@fire12 As is traditional, I'll talk wording and then go over some points about balance and design:
Combine Sparks can't be countered.
Choose two planeswalkers you control. Move all loyalty counters from one of the chosen planeswalkers to the other, then exile it. The other chosen planeswalker gains all abilities of the exiled planeswalker.
I'm relatively certain that this is correct, but not utterly certain about the "then exile it" part. Hi ho, it's the best I can do at the moment. On to the other points:
- I'd recommend that the name be made Combine Sparksrather than Combine Spark. Sparks is the recognised plural in MTG for multiple sparks, and you can't combine a singular.
- The flavor text feels a little lackluster. Planeswalkers joining forces isn't exactly a new thing, so there's no real value to that, and that's all there is. I don't know what you'd make it, but it definitely needs to be remade.
- In terms of design and flavor, this is kind of neat. In terms of power level, this is very hard to evaluate, but honestly feels kind of mediocre-to-bad. In order for it to work, you need all five colors of mana and at least two 'walkers. The main place where this might seem possible is EDH, but your planeswalkers will often die there due to copious amounts of removal and many players to potentially focus them down. If you've got the mana to drop two planeswalkers and this all at once then 1) You can probably win in a better way and 2) Everybody else has probably got a good chunk of resources to work against you. In the end, what you get out of this vast effort is probably a single ultimate activation, and while that's good, I'd rather just play a Doubling Season.
Basically, the card's got some nice flavor, but it's way too cumbersome and clunky to actually feel good from a power perspective.
@joemamajoe Since I feel it necessary to respond to one of those and so might as well do the other two:
- I considered Berserker, but decided that he didn't really look berserk in the art and that Warrior would better fit Battlebond's Warrior tribal theme.
- Wreck probably isn't too good. There's a card from a while ago that does that in red at common (Clear a Path) and another, more recent one that's basically Clear a Path with an artifact removal option tacked on (Deface). While they're both sorcery spells, the general opinion on both is that they really aren't good, because defender creatures aren't that common to see. There are also a selection of other red cards that have it or something like it tacked on as borderline trinket text.
- The rarity point's a matter of personal opinion, but a valid one. I tend to shy away from making cards mythic, so it's entirely possible that you're right about that.
THIS IS A RESPONSE. The cards looking for feedback are currently the ones in the comment just above.
@joemamajoe Ordain Sequence is great! It is truly a masterpiece. Dovin, Master Creator is pretty balanced, but that last ability is pretty weak for a -7. I love the creativity, though. Here's an old card of mine:
@LordTachanka123, why is that card one of the strongest cards I've ever seen. Definitely the cost should be 2BB or even more. Always credit the artist and the picture isn't really depicting an assassination.
@joemamajoe I would make both of those cards uncommon. Vampiric Horror is to powerful to be a common, and Potent Thief to powerful to be a rare. Potent thief has no reason to be played for its normal cost, unless you really need a blocker, and if you want to cast it for its spy cost, you need to have black, which isn't a common color in drawing card decks, and it also gives the opponent a creature to constantly attack with, and if you block, you lose your asset. Vampiric Horror is more balanced, but is still powerful, because it stays a copy of that creature until another creature it dealt damage to dies.
Really like the concept. I did something similar with one of the GL Ring cards I did the other day (orange i believe). It's not worded incorrectly, but it's pretty wordy in general. Maybe something along these lines?
"Remove all loyalty counters and exile target planeswalker you control. Another planeswalker you control gains the same amount of loyalty counters and the abilities of the exiled planeswalker." Or '....gains X loyalty counters, where X equals the counters removed, and all the abilities of the exiled planeswalker."
@JMGreer41 Oops, you've missed a page. The card you commented on's at the end of one page, and you forgot to turn over to the next. You should actually have been focusing on Shadow123's cards (they're in a comment a little way above yours). Since we've already been moved on then I don't know what you should do about it, though. Perhaps edit an opinion on those into your comment, or put comments in the cards' comment sections?
@Temurzoa Interesting concept. You might need more descriptive text, because I was a little confused at the card for a few minutes. Also, there is a lot of space left on the card you could use for flavor text. Here's my card: I know "this creature" should actually be "Degrading Zombie", but otherwise the recall ability wouldn't do anything.
