Madness Planeswalker
Custom Cards forum
Posted on Aug. 5, 2016, 9:15 a.m. by bennybubbles
Hey everyone, I am looking for some advice on a black blue planeswalker. I want it to center on discard and madness because of her affiliation with a madness based tribe. Here is my initial design;
Xanthia Overmother 
Planeswalker - Xanthia
+1: Up to one target creature gets -2/-1 until end of turn. You may discard a card.
-2: Return target creature to its owner's hand.
-6: You get an emblem with "At the beginning of your upkeep, discard a card. That card gains a madness cost 
less than its mana cost.
3
I know something is off with some of the wording, and I am not sure about the +1, so any advice on those point is appreciated, but any critique anywhere would be great thanks.
golgarigirl says... #3
2BU
+1: Discard a card from your hand. Return a card from your graveyard to your hand. (Riffing on Recall...the +1 you had felt too close to new Lili's, and the 'may' just sits...awkwardly with me. Here, yes you have to discard, but you get something to replace it, so it's not a disadvantage. And fits blue so the 'walker feels properly BU.)
-3: Creatures get -2/-2 until end of turn. (The bounce just feels overdone to me...surprised this hasn't been used yet...)
-6: You get an emblem with: "You may cast spells for their madness cost instead of their mana cost." (Many madness costs are low enough to ignore colorless mana altogether. How about you're mad all the time now? Flavor-wise, I feel this is a great ultimate. Not sure power-wise...it's not a game-breaker...which is what I feel like it should be. Perhaps make this emblem a -3, like Sorin, Lord of Innistrad's emblem setup and go BIGGER for the ult?)
3
Just some ideas...I love designing cards...
August 5, 2016 11:11 a.m.
TheRedMage says... #4
We have seen madness in every color, really. Even white (Frantic Purification). The "core" madness colors when madness showed up the first time around where green and blue. I don't find the idea of a UB madness walker that offensive honestly.
This looks, if anything, kind of underpowered. I think you are right in voicing perplexities about her +1 ability, which seems kind of unfocused to me. Unless this lives in a set where giving something -2/-1 and discarding a card are related in some way, having these two abilities cobbled together just feels vaguely discordant.
Considering this is a 5 mana walker in two colors with a low starting loyalty, I don't think it's crazy to make that +1 into something more powerful. Consider something like Ob Nixilis Reignited: his +1 is card advantage, his -3 straight up kills a creature, and he can afford to start with an even higher loyalty. I think you can do something closer to:
+1: Draw two cards, then discard a card
or
+2: Draw a card, then discard a card
(although if you go with the latter, the ultimate should be higher than -6)
You can move the shrinking effect to her -2. Instead of bouncing, you can Last Gasp a creature or Boon of Emrakul it or something like that.
August 5, 2016 11:13 a.m. Edited.
Izu_Korasu says... #5
it does feel 
especially because the +1 feels like a cross between Daretti, Scrap Savant/Liliana, the Last Hope
i could see the balance of the +1 involving "you may discard a card, then upto one target creature gets -x/-x where x is the number of cards you discarded this turn. similar to Warped Physique
given the theme (assuming it stays ), the -2 feels a bit generic/jace based. It could be shifted towards an Unhinge style effect.
August 5, 2016 noon
broken record here. the current plus feels weird etc etc.
now that thats out of the way. i can give other suggestions.
the idea i have for a removal ability fits better with a minus so for the plus im going to offer the idea of +1 "draw 2 cards, lose 2 life then discard a card."
then for a -3 "return target non-land permanent to it's owners hand. each player discards a card"
for an ultimate something like -7 "you get an emblem with 'Discard a card: Draw a card' "
still starting loyalty of 3.
+1 is basically better Night's Whisper on a stick.
-3 just feels pretty fun and flavorful.
-7 lets you chain together madness cards. incredibly powerful in the right deck. at worst you basically mill till you get whatever card you want. because it was so strong i upped it to -7.
what do you think?
August 5, 2016 11:41 p.m.
bennybubbles says... #8
Hey that's pretty good, and I love the emblem. You think it's balanced? Not saying it isn't, just a concern.
August 6, 2016 6:37 a.m.
The ultimate pretty much says "mill until you get whatever card you want at instant speed. Also madness cast anything you want"I think that's pretty powerful. But to be fair this is sort of like ajani, mentor of heros he starts out 1 higher and has an 8 instead of a 7 ult. His doesn't necessarily win but it should give you the resources to win that fits in those colors. I had other ideas for emblems but I didn't want to overdue group discard or bouncing as those were alread on the card.
I think the +1 is good but not busted. It's on par with daretti I think since its a +1 on a 5 drop. Although daretti is known to be pretty busted in my group.
The -3 just feels so flavorful. I don't know if 3 is the right number here. It may be too cheap but I wanted you to at least be able to use it once on your opponent as soon as the planes walker came out. Even if it killed it
August 6, 2016 8:12 a.m.
bennybubbles says... #10
Maybe an 'n times per turn' clause on the emblem then? Or do you think it's good as is?
August 6, 2016 9:47 a.m.
It would be best to have some sort of limiter. But I didn't want to make it mana. I'm just not sure what it should be. Maybe change it so that you have to pay life in addition?
Atony1400 says... #2
I think
is more suited for madness than 
.
August 5, 2016 10:43 a.m.