CCGNick) Eternity's been modified to read like Retrace, and Crush the Heart is a Sorcery now.

Icarael: That's a very solid card! I love how it acts as a 'fusion' of two types, and transmogrifies into either -- a very clever enchantment-creature (unlike some other designs I've seen). I want to see this set, now!

I would love some constructive critism on this Johny card

Mindshackled Monster
Creature - Beast
When you cast CARDNAME, counter it.
4/4

Should it be pricier? Should it be more powerful? Should it be differently worded? Any thoughts?

Don't bother. Any and all cards that can counter the ability (Leyline of Lifeforce, Stifle, Trickbind, Voidslime) are .

@Inanimate: Speaking of that set, here's another mechanic I have for the first set in the "Science" block, consisting of "Science", "Progress", and "Boink" (thanks Jeske!)

Flames of Ebonforge
Instant
Tribute (You may sacrifice any number of permanents you control as you cast this spell. It costs less to cast for each permanent sacrificed this way.)
Flames of Ebonforge deals damage to target creature or player equal to 2 plus the number of permanents tributed to cast it.

The flavor here is that you're using the mana/flesh/steel/what-have-you to channel all that stuff into one big spell. Since "Science" has a sub-theme of tokens... you can see where this is going. You can have cards that don't need that many tributes, or cards that need a lot of juice.

Ravening Thornbeast
Creature- Plant Beast
Tribute (You may sacrifice any number of permanents you control as you cast this spell. It costs less to cast for each permanent sacrificed this way.)
Ravening Thornbeast enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it if you tributed a creature to cast it.
"I have often found that fresh corpses make for excellent fertilizer."
-- Argath Velderberg, Sarvathi biomancer
2/2

The only problem I have is that I need a better name for the mechanic. "Tribute" doesn't fit the flavor of the keyword.

Oh, yeah, and I'm thinking of keywords that would fit in a set whose flavor is about "the process of creating a new world" (which is the theme of "Science"). So far, I have:

1.) Transmogrify and Tribute, which are all about dismantling things and putting them together (in):
2.) Evoke, which is like invoking a creature's essence (??):
3.) Cycling with added effects on cycle, like the Resounding cycle in Shards (??):
4.) Morph/Spellmorph, to keep up with the "things in flux" theme of the set (??).

Eye: Of course, it can also be dropped on the board. Elvish Piper
Or come in via graveyard - Crypt Champion

I think is good, if only because it would suck to end up with 3 of these in a draft.

Or, you can also give it Cycling. If that doesn't fit, give it the Elvish Spirit Guide ability, making it damn useful even if it never hits the board.

Flames: too weak, I think. Compare to Last-Ditch Effort for the creatures, another for the +2, and then for the non-creatures sounds fine to me. So, 3-4 range.

Ok, I try to paste my card in, but I can't. Please help.

rcrally) Paste it in how? Text or image?

Styrofoamking) That doesn't justify it being a rare card. Since the drawback is quite major (and most methods of cheating it into play or countering the triggered ability) are or circumstantial, this should be at most.

For Limited balance, you actually want this to be at Rare, because if there's no common/uncommon way to cheat it into play, it's a dead card in your draft, and you don't want a lot of those floating around. Even if there are common/uncommon ways to cheat it into play, you want those showing up more than the card itself.

And it's not like there aren't dead rare cards in limited (the aforementioned counterspell stoppers, for example, are often useless).

That said, I'd definitely make the guy stronger. for a 4/4 isn't powerful enough, in my opinion. You need to jump through hoops to get it out. While I think is the perfect cost, I think giving it trample would go over well.

A turn zero Leyline of Lifeforce would be awesome with your card. I would love to see that.

Icarael, I made that exact keyword a while back for an Aztec set idea I had (which I just kinda uh... forgot to make more for), and it's a very slick one to play with. It seems like a solid mechanic alongside Transmogrify.

For your final set, I'd say to ditch Morph and Cycling; if you use Transmogrify + Tribute + Evoke, you can have a theme of sacrificing, and enter/leave the battlefield triggers, all very fun things to revolve around in a set. It also sufficiently gets across the idea of 'getting rid of the now in favor of the future', and 'everything is in flux'.

Since Transmogrify is permanents, and Evoke is creatures, I'd recommend focusing Tribute onto instants and sorceries, to fill the gap present there; it also makes a lot of flavor sense as 'converting stuff into pure magic'.

@Inanimate: Yeah, Evoke would work, especially since I have a subtheme of Equipment/Aura token makers. I can make them have evoke so you either get the guy and the Equipment/Aura attached to it, or just the equip. Thanks!

