MTG Cardsmith Community Forums
Why do we want new features? So we can make new cards!
This is a topic where we request new features for MTG Cardsmith. But it's not a topic that begs for the implementation of new features. Instead, it's a topic that describes why these new features would be helpful by showing how they can be used in a custom card - a card that can't actually be published on the site without the new feature. Then use your post to back up your feature request on the official form! (P.S. Please only suggest reasonable features. Suggesting things like "teeny-tiny font text" will impress nobody.) I'll get things started with a demonstration of four five card ideas that can't work unless MTG Cardsmith implements mono-hybrid mana.
Before I get started, I'd like to describe what monocolored hybrid mana is. Monocolored hybrid mana is a feature that was seen in the Shadowmoor set. A monohybrid mana symbol in a mana cost can be paid with one mana of a specific color or 2 mana of any color(s) (but monocolored hybrid mana symbols are treated as 2 mana in a converted mana cost). For whatever odd reason, monocolored hybrid mana has yet to appear on MTG Cardsmith. I'm pretty sure that adding it wouldn't be hard; it would just require programming the symbols into the site like the existing hybrid and Phyrexian mana symbols. Currently, if you type {b} in the mana cost or text box of a card, a black mana symbol will appear there on the card; if you type {b/r} in the mana cost or text box of a card, a black-red hybrid mana symbol will appear there on the card. If you type {p/b} in the mana cost or text box of a card, a Phyrexian black mana symbol will appear there on the card. But if you type {2/b} in the mana cost or text box of a card, you won't get a mana symbol. You'll just get {2/b}. And that's a shame, because monohybrid mana has the useful application of making a cost that's easier to pay with a certain kind of mana while not being unpayable by other colors, thus enabling the creation of cards that are somewhere in between colored and colorless. Which is what the following four five cards, which I like to call the "Barely Colored" cycle, seek to exploit, by utilizing mechanics and flavor elements that exist in all the colors but are strongest in one.
Card Idea 1: Forced Metamorphosis
Cost: {2/g}
Type: Instant
Rarity: Common
Rules text: Transform target permanent. (Only double-faced cards can be transformed.)
Flavor text: I can see that you have great potential. Allow me to unlock it for you.
Notes: This is the card that started off the Barely Colored cycle. Transformation is a mechanic that exists in all colors. I figured I'd make a card that could cheaply and easily induce a transformation - and do so in either direction, so it could be used to either shift a permanent into its powered-up form or force a permanent that's already in said stronger form to revert to its weaker state. I was originally going to make it colorless, since transforming is something that happens in all the colors. But then I saw that green has the strongest ties with transformation, and there are a couple green spells that transform cards en masse or in addition to doing other things... but only transform Humans/Werewolves. So I decided that this spell should be usable by any deck, regardless of color, but used most easily in a green deck.
What it needs in order to publish: This card needs functional monocolored hybrid mana in order to be a thing.
Card Idea 2: Split Shot
Cost: {2/u}
Type: Instant
Rarity: Uncommon
Rules text: As an additional cost to cast Split Shot, choose one of the following: put the top four cards of your library into your graveyard; discard two cards from your hand, including at least one instant or sorcery card; or pay an additional {2/u}{2/u}{2/u}.
Choose another target for target spell or ability that chooses at least one target. That spell or ability targets the new target you chose in addition to the target(s) it already had.
Flavor text: Just because I didn't see you when I was casting my spell, that doesn't mean I can't hit you with it.
Notes: This is the "barely blue" spell in the Barely Colored cycle. I wasn't quite sure whether it should be blue or red, but I gave it to blue because blue's flavor involves more mastery and manipulation of magic itself, and this spell involves pushing another spell above and beyond its normal limits. Blue also has a history of utilizing effects that change a spell's target, and this spell does something similar, but not quite the same. It's also something that any color could utilize well, and hasn't really been claimed by any color already. As part of the Barely Colored cycle, I wanted it to have a mana cost of one monohybrid mana (converted mana cost 2), but the effect seemed a bit too powerful for one or two mana, so I added an additional cost to avoid it being broken.
Rulings 1: The controller of Split Shot chooses the new target, even if he/she doesn't control the target spell or ability.
Rulings 1.1: The new target must be a legal target for the target spell or ability.
Rulings 2: Split Shot cannot target a spell or ability that doesn't target anything, even if that spell or ability could target something if it was cast/activated/triggered differently (such as by paying a kicker cost or choosing another mode).
Rulings 2.1: A spell or ability that has an overload cost and was cast/activated for its overload cost won't target anything; it will simply affect everything that it could choose as a legal target if it wasn't cast/activated for its overload cost (as well as things that might be illegal targets due to certain abilities, like shroud, hexproof, and protection). Split Shot cannot target or affect a spell or ability cast/activated for its overload cost.
