General Print this Wizards! (So I can put it in my cube)

[Chris Taylor]

Oooo! How about this?
I had a bit of a flavor fist pump with this one

Evidence Locker
When ~ enters the battlefield, detain target permanent an opponent controls.
Sacrifice ~: Destroy target artifact or enchantment.

Good? Bad?

 

[Chris Taylor]

Also: Another favorite of mine

Strength in Numbers(2)
Enchantment
Creatures you control get +1/+1
When you attack with 3 or more creatures, you may populate

 

[CML]

jesus, that one seems tough to beat. so tough, you have earned a rant! i think populate may be a design dead end what with its dependence on 'something that already's there is unbeatable unless they have x, in which case it does nothing.'

not as bad as cipher but still.

tangent:

in general i find the Design team on WotC (MaRo in particular) grossly overvalues the importance of Mechanics in terms of a set's quality (at least to me), which is the biggest but far from the only effect that his being insulated from the realities of the competitive game has on said design. for example RTR block had 6 mechanics i liked (extort, bloodrush, battalion, scavenge, overload, unleash), 2 idgaf (detain, evolve), and 2 i actively loathed (populate, cipher) and it was a fine draft environment, but one that was both more defined by its other aspects (fixing headache) and less successful than RGD, which had 4 mechanics i was into (convoke, transmute, dredge, replicate), 4 that were meh (bloodthirst, graft, hellbent), and that were total jokes by modern design standards (haunt, radiance, forecast), but was still by far the best draft format of all time. what a sentence, eh? put that in your pipe and smoke it mr faulkner!

nb: dredge is flavorful as fuck and leads to very interesting gameplay when it isn't broken by johnny combo flipping his entire library on t1. go and put it in your cubes right now.

it's also worth noting that 'evolve' generated great internal excitement amongst the wizards people but only evoked a tepid reaction in the real world. i'm sure this is related to the above MaRo issue.

 

[Chris Taylor]

I suppose it does seem a little forced in that it essentially reads "Battalion: Populate" but I like that it's a nice way of saying "Hey, I might be sweet with tokens" without going "Play me with tokens dumbass". I don't want it making a static token (eg: a 1/1) each time because I think that would be too powerful. Needing an existing token lowers the power level to more acceptable levels, and the last thing I want is another god damn white 4 drop.
I'll aggree populate is stupid on cards that do nothing else, but in a card you'll already be using with tokens, I think it has it's place.

Detain for me is just a cleaner/better way of saying "Tap this it doesnt untap" or "exile it until end step" because it's a little bit different in that there's no weird timing tricks with it. It's stun without the swingback. No weird interactions, no corner cases, just exactly what I want it to do.

 

[CML]

give it a try, i still think it'll be nuts though

 

[Chris Taylor]

give it a try, i still think it'll be nuts though

Alright.
Out of curiosity, do you consider glorious anthem a good card? Both my (almost) unconditional 2 mana anthems have been solid, but I haven't met anyone who hasn't been all like "WTFOMGBBQ"

 

[Lucre]

Designing cube cards is realllllllllllllly different in a cube environment where people can just find the card they like (/want to be built around) and play more of it over something else.

 

[CML]

nah glorious anthem is a piece of shit. spear of heliod though...

 

[Chris Taylor]

Am I crazy?


Enchantment
Creatures assign damage with their toughness instead of their power
Creatures you control get +0/+1

 

[Dom Harvey]

I like it! If only Doran were easier to cast...

 

[Lucre]

You are crazy!

 

[Lucre]

Here's one I thought you lads might like from a booster pack making exercise I enjoyed. The set seemed pushed but this card looks like it might be doable:

Disturbing Experiments

Sorcery (C)
Target player discards a card from his or her hand, you may return a creature card from your graveyard to your hand.
"Ludwig's research is producing incredible insights though the faculty is as a whole unwilling to acknowledge any of his findings." - Corobarone, Faculty Head

 

[Chris Taylor]

Here's one I thought you lads might like from a booster pack making exercise I enjoyed. The set seemed pushed but this card looks like it might be doable:

Disturbing Experiments

Sorcery (C)
Target player discards a card from his or her hand, you may return a creature card from your graveyard to your hand.
"Ludwig's research is producing incredible insights though the faculty is as a whole unwilling to acknowledge any of his findings." - Corobarone, Faculty Head

Man, I like it. Cantripping Raise dead is , but then again it's terrible. Raise Dead + discard a card is probably better, and it would likely be IRL, but I think it'll be sweet

RE: Dor-anthem, is the toughness assigny damagey thingy really worth a whole other mana and a whole other color?
I almost feel like it should be +0/+2

 

[anotak]

Riftsweeper's Cooler Older Brother
Creature - Elf Shaman
When ~ enters the battlefield, choose target face-up exiled card or card in a graveyard. Its owner puts it on the bottom of his or her library.
3/1

Perhaps add rebel errata to taste.

 

[Lucre]

I think I like anotak already. Though this card makes me wonder if suspend is ever a real issue that needs dealing with on turn 2 or if this could be used to make a sweet green 3 drop.

