On November 10th, The Great Designer Search 2 had its first episode's challenge presented for each of the then-eight finalists. I decided to play along at home and put up my own mock design submission for the first challenge on this wiki page. For those not in the know, the challenge, in summary, was to have eighteen designs for the commons of one color of a Magic set. By the way, like I said on the Wiki, my rules were a little different, as in, all eighteen cards were designed by me whereas the finalists needed at least six not designed by them.
I know it's a bit late, but I'm posting what I posted there on the Wiki along with the adjustments I've made after viewing the reviews I've received. I'll post the original card slot, the comments, and then the new design for that slot, if applicable. Also, there's the flavor and mechanical information to aid those not knowing what my world/block is about. I've also added the non-card specific comments, too. So, here we go:
The people who reviewed me and their colors throughout this post are as follows:
Dan Emmons (Demons)
Nicholas Grayson (Nich)
I also had a bonus reviewer. He called himself Lucky on the wiki page he reviewed my mechanics, and his twitter account is right here. My world's wiki isn't up to date, so he was actually reviewing an old version of trauma and a now-defunct mechanic called "focus." But, after reading it, it did make me want to change how trauma worked.
Instead of replacing the damage, which is how I had it when my reviewers read my mock submission, he suggested replacing the loss of life from the damage dealt by the trauma creature with the milling. That way, things like lifelink could still happen. But, I took it a step further and changed trauma to be like wither, where it is still damage, but it is a different form of damage when dealt to the player.
Interestingly, it's now back to being similar to Evan Erwin's mechanic erode, which inspired the mechanic in the first place.
The World
Plane: Immovale
Set Name: Immovale
Old Logline: A corrupting world within the mind of a planeswalker, where dreams and nightmares are reality.
metaghost: Functional. But considering that it takes place "within the mind of a planeswalker", the second clause is a relative no-brainer that feels like wasted space. Also, what is this world "corrupting"?
Logline: A world within the distressed mind of a planeswalker
Old Flavor Description
The world of Immovale was once a dream-like paradise until a spreading blackness in the neverending sea sprang forth the antithesis of pleasant dreams: traumatic nightmares. The gnomes are a trickster spellcasting race, specializing in illusion and manipulation. They are aligned with red and blue magic. The wibblies are a humanoid frog race invested in seeking knowledge about and understanding the unpredictable world they live in. The frogs are aligned with green and blue magic. The blue gnomes and wibblies are explored in this set of blue commons.
Flavor Description
The world of Immovale is rich in species diversity, a home for spells to flourish, and was once a peaceful paradise. A spreading blackness in the neverending sea sprang forth the antithesis of pleasant dreams: traumatic nightmares. The gnomes are a trickster spellcasting race, specializing in illusion and manipulation. They are aligned with red and blue magic. The wibblies are a humanoid frog race invested in seeking knowledge about and understanding the unpredictable world they live in. The frogs are aligned with green and blue magic. Nightmares attack the world's host's mind and subsequently affect the plane. They are blue-and-black aligned. The white-and-blue aligned merfolk inhabit the neverending sea, always exploring new territory under the waters.
Old Mechanics Description
A "spells matter" theme is shown in the mechanic spellcast, which rewards casting spells. Flashback is the returning mechanic that pulls triple duty: it supports spellcast cards, provides mana curve options in Limited, and supports this next mechanic. The final mechanic these blue commons feature is trauma, which appears mostly in blue and black. Trauma is a part of the library theme. Another mechanic, mostly in green and branching out to white and red, is also a library-themed mechanic that combats the milling from trauma. As such, it is not featured here.
On a final note, the phrase "Target player puts the top NUMBER cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard." has now been shortened with my proposed keyword action "mill." It looks like this: "Target player mills NUMBER cards." Trauma mentions mill like this: "Whenever this creature would deal damage to a player, that player mills twice that many cards instead." So, a creature that would deal 2 damage would instead 'cause the player to mill twice that many cards, which is four cards. Enjoy!
Mechanics Description
A "spells matter" theme is shown in the mechanic spellcast, which rewards casting spells. Flashback is the returning mechanic that pulls triple duty: it supports spellcast cards, provides mana curve options in Limited, and supports another new mechanic: trauma. Trauma is a part of the library theme. Another mechanic, mostly in green and branching out to white and red, is also a library-themed mechanic that combats the milling from trauma. As such, it is not featured here.
