New Mechanic: Sacrifice
Custom Cards forum
Posted on Feb. 27, 2015, 10:09 a.m. by 6tennis
Cool idea for a new mechanic called Sacrifice. Basically, when you cast the spell, you can pay 4 life to copy it. Example:
Seems cool, right? Tell me how it can improve.
Cool idea, but slovakattack hit the nail right on the head.
February 27, 2015 10:42 a.m.
Misanthropia says... #5
Anything not nerfed into oblivion would be horribly broken.I've hard time seeing any constructed playable cards come out of this.
February 27, 2015 10:44 a.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #6
Yeah, overloading game terms is a bad idea. That's why we have "cast" and "enter the battlefield" rather than the old standard terms "play" and "come into play".
It sounds like a fine mechanic, it just needs a name change. Lifecast, Bloodcharge, I'm not very good at things like this. You get the idea.
February 27, 2015 10:48 a.m.
slovakattack Yeah, I see what you mean. Needs a name change. Maybe something like Overload? Wait, that was the Izzet mechanic. How about Bloodrush? No, that was the Gruul mechanic. Damn, this is hard. Suggestions?Also, what if instead of copying the spell, it just did more damage? Like this one would be
Forceful Attack
Deals 4 damage to creature or player
(mechanic name goes here): if you pay 4 life, it deals 6 instead of 4.
Something like that might not be as broken, but I'm not sure.
February 27, 2015 10:53 a.m.
hammerhead300 says... #8
It's an interesting concept, but it'd either produce underpowered cards that wouldn't be worth paying the 4 life to copy, or overpowered cards that would get banned quickly if they made it to production.
February 27, 2015 11:01 a.m.
Maybe you could call it the mechanic Price for Power?
February 27, 2015 11:02 a.m.
OK OK this should do the trick. It's not a burn spell anymore, but a pump spell. The life cost has been reduced to 3, and the mechanic name is imbue.
This looks fine, I think.
February 27, 2015 11:02 a.m.
GhostChieftain says... #11
I like the name blood price for it. Or maybe like sanguine or something. Either way it should be something about blood magic in my opinion.
February 27, 2015 11:07 a.m.
luther It seems fitting, but that would pretty much limit this mechanic to B/Bx spells. Take, for example, the card I mentioned above. It's a GW spell, so imbue seems more fitting there, as if you're imbuing some of your own strength into that creature.
February 27, 2015 11:09 a.m.
GhostChieftain says... #13
Fair enough. I just invisioned a really vicious plane full of vampires, berserkers, and overly pious monks that perform self flagellation. But its your thing bro, you do you.
February 27, 2015 1:22 p.m.
Lol luther love the imagery! Sounds like either Tarkir or Innistrad. Hell, in a month, it might be similar to the new Jeskai mechanic! But only time will tell. In any case, it does sound like a very black mechanic. So...
Vampiric Torment - Super-flavor imbue card!
There we go.
February 27, 2015 3:09 p.m.
dragon_slayer says... #15
I love the idea for the mechanic, but that card disagrees with itself. You pay life in order to gain life.
February 27, 2015 3:25 p.m.
dragon_slayer That card in particular is geared toward multiplayer. I just realized that if you cast it in a duel, using the imbue ability would be pointless. That one in particular needs to be retooled.
Also, I need to find a better image for these cards. Like "Vampiric Torment" has a picture of a cat on it.
February 27, 2015 3:41 p.m.
dragon_slayer says... #17
Ah, multiplayer. That makes SO much more sense now...
February 27, 2015 3:51 p.m.
Also for I think the pump spell makes more sense than that last one. Spells that give you an option to do something as you cast them really shouldn't be doing the same thing as the spell does originally. That sounded weird but in the spell you made, there isn't even really a choice. Unless you don't have enough life to pay for the extra bit, you are always going to pay it because you will always end up with at least the same life differential as you would when not paying it, better if you are playing multiplayer (let me know if my math is wrong here) I feel that if the main spell corresponds to losing or gaining life, the extra cost shouldn't be paying life. The pump one is pretty cool though and the name works for it
February 27, 2015 4:16 p.m.
tjcole1 Yeah, exactly. I was just thinking, since the mechanic itself seems very vampire-ish (see comments above from luther), so I tried making one that fitted that theme. It turned out to be useless, so yeah. Still thinking of ideas, though I'm going for an ally-colored cycle.
February 27, 2015 4:25 p.m.
I get you, and the mechanic does seem pretty vampire-ish, I was just making sure. Maybe do one that counters a spell targeting a creature you control, and if you pay the extra life you can put a +1/+1 counter on that creature? But that would probably belong in Simic instead of ally colors. I don't know, good luck with the designing and tell us how it goes
February 27, 2015 4:31 p.m.
GhostChieftain says... #23
If you have a lifegain thing, you should probably make it an outrageous cost. Like have it be "destroy target creature flagellate/commit seppuku/eviscerate yourself for 8: for each creature that died this turn, gain life equal to its toughness"
February 27, 2015 6:08 p.m.
I did it! I made an ally-color cycle of these cards. They're not broken - I think? Here it is. Enjoy! Sorry that all the cards have cute little kittens as pictures.
also luther dear god "eviscerate yourself for 8"
February 27, 2015 8:26 p.m.
GhostChieftain says... #25
I like my wording on that lol I just think for anything lifegain needs a lot of lifeloss for this mechanic
February 27, 2015 9:20 p.m.
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #26
Besides the fact that the term is extremely confusing (is it now changed to imbue or something), paying 4 life to copy an ability is pretty outrageous. Either the ability only should go on bad cards, either you should make the life paying bigger.
February 27, 2015 10:57 p.m.
FAMOUSWATERMELON It doesn't copy anymore, it just makes the ability better. I agree, copying would be ridiculous. Click the last link I posted for some more fair cards, I think. Also, the life loss got reduced to 3.
slovakattack says... #2
That would be extremely confusing, as there already IS a keyword "Sacrifice." Look at Viscera Seer. I suggest changing the name. Also: Due to the nature of that ability, it would be limited to craptastic spells to copy, as otherwise it would be broken beyond belief. Could you imagine burn having the ability to pay 4 life to Lightning Bolt twice?
February 27, 2015 10:26 a.m.