Looking for a UB Sultai mechanic that coexists with delve. Hence, a loot-variant of cycling that fills your graveyard up.
I'm not sure where it should be costed (mana payment? draw then discard, or "reveal two, choose one") It should be slightly better than cycling, but noticeably less good than pure card-draw/filtering spells.
I wasn't sure if this was ok in black. I pondered using a life payment, but I eventually decided the graveyard-filling and card-finding made it close enough it might be ok for a clan mechanic even if black wouldn't usually get this. But there might be some improvements to find.
It looks interesting. It's definitely strictly better than cycling IMO ("draw a card" is about alone, this effect is approx. alone), but it certainly makes a good fit for sultai.
It is better than cycling, though not "strictly better" (it's cycling plus a loot). The default price might need to be rather than - cf Catalog, Pulse of the Grid, Sift through Sands. Counterexamples are Desperate Ravings (but that's "at random" which is significantly worse) and Wild Guess/Tormenting Voice (which is sorcery speed and you discard before drawing).
It is an awesome fit for Sultai though, undeniably :)
Thank you both for comments. Alex, thank you for comparison cards -- I looked, but couldn't remember which were best examples.
I would have said it was strictly better -- isn't it only ever not strictly better if loot is bad in some situation? That could be worse but it feels like "draw a card might be bad" or "+1/+1 might be bad".
I thought it was possibly acceptable to have a stronger mechanic on a small subset of cards. That said, I did think it was possibly too strong. Upcosting is plausible. I also considered "choose between top two cards", not letting you discard a card you already have.
The only problem I see with this mechanic is that it has to be treated like the Alara block landcycling cards: only one of the two costs can be fair. Either you have a fair graveloot cost of an overcosted spell or a fair-costed spell with an unusually high gravelooting cost. Of course having cards or mechanics that are deceptively good is not a bad thing (Research Assistant and Flesh to Dust have both proved themselves playable, after all).
On second though, although I do like the mechanic overall, putting a bunch of highly versatile faithless lootings in standard with Delve strikes me as far too dangerous.
@Circeus. Right, that's the way to think of it. If you think of cycling as "draw a card", a it's overcosted by about 1 1/2 mana. I was aiming this to be similar, maybe slightly pushed. But the current version of graveloot would have to cost at least, probably more. And you're right, maybe it's TOO delve-friendly.
Following your logic, I'd prefer to find something which can have fairly typically efficient creatures and an effect which is overcosted at 2 or 3 (or with coloured mana or maybe even another trigger) and makes the whole card printable. But I'm not sure what that effect is.
Or maybe, it should cost AND 2 life? That doesn't slow down decks much but means you can't use TOO much of it. And makes it feel more black.
JM is still in a time bubble, talking about your cards one month after you stopped thinking about them. :p
I got some other alternatives for you. One I kind of hate. makes the Graveloot cost fair. But it also defeats half the point of cycling (it's unlikely you're cycling to get the land you need.) So nertz to that.
Alternatively, this could say: Graveloot (, Discard this card and another card in your hand: Draw two cards.) Technically weaker. Possibly blue/red, though.
Pulling a trick from Thirst for Knowledge, we can also make this card more black by using ": Discard this card. Draw two cards, then discard a creature card or two cards." That may be pushing the upper limits of what a common mechanic can handle, though. Not to mention it can be Timmy unfriendly.
One last stab. How about we cut to the Sultai chase, eh? ", Discard this card: Put the top two cards of your library into your graveyard, then put one of them in your hand."
(
See Challenge # 121.
Looking for a UB Sultai mechanic that coexists with delve. Hence, a loot-variant of cycling that fills your graveyard up.
I'm not sure where it should be costed (mana payment? draw then discard, or "reveal two, choose one") It should be slightly better than cycling, but noticeably less good than pure card-draw/filtering spells.
I wasn't sure if this was ok in black. I pondered using a life payment, but I eventually decided the graveyard-filling and card-finding made it close enough it might be ok for a clan mechanic even if black wouldn't usually get this. But there might be some improvements to find.
It looks interesting. It's definitely strictly better than cycling IMO ("draw a card" is about
alone, this effect is approx. 
alone), but it certainly makes a good fit for sultai.
It is better than cycling, though not "strictly better" (it's cycling plus a loot). The default price might need to be
rather than 
- cf Catalog, Pulse of the Grid, Sift through Sands. Counterexamples are Desperate Ravings (but that's "at random" which is significantly worse) and Wild Guess/Tormenting Voice (which is sorcery speed and you discard before drawing).
It is an awesome fit for Sultai though, undeniably :)
Thank you both for comments. Alex, thank you for comparison cards -- I looked, but couldn't remember which were best examples.
I would have said it was strictly better -- isn't it only ever not strictly better if loot is bad in some situation? That could be worse but it feels like "draw a card might be bad" or "+1/+1 might be bad".
I thought it was possibly acceptable to have a stronger mechanic on a small subset of cards. That said, I did think it was possibly too strong. Upcosting is plausible. I also considered "choose between top two cards", not letting you discard a card you already have.
The only problem I see with this mechanic is that it has to be treated like the Alara block landcycling cards: only one of the two costs can be fair. Either you have a fair graveloot cost of an overcosted spell or a fair-costed spell with an unusually high gravelooting cost. Of course having cards or mechanics that are deceptively good is not a bad thing (Research Assistant and Flesh to Dust have both proved themselves playable, after all).
On second though, although I do like the mechanic overall, putting a bunch of highly versatile faithless lootings in standard with Delve strikes me as far too dangerous.
@Circeus. Right, that's the way to think of it. If you think of cycling as "draw a card", a
it's overcosted by about 1 1/2 mana. I was aiming this to be similar, maybe slightly pushed. But the current version of graveloot would have to cost 
at least, probably more. And you're right, maybe it's TOO delve-friendly.
Following your logic, I'd prefer to find something which can have fairly typically efficient creatures and an effect which is overcosted at 2 or 3 (or with coloured mana or maybe even another trigger) and makes the whole card printable. But I'm not sure what that effect is.
Or maybe, it should cost
AND 2 life? That doesn't slow down decks much but means you can't use TOO much of it. And makes it feel more black.
JM is still in a time bubble, talking about your cards one month after you stopped thinking about them. :p
I got some other alternatives for you. One I kind of hate.
makes the Graveloot cost fair. But it also defeats half the point of cycling (it's unlikely you're cycling to get the land you need.) So nertz to that.
Alternatively, this could say: Graveloot
(
, Discard this card and another card in your hand: Draw two cards.) Technically weaker. Possibly blue/red, though.
Pulling a trick from Thirst for Knowledge, we can also make this card more black by using "
: Discard this card. Draw two cards, then discard a creature card or two cards." That may be pushing the upper limits of what a common mechanic can handle, though. Not to mention it can be Timmy unfriendly.
One last stab. How about we cut to the Sultai chase, eh? "
, Discard this card: Put the top two cards of your library into your graveyard, then put one of them in your hand."
I forgot I designed this, I thought "JMG has designed 'Form of Sultai Graverobber'?" :)
Giving you a choice of the two cards seems most promising at the moment, both more graveyard-y and also closer to cycling.