Yup, i just figured that was something you overlooked!

I think if you can cast other players' exiled spells as well, because it's breaking such a fundamental rule, it should be explicit.
"You can cast exiled non-land cards owned by any player."

Well if you want to make it explict I would put it in reminder text, not rules text. It has no place in rules text. But a reminder text is fine I think.

Either way I think you should only be able to play your own, from a balance standpoint. This is the all-encompassing clinic after all.

I agree with Innuendo about making it only your cards.

Also, I think maybe it should instead of being a 2/2 maybe it would be better suited with a higher toughness and lower power. Maybe instead of a 2/2 maybe it should be a 1/3. I think that this card is an interesting Idea but I don't think I'd like it to be so weak toughness-wise.

Pichoro - Oh, new wording... Yeah, the cards were created before. I'll see to it.

Picks-at-Flies - Very well, that's what I'll do.

Basically, I have been working on a set for just kicks and giggles, but yet, I still wish for the cards to sound right... and thats my problem. I can't shake the feeling that I have typed most of them in some form of a broken english, so I ask unto the community to kindly read over and correct my grammar in the few cards I present. Who knows, I may even inspire someone with my mishmash. (I seemed to have noticed, most of the cards I feel uneasy about the wordings are legendary creatures... odd aye?)

<name> 1
Artifact - Equipment
Equipped creature gains “For the first time this creature deals combat damage this turn, you may have it deal damage to target creature equal to equipped creature’s strength.”
Equip 6

<name> WWW
Legendary Creature - Spirit
If <name> or a creature <name> is enchanting is destroyed, <name> returns to play as an enchant creature with the ability “enchanted creature gains +2/+2” and enchant it to target creature.
2/2

<name> (B/R)(B/R)RR
Legendary Creature - Human
When <name> comes into play, put a fire counter onto <name>.
At the beginning of your upkeep, place a fire counter on <name>.
<name>’s power and toughness are equal to the number of fire counters on <name>.
2Tap: Remove all fire counters from <name> and deal that much damage to target creature or player.
*/*

<name> 2
Legendary Creature - Golem
As an additional cost to play <name>, sacrifice a creature. Substitute <name>’s attack and toughness for the sacrificed creature’s converted mana cost. <name>’s color becomes the sacrificed creature’s color.
If <name> would be destroyed, instead tap <name> and place a -2/-2 counter on <name>.
X/X

<name> 4(W/U)U
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard
Any creature with an ice counter on it can not untap, use its abilities, attack, or defend.
At the beginning of your phase, remove one ice counter from each creature
If <name> deals any damage to another creature, place 1 ice counter per damage on that creature.
2U: Deal damage equal to Freze’s attack to target creature.
(2/U)(2/U)UU: Deal damage equal to all ice counters in play plus one to any target.
2/3

Here:

I reworded them, I'll leave the balancing to someone else.
However, the last one strikes me as incredibly off-color. The card is completely red.

I'm starting work on a new set, based upon Greek Mythology, and i'm giving each of the 12 titans (Mythologically speaking, the 12+ Gods before the Olympians overthrew them, sociologically speaking mostly older Gods worshipped across Greece before the various cults were overthrown or absorbed by the worshippers of deities who became the 12+ Olympians).

I initially was working with the premise of them all being 6/6, and 6CC, but with an additional cost drawback. However, I started to play with the idea a little bit and came up with this,

Themis
3GGG
Creature-Titan
As an additional cost to play Themis, you gain 10 life.
As long as your life total is less than that of any one opponent, creatures you control get +1/+1.
6/6

I.E a very different way of 'costing' you an advantage.

From a mythological point of view, this card along with all the Titans should be Legendary and Mythic Rare. But a) that would instantly mean 12 mythic rares, when modern sets have 13 or so I believe, b) 12 legendary creatures all based around a theme seems a bit much, but most importantly c) this could lead to Kamigawa syndrome, where we ended up with 150 legendary cards across that block. 150. Given the number of singular or mythical creatures in the context of Ancient Greek myth, we could end up with something similar if not worse.

It's a cool idea, but I think then people would just play them for life gain without caring about whatever else they do (especially red) and immediately sack them with Rite of Consumption or something. Themis already gives you more than Sylvan Bounty and you can't respond to it. Plus I don't think I would have much fun getting into a position where I might win and then need to take a ton of hits if I want to use the ability. If the titans didn't have unstoppable life gain and were just "as long as your life total is equal to or greater than X, then <ability>," they'd be pretty fun. Might even be fun to have a titan with "you can't lose the game" just to play free pacts.

