Thoughtcrash (formerly 'Phyrexian Meddling', the Blue Ritual)

[DubDub]

Just good?  Or completely busted?

Initial wording:

Phyrexian Meddling  /2-life
Instant
You may tap or untap target permanent.

Mana at the cost of life, provided you have a land in play.  Utility buying turns against targetable robots.  Untap Bazaar on turn one.  I strongly suspect this is way too good, but what do you think?

Edit: lowered powerlevel, changed name.

Current wording:

Thoughtcrash  /2-life
Instant
Choose one - You may tap target non-land permanent, or you may untap target land with a basic land type.
This one's really going to hurt.

[Wagner]

It's half a blue ritual, that alone makes in dangerous for combo decks. Of course Dredge would play those. But for all the other decks, it's really nothing special. I think it's still unprintable just for the danger potential.

More reliable turn 1 drain would have been huge a while ago too.

[DubDub]

It's also a one shot Time Walk in conjunction with Time Vault, should mention that.

Contributing to the Storm count is cool.  I could see: "Tap out for Jace, response?  Drain.  Force, response?  Force.  P-Meddling my island, Flusterstorm!"

[Norm4eva]

Am I missing something, or would High Tide combo decks would become insanely resilient and fast with a free Twiddle.  Like "turn 2 most of the time" fast.

[DubDub]

Am I missing something, or would High Tide combo decks would become insanely resilient and fast with a free Twiddle.  Like "turn 2 most of the time" fast.

At least as far as resilience goes, no, I don't think so, because High Tide combo is most dependent upon one thing: resolving High Tide with an abusable number of Islands in play.  Certainly as a free Twiddle Phyrexian Meddling would open the door to even a single Island being 'abusable', but only to a really weak degree (you're spending two cards to get  from an Island, when a Spirit Guide could get you  with an extra card in hand, or Dark Ritual gets you  with an extra card in hand, etc).  More importantly this card doesn't help you find or resolve High Tide in the first place.

It might help Legacy Tide, which doesn't have access to Frantic Search, but I think there are better options for Vintage Tide, and for Vintage combo generally.  Plus Legacy Tide (and Legacy as a format) now has to deal with another free spell, Mental Misstep, which severely limits its viability.

[MaximumCDawg]

What about this:

Phyrexian Meddling  /2-life
Instant
You may tap or untap target permanent that is not a non-basic land.

That gets around the troublesome interactions with Baazar and makes it difficult to cram into blue control decks not designed for it.

[Wagner]

But now it's just clunky and really not on flavor with blue.

What about just "non-land permanent"?

Sure, it's a bad card after this, but it would be the safest printable thing.

[DubDub]

But now it's just clunky and really not on flavor with blue.

What about just "non-land permanent"?

Sure, it's a bad card after this, but it would be the safest printable thing.

I considered that, it would still work with Moxen, which is... okay, but not stellar.  I also thought about only untapping without the option to tap things, but that doesn't limit the card much.

I think a clearer wording to eliminate non-basics would be:

"You may tap or untap target non-land permanent or basic land."

[Wagner]

"You may tap or untap target non-land permanent or basic land."

That sounds good, but I dunno, it's also kinda confusing. Maybe modal is the way to go?

Choose one-

You may tap or untap target non-land permanent.
or
You may tap or untap target basic land.

But then again, it's all just terminology here.

What about "You may tap or untap target land with a basic land type" as the second choice? You limit Bazaar brokenness, but keep the ritual part intact.

[DubDub]

"You may tap or untap target non-land permanent or basic land."

That sounds good, but I dunno, it's also kinda confusing. Maybe modal is the way to go?

Choose one-

You may tap or untap target non-land permanent.
or
You may tap or untap target basic land.

But then again, it's all just terminology here.

What about "You may tap or untap target land with a basic land type" as the second choice? You limit Bazaar brokenness, but keep the ritual part intact.

Okay, here's a modal version:

Choose one-

You may tap target non-land permanent.
or
You may untap target land with a basic land type.

Still generates mana, but doesn't strictly require a basic land to work.  Doesn't allow you free tempo by tapping an opponent's land on their upkeep.  Doesn't allow you to Time Walk for free in conjuction with Time Vault, while positively allowing you to fog a single opposing creature.

[Delha]

Okay, here's a modal version:

Choose one-

You may tap target non-land permanent.
or
You may untap target land with a basic land type.

Still generates mana, but doesn't strictly require a basic land to work.  Doesn't allow you free tempo by tapping an opponent's land on their upkeep.  Doesn't allow you to Time Walk for free in conjuction with Time Vault, while positively allowing you to fog a single opposing creature.

I didn't really like the card until now, but really enjoy this latest version. Feels elegant and balanced to me, though I'm honestly not that confident it would see play.

My only suggestion from here would be to come up with a cooler cardname.

[DubDub]

Okay, here's a modal version:

Choose one-

You may tap target non-land permanent.
or
You may untap target land with a basic land type.

Still generates mana, but doesn't strictly require a basic land to work.  Doesn't allow you free tempo by tapping an opponent's land on their upkeep.  Doesn't allow you to Time Walk for free in conjuction with Time Vault, while positively allowing you to fog a single opposing creature.

I didn't really like the card until now, but really enjoy this latest version. Feels elegant and balanced to me, though I'm honestly not that confident it would see play.

My only suggestion from here would be to come up with a cooler cardname.

Challenge accepted.  See updated first post.

[Wagner]

Latest version is superb, not sure we can really come up with anything better.

Great brainstorming all