Sanfonier of the Night
7/7 Elemental
Posts: 399
Favorite Card: The Prismatic Bridge
Favorite Set: War of the Spark
Color Alignment: White, Blue, Black, Red, Green, Colorless
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Post by Sanfonier of the Night on May 25, 2022 17:21:36 GMT
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Post by Flo00 on May 27, 2022 22:10:39 GMT
Judging. {vizionarius} EnflameThat's a very clever use of twobrid mana. I like it for exactly the reason you give. Two mana isn't very attractive for this effect, but it's a nice late game mana sink. It seems a bit hard to get working though. You either have your creature run into something bigger or enflame creatures with a high toughness, but low power. Ghostflame Emblem: Nice and simple card. Fun reference. Orcish Arsonist: It's a kind card I'd expect in a set featureing a creature keyword. I'm surprised you made this into an  . It's a creature with nothing but one keyword and without great stats. The only thing more common should be a vanilla creature. Pyromancer's Wrath: Great card. Really shows how flexible enflame is, since you can put it on any kind of card, given it deals damage. Torch of the Undying Flame: Funny how the stats on this mimic the Mirrodin swords, yet it works completely differently. Interesting that this can enflame big red things without dying. It also compensates the downside of enflame by giving the creature a die trigger. {Idea} Smith: Good use of hybrid mana referencing the color that was paid. I like how you create an equipment that is so small that it wouldn't be interesting as a card. That's great for a token. I think there shouldn't be a : in the reminder. That suggests that it is an activated ability and you may use it more often. It's a bit wordier, but I think this should say "You may pay  . If you do, create ..." Then you still clearly pay in advance. Then you could leave the "may" out on the card text, since you have it in the reminder. Or "To smith, pay . if you do, ..." I'm totally on your side with the equip cost being  . Good decision. Master Furnace: Fun card, especially in a deck that wants to sac a lot of artifacts. Maybe it should say "nontoken artifacts", since otherwise the tokens would trigger the ability themselves when sacrificed. And just because I'm a bit pedantic when it comes to correct wording: Whenever an artifact is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may smith. Deepflame Artisan: Straight forward, nice and simple common. Every keword should come with someting like this. Restwood Homecrafter: I like the impact the hybrid mana has here. You can choose to play it with just one of the colors or make a three-colored deck. Vengeancesmith: I think this would be a great signpost uncommon. I like how the deathtouch actually makes the  option more valuable, giving you incentive to use (or at least splash) a third color. Shadowbinder Smith: I like the idea of smithing techniques. With this wording you have again the problem of paying after the token has been created. It would probably have to say somthing like this: As you smith, you may pay an additional  . if you do ..." The small problem I see here is that you have to distinguish for which tokens you paid. The original tokens would just be two separate tokens you find in boosters. The smithing techniques would probably require somehting like abiilty counters to avoid memory issues. {melono} Liquidate: Feels a bit like grating your cards a version of transmute. I like how it makes you use a wide range of mana values. It's kind of a mix between a rummage and a tutor. I have the concern though that it leads to more repeatable plays. The ability makes it easy for combo decks to find all their pieces, especially with the repeatable abilities. Liquidate has also the same template problem as Idea's smith: You write an activated ability in the reminder for what should be a keyword action. (If this is a confusing sentence, I hope this and this helps.) Audacious Broker: Straight forward  . Simple enough, yet this already feels quite strong. Karola, Structural Reformer: The name hints that this is actually legendary, you just forget to write it? Really strong card. I like how it limits which cards you can liquidate so that is doesn't get too much our of hand. Market of Bones: Typical black enchantment. Strong, but in a way that feels good. {Ymonrah} Overgrow: Aside from the typo at the end of the reminder; the way this is worded would make it trigger off itself. Which is damn strong and I don't think that is what you intended. Maybe someting like this: "If you would put one or more counters on this, you may pay  to put an adidtional +1/+1 counter on it." Equinor, Autumm Herald: Really strong card. Does everything you want from a finisher. And only at five mana. I would have liked to see one or two simpler cards that play a bit around with overgrow. Great mechanics everyone. I hope you forgive me for being very nitpicky with the wording. I tend to do that. I even did it looking at the latest spoilers. ("I bet they will oracle the 'whenever' into a 'when' even before the set releases!") {winner} Idea. Good use of hybrid mana and showed off a nice range of things to do with smith. |
