Welcome to Edition IX of the Pro Tour YMTC! Prou Tour YMTC is one of the most venerable YMTC contests, featuring open entry rounds and elimination finals for great glory. This year, our format will be a little different, consisting of six rounds of open entry followed by a double elimination final. Any contestant who has participated in at least five of the six rounds of Open Entry will be eligible for a wildcard round, joining the Top Seven in the finals.
The Blurb
When the first Kamigawa block rolled out, it was (not that we knew it) the dawn of something of a new age of Magic: the Gathering. Previous sets had largely been their own sort of fantastical kitchen sink, with a common story thread that stretched from Weatherlight at least (and argualby Antiquities) all the way to Fifth Dawn with little in the way of interruptions. However, after Mirrodin block, Magic decided to take a tour, doing uniquely Japanese fantasy in Kamigawa, presenting its (first) take on a world of fairy tales in Lorwyn and steadily growing more such archetypes as time went on. We've done Gothic Horror, Classical Mythology, Egyptian, Norse, Age of Exploration, and more, representing these resonant concepts as new planes, with cards that serve up familiar stories or genre tropes, often with Magic's own little spin on the effort.
Your job this time around is to tap into that resonance and create a new top-down design that shows your take on some genre, time period, or world mythology for Magic to take a swing at. It doesn't have to be something new, but you should bring something new to the table. If, for instance, you want to evoke Greek or Roman mythology, your version should be distinct from Theros as Eldraine is from Shadowmoor. Your one card should capture a familiar story or genre trope (like Rescue from the Underworld or Rooftop Storm) or else show a way you would choose to evoke the target subject matter (like a God card for Theros or a DFC in Innistrad) It can be out there and new, or it can be simple and use existing tech, but it needs to be resonant.
The Prompt
Create a card that evokes in a new way a world mythology, time period, or genre of fiction of your choice. The ideal entry communicates how the subject matter is to be represented in card form, either in the specific or the generic sense, while remaining an interesting card from a mechanical perspective.
I mean to be very loose with the definitions for potential subject matter, as long as the card you make is resonant with something outside M:tG that's broader than a single IP (this isn't meant to be "Universes Beyond Round"), I'm not going to split hairs about whether something is a genre, subgenre, or simply an aesthetic. Do whatever feels right to you, whether that's "Babylonian Mythology", "Tang Dynasty China" or "Cheesy 70's and 80's Fantasy movies" or anywhere in between
DEADLINE: Holidays are done for most of the world, so we'll call it a rough week from when I remembered to add this in -- Deadline is Jan 28, 2023 at 23:59 PST
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"Enjoy your screams, Sarpadia - they will soon be muffled beneath snow and ice."
I'm a (self) published author now! You can find my books on Amazon in Paperback or ebook! The Accursed, a standalone young adult fantasy adventure. Witch Hunters, book one of a young adult Scifi-fantasy trilogy.
Last edited by Tevish Szat on Sat Jan 21, 2023 6:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
Machine Assimilation - Enchantment At the beginning of your end step, exile target non-artifact creature. Then, its controller creates a copy of it, except it is an artifact in addition to its other card types. : Gain control of target artifact. This ability costs less to activate for each artifact you control. Activate this ability only during your turn.
Edit: Yes, one might argue this is just Phyrexia but my defense is that it doesn't modify the creature in any way except turning it artifact. Can't be helped if the first thing I think of are things like Ghost in a Shell and Deus Ex where humanity gradually becomes less 'human' and the question of 'what is humanity' begins (which are subjects I like to see being explored).
Last edited by Confused on Wed Jan 25, 2023 1:28 am, edited 2 times in total.
Urban Financier Creature - Human Noble (U) : Create a tapped Treasure token. Activate this ability only once per turn. Alter Ego - Whenever one or more other creatures you control die, ~ perpetually gains ": Transform ~ until the beginning of your next upkeep." [2/2] -/TDFC/- Byron, Owl City Vigilante Legendary Creature - Human Rogue (U) Menace, Vigilance Equip costs you pay cost less as long as they target ~. Treasures you control have ", Sacrifice: Add . Spend this mana only to cast Equipment spells." [2/2]
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Last edited by EpicLevelCommoner on Sun Jan 22, 2023 5:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Welcome To Hell is a set based on the first book of Dante's Divine Comedy. It has 5 mechanics based in 5 shard color combinations, which represent the various regions of hell. Bant represents Limbo, the place where those who did not sin but also didn't practice Christianity go, such as unbaptized infants and virtuous pagans who never heard the word of Christ. In the center of Limbo, the light of reason shines down, a comfort to those who cannot reach Heaven. This is the basis of Limbo's ability word mechanic, Reason.
