<BB> toadette's Battle Board (Twyla Nguyen, Time Jumper)

Hey all. I've been offline for about three years, and this is my first post on the new server. I don't recognize hardly anyone who's on nowadays, but I was on the old MSE forums for about a year and a half as Y3K.

I've archived my old character, and all of her information and cards, here.

---

filed under Twyla ― reincarnation

filed under Twyla — origins

On Orange Mana
NEW RAVNICA RESEARCH — RAINBOW DIVISION
RESEARCH IN PROGRESS 14-17-320 NR
** THIS IS A DRAFT. CONTACT NADIJA SI7ION FOR CURRENT UPDATES. **

Over the past three months, we've made breakthrough after breakthrough on the subject of the different types of viable mana available on Ilael (informally known as the "mana rainbow"). This is an informal recapitulation of three months of research, the formal counterpart of which will be published for public access on completion of our sixth round of tests.

You'll find that most of the information here is not scientific evidence, but rather observations of other communities here on Ilael and how their mana coincides with their ways of living. A more quantitative approach to the mana discussion is forthcoming.

§1―On Origins
Orange is one of the four colors of mana that are magically viable on Ilael, and, along with blue, orange is one of the only two naturally occurring colors of mana. While blue mana is tapped from the depths of the ocean and from our great islands, orange is tapped from the massive reefs that jut out along the seashore and throughout the ocean, forming an intricate maze of currents.

Reef
Basic Land — Reef 
(: Add ❦.)

Unlike the two weak colors, and (which can only be produced synthetically), orange and blue resonate so strongly that tapping a single reef or island can produce enough mana to sustain a summon or a continuous enchanting spell for many months.

§2―On Identity
Orange is the color of evening sunsets, of autumn leaves, of salmon returning home. And, like all of these things, orange mana is endlessly cyclical, traveling in predictable spirals, slow and steady. 

Notable are its focus on cycles of life and death, cycles of growth and decay. Orange systems of community are primitive, but that is not to say that they are driven only by instinct. Orange views civilization as oppressive, introducing limitless unnecessary complications to the lives of people and creatures who are better off living with the land.

Orange's strengths include stability, consistency, and clarity of purpose. Orange's weaknesses include stubbornness, narrowness and naivety.

Primary in orange:
- Undying (When this creature dies, if it had no +1/+1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner’s control with a +1/+1 counter on it.)
- Armor counters (Whenever a source would deal you damage, you may remove one armor counter and prevent all but 1 of that damage.)
- +1/+1 counters
- Benefits for surviving combat
- Sustainability with very little; bonuses for having few to no creatures
- Survival-of-the-fittest effects (e.g. 3 damage to each creature)
- Direct damage (burn)
- Big creatures, lonely creatures
- Enchantments; enchantment-friendly
- Multityped cards ― land creatures, enchantment creatures, enchantment lands, and so on

Secondary in orange:
- Card draw
- Mana production & land love
- Animating lands
- Circle of life effects (whenever another creature dies, put a +1/+1 counter)
- Direct-from-hand effects
- Direct-from-graveyard effects
- Deathtouch
- Card wealth (and bonuses)
- Graveyard recovery

Orange pseudos:
- Sunset ― At the beginning of your end step, if you have any unspent mana, [effect].
- Harvest ― You may play this card as a land. If you do, it loses all other abilities and gains ": Add [mana]."

§3―On Relationships
Ilael's mana rainbow looks like this: ❦. Accordingly, when put in a light chamber or refraction ward, blue mana will rotate to orange first, then green, then white. There are four magically viable colors of high resonance, with several niche colors (red, purple, etc.) whose uses are too fringe and difficult to use that they are not considered to be part of the main rainbow.

It should be remarked that, when used in combination with the other colors, orange has some interesting qualities. Its relationship to the other colors can be described as follows:

Orange and blue: While blue represents the active force of nature, the inexorable movement of the sea and of time, pressing on us all, orange represents the passive, material force of nature. Where orange and blue struggle, it is often because orange's need for permanence and certainty clashes with blue's ever-changing style of innovation. Because orange is so content with being stable, blue often sees it as naive and stubborn. On the other side, orange dislikes blue's emphasis on achieving, learning and changing, preferring to bask in the present, being one with the way of things, never wanting too much and never giving away too much.

