasure cards as well, I particularly like Organized Crime and Hold for Questioning. And while I don't love Illusionary Discovery as a colorless card, I would love to play that design as a white card if I had face-down cards in my cube!

Edit: Judging from the power level of these cards, I think Urza's Landmarks looks fine. It's costs two mana and doesn't fix, so usually this amounts to 9 mana on turn 5, or 8 on turn 4 if you started with a Mox or a mana dork. That's a lot, but doesn't seem crazy in a cube that plays Moxen variants?

I had Illusionary Discovery as a white card and it should be. So use it as that if you want. I only made it colorless because of my outlook on colorless aggro.

I have to see if Urza's Landmarks is too powerful at 1G. With drafting and playing with that card I will find out.

 

[Chris Taylor]

Okay I just wanna say, my discord got into a heated debate over the definition of "card advantage" after I posted Urza's Landmarks, and someone called it a "2 mana draw 7"

Like IDK what your opinions of that is, I can see the argument (Bouncelands are card advantage, right? That feels natural, but someone called Sol Ring card advantage and I kinda broke), but honestly if it is a 1G draw 7, it's EXTREMELY slow by vintage-y standards, as you unlock tron mana on T5+ (Barring extra land plays, which honestly is probably a cool combo rather than a bug)

 

[Maldar]

I don't think mana is card advantage. Though you could say that Black Lotus are three Lotus Petals as a single card instead of three. If you count Lotus Petal as a fair powerlevel card, then the Black Lotus is three cards worth of power.

But Urza's Landmarks draw three is insane of course. With looting effects it is just drawing three new cards. Plus your land drops are guaranteed.

What discord is that you mentioned Chris?

 

[Velrun]

It’s obviously not 7 card card advantage.

It’s just that some cards make mana. Some make more than one. Like Dark Ritual, Urza’s Tower and Ancient Tomb.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

So, Urza's Landmarks is a two mana draw three, but it draws only lands, and colorless ones at that. It's exciting and good, but when properly evaluating the card we should also keep in mind that Seek the Horizon is straight up unplayable in almost any cube, let alone high powered ones, despite finding as many lands and actually fixing your mana. Heck, even Harmonize, which actually draws three cards, is mostly bad, and that card is considerably better than Seek the Horizon. This strongly suggests that there is room to improve upon the available "draw three lands" designs without breaking the game in half.
Edit: As a caveat, I'm evaluating for Cube here, not for constructed.

 

[Velrun]

I think Seek the Horizon would be super powerful if you halved the mana cost to .

 

[Onderzeeboot]

I think Seek the Horizon would be super powerful if you halved the mana cost to .

Agreed, but I also think searching your library (thus thinning your deck) for basic lands (that fix your mana) is stronger than adding three colorless hands to your hand that accelerate you in three turns. I also think Many Partings is arguably stronger than Seek the Horizon for . Keep in mind that if you play Urza's Landmarks on turn two, you are up two cards in hand. If you are on the draw and didn't play a one drop (or your one drop was a cantrip), you are at 9 cards in hand if you curve the card out on turn 2, meaning you have to discard two. Discarding one of those basic land cards probably isn't an issue, but in the case of Urza's Landmarks you are presumably not going to discard your Tron lands, meaning you have to sacrifice 2 other cards. Those are potentially excess lands, sure, but that's not guaranteed.

Edit: I'm not trying to paint Urza's Landmarks as a bad card. Like I said before, it looks like an exciting p1p1, an area where green is typically lacking. I'm just arguing that it is likely (considerably) less broken than it looks.

 

[blacksmithy]

it looks like a strong and very fair magic card to me. get big mana by turn 4-5 is not nearly as broken as get big mana turn 2-3

 

[Chris Taylor]

What discord is that you mentioned Chris?

The one me and my local group of friends use to schedule our cube group in Toronto.
Don't worry, you're not missing any content

I agree as well, Urza's Blueprints is a sweet, P1P1 green card that is powerful, but deff not 1G draw 7 powerful, but calling it a 1G draw 7 puts you in the right headspace to appreciate it even if that initial assessment isn't wholly correct.
It's not lotus, or sol ring, or anything on that level, but it is good in a way that hits you in the face, but has a bunch of subtle caveats.

 

[Velrun]

@Onderzeeboot
You don’t have to cast Urzatron tutor on turn 2. You can also cast it on turn 3 before playing your land for the turn. The ramp is only 2 turns away then. It’s broken as fuck

But nothing wrong with broken cards as long as they fit into the cube. I would be very excited to draft this card. Like Oath of Druids excited.