Reason - If you've cast an even number of spells this turn, X.
Like Morbid and Landfall, this ability word can appear both on spells and permanents. There are a couple ways to trigger it: you can either use it like Surge as a payoff for playing a cheap spell before it, or in the case of permanents with the trigger, you can opt to pass the turn, because zero is even. Your opponents can play around Reason to some extent (for example, if you've played a spell already, they know it's turned on), but it's also possible to surprise them with a cheap instant followed by your Reason spell, or bait them by playing something pre-combat when you don't actually have a Reason trick.
Self-Discipline Instant (C) Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. Reason - If you've cast an even number of spells this turn, put two +1/+1 counters on that creature instead. "The Chariot of the body must be guided by the driver of the mind, not the horses of appetite."
Disprove Instant (C) Counter target spell unless its controller pays . Reason - If you've cast an even number of spells this turn, counter that spell unless its controller pays instead. The most important thing to know is what one does not know.
Unblessed Infant Creature - Human (U) Reason - At the beginning of your end step, if you've cast an even number of spells this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on Unblessed Infant. 1/1
For my card to be judged, I'll choose Disprove.
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Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Similar to how New Capenna was a unique Magic take on mobster films, SETNAME is a world that melds together the Magic the Gathering fantasy with the classic Superhero comic book vibe.
Street Patrol Creature - Human Citizen | R Vigilance Whenever Street Patrol blocks, gain 1 morality. When Street Patrol dies, if it was blocking, you may pay (3). If you do, return Street Patrol to the battlefield transformed. "Look out!" 1/3
///
Kaldrin, the Aegis Legendary Creature - Human Hero Vigilance Whenever Kaldrin attacks or blocks, other creatures you control gain indestructible until end of turn. "Where ever you may go, know that you have a shield against evil." 3/3
The main set mechanic is Morality. Morality is a trackable resource in game, similar to energy. Unlike other resources, morality's main gimmick is that it can be both positive and negative. If a card causes you to lose two morality and you have none, you go to -2 morality! You may use your morality to pay morality costs. Costs in blue require a payment of positive morality. For example, to pay the cost (3), you would need at least +3 morality, and if you had +5 morality before paying the cost you would end up with +2 morality. Likewise, costs in red require a negative morality to pay. To pay the cost (2), you would need at least -2 morality, and if you had -3 morality before paying the cost you would end up with -1 morality.
Like energy, most cards will both generate and use morality on the same card. The cards that generate and use positive morality will be heroic in theme, whereas the cards that generate and use negative morality will be villainous in theme. All colors will have both heroic and villainous cards, though certain colors may be skewed more towards on than the other. Obviously, heroes and villains don't mix very well. You can build a deck with both heroes and villains in them, but you will have to constantly juggle your morality in order to have the right effects at the right time, which requires much more forethought than a deck with mostly heroes or mostly villains.
Espadia is an “age of exploration” set that focuses on trade. Artifacts and non-humanoid creatures may have the trade mechanic featured below. Some sign-post humanoid creatures and/or enchantments may have triggered abilities that care about trading. Cards may also care about spending mana generated by treasure to cast or activate certain abilities.
Trade – When [card name] enters the battlefield, you may have target opponent gain control of it. If you do, do X. (X does not have to be creating treasure like the example below.)
Regal Drakoline Creature – Drake Cat Trade – When Regal Drakoline enters the battlefield, you may have target opponent gain control of it. If you do, create a treasure token. At the beginning of your upkeep, if you do not own Regal Drakoline, its owner creates a treasure token. 3/3
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magicpablo666 wrote:
You fell victim to one of the classic blunders - The most famous of which is "never get involved in an thread with GM_Champion" - but only slightly less well-known is this: "Never go in against AzureShade when card design is on the line!"
Last edited by AzureShade on Tue Jan 24, 2023 4:59 pm, edited 3 times in total.