@SNAPcreator7 I'll start with wording, then talk balance and concept notes:
Whenever you draw your second card each turn, put a +1/+1 counter on target Squirrel you control.
{G}{G}, {T}: Until end of turn, whenever a triggered ability of target Squirrel you control would trigger, that ability triggers an additional time.
I assume that's what the activated ability's supposed to do.
Also, a brief thing about the artist. CHOW is a weekly art creation event, and CHOW #95's theme was Squirrels. As such, I can assume that you saw that as part of a title or something and got confused. The actual artist goes by the username JakkaS.
Now on to the other stuff:
- Rogue should be spelt Rogue, not Rouge. Presumably this Squirrel's creature type should show that it's sneaky, rather than red in French or a character from Sonic the Hedgehog.
- You probably want a space between the {G}{G}, and the {T} of the ability activation cost. It's a very minor thing, but it can make the text feel far less squashed.
- In terms of power level, I'll acknowledge that it's somewhat held back by the lack of good Squirrel cards available (for you to give the counters and double the triggers of), but even ignoring that it still feels somewhat lacklustre. It's four mana for a low-stat creature, and every turn you've got the potential (but certainly not the guarantee) of giving it a +1/+1 counter. If you've got some spare mana, you can tap it down for the turn (meaning it isn't impacting the board) in order to basically just give it another +1/+1 counter, but only on turns where you're also fulfilling the draw clause.
The problems here are that you just aren't getting much out of it, it's real slow, and I probably don't want to be sinking mana into this when I'm about to draw cards unless I draw something I then need that spent mana to play. I can't comment on precisely what changes it'd need to make it feel much better, but it needs them.
Up next, a partner pair. Give one or both of them a favorite and / or a useful comment (though due to the nature of how they're partnered, a comment about one'll probably have to involve the other). Then post up to two cards of your own.
Sorry, I’m new to this. I guess I have to talk about @MemoryHead’s cards? If so, I really like them, but both of them seem like they should have their p/t be swapped, or at least be a 3/3 and 4/4. Just a suggestion.
I honestly think that Line Layer provides some interesting lines of play and design; however, I do have a few issues that I wish to point out:
1) For the "If this card is in your opening hand...start the game with that card on the battlefield," since Line Layer itself is not entering the battlefield due to this clause, you would probably have it worded like this (that said, I don't have the syntax memorized by any means, so this could be off.)
"If this card is in your opening hand, you may reveal it. If you do, put an enchantment card from your hand onto the battlefield."
2) While cards like Edgewalker exist, having the ability to reduce an entire card type, enchantment, receive a full WUBRG reduction seems incredibly powerful, especially for three mana. By comparison, Edgewalker is 1WB and reduces Cleric spells by WB, while Morophon reduces the casting cost of a creature type you choose by WUBRG at seven mana. Which leads me to my next point.
3) I think that having either effect on the card is mostly fine, sans an increase in casting cost by 1 generic mana; however, having both creates a lot of problems, especially in formats like commander. If you kept the start of game clause and wanted to stay on theme, you could bump it to 4 mana, preferably something like 3W and perhaps have it tutor an enchantment to the top of your library on entering the battlefield. I admittedly don't know how exactly I would change Line Layer if you chose to keep the focus on the cost reduction effect, but I would probably give it the same treatment of increasing its mana cost or changing it to 2W/1WW/1WX (depending on what colors you wished to support) to add at least some color requirement for that cost reduction.
Any feedback on the cards I posted here would be greatly appreciated, as well as a favorite or comment. I have been experimenting recently using Magic Set Editor with re-imaginings of existing cards. Today, I would like to provide two black cards. This is my first time posting on this forum as well, so I hope that I have adhered to the format, as well as provided constructive feedback. Thank you again for any feedback that the smiths on here provide and I look forward to reading them.
In the case of Desolate Arrival, I intentionally chose that wording so as to avoid targeting in the same sense as Duneblast. That said, I do believe it is leaning in the direction of too powerful due to its affordable cost. Do you think making it BBB would help it more?
Regarding Bloodtwine Ritual, does its potential mana fixing provide too much accelerant and not enough conditions? If so, is there any condition that comes to mind that you believe would help push it back in line?
