Mashup: the Gathering Workbench: Recent Activity
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Recent updates to Mashup: the Gathering Workbench: (Generated at 2025-07-04 16:54:39)
Random Generator gave me Feldon's Cane and Soul Echo. Tricky. I may gone a little too literal with this one. I think I'll come back tomorrow and create a "inspired by" version.
That's not to say that I don't like what's going on here. One cute trick with this card, is if you really need that Feldon Cane effect, you can just pay
... the card will have no counters and will shuffle your graveyard right into the library.
I agree with you Alex. I think I brought this up for public consumption because I was probably designing to close to source... that's where I kept ramming my head into a wall. As long as it looks too much like a tweaked Defense of the Heart, the card will be thought of as a bad card. If it references Defense of the Heart, though, it would probably be fine. Still mulling.
I don't think "not as impressive as a crazy-broken card" needs to be a criterion for rejecting something. How about a tweak on Fierce Empath, a red 3- or 4-mana 2/2 that gets two creature cards into hand if you control a Forest when it ETBs?
That's just OTTOMH, but I think something like that ought to be doable. It can have some echo of the mad rare's ability without its absurd power. (And now I'm reminding myself of Memnarch vs Memnite.)
Wow, that's really broken. I'm not convinced by someone's argument that "it's inneffective against many legacy/vintage decks" means it's not broken. Black Lotus isn't an auto-win either, but everyone agrees that's pretty broken. There are lots of decks where this is an auto-win! :)
But can we avoid that bit? How about:
2G Sedge Defender 2/3
Defender ~ gets +1/+1 for each creature card in your graveyard. At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control a swamp, you may search your library for a creature card and put it into your graveyard. If ~'s power is 9 or greater, it loses defender.
OK, a repeatable entomb is probably broken too, but I feel it's a plausible start, unless you'd prefer to keep the "put two creature cards into play" bit.
Oh man. Looks like another episode of "JMG needs some outside help".
Today's mystery crazy combination is Sedge Troll and Defense of the Heart.
Why is this such a problem mashup? It's because of Defense of the Heart. That card is super-busted broken. If your opponent has three creatures, you get to Tooth and Nail. Except Tooth and Nail is an already incredible tutor + acceleration engine, used in many tournament decks, despite its effective cost of
. DotH costs 
whose only drawback is that your opponent needs to be playing a 'fun' deck. You know, one with creatures. For examples of how insane this is... here's a few two card combos you can pull out of your deck: Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Pestermite, Painter's Servant and Iona, Shield of Emeria and, I don't know, maybe Protean Hulk with Bloodfire Colossus? TPmanW on the discussion thread wraps this up very nicely with this comment:
"I was just browsing through the Urza block cards to see just what level of ridiculous I could find and just oh my god... It's like Wizards had some sort of civil war or something, that's the only way I could describe the apparent nonexistence of the development team on this set- they were all killed off by the designers."
So, yeah. I tried my hand at mashing these two cards up, but no matter where I went with it, it just wasn't as impressive as giving your opponent something they don't deserve. I also tried giving your opponent something so narrow that it could be costed this low again "Search your library for two trolls..." but, yeah. I also thought of making a black tutor, that, if you control a forest lets you put the two creatures you tutored for into play. That, of course, is just Tooth and Nail, though. Mull, mull, mull....
I wasn't sure where the upper limit of this would be. Magic's power level has changed quite a bit over time, so comparing it to a card like Nightmare or Molimo, Maro-Sorcerer isn't great. I just knew that this card would commonly have a higher power and toughness than whatever you cast him for, so my mind just kept increasing that cost.
Instead of thinking what the card should be costed based on how powerful the abilities, though, I should be thinking "At what tipping point would I be willing to put a card like this in my deck". I'd pay 6, and I'd pass if I had to pay 7. That's probably as good a judgement call I'm going to get.
I don't think this needs to be 8 mana, given the */*. The Wrath cost is very steep (compare with Mageta the Lion) so I think 5 mana would be fine. It's not like this guy actually regenerates very easily!
Random gatherer gave me Uktabi Wildcats and Day of Judgment. I found it funny that the Wildcats could survive the Day, by proxying a land instead. This is not that, but it's a bit closer to fair, I suppose.
Another possibility would be a haste X/1; that's somewhere between "damage to target" and goblin spray. I also like the browbeat option, perhaps as "deals X damage to target creature or player unless..." although the life gain would probably have to be twice times to make it a decent choice.
Alternate way for red to gain life:
Any player may have ~ deal X damage to him or her. If no one does, gain X life.
I like what the ray is currently doing now, but I can't help but smile at the idea of red Browbeating its way into some life...
I like Alex's proposed suggestions, but I also think the card is good as-is: it's obviously an exciting effect, and "damage to opponent" is about as appropriate for red lifegain as you'll find :)