So for years I've tossed around the idea of a music set, with the setting being a classical europe inspired plane. Like innistrad crossed with ravnica. Ballroom dances and pianos and fun stuff. Music fills the streets and every room and the sky itself. Perhaps even the plane itself is just a song. Annnyway. Luckily we have yet to see that from magic so. (Also I can make use of the nee performer type)
Harmonize - whenever you cast a spell with even/odd (will match the permanent's) mana value stuff
Fiendish Fiddler Creature - Devil Performer Protection from red Harmonize - Whenever you cast a spell with odd mana value, ~ deals 1 damage to any target and 1 damage to any target of an opponent's choice "Careful, this one may be harsh to untrained ears" 1/1
Joined: Oct 10, 2015 Posts: 3554 Location: California
Identity: Male
Preferred Pronoun Set: he/him/his/his/himself
Correct me if I'm wrong: despite Shakespeare being one of the most widely-known authors in the HISTORY OF THE WORLD, his works haven't anchored a whole set?
Shakespearean books are full of characters who go mad, often for seemingly inexplicable reasons. So one anchor of the set would be madness counters (At the beginning of your upkeep, put a -1/-1 counter on this creature if it has a madness counter on it. When you put a madness counter on a creature, it is said to "go mad". If it has a madness counter on it, effects that reference being mad apply to it.)
And there's faeries, and poisons and everything takes place in Italy though written by an Englishman.
Mantuan Draught Enchantment Enchanted creature doesn't untap during its untap step. At the beginning of their upkeep, enchanted creature's owner may put a madness counter on enchanted creature. If they do, sacrifice Mantuan Draught
Lady McIlvane, Crazed Thaness Legendary Creature-Human Noble (R) Whenever a creature dealt damage by Lady McIlvane this turn dies, Lady McIlvane goes mad. 6/6
Balvermore Dagger Artifact-Equipment (R) Equipped creature gets +1/+1 and has deathtouch When Balvermore Dagger becomes attached to a creature, put a madness counter on that creature. Equip Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand?
I'm a (self) published author now! You can find my books on Amazon in Paperback or ebook! The Accursed, a standalone young adult fantasy adventure. Witch Hunters, book one of a young adult Scifi-fantasy trilogy.
Joined: Mar 14, 2015 Posts: 2346
Preferred Pronoun Set: he/him
This is still a rough idea that I'd like to flesh out more, but my idea is a world where dreams manifest in the waking world, but can only do so while people are asleep. This idea deserves more time than the time I have left, so I may work on this concept more later.
Adevinne, Prophecy Manifest — Legendary Creature — Dream God (M) 3/5 Dreambound 5 (This permanent is phased out as long as there are fewer than five tapped non-Dream creatures on the battlefield.) Indestructible, ward At the beginning of your end step, scry X, where X is the number of tapped creatures you control.
Marie-Guillamette, the Last Queen — Legendary Creature — Vampire Noble (R) At the beginning of your end step, draw a card unless an opponent sacrifices a Food token. At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, he or she may pay . If they do, they create a Food token. "The red-cheeked have no wheat? Let them eat bloodcake!" 1/3
I guess we'll go with urban fantasy, primarily characterized by supernatural elements hidden from the common folk.
Faceless Masquerader Creature — Shapeshifter Elusive (Whenever this creature becomes blocked, you may phase it out.) As ~ phases in, you may have it become a copy of another creature until end of turn. Best be attentive at the city festival, lest you lose sight of yourself. 2/1
I'm a (self) published author now! You can find my books on Amazon in Paperback or ebook! The Accursed, a standalone young adult fantasy adventure. Witch Hunters, book one of a young adult Scifi-fantasy trilogy.
Ah yes, the template. The template for judges. The template specifically prepared for the purpose of judging this contest. The Judges' Template. That template.
Machine Assimilation - Enchantment At the beginning of your end step, exile target non-artifact creature. Then, its controller creates a copy of it, except it is an artifact in addition to its other card types. : Gain control of target artifact. This ability costs less to activate for each artifact you control. Activate this ability only during your turn.
Edit: Yes, one might argue this is just Phyrexia but my defense is that it doesn't modify the creature in any way except turning it artifact. Can't be helped if the first thing I think of are things like Ghost in a Shell and Deus Ex where humanity gradually becomes less 'human' and the question of 'what is humanity' begins (which are subjects I like to see being explored).
