Miscellaneous Card Design Thread

A trio of cards designed this morning. First is part of a 10-card tight cycle of dual lands:

Encroachment Zone

Land--Mountain Forest

(: Add or .)
Encroachment Zone enters the battlefield tapped and exerted.
When Encroachment Zone enters the battlefield, you may tap and exert an untapped land you control. If you do, create a colorless 1/1 Eldrazi Scion creature token with “Sacrifice this creature: Add .”
: Add .

If anyone has any suggestion for the other 9 names, or a better name for this one, please let me know.  My idea is that these would be in the set/block where they finally release Big Momma Em.

Next is something from XanaduVesuva:

Pleasuredromes of Vesuva

Land

Pleasuredromes of Vesuva enters the battlefield tapped and exerted.
, : Look at the top X cards of your library. You may reveal a land card from among them and put it onto the battlefield tapped and exerted. If you do, sacrifice Pleasuredromes of Vesuva. Put the rest of those cards on the bottom of your library in a random order.

And finally, we have a Kathril ripoffCommander:

Azalah, the Splendor of Battle

Legendary Creature--Angel Soldier Avatar

Flying, haste
Azalah, the Splendor of Battle’s power is equal to the number of creatures you control and its toughness is equal to the number of lands you control.
Azalah enters the battlefield with a vigilance counter on it if you control a creature with vigilance. The same is true for first strike, double strike, lifelink, trample, menace, deathtouch, hexproof, indestructible, and +1/+1.
Azalah can block an additional creature each combat for each counter on it.

*/*

Geminal Nurturer

Creature--Wolf Shaman

Geminal Nurturer enters the battlefield tapped.
: Until end of turn, you gain “Whenever a creature enters the battlefield, add one mana of any type. You don’t lose this mana as steps and phases end.”

3/3

Inspired by the section on exploit:

Exploitative Doppelganger

Creature--Shapeshifter

Flash
As Exploitative Doppelganger enters the battlefield, you may sacrifice a creature. If you do, Exploitative Doppelganger enters the battlefield as a copy of that creature.

0/0

Inspired by the section on training, have a granddaughter to someone famous:

Katjah Kos, Wojek Aspirant

Legendary Creature--Human Soldier

Haste
Mentor (Whenever this creature attacks, put a +1/+1 counter target attacking creature with lesser power.)
Training (Whenever this creature attacks with another creature with greater power, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.)
Whenever a mentor or training ability you control puts a +1/+1 counter on Katjah Kos, Wojek Aspirant or a creature you control with power less than Katjah’s power, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control with power greater than Katjah’s power.

3/2

If you think about it, she also satisfies battalion, as you'd need to attack with at least three creatures, one with lesser power and one with greater, in order to get maximum value out of her.

What if cleave added functionality that wasn't exactly appropriate for every situation?

Cut from the Sky

Instant

Cleave (You may cast this spell for its cleave cost. If you do, remove the words in square brackets.)
Destroy target creature with flying {an opponent controls}.
Overload . This cost is reduced by up to if this spell was cleaved. (You may cast this spell for its overload cost. If you do, change its text by replacing all instances of “target” with “each”.)

So, this led to a really stupid idea that can actually still conceivably be done:

Wane//Tear

For extra lulz, have it be a Mystery Booster playtest card, with the sticker on a Demystify.

Inspired by the three paragraphs following the image of Glimpse of Tomorrow:

Chûl, the Terror in Their Eyes

Legendary Creature--Beast Horror Assassin

Flash
When Chûl, the Terror in Their Eyes enters the battlefield, destroy target creature or planeswalker.
Deathtouch, deathtouch for planeswalkers
Cycling—, Sacrifice a creature (, Sacrifice a creature, Discard this card: Draw a card.)
When you cycle Chûl, the Terror in Their Eyes, destroy target creature or planeswalker.

4/6

So, this one just came to me, and the best part is the Special Promo version, which took me far too long to work out fully:

Kenny McCormick

Legendary Creature--Human Victim

At the beginning of each player’s upkeep, return Kenny McCormick from its owner’s graveyard to the battlefield under its owner’s control with a haste counter on it.
At the beginning of each end step, sacrifice Kenny McCormick.

2/1

For the Special Promo version, I'ma give you all the extra details that MSE won't allow:

Kmrr MCormrr Rrr Grreh

Lejendrr Crehrr--hYuuweh Ik'Mn rr

A uh eeih uh ee hoeh uhee, reurh Kmrr MCormrr fr ih oerr eh’arr hoo ah a-ol’eel uh’erh eh oh-erh kuhol wi ah ehh owtrh o ih.
A uh eeih uh ee eh ap, ha’urr-ai Kmrr MCormrr.

