Old cards...

D

DÛke

Guest
...

Note the changes on:

Soular Parallel (CC from 3BB to 2BB).
Counterantics (Added another ability and increased CC by U).
Gravitational Spirit (Change from 3/3 to 2/2, CC from 3U to 1U).
Unii (Name change from Unii to Uni).
Will Dominion, previously named Drain of Will (Complete change).
Philosopher's Tome, previously named Nameless Aquarian (Name change to Essentia Tome; ACC changed; fixed the ability).

Destine (U)
Sorcery
Reveal a non land card in your hand to all players, then search your library for a copy of that card, reveal it to all players, and put it into your hand. Shuffle your library.

Psionic Concentration (3UU)
Instant
Psionic Concentration deals 3 damage to target creature or player and you lose 2 life.
When you play Psionic Concentration by paying its mana cost, you may play another Psionic Concentration card from your hand without paying its mana cost until end of the turn.

Soular Parallel (2BB)
Enchantment
You may cast no more than one spell each turn.
Instead of paying a spell’s mana cost, you may pay an amount of life equal to that spell’s total mana cost to play that spell instead.

Will to Power (2UUU)
Sorcery
Creatures you don't control gain +3/+3 and trample until the beginning of your next turn.
At the beginning of your next upkeep, gain control of all creatures.

Electromar (2RR)
Creature - Spirit
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may choose not to untap any number of permanents you control. For each permanent you choose this way, Electromar deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
4/3

Spirit Redeemer (3W)
Creature - Spirit
Flying
Whenever another permanent is put into a graveyard from play, you may return Spirit Redeemer back to owner's hand. If you do, return that permanent back into play under owner's control.
1/3

Tormented Departure (3B)
Instant
If a creature was put into the graveyard from play this turn, put a Spirit token into play. Treat it as a 3/3 Black creature with flying. Otherwise, target player sacrifices a creature.

Counterantics (1UU)
Enchantment
Sacrifice Counterantics: Counter target spell.
Remove a Counterantics cards in your hand from the game: counter target spell.

Gravitational Spirit (1U)
Creature - Spirit
Flying
Spells cost 1 more to play.
Whenever a player plays a spell, return Gravitational Spirit back to owner’s hand.
2/2

Spiritual Radiation (R)
Enchant Creature
Play Spiritual Radiation only on a creature you control.
R: Enchanted creature gains -1/-1 until end of the turn and put a Spirit token into play. Treat it as a 2/2 Red creature with haste and with "sacrifice this creature at the end of the turn." Play this ability only when you can play a sorcery.

Soular Twins (1GG)
Creature - Elf Spirit
When Solar Twins comes into play, search your hand, graveyard, and library for a Solar Twins card and put into play.
Whenever a Soular Twins card is put into the graveyard from play, sacrifice all other Soular Twins cards.
2/2

Uni (4UU)
Creature - Spirit Legend
Flying
As long as Uni is in your hand, you may remove it and 2 other cards in your hand from the game. If you do, until end of the turn, you may play a card in your hand without paying its mana cost and whenever you could play an instant.
5/5

Psychotic Gravity (2UU)
Sorcery
Tap up to 2 target creatures and deal 1 damage to each of them. Creatures tapped this way don't untap during their controller's next untap step.

Time Bug (U)
Instant
Counter target spell and return it back to owner's hand. Copies of that spell can't be played for the remainder of the turn.

Spirit of Negation (3U)
Creature - Spirit
Flying
Return a permanent you control back to owner's hand: counter target spell unless its cast pays 1.
2/2

Spiritual Union (RR)
Sorcery
Put a Spirit token into play. Treat it as a Red creature with power equal to the total power of all creatures you control, and with toughness equal to the total toughness of all creatures you control. The creature has haste, trample, and "at end of the turn, sacrifice this creature."

Spirit Flutter (2WW)
Sorcery
Choose target permanent. At the beginning of that permanent’s controller next upkeep, that player pays an amount of mana equal that permanent’s mana cost. If he or she can’t, that player sacrifices the permanent.

Will Dominion (U)
Sorcery
The next spell your opponent casts costs him or her 2 more to play.

Essentia Tome (6)
Legendary Artifact
You may discard 2 lands from your hand instead of paying Essentia Tome’s mana cost.
Each turn, you may play a spell by only paying the colored mana in its casting cost.

---

Waiting to see what happens with Spirit Tap, Overcome, and especially Envision.
 
I

Istanbul

Guest
Originally posted by DÛke
...
Soular Parallel (2BB)
Enchantment
You may cast no more than one spell each turn.
Instead of paying a spell’s mana cost, you may pay an amount of life equal to that spell’s total mana cost to play that spell instead.
Broken. Broken, broken, broken. Broken twelve ways to Tuesday. I assure you that if this card were printed, you'd see Soular decks winning Type 1 tournaments until it got banned.
 
D

DÛke

Guest
...

