Hmm... I would like to get feedback on this card (I have been the last one to post a card, so if anyone wants feedback on a card I will give)
For non-MTGA players:
What is an spellbook?:
A spellbook is a list of cards from outside the game that can be accessed by the conjure or draft keyword actions. Each spellbook is different, depending on which effect it's associated with. Drafting from a spellbook may occur as part of a spell, an activated or triggered ability. The player is presented with three cards chosen at random from among the spellbook cards and selects one to put into their hand. Conjuring or drafting a card does not remove that card from the spellbook and it can be selected again if it comes up.
@smax765 as with most iterations of Agnor, this card is absurd. It's got the same keyword soup as Atraxa (making it virtually unmatched in combat during any player's turn) while being significantly easier to cast. On top of that, it draws you an extra card that is virtually guaranteed to be useful every turn just for existing, and even helps you cast them.
The spellbook is insane as well: 10 rares + 5 uncommons, including 4 lords, 3 protection spells, 2 counterspells, and even a mana doubler; only creature spells so you can't whiff on tribal synergies; all cards at MV≤4, with at most three cards that could be potential 'misses' on an average board state. Of the 34 spellbooks, only 4 look even vaguely similar to Agnor's from even a rarity perspective alone, with the closest overall being Raddic, Tal Zealot's. However, note that Raddic has MV4, requires you to attack with a specific creature type to draft a card, and has no other abilities in the majority of games. In general, all cards with spellbooks (recurring or otherwise) are significantly weaker by themselves, have lower quality cards to draft from, don't synergize as strongly with their spellbook, are more difficult to use, and/or cost more, meeting at least three of these conditions relative to Agnor.
In short, Agnor would probably have to lose 2~3 keywords and the mana ability alongside a nerf to the spellbook to be anywhere near the same realm as existing spellbook cards.
~~~
I'd appreciate feedback on this card:
(Let me know if you get the twofold wordplay of its name.)
Oct 1 Edit: name change, made nonlegendary; Oct 3 Edit: image now links to MTGCS version
@cadstar369 the main issue of Samuku is how easy it’s ability can trigger. It doesn’t need to have your commander on the battlefield to use it. I’ll change the ability to this one:
Whenever you cast a nomcreature spell, you may pay {1}. When you do, tap target artifact or creature you don’t control. If it doesn’t have a stun counter on it, put a stun counter on it.
That way it is more balanced and it makes you to choose different cards to use the ability the best way.
For Agnor: First of all, the card is made to be your commander.
Added 3 commons, 1 uncommon and removed a empyream eagle, crypt ghast, voice of the blessed and gravelighter.
I am also planning to change its second ability to “at the beginning of your upkeep, conjure a random card from Agnor’s spell book onto your hand”. That way the draft is based on luck and nerfs the card. There is still a chance to get powerful cards, but you won’t probably get the right card at the right moment (eg: getting supreme phantom instead of selfless spirit/guardian of faith when you know an opponent is going to board wipe).
@smax765 mild incoherence aside, do you have anything to support your assertions? With lieutenant offline (and with your version), the familiar is probably worse than Quiet Contemplation. (Its potential flexibility is likely insufficient to compensate for both the higher cost and greater vulnerability.) With lieutenant online, you gain access to a broader range of tactics that allow you to spend your mana more effectively when there are fewer meaningful targets for such an ability. The wordplay also loses a large portion of its significance if it's not a commander card.
On a separate note, I've edited the card to be nonlegendary to make the intent clearer; click to see the updated version if it's not displaying properly. (The only other change is its name though.)
Regarding Agnor, what, exactly, is "it's made to be your commander" suppposed to justify here, when having perpetual access to a card makes it significantly stronger than its evaluation in a vaccum? If anything, those words indicate a need for a harsher eye on balance than usual, whereas you seem to be suggesting the opposite.
@cadstar369 Gudul Warden does a great impression of a supercharged Yixlid Jailer and seems to have the same flavour of a prison guard, albeit an unusually eloquent one. The graveyard is probably the most useful of the three zones to lock down, though I suppose disabling Cycling, Foretell, Madness, Ninjutsu, Transmute, Suspend, and the odd Proclamation of Rebirth could come in handy as well. Aside from Panglacial Wurm, I can't think of any card that would be affected by Gudul Warden while it's in your library, but it was still a creative inclusion.