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Post by vizionarius on May 27, 2022 22:40:24 GMT
Enflame... It seems a bit hard to get working though. You either have your creature run into something bigger or enflame creatures with a high toughness, but low power. ... Orcish Arsonist: It's a kind card I'd expect in a set featureing a creature keyword. I'm surprised you made this into an . It's a creature with nothing but one keyword and without great stats. The only thing more common should be a vanilla creature. ... Torch of the Undying Flame: Funny how the stats on this mimic the Mirrodin swords, yet it works completely differently. Interesting that this can enflame big red things without dying. It also compensates the downside of enflame by giving the creature a die trigger.... I even did it looking at the latest spoilers. ("I bet they will oracle the 'whenever' into a 'when' even before the set releases!") Thanks for your detailed feedback on all the cards and mechanics! Totally agree with you on the difficulty in Enflame and the weakness of Orcish Arsonist. In hindsight, I should have made it a 1/4 for the reasons you highlight. Even then, it'd be a weaker uncommon, but would at least be a decent blocker in red, which is not that common. Glad you liked the Torch and made the connection to the Mirrodin swords (was intended). I liked that if a creature dies in combat, it can burn 2 things: 1 from combat damage, and 1 from the "when it dies" (it still has Enflame, since it had it at time of dying). Leading to more burn on the upkeep. Also, that "whenever" in Bloodboil Sorcerer is quite annoying. That's 2 cards in this set that they messed up on ( Zevlor). Congrats to Idea for the win! Indeed a well-thought-out ability! |
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Post by Idea on May 27, 2022 23:35:17 GMT
Woooo! I wasn't expecting a win, but glad that effort paid off! Thank you very much Flo00 ! Sidenote, I don't think tokens go into the graveyard. So there is no need to put a "nontoken" restriction as tokens can't trigger a graveyard-entering effect.
For the next challenge! Double-sided cards are great tech for magic cards from transformation to modal. In fact if one wants to switch between radically different modes it could be argued one can hardly compete with just turning the card and having something entirely different on the other side. But not every set should have double-sided cards, and not every set supports it (you can't really have morph going around with double-sided cards in the same set). So, here's the challenge: Try to design a keyword or mechanic which captures the idea of the card becoming something entirely different, without using frames that contain multiple cards (double-faced, aftermath, ...). Bonus points for also not using face-down mechanics but I won't ban them lest I make this challenge too difficult. |
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Post by vizionarius on May 27, 2022 23:47:18 GMT
Sidenote, I don't think tokens go into the graveyard. So there is no need to put a "nontoken" restriction as tokens can't trigger a graveyard-entering effect. Tokens do go to the graveyard, but they "cease to exist" the moment they enter. Tokens indeed trigger "dies" effects. ( source) |
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Post by Idea on May 27, 2022 23:50:23 GMT
Sidenote, I don't think tokens go into the graveyard. So there is no need to put a "nontoken" restriction as tokens can't trigger a graveyard-entering effect. Tokens do go to the graveyard, but they "cease to exist" the moment they enter. Tokens indeed trigger "dies" effects. ( source) Oh, my bad then. I thought they ceased to exist the moment they left the battlefield. |
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Post by vizionarius on May 28, 2022 6:05:54 GMT
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Sanfonier of the Night
7/7 Elemental
Posts: 399
Favorite Card: The Prismatic Bridge
Favorite Set: War of the Spark
Color Alignment: White, Blue, Black, Red, Green, Colorless
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Post by Sanfonier of the Night on May 28, 2022 13:55:04 GMT