I knew it was powerful, but broken tweleve ways to Tuesday, that I certainly did not know...

Here's a really restricted version:

Soular Parallel (2BB)
Enchantment
Whenever you cast a spell, you may pay an amount of life equal to that spell's mana cost. If you do, add B to your mana pool for each life paid this way.

Now what?

And you didn't say anything about Envision...
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
Hmm...

Envision seems okay, but it might break Lord of Tresserhorn, which would be kind of cool anyway, and I don't think it could happen. Too many colors...

Soular Parallel seems powerful, but the Laboratory-esque drawback makes it significantly weaker. No one uses Yawgmoth's Agenda, and that's the reason. It's an insanely powerful effect, I concur, but what would you use to break it so terribly?

The new version seems balanced and would be hard to break. Then again, Carnival of Souls is similar and weaker certainly, but didn't someone actually use it in a Type I deck?
 
D

DÛke

Guest
...

I agree with you Oversoul, but I know for a fact that Istanbul has a long history with Magic, so he knows better than you and I, combined, probably. But still, I can't help but bring up the fact that you brought up:

Soular Parallel (2BB)
Enchantment
You may cast no more than one spell each turn.
Instead of paying a spell’s mana cost, you may pay an amount of life equal to that spell’s total mana cost to play that spell instead.

I thought the card had enough of a drawback that it warrants even decreasing the mana cost all the way to 1BB even. And yet at the same time I find it rather offending :))) that you compared this card to Carnival of Souls and, worse, Yawgmoth's Agenda, which, exactly as you said, although a good card, it has never seen much play simply due to the drawback that Soular Parallel also has. Still yet, I do like the new version, even though its controller can't cast any spell, where as in the original version, shown above, you could cast Time Travel, Disenchant, Shocks, and plenty of other useful cards. As for the new version:

Soular Parallel (2BB)
Enchantment
Whenever you cast a spell, you may pay an amount of life equal to that spell's mana cost. If you do, add B to your mana pool for each life paid this way.

This version is nothing more than a Priest of Gix-effect enabler; now, all your cards have the effect at the cost of sacrificing life. This version, for sure, warrants a casting cost of 1BB, and even 2B.

At this time, I side with the new version of Soular Parallel at the cost of 2B for the simple reason that it does not have the spell restriction that the earlier version has, which to me makes the card a lot more playable and flexible. Plus, I can't help but be reminded of Yawgmoth's Agenda every time I look at the earlier version...

As for Envision, even after assuming that it might break bad cards like Lord of Tresserhorn, we can't really X a card simply because it breaks 1 or 2 cards, but rather fix it. Nevertheless, Envision seems fine at W, and although it looks suspicious, believe it or not, it seems to me more of a casual card than a tournment card...

Thoughts, concerns?
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
I compared the new version to Carnival, not the old one. It's better than Carnival definitely though...

I think it looks good though. Envision seems fine too...

I'm not saying Istanbul is wrong about the old version being broken. I just wonder what exactly would break it that much...

I like the newer one better anyway (even if it's not as powerful).
 
D

DÛke

Guest
...

Ok, so Envision (CC W) and Soular Parallel (new version with CC 2B) are, for now, fine. Good. I still desire to know how the older version of Soular Parallel can be abused...

Meanwhile...

Chaos Machine (6)
Artifact
You may sacrifice 3 permanents instead of paying Chaos Machine’s mana cost.
Remove a permanent you control from the game: Chaos Machine deals 1 damage to target creature or player. Play this ability only when you could play a sorcery.

Timeless Defender (6)
Artifact Creature
You may skip your next turn instead of paying Timeless Defender's mana cost.
You may play Timeless Defender whenever you could play an instant.
Timeless Defender can't be the target of spells or abilities.
1/4

Illusionist (1U)
Creature - Wizard
Tap: put an Illusion token into play. Treat it as a 0/1 creature with flying and “at the end of the turn, sacrifice this creature.” You may play this ability whenever you could play an instant.
1/1

Chaos Twins (1R)
Sorcery
Put 2 Spirit tokens into play. Treat each as a 2/2 Red creature with haste, trample, and “at the end of the turn, sacrifice this creature.”

Chaos Awakening (1RR)
Sorcery
Choose up to 3 target permanents you control. Each of those permanents becomes a 2/2 Red creature with haste, trample, and “at the end of the turn, sacrifice this creature.”

Chaos Twins and Chaos Awakening may seem too similar if viewed quickly, but they are rather 2 completely different cards.
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
Chaos Machine: I'm wondering if the sorcery speed is necessary for the ability.

Timeless Defender: I like this card. But It might be slightly underpowered. Decks that could use it would use it when they are able to respond to anything an opponent will topdeck, similar to how Meditate is somehow used, but easier to set up, because it doesn't eat mana. Still, it's only a 1/4.

Illustionist: Could be great with some of your other stuff.