Your set would be a pretty good place to use Grandeur, which would take care of your second problem.

what's wrong with kamigawa block having many legendaries? The new legend rule absolved any possible issues. In some cases the legend rule was a plus since it allowed opponents to deal with nutty cards such as Umezawa's Jitte just by playing their own.

what's a mythic rare? Is it just another rarity?

anyway I don't think Themis and the idea of positive costs are bad I think the idea is rather neat

If the card said "if your life total is equal to or greater than X" that wouldn't necessarily be very fun, plus it's "win more". As opposed to cards like Convalescent Care, Second Chance, Pulse of the Forge and the Pulse cycle, if you ask me, those are fun.

I don't think all of them would gain life. The additional cost could be different for each one. (I doubt the red one would gain life)

Since the cost isn't really one, just use "When ~ enters the battlefield, gain 10 life." That way, it can be Stifled, but it could be used as combo, so it just gives new ways to use the card.

@Wavy: Except the cards you listed are different; they don't gain you life first. I'm trying to remedy the original idea, which beforehand was "win more then lose more to make a comeback?" It seems like you're just trying to contradict me without considering why I gave the suggestion I did.

When people talk about the number of legendaries not being fun I'm pretty it's not because of that--I personally didn't like it because it made deckbuilding unpleasant. Most people like to run 4 of their best cards to keep things consistent, and when you're running 2 of everything instead you get, well, an inconsistent deck.

Well, I pretty much have to agree with Wavy. We already have a wide series of creatures with CIP effects (Lorwyn elementals), and recent Magic has a recent run of extremely strong 6 mana creatures. All Daeres is doing is bringing the CIP effect to when it's cast - more powerful against counters, prevents people responding to the effect, but doesn't get the same advantage when it's brought to play by other means. There is a slight question of balance - is 10 life too much? - but lifegain itself has been repeatedly proven to be underpowered in competitive play. Moreover, the body you actually get is pretty unimpressive (compare to Vigor). My answer then: a positive cost is fine, but as with all splashy cards they are going to be cutting a fine line with game balance.

As for the legendary/non-legendary issue: I think there is a place for legendary creatures, but in this case I agree with you. Besides, the Greek legends are so muddled, there could easily be multiples - each region will have had its own variants. Definitely more fun this way too. I'm one of the people who was completely unimpressed by Kamigawa and, yes, that included the legends theme. Most decks ran 4 of their legends anyway...

"win more then lose more to make a comeback?"

It's a win-win situation. And as far as both players are concerned, it might contribute to a good, solid, tug-of-war game.

If it gained you life and asked you to remain ahead in life, the card would be one-dimensional in a way. If you're not ahead in life, the card becomes pointless.

I think this card would be much cooler if it was something like

At the beginning of your upkeep, gain 1 life.

instead of an instant 10.

Makes the effect more back and forth, makes it less possible to do the one shot ten life and then sac it or something similiar. It makes a 6/6 body with two good abilities not as broken. And it just seems more fun for player number 2. This sort of card would just piss other players off. You gain ten life and have a 6/6 body at the end for 6cc. That's a bit much. If you make it like the above, it's a slow effect that could add up, but the opposing player has time to deal with it.

I thought about doing two life, but that seemed like a bit much. 1 life a turn on a 6/6 body is good. Plus it helps the 2nd effect trigger more.

You could do the cycle in color, something like:

U: Each turn draw, while you have less cards in hand, creatures get flying
W: Each turn put a 1/1 spirit into play, while you have less creatures, they get lifelink/first strike/both
R: each turn draw two cards and discard a card at random? I dunno really what to do for red here, it just seems like finding a possitive cost is hard.
B: Each turn put a creature form your gy into play (this is like that white chick a few sets back), while you have less creatures, they get fear/deathtouch/who knows

Either way you get the idea, it's a good idea for a cycle like they myojins. And 6cc doesn't have to be static since the rest of the effects would tie the cycle together tight enough you could wander on cost a bit to ballance.

I will look at your idea of making it upkeep related, but I'll just show you where I was going with other Titans.

