/ccg/ Custom Card General /cct/

The final colored section is W/B. It has the flavor of divine inevitability-most of the cards would be meh statwise in a more powerful cube, but eventually the stars align and they give you some crazy value through their prophecy.

Not done yet, though! Here's the draft-centric portion of the cube. This is where all the conspiracies and draft-altering cards go. The orb cycle is a series of mana rocks that you can offer up your picks to over the draft, and if you feed them enough, they add a powerful champion to your pool to play with-the watermarked creatures are undraftable otherwise.

>W Necropotence
You are taking the piss. Is there any draft where this isn't busted?

That wraps it up, I think, except for some full-art OG dual proxies and some two color mox-diamond-esque rocks that I'm also getting done, in case I want to add or remove fixing from the cube.

Any sufficiently powerful cube will have decks that can combat Necro. It's damn powerful, but I'm not extremely worried.

Seems OK, thought I'm not entirely sure about it being able to enable itself.

That's like saying Skullclamp and Arcbound Ravager aren't broken because artifact destruction exists.

I love it. Cant even think of a nitpick.

Who wants quadruple strike?

Oh damn. Shold've changed it so it affects creatures and planeswalkers too. Changing now.

Im curious, I havent examined all your sheets yet, but how do you justify Necropotence in white?

Not sure about the noncreature trigger for the emblem. It was added after a suggestion from an user, but with how creature-centric the rest of the card is, I'd like to have it trigger from casting creature spells as well. But I could be wrong. Please let me know what you guys think.

Flavorwise, white in this section is negative-blind zealotry without care for the self. It fits with that theme; throwing away ones self for a greater purpose.
I'd flip it around, it sounds to me like you're saying no cube should ever have necro in it ever because it's too strong, and I disagree with that sentiment.

In what situation would Necro not be OP? How do you counter a player having more options that every other player?

*than every other player

Why? Archangel of Thune does it too and that's a very popular card.

Apples and oranges. Though I am a bit more conservative when it comes to powerful effects.

>Flavorwise, white in this section is negative-blind zealotry without care for the self. It fits with that theme; throwing away ones self for a greater purpose.
I kinds thought this is what youre going for, but Necropotence in particular doesnt work like this flavorwise. Notice how in Ixalan, life payment on white was to buff creatures. This was to convey whites self-sacrifice for others-- it doesnt pay life for just anything, it pays life to help others. There are previous white cards playing up a similar flavor for life payment as well iirc. Thats how white's able to do that. The necropotence effect is exchanging life for a different resource, which is black's domain.

Here is my next shitty attempt at a keyword for UB.

Fuck, that should be "less than or equal to"

Never use just flavour to justify a card's mechanics. Flavour is so flimsy and malleable you can use it to put any effect into any colour, making the whole pie (and the practice most of us TRY to adhere to in these threads) irrelevant.

Uh... no thanks.

Should this cost 1 more?

i think it's fine. if i had to nerf it i would remove trample to give room for counterplays.

Wanted to try something for Tojira and the Nightstalkers. Combining ideas from a few different cards here.

I'm with the other guy. Either remove Trample or Haste.

I really don't want to change his text box. If you guys think he's too strong as is I'd rather just make him cost 1 more.

Sure, try that.

Thanks for the feedback!

Necro is always bonkers. That doesn't mean it can't exist. Your argument also technically holds true for Divination, since Divimatio also gives you more cards.

I agree, it's a big stretch-but not impossible. Thus the color-shifted border. I'm willing to make the bend for the sake of how the cube is planned on playing.

Alright. Mechanical justification: white-heavy decks in the cube so far have been heavily under-drafted, according to my data, and it also lacks ways to generate card advantage. I wanted to add something color-intensive that would incentivize people to draft more white. Necro solves both those issues, and although it is definitely a heavy bend and probably a break, if like to at least try it in the cube to see if it helps. If not, I'm perfectly willing to find another source of card advantage to color shift from black into white.

>it also lacks ways to generate card advantage
Yeah, it's called a weakness. A deliberate weakness. It's the same reason Black can't destroy enchantments and U doesn't have direct damage or really any form of removal outside of counters and Polymorph effects. If you start getting rid of those weaknesses, the entire color pie degenerates into nothing, because all the colors would then be roughly the same outside of flavor.

I think this is one of the worst mistakes newbies make. They don't really understand the purpose of the color pie or how it works. They just see the restrictions and think it would be funny to ignore them for a while.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I always thought Mold Demon was kinda interesting.