Silver Stalwart seems like a very fair card and a good upgrade to Standard Bearer for those decks that can afford the heavier white requirement. Regrettably, it's not hardy enough against red to replace a Kor Firewalker, though a single copy could represent a five point life swing against a burn deck. There isn't much to say here except that there's good synnergy between the two abilities.
I appreciate the use of less traditional "costs" in Samuku Familiar's Ward ability. Also, Lieutenant is an underutilized ability, so it's nice to see it get more attention as well as a different treatment than simply making the creature bigger. A walking Quiet Contemplation (when the commander's around) doesn't seem too powerful, especially since the Familiar's ability doesn't put you up a resource in hand or on the board, it only affects a single target in a multiplayer format, and its Ward ability doesn't require paying a nonrenewable resource. The Familiar might even be able to make it as an uncommon given that Loyal Guardian and Loyal Subordinate are both uncommon. The name wordplay is over my head, unless it involves the two Japanese meanings.
The issue of Samuku is that you can stack the stun counters on the same creature. With a little bit of proliferation, you could make a creature not to untap for a lot of time, or even for the whole game.
@smax765 Consider the scenario you're constructing. You have to play both your commander and Samuku before casting a third spell to trigger it (making sure to pay the extra cost so that the trigger actually does something), and then you have to proliferate before the controller of the tapped permanent untaps or else the stun counter goes away. If this is a Commander game, that's one permanent controlled by one player and you have two other opponents each with their own threats to deal with. Given all that trouble to keep just one creature tapped down, it'd be simpler to slap a Malfunction on it. At least an enchantment is harder to remove than a creature.
Maybe: Whenever you cast a nomcreature spell, tap target artifact or creature you don’t control. If it doesn’t have a stun counter on it, put a stun counter on it.
Your description of Gudul Warden is basically the initial inspiration for it (I found Yixlid Jailer from hitting random on Scryfall and felt compelled to make something out of such a strange card). The library hate happens to also hurt effects like Conspicuous Snoop and Future Sight to varying degrees.
The wordplay for Samuku is indeed two Japanese readings. (To clarify for anyone seeing this later: cold = 寒く = samuku = 三六九 = 369.)
@cadstar369 Good point about Conspicuous Snoop. I suppose that would apply to Skill Borrower as well. I'm having a tougher time seeing the interaction with Future Sight, since when you cast a spell, you move it to the stack before making decisions for it and figuring out its cost, so removing abilities from cards in the library or in hand won't affect your ability to pay additional costs or cast the spell with an alternate cost.
Anther possibility of Agnor is this one. I don’t know if it’s balanced or not (it is a draft, like each other Agnor). Agnor {W}{U}{B} Legendary Creature-Avatar Spirit Flying, vigilance, deathtouch, lifelink, exort Whenever you exort a spell, scry 1. Create a 1/1 white spirit creature token with flying on the next end step. {t}: add {w}, {u} or {b}. 2/2
@smax765 I don't like the idea of removing the spellbook from Agnor entirely, but the current version still needs changes Here are a few suggestions: 1) Add creature types. 2) Take some inspiration from Key to the Archive and do a "At the beginning of your end step, you may draft a card from Agnor's spellbook. If you do, discard a card.". Increase toughness to 2 if you do this. 3) Add in some utilization of Agnor's lifelink and use the perpetual mechanic to have the player pay that life back with "At the beginning of your upkeep, draft a card from Agnor's spellbook. It perpetually gains "As an additional cost to cast this spell, pay 2 life."" 4) Add some utilization of Agnor's mana ability with something like a "At the beginning of your upkeep, draft a card from Agnor's spellbook. It perpetually gains "This card costs {w/u/b} more to cast.""
Other than 1, I wouldn't suggest doing more than one of these simultaneously unless you increase the spellbook power.
@jaceberlin Since roles are Aura token enchantment, I would say Protagonism functions.
