Another Land that's Probably Broken
Custom Cards forum
Posted on Feb. 22, 2015, 3:14 p.m. by Jay
People have been posting OP custom lands lately. This probably is, too. I have two possible versions of the same concept.
Unstable Tidepools
Land- Rare
You may play ~ during any players main phase. Play ~ only if you have not played a land since or during your last turn.
: Add 
to your mana pool.
The wording is awkward, yes, but I want to make sure you can't just drop one during everybody's turn in a FFA game. Not quite sure how to say it concisely, but you have to have mised your land drop and can only play 1 per turn rotation.
Cesspool Spring
Land - R
You may play ~ during any players main phase.
When ~ enters the battlefield, if it is not your turn, you may not play a land until the current player's next turn.
: add 
to your mana pool.
Again, odd wording, but you need to wait a full rotation to play one again. Note that it can be on their turn again, or you can wait till yours.
ANYWAY please tell me how overpowered these are. Thanks fam.
-Jay
TurboFagoot says... #4
This card just doesn't work in the rules. It never will. You can't play lands on someone else's turn, ever.
February 22, 2015 3:37 p.m.
Well, cards always take priority over rules. So it wouldn't be impossible for them to make a cards allowing lands to be played then. You can have more than 4x Relentless Rats.
February 22, 2015 3:47 p.m.
You should never be allowed to play lands on someone else's turn unless it's from a card like Burgeoning where the other player initiates it or the land enters as a result of your opponent via something like Tempt with Discovery.
February 22, 2015 3:51 p.m.
TheNinjaJesus says... #7
A way to make it work would be "You can play this land if an opponent played a land last turn, in addition to your regular land play"... but I agree. Lands with flash would be too powerful.
February 22, 2015 3:55 p.m.
No, the rules explicitly say that you cannot play lands from your hand during an opponent's turn. It's not about "well we can just write it on the card", it's the rules just won't let you do that.
February 22, 2015 3:58 p.m.
The only way to make it work is to change the wording of "play". You could theoretically have a land that just has an ability that allows it to be "put into play", but don't use the term "play" since that is reserved for the special action of putting a land into play during your turn when the stack is empty.
February 22, 2015 4:31 p.m.
PhyrexianScience says... #11
You could say something like: "Whenever an opponent plays a land (or at the beginning of an opponent's main phase), if Unstable Tidepools is in your hand, you may put in onto the battlefield." This way we don't have the special action of playing a land, rather we have a triggered ability like that of Burgeoning.
Of course this is OP, so we should probably add another line saying "If Unstable Tidepools enters the battlefield during an opponent's turn, return a land you control to it's owner's hand."
It's still pretty OP though...
February 22, 2015 4:34 p.m.
nighthawk101 says... #13
You could try an activated ability.
As for the lands themselves... it's an interesting idea. They would definitely see play, as they're mostly better than basics.
February 22, 2015 4:44 p.m.
the people saying "this wouldn't work" are completely wrong (card text trumps rules when they contradict each other), but the card is not really worth using anyways.
btw, turn rotation isn't a thing mentioned in the rules. I think there is probably a good reason for that.
the idea you are trying to get at isn't terrible, but there is an easier, simpler way to get a similar effect without awkward wordings.
How about this:
Cesspool Spring
Land - R
: Put ~ from your hand onto the battlefield tapped if you control fewer lands than each opponent
: add to your mana pool.
With this, you preserve the intent while keeping it from feeling too much like an instant speed mana rock (if it didn't cost mana, you could break this card in half a second).
February 22, 2015 8:07 p.m.
TurboFagoot says... #16
I'm not "completely wrong". This topic comes up all the time on the blog of the rules manager for the game, Matt Tabak. He always says that it's not feasible in the rules to make a land that can be played on an opponent's turn. The man who writes the rules says it can't be done.
Activated abilities, triggered abilities, whatever are all fine. But you can't make a land that can just be played on another player's turn.
Research before you talk out of your ass.
February 22, 2015 8:15 p.m.
hmm, I looked at the rules and realized something. the reason you can't override this rule is because it states clearly (in rule 305.3) that this is rule that can't be overridden. Looks like I learned something new.
Not feasible and explicitly super-duper-forbidden are different things (and hey, if a card said to ignore rule 305.3, I would go by what the card says to do.)
JWiley129 says... #2
Yeah....that won't work. You can only play lands on your turn when the stack is empty. No amount of rules text can change that. It's the "Give Dryad Arbor flash" problem.
February 22, 2015 3:25 p.m.