@Crimsonspill, Damnation would be WAY better than Desolate Arrival if Desolate was BBB. The mana cost is fine at 1BB. And with Bloodtwine Ritual It seems fine as it is sorcery and rare and Dark Ritual is instant and common. Nice work with the cards!
Extractor of Information: Not a bad card, but the multiple abilities make it feel busy to me. I tend to play a lot of multiplayer games, so something with this much happening would be a bit of a pain to keep track of/keep up with. I feel like going with Extract OR Informant and leaving the other out makes it more manageable (sp?) and still keeps to the idea & colors of the card.
MTG Cardsmith Community Forums
Comments
Choose two planeswalkers you control. Move all loyalty counters from one of the chosen planeswalkers to the other, then exile it. The other chosen planeswalker gains all abilities of the exiled planeswalker.
- I'd recommend that the name be made Combine Sparks rather than Combine Spark. Sparks is the recognised plural in MTG for multiple sparks, and you can't combine a singular.
- The flavor text feels a little lackluster. Planeswalkers joining forces isn't exactly a new thing, so there's no real value to that, and that's all there is. I don't know what you'd make it, but it definitely needs to be remade.
- In terms of design and flavor, this is kind of neat. In terms of power level, this is very hard to evaluate, but honestly feels kind of mediocre-to-bad. In order for it to work, you need all five colors of mana and at least two 'walkers. The main place where this might seem possible is EDH, but your planeswalkers will often die there due to copious amounts of removal and many players to potentially focus them down. If you've got the mana to drop two planeswalkers and this all at once then 1) You can probably win in a better way and 2) Everybody else has probably got a good chunk of resources to work against you. In the end, what you get out of this vast effort is probably a single ultimate activation, and while that's good, I'd rather just play a Doubling Season.
Basically, the card's got some nice flavor, but it's way too cumbersome and clunky to actually feel good from a power perspective.
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Next from me, this. Give it a favorite and / or some sort of useful comment, then post up to two cards of your own.
- It looks like a Orc Berserker to me.
- IMO, Wreck is way too strong. I would make the Wreck cost be 1R.
- It feels like it should be a mythic rare.
My cards:
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/ordain-sequence
and,
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/dovin-master-creator
- I considered Berserker, but decided that he didn't really look berserk in the art and that Warrior would better fit Battlebond's Warrior tribal theme.
- Wreck probably isn't too good. There's a card from a while ago that does that in red at common (Clear a Path) and another, more recent one that's basically Clear a Path with an artifact removal option tacked on (Deface). While they're both sorcery spells, the general opinion on both is that they really aren't good, because defender creatures aren't that common to see. There are also a selection of other red cards that have it or something like it tacked on as borderline trinket text.
- The rarity point's a matter of personal opinion, but a valid one. I tend to shy away from making cards mythic, so it's entirely possible that you're right about that.
THIS IS A RESPONSE. The cards looking for feedback are currently the ones in the comment just above.
My cards:
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/potent-thief
and,
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/vampiric-horror-1
Here's my card:
I hope its original...
Why such a high cost?
My cards:
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/final-gift-1
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/chaotic-assault?list=user
(Sorry I had to leave links! I don't have much time)
Really like the concept. I did something similar with one of the GL Ring cards I did the other day (orange i believe). It's not worded incorrectly, but it's pretty wordy in general. Maybe something along these lines?
"Remove all loyalty counters and exile target planeswalker you control. Another planeswalker you control gains the same amount of loyalty counters and the abilities of the exiled planeswalker." Or '....gains X loyalty counters, where X equals the counters removed, and all the abilities of the exiled planeswalker."
Here's mine.
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/cumulus-felinoid
Just a matter of grammar.
Cumulus Felinoid can’t be countered.
@shadow123
Favorite both. As commented below by @MemoryHead, it passed the analysis.
Nice cards.
My card:
I know "this creature" should actually be "Degrading Zombie", but otherwise the recall ability wouldn't do anything.
{G}{G}, {T}: Until end of turn, whenever a triggered ability of target Squirrel you control would trigger, that ability triggers an additional time.
