General custom utility land draft cards

[anotak]

so uh yeah, why isnt this a thread yet

first off lets repaste some previous designs that could here that i've made. the ones that fix are probably too good for the utility draft?

What's the Worst That Could Go Wrong
Enchantment Land
: Add to your mana pool. Activate this ability only if ~ is a land.
Enchanted creature has ": Add to your mana pool."
Bestow

edit: i suspect this doesnt actually work under the rules in which case, the rules are now changed ok

here's a few options. im not really good with flavor so the names will be lacking

Deathrite Wastes
Land
: Add to your mana pool.
, : Exile target card from a graveyard. Each opponent loses 2 life. You gain 2 life.

Desolate Crackhouse
Land
: Add to your mana pool.
, , Discard a card: Scry 2, then draw a card. You lose 1 life.

Flingland
Land
: Add to your mana pool.
, , Sacrifice a creature: Flingland deals 2 damage to target creature or player.

Golgari Switcher
Land
: Add to your mana pool.
, , Sacrifice a land: Put target land card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control.

Happy Backwoods
Land
: Add to your mana pool.
, , Exile a creature card from your graveyard: Draw a card.

The Other Scrying Grove
Land
: Add to your mana pool.
, : Look at the top card of your library. If that card is a land, you may reveal it and put it into your hand.

Rakdos Clocktower
Land
: Add to your mana pool.
, : Name a card. Target opponent guesses whether a card with that name is in your hand. You may reveal your hand. If you do and your opponent guessed wrong, Rakdos Clocktower deals 2 damage to target creature or player.

Rakdos Scrollhouse
Land
: Add to your mana pool.
, : Name a card. Reveal a card at random from your hand. If it’s the named card, Rakdos Scrollhouse deals 2 damage to target creature or player.

Self-Rotating Crops
Land
: Add to your mana pool.
, , Sacrifice a land: Search your library for a land card and put that card onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library.

Sensei’s Divining Grove
Land
: Add to your mana pool.
, : Look at the top three cards of your library, then put them back in any order.
: Draw a card, then put Sensei’s Divining Grove on top of its owner’s library.

Thoughtful Glade
Land
: Add to your mana pool.
, : Put a card from your hand on top of your library, scry 2, then draw a card.

Yawgmoth’s House
Land
: Add to your mana pool.
, : Target sorcery card in a graveyard gains flashback until end of turn. The flashback cost is equal to its mana cost.

another quick one i thought of
Tony Hawk's MTGO Wasteland
Land
: Add to your mana pool.
, , Sacrifice ~: Destroy target nonbasic land.

edit:
feel free to adjust mana cost on activations to taste if i'm off on something these were all just kind of brainstormed out

here's yet another one, kind of obvious idk why i didnt think of it before
Battlecry Swampmountain
Land
, : Attacking creatures you control get +1/+0 until end of turn.

heres a 10 color utility land cycle, any thoughts? (me and my friend designed these for that cube i keep mentioning)

Everflame Grove
Land
Everflame Grove enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add or to your mana pool.
, : Target attacking creature deals damage equal to its power to defending player.

Magmatic Coffers
Land
Magmatic Coffers enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add or to your mana pool.
, : Add to your mana pool for each card in your graveyard.

Primordial Lagoon
Land
Primordial Lagoon enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add or to your mana pool.
, , Exile two cards from your graveyard: Put two +1/+1 counters on target creature.

Riptide Test Chamber
Land
Riptide Test Chamber enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add or to your mana pool.
, : Return target Wizard or Spirit you control to its owner’s hand.

Salvegrass Field
Land
Salvegrass Field enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add or to your mana pool.
, : Search your library for a basic land card, put that card onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle your library. Return Salvegrass Field to its owner’s hand at the beginning of the next end step.

Scrying Grove
Land
Scrying Grove enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add or to your mana pool.
, : Look at the top card of your library. If that card is a land, you may reveal it and put it into your hand.

Slayers’ Fortress
Land
Slayers’ Fortress enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add or to your mana pool.
, : Target creature gets +2/+0 and gains vigilance and haste until end of turn.

Stronghold Ruins
Land
Stronghold Ruins enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add or to your mana pool.
, : Put target artifact or creature card from your graveyard on top of your library.

Sunken Catacombs
Land
Sunken Catacombs enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add or to your mana pool.
, : Name a card. Target opponent guesses whether a card with that name is in your hand. You may reveal your hand. If you do and your opponent guessed wrong, draw a card.

Vapor Springs
Land
Vapor Springs enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add or to your mana pool.
, : Draw two cards, then discard three cards.

 

[anotak]

possibly slightly too good:
Halimar Temple
Land
~ enters the battlefield tapped.

When Halimar Temple enters the battlefield, Scry 2.
: Add to your mana pool.

and 3 potential mistakes:
Cabal Domain
Land
Cabal Domain enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add to your mana pool.
Domain- , : Add to your mana pool for each basic land type among lands you control.

Terrathopter
Artifact Land Creature — Island Thopter
Flying
(Terrathopter isn’t a spell, it’s affected by summoning sickness, and it has ": Add to your mana pool.")
0/2

Upside Down Land
Tribal Land — Zombie
Upside Down Land enters the battlefield tapped.
You may play Upside Down Land from your graveyard, but not from anywhere else.
: Add to your mana pool, you lose 1 life.

 

[Eric Chan]

Halimar Temple is really really good. Does it even come into play tapped? I think I'd play it even if it did.