Chaos Twins/Chaos Awakening: Maybe the tokens should be 2/1 instead of 2/2 but these cards seem good.
 
D

DÛke

Guest
...

Do you suppose, then, that Timeless Defender should be a 2/4? I have marveled at the idea, but then the Defender becomes easily more than simply a (emergency) defense mechanism; he actually becomes something even beatdown decks can afford playing. So how about 1/5 instead? Or is 2/4 good enough without messing up its balance?

I see your point about Chaos Machine...

Illusionist: I know this card is good with some of my other cards, and with some of the cards that are coming up, but I perfer if the card was actually useful on its own. Blue does need good defensive creatures, and the Illusionists, although a good combination with some of the other cards, should be a good card on its own, so here's a modified version:

Illusionist (U)
Creature - Wizard
Illusionist can't be the target of spells or abilities.
Tap: put an Illusion token into play. Treat it as a 0/1 creature with flying and “at the end of the turn, sacrifice this creature.” You may play this ability whenever you could play an instant.
0/1

Now for the Red cards:

I can see how Chaos Twins can be percieved as too good. But Chaos Awakening is actually not that bad, and think about it, Oversoul, whether the creatures Chaos Awakening makes are 2/2 or 2/1, it does not matter all that much. Additionally, you do lose 3 permanents as the result of Chaos Awakening, a fair disadvantage, wouldn't you say?

As for Chaos Twins - that's the card that I agree, is slightly problematic. And yet...let's rationalize it: you could easily be playing a direct damage spell that deals 3 damage to any target for 2 mana. The Chaos Twins have a potential of dealing 4 damage for 2 mana, but...you have slight control over where and how these 4 points of damage are dealt: all you have are two 2/2 creatures that vanish at the end of the turn. Whether the defending player blocks, if he blocks, how much will he block - all that is not up to the caster of Chaos Twins, unless, that is, the defending player has no defense whatsoever, in which case, we can easily say that the Chaos Twins, in order to deal their 4 total damage, needed another card so as to be that effective, and otherwise, they would be indeed less effective, but effective nevertheless. That, and all the creature harassment that exists, from Shocks, Terrors, Edicts, Unsummons, Boomerangs, Fogs...it kinda makes playing a direct damage spell for 3 damage using 2 mana way easier, doesn't it? It seems, at the end, that two 2/2 creatures for 2 mana is not at all as chaotic as it can be...it is simply a good card, perhaps a great card, but "too powerful"? That I fail to see at the moment...
 
D

DÛke

Guest
Dark Seduction (B)
Sorcery
Target player draws a card and loses 3 life.

Fatal Marvel (1BB)
Enchantment
At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 2 life for each card in your hand.
As Fatal Marvel comes into play, you may draw up to 4 cards.
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
The reason I suggested lowering the toughness wasn't because I thought the cards were broken. There is a slight difference because of things like Prodigal Sorcerer or whatever...

But my reasoning was that ever since Ball Lightning, 1 has been the toughness for creatures like that. It's more of a question of whether you want to adhere to that theme or not than the actual power of the card. If it needed weakened, I would not have suggested lowering the toughness, as it wouldn't have been enough, unless the environment is unusually full of 1 damage dealing sources...

I'm at a loss for Dark Seduction. I don't know if it's too good, too bad, or needs change. I guess it's fine. I don't know why this one leaves me puzzled...

Fatal Marvel is just great. I like it. It's like Sarcomany meets Infernal Contract, which is a great idea and this would certainly be a good example of useful black card drawing. The drawback is harsh, but I think the card is fine the way it is. It's more reasonable than the drawback on Infernal Contract, for most decks at least, and this card can do things the Contract cannot. The card might even be viable in Type I, although I can't think of anything at the moment to use it with there...
 
D

DÛke

Guest
...

I know exactly why Dark Seduction seems so confusing: its effect can be compared to that of Kaervek's Spite, which has a final of effect of diminishing 5 of your opponent's life. And yet, the Spite costs BBB, not to mention its heavy drawback. Comparably, Dark Seduction is way better than the Spite because diminishes a considerably similar life total, of course, at the cost of having your opponent draw a card. The minor plus side to it is that you can use it on yourself, thinning your deck, and although 3 life is no price to pay to thin your deck, it is nevertheless one of the card's uses. Still, I do agree that it is a very conditional card. The earlier version was:

Dark Seduction (1B)
Sorcery
Target player loses 4 life and draws a card.

But this version is really powerful, when set aside of Kaervek's Spite. Though it is a little weaker.

At the end, the question is: is the card playable at all or not?

Back to Chaos Twins - now I see your point. I really don't like to adhere to WotC's themes to begin with. I perfer the 2/2's. I don't think there was any environment in which 1 damage was ever common in order to care about 2/2s or 2/1s.

Fatal Marvel was so hard to make, even though it looks like a simple card. So many versions were scratched off due to their power. More cards to come...
 
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