Not all cards have to be tournament worthy. I really want a BIG effect. Draw 7 is as big as it gets. And an opponent may choose to let the card resolve. In Type 1 it would be mighty dangerous to let that happen but in other formats, I guess it could happen. Of course it can be a worse Coercion, but that's the point. The drawback to that draw 7 is that it may not happen. Instead you get a weaker effect that is still somewhat potent.

That correction makes a lot of sense.

OK, I know this is going to stir discussion. In fact, I'm rebooting an idea I had six years ago about draw 7 effects. The fact a new one that is not terrible has been printed in M11 makes me want to bring back what I and other members discussed back then.

For reference, here's the old thread: http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=19920.msg323200#msg323200


Ergosphere
1UB
Sorcery
An opponent may choose to reveal his hand if he has more than zero card in his hand. If he does, choose and discard a card. If he doesn't, each player discards his hand and draws seven cards.


The effect of drawing 7 cards is huge and one has to think beyond mana cost to create such a card. The problem is how to make something playable but that isn't overpowered in any format. Timetwister is obviously too powerful but Temporal Cascade is just horrible.

I chose sorcery speed for obvious reasons. Timetwister is a sorcery and so are Time Spiral, Windfall, Diminishing Returns, Wheel of Fortune, Coercion, Temporal Cascade and Time Reversal.

First drawback: colors. Mono colored spells are somewhat too powerful unless there's a ridiculous amount of colored mana that is necessary to cast the sapell so making it multi-colored is the way to go. What are then the correct colors? Since it can draw and discard, blue and black are the choice colors in the present situation.

Second drawback: it is possible to dodge the effect if the opponent has at least one card. Then it becomes a multi-colored Coercion, thus a less powerful card.

Third drawback: it probably deserves a mythic Rare status.

However, I still chose to cost it at three so it remains playable. The balance of the card comes from the fact that if you play this early, it is a discard spell as the opponent will likely want to prevent you from drawing 7 cards. However, he may want to have a fresh hand so he may choose to not reveal his hand and draw 7 cards instead. Late game, if you get to the point where the opponent is empty handed, you deserve for the spell to resolve.

While reading the old discussion, keep in mind that the metagame in 2004 was very different so I believe that with the actual card pool, this card is worth a look.

Ergosphere
1UB
Sorcery
An opponent may choose to reveal his hand if he has more than zero card in his hand. If he does, choose a card. That opponent disards that card. If he doesn't, each player discards his hand and draws seven cards.

Changes:

- Killane: wording

I wanted to restrict to non artifact spells to reflect green hate of artifacts. That's all.

The other thing is I think people misinterpreted my point. Let's say you counter Morphling (3UU), then you add 2 at your next main phase.

Mantis, your versioon would be too weak I believe. I want it to be somewhat playable.

Scattering Stroke is conditional that you win and mono blue and costs 4. Mine nets you mana if you counter a colored spell.

The non artifact spell restriction is for the green hate for artifacts. And the spell only clause removes the "Morphling dump".

But I removed the mana burn restriction as it's too much.

Disclaimer: I'm not trying to fix Mana Drain because that can't be done. However, I believe there is something to be done with the mechanic to make it less abusable even if remains a strong card.

So the things I look for are the following:
1) Mana Drain gives too much mana so we need a restriction on the amount of mana it's gonna give.
2) Mana burn is going to go away so we need to enforce something to that effect on the card.
3) It needs to be multi color. Blue to counter, green for acceleration.
4) It needs to remain a blue card at heart so it's going to be UU for sure for the blue part.
5) Restrict where that mana is spent. No dumping into artifacts (even though blue likes them, green is not a friend of artifacts), no dumping into effects. So it's used to cast colored spells only.

So here it is:

NAME
GUU
Instant
Counter target spell. At the beginning of your next main phase, add X to your mana pool, where X is that spell's colored mana. That mana may only be used to cast non artifact spells.