Rulings 3: If Split Shot targets an Aura spell (including a creature being cast for its bestow cost) or an equip or fortify ability attempting to attach an object to a permanent or player, it can choose a second target, but the Aura/Equipment/Fortification can only become attached to one of those targets. The controller of the Aura/Equipment/Fortification chooses which of those targets the Aura/Equipment/Fortification card becomes attached to. Nothing happens to the other target.
Rulings 4: Split Shot can target a spell or ability that chooses up to a given number of targets, regardless of whether or not that spell or ability has chosen its maximum number of targets, and choose an additional target for it.
Rulings 5: If the target spell or ability can choose any number of targets but requires an additional cost to be paid for each target beyond the first, Split Shot chooses one additional target for that spell or ability as its own effect, so the spell or ability's additional cost doesn't have to be paid for that target.
What it needs in order to publish: This card needs functional monocolored hybrid mana in order to be a thing.
Due to space concerns, I'll have to save the last two cards for the next post.
Before I get started, I'd like to describe what monocolored hybrid mana is. Monocolored hybrid mana is a feature that was seen in the Shadowmoor set. A monohybrid mana symbol in a mana cost can be paid with one mana of a specific color or 2 mana of any color(s) (but monocolored hybrid mana symbols are treated as 2 mana in a converted mana cost). For whatever odd reason, monocolored hybrid mana has yet to appear on MTG Cardsmith. I'm pretty sure that adding it wouldn't be hard; it would just require programming the symbols into the site like the existing hybrid and Phyrexian mana symbols. Currently, if you type {b} in the mana cost or text box of a card, a black mana symbol will appear there on the card; if you type {b/r} in the mana cost or text box of a card, a black-red hybrid mana symbol will appear there on the card. If you type {p/b} in the mana cost or text box of a card, a Phyrexian black mana symbol will appear there on the card. But if you type {2/b} in the mana cost or text box of a card, you won't get a mana symbol. You'll just get {2/b}. And that's a shame, because monohybrid mana has the useful application of making a cost that's easier to pay with a certain kind of mana while not being unpayable by other colors, thus enabling the creation of cards that are somewhere in between colored and colorless. Which is what the following four five cards, which I like to call the "Barely Colored" cycle, seek to exploit, by utilizing mechanics and flavor elements that exist in all the colors but are strongest in one.
Card Idea 1: Forced Metamorphosis
Cost: {2/g}
Type: Instant
Rarity: Common
Rules text: Transform target permanent. (Only double-faced cards can be transformed.)
Flavor text: I can see that you have great potential. Allow me to unlock it for you.
Notes: This is the card that started off the Barely Colored cycle. Transformation is a mechanic that exists in all colors. I figured I'd make a card that could cheaply and easily induce a transformation - and do so in either direction, so it could be used to either shift a permanent into its powered-up form or force a permanent that's already in said stronger form to revert to its weaker state. I was originally going to make it colorless, since transforming is something that happens in all the colors. But then I saw that green has the strongest ties with transformation, and there are a couple green spells that transform cards en masse or in addition to doing other things... but only transform Humans/Werewolves. So I decided that this spell should be usable by any deck, regardless of color, but used most easily in a green deck.
What it needs in order to publish: This card needs functional monocolored hybrid mana in order to be a thing.
Card Idea 2: Split Shot
Cost: {2/u}
Type: Instant
Rarity: Uncommon
Rules text: As an additional cost to cast Split Shot, choose one of the following: put the top four cards of your library into your graveyard; discard two cards from your hand, including at least one instant or sorcery card; or pay an additional {2/u}{2/u}{2/u}.
Choose another target for target spell or ability that chooses at least one target. That spell or ability targets the new target you chose in addition to the target(s) it already had.
Flavor text: Just because I didn't see you when I was casting my spell, that doesn't mean I can't hit you with it.
Notes: This is the "barely blue" spell in the Barely Colored cycle. I wasn't quite sure whether it should be blue or red, but I gave it to blue because blue's flavor involves more mastery and manipulation of magic itself, and this spell involves pushing another spell above and beyond its normal limits. Blue also has a history of utilizing effects that change a spell's target, and this spell does something similar, but not quite the same. It's also something that any color could utilize well, and hasn't really been claimed by any color already. As part of the Barely Colored cycle, I wanted it to have a mana cost of one monohybrid mana (converted mana cost 2), but the effect seemed a bit too powerful for one or two mana, so I added an additional cost to avoid it being broken.
Rulings 1: The controller of Split Shot chooses the new target, even if he/she doesn't control the target spell or ability.
Rulings 1.1: The new target must be a legal target for the target spell or ability.