The Cards (Cards in Italics are old versions.)
CU01
Gnome Illusionist
U
Creature - Gnome Wizard
1/1
Spellcast -- Whenever you cast a spell, Gnome Illusionist becomes unblockable until end of turn.
Demons: This feels common. I like this one. Super simple way to show spellcast. I love it.
Kultcher: Spellcast is very landfall-esque. That's probably a good thing, although I think it puts the impetus on you to make it distinct. For a basic implementation, however, this is spot on.
metaghost: Solid. Straight U, 1/1, Unblockable probably isn't unprintable at common, and this does a good job of sitting in that space of late limited pick.
Nich: This is a good way to demonstrate the return of Gnomes and the expected power level on Spellcast. You and I both played around with casting spells in our submissions, but your approach was much more reactive key ability. The thing that worries me most about this approach is the way it incentivizes you to play spells you might not care about to trigger Spellcast, and it trains your opponent to wait until you’ve committed a spell to trigger the ability before they use their removal. This mechanic rewards players for playing spells before combat, which isn’t often a good strategy.
This references Dungeons & Dragons and how, at least in D&D 3.5, a gnome's favored class is a wizard specializing in illusions: The illusionist. I love this card for that. And, hey, resonance! Well, besides World of Warcraft also popularizing gnomes.
Gnome Illusionist
U
Creature - Gnome Wizard
1/1
Spellcast -- Whenever you cast a spell, Gnome Illusionist becomes unblockable until end of turn.
CU02
Wibblie Infantry
1U
Creature - Frog Soldier
2/1
Demons: I feel like this card is not Blue. A two mana 2/1 is not blue, its red or black. I'm not sure it makes sense given your themes.
Kultcher: Okay. Gotta have your vanilla dorks.
metaghost: The only problem with focusing on uncommon creature types is that putting them into your vanilla slots makes them seem so much less special.
Nich: Fine guy. Do the Gnomes and Frogs share classes, or will most of the wizards/mages be Gnomes and Fighters/defenders be Frogs? I think you should make this sort of decision when committing to two sentient tribes in a color.
I feel this card is blue according to this list of cards. The original Wibblie Thought-Fader is out in favor of a low-cost blue trauma creature, but the name remains.
"Mill" has been unkeyworded. I practically finished this whole post having used "grind" instead of "mill" for my revision, but it just didn't feel right. It's either "mill" or not at all, and it feels like "mill" isn't quite cutting it. However, the way trauma works has changed thanks to Lucky.
Wibblie Thought-Fader
1U
Creature - Frog Rogue
2/1
Trauma (This deals damage to players in the form of them putting twice that many cards from the top of their library into their graveyard.)
CU03
Gnome Aeronaut
UU
Creature - Gnome Wizard
1/1
Flying
Spellcast -- Whenever you cast a spell, Gnome Aeronaut gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
Demons: In GDS1, it was said multiple times that they don't like to do CC at common because it puts pressure on limited. That said, i like the simple implementation.
Kultcher: This is more interesting. Thumbs up.
metaghost: One thing that the top 8 struggled with is the fact that outside of Green, the various colors tend to have a single CC creature at common. You have three. If we consider Plague Stinger as setting a bar of sorts, I see no reason this can't just be 1U to emphasize a set quality.
Nich: I agree that this would be better costing 1U rather than UU. I think it’s powerful, but not degenerate. Besides, your Blue creatures are pretty anemic and could use a power representation. You need to really let your set theme excite the player. A 2/2 for 1U with a drawback that’s all upside is a smart way to do that. If you’re concerned that Blue shouldn’t have creatures at this power level, than I would ask, if not in the “Casting matters” set, than when?
Because common is not a good place for repeatable effects (put them at uncommon, like an effect putting a token onto the battlefield every time you cast a spell), I decided that all the spellcast cards at common should use a bonus that doesn't stack EXCEPT for a cycle of "+1/+1"-ers. Actually, black might get a "-1/-1" spellcast card at common since that, too, is equally hard to abuse into degeneracy. So, what I'm trying to say is that this is part of a cycle. I'm sad this isn't a gnome anymore. That's O.K. Red will have another gnome. And, yes, a flying merfolk aeronaut. Only in my dreams, right? Oh, wait a minute... considering the type of plane... aha!
