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Recent updates to Xianlu: (Generated at 2025-05-01 14:24:25)
Was dumb and was templating monstrous wrong the entire time
Now also a Spirit. Also exile nonland > exile two
Nahh, not really. I'll make it "exile two" so it's at least a meaningful cost.
Talisman -> Aura.
I mostly don't intend these to be that popular - the main intent with these talismans are for them to be cheap, anti-aggression spells that don't feel too punishing for the opponent. I'm not so sure about adding anything to the game as a whole, especally since most of these are at the same cost or slightly undercosted for their original effect, but I feel like they will do a good job in letting players pick up removal late if they feel like their deck is lacking some - something I feel is always a bad feeling for newer/medium experience drafters, where they like to pick bigger creatures early and get annoyed when they don't get any good removal on Pack 3. This should also help out sealed a bit in finding removal since there's more per-pack "removal" for slower decks.
I feel like it's usually okay if there are a couple of parasitic cards that specifically reference mechanics in the set (Grim Captain's Call, Smoke Teller/Secret Plans), so I made Mage of the Five Stars specifically reference Talismans, since they're the ones that are going to be leaving the battlefield the most in lieu of most Aura spells. To make it more backwards compatible and consistent though, I'll change "Talisman" to "Aura".
In regards to this card in particular, I'm pretty concerned about the dominance of aggro in the set even when I shouldn't be, so I removed the usual Pacifism text in lieu of something that is better on blocks. I'll give it some extra functionality.
Eunuch's Laughter is on the "probably should think about upshifting this" block, so I might swap that out. I'd like to keep tokens out of common though, so if I were to downshift this, I'd include it as a
creature that asks to sacrifice something on ETB.
Removed enchantments and planeswalkers as valid candidates.
You're probably right in that regard. I don't intend to have any Planeswalkers in the set, but it is something that should be monitored. I think I'll modify this to be "instant, sorcery, or artifact", to better differentiate it from Jinshan Priest and green Reclaim effects.
The "you control" was mostly there for slight flavor reasons (can't really replace organs of creatures you don't control).
It's significantly weaker than Earthen Arms, which was already fairly weak, but I'm a little concerned with possible keyword stacking due to bequeath making +1/+1 counters much better than normal. I figure since it's black and black normally doesn't have access to this sort of effect as much as white or green does, it can have a weaker version of it.
Removed "you control".
Yeah, this definitely opens up a memory issues hole for later, especially on creatures with bequeath (same with the School rare land cycle). It's more of a test of concept than anything, to see if playtesters will be okay with cards that create abilities that last indefinitely if there was a significant mechanical reason for it, and there would be markers to help with memory included in packs. This and Unceasing Anger are first on the chopping block if {+} abilities prove to be too unwieldly.
I'm building a (really bad looking) mockup right now of what I mean by perforated cards, but they'd be similar to the Embalm/Exert/Brick Counter cards used in Amonkhet here.
In regards to exiling, it is something I've considered, but I'd rather not do it at the moment. I'm not a fan of exiling the card as a reminder for every mechanic that requires memory when being used from the graveyard; I think it's working too much with the boundaries within the game while not really exploring any solutions that can be found for memory issues outside of the game. Checklist cards for Double-Faced cards is a similar, questionably elegant solution for logistical issues that a mechanic presents. It's entirely possible that Bequeath is a terrible mechanic without the exile clause and will need to be adjusted later, but I'd rather start off testing without exiling and using something new-ish (using perforated punch-out cards like in Amonkhet) and adding it later, than starting off playing it safe and never really trying out any alternative solutions.
In regards to the "any number of", it's the same reason why you can give the abilities to your opponent's creatures - it's to open up space for negative abilities later on, like the one illustrated in Servant of Guiwang, where you can choose to give an opponent's creature "lose 2 life every turn" or give one of your own creatures flying (or both to one or the other for some reason). I originally had it as "When this dies, you may have target creature gain all {+} abilities on this creature.", but I figure the more flexible the mechanic is, the more I can tweak it and iterate on it later.
Now no longer a functional reprint of Kor Sky Climber. Now a white Leaping Master with cheaper conditional flying.
2/1
/Reflex 
-> 3/2 
/Reflex 
. Reflex cost is a little higher to differentiate it from other blue commons of similar stats (Breaching Hippocampus).
Ahh, that's a good catch. I'll probably swap Moontoucher and Stern Instructor's stats around and recost them.
So there are a few types of Spirits, lore-wise, in the set. There are the typical ghosty spirits like those you see in the beginning of Mulan, which are just typical ghosty things like (((Jade Spirit))). There are also astral projections/separated souls like Enflamed Soul or Astral Projection, which are basically people that have projected themselves onto the astral plane. And then there are celestial/divine spirits, which are similar to Kamigawa spirits, like (((Spirit of White Bones))), (((Tanri, Celestial Maiden))), or Stonehorn Lion. This card falls into the 3rd category; basically "Human Spirit" basically means "Celestial Being that looks like a human". It's a common theme in Chinese literature.
Similarly, I'm really tempted to type Jiangshi as "Zombie Vampire", since they function in similar ways to both, but I'm opting for pure zombies at the moment.
Due to the presence of Talismans, I envision this being a slower format than intended, so I felt that Prophetic Prism was a bit too powerful, fixing-wise for most mid-speed/slow decks. More on Talismans on the other card.
I can see it being used occasionally as a spell to go into a blue or red Sequence spell, or as a way to quickly reduce Vermillion Sunbird's cost, but yeah, this is one of the less meaningful Reflex/non-reflex choices.
I might bump the reflex cost up to
and add a "gains indestructible" rider - It'll affect the power level of the sorcery speed version significantly, but I feel like most of the time the change will be "Your creature probably won't be blocked if able" instead of "Your creature now trades with the giant wall" Whether that's acceptable at 1 mana is debatable.
Oh nice, a sea of red comments. Thanks for the feedback!
Yeah, someone else mentioned that to me as an alternative wording. I have to double-check to make sure that this wording is 100% okay in the current rules language; the only real difference is if you somehow turn this into a land and attempt to Darksteel Garrison it for some reason. Aside from other custom sets, of course. The main concern is whether or not enchanting/equipping = attaching intuitively when skimming the card. There's an extra mental leap that needs to happen when processing the card in the other wording, by way of attaching -> can't be enchanted -> enchantments don't work on this. If the current wording has some fringe issues or isn't supported by current wording, that's the wording I'll use.
IMO this could easily be a common. So maybe that's something to keep in mind if any of the current
commons are recognized as troublesome.