Rulings 2: Split Shot cannot target a spell or ability that doesn't target anything, even if that spell or ability could target something if it was cast/activated/triggered differently (such as by paying a kicker cost or choosing another mode).
Rulings 2.1: A spell or ability that has an overload cost and was cast/activated for its overload cost won't target anything; it will simply affect everything that it could choose as a legal target if it wasn't cast/activated for its overload cost (as well as things that might be illegal targets due to certain abilities, like shroud, hexproof, and protection). Split Shot cannot target or affect a spell or ability cast/activated for its overload cost.
Rulings 3: If Split Shot targets an Aura spell (including a creature being cast for its bestow cost) or an equip or fortify ability attempting to attach an object to a permanent or player, it can choose a second target, but the Aura/Equipment/Fortification can only become attached to one of those targets. The controller of the Aura/Equipment/Fortification chooses which of those targets the Aura/Equipment/Fortification card becomes attached to. Nothing happens to the other target.
Rulings 4: Split Shot can target a spell or ability that chooses up to a given number of targets, regardless of whether or not that spell or ability has chosen its maximum number of targets, and choose an additional target for it.
Rulings 5: If the target spell or ability can choose any number of targets but requires an additional cost to be paid for each target beyond the first, Split Shot chooses one additional target for that spell or ability as its own effect, so the spell or ability's additional cost doesn't have to be paid for that target.
What it needs in order to publish: This card needs functional monocolored hybrid mana in order to be a thing.
Due to space concerns, I'll have to save the last two cards for the next post.
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
Cost: {2/b}
Type: Instant
Rarity: Uncommon
Rules text: As an alternative cost to cast Color Drain, you may pay {c}. If you do, Color Drain becomes colorless as it is cast and remains colorless until end of turn.
Choose one-
*Target spell or permanent becomes colorless until end of turn.
*Cast another spell from your hand. That spell costs {1} less and is colorless until it leaves the stack.
Notes: This is part of my "Barely Colored" cycle - a cycle of spells whose mana cost consist of a single monohybrid mana (monohybrid mana being a mana symbol reading "{2/m}", where "m" is any color of mana). To justify such a cost, each of these spells has an effect that can be considered to belong to all colors (without having to be modified to fit a theme, such as life gain being strong in white and green, always parasitic in black, always dependent on chance in red, and always temporary in blue), but is strongly associated with one. In Color Drain's case, it wasn't originally going to be part of the cycle; I was originally going to just make it colorless. Then I remembered that black is associated with taking things away, and decided to extend this to taking color. Toying with a spell's color is an effect that can be claimed by all colors, but I was able to make the effect lean towards black by flavoring it as a theft. Even after including it in the Barely Colored cycle, I was extremely tempted to have Color Drain just be devoid, period. But I ultimately decided that, since I went to the trouble of giving black a slightly stronger claim to it than the other colors, it would work better if it could be black or colorless. I also removed the devoid keyword since it doesn't really fit on a card that's conditionally colorless - the way it's written, this spell is black unless cast for its alternative cost. Of course, taking away a spell's color doesn't do a lot by itself. In fact, it hardly does anything. The real utility of the spell is to make a spell or object avoid color-dependent effects, like protection from a color. However, a spell's target(s) is/are generally chosen as it's entering the stack, and protection prevents targeting, so making a spell colorless after it's chosen its target(s) doesn't help it bypass protection at all. So, while the first mode was originally going to be the entirety of the spell, I added the second mode so it could be used to help a spell work around protection without having to combo it with a redirection spell. Anyways, this spell will be the most complicated of the Barely Colored cycle (except possibly for Torqued!). The others should be much simpler.
Rulings 1: Colorless mana is mana represented by the colorless mana symbol. It is generated by Wastes, many nonbasic lands, and many non-land permanents (particularly artifacts). Mana that has a color is not colorless, even when being used to pay a generic mana cost. Colorless mana is not generic mana. (In fact, there is no such thing as generic mana in a mana pool; anything written to add generic mana to your mana pool adds colorless mana to your mana pool instead. Generic mana exists only in costs.) A colorless mana symbol in a cost can only be paid with colorless mana. A generic mana symbol in a cost can be paid with any type of mana.
Rulings 1.1: Color Drain is not considered colorless unless its alternative cost specifically is paid. If you use colorless mana to pay for the generic component of the hybrid mana in its mana cost, this is not considered the same as paying the alternative cost, and Color Drain will be black since you didn't pay the alternative cost. If you do pay the alternative cost, Color Drain enters the stack as a colorless spell, and it remains colorless until the end of the turn, regardless of which zone it ends up in after leaving the stack.