Crius
3RRR
Legendary Creature-Titan (yeah I think it's probably a good idea to make these legendary)
As an additional cost to play Crius, choose one— target creature you don’t control gets four +1/+1 counters, or Crius comes into play with four -1/-1 counters.
Haste, trample
6/6

Kronos
3UUU
Legendary Creature-Titan
As an additional cost to play Kronos, until the beginning of your next turn spells you play are countered.
UUU, T: Return all permanents that were played since the beginning of this turn to their owner’s hands.
6/6

Phoebe
3WWW
Legendary Creature-Titan
As an additional cost to play Phoebe, tap all plains you control.
At the end of your turn, if you control no untapped plains, you gain 4 life.
6/6

While I like the fact that green does in fact get the best of them all (far too unusual for the 'creature' colour), I notice that none of the others has a positive additional cost. Are you moving away from that?

I like Kronos but I think it would be better to have it as "you can't play spells until the beginning of your next turn." The actual wording for what you want to do would be longer--"until the beginning of your next turn, whenever you play a spell, counter it," which sounds kind of wonky with three commas. He should probably lose you a few more turns of spells as well because it is a mono-blue 6/6 for 6...

I like Crius' ability too, but I don't like mixing counters...

Except that it won't give you a tug of war game. In the games I play, any threatening creature I don't find a way to protect within a turn or two is gonna get axed (so I guess, Daeres, if you want to still go with the original way you might want to give Themis enemy-shroud). Even if I do have protection for my Themis, the opponent is still building up steam in the turns I'm waiting for him to lower my life total. If he's lived that long and has already been able to take out that 10 by then, he'll probably be able to do enough damage to kill me.

I gave my suggestion because if you gain 10 life, you will in almost all cases have more than your opponent (unless you are losing badly, in which case Themis puts you in a position to compete instead of "win more," and is then creating a tug-of-war game). And no, the card does not become pointless if you don't have enough life for the second ability. It already gained you 10 at a very competitive cost for that alone (it's still really good with Innuendo's suggestion, which I agree is much less broken), and a 6/6 for 6 (now assumed to have enemy-shroud) is definitely not pointless.

And what's wrong with cards that can make you win more? Cruel Ultimatum and Nicol Bolas both do that and people love them. In Standard someone should usually be in a position to win by around turn seven anyway. Having an Ultimatum at worst is going to make you win more or finish off a stalemated game, in which case you've already won so why complain. At best it's going to turn a game that's been going badly for you completely on its ear and give you back your edge to win.

Themis, Bolas, etc. aren't even really "win more" cards. A real card like that is something which won't help you at all unless you're already winning, like Blood Tyrant (hence why it's called "win more"--it's all you can do with it).

It wasn't that, it's that I was making cards for 12 titans and I felt like posting 11 cards in the clinic would be a bit much at once.

Having said that... Let's have another go at Phoebe

Phoebe
3WWW
Legendary Creature-Titan
As an additional cost to play Phoebe, untap all plains you control.
At the end of your turn, if you control no tapped plains, return a card from your graveyard to your hand.
6/6

In fact, I may as well post the rest of the 12 Titans.

Theia
3WWW
Legendary Creature-Titan
As an additional cost to play Theia, prevent all damage your creatures would deal this turn.
WWW, T: Put a +1/+1 counter onto all creatures that dealt damage to your opponent this turn.
6/6

Coeus
3UUU
Legendary Creature-Titan
As an additional cost to play Coeus, show target opponent the top five cards of your library. He or she puts them back in any order.
UUU, T: Creatures you control gain shroud and are unblockable until end of turn.

Hyperion
3UUU
Legendary Creature-Titan
As an additional cost to play Hyperion, both players draw a card.
All players may draw from the bottom of their library, and may play spells from their graveyard.
6/6

Mnemosyne
3UUU
Legendary Creature-Titan
As an additional cost to play Mnemosyne, shuffle all graveyards into their owners’ libraries.
UUU, T: Draw cards equal to the number of cards in your graveyard.
6/6

Oceanus
3UUU
Legendary Creature-Titan
As an additional cost to play Oceanus, sacrifice all creatures you control. If there are none to sacrifice, Oceanus comes into play with five -1/-1 counters.
UUU, T: Tap target creature and target land.
6/6

Iapetos
3BBB
Legendary Creature-Titan
As an additional cost to play Iapetos, discard your hand.
BBB, T: Target indestructible creature gets -X/-X until end of turn, where X is equal to the number of cards in your graveyard.
6/6

Rhea
3GGG
Legendary Creature-Titan
As an additional cost to play Rhea, sacrifice lands equal to the number of creatures your opponent controls.
GGG, T: Search your library for a Titan creature card with converted mana cost X, where X is equal the number of land cards in your graveyard, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
6/6

Tethys
3GGG
Legendary Creature-Titan
As an additional cost to play Tethys, put all nonbasic lands you control on top of their owner’s library in any order.
Lands you control have shroud.
6/6

Both players draw a card, haha. "both players" It's so true, isn't it. But try "each player"

Mnemosyne seems incredibly powerful. But then I see its ability costs and it shuffles away your graveyard as part of its cost. Hmm.... it just might work.

