Chris Taylor
Contributor
I used these for a while. I think Cylix is Vel's actually. Technically it can generate 2 mana in a single turn, but only by skipping adding mana, much like coalition relic that ETBs tapped.
General Custom Cards: The Lab
- Thread starter anotak
- Start date
I used these for a while. I think Cylix is Vel's actually. Technically it can generate 2 mana in a single turn, but only by skipping adding mana, much like coalition relic that ETBs tapped.
Yeah I designed that one including choosing the art back in the day 
Although I think I will cut it because of the new Transmutation Font.
Although I think I will cut it because of the new Transmutation Font.
Are you sure you want to have that much advantage on top of the mana boost? 3 damage every turn is a lot, and discarding a card is also no nonsense.~ etb tapped.
Whenever ~ becomes tapped, each opponent discards a card unless they pay 3 life
I'd become mindful of effects that you like that are on cards you wouldn't run, like Pithing Needle. As you start noticing those, these rocks will come together. Your two current customs are combinations of other cards and they look appealing to me.
I'd also make the costs colorless. Baleful Onyx, for example, could cost 3 but tap for B. Maintains the blackness of the card while allowing it to be more pickable.
Unlicensed Rock 3
T: Exile two yard cards.
T: Add one mana of an exiled color.
Rock of the Genju 3
T: Any color
WUBRG: legendary 8/12 Spirit until EOT.
I also like Vel's Wrath Rock. "Rock that does big thing later" via activated ability or Kicker is solid space.
Onder Loves Zacama Rock
T: Any color.
2R Sac: 3 damage
2G Sac: Naturalize
2W Sac: 3 life (maybe pump this to 5)
and/or
6RGW: All three effects. Maybe sac.
Fallaji Wayfarer / Inspiring Statuary type rock that can multi-ramp in a themed deck of yours.
ETB Entomb rock
Hardened Scales rock (scary)
An artifact enchantment rock for Zur
Glass Casket type rock
Soul Snare rock
ETB Cleansing Wildfire or Boseiju Channel or Path to Exile rock
Like I said, there's so much space simply looking at cards that you can combine with a rock lol.
I'd also make the costs colorless. Baleful Onyx, for example, could cost 3 but tap for B. Maintains the blackness of the card while allowing it to be more pickable.
Unlicensed Rock 3
T: Exile two yard cards.
T: Add one mana of an exiled color.
Rock of the Genju 3
T: Any color
WUBRG: legendary 8/12 Spirit until EOT.
I also like Vel's Wrath Rock. "Rock that does big thing later" via activated ability or Kicker is solid space.
Onder Loves Zacama Rock
T: Any color.
2R Sac: 3 damage
2G Sac: Naturalize
2W Sac: 3 life (maybe pump this to 5)
and/or
6RGW: All three effects. Maybe sac.
Fallaji Wayfarer / Inspiring Statuary type rock that can multi-ramp in a themed deck of yours.
ETB Entomb rock
Hardened Scales rock (scary)
An artifact enchantment rock for Zur
Glass Casket type rock
Soul Snare rock
ETB Cleansing Wildfire or Boseiju Channel or Path to Exile rock
Like I said, there's so much space simply looking at cards that you can combine with a rock lol.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
No, not at all
I'm seeing how far I can push these so they become like 4th to 8th pick or something. They should be exciting enough to want to pick, but not so hot that you go: "Yeah, that's a snap 1st pick!" To be honest, none of the 3mv rocks really are at that level, except for the ones that produce 2 mana, but I'm not interested in those.
Also, the current wrath options at five mana are a bit lame, so much so that I apparently cut them...
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Making the cost colorless could work, but it also means the effect can't be pushed as much. Worth exploring though. The Wall of Hope summoning mana rock could easily be colorless, for example, as life gain is already well within the purview of colorless mana rocks (see Pristine Talisman, for example).
I ran Unstable Obelisk in the past, and expensive activated abilities are less solid in practice than they look on paper, in my experience. You could combine stuff though, e.g.
