Miscellaneous Card Design Thread

I'd like to introduce everyone to the single worst thing I've ever made.



...I'm not sorry.

I've decided I may as well just compile my silver-bordered ideas into a set to release whenever I have enough of them. To show my commitment, I've made the linchpin of any set.

Presenting, for the first time ever, pride of the "Unfinished" set, the elegant, the imaginative, the innovative, the incorrectly numbered...

NO-ART LANDS!

Untouchiq
Creature - Illusion
Permanents you don’t control have shroud.
3/3

During a card search I stumbled upon Chaos Moon and thought "That's a terrible card. You have to count ALL permanents EACH upkeep." So naturally the next question in my head was "How can I make something even worse?"

Chaos Mage
Creature - Wizard
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have an odd number of cards in hand, discard a card at random, then draw two cards. Otherwise, discard your hand, draw that many cards plus one and transform Chaos Mage.
3/2
--------------
Chaos Vortex
Enchantment
At the beginning of each player’s upkeep, if the number of permanents that player controls is even, that player creates a double-faced token that’s a copy of a random double-faced permanent and that token enters the battlefield with its front face up. Otherwise, that player shuffles a random permanent they control into their library, reveals the top card of their library and puts it onto the battlefield if its a permanent.

- It counts a different set of permanents each upkkep (so you can't track it that easily without recounting).
- It changes that number when it resolves.
- It creates potential copies of itself.
The only way I imagine I could make this worse was if I let players make piles on every resolution, but that was overcomplicated and wouldn't fit the caqrd.


And speaking of piles, here is the baby child of Warp World and Whims of the Fates:

Warp of Fate
Sorcery
Each player separates the permanents they control in two piles. For each player choose a random of those piles. Each player shuffles all permanents he or she owns in a pile chosen this way into his or her library, then reveals that many cards from the top of their library. Each player puts all permanent cards revealed this way onto the battlefield, then puts all cards revealed this way that weren’t put onto the battlefield on the bottom of their library in a random order.

Wind-Up Knight -
Artifact Creature - Knight
Vigilance
Wind- Up Knight is not a creature as long as it is tapped.
2/2

I was aware of that. New cards come up with new rules for things all the time. Ans Chaos Mage/Vortex is no exception. It just needs a little rules adjustment to make it work.
Also there is

So when the card sais that there is a double-faced token, then there is a double-faced token.

Now that we have confirmation that any color can get "A deck can have any number of..." and proof of this with Persistent Petitioners, I thought to myself to make such a card for a different color.

Yeah, I noticed after I had posted it. I had just grabbed the text from Arachnus Spinner and removed the library part of it.

I think fuse has its place, but in this case I agree. The sheer amount of mana that it would cost to cast these spells fused would outweigh the benefits of combining them, but either half would be undercosted if they didn't cost so much up-front. That said, mixing and generic mana always feels awkward to me. I'd personally go something like...


Return up to X target artifacts and up to X target enchantments...

EDIT: That, or keep the original cost and kicker (or at least keep it close), but amend the effect to "Return target artifact or enchantment..."

I actually think this has a lot of potential. The main reason World as a Super Type was abandoned was because of the fact that it was a built in self-removal clause, and the effects of the World cards were...sub par.

This uses the World clause to its advantage. It still has many potential problems, makes the rules that much more convoluted, and is generally wordy, but I still think it's really cool and is very inspiring.

Hmmm wondering if I can fix World somehow

(When another retrograde creature enters the battlefield under your control, sacrifice this.) 

Soul Slicer  
Retrograde Creature - Human Soldier  
Haste
When CARDNAME dies, put a +1/+1 counter on target retrograde creature you control. It gains haste until end of turn.
1/1

Tattered Avenger  
Retrograde Creature - Warrior
First strike, lifelink
CARDNAME enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it if a retrograde creature you control died this turn.
2/2

Ancestral Archivist
Retrograde Creature - Scholar
, Discard a card, : Draw three cards.
When CARDNAME dies, draw three cards if you control another retrograde creature.
2/3

Unfailing Trickster  
Retrograde Creature - Rogue  
Double strike, haste
Whenever CARDNAME attacks, you may discard two cards. If you do, draw two cards. 
1/2

Singularity 
Sorcery
Exile all nonretrograde creatures. 

I'm a big fan of a lot of old mechanics. World especially has a really cool flavour, for all that it was never really used to full effect. So I share your sentiments. I think there's a lot of potential with the idea of things so big that only one of them can exist at a time.

Well, in fairness being 15/15 is still relevant for spell effects, and for "fights" effects in particular.

It's cumulative upkeep is , meaning it's really just there as a way to give it a counter every turn and the ability to die when the controller chooses without having to devote extra card space to either effect.

As for it not being Legendary, that was done both because it would have made for a very crowded typeline, and because it's redundant. The way the World supertype works, the world rule will always take precedence over the legend rule. I threw in the line about being able to be your commander to make up for this, so I think the only thing it loses is not being considered historic. I wonder if it's a reasonable assumption that World isn't included as a "historic" type simply because new World cards aren't being made, though?


This feels like a very weird balance point. If used on yourself, it's a fairly costly way to get a creature out, that gets less punishing and more rewarding the closer you are to losing. However, it also works on an opponent's creatures, meaning that for three mana and giving them their weakest creature back, you can set their life to ten. Not even ten damage, just "Your life is ten, now." with no option to prevent or redirect.