Rhea could say "Titan creature card with converted mana cost X or less"

Theia's drawback seems pretty pointless since you could just cast it after you attacked.

Iapetos seems like such an unfortunate card. Discard your hand, wow. And not only does its ability only work on indestructible creatures, but even then it's not even guaranteed to kill them. Consider allowing it to target any creature and not just indestructible creatures. At the very least make the activation cost free, or have it say "exile target indestructible creature". See also Visara the Dreadful.

Since all the Titans cost exactly the same, 'or less' seems a bit superfluous lol.

Theia's drawback is that you can't give any creatures the bonus until at least the turn after it comes into play.

Theia's ability has that drawback by default, since Theia is affected by summoning sickness. Even if Theia had haste, you would have to pay 9 mana in one turn which is rather unrealistic.

As for Rhea, after reading it I assumed that there would be more titans with mana costs other than 6. But if they all cost 6, then what you really mean to say with Rhea is "If you have exactly six land cards in your graveyard, search your library for a Titan creature card and put it into your hand."

Considering that you have to sacrifice your lands anyway when you play it, then the only purpose the "X is equal the number of land cards in your graveyard" clause serves is to leave the player stranded if he she has more or less than 6 lands in the graveyard. (less than 6, if the player used creatures/artifacts that produced mana in order to case Rhea. More than 6, if the player discarded a land card early on)

Why not have Rhea be able to search any creature, not just Titans. That way, the number of land cards in your graveyard actually becomes more of a factor rather than a restriction.

But if not, then I have another idea for Titan: One that has both "as an additional cost to play CARDNAME, pay 10 life" and "use this ability only if your life total is exactly 10". heh heh heh

I'm going to ignore Wavy's comments for now, not because I disgree with them, but because I don't want to get distracted by them.

Firstly:
16 creatures at this mana cost is somewhat too repetitive. I would suggest bumping some up to 7cmc and some down to 5. This does mean that the 7cmc ones can be even more outrageous. I'm also wondering if you're going to do a Titan 'lord'

You also seem to be weighted towards blue. Is that deliberate?

Finally some drawbacks and abilities work better than others. In order:
Phoebe - Strange synergy with Plains, but also somewhat a weak restriction under the incoming rules which remove mana burn. Also, recovering cards from your graveyard to hand is green not white. The white ability is that of Rheya Dawnbringer. A Titan version of her would be fine at 7CMC if you can find a better restriction on creature recovery (maybe count plains you control). Or make this one green.

Theia - The cost to play is pretty pointless as written, and unfortunately the ability seems to work against you having a big creature in play. Can she have Vigilance?

Coeus - This one looks powerful but if you are in the position (in constructed play) where she lets your swarm of creatures attack for the win, then you were probably already there. Instead blue gets a 6/6 creature with a sometimes-important ability. Actually, the Future Sight mechanic Fateseal seems appropriate for your set, and I wonder if you could work it in as the additional cost. Considering the strength of the card, it could be a positive cost.

Hyperion - I like the bottom draw thing, and I like the equal draw (although it could be 2 or 3 each to give it a legendary feel). Alternatively, it would be a good candidate for a 5CMC slot. It should NOT let you play cards from your graveyard. Lightning Bolt anyone?

Mnesonyne - Awesome (it could be nasty if Zombified though; good candidate for 7cmc slot)

Oceanus - Actually feels black, and also seems a good candidate for a 5cmc slot. Also, I don't think it needs the -1/-1 counters alternative, the cost is already strong enough.

Lapetos - Nice, but I think drop the word "indestructible". At that cost, it's fine for it to be powerful.

Rhea - I think the cost is fine, but I would skip the awkward count. I would suggest that the cost is powerful enough that you can simply search your deck for a Titan and put it into play. It makes the card a lot more powerful in theory, but that also means your deck is full of cards with high and risky casting costs, plus you may end up sacrificing your lands. With that in mind, I think this is a good candidate for a 5cmc casting cost.

Tethys - I absolutely love the additional cost, but it makes the benefit really weak. I would suggest making the ability: "Whenever you tap a land for mana, add an additional to your mana pool." If there is significant land destruction in the set, then maybe include shroud as well, but it seems somewhat pointless.

