Welcome to another NGA Y-Contest!

For this contest I will be putting you into a Design Challenge as if you were a real designer.

It’s early in design of a set code-named “Ready” (Ready-Set-Go!). A few mechanic ideas have been laid out, and a few locations. Here’s what they have so far:

Mechanics:
“exile me!” + “threshold”
“count me!” + “mana”
“swap me for something else!”

Locations:
Desert/Egyptian-world
Second Flight of the Weatherlight
Wild West-world

Your job is to design a Common and an Uncommon card for the location and mechanic you want to see included.

Good luck!

BIG BOLD LETTERS: INCLUDE WHETHER THE CARDS ARE COMMON OR UNCOMMON!

Duneburied Dead
Creature - Human Spirit (C)
If Duneburied Dead would die, exile it instead.
Voidbourne - At the beginning of your upkeep, if you own seven or more exiled cards, return Duneburied Dead from exile to the battlefield.
2/2

Mirage
Land (U)
: Exile the top card of your library from the game. Add one mana of the exiled card's color to your mana pool.

Sacred Burial
Sorcery (C)
Gain 6 life.
**** (Pay and discard ~ to return target card from your graveyard to your hand.)

Worn Dead
Creature - Skeleton (U)
Whenever ~ is returned to your hand from the graveyard, you may put it onto the battlefield instead.
3/1

Common:
Spark Goblin
Creature - Goblin
Battery (Whenever you cast a spell, you may sacrifice ~ to pay towards that spell's mana cost)
1/1
"I've never seen such a finely welded craft, but how did they produce the flames?" - Karn, captain of the Weatherlight

Uncommon:
Prototype Soldier
Artifact Creature - Soldier
Artifact swap (: Exchange this artifact creature with an artifact in your hand.)
2/2
"Of course you understand these units are here only on a trial basis, once I've properly assessed them, I'll begin work on the new models" - Urza

I hate you so much. I love threshold, but I hate exile matters mechanics. They're always so parasitic.

Anyways, I'll go with the last mechanical criteria and the Egyptian setting, and bring back Transfigure:

Common:
Reluctant Dead
Creature - Mummy
When ~ dies, target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
Transfigure
1/1

Uncommon:
Priest of Anubis
Creature - Human Cleric
When ~ enters the battlefield, return target creature card in your graveyard that was put there from the battlefield this turn to your hand.
2/2

Desert World


Sand Scoured Oasis
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant land
Enchanted land taps for instead of its normal color and amount.

Jars of the Dead
Artifact (U)
Whenever you are dealt combat damage, sacrifice Jars of the Dead. If you do, return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.
To defile the temple is to invite the curse into your home.

Cards that actually meet the requirements:

Ancient Expanse
Land (C)
Ancient Expanse enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add to your mana pool.
Threshold — If seven or more cards are in your graveyard, Ancient Expanse gains ": Add one mana of any color to your mana pool."

That card would be a cycle for each color.

Guardian of the Portal
Creature - Human Priest
Defender
If a card you own would be exiled, shuffle it into your library instead and put a +1/+1 counter on Guardian of the Portal.
They blaze like suns in the afterlife, guiding the way back.
0/4

Going for two-of-a-kind with both criteria threes.

Saloon Swindler |
Creature — Goblin Outlaw (U)
Card Shark — When Saloon Swindler enters the battlefield, flip a coin. If you win the flip, you may reveal a card from your hand. If you do, search your library for a card with the same name, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then choose a card in your hand and shuffle it into your library.
"Them four Aces is fair and square...or is you callin' me a cheater, Sheriff?"
2/2

(you have to say the flavor text in a goblin voice; it's mandatory). (edit: I decided 3/3 was too big for this rough-and-tumble Outlaw, and brought it down from Hill Giant to Grey Ogre size).

Water Tower |
Artifact (C)
Put a dry counter on a land you control without a dry counter: Put a charge counter on ~. Activate this ability only once each turn. (Lands with dry counters add colorless mana to mana pools instead of any other color).
Remove a charge counter from ~, : Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
Parcher Gultch was going to hell fast enough without The Mayor misappropriating the slim water rations.