Orange and green: Green is the sun rising, orange is the sun setting. Together, the two natural colors represent the calling and the hearing of instinct, orange fostering creation, sustenance, and patience, and green providing ambition, loyalty and community. Where orange and green struggle, it's often because orange favors artificial things that last, in the form of enchantments and artifacts, while green sees these things as shallow and offensive to the natural ways of the world. In addition, orange is absolutely fine being self-sufficient and thrives on its own, while green has the need for an expansive, supportive community. 

Orange and white: Orange's and white's ultimate goals are the same―peace and long life. They both care about preservation and self-care. After that, though, their philosophies grow apart. Orange sees white's rigidity and conformity as oppressive, reductive and harmful. Orange is much more flexible, practical and trusting: where white would impose law and order, orange would simply let others live as they want, succeeding and learning only in small amounts that are necessary for their survival. White can see orange as stingy and selfish, but orange sees white's generosity as pointless at best and dangerous at worst.

§4―Conclusion
Our research has taken us far and wide, allowed us to observe countless societies where one, two, three or all four colors were present in the design and function of the community. Through this research, we have gotten a wealth of insight, most of which we've presented here, into orange mana, its capabilities and its limitations. We're still delving deep into the mechanics of orange mana―what we can make of it, how best to use it, and that kind of thing.

Updates forthcoming.

New Ravnican Research — Rainbow Division
Twyla Nguyen, Research Head
Nadija Si7ion, Rainbow Division Leader;
Thelma Gio, Harriett Jynnis, and Charlie Clade, researchers.

_{(displayed in chronological order.)}

Embassy Centaur   6/10
Creature - Centaur
When Embassy Centaur enters the battlefield, each other player may draw a card.
Whenever a player draws a card, you gain 2 life.
3/3

Catch Up  7/10
Instant
Kicker
Any player may kick Catch Up.
Target player draws two cards. Then, if Catch Up was kicked, each player draws a card.
The journalists of Ravnica knew better than any that there was always too much gossip to go around.

Glowing Hillback 4/10
Land Creature — Plains Giant
(Glowing Hillback isn’t a spell, it’s affected by summoning sickness, and it has “: Add .”)
0/4

Cursory Glance  10/10
Instant
Kicker
Choose one. If Cursory Glance was kicked, choose two —
• Look at target player's hand.
• Scry 2.
• Draw a card.
"Listen, kid, the deeper you look, the more disappointed you get."

Hall of the New Alliance 5/10
Legendary Land
Once each turn, when a land enters the battlefield, you may put a land card from your hand onto the battlefield if the two lands don't share a name or subtype.
: Add .

Proper Introductions  4/10
Instant
Scry 2, then you may reveal your hand. If you do, draw two cards.
It can be refreshing to be polite in a world that can be so savage.

Quiet Aftermath 5/10
Instant
If there are no creatures on the battlefield, each player gains 7 life.
If there is at least one creature on the battlefield, prevent all combat damage that would be dealt this turn.
"The silence of a finished war is like the gods' exhalation." — Cymede of Akros

Woodland Exchange  8/10
Instant
Draw a card.
Each player may reveal a creature card from their hand. For each card revealed this way, its owner may draw a card.
You can learn a lot of things from the flowers, especially in the month of June.

Aether Bubble  7/10
Instant
Replace all instances of "each" on target spell with "target". If you did, you may choose new targets for the spell.
The Izzet always had a blast taking things to eleven. Dialing them back... that was what took effort.

Sobering Transfer  8/10
Instant
Move any number of counters on target permanent to another permanent with the same controller.
When the Simic go scouting for new subjects, nothing is out of the question. 

Homeward Portal  6.5/10
Instant
Each player gains control of all permanents they own.
At the end of your next turn, exile target creature you control and target creature you don't control.
Once the timestream had been stabilized, it pulled on them like a magnet. They knew how to open the portal, but not where it would lead them.

Remnant Eidolon 7/10
Creature - Spirit
Flash
Whenever a creature leaves the battlefield, you gain 1 life.
Whenever a card leaves a graveyard, put a +1/+1 counter on Remnant Eidolon.
"Each moment is a gift. With the tools of our past, we can accomplish anything."
2/2

Distracted Dismissal  10/10
Instant
Counter target creature spell. Put the top three cards of each library into their owners' graveyards.
Ajda didn't even know what the spell was, she just wanted it gone.

Leyline Landline  5/10
Instant
If Leyline Landline is in your opening hand, you may begin the game with it in your graveyard.
As long as Leyline Landline is in your graveyard, whenever an opponent puts a card into their hand that wasn't drawn from their library, you may search your library for a card with converted mana cost 3 or less, reveal it, put it in your hand, and then shuffle your library.
Though corded telephones are pretty uncouth by New Ravnican standards, one that taps into leylines can give you a phone call like no other.

