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Ransoming from the graveyard is not that deep a well to go for anyway.
I always forget people have memory issues. Unfortunately, you're probably right that players would forget where the card was originally from.
Ransom from exile!
This is a legit concern, I agree. Focussing on battlefield seems the right way to go.
Wait, so what are the zones cards can be ransomed from? Graverobber says graveyard and this battlefield. Library probably doesn't work, but hand I guess could?
I don't see the idea of being able to ransom from different zones being a good idea. It opens a slew of potential mix-ups and memory issues. Say, there are 10+ ransomed cards and you should keep in mind where each of them was exiled from. You could try to keep them in different piles depending on the zones, but that could become messy fast.
Oh ho! I had not twigged that ransoming your own stuff to re-trigger ETB was a thing. Noice.
See Cadrick's Harrier.
Not sure on wording. Switch reminder text to "It gains "Its owner may pay
to return that creature to the battlefield." I intended the ransom to be payable at any time.
That does seem terribly niche. But eh, it's a minor ability on a 1/1, it can be treated as vanilla by most people and hang around in the set to stop shenannigans if you need it.
See Graverobber.
Originally I intended this to be white, but ransom's flavor doesn't seem very white, so I went with red. I'm not sure if red is the right color.
Graveyard ransom. Probably just a one-of, since I don't think I'd have a graveyard theme to warrant multiple creatures ransoming from the graveyard.
See Winged Herald.
Thinking about non-combat white mana sinks. Token gen seemed like a good choice. 6 mana for a 2/2 is terrible. What would be a good way to do this? I put this at uncommon, is there a way this could be common, as a mana sink?
Well for what I'm going for with white, mana generation for the combat phase, I expect most of the designs would be red-flagged, since so much instant-speed white space does go to combat.
But yeah, this could have a lower cmc, no evergreen abilities, and a p/t appropriate to the cmc instead. Maybe require this creature to tap in addition to the mana cost for the ability so that it couldn't be used multiple times in a turn?
Lammasu. Definite red-flag at common. Just because it can be activated in combat doesn't mean it needs to screw with combat e. g. life gain, maybe some commune effect?
I'd go for a mana sink that has either a significantly higher activation cost than the casting cost (so you activate it "the turn after" with ramp) or one that eats up individual/low amounts of mana (so every single mana can be used up).
This feels in-between.
See Bounty's Blessing.
While I liked the last card, I felt I needed to make a buffing combat trick. Originally this put a +1/+1 counter on the creatures instead.
See Submit to Order. Variant on Angel's Mercy. I'm more happy with this than the previous card.
Name is also generic.
See Winged Herald.
Combat instant for white to cast. Ultimately I'm not very happy with this. The name is also filler if anyone cares.
Forgot the mana cost
Mana sink example for white during combat.
Followed SecretInfiltrator's suggestion to use Vitenka's wording suggestion
I think Vitenka's addition to the reminder text is the best way to go then. You want the remidner text to really address the incertainty Tahazzar mentioned regarding different steps.
Note:
> The one big downside is that you can't use this mana to power activated evasion abilities, because it's too late. That WILL be confusing; but as long as in-set you don't have those in these colours, you'll be fine.
As attacker you can use this mana to pay for part of Kor Sky Climber's activation before blockers are declared. On the defense this is a bit more problematic.
> Or should the reminder text read "Add
whenever this creature blocks."
Never put the trigger condition after the effect unless it's absolutely necessary to avoid ambiguity or some other strong detractor. Starting with "Whenever" as it is is good.
I intended the mana to be used during the combat phase only, although I would need to include wording to accommodate that. I'm not opposed to going the route of Conduit of Storms, but that wasn't my initial intention. I was thinking of explosive combat trick spells and mana-sink abilities for white to use.
I know what mana generation isn't typically white, but the set I envision cares about having large amounts of mana. While other colors have created ways that a player might have a giant mana pool in other ways, white has been challenging. Further, my goal is for white to have a large mana pool, not make white spells cheaper.
I don't think I've mentioned this; but I do applaud your attmepts to make Thoughtlace et al useful again :)
Corrupt Octopus is the test name denoting the ability rather than what the name would actually be.
I don't know really. It's common mtg slang
> https://mtg.gamepedia.com/List_of_Magic_slang#Mana_dork
Ok; I give in. Where the BUNNIES is 'dork' coming from here?
Having to put the creature into combat (in danger's way) so that you get the mana is mostly a drawback - in most cases a normal mana dork would be better unless the opponent has no - and won't intend to - play any creatures at all. Plus, obviously the cards would have to be rebalanced depending on how the mechanic is adjusted - but that's another process. My 1-drop variation that has the 'must attack' clause wasn't ever that impressive in the drafts.
Yeah; but this means that every creature (that you play in early game) is an elf and also an attacker. Which seems a lot too much.
As I said; I'd use wording 'add
until...' to make the reminder more useful. Comp rules can spell out that mana always drains at end of combat.
The one big downside is that you can't use this mana to power activated evasion abilities, because it's too late. That WILL be confusing; but as long as in-set you don't have those in these colours, you'll be fine.
Are you suggesting that the current version is something worthwhile? Players won't know how that is supposed to work. Heck, I don't know when exactly does the mana dissipate. Does it even last to declare blockers step or deal combat damage step? I would assume that's something most don't want to be thinking the specifics of and new players have no hope of getting correctly. Then after all that we would have to be talking how super niche and useless most of the time the ability is in that it does nothing on its own. The keyword would be horrific all around.
> Hanging around afterwards basically means going back to "Turn 3? How the heck did the game manage to last THAT long!" again.
I'm not sure what you're referring to here. Mana dorks are the bread and butter of MTG basically. We just got Llanowar Elves back in standard.
Not really? It's "Hey, these creatures power my war machine; and these ones consume the power" which seems very workable.
Hanging around afterwards basically means going back to "Turn 3? How the heck did the game manage to last THAT long!" again.
I would wager that having the mana float for after the combat was the intention so that's an assumption I'm making since the alternative is hardly worthy of a discussion tbh.
True. Maybe explicitly have the mana hang around for after combat? Would that be too powerful to use in too many places though? It'd sure provoke every deck to attack a lot.