Current wording

NAME
GUU
Instant
Counter target spell. At the beginning of your next main phase, add X to your mana pool, where X is that spell's colored mana. That mana may only be used to cast non artifact spells. At the end of that main phase, lose one life for every mana that was not spent.

Changes

A couple of years ago, I tried to come up with two ideas for fair draw 7, both of which were multi colored and gave the opponent the choice to do something to prevent shit from happening. Prepare to go back in time: http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=19920.msg323200#msg323200

We also did a fair black draw 7, which is on the master list:

Kaervek's Scorn
BBB
Sorcery
As an additionnal cost to play Kaervek's Scorn, sacrifice all permanents you control and discard your hand.
Draw 7 cards.
The living don't understand the true meaning of sacrifice. -Kaervek

So the point is unless you do something VERY original and playable at the same time, your draw 7 will not see the light of day. Much like mine did.

24h clock

I don't want to. It could be a Super Autumn Willow, but I just want an enchatment that fits in the Future Sight block. It's something like though the Autumn Willow (a legend), even long dead, still watches overall.

Would lowering the cost to 1GG be too much? I don't mind obsoleting Dense Foliage and Privileged Position has already done that.

Malakai, making it cost 6 mana would be just wrong. Privileged Position would just be one million times better.

The black one basically says: "Search you desck for Yawgmoth's Will. You win the game." This is wrong on so many levels...

Autumn Shelter
2GG
Enchantment
Creatures you control gain shroud.
G: Choose a creature you control. Until end of turn, the chosen creature can be the target of spells and abilities controlled by target player as though it didn't have shroud.
Cool flavor text remembering the existence of the Willow

This is basically an enchantment that takes the power of Autumn Willow and extend it to all creatures you control, thus the name of the card. This power is pretty big so I chose to cost it with double green in the mana cost so it can not be played easily by other colors. I don't know if it should cost 1GG or 2GG though.

Autumn Shelter
2GG
Enchantment
Creatures you control gain shroud.
G: Choose a creature you control. Until end of turn, the chosen creature can be the target of spells and abilities controlled by target player as though it didn't have shroud.
Though long gone, the Willow's presence is still felt by the people.

Changes:

I hadn't sthought about such important matters... Cost upped at 6 mana. Is the basic idea good?

Would making it "Destroy all lands and non-creature artifacts you control and all creatures your opponents control." fairer? If so, would it become a sucky card?

Devastate
1RR
Sorcery
Destroy all lands you control and all creatures your opponents control.

The basic idea is to give red creatures mass destruction. This is white and black territory. Usually, red mass destruction is about blowing up about everything. And as it is known, red is very good at destroying lands. So how about blowing up the land to clear the opponent's army while your army takes shelter? Ressources are scarce after such devastation, so mana from lands is no longer available.

Considering this ability is very red, it needs two colored mana in the cost. Now, what is an appropriate cost. The staples are Wrath of God and Armageddon. But the fact that you have to get rid of your lands to kill the opponent's creature means that the mana cost has to be smaller than 4 mana. At two mana, that would be too fast. So three mana it is. But three red mana or two red and a colorless?

Current wording:

Devastate
4RR
Sorcery
Destroy all lands you control and all creatures your opponents control.
quote

Changes:
Mana cost upped: everyone

Problem is that white and green are not flavorful. Forget about Balance, this card was a mistake too And adding colorless mana would make it bad. Three colors is still difficult to get online.

I like Draw 7 effects, a lot. You have to think ahead instead of making variants. Think about interesting drawbacks, color combinations instead of making them single color, interaction with the opponent. I know some drawbacks have to be huge, but the effect in itself is huge. Windfall was restricted ad I doesn't always draw 7 cards.

As it stands, your card is "meh". It's not interesting. Spice it up. Such powerful effects need to be interesting.

Right now, Wheel of Fortune variant I could be:

Wheel Variant
UBR
Sorcery
Each player discards his hand and draws seven cards.