Judging. {vizionarius} EnflameThat's a very clever use of twobrid mana. I like it for exactly the reason you give. Two mana isn't very attractive for this effect, but it's a nice late game mana sink. It seems a bit hard to get working though. You either have your creature run into something bigger or enflame creatures with a high toughness, but low power. Ghostflame Emblem: Nice and simple card. Fun reference. Orcish Arsonist: It's a kind card I'd expect in a set featureing a creature keyword. I'm surprised you made this into an . It's a creature with nothing but one keyword and without great stats. The only thing more common should be a vanilla creature. Pyromancer's Wrath: Great card. Really shows how flexible enflame is, since you can put it on any kind of card, given it deals damage. Torch of the Undying Flame: Funny how the stats on this mimic the Mirrodin swords, yet it works completely differently. Interesting that this can enflame big red things without dying. It also compensates the downside of enflame by giving the creature a die trigger. {Idea} Smith: Good use of hybrid mana referencing the color that was paid. I like how you create an equipment that is so small that it wouldn't be interesting as a card. That's great for a token. I think there shouldn't be a : in the reminder. That suggests that it is an activated ability and you may use it more often. It's a bit wordier, but I think this should say "You may pay . If you do, create ..." Then you still clearly pay in advance. Then you could leave the "may" out on the card text, since you have it in the reminder. Or "To smith, pay . if you do, ..." I'm totally on your side with the equip cost being . Good decision. Master Furnace: Fun card, especially in a deck that wants to sac a lot of artifacts. Maybe it should say "nontoken artifacts", since otherwise the tokens would trigger the ability themselves when sacrificed. And just because I'm a bit pedantic when it comes to correct wording: Whenever an artifact is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may smith. Deepflame Artisan: Straight forward, nice and simple common. Every keword should come with someting like this. Restwood Homecrafter: I like the impact the hybrid mana has here. You can choose to play it with just one of the colors or make a three-colored deck. Vengeancesmith: I think this would be a great signpost uncommon. I like how the deathtouch actually makes the option more valuable, giving you incentive to use (or at least splash) a third color. Shadowbinder Smith: I like the idea of smithing techniques. With this wording you have again the problem of paying after the token has been created. It would probably have to say somthing like this: As you smith, you may pay an additional . if you do ..." The small problem I see here is that you have to distinguish for which tokens you paid. The original tokens would just be two separate tokens you find in boosters. The smithing techniques would probably require somehting like abiilty counters to avoid memory issues. {melono} Liquidate: Feels a bit like grating your cards a version of transmute. I like how it makes you use a wide range of mana values. It's kind of a mix between a rummage and a tutor. I have the concern though that it leads to more repeatable plays. The ability makes it easy for combo decks to find all their pieces, especially with the repeatable abilities. Liquidate has also the same template problem as Idea 's smith: You write an activated ability in the reminder for what should be a keyword action. (If this is a confusing sentence, I hope this and this helps.) Audacious Broker: Straight forward . Simple enough, yet this already feels quite strong. Karola, Structural Reformer: The name hints that this is actually legendary, you just forget to write it? Really strong card. I like how it limits which cards you can liquidate so that is doesn't get too much our of hand. Market of Bones: Typical black enchantment. Strong, but in a way that feels good. {Ymonrah} Overgrow: Aside from the typo at the end of the reminder; the way this is worded would make it trigger off itself. Which is damn strong and I don't think that is what you intended. Maybe someting like this: "If you would put one or more counters on this, you may pay to put an adidtional +1/+1 counter on it." Equinor, Autumm Herald: Really strong card. Does everything you want from a finisher. And only at five mana. I would have liked to see one or two simpler cards that play a bit around with overgrow. Great mechanics everyone. I hope you forgive me for being very nitpicky with the wording. I tend to do that. I even did it looking at the latest spoilers. ("I bet they will oracle the 'whenever' into a 'when' even before the set releases!") {winner} Idea . Good use of hybrid mana and showed off a nice range of things to do with smith. Thanks for the fix in my ability Flo00. |
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Sanfonier of the Night
7/7 Elemental
Posts: 399
Favorite Card: The Prismatic Bridge
Favorite Set: War of the Spark
Color Alignment: White, Blue, Black, Red, Green, Colorless
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Post by Sanfonier of the Night on May 28, 2022 17:51:49 GMT
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Post by hydraheadhunter on May 28, 2022 18:05:49 GMT
Only one example card right now might add more.