I hope that makes sense.

Having listened to the pair of you in fairly equal measure, here is the new and improved 12 Titans, though with them all still at the same cost atm. Still open to changes.

Phoebe
3WWW
Legendary Creature-Titan
As an additional cost to play Phoebe, untap all plains you control.
At the end of your turn, if you control no tapped plains, you gain 4 life.
6/6

Theia
3WWW
Legendary Creature-Titan
As an additional cost to play Theia, put two 1/1 white Spirit tokens into play.
WWW, T: Put a +1/+1 counter onto all creatures you control that attacked or blocked this turn. Play this ability only during your end step.
6/6

Coeus
3UUU
Legendary Creature-Titan
As an additional cost to play Coeus, show target opponent the top five cards of your library. He or she puts them back in any order.
UUU, T: Creatures you control gain shroud and are unblockable until end of turn.
6/6

Hyperion
3UUU
Legendary Creature-Titan
As an additional cost to play Hyperion, all players draw two cards.
All players may draw from the bottom of their library.
6/6

Kronos
3UUU
Legendary Creature-Titan
As an additional cost to play Kronos, you cannot play spells until the beginning of your next turn.
UUU, T: Return all permanents that were played since the beginning of your last turn to their owner’s hands.
6/6

Mnemosyne
3UUU
Legendary Creature-Titan
As an additional cost to play Mnemosyne, shuffle all graveyards into their owners’ libraries.
UUU, T: Draw cards equal to the number of cards in your graveyard.
6/6

Iapetos
3BBB
Legendary Creature-Titan
As an additional cost to play Iapetos, discard your hand.
BBB, T: Target creature gets -X/-X until end of turn, where X is equal to the number of cards in your graveyard.
6/6

Oceanus
3BBB
Legendary Creature-Titan
As an additional cost to play Oceanus, sacrifice all creatures you control. If there are none to sacrifice, Oceanus comes into play with five -1/-1 counters.
BBB, T: Tap target creature and target land.
6/6

Crius
3RRR
Legendary Creature-Titan
As an additional cost to play Crius, choose one— target creature you don’t control gets four +1/+1 counters, or Crius comes into play with four -1/-1 counters.
Haste, trample
6/6

Rhea
3GGG
Legendary Creature-Titan
As an additional cost to play Rhea, sacrifice any number of lands.
GGG, T: Search your library for a creature card with converted mana cost X, where X is equal the number of land cards in your graveyard, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
6/6

Tethys
3GGG
Legendary Creature-Titan
As an additional cost to play Tethys, put all nonbasic lands you control on top of their owner’s library in any order.
Whenever you tap a land for mana, add an additional G to your mana pool.
6/6

Themis
3GGG
Legendary Creature-Titan
As an additional cost to play Themis, you gain 10 life.
As long as your life total is less than that of any one opponent, creatures you control get +1/+1.
As long as your life total is greater than that of any one opponent, creatures you control get -1/-1.
6/6

Looking good. I could suggest further tweaks but inevitably some are going to be better than others. I will suggest adding a 'class' to each of them, just for extra colour, but after that I think I'll just say - when you've done other elements of your set, please do start a thread so we can see it

white does have at least some history of returning things from the graveyard, although it often deals with artifacts and enchantments. Bringer of the White Dawn, Leonin Squire, Breath of Life, Celestial Gatekeeper, Death or Glory, Mine Excavation, Order of Whiteclay, Pulsemage Advocate, Resurrection... and such. :]

also, I think it could be ok to have a card that allows you to play spells from the graveyard, so long as you have it so instants/sorceries played this way are exiled instead of going back to the graveyard. See Yawgmoth's Will. (note: That card is banned in Legacy and restricted in Vintage. Take into consideration whether or not your card would be too powerful with this ability.)

Crius is unbelievable - you have an additional cost that not only targets a creature but give you a choice as well. At this point, wonder why not just have it as a comes-into-play ability.

don't know what to say about Kronos, but did you see Vedalken Mastermind

Good job on the rest. I like the improvements on Tethis, Theia, Rhea, and Iapetos. And I agree, Mnemosyne is fantastic.

I like the Titans a lot.

I would suggest that Crius would be "As an additional cost to play Crius, choose one— target creature you don’t control gets +4/+4 until end of turn, or when Crius comes into play, it gets -4/-4 until end of turn." Or maybe just use the first part. It just seems too underpowered for 3RRR 6/6 if it gives permanent boosts.