Amulet of Rebirth
When ~ etb, draw a card, then discard a card.
: Add or ., , Sacrifice ~: Zombify.Another fun thing with this, is that you can hide the colored cost in the activation cost. Any deck can run this as a looting rock in a pinch!
Ngl, I do love me a Zacama
Inspiring Statuary-esque mana rocks are intriguing, but not something I want to pursue, as they have a tendency to tap for more than 1 mana.
Yeah, putting existing effects on a rock just works. And you can push these effects quite a bit too. I think Hardened Scales rock is totally fine, for example. Also, an enchantment rock to find with Zur is an excellent idea, gonna brood on that one!
Sorry, yes, I would like to change the name to Vel’s Wraith Rock officially.
Don’t you think that could be related to the ability and cost of Unstable Obelisk and not a general rule per se?
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Yes and no. Obviously paying 3+7 mana isn’t great for a Vindicate, but the same is true for a Day of Judgment. The problem is that you are also paying for the mana rock itself, and paying 3 mana for something without immediate impact is already a big ask. (After all, what is a mana rock but a promise of future power in the form of extra mana?) If the alternate reward has an activation cost that is overcosted for the effect, you are getting taxed twice Putting a Day of Judgment on a stick isn’t a bad idea, but putting the activation cost at
makes it very underwhelming in my opinion. Not only dus it overcharge you massively for the Wrath effect, you can’t even activate it early enough to actually stymie an aggro deck, or even a midrange deck. I think the activation cost could honestly be pushed down all the way to , because then you’re still paying 7 mana total, but at least you can actually wrath on turn 4 instead of turn… well, who knows if you’re missing land drops.In short, I like the concept of a Wrath Rock, but the activation cost needs to be lowered drastically for it to be that 4th-8th pick I want my mana rocks to be in my cube.
@Onderzeeboot
Yeah okay, I understand.
May I point out that it's not a Day of Judgment but a Planar Cleansing. Does this change your valuation?
If you want it to be 4th pick then it probably has to cost either or or . I would start with the 6 total and then maybe go down to 5 if the card isn't picked high enough. I think your drafters will get that excited feeling from seeing it in a pack.
Yeah okay, I understand.
May I point out that it's not a Day of Judgment but a Planar Cleansing. Does this change your valuation?
If you want it to be 4th pick then it probably has to cost either
or or . I would start with the 6 total and then maybe go down to 5 if the card isn't picked high enough. I think your drafters will get that excited feeling from seeing it in a pack.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Note that in general I’m a fan of slightly pushing the envelope, rather than play it safe. Players will come to you if they feel your custom designs are too strong, but if they are too weak they will just quietly ignore them.@Onderzeeboot
Yeah okay, I understand.
May I point out that it's not a Day of Judgment but a Planar Cleansing. Does this change your valuation?
If you want it to be 4th pick then it probably has to cost either
Planar Cleansing is definitely a lot more impactful than a Day of Judgment, so it’s probably correct to put it at
. Specifically for my cube, though, I would like my control players to be able to play their wrath on turn 4 if they played a mana rock on turn 3, so I think the DoJ rock is more suited for this case.By the way, this would be another good target for a hybrid treatment!
Amulet of Wrath
: Add or ., , Sacrifice ~: Day of Judgment.@Onderzeeboot
Sure. If you want to make it hybrid, you can do that.
I didn’t think about mana rocks before you asked us to brainstorm. My initial idea was to keep the flavor connected to the original Chimil from Ixalan. Then I somehow added white mana and I regret this haha
I personally better like the one that all decks can use as a mana rock. I think you could also make the sweeper only cost generic mana. Like this
, T: Destroy all nonland permanents
To get it closer to stuff like Perilous Vault, Karn’s Sylex, Nevinyrral’s Disk and Oblivion Stone.
If you make it hybrid then you narrow the players down on who can pick up the artifact. Don’t know how many can pick it but it’s probably fewer than 6 players at the table, right?
Sure. If you want to make it hybrid, you can do that.
