Phyrexianized Versions of Existing Cards
Custom Cards forum
Posted on March 29, 2020, 9:48 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
Now that Phyrexian mana exists, I feel that WotC has not truly used that mechanic to its fullest potential, so I shall make some Phyrexianized versions of existing cards, and I hope that everyone likes them.
Praetor's Disdain Show
This card is obviously modeled after Cancel or the original Counterspell; I had originally planned to have it cost only , but that would have made it far too powerful, so I increased it.
Praetor's Scorn Show
Thus far, there has never been a card that uses multiple colors of Phyrexian mana, so I have made such a card, which is modeled after Utter End, but it only destroys a permanent, rather than exiling it, to prevent it from being strictly better than the other card. Alternatively, I could increase the cost to and keep it as an exile effect.
Praetor's Spite Show
This card is modeled after Thoughtseize, Distress and Duress; I originally planned to have it cost , but I then thought that it would be too powerful, in that case.
Praetor's Shield Show
This card is modeled after Righteous Aura, and I was originally planning to have the casting cost be only , but I increased it to prevent it from being too powerful. I am not worried about the activated ability being capable of being used for no mana, because a player will not pay 4 life unless the source of damage that they wish to prevent will deal at least 4 damage.
Phyrexian Replicator Show
This card is obviously modeled after Doubling Season, but I increased the cost to prevent it from being strictly better than that card.
Phyrexian Purge Show
This card is modeled after Planar Cleansing, and I am not worried about its casting cost, because I made it very mana-intensive; a player will pay 8 life to cast it only if they are very desperate.
Phyrexian Grimoire Show
This card is modeled after both Greed and Book of Rass (which, as a side note, really needs to be reprinted), so its casting cost is between the costs of those two cards. Its controller can draw cards for no mana, but 4 life is a high price for a single card.
Temporal Flux Show
I could not conceive of an impressive name for this card that contained the word "Phyrexian," so I used a name that had not yet been used for a card. I modeled it after Time Warp and Temporal Manipulation, but I increased its cost to prevent it from being strictly better than them.
Gitaxian Tome Show
This card references Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur and is modeled after both Jayemdae Tome and Arcane Encyclopedia.
Phrexian Blueprints Show
This card references Urza's Blueprints, and its overall cost is lower, because I feel that, if that card had been printed today, it would be less expensive due to power creep.
Phrexian Amulet Show
This card is modeled after Quicksilver Amulet.
Those are all the designs that I have conceived at this moment, so I shall post more as I conceive them, but what does everyone think of the cards that I have designed, thus far?
DemonDragonJ says... #3
Boza, would increasing the mana cost of praetor's spite help to make it more balanced? What about temporal flux? Would increasing the mana cost of that card balance it?
Also, I cannot add regular mana to a card with Phyrexian mana, because the entire point of Phyrexian mana is to provide an alternative to using mana; it was never intended to break the color pie, and that is merely an unfortunate side effect. I feel that if a card's converted mana cost is sufficiently high, then cards with Phyrexian mana are acceptable.
March 30, 2020 8:02 a.m.
If the generic mana is too high or there are too many phyrexian mana symbols (I do not think a card exists with more than 2 total phyrexian mana symbols currently), the card is not very good. The problem besides the color pie (a pretty big problem), is that phyrexian mana makes cards impossible to balance.
Lets take Temporal Flux that costs and compare it with its non-phyrexian brother Temporal Manipulation.
If you pay and 6 life, Flux is pretty bonkers and broken in half. Can you imagine this card in monored aggro?
If you pay and 4 life, Flux is still better than Manipulation.
If you pay and 2 life or , Flux is worse than Manipulation.
So, there is no point in mana cost where these cards are actually comparable. Phyrexian mana makes cards either significatly better or significally worse than their non-phyrexian counterparts.
March 30, 2020 10:13 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #5
Boza, that case, what do you believe is the best way to balance cards with Phyrexian mana?
March 30, 2020 12:10 p.m.
Boza: Well, there is K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth. And to prove your point, I play Phyrexian Obliterator through him for 8 life all the time and it's absolutely worth it.
March 30, 2020 12:25 p.m.
And by proving a point, I mean that phyrexian mana is broken as hell and there is pretty much no way of making it balanced.
March 30, 2020 12:27 p.m.
If you're going to make an extra turn spell with phyrexian mana, I would recommend adding a self exiling after resolution clause. Otherwise it's too easy to recur and just pump a bunch of life into.
As a general rule with phyrexian mana, it's increadibly hard to balance at the best of times and for some cards it's just not viable. Take for example Thoughtseize. This card is already sitting on a knife edge. Nobody plays 2 mana discard effects, they're too slow. But people will happily pay life instead. And the phyrexianized version here is just better. Still pay 2 life but no need for black mana, that's just bonkers. I just don't think you can create a phyrexianized version of this card with the same impact but without making it broken.
I don't think the fix is to try and introduce phyrexian colourless mana either - all phyrexian mana is a replacement for coloured mana.
At the end of the day, people will generally be willing to pay the life - the amount of Dismembers that were crammed into modern decks that didn't run black back in the day was not low. So from a baalncing point of view, you should ALWAYS assume people will pay the life instead and start your assessment of the card there.
I would say that if you're going to endeavour with this, you're better off picking base cards with higher starting mana costs.
March 31, 2020 2:21 a.m.
DemonDragonJ, I already said what the way to fix phyrexian mana is - have both normal mana and phyrexian mana on the card. Otherwise, cards can never be balanced - regardless of their mana cost, they would be stronger or weaker than the originals, never comparable. Not to mention that certain colors getting certain effects they are not supposed to have is bad for the game.
For example, when you created the extra turn card, did you imagine that the best constructed deck for it, besides every single Commander deck ever, is Mono-Red aggro? Last Chance has one of the worst drawbacks in existence, your card has no drawback at the cost of 1 extra mana to pay.
Oh an the other issue is that paying life for extra effects is something quintessentially black, so in essence, every phyrexian mana card is black.
March 31, 2020 5:04 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #10
Boza, you do have excellent points, but WotC created this mechanic, not me, so the genie is now out of the bottle and cannot be put back in, so I see no reason to not take full advantage of it.
March 31, 2020 12:38 p.m.
On the principle that I think Phyrexian mana was a mistake, I'll not contribute to this discussion other than stating that Phyrexian mana is a mistake and expanding on their card pool is ill advised.
May 13, 2020 4:55 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #12
I have a new card to add to this thread, as seen, here:
Praetor's Banishing Show
This card is modeled after Recoil, but I increased its overall cost, to prevent it from being too powerful. What does everyone else think of this card?
May 30, 2020 8:36 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #13
With Phyrexian purge, is too low of a cost? What if I increased it to ?
Boza says... #2
The ones modelled after greed, spellbooks, and other ol enchantments and artifacts are fine. However, the issue with phyrexian is exacerbated with these cars - it breaks the color pie in half. There is no phyrexian Counterspell, because you really do not want this effect in other colors.
Praetor's spite is a strictly better thoughtseize, provided it resolves. 3 colorless mana and 4 life for an extra turn IN ANY COLOR is not a good effect. Phyrexian blueprints can cost 1UU, because its effect is pretty weak. While the colorless, half as cheap Quicksilver Amulet is broken as well.
None of these can printed and phyrexian should not part of cards. Sure, it is a nice thematic effect, but just forget using it.
The only way to include phyrexian mana on a card would be in addition to other mana:
Phyrexian Negate
Instant (common)
Counter target non-creature spell, then you may draw a card. If you do, discard a card.
March 30, 2020 6 a.m.