Sigil Cycle

[TheWellknownBrownie]

I've always loved Charms, and wished that the concept was more used and explored by Wizards. This cycle is inspired in particular by the Planeshift Cycle of Charms, but with an opposite bent towards encouraging Mono-Color decks. I'm a huge fan of Mono-Color decks, but I think there's been a hugely noticeable shift in Magic towards making two and three color decks the standard, not just in Eternal formats but in every format; even in Standard enviroments, monochrome decks are a fourth as common as multicolor. I would like to see an Anti-Invasion Block that had monocolor as a theme, where these could fit in. These would probably have to be Rare, although they might be terrible in Limited anyway with their casting costs.


Sigil of Law
WWW
Instant
Choose one- Remove target attacking creature from the game; or permanents you control gain protection from the color of your choice until end of turn; or remove target artifact or enchantment from the game.


Sigil of Thought
UUU
Instant
Choose one- Counter target non-creature spell; or return target non-land permanent to it's owner's hand; or look at the top 5 cards of your library, then put one of them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.


Sigil of Ashes
BBB
Instant
Choose one- Target player discards two cards from his or her hand; or remove all cards in target player's graveyard from the game; or target player sacrifices a creature he or she controls.


Sigil of Chaos
RRR
Instant
Choose one- Change the target of target spell with a single target; or untap target creature and gain control of it until end of turn, and that creature gains haste until end of turn; or Sigil of Chaos deals 4 damage to each player.


Sigil of Leaves
GGG
Instant
Choose one- Return target green card from your graveyard to your hand; or put a 3/3 Elephant token into play; or gain 8 life.


Thoughts? Any of these overpowered, keeping in mind the strict requirements on color they have? (I tried to make the Blue one the weakest, as Blue decks already tend to run only lands that can produce Blue in Vintage and Legacy)


Current Versions:
Sigil of Law
WWW
Instant
Choose one- Target player sacrifices an attacking creature; or permanents you control gain protection from the color of your choice until end of turn; or you can't be the target of spells or abilities until end of turn.


Sigil of Thought
UUU
Instant
Choose one- Counter target non-creature spell; or look at the top 5 cards of your library, then put one of them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in any order; or target spell or permanent becomes the color of your choice (This effect doesn't end at end of turn).


Sigil of Ashes
BBB
Instant
Choose one- Creatures you control gain swampwalk until end of turn; or remove all cards in target player's graveyard from the game; or destroy target non-black, non-artifact creature.


Sigil of Chaos
RRR
Instant
Choose one- Change the target of target sorcery spell with a single target, or gain control of target creature, and that creature gains haste until end of turn; or Sigil of Chaos deals 4 damage to each player.


Sigil of Leaves
GGG
Instant
Choose one- Return target green card from your graveyard to your hand; or put a 3/3 Elemental token into play; or gain 8 life.


Should these be changed to be Charms? But my rationale was that Charm implies something small, wheras these are a bit larger than those effets, and more expensive.

[Necrologia]

Given that no color can deal with everything, and most blocks have at least one solid set of multicolor lands, it makes sense that multicolor decks are more common. Also, mono color as a set theme has actually been done before - in the Dark. That was hardly the most popular set ever, but that might just be because of the low power level.

These are some nice cards I think. 3 of a color might be a little harsh though. Would 1xx be possible or are you really set on making these non-splashable? Hmm, the blue one has 2 draw effects, maybe replace one of them with bounce?

[TheWellknownBrownie]

Originally, it did have a bounce ability, but I thought that ultimately tied more into the elemental flavor of Blue (wind and water and storms and whatnot) and less into the mental, mind-games aspect. I do dislike having two draw effects. Perhaps either switching it to an Illusion/Mind Bend type ability, or to be slightly less sucky, the Fork ability (Fork's Blue nowadays, I guess, if we can use Uyo, Silent Prophet as an example)


I am very determined to make them mono-color. That's why they're the opposite of the Planeshift cycle. I know it makes sense to have dual color decks, but that's because Wizards has been shifting towards making it easier and more practical in the past five to six years. They could shift the other way, if only for a single Block.

[Ephraim]

I have some problems with these. One, I definitely don't like monochrome decks. I don't mind seeing triple-C in mana costs, but I think it should only be applied to cards that are much more interesting than these.

My personal feelings toward this idea aside, I think there are some mechanical problems with these. Becáuse these will only ever fit into monochrome decks, I think it's important that one looks at how these cards compare to other cards in those colours. Since the only drawback to these is that they prevent splashing, I think it's sigificant to see, for example, how Sigil of Ashes compares to other black, discard spells. Remember, assume that every argument presented below is prefaced with "In mono-(colour)..."

