A pity that mechanic is so wordy. Some ideas are simpler in concept than in execution.

Here's the simple version of what this does: ­

Song of Growth - Chorus 4 (Four Verse counters)

Huh. So it's almost the opposite of cumulative upkeep. A spell that fades away. A decaying echo. Except, um, echo is already used as almost the exact opposite of this mechanic. And - damn it; they already used all the good words. Fading would have been perfect for it. .. in fact; hang on - this is fading. The prototypical fading example Tangle Wire activates a number of times depending on the number of fade counters.

So. Um. This is literally expanding fading into non-permanent space. Fix the comp-rules, and you're done. Or, indeed - don't. But we've had plenty of examples of a keyword that is different for permanent and non-permanent versions. Still, the counters are clearly fade counters, the spell is fading away.

Even so; I would reword the keyword at least like this: ? N. (~ is cast to exile with N fade counters. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove one.) At the beginning of your upkeep put a +1 counter on one creature for each fade counter on ~.

For the keyword itself... You know what? The more I think about it - the more I think this is trying to do the wrong thing. Why make this a sorcery? Why isn't it a class of enchantment? The only thing being a sorcery in exile does is add mechanical complexity, and make it non-interactive. While the player using it will like the idea of an unremovable effect, it's not good for the game. and having it on permanents opens it up to be an effect you can use on creatures too.

So. This gets changed to an enchantment, and the mechanic is fade.

Name... well, this is clearly the set's Giant Growth-using-the-mechanic. So, why not just call it Fading Growth?

Sometimes you design a card for a contest, then you realize all the things you did wrong after the fact. In hindsight, this should have been an enchantment. I wasn't going to say anything until someone else pointed it out, though.

I also thought about, in hindsight, just copying the spell from exile. You'd have thought that would have taken less words, but I found myself stumbling over word count and stopped working so hard.

Anyhow, the rule of thumb is that while it might better card, I try to avoid making functional changes once I post. This card sure is trying my patience for that rule, though. If people would like, though, they may submit their entries as if this was an enchantment. Seems only fair.

Heh, fair enough. But it does feel like you've designed into an old place rather than found a new one :)

i really like continuumg's suggestion

i totally feel you that it's hard not to edit.

Going with mechanics that already exist, how about Ripple? (i've actually reused this name as a totally different mechanic in a set already) Ripple 4 is the mechanic, and 'Put four ripple counters...'

the card can be called Rippling Growth. The art is a picture of a muscly boi (probably an animal because ) having really steroid-like muscles , probably only in one arm that is being shot with a green blast coming from whatever direction looks best (i'm not art director)

kind of silly, really cool, and something that they don't technically do anymore because they are so serious... but still i'm already recycling a mechanic name ,so this card wouldnt exist... it's for the challenge. (even tho art was nt requested0)

ye

Battle Hymn 4G Sorcery Sustain 4 (Exile this with four time counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter.) {When you add or remove counters from ~, } put a +1/+1 counter on up to X creatures, where X is the number of counters remaining on ~.

{} indicates wording that would be used in common on all sustain abilities. Kudos to continuumg for the song concept, I think that might be the best.

I thought "enchantment" as well, but I think this sort of waning effect might actually make more sense off the battlefield. Like, a split where creatures have +1/+1 counters, other permanents have charge counters, and graveyard or exile has time counters.

I'm not even sure if this should be exile or graveyard, I think it works either way.

Instead of a trigger, it might be easier to phrase with a "remove a counter, tap:" cost especially if it's a permanent. But they haven't quite decided how best to implement once-per-turn coloured-casting-cost permanents yet. Or if you're open to wider tweaks, "Sustain counters" could be a resource produced and shared from similar spells, like energy. Or be energy. Or it could be a repeatable effect keyed off something that usually wanes over the course of a game.

I picked "Sustain" to convey (a.) a positive connotation of lasting, not a negative connotation of fading (b.) not being an existing mtg word. But maybe a different synonym would be better.

Well this card went on a journey. Thank you Continuumg, Vitenka, Froggychum, and Jack. Your idea of how to make this card stay a sorcery was inspired, Jack. I added a couple more things (including letting the card finally go to the graveyard when done, and separating the timing between upkeep and beginning of combat so it could stuff on the first turn without having to create a separate clause.) and used Continuumg's Chorus and verse counters.

Before your suggestion popped up, I was just going to let this be an enchantment with Vanishing. Considering how much space I was tapping into, it seems that there's an incredible amount of design that Wizard could be using with vanishing. A pity they're unlikely to touch that space, though, since vanishing gets a bad rap for being a drawback. Ah well. Maybe post-2025 it will happen.

See everybody in a couple of days for (((Challenge #014))). I promise not to let it get this crazy. ;)