Example:

Soulcutter Assassin
Creature- Human Assassin
When Soulcutter Assassin enters the battlefield, put a colorless artifact Equipment card named Soulcutter Blade with "Equipped creature gets +1/+0 and deathtouch" and equip onto the battlefield, then attach it to target creature.
Evoke (You may cast this spell for its evoke cost. If you do, it's sacrificed when it enters the battlefield.)
2/2

EDIT: New mechanic created.

Oblation-- [cost]: [do something cool]. (Activate this ability during your upkeep only if it has a faith counter on it and only once each turn.)

As an example:

Ancestors’ Monument
Enchantment-- Shrine
Tap an untapped white creature you control: Put a faith counter on Ancestors’ Monument.
Oblation— : Put a 1/1 Spirit creature with flying onto the battlefield. (Activate this ability during your upkeep only if it has a faith counter on it and only once each turn.)

I was trying to go for the feeling of performing a ritual to please the powers that be and gain their blessing, and if you stop performing the ritual you don't gain any blessings. If I wanted it to be an ongoing effect, how should I word it? The way I want it to work, at the beginning of your upkeep, you have to fulfill the oblation conditions to trigger the effect or keep it going. If you don't, the oblation effect stops working.

I like the keyword. The only input I can give, though, is to combine the reminder text with the rest the ability, i.e.:

Oblation -- <cost>: <effect>. Activate this ability only during your upkeep if ~ has a faith counter on it and only once each turn.

I'm having some problems balancing this creature from my set.

Rhaxen's Minion

Creature - Dragon
Flying
Other Dragon creatures you control get +1/+1.
Whenever Rhaxen's Minion becomes blocked it deals 2 damage to target creature or player.

I set the mana cost on specific mana so it's difficoult to play it too fast, but still to me it seems a little bit overpowered...

@ Silver Element: Whats the P/T?

@Silver Element - I'm not a balancing master, but making a P/T of 2/2 should be just fine. It's not a heavy hitter, or much of a threat beyond it's Lord ability, and has no evasion from removal. Even 3/3 might be balanced well enough.

So, I want some advice on a cycle of lands I was making. Here is the basic format:

Ruins of Infernax
Land
You may play Ruins of Infernax tapped. If you do, ~ deals 1 damage to target creature or player. Otherwise, ~ deals 2 damage to you.
: Add or to your mana pool.

Ruins of Glefarra
Land
You may play Ruins of Glefarra tapped. If you do, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. Otherwise, discard a creature card from your hand.
: Add or to your mana pool.

Ruins of Linix
Land
You may play Ruins of Linix tapped. If you do, you gain 2 life. Otherwise, each other player gains 2 life.
: Add or to your mana pool.

Ruins of Trithe
Land
You may play Ruins of Trithe tapped. If you do, target player must return a target non-land permanent they control to it's owner's hand. Otherwise, return a permanent you control to it's owner's hand.
: Add or to your mana pool.

So what do you think of this cycle balance-wise and flavor-wise? Let me know.

So, it's basically a Gut Shot, except better?

Oh sorry, Rhaxen's Minion it's a 4/4

EDIT: Uhm, as setharoth says, I'd better make it 2/2 or 3/3, or 2/3 maybe...

Setharoth) Lose the optional CIPT abilities and replace them with mandatory CIPT. Land that can fix mana either set back your mana base a turn or are not usable right away.

I'm trying to make Oblation (now renamed Piety) much less condensed, since the way it goes makes it very wordy. Example:

Sacred Hearthfire
Enchantment-- Shrine
, Tap an untapped creature you control: Put a worship counter on Sacred Hearthfire. Activate this ability only once each turn.
Piety— Remove two worship counters from: Add to your mana pool at the beginning of your main phase. Activate this ability during your upkeep only if Sacred Hearthfire has two or more worship counters on it and only once each turn.

I feel it could be a bit cleaner, and I think there are some things that don't work quite as well with the upkeep only trigger. Example:

Guardian's Obelisk
: Put a worship counter on Guardian’s Obelisk. Activate this ability only once each turn.
Piety— : Until your next upkeep step, Guardian’s Obelisk becomes a 5/5 Giant creature with vigilance that’s still an enchantment. Activate this ability only during your main phase if Guardian’s Obelisk has four or more worship counters on it and only once each turn.