Revelation [Cost] — [Ability]. (As ~ enters the battlefield face up, choose one of its revelations. It gains that revelation's ability.) (You may cast this face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. Turn it face up any time for one of more of its revelation costs. When you do, it and each face down creatures you control have those revelations for as long as you control this face up) Fulminating Prophet
A blue and a black
creature — Zombie Advisor
Revelation [three generic and a blue]⸺Whenever
this deals combat damage to a player, draw a card.
Revelation [two generic and a black]⸺Whenever this
deals combat damage to a player, that player discards
a card.
(As ~ enters the battlefield face up, choose one
of its revelations. It gains that revelation's ability.)
(You may cast this face down as a 2/2 creature for three
generic. Turn it face up any time for any number of
its revelation costs. When you do, it and each face
down creatures you control have those revelations'
abilities for as long as it remains this face up).
2/2
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Well that reminder text is a mouthful. "Any number" does include zero; this keyword would naturally be balanced around that fact.
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Post by Idea on Jun 3, 2022 13:37:20 GMT
Last call for entries, will be judging tomorrow!
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Post by Idea on Jun 4, 2022 12:03:29 GMT
vizionarius {Comment}I very much love the look and the idea of the design. I think it's simple and intuitive to understand, plus the renders you've made look pretty good with it. A mechanic as potentially complex as something that could stand for transformation without the double-faced tech can easily fall into a clunky appearance, so that's very much a plus.
Visual appeal aside, the mechanic offers and interesting choice at the beginning of each upkeep, and choices like those are always welcome. I can already see plays where you'd turn them into enchantments to avoid your board wipe or where an opponent might try to get you to choose one mode or the other with some kind of pressure. Fun stuff.
As for the individual cards, they all look pretty fun. Mistfolk swiftblade I worry might be a little too strong due to having versatility + being able to become a global enchantment that gives all of your creatures a pretty strong keyword (first strike), and otherwise they seem like the type of cards I can see WOTC designing. Sanfonier of the Night {Comment}I see the reconfigure inspiration, and I think it's a well-done card. Not sure if permanent hexproof to you is something that should be on a non-creature uncommon, but that's small potatoes. The wording seems like it's only meant for enchantments, but I think I could see this working (mechanically at least) for creature type cards, though it is a bit restrictive on the design space by only allowing the card to become something that attaches (so equipment or aura). Well, not every mechanic should everything though. hydraheadhunter {Comment}I'm going to be honest I think you're trying to do a little too much with this mechanic. I can see flavor-wise why you'd want the card to flip up to "reveal" something different, however cards with this would be super wordy by default, and the design space would have to account for so many things (all face-downs getting the effect, playing it as a single, modal option or morph with choices as you turn up etc...). I think the mechanic would have been fine if it cut a few of the things it is trying to do, or otherwise streamlined the process more.