Er, my post wasnt saying "its a big stretch"-- I feel its an outright break. Its not even the card advantage Im worried about, I think they should compromise more than they have (though investigate and the crown were quite generous already). I just think it makes no sense in white at all. Ixalan vampire's life payment effects are a bend but make sense philosophically. You may give up your life to help your creatures. Its an angle of self sacrifice white doesnt usually get, but self sacrifice nontheless. On the other hand, Necropotence isnt trading your life to help others. I could see, for example, Phyrexian Reclamation in white. Itd also be a big bend, but the philosophy works better without bending over backwards imo.

Draft is to an extent, self correcting. If one color is underdrafted, then the one who does draft gets his or her pick of the best cards. Unless white is so bad that even that is a failing strategy. But then, why would you play a card who's entire purpose is to draw more shitty white cards?

A card I've had rolling around me head for awhile.
Black (maybe also red) enchantment: if a player were to lose life, ~ deals that much damage to them instead. [Maybe extra thing on etb]

Iunno, call it Painful Loss or something. Not very useful but could enable some spicy stuff.

Damage causes loss of life.

You're right but I'm talking about the things that bypass damage and cause direct life loss (eg Exsanguinate). This would cause those to also generate damage triggers (eg Furnace effects)

>no land sac

I assume you only found the flavor aspects of Mold Demon interesting, then.

>I'm talking about the things that bypass damage and cause direct life loss
The problem is there's no precedence for it.

Mostly. I was thinking of including some sort of land sac, but by the time I finished with the counters stuff, the card had enough going on.

What? I gave you an example, senpai. Exsanguinate doesn't do damage. Never has, never will. It causes life loss, a subtle but important distinction

Sorry, let me rephrase. There's no precedence for an ability that triggers off of direct life loss and not damage. All the abilities I know of that trigger off life loss trigger from both effects.

Oh, I'm a dink and now understand. That is a bit of a pickle. Hmm, seems like it'd have to have "if life loss not caused by damage, do it as damage" which is a lot clumsier.

I bet if Veeky Forums got together, we could make a good set with actually decent lore and well written articles.

Easier said than done

How meme is this mechanic?

Maybe
>Whenever a player loses life, if damage wasn't dealt to that player, [effect].

I've actually toyed with the idea of collaborating for a core set in a vacuum. But a legit set with a storyline and well-defined original setting? No way.

I was trying to play in this space a while back but I couldn't get it to a point that sounds good. This is a lot simpler than anything I narrowed it down to (I think I ever got to "secretly choose a creature. If the opponent blocks with that creature, you can reveal your choice, etc.") but this seems weird because it'll force you to make not fun or actively poor decisions in order try and ruse them. Since this is my gut reaction there's probably also a weird thing where one choice or the other is almost always right but I haven't thought about it long enough.

Also, it feels weird and kind of annoying that it's free and to have to resolve it every turn. Imagine having like 3 creatures with ruse and needing to go down the list every turn.

I like the mechanic but i think it runs into the ol' additional bookkeeping vs added fun problem. You have to enforce that the creature's choice is "locked in". Also, should be defending player who guesses.

>You have to enforce that the creature's choice is "locked in".
That's why it happens as part of attackers being declared, but it sacrifices possibilities because of that(things like granting haste).
>Also, should be defending player who guesses.
There kind of isn't a defending player because the attack hasn't been properly declared until the ruse is completed.

Going through Simon Bisley art. Pretty cool stuff if you're into the Heavy Metal (magazine) art style.

This card is bending my mind.

I admit the mechanics are a little odd. So, when it enters the battlefield, you choose any of the five colors. And at the beginning of your upkeep, you choose any of the five colors. The last color you chose determines the color of the card, as well as the color of the spells it can counter.

Let's say you choose Red when it enters the battlefield. That means it becomes Red and can counter Red spells (assuming it's enabled to tap despite summoning sickness). Then the next turn you choose White. Then the card becomes White, and it can counter White spells. You can keep choosing one color over and over if you want, but you can only choose one color, and the color of the card itself and the color of the spells it can counter are only determined by the last choice, and not any of the ones that came before it.

And of course when it's not on the battlefield, the card will be Blue.

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For some reason I was thinking it was saying you picked a color, but it was only the color picked BDFORE that pick. So it would do nothing then the second use would make it be and counter the first thing. Dont know why I thought that. Your thing makes more sense

Honestly not sure hot to cost this. Hope the flavor comes across OK.

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Umbragoyf?

Thanks!

Well after giving it time to stew I actually did think of a nitpick. I dont love that its a djinn that doesnt fly. BUT the art doesnt look like it should be, so. I think there were djinn on Tarkir that didnt fly. It doesnt look like a tarkir djinn but I can accept it as a consequence of not having special art, and its in Ojutai colors so.