Also, a brief thing about the artist. CHOW is a weekly art creation event, and CHOW #95's theme was Squirrels. As such, I can assume that you saw that as part of a title or something and got confused. The actual artist goes by the username JakkaS.
Now on to the other stuff:
- Rogue should be spelt Rogue, not Rouge. Presumably this Squirrel's creature type should show that it's sneaky, rather than red in French or a character from Sonic the Hedgehog.
- You probably want a space between the {G}{G}, and the {T} of the ability activation cost. It's a very minor thing, but it can make the text feel far less squashed.
- In terms of power level, I'll acknowledge that it's somewhat held back by the lack of good Squirrel cards available (for you to give the counters and double the triggers of), but even ignoring that it still feels somewhat lacklustre. It's four mana for a low-stat creature, and every turn you've got the potential (but certainly not the guarantee) of giving it a +1/+1 counter. If you've got some spare mana, you can tap it down for the turn (meaning it isn't impacting the board) in order to basically just give it another +1/+1 counter, but only on turns where you're also fulfilling the draw clause.
The problems here are that you just aren't getting much out of it, it's real slow, and I probably don't want to be sinking mana into this when I'm about to draw cards unless I draw something I then need that spent mana to play. I can't comment on precisely what changes it'd need to make it feel much better, but it needs them.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Up next, a partner pair. Give one or both of them a favorite and / or a useful comment (though due to the nature of how they're partnered, a comment about one'll probably have to involve the other). Then post up to two cards of your own.
Super messed up, I know, but I think it’s pretty cool.
but both of them seem like they should have their p/t be swapped, or at least be a 3/3 and 4/4. Just a suggestion.
I honestly think that Line Layer provides some interesting lines of play and design; however, I do have a few issues that I wish to point out:
1) For the "If this card is in your opening hand...start the game with that card on the battlefield," since Line Layer itself is not entering the battlefield due to this clause, you would probably have it worded like this (that said, I don't have the syntax memorized by any means, so this could be off.)
"If this card is in your opening hand, you may reveal it. If you do, put an enchantment card from your hand onto the battlefield."
2) While cards like Edgewalker exist, having the ability to reduce an entire card type, enchantment, receive a full WUBRG reduction seems incredibly powerful, especially for three mana. By comparison, Edgewalker is 1WB and reduces Cleric spells by WB, while Morophon reduces the casting cost of a creature type you choose by WUBRG at seven mana. Which leads me to my next point.
3) I think that having either effect on the card is mostly fine, sans an increase in casting cost by 1 generic mana; however, having both creates a lot of problems, especially in formats like commander. If you kept the start of game clause and wanted to stay on theme, you could bump it to 4 mana, preferably something like 3W and perhaps have it tutor an enchantment to the top of your library on entering the battlefield. I admittedly don't know how exactly I would change Line Layer if you chose to keep the focus on the cost reduction effect, but I would probably give it the same treatment of increasing its mana cost or changing it to 2W/1WW/1WX (depending on what colors you wished to support) to add at least some color requirement for that cost reduction.
______________________________________________________________________________________
Any feedback on the cards I posted here would be greatly appreciated, as well as a favorite or comment. I have been experimenting recently using Magic Set Editor with re-imaginings of existing cards. Today, I would like to provide two black cards. This is my first time posting on this forum as well, so I hope that I have adhered to the format, as well as provided constructive feedback. Thank you again for any feedback that the smiths on here provide and I look forward to reading them.
"Destroy all creatures except target creature you don't control."
Here's my card (I couldn't find good artwork
In the case of Desolate Arrival, I intentionally chose that wording so as to avoid targeting in the same sense as Duneblast. That said, I do believe it is leaning in the direction of too powerful due to its affordable cost. Do you think making it BBB would help it more?
Regarding Bloodtwine Ritual, does its potential mana fixing provide too much accelerant and not enough conditions? If so, is there any condition that comes to mind that you believe would help push it back in line?
Extractor of Information: Not a bad card, but the multiple abilities make it feel busy to me. I tend to play a lot of multiplayer games, so something with this much happening would be a bit of a pain to keep track of/keep up with. I feel like going with Extract OR Informant and leaving the other out makes it more manageable (sp?) and still keeps to the idea & colors of the card.
My card....
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/islandcrowned-giantess