Merfolk Aeronaut
1U
Creature - Merfolk Wizard
1/1
Flying
Spellcast -- Whenever you cast a spell, Derwon Aeronaut gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
CU04
Tome Rummager
2U
Creature - Frog Wizard
1/3
T: Draw a card, then discard a card.
Demons: Plays well with flashback, and I like the synergy with the P/T. It puts tension on whether or not you use him to block or use him to get the card on your turn. Thumbs up.
Kultcher: Feels like something a blue mage will enjoy playing, at least in limited. High toughness plus looter is a powerful combo, surprised it hasn't been done before.
metaghost: Oh those multi-faceted frogs.
Nich: Nice idea. I avoided a looter in Abissa because I feel like they’ve sent mixed signals as to whether they want the looter effect at common or uncommon.
Tome Rummager
2U
Creature - Human Wizard
1/3
T: Draw a card, then discard a card.
CU05
Wibblie Thought-Fader
2U
Creature - Frog Wizard
2/2
Trauma (Whenever this creature would deal damage to a player, that player mills twice that many cards instead.)
Demons: I don't feel like "mill" should be made into an action word, but even if it is, it shouldn't be called 'mill.' That isn't flavorful at all, its just nostalgic for Millstone that isn't even in print anymore. And Trauma isn't that exciting on a Grey Ogre. Its not bad, but limited probably needs a 1 mana 1/1 Trauma guy.
Kultcher: Perfectly reasonably common to display trauma. A random note, matter of taste: I don't like the word "mill" as an action word. Sure, Millstone is the iconic artifact but what the millstone is actually doing is grinding: More than one mage has been driven insane by the sound of the millstone relentlessly grinding away. I'd suggest renaming mill to "grind" or something similar. It just sounds more badass, like you're actually destroying someone's sanity rather than, I don't know, refining lumber.
Actually one more thing. Trauma is okay as it is, but it would be much cooler if borrowed from the infect playbook, where it played differently with both creatures and players. It's wordy but something like (If a creature dealt damage by this creature this turn would be destroyed, put it on top of it's owner's library instead.) Or shuffle it into it's owner's library, perhaps. But that would be badass.
metaghost: Did you know that only 3 wizards have ever had a combat damage ability?
Nich: Here comes trauma. Okay. I would hate to have this guy against a player at 2 life with 38 cards in their library. Milling for twice the power of the creature is a really smart idea. I like it more than a number and it makes it easier to scan on busy board. But the fact that creatures with trauma never deal damage to players is a big problem for me. I strongly recommend you make it a “may” clause.
The 1/1 C trauma creature? Good idea. That's going to be in black.
Cloudlurker Squid
2U
Creature - Squid
2/1
Flash
Flying
CU06
Twiddling Dream
1UU
Creature - Dream
2/2
Flying
When you cast Twiddling Dream, you may tap or untap target nonland permanent.
Flashback U (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it. A creature spell cast this way does not enter the battlefield.)
Demons: This is way too confusing as to how it works. I can grok what you're trying to do, but I'm almost positive this will cause confusion to anyone who's played with flashback before.
Daniel: CU06 is a weird card. Why mess with flashback that way? Why not make it unearth? (Answer: because this is the flashback color/tribe; Unearth will go somewhere else?) It's un-good.
I think you could actually fix CU06 by making it weirder - make its card type Instant Creature. Keep Flashback the way it is, and add a reminder text: "You may play this card as an instant. If you do, put it on to the battlefield as it resolves." You might need to lose flying to make space on the card for it. And unless you plan on a cycle of Dream creatures, I'd stick with an established creature type, like Weird or Illusion.
Kultcher: Interesting choice. I suppose re-templating flashback wouldn't break it but it does feel a little funny. Regardless of that, the card is neat and the concept is solid. Good work.
metaghost: I'm not so sure you've got creature-flashback figured out, especially considering they designed Unearth for a reason. Evoke's template would assuredly work better, but I get not wanting to have to divide keyword concepts in the same set.