Rulings 2: An object is considered a spell while it is on the stack. An object is considered a permanent while it is on the battlefield. Therefore, Color Drain's first mode can target an object on the stack or on the battlefield.
Rulings 2.1: Color Drain's first mode takes away its target's color regardless of whether it is on the stack or on the battlefield. However, the target has its color until Color Drain resolves, so if it's on the stack, it entered the stack as a colored spell unless it was colorless to begin with. (Do effects that trigger when a spell with a given color is cast trigger when said spell enters the stack or when it leaves?)
Rulings 2.2: The effect of Color Drain's first mode lasts until the end of the turn, even if the target changes zones. Thus, if Color Drain targeted a spell on the stack that becomes a permanent upon resolving, that permanent would be colorless as it entered the battlefield.
Rulings 2.3: Color Drain can't target an ability. However, it can target the source of that ability (assuming said source is either on the stack or on the battlefield) and make the source colorless; if this occurs while the ability is on the stack, the ability will resolve as though it was colorless.
Rulings 2.4: If Color Drain's target flips, transforms, melds, unmelds, or otherwise changes into a different object after Color Drain has resolved, its color changes to the color of its new form. This effectively erases Color Drain's effect. If Color Drain's target flips, transforms, melds, unmelds, or otherwise changes into another object before Color Drain resolves, while Color Drain is still on the stack, Color Drain removes its color after it has assumed its new form, so the target becomes colorless until the end of the turn.
Rulings 3: If the second mode is chosen, you choose another spell from your hand and cast it as the effect of Color Drain. You don't get to cast the spell until Color Drain has successfully resolved.
Rulings 3.1: The spell you cast this way becomes colorless as you make the decision to cast it, before it enters the stack. Therefore, it is treated as colorless in all respects as it is cast and while it is on the stack. It regains its original color once it has left the stack, whether by fully resolving or by being countered.
Rulings 3.2: If the spell is a permanent (e.g. a creature, enchantment, or artifact), it regains its color as it enters the battlefield, and it enters the battlefield as a permanent with whatever color is printed on it. (Color Drain can only take a permanent's color away if its first mode is chosen.)
Rulings 3.3: The cost reduction from Color Drain's second mode applies only to generic mana. It can't reduce a colored or colorless component of a mana cost.
What it needs in order to publish: This card needs functional monocolored hybrid mana in order to be a thing.
...Oh... Color Drain's notes and rulings are so long that I can't squeeze the next card into the same post... That's annoying.
Card Idea 4: Torqued!
Cost: {2/w}
Type: Enchantment Artifact - Aura
Rarity: Uncommon
Rules text: Enchant Equipment; if Torque! was kicked, enchant Aura instead.
Kicker {2/w}
Indestructible
{6}, Tap a creature and an artifact you control: Torqued! loses indestructible until end of turn. Any player may activate this ability.
Enchanted Equipment or Aura cannot become unattached to the permanent or player it's attached to for any reason except the equipped/enchanted permanent leaving the battlefield (or the enchanted player leaving the game).
Notes: ...Okay, this might be the most complicated of the Barely Colored cycle. It's inspired by my job, which involves assembling medical columns; part of the process is to use a torque wrench to screw an end nut on extra-tight, so it can't be removed by hand. So the idea behind this is to use sheer physical force to weld a piece of gear to its wielder so tightly that the only way to remove it from the wielder's person is to obliterate them. I also decided to extend Torqued! to Auras, but it makes more sense when applied to a tangible thing that a creature holds than an intangible aura that envelops them, so I decided to have it require a kicker cost to enchant an Aura. As for why it's an enchantment artifact, well, this card represents the torque wrench as much as it does the status of being torqued. The reason why I made Torqued! indestructible is because it's really hard to untorque something once it's been torqued (in fact, that's the entire point of torquing something - to inexorably join its parts together). But it's not impossible if you have the right tools, which is why I gave the card an activated ability any player can use to strip Torqued! of its indestructible ability for a turn. I was going to give Torqued limited multikicker and allow it to be attached to anything if it was kicked twice, and make it so anything attached to the enchanted permanent or player couldn't be unattached except for by removing the attacher or attachee from the battlefield (or from the game, if the attachee's a player) - and this would be in addition to preventing the enchanted permanent from being unattached to whatever it's attached to without removing that permanent from the battlefield. However, I dumped this because it would have required too much writing on the card. I moved it to a different card where it can comfortably be a thing without requiring a wordy kicker cost. And as for why Torqued! is in the Barely Colored cycle... well, all colors make use of the concept of attaching permanents to other permanents (or players), but white uses it the most, especially with respect to Equipment, which was always meant to be the primary focus of this card. So the effect is one that all colors can claim, but white's claim is the strongest.
