Darksteel Curtain

Custom Cards forum

Posted on Jan. 23, 2022, 9:20 a.m. by DemonDragonJ

The name "darksteel curtain" was too good to not use on a card, so here is my design that uses that name.

Darksteel Curtain Show

This card represents giving a coating of darksteel to players and permanents, but I made it so that it prevents damage only from sources that opponents control and also sacrifices itself when it has no charge counters, so that it would not be too powerful. It enters the battlefield with one additional charge counter, so that it would not immediately be sacrificed if a player were to put it into the battlefield via a method other than casting it.

What do you think of this card? Do you like it?

I don't like the flavour behind this, but that's a subjective thing. The mechanical issue is far bigger: You have the chance to cast it for free and have it enter with a counter. Hypothetically, you could spent 6 mana to have it enter with 4 counters. But why would you ever do this if you can cast it for free, have it enter the battlefield with a counter and then pump the same 6 mana into the activated ability to have it go to 7 counters.

January 23, 2022 10:02 a.m.

DemonDragonJ says... #3

seshiro_of_the_orochi, in that case, what do you recommend that I do to make the card more balanced, or at least make it so that player have an incentive to actually cast it and not cheat it onto the battlefield?

January 23, 2022 10:57 a.m.

Maybe have it cost exactly , enter with a fix number of two counters and change the cost for adding counters to , ?

January 23, 2022 11:18 a.m.

DemonDragonJ says... #5

seshiro_of_the_orochi, that is a good idea, but I would prefer to not need to tap the artifact to activate its ability, so that it could be reused, akin to a circle of protection or a Story Circle.

January 23, 2022 3:39 p.m.

Wait... but why would you need to “reuse” its ability when you can just put all your mana into it at once anyway? It’s not like Story Circle at all in that you don’t need to wait for something to be cast for its activation to be worth it.

I would also agree with Sesh that the flavor is a little off—legendary permanent tend to be very important pieces of lore that there are only one of.

January 23, 2022 4:54 p.m.

TypicalTimmy says... #7

I was expecting a Wall creature.

I'm actually glad it isn't a Wall. Although, if I may suggest?

Make the Wall indestructible, and it enters with +1/+1 counters. Damage dealt to you removes +1/+1 counters instead.

Although, admittedly, that is pretty OP because you get an immovable, scalable blocker that's a damage redirection unit. So, it's probably better that it isn't a creature - though perhaps a legendary mythic would suffice for such a design.


Overall, I love the design. A little R&D and I think it's printable.

January 23, 2022 9:21 p.m.

DemonDragonJ says... #8

Omniscience_is_life, I made it legendary for two reasons: first, from a mechanical perspective, I do not wish for a player to control multiple copies of it, and, second, from a flavor perspective, it is a reference to the "Iron Curtain" of the Cold War, which I imagine most people shall agree was infamous and legendary.

Here is my new version of the card:

Darksteel Curtain Show

How is it, now?

January 24, 2022 8:13 p.m.

DemonDragonJ what good does it do a player to have 2 of these though?

January 24, 2022 8:29 p.m.

DemonDragonJ says... #10

Omniscience_is_life, are you saying that there is no reason for this card to be legendary?

January 24, 2022 10:22 p.m.

DemonDragonJ I'm asking about something you said: you mentioned that one of the reasons the card is legendary is that you wouldn't want players to have multiple in play at once--I'm not sure that's something to be worried about, so I'm wondering your feelings about why it seems important to you to prevent that.

January 25, 2022 12:36 a.m.

DemonDragonJ says... #12

Omniscience_is_life, the reason for permanents being legendary is usually because they would be too powerful if multiple copies could be on the battlefield simultaneously, so making a permanent legendary allows it to be more powerful than it could be if it was not legendary.

January 25, 2022 8:08 p.m.

DemonDragonJ no I get that. But this card doesn't seem like one where that's necessary, and I'm wondering why you might feel otherwise.

January 25, 2022 10:20 p.m.

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