Nich: This an interesting take on Flashback, but it doesn’t make me glad Flashback has returned so much as show the limitation compared to Evoke or Unearth. Would Dream be a creature type reserved for creatures with Flashback? That’s a neat idea. This card deserves a bit more work since it’s a good idea, but not quite fully realized. Also, the nonland clause is probably unnecessary. Finally, I think the flashback cost is too cheap, but see comments on CU10 for more details on that.
Yeah, dreams are a cycle.
But, I do think that flashback could appear on card types other than sorceries and instants. And creatures are a big one. It's unexplored design space in the same vein that Dryad Arbor is a creature that's not a spell. It, too, has reminder text explaining what the ramifications of a creature land are.
Instants and sorceries are put into graveyards. Creatures enter battlefields. Flashback replaces where they go with the exile zone. A spell that has been flashbacked always hits the exile zone. It's working the same way that it always has, but it can make you scratch your head when it's on a creature. But, that's why the reminder text is there to remind you.
Suspenseful Dream
2U
Creature - Dream
2/2
When you cast Suspenseful Dream, you may tap or untap target permanent.
Flashback 1U (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it. A creature spell cast this way does not enter the battlefield.)
CU07
Looming Nightmare
2UU
Creature - Nightmare
3/2
Flying
Trauma (Whenever this creature would deal damage to a player, that player mills twice that many cards instead.)
Demons: I like this Trauma guy much better. Flying works well with the ability.
Kultcher: Another guy for the trauma deck, sure.
metaghost: In limited, due to required card draw, this is closer to functioning like a 4/2. Probably shouldn't be common, as it's also definitely UU.
Nich: With a “may” clause on Trauma, this card is a great common, since we know how good Snapping Drake is. Again, the creature type is a nice choice.This is the only common creature with UU in its cost. So, I listened.
Looming Nightmare
3UU
Creature - Nightmare
3/3
Flying
Trauma (This deals damage to players in the form of them putting twice that many cards from the top of their library into their graveyard.)
CU08
Gnome-Wibblie Evaders
4U
Creature - Frog Gnome Wizard
3/3
Spellcast -- Whenever you cast a spell, Gnome-Wibblie Evaders gain flying and shroud until end of turn.
Demons: I like him, but is there going to be room for more spellcast cards in other colors? Zendikar had at most three landfall cards per color at common.
Kultcher: Why is he both a gnome and a frog? Anyway when it comes to cards like this what I would rather see is this:
- Spellcast -- Whenever you cast a spell, CHOOSE ONE -- Gnome-Wibblie Evaders gain flying until end of turn OR shroud until end of turn.
metaghost: Crossbreeding Frogs and Gnomes? Seems a bit powerful for common.
Nich: I get it, a Gnome and a Frog-man are working together. Are they both Wizards too? I can see a 5 card cycle of these, assuming the other colors each feature two prominent races. This is just flavor unless you include some tribal elements at higher levels, which I hope you do. I think this card suffers from new tribal syndrome, because I don’t know which race is contributing which keyword when Spellcast triggers. Is flying the Gnome side, or is it shroud? Which more distinct keywords tying it all together this could be a home run. It’s a nice medium creature for limited too.
This card is a result of my design decisions being blinded by love. I love the Shadowmoor Duo cycle, and I wanted to copy it for my set, which was heavily tribal, except do races instead of classes. (Gnome Wizard and Frog Wizard teaming up) I was going to do a mechanic for each tribe, pairing two mechanics per dual-raced card. But then I gave up the tribe-specific mechanics. And then I gave up tribal period. And then I still kept the races of my world and tried to keep the dream alive of a new Duo cycle with this sorry excuse of a representation of that. But, by this point, I'm just doing a disservice to both the set and the cycle I wanted to do.
It just so happens this is the other creature I'm cutting from the current roster. Hooray. Next time I do a tribal set, I'm so pursuing this cycle again.
Since I have a bunch of different creature types in this world now, I won't be pursuing Nich's suggestion of making the types relevant at higher "levels."
The exile ability is part of a small set of cards that care about exiled cards. It interacts with flashback and the anti-trauma green-centric mechanic.