Rulings 1: A spell's costs are paid before its targets are chosen. Thus, Torqued! can't even target an Aura, let alone enchant one, unless its kicker cost is paid while casting it.
Rulings 1.1: Like any other spell, if Torqued! is cast without paying its mana cost, its optional costs can't be paid. This means that Torqued! can't be kicked if it's cast without paying its mana cost, which means that it can only target and enchant an Equipment permanent when cast in such a manner.
Rulings 2: When paying for Torqued!'s activated ability, a player has to tap two separate permanents (aside from whatever permanents they tap for mana before or while paying the cost). One of those permanents must be a creature, and the other must be an artifact. In other words, a single artifact creature will only be counted as an artifact or a creature for the purpose of being tapped to pay the cost.
What it needs in order to publish: This card needs functional monocolored hybrid mana in order to be a thing. Nonlegendary enchantment artifacts would also be helpful (and, yes, I tried to make an enchantment artifact a little earlier, and I'll get into that later; the drop-down menu had "Legendary Enchantment Artifact", but not just "Enchantment Artifact" - and, no, "Enchant Artifact" is not the same thing). However, this card, while intended to be an enchantment artifact, doesn't need to be in order to function. If I have to, I can wave it away as just being the status of being torqued, without needing the torque wrench, because, well, a Planeswalker did it. But it really can only get away with dropping the Artifact type because it doesn't have any Artifact subtypes. I have a couple other planned cards that aren't so lucky.
I don't yet have a Red card for this cycle, because I can't think of an effect that would be "barely Red". Ideas are welcome. Anyways, I was gonna leave it here, but since I brought up a couple of cards I designed that need to be nonlegendary enchantment artifacts in order to work, I might as well show them...
Card Idea 5: Super Mushroom
Cost: {1}{g}
Type: Enchantment Artifact - Food Aura
Rarity: Common
Rules text: Enchant creature
Kicker - {g} (You may pay an additional {g} as you cast this spell.)
If Super Mushroom was kicked, it enters the battlefield with a charge counter on it.
Enchanted creature gets +3/+3. If Super Mushroom has a charge counter, enchanted creature also gets reach and trample.
When enchanted creature takes 3 or more damage, remove all damage from it and sacrifice Super Mushroom.
Notes: This is the classic Super Mushroom from the Mario series. Making it an Artifact is rather silly, but it's justified here for two reasons - one, a Super Mushroom is a tangible object that's not sentient enough to be a creature, and two, the Food subtype is Artifact-specific. At the same time, it has to be an Enchantment because it's an Aura. (And yes, the idea is that the mushroom doesn't start enchanting the creature until they eat it.) In the Mario games, the primary effect of the Super Mushroom is to double Mario's size and enable him to take an extra hit. As it turns out, Magic already has a spell that represents supersizing a creature - Giant Growth. So I made Super Mushroom give the enchanted creature +3/+3, exactly like Giant Growth. However, I made Super Mushroom cost 1 more than Giant Growth because, even though Super Mushroom doesn't have flash and can be stripped away relatively easily (hey, Mario loses his power-up upon taking a hit), its duration is still indefinite and it can still be as hard to get rid of as any other Aura in the early game; effects that can do 3 or more damage for 1 or 2 mana are pretty hard to come by, especially outside of red. The additional reach and trample were originally part of the default effect, but I ultimately decided that that was too much for a 2-mana enchantment (even one that's kinda easy to get rid of), so I locked them away behind a kicker cost. As for Super Mushroom's pseudo-totem armor (e.g. clearing all damage from the enchanted creature when its effect triggers to sacrifice it), well, having a Super Mushroom allows Mario to take a hit in his own series. Besides, since the Super Mushroom grants 3 toughness and goes away as soon as the enchanted creature takes a hit for 3 or more damage (therefore taking away that extra toughness), well, it could defeat the point of said extra toughness.
Rulings 1: Super Mushroom's triggered ability specifically triggers when the enchanted creature takes 3 or more damage. Because it does not say "this turn", it only triggers when the enchanted creature takes 3 or more damage from a single source. However, because it doesn't specify a phase or step, it triggers as soon as the condition is met.
Rulings 2: The triggered ability of Super Mushroom is not totem armor, and will not save the enchanted creature from being destroyed. If the enchanted creature takes lethal damage, it will go to its owner's graveyard as a state-based action before Super Mushroom's triggered ability can take effect.
