Magic 20XX: Recent Activity
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Recent updates to Magic 20XX: (Generated at 2026-02-16 03:01:28)
| Magic 20XX: Cardlist | Visual spoiler | Export | Booster | Comments | Search | Recent activity |
Recent updates to Magic 20XX: (Generated at 2026-02-16 03:01:28)
I'd certainly count this as a land. (And I probably wouldn't play it. Where I would play Hidden Armory if I had any ETB effects at all.)
"Whenever an opponent targets a spell you control"? That's a very strangely worded trigger condition. And it does still sound like it needs to be preemptive.
I think if I had to guess what it was trying to say, I'd guess "Whenever a spell you control becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls". Which does indeed need to preemptively exist - it can't be done in response to the counterspell.
I was thinking about this card, and how I didn't like the fact that it was solving a green problem in a white/blue way. So I changed it from:
: Spells and abilities that target spells you control cost an additional 
to cast or activate this turn.
To the current version, which is a bit more like Snake Pit I suppose. There's still some new player confusion... new players don't know the difference between spells and permanents some times... but it seems better than what it was.
Edit: Note Dude's comment and my response has to do with the way this card used to work, which is preserved in my next note.
I agree that while I like the idea, it's a bit hacky. That being said, I think there's one of three scenarios that will pop up the way it's written.
1). Both players treat it like a Force Spike for spells that counter you spells, using it wrong, but never knowing better. I don't really have a problem with that...
2). Both players understand how this works, and activate it the right way. Well, I definitely don't have a problem with that...
3). One player knows the correct way to activate the land, and the other player does not. That player then tells the other player... probably after a rather embarrassing exchange. That sucks. Still, better than constantly having to look for hiding Mystic Groves in every game of magic that you play counters in. Seriously... how terrible would it feel to be in a tournament and have a player tap a land you didn't notice to counter your Cancel? That's much worse.
What if it soft-countered the spell or ability instead? People won't realize that they have to activate this ability before another player targets it, not in response.
That Mystic Grove bugs me, though. It's such a clean idea, but it looks very messy on paper.
Part of a cycle with Crumbling Belfry, Hidden Armory, Mystic Grove which I just added, and Vanishing Skyline which was previously added. Each one gives you a small benefit to play with, at the cost of watering down your colored mana. I had someone say to me that they needed to remember to count these as spells and not lands... but I'm not sure why. Unless you're really heavy on the double and triple costed mana, they still provide the correct color... kind of...
Giant Spider is really only a bomb in draft, and it's falling a bit out of favor, but I can appreciate the sentiment. I added a green in the mana cost. Uncommons should be better cards than commons, but they probably shouldn't flat out obsolete good commons.
That's quite a step up on Giant Spider, isn't it? Which is already a pretty good draft pick. I'd like to see this be somehow worse than GS - be it
, 2/3, 1/5 - just anything to avoid obsoleting that pretty awesome card. I mean, Penumbra Spider is almost always a better card for your deck, but it at least costs 
. (Hee, and you just reminded me how my green-red Wort EDH deck found a way to survive Sphinx of the Steel Wind for a turn or two more than it ought to have :) )
Gee I like build around me uncommons. I only got one chance to draft this card in 20XX, but it was a really boss deck building maneuver. My deck had an Uncommon Wish in it, and three uncommon targets for it, one of them being O-Naginata. Despite the fact that I didn't have a creature in my deck with a power of 3 or greater, or a boost card in the deck, I beat two different players with this card. How? The deck had two Snake Pactmakers and a Dripping Dead in the sideboard. When the stars aligned, I'd play a Pactmaker, put Dripping Dead in my hand, play Dripping Dead, Play Uncommn Wish, Play O-Naginata and swing for seven trample damage over the top. How the heck did I make that clunky wish tech win me two games... crazy...
Reprint of Mindless Automaton with rarity reduced to uncommon, because the card is neither no longer scary or the mechanics complicated any more.
Really, if you're going to be an artifact that helps both Wisdom and Hellbent decks, you're going to end up as a reprint in Magic 20XX.
Another secret bomb. I designed Golem Enthusiast as a 'build around me' uncommon. But, man, does it build around some cards... the super secret tech combo in set was combining this card with Snake Basket. That was an interaction I didn't think of, but couldn't get too mad at, since it required commitment and work.
Ah, that's right. Thank you reprint of Dreamstone Hedron in reminding me that Rise of the Elderazi was the last set out by the time I was finished putting together Magic 20XX. I must have finished the set in Texas, then printed it when I came home to New England.
One of those silly cards that doesn't look that powerful, Treetop Spider would be picked maybe fifth in a pack? Then he'd jump forward and play MVP to decks, dominating combat. I don't remember anybody ever accusing the card of being unfair... but I knew a lot of people who feared this spider dropping on the table.
Yeah... that flanking also kind of does it in as well. The sentiment is felt, though. I could just double back and remake the black knight to have some sort of etb knight destroying ability. Oddly, Order of the White Shield will be protected from that.
If you're having a five-colour Knight cycle including reprints, I'd really want the blue one to be Knight of the Mists. Although it is horribly out-of-pie these days.
Heh. I guess so.
Yeah, Vodalian Riddlemaiden is supposed to be the blue entry. There aren't many blue choices out there, but I always thought Vodalian Knights were interesting. Since I wanted the Knight cycle to be CC, I adapted it to modern standards. (Though, now that I look at it, the Riddlemaiden isn't a proper Knight. Correcting.)