Um, this goes +inf/+inf pretty quickly.

I can balance costs, but the ability isn't changing drastically.

Vitenka is referring to cards like Shuko. There's a number of cards that target for free.

This raises an interesting question, though. If a card could be a 10,000/10,000 at a moment's notice as part of a two-card combo, what would its cost be? My guess is that, from a technical perspective, it would need to cost 8 mana or more? But I'm not sure... maybe I'm overshooting?

I would probably argue that even if you only used cards that target for one mana that this is cheap... but that prohibitive 'five mana' cost probably makes it difficult enough to combine with most colored activations. Still strong with Leonin Scimitar. The fact that I'm waffling is probably a good sign.

Alternatively, you could solve this problem by giving the Dragon Titan a bonus ability that's technically a setback: "All activated abilities cost more to activate." Probably not where you want to go, though.

Indeed.
The obvious patch is "when ... you may pay , if you do ..."

Oh yes. Vitenka's solution is more elegant than mine.

Eh, mines a blunt patch job. It does the job, but meh. Yours is much more interesting - because it's potentially hurting the opponent too.

> Alternatively, you could solve this problem by giving the Dragon Titan a bonus ability that's technically a setback: "All activated abilities cost more to activate." Probably not where you want to go, though.

I assume you mean "all activated abilities that aren't mana abilities" otherwise you just made most lands useless.

It also needs a FAQ for what happens with a spell that targets more than one thing.

Easily solved by using "Targets one or more permanents or players". Oh. Huh. I guess this also target spells on the stack and cards in graveyards.

I'd continue in this vein, but sometimes it's best to remember who's card this is, and how much they probably care about the crunchy details. 😉

I'm fine with y'all getting into long conversations about little details, it's good fun, but as a newb who sucks at proofreading when in a rush and decides to always be in a rush by logging on 10 minutes to sweet unconsciousness i miss a whole lot of meaning.

I'd be fine with for this card to be able to have whatever needs to be done to get the rules all uncrunched. As for balancing, i'd be fine if it felt criminal which is the card theme.

This would be a funny card and archtype to put into a prison world set, which is something MaRo has on a list i believe