After some research, it would be very helpful for some creatures who had cursed roles. If you take a look at Cursed Courtier, it will be 1/1 because of Cursed role, but with Protagonism, controller don't have to worry about it. It works great with Splashy Spellcaster, which happens to giving roles away to creatures which need it... At instant speed. Hence, Protagonism has potienal to be very powerful, if you put it with others properly cards.
I would say I am pretty discouraged about giving an advice on wording as I may be blew up by Cadstar369 or Jadefire.
Roles are Aura token enchantment which happened to be always attached to creatures. Hence, you can go this way;
"Roles you control have totem armor."
Because when you give a role to creature, you create an Aura token enchantment in process. In Game term, these roles are under your control.
Although, maybe there is a reason why you word that way. So roles you give to enemy creature wouldn't get totem armor.
Regarding that, if you increase mana value to {2}{w/b}, it would be balanced. Otherwise, change the wording.
The border doesnt match the currently mana cost. You must use white/blue hybrid rather than gold border (You can't uss white/blue/gold either).
The problem of your wording is that you are giving totem armor to cursed creatures (the cursed role), @FireOfGolden. The wording should be this one, then curses of your opponent don’t give totem armor:
Roles you control attached to creatures you control have totem armor.
For Body’s Disintegrate, the card is well makes. You can kill a creature and your opponent will shuffle a random card into its library. When that player has no cards on their graveyard, they will shuffle the destroyed creature, making death triggers to trigger and giving your opponents no chance of reanimating it. Overall, I think it’s a good card.
@FireOfGolden I can't say how awesome it is to see so many amazing cardsmiths exploring my Relapse mechanic. It's really cool to see the ideas that I would never have come up with on my own. I absolutely think Body's Disintegrate is one of those great ideas that takes the mechanic in a new and exciting direction. Bojuka Bog into Body's Disintegrate is a great way to really get a creature out of reach for a reanimator deck, for instance. I do wonder if an unrestricted destroy effect, with potential additional upside, is too cheap. Maybe if it were double black or 2 generic and 1 black? Also, the card name isn't grammatically correct. Body's Disintegration or Bodies Disintegrate would make sense (I prefer the first, since the second implies multiple deaths, and this is single target).
Here's a cool idea I had this morning, and I'd love a bit of feedback:
Are you trying to imite the mechanic of inspiring refrain? If you are, then you should add to the card “exile explosive growth with one time counter on it”.
@StuffnSuch the suspend cost on Explosive Growth seems too expensive considering most permanent mana doublers cost 5 mana. I'm also doubtful it's worth trying to cascade into it either, since randomly doubling a portion of your land mana for the turn seems rather ineffective in most cases (though this may also become the main way it's used, as with many 0-cost spells). To put it another way, I can't see why you'd want to spend five mana and a whole turn cycle for this specific effect, especially since it only lasts one turn. Since your opponent also gets to see it coming, it might be better costed around 1GG.
As for Explosive Growth, it's somewhat confusing, but I would prefer;
Explosive Growth {1}{g}{g}
If you cast Explosive Growth for its mana cost, exile it with a time counter. It gains Suspend until it leaves the exile.
Until end of turn, lands you control have "Whenever this land's mana ability been activated for first time, untap it."
Longer Suspend lasts, more cheaper it can be. If you were to cast it right now, it would costs {2}{g}{g}, remove a colorless mana for each a time counter. I am unsure about green mana through... On second ability, I worded that way, so it can applies on each lands rather on single land. If your intention was single land, ignore that wording then decrease the mana cost to {g}. Now I am waiting to see whether Cadstar369 agrees with me or not.
@Cadstar369, Locrian's Invective seems very powerful card depending on the library. It can help with people who has library with many Curses, and they would cover opponent with many Curses for giggles. Curse of Thirst would be funny here.
I never see that wording on top before. Could you show me the card similar as that?
@cadstar369 Locrian's Invective is a creative card with pretty synnergistic digging. At X=3 or 4 it has the potential to become quite powerful, but I suppose it's no worse than a Replenish or a Retether. Just a few observations about how the card is worded: -I'm not sure if choosing a mode can be considered a process (I'd say you'd have to do at least two different things to call it that). As a compromise, an alternate wording could be "Choose X plus one. You may choose the same mode more than once." But the less formal wording is a bit easier to read. -Since cards resolve in the order they're written, I'd swap the order of the modes so that any milled Curses become available to recur. -Even though it's not how they're typically played, a Curse can technically enchant its owner when cast, so it might be good to not remove the possibility of doing that.