What it needs in order to publish: As I said, the Food subtype I created is artifact-specific, since food is tangible and enchantments generally aren't, but artifacts are. (Don't get on my case about Shrines, I have no clue why WotC made that an enchantment subtype in the first place.) I don't want to break the consistency I set up with Nourishing Suet and Bottled Water, so I need this to be an Artifact to be food, but I also need it to be an Enchantment to be an Aura. And MTG Cardsmith currently doesn't allow the enchantment and artifact card types to coexist on the same card without having the legendary supertype, which designates a permanent as unique, and, well... Super Mushroom? Unique? Hahahahahahahahano. Absolutely not. In fact, as a general rule, Food is pretty much never gonna be legendary. (I should also bring up that I was also tempted to give this the Fungus subtype, but that would require me to also include the Tribal card type. While "Tribal Enchantment Artifact" isn't entirely unreasonable, it is pretty outlandish, as it leaves little room for subtypes; I don't think "Tribal Enchantment Artifact - Fungus Food Aura" is gonna fit in the type bar.)
...Well, there's no way I'm fitting the next one in the same post. Stay tuned!
Cost: {2}{w/g}{g}
Type: Enchantment Artifact - Food Aura
Rarity: Mythic Rare
Rules text: Enchant creature
Kicker - {w} and/or {g}
If 1-Up Mushroom was kicked with either its {w} or {g} kicker cost, it enters the battlefield with 1 charge counter. If 1-up Mushroom was kicked with both its {w} and {g} kicker costs, it enters the battlefield with 2 charge counters, then is transformed.
Enchanted creature gets +X/+Y, where X is the number of charge counters on 1-Up Mushroom and Y is X + 1.
Super totem armor (If enchanted permanent would be removed from the battlefield, instead remove all damage marked on it and destroy this Aura.)
When 1-Up Mushroom's super totem armor ability prevents enchanted creature from leaving the battlefield, tap enchanted creature and remove it from combat.
Transforms into: 3-Up Moon
Notes: After making a card for the Super Mushroom, of course I couldn't leave the 1-Up Mushroom out! Its effect is to grant an extra life, so totem armor was a necessity; I decided to upgrade it for a little extra kick, to bounce back from nearly anything (and also to justify it being the main gimmick when the other Mario power-ups grant totem armor, too). It's really cheap considering the degree of protection it provides, and I also made it give the enchanted creature a minor boost in power and toughness. 1-Up Mushroom is both an artifact and an enchantment for the same reasons as Super Mushroom, and I gave it a kicker gimmick because Super Mushroom has one, too. Originally, 1-Up Mushroom's charge counters would do double duty of preventing it from being destroyed. But then some fridge logic hit me - that would make it no longer a 1-up... it became a 3-up! So I made a transformation - the 3-Up Moon from Super Mario World - and moved the charge counter pseudo-regeneration gimmick to that. The 1-Up-Mushroom-to-3-Up-Moon transformation admittedly makes no frickin' sense in terms of the objects themselves; how the heck does a mushroom become a chunk of rock? But it makes perfect sense in terms of gameplay.
Rulings: See the next post. I had to copy-paste and modify a lot of the rulings for totem armor, plus add a few of my own to account for the differences between them, so the rulings got really wordy.
What it needs in order to publish: See Super Mushroom. Everything I said there applies here.
I'm not sure that I need to show the transformation. It's an Enchantment Artifact as well, but that's because it's a chunk of rock. It drops the Food subtype. And besides, I've rambled on long enough here. I want to see what others have to say.
Rulings 1: 1-Up Mushroom has two separate kicker costs, and each kicker cost can only be paid once as 1-Up Mushroom is cast. While in many cases, a spell with multiple kicker costs has separate kicker effects for each kicker cost, in the case of 1-Up Mushroom, the kicker effects are identical (but there is an additional effect if both kicker costs are paid). This means that 1-Up Mushroom can effectively be kicked twice, but because each kicker cost can only be paid once, 1-Up Mushroom is not considered to have limited multikicker. If only one kicker cost is paid, 1-Up Mushroom is considered to be kicked once, and enters the battlefield with one charge counter on it. If both kicker costs are paid, 1-Up Mushroom is considered to be kicked twice, and enters the battlefield with two charge counters on it, then immediately transforms.
Rulings 2: Since X is equal to the number of charge counters on 1-Up Mushroom, and Y is equal to X plus 1, Y is equal to the number of charge counters on 1-Up Mushroom plus 1. Thus, if 1-Up Mushroom has no charge counters, the enchanted creature gets +0/+1; if 1-Up Mushroom has 1 charge counter, the enchanted creature gets +1/+2; and so on and so forth. (It would probably save text space and be more easily understood to say "Enchanted creature gets +X/+(X+1), where X is the number of charge counters on 1-Up Mushroom.", but Magic barely has any precedent for that sort of thing (the closest it has to a precedent is Tarmogoyf).)