 

[anotak]

whoops edited
i knew that was missing some text

 

[Chris Taylor]

Compare new belenia

 

[anotak]

i probably dont want this but hey the best way to be good at design is to keep designing

Keldon Coffers
Land
: Add to your mana pool.
, : Add to your mana pool for each Mountain you control.

 

[Chris Taylor]

Tapping for colorless is a big difference. Big Red is a hard thing to make work, but this might do it? I dunno.
Coffers is kinda slow and grindy, and maybe a not a good starting point, since it speeds up the usual control 6 drop plan by a single turn while demanding some strenuous deck construction

 

[Jason Waddell]

I would much rather my mono reward land be Nykthos than a Coffers variant.

 

[anotak]

artifact saccer land
Land
: Add to your mana pool.
, Sacrifice an artifact: Search your library for a basic land card and put it onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library.

 

[Chris Taylor]

Not sure rampant growth is a good reward for saccing an artifact, this is a land after all. maybe make a 0/1?

 

[Chris Taylor]

Here's as good a place as any, but I'm having trouble balancing (or knowing weather I need to balance) the following lands:
(Cross post from my cube thread)

The reason for concern is the red land was apparently good enough in my last draft that people would play it in non-red decks.
Our winner had it with both bitterblossom AND meloku, the clouded mirror
This kind of play always gives me pause for thought as a designer, especially since the green one is arguably better.

What's your thought? Do they need nerfing? Should they be colorless? Should they exist at all?

 

[anotak]

i have no idea what the answer to your questions is. they feel a bit wordy

Surreal Meadow
Land — Plains
Surreal Meadow enters the battlefield tapped.
When Surreal Meadow enters the battlefield, exile target creature you control, then return that card to the battlefield under your control.

 

[anotak]

Echoing Woodland
Land — Forest
(: Add to your mana pool)
Echoing Woodland enters the battlefield tapped.
When Echoing Woodland enters the battlefield, put target land card from your graveyard into your hand

 

[Lucre]

I like it.

imagine this one bruv

Decadent Hollow
Land (R)
Decadent Hollow enters the battlefield tapped.
When Decadent Hollow enters the battlefield you may return a forest or swamp card from your graveyard to your hand.
: Add or to your mana pool.

Rolling Fields
Land (R)
Rolling Fields enters the battlefield tapped.
When Rolling Fields enters the battlefield, if you control 5 or fewer lands, search your library for a plains card, reveal her, and put her into your hand.
: Add to your mana pool ma'am.

Or do you think it should trigga of 4 or more lands bruv?

 

[Chris Taylor]

Interesting. I like the flicker land a lot actually, putting almost playabale stuff on a land drop is awesome.

I imagine it's probably too powerful for regular magic, I mean look at stuff like Kabira Crossroads, but that doesn't bother me.

Rolling Fields sounds sweet, but as it is I think it's probably too powerful for actual control decks. 5 lands is a lot, and this is a lot like a bounceland without the tempo loss. I'd put it at 3 or less, and I'm not sure thats enough.

The BG land looks sweet though. Like I said, it's hard to put actual card advantage on lands, but regrowing a basic sounds fine to me. I worry that its on a fixing land though, might work better on a forest.

 

[Lucre]

I like to think of it as a white bounceland without the risk, not without the tempo loss. I like the idea of white getting to see extra cards through either scrying, or by getting windows where it gets to search for very specific things, these things tend to be dorky dudes, equipment, any land or plains.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

The reason for concern is the red land was apparently good enough in my last draft that people would play it in non-red decks.
Our winner had it with both bitterblossom AND meloku, the clouded mirror
This kind of play always gives me pause for thought as a designer, especially since the green one is arguably better.

What's your thought? Do they need nerfing? Should they be colorless? Should they exist at all?

So the red one enters the battlefield with potentially 3 +1/+1 counters? That seems bonkers. Why not make it bloodthirst 2, graft 0?

The green one would also be plenty playable with graft 0 I suppose, but what bothers me the most about it is that it triggers at the end of each end step. I would have it trigger at the end of only your end step, since that plays into green's attacking with creatures plan, whereas the current wording plays more into red's burn you at end of turn plan.

 

[Chris Taylor]

Those lands are both super broken and long gone from my cube FWIW

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Yeah, that's what I get for not taking notice of the post date

 

[Chris Taylor]

The other problem is they're basically colorless, so there's little to stop either one from being played in White Weenie for example without making it REALLY wordy.

I see what you mean about the green one triggering on every end step though. If it still existed, it would change

 

[Onderzeeboot]

The other problem is they're basically colorless, so there's little to stop either one from being played in White Weenie for example without making it REALLY wordy.

I see what you mean about the green one triggering on every end step though. If it still existed, it would change

If they still existed you could maybe solve that problem by using the Balduvian Trading Post template?

 

[Chris Taylor]

Probably but then they get wasteland'd and you cry

They likely need to be enchantments

 

[anotak]

bump:
Skyshroud Retreat
Land
: Add to your mana pool.
, : Put target land card from your graveyard on top of your library.

 

[Dom Harvey]

Hero Monument
Land
T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
1: Hero Monument becomes a 2/1 Human Soldier creature until end of turn. It's still a land.
Heroic - Whenever you cast a spell that targets Hero Monument, if it's a creature, put a +1/+1 counter on it.

 

[anotak]

that's p nuts