Also, I want it to reflect the flavor of creatures worshiping at a shrine. I'm thinking something involving tapping/counting tapped creatures of the same color as the shrine. Or maybe I should just scrap the Piety mechanic altogether, but I feel without it faith counters are going to become a parasitic mechanic. The last thing I want is to repeat Kamigawa's failures, even if I am going for a "Kamigawa-done-right" feel.

Any suggestions?

Icarael) I would condense Piety's trigger condition to just removing worship counters and just remove the "only if ~ has two or more worship counters on it" as superfluous on Hearthfire (you can't pay costs you can't satisfy).

@Jeske: That sounds fine, but I was thinking about a new trigger for Piety.

Piety N-- [cost]: [effect]. Activate this ability only during your upkeep if you control N or more creatures that share a color with it and only once each turn.

This eliminates the need for worship counters and fits the motif of "creatures worshiping at a shrine" more.

So, the Hearthfire would be:

Sacred Hearthfire
Enchantment-- Shrine
Piety 2— , Tap an untapped red creature you control: Add to your mana pool at the beginning of your main phase. Activate this ability only during your upkeep if you control two or more creatures that share a color with it and only once each turn.

Which opens up a "colors matter" theme. I think it's been done before, but not like this. Perhaps Chroma could represent the power of faith, with chroma abilities that count multiple symbols of mana. Example:

Fervent Shout
Instant
Chroma— Target creature you control gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is the number of red and white mana symbols in the mana costs of permanents you control.

(On a side note, I seem to be getting a lot of ideas for sets right now.)

I'm having some problems with this two cards.

Wandering Spellcaster
Creature - Human Wizard
Backup — Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control that shares a creature type with this, you may Scry 1 (To scry 1, look at the top card of your library, then you may put that card on the bottom of your library.)
2/2

Rifah Apprentice
Creature - Human Wizard
Backup — Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control that shares a creature type with this, you may exile target creature you control, then return that card to the battlefield under your control.
2/1

Knowing that the set is full of white and blue humans (with flash) and instants that put X humans on the battlefield, it seems to me that these two are kinda overpowered.

Silver Element) "Whenever a creature[...]" -> "Whenever a nontoken creature[...]"

If you foresee token-generators as breaking your cards, you can always make it so that the ability can't trigger on them.

Thank you Jéské, it worked out just fine with nontoken.
But now I have an other big problem. I have almost finished the first set and with some firends I started to test some random constructed decks to check if there were some overpowered cards or overpowered strategies in the set, and it seems that one of the most wrong cards we made is this:

Spellshaper
Creature - Human Wizard
When Spellshaper enters the battlefield you may search your library and graveyard for a card with converted mana cost 1 or less, reveal that card and put it into your hand. If you do so, shuffle your library.
2/2

Because in a blue control deck with 4x of Secrets of the Cave (Scry 2, then draw a card) it can cast that card almost a dozen of times. The problem is that I don't want to turn it into a "Snapcaster Mage" giving flashback to the card I'm going to pick up in the library or graveyard? Better put some limits, like only in graveyard or library?

I would limit it to the graveyard and/or limit it by type (nonland cards especially).

I got a new idea for the Shrines I've been experimenting with for the past week or so. Instead of activating them for a one-shot effect only when you achieve a certain criteria, I'm toying with letting you "turn them on" for a continuous effect once you've achieved certain things.

Shrine of the Ancestors
Enchantment-- Shrine
Sanctify 2— (: This becomes sanctified until the beginning of your next upkeep. Activate this ability only during your upkeep if you control two or more creatures that share a color with it.)
At the beginning of your upkeep, if Shrine of the Ancestors is sanctified, put a 1/1 white Spirit creature with flying onto the battlefield.

I think this could be used on creatures, too, to show that they're being worshiped.

Chevalier of Destiny
Creature- Human Knight
Lifelink
Sanctify 4— (: This becomes sanctified until the beginning of your next upkeep. Activate this ability only during your upkeep if you control four or more creatures that share a color with it.)
As long as Chevalier of Destiny is sanctified, it has flying and is a Human Spirit Knight.
The faith of others gives him the strength to achieve the greatest of deeds.
3/3

So which is better? Piety (see my last post), or Sanctify?

Sanctify has a lot of book keeping and memory issues. If it got a counter that showed it was active, I think it would be a much better ability.

Elk Umbra
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature gains +1/+1 and forestwalk.
Totem Armor

Render:

That is strictly better than Dryad's Favor in every way besides rarity. Totem Armor makes it very useful, and Forestwalk as a card feels weird. Fiddling with its bonus would be good -- perhaps it could grant vigilance (which is )? Also, it is "gets +1/+1 and has forestwalk" -- you get P/T boosts, and you have abilities.