Rulings 3: Super totem armor supersedes regular totem armor. Giving 1-Up Mushroom totem armor is redundant and has no meaningful effect. If a permanent is enchanted by an Aura with super totem armor and another Aura with regular totem armor, and leaves the battlefield in a way that regular totem armor would be able to prevent, the controller of the enchanted permanent chooses which of the (super) totem armor-bearing Auras is destroyed in the enchanted permanent's place; they do not both get destroyed.
Rulings 4: If a creature enchanted with an Aura that has super totem armor is indestructible, lethal damage and effects that try to destroy it simply have no effect. Super totem armor won't do anything because it won't have to. However, if said indestructible creature is forced to leave the battlefield by other means, then super totem armor will function normally, replacing the creature's exile/return to hand/return to library with the destruction of the Aura with super totem armor.
Rulings 5: A creature saved by super totem armor does not have any counters or other attached cards removed from it in the process, since it doesn't leave the battlefield. If the enchanted creature's toughness has been reduced to 0 by toughness-lowering counters (like -1/-1, fragility, or weakness counters), attached cards, other static effects, or any combination of those factors, super totem armor will prevent it from going to the graveyard, but it will still have 0 toughness when the Aura with super totem armor goes to the graveyard, immediately sending the creature to the graveyard again. (So much for that extra life.)
Rulings 6: If a spell or ability says that it would "destroy", "exile", or otherwise cause the removal from the battlefield of a permanent enchanted with an Aura that has super totem armor, that spell or ability causes the Aura to be destroyed instead. (This matters for cards such as Karmic Justice.) Super totem armor doesn't destroy the Aura; rather, it changes the effects of the spell or ability. On the other hand, if a spell or ability deals lethal damage to a creature enchanted with an Aura that has super totem armor, the game rules regarding lethal damage cause the Aura to be destroyed, not that spell or ability.
Rulings 7: Because a permanent enchanted with an Aura that has super totem armor is prevented from leaving the battlefield by any means, an effect that causes the permanent to be sacrificed will destroy the Aura instead. A cost that involves sacrificing a permanent enchanted with an Aura with super totem armor will also destroy the Aura instead, and the cost will still be considered paid.
Rulings 8: If an effect would remove a permanent enchanted with an Aura with super totem armor from the battlefield, then return it to the battlefield at a later time (or immediately), the Aura with super totem armor is still destroyed, preventing the permanent from leaving the battlefield. If the effect would return the permanent to the battlefield in an altered state (such as being transformed), it doesn't get to enter that altered state. If the permanent was being exiled and melded, it stays on the battlefield, but the other meld card still gets exiled (unless another effect prevents that) and, since it can't meld without its meld partner, it remains exiled.
Rulings 9: If a permanent enchanted with an Aura with super totem armor is championedchampioned, the Aura is destroyed instead. The championing permanent is still allowed to enter the battlefield without being sacrificed, coexisting with the permanent it's championing. However, because the permanent being championed didn't get exiled when it was championed, nothing happens when the championing permanent leaves the battlefield, even if the championed permanent has also left the battlefield before then.
Rulings 10: Like totem armor, super totem armor is not regeneration. By default, a creature saved by super totem armor will not become tapped or removed from combat as a result. However, a creature saved by 1-Up Mushroom's super totem armor does become tapped (if it wasn't already tapped) and removed from combat as though it had been regenerated, because 1-Up Mushroom specifically says it does. Regardless, because it is not regeneration, super totem armor still functions even when an effect destroying the enchanted creature would not allow it to be regenerated.
Card Idea 7: Unexpected Attack
Cost: {2/r}
Type: Instant
Rarity: Common
Rules text: You must pay an additional {2/r} to cast this spell when it is not your turn.
Strive - Any number of target untapped creatures you control attack target player or a Planeswalker that player controls. This spell costs an additional {2/r} to cast for each target creature beyond the first. (Unless this spell was cast during your combat phase, start a new combat phase as if it were your turn (even if it isn't). The target creatures of this spell (and only those creatures) attack the target player or a Planeswalker that player controls, even if they normally couldn't. That player may block the attacking creatures as normal. After resolving the attacks, if you didn't cast this spell during your own combat phase, return play to the turn and phase when this spell was cast.)
Notes: Here's the red spell of the Barely Colored cycle! Like the others, it's a small-scale effect using a mechanic that's common to all colors but stronger in one. For red, that would be combat, and the manipulation of the combat phase. This spell basically lets a creature attack your opponent at any time, ignoring all restrictions save for needing to be untapped. As the name says, it's a great way to catch the enemy by surprise! ...Granted, it did end up being more complicated than I wanted it to be, but considering what it does, the complexity was unavoidable.