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Post by vizionarius on Jun 6, 2022 17:46:07 GMT
Thanks for the win, Idea! Glad you liked the design!  I was pretty happy with it too... enough so to use it in my custom set I'm working on (will post a thread on that when it's more fleshed out). I agree that the first strike guy seems a bit strong. Could have used 1 more mana in its cost. Next challenge: Design an ability keyword that opponents can activate. It can be something like the Mongers, or a type of drawback kind of like in the Rhystic cards. |
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Post by Idea on Jun 8, 2022 21:49:34 GMT
Alright, so I'm sure I'm not the first one to have an idea like this (what idea is truly totally original though, am I right?), but I still wanted to give it a spin of my own, so here we go: BidBid (cost) -- (Cost): Put a bid counter on CARDNAME. Any player can activate this ability. At the beginning of each upkeep, remove all bid counters from CARDNAME Appeal for Funding was the starting point idea I had for bid, which rather than the auction term actual begun as fund, due to being inspired by one of the ideas I had while working on a silver bordered set called uninvited. In that set, factions of researchers compete for sponsorships from nobles for their research, and so some kind of mechanic would be needed to represent funding being given after a proposal. Something where the other player can pay to benefit as well. In bid, things are changed slightly to promote more competition with it. A note on the rules though, and I was told I could put this in oracle text so I'll assume it's true: If you were the one who put the most bid counters on a card that mentions "the opponent who put the most bid counters on ~" then none of your opponents get it, because in fact none of them put the most bid counters on the card.  In this competitive form, bid ends up as a mechanic designed for a multiplayer format. It probably wouldn't work very well 1v1, or at least the effectiveness of the cards would end up being far more circumstantial. Part of the intended effect of the mechanic is giving an incentive from sunk cost or the prisoner's dilemma. Well, such things would have to be playtested in practice, but the theory at least is that players would be likely to pay more for uncontrollable fireball here than normal, either for intimidation (look how much I payed, do you really want to bother competing? Just take the face damage) or because one player pays, then another pays more and now the other already payed life and might take damage on top so they decide to at least try to avoid the damage.  Now by nature Bid can only exist on permanents. However it's clearly a mechanic that seems fitting to add on instants and sorceries, at least in what it is intended to do as opposed to the means by which it does it. Enchantments I found to be the better recipient for this mechanic. They are permanents, but if you want a temporary effect, just have the enchantment sac itself after giving the players time bid if they wish to. Naturally of course though, enchantments aren't the only permanents that could use the mechanic - nor is mana the only way to pay. For the last card for this mechanic, I'll put out something a little something (ex)appropriate. |
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Post by Daij_Djan on Jun 8, 2022 23:16:29 GMT
OK, here goes. One card for each color (and rarity):
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Post by vizionarius on Jun 13, 2022 21:51:12 GMT
I plan to judge this on Wednesday. Anyone else?
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Post by Flo00 on Jun 14, 2022 11:37:43 GMT
Inlast <cost> (<cost>,  : Put a -1/-1 counter on this creature. Only opponents can inlast as a sorcery.)Puffbug  Creature - Insect Inlast (, : Put a -1/-1 counter on this creature. Only opponents can inlast as a sorcery.)When Puffbug dies, you gain 5 life. Known for the invigorating aroma clouds they emmit when stepped on, these critters were driven to the edge of extinction.2/1 Gnarlslinker   Creature - Elemental Inlast (, : Put a -1/-1 counter on this creature. Only opponents can inlast as a sorcery.)When Gnarlslinker dies, distribute its -1/-1 counters among any number of target creatures. 4/4 Persistent Nightmare Creature - Nightmare  Indestructible, Wither (This deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters.)Inlast—Discard a card. (, Discard a card: Put a -1/-1 counter on this creature. Only opponents can inlast as a sorcery.)3/3 Scourge of Bleakcliff  Creature - Horror  Wither, rampage 1 (This deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters. Whenever this creature becomes blocked, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn for each creature blocking it beyond the first.)Creatures your opponents control with -1/-1 counters on them have inlast— , Mill four cards. (, , Mill four cards: Put a -1/-1 counter on this creature. Only opponents can inlast as a sorcery.)1/8  |