I agree with Inanimate; that needs to be boosted to at the least.

Well, I don't think it needs to be that high. Hyena Umbra shows that +1/+1 and first strike and totem armor all just cost , for a common!

Hey guys/gals, I am looking for some feedback on this Ral Zarek v1.

The first ability is very good; a repeatable shock that also untaps and that also gives a loyalty boost, for a investment? That's quite good. Your formatting should also probably be "Ral Zarek deals 2 damage to target creature or player. Untap target creature." Having the two abilities stuck together just feels weirder.

The second ability seems fine enough, but those hybrid mana symbols feel off with the rest of the card, and you might be underestimating the power of replicate. How about making it a solid ?

That last ability is very good for something that comes out in three turns - a bigger loyalty cost would make more sense.

@CCGNick: I was trying to solve the problem without the need for counters. My reference was k1l1's Chest mechanic, where Unlock "opened" a chest without using counters to indicate a state of being open. Maybe I could make it so that once you sanctify a Shrine, it doesn't turn off-- but that kinda ruins the flavor I was going for where worshiping at a shrine only provides benefits when you offer at it.

Maybe Piety might be what I'm looking for, but I'm not going to stop at just that when there might be a better idea around the corner.

Ruggley) First off, 'Walkers generally have starting loyalty equal to or one off from their costs, especially if they're multicolor. Up the starting loyalty to 4.

Second, I'd up the cost of the emblem to 8 loyalty counters. That may be expensive, but, as noted elsewhere, 'Walker ultimates (i.e. the third ability) are "I win" buttons, and need to be costed as such. Not to mention any good U/R deck will be spamming draw.

Third, the replicate cost should be as inanimate suggests. As writ you could wipe someone out very quickly by casting a Beacon of Destruction and then replicating it thrice for extremely cheap. (This is why replicate costs are equal to the spell's initial cost.)

Hey everyone need some more help and thank you for the previous help.

Stonework Aviary
Artifact rarity?
: Put a 2/2 colorless artifact bird creature token with flying onto the battlefield.

.

What do you guys think of this creature? I am try to make a General for Commander.

ARTIST: Jason Chan (Awesome Mtg Artist)

I think that you need to tone down the power level on Sera. 6 mana for 9 power total, plus lifelink and hexproof is a bit overpowered. Perhaps you should lower the P/T to something like a 3/3. In addition, the last ability needs a colon instead of a comma after the "Tap two creature tokens you control". You might want to add a mana cost to the ability too.

You're missing some art credit on that render, Ruggley. You may want to fix that.

I'm working on a Planeswalker, but every time I think I've finally balanced it, I try testing it and it comes out that's overpowered...
Here is the render.

+1 Scry 1, then draw a card
-3 Put four 1/1 white Human creatures tokens onto the battlefield.
-7 What happens to the other pile? You do not need to say return all permanents again. It's redundant.
She seems legit to me man. Neat card.

In the -7 effect the other pile remains on the battlefield. Maybe I should write that.
Thank you for the wording help!

Speaking of 'Walkers, I have another one that needs an assessment.

Sera: Compare to Tolsimir Wolfblood... yours makes two creatures (and can each turn), is stronger, and lets you draw cards.

How's this, for a blue slanted Tolsimir?

Other blue creatures you control gain shroud.
Other white creatures you control gain lifelink.
: Put a legendary 2/2 blue and white Cat creature token named Leonus onto the battlefield.
Tap two creatures you control: Scry 2.
3/4

Very Ravnica, but fair at rare.

Beltran - Interesting.
-1: do you intend on it requiring three targets? Otherwise add "up to"
Emblem: "You get an emblem with... <foo>" and it is "creature token" not "token creature".

Overall a cool card but I think the first ability needs to be "up to" as it is too restrictive. Also, name change as this cares about creatures coming in alive not dying. If the trigger occured on death it would make more sense. Plus all the effects on the card are geared towards life and growth. Ultimate is really great.

Hey guys/gals made this Garruk as a general for a custom edh deck for a group of friends. He is being controlled by a certain planeswalker. Please critique and all of that jazz. Wording and such.

Note that his cost is a typo.

Correct me if I'm wrong but Scry says: To scry look at the top card of your library, you may put that card on the top or on the bottom of the library). If that's the case, if you play with your top card revealed, if it's not a creature you may scry1, but then you look at the top card of your library and that means that you look at the top card revealed. Or am I missing something?

I would phrase it, "If it's not, you may put that card on the bottom of your library, use this ability only once per turn."