Streetflood  9/10
Instant
If you spent to cast Streetflood, choose both. Otherwise, choose one ―
• Tap all creatures.
• Counter target red or black spell.
It was a miracle to everyone except the fire elementals.

Errand Run  8/10
Instant
Search your library for a card with converted mana cost 2 or less and put it into your hand.
If you used to pay for Errand Run, search your graveyard instead.
The trouble, as always, was remembering what to grab.

Living Message 
Creature ― Spirit
Defender
Whenever damage is dealt to Living Message, you may search your graveyard for a card, reveal it, and put it on top of your library.
The magic parchment has lived many lives, known many histories. It's been a child's diary, a doctor's notes and a captain's log; a treatise, a love letter, a death toll.
0/3

Moments Captured 
Instant
Copy an instant or sorcery that's on the stack or in an opponent's graveyard. Until end of turn, you may play the copied card and use mana as if it were mana of any color to cast it.
"Everyone's so obsessed with speeding everything up, they miss the beauty of slicing time apart." ― Jarrett Corwin, Izzet cryomancer

Simic Idealogue  8/10
Creature — Merfolk Lizard Wizard
Whenever a player draws a card, if it wasn't the first card they drew this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on Simic Idealogue.
"This is the new world! Old ideas and narrow-mindedness simply won't suffice anymore."
2/3

Development Site 10/10
Land
Whenever another land enters the battlefield, put a construction counter on Development Site.
: Add .
: Add . Use this ability only if Development Site has three or more construction counters on it.
: Add one mana of any color. Use this ability only if Development Site has nine or more construction counters on it.
"And we'll put the seven gargoyles riiiiiight there."

Drench in Bathwater  8/10
Instant
Multikicker
Tap target creature or land. It loses all abilities until end of turn.
You may cast Drench in Bathwater with an additional target for each time it was kicked.
Throwing the baby out with the bathwater was a feature, not a bug.

The New Combine 8/10
Legendary Land
The New Combine enters the battlefield tapped.
Players have no maximum hand size.
: Add , , or .

Heroic Feat  7.5/10
Instant
Choose target creature. 
If it's attacking alone, it gets +4/+0 until end of turn.
If it's blocking alone, it gets +8/+8 until end of turn.
Otherwise, it gets +2/+0 until end of turn.
The goblins tried their best at casting this spell, but somehow they just ended up with Heroic Feet.

Polymorphist's Remedy  8/10
Instant  
The next time target creature would leave the battlefield this turn, instead it becomes a Frog with base power and toughness 1/1. (It remains a 1/1 Frog until it leaves the battlefield.)
"If it's stupid but it works, it's not stupid." — Ajda Serraf, Combine researcher

Potted History 4/10
Enchantment
When Potted History enters the battlefield, you may arrange the cards in your graveyard in any order.
If you would draw a card, you may instead put the top card from your graveyard into your hand. If you don't or can't, sacrifice Potted History.
"And then they mulched everyone west of the River Kheir! Wait, no, that happened after everyone turned into zombies."

Benefit of the Doubt 6/10
Enchantment Creature — Sylph
Benefit of the Doubt isn't a creature unless a triggered ability has been triggered this turn.
Triggered abilities trigger twice.
She performed miracles without even thinking — simply because no one ever told her they were impossible.
4/4

Combine's Diagnostics 7/10
Enchantment
After you cast a creature from your hand, choose one —
• Double the number of each kind of counter it's entering with.
• Scry 1.

Abandoned Metropolis 8/10
Land
: Add . 
: Add one mana of any color. Activate this ability only if you control no creatures.

Aethercurrent Expedition  7/10
Enchantment
: Move any number of counters from target permanent to Aethercurrent Expedition. They become +1/+1 counters.
, , Sacrifice Aethercurrent Expedition: Distribute each counter on Aethercurrent Expedition onto any number of target creatures.

Skilled Navigator 8/10
Creature ― Human Pirate  
When Skilled Navigator enters the battlefield, you get .
Whenever you spend , Skilled Navigator can't be blocked this turn.
3/3

The Wrong Portal
Instant
Exile up to two target attacking creatures with the same owner. Exile the top six cards of their owner's library. Shuffle all the cards exiled with The Wrong Portal together and put them on top of their owner's library.
"It's the wrong portal, Saheeli, and it's gone wrong!"

