Writ Cycle

[Demonic Attorney]

I've never posted here before, but inspiration suddently struck as I was heading home from work on the subway.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, all these card names are derived from legal terminology, although some of them are very obscure.


Writ of Habeas Corpus
1{W}{W}
Enchantment

, Sacrifice Writ of Habeas Corpus: Return target creature from your graveyard to play.  If a spell or ability had destroyed that creature, it gains protection from the color(s) of that spell or ability.

Writ of Habeas Corpus
1{W}{W}
Enchantment

, Sacrifice Writ of Habeas Corpus:  If target creature would be destroyed by a spell or ability this turn, it gains protection from the color(s) of that spell or ability instead.


Writ of Replevin
1{R}{R}
Enchantment

, Sacrifice Writ of Replevin:  Gain control of all permanents you own.  For each permanent that comes under your control as a result of this ability, draw a card.  Draw a card.

Writ of Replevin
1{R}{R}
Enchantment

, Sacrifice Writ of Replevin:  Gain control of all permanents you own.  For each permanent that comes under your control as a result of this ability, draw a card.  Draw a card.


Writ of Cognovit
1{B}{B}
Enchantment

Spells and abilities you control can't target spells or permanents controlled by an opponent.
During your upkeep, choose lands, artifacts, enchantments or creatures.  Until end of turn, whenever you play a permanent of the chosen type, you may pay [1] or 1 life.  If you do, draw a card.

Writ of Cognovit
1{B}{B}
Enchantment

Spells and abilities you control can't target spells or permanents controlled by an opponent.
During your upkeep, choose lands, artifacts, enchantments or creatures.  Until end of turn, whenever you play a permanent of the chosen type, you may pay 1 life.  If you do, draw a card.

Writ of Mandamus
1{U}{U}
Enchantment

1{U}{U}, Discard a card: Change the target of an ability that targets you and/or a creature you control to any new target(s) of your choice.  All new targets must be legal, and the number of new targets must be equal to the original number of targets.

Writ of Mandamus
1{U}{U}
Enchantment

1{U}{U}, Discard a card: Change the target of an ability that targets you and/or a creature you control to any new target(s) of your choice.  All new targets must be legal, and the number of new targets must be equal to the original number of targets.


Writ of Detinue
1{G}{G}
Enchantment

, Sacrifice Writ of Detinue:  Return two cards from your graveyard to your hand.

Writ of Detinue
1{G}{G}
Enchantment

, Sacrifice Writ of Detinue:  You and your opponent both choose a card in your graveyard.  Return one of those cards to your hand and the other to the top of your library.

[Anusien]

Write of Habeus Corpus has horrific memory issues.  Nevermind that it's questionable what woudl happen if it got blocked by a Nekrataal and then finished off by Lightning Helix.

Writ of Replevin: I like it, although I'm worried about this giving huge draw abilities to red.

Writ of Cognovit: I don't see the synergy behind the two abilities.  I'd rather just see the second ability be symmetrical than having the weird awful drawback tacked on, especially since that's a fucking severe drawback.  Also, it breaks the cycle, because the rest of them have 1, Sac: abilities.

Writ of Mandamus: Other than it sort of breaking the cycle by not having a 1, Sac: ability, I really like this one.

Writ of Detinue: This is dangerous because it has the ability, among other things, to chain in a ridiculous fashion and Wizards no longer allows that.  (See Nostalgic Dreams, Ill-Gotten Gains).  Also, at this cost it's strictly better than Recollect and better than double Regrowth because it only costs one card.  Make it RFG itself and make it cost 2GG to cast.

[Sanity_XIV]

Anusien - If you make the changes to Writ of Detinue as you said, it is basically restock. (2GG + 1 to sacrifice = 3GG = cost of restock) This would make the card rather pointless, but this is not to say the card is balanced as it is. I don't balance things, I nitpick. Like a ninja.

[Ephraim]

Two small comments before I begin discussing the cards: 1. You can use mana symbols by putting the letter in curly braces. This no longer causes problems when copying the cards to the master list. 2. You need a current wording post in bold.

I agree that Writ of Habeas Corpus has horrible memory issues. Along with Anusien's comments, it is also important to note that many players are unclear on the difference between a creature dying because of damage (Lightning Bolt) and being destroyed by a spell (Terror.) It's a distinction that I believe it's wise to avoid.

I like the idea behind Writ of Replevin. Whether there's room for another Brand, I don't know, but I think your variant is interesting. It would need to be templated differently, I think.

Concerning Writ of Cognovit, I like Anusien's suggestion that you make it symmetrical instread of having the non-targetting penalty. That said, with or without the penalty, I don't really see how this card is black.

I don't like Writ of Mandamus. Changing the target of spells has shifted to red. Furthermore, it is very similar to a card I created a while ago. (Lunatic Fringe | {R} | Enchantment | Remove a card in your hand from the game: Change the target of target spell with a single target. Any player may play this ability.)

I don't like Writ of Detinue as it is now. I think the concept has merit but could be executed differently. One possibility could be...

Writ of Detinue
{G}{G}
Enchantment

, Sacrifice Writ of Detinue: Choose up to three cards in your graveyard. An opponent chooses one of those cards. Remove that card from the game and put the rest into your hand.

[Demonic Attorney]

I've implemented some of the suggested changes for the cards.  To better establish what exactly I'm trying to get at in terms of the theme, I'll define each term as it is used in law:


Writ of Habeas Corpus:  Petition to the court to be released from government detention, usually because the reason for detention is unconstitutionally deficient.  I figure something that saves a creature from being shipped off to the graveyard would fit this mold, plus petitioners who prevail on habeas petitions usually aren't messed with again, hence the protection.

Writ of Replevin:  Motion at common law to recover rightfully owned property that is currently in the wrongful possession of another entity, usually an individual.  This seems fairly straightforward.

Writ of Cognovit:  Extremely obscure contract law doctrine.  Essentially a cognovit clause amounts to one party agreeing to automatically waive all rights and claims arising out of a particular transaction or event.  These are very frowned upon, and require significant consideration (i.e. compensation) for the courts to accept them.  Even then, they're generally looked on as an underhanded way of cutting off someone's legal standing at the knees.  I figure the card entails a "waiver of rights and claims" of sorts, since you can never contest another spell, nor target another permanent of your opponent's, but in exchange, you gain the significant consideration of being able to cantrip off a chosen permanent type.  I made the payment for the cantrip effect exclusively life-oriented to better fit the black theme.  I originally made the card black because cognovit clauses are disapproved of or even outright prohibited in most jurisdictions as unfair or abusive.

Writ of Mandamus:  Petition to the courts to order a government official to perform a duty to the petitioner owed to them as a matter of law.  Basically, you're asking the court to override the otherwise discretionary perogative of an official to make sure they perform their duties as the law requires.  The card overrides the caster's perogative according to the wishes of the "writ" in this case.

Writ of Detinue:  Action at law to recover personal property.  Straightforward, as well.