Entropic posted:

A few notes on templating:

• Permanents are put "onto the battlefield". They haven't been put "into play" since 10th edition or so.
  
• Ability words like Heroic, Metalcraft and Morbid don't actually have any built-in rules associated with them; you have to spell out what triggers them on each card.
  
• You never need to have a card say "While this is on the battlefield, such and such happens". All abilities are assumed to work on the battlefield and only on the battlefield unless stated otherwise.
  
• You don't have an untap phase or an upkeep phase or a draw phase; you have untap, upkeep and draw steps during your beginning phase.
  
• Damage, mana amounts, and references to power or toughness are always written as numerals and never spelled out. (e.g. "Lightning bolt deals 3 damage.") Numbers of most other things are always spelled out (e.g. "Draw two cards.")
  
• Lord effects should specify that they only affect creatures where applicable. e.g. "Goat creatures you control get +1/+1" not "Goats you control get +1/+1" because ever since Tribal went and ruined everything you have to take into account that you don't want some hypothetical non-creature Tribal Enchantment - Goat getting a +1/+1 bonus that makes no sense for it.
  
• For the love of Emrakul, please use gatherer to search for cards with similar abilities to whatever you're trying to do so that you can see how it's worded on cards that actually saw print.

Kabanaw posted:

An important rule in designing cards is making sure that players don't have to remember that something exists without there being a visible reminder somewhere in the game. The reason cards like Obsidian Fireheart or Xathrid Gorgon put counters on things they change is so that a player can look at that card and remember "Oh, this has a petrification counter on it, it's an artifact creature with defender." It reduces the number of play mistakes overall and lets the players focus on their strategy and the game itself instead of wasting headspace remembering extra gamestate information.

One more thing, templating style stuff: The placement of abilities on cards isn't random. They're often placed so that the parts that are relevant sooner are placed sooner. The order is generally additional costs both keyword and non-keyword, non-keyword alternate casting costs, abilities that change how a card can be cast (pretty much just flash), evergreen keyword abilities, block-specific keyword abilities, characteristic defining abilities (eg. setting power/toughness) enters-the-battlefield abilities, all other abilities, and finally keyworded alternate casting costs (eg. flashback and overload).

This order can change for any number of reasons, but it's usually because a different order increases readability. For example, Geist-Honored Monk has its characteristic defining ability before its ETB ability, while Duplicant has its ETB ability before its characteristic defining ability. That's because Duplicant's characteristic defining ability is linked to the creature it exiles with its first. The order of abilities on a card don't actually change how it functions, but correctly ordered abilities make a card's effect easier to parse.

JimsonTheBetrayer posted:

https://twitter.com/RoboRosewater/status/769610073505161216

Barry Shitpeas posted:

Wait, which one is the randomly generated one?

Zemyla posted:

Current wording is "dies" rather than "is put into a graveyard from the battlefield".

Mystic Mongol posted:

Original: Spring Undermine. https://twitter.com/RoboRosewater/status/775045266772635648?lang=en

Poison Mushroom posted:

Hydratic Horse - When I saw the first line, I oohed. When I saw the second line, I ahhed. And when I saw the third line, I quite literally laughed aloud. This is a fun direction to take the card. It should be "Put a 2/2 white Horse creature token onto the battlefield." though.

Poison Mushroom posted:

It should be "Put a 2/2 white Horse creature token onto the battlefield." though.

Poison Mushroom posted:

I don't care much for the presentation, though, since as fun as old movie references are, I feel like it undermines the very fascinating mechanical flavor that's already in the mechanics.

Lottery of Babylon posted:

Prophetic Firespank

Barry Shitpeas posted:

My take on it is a completely different card, but combos with a lot of the same things:

Lottery of Babylon posted:

Poison Mushroom posted:

Simic Fodder: At first I didn't like the "separate creature" clause because I felt like it limited some really great Johnny potential. Then I realized it was Common, and saw what you did. This is a card designed for Limited play, isn't it?

Mystic Mongol posted:

I hate hate hate that cards are designed for limited play. Creatures should be good! The 2% shouldn't be radically better than the 98%, and the collectible format making almost all the cards you own complete useless garbage annoys me no end. I actually wanted to give that thing a Simic feel, so that when it died, every creature you had got an evolve like effect as you shuffled the creatures in your graveyard away. I couldn't find a way to word that without taking up twenty lines, so I wound up just handing out +1/+1 counters and calling it a day.

As long as I'm trying to make new effects, here's a fresher, hotter take on Spoorhimig Molillists.

Zephirum posted:

This one just needed a push to be a positive investment of resources. A repeatable Dark Rit is very exploitable so I hope the cost balances it out.


Islatsosce Merpents... just, Islatsosce Merpents.

Zephirum posted:

This one just needed a push to be a positive investment of resources.

Shabadu posted:

The last one's mana costs would probably be more correct if the blue drew cards, the red did damage and the green made the wolf.

Poison Mushroom posted:

Carcass Crab: I'd actually say this feels a lot more Golgari than Simic, between the graveyard love and the auto-death, and even the name. Still very interesting design, and I could see the GB version winning a different contest (so hold onto it), but it feels a bit too much like a departure from the original.

Poison Mushroom posted:

Control Gravity: Interesting idea, but I'm not really seeing at all where this comes from the linked card, and that's saying something, considering how little there is to go on. Some kind of intentionally pie-bending Gruul flight card might have been a better way to go with this.

Bacchin: I realize it's only Black because it's supposed to be a Commander, but I'm still not sure how that plays into the color identity at all.

Poison Mushroom posted:

Bloodcaster Savant: Can definitely tell what you were going for, but I think the 'colorless that can be spent like any type' is a little overcomplicated, and relies too much on player memory.

Poison Mushroom posted:

More card opinion times!

Rullor Dav: If there's a particular award for artistry in "make sense of an 'old computer' card". this might get it. How you interpreted Totalwolk is brilliant and I wish that ability existed on a real card. I know you were sticking as close to the card as possible, but I think it might work better as a 2/1, though. As a 1/1, the ability is basically useless on its own without a buff of some kind.

AJ_Impy posted:

You're in luck, it does exist on a real card. Admittedly a draft fodder evasive creature from a terrible set over a decade and a half ago, but it's there. I avoided going for a higher power owing to how it scaled: It starts out as just a look at your or your opponent's next draw, but stick any equipment on it and you can fateseal lock your opponent, Jace the Mind Sculptor style. I thought that was worth requiring the extra effort, and makes the card play better by incentivizing your opponent to tap out once it becomes that manner of threat, but an ignorable steady source of damage unboosted.