"If a spell or ability would cause a player to lose life, that spell or ability deals that much damage to that player instead."

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To nitpick, the "card types among cards in your graveyard" thing is Tarmogoyf's signature. Most of the other lhurgoyfs care about a specific card type.

As I was writing that, though, I noticed your art looks very Innistrad-y. A call back to Tarmogoyf (or even a reprint, it WAS future-shifted) would have been perfect for Shadows Over Innistrad/Eldritch Moon. I'd say, change the second ability to a delirium trigger that makes 3/2 eldrazi tokens when it dies and make it's toughness *+1 and you've got a fun, well-anchored card!

sithrak, nice.

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Reminds me of the Hunted cycle from Ravnica. Not entirely sure on cost though, but it seems OK for now.

Id actually like this flavor a little better if it was a 1/1 that gave everyone, including you, 3 1/1 saps. Itd feel more like its growth is so boundless stuff grows everywhere which is what I assume you were going for. I guess it may feel less green then (when green makes small tokens nowadays, I prefer they come with a larger dude) but its not that big a reach

Abyssal Hunter in G. Still not entirely in-color due to the tap though. Plus more Bisley art.

Super Pull from the Deep? Eh, guess it works at mythic. Plus you have to build your deck to get the most out of it.

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Pretty cool design. Nice job.

Thanks!

That's the kind of mythic I can get behind.

A pretty interesting take on Boros mythics. Me like.

It's a 6-mana 4/5 fliers with a decent ETB, so it has a pretty low power floor, and it's not going to be too powerful all the time. It gets really good when you're behind on life totals, which is totally a Boros-style revenge mechanic.

Changed first ability from triggered to activated. Also reduced the pump from +3/+3 to +2/+2.

Hmm, actually thinking about giving Kirk two +1/+1 counters now, since I feel like it would tie nicely to the +2/+2 of the activated ability. But it's not a dealbreaker if it's just the one counter.

Thanks, glad you guys like it! Still thinking about changing the toughness to 4 because I feel like right now it's in that spot where you can't really tell if it's really, really powerful or overpowered.

>Still thinking about changing the toughness to 4

Well either that or making him legendary. Not sure yet.

Only card I've ever designed.

I think one counter is fine, 3 to 4 to 5... evasive power for not a whole lot invested vs 3 to 5 to 7... seems more inline. Especially because he can send that blightsteel sailing instead of himself.

Alternatively, maybe check only on your endstep to give 2 counters.

Guy with the power of reincarnation. Every time he dies, he is eventually reborn in a new body with a (seemingly) random superpower. Then he gets nanobots that can easily repair damage and restore him to life, and he doesn't even need to wait to be reborn anymore.

This doesn't work at all, but I can see the idea behind it, which isn't bad. I'm actually thinking this could be rather interesting once it's refined. Here are a few ideas.

>Land
>As ~ enters the battlefield, choose a basic land type.
>~ enters the battlefield tapped.
>~ is the chosen type in addition to its other types. (It can tap for the corresponding color of mana.)

>Land
>T: Choose a basic land type.
>~ is the last chosen type in addition to its other types.
Eh, not so sure about that last one.

Eh, think I'll just keep it at one counter then.

Thoughts?

Hows this?

Well first of all, the name "Combo" doesn't really fit thematically with your set, tentacleanon. I don't think "combo" when I think Lovecraft. The actual mechanic itself... eh. The third spell cast in a row just getting flash seems... underwhelming. I'd make it an ability word that does different things and cares about being the third spell cast in a stack. Would be a much wider design space. Also synergizes oddly well with Spell Mastery.

Seriously man don't change it. It's a super powerful mythic but it's not broken. Compare to Baneslayer Angel. 3WW for a 5/5 flyer with first strike, lifelink and some other stuff. Your dragon costs 2RRWW and is a 4/5 flyer with lifelink that etb's with a Warleader Helix that can only target players. And then some other stuff which is very powerful but would realistically almost never happen. Right now it's the most powerful it can be without being overpowered and that's awesome. The only change I'd condone is making it legendary.

The goal I have here is to make a faster transguild courier.

Flavor doesn't really work. Why is Resplendent Feast a land? Why does eating food allow you to mimic basic lands? Naming the card an "Inn" of some sort would make slightly more sense.

Oh. Yeah, I didn't care for that aspect at all, which is why I dropped it. I'll make some actual mockups of my proposed ideas in a bit.

Combo is a placeholder name, so far nothing seemed to fit.

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