AEther Drake
3U
Creature - Drake
2/2
Flying
AEther Drake gets +1/+1 and has shroud as long as you own an exiled card.
CU09
Spellhunting Serpent
5U
Creature - Serpent
Defender
Spellcast -- Whenever you cast a spell, Spellhunting Serpent loses defender until end of turn.
Demons: This guy needs a P/T. Other than that and the fact that its your fourth spellcast card, this is fine.
Kultcher: This guy has no P/T. I'll assume 5/5. In that case I think his Spellcast trigger might be a little too easy to hit. Just spitballing a different take using my idea above:
- Spellhunting Amoeboid - 3U
- Creature - Mutant Beast
- Spellcast -- Whenever you cast a spell, you may switch Spellhunting Amoeboid's power and toughness until end of turn.
- 1/5
Nich: Too similar to the landfall Serpent in Zendikar for my tastes, right down to defender.
Reminiscent Serpent
5U
Creature - Serpent
4/4
Reminiscent Serpent is unblockable as long as there's an Island in defending player's graveyard.
CU10
Lethe Bolt
U
Sorcery
Target player mills three cards.
Flashback 1U (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
Demons: I like this in this set.
Kultcher: No problems here.
metaghost: Solid.
Nich: As a flashback enabler, this is fantastic. The more spells with flashback you put in your yard, the more options you’re going to have to trigger your Spellcast effects. Once again, we both sought a way to incentivize players to want to play a lot of spells. My choice was Resurface (which puts a spell back on the bottom of your library once it’s played, or discarded,) and you chose Flashback. I would be really interested to see which method is more successful at getting players to risk casting spells. On its own, Lethe Bolt will make the flashback/spellcast deck work. This plus Gnome Aeronaut is pretty exciting for limited. Any low costing Flashback costs should be scrutinized.
Lethe Bolt
U
Sorcery
Target player puts the top three cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
Flashback 1U (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
CU11
Sudden Nightmare
U
Instant
Target creature gains trauma until end of turn. (Whenever that creature would deal damage to a player, that player mills twice that many cards instead.)
Demons: This card sorta steps on the toes of number 10. I would probably cut one of them.
Kultcher: A little boring but what do you want from a common blue combat trick? Maybe it could also grant unblockable, as that would gel nicely with the flavor of a creature "turning into" a nightmare.
metaghost: Gimme a cantrip or something if I can't get a +X/+0.
Nich: Eh, it’s okay. It’s a possible Flashback enabler, or fog for a single creature. In limited, it might help you deck a player.
I agree with you guys. This card is moved to black since it "steps on the toes of number 10," and it'd be in the same vein as Tainted Strike. So, here's another card to take its place.
CU12
Think Twice (Reprint)
1U
Instant
Draw a card.
Flashback 2U (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
Demons: A serviceable reprint, but kind of unexciting.
Kultcher: Good fit.
metaghost: Good reprint.Nich: Think Twice is a really strong choice for this set.
Think Twice (Reprint)
1U
Instant
Draw a card.
Flashback 2U (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
CU13
Unconventional Rejection
1U
Instant
Counter target spell not cast from a player's hand.
Demons: I like this card, but it might be uncommon. See Laquatus's Disdain and Nix.
Kultcher: I love cards like this, with an obvious application in the block and the ability to be a role player in older formats. Thumbs up.
metaghost: Good design. Specialized counters are tougher to concoct than they can seem.
Nich: Unconventional Rejection will probably do a lot of heavy lifting for this set. You clearly made it clean enough that it could be reprinted many times. That might also explain its generic name (which I know were only supposed to be placeholders, but still.) But why not give it Flashback? It’s so narrow that it would only really be printed in sets that cast things from the graveyard and Flashback is the cleanest example of that sort of mechanic already. I'm not 100% sure which rarity is correct. On one hand, Laquatus's Disdain might have been O.K. at common. Would Odyssey block drafts really be screwed by the presence of a common slot flashback counter? However, in this set, it appears in the large set and has a lot of flashback cards. (20% of the commons have flashback) BUT then I think about how Mana Leak is a "soft counter" that gets a lot of mileage for its "softness." Besides, with all the milling that blue will do, perhaps it will need a hand combating all the flashback options the opponent will have. Since I can see this being at common, I'm going to leave it. ...Until I draft this set and see what's really up.
