The What Do You Do? Game

In that case I will take over Flo00 . Enjoy your vacation!

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You stumble a bit after exiting the tavern, your vision spinning and beginning to blur a tad. You have a hard time trying to make head or tail of what's in front of you at first, as your eyes refuse to adjust to the sunlight. Sure, some small part of it may be due to the alcohol, though given you'd come out of that ride after escaping the maze, only to find your night taken over by this cult named the Bond, followed by a bar brawl, well it's little wonder you might pass out at the mere sight of a pillow. You rest your arm against a wall while trying to regain your composure and focus and travel down some narrow streets beginning to come to an early life as merchants and early birds exchange some pitches and pleasantries. You're headed to the inn you half-remember being told was the place the expedition for the fountain would be staying at. You dodge two children who come running with sticks, only to stumble on a misplaced stone, and the loss of balance does you in. You pointlessly grab some beads that covered a stall, but of course you don't manage to stay upward, you simply pass out with a festival of small marbles covering you like condiments.

You come to in a bed of soft animal skins, not the exotic or well-worked type, but more akin to the type that resembles simply piling the skins over one another. You realize you are inside a sort of hut, with cheap yet colorful carpets hanging on the wall here or there, some instruments of copper, clay or bone here or there, and a sparse few rays of light parsing through the branches the hut was seemingly made up from. Any weapons and other belongings you had you on besides your clothes are in a corner. You begin to hear footsteps, and that's when an old naga holding two clay cups of steaming tea peeks out from the doorless threshold to the next division.

"Oh, you've woken up. Passing out right in front of my son's shop, how troublesome you are. He came to me with his tail all tied up - that means panicked, by the way. Do you feel able to walk yet? If so, maybe we can discuss the matter of the compensation..."

What do you do?

I didn't mean to destroy this with my cocky comment. How about a real entry?

Dirty Deal
Sorcery
Exile target creature and target creature card in a graveyard. The creature's controller may put both cards into their owners' hands.

Note that you can choose any combination of things you own or control or not.

It would appear the coin you have on your person right now would barely cover another round at the bar - let alone compensate damages to the nice naga who lent you a bed to rest in and her child. While explaining you've come to this town on an important quest, you manage to successfully convince her to cut you a deal. It appears her son has some debts of his own, to some rather unsavory groups in the town's underground. If such groups were to, say, "disappear" one of these days, they might just be so happy they'd forget the whole incident you caused. Whether just to save your own hide or some urge to exact heroic action against villainy, you agree to the shrewd naga's bargain before taking your leave.

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Dirty deal is a card I really like, with a surprising amount of flexibility on its condition that can either give you great value (one self-bounce and a return from the graveyard to hand effect) or you can put the return from the grave on an opponent, encouraging them to let you bounce something. Its also on color, and has palpable flavor. My one complaint would be the the wording the card uses, while correct, I think would cause a lot of confusion among more casual players who may not immediately catch onto the nuance of referring to something as a creature or a creature card.


The winner, naturally, is Flo00

Paranoia of Isolation 
Instant
Exile target creature until the next time its owner casts a spell with the same creature type.
You just need to make them feel isolated. Reality is irrelevant.

Thanks for the win!!

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You reward yourself with a visit at the next tavern...

While enjoying your second pint, you start fantasizing about new adventures, with sights unknown and companions yet unmet. You've had a few crazy encounters lately, and could use a bit of a leisurely escape from the business of town. You strike up a conversation with an elf sitting next to you at the bar. He's exchanged a few pleasantries with the bartender earlier and seems like a calm fella who might know of some great places to enjoy outdoors. Your assessment of him was spot on. He loves nature, and is actually heading out tomorrow to a nearby forest lake where his family has a small cabin where he takes a week to unwind each year. The two of you hit it off and he ends up inviting you to come along! The timing seems perfect, and you really don't have anything pressing. Plus, a few days by a calm forest lake sounds just about what you need right now...

What do you do?

Feedback

Idea : You take up your new friend's offer and head off to the forest home. You feel your peace returning as the idle days go by, but can't shake the uneasy feeling that it all may be a little too quiet. Actually, come to think of it, you heard not a single other living being's sound than your friend's and your own... you'd expect there to be some life by a forest lake! As you are strolling along the back of the cottage, you notice a strange patch of grass by the wall. You look closer, and realize that it's covering a cellar door. It seems curious that your friend hasn't shown this to you when giving the cottage tour upon your arrival, but you figure he wouldn't mind if you took a peak inside. When you open the door, you are greeted by a horrific sight! The cellar is filled with bodily remains!!

I love the flavor here! Very interesting solution for representing a time-bound effect, and it feels very balanced. The Dark Secret ability is an excellent shut-off for the global ability when you need to get rid of it, and also works for dealing with creatures that don't care to attack, but use their tap abilities instead. Excellently done!

pernicious : You take up your new friend's offer and head off to the forest home. As soon as you arrive, you already feel the chaos of the last few weeks clearing out from your mind. Your friend shows you around the area, and you see that the lake is teeming with fish! Luckily, your friend has extra fishing gear and you're all set for a chill day by the lake. You decide that'll be the first thing you head to the following day. As dinner time comes around the next day, you head back and prepare some of the day's catch. It's delicious, and is exactly what you needed. Your friend heartily agrees! What a restful first day!

Awesome card effect! I really like this as a way to show that a creature goes on a task. I think "when it does" would be a better phrasing, but that's minor. The effect is very flavorful (yumm), and I think more cards like this would be great to see from WotC! Love it.

Flo00 : You're excited to get the trip started! You of course take your new friend up on this generous offer! You pack all that you need to take with you, and probably a bunch of things that you might not even use, but want to have as options to do. Your fishing gear, a telescope for a stargazing night by the lake, and of course some of the books you've been meaning to finally get to! At the end of it, your pack is so compressed that you sort of dread having to dig through it to find what you need. But that's alright. Time will for a change be the one thing that you'll have plenty of! One final mental check to make sure you have everything, and off you go! This is going to be an amazing few days!

I really like this effect! It's a great way to save your things from a wipe, or to get the ETB/LTB effects off again. Also fits flavorfully really well. I'd love to have this in commander!

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Result

All are excellent submissions, so I'm going to pick the winner here based on how much I like the story it's alluding to. Idea 's submission is the winner for me! Curious to see where we go from here!

Play Dead
Instant
As an adiditional cost to cast Play Dead, sacrifice a creature.
Until end of turn, you may cast spells with the same name as the sacrificed creature from your graveyard and you may cast them as though they had flash.
If a card would be put into a graveyard from anywhere this turn, exile it instead.

Will judge tomorrow! Anyone who wishes to yet, feel free to make your entry!