Hamper

[Aether]

Hello to you all.  I have been making cards on other forums, but this is my first post here.  Hope you like this card:

Hamper
U
Instant
Counter target spell if it is paid with mana of a colour other than its own colours.
Magic is to remain pure. - Vondruska, Master Mage

This is in a block I am building which emphasise the colour of mana you pay for spells.  It is supposed to punish those who splash a colour for utility spell, but with all those off-colour moxen and dual lands running rampant in Type 1, I suppose this would have an impact there - or at least players will be more careful on what colour of mana he or she should tap for

And since artifacts are colourless, this will always counter an artifact spell unless you manage to play the artifact with colourless mana.

Current version:

Hamper 1U
Instant
Counter target spell if it is paid with mana of its colours only.
Uniformity stifles. - Yax, wandering mage

EDIT - Removed cantrip.
EDIT - Changed identity of Yax from Chromemage to wandering mage (Thanks stijndon)

[GerryMander]

Is this supposed to be:  "Counter target spell with colorless mana in its casting cost"?  I am confused.

[Ephraim]

I think it means that if it's a green spell (say, one that costs {G}) and you pay for it with {G}{G}, then you're fine. If you pay for it with {G}{G}, then you're subject to it getting countered. I think it's pretty strong. I kind of like the trend that Magic has taken, in encouraging decks that use more than one colour. I can't say I like the idea of creating cards that try to push people back to mono-colour decks.

[Aether]

Ephraim has got the idea.  However, Hamper cannot counter the hypothetical 2G spell if its controller pays two colourless mana for the 2 because, hey, colourless mana is colourless.

Note that Hamper does not hose multi-coloured cards strongly though - if you are playing a Psychatog, it can't be countered by this spell as long as you pay the 1 with blue or black mana.

I can make it cost 1U and lets you draw a card.  Is that better or do you prefer the current version?

[Matt]

I think this is a bad card to make for two reasons: one, I too like the trend of killing off mono-colored decks. Two, this card reminds me of "graveyard order" cards (like Krovikan Horror) that are poor to play with because they force you to play absolutely perfectly: not just in timing everything correctly, but stuff like: when you Wrath, you have to be absolutely sure that the creatures go to the graveyard before the Wrath does. That's really annoying, and this card would make it similarly annoying to have to declare which colors I'm tapping my multilands for. Like the Wrath example, it's something you're supposed to do anyway,. BUT as it currently stands, it doesn't affect the game if you don't.

[Aether]

Well, the set this card will be in encourages multicolour as well.  This is made to be a mechanic hoser like Planar Overlay, only a bit better and you will not cry when you open it.

And the mana you tap will affect the game quite a bit in that set as well.

[Aether]

Okay, I will conform.

Pardon my double post, but can I get a 24-hour clock now?

[Necrologia]

Is that the correct wording for something like this? Shouldn't it be more along the lines of "Counter target spell if its mana cost was paid with only/exactly one color of mana."

As it is this is still really strong. It's a hard counter with only 1 in the casting cost, plus it draws you a card. Maybe if you remove the card draw it'll be okay, but right now it's like a super Daze. The opponent will walk into it the first time then try to play around it, but it'll still help out occasionally afterward.

[stijndon]

Chromomage is too ugly to be a word.

[Aether]

Necrologia - Your suggestion would make it never counter a multi-coloured spell since a multi-coloured spell always has two or more colours, right?

As for card power, it is based on the old-school system where Counterspell is the norm - but seeing that this will counter any spell in a mono-coloured deck, I guess the cantrip has to go then.

stijndon - Yeah, chromomage is not that good of a title - mind giving another suggestion?

[stijndon]

Perhaps attribute it to a Wandering Mage? That card has three colours, so it would know what it was talking about

[Aether]

24 hour clock again.

[Matt]

Closed and added.