Also, I'm taking a page from metaghost's comment on Momentary Banishment and using this simple name that hasn't been done before.
Reject
1U
Instant
Counter target spell not cast from a player's hand.
CU14
Feverish Study
2U
Sorcery
Each player draws three cards then discards two cards at random.
Flashback 2R (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
Demons: I like what you're trying to do, but the card doesn't seem mono-blue to me. I'd buy it if it was "Draw three, discard three"
Kultcher: Not sure where enemy color came from, but okay. It seems like it has enough room to fit so I won't knock it. Everyone's into giving red the looter ability these days. Personally, I feel like red is more likely to discard THEN draw than to do the standard looter thing. A card that did looter for blue and the "gambling looter" for red would be neat, but this card can't really be that. Another than that relatively minor niggle, this is fine.metaghost: A one of multicolor shake-up? Just trying to test essay-theory?
Nich: I like these off color Flashback spells. And I like that you seem to be putting two in each color. Even as a cycle of ten it’s flexible enough to allow strong designs. I like this card specifically. Blue with random discard is a bit weird, but you had to choose to bleed blue into red or red into blue. And given how easy mill will make stocking Flashback into the ‘yard, I think bleeding blue into red was a better choice.
I was using Noggle Ransacker (Gosh, I love noggles.) as the source of what both blue and red can do. As for whether this should have been a red card with blue flashback, um... upon searching for blue cards besides that noggle card that causes players to discard cards at random... I didn't find any. Wizards either color-bled or just haven't gotten around to designing random discard (or haven't shifted around the color pie again, yet) So, it's better as a red card with blue flashback. Off it goes! Here's a replacement:
Flip-Flop
3U
Instant
Switch target creature's power and toughness until end of turn.
Draw a card.
Flashback 3R (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
CU15
Momentary Banishment
2U
Instant
Return target nonland permanent to its owner's hand. Spells with the same name as that permanent can't be cast until end of turn.
Demons: I like this card. Nice one.
Kultcher: Cool, a great way to add a little extra spice to good old bounce. Very solid.
metaghost: Did you know "Banish" is still available as a card name? Even if bounce is temporary, it's a little longer than momentary here. And wordiness is a sin. (Good design.) Nich: This is decent bounce variant. I’m not sure how often the second ability will matter though, since players mostly bounce at end of turn, or prior to combat to allow a creature to get through. As a Spellcast enabler, I can see this getting cast earlier in another player’s turn, but you’d have to show me some Spellcast effects that are good on defense.
I imagine the second ability would be useful when you let a creature attack, and you bounce it in combat, stalling the creature attacking you for two turns. Also, this prevents giving your opponent another spellcast activation, which, on spellcast cards of higher rarities, would be a good thing.
I agree, metaghost. Let's use Banish.
Banish
2U
Instant
Return target nonland permanent to its owner's hand. Spells with the same name as that permanent can't be cast until end of turn.
CU16
Deniability
2UU
Instant
Counter target spell. Then, you may counter target activated or triggered ability.
Demons: I'm not sure countering activated or triggered abilities is common. That said, its a nice "counter with upside"
Kultcher: I see what you're doing, but I'd still like both clauses to say, "You may" just so you have the flexibility to counter just an activated ability. Either way it feels a little bit clunky to me, but not awful.
metaghost: I'd prefer this with Grim Discovery's "Choose one or both" template.Nich: I don’t agree with this as a common. It’s too complicated. Will players know that Flashback casts a spell and not an ability? In fact that whole interaction between Spellcast and Flashback will need to be very pronounced in the set. And I also see this as benefiting from the “Choose one or both” option from Branching Bolt.
I feel embarrassed for not having paid attention to the rarity of cards that counter abilities. Countering triggered abilities only appeared on three rare cards and countering an activated ability is clearly at least uncommon as seen in Squelch and Voidmage Husher. To fix this, I'm willing to drop the "activated" part and make this an uncommon card.
Fun fact: The name Deniability is supposed to sound like "Deny ability," which is what it does (countering spellcast triggers).
