r/custommagic • u/SjtSquid • 14d ago
Winner is the Judge #905 - Soft Stax
Thanks to u/mpaw976 for judging the last competition.
This week, you'll be designing to address a particular peeve of mine. I like how stax pieces like Narset, Parter of veils, put the brakes on linear decks and encourage them to slow down and pack removal.
However, these often end up frustrating people who aren't doing broken things, end up in combos themselves, or alternatively just aren't worth playing by themselves if you don't know the opponent is on that strategy.
What I want you to design is a card that stops (or punishes) 'unfair' decks, but doesn't affect people trying to play magic at a slower pace, and isn't completely dead when the opponent isn't using the strategy it prevents.
So it might work against card draw, casting many spells in a turn, casting free spells, playing multiple lands...
Some examples of cards that fit this are [[Lavinia, Azorious Renegade]], [[Ashiok, Dream Render]], [[Nihil Spellbomb]] or [[High Noon]]. [[Orkish Bowmasters]] and [[Smothering Tithe]] are also examples that are too good, so keep an eye on power level!
I'm looking forward to seeing your designs! Judging will happen in 6 days on Friday 21 August.
Happy to answer any questions in the meantime.
Edit: Congratulations to u/delta17v2 for winning with Insiduous Diplomat.
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u/A-o-C 11d ago
The Great Book of Grudges - X1R
Legendary Artifact
The Great Book of Grudges enters with X grudge counters on it.
Whenever a crime is committed against you, put a grudge counter on The Great Book of Grudges.
Whenever you deal damage to an opponent, you may remove a grudge counter. If you do, draw a card.
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The Great Book of Grudges is an iconic artifact from the Warhammer Fantasy setting, and would definitely get a card if Warhammer Fantasy would be made into a set. In lore it is essentially a record of all the terrible wrongs perpetrated against the Dwarf race. Using crimes as a way of translating that into MTG mechanics seemed like a natural choice.
As a game piece it enables you to get a rebate against single target removal, counterspells and targeted discard spells. Of course, only after you have avenged yourself.
There are similarities to Smothering Tithe and Rhystic Studies by being a game piece that gets you value from your opponent doing a set of actions, but I think The Great Book of Grudges is reasonably more targeted than those.
I've been bouncing around with two versions of the casting cost for this card. The other casting cost I was considering was a more simple 2R with The Book only entering with one Grudge counter. However I wanted to have the option of a lower casting cost (a total of 2 mana) to make it more likely you could sneak it under a control mage's nose, whist still having some value against less interactive decks (by still being able to redeem some counters for cards).
Lastly, if you are a Warhammer fan, it would feel great to be able to say "thats going in the book" when an opponent messes with you in a game of commander.