Flourishing Settlement 6/10
Land
Flourishing Society enters the battlefield tapped unless you control four or more creatures.
, Tap an untapped creature you control: Add two mana of any of that creature's colors.

Recalibration Service  7/10
Instant
Kicker
Untap up to two target artifacts.
If Recalibration Service was kicked, up to two target creatures get +2/+0 this turn.

Inherit the Ground  9/10
Instant
Destroy all artifacts. For each artifact destroyed this way, its controller creates a 2/2 green Dryad creature token.

Inherit the Sky 8/10
Instant
Destroy all artifacts. For each artifact destroyed this way, its controller creates a 1/1 white Angel creature token with flying.

Grove's Return  7/10
Instant
Choose one —
• Destroy target enchantment.
• Remove all counters from any number of target permanents.
• Create a 2/2 green Dryad creature token. 

Laundry Elemental  10/10
Enchantment Creature — Elemental
When Laundry Elemental enters the battlefield, exile target enchantment or creature, then return that permanent to the battlefield under its owner's control.
"There's nothing that can't be solved with a spin cycle or two."
2/2

Archipelican 8/10
Land Creature — Forest Island Bird
(Archipelican isn't a spell, it's affected by summoning sickness, and it has : Add .)
When you play Archipelican, sacrifice it unless you pay .
Flying, hexproof
In the early months of spring on Ilael, the islands would grow wings and migrate, forming new land masses where there had been none.
1/1

Return Journey 7/10
Instant 
Multikicker
Target player shuffles up to three target cards from their graveyard into their library. You may target two additional cards for each time Return Journey was kicked.
"C'mon, the hardest part is over." — Brenna

Sparkling Lightchamber  9/10
Instant
Counter target multicolored spell. You may draw a card.
You may play Sparkling Lightchamber as a land. If you do, it loses all other abilities and gains ": Add ."

Calming Command  10/10
Instant
Choose one:
• Counter target creature spell.
• This turn, creatures lose haste and can't have or gain haste.

Portal Technician
Creature — Human Wizard
Whenever a creature you control would leave the battlefield, you may exile it instead.
At the beginning of your upkeep, return each card exiled with Portal Technician to your hand.
1/1

Wipe From Time  6/10
Instant
Return each nonland permanent to its owner's hand.

Glittering Butterworm  10/10
Creature — Insect
Flying
Glittering Butterworm enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it for each color of mana you spent to cast it.
1/1

Disbursement Indexer 9/10
Creature — Human Wizard
When Disbursement Indexer enters the battlefield, look at the top five cards of your library. Put one in your hand, one in your graveyard, one onto the bottom of your library, and one on the top of your deck, and exile the rest.
1/1

Swoop  8/10
Instant
Exile target creature you control. Then, if you cast Swoop during an opponent's turn, return it to the battlefield. Otherwise, put it into your hand.
They forgot to look out below.

Hooligan's Highland 6.5/10
Land
Hooligan's Highland enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add .
: Add one mana of any color. Use this ability only if a creature or artifact has left the battlefield this turn.

Progress Report  10/10
Instant
Choose two ―
• Proliferate.
• Scry 2.
• Draw a card.

Library Loomer  8/10
Creature ― Crocodile Wizard
Flash
Whenever a card is revealed, put a +1/+1 counter on Library Loomer.
2/3

Give the Game Away  6/10
Instant
Whenever a card is revealed this turn, you gain 2 life.
You may reveal your hand.
"Sometimes the only way to win is not to play." 

Affectionate Mentorship  9/10
Instant
Choose target permanent you control. You may reveal a card from your hand that shares a type with that permanent and that has converted mana cost up to 1 more than the chosen permanent, and put that card onto the battlefield tapped.

Protective Oread ❦❦ 7/10
Enchantment Creature ― Nymph
Whenever Protective Oread or another enchantment enters the battlefield under your control, you get an armor counter. (Whenever a source would deal you damage, you may remove an armor counter and prevent all but 1 of that damage.)
2/2

Mirrorfox
Creature ― Fox Illusion
Mirrorfox gets +3/+3 for each creature named Mirrorfox.
0/0

New Ravnican Relay ❦
Enchantment
If you would draw a card, you may instead reveal the top card of your library and put it into your hand.
Whenever a card from your library becomes visible, you gain 2 life for each colored mana symbol in its mana cost.
Chuteflow at night, merchant's delight.