I wanted to make it so that you had as much information possible each time you picked which action to take. With "choose X plus one" you'd have to set your entire course of action upon casting the spell. (There may also be a difference in how the targeting works, but I'm not entirely sure about that.) Perhaps it'd be better to word it along these lines:
You may choose target player, then put a Curse card with mana value X or less from your hand or graveyard onto the battlefield attached to that player. If you don't, mill a card, then put the bottom card of your library into your hand and lose 1 life. Repeat this process X times.
I'm also a fan of Lynde, Cheerful Tormentor, and am considering something similar for Locrian's creature card, which is part of why I left the option of attaching the Curses to yourself in. I also just like to leave that sort of corner case flexibility there in general; I don't like that Wizards has been stripping that away for a while now, as there's been plenty of times where I've wanted to point something that only affects opponents or their stuff at myself or my board. For example, they've errata'd Blood Artist on Arena so you can't target yourself. Sure it's not something you'd do often (and it makes sense to help the average player avoid misclicks), but then you can't do things like effectively setup BoVD or Rowan, Scion of War for free.
@cadstar369 OK, so you want to consider the choosing and the resolving of the mode as a single unit that gets repeated one full cycle at a time. In that case, your new wording works the way you want because modal decisions have to all be made with the information at hand during the casting of the spell. Actually, I've never see a card begin with "You may choose," bur rather "Choose target player/opponent" and the action that follows that is a "may" action or "up to" action.
Lynde is a fun card to build around. Yes, I agree that the potential for unconventional high-level plays is being removed in favour of straightforwardness/handholding. I personally enjoy finding fringe uses for cards and tapping into their hidden flexibility.
@FireOfGolden red generally doesn't get to mess with enchantments, and the overall flavor you seem to have going also suggests that this card should only work on artifacts. Aside from that, it seems like a reasonable analog to Claim the Firstborn. (By the way, Pilfer is already an existing card.)
@cadstar369 All I can say is, very situational, but seeing as how its most likely meant to be a commander, its excusable. Its abilities are very unique and rather refreshing. We've never seen Curse play like this before and its really cool, because able to actually interact with curses in such a way is super unique and can lead to interesting situations. I find it balanced, cost and stats, because of its situational-ness. Overall a really good card and would expect nothing less from a cardsmith such as you.
For the adventure mode, you wrote "Arza's Venture", which I'm assuming is supposed to say "Urza's Venture". Also, the 'A' in Tap: Add CCC should be capitalized. Otherwise, nice card!
MTG Cardsmith Community Forums
Comments
For non-MTGA players:
What is an spellbook?:Rattlechains
Supreme phantom
Topplegeist
Voice of the Blessed
Guardian of Faith
Selfless Spirit
Nether Traitor
Crypt Ghast
Gravelighter
Basilica Bell-Haunt
Dimir Cutpurse
Drogskol Captain
Empyrean Eagle
Spell Queller
Each card has a link to scryfall.
The spellbook is insane as well: 10 rares + 5 uncommons, including 4 lords, 3 protection spells, 2 counterspells, and even a mana doubler; only creature spells so you can't whiff on tribal synergies; all cards at MV≤4, with at most three cards that could be potential 'misses' on an average board state. Of the 34 spellbooks, only 4 look even vaguely similar to Agnor's from even a rarity perspective alone, with the closest overall being Raddic, Tal Zealot's. However, note that Raddic has MV4, requires you to attack with a specific creature type to draft a card, and has no other abilities in the majority of games. In general, all cards with spellbooks (recurring or otherwise) are significantly weaker by themselves, have lower quality cards to draft from, don't synergize as strongly with their spellbook, are more difficult to use, and/or cost more, meeting at least three of these conditions relative to Agnor.
In short, Agnor would probably have to lose 2~3 keywords and the mana ability alongside a nerf to the spellbook to be anywhere near the same realm as existing spellbook cards.