I think Oceanus' ability could be free of maybe just B.

I think Hyperion should read "As an additional cost to play Hyperion, each players draws two cards."

----------------------------------------------

Here are some cards I am working; wondering if they are balanced.

Spellshort - (R)
Instant
Counter target spell. Tap all lands that spell's controller controls and empty that player's mana pool.

Obviously, a combo of the usual counterspell plus Mana Short. Seems like it would be powerful because it counters and pretty much shuts off the rest of the turn. But then Silence (Magic 2010) does the second half, in effect, for so I am not sure if it is overcosted.

Spirit of Eternity - (R)
Creature - Spirit
Flying
Creatures you control get +1/+1 if ~ is exiled.
3/3

A different take on the exile zone. Might be pushing it though.

Manaforge Sledge - (R)
Artifact - Equipment
Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage, add that much red mana to your mana pool. This mana does not empty from your mana pool until end of turn.
Equipped creature gets +2/+0.
Equip

Could be nuts...

Spellshort - seems fine for (counter plus effect) but might be better at .

Spirit of Eternity - does it give +1/+1 counters, or bonus until end of turn? Considering it requires Exiling to trigger, the counters seem more likely.

Manaforge Sledge - I agree, it could be nuts - except it's too expensive to be used. It's more expensive than Loxodon Warhammer with a much more restricted effect. I would suggest lowering CC to .

Spellshort and the sledge are nice ideas though; Spellshort doesn't actually need to be rare. Spirit of Eternity just seems to be one of those cards that needs to be made to fill in common/uncommon slots.

Thanks for the comments.
I was thinking a possible as well.... I had it at rare mostly because it was a strange effect and was very closely related to Mana Short which was also rare. I agree that it doesn't really need to be though.

Spirit of Eternity gives +1/+1 to all your creatures while it is in the exile zone. So it is not triggered, it is static that only takes effect while it is exiled (kind of like the idea of Anger but for the exiled zone). A triggered ability would be along the lines of "leaves play" effects. Not anything special there.

I would do "Creatures you control get +1/+1 [i]while[/] ~ is exiled" then. While makes it clearer that it's a static effect.

I could also go closer to what Anger and friends do and say "As long as ~ is exiled, creatures you control get +1/+1"

2UU seems really good for Spellshort since it's close to a Time Warp effect or Time Stop which both cost more. Then again there is Power Sink, at least back when it was printed.

Manaforge Sledge is too expensive. Maybe make it 3 to cast and 2 to equip making it comparable to Sword of Fire and Ice except that it gives you mana instead of card advantage.

I am glad everyone thinks that Manaforge can cost less. I was thinking it wouldn't be useable at the cost I had it. I think I'll go with 3 and 2.

EDIT - Also, a question about the wording (or symbols?). Should it be:

"Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage, add that much red mana to your mana pool. This mana does not empty from your mana pool until end of turn."
or
"Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage, add that much to your mana pool. This mana does not empty from your mana pool until end of turn."

The first one is the proper way I think. But personally the second one works rather nicely. Imagine there was a point when mana sources never added to your mana pool, they had to spell it out and say "one colorless mana". Maybe one day Salt Marsh will say ": Add to your mana pool" That would be hot.

By the way I was coming up with a new faction of Rebels, here's about 12 of them so far:

I have a Rebel/Mercenary-like faction for each color now. It seems the Rebels/Mercenary theme is taking over my set. I thought it was supposed to be about creature lands, what's the deal.

Oath Maelstrom, Last Resort
Legendary Creature - Human Soldier Lord
Prevent all damage that would be dealt to Soldiers you control.
When CARDNAME leaves play, exile all Soldiers you control. You may search your library for a Soldier creature card and put it into the battlefield, then shuffle your library.
3/3

First off, 3 creature types is going a bit heavy on them. There are a lot of exploits for something with that many creature types, both good and bad.

Also, this creature makes a soldier deck absolutely terrible against any sort of blue deck. For , the opponent can cast Unsummon on Oath Maelstrom, and exile ALL of the rest of your soldiers. Sure, you get to find a single soldier creature and put it into play, but with the CMC of 6 on this sucker, you're probably going to have a lot of soldiers in play already, and losing them all for would be pretty devastating.

I would recommend a fix like the following:

Oath Maelstrom, Last Resort
Legendary Creature - Human Soldier
Prevent all damage that would be dealt to Soldiers you control.
If ~ would leave the battlefield, exile it instead. You may search your library for a Soldier creature card and put it into the battlefield. Shuffle your library after.
3/3

Not to mention "Lord" isn't a valid creature type and hasn't been for a while.