Urban Financier Creature - Human Noble (U) : Create a tapped Treasure token. Activate this ability only once per turn. Alter Ego - Whenever one or more other creatures you control die, ~ perpetually gains ": Transform ~ until the beginning of your next upkeep." [2/2] -/TDFC/- Byron, Owl City Vigilante Legendary Creature - Human Rogue (U) Menace, Vigilance Equip costs you pay cost less as long as they target ~. Treasures you control have ", Sacrifice: Add . Spend this mana only to cast Equipment spells." [2/2]
Welcome To Hell is a set based on the first book of Dante's Divine Comedy. It has 5 mechanics based in 5 shard color combinations, which represent the various regions of hell. Bant represents Limbo, the place where those who did not sin but also didn't practice Christianity go, such as unbaptized infants and virtuous pagans who never heard the word of Christ. In the center of Limbo, the light of reason shines down, a comfort to those who cannot reach Heaven. This is the basis of Limbo's ability word mechanic, Reason.
Reason - If you've cast an even number of spells this turn, X.
Like Morbid and Landfall, this ability word can appear both on spells and permanents. There are a couple ways to trigger it: you can either use it like Surge as a payoff for playing a cheap spell before it, or in the case of permanents with the trigger, you can opt to pass the turn, because zero is even. Your opponents can play around Reason to some extent (for example, if you've played a spell already, they know it's turned on), but it's also possible to surprise them with a cheap instant followed by your Reason spell, or bait them by playing something pre-combat when you don't actually have a Reason trick.
Disprove Instant (C) Counter target spell unless its controller pays . Reason - If you've cast an even number of spells this turn, counter that spell unless its controller pays instead. The most important thing to know is what one does not know.
Similar to how New Capenna was a unique Magic take on mobster films, SETNAME is a world that melds together the Magic the Gathering fantasy with the classic Superhero comic book vibe.
Street Patrol Creature - Human Citizen | R Vigilance Whenever Street Patrol blocks, gain 1 morality. When Street Patrol dies, if it was blocking, you may pay (3). If you do, return Street Patrol to the battlefield transformed. "Look out!" 1/3
///
Kaldrin, the Aegis Legendary Creature - Human Hero Vigilance Whenever Kaldrin attacks or blocks, other creatures you control gain indestructible until end of turn. "Where ever you may go, know that you have a shield against evil." 3/3
The main set mechanic is Morality. Morality is a trackable resource in game, similar to energy. Unlike other resources, morality's main gimmick is that it can be both positive and negative. If a card causes you to lose two morality and you have none, you go to -2 morality! You may use your morality to pay morality costs. Costs in blue require a payment of positive morality. For example, to pay the cost (3), you would need at least +3 morality, and if you had +5 morality before paying the cost you would end up with +2 morality. Likewise, costs in red require a negative morality to pay. To pay the cost (2), you would need at least -2 morality, and if you had -3 morality before paying the cost you would end up with -1 morality.
Like energy, most cards will both generate and use morality on the same card. The cards that generate and use positive morality will be heroic in theme, whereas the cards that generate and use negative morality will be villainous in theme. All colors will have both heroic and villainous cards, though certain colors may be skewed more towards on than the other. Obviously, heroes and villains don't mix very well. You can build a deck with both heroes and villains in them, but you will have to constantly juggle your morality in order to have the right effects at the right time, which requires much more forethought than a deck with mostly heroes or mostly villains.
Espadia is an “age of exploration” set that focuses on trade. Artifacts and non-humanoid creatures may have the trade mechanic featured below. Some sign-post humanoid creatures and/or enchantments may have triggered abilities that care about trading. Cards may also care about spending mana generated by treasure to cast or activate certain abilities.
Trade – When [card name] enters the battlefield, you may have target opponent gain control of it. If you do, do X. (X does not have to be creating treasure like the example below.)