~~~
I'd appreciate feedback on this card:
(Let me know if you get the twofold wordplay of its name.)
Oct 1 Edit: name change, made nonlegendary;
Oct 3 Edit: image now links to MTGCS version
Whenever you cast a nomcreature spell, you may pay {1}. When you do, tap target artifact or creature you don’t control. If it doesn’t have a stun counter on it, put a stun counter on it.
For Agnor:
First of all, the card is made to be your commander.
The spellbook has been changed:
1Mausleum Wanderer
2Rattlechains
3Supreme phantom
4Topplegeist
5Guardian of Faith
6Selfless Spirit
7Nether Traitor
8Basilica Bell-Haunt
9Dimir Cutpurse
10Drogskol Captain
11 Midnight Haunting
12Spell Queller
13Voiceless Spiritt
14 Stormbound geist
15 Spirit of Malevolence
Added 3 commons, 1 uncommon and removed a empyream eagle, crypt ghast, voice of the blessed and gravelighter.
On a separate note, I've edited the card to be nonlegendary to make the intent clearer; click to see the updated version if it's not displaying properly. (The only other change is its name though.)
Regarding Agnor, what, exactly, is "it's made to be your commander" suppposed to justify here, when having perpetual access to a card makes it significantly stronger than its evaluation in a vaccum? If anything, those words indicate a need for a harsher eye on balance than usual, whereas you seem to be suggesting the opposite.
Silver Stalwart seems like a very fair card and a good upgrade to Standard Bearer for those decks that can afford the heavier white requirement. Regrettably, it's not hardy enough against red to replace a Kor Firewalker, though a single copy could represent a five point life swing against a burn deck. There isn't much to say here except that there's good synnergy between the two abilities.
I appreciate the use of less traditional "costs" in Samuku Familiar's Ward ability. Also, Lieutenant is an underutilized ability, so it's nice to see it get more attention as well as a different treatment than simply making the creature bigger. A walking Quiet Contemplation (when the commander's around) doesn't seem too powerful, especially since the Familiar's ability doesn't put you up a resource in hand or on the board, it only affects a single target in a multiplayer format, and its Ward ability doesn't require paying a nonrenewable resource. The Familiar might even be able to make it as an uncommon given that Loyal Guardian and Loyal Subordinate are both uncommon. The name wordplay is over my head, unless it involves the two Japanese meanings.
Whenever you cast a nomcreature spell, tap target artifact or creature you don’t control. If it doesn’t have a stun counter on it, put a stun counter on it.
Your description of Gudul Warden is basically the initial inspiration for it (I found Yixlid Jailer from hitting random on Scryfall and felt compelled to make something out of such a strange card). The library hate happens to also hurt effects like Conspicuous Snoop and Future Sight to varying degrees.
The wordplay for Samuku is indeed two Japanese readings. (To clarify for anyone seeing this later: cold = 寒く = samuku = 三六九 = 369.)
Spellbook:
2Rattlechains
3Supreme phantom
4Topplegeist
5Guardian of Faith
6Selfless Spirit
7Will-o'-the-Wisp
8Basilica Bell-Haunt
9Dimir Cutpurse
10Drogskol Captain
11 Midnight Haunting
12Spell Queller
13Voiceless Spiritt
14 Stormbound geist
15 Spirit of Malevolence
Agnor {W}{U}{B}
Legendary Creature-Avatar Spirit
Flying, vigilance, deathtouch, lifelink, exort
Whenever you exort a spell, scry 1. Create a 1/1 white spirit creature token with flying on the next end step.
{t}: add {w}, {u} or {b}.
2/2
1) Add creature types.
2) Take some inspiration from Key to the Archive and do a "At the beginning of your end step, you may draft a card from Agnor's spellbook. If you do, discard a card.". Increase toughness to 2 if you do this.
3) Add in some utilization of Agnor's lifelink and use the perpetual mechanic to have the player pay that life back with "At the beginning of your upkeep, draft a card from Agnor's spellbook. It perpetually gains "As an additional cost to cast this spell, pay 2 life.""
