Phyrexian Grimoire
Custom Cards forum
Posted on March 4, 2018, 9:12 a.m. by DemonDragonJ
Book of Rass is an interesting and obscure older card that is noteworthy for being a colorless version of Greed, but is not nearly as well-known as the other card, so I was disappointed that there was not a combination of them in New Phyrexia.
Therefore, here is my conception of what a Phyrexian version of Greed and/or Book of Rass would be:
Phyrexian Grimoire Show
Greed costs 4 mana to cast, while book of Rass costs 6, so this card costs 5, as a compromise.
What does everyone think of this card? Is it a fair and balanced card?
KillDatBUG says... #3
Yeah, it's fine. The whole "paying life to draw cards is broken" concept doesn't apply here because the amount of life you have to pay makes the card a lot worse than Necropotence or Yawgmoth's Bargain. Makes it a lot closer to the card you wanted; a combination of Greed and Book of Rass.
March 4, 2018 11:09 a.m.
I think thats actually a pretty strong compromise between the two. You also gave the player a choice between drawing cards using life or mana, which actually makes it stronger.
Quick question though: is it colorless or black? My screens not so great and I cant tell if its colorless phyrexian Mana or Black phyrexian Mana.
March 4, 2018 12:28 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #5
KillDatBUG, I think that 4 life or two black mana for a single card is more than fair, and also sufficient to prevent the card from being too powerful.
dbpunk, the card uses black Phyrexian mana, which can be paid for with either one black mana or 2 life.
March 4, 2018 12:57 p.m.
SteelSentry says... #6
I think the design strength of Greed is that it costs the mana as well as the life. I have been in a situation in an EDH game with a Grim Haruspex on the field where, due to various taxation effects from 2 black-based stax decks at the table, sacrificing a creature cost me 6 life, and I still did it, because I was in a spot where I needed an answer. The power of Necropotence or Yawgmoth's Bargain aren't that they're 1 life for 1 card (although the rate is part of it), but the fact that it's card draw with no mana investment. With a card like this, it allows you to hold up as much mana as you want to cast out everything you draw, whereas with Greed you're not only slowly killing yourself, but there is a resource cap where the more cards you draw, the less of them you can actually play that turn.
March 5, 2018 7:58 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #7
SteelSentry, both Necropotence and Yawgmoth's Bargain work at a rate of 1 life per card, but my card would require a payment of 4 life for a single card, which forces a player to be much more strategic and conservative with how they use it.
March 5, 2018 10:15 p.m.
Perhaps could be Or so it always costs some mana ala the two inspiration cards. Also twobrid would be interesting here
Suns_Champion says... #2
So from an EDH perspective: Not costing mana to draw seems too powerful. There's a reason why Necropotence is one of the most powerful cards in the format and Yawgmoth's Bargain is banned. So you've eliminated the mana requirement and kept the draw step haha!
Still, fun card that I'd totally put in my Neheb, the Eternal deck.
March 4, 2018 9:37 a.m.