Regal Drakoline Creature – Drake Cat Trade – When Regal Drakoline enters the battlefield, you may have target opponent gain control of it. If you do, create a treasure token. At the beginning of your upkeep, if you do not own Regal Drakoline, its owner creates a treasure token. 3/3
So for years I've tossed around the idea of a music set, with the setting being a classical europe inspired plane. Like innistrad crossed with ravnica. Ballroom dances and pianos and fun stuff. Music fills the streets and every room and the sky itself. Perhaps even the plane itself is just a song. Annnyway. Luckily we have yet to see that from magic so. (Also I can make use of the nee performer type)
Harmonize - whenever you cast a spell with even/odd (will match the permanent's) mana value stuff
Fiendish Fiddler Creature - Devil Performer Protection from red Harmonize - Whenever you cast a spell with odd mana value, ~ deals 1 damage to any target and 1 damage to any target of an opponent's choice "Careful, this one may be harsh to untrained ears" 1/1
Correct me if I'm wrong: despite Shakespeare being one of the most widely-known authors in the HISTORY OF THE WORLD, his works haven't anchored a whole set?
Shakespearean books are full of characters who go mad, often for seemingly inexplicable reasons. So one anchor of the set would be madness counters (At the beginning of your upkeep, put a -1/-1 counter on this creature if it has a madness counter on it. When you put a madness counter on a creature, it is said to "go mad". If it has a madness counter on it, effects that reference being mad apply to it.)
And there's faeries, and poisons and everything takes place in Italy though written by an Englishman.
Mantuan Draught Enchantment Enchanted creature doesn't untap during its untap step. At the beginning of their upkeep, enchanted creature's owner may put a madness counter on enchanted creature. If they do, sacrifice Mantuan Draught
This is still a rough idea that I'd like to flesh out more, but my idea is a world where dreams manifest in the waking world, but can only do so while people are asleep. This idea deserves more time than the time I have left, so I may work on this concept more later.
Adevinne, Prophecy Manifest — Legendary Creature — Dream God (M) 3/5 Dreambound 5 (This permanent is phased out as long as there are fewer than five tapped non-Dream creatures on the battlefield.) Indestructible, ward At the beginning of your end step, scry X, where X is the number of tapped creatures you control.
Marie-Guillamette, the Last Queen — Legendary Creature — Vampire Noble (R) At the beginning of your end step, draw a card unless an opponent sacrifices a Food token. At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, he or she may pay . If they do, they create a Food token. "The red-cheeked have no wheat? Let them eat bloodcake!" 1/3
I guess we'll go with urban fantasy, primarily characterized by supernatural elements hidden from the common folk.
Faceless Masquerader Creature — Shapeshifter Elusive (Whenever this creature becomes blocked, you may phase it out.) As ~ phases in, you may have it become a copy of another creature until end of turn. Best be attentive at the city festival, lest you lose sight of yourself. 2/1
some credit to Eurus for the keyword
_________________
"Enjoy your screams, Sarpadia - they will soon be muffled beneath snow and ice."
I'm a (self) published author now! You can find my books on Amazon in Paperback or ebook! The Accursed, a standalone young adult fantasy adventure. Witch Hunters, book one of a young adult Scifi-fantasy trilogy.
Joined: Sep 25, 2013 Posts: 13823 Location: Kamloops, BC
Identity: Male
I've started this, but I'm planning on going to the prerelease after work, so that's going to push it back another day. Edit- Oh, that's next week. Guess there's no procrastinating for this guy!
*"To YMTC it up" means to design cards that have value mostly from a design perspective. i.e. you would put them in a case under glass in your living room and visitors could remark upon the wonderful design principles, with nobody ever worring if the cards are annoying/pointless/confusing in actual play
Joined: Sep 25, 2013 Posts: 13823 Location: Kamloops, BC
Identity: Male
Just got to review my rankings and also look at Mown's card. You can blame couches. I did not have a couch, and now I do. It's pretty hard not to make use of a new couch when you've been without one for a while.