Black: Massive discard
Blue: Massive drawing
Red: Massive chaos

Three colors is pretty difficult to cast. Still, it would make more sense than weakening an already existing version and keeping the exact same mana cost. But even at three colors, it is still be powerful. Now, extended and standard have access to "dual lands", so they could run this card too.

EKM Ichorid, this is broken I think. Problem is that it's easy to cheap it into play and wait until your opponent's EOT to settle a big turn. And why would a dragon be blue? Making it both red and blue would be nicer: the wheel of fortune and dragon part are red, but the wheel and wizard thing seems blue. Anyway, I still believe this is too strong.

Parallax, this is fair, but it's slow and boring. Time Spiral is the comparison here and your card is strictly worse than a card which is much less played. I understand Wheel of Fortune and Timetwister are big mistakes, but those are nearly 15 years old. But look at the big picture. Draw 7 that are good generally become broken and fair ones are usually forgotten because they don't make the cut. Sad but true.

I tried NUMEROUS times to find a "correct" draw 7 effect. I failed NUMEROUS times. One time, I nearly reached balance with this: http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=19920.0. I still failed. By their nature, draw 7 have to be horrible or broken. Simple as that.

Look at this: http://forums.macnn.com/89/macnn-lounge/270378/calling-all-grammar-polices/3/


This is just great. Makes the thing even funnier.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-mOy8VUEBk

I'd put this in the humor forum but I can't. This is pretty funny.

http://christmaschebacca.ytmnd.com/

Merry Christmas everybody! Can't post it in Humor, so here ir is.

Could we make something like:
cost, T: Add a "kind" counter on target creature.
cost, T: Remove from the game target creature with a "kind" counter. Put a 1/1 black Spawn token into play.

The Wretched Spawn
3BB
Legendary Creature - Demon
BB, T: Target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn. If that creature would be sent in a graveyard this turn, remove it from the game instead and put a 1/1 black Spawn token into play under your control.
1/3

The basic idea behind this card is that if a seed is planted and is allowed to sprout, something comes out. And the idea also came from the Cannibal Corpse album with the same same. The demon here plants his seed in it's victim and if the seed is allowed to grow, it destroys the host (remove it from the game), and something spawns from this. Since it is in it's infancy, 1/1 seems about right.

-2/-2 seems very strong so the ability requires a cost which is very black and to prevent abuses, I want it to tap. Since -2/-2 is very strong, you don't want this creature to come into play too quickly, so the CC was chosen accordingly.

Current wording:

The Wretched Spawn
2BB
Legendary Creature - Horror
T: Put a seed counter on target creature.
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, put a seed counter on each creature that has a seed counter.
When a creature has three or more seed counters, remove it from the game and put a 1/1 black Spawn token into play under your control.
1/1

Changes:
- Wording: Illissius
- Creature type: me

Could we go as far as add that if BB was paid, search the library for any card and put it on top? It would than mirror all Mirage Tutors.

But as a general idea, this is a very solid card. I like it.

This card looks great, but what happens if you decide to pay, for example, BUR? Can you pay for all effects? If then, how do stack the cards?

I did see that card. But it's a one shot and it's gone. I was thinking more Northern Paladin than this one. The paladin can keep destroying and has a 3/3 body. But since this is very narrow, I believe I can drop the activation cost. So that's the idea. Thank you.

Bad Dude
2WW
Creature - Human Martial Artist
T: Destroy target ninja.
3/3

"The president has been kidnapped by ninjas. Are you a bad enough dude to rescue the president?"

Inpired by the greatest game intro of all time: the intro to Dab Dudes! Of course, some things can change but I don't recall a card that destroys ninjas even is there are just a few of them.

http://content.collegehumor.com/items/2002/09/collegehumor.3921.451xAUTO.jpg
http://www.seanbaby.com/nes/intro.htm

Bad Dude
2WW
Creature - Human Martial Artist
T: Destroy target ninja.
3/3

"The president has been kidnapped by ninjas. Are you a bad enough dude to rescue the president?"