Seeds cycle (spells at a price)

[Harlequin]

Hunted Creatures, Pacts, etc... All very very powerful cards.  But I like the concept: A benefit now, but at a price later.  
But I always thought there was a design flaw in these cards.  Spesifically there was minimal risk, in that the card had to resolve for the 'cost' to kick in.  So here is a cycle themed on the concept of benefit now at a price later.  The effects are a bit more balanced, and the interesting thing is that the price is paid if your effect resolves or not.


Seeds of War
Instant
All creatures attack this turn if able.
At the begining of your upkeep if Seeds of War is in your graveyard, remove it from the game and all creatures you control must attack this turn if able.

>> Reasonably powerful.  The idea behind the card was to spesfically end those anoying creature standstills.  This is arguably the most powerful because you can end up winning the game with it.  The danger is if it gets countered, then you can really end up hurting yourself.

Seeds of Ferver
Instant
All creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn.
At the begining of your upkeep if Seeds of Ferver is in your graveyard, remove it from the game and all creatures you control get -1/-1 until end of turn.

>> This is probably one of the weakest ones.  And I'm not sure it belongs in Green (maybe black).  I could certianly use help in the green department.  Maybe have it add trample like a mini overrun.

Seeds of Illusion
Instant
Put two 1/1 blue Illusion tokens into play with flying.
At the begining of your upkeep if Seeds of Illusion is in your graveyard, remove it from the game and return two permeniants you control to thier owners hands.

>> I think this one has good balance.  I think most of the time this will have that Gush-esq feel.  Giving you two 1/1 flyers at the cost of (most likely) two land drops.  In a block/Set with plenty of flyers to go around, this is not too dangerous.  By comparison white has raise the alarm.

Seeds of Forgiveness
Instant
Prevent all damage deal this turn.
At the begining of your upkeep if Seeds of Forgiveness is in your graveyard, remove it from the game and tap three creatures you control.

>> No real comments to make here.  It's better than fog because it simply prevents all damage.  

Seeds of Calamity
Instant
Return the top creature card from your graveyard to play.  That creature becomes back and gains Flying, Deathtouch and "At begining of your upkeep, remove this creature from the game."
At the begining of your upkeep if Seeds of Calamity is in your graveyard, remove it from the game and put a 4/4 black Deamon token with flying into play under target opponent's control.

>> this card is probabily the most dramatic in the cycle.  It gives you an instant-speed kamakazi blocker (assuming you have a good creature in the yard.  In many cases the spell reads "destroy target attacking creature."  But it can get ulity creatures, or combo-peice creatures, or even sundering titan type creatures.  So it certainly got much broader applications than an instant speed terror.  The "seed" part of the card it fairly unforgiving...  a 4/4 flyer is pritty strong.  Think Pongify on steriods.

[SpencerForHire]

There seems a notable difference in power level between the different colors..  I think that the black one doesn't make too much sense as a black ability (giving it deathtouch etc) and the rest could be way stronger all toghethor.

[Titanium Dragon]

Well, first off, for templating, I'd recommend the template:

At the beginning of your upkeep, if CARDNAME is in your graveyard, remove it from the game. If you do, X.

Second, Seeds of Illusion doesn't feel very blue; more of a white card in its effect (make two 1/1 flying creatures at instant speed).

Seeds of Forgiveness should be "Prevent all damage that would be dealt this turn."

And the black one is dangerously powerful; Footsteps of the Goroyo had to be sorcery speed to be fair, and this is arguably stronger, costing less and making the creature that comes back stronger. I can't say for sure that it is overpowered, but it seems likely.

[Anusien]

These are all commons.  Commons shouldn't have downsides; they should be all upside.  Thinking of the Great Designer Search, a lot of the cards people suggested had drawbacks, and time and time again the judges hammered them for this.  I think drawback as a mechanic is rather uninteresting.  Also, I don't think these are good enough to justify a drawback.

[Titanium Dragon]

These are all commons.  Commons shouldn't have downsides; they should be all upside.

Uh, these are commons? Where did he say that? From looking at them, they look like rares, though that is because of the drawback; really their effects aren't generally rare. The first one is an uncommon, the second and third are commons, the fourth is common or uncommon, and the last one is a rare (reanimation effects are almost never common anymore, and this one is much more rare-feeling than uncommon-feeling).

Thinking of the Great Designer Search, a lot of the cards people suggested had drawbacks, and time and time again the judges hammered them for this.  I think drawback as a mechanic is rather uninteresting.  Also, I don't think these are good enough to justify a drawback.

I think its more "these aren't cool enough" rather than "these aren't good enough", though maybe you mean the same thing.

Also, it IS okay for commons to occaisionally have drawbacks, but having an entire cycle of drawbacks is probably a bad thing, especially if they're pure-downside drawbacks. Sangrophage and some of the various black commons have drawbacks, which is okay, but they tend not to be crippling (though a lot of these, such as Sangrophage and the boggart from Lorwyn, are just bad cards). More importantly though, if a card at common has a drawback, it should have a VERY obvious upside. For instance, Echo is a fine mechanic at common because people see it as "this creature is cheaper" rather than "I have to pay for this twice".

[andrewpate]

Thinking of the Great Designer Search, a lot of the cards people suggested had drawbacks, and time and time again the judges hammered them for this.  I think drawback as a mechanic is rather uninteresting.  Also, I don't think these are good enough to justify a drawback.

I think its more "these aren't cool enough" rather than "these aren't good enough", though maybe you mean the same thing.

I think you're right about the "cool enough" thing, but I also think that "good enough" applies, at least to some of them (obviously not the blue one).  Like, the first half is not good enough to merit a drawback at all.  for a 1-shot Spirit of Resistance seems like a fairly reasonable price without the self-inflicted Terashi's Cry.  Many of these, with the drawback, are completely terrible.

That said, I agree that there is potential in the mechanic.  At rare, a cycle of spells that do something very exciting with a delayed drawback effect could be cool, sort of an offshoot of the coolness of the Pact cycle.  What about:

Seeds of None-of-that

Instant
Counter target spell.
At the beginning of your next upkeep, spells can't be countered until your next upkeep.

You know, the more I think about it, this actually all begins to remind me of Final Fortune.  I absolutely LOVE Final Fortune.  What a good idea, Harlequin.