Interesting Thought for Nonbasic Land
Custom Cards forum
Posted on Nov. 17, 2014, 11:23 p.m. by JA14732
So I sure as hell am not a card designer, I really suck at it. But I was thinking tonight, "Wouldn't it be cool if we got trilands with 3 basic land types?" Eventually, realized how sweet it would be to have, but they'd need to have some kind of drawback. Shocks make you pay 2 life to get them untapped, but that's not enough. Then I came up with the following card.
Fortress of the Austere:
Land: Forest Plains Island
When Fortress of the Austere enters the battlefield, sacrifice an untapped land that could tap for G, W or U. This ability can't be countered by spells or abilities.
T: Add G, W or U to your mana pool.
...And so on for the Shards.
While the card is a little weak in a vacuum, remember that you can fetch it with literally 9 fetchlands; only Bloodstained Mire can't get it. Also, you've got mana fixing in 3 colors, but you've got to have a land on the battlefield first, and that land can't have been used this turn. Also, you can't Trickbind the effect, so have fun with that; you've got to sacrifice that land, even if it is Fortress of the Austere. Feel free to rip into me.
I understand what you're saying, but the point is that they can't play a mana dork before fetching. I agree, though; it's not meant to be all that powerful, but rather have a lot of utility.
I'll consider it though. It's definitely a brutal effect, but was balanced by being fetched by 9 fetchlands and a number of other effects.
November 17, 2014 11:39 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #4
I'm not going to cirque the card itself at this point because I am drunk and therefore not thinking clearly. But they no longer template to sac untapped lands. It should either be formatted that you must pay 
, 
, OR 
; or that it enters tapped and you must sac a land.
November 17, 2014 11:40 p.m.
Fair enough. It's meant to be a brutal effect for crazy utility. I do understand where people are coming from, I didn't know that WOTC hates that effect that much.
November 17, 2014 11:43 p.m.
In general, effects that feel awful to use, even powerful ones, aren't examples of good game design. Heck, even Karoos feel awkward and unwieldy. Imagine having to sac lands. Yuck...
November 17, 2014 11:49 p.m.
NobodyPicksBulbasaur says... #7
Instead of sacrificing an untapped land, just template it so that you have to pay G (or W or U) and sacrifice a land. The untapped part is the only red flag in your design from a wording perspective.
"When ~ enters the battlefield, sacrifice it unless you pay [mana] and sacrifice a land."
November 17, 2014 11:57 p.m.
Wow, thanks for all the comments here. I didn't think anyone would comment. Everything everyone's said has made sense so far, I just wanted to see if it would be possible to make balanced tri-typed lands, and it seems like everyone is in agreement that it is possible with some harsh drawbacks.
November 18, 2014 2:58 a.m.
Wait.... So you need to pay 1 mana, and then sac a land? Why would you even play that land? It doesn't give you anything!?
November 18, 2014 3:55 a.m.
Because you can fetch it with 9 out of 10 fetchlands? Because it taps for 3 colors and fixes mana for combo decks? Note how the land has 3 basic land types...yeah. If ABUR duals and shock lands are any indication, having more than 1 basic land type is pretty important, having 3 without any drawback would be insane, having 3 and only a life investment is still absurd. There needs to be a harsh drawback in order to have such a potentially powerful card.
November 18, 2014 4:04 a.m.
nighthawk101 says... #11
You could change it to a "As ~ enters the battlefield..." ability to remove the "can't e countered" part.
November 18, 2014 7:17 a.m.
JA14732 - This would be important in standard but utterly irrelevant in modern. Shocklands already allow you to grab any colour you want with any fetchland you have.
November 18, 2014 7:29 a.m.
But, saccing a land to play a land is really bad....
November 18, 2014 9:18 a.m.
I kinda agree with the sentiment here. I think I'd rather play Transguild Promenade if I had to pay that 1 as it comes in.
November 18, 2014 10:09 a.m.
MagicalHacker says... #15
In my opinion, even a land as good as the following would still be unplayable:
Fancy land name
Land - Plains Island Swamp Mountain Forest
As ~ enters the battlefield, sacrifice a land.
I say that to say this: It doesn't matter how much the land is color-fixing or fetchable if you lose a mana source in the process. Do you see anyone playing the lairs in even the most casual of EDH games? Not really. The reason the ravnica karoo lands are good are because they themselves tap for two mana. The only way your land would be fine is if you add "Whenever ~ becomes tapped, add 
to your mana pool," but even that would be pushing it, since you are basically forcing another land to be a colorless producer AND you have made a land too complicated.
I think everyone's comments are more geared towards fixing a poorly worded effect rather than tweaking an almost good card.
If I had to make a land with three basic types on it that had the option to come into play untapped, I'd make this:
Tunnel of Mysteries
Land - Plains Island Swamp
As ~ enters the battlefield, you may discard a card. If you don't, ~ enters the battlefield tapped.
My $.02
November 18, 2014 10:16 a.m.
I've actually been thinking of a Mox Diamond effect myself, Hacker.
As ~ enters the battlefield, you may discard a land card. If you don't, ~ enters the battlefield tapped.
The original idea with it was simply to make these lands have a drawback for being so easy to find; however, I will admit it was phrased poorly, I was pretty tired at that point in time and I was literally putting down a thought that had I had just come up with. I guess I was being way too harsh with it. Like I said, I'm not a card designer at all, I just had an idea pop into my head.
DrFunk27 says... #2
It's not really that powerful. I would remove untapped land and just say sac a land that taps for one of those colors. Being able to be tutored is nice but land sac effects are pretty brutal.
November 17, 2014 11:33 p.m.