*"To YMTC it up" means to design cards that have value mostly from a design perspective. i.e. you would put them in a case under glass in your living room and visitors could remark upon the wonderful design principles, with nobody ever worring if the cards are annoying/pointless/confusing in actual play
Joined: Sep 25, 2013 Posts: 13823 Location: Kamloops, BC
Identity: Male
Evaluation
Confused
I can see the cyber punk/ tech dystopia vibe coming through here. It's something MTG has touched on before but never really focused in on. The card itself is also pretty similar to Memnarch, but with artifact affinity for the ability. It's not a bad card, but, it's pretty much been done before. The main difference here is that the top end is higher- if you can activate this for just 2 mana, you're probably going to win next turn. 6
EpicLevelCommoner
Nananananananana Owlguy! Ok, superhero world comes through pretty clearly. THe first side is a pretty neat design, and definitely financier-y. The quest for vengeance bit comes through even without the Batman reference. I know this is supposed to be Batman, and he's all rogueish, but the design says "soldier" or "knight". Maybe you should have went for Ironman? Batman up front, Ironman on the back end. Together they form ManMan! Really, sticking to the specific Batman reference holds the card back. It's otherwise pretty hard to see how a pseudoramp creature would turn into an equipment voltron guy because another one of your creatures died. That's 3 rather separate themes you need your multicolor deck to support. I see this ending up mostly being used for the treasure synergy. 7
Cato
A set that takes place in Hell? Hell yeah! Reason's an interesting mechanic. I wasn't immediately sold, but there's potential there. It just ties together the subject matter, the playstyle and the color combo in a way that feels so cohesive. Heh, nice flavor tie in between the card name and mechanic. It would pretty sweet if Welcome To Hell really nailed the theming like that throughout the factions. Neat use of the mechanic too. This is specifically very good at counter spells aimed at spells you just cast- a counter counter spell. Or for the dedicated control player it begs the question of how much mana you want to leave up for the opponent's turn. Very draw, go. 9
Silly
Comics sure do love their heroes and villains. The flavor checks out, and it's all new to MTG! Gaining negative morality vs spending positive morality is hard to grok. Cleaner terminology, or just a more detailed explanation would clear this up a lot, but I imagine it will still be a stumbling block for players. I feel like "morality" is a weird thing to spend. Maybe if it was "honor" or something? Or if it wasn't "spent"? I'd be interested to see just how a set would delve into the morality mechanic. Good and bad morality not mixing well is a good way to divy up abilities and balance out the mechanic, but it would require a big focus on the mechanic for a set to support in effect, 2 separate resources. And to tie it all together I feel you could really delve into designs that want you to keep a low morality # or switch back and forth between good and evil. Having just one moral card makes it hard to judge the power level, but on its own this seems ok. Beyond the new mechanic (which is quite inventive) there's nothing particularly inventive about the design. Something tells me this is going to be the submission the judges can't agree on. 7
AzureShade
Ixalan meets... Mercadia? The focus is pretty much new, but I don't know if this is a new "world mythology, time period, or genre of fiction" for MTG. Really, not much of the setting comes through. I'm mostly just assuming this is an Age Of Exploration motif. The mechanic here sells the mercantile focus pretty well. I suspect Trade will play out better in multiplayer than 1v1 Magic. Not a bad way to make use of early game critters once they're outclassed though. Boards might gum up a bit with all these creatures their new owners want to see run over, but that can probably designed around. 7
LilyStorm
Was this that set I helped brainstorm on the old forums? That was pretty neat. I suppose that's all lost to the aether now, isn't it? Ah well. Definitely not traditional MTG territory. Harmonize is a neat mechanic. I always love when a mechanic makes you revaluate cards on new terms. I'd probably give even and odd harmonies different names to make it clear at a glance. Maybe even give even and odd numbers totally different mechanics? This can pretty much only find a home in suicide red. You need to be pretty sure that your opponent needs their life points or creatures more than you do to make this worthwhile. Pretty narrow, but not necessarily a bad design for that. Will complicate a lot of decision trees though and potentially make players on both sides hesitate to play their low cost critters. I see unfun play patterns developing, but somehow I still love your fiddler. I had a similar experience with Phyrexia's poison mechanic... 8
purplebackpack89