I didn’t think about mana rocks before you asked us to brainstorm. My initial idea was to keep the flavor connected to the original Chimil from Ixalan. Then I somehow added white mana and I regret this haha
I personally better like the one that all decks can use as a mana rock. I think you could also make the sweeper only cost generic mana. Like this
, T: Destroy all nonland permanentsTo get it closer to stuff like Perilous Vault, Karn’s Sylex, Nevinyrral’s Disk and Oblivion Stone.
If you make it hybrid then you narrow the players down on who can pick up the artifact. Don’t know how many can pick it but it’s probably fewer than 6 players at the table, right?
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I only support five guilds, and the resulting five three-color combinations. Monocolored decks seldomly appear, but 4- or 5-Color Green does sometimes appear. So say that there are 11 different colors you could end up in, out of those 7 play either black or white, so 7/11 * 8 ≈ 5 players on average. That’s not all of them, but it’s more than half of them, so that’s already pretty okay.
If that’s the case then you might as well keep it colorless and keep the flavor connection intact.
Really like Crypt Conduit and Nightshade Haze. That artist is fantastic, as well.
Hell, this looks ok as a cycle. Amulet of X and then put a hybrid costed X card on it. Maybe add a mana to the X card's effect due to the versatility of being on a rock. I do think you're underestimating the versatility here. There's a reason Unstable Obelisk didn't sac for 1WB.
These are all way weaker than Amulet of Wrath.
Amulet of Cleansing
T: Any color.
T, 3wbwbwb, Sac: Planar Cleansing.
Using a suboptimal card like Planar Cleansing allows you to keep the initial cost in tact. I personally think that going for a cycle of 5 would be cool here. If you're unsure of the secondary effect's cost, try using these to replace both rocks and some higher mv cards.
If you have Photoshop skills, you could put the art from the original card into an amulet.
This is a rock and a wrath, though. I agree 7 might be a bit much, but this rock would allow control to play a Wrath on 4 off of the ramp and have a second wrath waiting. That's pretty powerful if 3mv ramp is your standard.
This is a good way to make the rock colorless and playable in every deck, but more focused on 1-2 colors.By the way, this would be another good target for a hybrid treatment!
Amulet of Wrath
Hell, this looks ok as a cycle. Amulet of X and then put a hybrid costed X card on it. Maybe add a mana to the X card's effect due to the versatility of being on a rock. I do think you're underestimating the versatility here. There's a reason Unstable Obelisk didn't sac for 1WB.
These are all way weaker than Amulet of Wrath.
Amulet of Cleansing
T: Any color.
T, 3wbwbwb, Sac: Planar Cleansing.
Using a suboptimal card like Planar Cleansing allows you to keep the initial cost in tact. I personally think that going for a cycle of 5 would be cool here. If you're unsure of the secondary effect's cost, try using these to replace both rocks and some higher mv cards.
If you have Photoshop skills, you could put the art from the original card into an amulet.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
This is the quality editing comments we come here for, no way in a million years I know what an amulet does and doesn't do in magic
Hmm.
Fourteen amulets ever.
One transforms to a land, one searches a land, one makes mana in a scuffed old school way.
Five amulets printed or reprinted since 2020, one of which searches a land.
Amulets aren't especially common in MtG at all. Jewelry, however...
Ramos cycle is all gems.
This search was only for m=3.
The signets were redrawn as some kind of jewelry. Original moxen were also some kind of jewelry.
Most of this jewelry is worn around the neck, like an amulet.
This ended up way longer than I thought, but I got interested in the topic lol.
EDIT
@Onderzeeboot Link me to Svaldan art? I can't find it via Google.
EDIT2
"enters the battlefield" --> "enters"
Fourteen amulets ever.
One transforms to a land, one searches a land, one makes mana in a scuffed old school way.
Five amulets printed or reprinted since 2020, one of which searches a land.
Amulets aren't especially common in MtG at all. Jewelry, however...
Ramos cycle is all gems.
This search was only for m=3.
The signets were redrawn as some kind of jewelry. Original moxen were also some kind of jewelry.
