Set Theme Game

Thanks for the win, shame there weren't other entries.

Well, I looked back through the challenges, and we haven't had one for this set in over two years, so how about we got to Battlebond and get some cards designed for two-headed giant.

Anthem of Alliances
Enchantment
Creatures you and your teammates control get +1/+1 and have ward .
Under one banner, the armies congregated to face a common enemy.

Springleaf Champion
Creature - Elf Warrior
Partner with Springleaf Healer (When this creature enters the battlefield, target player may put Springleaf Healer into their hand from their library, then shuffle.)
Whenever your team gains life, put a +1/+1 counter on Springleaf Champion.
2/2

Springleaf Medic
Creature - Human Warrior
Partner with Springleaf Champion (When this creature enters the battlefield, target player may put Springleaf Healer into their hand from their library, then shuffle.)
Whenever a Warrior your team controls attacks, you gain 1 life.
3/3

Well geez, I'm glad I checked. I forgot this one was running...again. Not gonna delay it this time. Judging now.

Idea - I feel like this could maybe be a little more pricey, bc in theory you could attack, your teammate creates a copy, next turn both attack, and you each get a copy, those 4 become 8, etc etc. Provided I'm reading that ability right, as written.

vizionarius - Simple, effective, you could probably have gotten away with "your team" in place of "you and your teammates."

Flo00 - I assume the Champion is "Partner with Springleaf Medic," not Healer. Either way, pretty basic partner interaction. It works.

melono - Not sure of the wording on drawing a card "from the monarch," but I get what you mean. Come to think of it, I'm actually not entirely sure how the Monarch interacts with 2HG either. XD Regardless, I see what you're going for, and I like it.

Gonna give the win to Idea because I think Unlikely Allies is a good way to make cards that work in 2HG but require a bit more effort than simply existing

For my submission, I’m adapting the Planet mechanic from the Playtest Cards! Given they’ve foreshadowed other mechanics with the playtest cards, I hope they explore this one in the future. As for what potential set it might come from, I think it'd come from a CIV-esque set, were the flavor and mechanics revolve around building up a faction with resource management.

LashSpark Altar
Battle - Structure
Resources 3 (When this permanent enters the battlefield, exile the top 3 cards of your library as this Card’s Resources.)
, Expend 1 Resource: LashSpark Altar deals 2 damage to any target. Activate this ability once per turn. (To expend resources, put [N] of this battle’s resource(s) in its owner’s graveyard.)


CorpseWheat Granary ::W/B::
Battle - Structure
Resources 2 (When this permanent enters the battlefield, exile the top card of your library as one of this Card’s Resources.)
Whenever you sacrifice a creature, you may exile it as one of this card’s resources.
::W/B::, Expend 2 Resources: Create a food token. (To expend resources, put 2 of this permenant’s resources in its owner’s graveyard.)


Arzolt, Arcane Inquisitor
Legendary Planeswalker - Arzolt
Resources 3 (When this permanent enters the battlefield, exile the top 3 cards of your library as this Card’s Resources.)
: You may create a copy of an instant or sorcery from Arzolt, Arcane Inquisitor’s resources. You may cast that copy.
, Expend X Resources: Each Opponent loses X life. You gain life equal to the amount of life lost this way..



Some Mechanic Clarifications


: Both Players and Permanents can have resources. Dealing damage to a Player or Permanent with Resources lets you steal that many resources from that Player and/or Permanent.


: Structures, like sieges, can be attacked. However, they do not die from having no Resources.


: You can only allocate/move your Resources during your upkeep unless a card effect says otherwise.


What do you think?

Structures as a subtype doesn't really work. First of all it's making major alterations to the fundamental building blocks of how the card type works - it's changing the counter type, it's tying those counters to a set of cards, removing the double-sided aspect, it's not setting up an opponent to defend it, and most importantly it's not being removed by removing all of its counters. While being double-sided and defended by an opponent could just be a part of sieges, and while strange it wouldn't be unacceptable that battles could have non-defense counters, tying those counters to a different resource and the battle not being removed are a different story entirely. It would be too confusing across the card type, especially without actually being stated on the card and its too big of a change from the way the card type works to still be the same card type. It'd be one thing if it was an effect of a specific card, but not a whole subtype. Structures should be their own type if you're going to do them this way.

Resources as described here are an interesting translation of what I think are Civ-style mechanics onto magic, but the stealing resources with damage and tying resources to actual cards put together are kind of an incompatible headache. Even at the most basic, just only players with resources, you have to manage two additional piles of cards eventually either mixing cards or turning into 4 separate piles of your own resources and stolen resources, and what resources are taken in what order, preventing cheating on that area, and that's before you have even more piles attached to different permanents and how does this interact with milling and self-milling strategies in practice... And on top of that there seems to be an additional not explained allocation mechanic?

In short the central mechanic here is causing a number of complexity and management issues just by being what it is. I do think it's a clever idea but it needs to be trimmed in terms of what it tries to do and be. Maybe rather than a built-in mechanic, stealing resources could be it's own mechanic or the effect of particular cards? Or maybe the mechanic could not tie in exiling specific cards and just use counters on players instead? Do we really need the resources to be pre-allocated to specific sources, can't the allocation be represented by using resources rather than having them? Just some food for thought. Now onto the cards individually.


LashSpark Altar- Simple, possibly a little weak. If your opponent attacks this it's a 5 mana shock, but even in the best case scenario on its own this is 9 mana for three shocks and mill yourself 3 over 3 turns. I could see it doing wonders in limited but even then this is probably a bit too costly.


CorpseWheat Granary- Probably would work best if it let you add resources whenever a creature dies, but then again if you can allocate resources wherever maybe not. 3 life for two resources and 1 mana... Honestly this feels like the card is expending a little too much just for a food token, but maybe it's real use is just a source of resources for better effects. I'm honestly not sure how to view this card balance-wise. That being said, I like how it works with its flavor.

Arzolt, Arcane Inquisitor- small nitpick, "you may copy an instant or sorcery card from ~'s resources". Extorting your opponents for that amount of resources feels rather weak on a 3 color planeswalker, especially seeing as it's probably quite weaker than the first ability that +1's them. This one costs resources AND loyalty. On the other hand, the first ability should be costing the resource you copy, to prevent you from copying the same thing over and over again. Thankfully it doesn't let you cast it without paying its mana cost at least but it's not only prone to creating a boring loop of doing the same thing turn after turn, it's definitely well-past the power level of a + ability on a planeswalker, especially one that only costs 3 mana.



The winner is dangerousdice