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Post by vizionarius on Jun 16, 2022 3:18:40 GMT
{Judging} { Idea }I like mechanics that introduce a large design space. I feel like your bid mechanic does that, and you highlight nicely some of the ways it can be used. I think putting costs that don't require mana on an ability that can be used an indefinite amount of times leads to some less-than-ideal situations. Tribute Feaster for example can become indefinitely huge as is, since you can just keep adding counters yourself. I don't think Uncontrollable Fireball works as intended, since when you sacrifice it, it no longer has any knowledge of what X is. You could put X flame counters on it or something to keep track, though! Also, your discussion on bid being useable on instants and sorceries makes me think of Lightning Storm, which basically has something quite similar. In terms of wording, if you don't want an opponent who paid the most out of all your opponents, but less than you, to be affected, you'd have to use the "player" term instead of "opponent" (because when checking a category of players for who has the most of something, you are not your opponent, so you would be excluded). For example, on Bid Your Time (nice name, btw), if you don't want opponents who paid less than you to get an extra turn, you'd have to write "Then each player who put the most bid counters on Bid Your Time this turn, if it wasn't you, takes an extra turn after this one" (or something like that). { Daij_Djan }I super like the use of two-brid mana here. Allows you to use it at a discount, but still allows players who are not using your color to benefit as well. I like that you allow only a single activation, and only as a sorcery. While I generally dislike that those phrases need to exist (I've tried to come up with different symbols for them instead), I do think they serve an important design space. I can't come up with any serious constructive criticism with there. They all seem really well designed! Maybe a repeatable "draw 2, lose 2" for 3 mana is a bit good on Diabolic Advisor, but I can see it playing decently well even as it is. { Flo00 }I like the use of untap as a cost that's controlled by the opponent! (And also like the mirror of outlast you have designed here.) It naturally limits it to one activation in most situations, which I like a lot (designs that have a natural limitation that doesn't need to be stated explicitly). I wish that you showed some cards where the opponent got some effect for their efforts of "inlasting" other than just a weaker (and eventually dead) creature. For example, something similar to how outlast grants abilities to your creatures with +1/+1 counters, some of the inlast creatures could have "creatures you control with -1/-1 counters on them have 'whenever ~ dies, each opponent gains 1 life'" or something like that, to give some additional benefit to the opponent. That way you can make the cards stronger and actually make the opponent interact with the ability more. Scourge of Bleakcliff is an interesting one... I like that it grants inlast to your opponent's creatures, but only if they are already weakened. Rampage is cool on it, but as is, I have very little reason, as your opponent, to block it at all. It seems to be better as a blocker. I do like the self-mill on it! Overall I do like inlast, as it does create a cool design space, since there is a lot you can do with -1/-1 counters, as you highlight on Gnarlslinker. {Winning}This goes to Daij_Djan , for some clean designs and an interesting use of two-brid mana. The other designs have a lot of design space with them that would be really cool to explore more. |
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Post by Idea on Jun 16, 2022 7:54:10 GMT
Aaaah damn, that was a real Blunder with Tribute Feaster. Can't believe I missed something like that. As for lightning storm, to be honest that card confuses me. I didn't know you could put counters on something on the stack. And fun fact about the wording of the mechanic, in the first few iterations, it actually read "you and the player who put the most bid counters". However, I didn't want it to trigger twice for something like Bid Your Time for you, and under recommendations from people on the discord it ended up in the state that it is now. Oh, well... Congratulations to Daij_Djan for the win! |
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Post by Flo00 on Jun 16, 2022 10:41:28 GMT
Inlast was mostly meant as a joke. Glad you like it so much.
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Post by Daij_Djan on Jun 16, 2022 14:21:37 GMT
Big thanks for the win - glad you liked my designs. Especially the two-brid since I used it right from the start when I came up with the concept, then later on changed to to colorless costs only to simplify them - just to go back to the original idea for exactly the reason mentioned And yeah, some rebalancing of the individual card(s) might be required 
Will try to come up with a new challenge till tomorrow!