Sigil of Law is mostly better than Chastise and mostly better than Akroma's Blessing.

Sigil of Thought has the Fork ability, which hasn't been seen on a non-permanent since, well, Fork. I think it is relevant that Wizards has printed three permanents that somehow provide the Fork ability, but has not since printed a spell that emulates Fork.

Sigil of Ashes is strictly better than basically any other card that makes a player discard two cards, by merit of being an instant. I admit that I really like the other two abilities on this card, but that the discard effect needs to change.

Sigil of Chaos is strictly better than Shunt and strictly better than Temporary Insanity. The last ability alone, at instant-speed, is probably worth (see Flame Rift for reference.)

Sigil of Leaves is probably the most well-balanced of these cards. It definitely costs more than any of the component spells or at least suffers from lost functionality (compare it to Call of the Herd or Pulse of the Tangle.)

***

Recall, my point is not that these are actually better in most cases than the cited counterparts. My point is that in a monochrome deck, there is almost no reason to run any of the cited counterparts over any of these cards. One aspect of good Charm, in my opinion, is that its abilities are all weak for the cost of the card -- which emphasizes that the high cost is in part paying for the versatility of having three diverse effects on one card. Many of these, I believe are aggressively or even undercosted for one of the abilities of the card.

[TheWellknownBrownie]

I think that if a card can only fit into mono-chrome decks, that's far and away a strong enough argument to allow it to be strictly better than other, more splashable cards. One might as well argue that Counterspell is strictly better in Mono-Blue than Mana Leak, or that Horobi's Whisper is strictly better than Dark Banishing in Mono-Black. It's true, but how does that threaten balance? Being able to run multiple colors is a massive boon. That aside, I think you raise some good points.

Chastise provides a significant life-swing, and the cycling is really the only reason to ever play a card as narrow as Akroma's Blessing. Most of the time it's going to be a White Reach Through Mists.

I don't think that is particularly relevant aside from that they don't want to make Fork abilities too cheap for Vintage/Legacy reasons, and they don't think an expensive mana investment is worth it for a one-shot deal. This isn't cheap enough to break Time Walk in half, I think.

I agree, but there really isn't anything else Black can do at this casting cost. Not that I can think of. Black is good at killing three things; graveyards, hands, and creatures. I could always switch it to Sorcery speed and break the symmetry of the cycle somewhat.

We come to the problem where all three of those cards sucked. While that's not enough to obsolete them outright, in a card that prevents splashing or even running Wastelands in Extended and Vintage, it should be enough.

Chah.


Agreed that it creates such a situation in mono-chrome, but that was partially my point. There should be rewards to running Mono-Color decks. And as I already pointed out, Wizards has already done such things in the past. Even in Standard right now, Horobi's Whisper is strictly better than Dark Banishing except for a higher commitment to Black. That said, I would be open to suggestions for other ideas for the Chastise ability on the White, Fork ability on the Blue, Discard on the Black and Shunt/Threaten on the Red. I'm not unhappy with those, but they could certainly suffer from a de-crease in power and be fine, I just couldn't think of better mechanics.

[TheWellknownBrownie]

Tweaked all of the cards except Green down significantly, to the point where they could probably be uncommon, after reviewing various small instants and sorceries in the colors some more for ideas. Changes the Blue Fork to a Mind Bend, the White Chastise to a Wing Shards, the Black Mind Rot to a one-shot Filth, and tweaked the two good Red abilities to be slightly narrower (removed the untap ability on the Threaten, and switched the Shunt to only hit Sorceries)

[Ephraim]

I think the power level of these is more reasonable now. I don't see them obsoleting any other cards now, so I'm definitely satisfied that they're more charm-like.

[Nibble]

It seems a little off to me that the white and black ones have overlapping effects (white has sacrifice an attacker, black has sacrifice a creature). I was thinking about white getting to rfg an attacking creature, but it's a bit too powerful, relatively. Perhaps a [card]Reprisal[/card] effect?

Also, Sigil of Thought should probably have the (This effect doesn't end at end of turn.) reminder text.

[TheWellknownBrownie]

Noted and changed. Diabolic Edict effect switched to be a Terror. Anything else or can I initiate my oh-so-sparkly first 24 hour clock?

[TheWellknownBrownie]

belated 24 hour clock.

[Matt]

Closed and added.[/color]