Here's the fixed card:
Deniability (Uncommon)
2UU
Instant
Choose one or both -- Counter target spell; or counter target triggered ability.
But the common card slot needs another "hard counter" card. So here's the replacement. Is having another counterspell that's good against flashback (and the yet-to-be-seen green-centric mechanci) too much:
Quarantine
2UU
Instant
Exile target spell.
CU17
Raninomancy
3U
Instant
Target creature loses all abilities and becomes a 1/1 green Frog until end of turn.
Flashback 5G (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
Demons: I like this one. Just keep in mind that the more flashback cards you have, the more on-board complexity you create.
Daniel: Omnibian is one of my all-time favorite creatures. Raninomancy is awesome.
Kultcher: I've always felt that "loses all abilities" should be a green ability. In fact I wish I'd answered that in my #2 essay. Anyway, turning things into 1/1s doesn't feel super green but the fact that it's a Frog creature makes me happier about it. The fun-ness of the card overcomes any complaints I might have.
metaghost: Again with the multicolor! I get that this is a riff on Snakeform, but without the cantrip I think you've overcosted a bit, especially since the Flashback already requires an enemy color. 3U / 3G would be real clean. Nich: Except for the fact that you have a sentient race of Frog-people in the set, this is a solid hit. It would be like putting Snakeform in Kamigawa Block. That’s just flavor though. Why not have the spell turn them into a harmless day Dream or Notion?
Hmm. Perhaps the frog people have no qualms with turning people into unevolved versions of themselves. Those eyes of theirs give a clue to just how freaky they are. They can even fade your thoughts! *shudders* Yeah, just flavor. So, I'm leaving it as is. 'cause I love that this is the magic of a raninomancer (someone specializing in frog magic).
I made the costs of the mana cost and flashback cost have a difference of two mana because I didn't like how you could cast it once to potentially kill of a guy, then have it ready the very next turn to fire again with flashback. With a difference of two mana between the costs, if this was cast on turn three, there's at least one turn for the opposing player to breathe. And attack without fear. Am I crazy? Oh, well. I did lower the cost.
Raninomancy
2U
Instant
Target creature loses all abilities and becomes a 1/1 green Frog until end of turn.
Flashback 4G (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
CU18
Dispatched Restraints
4U
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature doesn't untap during its controller's untap step.
Spellcast -- Whenever you cast a spell, you may return Dispatched Restraints to its owner's hand.
Demons: This is fine, except its another spell cast card.
Kultcher: Pretty okay limited spell. 5 spellcast cards may be too much for one rarity and I wouldn't be sorry to see this one get reworked a bit.
metaghost: Solid bad removal. Gotta have 'em.
Nich: For this cost, it should at least tap the creature when it enters the battlefield. It’s a good design.
I fixed the number of spellcast cards. This is number three. I really wanted a non-creature card at common with spellcast, and I believe the best place to represent that is in blue. Green, on the other hand, easily could have three creatures as its three spellcast cards.
I'll take up Nich's suggestion for making this not as bad. You do have to cast a spell then pay five mana again just to move it to another dude. Seems still fair.
Dispatched Restraints
4U
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
When Dispatched Restraints enters the battlefield, tap enchanted creature.
Enchanted creature doesn't untap during its controller's untap step.
Spellcast -- Whenever you cast a spell, you may return Dispatched Restraints to its owner's hand.
Conclusion
Besides my reviewers' individual card comments, here are their concluding thoughts:
Dan Emmons (Demons)
Overall, I liked you're submission a ton. You set feels 'cerebral' and I'm interested to play limited with Trauma creatures. I feel like Wizards would not like to print milling as a large block component because a ton of players hate getting milled.
Hopefully, the gameplay will show that getting milled isn't so bad in this environment when there's other mechanics to combat how terrible it is in the form of flashback and that one green-centric mechanic I keep mentioning but haven't yet revealed.
I really, really like the Frog people.
I don't think your other elements are successful though.
At this point in Magic, Gnomes are a trope with an established identity. The same way Angels are flying females, and Demons have sacrifice abilities, Gnomes are small clockwork creatures. It's also a little confusing having two tribes in the same color, set, and rarity (Lorwyn/Shadowmoor had this same problem sometimes, with Merfolk constantly getting shunted around like unwanted homeless people.) Your frogs are cool! Stick with them!