 

[Dom Harvey]

Doranthem seems much more fulfilling if it actually pumps your guys as well. You could get away with it at 1GW though for +0/+1 and the P/T damage switch.

 

[Chris Taylor]

Would it be treading on the origonal's toes too much if he were a 0/4 with the anthemn?

 

[Dom Harvey]

I doubt it, but Doranthem is a more fun card.

 

[Chris Taylor]

Wait, Wait, I've got it.

Dor-Anthemn
Creatures you control get +0/+1
Creatures assign damage with their toughness instead of their power
When ~ enters the battlefield, put 2 0/1 green plant creature tokens onto the battlefield.

 

[anotak]

I think I like anotak already. Though this card makes me wonder if suspend is ever a real issue that needs dealing with on turn 2 or if this could be used to make a sweet green 3 drop.

green 3 drop doodles that may be broken or awful take your pick:
Riftsweeper's Other Brother
Creature - Elf Rebel Shaman
Flash, Undying
When ~ enters the battlefield, choose target face-up exiled card or card in a graveyard. Its owner puts it on the bottom of his or her library.
3/1

Card advantage guy
Creature - Elf Druid
, , Put a -1/-1 counter on ~: Reveal the top card of your library. If it’s a creature card, put it into your hand.
, : Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.
3/2

Rampaging Mongoose
Creature - Mongoose Horror
Trample, protection from instants and sorceries
Threshold — ~ gets +2/+2 as long as seven or more cards are in your graveyard.
3/2

Regrowth Visionary
Creature - Elf Shaman
When ~ enters the battlefield, draw a card.
, Exile ~ from your graveyard: Return target card from your graveyard to your hand.
2/2

 

[Chris Taylor]

green 3 drop doodles that may be broken or awful take your pick:
Riftsweeper's Other Brother
Creature - Elf Rebel Shaman
Flash, Undying
When ~ enters the battlefield, choose target face-up exiled card or card in a graveyard. Its owner puts it on the bottom of his or her library.
3/1

I like it. He might need another green/to lose flash, but he loses a lot of the utility if he's a sorcery.

Card advantage guy
Creature - Elf Druid
, , Put a -1/-1 counter on ~: Reveal the top card of your library. If it’s a creature card, put it into your hand.
, : Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.
3/2

This guy seems slow and bothersome

Rampaging Mongoose
Creature - Mongoose Horror
Trample, protection from instants and sorceries
Threshold — ~ gets +2/+2 as long as seven or more cards are in your graveyard.
3/2

Trample is big. he's basically immune to removal, I'm not sure how I feel about that. Maybe just protection from instants? Good catch on straight shroud being way too good on a creature of this size and trample though

Regrowth Visionary
Creature - Elf Shaman
When ~ enters the battlefield, draw a card.
, Exile ~ from your gravyard: Return target card from your graveyard to your hand.

I like this guy. Shame he probably has to be a 2/2 to be fair
I'm curious what power and toughness you had planned for him, it doesn't really say in your post

 

[anotak]

I like it. He might need another green/to lose flash, but he loses a lot of the utility if he's a sorcery.


This guy seems slow and bothersome

Trample is big. he's basically immune to removal, I'm not sure how I feel about that. Maybe just protection from instants? Good catch on straight shroud being way too good on a creature of this size and trample though


I like this guy. Shame he probably has to be a 2/2 to be fair
I'm curious what power and toughness you had planned for him, it doesn't really say in your post

2/2 on the last one, I always seem to leave something off when I copy+paste from MSE.

well, the trampler still gets removed by 187 creatures, oblivion rings, pacifisms, edicts, wraths, boros reckoner, and other creatures blocking him. though perhaps not dying to pyroclasms is too much of a problem with that effect.

 

[Chris Taylor]

Enchantments + Creatues is only 1 card type down from Geist, and we all know how fair his weakness to creatures is
Sure Geist is more damage for less work, but I'll posit he's one of the worse design failures in recent memory

 

[anotak]

Enchantments + Creatues is only 1 card type down from Geist, and we all know how fair his weakness to creatures is
Sure Geist is more damage for less work, but I'll posit he's one of the worse design failures in recent memory

UW is better at clearing a path for the geist, green has always had out of bounds p/t creatures. But a primarily blue deck able to have such an efficient creature was a big part of the problem with the card.
So perhaps 1GG and the threshold should be +2/+0? He also still gets hit by walkers.
But I feel like the problem is that there has been plenty of 3 drops printed for the other colors that were blatantly unfair, and every time green gets a chance there is someone with the voice of reason.

I'll use Jason's cube as an example (because mine a bit weird) and list cards that do something with this on the field in a way that doesn't involve blocking:

You'll notice the list is a lot longer than what deals with Geist, which he is running.
On a related note, I thought he ran attrition, that would work against this. I probably shouldn't count Chandra, Pyromaster so I didn't put it in the list.

 

[Chris Taylor]

I guess you're right. Most of the cards I feel are just above being printable end up being fine anyway
Deffinitly keep it at 2+/+2. His stats not being square is a large downside after all.

Another thing is were this to exist in real life, they might make him to avoid the fate avoided by thragtusk and tarmogoyph: being the best blue creature in their respective enviornments.