4) Add some utilization of Agnor's mana ability with something like a "At the beginning of your upkeep, draft a card from Agnor's spellbook. It perpetually gains "This card costs {w/u/b} more to cast.""
Other than 1, I wouldn't suggest doing more than one of these simultaneously unless you increase the spellbook power.
I'd like feedback on:
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/protagonism?list=user
Since roles are Aura token enchantment, I would say Protagonism functions.
After some research, it would be very helpful for some creatures who had cursed roles. If you take a look at Cursed Courtier, it will be 1/1 because of Cursed role, but with Protagonism, controller don't have to worry about it. It works great with Splashy Spellcaster, which happens to giving roles away to creatures which need it... At instant speed. Hence, Protagonism has potienal to be very powerful, if you put it with others properly cards.
I would say I am pretty discouraged about giving an advice on wording as I may be blew up by Cadstar369 or Jadefire.
Roles are Aura token enchantment which happened to be always attached to creatures. Hence, you can go this way;
"Roles you control have totem armor."
Because when you give a role to creature, you create an Aura token enchantment in process. In Game term, these roles are under your control.
Although, maybe there is a reason why you word that way. So roles you give to enemy creature wouldn't get totem armor.
Regarding that, if you increase mana value to {2}{w/b}, it would be balanced. Otherwise, change the wording.
The border doesnt match the currently mana cost. You must use white/blue hybrid rather than gold border (You can't uss white/blue/gold either).
I would like a feedback on this card.
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/bodys-disintegrate
For Body’s Disintegrate, the card is well makes. You can kill a creature and your opponent will shuffle a random card into its library. When that player has no cards on their graveyard, they will shuffle the destroyed creature, making death triggers to trigger and giving your opponents no chance of reanimating it. Overall, I think it’s a good card.
Here's a cool idea I had this morning, and I'd love a bit of feedback:
~~~
I'd appreciate feedback on this card:
Edit: Now links to MTGCS version.
Glad you liked it!
As for Explosive Growth, it's somewhat confusing, but I would prefer;
Explosive Growth {1}{g}{g}
If you cast Explosive Growth for its mana cost, exile it with a time counter. It gains Suspend until it leaves the exile.
Until end of turn, lands you control have "Whenever this land's mana ability been activated for first time, untap it."
Longer Suspend lasts, more cheaper it can be. If you were to cast it right now, it would costs {2}{g}{g}, remove a colorless mana for each a time counter. I am unsure about green mana through... On second ability, I worded that way, so it can applies on each lands rather on single land. If your intention was single land, ignore that wording then decrease the mana cost to {g}. Now I am waiting to see whether Cadstar369 agrees with me or not.
@Cadstar369,
Locrian's Invective seems very powerful card depending on the library. It can help with people who has library with many Curses, and they would cover opponent with many Curses for giggles. Curse of Thirst would be funny here.
I never see that wording on top before. Could you show me the card similar as that?
I want a feedback on this card;
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/pilfer-2
Just a few observations about how the card is worded:
-I'm not sure if choosing a mode can be considered a process (I'd say you'd have to do at least two different things to call it that). As a compromise, an alternate wording could be "Choose X plus one. You may choose the same mode more than once." But the less formal wording is a bit easier to read.
-Since cards resolve in the order they're written, I'd swap the order of the modes so that any milled Curses become available to recur.
-Even though it's not how they're typically played, a Curse can technically enchant its owner when cast, so it might be good to not remove the possibility of doing that.
I wanted to make it so that you had as much information possible each time you picked which action to take. With "choose X plus one" you'd have to set your entire course of action upon casting the spell. (There may also be a difference in how the targeting works, but I'm not entirely sure about that.) Perhaps it'd be better to word it along these lines:
Lynde is a fun card to build around. Yes, I agree that the potential for unconventional high-level plays is being removed in favour of straightforwardness/handholding. I personally enjoy finding fringe uses for cards and tapping into their hidden flexibility.
~~~
I'd appreciate feedback on this card:
~~~
I would like some feedback on this card:
For the adventure mode, you wrote "Arza's Venture", which I'm assuming is supposed to say "Urza's Venture". Also, the 'A' in Tap: Add CCC should be capitalized. Otherwise, nice card!