I don't think you'd want mill as a keyword either. I'm pretty sure Mark Rosewater has written about how Design doesn't plan to keyword anymore evergreen abilities in the foreseeable future. (If I find the article, I'll link it here.)
I don't think your other elements are successful though.
At this point in Magic, Gnomes are a trope with an established identity. The same way Angels are flying females, and Demons have sacrifice abilities, Gnomes are small clockwork creatures. It's also a little confusing having two tribes in the same color, set, and rarity (Lorwyn/Shadowmoor had this same problem sometimes, with Merfolk constantly getting shunted around like unwanted homeless people.) Your frogs are cool! Stick with them!
I don't think you'd want mill as a keyword either. I'm pretty sure Mark Rosewater has written about how Design doesn't plan to keyword anymore evergreen abilities in the foreseeable future. (If I find the article, I'll link it here.)
One last thing you're wrong about - Wizards would have done fine to pick you as a finalist. You seem like you have good ideas, and these cards are as good as anything the actual finalists are submitting. I hope you keep working on them!
The frogs are still around, yet, my decision to include all sorts of races (like in Ravnica) because of the fact the world is tied to the planeswalker's memories means there's less frogs. As for gnomes, I believe that because of games like World of Warcraft and Dungeons & Dragons, there's the resonance that my gnomes have got going for them. They may not be a trope, but perhaps they will be someday. Dwarves appear infrequently, and I'd like to think that gnomes could achieve the same status as those guys.
The article you're talking about where Mark Rosewater said they wouldn't keyword anymore evergreen abilities is "Keyword Play," I believe.
I have a shameful secret: I haven't played with my own cards, yet, either. As for specialized casting like "instantcast", I could see spellcast having, in one hypothetical card's example: "Whenever you cast a spell, Some Soldier gets +1/+1 until end of turn.. If it was a creature spell, Some Soldier gets first strike until end of turn." for Set 2 or 3. But, that might be too hard to keep track of, and I'm getting off track here, anyway
And, lastly, my rebuttal to it being fine if Wizards picked me is that I see where my weakness is, and it ties with them seeking someone with vision, and, right now, I have thick lenses. ...Besides that, my weakness is the vision for the set's flavor, and logline is not really strong. I was, like, "Yeah, a plane within a planeswalker's mind!" and the rest was supposed to me fleshing it out well. I believe concept-wise, mechanics-wise, and furniture-wise, it's pretty good, though.
I have to commend you, Bradley. I've only looked at a couple of non-Top 8 Common Grounds but yours feels like far and away the best of the ones I've read. I like it better than some of the Top 8 submissions. I hope you keep playing along, I look forward to seeing more.
You've done a good job of working with landfall-esque "reward people for what they want to do", and wanting to cast spells has an obvious relationship with the graveyard. I'm not completely sold on Trauma, as mill is historically a "griefer-zone" for purely psychological reasons. And other than the amusing Spike-centric relationships between Trauma and Flashback that Odyssey block explored, there isn't much new here that makes me excited to see how you'll manage to make milling palatable to new players/casuals.
I see your point. Spellcast is a riff on landfall, flashback is a returning mechanic, and milling is not new at all. Trauma's like wither/poison. Perhaps the combination of these mechanics make for a refreshing experience. I think playtesting is in order to see whether the gameplay is fun.
Also, griefers being pleased means some Timmys are pleased. I'm glad Spikes would be amused. And the Johnnies won't need much if I throw them a bone here and there.
Nicholas Grayson (Nich)
I like your commons as a snapshot of the set. They present a clear image of the kind of choices and matters players will need to be aware of. I think they would play well in a limited environment. There is a lot of focus on milling, and in theory, I like the marriage of milling and Flashback together again. I have a few issues with Trauma specifically. Also, Frog and Gnome tribal is an unexpected decision for blue.
Thanks, everyone, immensely for your input. For those I said I would get back to for reviewing of their own mock submissions, I'll get to those! Before I start the second challenge, for sure. And, also, you, thanks for reading. Feel free to leave further comments and such on this blog, on the Wiki, or by tweeting me (@bradleyrose)
Cheers,
Brad
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