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Post by Daij_Djan on Jun 18, 2022 19:14:14 GMT
I hate the current wheather here.. So how about this: Design a mechanic with a weather-themed name! And no, no Storm designs, please  |
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Post by melono on Jun 19, 2022 14:08:16 GMT
Rainfall Shaman  Creature - Merfolk Shaman Downpour - Whenever an instant or sorcery card enters or leaves your graveyard, ~ gains +1/+1 until end of turn. 2/1 Ever-Gifting Rain Instant Downpour - Whenever another instant or sorcery card enters or leaves your graveyard, you may cast ~ from your graveyard until end of turn. Scry 1. Draw a card. Millstorms Enchantment Downpour - Whenever an instant or sorcery card enters or leaves your graveyard, you may mill target player for X, where X is the card's mana value. The Maggotworm Collection Legendary Creature - Worm Maggot Downpour - Whenever an instant or sorcery card enters or leaves your graveyard, target creature card in your graveyard gains unearth until end of turn. Its unearth cost is equal to its mana cost. Unearth  ( : Return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield. It gains haste. Exile it at the beginning of the next end step or if it would leave the battlefield. Unearth only as a sorcery.) 2/1
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Post by Idea on Jun 19, 2022 22:06:49 GMT
Alright, my mechanic this time is Rain Dance. Rain Dance (number): As you cast this spell, you may tap (an or number) untapped creature(s) you control. If you do, change this spell’s text by replacing each instance of "any player" and "each player" with "target player". In essence, Rain Dance is a reverse of overload. Overload lets you pay extra to widen the targets of a spell, while rain dance lets you perform a little tapping ritual to narrow the effect just to a target player, typically yourself. Generally effects of cards with rain dance would affect all players by default, thus giving you the strategical choice of noting whether you'd rather keep creatures untapped or let your opponents gain an advantage from your card as well (or you get a disadvantage). Ultimately it would probably boil down to just much better you can make use of the bonus your card provides.  Flavor-wise, the concept here is that everyone gets affected by the rain, or lack thereof, but perhaps a more localized effect can come to those who call for it. Perform a rain dance to be blessed with the rain you need, don't and you won't get the rain. Fun extra fact, I picked rain because of the abundance of puns and thematic cards that came to mind before there was ever a design for the mechanic.  Now, while generally speaking a card with rain dance gives a beneficial effect, there is a reason to change to "target player". Sometimes, the rain's gonna bring some nasty stuff with it, and you'd rather send the rain over into enemy territory, such as with Cats above. |
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Post by vizionarius on Jun 20, 2022 19:19:49 GMT
Cloudburst N (As you cast this spell, you gain N rain counter(s). For as long as you have a rain counter, it's raining for you and you have "At the beginning of your upkeep, lose a rain counter.").       {Corrected Torrential Deluge}  Note: You only lose 1 rain counter each turn, not 1 for each Cloudburst spell you've cast. {Something to keep rain counters in check}  I have an additional card for this ability here. |
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Post by Flo00 on Jun 22, 2022 4:33:04 GMT
Let's start calling things by their real names. Touch of Winter Instant Freeze up to two target creatures. (To freeze a creature, tap it and it doesn’t untap during its controller’s next untap step.)Draw a card. Frostbite Maw Creature - Elemental Frosttouch (Freeze creatures damaged by this. To freeze a creature, tap it and it doesn’t untap during its controller’s next untap step.)Whenever a creature is frozen, you may put a -1/-1 counter on it. 3/3 Creeping Cold Sorcery Freeze each creature. (To freeze a creature, tap it and it doesn’t untap during its controller’s next untap step.)At the beginning of your next upkeep, untap each frozen creature you control. Chief of the Forge  Creature - Dwarf Creatures you control can’t be frozen. 2/2 |
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Sanfonier of the Night
7/7 Elemental
Posts: 399
Favorite Card: The Prismatic Bridge
Favorite Set: War of the Spark
Color Alignment: White, Blue, Black, Red, Green, Colorless
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Post by Sanfonier of the Night on Jun 27, 2022 20:32:00 GMT
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Post by serraphim on Jun 27, 2022 21:08:26 GMT
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Post by Daij_Djan on Jul 17, 2022 18:31:55 GMT
Way too many contests have piled up once again, time to start with this one This contest is now closed - please no further changes of entries! EDIT: Sorry for the delay, wasn't able to finish as planned before we visited my step-grandma (is that a correct term? xD) for a few days for her 80th birthday. I'll get to it again as quickly as possible.
EDIT 2: And here we (finally) go! I’ll judge these mechanics using three categories: - Flavor: How well does your mechanic and its name / flavor translate to the gameplay?
- Gameplay: Flavor aside, how might your mechanic play?