I've started designing a third cycle of creatures for my set - there are already Angels, and I will design the demons later, but the third set of creatures are going to be Human Wizards, who are caught in the middle of the battle. And I was interested in a cycle of costed ones that have a new mechanic and a few abilities.

Wizard One
Creature - Human Wizard
~ is blue.
: Draw a card, and then discard a card. ~ deals one damage to you.
Soulbind (Whenever this creature is dealt damage, it deals that amount of damage to you)
0/1

Wizard Two
Creature - Human Wizard
~ is red.
: ~ deals one damage to target creature or player, and one damage to you.
Soulbind (Whenever this creature is dealt damage, it deals that amount of damage to you)
0/1

Wizard Three
Creature - Human Wizard
~ is green
: Add to your mana pool. ~ deals one damage to you.
Soulbind (Whenever this creature is dealt damage, it deals that amount of damage to you)
0/1

Wizard Four
Creature - Human Wizard
~ is white.
: Target creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn. ~ deals one damage to you.
Soulbind (Whenever this creature is dealt damage, it deals that amount of damage to you)
0/1

Wizard Five
Creature - Human Wizard
~ is black.
: Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn. ~ deals one damage to you.
Soulbind (Whenever this creature is dealt damage, it deals that amount of damage to you)
0/1

I like the basic idea behind this set, although I'd like it better if the abilities had "Pay 1 life" as part of their costs instead of dealing damage as part of their effects. Ditto with Soulbind, I'd rather it lost you that much life instead of dealing that much damage to you. Too many ways to get around damage. If you want to keep these balanced, I think you should use lifeloss instead.

So something more akin to this (I changed the black one, I like the discard flavor of black a little more than the -1/-1 flavor):

Wizard One
Creature - Human Wizard
~ is blue.
, Pay 1 life: Draw a card, and then discard a card.
Soulbind (Whenever this creature is dealt damage, you lose that much life.)
0/1

Wizard Two
Creature - Human Wizard
~ is red.
, Pay 1 life: ~ deals one damage to target creature or player.
Soulbind (Whenever this creature is dealt damage, you lose that much life.)
0/1

Wizard Three
Creature - Human Wizard
~ is green
, Pay 1 life: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
Soulbind (Whenever this creature is dealt damage, you lose that much life.)
0/1

Wizard Four
Creature - Human Wizard
~ is white.
, Pay 1 life: Target creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
Soulbind (Whenever this creature is dealt damage, you lose that much life.)
0/1

Wizard Five
Creature - Human Wizard
~ is black.
, Pay 1 life: Target player discards a card.
Soulbind (Whenever this creature is dealt damage, you lose that much life.)
0/1

The soulbind mechanic could lead to some nasty other effect cards, perhaps one soulbinding all your opponent's creatures to them.

Spirit Fetters
Artifact
Creatures controlled by your opponents have Soulbind (Whenever that creature is dealt damage, its controller loses that much life)

It turns cards like Pyroclasm into game winners.

I think the wizards are pushing the boundaries. I agree with the pay/loss of life. I think the white and blue ones are fairly balanced but the otehr ones are too much. I would suggest:

The red damage only creatures or players, not both.

The green needs to be something else because mana for has been proven to be broken and paying life is not a valid drawback. Maybe change the green one to +2/+0 on a creature and the white one to +0/+2?

The black is ridiculously overpowered. This card alone can be game over. This is the best first turn drop of all time and can be played in any deck without any deckbuilding changes/restrictions. Every deck will probably have 4. Players will most likely mulligan until they get this for their first turn drop. Think if you got two of them. Ouch. Anyways, I think that a -1/-1 or maybe even just -0/-1 or -1/-0 is better.

Also, it seems a little pointless to have a 0 mana cycle with color related abilities when there is nothing linking them to their respective colors. You can play the black one in a mono-red deck with no adjustments and so on. I would suggest some type of restrictions to make the color matter. It would also help with the balancing too. Maybe you can only play it if you control a basic land type of that color? Or reveal a card of that color from your hand? Or even further to more balance them and maybe up the power level, you could discard a land of that type/card of that color (but I don't think that is where you are taking these ones).
You could make one without the restrictions too and give him a color generic ability.

PS - I like Soulbind and the Spirit Fetters idea too.