Tuu/Wuuh

So, this morning I was thinking about Lim-Dûl's Paladin in my sleep, and I came up with a way to make limiting factors work.  If WotC did this, they'd prolly bury the majority of the reminder text in the official rules, but I don't have that luxury.

Cinder Paladin

Creature--Elemental Knight

When you cast this spell, each player’s life total is limited to their starting life total. (Each player can’t gain more life than that player’s limit. If a player would gain more life than their limit, they gain no life instead. If a player’s current life total is greater than their limit, their life total becomes that limit. This loss of life doesn’t trigger any abilities, and can’t be seen by any spells or abilities that trigger off of loss of life.)
Trample, haste, wither (This deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters.)
If Cinder Paladin would deal damage to a player, that player’s life total limit is lowered by that much instead.

4/4

Curse of Limited Space

Enchantment--Aura Curse

This spell can’t be countered.
Enchant player
Whenever Curse of Limited Space becomes attached to a player, the number of creatures that player can control is limited to their starting life total. (They can’t control more creatures than their limit. If they control more creatures than their limit as that limit is set, they choose a number of creatures they control equal to that limit and put the rest into their owners’ graveyards. Creatures put into graveyards this way don’t die, and spells and abilities that trigger off of creatures dying don’t see those creatures. If a player with a creature limit would gain control of a creature and that puts them over that limit, that player doesn’t gain control of that creature instead. Creatures can’t enter the battlefield under the control of a player who’s already at their creature limit.)
, Sacrifice two creatures: Enchanted player’s creature limit is lowered by one.

Nultropy, Emissary of Naught

Legendary Planeswalker--Nulltropy

When you cast this spell, if it’s the first time you’ve cast this spell this game, each player’s life total and number of creatures they can control are limited to their starting life total, each player’s hand size is limited to ten, and each other planeswalker’s loyalty is limited to its starting loyalty. Otherwise, each of these limits are lowered by one.
Nulltropy, Emissary of Naught can be your commander.
: Create a 5/5 black Demon creature token with flying, draw a card, and gain 3 life. Lower your creature limit and life total limit each by five and your hand size limit by one.
: Lower each limit by X.

I'm hoping that you all can infer what a hand size limit and loyalty limit would entail, but just for clarity, here's each:

Hand size limit supersedes any effects that increase hand size (cf. Anvil of Bogardan, etc.).  If a player with a hand size limit would draw cards over that limit, that player skips all those draws.  Whereas maximum hand size is rectified during the cleanup step, a hand size limit set on a player with a current hand size greater than that limit must discard down to that limit immediately, but this discard doesn't trigger anything, and isn't seen by anything that depends on discard.

Loyalty limit is a little easier to explain with an example.  Let's go with Chandra, Fire Artisan, with a current loyalty of .  Setting her loyalty limit to her starting loyalty forces her controller to remove two loyalty counters, but this does NOT trigger her first ability, nor does any subsequent lowering of her loyalty limit.  With a loyalty limit of 4 and with , she can still , but no loyalty counters will be put on her.

We all know that eventually, we're gonna get a Hierarch for every three-color combo, so I decided to throw my hat into the ring:

Abzan Hierarch

Creature--Orc Shaman

: Add , , or .
Whenever you tap Abzan Hierarch for mana, you may pay , where X is 2 plus Abzan Hierarch’s power. If you do, put a +1/+1 counter on Abzan Hierarch and up to one other target creature you control.

0/1

Yes, this isn't quite outlast or bolster, but bolster sucks, and the designers of outlast were WAY too timid in their execution.  If they were so worried about on-board tricks, they could've still allowed instant speed activation:

Outlast (, : Put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. This ability can't be activated during combat.)

And for that matter, where's my outlast creature that grants vigilance to creatures I control with a +1/+1 counter on them?

Another card designed in my sleep:

Chart the Wastes

Instant

Multikicker
Search your library for a land card and put it onto the battlefield, then repeat this process. Then repeat this process an additional time for each time this spell was kicked, then shuffle. If was spent to cast this spell, each opponent loses X life and you gain X life, where X is the number of lands you control.

{Abzan watermark}

#3 in my series of "How Phyrexia Conquered the Multiverse":

Zykloxx, the Conquest of Jund

Legendary Creature--Phyrexian Avatar

This spell can’t be countered.
Shroud, first strike, trample, haste, vigilance, infect, indestructible, aggressor
When Zykloxx, the Conquest of Jund enters the battlefield, it deals damage to you equal to its power.
Zykloxx, the Conquest of Jund can’t be sacrificed.

{Phyrexian watermark}

10/10