It's kind of weird to have a counter that grants other counters. I kind of want this to be some sort of game state, but then you'd just mark it with a counter anyway. I'm not sure there's a better way to do this. It works in theory but I fear it's messy in practice. I do like the idea of other cards that can reference creatures that are "mad", or even creatures that want to go mad. I'm assuming that having multiple madness counters doesn't stack. You can guarantee a creature doesn't untap for one turn and then your opponent gets to choose between keeping it tapped or putting a -1/-1 counter on it starting next turn. It also doesn't tap the creature on its own. Bubble Snare would indicate your card is badly overcosted. This is Bubble Snare without the optional upside plus the opponent has an out. You can't even rely on the aspect because the opponent has to opt in. Shakespeare world would be pretty cool. The closest we've come is Eldraine and it's something of a stretch to get there from Shakespeare. If we do go SHakespeare, a mechanic like this would be a great fit. This is one card that sort of demands flavor text. 4
Q is 564453
Dream world's new. The mechanic's a good fit. It is however a bad mechanic. I get the sleeping/tapped connection- that's great. Having things phase in and out whenever a creature dies or enters the battlefield could lead to a lot of confusion, but there' also a lot of room for players to do something fun with that. 5 is too high. Going up to 3, I think a player can scan the table and pretty much instantly tell if there are enough tapped creatures to make trigger the mechanic. Upwards of that I suspect it starts to be a hassle. Doing the math also hugely complicates each players attacking and blocking decisions as they try to figure out how many creatures will be tapped once attackers are committed. Having a variable in Dreambound multiplies the complexity by the number of different dreambound #'s are in play. You need to stick with just one number and it needs to be lower than 5. This is pretty close to being something I'd love, but it falls short. If I sound down on you, it's because you come really close to something good. If it just sucked I wouldn't care. As an individual splashy design, a lot of the complexity could be justified. This doesn't feel quite as impactful as the Theros gods. If a creature's only "on" half the time, then it needs to feel like a big deal. This seems pretty strong, but I like to feel a bit more awe from my gods. This is just a value engine that becomes late game beef- a useful tool, but it doesn't inspire my devotion. I love how the static ability synergizes with the god's awakening condition.
ty
That flavor is painful. I'm actually bleeding. That might be unrelated, but I'm just feeling the pain now. I guess this is a French Revolution set? With vampires? I dig it, but I'm having a hard time pinning down exactly what the setting is here. I have an idea of the events of the story, but not the place or what makes it special. Early modern Europe but the nobles are literal monsters? That's kind of close to Innistrad, but whatever the mood is here, I'm guessing it's not horror. I'm a little worried that the flavor is more or less entirely based on a historical quote. Some of the most notable words in history, but would players in China get the reference? It's fine if one card's an injoke, but I'm looking for something to convey the impression of a set. That doesn't hurt the card really, but my grasp on your setting is a little shaky. Mechanics sell the reference quite well. Like, Don Draper selling. This is a pretty hard to judge in terms of power, but I suspect it is too strong. Unless the opponent was already playing a food deck, they have to pay to get the food, then to use it. That's 5 just to keep you from drawing a card. Of course, that can be spread out over turns and the opponent does get 3 life for their trouble. Oh, I see, they just sacrifice a food to the creature's ability. That's way less ridiculous! See, that's why I have to double check these things. Still, your opponent has to pay enough mana for a Phyrexian Arena or cede you serious card advantage. That kind of resource sink creates a huge tempo swing even if you don't get a card. Marie is pretty much guaranteed to draw you a card the turn you play her. Your opponent can't possibly produce food to ward her off on their 2nd turn either, so if you're on the play, that's another easy draw. For the next few turns, the cost to aquire food is still back-breaking. That's super flavorful, but may make people actually feel like their starving on the eve of Revolution. I do love that flavor though. And that cheesy name and flavor text. 5
Mown
I suppose we could count Ravnica as urban fantasy, but this is something different. This is a world where most people don't even know magic exists. Low fantasy. Underground fantasy. That's new to MTG. Your stealthy design exemplifies the hidden flavor of the world. I wish it told me something about the world your writeup didn't. All I learned is that this city doesn't put much effort into naming its festivals. A two mana clone is always pretty valuable. Needing an opponent's say so to get the clone effect is a big drawback, but at least they have to compensate you by taking 2 damage to the face. An interesting ability to put on something so cheap, but it balances out. And getting to pick new targets every 2nd turn? This is a card that could lead you interesting places. 8
*"To YMTC it up" means to design cards that have value mostly from a design perspective. i.e. you would put them in a case under glass in your living room and visitors could remark upon the wonderful design principles, with nobody ever worring if the cards are annoying/pointless/confusing in actual play
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less to activate for each artifact you control. Activate this ability only during your turn.
, Sacrifice: Add 
instead.
. If they do, they create a Food token. 
aspect because the opponent has to opt in.