(Dry counters are a specific kind of mechanic appearing on multiple cards that "dry up" the lands they wind up on.)

I have to admire that dry counter mechanic. It is so flavorful, and necessitates interesting tensions on color density and alternate costs.

Should this, perhaps, say "put a dry counter on a nondry land you control"?

Because at the moment you can just pile them on the one land.

Thanks Though, I think I have to credit 9 scorching years in Arizona for any inspiration.

Vessel of the Duat

Artifact (U)
Vessel of the Duat enters the battlefield tapped
, Reveal a creature card with converted mana cost 3 or less from your hand: Exchange Vessel of the Duat, the revealed card, and a creature card in your graveyard with converted mana cost 3 or less. (You choose which card is placed in your hand, on the battlefield under your control, and in it's owner's graveyard. A card cannot be placed in the same zone it began in.)

Doing Egyptian theme, exile/threshold mechanic.

Ceremonial Embalmer
Creature - Human Cleric (UC)
, : Exile a non-mummy creature card from your graveyard. You may search your library for a zombie or mummy creature card and reveal it, then shuffle your library. If you have ten or more cards in your graveyard, put that card onto the battlefield under your control. Otherwise put that card into your graveyard.
1/4

Tomb Guardian
Creature - Mummy (C)
Defender
At the beginning of your upkeep, if tou have ten or more cards in your graveyard, you may return ~ from your graveyard to your hand.
2/4

Threshold is seven cards.

I'd like to point this out that while Threshold is 7 cards, a "Threshold-type mechanic" is any one that checks a zone for a certain number of things and becomes stronger when that limit is reached. Battalion is a threshold combat mechanic - checking for whether 3 or more creatures are attacking.

Ah got it. Thus the "" around "threshold". Thanks for the clarification.

High Noon
Sorcery

When High Noon is cast, choose either black or white.
Target creature an opponent controls take damage equal to your devotion to the color you chose.
Target creature you control takes damage equal to your opponent's devotion to the color you did not choose.

Just a reminder that there is still about 26 hours left until this contest is closed. Get your submissions in!

Wow - my brain must've been gone. You all waiting for grades? I'll start grading tonight!

Thank you all for your patience in this contest, and on with the show!



Entry #1, and I'm pretty sure it's Egyptian-themed. The sands have captured this poor fellow and now he is dead. I really like how you made a really interesting land that "could" add one mana of any color, but is random. It's a simple card that could fit into almost any set, but an "exile matters" set or mechanic in a set really works well with it.

I also think that you went with a very direct method of Voidbourne, and I almost like it. I think I would like it more if it could restrict it to one Voidbourne returning each turn perhaps "if no creatures have entered the battlefield under your control" or something like that. Making it a basic black bear was a smart choice for such a card though, but I doubt the mechanic's current incarnation surviving design.

That said, you really are selling the concept of the set to me - there's dead, and then there's just "missing", or "astral" or something. I could see such a concept working given some adjustments.

7/10



Another Egyptian theme. I have a feeling that Wizards will definitely go in this direction in the next 5 years - it's just so full of opportunities for interesting design.

I really like the idea of Graveshift. Almost every color has returned things from the graveyard to their hand in one way or another. Obviously it fits best in black, but I can see pushing it into other colors too... well, except blue. That said, I think "target card" is far too good an ability to throw around everything. Have it check mana costs like Transmute did and that would work better.

That said, gaining 6 life for is... rather underwhelming. If you're trying to sell me on this mechanic, I think this card doesn't do it. I like your mechanic, but it needs something else. If you went the Cremate-route and had this card exile a card so that it also hated on enemies using the same mechanic, it'd be a lot more interesting.

Again, Worn Dead is a pretty cool card - and Uncommon isn't a bad spot to put it - but I don't feel the connection to Egyptian themes with it, and I don't think it's a strong connection for the set. I wanted to see your theme, not random cards that happen to work. If the card's ability was ability-worded with "whenever this card is put into your hand from your graveyard, do X", then I'd be more on board. In that case, I would see that returning cards is more of a theme and not just a Spike-based mechanic of recurring value.