After some tweaking, here are the final (hopefully) versions of the 0-drop wizards, plus a 6th one that is probably ridiculously overpowered, but I thought it would be fun just to make. If I can actually get some useful tweaks for it, I may actually put it in the set I'm building, but probably not.

EDIT: Also adding another one, gotta love cards with similar function to old ones!

Enforcer of Will
Creature - Human Wizard
, Pay 1 life, exile a blue card in your hand: Counter target spell.
Soulbind (Whenever this creature is dealt damage, you lose that much life.)
1/2

IMO, I think these are pretty fairly balanced although very good.
Even the all color wizard as his additional cost is very restrictive and I actually think that it should be less restrictive. The ability is not overpowered as the entire deck would have to be tailored for that plus you do sink in a mana of every color. The worst you can do is get these wizards, kobolds, or ornithopter variants; all of which are only a threat if you have something else making them a threat. Not much different then Ad Nauseum for a harder cost.

mmm Enforcer of Will would make a great spellshaper

I could almost see myself making a card with ", Discard a card, pay 1 life, exile a blue card from your hand: Counter target spell."

also I had just thought of an idea for cards that play with taking extra turns or skipping them, just a few:

Bleak Future
Sorcery
Choose a number. Skip your next X turns, where X is that number.
At the beginning of your next upkeep, you lose the game.
"Where are all the chicks?"

^ That one was ultimately made to fit the name and flavor text. Functionality-wise the card feels like a gag card but I can see it being able to have application at least. (edit: wait, I just noticed it's pointless for the card to let you take your turn at all if you're just going to lose, the card might as well read "You never take your turn ever again" but that ruins the flavor behind the card..) If the idea was applied more seriously it would have been this:

CARDNAME
Sorcery
Skip your next three turns.
At the beginning of your next upkeep, you win the game.

^ But the name and flavor text would have to be different.

But anyway, check THIS out:

CARDNAME
Artifact/Enchantment (undecided)
If it would be your turn, instead target opponent takes another turn and you gain control of that turn.
: Exile CARDNAME. Any player may use this ability, but only during that player's turn and only if that player's turn is being controlled by another player.

That last one could just be a sorcery

CARDNAME (CASTING COST)
Sorcery
End your current turn, then take control of target opponent's next turn. Exile ~.

The effect is supposed to last forever. (well until you decide for it to stop - I figure it should have a kill switch, it's not always possible for the card to be the actual win condition, nor did I necessarily intend it to be used that way)

Rather than you and your opponent taking turns, your opponent is playing against himself.

p.s: I think I got an idea for what to do with Oath Maelstrom. Something along the lines of:

Oath Maelstrom
Legendary Creature - Human Soldier
, : Untap all other creatures you control. Creatures you control attack target opponent. (It becomes the combat phase.)
3/3

Maybe I can add "exile Oath Maelstrom" to the cost, that way I get to put the Last Resort surname back on there

and the wording is a big puzzle. I keep coming up with different iterations:
, : Untap all other creatures you control. It becomes the combat phase.
, : Untap all other creatures you control. Creatures you control attack target opponent if they would be able.

Or maybe I just got an idea for a different keyword... hmm...

Spirit Bomb
Artifact
~ enters the battlefield with 10-X time counters on it.
At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter from ~.
If at any time ~ has no time counters on it, sacrifice it. If you do, destroy all creatures, and Spirit Bomb deals damage to each player equal to the total power of all creatures destroyed this way.

I made the second one just because I love big creatures for low CMC, even though the drawback on this one is pretty nasty.

Spellgorger Golem
Artifact Creature - Golem
Trample
Whenever ~ attacks or blocks, discard your hand. If less than seven cards are discarded this way, you lose 10 life.
10/10

Spellgorger Golem - ug. The problem with these kinds of creatures is that there are all sorts of ways to abuse them which don't involve attacking (Fling anyone?). I think this kind of creature would need a cmc of at least 4. It also should be 'fewer' not 'less'.

Spirit Bomb... there's something odd about the first line and I can't place my finger on it. I do like it though, although I think it would be better if it didn't deal damage.

I think this should work.

Spirit Bomb
Artifact (C)
Spirit Bomb enters the battlefield with X fuse counters on it.
At the beginning of your upkeep put a fuse counter on Spirit Bomb.
When there are ten or more fuse counters on Spirit Bomb, sacrifice it. Spirit Bomb deals damage to each player equal to the total power of those creatures.

This is just wording (not balancing.)

You forgot to destroy all creatures.