Hole filling, I chose Ponder and random generator gave me Hellcarver Demon. Woah! Overkill!

This seemed like the best way of explaining a Hellcarver Demon through Ponder. I don't know how much I like the card in the file, though. Shouldn't Ponder effects always draw you a card? I don't really want to make this "amount of damage plus one", but... hmmm. Hey, are there any opinions out there? Does this work, and I should move on, or should I toss this in the workbench and try again?

Mmm.. I'd like to say "Most turns some player takes damage" but in duels with blue control decks, that's really not true.

Still, it's a mighty interesting card to exist. Bring back blue-red I say! So good card, I think, but no idea whether or not it fills your hole.

I think that combination of ingredient cards is especially suited to being a creature with an ETB or saboteur trigger something like Ponder. If you really want a Ponder-style spell, perhaps something like

> Sacrifice a permanent. Look at the top six cards of your library. Put one of them into your hand, then exile the rest.

Which is a bit like Perilous Research. I don't think it's ideal for common, but this whole mashup project will generally tend to drift up the rarity scale; commons will always be hard to come by. (And especially any time you get a mythic as one of your ingredients, making a common may well be unlikely to work well.)

I've been thinking about this card, and the mashup in general. I think you're right, Alex, that the project will generally move up the rarity scale. That being said, when a mechanic cries "Uncommon!" I should probably make it uncommon. I think the level of complication will always be regretfully high around here, but some mechanics just aren't good for draft. This card doesn't do anything for some rather common blue draft archtypes... which could be fine as a one-of in common to help support a draft archtype, but until I need those archtypes specifically, this should probably be a 'build around me' uncommon. Anyway, uncommon could use some simple abilities as well. If I just filled uncommon with complicated commons, nobody would want to read those suckers either.

As for ETBs or saboteur, you're right. I think that would make a pretty good card, and I might warp this to that later, depending on what the set needs. What I've noticed, though, is that when the mashup is a creature plus a non-creature spell, there's a very high tendency to turn the card into a creature (you can just add more details of the mashup that way, even telling little stories with creature type and power and toughness). That's fine, until you step back and realize that 80% of your cards are creatures without really trying. Right now, I'm pulling the pendulum into non-creature spells when I see them. I'll probably push it back the other way as I move along.