5/10



I was really hoping someone was going to tackle this option. The Weatherlight Saga cemented a very large part of Magic's core history, and going back to it one day is something I hope to see. But are these the cards to do this?

You're going with the "swapping" theme here, changing one resource into another, which feels the most in touch with Weatherlight and its legendary crew. I like Battery as a mana-mechanic. It's similar to the "untap lands" mechanic from cards like Rewind. That mechanic was more broken because it allowed untapping of lands that could produce more than 1 mana at a time, so I'm not as frightened by this. So long as most Battery cards don't return the full investment, I think it could work into more colors than Convoke worked in.

However, I am very not on board with Artifact swap. It can bring in big giant artifacts very quickly, and feels close to broken like Tinker is. Also, unless there are lots of good artifacts in the set, the swap-mechanic will be stuck in a space of either "not good enough to run" or "must play it all the time" - which is not a great place to be. I can't imagine this ability going on more than a single card in the set.

5/10



I'm scared to live in a world where a whole set of this mechanic exists. Transfigure worked at a cost of 4 or more, but lower costs are actually most dangerous as you get into older formats. Could it work? Maybe - after all, Transmute didn't break the game - but you'd have to tread carefully.

I love Priest of Anubis. I think taking a nod to Grim Return to make a lower-cost Gravedigger is a great card. You feel just terrible casting Gravedigger with nothing in the 'yard, but shaving off that 1 mana is a huge help here.

At the end of the day, switching these two around for their rarities would likely be best - Transfigure should be pretty rare, but returning recently dead cards to your hand should be common.

6/10



I'm not not getting this... which concepts were you going for? I guess "count me" + "mana" through the threshold cycle... but that's a specific card you posted, and I don't see how this would work across lots of cards in a set. Threshold is fine for "count me", but aside from that specific cycle "mana" doesn't enter into it. That said, if you did have a set with multicolored themes and threshold, I like this card cycle for common. It encourages players to build up their graveyards, despite their colors.

I'm not sure what your Uncommon is doing either is it "swap me" by replacing exiling with shuffling and +1/+1 counters? And if it's "exile me" and "threshold", then this card seems to be suggesting that exiling cards will be common in the set, but that makes your actually-Threshold mechanic to massively falter. Even in a void I'm not a fan of this card, as it doesn't feel like much of a reward. There's no proactive side to this, just hating against the set's own mechanics when used against you. I don't know, I'm very confused.

1/10



Yay! Old West theme! American western history is rich, but I wasn't sure what way someone might take it. Connecting to the concept of scarcity of resources is amazingly appropriate. The old west is all about lots of people not having enough of something, and dry counters is a unique way of doing it. Could enough of the set do this without running into a very real mana-shortage?

I also love the idea of bringing luck and coin flips into this. What's more iconic than a bunch of ruffians in an old-town saloon?

At the end of the day, I think you're swapping a bit too much such that I'm not feeling the mechanical theme of the set, but you've gotten me very excited to see what other kinds of top-down designs we could see here.

8/10



A very interesting design, but unfortunately just a single card - I had asked for two cards. I can't see this being the mechanic of a whole set, and I'm not feeling (mechanically) the connection to Egypt with this.

0/10 (disqualified)



Haha! Mummies! I'm really glad you went with a consistent "10 or more" concept, but I don't see how exile works into this. Exiling cards and getting cards into your graveyard don't mesh. You're exiling with this card, yes, but not in a way that is sustainable throughout a set.

The Tomb Guardian is very strong, but I'm more willing to accept it as it has defender.

I don't know - just feels like a rushed entry that didn't have enough thought put into how the mechanics interact.

4/10



I really wish you submitted more than 1 card, because I have to disqualify this. I don't think it's the best use of devotion, as against a non-black/non-white opponent you have nothing to fear, and I don't feel the connection between devotion and the Old West. It's a fine submission on its own, but not a good submission for this contest.



WINNER: Planeshaper!

Congratulations! I think your cards really hit the right mix of flavour and mechanical groundwork within the confines of the contest. Thanks to everyone who participated!

I think transfigure actually gets weaker on cheaper cards, because paying to find your 4 or 5 drop feels a lot better than paying to find your 1 drop.