- Cards: And finally, the mechanic itself mostly aside, this is just to list potential comments / nitpicks I might have about your individual cards.
With that out oft he way, let’s take a look at our entries! {Downpour by melono} - Flavor: As it’s sometimes the case there really is not much connection between the flavor and the mechanic itself – at least not without some ties beyond the given examples.
- Gameplay: This is definitely a solid mechanic to use. It triggers at least upon casting an instant / sorcery normally – but then there‘s also mill, graveyard mechanics and many more..
- Cards: I might be overestimating Ever-Gifting Rain, but it looks quite powerful granting basically every instant/sorcery you cast an additional kicker to scry and draw a card.. Millstorms seems tough to balance since it allows you millig yourself (and therefore fuelling itself over and over again) – even if six many is obviously a lot. Might still play better at a lower cost but without some restrictions instead..
{Rain Dance by Idea} - Flavor: I really like the flavor of having your creatures participate in the dance.
- Gameplay: This however, is a tough one. The tapping part is completely fine, but I wonder about how much design space for effects really is out there. Overload is a 6 on the Storm Scale mostly due to its limited design space, and I’m pretty sure Rain Dance’s one is even more limited..
- Cards: Water Cycle breaks the color pie since it can be cast or and offers lifegain. Also a green/blue hybrid caring about you casting red or green spells is a bit.. weird?
{Cloudburst N by vizionarius} - Flavor: You have the advantage here of being able to name everything down to the counters to really fit your mechanic – like it.
- Gameplay: This is basically a time-restricted City’s Blessing or similar, a concept I’m a very big fan of (I’ve actually pondered about it for a set myself). My only complaint would be the mechanic being rather parasitic in nature, but I thinik it’ll play quite well nethertheless.
- Cards: I think Torrential Deluge needs to be slightly reworded as choosing targets is part of casting a spell, the mechanic requires you to have finish casting..? Tob e honest, I might be wrog here though
{Freeze by Flo00} - Flavor: Let’s be real: Considering players as well as WotC have been calling deeptapping like this for a long time, you get an easy win here
- Gameplay: It’s a tried and working concept, and by naming it you can also have cards directly caring about it. I think this would work best as an evergreen or deciduous mechanic though – featuring the mechanic too heavily inside a single set would most likely slow down the gameplay too much.
- Cards: no complaints, like them
{Thunderstorm by Sanfonier of the Night} - Flavor: Interpretaing the energy counter symbol literally as lightning is a hilarious idea!
- Gameplay: As a mechanic that requires an already rather parasitic echanic to be used, Thunderstorm obviously is a bit tricky as well. I do think there should be some kid of numerical value attached to it like with Casualty N, since copying a two-drop really shouldn’t cost the same as copying a six-drop..
- Cards: My previous complaint aside, I like how you used a permanent as one of your two example cards.
{Category N by serraphim} - Flavor: While the discarding doesn’t really feel mechanically connected tot he name at all, the way you incorporated the numerical value is hilarious.
- Gameplay: This is a tough one to balance. Requiring different amounts of cards to discard is a good choice, but players will most likely not being a fan of everything that goes beyond Category 2 unless they#re hardcode Spikes and the effect is really worth it..
- Cards: Like here. Both Hellstorm and Temporal Gale are definitely powerful, but discarding three / five cards for a copy..? I’m really not sure that‘d be worth it even for a Spike player to be honest.
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Post by vizionarius on Jul 18, 2022 5:04:01 GMT
Daij_Djan Thanks for the win! I had a fun time designing this mechanic! Glad you liked it too. And you're totally right on Torrential Deluge. While it does work, it would only count existing rain counters before adding the 4 new ones. This would make it pretty much useless in a vacuum, and confusing in situations where the caster already has some rain counters. I added a fixed render of it in my original post, and just set the number of targets to a constant six. The Cloudburst 4 on it now clearly just sets the duration of the effect rather than the "width" of it. ------- Next challenge: Design a keyword that relates to one or more of the four seasons in some way.
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