wow, this is SO much better than Hypnotic Specter for only more. Whilst it is possible that 2 lands COULD be revealed, the chances are low. To keep ability as is should probably cost .
Thanks, I'm just tossing general comments. I consider this set failed at a few things like power level and sometimes too much "cleverness", but I have learned from it, and I consider it playable even though the best deck is blue-red weenie. xD
Don't worry, comments like yours are always helpful, even though I consider this set finished with all its flaws. :)
Another card victim of my Spike-ness. At least I increased the activation by . This card is very good, so it could have been good to cost it at and be just fine. Right now, it's too much. But I think it's a good design.
One thing I didn't like, however, was that I had to say "5/5" when I meant "6/6". "Other creatures..." didn't make sense while it wasn't a creature.
don't get me wrong, I like the cycle overall but, as I'msure youknow (and as is probably obvious with my sets) it takes a while to get good at this. There are some really cool/good ideas in this set, some work, some need work and some absolutely rock - great effort.
Who wouldn't like a land that scries when you're out of cards? Well, I wouldn't if my opponent was the one scrying. Sure, if at least two of the three cards are what you need, you hit the jackpot. On the other hand, when you're really desperate to get something to save you and you reveal that and two lands, you can't help but curse at this card. The ability is cool, but it probably wasn't a good idea to implement it that way (it could be revealing more cards so you had more advantage, etc.).
After all the changes with the cycle, this ended up as the best, I think. I still regret that it can be used in a monowhite deck to deal damage (even if it needs your opponent's permission). Other than that, what I thought would be an effect too messy ended up good.
Forteplazian Grounds was the cleanest of the cycle. After it changed from to , it made less sense (and it's bad that it can be put in a black deck). But the effect is a good mix of white and black. Too bad the execution wasn't the best.
This is the one that plays the worst, probably. It had "Each player draws a card", "You and target opponent draw a card", "You and target opponent draw TWO cards", etc. Since the entire cycle require the opponents to choose something, I forced it and it ended up badly.
Oh, the rare land cycle. I think I'm not totally happy with either, and that's kinda bad. For some time, the lands activated for (and the like), so it was okay if the effects were mixed. But most were effects so little it felt wrong to charge two mana.
In the end, there wasn't a strict rule about which colors should the effect be part of. This, for example, could go in either, I think. I do like how it works. Having you choose the card and then an opponent saying top or bottom would not work, because you would never get a good card back. As it is, you can slowly empty your graveyard (and put it on the bottom in case you don't need it) until your opponent chooses just what you want. The bad part is that it goes against black-green "fill your graveyard" kind of strategies.
Blue has had a history of putting permanents on top of the library. When I made this, there was Excommunicate, and it seemed strange. It has passed some time, and now we have Oust. It seems the effect has moved to white, but it hadn't been cemented yet, so this reads odd now.
As for the "noncreature", thing and the bonus for artifacts, this was a bad design. Both colors put permanents on top, but green couldn't hurt creatures (it didn't help that blue mostly put creatures on top). Then, green kinda hated artifacts, but it doesn't make a lot of sense in blue. In conclusion, this reads as monogreen. Not exactly my best work.
For a long time, this was 3/1 and sacrificed itself for Lightning Bolt. Yes, as silly as that sounds. When I made the cycle, I decided the red one was going to be one of the more expensive, so I figured it would turn out as the weakest. That's why I gave it a keyword ability. I came to my senses some time later, and it's still a very cool card. I'm glad lowering both numbers didn't make exactly useless either.
As for the flavor text, they all were meant to be "You think X, but it's really Y." I didn't recheck and noticed that the white, blue and green ones mentioned themselves, which is why the red and black one seem unrelated. If I were still doing this set, that's one thing I'd change.
unlike all of the others this one either does something or does nothing. It really needs some option on it to bring it in line with the rest of the cycle.
Yes, this is the weakest of the cycle in power and in design. Finding mirrored black and green effects was a bit hard because even -1/-1 and +1/+1 until end of turn could be potential repeatable removal. I like that this reinforces the small land theme of Earthtouching Troll and Earth's Souls. Other than that, it could have been something different.
except for the fact that tapping creatures isn't a black ability, I can understand why you would pair it with the payment option. To make it fit the colour combo it should probably read "Target opponent loses 1 life unless he or she taps target creature". This makes the effect (lose 1 life) black and the out-clause white.
Since this set had dig, I figured I should enable silly little combos. With the amount of tutoring, I figured Ruins of Trokair should instead go to your library. Putting it on the bottom wasn't an option. Hopefully, the few of these that show up in Limited wouldn't a lot more than the number of fetch lands in Constructed.
Yikes, yes. I think this ability has only been seen on Silent Specter before, which cost a lot more.
wow, this is SO much better than Hypnotic Specter for only
more. Whilst it is possible that 2 lands COULD be revealed, the chances are low. To keep ability as is should probably cost 
.
this feels like it should be red as double strike is Red/White almost exclusively.
The cycle is indeed very cool.