Rulings 1: You can't cast this spell if you don't control any creatures that it can target (such as if you have no creatures, or all your creatures are tapped and/or have shroud, protection from red, and/or some other quality that makes them illegal targets), or if all players (including yourself) are illegal targets.
Rulings 1.1: If all target creatures or the target player become(s) (an) illegal target(s) while Unexpected Attack is on the stack, Unexpected Attack is countered.
Rulings 2: The target creature(s) attacking via this spell attack as it/they normally would. This means that each attacking creature becomes tapped, except for any of them that have vigilance.
Rulings 2.1: Unexpected Attack's effect forces the target creature(s) to attack, even if it/they would be unable to (such as having summoning sickness or defender). If a target creature would require the payment of a cost in order to attack, Unexpected Attack forces it to attack without that cost being paid. (Essentially, Unexpected Attack circumvents all requirements, restrictions, and costs for attacking.)
Rulings 3: Each target creature must attack the same player. However, they can freely attack a Planeswalker that player controls instead. Each creature may attack a different Planeswalker controlled by the target player (or several creatures can attack the same Planeswalker) or the target player him/herself.
Rulings 3.1: If Unexpected Attack somehow targets more than one player, you may have each of the target creatures attack one of those players or a Planeswalker controlled by a target player, as when declaring attackers normally.
Rulings 4: If Unexpected Attack is cast during your combat phase, it simply causes you to declare the target creature(s) as attackers normally. However, you ignore restrictions, requirements, and costs for the target creature(s) (see Rulings 2.1), and you declare the target creature(s) as attackers even if the combat phase has already progressed beyond the declare attackers step; if so, and if blockers have already been declared, another declare blockers step occurs in which the target player gets to respond to the new attacker(s). Creatures already declared as attackers or blockers are still declared as such and can't be declared again. If the combat damage step has also already happened, another combat damage step occurs, in which only the new attackers and blockers deal and receive combat damage.
Rulings 4.1: If Unexpected Attack is cast outside your combat phase, it immediately starts a new combat phase as though it was your turn (even if it isn't) and automatically declares the target creature(s) as attacker(s), without allowing you to declare any other creatures as attackers. The target player then declares blockers as normal, and combat proceeds normally. When the combat phase induced by this spell is over, whoever's turn it currently was restarts from the phase you cast this spell in. (If that phase was the upkeep or end phase, everything that would happen during that phase is repeated.)
Rulings 4.1.1: Effectively, if it's not your turn when you cast Unexpected Attack, then the current player's turn ends, skipping all remaining phases and steps - including the ending phase. Then you immediately take a turn with only a combat phase (all other players' turns are skipped, but you do not get to draw a card, untap permanents, or do anything else but resolve this spell (and, in doing so, carry your combat phase out to its conclusion) and put new spells and/or abilities on the stack). Then, after your "turn", the player whose turn it was immediately takes another turn (all other players' turns are skipped, but the active player doesn't get to do anything that they already did in the turn that you interrupted). The end result is basically that you interject a combat phase under your priority into the other player's turn, which proceeds as normal outside said interruption.
Rulings 4.1.2: If you cast this spell during your turn but outside of your combat phase, you take a combat phase that doesn't count as your "official" combat phase for that turn, then you start the phase the spell was cast in over again.
Rulings 4.2: Unexpected Attack does not "truly" end the turn like Time Stop does. The interrupted player still gets to take their turn in full, and spells and abilities on the stack do not get exiled from the stack; they continue to resolve. The only thing Unexpected Attack does with respect to interfering with the structure of a turn is cause you to take a combat phase in the middle of another player's turn.
What it needs in order to publish: This card needs functional monohybrid mana symbols in order to be a thing.
Now this may seem to be a bit hypocritical from me, because I'm neither a Patreon donator nor a programmer of this page, but I think we all non-premium members should be happy with what we have. Yeah, from time to time I wish some features existed (colorless mana in planeswalkers' cost) but those are so rare things in real mtg that I don't think it's a big deal if we don't have them.
Btw, nice concepts
I also like treading entirely new ground. For instance, I've been kicking around an idea for a cycle of uncommon Planeswalkers that are deliberately a bit underpowered by Planeswalker standards, but can serve as "training wheels" of a sort for newer players to learn how Planeswalkers work. I don't really have much of an idea for what they want them to do, so I can't put them up here, but the idea of Planeswalkers that a player wouldn't have to pay upwards of $50 to get seems worthwhile.
(Another thing I'd like to see is snow mana ({s}), but I don't have any card concepts that use that. Nonetheless, I'm focusing on monohybrid mana for now. From what I've read, it sounds like my other major desire - planeswalkers with room for more than 3 abilities - are already on their way to being a thing.)
Anyways, expanding on what MTG Cardsmith can do would help me to implement more of my game-expanding ideas!