Most of this jewelry is worn around the neck, like an amulet.
This ended up way longer than I thought, but I got interested in the topic lol.
EDIT
@Onderzeeboot Link me to Svaldan art? I can't find it via Google.
EDIT2
"enters the battlefield" --> "enters"
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Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
It's me! I'm your host, Svaldan! I've been here... the whole time! Those are all AI-generated images made "by me" with MidJourney.
Ooh, good one, I forgot about that!
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I think it makes more sense these days to equip an amulet, but small trinkets in general can kinda do whatever they want, I think.Alright maybe amulets can add mana
Could be the sample size is just so small and that they are suppose to be able to produce mana but we just haven’t seen it very much yet.
For my Pokémagic cube 2.0 I was brewing for a design for dewgong, and I came up with something like a morphling variant, but I have a hard time evaluating this card's power level. I wanted it to be a good control finisher, have it enable discard and be not too beefy, yet cost 6 mana. All of those could change but would require moving more shifting pieces.
Playful Dewgong
Pokémon - Water, Ice
Flash
Discard a card: choose one -
- Tap target Pokémon.
- Dewgong can't be blocked except by Ice-Pokémon this turn
- Return Dewgong to it's owners hand.
4/4
Despite being custom, this cube's power level is close to my main cube's, so this card should be closer in power level to what you would expect from a strong uncommon finisher in limited and not the mythics from today.
Playful Dewgong
Pokémon - Water, Ice
Flash
Discard a card: choose one -
- Tap target Pokémon.
- Dewgong can't be blocked except by Ice-Pokémon this turn
- Return Dewgong to it's owners hand.
4/4
Despite being custom, this cube's power level is close to my main cube's, so this card should be closer in power level to what you would expect from a strong uncommon finisher in limited and not the mythics from today.
My Seel and Dewgong enter with a "Blubber counter" on them, which is like a shield counter, but worded closer to Knight of the Holy Nimbus, if I remember correctly. I don't know if that helps at all.
Dewgong is a little hard to design because it isn't a Pokemon with a lot of outstanding traits. Its stats are pretty even and, as a Gen 1 Gameboy player, Dewgong's attacks and personality are forgettable. I think that saying to yourself "I need a control finisher" and baking in some synergies is a good idea.
Is blue "normal" in this cube?
Do you have "Surf" keyworded as a flying/intimidate variant?
Could maybe add Vigilance to help it finish. that would really buff the second discard option. Could make the first discard option a Mind Over Matter.
Dewgong is a little hard to design because it isn't a Pokemon with a lot of outstanding traits. Its stats are pretty even and, as a Gen 1 Gameboy player, Dewgong's attacks and personality are forgettable. I think that saying to yourself "I need a control finisher" and baking in some synergies is a good idea.
Is blue "normal" in this cube?
Do you have "Surf" keyworded as a flying/intimidate variant?
Could maybe add Vigilance to help it finish. that would really buff the second discard option. Could make the first discard option a Mind Over Matter.
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Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
This is waaay more powerful then an uncommon finisher, I feel. The stats are kinda mid for the cost, but still impactful. There is no way to recoup the card disadvantage, but it offers so many options and it is basically, that I don’t think you can get away with this if you’re shooting for uncommon power level. Looking at the various Dewgongs, I see there’s one of them that has a Gaseous Form ability. I would prefer that over the returning to hand (given the intended power level).Playful Dewgong
Pokémon - Water, Ice
Flash
Discard a card: choose one -
- Tap target Pokémon.
- Dewgong can't be blocked except by Ice-Pokémon this turn
- Return Dewgong to it's owners hand.
4/4
… so this card should be closer in power level to what you would expect from a strong uncommon finisher in limited …
How about:
Discard a card: Tap target creature. When you discard a nonland (non-energy?) card this way, put a stun counter on that creature.
Discard a card: Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt to and dealt by Dewgong. When you discard a nonland card this way, untap Dewgong.
(Edit: I had this as a choose one ability, but with only two choices, it feels more natural to just write both out. I don’t think it needs more than these two abilities.)
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