Ah, of course - sorry, I'd forgotten this was a finalised set.
Thanks, I'm just tossing general comments. I consider this set failed at a few things like power level and sometimes too much "cleverness", but I have learned from it, and I consider it playable even though the best deck is blue-red weenie. xD
Don't worry, comments like yours are always helpful, even though I consider this set finished with all its flaws. :)
Another card victim of my Spike-ness. At least I increased the activation by
. This card is very good, so it could have been good to cost it at 
and be just fine. Right now, it's too much. But I think it's a good design.
One thing I didn't like, however, was that I had to say "5/5" when I meant "6/6". "Other creatures..." didn't make sense while it wasn't a creature.
don't get me wrong, I like the cycle overall but, as I'msure youknow (and as is probably obvious with my sets) it takes a while to get good at this. There are some really cool/good ideas in this set, some work, some need work and some absolutely rock - great effort.
Who wouldn't like a land that scries when you're out of cards? Well, I wouldn't if my opponent was the one scrying. Sure, if at least two of the three cards are what you need, you hit the jackpot. On the other hand, when you're really desperate to get something to save you and you reveal that and two lands, you can't help but curse at this card. The ability is cool, but it probably wasn't a good idea to implement it that way (it could be revealing more cards so you had more advantage, etc.).
After all the changes with the cycle, this ended up as the best, I think. I still regret that it can be used in a monowhite deck to deal damage (even if it needs your opponent's permission). Other than that, what I thought would be an effect too messy ended up good.
Forteplazian Grounds was the cleanest of the cycle. After it changed from
to 
, it made less sense (and it's bad that it can be put in a black deck). But the effect is a good mix of white and black. Too bad the execution wasn't the best.
This is the one that plays the worst, probably. It had "Each player draws a card", "You and target opponent draw a card", "You and target opponent draw TWO cards", etc. Since the entire cycle require the opponents to choose something, I forced it and it ended up badly.
Oh, the rare land cycle. I think I'm not totally happy with either, and that's kinda bad. For some time, the lands activated for
(and the like), so it was okay if the effects were mixed. But most were effects so little it felt wrong to charge two mana.
In the end, there wasn't a strict rule about which colors should the effect be part of. This, for example, could go in either, I think. I do like how it works. Having you choose the card and then an opponent saying top or bottom would not work, because you would never get a good card back. As it is, you can slowly empty your graveyard (and put it on the bottom in case you don't need it) until your opponent chooses just what you want. The bad part is that it goes against black-green "fill your graveyard" kind of strategies.
yeah with the big colour pie shakeup, a lot of older stuff seems odd nowadays and white mainly does creatures too.
Blue has had a history of putting permanents on top of the library. When I made this, there was Excommunicate, and it seemed strange. It has passed some time, and now we have Oust. It seems the effect has moved to white, but it hadn't been cemented yet, so this reads odd now.
As for the "noncreature", thing and the bonus for artifacts, this was a bad design. Both colors put permanents on top, but green couldn't hurt creatures (it didn't help that blue mostly put creatures on top). Then, green kinda hated artifacts, but it doesn't make a lot of sense in blue. In conclusion, this reads as monogreen. Not exactly my best work.
Given the age of Shock Troops and modern creature strength, I see nothing wrong with this.
For a long time, this was 3/1 and sacrificed itself for Lightning Bolt. Yes, as silly as that sounds. When I made the cycle, I decided the red one was going to be one of the more expensive, so I figured it would turn out as the weakest. That's why I gave it a keyword ability. I came to my senses some time later, and it's still a very cool card. I'm glad lowering both numbers didn't make exactly useless either.
As for the flavor text, they all were meant to be "You think X, but it's really Y." I didn't recheck and noticed that the white, blue and green ones mentioned themselves, which is why the red and black one seem unrelated. If I were still doing this set, that's one thing I'd change.
I like this as a
card but it feels more like it should be 
as blue normally bounces to hand, not to library.
Cool concept but it would probably work more smoothly as "you could choose the card and have opponent choose top or bottom".
unlike all of the others this one either does something or does nothing. It really needs some option on it to bring it in line with the rest of the cycle.
Yes, this is the weakest of the cycle in power and in design. Finding mirrored black and green effects was a bit hard because even -1/-1 and +1/+1 until end of turn could be potential repeatable removal. I like that this reinforces the small land theme of Earthtouching Troll and Earth's Souls. Other than that, it could have been something different.
except for the fact that tapping creatures isn't a black ability, I can understand why you would pair it with the payment option. To make it fit the colour combo it should probably read "Target opponent loses 1 life unless he or she taps target creature". This makes the effect (lose 1 life) black and the out-clause white.
Interesting ability, I like how the opponent will decide quite differently early game to late game.
Since this set had dig, I figured I should enable silly little combos. With the amount of tutoring, I figured Ruins of Trokair should instead go to your library. Putting it on the bottom wasn't an option. Hopefully, the few of these that show up in Limited wouldn't a lot more than the number of fetch lands in Constructed.