Tolaria Reborn
Custom Cards forum
Posted on April 20, 2019, 7:14 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
I only recently have begun to appreciate how great utility lands (i.e., lands with abilities other than mana-generating abilities) are, which is quite surprising, considering that I have been playing this game since 2003. I also have noticed that there has not yet been a land with a counterspell ability, so I am creating one, now:
Tolaria Reborn Show
I am fully aware that having a repeatable counterspell ability, especially on a land, is very powerful (as seen on creatures such as Ertai, Wizard Adept and Ertai, the Corrupted ), so I have three measures in place to balance its power: first, the land is legendary, so a player cannot control multiple copies of it; second, it enters the battlefield tapped, so that it cannot be used immediately; third, its ability has a high cost, so that its controller will need to be absolutely certain that they wish to use it.
What does everyone else say about this? What do you think of this card?
DemonDragonJ says... #3
SpiralWolfos, what if I gave the card threshold or a similar ability, so that it could be used only under certain conditions?
April 21, 2019 9:06 a.m.
mymanpotsandpans says... #4
I would atleast add you have to discard a nonland card, a card that shares the same type as it, or a card that has the same cmc. Something has to be given up in exchange for all the resources you’re going to be taking from your opponent. If anything the baseline for this card shouldn’t be anymore easy to activate compared to Forbid . I don’t think at the moment the legendary or etb tapped drawbacks are even a problem.
April 21, 2019 11:29 a.m.
It definitely needs some extra clause like needing to discard a card or maybe even being restrictive of the types of spell it can counter. Noting your examples, they are both creatures and therefore more vulnerable to removal, and even Ertai, the Corrupted requires an extra cost to use the ability. In the same vein, a land that could Murder a creature in some way would need equally powerful drawbacks. My suggestion would be something like this:
Tolaria Reborn Show
April 21, 2019 11:24 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #6
mymanpotsandpans, x12721, yes, I agree that there should be an additional cost; would sacrificing a creature be too easy (or not fitting for blue), or is discarding a card the best option?
April 22, 2019 10:08 p.m.
Blue does not sacrifice creatures unless they are illusions. Black will self sacrifice all the time, and white can occasionally force an opponent as a form of justice. Discarding a card is much more appropriate, and on flavor with the Spellshaper's abilities.
April 23, 2019 9:53 a.m.
mymanpotsandpans says... #8
Blue can sometimes sacrifice a creature as a cost. Also sacrificing creature I would say in most cases is more often than not a more costly investment than discarding a card. Some variation of discarding a card included in there is the way to go.
April 23, 2019 12:49 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #9
x12721, mymanpotsandpans, in that case, I shall have the ability require discarding a card, as seen, below:
Tolaria Reborn Show
However, should I still have the land generate blue mana? I have noticed that most utility lands generate only colorless mana, so I am not certain if I should follow that trend or defy it.
April 23, 2019 10:48 p.m.
mymanpotsandpans says... #10
Colorless. It’s still really capable at the moment. All your future draws and 4 mana can stop their plays. Shouldn’t make blue.
April 23, 2019 11:54 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #11
mymanpotsandpans, in that case, here is my newest revision:
SpiralWolfos says... #2
I think this could maybe be used as the payoff side of a dual-sided card similar to those we see in Ixalan block, like Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin . Otherwise I feel like having a repeatable counter on something that is as difficult to remove as a land would be far too powerful, even with all of the countermeasures tacked on.
April 20, 2019 10:20 p.m.