Card of the Week Contest #295: C-A-S-T-I-N-G

If it only affects colourless mana, couldn't it just say "Until end of turn, instants and sorceries you cast cost less." instead?

It says colored mana, though.

kefke Yea, I figured. No worries.

Grim Genesis 
Sorcery 
As an additional cost to cast Grim Genesis, sacrifice a creature.
Search your library for a creature card, reveal it, then put it into your hand and shuffle your library.

EDIT: Lets try this again, only this time I'll actually read the full challenge. *Adjusts reading glasses*

The target is a little bit combo of Miraculous Recovery and Blessed Light. Basically, a high utility limited card.

Now to apply the lava-soap-esque feedback that is my general contribution to things. May it scour away the rust and reveal the gleam beneath. Or at least give me a laugh.

jarribas309 : "Enters the battlefield" my dude, not "Comes into play." It's been, like a decade. Also you've printed a trap where the controlling player can fulfill the condition themselves. A trap that doesn't care what an opponent does is no trap at all. There's a reason Summoning Trap specifies "Countered by a spell or ability an opponent controls." Fix those and you're probably good, though. Eight is a fine cost for this kind of effect and three is a large enough cost where it has to at least be slightly telegraphed.

FLAREdirector : The only feedback I have is "Why not instant?" And maybe "Why no reminder text?" 

kefke : That's really not a red effect. Blue/Black has done similar things in the past, but adding "Opponent chooses" doesn't make it red.

@aargh: That's one of the most subtly dangerous cards I've ever seen. Storm resoundingly doesn't need the help. Like... I like it, but it would absolutely make the world a worse place if printed.

viriss : I'm not really sure the rules quirks are worth this kind of card. Players will misplay what you can block with this, and I'm gonna be honest, at four colored mana you'd probably just get two 3/3s no strings attached.

Tesagk : That is an absurd pile of words for a card that's basically a bad Epiphany at the Drownyard. 95% of the time it's cast, X will be 0 and they'll just target an opponent with it so they can draw a card. If you want to stick with "Bribe" concept, well, Bribery is already a card, so that might cause problems, but instead of doing this double triple backflip rules text with an extra cost reduction clause for good measure, lets go with a simple "Look at the top X cards of target opponent's library. Put them back on the top or bottom of their library in any order." Basically Fateseal X.

inferno390 : Your overly complicated attempt at shoving a Fireball into a Mind Spring has resulted in a card that's bonkers powerful even ignoring all but a single sentence in it. XU, Draw X is, by itself, incredibly powerful, and as a whole the card is basically "What if Explosion but way more?" Tone it down, like, seven notches. Control decks don't need THAT much help.

spazlaz : My eye twitches when I consider what happens if you pitch it into a Hive Mind.

lizstar : You should turn it face-down on the stack. We're in silver-border land, anything goes!

ZephyrPhantom : As I said to Aargh, Storm really doesn't need the help, but that's a really cool way of going about making a ten mana card that's actually playable so props.

melono : There's a reason most "Better if you're playing with X" effects are an on-off type system, making large scaling effects can be difficult, especially if it's related to permanents on the battlefield that can be difficult to maintain and/or actively self destruct. Also the terminology is "Any target" nowadays.

ameisenmeister : I can't tell if that's the most or least rude discard spell ever but it's certainly powerful. Also I don't know why the target can choose a land card while you can't. Seems inconsistent.

gurfafflekins : Just to clarify, you are aware your spell can't target the token it creates, right? Because targets have to be declared before resolution?

@fabuloussunbro : Ignoring how difficult pulling that off would be, four mana for a limited counterspell feels not fantastic. I feel like this is a case of "CAN, but probably SHOULDN'T."

gluestick248 : Mana Leak has proven itself exceptionally powerful in the past, and mixing Undermine into the mix can't possibly help things. I'd probably drop it to  and 2 if you're aiming at a standard power level.

@daij_Djan: I think I might know which folder of yours you got that image from. I'm not judging. Much.

kilenc : Seems really strong in Commander, mostly because White needs every scrap of card quality it can. Surprised you didn't mention Settle Beyond Reality which is what immediately sprung to mind for me.

@chartate: I love me my charms. Feels a little bit weak but that's what charms are supposed to be I suppose. Not sure how I feel about both "draw a card" and "scry" being on the same white card, though. Even if they're on different options that's a dangerous mix. I feel like the final mode would be better suited to be a flicker effect. Maybe until end of turn, so you can use it to get rid of a troublesome blocker for a turn or something. Long Road Home springs to mind as a really interesting effect on this kind of modal card.

Oh don't you worry, I believe you. 

Oh I know how it works, but Flash Foliage was notorious for misplays in ravnica limited. There's a reason it hasn't been touched in a decade.